#19 Martie 2024

[ciochinaflorin]

79 I 2024. ELIBERATORUL [Exod 2.10 I Luca 22.32] 19 Martie 2024

79 I 2024. ELIBERATORUL I Podcast I Pasaje Biblice : Exod 2 : 10 I Luca 22 : 32 I Meditaţii din Cuvânt I Cezareea I Reşiţa I 19 Martie 2024 I Eliberatorul. Moise a fost unul dintre cei mai mari eliberatori din istorie, deoarece a eliberat peste două milioane de oameni (iar aceasta este o aproximare care are în vedere un număr minim al evreilor eliberați din Egipt) ! A elibera înseamnă : „A da…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Come see me on tour!

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/2024/02/16/narrative-capitalism/#bezzle-tour

My next novel is The Bezzle, a high-tech ice-cold revenge thriller starring Marty Hench, a two-fisted forensic accountant, as he takes on the sleaziest scams of the first two decades of the 2000s, from hamburger-themed Ponzis to the unbelievably sleazy and evil prison-tech industry:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

I'm taking Marty on the road! I'll be visiting eighteen cities between now and June, and I hope you'll come out and say hello, visit a beloved local bookseller, and maybe get a book (or two)!

21 Feb: Weller Bookworks, Salt Lake City, 1830h: https://www.wellerbookworks.com/event/store-cory-doctorow-feb-21-630-pm

22 Feb: Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, 19h: https://www.mystgalaxy.com/22224Doctorow

24 Feb: Vroman's, Pasadena, 17h, with Adam Conover (!!) https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Cory-Doctorow-discusses-The-Bezzle

26 Feb: Third Place Books, Seattle, 19h, with Neal Stephenson (!!!) https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/event/cory-doctorow

27 Feb: Powell's, Portland, 19h: https://www.powells.com/book/the-bezzle-martin-hench-2-9781250865878/1-2

29 Feb: Changing Hands, Phoenix, 1830h: https://www.changinghands.com/event/february2024/cory-doctorow

9-10 Mar: Tucson Festival of the Book: https://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?action=display_author&id=15669

13 Mar: San Francisco Public Library: https://sfpl.org/events/2024/03/13/author-cory-doctrow-bezzle

22 Mar: Toronto: Wendy Michener Memorial Lecture: https://events.yorku.ca/events/wendy-michener-memorial-lecture2024/

24 Mar: NYC: Word Books (with Laura Poitras): https://shop.wordbookstores.com/event/word-presents-cory-doctorow

29-31 Mar: Wondercon Anaheim: https://www.comic-con.org/wc/

11 Apr: Harvard Berkman-Klein Center (with Randall Munroe) https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/enshittification

12 Apr: RISD Debates in AI, Providence, details coming soon!

17 Apr: Anderson's Books, Chicago, 19h: https://www.andersonsbookshop.com/event/cory-doctorow-1

19-21 Apr: Torino Biennale Tecnologia https://www.turismotorino.org/en/experiences/events/biennale-tecnologia

2 May, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Winnipeg https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cory-doctorow-tickets-798820071337

5-11 May: Tartu Prima Vista Literary Festival https://tartu2024.ee/en/kirjandusfestival/

6-9 Jun: Media Ecology Association keynote, Amherst, NY https://media-ecology.org/convention

Calgary and Vancouver – details coming soon!

[labyrinthofstreams]

Jewish musicians of the 1960s

✡︎ Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941)

✡︎ Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein; May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015)

✡︎ Leonard Cohen (September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016)

✡︎ Barbra Streisand (born April 24, 1942)

✡︎ Marty Balin (born Martyn Jerel Buchwald; January 30, 1942 – September 27, 2018) and Jorma Kaukonen (born December 23, 1940) of Jefferson Airplane

✡︎ Robby Krieger (born January 8, 1946) of The Doors

✡︎ Paul Simon (born October 13, 1941) and Art Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) of Simon & Garfunkel

✡︎ Phil Ochs (December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976)

✡︎ Cass Elliot (born Ellen Naomi Cohen; September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974) of The Mamas & The Papas

