#Owners Representative Services

[beaconskyhospitalitythailand]

Hospitality Management Firm

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[aceprojectmanagement]

Owner Representative

[lauraannegilman]

Read this. Yes, it’s long. READ IT. More to the point, share this. Particularly with any undecided voters you may know. Talk with them about it.

———-

From Dr. Richardson.

“I stand corrected. I thought this year’s October surprise was the reality that Trump’s mental state had slipped so badly he could not campaign in any coherent way.

It turns out that the 2024 October surprise was the Trump campaign’s fascist rally at Madison Square Garden, a rally so extreme that Republicans running for office have been denouncing it all over social media tonight.

There was never any question that this rally was going to be anything but an attempt to inflame Trump’s base. The plan for a rally at Madison Square Garden itself deliberately evoked its predecessor: a Nazi rally at the old Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939. About 18,000 people showed up for that “true Americanism” event, held on a stage that featured a huge portrait of George Washington in his Continental Army uniform flanked by swastikas.

Like that earlier event, Trump’s rally was supposed to demonstrate power and inspire his base to violence.

Apparently in anticipation of the rally, Trump on Friday night replaced his signature blue suit and red tie with the black and gold of the neofascist Proud Boys. That extremist group was central to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and has been rebuilding to support Trump again in 2024.

On Saturday the Trump campaign released a list of 29 people set to be on the stage at the rally. Notably, the list was all MAGA Republicans, including vice presidential nominee Ohio senator J.D. Vance, House speaker Mike Johnson (LA), Representative Elise Stefanik (NY), Representative Byron Donalds (FL), Trump backer Elon Musk, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., right-wing host Tucker Carlson, Trump sons Don Jr. and Eric, and Eric’s wife, Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump.

Libbey Dean of NewsNation noted that none of the seven Republicans running in New York’s competitive House races were on the list. When asked why not, according to Dean, Trump senior advisor Jason Miller said: “The demand, the request for people to speak, is quite extensive.” Asked if the campaign had turned down anyone who asked to speak, Miller said no.

Meanwhile, the decision of the owners of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post not to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have sparked a backlash. As Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, “in a strange way the papers did perform a public service: showing American voters what life under a dictator would feel like.”

Early on October 26, the Washington Post itself went after Trump backer billionaire Elon Musk with a major story highlighting the information that Musk, an immigrant from South Africa, had worked illegally when he started his career in the U.S. Musk “did not have the legal right to work” in the U.S. when he started his first successful company. As part of the Trump campaign, Musk has emphasized his opposition to undocumented immigrants.

The New York Times has tended to downplay Trump’s outrageous statements, but on Saturday it ran a round-up of Trump’s threats in the center of the front page, above the fold. It noted that Trump has vowed to expand presidential power, prosecute his political opponents, and crack down on immigration with mass deportations and detention camps. It went on to list his determination to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), use the U.S. military against Mexican drug cartels “in potential violation of international law,” and use federal troops against U.S. citizens. It added that he plans to “upend trade” with sweeping new tariffs that will raise consumer prices, and to rein in regulatory agencies.

“To help achieve these and other goals,” the paper concluded, “his advisers are vetting lawyers seen as more likely to embrace aggressive legal theories about the scope of his power.”

On Sunday the front page of the New York Times opinion section read, in giant capital letters: “DONALD TRUMP/ SAYS HE WILL PROSECUTE HIS ENEMIES/ ORDER MASS DEPORTATIONS/ USE SOLDIERS AGAINST CITIZENS/ ABANDON ALLIES/ PLAY POLITICS WITH DISASTERS/ BELIEVE HIM.” And then, inside the section, the paper provided the receipts: Trump’s own words outlining his fascist plans. “BELIEVE HIM,” the paper said.

On CNN’s State of the Union this morning, host Jake Tapper refused to permit Trump’s running mate, Ohio senator J.D. Vance, to gaslight viewers. Vance angrily denied that Trump has repeatedly called for using the U.S. military against Americans, but Tapper came with receipts that proved the very things Vance denied.

Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden began in the early afternoon. The hateful performances of the early participants set the tone for the rally. Early on, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, delivered a steamingly racist set. He said, for example: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” He went on: “And these Latinos, they love making babies too. Just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.” Hinchcliffe also talked about Black people carving watermelons instead of pumpkins.

The speakers who followed Hinchcliffe called Vice President Kamala Harris “the Antichrist” and “the devil.” They called former secretary of state Hillary Clinton “a sick son of a b*tch,” and they railed against “f*cking illegals.” They insulted Latinos generally, Black Americans, Palestinians and Jews. Trump advisor Stephen Miller’s claim that “America is for Americans and Americans only” directly echoed the statement of Adolf Hitler that "Germany is for Germans and Germans only.”

Trump took the stage about two hours late, prompting people to stream toward the exits before he finished speaking. He hit his usual highlights, notably undermining Vance’s argument from earlier in the day by saying that, indeed, he believes fellow Americans are “the enemy within.”

But Trump perhaps gave away the game with his inflammatory language and with an aside, seemingly aimed at House speaker Johnson. “I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,” Trump said.

It seems possible—probable, even—that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote.

Since he has made virtually no effort to win votes in 2024, this seems his likely plan.

But to do that, he needs at least a plausibly close election, or at least to convince his supporters that the election has been stolen from him. Tonight’s rally badly hurt that plan.

As Hinchcliffe was talking about Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris was at a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia talking about her plan to spread her opportunity economy to Puerto Rico. She has called for strengthening Puerto Rico’s energy grid and making it easier to get permits to build there.

After the “floating island of garbage” comment, Puerto Rican superstar musician Bad Bunny, who has more than 45 million followers on Instagram, posted Harris’s plan for Puerto Rico, and his spokesperson said he is endorsing Harris.

Puerto Rican singer and actor Ricky Martin shared a clip from Hinchcliffe’s set with his 16 million followers. His caption read: “This is what they think of us.” Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, who has 250 million Instagram followers, posted Harris’s plan. Later, singer-songwriter and actress Ariana Grande posted that she had voted for Harris. Grande has 376 million followers on Instagram. Singer Luis Fonsi, who has 16 million followers, also called out the “constant hate.”

The headlines were brutal. “MAGA speakers unleash ugly rhetoric at Trump's MSG rally,” read Axios. Politico wrote: “Trump’s New York homecoming sparks backlash over racist and vulgar remarks.” “Racist Remarks and Insults Mark Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally,” the New York Times announced. “Speakers at Trump rally make racist comments, hurl insults,” read CNN.

But the biggest sign of the damage the rally did was the frantic backpedaling from Republicans in tight elections, who distanced themselves as fast as they could from the insults against Puerto Ricans, especially. The Trump campaign itself tried to distance itself from the “floating island of garbage” quotation, only to be met with comments pointing out that Hinchcliffe’s set had been vetted and uploaded to the teleprompters.

As the clips spread like wildfire, political writer Charlotte Clymer pointed out that almost 6 million Puerto Ricans live in the states—about a million in Florida, half a million in Pennsylvania, 100,000 in Georgia, 100,000 in Michigan, 100,000 in North Carolina, 45,000 in Arizona, and 40,000 in Nevada—and that over half of them voted in 2020.

In 1939, as about 18,000 American Nazis rallied inside Madison Square Garden, newspapers reported that a crowd of about 100,000 anti-Nazis gathered outside to protest. It took 1,700 police officers, the largest number of officers ever before detailed for a single event, to hold them back from storming the venue.”

Source and verification links:

[thetrasha]

One Piece: Fantasy Flirt

Who really knows how to make ‘em swoon?

feat. BENN BECKMAN, SHANKS, SABO, MARCO

BENN BECKMAN

10/10 [canon fact btw]

What a force of nature, this so-called Benn Beckman. The mysterious aura he has makes him alluring – worst thing: he’s intelligent enough to realise it. Whenever the Red Force docks at a port, the local tavern is filled to the brim with pirates and laughter. That’s just the nature of the crew, they haven’t lost their charm… that, naturally, attracts the locals. These pirates seem powerful, but not necessarily dangerous. In fact, their captain even pays full price for all the supplies! What a weird bunch. You heard about this mysterious group from your friend who works at the market… and you couldn’t help but find it a bit suspicious. Most of these men had exorbitant bounties… and they aren’t actually horrible people? Something isn’t adding up. Pirates pillage and ravage the lands, they don’t buy overpriced mackerels and potatoes from local merchants.

As soon as you enter the bar, it reeks of hard liquor and smoke. That’s not unusual, but the men certainly are. They all look a bit strange, but you didn’t fear them at all, even if most of them spared you a glance as you entered.

Well, that is until you felt a heavy gaze on you – that one did make you beyond nervous. Your eyes immediately locked onto another man who sat quietly inside a corner, watching everybody else… particularly a man with red hair.

He called you over with a wave of his fingers and you couldn’t help but point at yourself. Really… you? What’s his deal? Was this going to be some sort of low-brow robbery?

You shouldn’t have faced him so easily. This man was far more intimidating up-close. So tall and broad – a truly hardened sailor. Those scars littering his body didn’t go unnoticed by you either. He followed your eyes and grinned, shaking his head in amusement, like he could read your mind. You raked over him with a harsh glare, noticing that he carried both a gun and a dagger… yet both of them were clean.

How unusual. Why in the world did he call you over if not to rob you? Or was he asking for a brawl? How dishonourable, striking someone who’s shorter and weake-

He suddenly started to speak, alerting you.

“Seemed to me like you needed a friend.”

“Oh, and you’re my friend now?”

He smirked, chuckling at your scoff.

He didn’t respond at first, opting to take a drag of his cigarette instead.

“Could be, if you’ll have me.”, Benn responded before waving at the old owner from across the bar. The older man lit up like a kid on Christmas, loudly telling the First Mate of the Red Hair Pirates that he owes him another story and that the ale would be on the house for chasing away the World Government. You remember when the newspaper announced that they wanted to collect some hefty taxes for any service-based trades, but you also remember that no representative ever visited, meaning your economy flourished.

You were too stunned to speak. These… these guys were pirates? Those bounties rang true? Nothing was on fire and these guys don’t seem to be too interested in stealing for pleasure.

“So… friend. Mind telling me your name and where to get the best sake in town? Know someone who’s got quite the problem.”

“You mean yourself?”, you chuckled back, not even realising that you sat down next to him.

“I meant my idiot captain over there, sweetheart. But sure, I’ll take the bait. Am I that obvious?”

“A little.”

“Ouch. And I thought I had to save the pretty girl that entered the lion’s den – turns out she’s got claws.”

“Me? Pretty girl?”, you wondered aloud, leaning into him as soon as he leaned back, like a magnet.

“Uh-huh. You’re the prettiest. Obviously... that's why everyone was looking. Including me.”, Benn replied curtly, as if he was telling you a fact.

