#high potential programme

[loganswdc]

every day i learn something new about logan sargeant and his racing career, not just about his performance in f1 but in f2 and previous series, too. and every day i end up so sad because he genuinely has so so much potential and can do so much but he keeps being give a poor hand of cards. this guy out qualified his teammate in f2 TEN TO FOUR. and who was his teammate?? liam lawson. liam joined redbull’s driver academy in february of 2019 while logan only got to join an f1 team’s driver academy in october of 2021. that team was williams. which, as we know, hasn't exactly been the best performing team in recent years. oscar piastri got to join an f1 team’s driver academy in january of 2020 (the renault sport academy, later rebranded as the alpine academy). liam and oscar both got the opportunity to do f1 tests for YEARS prior to their f1 debuts in 2023. liam had 4 and a half years of experience in f1 cars before 2023. oscar had 3 years of experience in f1 cars before 2023. even if it was just testing and practice sessions, it's still something.

what did logan get? one measly fp2 session, post-season testing, and then jumped right in to pre-season testing in 2023. he already had a seat in williams then, so with the experience from before the pre-season testing in 2023 he got to do maybe 800km of testing in an f1 car. the others — in this case i mean oscar, liam, and heck even nyck de vris — had opportunities to drive f1 cars and gain experience for YEARS before logan. if you look at nyck de vris: he got signed to the mclaren young driver programme in 2010. he joined the audi sport racing academy in 2016.  granted, he left the mclaren programme in before the 2019 season and left audi after the 2019 season, too. but he then went to mercedes as a reserve driver and tester for 2020 and afterwards. this means he got just about a DECADE AND A HALF of teams putting their time and energy into training him to join f1.

logan got a year. one. single. fucking year. that is entirely incomparable to the other rookies from 2023, who had so much more experience before hand. and yet logan was jumped into f1 and the expectations were so high for a guy who hasn't had the chance to train and learn and gain experience.

and yet when we look at the 2022 f2 season, logan sargeant, a rookie, was 1 point off from his teammate —the one and only liam lawson — scoring p4 in the championship. he outqualified his teammate 10 to 4. he was the first american to win an f2 race (that is, of course, following the rebrand from gp2 to f2, but regardless, that’s still an important thing to note and an achievement of his that should be celebrated).

logan sargeant has so much potential and if only williams would show him a little more faith unlike what they’ve been doing, if only they’d give him the same upgrades as alex, if only they wouldn’t force him to drive a car 15kg overweight from that of his teammate’s car, if only they wouldn’t force him to use outdated rear and front wings from the season prior. then perhaps he would have a chance to show what he can do. perhaps if he wasn’t stuck in a team with a crap car who have shown zero faith (which has been vehemently obvious since the circus in australia) in him and made him absolutely miserable, a shell of himself — which you can clearly see in recent interviews and photos of him — then maybe he’d be able to show how good he really is. and maybe if williams hadn’t been so adamant about taking him out of f2 so quickly and let him develop for one more year, we’d be seeing headlines that say “logan sargeant, first american f1 driver on the podium since michael andretti in 1993.” and perhaps we could even see him winning races.

no matter what someone says about his current f1 performances — though most base that solely off of where he ends up on the grid rather than looking at his actual driving and seeing how good he is as a driver considering the crap circumstances he’s in — logan sargeant is a better driver than what everyone says. he is trying so insanely hard to get a car that is miles off from the rest of the field to place as high as humanly possible. no one can say that if you put another driver in that car that logan is driving they'd be doing better than he is now. the fact is, they wouldn't be. he's been given an absolute tractor and is expected to score points when that car isn't built for getting in the points. and yet logan managed to get p10 in the miami sprint race — which should be recognized and commended. because he was in an awful car and he absolutely shined that day. that was just the start of showing what he could do. but he hasn't been given the same resources as alex, those being the upgrades, so what more can he do compared to what he's doing now?

and i am actually sitting here crying as i type this because this is a driver who is giving it his all even when the entire world is against him, even when his entire TEAM is against him, and he is persevering to the best of his abilities. and i know exactly what it’s like to sit here, wanting to reach for your dreams and show everyone how good you are, but to have only your closest friends and family on your side, rooting for you. what it’s like to look everywhere around you and see everyone calling you crap and saying you should quit and that you aren’t and never will be good enough. to look around and see your closest friends and family cheering for you, yet feeling like crap because you aren't doing as well as you would want, feeling inferior to everyone around you.

news flash: logan sargeant is and will always be good enough. he just needs the opportunity to show it, and williams is ruining that for him.

and yes, i will defend him with my life. people who try to say otherwise can try to do the same hours — the WEEKS — worth of research that i’ve done about logan and his career because he IS a good driver and HE DESERVES BETTER.

any hate comments towards logan will be deleted, because i have neither the time nor the energy to deal with that and argue with logan haters. i've said all of what i know and can remember about him and his career above, and will add what i can as time goes on and i remember something else or learn something new. if you have the time to hate on logan, you have the time to do your research and examine the fact that he has the potential to do well, but is not in a position for that because of the abhorrent circumstances he is currently in.

thank you for coming to my ted talk. edit: i'd also really recommend reading this twitter thread!! it goes into some more depth on logan and his f2 / f1 career, and even a little bit about his f3 career. it's very informative and articulates much of logan's career and why he is a better driver than many believe very well. https://x.com/herrocult/status/1795747913588761027

[grub-hut]

I caved in.

