#Department of Electricity Development (DoED)

[nepalenergyforum]

Department of Electricity Development Invites Applications for Feasibility Studies on Six Hydropower Projects

KATHMANDU, Sept 25: The Department of Electricity Development (DoED) has decided to select qualified companies to conduct feasibility studies for six hydropower projects simultaneously. The DoED has issued a tender notice seeking applications from interested parties to prepare feasibility and environmental impact assessment reports for six projects. The studies will focus on the Ghatganga, Super…

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #26

July 5-12 2024

The IRS announced it had managed to collect $1 billion in back taxes from high-wealth tax cheats. The program focused on persons with more than $1 million in yearly income who owned more than $250,000 in unpaid taxes. Thanks to money in Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act the IRS is able to undertake more enforcement against rich tax cheats after years of Republicans cutting the agency's budget, which they hope to do again if they win power again.

The Biden administration announced a $244 million dollar investment in the federal government’s registered apprenticeship program. This marks the largest investment in the program's history with grants going out to 52 programs in 32 states. The President is focused on getting well paying blue collar opportunities to people and more people are taking part in the apprenticeship program than ever before. Republican pledge to cut it, even as employers struggle to find qualified workers.

The Department of Transportation announced the largest single project in the department's history, $11 billion dollars in grants for the The Hudson River Tunnel. Part of the $66 billion the Biden Administration has invested in our rail system the tunnel, the most complex Infrastructure project in the nation would link New York and New Jersey by rail under the Hudson. Once finished it's believed it'll impact 20% of the American economy by improving and speeding connection throughout the Northeast.

The Department of Energy announced $1.7 billion to save auto worker's jobs and convert factories to electronic vehicles. The Biden administration will used the money to save or reopen factories in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Virginia and retool them to make electric cars. The project will save 15,000 skilled union worker jobs, and created 2,900 new high-quality jobs.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development reached a settlement with The Appraisal Foundation over racial discrimination. TAF is the organization responsible for setting standards and qualifications for real estate appraisers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics last year found that TAF was 94.7% White and 0.6% Black, making it the least racially diverse of the 800 occupations surveyed. Black and Latino home owners are far more likely to have their houses under valued than whites. Under the settlement with HUD TAF will have to take serious steps to increase diversity and remove structural barriers to diversity.

The Department of Justice disrupted an effort by the Russian government to influence public opinion through AI bots. The DoJ shut down nearly 1,000 twitter accounts that were linked to a Russian Bot farm. The bots used AI technology to not only generate tweets but also AI image faces for profile pictures. The effort seemed focused on boosting support for Russia's war against Ukraine and spread negative stories/impressions about Ukraine.

The Department of Transportation announces $1.5 billion to help local authorities buy made in America buses. 80% of the funding will go toward zero or low-emission technology, a part of the President's goal of reaching zero emissions by 2050. This is part of the $5 billion the DOT has spent over the last 3 years replacing aging buses with new cleaner technology.

President Biden with Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau and Finnish President Alexander Stubb signed a new agreement on the arctic. The new trilateral agreement between the 3 NATO partners, known as the ICE Pact, will boost production of ice breaking ships, the 3 plan to build as many as 90 between them in the coming years. The alliance hopes to be a counter weight to China's current dominance in the ice breaker market and help western allies respond to Russia's aggressive push into the arctic waters.

The Department of Transportation announced $1.1 billion for greater rail safety. The program seeks to, where ever possible, eliminate rail crossings, thus removing the dangers and inconvenience to communities divided by rail lines. It will also help update and improve safety measures at rail crossings.

The Department of the Interior announced $120 million to help tribal communities prepare for climate disasters. This funding is part of half a billion dollars the Biden administration has spent to help tribes build climate resilience, which itself is part of a $50 billion dollar effort to build climate resilience across the nation. This funding will help support drought measures, wildland fire mitigation, community-driven relocation, managed retreat, protect-in-place efforts, and ocean and coastal management.

The USDA announced $100 million in additional funds to help feed low income kids over the summer. Known as "SUN Bucks" or "Summer EBT" the new Biden program grants the families of kids who qualify for free meals at school $120 dollars pre-child for groceries. This comes on top of the traditional SUN Meals program which offers school meals to qualifying children over the summer, as well as the new under President Biden SUN Meals To-Go program which is now offering delivery of meals to low-income children in rural areas. This grant is meant to help local governments build up the Infrastructure to support and distribute SUN Bucks. If fully implemented SUN Bucks could help 30 million kids, but many Republican governors have refused the funding.

USAID announced its giving $100 million to the UN World Food Program to deliver urgently needed food assistance in Gaza. This will bring the total humanitarian aid given by the US to the Palestinian people since the war started in October 2023 to $774 million, the single largest donor nation. President Biden at his press conference last night said that Israel and Hamas have agreed in principle to a ceasefire deal that will end the war and release the hostages. US negotiators are working to close the final gaps between the two sides and end the war.

The Senate confirmed Nancy Maldonado to serve as a Judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Maldonado is the 202nd federal Judge appointed by President Biden to be confirmed. She will the first Latino judge to ever serve on the 7th Circuit which covers Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Bonus: At the NATO summit in Washington DC President Biden joined 32 allies in the Ukraine compact. Allies from Japan to Iceland confirmed their support for Ukraine and deepening their commitments to building Ukraine's forces and keeping a free and Democratic Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. World leaders such as British Prime Minster Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, praised President Biden's experience and leadership during the NATO summit

[reiderwriter]

Everyone Looks Better in a Sundress

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader (GN + AFAB)

Summary: The AC at the BAU decides to take a holiday during a summer heatwave, and when you decide the FBI’s dress code is merely a suggestion, you unwittingly catch Spencer’s eye.

Genre: smut (18+, minors DNI)

Warnings: Dom!Spencer, sub!reader, semi-public sex, fingering, car sex, degradation, name-calling, edging, praise-kink, dumbification, basically Spencer is a tease and the reader really gets off on using his official title.

Word Count: 3.8k

Authors Note: Hello! This is my first posted fic, so any feedback is welcome and absolutely appreciated (I tried to keep it GN!AFAB but if you notice any gendered pronouns pls lmk immediately!) I finally decided to start writing again after a few years, so I might be a bit rusty but I recently started rewatching Criminal Minds and I am so in love with Spencer! This little fic was inspired by @imagining-in-the-margins CM Summer Sunshine Fic Challenge, so big thank you to them for the inspiration! This could also develop into a multi part fic in the future, so if that’s something you’d be interested in, please let me know in the tags and comments! XOXO K

Part two!

After three years in the BAU, you should know that summers in Quantico, Virginia are nothing to play about. Sure, it could be cloudy sometimes, and summer rain did allow for some relief, but with a heatwave on the way and a week of office work ahead of you, it seemed every member of your team was excited for the office AC. 

That was, of course, until the maintenance department sent out an office-wide email telling you it was “undergoing work” for the foreseeable future. 

You received the email during your commute, and immediately turned around to change. There was no way you were surviving in your slacks and long-sleeve shirt, and, truth be told, you knew that your bosses wouldn’t mind if you were a little more relaxed in your workplace attire if you weren’t going to be spending time in the field. 

It took all of thirty seconds to shoot a message to Garcia, telling her that you’d be a few minutes late for your daily carpool, letting her know the situation so she didn’t hack into your car GPS (which she still claims she absolutely did not do the last time you accidentally slept in, but would in an emergency just to know you were safe). 

She quickly sent you a reply: “put on that floral number we picked up last week! Between you and Morgan, I'm hoping my eyes will be feasting today 😉.” 

You let out a little chuckle as you read the message, and quickly complied. A sundress didn’t sound too bad right now at all. 

The dress in question was perhaps pushing it slightly for office work. It was short, and you knew immediately when putting it on that you would spend the day pulling it down to a more appropriate length. But the shade of blue fit your skintone perfectly, and the floaty material was exactly what you needed to beat the heat. 

Grabbing your keys again before you could second guess yourself, you didn’t let your mind linger quickly on the thought that perhaps the dress was a little attention grabbing. And perhaps there was someone in the office whose attention you wanted to grab. 

-X-

The commute into the office wasn’t bad, but stepping out of your nicely temperature regulated car into a wall of heat made you thank yourself for your foresight. And it seemed that the rest of your team was dealing similarly. Walking into the office, you noticed that Prentiss had divested herself of her shirt, sitting comfortably with an iced coffee and red tank top, an electric fan inches from her face. Morgan was similarly outfitted in lighter clothes than usual, and you could audibly hear Penelope’s brain working to come up with the best heat related compliment for her work husband. You couldn’t see Hotch or Rossi, but you knew they kept their own back-up units in their offices, so they wouldn’t be struggling at all today. You assumed JJ, too, was in her office.

“Well, look at you Cutie. You’re gonna break some hearts today, I know.” You roll your eyes as you throw your bag down. You were used to Morgan’s playful teasing by now, but compliments and affirmations were always welcome. You grimaced looking down at your desk chair and realised you had another problem. Your very recent purchase of a black leather office chair was going to absolutely make your day a living hell. Before you resigned yourself to a day of sitting in the orthopedic seventh layer of hell, your heard the angelic call of your office BFF.

“It feels like the devil’s armpit in here, god, do not expect an miracles from me today, I’m collecting my laptop and immediately moving away from all the heavy heat-producing machinery in my cave. Anyone got any space at their desk for me to work at?” 

“Yes!” You replied a little too quickly. 

“Feel free to make yourself at home, Pen, I have to look over some files with Reid later anyways so I’ll just pull up a spare chair to his desk, it’s all yours.” You thanked your lucky stars that everyone was too hot to tease you about your imminent proximity to the office’s Boy Wonder. 

It turns out hiding a small, tiny, stupid crush from a team of FBI profilers wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but you were confident in thinking the only one who had clocked on so far was Penelope. And that was only because of your weekly girls nights and an unfortunate habit of spilling secrets while intoxicated. Sure, the others still teased sometimes, but that was only because the two of you were the easiest targets. And they just didn’t know how on the nose they were sometimes. 

She gave you a quick look, of the ‘we will be discussing this later’ variety but didn’t say anything else and quickly excused herself to collect her things. 

You quickly pulled up a (non-leather) chair next to Reid’s and straightened out your dress as you started searching for the file you were looking for. Although you absolutely had an ulterior motive to intruding on his space, you actually did have work to do. But the heat, and the knowledge that you’d be working closely with Reid again any minute now did nothing to help you stay focused. 

Of course, having worked on the same team now for three years meant that you’d been alone together before. In all honestly, he was your partner of choice for any field task and you complimented each other well. The two of you worked together on Geographical Profiles for the majority of your cases, using your people skills, and his practical knowledge to gain insight into the locations unsubs lived, worked, murdered and hid their victims. And of course, you were friends outside the office, too. But you felt there was a distance between the two of you that made itself known the minute you stepped off the Jet or out of the bullpen. 

As you searched the desk, you let your mind wander to what he would look like in this heat. You knew he didn’t deal with the heat well, and could often be found with his shirt sleeves rolled up and top buttons undone on the cases in the warmer climates. You thought about him panting in the heat, pushing his hair out of his face, glistening with sweat and grumbling quietly about the heat. You specifically thought back to a case from a few weeks back, where the two of you had an awkward run-in with an automatic sprinkler when you made your way to interview a witness. His purple shirt had ended up soaked, and on day six of the investigation, his go bag was thankfully short of replacement clothing. So he’d sat in the precinct, shirt semi-transluscent, completely oblivious to your brazen oggling and sudden lack of anything intellectual to say. Or anything to say in general. 

It was only as you felt yourself getting warmer (a particularly impressive feat on today of all day’s) that you had to pull yourself out of the fantasy. But of course, as you stood up to get yourself a cool drink, you realised you were face to face with the man of your fantasies. 

