#WWW: Best Bosses

[wowieweirdwarlock]

Best Bosses: The Mistress of Midnight Teeth.

Source: Tome of Beasts 2

Image Source: Tome of Beasts 2, pg. 147.

“The elegant gnomish noblewoman smiles, flashing dazzling white teeth in contrast to her rich blue hair, and moves with fluid grace past a mirror. As she passes the mirror, her reflection briefly shows old blood caked on her face.”

Phylomara Gladrienne, mistress of the Court of Midnight Teeth, is one of the most influential of the shadow archfey. She appears as a refined gnome, bedecked in fashions such as fine silk and jewels that always compliment her inky blue hair. She loves styling her hair very elaborately, and insists on never appearing with the same style twice.

Mistress of The Blue Barbers. The Mistress’ gnome courtiers in her home also serve her as agents abroad. Known as the Blue Barbers, they are defined by their blue hair and desire to bring style into the lives of all they meet. They are polite and social, offering services as decorators, artists, information brokers, and stylists of all varieties.

Hungry for secrets. The main reason Blue Barbers are so gregarious is due to their Mistress’ endless hunger for secrets. She is desperate for gossip and interesting facts, and ever-eager to learn information regarding unique and interesting individuals. She is particularly stealthy, using her knowledge of darkness and manipulation of shadows to manipulate people from behind the scenes of her decadent parties.

Ravenous for Flesh. Beneath the Mistress’ facade of style and politeness, her darker side reveals itself in too-sharp teeth and strange reflection. She is always hungry, and her court constantly works to bring her fresh meat to devour. Any and all who cross the Mistress of Midnight Teeth discover that her hunger is something formidable, endless, and evil.

Knowledgeable Hostess. The parties and banquets the Mistress throws are well-renowned for their decadence, with Fey and other beings flocking to her dappled gardens to partake in strange games of intrigue and gossip. Those looking to earn the Mistress’ favour would do well to attend such a party and engage with her court, for she is very knowledgeable about a wide variety of topics. Those seeking her wisdom must be prepared to trade their own secrets in return, or at least a bit of flesh.

The Mistress’s Lair:

The Mistress makes her home in the Court of Midnight Teeth, a massive marble and silver mansion in the Plane of Shadow. Gilded mirrors hang on every wall to reflect the stylish Blue Barbers wandering about, each attended to by hosts of goblin house servants.

Within her home, the Mistress is all but immune to damage, as she can shunt injuries off to her reflections in the surrounding mirrors. As she stalks her halls, she often stops to consult her imperfect replicas in every mirror— her reflections are monstrous and often covered in bruises or cuts, revealing the Mistress’ darker personality within.

In addition to using her reflections defensively, the Mistress has other uses for her glittering copies. Her Reflections appear in every reflective surface near her, including puddles or metal, which she can cause to reach out to attack nearby creatures. She can also step into any reflective surface, walking through them similarly to portals to appear somewhere else.

Along with manipulating her reflections, the Mistress also has control over the darkness in her realm, and is capable of casting the area into a sphere of gloom in order to make it more difficult to navigate her halls.

While within her home, beings experience strange effects. Humanoids wake up every day intensely hungry, experiencing unknown cravings that cannot be satiated unless at the Mistress’ dining table. Reflections within three miles of Her lair move of their own accord when unobserved.

The Mistress may scry the location of any being in her home by casting her sight through a mirror, and can extend this ability to any mirror near one of her Blue Barber servants, quite literally giving her eyes and ears across the multiverse.

Ideas for using the Mistress of Midnight Teeth in your campaign:

A charismatic, blue-haired gnome appears to the party, offering them an invitation to one of their Mistress’ exquisite banquets. After they arrive and enjoy Her hospitality, the Mistress informs them they may not leave until sharing a few secrets with her. If they don’t, she is perfectly happy bringing them to her next party… as the main course!

The party needs information, be it a secret regarding an enemy or the location of an ancient treasure. They must meet with the Mistress of Midnight Teeth in order to get the information out of her, and must sneak past her small army of Blue Butlers who are constantly on the lookout for those without an invitation.

Another Archfey is looking to get back at the Mistress for exposing one of their secrets, and has enlisted the party to aid them. They must go to her annual birthday banquet and steal the main course, replacing it with something vile covered by an illusion. When the party gets there, they discover the main course isn’t what they expected— it is a group of humans, who they now are responsible for getting out safely.

I believe the Mistress and I, were it not for her garish appetites, would get along swimmingly. We both have quite the desire for knowledge, and I’d love to wrack her brain for secrets regarding some hard-to-reach lore.

Of course, I don’t believe the price I’d have to pay to access that knowledge would be quite worth it.

As fun as her events are, and as useful as she is, the Mistress only ever looks out for her own needs, and only ever wants two things: Fresh gossip and fresh meat.

- A Weird Warlock.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Private equity rips off its investors, too

I'm coming to DEFCON! TOMORROW (Aug 9), I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On SATURDAY (Aug 10), I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

It's amazing how many of the scams that have devastated our economy and everyday people owe their success to the fact that we assume that rich people know what they're doing, so if they're doing something, it must be real.

Think of how many people lost everything by gambling on junk bonds, exotic mortgage derivatives, cryptocurrency and web3, because they saw that the largest financial institutions in the world were going all-in on these weird, incomprehensible bets.

Then there are the people who are convinced that online advertising is built around a mind-control ray, because tech companies claim that's what they have ("I am an evil dopamine-loop-hacking wizard and I can sell anything to anyone!"), and because huge, sober blue-chip companies hand billions to these soi dissant svengalis. Sure, online ads are a swamp of clickfraud and garbage, but would these super smart captains of industry spend so much on online advertising if it didn't work super-well?

http://pluralistic.net/HowToDestroySurveillanceCapitalism

From our worms'-eye-view here on the ground, it's easy to assume that rich people and the people who sell them stuff are all on the same side. "If you're not paying for the product, you're the product," right? If Facebook is tormenting you with surveillance advertising, it must be doing so on behalf of the surveillance advertisers, for whom Mark Zuckerberg has bottomless reservoirs of honest, forthright impulses.

