#Data Mining Experts

[bloomingbiz]

AI AGAINST LobbyistS: How to Fight Against Political Bribery and Government Corruption 2024!

May 6  Written By Michael Segaline   Abstract: Bottom Line Up Front: While the frequency of lobbyist donations is increasing, the donation amount is random.   This study investigates the predictability of yearly lobbyist donations using a Random Forest model. The null hypothesis posits that the yearly distribution of lobbyist donations is random and unpredictable, while the alternative…

[softandwigglybones]

Ignore, just rambling

What is a story?

is a question much too big. For anything, really, so allow me to reduce it, if at least by a little bit. So, let me ask you,

Where does a story start? What is the seed from which a story sprouts, the little spark that ignites imagination?

There are, of course, as with most things, many answers to such a broad question, but let's at least see where we can take this.

There are many approaches to creating a story, many of them so specific they only work for the person that came up with that method. Despite that, there are perhaps a few big categories we can define.

Some may say a story begins with the world. A worldbuilder does as they are want to, and starts building a world. A planet the size of an acorn. A land where leaves are made of glass. A realm of change and desire.

Whatever it is they create, eventually, a worldbuilder must move on from the basics upon which the world stands, and start crafting a history.

And it is during this process, I think, a story starts to form. As you whittle out the past of your new world, there'll come a point where you'll think "oh, this is where the story is" and then you'll no longer be merely making a universe for making's sense, but you'll start telling the story of whatever it is you found, be it a person, place, item, or any of a thousand other different things.

Of course, there's an easier way to do just the same. And that is to tell the story not of a world of your own making, but one from the so called real world.

It could be something you've lived yourself, mayhaps something a friend told you once, or maybe a historical event that inspired your artistic self.

But that is only one method.

Others say, that a story begins with the people, the characters that shall play a role within it.

Instead of constructing a world, there people think up a person. And from there, a similar process begins.

Once you have a general idea of this new person, you ask yourself questions such as, What kind of situations would this type find themselves in? What kind of friends would they have? How did they grow up? What are their goals?

And from there, a story quickly unravels itself once again.

Now, I won't deny there are a thousand other ways for a story to form. Maybe you walk through a park and wait to be enlightened. Maybe they come to you in dreams. Hell, maybe you even have a meticulously detailed method through which you go, step by step.

And, lest I forget, oftentimes it isn't just one of these that births a story, but a combination method.

Whilst these are all good and fine techniques all by themselves, there's one I purposefully left out. The one I tend to employ most, consciously or not.

This method being, of course, the situation method. Also perhaps knows as the "what if" method.

This is where you ask yourself a, usually, bizarre question, but instead of letting it lay as the nonsense it is, you seriously consider it.

What if hats held your mind? What if gravity affected you more the older you got? What if there were internet wizards? What if your bones turned squishy? What if grass held human desires and could speak? What if language never developed using sound? What if there was a second, evil, sun?

Those are the sorts of things normally left unpondered. The kind of things you'll never encounter in day to day life. The kind of thing that makes for a good story.

Obviously, I am biased, but all of these methods have their strengths and weaknesses.

...

And my train of thought seems to have just reached its destination, so sorry if this isn't the satisfying ending you wanted.

[imperator-kahlo]

OK what even is happening with the Crows

I’ve just been trawling through the wiki and World of Thedas for a few hours trying to figure out what we (a) know, (b) can guess, (c) can speculate wildly about the inner workings of the Crows during the Dragon age.

(I am by no means an expert on the lore so please let me know where I have wildly missed the mark).

I'm definitely not trying to propose any kind of fanon consensus, where's the fun in that?! Just trying to figure out a timeline that makes sense to me. Possibly also toying around with a pre-canon Rookanis fic.

Loooong and probably insanely disorganised text post under the cut. I should have been in bed hours ago but I am hyperfixating on this and will not sleep until I hit post.

Spoilers, so many spoilers below: Veilguard, Tevinter Nights, The Silent Grove, Origins, Awakenings, the entire franchise basically.

So, a speculative timeline. Events in black are fairly or very well supported by the lore; events in blue are inconsistent/uncertain in the lore; events in purple are guesses that I can sort of back up; events in red are me throwing a dartboard at the wall.

Note: The wiki puts the events of "Eight Little Talons" in 9:44 Dragon, but I can't find any source for that. I would have guessed a little later, but let's roll with 9:44.

Also, I'm pretty unclear on the guildmaster/grandmaster distinction. I'm just going to say 'head of house' for whoever is in charge of a Crow house, or Talon if they're head of one of the eight Talon Houses.

Blessed Age

8:70 Blessed - Caterina born (she's described as well into her 70s during Eight Little Talons and as around 80 in the data-mined character descriptions for Veilguard, so give or take a couple years this seems right).

9:00 to 9:29 Dragon: House Arainai Shenanigans

9:00 Dragon - Antivan civil war, beginning of the "much maligned" Three Queens era (Codex, History of Kirkwall - Chapter 4). Unclear exactly what happens or over what period of time, but seems like the Crows would be in the thick of things.

9:05 - 9:10 - Caterina maybe reaches Talon status (not First, though). Around 8:98 Blessed would be the absolute earliest she could get there given Teia's holds the record (youngest Talon at 28). But I think Teia was at least three or four years younger than any previous Talon so I'd put it somewhere around here, if not a few years later.

9:12 Dragon - Zevran, aged 7, is purchased from a Rialto brothel by House Arainai. The House is led by First Talon Talav Arainai and described as rolling in coin after the "Three Brides" contract - they purchase 17 other slaves that year, including Taliesen (World of Thedas, vol 2, p. 96). I think based purely on vibes that House Arainai is fairly secure in First Talon position and has been there at least a couple years, probably longer.

9:15ish Dragon - Teia born (she's described as 28 in the data-mined descriptions, but she's already a Talon in 'Eight Little Talons', which says she was the youngest ever to reach the rank at age 28. I'm assuming she got there a year or two before the events of the story. See 9:17.

9:16 Dragon - whoops, sometime over the last four years it all went to shit for Talav Arainai! The House dropped to Second Talon, and he was executed in 9:16 after trying to take back the seat of First. Isadora Arainai takes over, and the House hangs on as Second Talon... for now. Rinna joins House Arainai and immediately works well with Zevran and Taliesen under the mentorship of Eoman Arainai (World of Thedas, vol 2, p. 96). This would be the earliest that Caterina could reach First Talon, but I'm not sure I'd put it this early. I think the latest she could possible reach First would be 9:25ish based on my guesses about House Velardo (see below).

9:17 Dragon - Lucanis born (described as 36 in the data-mined character descriptions. I know I threw out those descriptions for Teia, but I think we can be pretty certain Lucanis is mid thirties).

9:17 Dragon - Teia born. I was going back through Eight Little Talons and my initial read was wrong. Teia is 28 during the events of the story.

9:24 Dragon - House Arainai, having the sort of shitty luck they absolutely deserve, falls entirely out of the rank of Talons when Second Talon Isadora dies. They wallow amongst the cuchillos (minor houses) for a few years (World of Thedas, vol 2, p. 96).

9:22 - 9:27 - House Velardo attempts to usurp First Talon from House Dellamorte? The resulting war kills all of Caterina's children and grandchildren, save Lucanis and Illario. My reasoning here is this: Lucanis says he and Illario would have ended up with Caterina to train, but being orphaned sent them to her younger than anticipated. Zevran was purchased at age 7, so we know Crow training, at least for House Arainai slaves, begins very young. Perhaps the non-slave children of influential house leaders start later, but I would guess not much. So I'm assuming they end up with Caterina sometime between ages 5 and 10?

9:25 Dragon - King Maric is thought lost at sea, but is in reality being held by Third Talon Claudio Valisti in a Crow prison on behalf of a Tevinter Magister, Aurielion Titus.

Side note: I had the same reaction to finding out the Crows have a super-fun torture prison as I did to finding out Weisshaupt has dungeons. Just... why? That feels like mission creep? Does the assassin skill set at all overlap with the prison guard skill set?

9:26 - 9:28 - Eoman takes over as head of House Arainai. He eliminates House Ferragani, which was Eighth Talon, thus clearing the way for Arainai to claw its way back into power. Unfortunately, he needs the support of Third Talon Claudio Valisti to take over the position. Valisti wants Rinna Arainai dead (cult / royal bastard reasons) and Eoman tricks Zevran and Taliesen, her lovers, into doing it. This was a very stupid decision (WoT vol 2, p. 96).

9:30 to 9:43 Dragon: Zevran's Revenge

9:30 Dragon - Zevran, depressed and angry about Rinna's death, bids for the contract on the Warden's life. House Arainai is said to have accepted this contract because they believed Loghain to be the best person to defeat the blight (WoT vol 2, p. 96).

Side note: This sort of, if you squint, reconciles the contract on the Warden's life in 9:30 with the memento found in Veilguard that says the Crows had treaties with the Wardens to fight the "next blight". But also they tried to kill the Warden-Commander in Awakenings, too. I guess one could argue a new blight was unlikely so soon but like. Come on, guys. Is your word to the Wardens worth anything or not?

