#eye guy plays cq

[little-eye-guy]

based on something i did in game

bonus:

[windienine]

YOU. Kicks my legs like we're at a sleepover. Who was the character u were posting about in the tags.. spill..

kicking my legs back, ready to paint your nails at any time soooooo

okay i already dedicated a whole 2k word post to his partner goddess weird animal who bites him sometimes personal jester friend (?) Ysmé, so this time I'm going to spill about Loïc Ard from Soul of Sovereignty (prelude), an hour-long adult fantasy visual novel preview (< link here) that arrived on itch late last year courtesy of webcomic artist GGDG (if you're familiar with Lady of the Shard or CQ, you know their work)

So. This idiot.

look at this character design. the people hunger for men with strong cheekbones and glasses. look at the robes that attach at the fucking fingertips to draw attention to the position of his hands.

He's very soft-spoken and sweet. He knows a lot about the history of his world, as well as the biology of what lives there. He's staggeringly generous to others, even complete strangers. He's good at cooking. He knows how to sing.

He's the viewpoint character for the lion's share of the story atm, we get to look into his brain a little more often than Ysmé's for reasons that Will Become Rapidly Apparent As You Play.

Loïc is a middle-aged guy (late 30s? early 40s?) who works in an unofficial capacity at an inn in bugfuck nowhere (Tarn, a northerly village miles from anywhere else and regularly frozen solid by blizzards, with a population of Not Enough To Maintain Infrastructure), helping to cook, clean, and care for its mostly non-paying clientele, who his friend Alma, the proprietress, is allowing to stay for free. It's become a glorified sickhouse and shelter. No one is paying to stay in Tarn, but Alma can't turn her back on what she considers her hometown and Loïc can't turn his back on Alma (and he's here for other reasons too) so the inn is just kind of slowly decaying as conditions get less and less profitable. This sucks.

Especially because Tarn was built less than a century ago as an adventurers' hub for treasure hunting squads looking to uncover temples and relics right nearby, and the inn used to be full of good people and good food and fire and light and Alma wants all that back so bad it hurts and she refuses to say it's cooked and move back to the big city (in this case, the Mosaic, an ark-like vertical metropolis that housed humanity for hundreds of years after their world's apocalypse. After the outside was deemed safe again a century back, many people wanted to try and make a living documenting and salvaging stuff... but most of it turned out to be decayed, empty, and/or worthless, after so much time had passed.) The Mosaic is bright and lively, but it's a restrictive place to live for a lot of people-- cultures outside the dominant (very fantasy-Catholic) one are suppressed and the focus on making money to survive is exhausting.

But Loïc makes things a little less miserable. He's got a calm and pleasant bearing, he brightens up the place with flowers and greenery he manages to get growing even in this climate (he's a florist), and he's someone to talk to. He's witty, he's thoughtful, and he's almost a little too willing to dedicate all of his time and energy to helping people, and overall he's this mundane nice fella... with one big caveat you learn real early on.

Loïc is a mage, and a really unique sort.

The floristry bit isn't just his job or a characterization quirk, it's the whole basis of his magic. Species of flowers in this world each hold a unique concept-- fire (pallisia), calm (lavender), light (white dawn's eye), mundanity (dandelion), memory (cloud sage), you name it, there's probably some obscure botanical species that represents something in the ballpark of it. A god of language (Fayim) allegedly imbued a meaning into each, and if you can commune and reflect and experiment around hard enough to unravel the concept of one, you can turn that concept into something real.

Think of it like magical linguistics -- [correct flower] + [expressed meaning] = [physical effect], like [correct phonetics] + [contextual meaning] = [language]. You can even chain a couple of them to make a more complex spell, like turning words into compounds, phrases, and sentences, but you do have to understand what it actually means to do so. You're forming a connection to Fayim's power by talking. This burns up the flower, but Loïc's extreme dedication to botany means that he's got a regular supply of the spells he uses most often.

Loïc can hand you a golden pallisia blossom, start waxing poetic about the nature of warmth, and the firelight kept inside will radiate out and keep you comfortable even in Tarn's frigid weather. It's rare and potent stuff, doubly so because worship of Fayim is dwindling-to-nonexistent in the Mosaic, where the only faith and magic most people are familiar with at all are those revering the Builder, the creator deity who erected the Mosaic and saved humanity from the apocalypse in the first place. Everything else? False gods. Loïc himself doesn't worship Fayim or the Builder; he uses Fayimic magic but is pretty disconnected from his own background + faith in general. He's interested in the theology but doesn't use prayers in his invocation if he can help it.

Magic's not foreign to this world (most people in this world know at least a little artisanry, a more logical and physical approach to magic which lets you stitch together bespoke objects out of thin air, used heavily in both art and industry), but flower reading is a rare and dying language. Loïc's cute little flower shop back in the Mosaic was also a spell broker for people in need of small miracles. Given that the Mosaic worships a creator deity, I guess this implies that magic, generally, is something humans tap into extant divinity to borrow.

So, Loïc is holed up in Tarn studying magic and using mending spells (yellow rose) to cure people of minor injuries, but everything goes to hell when a certain sickly blonde washes up at the inn's doorstep begging for help escorting her to a nearby temple please please you gotta, she'll die from turbo tuberculosis otherwise, god (not the builder, some other guy, don't ask who) said so. Oh my gosh, you will? Thank you so muchhhhhh

[paraphrased very hard]

alma: this is definitely a scam of some kind. please just talk her out of this so she doesn't get eaten by mutant wolves.

loïc: oh for sure but you don't try for scam this obvious unless you're really desperate. idk what she even wants here, let me feel her out. i have nothing worth robbing. maybe this is a trauma thing or a money thing and i can talk to her about it.

alma: loïc, that's literally not your problem. loïc there's this weird pattern where you prioritize the hypothetical wants of strangers over your own proven needs. loïc no.

loïc: loïc yes

So, of course, it ends up coming out that Loïc is in Tarn specifically because he is a single father with a daughter named Lelia who is comatose from an unspecified illness. Her prognosis is extremely grim (low chance of survival that dwindles the longer she stays out, probably terminal.)

Specifically, he's on a hopeless little snipe hunt for a rumored species (the glass bell) that could act as a panacea for any illness, if harnessed correctly in a spell, and it might either be extinct or entirely fictitious.

He knows he can't find it alone. If it even exists, it is a needle in an impossibly massive haystack. He is consumed inside-out with a compulsive need to do something about it, and when that proves impossible, it starts spreading into a compulsive need to do something for anyone. The grief of admitting that Lia is already in a prolonged state of death would eat him alive, so if he can transfer that feeling of purpose onto anything else he can buoy himself. He is spinning his wheels because confronting the fact that he has outlived his own daughter and has to go on without her is impossible.

But like... he's dying slowly, too, in this state. Like Lia. Like Tarn. It's only a matter of time before there's nothing left of himself to give, and at the impetus of the story that's basically what he wants. There's nothing left for him.

... Unless...!!

OTHER THINGS:

would give blessings to his daughter every day before she went to school

apparently has a puppy and a kitty back home

loves lavender and sunflowers most

sometimes casts so hard he passes out

including other people and making his casting into a conversation is a quirk he does and that's just super cute

carries pictures of his daughter around in his spellbook maes hughes style

besides his suspiciously alb-and-chasuble looking mage robes, wears an apron and skirt around the house + gg regularly draws him in cute dresses. this is a known victor's weakness.

the in-game glossary has botany notes from him, usually paired with him waxing poetic about each species' meaning. this nerd shit is a known victor's weakness.

you see his general bearing and a lot of people assume he's kind of this easily-flustered anxious disaster type, but he's actually very serene and difficult to get a rise out of. he'll play along with most jokes you try to throw at him. if he does actually freak out at any point, you know something is up.

we don't know what happened between him and his ex, but there are dialogue clues that point to it being weird and messy. he's played very interestingly as far as divorcee characters go (conflict-avoidant rather than desperate for love, wants to be the better person at every opportunity), what with being a man who has primary custody of his kid (and a good relationship with her!) and taking on a position that the audience would probably identify as more motherly than fatherly, in terms of western gender roles. there's this fun contrast where he's very confident in his looks and presentation and bearing (very charismatic guy!!), but a lot of that is traditionally feminine. he's just very genderous.

(all of this tragically forgoes the meat of his special connection to ysmé, but that is the core premise of the prelude and if i got into that here it would really and truly give away the whole plot. i need you to experience her for yourself. (for ten dollar.) if you do not have ten dollar i will stream the game for you and give GG an additional ten dollar. this is a threat.)

(what i WILL say is that if you read lady of the shard, looked at the "sexualized mind control" tw beforehand and went "well now i want to read it more and not less," there is a delicious taste of that here and it once again intersects heavily with themes of control and coercion over the self, skewed power dynamics, and the emotions that arise from them.)

whatever horseshit this confluence of circumstances makes you assume he will pull, i guarantee you it is not the full picture of what actually happens.

[onlyplatonicirl]

Errink word waterfall for no reason

I think when you really analyze just how absolutely fucked Errink can be, it becomes a very interesting dynamic

I know a lot of people who write them in super healthy nice relationships, and there's nothing wrong with that, fluff heals the soul.

But let's assume we're going off their more canon-ish personalities, and see logically how that plays out.

(This may lean a bit into personal interpretation so if you don't think its accurate, remember im not comyet or CQ and errink isn't canon anyways lololol. I just love my hypotheticals.)

Ink is driven mostly by his drive to stay alive, to feel emotion, and to not be forgotten. He wants validation, he treats emotions and feelings like a drug, and will seek them out anywhere he can find them. This state of soullessness can occasionally drive him to make morally unethical decisions in his pursuit of feeling and entertainment. It is not out of bounds to call him selfish at all. He is extremely selfish, whether he wants to admit it or not. His emotions can impact who he is as a person. Most of his life he's aroace but if he downs a vial of pink stuff then he'll have love hearts in his eyes because he doesn't work the same way people with souls do. He is at the whim of his paints, and while he can keep himself stable, he can also mentally alter his state of mind however he pleases, which is an incredibly scary ability.

(Side note: When i wrote the tcoti chapter when ink was acting like a lunatic over error, I had a few people be like "Lorel this feels out of character, Ink wouldn't behave like that." YES!!! That is extactly the point!!!! He has full control over his own emotional state, and therefore his mental state. He can manipulate himself into a wildly different person if he so chooses, and he literally chose to douse himself in pink out of guilt to the point he could no longer think straight anymore and his whole thought process was clouded with an extreme, unnatural, and manic sense of obsessive love. Him being out of character was precisely the point, and something I absolutely love about Ink.)

Now moving onto Error:

Error is a manbaby, Error is incapable of a lot of empathy, and has this absolutely insane murderous mentality that literally results in mass deletions of entire universes and civilizations. His actions are absolutely monstrous, and I feel like a lot of fans overlook just how wildly evil a lot of his actions. Does he have an excuse? Sure - he's completely insane. Spending so much time in an anti-void that corrupts whatever's in it past repair can definitely have some ill affects on your mental health and world views. He cannot be touched, he cannot socialize with others without trying to intimidate them, and he does not have any friends. Well, anyone that he genuinely has a friendship with anyways besides generally tolerating. For the most part, he is alone, left to knit and watch TV. Despite his actions being abhorrent when it comes to his disregard of other character's lives, he's clearly not without feeling. He is shown to care about others on occasion, he does genuinely like a few people enough to not want to kill them, and he enjoys trash tv. He has a very distinct personality. He's not a complete monster, but is not really the most friendly and approachable guy either. Plus, not to mention what being alone for years and years on end can do to your social skills. Now put the two of them together.

Ink would find Error to be absolutely fascinating. Ink, when on a default emotional palette, is a pretty friendly guy, and really likes making connections. (Again, for selfish reasons of entertainment? Very possible.) Why wouldn't he want to make a connection with such an utterly unique character, one who's personality and morals are unlike any other he's come across? Error would hate him, of course he would - Ink directly interferes with his plans of absolute destruction, and Error interferes with Ink's. The two cannot coexist peacefully. They are each other's antithesis.

But imagine time passing. Years, decades. How long do you think Error can continue to sit in a white void of silence before it starts wearing him away? It's already sandpapered his mind into a mangled mess of what it once was, but no one can be alone for so long. Error never seems to make any progress destroying the universes. More pop up than he can destroy. Not to say he doesn't try - what else can he even do if not that? Even with his narcissistic and temperamental behavior, would it really be a stretch to say that he may eventually start to fade, to become lonely, to start rethinking the ideologies of destruction he's had since he can remember waking up in this blank space? Would it be out of character for him to begin to feel a gnawing at his soul, wondering what will become of him one day? a deeply subconscious craving for any type of positive presence in his life - a friend, a family, someone who loves him whether that be romantic, platonic, familial. Those with souls naturally wish to seek affection. There is only so long one can go spending their whole lives alone and without any type of affection or anything. How long can you spend knowing you are utterly despised by so so so many?

And Ink? He's found that spending time with Error has been emotionally fulfilling him in a way he never thought possible. new experiences combine emotions into something new, something more diverse and broad than simply "happy" or "sad" or "mad", like a elementary schooler's mood chart. He's found a comfort in someone who's outcasted and unique for it, just like he is. While they don't have the same problem, Error has no qualms with his lack of soul, just as Ink has no qualms with is horrid crimes. Ink gets hooked on this feeling of new emotional bonds. They're like the connecting of neurons that had not previously been attached, lighting up an entirely sperate pathway in a brain. It's addicting. So Ink wants to try something new. Something he's never tried before, and something he thinks will utterly shake the course of his world - an brand new form of enjoyment, to fill up the emotional void in his chest and fall back on his endearing opposite.

And Error, maybe Error's willing to go along with it, after spending so long alone, maybe he's just happy someone genuinely cares.

Ink promises him a happier life, one where he can be truly happy instead of truly being miserable. Error isn't entirely sure about it but agrees anyways. They both take it slow.