Silence befell you two. You were totally flustered, having been verbally disarmed. You… didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t even a heartfelt compliment, but the conversation flowed so easily that it made your heart skip a beat.

“Where’d those claws go now, love?”

Your face was now hot to the touch – and Benn Beckman, of course, noticed it.

SHANKS

9.5/10

Shanks is so different from everybody else… Most people know his name, they fear him greatly due to his status and proven strength. Other pirates quiver in fear as soon as they feel that crackle of energy in the air that almost knocks them out cold if they do not have the courage or power to withstand his Haki. They view him as this legend with a mythical aura, but you’ve known Shanks to be quite the catastrophe, which is funny… if it weren’t for the fact that he, as a leader, makes terrible decisions sometimes.

“Hey, Captain. I am here to bring you dinner because you thought a whole bottle of rum and a pint of beer was enough. How does it feel, hm?”

Shanks could only chuckle in despair, nursing a tall glass of a water like he wasn’t thirsty at all. On top of everything, he leaned against the door frame leading into his quarters with a sway that is just too uncoordinated to be careless. He’s completely and utterly wasted… like he most often is, that fool!

“Ah, my dearest personal nurse. Come in, come in. You can sit… uh… here? Sit wherever you like! Are you going to feed me now?”

...This guy, he always did this! His bedroom looked like a total mess. Sure, you haven’t seen a harbour in two months, which means your supplies were dwindling, which means that everyone was going a little insane, but Shanks was always the most ridiculous. He’s a social butterfly that craves attention, so as soon as he cannot distract himself with strangers, he’s totally trying it on you. It’s become a habit at this point.

“I’m not a nurse, Captain. And you’re not that old to warrant a personal one yet, Sir.”

“Oh~ You wound me!”, he dramatically touched his chest with his sole hand before fiddling with his black coat, “And I thought we had something special. Once again, you let this poor man suffer. Worst thing is that I let you –…”

“–because you love me?”, you interrupted, chuckling disapprovingly.

“–because I love you!”, he echoed immediately.

You sighed. Stupid Shanks. Stupid Benn for making you do this in the first place. Stupid crew for laughing at you when you whipped up some leftovers with a groan. They knew you had a compulsion to take care of everybody on this ship, especially when you’ve been at sea for too long. You liked to keep yourself busy; you were meant to be a free adventurer, not watch Yasopp lose a game of cards for the sixtieth time or sort potatoes in the ship’s hold because most of the unsused ones were sprouting by now…

You hummed, looking away from Shanks as he dug into his food. You instead stole glances around his room, ignoring all the laundry that ended up on the floor. This was someone else’s problem, clearly – you had your own forgotten hamper shoved into the back of your closet to deal with. Once you see a glimpse of freshwater, it’s going to be over for you – you’ll be scrubbing your clothes until you hands are raw and bloodied.

But something else caught your eye.

“It’s actually so sweet that you put up Luffy’s poster over your desk.” You smiled genuinely, remembering how fondly Shanks talked about his little friend from Foosha Village all those years ago. You hadn’t been a part of the crew then – you were far too young to be a pirate at that point, even if you already dreamt of travelling the world. The others frequently talked about it, though.

“W-well! That… that’s because-” The captain almost choked on the kale you gave him, opting for something light and healthy to help with his hangover.

“You’re a great man, Captain.”

Shanks blushed bright red, trying to dismiss your comment with his flailing arm and shy giggles. His legs shifted around under him, which means that the food was just inches away from spilling all over his bed. You just ignored him, knowing that he wasn’t serious. He wasn’t ever serious, he was fun – that’s why you admired him so much. He took all of your anxieties about sailing away since he was so reliable; you owe him so much.

“I still remember it clearly,” you sighed longingly, looking out of the only window in the room that was partially covered by curtains, “Mihawk looked like a man on a mission – the scouts were so scared! But all he did was deliver good news – the best news we got all week at the time. Hope I can meet this Luffy soon; he’s so cute – he’s smiling so brightly in his picture! He must be so happy to be a rookie pirate. Quite the bounty for a rookie, really impressive. I’d love to talk to Luffy, get to know him… see what makes him so special. Nobody should be this cute when they’re so strong!”

“…I don’t think it would be a good idea to meet Luffy, darling.”

“And why’s that, Shanks?”, you replied sarcastically, thinking he was trying to tease you. He was so predictable!

“Because you’re mine, love. Don’t forget it, m’kay?”

...Oh.

Your heart stopped beating for a moment, but Shanks was just playing. He was a shameless flirt, that’s how he got ‘em every time. Ha, two can play that game!

“I… I’d never leave, Shanks. Here to dote on you for life.”

“Good.”, he said, no hesitation in his voice. And, worst of all, he looked really serious about it.

He started eating again, visibly happy. Giddy. That blush of his still hasn't died down. You stayed silent.

…So… Is neither of you going to address this now?!

SABO

8.5/10

“So… this is where it all began, the heart of the revolution. I must admit, it’s more peaceful than I thought… I was expecting oppression and civil war, not… this.”, you mused, petting a bunch of cows as you fed them hay nearby a farm just outside of Foosha Village.

You were here on a spy mission alongside some trusted revolutionaries. Well, you and a certain someone were crazy enough to travel through half the island because it was easier to navigate from East to West, even if your fellow commanders thought the idea was bonkers. You weren’t that high up the ladder, which meant you had a supervisor with you. Someone… who took this mission without a second thought, really eager to see his home once again.

“Well, I can’t promise civil war, but you’re in for a lot of crimes against humanity and a caste system that rivals that of the Red Line once we're within city walls. We’ll just have to climb that mountain there and traverse the Midway Forest until we’re at Gray Terminal. Maybe we’ll climb the walls during the night to be quicker, but we’d have to check for guards first! So we will sleep in the forest. I know just the place! Uh… if it’s still there. I would need to see it first. It’s only going to take-”

Sabo rambled on and on, his expression unusually happy. He hated talking about injustice, but he did love this place. It was clear to anyone that the thought of reigniting lost childhood memories excited him.

He didn’t even notice that he was standing too close to the fence.

“They’re eating your coat, Sabo.”

“W-wah!”, he shrieked, tearing the fabric away from the hungry cattle. He wore an angry grimace, but couldn’t be too mad at them for too long, choosing to pet them alongside you.

Sabo was frighteningly competent for someone so young. Sure, he knew this place like the back of his hand – even if some things had changed – and confidently trod through the muddy paths leading up the mountain all while avoiding groups of bandits whose locations he was strangely familiar with. All the rain that had crashed down the mountain landed in the freshwater rivers near the villages you passed through, which meant everything was surprisingly humid and – despite all the physical ability your boss put you through, it was getting cold once the sun set.

“Are you cold? You can have my coat.” Sabo, thoughtful as ever, enquired. Even though his head was still facing forward, he noticed your discomfort.

“Oh, thanks, but-”

“Here.”

“…Thank you, Sabo.”, you accepted his offer because he had already taken it off…

Sabo took care of his people without putting a moment of thought into his actions. He was protective like that, had a heart made of pure gold. Maybe that’s why he became a revolutionary – it was simply his calling. He would have ended up in this place no matter what. He couldn’t stand the sight of the privileged taking advantage of the marginalised. To him, it was a disgusting display of sin – one that deserved to be felled.

Taking care of others was the right thing to do, but he always took it up a notch when it came to you. Always a tad bit too touchy, always a tad bit too possessive.

“Oh, this is quite the cliff. Come here, take my hand. Hold onto me, and step very carefully. I'll be your guide.”

You tried following his instructions, but you weren’t used to being so close to him. The army didn’t prepare you for this at all!

“Great job!”

It really wasn’t, but Sabo made anyone feel appreciated with his smile. That trait of his took up almost as much space in his heart as his moral compass did.

"You, too!", you replied, smiling, "Thanks for all the help."

"A-ah!", he exclaimed nervously, hiding his face from you, "It's fine. You did most of the sailing, now I have to pull my weight, okay?"

Sabo was a great guy. Maybe too great, because he made you... think. His words - surely he meant them platonically - were... so sweet, all the time.

“You trust me so easily, being with you is so natural...”, he chuckled, looking back at you while trying to hide his smile, “Makes me feel… really special, you know?”

He had some nerve… saying that after he almost made your heart leap out of your chest by pulling you in by the small of your back, helping you cross a tiny canyon… smiling at you like you were the love of his life.

MARCO

7/10

As a ship doctor, Marco had a keen eye for spotting anyone’s ailments. Whatever burdens plagued the crew, he was there to set it straight. You knew that he was attentive and relentless in his care for others, never truly letting up. He always claimed that it was to avoid work – if more people ended up in the med bay, he’d start a riot all by himself, but you knew that it was just who he was.

With such a large crew, he was always busy. You’ve seen him reset dislocated joints countless times, wipe copious amounts of blood off his hands just after rudimentary emergency surgery and make up medical treatment on the go with the little supplies they had…

You thought bothering him with your silly problems would just take some necessary resources away from others. You knew that it wasn’t exactly right to let any problem fester, but you didn’t want anyone other than calm, collected Marco to know about it. You don’t want to seem weak; you were capable and independent, a pirate with a high bounty yourself…

But you didn’t know that Marco had already sniffed you out, eyes always on you.

You were dealing with nightly troubles due to heightened anxiety for seemingly no reason. It was frustrating. This was just your life now, you realised.

You hadn’t been sleeping at all that night, and you knew that it was futile at this point. You knew your body – this was just torture at this point.

Getting up was the worst. You were exhausted enough to feel like the weight of the world rested on your shoulders but, at the same time, worried too much to truly be at peace with yourself.

As soon as you stepped into the empty kitchen to drink some coffee from the day before – yuck – you felt a presence graze your back. Your heart rate kicked into overdrive, adrenaline flowing through your veins and erasing any traces of desperate need for sleep. You probably looked a mess too, but who would be-

“Marco?!”

“I’ve been waiting for you, yoi.”

His tone was stern, but not accusatory. You knew exactly what he meant. Of course he’d been watching, of course he noticed! Those eye bags were probably getting obvious by now, how in the world did you think you could fool someone as intelligent as Marco?!

Instead of the med bay, though, he took you to his room. It smelled like lavender – oh, he’d set up incense. How… nice…

“Drink this.”, he said dryly, handing a mug.

Without even looking at its contents, you took a sip. It was warm milk and honey. The temperature was perfect and warmed you from the inside.

“Marco, I’m sorry I didn’t co-”

“I don’t want to hear it. You’re here now.”, he countered, gesturing towards a plush chair he’d probably stolen from another commander’s room…

You sat down, facing him with shame dancing in your eyes. Though he implied that you shouldn’t worry about it, you felt like a child caught with their hand still stuck inside the cookie jar.

