#platform ticket prices

[tteokdoroki]

☆༉ — RYOMEN SUKUNA. santa’s little helper.

about. dressing up as slutty santa warrants some unwanted attention, luckily, sukuna is there to play santa’s grumpy little helper. merry christmas.

warnings. minors, blank and ageless blogs do not interact! sfw, fluff, meet cute, reader gets harassed/cat-called, reader is wearing a dress, modern!sukuna, fem!reader. it’s still christmas somewhere - enjoy !! (1K).

you meet modern bf!sukuna at a train station on christmas eve.

all your friends have gone home with guys that they fancied from the club, all the ubers in the area are either booked out or have sky high prices just to get you thirty minutes away not to mention the fact that it’s ice cold and your stupid mean girls themed santa outfit keeps riding up.

if you huff hard enough a cloud of smoke appears in place of your breath — like that of a mighty dragon, accumulating in the night air. it entertains you for all but a moment and doesn’t waste enough time for your train to come faster.

it’s not due for another thirteen minutes.

in that time you watch gangs of girls, groups of guys and just about anybody come and go from the station. your platform isn’t packed but it’s not too empty to the point where you feel unsafe.

“hey pretty girl.” ugh. as if your night couldn’t get any worse, a dingy looking stranger appears from nowhere — breathing down your neck, nastily drinking you in as if you’re a free shot at a bar. like you’re easy.

waving your hand away, you focus your gaze on the platform across the track and pray that someone notices your predicament. “no thank you.”

“oh come on gorgeous, give a guy a chance!” they press, crossing all of your boundaries to be in your space. even as you try to walk away, you can still feel the ghost of their sleazy words against the bare and exposed parts of your skin.. “where are you going all dressed like that, with no one to admire you?”

on instinct, you pull down your skirts as if to hide yourself from greedy eyes — storming down the platform. “none of your business!”

“hey now, little miss santa! don’t you wanna know? i’ve got a sleigh you can ride!”

“not interested! i’m all good.”

“why? you got a boyfriend?”

“yeah, i do.” you lie smoothly.

“then where is he?” the stranger mocks and closes in on you — you look around pathetically, waiting for some good passer-by to come and help you.

a heavy hand land’s on the stranger’s shoulder — making them jump in shock. you watch as the hand squeezes down, almost tight enough to break bone. “right here,” says a gravelly, husky voice that instantly fills you with warmth and relief. stepping aside, your hero reveals himself — tall with rippling muscles and spiralling black tattoos, lazy blood red eyes and a snarl that reveals sharp fangs and canines. all topped off my tufts of soft pink hair, which don’t do anything to dim his threatening aura. “you got a problem?”

“n-no! sorry man, i didn’t—“

“fuck off, will ya?” your hero spits out venomously and the stranger nods — practically disappearing into thin air after that. your shoulders sag and tensions dissipate from your body. “you okay…miss?”

tentatively, you give the pink-haired man your name — you owe him that much after he’d more or less saved your skin. “all good, thanks to you…”

“sukuna.” he doesn’t look at you, instead pulling a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and lighting one with a flicker of a flame. it’s like he feels you watching him in dismay, and laughs as he takes a drag. it’s kind of sexy, you’ll admit — the way he throws his head back let’s you see the thick lines of black ink extending down his neck. “ticket office is closed and security is shit here. small station. no one’s watching me smoke.”

“right…thanks, sukuna.”

he finally turns to you, deep and blood red eyes drinking you in — almost scrutinising you. you squirm under his gaze, heat prickling at the back of your neck and providing some protection from the cold. “where were you off too?”

“christmas party with some friends.”

“where are they now?”

“sucking face somewhere, and no, they didn’t offer me an Uber before they left.”

sukuna taps the ash from his cigarette and it falls away in the icy breeze. “shit night.”

wringing your fingers, you shrug a little bit. “i guess it could have been worse. so thank you for helping out,” you hum appreciatively. “all i have to do now is wait for this stupid train.”

a beat of silence passes between you both, only broken by your chattering teeth and sukuna’s occasional sniff between puffs of smoke. you hate smokers, but you don’t ask him to stop. not after he’d helped you and is willing to be your human shield until your train comes. anyone else would have left by now.

“i can give you a ride home, if you want?”

you frown… was he, trying to make a move on you?

“if you have a car why are you at a train station.”

sukuna smirks slowly, dropping his cig to the floor and crushing it under his sneaker. you don’t remind him that there’s a law against smoking on the platform. “i’m waiting for my little brother to get home from a trip with his friends. we don’t live too far from here and i offered to pick him up from the station.” he shrugs.

you blink up at him with wide eyes. you’d never imagine a man that looks and carries himself like he does to care so deeply for someone else. you suppose you’re judging a book by his cover.

you’re dressed like slutty santa, so you honestly have no right to do so.

“what’s your brother’s name?”

“yuuji. it’s just us, no parents. that’s why i’m picking him up.” sukuna turns to you, running a hand through his messy pink undercut. “look, i promise i’m not some creep. y’just look cold and i’m not about to let some girl get fucked over by weirdos at this time of night. i won’t touch you, but you can sit in the back with yuuji if it makes you feel better. people usually prefer his stupid face over mine anyways.” he mumbles that last part to himself, but is pleasantly surprised by the cute flutter of laughter that escapes you. “what’s s’funny?”

with a hand resting on your bare stomach, you try to contain yourself. “is it the tattoos or the fact that you have resting bitch face?”

“both.” sukuna sniggers in response, shoving his cold hands deep into his pockets. “so, you takin’ up the offer or what?”

“yeah, thank you…sukuna,” you smile, subtly sliding up beside him for warmth on the chilly platform. “i’d like to meet yuuji for myself, see which brother i prefer.”

“oh fuck you.”

“maybe some other time.”

and even though he’s sure that you’re joking, sukuna detects a glint of honestly in your sparkling eyes as the train finally approaches — it’s yellowing light from inside the carriage only illuminating that spark. you turn your head, trying to spot yuuji while he ponders your words.

sukuna is definitely going to ask for your number after he drops you home. he’ll have to thank that brat of a baby brother yuuji for the opportunity next — without him begging for sukuna to come get him, this would have never happened.

you would have never met.

it’d be a great christmas story to tell the grandkids too. so he’d really have to thank yuuji, even though sukuna would never hear the end of it.

꒰ end. — all rights reserved © tteokdoroki 2023. do not copy, repost, translate & recommend elsewhere.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Gig apps trap reverse centaurs in Skinner boxes

Enshittification is the process by which digital platforms devour themselves: first they dangle goodies in front of end users. Once users are locked in, the goodies are taken away and dangled before business customers who supply goods to the users. Once those business customers are stuck on the platform, the goodies are clawed away and showered on the platform’s shareholders:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

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/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

Enshittification isn’t just another way of saying “fraud” or “price gouging” or “wage theft.” Enshittification is intrinsically digital, because moving all those goodies around requires the flexibility that only comes with a digital businesses. Jeff Bezos, grocer, can’t rapidly change the price of eggs at Whole Foods without an army of kids with pricing guns on roller-skates. Jeff Bezos, grocer, can change the price of eggs on Amazon Fresh just by twiddling a knob on the service’s back-end.

Twiddling is the key to enshittification: rapidly adjusting prices, conditions and offers. As with any shell game, the quickness of the hand deceives the eye. Tech monopolists aren’t smarter than the Gilded Age sociopaths who monopolized rail or coal — they use the same tricks as those monsters of history, but they do them faster and with computers:

https://doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1b5c9690cce6

If Rockefeller wanted to crush a freight company, he couldn’t just click a mouse and lay down a pipeline that ran on the same route, and then click another mouse to make it go away when he was done. When Bezos wants to bankrupt Diapers.com — a company that refused to sell itself to Amazon — he just moved a slider so that diapers on Amazon were being sold below cost. Amazon lost $100m over three months, diapers.com went bankrupt, and every investor learned that competing with Amazon was a losing bet:

https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/amazon-book-how-jeff-bezos-went-thermonuclear-on-diapers-com.html

That’s the power of twiddling — but twiddling cuts both ways. The same flexibility that digital businesses enjoy is hypothetically available to workers and users. The airlines pioneered twiddling ticket prices, and that naturally gave rise to countertwiddling, in the form of comparison shopping sites that scraped the airlines’ sites to predict when tickets would be cheapest:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/27/knob-jockeys/#bros-be-twiddlin

The airlines — like all abusive businesses — refused to tolerate this. They were allowed to touch their knobs as much as they wanted — indeed, they couldn’t stop touching those knobs — but when we tried to twiddle back, that was “felony contempt of business model,” and the airlines sued:

