#owner vs company

[kosomolski-dolls]

Time for another Owner vs Company post.

This time it's gonna be everyone I have forgotten so far? And some new dolls.

Nerissa (Minifee Mirwen) and ?? (Minifee Sirin)

Samantha (Minifee Marcia (modded) on Xagadoll body) and Rachel (Minifee Celine)

?? (Luts HDF Hansel) and ?? (Harucasting Adori (dyed))

Matsuda Jinpei (Luts MDF Xylon) and Hagiwara Kenji (Luts MDF Bliss (modded))

Olivia (Unoa Sist (dyed)) and Candace (?) (Unoa An decadent on DFH body)

?? (Chibi Unoa Lilin) and ?? (Littlefee Reni)

Lola (Moonlight Jewel Nova)

And now some you've already seen with alternative heads or looks or names...

Robin (Minifee Ingrid B) and Lana (Minifee Rheia (dyed) on Myou body) and Poppy (Little Monica Tommy)

Some of these don't have names yet because they're still new and I haven't made up my mind, others are just very, very hard to name and not very "communicative", so to say... they might get a new look in order to bond, or they will have to go sooner or later.

[deadsetobsessions]

Danny in Gotham

[Here] Accidental Crime Lord! Danny Phantom and his takeover ft. a gaggle of orphans and a stressed Batman

[Here] Accidental Crime Lord! Danny Phantom's parent-mentor conferences with Bruce Wayne

[Here] Writing Prompt Lawyer!Danny Fenton and heroism within the confines of the law.

[Here] Lawyer! Danny prompt fulfillment

[Here] Coffee Shop Owner! Danny enforces the shop's neutrality by beating up the Joker with a chair and accidentally seduces the Red Hood.

[Here] New to the City! Danny dropkicks Red Hood in his stupid red helmet

[Here] Danny vs. Mr. Muffins

[Here] In which Bruce, Alfred, and Dick grieves while Danny wonders why they were grieving on an empty grave.

[Here] In which Danny did not get the memo about Gotham's pharmaceutical companies

[Here] Danny "MY WINDOW!" Phantom and the vigilantes crashing through his window.

[Here] Fae Adjacent! Danny and his customer

[Here] Fae Adjacent! Danny pt.2

[Here] Party Planner Danny Pt.1

[Here] Party Planner Danny Pt.2

[mostlysignssomeportents]

AI is a WMD

I'm in TARTU, ESTONIA! AI, copyright and creative workers' labor rights (TOMORROW, May 10, 8AM: Science Fiction Research Association talk, Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures building, Lossi 3, lobby). A talk for hackers on seizing the means of computation (TOMORROW, May 10, 3PM, University of Tartu Delta Centre, Narva 18, room 1037).

Fun fact: "The Tragedy Of the Commons" is a hoax created by the white nationalist Garrett Hardin to justify stealing land from colonized people and moving it from collective ownership, "rescuing" it from the inevitable tragedy by putting it in the hands of a private owner, who will care for it properly, thanks to "rational self-interest":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/04/analytical-democratic-theory/#epistocratic-delusions

Get that? If control over a key resource is diffused among the people who rely on it, then (Garrett claims) those people will all behave like selfish assholes, overusing and undermaintaining the commons. It's only when we let someone own that commons and charge rent for its use that (Hardin says) we will get sound management.

By that logic, Google should be the internet's most competent and reliable manager. After all, the company used its access to the capital markets to buy control over the internet, spending billions every year to make sure that you never try a search-engine other than its own, thus guaranteeing it a 90% market share:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Google seems to think it's got the problem of deciding what we see on the internet licked. Otherwise, why would the company flush $80b down the toilet with a giant stock-buyback, and then do multiple waves of mass layoffs, from last year's 12,000 person bloodbath to this year's deep cuts to the company's "core teams"?

https://qz.com/google-is-laying-off-hundreds-as-it-moves-core-jobs-abr-1851449528

And yet, Google is overrun with scams and spam, which find their way to the very top of the first page of its search results:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

The entire internet is shaped by Google's decisions about what shows up on that first page of listings. When Google decided to prioritize shopping site results over informative discussions and other possible matches, the entire internet shifted its focus to producing affiliate-link-strewn "reviews" that would show up on Google's front door:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

This was catnip to the kind of sociopath who a) owns a hedge-fund and b) hates journalists for being pain-in-the-ass, stick-in-the-mud sticklers for "truth" and "facts" and other impediments to the care and maintenance of a functional reality-distortion field. These dickheads started buying up beloved news sites and converting them to spam-farms, filled with garbage "reviews" and other Google-pleasing, affiliate-fee-generating nonsense.

(These news-sites were vulnerable to acquisition in large part thanks to Google, whose dominance of ad-tech lets it cream 51 cents off every ad dollar and whose mobile OS monopoly lets it steal 30 cents off every in-app subscriber dollar):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

Now, the spam on these sites didn't write itself. Much to the chagrin of the tech/finance bros who bought up Sports Illustrated and other venerable news sites, they still needed to pay actual human writers to produce plausible word-salads. This was a waste of money that could be better spent on reverse-engineering Google's ranking algorithm and getting pride-of-place on search results pages:

https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/

That's where AI comes in. Spicy autocomplete absolutely can't replace journalists. The planet-destroying, next-word-guessing programs from Openai and its competitors are incorrigible liars that require so much "supervision" that they cost more than they save in a newsroom:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/29/what-part-of-no/#dont-you-understand

But while a chatbot can't produce truthful and informative articles, it can produce bullshit – at unimaginable scale. Chatbots are the workers that hedge-fund wreckers dream of: tireless, uncomplaining, compliant and obedient producers of nonsense on demand.

That's why the capital class is so insatiably horny for chatbots. Chatbots aren't going to write Hollywood movies, but studio bosses hyperventilated at the prospect of a "writer" that would accept your brilliant idea and diligently turned it into a movie. You prompt an LLM in exactly the same way a studio exec gives writers notes. The difference is that the LLM won't roll its eyes and make sarcastic remarks about your brainwaves like "ET, but starring a dog, with a love plot in the second act and a big car-chase at the end":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/01/how-the-writers-guild-sunk-ais-ship/

Similarly, chatbots are a dream come true for a hedge fundie who ends up running a beloved news site, only to have to fight with their own writers to get the profitable nonsense produced at a scale and velocity that will guarantee a high Google ranking and millions in "passive income" from affiliate links.

One of the premier profitable nonsense companies is Advon, which helped usher in an era in which sites from Forbes to Money to USA Today create semi-secret "review" sites that are stuffed full of badly researched top-ten lists for products from air purifiers to cat beds:

https://housefresh.com/how-google-decimated-housefresh/

Advon swears that it only uses living humans to produce nonsense, and not AI. This isn't just wildly implausible, it's also belied by easily uncovered evidence, like its own employees' Linkedin profiles, which boast of using AI to create "content":

https://housefresh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Advon-AI-LinkedIn.jpg

It's not true. Advon uses AI to produce its nonsense, at scale. In an excellent, deeply reported piece for Futurism, Maggie Harrison Dupré brings proof that Advon replaced its miserable human nonsense-writers with tireless chatbots:

https://futurism.com/advon-ai-content

Dupré describes how Advon's ability to create botshit at scale contributed to the enshittification of clients from Yoga Journal to the LA Times, "Us Weekly" to the Miami Herald.

All of this is very timely, because this is the week that Google finally bestirred itself to commence downranking publishers who engage in "site reputation abuse" – creating these SEO-stuffed fake reviews with the help of third parties like Advon:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/#site-reputation-abuse

(Google's policy only forbids site reputation abuse with the help of third parties; if these publishers take their nonsense production in-house, Google may allow them to continue to dominate its search listings):

https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies#site-reputation

There's a reason so many people believed Hardin's racist "Tragedy of the Commons" hoax. We have an intuitive understanding that commons are fragile. All it takes is one monster to start shitting in the well where the rest of us get our drinking water and we're all poisoned.

The financial markets love these monsters. Mark Zuckerberg's key insight was that he could make billions by assembling vast dossiers of compromising, sensitive personal information on half the world's population without their consent, but only if he kept his costs down by failing to safeguard that data and the systems for exploiting it. He's like a guy who figures out that if he accumulates enough oily rags, he can extract so much low-grade oil from them that he can grow rich, but only if he doesn't waste money on fire-suppression:

https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/

Now Zuckerberg and the wealthy, powerful monsters who seized control over our commons are getting a comeuppance. The weak countermeasures they created to maintain the minimum levels of quality to keep their platforms as viable, going concerns are being overwhelmed by AI. This was a totally foreseeable outcome: the history of the internet is a story of bad actors who upended the assumptions built into our security systems by automating their attacks, transforming an assault that wouldn't be economically viable into a global, high-speed crime wave:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/24/automation-is-magic/

But it is possible for a community to maintain a commons. This is something Hardin could have discovered by studying actual commons, instead of inventing imaginary histories in which commons turned tragic. As it happens, someone else did exactly that: Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom:

https://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/elinor-ostroms-8-principles-managing-commmons/

Ostrom described how commons can be wisely managed, over very long timescales, by communities that self-governed. Part of her work concerns how users of a commons must have the ability to exclude bad actors from their shared resources.

