#budget+phone+2017

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Tesla's Dieselgate

Elon Musk lies a lot. He lies about being a “utopian socialist.” He lies about being a “free speech absolutist.” He lies about which companies he founded:

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-cofounder-martin-eberhard-interview-history-elon-musk-ev-market-2023-2 He lies about being the “chief engineer” of those companies:

https://www.quora.com/Was-Elon-Musk-the-actual-engineer-behind-SpaceX-and-Tesla

He lies about really stupid stuff, like claiming that comsats that share the same spectrum will deliver steady broadband speeds as they add more users who each get a narrower slice of that spectrum:

https://www.eff.org/wp/case-fiber-home-today-why-fiber-superior-medium-21st-century-broadband

The fundamental laws of physics don’t care about this bullshit, but people do. The comsat lie convinced a bunch of people that pulling fiber to all our homes is literally impossible — as though the electrical and phone lines that come to our homes now were installed by an ancient, lost civilization. Pulling new cabling isn’t a mysterious art, like embalming pharaohs. We do it all the time. One of the poorest places in America installed universal fiber with a mule named “Ole Bub”:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-one-traffic-light-town-with-some-of-the-fastest-internet-in-the-us

Previous tech barons had “reality distortion fields,” but Musk just blithely contradicts himself and pretends he isn’t doing so, like a budget Steve Jobs. There’s an entire site devoted to cataloging Musk’s public lies:

https://elonmusk.today/

But while Musk lacks the charm of earlier Silicon Valley grifters, he’s much better than they ever were at running a long con. For years, he’s been promising “full self driving…next year.”

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

He’s hasn’t delivered, but he keeps claiming he has, making Teslas some of the deadliest cars on the road:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

Tesla is a giant shell-game masquerading as a car company. The important thing about Tesla isn’t its cars, it’s Tesla’s business arrangement, the Tesla-Financial Complex:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/24/no-puedo-pagar-no-pagara/#Rat

Once you start unpacking Tesla’s balance sheets, you start to realize how much the company depends on government subsidies and tax-breaks, combined with selling carbon credits that make huge, planet-destroying SUVs possible, under the pretense that this is somehow good for the environment:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy

But even with all those financial shenanigans, Tesla’s got an absurdly high valuation, soaring at times to 1600x its profitability:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/15/hoover-calling/#intangibles

That valuation represents a bet on Tesla’s ability to extract ever-higher rents from its customers. Take Tesla’s batteries: you pay for the battery when you buy your car, but you don’t own that battery. You have to rent the right to use its full capacity, with Tesla reserving the right to reduce how far you go on a charge based on your willingness to pay:

https://memex.craphound.com/2017/09/10/teslas-demon-haunted-cars-in-irmas-path-get-a-temporary-battery-life-boost/

That’s just one of the many rent-a-features that Tesla drivers have to shell out for. You don’t own your car at all: when you sell it as a used vehicle, Tesla strips out these features you paid for and makes the next driver pay again, reducing the value of your used car and transfering it to Tesla’s shareholders:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21127243/tesla-model-s-autopilot-disabled-remotely-used-car-update

To maintain this rent-extraction racket, Tesla uses DRM that makes it a felony to alter your own car’s software without Tesla’s permission. This is the root of all autoenshittification:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

This is technofeudalism. Whereas capitalists seek profits (income from selling things), feudalists seek rents (income from owning the things other people use). If Telsa were a capitalist enterprise, then entrepreneurs could enter the market and sell mods that let you unlock the functionality in your own car:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/11/1-in-3/#boost-50

But because Tesla is a feudal enterprise, capitalists must first secure permission from the fief, Elon Musk, who decides which companies are allowed to compete with him, and how.

Once a company owns the right to decide which software you can run, there’s no limit to the ways it can extract rent from you. Blocking you from changing your device’s software lets a company run overt scams on you. For example, they can block you from getting your car independently repaired with third-party parts.

But they can also screw you in sneaky ways. Once a device has DRM on it, Section 1201 of the DMCA makes it a felony to bypass that DRM, even for legitimate purposes. That means that your DRM-locked device can spy on you, and because no one is allowed to explore how that surveillance works, the manufacturer can be incredibly sloppy with all the personal info they gather:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/29/tesla-model-3-keeps-data-like-crash-videos-location-phone-contacts.html

All kinds of hidden anti-features can lurk in your DRM-locked car, protected from discovery, analysis and criticism by the illegality of bypassing the DRM. For example, Teslas have a hidden feature that lets them lock out their owners and summon a repo man to drive them away if you have a dispute about a late payment:

https://tiremeetsroad.com/2021/03/18/tesla-allegedly-remotely-unlocks-model-3-owners-car-uses-smart-summon-to-help-repo-agent/

DRM is a gun on the mantlepiece in Act I, and by Act III, it goes off, revealing some kind of ugly and often dangerous scam. Remember Dieselgate? Volkswagen created a line of demon-haunted cars: if they thought they were being scrutinized (by regulators measuring their emissions), they switched into a mode that traded performance for low emissions. But when they believed themselves to be unobserved, they reversed this, emitting deadly levels of NOX but delivering superior mileage.

The conversion of the VW diesel fleet into mobile gas-chambers wouldn’t have been possible without DRM. DRM adds a layer of serious criminal jeopardy to anyone attempting to reverse-engineer and study any device, from a phone to a car. DRM let Apple claim to be a champion of its users’ privacy even as it spied on them from asshole to appetite:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Now, Tesla is having its own Dieselgate scandal. A stunning investigation by Steve Stecklow and Norihiko Shirouzu for Reuters reveals how Tesla was able to create its own demon-haunted car, which systematically deceived drivers about its driving range, and the increasingly desperate measures the company turned to as customers discovered the ruse:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-batteries-range/

The root of the deception is very simple: Tesla mis-sells its cars by falsely claiming ranges that those cars can’t attain. Every person who ever bought a Tesla was defrauded.

But this fraud would be easy to detect. If you bought a Tesla rated for 353 miles on a charge, but the dashboard range predictor told you that your fully charged car could only go 150 miles, you’d immediately figure something was up. So your Telsa tells another lie: the range predictor tells you that you can go 353 miles.

But again, if the car continued to tell you it has 203 miles of range when it was about to run out of charge, you’d figure something was up pretty quick — like, the first time your car ran out of battery while the dashboard cheerily informed you that you had 203 miles of range left.

So Teslas tell a third lie: when the battery charge reached about 50%, the fake range is replaced with the real one. That way, drivers aren’t getting mass-stranded by the roadside, and the scam can continue.

But there’s a new problem: drivers whose cars are rated for 353 miles but can’t go anything like that far on a full charge naturally assume that something is wrong with their cars, so they start calling Tesla service and asking to have the car checked over.

This creates a problem for Tesla: those service calls can cost the company $1,000, and of course, there’s nothing wrong with the car. It’s performing exactly as designed. So Tesla created its boldest fraud yet: a boiler-room full of anti-salespeople charged with convincing people that their cars weren’t broken.

This new unit — the “diversion team” — was headquartered in a Nevada satellite office, which was equipped with a metal xylophone that would be rung in triumph every time a Tesla owner was successfully conned into thinking that their car wasn’t defrauding them.

When a Tesla owner called this boiler room, the diverter would run remote diagnostics on their car, then pronounce it fine, and chide the driver for having energy-hungry driving habits (shades of Steve Jobs’s “You’re holding it wrong”):

https://www.wired.com/2010/06/iphone-4-holding-it-wrong/

The drivers who called the Diversion Team weren’t just lied to, they were also punished. The Tesla app was silently altered so that anyone who filed a complaint about their car’s range was no longer able to book a service appointment for any reason. If their car malfunctioned, they’d have to request a callback, which could take several days.

Meanwhile, the diverters on the diversion team were instructed not to inform drivers if the remote diagnostics they performed detected any other defects in the cars.

The diversion team had a 750 complaint/week quota: to juke this stat, diverters would close the case for any driver who failed to answer the phone when they were eventually called back. The center received 2,000+ calls every week. Diverters were ordered to keep calls to five minutes or less.

Eventually, diverters were ordered to cease performing any remote diagnostics on drivers’ cars: a source told Reuters that “Thousands of customers were told there is nothing wrong with their car” without any diagnostics being performed.

Predicting EV range is an inexact science as many factors can affect battery life, notably whether a journey is uphill or downhill. Every EV automaker has to come up with a figure that represents some kind of best guess under a mix of conditions. But while other manufacturers err on the side of caution, Tesla has the most inaccurate mileage estimates in the industry, double the industry average.

Other countries’ regulators have taken note. In Korea, Tesla was fined millions and Elon Musk was personally required to state that he had deceived Tesla buyers. The Korean regulator found that the true range of Teslas under normal winter conditions was less than half of the claimed range.

Now, many companies have been run by malignant narcissists who lied compulsively — think of Thomas Edison, archnemesis of Nikola Tesla himself. The difference here isn’t merely that Musk is a deeply unfit monster of a human being — but rather, that DRM allows him to defraud his customers behind a state-enforced opaque veil. The digital computers at the heart of a Tesla aren’t just demons haunting the car, changing its performance based on whether it believes it is being observed — they also allow Musk to invoke the power of the US government to felonize anyone who tries to peer into the black box where he commits his frauds.

