#2021-03-07 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mostlysignssomeportents · 9 months

Text

Cloudburst

Enshittification isn’t inevitable: under different conditions and constraints, the old, good internet could have given way to a new, good internet. Enshittification is the result of specific policy choices: encouraging monopolies; enabling high-speed, digital shell games; and blocking interoperability.

First we allowed companies to buy up their competitors. Google is the shining example here: having made one good product (search), they then fielded an essentially unbroken string of in-house flops, but it didn’t matter, because they were able to buy their way to glory: video, mobile, ad-tech, server management, docs, navigation…They’re not Willy Wonka’s idea factory, they’re Rich Uncle Pennybags, making up for their lack of invention by buying out everyone else:

https://locusmag.com/2022/03/cory-doctorow-vertically-challenged/

But this acquisition-fueled growth isn’t unique to tech. Every administration since Reagan (but not Biden! more on this later) has chipped away at antitrust enforcement, so that every sector has undergone an orgy of mergers, from athletic shoes to sea freight, eyeglasses to pro wrestling:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2021/07/09/the-importance-of-competition-for-the-american-economy/

But tech is different, because digital is flexible in a way that analog can never be. Tech companies can “twiddle” the back-ends of their clouds to change the rules of the business from moment to moment, in a high-speed shell-game that can make it impossible to know what kind of deal you’re getting:

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

To make things worse, users are banned from twiddling. The thicket of rules we call IP ensure that twiddling is only done against users, never for them. Reverse-engineering, scraping, bots — these can all be blocked with legal threats and suits and even criminal sanctions, even if they’re being done for legitimate purposes:

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

Enhittification isn’t inevitable but if we let companies buy all their competitors, if we let them twiddle us with every hour that God sends, if we make it illegal to twiddle back in self-defense, we will get twiddled to death. When a company can operate without the discipline of competition, nor of privacy law, nor of labor law, nor of fair trading law, with the US government standing by to punish any rival who alters the logic of their service, then enshittification is the utterly foreseeable outcome.

To understand how our technology gets distorted by these policy choices, consider “The Cloud.” Once, “the cloud” was just a white-board glyph, a way to show that some part of a software’s logic would touch some commodified, fungible, interchangeable appendage of the internet. Today, “The Cloud” is a flashing warning sign, the harbinger of enshittification.

When your image-editing tools live on your computer, your files are yours. But once Adobe moves your software to The Cloud, your critical, labor-intensive, unrecreatable images are purely contingent. At at time, without notice, Adobe can twiddle the back end and literally steal the colors out of your own files:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/28/fade-to-black/#trust-the-process

The finance sector loves The Cloud. Add “The Cloud” to a product and profits (money you get for selling something) can turn into rents (money you get for owning something). Profits can be eroded by competition, but rents are evergreen:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

No wonder The Cloud has seeped into every corner of our lives. Remember your first iPod? Adding music to it was trivial: double click any music file to import it into iTunes, then plug in your iPod and presto, synched! Today, even sophisticated technology users struggle to “side load” files onto their mobile devices. Instead, the mobile duopoly — Apple and Google, who bought their way to mobile glory and have converged on the same rent-seeking business practices, down to the percentages they charge — want you to get your files from The Cloud, via their apps. This isn’t for technological reasons, it’s a business imperative: 30% of every transaction that involves an app gets creamed off by either Apple or Google in pure rents:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/red-team-blues-another-audiobook-that-amazon-wont-sell/posts/3788112

And yet, The Cloud is undeniably useful. Having your files synch across multiple devices, including your collaborators’ devices, with built-in tools for resolving conflicting changes, is amazing. Indeed, this feat is the holy grail of networked tools, because it’s how programmers write all the software we use, including software in The Cloud.

If you want to know how good a tool can be, just look at the tools that toolsmiths use. With “source control” — the software programmers use to collaboratively write software — we get a very different vision of how The Cloud could operate. Indeed, modern source control doesn’t use The Cloud at all. Programmers’ workflow doesn’t break if they can’t access the internet, and if the company that provides their source control servers goes away, it’s simplicity itself to move onto another server provider.

This isn’t The Cloud, it’s just “the cloud” — that whiteboard glyph from the days of the old, good internet — freely interchangeable, eminently fungible, disposable and replaceable. For a tool like git, Github is just one possible synchronization point among many, all of which have a workflow whereby programmers’ computers automatically make local copies of all relevant data and periodically lob it back up to one or more servers, resolving conflicting edits through a process that is also largely automated.

