#Team Launch 2021 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

reasonsforhope · 1 month

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"With “green corridors” that mimic the natural forest, the Colombian city is driving down temperatures — and could become five degrees cooler over the next few decades.

In the face of a rapidly heating planet, the City of Eternal Spring — nicknamed so thanks to its year-round temperate climate — has found a way to keep its cool.

Previously, Medellín had undergone years of rapid urban expansion, which led to a severe urban heat island effect — raising temperatures in the city to significantly higher than in the surrounding suburban and rural areas. Roads and other concrete infrastructure absorb and maintain the sun’s heat for much longer than green infrastructure.

“Medellín grew at the expense of green spaces and vegetation,” says Pilar Vargas, a forest engineer working for City Hall. “We built and built and built. There wasn’t a lot of thought about the impact on the climate. It became obvious that had to change.”

Efforts began in 2016 under Medellín’s then mayor, Federico Gutiérrez (who, after completing one term in 2019, was re-elected at the end of 2023). The city launched a new approach to its urban development — one that focused on people and plants.

The $16.3 million initiative led to the creation of 30 Green Corridors along the city’s roads and waterways, improving or producing more than 70 hectares of green space, which includes 20 kilometers of shaded routes with cycle lanes and pedestrian paths.

These plant and tree-filled spaces — which connect all sorts of green areas such as the curb strips, squares, parks, vertical gardens, sidewalks, and even some of the seven hills that surround the city — produce fresh, cooling air in the face of urban heat. The corridors are also designed to mimic a natural forest with levels of low, medium and high plants, including native and tropical plants, bamboo grasses and palm trees.

Heat-trapping infrastructure like metro stations and bridges has also been greened as part of the project and government buildings have been adorned with green roofs and vertical gardens to beat the heat. The first of those was installed at Medellín’s City Hall, where nearly 100,000 plants and 12 species span the 1,810 square meter surface.

“It’s like urban acupuncture,” says Paula Zapata, advisor for Medellín at C40 Cities, a global network of about 100 of the world’s leading mayors. “The city is making these small interventions that together act to make a big impact.”

At the launch of the project, 120,000 individual plants and 12,500 trees were added to roads and parks across the city. By 2021, the figure had reached 2.5 million plants and 880,000 trees. Each has been carefully chosen to maximize their impact.

“The technical team thought a lot about the species used. They selected endemic ones that have a functional use,” explains Zapata.

The 72 species of plants and trees selected provide food for wildlife, help biodiversity to spread and fight air pollution. A study, for example, identified Mangifera indica as the best among six plant species found in Medellín at absorbing PM2.5 pollution — particulate matter that can cause asthma, bronchitis and heart disease — and surviving in polluted areas due to its “biochemical and biological mechanisms.”

And the urban planting continues to this day.

The groundwork is carried out by 150 citizen-gardeners like Pineda, who come from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds, with the support of 15 specialized forest engineers. Pineda is now the leader of a team of seven other gardeners who attend to corridors all across the city, shifting depending on the current priorities...

“I’m completely in favor of the corridors,” says [Victoria Perez, another citizen-gardener], who grew up in a poor suburb in the city of 2.5 million people. “It really improves the quality of life here.”

Wilmar Jesus, a 48-year-old Afro-Colombian farmer on his first day of the job, is pleased about the project’s possibilities for his own future. “I want to learn more and become better,” he says. “This gives me the opportunity to advance myself.”

The project’s wider impacts are like a breath of fresh air. Medellín’s temperatures fell by 2°C in the first three years of the program, and officials expect a further decrease of 4 to 5C over the next few decades, even taking into account climate change. In turn, City Hall says this will minimize the need for energy-intensive air conditioning...

In addition, the project has had a significant impact on air pollution. Between 2016 and 2019, the level of PM2.5 fell significantly, and in turn the city’s morbidity rate from acute respiratory infections decreased from 159.8 to 95.3 per 1,000 people [Note: That means the city's rate of people getting sick with lung/throat/respiratory infections.]

There’s also been a 34.6 percent rise in cycling in the city, likely due to the new bike paths built for the project, and biodiversity studies show that wildlife is coming back — one sample of five Green Corridors identified 30 different species of butterﬂy.

Other cities are already taking note. Bogotá and Barranquilla have adopted similar plans, among other Colombian cities, and last year São Paulo, Brazil, the largest city in South America, began expanding its corridors after launching them in 2022.

“For sure, Green Corridors could work in many other places,” says Zapata."

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, March 4, 2024

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fandom · 1 year

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It’s that time again. It’s Tumblr’s 2022 Year in Review!

Every year, the team behind Fandometrics analyzes, categorizes, and ranks all the most discussed things on Tumblr—that’s a year’s worth of your tags, searches, posts, likes, and reblogs—and packages them up into a little thing we like to call Year in Review.

Tumblr’s Year in Review contains a full 365 days’ worth of data, but it runs from October 21, 2021, to October 20, 2022. Tragically, this means Goncharov (1973), the greatest mafia movie ever made, will not appear on the lists this year. We’re just as disappointed as you are, but that gives us all something to look forward to in 2023—especially if @vancityreynolds’ remake gets a release date.

This Year in Review has all your classics like Movies, Web Series, and Anime & Manga. It's also got last year’s new lists (because, frankly, what would a Year in Review in 2022 be without Genshin Impact Characters and Minecraft Streamers?). And we’ve added some new lists for you this year, too—a brand new Formula 1 list and a few special editorial deep dives.

Stay tuned this month. There may be a few surprises along the way. Maybe even an exciting launch next week. Who knows! We certainly don’t! Not a clue. For now, here's Tumblr’s Year in Review for you to dig into.

Top 22 of 2022 Ships TV Shows Movies Celebs Stranger Things Tumblr Communities Dashboard Diving Things We Care About Space! Solo Artists Music Groups K-Pop K-Pop Stars Minecraft Streamers Web Celebs Web Series Athletes Formula 1 Memes Genshin Impact Characters Video Games Mobile Games Video Game Characters Deltarune Anime & Manga Anime & Manga Characters Books Queer TV

#year in review #tumblr2022

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f1version · 6 months

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26 BIRTHDAY KISSES ★ CL16

pairing: charles leclerc x gf!reader ( she/her )

summary: 26th birthday, 26 pictures of you and Charles kissing. A kiss for each year.

notes: i’m back from my birthday trip!! i wrote this birthday special in like 30 minutes and it’s still charles’ birthday in a couple of places so… i’m not exactly late! enjoy <3

26 KISSES: A GALLERY

By your beautiful girlfriend, in collaboration with a lot of people but mainly Joris and ourselves.

1. DRUNK DANCING: A month after we got together, we were at Arthur’s 18th birthday. We got drunk, singing and dancing to the worst playlist in existence (Lorenzo’s) and, somehow, Arthur got to capture this moment I barely even remember.

Taken by Arthur Leclerc, 2018

2. AUGUST 2019: Summer break, so sweet so loving. You made me promise that if you jumped off first, I would jump too. It took me fifteen minutes to follow after you. Also your kisses were incredibly salty.

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2019

3. THE MONZA INCIDENT: I had red lipstick the night you won in Monza, you told me it looked pretty, I asked you to kiss me, you did. Fast forward 8 minutes it was all smudged over your lips, you were 10 minutes late to the post-race conference, and Sylvia almost banned me that night. (I’m still kind of banned from your driver’s room)

Taken by Charles Leclerc, 2019

4. UNDER THE COVERS: 2020, what a crazy year. This one was taken the day we decided to finish moving in together. You were so excited, wanted everything to be perfect. Today I can say it is.

Taken by Me, 2020

5. WORDS: We were spending Christmas by ourselves, we face-timed our families, had dinner and watched movies. You gifted me three beautiful words I, of course, said back… and we also got a puppy!

Taken by Charles’ phone timer, 2020

6. OCEAN BREZEE: Just a small escapade to take a breath. You were so cuddly that day, Joris was so done with you (he still took the pic though)

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2021

7. CUTE OR HOT: I just wanted a cute morning selfie but, because of you, we ended up in a…promising mood. It was intense that’s all I have to say!

Taken by Me, 2021

8. KISS KISS KISS: 24th birthday, 24 kisses. This kind of became a tradition, let me know if you still want them this year!

Taken by Me, 2021

9. DRUNK AF: How did we got so drunk? Ask Pierre, he was the one hosting. Either way we got another amazing photo of us drunk-kissing!!!

Taken by Pierre Gasly, 2021

10. UNDER THE SEA: I’m just going to say that you and your ‘photo ideas 📸’ folder are attached by the hip. I personally love this one (even if it took half an hour to take)

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2021

11. NEW YORK: Thought you could scape this one? Never! Arthur and I didn’t spend a week listening to your complaining for nothing, babe. You must admit that this kiss was magical, everything was so pretty that day. And then it started snowing!

Taken by Arthur Leclerc, 2021

12. EXPOSED: Remember how our amazing soft launch got ruined by our trip to Ibiza? Well, here it is, the image we couldn’t stop laughing at when it came out, we really thought we were sneaky.

Taken by unknown, 2022

13. HARD LAUNCH: A week later we were kissing on live TV. It’s one of my favorite memories, I couldn’t stop smiling.

Taken by F1 TV, 2022

14. BACK KISSES: Just a picture of the morning after I learned that you can convince anyone, even the CEO of Ferrari, to allow you to leave sponsor events early. I really don’t know if you knew those kisses were there, but I woke up to this, took a picture and then left you with them until we took a shower.

Taken by Me, 2022

15. SPONSORED BY AIRMAX: That time your team forgot to book us a flight and you had to ask Lando to ask Daniel to ask Max if we could go back to Monaco with them. I’ve never seen Max talk so much, Daniel laugh so loud or Lando taking so many pictures. He even asked to take one of us, here it is:

Taken by Lando Norris, 2022

16. SIXTEEN: I bet you thought this one would have something to do with racing. Number 16. Sorry to disappoint but it’s our beautiful puppy…Sixteen! I’m not gonna lie, I still hate you for persuading me into that name. Anyways if you kiss the dog you kiss the mom!!

Taken by Me, 2022

17. 25 KISSES: Again, tell me if you want those 26 kisses this year. Look at us last year!

Taken by Me, 2022

18. NEW YEAR, SAME LOVE: Sometimes the world feels unreal when I’m with you, this was one of those days. I felt in another reality, the world slowed down, it was just you and me. I remember thinking “I fell in love with the right person” and then you kissed me.

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2022

19. BLACK SUIT: Remember when your fans thanked me for your “new” outfits? They repeated it was the girlfriend effect, you couldn’t stop talking about how stylish you are with or without me!

Taken by Me, 2023

20. PHOTOSHOOT: You got Joris to take these shots just because you wanted a new wallpaper. I thought it was silly, until one day all of them were hanging around our home. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Charlie.

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2023

21. FIVE STAR CHEFS: Not much to say, just sorry for being so distracting and thank you for the amazing (stolen from Ferrari) dinner babe!

Taken by Charles’ phone timer, 2023

22. RED LIGHTS: This year’s addition to our drunk-kissing collection. I remember you drowning shots with Carlos and Pierre, asking me to dance with you, absolutely failing at that, and then kissing me. After that there’s blurry ferrari red, giggles and a hot bath.

Taken by Andrea Ferrari, 2023

23. LAZY IN BED: Wonderful lazy days by the ocean, that’s how we spent the summer break. That morning in particular you didn’t want to get up, basically gluing me to bed. We got up at 1pm.

Taken by Me, 2023

24. JUST ONE QUESTION: Can I drive the purosangue now? Please please please

Taken by Me, 2023

20. LOVER: This day I woke up thinking about those dreams we talk about all the time, you even remembered me a couple of them throughout the day. Charlie, I do want to do this for the rest of our lives, never forget it <3

Taken by Arthur Leclerc, 2023

26. TWENTY-SIX: We are just 26 but I hope our story keeps on writing itself. I love you, these have been the happiest 6 years of my life. Happy birthday bébé ❤️

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2023

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uglyducklingofthe2000s · 4 months

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Blood & Water - Max Verstappen

I rewatched 2021 recently, and seeing Silverstone 2021 reminded me how much I hated Lewis for that kind of excessive celebration knowing that Max took such a huge hit. So...I'm writing about if he had a little sister who just so happened to be dating Max when it happened.

