#given that on this era he was more busy being rational and making plans

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Nobusuke Kishi was known as a monster, responsible for the deaths of thousands, and as a friend of Sun Myung Moon

▲ Nobusuke Kishi with Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han. Mr Kuboki, on the right, was the leader of the Unification Church in Japan for many years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi

Nobusuke Kishi (岸 信介, Kishi Nobusuke, 13 November 1896 – 7 August 1987) was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960. He is the maternal grandfather of Shinzō Abe, twice prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and 2012 to 2020.

Known for his brutal rule of the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo in Northeast China in the 1930s, Kishi was nicknamed the "Monster of the Shōwa era" (昭和の妖怪; Shōwa no yōkai).[1] Kishi later served in the wartime cabinet of Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō as Minister of Commerce and Vice Minister of Munitions,[2] and co-signed the declaration of war against the United States on December 7, 1941.

...

In order to make it profitable for the zaibatsu [business conglomerates] to invest in Manchukuo, Kishi had a policy of lowering the wages of the workers to the lowest possible point, even below the "line of necessary social reproduction."[24] The purpose of Manchukuo was to provide the industrial basis for the "national defense state," with American historian Mark Driscoll noting that, "Kishi's planned economy was geared towards production goals and profit taking, not competition with other Japanese firms; profit would come primarily from rationalizing labor costs as much as possible. The ne plus ultra of wage rationalization would be withholding pay altogether—that is, unremunerated forced labor."[25] Accordingly, the Japanese conscripted hundreds of thousands of Chinese as slave labor to work in Manchukuo's heavy industrial plants. In 1937, Kishi signed a decree calling for the use of slave labor to be conscripted both in Manchukuo and in northern China, stating that in these "times of emergency" (i.e. war with China), industry needed to grow at all costs while guaranteeing healthy profits for state and private investors.[26] Starting in 1938 and continuing to 1945, about one million Chinese were taken every year to work as slaves in Manchukuo.[27] The harsh conditions of Manchukuo were well illustrated by the Fushun coal mine, which at any given moment had about 40,000 men working as miners, of whom about 25,000 had to be replaced every year as their predecessors had died due to poor working conditions and low living standards.[22]

Kishi showed little interest in upholding the rule of law in Manchukuo.[28] Kishi expressed views typical of his fellow colonial bureaucrats when he disparagingly referred the Chinese people as "lawless bandits" who were "incapable of governing themselves".[28] According to Kishi's subordinates, he saw little point in following legal or juridical procedures because he felt the Chinese were more akin to dogs than human beings and would only understand brute force.[28] According to Driscoll, Kishi always used the term "Manshū" to refer to Manchukuo, instead of "Manshūkoku", which reflected his viewpoint that Manchukuo was not actually a state, but rather just a region rich in resources and 34 million people to be used for Japan's benefit.[28] In his later years, Kishi recalled how "inhuman" treatment of Chinese people had become naturalized among the Japanese colonial elite, turning human beings into "mechanical instruments of the Imperial Army, non-human automatons, absolutely obedient" to their Japanese masters.[28]

...

As a self-described "playboy of the Eastern world", Kishi was known during his four years in Manchukuo for his lavish spending amid much drinking, gambling, and womanizing.[33] Kishi spent almost all of his time in Manchukuo's capital, Hsinking (modern Changchun, China) with the exception of monthly trips to Dalian on the world famous Asia Express railroad line, where he indulged in his passion for women in alcohol- and sex-drenched weekends.[29] According to Driscoll, "photographs and written descriptions of Kishi during this period never fail to depict a giddy exuberance: laughing and joking while doling out money during the day and looking forward to drinking and fornicating at night."[34] Kishi was able to afford his hedonistic, free-spending lifestyle as he had control over millions of yen with virtually no oversight, alongside being deeply involved in and profiting from the opium trade.[35] Before returning to Japan in October 1939, Kishi is reported to have advised his colleagues in the Manchukuo government about corruption: "Political funds should be accepted only after they have passed through a 'filter' and been 'cleansed'. If a problem arises, the 'filter' itself will then become the center of the affair, while the politician, who has consumed the 'clean water', will not be implicated. Political funds become the basis of corruption scandals only when they have not been sufficiently 'filtered.'"[4]

[barbie0303]

Dick annoying/insulting the bad guys (New teen titans era)

(Because those compilations are always great)

Tales of the Teen Titans #58

Tales of the teen titans #43

New teen titans (1980) #21

New teen titans (1984) #36

New teen titans (1984) #37

New teen titans (1980) #7

New teen titans (1980) #39

New titans (1988) #75

New teen titans (1980) #19

New teen titans (1984) #22

Edit: I also have compilations of Batman era and Bludhaven era

[whirlybirbs]

          (   this chapter’s gif by @august-walker​ from this beautiful set !   )

✪   —   VACANT MIRRORS  ;  B.B.  |  4/?

summary: you formulate a plan, meet steve rogers, and bucky goes on a date.

pairing: bucky barnes / f!reader

tags: set before & during tfatws, friends to lovers, therapy positive, trauma healing techniques, ptsd mentions, the normalization of anxiety disorders, and a good ol’ slow burn

word count: 6.8k, mother of pearl

a/n: this ended up being mostly a filler with a lot of romantic growth - i had to break this chapter up from the unce unce unce clubbing that coming up, so please enjoy! 

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MOSCOW, 1975.

In all the years that James Buchanan Barnes has had a heartbeat, he’d come to know the sounds of grief well.

War taught him a lot of things — that they were all just little boys playing with guns, and that no matter how many times you thought you’d be ready for the vomit-inducing pungency of violence, you never were. In the end, you’d do anything to save yourself; you’d crawl through the thick of death and debris a million times over if only to cling to the shredded tatters of your own humanity.

You would kill someone else’s son for the sake of your own mother.

War was disease that devoured every part of you — it was gunpowder snuff and carved flesh. That sickness — inky and desperate — had sunk deep into this heart during the war, and it crescendoed to the sounds of mothers clutching dead sons. The sounds that followed death were like a hollow opera. Waning and wailing.

In the raucous wake left by warborn grief, Bucky drowned everytime.

To the Winter Soldier, the operatic quality to the sounds of grief were as insignificant as a child’s rhyme.

He did not drown. No, he waded through the waves, comfortable in the cold and unphased by the stinging cut of loss. That was not something he could comprehend. After all, there were orders and there were targets, and everything in between was absolute.

He was the disease that devoured all.

He’s holding a gun to Andrei Kuznetzov’s head in a dining room with ornate trim — with silverware as delicate as scalpels that tinker against fine china. The carpets are red, the curtains are red, there’s blood on the table cloth. The guests continue to eat. Kuznetzov’s wife is screaming, red nails dug so deep into the dining chair’s arms it’s carving out the fabric. War dogs, like him, keep her rooted in her seat, and her tears find polished boots. She’s begging and bartering but the man with Kuznetzov’s life in his hands is not listening. He is eating his veal, bloodied meat dancing between his lips. He takes a sip of wine as his medal emblazoned chest glimmers in the light of crystalline chandaliers.

The spoils of war.

His smile is stained red.

There is no deal to be made.

The Winter Soldier pulls the trigger.

NOW.

His eyes are open.

Panic is the first emotion he feels, and it seizes him up quickly in its grasp. He doesn’t know this view, he doesn’t know where he is, not again, not again, not again —

Then:

“Good morning, sleeping beauty. Did you know you snore?”

The relief that the sound of your voice brings is immediate, and just like that he remembers. He’s laying on the bed. You’re sat up across from him at that small desk in the corner. He reaches as he rubs his face to thumb the edge of the pillowcase. He exhales tightly.

He’s fine. His name is James Buchanan Barnes. He is not longer the Winter Soldier. He’s in his Brooklyn apartment. He is fine.

When’s the last fucking time he’s slept in a bed?

He sits up, scratching his neck as he does. You lean back, half rotated in the desk. Before you is a mess of papers and his laptop — and on top of the keyboard sits his notebook. It’s open to the page where all he’d been able to figure out about Innessa was scrawled in his chicken scratch.

Bucky swings his legs over the edge of the bed and immediately his back complains.

“How long was I out?” he asks, voice hoarse with sleep. He moves to part the curtains. The room blooms with warm morning light.

You offer an apologetic smile into the vanilla sunshine. “Three hours. I wanted you to get some shut eye. You were starting to look a little overwhelmed last night—”

“You click too fast,” he waves, standing and immediately rolling his neck to the side. You watch as the man, before as peaceful as a sleeping pup, now regains his usual thinning veiled level of threat. Bucky is dangerous — it shows in the way he holds himself. He cracks his neck, rolls his shoulders, and groans. He exhales again, posture sagging a bit, “I couldn’t keep up.”

You’re standing now, socks padding against the hardwood as you eye his cowlick with a budding bloom of affection. With his notebook between your index and middle finger, you offer it out. You cling to your empty coffee cup in the other.

“I didn’t peek,” you say warmly, “Pinky promise.”

His laugh is more like a hot puff of air. Bucky manages a look that feels like an emotional dethaw.

“Thank you.”

You lead the way to the kitchen, stretching your own back as you go. You’d been up all night — this is your third trip out here for yet another cup of coffee. The pot has been on for too long, though, and you know the coffee sitting there is beyond bitter. You’re moving to dump it down the sink when Bucky grumbles.

“Don’t.”

“You want it?”

“No,” he mutters, reaching for a mug, “But I don’t want to waste it.”

“Wow,” you chirp, “The Great Depression just jumped out.”

“Yeah,” he snorts, yanking open the fridge to search for something to eat, “It does that.”

“Well, grandpa,” you hand him the steaming cup and set out to make another pot, “You’re also living on Depression Era rations — might I suggest some Dolly’s? Because I’m starving and I’ve been up all night and I think that means I get to decide where we get breakfast.”

Bucky’s look is soft — but you don’t see it. You’re too busy scooping sugar into your cup, too busy nudging him aside to grab the milk. He’s rooted there in the kitchen, watching you move about. You’re comfortable. There isn’t a trace of anxiousness in you, not in this moment, and he tries to remember what it looks like.

Your eyes find his and he clears his throat.

“Earth to Sergeant Barnes?”

“Don’t start,” he groans, albeit playfully, “It’s too early.”

“Oh, what? Too early for me to grill you on why you didn’t tell me that little laptop in there was on loan from the FBI? To one Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes of the 107th?”

His face falls.

“Don’t worry,” you raise a hand quickly, leaning against the counter as you sip your coffee, “I figured that out before I did anything massively illegal.”

Bucky rubs his face as he takes a sip of his coffee — the bitterness is enough to slap him awake. He winces, swallows it back, and remembers the taste of instant coffee made in helmets on the line in Bastogne. He can smell snow, and the acrid sting of mortar smoke. Suddenly, he’s craving a cigarette.

That hasn’t happened in a while.

Bucky clears his throat. “Did you find anything?”

You frown slightly, lips pulled as you hide your inward disappointment — you push off from the counter and shake your head as you brush past him. Like a loyal dog, Bucky follows. Into the bedroom you go, and Bucky’s again surprised he managed to get any sleep at all in that bed. Maybe it was the comfort of having someone else there, or the genuine exhaustion that had finally choked him out after hours of trying to understand what the hell you were even doing on there.

You plop into the desk chair and snatch up a piece of paper littered with notes.

“I couldn’t do much of my usual snooping,” you explain gently as you gesture to the chromebook, “This thing might have been given to you in good faith, but they’re watching you pretty closely. So, I worked a little magic and ended up running a virtual machine. Gave me enough wiggle room to avoid the malware and keystroke trackers. Even still, I wanted to be careful, so I just did a little looking.”

“Looking?”

“I can’t dig deeper on Innessa, I know where to dig, but I can’t,” you frown, “Not on this laptop, and definitely not on my personal machines. I’ve got the GRC breathing down my neck, and the files I need to poke are very much off-limits.”

“So, what? We’re shit out of luck?”

“No, not entirely,” you stand up and motion to the paper in your hands; your tone is tight, “I know a few people who can help, but getting to them is going to be the hardest part.”

Bucky takes the paper, squinting at the writing as you settle on the edge of the bed next to him. You take a sip of your coffee and watch as his blue eyes dart across the notes; you point to the name scrawled across the top.

“There’s a club in lower Manhattan, but you’ve gotta know the right people to get in,” you mumble, scratching your cheek as a creeping sense of embarrassment bubbles up behind your words, “It’s in the basement of an old computer repair shop. It’s like a blackhat networking event, but with strippers.”

Bucky squints at the paper and reads the name. “The Glass Cannon?”

“Yeah,” you huff, crossing your arms tightly as you stand, “That’s the one.”

Bucky looks up from the paper, attention now rooted on the pacing you’ve begun to do across the room. Back and forth. You’re holding your coffee like a lifeline, gaze far away. That anxiousless way you’d been holding yourself before is gone. Now, he can see the tensing in your shoulders, in your fingers. You’re suddenly nervous.

Bucky stands. His voice is gentle.

“You alright?”

“Yeah,” you snap almost immediately, “Just, y’know. Worried. I spent a lot of time there when I was younger. Did stupid shit. And now I’m about to waltz in after six years like I haven’t put that part of my life behind me.”

“We don’t have to do this,” he says immediately, moving to stand closer and halt your pacing. The invasion of your space forces you to look at him. His fingers glimmering in the morning light. You follow the line of his figure up to his eyes. The emotion there makes your heart clench. You can’t pin it down, and it’s gone in an instant.

“It’s the only way we’re going to find Innessa.”

“You don’t need to put yourself in situations like this for me,” he says, stressing the for me part in both expression and tone. The depreciation makes you wince and you’re fast to shake your head.

“That’s what friends do, Bucky,” you stand your ground, but you know there’s more to your reasoning than that, “Plus, she’s a bad guy. And I know you said I technically wasn’t the sidekick, but—”

“You’re not the sidekick—”

“I know,” you huff, nudging him gently with your arm, “But, I wanna help. Do some good.”

“You do enough good,” he mutters, “You’re a good person.”

Your words fail you at that — and your mouth parts but nothing comes out. Bucky watches with an expression as solid as rock as you blink and look away. His hand, the one of flesh and bone, finds your wrist as you tighten your grip on your mug.

The touch, though far too tender for you to handle, feels like fire.

Like a slap in the face, you’re reminded of how handsome Bucky is.

You slap that thought back, trading volleys, and remain quiet.

His tone is stern. “I mean it.”

“Well,” you finally muster, tone dipping sardonically into a cruel peel of humor, “Just wait until you see me in my natural habitat. Maybe the tequila shots will make you second guess that.”

“I didn’t know we were going out drinking,” he chirps as he raises an eyebrow, “Am I going to need to get you a leash?”

“We’re gonna have to try and blend in as best we can. People are going to know me — if they try to pin me with the GRC or the feds, we aren’t going to get anything on Innessa. They probably won’t even let me in the building if they suspect something’s up, after all not everything that goes down in Glass Cannon is kosher.”

“This is already sounding like a bad idea,” Bucky mumbles as he crosses his arms, “I’m stating that for the record, by the way.”

“Well, I think standing around and working ourselves up about this is even worse of an idea,” you chirp back, moving towards the door to muscle on your shoes, “So I say we feed ourselves and don’t worry about this until Thursday night.”

“Thursday.”

You nod.

All of a sudden, Bucky’s eyes go wide.

“Today is Sunday.”

You freeze, hand on the doorframe. You shoot him a wide-eyed look at the sudden flare of panic that’s shot up through him. “Yea, Bucky, today is Sunday.”

“Shit.”

“What?” you nearly cry as he disappears into the bedroom once more. You hear his closet open, then a clatter as he grabs something like keys — you nearly run directly into his chest when he strides back into the kitchen. He’s shouldered on his usual leather jacket, and in his hands is another.

He’s got keys in his hand.

“C’mon.”

He shoves the jacket into your arms and you frown.

“What the hell?” you cry, doubling back to snag your phone and bag as Bucky moves to the door, “What is this?”

“Put it on,” he says, holding open the door for you as you follow him into the apartment hallway.

You raise a brow and stand there as he locks the door.

“Why?”

“Because,” Bucky mumbles, rubbing his face as he widens his strides to the stairwell across the hall; before you know it, you’re desperately trying to keep up as he bounces down the steps — light on his feet like the boxer he is — towards the lower level of the apartment complex, “We’re late.”

You groan, trying to shrug on the jacket that smells like Bucky as you follow — a smell you’d come to know as clean laundry and sandalwood. Must be something for his hair. He never wore cologne, that much was apparent. The jacket is big on you, especially on the shoulders. You were swimming in it, trying not to trip as he held the door open to the garage.

Suddenly, the air is cooler. Immediately you wonder how much his rent is if he had access to a ground level garage. Call it NYC instinct.

“Bucky,” you nearly whine, throwing your head back, “Where are we going?”

Before you get a reply, you run straight into his back. Bucky grunts, moving to grab both of your hands and push you to the front of him.

Sitting in the spot is a motorcycle.

It’s a jet black Harley.

Bucky is handing you the helmet on the back seat as your mouth moves in disbelief. “No way— no, I’m not getting on that thing. I’d rather sell my kidneys. Stop, stop — ow, Bucky — you haven’t even said where we’re going!”

He’s muscling the helmet onto your head and through the flash of the visor you can see a real smile, the sort born out of his never-ending amusement towards your fickle sense of humor. His fingers are nimble against your chin. He takes the time to strap it on, adjust it, and give it a gentle tug. Bucky taps the matte black helmet twice, then flicks the visor down.

“We’re going upstate.”

                                        ◦   ◦   ◦   ◦   

It takes two hours to get to Elmwood Senior Living.

You spent the first forty-five minutes clinging to Bucky’s waist with your eyes closed — no fault of Bucky’s, really. It was different from riding in a car by miles, and you had your own qualms with driving. You couldn’t be in the passenger’s seat anymore. Not after the accident with Jaimie, when Mom disappeared. Being out of control made you itch; and it’s not until the fifty-minute mark that you ease up on the panic and remember who the man is that’s driving the bike.

You trust Bucky. You trust him with your life.

Once it’s open road, winding up towards the Northern part of the state, it gets easier.

Bucky can feel your grip around his waist loosen just a bit — and it’s enough reassurance that he stops looking back in the mirror every fifteen seconds. It’s enough permission to open up on the throttle, and the bike roars alive. Your immediate reaction is a gobsmacked yelp, the sort that’s pulled from a jolt of shock, but then comes the laugh. 

Bucky’s own quiet chuckle rumbles against your chest. You hold on tighter, but this time with open palms against the thrum of his ribs.

Halfway through the trip, he pulls into a McDonald’s.

You drop your ass onto the parking lot’s curb as he leans against the bike and houses a burger. You laugh, eyeing him candidly as you take a large bite from your own lunch. Bucky is a mess with it — cursing quietly when he ends up getting ketchup on his jacket.

“Shit.”

“Jesus, Bucky,” you mutter, “Did you even taste that thing?”

“Barely,” he clears his throat and starts picking at his fries, “These things taste different now. First time I ever had McDonald’s was right before bootcamp.”

“How much was it? Five cents?” you snort, leaning back and dropping a fry into your mouth.

Bucky watches with a half-smirk. “Fifteen, but nice try.”

He spends the next five minutes on his hand with a wet nap, trying hard to get the grease out of the delicate plates along his palm. You watch, as you knock back the rest of your soda, as his eyes crinkle tightly in frustration. His mouth is pulled tightly into a fine line. For the second time today, you’re reminded of how handsome Bucky Barnes is — and how fucking stubborn he is, too.

“Want help?”

“No,” he mutters, trying to get a spot between his thumb and index finger, “I got it.”

“I have smaller fingers,” you sing-song, gathering up his trash and your trash and crossing the parking lot to the bin; upon returning, you waggle them in his face, “Good for hard to reach places.”

Bucky absolutely hates that can feel his blush hit the tips of his ears at the comment.

He’s glad you’re too preoccupied with his hand to notice. You’re watching, like you always do, with respectful awe. To you, this part of him is a bit like a treasure — you find it beautiful and intriguing and incredible. It’s clear in the way you watch the mechanisms turn and tighten that you aren’t frightened by it.

It unsettles Bucky every time.

Finally, once he’s finished under your watchful eyes, he leans to muscle that helmet back over your head. You groan, squinting tightly.

“C’mon,” he knocks your helmet with his knuckles, “We’re almost there.”