9:31 - 9:34 - If Zevran survived, he comes back from Ferelden with a spring in his step and murder in his heart (and possibly a Warden on his arm) and wreaks absolute havoc on House Arainai. Eoman is first to go, then like half a dozen more of their top people. The House loses Eighth Talon and falls once more into obscurity. The Crows call Zevran (or an unnamed assassin if Zevran is dead) the "Black Shadow" and speculate that he has allies among the cuchillos (WoT vol 2, p. 96).

9:34 - 9:43 - Where the fuck is Zevran?

9:37 Dragon - Corypheus is freed (Legacy DLC). The Venatori will start to be a thing in the next few years, so Lucanis is going to pick up his nickname between now and, say 9:50 Dragon. I'd put it between 9:45 and 9:49 because of vibes (and because he talks about not immediately specialising in mages. Crows get started very young, but I dunno. I see him starting on mages in his mid twenties because, again, vibes.)

9:38 - 9:40 - Events of The Silent Grove (comic - I haven't read it in a while but I'm throwing it in here for complete-ish-ness). Alistair, Varric and Isabela break into the Crow archive and Velabanchel prison (which side note is a totally heinous operation). Isabela kills Claudio Valisti (Third Talon passes to Ezio Valisti). This, for me, raises the question again: Where the fuck is Zevran (sob). Valisti was implicated in Rinna's death, so either Zevran never found out or he couldn't get to Valisti while he was cleaning house.

9:44 Dragon - Ongoing: We're Entering Our Freedom-Fighter Era

9:44 Dragon - The events of 'Eight Little Talons'. Briefly: Caterina calls all the Talons together to plan for the imminent invasion of the Antaam, but a whole bunch of murder happens. Turns out that Fourth Talon Emil Kortez made deal with the Antaam and was trying to wipe out the Crows' leadership. He was killed by the survivors and Viago suggests--correctly, I think--that Caterina will wipe out the whole house.

The following Talons are killed but it seems like their houses will probably retain their status, with somebody else taking over as Talon:

Dante Balazar, Second

Lera Valisti, Third

Giuli Arainai, Eighth (having only just managed to lift that fucking house back up to Talonship, shame lol)

In addition to Caterina, Viago, and Teia, Sixth Talon Nero Bolivar survives, but he um, isn't much help. I would guess that Caterina, in a pretty strong alliance with Viago and Teia and with all the other Talons being new, might fuck his shit up and try to get someone more solid in before the Antaam invade?

9:44 - ongoing - WHERE THE FUCK IS ZEVRAN???? He can't have taken control of any of the eight Talon houses, because he's not at the summit in 'Eight Little Talons'-- and however much he damaged House Arainai, they've clawed back some power by 9:44. Is there a breakaway faction of cuchillo houses that Caterina won't even dignify with an acknowledgment? Is he not interested in any kind of Crow power and is just fucking shit up for them - we can assume House Valisti has had a lock on Third Talon since at least 9:28 (Claudio or Ezio Valisti pop up periodically in this position), and my guess is House de Riva have held Fifth a decent period of time, but as far as I can tell we know nothing about Second, Fourth, Sixth and Seventh Talon Houses in this period. So maybe Zev is toppling houses left, right and centre? Seems like that sort of instability might have changed Caterina's approach in 'Eight Little Talons', though...

9:51 - Lucanis imprisoned in the Ossuary.

9:51 - Antaam invasion of Antiva, starting with Treviso. The Antaam rebellion begins in 9:44 and is ongoing; the failure of Kortez in 9:44 delayed the invasion somewhat. I wouldn't have thought it would delay it this much, but I'm pretty sure that it happened while Lucanis was imprisoned, right? So since we free him in 9:52 after a year in the Ossuary, the invasion must have been delayed until 9:51? Maybe very late 9:50?

"Conclusions"

(I haven't read the comics in a bit and I know there's some Crow stuff that goes down in there beyond the Silent Grove... but as best I recall its just Teia and Viago running into Varric and Harding, and some stuff setting up Solas and the Antaam. Please let me know if I'm mistaken!)

I think it's safe to say the Crows are in chaos for pretty much the entire first half of the Dragon age: Arainai are causing chaos from 9:16 to 9:25, then they pass the torch to Velardo, whose war against House Dellamorte must have lasted a few years if it wiped out almost all of Caterina's family. Zevran is on a murder spree at least between 9:31 and 9:34, and possibly (much) longer depending on your headcanon.

After, at very best, a decade's peace, 9:44 sees the plot to wipe out the Crow leadership, which fails but does kill half the Talons and lead to the elimination of at least one, maybe two of the Talon Houses. Half a decade after that the Antaam invades.

I've been completely on board with the critiques of Veilguard's portrayal of the Crows, but I think writing it all out like this has helped me reconcile things a little bit? This is a deeply chaotic network of feuding families, and no single Talon is going to have the secure political power to make sweeping changes. Which isn't to say the child abuse that was definitely still occuring in Houses Dellamorte and de Riva during Rook and Lucanis' childhoods is just fine. But it makes more sense to me now that Houses Dellamorte, de Riva and Cantori could have wildly different ideas about slavery and torture prisons than, say Houses Arainai and Valisti--and have extremely limited power to shift the culture of competing Houses. Even the First Talon's position is deeply precarious.

Whew. Good night!

(Just realised as I was tagging that I haven't slotted The Wigmaker Job in anywhere. I thiiiiink Viago mentions in 'Eight Little Talons' that Lucanis is currently in Tevinter for a job, maybe a sly reference to Wigmaker? But I cannot possibly get sucked in any deeper, my dog is losing her entire mind at me STILL being at the computer.)

***

Waking up and editing to add: At some point in her time as a Talon (probably First but I guess maybe not?), Caterina wiped out another house so completely that Teia doesn't even recognise the name, Gaspari, when Viago mentions it in 'Eight Little Talons'. Given House Velardo was the one that made a play for First Talon, this is a whole 'nother big intra-Crows conflict that slots in somewhere on this timeline. Caterina is ruthless, y'all.

***

Editing again a few days later to report that I was flicking through WoT and spotted a WHOLE-ASS ENTRY on Claudio Valisti that I’d managed to miss. I was… not happy. I’m begging you BioWare, no more information. I cannot reconcile it.

Anyway. World of Thedas, vol 2, p 44, has Claudio Valisti taking over from his father as Eighth Talon in 9:34, quickly getting the house to Sixth Talon and appearing to be going places. This appears to contradict p. 96 of the same, which has a Third Talon Claudio Valisti helping House Arainai in 9:28, as described above.

I thought very carefully about tearing the page out, burning it, and forgetting I ever knew this particular piece of lore.

Instead I have decided fuck it, we have a father-son pair here. Senior helped out Arainai in 9:28. His house later fell to Eighth (in my incredibly unwieldy and underdeveloped headcanon this is partly because helping Arainai really pissed off Caterina). Claudio Senior dies in 9:34, Claudio Junior inherits. By the time Junior dies to Isabela in 9:38-40 he’s got the house properly back on track, so the loss of a leader doesn’t destabilise them too badly.

Ezio Valisti is Third Talon in 9:41, according to the Winter Palace announcer in Inquisition, and the house still holds the third seat in 9:44.

(Also edited Teia’s birth year from 9:15 to 9:17; I misread Eight Little Talons. She’s 28 during the events of the story.)

[probablyasocialecologist]

First, let’s address the fact that hackers recently accessed the personal data of about 14,000 23andMe customers. Because of how 23andMe works—it has a “DNA Relatives” feature that lets users find people they are probably related to—this breach created 6.9 million “other users” who had data stolen in the breach, according to reporting by TechCrunch. This data included people’s names, birth year, relationships, percentage of DNA shared with other 23andMe users, and ancestry reports.

[...]

Getting your DNA or your loved ones’ DNA sequenced means you are potentially putting people who are related to those people at risk in ways that are easily predictable, but also in ways we cannot yet predict because these databases are still relatively new. I am writing this article right now because of the hack, but my stance on this issue has been the same for years, for reasons outside of the hack. In 2016, I moderated a panel at SXSW called “Is Your Biological Data Safe?,” which was broadly about the privacy implications of companies and other entities creating gigantic databases of people’s genetic code. This panel’s experts included a 23andMe executive as well as an FBI field agent. Everyone on the panel and everyone in the industry agrees that genetic information is potentially very sensitive, and the use of DNA to solve crimes is obviously well established.  At the time, many of the possible dangers of providing your genome to a DNA sequencing company were hypothetical. Since then, many of the hypothetical issues we discussed have become a reality in one way or another. For example, on that panel, we discussed the work of an artist who was turning lost strands of hair, wads of chewing gum, and other found DNA into visual genetic “portraits” of people. Last year, the Edmonton Police Service, using a company called Parabon, used a similar process to create 3D images of crime suspects using DNA from the case. The police had no idea if the portrait they generated actually looked like the suspect they wanted, and the practice is incredibly concerning. To its credit, 23andMe itself has steadfastly resisted law enforcement requests for information, but other large databases of genetic information have been used to solve crimes. Both 23andMe and Ancestry are regularly the recipients of law enforcement requests for data, meaning police do see these companies as potentially valuable data mines. 

[the-reader-insert-gazette]

An Inevitability - F!Reader x Alhaitham

Featured Column - Genshin Impact

They’ve spent years arguing over the meaning of words, but when forced to work together, Reader and Alhaitham realize there’s something between them that defies so-called logic.