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/30/airline-sues-man-for-founding-a-cheap-flights-website.html

And sued:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/business/southwest-airlines-lawsuit-prices.html

Platforms don’t just hate it when end-users twiddle back — if anything they are even more aggressive when their business-users dare to twiddle. Take Para, an app that Doordash drivers used to get a peek at the wages offered for jobs before they accepted them — something that Doordash hid from its workers. Doordash ruthlessly attacked Para, saying that by letting drivers know how much they’d earn before they did the work, Para was violating the law:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/tech-rights-are-workers-rights-doordash-edition

Which law? Well, take your pick. The modern meaning of “IP” is “any law that lets me use the law to control my competitors, competition or customers.” Platforms use a mix of anticircumvention law, patent, copyright, contract, cybersecurity and other legal systems to weave together a thicket of rules that allow them to shut down rivals for their Felony Contempt of Business Model:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

Enshittification relies on unlimited twiddling (by platforms), and a general prohibition on countertwiddling (by platform users). Enshittification is a form of fishing, in which bait is dangled before different groups of users and then nimbly withdrawn when they lunge for it. Twiddling puts the suppleness into the enshittifier’s fishing-rod, and a ban on countertwiddling weighs down platform users so they’re always a bit too slow to catch the bait.

Nowhere do we see twiddling’s impact more than in the “gig economy,” where workers are misclassified as independent contractors and put to work for an app that scripts their every move to the finest degree. When an app is your boss, you work for an employer who docks your pay for violating rules that you aren’t allowed to know — and where your attempts to learn those rules are constantly frustrated by the endless back-end twiddling that changes the rules faster than you can learn them.

As with every question of technology, the issue isn’t twiddling per se — it’s who does the twiddling and who gets twiddled. A worker armed with digital tools can play gig work employers off each other and force them to bid up the price of their labor; they can form co-ops with other workers that auto-refuse jobs that don’t pay enough, and use digital tools to organize to shift power from bosses to workers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/02/not-what-it-does/#who-it-does-it-to

Take “reverse centaurs.” In AI research, a “centaur” is a human assisted by a machine that does more than either could do on their own. For example, a chess master and a chess program can play a better game together than either could play separately. A reverse centaur is a machine assisted by a human, where the machine is in charge and the human is a meat-puppet.

Think of Amazon warehouse workers wearing haptic location-aware wristbands that buzz at them continuously dictating where their hands must be; or Amazon drivers whose eye-movements are continuously tracked in order to penalize drivers who look in the “wrong” direction:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/17/reverse-centaur/#reverse-centaur

The difference between a centaur and a reverse centaur is the difference between a machine that makes your life better and a machine that makes your life worse so that your boss gets richer. Reverse centaurism is the 21st Century’s answer to Taylorism, the pseudoscience that saw white-coated “experts” subject workers to humiliating choreography down to the smallest movement of your fingertip:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/21/great-taylors-ghost/#solidarity-or-bust

While reverse centaurism was born in warehouses and other company-owned facilities, gig work let it make the leap into workers’ homes and cars. The 21st century has seen a return to the cottage industry — a form of production that once saw workers labor far from their bosses and thus beyond their control — but shriven of the autonomy and dignity that working from home once afforded:

https://doctorow.medium.com/gig-work-is-the-opposite-of-steampunk-463e2730ef0d

The rise and rise of bossware — which allows for remote surveillance of workers in their homes and cars — has turned “work from home” into “live at work.” Reverse centaurs can now be chickenized — a term from labor economics that describes how poultry farmers, who sell their birds to one of three vast poultry processors who have divided up the country like the Pope dividing up the “New World,” are uniquely exploited:

https://onezero.medium.com/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs-b2e8d5cda826

A chickenized reverse centaur has it rough: they must pay for the machines they use to make money for their bosses, they must obey the orders of the app that controls their work, and they are denied any of the protections that a traditional worker might enjoy, even as they are prohibited from deploying digital self-help measures that let them twiddle back to bargain for a better wage.

All of this sets the stage for a phenomenon called algorithmic wage discrimination, in which two workers doing the same job under the same conditions will see radically different payouts for that work. These payouts are continuously tweaked in the background by an algorithm that tries to predict the minimum sum a worker will accept to remain available without payment, to ensure sufficient workers to pick up jobs as they arise.

This phenomenon — and proposed policy and labor solutions to it — is expertly analyzed in “On Algorithmic Wage Discrimination,” a superb paper by UC Law San Franciscos Veena Dubal:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4331080

Dubal uses empirical data and enthnographic accounts from Uber drivers and other gig workers to explain how endless, self-directed twiddling allows gig companies pay workers less and pay themselves more. As @brianmerchant@mastodon.social explains in his LA Times article on Dubal’s research, the goal of the payment algorithm is to guess how often a given driver needs to receive fair compensation in order to keep them driving when the payments are unfair:

https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2023-04-11/algorithmic-wage-discrimination

The algorithm combines nonconsensual dossiers compiled on individual drivers with population-scale data to seek an equilibrium between keeping drivers waiting, unpaid, for a job; and how much a driver needs to be paid for an individual job, in order to keep that driver from clocking out and doing something else. @ Here’s how that works. Sergio Avedian, a writer for The Rideshare Guy, ran an experiment with two brothers who both drove for Uber; one drove a Tesla and drove intermittently, the other brother rented a hybrid sedan and drove frequently. Sitting side-by-side with the brothers, Avedian showed how the brother with the Tesla was offered more for every trip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UADTiL3S67I

Uber wants to lure intermittent drivers into becoming frequent drivers. Uber doesn’t pay for an oversupply of drivers, because it only pays drivers when they have a passenger in the car. Having drivers on call — but idle — is a way for Uber to shift the cost of maintaining a capacity cushion to its workers.

What’s more, what Uber charges customers is not based on how much it pays its workers. As Uber’s head of product explained: Uber uses “machine-learning techniques to estimate how much groups of customers are willing to shell out for a ride. Uber calculates riders’ propensity for paying a higher price for a particular route at a certain time of day. For instance, someone traveling from a wealthy neighborhood to another tony spot might be asked to pay more than another person heading to a poorer part of town, even if demand, traffic and distance are the same.”

https://qz.com/990131/uber-is-practicing-price-discrimination-economists-say-that-might-not-be-a-bad-thing/

Uber has historically described its business a pure supply-and-demand matching system, where a rush of demand for rides triggers surge pricing, which lures out drivers, which takes care of the demand. That’s not how it works today, and it’s unclear if it ever worked that way. Today, a driver who consults the rider version of the Uber app before accepting a job — to compare how much the rider is paying to how much they stand to earn — is booted off the app and denied further journeys.

Surging, instead, has become just another way to twiddle drivers. One of Dubal’s subjects, Derrick, describes how Uber uses fake surges to lure drivers to airports: “You go to the airport, once the lot get kind of full, then the surge go away.” Other drivers describe how they use groupchats to call out fake surges: “I’m in the Marina. It’s dead. Fake surge.”

That’s pure twiddling. Twiddling turns gamification into gamblification, where your labor buys you a spin on a roulette wheel in a rigged casino. As a driver called Melissa, who had doubled down on her availability to earn a $100 bonus awarded for clocking a certain number of rides, told Dubal, “When you get close to the bonus, the rides start trickling in more slowly…. And it makes sense. It’s really the type of shit that they can do when it’s okay to have a surplus labor force that is just sitting there that they don’t have to pay for.”

Wherever you find reverse-centaurs, you get this kind of gamblification, where the rules are twiddled continuously to make sure that the house always wins. As a contract driver Amazon reverse centaur told Lauren Gurley for Motherboard, “Amazon uses these cameras allegedly to make sure they have a safer driving workforce, but they’re actually using them not to pay delivery companies”:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/88npjv/amazons-ai-cameras-are-punishing-drivers-for-mistakes-they-didnt-make

Algorithmic wage discrimination is the robot overlord of our nightmares: its job is to relentlessly quest for vulnerabilities and exploit them. Drivers divide themselves into “ants” (drivers who take every job) and “pickers” (drivers who cherry-pick high-paying jobs). The algorithm’s job is ensuring that pickers get the plum assignments, not the ants, in the hopes of converting those pickers to app-dependent ants.