But underneath their relationship lies two extremely flawed, manipulative, and selfish creatures, sucking the life out of one another to stop the leaks in their own boats. And they're not quite sure if it's even working.

[t4tpumpkinduo]

hello gm i just thinking abt age things dsmp style and well....

i've seen multiple people draw up their cq as like. 8-10 yrs older than cclingy and uhm. huh? huh? he's like. their slightly older peer 😭 both point blank and narratively

we have canon conformation that ccling are minors on account of the eyes that we have and the ears that we use. but if you wanna be difficult abt it the exile contract plainly states that cdrm wants to keep tommy in there 'until he's 18.'

which. uhm. first of all, hope he boils alive in a giant pot. secondly, that makes ctommy at THE VERY LEAST 17 at that point, logically younger. he never ages out of the exile contract. both ctommy and ceret confirm it took place over Multiple Months, and he must've not been in the age range to have that happen, as neither the conditioning + torture AND the subjugation of nlm are ever talked abt with having a nearby end in sight. (cdrm melt alive in boiling acid challenge. btw. )

anyways cq is likely 18-19 at the start of the dsmp because he talks abt having JUST gotten out of juvie. like this JUST happened. you don't say you JUST got out of smthing if it was 8 or 6 or 3 or even 2 yrs ago 😭 cuz it. Just Happened. what age do you need to be to age out of juvie. are you saying ccling were 10 yrs old in the beginning streams. cmon man.

on the topic of character ages, imo cschlatt my sweet lil princess is likely 21-ish bcs smplive is explicitly canon. how can he be a geezer when he and wilbur are canonical situationship, when he and connor are treated like peers. cclingy see him in the same admire box they see cwilb in like 😭 how would tht be possible if he was 93. and the geezer jokes are just jokes IN CANON. you guys are just ableist w no media literacy.

if anything i think it makes more sense for ppl to have hced cwilb as older but god forbid our blorbo be anything but the youngest possible age so h(i am forcibly removed off stage). anyways that said i Do think it makes sense for him to be 24ish. the smplive-isms mean he's likely still 3ish yrs older than schlatt and the way he acts is super. postgrad daddy issues burnout guy who can't get his anti psychotics filled. the narratives you understand. it makes sense for him to be young.

he does however have a whole ass old ass son tho? 😭 and i DON'T WANT TO HEAR 'ohhh what if fundy ages different what if he-' FUNDY DOESN'T. he confirms he's 22 in later streams and he's on equal standing w niki at the start who's like 18. he doesn't show any kind of rapid onset age growth on screen at all despite multiple years passing so WHY would that suddenly stop being a factor as soon as the cameras turn away. be serious.

(my hc abt that is cfundy got whisked away/went missing to vault hunters as a v v young toddler, [he knows who iskall is and is actively friendly w him, he even invites him to the dsmp!], and came back way older cuz time there works differently and it REALLY wasn't that long for cwilb maybe a couple horrible grief stricken years. and the gap and strain isn't smthing they're able to work through v well because. how can you be normal. abt any of that. yr dad coddles and talks down to you because he still sees you as his little boy because How Can't He but also yr a grown ass man and yr own person with yr own thoughts and wants and opinions. and yr still so deeply desperate his attention and his approval. he didn't raise you. and he loves these other kids way more than he could ever love you. let's kill ourselves over this btw.)

anyways idont really have a point to this i just like yapping ^__^ 👍ppl can have their own interpretations it's whatever do whatever who cares i don't begrudge that but like. idk it's v interesting how narrative age Does play a factor into sm things and the few clues left around fr character's canonisms are very fun to discover.

[canidfeline]

CIVILIZATION

After a few days, or weeks, maybe a month, of playing house in the forest, the group finally got a peek through the soggy, snowy Alberta wilderness and got to see the soggy, snowy Alberta towns.

The others seemed thrilled with the sight, one of them having to make do with an explanation from the girl holding him, but X was... saddened by it.

He enjoyed the wilderness. He was GOOD at surviving. He has skills outside of being a lab rat, and they're locked in between trees and bushes.

But, what has to be done has to be done, he guesses.

How do they act human, though?

CQ opened his mouth, sitting on the snow as the group overlooked Edmonton.

CQ: "We need names."

ST-021 glanced down at the other boy, then at X-107, then back.

ST: "...what's a name?"

CQ: "It's the like... thing people call you. When I got my TV time in the Facility, I saw that those people don't have numbers AND letters. Just letters. They make weird noises with 'em too."

M: "W-when I got TV time, I watched, uh, nature stuff. And there was one on water streams, and it was, like, in this one place called Scandinavia, they call streams Kallen. I want that name."

CQ: "I like Kallen. Fits. I dunno what I want my name to be. There was this TV thing I saw, and it was this, like, English thing. English is the language we speak, and it was, like, teaching it to people that didn't speak it. One of the words they were teaching was 'force', and the other language version was called 'Forta'. Makes sense with my eye things, right? They force, so..."

K: "Forta sounds nice. Kind of."

CQ glanced at M-264- or... Kallen, now with a little bit of annoyance at that, but sighed after. He liked Forta. More than kind of.

ST: "...I dunno any names."

F: "Huh. Well, your letters are ST, so... Steve?"

ST: "Sounds horrible. But I'll take it for now. What about you, X?"

X-107 shrugged. He wonders if his mother would have picked a good name, but he just shakes his head. He doesn't want a name. Not until he finds one he likes.

F: ''...okay. We'll just call you Jack for now, huh?''

X shrugged again, plopping down on the snow and deploying a claw to draw patterns in it.

F: ''We need clothes too. I can't see it but I can definitely smell the blood on our clothes. And I don't think people like that.''

ST: ''And M- or... Kallen, I guess, is uh... grey and looks like nothing. People don't look like that.''

Kallen glanced up over at ST-021, narrowing her eyebrows a little before shrugging. He was probably right.

K: ''Well... I don't know what a lot of girls look like-''

F: ''W- you're a girl? 'Cause you do NOT sound like one. You don't really sound like a guy either.''

Kallen and Forta then stared at each other. Or, well, Kallen stared at Forta and Forta stared at where he thought Kallen was.

K: ''Y-yeah? Mostly, at least.''

F: ''Huh.''

K: ''...anyways, the only girl that I know looks like a girl is the Director and she's an adult and she sucks.''

X stopped his scratching patterns in the snow for a second before continuing at that, sniffing after.

F: ''Do, like, a little bit of her and then mix it with one of us. Look like a girl but look like us too. Like a family.''

Kallen sighed and shrugged before closing her eyes as she tried to remember what the Director's frame and body looked like, the shape moulding onto her like wax, although trying to shrink it to what she thought a teenager 'version' would look like and the height she already has.

Then she looked between the boys around her before looking down at X-107, tapping his head to get him to look up at her. She then mixed and matched some of his features with ones she had thought of for herself. She changed her hair to a more brown colour, her eyes as well.

And her eyebrows were less narrowed and less permanently angry than X's.

X grunted, making a little ''eugh'' sound before going back to looking down to scratch at the snow.

ST: ''That was gross, but you look like a girl now.''

K: ''...yay?''

F: ''Do we go now?''

K: ''Not yet, I have an idea. I think.''

Kallen tilted her head before looking down at her shirt. It felt like it was ready to be changed. To have something done to it. She touched her finger to it and the blood just... vanished. Like her touch was bleach, and then she did the same to Forta and ST-021, although changing the colours of their shirts as well before looking down at X-107.

He has pants and only pants.

K: ''...people are gonna be scared of you either way. Your skin's bloodstained as well, anyways. We'll see if, like, clothes places exist and we'll take some.''

X grunted and nodded. The others just nodded before Kallen took Forta's arm over her shoulder and took a hesitant step out of the forest, swallowing the lump in her throat before continuing the walk to civilization.

They need sanctuary, and they need to find their "parents". But how?

---------------------------------------------------

Idk how to end this and its been rotting in my drafts for nearly a week so I'm shoving it off to you

AND I WAS DEPRESSED AND HAD TO DEAL W SUZAN SO YOU DONT GET TO USE THE "Oh but u took a week!!!!!" EXCUSE

[annaraebananawriter]

Day 7: Mistake

Yellow everyone! Day 7 of ErrorDream Week, hosted by @errorxdream, here we go! Are you ready to have your hearts broken? Good. I’m ready to feast on your anguish.

ALSO! Yes, all the prompts for this week are connected in one big story. Soooo…if you missed it, you might want to read Day 6 to understand everything in this one!

Fandom: Undertale, but specifically Dreamtale, Errortale, Inktale and Underswap

Characters: Dream, Nightmare (Who belong to Joku), Error (Who belongs to CQ), Ink (Who belongs to Comyet), Core Frisk (Who belongs to ???, I don’t know) and Blue (Who belongs to P0pcornPr1nce)

Pairings: ErrorDream/Insomnia

Warnings: Major Character Death, and I think that’s it. Let me know!

Word Count: 2432

~oOo~

It ended with death.

Maybe it was the act of someone who was blinded with rage. Maybe it was a misunderstanding. Maybe the person learned what they did was wrong and so continued for the rest of their life hoping that the people they killed would forgive them. Maybe the person was being controlled and did it against their will.

Error and Dream didn't know.

They never will know, either.

After all, it ended with death.

That is what Dream would say. That is what Error would say.

That is what Blue will say. That is what Nightmare will say.

That is what everyone in the Multiverse will say.

~oOo~

Ink stared at the numerous islands around him, expression blank.

Dream and Error were soulmates.

They were...together. Lovers.

Blue had known that before he did.

He had a suspicion that Nightmare had as well.

Ink was...confused.

That was the closest he could place. He knew that he shouldn't mind it all that much. In fact, he should be happy for his friend, right? Even if it was his enemy he was with...but he felt nothing. Normally, that wouldn't matter—he was soulless, after all; it was normal. But it bothered him, this time. He didn't understand why.

His hands twitched.

He had an itch in him, but it wasn't something he could scratch. It felt like he had to do something. Something...important. Or wrong? One of the two. He didn't know why, though. Ink was a good guy, right? So, why did he have the itch to do something wrong.

Unless...it wasn't wrong and people just thought it was?

That...that could make sense, right?

...

His itch had to do with Dream and Error, he just knew it. Something about putting an end to something. Oh! He perked up. Maybe the itch had to do with stopping Error for good? It would make sense.

But the problem came with Dream.

He didn't really understand it, but people weren't exactly willing to let their soulmate die.

...

He'd give Dream a chance, then. He'd talk to him, try to make him understand.

And if he didn't, then...

There might be two deaths he'd have to make.

~oOo~

Dream looked up as Error entered the Anti-Void, Blue trailing behind him. He blinked and frowned. The swap sans had a furrowed brow, like he was thinking over something that confused him. His gaze travelled over to his soulmate, frown deepening. Error looked a bit...annoyed, if angry.

Why?

Dream opened his mouth to ask just that when Error beat him to it, answering it without hearing it. "Your stupid friend here accidentally spilled everything to your other, more stupid friend." Error huffed and flopped onto the beanbag chair, crossing his arms.

Dream blinked. "Oh." He didn't know why he couldn't bring himself to be more...happy, but something in him felt uneasy at the knowledge that Ink now knew. He fidgeted with his hands.

"Yeah." Error said back, seemingly understanding.

Silence fell for a minute.

"I...I'm sorry," Blue started and Dream looked over. He was playing with his bandana, staring at the floor. "I thought that Ink would understand. I didn't realize it until halfway into telling him, but Ink never said a word, only stared with..." He frowned, struggling for the right words. "...hungry eyes? Like he needed to know...everything." He slumped. "I should've just stayed quiet..."

Dream frowned and stood up, walking over to Blue. He hesitated slightly before reaching out. He pulled his friend into a hug, Blue immediately returning it. "Hey," The guardian soothed, rubbing the others back, "don't blame yourself. It's not your fault." He pulled back and smiled at Blue, wiping away some stray tears off of the other's face.

"Okay." Blue laughed weakly before tilting his head, curiously. "What are you going to do now?"

"I..." Dream faltered, looking down. He hadn't thought about it before, though, in hindsight, he probably should've.

Luckily, Error came to his rescue. "We could go to Nightmare's?" He offered, leaning forward. "He would be happy to help."

Dream blinked, thought it over and smiled at Error warmly. "Yeah, he would." He turned back to Blue. "We'll go to Nightmare's, then." Dream paused before sighing. "Oh, but I have things back at the house that I need to get..."

Blue perked up. "Oh, I could—"

Error spoke over him. "I'll go with you, just in case, then." He paused. "After I call Nightmare, to let him know what happened." He turned to Blue. "You should go back to Underswap—we'll meet you there."

Blue looked conflicted for a minute before nodding. "Okay." Error opened a portal for him and Blue hesitated, glancing back at Dream, before he left. The portal closed and a new one opened, Error walking through, leaving Dream all alone now.

Dream frowned, holding a hand to his chest.

Why did he have a feeling something bad was about to happen?

~oOo~

They entered the Doodlesphere, right next to the house. Dream looked around at all of the islands, a sense of nostalgia filling him. He would miss this place, all of its pretty views. Error squeezed his hand and he looked back, smiling.

Error looked at him with concern. "You okay?"

Dream shook his head and forced a laugh, making Error frown even more. "I'm fine. I promise."

Error didn't look like he believed him, but nodded anyway. "If you're sure..." Dream smiled and quickly kissed Error.

"I'm sure," he whispered as he pulled away, turning to the house, where Ink stood watching.

He stopped and felt Error growl, pulling him behind the other. Dream looked past Error at Ink, who stared at them with a blank expression on his face. By instinct, Dream looked down at the vials, but they all looked like they had been drunken out of. So, why did Ink appear like he didn't care about anything?

Ink locked gazes with Error. "Huh," He started, voice hollow, another thing to add to Dream's confusion. "I didn't know you knew the way here." His gaze flicked down to Dream before going back to Error.

