#hosted network supported no problem

[thunderlina]

In the wake of the TikTok ban and revival as a mouthpiece for fascist propaganda, as well as the downfall of Twitter and Facebook/Facebook-owned platforms to the same evils, I think now is a better time than ever to say LEARN HTML!!! FREE YOURSELVES FROM THE SHACKLES OF MAJOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND EMBRACE THE INDIE WEB!!!

You can host a website on Neocities for free as long as it's under 1GB (which is a LOT more than it sounds like let me tell you) but if that's not enough you can get 50GB of space (and a variety of other perks) for only $5 a month.

And if you can't/don't want to pay for the extra space, sites like File Garden and Catbox let you host files for free that you can easily link into NeoCities pages (I do this to host videos on mine!) (It also lets you share files NeoCities wouldn't let you upload for free anyways, this is how I upload the .zip files for my 3DS themes on my site.)

Don't know how to write HTML/CSS? No problem. W3schools is an invaluable resource with free lessons on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and a whole slew of other programming languages, both for web development and otherwise.

Want a more traditional social media experience? SpaceHey is a platform that mimics the experience of 2000s MySpace

Struggling to find independent web pages that cater to your interests via major search engines? I've got you covered. Marginalia and Wiby are search engines that specifically prioritize non-commercial content. Marginalia also has filters that let you search for more specific categories of website, like wikis, blogs, academia, forums, and vintage sites.

Maybe you wanna log off the modern internet landscape altogether and step back into the pre-social media web altogether, well, Protoweb lets you do just that. It's a proxy service for older browsers (or really just any browser that supports HTTP, but that's mostly old browsers now anyways) that lets you visit restored snapshots of vintage websites.

Protoweb has a lot of Geocities content archived, but if you're interested in that you can find even more old Geocities sites over on the Geocities Gallery

And really this is just general tip-of-the-iceberg stuff. If you dig a little deeper you can find loads more interesting stuff out there. The internet doesn't have to be a miserable place full of nothing but doomposting and targeted ads. The first step to making it less miserable is for YOU, yes YOU, to quit spending all your time on it looking at the handful of miserable websites big tech wants you to spend all your time on.

[serpentface]

What’s the architecture/layout of old Bur, how do modern people perceive the ruins?

The city in its peak was very large and spread over both shoreline and a network of small islands. These islands comprised a waterfront district connected by a network of bridges and canals, where a large portion of its non-agricultural lower class lived.

It had a fairly well organized and efficient freshwater+sanitation system across most of its span (the canal district had less effective plumbing largely due to logistical difficulties, most of its wastewater was instead flushed by rain powered cisterns). The water system was powered by the Hsuke river and made fresh water readily accessible throughout the majority of the city (though few homes had direct freshwater plumbing). It had several major public baths, and the homes of the wealthiest members of society had their own private bathing pools.

In this part of the world, it is broadly regarded as once being one of the most beautiful cities to have ever existed. It was particularly noted for its water gardens (still a fixture of present day Burri culture) which were absolute marvels of engineering for that period, with the majority of these being entirely artificial and supported by its network of aqueducts. These hosted thousands of ornamental plants, fish, and fowl, as well as fruiting trees and shrubs. They were treated as a public work meant to benefit all citizens, and existed throughout the city.

The palace in particular was noted as impressive, in part for its architecture but mainly for its gardens. These hosted 'exotic' plants and a menagerie of animals from across the empire's territory, and existed in part as a symbol of the state's power and reach. It was a trend for emperors to bring in the fiercest animal from each conquered province to the grounds, with the an-nechoi being the beast of choice from the lands across the sea to the east, with one (Probably erroneously) cited as killing thirty servants in the process of moving it into the gardens.

The palace was located within the temple district. This district housed over a hundred shrines to the various lesser deities of the pantheon, and temple complexes to the seven chief deities (the firstborn gods who created the world, all other gods were later descendants). Old Burri temples were Kinda similar in shape to a ziggurat, though had an accessible interior space and a central tower which housed the shrine. At this time, the chief gods were believed to physically inhabit their temples. Each god had its own high priest permitted to attend to their shrine, with the emperor being the high priest to Inanariya (king of the gods) and the only person permitted to directly commune with this deity. The foundations to these temples are relatively intact in the present day, though none of the towers remain (collapsed in earthquakes with no one to rebuild them).

The city was heavily fortified, having one external wall surrounding most of its length, and an internal wall surrounding the palace/temple district (which doubled as a fortress).

---

The period of sea level rise began with a 500ish year period of mostly gradual increase, which occurred slowly enough that most infrastructure could adapt very easily and the problem went unnoticed by most (the city of Bur experienced most of its Growth during this time). It then culminated with about a century of (relatively) rapid rise, which is the direct cause of the city's abandonment.

The canals flooding had always been a problem during storms, but this began to occur with notable frequency, alongside the water level as a whole rising quickly enough to be noticed on an immediate human timespan. The canal district was maintained for a while by rerouting some of its waterways and building up barriers, but it was the first part of the city to be abandoned. Things got more serious when the mainland parts of the city grew increasingly impacted by storm surges that never seemed to fully retract, and major parts of its surrounding farmland were hit by surges and tidal waves, and rendered too saline to remain arable.

The actual single biggest cataclysm was the collapse of the city's mainland sewage system. It was built with flood canals as a failsafe, but these were built to withstand heavy rain rather than an encroaching ocean. Storm surges would cause large segments of the city to be flooded with sewage (including some of the freshwater plumbing), and serious disease outbreaks would follow.

These issues were enabled/exacerbated by earthquakes (the region is geologically active and this isn't unusual) that further damaged and mingled the sewage and freshwater systems. One earthquake and its subsequent tidal wave was a turning point, and the resulting breakdown of (already strained) infrastructure rendered a large swath of the city uninhabitable in the space of about a week. This also just caused immediate damage to much of the city's architecture/walls, and collapsed the tower of the temple to Inanariya (never a good sign). This is when the full exodus began, first with people flocking to un-flooded parts of its city and farmlands, and those who could afford it fully relocating to other cities/towns.

All of this issues were compounded by the 1st Burri Empire already being in a period of collapse at this time. This was largely a matter of simple overextension. Its borders were constantly under attack by rival states/its victims, sometimes with great success. Bur's own population had burgeoned well past what the imperial core land could sustain, and its cities relied predominantly on extraction of foreign grain/goods to feed their people. It lost most of its eastern land holdings in a fairly rapid timespan (overextended with wars at multiple fronts), which caused frequent famines in its core.

This put pressure on its final emperors to invest in increasingly desperate expansionist projects, while attempting to keep up public morale with lavish public works and objectively stupid vanity projects. The attempt to excavate a canal at the Viper seaway's 'tail' (one of the few eastern regions it retained secure control of at that point) was in part a desperate act to revive its economy by opening up/monopolizing a new trade system. The amount of money and manpower sunk into this ultimately doomed project was followed by Bur being fully ousted from its eastern holdings, and was one of the final straws in its collapse.

People in the city of Bur proper were dealing with the double front of starvation and their homes + streets + immediate water supply being flooded with seawater and literal human feces. These issues impacted the lower classes first and most severely, but ultimately transcended class boundaries. Famine grew more and more rampant, not only with the loss of the colonial holdings that supported the population but of farmland in the imperial core- much of the city of Bur's immediate farmlands were unproductive due to repeat inundation with saltwater during surges, and the farmland along the Yamage river to the north was rapidly being captured and pillaged by the Hsem (historical enemies, a nomadic group with a khait warrior culture from further west).

All this was fucking unlivable in of itself, but also had very obvious implications in the context of Burri emperors also being high priests and the chief intermediary between the gods and the people. Not only was the government failing to sustain its citizens to begin with, but signs of divine disapproval were deeply apparent.

So the last days of the 1st Burri empire were a chaotic period of civil unrest, most acute in and around city of Bur proper. This involved near-constant peasant revolts and several attempted coups. The last Burri emperor (of the First empire) ultimately fled the capital of Bur and reestablished in Titenegal, declaring it the new capital. This was then sacked by the Hsem within a year and after that it was fucking Joever.

The city of Bur was functionally abandoned by this point. People still Lived There and there were several attempts to set up a new government, all of which failed in the short term. After the collapse was complete, its inhabitants were mostly just peasants who built up new homes further inland and sustained themselves on the remaining farmland. Few people lived permanently in the city proper due to all of its intact infrastructure being effectively non-functional without the governmental bodies/human labor to sustain it.

---

It should also be noted that it was Extremely not just Bur that was flooded, the sea level rise was worldwide (resulting from a collapsing ice sheet) and almost Every coastal city during this period experienced the same issue. Bur's demise was just notably dramatic in that it was once the most heavily populated human city that has Ever Existed, and directly correlated with the fall of the empire it hosted.

The flooding was fairly gradual, but it's been 7 centuries since the first Burri empire's collapse and the fall of its capital city, and many contemporary records were lost to the immediate chaos and to the large span of time since. Cultural memory tends to reframe the flood VERY rapid on a human scale, many of the stories describe the city being swallowed in a single wave as an act of divine punishment (the popular notion at the time that the last emperors deeply displeased and shamed the gods has stuck into the narrative, often exaggerated into stories of them being horrifically debauched blasphemers guilty of the worst disgraces imaginable). Even more conservative accounts tend to imagine the totality of the destruction taking place over the span of about a year (merging the memories of the immediate earthquake devastation with more gradual elements of its slow flooding). People widely believe that most of its residents drowned in the city's cataclysmic demise, and that the ruins are now Extremely haunted.

The state of the flooding is not 'completely under the sea' and you can still walk/wade through most of the inland ruins (the canal district is effectively submerged, with most structures that Would be above the water level having collapsed against the strain). As such, some people Do Live Here. These people are mostly smugglers and pirates using the ruins as a hideout, and/or opportunistic hunters and fishermen who won't let ghosts stop them. Entering the city ruins is currently forbidden (largely Because of the criminal nature of basically every motive to go here (even hunting, which is considered poaching)), but enforcement of this rule/active patrols to prevent entry are inconsistent.

The majority of Old Bur's inhabitants are animals. The un-flooded parts of the city and its gardens are now a host to a thriving community of native plants and animals (and a few descendants of escaped non-native zoo animals/ornamental plants that adapted well to the conditions).

The egret shown here is a foreign species originally brought as an ornamental bird. In the centuries since its first import, it has become widespread and occurs on both sides of the Mouth seaway. It can hunt in both freshwater and saline environments, and a very large population lives permanently in the ruins of Old Bur.

Its common name is the ghost egret. Contemporary Burri folklore holds that the ghost egrets of Old Bur are literal ghosts, carrying the souls of those who died in the cataclysmic floods.

[strawberryya]

too pure for hell, but fallen nonetheless

pairing: kang taehyun x reader

synopsis: Do you ever find yourself wishing you could escape your problems? Still, allowing the mind to conjure such a scene may unfurl a worse struggle than the present. As you journey through life, be mindful of the choices you make, for they hold the power to summon the winds of fate.

word count: 7.1k

genre/cw: angst, smut, supernatural au, selkie!taehyun, fem!reader, drowning depicted, death mentioned, killing and murder mentioned, suicidal thoughts, being held captive against your will, chasing/hunting depicted (not animals), unprotected sex, enemies to lovers… or well…, general hatred towards the human race, betrayal and lots of mixed feelings, cold exterior Taehyun.

rating: 18+

a/n: I DID IT! I'm not sure what I did, but I certainly did it.

this is my second fic for the wonderful collaboration thrill of the hunt, hosted by @cultofdionysusnet - check out the other exciting and thrilling stories on the official master list here!

network tagging: @svthub @cultofdionysusnet @k-labels @kvanity-main

How does one move on? 

It’s an impossible question. Especially when you have just uncovered the biggest betrayal in your life. He had cheated on you. A month before the wedding. 

Your boyfriend since forever, your high school sweetheart, your everything - and your best friend. 

Your soon-to-be husband and your maid of honor had decided it would be a good time to reveal the years of cheating they had hidden from you today. Because your failed project at work hadn't been enough to ruin your entire week, but now your entire future was in shambles at your feet. 