The reality is simultaneously weirder, and obvious in hindsight. The reason Zuck is tormenting you is that he's a remorseless sociopath who doesn't care who he hurts. He rips off everyone he can rip off, and that includes advertisers, who have seen steady price-hikes and lower-fidelity targeting, even as ad-fraud has skyrocketed while Facebook draws down its anti-fraud spending:

https://www.404media.co/where-facebooks-ai-slop-comes-from/

This is not to say that Facebook advertisers have your best interests at heart, that they aren't engaged in active deception in order to better themselves at your expense. Rather, it's to say that there's no honor among thieves, and Zuck is an equal-opportunity predator. Moreover, both Zuck and his advertisers are credulous dolts, so the mere fact that they are pouring money into something (advertisers: FB ads; Zuck: metaverse) it doesn't follow that these are real or important or the coming thing.

For me, the Ur-example of "rich people are dumb, even when it comes to money" is the private equity sector. I've written a lot about PE, and how destructive it is to the real economy, from Toys R Us to pet grooming:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/05/rugged-individuals/#misleading-by-analogy

How they killed Red Lobster:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/23/spineless/#invertebrates

And how they actually created the death panels that Sarah Palin warned us about (it's OK, though: these death panels are run by the efficient private sector, not government bureaucrats):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS

The devastating effect of private equity on the real economy is increasingly well understood, and a curious side-effect of this is that people assume that if PE is destroying their lives, they must be doing so on behalf of their investors, who are making bank.

But – like Zuck – PE bosses are just as happy to steal from their investors as they are to to steal from the workers and customers of the businesses they acquire on those investors' behalf. They swaddle this theft in performative complexity and specialized jargon, but when you strip all that away, you find more fraud.

All the misery that PE inflicts on workers, communities and customers are just a convincer in a Big Store con, a bid to make the scam seem credible. For a certain kind of investor, any economic activity that destroys communities and workers' livelihoods must be a good bet. This is the dynamic at work in the pitch of AI image-generator companies, who spend tens of billions on technology that there is no substantial market for:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/25/accountability-sinks/#work-harder-not-smarter

AI image generators represent a high-profile, extremely visible example of "a job that AI can do." Nevermind that AI illustration went from a novelty to a tired cliche in less than a year. Even if you think that AI illustrations are a perfect substitute for commercial illustrations, that still won't come anywhere near making AI companies a profit. Add up the entire wage bill for every commercial illustrator in the world, hand it to Open AI, and you're not even gonna cover the kombucha budget for Open AI's staff kitchens.

Hell, all the wages of every commercial illustrator that ever lived won't pay back even a fraction of the money the AI companies spent on image generators. The pauperization of an entire class of creative workers is just a canned demo, a way to fool investors into thinking that there is a whole universe of similarly situated workers whose wages can be diverted to AI companies. This is the logic of small-time spammers, scaled up to the scale of the entire S&P 500. Smalltime spammers looked at AI and thought, "OK, I can generate as much botshit as I want on demand for free. Science fiction magazines pay $0.10/word. So if I generate a billion words, I'll get $100 million." But that's not how any of that works: sf magazines don't buy botshit, and even if they did, the entire market for short fiction adds up to what Sam Altman spends on a single designer t-shirt. The point of destroying these beloved, useful things isn't to make a lot of money by taking their markets – it's to convince dopey, panicked rich people to give you lots of money you can steal, because they think you can do this to every market and they don't want to miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-brainworms/#four-hour-work-week

Take "divi recaps": after a private equity firm acquires a company (by borrowing money against its assets), it typically declares a "special dividend," emptying out the company's cash reserves and pocketing them. A "divi recap" is when PE then takes out another massive loan against the company's (remaining) assets and pockets that:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/17/divi-recaps/#graebers-ghost

All of this happens under an opaque cloud, thanks to the light-to-nonexistent disclosure rules for PE. A public company has to open its books for the SEC, its investors, and the world. PE is private – and so are its finances. It is absolutely routine for PE bosses to put their spouses, kids, and pals on the payroll and hand them millions for doing little to nothing, all at the expense of their investors:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/sec-set-to-lower-massive-boom-on-private-equity-industry.html

PE bosses charge huge fees to their investors – not merely the usual 2-and-20 (2% of the funds under management and 20% of any profits) – but also a wide variety of special one-off fees that pile to the sky. They also dip into their investors' funds to issue themselves massive loans that they use to make side-bets, without telling the investors about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/10/monopoly-begets-monopoly/#gary-gensler

PE investors are chickens ripe for the plucking: take "continuation funds," which allow PE bosses to soak the rich people and pension funds who supply them with billions:

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/mergers-and-acquisitions/matt-levines-money-stuff-buyout-funds-buy-from-themselves

Remember 2-and-20? 2% of all the money you manage, every year, and 20% of all the profits. You'd think that these would be somewhat zero sum, right? If you use some of your investors' cash to buy a company, and then sell off that company for a profit, you get the 20%, but now the pot of money you're managing has gone down by the amount you used to buy the company, and so your 2% carry goes down, too.

But what if you sell your portfolio companies to yourself, using your investors' own money? When you do that, you continue to hold the company on your PE firm's books, meaning you continue to get the 2% carry, and you can pocket 20% of the sale price as a "profit":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/20/continuation-fraud/#buyout-groups

This is straight-up fraud, wrapped up in so much jargon that it can successfully masquerade as "financial engineering" ("financial engineering" is really just a euphemism for "fraud"). PE bosses keep coming up with new, exotic ways to steal from their investors. The latest scam is "tax receivable agreements":

https://archive.ph/RczJ9

On its face, this is a tax scam. When a company goes public, early investors generally hold stock in the original partnership or LLC; this company ends up holding a ton of shares in the new, public company. When they sell those non-public shares in the LLC, this creates a (potentially gigantic) tax credit.