✡︎ Mary (December 28, 1948 – January 19, 2024) and Elizabeth Weiss (born November 27, 1946) of The Shangri-Las

✡︎ Neil Diamond (born January 24, 1941)

✡︎ Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951)

✡︎ Robbie Robertson (born Jaime Royal Robertson; July 5, 1943 – August 9, 2023) of The Band

✡︎ Gary Hirsh (March 9, 1940 – August 17, 2021), Barry Melton (born June 14, 1947), Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (born January 1, 1942), and David Cohen (born August 4, 1942) of Country Joe and the Fish

✡︎ Manfred Mann (born Manfred Sepse Lubowitz; October 21, 1940)

[ostensiblynone]

Shane: I'm anticipating this feeling very satisfying. Ryan: It's gonna feel so good Marty: [pure joy in his eyes] It's real good.

Shane and Ryan Attempt To Become Master Woodworkers • Weird Wonderful World Season 3 Episode 3 Jul 19, 2024

[luuuucas]

Spanish Grand Prix

We're home and I can feel it baby!!!

1- Not F1 but a recap of lower levels: Jak Crawford (F2) and Arvid Lindbland (F3) win and Pepe Martí makes points in home (F2). Chloe Chambers wins in the Academy and Nerea Marti (P4) makes points in home.

2- Marquez-Red Bull interaction was very funny overall.

3- Lovely to see Mick in the paddock as usual

4- OLLIE IN HAAS ONCE AGAIN

5- Antonio Lobato's pit stop (

6- A fire in McLaren Motorhome

7- NOW THE RACE: Interesting grid start, Mercedes has been onto something this weekend, Piastri fell back, Alonso did too.

8- The start. Wow. Everything seemed normal and POOM Russell new Race leader, Verstappen overtakes Norris too. Positions are lost and won in the back.

9- Verstappen takes the lead soon after but the fight for the leadership becomes a very rough fight between himself and Lando.

10- Kevin false start whaaaasst crazy 🫢

11- 1,9 pit I repeat 1,9 pit.

12- McLaren fastest car on track. They were literally flying after their pit stops

13- Max’s “tyres are inconsistent”

14- Norris Russell fight in 36-37 was magical. They repeated it 3 times in DAZN, what else can I tell you? Thank u Mr Russell for delivering all race 🙏

15- 7 seconds gap to Max. But Norris won’t give up and keeps pushing

16- Oscar is completely forgotten?

17- MAX VERSTAPPEN ONCE AGAIN CHAMPION

18- HAM PODIUM

19- And we got Podium selfie. Amen.

20- This is very funny to me due to the context.

21- It was beautiful to see Max win this GP because of how joyful he was. How he jumped celebrating, the happiness in his face during the national anthem, how glad he looked to be a part of the sofa selfie

22- Alonso and Tsunoda fell back. 😭😭

23- Ferrari civil war 2024

24- This was straight up disrespectful. Don’t do it again thank u.

Now, talking completely serious, the whole email thing was crazy. This are real people, you can’t just treat them like they are characters in your book who you can disrespect, and definitely you can’t go and sent an email accusing someone of sabotaging their employee, sleeping with other or plotting their teammates death (? Like what is that.

Let’s, please, start acting like the adults we’re supposed to be and stop plotting disrespectful stuff like this proof less.

[bg-sparrow]

mcfly july 2024 || 🌲🌲 || day 19 Playing Hooky

“Man, Jen,” Marty said, laying a bouquet on her nightstand, “you’re terrible at this hooky thing.”

Jennifer groaned lifelessly into her pillow before rolling over, head pounding.

“Playing hooky implies I’m having fun, and I am not having fun.”

“I know.” She’d had perfect attendance the last three years of school, though, so he had to give her a hard time about missing today.

Marty sat on the edge of the bed. He squeezed Jennifer’s hand, and leaning in with a sympathetic smile, kissed her.

Jennifer pouted. “Now you’re gonna get sick.”

“Here’s hoping. I got a history test tomorrow.”