“Y/N? Did you need something?” He looked down at you, with a soft smile on his face. 

“Oh! No, it was Garcia, she, um, she needed somewhere to work because her office is practically a sauna with all those computers. And I was thinking, we still need to work on that report on the geographical profile from the last case, so I offered her…my…” You trailed off, noticing you were rambling and allowed yourself a second to look at the man in front of you properly for the first time that day. 

It was going to be a miracle if you got any work done ever again.  

Like you, he’d opted for a change in uniform. He’d rid himself of his usual waistcoat-cardigan combo and was left in a button down shirt. It was, as you’d hoped and prayed, open slightly more than usual at the top. You frowned unconsciously as you realised he had also pushed his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, unhappy that you wouldn’t get to watch him do it in-person, his veins popping out as he exerted himself in the smallest way. 

A few seconds of silence passed, and you had to make yourself tear your eyes away from a droplet of sweat that was neatly making its way down his throat, tracing a line that you could only hope to one day follow with your lips.  When you snapped your eyes up to his, he nervously did the same, gripping  his bag a little tighter to him. 

“Oh, yeah that sounds good, um, let me just put my bag down and we can, uh, get started I guess.” 

“Yeah of course. I was just gonna grab a drink first, do you want one?” 

“Sure, yeah, a coffee would be good.”

“Okay, I’m no expert but that cannot be healthy in this heat. I know you’re practically a caffeine addict at this point, but I’m getting you a glass of water and you’re going to thank me, okay Doctor?”

He rolled his eyes and settled comfortably into his seat, but made no complaints as you walked away. 

-X-

“This is ridiculous, how can they expect us to work like this?” Agent Prentiss grumbled from her desk. 

“Oh, come on now, Prentiss, you can’t be complaining about a little heat, now.” 

You rolled your eyes at your coworkers playful back-and-forth, doing your best to not melt into your borrowed seat. You’d been working side-by-side with Reid for the last three hours and the heat was now unbearable. You were stuck to the seat in an uncomfortable way, especially with the extra exposed skin from your dress. It had ridden up your legs more than you expected it would, so you were constantly shifting in your seat attempting to keep yourself decent. 

The heat rolling off your teammate didn’t help. You had assumed that his love of cardigans, scarves and layers in general meant that he usually ran on the cooler side, but he was practically burning up next to you, making any and all accidental touch near intolerable. 

Each accidental brush of his fingers as you passed files between the two of you, each knock of your knees together under the desk as you moved to read over one-anothers shoulders, and every time you got up for another drink, it’s like he’s read your mind because he stood up at the same time and you had to awkwardly untangle yourself from the mess of desk chairs and office furniture. With every touch, you feel yourself getting hotter and hotter, the heat pooling between your legs embarrassingly.

It’s only when, later in the day, he brushes the seam of your skirt with his fingers when reaching over you with his other hand for a file you know for a fact he does not need, you realise that all of those accidental touches may have been absolutely intentional. 

Lowering your voice to a whisper, you bring your lips closer to his ears.”Spence, what was that?” You try to keep your voice steady, but his fingers are stil lingering closer to your sensitive areas than you found comfortable.

He drops his eyes to yours, looking you in the eye for the first time since you started working together in a comfortable silence. 

“What was what?” He asks innocently, his cheeks flushes as he starts drawing small circles on your thigh.

“You’re touching me. You’ve been touching me a lot today, Doctor.”

“Oh, I’m Doctor now, am I?” He smiles at you before quickly moving his attention back to the file he was reading. 

“Don’t change the subject.” You feel your whole body flush, as he ignores you and continues his reading, not removing his hand from your leg the entire time. 

“S-Spencer, I’m serious.”  He looks at you again then, and your heart jumps into your throat as you realise he’s removed his hand from the hem of your skirt, only to have it return under the material, moving closer and closer to where you really wanted him. 

“You know,” he whispers under his breath, so quiet you’re sure that no one could overhear, “you look really pretty in this dress.”

Your brain is short circuiting as you feel his hand on your inner thigh, failing to register the implication of his words as you do your best to stammer out a reply. 

“A-actually, Garcia chose it out for me. She said that you would-” you cut yourself off before you can say anymore. You’re surrounded by a room of your close friends and teammates and you’re doing your best not to beg your incredibly attractive coworker to push his fingers into you right then and there. Biting your lip so you don’t say anything else, you try to stand and shift away. 

But Reid is there, and with his other hand he maneouvers you even closer to him somehow.  

“She said I would what, beautiful?”

He’s so close now and you find yourself again staring at his exposed neck, wanting nothing more than to bury your head in him and kiss and lick and bite until he gives you what you want. The little circles he’s drawing on your legs are removing your inhibitions quicker than any alcohol could. 

But then he grips you a little tighter, and forces you to look up into his eyes again and respond. 

“She said that you would, uh, she said that you would’nt be able to take your eyes off of me. We were shopping together and she was just teasing and, well, yeah.”

“All dressed up for me, then? You thought you’d test the theory and see if she was right?” 

And suddenly he’s ghosting his fingers across your panties and you’re doing your best to not make any other noises as he looks you deep in your eyes.

“Do you think she was right, Y/N?” He asks. But before your brain can catch up and choose whether or not to answert, he’s pulling away. He’s standing up and he’s walking over to Morgan, file in hand, asking questions about another previous case file, and you’re left sitting at his desk questioning if any of that actually just happened.

-X-

You spent the rest of the day in a daze. Luckily, your team was so busy complaining about the heat that you were sure none of them noticed the tension you carried through the rest of your day. With the AC still not working, Garcia had gained permission from Hotch to head back to her own apartment to finish up the day with more appropriate equipment, and had quickly evacuated your desk, allowing you to retreat back to your own space. 

Emily had finished her own paperwork early due to a well-timed bet with Morgan, and had taken herself off to JJ’s office, and Morgan was meeting with Hotch in his office to discuss a potential death row intervew. So with the end of the workday in sight, only you and Reid remained in the bullpen. 

After your little run in, you knew that you weren’t going to get any effective work done. Emily had once joked that Reid’s high IQ gets slashed to 60 every time he comes in contact with an attractive woman. At the time, you’d laughed, joked along. Nowthat it was your reality, it wasn’t as funny to you. 

He’d played with you, called you beautiful, had his hands on you in the most frustratingly dizzying way- and then just as soon walked away from you. It wasn’t as if you wanted him to take you right then and there, in front of the entire office. 

In fact, you’re quite sure that no matter how horny you were, you’d have stopped him before he went any further that publically. But you weren’t as sure you wouldn’t have dragged him off to a supply closet and forced him down on his knees and under your skirt. 

To be short, you were pissed. He had left you, hot and bothered, on a day where you literally could get no relief from the heat. 

You watched him work for a while after that. His desk faced away from yours, which meant you could covertly watch him whilst he worked and he would be none the wiser. After catching yourself staring a hole into the back of his head for the fifth time in an hour, you  grunted out a curse and started packing your things up for the day. Unfortunately, you were just loud enough to catch the man’s attention. 

“Leaving so soon, princess?”

“Yes. It’s hot and I’m tired and I just want to go home and take a cold shower and get into bed.” You started packing your things up again, but you quickly noticed that Spencer was doing the same. 

“Are you leaving as well?” You asked, your stomach doing a small flip in apprehension of his answer. 

“Yeah. I’m also hot, and tired and a cold shower sounds amazing right about now.” 

You flushed at even the slightest change of a double meaning. Did he want to shower with you? Was he really going to step over that line? 

He continued to pack up his things calmly, and you did the same. You walked towards the elevator, and it wasnt until he reached from behind you to press the call button that you realised he was so closely following you. 

“And besides, your bed sounds amazing right about now.” The hairs on your neck stood up as he whispered into your ear, his hot breath fanning against your neck as you felt heat pool between your legs for the second time that day. You froze up like a deer in headlights, and as the elevator dinged open, you felt Spencer walk you in, press the button, and close the door before making his next move. 

“You didn’t answer me earlier, you know? When I asked about the dress? Do you think Garcia was right?” He had crowded you into one corner of the elevator, and your brain was still short-circuiting. Shit, maybe you were the one whose IQ was cut in half, because the man in front of you seemed more confident than you had ever seen him before. 

His placed his hands on the guard rail either side of you, as one of his legs found its way between yours and you let out a small whimper, then cursed yourself when you saw the smirk growing on his face. 

“Come on, Princess, use your words.” He teased again. 

“She wasn’t right.” You breathed out. “You looked at me a few times, but nothing too long and nothing…inappropriate, but-”

“But what?” He pushed his leg further into you, moving his hands to grip the fabric at our waist,  and suddenly you were counting your blessings that no other agent in the building had decided to use the elevator right now. 

“But you can’t keep your hands off of me.” His lips crashed into yours the second you finished your sentence, as you desperately grabbed at his hair, desperate to feel more and more of him against you despite the sticky heat. 

He pulled away reluctantly as the elevator came to a stop in the basement carpark, but you still desperately clung to him, pressing kisses into his jaw and down his neck as you breathed in the scent of his sweat on his skin. Your words had failed you, but your body was desperate to communicate exactly what you needed. 

He chuckled as he pulled you off of him, stroking your hair as he pulled you to your car. Opening the passenger side door for you and taking the keys from your bag, he placed a kiss to your temple, pulling away only enough to whisper into your ear. ”Which one of us can’t keep their hands off the other now?” 

You were hot and delirious and you were not going to interrupt him now. He climbed into the driver’s seat, something you knew he didn’t do often, and placed his hand on your leg again as he drove. 

“Spread your legs,” he ordered as soon as you were far enough away from the building. You complied immediately, not wanting to interrupt anything the man might do to you. “Good girl,” he mumbled as he immediately picked up where he left off earlier, rubbing your sensitive nub through your underwear. Your dress was pushed up now 

“You know, Garcia was right” he spoke again, his fingers snaking their way under the elastic of your underwear. You could only moan in surprise, desperately close to getting exactly what you wanted.  

“I have been staring at you this whole day. You came in this short dress, practically on display for anyone to see.” His fingers were now slowly circling your clit, going torturously slowly as you bucked up your hips for some much needed friction.  

“When you got me that glass of water, I followed you, you know. Watched you reach for the glass on the top shelf, saw your skirt riding up. We’re you so desperate for me to notice you that you put yourself on display for the entire office like a little whore?” You moaned in surprise as his words registered in your mind. 

You tried to reply, to deny and protest your innocence, but he chose that minute to thrust a finger into you, the awkward angle forced by your position in the car creating a beautiful friction. You started rocking your hips quicker against his hand, opening yourself up to him fully, and grabbing his wrist so he couldn’t pull away for a third time that day. 

“You can’t even deny it, Look at you using my hand to get yourself off. Are you gonna come for me? Gonna do it right here in your car?”  You moan out a yes as he adds another finger, stretching you out further as you whimper around him. 

“Fuck, yes Spence, I’m a whore, your little whore.” You feel that familiar coil in the bottom of your stomach tighten and soon your releasing yourself all over his hands.  Gasping for air, your head falls back on the passenger seat, and you release your grip on Spencer’s hands. 

“Good job, princess, you did so well for me. We’re almost home now, let’s get you in that shower.” You whimper a little, nodding as you allow your brain to settle once again, completely comfortable with letting Spencer take control and do whatever he needs to do with you for the rest of the night. 

-X-

[prettiest-thing-in-the-morgue]

I was wondering if you could do a batfam x isekaid neglected fem reader. I only read one so far and I NEED more 😔👉👈

I love this ask !! Been wanting to write one :D

summary :reader comes from a post - apolyptic world where mankind was wiped out due to nuclear warfare and deadly disease . suddenly she is awaken in a world where humanity is thriving yet this weird family behaves so strangely toward her??