Summary: Y/n Hamilton is dating his rival and while that is controversial enough on it's own. Can there be forgiveness between the already strained relationship between y/n and her older brother?

Themes: Unprotected sex (more post-sex at the very beginning), maybe a little bit of posessive/dom!Max (again only at the very beginning), driver rivalry, sibling feud

Silverstone is the home race. But Lewis has a lot on the line. He's beginning to think he may not have the championship in the bag like he thought he did last year. Though 2020 was not a usual season.

Max got got P2 then gained pole from the Sprint race, so he's starting at the front.

"I thought you might want to be in the Mercedes garage for the race. Showing your support for Lewis." Max states as he places y/n's underwear back into place from where he'd pushed it aside for easy access.

"I am going to the Mercedes garage. After I clean up, since you think I can defy gravity and keep your fucking cum in me." Y/n deadpans but Max only smirks and gently slaps her thigh when she tries to move her hand down.

"Leave it.' He demands earning an eye roll before she sighs softly to herself.

"You will play nicely won't you? Don't try to kill each other." Y/n murmurs earning a smile from him.

"We haven't killed each other so far. I think we will be quite ok." Max assures her. "Go see your brother and try not to walk funny. You wouldn't want him knowing what you get up to with me."

Y/n wants to shoot back that her brother is more than aware of their relationship and what that involves since Max is not so secretive or hands off with the young woman.

"Alright, I'm going to go. I love you." Y/n nods before she smiles and moves to kiss him once more.

"I love you too. You better be rooting for me even in that garage."

Y/n sighs settling in with her dad and brother as they watch the formation lap.

"You know...Lewis thinks you don't support him anymore." Her brother states suddenly making her look at him.

"I do support him." Y/n frowns to Nicolas feeling fairly attacked by it.

"Y/n..." Anthony warns knowing that his kids will happily argue about anything. But specifically y/n and Nicholas argue about Max, meanwhile Lewis tries not to upset y/n with his disapproval of her choice in men.

"He started it, why I am being blamed?" Y/n huffs before she grumbles when her dad raises his hand apparently calling an end to the argument.

They fall silent as they care return to their grid positions and wait for the lights to go out.

Max and Lewis both fighting through the first corners of the lap but a moment that makes y/n's gut tighten and her stomach lurch. They touch and Max launches into the tyre wall.

She stands up in a moment of shock, ignoring the camera that captures her reaction. The Mercedes team seems beyond thrilled that their rival is out of the way. Anthony looks at his daughter who is grabbing her stuff.

"Where are you going?" Nicolas asks making her nearly murder him with one simply look.

"My brother just launched my boyfriend into a fucking wall. I'm going to find out if he's ok." Y/n spits, trembling in both fear and rage as he fists clench.

The safety car is deployed and eventually the red flag is out, but not before y/n has marched to the Red Bull garage. Speaking to some of the engineers before Jos catches her.

"He's ok...51G, they're going to be getting an ambulance out there."

Y/n's heart sinks in her chest but she mumbles a thanks before she moves needing to beat the ambulance to the medical centre.

She is waiting inside, leg bouncing and heart thumping as she trembles before finally after waiting what feels like a lifetime later, she sees Max walking into the medical centre.

Making sure not to get in the way but be present, she just tries to watch and listen to keep herself quiet. He's dizzy and there's a general ache through his body from the massive impact.

"We're going to get you to the hospital for a CT scan. We want to make sure that there's just nothing that we're missing." The doctor states making Max nod as he finally allows his gaze to flick to y/n who is in the corner.

Max is given a couple minutes with her and she finally lets out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding in.

"I am ok." Max states softly but she moves over standing between his legs and kissing him softly.

"I think my fucking heart stopped."

"Think mine did too." Max jokes making her look at him with an unimpressed expression. "I'll be ok."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Y/n asks softly earning a quick head shake. "You know I'm going to kill him."

"I expect no less." Max chuckles then kissing her forehead before she rubs her head into his chest. "It's your home race too. You don't want to miss it and I want you to tell me what's happening."

"Ok."

After Max left, y/n wasted not time letting her anger love her marching through the Mercedes garage to the pitman. Uncaring of protocol and rules. She's about to rip her brother a new one.

"Oh here we see y/n Hamilton, for those who don't know she is currently in a longstanding relationship with Max. The two have been dating since 2019 and she looks like she's in a rage-oh-oh her brother, Nicolas Hamilton is trying to stop her." Crofty gasps commentating the whole events.

"She looks like she wants to speak to Lewis and I have a feeling she's not going to let anyone get in her way." Martin states then looking at the footage as she very aggressively pushes Nicholas away from her and gets towards their oldest brother.

"You are a fucking disgrace." Y/n spits poking Lewis in the chest. "I hope you're very fucking proud of yourself and I hope you enjoy this fucking race. A race you would've lost if you didn't pull that move."

"Y/n, it's not like I did it on purpose." Lewis states clearly taken aback by how upset his sister is but she only scoffs.

"I know you, Lewis, you used to pep talk me and tell me every dirty and underhanded move when I karted. That sort of thing isn't an accident when it comes to you." Y/n growls her body visibly shaking while Lewis frowns angered that his sister is so against him.

"Y/n, that's enough." Anthony states appearing, very much aware the siblings are being watched by nearly the whole pit lane who are in hearing distance and even some who aren't.

"I was done anyway. Enjoy the race, I hope you take the undeserved win and I hope you make it worth it." Y/n laughs coldly before brushing her dad's hand off.

"I don't know what was said, but Lewis looks very much angry and hurt. Y/n looks like she has just disowned her older brother and is now moving to Christian Horner...wow...this just shows that blood may not be thicker than water. I wish I had heard what was said, because everyone looks like they're in shock down there." Crofty comments as y/n stops to talk to Christian.

"Max wants me to watch the rest of the race and keep him updated. Can I sit in the Red Bull garage?" Y/n asks as Christian wraps an arm around her shoulders rubbing her bicep a little since she has gotten close with him by default from the fact that she is dating Max.

"You're always welcome." Christian smiles lightly since he does appreciate that y/n would turn her back on her brother because she knows it was wrong. "Go sit, make sure he knows everything that is happening."

By the time y/n gets back to the hotel where her boyfriend is already awaiting and "resting" on doctors orders.

"You did not need to go out and publicly argue with your brother during the red flag." Max smirks as she groans and climbs over to straddle him, dropping down on him to cuddle into him.

"He's an asshole. You don't know how the way I do, he does things like that on purpose and he's in full control of his side of that. He knew exactly what he was doing." Y/n grumbles shaking her head while frowning and feeling her eyes begin to tear up. "Do you realise how that could've ended for you?"

"You can't get rid of me that easily, y/n." Max smirks making her sigh softly as his hand comes up to rub under her eyes. "You will make up with him, you don't want to be upset with your brother."

"I'll think about making up with him." Y/n murmurs while Max smiles lightly, gently cupping her face. "His celebrations were ridiculous."

"From what I've been told you did tell him to enjoy the win." Max sighs then shaking his head. "I'm ok and you are too. For now we can just rest...How's your head?"

"Better than it was."

It takes 7 races before y/n even allows Lewis to speak to her. Not having uttered a word to each other for nearly 3 months, and y/n is still not all too impressed about even speaking to her brother who is insisting on talking to her.

Monza was a moment that y/n was near harassed for an opinion about the crash between her brother and boyfriend but she kept any thoughts to herself. Mainly because on that occasion she thought they were both being stubborn idiots. She was unimpressed with Max for a couple days after that too.

"Y/n, I hate this." Lewis states while she remains blank. "I'm sorry. You're right, I knew what I was doing...I shouldn't have celebrated the way that I did...I was mad and hurt that you weren't supporting me like you used to because you save that for Max now."

"I was in your garage, ready to root you on for the home race. But you-you can't play the victim when you were in the wrong. And you can't get annoyed at me for not playing into this victim narrative you want to play." Y/n scoffs, in disbelief that her brother is trying to justify anything. "You shouldn't even be apologising to me."

"I've apologised to Max and he was the one who said he wants this to be over and done with." Lewis states watching her brows furrow, his words hitting her in a way that stings and makes it feel like Lewis had his arm twisted into doing this.

"Well if it's such a burden to say sorry and want to speak to me, tell Max to fuck off with meddling next time." Y/n huffs then shaking her head. "I didn't want to talk to you but thank you for really giving me good reason to validate that."

"Y/n, please. You're my sister. I don't want us to be against each other. I really am sorry." Lewis tries since he actually misses his sister who, while strong-willed and loudly spoken when it comes to her opinion, was actually one of his biggest supporters and as sad as it is to admit, one of his best friends. "I don't want to be on bad terms because I was being a dick."

Y/n rolls her eyes but even Lewis can tell that her silence means she's slowly feeling the stubborn walls fall down.

"I don't want to either...but if Lewis...right now, Max...he's my priority. You need to understand that. Max...feels like the man I want to spend my life with and I'm pretty sure he feels the same, so don't put me in that position again. I'll choose him, especially when I know you're in the wrong."

Lewis wishes he could say he understands. But he's sacrificed everything important for his career. He chose ruthless beating Nico over trying to keep their friendship and even though Nico has tried to lay it to rest, Lewis still continues to make digs and be bitter. He chose his career over his relationship with Nicole. Now for a few months he lost his own sister, something he never imagined would ever happen.

Maybe he's slightly jealous that Max is being so successful and getting to have friends on the grid, a relationship and progress in his career with no need to give up any of it.

"I understand." Lewis nods earning a small sigh before she moves forward, not hesitating to hug her brother who holds tightly, not realising how much he had really missed y/n. "But I can't promise no battling for the rest of the season.

"It'd be a bit much for me to ask any less from either of you."

Y/n does refind her boyfriend after leaving Lewis and Max seems to be awaiting to find out if things were worked out.

"Alright, you got your way. Things are fine between Lewis and I."

"Good. Because the two of you should be on good terms. Even if you are dating me." Max smiles before kissing her softly.

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dalishious · 5 months

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A BioWare Guide on How to Murder a Fanbase

I have been a Dragon Age super-fan for almost fourteen years, now. I have played every game, with every DLC. I have read every novel, lore book, and every comic — yes, even the terrible ones that are better off forgotten. I have seen the anime film, the animated series, and the web mini-series. I have enjoyed all of these pieces of the franchise over and over, more times than I can count. So, make no mistake: the negativity you’re about to hear comes from a place of love for this fantasy world, developed by many creative people over the years. I would love nothing more than to see the resurrection of passion in the Dragon Age fandom again. But the unfortunate truth is, that resurrection is only needed because BioWare took the fandom out back and shot it in the first place.

In December 2018, three years after the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser epilogue DLC, BioWare first announced the then-untitled next Dragon Age game with a teaser trailer. At this point, most fans were anticipating this would mean within the next couple years, we would see the game. This assumption was based on the fact that Dragon Age: Inquisition was first announced in 2012, and released in 2014, with an extra year of development added last minute.

There have been dribbles of extra content since then, adding to the franchise. This was enough to keep some fans still breathing and interested. 2020’s Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights was a lovely anthology. 2020’s Dragon Age: Blue Wraith and 2021’s Dark Fortress were wonderful comics tying up the story started in Knight Errant. And 2022’s Dragon Age: Absolution was a well-animated series with an interesting cast of characters and story. But all these still left the fandom with a major question: What was going on with the next game? It was untypical of BioWare to be so secretive, in comparison to how they handled sharing information of the past games in the franchise. The only form of updates fans still have to go on is mostly just concept art and short stories, hinting that something must be in production. But why was the wait so long?

In 2015, the first version of the next Dragon Age began with a clear vision, clear scope of practice, and a reportedly happy developer team. Most gloriously in my book, there was no multi-player… but this did not align with the Electronic Arts typical money-mad schemes. EA’s push for “games as a service” meant they wanted to monetize all their games as much as possible, and therefore, they wanted them to be a live service — as Anthem demonstrated, that meant sacrificing things that are staples of good RPGs, like narrative and character choice. So in 2017, version one of the next Dragon Age was scrapped and replaced. This new version would have, in total or to at least some degree, an online portion of play.