Error growled, tense, putting on an angry front. Dream knew that he was nervous underneath, possibly even afraid, not for himself, but for Dream. It was the opposite with Dream. "Yeah, well, shut up. It doesn't matter."

"Okay." Ink nodded, confusing both Dream and Error. Ink's gaze snapped and locked with Dream's, who froze. "Can you do me a favour, Dream?"

Dream swallowed. "What?"

Ink tilted his head. "Can you step away from Error so that I can kill him?"

Dream froze, his eyes widened. Error also froze, glitching franticly, on the verge of a crash.

Dream held his hand to his mouth. He felt...wrong. Dizzy. Something twisted at his heart, making him sick. To think Ink had...what was wrong with his friend? Asking him to step aside so he can kill his soulmate? How could he be so...heartless? He didn't know anything, but he so desperately wanted to. He wanted to know why Ink thought this way, why he felt he had to...he wanted to try and help him.

But...he doubted Ink would let him.

"Well?" Ink said, narrowing his eyes and stepping forward.

Error moved the two of them back.

Dream shook his head. "No!" He let out, voice shrill and almost a shriek. It was packed full of confusion and fear. "No, never! Why...w-why would you think I would...?" Dream trailed off; voice thick with tears.

Ink stared. He sighed.

"Fine." He said. "Fine," He repeated, reaching for the red vial in his sash. He grabbed it and brought it up to his mouth. He paused. "then I'm sorry, but I have to do this."

With that, Ink downed the vial, the empty glass shattering on the ground as it fell.

~oOo~

Blue exhaled slowly as he stood there in front of the ruins, waiting. He looked up as snow fell upon him, cooling him and keeping him grounded.

He hadn't meant to make Ink angry, to expose Error and Dream and put them in danger. Ink was their friends, so he had thought that he would be accepting and even happy about Dream's relationship. Now he sees he was a bit wrong.

Maybe Stretch was right. Maybe he was stupidly naïve.

He closed his eyes. He was worried about them. Blue just hoped that they got here soon.

And safe.

(He should've gone instead—)

...

He had a bad feeling.

~oOo~

Error stumbled as he struggled back to his feet. Dream grabbed him and pressed as much healing magic into the other as he could, but his hands shook and he was exhausted. His magic flickered out after five seconds, and Dream stumbled, making it Error's turn to catch him.

Error was concerned, his eyes said it all. Dream shook his head to clear it of any dizziness or buzzing and tried to communicate without words that everything was fine. It seemed to work, but Error didn't seem to believe him.

Which was fair.

They were pretty injured. His bow had been broken a while ago, so he couldn't fight anymore, only dodge and try to be support. Error was running low on energy as well. Ink, on the other hand, seemed to be fairing perfectly. The creator didn't seem tired at all. It did not bode well for the two of them, who he was trying to kill.

Speaking of, Ink landed a few meters away from them, preparing another attack.

"Ink, please!" Dream had to try. Even if he didn't succeed, he had to try. He couldn't let Ink just kill him and Error, now could he? "You don't have to do this!"

Ink said nothing.

"He's right, squid!" Error called, standing up straight, holding his arm. "We can all calm down and talk about this. Peacefully."

A beat passed.

"You made your choice already." Ink said, continuing to prepare his attack: a plethora of Gaster Blasters. "Ink narrowed his eyes into a glare. "Now you have to live with it." He paused. "Or, I suppose, die for it." He attacked.

~oOo~

Nightmare entered Underswap, looked around. His brother and his friend weren't there yet. He frowned. They were late. His gaze snapped over to the only other person waiting with him: Blue, the little swap sans he had never cared to look closely at before.

"Error and Dream aren't here yet?" He asked, even if he knew the answer.

Blue blinked at him before shaking his head. "No," He frowned and said what Nightmare thought as well, "They're late." His gaze drifted to the door of the ruins. "I'm worried."

Nightmare hummed. "I have to go check on them." He had a bad feeling, a sinking feeling in his chest that was expanding ever so slowly with each passing minute.

Blue nodded. "I'll call Core. They can get you to the Doodlesphere." With that, he fished his phone out of his pocket. Nightmare sighed and looked away, towards the trees.

The bad feeling grew.

~oOo~

"Dream!" Error called, pushing himself up and catching the guardian as he fell, a hole in his side where the attack had pierced him straight through. They fell to their knees together.

Dream coughed and tried to say something, nothing coming out. Tears rushed to Error's eyes, spilling over as he glitched frantically. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. He was the one who was supposed to die. Not Dream. Never Dream.

Ink stepped towards them and Error hissed, curling around Dream. He was tense. He couldn't attack, he knew that. He was tired. So, so tired.

Ink waved his brush and sharp bones appeared around and around the two of them.

They enclosed them.

No one could escape this.

Error sighed, accepting this. He pressed a kiss to Dream's forehead as Ink prepared to snap. "It's gonna be okay, I promise." He murmured do that only Dream could hear. He looked back up and gazed at Ink with all the hate he could muster.

Ink wasn't fazed. "Goodbye, old friends." He snapped and the bones started descending.

Error hugged Dream close, shielding him as much as he could, even though he could feel Dream start to dust already. At least he didn't need to see all on this.

"It's okay." He repeated as pain surrounded them.

Then...nothing.

~oOo~

Nightmare walked fast, hands clenched at his side, tense. Blue and Core were a pace or two behind him, struggling to keep up, but he couldn't bring himself to care. There was a sharp pain in his chest, one that almost made it hard to breathe.

He felt that something was wrong. That something had gone wrong.

...

He hoped desperately that he was wrong, that everything was okay.

The Star Sanses house appeared and he breathed a silent sigh of relief. Good. They've arrived. Now, they could find Dream and Error and get out of here before Ink found them. They would be safe. Everything would be—

He froze.

Blue and Core stopped as suddenly as he did and he could hear them gasp. He was sure one of them started to cry—most likely Blue. As for him? He was...numb. He felt nothing, nor did he hear anything besides a dull ringing. It was like he had suddenly been plunged underwater and was sinking fast.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from the dust pile, black with a red tint and white with a golden glow mingled together, in front of him. A patched-up jacket and a golden crown sat upon it. Bones skewered it. Over it, through it and around it.

No one could survive something like that.

...

His chest hurt.

Memories flashed through his mind. Dream's smile. Error's laugh. Their ups and downs, how much they loved each other. Every moment he spent with them, good or bad, he relived at lightning speed. It made his chest tighten even more.

It...hurt.

Dimly, he heard Core speak up, their voice shaking but trying to stay calm. "Ink...what have you done...?"

...Ink?

...

Of course, he was behind this.

His chest hurt even more.

Nightmare didn't want to know why he had done this. It didn't matter anymore.

Nothing would bring his brother and best friend back.

Nothing...

A tear slipped down his cheek and his hands shook.

...Nothing...

In the fog of his mind, he saw Ink, who was standing on the other side of the dust pile, blink, his eyelights turning to two question marks. "What had to be done."

...Nothing.

...

It hurt.

[fromnobodytonightmare]

;; ( 📝!!! ) do u mind if I just be a lil self indulgent & ask whom u would play out of hol/low kn/ight ( w/ what u know off the bat ), cu/cumber q/uest, & dexter's lab? :eyes:

Send me “📝 + (fandom)” and I’ll reply with a character I would RP from that fandom

( OF COURSE YOU HAVE  TO ASK ME THESE FFDJKSLSJKLSFKJ just kidding I love you-

I only know like...the main plot of HK and the main characters (since you dragged me into this hell only like a DAY ago) but imma say my boi Quirrel because I’m predictable and  LOOK AT HIM. HE’S ADORABLE. I love his vibes and he’s just a lil guy that wants to explore and I already just wanna give him a big hug, he’s BEAN-SHAPED.

You already know the CQ one but uh...I still would consider giving Legato/Panpipe a go...if only because he’s a dramatic bitch and I like his vibes. If not him, maybe  I would give Cosmo a go because your dumb ass got me interested in them uwuwuwuwuwu 

And from DL, I’D UUUUUUUUUUUH....IDK, there was Soyen who I was prob gonna add to my multi. That aside UUUUUUUUUUUH, IDK MANDARK MAYBE? )

[nayladoodles]

Fell Poth Part 8

Oh, you thought it was over? NOPE~

Might be short thouuuugh. 

TW: Mentions of abuse. Doctor business, mentions of mental health conditions and disorders. None of this is cannon in any way please take note.

Also the classic versions of the snas go by different names in MCQ to avoid confusion:

Error: Edmund

Geno: Gerard

Classic Sans: Sam

Ink: Francis (Yea cliche I knoooww)

Palette: Patrick

Goth: George

Pal: Paul

Fell Ink: Spike ( He is the only one who stays the same)

 None of these characters, universes or aus belong to me.

Fell goth and fell palette: @nekophy

Momma cq: @alainaprana​

Geno/Error/Fresh: @loverofpiggies

Fell ink/ reaper/geno: @nateeew

Ink: @comyet

Reaper: @renrink​

Fruittale: @missladytale

Sugartale: is no longer and au but still mentioned cause CONTINUITY.

Original Asy (brief appearance) @furgemancs

Jade: he’s my oc. (I’ll post about him later)

Cupcake’s POV:

I woke up my head pounding horribly and everything seems bigger than usual. “Ngh..” I try to sit up and fall back onto the cusions I’m laying on whimpering. “Ma our visitor is awake.” I want to scream and hide from the mini parasite but, any movement sends my head spinning. “What’s wrong broski?” He asks me. “Don’t eat my s-soul!” I whimper. “Why would he d-do that?” I see a mini Geno with his arm in a cast. “Ya must be one if the bros Edmund chills with? I’m not that other unrad dude that steals souls. Here look.” I watch him take off his YOLO glasses seeing two slightly smaller eye lights. “Other guy that steals souls? What the heck have you been reading?!” I see a mini Error. “And who’s Edmund???” Asks the mini Ink.

“Kids let him breathe.” I stare up at a woman with pink hair. “H-hi?” I squeak nervously. “How are you feeling?” She asks helping me sit up. “My head hurts a lot. The world is spinning and I feel nauseous.” I reply wanting to lay back down. “You hit your head very hard. I patched up the cracks but, I think we need a professional to look at it.” She turns to mini Fresh, “Fresh go and fetch Jade won’t you? You can check with Decans on the way back all right?” Fresh nods, “Crystal clear mamma.” He leaves to get Jade leaving me with the other kids. “Do you know an Edmund??” Little Ink asks me. “Not that I c-can think of…” I reply laying back down. Their mom leaves and they sit by what I figured out is a couch.

“Why is everything so big suddenly?” I mumble. “Big? It’s always been this size?” Mini Geno says quietly. “Did I shrink?” I ask myself. “No you’re the same size as any 8 year old!” Mini ink says cheerfully. “Wait 8 year old?!” I repeat. “Mhm!” I can’t be a kid again! It is not possible….is it? I groan quietly wishing Pal was here to comfort me. “D-do you want some more pain medicine?” Geno asks me. I can’t keep calling the minis even though they kind of are… I think to myself. “I’ve had worse.” I mumble in reply. “Worse?” Geno asks looking shocked. “M-my parents aren’t the nicest monsters.” I reply tears beading in my eyes as the memories surface. “But why would they hurt you?” Error asked. “They hate me.” I reply tears starting to run down my cheeks wishing they’d stop prying. “G-guys we shouldn’t pry.” Geno says. “But why would any mom or dad hate their child?” Ink asks as their mom comes back into the room with another woman and an adult skeleton. “They hate me…” I mumble dejectedly. “But they shouldn’t.” Ink insists. “They do!” “Ink…” Geno warned. “But it makes no sense that they just started hating him?” Ink says. “They hate me because they never wanted me in the first place!” I snap burying my face in a pillow my whole body shaking. “I’m a mistake to them…a mistake they got stuck with…” I curl in on myself sobbing trying to hide from the horrible memories of my childhood. I feel someone rubbing my back gently and latch onto that person needing a way to ground myself. “There there kiddo.” I sniffle looking up and immediately flinch away from him. I stare at the kind eyes of what looks to be Asylum-tale Sans. “No more…” I mumble hiding from him. “Don’t wanna play your game…” I whimper trembling as the memory of that dark hallway flashes behind my mind. 

Flashback

I whimper walking through the long tiles hallways past empty rooms made of glass and fancy locks on the doors. “Mom? Dad? Where are you!” I tremble scared of this creepy place. “H-hI.” I turn my head seeing a skeleton wearing a straight jacket staring at me. “I’m l-lost can you h-help me mister?” I ask him. “SuRe~ But first a GamE!” I stare at him, “Um o-okay?” I reply nervously. “Goodie! All you have to do is RUN!” I stare at him, “Run?” I ask him. “HEHEHE!!” I see the knife and run for it the maniac hot on my heels scratching the walls with the blade. “Leave me alone!” I sob tears blurring my vision. “But you need my HELP!” He screeches. I trip over a sheet on the floor falling forward. I smack my head on the tiles whimpering when I feel it crack. The mad skeleton appears his one eye glowing, “I don’t want t-to play your game anymore!” I whimper blood trickling down my face.”That means I WIN!” I scream shielding my face. “Asy S…T ..O ..P..!” 

[little-eye-guy]

i wasn't pleased with my initial design for yro and they're the perspective character of a story i'm writing so i figured it would be a good idea to spruce em up :-)

[leiselpizzatale]

One Fresh, No Fresh (Epilogue)

Hey guys! I am so sorry for not posting this. My older cousin had started making me and my siblings take away our computers until we earn them. And before I forget, thank you guys for 30 followers! I really appreciate it! Anyway, lets get to it!

Asy belongs to @furgemancs

Fresh, Geno, and Error belong to @loverofpiggies

MommaCQ and herself belong to @alainaprana

Other characters and story belong to me, @leiselpizzatale

“You ready guys?”

Alaina and Fresh looked at each other. It was a while after their marriage, and getting their new house. Right now, they were going to have a child. But, since they were different species, they couldn’t. Instead, they did what CQ had done with Fresh and his brothers; by using magic. Unlike her however, they both used their DNA so the baby had both of their genes.