The rest of the ride is wide open space, farm land and mountainous peaks looming far ahead. It’s warm, and the sun is hot on your back. The wind is howling around you and it sends your jacket collar flapping against your neck. Your chin rests neatly on Bucky’s shoulder, trying to get a view of the road ahead.

Elmwood Senior Living is tucked into the back of a suburb.

The two of you weave through a neighborhood or two, dancing under the shade of age old maple trees. They cast long, scattered shadows across the pavement as kids play on their lawns. A dog barks somewhere in the distance. Over the hill, church bells ring. Sunday service has ended.

Bucky rolls into the parking lot, past the large sign with swirling lettering. Suddenly, things make more sense. Suddenly, you’re struck with a sinking feeling of grief. Nostalgia. Mourning. But, happiness.

There are folks sitting outside, basking in the sun, tethered to walkers.

Bucky’s wrists crank back weathered knuckles, and slowly the bike rumbles into an open spot. Extending his legs, Bucky balances the bike with ease. You take that as your cue to swing yourself off the back clumsily, hopping a bit. Bucky leans, kicks the stand down, and with significantly more grace than you, swings his leg over.

You’re shrugging his jacket off when he speaks.

“He’s going to be different than how you imagine him.”

You exhale slowly, draping the jacket over the bike’s seat. You peel the helmet off.

“I’ve sort of pieced that together.”

You can see the slight discomfort hanging in his posture. You reach and touch Bucky’s arm.

“Come on,” you nod to the entrance, covered by a shady overhang where someone is helping a family member out of their car, “We don’t wanna be late, huh?”

His eyes soften. Bucky nods.

You walk side-by-side into the lobby of Elmwood Senior Living and it’s like time slows down. It halts in a warm, sunshine colored still — full of chatter, full of humanity, full of wisdom. The room is framed by big windows, by plants, by a man in a U.S. Navy ball cap. He’s stationed by the door, watching the comings and goings. The main desk, where a young woman watches, sits in the corner. You follow Bucky with a content little look. He notices.

He stands a little closer at the main desk. The girl, who looks like she’s incredibly out of place with her blue hair and piercings, is younger than you thought. Highschool, maybe. She offers Bucky an excited smile.

“Took you long enough,” she chirps, moving to sort through a bin to her side with key fobs.

Your brows raise. You spy calculus homework on the desk.

Bucky snorts. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

He notices the same problem set you so, and purposely leans over the desk. Suddenly, you’re seeing flashes of a more boyish version of Bucky — one that reminds you of a man with siblings. Bucky taps the paper, jutting a chin to the girl as she tries to swat his attention away.

“How’d you do on that test?”

“I got a 96,” she chirps pridefully, laughing, “Thanks for the help, nerd.”

You’re watching the entire exchange with a smile, backing up a bit to toss a curious glance over your shoulder. There’s a dining room through open doors — and looks like lunch is just wrapping up. Folks are moving around, back to their rooms or upstairs where you can hear the beginnings of a seated aerobics class begin.

Bucky nudges you with his hand.

“Thanks, Sarah,” he says and waves the key she’d handed over.

The girl with the blue hair scoffs. “Say hi to grandpa for me, Bucket.”

You laugh out loud as Bucky quickly flips her off. She’s quick to do the same.

You follow him around the corner, grinning ear to ear. He spares you a sheepish look, then rolls his eyes.

“What was that?”

“She’s a good kid,” he offers, eyeing the key with the grey little fob attached, “Reminds me of my sister.”

Your face softens. “Sister?”

“Her name was Sarah, too,” he says quietly, boots landing softly on the blue carpet. He’s navigating the residential wing like he’s done it a million times. There are rooms with flowers outside, with holiday garb, with little photos and keepsakes. Each room holds a lifetime of personality — the sound of Jeopardy lulls along in the background.

You hum. Bucky sighs.

He meanders down a long hallway where a different door is — this one heavy and locked by the little keypad. Bucky raises the key fob to the device and the door buzzes.

This side of Elmwood is quieter.

Down the hall, Timmy Dorsey and Sinatra play quietly over someone’s record player.

There aren’t as many folks in the hall in this wing, but doors are open and nurses flit about. Around the corner, there’s a loud conversation going on about lunch — and you watch as Bucky weaves towards the nursing station. It’s a room overlooking the common area with windows. Inside are three women.

One of them immediately jumps when she sees Bucky.

“Oh, good! I was meaning to talk to you—”

“Everything alright?”

“About the same,” she breathes as she stands, moving to grab at a Bucky’s arm with a sense of motherliness that makes you smile, “But, meals have been a bit difficult lately.”

“No kidding,” he mutters, rubbing his chin, “He just doesn’t wanna eat?”

“He thinks Peggy is coming home,” the woman whispers with a pained smile as she begins to lead you both down the hall, “He thinks your grandmother made dinner for him.”

“Right,” Bucky nods, “Doesn’t wanna ruin his appetite.”

“Exactly.”

You take note of the conversation, muddling through your own confusion. You’re quiet, though. This isn’t really your conversation to have. Bucky seems to be relaxed more — even humming slightly to a song that plays across the hall from the room the nurse is knocking on.

“Mr. Carter?” she calls gently, “Your grandson is here to see you, and his…”

She looks expectantly at you. You bawk.

“Friend.”

“Right,” she smiles and pushes open the door.

It’s like a little slice of home.

Sofas, chairs, photos on the walls. There’s a record player in the corner, a television, a coffee table stacked with books on the second world war. There’s a dresser covered in baubles and warm light coming in from the window overlooking the street. It reminds you of your grandparents’ sitting room — everything looks so lived in, so comfortable, so alive.

And then, below the light of the window, is a hospital bed.

In it is Steve Rogers.

Not the one you know — no, this one has lived a full life. This Steve Rogers has fallen in love, owned a home, settled down. This Steve Rogers has years of wisdom settled into his face, years of well-fought fights in his joints. His blonde hair has gone shock white, but his smile is all the same.

“Bucky.”

The way Steve says his name is like the man beside you holds the world.

To Bucky, he can hear a new weakness. A new exhaustion.

“Hi, punk.”

The nurse offers a little wave to you as Bucky ventures into the room, stripping his jacket off and moving to scope out the minifridge in the small kitchenette beside the bathroom. She leaves the door open, and you smile to her softly. Bucky rummages, poking his head up.

“You want a drink, Steve?” he asks, tone almost like he’s feeling out the lucidity of the man across the room, “There’s some of that lemonade I brought last week in here.”

“Sounds good,” he says slowly, “Please.”

You feel out of place — not unwelcome, but… it’s clear that Bucky has come and gone from here a thousand times now. He knows to get the glasses out, to get a straw, to turn down the record player on his way over. Doris Day’s voice lowers to a soft croon. You watch with heavy eyes.

“I brought someone, Steve,” Bucky says, “She’s a big fan.”

“Oh?” Steve asks with a slow look to the corner where you’re standing, “That musta broke your heart.”

Bucky snorts as he moves to swing the hospital bed’s tray over Steve’s lap. He places the lemonade down, then the other glass on the nightstand. He’s quick to move the armchair closer to the nightstand, and gestures for you to come over. Bucky’s hands guide you by the shoulders as he plops you into the chair.

“She’s one of the good ones,” Bucky says, “Reminds me of you.”

“No kidding,” Steve says slowly, offering a hand that shakes, “Steve Rogers. It’s a pleasure.”

You exchange your name with a shy look, shaking that hand with reverence and gentility. “It’s an honor, Mr. Rogers.”

“Please,” he mumbles, moving to slowly take a sip of his lemonade, “Steve is fine.”

Bucky moves to take up a post on the opposite side of Steve, in the sun. “You’re losin’ weight, y’know.”

That earns him a wave of the hand.

Bucky leans back and sips his lemonade. He waggles a finger and you watch the two begin to go back and forth.

“No, no,” he swallows, “No, you don’t get t’ shrug me off—”

“M’fine, Buck,” a sigh, “Really.”

“Mhm,” he narrows his eyes, “You’re startin’ to look like the Steve I knew before the serum.”

You lean back, hiding a quiet smirk behind your hand.

“I was wondering when you were gonna show up an’ pester me,” he says with a tired look, “The only peace I get around here is when Peggy comes home.”

Your eyes jump to Bucky. He’s watching you.

“Peggy?” you ask gently, “Is that your wife?”

A proud smile washes over his face. “Still knocks me for a loop, too.”

“Steve,” Bucky’s voice is gentle, “Peggy won’t be coming around for a while. Remember?”

There’s a look that flashes across Steve’s face, then. A mixture of sadness, of confusion, of panic. It’s clouded with a furrow of his brow, hidden by a tilt of the head. He looks at Bucky, mouth pulled in a fine line.

When he finally speaks, his voice is sad.

“That’s right. I forgot.”

“S’alright,” Bucky taps his head, maintaining an air of nonchalance, “That’s why you got me.”

“And why you’ve got her, no doubt,” he turns to you with a winning smile and offers his hand again, “Steve Rogers. Nice to meet you.”

You take it, you shake it, and you introduce yourself once more. Your smile is patient and understanding. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Steve.”

Bucky breathes a sigh of relief. Steve smiles, tossing Bucky a look that borders on mischievous.

He sips his lemonade and clears his throat. “How is Sam?”

“You ask every time,” Bucky mutters, “And every time I have the same answer.”

“Sam?” you ask slowly.

“Wilson,” Bucky finishes, “Bird man.”

“You mean Falcon,” you correct, shooting him a stern look, “The Falcon. Are you ghosting The Falcon?”

“I don’t know what that even means, so maybe,” Bucky leans back and crosses his legs, “I’ve been busy.”

You roll your eyes. Steve saw. He smiles.

“I’m gettin’ why he keeps you around.”

Your face is smacked with a look of pure joy.

“C’mon on now,” Bucky cries, nearly indignantly, “No flirting—”

“M’ not flirting—”

“I know that look, Steve—”

Steve is laughing.

Bucky has a stern look in his eye. “You always do this—”

“I’m not doin’ a damn thing—”

“And you better keep it that way, old man,” Bucky shirks, voice splintering into a laugh in a way that you’ve never heard before, “I swear, this is how it always goes.”

“Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, huh, Buck?” you ask gently, leaning your cheek into your hand.

Steve laughs loudly at that.

Bucky spares you a smile — the sort that’s drenched in good humor and sunlight. It makes your lungs flutter, and you ignore the buzz in your fingers at the sight. You hide your laugh into your cup of lemonade, resigning to be a quiet counterpart in the conversation.

The two of them go on to chat about small things, then chat about old things. From the Commandos, to HYDRA, to amends, to therapy, to Peggy, to the itch the starch of their old dress uniforms used to bring. It takes a bit, a few redirections on the way, but it’s clear by the end why Steve Rogers is in Elmwood’s memory unit.

It makes your heart ache.

And if a super soldier is bed-ridden…

The two of you say goodbye around three in the afternoon after Bucky helps Steve shave.

The walk back to the bike is quiet.

Bucky speaks first.

“He’s dying.”

You chew your lip, eyes on the pavement. You match his slow stride, bumping your elbow with his as you walk. It’s still warm, and the clouds hang high in the sky. When you look up, Bucky’s watching you. You sigh.

“I’m sorry,” you finally muster, “I am.”

“Don’t be,” he says, grabbing the jacket from the seat and holding it up, “He’s lived a long life.”

You let Bucky hold out the arm for you, and you press your hand through the sleeve. He helps the other side on, and you zip it up to your chin. When you turn around to face him, there are tears in your eyes.

They snuck up on you. You hadn’t realized it until Bucky’s face fell, until the first one fell along the weathered leather of the jacket. You blink, raising your brows as you swipe them away, and offer an apologetic look.

“I’m happy,” you say, “Y’know. He has you. But, he’s a man out of time. Even now. That makes me sad.”

Bucky’s quiet for a while. He’s leaned up against the bike as you turn and watch Elmwood from the back of the parking lot. There’s a big part of you that feels heavy with guilt — and though Steve was in good spirits when you left, you can’t help but ache to provide him with more company. It’s clear that seeing Bucky means a lot to him, and that in turn it means a lot to the man beside you.

“Come on,” Bucky says then, “Let’s go home.”

You nod, let him muscle that helmet onto your head one more time, and hold on a little tighter back to the city.

                                       ◦   ◦   ◦   ◦   

You don’t see Bucky until Tuesday.

In all honesty, it feels weird to not hear from him for two days. At the very least, you expected some sort of phone call — but you remind yourself that you’ve been okay alone for a long time. There’s no need to throw all your work on being comfortable by yourself out the window for Bucky Barnes.

It’s tempting, though. God, it’s really tempting.

You hate the ache in your chest when you finally see him lumbering towards the cafe counter before your appointments. You hate this new feeling — so you shove it down and ignore the way his fingers brush yours when he hands you your latte.

He is ignoring it, too. He’s been ignoring it.

No use in thinking about it though.

“You got plans later?” you ask him in the elevator after your appointment, tilting your head, “Apparently there’s a Lord of the Rings marathon tonight on FX.”

Bucky stiffens — and immediately he can feel the hot sting of anxious regret flood his cheeks. He clears his throat, tucks his hands in his pockets, and toes the ground. You watch with a confused look. Then he speaks tightly.

“...I’ve got a date.”

You could have caught flies the way your jaw fell open.

“Oh. Oh!”

You blink, readjust your expression, and swallow down a sharp stab of rejection.

Bucky clears his throat. “It’s… I wasn’t going to but, Dr. Raynor—”

“No, no,” you wave your hands and shake your head and try to seem genuine, “No, I’m happy for you. Is this one of those Christian Minglers?”

Bucky groans. “Shut up.”

“Okay,” you say, “Okay! Just, uh, be careful. Y’know? And call if you need anything.”

The elevator doors open, and Bucky walks side by side with you through the well-lit lobby. He holds the door open for you, and you pass through with a pained look at the ground. He lingers, though, rubbing the back of his neck as you wait for him to say what’s on his mind.

“Thursday,” he says, “I’ll stop by.”

“Yea,” you say, waving your hand, “Whenever.”

But, that doesn’t end up happening.

No, Bucky Barnes shows up at your apartment doorstep at 10pm.

He’s clutching takeout and a six pack of beer and wearing a horrified expression that screams of guilt and exhaustion. No, Bucky buzzes the door to your apartment and basically croaks that he’s here — he’s asking if the marathon is still on while you buzz him up.

“Third floor,” you say into the buzzer with a smile, “Come on in, old man.”

When you open the door, you have to laugh — because his hair is a mess and there’s still a trace of lipstick on the corner of his mouth. Whereas jealousy threatens to flare, his incredibly regretful expression tamps it down. You cock a hip, eye him up and down, and jut your chin out.

“Get laid?”

Bucky rolls his eyes so hard you’re surprised he didn’t break something.

He pushes past you, moving to drop the beer on the counter and place the takeout gently down by the basket of fruit.

“I’m here for the cat,” he grumbles, “Not your witty commentary, sweetheart.”

You’re moving quietly to the sink and gathering a paper towel with a smirk as Bucky looks around, admiring the decor and aliveness of your apartment. When you turn around, he’s already pried a beer from the pack and popped the top off with his vibranium palm.

He winces when you reach up to swipe the coral lipstick from the corner of his mouth.

Then Bucky settles, letting you clean off the mess.

“Mhm,” you hum, “Right. Was it at least fun?”

“She had fun,” he mutters into his first sip, “It was a lotta tongue for my first night out in nearly a century, though.”

You wince. He nods with a sardonic smile that tells you everything about how the date went down — and you’re relieved. “So, I take it you're not calling her in the morning?”

“No,” he shakes his head, “Nope. No, and I’ve decided no more dates. That was enough for me.”

You wince and pluck a beer from the pack. Wordlessly, Bucky gestures for you to hand it over. In one smooth motion, he twists the cap off with his hand.

“That bad?” you ask, eyeing him critically.

“I decided halfway through,” he says as he moves to take the takeout from its bag, “I’d rather be watching Lord of the Rings with you.”

That stops you into silence. It’s like someone’s taken your own words and gagged you with them — and you’re left floundering for breath you never even realize you lost. You know he means it. You know it because he won’t look at you, because that sort of confession isn’t easy for people like you two. So you take those words and you glue them in a lonely locket and keep them close to your heart.

Poke’s entrance saves you a mouthful of broken words — he comes in, trots up to Bucky, and hollers.

Bucky laughs.

“Nice to meet you, too,” he mutters, eyeing the cat that’s eagerly rubbing himself along Bucky’s leg.

You wipe your face, sip your beer, and move to the pantry across from the kitchen island. You come back out with a bag of salmon treats — the good ones — and offer Bucky the bag. He takes it, eyes still on the calico, and crinkles it a little.

You lean against the counter and watch Bucky kneel.

“If you keep it up long enough he might even let you hold him.”

He lights up at that.

You laugh.

You move to grab plates and forks and knives and groan when you open up the first box to see Pad Thai — you make a mental note to properly thank Bucky for this. You meager dinner of reheated pasta really hadn’t hit the spot. This will, though. You can tell from the smell alone.

By your knees, Poke chirps.

“He’s cute.”

“I never took you for a cat guy.”

Bucky snorts.

You make a plate and flick his head as you walk by. “You’re missing the start of The Two Towers.”

“I’m going to be confused, aren’t I?” he asks as he stands and begins making himself a plate. He watches as you settle onto the couch and sip your beer, “I was too busy being turned into a cyborg to read the books.”

You laugh out loud. It shocks you.

“Was that a joke? Did Bucky Barnes just make a joke?”

He’s smirking. He rounds the counter with his food and settles next to you. Poke is following him, eager to curl up next to his new friend.

“I can be funny.”

“Funny lookin’.”

He elbows you on purpose. You snort into your beer.

There’s a comfortable moment of quiet between you, and you clear your throat.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah,” he says slowly, “No problem.”

More quiet, and he’s still watching you. Then, he asks what’s been on his mind for the last three days.

“You got a plan for Thursday?”

“I’ve got anxiety, Buck,” you exhale, swigging your beer and turning the television up, “I always have a plan.”

[hazbinextgeneration]

Into The Casino Ch9

The next few days were what she could only describe as complete and utter suspicion. Or more accurate the war of the paper and closets. Lou wasn't kidding when he said there was not one not two but FOUR other closets full of boxes and tots and cabinets full of papers and random date books galore. Cyber had taken Disease up on a favor he owed her and had him help her carry all of the stuff into one big older office Lou has given permission for her to use for the whole thing. The amount of the stacks made her stomach drop but the smile and red eyes assuring her he just couldn't wait to see what great job she would do was enough to get her motivated in fear of any consequences that might've been thrown her way. Thank goodness by what ever miracle she talked him into giving her giant filing cabinets to hold all these massive piles of papers and books. It took her minutes of careful reading of each one before she could even decide which small pile ever growing it would go in. Every couple hours or so Cyber or Disease would bring her some food, which was very much appreciated... But they found the hard way a stressed and overworking woman was not one they'd want to mess with. When Disease accidentally knocked over two piles accidentally mixing them together after spending two whole days rummaging around to get them perfect.