There is one part of Schreier’s article, “The Past and Present of Dragon Age 4,” that really sticks out to me, regarding this:

“One person close to the game told me this week that Morrison’s critical path, or main story, would be designed for single-player and that goal of the multiplayer elements would be to keep people engaged so that they would actually stick with post-launch content.”

The idea of splitting up components of a game into single-player and multi-player is a terrible idea, because it means that there would be a large bulk of content only accessible through online gaming; something many fans, like myself, are repulsed by. Even if I did enjoy it, I spent most of my life growing up with either no internet or shoddy internet incapable of playing online games. I know many rural people who are still in that position, losing more and more of their favourite gaming pastimes because they are locked out of the ability to play them. It is a disservice to hide content behind a wall like this, especially in a world that is so lore-heavy like Dragon Age. The news of multi-player in Dragon Age understandably upset many, and this is when I first noticed a large drop off in excitement over the next game.

However, in 2021, the failure of Anthem (multi-player) and success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (single-player) led the executives at EA to bend to the wishes of BioWare leadership and allow them to go back to the drawing board yet again on the next Dragon Age. This meant removing all multi-player content!

While I am very happy that there will reportedly be no multi-player in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, I can’t help but feel bitter and a little disgusted over the ridiculous development time spent on something no one but EA wanted in the first place. If it weren’t for this foolishness, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf would be in our hands right now. Instead, it’s been in development hell for nearly nine years and counting. Nine years is a long time to expect fans to carry a torch for you through radio silence, but it’s no wonder BioWare has shared barely anything about the next game; it’s been in flux for so long, they likely haven’t had anything concrete to show.

BioWare hurt its reputation even more when the news broke that the studio very suddenly laid off 50 people who were working on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. This is pretty damning on its own, but BioWare took it a step further. Former developer Jon Renish shared a statement revealing that the studio was only willing to offer laid-off employees two weeks of severance per year of service, and denied health benefits. The denial of health benefits in particular is a pretty wild move for a studio with a reputation for “stress casualties”. The latest news on this is that BioWare has still so far refused to negotiate better severance packages, leading to a lawsuit. The lawsuit originally had 15 former employees, but this dropped due to the fear of not being able to afford to pay their bills. So now, while EA sits on $400 million net income, the laid-off employees are struggling to buy holiday presents for their children. These horrid business practices are not to be ignored when accounting for a lack of faith in a studio. What kind of monsters reward workers who make your games special with vaguely reasoned lay-offs?

The latest news on the Dragon Age: Dreadwolf front from BioWare came early this month, December 2023, with a trailer… announcing a trailer that will come next summer… that will announce the release of the game. Supposedly. Maybe. We’ll see. But by this time, BioWare is something of a laughing stock of their own fandom. Reactions to the video released with a pretty map graphic and a few rendered locations were, from what I personally observed, mostly sardonic in nature. People have commented on the vapourware nature of the game, and like all vapourware, that leads to disintegrating trust.

Despite all this, people like Mary Kirby, (one of the veteran Dragon Age writers who was a victim of the layoffs,) said, “it’s bittersweet that Dreadwolf is my last DA game, but I still hope you all love it as much as I do,” encouraging fans to still support the game when it eventually is released. But after every misstep BioWare has taken, that’s a tough sell now. Fans are finicky, RPG fans more so than others, one could argue. We have our favourites, and many of us stick to those favourites for life over our appreciation for the artistry — but that relationship between studio and fan should go both ways. EA and BioWare has betrayed that relationship, and it will take a hell of a lot to build it back up again, now.

[This piece is also available on Medium!]

#dragon age #dadw #dragon age dreadwolf #bioware #game development #meta #releasing this into the wild and running away

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theyluvkarolina · 2 months

Note

Saw your post about requests being open and had this idea and I didn’t want to fall asleep and forget about it. Idk if you do Esteban Ocon but yeah. Esteban and Kpop idol, she real famous and she’s been soft launching someone for years but never revealed them because her management won’t allow her to reveal who it is. Anyways her contract ends and she reveals that the person she’s been soft launching is Esteban and they’re actually married and have a kid. (You can pick the gender). Thanks. Love the two works you put out already and can’t wait to read more 🫶

𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐓

. ୨୧⭒๋࣭ ⭑ ` ` why the french guy bro 😞 … ` ` ⊹ ‧₊˚

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 ୨୧ kpop and f1? what on earth would that have in common? a lot actually!

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 ୨୧ esteban ocon x reader

𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌 ୨୧ most photos are of jennie!

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 ୨୧ cursing, reader speaks her mind lol, pregnancy and kids?

𝐀/𝐍 ୨୧ I would be lying if I said I didn’t start tearing up at the end 🥹🩶 thank you so so much! people like you encourage me to keep going :)) Fair warning, I’m practically clueless about K-pop… but I still tried my best! I decided against having the reader be part of a group, but rather a soloist, just for my sake until I gain more knowledge. again, thank you so much lovely, I hope you and everyone else enjoy 🫶

this is def the longest one yet 😵‍💫

some of the concept isn’t exactly the same, but I definitely tried to best to give what you requested!

TWITTER, 2019

INSTAGRAM, 2019

therealyn_ln

therealyn_ln merci, paris! thank you to all who joined the show!

1,234 comments

username3 i literally couldn’t stop screaming,… best show yet!

→ therealyn_ln tysm! You fans always encourage me to try even harder!

username7 oh she’s totally ignoring the recent news flash…

→ username9 what news?! → username10 apparently, she was seen with some guy after her show in Paris!

username8 who is the mystery man?!

username11 why is no one mentioning the fact that esteban ocon is in the comments?!

→ username12 the fact that a f1 driver is even in the comments of a kpop idol is strange enough. → username13 it’s not even that, he WATCHED the show!

estebanocon glad to know you loved Paris! The show was amazing!

*liked by therealyn_ln!*

urmanagersuser call me. right now.

IMESSAGES

INSTAGRAM

therealyn_ln

therealyn_ln my biggest supporter 🧸🤎

0 comments

COMMENTS ON THIS POST HAVE BEEN TURNED OFF…

TWITTER, 2021

INSTAGRAM, 2021

therealyn_ln

therealyn_ln Me 🤝 First F1 Race! Honored to be a part of Alpine’s garage tonight! Wonderful work by @ fernandoalonso and @ estebanocon!

2,143 comments

fernandoalonso Of course. You are always welcome. 👍

username14 WHO IS THAT MAN??? I’VE BEEN WAITING SINCE ‘19!

username15 we lost her guys 😔😔

username16 Y/N and F1?! My life is at it’s highest!

username17 is that… the guy at her Paris show before the COVID-19 shut down?!

alpinef1team Thank you, Y/n! Overjoyed to have you join our garage and team! You certainly energized us this race 😉

estebanocon always willing to win! especially with your support 😊

username18 I can’t be the only one that’s been noticing something fishy lately…

estebanocon

liked by lance_stroll and therealyn_ln

estebanocon celebrating in style 🥂

5,213 comments

username19 estie bestie!!

username20 uhmm…. the dinner photo?!

username21 WHO IS HE WITH 🤔 🤔

username22 surely Y/N posting that photo with her soft launch bf and estie’s dinner isn’t a coincidence…

alpinef1team we keep pushing! 👊

IMESSAGES

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM, 2022

therealyn_ln

therealyn_ln Hello fans, for the next upcoming year, I will be taking a break from music, and embracing the love of my fans, and finally being able to share my love for my husband with not just me, but to finally show it to all of you.

happy new years to all! Happy 2022 :)

3,283 comments

username21 why the french guy bro 😞

username19 HUSBAND?!

username22 SINCE WHEN WAS SHE MARRIED?!

username20 what happened to hi? my name is?

username18 I TOLD YOU GUYS SOMETHING I FISHY

alpinef1team Mr and Mrs L/N-Ocon 🫡

estebanocon ma beauté 🩷

*liked by therealyn_ln!* → therealyn_ln the prettiest :))

INSTAGRAM, 2023

therealyn_ln

therealyn_ln happy anniversary my love! 🤍 this was the best gift anyone can receive. Loving you now and for forever.

username21 WHAT IS HAPPENING RN

username19 no way.

username22 A BABY ALREADY?

username20 i’m at a loss for words.

alpinef1team Future driver in the works! 🏁👀

estebanocon so happy to be part of this journey with you my love ❤️

→ therealyn_ln my favorite frenchie 🥐 → charles_leclerc :( → pierregasly damn. → francisca.cgomes don’t worry @ pierre_gasly you’re always my fav ❤️

therealyn_ln

therealyn_ln welcome to the world baby Alix 🤍

12 comments

landonorris can’t wait to be the favorite uncle

→ charles_leclerc sorry to break it to you Lando, but i’m going to be the favorite → alex_albon you’re lying it’s me → lance_stroll definitely me → maxverstappen1 nope, me. → carlossainz55 lo siento, it’s me! → danielricciardo bursting your bubble! It’s none of you cause I’m right here! → logansargeant i can’t wait to teach them some american football :) → pierregasly it’s definitely not me.

#☆ﾟ smau ↳ theyluvkarolina ◝#f1 x reader #f1 fanfic #f1 social media au #f1 smau #formula 1 #formula one x reader #f1 imagine #formula one x you #esteban ocon #esteban ocon x reader #esteban ocon x you #☆ﾟasks ↳ theyluvkarolina ◝#f1 fic

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year

Text

The AI hype bubble is the new crypto hype bubble

Back in 2017 Long Island Ice Tea — known for its undistinguished, barely drinkable sugar-water — changed its name to “Long Blockchain Corp.” Its shares surged to a peak of 400% over their pre-announcement price. The company announced no specific integrations with any kind of blockchain, nor has it made any such integrations since.

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/2023/03/09/autocomplete-worshippers/#the-real-ai-was-the-corporations-that-we-fought-along-the-way

LBCC was subsequently delisted from NASDAQ after settling with the SEC over fraudulent investor statements. Today, the company trades over the counter and its market cap is $36m, down from $138m.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/textbook-case-of-crypto-hype-how-iced-tea-company-went-blockchain-and-failed-despite-a-289-percent-stock-rise

The most remarkable thing about this incredibly stupid story is that LBCC wasn’t the peak of the blockchain bubble — rather, it was the start of blockchain’s final pump-and-dump. By the standards of 2022’s blockchain grifters, LBCC was small potatoes, a mere $138m sugar-water grift.

They didn’t have any NFTs, no wash trades, no ICO. They didn’t have a Superbowl ad. They didn’t steal billions from mom-and-pop investors while proclaiming themselves to be “Effective Altruists.” They didn’t channel hundreds of millions to election campaigns through straw donations and other forms of campaing finance frauds. They didn’t even open a crypto-themed hamburger restaurant where you couldn’t buy hamburgers with crypto:

https://robbreport.com/food-drink/dining/bored-hungry-restaurant-no-cryptocurrency-1234694556/

They were amateurs. Their attempt to “make fetch happen” only succeeded for a brief instant. By contrast, the superpredators of the crypto bubble were able to make fetch happen over an improbably long timescale, deploying the most powerful reality distortion fields since Pets.com.

Anything that can’t go on forever will eventually stop. We’re told that trillions of dollars’ worth of crypto has been wiped out over the past year, but these losses are nowhere to be seen in the real economy — because the “wealth” that was wiped out by the crypto bubble’s bursting never existed in the first place.

Like any Ponzi scheme, crypto was a way to separate normies from their savings through the pretense that they were “investing” in a vast enterprise — but the only real money (“fiat” in cryptospeak) in the system was the hardscrabble retirement savings of working people, which the bubble’s energetic inflaters swapped for illiquid, worthless shitcoins.

We’ve stopped believing in the illusory billions. Sam Bankman-Fried is under house arrest. But the people who gave him money — and the nimbler Ponzi artists who evaded arrest — are looking for new scams to separate the marks from their money.

Take Morganstanley, who spent 2021 and 2022 hyping cryptocurrency as a massive growth opportunity:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/morgan-stanley-launches-cryptocurrency-research-team

Today, Morganstanley wants you to know that AI is a $6 trillion opportunity.