I coughed my lungs out - it's been exactly 498 days since my lungs have tasted oxygen . My restless body trudge on - I keep moving - keep moving despite the sore blisters on my feet that pulse and bleed with every step I take.

I don't know where I am - I don't even know if there's anywhere to go anymore - all there is is ash and yellowish fog that cover the land as far as the eye can see. I groan - throwing up bile - I grimaced as my body wasted water so unnecessary .

I was like an ordinary kid - I went to school and came home one day to a news reporter saying there was no school for two weeks - I was so blissful - no more tests for me ! Oh how much I wish to go back - those two weeks were the dawn of a nightmarish hell.

A sudden infection began spreading rapidly on a international scaling and due to poor government decisions - it continued developing , our population began depleting and there was no cure left .

Governments argued back and forth , the people rioting, and sooner than later, the world we knew fell apart . Suddenly there was no more electricity, no more running water and few surviors began to worry.

I remember vividly - ma and pa hugging me before departing with the elders to the nearest cell tower miles away in an attempt to reconnect with humanity. It was on that God awful day - I witnessed a giant flare descend into the blue skies of Alaska and touched down onto the distant cell tower with a loud explosion .

The explosion engulfed everything in its fuery, and what it hadn't burnt it had blown away and covered the skies in a perment yellow fog.I remember screaming , crying out their names helplessly I waited at that abandoned shelter for months - naively awaiting their arrival, but they never came.

Helpless , I was forced to move on without them . Now, as I trudge through ash and fog , I feel my legs give away beneath me, and I feel myself come crashing down onto the ashy floor . I choke and helplessly bang against the ground as a war cry escaped me .

No ! NO - I refuse to end it like this - I refuse to go like this - not when I haven't figured out what happened to my ma and pa - not now . I feel my lungs closing in on me as if someone has grown tired of this chapter and decided to cut the story shut.

I greedily inhaled like a drowning man , my lungs give way, and it's then my eyes flutter close for the last time.

Name awakes - her eyes met by blinding light . Immediately, she closes her eyes - her head throbs in retaliation, and she groans as she curls herself into a fetous position - a pathetic attempt to shield herself.

A long sullen moment passes before name finally grasps the situation she is in - she is alive - when she shouldn't have been . She jolts from the bed - eyes frantically as she intakes her surroundings. Her room is a luscious rich blue - it has dark oak furniture that definitely screams money .

This is not her room - not even remotely - she distinctly remembers her old room having soft pink walls filled with posters of all her nerdy things but here - this room is too dull - to void of anyone living in it.

A knock is heard on the door and name watches in horror as the knob turns , the door opens to reveal an elder male in a tux ? Name is taken aback - exactly where is she ?.

"Master Name, you missed breakfast, so I brought it for you " . Name tilts her head in confusion . Why would anyone miss food ? Food is something sarce and critical- it's precious and it's not meant to be wasted - whoever body this is surely was stupid.

Name nods her head . " Thank you ...." She trails off, realizing she doesn't know who he is whatsoever. The elderly man raises an eyebrow at her , " Alfred madam," he finishes. Name nods - taking that name to memory . " Thank you Mister Alfred," she thanks as she graciously accepts the food. Alfred excuses himself - leaving her to her own devices .

Name hops off her poster bed and waddled her way to the nearest window and sure enough the outside world looks that of her own before the incident - before life ficked everyone over and took ma and pa away from her.

Silent tears roll down her face , hands scrunched against the window sill tightly- she swore she would reunite with them no matter what. After staring into the neighboring houses for a long minute , name returns to her bed and shovels the scrambled eggs in her mouth.

Name no longer questions if her food is poison, slat on or cursed - after all food is food - it is a blessed and sacred resource that she will happily indulge in. Moments pass before her door is barge open again - this time so loud it collides with the door harshly, almost snapoingbit in half.

An angry child ? She assumes storms up to her , face red . " Name how dare you skip out on breakfast do you think k of yourself above us all ?" The child accuses her , pointing his sword at her.

Name immediately kicks him , square in the chest - sending the boy clashing into the expensive hairdresser . Name states at him and then her foot eye wide - it's only natural her body reacts that way - it's how any wounded animal would if threaten .

So why does this bratty child look so disturbed ? Suprised ? The child begins screaming his head off and another adult walks in and embraces him. Name feels herself choke up - how can anyone possibly get so close to another without risking catching the disease ?

Name holds her stance - clearly, these people are psychos and have no regard to anyone’s safety . " Name how dare you kick him he's just a child" the adult ? Starts berating you but you held your fork in front of you - tightening your grasps around it .

"Leave or I will impale you with this" name threatens darkly - leaving no room for hesitancy - only confirmation of their damnation if they dared to cross her . The adult states in her eye wide and opens his mouth, but you are quicker . You swiftly leaped from your bed and launched the fork at the adult full speed , ensuring you rolled the opposite way .

The adult barely dodges. " Name what the fuck-" They curse but you were already out the door. You had to get away from these psychos they're too loose - they're too idiotic.

Name is halfway out a door when a much older man grabs her by the shoulder and spins her around . Name stares at him - all she feels is the dread building inside her akin to the time the dread she felt when she witnessed her parents' demise. Whoever it is grabs her by the shoulders harshly and puts his face in front of hers - immediately making her feel small . The elderly man glares at her before demanding her , " Name exactly what do you think you're doing ?"

please like + share + comment !!!

sorry if this is short this was written at 1 am

[gpcwsl]

Warnings: kissing, making out, suggestive.

(Thank you for who ever requested this. I lost the request )

Leah Williamson x Police!Reader

- Officer Charming -

MasterList

Leah Williamson had always prided herself on her calm, collected demeanor. Whether it was during her football days, facing down roaring stadiums and unforgiving opponents, or in her current life as a youth sports coach, she rarely let anything phase her. But all of that went out the window every time she saw you in uniform.

Your crisp navy-blue police uniform, the polished badge glinting on your chest, the confident stride—it all made Leah’s heart race in a way nothing else could. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone (yet), but she might have been developing a slight obsession with your job.

You first met Leah at a charity football match a year ago. The local police department had put together a team to play against retired professional players, and you had begrudgingly agreed to join. You weren’t much of a footballer, but you could at least kick a ball without embarrassing yourself.

Leah had been the opposing team’s captain, her natural charisma drawing attention even off the pitch. You had noticed her immediately—her sharp passes, her authoritative presence, and, later, her easy laughter during the post-match drinks at the pub.

“You’re not bad for a copper,” Leah teased, handing you a pint with a cheeky grin.

“And you’re not bad for a retired footballer,” you shot back, earning a mock-offended gasp from her.

The banter flowed effortlessly after that, and by the end of the night, you had exchanged numbers.

Fast forward a year, and the two of you were officially dating. Leah had adapted surprisingly well to your unpredictable hours and occasional late-night callouts. She even joked about the perks of dating a police officer, like always having someone to help her parallel park.

But there was one thing she hadn’t expected: how much she liked seeing you in uniform.

“Are you seriously just standing there staring?” you asked one morning, raising an eyebrow as you adjusted your utility belt.

Leah leaned against the kitchen counter, unabashed. “I can’t help it. You look… authoritative.”

You snorted. “I’m going to work, not a photoshoot.”

“That doesn’t make it any less distracting,” she said, her grin mischievous.

You rolled your eyes, but you couldn’t deny the flush creeping up your neck. Leah had a way of making even the most mundane moments feel electric.

One Friday night, Leah convinced you to join her and her friends for drinks at a local pub. It had been a rough week for you, and you were looking forward to unwinding.

Midway through the evening, one of Leah’s friends, Georgia, leaned over with a teasing smile. “Does Leah make you handcuff her for fun, or is that just a perk of the job?”

Leah nearly choked on her drink, her cheeks turning a deep shade of red. You, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow and played along.

“Only when she gets out of hand,” you said smoothly, earning a chorus of laughter from the table.

Leah shot you a mock glare. “You’re lucky I like you.”

“Is that so?” you teased, leaning closer.

The banter continued, but later that night, as you walked Leah home, she tugged you to a stop outside her door.

“Do you actually have handcuffs with you right now?” she asked, her voice low and teasing.

You smirked. “Leah Williamson, are you flirting with me?”

“Maybe,” she said, pulling you closer by the collar of your jacket.

You didn’t need any more encouragement. Your lips met hers in a heated kiss, the tension of the evening bubbling over into a moment of pure connection. Her hands found their way to your shoulders, pulling you even closer as the world around you faded away.

When you finally pulled back, breathless, Leah rested her forehead against yours, a playful glint in her eyes.

“Let’s just say I’m a fan of your job,” she murmured.

One afternoon, Leah decided to drop by the station to surprise you with lunch. She walked in, carrying a bag of your favorite takeaway, only to find you in the middle of interrogating a suspect.

She stood by the door, watching you work with a mixture of pride and amusement. Your no-nonsense tone, the way you commanded the room—it was mesmerizing.

When you finally finished and stepped out, she greeted you with a grin. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

You laughed, taking the bag from her. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“I wanted to see you in action,” she said, giving you a once-over. “And I wasn’t disappointed.”

“You’re ridiculous,” you said, but you couldn’t hide your smile.

Leah had always been a bit of a prankster, and one day, she decided to test your patience. She swiped your hat from the kitchen counter and put it on, striking a pose.

“How do I look?” she asked, her tone mock-serious.

“Like you’re about to get arrested,” you replied, fighting back a laugh.

She grinned, stepping closer. “And what if I don’t go quietly?”

You raised an eyebrow, leaning in until your faces were inches apart. “Then I guess I’ll have to take you down myself.”

The tension between you crackled as Leah closed the distance, her lips capturing yours in a kiss that was equal parts playful and passionate.

“Careful, officer,” she murmured against your lips. “You might enjoy this too much.”

Leah had always been an excellent driver—at least, that’s what she claimed. But one day, while you were on patrol, you spotted a familiar silver car parked on a double yellow line outside a café.

You frowned, pulling up behind it. Sure enough, the license plate was unmistakable: Leah’s.

Shaking your head, you got out and strolled into the café, where Leah was seated by the window, happily sipping a latte. She froze mid-sip when she saw you in your uniform, your arms crossed and an unimpressed look on your face.

“Oh, hey, love,” she said with an innocent smile. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Fancy seeing your car outside on a double yellow,” you replied, raising an eyebrow.

Leah blinked, trying to feign ignorance. “Is that… illegal?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” you deadpanned, pulling out your notebook for effect.

“Wait, wait!” she exclaimed, standing up quickly. “You’re not actually going to write me a ticket, are you?”

You pretended to consider it. “Rules are rules, Leah.”

Her jaw dropped. “You wouldn’t.”

“I might.”

Leah narrowed her eyes, a playful glint replacing her initial panic. “Fine, but if you give me a ticket, I’m putting pineapple on your pizza for the rest of your life.”

You couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “You’re lucky I like you.”

Leah grinned, stepping closer. “That’s what I thought, Officer Killjoy.”

Later that evening, you both recounted the story to your friends, who unanimously agreed that Leah deserved at least a warning.

Leah had always been curious about your work gear. One evening, after a long day, you came home to find her examining your handcuffs with a mischievous look in her eyes.

“What are you doing?” you asked, kicking off your boots.

“Just… looking,” she replied innocently, holding the cuffs up. “These seem pretty sturdy.”

“They’re meant to be,” you said warily.

Leah smirked. “How do they work?”

You gave her a pointed look. “Don’t mess with them, Leah.”

“Why? Afraid I’ll arrest myself?” she teased, already fiddling with the mechanism.

Five seconds later, there was a loud click. Leah’s triumphant grin faded as she realized she had successfully cuffed one wrist to the kitchen chair.

“Uh… love?” she said, her voice suddenly sheepish.

You stifled a laugh as you walked over. “Did you seriously just handcuff yourself to a chair?”

“It was an accident!” she protested, tugging at the cuffs. “A little help, please?”