When that breaks down, commons can fail – because there's always someone who thinks it's fine to shit in the well rather than walk 100 yards to the outhouse.

Enshittification is the process by which control over the internet moved from self-governance by members of the commons to acts of wanton destruction committed by despicable, greedy assholes who shit in the well over and over again.

It's not just the spammers who take advantage of Google's lazy incompetence, either. Take "copyleft trolls," who post images using outdated Creative Commons licenses that allow them to terminate the CC license if a user makes minor errors in attributing the images they use:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/24/a-bug-in-early-creative-commons-licenses-has-enabled-a-new-breed-of-superpredator/

The first copyleft trolls were individuals, but these days, the racket is dominated by a company called Pixsy, which pretends to be a "rights protection" agency that helps photographers track down copyright infringers. In reality, the company is committed to helping copyleft trolls entrap innocent Creative Commons users into paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars to use images that are licensed for free use. Just as Advon upends the economics of spam and deception through automation, Pixsy has figured out how to send legal threats at scale, robolawyering demand letters that aren't signed by lawyers; the company refuses to say whether any lawyer ever reviews these threats:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/13/an-open-letter-to-pixsy-ceo-kain-jones-who-keeps-sending-me-legal-threats/

This is shitting in the well, at scale. It's an online WMD, designed to wipe out the commons. Creative Commons has allowed millions of creators to produce a commons with billions of works in it, and Pixsy exploits a minor error in the early versions of CC licenses to indiscriminately manufacture legal land-mines, wantonly blowing off innocent commons-users' legs and laughing all the way to the bank:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/02/commafuckers-versus-the-commons/

We can have an online commons, but only if it's run by and for its users. Google has shown us that any "benevolent dictator" who amasses power in the name of defending the open internet will eventually grow too big to care, and will allow our commons to be demolished by well-shitters:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/09/shitting-in-the-well/#advon

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

Catherine Poh Huay Tan (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/68166820@N08/49729911222/

Laia Balagueró (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/lbalaguero/6551235503/

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

[nattblacklupin]

Ice and fire

Pairing: Hockey player! Eris x Rhys sister! Reader

Warnings: possessive Eris, teeth rooting fluff, suggestive (smut scene but not detailed)

Summary: headcanons about hockey player! Eris

Masterlist ● hockey player! Azriel / Cassian

Eris is the capitan of the autumn fire hockey team. A lot of people say he got that position only because of his father, who is the owner of the team, but you know how hard he worked for it.

Let's be honest his teammates don't dare not to give everything out every single match. Eris worked hard for this team. They have to do so, too. It happened many times that he got someone kicked out of the team if they didn't play with all their might how he wanted.

On ice, Eris is fast, not as fast as Azriel, but still pretty fast. He's the player that isn't noticeable when he doesn't want to. If you think that the left side is safe and there is no one from their team, bum Eris is there in a second scoring goal.

He, as a capitan, of course knows his way with words. So just imagine the dirty talk he has going on. Not just once, he made you come undone only with his words.

"Yeah, such a good girl." His words make you feel fire in your veins and make you go faster. "You know how to make me feel, do you?" You moan, putting hands on his chest to steady yourself. Eris, grip on your hips, thigest making burise in the shape of them.

"Answer me, pretty girl." His hand leaves your hips and caresses your cheek. "Y-yes, I do." his smile goes bigger at the state you are in. Fully at his mercy with no way to run.

"My good girl"

Let's be honest. You didn't like him at first, like at all. Autumn fire was the rival team of Velaris dreams. No one really knows when it began, but it's there. (Velaris dreams dislike any team, expect sunlight team). The rivality sometimes projects even to real life.

Many times did Eris and Rhys glare at each other even when just passing by. You, as a sister of Rhysand, of course, were on the side of your brother.

So it was a surprise when you once (not just once) woke up naked in bed with Eris. Both of you hungover, but remembering every detail of your night together.

You slowly wake up, lazily looking over the room. Your mind is still cloudy by the amount of alcohol you had, not really realising what happened and where you are. "Good morning, princess." Looking to the side, you see man who kept you company for the night. Your mind shutting off even more seeing your brother's enemy "What? You weren't that quiet a few hours ago. " You quickly stood up and wrapped blanket around yourself. "No no, this shouldn't have happened"

"But it did, and I must say I enjoyed it." He smirked at you.

Looking at the memory now, you smile and thank your past self for getting black out drunk and sleeping with your brothers enemy. Cause that's when it all started.

The sneaking around, sneaky glances over the room. You lived in your own forbidden love book. Except the fact that at that time you two were just enemies with benefist.

Still fighting over anything and everything, comparing each other teams, laughing when the other one losses. It wouldn't be it without you two bickering all the time.

Just now, as a bonus, you were sleeping together.

Sometimes Eris wasn't that sneaky about your little agreement at all. He was a possessive man, and he wasn't scared to show it.

Many times, he has beaten some guy on ice just cause he was flirting with you. His girl

Velaris dreams vs Autumn fire

The match of a season, everyone wants to watch it live. Rivality both of fans and players making atmosphere that could only be made with them. Even people who don't watch hockey had to be there. Of course you were there too. Sitting at the family seates closest to the ice, smiling and waving at your brother and his teammates. One of them was particularly friendly, winking at you and even being bold enough to say he will score a goal just for you. Not that he wasn't attractive, but you were more into red-haired guys with big ego. Speaking of which, you can feel his eyes burning hole into your head. You turned to face the side of the ice he was on and smirked at him. Plan forming in your head.

You kept slightly flirting with that guy, not stopping even when Eris team scored. That game kept going till Eris pointed at you and pushed that guy. You couldn't help yourself but be slightly worried about Eris, you knew that he could take care of himself in a fight, he didn't get in those that often as a Cassian, but he still did and he won every one of them.

Yet that slight flutter of your heart when that guy managed to land a punch of him still found a way to you. You didn't even realise that you stood up till the fight came to the end, and Eris, with a winning grin, came to the glass that was separating you two and winked at you. Your heart jumped once more, but now in excitement and....love?

Maybe, but just maybe you felt more than hate towards him.

Since then, everyone knew who you belonged to, and mostly who Eris belonged to.

Let's just say his girl fans don't like you that much. Jealousy glares are being sent your way every time he even just looks at you.

Not that you or him care about it that much.

You became the power couple of hockey. Fans of autumn strongly believed that it was you who helped Eris and the team get back to the top.

But not just fans of autumn loved you two together. Everyone found cute how you two spend all the time together. In every photo taken of Eris, was you on his arm smiling at the photographer.

Eris loves to show you off. His hand on your lower back keeps you close to him and calms you down in crowded places he often gets as a hockey superstar.

You accompany him to every one of his important events. Eris telling everyone he won't show up if you can't come with him.

He is like a puppy in your presence, his mask completely crumbling with only your Eris left.

He gets so clingy every time there are just two of you. You can't even go to the toilet in the night without having a tall shadow following you. Don't forget about his hounds. They all are waiting for you behind Eris.

The clock read three am. You need to use the toilet, increasing every minute you're stuck with Eris arms wrapped around you and his legs tangled with yours. After five minutes of uncomfortable tossing around, trying to fall asleep and forget about your need. You give up and turn to Eris.

Running your fingers through his hair and lightly caressing his face. With a light kiss to his forehead, you try to wake him up.

"Er, let me go, please?" Eris opens one of his eyes, looking at you with a sleepy look on his face. "No, sleep." He wrapped his arms around you more thighly and turned around with you.

"Eris, let me go now, or I will literally piss myself," you whisper scream at him. "didn't know you were into that type of things love." You hit him in the chest while he just chuckled at let you go. Quickly standing up, you didn't realise you let the dogs in last night. All of them awake and looking at you. "Don't you dare follow me, Er you make sure of it." He just sent you thumps up from the bed.

After being done with everything, you opened the door with a loud scream. You quickly close to the door, holding your chest where the heart is, breathing deeply. Soon enough, there is a loud laugh and barking being heard. "Don't tell me we scared you that much"

Opening the door again you saw Eris standing in the middle with the biggest gring possible, all dogs sitting all around him wagging their tails. "Don't you dare to do it again, Eris. I'm being dead serious."