...The angry shout from the frazzled lady and the few white sparks that emanated from her horn was enough for the bumbling serpent to hightail it out of there. She thought Lou was going to send her to an painful second grave when he found out, but to her surprise he was actually rather calm about this whole thing. Even going as far as to lightly scold Disease for ruining her day's work, but she couldn't help but notice the almost excited tone behind all that. And when the next day came Cyber rolled around with her lunch as usually but with the resident witch no less. Midnight if she remembered right. The small fox pulled out a tape measure from no where and forced her to hold still as she measured the length of her horn, and shined a light into her eyes. Before writing something down on a piece of paper she had with her and left without another word. ...When asked Cyber casually shrugged it off. "Eh. Lou's just having her check up on you. No big deal." Well, that wasn't suspicious at all. But she was too tired with all this pile up to even think about what was going on, and so she pushed on with whatever she was doing. She wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed with her emptying boxes, and tots. Putting old dates books on a bookshelf provided to her and stuff the newly alphabetized papers into different drawers. But she noticed Cyber had kept taking certain documents, mostly ones with random and different names written at the bottom of them all. She claimed they were certain deals with clients and business partners Lou had been working for and wouldn't want anything happen to them in fear of loosing good deals. She could kinda understand that, but the fact that they seemed to be making a majority of the whole papers was kinda questionable. Even if he was a demon. Maybe a day or two after that, she was finally done. The benefits of already being dead was that she didn't need a lot of food or sleep, but my gosh did she feel like she could hibernate for a whole year by this point. By now she had long forgotten how long she had been up or when she finished, but she remembered vaguely Cyber patting her on the back and telling her to take a load off. "Lou should swing by to check out everything later. Until then I guess you get a free few hours, Newbie." She didn't need to be told twice. She stumbled to her room and immediately plopped herself into that sweet, sweet bed. Almost instantly falling asleep once she got comfortable. Too bad she wasn't aware of the scheme that was currently being hatched right under her nose almost the whole time. Now. Lou had always prided himself on being a man of ideals. A man of opportunities. When he saw something good he would always find ways to get it, and good luck was always a gamble that seemed to favor him. Sure he had a couple bad deals and things that could've gone better, but a newer and better one always seemed to throw itself at his feet, begging for him to reach out to them and take them in his sweet, sweet grasp! And it wasn't just opportunites he had luck in. Brains, judge of character, not bad looking if he should say so himself~, and of course his many, many wonderful riches. And it just seemed to be getting better and better and BETTER. He was intoxicated on the idea of the power, only brought down by his rational thinking and on occasions Cyber. Already this naïve little horsefly had proven herself useful in more than one way, for one he finally had someone who could take care of all that pesky paper problems and one who could be molded into a weapon. AH! Speaking of the pony- Cyber had kindly been keeping him updated on the whole situation and now seeing the amount of the work put into one simple task...He could barely contain his excitement over how much work she could put into better use, if pushed in the right direction of course. "Well- Fuzzy, did a decent job. Eh, Boss?" Cyber was currently flipping through one of the drawers randomly and when she didn't receive an answer she turned her head over her shoulder to stare at the taller demon. Lou seemed to be staring off into space, one hand behind his back and the other covering a part of his face, his red eyes narrowed in thought. Uh oh. She knew that look all too well. Lou. Was calculating something. He always saw his choices as a gamble. Through the dice right and you get the bigger prize. She just wondered what it was this time. "Uh, Boss? Whatcha thinking about now?" Instead of answering her question he asked a question of his own. Walking towards the bookshelf and glazing his eyes over all the books before taking one out and looking at the cover. ".....Cyber. You observed her. How smart would you say she is? On the IQ level." She stared at him but her brain quickly processed the question asked thanks to what her name referred to and she shrugged. "About average. A little over Disease if I say so." He hummed and put the book back only to randomly pick another. "And IF I were to try a contract?" He turned his head to her. "How would you say she would most likely react?" She stood there silently. Confused at the question but also quickly got the answer for it. "Well...The way she moves and the way she acts, plus with what we know...I don't think she'd really be up to it." She gave him a matter of fact look. "She's not up to date with the modern era just yet, but she's pretty careful about most things surrounding her. I think being roped into a soul binding deal would be the last thing she'd want to do. She'd just see it as another form of prison." His eyes slightly narrowed and looked back to the book. Now this was something different she had seen. He was thinking of a back up plan to the gamble. Sometimes he'd use the back up plan instead of the first plan but what the winner don't know the gambler understands. And he understood the game better than anyone she knew, alive or dead. "What would you say would be her biggest weak points?" "Well, her limited knowledge on modern things and her emotions I would say." ....His lips slowly curled up in a smile. "How long has it been since I last had interest in someone?" Her head tilted, before slowly a look of realization came over her. "About ten years ago. Boss...Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?" His smile widened. "There's more than one way to be legally bound now isn't there?~ Go see to it she has a good view of me before I do anything. I have something I need to take care of." "Are you sure you want to take this route?" She thought of the possibilities in her head. "This seems about five percent more likely to succeed but with what really landed her here in the first place, I don't think she'd be ready to hop back into the saddle so to speak." A chuckle and those red eyes flashed at her. "Five more points is all I need to make it to the top ranks! Trust me. The prize winnings would be to die for!~" *********************************************************************************** It was almost mid noon when she felt something shaking her awake and out of instinct she jumped up and blinked her blurry vision up at the person above her. Light electric blue hair came into view and the face of a metal skinned appeared before her. She stared up at Cyber for a few seconds before her voice came out. "Hey, Newbie. Brought you something curtesy of the boss. I think you'd like it." Something sweet smelling hit her and she tiredly blinked down to the plate she just now noticed Cyber was holding out to her. She blinked and stared at the small round sweet smelling thing on the plate with confusion. "....W-What is it?" "It's called a doughnut. It's kinda like a car tire shaped cake without all the heavy icing. Boss said you probably never had one before and you should have one before Disease ate them all." She smiled and continued to stay on plan. " He acts like a big bad wolf, but if you get to know him, you can find out he can be pretty generous." The fuzzy bed headed pony stared at her, before slowly sitting up and staring at the offering still placed in front of her. ...Slowly taking it from Cyber and giving it a couple more tired but weary blinks. Her nose twitched a couple times still filled with the unfamiliar sweet smell. Cyber stared patiently as Fuzzy took her time picking it up and taking a small nibble off the top of it. Her eyes slightly widened and Cyber smiled when she began eating this new sweet food with vigor. Guess she liked it huh? She must've because it was soon gone and she turned to her with a thankful smile. "T-Thank you." "Hey. Don't thank me. Thank the boss. And speaking of which-" He nodded her heads towards the door. "He's been wanting to see for for a few hours, but he decided to give you a few extra hours sleeping. Wasn't that nice of him?" ....She blinked those purple eyes. "W-Why? D-Did I do something wrong?" "What? Are you kidding me?" She gave a playful smile that came naturally to be honest. She didn't mind help Lou with playing these games. "He and I both thought you did a decent job. Surprised your brain didn't turn to mush." She gave a nod towards the door and turned to walk away. "He's waiting for ya in the office down the hall. Make sure you wear something nice ok?" She rose a brow but if her boss wanted to see her then she had better get up and see exactly what he wanted to talk about. She just hoped it wasn't more paperwork. With a sigh she tossed the blankets off and forced her tired bum up and out of the bed. Ten minutes later she was all prim and proper and heading to where she hoped was where he was waiting for her. When she did come to what she hoped was the door, she took a deep breath to calm herself, reached up and just laid her hands on the door once- It swung open suddenly, and she gave a startled squeak taking a few steps back from it. On the other side was the taller slender form of the plant demon. He smiled down at the frazzled unicorn and chuckled. Before giving a slight bow. "Oh, so sorry. If I would've known that would've happened, I wouldn't have spooked you." He straightened back up and stood aside. "Please. Come in." She stood there for a moment, but slowly and wearily began walking into the room he was holding open. Folding her ears back when she felt those red eyes following her, and when the door closed behind her she looked back to him. He was wearing that same smile of his but it seemed more ...what was the best way to describe it? Studious. She watched silently as he walked past her and gestured to the seat in front of the small desk. She slowly sat down into the seat offered and watched as he walked around and sat down right in front of her. Clasping his hands and giving her that smile. "Now. You are probably wondering why I wanted to speak to you yes?" "...I-..assumed I did something wrong with the work I did." "No, no. Of course not," he assured her in a sweet tone, "The work you displayed was splendid! Exactly what a top notch secretary of mine needs! But I wanted to speak to you about a more....Important topic other than work." He hesitated but eventually asked, "W-What do you mean, Sir?" He was hoping she would say that. So he took a breath and gave her the sweetest most charming smile he could muster. "Miss Amalfia, do you remember how long you've been working for me?" She tilted her head curiously, wracking her brain for the answer. "I-I think almost three months." "And in those three months I couldn't help but notice how marvelous having you around has become.~" She opened her mouth to say thank you but he beat her to it. "If I may say so myself you are quite the rarity down here and someone who could complete many-.."His eyes slightly narrowed. "-many things in my afterlife I have planned and just couldn't ever hope to achieve without you, my dear.~" Her eyes followed him as he adruptly stood from the desk. "...Y-You want to give me a promotion?" He laughed genuinely. "Something along those lines. But no. What I want is far more better than more benefitial to you. No. What Im asking from you, is your unwavering loyalty and affection for me." There was a small silence, as her wide eyes and shocked brain wheeled around in hyper speed as his words rammed around her skull over and over. Processing what he had spewed out at her and he took his in shock chance to walk around the table and stop right next to her. When he shifted his movement she finally snapped her head up and looked at him like he was absolutely crazy. "W-WHAT?!" "You know. Partners. Husband and wife. Joined in unholy matrimony. Whatever term you prefer to use. Shh." Her held a red talon to her mouth before her terrified face even got the chance to speak. "Please. Let me finish. You see- Ever since I laid eyes upon you, I couldn't help but find your presence interesting.~ And I do have an eye for stunning people if I do say so myself. Now before you give a yes or no to my question- " The talon was taken away and he leaned down to her form squished against the chair. "Think about the benefits.~ A roof over your head. Food you wouldn't even imagine on your plate." His hand grabbed the back of the chair and swung her around with a startled squeak to face him. "And of course all the luxories you could ask for....Within reason of course. And of course you'll have me." His grin widened and he reached a hand out to run the length of her left cheek. "I think you'll find that I can be a very generous lover.~ And Im not the worse looking man down here.~" She flinched away from his touch and shrinked down further in the chair. She could feel the walls closing in and him standing right in front of her with those red eyes staring down at her like a spider to a fly...Similar to...She turned her head and closed her eyes to stop staring at the red eyes. "....N-n-no. P-Please." OH! He had her in a corner, now this could go two ways. He could use more force and scare her into it. Or he could play the safe route, which is much more appealing in the long run. So he backed off and straightened back up. Putting on a mock sad face. "Oh my. Perhaps I was too forward in telling you my feelings. Please forgive a foolish man like me." She opened her eyes but didn't look at him. "It wasn't my intention of making you feel so uncomfortable. But I can promise you protection if you want it." ".....yes?" His smile returned. "As my employee you get protection within my establishment as it is, but as my partner. You would get gaurenteed twenty four hour protection all year round.~'' "....T-This isn't h-h-how it's done." "Beg pardon?" She sucked in a shaky breath and swallowed before daring to look up at him. "...T-That isn't how c-c-courting works. Y-You have to give it time." "...Oh. Oh of course! How silly of me to forget one of the most important customs of our times." He had to remember how things were done back at their time. A small set back, but one that could be turned around to his advantage as well. Blow the dice for good luck. And roll- "Please, allow me to start courting you then. Starting with this." With a flip of his hand a small black box appeared in his hand and she looked down to it wearily with confusion before looking back up to him. "...W-What is it?" "A gift. A courting gift to be precise." His thumb flipped open the lid and reveled the small round treasure it held. A small silver band ring with an even smaller rose branded on the front. "Take this as a show of my interest and a show of what I may be able to provide. Of course I don't expect any single thing in return except your blessing to court such a beautiful lady.~" She didn't say anything, but she stared blankly at the little box that was offered, he nudge his hand forward a little....And she slowly took the box from him silently. Not saying a word she slowly looked up at him,...and he gave an almost too sincere smile to it all. What was she supposed to say? Yes? No? Thank you? Which is why she hung her head and sighed. "....Ok. B-But please. Take it slow." "I wouldn't want it any other way. May I escort you to lunch my dear?" He offered his hand out to her with a smile. "Im sure you'll absolutely adore what the cooks threw together. It's to die for.~...Figurtively speaking of course." She still just stood there with a semi confused face ....before reaching out and- And having Lou grab her hand almost instantly and pulled her to her hooves, luckily she didn't drop the small box as he placed her onto his arm and he gave her that same widened smile as he began to lead her away to the door. "Now- Tell me, what exact tastes do you have in wine? Perhaps a fruity cocktail would be more suited for your stomach?" "...W-What's a cocktail?" His laughter echoed throughout the room. ******************************************************************************************* "Well? What's your brilliant analysis, Midnight?" The small witch scowled and looked over her giant book to give it to him. Lou had immediately rushed in as soom as all was set and down and suddenly thought she would know all the answers of the universe right now. Which she didn't! Much less know a lot about the subject as it was you know. But she rolled her eyes and took a break from cooking up the poison she was working on to entertain the smug weed. "Well! If you simply just must know!," she said in a sweet sarcastic tone. "I really haven't found anything really useful beyond what my books already said." Her natural voice came back. "Do I need to give you a run down of everything I already told you?" "Yes, actually that would quite helpful." He smirked. She groaned but rolled her eyes. Leave it to him to be the smarta$$ that would do these things just to annoy people. "Ok. Basically barely anything was jack sqwat known about them!" To make a point she turned behind her and pulled a book out, whirling back around and waving it at him. " You see this? It has endless information on about every creature you could possibly think of. And all it has on magical pretty unicorns is legends and fairytales." To prove her point she opened it and flipped to somewhere in the middle. " Habitates? Unknown. Vaires prefers lucious forest. Lifespan? Unknown. Likes innocent things like children and young maidens. Pure magic. Horns and other parts were used to be made into powerful potions to combat evils. Oh! And look! A whole slew of the recipes and fairytales with princesses!" She flipped a whole bunch of instructions and a couple of pictures before she closed it and stared at him. "Face it. Unless you want me to somehow use her meat to create a hellfire resistant potion, or a lotion to cure diseases, then there's nothing more I can do about anything." A serpent poked his head around the corner. "Someone say my name?" She groaned again. "No. Go back to sleep." "I still can't believe she actually agreed to any of your speels," Cyber rose a brow at the exchange from the wall she was leaning on. She knew it would've been very unlikely for either of his plans to work, but she guessed she shouldn't be too surprised. This was Lou they were talking about. His plans usually worked or partially worked liked now. But he turned to her with a giant smile. "Patience, Cyber. The turtle beat the hare because of it. As does the spider with the fly.~ After all. When one gets a knew toy, you have to break it in gently.~"

All characters except Amalfia belongs to @palettepainter

[popculturebuffet]

Jake Reviews Stuff: Amphibia: Marcy at the Gates

Marcy arrives! The Plantars make it to Newtopia but first have to deal with a slight ant problem and a new addition to the family, as we finally meet the adorkable Marcy. Legs in two months under the cut. 

So as you could probably tell by the tone the last few weeks, doing this has weighed on me a bit. While I do love talking about this show week after week, as well as having a recurring series here to bring in readers, the split quality of the Season thus far has been a challenge. Now when I say split I don’t mean like star vs season 3 where it was either really damn good and some of the show’s best writing or “oh god what have they done to marco’s character this time”, it’s more either really good standout episodes ore more forgetable average ones. See a good episode I can gush about, dive into big charcter stuff, motviations, that sort of thing. I defintley will with owl house at some point and have with other shows. A bad episode can be taken apart and taken to the cleaners, which I haven’t done much of but probably should and if you want any taken to task yourself, I do comissions. But self promotion aside, the point is a meh episode just dosen’t leave me with a lot tot alk about and hte recaps became really dry as a result as I just couldn’t find a lot of jokes, and having a busy few weeks on top of that didn’t really help, nor did the antipciation for this week and the intersting setting of newtopia. 

Thankfully a combination of a really good few days, a better sleep schedule, and a really good episode this week, and a pile of scary go round collections for a dollar have reinvgorated me, so hopefully I can get back to doing what I love: Overanalizing children’s cartoons. So with that we can dive right into the episode. The keithdavidpocalypse is upon us! Pitter Patter! We open with Spring and Anne in the cart. Their close to newtopia, but Anne is worried they never found Marcy, while Sprig isn’t because her last friend turned out to be “Evil”... which Anne harshly rebuffs. And both sides are understandable: To Anne, Sasha was her friend.. a manipualtive and bossy friend sure but one who genuinely cared for her, she just may not know how to deal with people. To Sprig, Sasha is some asshole who abused his friend, tried to murder his Pop Pop, and works for a guy who tried to murder his whole town. It’s really understandable he woudln’t have the same warm fuzzy feelings Anne has.. insert your own Sashanne joke here.  We also get our first actual look at Marcy who to my suprise, rather than be another form of manipulative.. is simply an awkward nerd, constnatly playing video games, reading books , cataloging shit, and trying to get her friends to play d and d. So me if I knew what d and d was in high school. 

Anyways, the family finally DOES make it to Newtopia, impressive as you’d expect when the guard won’t let them see the wizard no way no how. Antique references aside, the guard at the gate actually has good reason for not letting them in as they have a tiny barbari-ant problem. A species Hop Pop is, in a nice touch, unfamiliar with due to the Valley not having them. We quickly see them in action as one approaches the plantars, basically a giant ant with ant-lers. Yes I used a pun there sue me. Anyway, our heroes ward off the ant they do find with some really cool team manuvering, and Polly showing she has spiked teeth. It’s a cool sequence. However they quickly find themselves outgunned, outplanned, outnumbered and outmanned. They gotta make an all out stand. Their gonna need a right hand man. Also I finally saw the film version of hamilton, as you can tell. Utterly magic. 

Said Right Hand Man, er woman, er tween comes in the nick of time as a cloaked Marcy sprays some black goo and sets it ablaze, scaring the ants off, snatching a stalemate from the jaws of defeat,  then rappeling down on a rope shot from a crossbow, also making polly want one because of course. She then.. Faceplants. Still a solid 8/10 entrance Marcy.  Marcy is played by Haley Tju who you may remember from such shows as The Loud House. And that’s all I know her from but given Stella’s one of my faviorites and Haley’s performance is part of that, so it’s unsuprising she’s great here. Also fun fact I learned by looking at her trope page: She actually played a younger version of London, brenda song’s character, on the Suite Life I Pray for Death but Death Won’t Come.. or On Deck for those who’ve never watched it. But I like the fact two londons are now on the same show together.. and an actually good noe at that! Horay. But yeah Haley is a great VA and what little i’ve seen her in and a welcome addition.  Marcy and Anne happily reunite once htey both realize who the other is, and hug and etc, before Marcy decends on the plantars, talking on and on and on about geeky stuff and how she likes the found family trope. ... I may really relate to this  mediums sized child, as I too am a huge nerd with no filter and was probably a lot like her at that age. It’s also clear she very transparently sees this as a combinaton of a video game and a d and d session, but said skills have actually benifited her as rping a rogue allowed her to easily bluff her way into the kingdom’s good graces and now she’s a sworn agent of the king as we’ll find out.  She quickly wins over the Plantars, measuring hop pop’s head, gushing over him being a farmer (which he almost instantly adopts her over and asks to point blank later), and then noticing Polly’s legs are about to come in and giving her the note seen in the review image, my faviorite gag. Sprig however is more out and out hostile and has his reasons we’ll get to in a second.  Marcy escorts her new family and sorta girlfriend to the makeshift war room set up by three scholoary newts who quickly resolve their planning disagreements by beating the piss out of each other. Just like real politics.. and that’s not a cheeky jab between the actual caning in the sentate that happened once and the various duels in the revolutionary and early america eras.. yeah the only reason the preisdent hasn’t been shot for challening one of hte many people he hates for a duel without realizing he really can’t see through that squint too good is that it’s now illegal and not the kind of illegal he can hide like usual.  Anyways after the Newts scoff at our heroes, but Marcy vouches for them and reveals that the ants are getting closer because i’ts gotten warmer....

Marcy has a plan though: Spread scentshrroms around that will release a pheremone which will drive them off, having throughly studied Amphibia’s various flora and fauna and thus knowing how to deal with them. I’ts something I like about the character and how she adds to the other huamns group dynamics. Alll three deal with issues diffrent ways; Anne has plans, but rarely thinks them through, Sasha does think hers through and is a master manipulator while Marcy is a ballance between the two: She does throughly think things out and have well thought out clever plans.. she just also tens to rush into things or go forward with a nose in a book or without a thought to how dangerous soemthing is. She’s prepared, she’s just not very aware of her surrondings, which is amood. 

But Anne is nervous about her coming along as is sprig which sets up both’s conflicts with her for the episode: Anne wants to protect Marcy, since she just got her back and her only other remaning friend now clearly wants to stab her and she has a better option now love interest wise. However Marcy convinces Anne, 2nd capefire this episode nonwithstanding, she can handle herself. She also calsl her annabannna which is fucking adorable.  The other conflict is that Sprig dosen’t trust her.. he has no rational reason not to give she’s a sweetie, but is a bit gunshy about another human girl working for a dictator popping up in their life. And while he’s probably wrong, while I think Marcy isn’t working for the best people probably she’s likely too oblivious to genuinely relaize she’s doing crimes if they have her doing them or was given a fake justification. I could be wrong, and will gladly eat crow. Metphorically i’m not going to bake a real crow. I don’t have the right seasoning. And i’d also be cursed but eh I doubt I can get poorer. But it’s understandable he has reservations, especially since while he dosen’t say it he’s likely worried Anne will get hurt again. He’s a good boy, he’s just being paranoid over probably nothing.  Anyways onoto the plan: The plantars and new girl marcy are gonna:

Okay phermone them whatever, the point is they head into the Ant Hole, witht he conflicts continuing as the plantars progress; Sprig is naturally suspcious and Anne is worried about her precious gurl. The group fight some more ants, and Marcy seemingly wonders off.. only to instead BLOW THEM A FUCKING TUNNEL with some chemicals from some flowers she found, then instant sprout a plant cage.. and accidently trap polly. NOOOOO.> Thankfully she frees her and tosses some plants on the ants, which is fun to say.  We then get to our climax. OUr group find the queen who ihs horrifying.. a good mom as sprig points out but horrfing. Nice design though i’m just.. not an insect guy and sometimes this show leaves me in abject terror. this is one of those times. Our heroes plant the mushrooms, phrasing I know but this review is late as is and i’ve already used up my archer refrence for the day.  Anne dives to Save a seemingly oblovious Marcy.. whose mad at Anne over it.. while Anne is udnerstandable Marcy wants her , NEEDS her to understand...

