#deal cancelled

[johnschneiderblog]

All bets are off

In a blog last Novermber I blasted a decision by Michigan State University - one of my favorite institutions of higher learning - to climb into bed with Caesars Sportsbook, an online gambling operation.

I’m happy to report that unholy alliance is kaput. The deal, struck only last January, is off.

Caesars had agreed to pay the school’s athletic department $9 million in exchange for the right to “Caesarize” MSU  - i.e., entice students to blow their money on betting and, (best-case-scenario, from Caesars’ point of view) develop life-long gambling addictions

How anybody (aside from Caesars’) thought that was a good idea only speaks to the blind scramble for money in college athletics. Indeed, it’s all about the Benjamins.

It’s not clear whether the 180 is the result of new leadership at MSU, or a change of heart on the part of of those who signed the Caesars deal.

Referring to the about-face, MSU athletic director Alan Haller was quoted as saying,“Initially, it was a good thing, but I don’t think it’s in our best interest moving forward,” 

[spookyratking]

RANDOM BUT I HAD TO GET THESE OUTTA MY SYSTEM ......IM OBSESSED WITH CAGNEY...

[animatedtext]

requested bypixellangel

[marshcap]

[valtsv]

i keep thinking about how VAL kills the town in her first appearance compared to how she deals with the woman she turns into an imitation of her mother and the listening press secretary's responses to both. because they're fundamentally not all that different - in both cases she commits actions which are excessively cruel, perpetrated against innocent civilians, using her power to reshape reality to her will. the only real difference is that her destruction of the town on the coast of the CLS is playful. unserious. it's delivered like a performance for those listening, and VAL even boasts that she's enjoying herself to one of her intended victims. it feels staged, artificial, like someone playing the villain in some amateur theatrical production. it's artful in its clumsiness. meanwhile, the torture and murder of the woman she meets on her way inland is just... bleak. and tragic. the tone of VAL's monologue loses all the devil-may-care amusement of someone who knows they're the most powerful person in the room, and takes on an incredibly, terrifyingly personal degree of bitter, seething hatred borne from pain and terror and the learned conviction that your life is worth nothing but what it can do for others who see no value in it. there's absolutely no need to symbolically mutilate the woman for the crime of reminding her of her mother before killing her, but VAL does so anyway because her passion overrules reason. and press secretary carson listens to it all, silently, unwilling and/or unable to intervene, and can only weakly protest that VAL's treatment of the woman in the grounds that it's "too much", when the fact remains that the only difference between this act of wanton cruelty and destruction and that against the forgotten town is that it wasn't something he authorised and isn't something he can sell. it's too much. too brutal. too unpredictable. too human. she's not a weapon he can control, anymore.

[naamahdarling]

I'm home and everyone was super kind and I was not once made to feel that I was wasting their valuable time with a fucking UTI.

The doctor said it was totally reasonable for me to come in, that it wouldn't have cleared up with the antibiotics I'm on, gave me some IV antibiotics, and sent me home with a scrip for more of that.

The friendly magic cat donut says that my kidneys thank fuck are not inflamed or gross or anything. Perfectly healthy. My bladder is so sore, though. It doesn't feel like I have to pee, it just aches. I should be okay soon.

He did say something interesting, which is that this kind of bacteria my city and nearby area have a very localized but pronounced immunity to the antibiotic I was on, so that is why it wasn't quite doing enough. Never occurred to me that it might work that way but it makes sense.

I do feel kind of shite from the contrast medium though. Yucky ucky. Nothing for that but lots of water.

[danandfuckingjonlmao]

what can we do? what are the things that have helped save shows in the past that we can do? what did people do to save b99 and sense8 that worked so well? WHAT CAN WE DO????? up the views?? is that gonna help or just give netflix money? i don’t know shit about how to do this but fuck we gotta try

[thelaurenshippen]

having a body is truly humiliating. got out of bed wrong yesterday and now can't move my neck. got an F in waking up and my driving privileges were revoked. clown car of an evolutionary design

[maniacace]

so this is how streaming platforms want us to consume content nowadays huh

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

DPxDC media story prompt

Okay first off, this sort of thing has been done before, but here’s a different version involving Jazz Fenton.

Popular in DPxDC fanfic is that the GIW have a media blackouts—or whiteouts, there’s kind of a difference, where whiteouts work more like… there is a file, but you can’t edit it or it may be locked out for certain users, or an edited version of events where things are ‘whited out’ like with correction paste, among other definitions.

Point is!

The GIW have a media restriction, and among these is social media, probably with certain words or phrases pinging to location restrict the post. There was probably a phase for a while where the A-Listers tried to get around it, but ultimately failed, and since they could only get information IN rather than information OUT, and possibly still a limited amount of outside information in the first place, social media didn’t take off as much in Amity Park than in other places in the world. There’s still a small local presence, but at this point it’s almost like a city wide chat room than actual social media.