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/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

This Sunday (July 30) at 1530h, I’m appearing on a panel at Midsummer Scream in Long Beach, CA, to discuss the wonderful, award-winning “Ghost Post” Haunted Mansion project I worked on for Disney Imagineering.

Image ID [A scene out of an 11th century tome on demon-summoning called 'Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros. Anno 1057. Noli me tangere.' It depicts a demon tormenting two unlucky would-be demon-summoners who have dug up a grave in a graveyard. One summoner is held aloft by his hair, screaming; the other screams from inside the grave he is digging up. The scene has been altered to remove the demon's prominent, urinating penis, to add in a Tesla supercharger, and a red Tesla Model S nosing into the scene.]

Image: Steve Jurvetson (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tesla_Model_S_Indoors.jpg

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

[modern-politics111]

This BlueSky thread on the budget reconciliation puts it into perspective and what happens from here

House Rs just passed the budget resolution, the first step in their process to enact a bill that'd kick millions off Medicaid & cut SNAP down to just $1.60 per person per meal on avg while cutting taxes for the top 0.1% by $278k - all while increasing the debt

This whole process is about passing a reconciliation bill. What's special about reconciliation? In the Senate, it can avoid a filibuster - as long as it follows certain rules. That means that, as long as Republicans stick together, they can enact this legislation even if all Democrats vote no.

So, the next step is for the House and Senate to agree to an identical budget resolution. The Senate passed a very different version. It called for the same SNAP cuts but much smaller Medicaid cuts - and no tax cuts. This is the next place where we can stop them.

If we fail, then after that, committees can begin writing legislation. Usually the House goes first. If taxes are involved, the House must go first. At least one chamber needs to go through the full committee markup. In this thread, I'm going to assume that's the House.

So, each committee will write legislation that adheres to the instructions set in the budget resolution. Here's what the House budget resolution calls for:

Each committee then marks up that legislation, where only the members of the committee can vote on it. This will be the first time we get the full details on what they're trying to do. They won't be able to pretend they aren't cutting Medicaid anymore. This is the next place where we can stop them.

If we fail, then after that, all the various committees' bills as amended go to the Budget Committee for markup. This is the next place where we can stop them.

If we fail, then it goes to the House floor for passage. This is the next place where we can stop them. When they tried to repeal the ACA in 2017, we initially stopped them here in March of 2017 before they eventually passed it through the full chamber in May 2017.

If we fail, it goes over to the Senate. If the House went through the full committee process, the Senate can slap on a full substitute and go straight to the floor. The Senate will then move to proceed to the bill. This is filibuster-proof. This is the next place where we can stop them.

If we fail, then there are 20 hours of debate, after which we move to vote-o-rama. At that point, they consider amendments until there are no more amendments or everyone agrees to move to final passage. This is the next place to stop them, and it's where we finally stopped them on ACA repeal.

If we fail, then the House and the Senate need to pass identical versions. The House can just take up the Senate version and pass it, or they can go to conference and both try to pass what comes out of conference. This is the next place where we can stop them.

The single most important thing you can do, by a parsec, is show up at a town hall w/ your GOP member and talk to them face to face. Heroes like @indivisible.org helped organize last time. People drove for hours to spend just a few minutes talking to their members. But we saved lives because of it.

The next most important thing you can do is call your GOP member's office every single day. When I worked in the Senate, in every single weekly all-staff meeting, we went over the phone calls we'd received.

Tell them you don't want any Medicaid cuts. Tell them you don't want any SNAP cuts. Tell them you don't want huge tax cuts for billionaires. Tell them why it matters to you. *Make them* hear WHY Medicaid matters to you. That is how we convinced Murkowski, Collins, and McCain to vote no.

This will be a very hard fight, but it's worth it, because people matter. We owe it to our family members who rely on Medicaid and SNAP. We owe it to our friends. We owe it to our neighbors. We owe it to the people we'll never meet.

You can read my explainer on the reconciliation process here:

[onakomiyaki]

just a silly crush (not) pt.3

pairing : daniel ricciardo x childhood friend-brabham!reader

summary : turns out you're not as stong as you think you are, and you were sure that you've made a mistake. or are you?

warning : unedited and rushed work, harsh words, slowburn.

a/n : GOSH THIS WILL BE A LONG ONE IM SORRY-

masterlist

there is nothing better than to be able to sat on your own bed, any 5 stars hotels will never beat the comfort of your own bed and you know it very well.

"finally." you said as you plopped onto your bed, falling head first to your king-sized mattress.

you inhale deeply as you close your eyes before exhaling slowly through your mouth.

"no one can ever replace you..." you mumble to your pillow as you close your eyes.

you always love your own bed. the familiar lavender scent, the lovely satin pillow, and most importantly your navy blue hand-made knitted blanket that you got for your 17th birthday.

it was one of those chunky knitted blanket that everyone obsessed about back in 2017. and you're proud to say that you did it first in 2007, ten years before that thing even trending. well, actually, daniel gave it to you so he did it first.

you remember how adamant you are about him buying you gifts for your 17th birthday. you knew he would spent lots of money because he was is that extra, and you knew money is not a problem for him.

"c'mon (y/n), let me buy you gift for your birthday before i move to italy."

and you can't say no to that. but of course you gave him a budget and told him no expensive shit because it won't be special (since you can buy it also) and daniel happily agree.

so when he gave you a huge blue box, you'd expected something like a huge teddy bear. but you remember telling him that you hate teddy bear.

"open it, open it!"

and when you open the box you let out an audible gasp as you pull the blanket out of the box. the soft merino wool engulf you, and you squeel in excitement as you put yourself in a cocoon of the blanket. daniel watch in amusement as he ruffle your hair.

"i asked one of my friend's sister to make it for you. i paid her don't worry!"

and now back to present day, 14 years later, the blanket still there with you. although its not as fluffy as it used to be, you still snuggle with it when you having trouble to sleep. but of course no one knew about that, not even daniel himself.

the navy blue blanket is draped over your sofa, sitting there snuggly. you always put it on your sofa since the accident that almost cost you that blanket. it was 3 years ago and you remember you're about to cry when you saw that the threads is coming lose because you accidently pull the blanket too hard when you were having a 'guest' on your bed while doing the devil's tango.

the phone on your back pocket vibrate and you relucantly take your phone out and answer the call. must be important.

"hello?"

"(y/n) this is lando norris."

you sat down now, sitting with your legs pulled close to your chest. why the hell lando would call you at this hours? its 1 past 15 a.m right now.

"oh, yeah. what's up bud?"

"we're in budapest right now and daniel is wasted... and i heard that you live here, can you pick him up? i can't take him back with my car since i'm here with my plus one, and calling uber at this hours seems dangerous–"

"god i am not a good driver, when did it all went wrong??"

'– daniel don't go there its dangerous! daniel– oh god i have to go he's about to walk to the pool!"

"what? lan–lando? hello?"

your exhaustion seems to gone instantly, make you shoot up from your bed. you grab your purse and car key as you running to your garage, almost tripped when you descent from your the top of the stairs.

thanks to baby jesus you're still in fairly 'decent' clothes so you don't have to worry about changing it. what you didn't think about was grabbing a coat, and boy the cold weather bite your skin.

but you could care less about being cold. daniel is your top concern. him being drunk is something you rarely see because of his high alcohol tolerance, and you know the situation is bad if he is wasted. you don't know what happen, but maybe it had to do with the hungary grand prix. you have not watched the race so you don't know what happen.

you drove out from your garage as you fumble with your bluetooth connection. your aston martin dbs roar in the almost silent road as you finally able to connect your phone.

you clicked a call button from your car, quickly calling lando again as you drove like a maniac. budapest is almost two hours drive from your place in szeged, so you have to turn yourself into an f1 driver.

"lando, drop your location i'm on my way from szeged."

"szeged? you don't live in budapest? (y/n) its two hours drive, will you be fine? should i go order uber instead?"

"yes i'll be fine lando, just drop the location."

"okay i'll send you the location."

"i'll be there as fast as i can, you keep an eye on daniel okay?"

"okay, will do. thanks (y/n). drive safely– daniel get back here!"

you cursed under your breath as you maneuver through the quiet road. thank god the tram is already stop working in this wee hours and the street is fairly quiet.

beads of sweats starting to form on your forehead as you watch your speedometer. god you really drove like a robber who got chased by the police.

you watch your navigation and gosh it still 1 hour and 20 minutes despite you driving like your life depends on it.

"fucking hell..." you said as you accelerate your car, hitting your record on the fastest you ever drove a normal car.

lando bit his lip nervously as he hold daniel, basically hugging the man from wandering away. daniel sobs quietly as he slump against lando, eyes half closed and the younger man watch in sympathy.

the reason of the man drinking carelessly was his race result today. p11, not even scoring for the team after his p5 at silverstone. lando had dnf-ed so he understand the frustration, but deep down he knew that its different for daniel.

he remember how daniel had avoided everyone like a plague, including him. so when daniel invite him to go to the club he immediately agree, only to find him already drinking and half drunk on the bar.