No not that erik. That, much like Anne herself, Marcy’s grown and changed over these past three months. She can handle herself now and she needs her ot see that. Also sprig gets attacked by an ant baby, which not only wakes up the queen, who can hear but can’t see but now knows something’s arry, but causes said queen to unleash a hoarde of ants.  Marcy however naturally has a plan: She’ll dive into the queen’s belly and get sprig, the plantars will hold them off and Anne finally trusts her lady enough to fiht off. I don’t have a lot to say I just really like this character arc and Marcy’s character: She’s a bit oblivious, ab it obessed with nerdy things which again relate.. but when push comes to shove she’s also clever, a master planner and has clearly studied her ass off about this world and knows it well. She’s throughly likeable.  And that likeablity finally gets through to sprig when she gets him out and swings him. Trust earned, anne’s faith in her gained and the mushrooms go off and send the ants running. Misson Complete.  With the mission complete our heroes finally enter Newtopia and meet the mysterious Lady Olivia, whose been sending Marcy on her missions, and is likely her spymaster. Not that i think Marcy realizes that but Marcy’s love of midevil fantasy means she blends in well with thier courty apperance and introduces anne and co to her.. Olvia isn’t impressed but is cordial about it at least.. even with Sprig breaking shit. And yeah , Amphibia has a king over all of it, as Hop Pop puts it “We aren’t savages”. It does make sense it woudln’t come up every day though, it’s not as if the king really cares about the valley... but more on speculation about him in a minute. Hop Pop wisely gives the two “Friends’ some alone time, and the two talk things over: Anne explains how she found sasha.. and it didn’t go great, and Marcy vows that the two of them can go their own way now. Maybe iwth tounge. we dunno. The two then look over anne’s phone while anne recounts her anne-tics.. and we get to the king. And it’s KEITH DAVID BITCHES AS WAS PROHPISED A FEW WEEKS AGO. And he has myserious plans and wood carven figures of both our heroines and possible gaybies. “The game can finally begin. “

Final Thoughts: This was a really damn good episode. Whiel I summarized more than usual , both conflicts were great, all the plantars got to shine, there were gags a plenty, an intriguing new member of the main cast and a mysterious new antagonist. I mean given it was revealed the Newts were behind Toad tower a few episodes back, I figured Andidas wouldn’t be a good guy, even if he’s played by upstanding gentleman and god among men keith david, , but it’s a question of what his end goal is, how the girls got here, and what his plan ofr them is that i’m curious to see play out as the season goes on, as well as see if Marcy is a pawn or not. Newtopia also looks intresting and i’ts nice to have a new solid setting to build on now we’re here, as well as new mysteries to unlock> Ther’es also the honest possibliity marcy, who claims to have found bubkuss, might simply want to stay in a world where she gets to live out her dreams and isn’t picked on or bullied. Again we’ll see all speculation but this episode was damn good. For now this is the clear highlight of the season and i’tll be intresting to see where it goes from here. Until next time courage. 

[donewithcapitalistfrayers]

Only under socialism do we move away from producing commodities for the sake of maximizing profits. When we contrast the planned economy with the capitalist market economy we can understand the superiority of socialism. This paper explains the irrational and disastrous results of capitalist economy dictated by the blind forces of the market where production of commodities is based on profit maximization, even more acute in the age of imperialism – the last stage of capitalism. In more recent decades damage done to colonial and semi-colonial country economies have  become even more severe after international monopoly capital broke down all barriers and expanded to every corner of the world. After their economies were forcibly integrated into the domain where international monopoly capital dominated, they lost control over their resources. The law of value applied in this domain has taken away the people's rights to simply live. Here are some concrete examples. We see many cities in the world – even cities in poor countries – where modern high-rises and six-lane highways exist side-by-side with urban slums occupied by homeless people living in deplorable conditions. These countries often lack the resources to build the most essential infrastructure, such as water purifying plants, because their first priority is to use a large percentage of its income to pay the interest on debts they owe to foreign banks and international financial institutions. Moreover, in the era of neoliberalism these countries have been forced to agree to dismantle any barriers to foreign investment. Some of the very first foreign investments that rushed in were often large soda pop companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, because the amount of investment to build bottling plants is very low, while the profits are very high. These giant US soda pop companies simply bottle sugar water with their secret formula protected by WTO patent rights and wait for the profits to roll in. The poor who cannot afford to buy soda or bottled water have to drink contaminated water and suffer many waterborne diseases, because their governments don't have the funds to build water treatment plants. Is the market mechanism really a rational way to allocate a country's resources when people are being denied clean water while large multinationals are reaping high profits? Wouldn't people have been better off if their economy had been planned and building water treatment plants was given top priority? There are many examples to show that relying on the market forces has produced detrimental results for people in colonial and semi-colonial countries suffering from high unemployment and low income. Their rulers have surrendered to the power of global monopoly capital and bought the lie that in the today's globalized world a country can find its niche in the international market based on its comparative advantages and then just export commodities to become prosperous. The result is that many countries produce similar products and the export prices of these products plummet. One example is when the global market was flooded a few years ago with exported watches, with China in the lead. Prices of watches dropped to a ridiculous low. Once someone in the United States showed me his watch collection – one hundred watches of different styles and colors displayed in a very large fancy case. He proudly boasted that his collection did not cost him very much; middle-income people in imperialist countries who are not rich enough to own a fleet of expensive cars or a fancy big house can now afford a collection of watches. A watch collection is a clear case of commodity fetish, where the watch as a commodity is completely divorced from its use value, which is to tell time. This clear case demonstrates how the allocation of resources is distorted in imperialism. When following international market forces, too many colonial and semi-colonial countries over-allocate their resources to produce commodities for export – so that people in imperialist countries can collect them at a low cost to satisfy their fetishes – and under-allocate resources to produce goods that their people urgently need, such as food, clean water, basic health, education, and housing. Moreover, the market is irrational when it comes to critical decisions about new investment and technological change. A business in a capitalist economy must constantly expand in order to maintain or increase its market share. If a business fails to do so and its market share shrinks, at some point it has to declare bankruptcy. Therefore, constant expansion is a necessity in the world of business under capitalism. Expanding a business means constantly developing new products, adopting new technology and investing in new production plants. The results is that often factories are abandoned while they are still in good condition and could be used to produce useful products. Capitalist propaganda has us believe that constant and mindless phasing out and discarding of old products, old technology, and old plants at the speed required by the market is a sign of progress. Actually the exact opposite is true. Only when we as humans take control of our own destinies can we rationally and consciously make decisions about when to replace old plants with new ones by weighing the usefulness of the old plant, the resources needed to produce new plants, and the consequences to the environment when shutting down the old ones.

Pao Yu-Ching, From Victory To Defeat: China’s Socialist Road and Capitalist Reversal 

[darkelfshadow]

Session Summary - 84

AKA “The Port Of Phlan”

Adventures in Taggriell

Session 84  (Date: 1st May 2020) - Online Session

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Varis”) Elf Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor) Dwarf Male.

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- John (Known as “Ragnar”) Dwarf Male.

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male.

Absent Players

Nil

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by Travis>

Summary

- Wealday, 10th Gozran in the year 815 (Second Era). Early Summer.

- The party begin this session, in the port city of Phlan. Most of the party decide to disguise themselves, except for Sir Krondor, Gim and Labarett who hide in a goods cart drawn by two of the ship’s crew.

- Heading into the port, which is under Cult control, things go immediately awry when Varis gets his coin pouch stolen. Cursing his luck and having no time to find the culprits, the party head over to the far side of the port, being careful to avoid wandering patrols of Cult forces.

- The party arrive at a Manor, marked on the map that Captain Lerustah gave them, as the head quarters of the Order Of The Gauntlet. The Manor is damaged, looking like a large battle occurred here within the last few weeks. Varis, Ragnar, and Labarett enter the Manor and begin searching it but it appears that the manor has been looted.

- Naillae climbs to the rook keeping look out for Cult forces from the streets whilst Sir Krondor and Gim guard the inner courtyard. Gim is expertly forced to the ground in a sudden and skilled manoeuvre, and finds himself looking up into the eyes of an armoured Half-Orc in plate armour, the tip of a long sword pressed into his throat.

- Sir Krondor recognises the tabard over the Half-Orc’s armour as that of the Order Of The Gauntlet, and the Dwarf Knight pulls out his pendant of The Order Of Gauntlet. They learn this skilled knight is Sir Zern Xerkstil, Knight Of The Order Of The Gauntlet, Paladin Of Helm.

- He is the only survivor of the Cult’s attack on the Gauntlet Manor, all the other Knights have been killed. He informs them about what has been happening in the city. Three and half weeks ago the Cult entered and attacked the city, with little actual fighting as most of the Knights Of The Black Fist and Red Plumes Mercenaries, the defenders of the city, immediately turned sides in an apparent pre planned operation. The Knights now call themselves the Knights Of The Tears Of Virulence and have pledged themselves to Vorgansharax (“The Maimed Virulence”), the Ancient Green Dragon that now rules the city in the name of the Cult. Those members of the Knights or Mercenaries that did not join the Cult were killed. The Lord Regent of the city, Knight Commander Ector Brahms was killed as he refused to join the Cult and he and his personal guard died fighting. The Knights are now lead by Sir Cron Bolver, the former Lieutenant to the Field Commander of the Knights, Captain Jhessail Greycastle, who is now missing and presumed dead. The port is now under control of the Cult, who has patrols arresting any armed people or obvious adventures or spell casters.

- Sir Zern also informs the party that there are two resistance groups trying to push the Cult back but so far their separate efforts have been ineffective. One is lead by someone called the Black Knight and the other is lead by someone unknown. He has been unable to contact either of the resistance leaders, as they are conducting quick hit and fade skirmishes to disrupt Cult forces. Sir Zern is not sure what the Cult’s plan are at this stage or why they have taken over Phlan, a remote port with little military value. Sir Zern then gives Sir Krondor a mission to locate and recover an escaped prisoner, a female Drow Assassin called Yustena Karas, who is hiding in the Twilight Marsh. Sir Zern also fills the party in on who might assist them, and gives them information about other contacts within the city.

- Trenchant uses one of his more powerful spells to weave an illusion around each member of the party making them appear as simple locals, in plain clothes. With this new disguise it is unlikely the party will attract the attention of the Cult patrols now. Splitting up, Trenchant, Labarett and Naillae head off to the harbour side of the city whilst the rest of the party head over to the Velvet Doublet Feasthall to meet their local contact.

- Within the Feasthall they meet Rolk, a richly dressed Dwarf, who is the Head of the Merchant’s Guild of Phlan and one of the members of the Lord’s Alliance within the city. Rolk is not initially impressed with the party, especially Gim who insults him, but eventually agrees to deal with them. The merchant businesses within the city are operating as normal, with the Cult simply taking extra taxes, with the only unusual occurrence being that all the gem dealers within town have gone missing and all their gems stolen. Rolk does not believe this is the work of the Cult, nor the local Thieve’s Guild (“The Welcomers”).

- Rolk also tells the party that he can give them horses to ride out of town for the four hour ride to go to the Crossing Inn, located on the edge of the Twilight Marsh, and meet one of his contacts, Rhomsan Kal. Rhomsan is the inn keeper, and has boats waiting for the party to head into the Twilight Marsh. He gives them a map to one of the Lizardfolk villages within the Marsh and tells them to meet Bogclaw, the Chieftain of this village, whom he does trade with, and whom Rolk has paid to assist the party in finding the Lair of Throstulgrael (“Velvet”).

- After speaking to Rolk they leave and head back to the boat to wait for the rest of the party.

- Meanwhile on the harbour side of the port, the rest of the party has entered the Cracked Crown Inn and after a strange meeting with a talking crow, enter into a side room, where the crow turns into a small female Gnome. The party meet Seranolla The Whisperer, Priest of Mielikki and high ranking member of the Emerald Enclave. They learn from her that there is something wrong happening with the land around Phlan, she can feel something is wrong and the land feels it too. There have been reports of weird increases in Will-O-Wisps and she asks Labarett to investigate this for the Emerald Enclave and retrieve a sample of one of the creatures, giving him a Wisp Catcher to do so. She also tells them that Velvet was very visibly sick when the Dragon entered the city recently to meet with Vorgansharax.

- Next they head over to Madame Freona’s Tea & Kettle where they soon discover that all the patrons inside are Harpers. They speak to Olisara Lightsong, a female Moon Elf, and a high ranking member of the Harpers. She tells them about the situation in Phlan and confirms that there is something strange going on with the Cult being here, Phlan has no military significance. She is trying to organise the two separate resistance groups into one under the Harpers, and also find out what the Cult’s plan for being here is. Olisara then gives Trenchant a mission to retrieve the Spell Book, Harper Pin and encrypted code book of a dead Harper that was killed by Velvet. She believes the items must be in the Lair of the Dragon and asks Trenchant to return these items to her.

- Eventually all the party, still disguised as simple locals, reunite back at the Frostskimmr. With only a few hours left of daylight and wishing to take advantage of the powerful illusion spell that disguises the party before the spell ends, they decide to leave immediately. Farewelling Captain Lerustah, they confirm the instructions to the Captain, that if the party do not return in two days then he is to take the ship out of port and head north to the closest river and wait there for two weeks, moving the ship around the bay occasionally to avoid detection.

- The party head back to the Velvet Doublet to see Rolk. As arranged, Rolk gives a horse to each of the party for the ride over to the Crossing Inn. Thanks to Labarett’s gift, the party make the four hour journey in half the time and as the sun sets they arrive at the Crossing Inn.

- Within the Inn they meet Rhomsan and he arranges rooms, food and drink for the party, all of which he puts on Rolk’s tab. He tells them that he has four canoes waiting in the rear shed for them when they are ready to go.

- Sir Krondor asks Rhomsan if he has seen a female Drow and the inn keeper tells the Dwarf Knight he has. About three weeks ago, a female Drow came in during the evening. She bought a meal and a lot of dry food rations then left. Rhomsan didn’t see which direction she travelled once she exited the inn.

- The party get to sleep, readying themselves for the hard day tomorrow.

- Oathday, 11th Gozran in the year 815 (Second Era). Early Summer.

- The party arise early and after a hearty breakfast given by Rhoman, he leads them to the rear shed. Rhomsan looks up to the sky, “Athair will be in full moon tonight.” (Athair is the large blue moon).

- Labarett looks up, “Yes and tomorrow his sister Harell will be in full light too.” (Harell is the small grey moon).

- One of the canoes has been stolen leaving only three.

- Sir Trenchant speaks, “Looks like your missing Drow helped herself to some transport Sir Krondor.”

- The party wave goodbye to Rhomsan and then head off into waters of the Twilight Marsh on the three remaining canoes greeted by black rain clouds that hide the sun and light rains. Again thanks to Labarett, a four hour journey is done in half that time.

- Arriving at the village just as the rains have stopped, the air is filled with large flying glow bugs, the party bear witness to devastation on an immense scale.

- Most of the huts on the island have been destroyed by acid. Dead Lizardfolk - ravaged by acid, claw and teeth - lay scattered all about. It is clear these Lizardfolk have been dead only a few days. Only two lone figures, one large Lizardfolk warrior and a smaller one dressed as a Shaman, move about slowly gathering the bodies in a pile. Both the large warrior and Shaman have savage wounds which look a few days old, and are still healing.

- The party discover that this is Bogclaw. His village was attacked a few days ago by Throstulgrael (“Velvet”) and she killed most of the village. She was angered to learn that Bogclaw had been trading with the humans in Phlan. Bogclaw seeks vengeance for his people and wants the Dragon killed. He directs and instructs the party on how to find the lair of Velvet, set within the ruins of an ancient Temple that once stood as a place of gathering for the Cult Of Dragon Queen.

- The party offer to help tend to the dead of his village, Bogclaw is taken back by this generous offer by “the dry skins” as he refers to humans. Sir Krondor asks the Chieftain if he has seen a female Drow, and he says he has. She snuck into their village during the evening and stole food, tools, and hunting gear two weeks ago. Four of his warriors attempted to track and kill her but they did not return. They found their dead bodies the next morning, each struck with a poisoned crossbow bolt.

- Whilst the party are talking and helping move the dead bodies, one of the trees starts to lurch towards Naillae. The smell of death has attracted one of the marshes more loathsome creatures. As the “tree” moves forward, seemingly come to life, the once motionless form of a Shambling Mound lurches forward. It’s large bulk towers over the party, limbs wider than a man threaten to crush and pull victims towards an open mouth filled with teeth.

- To complicate matters, Will-O-Wisps also descend upon the party, their approach disguised by the many flying glow bugs. The party scatter about now dealing with many threats at once. Labarett pulls out his Wisp Catcher and attempts to catch one of the sly creatures.

- Trenchant animates two large fallen tree trunks and commands them to move over to the Shambling Mound and start attacking it. The rest of the party move around, as the Will-O-Wisps start to appear in greater and greater numbers, arcs of lightning shooting outwards to strike at the party.

- Labarett is struggling to capture the willy creatures. After the party manage to dispatch the Shambling Mound, Trenchant sends his animated tree trunks to try and corner in some of the Will-O-Wisps but this has no effect on the ethereal creatures who can move through solid objects like air.

- The battle is a struggle, until the party take note that Bogclaw and his Shaman are standing perfectly still, making no sounds, and not attacking or provoking the Will-O-Wisps. Following their lead the party quickly dispatch the Will-O-Wisps remaining and then stop moving about and remain silent, no more of the creatures appear.

- Labarett finally captures two of the creatures, after one managed to escape, the Wisp Catcher attuned now to lock away his prize.

<And as the party catch their breath after that unusual battle, that is the end of the session.>

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- Avoid Detection by Cult Patrols = 500 XP

- Locate Contact (Order Of Gauntlet) Sir Zern = 100 XP

- Locate Contact (Merchant’s Guild) Rolk = 100 XP

- Locate Contact (Emerald Enclave) Seranolla = 100 XP

- Locate Contact (Harpers) Olisara = 100 XP

Creatures Overcome

- Shambling Mound = 1800 XP

- Will-O-Wisps = 4500 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start +  Received = Total  (Notes)

Rob : 105450 +1028 = 106475

Arthur : 84004 +1028 = 85032 (Level up to Level 11)

John : 78284 +1028 = 79312

Travis : 96398 +1028 = 97426

Paul : 85274 +1028 = 86302

Bob : 94141 +1028 = 95169

NPC (Naillae) : + (514)

[newstfionline]

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Online Schools Are Here to Stay, Even After the Pandemic (NYT) Rory Levin, a sixth grader in Bloomington, Minnesota, used to hate going to school. He has a health condition that often makes him feel apprehensive around other students. Taking special-education classes did little to ease his anxiety. So when his district created a stand-alone digital-only program, Bloomington Online School, last year for the pandemic, Rory opted to try it. Now the 11-year-old is enjoying school for the first time, said his mother, Lisa Levin. He loves the live video classes and has made friends with other online students, she said. A year after the coronavirus set off a seismic disruption in public education, some of the remote programs that districts intended to be temporary are poised to outlast the pandemic. Even as students flock back to classrooms, a subset of families who have come to prefer online learning are pushing to keep it going—and school systems are rushing to accommodate them. At least several hundred of the nation’s 13,000 school districts have established virtual schools this academic year, with an eye to operating them for years to come, education researchers said. Unlike many makeshift pandemic school programs, these stand-alone virtual schools have their own teachers, who work only with remote students and use curricula designed for online learning.

