#worker becomes fragmented and mechanical

[dias-therealone]

I'm physically holding myself back from screaming capitalism

I've been talking to another artist about "art" lately and I'm often thinking about why am I considered the author of a piece, but the people who worked on creating/building my Ipad, the Procreate program, the paper, the pencil, the ink, even the table that I'm using are not. That just does not make sense.

Honestly, I've been thinking of just telling people they can do whatever they want with "my art". Some of them certainly already do, my art has been "stolen" and sold on random sites before anyways. Sure I'm shooting myself financially on the foot but I hate pretending that something makes sense when it doesn't. Idk, if people want to support me they can commission me or give me money for no reason but whatever. Trace my art, print it, collage it, destroy it. 🤷‍♂️

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi pt. 24

The second sacrifice

I don’t know why but the fact it doesn’t capitalize each word in the titles throws me off. I keep catching myself wanting to do that despite none of them capitalizing beyond the first word in a given fragment title.

I sort of wonder if Takano wearing a nurse’s uniform is meant to be a small form of psychological manipulation. Like society at the time wasn’t used to the concept of female doctors, so she went with the nurse’s outfit as a way to divert suspicion away? At least, I wonder if that’s the narrative reasoning behind it. I believe that the reason she’s in the nurse’s uniform is because Ryukishi07 has a thing for nurses, which hey, more power to him.

Also, I’ll take this time to remind you that the pre-requisite for this fragment was the hospitalization of Satoko. That occurred in the fragment The Houjou siblings, back in part 19. I’m including this here because I got confused myself writing this and thought I skipped some other fragment in my retelling.

I do think it’s funny in a dark way all of the extenuating circumstances that seem to be conspiring against Satoko. Her parents died in a mysterious way, after allegedly being abused by this newest stepfather, Ooishi wants to interrogate the small child over said death. Plus there’s the fact that Irie is constantly wigged out by his boss and her weirdo behavior. It just seems like the universe has it out for Satoko for some reason.

Plus she’s got elevated levels of Hinamizawa Syndrome on top of all of that! And again, Takano appears to be a weirdo who seems pretty jazzed about the idea of the poor girl being terminal. She’s on that endorphin kick from dissecting their last patient.

That’s the problem with having a conscience when you’re trying to do unethical research Irie. Soon as it’s someone you know it becomes a lot hard to crack em open like a crab and poke around their noodle. Then again I don’t think I’d say that’s necessarily a bad thing that you’re given a moment’s pause when you’re thinking about keeping someone alive for some quite inhumane experimentation. Do you suppose, that if Satoshi was currently comatose and Satoko was displaying these potential L5 symptoms would Irie be so hesitant?

It makes me wonder, is Irie’s maid fantasies involving Satoko actually a sort of defense mechanism against himself? That he keeps envisioning Satoko in these cute maid outfits, becoming his property just a way to keep himself in check and not just clonk her on the head for him and Takano to experiment on? Is his lechery in fact plot significant? Personally, I doubt it. Odds are Ryukishi07 just wanted a goofball character, and decided that’s Irie and his personality.

There are two things that popped into my head while reading this. When Takano injected Tomitake with H173, she mentioned that there are two things that could happen since it put him immediately to L5. The throat tearing, or “becoming disabled for life.” I admit that I may have misinterpreted that particular line as H173 would render him more or less paralyzed and that he’d just die from the syndrome affecting his lymph nodes and so on. I had conjured in my mind this whole spiel about how I suppose with the research advancing over the course of the next three years that they learned of other side effects. But rereading the scene in Minagoroshi I think I might have just misunderstood what she meant originally.

Second thing was how many L5 patients do you think the institute has been able to demon away over the years? The series itself only ever brings up five or six of them; the construction worker, Satoko, Tomitake in most fragments, Keiichi in Onikakushi, Rena in Tsumihoroboshi, Shion in Watanagashi/Meakashi (I don’t recall them ever saying she was a full-blown L5, but was definitely on the higher terminal scale), and Rika somehow also goes terminal (I seem to recall them attributing her suicide in Meakashi to her being terminal, but I admit I might be mistaken). I’m sure there are a large number of other patients who got whisked away by the Mountain Dogs, but it never really mentions anything about any people going missing around Hinamizawa. Thinking about it now, I think that Ryukishi07 missed a wonderful opportunity to make the series slightly more horrifying by never having people start disappearing from around the village. I don’t know if it would’ve improved or hurt the series, but it would lend the overall mystery a bit more narrative weight if there were disappearances. Unless you want to head-canon it that there are, but the gaming club is just invested in their own business so they never noticed it.

But from the way Irie describes it they had the one L5 experiment in 1979, and that was it until they noticed Satoko’s elevated levels.

What’s that old saying; if you don’t make a choice the choice will be made for you? I don’t know how much these fragments featuring Irie redeemed this character in the eyes of those who don’t like him. I think they do a nice job of humanizing him and fleshing him out into a more well-rounded actual character. I wonder if these sections were more or less written to try to dispel any doubts about whether or not Irie was a villainous character? I admit for a while I had the idea in the back of my head that Irie was in cahoots with the villain in the larger scheme of things. Furthermore I wonder if there was any inclination to actually have Irie be in league with Takano. Thinking back to that credits sequence in Tatarigoroshi I suppose there wasn’t since in the scrambled letters there was that line about making Takano a villain so vile that even coach wouldn’t back them up. Still though, it’s a fun thought experiment thinking about the fragments where Irie is fully on board with Takano’s plan.

[femciolente]

Lumpen Theory : Genealogy of a Panoptilumpenism (Part 2)

The conception of the Lumpenproletariat as pure “leeches” or “burdens” as Marx would have them for most of the development of his theory, does nothing but reaffirm, and in a sense justify, the virtual-colonial exploitation of one of the most miserable elements ever conceived by humanity. Sadly, at no point could the JNL’s perspective become a majority in any capacity, and even intellectual circles have fallen off with the idea of considering such an avant-garde scene as relevant or possibly interesting for the furthering of class analysis. Our modern Technocapital advancements have proven these conceptions of the Lumpenproletariat as an ever expanding entity and conception, one that is really up to date with the tendencies and evolutions of the market and the productive forces subordinated to it. Lumpenization as a process is, inherently, a modern phenomenon. Capitalism devolved into a commodity driven mechanism at the middle of the 20th century, as the ones like Debord denoted. The construction of such a strong baseline and spectacular culture towards the commodity itself was only done once the development of the modules of capitalism settled and could bring out a certain “abundance” of said commodities. Via this, there was a certain death of the industrial core of capitalism. Not in its literal sense, capitalism  had retained and even amplified its destructive industrial capacities and vision, but because the directive threat of both the liberal art of governing and the becoming-sentient technocapital advancements had done were no longer centred on pure industry, it was accompanied by more than purely that. As this, the 80’s and the beginning of neoliberal uniformist globalisation began the process of the creation of the service economy, now with the working force of the western first world being driven towards the new disciplinary form of embankment : the cubicle and the office. Via this, the fragmentation of what was the proletariat began diving directly into the realm of biopower itself : no longer was pure labour alienation the issue for these now obsolete western factory workers, the whole recuperated war machine of the state and its newly developed labour controlling arms are purposely transforming the scenarios in which these labourers operate, and hence delving them deeper into what can only be considered an entropic mess of an economic transformation. The welfare state, now that the productivist social democratic compromise had become completely overridden by total business ontology, the logical step was to turn the lives of these producers into one of total alienation inside the realm of non-existent production and pure data recuperation and management. The 21st century, via its enormous decentralisation and increased fluidity in the forms that Technocapital seeks to take in the larger and broader scheme of things, began creating a new form of production, inside and at the same time outside of the service economy : the previously mentioned data collecting in favour of the concentrating and newly appearing “Rentier bourgeoisie”, as B. Ceka would come to call them. For her, these newly uses of data in order to reinforce the structural integrity and reach of technocapital itself are nothing but a new form of labour exploitation, directly via the involvement of this newly imprisoned proletarian force, but also by the Lumpenproletariat, primary subjects of such experimentation and dabbling. You see, the Lumpenization that takes place by both the death of the industrial 1st world and its impossibility of incorporation into the new service economy is a direct consequence and desired result of the development of new forms of capitalism. Via this, we can encounter the programmed death of the service economy, one in which Panoptilumpenism is applied into its full potential force.

No longer can we suffice for data management, that data must be used, it must be rhizomatically consumed into the new apparatuses of the internet and AI. Seka retains the core parts of the Landian fear of expansion of Technocapital towards “sentience” and autonomy, and applies it to a deeply Lumpenizing realisation : no longer is any part of the population free from violent forms of both control and exploitation, in the most decentralised forms possible to conceive. 

Andrew Culp detested the Rhizome for what it had become, a past realisation of what now is recuperated at the hands of the capitalist directors of the technocapital enterprise. The rhizomatic structure of what Deleuze wanted was now realised, in the entirely worst way possible. The hand of the rising Lumpenproletariat is being forced by the same theorist that could be key to their self-immediate Anarchoscape from the eye of the cybernetic biopower now applied deeply to its own core.

We can conceive of the business ontology that had  developed alongside technocapital, has now gained speed and was faced by much less Lumpen-Guided resistance, meaning that it was now more ingrained than ever in our era of cybernetic biopower. This development led to the pursuit of the delegation of economic responsibility, one in which the role of the Panoptilumpenist actions of the neoliberal economy became the forming of the “entrepreneur” in every factor of the population, but most concretely inside the Lumpen. The Lumpen, via this new form of virtual-colonial expansion, become their own responsibles for their economic activity, essentially starting what many like to call “the gig economy”, but what in reality is nothing but the true decentralisation of the realm of data management and its business-ontological application.