Here he is! He is my main pressure OC [ and my avatar currently ]

His name is Vester -- A skilled hacker and programmer who is serving his sentence in Urbanshade. Reason? Well he stole about millions of dollars and got his grubby hands onto some serious information which couldve led to his quick and easy extermination -- If it weren't for his high skilled value he'd be dead with out a thought but they saw potential working and using him for their own gain. So they forced him to sign papers and woohoo- got a new job 🫡 With very little freedom…

He was apart of the experimentation to give humans gills long ago, he was about the 50-50 process and was settled within the higher success rate of the current roster of prisoners who where being tested upon- allowing them to gain elevation within their projects. His mutations are far less extreme to the more well renounced Z-13. [ Him being a Lancetfish, deep sea dragonfish, a Orca and ⬛ ⬛ ⬛ ⬛ ] but his physical appearances are very clear and obvious . He did not wish to go through the painful process of returning back to normal [ Plus he fancied being different ]

Vester is a character who easily gets flustered, would fall victim to compliments and tends to drift off if not careful. He isnt much for confrontation but he is a sneaky one when given the chance. He will steal your pack of donuts that you have sitting behind you, oh wait he already did.

I also made him a fun monster design( for my own personal project) anyway—

[nipuni]

My dad died yesterday, he was 63

I would like to share a little about him and our story if anyone wants to read, this is not a happy story

My parents divorced when I was three and I went to live with my mom so I saw my dad's life in snapshots, once a week at first and then once a year when he moved abroad and I would spend the summers with him. Every time I would catch up with him he would have a different partner or apartment.

My time with him was always fun, he was laid back, adventurous and open, he would let me do all kinds of crazy stuff while my mom was the strict one. He was a genius to me, he taught me how to program my own games when I was nine, he would make me take computers and appliances apart and reassemble them to teach me how they worked, he made me love science, the outdoors and travelling. He was great at teaching and cooking and driving. He worked on tours for famous musicians as a sound tech, he made 3D films for museums and theme parks when it was all very new, he was a photographer, a programmer, electrician, mechanic, artist and could play many instruments and write poetry!!

The first crack between us was when there was a huge split between my mom's side of the family and his over money and a lot of ugly truths stared coming to light. I realized that when it came to money he was willing to put himself before me and the fights between him and my mom were awful. But in the end once the dust settled we both pretended it never happened.

One weekend I went to visit him and realized his current girlfriend would stick around at last and she had a daughter almost my age!! I now had a little sister and I loved it.

A year later the country fell apart and he fled abroad along with them and even though I missed them I would visit for months at a time every year. I saw him start his life over, he started his own company and I was so proud of him!!

Everything was great for eight years, until one day he told me that my step mom and sister left him and he would sell everything and come back to the country. This was the last time I would ever hear of them, they vanished, I mourned my step sister for years. This was also when his life fell apart.

At 17 adulthood came with a lot of revelations. My mom told me that my dad had been an addict since he was very young, before I was born, my whole life, cocaine and alcohol amongst other things, and everyone around him had been putting up with it and helping him but couldn't take it anymore. He had cheated on her when they had me and had cheated on my step mom too. He would lie to get what he wanted and trusting him was getting increasingly harder.

All of my memories of him were now seen through a different lens. I felt betrayed. I could now tell every time he had been high, and knew where the money he asked of me when to, I was aware of every little lie. I was angry and frustrated at him for the pain he caused my mom and everyone around him. And for squandering the potential I knew he had, for always making the wrong decisions, one mistake after another. And I hated feeling this way the most.

After he came back to the country alone he could never recover, he would relapse, overdose, refuse rehab or any medical help. He would escape psychiatrics facilities and hospitals in the middle of the night, he was a menace!! lmao.

Our relationship was still good despite all this, different but still standing, he had always been my friend even if he wasn't the best at being a dad or partner, I would always scold him and tell him of different job opportunities I came up with for him to try out but now there was this distance between us. I became the parent of the relationship in a way and he didn't like being told what to do. I saw him spiral and I was scared for him.

I've always heard all these stories about addicts finding purpose and fighting for their loved ones, so every time he would jokingly talk to me about how high he was and seemed to enjoy it despite my warnings and pleading it made me feel like I was not enough of a reason to get better, as self centered as it may be I was a teen and I felt powerless to stop him, insignificant. People could get better for their children, but not for me.

I knew this way of thinking was flawed and selfish and he was the one struggling, I knew he was a victim. I spent the last of my teenage years and early twenties trying to fight back this feeling so I could preserve our relationship, we always kept in contact but over time he changed and was no longer the person I knew.

He became a stranger, often times incoherent and delusional, his views changed, he was paranoid, his addiction got worse and worse and now all I could feel was pity and guilt, our once good relationship was now reduced to a few interactions where he would ask me for money, I knew I was possibly funding his self destruction and he was likely lying to me but he also needed to pay for medication and so I couldn't refuse him.

I had my own life now, a husband and plans for the future. When I decided to move abroad a few years ago I knew our hug goodbye could be the last, he was broke and unstable but I thought once I was settled and had a job and a citizenship I could have enough money to get him tickets to visit and show him the life I had made for myself like he had done in my childhood.

But then Covid happened, and he would never agree to make calls. Soon after he was diagnosed with cancer, I would ask about his health and he would say he was fine. He wasn't fine, he was smoking 4 packs a day. He got the cancer removed but refused further treatment, he said he didn't have any purpose left in life and no reasons to keep living, he had a stroke and couldn't feel half his body when he was forcibly hospitalized, his cancer had spread and he hadn't been eating for a long time, he hid all this from me, I first heard it from my aunt in tears over the phone yesterday, he tried to escape the hospital in the night and had to be tied up and sedated, he never woke up.