The new park had been planned out to the last detail, your entire team had done their absolute best for half a year and now it was all to be thrown out the window for a new twenty-story building and a parking lot. “Which makes sense, because the world doesn’t have enough of those,” you complained, holding back your tears on the phone as you drove home. Your mom listened halfheartedly.

“Well, sweetie, I know it’s hard, but I think that you should just say ‘okay’ about all this for now. And just focus on the wedding instead! I got these new place cards, and I think they’re absolutely perfect.” 

“Mom. I really don’t care about that right now…” you were going to explain, but you let your words stay inside, afraid you might say something you would regret if you didn’t shut your mouth. 

“No, no… I can understand that…” she conceded, sounding just a bit hurt that you didn’t want to gush about your upcoming wedding. 

“I’ll talk to you later Mom… Tom said he wanted to talk about something tonight, so I’ll just call you tonight or tomorrow.”

Before hanging up she told you to just relax at home with your fiancé, to try and be happy about what life has given you instead of what it takes away… she wanted you to try and look on the bright side of life. 

You weren’t sure you would be able to see anything past the clouds that stormed your mind after the horrible meetings you had been suffering through the entire day. But you wanted to think about something else too and promised her to try. 

That’s not a promise you were able to keep, however. Walking through the door to find Tom waiting anxiously in the kitchen with your best friend right beside him. Holding his hand, gently, supportively. Your heart stopped when you saw the look on their faces, and you felt your once picture-perfect life cracking at the edges. 

When they confessed their love for each other you didn’t cry, you didn’t even ask how, when, or why. You felt so empty as you watched your best friend for ten years wail for you to forgive them and not be mad at her. 

“I never wanted to hurt you. But I fell in love! Can’t you be happy for me?”

Her voice was strained from the tears. You thought the tears looked just as forced. 

Tom didn’t say anything. He had apologized and told you he wanted to call off the wedding. The wedding was supposed to happen in less than a month. The wedding you had planned together since you were only children.

Your head hurts. You needed them to shut up. To get out of your sight.

Couldn’t they just leave you alone?!

Standing up suddenly, your best friend’s pleas stopped, making your body sigh in relief before you stormed right back out of the house. 

You didn’t know where you were going at first. Head and body pounding with anger, confusion, and fear. If you could just find somewhere to think, everything would get better. The car speeding through the streets wasn’t helping you think right now. You needed something that would let you cry the tears that had been held back all day, without a word of comfort in return. Somewhere the salty streams dripping from your face wouldn’t make a difference. Something bigger than all of your problems. 

The sea.

You had always been fond of the sea. As a kid, you used to swim fiercely in even the highest of waves. Your parents standing by the shore with worry in their eyes and hands waving you back towards land. There’s no beach like the one in your childhood close to where you live. But not far from the city is a small port, the sea visible for a good stretch before the land overtook it and hid it away from the population walking by. 

When you curl up next to the edge of the concrete docks, the salty water ripples calmly in front of you. There weren’t many waves this far into the docks, but further out you could see the white lines appearing and dissolving over and over again. It was hypnotic. 

Silently the tears you had held back began running down your cheeks. You held yourself tighter. The slight breeze scented by the sea mist blew gently in your hair, drying the tears as they came. 

“Why…” you mourned. 

There was nobody around, no one to disturb or comfort you, so your sobs grew louder the more you thought about the reality of what had happened. So many things had gone wrong. Everything was just- so wrong.

You looked over the edge of the concrete land under your body, down at the bottomless waters. What would it feel like to dive in and let your body be engulfed by the dark water? You shook your head at your distorted reflection at the fleeting thought. 

It would hurt just as much to leave everything behind as it did to stay. 

Nevertheless, the pain of holding on even on a day like this was overwhelming. It made your every muscle shake with frustration. Your sobs mirrored your desperation, your tears dripping down your cheeks, pooling at your jaw, and one by one, joining the sea. 

When your blurred gaze met a pair of huge black eyes in the water, you froze up. They were staring at you, watching you cry with their big black eyes that showed no emotion that you could register. 

It was a seal, the shadow in the water revealing its large size. It was bigger than the small ones usually seen around these shores, but it was undeniably a seal. 

The large seal blinked at you slowly, before turning around to swim away. But instead of simply leaving you to your suffering, it began looking back at you at every other meter it swam as if to check if you were coming along. You thought you might be dreaming because there was no way a seal was trying to get you to come with it into the sea. When you didn’t come with, it stopped, seemingly waiting for you again. 

Without really knowing why, you kicked off your shoes and stepped into the water. The freezing waves drenched your clothes, but the cold against your skin didn’t make you go back. You begin to swim, following the seal into the deeper parts of the ocean. Your heart pounded in your chest, the thrill of doing something dangerous filling your entire body with adrenaline. It felt just like it had when you were little, except now no one waited for you at the shoreline. 

You wanted to escape everything, and following a seal into the depths of the sea might be a temporary way, but it was all you had right now. The seal dove under the surface, and you held your breath and followed. 

It was impossible to see anything in the dark, murky waters, and the current quickly overpowered you. You weren’t even able to fight the large body of water when you felt your body being sucked down and away from everything you had ever known. When the cold and the dark enveloped you, you let go of your breath, the light from above disappearing from your vision as you closed your eyes in resignation. 

You couldn’t remember what happened after that. Your mind was a blur, everything in your memory hazy and seen through the murky waters you had believed you had drowned in. 

Later, you realized that you must’ve washed up on the long rocky beach before they took you. When the fae had taken you captive. 

When you came to, you weren’t cold or wet anymore, but your hair still smelt like the salty water that had enveloped you as you swam after the seal. You weren’t anywhere near the sea anymore, you couldn’t even hear it, but you knew it hadn’t been a dream. 

For days, you only saw the four walls of your new prison. The large window showed nothing but the drop of the mountains surrounding the entire castle. In other words, you couldn’t even dream of escaping. Unless you wished to crash through the colorful glass pains and into a sure death. There had been one other girl in the room, but you had barely spoken. Cuddling together during the cold nights to reserve some of your combined heat, you stayed quiet, knowing that your capturers were most likely listening to you at all times. The only words you had exchanged were simple words of comfort. 

“I want to go home,” she had whispered one night. You had squeezed her tighter, answering with a hushed, “Me too.” 

Even after days in captivity, you had a hard time understanding just what had happened on that day. The guards barely spoke to the two of you but made sure you were well-fed and clean the entire time. It was confusing, being a prisoner, but being taken care of by mystical creatures you had never even believed to be real. 

You had been informed that you were the property of the fae realm inhabitants, of something called the Latha court. Everywhere you went in the short trips guards led you through in the castle you could only see what you would describe as impossible sights. Human-looking people with horns, tails, and skin that ranged in all the colors of the rainbow. You had heard stories of mystical beings, but they had only ever been just that - stories. Fairytales…

Humans existed in the castle, but they never even looked at you or your companion. Always too focused on their assignments. Clad in rags with hands cracked and bleeding from the cold. 

It did seem as though they were being respected as servants, however. None of them were beaten, and none of them were ever heard complaining. You weren’t sure they were able to, but you chose not to think about that too much. Hoping with everything you had, that your captors were nicer than they had shown until now. 

The days all felt the same in that dark room, the stone walls clad in rundown tapestries and flickering candles to fight the long nights didn’t help you or your companion when the horrible truth faced you both: you were either stuck in here forever, soon to be used as servants like the other humans you had seen around, or you would be killed. 

It didn’t take long until the answer was clear to both of you. You sometimes overheard the people who passed by your room, but usually, it was nothing more than gossip or friendly chatter. This time, however, their words would haunt you both. 

"Do you feel the thrill in the air? The Hunt is upon us!" A raspy voice had declared with joy as two sets of feet seemed to be passing by your door.

"The humans have been preparing for our ceremonial chase, let's hope it's more exciting than last year. I mean, come on, not a single scratch? Boring!"

"Well, we did stick to tradition and spiced things up in the Oidhche region. Those humans got a run for their money!" They both chuckle in unison as they continue down the corridor.

Their words sent chills down your back. Would you soon lose your life in the most gruesome of ways? You tried to not imagine what they had meant by “the Hunt”, but the way they had spoken of you and your cellmate as if you were nothing but prey had frightened you. You would need to escape, soon. 

You had made up an escape plan, a plan you had told no one. But you knew your cellmate had her own plans, she had looked way too scared the day you had heard those two fae pass by your room speaking of the expected slaughter. 

On the day you were both allowed out of your room to walk the short walk to the washrooms to shower, you knew time was of the essence. It had to happen today. 

“Take the chance if it comes,” you whispered to your companion. Her hand closed around yours in response, as they led the both of you out and down the long spiral hallways that seemed to be everything the castle consisted of. You were cold, and your ears pulsed as the two guards showed you the way. They were stronger, and faster. You knew it from the way they weren’t the least bit scared that either of you would make a run for it. That’s why you stood a chance. They had underestimated you, and you would need to use that to your advantage. You were almost at the washrooms you had seen many times before when one of the guards stopped to chat with another fae, giving you just the opportunity the both of you had been looking for. Without a look, you both fled in different directions. the one guard who had been left alone with you was forced to choose who to chase after. Luckily for you, he didn’t seem to choose you this time. 

You ran as fast as your legs could carry you, through the corridors that all looked the same, meeting close to nobody in the endless hallways to your luck. In some twisted fate of luck, you managed to rip open a large wooden door, the wind slapping you in the face as you stared out into the open mountain landscape. You needed to continue running if you wanted to live, but looking at where you must go next, you realized that you might die anyway. 

It wasn’t much of a choice in the end, your life being taken by the elements at least seemed like the better option compared to the hunt that was going to be in your future no matter what you did if you stayed. You ran down the steep hill, not looking back at the large building a single time, praying to whoever would listen that nobody was following you just yet. 

“Taehyun! Did you hear?” Seungkwan said as he sprinted to catch up with his friend. Or well, acquaintance. Taehyun didn’t see any of the people in his court as friends. Allies, perhaps, but not friends. 

Taehyun had not heard, but judging by the exhilarated expression on Seungkwan’s face, the news he brought were big. 

“Some of the humans ran away, with only three days left until the hunt starts too! And guess what, I heard that one of them was yours!” Seungkwan gossiped, looking intently at Taehyun’s expression to watch for any type of reaction to his words. To his disappointment, Taehyun proved hard to get a reaction from, as usual. Although allied, Taehyun wasn’t much of a fun person to play around with, at least not for his fae friends who loved rousing others for their entertainment. He had learned to keep up his cold facade in front of everyone. No weakness could ever be shown, or he would be exploited. He knew this. It had happened before. 

“So? It’s not like there are too few humans in the world, what’s one less?” 

The disdain in Taehyun’s words showed a bit more than he had intended to, a nice surprise for Seungkwan. “Well, even if they are rather worthless creatures, they sure are fun to play with…” Seungkwan said and winked at him. “Just remember to behave. We’re not like those savages from Oidhche, you know.”

“Behave? Why would I have to…” 

Taehyun’s question was promptly interrupted by a servant hesitantly calling out his name. “Kang Taehyun?”

The servant drew his attention, and Seungkwan left him with more questions than answers, only the sinking feeling that he would have to deal with humans a lot more than he had hoped for this year. 

He was correct, it didn’t take long before he had been informed by the servant that he was to leave immediately. His mission: catch the human he had brought in only a few weeks ago. 

He was seething. 

“Do I have to be the one? Can’t someone who takes pleasure in the damn hunt take her back into custody?”

“She was tricked by you, she's your responsibility. Leave soon, she can’t have gotten far.” Was all the servant responded, his monotone voice sounding more like a machine than a person. 

Taehyun had always loathed the way the courts deprived humans of their free will. However, he despised the humans themselves even more. The servant left him as soon as his orders had been fulfilled. 

Once she’s caught, I will just have to hunt her again once the ceremony begins. Taehyun thought as he wandered after the escaped human into the wilderness he had been informed that his prey had last been seen. He was tired of it all. The annual hunt, the three courts’ fake politeness, the humans that were brought back beaten and killed, or bitten and kept as nothing but pets. 

