#effective labour management

[prokopetz]

A lot of folks are responding to the whole Reddit situation by calling for the return of decentralised forums, and I think it's important to remember that, contrary to certain popular narratives, the reason early 2000s forum culture has fallen by the wayside is not because people are Just Lazy. Certainly, ease of use is part of it, but a much larger part of it is how vulnerable self-hosted forums are.

Basically, the problem is that even the largest and most carefully managed self-hosted forums can be rendered unusable more or less indefinitely by a single sufficiently determined hostile actor. This can take the form of both attacks on the forum's social infrastructure (i.e., via sock-puppet accounts, botting, organised "raids", etc.) and attacks on its technical infrastructure (i.e., via hacking, DDoS, etc.). In either case, a self-hosted forum has no real defence, and the majority of decentralised forum communities survive only by virtue of their relative obscurity; once a self-hosted forum manages to attract the attention of That One Guy who's willing to devote his life to shitting the place up over some microscopic slight, it's effectively game over.

Right now, there are essentially only two mitigation strategies:

Gathering huge numbers of communities under a single, massively centralised technical infrastructure that's simply too large and robust for any one hostile actor to bring down; and

Hardening the community's social infrastructure either by going private and invite only (i.e., the Discord approach), or by making use of a vast centralised pool of volunteer labour to aggressively enforce community standards (i.e., the Reddit approach).

To be clear, these are not intractable problems; other solutions may well exist. However, any proposed plan for bringing decentralised public forums back needs to address them. If you're going in operating under the assumption that forums have become marginalised simply because corporations are evil and people are lazy, you're setting yourself up to learn the hard way why self-hosted forums no longer seem to be capable of growing beyond a certain point.

#computers #internet #technology #current events #reddit #forums #internet governance #swearing

[justalittlesolarpunk]

hi! i love your blog :D do you have any advice to implement low waste and solarpunk aspects into everyday life with a tight budget? keep doing what you do!

Hi!

Thanks for asking - I’ve had this question before and it’s definitely a real problem. Organic, plastic free food is expensive. So is handmade durable clothing, and train fares these days. It can feel like only the rich can be solarpunks, which is pretty counterintuitive given its anticapitalist ideology. But! I’m here to tell you there’s lots you can do to bring solarpunk into your life in a cost-effective way.

To start with, lots of solarpunk spaces are free or cheap. Get a library card and you can borrow as many books and DVDs and other resources as you like. Look up to see if there’s a library of things in your neighbourhood, and join a buy nothing or stuff for free group online. Download TooGoodToGo, which lets you access food from local cafes and restaurants which would otherwise go to waste. See if there’s a repair cafe that operates near you - I managed to get a pair of trousers mended at one of these for free, and I had been thinking I would need to pay a tailor (which is fine if you can afford it! Skilled labour deserves fair wages!). In some places plant-based food is cheaper, so when it is, choose it. But in others it will cost more than animal products so you have to decide on a case by case basis whether saving money or a particular diet is more important to you.

There’s lots else you can do for minimal spending or that actually saves you money. Walking to work or school avoids the expenditure in the petrol for a drive or a bus fare. If you’re within walking distance and able to do so, I’d recommend it. Joining your local chapter of Extinction Rebellion, Friends of The Earth, Greenpeace, The A22 network or any other active climate group in your area is almost always free and just involves a small weekly time commitment. This will introduce you to activists and inform you about protests and public meetings you can attend.

If you have the time in your week and the physical ability, which I acknowledge many people don’t, you can also join some sort of volunteer group looking after a nature reserve or tending a community garden (which might also give you access to free or discounted food). Learning to forage is also a good skill as that really is free food!

Depending on where you are, a green electricity tariff *can* also be less expensive. If this is the case and you have control over your provider, it’s worth switching to it. Buying books and clothes secondhand will also be better for the environment and your bank balance. Teaching yourself about the climate and the natural world with podcasts, YouTube, online free articles and other resources is also free and the knowledge will help you keep solarpunk at the front of your mind. Read good news stories online whenever you can, to remind you that good things are happening already.

If you’re employed, you can also try to influence green policy at your workplace or in your trade union. If you’re at school or university, joining (or setting up!) the environmental society and/or lobbying for change at the SU are both good ideas and shouldn’t necessarily cost you anything. If you can - and I know this is inaccessible for a big swathe of the population - put a very small amount of money aside whenever possible, because the more you save the more you can afford to buy better products, donate to causes, help out the needy in your community, travel in a greener way, and other more expensive choices. It’s all about that dual power.

Hope this helps get you started!

#solarpunk #hopepunk #environmentalism #cottagepunk #social justice #community #optimism #bright future #climate justice #tidalpunk #lunarpunk #budgeting

[nataliasquote]

Back in time | n romanoff | winterwidow

Summary: Natasha and Bucky’s daughter seeks comfort in her Aunt Wanda as her parents go missing on a mission

Warnings: mentions of childbirth, bullying, I think that’s it?

Pairings: WinterWidow (aka my all time favourite ship)

wc: 3.1k

note: another one of my favourites, and there is a part 2! Winterwidow is my favourite ship and I definitely want to write more about them

-⧗-

There was a small knock on Wanda's bedroom door. Her head shot up from the book she was reading and she made her way over to the door. As she opened it she saw 16 year Y/n looking at the floor, clutching a very worn out teddy bear.