He died alone, all that is left of his family is me and my aunt and we both live in different countries. There is nobody there to even bury him. I feel like I abandoned him. I've always known I would feel this way when this day came, in a way I've been mourning him for many years and have carried this guilt for even longer.

I had the coolest dad, cocaine took him away. I wish this had a better and uplifting message. I just wanted to get this off my chest. He taught me a lot and made me who I am, and I have a lot of great memories with him. He struggled all of his life with his mental health and despite it all he was still amazing and deserved so much better.

He always said that when he was a ghost he would follow me around, I hope he isl!! so I can live for both of us, I love you dad!! and I'm so sorry 🕯️

[kujakumai]

If I give Kaiba anything politically/ideologically its that based on his nearly all-woman workforce and respect for Ishizu I think he is probably notably less sexist than your standard corporate officer in 90s Japan. Not because he has ever seriously considered women's experiences though. I think he simply believes that constraining people to only certain jobs based on such characteristics means that humanity loses out on the potential advances made by one who turns out to be a really good programmer or whatever, and that this aligns with his self-conception as being a man of science and progress. He has never actually spoken to a woman about non-work things for longer than like ten minutes. But Jonouchi literally told Anzu to get back in the kitchen one time so the bar isn't high

[ae-neon]

My controversial sjm critique is that for magical monarchies like the High Lords to work (paired with the mating bond canonically being a magical eugenics programme)

the HL families would need Targaryen levels of intermarriage (or at the very least consist of a clan of families who exclusively marry into each other) in order to keep the HL title or even their signature powers in the same lineages

And avoiding that truth is on the one hand removing a huge potential for serious court drama (that would have made Lucien being Helion's child maybe even more impactful since it's not just not Beron's kid but an inter-court crossing of bloodlines)

and on the other is a sort of willfully ignorant, wishy-washy pro-monarchy mindset where you have your cake and eat it too (like how the IC talk about being dreamers and wanting change when they have literally all the power is fucking stupid and nonsensical)

I'm not saying she would have to or should have to write explicit incest but she could have one HL previously engaged to a relative or show how a failure in that tradition led to someone outside the royal family like Tarquin becoming HL instead of Varian or Cresseida

Or you know, stop idolising monarchies idk

[thezombieprostitute]

Tempted to do a "Tech Tuesdays" to help counter the Tuesday blues. Maybe not all from the same IT department. Maybe mix in some company IT with a software development company.

Obviously Jake is there. He's a whiz at handling high priority user problems. Things that need to be fixed ASAP.

Bucky is a master with the legacy programs that the company can't afford to upgrade to the new systems.

Curtis is a back end developer who's having to piecemeal things so that the legacy and new systems work together.

Steve is the UX programmer making sure everything looks good and is intuitive.

Johnny maintains the firewall and other security programs.

God the Bounty Hunter and Geralt as the Quality Assurance testers. They hunt down the problems, bugs, things the rest of the team would never think of that might go wrong.

I'm even tempted to include Ransom as the IT guy who rolls his eyes and makes you feel bad for not knowing how to fix the problem yourself (never mind that it's actually a highly complex problem you'd only make worse before you'd ever be able to fix it).

And potential managers for the various teams: Jonathan Pine, Captain Syverson.

[umlewis]

Mercedes gave Hamilton short F1 contract to keep Antonelli option open

Toto Wolff has admitted that the Mercedes Formula 1 team didn’t commit to a longer-term contract with Lewis Hamilton because it didn’t want to risk losing protégé Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Last August, Hamilton signed a two-year contract with the team, which was widely assumed to be fixed for the full term and left open the possibility for Mercedes to take Antonelli in 2026; however, Hamilton was able to use escape clauses to miss the second year and take up an offer from Ferrari, leaving his seat free for 2025 and giving Mercedes the chance to take Antonelli as early as next year. Antonelli, who is just 17 years old, is moving up to Formula 2 with Prema this season, having won Italian F4 in 2022 and the Formula Regional European Championship with the team last year. Wolff has compared the situation with 2014, when the team was keen to sign Max Verstappen but had nowhere to put him, while Red Bull was able to offer him a Toro Rosso seat for the following year. "There was a situation many years ago where we had the opportunity to let Max drive," Wolff told Austrian broadcaster ORF, "and that wasn't possible back then because we simply didn't have a cockpit. Rosberg and Hamilton were tied to us long-term, and Red Bull naturally seized the opportunity. They gave him a contract with Toro Rosso, with the possibility of driving for Red Bull the following year. We then lost the young driver, and you can see how successful he has become, and precisely because we have a junior on the horizon who is really driving at a very high level, I simply wanted to keep this option open. Wolff reiterated what he said in a response to Motorsport.com in Bahrain last week by stating that the newly-vacant 2025 seat is not necessarily being saved for Antonelli, who has yet to start his first F2 race. "That does not mean that we will actually put Antonelli in the car next year," he said. "He is 17 years old, and that might be a bit early. But with a view to the next five or ten years, I just wanted to have this option." Regarding the Italian’s potential, he said: "In a way, he's a wonderkid. He won everything there was to win in karting and then moved into F4. He won all the championships in his rookie year, then moved up a level and won everything there too. Now we've decided to skip F3, partly because there's not much time to test there. Instead, he'll go straight into F2, which is a huge leap for him. These are really big cars with power. Most of the races are part of the F1-supporting programme, so we'll have a good overview there too." Wolff has confirmed that Antonelli will do some private running in a 2022 car, noting that Mercedes will "run a big test programme with him in 2024 and then we'll see, is he ready for 2025? Or for 2026, will there be a different situation?" The conundrum over opting to hold him back until 2026 is that it would require another driver stepping in for 2025 only, assuming that George Russell remains in the other seat and his contract is extended beyond 2025. Wolff said that the driver market will be "incredibly interesting, because really strong people will be available for 2025," and that Mercedes will review the situation "over the next two or three races." He added: "Do we want to rely on experience and perhaps try something new? Or do we want to focus on youth and take the risk that we have a rookie and then have to look at this from a medium- to long-term performance perspective?"

op note: do not leave hate for a 17-year-old literal child in my notifs. absolutely hate on toto all you want tho.

