#enterprise product partners

[kp777]

By Julia Conley

Common Dreams

April 15, 2024

Climate action groups are vehemently rejecting the Biden administration's claim that the approval of a new offshore oil terminal—planned to be the largest in the U.S.—is in the "national interest," after the U.S. Department of Transportation announced the project had met several federal requirements and could begin operations by 2027.

The agency's Maritime Administration said last week that Enterprise Product Partners, a Houston-based pipeline company, had been granted a deepwater port license to build the Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) near Freeport, Texas following a five-year federal review process.

The federal government determined the $1.8 billion terminal project had undergone sufficient environmental impact reviews and would overall benefit the country—even as it was projected by the Sierra Club, which has fought SPOT for several years, to emit greenhouse gases equivalent to those of nearly 90 coal-fired power plants.

"The evidence is clear that SPOT would be catastrophic to the climate, wildlife, and frontline communities of the Gulf," said Devorah Ancel, senior attorney with the Sierra Club. "It threatens the future existence of the endangered Rice's whale with a population of less than fifty, and its ozone pollution would compromise the health of thousands of Gulf residents who have endured decades of fossil fuel industry pollution. Make no mistake, SPOT is not in the national interest."

The project is expected to include two pipelines that would carry crude oil to the deepwater port each day, enabling the export of 2 million barrels of crude oil, loaded onto two supertankers at once, daily.

"Nothing about this project is in alignment with Biden's climate and environmental justice goals," said Kelsey Crane, senior policy advocate at Earthworks. "The communities that will be impacted by SPOT have once again been ignored and will be forced to live with the threat of more oil spills, explosions, and pollution. The best way to protect the public and the climate from the harms of oil is to keep it in the ground."

Allie Rosenbluth, U.S. manager at Oil Change International, noted that the project has been approved despite the International Energy Agency's clear assessment in 2021 that "all new investments in oil and gas projects must stop if the world is going to reach its climate goals," including limiting planetary heating to 1.5°C.

"The Biden administration's decision to approve the Sea Port Oil Terminal is a grave mistake. This approval will only harm local communities and ecosystems, and lead to even more devastating impacts of the climate crisis," said Rosenbluth. "The U.S. is already the largest producer of oil and gas and has the largest expansion plans globally. Instead of continuing this legacy of harm by approving fossil fuel projects, President Biden should be listening to the science and the masses of his constituents calling for an end to fossil fuels."

The direct action group Climate Defiance expressed doubt that the approval of SPOT will help Biden win over any voters as the 2024 election approaches.

Nine in 10 Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents told Pew Research Center last year that they believe the U.S. should prioritize developing renewable energy sources—and two-thirds of Republican voters under age 30 agreed.

"This project would be the single-largest oil export terminal in the U.S." said the group. "We are being boiled alive here, literally burned to death by 'moderate' politicians who see fit to torch us in the name of quarterly profits. How can we live like this? How can this go on?"

Last year was the hottest on record, and the first three months of 2024 have each broken records for high global temperatures. Scientists found last year that climate disasters including wildfires in Canada and extreme heat in Europe were made far more likely by fossil-fueled planetary heating.

Local organizers in Texas condemned the Biden administration's decision to ignore campaigners who have warned of the danger SPOT poses to marine habitats as well as people who live in the area where two crude oil pipelines have now been given final approval to run.

"We continue to struggle to see why Biden and [Transportation Secretary Pete] Buttigieg prefer to protect the corporate profits of billion-dollar oil giants like Enbridge and Enterprise over the hardcore objections of the people who would have to live with the consequences of pipelines criss-crossing our beaches," said Trevor Carroll, Brazoria County lead organizer with Texas Campaign for the Environment. "If you care about environmental justice and the climate, you just can't support a monstrosity like SPOT. The local community and the global climate justice movement are continuing to fight... This is not over."

Melanie Oldham, director of Better Brazoria, said SPOT will be "an oil spill waiting to happen that would not only lower property value, but harm our local ecosystems, ecotourism, beaches, recreation, and kill marine life like the endangered Rice's whale and Kemp's Ridley sea turtles."

"Those of us residents, beachgoers, and voters that have for the past four years opposed the SPOT offshore terminal and pipelines are very disappointed with the approval of the project license," said Oldham. "President Biden has again broken promises to protect frontline communities in Surfside and Freeport."

The administration's approval came three months after the White House announced it was delaying consideration of new gas export terminals, and the same day the federal government said fossil fuel companies will have to pay higher royalties in order to drill on federal lands.

But those climate actions paired with the SPOT approval amount only to "flip flopping," said Climate Defiance.

"It is not enough that the administration stopped new gas exports if they are going to back stab us with this death-sentence decision now," said the group. "This is not us being 'ungrateful.' This is the science. The pure, unvarnished, science."

[benchkartservices]

Better Videos With End-to-End Procurement Partners

In this article, we will explore the advantages of working with a procurement partner to elevate your video marketing efforts.

The Role of End-to-End Procurement Partners in Video Production

End-to-end procurement partners specialize in sourcing, negotiating, and managing all aspects of the video production process. From securing the right equipment and crew to managing logistics and post-production, these partners can handle every step of the process, allowing you to focus on your core business objectives. By leveraging their expertise and industry connections, you can access top-tier resources and talent that may not be readily available to you otherwise.

Benefits of Partnering with a Procurement Partner for Video Production

Cost Efficiency: Procurement partners have the buying power and industry knowledge to negotiate favorable rates for equipment, services, and talent, saving you money in the long run.

Time Savings: By delegating the procurement process to a specialized partner, you can free up your time and resources to focus on other aspects of your business.

Quality Assurance: Procurement partners have established relationships with reliable vendors and suppliers, ensuring that you receive high-quality equipment and services for your video production needs.

Streamlined Process: With a procurement partner managing all aspects of the production process, you can enjoy a streamlined and efficient workflow from start to finish.

How to Choose the Right Procurement Partner for Your Video Production Needs

When selecting a procurement partner for your video production needs, it is essential to consider several factors:

Industry Experience: Look for a partner with a proven track record in the video production industry and a portfolio of successful projects then approach Benchkart.

Resource Network: A reputable procurement partner should have access to a wide network of vendors, suppliers, and industry professionals to meet your specific needs.

Client References: Ask for client references and testimonials to gauge the partner's reputation and customer satisfaction levels.

Communication Skills: Effective communication is key to a successful partnership, so choose a partner who listens to your needs and provides clear updates throughout the production process. Partnering with an end-to-end procurement partner can significantly enhance the quality and efficiency of your video production efforts. By leveraging their expertise, resources, and industry connections, you can create compelling video content that resonates with your target audience and drives results for your business. So, why not consider working with a procurement partner to take your video marketing to the next level? Source: https://benchkart.com/blog/better-videos-with-end-to-end-procurement-partners/

[advaiya-solutions]

Facilitate higher workplace productivity by using MS Teams document management systems

Many factors affect workforce productivity. One of these is the ability to find the right documents, resources, and files at the right moment. This affects enterprise productivity, the pace of work, and employee productivity. It also allows employees to concentrate on more valuable activities like innovation, strategy, training, and skill enhancement. Research shows that employees are spending more time searching for critical documents in cluttered online document management systems than they are focusing on providing workplace value.