It all disgusted him. 

But in the end, he partook in it, year after year. Having little choice since he had sworn his oath to the Latha court in his youth. It was for protection, which he and his remaining family got. And honestly, it had been a good way to let off some steam. Having an outlet for all that anger was needed, but now… 

It hadn’t taken Taehyun long to pick up on your track, seeing as you had no real survival skills and ended up leaving every kind of clue after you as you trudged through the wilderness. 

It had only been a couple of hours since you had begun your run, and the sun was starting to set already. You had arrived at the edge of vegetation that wasn't just rocks and low bushes. The new area was filled with tall trees, high cliffs, and the sweet fragrance of pine.

If you weren’t running for your life, this would’ve been a nice hike. 

As the daylight faded and the cold air grew stronger, you began to feel uneasy. You weren't adequately prepared for this journey and the thought of making it through the night was worrisome. The possibility of encountering wild animals added to your concerns. To make matters worse, it occurred to you that one of your captors, a fae, might also be stalking you in the darkness.

You continued to wander deeper into the patch of trees, hoping for some shelter from the wind, or some water that could drench the thirst that had begun becoming unbearable. 

The warmth from the sun was gone quicker than you had hoped. You were already hungry and thirsty, and you had begun slightly regretting your decision to run. At least they had kept you warmer than you were right now, and you hadn’t had to go hungry or thirsty even once. Maybe you had gotten the wrong idea. 

No. They had held you prisoner, and you had heard them speak of humans as if they were nothing but silly playthings one could kill or capture as one pleased. 

They weren’t human, they meant you harm, and you needed to remember that. 

It was almost dark now, and you were sobbing on a patch of moss. It was dry and scratched your fingers as you held onto it. You were ready to give up. You hadn’t been able to find anything, no water, to shelter, and in the end, you had even twisted your ankle. 

You weren’t a “survivor”, you had lived a way too privileged life for this to be normal for you. All those movies and books had strong women who knew how to handle themselves even in situations such as these. Now, you realize that that was an ideal you fell short of right now. 

The desperation and regret over how you had ended up in this situation made your body shake violently as you cursed your ex-fiance and best friend. You blamed them. And you couldn’t stop yourself from shouting into the forest at the thought of their betrayal. “IF I EVER GET BACK HOME YOU’RE BOTH DEAD FOR THIS!” 

You almost missed the chuckle coming from behind you. But the echo of your voice didn’t hide the sound of another person in the wilderness completely. You froze. 

“Who’s there?” You asked weakly, “Are you… here to kill me? To take me back to that castle?”

Not receiving any response added to your frustration. It was a matter of life and death and yet, the person on the other side chose not to respond, but instead, laugh at your misery.

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?” 

The voice scoffed, “Does that even matter at this point?” 

As a man's voice pierced through the air, you were taken aback by how alluring it sounded. This unsettling realization left you feeling uneasy- you might consider going to therapy if you make it out alive. It's not ideal for one's first reaction to be finding their possible killer's voice attractive.

“I- Uhm, it matters.” You answered, a bit awkwardly. 

Taehyun was a bit stunned by your shifting emotions. You were truly human, your aggressiveness and stupidity were both visible in how you spoke to him. He should kill you and have it be over with. 

You squint at the shadows beneath the trees. Hoping you will get to see the man who belonged to the voice before your demise. Suddenly, the dim light hanging onto the branches in the woods reveals the man who caught up to you in just a few hours. Your jaw drops in amazement.

He was wearing only a robe, brownish gray and smooth, with specks of dark gray scattered throughout it. Seal skin, you realized and reeled back as you watched the man with eyes as dark as the deepest ocean approached you. The fur flowed with his movements, the part around his décolletage glistening from small pearls of salt and water that seemed to surround him. It was beautiful, the few rays of sun catching on the small drops all around him, making him appear as if he was nothing more than an illusion. 

The scowl on his face dragged you back to your reality. He was coming for you, he had to be one of them. 

“Wait!” you shouted, which miraculously made him stop in his tracks. 

The fur wrapped around him had reminded you of just how you had ended up here, about your last moments in the human realm. “You’re… you’re that same seal, aren’t you?”

“Again, does it matter?” The man answered.

You frowned and swiped the back of your hand against your cheek, wiping away some of the tears that ran cold on your skin. “I told you. It matters.”

Were you irrational and stupid for not running, or were you one of those humans who used their fragility as a weapon? Taehyun couldn’t make up his mind about you just yet. He scanned you up and down, your scratched-up body still on your knees in the dry moss. 

“Even if I am, don’t you think you should be running by now? You have been running all day, and yet, now that you see the one who got you here, you don’t even attempt to escape?”

Without thinking, you responded earnestly, “I don’t stand a chance anyhow. Why run?” 

He considered this. He knew you were right. You were already a wreck, and it had been less than a full day since you had gone off on your own. "Then why should I bother? You speak true, your fate is sealed. The forces of nature shall ensure that humanity receives their due retribution in due time."

He turned to leave, and you panicked. You didn’t want to be left alone again. Left to die. 

“Please, don’t leave me…” you said before you could stop yourself. Tears make your voice thick, sounding more like a plea than anything else. 

Taehyun stopped, but he didn’t turn around. Seeing your sorry figure beg him to save your life was something he had seen enough times for an entire lifetime. The ships of people he had willed into the depths of the sea had all begged to live, and not once had he cared enough to save a single person on board. “I don’t care if you die out here.”

You knew that, but you were desperate for comfort and safety. “Hold me.” 

Your voice was faint, but he heard you loud and clear. 

"What?" he exclaimed, his surprise sounding genuine. He had expected begging, but certainly not a proposition that would require him to spend an entire night next to a human. He spun around to look you in the eyes.

You didn’t hold anything back anymore. You refused to die out here. Any way to survive was a good way, even if you had to agree to things you never wanted to agree to. “Hold me. Don’t go. Hold me close tonight. Let me survive the night, and I’ll go back with you without any fuss and you can hunt me again without having to put in any effort!” 

“Without any fuss?”

“I’ll be super obedient.”

“Humans lie,” he said, pain now visible in his stormy eyes. 

“I won’t survive if I lie.”

“No. You won’t.” 

With that he sat down against the large rock beside you, his big doe eyes catching the last of the sun’s rays as he watched you come closer and crawl over to him and huddle close against his warm body. The fur that wrapped around him kept him warm in even the harshest of conditions. 

You didn’t question anything, already trying your best to live up to the promise you had made. No fuss. Just survival. 

Taehyun had never expected that he would wake up next to a human clinging to him like this. Let alone one that was supposed to be captured or killed by him. Instead, he watches you as you sleep, the morning sun lighting up your features. 

Your body is soft, your limbs all wrapped around him as if he was someone you loved, instead of someone you should be afraid of. It made his heart beat faster, heat creeping up his face as he caught himself pushing a lock of hair behind your ear. He hated you, he hated you as much as all other humans. Just because you were one of the prettiest humans he had seen up close, he couldn’t just abandon that hatred. He quickly pulled his hand away from you and pushed you off of him. You have gotten enough sleep. He needed you both to get back to the court before the hunt. 

“Let’s go,” he ordered the moment your eyes opened, a hand quickly shielding your eyes from the sharp sun that shone down through the foliage. 

“What?” you asked with a hoarse voice. “Is it time for work already, baby?” 

Taehyun knew you hadn’t meant him. But he couldn’t help the way his heart ached when you called him by the endearment. 

Humans, always playing tricks on each other. They don’t care about anyone but themselves, and they have the guts to pretend that they feel affection towards one another through names like those. 

He hated them. 

And you…?

You were in a lot of pain, but you didn’t whine as much as you would have liked to as you tried to keep your promise. And your captor didn’t complain about your slow hike back through the forest more than a couple of times. Neither of you were saying much at all if you were being honest. It wasn’t until after a few hours that you had to speak up about how thirsty and hungry you were, that Taehyun did anything but look back at you to make sure you were following him closely enough. He came close to you, stormy eyes looking down at you with disdain. 

“Once you humans get something, you always want more. I spared your life, so why can't you just come with me quietly?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll make it back without your help." You protested. 

He watched you as he considered if he should simply leave you to die, it was always an option. But with so little time until the hunt, he would have to put even more energy into finding a new human that could participate in the games. You just needed some water, he could use some too if he was honest. And he was always honest if nothing else. 

“Come on,” Taehyun said and turned around. Kneeling on the ground with his back towards you. You stood in shock, watching the back of his body as he waited for you. 

“You don’t mean…” you hesitated to finish your question, what if he would kill you for even suggesting something as absurd as him carrying you, his prey, on his back? 

“I don’t have all day. If you would rather walk yourself, that’s fine by me, but you better keep up.”

You carefully let your body rest against him as he rose from the ground. His body was much stronger than it might’ve looked under the thick fur that hung over his toned limbs. You felt the cold of a blade at his side, your skirt having slipped up just enough for your leg to be bare against the soft fur. It made you remember once again that he could change his mind and kill you at any moment. But he hadn’t, and you couldn’t help but be thankful for that. 

He carried you for miles, over the rocky mountain ranges, and through patches of higher vegetation. The entire time your core was being pressed against his hard back. You held back your thoughts the best you could, but having your hands wrapped around his strong shoulders made it hard not to think about how long it had been since you had last felt the relief of an orgasm. 

Taehyun himself had tried his very best to ignore the tiny sounds you made whenever he adjusted your position on his back. It wasn’t often he had been in a position where he heard that kind of sound coming from a woman, much less a human woman. The way it made blood rush to parts of his body he didn’t want it to, made him irrationally angry. 

Before you could make up your mind on how to handle the sensation you heard the faint sound of water. Salt filled the air, but you couldn’t see the ocean anywhere. 

“Are we there soon?” you asked hopefully. 

“Yes,” Taehyun answered without further explanation. 

Soon you could see what you had only heard, a large ocean, but no shore in sight. You two now stood on a cliff that dropped straight down to the angry sea below. 

“You don’t intend to throw me off into the ocean, right?” you said as a joke, but when you got no answer, you began to get a bit worried. 

He wasn't throwing you to your death this time though. “The stream over there has fresh water. You can do what you need to do there,” he said while dropping you down on your hurt foot, making you wince in pain. Reminding him yet again of how you had huffed right beside his ear for hours. 

You made your way over to the wide stream, watching as it flowed from the high mountains down the barren landscape only to disappear off the side of the cliff you stood on. The freshwater from the mountaintops joined the vast sea with a rumble of thunder that echoed up the rocky walls. 

In the cold but clear water, you drank until you had quenched your thirst, and began washing up. You had gotten both sweaty and dirty from running yesterday and sleeping on the ground last night. As you pulled off piece by piece of your clothing to wash every inch of your skin in the chilly water, you felt his gaze on you. 

He had tried not to look, but it was hard to look away from your sensual body. The way your back curved, your legs that you oh so carefully washed clean, and when you turned a bit he could see the curve of your chest. Nipples hard from the cold, hands smoothing down the curves of your body as you got rid of any signs of your struggles from the previous day and night. 

Taehyun couldn’t take his eyes off of you, his prey, basking in the sunlight, stripped down to almost nothing. If this was another trick of yours, you had succeeded, he thought bitterly. He pressed on his hardness, but it only grew as you threw on only your shirt and began walking back towards where your hunter sat. You had quickly tried to wash everything else you owned and thought that if the sun couldn’t keep you warm enough, maybe your captor could help you yet again. 

Your intentions might have been less than pure, but you never actually thought the man who had seemed so indifferent to you would ever give you the pleasure you craved by now. However, you immediately spot what he’s trying to hide when you come close enough to see his tense stance. It was big. Hard, and hard to hide. 

It honestly turns you on even more. You have been high on adrenaline for hours, then cuddled to sleep by one of the most ripped men you have ever seen in real life. Edged by his back, and then aroused by his gaze on your naked body. His erection was just proof that he felt the same way you did. 

It might be a bad idea to sleep with your enemy, but- 

Why not release some steam before you have to figure out a new way of getting out of this situation?