[race-week]

hi Al, do you mind reminding us of some terms we might seen thrown around a bit in regards to testing eg, sandbagging?

Of course

Flow Vis: oily brightly coloured paint that is applied to the car to visualise the airflow around the car

Aero rake: big metal cage looking thing that is fixed to the car, it has a bunch of probes on it to measure airflow

Sandbagging: a team or driver deliberately posting slower lap-times than the car is capable of, in order to disguise their potential

Fuel load: the amount of fuel that a car is carrying (this is not known to viewers but can be speculated about). A car that is sandbagging may purposely carry a high fuel load

Run plan: essentially the programme that the car/team are running whether that’s a lot of high fuel long runs or low fuel quali runs

Glory run: a very low fuel run with C4 or C5 tyres. It’s kind of the opposite of sandbagging, where a team want to make themselves look better than they are (usually for sponsors)

(These are some off the top of my head, might add more later)

[pannaginip]

Located 62km north-east of the capital Manila, Daraitan village in Rizal province is home to about 5,700 residents, a majority of whom are members of the Dumagat-Remontado indigenous people who consider vast hectares of the mountain range as part of their ancestral domain.

But the village may soon disappear under the same waters that give it life, once the Philippine government finishes building the Kaliwa Dam – one of 16 flagship infrastructure projects of former president Rodrigo Duterte that is being funded by China.

The new dam is expected to provide Metro Manila with an additional 600 million litres of water daily once it is finished by end-2026. Officials said building the 60m-high reservoir is even more necessary now that the country is starting to feel the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon.

But it was only in 2021 under Mr Duterte that construction finally broke ground, three years after Manila and Beijing signed the 12 billion peso (S$288 million) loan agreement.

Of the 119 on the list [of flagship projects of the "Build, Build, Build” infrastructure programme], Mr Duterte turned to China to finance 16 big-ticket projects in a bid to cement his legacy by the time his presidency ended in 2022. He embraced Beijing during his term and even downplayed Manila’s claims in the disputed South China Sea in favour of securing loans and grants from China.

Analysts have criticised Mr Duterte’s infrastructure programme as ambitious. Perennial domestic issues like local politics, right-of-way acquisition problems, lack of technology and red tape in bureaucracy led to severe delays in the projects.

The same issues hound the China-funded projects – which come under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to build infrastructure in developing nations – with the problems made more severe by Beijing’s high interest rates in its loan agreements and local backlash due to displacement of residents or potential environmental damage.

Critics say the BRI has been detrimental in the long run to some recipient countries, especially those that have been unable to repay their loans, like Sri Lanka and Zambia.

The Duterte government’s failure to take advantage of its BRI loans was a “missed opportunity” for the Philippines, said infrastructure governance specialist Jerik Cruz, a graduate research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The four completed China-funded projects under Mr Duterte were controversial too. But they came to fruition because they had the support of local politicians allied with Mr Duterte and therefore increased his political capital, said Dr Camba.

Tribal leaders said they were not properly consulted regarding the project that threatens their traditional way of life. Environmentalists from the Stop Kaliwa Dam Network also say the project would destroy 126 species of flora and fauna in the Sierra Madre.

The Philippines’ Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act states that the government must first secure a tribe’s free, prior and informed consent before building on its ancestral lands.

But Ms Clara Dullas, one of the leaders of the Dumagat-Remontado in Rizal, alleged that the Duterte government had either misinformed or pressured other tribe members into giving their consent.

She could not bear to hold grudges, though, noting that the Dumagat-Remontado organisations that eventually agreed to the Kaliwa Dam were each given 80 million pesos, or $1.9 million, in “disturbance” fees.

“The Kaliwa Dam is the reason why our tribe is divided now. There is a crack in our relationships even if we all come from the same family,” said Ms Dullas. “I can’t blame the others because we lack money. I believe there was bribery involved.”

The government requires them to present identification documents, and only those given passes may enter. Mr Dizon said this is to ensure that no unidentified personnel enter the area [close to the construction zone].

“We feel like we are foreigners in our own home because the Chinese and the people in our own government are now preventing us from entering the lands where we grew up,” said tribe leader Renato Ibanez, 48.

Mr Ibanez also accuses the Philippine authorities of harassing tribe members who are vocal against Kaliwa Dam. Some of them have been accused of working with communist rebels, a charge the tribe vehemently denies.

Unlike his predecessor, Mr Marcos is more aggressive in defending Manila’s overlapping claims with Beijing in the South China Sea, but still fosters economic ties with it.

Geopolitical tensions between the two nations and Mr Marcos’ stance towards Beijing are going to dictate the fate of the pending China-funded projects the President inherited from Mr Duterte, said Mr Cruz.

Tribe members said they would be more amenable if Mr Marcos would revisit Japan’s proposed Kaliwa Intake Weir project that Mr Duterte had set aside.

“We like Japan’s proposal. It would not destroy our forests. It would not affect residents here. The Philippines would not be buried in debt,” said Ms Dullas.

This was among the alternatives the Dumagat-Remontados offered during their nine-day march in February 2023, when some 300 members walked 150km from Quezon and Rizal all the way to Manila to protest against the Kaliwa Dam.