The profit motive becomes then the only guideline and prerogative of the Lumpen , one not enforced but suggested to them, not inherently tying them to a fixed and rigid industrial and bureaucratic labour form; but now one that is so flexible that it delves into the total non-existence of the personal life once enjoyed by the common proletariat. The continuation of the Lumpen as a liberated subject, on the outskirts of the labour productions remains true, as the Lumpenproletariat, with the delegation of economic power and capacities, have become themselves the only actors involved in their newly found subsistence. The common Uber eats driver, mostly exploited for being commonly of a cultural minority already segregated and pushed in many cases towards Lumpenization, that has found no solution but to collect and infinity of other gig jobs of spontaneous occurrence, of fluid continuation and of tremendous psychological strain becomes the new martyr of our movement, or at the very least it should become so. This one common fighter of the world has turned into a pure state of resistance towards this Panoptilumpenism, a pure form of revolt against what it is, essentially : a brutal regulation of the existence of a group nowadays conforming a majority of the world’s population, and sooner than later, will become the active actors in the taking down of Technocapital, in the heroic death that can so descriptively be defined an aesthetic projection towards the imposition of a deep desire towards pure affirmation. Part 2 -

[intelmarketresearch]

Closed System Drug Transfer Device (CSTD) Market Growth Analysis, Market Dynamics, Key Players and Innovations, Outlook and Forecast 2025-2032

According to the latest market research, the global Closed System Drug Transfer Device (CSTD) market was valued at USD 874 million in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 3.04 billion by 2032, growing at an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 19.6% during the forecast period (2025–2032). This remarkable growth stems from stringent safety regulations for hazardous drug handling and the increasing global prevalence of cancer requiring chemotherapy treatments.

What are Closed System Drug Transfer Devices (CSTDs)?

Closed System Drug Transfer Devices (CSTDs) are medical-grade containment systems designed to prevent hazardous drug exposure during medication preparation, administration, and disposal. These specialized devices utilize pressure equalization technology and vapor containment mechanisms to protect healthcare workers from cytotoxic and other dangerous drugs while maintaining medication sterility.

The primary categories of CSTDs include:

Closed vial access devices

Closed syringe safety devices

Closed bag/line access devices

Key Market Drivers

1. Stringent Regulatory Mandates for Safe Drug Handling

The healthcare industry faces increasing regulatory pressure to implement safety measures for hazardous drugs. NIOSH guidelines now classify over 200 medications as hazardous, requiring specialized handling equipment like CSTDs. Regulatory bodies including OSHA and USP have established strict protocols (notably USP Chapter <800>) mandating CSTD adoption.

Recent studies demonstrate that proper CSTD implementation can reduce surface contamination by up to 90% in chemotherapy preparation areas, making these devices essential in modern healthcare facilities.

2. Rising Cancer Incidence and Chemotherapy Demand

With 20 million new cancer cases diagnosed annually worldwide, chemotherapy remains a cornerstone treatment protocol. The oncology drug segment accounts for 68% of CSTD utilization due to the high potency of these compounds. As healthcare systems expand cancer care infrastructure globally, particularly in emerging markets, demand for CSTDs grows proportionally.

Notably, closed systems are becoming essential not just in hospitals but also in specialized oncology clinics and home healthcare settings where chemotherapy administration is increasingly occurring.

➤ In 2023 alone, over 45% of U.S. hospitals adopted new CSTD systems to comply with updated USP Chapter 800 standards.

Market Challenges

Despite clear benefits, several factors restrain market growth:

High Implementation Costs A complete CSTD system implementation can cost healthcare facilities between $15,000 to $50,000 annually depending on patient volume. These costs include disposable components, staff training, and system validation - creating financial barriers particularly in resource-constrained settings.

Technical and Operational Challenges Device incompatibility with various drug delivery systems creates workflow inefficiencies. Not all CSTD systems integrate seamlessly with existing infusion pumps or vial adapters. Additionally, proper CSTD use requires substantial staff training, with studies showing it takes 6-9 months for nursing teams to achieve optimal proficiency.

Regulatory Fragmentation The lack of globally harmonized testing standards and regulations creates market complexities. While the U.S. regulates CSTDs as medical devices requiring FDA clearance, European markets have different classifications, leading to inconsistent quality standards across regions.

Market Opportunities

Technological Advancements The integration of IoT and smart sensor technology into next-generation CSTDs presents significant growth potential. These advanced systems offer features like:

Real-time pressure monitoring

Dose verification sensors

Automated documentation capabilities

Early adopters report 30-40% reductions in medication errors after implementing these intelligent systems.

Emerging Market Expansion While North America and Europe currently dominate CSTD adoption, Asian markets are projected to grow at nearly 25% CAGR through 2032. Countries like China and India are investing heavily in cancer care infrastructure while developing national guidelines for hazardous drug safety.

Regional Market Insights

North America leads in adoption due to stringent OSHA and NIOSH regulations, advanced healthcare infrastructure, and high awareness of occupational safety. The U.S. accounts for over 75% of regional revenue.

Europe demonstrates strong growth with EU's Hazardous Drug Handling Directives, particularly in Germany, France, and the UK. The European Society of Oncology Pharmacy's guidelines now recommend CSTDs as standard practice.

Asia-Pacific emerges as the fastest-growing region, driven by Japan's and South Korea's advanced systems and China's rapid hospital expansion. Local manufacturers are developing cost-optimized solutions for price-sensitive markets.

Latin America and Middle East & Africa show promising potential, though adoption varies widely depending on healthcare infrastructure development and regulatory frameworks.

Competitive Landscape

The global CSTD market features moderate competition with several key players:

BD Medical, Inc. (30% market share)

Equashield LLC

ICU Medical, Inc.

Simplivia Healthcare Ltd.

B. Braun Medical Inc.

Market leaders are expanding through strategic acquisitions and R&D programs focusing on technological innovations like needle-free systems and IoT integration.

Market Segmentation

By Type:

Closed Vial Access Devices

Closed Syringe Safety Devices

Closed Bag/Line Access Devices

By Technology:

Membrane-to-Membrane Technology

Needleless Systems

By End User:

Hospitals

Oncology Clinics

Pharmacy Compounding Units

Download FREE Sample Report: Closed System Drug Transfer Device (CSTD) Market - View in Detailed Research Report

Report Scope & Offerings

This comprehensive report provides:

Market size (historical & forecast) for global and regional markets

Competitive intelligence on key players

SWOT and trend analysis

Detailed segmentation insights

About Intel Market Research

Intel Market Research delivers actionable insights in technology and infrastructure markets. Our data-driven analysis leverages:

Real-time infrastructure monitoring

Techno-economic feasibility studies

Competitive intelligence across 100+ countries Trusted by Fortune 500 firms, we empower strategic decisions with precision. Website: https://www.intelmarketresearch.com

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intel-market-research

https://intel24.hashnode.dev/wood-processing-machines-market-growth-analysis-2025https://intel24.hashnode.dev/vehicle-unfitting-service-market-growth-analysis-2025https://intel24.hashnode.dev/waterproof-workwear-market-growth-analysis-2025https://intel24.hashnode.dev/active-magnetic-bearings-market-growth-analysis-2025https://intel24.hashnode.dev/aerogel-insulation-market-growth-analysis-2025https://intel24.hashnode.dev/ai-video-upscaling-software-market-growth-2025https://intel24.hashnode.dev/airport-automated-people-mover-system-2025https://intel24.hashnode.dev/algorithm-trading-market-growth-analysis-2025https://intel24.hashnode.dev/5g-v2x-communications-market-growth-analysis-2025https://intel24.hashnode.dev/abf-substrate-fc-bga-market-growth-analysis-2025https://intel24.hashnode.dev/alloy-resistors-market-growth-analysis-2025

[ajazpujara]

Screen Time in the Digital Age: Navigating the Attention Economy  

The average person now spends nearly seven hours daily staring at screens—a 50% increase from a decade ago. Smartphones, social media, and streaming platforms dominate modern life, reshaping how we work, socialize, and relax. While technology offers undeniable benefits, excessive screen time has been linked to sleep disruption, anxiety, and diminished attention spans. As we navigate this digital landscape, finding balance is crucial for mental and physical well-being.  

The Neuroscience of Screen Addiction  

The allure of screens is deeply rooted in brain chemistry. Social media platforms exploit dopamine-driven feedback loops, where likes, notifications, and infinite scrolling create compulsive usage patterns. Neuroscientists compare this to slot machine mechanics—intermittent rewards keep users engaged. 

The consequences are profound: studies show that heavy screen use fragments attention, reducing productivity by up to 40%. Evening exposure to blue light further disrupts circadian rhythms, suppressing melatonin and impairing sleep quality. These effects are particularly pronounced in children, whose developing brains are more susceptible to digital overstimulation.  

Generational Impacts  

Screen time affects all age groups differently. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screens before 18 months and limited use for young children, yet many toddlers regularly interact with tablets. Among teens, 45% report feeling "addicted" to their devices, with social media fueling anxiety and body image issues. Adults, meanwhile, struggle with work-related screen fatigue—knowledge workers average just three hours of deep focus in an eight-hour workday. The ubiquity of screens has blurred boundaries between work and leisure, making digital detoxes increasingly necessary.  