There’s a name for this model: it’s called “Local First” computing, which is computing that starts from the presumption that the user and their device is the most important element of the system. Networked servers are dumb pipes and dumb storage, a nice-to-have that fails gracefully when it’s not available.

The data structures of source-code are among the most complicated formats we have; if we can do this for code, we can do it for spreadsheets, word-processing files, slide-decks, even edit-decision-lists for video and audio projects. If local-first computing can work for programmers writing code, it can work for the programs those programmers write.

Local-first computing is experiencing a renaissance. Writing for Wired, Gregory Barber traces the history of the movement, starting with the French computer scientist Marc Shapiro, who helped develop the theory of “Conflict-Free Replicated Data” — a way to synchronize data after multiple people edit it — two decades ago:

https://www.wired.com/story/the-cloud-is-a-prison-can-the-local-first-software-movement-set-us-free/

Shapiro and his co-author Nuno Preguiça envisioned CFRD as the building block of a new generation of P2P collaboration tools that weren’t exactly serverless, but which also didn’t rely on servers as the lynchpin of their operation. They published a technical paper that, while exiting, was largely drowned out by the release of GoogleDocs (based on technology built by a company that Google bought, not something Google made in-house).

Shapiro and Preguiça’s work got fresh interest with the 2019 publication of “Local-First Software: You Own Your Data, in spite of the Cloud,” a viral whitepaper-cum-manifesto from a quartet of computer scientists associated with Cambridge University and Ink and Switch, a self-described “industrial research lab”:

https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/static/local-first.pdf

The paper describes how its authors — Martin Kleppmann, Adam Wiggins, Peter van Hardenberg and Mark McGranaghan — prototyped and tested a bunch of simple local-first collaboration tools built on CFRD algorithms, with the goal of “network optional…seamless collaboration.” The results are impressive, if nascent. Conflicting edits were simpler to resolve than the authors anticipated, and users found URLs to be a good, intuitive way of sharing documents. The biggest hurdles are relatively minor, like managing large amounts of change-data associated with shared files.

Just as importantly, the paper makes the case for why you’d want to switch to local-first computing. The Cloud is not reliable. Companies like Evernote don’t last forever — they can disappear in an eyeblink, and take your data with them:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/9/23789012/evernote-layoff-us-staff-bending-spoons-note-taking-app

Google isn’t likely to disappear any time soon, but Google is a graduate of the Darth Vader MBA program (“I have altered the deal, pray I don’t alter it any further”) and notorious for shuttering its products, even beloved ones like Google Reader:

https://www.theverge.com/23778253/google-reader-death-2013-rss-social

And while the authors don’t mention it, Google is also prone to simply kicking people off all its services, costing them their phone numbers, email addresses, photos, document archives and more:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/22/allopathic-risk/#snitches-get-stitches

There is enormous enthusiasm among developers for local-first application design, which is only natural. After all, companies that use The Cloud go to great lengths to make it just “the cloud,” using containerization to simplify hopping from one cloud provider to another in a bid to stave off lock-in from their cloud providers and the enshittification that inevitably follows.

The nimbleness of containerization acts as a disciplining force on cloud providers when they deal with their business customers: disciplined by the threat of losing money, cloud companies are incentivized to treat those customers better. The companies we deal with as end-users know exactly how bad it gets when a tech company can impose high switching costs on you and then turn the screws until things are almost-but-not-quite so bad that you bolt for the doors. They devote fantastic effort to making sure that never happens to them — and that they can always do that to you.

Interoperability — the ability to leave one service for another — is technology’s secret weapon, the thing that ensures that users can turn The Cloud into “the cloud,” a humble whiteboard glyph that you can erase and redraw whenever it suits you. It’s the greatest hedge we have against enshittification, so small wonder that Big Tech has spent decades using interop to clobber their competitors, and lobbying to make it illegal to use interop against them:

https://locusmag.com/2019/01/cory-doctorow-disruption-for-thee-but-not-for-me/

Getting interop back is a hard slog, but it’s also our best shot at creating a new, good internet that lives up the promise of the old, good internet. In my next book, The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation (Verso Books, Sept 5), I set out a program fro disenshittifying the internet:

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3035-the-internet-con

The book is up for pre-order on Kickstarter now, along with an independent, DRM-free audiobooks (DRM-free media is the content-layer equivalent of containerized services — you can move them into or out of any app you want):

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Meanwhile, Lina Khan, the FTC and the DoJ Antitrust Division are taking steps to halt the economic side of enshittification, publishing new merger guidelines that will ban the kind of anticompetitive merger that let Big Tech buy its way to glory:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/biden-administration-corporate-merger-antitrust-guidelines/674779/

The internet doesn’t have to be enshittified, and it’s not too late to disenshittify it. Indeed — the same forces that enshittified the internet — monopoly mergers, a privacy and labor free-for-all, prohibitions on user-side twiddling — have enshittified everything from cars to powered wheelchairs. Not only should we fight enshittification — we must.