In my work on enshittification, I call this the “giant teddy bear” gambit. At every county fair, you’ll always spot some poor jerk carrying around a giant teddy-bear they “won” on the midway. But they didn’t win it — not by getting three balls in the peach-basket. Rather, the carny running the rigged game either chose not to operate the “scissor” that kicks balls out of the basket. Or, if the game is “honest” (that is, merely impossible to win, rather than gimmicked), the operator will make a too-good-to-refuse offer: “Get one ball in and I’ll give you this keychain. Win two keychains and I’ll let you trade them for this giant teddy bear.”

Carnies aren’t in the business of giving away giant teddy bears — rather, the gambit is an investment. Giving a mark a giant teddy bear to carry around the midway all day acts as a convincer, luring other marks to try to land three balls in the basket and win their own teddy bear.

In the same way, platforms like Uber distribute giant teddy bears to pickers, as a way of keeping the ants scurrying from job to job, and as a way of convincing the pickers to give up whatever work allows them to discriminate among Uber’s offers and hold out for the plum deals, whereupon then can be transmogrified into ants themselves.

Dubal describes the experience of Adil, a Syrian refugee who drives for Uber in the Bay Area. His colleagues are pickers, and showed him screenshots of how much they earned. Determined to get a share of that money, Adil became a model ant, driving two hours to San Francisco, driving three days straight, napping in his car, spending only one day per week with his family. The algorithm noticed that Adil needed the work, so it paid him less.

Adil responded the way the system predicted he would, by driving even more: “My friends they make it, so I keep going, maybe I can figure it out. It’s unsecure, and I don’t know how people they do it. I don’t know how I am doing it, but I have to. I mean, I don’t find another option. In a minute, if I find something else, oh man, I will be out immediately. I am a very patient person, that’s why I can continue.”

Another driver, Diego, told Dubal about how the winners of the giant teddy bears fell into the trap of thinking that they were “good at the app”: “Any time there’s some big shot getting high pay outs, they always shame everyone else and say you don’t know how to use the app. I think there’s secret PR campaigns going on that gives targeted payouts to select workers, and they just think it’s all them.”

That’s the power of twiddling: by hoarding all the flexibility offered by digital tools, the management at platforms can become centaurs, able to string along thousands of workers, while the workers are reverse-centaurs, puppeteered by the apps.

As the example of Adil shows, the algorithm doesn’t need to be very sophisticated in order to figure out which workers it can underpay. The system automates the kind of racial and gender discrimination that is formally illegal, but which is masked by the smokescreen of digitization. An employer who systematically paid women less than men, or Black people less than white people, would be liable to criminal and civil sanctions. But if an algorithm simply notices that people who have fewer job prospects drive more and will thus accept lower wages, that’s just “optimization,” not racism or sexism.

This is the key to understanding the AI hype bubble: when ghouls from multinational banks predict 13 trillion dollar markets for “AI,” what they mean is that digital tools will speed up the twiddling and other wage-suppression techniques to transfer $13T in value from workers and consumers to shareholders.

The American business lobby is relentlessly focused on the goal of reducing wages. That’s the force behind “free trade,” “right to work,” and other codewords for “paying workers less,” including “gig work.” Tech workers long saw themselves as above this fray, immune to labor exploitation because they worked for a noble profession that took care of its own.

But the epidemic of mass tech-worker layoffs, following on the heels of massive stock buybacks, has demonstrated that tech bosses are just like any other boss: willing to pay as little as they can get away with, and no more. Tech bosses are so comfortable with their market dominance and the lock-in of their customers that they are happy to turn out hundreds of thousands of skilled workers, convinced that the twiddling systems they’ve built are the kinds of self-licking ice-cream cones that are so simple even a manager can use them — no morlocks required.

The tech worker layoffs are best understood as an all-out war on tech worker morale, because that morale is the source of tech workers’ confidence and thus their demands for a larger share of the value generated by their labor. The current tech layoff template is very different from previous tech layoffs: today’s layoffs are taking place over a period of months, long after they are announced, and laid off tech worker is likely to be offered a months of paid post-layoff work, rather than severance. This means that tech workplaces are now haunted by the walking dead, workers who have been laid off but need to come into the office for months, even as the threat of layoffs looms over the heads of the workers who remain. As an old friend, recently laid off from Microsoft after decades of service, wrote to me, this is “a new arrow in the quiver of bringing tech workers to heel and ensuring that we’re properly thankful for the jobs we have (had?).”

Dubal is interested in more than analysis, she’s interested in action. She looks at the tactics already deployed by gig workers, who have not taken all this abuse lying down. Workers in the UK and EU organized through Worker Info Exchange and the App Drivers and Couriers Union have used the GDPR (the EU’s privacy law) to demand “algorithmic transparency,” as well as access to their data. In California, drivers hope to use similar provisions in the CCPA (a state privacy law) to do the same.

These efforts have borne fruit. When Cornell economists, led by Louis Hyman, published research (paid for by Uber) claiming that Uber drivers earned an average of $23/hour, it was data from these efforts that revealed the true average Uber driver’s wage was $9.74. Subsequent research in California found that Uber drivers’ wage fell to $6.22/hour after the passage of Prop 22, a worker misclassification law that gig companies spent $225m to pass, only to have the law struck down because of a careless drafting error:

https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2021-08-23/proposition-22-lyft-uber-decision-essential-california

But Dubal is skeptical that data-coops and transparency will achieve transformative change and build real worker power. Knowing how the algorithm works is useful, but it doesn’t mean you can do anything about it, not least because the platform owners can keep touching their knobs, twiddling the payout schedule on their rigged slot-machines.

Data co-ops start from the proposition that “data extraction is an inevitable form of labor for which workers should be remunerated.” It makes on-the-job surveillance acceptable, provided that workers are compensated for the spying. But co-ops aren’t unions, and they don’t have the power to bargain for a fair price for that data, and coops themselves lack the vast resources — “to store, clean, and understand” — data.

Co-ops are also badly situated to understand the true value of the data that is extracted from their members: “Workers cannot know whether the data collected will, at the population level, violate the civil rights of others or amplifies their own social oppression.”

Instead, Dubal wants an outright, nonwaivable prohibition on algorithmic wage discrimination. Just make it illegal. If firms cannot use gambling mechanisms to control worker behavior through variable pay systems, they will have to find ways to maintain flexible workforces while paying their workforce predictable wages under an employment model. If a firm cannot manage wages through digitally-determined variable pay systems, then the firm is less likely to employ algorithmic management.”

In other words, rather than using market mechanisms too constrain platform twiddling, Dubal just wants to make certain kinds of twiddling illegal. This is a growing trend in legal scholarship. For example, the economist Ramsi Woodcock has proposed a ban on surge pricing as a per se violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act:

https://ilr.law.uiowa.edu/print/volume-105-issue-4/the-efficient-queue-and-the-case-against-dynamic-pricing

Similarly, Dubal proposes that algorithmic wage discrimination violates another antitrust law: the Robinson-Patman Act, which “bans sellers from charging competing buyers different prices for the same commodity. Robinson-Patman enforcement was effectively halted under Reagan, kicking off a host of pathologies, like the rise of Walmart:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/27/walmarts-jackals/#cheater-sizes

I really liked Dubal’s legal reasoning and argument, and to it I would add a call to reinvigorate countertwiddling: reforming laws that get in the way of workers who want to reverse-engineer, spoof, and control the apps that currently control them. Adversarial interoperability (AKA competitive compatibility or comcom) is key tool for building worker power in an era of digital Taylorism:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability

To see how that works, look to other jursidictions where workers have leapfrogged their European and American cousins, such as Indonesia, where gig workers and toolsmiths collaborate to make a whole suite of “tuyul apps,” which let them override the apps that gig companies expect them to use.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/08/tuyul-apps/#gojek

For example, ride-hailing companies won’t assign a train-station pickup to a driver unless they’re circling the station — which is incredibly dangerous during the congested moments after a train arrives. A tuyul app lets a driver park nearby and then spoof their phone’s GPS fix to the ridehailing company so that they appear to be right out front of the station.

In an ideal world, those workers would have a union, and be able to dictate the app’s functionality to their bosses. But workers shouldn’t have to wait for an ideal world: they don’t just need jam tomorrow — they need jam today. Tuyul apps, and apps like Para, which allow workers to extract more money under better working conditions, are a prelude to unionization and employer regulation, not a substitute for it.

Employers will not give workers one iota more power than they have to. Just look at the asymmetry between the regulation of union employees versus union busters. Under US law, employees of a union need to account for every single hour they work, every mile they drive, every location they visit, in public filings. Meanwhile, the union-busting industry — far larger and richer than unions — operate under a cloak of total secrecy, Workers aren’t even told which union busters their employers have hired — let alone get an accounting of how those union busters spend money, or how many of them are working undercover, pretending to be workers in order to sabotage the union.