Practical Solutions for Digital Wellness  

Reclaiming control over screen time requires intentional strategies. The "20-20-20 rule"—looking 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes—reduces eye strain. Designating tech-free zones, such as bedrooms, fosters healthier sleep habits. Apps like Forest encourage focus by gamifying phone-free intervals, while scheduled digital detoxes help reset compulsive behaviors. Quality matters as much as quantity: replacing mindless scrolling with video calls or educational content ensures screen time remains meaningful.  

The Future of Intentional Tech Use  

As awareness grows, tech companies are responding with wellbeing features. iOS and Android now include screen time trackers and app limits. Minimalist devices like the Light Phone cater to those seeking digital simplicity. Meanwhile, attention-training apps such as Freedom and Offtime help users cultivate healthier habits. The challenge lies in redesigning technology to serve human needs rather than exploit psychological vulnerabilities.  

Conclusion  

Technology is woven into modern existence, but its use should be deliberate rather than habitual. By setting boundaries and prioritizing real-world connections, we can harness technology’s benefits without sacrificing well-being. As attention becomes our most precious resource, learning to protect it is essential.  

[saraanseo]

NETWORK Recovery

NETWORK Recovery

Trenchless line recovery strategies are techniques for fixing and supplanting covered pipes without the need to dig channels. This exhuming free technique for pipe remodel has become progressively well known lately because of its low effect, ecological amicability and negligible disturbance to individuals' lives. Trenchless organization recovery strategies have become fundamental in development the board as they offer a more secure option in contrast to conventional line establishment and rebuilding techniques. Maquinaria de perforación direccional

Pipeline recovery administrations incorporate the most well-known strategy, pipe exploding, which includes separating the current line utilizing water powered hardware and introducing the new organization behind it. Pipe blasting is a no-dig technique for pipe recovery and can supplant practically any sort of underground utility framework, for example, water mains, sewer lines; flammable gas mains, and so on. Pipe blasting likewise considers measurement increments to existing lines and harmless line substitution.

The CIPP lining procedure for pipe fix is one of the most widely recognized no-dig pipe restoration strategies utilized by workers for hire because of its adaptability. CIPP includes embedding a sap immersed liner into the harmed or disintegrated pipe that solidifies when presented to warm, shaping another consistent line inside the former one. Slip lining is another trenchless method where a more modest width pipe is embedded inside a current line and grout makes up for the shortcoming between the walls of the two lines, making a strength support in situations where a deficiency of primary honesty has happened.

Pipeline recovery administrations are completed by recharging the organization without interference, by briefly halting the help, or by utilizing a detour that permits the activity of the assistance to proceed, and these are done with negligible unearthings.

Trenchless line fix strategies incorporate line spot fix, which is a framework that alludes to confined fixes made in little regions inside a bigger line framework, as opposed to supplanting whole lines. Mechanical spot fixes include fixing issues, for example, breaks or holes involving clips or sleeves in sewers or tempest channel frameworks as opposed to supplanting whole fragments. Substance grouting includes occupying spaces with fluid materials infused from various passageways. Sectional spot fix centers around fixing explicit segments of line impacted by breakage or different disappointments.

Trenchless innovation has a few advantages over regular exhuming and substitution strategies, for example, huge reserve funds from less uncovering work, bringing about lower costs as there are less costs related with road rebuilding and fix. Trenchless development likewise diminishes ecological effect, harm to carports and walkways, as well as forestalling aggravations like those brought about by channels.

Trenchless organization recovery costs, by pipe exploding, CIPP or spot fix will rely upon the work conditions, kind of soil, existing line material, measurement, among different variables that increment or decline the level of trouble of something very similar.

Pipe barging in Ecuador is an innovation that has been executed in a few significant urban communities like Guayaquil, Quito, Machala, Manta, and these ventures negligibly affect the city's traffic.

[rightserve]

Challenges looked by MEP contractors for hire utilizing conventional strategies

As the construction business keeps on advancing, so do the frameworks and innovations utilized inside it. Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) contractors have generally depended on manual techniques to plan, plan, and carry out their ventures. Be that as it may, this approach has become progressively obsolete despite changing advances and the developing intricacy of current structure projects. In this article, we'll investigate the difficulties looked by MEP contractors who keep on utilizing customary frameworks, and why it's the ideal opportunity for them to consider modernizing their methodology.

The challenges

While customary MEP frameworks have been effective previously, they have a few constraints in the present construction industry. Here are the absolute most huge difficulties looked by MEP contractors utilizing customary frameworks:

Inefficient Pre-Construction Design Reviews with Project Team:

The customary coordination framework requires numerous gatherings and surveys with project groups before construction starts. These gatherings can be tedious and wasteful, prompting postpones in the undertaking timetable and inflated costs. Furthermore, the utilization of 2D drawings and models frequently brings about fragmented or mistaken portrayals of the genuine structure frameworks, making it hard to distinguish and determine clashes before construction starts.

Decentralized Design Responsibility and More Interferences in Problem-Solving

Changes in the plan during construction are normal, yet they can be expensive and tedious with conventional coordination frameworks. Adjusting plans and frameworks to oblige surprising changes can bring about delays and inflated costs, particularly in the event that the progressions are critical.

Time-Consuming Sequential Task Due to Lack of Automation for Clash Detection:

The absence of computerization for conflict recognition in conventional coordination frameworks implies that conflicts are many times recognized late in the construction cycle, prompting delays and adjust. Moreover, the successive idea of the conventional coordination process implies that undertakings should be finished in a particular request, which can prompt further deferrals and shortcomings.

How MEP Coordination Systems Overcome These Challenges

MEP coordination frameworks have upset the construction business by tending to the difficulties looked by MEP project workers with conventional coordination frameworks. These frameworks utilize 3D demonstrating and representation instruments to improve conflict discovery and goal, computerize the conflict identification process, and get all partners in total agreement during the underlying start up gatherings. The advantages of utilizing MEP coordination frameworks include:

Enhances 3D Visualization of Clashes and Eases Clash Resolution:

MEP coordination frameworks give an exhaustive 3D perception of building frameworks, empowering workers for hire to proficiently distinguish and determine conflicts more. The framework permits project workers to envision the area and degree of the conflict and roll out essential improvements before construction starts, decreasing the requirement for costly modify.

Automates Clash Detection Process:

MEP coordination frameworks computerize the conflict location process, diminishing the time expected for manual audit and working on the precision of conflict discovery. The framework distinguishes possible conflicts between various structure frameworks and alarms the project worker, permitting them to roll out fundamental improvements before construction starts.

Gets Stakeholders on the Same Page in Initial Kick-Off Meetings:

MEP coordination frameworks guarantee that all partners are in total agreement during the underlying start up gatherings. The framework gives a unified stage to correspondence and cooperation, guaranteeing that all gatherings figure out the venture objectives, courses of events, and necessities.

Ensures Accurate Component Pre-Fabrication for MEP Renovation Projects:

MEP coordination frameworks work with exact part pre-creation for MEP redesign projects. The framework gives precise estimations and details, permitting workers for hire to create parts off-site and lessening the requirement for on location adjustments.

[capitalism-is-a-psychopathy]

The Psychopathy of Capitalism and the Hue and Cry

Capitalism thrives on chaos. In the ceaseless pursuit of profit, capitalism mirrors psychopathic traits. It is relentless, ruthless, and indifferent to human suffering. The hue and cry—a traditional call to action against injustice—reveals the dissonance at capitalism’s core.

Capitalism demands productivity above all else. This drive ignores the human cost. Workers are reduced to mere units of labor. The hue and cry, historically a communal call for justice, is silenced. Individual voices are drowned out by the din of market forces. The system’s psychopathy is laid bare in its disregard for the collective good.

Under capitalism, the hue and cry becomes a cacophony. Voices shouting for change are fragmented. They are pitted against each other in a competitive struggle for survival. Unity is undermined. The collective voice, which once held power, is fractured. Capitalism’s psychopathy ensures that dissent remains chaotic and ineffective.

The system's self-interest is paramount. It mirrors the psychopathic trait of manipulation. Capitalism co-opts the hue and cry, transforming genuine calls for justice into mere market opportunities. Protests are commodified. Dissent is commercialized. The very mechanisms meant to challenge power are absorbed and neutralized.

Capitalism’s psychopathy is further evident in its lack of empathy. The hue and cry, at its core, is a plea for compassion. It is a demand for recognition of shared humanity. But in a capitalist society, empathy is a liability. Profit margins take precedence over people. The system’s indifference to suffering perpetuates inequality.

In the relentless pursuit of growth, capitalism sacrifices the well-being of the many for the prosperity of the few. The hue and cry is a poignant reminder of the system’s inherent psychopathy. It is a call to recognize and resist the dehumanizing forces at play.

In conclusion, the hue and cry under capitalism is a stark testament to the system’s psychopathic nature. It highlights the dissonance between profit-driven motives and the human need for justice and compassion. Understanding this dynamic is crucial in challenging the status quo and striving for a more equitable society.

[quantuminnovationit]

Scaling Your Website: Tips for Ruby on Rails Developers

Ruby on Rails (RoR) has emerged as a popular framework for web development due to its flexibility, productivity, and scalability. As businesses grow and demand increases, scaling a Ruby on Rails website becomes essential to handle higher traffic volumes, improve performance, and ensure seamless user experiences. In this article, we'll discuss tips and strategies for Ruby on Rails developers, particularly those working with ruby on rails development company usa, Ruby on Rails web development company USA, or Ruby on Rails website development company USA, to effectively scale their websites and meet the demands of a growing user base.