[what-shitfuckery-is-this-ew]

BOYCOTTING FOR PALESTINE

The Official BDS Boycott Targets

Campaigns

Block the boat: End maritime arms transfer to Israel

Ban Apartheid Israel from Sports (FIFA, Olympics)

Consumer Boycotts - a complete boycott of these brands

Disney (SPECIFICALLY MARVEL)

Intel

Axa

Puma

Carrefour

HP

Cevron

Caltex

Israeli produce

Re/max

Ahava

Texaco

Siemens

Sodastream

Intel

Organic Boycott Targets - boycotts not initiated by BDS but still complete boycott of these brands

Macdonald's

Dominos

Papa Johns

Burger King

Pizza Hut

Wix

Divestments and exclusion - pressure governments, institutions, investment funds, city councils, etc. to exclude from procurement contracts and investments and to divest from these

Elbit Systems

CAF

Volvo

CAT

Barclays

JCB

HD Hyundai

TKH Security

HikVision

Pressure - boycotts when reasonable alternatives exist, as well as lobbying, peaceful disruptions, and social media pressure.

Google

Amazon

AirBnb

Booking.Com

Expedia

Teva

Here are some companies that strongly support Israel (but are not Boycott targets). There is no ethical consumption under capitalism and boycotting is a political strategy - not a moral one. If you did try to boycott every supporter of Israel you would struggle to survive because every major company supports Israel (as a result of attempting to keep the US economy afloat), that being said, the ones that are being boycotted by masses and not already on the organic boycott list are coloured red.

5 Star Chocolate

7Days

7Up

Apple

Arsenal FC

ALDO

Arket

Axe

Accenture

Ariel

Adidas

ActionIQ

Aquafina

Amika

AccuWeather

Activia

Adobe

Aesop

Azrieli Group

American Eagle

Amway Corp

Axel Springer

American Airlines

American Express

Atlassian

AdeS

Aquarius

Ayataka

Audi

Barqs

Bain & Company

Bayer

Bank Leumi

Bank Hapoalim

BCG (Boston Consulting Group)

Biotherm

Bershka

Bloomberg

BMW

Boeing

Booz Allen Hamilton

Burberry

Bath & Body Works

Bosch

Bristol Myers Squibb

Capri Holdings

Costa

Carita Paris

CareTrust REIT

Caterpillar

Coach

Cappy

Caudalie

CeraVe

Check Point Software Technologies

Cerelac

Chanel

Chapman and Cutler

Channel

Cheerios

Cheetos

Chevron

Chips Ahoy!

Christina Aguilera

Citi Bank

Carrefour

Codral

Cosco

Canada Dry

Citi

Clal Insurance Enterprises

Clean & Clear

Clearblue

Clinique

Champion

Club Social

Coca Cola

Coffee Mate

Colgate

Comcast

Compass

Caesars

Conde Nast

Cooley LLP

Costco

Côte d’Or

Crest

CV Starr

CyberArk Software

Cytokinetics

Crayola

Cra Z Art

Daimler

Dr Pepper

Del Valle

Daim

Doctor Pepper

Dasani

Doritos

Daz

Dior

Dell

Deloitte

Delta Air Lines

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Telekom

DHL Group

David Off

Disney

DLA Piper

Domestos

Domino’s

Douglas Elliman

Downy

Duane Morris LLP

Dreft Baby Detergent & Laundry Products

Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream

eBay

Edelman

Eli Lilly

Evian

Empyrean

Ericsson

Endeavor

EPAM Systems

Estee Lauder

Elbit Systems

EY

Forbes

Facebook

Fairlife

Fanta

First International Bank of Israel

Fiverr

Funyuns

Fuze

Fox News

Fritos

Fox Corp

Gatorade

Gamida Cell

GE

Glamglow

General Catalyst

General Motors

Georgia

Gold Peak

Genesys

Goldman Sachs

Grandma’s Cookies

Garnier

Guess

Greenberg Traurig

Guerlain

Givenchy

H&M

Hadiklaim

Huggies

Hanes

HSBC

Head & Shoulders

Hersheys

Herbert Smith Freehills

Hewlett Packard

Hasbro

Hyundai

Henkel

Harel Insurance Investment & Financial Services

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

HubSpot

Huntsman Corp

IBM

Innocent

Insight Partners

Inditex Group

IT Cosmetics

Instacart

Intermedia

Interpublic Group

Instagram

ICL Group

Intuit

Jazwares

Jefferies

John Lewis

JP Morgan Chase

Jaguar

Johnson & Johnson

JPMorgan

Kenon Holdings

Kate Spade

Kirks’

Kinley Water

KKR

KFC

KKW Cosmetics

Kurkure

Keebler

Kolynos

Kaufland

Kevita

Knorr

KPMG

Lemonade

Lidl

Loblaws

Levi Strauss

Louis Vuitton

Life Water

Levi’s

Levi’s Strauss

LinkedIn

Land Rover

L’Oréal

Lego

Levissima

Live Nation Entertainment

Lufthansa

La Roche-Posay

Lipton

Major League Baseball

Manpower Group

Marriott

Marsh McLennan

Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Mastercard

Mattel

Minute Maid

Monster

Monki

Mainz FC

Mellow Yellow

Mountain Dew

Migdal Insurance

Marks & Spencer

Mirinda

McDermott Will & Emery

Motorola

McKinsey

Merck

Michael Kors

Mizrahi Tefahot Bank

Merck KGaA

Micheal Kors

Milkybar

Maybelline

Mount Franklin

Meta

MeUndies

Mattle

Microsoft

Munchies

Miranda

Morgan Lewis

Moroccanoil

Morgan Stanley

MRC

Nasdaq

Naughty Dog

Nivea

Next

NOS

Nabisco

Nutter Butter

No Frills

National Basketball Association

National Geographic

Nintendo

New Balance

Nutella

Newtons

NVIDIA

Netflix

Nescafe

Nestle

Nesquick

Nike

Nussbeisser

Oreo

Oral B

Old spice

Oysho

Omeprazole

Oceanspray

Opodo

P&G (Procter and Gamble)

Pampers

Pull & Bear

Pepsi

Pfizer

Popeyes

Parker Pens

Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Pizza Hut

Powerade

Purina

Phoenix Holdings

Propel

Ponds

Pure Leaf Green Tea

Power Action Wipes

PwC

Prada

Perry Ellis

Prada Eyewear

Pringles

Payoneer

Procter & Gamble

Purelife

Pureology

Quaker Oats

Reddit

Royal Bank of Canada

Ruffles

Revlon

Ralph Lauren

Ritz

Rolls Royce

Royal

S.Pellegrino

Sabra Hummus

Sabre

Sony

SAP

Simply

Smart Water

Sprite

Schwabe

Shell

Soda Stream

Siemens

StreamElements

Schweppes

Sunsilk

Signal

Skittles

Smart Food

Sobe

Smarties

Sephora

Sam’s Club

Superbus

Samsung

Sodastream

Sunkist

Scotiabank

Sour Patch Kids

Starbucks

Sadaf

Stride

Subway

Tang

Tate’s Bake Shop

The Body Shop

Tesco

Twitch

The Ordinary

Tim Hortons

Tostitos

Timberland

Topo Chico

Tapestry

Tropicana

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger Toiletries

Turbos

Tom Ford

Taco Bell

Triscuit

TUC

Twix

Tottenham Hotspurs

Twisties

Tripadvisor

Uber

Uber Eats

Urban Decay

Upfield

Unilever

Vicks

Victoria’s Secret

V8

Vaseline

Vitaminwater

Volkswagen

Volvo

Walmart

Wegmans

WhatsApp

Waitrose

Woolworths

Wheat Thins

Walkers

Warner Brothers

Warner Chilcot

Warner Music

Wells Fargo

Winston & Strawn

WingStreet

Wissotzky Tea

WWE

Wheel Washing Powder

Wrigley Company

YouTube

Yvel

Yum Brands

Ziyad

Zara

Zim Shipping

Ziff Davis

[incorrectbatfam]

Superbat hcs?