✒️ Word Count: 1469 🏷️ Relevant Tags: Academic Rivalry | Rivals to Something More | Intelligence is Attractive | Eventual Fluff(?)

The Sumeru Akademiya was not a place for fools, and yet, it seemed to be full of them.

[Name] had spent years navigating its halls, climbing the ranks of the Haravatat Darshan, where the study of semiotics, ancient texts, and linguistic theory demanded sharp intellect and relentless dedication. She prided herself on her ability to dissect meaning from the most obscure scripts, to uncover the hidden layers beneath language and culture.

And yet, despite all her achievements, there was one mind she could never quite outmaneuver.

Alhaitham.

Their rivalry had begun the moment they both stepped into Haravatat, two sharp-edged intellects constantly clashing over theory, interpretation, and, on occasion, the very philosophy of knowledge itself.

Where she sought meaning in nuance, he dismissed excess interpretation in favor of pure logic. Where she valued historical context, he cut straight to conclusions. Their debates were legendary, filling lecture halls with their relentless arguments, drawing crowds who delighted in watching the verbal sparring of two of the most promising minds in their field.

What had once been an academic rivalry had grown into something far more frustrating when he had been made Acting Grand Sage—a position he neither sought nor particularly seemed to respect. Now, thanks to a research initiative approved by the Akademiya’s higher-ups, she was being forced to work with him.

“This is absurd,” she muttered, arms crossed as she stood before the board members who had just finalized the decision. “Surely you don’t expect me to collaborate with him.”

“On the contrary,” one of the senior scholars said, glancing between them with thinly veiled amusement. “The two of you are the foremost experts in the field of ancient linguistic structures. This research is too valuable to be derailed by personal grievances.”

Alhaitham, standing beside her in perfect silence, finally spoke. “I have no objections.”

Her head snapped toward him. “Oh, of course you don’t.”

He turned slightly, fixing her with that maddeningly calm expression. “Are you incapable of professionalism, [Surname]?”

Her jaw clenched. “I’d rather not waste my time humoring a man who believes efficiency is the same as understanding.”

“And I’d rather not waste mine indulging in intellectual dramatics.” He turned back to the scholars, tone flat. “If there’s nothing else, we’ll begin immediately.”

And just like that, it was decided.

Their assigned research focused on the reconstruction and analysis of a newly uncovered set of pre-Akademiyan texts—fragments of an ancient language that had long been considered lost. It was the kind of research that could redefine their understanding of linguistic evolution in Sumeru. Under any other circumstances, [Name] would have been thrilled to take on such a challenge.

Instead, she spent the first week of their work trying not to throttle him.

Alhaitham approached research as he did everything else—with cold, infuriating efficiency. He dismissed unnecessary conjecture, reducing complex historical texts to raw data, prioritizing logic over deeper interpretation. She, on the other hand, understood that language was not simply a collection of symbols to be deciphered, it was a living thing, shaped by history, culture, and philosophy.

“You’re overcomplicating this,” he said one evening, scanning her notes with barely concealed impatience. “If we strip the text down to its fundamental syntactical patterns, we can reconstruct the missing fragments through probability.”

“If we reduce language to probabilities, we risk losing the meaning behind it,” she shot back. “But I suppose you don’t care about that, as long as the answer fits neatly into your calculations.”

His expression remained impassive. “If meaning is unclear, then it’s irrelevant.”

She let out a sharp breath. “Remind me again why I agreed to this?”

“You didn’t have a choice.” He glanced at her, eyes glinting with something dangerously close to amusement. “But by all means, keep pretending you do.”

Infuriating. Absolutely infuriating.

And yet, as the weeks stretched on, something began to shift.

She noticed it first in the way he read her notes—not dismissively, but with genuine consideration. He still challenged her theories, but he did not discard them outright. Instead, he tested them against his own conclusions, refining them rather than disregarding them.

And then there were the moments in between—the quiet ones, where their debates faded and she caught glimpses of something unexpected.

One night, as they worked late in the candlelit archives, she found herself dozing off mid-sentence. She woke to the sound of paper shifting and, when she looked up, she saw him sliding her notes back into order, adjusting the placement of her ink bottle before continuing his own work without a word.

Another time, during a field study to a remote ruin, they had gotten caught in a sudden sandstorm. Without looking at her, he had handed her his scarf—wordlessly, as if the gesture meant nothing—before continuing on as though it hadn’t happened.

It was in those small moments that the edges of her irritation softened, giving way to something far more dangerous.

By the time their research was nearing completion, she could no longer pretend she hadn’t come to respect him.

One evening, as they finalized their findings, she set down her quill and studied him. “I’ll admit it—I misjudged you.”

He glanced at her, raising a brow. “Only now realizing that?”

She huffed. “And just like that, I regret it.”

His lips twitched, almost a smile.

Silence settled between them, not uncomfortable, but weighted with something unspoken. For the first time in years, she wasn’t sure what to say to him.

Eventually, he set down his own work, meeting her gaze. “You aren’t an easy person to work with,” he said. “But I prefer that over someone who bends too easily.”

[Name] leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms as she regarded him with narrowed eyes. "That almost sounded like praise, Alhaitham. Should I be flattered?"

"That depends on whether or not you require validation." His tone was as dry as ever, but something in his gaze lingered.

She scoffed, but there was no real heat in it.

Instead of responding, he simply returned to his work, methodically adjusting the alignment of his notes, fingers tapping a slow rhythm against the wooden surface of the desk.

Silence stretched between them again, but this time, it was not the tense quiet of unresolved debates. It was something else. Something heavier.

[Name] wasn’t sure when she had stopped thinking of him solely as her academic rival, when their arguments had stopped feeling like a battle to be won and had instead become something… familiar. Something she looked forward to.

She had always assumed he tolerated their back-and-forth with the same detached amusement he seemed to carry toward everything else. But now, watching him, she wasn’t so sure.

And the worst part?

She didn’t hate it.

She reached for her quill, but her fingers brushed against his instead. He paused, looking at her and she knew in that moment that he had noticed it too.

For a fraction of a second, neither of them moved. The candlelight flickered between them, and she could hear the faint rustling of parchment, the distant hum of the Akademiya halls beyond their private little world.

She could pull away. Pretend it didn’t happen. Resume their usual dynamic, as though nothing had changed.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she tilted her head slightly, searching his face for something she couldn’t quite name. "What is this, then?" she asked, her voice quieter than before.

He didn’t answer immediately. Alhaitham was precise in all things, including his words, and she could almost hear the calculations running through his mind.

Finally, he exhaled, shifting his hand away from hers—but not far.

"An inevitability," he said.

[Name] blinked, caught off guard by his choice of words.

"An inevitability?" she repeated, arching a brow. "That’s an awfully fatalistic way to describe it."

He hummed again, almost amused. "Perhaps. But you and I have always been bound to cross paths, haven't we? Whether by rivalry or by… something else."

She should be annoyed at his cryptic response, at his refusal to state anything plainly. And yet, for once, she found that she didn’t want to demand clarity.

Because deep down, she understood.

This was never just about rivalry. Not really.

[Name] sighed, shaking her head as she finally withdrew her hand. “You always find a way to turn a simple truth into something needlessly intricate.”

Alhaitham merely tilted his head slightly, the barest hint of amusement flickering across his face. “That’s assuming anything about us was ever simple to begin with.”

She stilled, her eyes flicking to his in surprise.

A challenge.

Slowly, a smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.

“Fine,” she said. “But if this is inevitable, then let’s see where it leads.”

He inclined his head, accepting the terms of a game they had already been playing for years.

Editor's Note: When part of you're major was in linguistics, it's hard not to ramble. Trust me ya'll I cut down the jargon by a lot to make it an easier read... It was turning a smidge too empirical for my taste.

[mariacallous]

The $10 billion container shipping industry, the one that moves boxes full of everything and anything around global seas, has this phenomenon called “blank sailings.”

To understand the term of art, think of the world-spanning ocean-bound trade economy like a bus system, where several buses—or ships—are making stops along a set route. If the people running the bus system—or the shipping company—realize there’s not enough passenger demand for their bus to run the route in the middle of the day, they’ll cancel one of those circuits. Same with shipping companies: If they realize there aren’t enough bookings to justify a container ship running its standard route, the company will “blank” the sailing, combining the goods that were supposed to be on that ship with those traveling later in the week.

This is normal shipping stuff. But not this month. As the effects of President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on foreign goods—and the trade war they’ve ignited—set in, many shippers who usually send goods across the Pacific Ocean have paused or canceled their shipments. Data from the supply-chain research firm Sea-Intelligence shows that blank sailings to the US’s West Coast spiked 13 percent this week, and is due to jump to 28 percent the week after. The Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest, expects 17 total blank sailings in May, which means the port will lose 224,000 “twenty-foot equivalent units of capacity,” the standard metric used to measure the contents in one container. In total, the port’s data shows, import volumes will be down 31 percent next week compared to the same week last year.

That means a lot of stuff once bound for the US is no longer coming—and an especially lot of that stuff is from China. This is the unusual part. “This is very extreme,” says Simon Heaney, the senior manager of container research at Drewry, a maritime research and advisory firm. “It’s unprecedented in the history of containerization.” The blank sailings, he says, are “an early canary in the coal mine. When you see carriers suspending services, it tells you there isn’t enough demand [for goods], or that freight rates are falling very quickly.”

