#Mines and Mining Plants Regulation

[mrsvante]

The Long Game VII

pairing: namjoon x reader

genre: sugar daddy au, yandere, domestic bliss

summary: he’d prepared for this moment a thousand times, imagined every sound you’d make, every look you’d give. But nothing compared to the reality of you—standing in the space he’d shaped around your absence, breathing life into rooms that had felt cold without you. you had no idea. no idea what you’d done to him. no idea how far he’d go to keep you exactly where you were now.

warnings: domestic namjoon, there’s some fluff, breeding kink, oral f!recieving, possessive vibes on crack, namjoon is drunk off you, the life of luxury 😩

word count: 3,505



Namjoon could barely contain himself.

No, that wasn’t right. He wasn’t containing himself.

His usual cool, collected demeanor had all but crumbled the second you stepped through the doors of his penthouse, your penthouse now, whether you realized it or not. He’d been practically vibrating since the moment you landed, eager anticipation simmering beneath every polite smile and courteous gesture.

Now, as he guided you through the space with your hand resting delicately in his, Namjoon felt like a boy showing off a science project he’d spent months perfecting. He watched you with hawk like intensity, hanging on every delighted sound that left your lips, cataloging every wide eyed glance and shy little smile as though they were treasures in and of themselves.

He was… ecstatic. And that wasn’t a word Namjoon often used for himself.

The penthouse had undergone a transformation in your absence, stripped of the sleek, cold minimalism that had once defined it. The walls were warmer now, soft grays and delicate earth tones replacing the harsh slate palette. The furniture had been swapped out for cozier, more inviting pieces, and tasteful personal touches were scattered throughout.

You couldn’t stop turning in slow, stunned circles as you took it all in.

“You remodeled… everything,” you whispered, breathless. “It feels so different.”

Namjoon’s lips curved into a soft smile, so unbearably tender it made his cheeks ache. He couldn’t help himself—he reached for you, brushing his fingers lightly along your jaw, tilting your face up so you couldn’t look anywhere but at him.

“For you,” he murmured, voice thick with quiet devotion. “Only for you.”

He led you next to your new office. Custom built ins lined the walls, housing art supplies, books, your laptop setup—everything you could ever need. The oversized window overlooked the city, allowing natural light to pour in, and Namjoon made sure you noticed the little details: the plush rug beneath your chair, the coffee warmer on your desk, the miniature fridge stocked with your favorite drinks.

“Now you can work without distractions,” he said, pleased, watching your mouth part in disbelief.

Then came the closet. He’d knocked down walls for this, expanded what was once merely impressive into something borderline decadent. Your clothes had already been carefully unpacked, organized perfectly, and your bags, shoes, and jewelry were on display like pieces of art.

You laughed in shock. “You remodeled your closet?”

Namjoon only smirked, tugging you closer until your back hit his chest and his mouth pressed against your ear. “What’s mine is yours. Besides,” his hand slid down your waist, squeezing lightly, “you take up so much space in my life already. Might as well make room everywhere.”

The greenhouse stole your breath next. He’d designed it entirely for you—lush with tropical plants you’d brought back from Singapore, softly glowing grow lights overhead, humidity carefully regulated. It was warm and serene, a perfect little haven nestled right in the sky.

Namjoon watched you press your hands to the glass of the windows, your eyes glassy.

“You did all of this… for me?”

“Of course.” He said it simply, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. In his mind, it was. There had never been a version of this life where he wouldn’t make every inch of his home ready to receive you properly.

But the real jewel came last—the bedroom.

You gasped when you stepped inside. Gone was the stark, cool aesthetic from before. Now, it was intimate and warm. Soft, airy curtains framed the windows, plush rugs covered the hardwood floors, and the walls had been painted in a muted, romantic taupe.

The bed was massive. Dressed in seductive silk sheets, pillows upon pillows, and a comforter that looked impossibly inviting. There was a stunning vanity fully stocked with all of your makeup and skincare. On your side of the bed, Namjoon had even stocked your nightstand. Your favorite lip balm, your water carafe and glass, your favorite snacks tucked away in the drawers.

But what made you laugh softly, tears threatening to spring into your eyes, was the familiar sight of your giant shark plushie propped up between the bed and nightstand.

You turned, overwhelmed and radiant, throwing your arms around Namjoon.

“Joon,” you whispered, pressing kisses to his face, his jaw, his lips. “You are… so fucking good to me. This is everything. You’re everything.”

His eyes fluttered shut, basking in your affection, but beneath his soft smile, something deeper stirred. Because as much as he adored your gratitude—the kisses, the words, the way you clung to him —it wasn’t enough. Not yet. Not for a man like him.

What he really wanted… was you. In this bed. Wrapped up in his sheets. Marking this space as yours in the only way that mattered.

And so, Namjoon kissed you back.

Slowly at first. Almost achingly tender.

His lips tasted of restraint and simmering hunger, a fragile balance he knew he wouldn’t be able to maintain for long. He walked you backward with deliberate steps, the heat rolling off him in waves, until your knees bumped against the edge of the bed. You fell back easily when he guided you, trusting him, pliant beneath the weight of his stare.

His body pressed over yours, large hands spanning your sides as though they were meant to anchor you there, under him, with him. His mouth dragged lower, down your throat, lingering with greedy intent at your collarbones where his lips left slow, wet kisses. They felt like brands, like marks that silently screamed mine.

You giggled softly, breath hitching as your fingers tangled in his hair.

“Greedy man,” you teased with a breathless laugh, your words threaded with fondness. “You already did all this for me and now you want more?”

Namjoon groaned, rolling his hips down against you, the thick press of his cock, still restrained by his sweats, grinding perfectly against your core. It pulled a soft gasp from your lips and immediately satisfied some deep, primal part of him.

“You know exactly what I want,” he rasped darkly, his voice already wrecked from need.

Clothes soon became meaningless. They were removed slowly, almost ceremoniously, his hands sliding across every inch of newly exposed skin like he couldn’t bear to leave any part of you untouched. Each patch of bare flesh was met with worship.

Kisses that lingered, touches that lingered longer.

He sucked marks onto your thighs, leaving evidence of his possession in tender bruises. He traced his tongue up your stomach, following the soft lines of your body with an almost devout care, and then buried his face between your breasts, inhaling like he could live off the scent of you alone.

It was intoxicating. You, laid out for him like this.

By the time he slid down between your legs, his control had frayed dangerously thin.

His tongue licked slow, calculated stripes over your pussy until you writhed for him, your moans bouncing off the walls and filling the newly christened bedroom. Namjoon hummed in satisfaction, fingers gripping your thighs tighter as he devoured you with slow, sinful expertise.

“That’s it, baby,” he groaned, voice muffled by your slick heat. “Let me taste home.”

You came fast and hard, body tightening beneath his mouth, and he didn’t stop until you were shuddering and tugging at his hair in desperation.

Only then did he rise, mouth glistening, eyes dark with hunger as he lined himself up and thrust deep in one long, claiming push.

You gasped, your legs instantly locking around his hips as your nails dug into his back.

Namjoon groaned harshly, pressing his forehead against yours, his hips barely moving yet as he savored the overwhelming tightness.

“Fuck. Fuck,” he breathed out, lips brushing against your temple. “You feel perfect… so fucking perfect for me. Always so warm, so tight. Like you were made for my cock.”

His thrusts began slowly, deep and rhythmic, dragging pleasure from both of you in slow, consuming waves. Your back arched off the mattress as breathy moans spilled from your lips, your arms curling around his broad shoulders like you needed to hold onto something, anything.

Namjoon couldn’t help but murmur into your skin, drunk off your body, drunk off you. His mouth dragged lazy kisses across your throat, lips swollen from how desperately he’d kissed you moments before.

“You’re my good girl,” he whispered, voice hoarse. “Always so good for me.”

His hand slid down to cradle your thigh, holding you open as he rocked deeper into you, as if he could mold you to fit him even more perfectly.

“My perfect girl.” He kissed the shell of your ear, and the possessive tremble in his voice sent a shiver down your spine.

“Back where you belong,” he rasped, burying his face in the crook of your neck like he was trying to disappear inside you. “Back where I need you. Where you’re safe. Where you’re mine.”

His thrusts slowed, deepened—less frantic now, more deliberate. Like he wanted to feel every inch, like he wanted to memorize this. You. The soft, sinful way you wrapped around him.

“I missed this,” he breathed. “Missed us. Missed being inside you where I’m supposed to be. Like I’ve been walking around empty without you.”

“You were made for me,” he whispered. “Just for me.”

You whispered his name softly—Joon, Joon, Joon—like you couldn’t say anything else, like it was the only thing tethering you to reality.

But softness never lasted long with Namjoon.

Not when you clenched around him so sweetly. Not when your thighs trembled, your mouth hung open in pleasure, your face flushed from his love.

His pace grew rougher, more urgent, and he sat back slightly to grab your hips, angling you just right so his cock slammed into the perfect spot with every desperate thrust. The sound of skin slapping skin echoed in the bedroom, joined by your breathy cries and his low, guttural grunts.

That’s when the shift happened.

That’s when he fell into it, that dark, obsessive place he rarely let show in front of you.

“Fuck,” Namjoon growled, his voice thick, drunk on the way your body responded to his every move. His eyes flicked down to where your pussy was stretched around him, flushed with hunger, taking him so perfectly. “Look at this. Look how you take me. Like you were born for me.”

His pace faltered, grinding instead of thrusting as he leaned closer, lips grazing your jaw.

“Gonna fill you up,” he whispered, his voice a sharp edge wrapped in silk. “Gonna fuck my cum so deep inside you, baby. You’ll be dripping with me for days.”