But they failed to secure an audience with Mr Marcos. They remain wary of the President’s position on the Kaliwa Dam and other controversial China-funded deals.

“As much as we want to fully pin our hopes on him, we don’t. We’ve learnt from past efforts to trick us, make us believe a project is about to end, only for it to be resurrected again years later,” said Ms Dullas.

2024 Mar. 3

[drrav3nb]

Dong-Soo and his need/desire for Do-Young's validation

Since the first episode, we have seen Dong-soo operate and obey Do-young's orders out of fear. From staking out that woman's house to find out who was betraying Do-young, or even coming up with clever plans to stop Do-young from killing him, all these actions have occurred after Dong-soo was either threatened or physically maimed.

However, in this episode (EP5), we see a different motivation for these actions...validation.

The first sign of this is after Dong-soo ends his presentation and we see Do-young's reaction and honestly there's not much of one, and judging from Dong-soo fading smile this minimal/nonchalant reception is not what he was expecting.

This leads him to wait behind and ask Do-young if something is wrong, taking his lack of response as something to be concern about. Seemingly he is right, as Do-young then demands that the gambling site be finished sooner than originally planned.

This uncompromising demand makes Dong-soo question the nature of their relationship. Is this a partnership or is he leaving Dong-soo to fend for himself, forcing him to find the solution to their problem alone?

I find it very interesting that Dong-soo asks Do-young this because now it clearly shows that he sees this as a equal alliance, something that both of them can benefit from, where they can help each other and look out for the other's needs and weaknesses.

But the fact that Do-young doesn't even give him an answer suggests that he doesn't want that, he wants a subordinate, someone he can uses and twist in a way he sees fit. It mirrors the opening scene, where Dong-soo asks him to promise to leave him alone after this business is set up. But once again, Do-young doesn't give him a response or at least not on screen, showing us that he can't be trusted.

And it's this unanswered promise of friendship that keeps Dong-soo coming back, the potential for a mutual partnership that's beneficial to both parties and in order to gain that he feels that he needs to prove himself.

So without Do-young even making any threats or demanding him to deal with the situation in a specific way, Dong-soo goes the extra mile in order to make sure that the website is up and running in 20 days. He finds a previous client who is also a programmer to create it for them, threatens his family to stop him from backing out of their deal, re-organises the gang's operations into new departments and illegal acquires the personal data.

All this leads to the them finishing the website on time and to celebrate, Do-young treats them to some nice food at a restaurant. But what's interesting is when Dong-soo says "But in any case, I tried my best" after being asked about how he thinks the opening of the website will go, Do-young says this:

And once again Dong-soo is left diminished because once again what he's done isn't enough, the goalpost has been moved and he's realising that Do-young's standards are quite high, much higher than those he's worked for in the past. But that doesn't stop him from reaching for it.

Once the website is live and they start realising that his plan has actually worked, Do-young turns to him and looks surprised and evidently impressed. And it's that silent affirmation along with the successful outcome of his own scheme that leads him to grin, beam even, he's so happy and for once he's gotten what he sought this entire episode...validation.

But it doesn't stop there. Along with the money that he initially promised to pay him, Do-young awards him with a brand new car and not just any car, a Mercedes-Benz, claiming that the gift is a 'bonus'

So where does this leave them? Will Dong-soo's need for validation and Do-young's respect lead them to a mutual partnership where they're both equal? Well I don't think so, I think Do-young knows that this is want Dong-soo really wants and he's using it to reel him in. He knows that Dong-soo has been mistreated and overworked by his previous law firm and that has created a vengeful spirit within him. So he positions himself as his saving grace, the person who will absolve him of everything he's felt was wrong in his life.

So it'll be interesting to see how this desire to be seen by his superiors and validated for his work will lead Dong-soo further down the rabbit-hole in future episodes!

Anyway hope you enjoyed this meta!

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

How does Yves celebrate our birthday?

(P.S. thank you for the delicious content!)

However you want to celebrate. It could be as simple as having you make a wish and blow the candle out on the succulent birthday cake in the solitude of his living room, or as grand as a ballroom party where you invite all your friends and families, you get to dance in the most intricate dresses and suits made by his own skilled hands.

You would think that he commissioned the world's best fashion designer to create your outfits, but it was all himself after months of preparation. Yves would painstakingly hand sew every sequin, every bead, and it's this level of detail that makes your dress stand out.

Yves would work with teams of event managers and certified professional hires to facilitate your birthday. He would lead, even having a hand in the kitchen. He creates the menu and ensures that everyone he hired has the same faces throughout, because training starts a year prior to your big day. He remembers everyone's names, everyone's probability of making mistakes and ability to handle a variety of strange and unlikely scenarios.

His staff members would be confused and terrified as to why Yves has protocols if an armed intruder were to crash the party. Each person has their designated evacuation sites and roles to keep you, the guests and themselves safe. Most would already decide to back out after he handed them a thick booklet that details all the programmes happening on the day and all the potential scenarios they might face. Yves has his lawyers present with briefcases of waivers, NDAs and other binding contracts.

They thought that he was some sort of dangerous figure, better not involve themselves into something that they're going to regret. No pay is high enough to compromise their safety. But those who stuck around for years realized that he's just an extremely careful man who loves his darling to death.

The bomb-diffusing classes he required them to take were never put to use, they never once had to use a firearm to protect themselves and the guests, they never had to apprehend anyone who tried poisoning the food and the intensive first aid, toxin control and chemical dossiers they had to memorize by heart wasn't too useful. At most, they just had to deal with minor scrapes and burns in the kitchen. It's just a normal, lavish birthday party with friendly faces. Where the special birthday person is just a civilian who Yves spoils rotten.