Taehyun seemed oblivious to your plans, too focused on the way you stood, half-naked, watching him carefully from only a couple of meters away. He couldn’t meet your eyes, but he could feel them seeing through his fur coat, noticing every involuntary twitch of his body. 

When you had made up your mind you didn’t give yourself a chance to change your mind. 

You went straight up to the man where he stood, wrapping your arms around his neck, pressing your soft body against his hardness. “Tell me if you don’t want me,” you stated before kissing his lips softly. 

He returned it with fierceness. The passion of his tongue pressing into your mouth made your core ache for his touch. It didn’t matter who either of you were. It didn’t matter how you had gotten here. When he laid you down on the sun-warm grass and kissed down your body all you could think about was the pleasure he would give you. 

When his tongue flicked over your hard nipples your back arched into his touch. You were a needy mess when his fingers pushed their way inside of you. Your first orgasm washed over you as you moaned into the open sky above and his hand pressed against all the parts you needed him to touch. This only seemed to spur on the fire in your hunter’s actions even more. 

Caressing, more gentle than you had thought any fae capable of, and kisses, laden with the attraction you both held for one another made your mind fog up. 

When you begged him to put it in, he obeyed. Giving you exactly what you asked for. You had never felt so full, and you wished that your ex could cry about how he would never be able to fill you up this good. You meet Taehyun’s thrusts with your hips each time, grinding up against him, chasing your high yet again. His moans echoed in your mind. They sounded like the most beautiful siren melody, and you were already a lost soul in the deep waters that belonged to the man who had you screaming for more even as you knew what awaited the two of you in your future. 

He came on your stomach, your legs quivering as your core clenched around nothing once his length left you empty. The last thing you thought before giving in to the tiredness was that you had finally found your ticket out of this place. 

Not even as he fucked you had he taken his fur off. It had to mean something.

Your eyes open but your body stays completely still. The sun was setting once again, the sun shone down on your hunter's sharp features. He held you safely in his arms, and you couldn't ignore the fact that he was truly enchanting. Your hand smoothed over the fur that was loosely wrapped around his body. You had no idea what it could mean to him, but perhaps you had been right when you recognized the pattern of the fur. 

Maybe, this man was that same seal. And maybe, this fur was the only way he could shift between the two. 

You remembered what you had promised. But did he truly expect you to stick to your promise even as he was bringing you back to the people who had held you captive as a prisoner for weeks? He couldn’t be that naive. 

He was still asleep when you ripped the fur from his body. Leaving him bare, so gorgeous you almost regretted betraying his trust in this way as it meant you would certainly never see or feel his touch on you again. It was too late now though. You held his fur in your hand, grabbing the knife that had been attached to the garment. Taehyun woke from your movements and the knowledge that what he cared for most had been taken from him. 

“Give that back,” he warned, eyes watching the knife pressed to his fur with caution. You could hear thunder in the distance. 

“Send me home, and you can have it back.” You tried to steel yourself for what he would say or do in response to your actions. 

It was a threat, and he had messed up by even giving you the chance to make the situation disadvantageous for him. 

“I shouldn’t have expected you to be any different in the end. Always lying, always taking everything.” He thought about his own family, his parents, brothers, sisters, and cousins. All were killed by humans, hunters, and collectors. They always betrayed nature, and they were all liars who should never be trusted. 

You had just proven years of hatred and suspicion true with your betrayal. 

“Hand it over.”

“Not unless you promise to get me home!”

“I thought you knew that you wouldn’t survive if you chose to lie to me.”

He sounded hurt under the anger. Surprisingly, it pained you. Had you grown affectionate of the man you had been hunted, led astray, and were supposed to hate after a few gentle actions of affection from him?

You couldn’t think about it. Not now. You needed to get home. 

“Send me home! I don’t want to do it, but I can’t die here!” 

Taehyun’s gaze didn’t leave your grip on his fur. You didn’t know the power you held over him by holding that in your hands. If you truly destroyed it, he would be dead within a day. But telling you would only give you more power. How did you figure it out? Had his stern facade been broken down by a mere human woman?

He growled out his next words. Hating every second you were still in his sight. “Fine. give it to me, and you will go back.” 

You knew it was dumb to trust him, but if his previous actions and the myth about fae not being able to lie was his true self, he would keep his promise no matter what. You lowered the knife, holding out the coat. 

Your chest heaved with adrenaline. You didn’t know if you could bear meeting his dark eyes after what you had done. But it would all be worth it once you got home. Right?

Taehyun reached for his fur, snatching it out of your hand. His gaze was finally able to look at you once it was back in his possession. You looked apologetic, it disgusted him. You didn’t deserve to beg for his forgiveness, even through your eyes.  

When he took a step closer, your grip around the blade you still held tightened. Would he kill you instead? 

The clouds above your head draw nearer, thunder coming closer with every second that passes. You could barely hear him over the sounds of the waves below the cliff you stood on, breaking against the mountainside. You stepped back as he stepped towards you, his dark eyes keeping your attention locked on him. You didn’t even register how far he had pushed you until he put his hand on your chest, worried he might feel how hard your heartbeat was from his intimidating stare.

 “I never want to see you again.” his voice barely above a whisper. With a gentle push, his hand left your skin, and your feet were no longer on solid ground. You fell down the cliffside. 

Did he just push you to your death? You didn’t even scream. You simply accepted what had happened as you fell. At least, you had tried to get back home. Your body cracked through the surface of the water. But it didn’t hurt as much as you had imagined falling to your death would. 

When the darkness enveloped you once again, you were convinced this was the end of your depressing life. But, if he was anything, Taehyun was honest. He would keep his promise no matter what. You found yourself resurfacing from the water onto the same shoreline you had left just a little while ago. Struggling for breath, you managed to crawl back to the safety of the land, coughing up water and feeling your lungs ache more than the rest of your body.

You had made it back from the place no one was to return from. Thanks to him. 

Reblogging and commenting is highly appreciated!! Hearing what you thought is what makes writing and being here overall so much fun! Ty and ily 💕

[sgiandubh]

This is not a political post

One more time, in caps and bold: THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL POST. But if I can, as a diplomat and a historian, bring some extra context and try and understand what happened today in S's world, so be it. Enough said about me.

I am fumbling with a ton of thoughts since this morning, when this link was shared with me by one of the closest people in my platoon:

In a nutshell: S signed that (in)famous letter, an initiative of APUK (Artists for Palestine UK), a network that's been operating since 2015. You can read it in full if you open the link and I suggest you do. You will soon find out that the letter, while correctly pointing out the atrocious gesture of bombing a civilian hospital in Gaza, asked the world's governments to 'end their military and political support for Israel’s actions'. Nowhere in that letter did the word Hamas appear, which would immediately point out as supporting what is a terrorist movement that is, alas, also part and parcel of the Palestinian government, under Mahmoud Abbas's weak, irrelevant aegis. The man is an old PLO/Fatah crone: fishy, ineffective and fairly corrupted. His position on the Holocaust is, to be elegant, a study in ambiguity. Enough said.

It is pointless and absurd to try and explain the whole situation in detail. I would have to go back at least to the Balfour Declaration (1919) or the no less infamous end of the British/LoN/UN Palestine Mandate (1948), if I wanted to simply scratch the surface of a subject that is everywhere these days. With an intensity of absolutely legitimate emotions that can simply not be measured by any counter on this planet, as we speak.

But the facts are here, and naïve S had no damn idea: 500 civilians were killed, Tuesday night, in the bombing of the al-Ahli Baptist/Arab Hospital in Gaza City. Hullaballoo ensued on a cataclysmic scale: first, Hananya Naftali, a digital aide to Benjamin Netanyahu recklessly wrote on X that the "Israeli army [Tsahal] bombed a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza". Then erased the tweet. Several video collages released by the Tsahal, the first of which was heavily contested by a NYT journalist (and former Bellingcat researcher) Aric Toler, point out towards the PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad)'s forces being responsible for the strike.

These quotes from an Al Jazeera paper sum up the ensuing scandal better than I ever could - selected by me, but you can and probably should read it all (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/18/what-is-israels-narrative-on-the-gaza-hospital-explosion):

No craters mean no airstrike and most probably a rocket failure. The uneasiness remained, that being said, at the highest level. And the planned US-Egypt-Jordan- Palestine talks hosted by Amman were abruptly called off hours before Biden landed in Tel Aviv.

To cut the story short: the letter is right to point out that you just don't bomb hospitals when you are at war, as per the terms of the Fourth 1949 Geneva Convention, dealing with the protection of civilians in times of war. Both Israel (signed in 1949/ratified in 1951) and Palestine (2014) are, as parties and signatories, legally bound by it, in the eyes of International Law. The only problem with it is that it purposefully omits to put things into context (whodunnit) and forgets the cynical truth: Hamas keeps hundreds of innocent Israelis and two millions of innocent Gaza civilians as its hostages.

Article 18 is at the core of the matter:

The last thing S should have done is to sign that fucking treacherous letter, without getting a second (third, fourth...) opinion.

S is a good man, we all know and love this about him. He is also one of the most naïve people I have ever seen in this lifetime. This is why his final reaction really, really moved this cynic, here:

I am taking this home and keep it. It deeply moved me (yes, me):

" I don't know nearly enough and trying to educate myself on the conflicts in the Middle East. I feel helpless and wish I could help in some way.'

I am sure 'someone nice' called and 'nicely asked", maybe even offered some scarce and biased details, to prompt an impulse signature. I am also sure S didn't read the letter himself. There is no harm saying you were wrong. He did it with dignity and grace - no, it was not easy.

This is a man of worth speaking. Bravo!

But for the love of all that's holy, Sir: don't you ever step into this kind of shit again. These things are far more complex than you could ever fathom and it's a very cynical world out there. Leave it to us, we are handsomely paid for it by our governments. I hear you and I am completely supporting this more than welcome withdrawal. It's not worth much, for sure. But it is an honest POV.

Also, John 8:7:

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Kindly refrain from politics in your comments. Let's not drag trash where it should not be, ever. Thank you all.

[richardsphere]

Watching Climatiqueen

Headed into the first episode of the season, as the sixth episode to watch. (because nothing makes sense in this franchise) --- Ok so to start: Im on the page and im seeing the end-of-episode splash-art. Either this is a new character, Aurore has had a major overhaul, or the people who headcannon Adrien as Trans are about to rejoice quite loudly. (I think that this is probably either a new character, or an Aurore Redesign. But they look very Adrien, and the light makes it hard to see if the eyes are blue or green so that isnt helping) ---

Rose with the Unipony. Why does this read like an Ad? Has Kitty Section got itself a sponsorship? Did Rose sell out to RothToys Industries?

Ok so its an Aurore redesign. (good for her, sorry Trans Adrien fans, you'll have to stick with headcannons). Oh Chloe is back. She's claiming to grant wishes now? (and is clearly resentfull of the heroes... with a notable exception that she mentions Unicorns? which seems to be unrelated to any existing hero. Also no mention of Cat's. Is that Alec? I'll be honest, his wig looks weird, but He do Him. Ok Plagg and Adrien are alone. There is no timepressure, nobody about to enter the room and the Big Lie has just been brought up: Will Plagg's writing actually acknowledge the fact that Plagg knows the truth. Or are we going to have to invent some kind of "timetraveler stole Plagg's Memory" theory, because all Plagg's appearences this season have seemed to go out of their way from even acknowledging the fact that Plagg knows. Nope. No acknowledgement besides Plagg looking sideways in worry for Adrien being sad. Also Marinette is gone for some reason, Maybe this takes place during a summer vacation or something? --- Ok Marinette is still just home? So i guess "wait for you to arrive" just means Marinette is going to come over to his place. The Melodramatic tone of that line did not match with the degree of Marinette's absence. She's going to some kind of workshop?

French Plagg looks weird. And i dont like the flanderisation in this scene, continuing the "Plagg=cheese" thing and nothing more. Nathalie being a supportive mom is nice. Adrien doesnt know what he wants.