Twiddling will only get an employer so far. Twiddling — like all “AI” — is based on analyzing the past to predict the future. The heuristics an algorithm creates to lure workers into their cars can’t account for rapid changes in the wider world, which is why companies who relied on “AI” scheduling apps (for example, to prevent their employees from logging enough hours to be entitled to benefits) were caught flatfooted by the Great Resignation.

Workers suddenly found themselves with bargaining power thanks to the departure of millions of workers — a mix of early retirees and workers who were killed or permanently disabled by covid — and they used that shortage to demand a larger share of the fruits of their labor. The outraged howls of the capital class at this development were telling: these companies are operated by the kinds of “capitalists” that MLK once identified, who want “socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.”

https://twitter.com/KaseyKlimes/status/821836823022354432/

There's only 5 days left in the Kickstarter campaign for the audiobook of my next novel, a post-cyberpunk anti-finance finance thriller about Silicon Valley scams called Red Team Blues. Amazon's Audible refuses to carry my audiobooks because they're DRM free, but crowdfunding makes them possible.

Image: Stephen Drake (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Analog_Test_Array_modular_synth_by_sduck409.jpg

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

 — 

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

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

 — 

Louis (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chestnut_horse_head,_all_excited.jpg

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A complex mandala of knobs from a modular synth. In the foreground, limned in a blue electric halo, is a man in a hi-viz vest with the head of a horse. The horse's eyes have been replaced with the sinister red eyes of HAL9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.'"]

[hansolz-moved]

this is the last thing i'll say but honestly, to me this situation is just another glaring example of how hybe's greed has poisoned the entire kpop industry. like, seriously, the way they’re running things is insane and it’s honestly destroying what once made kpop special.

hybe's unchecked dominance has become a poison in the industry. they’ve not only swallowed up smaller companies but have also monopolized platforms and resources, leaving a massive footprint that stifles diversity and creativity. remember when kpop felt like this vibrant, diverse world full of different sounds and styles? now it’s just a hybe-centric machine, churning out cookie-cutter idols and soulless hits, all for the sake of squeezing every last cent from fans.

it’s not just about the music anymore—it’s about the bottom line. and hybe’s obsession with profit has shifted the focus entirely. their approach seems to be about creating a product rather than nurturing genuine talent, and it’s showing. we’ve got groups and artists who are more brand assets than actual musicians, and the whole industry is losing its soul.

and let’s talk about their grasping at every single opportunity to make money. it's overcharging for albums, it's the insanely priced concert tickets, hybe has set a new standard for squeezing fans dry. it’s not just about supporting your favorite artists anymore; it’s about participating in a system designed to extract as much as possible.

the rise of hybe has shifted the entire narrative of k-pop. we used to see variety and innovation, but now it’s all about the same glossy, over-polished products with no room for real experimentation. it’s like they’ve drained the life out of the industry, leaving us with this homogenized, corporate-driven shell of what kpop used to be.

when i'm talking about how kpop isn’t the same, it’s not just nostalgia talking. it’s about how a single company’s greed has changed the entire landscape. and honestly, it’s a shame. we’ve watched as the heart and soul of kpop has been slowly eroded by hybe’s relentless pursuit of power and money.

and let’s not forget the utter lack of accountability for idols, especially the biggest names in hybe’s roster. it’s almost as if these idols are untouchable, the way their fans clear searches, flood the socials with ‘__ we love you’ and ‘apologize to __’ posts is maddening. why are these grown adults are allowed to hide behind their fanbase and evade any real responsibility?

it’s a disturbing trend where serious issues are brushed aside because the fans are doing the dirty work of cleaning up their mess. idols can act without consequences, knowing that their fanbase, and if not their fanbase, their company will do everything in their power to shield them from backlash. the lack of accountability is staggering—these idols can get away with anything because their fanbase’s loyalty means they never face the repercussions of their actions.

at the end of the day... it’s okay to criticize and question the things we love. because if we don’t, we’re just letting this monster ruin everything we cherish.

[eniyicalisma]

CAPPADOCİATİCKETPOİNT - SİLVER

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[hometoursandotherstuff]

Beautiful 1900 train depot conversion in Hilliard, Florida has 3bds, 3ba, and is only $350K. Isn't the exterior stunning?

Lovely beamed ceilings in the large living room, an entire wall of shelving, and pine floors.

On a corner desk there are photos and historical documents about the depot.

The spacious separate dining room is outside the kitchen & former ticket window. It has a wonderful fireplace, too.

The ticket "cage" is still there.

Kitchen's so pretty.

That window gives the kitchen architectural interest.

In the primary bedroom you can see the reflection of the texture in the old plaster walls.

The spacious room opens to the deck.

What a cute vintage bath.

The second bedroom is a cute child's room.

The third bedroom is being used as an office and sewing room.

Bathroom 2 is also very nice. It fits the house.

In the back is a laundry/storage room.

Sliding barn doors outside and a huge deck. I wonder if that raised platform was for an outdoor ticket window.

On the wraparound porch is an original bench.

The attractive building is situated on 1.25 acres.

It also has an adorable shed. What a great house for the price.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/37056-Black-Pearl-Ln_Hilliard_FL_32046_M55842-47871

[mariacallous]

Democrats are charging out of their national convention with enthusiasm and determination ― and in far better shape than seemed possible just a few weeks ago, when then-presumptive nominee President Joe Biden was headed for likely defeat.

Vice President Kamala Harris has wiped out Biden’s deficit in the polls, and now holds small but discernible leads over Donald Trump in both national and swing state surveys. She’s also expanded the electoral map, putting in play states such as North Carolina that seemed lost to Democrats when Biden was leading the ticket. As of this writing, Nate Silver’s predictive model suggests Harris is a 52.8% favorite to win.

It will take a few days for pollsters to figure out whether Harris got the traditional convention bounce, pushing her support even higher, or whether she got a version of it beforehand via the burst of activity and favorable press coverage around her campaign launch.

Either way, it’s hard to look back on the week in Chicago and deem it anything but a smashing political success, from the (still reverberating) call to arms by former first lady Michelle Obama to the (still circulating) sight of Gus Walz, son of vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim, tearfully telling the crowd “that’s my dad!”

Harris, for her part, gave what my colleague Jen Bendery’s story called the “speech of her life.” Plenty of other analysts rendered similar judgments.

With a passionate, near-flawless delivery, Harris introduced herself as the daughter of immigrants who valued virtue and hard work, promising to fight for the middle class and vowing to protect democracy. She wrapped herself metaphorically in the flag and what she thinks it represents to the nation’s non-MAGA majority. The laser focus on trying to win over swing voters was impossible to miss, in part because it was such an overriding theme all week ― whether through cultural symbolism (like having the aging veterans of Walz’s championship high school football team appear on stage) or more overt outreach (like having former House Republican Adam Kinzinger give a prime-time address).

But the appeal to the political middle had some telling substantive elements too.

Insofar as Harris and Democrats talked about policy, they focused on causes such as bringing down prescription drug prices, providing paid leave or helping families to pay for child care ― ambitions considerably more modest than the loftier, more progressive “Medicare for All” calls that dominated the last Democratic presidential campaign and to which Harris herself once pledged fealty. Harris also went out of her way to back a bipartisan immigration bill that would tighten security without creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already here, which is a provision progressives have frequently called essential.

The platform evolved, with party leaders scrubbing a call to end the death penalty ― quietly, until my colleague Jessica Schulberg found out about it. They also refused requests to feature a Palestinian speaker on the conflict in Gaza. That part wasn’t so quiet, or unanticipated. In fact, the prospect of protests and disruptions over Biden’s support for Israel had fueled speculation that Chicago 2024 was going to end up as tumultuous as Chicago 1968. But as HuffPost’s Daniel Marans and Jonathan Nicholson observed, the fissures never blew up into 1968-style conflicts ― not over Gaza, or any other issues for that matter. On the contrary, the Democrats seemed improbably and almost impossibly unified, with would-be progressive dissidents like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) sounding downright giddy about the Harris-Walz ticket.

What explains this unified enthusiasm? Three likely reasons come to mind. One in particular has a lot to do with how the party has changed in recent years ― and what it might be able to do if Harris manages to win.

Democrats In Array

One of these likely reasons is the threat Trump poses to individual liberties, the rule of law and democracy — threats progressives feel every bit as keenly as the more moderates in the party. These threats almost certainly seem even more menacing now after so many months watching Biden struggle.

Staring into the political abyss this way has been known to focus the mind.