They're constantly referring to each other as "colleagues" even after all this time

One time Bruce comes home brooding more than usual and when asked he's like "I got into a disagreement with someone at the office"

Or Clark triple-checking that his suit and tie look right because he doesn't wanna embarrass himself at a work dinner with Bruce

Clark randomly laughs in the middle of the day at the Daily Planet because of something his co-worker from his second job sent him (it was a picture of Ace)

Bruce randomly buys gifts for Clark for "networking purposes," like Belgian chocolate or a diamond watch band

When Clark is stressed over a deadline Bruce will talk him through it over the phone because that's what colleagues do for each other

When other people ask where they see themselves in 10 years they always mention wanting to be each other's "business partners"

They once shared the same bed at a hotel on a "business trip" because getting two different ones would "go over the budget"

After a particularly bad Justice League mission, Bruce and Clark go for a long stroll together to "regroup" and "think up a new strategy"

They also coordinate Wayne Enterprises and Daily Planet lunch breaks so Clark can fly over to Gotham with the pie that Ma specifically made for Bruce

The Justice League does a holiday gift swap and Diana rigs it so Bruce and Clark get each other, but it backfires on her when they keep separately coming to her for advice as they're panicking about picking the right present

Bruce saved Clark in his contacts as "Colleague <3" and claims the heart is to differentiate him from all the other JL members and WE employees

One time Dick asked Bruce where he was going and Bruce said it was another work meeting with Clark, and Dick was like, "A work meeting in a horse-drawn carriage through the park?" To which Bruce said it was being paid for by Wayne Enterprises and therefore was business-related

Their families got together on Kent Farm for a summer barbecue after they said they had some "big news" to share, which turned out to be the merger between Wayne Enterprises and the Daily Planet. More than one people were left disappointed but Bruce and Clark couldn't figure out why

Clark flies over to Gotham in the mornings to bring Bruce coffee from a place they both like in exchange for Alfred's breakfast pastries

When Bruce is in Metropolis, he sneaks into Clark's office and waits until Clark gets back

Wayne Enterprises branches into the jewelry industry and Bruce gets himself and Clark matching gold rings as part of the "product testing" procedure

On slow patrol nights, they'll meet up on a random rooftop and just talk because "regular updates are vital to business communication"

They practiced how to waltz with each other so they look good in front of others at an upcoming gala

The other heroes have a running bet on how long until they get together, and of course Diana is in the lead

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

Taking a break from squeeing over all this juicy stuff on my dash for a moment, I have to say that what both Saint & YinWar are doing here is really important for the creative side of QL.

Let's be clear, most media executives are not creative people. They may have some business acumen (though most I think fake it quite a bit), but a vast number are incapable of understanding what it feels like to be creative, or how to connect with the people (us) who engage with creative material in any kind of passionate way.

Which is why they so often make decisions like "this college BL was cheap to make and did well - let's make 20 more". It's why they keep adapting books that fit pre-established norms while ignoring the vast number of QL books in other genres. It's why they so often will only take a "risk" once it's already been proven profitable by some smaller more independent enterprise. It's why they are chomping at the bit to replace writers with AI (I hate calling it that, it's not remotely intelligent), because they truly don't see the difference between an algorithm and a human being. Both can produce "content" and that's what they care about.

Now I'm sure that part of YinWar making Jack and Joker is because they want to play in something cool & fun (get it boys!), but also they're no dummies. Partner in Crime was a test, and they saw how the people reacted.

Same with Saint. Each series pushes the QL bubble open a little bit wider, because he understands that despite what most executives think, we as viewers are not a mindless monolith that you can endlessly feed the same content to.

And vitally, what they get and most executives don't, is the FANDOM of it all. They know we want to pour over gifs & photos, and swoon over this sexy moment, and talk about that cool bit of action. We want to be fed.

We're not subtle about what we like. If you take the time to actually pay attention to us

The ironic thing is that I think both of these productions are going to do very well, and then more executives will jump on the genre bandwagon and recycle ideas, without understanding just what it is that makes us so feral for these particular properties.

But in the meantime, I am grateful for creative people who fight to make their own content. How much more colorless our world would be without them.

[vulnonapixes-dc-corner]

Whilst I don't really headcanon Tim as trans, I could totally see tim fake their dead and resurface as a woman a few months later.

Like she faked her dead as Timothy Drake, who got murdered by lex Luther during an meeting and came back as Dorothy Wayne, new adopted daughter of Bruce Wayne.

People say that she was adopted because Bruce was grieving or that she is the result of an one night stand, but the rumor mill was taken down pretty quickly by the Wayne enterprise.

Dorothy works as an photographer and takes the most inspiring and hopefully photos of Gotham .

Also sibling time:

Damian did the most research out of everyone. Like he is a product of his raising and is still doing his best to relearn everything. He came to the decision that his "brother" was such a disgrace to their family cause she had to act like a man. He also tried to help her find a new name by leaving small notes with various names on her stuff.

Duke was extremely happy to her coming out, cause it meant that she was trusting them. Not that he ever questioned her, but the bats have a weird way of showing trust.

Stephanie just knew. Like she didn't even blink and literally answered "nice"

Cassandra is also extremely supportive, calling her "little sister", "pretty girl" and stuff. She is also the reason why the rumor mill was destroyed.

Jason helped her with faking her death. Like, she came to him asking if he wanted to murder Timothy Drake and he got really worried for a second. She explained, they hugged and got lex into prison.

Babara is the one that coordinated all the surgeries and medical appointments.

Dick cried when she told him and then laid all his love to her. He then gave her the numbers to all the make up/hair/nail salons he trusts

On the boyfriend part:

Both Bernhard and Kon are just so in love. Like even more as before, cause their partners is finally her true, happy self.

Even if Bernhard had joked that they are now the proper thing high school romance drama.

(Kon kissed him silly after that)

[sgiandubh]

A word on Wardpark/Cumbernauld Studios

@docsama left a comment, on S's birthday, under one of my posts and I promised her an answer with more information, as soon as I got the time. Anyway, here goes - and @docsama, sorry for the delay:

Question is: who owns the Wardpark Film and Television Studios?

