#we have about 300 items to sort

[xandezsims]

DEEP BREATH

@simdaisies @simeia @eslanes @1-800-cuupid @historicalfictionsims @itsonlythee-sims @solstice-sims @moontaart @oydis @stargazer-sims @standardheld @purplebex @feralpoodles @madebycoffee @powluna @nougatpocket @crazy-lazy-elder-sims @madeofcc @simvaultthings @raiiny-bay @kaiwry @simstomaggie @lilis-palace @disasterbri @arcanewonder @twentiethcenturysims @imminent-close-encounter @baniduhaine @vampirepill @amelylinaa @oswanily @punkiesims @pinkycustomworld @xldkx @ravensim @katrina-y07​ @mycrow-sims @pluto-sims  @mmoutfitters @dizzyrobinsims @gashface @greenllamas @crvptydgaming @the-crypt-o-club @lil-gingerbread-sims & @helloavocadooo --

*pants*

Thank you so much for your amazing gifts, holy crap, I cannot believe how much work must have gone into every single piece of this. We grabbed every single person we could see, and we were never disappointed. We love you! Thanks for dedicating the time and crushing amount of energy required to make Simblreen happen. You rock!!!

[thefirstknife]

Intriguing details about the body of Oryx, analysis done by the Hidden, mostly Fenchurch and Chalco (this is all from the same lore tab, dungeon class item):

Possibly important for some future stuff. Oryx's body is still growing; they compared it to Savathun's body and found out that Savathun's body isn't. They assume that Savathun might not be changing like Oryx because of the Light and being severed from her worm. Speaking of:

Feels ominous and possibly a hint. Not sure what for but definitely concerning that the worm has not been found. That means it did not die when Oryx died. TKO-300 is Taken King Oryx.

Wild and relevant to us with the continued plot thread of Darkness being of the mind and consciousness, able to affect them with visions. All of Darkness is connected through an egregore link; Pyramids, anomalies, various objects and entities; they can always be found in mind and memory. ERI-223 is Eris Morn, COS-030 is Crown of Sorrow.

And more of that! The collectibles we gather to listen to lore of Xivu speaking are her memories that imprinted on Oryx's body when she was visiting his grave. First of all, I am incredibly unwell about the love between Xivu and Oryx and always have been and will continue to be even more so now that we've got to hear Xivu talking about it. Second of all, note the important bits about memories being imprinted and available for access through an entity filled with Darkness energy. WGX-003 is War God Xivu (Arath).

And the kicker from Chalco:

FEN-092 is Fenchurch. We've already covered ERI-223 and TKO-300. What is NEV-000? Well. The only thing that makes sense is NEomuna (or NEptune) Veil. The Veil has some sort of similarity to the corpse of Oryx. I am going insane. Is it because of imprinting of memories and the ability to produce visions when in proximity? That fits with what've heard of the Veil recently from Chioma Esi in the second decrypted log. We're definitely going to be learning more about how these two connect and what role the Veil plays in the grand scheme of things when it comes to this Darkness plot thread about the mind and memory. And remember, the Witness needed the Veil to open that portal. This could not have been done in any other way. Keep in mind for The Final Shape: mind and memory (visions, dreams, consciousness); it has to be important for our understanding of the portal and how to get through it safely.

When it comes to the fate of the corpse, Fenchurch is not amused by it and recommends that it be destroyed. Chalco disagrees. She thinks it should be secured safely and studied. We have yet to see what will come of it. I will always vote for studying, so I hope they do that, especially if there's a connection to the Veil.

[hecateisalesbian]

i was just wondering how grimwalkers worked exactly? I've been around the fandom enough to know that Hunter is one, but is it like a clone type situation? and yes, you do get the title of "official toh person" in my mind!!

Loving how you ask like the one thing I put the least amount of research into 😭

In this shot we can see a recipe or “cookbook” of grimwalkers which can give us a lot of clues.

A galderstone (heart and power)

palistrom wood (keratin)

stonesleeper lungs

selkidomous scales

bones of ORTET

of course there’s little scribbles of words that are also probably important scattered around the page but this is the decipherable part.

The galderstone itself had a whole episode (Through the Looking Glass Ruins if I remember correctly) in which we saw how its power could be used. The Galderstone (in my theory) channels the power from all the other magical items enough to make them work in harmony and create a functioning clone but not enough (either from the weakness of the galderstone or the fact that those items alone don’t possess the same magic as a bile sac) to give a grimwalkers it’s own magic (hence artificial staff for Hunter before he met Flap).

Palistrom Wood has many episodes showing how it’s used and its importance. On the cookbook it’s listed for Keratin. Keratin is what’s makes your hair, nails, and skin. (“Keratin is a protein that helps form hair, nails and your skin's outer layer (epidermis). It helps support your skin, heal wounds and keep your nails and hair healthy. ”) So palistrom wood is like the outer workings of a grimwalker. Giving it a more human/witchy like look instead of a weird jumble of magic ingredients. We’ve seen that palistrom wood functions in magical ways (see string bean) so I wouldn’t be surprised if perhaps it was also the muscle of a grimwalker. What makes it move.

Stonesleeper lungs don’t seem to have any specific use listed. However, in Elsewhere and Elsewhen, we know that the Stonesleeper found in the Titans Skull had been hibernating for a (very) long time. I think the Stonesleeper lungs are what allows grimwalkers to grow in the dirt for years before being used (see For the Future goopy Belos trying to possess a remaining clone which rises from a dirt bed). Selkidomous scales also don’t have a use listed. Selkidomous’s however had two facts revealed about them in Separate Tides. Their puke (?) is extremely rare and high valued, and that they can swim in the boiling sea (most likely one of the only animals able to do so). I doubt the selkidomous’s gold puke would have much use to making a clone, especially considering how the value of it could’ve gone up or down since Belos began creating grimwalkers like 300 ish years ago (also I doubt Belos wrote that cookbook himself so I wouldn’t be surprised if making grimwalkers is a practice hundreds or thousands of years old). So I think their scales are used as a protection of some sort. After all, if they can survive the boiling sea they can survive multiple things on land. I think these might’ve doubled in use for a sort or keratin like usage.

Finally, Bones of ORTET. The word ortet is written in a strange way compared to the rest of the text. But a quick search on the Google Web says this:

So, essentially, “the original of the clone”. What does a human body have a lot of that doesn’t decay quickly? Bones. Over 200 of them. Over two hundred possibilities of grimwalkers over hundreds of years. I’m sure the boiling isles/Belos made lots of discoveries about bones and the true potential of them when making grimwalkers that we don’t know that would make a very easy cloning process but I think these bones would be combined with other bones or perhaps had the DNA/marrow (idk I’m not a doctor I’m using words I’ve seen in greys anatomy for this) sucked (?) out of it and combined with other listed ingredients to make a “test tube baby” from which it could be planted in the ground like a seed and left to grow for years. I don’t know how long or how Belos would explain for the lack of memory in Caleb Clones time in the dirt, but in For the Future the Caleb Clone that rises and then decays looks about the same age as Hunter. Darius also says he knew Hunters predecessor (Darius is 40 ish). So I doubt grimwalkers grow in the dirt any longer than 15 years, and gaps in memory I’m sure are replaced with fake ones by Belos or said to be amnesia from a childhood trauma.

I would dive into the graphic on the left page of the cookbook buts it’s too blurry and vague for me to truly make out a good theory.

There are most likely more ingredients than just those few but I think those are the most important ones. Also, when Flapjack gives his life for hunters (😭), Hunter gains the natural magic ability of regular palistrom wood, much like Belos used the magic from palismen to keep his false magic working and also to keep him from turning into goo. Palistrom woods is definitely a powerful source of magic, if not the most powerful source of magic, second to maybe a Titan.

So yes, a Grimwalker is essentially a clone made from the DNA of something/someone and with other magical ingredients. Though it’s definitely not a perfect cloning device, seeing the multiple variations Belos’s grimwalkers had and Belos saying “you look the most like him.” Anyways that’s my take hope it helps! If you have more questions I will be happy to answer :D

[behindthewox]

What do you think about users having to pay $100-200 for statuses that were once free by winning them?

I'm split on this one. On one hand I prefer the idea of statuses to be earned/won through competitions, but on the other hand I also get that sites need funding and it's a sort of sponsor system with a status to show off in return for financially supporting the sites. But I'd rather see an actual sponsor option, not a sponsor-purchase thing like the paid statuses.

For a vast majority of the WoX userbase these sums are big, relative to our income and financial assets. Many of us simply can't afford it. Depending on where and how you live, $200-$300 is half of the monthly rent and bills. It is for me, and at the moment my income barely covers my expenses. I'm fortunate, I have financial support and savings so I'm not at any risk of financial disaster (unless I deliberately create one) but I'm also very aware that a lot of people don't have that.

