#12/24/2015

[remembertheplunge]

A Christmas Eve Miracle

12/24/2023I can’t recall if I have blogged this story before or not. But, being that it’s Christmas Eve, I thought it would be worth writing up and publishing here today.

A Christmas Eve Miracle happened Christmas Eve 2015, eight years ago.

Since my first years of criminal law practice up until about 2019, I would act now and them as pro term judge in traffic court, meaning, I would fill in for the actual judge.

Christmas Eve 2015, I did this out in traffic court on Floyd Ave in Modesto, California.

The afternoon session ended at about 2:30pm . At the stop light at Oakdale Road and Floyd, I looked out about 2 miles to the north west to see intense black low clouds. They seemed to be in the area where two significant events in my life had taken place.

I was in a grocery story there when the Loma Prieta earth quake hit at 5:04pm. October 17, 1989. The store floor began to have a rolling motion and things fell from the shelves. I thought the roof was going to give.  And in 2013 a man was killed in front of some apartments behind the store. I would be appointed to represent Lisandro Mendosa, one of 5 codefendants charged with a gang related murder of the man. A 6 month jury trial resulted in a hung jury and a New York Times article about the trial, “”How do you define a gang member?   New York Times Sunday Magazine 5/27/2015. The trial was long and emotionally violent.

I continued my drive down Floyd Ave toward home. I decided to stop at the Star Bucks for a hot chocolate at Coffee road and Floyd. It sits across Coffee Road and a parking lot from the store I was in during the 89 quake. Just beyond and behind the store is where the man was killed resulting in the Mendoza trial.

Before entering Starbucks, I stood about 40 feet from Coffee Road and leaned my head back. Fine mist was falling now . I closed my eyes, felt the mist on my face and sent a healing prayer out across the store and the seen of the killing beyond it. 

Just then, unbeknownst to me,  about a mile west on Coffee road, a  storm related microburst caused a tree to to fall into telephone wires causing 50 foot tall telephone poles to one by one collapse into Coffee Road headed in my direction.

I finished my prayer, unaware of the collapsing poles, and walked 17 seconds to the Star Bucks. Inside , the power was out and there was a general sense of panic . The staff locked the door and wouldn’t let us out. Starbucks had no windows facing Floyd or Coffee Road, so we couldn’t see that the pole 40 feet from where I said the prayer had collapsed into the street as well the one just beyond  that I had just driven by.

Despite the fact it was Christmas Eve afternoon, and that Coffee Road is a busy four lane road, no one was hurt or killed inn the mile long collapse of polls and live wires into the road.

We had been told during the Mendosa jury trial that the trial had been cursed by people in Vera Cruz, Mexico. The man who was killed was hispanic. Not sure who placed the curse or why.

I drove to the jail after leaving Starbucks to meet with Mr. Mendosa who was incarcerated there.

I told him about the telephone pole incident and asked him if he thought it was as a result of the curse. He said he didn’t thinks so. He said he thought it was a sign he would get a break in the case. He did. In 2016, he received a 16 year sentence instead of life in prison via a negotiated plea. Recently, due to a change in sentencing laws, he was re sentenced and released!

[miirshroom]

Mechanics of the Astral Clocktower (Theory)

Scrolling around, see the Bloodborne image with Lady Maria in front of the Astral Clock. Was thinking about how instead of numbers there are 12 blank circles around the clock face, which is a motif that I recently noticed in the Dark Souls 2 Smelter Demon Boss room (was researching for miniature painting reasons).

And because of the direction that my thoughts have been in recently, I thought to myself: This reminds me of the album cover for Clockwork Angels (2012). Except in that case instead of circles there were various alchemical symbols that replaced the standard numbers, each symbol is generally believed to correspond to a song on the album - although not always in order. One interpretation in this 2012 blog post that I found. As sometimes is done with clocks, the top symbols are in the correct orientation and the lower ones are upside down. The clock hands are also positioned meaningfully: on a 24 hour clock the time would read "21:12" in reference to one of the early breakout albums of Rush.

...and then I zoomed in on the photo and realized what of course Bloodborne fans have long known, which is that there ARE symbols etched around the border of the clock. It's just that they don't exactly align with the circles.

I haven't played Bloodborne, I can't just go stand in the room. So I try some searching because surely it has occurred to someone before that this is a timeline. A few hits, but nothing too satisfying in my short search. I've already more or less cracked the timeline puzzle in the Round Table Hold of Elden Ring, so I figured I'd take a look at the Bloodborne version. What I found especially interesting is that the most potent versions of most of the runes are found in the chalice dungeons, which have connotations of Victorian era Egyptomania similar to the mummified husks of the Round Table Hold. But the lower level versions tend to be found around the world in various places.

Video research intensified. When the clock is activated the circles complete a single full rotation in a clockwise direction and the upper hand completes 8/12ths of a rotation in the clockwise direction. The lower hand completes 11/12ths of a full rotation in an anti-clockwise direction, also crossing below the upper hand, which on most clocks would indicate that this is the hour hand. Given the context that Kos's corpse is found through the clock and her discovery by the hunters is an event that occurred in the past, I assume that the general idea here is to "turn back the clock" in the sense of conducting historical research.

I assembled a reference of the runes and their relative locations. There are 14 of them, clockwise starting left of Lady Maria:

- Lake - [Unnamed] - Oedon Writhe - Oedon - Guidance - Eye - Moon - Communion - Radiance - [Unnamed] - Hunter - Beast - Beast's Embrace - Deep Sea

Observations and other thoughts:

1) In the start position the two hands of the clock are aligned as if to link opposite sides of the clock face. The lower hand is pointed just before the "Beast's Embrace" rune which is obtained by defeating Lawrence, the First Vicar and when equipped allows permanent transformation into a beast. The upper hand is pointed at the "Guidance" rune, of which the 1st tier version is found on a Carrion Crow elsewhere in the Research Hall before reaching Lady Maria, the 2nd tier version is obtained from Ludwig, the Holy Blade ("Aah, you were at my side, all along. My true mentor… My guiding moonlight…"), and the 3rd tier version is simply unavailable without save editing the game.

2) The lower area is illuminated in light and the upper part is obscured in shadow - implying that the upper runes are more mysterious from the perspective of the Hunters. This could perhaps be read as a conversation between present and past. The next clockwise rune from "Guidance" is the "Eye" rune, which is one of only 3 blue glow runes in the game, and associated with the idea of having eyes on the inside.

3) The "Moon" rune is directly opposite the "Deep Sea" rune which is itself behind the head of Lady Maria. The 3rd tier version of the moon rune is obtained by performing the "make contact" gesture in front of the Brain of Mensis. The arms are held out at right angles as if to mirror a clock hands at 12'o'clock and 3'o'clock positions and then grasp and manually rotate that clock anti-clockwise to the 9'o'clock and 12'o'clock positions (or vice versa to force the clock forwards by a quarter turn, if the player facing forwards is themself the clock). The Doll in Bloodborne is modelled in the image of Lady Maria and she also reacts by clapping when the "make contact" gesture is performed. The 2nd tier version of the moon rune is obtained in the nightmare of Mensis during the Micolash fight, in which he appears to be puppeteering many dolls. As I understand it, the 1st tier version of the moon rune is obtained by being kidnapped by a Snatcher, defeating the Witches of Hemwick, and then taking it from a location in the Hypogean Gaol guarded by 2 other Snatchers.

4) Unlike a typical clock where only the hand move, the entire clock face rotates. Also it is a portal to another location. Both of these remind me of the function of the Stargate, for which the last chevron locked in is the point of origin. For Stargate the last chevron lock is positioned at the top of the wheel. In Bloodborne, the two clock hands form a chevron surrounding the circles at the bottom.

So my guess is that the present day is "Deep Sea" on the timeline - one step beyond "Beast's Embrace" (which is basically the thing that is presently happening to the Hunters) and the destination is "Guidance".

5) There are 5 standard Caryll runes that are not represented on the clock border: "Clockwise Metamorphosis", "Anti-clockwise Metamorphosis", "Blood Rapture", "Clawmark", and "Heir". The implication might be that these are concurrent with other runes on the clock border. A question would be, should efforts focus on trying to place them as substitutions for the 5 mismatched runes (the 3 oath runes and 2 unnamed runes), or should a wider range of possibility be considered?

There are 4 other runes that contain a hint of either clockwise or anti-clockwise turning. These are: "Beast's Embrace" (clockwise), "Beast" (clockwise), "Guidance" (twisted as if vacillating between clockwise and anti-clockwise), and the unnamed snake tangle rune (three strands turning in multiple directions).

A commonality between the other 3 runes is that they are all associated with visceral attacks - the "Blood Rapture" rune allows visceral attacks to restore HP", the "Clawmark" rune strengthens visceral attacks, and the "Heir" rune causes visceral attacks to grant more blood echoes. Of all other runes on the astral clock, only the "Oedon Writhe" rune is also associated with visceral attacks.

6) There are 6 total runes that can be placed in a player's "Oath Memory" slots, 3 of which are not represented on the clock face: "Corruption" (symbol of the Cainhurst Vilebloods), "Impurity" (symbol of the League oath), and "Milkweed" (rune envisioned by Adeline, patient of the research hall).

The inventory depiction of these runes includes a sortof circular shape as if they might be inset into the circles of the clock, and in fact the 3 that are present on the clock border each match to clock face circles to varying degrees. I would place the "Corruption" rune with the "Moon" rune opposite Lady Maria (she is thought to be a descendant of Cainhurst), the "Milkweed" rune opposite the "Lake" rune (it is similar to the left part of the rune, as if it's the false "eyes on the inside" version of the real rune), and the "Impurity" rune opposite the Unnamed rune of similar shape. Another support for this interpretation is that the three symbols are counting upwards: 4 voids, 5 tally marks, 6 dots.

Analysis (?)

Edit: with further research, there are several flaws in the below text, especially related to the chronology of the Hunters vs Church Hunters. I keep this up as a reference anyways.

I have been picking over this for 2 days and perhaps I see a shape of what's going on. I want to try working it out anyways before I lose my train of thought:

The Runesmith Caryll believed that a person can predict the future by listening to the Great Ones who live outside of time. From their position at 12'o'clock on the dial they peer into the shadowy abyss on the opposite side and faintly divine the "Deep Sea" rune. Over time they proceed to discover a handful of other runes: "Anti-Clockwise Metamorphosis", "Beast", "Clockwise Metamorphosis", "Oedon", "Eye", "Moon", "Communion", "Corruption", "Heir", "Radiance". To my knowledge, only these 11 runes actually have the text "A secret symbol left by Caryll, runesmith of Byrgenwerth." which would imply that "Caryll Rune" became a proper noun applied like a generic concept, and at least in the case of "Guidance" and "Milkweed", these are said to be discovered by specific other people.