What does that mean for consumers? Right now, the US government has said that it is negotiating tariff levels with many countries, including China, so the container shipping picture could change quickly as deals are signed or dashed. But at this point, some shortages are baked in. Experts say low-cost retail goods, like toys, are very likely to get more expensive in the US, as fewer ships make it to port and scarcity pushes up prices.

Trump acknowledged as much in a Cabinet meeting this week: “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more,” he said.

But beyond a few weeks, even the tea leaves of the global container shipping industry and its “blank sailing” schedule can’t predict what will happen to global trade. Some of the blank sailings currently being recorded are happening because of economic uncertainty, says Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a professor of maritime business administration who studies port operations at the University of Texas A&M-Galveston. Firms and countries are “delaying until they know what the new rules of the game are. We are setting up the board, we are rolling the dice,” he says. “The rules have changed.” That means that, if deals are made, those goods can come back.

The real global warning sign, experts say, is if shipping companies nix those blank sailings for outright route cancellations. Blank sailings are “a Band-Aid measure,” says Heaney, the researcher. If container shipping companies abort routes altogether, though, it’s a sign that they believe the global economy is seeing lasting structural changes. These cancellations have built up but are not yet widespread, experts say—meaning it’s possible the global trade apparatus could get back on track.

No matter what happens in May, the question marks surrounding the global economy, and what things will cost consumers, will likely linger for months. Drewry, the research firm, has warned shipping clients of two upcoming periods of potential instability.

The first is in late June to July, when the Trump administration will decide whether to reimplement so-called "reciprocal tariffs” levied on individual countries for trade imbalances. Delayed since last month, these specific import tariffs could reach levels exceeding 40 percent, shocking the global supply chain. Between now and then, global manufacturers will scramble to discover whether they can source consumer products including electronics and apparel from countries beyond China. But the idea that other producing countries, including Vietnam and Cambodia, might be able to replace demand for Chinese goods in that period is “fanciful,” says Heaney. If tariff levels go through as planned, “there’s going to be a contraction.” That means prices for consumer goods will likely go up.

The next big timeline question mark comes in October. That month, a new policy from the United States Trade Representative (a government agency in the executive branch) is due to kick in that would add extra fees for Chinese-operated and Chinese-built ships entering US ports. When the rule goes into effect, container shippers will likely have to reconceptualize their entire network, sending Chinese-associated ships to other parts of the world. And finagling a billion-dollar container shipping industry has its downsides, even if they’re temporary. “Whenever you get dramatic network changes, you also get scheduling issues, the network will be suboptimal. That will lead to higher costs,” says Heaney.

Whatever happens, the message is clear: Consumers concerned about rising prices should look to the sea.

[tacoteddy22]

Love Drug

Chapter 2 - Quid Pro Quo

Pairing: Sylus x fem!OC

Featuring: a random intern

Words: 2007

Summary: Valerie repairs Sylus's wound and they banter a bit before showing off their evol powers. He does some very light internet searching on her.

A/N: Updating weekly on Saturday!

C/W: medical talk, some talk of blood and wounds, very minor - I am not a doctor.

Valerie set up the suture kit and numbed Sylus's arm. She began cleaning the wound out, pulling out little pieces of dirt and debris. Sylus sat stone still again and she peeked up over her glasses and saw his eyes were closed.

"You doing alright? This shouldn't take long. Like I said, the wound isn't terribly deep, but it needed to be cleaned out before the infection got too bad."

"Hmm." That was the only response she got.

"So, you said you are the twins' employer? What do you all do for work?" Val tried again to make conversation, but again was met with silence. The beeping monitors was the only sound in the room for a while she worked. She always appreciated how doing sutures slowed her down. The ER was always chaotic and there was always something happening, but some procedures allowed her to reset her mind.

"How did you know what was in the Association report about the Wanderers?" Sylus finally broke the silence.

Valerie looked at him curiously, "Ahh, so now you want me to answer a question. How about you answer mine first and then I will answer yours?"

The corner of his mouth twitched up. "Quid pro quo. Alright. We are in the business management line of work." He was intrigued by this doctor. Her command of the room and her seeming lack of fear for him was refreshing. He was used to more simpering and cowering from people he met and he enjoyed that she had done neither.

She snorted out a laugh, "Sure, and exactly what part of 'business management' means you fist fight Wanderers? You own a boxing club or something?"

"Among several other businesses – a hotel, a fruit stand, a karaoke bar. I've now answered two of your questions, doctor. I reserve my second question for after you answer my first," he drawled out slowly as he listed off his business endeavors.

She smirked at him revealing a deep dimple in her cheek, "A true entrepreneur I see. Well, I got the report directly from the Hunter's Association. I'm part of the medical team that joins the Association on certain missions so I have clearance for some of their reports and other data." Valerie continued to stitch up his arm with expert precision. Sylus noted her dimple and the way her right eyebrow furrowed as she concentrated.

Just then someone came bursting into the room out of breath and pulled the curtain back loudly. He was dressed in oversized scrubs and looked to be barely out of his teen years.

"Oh, Doctor Tatsu, I didn't think you'd be in here doing… doing sutures? Why are you doing this? Do you need me to take over for you?"

Valerie couldn't remember the young intern's name. He was a first year and there were so many that rotated through it would drive her crazy to try and remember them all. This one had solid clinical skills, but his bedside manner needed some work. It was odd she was doing this as a senior resident so she couldn't fault his surprise

"No, I am almost done here, everyone else was busy. What are you doing in here? And please slow down before you come into a patient room." She stopped repairing Sylus's arm and looked at the intern intensely waiting for an answer.

"Um, the OR is ready so I was here to transport the patient," the intern stammered.

"They both need to be brought up. One is injured, but they have a mental link so they both need to be put under. Go grab another intern, both of you read the chart twice, and bring them up together." Valerie waved him off and the intern bolted from the room.

"Sorry about that. These interns are literal children sometimes…where were we? I believe you had a second question you had for me," Valerie stated as she moved her arm as if she were closing the curtain again, but the curtain followed along with her and movement.

Sylus had been taken aback by her work with the Hunter's Association and he was actually grateful for the interruption. It was not an organization he cared to remember even existed - and not just because he was number one on their most wanted list. His mouth had gone dry and his body fought the urge to get up and leave, but that all disappeared as he watched her close the curtain from across the room.

"My my, isn't that interesting. Telekinesis evol?" He relaxed in the chair a little bit and leaned in as his interest and intrigue continued to soar.

"Is that your second question?" She peeked up at him over her eye shield and caught his crimson gaze. He nodded slowly back at her. She set her instruments down hovered her hand above the instruments, Valerie guided them to the correct positioning for the next suture and made them spin around before she grabbed them again and finished the repair manually.

"Not telekinesis, air manipulation. Basically I control the air around things to make them move around, but I can't control the object itself."

"I bet that comes in handy at times," Sylus mused and nodded his head thoughtfully.

Valerie got quiet for a moment before responding softly, "It's been a real life-saver."

Sylus didn't miss the shift in her tone or the words she used and he thought it might be best to shift the attention away from her evol. "I did say quid pro quo so I'll show you what mine can do."

He moved his free hand to hover over his injury and sent black-red mist down to heal the gash Val had been sewing up. She watched as the wound seemed to glow red and repair itself before the mist sputtered out.

"What?! You made me do this whole thing when you could have healed yourself?" Valerie looked up at him with her mouth agape and an annoyed look on her face. He chuckled softly and shook his head.

"You seem more surprised I didn't heal myself more than the fact that I can."

"Well, yeah!" She practically yelled at him, but immediately softened and tilted her head to the side.

"Wait, why didn’t you heal yourself? Your levels get too low?" She looked down and began to study his wound and arm again. "I'm guessing this is an energy evol, which is why it looked like the blood was glowing a little…" She was speaking softly and Sylus was sure she was not talking to him, but he responded anyways.

"Aren't you a clever little kitten? Yes, its part of my evol. Most people wouldn't know that." Sylus stared at her trying to will her to look at him again. She was far more than a simple ER doctor and he needed to know more. "How do you know that?"

She could feel his gaze on her and focused on his arm before her and finishing the repair - each stitch carefully placed to make sure to not leave a scar behind.

"Part of my Association training, but I also took extra courses in med school to learn about each type of Evol. It helps to know what to expect when patients come in with the potential to set the room on fire or I dunno... can heal themselves." That earned her a small laugh and the deep timbre of his voice reverberated through her.

She finished the sutures and cleaned up the area applying the final bandages. "Normally, I tell people to keep them in for two weeks and come back to have them removed, but given your healing factors, you likely will only need them a day or two to make sure the sub layers of skin heal properly. Come back and anyone here can take them out for you." She removed her gloves and cleaned up the used instruments moving with ease. She floated around the room checking monitors and ensuring everything was ready for the twins to be brought up to the operating room. Sylus never took his eyes off her and Val did not seem to notice him tracking her every movement.

"Thank you for this. I would have been fine eventually, but I appreciate the care given," Sylus spoke softly behind Val. His deep voice barely registered above the monitors and other equipment in the room. It took Val by surprise and she turned around to face him and acknowledge his thanks properly. Her breath caught in her throat at the sincerity in his eyes and she let herself drown in the blood red pools for a moment too long.