Back my anti-enshittification Kickstarter here!

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/2023/08/03/there-is-no-cloud/#only-other-peoples-computers

Image: Drahtlos (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Motherboard_Intel_386.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

—

cdsessums (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monsoon_Season_Flagstaff_AZ_clouds_storm.jpg

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

#pluralistic #web3 #darth vader mba #conflict-free replicated data #CRDT #computer science #saas #Mark McGranaghan #Adam Wiggins #evernote #git #local-first computing #the cloud #cloud computing #enshittification #technological self-determination #Martin Kleppmann #Peter van Hardenberg

886 notes · View notes

cowgirlcherrie · 9 months

Text

CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST[masterlist]

skater! ellie x fem! reader

synopsis: California; while known for its heat, legal marijuana, and hardcore skate culture, is the center of all disasters, especially for a local town skater who falls in love with her ex’s sweetheart roommate. The two teaming up to keep the past in the past and let the skater get the girl of her dreams.

warning: skating references and terminology will be used, lying, shiesty behavior, some parts are in txt and some are in full lengthed chapters, arguing, cursing, drama galoreee, sneaking around, betrayal, fighting, partying, injuries (skate related)

a/n: this is a gift (for 300,400 fllwers) and my first SMAU fic ♡ a TEST to see how I like writing in this format. But heavily inspired by Ang who has a wonderful amount of smau’s on their page @phantombriide ‘crush culture’ being an influence in particular and of course the talented @totheblood who has aamaaazing work on their page as well! ‘the hard way’ so check out their work as well I beg!! This fic short but long will alternate between smau and full length(I’m talking 9k+ words chapters) I really am testing the waters with this so letting me know how you like it or what fits and doesn’t will help me tremendously

Each chapter is paired by a song/ creative piece from Tyler The creator’s discography, his call me if you get lost (2021) album —entire fic based off of skate culture, odd future era

prologue

chapter 01: WUSYANAME

chapter 02: CORSO

chapter 03: LEMONHEAD

chapter 04: RISE!

chapter 05:RUNITUP

chapter 06: SWEET, I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE

chapter 07: BOYFRIEND, GIRLFRIEND

chapter 08 (FINAL): SORRY NOT SORRY

taglist

@starologist @destielcore @beforeimdeceased @spacewlf @elliestrwbrry @ellsss @emluvselandabs @mossc0vered @rarestdoll @luvrgalore @zahraaziza @sawaagyapong

706 notes · View notes

sunnebeam · 10 months

Text

twin flame bruise.

SERIES.

pairing: jeon jeongguk x reader, jeon jungkook x reader (yes they're different people)

plot: the jeon twins have become nothing more than two strikingly similar looking guys who share a mere home address and a last name. but in their senior year of college, the estranged twins may have found one more thing they share in common – you.

warnings: jeon twins au, possible headache bc the use of jeongguk and jung kook is v confusing (but they're different people here your honor), specific warnings will be emphasized in the actual completed fic (whenever that may be)

masterlist + disclaimers.

note: this is an au i had since amas 2021. haven't finished it yet so please manage ur expectations bc 1. i'm too lazy and unmotivated to finish this, and 2. i have no idea where i'm going with the plot ^^

JEON JEONGGUK.

nickname: Guk

description: the older twin, the golden son, the responsible one

appearance: styles his hair in a short & clean cut, has eleven piercings (6 on the right earlobe, 3 on the left earlobe, 1 through the right eyebrow, 1 on the lower lip), prefers studs as earrings, has a full sleeve tattoo on his right arm

hobbies: studying (yes he's smart too bc god has favorites), working out, singing (holds nightly karaoke sessions by himself), boxing (does it recreatively, not competitively)

JEON JUNG KOOK.

nickname: JK

description: the younger twin, the black sheep, the rebellious one

appearance: has his long hair slicked back to complement his undercut, has 6 visible piercings on his earlobes (but rumor has it he has more elsewhere *wink*), prefers hoops or dangling earrings, has a couple of small tattoos on his arm but covers them with long sleeved shirts

hobbies: drawing (prefers old-fashioned sketching over digital), working out, playing guitar (he's self taught!), riding his motorcycle (he wears knee pads & a helmet bc safety is cool)

INDEX.