On WoX, having a purchased status is like owning and showing off a very expensive purse. It's an open statement that you can afford something that most other people can't. Not everyone that will see it that way, but some will and that can cause resentment. I'm not one of them: if you want a status, can afford it and find it worth the money, I say go for it. Your business is your business and regardless of what I think about it, it's not a problem for me.

That said, financial status is a sensitive matter for a lot of people. To some people, the appearance of wealth is so important that they prioritise expensive items for appearance's sake over actual daily needs - people like that are vulnerable and might choose to buy a status instead of paying their rent, which will hurt them in the long run. To other people, often those who grew up in poverty, seeing other people showing off their wealth (intentionally or not) can be a constant reminder of their own financial status. Financial status is closely linked to social status and money essentially equals social value, so being reminded of your poverty feels like someone's pointing out your low social value and saying you're worth less than they are. Of course that is not how people should be valued, but it's something we're taught by society from a very early age so we will often perceive it that way whether we agree with it or not.

Maybe I'm overthinking this and maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but I also think it's a discussion worth having. In a community, sociological aspects matter.

[lost-harts]

The Destruction of Creation: How bobbin lace versus machines relates to digital art versus AI

This is something that is completely my own opinion, no real research has been done, just observation. I, as a whole system, have been thinking about this for a while and just needed to get these thoughts out.

In the back end of September 2023, I began to learn a skill I've wanted to learn for over a decade, lacemaking. It's one of those hobbies that is always on the edge of dying out, but there's always resurgences and weirdos like me making sure it keeps its head above water.

To some lace is something ugly, for old grannies and yellowing curtains in old houses. To others lace is only for the romantic and sexual moments in their life, a wedding dress and lingerie. But most people can agree, it's a bit old fashioned and not for the every day. I thought a lot of lace was ugly myself when I was young, but then I saw antique bobbin made lace and suddenly I could see what people wanted really. The beauty of fine lines building up something like an eternal snowflake.

When I had an income I used to commission artists fairly frequently, but one sort of artist I couldn't afford to ever commission were those with the highly detailed, beautifully shaded, realistic backgrounded art. Theirs was around £300 and rightly so with the hours of work they would spend on each piece and the years of honing that skill beforehand. But these pieces of art were wanted and some people when they can't bear to part with money, or an appropriate amount of money, will spend their time instead working out work arounds.

In the 18th and 19th centuries lace was found all over clothing, especially clothes for the upper classes. But as industrialisation thundered ever louder in the 19th century and the middle class became truly distinct, they wanted this lace for themselves to appear more like richer folk, but also to adorn more numerous items of clothing that factories allowed one person to own. And so it becomes, why pay a village woman to take a good couple of months on your lace collar when we have machines and factory workers now that can make the rest of the outfit in days? Surely a machine can be made that will do it quicker and require less money? And yes they could. These machines very quickly became the main way people would get lace, especially Bedfordshire and Bucks Point style laces.

But people adapted, learnt how to make quicker simpler, less impressive lace that was still pretty, known as torchon lace. They fended off the machines for a good thirty years too, the machine makers unable for those thirty years to get machines to copy torchon lace correctly and quickly. They jammed and tangled, causing more trouble than it was worth in the eyes of factory owners. But come the 1870s, lace making machines had 'improved', making torchon lace also and a skilled art quickly began to fade.

I see this in artist communities I'm a part of too. Digital artists discussing how to imprint their art with un-copy-able code, make the AI falter and spend longer to make something worse. I've seen other artists saying they are dropping their hyper realistic art styles though, so they can be quicker and lower their prices so people will still commission them maybe? Trying to remove a distance between arguing with AI through prompts and reprompts to get sort of the picture you want for free and paying a human who you can clearly describe what you want and pay them. It truly is the same story happening once again.

But the most sickening thing for me is my thoughts on the hyper realistic art style. I had been on DeviantArt since I was 12, I loved this sort of art, seeing book characters, anime characters bounding about, leaping through the air, hair flapping and clothes swishing about with gorgeous lighting.

So much time and skill and learning went into getting there. I know this really. But now, I have to catch myself when I see art in this style because my first thought is 'Oh, AI rubbish is getting better with hands'. Art, that is beautiful, just on the off chance it is cheaply or freely made without skill, is rubbish. Put in the bin and discarded. That doesn't mean I think we should admire AI art. We should hate it for what it is, the machine that snatches food, ideas, skills and artistry from people, just as machines did over a hundred years ago. It really sickens me.

Because I know people began to think the same thing about lace. It became tacky, nothing special, rubbish. Something that was once an asset just like jewellery, trod into the dirt because everyone could have it now as it was churned out by machines. But hundreds of years of skills were stolen by those machines. Those machines and inventors couldn't come up whole cloth with those lace designs. They needed the lace makers to even exist.

I have no real conclusions other than, please don't let AI art make you hate an art style just because it steals from it. And maybe people should like lace more, especially bobbin made lace like I'm learning to make.

[worldburnrp]

MARCH 2ND, 2024

A POLITICAL RENDEZVOUS at THE CLOISTERS

“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” ― George Orwell

About an hour after the guest’s arrival, the auction finally starts. Some come to share the money they have no other use for — others, to establish some sort of status, seek connections, or simply watch this odd species in its natural habitat.

While politicians lay the groundwork for a successful campaign, the law and the media follow closely behind, all with goals of their own. Weaving into the crowd also, are those with influence in the underworld. If you think they don’t have something to gain by blending in — you’re sorely mistaken. 

OOC INFO

PART TWO. There is no need to wrap or drop Part One threads.

WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO PLOT with your fellow players what your characters will be up to during the event, as well as any plots and/or conflicts that may happen. For heavy conflicts, please do make sure to message the main about it first. <3

As always, should there be any questions or need of assistance with any plots, please feel free to contact the admins and we’ll be happy to help you!

AUCTION

THE AUCTION HAS STARTED, and it will be carried through a sideblog. Please follow @wbauction and keep an eye out as items are posted.

OOC CHALLENGES

You will be awarded 200 points for each:

OPEN STARTER [THE REMIX]: Write an open starter utilizing a location (within the event site) that hasn't been used in previous starters yet! 

THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY: Interact, on dash, with at least three characters you/your characters have never interacted with before this event. If you do more, it will be multiplied by each time it’s completed.

IC CHALLENGES

You will be awarded 300 points for each:

WIN AN AUCTION: What says on the tin! Score the highest bid and take an item home.

WAR OF WORDS: Spark a political debate with another character.

BIG SPENDER: Bid on 5 or more auction items.

RUMOR HAS IT: Start a rumor about any character.

COME TO THE DARK SIDE*: Try to convince an enemy to jump ship and join your crew instead. (This can be across different political parties, different gangs, or anything you can think of.) * [1/3 CLAIMED.] Please message the main page before using it!

Please post completed challenges to our #point-depository channel so the admins can tally your points.

PLOT SLOTS

To claim a slot, please message the main with your choice.

ARIA BOUGHTON and [MEDIA CHARACTER B] are in conflict with each other. [PUBLIC FIGURE 1] has conceded to an interview, but to one person only. This isn’t an opportunity to pass up — and both will fight hard for it.

[GANG CHARACTER A] overhears [ENEMY A] and [ENEMY B] speaking of gang plans — and quickly passes the info onto FELIX SECADA.

ANAÏS MURAD approaches EVA MOVSKA about a potential hefty donation to their party. However, ANAÏS MURAD has a list of demands that need be met first, in order for the donation to be made.

ARCHER BROOKS makes the rounds to ensure that there is no bad PR that could possibly come from this. Targets include LEV MOVSKA and ZED MOVSKA, who look like the type to start trouble.

[MEDIA CHARACTER C] has their hands full tonight, what with so much fact-checking to be made for all articles breaking tomorrow. Naturally, they approach [CHARACTER D] to run through the details with. (Read: trying to catch them in a lie.)

[CHARACTER E] had been hoping to shake hands with someone involved in the government tonight, and ALAN DIETRICH fits the bill. If they can just gauge out all government strategy and how it impacts their business, then it’s time well spent. Of course, [CHARACTER E] has their own agenda also.

[LAW CHARACTER A] had heard through a rumor that DAMIEN TOUSSAINT, while not a criminal themselves, knows more than your average civilian. If they enough questions, maybe some will get answers. 

[CHARACTER H] lets it slip that they know some hacking, and it peaks the interest of CALEB MORENO. Hey — knowing what their opponents are doing could be useful, that’s all.

[GANG CHARACTER C] has been avoiding EMILIO CARRASCO, until they cross paths. There’s an inkling or knowledge of their involvement with crime, and tensions rise.

MATHIAS CAIN gets a little too drunk and reveals a secret they weren't supposed to, and to the worst person possible: CLARK CAIN. What now?

KRISTEN PARRISH finds AVA M HOLLIS and VIA D’ANGELO talking in a room — and they want in on the secret.

[CHARACTER M] has their eye on a certain item up for auction, and they're determined to have it — the only problem is, [CHARACTER N] feels the same. Who will win the battle of paper and words?