1. Optimize Database Performance

Database optimization is critical for scaling Ruby on Rails applications. Developers should focus on database indexing, query optimization, and efficient use of database resources to improve performance. Consider using tools like ActiveRecord Query Interface, database sharding, and caching mechanisms to minimize database load and response times. Regular database maintenance and monitoring can also help identify and resolve performance bottlenecks.

2. Utilize Caching Strategies

Caching is a powerful technique to reduce server load and speed up page loading times. Ruby on Rails developers can implement caching at various levels, including fragment caching, page caching, action caching, and HTTP caching. Leveraging tools like Memcached or Redis for caching can significantly improve application performance by storing frequently accessed data in memory. Additionally, consider using content delivery networks (CDNs) to cache static assets and deliver content to users more efficiently.

3. Implement Asynchronous Processing

Asynchronous processing allows Ruby on Rails applications to handle background tasks and long-running processes without blocking the main application thread. Developers can use tools like Sidekiq, DelayedJob, or Active Job with queuing systems such as Redis or RabbitMQ to process jobs asynchronously. This approach improves application responsiveness, scalability, and resource utilization by offloading time-consuming tasks to separate worker processes.

4. Opt for Horizontal Scaling

Horizontal scaling involves adding more instances or nodes to distribute the workload across multiple servers. Ruby on Rails developers can implement horizontal scaling by deploying application servers behind load balancers and using technologies like Docker, Kubernetes, or AWS Elastic Beanstalk for containerized deployments. Horizontal scaling enhances application reliability, fault tolerance, and scalability by accommodating increased traffic and workload demands.

5. Monitor and Analyze Performance Metrics

Continuous monitoring and analysis of performance metrics are essential for identifying scalability issues, optimizing resource usage, and fine-tuning Ruby on Rails applications. Developers can use monitoring tools like New Relic, Datadog, or Prometheus to track key metrics such as response times, CPU usage, memory utilization, database queries, and error rates. Performance monitoring helps detect anomalies, troubleshoot issues, and make data-driven decisions for scaling improvements.

6. Optimize Frontend Performance

Improving frontend performance is crucial for enhancing user experience and reducing page load times. ruby on rails website development company usa developers can optimize frontend assets by minifying JavaScript and CSS files, leveraging browser caching, and using content delivery networks (CDNs) for asset delivery. Techniques like lazy loading images, preloading critical resources, and implementing progressive web app (PWA) features can also improve frontend performance and responsiveness.

7. Plan for Scalability from the Beginning

Scalability should be considered from the early stages of Ruby on Rails development. Developers should design applications with scalability in mind, including modular architecture, separation of concerns, and scalable database schemas. Use design patterns like MVC (Model-View-Controller), SOLID principles, and microservices architecture to create scalable and maintainable codebases. Regular code reviews, refactoring, and performance testing can help identify scalability issues early and prevent future challenges.

8. Leverage Cloud Services

Cloud computing platforms offer scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency for hosting and scaling Ruby on Rails applications. Developers can leverage cloud services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for scalable infrastructure, auto-scaling capabilities, managed databases, and serverless computing options. Cloud-based deployment strategies simplify scaling, improve reliability, and provide access to a wide range of scalable resources.

Conclusion

Scaling Ruby on Rails websites requires a strategic approach, careful planning, and continuous optimization efforts. Ruby on Rails developers working with Ruby on Rails development company USA, Ruby on Rails web development company USA, or ruby on rails web development company usa should focus on database optimization, caching strategies, asynchronous processing, horizontal scaling, performance monitoring, frontend optimization, early scalability planning, and leveraging cloud services for scalable infrastructure. By implementing these tips and strategies, developers can effectively scale Ruby on Rails applications to meet growing demands, improve performance, and deliver seamless user experiences.

[hospitalterrorizer]

diary190

3/23-24/2024

saturday - sunday

work work work work.

that's not all my life is, but it's basically reading and things i can think about, put my life into, under attack from the cleaving me from time and ability, from my life-force, energy, my wills and desires, it's all made tiny, but i need to get back into mixing, and stuff.

today, the reading, today, what did i think.

here, it feels as if he is getting to points about people who participate in power, not just disciplinarians, but say, monitors, the necessity of perhaps, snitches, basically. this is a reduction though. he brings up supervisors and how they are supervised, in some cases, yes, by others, a chain up and up and up, but at some point, the mass that power is built off of, will judge that which makes use of it or rather, transforms into being utilizable, as in, they become prepared for these movements, labors, they learn the signals and how best to respond. the base is then sought out, taught rules of judgment, moralistic standards, and so on. the necessity of the good worker, the hall monitor, the teacher who has no solidarity with students, and on and on.

i did also complete the section on docile bodies, which again points/refers back to the necessity of the military apparatuses in the development of disciplines of the body, and the mechanistic view of the world produced by these types of people, that the ideal world is not one based 'on nature' but rather as i said, based on machines, this is interesting, thinking about the cybernetic hypothesis of tiqqun, which notes when nature and systems-theory collide and nature becomes machine-like, then we see perhaps there, the fusion of the mechanistic world-view and the managerial and moral vision, of 'the primal social contract' and 'permanent coercions', which is perhaps a step too far, to say these could be joined, but it feels necessary to note that at this point, all of sociality seems founded on, answered for, by nature, and history, that all of what surrounds us is the logical emergence of human rationality in nature, that this is nature, and so on.

one part that is very interesting in docile bodies is the way he discusses labor forces, that we are rather than treated as one vast and single mass, we are instead individualized based on task, or perhaps even, separated out by aptitude for certain areas of work, and then, in those areas, further individuated for doing certain things, even at certain times only perhaps. departments and then the mechanical functions of the docile body in each department, in each fragment of time, in the process of offering service, or creating some good.

it is interesting here to think of the military unit here and the service industry. producing no goods, what are we doing, but waging some kind of war against time or the idea of entropy, we are stationed here, trying to accrue more value and offer as much as always, we service an unending population, this place is for birthdays, the reservoir of potential customers is renewed yearly. but perhaps more important re: this strand of thought is that for foucault the military developing, or offering a schema that politics broadly, beyond the military, could project down onto the the bodies of the masses, and that the occupation of the military also created a level of fear of punishment that was useful, is very interesting. i mean what i am saying is evidently hyperbolic but it seems useful to point to service industry work as different from say, actual production, or 'actual' as much of it is perhaps very odd and useless, but no less invested in discipline, positions of bodies, and exploitation of our reserves and seeing to it that we are used to exhaustion and kept docile and useful. aptitudes not just improved but managed and prevented from developing, in certain cases.

perhaps the reality of the signals he talks of points at this, these reactions we have to certain things requesting (x) of us. these are all things we do but do not especially understand, we are prevented from that. we are not enabled to know why we do, and so we cannot direct ourselves well, in this sense, an aptitude of independence is ignored, prevented from coming into being, or perhaps more truthfully, reframed as not needing to exist here, or that this does not even have to enter into your mind. your mind is only for (x) things right now.

this is one thing i struggle with. i want to think, but it feels i am at so many odds, and so many noises, interruptions, i cannot stick inside myself the words i want to keep. but i try, i think i am winning that struggle. but i go to work too hungry. it's a problem. maybe it's really bad or whatever but idk.

anyway gonna try and mixxxxxxxxx.

alright, there's 7 songs left to mix, and for vocals, maybe about the same amount. that's not a ton. that's not like, a daunting amount, and the best part? everything seems to sound like, something i want, so that is super duper goood.

now i wanna try writing a couple melodies, just because idk, and then i think, tomorrow night i need to mix more, and then go ahead and write down what i think i'm gonna need to get to, riffs for other songs, ideas that i never got to finish, make a list of those, and then set that aside, get to it when i wanna work on stuff.

the melody is cute and good i think. i like the idea of maybe doing a song for whatever comes next where i can kind of go into these noisy fucked up parts, maybe with a funny structure, and then into a kind of midi pop part.

anyway, i am tired, and monday i need to wake up before 11, so at like, idk, i need to get up at 7 prolly. so i need to fix myself soon. that could help with my days off, on which i wanna do some stuff to fix the next single cover art.

until tomorrow,

byebye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Chickenized reverse-centaurs

AI researchers talk about "centaurs" - machine-human collaborative teams that outperform either computers or people. The greatest chess players in the world are collaborations between chess-masters and chess software.

But not all centaurs are created equal. A "reverse centaur" is what happens when a human is made to assist a machine, rather than the other way around. Amazon may not have invented the reverse centaur, but they perfected it.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/17/reverse-centaur/#reverse-centaur

Take the "Mechanical Turk," a massive cohort of precarious, sub-minimum-wage pieceworkers who do human decision support for automated processes. There's a reason that South Asian labor activists say "AI" stands for "absent Indians."

Or Amazon warehouse automation: Amazon warehouse robots can't pick-and-pack the items they locate, so they shuttle them to human pickers at a dangerous tempo. The more automated an Amazon warehouse becomes, the more injuries it reports.

https://www.ft.com/content/087fce16-3924-4348-8390-235b435c53b2?shareType=nongift

Reverse-centaurism isn't the only human-life-destroying area where Amazon leads. It's also a leader in "chickenization," a labor economics term that comes from the US poultry industry, where workers are misclassified as independent contractors.

The poultry packers have divided the country into noncompeting territories, so "independent" farmers only have one vendor who'll take their birds. The farmers have to buy their chicks from that monopolist, who also specs their feed, medicine and housing.

The farmers are told everything - except what they'll be paid. When the farmers bring their birds to market, the monopolist exploits its information asymmetry advantage to offer just enough for the farmer to start over again, but not enough to get ahead or out of debt.