PART 01.

PART 02.

PART 03.

PART 04.

PART 05.

PART 06.

PART 07.

PART 08.

EPILOGUE.

#bts x reader #jeon jungkook x reader #jungkook x reader #bts fic #jungkook fic #jeon jungkook fic #jeon jeongguk x reader #jeongguk x reader #bts x you #jeon jungkook x you #jungkook x you #jeon jeongguk x you #jeongguk x you #cat.writes

493 notes · View notes

calderacitylovers · 9 months

Text

Zutara SlowBurn FanFiction: Personal Favs, part II

· DESTINY IS A FUNNY THING by Megara Pike | Published: 2020-08-21 | 198K Words | 45 Chapters

ATLA Season 3 rewrite, fills in a lot of blanks between canon scenes. From the Southern Raiders to Sozin's Comet through coronation and aftermath. Growing friendships, bonding, being there for each other, a carnival & a cave, epic spirits' appearance on the Ember island, sparring, nightmares, assassination attempts, political ruses, and covert operations. Lovely, sweet. Exciting plot.

· ATLA Book 4: Ashes by elayne_cypher | Published: 2018-10-27 | 306K words | 34 Chapters

This action-packed story picks up right after Ember Island Players and continues well after the war. Zuko is facing many challenges as a new Fire Lord. Romance, tough decisions, rebels, traitors, out-of-body experiences, secret headquarters, angst, teamwork, fire jets. The story has a bunch of OCs.

· Refraction by caroes3725 | Published: 2020-09-09 | 215K Words | 37 Chapters

After breaking up with Aang, Katara needs to figure out her place and role in the patriarchal world. As determined Katara stubbornly bulldozes her way through Fire Nation political scene, her feelings for Zuko grow. Diplomatic visits, Gaang reunion, bonding with Kanna, insights into the life of Caldera city, stuffy politicians, cute correspondence, tropical storm, women supporting women, assassination attempts, personal boundaries. A sweet well-written coming-of-age story with a healthy measure of slow-burn and mutual pining. Katara and Zuko are both POVs, but the story mostly follows Katara. Bonus: Mai is NOT a clingy resentful idiot, but a smart person and a good friend. Some explicit language here and there, a bit of mild smut.

· I Asked You First by halfhoursonearth | Published: 2020-10-03 | 142K words | 22/? Chapters

Ongoing, incomplete. Post Southern Raiders ATLAS3 rewrite. Mostly canon-compliant with blanks filled in between familiar scenes. Zuko and Katara develop a close friendship built on trust and sharing each other’s fears and hopes. Includes mentions of implied child abuse, Lu Ten’s diaries, exploring Avatar Roku’s legacy, sharing a balcony, heart-to-hearts, a hot spring under the stars, an actual date, and artbending. It’s incomplete, but what we have is bliss. Slowburn, mutual pining. Zutara-centric, but also explores the personalities of Team Avatar and their relationships.

· Katara Alone by cablesscutie | Published: 2020-05-31 | 21K words

Katara is not an “unnecessary accessory to a more powerful man”. After the war, she is willing to forge her own path as she turns to people who need her the most on her journey of self-discovery. Features character exploration, correspondence, exploring outback villages of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, sweet reunions, and new firebending skills.

· THE PHOENIX AND THE DRAGON - THE COMPLETE SERIES by JasmineTeaLatte | Published: 2021-06-11 | 100K words | 31 Chapters

This story picks up after The Ember Island Players. Zuko and Katara get to know each other during a late-night conversation by the campfire. In this story, you will find healthy boundaries, protective Sokka, a dash of Taang, sparring, funny banter & lots of flirting.

· HESITATE by tiffaniesblews | Published: 2020-07-11 | 22K Words | 12 Chapters

This story picks up right after Zuko's coronation and spans two years afterwards. Zuko & Katara talk, share a few beautiful moments, write to each other, and reunite for the 2nd anniversary of the war ending. Very sweet, fluffy story about two sweethearts figuring out their feelings for each other.

· LIKE WE'RE MADE OF STARLIGHT by Naladot | Published: 2021-11-28 | 5K Words

Katara leaves her post as the ambassador to the Fire Nation to take up a new one as the ambassador to the Northern Water Tribe. Her absence makes Zuko realize that he's got an unfortunate crush, which he is determined to keep secret. Unfortunately for him, subtly has never been one of his strengths—especially when he arrives in the Northern Water Tribe and she keeps taking him on what seem to be dates.