IZARA LEVINE catches [CHARACTER P] stashing hors-d'œuvres in their pockets. Are they saving it for later, or are they up to something? Time will tell.

AXEL REYES and [ENEMY C] enter conflict. But they have to find a way to settle it without things getting violent — any slips, and they might just blow the cover of their entire operation.

ASK MEMES

While we don’t usually do them during events, here’s a list of approved ask memes that you’re free to reblog and use during this event, if you wish to! We ask that you only stick to this selection, and as always, be mindful of any spamming. <3

House of Cards sentence starters

Breaking Bad sentence starters 1 + Breaking Bad sentence starters 2 + Breaking Bad sentence starters 3

Newsroom season 1 + Newsroom season 2 sentence starters

The Blacklist sentence starters

HAVE FUN!

[celebritieswithemmab]

What is Robert Pattinsons "Little Pillow"?

Photo from MEL

And, most importantly, how did Robert Pattinson attempt to monetize it?

In the midst of lock-down, when nobody (including celebrities) had anything to do, Robert Pattinson was stranded with nothing but three t-shirts and access to a little corner store. He was supposed to be temporarily staying in a London flat during the filming of Batman, which he starred in (as Batman). Yet in the wake of COVID-19 closures across the globe, he had been stranded with little food other than what the producers would send him according to his regulated Batman diet. Attempting to make productive use of his time, Pattinson decided to try a business concept he had come up with the prior year. He had recognized a gap in the market for fast-food pasta, and says that he “...was trying to figure out how to capitalize in this area of the market, and [he] was trying to think: How do you make a pasta which you can hold in your hand?” Let's not speculate on if this question should ever be answered, or the grammar in which it was asked. Because Pattinson attempted to answer it, and I think we can agree it would have been better off left as a concept rather than a tangible object.

Photo from Glamour

Behold: Piccolini Cuscino

(Italian for "Little Pillow")

According to GQ, at the start of his entrepreneurship journey, "he went so far as to design a prototype that involved the use of a panini press, and then... set up a meeting with Los Angeles restaurant royalty Lele Massimini." This meeting had little success, and Massimini was, thankfully, unimpressed.

Back in 2019, my dad had an idea to create brownie-ice-cream popsicles. He created a ton of prototype batches, much to the enjoyment of my brother and I. His idea was, I can assure you, much tastier and a much more viable concept. So how come he never got a meeting with Los Angeles restaurant royalty? Because he never played the sparkly, blood-lusted love interest in a teen film.

When you have the sort of stardom that comes from helping create over 300 million dollars in profit, you have a lot working for you. You have an insurance to these types of connections. Fortunately, for the good of society, these connections don't ensure a product launch.

Pattinsons unsuccessful meeting in 2019 did, sadly, not deter him from further cuisine pursuits in 2020. In May of 2020, he recreated this pasta phenomenon in his interview with QC magazine. After reading the instructions for creating one of these Picconolo Cuscino dishes, I'm sure you'll agree the world is left much better without it.

Do not try this at home.

Ingredients:

breadcrumbs or cornflakes

pre-sliced cheese

tomato sauce

pasta

half a burger bun

sugar

Other items:

lighter

aluminum foil

microwave

latex gloves

Directions:

Put on gloves (it's about to get messy)

2. Cover pasta with water in a bowl and microwave for 8 minutes.

3. While cooking, create a bowl-shape out of aluminum foil, and cover with crushed up cornflakes or breadcrumbs.

4. Cover with sugar.

5. Place cheese slices on top

Allegedly, Pattinson used nine packs of cheese for this.

6. and then cover with more sugar.

“It really needs a sugar crust,” -Robert Pattinson

7. Cover with tomato sauce.

8. When pasta is finished microwaving, dump it on top of your creation.

At this point, Pattinson says there is "...absolutely no chance this is gonna work. Absolutely none,” But keep going anyways.

9. Pour more sugar on top of the pasta.

10. Hollow out your half of the burger bun, and place it on top.

Before this next step, take off your latex gloves. Pattinson didn't, and it did not go well.

11. Take your lighter and burn a fun design onto the top for aesthetic quality points.

Robert says “I’m just gonna do the initials.…” meaning P.C., for Piccolini Cuscino. The interviewer, Zach Baron, at GQ, says "at this point, he accidentally ignites one of his latex gloves, which promptly melts onto his palm." So take extra caution. This part could hurts

12. Wrap your pasta concoction in more aluminum foil, creating a type of ball.

13. Place the pasta ball in the microwave for ten minutes.

At this point, if you've done this correctly, the microwave should shark, catch on fire, and shut down the electricity, just as it did in the GQ interview.

I don't recommend eating. Robert Pattinson didn't. He figured it was best left ignored, and thats precisely what he did.

He says, “I’m really trying to sell this company... I’m doing this for my brand.”

As of 2024, there have been no official mentions of a Piccolini Cuscino fast-food business. Let's hope there never are.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Econ anon here again just wanted to reply to some of the comments https://at.tumblr.com/the-bjd-community-confess/not-quite/x59g10p6gbrq

Thank you for your input and healthy discussion, warms my nerdy lil heart!! 🥹

Regarding e-commerce sites, I’m speaking purely in terms of maximizing efficiency for buying and selling on the second hand market. Far easier to sort through items on eBay than the #bjdsales IG hashtag for example. Also that’s why so many (Western people at least) end up buying recasts entering the hobby as there aren’t very many luxury goods today that you can’t buy legit off of e-commerce sites. You aren’t wrong as to the “why” knowledgable legit BJD buyers don’t list/search those sites but the result is still an overall hindrance to legitimate secondhand market transactions. 

Regarding unknown buyers/sellers, this originally started back in the early 2000s when there were little to no recasts. The concern was overwhelmingly getting scammed and having someone run off with your money. Even now it’s rarely an issue an informed buyer is being sold a recast or being tricked into buying one. Most transaction issues with unknowns revolve around sale scams for legit dolls and items. I’d say recasts are part of the concern now, but that can usually be assuaged with a CoA verification . But overall even without recasts not selling/buying to/from unknowns would still be standard. 

Great comments regarding IP issues and price. Although I will say what you mean by “inflexible” actually means more flexible or more elastic in economic terms.  Lol it is a bit confusing but basically what’s considered “flexible” isn’t based on whether the price of an item ever increases or decreases or the frequency it does, its based on people’s willingness to buy when it does change. We are essentially saying the same thing though!  Companies that raise their prices will be generally unsuccessful.  

Taking this a step further this actually made me really consider if the BJD market is a competitive market as a whole. I would say the smaller companies and independent artists are price takers, meaning the above theory would apply to them as they cannot set a price in the market on their own. The market determines the price. Ex, heads are usually anywhere from $85-160 (depending on skin tone, size, etc). An artist charging $300+ for their head without any other extras, faceup, etc. would be looked at like they were insane lol. 

HOWEVER, companies like V0lks and Soom are more likely Monopolies. They can set that higher price themselves regardless of the market and consumers are willing to pay it because of their brand and products (superior goods).

Soom especially quality is rather mid in comparison to the prices they charge for a basic nude doll. Many people complain about QA issues of head cap magnets being weak, obvious seam lines, the resin skin tones are not consistent between batches, need to be wired/sueded to pose, jointed hands are DYI kits, etc. Yet they are still widely popular despite all these quality issues.  But it’s also a big trait of Monopolies in economics that they do not have to prioritize quality above all else as people will want them regardless. V0lks on the other hand has higher quality standards but they have their own unique way of selling and offering dolls (lotteries, one-offs, not being able to buy blank dolls, full sets coming with glued in eyes, etc) that people do complain about often yet there are still thriving in business.

Not to mention both V0lks and Soom come out with limiteds and full sets that can be 3x-5x times the price of an average BJD doll already costing hundreds. They don’t even have to offer heads because they know people will want the sculpt enough to buy the full doll. 

Going back to IP I don’t know much about IP law but I am not surprised at the costs to go through legal proceeds being ridiculously high, which you are right is likely the reason they don’t enforce. However, I don’t think it’s because the dolls are underpriced though. It’s likely even if they were able to charge say $300 a head, they still wouldn’t be able to generate enough to cover legal costs. Lawyers can be $300 & up an hour in addition to retainer fees. Only V0lks I would guess would have the resources to sue and even with them its likely the opportunity costs aren’t worth it to them. 

At that level it’s never really about the principle of fighting for your IP and all about the money. Now if a multi-billion dollar company like Matt3l started stealing V0lks IP, you bet it would be worth then to sue. Not to mention they could likely get attorneys who would work for a percentage of the amount won, rather than charge hourly saving on the up front costs of legal expenses. But that usually just happens in extremely high profile situations when lots of money are involved. That’s why you rarely hear of anyone suing anyone else over IP if they themselves or the person they are suing aren’t a big corporation with lots of money, the costs wouldn’t be worth the reward otherwise. 

