#shareholder return

[ryukisgod]

The government doesn’t decide how much grocery stores charge, the people who run grocery stores decide that. The only way a government could decide how much food costs is if they open their own chain of grocery stores

[vedantalimited]

Best Shareholder Return Companies in India Over the Last 5 Years

If you’re someone who invests for the long term, you’ll want to know which companies in India have rewarded their shareholders the most over the past five years. These are businesses that not only pay out regular dividends but have also seen their share prices rise this blog, we’ll explore the companies that stand out as the top dividend-paying companies in India, and others that have proven to be strong performers in overall shareholder return. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned investor, this list will give you some useful insights.

[shinden9]

I'm living in Tokyo. I'm planning out things for the future. I'm making plans to better myself and resolve issues that have plagued me for my entire life without me realizing it. I have gotten so far from the person I was, and the situations I found myself in, a few years ago I still have flashbacks.

Sitting in my 20 year old car freezing my ass off on break from my temp job making balloon things that clear artery blockages, looking for apartment listings that I could afford to live in and finding nothing, especially not for someone who didn't have a credit score. Driving through a classic New England icestorm because I used up too much of my vacation time recovering from a UC flareup. Running down to my kitchen to see black smoke billowing through my house.

It's hard to see how far you have come because you live that all the time. It's like a frog in boiling water but the boiling water is improvement. But trauma can hit acutely and suddenly. And the reaction to that trauma is felt very much in the moment and remembering it later. It's like being hit with a hot poker.

[procrastinatingfeminist]

But also: WHY do we have to throw the old model out when the new is getting established? I know so many people who bemoan the lack of owning books and movies physically, instead constantly being steered towards streaming services, where you buy a membership and can't have any expectations what you will get in return, you just hope like hell that they have that one niche series from ten years ago and haven't purged it from the library. I am one of those people. I remember reading up a decade ago about why there won't be a Cagney&Lacey dvd collection because some dude got his feelings hurt and the series had already been dated at that time and with every year there was less and less potential in the market. And at the time you could still reasonably find dvd collections. I used to buy so many of them. Even those that I haven't watched, bc I didn't have access to a tv reliably and preferred to binge watch them, and anyway, any older series are pain in the ass to find.

I get that it might not exactly be feasible for a movie/series produced by a streaming service, because of the nature of their revenue, but they also don't have the high upfront threshold of working with cinemas. But if a studio produces a movie and puts into a contract that it is locked out of selling the streaming rights for the next, lets say five years, and instead produces a smaller batch run of physical copies. Do you think people who loved it in cinema won't be chomping at the bit own it, rather than renting it? Esp if it doesn't cost an arm and a leg? And those who would rather stream it - well, after five years, it still can be put up on Amazon prime or Netflix.

I am still so glad that I managed to buy the Firefly and Babylon 5 series as a disc-set, no matter how much space it takes up, and sad that i lost my window of opportunity to buy a complete Gargoyles series. And all those series that jumped networks - like Lucifer. I signed up for Netflix in part because I hoped to watch it, but it never streamed in my region, so that was a bust; but also i am pretty sure that they only streamed the seasons that they themselves produced. You think I wouldn't have bought that shit immediately, despite having a subscription just because I didn't want to jump through a series of convoluted loops to watch it completely? Why isn't this revenue model still a thing???

(But of course it would rob the studios and networks of their ability to fuck with the creators if they can't simply yoink something several people have put their blood, sweat and tears into, from existence and retcon it being produced from reality. That has absolutely nothing with profit making. That is a psychopath mindset.)

Matt Damon explains why they don’t make movies like they used to. Pls watch.

[apieinvestavimapaprastai]

Murphy USA Stock Forecast: Seize the Opportunity for Maximum Returns!