· FIGURE IT OUT by clearascountryair | Published: 2021-12-20 | 35K words | 13 Chapters

After choosing not to kill Yon Rha, Katara rethinks her sense of self and others' perceptions of her. Or, In which Katara learns that there’s a really big difference between being kissed when you don’t want to be and being kissed when you do. Aged-up 3B/Ember Island AU.

- I FOUND YOU by that_turtleduck | Published: 2020-11-01 Completed: 2024-02-24 Words: 157,541 Chapters: 28/28

After divorcing Aang, Katara uproots her family and travels to Caldera. There she finds comfort, kindness and support from an old friend. Katara tries to find her footing as an independent political figure. Great story & relationship dynamic of Momtara & Dadko in their early 30s (Ember island, diplomatic meeting, dancing, turtleduck pond, letters). Delicious slow burn with rewarding spicy resolution in the end (explicit open door). Titters on the side of Anti-Aang.

Here’s a link to Part I of my personal favorites.

Here’s a link to Wholesome Zutara Short Stories.

#zukoxkatara #Katara x Zuko #zutara #zutara fanfiction #zutara fic

374 notes · View notes

marybeatriceofmodena · 1 year

Text

Think of me, think of me fondly...

In honor of the Phantom of the Opera Broadway production closing, here are a few gifts: audios and one video.

(As per usual, if you're the master of one of these and you want me to remove the link, please let me know.)

Audios

Michael Crawford, Patti Cohenour, Steve Barton, Judy Kaye, Nicholas Wyman, Cris Groenendaal, Leila Martin, Elisa Heinsohn, David Romano April 30, 1988 https://www.mediafire.com/file/aybwjye3k647bfy/POTO+Broadway+30-04-1988+-+Crawford,+Cohenour,+Barton.rar/file

Hugh Panaro, Lisa Vroman, John Cudia, Patricia Phillips, Jeff Keller, George Lee Andrews (u/s), Marilyn Caskey, Joelle Gates, Larry Wayne Morbitt May 10, 2003 https://www.mediafire.com/file/834a4sqxgjmsows/POTO+Broadway+10-05-2003+-+Panaro,+Vroman,+Cudia.rar/file

Gary Mauer, Jennifer Hope Wills, Michael Shawn Lewis, Janet Saia (u/s), George Lee Andrews, David Cryer, Marilyn Caskey, Jimmy Smagula (u/s) May 15, 2007 https://www.mediafire.com/file/70690zs3dpyb3dj/POTO+Broadway+15-05-2007+-+Mauer,+Wills,+Lewis.rar/file

Jeremy Stolle (u/s), Samantha Hill, Greg Mills (u/s), Michele McConnell, Richard Poole (u/s), Tim Jerome, Ellen Harvey, Kara Klein, Christian Sebek March 9, 2013 Matinee performance. https://www.mediafire.com/file/zfln9bh0thrg8dx/POTO+Broadway+09-03-2013+-+Stolle,+Hill,+Mills.rar/file

Norm Lewis, Mary Michael Patterson (alt.), Greg Mills (u/s) July 7, 2014 The real 11,000th performance (not the celebration, which was done the next day). https://www.mediafire.com/file/jei306ekuy0usjj/POTO+Broadway+07-07-2014+-+Lewis,+Patterson,+Hays.rar/file

Laird Mackintosh (u/s), Mary Michael Patterson, Jeremy Hays, Michelle MConnell, Ellen Harvey, Christian Sebek December 13, 2014 Mary Michael Patterson and Ellen Harvey's last matinee performance. https://www.mediafire.com/file/kt79nevlbc3yexn/POTO+Broadway+13-12-2014+-+Mackintosh,+Patterson,+Hays.rar/file

Ben Crawford, Meghan Picerno, John Riddle, Raquel Suarez Groen, Bradley Dean, Craig Bennett, Maree Johnson, Sara Esty, Carlton Moe October 22, 2021 Re-opening performance on Broadway. https://www.mediafire.com/file/d4dcjwf9n40yseu/Phantom+of+The+Opera+Broadway+October+22nd+2021+Reopening.mp3/file

Jeremy Stolle (u/s), Kanisha Marie Feliciano (u/s), John Riddle September 17, 2022 https://www.mediafire.com/file/8elrbfv5bsgbfqq/POTO+Broadway+17-09-2022+-+Stolle,+Feliciano,+Riddle.rar/file

Video

Hugh Panaro, Mary Michael Patterson, Jeremy Hays May 3, 2014 Hugh Panaro's last performance, with speeches. https://mega.nz/folder/L6xDgahT#054peSCr8ADIj6aat2MNnA