She shook her head, clearing her vision. "It’s nothing. It's my job, but thank you for saying that. Let me go check on that OR for you," she turned to leave but stopped and turned back to him. "It was nice to meet you, Sylus."

About ten minutes later several people came into the room and took the twins away to the surgical suite in a whirlwind. Doctors spoke to him about what the surgery entailed and what to expect after, but Sylus only heard half of what they said to him. He was distracted waiting for Valerie to come back in, but she never did. Sylus was led to the surgical waiting room, but he quickly left to go to the car another one of his men had recently brought to the hospital. He pulled out his phone and ran a quick search on this fascinating doctor.

Valerie Tatsu, 33 years old

Parents: No listed father, mother is Dianna Tatsu, only child

Medical school at Skyhaven University

Won a large grant for research in biotechnical protocore modification , but rejected the funding when it was revealed the grant funds were provided by Ever Group.

Elemental Class Evol - Air - S level

Those last two pieces of information caught Sylus. The powerful evol mixed with a clear disdain for Ever made for an interesting cocktail. What other secrets did she have to reveal?

He scrolled through her social media and saw her with her co-workers at the staff holiday party from last year. She was holding a glass of champagne and had her head tipped back in laughter. The next set of photos was from a trip to the beach with a few friends. She was laughing in those photos too. He kept scrolling - a birthday party, a day at the park, the New Year's festival, a volunteer day at the hospital. She was always smiling, always laughing.

His phone beeped suddenly and he saw a message on the screen with an update that Keiran's surgery was almost done and provided a room number for the recovery wing. He quickly put his laptop away and strode back into the hospital heading towards the recovery room. He took a detour through the ER and managed to steal a glance at Valerie working on another patient. She glanced up at him at the exact right moment and flashed him a wide dimpled grin- the same one he just saw in her pictures.

He felt it first in his chest, right in the middle of his scar. It was warm and it spread through him similarly to the first few sips of a glass of wine. This warmth, this feeling wasn’t foreign to him, but it was something he had locked away the day she had chosen him, The Colonel. That was four years ago and it still haunted him.

That day, half a soul was ripped from him and the remainder of his own soul was returned in its wake. It felt empty, like an endless void of desire and regret, but this warmth began to seep into that void and awaken a part of him he’d buried deeply after the curse had been broken. But it was a part Sylus wouldn’t be able to keep buried for long no matter how much he wanted to.

[anonymousewrites]

Logos and Pathos (Book 4) Chapter Thirty

TOS! Spock x Empath! Spouse! Reader

Chapter Thirty: Question of Klingons

Summary: A crisis means a change in politics, and not everybody is on baord.

Mouse Note: We're down to one final movie!

            “What are we doing here?” wondered Kirk.

            Everything had been business as usual for quite some time, in space and in the Federation, so to be called into a Starfleet briefing was unusual. Additionally, there were so many higher-ups and experts from various fields of Starfleet that this had to be important.

            “Maybe they’re throwing us a retirement party,” said Bones.

            “That suits me,” said Scotty. “I just bought a boat.”

            “As if you could leave the Enterprise,” said (Y/N).

            “This had better be good,” said Uhura. “I’m supposed to be chairing a seminar at the Academy.”

            “I was hosting a psychic meditation session,” said (Y/N), nodding in understanding.

            “Captain, isn’t this just for top brass?” said Chekov, looking around at the people present at the meeting. (He, too, was top brass, but he would always be the “baby” of the group).

            “If we’re all here, where’s Sulu?” said Bones.

            “Captain Sulu,” reminded Kirk. “On assignment.” He looked around. “Where’s Spock?”

            “Yeah, where’s your pointy-eared husband?” said Bones, looking at (Y/N).

            “He’s doing whatever job has been asked of him at the moment,” said (Y/N). They weren’t particularly worried since Spock hadn’t said he would meet with the rest of the crew. If he had and didn’t show up, then (Y/N) would begin to be concerned.

            “Ahem.” Everyone looked to the stand at the top of the table where a woman, the aide-de-camp, was about to speak. “This briefing is classified,” she said, impressing the importance of that knowledge onto them. “Officers, the C-in-C.”

            Everyone stood as the Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet entered the room. He nodded to them as he stood at the podium.

            “As you were,” said the C-in-C. Everyone sat. “To break this information down succinctly, the Klingon Empire has roughly fifty years of life left to it.”

            Everyone was disciplined enough to remain silent, but the ripples of curiosity, fear, worry, and some joy were clear enough to (Y/N)’s empathic sense.

            The C-in-C continued, “For full details, I’m turning this briefing over to the Federation Special Envoy.” He motioned to the side, and someone else stepped up to the podium.

            Oh, there’s my husband, thought (Y/N).

            The rest of the Enterprise crew stared.

            Spock stood at the podium. “Good morning,” he addressed the meeting room. “Two months ago, a Federation starship monitored an explosion on the Klingon moon Praxis. We believe it was caused by over-mining and insufficient safety precautions. The moon’s decimation means a deadly pollution of their ozone. They will have depleted their supply of oxygen in approximately fifty Earth years.”

            “That’s not any of the data I saw,” sneered a man to someone beside him.

            They should try listening before speaking, thought (Y/N).

            “Due to their enormous military budget, the Klingon economy does not have the resources with which to combat this catastrophe,” continued Spock, calmly delivering the information. “Last month, at the behest of the Vulcan Ambassadors—”

            I wonder how Sarek is doing, thought (Y/N).

            “—I opened a dialogue with Gorkon, Chancellor of the Klingon High Council. He proposes to commence negotiations at once.”

            “Negotiations for what?” demanded Cartwright, sitting on the left of the podium.

            “The dismantling of our space stations and starbases along the Neutral Zone, an end to almost seventy years of unremitting hostility, which the Klingons can no longer afford,” replied Spock.

            (Y/N) raised a brow in surprise. Are we actually moving forward to bring the Klingons into the Federation? It would be a massive change, but it could bring more peace the galaxy…The possibilities were incredible if the bad blood could be overcome.

            “Are we talking about mothballing the Starfleet?” said Cartwright, emotions sharp and aggressive.

            “I’m sure that our exploration and scientific programs would be unaffected, Captain, but—”

            “I must protest,” said Cartwright, interrupting the C-in-C. “To offer the Klingons safe haven within Federation space is suicide. Klingons would become the alien trash of the galaxy.”

            Our issues were over their desire for more conquering and our desire to let planets join together in democracy. That is racism, thought (Y/N), lacing their fingers as they regarded Cartwright carefully.

            “And if we dismantle the fleet, we’d be defenseless before an aggressive species with a foothold on our territory. The opportunity here is to bring them to their knees. Then we’ll be in a far better position to dictate terms,” said Cartwright.

            “Sir,” said Kirk.

            “Captain Kirk?” prompted the C-in-C.

            “The Klingons have never been trustworthy,” said Kirk firmly, though grief floated in his aura. The loss of his son weighed heavy in this moment. “I am forced to agree with Admiral Cartwright. This is a terrifying idea.”

            “I disagree,” said (Y/N) calmly. All eyes landed on them, but (Y/N) remained unfazed. “I believe helping the Klingons is the correct course of action. To begin with, there are innocent children that will suffer if we do not act. No amount of military strategy is worth that.”

            They felt and saw the shifts of discomfort as they called out Cartwright’s harsh stance. Even Kirk, who disliked the Klingons and would forever morn his son, was chastened by (Y/N)’s words. He didn’t want children to suffer. He had kindness still in his heart.

            “And I believe that now is a chance to move forward from decades of tension,” continued (Y/N) firmly. “We should offer an olive branch and show that we are ready to bring peace instead of trying to ‘beat them down’ to dictate terms. That is not what the Federation stands for. It stands for mutual benefit of planets in democracy. To weaken another people when we have the ability to help goes against all that it should stand for. It is time to move forward and demonstrate we are ready to forge a future of friendship instead of the malice that has colored our relations in the past.”

            Spock would never tire of seeing (Y/N) plainly put facts before people (and if he had a chance before the mission began, he was going to show them how attractive he thought them). They knew precisely what needed to be said to sway people more to the side of logic for the future. Continuing the tensions between Klingons and Federation would not serve either people. The future needed change, even if it frightened people to take a chance. It was logical for them to evolve.

            “It is imperative that we act now to support the Gorkon initiative,” said Spock, speaking with the momentum provided by (Y/N)’s speech. “Lest more conservative elements persuade his Empire that it is better to attempt a military solution and die fighting.”

            “You, Captain Kirk, are to be our first olive branch,” said the C-in-C.

            Kirk recoiled slightly, and (Y/N) felt the pricks of his hot anger wash over their arms.

            Not the best choice in terms of emotions unless he works through them… thought (Y/N). They glanced around at the other auras. Though not many are any better.

            “We have volunteered to rendezvous with the Klingon vessel which is bringing Chancellor Gorkon to Earth and to escort him safely through Federation space,” said Spock.

            “Me?” repeated Kirk, still in shock and frustrated.

            “Well, there are Klingons who feel the same way about the peace treaty as yourself and Admiral Cartwright,” said the C-in-C. “But they’ll think twice about attacking the Enterprise under your command.”

            Kirk is quite distinguished, thought (Y/N). As long as he did his job and didn’t incite any incidents—which didn’t happen often but was possible if you looked at their track record—this could go well.

            “I have personally vouched for you in this matter, Captain,” said Spock.