“You can take my bed. I will be here, waiting. Might read a book, but feel free to interrupt anytime. We don’t have to talk, but I won’t leave you.”

…You nodded, smiling ever so slightly. That was beyond kind of him. He was such a good person. You knew that one night of this wouldn’t cure you immediately, but… well, you would definitely come to him with your burdens from now on. You… respected him, just like he respected you by speaking to you in private about this instead of having the crew around.

You were still in your sleepwear, so you got under the covers and stared at Marco, who suddenly hovered above you.

“I hope you’ll sleep well. Again, I’m here. I will be here. You are safe with me.”

With those words, he blew out the candles on his bedside table, giving you one last look before he retreated into a corner of the room where the moonlight shone through.

You turned around, laying on your side. The bed smelled like him – well, of course it did. It was his bed! But you never noticed how pleasant it was. You never noticed that Marco had been watching you, a consistent presence in your life. You never noticed that there was someone who was there… unconditionally.

You were suddenly very nervous for a different reason. Worst of all: you absolutely couldn’t tell Marco about this one either!

COUNTERPART POST - One Piece: Clueless and Clumsy

[astrocafecoffee]

💫Your future spouse's career based on your Juno persona chart 💫

✨ For entertainment purposes only. Enjoy.✨

🌜what to check?

- just check your Industria (389) asteroid in your Juno persona chart.Find out in which house it falls in!!

Why this asteroid?

- Juno persona chart tells about your future spouse and Industria(389) asteroid is a long term career related asteroid. So this asteroid in your juno persona chart can give a insight about your future spouse's career.

🌜SOME SHORT TERMS I USED HERE :

- FS = FUTURE SPOUSE

-JPC = JUNO PERSONA CHART

Leshh go!

🌆 Industria in 1st house of JPC : 1st house represent one's identity, personality and how they present themselves to the world.This asteroid in 1st house suggests that their career may be tied to their personal identity and innovative spirit. Now some possible career of your fs-

*Entrepreneurial scientist - they may excel in entrepreneurial pursuits within the scientific community. They may innovate new technologies, products that have a significant impact in their field.

* Industry leader - they maybe known for their innovative idea and proactive attitude to their work. They can easily be a leader of their respective industry.

* visionary consultant - they may excel in their field as a respectful advisor, who offers solutions to businesses or individuals seeking guidance.

* Creative director- career in creative leadership such as creative director in advising, film, fashion, or design.

* makeup artist

* Model

* engeneering

* design/ work in media.

🌆 Industria in 2nd house of JPC : Their career may be closely related to their values resources, managing or utilising assets and their sense of stability. Some possible career of your fs -

* wealth management specialist - they helps individuals or organizations maximize their financial resources and investments through innovative and strategic approach.

* Creative Financial analyst - specialised in creative or innovative analysis methods.

* Financial innovator- innovates new financial products, services or strategies.

* asset manager

* Entrepreneurial investor

* can sing well

* accountant

🌆 Industria in 3rd house of JPC : 3rd house represents one's communication style, mental persuits, and interaction within immediate environment. When this asteroid in your 3rd house this can indicate that your fs may excel in the career of innovative communication methods or technologies. Some possible career of your fs -

* They may into journalism, media, broadcasting, or public relations where someone uses their creative ideas.

* technology writer/ blogger: their career path may involve writing / blogging about technologies or industry trends or sharing their ideas with wide audience.

* Workshop/ educational outreach programs.

* small business owner

* excel in troubleshooting skills, problem solving abilities, explaining complex concepts in simple terms.

🌆 Industria in 4th house of JPC : their career tied to their home , family roots, and emotional well-being.some possible career of your fs -

* career in real estate - specialize in designing sustainable, eco friendly, or technologically advanced buildings.

* e- commerce, consulting, freelance work.

* Family councillor or therapist - they may help individuals and families navigate challenges, fostering harmony and growth within te hone environment.

* interior designer

* Home renovation specialist

* Family owned business owner.

* childcare provider

🌆 Industria in 5th house of JPC : 5th house is associated with creativity,joy, children and hobbies. It governs one's individual approach to work, self expression and personal fulfillment. So your fs career strongly related to this area of life. Possible careers -

* creative artist/ entertainer - Excels in creative profession like music , theater , film, writing etc.

* event planer- organizing wedding, festivals or social gathering.

* teacher/ coach - inspiring or guiding others in academic subject/ sports.

* youth councillor - natural affinity to work with young people and helping them to discover their talents.

* atrs nd crafts business owner.

* fitness instructor

* dance teacher

* entertainment industry professional.

🌆 Industria in 6th house of JPC : 6th house is associated with employment, daily task, health and service to others. So possible career of your fs -

* health care professionals - career related to healthcare, nursing, doctor, medicine, and pharmacy.

* nutritionist/ dietician - helping others to improve their dietary habits , manage health condition.

* fitness trainer/ coach - motivates others to adopt healthy lifestyle.

* administrative professional - may indicate talent for efficiency, attention to detail, making career in administrative or office management appealing.

* environmental scientist

* social worker

* reasearch assistant

🌆 Industria in 7th house of JPC : 7th house is related to marriage, buisness partnership, legal matters, and one-on-one interactions. Possible career domains of your fs-

*legal professional - career related as mediators, legal consultant, specialization in areas such as contrat law , family law or dispute resolution.

* business consultant - expertise in the area of strategy, negotiation, and partnership development.

* marriage and family therapist - helping couples navigate challenges, improve communication and strengthen their bonds through therapy or councilling sessions.

* international business manager

* foreign affair specialist

* event coordinator

*public relation specialist

* human resources manager

🌆 Industria in 8th house of JPC : 8th house is associated with themes such as mysteries, psychology, healing, emotional connection. So possible careers of your fs -

* psychologist/ psychotherapist - your fs may excel in trauma therapy, helping others to navigate profound emotional experiences , uncover hidden truth.

* forensic investigator/ crime analyst- they may be focused on uncovering hidden truths and solving mysteries.

*massage therapist - specialize in modalities such as deep tissue massage, craniosacral therapy or helping clients release emotional/ physical tension through healing.

* reasearch scientist - may excel in fields such as psychology, quantum physics, or consciousness studies.

* occultist - astrologer, tarot reader, or spiritual councillors.

* healer/ energy worker

* heal others through their respective fields. Can be. Singer too .

🌆 Industria in 9th house of JPC: 9th house is associated with themes such as higher learning, expansion of horizons , seeking truth, broadening one's perspective through travel/ exploration. Possible careers of your fs -

* international relations specialist - involve promoting international cooperation, resolving conflicts, forming mutual understanding between nations and cultures.

* spiritual teacher/ guru- your fs may pursue careers as spiritual teachers, gurus, mentors, guiding others on their spiritual journey.

* tour guide

* philosopher

* religious leader - may pursue careers as priests, ministers, guiding and supporting communities in matters of faith and spiritual growth.

* global NGO worker

* foreign language teacher

🌆 Industria in 10th house of JPC: 10th house is associated with themes such as career aspirations, social status, reputation, and professional achievements. This asteroid influences the individual's approach to career, public image, authority, ambition. So possible careers of your fs -

* media personality/ influencer - television hosts , journalist, bloggers, social media influencer , reaching a wide audience.

* creative director/ artist - artist, designer, performers.

* CEO

* startup founder, business owner, or self employed professionals.

* legal professional/ lawyer

* educational administrator

🌆 Industria in 11th house of JPC: when your industria asteroid in this house your fs may excel in the career of social network, group affiliation, humanitarian causes, collaboration etc. So possible careers of your fs -

* social entrepreneur - creates innovative solutions to adress social challenges.

* Tech entrepreneur, start-up founder.

* content creator - social media influencers, bloggers, using their platforms to inspire/ educate peoples.

* environment activist

* advocate

* community organizer

* designing educational platforms , or promoting digital literacy.

🌆 Industria in 12th house of JPC: 12th house is often associated with hidden strengths, spirituality, and working behind the scenes. So possible careers of your fs -

* they might work in reserch and development, data analysis or logistical planning behind the scenes.

* astro- spiritual researcher

* music industry

* astrologer

*song writer.

* mystical or spiritual advisor.

* environmental conservationist.

⚡ Note : these are only some possibilities of careers of your fs. And guys check the degrees to , it's like cheery on top 💌

🌜Don't forget to check my other observations too 👀

That's it guys , see you soon 💝

- piko 💖

[quinnred]

Shrileket: God of the Beautiful Wrath, God of the Spear, Sun-Dropper Shrileket is the embodiment of focus, gust, conspiracy, spears, venom, meteors, and just punishment. He is represented by the Cone-Shell in the South, and by the Heron and Fisher in the North. Warriors may wear an eye-marked sea shell upon their head or as necklace to evoke Shrileket’s accuracy and deliverance and be blessed with a just rage.

The Shell Gods were gods of strength, endurance, and handiwork, and so the birth of the armless and scrawny Shrileket to a consort of Zridtara was not revered. The wobbly weakling only had a shell upon his small head and had no feet but pin points that left it oddly balanced. Afraid to inform their chief, the consort left the newborn to be raised by the Servikah giants within the lower chambers of the Mesa. Despite his seeming lameness, Shrileket was already quite clever and remembered each wrong done to him as he grew in the shadows of his Shell kin, from the neglect of his mother to the bullying of his siblings. From hidden corners of the Mesa, he payed great attention to the habits of each brother and planned every detail of their shaming. He perfected his movements under the guise of dancing with his Servikah and sharpened his shell head with his feet. He would challenge his proudest and tallest brother, Thulla the god of Towers, to a duel. Red with laughter, Thulla agreed to the contest with this comical upstart and met him at the ground of his choosing. The brothers would fight upon the morning ground of Glarelund, carved into an arena so Thulla and Shrileket’s siblings could be audience. After a boast of mockery, Thulla’s first step into the ring followed with immediate foolery as the tall god teetered and tottered upon the shiny ground. Shrileket, however, slid with grace and elegance, dancing around the oaf with pecks and kicks to trip him further. In but a few moments Thulla had fallen, intensely embarrassed by Shrileket who had known that ice grew thin and smooth in the mornings of this region due to his Servikah guardians. Shrileket’s glee was the brightest he felt in a long time, but would sour as Thulla spit cruelties at the victor. Too indignant to let his win soothe him, Shrileket pounced on his brother and castrated him with his sharpened head to the horror of his fellows. The victory of the honourable duel had been ignored by the Shell Gods, instead enraged by the maiming of their proudest son and had banished Shrileket. Painting himself eyes from the gore of Thulla, Shrileket remembered the face of each and every one who cursed him and set off into the world. From there he would receive an invitation from the Feather Gods who admired Shrileket’s strategy and wrath, and especially his shaming of Thulla and gifted him with cloth weaved from god feather so he may join them in The Sun. Shrileket accepted and would earn further gifts, such as Godler servants sculpted into arms for his use and a consort for whom weaved him his cloth. From there he would take his seat at the bottom of The Sun, enthroned upside down at it’s tear ducts were he harvest his sunlight spears to damn those he chooses. Though his cool rage made him a fine arbitrator, his arm servants despised their role and their master and ever whispered bad advice and annoyances into his ears. Their hope was to be destroyed by their owner and freed of their obligations, released into the next life. Unfortunately for them Shrileket found it better to punish their betrayal with further eternal service. His many years of dedication as a divine punisher would end upon the beginning of the Deiomachy, as he would be sent to stop his brother-by-fate god of rage, Tilshek, from entering The Sun. Disgusted by how much Tilshek reminded him of an unrefined self, Shrileket would stop at nothing to kill the half-Jak, dropping from The Sun like tear drop lighting. Their clash would announce war between the Feather and Shell, booming as only gods could for days until they fell upon each other’s impalements.