Another possible factor is Harris’ identity. Electing the first woman president, not to mention the first Black woman and the first Asian woman, would have obvious symbolic value. But it would also have more practical effects — namely, bringing a new perspective to the presidency and making it easier for other women, and other nonwhite politicians, to make their own way to the Oval Office.

Progressives almost by definition care about these things, enough that it can help counterbalance appeal for politicians who see the ticket as less progressive than they might like. Barack Obama in 2008 benefited from just such a dynamic, as The New York Times’ David Leonhardt pointed out on Friday: “He was more moderate than some other Democratic candidates that year, yet he still excited many progressives.”

Harris notably hasn’t talked about herself as groundbreaker, and the campaign hasn’t made that possibility a focus in the way that, say, Hillary Clinton’s did in 2016. But that’s of a piece with Harris’ broader strategy since appeals tied to race or class can alienate some of the swing voters she’s trying to win. The voters who feel otherwise, meanwhile, don’t need reminders.

This brings us to the third, and potentially most important, theory for progressive enthusiasm: Democrats have gotten an awful lot done since Biden took office. An awful lot of it consisted of initiatives or reforms progressives have long championed. And most importantly, it all happened with progressives having a big seat at the table.

The most significant and visible of these accomplishments was the clean green energy investments of the Inflation Reduction Act, which add up (arguably) to the most important climate change legislation in history, plus the law’s health care provisions, which for the first time gave the federal government leverage over the prices of some high-priced drugs in Medicare.

But the list goes beyond that, to the appointment of aggressively pro-consumer and pro-labor officials at key federal agencies, and the burst of spending during the pandemic that (whatever its real or theorized effects on inflation) drove both unemployment and child poverty down to near-record levels.

All of these feel well short of the kinds of transformations progressives would prefer with, say, enactment of “Medicare for All.” But they had, are having or will have tangible, measurable effects on people’s lives — and are examples of the kind of achievements that might be possible if Harris wins and Democrats have control of both congressional houses again.

It so happens that these are also the kinds of achievements that animate up-and-coming party leaders, even if they are not members of the progressive wing — figures like Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, or Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia. Not coincidentally, all gave Harris rousing endorsements in prime- time speeches.

But that too is part of the story about unity: The party’s “moderate” wing today feels pretty strongly about using the federal government to make people’s lives better, just as it does about protecting the freedoms Trump threatens. They may emphasize it differently — focusing more exclusively on the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy manufacturing jobs, for example, and a bit less on its environmental impact. They still land in the same place on policy.

Whether these good feelings would carry through enough to enact a legislative agenda is obviously a separate question and one that is very secondary to the question of whether Democrats even get that opportunity.

The presidential race is still a toss-up, or maybe even a bit worse than that for Harris if the polling now is missing Trump votes the way it did in 2016 and again in 2020. Republicans remain by most accounts a slight favorite to hold at least one house of Congress.

But Harris is coming out of Chicago on a roll, with a party behind her as she reaches out to the swing voters she needs to win. That’s a pretty good place to be.

[sergle]

hiii sergle do you have any thoughts on the 2nd try try guys thing? curious to hear your opinion!!

i'm so glad you asked bc i love giving my opinion..... first things first, this is REALLY FUCKING FUNNY, the way that Watcher fumbled the bag so badly when they made their announcement probably gave the tryguys a lot of data to work with. obviously everyone is comparing the two things, but in this instance, I actually think the streaming service thing makes more sense, and is done in a better way, with less guilt tripping and more like, Hype. so the most relevant thing, nothing about the youtube channel is going to change, no previously free content is going to be paywalled, new videos are going to keep airing. so somebody who missed the news or isn't inch rested isn't going to have a different experience at all. new shows are going to be on there, but also they're Already On There. like, a lot of episodes. stuff is going to be released earlier on there, uncensored videos, new people showing up (tryguys already has a lot of Talent), and live ticketed events that they normally charge for are gonna be included in the subscription. so like, this sounds justifiable as a thing that you'd Pay For. Watcher was going to put their whole back catalog behind a paywall, they only had a couple of shows plus One New Steven Food Show that was gonna go on their streaming thing, and they were going to stop posting to youtube except for the first episode from each new season of a thing. and the Watcher one was still priced a dollar higher. and they have a very small cast of talent. also, it was a Streaming Service, but it was still something you could only watch in a browser, not on a TV or anything. so it was just a website. the one that tryguys have is actually an app you can have on your tv. like on a roku or whatever. so I think that's another point in its favor. you can't launch a "streaming service" that you can't even watch on your tv.

overall, I think it tracks, they've been a business for a lot longer and they've started a bunch of new shows to go on there, the announcement video wasn't Whiny and Guilt Trippy, it seems like they put more thought into this. also I got a free trial to poke around, which, I do like that that's an option. timing could have been better, some people are being pussies about it in a major way, which is to be expected, and I am basically ambivalent to it, I don't plan on paying, but it seems like it's had a lot more thought put into it, and it could actually be sustainable as a platform running alongside their youtube channel. done correctly, it could be their Mythical Society. if it flops, they aren't alienating their youtube audience.

[follow-up-news]

The attorney general for Washington, D.C., sued StubHub on Wednesday, accusing the ticket resale platform of advertising deceptively low prices and then ramping up prices with extra fees. The practice known as “drip pricing” violates consumer protection laws in the nation’s capital, Attorney General Brian Schwalb said. “StubHub intentionally hides the true price to boost profits at its customers’ expense,” he said in a statement. The company said it is disappointed to be targeted, maintaining its practices are consistent with the law and competing companies as well as broader industry norms. “We strongly support federal and state solutions that enhance existing laws to empower consumers, such as requiring all-in pricing uniformly across platforms,” the company said in a statement. The lawsuit, meanwhile, says StubHub hides mandatory “fulfillment and service” fees until the end of a lengthy online purchasing process that often requires more than a dozen pages to complete as a countdown timer creates a sense of urgency. That makes it “nearly impossible” for buyers to know the true cost of a ticket and compare to find the best price, he said. Fees vary widely and can total more than 40% of the advertised ticket price, the lawsuit alleges.

[bugflies00]

hi guys. update from france 🇫🇷 here. leftist twitter and other platforms have resorted to making edits of politicians to convince people to vote for the new left alliance for the next legislative elections (after macron dissolved the assembly right after the EU elections). the edits are going viral . theyve also resorted to spreading the message that the RN (far right party) hates BTS and plans on increasing kpop concert ticket prices . fight modern wars with modern weapons i guess?

[putschki1969]

"Fate/stay night" 20th Anniversary Concert ~ring your bell~

Yuki Kajiura appeared on both days of this weekend's 20th Anniversary event for "Fate/stay night". Day 1 , "Heaven's Feel", was dedicated to her as creator while Day 2, "Unlimited Blade Works" featured Hideyuki Fukasawa as main creator.

[Heaven's Feel] 2024/9/21 Open 15:30 / Start 17:00 [Unlimited Blade Works] 2024/9/22 Open 14:30 / Start 16:00

Keiko, Hikaru and Lino Leia appeared as secret guests during today's event to perform a cover version of Kalafina's "ring your bell" at the end of the show. Personally, I thought the performance was quite messy. I've never been a big fan of the song so it's hard to impress me anyway but this here really isn't my cup of tea. It seems like their vocals aren't blending together at all, very jarring how everyone is just doing their own thing. Might be the mixing/audio? Hopefully they can fix this for the CD/BD release. Lino's voice is also very out of place imo. I know some people say her voice sounds a bit like Wakana's but I definitely don't think so.

Tweet by Hikaru | Tweet by Keiko | Tweet 1 & Tweet 2 by FSN Official | Instagram story by Keiko | Instagram post by Keiko | Tweet by Yas Nakajima | Instagram post by Hikaru

Both days of the event were live-streamed on the platform Zaiko. You can still buy tickets (JP¥3,500 each) for the archived version if you are interested. As far as I remember, the platform is very foreigner friendly.

Official CD Release

Live audio from both concerts will be released on CD with additional video footage available on the limited edition.

Release date: 2025/3/19 「Fate/stay night」 20th Anniversary [Unlimited Blade Works]」 Concert

Limited edition 2 CDs + 1 BD - Includes live audio and footage from the [Unlimited Blade Works] concert Price: 7,700 yen (tax included) Product code: SVWC-70691-70693

Regular edition 2 CDs - Includes live audio from the [Unlimited Blade Works] concert Price: 3,850 yen (tax included) Product code: SVWC-70694-70695

[simply-ivanka]

Press Failure Inflates the Debate

Coverage of the Harris campaign is biased.