            (Y/N) felt Kirk’s emotions flare hot. Maybe the Klingons aren’t the ones in danger. They winced slightly.

            “You…have personally…vouched?” repeated Kirk slowly.

            “You will extend Chancellor Gorkon full diplomatic courtesy, Captain Kirk,” instructed the C-in-C.

            “But a full ambassador would be better equipped,” suggested Kirk.

            “Captain (L/N) will act as an ambassador due to their empathic qualifications,” said the C-in-C.

            (Y/N) straightened in their chair and nodded. They felt their fellow crew members’ eyes on them.

            “Our full ambassadors are in council here due to this matter.” The C-in-C stood, and the officers followed suit. “If there’s no further business, I wish you and your crew godspeed. Thank you, officers. I remind you this meeting is classified.”

            He turned and walked out of the briefing room. People began to file out of the room as well while the Enterprise crew circled up. However, Cartwright—emotions still wrought with negativity—walked directly to Kirk.

            “I don’t know whether to congratulate you or not, Jim,” said Cartwright. That’s all he said, sending Kirk’s own emotions into more negative directions, before walking off.

            Do we need to antagonize our own anger? thought (Y/N) tiredly.

            “I wouldn’t,” said Bones.

            “Bones,” said (Y/N), leveling a serious look at him, and he cleared his throat.

            “We better get to the ship,” said Bones awkwardly, not wanting to see (Y/N) glaring at him like that. Scotty, Uhura, and Chekov were quick to nod and make their way out. Spock was walking towards them, and they knew he, (Y/N), and Kirk were about to have a row.

            “We volunteered?” questioned Kirk as Spock approached.

            “We are the logical choice,” said Spock.

            “We have experience with negotiations, battle, Klingons, and a host of other things,” pointed out (Y/N). “And, well, we have me.” They were a Celian with a command track. That was invaluable in this situation.

            “How could you vouch for me?” said Kirk, frustration seeping into his done as he looked at his Science Officer. “That’s…arrogant presumption.”

            “You have always been level-headed when needed,” said Spock. He had faith in his captain. “My father requested that I open negotiations, so I suggested the crew with the ability to do so.”

            “I know your father’s the Vulcan Ambassador, but for heaven’s sake, you know how I feel about this,” said Kirk. “They’re animals!” His anger was getting the better of him, and (Y/N) narrowed their eyes in worry.

            “Korrd saved our lives when we were at the center of the galaxy,” said (Y/N).

            “Only because he had been expelled from power and brainwashed by psychic abilities to be nice,” said Kirk.

            (Y/N)’s eyes told of their disappointment in his approach to this.

            “Jim, there’s a historic opportunity here,” said Spock, trying to reason with him.

            “Don’t believe them, don’t trust them!” declared Kirk.

            “They are dying,” said Spock.

            “Let them die!” said Kirk.

            “Jim,” hissed (Y/N).

            But Kirk was too incensed to listen to anyone. “Has it occurred to you that this crew is due to stand down in three months? We’ve done our bit for King and Country.” His anger fell into a deeper sadness. “You should have trusted me.” He turned and walked away.

            Spock looked at (Y/N). “I have made a mistake.”

            (Y/N) shook their head. “You haven’t. This crew is the right crew for the mission. Kirk is just…” They considered. “Change frightens people. We have been at war for decades. We’ve lost people. People are afraid we’ll forget those people or that they didn’t matter if things evolve. But we must change. War is not the future; peace is. Kirk just needs time to process his emotions. He’s a good man.”

            Spock nodded and looked at his wise spouse. “Your words never cease to amaze me, T’hy’la.”

            (Y/N) smiled at him. “Thank you, Spock.” They leaned in and kissed him for a moment. At least they had him through this all. “I love you.” And they felt his reply as his fingers touched theirs.

l

            “Captain on the Bridge,” said a lieutenant formally as Kirk, Spock, (Y/N), and Bones entered the bridge. She even stood, back straight. One look at her appearance and lack of aura, though, said she was Vulcan, and everything made sense.

            “As you were,” said Kirk, waving a hand. “Lieutenant…?”

            “Valeris, sir,” said Valeris. “We were told you needed a helmsman, so I volunteered.”

            “Oh, you’ve mentioned her name,” said (Y/N) to Spock.

            Spock nodded. “She is the first Vulcan to graduate top of the class at the Academy.”

            “Saavik came close, if I remember,” said (Y/N). They had Saavik over for dinner whenever (Y/N) could convince her to stop working (not often, but Saavik seemed soft on Spock and (Y/N), not that anyone would say it, so she would acquiesce occasionally).

            “Indeed,” said Spock.

            “You must be very proud,” said Kirk, nodding to Valeris.

            “I don’t believe so, sir,” said Valeris.

            Bones chuckled in amusement. “She’s a Vulcan, alright.”

            Kirk headed to his chair. “Let’s get this over with.” He sat. “Departure stations.” His friends went to their stations. “Scotty?”

            “Aye, sir?” Scotty replied to the paging.

            “Did you find the engine room?” asked Kirk.

            “Right where I left it, sir,” said Scotty.

            “Standby,” said Kirk. He looked over. “Uhura, get me the dock master.”

            “Control tower reading, sir,” replied Uhura.

            “Control, this is Enterprise, requesting permission to depart,” said Kirk.

            “This is control.” The response arrived promptly. “Enterprise, permission to depart granted. Thirty seconds to port gates.”

            “Clear all moorings,” said Valeris as the Enterprise flew forward slowly.

            “Awaiting port gates from this mark,” said Kirk.

            “All lines cleared,” said the control tower.

            “Aft thrusters,” said Valeris, and the Enterprise moved a bit faster and with more purpose.

            “Thank you,” said Kirk. “Lieutenant, one-quarter impulse power.”

            “Captain, may I remind you that regulations specify thrusters only while in Spacedock?” said Valeris, turning in her chair to face Kirk.

            (Y/N) smiled in amusement and looked at Spock. He shrugged. This was a Vulcan, through and through.

            “You heard the order, Lieutenant,” said Kirk.

            Valeris turned to her controls. “Aye, sir.”

            The Enterprise flew forward out of spacedock and towards millions of stars on impulse power. They were off on a mission of diplomatic importance that could change the very future of the Federation and Klingons forever.

l

            (Y/N) scrunched their hair in the bathroom mirror, looking at themself carefully. They weren’t particularly vain, but they preferred looking good to looking messy, and they felt more confident when they were put-together. Today, they definitely needed that. They would be at the neutral zone soon, and then (Y/N) would have to keep the peace between two peoples who hadn’t gotten along in nearly a century.

            Outside of the bathroom, Spock was speaking with Valeris, who had come to speak with him. Their voices filtered through the door, and (Y/N) listened fairly absently.

            “You’ve done well, Valeris,” said Spock. “As your sponsor at the Academy, I’ve followed your career with satisfaction. And as a Vulcan, you have exceeded my expectations.”

            There was a pause. “I do not understand this representation,” said Valeris.

            “It’s a depiction from ancient Earth mythology,” said Spock. “ ‘The Expulsion from Paradise.’ ”

            (Y/N) knew what they were looking at. It was a painting in their quarters that was of an angel pointing out of Eden and telling Adam and Eve to go. It was interesting to them because the angel looked mournful, sorrowful that the humans had to go. It was a beautiful piece, and they liked having it in their room with Spock.

            “Why keep it in your quarters?” asked Valeris. As a Vulcan, sparseness was typical of her room. These…trinkets were unusual to her.

            “To be a reminder to me that all things end,” said Spock.

            “It is of endings that I wish to speak, sir,” said Valeris.

            She paused, and (Y/N) stopped their movements in the bathroom. There was something in that pause and (Y/N)’s understanding of Vulcans—they weren’t perfect, but they could read them better than others—that spoke volumes.

            “Sir, I address you as a kindred spirit,” said Valeris. “Do you not recognize…that a turning point has been reached in the affairs of the Federation?” Her words came slowly, some measure of doubt in her Vulcan tone.

            “History is replete with turning points, Lieutenant,” said Spock calmly. “You must have faith.”

            “Faith?” repeated Valeris. That was not a common Vulcan idea.

            “That the universe will unfold as it should,” replied Spock.

            (Y/N) smiled warmly at their husband’s words.

            “But is this logical?” said Valeris. “Surely we must—”

            “Logic?” said Spock. “Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end.” He had learned that emotion was also valuable, heart and connection and friendship and love. It was all important, even if one was acted on more often. However, that was for Valeris to learn through experience. Spock could not tell her it; she had to understand it. “This will be my final voyage on board this vessel as a member of her crew.”

            It is… (Y/N) felt their heart ache slightly. They loved this ship, and, yes, they would always have the bonds with their friends from it, but they would miss the Enterprise. Their life was evolving, too.

            “Nature abhors a vacuum,” said Spock. “I intend you to replace me.”

            “I could only succeed you, sir,” said Valeris.

            (Y/N) heard the door of their quarters slide open and close again. Then, they stepped out of the bathroom.

            “So, she’s your choice?” said (Y/N), looking at the door.

            “You disapprove?” Spock wanted his spouse’s insight.

            “No,” said (Y/N), shaking their head. “She simply has much to learn.” They sighed. “And I miss Saavik. Valeris is intelligent, to be sure, but Saavik had skill and a warmth to her.” They chuckled. “Of course, don’t tell her that. But I believe Saavik understood that wisdom is not just logic in a way Valeris does not yet.”