[darkmaga-retard]

Marty sits down with Dave Collum to discuss inflation, the election and the twisted networks influencing politics and entertainment.

Dave on Twitter: https://x.com/DavidBCollum

0:00 - Intro

1:09 - Truflation is BS

9:18 - Hardware collateralized debt

11:08 - Deflation and money supply

14:13 - River & Unchained

16:06 - Yen carry trade and US buybacks

19:36 - Compounding valuations

25:32 - Gradually, Then Suddenly & Zaprite

27:38 - Narrative control and war drums

34:04 - Kamala’s campaign

40:19 - The assassination memory hole

43:47 - Elon

48:51 - Propaganda whirlwind

59:54 - Dark and disturbing networks

1:23:05 - Free speech

1:29:51 - Trump’s second term

[littleapocalypsekitten]

There's something that deserves a thought: So, watching a little thing on history on Youtube regarding smallpox and just had the thought of - "Why don't we ever see time travel stories where travellers from our time or the future prepare for going back to Medieval-anywhere or wherever by loading up on vaccinations?" Maybe that is a plot point in some time travel stories I haven't seen? All I know is that the Back to the Future trilogy had no mention of Doc Brown getting a good ol' polio-shot before getting stuck in the Old West (not that he had time to prepare for it, as that was an accident). Going to the future is even trickier as we don't know what novel viruses will become endemic to a time-period ("thank you," Covid-19. Just imagine someone developing time travel in the 1990s in a secret program, coming to see what 2024 is like and getting whatever stain of Covid is floating around now and it treats their body like the Alpha version because they don't have a time-map that tells them that 2020 was horrible). And then, smallpox in particular... we don't get vaccinated for that anymore because, if I am not mistaken, the only known samples of it are in a lab somewhere under heavy lock and key and people debate over whether it should be destroyed for fear of it being made a weapon in modern times or kept around for study / possible need should we re-discover that bastard in the wild. It's just... I've seen people think about currency (the aforementioned Back to the Future features Doc Brown giving Marty 1950s American money). There's this one palaeontology video I've seen asking the question "How far back could a human live in Earth's history?" (sustained life for a human seems to be limited to the late Cretaceous period, not that you'd want to stick around for obvious reasons). But, wow, here's another thing I just thought about for possible time travel writing.

[tameodesza]

Last updated: September 19, 2024

💡Welcome to the hub of all of my fics!

💡Shawn Michaels-centric; BretShawn’s my OTP 🫶🏽

💡 I’ll occasionally write other Shawn pairings as well

💡 I only post on tumblr and ao3; anywhere else isn’t me

PS: I do not do requests, but only because I’m afraid of doing a bad job 😭 (writer’s block is the devil). But please feel free to ask questions or leave comments about any of my fics! Hope you enjoy! :)

[purple text] = latest update

Bret Hart x Shawn Michaels

💍 Househusband AU

Shawn is a stay-at-home husband to one of the greatest wrestlers of all time - Bret Hart. This is a collection of short stories and headcanons showcasing their love for each other as they navigate the trials and tribulations of marriage.

🌷 Love’s Maze

Shawn suffers through a painful heartbreak after ending his 7-year toxic relationship with Marty Jannetty, but Bret is there to help pick up the pieces.

  🍼 Daddy’s Boy AU:

The Wrestling Promoter’s Kid: Shawn Michaels is Vince McMahon’s son, which impacts not only his career, but his relationship as well.

Daddy's Disapproval: Vince disapproves Shawn’s relationship with Bret

🧟‍♂️ Dead Ends (zombie au)

As an unknown virus spreads rapidly amongst society, Bret and Shawn are forced to depend on each other for survival. This is the story of how this unlikely pair attempts to navigate through the post-apocalyptic world while growing to love each other along the way.

👑 Prince AU

Headcanon 1: Shawn, a 28-year-old prince, and Bret, a 35-year-old farmer, live completely opposite lives. But despite their difference in social status, their paths cross in ways they least expect.

Headcanon 2: Shawn's courting process has begun, and this focuses on Shawn’s courtship adventures with Mark and Ric.