#phantom of the opera #phantom broadway #audio gift #video gift #too many people to tag #musical trading

404 notes · View notes

helgatisha · 1 year

Text

All poses | part 2

Somebody told me | I know

Male poses 12 | 11 | 10

Male poses 09 | 08 | 07

Male poses 06 | 05

Male poses 04 | 03

My bad tin can | My tin can

Valentine’s Day 2021 | Sweety

Sitting paired poses | Valentine’s Day 2020

Trio rio

Trio luxurious

#helgatisha #ts4 mypose #mycc download #sims4 poses #sims 4 paired poses #sims 4 male poses

894 notes · View notes

bluesman56 · 2 years

Video

Raspberry ripple by Tony

#Wales #bodnant #britain #estate #europe #flowers #gardens #national trust #petals #plants #pond #river #stamen #stream #trees #water #2021 07 03 093156 #flickr

8 notes · View notes

darkfantasyfeedee · 1 year

Text

✨🧁 comparison time 🧁✨

10/19/2021 vs 03/07/2023

All my Links ✨

#ssbbwinprogress #road to ssbbw #weight gain progress #make me unable to move #make me obese #make me huge #make me fatter #fat admirer #tummy kink #feeding kink #big beautiful girl #belly hang #weight gain #female feeder #hot obese #ssbbwfat #ssbbwmodel #ssbbwlover

515 notes · View notes

barrencelenny · 1 month

Text

I feel like fic recs tend to be things that are complete, so I thought I'd rec some things that haven't been updated in a while (>a year) or abandoned, but I still like to go back and reread

with links and comments under the cut <3

Poured Over Ice in an Old-Fashioned Glass by prepandemicwriting (bealeciphers) [2016-02-04, 28k]

-classic bartender!barry fic. they're both kinda disasters all around? hilarious

Run Away With Me by asexual-fandom-queen (2016-05-23, 14k]

-the only time asking someone to run away with you has ever worked lmao.

Painting the Roses Red by Solarcat [2016-07-01, 20k]

-Family of Rogues but there's a third snart sibling that Len's got to protect. Lucy Snart that only exists in this fic and my brain ily <3

I bet these memories follow you around by MissSugarPlum [2017-06-07,5k]

-Lisa and Barry in high school at the same time, Barry being tiny and full of rage, Lisa being reluctantly charmed, mwah. chef's kiss.

Bolt from the Blue by town_without_heart [2017-06-16, 170k]

-pre-canon meeting is always delicious to me. eobard being aware of it is the cherry on top (what a creeper)

The Good in You (the Bad in Me) by blue_wonderer [2017-08-02, 26k]

-I have a soft spot for fics where Barry and Lisa are friends what can I say. set pre-canon, and barry is a goddamn delight

Get Me Through The Night by Mentalrebel [2017-08-07, 11k]

-super interesting formatting. it's a lifeline au? I have no idea what that it, but it's fun

Ties and Barricades by yersifanel [2017-09-01, 10k]

-pre-canon meet-ugly where len kidnaps his soulmate as part of his getaway.

Realignment (time & company) by writerdragonfly [2018-02-13, 12k]

-me? rec a time travel fic? of course. time traveller's wife au. gives some really interesting backstory to Len's mother/family

Unexpected Development by nirejseki [2018-04-05, 20k]

-it's so funny it's practically a crack fic. calling the reverse flash Mr. Banana is an inspired choice

since I can remember I've been runnin' from you by youmakemesoangry [2019-01-26, 14k]

-barry getting haunted by post oculus len yes oh yes

Sticky Fingers by MoriartyMastermind [2019-03-05, 18k]

-barry stealing wallets as the flash is like objectively funny okay

Resonance by Moriavis [2019-06-16, 40k]

-looove a soulmate fic and this one is so unique. Barry and Len meet when Barry's still a child, and it ends before they meet as adults, so really it's mainly a Leonard snart character study

Ice and Lightning by vomitingwords [2020-03-26, 2k]

-potentially the only figure skating au for this ship?

Zero to Sixty by scrubmarine [2020-06-26, 25k]

-barry meeting len out of costume because he's running away from Iris is a hilarious set up, and he kind of deserves it

Just Friends by Thundersnow [2021-08-11, 168k]

-a classic fake dating au, trying to figure out how a blueberry coffee could taste good has been a question that has followed me for years.

Shiva by crestfaller [2021-11-07, 17k]

-I always need more fics dealing with the loss of Henry tbh, and this is a really good exploration of grief.