He wrapped his hand around your waist, still laughing to himself. "Of course you are." You couldn't help yourself, but smile too. Love shining in both of your eyes. He put his hand on your cheek kissing you deeply.

"I love you, dear"

[sehodreams]

which riize members are sugar babies vs sugar daddies?

This is one of my favorite concepts, thank you!

TW and tags: MDNI, sexual content, sugar daddy!riize, sugar baby!riize, all consensual.

SUGAR DADDIES

Eunseok

The ultimate sugar daddy, the daddiest of daddies, he lives to take care of you, to check you're always happy and satisfied, shopping springs whenever you want, traveling the world next to him and everything you want it's immediately yours. The only thing he wants from you? For you to always have a smile on your face, welcome him with your warm and do everything he says.

A bit toxic though, he doesn't want any man that's not him to talk to you or even breath the same air as you, he wants texts from you always telling him where you are and what are you doing, and you better tell him the true, because if you lie, he'll find out, and when he's angry he's not the same man.

If he fucked you when he was happy, he'd treat you with su much care, not wanting lo leave a single mark in your smooth skin, "that's my girl, always being so good" he'd smile, but if you were bad, lying to him about your whereabouts, he'd leave marks everywhere, for everyone to see that you had an owner, and forget about him calling you his good girl again, "slut, what I give you is not enough? What do you need from him that I can't give you? Fucking bitch" he'd pull your hair, your back pressing his chest and your legs open, to leave as many hickeys on your neck as he could while pressing the vibrator to your cunt, you begging for him to forgive you "I'm sorry daddy, I didn't mean to, I don't know what I was thinking" you'd cry after he denied your orgasm for the fourth time, always moving the toy away when you were about to cum, "of course you weren't thinking, but this is what happens to bad girls who don't think, they get punished".

Anton

He's always lived comfortable, and he knows how good it feels to be taken care of, he likes it, and he wants you to live exactly the same way, or even better. He may be young, and if you're younger it's okay, but he'd like to take care even of an older partner. He'd do anything to convince you to accept his money and gifts, he'd give you his card after some time, but it started with small things, like you asking for insignificant things like a coffee, or some material for school, and he'd send you at least four times the amount you needed. Then, he'd fight to pay your rent and school, slowly talking to you into becoming his sugar baby until you finally accepted his help, and you'd do it only because you realize he really, REALLY, wants to treat you like that, almost like a need.

He didn't expect anything from you in return, only your loyalty and your presence in his life, but after seeing how much he likes to see your needs fulfilled, you just want to reciprocate the care, so you'd always give your best in bed, his favorite position was with you riding his cock because that way he'd have your beautiful chest in front of his face, and you'd do it without complain everytime he came to the place he rented for you, or on the couch he bought for you, saying "thank you daddy, I like this place so much", because it doesn't matter your age, he's your daddy, and he'd cum only from hearing you, saying, "you deserve it baby, you deserve everything"

Shotaro

His case is a little special, he likes to take care of you, of course, but more than that, he lives to spoil you. He'd sent you money even to share with your friends, you're doing a group project? Baby take this and buy everyone's coffee, you want to travel? Honey take this card and stay in a nice hotel, if you want company invite your friends too. he just wants to spoil you to the core, you're the best gift for him, and if he has all that money, it must be to spoil you, right?

When you thanked him everytime you met, falling to your knees and opening his belt to suck his cock, he'd pet your hair, smiling and helping you with it so you could be more comfortable, saying "that's my precious baby, always getting what she wants", because you both know that, more than him, you're the one who needs his dick inside your mouth to feel happy.

SUGAR BABIES

Sohee

This baby has always worked so hard, when you met him he was so exhausted from his part time jobs that he knew he didn't need a partner, but he couldn't help and fell for you, and look at that sweet face, you never thought about treating someone like that, but buying things for him came to you naturally, and when he tried to buy things for you too, you didn't let him, even less anything expensive, doesn't matter the occasion. You only want him to live with that beautiful smile on his face, and you wouldn't be afraid of spending as much as he needed, you had that high position and that salary for a reason.

He'd be so uncomfortable at first, feeling his pride a bit hurt, because when he met you he didn't want you to see him like a boy that needs to be taken care of, he wanted you to see him as a man, and it would take time, but you'd show him, little by little, that what you liked the most was to see him well dressed, feed and happy, and it's not like you don't expect anything from him, you expect him to always be there for you and give you the support you couldn't get from anyone else.

In bed you'd whisper to his ear when he fucked you, "so good baby, that's my boy, always taken care of me" and then he'd feel like everything is where should it be, your card in his wallet, his stuff in your apartment, and you under him.

Wonbin

This manwhore knows he's pretty and knows he can get whatever he wants with his face, but it was different to recieve things from you than with his other partners, he knew you had drawn a limit with him, you weren't in love, and you didn't want him to fall in love with you neither, which made him, as stupid as it sounded, want you even more.

It was like, it started because of his own needs, but now all he thinks about is what can he do for you. You give him gifts, you pay his expenses and tell him he can get anything he wants, but he only wants your time, your praise and your hands touching him, it didn't matter where, holding hands outside, petting his hair when he watched a movie, or making him cry while touching the tip of his leaking cock, he just wanted all your attention on him.

It was so hard to get you all for himself, there wasn't anything more satisfying than you telling him you could spend the day together, and you would like to take him out shopping and to nice restaurants, but what he wants is to stay in your house, drink one your expensive wines, to then have you sitting on his face, or you to let him fuck your sweet pussy that he missed so much the days he couldn't see you, "I can go shopping any day, but I can't have you with me all the time, please just use me when we're alone, please".

Sungchan

This big boy loves gifts, and you love to see you pretty boy all dolled up, wearing nice clothes and looking gorgeous next to you. However, it's important to clarify that he only likes gifts from you, he only wants to be spoiled by you, and he's the one who is more into you.

When you met you didn't pay him any attention, he was just the pretty boy who worked in the cafeteria inside your office building, and you didn't have the time to pay attention to anyone who wasn't you or your client. He, on the other hand, always followed you with his eyes, and not only because of how elegant you looked, but how cold and kind you were at the same time, you never smiled at him, but you always said thank you, and he never expected you to remember him, but when one day he was crying behind the office, and you caught him when you wanted to have your daily cigarette, you talked to him with so much delicacy he'd never forget it "everyone has it hard at first, it's everyone's first life, so don't worry, things get better with time".

And it was true, things did get better with time, you offered to take care of him while he was in school, and he accepted because he needed it, but also because he wanted to be as near you as possible, wiped with your beauty and charm, he liked to be spoiled by you, and he loved to help you forget all the stress from work when you were together. "Always so pretty, please let me take care of you too" he'd say, pressing his fingers inside you before fucking you hard into oblivion, rutting your insides and watching you cry under him, making you dumb with his cock, so different from your usual put together look.

Seunghan

I can't help but see this boy following you around like a puppy, hugging your arm and saying "Noona, what do you think of this bag? Please buy it for me" with that cheeky smile, and you'd pull out your card to buy anything he asked for. He loves to be spoiled, and you love the smile he has after you buy him what he wants. You don't give him your card, but you always sent him money, and in exchange he sends you pictures of him doing his usual stuff, a picture of him in the cab he takes to school instead of the uncomfortable bus, pictures of him drinking coffee and studying, of him sweaty after playing basketball with his friends, he'd just sent you pictures of him doing everything, only expecting your daily good night.

He doesn't mind that you don't send him pictures of you, or that you don't answer him that much, because he knows how you smile when you see his pretty face on your phone, and that's enough for him, he knows your busy.

In bed, however, he needs to hear your voice all the time, "please tell me I'm doing good Noona", and he'd also be as spoiled as always "can I cum inside please? Please, please, I've been doing so good in school, please give me my prize", and how could you say no to that sweet face, anything for your baby.

[commodorez]

I still believe the craziest form of computer program storage format from the 1980s is the cassette tape. Logical I get it but to store entire programs on little tape (that I only remember using to play music) is just crazy to me. Idk

Agreed, cassette tape for data storage was really clever. The concept had its heyday was the 1970s in a wide variety of encoding schemes for different computer platforms. It did persist into the 80s, mostly in Europe, while the US switched to floppy disks as soon as they were available for systems. The majority of my Ohio Scientific software is on cassette.

Talking with UK vs. US Commodore 64 users in particular will highlight the disparity in which storage mediums that were commonplace. I've got a few pieces of software on tape for mainly the VIC-20, but I rarely bother to use it, because it's slow and annoying. To be fair, Commodore's implementation of data storage on tape is pretty rock solid relative to the competition. It's considered more reliable than other company's but Chuck Peddle's implementation of the cassette routines are considered quite enigmatic to this day. He didn't document it super well, so CBM kept reusing his old code from the PET all the way through the end of the C128's development 7 years later because they didn't want to break any backward compatibility.