Discover the investment potential of Murphy USA Inc. with our comprehensive analysis of its financial performance, stock price trends #MurphyUSAInc #MUSA #MUSAstockforecast #InvestmentInsights #investmentopportunity #Stockpricetrends #Shareholderreturns

In the world of stock market investments, identifying opportunities at the right moment can make all the difference. Murphy USA Inc., a major player in the retail gas station industry, offers a compelling case for investors seeking value and growth. As we delve into the company’s financial performance, stock price trends, and competitive landscape, we’ll uncover key insights that could help you…

[definedge99]

"Maximizing Wealth: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Investing in Dividends"

Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholders, usually as a portion of profits. They can be issued in cash or additional shares. Dividends provide investors with a return on their investment and signal the company’s financial health and stability.

[vaspider]

While I'm writing things that I've been intending to write for a while... one of the things that I think that a lot of people who haven't been involved in like... banking or corporate shenaniganry miss about why our economy is its current flavor of total fuckery is the concept of "fiduciary duty to shareholders."

"Why does every corporation pursue endless growth?" Fiduciary duty to shareholders.

"Why do corporations treat workers the way they do?" Fiduciary duty to shareholders.

"Why do corporations make such bass-ackwards decisions about what's 'good for' the company?" Fiduciary duty to shareholders.

The legal purpose of a corporation with shareholders -- its only true purpose -- is the generation of revenue/returns for shareholders. Period. That's it. Anything else it does is secondary to that. Sustainability of business, treatment of workers, sustainability and quality of product, those things are functionally and legally second to generating revenue for shareholders. Again, period, end of story. There is no other function of a corporation, and all of its extensive legal privileges exist to allow it to do that.

"But Spider," you might say, "that sounds like corporations only exist in current business in order to extract as much money and value as possible from the people actually doing the work and transfer it up to the people who aren't actually doing the work!"

Yes. You are correct. Thank you for coming with me to that realization. You are incredibly smart and also attractive.

You might also say, "but Spider, is this a legal obligation? Could those running a company be held legally responsible for failing their obligations if they prioritize sustainability or quality of product or care of workers above returns for shareholders?"

Yes! They absolutely can! Isn't that terrifying? Also you look great today, you're terribly clever for thinking about these things. The board and officers of a corporation can be held legally responsible to varying degrees for failing to maximize shareholder value.

And that, my friends, is why corporations do things that don't seem to make any fucking sense, and why 'continuous growth' is valued above literally anything else: because it fucking has to be.

If you're thinking that this doesn't sound like a sustainable economic model, you're not alone. People who are much smarter than both of us, and probably nearly as attractive, have written a proposal for how to change corporate law in order to create a more sensible and sustainable economy. This is one of several proposals, and while I don't agree with all of this stuff, I think that reading it will really help people as a springboard to understanding exactly why our economy is as fucked up as it is, and why just saying 'well then don't pursue eternal growth' isn't going to work -- because right now it legally can't. We'd need to change -- and we can change -- the laws around corporate governance.

This concept of 'shareholder primacy' and the fiduciary duty to shareholders is one I had to learn when I was getting my securities licenses, and every time I see people confusedly asking why corporations try to grow grow grow in a way that only makes sense if you're a tumor, I sigh and think, 'yeah, fiduciary duty to shareholders.'

(And this is why Emet and I have refused to seek investors for NK -- we might become beholden to make decisions which maximize investor return, and that would get in the way of being able to fully support our people and our values and say the things we started this company to say.)

Anyway, you should read up on these concepts if you're not familiar. It's pretty eye-opening.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

All bets are off

When unions are outlawed, only outlaws will have unions. Unions don't owe their existence to labor laws that protect organizing activities. Rather, labor laws exist because once-illegal unions were formed in the teeth of violent suppression, and those unions demanded – and got – labor law.

Bosses have hated unions since the start, and they've really hated laws protecting workers. Dress this up in whatever self-serving rationale you want – "the freedom to contract," or "meritocracy" – it all cashes out to this: when workers bargain collectively, value that would otherwise go to investors and executives goes to the workers.