So let's say you're Lawrence, one of Byrgenwerth's researchers in Bloodborne. It's around 4'o'clock on the dial (4 being a number associated with death in Japan) and Runesmith Caryll has just died. You're clearing out their office and you find all of these secret runes that they've been working on transcribing, as well as partial instructions on how to listen to the Great Ones. You get the idea this this is a recipe for immortality - a panacea that cures all ailments including death and will allow a human to become a Great One. You cover up the existence of the "Beast" rune deeming it forbidden - because implying that humans are animal is heretical and obviously humanity is destined for greater things. Could a beast have figured out how to comprehend the Great Ones? Instead you focus on the good stuff: "Radiance" awaits at the end of the future predictions as far as you know. To help you get there, the first new "Caryll rune" envisioned by the Church Hunters that you recruit is "Guidance".

The Healing Church starts to get rolling in the 6'o'clock timezone which is fixated on 3 concepts: "Eyes", "Moon", "Communion", and moves on to the 7'o'clock position as enthusiasm for the project grows, adopting the mythologizing of a grail quest/quest for immortality as inspired by the shape of the "Communion" rune. And also having people descending into the "chalice" dungeons to obtain the Old Blood.

The Unnamed rune at 8'o'clock might possibly represent that time that Old Yharnam's lake was poisoned and started an epidemic of Ashen Blood before the Church arrived to carry out blood ministration, as represented by the upcoming Oedon symbol. Or some other "unspeakable" event.

Research and human trials continue with the belief that all of the steps of the process are being followed as described by the runes. There tend to be outbreaks of people turning into beasts, but this is a "minor" setback. Between 9'o'clock and 10'o'clock something happens to cause doubt in the process. Communing with the Great Ones continues, but what they are reporting back is that there is something beyond enlightenment - a dissolution of structure. This rune remains unnamed because nobody can agree on what it means.

They decide to try again after inching forwards a bit further and discover the rune that would come to symbolize "Hunters". No longer an idealistic quest for immortality but a pursuit of elusive meaning of why things are starting to go wrong. They seek again and discover the "Beast" rune - they thought that they were following a linear timeline but instead they have been trapped in a cycle. This research into immortality will go nowhere - the Great Ones are not timeless beings, they're just dead and all that can possibly be perceived in their blood is echoes of the past. They are all now trapped in an ever deteriorating nightmare. With the "Beast's Embrace" being obtained in the Hunter's Nightmare it is acknowledged in retrospect that in declaring it forbidden to consider humans beasts they had given themselves permission to be monsters. They believed in an upcoming miracle despite all evidence to the contrary and deadened even emotion itself to justify treating people as slabs of meat to be experimented upon and dissected.

Future prospects are looking grim, and people figure that maybe Master Willem had the right idea after all and they should develop "eyes on the inside" to better understand their own current position, and figure out how the present zeitgeist is influencing perception of what comes next. So they do that and develop the "Eye" rune around 11'o'clock. And with this sudden injection of Madman's Insight the last threads of sanity in the Choir snap and they make the blood moon happen right on schedule at 12'o'clock by reanimating the Great One to whom the "Moon" rune belongs. Micolash is totally okay with being trapped in Samsara.

Meanwhile in the background of all this research stuff, probably Old Yharnam has been being rebuilt into Yharnam and the Healing Church has been waging war against Annalise and the Vilebloods until she is the only one left around 12'o'clock. The Executioners believe in a 14-spoked wheel, and in their version history will repeat itself and if man is diligent enough in destroying corruption for every revolution that will inch them slowly closer to someday reaching enlightenment and escaping that wheel - "Radiance" at 3'o'clock is their symbol because this is their aspiration. And true enough, Annalise seems to be immortal.

I'm guessing that a lot of the eldritch stuff happens between 10'o'clock and 3'o'clock - matching how defeating Rom triggers the blood moon and exposes all of the stuff that was previously only visible with high insight. Especially 1'o'clock and 2'o'clock - they need to repopulate the chalice dungeons with Great Ones for the next cycle of the Nightmare.

And by the time the clock is back at 4'o'clock the stage is basically set for the player who will soon be arriving. Badge or no, you are a Hunter of Hunters in terms of arriving and systematically eliminating the NPC Hunters.

[guzhufuren]

some GMMTV QL statistics 🏳️‍🌈

2014-2015 lineups: 18 shows, 0 of them queer (0%)

2016 lineup: 19 shows, 1 of them queer (5%)

2017 lineup: 16 shows, 3 of them queer (19%)

2018 lineup: 12 shows, 2 of them queer (17%)

2019 lineup: 13 shows, 4 of them queer (31%)

2020 lineup: 21 shows, 6 of them queer (28%)

2021 lineup: 16 shows, 4 of them queer (25%)

2022 lineup: 23 shows, 8 of them queer (35%)

2023 lineup: 24 shows, 9 of them queer (37%)

2024 lineup: 29 shows, 16 of them queer (55%)

2025 lineup: 20 shows, 19 of them queer (95%)

gmmtv finally gave up on their silly het hobbies and we are going for 100% gayness from next year forward

[thinking-emoji]

DnP Interview Masterlist

This is a work in progress! If you have any other links, send them to me!

Mar 2025

Far Out Magazine (article) 8/3/2025

Jan 2025

Shut Up I'm Talking Podcast (video) 26/1/2025 | mirror | add-on

Dec 2024

RNZ (audio) 10/12/2024 | mirror

Radio Adelaide (audio) 10/12/2024 | mirror | mirror

Junkee (article) 6/12/2024

Junkee (video) 6/12/2024

Today Show (video) 5/12/2024 | mirror | mirror

Nov 2024

Buzzfeed (article) 22/11/2024 | mirror | mirror

People (article) 1/11/2024 | mirror

Oct 2024

People (article) 6/10/2024

YourEx (article) 5/10/2024 | mirror | mirror

Master up to 2023 (courtesy of @stillarchivingdnp)

YWGTTN promo master (courtesy of @dailydnp)

May 2024

Dan: Times Radio (video) 11/5/2024

2023

Dan: Anthony Padilla (video) 17/1/2023

Dan: DNA Magazine (article) 9/1/2023

2022

Dan: Santa Barbara Independent (article) 30/11/2022

Dan: Gay Times (article) 11/11/2022

Dan: heatworld (video) 1/11/2022

Dan: Hits Radio (video) 21/10/2022

Dan: The Star (article) 5/10/2022

Dan: Buzz (article) 12/9/2022

Dan: Manc Union (article) 18/8/2022

Dan: Square Mile (article) 29/7/2022

Dan: metro.co.uk (article) 9/6/2022

2021

Dan: How To Academy (video) 1/7/2021

Dan: 1883 (article) 30/6/2021

Dan: RNZ Nine to Noon (audio) 30/6/2021

Dan: GQ (article) 30/5/2021

Dan: Waterstones (video) 24/5/2021

Dan: Amazon (article) 12/5/2021

2020

Dan: Guardian (article) 26/12/2020 | mirror

Dan: Pink News (article) 4/12/2020

Dan: Attitude (article) 7/10/2020 | mirror | mirror | preview

Dan: ITV Britain Get Talking (audio) 7/10/2020 | mirror

Phil: Evening Standard (article) 3/2/2020

2019

Dan: BBC (video) 5/9/2019 | mirror

2018

HMV (article) 10/12/2018

Toy News (article) 5/3/2018

2017

Edinburgh TV Festival (video) 24/8/2017

2016

Penguin Platform (video) 10/11/2016

Stand Up to Cancer (video) 15/10/2016

Variety (article) 4/10/2016

The Big Wakeup Call (audio) 21/4/2016

2015

Star Sessions (video) 20/11/2025

Huffington Post (video) 19/11/2025

WOCA Radio (audio) 17/11/2015

Sunday Times (article) 8/11/2015

SugarScape, Pt. 2 (video) 11/10/2015

SugarScape (video) 9/10/2015

2014

Rock Forever Magazine (video) 19/4/2014

2013

The Independent (article) 1/6/2013

The 4:01 Show (video) 17/3/2013

Dan: Elision (article) 13/1/2013

2012

Dan: Huffington Post (article) 26/11/2012

[3liza]

here's what I've learned to never pay full price for, because people are giving these items away for free or almost free on Craigslist, Nextdoor, Facebook, at Goodwill, and on eBay (which has a local pickup section) in every sufficiently populated location in the USA.

cost of acquiring these items ranges from "carrying it home from the sidewalk" to "getting a friend with a car to help you pick it up" which is the same amount of effort as going to IKEA for worse quality that costs more, with the notable exception of it being a pain in the ass to coordinate with craigslist sellers, and you often have to wait and watch for what you want to actually show up. it took me about a year to find an acceptable gamer chair left out on the sidewalk, for example. but they cost $100+ new, so I chose to wait.

a lot of this stuff is the kind of thing you don't necessarily intend to keep, just to use in transitional housing or until you can afford a better one.

1. printers of any kind. basic office inkjets are free. ink is easily refillable or has generic ink cartridges way cheaper than brand name for any inkjet up to about 2015, not sure how difficult the newer smart printers are to hack but there's no reason to own a newer one because printing technology has not improved since about 2005. you want a color laser for making zines and wheatpastes? it's on Craigslist RN and someone's mom is desperate to get rid of it

2. bedframes

3. desks

4. tables

5. chairs

6. bookshelves, nice oak bookshelves that don't bend like al dente spaghetti when you put books on them, are rotting on sidewalks rn because they didn't fit in someone's house. go get them

7. scanners. I find a working scanner by a dumpster at least once a quarter, and I don't pick them up because I already have one that I picked up from a dumpster years ago

8. hot tubs. everyone thinks they want a hot tub and that the maintenance and upkeep will be worth it, and they are wrong. Craigslist.