[beardedmrbean]

Frustration with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has reached a breaking point on her home turf, with fed up Queens and Bronx constituents telling The Post they’re sick and tired of being second fiddle to the jet-setting socialist’s primary focus — herself.

Her district offices in the Bronx and Queens offer little to justify the $1.9 million the congresswoman gets to run them — one is only open a single weekday and the other is closed on Fridays, with phones that go unanswered and constituents urged to discuss their problems “by appointment only.”

AOC’s town halls used to be monthly events – now are only held once in a blue moon, there’s virtually no way to get in a question, and sometimes she only phones in and doesn’t bother coming in person, galled constituents said.

“This woman has done nothing for the community she was once again elected to serve,” said Lauro Vazquez of Woodside, Queens.

Vazquez echoed a sentiment heard in all corners of AOC’s bi-borough district — that they and the “mundane” issues they care about — jobs, public safety, traffic — are an afterthought for a representative with her eyes on the national stage.

The perception turned into a reality last week at a town hall in Jackson Heights, when AOC gave a packed auditorium of people just under an hour of face time before dashing for the exit to an idling SUV.

She took only six questions.

The public meeting had already been postponed from its original date because the lawmaker fell ill after wrapping her nationwide Fighting the Oligarchy tour with Bernie Sanders.

“Of course, it’s cancelled — too busy jet setting around on private jets screaming about ‘oligarchs’ and setting up her bid for a POTUS run,” said Vazquez. “This woman has done nothing for the community she was once again elected to serve.”  

“It’s hard to find a private plane – it’s Easter weekend,” mocked Jackson Heights resident Tatiana Lacatus of the cancelled event. “She is too big for us.”

Elmhurst’s Ramses Frias, a Republican City Council candidate, called Ocasio-Cortez an “absentee landlord” disconnected from the reality of her working-class constituents.

“She’s flying around on private jets, talking about the oligarchy, which is not really resonating with the regular guy – the person going shopping over here at the supermarket,” he said, sarcastically adding, “She’s a rock star.”

On matters big and small, critics in her district — which includes Astoria and Jackson Heights in Queens, and the South Bronx — said AOC is failing the people that put her into office.

She has done little on a controversial $8 billion casino proposal by Mets owner Steve Cohen on parkland near Citi Field, which opponents fear will become a blight on the community.

At the town hall, all AOC could do was shrug off the concerns.

“The Citi Field Park has been redistricted out of my district,” she said. “I have respectfully made my position on this known to folks who are weighing in on it. I don’t really have anything to do on that besides making my position known.”

But critics said she will pounce on an issue that suits her — even if it is nowhere near her district.

She made headlines in 2021 by briefly volunteering to work at a Houston food bank and help raise more than $5 million for Texans after the state was devastated by winter storms – yet some of her own constituents said she did little to assist New Yorkers that same year who were slammed by Hurricane Ida and still dealing with the pandemic.

The congresswoman paid only lip service after the Trump administration last month announced it was cancelling $200 million in grants for climate-friendly “cloudburst projects” that help absorb heavy rains, according to critics. Some of these projects were slated for parts of flooding-plagued parts of Queens.

But in March she loudly advocated for Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who is not her constituent, after the anti-Israel activist was arrested and detained.

“Mahmoud was a Columbia student — but our office has been able to take the lead on that case for the New York City delegation,” she boasted at the town hall.

Locals expect more from the lawmaker who recently boasted about commanding crowds of 86,847 people, including in far flung places like Missoula, MT, and Nampa, ID.

“I wish she did more,” admitted Aimee Rosato, an AOC campaign volunteer. “We don’t need a casino, it drives me a bit wild.”

“She will help if it gets her name on national issues,” sniffed Jackson Heights’ Gloria Contreras. “She’s about her and getting worldwide attention while ignoring her constituents.”

Even fellow comrades are tired of the schtick.

“She’s always on TV trying to build up her profile – not to represent her neighbors and fight for funding for her constituents,” a longtime lefty Queens pol told The Post.

Another slap in the face came this week after her office asked business owners to fill a survey about the impact of tariffs, which was viewed as a shameless attempt to bash President Trump’s policies and elevate herself on the national scene.

“Now you are digging for dirt?” slammed retired nurse Jeanette Geary

Many pointed to a failure not just to bring economic development to her district — but to sabotage it, like killing the deal to bring an Amazon headquarters to Queens after she first got elected. It would’ve created 25,000 jobs and was backed by most of her constituents.

“We need to focus on good healthcare, living wages, affordable rent. Corporations that offer none of those things should be met w/ skepticism,” she posted on X at the time.

“She killed the Amazon deal, ghosted her district, and thinks viral TikToks make her a legislator,” said Republican mayoral candidate and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

One of AOC’s two district offices, in Astoria, is open only one day a week and is shared with Queens Councilwoman Tiffany Caban, a fellow socialist. Typically, Caban’s workers are forced to take in-person messages left for AOC because the congresswoman isn’t regularly staffing the office, sources said.

Ocasio-Cortez’ main constituent office in the Bronx’ Hunts Point is closed Fridays and shuttered for long lunch breaks the other four days.

When The Post paid a visit, a Spanish-speaking constituent, who was seeking help on an immigration matter, had to wait outside the office for about 30 minutes until 1pm before she was allowed to enter.

Phone calls usually go unanswered, leaving the public with no way to contact staff unless they show up in person. 

And when they do, they are met by an intimidating sign at the door at the Astoria office demanding “by appointment only” — or a surveillance camera and iPad check-in in the Bronx, where they have to give personal information before they can talk to a worker on issues.

Forget about actually seeing AOC in town.

She has spent at least $101,788 in campaign funds on flights across the US in just the past year, Federal Election Commission records show. 

She spent three days in March and five days in April with Sanders on their national oligarchy tour. 

Many believe she is eyeing the White House.

She raked in a jaw-dropping $9.6 million in campaign donations during the first quarter of this year, shattering her own personal record and fueling rumors of a future presidential run.

Her office did not respond to questions about how often the congresswoman was in her district in the past year, only boasting she is the most popular NYC politician, according to a Siena College poll in April.

“She is a constant presence in the district and deeply engaged with the issues that matter to her constituents” her chief of staff Mike Casca told the Post.

However, Councilman Robert Holden, a moderate Queens Dem, said he “hears from her constituents constantly — and AOC is nowhere to be found.”

“She can’t be bothered doing mundane constituent services like addressing quality of life issues in her district,” he said.

Holden added: “She’s too busy trying to make our entire country into a carbon copy of the failed Soviet Union — Queens and the Bronx deserve better.”

[ayeforscotland]

What is Dataflow? Part 3: Doing the Practical

Apologies for the delay in getting this next section up - past few weeks have been super busy and then, hilariously, I was ill last week.

Read Part 1 here.

Read Part 2 here.

In Part 2 I wrote about how important diagrams have been throughout history. Understanding the 'big picture' has been important for every triumph of engineering. From bridges to skyscrapers to oil rigs and wind turbines, all of these have had diagrams backed by international standards which enabled them to be built.

The digital world hasn't quite managed that yet. In the other posts I've tried to drill home the point that modern digital businesses are often extremely siloed, communication and documentation isn't there and there is a lack of a common language between 'Business' and 'IT'.

This lack of understanding means organisations do not understand how data flows through their business and their supply chain.

It's the understanding of dataflow that's important here because it enables organisations to focus on optimising, securing and maintaining flows across an organisation rather than siloed teams patching things up where they can and not understand the upstream and downstream impact on the business.

Method and Layers

Going to preface this by saying that this may come across as complete common sense, and to some extent you'll be completely correct!

This is an example of how to create a very basic dataflow. But I will first start with understanding all of the People, Processes and Technology that I use to post on Tumblr.

So I start with six layers:

Ownership

Business Process

Application

System

Hardware

Infrastructure

What is important to remember here is that you do not have to be a specialist in every single layer.

A Business Analyst will feel much more at home in the Business Process Layer, while an Infrastructure Manager will be much more knowledgeable about the Infrastructure layer.

The important thing is that this Business & IT Diagram allows them to communicate more efficiently.

Let's Build a Dataflow!

In this example - There's an 'AyeforScotland' Element (the rectangle!) at the top. I'm the owner of everything below that element. The black lines are 'connections' representing the connectivity between the different elements.

Following the example, I'm responsible for' managing my blog 'Blog Management' which breaks down into smaller processes: Draft posts, schedule posts, answer anon abuse, and reblog shitposts.

Coming down to the Application Layer (red) - You can see that I draft and schedule posts using Tumblr Desktop and I'm using Firefox Web Browser for that.

But for answering anon abuse and reblogging shitposts, I'm using the Tumblr App.

In the Systems layer you can see I'm using Windows 11 on my PC (Hardware) and I'm using iOS on my iPhone.

Both my PC and iPhone connect to my BT Router.

And that's it for this Business & IT Diagram. I've shown clearly how I'm responsible for the processes and how I use the technology to perform those processes. I don't necessarily need to show everything on a single diagram because it would lose clarity.

This next Business & IT Diagram is much smaller, and establishes the relationships and dependencies on Tumblr to provide the service. And that's because we're complying with the laws and rules of a methodology.

In this diagram (probably need to zoom in to see it) I'm at the top left as 'AyeforScotland' and my 'BT Router' is spatially below me. Following the rules and laws of the method, that maintains the relationship that I have with the BT Router, I own it.

But I don't own the small 'Internet' that's next to it horizontally. I've simplified the concept of the internet for this example.

There's also two owners - 'Automattic' which owns and operates 'Tumblr' below it, with Tumblr being responsible for the 'Provision of Tumblr Services'.