I'm not just talking about wages here, either. If an employer is forced – by a union, or by a labor law that only exists because of union militancy – to operate a safe workplace, they have to spend money on things like fire suppression, PPE, and paid breaks to avoid repetitive strain injuries. In the absence of some force that corrals bosses into providing these safety measures, they can use that money to pay themselves, and externalize the cost of on-the-job injuries to their workers.

The cost and price of a good or service is the tangible expression of power. It is a matter of politics, not economics. If consumer protection agencies demand that companies provide safe, well-manufactured goods, if there are prohibitions on price-fixing and profiteering, then value shifts from the corporation to its customers.

Now, if labor has few rights and consumers have many rights, then bosses can pass their consumer-side losses on to their workers. This is the Walmart story, the Amazon story: cheap goods paid for with low wages and dangerous working conditions. Likewise, if consumer rights are weak but labor rights are strong, then bosses can pass their costs onto their customers, continuing to take high profits by charging more. This is the story of local gig-work ordinances like NYC's, which guaranteed a minimum wage to delivery drivers – restaurateurs responded by demanding the right to add a surcharge to their bills:

https://table.skift.com/2018/06/22/nyc-surcharge-debate/

But if labor and consumer groups act in solidarity, then they can operate as a bloc and bosses and investors have to eat shit. Back in 2017, the pilots' union for American Airlines forced their bosses into a raise. Wall Street freaked out and tanked AA's stock. Analysts for big banks were outraged. Citi's Kevin Crissey summed up the situation perfectly, in a fuming memo: "This is frustrating. Labor is being paid first again. Shareholders get leftovers":

https://www.vox.com/new-money/2017/4/29/15471634/american-airlines-raise

Limiting the wealth of the investor class also limits their power, because money translates pretty directly into political power. This sets up a virtuous cycle: the less money the investor class has to spend on political projects, the more space there is for consumer- and labor-protection laws to be enacted and enforced. As labor and consumer law gets more stringent, the share of the national income going to people who make things, and people who use the things they make, goes up – and the share going to people who own things goes down.

Seen this way, it's obvious that prices and wages are a political matter, not an "economic" one. Orthodox economists maintain the pretense that they practice a kind of physics of money, discovering the "natural," "empirical" way that prices and wages move. They dress this up with mumbo-jumbo like the "efficient market hypothesis," "price discovery," "public choice," and that old favorite, "trickle-down theory." Strip away the doublespeak and it boils down to this: "Actually, your boss is right. He does deserve more of the value than you do":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/09/low-wage-100/#executive-excess

Even if you've been suckered by the lie that bosses have a legal "fiduciary duty" to maximize shareholder returns (this is a myth, by the way – no such law exists), it doesn't follow that customers or workers share that fiduciary duty. As a customer, you are not legally obliged to arrange your affairs to maximize the dividends paid by to investors in your corporate landlord or by the merchants you patronize. As a worker, you are under no legal obligation to consider shareholders' interests when you bargain for wages, benefits and working conditions.

The "fiduciary duty" lie is another instance of politics masquerading as economics: even if bosses bargain for as big a slice of the pie as they can get, the size of that slice is determined by the relative power of bosses, customers and workers.

This is why bosses hate unions. It's why the scab presidency of Donald Trump has waged all-out war on unions. Trump just effectively shuttered the National Labor Relations Board, unilaterally halting its enforcement actions and investigations. He also illegally fired one of the Democratic NLRB board members, leaving the agency with too few board members to take any new actions, meaning that no unions can be recognized – indeed, the NLRB can't do anything – for the foreseeable future:

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/28/nx-s1-5277103/nlrb-trump-wilcox-abruzzo-democrats-labor

Trump also fired the NLRB's outstanding General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, who was one of the stars of the Biden administration, who promulgated rules that decisively tilted the balance in favor of labor:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

Trump is playing Grinch here – he's descended upon Whoville to take all the Christmas decorations, in the belief that these are the source of Christmas. But the Grinch was wrong (and so is Trump): Christmas was in the heart of the Whos, and the tinsel and baubles were the expression of that Christmas spirit. Likewise, labor rights come from labor organizing, not the other way around.