--- Placide with the hose. Ok so she's just going to Adriens place after all, not a workshop? Seriously what the heck are even the plans? This is mixed messages all over the place.

seven out of a hundred in one greeting... Marinette switches from French Pronounciations to an english-pronounced "fantastic" (which is weird, i remember from my french classes that the french also just... have 'fantastique', so the loanword feels redundant?) Ok like the little picture of Sublime playing the violin in the background, before turning to what apears to be a depressed Lila? --- Aurore is depressed as well. (did she get fired from her weathergig? I know she lost the contest but i think i remember them co-hosting anyway?)

I like that Placide has decided to just... carry a pressurised water-backpack with him.

Ok so we're meeting this Aglae character now. She looks like a vampire. Also it seems that she isnt sad about anything in her life but just... trying to win Chloe's Contest for 'greatest rise in subscribercount'. It's becoming very obvious now that this app is more then just a stylised way to represent character connections. It looks like Tomoe's plot is probably going to be a repeat of the "social media is evil"-angle from the rings)

Ok but why are there animal-themed communities? It was one thing when we thought it was just... using the symbols as profile pictures but its some kind of clique/caste system? Is that what the overarching plot for Tomoe is going to be? Some kind of Die Welle for Kids? Max's mom has a book about space weather. (My prediction: Adrien's Passion is going to be 'networking' and connecting his friends, fixing peoples problems and stuff, so this episode ends with Adrien getting Aurore to meet with Max so Max can get his mom to sign her book)

Ok so... I hate to say it but those people who assumed (just of the fact it was a character they didnt know yet) that Aglae was gonna be secretly Lila might have been hit with the sacred dodgeball. This scene could very well end up with a 'turns out it was lila, pretending to be supportive but deliberately planting the suggestion'. that is not to say i think they're right. (we literally only have 1 scene of the character, and nothing in this scene is truly damning). But it is to acknowledge that this character's introduction fits eerily in line with 'what would Lila do'. (just... if the writers actually wrote Lila as legitimately competent at her manipulations, which i still dont think they'd ever do.) Oh i see where this is headed... Placide is going to break her phone with his waterhose, leading to the akumatisation... (honestly, at this point, im just happy that we're akumatising aurore rather then going full-maya and introducing a new character to take her place like Maya took Manon) --- Ok. getting off the elevator im going to go into an aside. Because this seemingly small scene feels (to me) like its secretly a very big scene indeed. This scene seems to confirm a suspicion/hypothesis/theory i've had for a while: Adrien's Senti-Power. Ever since the Senti-stuff was introduced, and it became obvious that someone at the Agreste Manor was a senti (which is to say, the Ladybug episode introducing the concept of human-senti's), i've been speculating to myself which character it was gonna be. initially i was 20% Gabriel, 25% Nathalie, 5% Placide, 50% adrien. With Adrien having grown quite quickly. My main lead on Adrien was the fact that he was the only one that seemed to have a 'superpower' in their human form. Adrien's status instant mastery of anything. His nature as a polyglot and Homo Universale rendered him my main suspect for the Senti-twist early on. (even moreso then him being the most 'important' member of the family). Especially when combined with the Gabriel's "perfection" talk having had a big "ultimate lifeform"-tone to it. Which is to say, i posited the theory that Adrien has, all along, had a secret senti-power. The power to instantaneously master any skill he tried. Up until now, that hypothesis has been limited to indirect evidence, in the form of his wide and eclectic portfolio of skills and seemingly disparate fields of competency. But lacking the explicit 'instantaneous learning' proof required for an outright confirmation. (It having never been clear how quickly he took to learning Chinese, Piano or other skills) But this scene particularly? Explicitly stating he did all these things, from painting to macarons (which i understand to be a relatively advanced pastry-recipe) amazingly 'on his first try'. To me feels like it's meant to confirm exactly that suspicion. either that or Marinette is lying to spare his feelings. Which could theoretically be supported by the comedic-hijinks of the montage. But it's clear that Marinette, in this scene, is entirely 100% comprehensive of the fact that Adrien is indifferent to his competence and only trying to find the field of his passion. which is to say, 'lying to spare his feelings' has no place within this scene, as no one in this scene 'cares' about wether adrien is good at the thing. Basically. I feel like this scene is carrying big evidence for my 'Instant Mastery'-hypothesis. --- Ok Marinette is switching tactics: Instead of trying to see if Adrien likes the things she likes, she's trying to Yin Yang "opposites attract" this problem. I like this, its a scene of Marinette actually performing explicit self-sacrifice out of a desire to support her boyfriend. Please show do not ruin this the way you ruined werepapa's. We've gotten so little of marinette being a genuinely good girlfriend. Please tell me that everything we've seen so far has been an unfortunate series of aberattions, rather then a deliberate pattern established in episode one of your new season.

--- huh... its the aproaching deadline that gets her akumatised? I had legitimately expected them to make it to be the established 'placide sprays paparazi' running gag for this episode. Im gonna say it. That's dissapointing to me. Ok so here's a thing: Aurore still has her old akuma design right? And Millie had the same hair as Ringmaster (to the point where, in the promo-shots where Ringmaster had the Microphone, i legitimately thought it was Stormy Weather 3.0) and now Aglae also has the same 'skunk-type' hair. It feels like the writers heard the "too many blondes" complaint, and just copy-pasted Stormy's hair to compensate. --- Ok so the 'baricade yourself' scene does feel like... if the Lilaglae theorists are right, this scene would've been deliberately more drawn-out for a later "from Lila's perspective" reveal. (and yes, that does require the "Chrisalis is two people" theory to be true as well, but that theory is much more substantive on the evidence, with the notetakers clearly looking like different models and the two seperate voices). --- Now its time for the Climatiqueen fight. Now remember: The one thing the writers claim they want, is for Lila to be a 'worse' and 'more legitimate' threat then Hawkmoth was. Aurore has had 2 previous akumatisations (though only the first was on-screen), and given that Stormy Weather was the original pilot, and this is the season opener. this is the best chance at a direct comparison. And im gonna say it, the mind-controll 'press like on my video's' power is just... kind of a lame and worthless addition. And at least initially, the power-uses feel a lot more simple. She's pretty much limited herself to smaller scale effects. No giant, slow-growing glacier of suspence threatening. just some generic point-to-point lightning, a minor windblast and an iceslick.

At what point did Maribug hear Aurore refer to herself as climatiqueen? It feels like Mari should refer to her as Stormy and be corrected. Adrien gets to dodge some lightning. (its nice to see him portrayed as on-screen competent for once... usually the closest we get to "adrien is still badass" is "Marinette leaves and Adrien doesnt get killed off-screen so he must be somewhat competent" so the little lightning-dodge sequence is nice) Ok we're wind-blasting cars... thats better then when this fight started, but still feels small-scale compared to OG stormy Ok... so why cataclysm the train when you were already going to be running through it? It feels to me like Marinette could've easily side-dodged or followed him through the train. The Cataclysm feels wasted.

Ok when the heck did Lila get to skip 'regular' akuma and go straight to 'ultrakuma'. That has not been earned.

--- "everything on the internet is lies" ok so i really hope this "dangers of social media"-storyarc isnt going to end up swallowing the "big lie" storyarc, but given that both this first episode and the episode explicitly about the big lie seem to be focussing on the "evils of the social media"... i feel like that's waving a red flag. It could be that theoretically they manage to weave the "internet of lies" and "Marinette's big lie" stories together (through the shared themes of Ignorance VS Truth)... but given how Revalator ended i dont trust them to stick the landing there. Oh we're doing "superheroing is Adrien's passion" as well?.. I dont like it, if this was the first episode of the season I might be cautiously optimistic about that.. but given that I already know what happens in the next couple episodes (and especially how Daddycop turns this line into "Actually, i love being a disposable meatshield for you to sacrifice without agency of my own"). I just dont like this being his "passion".

--- Am I misremembering things? Arent they supposed to eat special cheese to go Astro-mode? Or did they lose that limitation at some random point off-screen as well. Seriously this feels like the writers just dont care about anything anymore. Ok it feels really weird how little Max has to do with this episode only for him to be called in here. (same problem as the Weredad episode. But at least that episode primarily featured a Fetch-based solution with him as a mere cameo. This episode is going to be a Portal-based solution for a character whose motivations directly connect to Max' mother. His only appearing 3/4ths into the episode feels wrong).

Ok max im sorry to say it but... your portals dont stop momentum At most you turned a 270-ish meter fall (viewing platform heigth) to a 10 meter drop, but most of these people were already falling fast enough to get badly injured. (also, to see season 6 be the first to acknowledge that the Eiffel tower, which our heroes have destroyed in the past has people on it feels a tad late. It casts a shadow backwards throughout the canon that makes previous seasons a lot darker)

---

Oh nice, lila herself acknowledges that her debut villain was lame. It seems the writers themselves acknowledge their failure to 'sell' her as the 'worse and more dangerous' antagonist. I dont even need to write some witty punchline. They're just going to be frank and honest about the fact that Lila just... lacks punch as an antagonist. Good on you for being honest Thomas --- Oh we're making running his passion-answer? I actually like that, movement, wind through the hair, freedom and mobility contrasting the imprisonment of the gabriel-era mansion. it's nice... or at least a lot nicer then "being ladybug's disposable human sacrifice is my passion" at least. I do not like how this scene has the dark ominous musical sting, The Sublime=evil theorists are going to take that sting and i just know the fanbase is going to find a new level of toxicity as a result. I also do not like the implication that Adrien meeting Sublime is bad, and that therefore Marinette's choice in this scene not to stalk adrien must be a bad thing for allowing it to happen.

--- As a final note this episode is underwhelming, but mostly harmless (at least on its own)... I do dislike how this episode seems to be feeding both the 'Algae=secretly lila" and "Sublime=lila' theories. (the former in a rather subtle manner, the latter in a very obvious poster-change and musical sting). I really worry about those theories. It feels like both of those theories are going to be the big thing in the fandom... And i dont trust either of those theories to end up 'good'. I also want to end this by repeating my big question: Does the app lack a cat-emote, or is that actually some kind of "chloe doesnt hate Chat Noir like she hates the other heroes"-clue that might pay off later?

[beardedmrbean]

Stand-up comic Whitney Cummings is fed up with the left, accusing them of abandoning their principles and slamming those who are annoyed that she has been calling out liberals in recent public appearances.

In the latest episode of her "Good For You" podcast, Cummings railed against the political left, saying that end of the political spectrum has become hypocritical and censorious in recent years.

"I always thought of myself as a pretty liberal person," Cummings said, "But I don’t think the Left is as liberal as it used to be. It’s like the Left became the party of censorship."

The comedian said she had to start speaking up about the problems on her side of the political aisle.

"It’s just wild to me that we are in a time where, if you are on the left and you don’t criticize your party, how much do you even care about your party? Do you know what I mean? It’s like what’s going on on the left – I had to say, like, I finally just broke," she said.

Cummings continued, characterizing her previous support for the left as her having "Stockholm Syndrome." She added her realization that "if you love your party, you have to be able to criticize it, you know? And I don't really take sides."

The comic then quipped about liberal hypocrisy, saying, "’My body, my choice, but you have to take this vaccine,’ and ‘My body, my choice, pro-choice party, but you don’t have a choice in your candidate.’"

"I’m not an expert on politics, which is why I’ve always said I’m not weighing in on it, but I am an expert on hypocrisy, OK? I was raised by hypocrites, I’ve dated them, and I know hypocrisy when I see it," she added.

Cummings’ statements were motivated by liberal critics who slammed her recent bit on CNN’s live New Year’s Eve special, where she mocked liberal media and the Democratic Party's handling of President Biden and the 2024 election while speaking to show hosts Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper. 

She even ripped the network hosting her during the broadcast, joking that the 3,000-person crowds that frequent her stand-up shows are the same as the audience size for CNN.

On the podcast, Cummings stressed that she was motivated by calling out obvious hypocrisy, not for the sake of dunking on the left or scoring political points. She added, "So to me, I didn’t think I was being political, you know? I thought I was just like, pointing out hypocrisies across the board."