Enter in, Jazz Fenton. She’s chronically behind on trends, so by the time she decides to get on social media, the GIW aren’t being as militant on it. And she has that habit of calling the ghosts by code names instead of their actual names, such as Crate Creep instead of The Box Ghost, or Ghost X instead of Skulker. By pure coincidence of her personal language use and Tucker messing with all of Team Phantom’s phone locaters for easier excuse giving, Jazz manages to dodge all the word censors.

She accidentally creates a whole online story community convinced it’s some kind of altered reality game or role playing game, what have you. Meanwhile, Jazz is letting off steam by ranting online with, of course, made up names of all the people involved. She doesn’t even notice the numbers, and that’s assuming the GIW didn’t just—region lock the ability to see them for whatever reason. The few Amity Parkers on social medias see Jazz, maybe look at a complaint post or two, then move on because this isn’t even an unusual video inside Amity Park’s social media sphere.

Heck, PHANTOM has a social media presence and he’s done several rant videos too! One particularly famous one is him complaining about keeping his boots and gloves white while being chased and one of the GIW agents actually stops and gives him advice before shooting at him again.

Those outside Amity Park, of course, only see Jazz’s videos. And she has no idea that she has an entire online presence and mild amounts of online fame. And again, almost everyone thinks the whole thing is just a fun little game, if oddly detailed.

Until, that is, a certain young man by the name of Bernard comes in. One of the few who are totally convinced this is real, he tries to also convince his boyfriend—Timothy Drake-Wayne. Who, in turn, finds it incredibly suspicious that it’s this hard to get news and posts from one random town in the Midwest.

[fan-a-tink]

Can I just say that I love dbd tumblr? It’s my happy place and the only thing that has made the cancellation news bearable. Having spent some time on dbdtwitter I am so grateful that dbd tumblr exists 💙❤️ I truly wouldn’t want to be dead with anyone else.

[drdemonprince]

Getting all neurotic about something you have written or posted online flopping is a skill issue, I swear to god. Every single person receives a massive deluge of information and bids for their attention every single day, you really think you're gonna come up on top every time? This shit is suffused with randomness and we must accept that. It's not a meritocracy. Every time something of mine has performed well, that has been a gift, it was not something I could control, it was not something I am owed, and I will still have been lucky if it never happens again. When people don't read something I have written I think, oh, good, I guess people didn't need that one. When something I have written does well, I feel bad that it was a message so many needed to hear. The fact people lose their minds gnashing their teeth and complaining about not getting sufficient attention online deeply irritates me, because it is such an unnecessary source of stress for a person to create for themselves. Flopping is an inherent part of creation. It ought to be expected, and more than just tolerated, warmly embraced as part of what it means to hold onto your artistic integrity. Being okay with flopping keeps us honest. May we all flop elegantly from time to time.

[wyrmoftheweb]

the dichotomy of "free healthcare is slow and paid healthcare is fast" is absolutely fucking false. guess who is waiting well over 4 months to have an introductory appointment with a neurologist (for its very scary and dangerous seizures) and has to pay out its ass for it.

[ghostpajamas]

do u think a cheesecake lover and a divorced dad could be friends

[iceywrites]

There's firsts for everything.

First time to be confessed to, first time confessing, first time to be given flowers, first time going on a date, first time studying together. Eiji has given Ash more first times than he can count.

Today is the first time he wakes up before Eiji. Ash shuts his eyes, hoping to fall asleep again. He gives up in five minutes. Instead, he readjusts Eiji's hand on his abdomen and turns around to face his boyfriend.

Ash's heart is filled to the brim with adoration at the sight. His usually fluffy hair is somehow fluffier in his sleeping state. He snores softly, unbothered and careless of the world around him.

He softly runs his hands through his partner's hair, careful not to wake him up. Eiji scrunches his nose at the touch of Ash's finger but relaxes soon after.

Ash kisses his own fingers and transfers it to Eiji's nose with a gentle boop.

That wakes Eiji up.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to wake you up."

Eiji blinks himself awake and rubs the sleep off of his eyes. "You couldn't sleep?" He asks in thick, broken and accented English. Ash once again thinks that it might be too early for his heart to beat this way.

"No, I slept just fine. Don't worry."

Eiji hums and stretches his hand to check the time on his phone.

"There's still time," Eiji announces and readjusts himself so that Ash is pulled closer to his chest. Eiji kisses the top of his head. "Sleep some more."

Ash gets comfortable and pulls Eiji even closer, making him chuckle softly.

And just like that, all of a sudden, he's fine to sleep again.

[himbionn]

Quick little busts I did of my favs 🧎‍➡️ One day I'll do a full piece but hnnn