What It Might Cost by Kateera [2022-05-17, 20k]

-a classic deaging fic, len is heartbreakingly cute

Stand Still by Taste_of_Bitterness [2022-09-15, 25k]

-len doesn't go on the waverider after running to stand still. Barry's kind of a mess here, tbh?

I Think I Love You by youmakemesoangry [2023-05-03, 67k]

-it's post Len and mick's legends trip, and they're helping out team flash. there's a truth spell involved. It's a classic trope. (also there's this bit where mick's reading Frankenstein and he calls creature victor's kid, and that's such a mood, my gothic fiction class spent like an hour talking about his daddy issues once)

#might start a little collection of fic rec zines lol #k.txt #coldflash #fic recs

61 notes · View notes

houpss · 2 months

Text

Lily–9th member of SKZ

🧊—see you soon on crumpled sheets, dear ✥

🧊–BASIC INFORMATION ¡! ✥

Birth name:: Hwang Soyun | 황소윤 // Hwang Lily

Stage name:: Lily

Date of birth:: 05/08/1999

Height:: 170 cm

Place of birth:: Chicago, USA (She lived there for 6 years from birth, and then her family moved to Busan)

Nicknames::Teddy Bear, Beautiful lady from Stray Kids

Other Nicknames more commonly used by other people::The Golden Voice of Korea, little bear

Label::JYP ENTERTAINMENT (since 2014), SM ENTERTAINMENT (2012-2014)

Languages:: 100% English, 100% Korean, 80% Japanese, 70% French and Russian

🧊–LILY'S WORK ¡! ✥

:: Idol

Group:: Stray Kids

Debut:: 03/25/2018

Racha:: Vokalracha

Position (I remind you that there are no official positions, 9 rappers, 9 singers, 9 dancers and 9 visuals, bro):: main vocal

Official emoji:: 🐻 (skzoo look at the end of the post!)

Solo debut:: 07/14/2023

CHANEL AND BULGARI AMBASSADOR

🧊–RIGHTS AND REPRESENTATIONS ¡! ✥

Face, Body and Voice (Korean voice, singing and rapping):: 中村一葉/Nakamura Kazuha

Voice in English:: Danielle (New Jeans)

Piercings:: Navel piercing (from 2019-2021), lip piercing (from 2022), eyebrow piercing (from spring 2023)

Tattoos:: Small tattoo on wrist with the inscription "SKZ".

🧊–FAMILY ¡! ✥

Father, Mother, younger sister, older brother

See the following posts for more details. 🫂

LILY'S EDUCATION

Lily was a professional ballerina before her debut and attended the Universal Ballet Academy in South Korea,the Moscow Academy of Choreography, and the Royal Ballet School in the UK. Of course, she is a choreographer and professional ballerina. We can say that she is a dancer who became an idol, not the other way around.

SKZOO

ALL RIGHTS TO LILY ARE RESERVED BY ME, DO NOT COPY OR ACCEPT UNDER ANY CONDITIONS.

#stray kids headcanons #stray kids 9th member #stray kids female member #stray kids imagines #stray kids female addition #skz #Lily skz #stray kids female oc #fictional idol oc #fictional characters #kpop added member #kpop oc #kpop female member #kpop female idol

55 notes · View notes

hynko · 10 months

Text

STARRING : multiple haikyuu characters - hinata, kageyama, tsukkishima, kuroo, kenma, lev, oikawa, iwaizumi, kunimi, koganegawa, futakuchi, bokuto, akaashi, konoha, ushijima, tendou, semi, shirabu, goshiki, terushima, sakusa, komori, kita, aran, tsumu & samu, suna

GENRE : drama / rom-com / angst. smau and writing combined

TAGLIST : cmnt if u want 2 b added <3

Status: ongoing & active

TWS: suggestive, minor depictions of violence, possible smut?? comedic but ANGSSSTTTT. implies sensitive topics, which will be indicated on the story tws.

synopsis. y/n is a rising star and a global phenomenon, loved and admired by millions. However, fame comes with a price. As many looked down upon and envied her, wishing for her downfall, y/n’s flourishing career was taken aback as a rival starts a scandal. Shocking many fans, leaving them worried, confused and disappointed. Distressed, she comes back to the one place which made her happy. But soon she discovers there may be more to unravel in her life, secrets that risks people lives, including hers. What lengths will she take to save her career?

au note: been awhile since i’ve written 😭 but this is obv inspired by The Idol. all haikyuu characters belong to furudate.

ೃ⁀➷ CHAPTER LISTS !