"where i went wrong lando?" daniel asked for the umpteenth time that night.

lando sigh as he softly rub the older's arm.

"its just one race daniel. you're not wrong at all." he said.

lando's plus one had gone to buy some mineral water as him and daniel sat down on the curb. he watch as the older man start to aggressively hit his own chest, lips pouting. the sight of drunk daniel is a little adorable. a little.

"its my fault... i'm sorry i can't score for us lando. sorry i finish empty handed."

"lan, i got the water." luisinha give the cold water bottle to lando.

"thanks lu, sorry you have to run i need to keep an eye on this baby."

luisinha laugh as she sat down beside lando, watching how daniel mumble incoherent words. "its all good... beside, he need you right now." she said, fanning daniel's face with her hand.

"what he need is (y/n) honestly," he said as he wipe the sweat on daniel's temple. "daniel, drink this." he said as he sat daniel straight, bringing the bottle close to his mouth.

daniel grumble as he open his mouth, taking the bottle of water from lando's hand and slowly emptying the bottle. some trickles of water slide to his throat.

there is a screech of tires not far from them. lando turn his head at the noise as he watch you half running to their direction. his eyes widened at the sight of you. just how fast you drove here? its only been an hour and fifteen minutes since he sent you his location.

you were wearing a white camisole and some black sweatpants, a white nike air force and hair in messy bun. lando was sure she saw you shivering a little from the cold and he watch in awe as you kneel down in front of daniel.

"is he okay?" you asked, voice trembling.

"well see it for yourself." lando said.

there are some tears stain on daniel's cheeks and your heart ache at the sight of him. you slowly caress his cheek and he lean into your touch, eyes still closed.

"you've been driving only in those? aren't you cold?" lando asked pointing your decent outfits

"yeah, it is cold. and yeah i am driving basically topless. i also run past few red lights." you answer, huffed as you lightly tap daniel's cheeks.

"what?!"

"i'll be okay. i'll pay for the fine if they caught me," you shrugged. "do you know where he stayed?"

lando nods his head as he stand. "same hotel as me, i'll lead the way. just follow my car. how fast you drive?"

"mate, you don't want to know."

"fine... i just want to know if you got that racer blood in you."

"just-help me with daniel, please." you said as you put daniel arm around your shoulder, ready to hoist him.

"hey, let me." lando said, stopping you before kneeling in front of daniel, back facing him. he swiftly move daniel arms around his shoulder.

lando hoist daniel on his back, and the sight is so bizarre. lando grunts as he walk to your car and daniel's legs drag lazily since he is significantly taller than him.

you and luisinha walk side by side ahead of the briton in comfortable silent. she had offer you lando's jacket which you politely refuse since she is also in sleeveless dress.

"sorry for ruining your date." you smile apologetically to her and she just wave you off with a smile.

"its not a big deal, really." she smile.

"(y/n) open the door–ugh–quick! he is so heavy." lando grunts and you open the passenger door.

he drop daniel down slowly before strapping the seatbelt on his body. his chest rise and fall in rapid motion as he slowly close the door of your car.

"well that's a workout." he simply mumble, hands on his hips.

"thank you lando... you don't have to do all this but you still did, i appreciate it." you said, pulling lando to a hug.

the young briton laugh as he reply your hug, patting your back gently. "no problem y/n. now, lets go before you get hypothermia." he said.

you drive slowly pass the empty road, following lando's car in silent. every now and then you stole a glance to your friend, who is sleeping rather soundly. you slowly stroke his hair since he lean towards you, almost falling from the seat.

"y/n..." daniel softly calls your name.

you stop your movement as you watch how his face seems to contort in sad emotion. he looks so hurt.

"i'm here big guy." you whisper as you return your hand to his hair.

after another help from lando, you manage to somehow put daniel on the bed. you had bid you a goodnight with luinsha before entering the building with a hug. lando, who originally insist on staying, give you a concern look.

"you sure you want me to go?" lando asked one more time as you lean on the door, hand folded in front of your chest.

"c'mon now, i've known this man even before you learn your a b c, norris." you answer, rolling your eyes at the him.

"we're not 20 years apart, y/n. in fact lewis is older than you and daniel. stop treating me like a kid." he protest.

you give him a ruffle on his hair, messing his already messed up curls. "i'll be okay, i can handle him. now go, don't make lui wait even more."

lando give you a nod as he walk away, waving at you before jogging down to his car where his date is waiting for him to return her to her hotel. you waved back at the briton, waiting for him to dissapear. as lando took a turn and gone, you close the door as you walk to daniel–who currently sprawled on the bed.

you slowly starting to take of his shoes along with his socks. carefully, you turn his body so that he lay down on his back. you take a deep breath as you carefully unbutton his tropical shirt, and you had to close your eyes for a bit.

"can i bite you instead?"

you stopped your hand as you reach the last two button of his shirt, opening your eyes to watch daniel and how his chest rise and fall slowly.

goddamit control yourself, y/n.

you bit your lower lips as you continue your task, finally manage to unbutton his shirt. you slowly move your hands, slowly undressing the man and hoping you won't disturb him.

but your breath hitched when you feel a steel grip on both of your wrist, and your eyes widened. daniel had open his eyes, staring directly into your soul with half-lidded eyes.

and you are basically on top of him, jerking your body back so you won't fall on top of him.

"y/n?" he sofly call you.

"hello big guy."

"wha- i'm-"

"you're sobering up. lemme get you some aspirin and water." you said as you slowly taking both of your hands from his grasp.

daniel drop your hands as he sat down, rubbing his eyes and and holding his pounding head. he stare down at his-now unbutton-shirt, before shedding the cloth opting to go shirtless. he aimlessly throw his shirt then laying down again, this time massaging his temple.

you took the aspirin from your bag and then walk towards daniel, not forgetting the cold water bottle.

"drink this. and please put on some shirt." you said as you rolled your eyes, handing him both the aspirin tablet and water.

"why don't you put on shirt first?" he answer, sitting down once again as he drank the tablet and washing it down with water.

"well, thanks to you, dickhead, i forgot my coat. i had to turn myself into a f1 driver just so i can get you here." you said as you sit down on the sofa, right across him.

he feel his soberness coming back to him slowly and he feel how his stomach churn. so he walk towards the bathroom, washing his face with cold water.

"you've been driving in those?" he asked, half shouting from the bathroom.

"yeah." you answer, eyes on your phone as you let out a small yawn.

"who called you to pick me up?"

"lando norris. and also what the hell man, i thought you're wasted."

"my head is still pounding y/n, i am wasted."

"well, you're sober enough to nags."

daniel took a small towels from the shelf as he look at his reflection, noticing the redness of his eyes and his tears stain. he wash his face once again, making sure he got rid his tears stain. then he make his way to your direction.

"y/n its... 3.25 a.m, aren't you cold?" daniel asked, small towel on his hand after he pat his face dry.

"m' fine." you said.

when you finally look up from your phone, your eyes instantly widen. daniel is standing in front of you, still shirtless as he look up at the ceiling. he seems to not noticing how you're struggling to look away from him as he close his eyes to flex his sore muscle.

"gosh i'm getting old, a little drink got me wasted." he said, still unaware how you are a flustered mess.

you slap his stomach, earning a grunt from your friend. he touch his stomach, shoulder hunched as he dramatically fall to the floor.

"you hurt me, i can't believe this." he said with overexagarate tone.

"just put on some goddamn clothes, ricciardo." you said as you lay down on the sofa, ignoring the dramatic aussie.

and so he did. he rose from the floor and walk to his suitcase, and taking a random t-shirt. he also taking his flannel shirt (that he didn't know he have) and throw it at you. you swiftly catch the flannel before it hit your face.

"what is this?" you asked as you open the shirt.

"its a shirt, dumbass" he said as he wear his t-shirt.

"and why you throwing this at me?"

daniel, who currently struggling with his jeans, looking at you silently. "wear that. and also turn you body, i want to take off my pants."

you rolled your eyes as you turn your body, facing at the head of the sofa as you drapped the shirt daniel gave you over your body.

"what you're hiding behind your pants anyway. its not like i'm gonna stare and oogle at your body or something, you won't affect me." you said.

"well turn around and face me then. see if i dont affect you." he challanged.

"no! what? i won't do it you creep."

"face me yourself or do you want me to flip your body myself?"

"i am not gonna face you, you bogan." you said with a huff.

truth be told you are scared of what gonna happen if you turn your body to face him. you don't know if you can see him in the same way you've seen him for this past 20 years.

but you felt his hand on your shoulder, and before you can react daniel already turn your body. you let out a gasp as you dumbly stare at daniel who is hovering you, trapping your body on the sofa.

daniel look so hot from this angle. has he always looked this good? 20 years of friendship and you just see how good-looking this man is when he hover over you?

he give you a smirk as he inching closer to your face. you can smell his perfume mixed with whiskey and you can feel his breath fanning over you.

"you said i won't affect you. but you are as red as a tomato now, y/n." he whisper, hand cradling your jaw.

"its hot in here, move away." you said, looking away from him.

red alert, this is dangerous.

"really? because i believe it is cold in here. i saw your body shivering y/n." daniel said, inching closer to your ear. you can feel his nose ghosting over your skin.