You whimpered his name, shaky and overwhelmed, but Namjoon wasn’t listening. Not really. He was gone, swept up in the idea of you.

“Imagine it,” he murmured, licking into your mouth as he continued to grind deep. “My wife. My perfect little wife, belly round with my baby, stuck at home because you’re too fucked out and swollen to do anything but wait for me to come home and fill you again.”

You gasped, nails digging into his shoulders.

“Joon—”

“Imagine walking around this penthouse pregnant,” he continued, nearly delirious now. “Our home. Our bed. Every room yours… except you can’t even bend down to pick something up without my help because you’re carrying so much of me inside you.”

Your breath hitched, face burning with arousal and embarrassment.

“You’re insane,” you gasped, but your hips rolled up to meet his desperately, chasing the drag and press of his cock.

Namjoon groaned deeply, eyes fluttering as he lost himself in the idea.

“Insane for you,” he corrected, his thrusts suddenly brutal again, snapping into you hard enough to make the headboard knock softly against the wall. “Fucking crazy for you. Want to keep you like that. Want to make you mine in every way there is. Want everyone to look at you and know who fucking owns you.”

You moaned loudly, clenching around him hard, and Namjoon cursed, losing what little control he had left.

“Gonna fill you up every night,” he growled, slamming in deeper, harder, his pace wild now. “Over and over until it takes. Until you’re knocked up and glowing and stuck right here with me.”

Your cries echoed around the bedroom, your body locking up tight as you came again, sobbing his name as your walls fluttered wildly around him.

Namjoon followed instantly, hips grinding down as he spilled inside you, a long, desperate moan falling from his lips as he emptied himself completely.

He stayed there, buried deep, panting against your shoulder, his arms tight around your body like he couldn’t bear to pull away.

“I love you,” he whispered fiercely, pressing frantic kisses to your neck. “I need you.”

“You’re mine. Always mine.”

You whimpered softly, too wrecked to answer, but you pressed your lips against his jaw weakly and that was enough.

Eventually, Namjoon shifted, carefully easing out and gathering you into his arms as though you weighed nothing. He carried you to the bathroom, gently cleaned you up, and pressed soft kisses to your thighs and belly as you dozed off, too spent to protest.

When he tucked you back into bed, brushing your hair from your face and whispering quietly as you drifted to sleep.

“Sleep, princess. You’re home now,” he murmured, trailing his fingers along your arm.

—

The sun was still low in the sky when Namjoon stirred.

The penthouse was bathed in soft, early light, golden and warm as it filtered through the sheer curtains. The city beyond the windows was quiet, still asleep, but inside this bedroom, inside this bed, everything felt perfect.

You were curled against him, your face pressed into his bare chest, one leg tossed possessively over his waist. Your breathing was steady, lips parted slightly as you slept, blissfully unaware of the way Namjoon’s dark eyes traced every feature of your face like he was memorizing you.

Like he hadn’t spent the entire night tangled with you.

Like he didn’t already know every inch of your body and soul.

His fingers trailed softly down your spine, barely grazing, but the simple act made his cock twitch beneath the covers. Not even from lust—though that simmered quietly, as always—but from pure obsession.

You were here.

You were his.

Back in Seoul, in his bed, in his life.

Namjoon swallowed thickly, heart aching in a way that wasn’t gentle or romantic. It was primal. A dark, desperate need that twisted low in his gut and whispered that he would never, ever let you leave again.

Not now. Not after this.

He stayed like that for nearly an hour, just watching you sleep, before you finally stirred, groaning softly and stretching like a lazy cat. Your eyes fluttered open and met his gaze immediately.

“Why are you awake?” you asked, voice scratchy with sleep, lips curving slightly at the corners.

Namjoon smiled, warm and devastating, and leaned in to press a kiss to your forehead.

“Couldn’t sleep,” he murmured. “Not with you looking like that right next to me.”

You rolled your eyes but blushed anyway, hiding your face in his chest with a shy laugh.

“Gross,” you teased. “You’re gross in the mornings.”

“You love it,” he countered easily, his arms tightening around you. “You love me.”

You froze for a split second—then relaxed, heart skipping as your fingers trailed up his ribs.

“…Yeah. I do.”

Namjoon kissed your crown like he’d won something monumental. Like your sleepy little confession had satisfied something deep inside him that words couldn’t reach.

Breakfast was lazy. He ordered in, everything you liked, and insisted on feeding you bites straight from his chopsticks. He sat close, closer than necessary, his knee pressed against yours, his hand occasionally sneaking under the oversized shirt you wore, his shirt, to squeeze your bare thigh.

At some point, though, as you sipped your tea, you remembered. Your face warmed as you glanced over at him, watching as he polished off his own plate, annoyingly casual.

“…Joon?”

“Hm?” He glanced at you, licking a bit of sauce off his thumb, utterly at ease.

“Last night,” you began slowly, unsure how to phrase it without sounding too affected. “You said some stuff.”

His brows lifted faintly, clearly amused. “I said a lot of stuff, baby.”

You scowled playfully but your heart pounded. “You know what I mean.”

He stared at you for a beat. Then, slowly, a wicked grin spread across his face, so lazy and fond and dangerous it made your stomach flip.

“Oh,” he drawled, voice dropping slightly. “You mean when I told you I was going to make you my wife and pump you full of my babies?”

You choked on your tea, eyes wide. “Joon—!”

“What?” he asked innocently, leaning back and stretching his arms behind his head, muscles flexing beneath his tshirt. “It’s true. That’s the plan. I want you barefoot, pregnant, and stuck at home so I can keep you all to myself.”

You stared at him, mouth opening and closing uselessly, and he just smiled like you were adorable for being so flustered.

“You’re serious,” you finally whispered, eyes narrowing in disbelief.

Namjoon tilted his head, his grin softening into something more intense. “Of course I’m serious. Why wouldn’t I be? You’re mine. And soon, you’ll be mine legally too. That ring is coming, sweetheart. Soon as you even hint that you’re ready…”

His eyes darkened, voice turning rougher.

“I’ll put a baby in you so fast you won’t even remember life before it.”

You sputtered, your cheeks on fire.

“Joon, my parents haven’t even met you yet!” you blurted. “I haven’t even met your parents—how can you talk about marriage and babies like that?”

Namjoon blinked once, very slowly. Then, his lips twitched like you’d just said something very stupid.

“…Is that it?” he asked, voice low and amused. “That’s what’s holding you back from our future?”

You didn’t even get a chance to answer before he pulled out his phone.

You gawked. “Namjoon. Joon. What are you doing—?”

He was already typing. Already calling.

Within seconds, he had the phone to his ear and his tone flipped immediately. Soft, polite, almost boyish in a way that made your head spin.

“Eomma,” he greeted warmly. “Good morning. No, everything’s fine. Actually—yes. I have someone I want you to meet. Your future daughter-in-law.”

You slapped a hand over your mouth, your stomach flipping wildly as he casually, shamelessly said the words like it was the most natural thing in the world. You couldn’t hear his mother’s response, but Namjoon’s pleased hum and knowing grin told you everything.

“Mm, yes. Soon. I’ll set up a day and time. Appa too? Of course. I want them both to meet her properly.”

When he hung up, he was glowing. No, preening. He looked absolutely smug and satisfied as he turned back to you.

“There,” he said simply. “Handled.”

You could only gape. “Namjoon…”

“What?” he asked, eyes gleaming with mischief and affection. “You said that was the issue. So now it’s not.”

You hid your face in your hands, laughing in disbelief.

“You’re unbelievable.”

Namjoon reached forward and tugged your hands down gently, cupping your cheeks as he leaned in, his voice dropping low and dangerous.

“Unbelievably in love with you,” he corrected, kissing your lips softly.

You melted, just a little.

“…My parents…” you tried again weakly, but Namjoon didn’t let you finish.

“Tell me about them,” he said easily. “I need to know everything before I meet them.”

It rolled off his tongue so easily. As if he hadn’t done an entire background check on every single on of your living relatives. Immediate and distant family. He’d left no stone untouched when he was debating on making you an offer of being his sugar baby.

How drastically things have changed over the years.

You hesitated, and then started explaining that they knew about someone. You’d vaguely told them you were seeing someone exclusively, but you definitely hadn’t explained that he was your sugar daddy turned boyfriend turned obsessed husband to be.

Namjoon listened carefully, nodding along with a thoughtful hum.

“And they’re… traditional, you said?”

You nodded sheepishly. “Kind of. They’re not super strict but, y’know… they don’t like too much PDA. Especially when meeting someone for the first time.”

For a moment, Namjoon just stared at you. Then his lips curled in a way that made your stomach clench.

“No hands?” he asked slowly, clearly amused.

“No hands,” you confirmed firmly.

“No kisses?”

“Joon.”

“No fucking?” he added with a wicked grin.

You groaned, slapping his arm.

“They’re my parents, Namjoon. Behave.”

He laughed, pulling you closer until you were straddling his lap again, his hands automatically sliding down to cup your ass possessively.

“I’ll be on my best behavior,” he promised smoothly. “But you know I’m going to be inside you as soon as they leave, right?”

You rolled your eyes, but your body betrayed you, heat flooding between your thighs at the thought. Namjoon kissed you again, slow and possessive, humming softly as he tasted your surrender.

“Soon, princess,” he whispered against your lips. “Soon you’ll be my wife. And then I won’t ever have to pretend to behave again.”