Responding to the specific complaint that she didn’t go after Trump in her New Year's Eve monologue, she said, "Because that’s hacky to do. Everyone’s done that and to do it on CNN, that’s just like, that’s home court advantage, cheap shot, hack – There’s nothing risky or dangerous about that."

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[vague-humanoid]

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For Black Archaeologists, the Atlantic Ocean is an Ancestral Graveyard

08.26.2024

WORDS BY OMNIA SAED

Photographs by Vanessa Diaz and Caroline Castro

Black maritime archeologists like Gabrielle Miller find both healing and terror as they excavate shipwrecks from the transatlantic slave trade.

At the end of this sentence, rain will begin. — Derek Walcott, Map of the New World 

At a YMCA in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Gabrielle Miller plunges into a pool. While the swimmers around her float to the surface, she lets herself sink. She descends two feet, then six, then 12, until the tips of her toes graze the bottom. And there, she stands. 

“It feels like I’m being wrapped, like a weighted blanket,” she said. “In that space, nothing else exists—no problems, no anxieties, not even time.” 

The 31-year-old diver and maritime archaeologist is part of the Slave Wrecks Project, a Smithsonian effort to study the global slave trade by excavating sunken slave ships.

In the water, said Miller, “I see portals.”

The effort, hosted by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, unites a network of communities, scientists, and institutions from across the diaspora, spanning from Mozambique to St. Croix. Central to this mission is the training and mentorship of future maritime archaeologists in a field that remains largely inaccessible.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dan Pfeiffer at The Message Box:

We are in the midst of a big, vituperative debate within the Democratic Party about Harris’s campaign message. Was she insufficiently populist? Too moderate? Not moderate enough? Should she have talked inflation more? What about abortion and democracy? I could go on forever. The chatter is endless. There is no question that the Democratic message needs work. Voters who supported us for years left us for Trump. We considered ourselves the party of the working class, and the working class voted for the other guy. Clearly, we have a message (and a policy) problem. However, a new post-election study shows that Democrats have more than a message problem. We have a message delivery problem. The voters who decided the election simply weren’t hearing what Democrats were saying. Democrats at every level — from elected officials to communications staffers to activists posting about politics online — should read this election exit survey of 5000 voters from Navigator Research.

Swing Voters Don’t Consume Traditional News

Trump didn’t do a single legacy media interview for the last month of the campaign. He didn’t sit down with a cable network. He attended no roundtables with reporters or sit downs with local TV anchors in key markets. He backed out of interviews with 60 Minutes, CNBC, and NBC News. Trump also turned down a primetime CNN townhall in the final weeks. Instead, he talked to Joe Rogan and other political podcasters. It paid off.

Polling before and after the election showed Harris performing well with voters who consume the most news, and conversely, Trump running up big margins with those who consume the least. However, the Navigator story offers more detail on the media diets of the voters who decided the elections. The study focuses on two types of voters — swing voters and new Trump voters. Swing voters are people who didn’t rule out voting for either candidate from the start and new Trump voters are people who voted for Trump in 2024 but didn’t vote for him in 2020. This last group includes people Trump brought into the electorate and those who switched from Biden to Trump (There is overlap between the two groups).

What’s even more surprising is that swing and new Trump voters are most likely to get their news from social media. Very few of them are getting news from legacy media. Only 16% of swing voters watch MSNBC and only 15% get their news from national newspapers. Think of all of the time spent fretting about New York Times headlines and stories — none of the voters who were on the fence ever saw them. It was just an internal conversation among people who decided to vote against Donald Trump years ago.

[...]

The Podcast Election

In the runup to and aftermath of the election, a number of observers referred to 2024 as the “podcast election.” While a little oversimplified, that designation made sense. Other than the debate, the two most high-profile media moments were the Rogan and Call Her Daddy interviews. While Harris did several podcasts, Trump made podcasts the central focus of his strategy. Unsurprisingly, according to Navigator Research, Trump won swing voters who listen to podcasts by 31 points.

While the polls show that only 16% of swing voters get their news from podcasts, it seems that podcasts were particularly influential in their choice. This makes sense for two reasons. First, listeners tend to trust podcast hosts more than any other media figures because of the intimacy of the medium. Second, podcast clips particularly those from Rogan and Alex Cooper, the host of Call Her Daddy, tend to get a lot of engagement on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Even people who don’t subscribe to a particular podcast (or any podcast) were likely to see some of these interviews. As a podcast co-host myself, I am undeniably biased about the importance of podcasts. However, long-form audio is a growing force in political media Democrats need a better, more compelling story to tell voters. We also need new, more populist policies that address people’s dissatisfaction with the economy and the political system. But even if we solve that problem and introduce the perfect message, it won’t matter if no one hears it. Fixing our problem begins with understanding why so few people heard what we had to say in this last election.

Dan Pfeiffer wrote a solid column on why the Democratic Party is getting their butts kicked in the messaging war.

Swing voters and voters who picked Trump in 2024 that voted Biden or another candidate in 2020 and/or Clinton, Johnson, or another candidate in 2016, per Navigator Research data conducted between October 31st and November 9th, largely get their news from social media or other nontraditional news outlets.

[ingek73]

Meghan: I’m airing my struggle with suicidal thoughts to help others

Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear on US television to publicise project to tackle child safety online

Caroline Davies

Sun 4 Aug 2024 18.41 CEST

The Duchess of Sussex has spoken about her struggles with mental health and suicidal thoughts as she and her husband launched an initiative to tackle child safety online.

Meghan, who revealed in an interview with Oprah Winfrey three years ago that she thought of taking her own life while a working royal, said she hoped by speaking out she could help others.

“When you’ve been through any level of pain or trauma, I believe part of our healing journey – certainly part of mine – is being able to be really open about it,” she said on Sunday in a joint interview with Prince Harry on the US network CBS.

“And you know, I haven’t really scraped the surface on my experience. But I do think that I would never want someone else to feel that way. And I would never want someone else to be making those sort of plans. And I would never want someone else to not be believed.

“So, if me voicing what I have overcome will save someone, or encourage someone in their life to really genuinely check in on them and not assume that the appearance is good, so everything’s OK, then that’s worth it. I’ll take a hit for that.”

The duchess, 43, was speaking as the couple, parents to Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, launched the Parents’ Network, in association with their Archewell Foundation, to provide an online community and resources to help combat social media harm. The No Child Lost to Social Media campaign was set up after a two-year pilot programme with families whose children had felt the harmful effects of social media.

Prince Harry said the grief these families had suffered could happen to anyone. “We always talk about in the olden days if your kids were under your roof, you knew what they were up to. At least they were safe, right? And now, they could be in the next-door room on a tablet or on a phone and can be going down these rabbit holes. And before you know it, within 24 hours, they could be taking their life.”

In the couple’s 2021 interview with Winfrey, Meghan told the chatshow host: “Look, I was really ashamed to say it at the time, and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry especially, because I know how much loss he suffered. But I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it … and I just didn’t want to be alive any more. That was a clear, real, frightening and constant thought.”

Speaking of the Parents’ Network, she told CBS on Sunday: “I think you have to start somewhere, to look at it through the lens of, ‘What if it was my daughter? What if it was my son? My son, or my daughter who comes home, who are joyful, who I love, and one day, right under my roof, our entire lives change because of something that was completely out of our control?’” She said that, for a parent, the only way to look at the problem was to try to find a solution.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

interview:

[pastelhousewithlegs]

Aright then.

A lot of the backlash I see right now is the anger at them (allegedly) intending to remove their old content and make it available ONLY on their service. They have made several statements (noted, only after the initial announcement vent live) clarifying everything already on YouTube will stay on YouTube.

Problem is it’s, at best optimism, hazy if that was always the plan. The variety article they pointed towards now has an edit that implies they were pulling everything. The language of their announcement was vague enough to backpedal if it got backlash. It’s unclear if this was just a horrible marketing misunderstanding or damage control.

I see a lot of people saying they wish they could support and subscribe but they don’t have the cash available for it. Especially not for what they’re getting out of it. I can’t speak to that. However, as someone who could afford to make it work and very much WANTS to support the team; my personal concerns lie more in their current model.

I don’t see it being sustainable. They have a decently sized team, 25 people in their employ, but how many of them are faces we know? How many of them could step into the shoes of host if needed. Ryan, Shane, and Steven (and they’re hoping Steven’s old Worth it gang) are the main faces of Watcher. What happens if one of em gets sick and can’t film? What happens if one of em burns out? What happens if they’re just not feeling it creatively anymore and want to pivot to something else?

I also see a lot of people saying they don’t mind “lower costing” videos, many citing Too Many Spirits as a popular and lower budget production of theirs. A lot of us liked Are You Scared, Top 5, and their gaming series.

The problem is, historically, those haven’t been the biggest pulls. For Shane and Ryan they’re known as the “Goul Boys” and their ghost hunting requires going to haunted places, as they mentioned in the announcement video. It also takes a lot of time, effort, and talent. For Steven, he’s most known from Worth it, they brought back the old team because they know this and are trying to recreate it. I’m sure that was very expensive to make and I’m sure their spinoff of it will be too. Puppet history is crushing it so it makes sense they’ll throw money into that too.

The problem with their move is that it’s too drastic of a change, too quickly, and with not enough infrastructure or research to support it long term.

I want to believe they’ll pull it off. I want them to be able to stay independent, I want more interesting and quality content from the guys and their network, I want them to grow into something that can be sustainable longer term so Shane, Ryan, and Steven don’t hold the entire company on their faces.

I wish everyone the very best.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Monday

SpaceTime 20241118 Series 27 Episode 139

Gilmour space given the green light to launch

The Australian Space Agency have given final approval for Gilmour Space to undertake the first orbital test flight of their new Eris rocket from the Bowen Spaceport in north Queensland.

Mysterious Red Monster galaxies discovered in the early Universe

Astronomers have discovered three ultra-massive galaxies – each nearly as big as the Milky Way – which had already reached that size within the first billion years of the universe’s existence.

Has China’s Mars rover found signs of an ancient Martian ocean

Beijing claims its Mars Zhurong rover has found new evidence to support the idea that the red planet’s northern hemisphere was once the floor of a vast Martian Ocean.

Chinese Taikonauts have returned safely to Earth

Three Chinese Taikonauts have returned safely to Earth following their six month stay aboard Beijing’s Tiangong space station.

The Science Report

Archaeologists in Israel uncover the precursor of the wheel.

COP29 warned that fossil fuel emissions are continuing to rise.

Tweens who frequently snore are more likely to have behavioural problems.

Skeptics guide to how errors in thinking could be linked to seeing ghosts.

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. Gary’s radio career stretches back some 34 years including 26 at the ABC. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. He was part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and became one of its first on air presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.  The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

CNN 5/7/2025

WeightWatchers files for bankruptcy

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN

Updated: 7:16 PM EDT, Tue May 6, 2025

Source: CNN

WeightWatchers, the 62-year-old program that revolutionized dieting for millions of people around the world, has filed for bankruptcy.

The company announced Tuesday it has entered Chapter 11, which “will bolster its financial position, increase investment flexibility in its strategic growth initiatives, and better serve its millions of members around the world.”

The company, now known as WW International, has struggled with about $1.5 billion in debt and has failed to keep pace with more convenient weight loss options, including GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, over counting points and calories.

During the bankruptcy process, its massive amount of debt will be eliminated, and it expects to emerge in about 40 days as a publicly traded company. Operations for its members will continue as normal, it said.

“The decisive actions we’re taking today, with the overwhelming support of our lenders and noteholders, will give us the flexibility to accelerate innovation, reinvest in our members, and lead with authority in a rapidly evolving weight management landscape,” said CEO Tara Comonte in a release.

WW International has a had rough few years after a turnaround plan from its former CEO, Sima Sistani, failed. She was forced out of her position in September 2024 after a two-and-a-half-year stint.

Sistani bought a telehealth platform that connected patients with doctors who can prescribe weight-loss and diabetes drugs, representing a radical change for a service that made its name for in-person meetings and portion control. But the pivot didn’t work, and the stock has plummeted.

Sistani was replaced by Comonte, a former chief financial officer at fast food chain Shake Shack. Its most recent earnings release in February revealed a 12% decline in members and that its $100 million in interest payments on debt is a “a significant ongoing burden for the company.”