"daniel..." you called, trying to warn him.

"y/n..." he reply.

"danny you don't want to do this, you are drunk."

"but i want to. for a long time." he whisper as he nuzzle to your neck.

okay, you really need to get out of here before its too late.

"y/n, please?" he beg, lips almost attached to your neck.

he sound so desperate, so wounded, and you almost choke on your own spit.

ah screw this.

you turn your face, hands grabbing his face as you lean in for a kiss. daniel grunts as he slowly lower his body, hands immediately went to your waist. he kissed you back, finally tasting your lips after what felt like eternity.

you tilted your head when you feel his hand at the back of your thigh. he guide your leg wrap it around his waist as your body pressed together.

oh you're so screwed.

you both finally let go of the kiss, staring at each other with that mixed feeling. and with last ounce of sanity left in your body, you jerked your body up, pushing the poor daniel aside.

daniel fell with an oof, and you quickly stand up.

"this is wrong this is wrong." you mumble as you walk to the table, grabbing your purse and key.

"wait–y/n wait!" daniel said as he struggle to stand on his feet. "don't go–i'm sorry."

you basically run towards the door, opening the door harshly as daniel chase you. he calls your name but you ignore him, as you close the door behind you and immediately went for the elevator.

when the elevator door open you quickly enter and pressing the basement button. daniel was about to get you but the door is closing in.

"y/n–"

as the door finally closing, you lean on the wall before sinking to the floor. you hide your face in your hands, breath ragged from all the adrenaline rush.

"what the hell." you muttered.

as the elevator finally reach the parking lot you bolted out, quickly running towards your car. its not hard to find your car since its the only aston martin there. you quickly enter your car, revving the engine.

there is a ring from your phone and you believe that it's daniel. so you decided to ignore the call and just drove away from the hotel. you nervously bit your bottom lips, contemplating on what just happen back then.

this is not good.

prev || next

[xcziel]

hadn't seen this on here yet

South Korea Is Fighting for Democracy Again—And the World Needs to Know

by Heesoo Jang

Assistant Professor of Media Law and Ethics, Journalism Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst 

South Korea is once again at a critical juncture in its democratic history. More than a hundred thousand protesters, joined by over 4,000 professors and 1,466 Catholic priests announcing their declarations of the state of affairs, are calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol’s resignation. This echoes the massive movement that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye in 2017 for corruption and abuse of power, showcasing South Koreans’ enduring commitment to holding leaders accountable.

What’s unfolding in South Korea is not just a domestic issue—it’s a reminder that democracies everywhere require constant vigilance. Yet, international media, like the BBC and AP News, have largely missed the bigger picture, focusing on soundbites and foreign policy instead of the underlying democratic struggles. This oversight leaves out important context for the global audience to understand the deeper context of widespread domestic dissatisfaction of the state of democracy in South Korea.

At the heart of the protests are allegations of corruption and abuse of power. President Yoon has exercised his veto power 25 times since 2023, blocking investigations into allegations against his wife, including claims of stock manipulation in Deutsch Motors. This is the most frequent use of veto power South Korea has seen since South Korea’s first president, Syngman Rhee, who faced impeachment in 1952 and eventually resigned in 1960 amid widespread public outrage over his authoritarian rule and attempts to consolidate power. 

These vetoes, alongside scandals like the “Myung Tae-Kyun Gate,” have eroded public trust in the administration. The gate alleges that political broker Myung Tae-Kyun, a close ally of Yoon and First Lady Kim Keon Hee, manipulated public opinion during the 2022 presidential election. Through his Future Korea Research Institute, Myung reportedly conducted biased polls favoring Yoon to influence election narratives. A leaked phone recording released by the opposition Democratic Party has further implicated Yoon in discussions about candidate nominations, fueling allegations of election interference.

Beyond these vetoes, Yoon’s administration has faced widespread criticism for systemic failures in governance, public safety, and economic management. The Itaewon tragedy, where 159 people lost their lives during a crowd crush, starkly exposed grave inadequacies in public safety protocols and emergency response systems. A special investigation on this tragedy was also a bill the President has vetoed. Similarly, the death of Private Chae during military service revealed systemic abuses and negligence within the military. Instead of enabling accountability, President Yoon has repeatedly vetoed special prosecutor bills aimed at investigating these military abuses. Public frustration has only grown as investigations into these tragedies have failed to hold senior officials accountable. Meanwhile, Yoon’s administration has also faced allegations of undermining press freedom by targeting journalists and media outlets critical of the government. 

Adding to these failures is a healthcare system on the brink of collapse, where prolonged medical staff shortages, exacerbated by budget cuts, have caused long-term disruptions in patient care. Instead of addressing these structural issues, the government has opted for a hasty increase in medical school quotas—a move experts warn will only further destabilize the system. Yoon’s economic policies have similarly drawn heavy criticism for favoring the wealthy with tax cuts while reducing public welfare budgets, deepening inequality between South Korea’s elites and its struggling middle and working classes. Rising household debt and record-breaking small business closures have fueled calls for reform, yet the administration’s inaction has only alienated the public further. Compounding these grievances, a 15% cut to South Korea’s research and development (R&D) budget has alarmed academics and scientists, who warn that this decision jeopardizes the nation’s innovation-driven economy and long-term global competitiveness—a concern echoed by prominent universities like Yonsei and Ewha Womans University, which cite these cuts as emblematic of broader governance failures.

Despite the scale of unrest, international media have failed to convey the full significance of this crisis. Instead of contextualizing public discontent and the erosion of democratic norms, they have focused on peripheral issues, ignoring the protests’ broader implications for democracy. This has also allowed misinformation to muddy the narrative internationally, preventing the international public from gaining important contextual information about what’s happening in South Korea. For example, posts on Chinese social media have falsely portrayed the protests as anti-war rallies rather than demands for accountability and reform. 

South Korea’s struggle is a powerful reminder that democracy is not self-sustaining—it requires active vigilance. The protests and demands for reform exemplify how civil society can confront governance failures. The world deserves more context and a nuanced understanding from international journalism about what South Korean democracy is facing, as its fight for justice, transparency, and the rule of law holds lessons for all democracies.

[britcision]

I’m pretty sure the people bitching about not giving money to tumblr are the same ones who complain when AO3 or wikipedia ask for donations, so I’m just gonna clarify something

Running a website is not free

Even if they made no changes and did only maintenance, they still need to pay for server costs, expert programmers for when something goes wrong, storage (although frankly storage is cheap as chips these days which is nice)

They need to keep up with the capabilities of new tech like improvements to web browsers, never mind their own apps keeping pace with old and new tech developments

Backwards compatibility (being able to run the updated app on old tech) is a massive problem for apps on a regular basis, because there are people out here using an iPod and refusing to update software

There’s a reason every few years apps like Animal Crossing will issue an update that breaks backwards compatibility and you can only play if your phone is running more recent software

This shit costs money even before you look into the costs of human moderation, which I’m not exactly convinced is a big part of their current budget but fucking should be if we want an actual fix for their issues with unscreened ads and reporting bigots

Ignoring that it’s apparently illegal for companies not to actively chase profits, running Tumblr is expensive

And advertisers know we fucking hate them here

They’re still running ads, which we know because they’re all over the damn place, but half the ads are for Tumblr and its store

Other ad companies know we are not a good market, so they’re not willing to put the money in

Tumblr runs at a $30 million deficit, every year, because hosting a site is expensive

They are trying to take money making ideas from other social medias because they’re not a charity; they need to make enough money to keep the site going

If you want tumblr to keep existing, never mind fixing its many issues that require human people to be paid to do jobs like moderation, they will need money

Crabs cost $3

One crab day a year can fix the deficit and hammer home for Tumblr that:

A) we do want to be here and want the site to keep going

And B) they do not need to do the normal social media money making strategies we all hate

They need a way to make money if you want the hellsite to exist, because we live in a capitalist hellscape and cannot all be AO3

If they think they can make enough to keep running without pulling all the tricks we hate, they have no reason to pull said tricks

But they need money

And a way to make money

And if we can show them we can do that, there is a significantly higher chance they will listen to us, the user base they need money from, than if we don’t

Tumblr isn’t perfect, or anywhere close. They need someone to actually screen the paid ads they put through, they need to take the transphobia, antisemitism, and bigotry seriously

These Are Jobs That Will Cost Money

People Need To Be Fucking Paid For Their Work

Tumblr Is Not Run By Volunteers For Free And Nor Should It Be

Paying People Is Good Actually

So if you wanna get all high and mighty over $3/year, by all means, go spend that hard earned cash elsewhere

Good luck finding a perfect and morally pure business to give it to though

Being a whiny negative asshole isn’t more appealing just because you’ve put yourself on a moral soapbox, it just means the asshole is a little higher up

For all the whining about “all the new updates are terrible this site is unusable”…. It’s one fuck of a lot more usable than it was in 2017, 2018, 2020

And yeah, it’s going back down and most of the newer ones have been fucking annoying and I would also like them to stop

But it got up somehow and that means it could do that again

Hope is more fun than edgy nihilism

August 1st is a good and exciting day to summon a crab army

[mariacallous]

House GOP adopts Trump budget after topsy-turvy night

House Republicans adopted the budget resolution that will lay the foundation for enacting President Trump’s legislative agenda Tuesday night, just minutes after they initially pulled the measure from the floor.