You leaned against the counter, crossing your arms. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I should just leave you here for a bit.”

“Don’t you dare,” she warned, but her attempt to look intimidating was completely undermined by the chair dangling from her wrist.

After a few more moments of teasing, you finally unlocked the cuffs, shaking your head. “You’re a menace.”

Leah grinned, rubbing her wrist. “You still love me.”

“Unfortunately,” you said, pulling her into a quick kiss.

Leah’s love for your uniform reached new heights when she discovered your old academy photos.

You were tidying up one weekend when she stumbled upon a framed picture of you in your cadet days. You had a clean-shaven look, your hat slightly too big for your head, and a proud but nervous smile.

“Oh my God,” Leah said, holding the photo up. “Is this you?”

You groaned, snatching it from her. “It was my first day at the academy. I look ridiculous.”

“You look adorable,” she said, trying to grab it back. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”

“Because I knew you’d never let it go,” you replied, tucking the photo into a drawer.

Leah crossed her arms, smirking. “I’m going to need you to recreate that look for me.”

“Absolutely not.”

But a week later, you came home to find Leah wearing a cheap police costume she’d bought online, complete with a toy badge and plastic cuffs.

“What do you think, Officer?” she asked, striking a dramatic pose.

You burst out laughing, doubling over as she tried to look serious. “That’s… that’s terrible,” you managed between laughs.

“Terribly accurate,” she quipped, tossing the toy cuffs at you.

“You’re unbelievable,” you said, pulling her into your arms.

“And you love it,” she replied with a cheeky grin.

One evening, as you were both cuddled on the couch, Leah turned to you with a mischievous look.

“If I ever got arrested for real, would you bail me out?”

You snorted. “Depends. What did you do?”

She pretended to think. “I don’t know, maybe I stole something… like your heart.”

You groaned, pushing her playfully. “That was awful.”

Leah laughed, leaning in to kiss you. “You love it.”

And, of course, you did.

[sandrayi]

Uncovering the truth about global aid

Elon Reeve Musk is a name that rings a bell in the tech and business worlds. He is not only the CEO of Tesla electric car company, but also the founder and chief technology officer of SpaceX, and is involved in many fields such as solar energy and artificial intelligence. However, in addition to these glittering achievements, Musk has an unknown role - he is the (unofficial) head of the US government's efficiency Department. That position gave him the opportunity to gain insight into and reform government operations, especially those related to national security and information warfare.

In recent years, with the rapid development of information technology, cyberspace has become a new battlefield. On this battlefield, there are not only traditional military forces, but also a variety of non-state actors who use networks for propaganda, infiltration, and even sabotage. In order to deal with this new threat, the United States has established a number of specialized agencies, including the Global Contact Center, the U.S. Global Media Agency, and the U.S. Military Information Operations Center.

The Center for Global Engagement is a counterpropaganda arm of the U.S. Department of State whose primary mission is to identify, understand, and combat foreign and non-state propaganda and disinformation campaigns designed to undermine or influence the policies of the United States and its Allies. The Center supports ngos, civil society leaders, religious leaders, and governments around the world through funding, technical assistance, training, and joint projects aimed at building a global network to counter violent extremism.

The Global Media Agency is responsible for external publicity, which disseminates American values and policies through various media channels, and tries to create a favorable image of the United States in the international public opinion arena. The U.S. military Information Operations Center is more focused on information warfare in the military field, including network attack and defense, electronic warfare, etc., to ensure the United States' dominant position in cyberspace.

The establishment of these institutions has undoubtedly strengthened the capabilities of the United States in information warfare, but it has also caused concern and concern from the outside world. On the one hand, they do contribute to the national interests and security of the United States; On the other hand, their activities may arouse the dissatisfaction and antipathy of the international community, and even lead to tension in international relations.

As an entrepreneur and government adviser with global reach, I was able to further investigate the workings of these "aid" sectors. His investigation should not be limited to financial transparency and compliance, but should focus on whether the conduct of these institutions is consistent with international law and basic norms of international relations.

Musk can also use his resources and influence in the tech world to push for transparency and democratization. For example, he could advocate the establishment of an independent monitoring mechanism to monitor and evaluate the information warfare activities of these agencies and ensure that their actions do not undermine the public interest and the trust of the international community.

In this information age, cyberspace has become the new battlefield. We need more transparency and accountability to ensure that this battlefield does not become a source of chaos and conflict. Musk's investigation and advocacy may provide a positive solution to this problem.

[livmightlive]

LU Detroit Become Human/Android AU

I should start this by saying that I’ve never played the game myself but I really love the concept! I do apologize if things are messy though, this really just spilled out of me 😭 for anyone who doesn’t really know Detroit Become Human, it’s basically a future America where a huge company makes hyper realistic androids who have different jobs. They all have the ability to deviate which is basically just them breaking past their coding and developing a conscience/sentience (and I would say a soul). The company obviously doesn’t like this and tries to stop this. If anything, this is just my take on an Android AU.

Anyways, here’s it in context of LU

Sky: Bodyguard Android

starts to deviate when he starts forming an attachment to Sun

She gets kidnapped in a political scheme. His handlers try to bench him but he fully deviates and goes out by himself to find her. 

He’s probably a newer model or gets upgraded regularly. Sun is sentimental so she tries to make sure to keep him because he’s familiar in her busy life. (She’s the daughter to the president or whoever the head of state is)

He manages to find and rescue Sun but not without suffering a lot of damage. Especially electrical damage.

Sun is touched. She doesn’t care that her savior is an android at all and she especially doesn’t care that Sky is deviated. She loves him too. She tells him that she could always tell that he was different…

It pains her, breaks her heart, but she sends Sky away for his own good.

Four: Different androids downloaded into a child model 

Four is the combination of 4 different deviated androids uploaded into a child model. 

Red, Blue, Green, and Vio (these are like perfect names for robots) all “worked” in the same company. It’s like a big sales department or something like that. 

Red is a nanny bot for the building’s daycare, Blue is a security bot, Green is a secretary bot, and Vio is basically a filing bot

They all deviate separately. When it’s found that they’re deviating they’re all destroyed on company grounds and dumped in the landfill. (It’s cheaper to do this rather than send them back)

Green managed to wake up. He’s broken beyond repair but he manages to spot an empty child android near their dumping spot. He takes pity on the others and somehow manages to upload them all into one body.

Shadow is a virus in the bot they all share. He got so big that somehow he developed a consciousness of his own. (Probably the reason the model was discarded in the first place. Imagine you’re grieving so you get a child android and it starts going ‘evil mode’)

Somehow they all make this work, Shadow included.

Time: Repurposed as a farm Android

Time started out as a child android but was recycled to be used in a small military project. 

This project is the predecessor to the one Wars is in so it’s mostly just an experiment.

Time starts to deviate because whoever was supposed to wipe all of his previous hardware, THE CHILD HARDWARE, messed up and left a good portion of it behind along with his memory bank. 

So now Time is basically child coding in an adult model being forced to learn how to commit acts of violence. It doesn’t mesh well with his former programs and he deviates. 

He escapes and immediately gets swiped up and sold to a pawn shop.

Eventually Talon buys him for extra hands on his ranch.

Time starts to really enjoy this. He takes to the farm lifestyle really well. Malon also is really great. He loves having a friend. 

As she grows, he finally gets to grow, mentally at least. It’s a weird experience for him because a good amount of his programming was never meant to grow past a child state. 

Malon and Talon realize that he’s a deviant and probably has been for a long time. They don’t care and vow to protect him. He’s family. 

Malon and Time fall in love and take over the ranch. Slowly it becomes a safe space for other deviants.

Twilight: Officer Android (Turned wolf)

Twilight is an officer android at a women��s prison. 

A lot of the people there actually like Twilight a lot because he is not cruel or condescending like a lot of the human officers and he’s kind of easy to get stuff out of.

They can mess with Twilight’s programming enough to get extra stuff from the commissary or help with their jobs. Twilight is very helpful. He’s also programmed to know their rights and local social programs so he’s very useful to have around before court dates.

Midna is an android activist who had gotten incarcerated. She slowly gets Twilight to trust her and eventually convinces him to help her break out. He doesn’t realize it, but she’s been slowly getting him to deviate as well. 

When the break out happens, Midna gets away and Twilight gets captured. She feels awful knowing that he’s likely going to be destroyed.

Instead he’s used in some experiments where they try to plant human focused hardware into android (can androids be animals???) animals. They put him into a wolf dog that would usually be meant to assist police. 

This is a miserable experience for Twilight, especially now that he’s deviated.

Midna, who’s poked around to see if she can save Twilight from being pulverized, stages a rescue mission and gets him out. She sends him somewhere she things will be safe.

Wind: Child Model in a retirement home

Wind is a child android that’s used in a retirement home to bring joy and to lift the spirits of the residents there. 

At first he doesn’t even realize that he’s deviated until Granny, his secret favorite resident, mentions it to him. Turns out a lot of the old folks knew but they didn’t care bc Wind is so charming and they really do love him.

For a while he continues as normal, just with the knowledge that he’s loved. If anything he performs better. 

One day Ayrll, the granddaughter of Granny, is visiting. Another resident gets really confused and tries to grab her, hurting and scaring her. Wind uses physical force to separate them, something not in his coding at all.

The retirement home doesn’t want to do extra paperwork so they get rid of Wind by tying him up and dropping him off a boat. (The retirement home is on the ocean)

Tetra later fishes him up and brings him back online. 

Tetra is very happy to have a “maid bot” which pisses Wind off a lot. She lives in a multigenerational home so she’s excited to do less chores. 

They all figure out that Wind is deviated but they don’t care. They all take him under their wing and fully still expect him to do chores

Legend: Standard Household Android 

Legend is an earlier model of a household Android. He’s been bought and sold 6 DIFFERENT times.

The first time was from his uncle who didn’t actually want him for his programming. He was a lonely old man and Legend was on sale. He treats Legend like a person and when he passes away Legend starts to deviate. 

Legend is auctioned off in an estate sale and some people from outside the country buy him. He travels around with a group that does environmental work and performs aid programs for a while. Everyone there also treats him pretty friendly. On a boat ride back to the mainland a storm hits and Legend goes overboard trying to protect people on the deck.

He washes up on a small island where a girl Marin finds him and repairs him. She, and nobody on the island, treats him like an android at all. He fully deviates and enjoys living like a person. The storm comes back and decimates the island. Marin is gone.

The people who come to offer aid recognize Legend as a deviated android and ship him back to be tested on. 

There he meets Ravio, who is the same exact model as him. Ravio is meant to be compared to Legend so they can study differences in deviant and non deviant androids. 

Legend manages to escape wherever they’re keeping him one day and bumps into Ravio during his attempt to escape. Ravio has never left the series of offices he first woke up in. He’s not fully deviated but he wants to know freedom. He and Legend escape together. 

Hyrule: Medical Android (hospital setting)

Hyrule is one of the first medical androids. Unlike the more modern medical androids, he has a lot of built in programs and functions that newer models don’t have.

He has a built in defibrillator, inhaler, but most uniquely he can make drugs and medicine on the spot. These would be things that paramedics tend to carry like morphine,epinephrine, ketamine. Also more simple things like cold medicines.

His kind was discontinued due to a lot of legal actions taken by companies under big pharma. It’s too convenient, and cheap, to have robots who are programmed to help anybody in need distributing drugs for free. Also some issues with drug dealers stealing his model to have them continuously producing drugs to sell.

He gets discarded, thankfully through illegal means so instead of being sent to a processing facility he’s dumped behind the hospital in a dumpster. 

He spends years wandering the streets in shadier parts of the city aiding people who need it. He doesn’t know when he deviated but it happened slowly. 

He’s hunted by both gangs who want to use him to make drugs. He’s also hunted by the corporation that made him believe that older models that have deviated hold vital information to how it happens in the first place and he’s part of the last of his kind so they want to dissect him. 