Strawberry Prince: Prince Shawn begins his courtship with Bret, but all it takes is one day for them to fall for each other.

Bittersweet: Prince Shawn informs his parents of his decision to marry Bret, but when their disapproval threatens to tear the pair apart, a plan is concocted to unite the lovers once again.

🎯 One Shots

House of Horrors: Bret takes Shawn to a spooky attraction for spooky season.

Modus Operandi: Bret had worked a lot of odd jobs throughout his career, but he never thought his film degree would lead him to the set of a porno.

Closure: They were lovers once. Two halves destined to entwine. But life had a way of beating them down, cracking their happy façade, leaving two broken halves that could never fit again.

Second Chance: Shawn needed to see Bret one last time, to see if they could salvage whatever scraps were left of what they once had.

🗒️ Other Headcanons

Harry Potter AU: Slytherin!Shawn x Gryffindor! Bret

Kevin Nash x Shawn Michaels

💔 The Affair AU

Infidelity: Shawn begins a tumultuous affair with Bret after Kevin leaves for WCW.

Confession: Shawn is pressured to come clean about his affair with Bret Hart.

🎯 One Shots

Envy: Kevin comforts an upset Shawn after Kevin wins the WWF Championship belt

Stripped: Shawn does a promo nearly naked and it leaves Kevin hot and bothered.

Cotton Candy Kisses: Kevin tries to win a prize for Shawn at the county fair but it doesn’t go according to plan

The Bodyguard: Men threw themselves at Shawn all the time, but he felt empty inside. He was an object used to fulfill their needs. And at the end of the day, they went back to their lives, to their loved ones who were unaware of their dirty little secret named Shawn Michaels

Boundaries: Diesel understood that Shawn had some kinky clients, but he’d never seen Shawn so battered after a session

Multi

To All the Men Shawn's Ever Loved: Shawn and his 5 boyfriends. {shawn/marty/kevin/bret/taker/hunter}

Three's Company: Hunter had done a lot of crazy things for Shawn. But he was thrown for a loop when Shawn approached him one night, throwing around the idea of an open marriage. {shawn/hunter/bret}

[777wave]

PGMA

P14 : 14th President

April 5, 1947 - April 5, 2024

77th birthday.

7 + 7

= 14

14th President

—

28,125 days.

2 + 8 + 1 + 2 + 5

= 18

= 1 + 8

= 9

4,017 weeks and 6 days.

4 + 0 + 1 + 7 + 6

= 18

= 1 + 8

= 9

—

January 20, 2001 - June 30, 2010

1 + 2 + 0 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 1 + 6 + 3 + 0 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 0

= 18

= 1 + 8

= 9 years.

—

3,448 days later.

3 + 4 + 4 + 8

= 19

= ( 1 x 9 )

= 9 years

—

Photo credit:

Marty Melville

—

#StrongRepublicVision

#9YearsStrong

#TheNinthWave

#MiddleOfTheRoad

#BeyondRedYellowGreen

[newmusicradionetwork]