Now naturally 'provision of Tumblr services' will break out into loads of sub-processes. Tumblr could map out their entire organisation (and if they need a hand, they can DM me!) But for this dataflow it's not really required.

Now both diagrams above are not dataflows. But close your eyes for a second and you can visualise what they are.

But because we've created our two diagrams, we understand the connectivity and using the software we can create the dataflow.

Now again, this is very basic. But when you put things into a dataflow context, you can put this down in front of a wide range of people from different business disciplines and they can start to optimise how the business works.

Here's a much larger Dataflow example, that you won't be able to read because it exceeds A0 printing size, but it should convey the scale.

If any of the connections or elements fail along this dataflow - The dataflow stops.

This costs organisations time and/or money.

So understanding dataflows allows IT people to articulate to business people "Hi boss, if this server goes down it will bring down this dataflow and cost the business $10,000 an hour" - Suddenly it's in a language they understand.

It helps with strategic decision-making, it helps with communication, it helps document how things *actually* work as opposed to how people think they work, and once you switch to thinking in terms of 'dataflow' it's hard to stop.

Conclusion

I can't wait to answer all the questions on the back of this.

Also one area I didn't go into is that each of the elements (rectangles) can also hold data (Financial data, Technical Specs, Risk & Cybersecurity metrics, Governance documentation etc).

It's also really easy to get started with it. You can start in any of the layers based on your area of work.

[beaconskyhospitalitythailand]

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[howi99]

Prince of Vale 7

Meeting room

Jaune: *looking at the leaders of every major nation* Messieurs, leaders of Vacuo, Atlas, Mistral and Menagerie, i welcome you. *Bow in sign of respect to his guest*

All of the representatives: *bow to the king, showing their respect*

Jaune: *taking a seat* As all of you must know, i have summoned all of you to discuss two major incidents. The first and least important one being the demands of Jacques Schnee, demanding the day of my mother's funeral, the queen funeral, that i take one of his daughters as queen consort. The second and far more grave incident was the Prime Minister of Mistral accusing me of protecting the princess of Menagerie from the Mistralean judicial system.

Ghira: *looking directly at said Prime Minister* Is that so?

PM: *adjusting his tie* With all due respect, your daughter did participate in White Fang's activities. Both of your nations may not see them as a terrorist organization, but the material damage they are causing in the name of liberty cannot be disregarded.

Jacques: *a calculating look in his eyes* And should i remind you, your majesty, that said material was the property of the Schnee Dust Company? Not only that, but my daughter was placed in the same team as said criminal?

Jaune: *coldly looking at Jacques* First, may i remind you that you are only the manager of said company and not its true owner? *Looking at Willow* Your wife is the one allowed to speak without constraints during the meeting. And secondly, you shall address her by her title or miss Belladonna.

Willow: *surprised* Your majesty?

Jacques: ... *Sigh* I must ask your forgiveness. It slipped my mind.

Jaune: I see. *Now looking at the PM* Now, as you probably know, Miss Belladonna isn't part of the White Fang anymore. Not only that, but her crimes were committed as a minor. Furthermore, she isn't a Mistralean resident, meaning we are in no obligation to extradite her.

PM: *frowning* You are saying that she won't be punished for her crimes?

Jaune: *shaking his head* I never said that. She will be judged according to Valean laws.

Ghira: *nodding* And i approve of this decision. Tell me, wouldn't you prefer we bury the hatchet and try de-escalating the situation?

PM: ... *Sigh* What would be the sentence?

Jaune: Under our laws, she committed vandalism, vigilantism and endangerment of civilian life during said vigilantism. For the remainder of her time in Beacon, she will have to do community service every Saturday. Furthermore, she will be forbidden from leaving the vicinity of Beacon UNLESS it is for said service.

PM: ... Fine, we shall accept those conditions. *Looking at Ghira* In exchange, we simply ask for the White Fang to stop attacking the SDC shipments to our cities.

Ghira: *sigh* I would love to, but i have limited influence on them i'm afraid.

Jaune: *looking at the annoyed Jacques* Maybe the SDC could make some concessions? *Smiling, now looking at Willow* What do you think, lady Willow?

Willow: *nervous* I-i... My husband...

Jaune: *gently cutting her* Has no authority during this meeting.

Willow: *Feeling the gaze of her husband* I... *Shaky voice* Y-yes your majesty. The company has gone too far.

Jacques: *low angry voice* Willow...

Willow: *looking at Jaune with more resolve* I am fully aware of the wrongdoing of Jacques. In exchange for those concessions, however, i want the rights of the SDC's old mines back.

Jaune: *pensive* The one from before the faunus war, i assume?

Willow: *nod* Yes, your majesty... I will be frank with you, Jacques demands were mostly aimed at re-appropriating them back.

Jaune: *sigh* It would have been so much easier to say so... *Nod* You are free to restart mining on Valean soil. However, some of the mines were privatised. Is this fine with you, my lady?

Willow: *nod* I was already aware of that. Besides, competition never hurts.

Ironwood: *surprised, whispering to Winter* It's the first time i've seen her speak up.

Winter: *as surprised as him* Same for me here. I always thought she was completely under my father's thumb...

Jacques: *furious, getting up from his chair* Willow, what are you doing!? "I" own the company! "I" brought it back from the mountain of debts your father had to pay!

Willow: *looking at him* And in doing so, you ran my family name through the mud. *Getting up, locking eyes with him* You made us enemy number one of faunuskind, you supplied both the government and the criminals alike in the name of profit and that's enough! I'm through with this!

Jacques: What are you-

Willow: I'm divorcing you, you twat!

The Vacuan representative: *whispering to Jaune* Soooo.... Would it be a bad time to talk about the unlawful exploitation of our Dust by the SDC or?

[saywhat-politics]

Heads up.

America’s favorite low poly electric truck is facing a new set of problems that don’t have anything to do with people spray painting swastikas or crude comments about Elon Musk on them. Deliveries of the Tesla Cybertruck are on hold while the company addresses issues with reports that the trim is becoming detached and flying off, Electrek reports.

Tesla service representatives are telling customers awaiting deliveries that there is a “containment hold” on their trucks, according to several posts in the Cybertruck Owners Forum, as noted by Electrek. The customers are not being told it has anything to do with the vehicle’s trim, though. A containment hold is a proactive measure taken by automakers to address a quality issue or defect with a vehicle before it reaches customers.

[vague-humanoid]

The 20-year-old shooter who attempted to assassinate former President Trump was a dietary aide at a nursing home, a bright student, and a member of a gun club.

Thomas Matthew Crooks belonged to a shooting club based in Clairton, Pa., nearly nine miles from his family home in Bethel Park. Attorney Robert S. Bootay III confirmed to The Times that Crooks, who was shot and killed by Secret Service agents Saturday, was a member of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club.

“Obviously, the club fully admonishes the senseless act of violence that occurred yesterday,” said Bootay, who represents the organization, in a statement. “The club also offers its sincerest condolences to the Comperatore family and extends prayers to all of those injured including the former president.”

Bootay declined further comment, citing the pending FBI investigation.

The Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, on 180 acres south of Pittsburgh, bills itself as offering “one of the premier shooting facilities in the tri-state area” and has more than 2,000 members. It offers youth events, archery facilities, safety courses and multiple rifle ranges, including a highpowered-rifle range with targets up to 187 yards away.

BBC News first reported Crooks’ affiliation with the club.

Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh division, said in a news briefing Sunday that Crooks used an AR-style 556 rifle in the shooting that was legally purchased by his father, Matthew Crooks. The elder Crooks is a licensed counselor in Pennsylvania, according to state and federal records.

A local gun shop owner, Bruce Piendl, told Reuters that there are “a ton of gun clubs” in the area around Bethel Park. “We have a rich tradition of hunting and fishing and outdoor stuff,” he said.

Rojek said authorities found a suspicious device in Thomas Matthew Crooks’ car, which was inspected by bomb technicians and rendered safe. He said the FBI was in the process of analyzing it further.

[mysticalserenity-tarot]

*ੈ✩‧₊˚General messages for the collective for the year 2025*ੈ✩‧₊˚

[vision boards not mine, credits to the respective owners]

My Paid Readings Services. My Kofi (for further guidance or if you enjoyed this reading and want to tip me, not manadatory!)

Let's dive in!

Disclaimer: This is a collective reading I picked up on multiple energies, so please only take what resonates and leave the rest.

(7 of Cups Rx, Knight of Wands, The Hierophant, 2 of Swords, The Magician Rx, Strength, 3 of Cups, 8 of Pentacles, 6 of Wands, King of Pentacles.)

✨ I keep hearing 'regaining your power.' You are about to enter your boss b*tch era! I sense a powerful dark feminine energy at work (no matter the gender) some of you may have even consciously manifested this change. Transformation is the main theme for most of you in 2025.

✨ "Finally, it's my time" - I sense feelings of joy and relief. Your hard work will pay off, and you may wonder if the Universe/your guides see how hard you've been working. Rest assured, they do, and there will be rewards for your efforts. The cards I drew emphasize triumph, and you, my dear, are the star!"

✨ You may face a difficult decision or choice, which could be related to your career, love life, or some other aspect of your life. Even though it may feel challenging, you'll ultimately find peace with your decision. For some of you, it's about letting go of something or someone, and I can feel the weight in your stomach already. But please don't worry, everything will be alright. Just remember: it's not your fault.

✨ Some of you will find the strength to break free from toxic and karmic situations. You will let go of people who have manipulated you and hindered your personal growth, especially.

✨ I see you meeting new people and an upcoming connection with your soul tribe, and it may be at work or in a situation where you collaborate with them, leading to newfound opportunities and abundance in your life.

✨ 2025 will be your King of Pentacles year: expect abundance, financial security, and success in your endeavors. Patience and hard work will be the keys to unlocking your destiny. I foresee your business expanding, and your efforts will be acknowledged and respected.

✨ With the 2 of Cups appearing frequently, I sense a strong possibility of unions with a future spouse or a twin flame/karmic partner entering your life, all of which are meant to serve your highest good. They may also be wise guides or teachers, and you will learn a lot from each other both consciously and unconsciously.

✨ You are going to prioritize yourselves and develop a stronger connection with your higher selves and spirit guides. Your psychic abilities may awaken or become even more acute. This newfound awareness will open up a world of growth, insight, and intuition in your life.

✨ Many of you are currently seeking employment, and I see you obtaining a job in 2025 that may not be exactly what you'd ideally prefer to do. However, this job will serve as a stepping stone, opening doors for you to ultimately reach your dreams and aspirations.

✨ One of your big manifestations will come to fruition in the 3D (physical world) in 2025, and I sense that it could be something related to the collective message I've shared.