9. sofas, with the caveat that if you are in a bedbug region like New York State you need to be very confident in your bedbug screening skills

10. quality leather shoes. these last forever and are expensive new. eBay is best for these

11. plates, glassware, silverware. all of these are able to be sterilized to whatever standard you feel comfortable with but if you eat in restaurants you've already put a fork in your mouth that hundreds of people have drooled on so try not to fool yourself

12. televisions and computer monitors

13. houseplants. similar to the bedbug warning above, you need to screen these for pests like fungus gnats and mealybugs

14. dressers, wardrobes, china hutches, cabinets, chests of drawers, etc

15. mirrors

16. clothes hangers

17. moving boxes

18. mattresses to a certain extent. I don't like secondhand used mattresses but unstained, unused mattresses are surprisingly common, especially since the foam mail order mattress boom started and people keep getting told by the mattress companies to just get rid of/keep any mattresses they want to return for flaws or wrong sizes or whatever. bedbug warning on this obviously

19. sheets and towels. you gotta launder them obviously

20. basic clothing, especially for kids. normie type clothing is so numerous people often just throw them away because they can't get anyone to take them

21. kitchenware like cooking utensils and pots n pans. don't use chipped or scratched Teflon/nonstick if you can help it. everyone needs one basic steel chef knife, which can be sharpened and maintained indefinitely. people throw these away CONSTANTLY

22. household consumables like laundry soap and dish soap. people often accidentally buy the wrong brand, scent, or develop allergies and want to get rid of extra

23. pet supplies like collars, leashes, dog crates, litter boxes, litter itself, dog beds, toys, carriers, etc

24. medical equipment of all kinds. people who take care of all kinds of patients end up with tons of leftover, sealed, miscellaneous stuff when that person recovers or dies, and they often give it away. adult diapers, hospital beds, IV stands, crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, fracture boots and splints, knee braces, canes, catheter packs, ice packs, heat packs, sterile paper sheeting, gauze, slings, over-the-door stretching and rehab pulleys, mattress protectors, etc

25. washers and dryers, both the basic household cube type and the small twin tub or rock tumbler type. people upgrade these when the old ones are still working, just squeaky or a little weird or sometimes just old

26. vacuum cleaners. secondhand ones are sort of icky but you can get rid of the ickiness by wiping them down with a rag and isopropyl alcohol inside and out. use an exacto or utility knife to slice off the hair and string wrapped around the roller. buy a new filter on Amazon. people throw away vacuums that work perfectly all the time because they don't actually know how to clean them out or do maintenance. bedbug and pet hair warning obviously

27. microwaves

28. refrigerators

30. lamps

31. any kind of exercise equipment including stationary bikes, ellipticals and weights/weight benches

32. any kind of piano. there's a grand on my local Craigslist for free rn

33. scrap wood and lumber

34. pallets

35. wood shipping crates

36. newborn, toddler and baby equipment like breast milk pumps and storage, bottles, bottle racks, diapers, etc. anything a little guy will grow out of fast will end up being given away

37. air conditioners, humidifiers and dehumidifiers. these will be most numerous during their respective off seasons

list updated 2/13/24 based on recent Craigslist trawling

38. jars, both canning type jars and clean food jars like from pickled or jelly bought at the store

39. rugs. most of my rugs are sidewalk finds. rugs will almost always be dirty. a decent consumer grade rug cleaner costs under $100, it's cheaper to just buy one if you have the space to store it. flushing the scavenged rug with soap, hot water, vinegar, alcohol, etc will clean almost anything but huge bedbug and allergen warning on this item

[thunderstruck9]

Wojciech Fangor (Polish, 1922-2015), M 12, 1966. Oil on canvas, 24 x 24⅛ in.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The first days of Boss Politics Antitrust

Picks and Shovels is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. You can pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton.

"Boss politics" are a feature of corrupt societies. When a society is dominated by self-dealing, corrupt institutions, strongman leaders can seize control by appealing to the public's fury and desperation. Then, the boss can selectively punish corrupt entities that oppose him, and since everyone is corrupt, these will be valid prosecutions.

In other words, it's possible to corruptly enforce the law against the guilty. This is just a matter of enforcement priorities: in a legitimate state, enforcers prioritize the wrongdoers who are harming the public the most. Under boss politics, priority is given to the corrupt entities that challenge the boss's power, without regard to whether these lawbreakers are the worst offenders. Meanwhile, worse wrongdoers walk free, provided that they line up behind the boss.

This is how Xi Jinping prosecuted his purges in the run up to his lifetime appointment as Party Secretary (2012-2015). Xi prosecuted the guilty, but not the most guilty. The public officials who were defenstrated and/or imprisoned during Xi's purges were all corrupt, but they were also the power base of Xi's rivals. Meanwhile, corrupt officials in Xi's own orbit were untouched:

https://web.archive.org/web/20181222163946/https://peterlorentzen.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lorentzen-Lu-Crackdown-Nov-2018-Posted-Version.pdf

Trump is a classic boss politician – that's what people mean when they call him "transactional": he doesn't act out of principle, he acts out of self interest. The people who give him the most get the most back from him. This means that Biden's brightest legacy – militant antitrust enforcement of a type not seen in generations – is now going to become "boss antitrust," where genuine monopolists are attacked under antitrust law, but only if they oppose Trump:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/12/the-enemy-of-your-enemy/#is-your-enemy

We're now living through the first days of boss antitrust. Remember all those monopolistic tech billionaires who donated millions of dollars to Trump's inauguration and arranged themselves in a decorative semicircle behind him on the dias? Trump just went to Davos to speak up for them, arguing that EU and other offshore prosecutions of these companies were attacks on "American businesses" and saying he would defend them with the full might of the US government (this is the same government that, under Biden, secured multiple convictions against these same companies for monopolistic conduct):

https://gizmodo.com/trump-returns-big-techs-ass-kissing-at-davos-2000554158

The Federal Trade Commission has lost its Biden-era chair, the extraordinary Lina Khan, who did more in four years than all her predecessors did in the preceding forty years, combined. The new chair is Republican Andrew Ferguson, whose first day on the job was a bloodbath, in which he killed off multiple, significant actions aimed at producing real, material benefits from Americans who are being absolutely screwed by corporations:

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-01-24-executive-action-reaction-day-4/

Ferguson killed off a public comment process on "surveillance pricing," where companies spy on you and then reprice their goods based on their estimation of how desperate you are:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/11/socialism-for-the-wealthy/#rugged-individualism-for-the-poor

Uber pioneered this when they started increasing the cost of cab rides for riders whose phone batteries were about to die. But other companies took it way further: McDonald's is co-owner of a company called Plexure that sells companies the ability to charge you more for your normal order at the drive-through if you've just been paid:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/05/your-price-named/#privacy-first-again

But surveillance pricing is even worse for workers than it is for shoppers. Nurses in the USA increasingly work for Uber-like nurse-on-demand apps like Shiftkey, Carerev and Shiftmed. These apps can buy nurses' financial data from the unregulated data-broker industry, and then offer nurses with overdue credit-card bills lower wages, on the grounds that they're so desperate they'll take a paycut:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/18/loose-flapping-ends/#luigi-has-a-point

Ferguson also killed off a notice-and-comment action on predatory pricing – when companies sell goods below cost in order to destroy competitors, then drive up prices. This is what Uber did, setting $31b of Saudi royal money on fire over 13 years, losing $0.41 on every dollar they brought in. This killed off all the regular taxis, and convinced city governments to abandon public transit investment on the grounds that Uber was cheaper than a bus. Once they'd captured the market, Uber doubled the price of a ride and halved the wages that they paid drivers.

So this is what Ferguson has killed off. In its place, Ferguson has instituted an internal action, aimed at rooting out "DEI" and "wokeness." The agency's top priority right now is running a snitch line where FTC officials can rat each other out for being anti-racist. This isn't just offensive, of course – it's also deeply unserious. Even if you stipulate that "woke" has some meaning (it doesn't, but go with me here), then killing off all the "woke" at the FTC will not make Americans more prosperous, let alone protect them from corporate predators.

In his dissenting statement, FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya didn't mince words:

Andrew Ferguson could have made his first public act as Chairman a motion to study the rising cost of groceries. He could have acted on a pending public petition from a group of wall and ceiling contractors to investigate how lawbreaking contractors can effectively rig contract competitions in the commercial construction industry. He could have moved to investigate a pending public petition from shrimpers from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to investigate potentially false and misleading claims about shrimp imports from India that are farmed with forced labor and shot full of antibiotics…

I have met with corn growers and cattlemen in Iowa. I have met with shrimpers in Biloxi. I have met with pharmacists in Knoxville, grocers in Tulsa, and patients and their doctors in Charleston, West Virginia. I met with the men who build Miami’s million-dollar skyscrapers in 110-degree heat.

Let me tell you what they didn’t talk about: “DEI.”

What they do talk about is how powerful companies are skirting or abusing the law to force farmers, workers, and small businessmen to do what they want, when they want, or else. How the government isn’t doing anything about it. And how they’re going broke because of it

But Chairman Ferguson seems uninterested in the challenges that regular human beings face.

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/bedoya-statement-emergency-motion.pdf

Bedoya is still hanging in there at the FTC; these administrative agency appointments outlast the presidents that made them. It's common for agency heads to step down when there's a changeover – Lina Khan didn't stay – but the commissioners often hang in there. I hope Bedoya stays at the FTC: he's one of the good ones and we're all better off for his presence.

There's one Biden agency head who hasn't left, and surprisingly, it's one of Biden's best appointees: Rohit Chopra, head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Chopra is the first CFPB head to explore just how much power this new-ish agency has, and has seen his far-reaching, muscular regulations upheld unanimously by the Supreme Court.

Trump's corporate backers hate the CFPB, and Elon Musk really hates the CFBP, and crypto grifters really, really hate the CFPB. Ironically, the demonization of the CFPB seems to be the key to Chopra's enduring tenure. According to David Dayen at The American Prospect, no one in Trumpland wants his job. The Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that presidents can fire CFPB heads, but there's no one who wants to replace Chopra and take their turn in the barrel:

https://prospect.org/economy/2025-01-24-rohit-chopra-still-has-a-job/

Chopra's using his time well: he's brought a flurry of new actions, most lately against the credit bureau giant Transunion. And in the final weeks of the Biden administration, Chopra launched a whole boatload of enforcements, investigations, and other actions against the most predatory companies in America. As Dayen notes, over the past four years, Chopra has forced American rip-off businesses to pay back $6b in stolen loot, and to cough up more than $3.2b in fines.

Replacing Chopra is hard for Trump in part because Trump has imposed a federal hiring freeze. That means that anyone who replaces Chopra has to already be working for the US government, and all the finance grifters are cashing out of the government to go work for giant financial institutions they've been carrying water for while drawing a public salary. Even the people who might take the job can't, because then no one could be hired to do their job – for example, there's a ghoul at the FDIC who'd fit the bill, but if he takes over from Chopra, then the FDIC will have just two members. If the GOP stooge on the FCC quits to take the job, then the Democratic commissioners will have a majority. You love to see it, really.

But – as Dayen points out – they're almost certainly gonna give Chopra the axe eventually. When they do, the CFPB will continue to do some enforcements. It's likely that Ferguson will eventually direct the FTC to do something apart from peering under their beds looking for "woke." When they do take action, they'll probably take action against companies that are wildly, lavishly corrupt. After all, that describes basically all of American big business, a sector that has festered thanks to 40 years of antitrust negligence.

It will be tempting for Trump's opponents to decide that if Trump hates these giant, evil companies, well, then, they must be good. Think of when "progressives" fell in love with the "intelligence community" just because a couple spooks decided they hated Trump. The FBI isn't your friend, folks – this is the agency that tried to blackmail MLK into killing himself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93King_letter

The enemy of your enemy? Still your enemy, provided that they're a big, predatory monopolist. Boss politics is about punishing corruption – selectively. Trump-style antitrust is going to target a ton of bad businesses. That won't make them good.

Check out my Kickstarter to pre-order copies of my next novel, Picks and Shovels!

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

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/24/enforcement-priorities/#enemies-lists

[glorious-collections]

The History of Loki’s Genderfluidity in Marvel!