Trading the Stage For An Off-Road Thrill In “Crank It Up” Video

Rising country star Ashley Wineland sets the stage as she unleashes a thrilling dirt bike race with the release of her latest music video “Crank It Up.” As the roaring engines echo against the backdrop of rugged terrain, Ashley’s electrifying performance mirrors the adrenaline-fueled thrill of off-road adventure. Known for her wild ride through heart-pounding performances, this high-energy video goes full throttle with elements of country and rock with her producer Marti Frederiksen, celebrated for his collaboration crossing all genres with some of the worlds best icons like Mick Jagger, Aerosmith, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Ozzy Osborne, and more. MUSIC VIDEO LINK HERE “Crank It Up,” written by Steven McEwan, who is known for his work with Chris Stapleton, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood; Marti Frederiksen, and Carrie Underwood showcases a new journey and musical adventure, reflecting on the genuine outdoor lifestyle she lives and breathes, particularly amidst the dusty Arizona landscape. Her deep connection to the desert environment adds a gritty authenticity to her sound, setting her apart as she leaves audiences craving more. Ashley says, “This music video is unlike any others I have done! I wanted to lean into the message “Crank It Up” delivers: jump into action and go live life! Filming this music video was like shooting an action film. Our stunt riders, Carson Millikan, Coehn Hamby, and John Sindle, are so talented and it was exhilarating to watch them work. Of course, I couldn’t let them have all the fun. I had my fair share of action on the dirt bikes and side-by-sides.” As Ashley blazed her own trail in the music industry and revs up her career, her roots are just as firmly planted in the Arizona dirt, giving listeners the authentic experiences of her outdoor country rock lifestyle. Ashley adds, “The racing community is so strong in Arizona. I am extremely grateful to Bobby White at Arizona Cycle Park for letting us take over the track for the day and bringing this vision to life. We would not have been able to execute this project without the help of many great folks in our racing community. I find being outdoors one of the greatest life-giving activities! I hope people watch this video and feel inspired to go outside, dig in the dirt, and do the things that make them feel like life is cranked up to the max!” Ashley continues on the road this summer across the US, driving her performances into top gear for audiences nationwide. To learn more about Ashley Wineland, visit www.ashleywineland.com. Ashley Wineland Tour Dates June 30, 2024 Red Valley Fair West Fargo, ND July 4, 2024 Tomah, WI July 6, 2024 Stump Dodger Bash 2024, Gays Mills, WI July 11, 2024 Hettinger County Fair, Mott, ND July 12, 2024 Mercer County Fair, Beulah, ND July 14, 2024 Tri-County Fair, Wishek, ND July 16, 2024 Downtown in Madtown, Madison, SD July 18, 2024 Meridian Concert Series, Yankton, SD July 19, 2024 Bands on the Bricks, Aurora, NE July 20, 2024 Buck’s Bar & Grill, Venice, NE July 25, 2024 Cheyenne Frontier Days 2024, Cheyenne, WY July 26, 2024 Cheyenne Frontier Days 2024, Cheyenne, WY July 27, 2024 Plymouth County Fair, Le Mars, IA Aug 1, 2024 Million Dollar Cowboy 2024, Jackson, WY Aug 2, 2024 Million Dollar Cowboy 2024, Jackson, WY Aug 3, 2024 Million Dollar Cowboy 2024, Jackson, WY Aug 17, 2024 Guitars & Cadillacs, Overland Park, KS Aug 22, 2024 Walker Bay Live, Walker, MN Aug 23, 2024 Sawyer Brown, Sauk Rapids, MN Aug 24, 2024 2 Tall Tavern, Cushing, MN Sep 8, 2024 Washington State Fair, Puyallup, WA For more information and to connect with Ashley Wineland, follow her on Website, Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, and YouTube. Read the full article

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Bezzle excerpt (Part III)

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW in SALT LAKE CITY (Feb 21, Weller Book Works) and then SAN DIEGO (Feb 22, Mysterious Galaxy). After that, it's LA, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix and more!

This week, I'm serializing part of chapter 14 from my new novel The Bezzle, which is out in stores TODAY (!!!):

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

The Bezzle is a Martin Hench novel, the followup to last year's Red Team Blues – though each book in the series is designed to be read in any order, and to stand alone (RTB just came out in paperback):

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865854/redteamblues

Hench is a two-fisted, high-tech forensic accountant whose career spans 40 years of busting high-tech scams, from the earliest days of the PC to the white-hot center of the cryptocurrency bubble. Each book revolves around a single, central scam (in The Bezzle, it's the unbelievably slimy prison-tech industry):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/14/minnesota-nice/#shitty-technology-adoption-curve

But each book also features lots of subplots that unpick different kinds of fraud. In this serialized excerpt, we get to watch Marty unwind a music royalty theft scheme, the kind of thing that Rebecca Giblin and I pulled apart in our 2022 book, Chokepoint Capitalism (also now in paperback!):

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

Today's installment gets into one of the major tactics of any semi-respectable scam – simply ignoring the victim in the hope that they'll get tired and go away. Any of us who've been ripped off by a big company can surely relate.