The answer was quick to find, in the not-so-old specialized media:

The story begins in 2013, with an ambitious Scottish entrepreneur, Terry Thomson - this guy (courtesy of The Herald, https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15984820.analysis-three-projects-pipeline-help-productions-make-big-picture/):

He is the owner of the Thomson Pettie Group, based in Carluke (https://www.thomsonpettie.com/about-us), which has nothing to do with cinema:

You've read that right: they are 'manufacturers of fabricated metal parts and assemblies', primarily for the national automotive industry. Yet, in 2013, Mr. Thomson agreed to rent what he described as 'a dormant industrial property' - a warehouse, to be exact - to Sony, in order to host the filming and production of OL. Thus, he became the CEO of a newly created entity, The Wardpark Film and Television Studios (https://www.hackmancapital.com/scotlands-largest-most-iconic-film-studio-acquired-by-hackman-capital-partners-and-square-mile-capital/).

By 2017, Wardpark was doing so well, that a big expansion plan was announced, with the direct support of the Scottish Government, which invested £4 million via Scottish Enterprise, its business support, advice and funding agency:

And then, in November 2021, the little engine that could was sold to those two big US investors, Hackman Capital Partners (HCP) and Square Mile Capital Management LLC (now globally rebranded as Affinius Capital). In this montage, Hackman Capital Partners brought its own confirmed film studios and media management expertise...

... while Square Mile most probably funded a sizeable portion of the acquisition, simply because this is what they do best:

Perhaps an interesting detail: HCP owns and manages both the Culver City based Sony Pictures Animation Studios' Campus and the legendary Culver Studios, now rebranded by Amazon:

Back to Scotland, Wardpark Studio's sale made just about everyone happy. Mr. Thomson kept his CEO job and look who was more than thrilled about the juicy transaction:

Currently, the studio is operated by HCP's subsidiary, The MBS Group:

That means that MBS probably manages just about everything, as far as daily management is concerned, from business operations, staffing and/or property management, to lighting and grip, trucks and generators' fleet, expendables and props. Unless I could see a contract and have a precise idea, I can just enumerate all the services they offer.

At no point in time did S and C own anything of those studios. As for the Executive Producer part, that is another discussion entirely. I could be coaxed to write something about it, if you really want to know why Those Two are EPs and what does that really, really mean - because once again, I have seen and read a LOT of bullshit in here, especially in the Desperate Housewives Disgruntled Tumblrettes' corner.

Thank you for asking. It was fun to research and write and I hope it brought more clarity to you.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The long sleep of capitalism’s watchdogs

There are only five more days left in my Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

One of the weirdest aspect of end-stage capitalism is the collapse of auditing, the lynchpin of investing. Auditors – independent professionals who sign off on a company's finances – are the only way that investors can be sure they're not handing their money over to failing businesses run by crooks.

It's just not feasible for investors to talk to supply-chain partners and retailers and verify that a company's orders and costs are real. Investors can't walk into a company's bank and demand to see their account histories. Auditors – who are paid by companies, but work for themselves – are how investors avoid shoveling money into Ponzi-pits.

Attentive readers will have noticed that there is an intrinsic tension in an arrangement where someone is paid by a company to certify its honesty. The company gets to decide who its auditors are, and those auditors are dependent on the company for future business. To manage this conflict of interest, auditors swear fealty to a professional code of ethics, and are themselves overseen by professional boards with the power to issue fines and ban cheaters.

Enter monopolization. Over the past 40 years, the US government conducted a failed experiment in allowing companies to form monopolies on the theory that these would be "efficient." From Boeing to Facebook, Cigna to InBev, Warner to Microsoft, it has been a catastrophe. The American corporate landscape is dominated by vast, crumbling, ghastly companies whose bad products and worse corporate conduct are locked in a race to see who can attain the most depraved enshittification quickest.

The accounting profession is no exception. A decades-long incestuous orgy of mergers and acquisitions yielded up an accounting sector dominated by just four firms: EY, KPMG, PWC and Deloitte (the last holdout from the alphabetsoupification of corporate identity). Virtually every major company relies on one of these companies for auditing, but that's only a small part of corporate America's relationship with these tottering behemoths. The real action comes from "consulting."

Each of the Big Four accounting firms is also a corporate consultancy. Some of those consulting services are the normal work of corporate consultants – cookie cutter advice to fire workers and reduce product quality, as well as supplying dangerously defecting enterprise software. But you can get that from the overpaid enablers at McKinsey or BCG. The advantage of contracting with a Big Four accounting firm for consulting is that they can help you commit finance fraud.

Remember: if you're an executive greenlighting fraud, you mostly just want to be sure it's not discovered until after you've pocketed your bonus and moved on. After all, the pro-monopoly experiment was also an experiment in tolerating corporate crime. Executives who cheat their investors, workers and suppliers typically generate fines for their companies, while escaping any personal liability.

By buying your cheating advice from the same company that is paid to certify that you're not cheating, you greatly improve your chances of avoiding detection until you've blown town.

Which brings me to the idea of the "bezzle." This is John Kenneth Galbraith's term for "the weeks, months, or years that elapse between the commission of the crime and its discovery." This is the period in which both the criminal and the victim feel like they're better off. The crook has the victim's money, and the victim doesn't know it. The Bezzle is that interval when you're still assuming that FTX isn't lying to you about the crazy returns they're generating for your crypto. It's the period between you getting the shrinkwrapped box with a 90% discounted PS5 in it from a guy in an alley, and getting home and discovering that it's full of bricks and styrofoam.

Big Accounting is a factory for producing bezzles at scale. The game is rigged, and they are the riggers. When banks fail and need a public bailout, chances are those banks were recently certified as healthy by one of the Big Four, whose audited bank financials failed 800 re-audits between 2009-17:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/28/cyberwar-tactics/#aligned-incentives

The Big Four dispute this, of course. They claim to be models of probity, adhering to the strictest possible ethical standards. This would be a lot easier to believe if KPMG hadn't been caught bribing its regulators to help its staff cheat on ethics exams:

https://www.nysscpa.org/news/publications/the-trusted-professional/article/sec-probe-finds-kpmg-auditors-cheating-on-training-exams-061819

Likewise, it would be easier to believe if their consulting arms didn't keep getting caught advising their clients on how to cheat their auditing arms:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/09/dingo-babysitter/#maybe-the-dingos-ate-your-nan

Big Accounting is a very weird phenomenon, even by the standards of End-Stage Capitalism. It's an organized system of millionaire-on-billionaire violence, a rare instance of the very richest people getting scammed the hardest:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/04/aaronsw/#crooked-ref

The collapse of accounting is such an ominous and fractally weird phenomenon, it inspired me to write a series of hard-boiled forensic accountancy novels about a two-fisted auditor named Martin Hench, starting with last year's Red Team Blues (out in paperback next week!):

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

The sequel to Red Team Blues is called (what else?) The Bezzle, and part of its ice-cold revenge plot involves a disillusioned EY auditor who can't bear to be part of the scam any longer:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/the-bezzle-a-martin-hench-audiobook-amazon-wont-sell

The Hench stories span a 40-year period, and are a chronicle of decades of corporate decay. Accountancy is the perfect lens for understanding our modern fraud economy. After all, it was crooked accountants who gave us the S&L crisis:

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10130&context=etd

Crooked auditors were at the center of the Great Financial Crisis, too:

https://francinemckenna.com/2009/12/07/they-werent-there-auditors-and-the-financial-crisis/

And of course, crooked auditors were behind the Enron fraud, a rare instance in which a fraud triggered a serious attempt to prevent future crimes, including the destruction of accounting giant Arthur Andersen. After Enron, Congress passed Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), which created a new oversight board called the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).