He has over two hundred members, yet he knows the details of every single one. Even if two had the same name, he knows which is which. Yves remembers and they know that, which added more pressure on their shoulders. It always freaked them out when Yves caught them slacking off and he called them by their full name, with perfect pronunciation no matter how ethnic.

They cannot trick him into thinking they're supposed to be on break. There are numerous other employees, there is no way he remembers the roster for the day, right? Wrong, he was the one who made the schedules after all. And that unnerves them, he's just like a machine!

However, they appreciate being seen and valued individually. They're not just another tool to him, they're human with their own specific strengths, weaknesses and Yves sees that. It in turn motivates them to do their best. That, and the fact they cannot worm their way out of trouble at all. Reward and fear go hand in hand.

While he prepares for the biggest annual event 12 months prior, Yves somehow managed to spend enough time with you without raising suspicions of the surprise. Of course, you know it is going to be outstanding every year, you just don't know the true magnitude of preparation conducted by Yves.

On the day of your celebration, Yves would be in the kitchen, cooking your meals. It's going to follow the same menu he and the other senior chefs crafted, but yours is a lot more personalized- salted, sweetened or spiced to your liking. The rest of his kitchen staff focused on massive batch production to cater to potentially thousands of attendees.

Only Yves would be allowed to do your makeup and hair. You wouldn't want anyone else anyways, they couldn't compare to his skills and his knowledge of what you're trying to go for.

You spend the entire day being praised, loved and revered on stage. Yves standing by your side at all times as his entertainment team facilitates the event.

Dozens of photographers capture every angle of the happiest possible moments. His personal hidden video cameras running and feeding data back to his vault in real time.

You get to eat with the group of people you cared for the most, or if you rather eat with him alone, he will also humor you.

In the end, you would go home exhausted but happy. He will take care of you; by preparing a fresh set of comfortable clothes while you take a shower. If there's something particularly difficult to remove, such as hairspray or silicone prosthetics, he will help you with no complaints. The mess is left to Yves's loyal team to clean up.

He will give his employees a week to recoup before jumping right back into planning for your next birthday. Yves has to rent a moving truck every year just to transport all your presents from the ballroom to his home.

Or, perhaps you think that's an overwhelming way to celebrate another year of being alive. Maybe you wanted a gathering, but in a much smaller scale.

Then, he would host a party at his house. Yves will be in charge of the food, the decor and the activities. You don't have to lift a single finger, a number of his hires would also be involved, just that you wouldn't see them around. Yves tried working with your friends and families for the surprise, but their intent mostly doesn't align his. It's either that they're grossly wrong in thinking what you really wanted, they're trying to put the spotlight on themselves or they just don't take it as seriously as they should.

You would notice on your special day, his living room looked quite different from what you're used to. His gothic flair wasn't as pronounced, anything fragile was hidden and all other doors aside from the kitchen's and the bathroom's are locked shut.

Colourful banners, posters and ribbons that fit the theme you wanted decorated the walls, inflated balloons made the place lively and there was constant upbeat background music playing.

He provides extra seating, there is a zone just for children and teenagers with a plethora of toys, gadgets, game consoles, books and art materials. He brought in a couple of his team members who he knows work great with children to supervise the area. Yves made it as appealing as possible to people who tend to be disruptive when bored (usually ages 16 and below), so that they would stay contained there and not interrupt the 'adults'.

If some happened to breach containment, he would send his handlers a death glare for not doing a good enough job as he guided them back into the room.

But otherwise, Yves would be going in and out of the kitchen, holding trays of homemade food. He allows you to mingle with your guests, even those who are in the wretched "zone". Yves will begrudgingly step foot inside just to be with you, everyone felt the horrifying aura emanating from him though.

The children would play with you, but avoid Yves like the plague.

He would fix your plate of food for you, filling your cup with your favourite drink when it's empty and generally babying you. Yves wants you to enjoy the day, to forget that report deadline, your exams or that urgent email. He is going to handle it.

Just tell him whenever you're tired, he will drive everyone out of his house in his own polite, manipulative, reality bending way almost instantly.

You could either spend the day opening gifts or taking a nap. Yves is simply happy you had a good time.

Or,

You perhaps prefer a much smaller audience to please. A dinner with your friends or family at a nice, trusted restaurant, a maximum of 10 guests. In all three scenarios, Yves must bake the cake and help you dress up. He is the only one you trust to do so.

Yves would send out the invitations to them, deeply observing their life so that he could ensure they're coming. It would mean the world to you for them to attend, he doesn't want to see you disappointed.

The week leading up to your special day, he will do everything in his power to clear their schedules for you, be it from sabotaging their romantic relationships so they wouldn't abandon your little gathering for date nights, to slipping subconscious reminders to take their medications so they wouldn't be too depressed, anxious or psychotic to come, to poisoning their lecturers so they would have an extended deadline for their assignments, to intercepting the news of their dead relative first, so they wouldn't go to their funeral or mourn on that day, to calling them and dishing out insane guilt trips and/or threats.

The effort was all worth it to see your gleeful face smiling at the full attendance.

Of course, this is all paid by Yves. At the end of the day, you would come back home a year older with a full heart and stomach. Your guests would come home to clean up the mess Yves made in order to make them show up.

Or,

You don't want anyone else. You just want him to be there with you on your birthday. And you wanted to be involved in the process.

He will be more than happy to set up a romantic candle lit dinner at home, cooking a delicious, well portioned meal for two. He follows whatever tradition you're used to doing well.