Regarding Lou, I don’t think the argument about Lou its a bizarre at all. What you are suggesting would be a duopoly or a cartel (no not the drug kind lol!). Cartels in Econ are companies who each agree to make a certain amount of an item so they can split market profits on that item rather than compete (usually illegal to form in most industries due to anti-trust laws etc). Although I do think someone mentioned it in the comments too, the downside of cartels is one side (Lou in this case) is incentivized to cheat. Companies would be wary giving Lou molds as he could essentially then do what he wants, sell for lower prices, produce more than agreed upon, not give them their share of profits, etc, etc.  There is no promise he wouldn’t sell more than he is supposed to or even if they did give him an exclusive sculpt he could use it to copy and make his own (like he has before).

Regarding overhead costs of legit vs recast. This isn’t true at all that it would be more expensive for Lou to go legit or that he is saving lots of money by stealing at this stage. Although there are heavy fixed costs in the short run of starting a business, Lou is now a successful recaster. He has the materials and resources to sculpt his own if he wanted to. The start up costs of getting a warehouse, resin, casting materials, etc, for his recast business far out way the costs of spending a bit more time refining a doll with sculpting, sanding, etc. Time is the main cost in sculpting original creations rather than money. 

For proof of this look no further than some of the western artists presales on IG. They will get people excited with their sculpting process and get lots of preorders. But when it actually comes to paying a caster and getting other supplies to produce the doll that’s when they flop. They either take way longer to deliver or out right become a scammer and don’t deliver dolls because the overhead costs of producing the doll were way higher than sculpting one, even when they weren’t the ones doing the casting themselves (short run vs long run marginal costs). 

However, this is a pipe dream Lou going legit honestly. It’s far more lucrative and brings more economic profit for him to remain a recaster having a monopoly on it being the main recaster. If he were to go legit, another recaster seeing opportunity would take his spot. Thats why even if Lou’s recast factory blew up tomorrow and he left the businesses, it would only be a matter of time before another recaster took his spot.

~Anonymous

[intoeasy]

Unlimited life of clothes: “We reincarnate”

If you could choose between quality, sustainability, price tag, or style when buying clothes, what is your priority?

There is a noticeable smell upon entering the underground area of Brick Lane Vintage Market. This is a smell that is characterised by the secondhand clothes hanging all around scattered stalls. Some retro, some classics, some winter jackets and sweaters, and even season-less needs with striking visuals and various colours mixed together. Each hanger rack has a variety of models and colours. Everyone must be prepared to put their hand in to see the clothes one by one because there could be "treasures" that cannot be found with one "screening".

"We don't call it secondhand clothes anymore. It is now called pre-loved or vintage fashion, including upcycled, recycled clothes pieces.”

His grey hair shows that he may not be young anymore. Still, Andy, who has been working in one of the Brick Lane vintage stalls for five years, has a keen eye for detail and the conditions of items that are still good enough or not on display in the collection. He refuses to use the words secondhand clothes. For him, these reincarnated clothes have their own value. This value can be better reflected by calling them pre-loved or vintage. The clothes supplied to the store come in dozens of boxes and kilos. Behind the cashier's desk is a non-permanent room in a corner that was purposely made as a warehouse for unsorted clothes. That afternoon, Andy was seen busy sorting several black suits and giving them price tags. When asked where he got all the clothes from, he answered firmly, 

"That's my boss's secret. He has a good connection with people who are also pre-loved and vintage clothes suppliers. I won't let you know where it is coming from.”

Even though Andy does not openly tell where the clothes come from, it is common knowledge that pre-loved clothes are indeed sold per kilo or even per ton and are imported from other parts of the world, leaving lots of carbon footprints along the distribution process. According to the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles1, 1.4 million tons of textile waste were exported to non-EU countries in 2020. Yet, there is still no reliable overview data on these flows, whether they were pre-sorted or not, and their ultimate destinations.

Shop owners and employees like Andy sort and curate the kilograms of clothes received. He gives prices based on the cost of clothes in the market. Some of the clothes in his shop are priced at $300 and up because they are well-known brands, classic, aged, and well-maintained. Other clothes have prices below or the same as market prices. Everything is calculated based on the clothes’ condition, whether the clothes are fixed or upcycled already or in raw condition. Raw, which means it is not curated, not upcycled, and comes with unrepaired damage, the cheaper it gets.

Unlike the shop where Andy works, Shiley (known as @the_vintage_reborn_london on Instagram) is another shop owner who directly looks after her own shop. Her interest in fashion and antique collections can be seen in her knowledge of fashion history and her ability to curate items. Unlike most sellers on Brick Lane, Shirley gives prices according to her expertise in determining the value of an item. For her, the things she has made have their own soul and might be the only ones that can’t be found elsewhere. This makes many pre-loved clothes pretty fantastic because apart from being more environmentally friendly, they also have unique tastes for some customers.

How sustainable are pre-loved clothes?

As you read through this article, it means, directly or indirectly, you are one of those people who are concerned about whether or not the choice of clothes you buy are sustainable. Let's take a brief look at what impact this actually has on our fashion choices. Referring to the journal on Waste Management in the Fashion and Textile Industry, which was just released in 20222. Until now, the fashion and textile industry is the second largest polluter in the world, following the oil industry2. 

Most people and scientists nowadays refer to the term carbon footprint. This means our sins can be easily calculated. The carbon footprint calculation is also counted not only for the manufacturing process but also for the process of distributing until the waste processing these clothes. Our purchasing behaviours contribute to 39 million tons of post-consumer fashion waste created globally every year, primarily in the form of clothes. More than 57% of all apparel thrown away ends up in landfill. The textile water waste used in garment production is untreated and contains toxic substances such as, mercury, arsenic, lead, and others which are directly dumped into the water bodies risking the human race and aqua life around the globe2.

Calculating the carbon footprints of each process needs detailed data on the ingredients that are being used during the process. There are 3 types of ingredients in forming our clothes: plant-based, synthetics, and animal-based clothes. Although all three have an impact on the environment, synthetics and animal-based have the most significant percentage of impacts. For example, overgrazing of grasslands via sheep and cashmere goats raised for their wool, and each time “synthetic” garments are washed (polyester/nylon), around 1900 single microfibers are freed into the marine ecosystem, creating their way into the oceans2. Does all this data make us pessimistic about wearing clothes? Is it time we all migrated into a sect of naked sun worshipers?

Sustainability aims to derive maximum advantage from products by increasing their lifespan. Sustainability practices try to do as good as possible by trying to reduce the production process. According to Nadira Lase, "Most of us don't count the reuse carbon footprint because it's a different category as it doesn't make new clothes anymore. After all the calculations we did, what determines whether the product has a significant carbon footprint or not is in the material, not in the use of transportation. As the results of our calculation of the life cycle assessment (LCA), transportation does not produce a lot of carbon compared to the manufacturing process, that's why reuse is more favourable than the others." Nadhira Lase4 works as an Environmental Specialist at an LCA software company based in the Netherlands. She assesses and calculates the carbon footprint and LCA in fashion, including in the manufacturing process and the distribution of all until it wastes calculation.

However, carrying out sustainable fashion practices is still challenging to do thoroughly. Many considerations must be made regarding quality, price, style, and sustainability practices. Knowing that sustainable fashion can not only partially be defined as how big the carbon footprint is in certain clothes. One of the students attending the University of the Arts London, Vallerie7, who is a regular customer of clothes at thrift or vintage stores stated, “For me, fashion is a statement, I feel that thrifting helps me explore myself through it because it has a lot of choices and it is also a way for me to define myself”. But even so, she also revealed how difficult it is to always purchase pre-loved clothes, especially in London. Most of the clothes sold at curated vintage markets have fantastic prices for students and part-time workers like them. Some clothes that have a lower price are sold in a not curated condition often at times they are not very good quality.

“In the end, for my daily needs, some of it I bought at Primark again because the prices are lower. The need to save money and lower prices make it hard to be more sustainable. The existing system still forces me to return to this fast-fashion cycle.” Some of you reading this article may agree with Vallerie, or maybe not.

What can we do?

Price is still becoming a primary concern for most consumers in making decisions rather than sustainability. They know they care about the environment, but they don't act in a sustainable manner when buying products. It will take time and a small step for sustainability and zero waste lifestyle to be a pillar in the fashion industry rather than just another trend. Therefore, it is urgent to change the mindset of the ethical apparel industry. 

The fashion design industry is worth $2.4 trillion, employing about 60 million people worldwide, and the size of the business is expected to continue to grow in the coming years2. It is time for fashion designers, corporations, and the government to create joint actions for a "close loop" fashion system. Efforts in research, knowledge sharing, and strengthening synergies will lead to changes in fashion trends and help countries develop the need for ethical fashion. Many brands and companies have also started to shift to more sustainable ways of manufacturing their products. The more sustainable scheme available on the market, the more choices consumers have in buying things to be more sustainable. Step by step, it will raise behaviour change in the consumers as well as all the market stakeholders.