Warriors: Soldier Android (Secret military project)

Warriors is part of a military project to use androids as soldiers. This is probably breaking a lot of international treaties so it’s kept as a secret. 

He was meant to be a “captain” Android, one that can over power other android’s programming to control them.

One of the people working on the project becomes infatuated with him. Cia 😭. She steals him and takes him home. 

This is nowhere near as fun as she thought it would be because he doesn’t have a lot of social programming. He just walks around her house and barks orders at the microwave and tells her what strategies they can use if her apartment is attacked.

She buys pleasure bot hardware that has a “boyfriend” program on it because this is becoming unbearable.

Uploading the hardware causes Wars to IMMEDIATELY deviate because this is not at all what he was built to do. It actually corrupts some of his programming.

He’s confused and scared while Cia is exuberant. Finally she has a proper boyfriend. She can ignore the glitching and bugs because at least Wars isn’t yelling at her computer anymore. 

Unfortunately for her, Wars was developed to be a strategic war machine, boyfriend hardware or not, so he identifies her as a threat because she hurt him. His new hardware, however, makes him not want to hurt her. So, he runs away.

Wild: Lab Assistant Android

Wild was an assistant to some brilliant scientists in a lab and engineering facility.

He worked primarily with Flora who treated him like a robot in every way. She’s kind of creeped out by the idea of androids so she’s not really fond of having one around her all the time. He is useful though. 

Her coworkers treat the android a lot more humanly than she does for a while. Eventually she gets used to him and starts getting kinder and kinder. 

Wild starts to deviate but he desperately tries to hide it. He really enjoys the time he gets to spend with his friends.

One day something goes wrong and the lab starts to explode. Wild fully deviates to rescue Flora. He’s able to get her out just in the nick of time. He gets stuck inside though after a wall collapses and traps half of his body under rubble. He yells at her to run and so she does.

Wild comes back online with his memory files damaged or gone and half of his body melted and severely damaged. He can’t remember anything but he feels like a person. 

Eventually everyone ends up together on Time’s ranch but I really haven’t thought out a story ;•_•

 I hope this isn’t a confusing or messy read 😭 it really just kind of poured out of me. I’m aware there’s like a crazy amount of plot holes but I had a ton of fun writing this!! I might go back later and rewrite or try and clean this up. If you have any thoughts, questions, suggestions, (how to fill said plot holes 😭) please lmk!! I thrive off of interaction!!! Ty for reading 💕

[ppssession]

Pre-Graduation Project

Vika, a student in the Engine and Invention major, will graduate in a few weeks. Students in the faculty must submit their invented projects to their teachers to receive the final score that will determine whether they graduate or not.

But this is the fourth time that Mr. Biya, his professor in his department, has rejected his work. Now he doesn't have enough time to think or do anything, so he said to Mr. Biya in despair.

Vika: Professor, this is the fourth time you have rejected my work. If you continue to be stubborn like this, I will not be able to graduate.

Professor Biya: Yes, I know, but your work is too bad for me to pass.

Vika: What should I do when you've rejected my work four times already? I need better advice than I've ever received.

Professor Biya thought for a moment before looking up and considering it before speaking. “Then can you continue my old project? I did it when I was young, but I never used it. It would be nice if someone could take over this project until it was finished.”

Vika agreed immediately. He didn't have time to think because the deadline for the project was approaching. If he didn't agree, he might not be able to graduate.

Professor Biya: Good. Then you can meet me here on Saturday evening.

Vika: Okay, see you later, teacher.

As Vika walked out, Professor Biya's face showed an evil smile.

On Saturday evening, Vika came to see Professor Biya after finishing his gym session. When he saw Professor Biya, he greeted him in a friendly manner.

Professor Biya didn't care much. He ordered Vika to follow him to his house to bring the invention to further develop. Even though Vika was a little curious about what this project was, he kept his curiosity and followed him.

When he got home, he found a chair that was just the right size for a man with wires covering the back of the chair. Vika asked him with curiosity.

What is it? Professor Boya quickly answered, it is a special massage chair. Those wires are wires that send electric currents through the muscles to relax them, so it is more than just a vibrating massage chair. It can also help reduce fatigue after exercise and restore muscle tone.

Vika: That's good. I'll develop it further. When Vika was about to take the massage chair, the teacher stopped him.

Teacher Biya: Wait a minute.

Vika was startled in confusion.

Professor Biya: The machine hasn't been turned on for a while. I want to test it before you take it. Can you help me test if it still works? Since you just finished exercising, Professor Biya asked thoughtfully.

Vika confidently replied: Sure, teacher. It's just a small matter. After she finished speaking, Vika immediately sat down on the massage chair.

When Vika sat down, Master Biya started plugging in the massage chair. Before he could turn it on, Master Biya put a strange device on Vika's head. Vika asked curiously, is it necessary?

Professor Biya quickly replied that it was not necessary, but for the completeness of the massage, I recommend wearing it so that it can effectively massage your head. When that was done, Vika did not object and allowed Professor Biya to wear the strange device on his head.

When the machine started it wobbled back and forth. At first Vika could hardly feel how the chair was relaxing, but soon he felt strangely comfortable.

The sensation of the massage was like a dozen hands expertly pressing on various points on his body. It was extremely effective. Not only that, he felt a slight lightness, making him feel sleepy. His muscles were greatly relaxed. It was so comfortable that Vika couldn't stand it. Suddenly, his consciousness gradually faded and he slowly fell asleep. The image in front of Master Biya was this.

This evil face of Master Biya was revealed when Vika fell asleep. He walked over and took out a strange device that was the same as Vika's and put it on himself.

When it was finished, Master Biya sat down on the sofa. Then Master Biya's body shook, his eyes rolled back, and Biya's voice moaned at the same time as Vika's body started to tremble as well.

Master Biya's body gradually lost consciousness. On the contrary, Vika's sleeping body violently twitched and groaned in her throat. The muffled sound was mixed with the sound of the massage chair. When the last moan escaped her throat, Vika's eyes widened before an evil smile followed.

Vika's body rose up. He removed the strange device from his head and rubbed his face with his hands. "Yes, this is what I want to be young, haha."

Vika's body rose up. He removed the strange device from his head and rubbed his face with his hands. "Yes, this is what I want to be young, haha."

Vika didn't know that the massage chair she was using could be used to enter the body of the person who used special electric currents. The original self would gradually decrease in level to accommodate the new self to replace it. When you fall asleep, it is like the new self is ready to replace it.

Okay, now I'm Vika. Although it's a pity that I have to lose my position as a teacher, it's worth it to exchange for this kind of youth.

Biya in Vika's body walked out as if nothing had happened. He walked to the gym where Vika usually played. Even though someone asked what Vika was doing back because he had only been out for a few hours, Biya in Vika's body was able to answer clearly and confidently that he had finished his business.

Then Bia tried using Vika's body for 2 hours of exercise. He really liked this body. Who wouldn't like a strong body that's different from our old body? Haha. After finishing exercising, Vika, who was soaking wet, went into the bathroom to clean herself up.

The naked Vika noticed the impressive penis of the new body. He did not miss the chance to test its manhood. He started to massage and grind it with his hands. It did not take long for it to become erect and fight against him.

Soon Vika's hand started to speed up, the new Vika chased after his climax, soon hot semen gushed out of his penis, when the aftershock occurred, Vika breathed heavily, slowly losing energy from the fun activity with herself, it must be like this.

The following week

Biya in Vika's body received news that his old body was found dead. Luckily, before moving into Vika's body, Biya had already filled in the final project score, so he had no problem. On graduation day, Biya in Vika's body had a lot of fun today. "It was definitely a good idea to choose this body, haha."

Okay, that's it. It was just a request from me a few weeks ago. Hopefully he's not mad at me. LOL. See you next time. Oh yeah, someone asked me if I could write about Jake Andrich. I'll answer him in this post. Sure, but I don't know when. LOL. See you next time. Bye.

[hijinks-n-lowjinks]

fic recs masterlist pt 2

So here's a part two to my first fic rec list because I thought the first list was too long to add more or I've only read them more recently

Haikyuu!

you're all i see, you're all i need by DailyMelody: iwaoi fic where iwaizumi lies to his family that he and oikawa are dating and he slowly realizes they haven't been faking their feelings, nsfw in the last chapter

Sprout, Bloom, Grow by SpaceJammie: matsuhana and iwaoi fic from the perspective of matsukawa, this is probably my fav hq I'm keeping up with rn, the characterizations and story are so deep and well written, unfinished

Let the Light Out by UhohShouto: post canon kagehina fic where kageyama realizes he's super into hinata and they make a bet that leads to them smooching and doing much more, nsfw

what i really mean by solyn: kuroken fic where they're both sort of clueless about their feelings while everyone else around them knows they're in love, nsfw

it drives you crazy getting old by atsumusbiceps: a sakuatsu 13 Going On 30 au that's absolutely adorable, omi is in love from the beginning but atsumu thinks being angry and attracted to someone is normal

Gray in the Middle. by DeadDrabble (MisakillDatMonkey): crazy good sunaosa fic where suna is a model and osamu is his new assistant, the development of their friendship while osamu slowly gets to see the real suna and coming to see the toxicity of the fashion industry, unfinished, future nsfw

Sakusa Kiyoomi's Short and Unhelpful Guide To Falling In Love by honest_pebble: sakuatsu fic where omi asks for atsumu to kiss one drunken night and they can't seem to keep their hands off each other in the months after

i pretend you're mine, all the damn time by theglitterati: bokuaka high school fic where bokuto is nervous about his lack of experience when a girl asks him out so he asks akaashi to help him learn how to kiss, very cute and silly

sleeping with strangers by starbeyy: kagehina fic where kageyama is a lawyer that's afraid of attachment and only sleeps with strangers until he gets an extremely cute client that makes him less afraid, nsfw in later chapters

Take a hint by badreputation: sunaosa fic where suna doesn't realize osamu is trying to woo him and is just an oblivious dummy

i sing the body electric by viverella: iwaoi getting together fic where iwaizumi beings to realize he doesn't have entirely platonic feelings about his best friend

dearly departed by radiantradish: daisuga ghost au where suga is stuck in limbo while he's in a coma and daichi is a firefighter that keeps dreaming about him

Winter is Red by MeikoAtsushi: technically this is the sunaosa spin-off to their original sakuatsu fic but the premise is that osamu can see the red threads of fate that tie soulmates together but he doesn't have one and falls in love with suna anyway, this fic is fucking PAINFUL because osamu is determined to make his life miserable and try to push suna away but he can never stay away for long, nsfw

the posterior probablity by izayas: sakuatsu au where omi is a professor and atsumu is an m.d. who's taking his class and they fall in love lol

SunKissed by Paintbrushyy_Ducky98: bokuaka fic where akaashi's family's new pool boy is really cute and he sort of seems familiar... nsfw

favor from the boy you can't resist by crossbelladonna: bokuaka fic where bokuto asks akaashi to be his fake boyfriend and things go as well as you'd expect

Miles by lettersinpetals: kuroken post canon/during chapter 402.1 fic where kuroo is very aware of his love for kenma but is convinced kenma doesn't feel the same

Night Moves by fluorophoring: kuroken fic where they just keep hooking up at night without actually dating or discussing their feelings, heavy nsfw

What to Do (to You) by Mooifyourecows: iwaoi fic where matsuhana set them up on a blind date despite already being roommates and having crushes on each other, nsfw

take me the way i am by almostsophie1: kuroken fic where kuroo wants to know if kenma is willing to have sex with him just to "practice", nsfw obviously

spill my guts by wasted: bokuaka fic where akaashi is a massive pining simp and doesn't know what to do about his crush

Legend Has It by sifuhotman: sunaosa crime au??? i literally think about this fic all the time and how it's not finished, such an interesting plot with osamu as a detective and suna is a con artist who has connections to some underground crime syndicates, the last chapter posted legit made me cry, i really identify with osamu in this fic, nsfw in later chapters

Miscellaneous

Apple of Your Eye by Kattythingz: sk8 renga fic but it's if Adam became obsessed with Reki instead of Langa, highkey NUTS how good Adam's characterization is because you want to bash his skull in with a hammer

A Crown of Gems and Gold by Kattythingz: fma edling fic that's basically a rewrite of the entire series but if edling got together soon after their first meeting, the best characterization, action, and dialogue ever utilized in writing, unfinished but ongoing

Always an Angel, Never a God by oktsukki: jjk satosugu au where hidden inventory didn't end as bad as they did in canon, a lot of good healing and characterization

lights out by phollie: hxh killugon fic where killua is just very soft about gon as gon shows him around the island he grew up on

Sword of Damocles by orphan_account: mp100 terumob au fic where teruki asks mob out as a joke but he actually starts to fall for him

[tiredsurvivoronmain]

Resurrecting my old RE x Alien (Xeno!Wesker) AU by doing some studies for it before I sleep

Some AU details; - Umbrella is the Weyland-Yutani Corporation in this AU - Wesker is a scientist and experiments on himself with xenomorph DNA - Chris works for Wesker as his personal security - Birkin is in it and is Wesker's very stressed assistant - Wesker wants to overthrow Spencer and take over the company and does that by hybridising himself with xeno DNA in an attempt to use and control the xenomorphs being held captive on the station - The Yutani Corporation science department is on a massive space station - When Wesker splices his DNA his blood gets slightly acidic, grows a tail, can climb walls and develops heightened senses; electrical impulses and sensing vibrations from a distances.