The big thing that really made alot of homebrewers and kit computer owners cozy up to the idea was the introduction of the Kansas City Standard from 1976. The idea of getting away from delicate and slow paper tape, and moving towards an inexpensive, portable, and more durable storage medium was quite enticing. Floppy disk drives and interfaces were expensive at the time, so something more accessible like off the shelf audio tapes made sense.

I've linked two places you can read about it from Byte Magazine's February 1976 issue below (check the attribution links).

You might recognize a familiar name present...

There are a few ways to encode binary data on tape designed to handle analog audio, but the KCS approach is to have 1's be 8 cycles of 2400Hz tone, and 0's be 4 cycles of 1200Hz tone. I say cycles, because while 300 baud is the initial specification, there is also a 1200 baud specification available, so the duration of marks vs spaces (another way of saying 1's and 0's), is variable based on that baud rate. Many S-100 computers implemented it, as do a few contemporary proprietary designs.

The big 3 microcomputers of 1977 that revolutionized the industry (Apple II, Commodore PET 2001, and Tandy TRS-80 Model I) each have their own cassette interface implementation. It kept costs down, and it was easy to implement, all things considered. The Apple II and TRS-80 use off-the-shelf cassette deck connections like many other machines, whereas the original variant of the PET had an integrated cassette. Commodore later used external cassette decks with a proprietary connector, whereas many other companies abandoned tape before too long. Hell, even the original IBM PC has a cassette port, not that anybody bothered to use that. Each one used a different encoding format to store their data, rather than KCS.

Here's a sample of what an OSI-formatted tape sounds like.

And here's a Commodore formatted tape, specifically one with VIC-20 programs on it.

I won't subject you to the whole program, or we'd be here all day. The initial single tone that starts the segment is called the "leader", I've truncated it for the sake of your ears, as well as recorded them kinda quietly. I don't have any other tape formats on hand to demonstrate, but I think you get the idea.

You can do alot better than storing programs on tape, but you can also do alot worse -- it beats having to type in a program every time from scratch.

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament: Round 1D

This is a Titan vs. Titan fight and I apologize for nothing. I woke up and chose violence throughout this entire poll.

Seven-time Tony nominee, two-time winner Bernadette Peters (1948) has a sixty-plus year stage career of monumental proportions. Considered the foremost Sondheim interpreter, their collaborative works include Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), Gypsy (2003), and Follies (2011). She has a thriving concert career, and was a co-founder of the beloved Broadway Barks event each year in Shubert Alley. She has an honorary third Tony (Isabelle Stevenson Award) for her outstanding advocacy and philanthropy.

Eight-time Tony nominee, three-time winner Patti LuPone (1949) has a staggering fifty-plus year stage career. Award-winning roles include Eva Peron in Evita (1979), Gypsy (2008), and Company (2022). She has toured the US with her wildly successful concert and cabaret acts, and will kill you on sight if she sees a cell phone in the theatre. Patti was NOT Norma Desmond on Broadway, and because of it, is the proud owner of the ALW Memorial Pool. She is no longer a member of Actors' Equity.

PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT: ALL POLLS HERE

Pictured Annie Get Your Gun (Annie Oakley), Gypsy (Mama Rose), A Little Night Music (Desiree Armfeldt)

"Do I even need to write propaganda for these women? Do they not speak for themselves? Very well. Bernadette Peters in Cinderella (1997) was my very first, official, undisputed gay awakening. I was three, and enamored with the stepmother. This would prove to be a blueprint in my life, and well, here we are, twenty-some-odd years later, with a thing for stage actresses who play redheaded stepmothers in various Cinderella adaptations. It's a surprisingly common phenomenon."

Pictured Annie Get Your Gun (Annie Oakley), Gypsy (Mama Rose), A Little Night Music (Desiree Armfeldt)

"This woman can breech the sound barrier. The reverberation she gets on that one note in her Anything Goes Tony performance physically rearranges every atom in my body every time I hear it. Patti is THE definition of a Broadway Diva, with more than just a little touch of star quality. Her 54 Below show was an absolute riot from start to finish."

-photo submitted by anon.

(Please note, dear voters, that the above quote is from a clickhole article, and Patti LuPone never actually said it, but it would be on-brand of her if she had.)

[astreia-oniria]

MCL NEW GEN THEORY(S)

But Astreia, surely it's too soon to start making theories! NO IT'S NOT, IT'S NEVER TOO SOON FOR ME.

I've been dying to share this theory(s) since the game came out last week, but my Tumblr wasn't working properly. Now that it's apparently fixed I can't wait to share and see what you all think. Will you agree? Will you think I've gone mental? We'll find out 😂

WARNING: the following text contains spoilers of the first two episodes of MCL New Gen. Do not keep reading if you haven't played Episode 2 (or well you can continue reading under your responsability if you don't care about spoilers).

Let me precede this by saying that this isn't a full-fledged theory. Since we're only two episodes into the game, I don't have enough evidence to back this up completely, so I'm calling it an inkling rather than a proper theory.

My inkling/theory is about Jason, Roy, Devon and how their enmity goes beyond just a professional rivalry. It's kind of divided into two parts or two inklings/theories:

THE FACTS (PART 1: ROY'S ROLE IN DEVENEMENTIEL)

Let's start with what we learn from Roy.

He says he and Devon grew up together, went to college together and decided to embark on a bussiness together (though it wasn't his true calling).

But why would he get involved into something that wasn't his true calling? Was it only because of Devon's influence? Roy says Devon's mother babysitted and he spent quite some time with him back then, so maybe Roy's parents are wealthy and he's the investor or equity partner behind Devenementiel.

When Amanda is telling Ysaline "it's the boss who decides", Roy appears and says "are you talking about me?".

This is curious because he clearly heard what she was saying, but made that jab anyway. Was it possible that he wasn't joking? That he was joking by telling the truth?

After that, he says he's Devon's second in charge.

Yes, maybe Devon put him in that position because Roy is his friend, but that isn't professional if Roy only knows about sport events.

Amanda continues by saying he's wrong and that he's like the rest of the team, but Roy answers by saying "well, not exactly like the rest... well, whatever".

It looks like he was going to say more, like he's refering to not being actually at the same level as the rest of the team.

This isn't a huge detail but he calls Devon "the big boss" and you normaly use that term when there are more bosses around.

He kind of deflects Ysaline's question about wheter he's only in charge of sport events.

He is in the New Palace meeting, something that doesn't involve sports. Apart from Ysaline, the meeting seems to involve bosses/owners (Jason, Devon, the New Palace's owner...) and not team members.

CONCLUSION 1:

I really think Roy is co-founder and co-owner of Devenementiel and that he might be the one who financed the company. I think he's also our boss but he is playing coy about it. Knowing what we do about him, I don't think he likes the normal boss-like relationships with his employees and prefers to be "in the field" with them, being part of their team, and leaving other matters to Devon. That would make sense for a guy with his attitude.

THE FACTS (PART 2: THE HOSTILITY BETWEEN DEVON, ROY & JASON)

Now let's see what we learn from the whole Devenementiel vs. Goldreamz situation:

Roy is extremely upset and angry at anything Jason or Goldreamz.

This might be normal between rivals, but I can't help but think Roy's reactions are too extreme and there seems to be some kind of resentment.

Roy calls Jason "cheater and thief" and specifies that it's not only in relation to Danica.

This is what got me thinking hard about everything, because Roy went too far and if it's not about Danica, then about what could it be? Of course, it could be about Goldreamz getting their deals, but again it reads like too much for a professional rivalry.

Jason refers to Roy as Devon's guardian dog.

Not super important, but I get the feeling that Jason, Devon and Roy knows each other too well, and that Jason says this like it irks him. Could it be some bitterness?

Devon says to the New Palace's owner that "we've crossed paths already" refering to Jason.

This could just be something normal to say, but he doesn't add anything about their paths crossing because of bussiness. So maybe he's referencing knowing each other for a long time because of other motives.

Jason showing up and trying way too hard to get in Devenementiel's way.

It could be for the sake of the story, but isn't it too much? Could there be other reasons behind his behaviour?

CONCLUSION 2:

This is the "inkling" part of the theory, I guess. I have a hunch that Devon, Roy and Jason not only have known each other for a long time, but that they were actually friends. I think that maybe Jason was one of the other kids Devon's mother babysitted or that maybe they met in college, that they started their journeys and careers together. I think Jason and Devon (who are clearly more into events production & management than Roy) had this dream of starting a company and that Roy got on board with their friends so they could all work and be together. And I think something went horribly worng in the process.

I think that whatever happened between them might have been a misunderstanding relating to projects and/or money (hence the cheater and thief comment), something that framed Jason and turned Devon and Roy against him and in turn made Jason bitter about their friends not believing him.