Although not to mention, there is a lot of debate over sustainable fashion, pros and cons around those big brands that have launched organic and sustainable collections. Their transparency, not only over the source of material but also fair labour often being questioned. The term "greenwashing" also needs attention, as customers don't want to get blinded and trapped in an unconscious fashion choice. All those significant steps from those powerful and big brands companies must still be accompanied by the efforts of consumers who have the same important role in making decisions. Being fully aware and sustainability-conscious people is something that we can do to provoke a system change. 

The most promising strategy is reduction aimed at avoiding waste generation. Textile waste management includes a 3R approach; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. In a literal sense, "reduce" is still the most preferred method to reduce textile waste effectively. According to an annual report by climate NGO WRAP3 an additional 9 months of active use to extend the life of your garment will reduce your carbon footprint, waste and water footprint by approximately 20-30%. This may require physical expertise to repair a product and our mental strength to restrain our ego rather than buying something we don't need. Both are hard, indeed. Practice is required to make this become a new habit. The second one is “reusing”. This is where thrifting or why buying pre-loved clothes could be an answer for this. As there is no emission for the production process, reusing clothes leaves less carbon footprint and is considered a wise choice in practising a sustainable lifestyle. There are a lot of start-ups and organisations that make a business model like this. For example, Nuw (www.thenuwardrobe.com) is a social network platform for sharing clothes with people in the local community. A charity shop such as Oxfam also became the first national charity to develop its own facility for recycling and reusing clothes and never sends clothes to landfills. Quoted from an interview with Forbes, Stella Tennant, a model for an Oxfam photoshoot, stated, "One dress could raise enough money to provide a woman in Bangladesh with a safe bathing cubicle, a shirt could provide safe, clean water for 10 people in an emergency, and a coat could help train two farmers in Rwanda to better cope with extreme weather conditions." Vintage markets and thrift stores are indeed the closest business model that runs the reusing practice. The last one is “recycling”. Recycling approaches are more cost-effective than waste disposal, and due to the high energy, water, and manufacturing consumption, recycling is much better than making new textiles. Economically wise, recycling also generates job openings for many small businesses. The term reworked or upcycled clothes is often found in many vintage markets. These clothes are re-produced by small and medium enterprise businesses using clothing materials that are no longer used to become value-added goods with the same quality as new clothes.

Ultimately, no matter how hard this article scientifically suggests you support preloved fashion stores, suggest you buy clothes at a charity shop, or consider organic or sustainable fashion brands, everything goes back to your decision. The best choice that we can make also depends on our circumstances. We can try at least to be environmentally conscious, which will drive us to be as sustainable as possible in every given situation.

So, if you could choose between quality, sustainability, price tag, and style when choosing your clothes, which is your priority?

References:

Boiten, V. (2022). Building a circular economy for textiles supported by common rules on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in the EU. Recommendations and open questions for the upcoming revision of the EU Waste Framework Directive (WFD), 16. https://emf.thirdlight.com/link/51d055xl9pwf-jbvkcd/@/preview/1?o

Gupta, R., Kushwaha, A., Dave, D., & Mahanta, N. R. (2022). Waste management in fashion and textile industry: Recent advances and trends, life-cycle assessment, and circular economy. Emerging Trends to Approaching Zero Waste, 215-242.

WRAP. (2012). Valuing Our Clothes: The Cost of UK Fashion, 5. https://wrap.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-01/WRAP-valuing-our-clothes-2012-07-11.pdf

[greenerteacups]

Re economy question it tickles me how the Ministry looks like the biggest employer of Wizarding Britain…their economy is a mishmash of preindustrial commerce and landholding held together by a kleptocracy

The number of people employed by the Ministry is like, absurd. To the point where I assumed it was overrepresented for Plot Reasons. Like, we need Arthur to have a Ministry job so he has the inside scoop on Bertha Jorkins and a bunch of stuff in fifth year, we meet a lot of Aurors because this is a story about a war, a lot of the bureaucrats who get involved with Harry's hearing/school administration are a result of the Umbridge Arc, and I take it as implicit that most of all jobs Just Happen Somewhere Else, because like.

Okay sidebar about the Ministry. Let me talk to you about the Ministry. Can I talk to you about the fucking Ministry? Put aside the fact that there are more named Ministry employees in this story than there are normal taxpayers. Put aside the fact that the banking system being run exclusively by a disenfranchised underclass that you happen to treat like shit is a policy move that ranks up there with "invading the Soviet Union in December." Put aside the fact that this is basically a modern welfare state stapled on top of a market that's still hammering out the kinks of industrial economics in 19-fucking-91. Here's my question, alright:

WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?

Let's do an exercise. In 1990, public sector employment was 27% of the British national workforce (and growing). The population dynamics of Harry Potter are irrevocably fucked, so this is only going to even-sort-of-work if we fudge it, as I'm about to do: I'm setting the number of Ministry workers, e.g. salaried bureaucrats, at 10,000. Base pay for a government bureaucrat in 1990, is, what, £25-30,000? Let's say so. Multiply that by 10k, you get a personnel budget of £300 million. Sounds like a lot of money, right?

Except what the fuck does the Ministry do? The reason employment costs balloon in the late twentieth century is because we see the rise of social services that require a lot more administrators to vet and deliver — social security in the United States, the NHS in Britain, public education, etc., etc. Public housing! This is why Maggie Thatcher goes postal and starts hack-sawing the national budget. But what, exactly, does the Ministry of Magic deliver? We don't see any poverty relief programs being administered to the Weasleys. Pensions are a thing, but only for Ministry workers. Health services? Sure, let's say St. Mungo's is a public hospital, fair enough. And Hogwarts is free for all British citizens, that's cool, that's probably some expense. But those are two institutions. Where's the rest of it? Where are the big-ticket items that justify this huge corpus of employees? A pure regulatory state does not require this much personnel! There's a whole Department for Games and Sports (e.g. quidditch — oh wait, that's a private league sport!), but not a Department of Energy, or Department of Housing? Fuck off! There is not!

That's not even the biggest problem, though. There's a much, much bigger issue with Ministry organization: There's no fucking Inland Revenue! It doesn't matter how the budgets are balanced, frankly, because unless IR is hidden somewhere in a secret department we don't know about, nobody is paying the government for fuck!

Admittedly, this is pedantry, at some point. JKR was frankly under no obligation to explore the finer points of tax collection in her series of children's novels. I get that, I do. But I'm reminded of what George R. R. Martin said about his annoyance with fantasy novels — the fact that you never got to judge these mythical kings and Chosen Ones by their actual leadership choices. You never see what Aragorn's tax policy is like. And in reality, that's much more important than how good you are with a sword. So — especially in things like The Cursed Child, which actually does try to explore the "adult" world of Harry Potter — it's fascinating that there are so are so many parts of the universe that just live in the world of inference.

[changeling-crafts]

Putting it all together

Most of the hard work has already been done, now you just have to put it all on a sheet together - OR NOT! While I will admit the single sheet of paper is traditional, there's a whole ocean of options to explore. The information I have found the most useful character “sheet” wise, is as follows: what each rune means for your character, the strain trackers, current number of points, and inventory, which we will stick a pin in for now.

In previous sections, I brought up some options for documenting and tracking these parts individually. Here are some ideas for putting all these parts together:

Bookmark

Explosion box

Key chain

Small tin 

Pop up card

Beaded necklace with locket

Spice jar full of scrolls 

There are as many ways to track an inventory as there are ways to jazz up a cuppa coffee, and much like coffee, many people will have strong preferences for how they want it done. For our purpose today we will condense all of that into two ideas: granular and abstract.

For a more granular inventory, knowing the cost of a particular item is pretty useful; however, coming up with a plausible cost for any item you might want to buy can get pretty tedious. Come up with a short list of different kinds of things you might spend money on in this game with some prices that feel plausible. You can also list some different ways you might earn money with a typical cost. When you go to buy something you can use the list to feel out how much other items might cost. 

Room at the inn 15

Potion bottles 3 each

Sword 20-100

Beginning book of potion brewing  10

Musical instrument 30-300

A hearty meal 3 

Gardening supplies 15

Magic wand 50-1000

Length of rope 5

If a lower quality sword is about 20, then I bet a medium quality dagger might be around that same price. I feel like a lantern with oil would cost around the same amount as gardening supplies. If magic wands range from 50-1000 I think staves would cost 300-5000. 

You can always add to or change this list as it serves your game.

As for tracking a more granular inventory, item cards kept in an envelope is fun, but a bit more work. Writing down a list is much simpler, but if you go that route I recommend writing on something disposable like a sticky note. I've found that writing and erasing in the same area will wear paper out over time and it sucks to ruin your main sheet.

Or you could consider a more abstract inventory!

Use a strain tracker to roughly represent your cash!

Do you have lockpicks? Of course you do, you're a thief!