And the terrifying thing was… you weren’t sure you wanted him to.

six | masterlist | eight

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #15

April 19-26 2024

President Biden appeared along side Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senators Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders to announce major climate action. Biden announced a program, Solar For All, 7 billion dollars aimed at supporting low income house holds install solar power in their homes. The program will support 900,000 households across the country getting solar. Lower the average energy bill for a family by $400 a month and avoid more than 30 million metric tons of carbon pollution over the next 25 years. The boost in solar installation will help create 200,000 new jobs across the country. The President also announced the launch of the Climate Conservation Crops. modeled on FDR's Civilian Civilian Conservation Corps and JFK's Peace Corps, Biden's Climate Conservation Crops will be a program where young people can connect with climate projects across the country and be paid to help protect the planet. The Corps will be 20,000 strong, with 2,000 openings listed right now on their webpage across 36 states DC and Puerto Rico.

The Department of Labor finalized a new rule on overtime. Currently employers are only required to pay overtime to workers making under $35,568. Under the new ruling that will be raised to workers making $43,888, and in January 2025 raised again to workers making $58,656 and under. This will bring overtime pay to 4 million more workers and transfer $1.5 billion from the pockets of companies to workers. It also fixes to raise the level with inflation every 3 years starting in 2027.

The EPA announced a $1 billion dollar program to help replace heavily duty vehicles with clean energy versions. There are currently 3 million class 6 and 7 vehicles, school buses, box trucks dump trucks, street sweepers, delivery trucks, bucket trucks, and utility trucks, in use. 70% of the funds will go to replacing School Buses with Clean energy buses and the remaining 30% will go to replacing Vocational Vehicles like dump trucks and street sweepers. Heavy Duty vehicles on top of green house cases release harmful nitrogen oxide and fine particulate matter and replacing them will not only combat climate change but improve public health.

The Department of Interior took actions to protect 13 million acres of Alaska wild land is protected and to secure the livelihood of Alaska Native peoples who rely on this land. The Administration refused oil and mining rights on the vast areas of Alaska land as well as a 210 miles road through the northern wildernesses. This area represents valuable habitat for caribou and endangered polar bears, as well as millions of migrating birds.

The Department of Transportation announced finalized rules requiring airlines to give automatic cash refunds for canceled flights and other inconvenience. The refunds will be automatic meaning passengers will not have apply for them, prompt the airlines are required to refund a credit card purchase in 7 days, and require repayment in full and in kind, airlines can not substitute travel vouchers for cash. The DOT also announced new rules to protect airline travelers from junk fees, airlines and ticket agents must now clearly tell travelers upfront about all fees so no one is surprised by a hidden fee.

The EPA announced finalized rules on emissions standards for fuel burning power plants. The new rules include a tightening of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, requiring a 70% reduction in mercury. It also had rules protecting ground water, new rules will require coal powered plants to remove 660 million pounds per year of pollutants discharged through wastewater, and for the first time federally regulates the dumping of coal ash, requiring safe dump sites that will not leak into ground water. Finalized rules require coal fired and new natural gas-fired power plants to capture up to 90% of their carbon pollution

Security of Transportation Pete Buttigieg attended the ground breaking of a new high speed rail project to connect Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The Biden Administration announced 3 billion to support the project 5 months ago. At 218 of all electric green rail the project promises to be the fastest way to get from LA to Las Vegas. Planned to open in 2028 just in time for the LA Olympics it is the first of many planned high speed rail projects. The Biden Administration has promised $66 billion for high speed rail and the largest single investment in Amtrak ever.

The FCC announced a new rule restoring Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality requires internet service pervaders to treat all websites equally and not slow certain ones now or speed others. In 2015 under Obama the FCC passed a rule requiring Net Neutrality. However in 2017, the FCC spread headed by Trump appointed Chair Ajit Pai repealed the rules. A patchwork of Democratic controlled states, lead by California passed state level laws requiring Net Neutrality forcing ISPs to de facto keep it in place. Late last year President Biden got the opportunity to replace Pai on the FCC, giving the FCC a 3 to 2 Democratic majority which voted this week to return to the Obama era rules and protect Net Neutrality nationwide.

The FTC passed finalized regulations to ban noncompete agreements in nearly all cases. These agreements, which cover 18% of American workers, about 30 million people, prohibit workers from joining or creating competing companies for a certain period of time. The FTC estimates that workers will earn an average of $524 dollars a year more and up to 8,500 new businesses will be created each year. The new rule will still allow noncompete for senior executives who make up less than 1% of the work force. Like with the FCC, two out of the 3 FTC commissioners who voted for the new rules are Biden appointees.

The Departments of Health and Human Services and Interior have announced a joint, $1 billion project to connect tribal communities to safe drinking water. Roughly half of Tribal households lack access to clean drinking water or adequate sanitation.

At the White House The Biden Administration announced plans to protect, restore and reconnect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of rivers and streams. This effort will include state, local and tribal government as well as private efforts along with the federal government to protect and restore the nations freshwater environments.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced a new rule boosting privacy protection for abortions. Republicans in states like Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma and Idaho have tried to make it a crime to leave the state to seek an abortion in a state where it is legal. The new federal rule would make it illegal for health information to be shared in these cases

Vice-President Harris announced a new rule requiring staffing standards at Nursing Homes across the country. The new rules will require registered nurses on duty 24 hours, seven days a week. This represents the first time the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have required specific numbers of nurses and aides in Nursing Homes that get Medicare and Medicaid funding.

The Biden Administration Announced a $6 billion deal with tech giant Micron to bring high tech manufacturing to New York. The deal is expected to see Micron invest $100 billion in Syracuse New York area as well as build a factory in Boise, Idaho. The deal will create 70,000 new jobs. It is part of the Biden Administration's effort to bring high tech chip manufacturing to America.

The Department of Education finalized the most comprehensive federal protections for Trans and other Queer students in the nation's history. The rules also overturn Trump era rules on how colleges should handle sexual assault and harassment.

[flarunie]

Rebellion AU

(Somehow, Orion got roped into a coup by accident)

The High Guard takes a more active approach to matters related to Sentinel. Things like keeping contact with someone in Iacon, specifically the one Sentinel couldn’t get rid of after killing the Primes, or even finding ways to get back into the city unnoticed. Mechs with political power and connections, because I don’t think Sentinel was the only one handling the paperwork and all that stuff. Plus, not everyone is going to buy the guy’s lies, and he couldn’t just get rid of everyone either.

So, the High Guards and those who see through Sentinel’s schemes are planning a coup. At first, it could be them spreading rumors about Sentinel being a false Prime or showing evidence of his crimes. It created a huge mess for him, which led him to place many different regulations, making bots disappear, framing them, and saying they were terrorists working with traitors.

Seeing that this method didn’t work, they turned to a more violent way of handling things, starting with stealing weaponry and energon. This is where the High Guards come into play, as they had actual military training.

But then we have our poor Oreo Pack here sneaking into the Archive. Little did he know that the vent he was crawling through was about to break and send him straight onto Starscream's helm. They were afraid he would rat them out to the higher-ups, so the logical choice was to bring that troublesome bot with them. And Orion has been suprisingly helpful with with his knowledge about shortcut through Iacon so they decied to kept him.

This leads Dee on a wild goose chase searching for Orion. But knowing Orion, he definitely isn’t going to sit still after hearing all that stuff about Sentinel. In fact, it drove him to want to find the Matrix more, which would then mean he and Dee wouldn’t have to rot away in the mines anymore, knowing what they could have been if Sentinel hadn’t removed their T-cogs.

Orion did manage to get away from Starscream and his group, then found Dee and told him the truth. Idk maybe Elita also gets demoted for letting a bot under her command go missing.

Then they both end up at Sup Level Fifteen after Orion flips off Darkwing. The story would mostly stay the same from there, but Dee is slightly more mentally prepared for whatever he’s going to face.

The High Guards become more cooperative and helpful when they recognize Pax. So, when Arachnid arrives at Starscream’s hideout, he and the group would already be heading to Iacon. With the help of spies they planted in Sentinel’s council, the break-in goes smoothly. There’s also less destruction because most of Sentinel’s goons are caught off-guard. Now maybe Alpha Trion could be alive in this AU, with some of the bots who know the truth helping to save him.

Back with Orion, who Arachnid just caught after broadcasting the whole ordeal, maybe Orion ends up in Dee’s position in the movie instead. Dee confronts Sentinel during his rescue, and somehow Orion still ends up falling into the hole leading to Cybertron’s core, but it’s Sentinel’s fault. (Look, I just don’t want Dee to kill his best friend, okay?)

Dee still rips Sentinel in half, takes the Megatronus T-cog, then renames himself Megatron, and Orion still becomes Optimus. But they don’t break up, no Decepticons, no banishing. Everyone gets their T-cogs back, energon starts to flow again, and Optimus and Megatron are the new leaders.

(I just spit out a full-fledged idea for a fic I’ll never write at 3 AM (0-0), feeling my eyes burn right now.)

[estellan0vella]

No Smoochie Kiss! Older Brother Sukuna AU HFBU

Living with Sukuna and Yuji is never boring. Between Sukuna's raw intensity and Yuji's unfiltered energy, you often find yourself navigating a whirlwind of chaos and laughter. It's a household filled with love, but sometimes, that love comes with unexpected twists.

It all begins one sunny morning when you're sitting at the kitchen table, half asleep but awake at Sukuna's insistence that you keep a regulated sleep schedule. Sukuna, ever the morning person, is already bustling around, making sure Yuji's lunchbox is packed with all his favourites. Yuji, on the other hand, is sitting next to you, his legs swinging under the table as he munches on his cereal. 

You sip on your coffee as Yuji babbles happily. You nod along but if asked you wouldn't have been able to tell anyone what he'd been talking about. 

You watch as Sukuna, with his usual swagger, approaches you for his customary morning kiss. However, before he can even get close, a small hand plants itself firmly on his chest.