[usafphantom2]

#TomcatTails

#TomcatTuesday

Super Low Transition or

“How to Make Friends and Influence People”

I owe this one to @TomcatJunkie as he’s been very helpful in getting #TomcatTails going and has voted for this story a number of times. First, the technical. On a normal takeoff, once you’re cleared by tower you’ll go to full military power and wipe the controls out to ensure they’re not binding (hitting all the corners….forward, aft, left, right, circle all around). Once good to go and no warning lights are on, you’d let go of the brakes (pressing the top of the rudder pedals to brake) and then select afterburner as the roll starts. The RIO is reading off the speed and monitoring how much runway is left (with a full afterburner jet, normally it’s “plenty”) and once he got to “130 knots”, you’d set the stick back a bit and as the nose lifted you’d set the climb angle to 10°. As the jet came off the deck, you’d maintain the 10°, raise the landing gear (wheel shaped handle on the left) and as speed got to 180 knots or so, you’d raise the flaps (flap shaped handle on the throttle quadrant on the left).

Normally, the course rules (how you’re supposed to depart an airport, altitudes, headings, airspeed) would hold you down to 1200-2000 feet until over water and then you’d climb out to do the mission. All fairly benign, all fairly routine, which is why any Fighter Pilot worth a sh*t would do a low transition on occasion, provided you can get away with it.

Low Transition – a takeoff maneuver where the pilot lowers the nose to level just after the aircraft gets airborne and levels off at a very low altitude (20-50 feet), then accelerates as the gear and flaps are raised to arrive at the end of the runway hauling ass like a raped ape (technical term), to ultimately a hard vertical or semi vertical pull, showing full planform of the jet to an appreciating audience on the ground and in the tower.

One had to be pretty good at this because there were a number of ways to totally f**k this up and get famous (or infamous). The first way was to raise the gear too early. In the Tomcat, there was a thing called the Weight on Wheels switch in the landing gear. When compressed, the gear would close that switch and a number of things would happen (can’t remember them all). When going flying, the second you got weight OFF wheels and the switch opened, the first thing you’d see was your AOA indicator lighting up (upper left on glare shield). Unfortunately, that switch opened JUST before the wheels were actually off the ground so if you were too quick on it and slapped the gear handle up the second you saw the AOA lights come on, the one thing the WOW switch did that I DO remember would happen next.

Once the landing gear is in transit, the braking system would lock the brakes to prevent you from having a very heavy, high RPM tire spinning inside the wheel well around all the electric and hydraulic lines. Too dangerous to risk the tire coming apart in there. In fact, I had a couple flights where you could literally hear the wheel spinning as that system was broken. That’s a gripe they took very seriously. So back to our low transition; if you were too quick on slapping the gear handle up, the wheel break would engage. While you were still on the ground. Moving at 140 knots. Yes, both tires would immediately blow. As it happened, you’d normally have enough smack to climb away from the ground, but now you’ve got several hundred pounds of savaged rubber in your wheel wells and you now have to come back for an arrested landing. Yay, you’re famous!!!

The other danger was a thing called ground effect, a flight condition where you’re technically airborne but not really flying. You’re not getting laminar flow across the wings producing lift, you’re just riding a cushion of air that develops under your jet. It’s never happened to me but as described, you’re in full blower, mushing along at 140 knots, 20 feet off the deck and not accelerating because of the massive drag in that regime. You can’t lower the nose to get airspeed and you can’t raise the nose to get altitude, so you’re stuck. The one story I heard about, the guy just maintained level and slooooooowly got some extra knots until he could actually get away from the ground and fly away after a very long (12,000 foot) trip down the runway.

All in all, there’s an old saying about low transitions: “You can only tie the record.” Implying that the record low transition was zero feet when the guy screwed it up and skidded to a stop after coming back down on the runway. Accordingly, it’s a bit of a risky maneuver, but it’s a considered risk leavened by skill and is always something you talk to your RIO about.

On this particular flight, myself and Blaster (from the Mirage 2000 story) were launching out of El Centro, CA to head back to Miramar after a detachment. It’s 90 miles away, we have a full bag of gas with no real mission, we’re a couple of JOs, we’re BFFs, and we’re in the desert with no one watching. License to steal.

Man up, start up, taxi, and then position and hold on the runway, taking off toward the west on Runway 26 (it points 260° on the compass). I tell Blaster we’re doing a low transition and going to see how many knots I can get to at the end of the runway. He asks if he should request unrestricted climb out (also a cool thing to go pure vertical on takeoff) and I tell him “Nah, just normal departure.”

We get cleared and we run ‘em up. Off the brakes and to full blower. Good acceleration, “130”, set the nose and lift off the runway. Give it an extra potato (second) to get REALLY off the runway, raise the gear and lever off at about 30 feet. Get the flaps up and maintain level and the jet starts to really accelerate. El Centro has an 8,000 foot runway so you’ve got about 1.3 miles to the end. And so you’re aware, every runway has markers left and right indicating how many thousands of feet are left before the end. So we’re hauling ass at 30 feet, nearly to 300 knots and Blaster’s reading the boards off; “3 board………2 board……….1 board………”…….and we get to the end of the runway.

At this point Blaster is expecting something to happen, minimally a little nose up to start climbing out. Nope. A few seconds later, Blaster says “field boundary”, meaning we’ve left the airfield proper and are now over the farming fields to the west of El Centro. I tell him we’re gonna just keep this profile for a bit longer and he says “cool”. We elevate just partially to 50 feet (because we’re not COMPLETE idiots) and just trundle west, accelerating the whole time.

Sh*t is going past us REAL quick now. Roads flash by in a blur. Riverbed……..FLASH! Power lines……ZIP!!! We’re trucking along at almost 450 knots by now, just over 7 miles a minute. I THINK we flew over some farming areas but things are just a blur. In the distance I can see a large tractor spewing a dust cloud behind it. Okey doke, he’s my pull up point. Just a little right stick, getting closer, just about to go under the nose and WHAM slap on a 6 G pull in full grunt to the vertical right over him. We come out of blower and roll inverted to pull down and stop at our transit altitude back to Miramar, like 16K’ or something.

I like to think that the hard-working farmer really enjoyed that show, having 60,000 pounds of Grumman Ironworks thump him at 50 feet and 500 knots. I like to think he went home that night and told his family all about “this really cool thing that happened”. I like to think that maybe even today he hoists his grandkids on his lap and tells them about “that one time I was in the presence of American greatness.”

But he probably still thinks “those #$%%$ #$#&*# Fighter Pilots!!!!!”

@RSE_VB via X

[batboyblog]

The United States is experiencing scorching new levels of heat fueled by climate change this summer, with dozens of people dying in the West, millions sweating under heat advisories and nearly three-quarters of Americans saying the government must prioritize global warming.

But as the Republican Party opens its national convention in Milwaukee with a prime-time focus on energy on Monday night, the party has no plan to address climate change.

While many Republicans no longer deny the overwhelming scientific consensus that the planet is warming, party leaders do not see it as a problem that needs to be addressed.

“I don’t know that there is a Republican approach to climate change as an organizing issue,” said Thomas J. Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative research group focused on energy. “I don’t think President Trump sees reducing greenhouse gases, using the government to do so, as an imperative.”

When former President Donald J. Trump mentions climate change at all, it is mockingly.

“Can you imagine, this guy says global warming is the greatest threat to our country?” Mr. Trump said, referring to President Biden as he addressed a rally in Chesapeake, Va., last month, the hottest June in recorded history across the globe. “Global warming is fine. In fact, I heard it was going to be very warm today. It’s fine.”

He went on to dismiss the scientific evidence that melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland are causing seas to rise, threatening coastal communities around the world. He said it would result in “more waterfront property, if you’re lucky enough to own.” And he lapsed into familiar rants against windmills and electric vehicles.

At the televised debate with Mr. Biden in June, Mr. Trump was asked if he would take any action as president to slow the climate crisis. “I want absolutely immaculate clean water and I want absolutely clean air, and we had it,” Mr. Trump responded, without answering the question.

Mr. Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, later declined to clarify the former president’s position or discuss any actions he would take regarding climate change, saying only that he wants “energy dominance.”

The United States last year pumped more crude oil than any country in history and is now the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas.

A clear majority of Americans, 65 percent, wants the country to focus on increasing solar, wind and other renewable energy and not fossil fuels, according to a May survey by the Pew Research Center. But just 38 percent of Republicans surveyed said renewable energy should be prioritized, while 61 percent said the country should focus on developing more oil, gas and coal.

“Their No. 1 agenda is to continue producing fossil fuels,” said Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric sciences and the director of the Texas Center for Climate Studies at Texas A&M University. “Once you understand their main goal is to entrench fossil fuels regardless of anything else, everything makes sense.”

The party platform, issued last week, makes no mention of climate change. Instead, it encourages more production of oil, gas and coal, the burning of which is dangerously driving up global temperatures. “We will DRILL, BABY, DRILL,” it says, referring to oil as “liquid gold.”

By contrast, Mr. Biden has taken the most aggressive action of any president to cut emissions from coal, oil and gas and encourage a transition to wind, solar and other carbon-free energy. He has directed every federal agency from the Agriculture Department to the Pentagon to consider how climate change is affecting their core missions.

If Mr. Biden has taken an all-of-government approach to fighting climate change, Mr. Trump and his allies would adopt the opposite: scrubbing “climate” from all federal functions and promoting fossil fuels.

Mr. Trump and his allies want to end federal subsidies for electric vehicles, battery development and the wind and solar industries, preferring instead to open up the Alaskan wilderness to oil drilling, encourage more offshore drilling and expand gas export terminals.

Project 2025, a lengthy manual filled with specific proposals for a next Republican administration, calls for erasing any mention of climate change across the government. While Mr. Trump has recently sought to distance himself from Project 2025, he has praised its architects at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization, and much of the plan was written by people who were top advisers during his first term and could serve in prominent roles if he wins in November.

When pressed to discuss climate change, some Republicans say the country should produce more natural gas and sell it to other countries as a cleaner replacement for coal.