But do you have a warhammer? Maybe not, try casting your runes to see if you have something that could work as one.

Want to prepare for a big heist? Gather or buy some RESOURCES,  you can decide what exactly they are later when you use them, so long as you can come up with a reason why you have something like that. 

Well of course I have a warhammer, I bought it after seeing that cool gladiator fight last week!  

For Melody, I've chosen a more granular sort of inventory, and have tentatively decided to make their debt worth 3000 gold, though this might change as I play.

Today we have a quartet of spreads with a focus on culture and history

Historical event

How long ago did this happen? 

Do people still care about it?

How is it documented?

Deity 

Based on a real person?

Part of a pantheon?

How widely worshiped are they?

Holiday 

Are outsiders welcome to participate?

When is it?

How long do people celebrate?

Legend

How is it told?

Based on a true story?

Do people believe it's true?

Tomorrow we will talk about raising the stakes 

[lookwhatilost]

i read the jennette mccurdy memoir today. sort of happy i got it off zlib because it’s 90-ish essays with large print and a lot of negative space between them. each essay ends on a page break and you’d be hard pressed to find one where 75% or more of the final page is negative space. and $27 can buy me 3 items at the grocery store in this economy – i’d rather have it for that. especially since it’s just below 300 pages and i still crushed it in around 4 cumulative hours. it’s not exactly the phenomenology of spirit lol. i know i read quickly, but, like... eh. it’s a nitpick and probably an editor’s decision.

i suppose i went into it expecting it to be more, like, cathartic than it was? mccurdy and i do share a lot of superficial similarities. abusive mom who has severely unchecked mental health issues, only to get so much worse about it when she gets handed a breast cancer dx, SE-ED patients, a vessel that only exists to be filled with idiot bitch mom’s broken dreams. we diverge a lot on the details though, and that’s really interesting – especially since both parties still used cultural maternal shit as their sword and shield alike.

i suppose personal difference of experience would be, for one thing, me having no mixed feelings to speak of with my mom & being absolutely terrified of her temper for as long as i remember. my earliest memory of her was when i was sitting on this windowsill that was big enough for me to relax on and she’d left a plastic cabinet full of documents on it. i was looking through the tabs and saw one that was labeled as “taxes”, but in my mom’s shit handwriting, looked like it said “toxic”. i ran into the other room where she was, throwing a fit about touching the Poison Folder. and her slapping me so hard i fell down for rummaging through her things. i remember later being very scared about her getting off the phone, because if i hummed too loudly while i was coloring or putting a puzzle together, i’d get screamed at. i’m not sure i could ever properly articulate the exact sound of that. shrill but deep. so, so loud. i’ve never heard that tone of voice come from anyone’s mouth before or since. sans literally the fucking exorcist. but not in person. it still seems so abstract and inhuman. how was it human in origin? how could someone harbor this for a seven-year-old? i don’t remember ever loving her. i remember tolerating her and locking myself in my room whenever i inadvertently stepped on her toes. pleading to whatever power that be, who’d listen, for my dad to come home. she never did this to me if my dad was around.

incidentally, her threat du jour was to remove my bedroom door from its hinges after my parents separated. this cunt is getting the beatrice horseman treatment when she starts losing her marbles. i swear to god lol.

i’m sure this entry in my psychological history served as kindling for my an-bp prognosis later. there are, in my reflection, plenty of things that ignited my perfect storm conditions for developing a severe restrictive eating disorder in my 20s. incidentally, the take that sums it up most neatly is one from christian bale when he went on an extreme diet for his role in the machinist. he mentioned that there was a placidness about it all. you sleep infrequently. your emotions are dulled. you kick you feet up and read in the wee hours. the background noise quiets. i also sort of hate it because sister christian over here has never come out publicly as an ed sufferer but seems to understand the conceit of anorexia better than any doctor i’ve been to. oh my god. 

pivoting back to jennette, i get that this shit is really, really difficult to manage. family ties make you kind of beholden to that person until they croak. and even then, you have to shuffle through the mess. my idiot mom and the stink she riled up about her literally “stage zero” breast cancer. didn’t even know this was a thing until she decided to play deathbed for years. but there’s guilt that you’re actually the one being unreasonable. and abusive moms sun themselves in that. i’m a mom, ergo, i’m a saint. nobody knows how hard it is to be a mom. hash tag mom life.

i’m glad jennette’s mom died too, at least. as for me *skyler white voice* i’m just waiting for the cancer to come back.

[the-firebird69]

The Baja car looks almost exactly like this the rear end is more like a car and has a trunk and it really moves but they look like this from the front it's an awesome look on the road it's really a lot of fun but they're safe you can fly off road and come back on the road there's nothing happening these are extreme vehicles and the international is more like a pickup truck and it might pass off as one or an SUV and you might modernize and it's still like madness and make it a lot less expensive than the bronco and the company that sell those things for like 12 Grand and now the broncos like 30 but it's not worth it but you get inside the internationally very Spartan it'll look like from the '60s I mean it's really going to be Spartan but people can spruce it up in seconds these days there's a lot of stuff you can buy aftermarket seats and consoles all sorts of things that look real nice we do have some time but we have to make announcements

-our son had a different kind of meal cuz he was tired. And they give him hardly any meat. And two meals and together and yeah this is ridiculous everybody's angry since you can't survive on this we're only about 1/5 of a pound a little less so he has four hot dogs and made up for it and didn't do much working out today but I'll tell you what this this is terrible what what is wrong with these people now making meals like that there's no meat in the damn thing at all dinty Moore has a lot more meat in it and there's not much in there it's not even a handful it's craziness and people are insane now there's going to be some changes and we did notice that everything needs it all over the world this place too there's going to be a war and it will straighten out a lot of it

-the pseudo empire is pushing down now to get here there's a lot of problems occurring because of it but they are planning on fixing a lot of things that are actually broken we need these people to stop harassing us you guys need to shut up you do not have it and if you're going to express it we need we need you to stop harassing us and you say you're a big voice and tough guys and who cares we're we're trying to be rebels but really he says they can go to hell and he doesn't want to talk about it everyday they want to launch attacks on us and they keep saying it by saying it to me and we are attacking you because you're doing that that's what it is so you can keep talking it won't be any of you left soon and we have numbers we have proof

-and you're saying it to other groups too and they're going after you and they have proof too you should shut up but it hasn't started in Earnest and it will tonight and people can give you a tongue lashing you can talk back and get hit again

-there are about 400 billion Max warlock ships and they're still out there there's 200 from Tommy f $150 Tommy aloe 100 from Trump and that's over isn't it 450 billion and miscellaneous morlock are in with VGA there's another group of people know but there are the minority warlock and they have $700 billion chips and there are the pseudo empire was now 1.5 trillion chips and then there's the big three the empire is getting up to a trillion but they're equivalent of about 6 trillion and yeah they're getting big again and people are trying to infiltrate quickly lots of people. There is also another fleet it's defunct almost but it's going to be used for lasers on Titan and that's Trump at about 300 million it started about 800 billion and they're all pretty big and 100 miles or better no but there's a lot of big ones in there. There's a few other items to discuss but they are going to start fighting tonight as bja is planning a very large strike on Trump and just to get him out of the apartment lol no son and daughter are saying it and she says no it's not me it's just him and you're the one saying it Thor and Freya and here we are we're joking around and we shouldn't but okay and he's bouncing back and forth like Justin terrific and she has all the buttons like a nuclear plant that's a lot of fun... and now they're arguing. They believe that he's going to strike shortly and once he does there will be fighting because Trump will try to get to his own chips on Earth and then the townships and we don't think that he's going to go to Titan yet and you might try and we think that he will before May 20th and it's because of the June date it's coming up it's already May 8th and may not tomorrow May 9th is tomorrow. It's coming up on the 15th everybody is getting ready it's going to be huge we're getting inundated with three big projects now and we are getting people on board. We do believe when he begins striking all over the world that Trump will try and fight back and to get losing and try and get his ships out and get them from space and there'll be a war out there

-in addition to this we have other stuff going on is pretty big. The pseudo empire is coming down. They are coming down fast numbers huge numbers of people giant numbers of machines and it is the pseudo empire and these things are fierce they're heavy they're not allowed down here they are halted and they can't figure out how I don't know see how it's not haultrd by the warlock and it's halted by big groups. It is a matter of timing but they are forcing down large groups to Tampa Sarasota now they're going to the college area Gainesville and they're going a little bit to Orlando they are flooding into Jacksonville and taking it over they have had enough of there's s***. Their percentages and their numbers we expect pseudo empire to be up to 40% in Tallahassee and the warlock at 30% and others fill in the rest at 30%, Tampa area and Sarasota for the most part will be about 35% 30% and 20%, Gainesville will be at 25% 40% and 35% roughly, Jacksonville and surrounding and it's built up now not really it's military and they're bunkers and stuff so it's built up population is not really key but here you're going to see it 75% sudo empire 20% more lock and in the ancillary positions only and the rest is 5% miscellaneous and there's some infiltration but not really much by much more loss mack more luck are not really there. Then there is Miami it's still going to be kind of 20% pseudo empire and the Southwest all the way up to Bradenton is still going to be around 15% pseudo empire. It will affect here they will notice things getting more difficult