Having this into account, there are a few possibilities that I can think off:

They founded Goldreamz, Devon and Roy left and Jason got the company (another posssible reson for Roy callin him thief), so Devon and Roy founded Devenementiel.

They founded Devenementiel and Jason was forced to leave, so he founded Goldreamz for revenge (and paying the bills obviously).

Everything happened at the early stages of creating a company, so maybe an external investor or something gave the project to one of them (possibly Jason) because they weren't sure about the others, and this was seen as a betrayal.

If anything about my theory proves to be right, then Ysaline will be able to get to the core of this a resolve the misunderstanding, getting Devon, Roy and Jason to make up (not before having us siding with someone and making drama 😂). This could lead to the future fusion of both Devenementiel and Goldreamz and a happy ending for all the characters.

And that's it, that's all. If I see more evidence in future episodes I will update this. So what do you say, have I read too much into everything? Do you agree with my theory or have anything to add to it? Let me know what you guys think.

I think that you should go out more and stop overanalyzing games, Astreia.

[adonis-koo]

sweet nothing • 2

(in which a disagreement turns into mess)

↳ Description: being a guest at the Jeon Estate after a mishap of being kidnapped and dragged into your brothers affairs isn’t all that bad. Truth be told it brings you a lot closer to the mobster and owner of the estate Jeon Jungkook himself.

His two rules are simple, don’t cause trouble and don’t give him a hard time. Somehow you manage to constantly do both in the most endearing way despite being pregnant and waddling around most of the time.

↳ Pairing: Jungkook/reader, ???/reader

↳ Genre: slice of life AU, mafia!AU, pregnancy, there’s like…a little bit of a plot but not a lot, future smut? maybe? it's very domestic!

Word Count: 2.7k

Previous | Next

Note: back with another part!!! she's short and just a tad angsty but the ending is cute so I allowed it! <3

“I want to paint.” 

Jungkook’s eyes glanced up at your somewhat antsy figure that sat across the small table from him, though dinner had been quiet it wasn’t a bad thing, he had just been buried in work more than usual lately.

Not just in his narcotic dealings but in his company as well, which meant spending his evenings and well into the night still trying to play catch up.

“Then paint.” Jungkook replied plainly, his eyes lowering back down to his monthly figures deducting what profit he had made between his input vs output and of course taxes- not that he paid them, but it was good to get an idea of just how large of a sum he was indirectly evading

Your lips twisted into a pout, it had taken you the last fifteen minutes to state your request, you hadn’t figured he’d be so blase about it, “No I need the materials to paint. There’s no supplies here, if I could go back home...” 

Jungkook finally set his set of papers down as he sighed, rubbing his face tiredly, “Just tell Jimin what you want for supplies, he’ll work out what you can buy.’” He waved a hand dismissively making your pout grow, now crossing your arms over your stomach. 

“Painting is expensive Jungkook,” You replied firmly, “I can’t ask you to buy any of that for-” 

You stopped at the sight of Jungkook pulling out his wallet from his back pocket, grabbing the black amex card as he tossed it in your direction, “Pin is 9207, go crazy.” 

“Jungkook!” You scolded him softly.

Jungkook raised his brows, “Bankrupt me if it means you staying out of trouble for one damn minute.” 

You sulked, it had been going on for two and a half weeks of you living in the Jeon Estate and it was evident Jungkook was still irritated at the whole stint last week where you had gotten stuck in his secret library but it wasn’t your fault…!

Well maybe a little bit, you shouldn’t have been snooping about but if you were going to be living here temporarily, then it would only make sense that you got acquainted with your surroundings. You glared at the card before snatching it off the table, standing up abruptly making Jungkook’s eyes dart back to your figure, now looking put off and irritated as you left without a single word. 

He looked towards Yeonjun who had been standing ideally by, “What the fuck was that about?” His lip twitched, “Any other woman would’ve came at just the sight of that card.” 

Yeonjun frowned, “With all due respect, you aren’t the most well spoken person Sir.” 

Jungkook’s nostrils flared, “And she’s been a headache and a fucking half, I meant what I said, if she can keep herself busy it would do me and the rest of the damn estate a favor.” 

Yeonjun said no more, feeling as though if he divulged any more of his thoughts he would once again be put under the cold pressure of a gun barrel, which he had already undergone three times this week, he’d rather not make it a forth, if possible.

—

You had been excited for your supplies to arrive, you had wasted no expense in nice canvases, primer, the expensive paints you’d only ever browse rather than buy, and of course brushes, but the finer quality ones that wouldn’t shed. 

And then among that you got pencils, charcoal, multi media paper, sketchpads. 

In fact, you felt a little bad spending over two thousand dollars within a half an hour, but then after looking at the black amex card for less than ten seconds, you remembered this was Jeon Jungkook’s bank account. 

The CEO who was apart of the underground mafia, who owned eight sports cars, two motorcycles, a fucking estate and three vacation homes, one which was in Greece, that he had confirmed himself and who knew what else. 

He had an black amex card for a reason. 

And then you promptly shut down any feelings of guilt. This was the very least he could do for acting like a total asshole to you. 

You wiped your brow that had sweat forming on it as you sighed, it was late morning but the heat of August was at its height and you could feel it. But you had gained a lot of inspiration from the gardens, so you had sat out with your supplies under one of the large willow trees next to the garden. 

It shielded you from the sun’s bright rays but good god was it humid outside. And carrying a miniature bowling ball in your stomach was making you a thousand times hotter than it would've been if you hadn’t been pregnant to begin with. 

Focusing back in on your painting you began working on the petals of the lilies you had first carefully sketched out before beginning your work on painting them. 

“You certainly made sure to spare no expense.” 

Your brush paused and your teeth gritted before you inhaled slowly, resuming your work as you ignored the one person you had no desire to talk to at the moment. 

“If you had just said so earlier I would’ve gotten you a whole studio.” Jungkook commented, peering over you at your work as he stuffed his hands in his pocket. 

“Oh so I won’t bother you and I’d stay out of trouble for’ one damn minute’?” You snapped as you glared over your shoulder. 

Jungkook was not dressed at all like you normally see him, he’s usually clean cut, in a button up of some kind and slacks, but today he’s in a loose white shirt with tattoos on display and gray sweatpants, hair messy and tied up indicating he had slept in, the first you had ever seen of such a case. 

Jungkook scoffed as he leaned back a little, “In case you forgot you had an entire house hunting you down for three hours last week. I remember it clear as day, so yeah sue me I want you to have some hobbies.” 

You groaned as you stood up, albeit a bit wobbly as you grabbed the tree for support, “Well I’m sorry for being such a pain in the ass! I was the one that got ripped out of my life and told that I have to stay here otherwise I’d be kidnapped, or killed or both! I’m not allowed to go to work, I’m not allowed to leave the estate, and now I’m not allowed to even walk around! I’m pregnant, not dying!” 

“Yeah well you’ll be fuckin’ dead at the rate you’re going doll,” Jungkook growled back, frustration evident on his face, “You were gonna get involved whether you wanted too or not because that’s what happens when people associate with rats.” 

“Don’t bring my brother into this!” 

“He’s the cunt to blame for you being stuck at my estate, sitting here painting in my gardens on my funds. You know what? You’re right Y/n, you should probably be thanking him right now because I know a lot of other fuckin’ men who wouldn’t be putting up with your bitching and crying right now except or me.” Jungkook replied coldly. 

You both glared at one another for a long moment before he noticed the slightest quiver in your lips and your eyes just a little glassy, “Fuck you.” 

Was all you said before indignantly walking away, though it was more of an awkward waddle to get out of the heat, but it was hardly to blame from the humidity anymore. 

“I know you’re a prideful fuck but c’mon man,” Yoongi took a long sip of his stiff vodka, watching Jungkook damn near kill his steak a second time as he aggressively stabbed it, yanking his knife through it like it was his enemies neck, “You can’t blame her for being mad.” 

“I gave her my fuckin’ amex card, what is she so pissed about?” Jungkook glared at his food, still cutting it up. He had purposefully chosen to go out tonight and have dinner with Yoongi to not have to see you. 

“You can’t buy someone’s heart Kook.” Yoongi replied.

“Who mentioned shit about hearts?” Jungkook scoffed, looking mildly amused for a moment before his expression soured once more, “She had no right to get pissy with me, what I’m doing is necessary to protect her ass. And she can’t get fuckin’ mad at me when she’s the one that’s always getting into trouble.”

“It was one time.” Yoongi scoffed as he reared his head back, the blonde shook his hair to get it out of his eyes, “You wanna know what I think this is about?”

“Quite frankly? No I don’t.” 