✨ The dominant colors of your 2025 will be red and yellow, representing power, determination, vitality, and strength, as well as passion and positivity, intellect, and enlightenment. I foresee healing taking place in your root and solar plexus chakras, where your personal power originates. The number theme for 2025 will be the number 8, representing accomplishment, power, success, and overall abundance. Confirmation.

Here are some affirmations for a special 2025 for everyone:

🌠 "2025 is going to be my year." 🌠 "I am attracting prosperity and abundance into my life." 🌠 "I am surrounding myself with positive and supportive people." 🌠 "I am taking care of my physical, mental, and emotional health." 🌠 "I am letting go of the past and embracing the future with optimism and excitement." 🌠 "I am grateful for all the blessings and joy that will come to me in the new year."

_______________________________________

ANY LIKE/REBLOG/COMMENT IS APPRECIATED, ALSO IF YOU LET ME KNOW IF IT RESONATED.

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY WORK.

ALWAYS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EACH ONE OF YOU'S SUPPORT, I'M GRATEFUL 🤗🤍~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please note that I used AI language bot to help improve grammar and spelling in my readings, as English is not my first language. However, the interpretations and insights provided in my readings are all my work, based on my intuition and the cards' symbolism.

Disclaimer: Tarot readings are for entertainment purposes only and are not meant to predict or dictate your future. The cards provide insights and guidance, but the ultimate power of choice lies with you.

[walkawaytall]

How to Request a DMCA Takedown re: Word-Stream.com

(I, WalkAwayTall, am merely a messenger; this info was copied directly from this post on r/AO3 and posted here with permission from its author, @fuegopi. Use it as you see fit.)

----------

The relevant statute, FYI is 17 U.S.C. § 512 (c)(3)(A), available at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512

OPTION 1: MAKE A REPORT TO CLOUDFLARE

https://abuse.cloudflare.com/

Step 1: Select “Copyright Infringement & DMCA Violations”

Step 2: Fill Out the Form

(some notes below)

Your Full Name: I understand many fanfic authors prefer anonymity. However, your report/complaint may be taken more seriously if you use both your name and your pseud. For example, I would write, [MY NAME] (“FuegoPI” on AO3).

Holder’s Full Name: Again, that is you, the author.

Contact Information Fields: The DMCA only requires that, you provide “Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party” — An email address should be sufficient.

Infringing URLS: List the URL of every work you have made that is available on the offending website.

Describe the Original Work: I would list the names of your stories, the word counts, and give AO3 links.

For example: A Fanfic Story (200k Words), originally posted and available at [LINK].

You MUST check the box that says 512(f) acknowledgment, “Good faith belief, Authority to act” and you MUST provide a digital signature or your report will not be accepted.

OPTION 2: MAKE A REPORT TO GODADDY

OPTION 1: Fill out the form at https://supportcenter.godaddy.com/AbuseReport (you may not wish to do this because of the information requested; if so, I recommend sending a letter).

Step 1: Select “Make a Claim”

Step 2: Select Claim Type, “Copyright Infringement”

Step 3: Are you the Copyright Owner or an authorized representative? Select “yes.”

Step 4: Please enter the domain name associated with the website you are complaining about – Fill in “https://word-stream.com/”

Step 5: https://supportcenter.godaddy.com/ipclaims/copyright/infringement If you want to fill this out.

OPTION 2: The form is probably not for everyone, because it requires address information that the DMCA does not strictly require. As a result, I made a template letter for y’all. I recommend attaching to an email.

copyrightclaims@godaddy.com

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The enshittification of garage-door openers reveals a vast and deadly rot

I'll be at the Studio City branch of the LA Public Library on Monday, November 13 at 1830hPT to launch my new novel, The Lost Cause. There'll be a reading, a talk, a surprise guest (!!) and a signing, with books on sale. Tell your friends! Come on down!

How could this happen? Owners of Chamberlain MyQ automatic garage door openers just woke up to discover that the company had confiscated valuable features overnight, and that there was nothing they could do about it.

Oh, we know what happened, technically speaking. Chamberlain shut off the API for its garage-door openers, which breaks their integration with home automation systems like Home Assistant. The company even announced that it was doing this, calling the integration an "unauthorized usage" of its products, though the "unauthorized" parties in this case are the people who own Chamberlain products:

https://chamberlaingroup.com/press/a-message-about-our-decision-to-prevent-unauthorized-usage-of-myq

We even know why Chamberlain did this. As Ars Technica's Ron Amadeo points out, shutting off the API is a way for Chamberlain to force its customers to use its ad-beshitted, worst-of-breed app, so that it can make a few pennies by nonconsensually monetizing its customers' eyeballs:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/11/chamberlain-blocks-smart-garage-door-opener-from-working-with-smart-homes/

But how did this happen? How did a giant company like Chamberlain come to this enshittening juncture, in which it felt empowered to sabotage the products it had already sold to its customers? How can this be legal? How can it be good for business? How can the people who made this decision even look themselves in the mirror?

To answer these questions, we must first consider the forces that discipline companies, acting against the impulse to enshittify their products and services. There are four constraints on corporate conduct:

I. Competition. The fear of losing your business to a rival can stay even the most sociopathic corporate executive's hand.

II. Regulation. The fear of being fined, criminally sanctioned, or banned from doing business can check the greediest of leaders.

III. Capability. Corporate executives can dream up all kinds of awful ways to shift value from your side of the ledger to their own, but they can only do the things that are technically feasible.

IV. Self-help. The possibility of customers modifying, reconfiguring or altering their products to restore lost functionality or neutralize antifeatures carries an implied threat to vendors. If a printer company's anti-generic-ink measures drives a customer to jailbreak their printers, the original manufacturer's connection to that customer is permanently severed, as the customer creates a durable digital connection to a rival.

When companies act in obnoxious, dishonest, shitty ways, they aren't merely yielding to temptation – they are evading these disciplining forces. Thus, the Great Enshittening we are living through doesn't reflect an increase in the wickedness of corporate leadership. Rather, it represents a moment in which each of these disciplining factors have been gutted by specific policies.

This is good news, actually. We used to put down rat poison and we didn't have a rat problem. Then we stopped putting down rat poison and rats are eating us alive. That's not a nice feeling, but at least we know at least one way of addressing it – we can start putting down poison again. That is, we can start enforcing the rules that we stopped enforcing, in living memory. Having a terrible problem is no fun, but the best kind of terrible problem to have is one that you know a solution to.

As it happens, Chamberlain is a neat microcosm for all the bad policy choices that created the Era of Enshittification. Let's go through them:

Competition: Chamberlain doesn't have to worry about competition, because it is owned by a private equity fund that "rolled up" all of Chamberlain's major competitors into a single, giant firm. Most garage-door opener brands are actually Chamberlain, including "LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Merlin, and Grifco":

https://www.lakewoodgaragedoor.biz/blog/the-history-of-garage-door-openers

This is a pretty typical PE rollup, and it exploits a bug in US competition law called "Antitrust's Twilight Zone":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/16/schumpeterian-terrorism/#deliberately-broken

When companies buy each other, they are subject to "merger scrutiny," a set of guidelines that the FTC and DoJ Antitrust Division use to determine whether the outcome is likely to be bad for competition. These rules have been pretty lax since the Reagan administration, but they've currently being revised to make them substantially more strict:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-and-ftc-seek-comment-draft-merger-guidelines

One of the blind spots in these merger guidelines is an exemption for mergers valued at less than $101m. Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, these fly under the radar, evading merger scrutiny. That means that canny PE companies can roll up dozens and dozens of standalone businesses, like funeral homes, hospital beds, magic mushrooms, youth addiction treatment centers, mobile home parks, nursing homes, physicians’ practices, local newspapers, or e-commerce sellers:

http://www.economicliberties.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Serial-Acquisitions-Working-Paper-R4-2.pdf

By titrating the purchase prices, PE companies – like Blackstone, owners of Chamberlain and all the other garage-door makers – can acquire a monopoly without ever raising a regulatory red flag.

But antitrust enforcers aren't helpless. Under (the long dormant) Section 7 of the Clayton Act, competition regulators can block mergers that lead to "incipient monopolization." The incipiency standard prevented monopolies from forming from 1914, when the Clayton Act passed, until the Reagan administration. We used to put down rat poison, and we didn't have rats. We stopped, and rats are gnawing our faces off. We still know where the rat poison is – maybe we should start putting it down again.

On to regulation. How is it possible for Chamberlain to sell you a garage-door opener that has an API and works with your chosen home automation system, and then unilaterally confiscate that valuable feature? Shouldn't regulation protect you from this kind of ripoff?

It should, but it doesn't. Instead, we have a bunch of regulations that protect Chamberlain from you. Think of binding arbitration, which allows Chamberlain to force you to click through an "agreement" that takes away your right to sue them or join a class-action suit:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/20/benevolent-dictators/#felony-contempt-of-business-model

But regulation could protect you from Chamberlain. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act allows the FTC to ban any "unfair and deceptive" conduct. This law has been on the books since 1914, but Section 5 has been dormant, forgotten and unused, for decades. The FTC's new dynamo chair, Lina Khan, has revived it, and is use it like a can-opener to free Americans who've been trapped by abusive conduct:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

Khan's used Section 5 powers to challenge privacy invasions, noncompete clauses, and other corporate abuses – the bait-and-switch tactics of Chamberlain are ripe for a Section 5 case. If you buy a gadget because it has five features and then the vendor takes two of them away, they are clearly engaged in "unfair and deceptive" conduct.

On to capability. Since time immemorial, corporate leaders have fetishized "flexibility" in their business arrangements – like the ability to do "dynamic pricing" that changes how much you pay for something based on their guess about how much you are willing to pay. But this impulse to play shell games runs up against the hard limits of physical reality: grocers just can't send an army of rollerskated teenagers around the store to reprice everything as soon as a wealthy or desperate-looking customer comes through the door. They're stuck with crude tactics like doubling the price of a flight that doesn't include a Saturday stay as a way of gouging business travelers on an expense account.

With any shell-game, the quickness of the hand deceives the eye. Corporate crooks armed with computers aren't smarter or more wicked than their analog forebears, but they are faster. Digital tools allow companies to alter the "business logic" of their services from instant to instant, in highly automated ways:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

The monopoly coalition has successfully argued that this endless "twiddling" should not be constrained by privacy, labor or consumer protection law. Without these constraints, corporate twiddlers can engage in all kinds of ripoffs, like wage theft and algorithmic wage discrimination:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

Twiddling is key to the Darth Vader MBA ("I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it further"), in which features are confiscated from moment to moment, without warning or recourse:

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

There's no reason to accept the premise that violating your privacy, labor rights or consumer rights with a computer is so different from analog ripoffs that existing laws don't apply. The unconstrained twiddling of digital ripoff artists is a plague on billions of peoples' lives, and any enforcer who sticks up for our rights will have an army of supporters behind them.