They’re not alone. The CEOs of Endeavor, Buzzfeed, Microsoft, Spotify, Youtube, Snap, Sports Illustrated, and CAA are all out there, pumping up the AI bubble with every hour that god sends, declaring that the future is AI.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wall-street-ai-stock-price-1235343279/

Google and Bing are locked in an arms-race to see whose search engine can attain the speediest, most profound enshittification via chatbot, replacing links to web-pages with florid paragraphs composed by fully automated, supremely confident liars:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/16/tweedledumber/#easily-spooked

Blockchain was a solution in search of a problem. So is AI. Yes, Buzzfeed will be able to reduce its wage-bill by automating its personality quiz vertical, and Spotify’s “AI DJ” will produce slightly less terrible playlists (at least, to the extent that Spotify doesn’t put its thumb on the scales by inserting tracks into the playlists whose only fitness factor is that someone paid to boost them).

But even if you add all of this up, double it, square it, and add a billion dollar confidence interval, it still doesn’t add up to what Bank Of America analysts called “a defining moment — like the internet in the ’90s.” For one thing, the most exciting part of the “internet in the ‘90s” was that it had incredibly low barriers to entry and wasn’t dominated by large companies — indeed, it had them running scared.

The AI bubble, by contrast, is being inflated by massive incumbents, whose excitement boils down to “This will let the biggest companies get much, much bigger and the rest of you can go fuck yourselves.” Some revolution.

AI has all the hallmarks of a classic pump-and-dump, starting with terminology. AI isn’t “artificial” and it’s not “intelligent.” “Machine learning” doesn’t learn. On this week’s Trashfuture podcast, they made an excellent (and profane and hilarious) case that ChatGPT is best understood as a sophisticated form of autocomplete — not our new robot overlord.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4NHKMZZNKi0w9mOhPYIL4T

We all know that autocomplete is a decidedly mixed blessing. Like all statistical inference tools, autocomplete is profoundly conservative — it wants you to do the same thing tomorrow as you did yesterday (that’s why “sophisticated” ad retargeting ads show you ads for shoes in response to your search for shoes). If the word you type after “hey” is usually “hon” then the next time you type “hey,” autocomplete will be ready to fill in your typical following word — even if this time you want to type “hey stop texting me you freak”:

https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/provocations/neophobic-conservative-ai-overlords-want-everything-stay/

And when autocomplete encounters a new input — when you try to type something you’ve never typed before — it tries to get you to finish your sentence with the statistically median thing that everyone would type next, on average. Usually that produces something utterly bland, but sometimes the results can be hilarious. Back in 2018, I started to text our babysitter with “hey are you free to sit” only to have Android finish the sentence with “on my face” (not something I’d ever typed!):

https://mashable.com/article/android-predictive-text-sit-on-my-face

Modern autocomplete can produce long passages of text in response to prompts, but it is every bit as unreliable as 2018 Android SMS autocomplete, as Alexander Hanff discovered when ChatGPT informed him that he was dead, even generating a plausible URL for a link to a nonexistent obit in The Guardian:

https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/02/chatgpt_considered_harmful/

Of course, the carnival barkers of the AI pump-and-dump insist that this is all a feature, not a bug. If autocomplete says stupid, wrong things with total confidence, that’s because “AI” is becoming more human, because humans also say stupid, wrong things with total confidence.

Exhibit A is the billionaire AI grifter Sam Altman, CEO if OpenAI — a company whose products are not open, nor are they artificial, nor are they intelligent. Altman celebrated the release of ChatGPT by tweeting “i am a stochastic parrot, and so r u.”

https://twitter.com/sama/status/1599471830255177728

This was a dig at the “stochastic parrots” paper, a comprehensive, measured roundup of criticisms of AI that led Google to fire Timnit Gebru, a respected AI researcher, for having the audacity to point out the Emperor’s New Clothes:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/04/1013294/google-ai-ethics-research-paper-forced-out-timnit-gebru/

Gebru’s co-author on the Parrots paper was Emily M Bender, a computational linguistics specialist at UW, who is one of the best-informed and most damning critics of AI hype. You can get a good sense of her position from Elizabeth Weil’s New York Magazine profile:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbots-emily-m-bender.html

Bender has made many important scholarly contributions to her field, but she is also famous for her rules of thumb, which caution her fellow scientists not to get high on their own supply:

Please do not conflate word form and meaning

Mind your own credulity

As Bender says, we’ve made “machines that can mindlessly generate text, but we haven’t learned how to stop imagining the mind behind it.” One potential tonic against this fallacy is to follow an Italian MP’s suggestion and replace “AI” with “SALAMI” (“Systematic Approaches to Learning Algorithms and Machine Inferences”). It’s a lot easier to keep a clear head when someone asks you, “Is this SALAMI intelligent? Can this SALAMI write a novel? Does this SALAMI deserve human rights?”

Bender’s most famous contribution is the “stochastic parrot,” a construct that “just probabilistically spits out words.” AI bros like Altman love the stochastic parrot, and are hellbent on reducing human beings to stochastic parrots, which will allow them to declare that their chatbots have feature-parity with human beings.

At the same time, Altman and Co are strangely afraid of their creations. It’s possible that this is just a shuck: “I have made something so powerful that it could destroy humanity! Luckily, I am a wise steward of this thing, so it’s fine. But boy, it sure is powerful!”

They’ve been playing this game for a long time. People like Elon Musk (an investor in OpenAI, who is hoping to convince the EU Commission and FTC that he can fire all of Twitter’s human moderators and replace them with chatbots without violating EU law or the FTC’s consent decree) keep warning us that AI will destroy us unless we tame it.

There’s a lot of credulous repetition of these claims, and not just by AI’s boosters. AI critics are also prone to engaging in what Lee Vinsel calls criti-hype: criticizing something by repeating its boosters’ claims without interrogating them to see if they’re true:

https://sts-news.medium.com/youre-doing-it-wrong-notes-on-criticism-and-technology-hype-18b08b4307e5

There are better ways to respond to Elon Musk warning us that AIs will emulsify the planet and use human beings for food than to shout, “Look at how irresponsible this wizard is being! He made a Frankenstein’s Monster that will kill us all!” Like, we could point out that of all the things Elon Musk is profoundly wrong about, he is most wrong about the philosophical meaning of Wachowksi movies:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/may/18/lilly-wachowski-ivana-trump-elon-musk-twitter-red-pill-the-matrix-tweets

But even if we take the bros at their word when they proclaim themselves to be terrified of “existential risk” from AI, we can find better explanations by seeking out other phenomena that might be triggering their dread. As Charlie Stross points out, corporations are Slow AIs, autonomous artificial lifeforms that consistently do the wrong thing even when the people who nominally run them try to steer them in better directions:

https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9270-dude_you_broke_the_future

Imagine the existential horror of a ultra-rich manbaby who nominally leads a company, but can’t get it to follow: “everyone thinks I’m in charge, but I’m actually being driven by the Slow AI, serving as its sock puppet on some days, its golem on others.”

Ted Chiang nailed this back in 2017 (the same year of the Long Island Blockchain Company):

There’s a saying, popularized by Fredric Jameson, that it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism. It’s no surprise that Silicon Valley capitalists don’t want to think about capitalism ending. What’s unexpected is that the way they envision the world ending is through a form of unchecked capitalism, disguised as a superintelligent AI. They have unconsciously created a devil in their own image, a boogeyman whose excesses are precisely their own.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tedchiang/the-real-danger-to-civilization-isnt-ai-its-runaway

Chiang is still writing some of the best critical work on “AI.” His February article in the New Yorker, “ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web,” was an instant classic:

[AI] hallucinations are compression artifacts, but — like the incorrect labels generated by the Xerox photocopier — they are plausible enough that identifying them requires comparing them against the originals, which in this case means either the Web or our own knowledge of the world.

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web

“AI” is practically purpose-built for inflating another hype-bubble, excelling as it does at producing party-tricks — plausible essays, weird images, voice impersonations. But as Princeton’s Matthew Salganik writes, there’s a world of difference between “cool” and “tool”:

https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2023/03/08/can-chatgpt-and-its-successors-go-from-cool-to-tool/

Nature can claim “conversational AI is a game-changer for science” but “there is a huge gap between writing funny instructions for removing food from home electronics and doing scientific research.” Salganik tried to get ChatGPT to help him with the most banal of scholarly tasks — aiding him in peer reviewing a colleague’s paper. The result? “ChatGPT didn’t help me do peer review at all; not one little bit.”

The criti-hype isn’t limited to ChatGPT, of course — there’s plenty of (justifiable) concern about image and voice generators and their impact on creative labor markets, but that concern is often expressed in ways that amplify the self-serving claims of the companies hoping to inflate the hype machine.

One of the best critical responses to the question of image- and voice-generators comes from Kirby Ferguson, whose final Everything Is a Remix video is a superb, visually stunning, brilliantly argued critique of these systems:

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

One area where Ferguson shines is in thinking through the copyright question — is there any right to decide who can study the art you make? Except in some edge cases, these systems don’t store copies of the images they analyze, nor do they reproduce them:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/09/ai-monkeys-paw/#bullied-schoolkids

For creators, the important material question raised by these systems is economic, not creative: will our bosses use them to erode our wages? That is a very important question, and as far as our bosses are concerned, the answer is a resounding yes.

Markets value automation primarily because automation allows capitalists to pay workers less. The textile factory owners who purchased automatic looms weren’t interested in giving their workers raises and shorting working days. ‘ They wanted to fire their skilled workers and replace them with small children kidnapped out of orphanages and indentured for a decade, starved and beaten and forced to work, even after they were mangled by the machines. Fun fact: Oliver Twist was based on the bestselling memoir of Robert Blincoe, a child who survived his decade of forced labor:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/59127/59127-h/59127-h.htm

Today, voice actors sitting down to record for games companies are forced to begin each session with “My name is ______ and I hereby grant irrevocable permission to train an AI with my voice and use it any way you see fit.”

https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d37za/voice-actors-sign-away-rights-to-artificial-intelligence

Let’s be clear here: there is — at present — no firmly established copyright over voiceprints. The “right” that voice actors are signing away as a non-negotiable condition of doing their jobs for giant, powerful monopolists doesn’t even exist. When a corporation makes a worker surrender this right, they are betting that this right will be created later in the name of “artists’ rights” — and that they will then be able to harvest this right and use it to fire the artists who fought so hard for it.

There are other approaches to this. We could support the US Copyright Office’s position that machine-generated works are not works of human creative authorship and are thus not eligible for copyright — so if corporations wanted to control their products, they’d have to hire humans to make them:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/21/22944335/us-copyright-office-reject-ai-generated-art-recent-entrance-to-paradise

Or we could create collective rights that belong to all artists and can’t be signed away to a corporation. That’s how the right to record other musicians’ songs work — and it’s why Taylor Swift was able to re-record the masters that were sold out from under her by evil private-equity bros::

https://doctorow.medium.com/united-we-stand-61e16ec707e2

Whatever we do as creative workers and as humans entitled to a decent life, we can’t afford drink the Blockchain Iced Tea. That means that we have to be technically competent, to understand how the stochastic parrot works, and to make sure our criticism doesn’t just repeat the marketing copy of the latest pump-and-dump.

Today (Mar 9), you can catch me in person in Austin at the UT School of Design and Creative Technologies, and remotely at U Manitoba’s Ethics of Emerging Tech Lecture.

Tomorrow (Mar 10), Rebecca Giblin and I kick off the SXSW reading series.

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

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

[Image ID: A graph depicting the Gartner hype cycle. A pair of HAL 9000's glowing red eyes are chasing each other down the slope from the Peak of Inflated Expectations to join another one that is at rest in the Trough of Disillusionment. It, in turn, sits atop a vast cairn of HAL 9000 eyes that are piled in a rough pyramid that extends below the graph to a distance of several times its height.]