U.S. Signals Support for Ukraine and Will Add Troops in Germany (NYT) The United States and NATO, anxious about a major Russian troop buildup on Ukraine’s border, signaled strong support for the Kyiv government on Tuesday. And in what was considered another message to Moscow, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said on Tuesday that the United States would increase its military presence in Germany by about 500 personnel and that it was scuttling plans introduced under President Donald J. Trump for a large troop reduction in Europe. The moves come as American and European officials have grown increasingly concerned about Moscow’s deployment of additional troops near the Ukraine border.

Biden to Withdraw All Combat Troops From Afghanistan by Sept. 11 (NYT/Washington Post) President Biden will withdraw American combat troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, declaring an end to the nation’s longest war and overruling warnings from his military advisers that the departure could prompt a resurgence of the same terrorist threats that sent hundreds of thousands of troops into combat over the past 20 years. In rejecting the Pentagon’s push to remain until Afghan security forces can assert themselves against the Taliban, Mr. Biden forcibly stamped his views on a policy he has long debated but never controlled. Now, after years of arguing against an extended American military presence in Afghanistan, the president is doing things his way, with the deadline set for the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. A senior Biden administration official said the president had come to believe that a “conditions-based approach” would mean that American troops would never leave the country. The war has cost trillions of dollars in addition to the lives of more than 2,000 U.S. service members and at least 100,000 Afghan civilians.

St. Vincent seeks water, funds as volcano keeps erupting (AP) Leaders of volcano-wracked St. Vincent said Tuesday that water is running short as heavy ash contaminates supplies, and they estimated that the eastern Caribbean island will need hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the eruption of La Soufriere. Between 16,000 to 20,000 people have been evacuated from the island’s northern region, where the exploding volcano is located, with more than 3,000 of them staying at more than 80 government shelters. Dozens of people stood in lines on Tuesday for water or to retrieve money sent by friends and family abroad. Among those standing in one crowd was retired police officer Paul Smart. “The volcano caught us with our pants down, and it’s very devastating,” he said. “No water, lots of dust in our home. We thank God we are alive, but we need more help at this moment.”

Mumbai imposes strict virus restrictions as infections surge (AP) The teeming metropolis of Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the Indian state worst hit by the pandemic, face stricter restrictions for 15 days starting Wednesday in an effort to stem the surge of coronavirus infections. Top state officials stressed that the closure of most industries, businesses, public places and limits on the movement of people didn’t constitute a lockdown. Last year, a sudden, harsh, nationwide lockdown left millions jobless overnight. Stranded in cities with no income or food, thousands of migrant workers walked on highways to get home. Since then, state leaders have repeatedly stressed that another lockdown wasn’t on the cards. The distinction did little to allay Ramachal Yadav’s anxieties. On Wednesday morning, he joined thousands of others at a Mumbai railway station getting on a train back home. “There is no work,” said the 45-year-old. India has detected over 180,000 new infections in the past 24 hours, about a third in Maharashtra state. India has so far confirmed over 13.9 million cases and 172,000 dead in what is likely an undercount.

Beijing’s All For Collectivism, Until It’s Organized Labor (NPR) 31-year-old Chen Guojiang, better known as Mengzhua, was delivering hundreds of take-out food orders a day, zipping along Beijing’s streets on an electric scooter at death-defying speeds. Along the way, he filmed short videos documenting the viciously competitive conditions for China’s estimated 3 million workers who use digital platforms for delivery jobs. He also called for collective action against powerful e-commerce companies to demand better pay. Mengzhua disappeared in February. In March, news emerged that he was being held in detention for picking quarrels and provoking trouble—a catch-all charge commonly used to detain both petty criminals and political activists. After police confirmed Mengzhu would be tried on criminal charges, friends and supporters began collecting donations to cover his lawyer fees. Within days, they had raised about $20,000 and attracted the attention of China’s state security forces, who then contacted each of the donation campaign organizers to warn them not to help Mengzhu. An academic who studies Chinese labor activism said “Anything that coheres collective power for workers is seen as a threat to state power. [Authorities] cannot accept ... anything that looks a little bit like an independent trade union. That is a red line for the Chinese government.” Mengzhu’s social media accounts have been deleted, and he faces up to five years in prison.

Tensions Mount Over Taiwan (Foreign Policy) Twenty-five Chinese jets breached Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Monday, China’s largest incursion into Taiwanese airspace in a year. The maneuver is part of a long-standing Chinese harassment campaign that intensified last year, when Taiwan saw a record 380 incursions. Intended to wear down Taiwanese morale, the constant intrusions force risky and costly scrambling by its fighters in response. Taiwan has said it will no longer respond by dispatching jets and, instead, by tracking the flights with missile defense systems. The intensified campaign in part results from increasing nationalism within the Chinese system.  It is also a response to signals that the United States is growing closer to Taiwan. Last week, the Biden administration loosened restraints on U.S. officials meeting with their Taiwanese counterparts and dispatched a team of retired politicians to Taipei in what a White House official called a “personal signal” of his commitment. These gestures are all symbolic, but it’s hard to overstate how much they matter in generating anger inside the Chinese political system. Hatred of the idea of an independent Taiwan is drummed into Chinese kids from kindergarten.      The chance of actual Chinese invasion still remains small, despite recent warnings from U.S. admirals. To assemble the forces required for even a chance of success would take China weeks at best and be visible well in advance. Rationally, an invasion would be a very high-risk move from a largely risk-averse leadership. The question is: Is the Chinese leadership acting rationally? In the last year, the tone of its rhetoric has intensified in a way that alarms even seasoned readers of Beijing’s language. Chinese diplomats’ aggressive posturing and state media’s violent rhetoric seem off—it could mean Beijing is capable of making dumb mistakes. In a system where backing down from conflict could leave military leaders or provincial officials politically exposed, a small clash in the ocean or in the air could very easily spin out of control.

Trump-era spike in Israeli settlement growth has only begun (AP) An aggressive Israeli settlement spree during the Trump era pushed deeper than ever into the occupied West Bank, territory the Palestinians seek for a state, with more than 9,000 homes built and thousands more in the pipeline, according to an AP investigation. Satellite images and data obtained by The Associated Press document for the first time the full impact of the policies of then-President Donald Trump, who abandoned decades-long U.S. opposition to the settlements and proposed a Mideast plan that would have allowed Israel to keep them all—even those deep inside the West Bank. Although the Trump plan has been scrapped, the lasting legacy of construction will make it even harder to create a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel. President Joe Biden’s administration has embraced the two-state solution—which is still widely seen as the only solution to the decades-old conflict—but given no indication on how it plans to promote it.

Biden backs UAE arms sale (Foreign Policy) The Biden administration has decided to follow through on the sale of $23 billion worth of military equipment to the United Arab Emirates, HuffPost reported on Tuesday. The sale—which includes 50 F-35 fighter jets—had been finalized in the final hours of the Trump administration and was paused for review in the first weeks of Biden’s term. An attempt to block the sale in the Senate was defeated by a 49-47 vote in December. A White House review of U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia is still ongoing.

Study finds people want more than watchdogs for journalists (AP) A study of the public’s attitude toward the press reveals that distrust goes deeper than partisanship and down to how journalists define their very mission. The study defines five core principles or beliefs that drive most journalists: keep watch on public officials and the powerful; amplify voices that often go unheard; society works better with information out in the open; the more facts people have the closer they will get to the truth; and it’s necessary to spotlight a community’s problems to solve them. Yet the survey, which asked non-journalists a series of questions designed to measure support for each of those ideas, found unqualified majority support for only one of them. Two-thirds of those surveyed fully supported the fact-finding mission. Half of the public embraced the principle that it’s important for the media to give a voice to the less powerful, according to the survey, and slightly less than half fully supported the roles of oversight and promoting transparency. Less than a third of the respondents agreed completely with the idea that it’s important to aggressively point out problems. Only 11% of the public, most of them liberals, offered full support to all five ideas.

TP Victory (WSJ) We’ve done it: Americans have enough toilet paper. In January, sales of toilet paper were down 4.3 percent compared to January 2020, as a nation worked through a glut of toilet tissue accumulated in linen closets over the course of months. Following the domestic onset of the pandemic, Americans resorted to the Smaug strategy of bathroom tissue management, which was to hoard it and avariciously seek more out despite ample reserves. At the time, companies had difficulties expanding capacity to make more of it to keep pace, because toilet paper requires an enormous unique machine to make. It’s also very clear from the data it’s just a toilet paper stockpile America is working through; sales of paper towels were up 10 percent in January, and household cleaners were up 75 percent.

[rungtacollege]

10 Career Skills That Will Rule in Post-pandemic Era

With the on-going coronavirus pandemic, the world has undergone a radical change. Right from the way people led their lives to the way businesses are operated, each is adjusting to the “new normal” of this situation. Undoubtedly, the workplaces have also changed much, and so have their demands from their workforce.

While some are resorting to working from home strategy, others are cutting down their workforce to manage the economic crisis in the wake of the pandemic. However, once the pandemic is over, the best colleges in Chhattisgarh have speculated that companies will return to full operations. In fact, there will be a demand for new candidates in the workforce that can add value in the post-pandemic era.

So on what basis will these new candidates be selected, and what are the skills that will gain preference among the employers? These are questions that are playing on in every mind. Read on to find out what the career experts from top colleges in Raipur have to say.

The Most Valued Skills of Tomorrow

It is likely that many of you are exploring new courses and degrees as you seek an answer to these questions. There may also be students who are in the last leg of their studies before heading into the job world. Even for those who have lost their jobs in the pandemic era, finding out about these valued skills may help you to revamp your career.

So without further ado, head straight to the skills that you will need along with the completion of courses such as information technology engineering in Raipur:  

Critical Thinking 

One of the most highly valued skills, even in the pre-pandemic world, was critical thinking. This soft skill still ranks highest among the most valued list for the future job world. In fact, independent research on Human resources has revealed that more than 35 per cent of employers seek critical thinking among their prospective employees. 

This percentage is expected to go even higher as we enter a more challenging time in the future. Critical thinking means an ability to think about any data, situation, or problem rationally to the best decision. 

If you are not a critical thinker naturally, you may initially face some problems inculcating this skill. Start by asking questions that help you dig deeper into the matter. With time, it will soon become your habit, and you’ll intuitively become a critical thinker.

Flexible and Adaptable

You have just finished your electrical engineering in Raipur. You may think that your degree alone is enough to get you a job. It is true that having the right qualification is valuable. But the qualification has to be backed by other valuable soft skills to mark you apart from your competitors. 

As more employers have been managing forces working from home, flexibility and adaptability have become all the more important. It is likely that even after the pandemic is over, this new work culture will continue. So, people who are flexible and can quickly adapt to changes are more valuable in such situations.

Flexible candidates are able to perform better even under high pressure. They can also shoulder higher responsibilities than those who cannot be adept easily. So, do not just add words such as flexible in your resume; live up to it to show your edge.

Technological Adaptability

Technological adaptability or tech-savviness is a growing demand of the age. Even before the pandemic hit, more and more businesses were becoming aware of the digital skill gap that they have. The gap became even more apparent as people became more dependent on digital tools in the physically distanced world.

Almost eighty per cent of the vacancies these days demand people who have some amount of digital knowledge. So, even if you have B.pharma diploma, it is good to be acquainted with digital tools that you are likely to use in your line. 

Further, this is also the best time for people with specialised digital skills to find their dream job. Businesses are desperate to keep up with the fast pace of changes in the digital world. So if you are planning to pursue computer science engineering in India, Artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain are some of the areas that you may want to look into.

Leadership Abilities

If you think that only the top brass, such as the managers and the bosses, must demonstrate leadership skills, you may be wrong. While leadership was a quality sought only for a few select positions earlier, companies today are keen to see all their employees as prospective leaders.

As more people are working from different geographical locations and the comforts of their own home, it becomes essential that employees become a leader themselves.

This would mean that even in the absence of a leader, they can make their own decisions and act responsibly. People with good leadership skills are also better at communicating their ideas and strategies. 

They are also better at encouraging others through their performance and example. No wonder companies are more eager to see leadership skills in their employees. The best engineering institute often pushes students to take leadership roles in various college activities. 

Communication Skills

Whether it is achieving productivity or maintaining good relationships in the workplace, communication skills play a crucial role. As workplaces are no longer confined to brick and mortar rooms, expressing ideas clearly and precisely has become all the more important. 

With zoom meetings and social media platforms taking the place of traditional means of communication, employers are keen to have people with the right communication skills on their team.   

Poor communication skills cannot just hamper productivity level, but it can also leave the workforce feeling unmotivated. Communication skills also play a key role in other aspects such as team building, management, and the like. So if you have completed your bachelors of business administration BBA, it is vital to see that you are a good communicator too.  

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence, or the capacity to manage and understand one’s emotions, has also become quite crucial in workplaces these days. In the post-pandemic world, employers are likely to keep this among the top factors while selecting the right candidate.

If you are wondering how emotional intelligence plays a role in workplaces, you may need to return to the definition of the term. When you can understand another person’s emotions or control your negative emotions better, you help in creating a happier workplace.

Not just that, when employees have vital emotional intelligence, they are seen to help each other create a happier workplace. These factors together can push up productivity several folds. Assessing and working on your emotions is a great way to get started in terms of emotional intelligence.

It may also be interesting to note that higher emotional intelligence usually means better leadership skills. So by working on this one skill, you will actually be gaining two skills in the process.

Creative Skills

Even though machines and digital platforms are at the forefront today, have you ever imagined why they could not replace human beings? The reason is simple. No machine or digital tool can ever replace the unique capabilities and creative skills of human beings. This is what sets our race apart from all others.

So why is this quality listed under the skills needed for a post-pandemic workplace? Well, it is essential for you to think creatively here as well. Even with the most technology-related degrees, such as mining engineering in Durg, there is always a need to think out of the box.

As the business world is fast changing with the ongoing pandemic, the need for workplaces to rethink their entire strategy is even greater. The more creatively a business thinks of solutions, the more likely it is to succeed and become an example to others.

Even if you are not pursuing a creative line, you will still have to churn your thoughts and show your creative edge to your employers. Right from your resume to your interview, think of ways in which you can transcend the box. And guess what, you will be given a preference over the other candidates.

Team Work

No business or organisation of considerable size is run by a single person. Several people work together and need to actively coordinate with each other to reach their goals. While you will always come across statements that say teamwork is essential, you will seldom come across an explanation as to why it is considered critical.

Understanding the importance of teamwork will also reveal to you why it is so essential in the post-pandemic world. A strong pillar of the modern work culture is based on the division of duties.

 This means that when you split the responsibility among your teammates, you can achieve the targets much faster and in a systematic way. Not just that, every team will have individual members who specialise in a particular area. So with a person doing the task that he or she can do best, it will make the work quality much better.

In summary, teamwork makes businesses more effective and brings up productivity, which is the primary goal. Even when you are pursuing master's courses in Raipur, work on your ability to work as a team. Remember, colleges are always the best places to pick up such skills.

Time Management 

Be it the pre-pandemic. During the pandemic or post-pandemic, time will always remain as the most crucial of resources. So employers are very keen to see that their workforce uses their time judiciously. Time management is also an essential part of work ethics.

If you keep missing your deadlines, if you do not show up for meetings on time, or if you exhibit a laid down attitude, even the best skills cannot come to your rescue. Employers have understood the importance of time management and discipline all the more in this pandemic era.

With no leaders to physically monitor the employees, it has become important that they complete the assigned tasks under their responsibility. Given that the present work culture is likely to continue, employers will be keen to check out your time management skills even after the situation. The top institute in Bhilai and Raipur are already adding points to their curriculum for soft skills

Resilience

Above all, employers are now interested in rope in candidates who are resilient and willing to work hard. While earlier employers were keener on degrees and experience, today, they are open to taking in candidates who exhibit a willingness to work hard. In fact, many organisations believe that a firm will is more valuable than years of experience.

So, try to inculcate these skills right from the time you are attending colleges in Durg. Remember, it is these skills that are going to set you apart from others.

Some Common Queries

Now that you have been through this informative piece, it is likely that you have several queries. Here are some common queries answered for you:

Can Soft Skills Replace Degree?

No, not at all! Yes, it is true that almost all the skills that you find in this list are soft skills. But these are skills you are expected to develop in addition to your degree. 

So if you are applying for an IT job, you will necessarily need o complete Computer science engineering in Durg along with some of the above skills.

Are Additional Courses Required For Soft Skills?

One need not enrol for additional courses to pick up these soft skills. The best engineering colleges in Bhilai frequently engage their students in various classroom and extracurricular activities that help them to develop these skills as they earn their degree.

Do You Need To Mention Soft Skills In Your Resume?

Yes, it is absolutely necessary to mention your soft skills on your resume. Hiring decisions are primarily made based on your resume. So make sure it amply reflects all your qualities.

Final Thoughts

Now that you have been through this blog and also have the common queries sorted, it is essential for you to reflect within. Think about which of these qualities you already have and which areas require work are. Sure enough, in this manner, you will be totally ready to face the post-pandemic job world. 

[theseaeaglelives]

Round 1

THE SEA EAGLE

MAKING RUGBY LEAGUE GREAT AGAIN!!!

Round 1

Manly Sea Eagles   4

Defeated by

Filthy Wrestling Cheating Melbourne Storm            18

Played in sloppy conditions at Brookvale Oval, but nonetheless still in front of a “crowd” the stats confronting Manly in this opening fixture were not favourable. Manly have not won a Round 1 game since 2013 and the Filthy Wrestlers have not lost one since 2003.

Notwithstanding the high intensity displayed by both teams the opening stanza was a fairly uninspiring affair with the only score coming via a Storm penalty goal. Two late penalty goals to sharp-shooter Ruben Garrick and Manly held a well deserved 4-2 lead at the break. The Sea Eagle has long advocated taking the 2 points when on offer and thankfully at Manly this simple but effective concept seems to be getting some traction.

The second half dished up much the same as the first. It was a mistake riddled wrestlathon and when it comes to wrestling no one does it better than the Filthy Cheaters. Not unlike COVID 19, the Filthy Cheating Wrestlers are a blight on society and should be eradicated.

At the 60-minute mark the Storm crossed for the first try and minutes later a second and in the blink of an eye Manly found themselves on the wrong end of 14-4 deficit. In the end despite a whole-hearted defensive effort (with all Storm tries coming from kicks), Manly lost 18-4.

Thus, continues Manly’s long run of losses in Round 1 a sequence that now dates back to 2013. If this is as good as it gets this year the Sea Eagle would not begrudge the NRL pulling stumps on the season – in fact he would encourage it.

Next week Manly are scheduled to take on the Roosters, but only God knows if this game will proceed. Whilst the competition continues the Sea Eagle will front up each week. Otherwise the only option will be self-isolation watching endless replays of the 2008 GF.

  An Act of God

https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/nrl-stars-could-lose-millions-act-of-god-clause/06d8d804-fd8e-492d-aff0-2117b5d3a671

With sporting events world-wide being spudded en masse, the NRL has made the call to play all games from Round 2 onwards “behind closed doors” without any public attendance.  Those that have attended games at Homebush Stadium in recent years, or to a lesser extent Brookvale Oval during the ill-feted Trent Barrett era would be well-aware of this phenomenon so for many teams it is simply business as usual.

That said in the Sea Eagles opinion this initiative by the NRL whilst commendable is only delaying the inevitable, and it is only a matter of time before season 2020 is consigned the same way as most other sporting competitions.

  It has been suggested in various media circles that the NRL is referring to the Coronavirus as an Act of God prompting the Sea Eagle to ponder the proficies of poor old Izzy Folau. Could it be that Izzy’s rants did carry some credence and that those who have failed to repent are now truly being punished. Let’s face it no other code does drunkenness, fornicating, lying and idolation etc. like the NRL does and perhaps this is truly Izzy’s revenge and the ultimate moment of reckoning for the NRL and the past discretions of its many delinquents.

Of a more concerning nature is what will happen if in fact the season is suspended and/or cancelled. This could be construed in effect as an “off-season” and without the structure of regular games to pacify the players, all hell could break loose. Let’s face it an idle NRL player is a dangerous commodity and in the interest of public safety no doubt NRL management will be doing everything within its powers to ensure that season 2020 goes ahead without any interruption.

Other Off-Season Drama – Blame it on Climate Change

Apart from the usual and expected incidents of off-field misbehaviour perpetrated by NRL players (many of them highlighted in the Sea Eagles last report), this off-season was marred by bushfires that ravaged much of the east coast. Thankfully there is no known evidence linking any NRL player, past or present to any acts which contributed to this catastrophe.