Labor rights were enshrined in federal law in 1935, with the National Labor Relations Act. Bosses hated – and hate – the NLRA. 12 years later, they passed the Taft-Hartley Act, which substantially gutted the NLRA. Most notably, Taft-Hartley bans "sympathy strikes" – when unions walk out in support of one another. Sympathy strikes are a hugely powerful way for workers to claim value away from bosses and investors, which is why bosses got rid of them.

But even then, bosses who were honest with themselves would admit that they preferred life under the NLRA to life before it. Remember: labor militancy created the NLRA, not the other way around. When workers didn't have the legal means to organize, they organized by illegal means. When they didn't have legal ways of striking, they struck illegally. The result was pitched battles, even bloodbaths, as cops beat and even killed labor organizers. Bosses hired thugs who committed mass murder – literally. In 1913, strikebreakers working for the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company started a stampede during a union Christmas party that killed 73 people, including many copper miners' children:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Hall_disaster

Workers didn't take this lying down. Violence was met with violence. Bombs went off outside factories and stately mansions. There was gunfire and arson. Bosses had to hire armed guards to escort them as they scurried between their estates and their fancy parties and their executive offices. The country was in a state of near-perpetual chaos.

The NLRA created a set of rules for labor/boss negotiations – rules that helped workers claim a bigger slice of the pie without blood in the streets. But the NLRA also had benefits for bosses: unions were obliged to play by its rules, if they wanted to reap its benefits. The NLRA didn't just put a ceiling over boss power – it also put a ceiling over worker militancy. Von Clausewitz says that "war is politics by other means," which implies that politics are war by other means. The alternative to politics isn't capitulation, it's war.

Trump has torn up the rules to the labor game, but that doesn't mean the game ends. That just means there are no rules.

The labor movement has many great organizer/writers, but few can match the incredible Jane McAlevey, who died of cancer last summer (rest in power). In her classic A Collective Bargain, McAlevey describes her organizer training, from a tradition that went back to the days before the National Labor Relations Act:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/23/a-collective-bargain/

McAlevey was very clear that labor law owes its existence to union power, not the other way around. She explains very clearly that union organizers invented labor law after they invented unions, and that unions can (and indeed, must) exist separately from government agencies that are charged with protecting labor law. But she goes farther: in Collective Bargain, McAlevey describes how the 2019 LA Teachers' Strike didn't just win all the wage and benefits demands of the teachers, but also got the school district to promise to put a park or playground near every school in the system, and got a ban on ICE agents harassing parents at the school gates.

This wildly successful strike forged bonds among teachers, and between teachers and their communities. These teachers went on to run a political get-out-the-vote campaign in the 2020 elections and elected two Democratic reps to Congress and secured the Dems' majority. McAlevey contrasted the active way good unions involve workers as participants with the thin, anemic way that the Democratic Party engages with supporters – solely by asking them for money in a stream of frothing, clickbait text messages. As McAlevey wrote, "Workplace democracy is a training ground for true national democracy."

Militant labor doesn't just protect labor rights – it protects human rights. Remember: MLK, Jr was assassinated while campaigning for union janitors in Memphis. LA teachers ended ICE sweeps at the school gates. Librarian unions are leading the fight against book bans.

The good news is that public opinion has swung wildly in favor of unions over the past decade. More people want to join unions than at any time in generations. More people support unions that at any time in generations.

The bad news is that union leadership fucking suuuuuuuucks. As Hamilton Nolan writes, union bosses are sitting on vast, heretofore unseen warchests of cash, and they just experienced a four-year period of governmental support for unions unheard of since the Carter administration, and they did fuck all with that opportunity:

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/confirmed-unions-squandered-the-biden

Big unions have effectively stopped trying to organize new workers, even when workers beg them for help forming a union. Union organizing budgets are so small as to be indistinguishable from zero. Despite the record number of workers who want to be in a union, the number of workers who are in a union actually fell during the Biden years.