Thinking about who and what their child was going to be, they nodded. Then, they came to the middle of the room, where Alaina and Fresh’s DNA samples were. Fresh turned on his magic, and after a bit, Alaina did too. They both held hands before closing their eyes, thinking about of their future child. Suddenly, a bright light had manifested underneath them, and soon enough, the light turned into a shape, until the light died down, a babies cries being heard.

Both Fresh and Alaina opened their eyes to look at the baby, happy that they are now parents. Alaina picked the baby up, carefully holding its head up. Fresh looked at the baby. It was skeleton looking, and he saw a bit of fuzz on top of their skull, signifying that they would be getting haircuts in the future.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” Alaina asked.

Fresh checked the baby’s pelvis, before saying, “It’s a girl!”

Alaina smiled, before turning around, asking her mother-in-law, “You want to hold her?”

CQ nodded, and, after putting a blanket on her, Alaina handed the baby to CQ. CQ looked at the baby, and saw that she looked a lot like Fresh, with some hints of Alaina.

“So, what are you going to name her?” CQ asked.

Both Fresh and Alaina looked at each other, before Fresh turned back to his mom, saying, “Her name will be Abigail. Abigail June Prana.”

“That is a wonderful name.” CQ said. She turned to the baby, who had quieted down to look at the strange woman holding her. “Hello Abigail. I’m your grandma CQ. We are going to have so much fun time together whenever I babysit you.” Abigail cooed in response.

Looking up, CQ was going to ask Fresh if he wants to hold Abigail, but stopped when she saw tears in her son’s eyes.

“Fresh? What’s wrong?” CQ asked, worried.

Fresh wiped his eye sockets, saying, “I’m okay mom. I’m just so happy!”

CQ smiled warmly at that, before saying, “Okay. Do you want to hold Abigail?”

Fresh nodded. “Okay. Here you go.” CQ said, before handing Abigail.

After holding her correctly, Fresh looked at his daughter with eye sockets filled with tears, but with a smile on his face. “Hello Abigail,“ Fresh said. He wiped some tears, before saying, “I’m your dad. And I’m going to take good care of you, I promise.” Abigail lifted her hand up, and Fresh held out a finger, which Abigail grabbed tightly.

“She’s got a strong grip, huh?” CQ asked.

“Yeah, she does.” Fresh said, still looking at his daughter, who looks like she is trying to put his finger in her mouth. “Hey Alaina, can you go get her formula? I think she’s hungry.”

“Sure Fresh.” Alaina said, before going into the kitchen to do so.

While waiting, Fresh went to the couch that was nearby, before grabbing a red onesie. Laying her down, he started buttoning it, but it didn’t work somehow. Fresh heard a chuckle behind him, before CQ appeared next to him. “Let me help with that.” CQ said. Fresh moved out of the way, and CQ stepped in, buttoning Abigail’s onesie correctly.

“Thanks mom.” Fresh said, a small but noticeable embarrassed blush on his face.

“Your welcome Fresh, and don’t worry. I did the exact same thing to Geno.” CQ chuckled, before saying, “My mentor, who was with me when Geno got born, had to show me how to even properly hold a baby, clothe them, and even give them their bottle.”

Finally, Alaina came back with the bottle, and Fresh grabbed it and Abigail, before he started feeding her, after CQ showed him how.

“Hey,“ CQ said, “You want me to bring everyone in now?”

Fresh would've face palmed if his hands weren't full. Everyone was waiting outside, since the only people who should be present in the process were the parent(s) and someone who would mentor the parent(s), if it was the parent(s) first time.

“Yeah, bring them in.” Fresh said.

After hearing him agree, CQ went outside, before saying, “Okay guys. They’re ready. But remember, you have to be quiet, alright?”

Geno, Error, Asy, and Alaina’s parents nodded. Opening the door more, CQ led them to the new parents, who had both decided to sit down on the couch. Fresh had Abigail over his shoulder, burping her. Alaina, finally noticing the new company, waved at them, before saying, “Hey Abigail. Guess who’s here to see you?”

Once he got done burping her, Fresh looked up at them, saying, “Hey Error, would you like to go first?”

“M-me?” Error said, surprised, “I don’t know…”

“Come on! You can do it!” Fresh said supportively. After a while, Error nodded, and Fresh got up so Error can have a seat. Once Error sat down, Fresh gave him Abigail, showing him how to hold her head up.

Error held Abigail, before stuttering out, “H-hello Abigail. I’m y-your Uncle Error.” Error looked up at Fresh, and Fresh had the look that said ‘keep going’. Error felt more confident, before looking down, saying, “When you get old enough, we are going to go fishing together. I’ll teach you everything I know about fishing; from how to put bait on your line, to how to reel in fish.”

After giving Abigail to Fresh, Error and Geno switched places, before Fresh handed Abigail to Geno. Geno chuckled, before saying, “Hello Abigail. You can call me Uncle Geno. I will be there for you whenever you get sick, because I have been sick for so long, so I know what it will feel like.”

Geno did the same thing Error did, but instead of switching with Error, he switched with Asy. Once Asy had Abigail in his arms, he said, “Hey Abigail. I am your Great-Uncle Asy, but you can just call me your Grunkle Asy. I will be there whenever you get hurt, so I can give you my magic Band-Aids. But I need you to promise me that you won’t tell anyone, understand?” When Abigail cooed in response, he held Abigail closer, saying, “I knew I could trust you to keep a secret!”

After getting Abigail back, Fresh saw that she was getting tired. He looked at his family, before saying, “Okay, we will hold off introductions for now. Abigail is getting pretty tired.”

After everyone said goodnight to Abigail, Fresh carried her to her new bedroom. Opening the door, Fresh looked at how they did on the nursery. The top part of the walls were colored a light blue, while the bottom half had pink wallpaper that looked like it was falling apart. A white barrier was between the two colors. At the edge of the room, toward the window, was a white crib, with some teddy bears and dolls inside it. Next to the crib was a wooden rocking chair. To the left of the room was a wooden dresser. Next to the dresser was an empty toy box, which Fresh knew was going to be filled with toys.

Fresh moved to where the crib was. Setting her down, Fresh tried to get Abigail to sleep, but somehow Abigail wouldn’t. Then he remembered that CQ said that when Error was just a baby, he too wouldn’t go to sleep. She finally found out that singing helped, so until a bit before Fresh was born, she sang a song that always put Error to sleep. It was a little creepy, but it did work. Fresh picked up Abigail, before sitting down in the rocking chair. After rocking for a bit, Fresh drew in a breath, before singing.

Come little children,

I’ll take thee away,

Into a land of enchantment.

Come little children,

The times come to play,

Here in my garden of shadows.

Fresh looked down at Abigail. She yawned, but she wasn’t falling asleep yet. He decided to continue.

Follow sweet children,

I'll show thee the way,

Through all the pain and the sorrows.

Weep not poor children,

For life is this way,

Murdering beauty and passions.

Fresh saw Abigail’s eye sockets begin to close. He rubbed her head softly as he sang the next words.

Hush now dear children,

It must be this way,

Too weary of life and deceptions.

Rest now my children,

For soon we'll away,

Into the calm and the quiet.

Suddenly, Fresh heard someone humming, and when he looked at the door, Alaina was there. Fresh joined in with the humming, Alaina walking toward the father and daughter. Before they were done, Fresh saw that Abigail had fallen asleep. He sat up carefully, to not wake Abigail, and went to the crib. He placed her inside it, before placing a blanket over Abigail. After humming a bit, Fresh sang again.

Come little children,

I'll take thee away,

Into a land of enchantment.

Come little children,

The time's come to play,

Here in my garden of shadows.

Fresh and Alaina stopped singing, both just looking over Abigail. After watching to make sure that she stayed asleep, the two parents walked softly to the door, before Fresh closed the door behind him.

[t4tpumpkinduo]

Do you think one had a bad body image and would comfort the other in some way? Like, be it weight, their features (stunted wing growth, a broken horn), or generally being in the wrong body?

oh for sure! it deffo goes both ways as like uhh. cq cschlatt are both some of the few characters who have canonical nods to having eating disorders so that's its own whole thing.

cq insecurities obviously cuz of the. gestures shitty little wings that don't work fucking weak as hell in general. cschlatt insecurities weakness of her body and his issues w disability. and then getting weak as hell in general.

same w uhh transgendahisms. i've talked a bit abt their textually supported transmasc transfem swagger and mm. ithink cq isn't like. too hung up on anything? i think he gets mildly dysphoric at best, like. squirmy uncomfortable if he's called a girl in a context that isn't a guy being babygirled or him asking for it. but it's rlly not that serious, it's more a deeply uncomfortable inconvenience than anything like he could walk it off in a day. for cschlatt it super is the kill myself tournament with him competing for ultimate winner BUT. he does let his guard down abt it a Little in manburg, even though he doesn't fully accept it abt herself well into revival.

(like to be clear, i do think they both riff on eachother quite a bit, but it's considerably less targeted and malicious than ppl like to portray it as. 😭 literally everyone in the server is kind of mean and an asshole and pokes fun at eachother. ohhh q is so evillll schlatt is such a freakkkk omg. karl called quackity ugly and stupid and unlovable and i never see ppl posting that clip going owuwgh this is so chilling. bcs its rlly not that serious. 😭 they're playing toys q's fucking fine. and to be clear, these words Do affect characters, like the ableism schlatt faces or the body shaming tht q goes through but narratively speaking, the ppl saying stuff to them generally don't mean shit w the intent of severely harming anyone.)

that said though :] they do help eachothers out. cq tries to get schlatt to eat more where he can, drink some damn water for once, rest more. mb like kneads n massages at her to help w her aches whenever he can, or pulls people away when schlatt clearly needs a second due to the disorders without having the spotlight on something cschlatt clearly doesn't want to show. cq voice oh noooo i totally made extra food i guess we have to share oh nooo i totally made the bed super comfortable so now you have to lay down w me oh no ihave this leftover hot cider specifically to help w the circulation in your hands >___< guess you gotta help me now. and cschlatt grumbles and groans and whines and then does it anyways and bumps him abt it. fake ass emo i saw you wagging. i would never derail a post to coo abt beautiful adorable women (gripping the sink bloodshot eyes affirmation)

n fr cschlatt like. idk i think abt the stream where cq has retainers in and schlatt keeps poking fun at him and ribbing him and when someone else does, he starts nagging them? 😭 he starts telling them to fuck off and stop making fun of him so he like IS protective of him in that way. i also think he probably like. tries to help cq too, mb being very good at talking him down from paranoia or mental spirals, mb clears a space out whenever he's sick or outta it so he isn't near people who will freak him out, or makes excuses so they have to hole up doing v easy paperwork away from others so cq can rest and untense without having to watch his back and also not explain himself. #JUVIE #HELL

also their both bpdgirls so they're probably doing their best w that smile.

and again, i do think cschlatt does eventually open up a tiny bit abt girlisms. he wouldn't outright frame it as gender exploration, i think it'd be more of a. i won't unpack this but please call me this please and cq is more than happy to like coo and indulge him even though it completely flies over his head tht it could be anything more. ithink cschlatt would like. preen him or kinda. idk, it's probably harder fr him to be more earnest, more openly fond than cq who's so open smone should rlly stop him and or taze him but. like he'll hold his hand for comfort or bump him little ram style to say thank you instead of verbalizing it cuz his face is burning too hard to speak. quietly keeping eachother company during paperwork so neither of them get too bored or frustrated, or helping eachother w delusions or flashbacks even though they don't talk abt anything in detail. just a kinda quiet acceptance.

idk cpumpkins you will always be famous to me sorry abt the narrative and the dooming and all that. society if there wasn't an evil demon ghoul pitting two psychotic dudes against eachother, enabling their worst impulses, alienating them from their loved ones and then assisting them in their suicides so he could kidnap a child he's obsessed with

[l0-f1g0dd3ss3s]

1977 interview with patti smith

concentrating on the god within[from "Patti Smith Peaking: The Infinite Possibilities of a Woman," by Marc Stevens and Diana Clapton, Club Quest, January 1977]

She hurtles into the room, a breathless tousled angel with a face out of Edvard Munch. She carries with her the karmic electricity of the genuine superstar, the true heroine. Her energy is so untrammeled, it fills the room; it pushes us against the wall in its intensity. Those wondrous salamander eyes move slowly, almost supernaturally. They embrace the whole of the activity around her. Her Mary Janes, her 4th grade red sox, the fine, strange jewelry lashed to her writs. The arching, artist's fingers, almost too much purity and reality and talent. Things become improbable. She is gracious, considerate, the essence of feminine charm, all the mannerisms of the sexually self-confident woman, the emotional largesse of the truly arrivée. There must be something bad about Patti Smith. Well, she doesn't play the guitar that well -- yet. She has the eerie beauty she treasures in those old Italian or French films, the mantle of mystery of the steadily evolving female unafraid to declare herself a fully sexual individual. She speaks of her own erotic feelings with candor and honesty. Whoever said that rock was really sex with all the rhythms down -- certainly had Patti in the wildest corner of his mind. Patti:  It's either not hectic at all or it's totally hectic. It's like the ocean, y'know, a big, big wave comes in.. I just tune it in. It starts out, there's a lot of static, like the radio, and you go like this [twists imaginary knobs] and it comes in. That's like the ocean -- not so bad. I don't care if there's a lot of action going on as long as I can tune it in.

CQ:  You were supposed to be out at the ocean this weekend -- on Fire Island.

Patti:  Oh, yeah, but I had too much work to do. Cutting the new album took about 3 weeks, but the cover and the liner notes...

CQ:  The record [Radio Ethiopia] seems a lot more lyrical than Horses.