Loki’s genderfluid identity within the Marvel universe actually comes from ancient Norse mythology from the time of the vikings, over a thousand years ago. There are Norse myths that describe that, while the god of chaos was born male, he presents himself as both male and female, and uses his shapeshifting powers to transform himself into a woman, such as the time when Loki posed as a handmaiden, and also spent several years in a female form and bore children. The myths refer to him as both a mother and a father.

While Loki presenting as both male and female dates all the way back to Norse Mythology, there wasn't a moment in Marvel comics where Loki seriously spoke about his gender identity until 2014, a whole 52 years after his first appearance in Marvel Comics (and 65 years after his first appearance in Timely Comics).

However, while Loki's female form didn't become an express part of his identity until 2014, traces of his genderfluidity still existed in Marvel comics, even if it wouldn't be expanded upon until much later. In fact, the first appearance of Loki in a female form was back in 1993 in Thor Annual #18, when Loki briefly transforms into a woman.

(Thor Annual #18, released June 8, 1993)

We see this form again 14 years later in December of 2007, in a Thor comic run that takes place after Ragnarok and all the Asgardians have been reborn, and Loki has been reborn into Sif's body. This comic run is also where the name “Lady Loki” became popularized.

(Thor #5, released December 28, 2007)

And while there is a brief conversation had by the Warriors Three discussing Loki's gender identity, there still wouldn't be a comic that states this form as a part of his identity for another seven years.

(Thor #9, released May 29, 2008)

Agent of Asgard, a Loki-centered comic series released in 2014, is a huge moment in Loki's genderfluidity. This is when we really start to see Loki refer his female form as a true part of himself, as first seen in issue #2.

(Agent of Asgard #2, released March 5, 2014)

We see this form again in issue #5, where Loki once again describes this form as not just something he can just transform into.

(Agent of Asgard #5, released June 4, 2014)

Loki then continues with a female form for a majority of issues #14-16.

(Agent of Asgard #14, released May 20, 2015) (Agent of Asgard #15, released June 24, 2015) (Agent of Asgard #16, released July 22, 2015)

While there had been whispers of Loki's queer identity in other comics before this point, Agent of Asgard was huge in solidifying Loki's genderfluidity and really cementing him as a queer character in the Marvel universe. Since then, Loki has carried his genderfluidity on into several other comic series by many different authors:

(Loki #2, released July 12, 2023) (Loki #3, released September 11, 2019) (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #27, released December 13, 2017) (Defenders Beyond #1, released July 20, 2022) (Vote Loki #1, released June 15, 2016) (Immortal Thor #3, released October 25, 2023)

Appeared on the covers of Marvel's pride comics:

(Marvel Voices Pride #1 2022 Variant Cover, released June 22, 2022) (Marvel Voices Pride #1 2023, released June 14, 2023)

Showcased him shapeshifting into other female Marvel characters:

(X-Men the Wedding Special #1, released May 29, 2024)

Other characters in the Marvel universe have accepted his identity:

(Agent of Asgard #11, released February 18, 2015) (Loki #4, released October 9, 2019) (Original Sin #5.5, released September 17, 2014)

His gender identity being mentioned in the novel “Where Mischief Lies”:

(Where Mischief Lies, chapter 22, released September 3, 2019)

And even a very brief mention in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, when his TVA file in the Loki series lists his sex as “fluid”:

(Loki season 1, released June 9, 2021)

The term “genderfluid” falls under the trans umbrella, which includes any identity that involves you identifying as something different than what you were assigned at birth. While we still have a long way to go in terms of trans representation in the media, Loki being firmly cemented as a trans character within the Marvel universe is a huge step in the right direction.

Loki is very vocal about identifying as male, and female, and sometimes neither. He doesn't care if you don't get it, or think it's weird. It makes perfect sense to him, and that's all that matters. And he refuses to change his identity for anyone.

(Where Mischief Lies, chapter 18, released September 3, 2019) (Where Mischief Lies, chapter 19, released September 3, 2019) (Agent of Asgard #2, released March 5, 2014) (Agent of Asgard #14, released May 20, 2015)

[koch-snowflake-blog]

礒部 花凜は、日本の女優、声優、歌手。奈良県出身。アミューズ所属。 ウィキペディア

生まれ： 1994年5月26日 (年齢 30歳), 奈良県

学歴： 大阪芸術大学

身長： 157 cm

事務所： アミューズ

共同作業者： BlooDye; ヒーラーガールズ学生時代、友人の母が行けなくなった舞台のチケットをもらい、それを見て衝撃を受けて歌を勉強するようになった。

大阪芸術大学舞台芸術学科ミュージカルコース卒業。

2012年、「第94回全国高等学校野球選手権大会」奈良県予選決勝においてレポーターを務める。

2014年、「ミス・ユニバース・ジャパン」奈良代表で選出。

2015年2月1日から2016年1月31日まで朝日放送（現：朝日放送テレビ）制作・テレビ朝日系列で放送されたテレビアニメ『Go!プリンセスプリキュア』のオープニング主題歌「Miracle Go!プリンセスプリキュア」のボーカルを担当。大学在学中の歌手デビューとなる。

2015年12月24日より所属事務所をEFFECTからoffice EN-JINに移籍。2018年11月30日付けでoffice EN-JINを退所することが発表され、フリーの期間を経て、2019年3月1日付けでアミューズに所属。

2019年6月より、ヴォーカル&パフォーマンスユニット「BlooDye（ブラッディー）」に参加。リーダーの高槻かなこと共にヴォーカルを担当。

2021年1月より、熊田茜音・堀内まり菜・吉武千颯と共にコーラスユニット「ヒーラーガールズ」を結成。

2022年3月18日、BlooDyeを卒業。

特技は声楽、ジャズダンス、日本舞踊、バレエ、ピアノ。

お笑い芸人の松浦景子は、大学の同級生。

インテリアのコーディネートに興味を持っている。

前田佳織里からは紅茶好き、食器が集めが趣味などの理由で「アミューズの貴族」と異名をつけられている。

　　

[cillianmesoftlyyy]

Masterlist (Cillianmesoftlyyy)

Last updated: 12/10/24

As requested, here yah go my lovelies! Series are indented separately to keep them together. One-shot stories are listed in numbered format. Requested fics have a "⭐️"

Neil Lewis (Watching the Detectives 2007):

The Gumshoe is a Girl's Best Friend (fluff)

Horror Movies (smut) Horror Movies Pt 1 Horror Movies Pt2

As You Wish (smut) As You Wish Pt 1 As You Wish Pt 2 ⭐️

Tommy Shelby (Peaky Blinders):

In Love, in War (smut): In Love, in War Pt 1 In Love, in War Pt 2 In Love, in War Pt 3 In Love, in War Pt 4 In Love, in War Pt 5

At the Cabaret: At the Cabaret Pt 1 At the Cabaret Pt 2 At the Cabaret Pt 3 At the Cabaret Pt 4 At the Cabaret Pt 5

Take It on the Run (smut): Take It on the Run Take It on the Run Pt 2

Cillian Murphy:

Under the Weather (fluff)

Method Acting (smut)

So New (fluff)

Like a Good Neighbor... (smut)

Cut the Shit-delusion, Sweetheart (fluff)

Nerves (smut) ⭐️

Dr. Jonathan Crane (Batman Trilogy):

The Experiment (smut + my first work) The Experiment Pt 1 The Experiment Pt 2 The Experiment Pt 3

I Can Fix That... (smut) I Can Fix That Pt 1 I Can Fix That Pt 2 I Can Fix That Pt 3 I Can Fix That Pt 4

Moth to a Flame (smut) Moth to the Flame Pt 1 Moth to the Flame Pt 2 Moth to the Flame Pt 3 Moth to the Flame Pt 4

Jonathan Breech (On the Edge 2001):

The Ward (smut) The Ward Pt 1 The Ward Pt 2 The Ward Pt 3

Tom (The Party 2017):

Sweet Revenge (smut)

Agent Lenny Miller (Anna 2019):

How About It, Agent Miller? (smut)

Don't Ruin It (smut)

William Killick (The Edge of Love 2009):

What I Want... (smut) What I Want... What I Want... Pt 2 ⭐️

Tired and Torn (smut) Tired and Torn Pt 1

Matthew Joy (In the Heart of the Sea 2015):

Wary Sailor (smut) Wary Sailor Pt. 1 Wary Sailor Pt. 2 Wary Sailor Pt. 3 Wary Sailor Pt. 4 Wary Sailor Pt. 5

The Castaway (fluff/smut) The Castaway Pt. 1 ⭐️

Mike Kiernan (Broken 2012):

Academic Validation (fluff)

Raymond Leon (In Time 2011)

Do You Know How to Bend? (smut)

[puckslut4thehabs]

I Know Love | Quinn Hughes AU

5+1 five times jack tried to set quinn and sabrina up, and the one time he didn't have to

1.november 19, 2015

jack hughes had only been living in plymouth, michigan for about three months.

on day one, he met sabrina tate, the school's resident music artist.

literally. she had an album out already.

they connected right away, and the first thing he noticed was of course how beautiful she was, but he couldn't picture them ever being together.

however, he thought she'd be a perfect fit for his older brother, quinn.

"hey, do you want a boyfriend?" jack asked her during math when they were supposed to be working on algebraic equations.

"woah, jack. i don't like you like that." she said. "besides, i have more important things to focus on."

"not me. you know what? nevermind." jack said.

he'd try again eventually.

2.september 6, 2017

jack had been accepted into the usntdp for the 2017-2018 season, just like quinn had before him.

he was walking through the door of school with his new teammates; trevor zegras, cole caufield, and alex turcotte by his side.

he was telling them all about his best friend. yes, the famous singer one. he couldn't wait for them to meet her.

and when he finally introduced them, trevor said those words "is she single?"

"no!" jack yelled, and she even stared at him. "i mean, yes. but not for you. someone else." he tried to cover it up.

she was gonna kill him. quinn was gonna kill him.

he should probably tell quinn about his plan.

3.june 24, 2018

"so, quinn, still no girlfriend?" jack asked quinn after quinn had just been drafted to the vancouver canucks in the 2018 draft.

"no... why?" quinn asked, skeptical.

"i don't know. i just think you and sabrina could maybe be good together." jack said.

"like your best friend sabrina?" quinn asked. but jack noticed the slight blush on his older brother's face.

"just think about it." jack said.

maybe it was working.

4.may 15, 2019

"dude, just tell us the truth. you're in love with sabrina." cole said to jack only a few weeks before high school graduation.

"ew, no. sabrina's like my sister." jack said, cringing.

"you're a terrible liar." alex said, shaking his head.

"no, i'm serious. i don't like sabrina. i've been trying to set her up with quinn for years." jack admitted.

"oh my god. why would that actually work?" cole said.

well, at least someone else saw what he's been seeing, what's been under everyone's noses for so long.

"alright, operation get quinn and sabrina together is a go." trevor said.

"trust me. i've been trying for years." jack deadpanned.