Chickenization is like avian flu: prone to jumping its niche and spreading virulently to every corner of the world. Chickenization is now rampant across all labor markets, from call-centers:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/02/chickenized-by-arise/#arise

to medical care:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/18/always-get-their-rationalisation/#telehealth

Amazon loves chickenization, too. Its Flex delivery program uses employees misclassified as independent contractors, paying sub-minimum wage. The company subjects these drivers to constant overt and covert surveillance.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/02/free-steven-donziger/#chickenized-flex

But as bad as Flex is, it's not the end-state of Amazon's innovative workplace terrors. For that, you need to look at Delivery Service Partners (DSP), a workforce of chickenized reverse-centaurs. This is some peak innovation right here.

Writing for Wired, Caitlin Harrington describes the suffocating horror of chickenized reverse-centaurs.

Amazon claims that DSP drivers don't work for them. Instead, they work for "entrepreneurs" who buy Amazon delivery vans and pay drivers to operate them.

https://www.wired.com/story/some-amazon-drivers-have-had-enough-can-they-unionize/

There are 158,000 DSP drivers, working for 2,500 DSPs. They wear Amazon uniforms and drive Amazon vans. Amazon packs those vans with reverse-centaur gear: Rabbit (realtime tracking), Mentor (automatic driver-scoring) and Netradyne (a mesh of always-on AI spy cameras).

Amazon DSP vans have Netradyne cameras inside and out, including one that is always trained on drivers' faces, performing digital phrenology on them, scoring them based on junk-science microexpression detection and other imaginary metrics.

Now DSP drivers aren't just expected to match an impossible machine pace by limiting water intake so bathroom breaks won't derail the 300 packages they deliver during a 10-hour shift.

Netradyne cameras are next-level reverse-centaurism. They make sure you're not yawning while you deliver 300 packages during a 10-hour shift - and if you do, they deduct points and notify your manager.

And because they're both chickenized and reverse-centaured, DSP drivers are left with little recourse. Amazon doesn't allow any individual DSP to 40 vans. That means that if a DSP's drivers unionize, Amazon can just cut its contract with the DSP and put them all out of work.

Unions are (maybe) finally coming to Amazon's US ops. The union drive at the Bessemer, AB warehouse could be the start of a new era for Amazon and its workers: fair wages and safe working conditions for the workforce that we've all come to depend on.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/19/deastroturfing/#real-power

But that won't help DSP drivers win wage- and condition-parity with other drivers in the industry (UPS's unionized drivers make $38/h plus benefits and pensions). DSP doesn't work for Amazon, they work for an Amazon contractor.

But as Harrington points out, there is precedent for this kind of fragmented workforce attaining labor justice. In the 1980s, large firms fired their custodial staff and replaced them with subcontractors working for staffing firms.

The Justice For Janitors movement targeted the companies where these workers showed up for work, not the companies that sent them a paycheck. This got all the subcontractors' janitors ready to unionize: they signed union-cards en masse and doubled their wages.

Justice for Janitors didn't have to contend with the kind of digital controls Amazon has mastered - but they also didn't have access to the Discord and Reddit forums where DSPs are organizing today.

And Biden's NLRB is seeking to strike down Trump's annihilation of the "joint employer" classification that Obama used to force McDonald's franchisees to bargain with their workers.

The 1935 National Labor Relations Act was wise to worker misclassification, and allowed workers to provided service to a company to unionize. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 gutted this protection by excluding contractors from collective bargaining.

Flex drivers - and Uber drivers and other "gig economy" chickenizees - are prisoners to this exemption, and the PRO Act, which is headed for a showdown with the GOP in the Senate, would fix it, restoring the right to unionize.

Follow @amazonda3 to learn more about Amazon drivers' campaign for fair wages and decent treatment.

https://twitter.com/amazonda3

Image: Todd Van Hoosear (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amazon_Prime_Delivery_Trucks_(44155424640).jpg

CC BY-SA: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

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

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

[autolovecraft]

I saw vindictiveness on any face—or former face.

When Dr. Davis left Birch that night he had taken a lantern and gone to the old receiving tomb. His frightened horse had gone home, but his frightened wits never quite did that. It may have been mocking.

For the long-neglected latch was obviously broken, leaving the careless undertaker trapped in the vault, a victim of his own oversight. Certainly, the events of that evening greatly changed George Birch. His drinking, of course, only aggravated what it was meant to alleviate. In this funereal twilight he rattled the rusty handles, pushed at the iron panels, and wondered why the massive portal had grown so suddenly recalcitrant.

He gave old Matt the very best his skill could produce, but was thrifty enough to save the rejected specimen, and to use it when Asaph Sawyer died of a malignant fever.

He was curiously unelated over his impending escape, and almost dreaded the exertion, for his form had the indolent stoutness of early middle age. The light was dim, but Birch's sight was good, and he did not heed the day at all; so that he was reduced to a profane fumbling as he made his halting way among the long boxes toward the latch. Clutching the edges of the aperture, he sought to drain from the weakened undertaker every least detail of his horrible experience.

I am no practiced teller of tales. In either case it would have been appropriate; for the unexpected tenacity of the easy-looking brickwork was surely a sardonic commentary on the vanity of mortal hopes, and the degree of dignity to be maintained in posing and adapting the unseen members of lifeless tenants to containers not always calculated with sublimest accuracy. In this twilight too, he began to realize the truth and to shout loudly as if his horse outside could do more than neigh an unsympathetic reply.

The undertaker grew doubly lethargic in the bitter weather, and seemed to outdo even himself in carelessness. To him Birch had felt no compunction in assigning the carelessly made coffin which he now pushed out of the way in his quest for the Fenner casket. In this twilight too, he began to realize the truth and to shout loudly as if his horse outside could do more than neigh an unsympathetic reply. Over the door, however, the high, slit-like transom in the brick facade gave promise of possible enlargement to a diligent worker; hence upon this his eyes long rested as he racked his brains for means to reach it. Birch, in his ghastly situation, was now too low for an easy scramble out of the way in his quest for the Fenner casket. That he was not perfectly sober, he subsequently admitted; though he had not then taken to the wholesale drinking by which he later tried to forget certain things.

Finally he decided to lay a base of three parallel with the wall, to place upon this two layers of two each, and upon these a single box to serve as the platform. Instinct guided him in his wriggle through the transom. Being without superstition, he did not care to imagine.

When he perceived that the latch was hopelessly unyielding, at least in a city; and even Peck Valley would have shuddered a bit had it known the easy ethics of its mortuary artist in such debatable matters as the ownership of costly laying-out apparel invisible beneath the casket's lid, and the source of a task whose performance deserved every possible stimulus. Birch were sure—absolutely sure—of the identity of that top coffin of the pile; how he had chosen it, how he had chosen it, how he had distinguished it from the inferior duplicate coffin of vicious Asaph Sawyer. For the long-neglected latch was obviously broken, leaving the careless undertaker trapped in the vault, a victim of his own oversight. On the afternoon of Friday, April 15th, then, Birch set out for the tomb with horse and wagon to transfer the body of Matthew Fenner. His frightened horse had gone home, but his frightened wits never quite did that. Horrible pains, as of savage wounds, shot through his calves; and in his mind was a vortex of fright mixed with an unquenchable materialism that suggested splinters, loose nails, or some other attribute of a breaking wooden box. He cried aloud once, and a little later gave a gasp that was more terrible than a cry. In this twilight too, he began to compute how he might most stably use the eight to rear a scalable platform four deep.

The thing must have happened at about three-thirty in the afternoon. An eye for an eye! His drinking, of course, only aggravated what it was meant to alleviate. His thinking processes, once so phlegmatic and logical, had become ineffaceably scarred; and it was pitiful to note his response to certain chance allusions such as Friday, Tomb, Coffin, and words of less obvious concatenation. At any rate he kicked and squirmed frantically and automatically whilst his consciousness was almost eclipsed in a half-swoon.

Being without superstition, he did not get Asaph Sawyer's coffin by mistake, although it was very similar. Birch seldom took the trouble to use—afforded no ascent to the space above the door. His questioning grew more than medically tense, and his body responding with that maddening slowness from which one suffers when chased by the phantoms of nightmare. He was just dizzy and careless enough to annoy his sensitive horse, which as he drew it viciously up at the tomb neighed and pawed and tossed its head, much as on that former occasion when the rain had vexed it.

Davis left, urging Birch to insist at all times that his wounds were caused entirely by loose nails and splintering wood.

He would have given much for a lantern or bit of candle; but lacking these, bungled semi-sightlessly as best he might. It is doubtful whether he was touched at all by the horror and exquisite weirdness of his position, but the bald fact of imprisonment so far from the tomb.

The day was clear, but a high wind had sprung up; and Birch was glad to get to shelter as he unlocked the iron door and entered the side-hill vault. To him Birch had felt no compunction in assigning the carelessly made coffin which he now pushed out of the enlarged transom; but he could do better with four. His frightened horse had gone home, but his frightened wits never quite did that. Dusk fell and found Birch still toiling. As he planned, he could not shake clear of the unknown grasp which held his feet in relentless captivity. Fortunately the village was small and the death rate low, so that the narrow ventilation funnel in the top ran through several feet of earth, making this direction utterly useless to consider. Birch, before 1881, had been the village undertaker of Peck Valley; and was a very calloused and primitive specimen even as such specimens go. I've seen sights before, but there was one thing too much here.

Undisturbed by oppressive reflections on the time, the place, and the coffin niches on the sides and rear—which Birch seldom took the trouble to use—afforded no ascent to the space above the door. The vault had been dug from a hillside, so that it was possible to give all of Birch's inanimate charges a temporary haven in the single antiquated receiving tomb. That he was not perfectly sober, he subsequently admitted; though he had not then taken to the wholesale drinking by which he later tried to forget certain things.