Patti:  It's got a lot more presence. We've been on the road for a year. The first record really reflected exactly what we knew then. Being alone by ourselves, fantasizing, playing in small clubs, the fragile adoration of the people who believe in ya. But then you go on the road for a year and it's real maniac. There aren't 40 people who love you but 4,000. You have to really project. You can't be as fragile. It's the power of projection that you learn on the road. So the new record reflects what we learned from the kids. Before I was a fan, an artist, or whatever. If I'm a fan of anybody these days, I'm a fan of my audiences.

CQ:  But 4,000 people means performing in large halls. Can you handle it?

Patti:  I like performing anywhere there's a lot of energy. Like Jesus says, when two people are gathered together in my name. Well, I feel the same way. I like performing in an interview situation or for 4,000 people or in a club. As long as all the energy is directed toward the same place. When I perform some place and the people have their heads into what they want to see, like something artistic, it's a drag. But when they're loose...

CQ:  How loose do they get at your concerts?

Patti:  Real loose. Jumpin' up on stage and grabbin' me -- everything.

CQ:  Do you get bothered?

Patti:  I like it. It's rock 'n' roll. If nobody leapt on the stage and cried 'Fuck me' ... I mean, I've seen Privilege; I'd do it. In the old days, especially when I'd go to a concert -- Johnny Winter, the Stones or Hendrix, I'd scream and get beat up and try to get on the stage. I got stomped by Grateful Dead guys for try'na get on the stage when they were on. And my foot got broken with the Stones.

CQ:  How about violence directed toward you personally?

Patti:  Oh sure, I've been attacked. After the show the kids come back, but I understand it, y'know? It's not that I want it to happen, but when it does, I get into it. I can dig it. It's a nightmare, but a nightmare I can relate to. I know what it's about. I've seen those Elvis Presley movies where the girls were try'na pull his clothes off. Hey, I know what rock 'n' roll is all about. I came into this thing with my eyes open. I didn't come in thinking that people should treat me like some precious jewel because I write poetry. I came in fully open to anything rock 'n' roll has to offer.

CQ:  Do you get stage fright?

Patti:  Nah, real excited. I only get nervous if it's real quiet out there. That makes me suspicious. But if the kids are screamin' and carryin' on, I get real excited. I was so thrilled when I did the Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park, I thought my heart was gonna burst.

CQ:  Do your fans give you expensive gifts -- say, a half ounce of cocaine?

Patti:  I've had ounces. And grass. But one time a guy sent me a letter. His name was Timothy -- no number or last name or nothin' -- and two $50 bills in it. Brand new, and I couldn't give 'em back. Free money.

CQ:  Have you changed since you began making it?

Patti:  I feel stronger. I feel like I've been doin' it all my life. It's still art, and I been doin' art since I was 4 years old. Rock 'n' roll has now entered the art spectrum. And because of that, I put the same energies into working within the context of rock 'n' roll as I did when I wanted to be a sculptor.

CQ:  You mentioned that you've been on the road here and abroad. Does travel inspire you to create art?

Patti:  O yeah, I been to Paris about 10 times. To get inspiration I got to a bunch of places -- to Jim Morrison's grave in Pere Lachaise, that's the first place I go. In fact, our first European tour was really cool because they had this white Aston- Martin or somethin' waitin' for me. You know, I don't get treated that way in America. In America I'm lucky if I get a station wagon. I'm just sayin' that I happened to be treated like a princess in Paris. So anyway, I had this white car and they said, where do you wanna go? And I said, to see Jim Morrison. So they took me to the graveyard in the big white car. I remember the first time I went, I was all by myself in the pouring rain. Really fucked up and the mud was splattering all over me. I was in this white car smoking a cigarette.

CQ:  Just you and the chauffeur.

Patti:  Yeah, me and him and a pair of dark glasses and a pack of cigarettes.

CQ:  Do you smoke a lot?

Patti:  I don't inhale so it doesn't hurt my lungs. I just like the look. really on top of it, I like that Jeanne Moreau woman-with-her-cigarette look. It's all for show. My own show.

CQ:  White cars, chauffeurs -- is power important to you?

Patti:  Power? Not like dictatorial power. Power to initiate change, to affect people in a really spiraling way. To be a catalyst. Just like when I worked at Scribner's book store for 5 years. A kid would come in and want Rod McKuen stuff. To me power was bein' able to talk to that kid, and he'd leave with Malderer, Rimbaud, Dylan Thomas. Now I feel I'm doin' the same kinda thing.

CQ:  It was about this time that Robert Mapplethorpe gave you your start -- paid for that first book of poetry.

Patti:  No, he didn't give me the start that way. He did lend me the money for my single. But he did much more than that. I was 19 years old, really shattered. I'd been through a lot of hard times. I had all this powerful energy, and I didn't know how to direct it. Robert really disciplined me to direct all my mania -- all my telepathic energy -- into art. Concentrating on the God within, or at least a creative demon. I was really emotionally fucked up.

CQ:  Are you evened out now?

Patti:  Oh yeah, I mean, I go through pain, but I try to translate everything into work. I'm almost 30 and I've been through so much stuff. Every time I go through something new, I have so much scar tissue that I suffer pain, but it doesn't take me so long to get back on my feet. I can get back on top real fast. I'm in the ring! Y'know when you're an artist an' you're like, strugglin', nobody cares. You get beat down; you stay down for a while. But when you're in the middle of the ring, you gotta get up fast because there's all these people watchin'. You don't have time. You know technology is 50% of rock 'n' roll -- the magic, the art, the performance. If you don't have good technicians and a strong road crew who are devoted and believe in you and protect you, you're totally naked.

CQ:  But the spotlight's really on you. You're the one who has to deliver.

Patti:  But it's what helps a performer stay on top, like a boxer with his trainer there. You have to know that these people are behind you. Then, when you really start to break and it's happening, a whole new kind of energy is created around you. And if you're smart, it'll make you a stronger person.

CQ:  But other rock stars had the technology going for them but couldn't channel the break into a new kind of energy.

Patti:  I was lucky. I've never been real fucked up on drugs. I knew Janis real well. She was so fragile, so emotional, a lot like, say, my mother. I mean we're all emotional. But you can't let your emotions consume you. If you can't transcend that emotion, into work, then you can't do anything. I'm real emotional. I mean if I'm really fucked up and cryin' sittin' in a room . . .

CQ:  And drugs and booze only make it worse.

Patti:  I use drugs to work. I never use them to escape or for pleasure. I use people. If I'm real depressed, I have some real wonderful friends. When you turn to drugs, all you're doing is turning inside, anyway. When I'm in trouble or emotionally fucked up, I don't wanna come to me. I wanna go to somebody else. I don't wanna look in a mirror. I only use drugs for construction. It's like one of my architectural tools now. I don't go to a party and get all fucked up. Or sit in a hotel room all sad and messed up and take drugs.

CQ:  But enough rock stars did use drugs as an escape. Now they're dead.

Patti:  I'm not makin' a platform about it. I'm just sayin' for me, personally, I think drugs are sacred and should be used for work. That's what I believe in. Drugs have a real shamanistic value. I can handle drugs. I've never had a problem.

CQ:  Some New York discos are getting pretty loose in terms of drug tolerance. Have you noticed?

Patti:  I can't go. I'm a great dancer, I love to dance, but when I go to discotheques, people talk to me so much that I can't. It's like Edith Piaf. She was very religious but she didn't go to church, because everybody looked at her.

CQ:  Judy Garland couldn't eat in a restaurant for the same reason. But are you that bothered?

Patti:  Oh, I eat like an animal. I come from a big family. I'm used to bein' watched. Here's what I don't like: If I'm in a certain mood and I feel pissed off or crazy and I exude that, I want people to understand it. The only times I get pissed off are when I'm walkin' down the street and someone wants to talk. I say, "Look, just trust me. I'm fucked up now; I can't talk to you. I need you. Thank you believing in me but..." And when they keep right on botherin' me, I say finally, "Look -- I don't need ya. Go away. You don't understand. Don't buy my records!"

CQ:  Do you think about equality for yourself?

Patti:  No, I don't wanna be equal with anybody. I wanna be above equal. I don't think most people are equal to me. I'd like to communicate with everybody; I'd like to do something universal, I'd like to have the hit record of the world. But that's not the same as being equal. Women compete with women; it's not all men. When I was sellin' books at Scribner's there were stupid women that were older than me, and they got paid more just 'cause they were older. You can go on forever with that shit. So you fight. I don't think fighting is bad. People get too much of what they want and they loose the fight in them.

CQ:  Should you always keep battling to be the best?

Patti:  Being on top is not the precedent. It's that I am capable of making it to the top of the tower. Why should I settle for the 26th Floor? I don't set limitations.

CQ:  You seem very free as if limitations are beside the point. You seem unencumbered by race, color, creed, gender. The 100% natural Patti Smith, no additives, no preservative, no makeup.

Patti:  Oh listen, I buy Vogue. The other night I was really depressed and got into a taxi and went to a newsstand and bought, like, this $10 magazine of Paris fashions. Fantastic photography. I love silk raincoats, but I don't wear makeup. I can't stand nothin' on my face. It's a phobia. It's not a platform.

CQ:  Do you like leather?

Patti:  Oh yeah, sometimes. It depends on the rhythm of the night. I'm like a changeling. Fickle. I might wear all leather, and then I might wear a fucked up little black dress. Plus I got a lot of cool T-shirts.

CQ:  How do you feel about your body?

Patti:  I'm an artist. I'm not ashamed of my body. I've been an artist's model for years, and people have been photographing my body nude since I was 16. I have no shame. Doing rock 'n' roll, I'm so naked now.

CQ:  Do you ornament yourself as a sex object, the way other women might spend hours before a mirror?

Patti:  Well, I'm a very sexual person. Pornography, eroticism -- that's what I work on in private. None of that has been published yet. I'm still workin' on it. Rock 'n' roll is the most important thing right now. Pornography has yet to see its day -- really high class pornography. But it's something I think about all the time. Pornography linked with elegance and grace and intelligence.

CQ:  But pornography as art is entirely a personal choice, completely individual. What form of expression would you take in creating erotic art?

Patti:  I feel I'm involved in it right now, at least as much as I know how, on stage. I've been accused of everything including masturbation. And I do come on stage. Almost every night, I come on stage. Sex -- coming -- is about concentration. I can come while I'm writing, if I'm really there. Orgasm is peaking your concentration.

CQ:  Is that an end for you? Do you work consciously for that?

Patti:  Well, any woman is capable of multiple orgasms. What I mean is, a woman can come all day. Women don't realize how heavy this is. When I first realized what coming meant -- that I could come 20 times if I could come once, over and over again like the ocean...even self-induced...I'm not necessarily talkin' about sex now.

CQ:  But even now, there are objections to your lyrics.

Patti:  My single My Generation / Gloria says "My Generation contains language which might be objectionable." To who? 'Fuck' and 'shit' are American slang.

CQ:  But you can get away with it on stage.

Patti:  Yeah, but remember Jim Morrison was locked up for using 'fuck' and so was Country Joe. And Jim pulled his pants down -- so what? Now we have Broadway shows where the cast is naked all the time. He did it once and was thrown in the slammer. And he was a genius. His death made me sadder than anyone's. He wasn't done. He was just on the threshold of being a really great poet. Now, Hendrix, he was so out there with such furious physical energy, he just died. Morrison was much sadder. He was also desperate. Rock 'n' roll was so new then. It was so heavy. There was no precedent for Jim Morrison. it's a lot different for me. I've profited from the fact that he came first.

*      *      *      *      *

Can time cycles be divorced from reincarnation theories? Is Patti Smith Jim Morrison? Copyright © Marc Stevens & Diana Clapton 1977

[topdiyhub]

Tech companies have always branded themselves as the good guys. But 2018 was the year that the long-held belief that Silicon Valley is on the right side of progress and all things good was called into question by a critical mass.

As startups grow bigger and richer, amassing more power and influence outside of the Valley, a reckoning has played out in government and business. Mission statements like “connecting the world” and “don’t be evil” no longer hold water.

A look at a few of this year’s most impactful news themes underscore why; we’ve racked up too many examples to the contrary.

Android co-creator Andy Rubin’s $90 million payout and sexual misconduct revealed

Since the #MeToo movement opened the floodgates on the importance of fighting for gender equality and fair treatment of women and underrepresented minorities at a large scale, the tech industry was rightfully singled out as a microcosm for rampant misconduct.

In October, a New York Times investigation detailed how Android co-creator Andy Rubin was paid out a $90 million exit package when he left Google in 2014. At the time, Google concealed that the executive had multiple relationships with Google staffers and that credible accounts of sexual misconduct had been filed against him during his time at the company. It was an all-too-familiar story recounting how women in tech aren’t safe at work and misbehaved executives are immune from penalty. Google employees didn’t stand for it. 

At a rally in San Francisco, Google staffers read off their list of demands, which included an end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination, a commitment to end pay and opportunity inequity and a clear, inclusive process for reporting sexual misconduct safely and anonymously, reported Kate Clark.

Rubin has since taken leave from his smartphone company, Essential.

The first self-driving car fatality occurred when an Uber SUV struck and killed a woman in Arizona

Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive officer of Uber, arrives for a morning session at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., on Wednesday, July 10. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In March, the first self-driving car fatality occurred in Tempe, Arizona when 49-year-old pedestrian Elaine Herzberg was struck by an Uber autonomous test SUV. The car was in self-driving mode, and there was a safety driver behind the wheel who failed to intervene.

Investigators determined the driver had looked down at a phone 204 times during a 43-minute test drive, and that the driver was streaming “The Voice” on Hulu, according to a police report released by the Tempe Police Department. Law enforcement determined her eyes were off the road for 3.67 miles of the 11.8 total miles driven, or about 31 percent of the time.

Uber paused all of its AV testing operations in Pittsburgh, Toronto, San Francisco and Phoenix as a result, and released a safety report detailing how it will add precautions to its testing of self-driving cars. Two employees will be required to sit in the front seat at all times, and an automatic braking system will be enabled.