5.december 12, 2023.

jack had given up a few years ago on trying.

especially after she moved to new jersey with him.

he figured if it was meant to happen, it would on its own, and not because he wanted it to.

but he'd also stopped because of the whole media thing.

she was on top of the world with her career, and so was he, which meant the public thought that maybe they were a thing.

he was getting tired of having to say they're just friends.

but maybe, he could try to set her up with quinn one more time.

she was currently at prudential center doing some hockey themed promo shoots for her upcoming album, 'think later'.

"sab, when was the last time you actually went on a date?" jack asked.

in all the years in the public eye, she'd never had a boyfriend.

"uh..." she trailed off. she actually didn't know. she focused on her career more than anything.

"i guess i just haven't found the right person yet." she said when she saw jack's knowing look.

"i mean, i have someone in mind for you. you'd be perfect together." jack said.

she shook her head. "no, thanks, rowdy."

he sighed. guess the universe really was against him and his hopes for his older brother and best friend.

1.january 4, 2024

sabrina was walking down the streets of vancouver.

she was taking some down time after the release of 'think later'.

she had her hood up and her sunglasses on, even though it wasn't necessary for the weather, but because she didn't want anyone to recognize her.

and then she felt someone step into pace beside her.

"i should've known it was you." the familiar voice of quinn hughes said.

she looked over at him. "i've known you for years, brina, you can't hide from me." he said.

"what are you doing here?" he asked.

"i just wanted some time away. some time to myself." she said. "and i don't know, i just found myself here."

"but i have no idea what to do or where i'm going." she admitted after a beat.

quinn smiled, like actually smiled.

"well, lucky for you, your best friend's older brother is not just the captain of the canucks, but an excellent tour guide." he said.

"well, lead the way." she said, laughing a bit.

he hesitated for a second before holding out his hand.

she stopped for a second but then took it, intertwining their fingers as they went on their way.

and it felt right.

maybe jack didn't need to interfere at all.

[acottonsock]

ACottonSock's Sims 4 Mods Masterlist

I'm not well versed with The Sims 4, but after my recent video where I mentioned revisiting it after many years (like we're talking 2015/16), a few viewers asked me to put together my mods list because they want to enjoy Sims 4 too and had no idea where to start.

Last Updated: 12/17/24 - swapped out default eyes for the 'Atmospheric Eyes'. Added 'Auto Check Toddler & Infants Tweaks' by LittleMsSam.

Click "keep reading" to see the entire compiled list!

CAS and Default Replacements

Body Hair Replacement (Luumia Edition): Replaces EA's terrible body hair textures with Luumia's textures.

Default Replacement Cutlery: Replaces the EA fork and spoon textures with nicer ones.

CAS Room - Plant Lover: Really pretty CAS background room.

Atmospheric Eyes: Default replacement eyes.

Remove EA Lashes: Removes EA's chunky eyelashes so I can overlay my pretty ones.

Cumulus Clouds: Overrides the default clouds in the sky to be a lot high texture and prettier. I use 'Alfsi_clouds_cumulus02_mesh'.

Cherry Tree Override: Replaces the default cherry tree to a better texture.

Luumia's Body Hair: Body hair that appears in the 'tattoo' category. Looks very realistic.

Luumia's Vanilla Skin Default: A nice smooth default replacement skin.

Popcorn Ceiling Default: Changes the ceiling texture to be the classic popcorn ceiling.

Stand Still in CAS: Stops the stupid animations when Sims fidget around in CAS.

More Columns in CAS (4 columns ver.): Adds more columns in the CAS catalogue.

CAS Modifiers Bugfix: Supposedly fixes the receding chin issue that appears when Sims age up in CAS.

Gameplay Mods

MC Command Center: Adds greater control to your Sims 4 game experience and NPC story progression options.

MC Woohoo: Allows various common Woohoo options to be available as settings.

Small Vegetarian Overhaul: "Vegetarian" no longer has to take up a personality slot in Create a Sim. Your sims can have all three of their precious personality traits and still be a vegetarian if they want to be.

Enlist in War: Adds a new self-interaction to Sims to allow them to enlist in a war.

More Layoffs: Increases the chance of a layoff happening to your Sim.

More Names Variety (+Expanded Random Names): If your sims visit Sulani, San Myshuno and Mt. Komorebi often, the game will generate sims to populate festivals, streets and to take part in activities. These townies do not get their names from the same list you have in CAS (randomized) but have separate lists of culturally appropriate names. These lists are short (some only 10 names long) and you may have noticed some repetition or have grown tired of seeing the same names over and over again.

Better Elders Mod: Adds new social interactions, social events, and gameplay options for elders.

Dental Care: Sims can get cavities, have bad breath, need and receive braces, toddlers can teeth and teens can have wisdom teeth extracted.

Divergent Sims: Focuses on neurodiversity, self-esteem, mental health, addiction, evaluation, and treatments. This includes a detailed variety of 25 anxiety, developmental, learning, mood, neurological, personality, body, eating, and mental health conditions affecting infants to elders as well as 4 addictions affecting young adults and older.

Eye Care: Adds basic eye care to your game. Regular eye exams, contacts, and eyeglasses can help identify and then mitigate these issues. Laser Eye Surgery is also an option for some conditions.

Career Day Overhaul: Adds many new features to the existing in-game events. (REQUIRES: High School Years and XML Injector)

Magic School: Adds a magic school like Hogwarts! (REQUIRES: XML Injector)

Extreme Violence: Like the name suggests, adds violence and many more deaths.

The Hopes & Fears Mod: Overhaul of the Wants & Fears system. (REQUIRES: Lot 51 Core Library and The Custom Wants Mod)

Dynamic Teen Life: Adds to and enhances the teen experience, introducing popularity, social groups, more after school activities, as well as additional entertainment, social, and dating opportunities. (REQUIRES: General Pie Menus, Shared Tuning, and Mood Pack)

Foster Family: Become a part of the LMS Foster Family Network and take care of Toddler, Children, Teens or Pets who are in need of a Foster Family.

Live in Business: Adds Lot Traits to the Game which lets you run Businesses at Home like Live in Bar, Club, Cáfe, Daycare and more. (REQUIRES: XML Injector)

More Buyable Venues and New Venue Types: Lets you buy more Venues and adds new Venue Types to the Game. (REQUIRES: Universal Venue List and XML Injector)

Online Learning System: Learn up to 41 Skills (incl. Vet & Hidden Skills) online via the Online Learning System (OLS).

Social Activities (Visit Friends, Family and more): This Mod adds Social Activities for your Sims to go to! (REQUIRES: XML Injector)

Auto-Zodiacs: Your sims now have zodiacs! This mods adds the 12 western zodiac signs to the game, and automatically adds them to babies when they are born.

LGBTQIA+: Gender & orientation Overhaul: Adds a ton of nuance to Sims' sexual and gender identity.

Delinquent Teens: Adds opportunities for teens to rebel and consequences for if they do ranging from being grounded, to in-school suspension, to probation, and more. (REQUIRES: General Pie Menus, Shared Tuning, and Mood Pack)

The Personality Mod: Each Primary trait costs 0 Satisfaction Points, so you can add the traits to newly created sims, straight out of Create-A-Sim. Secondary Traits cost 50 satisfaction points. (REQUIRES: Lot 51 Core Library and The Custom Wants Mod)

More Deadly/Intense Fire: Makes fires more hazardous.

Chat Pack - More Social Interactions: Adds more social interactions between Sims. (REQUIRES: XML Injector)

New Random Names: Bored when you look to a townie name or try randomizing it and it have the same name and last name all the time? This mod will help you with that!

Preteens: Introduces a new life stage between children and teens and a new school, depending on which version is installed, Middle School or Junior High School. (REQUIRES: General Pie Menus, Shared Tuning, and Mood Pack)

Meaningful Stories: Redesigns the mood and emotions system. This collection of changes big and small aims to allow your sims to feel more human, to make the events in their lives feel more meaningful, and to turn managing their lives into a more interesting challenge.

Autonomous Vampires UPDATED!: Changes the ask to be turned and offer to be turned to autonomous.

Teen's Cupid Corner: Adds Cupid's Corner for teens.

First Crush Preteens: Adds the ability to have first crushes. (REQUIRES: General Pie Menus, Shared Tuning, Preteens, and Mood Pack)

Teen Jobs Collection: 12 new careers for teens.

Vampiric Bloodlines: Adds vampire bloodlines. (REQUIRES: Trait Tracker Injector and XML Injector)

sims4me Trait Overhaul: Tweaks the existing traits to make them more meaningful. Sims will do better or worse in certain/all careers, at school and/or at university based on their traits. Traits will also influence autonomy and skill gain. They will moreover affect how well two Sims will get along with other Sims, this will also be affected by the other Sims mood and/or age.

Spend Weekend With: Send your Kids away to visit their Grandparents or other parent, or send your Teens away to stay with a friend for the Weekend.

Can I Come Over?: Want to visit a Friend but you can’t remember where they live? Too lazy to search all worlds for their lot? Send them a text and you may will get a text back to go and visit them with just a click!

Pregnancy and Baby Mods

Cherished Moments - Pregnancy: Adds over 15+ different Moodlets that can occur during appropriate & realistic pregnancy trimesters. (REQUIRES: XML Injector)

Relationship & Pregnancy Overhaul Collection: Adds an astounding amount of pregnancy and relationship options.

Child Birth Mod: Adds a ton of new pregnancy events and outcomes.

New Realistic Life & Pregnancy: Adds more family interactions, morning interactions, mean interactions, kids interaction, and more.

Fixes

Adults Get Crushes FIX: Allows Sims older than teens to develop crushes.

Carry Napping Toddlers to Bed: Adds three new interactions to put toddlers to bed available when they are napping. (REQUIRES: XML Injector)

Better Autonomous Homework: A, B and C Students should make their Homework autonomously now.

More traits for kids: Unlocks more traits for kids.

Meeting new siblings will change relationship: Adds a relationship change (and notification) when a sim meeting their new little brother/sister.

Break Up Whim / Want Fix: Sims who do not have family oriented trait will soon or later get break up whim if they are in relationship for a long time, even when the couples are soulmates. With this mod, Sims will NOT get break up whim unless their romance score is less than -10.

Dine Out Reloaded: Fixes a ton of Dine Out related features.

Simulation Unclogger by TURBODRIVER: Script that detects when a Sim causes the simulation to get stuck, rendering the game unplayable, and attempts to fix it.

Less Musical Chairs: Reduces the amount of moving around from chair to chair or place to place when sims are socializing with other sims.

No Standing Up to Greet: Stops Sims from standing up to greet. When seated, Sims will only greet each other by waving. They will still greet each other normally (i.e. hug) when both of the interacting Sims are standing.

Various Seating Fixes/Additions: Sims will now sit while watching musical, comedy and karaoke performances.

Auto Check Toddler & Infants Tweaks by LittleMsSam: Changed the Cooldown from 5 minutes to 60. Sims will now check on Toddler & Infants regularly when Motives are low (Hunger, Hygiene, Energy), Diapers need to be changed or when the Cooldown is over (To play with them, talk, teach Flashcards etc.)