"No, Suku!" Yuji declares, his big brown eyes wide with determination. "No smoochie kiss for Y/N/N!"

Sukuna raises an eyebrow, his signature smirk appearing on his lips. "And why not, squirt?"

"Because," Yuji says with the absolute authority that only a four-year-old can muster, "Y/N/N is mine."

You can't help but laugh, the sound filling the kitchen. Sukuna glances at you, his smirk softening into something more affectionate. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Yuji insists, crossing his arms over his chest. "Mine."

Sukuna looks back at you, an amused glint in his eyes. "Looks like I've got some competition."

You smile, reaching out to ruffle Yuji's hair. "Well, I guess you'll have to work extra hard to win me back."

The week that follows is both hilarious and endearing. Yuji takes his self-appointed role as your protector very seriously. Every time Sukuna tries to steal a kiss, Yuji is there, blocking his path and repeating his stern proclamation: "No smoochie kiss for Y/N/N!"

On Monday, Sukuna tries to catch you in the hallway. He corners you with that predatory grace of his, leaning in as his hand cups your cheek. But just as his lips are about to meet yours, Yuji appears seemingly out of nowhere, wedging himself between the two of you.

"Suku, no!" he says, pushing at Sukuna's legs. "Y/N/N is mine!"

You laugh again, the sound bubbling up uncontrollably. Sukuna sighs, but there's a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You're relentless, aren't you?"

"Yup!" Yuji beams up at him, looking proud of his efforts.

Tuesday morning finds you in the living room, sitting on the couch with a book in hand. Sukuna slides in beside you, his arm slipping around your shoulders. Before you can even think to lean into him, Yuji's head pops up from behind the couch.

"Mine!" he shouts, his little arms waving in the air as he clambers over the back of the couch to wedge himself between you and Sukuna.

You shake your head, trying to suppress your laughter. Sukuna, ever patient (well, as patient as Sukuna can be), simply sighs again, but this time he pulls you and Yuji into a group hug. "Fine. I'll share, for now."

Yuji snuggles in between you two, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "Good!"

"Why were you behind the couch?" You ask the boy. 

"Because I know Suku is sneaky," Yuji says, narrowing his eyes at his older brother. 

Wednesday brings another challenge. Sukuna, determined to have his moment with you, tries to sneak a kiss while Yuji is distracted by his toys. You're in the kitchen, washing dishes, when Sukuna wraps his arms around your waist from behind. His lips brush against your ear, sending a shiver down your spine.

Just as he's about to press his lips to yours, Yuji's voice rings out from the doorway. "Suku! No smoochie kiss!"

Sukuna groans, dropping his forehead to your shoulder in defeat. "Does he have radar or something?"

You giggle, turning in his arms to face him. "Seems like it."

Thursday is perhaps the funniest day of all. You're at the park, watching Yuji play on the swings. Sukuna sees this as his golden opportunity. He sidles up to you, his hand slipping into yours as he leans down, aiming for a kiss.

Yuji, who you thought was engrossed in his swinging, suddenly leaps off, running toward you with surprising speed for someone his age. "No, Suku! No smoochie kiss!"

Sukuna straightens up, shaking his head with a chuckle. "You're really not giving me any breaks, are you?"

"Nope!" Yuji grins, hugging your leg. "Mine."

By Friday, it's become a game. Sukuna tries to catch you alone, and Yuji always seems to thwart his plans at the last second. It's a dance of sorts, filled with laughter and playful banter. Despite his grumbling, you can tell Sukuna is secretly enjoying the challenge. There's a softness in his eyes whenever he looks at Yuji, a fondness that makes your heart swell.

Saturday morning, you decide to take matters into your own hands. After all, a whole week without kissing your boyfriend is quite a stretch. You wait until Yuji is napping, his little body curled up on the couch with his favourite blanket. You find Sukuna in the kitchen, his back to you as he prepares lunch.

Silently, you creep up behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist. He tenses for a moment, then relaxes when he realizes it's you. Turning in your arms, he smirks down at you. "Sneaking up on me now, huh?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," you say with a smile.

Sukuna's hands cup your face, his thumbs gently brushing over your cheeks. "Well, in that case..."

He leans down, capturing your lips in a kiss that's been a week in the making. It's soft and tender, yet filled with the intensity that only Sukuna can bring. You melt into him, your fingers curling into his shirt as you deepen the kiss.

Just as you're getting lost in the moment, a sleepy voice pipes up from the doorway. "Suku... no smoochie kiss..."

You break apart, both of you turning to see Yuji rubbing his eyes, his blanket trailing behind him as he shuffles into the kitchen.

Sukuna chuckles, shaking his head. "This kid..."

You kneel down, opening your arms to Yuji. "Come here, sweetheart."

Yuji toddles over, crawling into your lap. He looks up at Sukuna with a pout. "No smoochie kiss, Suku."

Sukuna kneels beside you, his hand ruffling Yuji's hair. "Alright, alright. No smoochie kiss."

Yuji beams, satisfied with his victory. He snuggles into your arms, closing his eyes again.

You share a look with Sukuna over Yuji's head, a silent understanding passing between you. For all his grumbling, you know Sukuna wouldn't trade these moments for anything. Yuji's protectiveness is endearing, a testament to how much he loves you both.

The rest of the weekend passes in much the same way, with Yuji constantly on guard, ensuring no "smoochie kisses" take place. It's a funny, adorable phase, one that you're sure will pass soon enough.

By Sunday night, as you're tucking Yuji into bed, he looks up at you with those big, innocent eyes. "Y/N/N?"

"Yes, Yuji?"

"Why do you and Suku like smoochie kisses so much?"

You smile, brushing a lock of hair from his forehead. "Because it's a way to show we love each other."

Yuji considers this for a moment, his little brow furrowing in thought. "Can I have a smoochie kiss?"

Your heart melts. "Of course you can, sweetheart."

You lean down, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. Yuji giggles, wrapping his arms around your neck. "I love you, Y/N/N."

"I love you too, Yuji. So, so much."

You finish tucking him in, making sure he's snug and comfortable. As you close his bedroom door and turn around, you find Sukuna leaning against the wall, watching you with a soft smile.

"Looks like I'm off the hook," he says, pushing off the wall to wrap his arms around you.

"For now," you tease, leaning into him.

He chuckles, his lips finding yours in a kiss that's been too long in coming. It's sweet and lingering, a promise of many more to come.

As the days turn into weeks, Yuji eventually eases up on his no "smoochie kiss" rule. He still likes to remind Sukuna every now and then, but it's more playful than serious. The three of you find a balance, a rhythm that works for your little family.

Sukuna still teases Yuji, calling him his little guardian, and Yuji proudly accepts the title. There are days when Sukuna's patience is tested, but the love he has for both you and Yuji shines through, even in the most chaotic moments.

[wumblr]

The number of commercial-scale Bitcoin mining operations in the U.S. has increased sharply over the last few years; there are now at least 137. Similar medical complaints have been registered near facilities in Arkansas and North Dakota. And the Bitcoin mining industry is urgently trying to push bills through state legislatures, including in Indiana and Missouri, which would exempt Bitcoin mines from local zoning or noise ordinances. In May, Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt signed a “Bitcoin Rights” bill to protect miners and prevent any future attempts to ban the industry. Much of the American Bitcoin mining industry can now be found in Texas, home to giant power plants, lax regulation, and crypto-friendly politicians. In October 2021, Governor Greg Abbott hosted the lobbying group Texas Blockchain Council at the governor’s mansion. The group insisted that their industry would help the state’s overtaxed energy grid; that during energy crises, miners would be one of the few energy customers able to shut off upon request, provided that they were paid in exchange. After meeting with the lobbyists, Abbott tweeted that Texas would soon be the “#1 [state] for blockchain & cryptocurrency.” Technically there is federal mandate to regulate noise, which stems from the 1972 Noise Control Act—but it was essentially de-funded during the Reagan administration. This leaves noise regulation up to states, cities, and counties. New York City, for instance, has a noise code which officially caps restaurant music and air conditioning at 42 decibels (as measured within a nearby residence). Texas’s 85 decibels, in contrast, is by far the loudest state limit in the nation, says Les Blomberg, the executive director of the nonprofit Noise Pollution Clearinghouse. “It is a level that protects noise polluters, not the noise polluted,” he says. The residents of Granbury feel they’ve been lied to. In 2023, the site’s previous operators, US Bitcoin Corp, constructed a wall around the mine almost 2,000 feet long and claimed that they had “solved the concern.” But Shirley says that the complaints from the community about the sound actually increased when the wall was nearing completion last fall. Since Marathon bought the facility outright in December, its hash rate, or computational power expended, has doubled. Any statewide legislation is sure to hit significant headwinds, because the very idea of regulation runs contrary to many Texans’ political beliefs. “As constitutional conservatives, they have taken our core values and used that against us,” says Demetra Conrad, a city council member in the nearby town of Glen Rose. In the week before this article’s publication, two more Granbury residents suffered from acute health crises. The first was Tom Weeks. “This whole thing is an eye opener for me into profit over people,” Weeks says in a phone call from the ICU. The second person affected was the five-year-old Indigo Rosenkranz. Her mother, Sarah, was terrified and now feels she has no choice but to get a second mortgage to move away from the mine. “A second one would really be a lot,” she says. “God will provide, though. He always sees us through.”

shocking! texans suffer from deregulation and ineffective walls

[shantalangel]

Since new canon information is here, I decided to make a list of all non-human and semi-human species of creatures that are currently present in Trigun Stampede. There are surprisingly many of them here; much more than in manga! Which is very intriguing, because it will certainly create new story arcs.