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marlenesluv · 6 months

Text

Rule Breaker (CS)

summary: charles has one rule for you, don’t date his teammate. he doesn’t want his little sister infringing, but both you and carlos can’t help falling for each other. so what harm does a little soft launch do? well, a failed soft launch. (side note: carlos watches game of thrones and i love game of thrones, so there’s some content like that in here as well.)

type: smau + dialogue

pairing: carlos sainz x leclerc!fem!reader (7 yr age gap. reader is 22, carlos is 29.)

warnings: cussing

fc: anaïs (_ssiana on insta)

masterlist here -> masterlist link

^ check my list for all posts! ^

Being the youngest Leclerc sibling came with its benefits. Like being able to watch your brothers race, meeting lovely fans, having your own amazing fans, and getting to travel across the world. Opportunities were endless for you. Magazines wanted photo shoots, people wanted interviews, you were lucky really.

The only con? Having to look at Carlos Sainz Jr. every day, and not be able to do anything about your crush.

When Carlos joined Charles in Ferrari in 2021, Charles made a point to forbid you from dating him, just like Arthur did with his friends. Which you figured was fine, until you met Carlos.

He was such a gentleman, pulling your chair out for you, getting you a drink when you wanted one, making sure you were comfortable in the paddock, and making sure your headphones felt good before races.

Carlos experienced something very similar. Charles took him aside an hour before he was to meet you, and told him that you were off limits. He didn’t want a relationship with his younger sister to ruin such a good team, god forbid the relationship be messy and end horribly.

But lucky for you and Carlos, your relationship was perfect. No one knew, and you intended to keep it that way. That was until you were spotted together at dinner after his win in Singapore. People couldn’t fathom what was going on. The ‘young, innocent, law degree leclerc’ dating Carlos Sainz? Her brothers teammate??

Arthur had his suspicions. The way that you were on your phone at family dinners, smiling and blushing, was enough of a sign for him. Charles, oblivious as always, had no idea. And Arthur wasn’t a snitch, you got yourself in this, you could deal with Charles on your own.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

After about three months of privately dating, that article came out. So, you both decided to soft launch your relationship. Surely Charles couldn’t be all that mad. Carlos knew from the first time he met you, that he wanted to spend his life with you. Cliché? Sure. But your demeanor, sarcasm, kindness, and the way you held yourself was enough to make him want to drop to his knees.

“Do you think I should post this?” you asked Carlos, showing him a picture of the two of you, but not noticeably him.

“Yeah, you can’t even tell it’s me.” Carlos looked at you, head on his chest so he could see your phone.

Post-sex cuddles were very important, you even said ‘I need them to survive. Don’t laugh at me!’ They were intimate, yet sweet and calming.

“Okay. I’m gonna post it with these other two…” you typed a caption and posted it, groaning in Carlos’ sheets as he laughed, running his fingers through your hair.

“It’ll be okay, amor.” he kissed your temple, both of you falling back to your cuddles as you drifted to sleep as your post got attention.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

liked by: charles_leclerc, carla.brocker, and 576,024 others

y/n_leclerc: nom nom

view comments…

charles_leclerc: who is that in the second photo, y/n?

↳ y/n_leclerc: what second photo?

↳ charles_leclerc: don’t gaslight me

f1updates: she slays, again, as always

lilymhe: prettiest girl ever

↳ y/n_leclerc: that’s you tho??

user6: who tfffff is that man?!?!

y/n.fan624: is that like…her new bf? you mean to tell me….i don’t have a chance anymore???

↳ y/nseditfan7; i don’t think any of us ever had a chance :/

cs55edits: that looks like the sainz vacation home, no?

↳ user2: oh my gosh.

yourbsf: pizza looks so good (so do you)

↳ y/n_leclerc: it was so good (thx, you always look good)

user7: you guys smell that? its a soft launch

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Soft launching was a good idea, in theory. You both thought it was the perfect way to announce your relationship, but not with Charles calling you every ten minutes and blowing up your messages to find out who the guy was in your photo on Instagram.

You sighed as your phone started ringing for the eighth time during this Game of Thrones episode. You and Carlos sat by each other, watching your show. Game of Thrones time, was your guys’ time to disconnect, not be on your phones, and enjoy the show and each other. Not a time to deal with a protective older brother.

Looking down at your phone, you saw the picture of you and Charles as he called again, “I should probably just answer. He’s not gonna stop until I answer.” Carlos got up, gave you a kiss and started walking to the kitchen, “Answer him, hermosa. I’ll go get more wine.” As Carlos went to the kitchen, your thumb hit the ‘accept’ button and you put your phone up to your ear.

“Pourquoi ne m'as-tu pas répondu ? Je pensais que tu étais mort ou quelque chose comme ça ! Qu'est-ce que c'est, y/n ?!”(why have you not been answering me? i thought you died or something! what the hell, y/n?!) Charles was shouting through the phone, you could tell he was worried and pissed at the same time.

“Je suis désolé, Charles. J'étais occupé. What’s up?” (i’m sorry, charles. i was busy.)

Charles sighed on the other side of the phone as he sat down at his barstool in his kitchen, “Please, just tell me who this guy is. I wont get mad, I swear. I don’t even care who it is, I just want to make sure he’s a good guy.”

Carlos made eye contact with you as he sat down beside you, whispering “If you want to tell him, you can, amor.” You nodded, taking a deep breath, “Carlos.” You said. One word. One name that brought fear through Charles. Carlos?! His teammate.

“What do you mean ‘Carlos’?” Charles asked, his voice suddenly too calm. “Carlos….I’m dating Carlos.” you stared at Carlos as he went wide eyed, Charles silent on the other line.

“Charles? Are you there?” you heard shuffling, Carlos handing you your wine as Charles cleared his throat.

“Okay. Um…alright. I gotta go, Y/N. Love you.” Charles hung up, leaving you staring at the glass in your hands.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Carlos asked you, brushing a strand of your hair behind your ear, “He didn’t really say anything when I told him. Just ‘Okay, alright, I gotta go, Love you.’ and then hung up.”

Carlos sucked his lips in, placing his hand on your neck, making you lean into his touch. You fell back into his sofa, clinging to his side, Carlos turning Game of Thrones back on and pulling the blanket over you two.

He wasn’t sure what it would take to convince Charles that this wasn’t a fling. But he would try everything.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

liked by: y/n_leclerc, landonorris, and 834,231 others

carlossainz55: I’m not very good at soft launches, anyway

view comments…

y/n_leclerc: no, no you are not, mon amour

↳ carlossainz55: oops 💗

chili55: y/n: “let’s soft launch!” carlos: “how about no.”

y/neditsss551: WOAAHHHHHH

landonorris: mom and dad

↳ y/n_leclerc: landoooo

char16car55: where’s charles😭

↳ f1fan: look around everybody on mute 🤫🤐

carlando554fp: my fav leclerc😪 she’s so prettyyyy

user4: AWOOGA I LOVE THE LECLERCS

arthur_leclerc: nice to see my suspicions have been confirmed

↳ charles_leclerc: you had suspicions?

↳ lorenzotl: um..what’s going on

user8: leclerc brothers protective and confused mode LOL

f1wags: ooooo new wag, yet one we already know we all love and adore

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

After Carlos’ post, you freaked out. Of course, he asked you first, and double checked, and triple checked. You wanted everyone to know that you guys were dating. The only worry was ‘what would Charles do/think’?

Both of you had talked to Charles since the call a few days ago. Charles asked Carlos when he wanted to train again, and Charles checked on you everyday.

Arthur didn’t care. He was worried, at first. He thought maybe Carlos wouldn’t treat you like a princess, like you deserved to be treated. Carla told Arthur that you couldn’t have a better boyfriend.

When Carlos posted, Carla called you immediately, asking for details. Like when you started dating, the first date, did Charles know? And you trusted Carla with your life. The girl knew how to listen, too.

Lorenzo wasn’t too bothered. He knew Carlos, knew he was a good guy, and accepted it fairly fast. He also wanted you to be treated well, it’s what you deserved.

Charles wanted the same thing. He looked out for you the most. The guys you dated had to pass a test in Charles’ books. They needed to be kind, funny, honest, loyal, a gentleman, a family guy, good goals, and they needed to love you. And Charles ticked all of those off when he saw that post. He knew Carlos more than a lot of people.

Carlos was kind, loyal, and honest. He never lied to Charles, never broke a promise, and was kind to everyone. The man was also quite funny. He knew he could be a gentleman, he saw him with his last girlfriend three years ago. Carlos was a huge family guy, and had good goals. And obviously, he loved you. Charles decided he had no reason to be mad. You two were in love, and he needed to accept that.

When you called him, you were nervous. Carlos had went out for his morning run, which you usually joined him on. But you wanted to talk to Charles. It only rang three times before he picked up.

“Hello?” your brother groggy voice came through your phone speaker, which was sat on the counter as you made coffee.

“Hey. Can you talk for a minute?” stirring your coffee, you picked up your phone to hold in one hand.

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“Are you mad at me? For dating Carlos? Because we aren’t breaking up if you are. You’re just going to have to deal with it! Charles, I love him more than anyone-“ Charles cut off your rambling.

“Y/N, stop. I’m not mad. Its okay.” he sat up in his bed, looking at the time- 5am? You called him at 5am? “Wait, it’s 5am. Why are you even up??”

“Oh, Carlos and I have been getting up every morning at 4:30am to run and workout together.” you took a sip of your coffee, “I skipped today to call you, through.”

“Wow. He’s already rubbing off his good habits.” Charles smiled, happy that you were happy.

“Yeah…you’re okay with this, though?” you asked, setting your cup down.

“Of course. I’m sorry about the other day. I was just startled.” he apologized, he really did feel bad. He didn’t intend to be rude and freak you out.

“It’s okay. Thank you for being okay with this. I’ll let you go back to sleep.”

“Great, I need my eight hours. Night, Y/N,” Charles yawned, making you laugh a bit. “Night? Love you.” Charles muttered an ‘I love you’ back and hung up.

No need to worry about that anymore, you thought. Carlos walking in the front door, and by your smile, he didn’t even need to ask. Charles obviously didn’t mind.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

liked by: carlossainz55, charles_leclerc, and 593,204 others

y/n_leclerc: my game of thrones watching buddy <3

view comments…

carlossainz55: hold the door

↳ y/n_leclerc: hodor :(

user3: oooo its official guys, the carlos bf content is here

charles_leclerc: didnt need to see this

↳ arthur_leclerc: did any of us?

↳ lorenzotl: no.

↳ y/n_leclerc: you guys are soo dramatic. shut up

lilymhe: awww you guys are adorableee

↳ y/n_leclerc: me when i see you and alex

f1wags: carlos is boyfriending so hard

landonorris: WHIPPED

↳ carlossainz55: have you seen her? had a conversation with her? of course i’m whipped

↳ y/n_leclerc: 🥹🫠

ferraribabe: the way he’s so sweet stopppp

yourbsf: holy shitttt, you guys are THE couple

*liked by creator*

user8: wowowowow too cute

formula1updates: new favorite couple - unlocked

user1: a couple that watches game of thrones together, stays together

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

liked by: carlossainz55, danielricciardo, and 601,138 others

y/n_leclerc: muy guapo, papi🖤🤍

view comments…

user3: PAPI???? Y/N PLS

carlossainz55: she’ll never know guys, shhhhh

↳ charles_leclerc: but i do

↳ carlossainz55: it was a joke…

↳ charles_leclerc: i’m pushing you off the track this weekend.

f1wags: they way they look at each other🥹 (THE CAPTION????)

user5: oh…ok!

arthur_leclerc: cant wait to hit a spaniard this weekend

↳ carlossainz55: dios mío. cállate

↳ lorenzotl: we know spanish, carlos

↳ y/n_leclerc: i hate my family sometimes (not mom tho)

↳ leclerc_pascale: ❤️

leclercsfp16: my fav family

y/n.editingggg: adorbssss but girl the caption??