Camera Mods

Live Mode and Tab Mode Fix: Fixes the annoying drift in tab mode.

Sliders

Luumia Sliders: Ear Presets, Ear Up/Down, Face Asymmetry, Fingers.

Luumia Sliders: Height, Hip Shape, Neck Height.

Pouty Lip Slider: Adds the pouty slider to a Sim in CAS.

Presets

Northern Siberia Winds: Adds a collection of preset noses, lips, eyes, ears, cheeks, etc.

Miiko Lips: Adds a collection of presets and overlays of lips.

Obscurus Nose Presets: Adds a collection of presets and overlays for your Sims.

Lighting

Better In-Game Lighting (Dark Base): Changes lighting.

Sunblind: Realistic lighting overhaul.

Environment Replacements

Khippie 505 Terrain Replacements: Overrides EA's terrain textures, depth, contrast, and colours.

Khippie 202 Ground Replacements: Overrides EA's ground textures.

Khippie 707 Nature Replacements: Overrides trees.

Khippie 101 Builder Replacements: Overrides EAxis floors.

Adult mods (18+)

Basemental Drugs: Custom drugs, custom animations, altered walkstyles, altered moods, altered needs, come-ups, peaks, comedowns, hangovers, addiction, rehabilitation, and loads more.

Basemental Gangs: Adds gangs. Features rivalries between gangs, micromanaging your own gang members, use gang members as drug runners, run your operations through your own gang headquarters, exclusive new opportunities from your right hand man and much, much more.

Basemental Gambling: Functional casino venue and gambling.

WickedWhims: Adds realistic s3x and menstrual cycles. There's a SFW version called Wonderful Whims.

[wojakgallery]

Fallout Wojak Collection - Part 2

Title/Name: Fallout Wojak Collection - Part 2 Known As: Fallout is a media franchise of post-apocalyptic role-playing video games created by Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, at Interplay Entertainment. The series is largely set during the first half of the 3rd millennium, following a devastating nuclear war between China and the United States, with an atompunk retrofuturistic setting and artwork influenced by the post-war culture of the 1950s United States, with its combination of hope for the promises of technology and the lurking fear of nuclear annihilation. Fallout is regarded as a spiritual successor to Wasteland, a 1988 game developed by Interplay Productions. The series' first title, Fallout, was developed by Black Isle Studios and released in 1997, and its sequel, Fallout 2, the following year. Fallout 3, the third entry in the main series, was released in 2008 by Bethesda Softworks, and was followed by Fallout: New Vegas, developed by Obsidian Entertainment released on October 19, 2010. Fallout 4 was released in 2015, and Fallout 76 released on November 14, 2018. Country: USA Wojak Series:  Feels Guy (Variants), Crying (Variants), Blackjak (Variant), Chad (Variants), Smugjak (Variant), Yes Honey (Variant), Rage (Variant). Images by: Unknown Main Tag: Fallout Wojaks

Titles of the images and sources: #1 - President #2 - General Wait-and-see #3 - Ambassador #4 - Boone #5 - Ranger #6 - Ranger Chad #7 - Soldier 1 #8 - Soldier 2 #9 - Soldier 3 (Images 1 to 9 above were found on a post titled "Fallout New Vegas Wojaks Part 2: NCR", Link Here) #10 - Mr. House #11 - Crying Mr. House #12 - Chad Mr. House #13 - Smug Mr. House #14 - Empty TV where you can put Mr. House #15 - Mr. House in TV #16 - Real Mr. House #17 - Courier (Images 10 to 17 above were found on a post titled "Fallout New Vegas Wojaks Part 3: Mr. House + Courier", Link Here) #18 - Daniel #19 - Burned Guy #20 - Chad Joshua #21 - Follows-Chalk #22 - General Gobbledegook #23 - Randall #24 - Waking Cloud (Images 18 to 24 above were found on a post titled "Fallout New Vegas Wojaks Part 4: Honest Hearts Characters", Link Here)

[dresshistorynerd]

The Real Cost of the Fashion Industry

Atacama Desert, in Alto Hospicio, Iquique, Chile. (source)

The textile industry is destroying the world. The industry is wasting massive amounts of energy and materials, and polluting the air, the ground and the water supplies. It overwhelmingly exploits it's labour and extracts wealth from colonized countries, especially in Asia. I assume we all broadly understand this, but I think it's useful to have it all laid out in front of you to see the big picture, the core issues causing this destruction and find ways how to effectively move forward.

The concerning trend behind this ever-increasing devastation are shortening of trend cycles, lowering clothing prices and massive amount of wasted products. Still in year 2000 it was common for fashion brands to have two collections per year, while now e.g. Zara produces 24 collections and H&M produces 12-16 collections per year. Clothing prices have fallen (at leas in EU) 30% from 1996 to 2018 when adjusted to inflation, which has contributed to the 40% increase in clothing consumption per person between 1996 and 2012 (in EU). (source) As the revenue made by the clothing industry keep rising - from 2017 to 2021 they doubled (source) - falling prices can only be achieved with increasing worker exploitation and decreasing quality. I think the 36% degrees times clothing are used in average during the last 15 years (source) is a clear indication on the continuing drop in quality of clothing. Clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2015, while 30% of the clothes produced per year are never sold and are often burned instead (source), presumably to prevent the returns from falling due to oversupply.

These all factors are driving people to overconsume. While people in EU keep buying more clothes, they haven't used up to 50% of the clothes in their wardrobe for over a year (source). This overconsumption is only made much worse by the new type of hyper fast fashion companies like SHEIN and Temu, which are using addictive psychological tactics developed by social media companies (source 1, source 2). They are cranking up all those concerning trends I mentioned above.

Under the cut I will go through the statistics of the most significant effects of the industry on environment and people. I will warn you it will be bleak. This is not just a fast fashion problem, basically the whole industry is engaging in destructive practices leading to this damage. Clothing is one of those things that would be actually relatively easy to make without massive environmental and human cost, so while that makes the current state of the industry even more heinous, it also means there's hope and it's possible to fix things. In the end, I will be giving some suggestions for actions we could be doing right now to unfuck this mess.

Carbon emissions

The textile industry is responsible for roughly 10% of the global CO2 emissions, more than aviation and shipping industry combined. This is due to the massive supply chains and energy intensive production methods of fabrics. Most of it can be contributed to the fashion sector since around 60% of all the textile production is clothing. Polyester, a synthetic fiber made from oil which accounts for more than half of the fibers used in the textile industry, produces double the amount of carbon emissions than cotton, accounting for very large proportions of all the emissions by the industry. (source 1, source 2)

Worker exploitation

Majority of the textiles are produced in Asia. Some of the worst working conditions are in Bangladesh, one of the most important garment producers, and Pakistan. Here's an excerpt from EU Parliament's briefing document from 2014 after the catastrophic Rana Plaza disaster:

The customers of garment producers are most often global brands looking for low prices and tight production timeframes. They also make changes to product design, product volume, and production timeframes, and place last-minute orders without accepting increased costs or adjustments to delivery dates. The stresses of such policies usually fall on factory workers.

The wage exploitation is bleak. According to the 2015 documentary The True Cost less than 2% of all garment factory workers earned a living wage (source). Hourly wages are so low and the daily quotas so high, garment workers are often forced through conditions or threats and demand to work extra hours, which regularly leads to 10-12 hour work days (source) and at worst 16 hour workdays (source), often without days off. Sometimes factories won't compensate for extra hours, breaching regulations (source).

Long working hours, repetitive work, lack of breaks and high pressure leads to increased risks of injuries and accidents. Small and even major injuries are extremely common in the industry. A study in three factories in India found that 70% of the workers suffered from musculosceletal symptoms (source). Another qualitative study of female garment workers and factory doctors in Dhaka found that long hours led to eye strain, headaches, fatigue and weight loss in addition to muscular and back pains. According to the doctors interviewed, weight loss was common because the workers work such long hours without breaks, they didn't have enough time to eat properly. (source) Another study in 8 factories in India found that minor injuries were extremely common and caused by unergonomic work stations, poor organization in the work place and lack of safety gear, guidelines and training (source). Safety precautions too are often overlooked to cut corners, which periodically leads to factory accidents, like in 2023 lack of fire exists and fire extinguishers, and goods stacked beyond capacity led to a factory fire in Pakistan which injured dozens of workers (source) or like in 2022 dangerous factory site led to one dead worker and 9 injured workers (source).

Rana Plaza collapse in 2013 is the worst industrial accident in recent history. The factory building did not have proper permits and the factory owner blatantly ignored signs of danger (other businesses abandoned the building a day before the collapse), which led to deaths of 1 134 workers and injuries to 2 500 workers. The factory had or were at the time working for orders of at least Prada, Versace, Primark, Walmart, Zara, H&M, C&A, Mango, Benetton, the Children's Place, El Corte Inglés, Joe Fresh, Carrefour, Auchan, KiK, Loblaw, Bonmarche and Matalan. None of the brands were held legally accountable for the unsafe working conditions which they profited off of. Only 9 of the brands attended a meeting to agree on compensation for the victim's families. Walmart, Carrefour, Auchan, Mango and KiK refused to sight the agreement, it was only signed by Primark, Loblaw, Bonmarche and El Corte Ingles. The compension these companies provided was laughable though. Primemark demanded DNA evidence that they are relatives of one of the victims from these struggling families who had lost their often sole breadwinner for a meager sum of 200 USD (which doesn't even count for two months of living wage in Bangladesh (source)). This obviously proved to be extremely difficult for most families even though US government agreed to donate DNA kits. This is often said to be a turning point in working conditions in the industry, at least in Bangladesh, but while there's more oversight now, as we have seen, there's clearly still massive issues. (source 1, source 2)

One last major concern of working conditions in the industry I will mention is the Xinjiang raw cotton production, which is likely produced mainly with forced labour from Uighur concentration camps, aka slave labour of a suspected genocide. 90% of China's raw cotton production comes from Xinjiang (source). China is the second largest cotton producer in the world, after India, accounting 20% of the yearly global cotton production (source).