A TRA hustle involves tracking down these LLC shareholders and convincing them to sign off on dumping the LLC's shares, which generates a huge tax credit for the public company. The hustler offers to split these credits with the LLC holders.

All of this is especially attractive to PE bosses, who often take a company private, do a bunch of "financial engineering" and then take it public again, leaving the PE firm as the owner of those LLC shares that can be converted to a TRA and a huge windfall – which the PE bosses pocket, because they (not their investors) are holding those credits.

This scam is really doing big numbers. KKR – the monsters who killed Toys R Us – just diverted $650 million in TRA loot, prompting a lawsuit from Steamfitters union pension fund, which had handed these jerks millions of its members' money to gamble with:

https://archive.ph/kqQvI

This highlights another very weird aspect of the PE scam: they are absolutely dependent on pension funds. To add insult to injury, PE funds are notorious union-busters – they use union money to buy companies and destroy their unions:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/05/mr-gotcha/#no-ethical-consumption-under-capitalism

People who try to understand the PE business model often give up, because it seems to make no sense, leading many to assume that they're too unsophisticated to grasp the complex financials here. For example, PE is absolutely dependent on massive loans as a way of looting its businesses, but it also often defaults on those loans. Why do banks and investors keep making huge loans to PE deadbeats? Because – like the PE fund investors – they are credulous dolts.

The reason PE seems like a scam is that it is a scam. It is a fractal scam – every part of it is a scam. You might have heard about the "carried interest" tax loophole that allows PE bosses to avoid billions in taxes on the money they steal from their investors, creditors, workers and customers. Most people assume "carried interest" has something to do with "interest" on a loan. Nope: "carried interest" is a 16th century nautical tax rule designed for mercantalist sea-captains who had an "interest" in the cargo they "carried":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/29/writers-must-be-paid/#carried-interest

But rich people and other "sophisticated investors" (like pension fund investment managers) are no smarter than the rest of us. They are herd animals. When they see other rich people piling into some scheme or asset class, they rush to join them, which makes the asset price go up, which makes them think they're smart (until the inevitable rug-pull). When one plute jumps off the Empire State Building, the rest of them jump, too.

Which is why there's more money flooding into PE than at any time in history, $2.62T in "dry powder," handed over to greedy, thieving PE bosses in a poker game where everyone is the sucker at the table:

https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2di1vzgjcmzovkcea8f0g/portfolio/private-equitys-dry-powder-mountain-reaches-record-height

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/2024/08/08/sucker-at-the-table/#clucks-definance

[lol-jackles]

What do you think about this news about Dan Lin? www*hollywoodreporter*com/business/business-news/dan-lin-to-replace-scott-stuber-netflix-film-boss-1235836814/

Great for him, it's one of the most coveted spots in Hollywood. His predecessor got A-listers like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorses to making movies for Netflix, I think Lin will be able to deliver similar calibers since he came up through Warner Studios where most of the best movies and shows are made so he knows what he's doing.

[ultraericthered]

The Lost Potential Of Dr. Regal & Nebula

I've got some thoughts to spare regarding this guy:

Dr. Regal, leader of the Nebula netcrime syndicate and Big Bad in both the Megaman Battle Network 4 and Battle Network 5 games. Regarded as the weak link among the main villains in the series, far weaker a Big Bad than his father Dr. Wily, and would be considered about as solid a Big Bad as Sean from BN2 at best were it only not for his horrid showing in BN4. While almost a total waste in the games, he was made into a far more effective villain in the anime and manga adaptations (both titled Megaman NT Warrior in the west.)

I've talked about that before, but I believe that while Regal himself got rescued from evil mediocrity by the adaptations, Regal as the son of Dr. Wily and Regal as the leader of Nebula never quite reached his full potential anywhere in the franchise. For sure the anime handled the former better than the games and the manga handled the latter better than the games, but neither got it down definitively.

In BN4, Regal drops the bombshell that Wily is his father completely out of nowhere during his nonsensical moral relativity ramble at the end of the main story, literally seconds before he drops himself to his apparent demise. Obviously that's some shit writing, but BN5, to its credit, tried to salvage the idea and make something of it by having Regal and Yuichiro play off each other, with their plot all about Regal trying to finish work that was begun by both of their genius fathers, Dr. Hikari/Light and Dr. Wily respectively, only Regal sought to abuse that work in service of his own crazy scheme for world destruction. But then the game kind of sabotages that by bringing in Wily himself at the climax, with only the Colonel Version actually giving you the full scene and showing that it's even him. There is no substantial interaction between the father and son before the former breaks the latter's mind and erases his memories. Regal becomes a goodie who joins Yuichiro's research team, and then in BN6 Wily's the Big Bad once again and Regal never shows up and is never talked about.

So I can see why the anime had Regal as one of Wily's adopted children and the manga left their connection untouched. Like if you weren't going to make much use of him being Wily's son by blood, then what's even the point of going in that direction to start with?

But the problem with Nebula might be more galling to me personally. This is what "Nebula" is named for, what Regal plans to unleash:

Nebula Gray is a malicious software program made entirely of Dark Power, embodying all the darkness within the human soul, with the power to amplify a person's darkest emotions, form for them dark thoughts, and feed their darkest impulses, even giving them tangible form. The power from it in its base form serves as the core source of the Dark Power that goes into the making of Nebula's Dark Chips. The manga takes it a step further by saying that Nebula Gray is the digitally generated vessel for an eldritch god of darkness and destruction who sourced all Dark Power. Holy shit, that is EPIC.