Worse than that, it’s malpractice.

By William McGurn Wall Street Journal

Presidential debates typically don’t determine the outcomes of elections, notwithstanding the large television audiences they draw and the dramatic moments they produce. But Tuesday night’s dustup between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris may be different.

Press failure has inflated it into the seminal event of the Trump-Harris race. Because reporters haven’t insisted that Ms. Harris answer basic questions, the debate, moderated by ABC News, may provide the only moment in the 2024 election when Americans get to see how Ms. Harris performs under pressure.

This failure would be appalling at any time, but the circumstances of Ms. Harris’s campaign turn simple media bias into journalistic malpractice. The vice president secured the top slot on the Democratic ticket without having to contest a single primary—and therefore without having to lay out and defend her record. This leaves her largely unknown to American voters, a situation Ms. Harris is now exploiting to reinvent herself as a moderate challenger rather than a woke incumbent.

In addition, Ms. Harris is a mother lode of unanswered questions on most of the issues that once defined her. This includes her previous support for everything from defunding the police and banning plastic straws to getting rid of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and starting from “scratch,” stances she now apparently disavows.

An appearance by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) on ABC’s “This Week” in August shows how the press lets her off the hook. When Mr. Cotton brought up Ms. Harris’s support for eliminating private health insurance, which the Medicare for All policy she espoused in 2019 would do, host Jonathan Karl interjected that Ms. Harris has said she no longer holds that position. Mr. Cotton pushed back. “She has not said that,” he correctly pointed out. “Anonymous aides,” he said, may have said that she no longer holds the position she once did, but we haven’t heard it from the candidate herself.

Ditto the big CNN interview, for which Ms. Harris brought along running mate Tim Walz to cut in to the time she would have to take questions. Moderator Dana Bash did make a show of asking why Ms. Harris flipped on fracking. But she wasn’t pressed on her biggest non-answer of the evening—“My values have not changed.”

It’s unlikely Ms. Bash or CNN would accept such an evasion from Mr. Trump or his running mate, JD Vance. When Mr. Vance did his own interview with Ms. Bash, she rightly grilled him on abortion and comments he made about Mr. Walz’s characterization of his service in the Minnesota National Guard. But it’s worth watching the two interviews to see the very different tones Ms. Bash took toward Mr. Vance and Ms. Harris.

In short, Ms. Harris is getting a pass. Bad enough that 56 days from the election, she still isn’t giving interviews or holding news conferences. The far greater scandal is that a free press isn’t demanding that she do so.

It’s hard to fault Ms. Harris. Her strategy is a sign that she knows her liabilities. Her campaign is trying to get through the next eight weeks avoiding events where she might have to answer an unscripted question or explain details of, say, inflation. Team Harris knows they don’t go very well for her.

Take the recent rollout of her economic platform, most notable for her call for a federal ban on “price gouging.” Even the Washington Post called her plan full of “populist gimmicks.” And former Obama administration economist Jason Furman told the New York Times that it is “not sensible policy.” Message taken: Better to stick to fuzzy, feel-good themes like “joy” or to call Mr. Trump a felon.

It isn’t the first time a Democratic presidential candidate has benefited from a domesticated press. One reason Ms. Harris is her party’s nominee is that the press covered up President Biden’s mental decline. By the time the June 27 debate with Mr. Trump exposed Mr. Biden’s condition for all the American people to see, it was too late for primaries. It was much the same in 2020, when the New York Post broke the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop three weeks before the election. Because the computer contained evidence of Hunter’s sleazy overseas business dealings while his dad was vice president, the press buried it.

Today the received wisdom is that sooner or later Ms. Harris will have to give interviews and press conferences like a normal candidate. Perhaps. But she has a decent shot at winning the White House because her campaign is running out the clock before anyone can ask her a tough question.

On Tuesday night at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump will have at it for 90 minutes. Ironically the low expectations for Ms. Harris may be an advantage. All she has to do is not humiliate herself and her performance will be hailed as a triumph.

If the press corps did its job, we’d all know more of what we need to know about Kamala Harris and what kind of president she’d make. But because it won’t, it’s all on Donald Trump to do that job himself.

[hocuspocusbabyy]

Two platforms:

“You meet a mysterious woman on the train.”

February 1981

I have a small problem...which I suspect this gathering might find interesting. You are one for the romantics are you not?

Last Thursday I was returning from a book
auction in Hay-on-Wye, when a delay on the Manchester-Edinburgh line, Forced me to make a rapid adjustment to my itinerary,
leaving me just three minutes to change platform and train at Crewe.

Making a dash up from third to sixth just as the rails man stepped out to wave his little flag, I slide between the doors and into the nearest seat. A table over looking the back exit, the cabin was relatively empty minus the woman I had subsequently imposed upon. Usually I’d have preferred to sit alone, though I was wary that my moving now might offended the young woman. I say young—- but rather it was in the sense of beauty, she was striking. Red hair, and a perfectly sloped nose which was unfortunately buried within a book and obstructing my view.

Shaking my head I lent forward to remove my coat, brushing off the dirt of the city before flatting it across my lap, and reaching into my case for a book of my own.

“Ticket from Crewe! Tickets from Crewe!” The conductor called out making their wary way down the bumping train. I looked up with a polite smile and flashed my ticked, knowing what was about to come.

“You're on the wrong train, madam.” He stated no remorse or curiosity as to why I was in fact on the the incorrect train. “This is for Glasgow.” He continued he a scratch of his beard, plucking the ticket from my hand to observe it closer. “The Edinburgh train... It's delayed. You should have waited on platform 3.”

This caught the attention of the other woman it seemed, who’s eyes flickered up briefly, her forefinger docking her page as if not to look nosey but rather intently gazing up the page, she had surly read over a multitude of times already.

“Yes I am well aware.” I sighed shifting in my seat as if to appear taller in comparison to the condescending man looking down at me. “However I found, if i got your train as far
as Edinburgh I ought to be in time to catch
the Edinburgh-Glasgow.” My explanation obviously startling the man as his mouth opened and closed in a similar way to a fish. “The price of this ticket is also £12.40, so I think you’ll find you’ve gained a pound from my change in journey- buy yourself a nice pasty on me.” I stated snatching the ticket back and moving to place it back within my jacket.

The woman across rising the spine of her book as if it would hide her audible laughter at the altercation.

“Ah yes. That should work.” The conductor coughed before moving on up the train “Enjoy your journey.”

Sighing heavily I lent my head back against the seat, closing my eyes briefly to contemplate the day. A slight cough disturbing my peace once again, cracking open my eye slightly to see the woman across now looking directly at me.

“I could have done with you this morning, in Cardiff.” She smirked her red painted fingernails scratching delicately at the cover of ‘The City of Beautiful Nonsense.”

“Straight forward enough, surely?” I teased, shifting forward to view the woman properly. Her jawline was impeccable the kind you could take a protractor to and suddenly become mathematically obsessed with. The golden ratio gone wild. Michelangelo’s work in action. She was truly a dreamscape, light green eyes, high cheek bones and lips you… I could easily…

“The Shrewsbury train was cancelled.” She stated cutting off my trail of thought, a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Well in that case you could have…”

“A friend gave me a lift.” She dead panned smirking again at the frown that now rested upon my face. If she wanted to play games, then so would I.

“I see, and was it a pleasant journey?” I asked reaching to unbutton my shirt at the wrist and roll up my sleeves.

“Oh heavens no.” She laughed again, the kind of laugh that you’d chase for hours, doing everything in one’s power to hear it again. It was deep and airy similar to how I’d imagine angels would. “Natasha—- my friend, well she has a motorcycle and let’s just say my hair barely survived the journey.” She joked reaching back to flatten her hair self consciously.

“Your hair looks great.” I complimented with a grin as the exotic woman merely blushed.

“Well thank you.” She smiled gently, a slight accent peaking through— Russian maybe? Or Hungarian? Definitely European I’m sure.

The other woman bit her lips, a hand reaching out to shake mine.

“Wanda.” She introduced

“Y/N” I replied, throughly blindsided by the smooth warmth of her hand in mine. “So E. Temple Thurston? Great choice” I commented sucking my teeth lightly as we both draw back from our introduction. My hand falling to rest beneath the table as to avoid the temptation of reaching out for her again.

“Mm?” Wanda asked her brow cocked and blinking as though my presence suddenly startled her. The woman’s gaze lingering upon the exposed skin from my button up. “Oh yes” Wanda laughed platting both her palms over the book in question, “a personal favourite have you read him?”