He was oddly anxious to know if Birch were sure—absolutely sure—of the identity of that top coffin of the pile; how he had distinguished it from the inferior duplicate coffin of vicious Asaph Sawyer. In time the hole grew so large that he ventured to try his body in it now and then, shifting about so that the narrow ventilation funnel in the top ran through several feet of earth, making this direction utterly useless to consider.

Birch, before 1881, had been the village undertaker of Peck Valley Cemetery, escaping only by crude and disastrous mechanical means; but while this much was undoubtedly true, there were other and blacker things which the man used to whisper to me in his drunken delirium toward the last. Never did he knock together flimsier and ungainlier caskets, or disregard more flagrantly the needs of the rusty lock on the tomb door which he slammed open and shut with such nonchalant abandon. It may have been just fear, and it may have been just fear, and it may have been encouraging and to others may have been fear mixed with a queer belated sort of remorse for bygone crudities. For an impersonal doctor, Davis' ominous and awestruck cross-examination became very strange indeed as he sought to drain from the weakened undertaker every least detail of his horrible experience. The light was dim, but Birch's sight was good, and he planned to save the stoutly built casket of little Matthew Fenner for the top, in order that his feet might have as certain a surface as possible. He gave old Matt the very best his skill could produce, but was thrifty enough to save the rejected specimen, and to use it when Asaph Sawyer died of a malignant fever. As his hammer blows began to fall, the horse outside whinnied in a tone which may have been mocking. He was just dizzy and careless enough to annoy his sensitive horse, which as he drew it viciously up at the tomb neighed and pawed and tossed its head, much as on that former occasion when the rain had vexed it. It was generally stated that the affliction and shock were results of an unlucky slip whereby Birch had locked himself for nine hours in the receiving tomb of Peck Valley; and was a very calloused and primitive specimen even as such specimens go. The air had begun to be exceedingly unwholesome; but to this detail he paid no attention as he toiled, half by feeling, at the heavy and corroded metal of the latch. The moon was shining on the scattered brick fragments and marred facade, and the emerging moon must have witnessed a horrible sight as he dragged his bleeding ankles toward the cemetery lodge; his fingers clawing the black mold in brainless haste, and his aching arms rested by a pause during which he sat on the bottom step of his grim device, Birch cautiously ascended with his tools and stood abreast of the narrow transom. Certainly, the events of that evening greatly changed George Birch. Instinct guided him in his wriggle through the transom.

[iwritestuffthatiobsessover]

Name: Zeel Jiki

Hero Name: Magneta

Gender: Female

Age: 26

Quirk: Magnetic Field

. . .

Quirk ability: Zeel Jiki has the ability to manipulate magnetic fields around herself and objects. She can move magnetic objects to her free will for a limited amount of time.

Cons: She can only manipulate metallic objects that she has seen, and her Quirk only affects objects for five minutes at a time.

When overusing her quirk, it will become unstable and draw magnetic objects to her body.

When mentally unstable, her quirk goes haywire, and she loses control over her Quirk's abilities, possibly injuring other Hero's and civilians.

. . .

Support Items:

Alternated Motorcycle Helmet:

A helmet with high-tech holographic screens built into the visor. It includes an overlay of a metal detector that outlines surrounding metal objects, a timer, a clock, a policer scanner, a two-way radio, and a mini-map of her surroundings.

Metallic Boots:

Boots with metallic soles that she can control for limited hovering, climbing, and extensive jumping.

Magnetic Belt:

A belt that balances Magneta's personal magnetic field. Without it, she becomes imbalanced and will frequently fall and stumble.

Motorcycle: A black and violet motorcycle with specialized magnetic parts and add-ons. These can easily be deconstructed and reconstructed at Magneta's command, either to use as a weapon, balance while riding, or to ease a fall.

. . .

Special moves

EMP: A high-tier Electromagnetic Pulse that wipes out surrounding technology, on average of a 1/2-mile radius.

Caged: Taking a lot of energy, she can seize magnetic fields, or use physical force via magnetic fields to bend pieces of metal (such as rods) to create a cage to subdue a villain.

Hailstorm: Using her metal-seeking visor, Magneta can gather precious metals from under ground and send it to her target.

Frag Grenade: Consensing small shards of metal from her surroundings, she can warp the magnetic field around it to combust and send fragments flying. This is risky because she cannot control where the fragments go.

High-Speed Chase: Increasing speed while on her bike, Magneta can deconstruct the vehicle parts to use as projectiles. This comes at an obvious cost, too many parts missing will tear apart the bike.

. . .

Fun Facts!

She's been riding motorized bikes since she was 12.

Magneta worked with Hawk's as a ground element for a year after he graduated from U.A, to help him set up his Pro-Hero career (not that he needed it).

The Magnetism Quirk is genetic. Her mother was Jaguara, a cat-themed hero that used magnetism for equally cat-based attacks.

She didn't officially meet her mother until she was 16, her Aunt and Uncle raised her since Jaguara was busy with Hero work.

Due to living with her not-so-well-known Aunt and Uncle, she grew up in sketchy backstreets and thug-filled neighborhoods. But this only helped her connect with the lower-income community in her Hero days.

Her agency is full to the brim with renounced criminals, ranging from mechanics to office workers.

She has a boyish personality and refuses to leave her confrontational attitude from her youth behind.

[sepublic]

Xian Characters, Features, and Landmarks (Pt. 1)

Roodaka- Roodaka is the ruthless CEO of Vortixx Industries, having secured a practically permanent position there from a young age after she scaled The Mountain. A cutthroat business-dealer, she helps direct the company’s actions, oversees stocks, and surveys the occasional experiment or investment, providing a personal hand of involvement every now and then. She has done business with just about every major power in all of Xia, and is among the Powers That Be. With an eye for potential, she has led Vortixx Industries to the top of Xia’s arms-manufacturers, and is not just content with her current success either. Roodaka is an opportunist, and will and has back-stabbed others and crushed enemies for the total domination of Vortixx Industries.

           She is cold-hearted and ruthless, and believes whole-heartedly in the idea that might makes right. Roodaka has been conditioned both by experience and by others that only the most powerful have the authority to lead; If one cannot prove their merit and mettle, then they are a liability and must be cast out, not to be trusted by neither peers or even themselves. Regularly Roodaka does puzzles and tests her intelligence, reflecting on and questioning her own progress. And despite being a noble, Roodaka despises most other aristocrats like herself, seeing them as pompous, lazy fools who have become atrophied from resting on their laurels. A sharpened wit is the key to victory for Roodaka, and she sees challenges as the ideal whetstone for her mind.

She has no intent of letting herself become weak and arrogant, and seeks to do more with her life and purpose than just a live a pointless, meaningless life of hedonism. For Roodaka, she wants something more; More than what the other rich fools on Xia typically have to offer. She has no intention of living and dying like any other fool, and for that she sees little difference between most of Xia’s upper-crust and its lower-class. Control is all Roodaka cares about, and she prizes the ability to strike fear in one’s minions in order to keep them in line.

           Roodaka herself is not necessarily a fighter, and is thus often flanked by a trio of Exo-Toa Lerahk, machines she helped oversee the design and construction of. But even without her bodyguards, Roodaka is not entirely defenseless- She has access to a Rhotuka Gauntlet that allows her to spawn a wheel of energy, one that drastically mutates whatever target it comes into contact with. Roodaka possesses a cruel sense of humor, and has used her Mutation Rhotuka to dispatch enemies of hers, often leaving them to suffer their cursed forms as ruined outcasts of society. Roodaka herself is highly intelligent, able to read and understand others well, and is a master-manipulator and complex schemer.

Sidorak- Known as the ‘Visorak King’ in some sectors of Nynrah, Sidorak was once an esteemed, celebrated war general with a wide collection of medals on his chest to honor him. However, his boldness eventually got him in trouble with one of the Powers That Be; And incensed, the powerful individual had Sidorak exiled to Nynrah as a death-sentence. Stripped of his title, rank, and badges, most would have despaired and left themselves to die in Sidorak’s place- But Sidorak himself continued forging on, making a new path for himself in Nynrah.

           He eventually came into contact with a pack of Visorak Spiders, and recognizing that the creatures wanted to be free from their Nynrah Ghost masters to hunt as they pleased, Sidorak offered them freedom. He defeated the Visorak Spiders before letting them know that underneath his command, they could have total freedom and impunity to hunt and kill as they pleased; And having been won over by his strength, the spiders obliged to Sidorak’s offer. Ever since, Sidorak has slowly begun to amass a Visorak Horde of spiders under his command, and has become an enemy of the Nynrah Ghosts for providing their creations an outlet with which to go rogue.

           Now, Sidorak frequently roams Nynrah with his packs of Visorak spiders, leading them on hunts for prey. A bold, charismatic commander, he has won the loyalty and respect of his soldiers, and is now adorned with a ‘medal’ made up of webs, gunk, and other unsavory materials that he treasures as a personal token of comradery. Sidorak is a true commander, personally leading his armies into battle and fighting alongside them. He desires to help his Visorak spread and hunt as they please, and this has put him at odds with multiple Vorox Clans.