I'm leaving on my tour for this one tomorrow, starting with a gig in Salt Lake City at Weller Bookworks (Feb 21) at 630PM:

https://www.wellerbookworks.com/event/store-cory-doctorow-feb-21-630-pm

From there, it's on to LA (with Adam Conover), Seattle (with Neal Stephenson) and many, many more cities – maybe one near you!

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/narrative-capitalism/#bezzle-tour

Here's part one of the serial:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/17/the-steve-soul-caper/#lead-singer-disease

And part two:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#copyright-termination

And now, onto part three!

Stefon cooked Jamal another dinner and Jamal wrote another letter, this one more forceful, and addressed to Gounder by name. Two weeks later, Jamal wrote another letter without needing dinner because “that motherfucker went to Harvard fucking law”—­Jamal had looked him up in the ALA directory—­“and he knows you can’t make legal problems go away just by ignoring them. Time for that piece of shit to put on his big-­boy pants and be a goddamned lawyer.”

The one thing Jamal wouldn’t do was file a lawsuit. “You need a lawyer for that,” he said. “I mean, I can help you with the paperwork, but a paralegal can’t file the suit. And you shouldn’t file your own suit, either. Those guys’ll just hire some blow-dried asshole from a big law firm and they’ll crush you like a cockroach.”

“Well, shit,” Stefon said. But it all made sense. Anyone doing business with Chuy Flores would do business like Chuy Flores—­that is, crooked as hell.

“What you need is a contingency lawyer,” Jamal said. “Someone who’ll take the job for a piece of the action.” Which is how Stefon ended up being represented by Benny Caetani II, son of Benedetto Caetani, who graduated at the top of his Yale class, won a string of spectacular class-­action suits, then got disbarred after someone leaked calls where he admitted moving money from one client trust account into another to cover a shortfall. No one seriously thought that Benedetto was stealing anyone’s money—­he’d had receivables due within a week that let him make the trust account whole—­but he was also clearly guilty.

Equally, no one seriously believed that the high-­powered surveillance that led to Benedetto’s downfall was random. Benedetto had transferred more than a hundred million dollars from the balance sheets of America’s largest, dirtiest corporations—­ poison-­peddling pharma giants, toxic-­waste-­dumping chemical companies, a global chain of botox parlors with some very loose syringes indeed—­and they were gunning for him.

Officially, Benedetto was out of the lawyer game. Unofficially, he was the brains behind Benny, and the two of them ran a squeaky-­clean shop, making sure that everything that an actual lawyer had to do, Benny did—­while Benedetto did ­everything else. Father and son got along well and they were a hell of a team. When Benedetto called me in to audit Inglewood Jams’ books, I jumped at the opportunity. They were a delight to work for.

“They played tough,” Benedetto said, as his minions arranged the bankers’ boxes on the steel kitchen shelves he’d had installed on the long walls of the storefront he’d rented for me to work out of for the month. “At first. Told me they didn’t owe Stefon a dime, and that they’d rather bankrupt themselves in court than pay some broken-­down, washed-­up disco king anything. Told me his problem was with Chuy, not Inglewood Jams.”

“Well, to be fair, that Chuy guy sounds like a class-­A piece of shit.”

“A broke piece of shit. Guy’s got a million-­dollar nose and an empty bank account.”

“So you had to go after Inglewood Jams.”

Benedetto twirled around in his Aeron chair. He’d sent over a pair of them, asking if I needed more, because he had a storage locker full of them that he’d gotten as part of a settlement with a broke Santa Monica crowdsourcing company that stiffed its workers when it folded.

“I did. I went after them. That Gounder lawyer tried to bluff, then when that didn’t work, he tried to dodge service. Which was such a kindergarten move. Plus he was no good at it. Caught him outside the rub-­and-­tug parlor he went to every Friday after work. Handed him the papers. Wore a bodycam. Didn’t mention his wife. Didn’t have to.”

“You think he settled because he didn’t want his wife to find out he was getting hand jobs at a massage parlor?”