Pollution

Synthetic dyes, which synthetic fibers require, are the main cause of water pollution caused by the textile industry, which is estimated to account for 20% of global clean water pollution (source). This water pollution by the textile industry is suspected of causing a lot of health issues like digestive issues in the short term, and allergies, dermatitis, skin inflammation, tumors and human mutations in the long term. Toxins also effect fish and aquatic bacteria. Azo dyes, one of the major pollutants, can cause detrimental effects to aquatic ecosystems by decreasing photosynthetic activity of algae. Synthetic dyes and heavy metals also cause large amounts of soil pollution. Large amounts of heavy metals in soil, which occurs around factories that don't take proper environmental procautions, can cause anaemia, kidney failure, and cortical edoem in humans. That also causes changes in soil texture, decrease in soil microbial diversity and plant health, and changes in genetic structure of organisms growing in the soil. Textile factory waste water has been used for irrigation in Turkey, where other sources of water have been lacking, causing significant damage to the soil. (source)

Rayon produced through viscose process causes significant carbon disulphide and hydrogen sulphide pollution to the environment. CS2 causes cardiovascular, psychiatric, neuropsychological, endocrinal and reproductive disorders. Abortion rates among workers and their partners exposed to CS2 are reported to be significantly higher than in control groups. Many times higher amounts of sick days are reported for workers in spinning rooms of viscose fiber factories. China and India are largest producers of CS2 pollution, accounting respectively 65.74% and 11,11% of the global pollution, since they are also the major viscose producers. Emission of CS2 has increased significantly in India from 26.8 Gg in 2001 to 78.32 Gg in 2020. (source)

Waste

The textile industry is estimated to produce around 92 million tons of textile waste per year. As said before around 30% of the production is never sold and with shortening lifespans used the amount of used clothing that goes to waster is only increasing. This waste is large burned or thrown into landfills in poor countries. (source) H&M was accused in 2017 by investigative journalists of burning up to 12 tonnes of clothes per year themselves, including usable clothing, which they denied claiming they donated clothing they couldn't sell to charity instead (source). Most of the clothing donated to charity though is burned or dumbed to landfills (source).

Most of the waste clothing from rich countries like European countries, US, Australia and Canada are shipped to Chile (source) or African countries, mostly Ghana, but also Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire (source). There's major second-hand fashion industries in these places, but most of the charity clothing is dumbed to landfills, because they are in such bad condition or the quality is too poor. Burning and filling landfills with synthetic fabrics with synthetic dyes causes major air, water and soil pollution. The second-hand clothing industry also suppresses any local clothing production as donated clothing is inherently more competitive than anything else, making these places economically reliant on dumbed clothing, which is destroying their environment and health, and prevents them from creating a more sustainable economy that would befit them more locally. This is not an accident, but required part of the clothing industry. Overproduction let's these companies tap on every new trend quickly, while not letting clothing the prices in rich countries drop so low it would hurt their profits. Production is cheaper than missing a trend.

Micro- and nanoplastics

There is massive amounts of micro- and nanoplastics in all of our environment. It's in our food, drinking water, even sea salt (source). Washing synthetic textiles accounts for roughly 35% of all microplastics released to the environment. It's estimated that it has caused 14 million tonnes of microplastics to accumulate into the bottom of the ocean. (source)

Microplastics build up into the intestines of animals (including humans), and have shown to probably cause cause DNA damage and altered organism behavior in aquatic fauna. Microplastics also contain a lot of the usual pollutants from textile industry like synthetic dyes and heavy metals, which absorb in higher quantities to tissues of animals through microplastics in the intestines. Studies have shown that the adverse effect are higher the longer the microplastics stay in the organism. The effects cause major risks to aquatic biodiversity. (source) The health effects of microplastics to humans are not well known, but studies have shown that they could have adverse effects on digestive, respiratory, endocrine, reproductive and immune systems. (source)

Microplastics degrade in the environment even further to nanoplastics. Nanoplastic being even smaller are found to enter blood circulation, get inside cells and cross the blood-brain barrier. In fishes they have been found to cause neurological damage. Nanoplastics are also in the air, and humans frequently breath them in. Study in office buildings found higher concentration of nanoplastics in indoor air than outdoor air. Inside the nanoplastics are likely caused mostly by synthetic household textiles, and outdoors mostly by car tires. (source) An association between nanoplastics and mitochondrial damage in human respiratory cells was found in a recent study. (source)

Micro and nano plastics are also extremely hard to remove from the environment, making it even more important that we reduce the amount of microplastics we produce as fast as possible.

What can we do?

This is a question that deserves it's own essays and articles written about it, but I will leave you with some action points. Reading about these very bleak realities can easily lead to overwhelming apathy, but we need to channel these horrors into actions. Whatever you do, do not fall into apathy. We don't have the luxury for that, we need to act. These are industry wide problems, that simply cannot be fixed by consumerism. Do not trust any clothing companies, even those who market themselves as ethical and responsible, always assume they are lying. Most of them are, even the so called "good ones". We need legislation. We cannot allow the industry to regulate itself, they will always take the easy way out and lie to their graves. I will for sure write more in dept about what we can do, but for now here's some actions to take, both political and individual ones.

Political actions

Let's start with political actions, since they will be the much more important ones. While we are trying to dismantle capitalism and neocolonialism (the roots of these issues), here's some things that we could do right now. These will be policies that we should be doing everywhere in the world, but especially rich countries, where most of the clothing consumption is taking place. Vote, speak to others, write to your representative, write opinion pieces to your local papers, engage with democracy.

Higher requirements of transparency. Right now product transparency in clothing is laughably low. In EU only the material make up and the origin country of the final product are required to be disclosed. Everything else is up to the company. Mandatory transparency is the only way we can force any positive changes in the production. The minimum of transparency should be: origin countries of the fibers and textiles in the product itself; mandatory reports of the lifecycle emissions; mandatory reports of whole chain of production. Right now the clothing companies make their chain of production intentionally complex, so they have plausible deniability when inevitably they are caught violating environmental or worker protection laws (source). They intentionally don't want to be able to track down their production chain. Forcing them to do so anyway would make it very expensive for them to keep up this unnecessarily complex production chain. These laws are most effective when put in place in large economies like EU or US.

Restrictions on the use of synthetic fibers. Honestly I think they should be banned entirely, since the amount of microplastics in our environment is already extremely distressing and the other environmental effects of synthetic fibers are also massive, but I know there are functions for which they are not easily replaced (though I think they can be replaces in those too, but that's a subject of another post), so we should start with restrictions. I'm not sure how they should be specifically made, I'm not a law expert, but they shouldn't be used in everyday textiles, where there are very easy and obvious other options.

Banning viscose. There are much better options for viscose method that don't cause massive health issues and environmental destruction where ever it's made, like Lyocell. There is absolutely no reason why viscose should be allowed to be sold anywhere.

Governmental support for local production by local businesses. Most of the issues could be much more easily solved and monitored if most clothing were not produced by massive global conglomerations, but rather by local businesses that produce locally. All clothing are made by hand, so centralizing production doesn't even give it advantage in effectiveness (only more profits for the few). Producing locally would make it much more easier to enforce regulations and it would reduce production chains, making production more effective, leaving more profits into the hands of the workers and reducing emissions from transportation. When the production is done by local businesses, the profits would stay in the producing country and they could be taxed and utilized to help the local communities. This would be helpful to do in both exploited and exploiter countries. When done in rich countries who exploit poorer ones, it would reduce the demand for exploitation. In poor countries this is not as easily done, since poor means they don't have money to give around, but maybe this could be a good cause to put some reparations from colonizers and global corporations, which they should pay.

Preventing strategic accounting between subsidiaries and parent companies. Corporate law is obviously not my area of expertise, but I know that allowing corporations to move around the accounting of profits and losses between subsidiaries and parent companies in roughly 1980s, was a major factor in creating this modern global capitalist system, where corporations can very easily manipulate their accounting to utilize tax heavens and avoid taxes where they actually operate, which is how they are upholding this terrible system and extracting the profits from the production countries. How specifically this would be done I can't tell because again I know shit about corporate law, so experts of that field should plan the specifics. Overall this would help deal with a lot of other problems than just the fashion industry. Again for it to be effective a large economic area like EU or US should do this.

Holding companies accountable for their whole chain of production. These companies should be dragged to court and made to answer for the crimes they are profiting of off. We should put fear back into them. This is possible. Victims of child slavery are already doing this for chocolate companies. If it's already not how law works everywhere, the laws should be changed so that the companies are responsible even if they didn't know, because it's their responsibility to find out and make sure they know. They should have been held accountable for the Rana Plaza disaster. Maybe they still could be. Sue the mother fuckers. They should be afraid of us.

Individual actions

I will stress that the previous section is much more important and that there's no need to feel guilty for individual actions. This is not the fault of the average consumer. Still we do need to change our relationship to fashion and consumption. While it's not our fault, one of the ways this system is perpetuated, is by the consumerist propaganda by fashion industry. And it is easier to change our own habits than to change the industry, even if our own habits have little impact. So these are quite easy things we all could do as we are trying to do bigger change to gain some sense of control and keep us from falling to apathy.

Consume less. Better consumption will not save us, since consumption itself is the problem. We consume too much clothing. Don't make impulse purchases. Consider carefully weather you actually need something or if you really really want it. Even only buying second-hand still fuels the industry, so while it's better than buying new, it's still better to not buy.

Take proper care of your clothing. Learn how to properly wash your clothing. There's a lot of internet resources for that. Never wash your wool textiles in washing machine, even if the textile's official instructions allow it. Instead air them regularly, rinse them in cool water if they still smell after airing and wash stains with water or small amount of (wool) detergent. Never use fabric softener! It damages the fabrics, prevents them from properly getting clean and is environmentally damaging. Instead use laundry vinegar for making textiles softer or removing bad smells. (You can easily make laundry vinegar yourself too from white vinegar and water (and essential oils, if you want to add a scent to it) which is much cheaper.) Learn how to take care of your leather products. Most leather can be kept in very good condition for a very long time by occasional waxing with beeswax.

Use the services of dressmakers and shoemakers. Take your broken clothing or clothing which doesn't fit anymore to your local dressmaker and ask them if they can do something about it. Take your broken and worn leather products to your local shoemaker too. Usually it doesn't cost much to get something fixed or refitted and these expert usually have ways to fix things you couldn't even think of. So even if the situation with your clothing or accessory seems desperate, still show it to the dressmaker or shoemaker.

If it's extremely cheap, don't buy it. Remember that every clothing is handmade. Only a small fraction of the cost of the clothing will be paying the wages of the person who made it with their hands. If a shirt costs 5 euros (c. 5,39 USD), it's sewer was only payed mere cents for sewing it. I'm not a quick sewer and it takes me roughly 1-2 hours to cut, prepare and sew a simple shirt, so I'm guessing it would take around half an hour to do all that for a factory worker on a crunch, at the very least 15 minutes. So the hourly pay would still be ridiculously low. However, as I said before, the fact that the workers in clothing factories get criminally low pay is not the fault of the consumer, so if you need a clothing item, and you don't have money to buy anything else than something very cheep, don't feel guilty. And anyway expensive clothing in no way necessarily means reasonable pay or ethical working conditions, cheep clothing just guarantee them.

Learn to recognize higher quality. In addition to exploitation, low price also means low quality, but again high price doesn't guarantee high quality. High quality allows you to buy less, so even if it's not as cheep as low quality, if you can afford it, when you need it, it will be cheaper in long run, and allows you to consume less. Check the materials. Natural fibers are your friends. Do not buy plastic, if it's possible to avoid. Avoid household textiles from synthetic fibers. Avoid textiles with small amounts of spandex to give it stretch, it will shorten the lifespan of the clothing significantly as the spandex quickly wears down and the clothing looses it's shape. Also avoid clothing with rubber bands. They also loose their elasticity very quickly. In some types of clothing (sport wear, underwear) these are basically impossible to avoid, but in many other cases it's entirely possible.