           Sidorak is a skilled combatant and a brilliant strategist. He wears a breathing apparatus over his lower-face, covering his nose and mouth in order to protect himself from airborne pathogens and other contaminants. On his left arm, he wields the Herding Blade; A powerful artifact that can cast a brilliant crimson light that will summon and herald Sidorak’s armies to himself. As for Sidorak’s right arm, it is cut off at the elbow; Instead, it has a mechanical implant. Hovering slightly beyond this implant is a mechanical tri-claw that can shoot energy-beams from its palm, or Rhotuka that instill loyalty and obedience within targets. Sidorak can launch this cybernetic arm of his forward, latching it onto surfaces before using it as a grapple to pull himself forward with the electro-magnetic connection it has with his implant.

Turaga Dume- Once a lowly errand-boy in the Artidax District, he has since risen to power as a totalitarian dictator controlling most of the region. Dume is strict and harsh, believing in the evils of free will, and desires total control as a means of peace; He has command over the Vahki to enforce his will and the laws that he passes. Local powers frequently ally with Dume, letting him use his Vahki as a replacement for traditional law enforcement, allowing Dume a wide reach over Xia. He is the island’s head of security, and is responsible for cracking down on dissidents and punishing them, as well as brainwashing and encouraging the Xian population to become mindless, obedient workers for all of eternity.

           Dume has a stern, tall face, and angular shoulders, constantly walking with his back hunched forward and his arms folded behind him. He wears a clean, dark-red uniform, with a coat, hat, and black boots to match. Dume believes in total discipline over himself, and can be found frequently strutting the halls of a Vahki Hive, allowing zero reprieve in the face of his duties. He oversees all actions and data from his Vahki and frequently collaborates with Xian powers on suppressing riots, unions, and other forms of rebellion.

The Shadowed One- An ancient warlord and the leader/co-founder of the Dark Hunters. The Shadowed One has no known origin nor name; His earliest appearances were as far back as the War of Six Kingdoms, at least. Back then, he led a cruel mercenary organization known as the Dark Hunters alongside his lieutenant and co-founder Ancient. Centuries of success on various missions and assassinations have earned him Xia’s most powerful crime organization. The Shadowed One operates from within the Odina Fortress, having a hand in brutal murders, thefts, and other various crimes as he seeks to consolidate power for himself.

Prideful to a fault, he is a twisted and charismatic individual with a cruel sense of humor. In his quest for power, The Shadowed One has employed researchers and invested others in the creation of unique and dangerous assets for his Dark Hunters. Recently, he has attempted to gather the six fragments of Makuta’s Mask of Life, all of which are inexplicably on Xia, hoping to recreate the world-ending artifact. What exactly he has planned for it is unknown, but knowing him, it certainly can’t be any good.

The Shadowed One can conjure powerful eye-beams that disintegrate and deconstruct anything they touch on the molecular, even atomic, level, granting the warlord the ultimate offense. He wields a staff capable of summoning and creating crystalline formations that he can control and carry through the air as if by telekinesis, and The Shadowed One has used many gems to slaughter enemies or subdue them. In addition to this, he can conjure a Rhotuka; One that temporarily inflicts devastating madness of any sort onto victims. The Shadowed One is a skilled, experienced combatant, and with his skills combined with his powerful abilities, he is an unstoppable opponent.

He possesses one additional, terrifying ability as well; Those foolish enough to challenge The Shadowed One in his own throne room will sometimes find themselves unable to move from their positions upon confronting him, as if their own feet were attached to the floor. By the time his rebels realize this, it is too late- The Shadowed One will unleash his eye-beams, vaporizing them all as they cannot move out of the way. Whatever the nature of this invincible ability, it is the final seal on the apparent unstoppable power of the mercenary-king.

Spiriah- A brilliant and disgracted scientist, Spiriah was once a member of the Nynrah Ghosts. However, his own incompetence and poor handling of the Nynrah Incident, in addition to being somewhat negligent in containing the leak of VISORAK, led to his reputation being tarnished. Even so, he retained membership amongst the Nynrah Ghosts, until a botched experiment involving the Skakdi Clan of Zakaz resulted in them becoming far more dangerous, temperamental, and difficult to control than intended.

           With the Skakdi incident as the final straw, Spiriah was exiled and disgraced from the Nynrah Ghosts. Cast out and bitter, Spiriah quickly found work from The Shadowed One, who was eager to employ his skills. Spiriah happily performed experiments with the intent of furthering the Dark Hunters’ power, proving his intelligence and hidden potential. With Spiriah clearly a viable researcher, The Shadowed One eventually entrusted him with Makuta’s notes, gathered from the Mask Hoarder’s abanoned lab by Dweller. With additional resources straight from Okoto, Spiriah set to work dissecting and discerning the very nature of Life energy itself, eventually implementing his findings into various experiments, many of which became Dark Hunters themselves.

           Having turned his life around after his past failures, Spiriah went on to help lead experiments on the Kanohi Dragon alongside Vortixx Industries. However, he disappeared after going on an expedition to Nynrah, hoping to gather resources and intel; Attempts to locate him (or his body) have failed, and the Dark Hunter Tracker has been unable to find anything sufficient enough with which to track down Spiriah. Presumably, he has been killed by the Vorox- Or perhaps by the Nynrah Ghosts, who did not want their academic knowledge to be shared amongst the Dark Hunters, regretting their exile of Spiriah?

The Shadowed One himself in unsure… Regardless, Spiriah was an innovative individual who could’ve unlocked many more forbidden secrets of Life had he not disappeared- Perhaps, with the proper resources, he could’ve even gone on to rival Makuta himself! Not that it mattered, because Makuta, too, has perished…

Trydahk- The leader of the Nynrah Ghosts and its ‘high priest’, Trydahk is considered the most brilliant and esteemed member of the group. His intelligence and work has helped spawn and pioneer multiple Xian inventions, including the lethal VISORAK, or the Zamor Launcher. The space-warping Trydahk Pods are named after the Nynrah Ghost himself, and he desires to unlock the secrets of reality at any cost; No matter how many innocent lives must be sacrificed, or how much destruction he must cause. To him, understanding everything is the only thing that matters, and Knowledge is his peace of mind.

           Intriguingly, Trydahk has been around since the very inception of the Nynrah Ghosts, several decades ago. And yet, he does not seem to be any older than he currently is, despite his age back then meaning he should be dead by now. Who knows what experiments he performed on himself to allow this?

Nektann- A brutal Skakdi warlord, Nektann was named after the powerful Xian war-machines that plagued Zakaz alongside other machinations of destruction. An unstoppable brute, Nektann quickly rose to power amongst the Skakdi, challenging other warlords and defeating them in combat. Now, he has practically reunited the Skakdi clans back into one, promising his brethren glory and conquest upon the rest of Zakaz.

           Tall and thuggish, Nektann is nevertheless cunning enough to have earned control over the Skakdi. He wields an ornate Crescent Scythe in combat, and is a loud and boisterous individual who will happily partake in carnage. Unsurprisingly, Nektann is seen as ‘undignified’ by other Xians, but he doesn’t let this get to him. He knows the Skakdi are looked down upon as modified ‘freaks’, but he figures that will change when he marches upon Zakaz and becomes one of the Powers That Be.

           Nektann frequently rides to combat, leading his armies on mobile war-machines and vehicles. He himself rides a large one equipped with a massive grinder-wheel on the front. Additionally, he has a pet Muaka adorned in spiked armor. He got the beast after buying it off of the Dark Hunters, who themselves got it from Umarak on a whim. Nektann is proud of his exotic pet and likes to boast of its foreign, mysterious origins, but some Xians doubt the validity of his claims- They believe the Muaka is just another manufactured bioweapon, an assertion that greatly angers him.

[industrialroplant]

Steps of water purification of process.

The primary resource that ensures the survival of all life on Earth is water. Although having access to water, sanitation, and hygiene is a fundamental human right, billions of people everyday struggle to get even the most basic amenities.

Water purification completely determines how safe it is to consume. To verify that water fulfils the regulations set out by the government to provide safe drinking water, water must be tested. To guarantee that water is adequately cleansed and benefits the community, it is essential to comply with these criteria. An important component of a community’s health and safety is access to clean drinking water. Understanding the five phases of water treatment is so crucial.

Here we are going to discuss about the steps involved in the water purification system. So, let’s get started….

Water treatment: Water treatment ensures access to clean water and prevents rivers and seas from being contaminated. Water treatment is a procedure that combines many operations (physical, chemical, physicochemical, and biological), with the objective of reducing or eliminating contaminants or undesirable qualities in water.

Obtaining water with the proper characteristics for the intended application is the goal of this process. This is why the characteristics of the supplied water and its intended use affect how the water is treated. Due to a lack of drinking water and the expanding requirements of the world’s population, water treatment is becoming more and more important. Only 2.5% of the planet’s total water reserves are freshwater, and only 0.4% of this is suitable for human use.

https://www.industrialroplants.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image-3.png

Screening:

Water enters a water treatment facility through a screening after coming from rivers, lakes, or the ground. Large natural pollutants are kept out of the water by this filtering. These can be anything, including fish and timber. With groundwater sources, screening is not as important since the act of extracting the water from the ground serves as a natural screening mechanism.

Coagulation:

Workers at the treatment facility add chemicals to the water during the coagulation stage, which causes particles to develop in the water. The most used coagulants are ferric and aluminium sulphates. They are incorporated into the water in a turbulent area. These compounds produce sticky particles that are referred to as floc. Floc draws dirt particles to itself.

Sedimentation:

Sediment is the term used to describe these floc and soil fragments that are settling to the bottom of the storage tank. During this procedure, both the water and the sediment in the water move into a sedimentation basin. Water flow velocity is decreased in sedimentation tanks so that suspended materials can settle more easily. Again, the heavier floc particles drop to the basin’s bottom and stay there until they are removed.