The PCAOB is a watchdog for watchdogs, charged with auditing the auditors and punishing the incompetent and corrupt among them. Writing for The American Prospect and the Revolving Door Project, Timi Iwayemi describes the long-running failure of the PCAOB to do its job:

https://prospect.org/power/2024-01-26-corporate-self-oversight/

For example: from 2003-2019, the PCAOB undertook only 18 enforcement cases – even though the PCAOB also detected more than 800 "seriously defective audits" by the Big Four. And those 18 cases were purely ornamental: the PCAOB issued a mere $6.5m in fines for all 18, even though they could have fined the accounting companies $1.6 billion:

https://www.pogo.org/investigations/how-an-agency-youve-never-heard-of-is-leaving-the-economy-at-risk

Few people are better on this subject than the investigative journalist Francine McKenna, who has just co-authored a major paper on the PCAOB:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4227295

The paper uses a new data set – documents disclosed in a 2019 criminal trial – to identify the structural forces that cause the PCAOB to be such a weak watchdog whose employees didn't merely fail to do their jobs, but actually criminally abetted the misdeeds of the companies they were supposed to be keeping honest.

They put the blame – indirectly – on the SEC. The PCAOB has three missions: protecting investors, keeping markets running smoothly, and ensuring that businesses can raise capital. These missions come into conflict. For example, declaring one of the Big Four auditors ineligible would throw markets into chaos, removing a quarter of the auditing capacity that all public firms rely on. The Big Four are the auditors for 99.7% of the S&P 500, and certify the books for the majority of all listed companies:

https://blog.auditanalytics.com/audit-fee-trends-of-sp-500/

For the first two decades of the PCAOB's existence, the SEC insisted that conflicts be resolved in ways that let the auditing firms commit fraud, because the alternative would be bad for the market.

So: rather than cultivating an adversarial relationship to the Big Four, the PCAOB effectively merged with them. Two of its board seats are reserved for accountants, and those two seats have been occupied by Big Four veterans almost without exception:

https://www.pogo.org/investigations/captured-financial-regulator-at-risk

It was no better on the SEC side. The Office of the Chief Accountant is the SEC's overseer for the PCAOB, and it, too, has operated with a revolving door between the Big Four and their watchdog (indeed, the Chief Accountant is the watchdog for the watchdog for the watchdogs!). Meanwhile, staffers from the Office of the Chief Accountant routinely rotated out of government service and into the Big Four.

This corrupt arrangement reached a crescendo in 2019, with the appointment of William Duhnke – formerly of Senator Richard Shelby's [R-AL] staff – took over as Chief Accountant. Under Duhnke's leadership, the already-toothless watchdog was first neutered, then euthanized. Duhnke fired all four heads of the PCAOB's main division and then left their seats vacant for 18 months. He slashed the agency's budget, "weakened inspection requirements and auditor independence policies, and disregarded obligations to hold Board meetings and publicize its agenda."

All that ended in 2021, when SEC chair Gary Gensler fired Duhnke and replaced him with Erica Williams, at the insistence of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Within a year, Williams had issued 42 enforcement actions, the largest number since 2017, levying over $11m in sanctions:

https://www.dlapiper.com/en/insights/publications/2023/01/pcaob-sets-aggressive-agenda-for-2023-what-to-expect-as-agency-enforcement-expands

She was just getting warmed up: last year, PCAOB collected $20m in fines, with five cases seeing fines in excess of $2m each, a record:

https://www.dlapiper.com/en/insights/publications/2024/01/pcaobs-enforcement-and-standard-setting-rev-up-what-to-expect-in-2024

Williams isn't shy about condemning the Big Four, publicly sounding the alarm that 40% of the 2022 audits the PCAOB reviewed were deficient, up from 34% in 2021 and 29% in 2020:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-audit-the-auditors-and-we-found-trouble-accountability-capital-markets-c5587f05

Under Williams, the PCAOB has enacted new, muscular rules on lead auditors' duties, and they're now consulting on a rule that will make audit inspections much faster, shortening the documentation period from 45 days to 14:

https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/pcaob-rulemaking-could-lead-to-more-timely-issuance-of-audit-inspection-reports/

Williams is no fire-breathing leftist. She's an alum of the SEC and a BigLaw firm, creating modest, obvious technical improvements to a key system that capitalism requires for its orderly functioning. Moreover, she is competent, able to craft regulations that are effective and enforceable. This has been a motif within the Biden administration:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

But though these improvements are decidedly moderate, they are grounded in a truly radical break from business-as-usual in the age of monopoly auditors. It's a transition from self-regulation to regulation. As @40_Years on Twitter so aptly put it: "Self regulation is to regulation as self-importance is to importance":

https://twitter.com/40_Years/status/1750025605465178260

Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28 - THIS SUNDAY!) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/26/noclar-war/#millionaire-on-billionaire-violence

Back the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle here!

Image: Sam Valadi (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/132084522@N05/17086570218/

Disco Dan (modified)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/danhogbenspics/8318883471/

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

[zvaigzdelasas]

[TIME is US Media]

U.S. and European officials are growing increasingly concerned about China’s accelerated push into the production of older-generation semiconductors and are debating new strategies to contain the country’s expansion. President Joe Biden implemented broad controls over China’s ability to secure the kind of advanced chips that power artificial-intelligence models and military applications. But Beijing responded by pouring billions into factories for the so-called legacy chips that haven’t been banned. Such chips are still essential throughout the global economy, critical components for everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military hardware.

That’s sparked fresh fears about China’s potential influence and triggered talks of further reining in the Asian nation, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The U.S. is determined to prevent chips from becoming a point of leverage for China, the people said.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo alluded to the problem during a panel discussion last week at the American Enterprise Institute. “The amount of money that China is pouring into subsidizing what will be an excess capacity of mature chips and legacy chips—that’s a problem that we need to be thinking about and working with our allies to get ahead of,” she said.[...]

Legacy chips are typically considered those made with 28-nm equipment or above, technology introduced more than a decade ago. Senior E.U. and U.S. officials are concerned about Beijing’s drive to dominate this market for both economic and security reasons, the people said. They worry Chinese companies could dump their legacy chips on global markets in the future, driving foreign rivals out of business like in the solar industry, they said.[...]

domestic producers may be reluctant to invest in facilities that will have to compete with heavily subsidized Chinese plants. [...]

“The United States and its partners should be on guard to mitigate nonmarket behavior by China’s emerging semiconductor firms,”

While the U.S. rules introduced last October slowed down China’s development of advanced chipmaking capabilities, they left largely untouched [sic] the country’s ability to use techniques older than 14-nanometers. That has led Chinese firms to construct new plants faster than anywhere else in the world. They are forecast to build 26 fabs through 2026 that use 200-millimeter and 300-mm wafers, according to the trade group SEMI. That compares with 16 fabs for the Americas.

So what's the problem? is it that you suck at manufacturing & want more neoliberalism? That's what it seems like to me [31 Jul 23]

[ma1dmer]

League of Legends - Renata NSFW

try not to say mommy challenge

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex): she'll pull out a cigar or a glass of wine and run sharp claws through your hair, humming about what a good pup you were for her, if you need anything she'll order her assistant to bring you anything and everything you want.