1) I called it Proto-Angel for clarity; on the art it is simply named "Plant". The mummy of a certain humanoid alien, which humans found during excavations on Earth – before Gunsmoke. For a long time they could not understand who it was and whose flesh it was, then they decided to resurrect it, but succeeded only by mixing it's DNA with human DNA.

2) And thus Plants were created. One of the first experimental ones had the same type of power as Vash - the opposite to most Plants, sucking energy from the surrounding world rather than producing it, - and with its help destroyed the laboratory of the creators (maybe it was Tesla? It’s not for nothing that her and Vash’s files on the ship were in the same folder). So the creation of Plants with this type of power was banned. Most Plants are clones of each other. A small percentage are born by breeding (both subtypes can breed with each other).

For convenience or some specific purposes, two types of Plants were created:

- Dependent: female humanoids living in in a liquid that protects them from the harmful effects of the outside world, because they have no immunity. Playing the role of a bioprinter, energy source, terraforming device and gravity generator, but unable to live without connections to certain equipment (as far as I remember, they need some kind of artificial regulation of the energy supply).

Since the concept art of Rem is shown on the same slide with them, I now wonder if it was her DNA that was used...

- Independent: ground-based and autonomous, wielding bio-weapons of enormous power (maybe everyone has them or only specific individuals. In manga, according to Nai, Tesla did not have weapon, but in both manga and anime her hand was held in a separate capsule, while Independent’ weapons are generated from the hand). Capable of merging both with Independent and Dependent - if that one being is not stronger than the other and their consciousnesses do not conflict. Both sexes; I think the Proto-Angel was asexual, and the sex of Plant is determined by female and male human genes - this would explain why in the first subtype there are only women, while in the second are both.

3) Conrad decided to create modified humans who would find it easier to survive on Gunsmoke. How exactly he wanted to do it is unclear - espesially since Plants may have many of their unique characteristic exactly because their body always connected to an alternative dimension through the Gate; where is their energy source and their mind lives in the form of the Core. So this modified humans are connected to some Core, or artificial one, maybe? Conrad began to somehow modified human children by Plants' DNA.

So, it’s already the formula of triple hybrid: (Proto-Angel + human DNA) + human.

The result was Nicholas, Livio, Monev (Rollo), E.G. Mine (the guy in bandages from 3 episodes); other test subjects did not survive.

How far this four are from humans and how closer to Plants, with what and how they were modified, is still unclear. Can they do some superhuman things like Elendira in the next experiment with hybrids is also a very intriguing question. But at least the healing blue liquid has the same glow as Plants. As well as material of at least Wolfwood's weapon (something turquoise, colored to imitate metal) (crazy theory - maybe Gun Ho Guns weapons are the same ephemeral thing that is Elendira's nails and Vash's angel arm, they just can't dematerialise it?).

4) But the first experiments didn’t turn human into Independent Plant, so Conrad started others. Judging by his words from episode 10, this time he genetically modified not children, but human embryos, resulting in Elendira.

In the context of this process were mentioned cloning and Nai’s help, but who is whose clone and a genetic relative is not yet clear.

Theory #1: Based on Elendira's apparently implanted eye, maybe this time humans were transplanted with Plant's entire organ - like in the old anime Vash's arm was transplanted to Legato and from it he received all his abilities.

So such a hybrid became closer to the Independents than to humans (including bio-weapons).

Theory #2: That was some kind of attempt to create a human embryo through a sisters’ “bioprinter”: that is, they look human visually, but physically are made of Plant DNA converted to human DNA by the same principle Plants create edible meat of animals. I think one of the reasons why humans never tried to create superbodies for themselves in Plants is because Plants can't create bodies that can live, only "dead" flash. That is, the organs or brain of such bodies will be incomplete and not viable.

What is the fundamental difference between hybrids from №4 and №5, the Independents and Nai’s future biological children is not yet clear to me. Perhaps new hybrids are weaker in terms of abilities, although they also have bio-weapons (Elendira’s nails).

Whether hybrids can merge together into a single being and whether they have Cores in another dimension is a very interesting question.

5) In the same room with Elendira are several capsules with other newborn cubs of indeterminate gender, similar in appearance to little sisters, but with strange fur or feathers on their arms and legs. After the art below, I had a guess that these are the pilots of Gray 9 Lives.

Gray in this anime is a giant robot the size of a mountain, inside of which are spheres with control devices and certain creatures connected to them, whom are literally built into it with no the possibility of escape. On the art below, the pilots clearly resemble these babies because they have Plant's petal appendages on their heads.

And here, in the center of a small city, apparently lies the same sphere, around which people built a fence and carefully covered it with a tent. The light inside is exactly the same as Plants’ one.

In other concept art, though, the pilots look completely different and mysterious, because they are not even close to any of the creatures on this long list. These are not humans, and not Plants, and probably not even mutants (although in manga had some very strange creatures: the golem servant of Legato, the original Gray's bio-body and pilots inside, and one mercenary with a face of the undead and big tusks from his chin). What is this even, who was it born from?!

6) Nai and sisters’ biological children. How they might differ from other Plants, and hybrids from №4, and why he even needed this whole “ritual”, I have no idea. Maybe it has something to do with the transfer of immunity that the Sisters don't have?

7) And, finally, Legato - he is a separate interesting person.

Manga: a completely inhuman long narrow tongue, the ability to control the flesh (but not the mind) and the processes of many living organisms at the same time (including animals and dying - cut in half Nai after July), as well as in his own body (judging by the battle with Vash in at the end of Trimax, he could even heal himself, or at least improve body characteristics), and even resurrect the dead (the head of the maniac who kept him in slavery; the murdered Elendira). I very much doubt that an ordinary human would have any possibility to do this, even with some special gadget with wires. Legato's connection is essentially a weaker version of the Plants' merge! Not to mention control over Nai (in the fortress, when he was a slave - did not allow to kill him with other fortresses residents) and Vash, whom he restrained for 7 months in a row - a superbeing, who's able to blow the moon. Plus, in one art, Legato has huge black claws on his hand.

Old anime: Vash's arm was transplanted to him, and he received all his abilities from it. It’s just gorgeous when Plants just merge with humans like that, even without consequences. 

New anime: beside controlling others, was given new ability - to crush giant parts of mechanisms like tin cans, from a very big distance. Also, as far as I remember, only in Stampede his hands are completely covered with gloves.

His child concept art, in addition to another version of the gadget, has some interesting device on those eye that is always covered with bangs.

Another interesting art, where he is holding some kind of complex automaton. Apparently, an analogue of those controlled by Leonoff. And his hands look like they're not gloves, but prosthetics like Vash's, or has blue skin.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Alberta's energy regulator ruled Thursday that it won't reconsider approvals for Suncor to expand an oilsands mine into a wetland once considered for environmental protection. The decision opens the door for expansion of the company's Fort Hills mine that has been before the regulators for more than two decades. It unlocks an estimated billion barrels of bitumen. "This is part of Fort Hills moving forward," said Suncor spokesman Leithan Slade. But scientists say it's also likely to doom a unique patterned fen — a peat-producing wetland featuring long strings of trees and shrubs separated by narrow pools that is host to 20 rare or endangered plant species and more than 200 species of migratory birds, including endangered whooping cranes.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada @abpoli

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

A growing group of Republicans and business leaders is rallying behind an unlikely cause. They want to protect Biden-era tax credits for wind, solar and other clean energy.

President Trump has made dismantling federal efforts to address climate change a signature part of his agenda, eliminating environmental regulations, withholding congressionally approved funding, firing workers, halting permitting for wind energy developments and fast-tracking fossil fuel projects.

But the clean energy tax credits, which were signed into law by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, have helped spur a boom in manufacturing investment in the United States, especially in Republican districts.

Now, as Mr. Trump pushes Congress to slash federal spending to pay for broad tax cuts, some House Republicans from districts that got billions of dollars in investment from the tax credits have begun a campaign to keep them.

The Republicans are making the case that supporting renewable energy is squarely in line with Mr. Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda, despite the president’s rallying against what he calls the “green new scam.”

Last week, a group of 21 House Republicans wrote a letter to Representative Jason Smith of Missouri, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, asking him to preserve the credits. And in recent weeks, several groups of conservative environmentalists and business leaders have traveled to Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress on the issue.

“To meet President Trump’s campaign promises of bringing back manufacturing and taking energy production at home seriously, we need to look at an all-the-above approach to these things,” Representative Andrew Garbarino of New York, who organized the letter, said in an interview. “These credits have been helping do that.”

President Trump has not specifically said which if any of the credits he wants to eliminate, but he regularly talks about repealing the Inflation Reduction Act. The White House declined a request for comment.

The credits, which offer financial incentives to companies producing renewable power and sustainable aviation fuel, making components for clean technology and working to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, have helped push billions of dollars into domestic factory construction in recent years. The United States recorded more than $315 billion in clean energy investments last year, according to the International Energy Agency.

About 80 percent of the investments tied to the bill have gone to Republican congressional districts, according to an analysis by Atlas Public Policy, a research firm. They include battery plants across the Southeast, a lithium mine in Nevada and wind farms in Texas.

[dertaglichedan]

President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders on Tuesday aimed at revitalizing the U.S. coal industry, marking a significant shift in the nation's energy policy. The orders direct federal agencies to prioritize coal mining and leasing on federal lands, designate coal as a critical mineral, and streamline regulations that have hampered the industry's growth.

By invoking the Defense Production Act, the administration seeks to expand coal mining and prevent the retirement of existing coal-fired power plants to meet rising electricity demand, particularly from energy-intensive data centers and artificial intelligence operations. The move underscores the government's commitment to boosting domestic energy production and supporting the fossil fuel sector.