The incident immediately raised questions about insurance and liability, along with the investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board. As mobility companies charge full speed ahead in developing solutions that will shape the future of urban transportation, tragedies like this remind us that while AVs and humans share the roads, these programs are rife with risk. Has Uber learned a lesson? We’ll find out soon, as the company received permission by the state of Pennsylvania to resume autonomous vehicle testing.

Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated by Saudi agents, prompting Silicon Valley to think about how it got so rich

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Silicon Valley companies are used to getting away with a lot. Larger orgs like Uber, Tesla and Facebook rotate in and out of the hot seat as security breaches wreak havoc and sexual harassment scandals are exposed, only to be washed out of the news cycle by a viral image of Elon Musk sampling marijuana the next day.

But one story shocked the public for weeks, after agents of the Saudi government assassinated Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul as he was trying to obtain marriage license papers.

The tech industry was collectively upset by its proximity to a government and funding source that blatantly misused its power. Silicon Valley gets most of its money through SoftBank’s Vision Fund and by proxy the Saudi kingdom. About half of SoftBank’s massive $93 billion tech-focused fund is powered by a $45 billion commitment from the Saudi kingdom. This means the total invested by the kingdom alone into U.S. startups is far greater than the total raised by any single VC fund. Did we see a single example of a startup that refused to work with SoftBank in the aftermath? No. Will we? Probably not. Because Silicon Valley players are mostly only political and activist when it’s convenient for them.

Silicon Valley companies that have accepted money from this source have a vested interest in keeping the peace with Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — the leader known for getting friendly with tech CEOs in the past. But where does this leave us now as Saudi Arabian money continues to distort American venture? SoftBank has sustained countless startups with round after round of funding as it plunges into debt.

With SoftBank money inflating round sizes and therefore valuations, tech founders and CEOs are faced with the age-old question of whether or not it’s okay to use dirty money to do “good things.” SoftBank’s 2018 culminated in a record IPO that saw a 15 percent drop in value on its debut. Regardless, the aftermath of the Khashoggi assassination could signify the end of an era in American venture if founders begin to think critically about the source of their funding — and act on it. 

Facebook’s struggle

UNITED STATES – APRIL 11: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a House Energy and Commerce Committee in Rayburn Building on the protection of user data on April 11, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Facebook’s 2018 kicked off with Zuckerberg’s wishful, vague post about his personal challenge to “fix Facebook.” The social network bowed out of 2017 with critics saying Zuckerberg hadn’t done enough to combat the proliferation of fake news on Facebook or block Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Online abuse had never been so bad. All of this was happening just as people started to realize that mindlessly browsing the newsfeed — Facebook’s core product — is a total waste of time.

What better timing for not one, but two massive security scandals?

Zuckerberg answered to Congress after Facebook was infiltrated by Cambridge Analytica, a data organization with ties to the Trump administration. In the beginning of 2014, the organization obtained data on 50 million Facebook users in a way that deceived both the users and Facebook itself. 

If that weren’t enough, just months later Facebook revealed at least 30 million users’ data were confirmed to be at risk after attackers exploited a vulnerability allowing them access to users’ personal data. Zuckerberg said that the attackers were using Facebook developer APIs to obtain information, like “name, gender, and hometowns” linked to a user’s profile page. Queue #deletefacebook. 

A Pew report detailed how Facebook users are becoming more cautious and critical, but they still can’t quit. News and social networking are like oil and water — they can’t blend into coexistence on the same news feed. In 2018, Facebook was caught in a perfect storm. Users started to understand Facebook for what it actually is: powered by algorithms that coalesce fact, opinion and malicious fake content on a platform designed to financially profit off the addictive tendencies of its users. The silver lining is that as people become more cautious and critical of Facebook, the market is readying itself for a new, better social network to be designed off the pioneering mistakes of its predecessors.

Apple hits a $1 trillion market cap and celebrates the anniversary of the iPhone with design changes

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 22: Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple announcement. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

This was a hardware-heavy year for Apple. The MacBook Air got Retina Display. The Apple Watch got a big redesign. The iPad Pro said farewell to the home button. We met the new mac Mini and an updated Apple Pencil. In September, Apple held its annual hardware event in Cupertino to announce three new iPhone models, the XS (the normal one), XR (the cheap one) and the XS Max (the big one). We also learned that the company went back to the drawing board on the Mac Pro.

In August, Apple won the race to $1 trillion in market cap. It wasn’t the frayed cords or crappy keyboards that boosted the company past this milestone, but rather price hikes in its already high-margin iPhone sales. But while Apple remains wildly profitable, growth is slowing notably.

Tech stocks took a beating toward the end of the year, and although Apple seems to have weathered the storm better than most companies, it may have reached a threshold for how much it can innovate on its high-end hardware. It may be wise for the company to focus on other methods of bringing in revenue like Apple Music and iCloud if it wants to shoot for the $2 trillion market cap.

As the biggest, richest companies get bigger and richer, questions about antitrust and regulation rise to ensure they don’t hold too much economic power. Tim Cook has more authority than many political leaders. Let’s hope he uses it for good.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sued by the SEC for securities fraud

CHICAGO, IL – JUNE 14: Engineer and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of The Boring Company listens as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel talks about constructing a high speed transit tunnel at Block 37 during a news conference on June 14, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. Musk said he could create a 16-passenger vehicle to operate on a high-speed rail system that could get travelers to and from downtown Chicago and O’Hare International Airport under twenty minutes, at speeds of over 100 miles per hour. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

In August, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in a tweet heard around the internet that he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 per share and that he’d secured funding to do so. The questioning started. Was it legit? Was it a marijuana joke? The tweet caused Tesla’s stock price to jump by more than 6 percent on August 7. Musk also complained that being a public company “subjects Tesla to constant defamatory attacks by the short-selling community, resulting in great harm to our valuable brand.”

Turns out, Musk had indeed met with representatives from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, and that the fund’s lead rep told Musk that they’d bought about 5 percent of Tesla’s stock at a stake worth $2 billion, were interested in taking the company private and confirmed that this rep had the power to make these kinds of investment decisions for the fund. However, nothing was written on paper, and Musk did not notify the Nasdaq — an important requirement.

At the end of September, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk for securities fraud in regards to his “false and misleading” tweets, seeking to remove him from Tesla. Musk settled with the SEC two days after being charged, resigning from his chairman position but remaining CEO. Musk and Tesla were also ordered to pay separate $20 million fines to “be distributed to harmed investors under a court-approved process,” according to the SEC.

Public companies are supposed to value the interests of their shareholders. Pulling the trigger on an impulsive tweet breaks that trust — and in Musk’s case, cost $40 million and a board seat. This is why we should never put too much fear or faith in our leaders. Musk is brilliant and his inventions are changing the world. But he is human and humans are flawed and the Tesla board should have done more to balance power at the top. 

The great Amazon HQ2 swindle

Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, tours the facility at the grand opening of the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle, Washington on January 29, 2018. Amazon opened its new Seattle office space which looks more like a rainforest. The company created the Spheres Complex to help spark employee creativity. (Photo: JASON REDMOND/AFP/Getty Images)

Tech jobs bring new wealth to cities. Amazon set out on a roadshow across America in what the company described as a search for its second headquarters, or “HQ2.” The physical presence of Amazon’s massive retail and cloud businesses would undoubtedly bring wealth, innovation, jobs and investment into a region.

There was initial hope that the retail giant would choose a city in the American heartland, serving as a catalyst for job growth in a burgeoning tech hub like Columbus, Ohio, Detroit, Mich., or Birmingham, Ala. But in the end, Amazon split the decision between two locations: New York (Long Island City) and Arlington, Virginia, as the sites for its new offices. The response? Outrage.

Jon Shieber noted that cities opened their books to the company to prove their viability as a second home for the retailing giant. In return, Amazon reaped data on urban and exurban centers that it could use to develop the next wave of its white-collar office space, and more than $2 billion worth of tax breaks from the cities that it will eventually call home for its new offices.

Danny Crichton argued that Amazon did exactly what it should have with its HQ2 process. Crichton wrote that Amazon is its own entity and therefore has ownership of its decisions. It allowed cities to apply and provide information on why they might be the best location for its new headquarters. Maybe the company ignored all of the applications. Maybe it was a ploy to collect data. Maybe it wanted publicity. Regardless, it allowed input into a decision it has complete and exclusive control over.

Let’s hope that in 2019, Silicon Valley will hold on to some of its ethos as a venture-funded sandbox for brilliant entrepreneurs who want to upend antiquated industries with proprietary tech inventions. But let it be known that sleeping at the wheel while your company gets breached, turning a blind eye to the evil doings of your largest funding sources and executive immunity from sexual misconduct violations no longer have their place here. 

from Apple – TechCrunch https://tcrn.ch/2EIXQki via apple

[williamsjoan]

Silicon Valley’s year of reckoning

Tech companies have always branded themselves as the good guys. But 2018 was the year that the long-held belief that Silicon Valley is on the right side of progress and all things good was called into question by a critical mass.

As startups grow bigger and richer, amassing more power and influence outside of the Valley, a reckoning has played out in government and business. Mission statements like “connecting the world” and “don’t be evil” no longer hold water.

A look at a few of this year’s most impactful news themes underscore why; we’ve racked up too many examples to the contrary.

Android co-creator Andy Rubin’s $90 million payout and sexual misconduct revealed

Since the #MeToo movement opened the floodgates on the importance of fighting for gender equality and fair treatment of women and underrepresented minorities at a large scale, the tech industry was rightfully singled out as a microcosm for rampant misconduct.

In October, a New York Times investigation detailed how Android co-creator Andy Rubin was paid out a $90 million exit package when he left Google in 2014. At the time, Google concealed that the executive had multiple relationships with Google staffers and that credible accounts of sexual misconduct had been filed against him during his time at the company. It was an all-too-familiar story recounting how women in tech aren’t safe at work and misbehaved executives are immune from penalty. Google employees didn’t stand for it. 

At a rally in San Francisco, Google staffers read off their list of demands, which included an end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination, a commitment to end pay and opportunity inequity and a clear, inclusive process for reporting sexual misconduct safely and anonymously, reported Kate Clark.

Rubin has since taken leave from his smartphone company, Essential.

The first self-driving car fatality occurred when an Uber SUV struck and killed a woman in Arizona

Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive officer of Uber, arrives for a morning session at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., on Wednesday, July 10. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In March, the first self-driving car fatality occurred in Tempe, Arizona when 49-year-old pedestrian Elaine Herzberg was struck by an Uber autonomous test SUV. The car was in self-driving mode, and there was a safety driver behind the wheel who failed to intervene.

Investigators determined the driver had looked down at a phone 204 times during a 43-minute test drive, and that the driver was streaming “The Voice” on Hulu, according to a police report released by the Tempe Police Department. Law enforcement determined her eyes were off the road for 3.67 miles of the 11.8 total miles driven, or about 31 percent of the time.

Uber paused all of its AV testing operations in Pittsburgh, Toronto, San Francisco and Phoenix as a result, and released a safety report detailing how it will add precautions to its testing of self-driving cars. Two employees will be required to sit in the front seat at all times, and an automatic braking system will be enabled.

The incident immediately raised questions about insurance and liability, along with the investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board. As mobility companies charge full speed ahead in developing solutions that will shape the future of urban transportation, tragedies like this remind us that while AVs and humans share the roads, these programs are rife with risk. Has Uber learned a lesson? We’ll find out soon, as the company received permission by the state of Pennsylvania to resume autonomous vehicle testing.

Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated by Saudi agents, prompting Silicon Valley to think about how it got so rich

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Silicon Valley companies are used to getting away with a lot. Larger orgs like Uber, Tesla and Facebook rotate in and out of the hot seat as security breaches wreak havoc and sexual harassment scandals are exposed, only to be washed out of the news cycle by a viral image of Elon Musk sampling marijuana the next day.

But one story shocked the public for weeks, after agents of the Saudi government assassinated Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul as he was trying to obtain marriage license papers.

The tech industry was collectively upset by its proximity to a government and funding source that blatantly misused its power. Silicon Valley gets most of its money through SoftBank’s Vision Fund and by proxy the Saudi kingdom. About half of SoftBank’s massive $93 billion tech-focused fund is powered by a $45 billion commitment from the Saudi kingdom. This means the total invested by the kingdom alone into U.S. startups is far greater than the total raised by any single VC fund. Did we see a single example of a startup that refused to work with SoftBank in the aftermath? No. Will we? Probably not. Because Silicon Valley players are mostly only political and activist when it’s convenient for them.

Silicon Valley companies that have accepted money from this source have a vested interest in keeping the peace with Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — the leader known for getting friendly with tech CEOs in the past. But where does this leave us now as Saudi Arabian money continues to distort American venture? SoftBank has sustained countless startups with round after round of funding as it plunges into debt.

With SoftBank money inflating round sizes and therefore valuations, tech founders and CEOs are faced with the age-old question of whether or not it’s okay to use dirty money to do “good things.” SoftBank’s 2018 culminated in a record IPO that saw a 15 percent drop in value on its debut. Regardless, the aftermath of the Khashoggi assassination could signify the end of an era in American venture if founders begin to think critically about the source of their funding — and act on it. 

Facebook’s struggle

UNITED STATES – APRIL 11: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a House Energy and Commerce Committee in Rayburn Building on the protection of user data on April 11, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Facebook’s 2018 kicked off with Zuckerberg’s wishful, vague post about his personal challenge to “fix Facebook.” The social network bowed out of 2017 with critics saying Zuckerberg hadn’t done enough to combat the proliferation of fake news on Facebook or block Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Online abuse had never been so bad. All of this was happening just as people started to realize that mindlessly browsing the newsfeed — Facebook’s core product — is a total waste of time.

What better timing for not one, but two massive security scandals?

Zuckerberg answered to Congress after Facebook was infiltrated by Cambridge Analytica, a data organization with ties to the Trump administration. In the beginning of 2014, the organization obtained data on 50 million Facebook users in a way that deceived both the users and Facebook itself. 