Whilst many have been quick to blame the fires on climate change there is however one man who has borne the brunt of blame for this disaster, none other than the Shark loving premier league clown, our prime mincer SCOMO. How this card-carrying F#&kwit and world class gibberer (personal opinion) thought it was a good idea to whip off to the Sandwich Islands for a xmas soiree at the height of the fires defies all rational comprehension. That said, little more can be expected when one openly supports and embraces the team from the Shire. Its fair to say in this crisis SCOMO well and truly jumped the Shark.

Thankfully and not unexpectedly, during this period, others did stand up to be counted when the going got tough and its pleasing to see where their allegiances lie.

  Corona League/Corona Town

Much has been said of late of the debacle that is Corona Virus aka Covid-19. Thankfully, if you are one of the lucky ones who bought 360 rolls of toilet paper in recent times, you will be safe in knowing you will not catch this dreaded disease. At least that is the only logical reason why anyone would be dumb enough to buy 360 rolls of Shi)9t wipes in the first place. Anyway, if that is not true, and 360 rolls of sh(t wipes is not a true preventive measure for coronavirus, then at least those who stocked up to the detriment of the rest of society will die knowing they had clean asses.

Both Australia and NZ have now imposed bizarre bans whereby anyone entering these respective countries from overseas are required to self-isolate. Anyone who has taken the time to examine the self isolation protocol will of course immediately recognise how flawed this plan actually is. Firstly, 95% of the world’s population are card carrying idiots. Any cursory read of social media will confirm that. They could not hope to follow these quite complex protocols no matter how well intentioned they were. Then of course there is the abject human flaw of wanting to cheat the system (no matter what) to contend with. If NRL salary cap rorting is any statistical guide as to how society is likely to behave in a self-isolation scenario, then this self isolation concept has about as much chance of success as Kevin Rudd’s Roof Batts debacle.

The NZ Warriors saw the stupidity of the NZ banning of all entrants to the self isolation ward for 14 days,  and quickly made arrangements within NRL to relocate to the Goldy for the foreseeable future. Unsurprisingly, they elected not to stay is some Sh9*t hole like Moree, Mt Druitt or Ipswich. Clearly they made the wisest of wise choices of relocating to the Goldy.

How great is that. The Titans and the Warriors, the two remaining teams in the competition never to have won a premiership, both playing out of the Goldy (in the case of the Warriors, every week). Pure marketing genius that.

And of course, it appears Rd 2 will be played before empty stadiums. It brings the concept of the sign “Warning NRL event Inside Enter at Own Risk” to new heights.

https://youtu.be/FwrUTsN_mJE

Which leaves the Sea Eagle to ponder the merit of another looney suggestion, whereby the entire NRL (that is 16 teams and coaching and support staff) relocate to a far-away North Queensland town, in order to play rugby league.

Bringing 16 teams together in close proximity, plus double headers Thursday through Sunday week in week out, in such a remote location is nothing short of a masterstroke. What could go wrong? As long as the town has less than 500 people, it would skirt the Coronavirus health waning of no non-essential gathering of 500 mor more people. In fact these games could be played to a full house of 498 people week in week out.

It would of course need to be called the Corona League, and the new town to be called simply Corona Town, and no doubt beer giant Corona would be all over it as a main sponsor (given the unfortunate correlation between their beer brand and the nickname of Covid-19 in recent times, it needs all the help it can muster).

Still think of the benefits. NRL players would be taken away from mainstream society. That has to be a good thing. This has been the goal of many a shock jock or the left leaning socialists/communists working in the ABC  for yonks. It would also give the term going back to the grass roots of country footy, a whole new meaning.

Accommodation would be a problem, it would most likely require all and sundry to sleep in tents, and drink pi*ss every evening with nothing else to occupy their time. What could go wrong there?

As long as the selected venue was nowhere near a co ed school or all-girls school, and there were no dogs at risk of unwanted advances from drunken NRL players, the other collateral damage could most likely be contained with good management.

As the man on the fat aka Sam Kekovich has always said, you know it makes sense. 

THE SEA EAGLE

[forbiddenwords]

Stranded (Chapter 3)

Written By: TheHeathenSlave Rating: Mature for Plane crash, injury, survival, desert island, stranded, drug usage, drinking, alcohol, awkward flirting, voyeurism, watersports, fetish, sexual tension, extreme illness, graphic, puss, wound cleaning, surgery, vomiting, oral sex, fluff, angst, romance, drug usage, assault, near death, happy ending. Fandom:  Real Person Fiction (Hours Era But Modern Day)

She never thought that a trans Atlantic flight could end in perfect paradise with David Bowie. Well…almost perfect paradise.

Previous Chapters.

When they got back to the camp, Leila sat down near the fire. The sun had passed high noon in the sky and had started to descend. She was very much hoping that it wouldn’t get freezing there at night but there wasn’t much way to tell until they spent the night there. David moved the cans of soup from the stone where he’d had them set to heat up. They were quickly placed into the sand to cool a bit. The rock was pushed off the coals at that point and he stoked the fire up more, glancing over at her. In the morning she planned to explore as much as she could. Find food sources, fresh water, and see if by any miracle there was going to be some other human on there. Friendly of course. The problem was if they were all the way out here then they probably weren’t the kind to want guests around.

“Thanks for everything.” She said, touching the sides of the can gently to see if it had cooled enough that she could pick it up and sip at the broth inside.

“No, thank you.” David said.

“What exactly have I done that I need to be thanked for?” She asked with a bit of a chuckle. All she’d really done was pull the metal out of him (which he could have done himself) and passed out a lot. Especially after making him shift her bone back into place. He’d made a fire, helped with the tent, and some how never once muttered any sort of complaint about how his side hurt. Which she was sure it did he just wasn’t saying it.

“I think you’ve done more for me than you have realized.” He said, “A lot of it has to do with anxiety…long story.” She gave him a look and decided not to ask. It probably wasn’t her business. However, maybe he was bringing it up because he wanted her to know and wanted to talk about it. If he had anxiety he could have ended up with a worse person than a psychiatrist.

“I can probably understand, now. I’m a psychiatrist.”

“You said you were an FBI agent.” He said, “And a doctor…now a psychiatrist?”

“You are aware that I can be all three of those things at once right?” She asked with a smirk. The can had cooled enough so she picked it up. After rotating it a bit to find an edge that wasn’t sharp she took a sip of the liquid inside. She honestly hadn’t tasted anything this good in a very long time. Desperation could make a gourmet meal out of just about anything.

“Yes,” He said and picked up his can as well, “Usually people go with one specialty and, there they stay.”

“Except you who has had how many stage personas by now?”

“You get my point.”

“Sorry…” She laughed, “I’m not upset. I know that people usually don’t take this into consideration.”

“So you aren’t a clinical doctor then, are you? Or even a psychiatrist. You must be forensic, which means the most you do on a daily basis is autopsies.” He pointed out.

“Correct. You’re very knowledgeable about this.”

“I read a lot.”

“It shows.” She said and drank more of the soup. “So maybe all I do is cut up dead bodies, it doesn’t mean I lack the medical skill of a practicing doctor. Autopsies get you very intimate with human anatomy just on a dead person. I still had to get the same life saving training and do the same rotations as any other doctor you’ll meet.”

“Considering my options were being stuck here with someone who didn’t go to medical school, I won’t complain too much.” He said, “Just…try not to think of me as a cadaver before I am one.”

“Yeah, same.” She smirked. He smiled back at her and then got more relaxed in the sand to consume his soup. Rest would do both of them good. Recharge them. Tomorrow they could sort out the items they had found more. Some of it would need to be buried before bed, to ensue that if there were animals around they couldn’t get to the food. It was easy to do that in sand since a hole could be dug deeply and with relatively little effort. All they needed to do was jam it into a suitcase and shove it down in there until tomorrow.

When she had finished her soup, she got up and moved to the rest of the stuff. It was all still in the raft. She grabbed the side of it and pulled, dragging it up towards the tent. David joined her a moment later to help, and it was a great help. She cautioned him to be careful of the wound on his side, though. If she had to literally stitch it shut that would risk far more infection than the superglue method he’d used before. She did pretty badly want a chance to clean it out properly but opening again also definitely meant infection. A bad one. He’d probably get an infection now, but it would be mild. Should be. It wasn’t something she wanted to mention to him. Hopefully she’d go through all of the pills and find some antibiotics. She’d already found narcotics. It was more likely that someone was traveling with penicillin than narcotics so she felt her odds were good.

“What are we doing now?” He asked.

“We need to separate the food. Anything that has a scent or could possibly draw animals this way.” She said. “The rest of the things we can move into the tent and keep there. The last thing we want is to attract wild bears here or something.”

“Bears? On a tropical island?”

“Okay whatever then, giant birds.”

“You really don’t know much about island wildlife, do you? This isn’t Australia.” He laughed and started to go through the supplies they had. She glared at him and then smiled as she looked away. Tropical islands and the animals that lived on them was definitely not one of her ares of expertise but she didn’t think her logic was flawed despite her being correct (or incorrect) about what type of animal might come snooping around their camp.

“I know enough. At least enough to stay safe in the areas where I usually camp. When I go to a tropical island it’s usually a vacation not…this.” She said. She found a small suitcase to empty out so they could pack up some of the food. They had found some beef jerky, which would be pretty essential when it came to protein in the next few days unless they could find a way to replace it. She wouldn’t know until tomorrow. They also put the potato chips in there, someone had packed a whole bunch of weird Asian flavors only really found in Japan. They were sealed in their bags but Leila was still worried the scent could attract animals even if it was very mild.

The other things were less fragrant. Some cans of food were left over from the emergency rations off of the plane. There were still a few bottles of left and some bottles of alcohol. Really good stuff that was being transported back. Including an incredibly expensive bottle of sake. There were chocolates, cookies, and a few candy bars. That was about it. A place like this would definitely had some kind of fruit, even if it was just coconuts. The bigger problem would be figuring out how to get up the palm trees to collect them. Also opening them. A big rock may do the trick. This could work reasonably well until they were found. If they were found. No, that wasn’t the way to think. Not only was she with David Bowie, but being an heiress there would be a whole fleet after her. Rika wasn’t the type of friend to give up a search until there was a body found (alive or dead) and she had plenty of money at her disposal. It really was a matter of when they’d be rescued. Not if.

Once things were taken care of to her liking, they added a bit more fuel to the fire. That would also help keep animals away. It was only a few feet from the outside of the tent. They didn’t exactly have blankets but they did have a ton of clothes. The few blankets they did have were still soaking wet, despite them being hung over an impromptu line to dry in the sun. Who knew that airplane blankets could hold that much liquid? Maybe they needed to move them more towards the heat of the fire. They still had a bit of time until the sun was completely set, they could dry in that period. Leila folded up some of the warmer clothes she could find, and piled them into a bed shape. She did this for David as well. A large down coat was all they really would have in way of a blanket and a lot of other clothes had to be set out to dry as well.

When it came to finding other medications they came out fairly well. Another bottle of narcotics, half a bottle of amoxicillin, a bottle of nyquil, some claritin, a few different bottles of ibuprofen, and then a very tightly sealed baggy of pot. Whoever had packed that had risked some serious problems boarding a plane with it. However, she knew from the dank smell the moment she’d opened it that it couldn’t be anything other than marijuana. It had been a long time since she’d smoked any pot but it may be a better idea for a painkiller than continuing to down narcotics. At least there was a pipe also packed in that bag. Along with drug paraphernalia magazines, bumper stickers, and a bunch of hippie style clothing. Like this guy had walked right out of 1977. She’d even found an Aladdin Sane shirt but had decided not to mention it to David in the chance that it would put him in a sour mood.

“So,” She said once he was laying on his ‘bed’ in the tent. “I’m going to need to check your side and make sure it’s clean, at least as clean as it can be given the situation.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Well, there are a few options, including opening the wound again. We have fishing wire and hooks that could be used to stitch–”

“Don’t finish that sentence please.” He said, wincing heavily at the thought.

“I know that it’s not great, David, but, like it or not you’re already risking infection. I want you to take the antibiotics I found.” She said, grabbing the bottle for him. He took it and looked at her.

“You’re sure this is…okay?”

“I know what the medication is and what it does. It’s only half a course but it’s better than nothing. Unless you have a severe allergy to amoxicillin I wouldn’t worry.” She said. He nodded and opened the bottle then dumped one pill out into his palm. “Drink a lot of water with it.”

“You need water too.” He said and took the pill anyway.

“True but we may find other sources of it on this island. If not, we can rinse out those soup cans and boil it. If we can find a fresh source. If not…I’ll have to see if I can remember the weird process of making ocean water drinkable. I think you can filter it through sand or something then boil it after that.” She sighed and grabbed the emergency flashlight from the first aid kit. Getting closer to him she turned it on. The little window in the tent let in light but not nearly enough to inspect a wound. “Now, hold still.”

“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

“It’s not going to feel nice.” She said, “You want some codeine to help with it?”

“Yeah that would be…a…good idea.” He said laying more on his side. She got out two pills of the T3 and handed them over then one of the packets of cookies they found.

“You’ll want to eat with that.” She said.

“Two? Leila, I don’t really–”

“You are trying so hard to pretend you aren’t in pain, and if you want to keep doing that, fine, but I know you are from how you tense, gasp, sigh, and move around. If you want to be able to sleep, two is what you need. One will help but it’s really just going to relax you and you need rest if you are going to fight this.” She explained. He nodded and took the pills, opening the packet of cookies to eat them, propping himself up so he could do that while she looked at his wound.

She moved the shirt back and shone the light on him. As suspected, there were already signs of infection. Swelling, bruising, and a bit of puss there. The good news was that the seal was holding up, the superglue that was in the kit had come in handy for that, but it had also managed to seal in any sort of dirt, debris, or rust that would have been left in there that couldn’t be cleaned out before he could seal it. Had she not passed out like she had, she’d have done it for him but she hadn’t gotten that opportunity. She resisted the urge to touch the area. It was tempting, because she wanted to feel if the redness was actually swelling or if it was trapped fluid. If it got any worse she was going to have to start draining the area and that was going to not only be painful, but incredibly gross.

“The good news is, the seal is holding up.” She said, “There is some signs of infection but the antibiotics should help keep it at bay for a bit. I want you to take six within the next 48 hours then 2 every 24 hours after that until you run out.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to space them out and conserve?”

“Not really.” She said, “The faster we get the into your system the faster they will work. Normally you’d be on 4 a day, not three, but I also have to consider how many we have. Antibiotics do keep working even after you finished the course, for about two weeks. So even when you are done they should keep flowing through your system. Your stomach isn’t going to be very happy with this you know.”

“Oh I’m well aware.” He said. He got comfortable again and closed his eyes. She grabbed the large down coat and draped it over him.

“Just try to get some rest, I’ll be outside if you need me, I’m going to try to dry those blankets better and maybe dry out a book or magazine to read.” She said. “I’ll be back in here around the time the sun has completely set as we really don’t have that much light to work with and I want to keep the flashlight for emergencies. That or having to go use the bathroom in the middle of the night.”

“You’re quite the angel you know, even if you are a bit anal retentive.”

“Thanks, I think.” She said and stroked some of his hair back softly. “Call if you need anything, okay?”

“Of course.” He said and closed his eyes. She moved out of the tent and zipped it up. From the outside she opened the other two windows so that a nice breeze could pass through the tent and make sure the temperature stayed tolerable. It already wasn’t too bad in there but she needed him to stay comfortable so she wouldn’t move around a lot and risk tearing open his side. Once that was done, she got to work attempting to dry the blankets. She dreaded the first night there but at least she wasn’t going to spend it alone.

Next Chapters.

[scannerly]

Journal: March 29, 2001

• Place order to sell position in London Pacific Group (LDP) at the market. • Place order to sell position in Spherion (SFN) at the market. • Place order to buy 500 shares of GTSI Corp. (GTSI) at 4 7/8 limit, good until canceled.

Real stocks, real profit, real value My short of Adobe (ADBE) was not triggered. But I do recommend rereading my argument for doing so. I am not short Adobe in real life either, but the same logic applies to many, many of the tech stocks out there. I do not believe we are near a bottom yet because in the cold light of a bear market these types of things -- such as dilutive options compensation and hiding mistakes with charge-offs-matter. The greater fool theory no longer rules. What a relief

Now, maybe, finally, we have a time for rational stock picking. If the market begins the first multi-decade sideways run of the new century (there were two such runs last century – both times after extreme valuation bubbles), then the surest way to profit will be to buy stocks of incontrovertible value. Stocks of profitable companies that can be bought for their level of earnings per share five to 10 years out meet this criterion. In this vein, buy 500 more shares of GTSI Corp. (GTSI). This is one of the cheapest stocks in my universe, with the best story. They distribute technology products to the military, the IRS and others. Over $650 million in sales and a $35 million market cap. No debt. Net net value (net working capital less all liabilities) is north of $6. And they will earn over a buck a share this year. They earned a buck a share last year, but that was with a tax loss shelter from the era before new management took over. They have seen steady gross margin improvement, and even with full taxation this year, they expect earnings to beat last year’s untaxed income. Because of the contractual nature of the business, there is some visibility, and yes, there’s growth.

The company just won a dispute over a large contract to supply products and services to the government. While awards within the contract are still open to competition between the company and IBM (IBM), GTSI should do well. This is a relationships business, and GTSI competes well because they have the relationships with the government decision makers and the willingness to get into all the government paperwork. It is a low, low margin business in which the largest portion of capital is usually tied up in working capital. To the extent that new technologies help them squeeze working capital, cash will be freed up for other uses. The company is looking to do its first-ever road trip and broadcast the better business practices that now hold sway over all that revenue.

Insiders were buying at lower levels, as was I. For a few years it was a lock of a trade from 2 5/8 to about 4. Lacy Linwood, the largest shareholder, has been buying in the open market and was one of the founders of Ingram Micro (IM). Having a large, non-management shareholder with a large, illiquid stake is catalyst waiting to happen, though without guarantees. His background confirms that Ingram and its ilk are not the competitive threats here, as one might think.

Undoing some mistakes Investment managers are bound to be wrong many, many times in their lives. This is a business of managing emotion as much as managing money, and taking one’s lumps is the surest path to a more erudite view. So it is time to own up to a few mistakes. In my last entry, I outlined my pessimistic outlook for technology shares based on the devious, unfriendly manner in which many tech managers try to hide the truth from shareholders. Two of my holdings do not reflect that pessimism.

DiamondCluster (DTPI) and London Pacific Group (LDP) were very big timing mistakes. The same mistakes I made at the beginning of the last round -- being overly optimistic as a new round gets under way, and under some self-imposed pressure to make some moves. Optimism in such cases is rarely warranted. Nearly without fail, egg will befall one’s face. With stocks in freefall, I thought, "Well, these two are interesting situations and we have at least six months." Unfortunately, every time I think like that I become cavalier in my timing. The fact of the matter is I should always wait for my rules to kick in – and that includes waiting for falling knives to lay motionless on the floor before trying to pick them up. I violated these rules, and now I’ve lost two fingers to a couple of very sharp blades. There is value in these companies at current levels, however, and I’ll hold DiamondCluster for now.

I am selling London Pacific Group at the market open because of something I call the "5 to 3" effect. Illiquid stocks falling beneath 5 often fall much further because of margin calls that kick in in the 3-5 price range. Forced selling in illiquid stocks is a recipe for price risk, so I have found it prudent to get out of stocks as they cross below 5. It is a very rare case that I pay attention to absolute share prices, but this is one of them.

I should note that DiamondCluster is about to lose significant European business because of Ericsson’s (ERICY) cost-cutting and the European slowdown. This non-U.S. business had shielded DiamondCluster from some of the rampant devaluation in the e-consultancy sector. Not anymore. Nevertheless, I expect both layoffs and quite significant cash drain over the coming quarters at DiamondCluster. At current prices, however, this pessimism is largely discounted. Whether DiamondCluster will recover before the end of the Strategy Lab round is a matter in serious doubt. Moreover, DiamondCluster has a big options compensation problem, much as I described with Adobe. Nevertheless, the value five years or so out should be greater than it is now, and the company has become an attractive acquisition target with a load of cash on the balance sheet. The earnings power in good times is roughly about 33% of the current share price net of cash, with no debt and a resilient business model.

An event play, sans the event Sell Spherion (SFN) at the market open. This was an event-driven value play, and the event occurred after I submitted the story. In this case, the event did not look like I thought it would look. Too late to cancel the story, so the order went through and I bought a position. One more reason I say learn what you can from me, but don’t imitate me. Now I’m selling it because in event-driven investment if the event does not turn out as predicted, the only prudent thing to do is to exit the position. Spherion is likely to announce horrendous numbers, and there is price risk in the stock. A good argument can be made that it is only fairly valued in the 7’s, not undervalued. To justify a sell I must only be able to make such an argument.