“We're ending Joe Biden's war on beautiful, clean coal once and for all,” President Trump declared during the signing ceremony at the White House. “We're going to put the miners back to work.” The executive orders also instruct the Department of Energy to invest in next-generation coal technology and the Department of Justice to challenge state and local regulations that hinder coal operations.

Additionally, the administration plans to use billions of dollars in federal funding to support coal technology development and ensure the reliability and security of the nation's electric grid. By designating coal as a critical mineral, the government aims to bolster the industry's role in powering data centers and artificial intelligence initiatives

[astravires]

Tag Game - Non-sims interests

thanks for the tag @crazy-hazy-sims (i also got tagged by @aching-joints in the five non-sims interests game, so consider this a double up for both (and a little more than five)

i think everyone has put music as an interest, and while i wouldn't really consider myself a music enthusiast i do enjoy a good tune. i'm currently reliving my early years because my other half is listening to Green Day's American Idiot lately, so I'm on a New Found Glory kick. i'm also tone deaf and can't carry a tune, but i'm almost always listening to music.

as for gaming, I am a forever easy-mode player. The foundations for my entire personality was built on Kingdom Hearts. i played when it was first released on PS2 because it had Square Enix on the box and I was just getting into Final Fantasy. i love it, and it's stupidly convoluted story. More recent games I'm big on Baldur's Gate 3 and Vampire Survivors. i'm also in deep in genshin impact (f2p all the way baaaybeee). i've been a massive Dragon Age fan since DA2. I own the official Dorian Inquisition hoodie, the Leliana coat, and the limited edition Varric shadowbox....And FADE KNIFE. i heavily tailor my tumblr fandom experience so i avoid A LOT of drama, but srsly, DA:V got me back into fanfic writing after not doing it since my twenties. DA2 is still my fave, but I just love how i can pick up and play DA:V for a bit (usually until Emmrich calls me dearest and i have to go use a fainting couch)

It's rare i get to indluge it, because adults never have time to actually hang out in friend groups without advanced warning, but I absolutely love playing HeroQuest when I can convince folks to play with me. I have fond memories of my dad playing it with his friends when I was a kid, so being able to GM it now is such a nostalgic feeling. Its a good TTRPG without the extra work like D&D.

OK, so, I'm going to be very honest here; i am an outlier and should not be counted, but Financial Instruments are like, a special interest of mine. Some are entirely made-up, have value only because the market (also made up) says they have value. I will talk about onion futures at the drop of a hat, and while they're awful, i get what crypto is "trying" to do. the products are wild, i will sink into a rabbit hole for the more absurd (weather futures my beloved) types of products, and it is all, realistically utterly pointless and just for "number go up". it's a good thing my job is "report this madness to regulators" ain't it? it's wrong, and the fact that lives are tied to people playing make-believe with numbers is awful, but, ooooohh do i love learning about when they make stupid mistakes.

ART!!! this kind of pulls from above - i love art in theory; people playing make the number go up with some good lightning and a humidifier. i have a degree in fine art; i'm always interested in outlandish, dada-ish mayhem. no, ma'am, your five year old could not make that - the that is the idea, the why, the where, the when - not so much the what. it's why i like financial instruments; why do you need to hedge that commodity with a thirty year interest rate derivative???? I WARNED YOU I WAS WEIRD. in terms of my own art, i do dabble from time to time. i was a teenage furry artist (if you ask nicely, i can show you), and i like drawing and just smooshing paint about. i love sculpture; my degree practice was using papemache and poster paint. i made a giant tentacle monster in uni, it was awesome.

so i'm not very good, but there's something relaxing about knitting that i do enjoy. i don't do anything fancy - my skill set is scarf. but its just so soothing to knit. i'd love to learn to crochet, but my brain can't seem to remember the hand motions once i set it down.

i haven't had time recently, so everything has died, but i both love and hate gardening. i'm not big on fancy gardens with pretty plants, but i was working on getting a kitchen garden going a few years ago before i really had to split my time between home and london. also, my dog ate all my strawberries

i don't care if one would class it as an interest, but i love him and his dumb face:

his name is alan turing and he's a whole three years old.

i think nearly everyone has done this, so ignore me if i tag you and you have - i'm not sure if @ryttu3k if you did???

@notasimblr @gloomiegalaxie @wolkentage

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Hazardous Waste Storage Failures: Coal Slurry

Even more specific examples of improper storage of waste than what was discussed last week can be found in four examples from the coal industry specifically:

In October of 1966, a spoil tip (waste byproducts from coal mining) in Aberfan, Wales, in the United Kingdom, failed after heavy rain. The resulting slurry of waste and rain water ran down the mountainside into the town, engulfing buildings. Twenty-eight adults were killed - and 116 children at a local junior school.

In February of 1972, in Logan County, West Virginia, in the United States, a coal slurry dam burst in similar conditions (following heavy rain). The resulting spill killed 125 people and injured over a thousand more, destroying hundreds of homes in the process. It also ran into Buffalo Creek, damaging the local aquatic environment for the decades that followed.

In October of 2000, a coal slurry in Martin County, Kentucky, in the United States failed. In this instance, it was the bottom of the waste storage which broke, spilling the waste into the mine below it. The mine was abandoned, and no deaths were directly attributed to the initial spill, but the waste spilled out of the mine openings, killing everything in the nearby waterways and contaminating the water source of thousands of residents. The spill was an estimated 306 million US gallons.

Finally, in December of 2008, a coal ash pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee, in the United States, failed. Over a billion US gallons of slurry were released, the largest industrial spill in the country's history. Again, no deaths were associated with the initial spill beyond wildlife, but dozens of workers involved in the cleanup suffered negative health consequences as a result of poor management and safety regulations, including an estimated thirty deaths.

Sources/Further Reading: (Aberfan: Wikipedia - image 1, Smithsonian) (Buffalo Creek: Wikipedia, MSHA) (Martin County: Wikipedia, EPA) (Kingston Fossil Plant: Wikipedia, News Channel 5 Nashville)

[e-dubbc11]

If you'd like to here's a wee request for your winter sleepover! ☃️

F!Reader, Frank, and Billy are friends but Bill knows damn well that you and Frank have been eyeing each other up for ages but neither has been bold enough to make a move. Maybe he intervenes and stages something cute or where they're forced to be together alone, and things get fluffy and sweet between them ☺️🥰

Stef! Thank you for sending in this ask! I’ve never really written for Frank as the object of the reader’s affection before but this was fun! I hope you like it!

Bullseye

Photos are not mine. They are courtesy of Pinterest/Google.

Pairing: Frank Castle x F! Reader; supporting character Billy Russo

Warnings: Swear words, mentions of a divorce and a miscarriage, mention of the death of Frank’s family (Billy was no part of it in this little au, I can’t write that, I just can’t), and fluff

Word Count: 1.5K-ish

Summary: You join your friends dart league. She thinks it will be good for you to get out of the house and also thinks someone new might catch your eye.

A/N: I guess you could say this is my first Frank fic. Just a little meet cute. I wasn’t sure who to tag for this one, I hope it’s ok I just put everyone from my Billy tag list on this one

As always, thank you for reading!  I appreciate it so much and comments, reblogs are welcome and encouraged. Don’t be shy to tell me your favorite part. 💕💕 💕

“What do I know about throwin’ darts?!” You asked with narrowed eyes and a slight scowl on your face, planting another dart near the bullseye.

“You know a lot more than you think you do, that’s for sure, y/n!” Jamie said. “I’ve never seen anyone that has picked it up like you have.”

Taking a sip of your beer, you replied, “Jamie, I’m just messin’ around, I don’t know shit about throwin’ them, let alone enough to be in the league with you.”

She took a sip from her glass.

“Come on! It’s just for fun anyway! I get a break from my husband and the kids for a few hours a week and you…” she paused, “You get a break from your couch.”

“HEY!” You said, slightly perturbed at her statement. Although she wasn’t wrong. You haven’t really been out much since your divorce.

After a couple of beers and a few casual rounds of darts, you agreed to join Jamie’s league. She had been wanting you to join and be on her team for awhile now. She also thought it would be the perfect way to get you out of the house and among the land of the living again.

The divorce was hard on you. After your miscarriage, your ex-husband withdrew from you and there was no coming back from it. The distance was too far and he thought it would be best if you just separated. HE thought it would be best…he didn’t care what you wanted.

But if he didn’t want to try and work through the pain and the hurt of it all, then you didn’t want to either. He found someone new right away and his new wife was ready to give birth any day now which is why you were out with Jamie, trying to drink your problems away…even if it was just for a little while.

“Ok, that was a little harsh. Your ex is a dickhead who abandoned you at your lowest point and I would do anything to see you genuinely happy again.” Said Jamie.

With a shy smile, you said, “I’d really like to be happy again too.”

**********

Your weekly outing of throwing darts was a lot more fun than you thought it would be. Plus, the scenery was great…Frank Castle and Billy Russo. Billy was traditionally handsome, deep brown eyes, well-groomed beard, nice clothes, and a sexy voice. But Frank…there was just something about him that drew you in.

He wasn’t traditionally handsome like Billy but Frank just had something that had you stealing glances when he wasn’t looking. The deep gruff tone to his voice was incredibly sexy; you could tell his nose had been broken on more than one occasion but that just made him more attractive to you.

Jamie let him teach you the rules and regulations of the game. She knew he would have to get close, possibly put his hands on you to show you some things. She kind of had a feeling you might be into Frank.

“Is THIS why you wanted me to join?!” You whispered yelled into her ear.