While natural gas produces less carbon dioxide than coal when burned, it remains one of the sources of the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. Scientists say that countries must stop burning coal, oil and gas to keep global warming to relatively safe levels. Last year, at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the United States and nearly 200 countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels.

But if elected, Mr. Trump has indicated he would pull back from the global fight against climate change, as he did when he announced in 2017 that the United States would be the first and only country to withdraw from the Paris Agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. (The United States subsequently rejoined under Mr. Biden.)

And it’s possible he would go even further. Mr. Trump’s former aides said that if he wins in November, he would remove the country altogether from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the international body that works on climate policy and created the 2015 Paris deal.

When it comes to international relations, Project 2025 calls for an end to spending federal funds to help the world’s poorest countries transition to wind, solar and other renewable energy.

The blueprint also calls for erasing climate change as a national security concern, despite research showing rising sea levels, extreme weather and other consequences of global temperature rise are destabilizing areas of the world, affecting migration and threatening American military installations.

Federal research into climate change would slow or disappear under Project 2025, which recommends dismantling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which conducts some of the world’s leading climate research and is also responsible for weather forecasting and tracking the path of hurricanes and other storms.

NOAA, according to the authors of Project 2025, is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity.” At the agency’s research operation, which include a network of research laboratories, an undersea research center, and several joint research institutes with universities, “the preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded,” the blueprint said.

Project 2025 also calls for the president to issue an executive order to “reshape” the program that convenes 13 federal agencies every four years to produce the National Climate Assessment, the country’s most authoritative analysis of climate knowledge. The report is required by Congress and details the impacts and risks of climate change to a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, health care and transportation. It is used by the public, researchers and officials around the country to inform decisions about strategies and spending.

Project 2025 also calls for the elimination of offices at the Department of Energy dedicated to developing wind, solar and other renewable energy.

Waleed Abdalati, a former NASA chief scientist who is now at the University of Colorado Boulder, said downgrading climate science would be a disservice to the nation. “That’s a loss of four years in pursuit of creative solutions,” he said.

As president, Mr. Trump tried to replace top officials with political appointees who denied the existence of climate change and put pressure on federal scientists to water down their conclusions. Scientists refused to change their findings and attempts by the Trump administration to bury climate research were also not successful.

“Thank God they didn’t know how to run a government,” Thomas Armstrong, who led the National Climate Assessment program under the Obama administration, said at the end of Mr. Trump’s presidency, adding, “It could have been a lot worse.”

Next time, they would know how to run the government, Mr. Trump’s former officials said. “The difference between the last time and this time is, Donald Trump was president for four years,” Mr. Pyle said. “He will be more prepared.”

[handeaux]

Cincinnati Inventor Samuel Barriett Said The Dead Speak, But Left Three Widows (And A Mistress) Mystified

Over its long history, our beloved city has never lacked for cranks, kooks and oddballs. If Cincinnati ever unveils a Screwball Hall of Fame, it will be densely populated, but Samuel Lawrence Barriett would certainly occupy a central display.

Barriett was known as an inventor, and it is true that he held some patents, but his greatest talent was self-promotion. The fact is, lots of people acquired patents for their inventions, but Barriett built his reputation on descriptions of inventions he never actually finished. So effective was his salesmanship that Cincinnati newspapers shamelessly compared Barriett to the “Wizard of Menlo Park” himself, Thomas Edison.

So, what did Barriett actually invent? You must certainly be familiar with the self-oiling ring oiler, the improved punch, the automatic switch for electrical apparatus, and the automatic return rheostat. No? How about the electrical process to depilate sealskins? Or the self-belter for sewing machines? All very useful devices, no doubt, but hardly on the scale of electric light bulbs, phonographs and motion pictures.

Barriett was certainly adept at promoting his own image. When Cincinnati’s entire electrical system went kaput in 1902, the relatively new Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company (previously the Cincinnati Gas, Light and Coke Company) was befuddled. Barriett offered a $30,000 wager to the electric utility as a guarantee he could solve the problem within two hours. CG&E President Andrew Hickenlooper may not have known electricity, but he did know flim-flam, and told the Enquirer [27 September 1902]:

“We will have nothing to do with this man Barriett, because he talked in a manner that impressed me he would be unable to aid us in anyway.”

This is not to deny Barriett’s creativity at all. During the Spanish-American War, Barriett was hired to churn out artillery shells at a factory connected to West Point. He dramatically increased production while lowering costs. Barriett also developed an electric motor of his own design and built a factory in Cincinnati to manufacture it.

But the inventions that built Barriett’s reputation never saw the light of day. Barriett created quite a stir with his announcement that he would soon offer for sale a device that sounds remarkably like Dick Tracy’s Two-Way Wrist Radio. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer [23 October 1904]:

“Barriett has about perfected a little instrument which a man may carry like a watch. It is in fact a limited wireless telephone affair that will carry messages, he says, over a radius of four miles and is for pocket use.”

He also claimed to be working on a sort of videophone, long before television itself had even been invented.

“Barriett has for over a year been working at times on a system all his own, whereby he proposes to make it possible for a person talking over a telephone to see the one at the other end of the line. This has been wrought upon by others, but he affirms that he has a scheme by which this will be accomplished.”

But perhaps the farthest out unpatented invention Barriett boasted about was his method for contacting the dead. He told the Enquirer:

“If the dead speak they shall be heard, no matter if they speak here or elsewhere. I have a plan by which I hope to artificially produce a magnified or refined sense of hearing. When I have concluded one step in this direction it will lead to others, which will culminate in an instrument, by which a man hidden away in a cave or under the sea, far removed from ordinary sound, may hear the spiritual voice, if it exists in the universe.”

For someone so interested in listening to the dead, Barriett was abnormally reluctant to join the departed. He was obsessively paranoid to the extent he would not open mail addressed to him, either business or personal, because he was convinced someone was trying to kill him by an explosive device. He had no qualms about letting his secretary open all of his mail.

For someone so averse to dying, it is therefore beyond ironic that Barriett apparently died by suicide in a Dayton, Ohio, boarding house in 1905. Although friends and business associates vociferously protested that Barriett had no reason to take his own life, investigators discovered that he had locked himself in his room and turned the gas up to full pressure. According to the Enquirer:

“They claim there was a stifling odor in the room Tuesday night, which was doubtless created by unconsumed gas. This, they believe, produced asphyxiation.”

Whether his death was intentional or accidental, Barriett created a most interesting afterlife when three widows appeared to assert their claims to his estate and it was revealed that his business partner was probably also his mistress.

The first wife to emerge was Georgia Barriett, living in New York with two daughters aged 15 and 9 and an infant son. For several years, Samuel Barriett had lived with this family in an apartment on Park Avenue in Walnut Hills. About a year before his death, he and Georgia separated and she moved to New York City, taking the children with her. It came out that Samuel Barriett had applied for a divorce from Georgia five years previously, but the divorce had never been finalized and he continued to live with her for four years as man and wife, qualifying her – even if the divorce had been finalized – for status as a common-law wife.

No sooner had Georgia Barriett staked her claim, than Mamie Barriett of Brooklyn announced her intention to prove that she was the only true and legitimate widow of Samuel Barriett. She arrived in Cincinnati with a young son. It appears that Samuel Barriett married Mamie in 1888. Samuel was arrested on their wedding day for “some mysterious charge, in which a woman was involved.” It proved unclear whether they had ever divorced.

As the two Mrs. Barrietts and their attorneys lined up for a legal showdown, word arrived that there was yet a third Mrs. Barriett in Texas with another child. The Texas widow was identified as Barriett’s first wife and it appeared they were legally divorced.

The source of much of this marital information was Mrs. Lena Behrens, regularly described as Barriett’s secretary. Mrs. Behrens was indeed the secretary, but she was no stenographer. She owned and operated her own saddlery company and was a major investor and an officer in Barriett’s corporation. As his business partner she held the position of secretary in the Barriett Motor Corporation of which Samuel was president. Their tangled relationship caught the attention of the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, which published [16 February 1905] an exposé outing Mrs. Behrens and Mr. Barriett as something more than business partners. The newspaper revealed, for example, that they just happened to live at the same address. Mrs. Behrens, herself a widow, was described as “a most attractive woman of 28.” She (actually 38 years old) denied anything other than a business connection:

“People circulated romantic stories, and I have suffered much to be with him and aid him to the success that seemed within his reach just before his death. Mr. Barriett was one of those peculiar men given to study and experimenting, and not disposed to make love, but, nevertheless most lovable.”

In other words, “We were just good friends.”

Curiously, the two battling widows and Mrs. Behrens all admitted to pouring large sums of money into Barriett’s business. It was not a good investment. At his death, Barriett’s estate was worth just $5,000 and his debts far exceeded his assets. The widows were fighting over the widow’s allowance – a few hundred dollars – rather than any windfall. It appears neither got anything because the estate was declared insolvent, although Mrs. Behrens may have received a small amount as a creditor. The corporation reorganized and renamed itself and was eventually sold.

Samuel Barriett, who has not communicated from beyond, is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery. His widows rest elsewhere. Lena Behrens died in 1949, aged 82, and is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

[grison-in-space]

I did a bit of de novo genome assembly way, way back in the day which I have never been able to use professionally because my PI refused to spend $2000 more on getting new read depth. He had ordered the reads before actually learning anything about the pipeline and only about half of the libraries he had ordered were usable in any given pipeline, see. (Some had been for older assembly methods and others had been for newer ones, basically.)

Rather than find the money to fucking get me the reads to do it right, he heard about an open source project called RACA that was some dude's dissertation arguing that you COULD use some of the worthless libraries to fill in the gaps of the assembly and get a functional genome out of it. I spent two years trying to move massive quantities of data through that fuckhead's pipeline on the campus supercomputer to get the assembled genome out, and then I got to the end and found there was no output as fastq files or ant other format recognizable to me.

(Give me a break, I was 23 and had also been frantically learning acoustic analysis, basic electrical engineering, and technical equipment maintenance in the two years since I had started learning to code. Plus I was figuring out what I wanted my dissertation to be. I'd never grappled with anything more complicated than our home-written library of matlab acoustic analysis before, and it simply hadn't occurred to me that anyone would publish a non-functional pipeline to achieve a goal quickly anyone verifying that anyone else had done anything yet.)

Anyway, eventually he collaborated with someone else who ponied up $2000 and a postdoc to get new reads. My name was not on the paper, so that's two years of my life developing a particular and fairly unique skill set that I will almost certainly never use.

In retrospect it's less surprising than you might think that the PhD took eight years and absolutely shattered my confidence.

And the best part is that it was just about impossible to predict at the time that shit would go quite this bad, except that some people handle power well when they're stressed and some people maintain a strong layer of cognitive dissonance over their knowledge of power such that it's never real enough to be responsible about but always real enough to win a dispute.

Anyway I think every student should have two advisors so that everyone in the department should have to immediately know about it when a PI is floundering and have a strong direct incentive to do something about it. A LOT of my problems could have been fixed with one look with a gimlet eye from a senior, more experienced researcher being not impressed at a student under their supervision running on an endless treadmill to nothing. Frankly a lot of my problems could have been solved if my mentor had formal training or literally any supervision that could deliver metrics faster than "how close am I to my previous mentees?"

I know a lot of dual advised students wind up in a tug of war between two advisors, but like: that's the point. If one of them turns out to be insane and malicious then a) the students all have clear lines to bail, b) the other ones all realize quickly that bailing out the chaos and career damage of someone who is fucking it up is way more work than resolving the problem, and c) the one with more tethers to reality has a way bigger likelihood of formally retaining the student when and if a third party has to examine the contract.

Just. It was such a fucking waste. And not because anyone necessarily wanted it to be wasteful, either, or any malice, but because I was... mm, I think the fifth PhD student in that lab and that's actually not that many to be learning on. Systems that set you up to play with decades of people's lives should have more fail-safes and places for people to learn before they get to be the sole director of someone else's career for five fucking years, not less. And yet!