Indeed, some union bosses actually campaigned for Trump, a notorious scab. Teamsters boss Sean O'Brien spoke at the fucking RNC, a political favor that Trump repaid by killing the NLRB and every labor enforcement action and investigation in the country. Nice one, O'Brien. See you in hell:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/08/teamster-union-trump/679513/

Union bosses squandered a historical opportunity to build countervailing power. Now, Trump's stormtroopers are rounding up workers with the goal of illegally deporting them. Fascism is on the rise. Labor and fascism are archenemies. Organized labor has always been the biggest threat to fascism, every time it has reared its head. That's why fascists target unions first. Union bosses cost us an organized force that could effectively defend our friends and neighbors from Trump's deportation stormtroopers:

https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-01-28-trumps-lawbreaking-also-aimed-at-workers/

Not every union boss is a scab like O'Brien. Shawn Fain, head of the UAW, won an historic strike against all three of the Big Three automakers, and made sure that the new contracts all ran out in 2028, and called on other unions to do the same, so that the country could have a general strike in 2028 without violating the Taft-Hartley Act (Fain was operating on the now-dead assumption that unions had to play by the rules):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/11/rip-jane-mcalevey/#organize

A general strike isn't just a strike for workers' rights. Under Trump, a general strike is a strike against Trumpism and all its horrors: kids in cages, forced birth, trans erasure, climate accelerationism – the whole fucking thing.

A general strike would build the worker power to occupy the Democratic Party and force it to stand up for the American people against oligarchy, rather than meekly capitulating to fascism (and fundraising), which is all they know how to do anymore:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/10/smoke-filled-room-where-it-happens/#dinosaurs

But before we can occupy the Dems, we have to occupy the unions. We need union bosses who are committed to signing up every worker who wants workplace democracy, and unionizing every workplace in spite of the NLRB, not with its help. We need to go back to our roots, when there were no rules.

That's the world Trump made. We need to make him regret that decision.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/29/which-side-are-you-on/#strike-three-yer-out

[techmarkethunter]

Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd Announces ₹700 Crore Buyback Plan

Title: Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd Announces ₹700 Crore Buyback Plan Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd, a prominent urea manufacturer in India, recently made a significant announcement on Monday. The company’s board has given the green light for a buyback plan, aimed at repurchasing up to ₹700 crore worth of equity shares from existing shareholders. This strategic move is set to be…

[vedantalimited]

Top Indian Companies That Made Investors Rich with High Returns

Everyone wants to grow their money, but not every company delivers. Some Indian firms, however, have truly rewarded their shareholders by offering not just capital appreciation but also solid dividends. If you’re wondering where to invest your hard-earned cash or simply want to know which businesses have created real wealth, this list of the Best Shareholder Return Companies in India will help you. Let’s explore the stock market champions that have turned everyday investors into millionaires.

[vexwerewolf]

Harrison Armory

I think a lot of people fundamentally misunderstand Harrison Armory, Lancer fans on Tumblr especially.

Harrison Armory is not Nazi Germany. Harrison Armory doesn't actually have an exact parallel on modern-day Earth, and it would be difficult to draw them without potentially insensitive implications.

I think the closest parallel I can draw is late-stage Obama-era America, with a lot of Nordic-style public investment and China's Social Credit system.

People depicting the Armory as a cold, grind-obsessed hypercapitalist nightmare are thinking of IPS-N. The Armory looks after its citizens, at least in as much as happy workers are productive workers. Even as a colonial subject, you can expect a decent standard of living simply because they don't answer solely to shareholders - for better or for worse, the Armory has a vision, an insistence upon the dignity of Humanity which wouldn't allow them to let you live in squalor. This is a cold, haughty kind of beneficence - they don't care about you per se, it's just that allowing you to suffer would reflect poorly on them.