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

your instagram story:

seen by: carlossainz55, francisca.cgomes, and 578,014 others

seen by: carlossainz55, lorenzotl, and 532,103 others

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

liked by: y/n_leclerc, maxverstappen1, and 1,238,014 others

carlossainz55: “you are the moon of my life” ❤️

view comments…

y/n_leclerc: did you j khal drogo quote drop

↳ carlossainz55: i thought it would be cute :(

↳ y/n_leclerc: it was so cute <3

↳ carlossainz55: :))

f1ygotedits: my two favs: carlos and got 😋

user5: the way they make me want to sob bec they’re so cute

verstoppan1fp: their pics >

vroom34: my fav game of thrones lovers

thenightwatch99: the way he khal drogo quoted

user3: mama y papa 😪👏

f1editpage: can’t wait to see her with carlos merch

↳ char16pg: charles is gonna be mad lollll

formula1page33: they’re soo cute🥹🥹🥹🥹

charles_leclerc: cant believe im the only single sibling now

↳ arthur_leclerc: i can

↳ charles_leclerc: 😦

user8: awwww the cutest shut upppp

y/nandcarlosfp55: ARG SO CUTE

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

your instagram story:

seen by: carlossainz55, landonorris, and 548,024 others

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

liked by: y/n_leclerc, georgerussell63, and 929,820 others

carlossainz55: i took an amazing, photographer photo of her, and she took this monstrosity one of me??

view comments…

y/n_leclerc: no, amor. you look so handsome

↳ pierregasly: why are you lying to him?

↳ carlossainz55: you are a dick, pierre

↳ pierregasly: 🫨good one

user3: LOL I LOVE THIS

f1wags: our fav wag photographer!!

formula1wc: carlos is turning his instagram in to a y/n fan account

chilipepper55: michael phelps WHO⁉️we only know our olympic swimmer carlos the mermaid sainz!!!

carmenmmundt: y/n looks so elegant

↳ carlossainz55: and me?

↳ carmenmmundt: 😬

landonorris: bro rly said 🧜‍♂️😟

user1: merm-couple

f1memes: the third pic is so cute. HELLO?!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

(reposts, comments, and likes are appreciated!^-^)

#carlos sainz smau #formula 1 #f1 #formula one #carlos sainz x female reader #carlos sainz x y/n #carlos sainz x oc #carlos sainz x you #carlos sainz x reader #carlos sainz fluff #carlos sainz #carlos sainz jr #f1 smau #cs55 #cs55 x reader #cs55 imagine

1K notes · View notes

nanowrimo · 1 month

Text

When Is a Small Press a Good Fit?

When it comes to publishing, many writers will think about big publishers first. However, there are a lot of different publishing options out there to explore. NaNo participant and author, Clara Ward, talks about their experience publishing with a small press and gives you questions to consider while you think through your publishing options!

NaNoWriMo inspired me to write. Signing with a small press gave me the support I needed to publish a book I love.

I’d published books before—starting with NaNoWriMo sponsor deals in the early days of online publishing—but I never had the right skill set to promote those books. As a result, they never truly found their audience.

In November of 2020, I poured my heart into a genre-blurring near-future tale of sailing across the Pacific and building a neurodiverse, queer, and possibly magical chosen family. In 2021, I titled it Be the Sea and asked myself: What am I going to do with that?

1. Are you looking for fame or family?

Small presses are as varied as the people who form them. If you read widely, you may already have a treasured book on your shelf from your publisher-to-be. Try asking NaNoWriMo friends who share your interests if they’ve discovered any surprising or emerging sources for great reads. (At the very least, you may find books you’ll love in unexpected places!)

Admittedly, a small press doesn’t have a fortune to spend on paving your path to fame. But I have never felt as seen as when my soon-to-be publisher, E.D.E. Bell at Atthis Arts, wrote back, “I’m really in love with what you are doing and would like to talk about it.”

2. Do you have the bandwidth for working with others?

Even with the most supportive small press, you may have to push outside your comfort zone. I know authors who love the absolute control and freedom of self-publishing. For a time, I felt very comfortable just posting my NaNoWriMo fanfiction novels on Archive of Our Own. At most, I had one or two beta readers to offer feedback on those works. Whereas E.D.E. told me in one of our earliest conversations that in addition to our three rounds of editing we’d need “a good number of betas” to cover the range of topics we were working on together.

I was delighted! I knew what I’d written was ambitious, and I welcomed all the feedback I could get. But it turns out, each extra person in a process adds new challenges and delays. I had to stretch my empathy as well as my publishing timeline because, to quote E.D.E. again: “It’s a lot of emotion (as well as brain cycles) to go through...” Outside perspectives will only improve your writing if you are willing to work with them, to truly listen and learn.

3. Can you handle the two-way commitment?

No form of publishing is easy. The myth that authors write while others handle business and promotion is not true at the top, and certainly not with small presses. In my experience, working with Atthis Arts was like joining a team or chosen family. Beyond certain paid tasks, such as editing and sensitivity reading, I discovered a community of authors who freely offered coaching before my first public reading, social media boosting, tips for author webpages, and an extra pair of eyes on letters requesting bookshop readings or other events. While not all small presses work the same way, this supportive culture proved to be an excellent fit for me. Naturally, I wanted to give back whenever possible.

Small presses can only succeed with community. This month, as I promote the launch of Be the Sea at bookshops in Mountain View, Davis, and Sacramento, I will be introducing many Californians to my Michigan-based small publisher, Atthis Arts. When I stand up as a panelist at Norwescon in Washington state or at various science, library, or Pride events later in the year, I’ll be promoting more than Be the Sea by Clara Ward. I’ll give back by sharing my appreciation for small presses, the supportive and inclusive practices they can normalize, and the opportunities they open up for future writers and readers.

Clara Ward lives in Silicon Valley on the border between reality and speculative fiction. Their latest novel, Be the Sea, features a near-future ocean voyage, chosen family, and sea creature perspectives, while delving into our oceans, our selves, and how all futures intertwine. Their short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Decoded Pride, Small Wonders, and as a postcard from Thinking Ink Press. When not using words to teach or tell stories, Clara uses wood, fiber, and glass to make practical or completely impractical objects. More of their words along with crafted creations can be found at: https://clarawardauthor.wordpress.com

Photo by Hümâ H. Yardım on Unsplash

#nanowrimo #now what #writing #publishing #small press publishing #by nano guest #clara ward

170 notes · View notes

cheriladycl01 · 3 months

Text

You built it, you fix it... Daniel Ricciardo x Engineer! Reader

Plot: Ricciardo isn't having an amazing season in Mclaren, and keeps complaining about everything especially Lando's friendship with an engineer. However, Lando seems to be doing just fine.

Credit to allgoodallways03 for the GIF

Mclaren, hadn't really been a top competitor since 2012 when they just came behind Ferrari in the constructors championship. However, you'd been employed halfway through the 2020 season. Mclaren are known for taking risky moves and employing youth over experience, so you being the hot shot graduate who'd interned with them 2 summers ago, they grabbed at the opportunity to have you on board.

You didn't travel with them in 2020, deciding to help in the MTC building the 2021 car, to see if you had any ideas that would make it better.

You had big opinions on the 2021 car, so Zac asked for you to travel with them for the 2021 calendar to keep an eye on things with the head engineer.

You considered this to be a phenomenal opportunity where you could travel while working.

In came, Pre Season testing in Bahrain and Lando was reporting that the car felt good, and much faster than the previous year. Yourself and Lando got on really well, being similar ages and all that. He reported everything about the car to you. Zac had appointed you as Lando's race engineer, while your counter part Charlie focused on Daniel's car. You gave him pointers on how to maximize the best out of a 'mid field' car, knowing that you'd put some little secrets in there (completely legal and within the FIA rules) that would maximize both car's potentials.

This is how he ended up coming P4 in the first race of the season. Zac pulled you into the biggest hug ever, fully lifting you up into the air while the other mechanics and engineers you'd worked with in the MCT came to congratulate you. It was your initiative and new ideas that made the car quicker this year.

To come ahead of both Ferrari's and a Red Bull was something special to all of the team.

Daniel had a larger time gap behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, but still came P7 getting valuable points to the team.

"I don't get it" Daniel complained in the debrief room. Zac's head looks at the screen before gazing at the driver.

"What don't you get Daniel?" Zac asked.

"Why's Lando's car looks so much quicker than mine... it looks like a different car when you see Lando pass me and how quickly he did it!" Daniel complains, as he watches the on-board of Lando passing him in Sector 2.

"Both the car's have been built the same Daniel, we can assure you that!" the head engineer, your boss admits.

"Are you sure, because to me it seems like some of you team have their favorites!" he exclaims before sending you a look, you look back at him in shock at the accusations.

"Y/N, are these claims true?" Andrea asks looking over at you before Zac butts in.

"This is ridiculous Daniel... Y/N has worked with us since last year. When Carlos was in your seat. She met Lando way before she was introduced to you. They have become friends" Zac assures in a dad like tone, scolding Daniel for the accusations.

If accusations like that were thrown round the paddock, other teams would want to launch and investigation into Mclaren with the FIA, and that's the last thing Zac wanted this season.

"I just think its odd how Lando was that much quicker as the less experienced driver" Daniel scoffs.

"Daniel, you have to bear in mind that Lando's been driving for Mclaren for 2 previous seasons. He knows the team and he knows the car. You've come from a car that was built to cater for Max Verstappen's driving style, you had to adapt to that before you went into a completely different car in Renault. You are still learning, and its only the first race" you say to him, everyone keeping their mouth shut at the irritated sound and aura leaking from you.

You slouched back in your seat no longer wanting to deal with his dramatics.

IMOLA was even worse for Daniel, Lando was stood sharing a podium with Max and Lewis while he'd come in 6th. It was to him, a very bitter-sweet feeling.

In Portugal, it was proven that Lando was consistent in performing the the top 5 this year as he came 5th. Daniel, coming in 9th. There had been rumors going through Mclaren that you and Charlie were too switch in where the advise was going to. You'd go to Daniel and Charlie would move to Lando.

"Zac?" you ask knocking on the door, you'd heard some raised voices in there. You weren't eves-dropping because you wanted to address the rumors with Zac and see if there genuinely was going to be as switch. You'd do anything to stay with Lando, it was like you guys had become best friends and he was someone you felt safe and comfortable with. You knew how to communicate with Lando, but Daniel... you think you'd struggle with.

"Change it Zac, or you wont have me here for 2022!" Daniel, yells before slamming the door open. He glances at you before walking off down to the garage.

"Zac, what was that?" you ask, looking behind you out the door, no Daniel in sight.

"Y/N I'm sorry but depending how the next few races go... we might have to switch you and Charlie round!" he shakes his head, pen on paper writing something down.

"Why... the teams doing well. I've watched Daniel drive and he's just still getting used to the car. He's not pushing as much as he could, he's playing safe. Lando's taking risks, and he's getting us those points because as of right now, he is the better driver!" you shout, letting all of your annoyance for Daniel out at your boss.

"I'm sorry Zac, I didn't mean to yell" you huff, he points to the chair opposite him, that you take slumping down.

"It's okay, you and Lando work well together. I don't want to change that dynamic as the risk of Charlie not getting Lando those wins like you are, and then there's obvious tension between you and Daniel, so i cant see that portraying well with a switch.

Spain looked at though it was a turning point for Daniel, he'd come in 6th while Lando came behind him. The Ferrari's had changed their car, meaning Carlos and Charles now were at an advantage. It was a difficult race weekend for Lando, and Daniel couldn't help but comment on it in briefing.

You'd promised Lando, you'd get him and podium in Monaco. And you never ever go back on promises.

So Lando coming P3 made everyone's day in Mclaren. But Daniel... he had an awful race, being knocked and ending up coming P12 not securing any points for the team. He'd asked in debrief if something had been done to Lando's car since last week, but again the team assured him we hadn't.

Azerbaijan was similar and at this point, Daniel was getting fed up. Zac had told him because of the accusations and how he was acting that he wouldn't switch you and Charlie around.

France was tense, with Daniel coming behind Lando after being told not to go for an overtake. He knew tensions were high with his team already where he'd been complaining about the cars and the team, and he needed to secure that seat for 2022. So he took it on the chin.

"Y/N, I want to talk" Daniel said pulling you round a quiet corner and out the pack of the hostility where it was quietest, no media.

"Daniel, I'm busy i need to check the car's for Styria!" you say, looking back round, wondering why he had to drag you all the way round.

"What have you told Lando, that Charlie hasn't told me!" he says, pushing you back against the wall slightly, the flexing of the aluminum you are lent against sounding in your ear.

"I haven't told him anything that isn't in the pre-season briefing pack that I wrote available for myself and Charlie. If your engineer has failed to inform you of something that isn't my fault Ricciardo. Suck it up... maybe your just not the hot shot you used to be" you say, yes it was a low blow but considering all Daniel had done since you built the car was criticize and accuse you when Lando was having exceptional drives.