The legislation was approved in a 217-215 vote.

It capped a wild evening in the House chamber that saw Republican leaders hold open an unrelated vote for more than an hour to buy time to win over holdouts, announce they were canceling a vote on the legislation, and reverse course just 10 minutes later.

The tally also marked a dramatic turnaround for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House GOP leaders, who hours earlier were facing opposition to the measure from four deficit hawks, skepticism among some other hardliners, and apprehension from moderates concerned about potential slashes to social safety net measures.

Leading into the vote, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) were expected to be the final holdouts against the measure, while Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) dubbed himself a “lean no.” They were largely concerned with the level of spending cuts in the legislation, speaking out against the impact it would have on the deficit.

Spartz, Burchett and Davidson flipped to yes. Massie remained a “no” vote.

Trump, who has advocated for the House’s approach over the Senate’s, provided an 11th-hour boost, working the holdouts on the phone ahead of the vote.

Burchett was spotted on the phone with the president as he walked into the House chamber for a procedural vote on Tuesday afternoon. He voted in favor of it on Tuesday.

On the other end of the ideological spectrum, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said he spoke to Trump multiple times over the last two days, airing his concerns about potential cuts to Medicaid. Van Drew said that Trump “is concerned with Medicaid as well and does not want to hurt it, period.”

But in a sign of the uncertainty of the vote outcome, even Trump stopped short of publicly backing the resolution on Tuesday, despite previously endorsing the chamber’s single-bill strategy over the Senate’s two-track framework.

“The House has a bill and the Senate has a bill, and I’m looking at them both, and I’ll make decisions. But I don’t know where they are in the vote,” Trump said in response to a question from The Hill on Tuesday. “I know the Senate’s doing very well, and the House is doing very well, but each one of them has things that I like, so we’ll see if we can come together.”

Republicans are looking to use a process known as budget reconciliation to enact Trump’s priorities, which would allow the party to circumvent Democratic opposition in the Senate.

The House’s resolution lays out a $1.5 trillion floor for spending cuts across committees with a target of $2 trillion, puts a $4.5 trillion ceiling on the deficit impact of any GOP plan to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, and includes $300 billion in additional spending for the border and defense and a $4 trillion debt limit increase.

In addition to the fiscal conservative holdouts, GOP leaders also had to win over moderates concerned about potential cuts to Medicaid in the ultimate Trump agenda bill. The resolution directs the Energy and Commerce Committee — which has jurisdiction over Medicaid — to find at least $880 billion in cuts, a figure that some lawmakers said could not be reached without significant slashes to the social safety net program.

That notion sparked worries among centrists. But after several conversations with leadership, they softened their stances.

“I’m in a better place [than] where I was yesterday,” Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), who represents a purple district, said Tuesday morning.

Leadership, for its part, has rejected the notion that the bill will prompt significant Medicaid cuts. Johnson for weeks has said the conference just wants to root out “fraud, waste and abuse” in the program. Top lawmakers amped up that messaging on Tuesday.

“Do a word search for yourself,” Johnson said Tuesday morning. “It doesn’t even mention Medicaid in the bill, so that’s an important point.”

Skepticism, however, remains high that the conference will be able to achieve those levels without significant changes to the social safety net program, signaling the headwinds House GOP leaders will face as they work to craft the bill in the coming weeks and months.

While the successful vote is a win for Johnson and his leadership team, a series of landmines loom as they look to advance Trump domestic policy priorities, including border funding, energy policy and tax cuts.

The House must reconcile with the Senate — which passed a budget resolution last week that utilizes a different strategy — craft a final bill in line with the parameters in the legislation, and get the final measure across the finish line in the conference’s razor-thin majority.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jonathan Cohn at The Bulwark:

Senate Republican leaders have been unveiling their version of Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” bit by bit. And if you thought they were going to dial back some of the sweeping health care cuts from legislation their House counterparts passed last month, boy, are you in for a surprise. Pretty much every blow to health care that was in the House version of the bill remains in the bill language Senate Finance Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) released on Monday.1 And some of the blows could land even harder. Among the few modifications the Senate made are an expansion of “work requirements” for Medicaid and a bigger hit to hospital finances through a change in what are known as provider taxes.2

Official Congressional Budget Office projections had suggested the House bill—which, like the Senate language, also includes big cuts to the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare—would add 11 million more to the ranks of the uninsured while saddling millions more with bigger health care expenses. The projections for the Senate bill might be even more severe. What’s remarkable is that there is no reason to think the public wants this. Consider the already-dim assessment of the House version of the legislation, as revealed in a new KFF poll: Sixty-four percent of respondents hold an unfavorable view and just 35 percent hold a favorable one. That finding is consistent with two other recent polls—one from Washington Post-Ipsos, one from Quinnipiac—that found the public opposed to the bill by a similar, roughly two-to-one margin. The last time major Republican health care legislation drew polling numbers like this was near the start of Donald Trump’s first term in office—i.e., when they were trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety while making some additional, radical cuts to Medicaid. In June 2017, just a few weeks before that legislation would fail in the Senate, KFF’s tracking poll found that 30 percent of the public viewed it favorably and 55 percent unfavorably. Yes, this bill could be even less popular than repeal was.

[...] It’s not just the legislation’s Medicaid cuts that could give Republicans political problems they may not yet fully perceive. Both the House bill and emerging Senate version would make significant cuts to the Affordable Care Act by changing the rules for how people sign up for plans on HealthCare.gov and its state counterparts—and then, by changing the financial arrangements that the federal government uses to subsidize coverage. Like the Medicaid cuts, these changes all sound very technical. But they would have significant consequences, especially if Republicans also allow a temporary boost in insurance subsidies to lapse as planned at the end of the year. That’d be a double whammy for most of the 24 million people buying Obamacare coverage. And it turns out that 45 percent of them identify as Republicans, while just 35 percent identify as Democrats, according to a separate KFF poll.3 Of the Republicans, more than two-thirds identify as “MAGA Republicans.”

This makes intuitive sense: Relatively more people get private Obamacare coverage in states that haven’t expanded Medicaid yet, because they are less likely to have Medicaid as an option. And all but one of the ten states that have yet to expand Medicaid are conservative-leaning, including three big ones: Florida, Georgia and Texas. “In the last five years, the number of people getting ACA marketplace coverage has more than doubled—and most of that growth is actually in a relatively small number of Southern red states,” Cynthia Cox, a KFF vice president who directs the organization's ACA project, told me in a phone interview.4 On top of that, the premium hikes from GOP legislation cuts and lapsing subsidies would not hit uniformly, because the formula for calculating subsidies takes into account factors like age and local market prices.

Republicans will be stepping on loads of hot coal mines over Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

[psychics4unet]

20 Simpsons Psychic Predictions That Came True 🚀

Hey there, fellow Simpsons fans! 🎉 If you’ve been following The Simpsons, you know that this iconic show isn’t just about laughs and donuts (though we love those too). It’s also about some eerily accurate predictions that have left us all scratching our heads. 🤔 How did this cartoon get so many things right about the future? Grab a seat, grab a donut 🍩, and let’s dive into some of the wildest psychic predictions from The Simpsons that actually came true! 🚀

🌟🔮✨ Curious about what the future holds for you? Just like The Simpsons predicted some mind-blowing events, you too can uncover what’s in store for your life. Click the link below for your own personal psychic reading and get insights that might just amaze you:

1. Donald Trump’s Presidency 🇺🇸

Season 11, Episode 17 (“Bart to the Future”)

In this episode from the year 2000, Lisa becomes the president and mentions that they inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump. Fast forward to 2016, and Donald Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States. What the what?! 😲

2. Smartwatches ⌚

Season 6, Episode 19 (“Lisa’s Wedding”)

During a future vision of Lisa’s wedding, her fiancé uses a watch to make a phone call. This was in 1995, way before smartwatches became a thing in the 2010s. Talk about being ahead of the curve! 📱

3. Disney Buys 20th Century Fox 🏰🦊

Season 10, Episode 5 (“When You Dish Upon a Star”)

In 1998, there’s a scene showing the 20th Century Fox sign with a subtitle “A Division of Walt Disney Co.” In 2019, Disney actually bought 21st Century Fox. Coincidence? I think not! 🎬

4. Video Chatting 💻

Season 6, Episode 19 (“Lisa’s Wedding”)

Again in Lisa’s Wedding, we see video calls being made. This was years before Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom became part of our daily lives. The Simpsons were definitely on to something here! 🖥️

5. The Shard in London 🏙️

Season 6, Episode 19 (“Lisa’s Wedding”)

In the same episode (wow, it’s like a crystal ball!), we see a skyline that includes a skyscraper eerily similar to The Shard, which wasn’t built until 2012. 👀

6. Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Performance 🎤

Season 23, Episode 22 (“Lisa Goes Gaga”)

In 2012, The Simpsons showed Lady Gaga performing at a concert, suspended in the air. Fast forward to 2017, and Gaga did exactly that at the Super Bowl halftime show. Fly, Gaga, fly! 🎇