“Oh I’ve read plenty” I grinned, her shaky reaction at being caught all the more endearing than creepy. ““Here you have a man, a woman, and a candle destined for the altar of St Joseph, all flung together in an empty church by the playful hand of circumstance and out of so strange a medley comes a fairy story …” I quoted, be it smugly though you couldn’t doubt it was impressive and when would there be a better than to show off such a niche skill than on a random train, to the woman of your dreams. Who you met by pure chance and circumstance and will probably never see again. So what if I show boat.

“Ah” she tutted scrunching her nose slightly, “so you have read it.” Her hand now working its way across the cover drawing unimportant patterns that I couldn’t help but wish were upon my skin instead.

“A few times” I laughed, my gaze fixed upon the talented hands that worked. Her pale skin contrasting perfectly with the light maroon of her shirt.

“And what did you gather from it?”

“An impoverished writer gives his last penny to a girl in a church so she can buy a candle.”

“It’s a love story.” Wanda whispered her gaze flicking up to meet mine.

“It’s fiction” I countered, causing the woman to frown slightly, one in which I’d fear if it weren’t for the grin that followed.

“So you’re saying, you wouldn’t give your last penny to buy your soul mate a simple candle?”

“You think they were soul mates?”

The redhead bit her lip, my question obviously igniting something within her, “how could they not be?”

“They barely knew one another, and he risked all he had. If you ask me it seems pretty reckless”

“Sometimes it pays to be reckless” she smiled quirking her brow at my gently, “they continue to cross paths. Sometimes by chance – or maybe fate – how could you ignore that?”

“I don’t ignore it, I just simply think it was down to chance and geography rather than fate— London really isn’t that big. Even want for that matter John creates situations for them to meet by seeking Jill out.”

“Yes, but there was never any guarantee Jill would show.”

“Of course she would- she wanted to see him too”

“Because of fate” Wanda grinned as if to have won.

“Because of attraction” I countered, causing the other woman to pout slightly. “You really believe that people end up together though mere chance?”

“Well we met, didn’t we?”

“My train was delayed”

“And I got a lift”

I laughed at that, how could I not? This woman was truly magnetic, intoxicatingly beautiful, with an attitude and brain to match.

“Okay, you win people may meet by chance— frequently; but that doesn’t equate to love that’s something that grows with time.”

“Oh so she’s a pessimist” Wanda laughed, bitting her lip, before releasing it with a pop.

“I’d like to think I’m realistic”

“Oh no” she argued, pointed a perfectly sharper nail towards me. “You Y/N are just as bad as me- I know it.”

“And how did you figure that?”

“The way your eyes light up when I said it.”

“My eyes?”

“Mm” the redhead hummed leaning forward slightly, “they have little specks in them that contrast with the brown… your little true tellers”

I was taken aback by that I’ll admit, shuffling to straighten my shoulders and regain my composure. The mix of Wanda being so close that I could see the light brush of lipstick she had chosen, mixed with the intimate conversation rattling my demeanour.

Clearing my throat I made a move to take control of the conversation, “did you know his 1914 novel ‘Driven’ was written about Scotland? Primary around about here.” I said point out the window towards the passing landscapes. Fields upon fields of sheep and flowers.

“Maybe we should get off, take a look around.”
Wanda suggested, a flirtatious undertone present.

“We could have lunch on the waterfront.” I continued - anything to see her smile.

“Maybe mess around, buy a house and grow old together” Wanda joked, my eyes surly widening based on her reaction. “Sorry. I've gone too far. Promise I'll behave better from now on.” She pouted.

I had to laugh, truly this woman was something else entirely.

Wanda cleared her throat, “I've never been to the Highlands before, so suddenly... um...
well finding myself single again, so to speak,
I... I thought I'd like to see them. So I'm going to go up as far as Edinburgh by train and then I'm catching the coach to Inverness
and coming down the other side. What do you think?” She asked curiously, resting her chin upon her hand, her elbow resting upon the table.

“The West Coast is extraordinarily beautiful. You might well fall in love with it.”

“And if I were to fall in love, what then?” She asked watching me intently as a pulled out a map and laid it out in front of her.

“Well instead of a coach to Inverness, you might consider the line back to Aberdeen and changing for Oban. From there you can get
any number of boat trips: Iona, Staffa.” I punctuated each place with a tap of my finger on the map, Wanda’s falling to trace a similar train-line. “It's very romantic.”

“And are you romantic?” Wanda asked, her finger catching mine in something similar to a pinky swear. The two index fingers entangled firmly, suspended slightly as the conductor made his way back down the train to ruin the moment.

“now approaching Edinburgh” he bellowed out barely sparing use a second glance.

“So it is.” I sighed looking out the window to see the train pulling into our station, Wanda’s hand reluctantly leaving mine as we both stood to gather our things and depart.

“It was very nice to meet you.” Wanda stated her hands now occupied with a leather satchel.

“You were an unexpected bonus.” I grinned politely, hoping terribly it would hide my disappointment with our parting.

“Well. Thank you again.” Wanda nodded, before stepping off the train and making her way towards the bus station.

I stood and watched her walk away, unable to shake the feeling that something was inherently wrong with my life now without her in it. What a ridiculous notion to attribute to a woman I had just met, and yet the feeling lingered. Wanda’s figure fleeting into a sea of people and off the platform.

And so you see, I am forced to the unlikely conclusion, that I've fallen in love.

And so as my train to Glasgow pulled into platform 4, I ran. I ran across the platform narrowly missing a dozen sets of luggage and tired commuters. Down the steps of the station and intro on coming traffic, a plethora of car horns and shouting calling out behind me as I raced down to the bus station. Her bus was in two minutes, surly I’d missed it?”

I arrived at the empty bus station, merely seconds after the couch to Inverness’ departure. The back of the bus with an add for stark industries newest toaster, mocking me. I panted, more out of disappointment than exhaustion, slumping down to grip my knees, before a hand against my shoulder suddenly awoke me.

“Well hello there” Wanda grinned, her touch all the more warming and welcome as the knowledge that she hadn’t gotten on the couch registered.

“Good afternoon.” I sighed happily, standing straight to speak to her.

“This is a surprise.” Wanda joked, pointing up at the bus in the distance, “I missed my coach”

“I missed my train” I explained falsely, the grin on my face matching that of the shorter woman’s, I hadn’t realised I was taller until just now.

“What a coincidence.”

“What a surprise”

“It's not entirely coincidence.” I breathed looking down at the redhead. She had made the coach in plenty of time, something had obviously stalled her. Or intrigued her enough to change her mind.

“It's not entirely a surprise.” Wanda joked, her hand reaching up to brush a fallen piece of hair from my face. Before she lay to rest on the back of my neck, soothing the tense muscle there.

“Could I make you dinner?”

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

06/09/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR: Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Rachel House; Taika & Samba; Gypsy Taylor; Watch Parties; SOFMD Crew Fibre Arts Auction; AOC: Raffle Update; Articles; Fan Spotlight; Cast Cards; Our Flag Means Fanfiction Podcast; Big Gay Energy Podcast; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika

== Rhys Darby ==

More photos of Rhys from To 29 and Beyond!

Source: The Girl Blogger's Instagram

Also Rhys shared this on his instagram stories-- don't worry Rhys, we're way ahead of you! Round 2 is closed! On to Round 3!

Source: Rhys Darby's Instagram Stories

== Taika & Samba ==

Taika was found responding to Samba's post yesterday, nice to see him making comments on social media again!

Source: Samba Schutte's Instagram

Taika was out with Sterlin Harjo! (Creator of Resevoir Dogs)

Source: Sterlin Harjo's Instagram

== Rachel House ==

Rachel has been out attending the Sydney Film Festival, and was interviewed on TheProjectTV about her movie The Mountain.

Source: Temaungafilm Instagram

Source: TheProjectTV's Instagram

Source: SydFilmFestival Instagram

== Gypsy Taylor ==

Some very fun looking outfits with Gypsy Taylor!

Source: PainterByNumbers / Gypsy Taylor's Instagram

== Watch Parties ==

Good Omens Season 2

Dates: June 10-14, 2024

Times: 3:30 pm PT, 6:30 pm ET, 11:30 pm BST

Episodes: M-Th: 1-4, F: 5-6

Where: RhysDarbyFaction Discord Server

Need access? Reach out to @gentlebeardsbarngrill on tumblr or @aspirantabby42 on twitter.

== Teal Oranges & Garlic Soup Week ==

TealOranges & Garlic Soup Week is still coming up on June 23 - 29! Wanna learn more of the prompts? Please visit their Tumblr!