What happened? As this was an event-driven value trade, for the investment to work we had to have the event go off nearly as planned. In this case, the event -- a float of subsidiary Michael Page in London -- did not go off nearly as planned. Actually, the pricing still hit the bottom of my model, so there was some safety in the price I paid given the information I had.

The circumstantial evidence points to some skullduggery, however. Michael Page's officers had some incentive to have the offering priced low. Now any options that they get -- and that they can use to incentivize employees -- will be priced low. Moreover, they had incentive to do an offering rather than to sell to others in a private transaction worth as much as 25% more. The incentive involved the fact that Page management was getting 6% of the company and there was a large 12% overallotment for the underwriters. Unfortunately, there was every incentive, except fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders, to price this offering low. Michael Page is a good buy now over on the London exchange. I doubt that it will stay under 200p long.

Also, it appears that Ray Marcy, the CEO of Spherion, now wishes to use the proceeds to pay off some debt and then hold cash for the downturn. This is opposed to the previous statement "pay down all debt and buy back stock." The two statements imply drastically different levels of confidence in the business. One potential catalyst -- again, this was an event-driven trade/special situation -- was that the company would at least support its stock in the market. That would be relatively easy to do given the stock’s illiquidity. A buyback of 30% to 40% of the capital stock could even push the moderately higher, and with some more optimistic projections, build more intrinsic value per share. It is not to be.

A board member who was selling large chunks of stock in Spherion during the months leading up to the offering could be a target of shareholder scorn. The prevalent idea was that this was distressed selling for him because of personal financial difficulties. Even if true, he engaged in massive dumping of large blocks in the months leading up to some very bad news. Spherion has never been the best-managed company, but the degree of funny business here is illuminating as to what management will do with future cash flows.

Event-driven trades occasionally don't work out in the short-term, but what you want is a fundamental floor to your valuation in the worst possible case. I think we have that here, and it is around the mid 7’s. But I’m not hanging around for the questionable appreciation potential and sure-fire bad news that management will announce regarding earnings within the next two or three weeks.

Also, before Michael Page, the company had significant difficulties producing free cash flow. If they just sold off all their free cash flow production, the situation could deteriorate, and we can't know this for certain yet. This situation would have been mitigated if they had received $300 million more in the offering, as we were recently told to expect. Instead, we are left with the image of a desperate seller in need of much more shareholder-friendly management and a better economic outlook.

[preciousmetals0]

Snake Sickness Sinks Stocks; Sallie Slithers Skyward

Snake Sickness Sinks Stocks; Sallie Slithers Skyward:

The Wuhan Snake Virus Survival Guide

I don’t know about you, but this Wuhan coronavirus thing has me more than a little worried.

Since Great Stuff last reported on the situation, the number of infections has surged 50% to more than 600 patients. The death toll rose from 6 to 17. Cases are now popping up around the globe, from Singapore to the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Wuhan, the city in China where the outbreak started, is now quarantined. A city of more than 11 million people … quarantined. It’s unprecedented. Residents are reporting empty shelves in stores. Apparently, the Chinese government has been silent on how bad the city’s situation has become.

If that wasn’t enough, we now have images of people in China being transported in plastic tubes and metal boxes to avoid infection. The one U.S. patient is being kept in a 20-by-20 biocontainment room and is being treated by a robot.

Finally, Chinese researchers believe that the Wuhan virus jumped to people from snakes.

“Many patients were potentially exposed to wildlife animals at the Huanan seafood wholesale market, where poultry, snake, bats, and other farm animals were also sold,” researchers noted.

The Takeaway: 

Snakes!

Freaking virus-infected snakes, people! (Where’s Samuel L. Jackson when you need him?!)

Now, I’ve watched more than my fair share of apocalyptic sci-fi movies. I even have a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide on my bedside table. (Don’t judge me. If you’re prepared for zombies, you’re prepared for anything.)

Needless to say, my imagination and emotions are running a bit wild at the moment. Apparently, I’m not alone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 200 points on the open this morning. Markets around the world finished broadly lower as news of the virus spread.

Officially, the virus is known as 2019-nCoV, but I’m calling it the Wuhan snake virus … that’d make a great movie or book title.

At times like these, it’s important to remember the bold words emblazoned on the cover of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Don’t Panic!

Panic and fear are an investor’s worst enemy. They make you do irrational things, like selling when you shouldn’t.

Are there positions in your portfolio you should consider selling to take profits on? Probably. But only you know your investment strategy and your risk tolerance.

I will guarantee you, however, that there are holdings in your portfolio that you absolutely should not sell — or at least, there should be if you read Great Stuff regularly.

I’m talking about companies with strong earnings and solid management that operate in next-gen mega trend markets. These are the companies that’ll make it through the Wuhan snake virus epidemic with flying colors.

But Mr. Great Stuff, I’m terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought! I mean, Chinese snake viruses, for heaven’s sake! What do I do?

I hear you, dear reader. What you need is someone with strong hands to help you wrangle those Chinese snake viruses…

If you’re a Paul Mampilly reader, you know where I’m going with this … but if you’re not, now’s your chance to see what the Mampilly hoopla’s about.

The eternal optimist, Paul Mampilly is the market’s “Strong Hands.” He believes in holding on to solid, profitable stocks through thick and thin … no matter what the talking heads on MarketWatch freak out about.

Paul’s approach guides you through today’s biggest investing trends … and away from lackluster, failing business trends. No matter where you think the market’s headed tomorrow, Paul’s already there with a plan to profit.

Remember … we live in a world with plague snakes now. You may not need The Zombie Survival Guide, but you could use Paul’s Strong Hands if this market volatility spreads.

Click here to see more about Paul’s market insights.

I mean, just look at how strong those hands are.

I rest my case.

The Good: Sallie Did?

You know it’s one of those days in the market when a student loan company is among the best performers.

SLM Corp. (Nasdaq: SLM) — commonly known as Sallie Mae — reported better-than-expected quarterly results with earnings of $0.33 per share on revenue of $419 million. What’s more, Sallie Mae said it plans to sell $3 billion in private-education loans to fund $600 million in share buybacks.

I’m honestly quite conflicted on this one. Going by the numbers, SLM ditching $3 billion in loans for a share buyback program looks really good — though today’s 20%-plus rally probably has that priced in already.

On the other hand, I’ve been in the position of having my student loans sold to another processor before. It’s not fun, making it hard to take the “at least it’s not me” approach.

Still, if you have the moral fortitude to invest in SLM Corp., it’s certainly worth a look.

The Bad: Cord-Cutting Continues

On the surface, Comcast Corp.’s (Nasdaq: CMCSA) quarterly report looks stellar. Earnings rose 10% to beat expectations by $0.03 per share. Revenue rose 2.9% to $28.4 billion, also topping expectations. New broadband subscribers also beat expectations, rising to 442,000 in the quarter.

And yet, CMCSA shares are down nearly 3% today. What gives?

The devil is in the details. First, Comcast shed 149,000 video subscribers (i.e., pay-TV subs) … worse than the 139,000 expected and up 400% from the 29,000 it shed last year. Analysts are spinning this surge in cord-cutting by indicating that broadband subs make up the difference.

But, as you can see, Comcast needs to add a ton of broadband subs to make up the difference. The margins are worse in broadband, and Comcast doesn’t make as much money. What’s more, part of that pay-TV revenue came from the acquisition of British pay-TV company Sky. Given the pace of cord-cutting, this is only a temporary fix.

To make up the difference, Comcast is ramping up its own streaming service: Peacock. Peacock will offer next-day access to current NBC series and Universal movies, such as Jaws, Jurassic Park and … well… Cats.

Sounds descent, right? Well, at least until you realize that NBCUniversal’s revenue fell 2.6% in the latest quarter. It’s not encouraging that the main content driver of your new streaming service is struggling to grow revenue. In fact, it’s a sign that people might not want to watch your content as much as you thought they would.

So, despite positive top-line numbers, Comcast not only struggles with cord-cutting, but also with content for its coming streaming platform. That’s not a recipe for success.

The Ugly: Pigs in Spaaaace!

Remember when we talked about feeding the pigs in the initial public offering (IPO) market? Hype drives demand for a specific type of investment, and investors then pig out on that investment until we reach bubble status.

It happened in the IPO market last year, and it’s happening again with Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPCE).

Teased and tantalized by a steady stream of SpaceX headlines, investors are frothing at the mouth for space-related opportunities. And literally any space-related opportunity will do … even one that’s never reached orbit.

That’s right. Virgin Galactic has just barely reached the edge of space. It has two spacecraft right now, and neither has reached orbit. Right now, Virgin has a market cap of $3.67 billion, despite projected revenue of just $4.5 million for the current quarter. Analysts expect the company to lose $0.82 per share.

Despite these facts, Virgin stock has surged more than 50% so far this year as space pigs continue to gobble up SPCE shares. Investors should be very wary of SPCE right now. The stock has skyrocketed on SpaceX’s success. With no meaningful results of its own, Virgin is sure to plummet back to earth sooner or later.

You Marco. I Polo.

It’s Reader Feedback time!

You guys are unusually quiet this week. I can only assume you’re headed for your Chinese-snake-virus bunkers.

Still, two Great Stuff readers braved the outbreak to drop me a line.

First, we have Colleen, who wrote:

Hi Joe, 

I’ve really been enjoying the Great Stuff newsletter. There’s always content that makes me laugh! Thank you so much for that!

In which of the newsletters did you mention ROKU? I’ve misplaced those, and I really want to review them. 

Thanks again.

I’m always happy to hear that I spark joy in Great Stuff readers. Thank you, Colleen!

As for Roku Inc. (Nasdaq: ROKU), I’ve covered the company at least 14 times in the past year. Instead of listing out all of those newsletters, how about I just hit the highlights?

Next up, we have Sybil C., who wrote:

I love your up-beatness.

That’s coining a new term à la Paul Mampilly, who I also love.

Just have to say thank you for the humorous way you share your information in this era of doom and gloom. All of you at Banyan Hill are a refreshing and much-appreciated change. Hope you keep at it for many years.

I … I have been given my very own Mampilly-ism! This must be how Dobby felt when Harry Potter gave him a sock. Thank you, Sybil!

I’m so honored, I don’t know what to say. Seriously, I’m a bit verklempt over here. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic: WeWork is neither a “we” nor does it work. Discuss.

If you wrote in and I didn’t get to you, it might be because you cursed too $%*?@#! much. I still really appreciate the feedback, even if they won’t let me publish it.

And if you haven’t written in yet … what’s stopping you? Drop me a line at GreatStuffToday@banyanhill.com and let me know how you’re doing out there in this crazy bull market.

That’s a wrap for today. But if you’re still craving more Great Stuff, you can check us out on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Great Stuff Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing

[goldira01]

The Wuhan Snake Virus Survival Guide

I don’t know about you, but this Wuhan coronavirus thing has me more than a little worried.

Since Great Stuff last reported on the situation, the number of infections has surged 50% to more than 600 patients. The death toll rose from 6 to 17. Cases are now popping up around the globe, from Singapore to the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Wuhan, the city in China where the outbreak started, is now quarantined. A city of more than 11 million people … quarantined. It’s unprecedented. Residents are reporting empty shelves in stores. Apparently, the Chinese government has been silent on how bad the city’s situation has become.

If that wasn’t enough, we now have images of people in China being transported in plastic tubes and metal boxes to avoid infection. The one U.S. patient is being kept in a 20-by-20 biocontainment room and is being treated by a robot.

Finally, Chinese researchers believe that the Wuhan virus jumped to people from snakes.

“Many patients were potentially exposed to wildlife animals at the Huanan seafood wholesale market, where poultry, snake, bats, and other farm animals were also sold,” researchers noted.

The Takeaway: 

Snakes!

Freaking virus-infected snakes, people! (Where’s Samuel L. Jackson when you need him?!)

Now, I’ve watched more than my fair share of apocalyptic sci-fi movies. I even have a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide on my bedside table. (Don’t judge me. If you’re prepared for zombies, you’re prepared for anything.)

Needless to say, my imagination and emotions are running a bit wild at the moment. Apparently, I’m not alone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 200 points on the open this morning. Markets around the world finished broadly lower as news of the virus spread.

Officially, the virus is known as 2019-nCoV, but I’m calling it the Wuhan snake virus … that’d make a great movie or book title.

At times like these, it’s important to remember the bold words emblazoned on the cover of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Don’t Panic!

Panic and fear are an investor’s worst enemy. They make you do irrational things, like selling when you shouldn’t.

Are there positions in your portfolio you should consider selling to take profits on? Probably. But only you know your investment strategy and your risk tolerance.

I will guarantee you, however, that there are holdings in your portfolio that you absolutely should not sell — or at least, there should be if you read Great Stuff regularly.

I’m talking about companies with strong earnings and solid management that operate in next-gen mega trend markets. These are the companies that’ll make it through the Wuhan snake virus epidemic with flying colors.

But Mr. Great Stuff, I’m terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought! I mean, Chinese snake viruses, for heaven’s sake! What do I do?

I hear you, dear reader. What you need is someone with strong hands to help you wrangle those Chinese snake viruses…

If you’re a Paul Mampilly reader, you know where I’m going with this … but if you’re not, now’s your chance to see what the Mampilly hoopla’s about.

The eternal optimist, Paul Mampilly is the market’s “Strong Hands.” He believes in holding on to solid, profitable stocks through thick and thin … no matter what the talking heads on MarketWatch freak out about.

Paul’s approach guides you through today’s biggest investing trends … and away from lackluster, failing business trends. No matter where you think the market’s headed tomorrow, Paul’s already there with a plan to profit.

Remember … we live in a world with plague snakes now. You may not need The Zombie Survival Guide, but you could use Paul’s Strong Hands if this market volatility spreads.

Click here to see more about Paul’s market insights.

I mean, just look at how strong those hands are.

I rest my case.

The Good: Sallie Did?

You know it’s one of those days in the market when a student loan company is among the best performers.

SLM Corp. (Nasdaq: SLM) — commonly known as Sallie Mae — reported better-than-expected quarterly results with earnings of $0.33 per share on revenue of $419 million. What’s more, Sallie Mae said it plans to sell $3 billion in private-education loans to fund $600 million in share buybacks.

I’m honestly quite conflicted on this one. Going by the numbers, SLM ditching $3 billion in loans for a share buyback program looks really good — though today’s 20%-plus rally probably has that priced in already.

On the other hand, I’ve been in the position of having my student loans sold to another processor before. It’s not fun, making it hard to take the “at least it’s not me” approach.

Still, if you have the moral fortitude to invest in SLM Corp., it’s certainly worth a look.

The Bad: Cord-Cutting Continues

On the surface, Comcast Corp.’s (Nasdaq: CMCSA) quarterly report looks stellar. Earnings rose 10% to beat expectations by $0.03 per share. Revenue rose 2.9% to $28.4 billion, also topping expectations. New broadband subscribers also beat expectations, rising to 442,000 in the quarter.

And yet, CMCSA shares are down nearly 3% today. What gives?

The devil is in the details. First, Comcast shed 149,000 video subscribers (i.e., pay-TV subs) … worse than the 139,000 expected and up 400% from the 29,000 it shed last year. Analysts are spinning this surge in cord-cutting by indicating that broadband subs make up the difference.

But, as you can see, Comcast needs to add a ton of broadband subs to make up the difference. The margins are worse in broadband, and Comcast doesn’t make as much money. What’s more, part of that pay-TV revenue came from the acquisition of British pay-TV company Sky. Given the pace of cord-cutting, this is only a temporary fix.

To make up the difference, Comcast is ramping up its own streaming service: Peacock. Peacock will offer next-day access to current NBC series and Universal movies, such as Jaws, Jurassic Park and … well… Cats.

Sounds descent, right? Well, at least until you realize that NBCUniversal’s revenue fell 2.6% in the latest quarter. It’s not encouraging that the main content driver of your new streaming service is struggling to grow revenue. In fact, it’s a sign that people might not want to watch your content as much as you thought they would.

So, despite positive top-line numbers, Comcast not only struggles with cord-cutting, but also with content for its coming streaming platform. That’s not a recipe for success.

The Ugly: Pigs in Spaaaace!

Remember when we talked about feeding the pigs in the initial public offering (IPO) market? Hype drives demand for a specific type of investment, and investors then pig out on that investment until we reach bubble status.

It happened in the IPO market last year, and it’s happening again with Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPCE).

Teased and tantalized by a steady stream of SpaceX headlines, investors are frothing at the mouth for space-related opportunities. And literally any space-related opportunity will do … even one that’s never reached orbit.

That’s right. Virgin Galactic has just barely reached the edge of space. It has two spacecraft right now, and neither has reached orbit. Right now, Virgin has a market cap of $3.67 billion, despite projected revenue of just $4.5 million for the current quarter. Analysts expect the company to lose $0.82 per share.

Despite these facts, Virgin stock has surged more than 50% so far this year as space pigs continue to gobble up SPCE shares. Investors should be very wary of SPCE right now. The stock has skyrocketed on SpaceX’s success. With no meaningful results of its own, Virgin is sure to plummet back to earth sooner or later.

You Marco. I Polo.

It’s Reader Feedback time!

You guys are unusually quiet this week. I can only assume you’re headed for your Chinese-snake-virus bunkers.

Still, two Great Stuff readers braved the outbreak to drop me a line.

First, we have Colleen, who wrote:

Hi Joe, 

I’ve really been enjoying the Great Stuff newsletter. There’s always content that makes me laugh! Thank you so much for that!

In which of the newsletters did you mention ROKU? I’ve misplaced those, and I really want to review them. 

Thanks again.

I’m always happy to hear that I spark joy in Great Stuff readers. Thank you, Colleen!

As for Roku Inc. (Nasdaq: ROKU), I’ve covered the company at least 14 times in the past year. Instead of listing out all of those newsletters, how about I just hit the highlights?

Next up, we have Sybil C., who wrote:

I love your up-beatness.

That’s coining a new term à la Paul Mampilly, who I also love.

Just have to say thank you for the humorous way you share your information in this era of doom and gloom. All of you at Banyan Hill are a refreshing and much-appreciated change. Hope you keep at it for many years.

I … I have been given my very own Mampilly-ism! This must be how Dobby felt when Harry Potter gave him a sock. Thank you, Sybil!

I’m so honored, I don’t know what to say. Seriously, I’m a bit verklempt over here. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic: WeWork is neither a “we” nor does it work. Discuss.

If you wrote in and I didn’t get to you, it might be because you cursed too $%*?@#! much. I still really appreciate the feedback, even if they won’t let me publish it.

And if you haven’t written in yet … what’s stopping you? Drop me a line at GreatStuffToday@banyanhill.com and let me know how you’re doing out there in this crazy bull market.

That’s a wrap for today. But if you’re still craving more Great Stuff, you can check us out on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Great Stuff Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing

[213hiphopworldnews]

Unraveling The Paradox Of Jay-Z’s Billionaire Social Consciousness

Getty Image

On the second verse of Jay-Z’s “Moment Of Clarity” track off his 2003 Black Album classic, he contended that: “I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars,” admitting that he scaled back his lyrical gifts in a bid for mass appeal and the financial rewards that come with it. That admission has always been regarded by rap purists as an acknowledgment of “selling out,” but per usual, the pragmatic lyricist was able to defend his thought process with rational perspective.

After noting, “truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense — but I did 5 mil’ — I ain’t been rhyming like Common since,” he rhymed the following:

“When your cents got that much in common And you been hustling since your inception F*ck perception! Go with what makes sense Since I know what I’m up against We as rappers must decide what’s most important And I can’t help the poor if I’m one of them So I got rich and gave back, to me that’s the win/win”

With an estimated net worth of $900 million, he’s gotten even richer since 2003, and embodying that “win/win” scenario has been his MO more than ever lately. The son of Brooklyn went from surmising that his “presence was a charity” on Magna Carta Holy Grail‘s “Nickels And Dimes” to being a silent benefactor for a range of needy people and organizations. He’s bailed out hoards of people on multiple occasions and has quietly donated to Black Lives Matter. He’s paid legal fees for Meek Mill as well as back taxes for Lil Wayne. He went from surmising, “less is more…it’s plenty of us (successful Black executives)” on Drake’s “Pound Cake” to being one of hip-hop’s biggest advocates of Black ownership and representation.