-there are some other things to make a note of so our son says you should take the rocks out she says why this isn't a storm they blow through your window she says you little s*** yeah I'm trying to get out of it you just wake him up show them out I don't know what the hell you put them into concrete. You can use them as filler in concrete believe it or not and make a walkway and she likes the idea but in here in Florida you have to do that in the 4 in the bottom and then put another layer it's a pain in the ass but it can be done I'm going to slip sliding away. She respects the fact you're telling you something important it gets all green algae and she goes oh s*** but then again if you put it on the sidewalk and you you screed it up and you can send it and you can see this cut stone so that's nice. There's a few other things going on with that's a very old look. It's the 60s and 50s and it really is. But let's stay on the topic here Florida is going to be overrun shortly by them but they're moving in everywhere but here because of the ship and it's not a good sign for him but they're moving it up there and they're taking the ships out and soon they'll be taking diamonds out and then want the ship out of here for other reasons actually no it's to take those out and actually it is other reasons too but there's going to be a big space battle and they're going to be severely weakened and that's the clones and they're going to try for their ships before they do that the empire is going to try and manipulate to move these ships out so they can take those ships it's going to be hell. We expect them to fight down to practically nothing we expect Trump to try for his ships and he won't be able to get them and he'll have to get his ships out of New Zealand and other areas yes I'm here but not many and he will seek them all over but really he needs to give stuff out fast also

I'm going to Publix we got to get this out

Thor Freya

Olympus

[worldburnrp]

MARCH 2ND, 2024

A POLITICAL RENDEZVOUS at THE CLOISTERS

A New Yorkian get-together, political auction, and farewell to winter.

pol·i·tics /ˈpäləˌtiks/ noun. The governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals hoping to achieve power.

On the afternoon of March 2nd, a casual event celebrates the weather finally putting the cutting cold to rest — with a 60 degree breeze and the sun even peaking through the clouds.

The Cloisters, located at Fort Tryon Park in Washington Heights, welcome New Yorkers for an afternoon of schmoozing with great food and even better wine. The event connects those seeking connections — be it business, personal, or political matters alike.

Some are here for the food, others for the booze, some for the opportunity to speak to current and future American leaders, or to try to influence the pendulum just a touch. Best not forget however, that such leaders are not only the ones of the Senate or the White House — a whole lot of politics happens in the underground, too.

Less than 10 months away from the 2024 elections, an auction takes place to raise funds for the parties in the run. Guests may offer items for auction and do the bidding, too — all proceeds directed to where their hearts desire. The race starts here.

OOC INFO

PART ONE.

IC, the event takes place on the afternoon of MARCH 2ND (Saturday). OOC, it starts March 1st, and the end date will be determined soon.

Members aren’t required to pause non-event threads during this period, BUT ARE HIGHLY ENCOURAGED TO PRIORITIZE THEM for fun, flowing interactions. While members can still respond to threads started previous to the event, they cannot start new threads outside of the event until it is wrapped.

If you choose to keep pre-event threads going, we ask that those are kept to a minimum as to not delay or confuse timelines and events. During this period, you should be expected to have more event threads on dash, than regular ones.

WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO PLOT with your fellow players what your characters will be up to during the event, as well as any plots and/or conflicts that may happen. For heavy conflicts, please do make sure to message the main about it first. <3

As always, should there be any questions or need of assistance with any plots, please feel free to contact the admins and we’ll be happy to help you!

CHALLENGE

OUTFIT CHALLENGE: Show us what your character’s outfit will be! Be as detailed as you’d like, and feel free to get creative. [ You will be awarded 100 points for completing this ] Dress code is business casual. No need for suits, tuxedos, or long dresses this time around, though characters may still want to put their best foot forward, especially if they're treating the date as a platform for their own personal goals. Likewise, your character can ditch the 'business' altogether if they're only there for a fun time.

OPEN STARTER: Write an open starter! [ You will be awarded 100 points for completing this ]

RESPOND TO AN OPEN STARTER: Respond to an open starter! [ You will be awarded 300 points for completing this ]

WRITE A MULTIPLE-CHARACTER THREAD: Write a thread where three or more characters are interacting together at once. [ Each character involved will be awarded 200 points for completing this ]

Important! Challenges are NOT mandatory, but all points you accumulate are going to your balance, which you can then use to 'purchase' you perks and advantages.

AUCTION & AUCTION ITEMS

The auction will start once Part 2 is posted. Until then:

Join the fun and submit an item that your character is offering, where any proceeds will be donated to the party of their choosing!

We encourage you to get inspired by who your characters is and what would line up with them. For example, if your character is an artist, you can auction a painting by them. If they are famous, you may offer some sort of signed item. And if you think those patterns wouldn't fit, then we also encourage you to be as creative as you wish — have them auction a personal item, a date/hangout with them, a product or experience. If you're not sure what to offer, but want to participate, feel free to message the main page and the admins will help with suggestions.

All characters who offer up an item for auction will be awarded 300 points. If you have multiple characters and you submit multiple items, you'll be awarded 300 points for each item submitted. However, you can only submit one item per character you play.

To offer an auction item on behalf of your character, please SUBMIT to the main:

CHARACTER NAME is auctioning a ITEM NAME HERE. Proceeds will be donated to the REPUBLICAN PARTY / DEMOCRATIC PARTY (please choose the one that aligns with your character!). Any supporting images? (In case it's a specific item, please include a photo of such.)

For example:

PABLO PICASSO is auctioning an ORIGINAL PAINTING. Proceeds will be donated to the DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

Admin note:

Burnies! This event isn't just any event — it's our three year anniversary event! March 2nd marks three years since WB opened, and we're so so honored and happy to have all of you with us; your mastery with writing and character-building wows us every day. But what stands out to us most is your kindness and your friendship, offered to members old and new. Whether you've been here for three years, three months, or three days — all members are equally as appreciated and loved, and we're so lucky to have all of you be part of our wb fam. Happy 3 years, burnies! We adore you! <3

[chrysolipsist]

carrency

what if we used automobiles as currency. Like 1 unit of value could be the "standard current-year car" as this sort of ideal concept. The actual value of any car would be approximately 1.0 units within some small margin of error but it would be constantly calibrated to be the average asking price of an average passenger car. So you might get paid, let's say, 5 or 6 cars a year, or something like that. Or college tuition might be 1.4 cars this semester.

"Wow this is really fucking stupid"

but is it? I mean is the standard automobile not this thing that a huge amount of the population has this sort of enormous dependency on? Yes I know it would be nice to maybe live in a world where that's not the case and you can get by with just using public transit haha yeah it would be really cool if that were the case but the reality is that you need a fucking car so we are living with a largely shared experience of having to have one of the fucking things. So 1 unit of this basic need seems like a unit of value we can all understand. You know, as an abstract idea. Maybe a nicer car could be worth 2 of them, you know, but the point is that there's a sort of average version of this thing we all need and that is what we call 1 unit.

I had failed to fully convince myself of the viability of my own idea. I had to question why I had this idea in the first place. How would you even begin to make this determination. These days, the auto manufacturers inflate the price of an average car by including all the extra features. Have you ever tried to get a new car that doesn't include any extra shit like sunroof/moonroof, some special trim, better seats, heated steering wheel, whatever? I mean some of those things are very nice to have, don't get me wrong, but it's actually hard to find an available version -- I mean on the lot, or that you don't have to maybe order and wait for -- that is not loaded up with some extra features that add to the total cost. It seems like you should be able to get an "average car" at a cost of about $10,000. I mean in today's money, 2023 money, with inflation and all. In a world where dinner for two is at least $50 and more like $125 or maybe even $200-300 if you go to a very nice place and get drinks and everything. I mean that you should be able to get access to a car-- an average car, could be a used model, maybe you're the third owner or it's an ex-rental vehicle, but it's in good shape and reliable. You ought to be able to get something to just tote you around for about ten grand. So what I'm saying is that we fix everything to the value of this basic need as an abstract concept. This unit of need, of this particular commodity. You could maybe even abstract it to the need for transportation. For how much money it costs for you to go to all the destinations an average person might go to in a year, or something like that. An average annual person-mile unit of total travel distance. The point of reference could be anything, but wouldn't it make sense, if money is going to have any sort of reference value at all, instead of some specific commodity like gold or silver, or whatever, the currency could be like: "this bill may be exchanged for whatever you need to keep you going for 48 hours from the United States Government". And if you actually needed to flat out survive for that long you could cash in your money with Uncle Sam and get like a voucher for two nights' hotel stay at government rates and like a Standard U.S. Citizen Daily Needs Pack with like a M.R.E. and some toiletry items. So, instead of the currency being exchangeable for some fucking luxury metal that you would have to have all these kinds of specialized people to help you deal with, your money is worth some equivalent value of the average person's daily survival needs which you could cash in.