If that weren’t enough, just months later Facebook revealed at least 30 million users’ data were confirmed to be at risk after attackers exploited a vulnerability allowing them access to users’ personal data. Zuckerberg said that the attackers were using Facebook developer APIs to obtain information, like “name, gender, and hometowns” linked to a user’s profile page. Queue #deletefacebook. 

A Pew report detailed how Facebook users are becoming more cautious and critical, but they still can’t quit. News and social networking are like oil and water — they can’t blend into coexistence on the same news feed. In 2018, Facebook was caught in a perfect storm. Users started to understand Facebook for what it actually is: powered by algorithms that coalesce fact, opinion and malicious fake content on a platform designed to financially profit off the addictive tendencies of its users. The silver lining is that as people become more cautious and critical of Facebook, the market is readying itself for a new, better social network to be designed off the pioneering mistakes of its predecessors.

Apple hits a $1 trillion market cap and celebrates the anniversary of the iPhone with design changes

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 22: Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple announcement. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

This was a hardware-heavy year for Apple. The MacBook Air got Retina Display. The Apple Watch got a big redesign. The iPad Pro said farewell to the home button. We met the new mac Mini and an updated Apple Pencil. In September, Apple held its annual hardware event in Cupertino to announce three new iPhone models, the XS (the normal one), XR (the cheap one) and the XS Max (the big one). We also learned that the company went back to the drawing board on the Mac Pro.

In August, Apple won the race to $1 trillion in market cap. It wasn’t the frayed cords or crappy keyboards that boosted the company past this milestone, but rather price hikes in its already high-margin iPhone sales. But while Apple remains wildly profitable, growth is slowing notably.

Tech stocks took a beating toward the end of the year, and although Apple seems to have weathered the storm better than most companies, it may have reached a threshold for how much it can innovate on its high-end hardware. It may be wise for the company to focus on other methods of bringing in revenue like Apple Music and iCloud if it wants to shoot for the $2 trillion market cap.

As the biggest, richest companies get bigger and richer, questions about antitrust and regulation rise to ensure they don’t hold too much economic power. Tim Cook has more authority than many political leaders. Let’s hope he uses it for good.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sued by the SEC for securities fraud

CHICAGO, IL – JUNE 14: Engineer and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of The Boring Company listens as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel talks about constructing a high speed transit tunnel at Block 37 during a news conference on June 14, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. Musk said he could create a 16-passenger vehicle to operate on a high-speed rail system that could get travelers to and from downtown Chicago and O’Hare International Airport under twenty minutes, at speeds of over 100 miles per hour. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

In August, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in a tweet heard around the internet that he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 per share and that he’d secured funding to do so. The questioning started. Was it legit? Was it a marijuana joke? The tweet caused Tesla’s stock price to jump by more than 6 percent on August 7. Musk also complained that being a public company “subjects Tesla to constant defamatory attacks by the short-selling community, resulting in great harm to our valuable brand.”

Turns out, Musk had indeed met with representatives from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, and that the fund’s lead rep told Musk that they’d bought about 5 percent of Tesla’s stock at a stake worth $2 billion, were interested in taking the company private and confirmed that this rep had the power to make these kinds of investment decisions for the fund. However, nothing was written on paper, and Musk did not notify the Nasdaq — an important requirement.

At the end of September, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk for securities fraud in regards to his “false and misleading” tweets, seeking to remove him from Tesla. Musk settled with the SEC two days after being charged, resigning from his chairman position but remaining CEO. Musk and Tesla were also ordered to pay separate $20 million fines to “be distributed to harmed investors under a court-approved process,” according to the SEC.

Public companies are supposed to value the interests of their shareholders. Pulling the trigger on an impulsive tweet breaks that trust — and in Musk’s case, cost $40 million and a board seat. This is why we should never put too much fear or faith in our leaders. Musk is brilliant and his inventions are changing the world. But he is human and humans are flawed and the Tesla board should have done more to balance power at the top. 

The great Amazon HQ2 swindle

Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, tours the facility at the grand opening of the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle, Washington on January 29, 2018. Amazon opened its new Seattle office space which looks more like a rainforest. The company created the Spheres Complex to help spark employee creativity. (Photo: JASON REDMOND/AFP/Getty Images)

Tech jobs bring new wealth to cities. Amazon set out on a roadshow across America in what the company described as a search for its second headquarters, or “HQ2.” The physical presence of Amazon’s massive retail and cloud businesses would undoubtedly bring wealth, innovation, jobs and investment into a region.

There was initial hope that the retail giant would choose a city in the American heartland, serving as a catalyst for job growth in a burgeoning tech hub like Columbus, Ohio, Detroit, Mich., or Birmingham, Ala. But in the end, Amazon split the decision between two locations: New York (Long Island City) and Arlington, Virginia, as the sites for its new offices. The response? Outrage.

Jon Shieber noted that cities opened their books to the company to prove their viability as a second home for the retailing giant. In return, Amazon reaped data on urban and exurban centers that it could use to develop the next wave of its white-collar office space, and more than $2 billion worth of tax breaks from the cities that it will eventually call home for its new offices.

Danny Crichton argued that Amazon did exactly what it should have with its HQ2 process. Crichton wrote that Amazon is its own entity and therefore has ownership of its decisions. It allowed cities to apply and provide information on why they might be the best location for its new headquarters. Maybe the company ignored all of the applications. Maybe it was a ploy to collect data. Maybe it wanted publicity. Regardless, it allowed input into a decision it has complete and exclusive control over.

Let’s hope that in 2019, Silicon Valley will hold on to some of its ethos as a venture-funded sandbox for brilliant entrepreneurs who want to upend antiquated industries with proprietary tech inventions. But let it be known that sleeping at the wheel while your company gets breached, turning a blind eye to the evil doings of your largest funding sources and executive immunity from sexual misconduct violations no longer have their place here. 

Silicon Valley’s year of reckoning published first on https://timloewe.tumblr.com/

[theinvinciblenoob]

Tech companies have always branded themselves as the good guys. But 2018 was the year that the long-held belief that Silicon Valley is on the right side of progress and all things good was called into question by a critical mass.

As startups grow bigger and richer, amassing more power and influence outside of the Valley, a reckoning has played out in government and business. Mission statements like “connecting the world” and “don’t be evil” no longer hold water.

A look at a few of this year’s most impactful news themes underscore why; we’ve racked up too many examples to the contrary.

Android co-creator Andy Rubin’s $90 million payout and sexual misconduct revealed

Since the #MeToo movement opened the floodgates on the importance of fighting for gender equality and fair treatment of women and underrepresented minorities at a large scale, the tech industry was rightfully singled out as a microcosm for rampant misconduct.

In October, a New York Times investigation detailed how Android co-creator Andy Rubin was paid out a $90 million exit package when he left Google in 2014. At the time, Google concealed that the executive had multiple relationships with Google staffers and that credible accounts of sexual misconduct had been filed against him during his time at the company. It was an all-too-familiar story recounting how women in tech aren’t safe at work and misbehaved executives are immune from penalty. Google employees didn’t stand for it. 

At a rally in San Francisco, Google staffers read off their list of demands, which included an end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination, a commitment to end pay and opportunity inequity and a clear, inclusive process for reporting sexual misconduct safely and anonymously, reported Kate Clark.

Rubin has since taken leave from his smartphone company, Essential.

The first self-driving car fatality occurred when an Uber SUV struck and killed a woman in Arizona

Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive officer of Uber, arrives for a morning session at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., on Wednesday, July 10. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In March, the first self-driving car fatality occurred in Tempe, Arizona when 49-year-old pedestrian Elaine Herzberg was struck by an Uber autonomous test SUV. The car was in self-driving mode, and there was a safety driver behind the wheel who failed to intervene.

Investigators determined the driver had looked down at a phone 204 times during a 43-minute test drive, and that the driver was streaming “The Voice” on Hulu, according to a police report released by the Tempe Police Department. Law enforcement determined her eyes were off the road for 3.67 miles of the 11.8 total miles driven, or about 31 percent of the time.

Uber paused all of its AV testing operations in Pittsburgh, Toronto, San Francisco and Phoenix as a result, and released a safety report detailing how it will add precautions to its testing of self-driving cars. Two employees will be required to sit in the front seat at all times, and an automatic braking system will be enabled.

The incident immediately raised questions about insurance and liability, along with the investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board. As mobility companies charge full speed ahead in developing solutions that will shape the future of urban transportation, tragedies like this remind us that while AVs and humans share the roads, these programs are rife with risk. Has Uber learned a lesson? We’ll find out soon, as the company received permission by the state of Pennsylvania to resume autonomous vehicle testing.

Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated by Saudi agents, prompting Silicon Valley to think about how it got so rich

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Silicon Valley companies are used to getting away with a lot. Larger orgs like Uber, Tesla and Facebook rotate in and out of the hot seat as security breaches wreak havoc and sexual harassment scandals are exposed, only to be washed out of the news cycle by a viral image of Elon Musk sampling marijuana the next day.

But one story shocked the public for weeks, after agents of the Saudi government assassinated Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul as he was trying to obtain marriage license papers.

The tech industry was collectively upset by its proximity to a government and funding source that blatantly misused its power. Silicon Valley gets most of its money through SoftBank’s Vision Fund and by proxy the Saudi kingdom. About half of SoftBank’s massive $93 billion tech-focused fund is powered by a $45 billion commitment from the Saudi kingdom. This means the total invested by the kingdom alone into U.S. startups is far greater than the total raised by any single VC fund. Did we see a single example of a startup that refused to work with SoftBank in the aftermath? No. Will we? Probably not. Because Silicon Valley players are mostly only political and activist when it’s convenient for them.

Silicon Valley companies that have accepted money from this source have a vested interest in keeping the peace with Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — the leader known for getting friendly with tech CEOs in the past. But where does this leave us now as Saudi Arabian money continues to distort American venture? SoftBank has sustained countless startups with round after round of funding as it plunges into debt.

With SoftBank money inflating round sizes and therefore valuations, tech founders and CEOs are faced with the age-old question of whether or not it’s okay to use dirty money to do “good things.” SoftBank’s 2018 culminated in a record IPO that saw a 15 percent drop in value on its debut. Regardless, the aftermath of the Khashoggi assassination could signify the end of an era in American venture if founders begin to think critically about the source of their funding — and act on it. 

Facebook’s struggle

UNITED STATES – APRIL 11: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a House Energy and Commerce Committee in Rayburn Building on the protection of user data on April 11, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Facebook’s 2018 kicked off with Zuckerberg’s wishful, vague post about his personal challenge to “fix Facebook.” The social network bowed out of 2017 with critics saying Zuckerberg hadn’t done enough to combat the proliferation of fake news on Facebook or block Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Online abuse had never been so bad. All of this was happening just as people started to realize that mindlessly browsing the newsfeed — Facebook’s core product — is a total waste of time.

What better timing for not one, but two massive security scandals?

Zuckerberg answered to Congress after Facebook was infiltrated by Cambridge Analytica, a data organization with ties to the Trump administration. In the beginning of 2014, the organization obtained data on 50 million Facebook users in a way that deceived both the users and Facebook itself. 

If that weren’t enough, just months later Facebook revealed at least 30 million users’ data were confirmed to be at risk after attackers exploited a vulnerability allowing them access to users’ personal data. Zuckerberg said that the attackers were using Facebook developer APIs to obtain information, like “name, gender, and hometowns” linked to a user’s profile page. Queue #deletefacebook. 

A Pew report detailed how Facebook users are becoming more cautious and critical, but they still can’t quit. News and social networking are like oil and water — they can’t blend into coexistence on the same news feed. In 2018, Facebook was caught in a perfect storm. Users started to understand Facebook for what it actually is: powered by algorithms that coalesce fact, opinion and malicious fake content on a platform designed to financially profit off the addictive tendencies of its users. The silver lining is that as people become more cautious and critical of Facebook, the market is readying itself for a new, better social network to be designed off the pioneering mistakes of its predecessors.

Apple hits a $1 trillion market cap and celebrates the anniversary of the iPhone with design changes

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 22: Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple announcement. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

This was a hardware-heavy year for Apple. The MacBook Air got Retina Display. The Apple Watch got a big redesign. The iPad Pro said farewell to the home button. We met the new mac Mini and an updated Apple Pencil. In September, Apple held its annual hardware event in Cupertino to announce three new iPhone models, the XS (the normal one), XR (the cheap one) and the XS Max (the big one). We also learned that the company went back to the drawing board on the Mac Pro.

In August, Apple won the race to $1 trillion in market cap. It wasn’t the frayed cords or crappy keyboards that boosted the company past this milestone, but rather price hikes in its already high-margin iPhone sales. But while Apple remains wildly profitable, growth is slowing notably.

Tech stocks took a beating toward the end of the year, and although Apple seems to have weathered the storm better than most companies, it may have reached a threshold for how much it can innovate on its high-end hardware. It may be wise for the company to focus on other methods of bringing in revenue like Apple Music and iCloud if it wants to shoot for the $2 trillion market cap.

As the biggest, richest companies get bigger and richer, questions about antitrust and regulation rise to ensure they don’t hold too much economic power. Tim Cook has more authority than many political leaders. Let’s hope he uses it for good.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sued by the SEC for securities fraud

CHICAGO, IL – JUNE 14: Engineer and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of The Boring Company listens as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel talks about constructing a high speed transit tunnel at Block 37 during a news conference on June 14, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. Musk said he could create a 16-passenger vehicle to operate on a high-speed rail system that could get travelers to and from downtown Chicago and O’Hare International Airport under twenty minutes, at speeds of over 100 miles per hour. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

In August, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in a tweet heard around the internet that he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 per share and that he’d secured funding to do so. The questioning started. Was it legit? Was it a marijuana joke? The tweet caused Tesla’s stock price to jump by more than 6 percent on August 7. Musk also complained that being a public company “subjects Tesla to constant defamatory attacks by the short-selling community, resulting in great harm to our valuable brand.”