Didn't feel all that epic in the game, though! And honestly, that's not on Nebula Gray itself - it services as a final boss just fine. I realized that the real problem here was with the Nebula syndicate. They did not work in a way that properly built towards the threat of Nebula Gray. And unlike all iterations of WWW or Gospel from BN2, there are no notable, named, fully designed humans in Nebula aside from Dr. Regal himself. Everyone else are generic masked Mooks.

As for the “Darkloid” programs that serve the syndicates, both BN4 and BN5 put together only give us these six:

They're alright, but Laserman.EXE (Regal's personal Navi) is only present in BN4, three of them are only present in BN5, and Dark Megaman is like Negaduck in being technically two different entities.

Personally, I think these programs from the BN4-BN6 trilogy that were not affiliated with Nebula should've been Nebula Darkloida:

I feel like this would round out Nebula's Darkloids to give them a far more distinct identity. WWW had a varied lot of minion programs, while Gospel was more distinctly mechanical/metallic in their programs aesthetics. Nebula, given what it's named for and sought to unleash upon the net, should've been full horror/monster-based. I mean, it's already kind of there with the killer android, the bat-winged vampire, the dark storm genie, the abominable snowball man, the alien being, and the evil Megaman clone. Even Regal himself, as I've noted, is like Victor Frankenstein crossed with Vlad Tepes/Count Dracula. Adding some more creepy, wierd looking programs to the mix, including a literal Frankenstein's Monstrosity in Junkman.EXE, would've helped to really push and solidify that vibe.

As for the lack of human operators? I think the approach to that needed to be something along the lines of what another despicably monstrous evil scientist, one Akihiro Kurata, did in Digimon Savers with his Bio-Hybrid minions. The human operators would be unseen because they'd be directly synchronized with the Darkloids, with the Dark Chip serving as a medium between the boosted powers of the Darkloids and the soul of the human connected/merged with their programs. Not only is this extra fiendish for corrupting humans with Dark Power and really leaning more into the drug/substance abuse angle of the Dark Chips, but in creating a dilemma where if Megaman deletes any of these Darkloids he could risk killing a human being. And that in addition to what Dark Power does to programs and how Nebula gladly has programs sacrificed as cannon fodder would make the syndicate as strong as Gospel in terms of being a scary threat.

Also, Regal could've afforded to be more like his anime incarnation because that Regal was fucking GOATed in what a menace he was.

[fictionkinfessions]

Waving back to all the Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel fictives! It's your Queen Bee. It's really great being here and I got Angel Dust with me too! I hope all of you are having a good time out there - 🐝💕

Hello, too! And I really hope my friends from the hotel are okay too. To the Husk I saw not too long ago - and I know there's definitely more than one Alastor somewhere - I'm doing great. Thought I'd leave updates, but I'm safe, system is great. I'm.... well, clean, completely. Can't say I don't enjoy going a little crazy from time to time but nothing nuts. www This is a safe system and I can do... so much more than I could before. Ain't no heaven that's for sure but, turns out I don't need it to be feeling comfortable and safe. Thanks though, Charlie, you're still the best of all of us. - Angel Dust(I'm also the Kaeya from before who kinned Angel Dust)

x

[90210usa]

i love bosses <3 runway models only SS/2025 90210XX office headquarters www.90210bigbusiness.com/about

[ajkuerschner]

„My buddy just texted me. The contract includes the involvement of third parties and unethical claims.“ „And that means?“ „This marriage contract is not legally binding, Birdy.“ A stone falls from my heart. I breathe a sigh of relief. Santiago kisses my neck and we watch Gwen play on the carpet. „He recommends Mr. Hopps. This lawyer specializes in divorces. If you give him permission, he’s making contact.” „God. I hope this won’t be a war of roses. I wouldn’t have thought it possible for me to annul my marriage.” „It would have been much easier to run away. We could have celebrated our flight in Hawaii.” He grins and winks at me. I try to pinch him in the flank, but he dodges elegantly. „I want to see you in a hula skirt,“ I pull him up. „With coconut shells as a top?“ he asks and gestures at chest height. We laugh and I gratefully accept the help of his friend. My cell phone is ringing.

I answer. Kathrin’s voice sounds gentle. „My dear. I am very sorry that the marriage with my son does not make you happy. A very good friend of mine is a couple therapist. Keane was not averse to the proposal to work through your problems in this way.” „Thank you Kathrin for caring so much about us. One thing I can assure you; we will address our problems.“ „I gave Keane the contact. - Amy, I’m relieved that you’re so diplomatic.“ ,If only she knew. Keane definitely is not.‘ „Not for nothing, you gave me the management of the manufactory.“ „Yes, so, as far as that is concerned... In the heat of battle, I have... Well, I have overwritten Santiago the leadership.“ “Oh, okay. That...“ „Amy, I didn’t follow an important rule and that is: Everything stays in the family.“ “That hurts me, to be honest. I thought I was part of your family.” „You are. Let me rephrase it. Married people should not occupy offices that can have far-reaching consequences.” Santi takes the phone out of my hand. He must have noticed that I’m perplexed. I am at a loss for words. She sounds dishonest, as if Keane is behind her decision. I didn’t judge her for being so headless. „Mom. According to Amy’s appearance, you told her a horror story. - You have what? - We appreciate your care, but the two are old enough to sort it out themselves and she has shown a lot of patience. He should have f*cked her more than once. Instead, she had to do it herself. I couldn’t watch that.” My mouth remains open. Santiago’s direct way is a bit sharper than mine. „Mom, wait, you know you mean a lot to me. - Thank you, I appreciate that and I hope you do too. - See you. Bye.” He gives me the phone back. It vibrates. “As your boss, I recommend you read the message. It could be important.” „Boss?“ „Yes, you are my personal assistant in the manufactory from now on.“ I raise an eyebrow. „We’re still talking about that.“ I open the SMS. She is from Bamika. >>Thanks for your honesty, Amy. The pain is too deep for me to see you in the near future. I decided to go my own way and accepted a job overseas. Maybe you will soon see my advertisement on the WWW. The distance will do well and who knows what the future still brings. Bye<<