"Excuse me..." he said.

"You heard me Daniel, stop shitting on Lando and the car and do better!" you say with a smirk, telling you were riling him up more and more.

"You built it, you fix it" he says.

"Why fix what isn't broken..." you smile before turning away and walking back to the garage leaving Daniel shell shocked.

Styria was awful for Daniel, and you thought maybe what you said was too harsh on him, but you gave him one look as he got out of the car that had him storming to his driver's room to look at the mistakes he had made with Charlie to try and correct them.

Austria he had picked himself back up into a points position and didn't complain at a Lando podium, he congratulated him in fact with a massive hug and a well done mate. You gave him a nod, which in return you got one back.

Spa was the pivotal moment for Daniel, after what was a hard few races, with some DNF's and some not very good positions Daniel came 4th, and he was grinning the whole day.

"Y/N!" he shouted you over, you job over after rubbing Lando's shoulder being a bit disheartened by his P14.

"I should thank you, for talking some sense into me. I think after Renault last year, my racing mind wasn't what it used to be. It was the first time i realized you were right with what you said in Zac's office. Even Lando's DNF's prove he's the better driver right now, but i think I'm slowly getting back to that 'hotshot' driver" he smirks, making you laugh.

"Well, if that hot shot driver ever wants to join me for dinner, to make up for the pain of this season, i'll be more than happy to attend!" you grin, before turning off and walking away.

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhh @georgeparisole @dakotatankbig @youcannotcancelquidditch @zzonsbeek @tallbrownhairsarcastic @mellowarcadefun @ourteenagetragedy @otako5811 @countingstacksandpanicattacks @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @hopexcroc @mirrorball-6 @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @lilypadlover @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @the-fem1n1ne-urge @21stcenturytaegi @dark-night-sky-99 @spideybv28 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @kapsylia @laneyspaulding19 @lazybot @malynn @cassielikereading @viennakarma

#f1 imagine #f1 x reader #formula 1 x you #formula 1 #formula one #formula one fanfiction #daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo f1 #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo fanfic #daniel ricciardo x you

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queen-mabs-revenge · 11 months

Text

for ted lasso fans who aren't football fans, the akufo league subplot was pretty directly inspired by the april 2021 announcement of a proposed european super league founded by 12 of the richest clubs in europe competing in a closed group against each other plus 8 other teams tba.

the enterprise was cancelled very quickly after its announcement, but the differences between how that played out in ted lasso and the story as it played out in real life are.....hmmmm interesting choices to say the least.

the esl wasn't proposed by a cartoonishly villainous ghanaian billionaire. it was launched by a c-suite of white european and united states billionaire businessmen/team owners. - real madrid president florentino pérez spearheaded the proposal and claimed CEO position with andrea agnelli (owner of juventus), joel glazer (owner of man u), john henry (owner of liverpool), and stan kroenke (owner of arsenal) making up the rest of the proposed executive board. -these five are worth $2.3B, $13.5B (agnelli family), $4.8 (glazer family), $4B, and $12.9B, for a total of 37.5 billion dollars.

the esl proposal was formally announced on 18 april 2021 and by 21 april all 6 epl founding clubs had publicly announced their planned withdrawal from the league. this wasn't because of a rich white lady giving a heartwarming speech to a room of other rich people, it was because of a mass movement of working class fans denouncing the move as the capitalist greed and exploitation that it was, with some calling for fan ownership of clubs entirely:

i get using real events as inspiration and adapting them to fit a narrative purpose within the story, but i think it's worth it to know what the story line was based on, especially considering the specific racial and class changes that were made reframing the villains and heroes of this particular story.

#ted lasso #they're still trying to go ahead with the esl btw but it's being legally challenged on a lot of fronts #but the thing that got the immediate statement of withdrawal was the mass protests and demands from the fans #descriptions in alt text #<-added late sorry couldn't do it at first!

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nansheonearth · 8 months

Text

A Boston shelter tried a new approach to finding women stable housing. Three years later, its success is clear.

Since launching its stabilization program in July 2020, Women’s Lunch Place says that 97 percent of women who found housing are still living in their homes.

By Alysa Guffey Globe Correspondent,Updated August 30, 2023, 5:51 a.m.

Nancy Edwards in her apartment.SUZANNE KREITER/GLOBE STAFF

Two years ago, Nancy Edwards fell into homelessness after being priced out of rent in Southern California. With her two dogs, Roo and Tink, in tow, she decided to drive across the country with all her belongings packed in her small sedan. Her final destination would be Boston, the home of her only child and the last place she says she received adequate mental health care.

She arrived in Boston in September 2021, and later that month met Lianne O’Reilly, a behavioral health and stabilization clinician at Women’s Lunch Place, a daytime shelter and advocacy center serving people who identify as female.

With help from O’Reilly and Women’s Lunch Place, Edwards, 65, was able to receive the mental health care she needed and took the first steps in applying for housing in the city.

“I was able to make heads or tails out of life and rescue myself from being homeless,” Edwards said.

Edwards is one of 173 clients who Women’s Lunch Place has helped to secure housing since the organization launched its housing stabilization program in July 2020. Three years later, the organizaton reports that 97 percent, or 167, of the women are still living in their new homes.

At Pine Street Inn shelter, a mother and daughter persevere and find communityNew housing strategy behind Mass. and Cass cleanup offers ‘hope, dignity’ — and may be a solution to homelessness, officials say‘Permanent supportive housing’ may be controversial to would-be neighbors, but it’s been beneficial to those who live in it

Located on Newbury Street in Back Bay, the stabilization program is designed to provide clients at Women’s Lunch Place with wraparound services before and after they receive keys for an apartment, said Doris Romero, the center’s housing and stabilization manager. Often times, women who walk through the doors have a steep learning curve when living on their own and can be evicted if they do not have continuous support.

“The last thing that I want is after getting someone into housing is for them to lose their housing,” Romero said.

Romero facilitates conversations with landlords, property managers, leasing officers, and even other tenants to ease the burden on clients. Each woman seeking housing is paired with a full-time advocate from the organization, and the team has doubled in size since its inception, she added.

For some, the housing search can take years, with some guests only moving into homes now after originally starting a housing application five years ago, said Romero. Other times, partnerships and applications with the city can speed up the process for those who really need housing. For instance, Edwards submitted an application to the Elders Living At Home Program through Boston Medical Center.

“In the application you have to explain why this person needs housing, and as soon as I met [Edwards,] I knew that housing was really key to her stability and moving forward,” O’Reilly said.

As a result, Edwards moved in to her new home about seven months after connecting with Women’s Lunch Place.

“It’s nice and quiet and I feel secure,” Edwards said on a recent Friday in her one-bedroom apartment in the South End.

Nancy Edwards in her apartment.SUZANNE KREITER/GLOBE STAFF

While stabilization programs are not necessarily a new invention, Women’s Lunch Place’s method of keeping tabs on and tracking women it helps find housing is encouraging, because it shows “obvious and dramatic evidence that it works,” said Susan Sered, professor of sociology at Suffolk University.

For the past 15 years, Sered has been following a group of about 50 women in Boston who fall in and out of homelessness. In her research, she has seen women lose housing because of substandard living conditions or abusive men in their life who visit homes and cause trouble — issues that can often be prevented with robust stabilization services.

“A lot of these problems are dealt with before they get out of control,” she said of the system in place at Women’s Lunch Place. “They can provide this kind of really intensive support that can help people get through that difficult period or a difficult incident and hold on to their housing.”

Romero said she poses as many questions as possible to find a strong fit for each individual client.

“Do they want to stay in Boston? Do they want roommates or their own space?”

However, even though the program is run through the shelter, women who seek the stabilization services have their own agency throughout the process, choosing where, when, and what they apply to.

“We can provide them options of different opportunities, but they get to choose where they want to apply to,” Romero said.

Most of the clients would prefer to stay in Boston, Romero said, but that doesn’t always work out. Sometimes, after looking at options in Boston, she encourages clients to look elsewhere, such as the North or South Shore, to set realistic expectations. Romero added that the center has had luck stabilizing people in Medford and Watertown homes.

The stabilization program is unique since it doesn’t end once women get the keys to their new place.

“People really assume like everything’s like sunshine and flowers once you get housed,” O’Reilly said. “And it can be, but for a lot of people it can be traumatic in many ways.”

The length of stabilization looks different for each client, Romero said. Advocates visit the homes of their clients as much as they need to help with everything from setting up cable to finding a church community nearby.

Women’s Lunch Place also assists clients facing possible eviction — a vital component of stabilization services, staff members say.

Estella Green, 55, credits the program for her finding stable housing and avoiding eviction after she had been sleeping on the streets or couch surfing for almost three years.

“I was in a place where I was about to go downhill, but I came here and I asked for help and they helped me,” Green said.

With help from her advocate, Christina Labossiere, Green has lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Brighton for more than two years. Since March, the organization has assisted Green in applying to the city’s Residential Assistance for Families in Transition program, which helps keep households in stable housing situations when facing eviction, loss of utilities, and other housing emergencies.

Green said she loves the apartment, especially the bed to sleep in, but still comes to Women’s Lunch Place almost daily because that — not Brighton — is her community.

“You can relax, be comfortable, and you can always find someone to talk to,” Green said.

Alysa Guffey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @AlysaGuffeyNews.

Edit:

Here's a link to donate to Women's Lunch Place

Follow them on ig

If you reblogged the previous version, reblog with the donate link.

#radfem #alysa guffey #women's lunch place #boston #massachusetts #new england #housing #sisterhood #solidarity #resources #welfare #ideas #to do #o #boston globe

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vinvantae · 11 months

Text

Unmasked

Part 6/16

<<< previous part

Word count - 2.5k

Warnings - alcohol usage

******

Yourusername added to their story

As the end of the year rolled around, Charles had to practically pry you out of Pascale’s arms to get you out of the Leclerc home. You couldn’t help but still feel guilty about the fact you’d been lying to her that you and Charles weren’t really anything - even though the definition of your relationship was becoming unclearer by the day. But Pascale had made you feel more at home than your own Father had in years, so saying goodbye was much harder than you anticipated.

But in the back of your mind, you knew you needed to talk to the team about you and Charles. But you weren’t sure how they’d react to the fact the fake relationship they’d made had started to shift into something real.

They had booked you both a flight - the day after New Years, you were heading out to Bali for the final stage of the winter break itinerary. You and Charles would be posting simultaneous stories and posts of you both on holiday but still in the ‘soft launch’ format. They had seemingly forgotten that January was the wettest month of the year but that would have to be something you figured out when you got there.

Because first it was your last outing in 2021. Pierre was throwing an all out New Year’s Eve bash and as Charles’ girlfriend, the invitation had been extended your way. You were a little cautious at first, knowing that this gathering would be larger than the last and would have more people from the F1 world, but your teammate assured you there was nothing to worry about.

You’d treated yourself to a new dress for the occasion, again - something you wouldn’t look too overdressed in besides Charles, but something that would make you feel and look good. Some part of you thought it would be risky wearing red, thinking people might think it was a clue, but with your ‘boyfriend’ being a Ferrari driver, surely it would be fine. Just a simple nod to your relationship.

But you couldn’t help but feel cautious - every time you stepped outside at Charles' side, your outfits were picked apart and critiqued by those who continued to hate you - despite being successful in your own right, in their eyes, you had used Charles to further your career. Which was bizarre considering your position hadn’t changed since you became ‘admin’. In fact, it surprised you that more people weren’t suspicious by your lack of career progress in general.

“Do I look overdressed?” You asked, as you slid your foot into one of your shoes.

Your teammate's eyes flickered up from his phone and he felt his breath catch in his throat. The dress flattered you in the perfect way, highlighting all of your best features. “You… you look beautiful.”

He relished the way your cheeks flushed, he crossed the room and knelt in front of you to do up the straps of your shoes. “But is it too much, Charles?”

“No, no. All the girls will be dressed up too. Pierre’s bashes are an excuse to go all out.” The Monaco driver stood up, holding his hands out for you to take. You smiled softly and laced your fingers with his, giggling a little as he pulled you close. “Besides, it means I get to kiss the prettiest girl at the party when the clock strikes midnight.”