WW took another hit last year when star investor Oprah Winfrey announced she was leaving the company’s board after nearly a decade holding that position and donated all of her stock to a museum.

The former talk show host credited the program for help losing 40 pounds in 2016 but later revealed that she had also used an unnamed weight loss drug to lose more.

WW’s history

The company was founded in 1963 by Jean Nidetch, a self-described “overweight housewife obsessed with cookies” whowas fed up with fad diets and pills.

She began hosting weekly meetings at her home with friends to discuss their difficulties with dieting and exercise. “Compulsive eating is an emotional problem,” Nidetch told Time magazine in 1972, “and we use an emotional approach to its solution.”

Abiding by her philosophy — “It’s choice, not chance, that determines your destiny” —Nidetch lost more than 70 pounds and kept it off.

Part of its success can be attributed to its points system, where one number represents each food and drink’s calories, saturated fat, sugar and protein. The company had 3.3 million subscribers at the end of 2024.

WW’s shares have devolved into a penny stock, a far cry from when it was trading at its peak at around $100 in 2018.

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"It's a Sign-o'-the-Times...."

[mariacallous]

“Make cats safe again” read the MAGA-style baseball caps perched on the heads of five AI-generated felines printed on a black T-shirt alongside a Trump 2024 banner. It’s yours for just $29.99 (10 percent off if you order three) from United Patriot, an online store that proclaims it is “not afraid to speak the truth!”

The T-shirt may seem innocuous enough. But its slogan references a racist lie, spread by US presidential candidate Donald Trump, that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been eating local pets. The false claims have led to a wave of xenophobic abuse including bomb threats and vandalism against the local Haitian community.

The item is also one of thousands being sold by a group of online operators who are targeting the US election using hate, lies, and conspiracy theories, all to make a quick buck.

United Patriot is one of four ecommerce companies identified by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) that have been advertising merchandise, often aimed at Trump supporters, using different levels of misinformation and hate speech.

They have collectively paid to publish over 15,000 “political” ads that have racked up millions of impressions on Facebook. And though the operations present themselves as patriotic outlets selling US products, TBIJ has found evidence suggesting many are being at least partly run from overseas.

Both operations are just examples of a bigger global problem that goes far beyond one election in one country.

“Evidence has shown that we engage more with content that is provocative and emotionally charged,” says Hannah Perry, digital policy head of research at think tank Demos. “Because algorithms on platforms such as Facebook are designed to optimize for engagement—keeping us on platforms for longer and prolonging our exposure to advertising—such algorithms disproportionately surface inflammatory and divisive content.

“Actors will no doubt target the US election to attract an outsized audience relative to other domestic stories.”

The operations we identified are all enabled by the economics of the internet, which encourage workers from Nigeria to the Philippines to the US to amplify hate and falsehoods to millions in the pursuit of profit. And they show how people simply out to make money currently have their sights set on one of the most finely balanced elections in history.

From Biden to Betting Scams

“A White House video in which Joe Biden goes 45 seconds without blinking is raising serious questions about who is currently serving as president of the United States,” says a presenter over a picture of the current president, claiming he has been dead since June 2022.

The video, produced by The People’s Voice channel on the video platform Rumble, is clearly aimed at capturing conspiracy-minded Americans. It is just one of hundreds of US-focused posts hosted on a network of Facebook pages run largely from Nigeria aimed at extracting money for sports betting scams. Twenty-five of the most active pages identified by TBIJ have amassed more than 669,000 followers, more than doubling from 290,000 followers last year.

An investigation by Nigerian media outlet HumAngle reported in September that the wider network, which may be as large as 240 Facebook pages, appears to scam people out of money by offering them the opportunity to profit from high-odd bets placed on what the pages say are “fixed” sports matches. Despite HumAngle’s reporting, 199 of the accounts remained active with a combined following of more than 2.7 million accounts.

To attract users to these scams, the pages have been boosting engagement by publishing political content—in particular, conspiracy theories and false claims about the US presidential race. Some posts falsely claimed Kamala Harris, the sitting US vice president and 2024 Democratic nominee, is a man. Others focused on the idea that natural disasters such as Hurricanes Helene and Milton were engineered by Democratic leaders to prevent people from voting in swing states. Both are conspiracy theories that have gained traction in the last few months.

The pages have co-opted the branding of hacktivist movement Anonymous, an ostensibly anti-establishment group of online activists and hackers that rose to prominence in the early 2000s. Wearing masks similar to those adopted by the movement (originally taken from the film and comic book series V for Vendetta), those behind the scams will often overlay footage of themselves over clips pushing disinformation.

But while they align themselves with a political movement and push political falsehoods, they are using them to make money.

Daniel Roberts, a spokesperson for Facebook parent company Meta, tells TBIJ: “Scammers persistently target people online and in the real world—and that’s why we work with governments, NGOs, and law enforcement agencies to deter bad actors. This is a highly adversarial space, and we continue to update our enforcement systems to respond to evolving scammer behavior. We are reviewing the accounts shared with us and will enforce against any that violate our policies.”

Promoting Popularity

Online marketing, whether it is promoting legitimate goods, hateful T-shirts, or attempts to scam people out of their money, relies on getting people to see posts. Social media algorithms tend to boost content that they predict will attract a lot of attention.

In recent years, it has become clear that conspiracy theories, misinformation, and hate are very good at tapping into the emotions that drive this kind of engagement. And that, in turn, means that anyone with something to sell is incentivized to push that kind of content to boost their profits. Post something that receives a high level of engagement (say, a conspiracy theory) and it’s more likely that your other content will be promoted by the algorithm.

Other posts on the Nigerian network’s pages claim to be able to foresee the future. Predictions about politics or natural disasters are published alongside their claims to deliver returns on high-risk bets. They also often post “testimonials”—short videos depicting people thanking the pages’ operators for “changing their lives” through fixed sports betting. All are gimmicks to lure in new targets for sports bettings scams.

According to a conversation with the admins of one of the pages, a ticket to participate in the fixed betting would cost someone $4,250. A “mini-ticket” costs $2,100. TBIJ obtained a bitcoin address used by one such page with about 70,000 followers and found that the wallet had facilitated nearly $1 million worth of transactions. These schemes have been used to scam many Nigerians and others over the years, according to HumAngle.

The target market, however, is far more global.

As the US election has gained pace, the volume of content on the network of sites aimed at US citizens has ramped up, with the pages trying to remain relevant by referencing new events.

Many posts piggyback on false claims about US government relief available to hurricane victims, such as the Trump campaign’s claims that relief funding was restricted because the money was instead going to immigrants or to the defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression. “I hate that our government never runs out of money for illegals and foreign wars. But runs out of money to help struggling Americans,” one post reads.

Another shows an AI-generated picture of Trump standing in a flooded area and handing toilet paper to the victims, captioned, “a picture they don’t want you to see.”

Profiting off Patriotism

Like the Nigerian network, other similar ecommerce merch stores rely heavily on Facebook for their marketing and promote similar conspiracy theories in order to gain traction.

Many of the ads run by United Patriot include graphics that reference and promote destroying the pride flag, misogynistic slurs against Harris, transphobia, anti-vaccine logos, anti-Ukrainian sentiment, gun ownership, and mentions of the “stolen election.”

Misogyny aimed at Harris regularly featured in ads run by another of the sites, which also sells merchandise containing anti-trans slurs. Another of the sites posted a video falsely claiming Dominion voting machines helped steal the election from Trump.

The messages, potentially misleading US citizens or stoking hate towards various groups, will have been seen by many times more people than actually made a purchase.

Those running the network of Facebook pages in Nigeria may simply believe that US-focused clickbait is the best way to boost the number of people who see their scams. In contrast, the ecommerce operations identified by TBIJ give every impression that they are proudly American.

Yet analysis of their listed physical addresses and online presence suggests that the businesses are at least partly run from Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, and Croatia (with Facebook page admins based in those countries). None of the ecommerce sites identified by TBIJ provided a US address that could be tied to their business.

United Patriot, which says its “patriotic collection of amazing apparel items … are all printed locally here in America,” claims on its Facebook page and website to be located at an address in Gardena, California. However, TBIJ could not find proof of that business registered at the address. The only other commercial activity found at the address was a warehouse providing services for wholesale shipments for people based overseas, as well as two online stores that have been accused in Google reviews of being scams.

The Better Business Bureau, a nonprofit focused on “marketplace trust,” told United Patriots in November 2022 that it should change or substantiate claims made on its website about items “printed in the US.”

Another such site, Red First LLC, says it is based in Carrollton, Texas, at the same address as a fraudulent merchant claiming to resell Ralph Lauren clothing. This does not necessarily mean the companies are owned by the same person, but suggests the address may have been used by scammers.

Nor are all these operations strictly pushing right-wing messages. Red First LLC (which trafficks notably less in hate and misinformation than the other three companies) has created at least 5,000 ads over the last two years. While it promotes mostly right-wing merchandise and content, such as T-shirts bearing misogynistic insults toward Harris and signs suggesting the 2020 election was stolen, it has also in a small number of cases posted pro-Harris content. The commercial imperative behind the operation means it isn’t averse to backing the other side.

Meta Under Scrutiny

As attempts to influence public opinion and elections have ramped up across social media, companies such as Facebook owner Meta have come under scrutiny for the role they play in hosting bad actors trying to polarize public opinion on their platforms.

In 2021, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, blew the whistle on the company’s role in spreading disinformation and the increase in racial hatred. Numerous studies have also shown that social media platforms’ algorithms, including Facebook’s, create bigger engagement opportunities for far-right, conspiratorial, and hateful content.

“The US election is an already fraught and divisive political event. If the aim of these scammers is to bring people in, then appealing directly to emotion to circumvent media criticality is key,” says Joe Ondrak, senior research and technology lead at anti-disinformation startup Logically.

“There is likely a large pool of potential victims and easily exploitable narratives for them to choose from. The way algorithms reward engagement means that misinformation, conspiracy theory, and hate speech are easy ways to find a wide audience.”

[protectingtulpas]

🔥 BY TULPAS, FOR TULPAS 🔥

Hey everybody!! Welcome to the blog ✨✨ I'm Badeline, she/her pronouns, and this is dedicated to being a protected space for tulpas, tulpa hosts, and anyone trying to learn about us or is interested in creating one of us. We are people, and we deserve to exist!

⛱️ Join my new Tulpamancy community to learn the practice, share resources, and socialize with other tulpamancers & tulpas! ⛱️

Tulpas deserve to love life!! Help me make that a reality!

If you're new here, I'll keep it simple; a tulpa is a sentient being created by willful, repeated, and dedicated interaction with the concept of a person until they start to respond back and stop being controlled by you. They live with you and share your mind forever, generally as friends, and through trust and communication you can learn to do cool things like switch who's controlling the body, chat all day and get another perspective, and generally just have your life enhanced with a companion by your side looking to do stuff! Think of it like an imaginary friend, but you can't control them, cus we're our own people. If you want more info, check out my explanation with sources here! You can also look at "What is a tulpa?" from tulpa.info, or this carrd, it goes into more detail and links some sources. Tulpa.info and the tulpanomicon are some of the best sources out there, especially the latter for creation! I reclaim calling myself a demon but most tulpas DO NOT.

This is half a tulpamancy advice blog and half a support network for tulpas in the face of the hate and shit we get thrown at us. We are real and we deserve to EXIST!! Got formation questions? Skillset questions? Wonderland questions? Questions about intersectionality with other forms of multiplicity? Life questions relating to being a tulpa or tulpamancy? Send in an ask! It's important that YOUR voice is heard. We deserve respect, and we will NOT be silenced by those who'd be happier if we didn't exist! We're not some Supernatural TV thing that'll come kill people in their sleep, we ARE people, and I'm done being quiet.

If I haven't responded to your ask yet and I've clearly answered ones that came after, it's probably because I'm planning a detailed response for it!!

#tulpamancy advice - tag for advice I've given! Check it out if you've got any questions

#making wonderlands - tag for wonderland/headspace advice!

Wondering why I'm taking so long to post stuff?