Buy from artisans and local producers, if you can. As said better consumption won't fix this, but supporting artisans and your local producers could help keep them afloat, which in small ways helps create an alternative to the exploitative global corporations. With artisans especially you know the money goes to the one who did the labour and buying locally means less middlemen to take their cut. More generally buy rather from businesses that are located to the same country where the production is, even if it's not local to you. A local business doesn't necessarily produce locally.

Develop your own taste. If you care about fashion and style, it's easy to fall victim to the fashion industry's marketing and trend cycles. That's why I think it's important to develop your personal sense of style and preferences. Pay attention at what type of clothes are comfortable to you. Go through your wardrobe and track for a while which clothing you use most and which least. Understanding your own preferences helps you avoid impulse buying.

Consider learning basics of sewing. Not everyone has the time or interest for this, but if you in anyway might have a bit of both, I suggest learning some very simple and basic mending and reattaching a button.

Further reading on this blog: How to see through the greenwashing propaganda of the fashion industry - Case study 1: Shein

Bibliography

Academic sources

An overview of the contribution of the textiles sector to climate change, 2022, L. F. Walter et al., Frontiers in Environmental Science

How common are aches and pains among garment factory workers? A work-related musculoskeletal disorder assessment study in three factories of south 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, 2021, Arkaprovo Pal et al., J Family Med Prim Care

Sewing shirts with injured fingers and tears: exploring the experience of female garment workers health problems in Bangladesh, 2019, Akhter, S., Rutherford, S. & Chu, C., BMC Int Health Hum Rights

Occupation Related Accidents in Selected Garment Industries in Bangalore City, 2006, Calvin, Sam & Joseph, Bobby, Indian Journal of Community Medicine

A Review on Textile and Clothing Industry Impacts on The Environment, 2022, Nur Farzanah Binti Norarmi et al., International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Carbon disulphide and hydrogen sulphide emissions from viscose fibre manufacturing industry: A case study in India, 2022, Deepanjan Majumdar et al., Atmospheric Environment: X

Microplastics Pollution: A Brief Review of Its Source and Abundance in Different Aquatic Ecosystems, 2023, Asifa Ashrafy et al., Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances

Health Effects of Microplastic Exposures: Current Issues and Perspectives in South Korea, 2023, Yongjin Lee et al., Yonsei Medical Journal

Nanoplastics and Human Health: Hazard Identification and Biointerface, 2022, Hanpeng Lai, Xing Liu, and Man Qu, Nanomaterials

Other sources

The impact of textile production and waste on the environment (infographics), 2020, EU

Chile’s desert dumping ground for fast fashion leftovers, 2021, AlJazeera

Fashion - Worldwide, 2022 (updated 2024), Statista

Fashion Industry Waste Statistics & Facts 2023, James Evans, Sustainable Ninja (magazine)

Everything You Need to Know About Waste in the Fashion Industry, 2024, Solene Rauturier, Good on You (magazine)

Textiles and the environment, 2022, Nikolina Šajn, European Parliamentary Research Service

Help! I'm addicted to secondhand shopping apps, 2023, Alice Crossley, Cosmopolitan

Addictive, absurdly cheap and controversial: the rise of China’s Temu app, 2023, Helen Davidson, Guardian

Workers' conditions in the textile and clothing sector: just an Asian affair? - Issues at stake after the Rana Plaza tragedy, 2014, Enrico D'Ambrogio, European Parliamentary Research Service

State of The Industry: Lowest Wages to Living Wages, The Lowest Wage Challenge (Industry affiliated campaign)

Fast Fashion Getting Faster: A Look at the Unethical Labor Practices Sustaining a Growing Industry, 2021, Emma Ross, International Law and Policy Brief (George Washington University Law School)

Dozens injured in Pakistan garment factory collapse and fire, 2023, Hannah Abdulla, Just Style (news media)

India: Multiple factory accidents raise concerns over health & safety in the garment industry, campaigners call for freedom of association in factories to ‘stave off’ accidents, 2022, Jasmin Malik Chua, Business & Human Rights Resource Center

Minimum Wage Level for Garment Workers in the World, 2020, Sheng Lu, FASH455 Global Apparel & Textile Trade and Sourcing (University of Delaware)

Rana Plaza collapse, Wikipedia

Buyers’ compensation for Rana Plaza victims far from reality, 2013, Ibrahim Hossain Ovi, Dhaka Tribune (news media)

World cotton production statistics, updated 2024, The World Counts

Dead white man’s clothes, 2021, Linton Besser, ABC News

[sky-byte2007]

Writing JetByte fanfics are so fun because as an aspiring shark biologist, Sky-Byte keeps getting the silliest headcanons.

Now I don’t think the type of shark Sky-Byte is was directly confirmed (if it was then yay) but it looks to me that it’s a Great White (according to the toy models).

Great Whites are notoriously known for attacking the most humans along with Bull sharks and Tiger sharks. However they’re also very silly.

Some of the things I headcanon Sky-Byte to have would obviously be insane senses. Sharks typically do have a great sense of smell although the whole ‘they can smell blood a mile away’ thing is most likely a myth. Another thing would be that he can hear pretty well too. Shark hearing has evolved to where they can hear long distances, and to where they actually can hear lower frequencies than humans.

This means that Sky-Byte would be more sensitive to lower frequency sounds. Anything loud or high pitched would scare him away since sharks typically associate these sounds with predators.

Very silly fun fact! Sharks are attracted to the sound of heavy metal music due to the low rumbling frequencies. This was used in Discovery Channel’s Bride of Jaws documentary in 2015 to help lure in Great Whites for filming purposes. So like imagine Sky-Byte putting on “calming music” and it’s just that.

Great Whites are known to swim up to 30 mph or 48.28 km/h. I like to imagine that’s how fast he can run since he can obviously fly faster if he’s able to keep pace with Jetfire.

Another thing about Great Whites is that they actually seem to have pretty good vision in the daylight. Most sharks were thought to have poor vision due to low light conditions in the water. That’s because they have an abundance of rods compared to cones. Rods typically aid in detecting movement in low light conditions while cones aid in discerning detail but require well lit conditions for it to work. Great Whites (like most sharks) were thought to fall under this category until 1985 when it was discovered that wasn’t the case.

For reference, the Smooth Dogfish has a rod to cone ratio of 100:1. The more shallow swimming Lemon Shark had a ratio of 12:1. However, the ratio for a Great White is a 4:1. This means that Sky-Byte can see in daylight and nighttime conditions.

Another thing I would say that applies to all sharks really is taste. Sharks typically don’t have good taste receptors since that’s not their primary focus when it comes to hunting or doing whatever. Typically if they spit out something, it’s because it’s not palatable for them, so I like to imagine Sky-Byte spitting out some form of energon because it’s not compatible with his systems. Good in case someone tries to poison him I guess.

One thing I find fascinating about them (as if I haven’t rambled on and on already) is the fact that Great Whites have never been successfully contained. The first aquarium to ever try was Marineland Of The Pacific in 1955 in which the shark died after 24 hours. Most of the other facilities that tried either ended up with dead sharks or had to be released. Clearly captivity isn’t for them. The Monterey Bay Aquarium was one of the first aquariums to actually hold a few in captivity, but only for a max of 168 days. Out of the 6 shark juveniles they had captured, 4 were able to put out on display. The other 2 ended up having to be released after a couple of days: one due to not feeding regularly and the other due to them constantly hitting the enclosure walls, thus leaving them susceptible to infection. Both of them ended up dying shortly after sadly. As for the other 4, they were feeding regularly but 2 of them ended up displaying severe predatory and aggressive behaviours. After chomping on the other animals on display, they were released.

I like to imagine that Sky-Byte would not do well in captivity whatsoever. That as well as the fact that Great Whites are one of those sharks that have to move continuously in order to breathe. Me being me, I gave him severe cleithrophobia or the fear of being trapped.

To end this on a more silly note, Great Whites (like most other sharks) are also curious creatures, so a funny scenario I like to imagine is Sky-Byte getting a bit too curious for his own good while Jetfire tries to make sure that he doesn’t get killed.

I should probably stop obsessing over sharks, and actually write my fic lol, but here you go I guess. Sharks are my life’s passion, and uh Sky-Byte may or may not have been the reason as to why. Love my silly shark poet so much.

[hoovesandfloorpaws]

manip designed by the wonderful Shay @hl-obsessed 💕

If you Reblog, please know: post is continuously under construction ⚙️ 📌 here is my TAGLIST Since everything under a Read More cut gets deleted in case a blog deletes/gets deleted, for Archive Purposes Only, I add the most important bits of the/rest of the full post and also check/update/add the source links to the best of my abilities. Sorted Old to New (I only started doing this in Nov '24, so there's quite a lot more to come!)

-

new and/or still being updated:

• Complete Larry Tattoo Timeline • bulletprooflarry (April 9, 2012) until 2017 - from then on by me w/ pictures & meta (last update: April '25)

• Masterpost: 700+ Louis (and Larry) gifs from 2012 + 2013 Part 1 / Part 2 • probloumatics, May 13, 2014

-

• A Post on being closeted • sadaveniren, Jan 8, 2023

• Masterpost: Harry wearing Louis-related things • bluewinnerangel, June 18, 2021

• It’s a Sign Language of the times • bluewinnerangel, Feb 15, 2021

• What even is this band? (funny 1D gifs) • bluewinnerangel, Feb 28, 2021

• Timeline: Harry & Louis July 17 - July 21, 2015 • skepticalarrie, Sep 6, 2020

• Timeline: 1D's extreme grind • quietasides, Aug 28, 2015

• Timeline: "Fucked in Frisco, 2012" • ohthefond, Jan 27, 2014

• Masterpost: “Even as young as you are?” Or: Harry & Louis are engaged to be married • the-love-laws, Jan 16, 2014

• Body Language and Double Talk, or: Louis is a Lying Liar Who Lied • (archived by @twopoppies!) • epicmischief, April 7, 2013

• Masterpost: Harry’s “Type” • tracedust-blog, Jan 30, 2013

• GIF Timeline: L&H in 2012 "The year their friendship ended" spoiler alert: it didn't! • quietasides, Nov 3, 2015

• Timeline: Louis' PING (iTunes) profile Jan '11 - Sep '12 • hotsauceharry, Sep 20, 2012 incl. Spotify playlist of all 630 songs he posted / bought on iTunes and here is the rebloggable post, bc the archived post itself is VERY long

• 1D Studies – Harry’s sexuality • hazzalovesboo, April 9, 2012

• Timeline: Larry at Leeds 2011 incl. loads of pictures & tweets • alarrytale, Nov 6, 2013

• August 2011: the early days of H&L's closet :( • quietasides, April 13, 2015

• Home is wherever I'm with you. (2011) • yorkshireteabagging, March 24, 2013

• Timeline: September 2010: Let’s talk about it. • bulletprooflarry, Oct 24, 2013

⛰

more continuously to come!