You will receive a present from Yves, usually it's something you desperately yearned for, but never told anyone. It's fascinatingly eerie how he could figure it out every year.

You could pipe icing onto the cake you and him baked earlier. Laughing at the lopsidedness of your handicrafts while Yves kisses you on the temple for helping him in the kitchen.

It wouldn't be as grand, as flashy or as lively as the first two. Not by a long shot.

It's quiet, peaceful and sweet. But never lonely or empty.

As Yves is right there with you, teaching you how to hold a piping bag correctly. A pint of handmade icing wasted later, you managed your first successful border.

He hugged you from behind and praised your abilities. You melted into his touch as he pressed his lips on the top of your head.

The two of you shared a slice, because you were stuffed from the main course. Anyone could tell that the edible decor was made by someone inexperienced. But Yves didn't care, neither should you.

It's your birthday, and you get to decide how to celebrate it.

[ot3]

while it's true that plenty of people who have zero respect for the skill it takes to be an artist crudely use the accessibility of AI art as a talking point, that doesn't mean the talking point is wrong at its core. and i feel like if you're going to be constructing counter-narratives about AI, 'if you think this tool could help you you should just practice more' is probably the worst possible one to pick.

i know i've mentioned this before but it really just makes me think of my dad who has always loved comics and wanted to make some. he went to school for a film degree but ended up spending like the last 20 years working as a programmer because it was steady money and he had three kids to raise. and now he's nearing retirement, but here's the catch: he had eye surgery that went wrong and now he's legally blind. looking at stuff for extended periods of time hurts him. he still would like to make a comic.

i was talking to him about ways to work around that awhile back and stuff like photobashing/digital kitbashing, taking photographs and then using faux-illustrative filters, and yes, maybe some ai image generation came up as potential ways of trying to navigate this. and it's like. okay. should my dad, who is absolutely not putting anyone out of work or infringing on anyone's intellectual property, just Hurt Himself More when trying to make art so he can have some sort of moral high ground with the purity of hard work and practice or whatever?

and this is just the one immediate example i happen to be party to. anyone is free to feel however they like about ai but if you try to pretend it doesn't have any benefits for people with disabilities that want to create stuff you just come off like a self centered jackass.

[dizzyduck44]

Who’s going to need to close their tab and leave?

Formula One has a fairly high driver turnover. This is because just like a high end bar, the glass always keeps being filled up!

There are generally five ways you can make it into F1.

1. You are proclaimed as the next “once in a generation talent” as a child and by sheer hard work you live up to that and get to Formula One - The irony is, there are currently 3 of these talents in F1, Lewis, Max and Lando. Add Antonelli potentially next season, which does make you think how rare are they really?

2. You win everything and have pundits and teams drooling over your entrance into Formula One - see Nico, Charles, George, Oscar, Fernando way back when. This is the modern day equivalent of “you should test this driver, he’s super quick”, which is how we got Seb and Kimi.

3. Right place, right time, right amount of talent - Carlos and Alex are prime examples of this. Whilst not coming in with a huge buzz, they deserved their place and prove that year after year.

4. Through a junior team - some drivers have been developed for the grid, Daniel and Pierre the most obvious that don’t fall into another category. We are likely to see Ferrari’s second success story with Ollie Bearman. Even Yuki was Honda’s supported driver.

5. They bring cash/sponsorship - this category is fairly obvious, Lance, Sergio, Zhou. I’m leaving Logan out as with what happened with his Dad’s company I don’t know if he does or doesn’t.

Now from the drivers listed you can see that there is no real bad way to get to Formula One. Remember Senna and Lauda were “pay drivers” and the development programmes have given us great drivers, regardless of whether they got there with a fist full of titles (Oscar, George, Charles, Lewis, Lando, Nico) or none (Max and Zhou). Hell we have a couple of drivers who have the weird honour of having in part a manager who owns shares in two teams (yes you thought I forgot about Valtteri and Esteban didn’t you).

The trouble is every year, brings more of each of the five categories to the door of Formula One. F2 champions, billionaire’s sons, drivers the press have declared a future champion before they have even sat in the car. With so many driver’s contracts up this year it’s impossible to not see a team/teams wanting their glass filled with a new drink altogether.

Who knows some might keep a seat through the right place, right time situation, or through flashing the cash, but inevitably for some, time has been called and now their tab will be closed and they will be asked to leave.

[beardedmrbean]

Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, the speaker of the local assembly in northwest Niger State, planned to support the marriage of the orphans, who have all lost relatives to attacks on villages by heavily armed gangs.

Sarkindaji said he was simply helping his constituents, but the minister of women affairs and other officials have denounced the proposal.

They have expressed concern that some of the orphans might be underage or being forced to comply for financial gain.

Mass weddings are not uncommon in Nigeria, especially in the mostly Muslim north, where they are seen as a way to help impoverished families manage their expenses.

But underage marriage also happens in rural areas where communities struggle with poverty, insecurity and little access to education.

'Totally unacceptable'

Sarkindaji, a member of the ruling All Progressive Congress party, pledged last week to help families in the mass wedding later this month.

But on Tuesday, federal Women Affairs Minister Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye called for an investigation into their ages, their consent to marriage and the identity of their potential partners.

"This is totally unacceptable," she told journalists.

"I have written a petition to the police... and I have filed a case for an injunction to stop him from whatever he is planning to do."

A senior special assistant to the presidency on community engagement has also objected.

Abiodun Essiet called on state officials to bring the women into empowerment programmes -- especially as it was believed some of them may be children.

"I am not against conducting marriage for orphans above 18 years of age if they give their consent to the marriage," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"But I am against underaged marriage. Let children be children."