You will get healthcare. You will get free, frequent public transit that you might not even need to use, since every city is walkable. You will get clean water, healthy food and safe streets. You will get frequent vacations and as many sick days as you need. No matter your ethnicity, birth gender, gender identity, religion, sexuality, physical or mental ability, the Armory has a place for you. The Armory does not discriminate.

The Armory is expansionist, for sure, but it chooses its new acquisitions carefully - Diasporan worlds under the thumb of ruthless dictators, repressive theocracies, avaricious hypercapitalist oligarchs. If you're a colonial subject, the Armory have likely liberated you from tyrants.

What do you give in return? Complete cultural obedience.

You will not cause a disturbance. You will not rock the boat. You will not question the benevolent system that gave you this abundance. The Armory gives you all the choices that really matter to someone like you: eat what you want, shop where you want, buy what you want - after all, every shop, every café, every restaurant is an Armory subsidiary, so whatever cuisine you favour, whatever brand of dataslate you prefer, the Armory is making back most of the salary they pay you. The Armory puts a roof over your head. The Armory protects you from the wolves at the door. The Armory even lets you vote on your local representatives (they've all got spotless Socials, so you know that no matter who you choose, they're loyal, attentive citizens). Are you not happy? Are you not grateful?

Show us. Show us you're grateful. Show up to the Foundation Day parade. Salute the statues of Harrisons I (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE), II (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE) and III (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE). Recite the Pledge. Volunteer for the local Guard Corps - or better yet, the Colonial Legion. Don't you care about your community? Aren't you proud of your nation? Don't you want to give back? Aren't you a good citizen?

What's that? Dissent? You little shit! You ungrateful little worm! After all we've done for you, after all this Great Nation has sacrificed for you, you dare ask for more? Harrison I (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE) sacrificed himself on Union's altar for us - for YOU! Harrison II (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE) died refusing to bend the knee, refusing to sacrifice our freedom - YOUR LIBERTY! Harrison III (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE) tours the Purview to see and hear your fellow countrymen and address their concerns, and you dare question his right to rule? The Steward Council is comprised of only his most trusted advisors - do you doubt their commitment to our values?

We live in the best and brightest era of human civilization, the problems of the past all behind us, and all you can think about is ways to drag us all down. You ungrateful, shiftless, lazy little bastard. You want me to call the local Social board? See how they feel about your profile? If you don't feel like the Armory is doing enough for you? Well, let's see how you like it when the Armory does nothing for you. You clearly don't have the spirit or the courage to be truly free.

Ugh, dissenters, am I right? Fuck, sorry about that, folks. Yeah, that was... intense! Anyway, let's not let that whole sordid ordeal ruin this party. Let's all just chill, take an edible, and celebrate what we came here to celebrate - the Colonial Legion incorporated its first all-trans Genghis brigade! What a win for progressivism, right? You'd never see that in the Trade Baronies! Praise the Director General! Long may he serve!

[kashverse]

love your writing style kash!! thank you for the beautiful fica that are so soft and heartwarming to read 😞🫰

could i request for a scenario where mamakuna is sick (like a flu/fever) and how babykuna and dadkuna work together to help her feel betterrrrr 😇 -v

the flu had been going around, and you knew it was only a matter of time before it got you. but knowing it was one thing—experiencing it was another. it hit you like a truck. fever, chills, congestion—the works. so when you called sukuna at his office, your voice hoarse and pitiful, he dropped everything, canceled an entire board meeting (screw the shareholders), and stormed out. by the time he gets home, he's expecting pure chaos. maybe the maids scrambling, maybe you barely conscious—something. instead, he walks into your shared bedroom and stops dead in his tracks.

there, at the edge of the bed, is babykuna, her tiny legs swinging, her face set in deep concentration as she places all her plushies around you in a perfect protective circle. labubu is at your pillow. sonny angel squad is stationed near your hands. he even spots one of his socks stuffed into the arrangement like some sort of talisman.

"…what are you doing?" sukuna asks, raising a brow. babykuna, without looking up, adjusts a bunny plush near your shoulder. “making mama better.” sukuna sighs, making his way to the bed, crouching beside you.