“No, he held out awhile after that. But I could see it preying on him, every time I was face-­to-­face with him. Eventually, he musta told his bosses that they were gonna lose, and so they offered a settlement. It was trash. I laughed in his face. He tossed out some better offers, but none of them even in the ballpark of what we would get in court. Finally, I told him to get serious or send his court suit out to the dry cleaner’s. That’s when he offered to make Stefon whole and pay me a little for my trouble on top of things.”

I suppressed a snort. I was sure that a little on top amounted to some real folding money.

“Even then he tried to pull a fast one, told me he’d calculate Stefon’s royalties and send a check the next week. I was like, ‘Hold up, there is no way you’re going to be able to make an honest accounting for Stefon’s royalties in a week. The dude’s samples are in hundreds of songs. The mere fact that you claimed that you could come up with a fair amount in a week tells me you were planning to pull a lowball number out of your ass and pass it off as the audited total, so tell you what, I’m gonna get the best forensic accountant in the state of California to come down here to LA and crawl all over your papers, and you are going to send him everything he needs to do it, or we’re going to court, motherfucker.”

“And he agreed?”

“Hell no. He refused. We went to a preliminary hearing. Judge turned out to be a classic soul fan. It didn’t go well for Gounder or Inglewood. The next day, he was back in my office, and now, well, here we are.”

ETA: Here's part four!

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/2024/02/20/fore/#lawyer-up

[danniswrites]

100 Days On Earth - Deb, Midwife (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1464257047-100-days-on-earth-deb-midwife?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=DannisWrites 

 Earth got First Contact on January 19, 2022. At least, in my science fiction universe! 1st chapters of a lot of stories. The stories that get the most votes will move up on my never-ending list of pending novels. My next story is Ray, Host. [2024 or 2025] So the slot after this one is up for grabs! You, gentle readers, may be the judge of which story you want to see next! I will begin with the first chapter of Adia, One Of Prophecy [just finished and awaiting a final edit next month] and the first chapter of Ray, Host. I will include the first chapters of all my Battle Of The Cubes stories, then work my way through my catalog, uploading on Tue, Thu and Sat at 1 am. See my DannisWrites reading list for my suggested reading order. 

Deb, Midwife Deb, student midwife, dated Greg for five years without knowing he was an extraterrestrial. Adia, another extraterrestrial, knows why he shouldn't go home.

About The Cover Photo by Clay Elliot: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-and-white-house-near-green-grass-field-under-blue-sky-5524205/ Edited in GIMP to make sky lavender and give the landscaping an unreal look. Figures created in DAZ Studio. David Body 50% Mesmerizing Faces & Bodies For Genesis 8 Male Branden Body 25% Eric Body 25% FaceGen Marty Genesis 8.1 Skin David 8 Eyes 5 Genesis Wildmane Hair GoldBlond Wilmap Genesis Tunic Pants Stockings. Wilmap Peasant Shoes for Genesis. FeralFey Bus Stop Poses Is That Our Ride Male Deb Genesis 8 Female Astrid and Cattie faces from FaceGen, I created these. Chill Outfit by [can't find it!] Yarden Hair for Genesis 8 by April YSH. This is a male hair but looks great on Deb! 8:42 PM 23-Jul-24 Sorry these notes are incomplete, but I don't have any on the Deb figure and can't get into my account on DAZ today to look, says I need to delete cookies, which I did, and it still gives a too many redirects message. So I can't find the Chill Outfit to tell you which artist did it. If you know, please comment! Normally, I'd just go into my Product Library on DAZ and look it up. Since I can't do that right now, doing a search on their website comes up with page after page of products, so I just want to get this chapter up. https://www.wattpad.com/1464257047-100-days-on-earth-deb-midwife Deb, Midwife 1st Chapter Published - Jul 23, 2024

[thelenazavaroniarchive]

16th July 2024.

𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟕. In America, The Sun Telegram listed "Bring On The Girls" on it's Sunday television page.

𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟕. The TV Times ran a small piece about Hi! Summer.

𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟕. The Coventry Evening Telegraph had a short piece about Hi! Summer with a photograph of the dancers.

𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟕. the Glasgow Herald mentioned Hi! Summer on the TV page.

𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟕. The Evening Times had a photograph of Lena on it’s TV page.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟖. In Argentina, the newspaper Diario Cronica reviewed / previewed the Golden Sea Swallow contest.

Translation:

Croica Newspaper.

Poland TV Trophy Achievement.

Knokke, Belgium 19 (EFE) - "Follow My Dream", an avant-garde music program presented by Poland, won the "Golden Goletta" Award from the Knokke international television competition. The "Silver Schooner" went to the BBC's show "Lena Zavaroni on Broadway", and Swiss television was awarded "Bronze Schooner" with "Femme". The first participation of the Polish actress in the annual Knokkese musical show competition ends with the triumph thanks to the choreography of Jerzy Leszczynski on an intermediate plot between theater and mime with ballet music. The British program awarded the second prize focuses more on the conventional "show" of songs and dances and features a precocious 14-year-old vedette, Lena Zavaroni.

* Vedette = The main female artist of a show.

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟎. Lena opened the Fletcher Hospital fete, Cromer. photographs by Eastern Counties Newspapers.

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟎. At a London Auction, outfits worn by Lena, Lulu, Marti Caine, and Vera Lynn were offered for sale on behalf of the BBC, and only six of the thirty five were bought.

𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟐. The Fife Free Press reported that The Lena Zavaroni Show would have a week long run at The Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkaldy during September.

[pmcmarty]

Juneteenth, One Way to Commemorate…

What is "Juneteenth" you might be asking yourself?

Juneteenth is a Federal Holiday also called Emancipation Day, Freedom Day or Jubilee Day, Juneteenth is the commemoration of June 19, 1865, the day enslaved African Americans in Galveston, TX, learned that they were free.

For many who are reading this, you may not have a direct connection to the events that happened on June 19th, 1865. “How”, you may ask, “can I help commemorate this new holiday?”

One way to commemorate this is to help the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute address the disparities that many underserved groups, including Black Americans and those of low socioeconomic status, face when battling cancer.

Dr. Christopher Lathan, MD, MS, MPH is the Chief Clinical Access and Equity Officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is leading efforts to address these disparities.

Dr. Lathan leads system-wide efforts to combat structural racism and improve health care outcomes for all patients and communities served by Dana-Farber by implementing new initiatives to reduce disparities in access to care. Dr. Lathan also partners with community and local leaders to address common challenges, such as health equity, social justice, and racism.

From Dr. Lathan's Profile on the Dana-Farber / Harvard Cancer Center site

To help fund Dr. Latham's research at Dana-Farber please consider making a donation.

100% of every donation goes directly to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and supports cancer research & patient care, including the efforts by Dr. Lathan to reduce cancer disparities and broaden access to high-level, quality care for vulnerable populations.

Click here to make $25 donation

Click here to make a $50 donation

Click here to make a $100 donation

Click here to make a $250 donation

Click here to make a $500 donation

Click here to make a $1,000 donation

Click here to make a donation of any other amount

Click here to donate using your Fidelity Donor Advised Fund

Thank you for your support!

Marty Middelmann

My 2024 Fundraising Goal: $12,000

Raised for 2024: $3,877

Number of Donors: 48

Corporate Matches: $350 (Including $100 Pending) 

My Progress Towards that Goal: 32.3%

[bg-sparrow]

Fandom: Back to the Future || Rating: T || Genre: Whump, Angst, Some Humor || Summary: In which Marty finds himself living an outlaw’s life alongside Buford Tannen in the Old West, where danger, death, and disease abound.

whumpril 2024 || day 19 - "i need you."

There’re a lot of ways to say it without saying it.  For Marty, it’s ripping up Buford’s bounty posters and letting him do the talking; the first mug of coffee and the last say; sewing a button, mending a tear (thank you, Home Ec); the desire to prove to himself that some days — just some days — Buford’s morality is a lighter shade of gray than he lets on. For Buford, it’s… complicated.  You don’t survive out here alone, not if you’re smart.  So, you sharpen his razor when you sharpen yours. Hold your tongue; put out fires. Watch his back.