And imagine this -- imagine your retirement account. What if you could view the value of your retirement account in units of the number of days you have to survive off of. You'd know that, whatever that number is, that Uncle Sam will guarantee your daily needs for that amount of money, but you could accumulate much more of that value and do what you want with the excess. But you'd know, you'd have a baseline, where at age 70 you could look at your total wealth and see, well I have 45 years worth of daily life expense vouchers saved up. I might use up to 30 so I have 15 that I can do something else with. Or maybe I want to have a little better retirement than what the average daily life expense voucher gets me. Or what's more likely is that at age 70 you see you've got like 10 years saved up and you gotta decide if you think you're going to live past 80. Wow that's fucking grim, what the fuck are you supposed to do if you live to 80 and you've been out of work 10 years, run out of dough? Go back to work at 80? Will you be able to? But what's the alternative? Work to 75 and lose out of whatever unknown percent of retirement you might have?

I have no fucking idea how much I have saved up in these kinds of terms. I have saved up the equivalent of one year's salary. I have about 20-25 years left of work depending on the expectation. I work in academia so I might continue a bit longer than most. Maybe I'll be working up to age 70. I suppose it's possible. Hell, most of the people who were around in this discipline I'm in 15 years ago are still around. A handful of older folks you don't see anymore, but I feel like I'm still kind of in the median. Right in the middle, the mid-career professional, somewhere in their 40s. And there are a handful of people a little bit older who have been helpful to your career who are maybe five years away from retirement. Five years passes quickly. So quickly. It has taken about seven years to get this one thing I'm working on to come to the point where we can actually build it, make it work.

Anyway as for retirement, I don't know. I suppose I'm in my prime. I've been partying basically the whole year. I've gotten all my work done, although I am cramming a little bit at the end of this year on one particular project. And I still have grading to do and I'm getting stoned again because what the hell. It's Saturday night. I can do all that shit tomorrow. It's easy. Takes a couple hours. We got all day tomorrow to do that. Let's let our mind wander a bit. Really let it go. It's still early. We have all night to just enjoy being alive for a little bit.

[captainmdhridoyhossain-blog]

[ad_1] Track publishers were on a spending spree in recent times, purchasing the catalogs and copyrights for songs of well-known musicians at a frantic tempo. Final December, Common Track Publishing Workforce purchased up in a deal estimated at greater than $300 million. In a similar fashion, to Number one Wave Track for an estimated $100 million that very same month. However as all this cash adjustments arms for the business’s greatest stars, one songwriting startup has plans to open the firehose of tune royalties to the everyman. “You notice those large offers, just like the Bob Dylan care for the publishing rights and all this cash,” Alex Mitchell, co-founder and CEO of Boomy informed Engadget. “It began with a popularity that the general public are going to be disregarded of that and it brought about us to have a dialog about fairness within the tune business, 'how will we quite remunerate artists, what is the function of labels,' there is simply chaos taking place within the tune business at this time.” Mitchell learned that one primary impediment holding novice musicians from changing into revealed musicians used to be a technological one. , and educating oneself methods to navigate the hyper-granular keep watch over schemes of professional-grade DAWs (virtual audio workstations) like Ableton Are living or Professional Equipment can take months, if now not years, to totally grasp. However what should you had an AI-based co-writer to maintain the heavy technical lifting as a substitute, very similar to what Tik Tok and Instagram do for his or her creators? “We actually began having a look at what it takes to attract creativity out of any person, what sort of instrument are you able to put of their arms — the place there is such a lot of the method that is semi- or fully-automated — that they are able to simply upload their very own layer of humanity to it.” What they got here up with used to be . “There is already AI being utilized in studios and within the tune advent procedure,” Mitchell mentioned. “A really perfect instance of that is . They've used synthetic intelligence so as to create nice mixes, put nice ultimate polish on tracks, such things as that.” “So what we have performed is we have taken a large number of the ones ideas and we have rewritten these items from the bottom up,” he persisted. “[It’s] much less to consider how other people generally make tune, and extra within the context of, if any person does not have any abilities in any respect, how briskly are we able to get them making some stuff that they suspect is beautiful cool?” The internet-based app is, necessarily, a one-button tune studio. Customers can compose wholly authentic songs in round 5 to ten mins just by clicking Create Tune from the homepage, settling on the specified taste of beat — whether or not that’s rap, lo-fi, experimental or “world grooves” — after which fidgeting with the composition and blend till they’re glad. That tune can then be uploaded to any of 40-plus streaming and social platforms the place the tune’s creator can earn royalties in line with the collection of instances their tune is performed. Embedded underneath is a loopable, meditative jingle I put in combination all the way through the process my analysis. Regardless of my inherent loss of rhythm and common disinterest in tune manufacturing, I discovered this to be a fairly enjoyable and relaxing revel in. After opting for the underlying beat and ready a half-minute for the AI to generate a combination, the manufacturing procedure in large part concerned simply shuffling icons round to regulate the composition and fidgeting with dropdown menus to the device units till I were given one thing that I preferred and assume vaguely resembles the Konami menu display screen tune I grew up with. All of the procedure took lower than 10 mins. In contrast to recurrent neural community research fashions akin to OpenAI or Google’s Magenta which, for instance, can analyze Michael

Jackson songs so as to recreate the King of Pop’s signature sound, Boomy isn't skilled on copyrighted works. That is due partly on account of the highly-segmented nature of copyright regulation, which varies significantly between international locations and territories, but additionally on account of the black field nature of such programs. If is any barometer, there's all the time a possibility (albeit tiny) that a machine skilled on Michael Jackson would possibly randomly spit out a super game of “.” And that’s very dangerous for the machine’s clothier. “If I am a tune writer and I personal the rights to Michael Jackson,” Mitchell mentioned. “I am going to have a look at that fashion I am gonna say ‘nice, you understand what, that is all mine’… if you are making a duplicate of any person else's paintings, although it is reworked, you are more than likely going to owe some publishing on that.’” As a substitute, the workforce is taking a backside up way, leveraging earlier revel in in A&R analysis to coach its AI in development beats and compositions from scratch. “We have now some actually complex algorithms which can be doing computerized blending, deciding what sound must cross in combination — what are the options of the ones sounds, how do the ones have compatibility in combination, what's the perceived loudness charge of the ones sounds,” Mitchell defined. The ones options grew from a brute-force building way — striking in combination quite a lot of mixtures of beats and compositions, then presenting them to beta testers. “In our first iteration of our fashion had a 98-percent rejection charge, however a 2-percent keep charge,” he persisted. “And in that 2 %, over hundreds of thousands of periods, we began pronouncing, ‘ok, listed here are teams of options that cross neatly in combination.’” Mitchell doesn’t view Boomy merely as a tune advent instrument, however as a method to succeed in “​​the perfect global that we need to create," one which might permit creators anyplace on the earth to sign in themselves as a co-writer in their paintings along Boomy at their native publishing rights group. On the other hand, as a result of copyright regulation varies from nation to nation, Boomy has established another option to make certain that songwriters receives a commission for his or her ingenious works. “So what we are pronouncing here's, an actual global instance can be, we simply constructed a tune studio, we stuffed it with nice apparatus, and spent hundreds of thousands of bucks development the studio,” Mitchell informed Engadget. “You'll are available in and use it without spending a dime, make no matter you need, and to your method out, we are assigning you to our label, and we are going to come up with an 80 % rev percentage on the whole lot we gather from what you made within the studio.” “The IP vests with us,” he persisted, noting that Boomy has been used to create greater than 3 million songs up to now, “which if truth be told makes us, mockingly, the most important report label on the planet.” For customers who're both already established musicians or differently need to download sole possession in their songs, ”they are able to post a rights request, and we will principally both promote the copyright to them or come to a couple different association.” Whilst Mitchell may now not percentage actual figures with Engadget, he did estimate that within the two years since Boomy’s release, the corporate has paid out “tens of hundreds' ' of bucks in royalties to its consumer base. Transferring ahead, Mitchell foresees Boomy’s UI so as to add extra further keep watch over options and composition inputs, “over the following a number of months, we are actually gonna focal point and double down on vocal, melody and most sensible line,” he defined. The corporate could also be running on new how one can earn royalties for its customers. “We’ve were given a host of influencer teams covered up and we have been doing a little stuff at the back of the scenes to position tracks into YouTube movies,” Mitchell persisted.

“In case you are a author, or if you have got a podcast, fairly than cross pay for tune rights, why now not receives a commission for the tune that you are the use of?”All merchandise really useful by means of Engadget are decided on by means of our editorial workforce, impartial of our mum or dad corporate. A few of our tales come with associate hyperlinks. If you are going to buy one thing via any such hyperlinks, we might earn an associate fee. [ad_2]