Jamie’s lips curled into a sly smile. “Whaaaat? Nothing wrong with a little handsome scenery. If I wasn’t married, I’d ride Billy like a rented mule but I thought Frank seemed more like your type.” She said.

Looking over at Frank and Billy talking, you bit back a smile and turned back to talk to Jamie. “Frank is very handsome and he’s very sweet. He has sadness in his eyes though.”

After you said that, Jamie went on to tell you that Frank had a family. He had a wife and two kids. Billy had told her what happened to them, helped Frank get even for what those assholes did but it’s not like it brings them back.

That story broke you. To have your whole family taken from you and there was nothing you could do to stop it sounded excruciating. You had lost a baby but nothing like what Frank had been through.

Billy and Frank were still talking.

“Frankie…” Said Billy.

Frank, continuing to practice, replied, “Yeah…what is it, Bill?”

“I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that y/n has a little bit of a crush on you.” Billy said with a wide Cheshire cat smile.

Frank took a glance over his shoulder at you.

“Ya think so huh? Well you would notice that, right Bill?” Said Frank. “She is beautiful but her eyes are sad. Wonder what happened to her?”

Your first week of playing darts, you had a little too much beer and told Billy about your divorce, your miscarriage, and how your ex walked out on you. It probably wasn’t one of your finer moments but it was out there now and you couldn’t take it back.

Anger stretched across Frank’s face. “Fuckin’ scumbag.” He growled.

Billy had a serious tone to his voice. “Look Frankie, she's experienced loss too albeit a little different from yours…you should talk to her. Plus, she blushes every time you look at her.”

Frank stopped throwing darts, looked at Billy and replied, “A loss is a loss Bill, it hurts no matter what. Yeah, maybe I will talk to her.”

**********

You and Frank continued to dance around each other for another few weeks. They were filled with stolen glances and smiles. Frank did give you a few lessons on how to throw a little better.

You could feel his warm breath against the top of your ear, the way his shoulder touched yours when he would stand behind you, and the gravelly tone to his voice gave you goosebumps as he was giving you pointers.

“Good…line it up now, yeah? That’s it. Now remember, a short hard flick of the wrist and…let it go, sweetheart. That’s better, stable grip and not too tight. Attagirl.” He said with a smirk.

It wasn’t easy to get a smile out of Frank but it looked good on him. You, on the other hand, were elated after hitting three bullseyes in a row.

After taking a sip of beer, Frank asked, “You been divorced long? Sorry, I’m not exactly subtle. Bill mentioned it to me.”

“Yeah, I told Billy a lot that night, didn’t I.” You said, slightly embarrassed.

“Bill has a big mouth sometimes but he’s trying to help.” He said. “He’s tryin’ to play matchmaker is what he’s doin’.”

Heat rose to your cheeks, you felt butterflies in your stomach, and warmth stretched across your chest. You tried to cover your face a little so Frank couldn’t see you blushing.

Frank brought up your divorce but you decided against talking about his family; maybe you would just let him bring it up if he ever felt comfortable enough to.

Noticing it was a little too quiet in the bar, you took a sip from your glass and looked around. No one from your team was in sight, not Jamie, not Billy…nobody. You only saw members of the team you were supposed to be playing in a few minutes.

“Frank?” You asked.

“Yeah sweetheart?” Asked Frank, holding the dark and aiming it at the target.

“Where…where did everyone go?” You asked.

With narrowed eyes and a furrowed brow, Frank took a quick look around the bar, then took a look outside. Billy’s car was gone and so was Jamie’s. Frank stormed back inside and took out his phone as you tried to stifle a smile.

“I’ll kill him; he’s my ride home.” Said Frank.

Frank stepped away so you couldn’t really hear his conversation with Billy.

As Frank walked back to where you were standing, you asked, “What did he say? Where are they?”

Frank smirked, putting his phone back in his pocket, he replied, “Well, he said he’s not telling us where they went, that they forfeited the match, and we should relax, have a drink and get to know each other a little better. He’ll be back later to get me.”

“They forfeited!? I HATE losing! Jamie knows that I HATE to lose!” You said with clenched fists and through gnashed teeth.

“I hate to lose; Bill does too but he always said if it was for the greater good then it was ok.” Frank said in a low voice with a slight smile.

You smiled warmly at him. “You must be the greater good for him then.”

Frank inched closer, you could feel his warm breath against your eyelashes as he replied, “I guess I am. He’s a good friend.” Pointing at your glass and walking away from you, toward the bar, he asked, “You ready for a refill, sweetheart?”

For the first time in a long time, you had gone through a stretch of time without thinking about your ex-husband or feeling sorry for yourself.

Maybe you were finally ready to move on with your life and enjoy the little things in it like darts with friends and drinks with a handsome man with kind brown eyes.

“Oh…yes please. I am…very ready.” You said softly.

You were definitely excited for more nights like this.

Tag List: @wheresthesunshinesblog @rafaelakelley @idaoftheburningmind @snowkestrel @fakehappy27 @music-indie-tv @fictional-hooman @kayhi808 @munsonownsmyass @gijos @celestialend @k-marzolf @nutmeg17 @rosaleenablack @vaguekayla @qu1etwolf @danzer8705 @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @mysteriouslydeafeningwerewolf

Others that might enjoy: @itwasthereaminuteago @fluffyprettykitty @jvanilly @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @russosafehaven @mrsbillyrusso @ittybxttykxttytxtty

If you’d like to be added (or removed from) my tag list(s) for the ever so handsome Billy Russo, just let me know and thank you again for reading! 💕💕💕 If I tagged you but you didn’t want to be, just let me know and I’ll never do it again.

[pastoria-marsh-official]

What is peat?

The Great Marsh National Park is proud to boast to be the largest remaining peat marsh here in the KJHS+ islands! While many of our peat marshes have been mined away for the gardening industry and for housing and town developments, the Great Marsh is protected to preserve our remaining peat and help it continue to build for generations to come.

Peat is an old mud, built up over generations of growth and decay. It forms when plant matter fails to decay entirely. Certain plants that grow naturally in the bog hep this process, like the ケムリイモ (literally Smoke Potato), have roots that trap air and, like the もちもちキノコ (Springy Mushroom), secretes a substance that prevents organic decay. This mud is remarkably good at holding water, making the area wetter, letting more peat develop slowly around it.

Many wild Pokemon in our Marsh rely on the peat for nutrition, as well as building dens and keeping themselves moisturized. Lots of our Pokemon- such as the Upah line, the Dojoach line, the Ruriri line, the Gureggru line- need to stay at least partially moist at all times, and our water-retaining peat lets them do this with ease. Dojoach, in particular, can "swim" through the dense mud from pond-to-pond in search of food! Meanwhile, our more plant-adjacent Pokemon- such as Muskippa, Kinococo, Tropius, the Subomie line- can partially or fully root into the ground while sleeping to passively absorb nutrients. Our large population of scavenger/decomposer Pokemon (Kinococo, Paras, Gokulin) is also supported by the properties of the soil keeping corpses from naturally decomposing.

>> * Wooper, Barboach, Azurill, Croagunk, Carnivine, Shroomish, Tropius, Budew, Paras, Gulpin

Historically, peat's been utilized for many purposes; dried peat works as a fuel source and a fire starter, though collection of it is heavily regulated. It is also easy to harvest water from it, if you know what you're doing! And it's one of nature's most potent preservatives- it's acidic nature and anti-decomposition properties mean that if you die in the peat, your body will remain in the peat until someone digs it up. (The most recent discovery of this was of a Galaxy Team member (theorized security corp) who's body was well preserved enough to ID it's murderer as a Muskippa!)

However, my favorite facet of our ancient mud is the capacity it carries for evolution. Three very unique Pokemon's evolutionary tracks are influenced by an excess of peat in their ecosystem: Dredear, Numelgon, and Gachiguma. Though it's been many years since any of these Pokemon have been spotted in the wild in their Hisuian forms, there's well-decoumented historical sources that allow us to draw likely conclusions about why Hisui's peat formed their evolutions.

>> *Lilligant, Goodra, and Ursaluna.

... However, this post is more than long enough as it is. If you have any questions, my askbox is always open!

Want to read more about our wonderful mud? While Wikipedia is a good starting point, scrolling down to the references can take you to a plethora of new information!

[ultraviolet-divergence]

Gotta build out enough reactors so they can provide a market worth restarting all the defunct domestic uranium mining on indigenous land, and refresh a nuclear arsenal the warheads of which are aging out of viability. Keeping the AI bubble looking viable for their large tech donors is a nice bonus. Just build them out on military bases. Lots of tiny modular ones, to bring the price point down and increase market efficiencies. What could go wrong.

The draft orders say the United States has fallen behind China in expanding nuclear power and call for a “wholesale revision” of federal safety regulations to make it easier to build new plants. They envision the Department of Defense taking a prominent role in ordering reactors and installing them on military bases.

Some pronuclear groups have said that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is already beginning to streamline its regulations in response to a bipartisan bill passed by Congress last year. But skeptics of nuclear power say they fear that pressure from the White House could cause the agency to cut corners on safety. “That’s my number one worry,” said Edwin Lyman, the director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists and a frequent critic of the industry. “We’re talking about new reactor technologies where there’s a lot of uncertainty, and the NRC staff often raise a lot of good technical questions. To short-circuit that process would mean sweeping potential safety issues under the rug.”

[mariacallous]

If you drive outside the city of Campton, population less than 400, the low industrial noise of crypto mining rises from the trees. Step closer, and the source comes into view: squat metal buildings that look like shipping containers arrayed in a semicircle, thrumming with fans and processors. There’s chain-link fencing, security cameras, and two guards sitting in pickup trucks just beyond the wire.