His Roc Nation entertainment company has not only made (most of) his pre-rap day ones rich, it’s become a refuge for ‘90s bred contemporaries like Fat Joe, The Lox, and Jim Jones, who he huddled together under the Paper Plane flag as the last bastions of a bygone era of hip-hop.

You can argue about whether Jay-Z is the best rapper all day, but he’s undoubtedly one of the most important. He said from the gate on 1996’s “Dead Presidents” that he was out for Presidents to represent him. Somewhere along the line, he realized that having money was not a trait in itself, but a tool and an opportunity to help his people. But the 49-year-old’s conundrum is that while he’s enacting virtuous gestures and promoting self-empowerment in his lyrics, he’s also vying to become a billionaire in a world where “billionaire” is becoming a slur to the everyday people he seeks to help. He’s always expressed disdain with the entertainment industry’s higher-ups on racial lines — but he’s still one of them. That’s why his “win/win” walk between capitalism and progressivism is a precarious one, and one of the most fascinating paradoxes in hip-hop history.

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He’s given back in various manners, but is there such thing as a true “win/win” scenario while sustaining and ascending a system of capitalism predicated on winners and losers? How much can one movement uproot a historically racist institution like the entertainment industry while abiding by its tenets and partnering with its sovereign figures? Jay-Z’s timeline is ripe for examination as people explore those questions decades from now.

On 2001’s “H To The Izzo,” for instance, Jay-Z laid his game out with more lyrics that exemplified his laser-focused agenda:

“I do this for my culture, to let them know What a n—a look like when a n—a in a roaster Show them how to move in a room full of vultures Industry is shady, it needs to be taken over Label owners hate me, I’m raising the status quo up I’m overcharging n—-s for what they did to the Cold Crush Pay us like you owe us for all the years that you hoed us We can talk, but money talks, so talk mo’ bucks”

He’s always been aware of the music industry’s exploitative practices, which reflects America’s inherent racial inequality, and sought to change the circumstance from the inside. His musical mentor Jaz-O experienced unfavorable contracts much like that of the Cold Crush Brothers he referred to on “H To The Izzo.” In the early ‘90s, Jay himself had to maneuver out of a “shady” situation at Payday Records. After not being able to find a new deal, he and his Roc-A-Fella Records brain trust of Dame Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke decided to release his debut Reasonable Doubt album independently through Priority Distribution. After Reasonable Doubt’s success, he made a lucrative move that’s defined his business model: He partnered with Def Jam and moved up the ranks.

A decade later, in 2006, his “Operation Corporate Takeover” freestyle revealed the plan for the next phase of his career: “Operation take over corporate, makeover offices / Then take over all of it.” At that juncture, he had elevated from Def Jam’s flagship artist to the President of the label. Overseeing Def Jam’s signing of successful acts like Rihanna, Neyo, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, and others made him one of the music industry’s most in-demand figures. He gloated on the freestyle that “I’m getting courted by the bosses, the Edgars and Doug Morris’, Jimmy I’s and Lyor’s’,” referring to industry titans Edgar Bronfman, Doug Morris, Jimmy Iovine and Lyor Cohen, respectively.

As he’s continued to ascend the entertainment field with a lucrative portfolio of ventures such as his Tidal streaming service, Roc Nation Sports agency, and alcohol brands Dusse and Ace Of Spades, it’s clear that he doesn’t want to simply be courted to serve the agenda of those “bosses,” but wield his resources and influence to help his people in a way those predecessors would never care to.

On “Smile” from his 2017 4:44 album, he rhymed “respect Jimmy Iovine / But he gotta respect the Elohim as a whole new regime.” On “What’s Free” from Meek Mill’s Championships, he delivered one of his most impassioned rebukes of that old regime, including rhyming “they gon’ have to kill me, Grandmama, I’m not they slave.”

Those lyrics are paired with a social agency exemplified by donating over $1.5 million to Black Lives Matter and other social justice groups, as well as bailing out protestors during 2015’s Baltimore uprising. He’s also helped numerous rappers in their time of need. Meek Mill told The Breakfast Club in 2018 that Jay-Z helped pay multi-million dollar legal fees he might not have been able to cover himself as he fights an unjust probation sentence that he’s currently out on bail for.

Lil Wayne told concertgoers earlier this year that Jay-Z quietly paid off his back taxes. “He helped me when I was really, really, really down,” Wayne emphasized. While Wayne was embroiled in a legal dispute with Cash Money Records that held up the release of his Carter V album, it was Roc Nation who worked with him because, as Wayne says Jay-Z told him, “I just want to help you man. In any way I can.” And impressively, he offered all of that help without volunteering his good deeds. In fact, his friend and journalist dream hampton noted in 2015 that he prefers to keep his charitable actions quiet.

Jay-Z and Roc Nation hired a lawyer to help 21 Savage with any legal assistance he may need for his deportation hearings after being detained in Atlanta by ICE on Super Bowl weekend. It’s clear that he longs to help his peers and community “win,” and is offering some of his fortune to fulfill his “Nickels And Dimes” theory that “the greatest form of giving is anonymous to anonymous.” But perhaps an even greater form of giving is everyone having the means to share with each other. It’s questionable how much collective progress can be made for the whole when the richest 1 percent in the United States have more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.

On “What’s Free” he gloated, “I’m practically living tax-free,” a revelation that no one outside of his most ardent supporters could have been impressed with. Amazon made $11 billion in profit in 2018, and it’s likely that everyone reading this paid more than their $0 tax bill. President Trump has yet to release his personal tax returns to the public, but he likely benefited from the tax breaks that many of his wealthy friends enjoy. As President, he’s in position to widen the wealth gap with policies like his recent tax cuts. America’s middle class is losing out while the 1% are hoarding their wealth.

But the trouble with the 1% isn’t limited to tax breaks. In a 2017 New York Times op-ed, Jay-Z bemoaned that the criminal justice system “stalks” Black people like Meek Mill and others. He also produced a docuseries about the late Kalief Browder, who was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack and couldn’t afford his $3,000 bail to get off of New York’s Rikers Island. He later died by suicide, and many people around him speculate that the torment he faced at the jail contributed to his premature death. From a money-bail trap to jails charging fees for incarcerated people to call home to veritable slave labor, these exploitative practices are in place to help the rich stay rich.

So much human and environmental suffering can be traced back to capitalistic greed at the cost of humanity. That’s why even when billionaires give back or try to empower the general public with empowering rhetoric, it doesn’t exactly feel like a “win/win” scenario.

Jay-Z didn’t create the free market, but he’s certainly benefited from it and has made corporate bedfellows of questionable morals. He criticized gentrification on “What’s Free,” but he faced criticism within Brooklyn for being a figurehead of the then-New Jersey Nets’ move to Brooklyn in 2012. While many of his fans were excited at the prospect of him expanding his portfolio and helping bring basketball to Brooklyn, nearly 3,000 downtown Brooklyn residents were displaced. And while he rightfully stands with Colin Kaepernick and refused to perform at the Super Bowl, his Roc Nation Sports agency still has several NFL players as clients.

It’s impossible for anyone to completely divest from capitalism, but there’s a wide range of practical possibility between abstaining and becoming a billionaire. There’s no great profit without great cost for others, which is why it’s fascinating to see how Jay-Z grapples with his evident sense of social responsibility while also living by the tenet of maximum profit. At times, it must feel like pouring into an empty glass with a hole in the bottom.

Perhaps that’s why he rhymed the following on “Smile:” “Blood diamonds drippin’ with guilt, I still ain’t trippin / that’s life, winners and losers.” The line refers to the human toll of Africa’s violent diamond economy, and how he feels complicit in the circumstance by buying jewelry. Does he ever feel that way in a larger sense about how he amassed his fortune? As much as he theorized about Black capitalism on 4:44, the reality is that it’s difficult for most “losing” low-income Americans to reach middle-class status, much less generational wealth without a one-in-a-million gift.

While Jay can’t help the poor if he’s one of them, an overwhelming amount of the 1% only help themselves. It’s what stains them all as the primary culprit for late stage capitalism’s failure, regardless of the rare few with an intact moral compass. The best thing Jay could do to help the poor is using his immense influence to shift the mindset from harping on generational wealth as the key to uprooting Black people out of poverty to demanding more from the establishment to even the figurative playing field.

His “win/win” mindset is nobler than that of Floyd Mayweather, the exceedingly rich boxer who only seems to take a brave stand and extend his hand in the boxing ring, but it’s still flawed. When Jay rhymes, “What’s better than one billionaire?” on “Family Feud,” I often think to myself, “a thousand millionaires” instead of his summation of “two (billionaires).” We don’t need billionaires to help us win, we need that wealth distributed more fairly to be able to fund our own own victories. The reality is that no one should be a billionaire, even a virtuous one.

While we can applaud Jay-Z’s actions and root for him to continue to make strides in the industry, the buck has to stop at ogling his wealth, or aspiring to be similarly rich, because the pursuit of that “win/win” scenario will require direct or complicit involvement in a lot of loss for others.

source https://uproxx.com/hiphop/jay-z-virtuous-billionaire-win-win-theory-charity-giving/

[kansascityhappenings]

Ghost tours and other lore in the Kansas City area and beyond

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ghosts, ghouls, spooks and more — if you want to find something to make you rethink your surroundings, a ghost tour is only a few steps away.

Kansas City established on June 1, 1850 is full of lore and tales about the paranormal. The city took part in the Civil War on October 23, 1864 in the Battle of Westport, with Union soldiers having victory over the Confederacy. Kansas City has a long history with gangsters, political upheaval, the Victorian era, trains, a strong immigrant base, and a sharp rise in wealth for the Midwest. Not far from here are equally as bizarre of places from the haunted hotels in Eureka Springs, Arkansas; the Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph; and legends about the indigenous peoples who lived here before European settlers took over the land.

Whether these tales are just for fun or have some grounding in science or history, people have claimed to see spooks. People have said orphan ghosts wander at Belvoir Winery, that Civil War soldiers loom at historic houses, and other apparitions roam about the Kansas City metro — often repeating their last moments.

History of ghost lore and science’s inquiry

Wikipedia. Engraving of the Hammersmith Ghost in Kirby’s Wonderful and Scientific Museum, a magazine published in 1804

In folklore, a ghost is the spirit or soul of a dead person or animal that appears among the living. The overwhelming consensus in science is that ghosts don’t exist, and the event being witnessed has some real world explanation.

Ghost lore has existed across the globe for millenniums. Scientific explanations for these events have risen over the past couple of centuries with the age of reason and enlightenment.

The physician John Ferriar wrote “An Essay Towards a Theory of Apparitions” in 1813. He found that sightings of ghosts were the result of optical illusions. Later the French physician Alexandre Jacques François Brière de Boismont published “On Hallucinations: Or, the Rational History of Apparitions, Dreams, Ecstasy, Magnetism, and Somnambulism” in 1845. The French physician argued sightings of ghosts were mere hallucinations.

Jumping forward to a more modern age, Benjamin Radford from the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and author of the 2017 book “Investigating Ghosts: The Scientific Search for Spirits” argued that “ghost hunting is the world’s most popular paranormal pursuit” but ghost hunters are far lacking in a clear definition of what is a ghost and proof of its existence. Radford called it “all speculation and guesswork.” He writes that it would be “useful and important to distinguish between types of spirits and apparitions. Until then, it’s merely a parlor game distracting amateur ghost hunters from the task at hand.”

Several academic studies have found that experiences of a haunting are tied to environmental factors, lighting levels, and slight changes in air we might not notice.

There is also the “Stone Tape” theory. It argues if something has enough energy it could end up being recorded into the surroundings, like rock or particularly limestone. This capturing would be similar to how moments are captured in film and then played back.

Popular Kansas City ghosts and sightings

The Belvoir Winery in Liberty was a sweeping lodge in the 1890s. It had several buildings associated with it on a 170-acre plot along Missouri Highway 291.

The Belvoir opened up a nine-room bed and breakfast on the third floor of the main building. Some guests have reported coming across strange unwanted presences and then promptly leaving. If you need a good creepy movie about orphans, check out The Orphanage, a 2007 Spanish film by J.A. Bayona, Guillermo del Toro worked as a producer.

2. Hartman Hardware in Shawnee has also given people goosebumps. The hardware store had a paranormal investigation team come in — one associated with Ghost Stories of Kansas, after the group decided to start a tour of downtown Shawnee. That space was once used as a lodge hall where dances were held.

Aside from Hartman Hardware, within a two-block radius there are stories of a bar lady who likes to cross through the hall of a former salon, a ghost who would mysteriously ring the doorbell of a photo studio, the lingering scent of cigars in a smoke-free business, and sounds of chairs going up and down in the closed old theater.

On another historic note, there are legends about the Quantrill’s Raiders. They’re most well-known for burning Lawrence to the ground during the Bleeding Kansas period leading up to the Civil War; they did a dry run in Old Shawnee.

3. Hanging out at the Muehlbach Hotel is a ghost known as “The Blue Lady.” Described as a blonde in her early 30’s, she wears a 1920s-style blue dress with her hair tucked up into a wide-brimmed hat. Some have speculated that she is the ghost of an actress who once played at the Gayety Theater next door, and she is searching the Muehlebach for a lost lover. Her description sounds an awful lot like Daisy Buchanan from the popular Great Gatsby novel.

4. Longview Farm in Lee’s Summit was built between 1912 and 1914. Loula Long Combs is said to have treated stray dogs with kindness and spent much of her time with her favorite horse, Revelation. Loula died in 1971 at the age of 90. Students at the nearby Longview Community College have reported hearing ghostly hooves on pavement, and catching glimpses of an unknown woman on horseback.

5. Father Henry David Jardine is said to have unfinished business clearing his name. St. Mary’s Episcopal Church is one of the oldest congregations in town — dating back to 1857, before the Civil War. The father helped organize the parish from 1879 to 1886. He also founded two schools and had a hand in the creation of the hospital that would become St. Luke’s. Father Jardine’s death in St. Louis was ruled out as a suicide. He was not buried in a consecrated ground until he was officially exonerated 35 years later. Today eerie noises heard at the church are attributed to Father Jardine, who some say is trying to tell the truth about his death.

6. A Halloween masquerade ball meant to celebrate the night and lavish up with some treats resulted in the horrific deaths of two coal shovelers. It happened in 1910, and according to the legend, a phantom clanking of pipes is heard at The Elms Hotel & Spa around 1:30a.m. — the exact time of the historic blaze.

Frank Nash | FBI Records

7. One of the most horrific moments in Kansas City history has led to a plethora of lore and speculation. The Kansas City Massacre at the Union Station happened on June 17, 1933. The shootout and murder of four law enforcement officers rocked the country. A gang led by Vernon Miller meant to free Frank “Jelly” Nash, but things didn’t go as planned: Nash was killed in the gunfire. Nash had a long history in crime from murders to bank robberies. Some say his body was shattered, but his spirit still roams the station.

85 years into the present, local lore looms about Nash’s ghost. Some say the ghost repeats his last stretch through the station on his way to the lawmen’s car. Some say he is searching for answers as to what went wrong when the gang members went looking for him. People have reported hearing footsteps in the Union Station but not seeing a single person. Maybe the tormented soul still wishes he could be in the bank robbing business.

Charles Arthur Floyd, better known as Pretty Boy Floyd | FBI Records

8. Following the Kansas City Massacre, Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, one of the gang members involved in the botched shootout, returned to the Armor Hills home of his girlfriend, where he planned his escape. He hid there for a short time before hiding in various spots in the U.S. The house at 6612 Edgevale now has a ghostly reputation, with doors that refuse to stay closed, lights that flicker, and things that go bump in the night in both the attic and the basement.

9. A more recent ghost legend, the Kemper Arena is said to be haunted by the late WWE wrestler, Owen Hart. He died there in 1999. He fell from the ceiling while attempting a stunt. His ghost has been reported to be seen wearing a blue blazer, looking down the top of the arena.

Ghost tours

If you’re looking for a nearby ghost tour, here is a list. If ghosts are not really your thing, many of these tours also have historical highlights.

Kansas City Ghost Tours: The ghost tour begins at Fat Matt’s Vortex Bar, located at 411 N. 6th Street on historic Strawberry Hill. Fat Cat is said to be haunted. It used to house a funeral home and the crematorium is still in the basement. You’ll learn about the history of downtown KCK and visit several haunted locations including a cemetery, a high school, an abandoned church, a Memorial Hall, a fire station, and a theater among many other  businesses. You’ll get out at two locations, including Kaw Point. People are encouraged to bring cameras.

Haunted Ghost Tours in Independence: Visitors will tour the 1859 Jail and Marshal’s Home to learn about the history of the building and some of the haunts there. Part of the tour is in a covered wagon which takes guests around the Historic Independence Square. Guests will be told several ghost stories at the square. The tour takes approximately two hours. The Haunted Ghost Tours benefit the Jackson County Historical Society.

Wikipedia. Portrait of Mark Twain by Mathew Brady, February 1871

Haunted Hannibal Ghost Tours: Includes a bus tour and cemetery walk for those interested in the ghosts of Hannibal. The city is winery-driven and close to St. Louis. The 90 minute driving tour goes  through the historic district. Part of the tour looks at Mark Twain’s childhood and ghost sightings on Main Street. Search the graves of slaves and Civil War soldiers with a paranormal investigation of Old Baptist Cemetery. Tours daily from April through October at 7:00p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Hannibal History Museum. Kids 10 and under are $7.50 while adults are $15.

Missouri State Penitentiary — Jefferson City: A two hour walking history tour as well as a separate ghost tour at the prison. Guests are encouraged to bring a flashlight and camera. Minimum age of guests is 14. There is also a three hour guided ghost hunt where visitors can engage in a paranormal investigation with detection equipment. The prison was opened in 1836 and held a number of famous prisoners including the assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1967, Time Magazine called it the bloodiest 47 acres in America. It was closed in 2004.

Pythian Castle Ghost Tour — Springfield, MO Tour lasts an hour and a half and includes brief history. Photos allowed. $17.04 (includes tax & fee) when purchased online. Tour must have a minimum of 8 to run. The Pythian Home of Missouri, also known as Pythian Castle, was built in 1913 by the Knights of Pythias and later owned by the U.S. Military. It is now privately owned and open to the public by appointment. German and Italian prisoners-of-war were assigned here during World War II for medical treatment and as laborers.

Wikipedia. Crescent Hotel, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, circa 1886

Cresent Hotel Ghost Tour — Eureka Springs, AR: Rumored to be the most haunted hotel in the United States. The Crescent Hotel & Spa is perched high above the Victorian village of Eureka Springs, which is recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It hosts a regular ghost tour that goes down into the no-longer-in-use morgue. Norman G. Baker used the hotel promoting a cure for cancer in the 1930s. The quack doctor’s methods didn’t work.

Basin Hotel — Eureka Springs, AR: At the hotel, the Basin Park Ghost Tour  covers the history of gang activity there and explores how to do a paranormal investigation.  The tour gives exclusive access to the rooftop of the hotel and a view of the underground cave where bootleg liquor was stored.

Wikipedia. Image of the Spooklight taken by photographers in the early 1900s.

The Spooklight — Joplin, MO: Also called the Hornet Spooklight, Hollis Light, and Joplin Spook Light. It is a light that appears in a small area known locally as the “Devil’s Promenade” on the border between southwestern Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma, west of the small town of Hornet, Missouri.

Even though it is named after a small, unincorporated community in Missouri from which it is most commonly reached, the light is usually visible from inside the Oklahoma border looking to the west. The Spooklight is described as a single ball of light or a tight grouping of lights that is said to appear in the area regularly, usually at night. Several legends exist that attempt to describe the origin of the Spooklight. One of the more popular legends involves the ghosts of two young Native American lovers who are searching restlessly for each other.

Ghost Stories at Mid-Continent Public Library branches around the KC metro:

Mon, Oct 15 at 6:30 pm at Riverside Branch Mon, Oct 22 at 6:30 pm at Grandview Branch Mon, Oct 29 at 6:30 pm at Oak Grove Branch Sat, Nov 3 at 11:00 am at Weston Branch

Beginning Paranormal Research for Teens: Register at any Mid-Continent Public Library branch or online.

Ghost Freakers Ball 2018:

October 27 at the Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland in Kansas City, MO.

If you are interested in learning more about the paranormal around Kansas City, check out this website with the Kansas City paranormal investigators.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2018/10/14/ghost-tours-and-other-lore-in-the-kansas-city-area-and-beyond/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/ghost-tours-and-other-lore-in-the-kansas-city-area-and-beyond/