"baby, i have an entire medical team on speed dial. your mama doesn’t need—"

"papa, hush," she interrupts, waving a hand at him dismissively. “you don’t get it. they give comfort. the magic of the plushies is real.” sukuna opens his mouth, then closes it. you, meanwhile, weakly lift your hand. “it’s okay, love. i believe in the plushie magic too.” babykuna nods sagely, satisfied.

but sukuna is still sukuna, so even though he knows the maids could easily take care of you both, he wants to do it. so he sighs, rolls up his sleeves, and trudges to the kitchen. if you’re sick, then fine, he’ll do this properly. twenty minutes later, he returns with a bowl of steaming hot chicken soup, the way you like it. perfectly seasoned, just the right amount of garlic, and not a vegetable in sight (because he knows you’d push them aside). but before he can even set it down—

"mama should eat bread and jam," babykuna suddenly announces, pointing a spoon at you. sukuna’s eye twitches.

"she needs soup."

"she needs bread and jam."

"she needs something warm."

"bread is warm if you toast it."*

sukuna rubs his temples. "she doesn’t need bread and jam, brat—"

"what about appy juice?" babykuna interjects, swinging her legs, completely unfazed. "appy juice is good."

"baby, soup is literally proven to—"

"orange juice?"

"oh my god."

you, snuggled in your fortress of plushies, weakly smile, watching the two most important people in your life bicker over what’s best for you. sukuna sighs in defeat, scooping a spoonful of soup. "open up, baby," he murmurs, bringing it to your lips. before you can take a sip, babykuna gasps. 

“wait! the plushies have to approve first!”

sukuna, face blank, stares at his child. 

"…you’re kidding."

but babykuna is dead serious. she picks up labubu, holds it over the soup, then dramatically nods. “labubu says okay.” sukuna exhales slowly.

"great. tell labubu to shut up next time."

babykuna gasps in pure, unfiltered betrayal. “you take that back.” 

you, sick as you are, wheeze at the scene, your fever momentarily forgotten.

[apieinvestavimapaprastai]

Why Walmart Stock is a Secret Weapon for Smart Investors

Discover Walmart Inc.'s stock price trends, and investment potential. Learn why this company is a valuable addition to your portfolio. #WalmartInc #WMT #FinancialPerformance #Investments #DividendPolicy #PortfolioManagement #InvestmentStrategies

Wal-Mart Stores Incorporation operates in the retail sector, including both wholesale and retail formats. The company’s operations are divided into three main segments: Continue reading Why Walmart Stock is a Secret Weapon for Smart Investors

[cogtropolis]

“Hey Elon! It’s time to get back in the office!”

[galaxymagitech]

Oh no. This is so much worse than Tim thought.

Bruce is attempting to parent him.

At first he’d thought he’d messed up on patrol, or that Bruce thought his new Young Justice friends were a security risk, or even that Bruce was just having a toxin-induced fit.

But no, this is a genuine, 100% sincere attempt at parenting.

The problem is, Tim already has a parent. Bruce knows this. Tim knows Bruce knows this.

And Bruce is, well, Batman, and the majority shareholder of Wayne Enterprises. He has better things to do than parent the random fourteen-year-old that insisted on clinging to his life like a barnacle or a really stubborn mold. And Batman is Batman. He’s too cool and smart to be all mushy and parental to anyone.

It could be a test. Batman is fond of tests. Tim had to pass a lot of tests to become Robin. But Tim’s spent over a week trying to figure out exactly what Bruce is testing, and he’s still drawing a blank.

So, not a test.

That leaves one alternative: Bruce has been replaced by someone who’s convinced that a) Bruce Wayne is parental, and b) Tim Drake is his son and not just the kid he adopted for a few months out of convenience.

Dick doesn’t believe him. He keeps saying this is a “good sign” that Bruce is “returning to normal.” Which is obviously ridiculous. But that’s fine. Tim will just have to prove it.