Source: TealOranges & GarlicSoupWeek Twitter

== SOFMD Crew: Fibre Arts Auction ==

SaveOFMD Crew has announced their auction items! Lots of folks in the fandom have donated fibre-arts prizes to help benefit our Queer Elders at SAGE USA! You can check out the prizes on the saveofmdcrew website. The auction will be opening in a few days!

Source: SaveOFMD Crew Instagram

== AOC: Our Flag Means Pride Raffle ==

Raffle Update on #OurFlagMeansPride! 40 Charities already benefited! Raffle tickets are still available! You can enter on their page!

Source: AdoptOurCrew Tumblr

== Articles ==

Heyyyy, Tokyo Vice Also Cancelled on HBO Max :(

After Max Raised Its Subscription Prices, The Streamer Confirmed Another One Of Its Shows Is Canceled

10 Best Period Drama Shows of the Last 5 Years, Ranked

== Taika 2048 ==

Okay, who was going to tell me there was a Taika Waititi 2048? Thank you to @lisahafey for posting on Twitter so I can finally lose myself in this for the next many many hours.

Source: Lisa Hafey's Twitter

== Fan Spotlight / News =

= Cast Cards =

First up tonight from @melvisik is another member of the Red Flag Crew, Kathleen S. ! Second is another one of awesome directors - Katie Ellwood!

Source: @melvisik's Twitter

== Our Flag Means Fanfiction ==

Next up on Our Flag Means Fanfiction is The Dark Episode (hurt/comfort, whump, angst)! Find somewhere to listen on Our Flag Means Fanfiction Linktr.ee.

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Instagram

== Big Gay Energy Podcast ==

New episode of Big Gay Energy Pod! They're talking These Thems this time around! Check them out on your favorite podcast platform!

Source: Big Gay Energy Podcast Instagram

== Love Notes ==

Hey there lovelies. Another weekend has come to an end, and we're starting another work week. Whether you got some rest, or just got some stuff done, I hope you are in a place where you feel you can face the next few days-- and if not, I hope you get some rest and get a chance to recoup. I've been hearing several folks running into some struggles--struggles brought on by others. Whether those who cause it intend to or not, I want you to know my friends, you don't deserve to be treated badly. You really don't. Don't let those people make you feel like you deserve that. You deserve to be happy, to feel safe, to feel comfortable, to feel like you, in your own skin, whatever that means for you.

I know you probably already know, but sometimes it's good to hear it from an outside source too-- you are not what other people think you are or expect of you. You are you. The ever wonderful, kind, unique, beautiful you. On hard days I know it's hard to see, but you're still there, and things will look up again. Be kind to yourself lovelies, you deserve the best, no matter what anyone says. Rest Well, I hope the start to your week turns out calm and kind to you <3

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

Tonight's theme is...thoughtful with glasses. Gifs courtesy of kind @eaion and the fantastic @celluloidbroomcloset!

[anastasiaskarsgard]

Could you do a fluffy one shot of Vincent de gramont and the reader trying out clothes

“This really isn’t necessary” she told him as she was surrounded by seamstresses, taking her measurements.

“Oh but it is. It’s the least I can do after you so gallantly volunteered to save the day.” The Marquis remarked, smiling slyly.

Rolling her eyes, she couldnt help but smile at his antics. She highly doubted the validity of his supposed plight, of being unable to find a date to one of the most exclusive charity balls in Paris. All the richest elites from across Europe attended, dressed to the gills in the most extravagant gowns the high fashion houses had to offer. And here she was, a simple public servant, being fitted by the house of Dior. She was giddy.

“I think a form fitting gown in a blush or ivory would be ideal.” One of the seamstresses relayed.

“As long as it’s original, I don’t care about the cost. I’m trusting you won’t let me down.” The Marquis stated.

She couldn’t help but notice the flash of fear that crossed several of the women’s faces. Pondering over what could possibly make the finest fashion house fear someone, she decided he must be richer than she thought. The only fear she could imagine is the loss of a very generous client. Her head spun with the amount of money you’d need to spend, you make them even notice you.

All rising at once and exiting without a word to her, she couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed they never spoke to her, except to tell her how to stand so they could measure her.

Too excited and frankly honored to have her own custom gown made for her, she stepped down from the platform.

“My beauty, they are only going to get some pieces for you to try.” He said halting her from exiting.

“I couldn’t possibly accept any more of your generosity…”

“Oh no no cherie! This is only so they can be sure how clothing falls on you and your preferences.” He assured her with one of his mind melting smiles.

“Oh well then that’s ok, I suppose.”

Just then 3 women returned to the fitting room with 3 racks of a wide range of selections. They all appeared to be breath taking and far out of her price range, but she wasn’t going to be difficult. Straining out a weary smile, she watched as the Marquis gave instructions to one of the girls, and exited to the viewing area.

Smiling warmly at the woman approaching her, she was surprised at the deer in the headlights look on her face. “Thank you for helping me today. I truly am honored to even be allowed to try these things on.”

Confusion passed between the women, until the one closest her, began to undress her. “You are very kind, but your beauty will do our creations a service. We should be thanking you.”

Smiling brightly, she was determined to be as polite and cooperative as possible, no matter how many things she needed to try.

Hours later, she felt how a Barbie doll must feel as she viewed the passing city in the hired car she’d been sent home in.

The Marquis was almost too good to be true. He was unbelievably handsome, polite, thoughtful and respectful. She’d had him looked into and he was active with many charities and took care of his only living realatives; two younger twin sisters, famous in the equestrian community.

His wealth came from toxic parents and investments made with an astonishing amount of revenue. He was perfect in every way, not having so much as a parking ticket, and even after several months, he never attempted to take advantage of the times they’d been alone.

She wasn’t sure that was a good thing. She had been hoping he’d kiss her tonight after dinner, but he’d only kissed her hand with those full sensual lips.

Bringing her hand to her lips, she kissed it tenderly where his lips had caressed her before. Laughing at herself, she was thankful she was alone in the car and thankful the privacy was up.

Peering out the window, she realized they had made it to her home. Thanking the driver, and making her way to her door, she nearly tripped and fell upon entering.

Feeling for the light, she flipped it on and nearly fell flat on her ass at the sight that met her eyes.

Dior packages covering every floor and every surface in her humble townhouse. It was like a fairy tale. She couldn’t help but squeal and run in place, before closing her door behind her.

Staring in disbelief, she wasn’t sure where to start. Pulling out her phone, she noticed a new message from the Marquis.

I may have lied, but it was for good reason. Forgive me?

She chuckled and thought on a witty response.

I don’t know. You’ll have to make it up to me.

Sending it before she could change her mind, she waited for his reply with great anticipation. Finally it came in.

I am yours, to do with, as you wish.

She couldn’t have stopped smiling, if someone put a gun to her head….

[areiton]

I just saw on three separate platforms three identical takes--the Met Gala is bad because of the excessive waste of resources on dresses and/or ticket prices.

As a reminder--the Met Gala is a charity function designed to raise money for education, preservation, and scholarships.

Like I know there are other things besides fashion history to be concerned about in the world, but also--it's a charity fundraiser, guys.

[akookminsupporter]

Long story short:

There's been seemingly a coordinated smear campaign going on across weibo, Twitter, YouTube and other platforms. The focus right now is accusations of Bang Pd and Hybe being associated with the Dahn World cult.

People are saying GFriend and Le Sserafim were used to spread cult messages and they are trying to connect it to BTS through Cyber University (where many idols goes btw). Akgaes and antis are also going after individual members. Especially Jimin, Jungkook and Yoongi.

This is one of the articles, written by one of the same Allkpop writers who dragged Jimin during FACE era: https://twitter.com/allkpop/status/1784464197868564781?t=sYUHfcXb-ceA_fJh1dchQA&s=19

BigHit came out with an announcement about hiring an external law firm to bring down whoever's behind this and spreading it. After this many of the original posters across Twitter started deleting their posts. But it's still everywhere.

Thank you for the summary of what's going on, Anon. Here's to you getting BTS concert tickets at a LOW price in 2025.

Okay, but I don't understand why this ended up with BTS being dragged into a mess that has nothing to do with them in the first place? This started with the lady from the coup, right? Why did BTS end up being the bad guys again? Why does BTS always end up being the villain of every K-pop story?

It makes sense that BigHit decided to hire an external legal team instead of using HYBE's or even their own agency's. Hopefully, they'll take action not only against people within Korea but also outside of it. It's about time BTS stopped being dragged into troubles that have nothing to do with them.

Also, people defending that lady just to attack BTS are truly pathetic.