“Well too bad, I think it’s because you like her,” Yoongi pointed a finger at him with a gummy grin as Jungkook violently shook his head, “You fuckin’ like her and you can’t stand it. Or are you mad it isn’t you who got to fuck her raw and knock her up, after all you both knew each other-”

Yoongi’s sentence was cut off by Jungkook grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, yanking him close, hair covering his eyes as he spoke, “ I might be mad at her but don’t fucking talk about her like she’s some whore. And we might be partners but don’t think for one minute I won’t fuck you up if you say shit about her.” 

It was silent for a long moment and Yoongi’s grin only widened further, as if what he said had been confirmed. 

This made Jungkook scowl as he let go of him, “I just need to find Wonho and squeeze the fucker dry, then she can go back to her little boring life she so desperately wants.”

“If she’s such a headache then why not just let her go now? Who gives a shit,” Yoongi shrugged, straightening his collar back out, “I mean really Jungkook, you have no obligation to keep her there, she’s not your responsibility.” 

Yoongi glanced at him curiously but he said no more, this made Yoongi’s lips twist into a smirk as he took another drink. He didn’t say that this wasn’t like Jungkook to do this for a reason, because it was just like him. In fact this was the most Jungkook thing he could ever do. 

It’s what made Yoongi respect him, not only this but it made him much more interesting to work with than anyone else he had ever met, aside from their boss. 

“Talk all the shit you want Jungkook,” Yoongi paused for a moment, “But I think you’d both feel better if you reconciled.” 

Jungkook had taken a long drive after his dinner in thought of Yoongi’s words, thinking long and hard before he decided that Yoongi was right. 

He needed to reconcile with you. He had been stressed beyond normal and he had taken that out on you in the heat of the moment and that wasn’t fair to you, you didn’t ask for any of this. Jungkook had never imagined himself as someone who would get married, unless it was for the sake of his position, his company, or his ties in the mafia. 

And he sure as hell didn’t consider ever having children- unless they were bastards of a whore, in which he wouldn’t be surprised and took no claim over. 

So to say he was baffled and surprised at how quickly he had become stressed over you was a surprise to say the least. He wasn’t a man of attachment, but the idea of you being hurt, kidnapped or killed had an unimaginable amount of rage fill him. 

It had to be because you were just pregnant, you were carrying a baby that indeed did nothing wrong. Once you gave birth you wouldn’t be his problem anymore and neither would the kid. 

He resolved for that internally. 

Jungkook had come home to find out that you had made quite the stir in the estate as you had taken his words from earlier that day and did something about it. Finding a spare bedroom in the eastern side that would make a good studio.

Furniture was still left outside the room and the door was shut. 

Jungkook groaned as he ran his hand through his hair. He was many things, he was a businessman, a killer, a prideful person, intimidating to most. But he was not someone who apologized. 

In fact it was a surprise you had said what you did and walked away still alive, but it was only because it was you. Jungkook told himself, if that had been anyone else, if it had been any of his underlings, he would've executed them immediately. 

Jungkook leaned against the wall as he sighed, was he just going soft? 

Finally he knocked on the door, “Y/n…can we talk?” 

“Go away.” 

He tucked his tongue into his cheek at the muffled voice, he knew you’d be sulking, but he wouldn’t describe himself as patient nor soft, he banged on the door once more, “I’m not going until you talk to me.” 

“Then have fun sleeping outside.” You called back. 

Jungkook haughtily puffed his chest, teeth gritted as he glared at the wood separating you both. Muttering multiple foul sentences under his breath he leaned against the wall across from the door, if that’s what it took, then that’s what he’d do. 

Time had passed silently and the estate had fallen quiet as the night took over, many people asleep and a few guards had passed by bowing in respect but not daring to ask why their boss was half asleep, sitting on the ground with his back against the door. 

Jungkook was nodding off when he heard it, the sound of glass breaking, a loud tumble and multiple smacks of sound against wood. 

His heartrate had spiked immediately and he jolted right off the ground, “Y/n!?” He called out, but after a second of no reply he immediately opening the door to an unsightly scene, colored water spilt all over the ground and paints strown about. 

The easel knocked over with a beautiful bouquet painted on it- though a hole had been punching through it, now having ruined it. 

And you in the middle, covered in pain looking tired and thoroughly heartbroken at the scene. You had played a good game at not crying but right now it wasn’t working as your lips quivered and you softly wept into your hands. 

“C’mere.” Was all Jungkook said, stepping over the glass, carefully helping you up as you attempted to walk, “No, no you’ll cut your feet.” He scolded you softly, picking you up as he walked you over to the desk, setting you on top of it, “Is the baby okay?” 

His hand cautiously hovered over your swollen tummy though he didn’t feel quite comfortable to rest his hand on it. Fat tears trickled down your cheeks as you nodded, “I fell asleep and ended up knocking some things over, woke up in surprise and fell off my chair.” 

Jungkook sighed in relief before he grabbed a clean washcloth and the bottle of water on your desk, pouring it out he started cleaning the paint off your face, he paused as you both looked at one another for a long moment. 

“What am I gonna do with you?” He resigned as he tenderly thumbed the tears from your eyes, this made a soft whimper escape you as you closed your eyes, more tears trickling down your cheeks.

“‘m sorry.”

Jungkook only hushed you as he cleaned up your face before moving to your arms and then your legs, “What I said earlier today was unacceptable and cruel, I apologize for letting my temper get the best of me,” He sighed as he stared at your tear stained face, “I was being too harsh with you…How about we go out once a week? I’m sure you’re getting cabin fever.” 

You sniffled as you wiped your cheeks, “You wanna go out with me?” 

“If time allows,” Jungkook replied, “It seems like I can hardly trust anyone else, the moment you're out of my sight the moment this seems to keep happening.” He gestured around, a light smile on his face at your pout. 

“Anywhere…?” You peered at him a bit shy.

“Anywhere.” 

[findmeinthefallair]

More on Hunter's body language

(Warning for some descriptions of abuse) Specifically regarding... 1. eye contact that is primarily to ask for permission/seek approval, and thus hope for safe connection:

along with hypervigilance and assessing what the other person may be thinking. This is normal behavior in dogs because of hierarchy between them and their masters/owners but well, human children reaaaaaally shouldn't be doing this to such an extent. The messed up thing is even if he concludes in his mind that the person isn't safe, he doesn't flee or dodge but instead just stands there waiting for possible punishment.

He has not been allowed to even dodge (which he may have tried to do in the early years before the abusive conditioning became internalized), he must stand firm and take the hit because he has been told that he is useless, unless he does better.

A special exception is here:

where he maintains eye contact to try being assertive (he succeeded!).

But we still see part of this ingrained behavior in the two frames below where subconsciously he expects further punishment, even though he already escaped Belos by then:

2. his arms and torso, in his arc post-HM until the present: There's a pattern of more open vs. more closed, more relaxed vs. more tensed. Plus whether the torso angle is more turned away from the person he's speaking to, vs. directly facing them.

Obviously he's still not confident about trusting Gus here:

But in the presence of the Emperor's Coven scouts who find him, he's back to the posture he's been conditioned to have (with the same Any Sport in a Storm screencap from earlier, as side-by-side reference), to just stand there and freeze:

Later, the shift is gradual but obviously he's more receptive, in good company:

Until the Thing That Happens, happens :')) After that he obviously closes up again, alternating between gestures that could mean "Come and fight me if you want!" and "Don't touch me!":

or else he'd go to an emotional place that he was not ready for until the last few scenes of For the Future.

But see how he's kneeling and his hands are open below, among his peers, as if ready to ask for and receive what he needs, contrasted alongside a much earlier shot from Hunting Palismen where yes, he's kneeling, but god the tension in his body, in an undoubtedly unsafe presence:

It's not the same when he's with an adult as seen below, where you still see caution and tentative openness to Camila trying to connect:

but it's a big thing that I can't see him retreat at all: it looks like he stayed in the same position, just that he didn't initiate his own movement to reciprocate and lean in closer. I hope to see a shift in this particular kind of gesture in the finale, of course.

[kosomolski-dolls]

More owner vs company 💕 Dollzone edition

Starting with my siblings. Lyanna (Snow) and Amira (Little Snow), both dyed from pink to tan.