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s): it's definitely her powerful arm, she'll use her claws to press your mouth open or yank your head around where she most needs it. on you its the plusher parts of your body, stomach, arms, thighs, anything where she can dig her nails in and leave a mark or two.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person): she hates getting dirty but she definitely loves getting you dirty, she'll scruff you and push your face to any place you've 'dirtied up' so you can clean it with your tongue, even if its the floor.

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs): she has definitely thought of using you as a sort of ,product tester for some of her more, risque products. opening your mouth and sliding a pill across your tongue and down your throat, until she feels it close up around her fingers, or pushing a vial of some liquid past your lips, guiding your head back so she can watch you swallow readily. would you let her do that to you, do you trust her that much? she is a woman that values loyalty after all, what better way to show her your undying loyalty.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?): she won't tell you how much experience she has of course, but her confidence and knowledge answers for her.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual): anything with you on your knees where she can be above you in a position of power. she especially loves having you tied up kissing her shoes or grinding against her leg.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc): she can definitely joke around ,but it's usually jokes to make herself chuckle rather than expect you to laugh. it’d be cruel to expect you to laugh especially when you are gagged.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.): she gets the best of the best on hair removal but always leaves out a small patch for aesthetic purposes.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…): definitely not the romantic kind , sex for her is strictly about getting and giving pleasure, she'll call you endearing names, but in a more teasing lilt, princess, pup, kitten, darling as she wipes tears off of your eyes from how hard she is choking you.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon): she has you for that, but wouldn't mind having you masturbate for her, show her what you do when you think of her when she is away.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks): pet play, bondage, exhibitionism etc

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do): she'll buy out an entire restaurant for a night purely to fuck you there ,she'll have the best food, the best wine, the best staff ,let you enjoy some of the finest things high class living in Zaun offers and then fuck you on the table. she also absolutely loves bringing you to her office, and if you are comfortable, wants to show you off to some of her business partners, have you sit prettily next to her during a meeting as she stares them down, eyes dark as her hand scratches behind your ear, her most prized possession.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going): using the stuff she gets for you, wether its her company’s stuff, or the gifts she sends your way, she wants to see you carry her name around.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs): share! you are her property and if she could brand you with her name to show everyone she absolutely would. put a big, property of renata glasc enterprises on your back for everyone to see.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc): loves receiving, will sit back and grind against your mouth getting frustrated when you pull back for air or click her tongue while muttering 'bad dog' if you fail to please her.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.): she is definitely more on the rough side, but the speed depends on how much time she can afford that day.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.): not really fond of them because she hates the possibility of being interrupted, if you two are interrupted whoever has interrupted you is getting fired or shot and then her mood sours for the entire day.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.): she loves when you bring ideas to her for you two to try out, she'll praise you and then do her research, so she has everything prepared for the proper experience. she personally knows what she likes and doesn’t like, but she is fine with helping you try out new things.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…): she'll stick to a round or two but will drag them out long enough to make you beg her to stop.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?): she makes everything you'll ask of her, every plug, every vibrator, every collar has her name and signature on it.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease): she is horrible, she'll pat her lap and have you grind on her thigh or the heel of her shoe while ignoring you for hours before she finally relents and helps you, but if she is feeling particularly cruel she sends you off to wait for her to finish work.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make): she is not quiet, she grunts and groans letting you know exactly how much she is enjoying her time with you.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice): she definitely likes to be called daddy //this is the one point i am not elaborating on.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words):

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?): she is an absolute master of her body and needs , probably schedules when she'll wreck you.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards): business never ends for the chem baroness so she won't sleep right away, however she is more than willing to have you asleep next to her while finishing her work //especially in a dog bed, with your head on her lap-

[precious-little-scoundrel]

Do you have any Ida Brady headcanons for pre-integrated AU? 👀

Oooh yes I do, thanks for asking!

It has occurred to me how we’ve met her when she’s legit at her lowest and coldest. So while she might be impressive AF right now, she’s not exactly the warm hearted sister Johnny could tell you of, the insane dark-horse risk taker Egan will bet on any day, the tireless and compassionate advocate of her girls, or the incredibly conflicted woman Rosie Rosenthal has the audacity to make laugh before Victory rolls round.

Ok, full disclosure, there’s plenty about this AU I’ve not even bothered figuring out as it would drive me mad and stifle the creativity, so plenty of the aspects and rules of integration, etc, have been left nebulous even in my own brain.

The short of this concept, however, is that the Bloody 100th became the first (and likely only? maybe another by the end of the war) bomber group to intergrate. It added to their reputation as a crazy and undisciplined force, an experiment of sorts. Full of mad hatters and women who deserved to get shot out of the sky for attempting to engage in something as masculine aerial combat -it made the men both defensive of their group’s capabilities and that of their female fellows. Sink or swim together, and by god, they flew instead.

This also meant Ida Brady became the highest ranking woman of her sex in the air force at the time, although she was predictably never given close to a full squadron as was her “due” as a Lt. Colonel.

It was a bit of a surprise then when she pushed for full integration of the group, that she should not be over women only, and not all women should answer strictly to her. This was adopted by the time of Harding’s command and the girls’ broader deployment.

Old habits die hard however, and “Ida’s Banshees” were still toasted at the Silver Wings club, although technically many fellas were counted amongst them by then.

How’d she get into aviation? well my dears -it starts with a stock market crash

The Brady family did alright for much of the 1930’s, jobs in rural New York were hard to come by yet the soil was good for food and the community close, the desperate poverty of the big cities wasn’t as starkly obvious or quick to ruin out there. But just because the country takes a turn up doesn’t always mean a single family will, too. There’s always unforeseen twists and turns.

Her two brothers could add to the family with what work they could get, or apprentice as Johnny did. But Ida? Those should have been her courting years, according to mama. Mrs. Brady was a good woman, a product of her times and upbringing and an immigrant child herself. It wasn’t cruel to the Irish, it was custom, to send a child away to better serve their futures.

And so 1937 found Ida seated on a train headed down to an Aunt’s house in Miami, Florida, to help with Uncle’s Travel Agency and earn a wage and hopefully meet some young fellas

There may have been young fellas in Miami but Ida didn’t have an eye for them, she wanted money and security and and to be back with her tight knit family in New York.

Uncle’s little venture was a sprawling enterprise growing free and wild since the mid 20’s in Florida’s sticky air. Sure it was a travel agency but it also coordinated areal mail runs that also accommodated a growing number of passengers, and on the side was Uncle’s true passion: the aviation school of Embry and Riddle.

Named after himself (Riddle) and his business partner Embry, her uncle had been battling the government’s pesky fingers in his training programs since the 20’s and by the late 30’s —when Ida arrived— he had reopened three different times.

Such tenacity and unreserved frustration shown by someone she so admired in regards to authoritarian overreach cemented in Ida’s mind a very clear impression that the persecution she later faced was not due fully to her sex. Instead she chose to consider it persecution of the old American trait of not giving a damn about the pesky ball and chain of higher power. Yes she appreciated her rules in the army, but in civilian enterprises? She has definite opinions about leaving well enough alone

Becoming a pilot for Ida was something that happened out of necessity and opportunity than an immediate passion. If anything it terrified her a bit, but then again, so had canoeing down the rapids in Maine with Johnny. And Ida never backed down from what scared her, only what she felt was wrong. And as far as she could see, God hadn’t said nothin’ against either man or woman flying around. So, having decided to become a pilot and help her uncle in his dreams, she became an excellent one

By 1940 Uncle Riddle had yoked with the U.S. Army Air Corps Training Program, his private school had produced 250 students and certified them as pilots the previous year and he was much in demand.