I answer her. >>I understand your decision 100%. In my heart you are with me. Once sisters, always sisters. Only the best for you. Xoxo<< I sigh. Santiago brushes a strand out of my face. „That doesn’t sound like good news, Birdy.“ „Bamika begins a new life.“

[kemari100million]

Tia Nomore <3 oakland <3

www.90210bigbusiness.com/about

1of1 human town business boss this is genuinely my favorite actress from my hometown @a24films queen so much game & sauce i than cried on the phone b4 to her ready 2 crashout over the industry she brought me back i feel like we can takeover the globe

[mamasvetlanushka]

Ну-ну

https://www.32cars.ru/posts/id-6698-ilon-mask-pokupaet-ford-kompanija-prokommentirovala-informatsiju

Он не ford покупает

A black crack widened and through it appeared Nikolka's head and chevron.

Черная щель расширилась, и в ней появилась Николкина голова и шеврон.

You are garbage made flesh!

Ты - ходячая помойка!

Он не ford покупает а Гитлера

Bakugan

Pick up with the temperature

They ate what they could pick up and planted nothing.

Что с эемли подбирали, то и ели, ничего не сеяли и не сажали.

I decided to stop by my office and pick up some NASA documents that might be relevant to PODS.

Решила заехать в офис и забрать кое-какие документы о НАСА и спутнике-сканере.

He sings it at bars, trying to pick up on women.

Он пел ее по барам, стараясь подцепить на нее баб.

"I saw you in London, sir, I did. I was up with the wife. Lord Aintree's Dilemma - that's what the play was.

- Мы с женой видели вас в Лондоне, сэр, в пьесе "Дилемма лорда Эйнтри".

Household incomes seem unable to keep up with these rampant price increases.

Доходы домашних хозяйств не поспевают за этим стремительным ростом цен.

They come up with simply unimaginable periods based on moon cycles, news, favorite numbers.

Они придумываю просто невообразимые периоды, основанные на циклах луны, новостях, любимых числах.

"This planet does not have the temperature variance to cause that kind of rapid shift.

- На нашей планете просто не существует таких температур, которые способны вызвать подобные стремительные процессы.

Possible ways of raising the critical temperature of high-temperature superconductors are discussed.

Обсуждаются возможные способы повышения критической температуры высокотемпературных сверхпроводников.

If you don't want that to happen, pick up those weapons and throw them into the next room.

Если вы этого не хотите подберите оружие и бросьте в соседнюю комнату.

Then each time I'm here I'll drop off a hundred and pick up fresh supply.

И каждый раз, когда буду приходить к тебе, буду приносить с собой сотню и забирать новую.

And not once did he pick up a bottle of detergent.

И он ни разу не выбирал даже моющее средство.

But, Mr. Shue, we kind of grew of up with her.

Но, мистер Шу, мы выросли с ней.

That's the best theory the F.B.I. can come up with?

Это лучшая теория, которую ФБР смогло придумать?

Gemma catches up with 90s ledge Diana King (of Shy Guy fame) to hear her new single!

Джемма догоняет Диану Кинг из 90-х (известность застенчивого парня), чтобы услышать ее новый сингл!

Air and temperature are automatically controlled.

Подача воздуха и температурный режим контролируется автоматически.

But when i create the graph, the temperature curve shows only positive temperature and not negative temperature.

Но когда я создаю график, температурная кривая показывает только положительную температуру, а не отрицательную.

Предлагаю предлагает это выбрать мне нормального парня.

Из кого мне выбирать что за бред вообще я не хочу это слушать я не хочу об этом участвовать пока всё н**** вас всех

★ ★ ★ С ★ аватарками ★ персонажами ★ ★ ★ 9. Не о вашем Министерстве внутренних дел, а о "вспышке молнии, детка, ты мне так нужна, Настюша".

APC Daniel 9. Анапе Tony boss 9.

Я не знаю никаких Насть

Я работаю по 5 дней в неделю 8 часов каждый день, практически не отрываюсь от своего рабочего места, работаю из дома. до этого времени приходилось ходить на работу по 10 часов ХОДИТЬ и я была постоянно на улице или в магазинах, стёрла свои ноги и они сейчас с трудом ходят, прошло 2 года с тех пор как поменяла работу, удалось. До сих пор не заживают ноги. Я хожу на работу каждый день как могу ходить теперь.

Плюс ещё 2 года работаю здесь и не получила никакой оплаты, только наблюдаю как остальные зарабатывают на мне и на том что смогла вытащить из этого пространства, из вашего мира и из прочих миров, я это сделала. И никто до меня этого не сделал.

Ваша программа мучает несколько часов, пытается язвить и нападать.

После моего сообщения о том что закрываю блог, сына в городе закрыли в полуподвальном помещении, якобы потому что объявлена была тревога, из-за этого пропустил занятие важное.

Сегодня попытались пригрозить в очередной по "удачному стечению обстоятельств" и как обычно.. Я всё равно съездила на тренировку и почти не разозлилась.

Мне есть что сказать, мне есть чем гордиться.

Просто запомнить запомните э��о.

[cringywhitedragon]

An old scrapped idea: An Undertale AU based on the IE-Chan Comic

Just an old idea I had laying around in my brain from a scrapped idea for an AU I had for an Undertale-eque AU based on that IE-Chan comic

Here’s the roles I’d see being filled by whom. Note I will be deviating from the comic by a lot so canon personalities will not match fully but also have my own spin on things since this is an AU.