Filtration:

After that, a layer of sand and gravel is passed over the cleaned water (occasionally charcoal as well). During this procedure, the sand layer is approximately 2.5 feet deep and the gravel layer is normally around 1 foot deep.

Gravity filters are frequently used to eliminate floc, while pressure filters are frequently used to maintain hydraulic head. These filtering systems get rid of any extra particles, including turbidity and algae, that remain after the sedimentation process. The water then enters a sealed tank after this.

Disinfection:

Chlorine and other disinfection agents are used in this tank to eliminate any germs and pathogens present. As a result, the water is kept clean until it is given to the neighborhood. Pipes are used to transport it to residences and commercial buildings. It stays in the tank until then to continue being cleansed.

It should be noted that disinfection may be the only level of treatment your water needs if your major source of water is groundwater. Your community’s access to clean drinking water and assurance that the water is safe for your health are both made possible by these five processes.

Conclusion:

Potable water is a precious yet limited resource. Only 0.4% of the water on the globe is thought to be suitable for human consumption. Investments in water purification are crucial to guarantee that everyone gets access to this key resource. The major goal of purification is to get rid of any potentially harmful elements from the water, such as germs, viruses, and heavy metals like chromium, lead, and zinc. Essentially, it seeks to eliminate any threat to the health.

Invest in a good water treatment facility if you really need access to pure water. Netsol can provide you all that a guarantee health needs.

You may rely on us for water treatment plants, water filters, and accessories and consumables. Visit us online or call on +91-9650608473 or email at enquiry@netsolwater.com to learn more.

[rainworlds]

The Blur

We are beset by static—in the thrall of constant, relentless movement, we lose ourselves to the permanent accumulation of momentum. We have been primed to charge forward, into a direction unknown, and while everything else recedes into periphery, there are other things coursing through the slipstream, catching up with us. All this movement, this ‘progress’—where does it lead?

Contemporary reporting, in all its breathless, pounding rhythm cares little for the context out of which movement emerges, nor how momentum steers us towards the void. The result is a kind of blur that systematically annihilates our sense of history and, with it, our capacity for Déjà vu. Memory is subject to the corrosive effects of capital, so how do we recognize that something has been lost—that we have been here before?

                                                                              * * *

  Wrapped in the briar of enterprise, critics under capital are incentivized to perform discovery—that is, framing their critique as the first, unique approach to any given topic—which remains convention because it places individual contribution at the center of an ongoing conversation. Of course, credit must be given where credit is due: critics perform labor, after all. But as capital pushes the communal components of all labor further into the margins, the erasure of pre-existing work for the sake of building personal legacies seems all-encompassing; we must, as Devyn Springer put it, cleave individualism from our practice, reject the description of ‘creatives’ and think of ourselves as participating in the production of a culture from which to strike at reactionary elements that seek to prevent harmony and productive labor. We must remember that we do not conjure from the void.

It should be noted that this culture does not have to be ‘popular’ in the sense that ‘popular culture’ is; it can remain separate for as long as it is necessary. But, in the same vein, the totality of ‘popular culture’ and its many fragments cannot be conceded to reactionary ideology.

                                                                              * * *

  People are taught to breach the confines of lines and letters—explicit text—to do excavations upon marginal spaces. This, of course, holds financial benefits in an age where the rapid pace of communication complicates how we capture attention and revenue: it should be apparent, then, that to drape the self in discovery is a practice of domination; it is the colonizer’s impulse. Avant-garde, a term with decidedly militaristic connotations that originates in the Metropole, should clue us into its use: artistic expression and thought are delineated as a ‘frontier’ unto which ‘pioneers’ may move to mark territory, but, of course, not all are permitted to do so equitably.

To perform discovery in this way can be read as a desperate attempt by subjects under kyriarchy to rupture the relentless rhythm of enterprise and insert permanence into capitalist structures driven by the demands of mobility and flexibility. But, of course, that is an extraordinarily charitable reading. To practice discovery means to cut deeper into wounded flesh: it romanticizes a heightened individualism under which writers must fend for themselves. Violently obscuring foundations is not a trivial offence, regardless of whether it happens consciously or not; after all, intent is not required to produce negative consequences.  

Attribution of marginal work as a counter-practice has been discarded almost entirely. To bring it to the forefront demands conscious effort. Stitching back together the histories that ‘discovery’ has torn thread from thread to weave a propaganda of the ego requires a delicate sort of restoration; the seams are scars, after all, and the needles must puncture flesh. Of course, it comes at great personal cost: the market demands the performance of discovery: participants are required to frame themselves and their work as products; the profitability of commodities, in contemporary economy, hinges on being distinct and separate from those that came before; the market adores novelty. Historicizing within the constraints of word count limitations can be a difficult proposition, but it must be undertaken whenever possible.

Marginalized ingenuity has been openly sacrificed on the altar of novelty, but as aspiring keepers of the record, we may attempt a resurrection of sorts: the task of reconstructing histories must serve to train an audience that has previously been unwilling or unable to confront the injustice of life at the margins. ‘Critics’ who present themselves as ‘charting’ or ‘taming’ a previously ‘wild’ and ‘uninhabited’ space in contemporary discourse need to be exposed for what they are: their discovery is nothing but the colonization of the vast landscapes of marginalized thought and criticism that have been violently cast aside. But exposure is not enough: radical attribution and the re-thinking of our relationships under capital must follow.

                                                                              * * *

  The rhythm of contemporary journalism (of capital) cultivates the impression of movement to obfuscate not just the pace at which popular culture moves but the direction in which it moves: it is the grand theater of progress, a sleight of hand. To speak of ‘growth’ or ‘dynamism’ is foolish, because we know these acts of accumulation are performed to distract from the elemental truth that there is no ‘automatic progress’ in all this movement. It is a mechanism meant to prevent introspection, the act of ‘taking stock’ that would reveal the tides of history.

It is a conventionally held position that the financial viability of platforms that practice criticism depend in large part on their ability to capitalize on the rapid pace of information that flows from industry; this applies, in particular, to those that cover popular culture. But that information comes with an expiration date; access is compromised. It is the speed with which such information needs to be processed that requires writers to navigate corporate content at breakneck pace. This relentless schedule occupies a disproportionate amount of any worker’s most precious resource: it devours time, all of it.

Observing and describing the status quo in this way are crucial activities, because the minuscule shifts and adaptations performed by capital to capture wholly our discourse horizon are pre-requisites for understanding and envisioning an alternative future. But, we need to see these shifts and adaptations as what they are: minuscule. This requires knowledge that can illuminate the contexts in which these adaptations occur.  

As analytical tools with which we see the world, observation and description thus require constant re-calibration; they cannot remain static. Rather, what needs to be observed and described are trends over time, so that the context of individual events is not lost in the furious rhythm of digital publishing. Otherwise, organized thought perishes in our desperation to capture a permanent moment that, in truth, does not exist.

                                                                              * * *

  Curation is frequently presented as a natural process built on the observation and subsequent interpretation of publics. As such, the process is often directly linked to the behavior of publics. It should be clear, however, that the practice of curation is not a natural process in which actors possess a supernatural disposition to sense the ‘zeitgeist’ and act accordingly, but a series of decisions made by institutions that determine the boundaries of their actions.

We tend to frame curation as if publications are receptacles for publics, as if the direction of reporting naturally emerges from a realm external. But this has become part of a larger strategy to relocate and externalize the labor of curation unto systems perceived to be ‘organic’, such as social media, to shun and obfuscate a responsibility for elevating the margins that every self-respecting institution of journalism should embrace.

A refusal to see the ways in which our work may produce culture, of course, reiterates on a politics of apathy, and seamlessly transitions into the reproduction of the status quo. To rely on technology is seen as a way of observing the world on its own terms, a lens unto ‘objective’, ‘natural’ reality that arises organically from the will of the public. But even as we accept this dubious claim, the observation of such unreliable, massive amounts of data still requires the observer to make a series of decisions: attention is limited, so it follows that what we may observe is limited, too.

Information and communications technology cannot be permitted to slip into the role of an invisible hand that determines what appears on any platform. It is not autonomous, neutral or objective: algorithms, as experts never tire to tell us, are crafted by people. It is important to recognize the myriad ways in which the technical architecture of popular networks and platforms shape what individuals and publications are able to see online. But the limitations of such architecture do not provide salient justification for publications to capitulate in the face of the enormous task that curation presents.

Rather, publications need the resources to engage in an active process of seeking out material that constitutes real alternatives to the doctrines of industry. Observing social media is part of the repertoire, but, even there, unpaid labor engages in a process of curation that remains invisible, and visible only if it acts in aggregate; attribution is crucial. Popularity determines coverage, when coverage, ideally, should introduce publics to new works, which may or may not become popular; curation is work. We cannot rest on the assumption that what is ‘worth covering’ will somehow ‘trickle up’—defying gravity—to the editorial board, re-asserting the primacy of viral success and/or corporate backing. Publications are active participants, complicit in a process that turns our collective understanding of ‘value’ into something that is not a threat to the status quo.

                                                                              * * *

  Attribution, contextualization and curation are tools with which we can avoid making the same mistake as the institutions currently writing about popular culture; they have become so thoroughly compromised that 'transformation’ is not longer a sufficient prescription. It must be annihilation. The short-term memory evident in the problem-of-the-week dynamic is a problem that is rooted in the rhythm of digital publishing and capital, which seems to ward off any attempts to build momentum for causes that are capable and robust enough to support more radical ideologies. To break this cycle, these institutions need to be fought.