Ida Brady had been one of his chief instructors and wasn’t that a trip?

When war broke out she was recruited by and immediately joined the WASPS, training women students to transport bombers this time.

You think being a dmv test trainer is scary? Try strapping wings to those kids. It’s hell to be excellent at a thing and sit on your hands while someone nearly kills you both with their inexperience. Yet that was her day job for almost a year, and she had a temperament oddly suited to it, calm, decently patient and lethally critical when needed, she was respected and her students became not only respected but fully equipped to keep themselves and their cargo safe by the end.

When the Air Force pitched its experimental Integrated Squadron, Ida already knew the majority of the girls joining would prove to have been her students.

I am not sure she jumped at a combat position immediately, between her traditional upbringing, crucial training role and suspicion of the army screwing over the whole endeavor, I think she would be wary.

There’s speculations about who talked her into it, some say her brother had reported the dreadful discipline and treatment of the 100th’s nearly disbanded female force to her, and driven by stubborn pride in her protégés, Ida Brady had shown up and demanded they at least be nixed with dignity.

Instead she found herself training both men and women to stay the fuck in the air…the whole point of their particular branch

They didn’t get nixed. And Ida was suddenly a squadron commander without an actual squadron

By England I imagine she is still fighting for inclusions in the crews, there’s lots of finicky dealings regarding who gets sent up. She is technically Cleven and Egan’s superior but even she has the sense to know that blending in is her best bet, so she does her utmost and is respected accordingly. An odd third wheel that somehow adds a subtle but significant amount of gravitas and dignity to the whole gang, a rules and regulations gal but on because her own conduct is examined under a microscope by those higher ups who’d like the can they whole production

Under Harding’s command, as the crews become scarce, there is no discrimination left.

Those Who Can, fly.

Ida Brady goes out each time, if her girls are out so is she, even if the integration she fought for is entirely complete.

When she’s downed two days after the disastrous Munster mission that claimed her brother and Egan, it’s just in time, she’s needed on the ground by her girls who’d been lost earlier

Going ahead and tagging in case anyone is interested in this wack list of headcanons ha

MOTA taglist, I only have one so ignore if this is not the universe you signed up for:

@stylespresleyhearted

@ab4eva

@earth-to-lottie

@suraemoon

@blurredcolour

@steph-speaks

@crazymadpassionatelove

@rubyfruitjungle

@taestrwbrry

@storysimp

@javden

@sexualparkour

@jointherebellion215

@sunny747

@ask-you-what-sir

@xxanaduwrites

@pretty4u

@yorkshirekiwi

@waitedforlove743

@elvismylove04

@blikebarbie92

@luminouslywriting

@euryno-j47

@justheretoreadthhx

@bookotter01

@mads-weasley

@ka-ski

@darkestbeforethedawn16

@slowsweetlove

@richardslady121

@barbeygirl

@prfctplcsreads

@vaf24

@harrys-housewife

@claireelizabeth85

@pearlparty

[flanaganfilm]

Mike, can you tell us your experience premiering Oculus at tiff 2013? I recently saw Perri Nemiroff’s interview with you (looking like a baby btw- so young) and it made me think about what your mindset must have been as in getting yo experience the launch of your career, post Absentia, at one of the most prestigious festivals.

Oh, I remember that very well... a lot changed in a very short amount of time. And I think I know the interview you're talking about, I keep trying to link to it here but it doesn't take...

So there are few things to point out about Oculus and about what was happening in my life at the time. When Oculus got greenlit, I was working full time as a reality television editor. I used to sneak out of my job at lunch to go to "doctor's appointments" whenever I had to come for production meetings or casting sessions (they started to think there was something really, really wrong with my health).

Making the movie was an amazing learning experience - it was my first "real" movie, and full of lessons. It was the first collaboration with people who would become pillars of my career moving forward, like producer Trevor Macy (who is now my partner at Intrepid Pictures and who has produced everything I've ever made since) and my DP Michael Fimognari, who is one of the most important collaborators of my life. It was also the first time I worked with a young actress named Kate Siegel, who played the spooky ghost in the mirror.

We went into TIFF with distribution already in place. FilmDistrict had committed to the project during the Cannes market before we shot the movie, so we thought we were set. It was going to be my big theatrical debut.

Just before we premiered at TIFF, FilmDistrict abruptly and bafflingly dropped the film. I still don't really know why. They had committed to a worldwide theatrical release for the movie, but for reasons that were never made entirely clear to me, they dropped us just before the festival. Suddenly the whole enterprise was in jeopardy, and I didn't know if anyone would pick the movie back up.

I was absolutely terrified.

Being my first "real" movie, I didn't really know how this world worked and couldn't understand why our distributor didn't want to release it. We'd made the movie they had been excited about, they seemed to really like it, and we'd done everything they asked - it was a shock to the system. So when we rolled into tiff, we were homeless and trying not to let FilmDistrict's abrupt change of heart poison our chances of another sale.

I had never been to TIFF before but heard about Midnight Madness, which had seen huge sales from Cabin Fever and Insidious. Bidding wars had broken out while the films were still screening. But being part of the program was absolutely no guarantee of distribution - in fact, this might be the highest this movie would ever rise.

Trevor Macy and I went to the world premiere of The Green Inferno, which was playing the night before we played, and the audience was ROWDY. Like, shouting and hollering throughout the movie. We looked at each other with wide, nervous eyes - if this was the Midnight Madness audience, they were going to hate our movie the next day. We were considerably slower, ponderous, and atmospheric in a room that seemed to demand visceral, overt entertainment. I left the screening feeling dejected and a little doomed. Trevor was more upbeat, citing conversations he'd had with the programmer, Colin Geddes, who assured us he'd put our movie in the best possible spot for its success.

Our screening was September 9th, 2013 at midnight. I was petrified, and we were sold out. I remember walking into the theater feeling like this was the most important screening of my life. I wasn't alone, thank goodness. Trevor Macy, Michael Fimognari, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochrane, and James Lafferty were on hand. The film seemed to play well. It was the opposite of the screening the night before, which Colin had told us would happen - "watch," he had said. "The Saturday night slot is the big crazy one. You guys are Sunday, and it's going to be completely different. They'll plug right in."

He was right. You could hear a pin drop for most of the first half, and then there were moments of scattered applause that picked up as the film progressed. By the end, people were jumping in their seats and cheering for young Tim and Kaylee. There was an audible gasp when the anchor swung. And the applause at the credits seemed heartfelt and loud.

Most of that is a blur for me. I found this grainy pic from the Q&A after the film. I still had no idea how it had gone, or what was going to come out of it. I remember having hard time putting words together, and I vividly recall feeling like I sounded like an absolute moron whenever I talked, and trying to pass the microphone over to the actors as often as I could.

It's tough to see everyone in the pic, but from left to right it is Colin Geddes, Michael Fimognari, myself, Trevor Macy, Katee Sackhoff, Brenton Thwaites, Rory Cochrane, and James Lafferty.