Arthur (Silvia)

And more siblings! Caitlín (Hal) and Áedán (Daomiao aka little Hal)

[frettchanstudios]

Art vs Artist 2022. A selection of my work/opportunities for my existing work from this past year. I'm so proud of what I was able to accomplish, it was definitely the year of public art and my most successful year as a small business owner/artist. A lot of murals and art installations around the Fraser Valley as well as being flown to the unveiling of the mural I designed for New Orleans. I had my first solo exhibition and painted my largest work to date. I created a lot of designs for Indigenous-focused campaigns this year, partnering with many businesses. It is incredible to have the opportunity to use my artwork to make a difference. I feel very blessed to be able to make a living being creative and for all the opportunities that I've had. I am also thankful for the holidays as I'm currently on the butt end of art fatigue/burnout and I've pulled back a little bit from social media to keep my mental health in check. In transparency, it isn't always sunshine and roses and I think it's important to share that. I'm very excited about what the new year will bring. New murals and projects are being planned and I'm currently working on a personal piece that I'm very excited to share, it is a goal of mine to create more personal art in the coming year. In 2023 I will be relaunching my online shop so keep your eye out for that. I am so thankful to everyone who supports my work, from the companies I've been blessed to work with to the individuals who commission me or purchase my prints to those that like and share my work with others. It means the world. Happy New Year to ya'll, see you next year!

[garbagequeer]

i also like that riverdale 1x04 has jughead and fred argue in a way that shows the class divide between them and their differences in interests even though the andrews family is always being framed as very working class which feels more like mythologizing than factual like sorry to fred andrews but he owns that construction company he's not the same as the guys on the job and To Me it's nice to see at least one moment of it being brought to attention. like the fact that while there can be a similarity of experiences between the owner of a small construction company and his crew his interests will more often align with the interests of other people who are in a position to own capital even when there's no resonance in character and a big difference in incomes. like it's not even about good vs evil in a person's character but good vs evil in interests which can come from people who are personally good or bad either way. it's also cool to think about how this still falls under creating a heroic myth around archie because jughead wants archie to be more of a hero also as a way to be closer to him and how sometimes reality bends around jughead's narrative so like archie is a working class hero even though his dad owns a business and hires people under him and his mom is a lawyer (and his uncle is a mercenary #uncleflop)

[lol-jackles]

You do know that FBBC are still heavily producing and distributing beer, right? Before you start patting yourself on the back that the original brewery/land is being sold, you might want to get clued into the fact that distribution has been expanded to San Antonio and recently to Houston. The company and brand are positioning themselves to expand further. Don't think they will go back to the cute craft brewery, but as you have pointed out, craft breweries are not that profitable. Looks like they are going for a stronger business model.

You go on about the whole YANA thing. I have never understood why a select few in the fandom actually became jealous about a charity? Seems so small minded and petty. Regardless, YANA still exists and continues to do good things.

Yes I know about their distribution, I'm the one who pointed out 5 years ago all those bottling and canning equipment and the end products weren't for the taproom customers but meant for distribution because the Ackles were trying to go big because they want to make actual profit despite originally claiming that they would only sell beer at the brewery (X).

What did you think the $1000 membership package was about?  To get SPN fans to regularly go to FBBC to keep it afloat so they can keep making beer on site and then ship off site. Quite a turnaround when Gino cast dispersion toward SPN fans and said there will be no beer named after a "corny tv show" (X)

According to Gino, they plan to resume producing their own beer again once they find a location in Austin.

After they bought these top on the line brewing equipment and are now selling. That sounds like a "stronger business model" to you?

Surely you don't think the Ackles are going to sell off all the brewery equipment only to turn around and buy new equipment for the alleged 2nd location?  At best they should just open a small scale taproom and put Gino in there as the glorified bar tender.

Do you know people who had their beer made by somebody else?  I have. They have to pay for everything, or make compromises.  There is no in between. A specific yeast strain the contractors don't use?  Then you're going to have to pay for that, and the labor to keep it going, or do it yourself.  Oh wait, they can't because they closed down FBBC.

Breweries don't close because they'll make more money from contract breweries, if that's the case then why open your own brewery in the first place?

Let me break it down using another real life example:

If parents have a couple of kids going to the same college and overlap each other, instead of paying dorm fees or renting an apartment, they would buy a townhouse for their child/ren and rent out rooms to other students, which pays for the mortgage.  Then when the last child graduates, they sell the house for a profit.

See the difference between owning a brewery that doubles as a contract brewery (your house) vs paying everything to a contract brewery (college)?

What's going on is there is a saturation of craft breweries.  It's like in the late 90s when there was a huge surge in openings of comic shops.  Every collector dreamed of running his own place and thought a love for the product was enough to be successful. The market became saturated.  A couple years later, the trend reversed and it seemed another shop was closing every other week. The difference in making it or not largely rested on whether the owner had the skill set to run a business. Foresight. Customer relations. General business principles. And of course, the ones who had adequate funding. The market decided who made it and who didn’t.

That's what is going on in the current beer industry.  The hobbyists who thought they could be successful because they loved brewing but lacked the skill set to run a business are beginning to fall.

LOL nobody is jealous of YANA, people continue to be amused by it because of how badly it was executed and then failed. If YANA still exist and continues to do good thing, it's only because Jared bailed it out after both Misha and Jensen abandoned the public promise as mentioned here and here.

I remember back in my day a craft beer was “hey there’s a beer that’s $3.50 a bottle instead of $2 and it’s way better!”

Nowadays it’s “this craft beer is sourced with water collected from the Himalayas by free range howler monkeys and filtered through the wings of butterflies.  Oh and we can’t bother to be original so it’s an IPA loaded with hops.  $8 please”.

[jeysecretive]

Okay, okay, I steal ideas, I quickly fall in love with fanfics... Please please take this for what it's worth, because I love what pops into my head and I can't not share it!

So, this time to suffer fic by @weirdozjunkary (MVA), and I'll write nonsense because I haven't watched Monsters vs Aliens from the word at all, and am following a completely my own plot that will unfold after the second part of the fanfic.

(Part two!)

(NOTE: I WROTE THIS IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE, AND DECIDED TO REQUEST IT IN A TRANSLATOR TO AVOID REWRITING IT ALL OVER AGAIN, SO THERE MAY BE MISTAKES!(THOUGH WITH MY LEVEL OF ENGLISH YOU'RE UNLIKELY TO FEEL THE DIFFERENCE LMAO))

ENJOY THE SHOW!

It was a cloudy day in May. It was dank and damp outside, and anyone who needed to go out for business in such weather was sure to wrap themselves in a raincoat or scarf, snorted now and then at the dampness and unpleasant wind.

Sonic, Tails and Shadow were not happy about the weather, so they sat in the GUN base and settled down on Sonic's bed and watched comedies on a homemade movie projector that the fox had made from a ruined microwave (Barry had given it to them). What better way to brighten up a dull, rainy day than with a funny movie and a bag of chips?

Knuckles refused to be entertained, disappearing into a roadside café, eating mugs of delicious hot cocoa and cakes prepared by the owner of the place. Guys did not insist on his choice, and decided to have fun in their own way. And now they watched movies with laughter, exchanging ideas or news every now and then.

But the cozy revelry was suddenly interrupted by General Acorn entering the room.

"–Enough of this nonsense, boys!" she exclaimed nervously, "I have something interesting to show you."

"–Uuuh, we've stopped at the most interesting scene..." Sonic grumbled unhappily, taking his equally frowning friends in his arms and following the chipmunk on his heels. He didn't want to go out his room at all, as the very realization that it was raining outside made him drowsy and drowsy. But he didn't want to disobey orders, and with the thought that GUN it would be worth it to hold off on all sorts of things, Sonic and company entered the observation room.

The General hurried to one of the monitors, giving an order to one of her subordinates.

Plumping herself into a chair, she began clicking hastily on the keyboard.

Finally finding what she needed, she brought up the image on the main screen hanging from the ceiling, large enough for Sonic to look at.

At first, nothing could be seen there but a desolate area: a small lake surrounded by sparse undergrowth. It was taken from a distance, but Sonic recognized the place - it was not far (though one has to figure out what "not far" means to a giant hedgehog...) from one of the small towns west of the GUN base. When he wanted to bask in the sun, Sonic would go there and bask on the soft grass that grew near the pond.

Now the place looked rather bleak, and judging by the swaying trees, it was also windy. Sonic shuddered at the dank sight. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to be there. Shadow and Tails seemed to share his feeling, shiver at little times.

But suddenly guys noticed a strange beam of light coming toward the clearing. It seemed to be some kind of meteorite or comet, but the light grew brighter and brighter, and it was already apparent that some object was flying from the sky at an oblique angle straight toward the waters of the lake. Finally, it crashed into the sand right next to the water, raising a huge column of mud and causing the lake to become very agitated and overflow its banks. At the same moment, the image began to glitch and shake, and finally went out.

"–We installed this camera a week ago so that Ollie" - Sally waved her hand toward one of the employees nervously monitoring some sort of signature on small work computers - "–could monitor the soil conditions in this county, since there have been repeated sightings of sudden flooding or ground instability. But ten minutes ago, we received this video from him."