(Canonically, Tim probably didn’t stalk Batman until Jason’s death. He only knows the post-Jason Batman and the Batman from news clippings. Sure, Bruce loved Jason, but…Batman is serious. Batman is the night. Batman is vengeance. Why is Batman trying to hug him and help him with his English essays?)

[hanaybuns]

How To Successfully Market the Sextuplets

I have spent a lot of time looking at ososan official art and when you get to the point where the sextuplets are basically tattooed to your retinas, you start to Notice Things.

I believe that after years of selling the boys to the public, the marketing team has really gotten a hold on what makes a merch set successful. The key is to appeal to the character's charm points, which have shifted over time. I think that now, the characters have settled into very specific categorizations that allow for the most profit to be made and the most investment return for shareholders!

so here it is, the key to successfully merchandising the matsuno sextuplets.

let me explain. in around 70% of merch sets, especially those that are the most successful, karamatsu and osomatsu are drawn are more masculine/handsome, todomatsu looks more cheeky and cute, and ichimatsu, choromatsu, and jyushimatsu are moe.

Note: there is a distinct difference between cute and moe. todomatsu almost NEVER falls into the moe category, because moe involves some level of unintentional cuteness that todomatsu lacks. todomatsu knows he's cute, and for that reason he can never be moe.

Here are some clear examples of each category in popular sets:

Ikemen karamatsu and osomatsu:

Moe choromatsu, ichimatsu, and jyushimatsu

cute and/or cheeky todomatsu

See what I mean? Now I don't have enough images (30 image limit) to go too deep into this, but it actually didn't used to be like this at all. I wasn't a fan in 2015, but when you look at all of the official art from back then, it was wayyyy simpler and much more in character.

And this isn't to say that they're not technically "in character" in the newer, post 2017 official arts. All of these sets are still pulling from traits that they have from the actual show... but it's so funny to me how disconnected the official art is from the anime.

Although the main goal of both is to make a profit for investors, the methods they use are starkly different. The point of the anime is to make people laugh and tell a story (debatable). But the main goal of the merchandise is to make the sextuplets as marketable as possible, which means forgoing some of their less desirable traits in favor of their more attractive ones.

Like, yes there ARE fans that would totally buy a stand of jyushimatsu farting or of todomatsu making that face.... but how many MORE fans would buy a stand of jyushimatsu smiling cutely and todomatsu winking at the camera while dressed as idols?

Anyways, MOST of the time, they fall into those categorizations... but in newer sets, i think they're aiming for something like this

Note: when i say "suggestive" i don't mean that subjectively. i mean that recently they are intentionally putting karamatsu in more revealing clothing than the rest of the bros. they've actually always done this, but now i feel like it's way more obvious. the best example of this is his birthday outfit

(See what I mean? now these categorizations aren't an exact science. sometimes the bros lapse into other categories or there will be no "categories" at all)

In regards to official art, osomatsu san is an anomaly compared to other anime. While there are still aus in other anime official arts, they still have some level of restraint when it comes to things like fan service and staying in character. But ososan has been around for a decade, so the official art team has had enough time to get lost in the sauce and completely forget about the anime.

But the result of this is that the official art ends up entirely divorced from the actual anime. If you took a person who only knows ososan through the official art they see on twitter, the actual anime won't make any sense to them. like "why are they all just wearing hoodies, i thought the blue guy wears leather straps and corsets... why is the purple one crapping on the table??"

Same for like, casual fans who watched the anime and movies and haven't seen any official art, how do you explain some of this to them??? "yeah so this is the jersey maid set, no it's not from the show... they wouldn't wear that? ... yeah but it's fun and cute and-.... they're neets and don't know how to do the housework a maid does?...yeah"

All in all, it makes sense why they do this and i can't exactly blame them for it. if the fans don't care about the boys being in character and buy merch of them anyways, why should the marketing team care? if the fans decided not to buy the newer sets, they would have to go back to the drawing board. but this is what sells and i don't think the fans are gonna stop buying these newer sets any time soon.