7. Nobel Prize Winner 🏅

Season 22, Episode 1 (“Elementary School Musical”)

Milhouse predicted that Bengt Holmström would win the Nobel Prize in Economics. And guess what? Holmström did win it in 2016. Way to go, Milhouse! 📊

8. Ebola Outbreak 🌍

Season 9, Episode 3 (“Lisa’s Sax”)

In this 1997 episode, Marge suggests that Bart read a book titled “Curious George and the Ebola Virus.” Years later, in 2014, there was a significant Ebola outbreak. Chills! 😬

9. Siegfried and Roy Tiger Attack 🐅

Season 5, Episode 10 (“$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)”)

The show depicted a white tiger attacking entertainers similar to Siegfried and Roy. Tragically, in 2003, Roy was indeed attacked by one of their white tigers during a performance. 😥

10. U.S. Wins Olympic Gold in Curling 🥌

Season 21, Episode 12 (“Boy Meets Curl”)

Homer and Marge compete in curling and win a gold medal. In real life, the U.S. men’s team won the gold medal in curling at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Sweep that, skeptics! 🥇

But wait, there’s more! Let’s keep this prediction train rolling with some honorable mentions that didn’t make the top 10 but are still pretty mind-blowing. 🚂💨

11. Horse Meat Scandal 🐴

Season 5, Episode 19 (“Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song”)

Lunchlady Doris used “assorted horse parts” in the cafeteria food. In 2013, a scandal erupted in Europe when horse meat was found in various beef products.

12. FIFA Corruption Scandal ⚽

Season 25, Episode 16 (“You Don’t Have to Live Like a Referee”)

The episode features a storyline involving corruption in the World Football Federation. In 2015, several FIFA officials were arrested amid a corruption investigation.

13. Farmville 🚜

Season 9, Episode 12 (“Bart Carny”)

In this 1998 episode, kids are seen excitedly playing a yard work simulator game. Fast forward to the 2000s, and Farmville became a massive hit on Facebook.

14. Faulty Voting Machines 🗳️

Season 20, Episode 4 (“Treehouse of Horror XIX”)

Homer tries to vote for Obama in the 2008 election, but the machine keeps changing his vote to McCain. In 2012, there were real reports of voting machines changing votes.

15. Beats by Dre 🎧

Season 8, Episode 14 (“The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show”)

In a scene from 1997, we see a character wearing what looks like modern-day Beats by Dre headphones, years before they existed.

16. Mutant Tomatoes 🍅

Season 11, Episode 5 (“E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)”)

Homer grows mutant tomatoes after using nuclear power on his crops. In real life, scientists created genetically modified tomatoes that glow in the dark.

17. NSA Surveillance 🕵️

The Simpsons Movie (2007)

The movie depicted the NSA spying on citizens. In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA was indeed conducting mass surveillance on American citizens.

18. Shard Building in London 🏙️

Season 6, Episode 19 (“Lisa’s Wedding”)

We see a tall building in the London skyline that resembles The Shard, which was completed in 2012.

19. Michelangelo’s David Censorship 🗿

Season 2, Episode 9 (“Itchy & Scratchy & Marge”)

The episode shows Springfieldians protesting against Michelangelo’s David being exhibited. In 2016, Russian campaigners did try to cover the statue.

20. Autocorrect Fail 📱

Season 6, Episode 8 (“Lisa on Ice”)

Dolph writes a memo that says “Beat up Martin” which gets autocorrected to “Eat up Martha.” Apple’s iPhone autocorrect has had many such hilarious fails.

It’s wild, right? How does a cartoon get so many things right? Well, it’s probably a mix of clever writing, sharp observation, and maybe a bit of that Springfield magic. ✨

And it's not just us hardcore fans who are intrigued. Thanks to the internet, more and more people are discovering the spooky accuracy of The Simpsons' predictions. Social media platforms are buzzing with theories and speculations. Reddit threads are filled with fans dissecting episodes, and YouTube is packed with videos analyzing every prediction. It's like a virtual treasure hunt where every frame might hold a secret clue to our future! 🔮

Some folks even believe that the writers have a time machine or some sort of psychic ability. While that’s probably a stretch, it’s fun to think about! One thing’s for sure – The Simpsons will keep surprising us with their uncanny knack for predicting the future.

Whether you’re a longtime fan or just curious about the show’s “psychic” tendencies, it’s clear that The Simpsons is more than just a TV show. It’s a pop culture phenomenon that continues to influence and amuse us, while also making us think twice about what might come next. So, next time you’re watching, pay close attention – you might just be getting a sneak peek into the future! 🕵️‍♂️✨

Stay curious, my friends! And remember, the truth is out there… or maybe just in the next episode of The Simpsons. 🌟🚀

[thinking-emoji]

ngl they were pretty famous in 2017, not like household names level famous, but definitely more famous than they are right now. i feel like even if u were just a casual youtube watcher and social media user, u at least heard of their names, and the phandom at the time was also huge (in part because, like dnp mentioned in their mukbang video, a lot of ppl who were generally into british youtube also watched them, whereas now, it’s mostly us really dedicated phannies who have stuck through the hiatus). also, although they had left the bbc by then, they ofc still had that cred attached to them for having been bbc presenters and brits hosts (granted, £250,000 is still Wilddddd, but yeah i’d say they were pretty famous then, even if a good portion of that was like Residual fame from the insanity of 2014-2016)

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS I'M SO SORRY

I GOT THESE AND STARTED RAMBLING AND THEN WANTED TO LOOK SOMETHING UP AND REORGANISE THE POST AND THEN I SAVED THIS AS A DRAFT AND THEN. FORGOT. FOR A WEEK please forgive me 😭😭😭

Um. Do you still want the unstructured rant from a week ago. I'm not even gonna reread it, I'll just post it as it is including last week's tags 😭😭😭

Ok this sent me down a rabbit hole into the most subscribed to youtube channels of 2017, the post-brexit economy of the UK, tinder's revenue history, tinder's marketing budget history, youtube's revenue history (google "2017 youtube advertiser boycott" for a blast from the past), and way too little phandom and Fandom history so I still feel like I'm missing pieces lmao

The thing is... I distinctly *remember* seeing comments that dnp were past their zenith during ii? Granted I wasn't on phannie tumblr at the time so this must've been on twitter or idb, where people have always been more pessimistic I guess. But it's not like this was a lifetime ago, I know where I was and what I did in 2017 (secretly watch dnpg during a uni field trip while everyone else was getting drunk and hooking up with the professors) (until they realised i had mobile data even though we were abroad, which was when they started asking me if we could all watch skam on my phone) (bc apparently that was what the 20 year olds were into lmao) (which is also how i know nobody used tumblr anymore bc i found the pirated skam uploads through a doc linked on tumblr, while everyone else was trying to catch the youtube uploads before they got taken down after 2 hours), so I feel like I can't be misremembering it that much? Like, I remember everyone (irl and on twitter) talking about conventional "youtubers" (as in, person who talks into a camera without a large production company behind them) in these mind-bogglingly reductionistic terms after pewdiepie came out as a racist and then again after logan paul filmed that dead body (tbf that was in december 2017, so definitely after the tinder spon), and I specifically found it so strange that it seemed like none of these commentators knew any other professional youtubers. Like the whole business model seemed so strangely more niche than it had a few years earlier? Like, in 2012 all my friends were watching Tyler Oakley or Jenna Marbles, and then by 2016 they had moved on to watch... Seth Meyers clips? On Youtube? Or, you know, Skam reuploads. Which is not what the platform was for at all, but there was this strange shift in content that wasn't *made* for youtube.

All this to say.... I guess the ad *could* have been that expensive, especially bc immediately after brexit inflation went up in the uk, so that probably also affected the numbers, depending on whether they got the deal with tinder uk or tinder us? I still feel like 2017ish wasn't a high point for youtubers specifically. Apparently influencer marketing only really took off in the mid-2010s though, so I guess it was also this liminal space of already-ftc-mandated-testimonial-declarations-hashtag-ad but not-yet-moved-all-the-budget-to-instagram? Idk it was a weird time. I wonder how it'll go in the next 10 years

[theoutcastrogue]

Two lawsuits filed by a civil rights group allege that county jails in Michigan banned in-person visits in order to maximize revenue from voice and video calls as part of a "quid pro quo kickback scheme" with prison phone companies.

Civil Rights Corps filed the lawsuits on March 15 against the county governments, two county sheriffs, and two prison phone companies. The suits filed in county courts seek class-action status on behalf of people unable to visit family members detained in the local jails, including children who have been unable to visit their parents. ...

Each year, thousands of people spend months in the county jails, the lawsuit said. Many of the detainees have not been convicted of any crime and are awaiting trial; if they are convicted and receive long sentences, they are transferred to the Michigan Department of Corrections. ...

The Michigan counties are far from alone in implementing visitation bans, Civil Rights Corps said in a lawsuit announcement. "Across the United States, hundreds of jails have eliminated in-person family visits over the last decade," the group said, adding:

Why has this happened? The answer highlights a profound flaw in how decisions too often get made in our legal system: for-profit jail telecom companies realized that they could earn more profit from phone and video calls if jails eliminated free in-person visits for families. So the companies offered sheriffs and county jails across the country a deal: if you eliminate family visits, we'll give you a cut of the increased profits from the larger number of calls. This led to a wave across the country, as local jails sought to supplement their budgets with hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from some of the poorest families in our society.