Finally, there's the fear of self-help measures. All the digital flexibility that tech companies use to take value away can be used to take it back, too. The whole modern history of digital computers is the history of "adversarial interoperability," in which the sleazy antifeatures of established companies are banished through reverse-engineering, scraping, bots and other forms of technological guerrilla warfare:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability

Adversarial interoperability represents a serious threat to established business. If you're a printer company gouging on toner, your customers might defect to a rival that jailbreaks your security measures. That's what happened to Lexmark, who lost a case against the toner-refilling company Static Controls, which went on to buy Lexmark:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/felony-contempt-business-model-lexmarks-anti-competitive-legacy

Sure, your customers are busy and inattentive and you can degrade the quality of your product a lot before they start looking for ways out. But once they cross that threshold, you can lose them forever. That's what happened to Microsoft: the company made the tactical decision to produce a substandard version of Office for the Mac in a drive to get Mac users to switch to Windows. Instead, Apple made Iwork (Pages, Numbers and Keynote), which could read and write every Office file, and Mac users threw away Office, the only Microsoft product they owned, permanently severing their relationship to the company:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/adversarial-interoperability-reviving-elegant-weapon-more-civilized-age-slay

Today, companies can operate without worrying about this kind of self-help measure. There' a whole slew of IP rights that Chamberlain can enforce against you if you try to fix your garage-door opener yourself, or look to a competitor to sell you a product that restores the feature they took away:

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

Jailbreaking your Chamberlain gadget in order to make it answer to a rival's app involves bypassing a digital lock. Trafficking in a tool to break a digital lock is a felony under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright, carrying a five-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine.

In other words, it's not just that tech isn't regulated, allowing for endless twiddling against your privacy, consumer rights and labor rights. It's that tech is badly regulated, to permit unlimited twiddling by tech companies to take away your rightsand to prohibit any twiddling by you to take them back. The US government thumbs the scales against you, creating a regime that Jay Freeman aptly dubbed "felony contempt of business model":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/23/how-to-fix-cars-by-breaking-felony-contempt-of-business-model/

All kinds of companies have availed themselves of this government-backed superpower. There's DRM – digital locks, covered by DMCA 1201 – in powered wheelchairs:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/when-drm-comes-your-wheelchair

In dishwashers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/03/cassette-rewinder/#disher-bob

In treadmills:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/22/vapescreen/#jane-get-me-off-this-crazy-thing

In tractors:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/08/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors/

It should come as no surprise to learn that Chamberlain has used DMCA 1201 to block interoperable garage door opener components:

https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1233&context=iplr

That's how we arrived at this juncture, where a company like Chamberlain can break functionality its customers value highly, solely to eke out a minuscule new line of revenue by selling ads on their own app.

Chamberlain bought all its competitors.

Chamberlain operates in a regulatory environment that is extremely tolerant of unfair and deceptive practices. Worse: they can unilaterally take away your right to sue them, which means that if regulators don't bestir themselves to police Chamberlain, you are shit out of luck.

Chamberlain has endless flexibility to unilaterally alter its products' functionality, in fine-grained ways, even after you've purchased them.

Chamberlain can sue you if you try to exercise some of that same flexibility to protect yourself from their bad practices.

Combine all four of those factors, and of course Chamberlain is going to enshittify its products. Every company has had that one weaselly asshole at the product-planning table who suggests a petty grift like breaking every one of the company's customers' property to sell a few ads. But historically, the weasel lost the argument to others, who argued that making every existing customer furious would affect the company's bottom line, costing it sales and/or fines, and prompting customers to permanently sever their relationship with the company by seeking out and installing alternative software. Take away all the constraints on a corporation's worst impulses, and this kind of conduct is inevitable:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/microincentives-and-enshittification/

This isn't limited to Chamberlain. Without the discipline of competition, regulation, self-help measures or technological limitations, every industry in undergoing wholesale enshittification. It's not a coincidence that Chamberlain's grift involves a push to move users into its app. Because apps can't be reverse-engineered and modified without risking DMCA 1201 prosecution, forcing a user into an app is a tidy and reliable way to take away that user's rights.

Think about ad-blocking. One in four web users has installed an ad-blockers ("the biggest boycott in world history" -Doc Searls). Zero app users have installed app-blockers, because they don't exist, because making one is a felony. An app is just a web-page wrapped in enough IP to make it a crime to defend yourself against corporate predation:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/27/an-audacious-plan-to-halt-the-internets-enshittification-and-throw-it-into-reverse/

The temptation to enshitiffy isn't new, but the ability to do so without consequence is a modern phenomenon, the intersection of weak policy enforcement and powerful technology. Your car is autoenshittified, a rolling rent-seeking platform that spies on you and price-gouges you:

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

Cars are in an uncontrolled skid over Enshittification Cliff. Honda, Toyota, VW and GM all sell cars with infotainment systems that harvest your connected phone's text-messages and send them to the corporation for data-mining. What's more, a judge in Washington state just ruled that this is legal:

https://therecord.media/class-action-lawsuit-cars-text-messages-privacy

While there's no excuse for this kind of sleazy conduct, we can reasonably anticipate that if our courts would punish companies for engaging in it, they might be able to resist the temptation. No wonder Mozilla's latest Privacy Not Included research report called cars "the worst product category we have ever reviewed":

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/

I mean, Nissan tries to infer facts about your sex life and sells those inferences to marketing companies:

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/nissan/

But the OG digital companies are the masters of enshittification. Microsoft has been at this game for longer than anyone, and every day brings a fresh way that Microsoft has worsened its products without fear of consequence. The latest? You can't delete your OneDrive account until you provide an acceptable explanation for your disloyalty:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/8/23952878/microsoft-onedrive-windows-close-app-notification

It's tempting to think that the cruelty is the point, but it isn't. It's almost never the point. The point is power and money. Unscrupulous businesses have found ways to make money by making their products worse since the industrial revolution. Here's Jules Dupuis, writing about 19th century French railroads:

It is not because of the few thousand francs which would have to be spent to put a roof over the third-class carriages or to upholster the third-class seats that some company or other has open carriages with wooden benches. What the company is trying to do is to prevent the passengers who can pay the second class fare from traveling third class; it hits the poor, not because it wants to hurt them, but to frighten the rich. And it is again for the same reason that the companies, having proved almost cruel to the third-class passengers and mean to the second-class ones, become lavish in dealing with first-class passengers. Having refused the poor what is necessary, they give the rich what is superfluous.

https://www.tumblr.com/mostlysignssomeportents/731357317521719296/having-refused-the-poor-what-is-necessary-they

But as bad as all this is, let me remind you about the good part: we know how to stop companies from enshittifying their products. We know what disciplines their conduct: competition, regulation, capability and self-help measures. Yes, rats are gnawing our eyeballs, but we know which rat-poison to use, and where to put it to control those rats.

Competition, regulation, constraint and self-help measures all backstop one another, and while one or a few can make a difference, they are most powerful when they're all mobilized in concert. Think of the failure of the EU's landmark privacy law, the GDPR. While the GDPR proved very effective against bottom-feeding smaller ad-tech companies, the worse offenders, Meta and Google, have thumbed their noses at it.

This was enabled in part by the companies' flying an Irish flag of convenience, maintaining the pretense that they have to be regulated in a notorious corporate crime-haven:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town

That let them get away with all kinds of shenanigans, like ignoring the GDPR's requirement that you should be able to easily opt out of data-collection without having to go through cumbersome "cookie consent" dialogs or losing access to the service as punishment for declining to be tracked.

As the noose has tightened around these surveillance giants, they're continuing to play games. Meta now says that the only way to opt out of data-collection in the EU is to pay for the service:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/30/markets-remaining-irrational/#steins-law

This is facially illegal under the GDPR. Not only are they prohibited from punishing you for opting out of collection, but the whole scheme ignores the nature of private data collection. If Facebook collects the fact that you and I are friends, but I never opted into data-collection, they have violated the GDPR, even if you were coerced into granting consent:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/11/the-pay-or-consent-challenge-for-platform-regulators.html

The GDPR has been around since 2016 and Google and Meta are still invading 500 million Europeans' privacy. This latest delaying tactic could add years to their crime-spree before they are brought to justice.

But most of this surveillance is only possible because so much of how you interact with Google and Meta is via an app, and an app is just a web-page that's a felony to make an ad-blocker for. If the EU were to legalize breaking DRM – repealing Article 6 of the 2001 Copyright Directive – then we wouldn't have to wait for the European Commission to finally wrestle these two giant companies to the ground. Instead, EU companies could make alternative clients for all of Google and Meta's services that don't spy on you, without suffering the fate of OG App, which tried this last winter and was shut down by "felony contempt of business model":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/05/battery-vampire/#drained

Enshittification is demoralizing. To quote @wilwheaton, every update to the services we use inspires "dread of 'How will this complicate things as I try to maintain privacy and sanity in a world that demands I have this thing to operate?'"

https://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/698603648058556416/cory-doctorow-if-you-see-this-and-have-thoughts

But there are huge natural constituencies for the four disciplining forces that keep enshittification at bay.

Remember, Antitrust's Twilight Zone doesn't just allow rollups of garage-door opener companies – it's also poison for funeral homes, hospital beds, magic mushrooms, youth addiction treatment centers, mobile home parks, nursing homes, physicians’ practices, local newspapers, or e-commerce sellers.

The Binding Arbitration scam that stops Chamberlain customers from suing the company also stops Uber drivers from suing over stolen wages, Turbotax customers from suing over fraud, and many other victims of corporate crime from getting a day in court.

The failure to constrain twiddling to protect privacy, labor rights and consumer rights enables a host of abuses, from stalking, doxing and SWATting to wage theft and price gouging:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

And Felony Contempt of Business Model is used to screw you over every time you refill your printer, run your dishwasher, or get your Iphone's screen replaced.

The actions needed to halt and reverse this enshittification are well understood, and the partisans for taking those actions are too numerous to count. It's taken a long time for all those individuals suffering under corporate abuses to crystallize into a movement, but at long last, it's happening.

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

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

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[kitasgloves]

A Secret for the Stars

— ♬ Fyodor was a regular at the tavern you work at. But behind every polite smile and gesture, was a different man he'd rather not show you...yet.

— ♬ Fyodor Dostoevsky x Reader, SFW, 1920s AU, fem-bodied reader, Fyodor is kinda lowkey obsessive and unhinged on this one (I mean, when is he not?), 2.4k words, no beta

— ♬ hello, yes, I have returned to serve my first bsd fanfic and it's this russian rat, hope you guys enjoy though

The evening was particularly colder than yesterday. People occasionally strolled by in the streets, pulling their coats tighter and rubbing their palms to produce warmth. Pitiful beggars were reaching their dirty hands out to every passerby, their pathetic countenance left unseen by others, making it impossible to extract a little bit of sympathy. In rare instances, someone would look at a beggar's face, but it's either with unconcealed disgust or sheer sympathy. A man represents the latter, his gloved hand digs into the pocket of his coat and gives the beggar five coins worth of money. The beggar's face lights up significantly, eyes watering with heartfelt compassion at the male stranger as he thanks them silently with a weak nod. He nods back before resuming his walk.