"–I beg your pardon, ma'am!" shouted one of the soldiers running by "we've just been notified that the object MIGHT be emitting Chaos energy, causing interference throughout the area, but that energy is highly variable, and NOTHING like the signatures of the Chaos Emeralds."

The General looked worriedly at Sonic.

"–Okay Ron, I'll take that under advisement, you may go."

"-Yes, ma'am!"

She turned back to guys again.

"-The object in question may not be an emerald, but we have an obligation to find out its origin."

"- Is there any chance that it was an ordinary meteorite?" Shadow asked.

"Absolutely not. Meteorites have completely different radiation levels, and even if it was one of them, there would be no trace of the lake. Besides, the meteor shower hasn't been predicted for the next four months. I want to send the three of you away to inspect this scene in detail."

Hearing this message, Sonic groaned unhappily. The last thing he wanted to do was go outside in this weather, much less look for anything.

"- Ma'am, why don't you ask someone else to do it, say, send out a search party?"

The General looked at him sternly.

"- No one knows what we'll be facing. Besides, if it's not even an emerald, no one knows how to deal with Chaos energy better than you."-Sonic opened his mouth to speak-"... AND I WON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER! NO ONE CAN HANDLE IT BETTER THAN YOU BOYS, SO LET'S GET TO WORK!"

All three of them left the room and headed down the corridor towards the exit.

They were followed by "...- And please don't forget to take a couple good pictures!!!"

"And why does it have to be us, in this weather?" Sonic said indignantly.

Tails and Shadow silently shared his opinion. They both knew how much the hedgehog hated the cold. Truth be told, they didn't want to run out in the rain to some mysterious meteorite, shivering in the cold and pissing their feet in puddles.

"- Well, at any rate, the sooner we get out, the sooner we get in! We should try and just have a quick look around the place, and we'll be back home.... Unless, of course, something happens..."-Tails broke the silence.

Shadow nodded in agreement.

Ahead of his friends, fox cub went into his workshop. Sonic and Shadow stomped curiously at the entrance, watching him rummage through boxes of junk, sneezing from the dust.

Finally, his face brightened.

"-Hooray, I found it!"-Tails raised the device, which looked like a game joystick with a screen, high above his head.

"-Very good, buddy, but what is it?" inquired Sonic.

"- It's a handheld device for tracking more or less powerful energy sources. It can be used to search for the energy signal of the Chaos Emeralds! I built it for just that purpose, but I haven't had to use it yet. Now I'll tweak it a bit, and we can easily find what we need."

On the occasion of the bad weather, Shadow and Tails had donned raincoats with warm linings. Looking at them, Sonic was quietly envious since GUN hadn't taken care of his warm clothes for such occasions. Seeing his dejected face, the fox cub comfortingly patted the big guy's boot.

"-Let's make this quick and get back home."

Sonic nodded his head.

"-Okay, you're right! There's nothing faster than me anyway."-he hummed.

Stepping outside, hedgehog whinnying as a hail of cold drops rained down on him. Gritting his teeth, Sonic put his friends on his shoulders and sped off.

After only a few minutes, he stopped next to a large crater of sand and mud.

Lowering his buddies to the ground, Sonic began to shake off the moisture fiercely of himself. While he dealt with this procedure, Tales was thoughtfully twiddling one of the buttons on his miracle device.

"These are settings for the beeping sound for better search efficiency," he explained to Shadow, who was looking over his shoulder.

Before they could say anything, Sonic's sneeze rang out across the neighborhood.

"Sorry, guys, I couldn't help it," the hedgehog muttered in confusion. Tails chuckled "–Hey, at least you're wearing a jacket after all!"

The little fox, without answering anything, went back to his search device.

Finally finished, he solemnly moved the gray slider and smiled proudly.

              "BEEP--BEEP--BEEP--BEEP."

"- Wow, not bad for a meteorite!"- Tails even jumped up in surprise. "- I didn't expect the energy to be THIS strong..."

The fox slowly began to slide into the center of the crater.

"- According to my calculations, this energy could very well equate to the power of several emeralds!"

Finally finding himself in the middle of the crater he scratched the back of his head thoughtfully-"- Hmmmm.... Strange... It feels like the source of the signal is elsewhere.... And it's... Moving?!"-Shadow immediately landed next to Tails-"And what does that mean, fox?"

Foxy shook his head thoughtfully-"-I can say with certainty that there's nothing in that funnel."

"So you're saying that the meteorite grew legs and got out of here and went about its business?" Sonic laughed.

Both buddies frowned at him.

Sonic, realizing that his joke was not appreciated, pouted resentfully and walked away.

But suddenly he noticed that the sand around him was cut by a string of strange footprints. They were clearly Mobian, but they were extremely erratic, as if the person getting out of the funnel had been spinning or drunk. The footprints were already half-drenched in rain, but they were still visible. And they led toward the woods.

"- GUYS, I FOUND SOMETHING INTERESTING!"- Sonic took turns picking up his friends in a pinch and placing them near his find.

Immediately a dead silence hung around.

"-Hey guys, don't you think...?" whispered Tails.

Shadow slapped his forehead-"-WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF THIS SOONER?! WHILE WE WERE GONE, ANYONE COULD HAVE GOTTEN IN HERE AND STOLEN THE EMERALD-"

"-No, wait!" Tails interrupted him excitedly, "This energy is nothing like Chaos! Maybe..."

All three of them looked at each other.

"Does Neo have any relatives?" whispered Sonic.

"LET'S GO FIND HIM BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!" Shadow was the first to rush out of his seat. The others, after a moment's hesitation, rushed after him.

***

Were the aliens going to take over the world again? We'll find out next time!

[kradeelav]

the tl;dr

IRON CROWN as a free comic is now off of wordpress and can be viewed by a neat, robust HTML/CSS/JS comic template called rarebit! effectively nothing has changed for the reader, beyond expecting a little more reliability of uptime over the years.

all comic pages and previously paywalled patreon posts can also be downloaded in this art dump for free, as mentioned in the new author's notes.

the long story:

When talking shop about site/platform moves under this handle, I think it's useful to realize that us (taboo) kink artists live in an actively adversarial internet now, compared to five years ago.

meaning that we have to live with an expectation that 99% of platforms (including registrars and hosting, let alone sns sites) will ban/kick us without warning. this might explain the overly cautious/defensive way we discuss technologies - weighing how likely (and easily) the tool can be used against us vs the perks.

for example: has a harassment mob bullied the platform owners into quietly dropping lolisho artists? trans artists? does the platform/technology have a clear, no-bullshit policy on drawn kink art (specifically third rail kinks like noncon)? does the platform have a long history of hosting r18 doujin artists/hentai publishers with no issue? does the company operate in a nation unfriendly to specific kinks (eg fashkink artists fundamentally incompatible with companies based in germany, when other kinks might be OK?). i talk with a few different groups of artists daily about the above.

but that gets tiring after a while! frankly, the only path that's becoming optimal long-term is (a) putting kink art on your personal site, and if possible, (b) self hosting the whole thing entirely, while (c) complementing your site with physical merch since it's much harder to destroy in one go.

with that said - I've been slowly re-designing all of my pages/sub-domains as compact 'bug out bags'. lean, efficiently packed with the essentials, and very easy to save and re-upload to a new host/registrar near instantly (and eventually, be friendly to self-hosting bandwidth costs since that's now a distant goal).

how does this look in theory, you ask?

zero dependencies. the whole IRON CROWN comic subdomain is three JS files, a few HTML files, one CSS file, and images. that's it.

no updates that can be trojan horse'd. I'm not even talking about malware though that's included; I'm talking about wordpress (owned by the same owners as tumblr cough) slipping in AI opt-outs in a plug-in that's turned on by default. I used to think wordpress was safe from these shenanigans because wordpress-as-a-CMS could be separate from wordpress-as-a-domain; I was wrong. they'll get you through updates.

robust reliability through the KISS principle. keep it simple stupid. malware/DDOS'ing has an infinitively harder time affecting something that doesn't have a login page/interactive forms. You can't be affected by an open source platform suddenly folding, because your "starter" template is contained files saved on your desktop (and hopefully multiple backups...). etc.

so how does this look in practice?

To be fair, you're often trading convenient new shiny UI/tools for a clunkier back-end experience. but i think it's a mistake to think your art site has to look like a MIT professor's page from 1999.

with IRON CROWN, I've effectively replicated it from a (quite good) comic template in wordpress to 98% of the same layout in pure HTML/CSS/JS via rarebit. Should rarebit's website go "poof", I've got the initial zip download of the template to re-use for other sites.

I frankly have a hard time recommending rarebit for an actively updating webcomic since you personally might be trading too many advantages like SEO tools, RSS feeds, etc away - but for a finished webcomic that you want to put in "cold storage" - it's amazing. and exactly what I needed here.