            “She values relationships with others more than Valeris does at the moment,” agreed Spock. “But Valeris has potential.”

            “I’m certain she does,” said (Y/N). “And I can only control my own recommendations for negotiations officer.”

            Spock nodded. “Of course.” However, he appreciated hearing their thoughts since it would help in his future instruction and guidance of Valeris.

            “All officers to the Bridge.” Uhura’s voice came over the comms. “Klingon battle cruiser off the port bow. All officers to the Bridge.”

            (Y/N) straightened. “It’s time to get to work.”

Taglist:

@a-ofzest

@grippleback-galaxy

@genderfluid-anime-goth

@groovy-lady

@im-making-an-effort

@unending-screaming

@h-l-vlovesvintage

@neenieweenie

@keylimeconstellation

@wormwig

@technikerin23

@ilyatan

@nthdarkqueen

@kyalov

@starlit-cass

@rookietrek

@gingertimelord

@snowy-violet

@jaguarthecat

@jac012

[mr-entj]

Mr-entj, you always say to start from the problems we want to solve. But how exactly can we find out what those are and how good we are at doing that?

Related answer:

Career and impact

Look around everywhere and see what catches your interest. Here are a few places to start and questions to ask:

Your immediate environment. Look around you—at your situation, family, neighborhood, socioeconomic class, ethnic group, town, city, and country. What issues are affecting them? What conditions are you living in? How are you treated?

For example, a former classmate of mine, whose family was deeply impacted by the Korean War, went on to study at Harvard and earn her PhD at Oxford. Today, she’s a recognized expert on North Korean human rights issues, publishing and speaking on the topic worldwide (currently a guest lecturer at Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government).

Within society. Check the news, social media, and entertainment channels. What themes keep surfacing? What news headlines are most fascinating or disturbing?

For example, I have a friend who was deeply troubled by corporate environmental abuse, everything from unchecked pollution to unpunished disasters and the growing threat of climate change. She pursued a law degree at Stanford Law School, later led the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and now serves as the Director of Global Climate Strategies for a climate non-profit.

At school and in academia. What research are people working on? What subjects interest you? Which professors are tackling interesting problems and pushing exciting boundaries?

For example, a friend of mine was inspired by her Child Development Psychology professor, who encouraged her to pursue graduate school. With support from that professor, my friend earned a spot in a top PhD program at the University of Michigan. Today, she’s a professor of Child and Adolescent Development in California, researching educational outcomes for first-generation Latino students.

At work. What’s inefficient or frustrating? What tools would make life easier? What solutions are missing that need to be built?

For example, a friend of mine noticed how tedious and frustrating it was to onboard contractors. So, he launched a startup to streamline everything from interviews to payroll. In 2021, he sold that same startup to Workday for $500 million USD.

For me, I'm driven by technological innovations that improve society (Product Management + Strategy) and working to ensure the responsible deployment of that technology to keep the world safe (Trust & Safety). For my wife (the INTJ), her focus is on ensuring technology is used fairly and that personal data isn’t exploited or misused (she's a lawyer that works in data privacy).

You won’t know how good you are at solving problems until you identify your strengths. Then: research, experiment, fail, learn, grow, and repeat. Without data, there are no new insights. Get out there, try something, and come back with real-world feedback.

[professional-ghost-rider]

i adore hearing about people's cod ocs/self inserts!

so here's mine!

Name: Taylor Starling Callsign: Wraith

Her recruitment into Task Force 141 didn't come easy. Nor did getting her to cooperate with the US Government in the first place. She wouldn't be here if prison wasn't the only alternative.

Taylor Starling, expert codebreaker and stealth operative, was arrested for committing treason at the age of 24. The company she worked for went down with her. 23 men and women who'd been doing good work for the country, domestically and abroad, were suddenly behind bars. "Why?" You might ask. For conducting espionage operations with no authority or permission from the United States Government.

Taylor's life had never been easy. Bouncing around juvenile detention centers throughout her teenage years for silly things like petty theft and the occasional infiltration of a classified government data networks. No big deal. But federal prison is a lot different than juvie.

Then Kate Laswell went sniffing around the recently busted operation; found Starling's file. She was given an option: spend the rest of her life locked up...

or join the CIA.

Not surprisingly, the reckless young woman, deciding that she wasn't quite ready to give up on living just yet, chose the latter. Even if it was hard to understand why they wanted her. Laswell explained that they’d never seen such a talented codebreaker and hacker, especially that young. So Taylor went along with it. After all, she was doing the same shit she’d always done, just for a fatter paycheck and without the looming threat of life in federal prison.

Two years of intelligence work later and Taylor is being approached by none other than Captain John Price. He and Laswell have decided that her skills as a stealth operative have been… underutilized. They want her to join some ragtag band of special forces assholes dubbed Task Force 141.

Let’s just say it didn’t take much convincing to get her back out in the field.

aside from general headcanons and x reader content, I’ll most likely be posting more about this crazy lady because I love her dearly. she literally got shot while pregnant once but no big deal.

[sataniccapitalist]

“Queensland’s open-cut coalmines are known to be a major source of methane and experts are worried that official figures could be a gross underestimation of actual emissions.”

[warningsine]

The funniest show on television is Girls5Eva, which transplanted from the backwoods of Peacock to the mires of Netflix for its third season. While a lot of shows have taken off after landing on Netflix — You, for instance — Girls5Eva, from the data available publicly, didn’t get many viewers on the platform. I’m no expert on the mechanics of streaming, but I have one radical explanation for why this is happening: There are simply not enough episodes of Girls5Eva available to watch. On Peacock, the show had two eight-episode seasons. Netflix has given it an additional six. That means that Girls5Eva has aired, in total, only 22 episodes, about the same number as a full-season order of an old-fashioned network sitcom like 30 Rock, to which Meredith Scardino’s series is deeply indebted (Scardino wrote on 30 Rock; Tina Fey is a Girls5Eva executive producer). Over a three-year period? This is simply not enough!

Sitcoms are built for mass production and consumption, with dynamics between characters designed to generate an endless stream of story lines, and it can take a season or two to fully gel. Girls5Eva is lucky enough to have a distinct sensibility and a strong cast from the start, but it hasn’t had the space to work through all the possible material. There’s so much to mine in flashbacks to the girl group’s checkered early-aughts past, in Wickie’s failed solo career, in Summer’s wackadoo Christian upbringing, in Gloria’s fraught lesbian drama, and in Dawn’s attempts to find her own way as a songwriter (plus the larger meta arc of Sara Bareilles coming into her own as a comedic actor). Season three, in which the crew goes on tour around the country, tries to cover so much ground it’s like a distance runner sprinting at her vO2 max. The overarching plot — they want to perform at Radio City Music Hall — encroaches on all the fun along the way, rushing past a guest appearance from Cat Cohen, the reveal of Wickie’s real backstory, and an intricate Harry Styles parody. Sitcoms should be about all the fun everyone is having along the way, and we’ve lost that.

But there is another and perhaps more important reason that we need longer seasons of Girls5Eva: holidays. Network sitcoms, airing on a traditional schedule, have the opportunity to set episodes around the holidays near which they would air; think of the Thanksgiving episodes of Friends, The Office’s Christmas episodes, 30 Rock’s impeccable use of Leap Day. In my ideal universe where Girls5Eva has 22-episode seasons, Netflix would also abandon the binge strategy and air those episodes weekly, but that’s not a necessity. You could still drop them all at once, which gives me the opportunity to revisit the holiday episodes as those holidays occur throughout the year. If you need convincing, here are my suggestions for some holidays the Girls5Eva might celebrate:

Christmas (duh): Dawn tries to write a Christmas song; Wickie reveals a longstanding feud with Mariah Carey (she claims one of the items from her riff rolodex appears in “All I Want for Christmas Is You”; Mariah does not know her).

Thanksgiving: The girls try to book a gig at the Macy’s Parade (as Peacock actually had the stars do, to the confusion of my parents watching at home) while also atoning for their past sins at the event (revealed in flashback).

Valentine’s Day: Gloria revisits a past relationship with Taylor Lautner (she was his dentist).

Tax season: Summer reveals she hasn’t been paying taxes for years (thought you were covered if you already paid your church).

Presidents’ Day: Dawn tries to write a song about Lincoln being sexy, inadvertently offends a gay activist group.

Pride month: Return of Bowen Yang’s lip-sync influencer.

Cuffing season: Big for Gloria.

The Feast of San Gennaro: Big for Dawn (why is the show so all-in on Sara Bareilles being Italian??).

V-E Day: Wickie and Dawn’s husband, Scott, discover their mutual fascination with the Eastern Front: “I spent a lot of time touring post-Soviet states, okay!”

Casimir Pulaski Day: Gloria has beef with Sufjan Stevens.

[notwiselybuttoowell]

Financial speculators are investing in a growing number of lawsuits against governments over environmental laws and other regulations that affect profits, often generating lucrative awards, the Guardian has found.

For a long time, litigation finance thrived primarily in the realm of car crashes and employment claims. “Had an accident that wasn’t your fault?” was the industry’s billboard catchphrase, offering to finance lawsuits in exchange for a cut of any payout.