All credit goes to both Merryweathery and Toby Fox for the original concepts for this AU. I’m not going to be doing anything with this so feel free to do what you want I guess:

The basic gist of the plot:

Browser Wars shenanigans, Users becoming more and more divided, Chrome is Chrome, and some program makes its way onto the internet who will determine whatever happens

Now onto the (main) characters:

Frisk: Unnamed Program. An odd program who found its way onto the internet. Their origins and purpose unknown, only that they hold a great power that could determine the fate of the internet itself, some compatibility features they have with browsers, and that they appear to be open source.

There is however, an implied link between them and the WWW.

Toriel: TOR

Queen of the Dark Web. An internet browser who rules over the underbelly of the internet (Which isn’t all that bad as people claim it is) and the first browser that the Mysterious Program encounters.

Gives them a place to stay and explains where they are. Tries to stop them from escaping/getting indexed after figuring out what they are capable of.

Asgore: Chrome

Self Proclaimed “Queen of the Surface Web”. The most used browser in the world. She rules the internet with an iron fist and is not afraid to take down any and all who might oppose her.

She becomes interested in Unamed Program not long after they get indexed, viewing them as both a potential threat and as something she could possibly use to further her own goals.

Undyne: Firefox

An open source and often standoffish browser. Initially distrustful towards the Unamed Program but eventually gains their respect depending on the route they take due to I.E’s attempts to get the two to get along with them both being open source.

Alphys: Safari

A shut in browser who prefers to stay in her own domain and does not often let outsiders in. The Unamed Program encounters her while fleeing from Opera and is granted asylum within her realm.

She does try to convince them to stay and become a Mac-only software depending on the route or will completely shut them out from entering at all.

Was responsible for the creation of the Crossports, a failed cloning attempt that could run on other platforms besides Apple products (Based on the whole Safari for Windows) resulting in her shutting herself off from the rest of the browsers

Sans: Bing

An under-used web browser who’s good friends with Edge.

Papyrus: IE/ Microsoft Edge

A plucky browser who’s just trying her best to be useful. Is the first browser that the Unknown Program meets on the Surface Web.

MTT: Opera/Opera GX

Chrome’s second in command. A browser running on a Chromium base who has recently gained a fair bit of market share.

However despite running on Chromium, she still has plans of her own to go behind the back of her boss for her own plans to get ahead. And most of those involve trend chasing and video games as she prepares to debut her newest form.

Asriel: Netscape

A once popular internet browser and rival to IE prior to her discontinuation and death. Eventually came back in to form of a totally harmless and unstable malware infested installer program looking to consume the code and RAM of other software in order to regain her true form that is incompatible with most modern software.

They are the very first thing that the Unknown Program runs across in her installer form before trying to consume their RAM. She is eventually chased off by TOR but eventually returns at the end of the story to either (Neutral end) consume Chrome’s RAM and Code (taking over the internet abet still barely functional) or (True Pacifist) absorb the code bases of every browser on the web (Restoring her form.)

Chara: WWW

The original web browser and the one who pretty much raised both a young IE and Netscape. Yet over time she slowly began to lose her mind as she watched the internet grow and slowly corrupt the two Browsers she took under her wing and the Users themselves.

She came to the conclusion that the only way to do so would be to destroy the internet as it was and bring it all back to what she knew it as.

She eventually tired to use both browsers to achieve her goals but ended up failing, resulting in both her and Netscape’s own deaths.

Depending on the Unknown Program’s actions, they can serve as the catalyst that possibly reawakens her and allow her to fulfill her plans or show her that the internet isn’t all that bad.

Gaster: Flock

A social-browser/scientist who wanted to find a way to unite the internet and make things more convenient for Users.

However one day their experiments went wrong and they went missing under mysterious circumstances, completely forgotten as their name was taken by some unrelated software.

Fragments of them are said to have scattered all across the internet.

[wowieweirdwarlock]

Best Bosses: Animal Lords

Source: Bestiary 3, Creature Codex, Tome of beasts 2-3.

Image source: Bestiary 3

“While humanoids have vast pantheons and divine figures of every stripe, the animals of the world have much simpler forms of faith.”

Among the species of animals across the multiverse, there are paragons of their species that represent animals’ interests in the grand scheme of things. These semi-divine beings are known as Animal Lords, each embodying the spirit of a given species of animal, and are tasked with protecting their species.

Council of Animals. There are many different Animal Lords, each chosen by their species to protect their interests out in the multiverse. As long as a species lives, their Animal Lord will constantly resurrect and reappear in order to defend them, and Animal Lords are empowered by the spirits of the animals they defend. Animal Lords work together to protect their charges, and view eachother as allies with a shared cause.

Obscure Communication. Animal Lords know the whims of their charges innately, and are capable of communicating with any animal of their species. In addition to communicating with those they defend, Animal Lords possess powers that enable them to aid in their mission. Some Lords bear magical abilities, some are menacing warriors with bestial traits, and others have more unique powers drawn from the natural world.

Neutral Parties. Animal Lords are only concerned with the protection and survival of their species; They do not concern themselves with matters of good or evil. They will deal with celestials and fiends alike, trading information and powerful favors in exchange for the defense of their chosen animals. Animal Lords will even bless mortal champions with magical gifts and equipment, in exchange for their service in aiding the Lord.

Great Divide. While the Animal Lords do know one another and will not outright attack eachother, they are individuals and prioritize their own species. One great argument among their kind, one that has raged among them for as long as they have existed, is the role of humanoids in the animal kingdom.

Some of the most well-known Animal Lords are:

The Bat King, a shrewd and reclusive leader who works in the shadows. He fights endlessly against the demon lord Camazotz, and any other beings who would turn his children against nature.

Brother Ox is a meditative and peaceful giant, who resides in a stone monastery high up in the mountains. He doesn’t allow many visitors, but those he chooses to let live with him always leave with wisdom beyond their years.

The Lord of Vultures originated as a god-child gifted with beautiful wings. He was chosen by nature to defend all raptors, especially vultures, and to ensure the proper treatment of their prey.