00 : PROFILES

01 : ROLLING STONE

02 : ROLE MODEL

03 : DREAMS, FAIRYTAILS, FANTASIES

04 : THE PRICE OF FAME

05 : EGOMANIAC

06 : MERCEDES

07 : REHAB

08 : ADDICTIONS

hynko est 2021-2023 do not repost, translate or copy.

201 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 10 days

Text

How to screw up a whistleblower law

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me THIS WEDNESDAY (Apr 17) in CHICAGO, then Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Corporate crime is notoriously underpoliced and underprosecuted. Mostly, that's because we just choose not to do anything about it. American corporations commit crimes at 20X the rate of real humans, and their crimes are far worse than any crime committed by a human, but they are almost never prosecuted:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/12/no-criminals-no-crimes/#get-out-of-jail-free-card

We can't even bear to utter the words "corporate crime": instead, we deploy a whole raft of euphemisms like "risk and compliance," and that ole fave, the trusty "white-collar crime":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/07/solar-panel-for-a-sex-machine/#a-single-proposition

The Biden DOJ promised it would be different, and they weren't kidding. The DOJ's antitrust division is kicking ass, doing more than the division has done in generations, really swinging for the fences:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/22/reality-distortion-field/#three-trillion-here-three-trillion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Main Justice – the rest of the DOJ – promised that it would do the same. Deputy AG Lisa Monaco promised an end to those bullshit "deferred prosecution agreements" that let corporate America literally get away with murder. She promised to prosecute companies and individual executives. She promised a lot:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/22/reality-distortion-field/#three-trillion-here-three-trillion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Was she serious? Well, it's not looking good. Monaco's number two gnuy, Benjamin Mizer, has a storied career – working for giant corporations, getting them off the hook when they commit eye-watering crimes:

https://prospect.org/justice/2024-04-09-reform-groups-lack-of-corporate-prosecutions-doj/

Biden's DOJ is arguably more tolerant of corporate crime than even Trump's Main Justice. In 2021, the DOJ brought just 90 cases – the worst year in a quarter-century. 2022's number was 99, and 2023 saw 119. Trump's DOJ did better than any of those numbers in two out of four years. And back in 2000, Justice was bringing more than 300 corporate criminal prosecutions.

Deputy AG Monaco just announced a new whistleblower bounty program: cash money for ratting out your crooked asshole co-worker or boss. Whistleblower bounties are among the most effective and cheapest way to bring criminal prosecutions against corporations. If you're a terrified underling who can't afford to lose your job after narcing out your boss, the bounty can outweigh the risk of industry-wide blacklisting. And if you're a crooked co-conspirator thinking about turning rat on your fellow criminal, the bounty can tempt you into solving the Prisoner's Dilemma in a way that sees the crime prosecuted.

So a new whistleblower bounty program is good. We like 'em. What's not to like?

Sorry, folks, I've got some bad news:

https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/stephen-kohn-on-the-justice-department-plan-to-offer-whistleblower-awards/

As the whistleblower lawyer Stephen Kohn points out to Russell Mokhiber of Corporate Crime Reporter, Monaco's whistleblower bounty program has a glaring defect: it excludes "individuals who were involved with the crime." That means that the long-suffering secretary who printed the boss's crime memo and put it in the mail is shit out of luck – as is the CFO who's finally had enough of the CEO's dirty poker.

This is not how other whistleblower reward programs work: the SEC and CFTC whistleblower programs do not exclude people involved with the crime, and for good reason. They want to catch kingpins, not footsoldiers – and the best way to do that is to reward the whistleblower who turns on the boss.

This isn't a new idea! It's in the venerable False Claims Act, an act that signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. As Kohn says, making "accomplices" eligible to participate in whistleblower rewards is how you get people like his client, who relayed a bribe on behalf of his boss, to come forward. As Lincoln said in 1863, the purpose of a whistleblower law is to entice conspirators to turn on one another. Like Honest Abe said, "it takes a rogue to catch a rogue."

And – as Kohn says – we've designed these programs so that masterminds can't throw their minor lickspittles under the buss and collect a reward: "I know of no case where the person who planned or initiated the fraud under any of the reward laws ever got a dime."

Kohn points out that under Monaco, the DOJ just ignores the rule that afford anonymity to whistleblowers. That's a big omission – the SEC got 18,000 confidential claims in 2023. Those are claims that the DOJ can't afford to miss, given their abysmal, sub-Trump track record on corporate crime prosecutions.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/15/whistleblown/#lisa-monaco

#pluralistic #whistleblowers #doj #false claims act #finance #bezzles #crime #dodd-frank act #lisa monaco

153 notes · View notes