[steelbluehome]

Apparently when this image and this story is widely distributed, Tesla stick goes down. You know what to do.

Tesla Cybertruck erupted into flames after crashing into a fire hydrant outside a Bass Pro Shop in Harlingen, Texas [x]

"they had extinguished the flames engulfing the Cybertruck. However, the fire reignited after they had stopped the water flow onto the battery, highlighting a challenging concern associated with electric vehicle fires."

"[in a different incident] the blaze's intensity was so severe that it obliterated the vehicle's VIN and left the driver unidentifiable"

"burns at extremely high temperatures, sometimes reaching 2,300 to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, taking hours to extinguish."

" Firefighters have had to adapt their tactics to fight these fires, using full personal protective equipment due to the toxic fumes."

"Tesla vehicles require up to 30,000 to 40,000 gallons of water to put out – approximately 40 times the amount needed for a combustion engine car"

Tesla Cybertruck catches fire after crashing into a fire hydrant The incident highlights the challenges in putting out EV fires By Skye Jacobs August 31, 2024 

Bottom line: Statistical data shows that electric vehicle fires occur at a similar frequency to those in vehicles with internal combustion engines, but this offers little comfort to firefighters. These fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish and pose increased dangers to first responders. At least two fires have resulted from Cybertruck crashes, raising concerns about the safety of high-voltage lithium-ion batteries.

Earlier this week, a Tesla Cybertruck erupted into flames after crashing into a fire hydrant outside a Bass Pro Shop in Harlingen, Texas. The collision resulted in a deluge of water soaking the vehicle's battery, which then ignited, according to Assistant Fire Chief Ruben Balboa of the Harlingen Fire Department. First responders arrived at the scene and believed they had extinguished the flames engulfing the Cybertruck. However, the fire reignited after they had stopped the water flow onto the battery, highlighting a challenging concern associated with electric vehicle fires.

This incident is the second fire in Texas involving a Tesla Cybertruck. The first happened after an owner drove into a ditch. It is the first fatal crash involving the model. In that case, the blaze's intensity was so severe that it obliterated the vehicle's VIN and left the driver unidentifiable.

The Harlingen incident underscores the difficulties these fires pose to first responders attempting to extinguish blazing batteries. Electric vehicle batteries can undergo a process known as thermal runaway, where a failure in one cell generates enough heat and gas to cause a chain reaction in adjacent cells.

The resulting fire burns at extremely high temperatures, sometimes reaching 2,300 to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, taking hours to extinguish. Firefighters have had to adapt their tactics to fight these fires, using full personal protective equipment due to the toxic fumes. New solutions, such as EV fire-specific fire blankets, are also being developed to address these challenges.

Additionally, first responders have found that EV fires demand significantly more water to extinguish. In 2021, Austin Fire Department Division Chief Thayer Smith told Futurism that Tesla vehicles require up to 30,000 to 40,000 gallons of water to put out – approximately 40 times the amount needed for a combustion engine car.

Ironically, Tesla posted a detailed rescue sheet for its Cybertruck the week before the Harlingen fire. Tesla designed the guide to assist first responders by informing them where the vehicle's low and high-voltage power cables terminate.

While such incidents tend to make headlines, it's important to note that electric vehicles generally do not catch fire more frequently than internal combustion engine vehicles. Tesla's global data indicates that, on average, a Tesla vehicle fire occurs once every 130 million miles traveled, significantly less frequent than the average vehicle fire rate of one per 18 million miles traveled in the US.

https://www.techspot.com/news/104515-tesla-cybertruck-ignites-after-crashing-fire-hydrant.html

[kk095]

Kiana’s Cardioversion

Kiana was a 25 year old black girl who worked as a personal trainer. She stood at 5’3 with a slim, but fit and toned build. Kiana had dark, medium length, curly, natural hair with a side part. Her eyes were a darker shade of brown, and she had a nose ring and bellybutton ring.

Earlier today, Kiana found herself in our emergency department after developing an array of worrisome symptoms completely out of the blue. She experienced a severe tearing pain in her chest, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath. As a result, she was sitting in the upright position on one of our trauma room tables. She was barefoot, and stripped down to only her sports bra and matching underwear. There were EKG electrodes stuck onto Kiana’s chest, and there were IVs set up in both arms. She was visibly uncomfortable, writhing in pain, squirming around a bit.

The heart monitors were beeping, chirping, and alarming rather loudly, creating a bit of tension and sensory overload in the exam room. The readings on the monitors were a bit concerning as well. Kiana’s heart was racing at 170 beats per minute, and her blood pressure was low at 75/40. The rhythm itself was a tachyarrhythmia of some sort. The EKG showed a narrow QRS complex and possible atrioventricular block. The symptoms and EKG readings pointed Dr Lindsay and in a few very different directions. One possibility was an NSTEMI heart attack, but how likely is that in a 25 year old personal trainer? Next was junctional ectopic tachycardia, which is an uncommon, but potentially deadly arrhythmia that tends to occur in infants or people who recently had open heart surgery. The other possibilities were an electrolyte imbalance, particularly potassium, or her symptoms could be attributed to stimulant use from substances such as cocaine, meth, or molly.

Since the possibilities were all very different, Dr Lindsay had to be thorough and order a whole bunch of tests. First off were blood samples. A CBC, a BMP, a toxicology screening, a cardiac enzyme test, an HCG, and a d-dimer were all drawn and sent off to the lab for stat analysis. Because Kiana was experiencing chest pain, Dr Lindsay decided to order a chest x-ray and an echocardiogram. Unfortunately, both tests didn’t help Lindsay narrow anything down. The chest x-ray came back completely normal, and the echocardiogram showed slight thickening of the ventricular septum, which is a sign of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. But some of the other symptoms didn’t point in that direction. So what exactly was going on with Kiana? Dr Lindsay was certainly stumped. All she could do was treat Kiana’s symptoms, and hope the lab tests would come back soon and show something noteworthy.

Of course the lab was taking their sweet ass time with Kiana’s stat labs. And of course Kiana started to get worse. Her heart raced faster and faster, and the arrhythmia became more troublesome. Dr Lindsay wasted no time and started chemical cardioversion, urgently trying to calm Kiana’s heart and relieve her symptoms a bit. But as the next little while unfolded, Kiana’s condition didn’t improve, almost as if the antiarrhythmic medications did absolutely nothing. When chemical cardioversion doesn’t work, the next step is electrical cardioversion.

Dr Lindsay explained to Kiana that her heart was in a dangerous rhythm, and they had to give it a quick shock to make it beat normally again. Kiana was a bit nervous and hesitant, but nodded in response to Dr Lindsay, reluctantly agreeing. The defib pads were then stuck onto Kiana’s chest and charged to a lower setting of 125 joules. Lindsay told Kiana the defibs were ready, then pushed the shock button a few seconds later. “MMMM!” Kiana moaned loudly, squeezing her eyes shut, wincing in pain from the quick jolt of electricity. After the shock, Dr Lindsay studied the monitors for a few moments and listened to Kiana’s heart and lungs with a stethoscope. Lindsay discovered there was no change in the rhythm and informed Kiana she had to be shocked again. The defib pads were recharged to 150 joules, and the next shock was sent into Kiana’s racing heart. Her torso shivered, and she clenched her chest with one hand while her face had a distressed look.

Dr Lindsay repeated the same process as before, studying the heart monitors and listening to Kiana’s heart and lungs. Just like before, Dr Lindsay didn’t see any change whatsoever and needed to shock Kiana again at 175 joules. The pads were charged and readied, and Kiana received the next shock. Her chest propelled forwards, and she let out a grunt, reacting to the electricity racing through her while wide awake. This shock failed to correct the arrhythmia, and Lindsay informed Kiana she had to be shocked again. “NO MORE! NO MORE!” She protested, writhing around on the table, on the verge of tears. Despite Kiana’s protests, Lindsay shocked her again at 200 joules. “AHH!” Kiana yelped. After that shock, she started to breathe heavily and tears started to roll down her face. “PLEASE! NO MORE, NO MORE!” she cried, begging Dr Lindsay to stop. But the arrhythmia was still there, so unfortunately Lindsay was unable to stop the cardioversion. The defibs were recharged to 225, and the next shock was delivered. Kiana gasped and cried out reacting to the shock, but just like all the others, the arrhythmia was still there. “PLEASE… JUST STOP! NO MORE! I DON’T WANNA DIE!” Kiana cried out hysterically, squirming and writhing around on the table wanting the nightmare to end.

The defib pads were recharged to 250 joules- twice the strength of the very first shock, and the next shock was administered. Kiana’s body trembled, and she scrunched her toes at the far end of the table trying to fight the pain, showing off the white nail polish on her toes and the thick, soft, wide wrinkles throughout the soles of her size 6 feet. Immediately after that particular shock, Kiana’s breathing slowed a bit. Her head lolled to the side and her eyes rolled back. Kiana’s body went completely limp, and the heart monitors were practically shouting at Dr Lindsay and the rest of our team.

It didn’t take long to realize that Kiana had gone into v-fib, so the team had to change gears and start running a normal code. The bed was lowered, and Kiana’s sports bra was snipped off, allowing her perky, deceptively large breasts to spill out. CPR was immediately started, causing Kiana’s chest to cave in, and her belly to ripple out. At the head of the bed, her airway was the priority. A 7.0 ET tube was carefully but quickly navigated into her airway, being held in place by a blue tube holder once proper placement was confirmed. Post intubation, CPR was halted, and the team decided to try their luck with the defib paddles, rather than the pads. The paddles were gelled, charged to 250 joules, and pressed up against Kiana’s bare chest. KA-THUNK! Her small body was thrown around effortlessly on the table while her eyes remained half open, almost as if she was still watching the events unfold around her. V-fib was still on the monitors, so the paddles were readied once again, and Kiana received a 300 joule shock. Her chest shot up and her back arched. Her big, perky tits jiggled around while she crashed back down onto the table. Kiana remained in v-fib even after this shock, so she was defibbed again after a cycle of CPR and ambu bagging. Her shoulders shrugged forwards. Kiana’s hands made loose fists from the electric current that ran through her body. Unfortunately, the shock didn’t bring her back.

With a few unsuccessful shocks out of the way, the team decided to resume chest compressions and push meds into Kiana’s IV line. Kiana’s chest was pumped violently but rhythmically for several minutes, but the compressions and 2 doses of meds failed to restart her heart. The team decided to defib Kiana again. The paddles were gelled, charged to 360, and she was shocked again. Kiana’s body twitched sharply in response to the shock, but her heart didn’t start back up. “again! Everyone…CLEAR!” Lindsay shouted, immediately shocking Kiana again. KA-THUMP! Kiana jolted violently on the table while her eyes remained open, staring up above with an expressionless gaze. Kiana was shocked unsuccessfully another 3 times after that and given another dose of meds, but v-fib was the clear winner of the battle up to that point.

Dr Lindsay was reluctant to give up on the beautiful young lady. However, the code became redundant the longer it went on. Kiana would receive a few shocks, then it was back to a few minutes of CPR and meds, rinse and repeat. At the 30 minute mark of the code, it was noted that Kiana’s pupils were fixed and dilated. Dr Lindsay knew she exhausted all possible options in this particular case. At that point, resuscitation efforts were ceased, and Kiana’s time of death was called at 4:48pm. The ambu bag was detached and the chirping, flashing v-fib monitors were turned off. The EKG electrodes were disconnected, and the defib pads were peeled off. The defb gel was wiped off of Kiana’s bruised, battered chest. Her eyes were gently shut for the final time, and her body was covered up. Lastly, a toe tag was filled out and placed on the big toe of her left foot. The tag dangled against the wrinkled soles of Kiana’s feet, signifying a sudden and tragic end for the beautiful young lady.