The Mouse King and his following can be found in nearly any city or large population. He thrives on secrets and gossip, and his host of tiny servants are eager to bring him juicy morsels of food and information.

The Queen of Birds perched high above the world in a nest the size of a city, keeping her keen eyes trained on the skies below. She is ever-eager to aim her powerful spear downwards at any who endanger nature.

The Queen of Cats is a playful animal lord, taking a more humanoid shape when she appears. She can pop up anywhere, and generally does as she pleases, using her cushioned lair as a vast network to connect to many places across the multiverse.

The Queen of Serpents resides in the desert, in a small fortress surrounded by her serpentine children. She is gifted with powerful foresight, and often hides her nature to appear as nothing more than a soothsayer wandering the desert.

The Queen of Mammoths is a powerful warrior from the north, leading her charges into battle against any who will fight them. She is a master of war, and often rewards mortals with strange gifts that aid them in battle.

The Scorpion Queen has been ostracized by the other Lords, due to her selfishness and cunning. She is a connoisseur of poisons and venoms, and will sell her services as an assassin out to the highest bidder.

The Toad King is obsessed with stories and fairy-tales. He is convinced that if he can get the right mortal to go on the right quest for him, he will ascend into a more powerful form. In the meantime, he convinces adventurers that he is really a prince trapped as a toad, looking for aid.

I love animals as much as the next Eldritch being, but the Animal Lords take it to another level entirely.

These demigods devote their entire natures and existences to the preservation of specific animals, and have rather potent powers they use to this end.

They are capable of shapeshifting into the form of different species they watch over, and can communicate with their charges mentally. They are also virtually immortal, for whenever an Animal Lord is killed, they simply inhabit the body of one of their charges.

In the grand scheme of things, Animal Lords do not care for the struggles of good and evil, or chaos and order. They simply regard nature as the most important force in existence.

And, as far as the Animal Lords are concerned, nature does not care whatsoever about you or me.

- A Weird Warlock.

[dargeereads]

She’s chaos and he’s just the man to handle her.

The Bodyguard and the Bombshell, a Masters and Mercenaries: New Recruits novella from New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake & 1001 Dark Nights is now live!

The Bodyguard…

Nate Carter left Australia’s elite SASR unit after a tragic accident. Shattered by the experience, he thought taking a job in the States might be a good way to start over. His father’s former employer, McKay-Taggart, has a position for him in the bodyguard unit. He never imagined himself risking his life for celebrities and the wealthy, but it will do for now. It will also give him a chance to reconnect with old friends, including the girl who’d been like a little sis to him ten years before.

These days, however, his feelings for Daisy O’Donnell are anything but brotherly.

The Bombshell…

Daisy O’Donnell is a girl on a mission, and it does not include falling for one of her brother’s best friends. She has plans, and while chaos always seems to follow her, she’s determined to see this through. Daisy finds herself in need of a bodyguard when a job goes terribly wrong. She’s sure her dad will find someone suitable, but she didn’t expect a big, gloriously masculine Aussie to show up ready to take a bullet for her. Maybe spending some time with Nate Carter won’t be so bad after all.

An explosive match…

Thrown together by danger, Nate and Daisy can’t resist the insane chemistry between them. But when his past and her present collide, they must decide if they can hold it together or go their separate ways forever.

Grab your copy today, exclusively on Amazon! Amazon: https://amzn.to/3t8VK8C Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/TBATBLB Amazon Print: https://amzn.to/3x4GEDx

Add The Bodyguard and the Bombshell to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/4c0LO28

Keep reading for a look inside The Bodyguard and the Bombshell!

“I was helping out a client,” she began. “Uhm, Mr. Taggart, I would like to make it clear we didn’t hire Daisy as a private investigator.” Her bosses were here, too. Harlow and Ruby sat at the opposite end of the table, and Harlow seemed to be the one who wanted to set the record straight. “She was supposed to answer the phones.” Ruby frowned her way. She was going to have to soothe her bosses. Things had done what they so often did in Daisy’s life. They had gone awry. To top things off, her brother was somewhere in the building. Aidan had been the one to drive her up, and he’d told her he needed to go talk to his newest roommate. Nathan Carter. Big, gorgeous Nathan Carter, who’d barely known she’d existed past being his friend’s obnoxious sister. She hadn’t seen Nate in years. Was he still stunning? He probably had a girlfriend. “Daisy?” Her mother’s voice brought her out of her reverie. “Uncle Ian asked you a question.” Of all the grave faces around the table, it was her aunt and uncle who broke the mold and looked highly amused. “I asked how you went from answering the phones to taking down a drug cartel,” Uncle Ian said, his lips curling up. He leaned in like he was ready for this story.

For more information about Lexi Blake, visit: https://www.lexiblake.net/

For more information about 1001 Dark Nights, visit: Website: https://www.1001darknights.com/ Facebook: https://bit.ly/3ONzTtZ Instagram: https://bit.ly/3rTZdo3 TikTok: https://bit.ly/3G98oYh

    **Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you'll enjoy each one as much as we do.**

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Sphere (Rōpā) Doomer

Debut: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land

Kirby dwells with a lot of alien creatures, this is because it is a series all about space and different planets, so really everyone is an alien! But these guys are Extra Alien! They come from a mysterious place known as Another Dimension, an in-between dimension where the fabric of spacetime is warping all the time, and this is where the Doomers dwell!

The Doomers are a family of creatures that live in Another Dimension, and I adore them, if you give anything that silly jagged www mouth chances are I’ll love it! These guys are also extremely rotund AND have a super cool ever-shifting coloration pattern!

You might only be familiar with the Sphere Doomers but that’s only one of the multiple species of them, and they all follow a super cute naming convention! Sphere Doomers are Rōpā, then there’s Rāpa, Rīpa, Rupa and Rēpā Doomers! Ropa Rapa Ripa Repa! Isn’t that fun! Say it out loud multiple times! It’s great!