Turns out, Musk had indeed met with representatives from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, and that the fund’s lead rep told Musk that they’d bought about 5 percent of Tesla’s stock at a stake worth $2 billion, were interested in taking the company private and confirmed that this rep had the power to make these kinds of investment decisions for the fund. However, nothing was written on paper, and Musk did not notify the Nasdaq — an important requirement.

At the end of September, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk for securities fraud in regards to his “false and misleading” tweets, seeking to remove him from Tesla. Musk settled with the SEC two days after being charged, resigning from his chairman position but remaining CEO. Musk and Tesla were also ordered to pay separate $20 million fines to “be distributed to harmed investors under a court-approved process,” according to the SEC.

Public companies are supposed to value the interests of their shareholders. Pulling the trigger on an impulsive tweet breaks that trust — and in Musk’s case, cost $40 million and a board seat. This is why we should never put too much fear or faith in our leaders. Musk is brilliant and his inventions are changing the world. But he is human and humans are flawed and the Tesla board should have done more to balance power at the top. 

The great Amazon HQ2 swindle

Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, tours the facility at the grand opening of the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle, Washington on January 29, 2018. Amazon opened its new Seattle office space which looks more like a rainforest. The company created the Spheres Complex to help spark employee creativity. (Photo: JASON REDMOND/AFP/Getty Images)

Tech jobs bring new wealth to cities. Amazon set out on a roadshow across America in what the company described as a search for its second headquarters, or “HQ2.” The physical presence of Amazon’s massive retail and cloud businesses would undoubtedly bring wealth, innovation, jobs and investment into a region.

There was initial hope that the retail giant would choose a city in the American heartland, serving as a catalyst for job growth in a burgeoning tech hub like Columbus, Ohio, Detroit, Mich., or Birmingham, Ala. But in the end, Amazon split the decision between two locations: New York (Long Island City) and Arlington, Virginia, as the sites for its new offices. The response? Outrage.

Jon Shieber noted that cities opened their books to the company to prove their viability as a second home for the retailing giant. In return, Amazon reaped data on urban and exurban centers that it could use to develop the next wave of its white-collar office space, and more than $2 billion worth of tax breaks from the cities that it will eventually call home for its new offices.

Danny Crichton argued that Amazon did exactly what it should have with its HQ2 process. Crichton wrote that Amazon is its own entity and therefore has ownership of its decisions. It allowed cities to apply and provide information on why they might be the best location for its new headquarters. Maybe the company ignored all of the applications. Maybe it was a ploy to collect data. Maybe it wanted publicity. Regardless, it allowed input into a decision it has complete and exclusive control over.

Let’s hope that in 2019, Silicon Valley will hold on to some of its ethos as a venture-funded sandbox for brilliant entrepreneurs who want to upend antiquated industries with proprietary tech inventions. But let it be known that sleeping at the wheel while your company gets breached, turning a blind eye to the evil doings of your largest funding sources and executive immunity from sexual misconduct violations no longer have their place here. 

via TechCrunch

[fmservers]

Silicon Valley’s year of reckoning

Tech companies have always branded themselves as the good guys. But 2018 was the year that the long-held belief that Silicon Valley is on the right side of progress and all things good was called into question by a critical mass.

As startups grow bigger and richer, amassing more power and influence outside of the Valley, a reckoning has played out in government and business. Mission statements like “connecting the world” and “don’t be evil” no longer hold water.

A look at a few of this year’s most impactful news themes underscore why; we’ve racked up too many examples to the contrary.

Android co-creator Andy Rubin’s $90 million payout and sexual misconduct revealed

Since the #MeToo movement opened the floodgates on the importance of fighting for gender equality and fair treatment of women and underrepresented minorities at a large scale, the tech industry was rightfully singled out as a microcosm for rampant misconduct.

In October, a New York Times investigation detailed how Android co-creator Andy Rubin was paid out a $90 million exit package when he left Google in 2014. At the time, Google concealed that the executive had multiple relationships with Google staffers and that credible accounts of sexual misconduct had been filed against him during his time at the company. It was an all-too-familiar story recounting how women in tech aren’t safe at work and misbehaved executives are immune from penalty. Google employees didn’t stand for it. 

At a rally in San Francisco, Google staffers read off their list of demands, which included an end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination, a commitment to end pay and opportunity inequity, and a clear, inclusive process for reporting sexual misconduct safely and anonymously, reported Kate Clark.

Rubin has since taken leave from his smartphone company, Essential.

The first self-driving car fatality occurred when an Uber SUV struck and killed a woman in Arizona

Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive officer of Uber, arrives for a morning session at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., on Wednesday, July 10. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In March, the first self-driving car fatality occurred in Tempe, Arizona when 49-year-old pedestrian Elaine Herzberg was struck by an Uber autonomous test SUV. The car was in self-driving mode, and there was a safety driver behind the wheel who failed to intervene.

Investigators determined the driver had looked down at a phone 204 times during a 43-minute test drive, and that the driver was streaming “The Voice”on Hulu, according to a police report released by the Tempe Police Department. Law enforcement determined her eyes were off the road for 3.67 miles of the 11.8 total miles driven, or about 31 percent of the time.

Uber paused all of its AV testing operations in Pittsburgh, Toronto, San Francisco and Phoenix as a result, and released a safety report detailing how it will add precautions to its testing of self-driving cars. Two employees will be required to sit in the front seat at all times, and an automatic braking system will be enabled.

The incident immediately raised questions about about insurance and liability, along with the investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board. As mobility companies charge full speed ahead in developing solutions that will shape the future of urban transportation, tragedies like this remind us that while AVs and humans share the roads, these programs are rife with risk. Has Uber learned a lesson? We’ll find out soon, as the company received permission by the state of Pennsylvania to resume autonomous vehicle testing.

Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated by Saudi agents, prompting Silicon Valley to think about how it got so rich

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Silicon Valley companies are used to getting away with a lot. Larger orgs like Uber, Tesla and Facebook rotate in and out of the hot seat as security breaches wreak havoc and sexual harassment scandals are exposed, only to be washed out of the news cycle by a viral image of Elon Musk sampling marijuana the next day.

But one story shocked the public for weeks, after agents of the Saudi government assassinated Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul as he was trying to obtain marriage license papers.

The tech industry was collectively upset by its proximity to a government and funding source that blatantly misused its power. Silicon Valley gets most of its money through SoftBank’s Vision Fund and by proxy the Saudi kingdom. About half of SoftBank’s massive $93 billion tech-focused fund is powered by a $45 billion commitment from the Saudi kingdom. This means the total invested by the kingdom alone into U.S. startups is far greater than the total raised by any single VC fund. Did we see a single example of a startup that refused to work with SoftBank in the aftermath? No. Will we? Probably not. Because Silicon Valley players are mostly only political and activist when it’s convenient for them.

Silicon Valley companies who’ve accepted money from this source have a vested interest in keeping the peace with Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the leader known for getting friendly with tech CEOs in the past. But where does this leave us now as Saudi Arabian money continues to distort American venture? SoftBank has sustained countless startups with round after round of funding as it plunges into debt.

With SoftBank money inflating round sizes and therefore valuations, tech founders and CEOs are faced with the age-old question of whether or not it’s okay to use dirty money to do “good things.” SoftBank’s 2018 culminated in a record IPO that saw a 15 percent drop in value on its debut. Regardless, the aftermath of the Khashoggi assassination could signify the end of an era in American venture if founders begin to think critically about the source of their funding – and act on it. 

Facebook’s struggle

UNITED STATES – APRIL 11: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a House Energy and Commerce Committee in Rayburn Building on the protection of user data on April 11, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Facebook’s 2018 kicked off with Zuckerberg’s wishful, vague post about his personal challenge to “fix Facebook.” The social network bowed out of 2017 with critics saying Zuckerberg hadn’t done enough to combat the proliferation of fake news on Facebook or block Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Online abuse had never been so bad. All of this was happening just as people started to realize that mindlessly browsing the newsfeed – Facebook’s core product – is a total waste of time.

What better timing for not one, but two massive security scandals?

Zuckerberg answered to Congress after Facebook was infiltrated by Cambridge Analytica, a data organization with ties to the Trump administration. In the beginning of 2014, the organization obtained data on 50 million Facebook users in a way that deceived both the users and Facebook itself. 

If that weren’t enough, just months later Facebook revealed at least 30 million users’ data were confirmed to be at risk after attackers exploited a vulnerability allowing them access to users’ personal data. Zuckerberg said that the attackers were using Facebook developer APIs to obtain information, like “name, gender, and hometowns” linked to a user’s profile page. Queue #deleteFacebook. 

A Pew report detailed how Facebook users are becoming more cautious and critical, but they still can’t quit. News and social networking are like oil and water — they can’t blend into coexistence on the same news feed. In 2018, Facebook was caught in a perfect storm. Users started to understand Facebook for what it actually is: powered by algorithms that coalesce fact, opinion and malicious fake content on a platform designed to financially profit off the addictive tendencies of its users. The silver lining is that as people become more cautious and critical of Facebook, the market is readying itself for a new, better social network to be designed off the pioneering mistakes of its predecessors.

Apple hits a $1 trillion market cap and celebrates the anniversary of the iPhone with design changes

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 22: Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple announcement. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

This was a hardware-heavy year for Apple. The MacBook Air got Retina Display. The Apple Watch got a big redesign. The iPad Pro said farewell to the home button. We met the new mac Mini and an updated Apple Pencil. In September, Apple held its annual hardware event in Cupertino to announce three new iPhone models, the XS (the normal one), XR (the cheap one) and the XS Max (the big one). We also learned that the company went back to the drawing board on the Mac Pro.

In August, Apple won the race to $1 trillion in market cap. It wasn’t the frayed cords or crappy keyboards that boosted the company past this milestone, but rather price hikes in its already high-margin iPhone sales. But while Apple remains wildly profitable, growth is slowing notably.

Tech stocks took a beating toward the end of the year, and although Apple seems to have weathered the storm better than most companies, it may have reached a threshold for how much it can innovate on its high-end hardware. It may be wise for the company to focus on other methods of bringing in revenue like Apple Music and iCloud if it wants to shoot for the $2 trillion market cap.

As the biggest, richest companies get bigger and richer, questions about antitrust and regulation rise to ensure they don’t hold too much economic power. Tim Cook has more authority than many political leaders. Let’s hope he uses it for good.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sued by the SEC for securities fraud

CHICAGO, IL – JUNE 14: Engineer and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of The Boring Company listens as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel talks about constructing a high speed transit tunnel at Block 37 during a news conference on June 14, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. Musk said he could create a 16-passenger vehicle to operate on a high-speed rail system that could get travelers to and from downtown Chicago and O’hare International Airport under twenty minutes, at speeds of over 100 miles per hour. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

In August, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in a tweet heard around the internet that he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 per share and that he’d secured funding to do so. The questioning started. Was it legit? Was it a marijuana joke? The tweet caused Tesla’s stock price to jump by more than 6 percent on August 7. Musk also complained that being a public company “subjects Tesla to constant defamatory attacks by the short-selling community, resulting in great harm to our valuable brand.”

Turns out, Musk had indeed met with representatives from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, and that the fund’s lead rep told Musk that they’d bought about 5 percent of Tesla’s stock at a stake worth $2 billion, were interested in taking the company private and confirmed that this rep had the power to make these kinds of investment decisions for the fund. However nothing was written on paper, and Musk did not notify the Nasdaq – an important requirement.

At the end of September, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk for securities fraud in regards to his “false and misleading” tweets, seeking to remove him from Tesla. Musk settled with the SEC two days after being charged, resigning from his chairman position but remaining CEO. Musk and Tesla were also ordered to pay separate $20 million fines to “be distributed to harmed investors under a court-approved process,” according to the SEC.

Public companies are supposed to value the interests of their shareholders. Pulling the trigger on an impulsive tweet breaks that trust – and in Musk’s case, cost $40 million and a board seat. This is why we should never put too much fear or faith in our leaders. Musk is brilliant and his inventions are changing the world. But he is human and humans are flawed and the Tesla board should have done more to balance power at the top. 

The great Amazon HQ2 swindle

Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, tours the facility at the grand opening of the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle, Washington on January 29, 2018.  Amazon opened its new Seattle office space which looks more like a rainforest. The company created the Spheres Complex to help spark employee creativity. (Photo: JASON REDMOND/AFP/Getty Images)

Tech jobs bring new wealth to cities. Amazon set out on a roadshow across America in what the company described as a search for its second headquarters, or “HQ2.” The physical presence of Amazon’s massive retail and cloud businesses would undoubtedly bring wealth, innovation, jobs and investment into a region.

There was initial hope that the retail giant would choose a city in the American heartland, serving as a catalyst for job growth in a burgeoning tech hub like Columbus, Ohio, Detroit, Mich., or Birmingham, Ala. But in the end, Amazon split the decision between two locations: New York (Long Island City) and Arlington, Virginia, as the sites for its new offices. The response? Outrage.

Jon Shieber noted that cities opened their books to the company to prove their viability as a second home for the retailing giant. In return, Amazon reaped data on urban and exurban centers that it could use to develop the next wave of its white-collar office space, and more than $2 billion worth of tax breaks from the cities that it will eventually call home for its new offices.

Danny Crichton argued that Amazon did exactly what it should have with its HQ2 process. Crichton wrote that Amazon is its own entity and therefore has ownership of its decisions. It allowed cities to apply and provide information on why they might be the best location for its new headquarters. Maybe the company ignored all of the applications. Maybe it was a ploy to collect data. Maybe it wanted publicity. Regardless, it allowed input into a decision it has complete and exclusive control over.

Let’s hope that in 2019, Silicon Valley will hold on to some of its ethos as a venture funded sandbox for brilliant entrepreneurs who want to upend antiquated industries with proprietary tech inventions. But let it be known that sleeping at the wheel while your company gets breached, turning a blind eye to the evildoings of your largest funding sources and executive immunity from sexual misconduct violations no longer have their place here. 

Via Anna Escher https://techcrunch.com