Now, however, the sector has found a far larger playground: financing massive arbitration lawsuits launched by companies against governments, where claims can stretch to tens of billions of dollars.

These cases come under a little-known area of international law called investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), which allows corporations to sue countries for actions that hurt their profits.

With litigation funders facing no risk of a counterclaim, and potential awards that now average more than $200m (£160m), legal experts warn that the system has become a “gambler’s nirvana” for hedge funds and specialist financiers.

Within the sector, the debate is growing: advocates for third-party funding say it increases access to justice but critics, including arbitrators who rule on cases, are raising concerns that the growth of third-party funding is fuelling expensive and potentially frivolous cases at enormous cost to the public.

A Guardian investigation, which analysed more than 1,400 cases launched against governments, found that ISDS cases have become far more common and lucrative. More than $120bn of public money was awarded to firms through ISDS courts, including at least $84bn to fossil fuel companies and $7.8bn awarded to mining companies.

The true figures are likely to be far higher as companies often do not disclose the size of payouts they receive. The Guardian found that in 31% of cases where a payout or settlement was made, the size of the award was not disclosed.

These cases have become an increasingly popular investment class for hedge funds and other investors, who back the legal action financially in exchange for a share of the final award. The Guardian identified at least 75 ISDS cases backed by third parties, although this too is likely to be a substantial underestimate: many treaties include no obligation to disclose third-party funding of cases, and the largest dispute-resolution body only began demanding disclosure in 2022.

Half of all third-party funded cases were launched by investors from the US, Britain or Canada, and more than 50% were cases relating to fossil fuels or mining. More than three-quarters of cases were against developing countries, according to Guardian analysis of data provided by Jus Mundi, a legal intelligence platform with access to the largest international law and arbitration database.

Examples of third-party funded cases include the Bermudan company South American Silver, whose subsidiary acquired mining concessions in an area of Bolivia mainly inhabited by Indigenous communities. In 2010, the company was accused of polluting sacred spaces and threatening community members, and the Bolivian government revoked the concessions. The government had to pay the mining company $18.7m in compensation.

This year, Burford Capital – the world’s largest litigation-finance company – is backing a case against Greenland for the impact of a uranium mining ban that a mining company argues in effect ended its development of one of the world’s largest rare earth mineral deposits. If Greenland loses the case, it faces either allowing the mining to go ahead or paying as much as $11.5bn in compensation.

Concerns are increasingly being raised by those who work within the ISDS system, including arbitrators who adjudicate cases.

Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah, an international lawyer and ISDS arbitrator, believes third-party funding has made ISDS into “big business”. He said it was likely that there were more claims being brought, because the risk of losing the claim “vanishes” for the claimant: “So it would mean that the respondent states – most of which are developing countries – would have to face the cost of defending potentially frivolous claims that are brought with third-party funding.”

[thoughtlessarse]

Donald Trump has never been mistaken for an environmentalist, having long called the climate crisis a “giant hoax” and repeatedly lauding the supposed virtues of fossil fuels. But the US president’s onslaught upon the natural world in this administration’s first 100 days has surprised even those who closely charted his first term, in which he rolled back environmental rules and tore the US from the Paris climate agreement. This time, the mantra “drill, baby, drill” has been used to justify a hyperactive series of actions to reverse rules designed to protect clean air and water, open up vast tracts of land, ocean and even the seabed to mining, fire federal scientists en masse and downgrade the federal response to the disasters that stem from a warming world. Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is attempting to roll back toxic regulations that were calculated to save an estimated 200,000 Americans’ lives in the years ahead, his Department of the Interior is looking to shrink national monuments and his scientific agencies are degrading the basic data collection required for climate assessments and even weather forecasts. This burst of activity faces a barrage of legal action, with the courts already taking a dim view of the administration’s attempts to skirt usual practice in its haste to deregulate. Even with a rightwing-dominated supreme court, many of these executive orders are expected to founder. However, the US must accelerate efforts to cut emissions if climate goals are to be met, half of Americans still have to endure unsafe air and endangered species and public lands face pressure from a changing climate. The next few years will see little remedy to these growing problems from the White House. “The pace of announcements may slow at some point but the pressure on our regulatory system and our democracy will not only continue, but ramp up,” said Michael Burger, a climate law expert at Columbia University. -“The result will be fewer environmental protections and more people suffering the public health consequences of more pollution. It’s that straightforward.” Oliver Milman

continue reading

[fayamn-moonlit]

Hey ! I guess you already have so much of these questions but we can't have enough details from you... How do you envision a stuffing session for days long ? Would you rather watch your feedee stuffing their face by themself or systematically tie their hands so you can force all the food you want to their gut ? Would you slowly increase the amount of food fed to your pet each day passing, or directly stuff them to the brim for your hands to enjoy their expanded gut ? While the feedee is gorging and/or starts feeling full, what do you do ? Kiss them, toy with their full and aching belly, anything else? Would you tie your pet all day long to feed them and release them only for them to go to the bed (and maybe keep feeding them there) or make pauses ? If pauses, what would you do ? Hang out with them to, say, cinema or wherever you can think at home, watch series/movies, play video games ? Or something more sensual ? Would you use your feedee's weakness, when they're too full to barely move, for anything that would please you ? (of course you have their consent) If you had more intimate fun with your feedee between two sessions, would you keep being the dominant one or switch ? And what would you have in mind? And finally, if you sleep with your feedee : would you rather sleep in their arms or the opposite ? Many questions, eh ? Well...You're so good at writing stories that we would love to read about your very vision of a great session under your expert hands...

That's a bunch of questions indeed. I'll be short on answers. CONSENT IS ASSUMED IN ALL ANSWERS.

How do you envision a stuffing session for days long ?

Big meals on meal time, indoor activity in between with snacking included, sleep on a regular scedule. Lots. of. cuddles. And more if that feedee's my partner for sure.

Would you rather watch your feedee stuffing their face by themself or systematically tie their hands so you can force all the food you want to their gut ?

Truly, any, if one was erased from the universe and I only keep one, I'm keeping force feeding.

Would you slowly increase the amount of food fed to your pet each day passing, or directly stuff them to the brim for your hands to enjoy their expanded gut ?

First option. Rather have a slow addiction to food built up until they beg for my rough feeding.

While the feedee is gorging and/or starts feeling full, what do you do ? Kiss them, toy with their full and aching belly, anything else?

Kissing. Light biting. Lots of touching. The more defiant and confident they are, the more teasy and mean I'll get. Talk back I'll shut you up with more food. They're mine and they get to know it. A lot.

Would you tie your pet all day long to feed them and release them only for them to go to the bed (and maybe keep feeding them there) or make pauses ? If pauses, what would you do ? Hang out with them to, say, cinema or wherever you can think at home, watch series/movies, play video games ? Or something more sensual ?

Endless is a nice concept, but nah, pauses. Anything goes, to the feedee hobbies and needs. Just has snacks in for continuous caloric intake. From casual stroll to absolute fun time home.

Would you use your feedee's weakness, when they're too full to barely move, for anything that would please you ? (of course you have their consent)

Yes. If you're at my mercy I'm using you as much as I like.

If you had more intimate fun with your feedee between two sessions, would you keep being the dominant one or switch ? And what would you have in mind?

Up to the feedee. Truly no preference here.

And finally, if you sleep with your feedee : would you rather sleep in their arms or the opposite ?

Any as of now. I'll come back to that when I'll get more data on it. And yeah I wanna sleep with fatty I collect plushies I want the biggest one in my bed.

Merry Christmas.

[mariacallous]

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to eliminate long-standing requirements for polluters to collect and report their emissions of the heat-trapping gases that cause climate change. The move, ordered by a Trump appointee, would affect thousands of industrial facilities across the country, including oil refineries, power plants and coal mines as well as those that make petrochemicals, cement, glass, iron and steel, according to documents reviewed by ProPublica.

The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program documents the amount of carbon dioxide, methane and other climate-warming gases emitted by individual facilities. The data, which is publicly available, guides policy decisions and constitutes a significant portion of the information the government submits to the international body that tallies global greenhouse gas pollution. Losing the data will make it harder to know how much climate-warming gas an economic sector or factory is emitting and to track those emissions over time. This granularity allows for accountability, experts say; the government can’t curb the country’s emissions without knowing where they are coming from.

“This would reduce the detail and accuracy of U.S. reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, when most countries are trying to improve their reporting,” said Michael Gillenwater, executive director of the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute. “This would also make it harder for climate policy to happen down the road.”

The program has been collecting emissions data since at least 2010. Roughly 8,000 facilities a year now report their emissions to the program. EPA officials have asked program staff to draft a rule that will drastically reduce data collection. Under the new rule, its reporting requirements would only apply to about 2,300 facilities in certain sectors of the oil and gas industry.

Climate experts expressed shock and dismay about the apparent decision to stop collecting most information on our country’s greenhouse gas emissions. “It would be a bit like unplugging the equipment that monitors the vital signs of a patient that is critically ill,” said Edward Maibach, a professor at George Mason University. “How in the world can we possibly manage this incredible threat to America’s well-being and humanity’s well-being if we’re not actually monitoring what we’re doing to exacerbate the problem?”

The EPA did not address questions from ProPublica about the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. Instead, the agency provided an emailed statement affirming the Trump administration’s commitment to “clean air, land, and water for EVERY American.”