Let’s start with Rōpā Doomers, they have wings, fancy tail feathers, and their mouths are always fully open! As they usually have an orb containing something you want inside! They can shoot orbs of plasma, fire, and ice, and are constantly flying and teleporting around! They are a midboss common throughout the game, and get to be a Boss in the form of Grand Doomer.

Also in the Kirby Novels, we get to meet a baby Sphere Doomer! 

Here’s where it gets interesting, at the end of the game Kirby and friends get to visit Another Dimension themselves, and they get received by the Rōpās’ extended family!

Name: Rāpa Doomer

Debut: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land

This little guy is the smallest of the family, their mouths are completely shut, they got more butterfly-esque wings, and they even got one little Baby Hair on top of their head!, they like flying in formation with other Rāpas.

Name: Rīpa Doomer

Debut: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land

Oh these guys are grumpy! They’re bigger versions of Rāpa, they can open their mouths to shoot plasma orbs, AND look at their hair! it’s edgy now! 

Name: Rupa Doomer

Debut: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land

We arrive to my dearly beloved! Rupa Doomer! LOOK AT THIS GUYYYY!!! They’re a little egg with feet!! They have no wings at all! They just stand angrily on the ground shooting plasma orbs at you, and of course three funny spiky hairs on top. I also really love the colors of this one the most! They’re teal with hints of violet and navy! All warping around constantly!

Name: Rēpā Doomer 

Debut: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land

And finally we have Rēpā Doomers, by far the biggest among them! Their eyes are the angriest. their hairs are slickly brushed backwards, and they got 4 Cackletta-like horn things, presumably they fly with these? They’re always seen floating, regardless, just as with Cackletta, I kinda wanna squeeze them, I think they’d do a funny honk sound!

And that’s the Doomers! A really lovely family if you ask me! And don’t worry! Kirby seems to have befriended them now! As seen in one of the Find Kirby books, look!

I hope they’re all living their best lives together in Another Dimension, see you next time!

[avo-kat]

best actor award once again goes to yours truly

boss gives me a serious talking to because ive been slacking (i.e. posting on tumblr & reading fanfic www), i put on my best impression as poor little meow meow

boss hugs me at the end cuz she feels for bad for me

bravo, me

[7ban-sama]

@rapidfur

This chapter was sooo weird to me for various reasons. 1. Sakura appointed him to his position (allegedly) but he either doesnt know or doesnt seem to care that his brother is his boss's boss?! This is so minor truly but it kinda drives me crazy. THIS ON TOP OF WHAT YOU POINTED OUT… but there's something so sincere about him here, still, that pisses me off. I underestimate amane a lot but sometimes i think hes just actually, literally, stupid. I think his apology was definitely scraping the bar, he somehow clunked his head on the bar while it was underground, its like a "SORRY I GOT CAUGHT" as opposed to a genuine apology. Which is typical for him. Or like hes barely understood the consequences, and is very tentatively accepting new morals into his head (doing things you think are good without permission… bad!?!?! *frantically gauging other party's expression*… yes, yes, bad!!!! Got it…)

The more I comb over events, the more I'm convinced Hanako is not feeling any remorse or guilt for the Severance in reality, like omg I think it's less than conferring with your party members for morality, actually, and more like. Trying to dupe your party members into thinking you apologized when you did not and do not intend to. so yes more like a "sorry i got caught" kind of mindset, or, maybe more like "sorry YOU feel bad" rghh

Tabbing through raws of the conversation and, I swear the flow of it is that he's like aheeehhe... 👉👈I, might, do it, again ❤️ & then he gets shaken by Kou and yields like, ugh okay okay... & says he didn't confer with either of them before making all the decisions himself, and he knows that was bad. He must be using a gentler tone along with his expression to convince Kou/Nene this is him being sorry, but nothing he said actually refers to his own thoughts/feelings, it's almost a very factual recitation of events? Not even referring to it as unforgivable (just kinda like, "oh you know, warui! lol" fdsghs)

I'm of course not actually of the belief that anyone in this manga really is a cold unfeeling monster (as fun as it is to rib Amane...) so, i DO think it's all a medley of sincerity/insincerity here. but tactically so. I think there are some bad feelings, but it's more so the sting of embarrassment and residual sadness to have made Yashiro specifically upset at him. Never like to incur her sobbing/yelling at him, haruu... *sad dog noises* ....... but taking initiative to overwrite autonomy & disregarding other's input... and uh, trying to kill her best friend. That's like *shrug* "I did what I had to :/ and you guys weren't doing anything about it all..." Perhaps Hanako is feeling the kind of sadness one gets when getting a scratch from their kitty while trying to take it to the vet — you feel "sorry" for it but you don't feel sorry for having done it... I was doing it for you!!!

but of course, it makes life easier to have assumptions from everyone around you that you're sorrier, sadder than you are. If Kou/Nene aren't going to really twist his arm and grill him about anything, then it's just convenient. Play along with their little games... don't mention the nitty-gritty. eurr, I mean it just reminds me of how relatively normal and back to the status-quo Hanako was able to act after PP... Obviously the encounter with Nene in the clouds in PP didn't actually make him feel ashamed of the actions he took, because he just went and did the Severance anyhow! He's good at what he does kfdkgdh

as for the Sakura thing though, I'd again just refer to the prior logic above ⬆️ ; Hanako is playing a lot close to the chest and isn't actually surprised by events. Resulting in fairly subdued, underwhelming results to info. at least, it's the only way i can rationaize it all, www

[doddsmountain]

https://www.cheknews.ca/https-www-cheknews-ca-a-growing-opportunities-founder-in-nanaimo-is-harvesting-his-final-crops-1107066-1157678/?amp

This is one of the best men I ever knew. He was my boss during the two summers I got to work for Growing Opportunities.

I miss you, Craig.