St. Clair County implemented its family visitation ban in September 2017, "prohibiting people from visiting their family members detained inside the county jail," Civil Rights Corps alleged. This "decision was part of a quid pro quo kickback scheme with Securus Technologies, a for-profit company that contracts with jails to charge the families of incarcerated persons exorbitant rates to communicate with one another through 'services' such as low-quality phone and video calls," the lawsuit said.

Under the contract, "Securus pays the County 50 percent of the $12.99 price tag for every 20-minute video call and 78 percent of the $0.21 per minute cost of every phone call," the lawsuit said. The contract has "a guarantee that Securus would pay the County at least $190,000 each year," the St. Clair County lawsuit said.

[chase-ingjackson]

A few reasons I like and dislike the the new Percy Jackson show (and why I think the musical is better) - initial reaction

To start, I think this new PJO show is a million times better than that dumpster fire of a movie (though I love logan lerman <3). I like that it is quite faithful to the overall arcs and major plot lines of the book. I love the diversity and high caliber of actors (though I def have some Viria-art inspired character images in my head that are god-tier). I love some of the characterizations/portrayals, especially when it comes to making the character more complex (I really appreciate TV Sally for being a real person with complex emotion, though of course book Sally is my fav). And I love that it's so high budget and hgihly-anticipated (great marketing) that it is bringing this beloved story to a greater audience, especially the younger generation and older generation (as parents/grandparents) than those of us who grew up with the series.

I can boil down all of my dislikes of this show into one overarching but very essential part of the show: I don't like that it is a drama. The characters are way too serious and too every-other-moment-we-need-an-instense-heart-to-heart. What I think this show should have been is a comedy adventure with drama/melodrama sprinkled in. In the books, it's all about the banter. And the TV show does some good one-liners, but it's always so serious. I think the best part of the book is that the characters can stay light-hearted and fun despite the horrors and terrors they face. In the show, the gods spoon feed the trio most of the answers, so when they do have a good realization (SPOILER: e.g. Kronos being the orchestrating force) it kind of comes out of nowhere. TV Annabeth is so serious (I know in the first book she is her most serious, but not to this degree) and a lot of the moments when she has time to use her smarts are gone or approached differently. Percy, too. He's not just self-sacrificing (which they really lean into in the show) but he's also incredibly smart and silly. In the books he's kind of a surface-level himbo with great critical thinking, but in the show he's kind of left in the dark and doesn't get opportunities to make his own plans (also, he doesn't seem to know how to control his power (by the 7th episode); whereas in the book he def did at this point. Then there are just dumb changes to make the show more "serious" like not mentioning that cell phones attract monsters or that monsters just smell demigods and not have a 6th sense for them. I'm finding that by trying to change these small details to make it something more exciting or interesting, it's distancing us existing fans by not letting us relate to the small details that really don't matter. For the cellphones, they still use Iris messages rather than getting a payphone or something, so that's kind of a plot hole in the show that is answered by the book.

Anyways, those are my main takeaways. Now, when I say "the musical" I refer to The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical by Joe Tracz and Rick Rokicki which first premiered in 2014 but got revamped and redebued in 2017 (which is when it came into my life). I got to see it live in Toronto in 2019 with my middle school best friend, but have been an avid listener of the soundtrack since 2017 (the day it came out on streaming platforms).

The musical in my eyes is a nearly-perfect adaptation of the book. It's soo funny - def the action comedy I'm after, but does have the meaningful emotional moments (ballads, which are essential in musicals). The show itself if the full package; however, even just listening to the soundtrack gives you the whole gist. Here's a link to hte soundtrack on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFwX6FWeUFQ&list=PL0hK1fYMaqXbtZ0Fhm48TYcLJl7ikNX7Q&ab_channel=TheLightningThief%3AOriginalCastAlbum

Anyways, I want to hear more thoughts and pls tell me what you think of the show (and the musical!!)

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Business / Tech

Apple launches the iPhone 16e, a cheaper new version of the iPhone 16

By Lisa Eadicicco, CNN

4 minute read

Updated 11:55 AM EST, Wed February 19, 2025

People walk by an Apple store at the Westfield UTC shopping center on January 31, 2025 in San Diego, California.Kevin Carter/Getty Images North America/Getty Images CNN  — 

Apple on Wednesday announced a cheaper new version of the iPhone 16 called the iPhone 16e, signaling a renewed push into the budget smartphone market for the tech giant. It’s also the first iPhone with a cellular modem designed by Apple, and the cheapest iPhone Apple currently sells that supports Apple Intelligence.

The iPhone 16e costs $599 and launches on February 28.

Adding Apple Intelligence on a cheaper iPhone could be crucial for putting the company’s AI tools in the hands of more consumers. Apple has faced increased competition from Google and Samsung in recent years, both in the budget smartphone market and in the AI space. Google’s cheaper Pixel A-series of phones have been well received, for example, and both Google and Samsung have prioritized updating Android devices with new AI features over the last year.

The launch also marks a shift away from the iPhone SE, the budget iPhone line Apple debuted in 2016 and last updated in 2022. The iPhone SE made up only a sliver of Apple’s iPhone market share, according to research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, which reports it accounted for just 5% of US iPhone sales as of December 2024.

The iPhone 16e, despite being more expensive than the SE, could be more appealing to those who want a device that feels more like Apple’s more recent phones. The iPhone SE was the last iPhone with a traditional home button and fingerprint sensor on the front, a longtime staple that Apple began shifting away from with the iPhone X in 2017.

Apple announced the iPhone 16e on February 19.Apple

What the iPhone 16e can do

Apple claims the new 5G modem in the iPhone 16e is the “most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone.” The new modem is arriving more than five years after Apple acquired the majority of troubled chipmaker Intel’s smartphone modem business in 2019. Using its own modems makes Apple less reliant on partners and suppliers, giving it more control over product development and launch timing.

The iPhone 16e marks a long-awaited overhaul to Apple’s cheaper iPhone. The $429 iPhone SE, while less expensive, looked like the seven-year-old iPhone 8 and lacked features found on most new phones, such as face unlock and a nearly borderless screen. After Wednesday’s announcement, the iPhone SE is no longer available on Apple’s online store.

Unlike the iPhone SE, the iPhone 16e has a lot in common with the iPhone 16, bringing it up to speed with Apple’s current lineup. Both phones have a 6.1-inch screen, Face ID, a 48-megapixel camera and the Action button for programming shortcuts. However, the iPhone 16e is cheaper and it lacks a dedicated second camera for capturing wider shots and the Camera Control button for quickly accessing the camera.

It’s powered by the same processor as the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup, enabling it to run Apple Intelligence.

Apple Intelligence, which until now has only been available on the iPhone 16 family, 2023’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max and certain iPads and Macs, is a blanket term that refers to a handful of AI-powered tools – such as the ability to generate emojis and images with a prompt, summarize notifications, and remove objects from photos as well as ChatGPT integration with Siri.

The popularity of ChatGPT following its late 2022 release sent a shockwave through the tech industry, prompting companies such as Microsoft, Google and Samsung to incorporate generative AI into their products.

But Apple was largely considered to be a latecomer to consumer-facing artificial intelligence. Like many tech companies, Apple has long used AI to power backend features, like camera modes, but didn’t begin rolling out Apple Intelligence until last fall. Apple Intelligence’s arrival on a cheaper device like the iPhone 16e signals the company sees AI as being a core part of its products moving forward.

Tech giants have positioned generative AI and chatbots as the next major evolution in how consumers use and interact with technology. Yet it’s unclear whether AI tools like Apple Intelligence will be compelling enough to drive smartphone upgrades, with Apple’s iPhone revenue falling short of Wall Street’s expectations in its fiscal first quarter of 2025.

[beardedmrbean]

President Donald Trump this week told House Republicans to raise taxes on the richest Americans as part of their sprawling budget bill, according to The New York Times and The Washington Post, which cited people familiar with Trump's stance.

Why It Matters

Trump's reported demand stands in stark contrast to the mainstream Republican position on taxes, which generally favors tax cuts for wealthier Americans—and also marks a reversal on the president's own position from just weeks ago.

It could also upend the already tenuous negotiations surrounding the GOP's budget proposal that House Speaker Mike Johnson is working to shepherd through the lower chamber.

In addition to extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Trump signed into law in 2017, Republicans are also trying to incorporate Trump's campaign promises in the measure, including eliminating taxes on tips and increased funding for border security.

The proposal, as it stands at the moment, faces unanimous opposition from congressional Democrats.

What To Know

The Times reported that Trump wants people who make more than $2.5 million per year to face a 39.6 percent income tax. The highest current income tax rate of 37 percent applies to those who make more than $626,350 per year and married couples who make more than a combined $751,600 per year.

If implemented, Trump's plan would roll back one of the tax cuts that took effect as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Trump instructed Johnson to include the tax hike in the "big, beautiful bill" during a phone call on Wednesday, the Times reported. The president's move comes weeks after he publicly spoke out against raising taxes on millionaires.