When I stepped out of the theater, though, I became aware that everything had changed. I was immediately surrounded by people who had seen the film, suddenly shaking a ton of hands and realizing that it had been a hit. I walked into the theater by myself, utterly anonymous, and feeling every bit like an imposter. But everything was different when I walked out. I remember someone from the press talking about it years later, and saying "I was there that night - you walked into the theater with nothing, and walked out with a career."

People were asking me to sign stuff. That had never happened in my life. People wanted to get pictures. It was SO. FUCKING. WEIRD. Someone snapped a picture during that little whirlwind, and you can see it on my (young, skinny, hopelessly naive) face - an overall bewilderment, a gentle disbelief that this was happening:

I loved my experience at TIFF. And it absolutely started everything. Relativity, Blumhouse, and WWE Films joined forces to make an offer on the movie at the festival, and we left with a theatrical distribution deal. My career had officially begun. Now, I wouldn't feel like it had for several more years - I remained in fight/flight/survival mode well through Gerald's Game - but in retrospect, yes, that's when it happened.

Thank you for asking this question, it's been a while since I've looked back at this period of my life. It kinda makes me want to watch that movie again. It has been a LONG time, and I owe it a lot.

Maybe everything.

[advaiya-solutions]

Enterprise performance insights and analytics

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Across the perspectives of organization, department, function, individual, team of the project, visibility of current performance and ability to analyze in a manner aligned to organizational objectives. This requires data to be extracted from multiple organizational systems and information stores and collated in a meaningful manner.

[solarpunkbusiness]

The production of low carbon, plant-based insulating blocks by agricultural workers from farm materials could help to support rural economies and tackle labour shortages, experts believe.

A major new study will test if the materials, for use in local construction, could lead to a “Harvest to House” system of building.

The University of Exeter-led study will show if small-scale farmers could diversify into making sustainable building materials for use on their own farms, or for construction in the local area. This could also benefit their own businesses, communities and the environment.

Arable farm workers in the region will be involved in the small-scale trial of a manufacturing process. Researchers will explore the human, environmental, and infrastructural barriers and opportunities for production through working with farmers and farm workers.

A short animated, visual ‘manual’ of the pilot manufacturing system, in an accessible and easy to digest format that can be readily shared and referred to by time-pressed farmers and workers, as well as people outside agriculture.

The project is part of the Ecological Citizen(s) Network+, led by The Royal College of Art, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) at the University of York and Wrexham Glyndŵr University, as well as a range of partners from industry, charities, culture and civil society.

//Ed's note: What they're doing is designing a social-economic-environmental intervention that attempts to address a number of complex problems simultaneously. Its a business model innovation also to see if small farms can also make sustainable building materials in their offtime as an additional source of income. Note how in all my African and Asian stories, social enterprises usually include farmers in their business models but this is a first in the UK and Europe I'm guessing to think about these things in a holistic socially oriented community-centric manner.

[writermai05]

Arsonist's Lullabye

Chapter 6: To Someone From A Warm Climate

Summary: Y/n and Azula get to know each other. 

Pairing: Zuko x fem! reader (Live Action or Animated) 

A/N: Hey hey hey guess who is not dead! My family flew in to come visit my sister and I in college, so I spent last weekend with them. There’s also a lot of crazy shit going on with the protest on my specific college campus, and I’ve been very hard on myself this week for not being productive, but when you’re in the middle of a debate over the lives of thousands of people, it’s hard to worry about the assignments and silly little fanfic you’re writing. Nevertheless, this chapter is here today, albeit a short one but I swear, shit is about to get so interesting. 

Word Count: 686

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Avatar: The Last Airbender, I am merely a nerd who hyperfixates a lot. Lots of divergence from the canon story lol. 

Warnings !: None I think. 

The post game dinner had gone about as well as it could have. Yeah, maybe it was a little awkward, but for the most part, everyone had a good time. Toph was easily able to power through the tournament, giving the University team a trophy for their first game of the season. You almost wished that the weekend had been longer to process the information you learned on Friday.

 The image of Zuko and Azula’s eyes flashed in your mind. It feels obvious that the two are siblings now. If their eyes weren’t enough, their black hair and intense aura should have given it away. As you take a seat in your shared sociology class, you notice Azula take the seat next to you once again. You catch her attention with a small smile. 

“How was your weekend?” 

“Oh, you know, just another thrilling weekend of staying in my dorm and avoiding all human contact.” 

You raised your eyebrows, nodding in mock awe, “Riveting stuff.” Azula smirked, letting a puff of air out through her nostrils.

“Did you manage to do something less boring with whatever freaks you hang out with?”

“Yes, I did.” Before you could have a chance to elaborate, your professor began to start their lesson for the day.

After your first week, this routine began getting stale. Every class period you sat through the lecture, worked with a partner, got lectured some more, and then worked on your own. Although, the unofficial assigned seats had worked in your favor, because then you got to know more about Azula, who had promptly started to sit next to you since your first meeting. 

“Interesting lesson, huh?” you venture, hoping to start up another hushed conversation. 

Azula’s response is sharp and right in character for how much you know. 

“Yes. So interesting that I’m trying not to fall asleep from the sheer excitement of it all. Yay social class!” You quietly chuckle in response. 

“I mean there’s definitely meaning to it. Agna Qel’a is the most technologically advanced place in the Northern Water Tribe. When my family moved there for my mother’s work, it was a complete culture shock. Sedna, where I’m from, is a small city. There’s a saying that goes, ‘Take care of the land, and it will take care of you in return.’ But Agna Qel’a is magnificent, and it’s where the chief's royal palace is. It’s modern and gorgeous, but expensive.” 

Azula pursed her lips, trying to sort out her own thoughts. 

“Our capital city is similar, but probably way more grandiose. That’s how we do things in the Fire Nation. Opulence, and luxury, but mostly concerned with ourselves and no other nations. They’re practically irrelevant.” 

“What was it like growing up?”

“The Fire Nation is warm, and never really changes as far as seasons go. Sun-kissed lands and a long, honorable history. My father owns a very large company. Agni Kai enterprises does its business around the world. Before, my brother was the one who was being groomed to take over for my father once he retired, but he chose not to. After he left, then it was all on me.”

Agni Kai Enterprises was no joke. You knew that they owned many smaller companies, and had stakes nearly everywhere in the world. From what you could remember, Agna Qel’a had several complexes owned by someone involved in Agni Kai Enterprises. 

“You have a brother?” you asked, but you already knew the answer. 

“His name is Zuko. Haven’t seen him since I was 10, and he was 12.” 

Learning this new piece of information, your mouth dropped open. Eight whole years have gone by since the two have seen each other. No wonder Zuko had to ask Mai and Ty Lee questions. At this point, there was no avoiding it. 

“I know Zuko. He’s in my other class.” Azula’s head turned so fast you thought she could’ve gotten whiplash. The look in her eyes was indistinguishable, except for the usual fiery gaze. 

Azula pursed her lips and squinted, her jaw was tense. You were sure that if she clenched any harder than she would break her teeth off. “Well that’s…interesting. I assume that he and my uncle are still living above that tea shop, right? It’s been ages. Perhaps I should make the effort to go visit my dear Zuzu.”