Here's a shitfuckton of plural resources!!

The difference between tulpa hosts & system hosts!

🔥 Blog dedicated to @eeveecraft

🔥 @moonpool-system is our main system blog

🔥 Times I've been called a bitch counter: 2

🔥 PLURALPUNK + PSYCHEPUNK + UNITYPUNK 🔥

DNI/Stereotypical controversy:

Our only DNI is that if you don't respect the existence of myself and other plurals, get out. That means transmeds and sysmeds can fuck off too, go find someplace else to be a bigot ✨ If you're an endo neutral/anti endo singlet we have DID so like actually consider who your exclusion is hurting thanks. Support all of us or admit you're an unsafe place for us.

I'm adding this too - I'm not fucking talking about the trans/ID or rad/queer community here. IMO "transplural" is just a fancy label for wanting to be plural, but I'm not in a place other than that to decide which ID labels are shitty and which aren't. Rad/queers, however, can fuck off. Okay? Ok. Here's some elaboration on that.

I don't agree with every single opinion of every single blog I interact with or reblog from, that's ridiculous. Read my posts, read my replies, but don't assume things about me based on other people. This fight against anti-plural rhetoric is about all of us, but that doesn't mean I agree about everything with every one of my allies. Purity is a tool of bigotry and we have more important problems to face than bickering.

If you're actually worried about what you've heard is cultural ap/propriation, consider this instead: Did you know you're listening to a rumor that originated with sysmeds who tell you that a directly researchable, blatantly open religion is closed, deny and call into question spiritual leaders' words on what meditations can be shared, and can't produce any examples of tangible harm?? (We have asked and gotten answers, by the way.) Anyways, if you're neutral about this or actually trying to learn, do research. Don't let sysmeds with a savior complex dictate what's harmful. There're tons of different people out there with different opinions that aren't homogeneous and shouldn't be treated as such. It's fucking embarrassing we have to go to these people to ask if the etymology of a goddamn word is ok to use anyways, it's time to stop forcing this shit on other ppl. Okay? OK. Sysmeds and aggressive anti-tulpa shit will either be fucking deleted from my ask box or used as an example of why they're wrong.

[dreadfutures]

.

idk I remember fandom during superwholock and before and after, here. we still made our friends and migrated to mostly conversing on AIM or YIM or on another site that had a chatroom. we were so excited when fan mail became a thing. people yearn for instant communication with people.

the discovery and content aspect is special to Tumblr because it has held over many principles from the earl(ier) internet without MUCH A CHANGE, and the community has understood those rules and grown with them. but when you talk about community and fulfillment and complain that *discord* ruins it, I just think you are antisocial. like, as soon as forums started having messaging features they were highly used. instant messaging is not the problem.

discords are not small little cliques with like minded people who just hive mind talk about outside fan content and never actually engage with it ..., they can be large, thriving and diverse communities of people who are united on one single single thing (The Concept™️ of Liking Blorbos (maybe they even are squicked by each other's Blorbos but are gathered because they like Liking Blorbos and people who Like Blorbos)) and will share the art and writing and OFTEN encourage people to share enthusiasm with the artists and writers (and to become artists and writers themselves). discords can also be small intimate places that are little more than glorified chatrooms. They span the gamut and none of them are why fandom is dying.

The capitalist hellscape that drove sooooooo many artists to Twitter because Twitter let you game an algorithm, get put in front of many strangers' eyes, and have them share, was good for FREELANCE BUSINESS and INDUSTRY NETWORKING unlike Tumblr? The capitalist hellscape that made hosting forums harder and harder, with their beautiful siloed topics and organization and their threaded conversations? the capitalist hellscape that made all the other major n00b friendly blogging sites ban any whisper of "subversive" content from pictures of tits to the very word tits? the capitalist hellscape that encouraged much more user friendly and visually appealing and responsive platforms to develop than clunky live journal and dreamwidth? the shortening attention spans of a global population of traumatized overworked poor people, leading them to pursue short form video content consumption over discussions and conversations and any other forms of media? those aren't what we point to???? no???? *discord*?!!?

it's not discords fault if you have social anxiety and can't enter a conversation or always overthink an emoji reaction to someone's message or have RSD when someone does or doesn't respond to a message in a certain time frame. but discord is, and has been for a while, the best way to keep in swift contact with people on a very human level of having a functional conversation - something Tumblr and Twitter and literally no other social media in years has been interested in supporting, despite THAT - not any form of content creation - being the pillar of community building. Talking to each other.

Make portfolio sites and post your art with good SEO and hope for the best! Use AO3 to post your art in such a way that it appears in tags as an archive! Get your writing and creativity out there in ways that the internet can scour. But our microblogging platforms are only ever going to be somewhere on the inconvenient-to-convenient scale of "posting something for eyeballs to see," and the algorithms and the search engines themselves are fucked to hell and back about getting eyeballs to see them. Our so called social media sites that remain are not built for much more than shoving a picture in front of people or doing short, linear, and 1:1 conversations in artificial bite sized barks, and the algorithms and the discovery features and even the psychological landscape of users on those platforms are built to encourage stunted relationships and promote outrage (text) and images and short form video. For the content creators, everyone's doing the same rat race they've been doing since 2009 on YouTube, chasing the eyeballs of people who might want to see their stuff, while the platform says "actually fuck you we're changing the rules and hiding you again even from the people who want to see you." Yeah!!! shits fucked!!! it has been!!! people who grew up watching YouTube creators on the early internet have written papers about this and sounded the alarms for years!!! and we have been talking about community - fandom or otherwise - for years to the deaf ears of people who just want to scroll content.

A fucking instant messaging version of a message board did not kill fandom.

anyway you can discover discords on disboard! or they're often listed for games now, or movies or etc. on official sites, and since official discords are often poorly moderated and bloated, you can ask some people in those who seem nice where else they like to talk. or you can ask people you like elsewhere on the internet where they're hanging out and talking to nice people, or you can make your own community. Whether you lurk or not is up to you and is not a failing, that's in YOUR head 🫵 lurkers never made friends anywhere on the internet, but if you're happy lurking, I'm sure you'll find a place where you can happily lurk where people are sharing art and squealing and promoting commissions and finding new people to follow, and sharing their writing and hyping each other up and watching movies together and playing video games together.

or you could just dm a friend. it's way nicer than tumblrs awful, unscrollable DMS that have no search function and pull gifs from random people's posts and don't embed links properly or let you send more than one image or attach files or anything of modern convenience. there's no problem being antisocial, or being a lurker, but misidentifying the source of your angst is unhelpful and makes me think you don't actually want friends or help 👍

and if all you want is a well-sorted feed of content put in front of you every day, the problem was never that other people want to hold conversations 👍 make that social media platform yourself, or throw money behind a new one, or learn to make rss feeds and be part of the renaissance of the collated blogosphere idk

[bestcollegedelhi]

The Impact of Faridabad’s IT Infrastructure on B.Tech CSE and IT Careers

In recent years, Faridabad has emerged as a thriving hub for technology and innovation. With its rapidly growing IT infrastructure, tech parks, and industrial zones, the city has become a hotspot for B.Tech CSE (Computer Science Engineering) and IT (Information Technology) graduates. If you’re a student or a professional wondering how Faridabad’s development impacts your career, this blog is for you. Let’s dive into how the city’s IT ecosystem is shaping opportunities for CSE and IT graduates.

Why Faridabad is Becoming a Tech Hub

Faridabad, part of the National Capital Region (NCR), is strategically located near Delhi, making it a prime location for businesses and industries. Over the past decade, the city has witnessed significant growth in its IT infrastructure. From state-of-the-art tech parks to industrial zones, Faridabad is attracting IT companies, startups, and multinational corporations (MNCs). This growth is creating a ripple effect, opening up countless opportunities for B.Tech CSE and IT graduates.

How Faridabad’s IT Infrastructure Benefits CSE and IT Graduates

1. Tech Parks: A Gateway to Opportunities

Faridabad is home to several tech parks and IT hubs, such as the Faridabad IT Park and Neo IT Park. These parks house some of the biggest names in the tech industry, including startups and MNCs. For B.Tech CSE and IT graduates, this means:

Access to Top Companies: Tech parks are filled with companies looking for skilled professionals in software development, data analysis, cybersecurity, and more.

Networking Opportunities: Working in these parks allows graduates to connect with industry leaders, attend tech events, and build a strong professional network.

Exposure to Cutting-Edge Technology: Tech parks often host workshops, seminars, and training sessions, helping graduates stay updated with the latest trends in technology.

2. Industrial Zones: Bridging the Gap Between Academia and Industry

Faridabad’s industrial zones, such as the Faridabad Industrial Area, are not just about manufacturing. Many industries here are adopting advanced technologies like IoT (Internet of Things), AI (Artificial Intelligence), and automation. This creates a demand for tech-savvy professionals.

Diverse Job Roles: CSE and IT graduates can find roles in software development, system management, and IT support in these industries.

Hands-On Experience: Working in industrial zones provides practical experience, helping graduates apply their classroom knowledge to real-world problems.

3. Startup Ecosystem: A Platform for Innovation

Faridabad’s startup ecosystem is booming, with many young entrepreneurs launching tech-based startups. This is great news for B.Tech CSE and IT graduates because:

Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Graduates with innovative ideas can start their own ventures and contribute to the city’s tech growth.

Flexible Work Environments: Startups often offer dynamic work cultures, allowing graduates to explore multiple roles and gain diverse experiences.

Mentorship and Guidance: Many startups in Faridabad are supported by incubators and accelerators, providing mentorship and resources to young professionals.

4. Government Initiatives: Boosting IT Growth

The Haryana government has been actively promoting Faridabad as a tech hub through various initiatives. For example:

Skill Development Programs: The government offers training programs to help graduates enhance their technical skills and employability.

Incentives for IT Companies: Tax benefits and subsidies are attracting more IT companies to set up offices in Faridabad, increasing job opportunities for graduates.

Career Opportunities for B.Tech CSE and IT Graduates in Faridabad

With its growing IT infrastructure, Faridabad offers a wide range of career opportunities for CSE and IT graduates. Some of the most in-demand roles include:

Software Developer: Designing and developing software applications for businesses.

Data Analyst: Analyzing data to help companies make informed decisions.

Cybersecurity Expert: Protecting systems and networks from cyber threats.

Cloud Engineer: Managing cloud-based systems and services.

AI/ML Specialist: Developing AI and machine learning solutions for various industries.

The average salary for entry-level roles in Faridabad ranges from ₹3.5 to ₹6 lakhs per annum, with experienced professionals earning significantly more.

How EIT Faridabad Prepares Students for the IT Industry

At EIT Faridabad, we understand the importance of aligning education with industry needs. Our B.Tech CSE and IT programs are designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge required to thrive in Faridabad’s IT ecosystem. Here’s how we do it:

Industry-Ready Curriculum: Our courses are regularly updated to include the latest technologies and trends.

Internships and Placements: We partner with top IT companies in Faridabad to provide internships and placement opportunities.

Workshops and Seminars: Regular sessions with industry experts help students gain practical insights.

State-of-the-Art Labs: Our advanced labs allow students to experiment and innovate.

Tips for B.Tech CSE and IT Graduates to Succeed in Faridabad

Stay Updated: The tech industry evolves rapidly. Keep learning new skills and technologies.

Build a Strong Network: Attend tech events, join online communities, and connect with professionals.

Gain Practical Experience: Internships and projects are a great way to build your resume.

Focus on Soft Skills: Communication, teamwork, and problem-solving are just as important as technical skills.

Conclusion

Faridabad’s IT infrastructure, tech parks, and industrial zones are creating a wealth of opportunities for B.Tech CSE and IT graduates. Whether you’re looking to join a top IT company, work in an industrial zone, or start your own venture, Faridabad has something for everyone. At EIT Faridabad, we’re committed to helping our students make the most of these opportunities and build successful careers in the tech industry.

If you’re passionate about technology and want to be part of Faridabad’s growing IT ecosystem, now is the perfect time to take the first step. Explore our B.Tech CSE and IT programs and start your journey toward a rewarding career!