There are steel shipping containers like this all over these hills, right where the old coal mines once stood. And inside, specialized computers race to solve complex math problems—competing to verify bitcoin transactions and earn slivers of digital currency as a reward.

For a brief moment, in 2021, it felt like the region had found its next boom—and it had Bitcoin written all over it. At its peak, Kentucky accounted for some 20 percent of the collective computing power dedicated to proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining in the US.

But booms, here, have a history. And so do busts. Local officials say it is hard to pin down the exact number of crypto mines still active in eastern Kentucky because state regulations are light and there’s a general lack of transparency in the industry. But what is clear, locals say, is that the boom has begun to recede.

“ They'd constructed on someone else's land, or they would be paying a host company to provide the physical plant,” alleges Anna Whites, a lawyer who represented a roster of crypto mining clients. “So they'd pay the down payment or they would convince the landowner to pay the down payment, and then they would mine the first three months and then they'd go into the next billing set cycle, go almost to the end of it and then disappear.”

In early 2022, when Mohawk Energy initiated a crypto mining project in Jenkins, Kentucky, local officials said this time it would be different. Cofounded by Kentucky senator Brandon Smith, Mohawk purchased a sprawling 41,000-square-foot building and the 8 acres around it. It leased most of it to a Chinese crypto mining company, and the rest of the building included classrooms and hands-on training centers that were supposed to teach locals how to repair iPads, maintain Bitcoin rigs, and build skills for a digital economy. It was a big deal for Jenkins. A local PBS station ran a story about the launch. The images showed tool kits, workers, and smiling officials.

“The plan with Mohawk was to employ retired coal miners and disabled veterans who were back in eastern Kentucky and couldn’t find work, and train them,” said Whites, who counts Mohawk as one of her clients. Among other things, the project promised near-six-figure salaries and a vow to put some of the mining proceeds into the training program, to help grow it. And for a time, it worked.

Whites said that for a brief moment—about 18 months—things looked promising. Twenty-eight families saw real gains: One person from each family landed a permanent job, and about 30 more relatives found work nearby. But when we asked where things stood now, she paused. “I believe most of them are unemployed again.”

The unraveling came quickly. The Chinese partner sued for breach of contract. Mohawk counter-sued. And the shared crypto profits never materialized. Now, as some Kentucky residents have soured on bitcoin mining, they’ve started to speak about AI data centers in the same way they used to talk about coal seams and hash rates: with a kind of cautious hope. AI, they say, could bring jobs, fiber optics, and permanence.

Colby Kirk runs a nonprofit called One East Kentucky, focused on bringing economic development to the region. He remembers the moment the conversation shifted, back in April when he was in Paducah for the Kentucky Association for Economic Development’s spring conference.

“They had some site selection consultants that were on the panel, and they were talking about data centers,” he recalls. “And they talked about this I-81 corridor up through Pennsylvania where there’s all kinds of these big data centers. And they talked about whether our communities could prepare for some of these kinds of investments? And the consultant was like, here’s kind of what it takes.”

What it takes, it turns out, is no small feat: flat land, lots of power, fiber connectivity, and a workforce that can wire and weld. As fate would have it, the number of welders in the area, according to regional economic development organization One East Kentucky, is about twice the national average, which stands to reason, because wherever there’s metal and stress—and there’s a lot of both in coal mines—welders are the people who keep it all from falling apart.

The old infrastructure is still there too; substations, hardened ground, cooling systems, and power-hungry hardware just waiting to be switched back on. “Maybe a data center or something is a part of the puzzle,” Kirk said.

So, at the conference, when the panel ended and the floor opened to questions, Kirk says he asked the one he couldn’t stop thinking about.

“You know, 50, 60 years ago it would take a room bigger than my office to power a computer, and now I've got a computer I carry around in my pocket that's more advanced than what we sent astronauts to the moon with,” he recalls asking. “Are these data centers going to keep taking up million-square-feet buildings with 30- and 40-foot ceilings, or are we gonna be left with an abundance of warehouse or industrial-scale buildings that we won't be able to keep up?”

The consultant, he claims, didn’t have a good answer. “And that’s the thing,” Kirk says. “We don’t know what the future’s going to hold when it comes to this stuff.”

That kind of ambiguity doesn’t sit well with Nina McCoy. She’s a former high school biology teacher from Inez, a coal town made famous in 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson used it to generate support for his War on Poverty.

“This is going to sound awful,” she says, “but if they're putting it here, then that means it's bad. We've lived here long enough to see that that is how it works. You put those things that you don't want in your neighborhood in a place like this.”

Her skepticism is rooted in lived experience: In October 2000, a massive coal slurry spill from a mine site upstream poisoned the Coldwater Fork stream, which runs behind her house. People in Inez couldn’t drink water from the tap for months.

“Those of us living downstream didn't hear about it for a while, but the school system had to close down for about a week until they got an alternate water source,” she says.

To this day, many in Inez still don’t trust the tap water.

So when McCoy hears the hype about AI, she hears something else: another promise that comes with a cost. “We’ve allowed these people to be called job creators,” she said. “And I don’t care if it’s AI or crypto or whatever, we bow down to them and let them tell us what they are going to do to our community because they are job creators. They’re not job creators, they’re profit makers.”

And the profit leaves a footprint.

AI data centers demand staggering amounts of energy—a ChatGPT search uses up to 10 times more energy than a regular Google one—and they run hot. To keep them cool, these facilities consume billions of gallons of water every year. Most of that evaporates, but residents are wary because they have had problems with facilities and their runoff in the past, so they worry these new facilities could affect fish and disrupt the land. The very things the residents of Kentucky hope to preserve.

Still, some locals see potential, even progress.

“AI is in everything that we do,” said Wes Hamilton, a local entrepreneur who did his fair share of crypto mining in Kentucky in its heyday. “Siri, ChatGPT, robotics—everything you can imagine has to have AI,” he said. “Bitcoin is a one-trick pony. You create it. The only person that gets paid is the owner of the machines.”

Hamilton claims there is a path forward where data centers bring in investors, engineers, maybe even companies willing to stay. All the AI people in the world would be steaming into Kentucky, Hamilton says. And while he admits to losing a fortune in crypto ventures in the past, he claims this is different.

When Bitcoin first arrived, lawmakers offered generous tax breaks to lure miners. Companies investing more than $1 million were exempted from paying sales taxes on hardware and electricity. And then, in March 2025, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear took all that and went a step further by signing a “Bitcoin Rights” bill into law.

The legislation, cast as a defense of personal financial freedom, is designed to enshrine the right to use digital assets in Kentucky. An earlier draft went further, aiming to bar local governments from using zoning laws to restrict crypto mining operations—a provision that drew resistance from environmental groups. That language was eventually tempered, but the intent remains: to signal that, in Kentucky, digital extraction can keep humming.

Which is why we found ourselves outside this facility in Campton, staring at this semicircle of metal buildings nestled in the trees. The mines run all night and all day, even Sundays. And the question some are asking now, with bitcoin hovering around $100,000 and big miners talking about pivoting to AI, is whether bitcoin mining gets a second wind in Kentucky.

Mohawk’s bitcoin mining may even make a comeback. Anna Whites said the parties are supposed to go into arbitration May 12th. “I’m hopeful,” she told us. “I’m very hopeful that they sit down and say, ‘Mighty nice plant you have there. Let’s just go ahead and turn it on.’”

[darkmaga-returns]

Guest essay by Gregory Wrightstone

As the love affair with so-called green energy cools and “net zero” commitments to eliminate “carbon emissions” wane, we see glimmers of acknowledgment for the benefits of carbon dioxide. That’s right: More people are beginning to understand that the gas – widely demonized as a pollutant endangering Earth with excessive heat – is a life-giving substance needed in greater amounts.

U.S. voters know that President-elect Donald Trump has declared the Green New Deal a “scam” and promises to return common sense to environmental regulations and energy development. His return to office rests partly on that pledge.

In Europe, German politicians whose green fetish has produced economic decline face serious electoral challenges. And developing countries like India ignore “decarbonization” promises to aggressively develop coal mines and import more of the fuel to spur growth and eradicate poverty.

Less frequently reported is the story of carbon dioxide emissions greening the Earth and boosting crop production. Educating the public on the benefits of carbon dioxide is the mission of the CO2 Coalition, which I lead. We sponsor speakers and publish scientifically based materials for adults and children. Much of the information is about the role of CO2 as a beneficial greenhouse gas in moderating the extremes between daytime and nighttime temperatures and as a photosynthetic plant food.

“Fossil Fuels Are the Greenest Energy Sources” by Dr. Indur Goklany is an example of our work. Did you know that up to 50% of the globe has experienced an increase in vegetation and that 70% of the greening is attributed to plant fertilization by carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels? Or that nearly 200,000 square kilometers of the southern Sahara have been converted to a lush grassland from desert? 

Few have heard that doubling atmospheric CO2 from its current concentration of 420 ppm would significantly increase agricultural productivity and have little effect on the climate.

It appears that some of this knowledge has reached Canada because Alberta’s ruling Unified Conservative Party (UCP) recently approved a resolution that promotes the salutary effects of CO2 and endorses an outright rejection of the national government’s net zero policy.

“It is estimated that (atmospheric) CO2 levels need to be above 150 ppm (parts per million) to ensure the survival of plant life,” says the proposal for a resolution eventually adopted by the party. “The Earth needs more CO2 to support life and to increase plant yields, both of which will contribute to the health and prosperity of all Albertans.”

The UCP calls for abandoning CO2’sdesignation as a pollutant and for recognizing the gas as “a foundational nutrient for all life on Earth.”