No details were immediately available on the ages of the orphans.

'Good faith'

Soon after the minister's remarks, the Niger assembly speaker told reporters he was withdrawing his support for the mass wedding and would let the families decide.

"The marriage for those orphans is withdrawn," he told reporters on Tuesday. "I did it in good faith."

But he was critical of the minister, saying she was "not from the north" of Nigeria.

He did not feel threatened by her action as he was just a "good samaritan", he added. "The minister should please find out who I am,... and how I have been supportive to my people."

His position drew support from the state's imams organisation and other Muslim groups. Accusing the minister of overstepping her position, they called for her suspension.

"We believe she made these pronouncements based on her position as a non-Muslim," Mahmud Lawal Murshid, Niger state President of Muslim Student Society, said in a statement.

"If she were a Muslim she wouldn't have said what she said."

Tough economic conditions

In January a Muktar Aliyu Betara, a Nigerian lawmaker from Borno state, sponsored a mass wedding for 180 girls from his constituency.

Aged between 17 and 18, they had lost their parents to jihadist violence.

Betara paid for all the wedding expenses as the families of the brides could not afford the expenses.

Last year, Nigeria's northwest Kano State financed and staged a mass wedding for 1,800 couples as part of efforts to help the poorest residents get married.

The initiatives came as Nigeria faces tough economic conditions.

High fuel prices and rising food inflation are driving some Nigerians, many who live on less than $2 a day, further into poverty in Africa's most populous country.

[yuffi369]

I had this idea earlier today and couldn't get it out of my head, so, here. Inscryption content be upon ye

Daisy Bell

P03 x GN!Reader

You find out that P03 tends to sing to himself when he works alone.

You'd been in the land of Inscryption for a while. You'd no idea how long time had passed outside, but here, it felt like a month. Time moved inside the disk faster than it did in the outside world. P03 had suggested a minute outside was about a day inside- so you'd guessed you'd been gone about thirty minutes, give or take.

The Scrybes didn't know how to get you out of the game. They were used to interfacing with a Challenger through a screen, not actually having a real human being standing face-to-face with them. While they had their own goals in mind, you were on friendly enough terms with all of them to where they all wanted to help you get back to your own life. Sadly, progress had been naught so far, but it was the thought that counted. In exchange for their help, you gave them company, something they all desperately desired.

The one you visited the most frequently was P03, oddly enough. Leshy had let you build a small cabin right by the ocean in his domain, so it was clear on the other side of the island to visit the Scrybe of Technology, but you liked spending time with him. You found it easy to simply sit in the same room, working on separate projects, but together. He wouldn't admit it, but he enjoyed your company, too.

Today, you brought a basket full of lunch food- sandwiches, veggies, pastries. P03 didn't eat much, but he could, if he wanted, and if you offered he always took at least something, to be polite (which, in fairness, he wasn't used to being polite, either). You mostly brought food because you knew you'd be over working for a long time, and if you didn't bring any food you likely wouldn't eat again until you got home.

As you entered P03's factory, standing outside the door, you thought you heard something. High-pitched tones, coming from small speakers inside the building. You thought the song sounded familiar...

As you were trying to recall where you'd heard this song before- it was on the tip of your tongue, so frustrating!- you heard... P03's voice. You were stunned into silence as you heard him singing along to the familiar melody.

"Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer, do I'm half crazy, All for the love of you"

You remember, now, upon hearing the lyrics. The first vocal synthesizer had sung this song, in 1961. It sounded so sweet, coming from P03's voice box. You guessed that the programmers of Inscryption fed this into his AI, potentially to give him some kind of more realistic-sounding dialogue.

You had a habit of singing along to songs without even realizing it. Upon the second half of the song starting, you began to sing along with the melody as well.

"It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage, But you'll look sweet, upon the seat, Of a bicycle built for two"

Abruptly, the speakers stopped playing the melody. You stepped back as the door to the factory quickly opened. P03 stared at you, with a slightly annoyed expression. Although, was that... blush, on one cheek of his face display? You didn't even know he was capable of being embarrassed.

"Hey," you said, casually. "Mind if I hang out for lunch?"

"Yeah, sure," they replied briskly, turning and hovering back over to their desk. "Next time, just knock."

You shrugged. "I was trying to figure out what song it was. I didn't know you knew how to sing..."

"It's just a catchy tune. Music helps me focus, sometimes. You know how you stinky humans used to sing work tunes when you were working on railroads or sailing ships? Kind of like that."

You smiled. "I think it's a sweet song."

P03 was... oddly silent, for a long moment. His monitor facing away from you, so you couldn't see what expression he was displaying, he finally replied, "Yeah, it's alright, I guess. Been stuck in my head a while."

You sat down on the other side of the table, big enough for the two of you to work on your separate projects. As you begun to get out your notebook to work on your next writing project, you begun to sing under your breath, the song stuck in your head.

"There is a flower within my heart, Daisy, Daisy, Planted one day by a glancing dart, Planted by Daisy Bell"

From the corner of your eye, you saw P03 shift in his seat. You heard him play the melody, and then, you heard his voice box pick up singing the next verse.

"Whether she loves me or loves me not, Sometimes it's hard to tell; Yet I am longing to share the lot Of beautiful Daisy Bell"

With the next chorus, you sang together again, this time intentionally.

"Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer, do I'm half crazy, All for the love of you!

It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage, But you'll look sweet, upon the seat, Of a bicycle built for two!"

"Enough," P03 said, cutting off the melody. "We're getting distracted."

You looked back up at P03 and nodded. "Sorry." You could've sworn you saw his display face had a blushing expression again. But you decided not to pry, and simply got back to work.