"I think it would be very disruptive because a lot of the millionaires would leave the country," he told reporters in the Oval Office last month. "In the old days, they left states, they'd go from one state to the other. Now with transportation so quick and so easy, they leave countries."

What People Are Saying

Podcast host and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon recently posted on social media site Gettr: "Big story in WaPo that talks about how the great Russ Vought, Scott Bessent, and others including JD Vance are not just open to working on the ability to have an increase in taxes for, if not the upper bracket, then those making a million or more at 40%.

Bannon added: "Something we've advocated strongly and worked for many years here because it is the right thing to do. The working class and middle class need additional tax relief, and this is the way to get it."

Johnson previously weighed in on raising taxes on millionaires, telling Fox News last month: "I'm not a big fan of doing that. We're the Republican Party, and we're for tax reduction for everyone—that's a general principle that we always try to abide by. There's lots of discussion, lots of ideas on the Hill. People have different thoughts and theories on how we can solve this perfect equation to get all of this done. But I wouldn't put any money on any of that yet."

GOP Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said he wasn't opposed to hiking taxes on the wealthiest but told the Post that Republicans wouldn't back the plan: "Zero, probably," he said when asked how many would support it. "Maybe one or two."

What Happens Next

House Republicans are continuing their negotiations over the sweeping budget proposal.

According to the nonpartisan group Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Trump's agenda items and the GOP's priorities in the bill are estimated to cost more than $11 trillion over the next ten years, which Republicans are working to offset by cutting spending in other areas.

Democrats have warned that some of those cuts could affect Medicaid, though Trump has publicly pledged not to touch the critical program, which serves more than 70 million Americans.

[scary-movies-on-netflix]

IMPOSSIBLE HORROR (2017)

This was a super low budget movie, a “micro” budget as some might say.  Some productions in this situation lean into the budget, offering a winking meta commentary on the limited funds.  This movie, “Impossible Horror,” doesn’t do that.  It simply does what it can with what little it has. 

We start with Lily, a young woman with insomnia.  Her apartment is haunted.  She aspires to live a creative life.  She goes for a walk one night and hears a mysterious scream!  She begins to go for night walks and encounters another young woman, Hannah.  There are also strange hoodie people.  Each night, after the scream, they find a random object where the scream originated.  One night there is a typewriter, but the hoodie people take it first.  Hannah fights them in a rather neat, low budget, fight.

Lily decides to make a movie of their adventures.  She films them with her smart phone.  One night the scream leads them to a buried journal, which she hides from Hannah.  Lily reads the journal, which is by Amber, Hannah’s former girlfriend, who killed herself and now haunts Lily’s apartment!  Turns out, Amber and other people were also hunting the scream, all for their own purposes, but each of the people ended up killing themselves.

They visit one dude who did not succeed in killing himself.  Lily goes to talk to him, and he tries to munch of her feet.  She grapples with a sheet before Hannah pulls her free.  Lily then cuts herself and enters a crazed state.  The scream leads them to a buried notebook, inside of which are Polaroid-style photographs of people who were hunting the scream, including Lily!  There is an extended fight scene between Hannah and the hoodie people over the notebook, but she and Lily escape with it. 

Hannah wants to destroy the notebook.  Lily needs it for her movie, and she and Hannah have an extended struggle over the books.  It’s nothing like the fight from “John Carpenter’s They Live” (1988), but it’s actually not bad.  Lily ends up stabbing Hannah and then chases her into an underground garage.  Lily stalks after her with a little metallic shove.  She finally sees Hannah, but a security guard interrupts her.  Lily approaches him and stabs him in the stomach with the shovel.  Hannah runs to Lily’s room and hides in the bathroom.  The ghost tries to help Hannah, but Lily finally stands outside the bathroom tell and tells Hannah that she should kill herself: “Aren’t you tired of failing?  There’s nothing wrong with giving up.”

Hannah removes her own picture from the notebook, and there is a razor.  She is about to slit her own wrist, but she hears Lily watching their filmed adventures.  Hannah leaves the bathroom and joins her.  “This is pretty cool,” Hannah says.  “Yeah,” Lily says, “It’s not terrible.”  Hannah says that Lily should keep working on the film.  Lily says that she needs an ending.  “What did you have in mind?” Hannah asks.  Lily smiles at Hannah, and then the hoodie people attack!  They overwhelm Hannah and knock the notebook out of her hand.  They are about to stab Hannah, but Lily picks up the notebook and starts to tear out a page!  She kicks her laptop to Hannah and tells her, “Film it.  Please.”

The hoodie people attack Lily and disembowel her!  She still manages to destroy the notebook, and the hoodie people disintegrate.  Before Lily dies she has a vision of Hannah and herself going to a movie theater and watching her movie, “Impossible Horror.”  Hannah gets up and stumbles to the porch, where she hears people screaming everywhere.

This was surprisingly…good.  It’s a weird Lovecraftian horror movie about an unexplainable eldritch threat that drives people insane, but the filmmakers limited the scope to just two young people, so the plot didn’t overwhelm the skills or budget of the production.  The filmmaking techniques drew from many inspirations, from found footage to your run-of-the-mill teenager terror flicks to kung-fu action movies.  Most scenes were successful.  The fighting scenes looked like a lot of fun to film, but I felt that they detracted from the overall creepiness of the movie.  The acting was…competent.  Lily and Hanna’s banter was reminiscent of a mumblecore movie from the early 2000’s.  Hannah was flat and emotionless, but she was meant to be that way.  Lily showed a bit more range, but even then her reactions were constrained by the typical young-person-only-speaks-ironically trope.  Her physical acting was excellent.  Early on, she walks outside with a baseball bat, but before she leaves the building she performs an awkward practice swing.  Later on, as she’s chasing Hannah, she embodies menace and terror.  She extends the blade of her metal shovel with a practiced flick of her wrist.  She was creepy and deranged.

[coffeeknife]

blog reintroduction

the last time i used this account was when i was still a teenager. didn't feel like deleting and remaking on this handle though so uh. hey, i'm robin. i'm a married butch lesbian in mn. mostly logging back in so i can archive stuff on here where other people can see if they want

stuff i might post abt (under the cut)

managing physical/mental disability (my wife and i both have eds)

being broke and maintaining sanity/quality of life

it stuff. i have a cluster of servers at home running a lot of stuff to automate life. some stuff replaces subscriptions but i also do some budget smarthome stuff to make our living situation a little more accessible. i've also dabbled in backing up my personal healthcare record

more generally, extending the lifespan of (sometimes much older) tech & bending it to your will

some interests, though i tend to stay out of fandoms: trigun, dunmeshi, pokemon, ffxiv, persona series (but i dont touch that fandom with a ten foot pole) and a few others im sure i cant think of rn

also, feel free to send me asks about random tech things. i'll post some of my stuff later, but a quick rundown of my daily stuff

JUST replaced my phone. i only got my head out of the apple brainrot very recently, but my phone is a refurb'd note20 ultra that i intend to use for a very long time

desktop i built on the cheap. i5 (dont buy intel new, theyre zionists), intel arc graphics for video encoding

working on moving from a 2018-ish macbook air that's somehow barely runing to a 2010 thinkpad i salvaged from an ewaste bin. it's running pretty well on arch with a cheap SSD but it needs a new battery and a better display (and a modern wifi card eventually)

my server cluster that i've built over the last 10 years or so:

the manager computer is a 2017 imac i cut open to put more ram in. it was my primary computer until this year

2 raspberry pis that the manager dishes out tasks to. one is hooked up to an 8tb hard drive that it serves to the other 2 computers. the other has a zigbee receiver to handle cheap smarthome devices

3rd raspberry pi dedicated to networking. outside of the cluster, hosts a vpn so i can get into my stuff from anywhere without exposing it to the internet

salvaged two acer EEE laptops that i really want to convert into parts of the cluster bc i'm running out of cpu. they didn't come with power supplies and i have yet to get them to turn on

part of my goal for being active on here is to put some accessible resources on home servers out there. bc imo theyre insanely useful and learning how to do this stuff in general is good in the age of technological walled gardens

ok bye. follow me if you want ig, send me asks abt it stuff and i'll probably have something to say

[thekristen999]

Car shopping on a budget ( in this economy) for something that will hopefully last for years in an exercise in hell.

Just in case anyone didn't know.

It's mind boggling that major dealerships consider it normal to sell you a car over the phone if you have pictures and the carfax info because, if you don't say yes, someone else will. (and has) repeatedly.

I tentatively have on hold a 2017 Subaru with 80k miles with a clean car fax-- at a price that I had to bang my head against a wall to mentally accept as a good a deal.

It's at the dealership show, getting $4k dollars with of repairs done. And yes, Mr. salesman, even after those are done, I'm still getting it looked at by another mechanic.

I thought I'd be done by now, but I'm not.

Just in case anyone was wondering where I've been the last couple of weeks. :-P

Also doing an online defensive driving course to reduce the insane insurance rate is also for the freaking birds.

I'd rather be writing.

Ohhhh, am I going to put someone through the wringer whenever the Muse and I can get back to the computer.

lol