“Mhmm, I’ll keep an eye out for her.” You teased, pulling him closer so you could press your lips to his in a chaste kiss before he could protest your self-critique. “Now, let’s go. We don’t want to be the last people to show up.”

Charles eagerly followed you like a lost puppy down to the car - wanting nothing more right now than to skip the party and just stay in with you. But Pierre would kill him for skipping, he had been planning this party for what felt like the entire year at this point. And he was convinced that the Frenchman wanted to spend more time around you, despite your ‘relationship’ with his childhood friend. And he knew Lewis was going to be around, another man whose eyes always seemed to linger a little too long for his liking.

“Wow, Pierre really knows how to throw a bash.” You whistled lowly as the driver pulled up outside the venue. The music was already thumping inside and there was a steady stream of invited party-goers being let inside whilst others were being turned away. “Ready?”

Charles nodded and climbed out of the car, offering his hand to you so you could climb out easier in your heeled shoes. His hand stayed wrapped around yours as you crossed the pavement - security letting you in without a moment of hesitation, a glass of champagne put in your free hand as soon as you crossed the threshold.

“We should find Pierre and say hi.” Your teammate leant in close to yell into your ear.

“Lead the way.” You smiled, your heart fluttering as he pulled you closer so as not to lose you in the crowds.

The two of you somehow weaved through everyone without Charles getting caught up in conversation - swiftly making your way over to the large table that Pierre had taken up with trays and trays of alcohol. The French driver’s smile grew bigger when he saw you and Charles approach, stepping over to pull you both into a hug. You could smell the alcohol on him as his embrace lasted a little too long, pressing a kiss to each of your cheeks.

“Alright, mate, that’s enough.” Charles laughed, extracting you from his childhood friend’s arms. “This one is taken.”

Pierre waved him off, daring to take one more glance at you - the blue of his eyes barely visible from his drunken pupils. “Shots?”

Your eyes scanned the room for a moment whilst Charles tried to deny his friend’s request to see who else was there. Lewis tipped his glass towards you as you locked eyes and you gave him a shy wave in return. It looked like a lot of the grid had actually made the effort to come out but you couldn’t help but feel Max’s eyes burning into you from where he stood with Daniel. “Does Max not like me anymore?”

The Monegasque frowned and looked over his shoulder at the Redbull driver, who simply raised his drink in silent cheers to his rival. “Why would you think that?”

“…just don’t get good vibes from him these days. I don’t think he trusts me.” You admitted, letting Charles pull you closer to you. “Surely he can’t know, right?”

“But it’s not fake-“

You raised a brow, and he pressed his mouth into a line. It wasn’t the relationship, it was who you were - and you were worried Max has become suspicious of you. There’s no way. He thought. How would he even make that connection? Charles simply shook his head a little and pressed a gentle kiss to your temple.

Max just knew something was up. Ever since the articles came out about a woman under 30 being Thirty, you shot to the top of his list and the timing of your relationship with Charles was just so suspicious. They probably thought no one would suspect a driver’s girlfriend would be Thirty but since you ‘lost your seat’ in F2, the general public for the most part barely remembered your previous racing career.

“You’re staring.” Daniel spoke up from beside the Dutchman, nudging him gently - drawing Max’s gaze away from you. “What is your deal with her?”

“…you’ll think I’m crazy.” Max grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

This only intrigued Daniel more. “Hit me with it.”

Max looked around to make sure no one else was about to hear his admission, as positive as he was about it - it did sound bonkers to anyone who hadn’t even considered it. “I think y/n is Thirty.”

The Australian blinked at his friend a few times as he processed what he said before bursting into laughter. “No, seriously, you fancy her or something? The childhood sweetheart who got away?”

The younger driver groaned and shook his head. He knew Daniel wouldn’t believe him, he didn’t know you like Max had. Instead of trying to convince his former teammate of his theory, he simply changed the conversation. You hadn’t missed the way both drivers had looked over at you but you pretended to ignore it - making sure as many photos were taken of you and Charles together as possible.

As the evening drew on, you found yourself sandwiched between your ‘boyfriend’ and Max - not sure how or why by Pierre had insisted on pulling you all to the same booth for a drink and no one had moved since. Charles arm draped lazily over your shoulder, fingers tapping against your skin to the music.

“So.” Max chirped, you winced a little before lifting your eyes from your glass to meet his gaze. “How do you like working for Ferrari?”

He watched as you visibly relaxed at his question, clearly expecting something else. “Yeah. It’s good. I still get to travel the world with the sport I love - it’s not what I wanted but y’know is what it is… I’ve been part of the team a long time now, so I’m content.”

“Yeah, disappointing they’ve not given you any kind of promotion considering your loyalty.” He hummed, swirling his beer. “What’s it been, 8 years this year?”

You nodded. “Is what it is, as I said. I’m content.”

The two of you held eye contact for a little too long - almost as if he was challenging you to give your identity away but instead you turned your attention to Charles, your teammate pulling you closer to his side. Max let out a quiet huff and threw back some of his beer. You’d known each other since you were kids, he knew you’d have an NDA but part of him wished you still trusted him enough to tell him.

But when you left F2, the friendship sizzled out - your forced proximity when you raced together made you friends and the distance after split you apart. You just weren’t the same girl he grew up with anymore. He wasn’t sure if it was Thirty that did it to you but you were a shell of the boisterous, courageous person he remembered growing up. That’s why he wanted you to be Thirty; so he could convince you to take off the mask and maybe the old you could come back.

“Excuse me.” Max left the table, his beer only half drunk - seemingly abandoned in disappointment.

Your jaw clenched a little as you fought back the urge to chase after him, convincing him that you weren’t Thirty, you just couldn't be. But at this point you were sure there was no way back.

Max had figured you out.

****

***

You woke up the next morning with an absolute cracker of a headache, thanking the heavens above that your flight wasn’t until tomorrow. Last night very quickly became a blur after your interaction with Max - opting to drink away the fear instead of trying to change his mind. You knew that was a lost cause, so instead you’d focus your intentions on Charles, on whatever the two of you were. Not wanting to let yourself drown in the possibility of Max outing you as Thirty.

The sun creeped through the gap in the curtain, crawling across the sheets that had long been discarded to the lower part of the bed in the heat of the night. Whilst you and Charles had stayed fairly PG with your relationship until that point - you’d found yourself tumbling into bed with him after the party, clothes thrown haphazardly across the room but it seemed you both fell asleep before anything really happened.

That didn’t stop you from studying Charles’ sleeping body beside you, the sheets pushed down to his hips, a toned leg sticking out the side. He was truly beautiful, especially when he was peaceful like this - not a care in the world carving a frown into his features. You cautiously reached out and cupped his jaw in your hand, brushing your thumb across his soft skin. He lent into your touch, his eyelashes fluttering for a moment before you were met by his soft green gaze.

Your heart skipped a beat as his lips curved into a pretty smile, one just for you. “Morning… some night, last night, huh?”

“You could say that.” You hummed. “When you said you were going to kiss me at midnight? I wasn’t expecting you to put on such a show.”

The one part of the night you could remember cleared than any other, was as everyone counted down as the clock struck and the way your teammate had dipped you in the last few moments, before pressing a deep kiss to your lips as everyone screamed out Happy New Year. You couldn’t help but smile into his lips, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Wanted to show off the fact that the most beautiful girl in the place was with me.” He chuckled, sitting up - pressing a chaste kiss to your lips. “Got the best sight to wake up to as well, I see.”

Your cheeks flushed dark as his eyes flickered across your bare chest for a moment before meeting your eyes. “I remember getting naked and then both of us just passed out.”

He laughed. “Me too, I’d like to remember being intimate with you… so I’m glad we didn’t yet.”

Intimate. Yet. It probably didn’t seem like much but the choice of words couldn’t help make you think that he was thinking of a future with you. He hadn’t been crude about it, and he wanted to remember it. You watched as he slipped out of bed, allowing yourself the simple joy of studying his full figure as he moved around the room to collect his outfit for the day, folding your dress up and putting it on the chair before handing you one of his t-shirts.

“I’ll make us some breakfast, come join when you’re ready.” Your teammate smiled sweetly, pressing another kiss to your lips. “No rush.”

It was so domestic and so easy. That scared you. You were scared that it was a repeat of your childhood friendships and the only reason he was into you was the forced proximity. That if given the chance he’d realise that you weren’t what he wanted and he could get any girl.

And it didn’t help that a lot of the internet seemed to feel the same way. At least what you saw.

You could only hope that despite the relationship getting off to a false start - that the two of you would stay on track and maybe after your talk with the team, you could really focus on you and Charles and not the ever darkening cloud of your exposure, threatening to break any day now.

*****************************************

Next part >>>

Sorry for the delay and the shorter nature of this chapter! I had a plan in my head for each chapter but then I realised I wanted to add other things so scrapped what I had and started again 😬 hope it was worth the wait!

Thank you all for the support ❤️

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afeelgoodblog · 11 months

Text

The Best News of Last Week - May 29, 2023

Rwanda’s life expectancy has increased by 20 years in the last 20 years

What did Rwanda change? Three developments stand out: low-cost community-based health insurance plans, national investments in rural health posts, and ramped-up foreign collaborations. In 2020, more than 90 percent of Rwanda’s people had some kind of health insurance. This stands out relative to other low-income countries, where on average 31 percent of people have health insurance.

2. Brandon School Division rejects call to remove library books on sexuality, gender identity

Loud cheers erupted inside a packed high school gymnasium after the Brandon School Division rejected a call to remove books dealing with sexuality and gender identity from libraries. Hundreds of people in Manitoba's second-largest city showed up for the marathon school division meeting, which ran into the early morning hours.

The trustees ultimately voted 6-1 to reject a proposal to create a committee of trustees and parents to review books available in division schools.

3. Lotto winner pledges to fund classrooms in his native Mali

Happiness for one lucky North Carolina resident comes not from newfound wealth from a lottery win, but using those winnings to help schoolchildren -- in this case, from Mali.

Souleymane Sana of North Carolina won $100,000 from a scratch-off ticket. Relocating to the United States from Mali -- a war-torn county in West Africa -- Sana is using his earnings to create a non-profit to help school kids from his hometown.

4. Mountain gorillas rebound thanks to Ugandan veterinarian

In 2018, as their population topped 1,000, they were removed from the critically endangered list and their status upgraded to just endangered. That positive step was due, in no small part, to Ugandan veterinarian Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka.

Her working home is Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home to roughly half of the world's mountain gorillas. But early on she also realized that to help the animals and keep them free from disease and poaching, she needed to also help their human neighbours, launching successful initiatives to improve the health and well-being of the people living around the park.

5. Imports of ivory from hippos, orcas and walruses to be banned in UK

Ivory imports from hippopotamuses, orcas and walruses will be banned under new legislation to protect the endangered species from poaching.

The Ivory Act, passed in 2018, targeted materials from elephants, but a loophole meant that animals other than elephants, including hippos, were being targeted for their ivory.

6. Solar power due to overtake oil production investment for first time in 2023

Investment in clean energy will extend its lead over spending on fossil fuels in 2023, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday, with solar projects expected to outpace outlays on oil production for the first time.

Annual investment in renewable energy is up by nearly a quarter since 2021 compared to a 15% rise for fossil fuels, the Paris-based energy watchdog said in its World Energy Investment report.

7. Paralyzed man walks naturally, thanks to wireless ‘bridge’ between brain and spine

Gert-Jan Oskam lost the ability to walk in 2011 when he injured his spine in a cycling accident in China. Six years later, the Dutch man managed to take a few short steps thanks to a small array of electrodes implanted on top of his spinal cord that delivered nerve-stimulating pulses of electricity.

Today in Nature, an international team of researchers reports giving Oskam a better fix, a way to digitally bridge the communication gap between his brain and lower body. Brain waves signaling Oskam’s desire to walk travel from a device implanted in his skull to the spinal stimulator, rerouting the signal around the damaged tissue and delivering pulses of electricity to the spinal cord to facilitate the movement. Oskam can now walk more fluidly, navigate obstacles, and climb stairs.

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