He takes each step with confidence and certainty. Anyone who lands their gaze on him can tell he's a man of rationality. A man who knew how to form foolproof plans and had success etched on the palm of his hand. His ebony peaked cap rests comfortably on top of his dark head, his complexion rivaling the snow, and his slim but tall build utters grace. He had on a black coat with a dark waistcoat underneath, his white dress shirt and red tie peaked out. His charcoal trousers and boots were cleaned and polished. One would take him for a nobleman or someone with great importance.

Deep violet eyes scan the old tavern ahead, it was a place he frequented in after his daily 'affairs'. From the sufficient light through the windows, he deduces that the tavern was packed with drunkards this evening. Nonetheless, he enters. The scent of alcohol and tobacco filled the atmosphere, he merely gags. He strides to his favorite spot, near the back where nobody bothers to occupy. He removes his hat and takes a seat. His observant eyes watch the sea of drunkards hollering and insulting each other during a game of cards, a few were slumped over on their tables smoking, and some had managed to pass out on the disgusting wooded, beyond intoxicated.

Amid the chaos, he hears soft footsteps approach. He holds back a smile for he recognizes the owner of the footsteps. He carefully turns his head and his eyes meet the warmest [Eye color] orbs he has ever encountered.

"Good evening, Fyodor! May I fetch your usual?"

"Please, of course, my dear"

Fyodor replies with familiarity. You and Fyodor only knew each other by name and face, you two didn't have any conversations but only polite greetings. You worked as a waitress in this tavern. Amongst the rough faces available in the place, yours by far are the most comforting. Fyodor found you fascinating. He couldn't exactly point his finger at it but it had something to do with your indifference in your environment. You've served him the same drink for months to the point a routine was formed and became familiar.

An educated man such as he knows how to pay your service with the right amount of money and a polite smile, unlike most of the hounds that occupied the tavern. Fyodor could barely hide his disgust at seeing drunkards stretch out their arms in an attempt to snatch you into their laps, their greedy and dirty hands testified to their perverted minds. However, you remained unshaken. You avoided their attempts at snatching as you ignored their whistles for a 'pretty young lady' to come over.

If Fyodor were to be a lesser man, he would've agreed with those perverted drunkards. You had a gentle face and complexion. Your eyes glimmered like the stars in the midnight sky while your smile resembled the sunrise. Your body suggested a healthy shape. And your movements weren't one of a graceful swan, but rather, a woman who knew what she was worth. Fyodor had an assumption of your hidden intelligence, you must be one of the fortunate ones in this poverty-stricken city to have learned how to read and write. Though, he would like to understand why you have chosen this occupation. For your good looks, you could've become an actress at the local theatre, it could've landed you great opportunities to travel overseas if you performed well. Or you could've, like any beautiful maiden, been married off to a wealthy man and lived your life with effortless luxury.

But he thinks he preferred you this way, serving him his vodka. When you returned with his drink, you didn't wander off, instead, you stood there as if waiting for him to speak up. Fyodor's lips curl up into a smirk at this.

"Thank you, [Name]. How is your day?"

"It's as equally as exhausting as the previous days, but it is nothing I couldn't manage"

"Hm, I admire your resilience. After all, how is one to strive in an environment like this?"

Fyodor gestures to the wild atmosphere at the tavern, you only laughed and waved your hand off.

"It's only necessary for me to try and strive here. I cannot afford to lose this job"

"And why's that? Are there no other opportunities?"

"I'm afraid no, my friend. You see, I have an unfinished education and a massive family debt I am responsible for helping to pay off"

"I see, how unfortunate"

This was the first proper conversation Fyodor has had with you and he immediately absorbs all of the information you have unconsciously given him. He greedily wastes your time in thirst to know more.

"You look famished, my dear. Would you like to take a seat for a moment?"

"Oh, only for a brief while"

You accepted his offer and sat across from him. Fyodor keeps the conversation alive by inquiring about more about yourself through innocent questions. He's both surprised and amused that you're answering his questions truthfully. He realizes you weren't bashful or meek. He recalls encountering women and seeing them with tinted cheeks and silently batting their eyelashes at him, hoping he'd be the first to speak or to fall for them. How absurd! Yet you have never batted your eyelashes at him, from what he gathers from your mannerisms, you only view him as the only peaceful regular at this wretched tavern. His eyes narrowed when one of those stupid drunkards called you to serve him another bottle of alcohol. 

"If you'll excuse me..."

You say to him as you flutter away from his presence. You haven't returned to his table for a while and it's making him impatient. Fyodor was determined to stay until you came back, watching and enduring you get constantly harassed by those foolish men. It was nearly midnight when the tavern usually closes, you ushered every drunk customer out before you began to clean up. Fyodor was the last to remain, on purpose. While you haven't graced him with your attention since you left the conversation, he has finished scheming.

"Have you gone tipsy, my friend?"

You asked him when you finally approached his table. Fyodor shakes his head and smiles.

"Oh no, I am not drunk, my dear"

"Well, that's a relief! I'm afraid you have to leave for the tavern is about to close"

"Is that so? Oh, I have not realized how late it was! But how will you walk home at this late hour?"

You chuckled as he perfected the feigned concerned expression on his face, it had seemed to effectively fool you.

"I am comfortable with finding my way home alone, Fyodor"

"Nonsense, a lady without company at this darkest hour isn't safe. May I accompany you at least until the end of the street?"

"How kind of you, my friend! Yes, but let me finish cleaning up first"

You turned to tidy the tavern, completely missing the cunning smirk on Fyodor's face. He selfishly watches you move around the tavern, cleaning tables while humming a tune and bending over to pick up the fallen chairs. His violet eyes gleamed with greed as he etched each movement into his memory.

"Are you finished, my dear?"

"Yes, let us head out"

Both of you exited the tavern, a cold breeze greeting you. He watched you pull your worn-out coat close to your shivering figure as he walked beside you. The street was dimly lit, it was sufficient to hide the satisfied look on his face. Suddenly, you looked up at him with curiosity.

"May I ask what job do you have, Fyodor?"

"I am involved with the government"

There was a look of surprise on your features. Of course, Fyodor's reply was neither the full truth nor half a lie. He needed you to think highly of him.

"No wonder you dress with importance! I did not know one of our regulars was a famous man"

"I am well-known in some parts of the city, but I'm far from famous, my dear"

"Well, then you must receive a lot of invitations and love letters every day!"

You beamed at him, Fyodor admits that he adores your natural curiosity of him. He doubts he'd be willing to show you who he truly was. Because he was more than that polite customer you serve vodka to almost every evening. His acquaintances and enemies regarded him the same way; he was a cynical man with a skill for scheming. He's selfish when it comes to his personal goals. His name has caused the destruction of many that have dared to stumble in his way. But he chuckles and replies to you.

"How insightful you are. I indeed receive a lot of invitations and love letters, but I only respond to letters with important affairs"

"I hope you're not the kind that burns love letters to keep his bath warm"

You remarked as you gazed forward. Fyodor merely freezes at what you said. He knows he has no room for romance in his life. Rationality doesn't require emotions. He could choose to laugh and tell you that he does burn love letters but he doesn't use them to keep his bath warm. Though the love letters were sufficient enough to keep his bath warm, he sees no form of use for them. They are nothing but unreciprocated affections sprawled on paper.

"No, my dear. That would be heartless"

"That's a relief. I do not think you're a cruel man, Fyodor"

Oh, how quick you were to accept that false answer. Fyodor preferred you to perceive him as a harmless man and leave this pristine image of him unstained. You were talkative, and it was the first mistake you'd ever made, if anyone who knew him saw this, they would warn you. One shouldn't be at ease to open up to a man like Fyodor, he's the kind of man to use anything you tell him against you. However, you weren't an enemy and he wasn't planning on making you one. He liked what he had with you now, for the time being.

Halfway down the street, Fyodor thinks how he would like to suck the life out of you. The way you babbled on and on about the most trivial parts of your life gave an impression that you were begging him to ruin you. The pure nativity and innocence you displayed in your eyes made his throat dry. Behind the smile he's giving you was a dark thought, he was prepared to use you in any way he could. It was surprising how effortless it was to manipulate you.

As you both reached the end of the street, you peered up at him with a smile. The street was divided into two; the path you stood behind was filled with bright streetlights while the one on his side had faded lighting.

"Will I see you again tomorrow at the tavern?"

"Of course, you will, my dear"

"Thank you for walking with me"

There was a different form of a smile on your face, it looked tender, and it almost reminded him of someone's mother. Fyodor had always watched you for a long time, he'd seen every expression you had to offer but this smile was new. And something that wasn't part of his scheme, occurred: you have reached to the tips of your toes to place a chaste kiss on his left cheek. For a moment, his contemptuous thoughts of you vanish. A terrifying warmth blooms in his chest. Fyodor stares at you unblinking.

"Goodbye, Fyodor"

He couldn't open his mouth to reply as you walked down that street on your way home. What in God's name was that? With a gloved hand, he reaches for his left cheek and recoils back like he's been burnt. Why did you do that? Fyodor furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. How disgusting! Yet his skin kept tingling. His mind replayed every smile, every laugh, and every moment he'd shared with you. He shakes his head. Pathetic! He thinks. However, he imagined you sharing those moments with somebody else morphing his hands into fists.

Fyodor grumbles as he makes his way down the dimly lit street. His eyes stare up at the sky towards the stars. Those glimmering stars only reminded him of your eyes and he scoffs. The stars perhaps have an idea of the feeling forming in his bosom. The stars have witnessed every cry of a man filled with despair and every confession of a man filled with love. But in this instance, Fyodor would tell the stars a secret instead.

A secret of his desire to obtain you. They would know how he wanted to pull you by the hand and run his hands through your hair. They would know how he would inhale your scent and steal your innocence. The stars would know how Fyodor has fallen captive under the mysterious spell that has got him determined to have you. He would rather pluck his eyes out than fall on his knees in front of you. No, he would never beg. Fyodor knows better than to beg, to beg means to admit defeat. But if God decides to take you away from him, well...he must be prepared to be a heretic.

Only the stars know now of his cunning plans for he has muttered it up to the midnight sky. Fyodor knows that stars burn up and die in the end so his secret would be safe for as long as he's alive. He laughed to himself as he continued to walk down the street.

©kitasgloves (do not steal or copy)