"Hey Y/n? You ok?" Wanda asked, opened the door fully.

"Can I come in?" the teenager whispered, still not wanting to look up.

"Of course honey. Is everything ok?" Y/n didn't say anything, choosing to climb onto Wanda's bed and dive under the covers. Wanda tilted her head at her niece's odd behaviour. "Y/n/n?"

A small hum in response came from under the duvet so Wanda resumed her place on the bed. "What's going on honey?"

There was another muffled reply which Wanda couldn't make out, so she gently pulled the covers from Y/n's face. "What was that?"

"I miss Mama and Papa" she whimpered before burying her head back into the pillow. Wanda's heart sank. There had been no word from Natasha or Bucky for months now and no one wanted to admit the worst. They'd stopped all contact which left Y/n panicking more and more everyday.

"I know baby, I know" she said, rubbing the young girl's back. "they're going to be ok-"

"How do you know that!" Y/n cried, turning around in the bed to face Wanda. "No one has heard anything. Don't lie to me. Please don't lie to me," she sobbed and tears were now streaming down her face.

"Baby I'm sorry."

The room was silent for a moment, the only sound being Y/n's sniffles.

"Can you tell me about them?"

*16 years ago*

"Wanda!" Bucky pounded on the door. "Wanda!"

"Woah woah hang on. I'm coming" The 18 year old ran to her door and was met by a very frantic and panic stricken Bucky. "What's happened?"

"It's Nat. She was shot and- she- she's with Bruce but she was shot in the stomach and I don't know if- if the baby is-"

"Hang on. Baby? What baby?"

Bucky stayed silent for a moment. "Godammit. Nat's pregnant. We didn't want to tell anyone this early on, but now I don't know what to do. What if she doesn't make it? What if the baby doesn't make it?"

Wanda grabbed Bucky by his arm and pulled him into her room, shutting the door behind him. "First of all, you need to calm down. Nat is going to be fine. She's Natasha Romanoff for god's sake. She's the strongest woman we know." Her words clearly had an effect on Bucky, who breathed out a deep breath. "And I didn't think she could get pregnant?"

Bucky shook his head as he stared at the floor. "Neither did we. That's why we weren't too careful. But somehow she is, and now..."

"Hey! Stop it!" Wanda's head tilted and Bucky gulped. He was being intimidated by an 18 year old. "Don't you dare think like that."

"Sorry" he mumbled.

"Do you know how far along she is?"

"About 4 months. She's only just showing, so we've managed to hide it. But now everyone is going to know, and Nat's going to be in danger."

"Then we protect her. Buck, look at me. We live in a building with 2 super soldiers, a guy with a powerful suit, a raging monster, an assassin, 2 enhanced people, plus a bunch of others. I think we've pretty much got it covered."

"I can't loose them Wanda. They're my girls. I- I need to go and see her. Thank you."

Wanda didn't even get a chance to respond before he raced out of the room, leaving her grinning at the news. "A girl?" She whispered to herself. "I'm gonna be an auntie!"

*5 months later*

"Fuck!" Nat screamed, her hand gripping Bucky's metal one, almost crushing the vibranium. She'd been in labour for 10 hours already, and had shouted at everyone who dared get in her way. "Get this demon out of me!”

"Nat, doll, that's our daughter you're talking about. She's not a demon-"

"You aren’t pushing a fucking watermelon out of your vagina! This is your fault!”

Bucky went to speak, but was cut off by another scream from Nat. Once the contraction had subsided, she was out of breath. "Get Wanda" she breathed. Bucky didn't dare question her. He asked JARVIS to bring Wanda down, and the Sokovian arrived in record time.

"Wanda! Can you use your magic to get this little fucker out of me!" A contraction hit her mid sentence.

Wanda stood there in shock. "Um... I'm- I'm not sure that's how it works Nat."

"I don’t care! Get it out of me!"

Bruce carefully made his way to Nat's bedside, a nervous expression on his face. "Ok, you can start pushing on the next contraction."

A scream rattled through the room as the next contraction hit Nat. She had grabbed Wanda's hand too, which unfortunately was not made of vibranium.

It took another 20 minutes before Nat had finally given birth to healthy baby girl. She was tiny and Wanda had to bite her lip to stop her from squealing in delight. Bruce handed Nat her baby and she placed her on her chest, her eyes completely transfixed on her beautiful baby. Everyone in the room left to give the new parents some space.

"She's beautiful" Bucky husked, softly stroking his daughter's head.

"Hi baby girl." Nat said as her daughter opened her eyes. "Its me, it's mama." The baby blinked slowly and her tiny hand lifted to wrap her around Nat's finger. Bucky and Nat both awed at the sight.

"Can you go and get Wanda?" Nat asked Bucky, still looking at her daughter. He nodded and went outside. "Mama's got you baby. I'm gonna protect you." She pressed a kiss to her forehead and moved her hospital gown down to lay her daughter on her chest. Her baby let out a coo as she felt her mother's skin properly for the first time.

The door opened and Nat tore her eyes away for a moment to smile at Wanda as she entered the room.

"Oh Nat, she's beautiful. Hey sweetheart" Wanda cooed as Y/N's blue-green eyes looked up at her.

As Wanda was admiring the newest addition to there family, Nat looked up at Bucky, who gave her a smile and nodded.

"Wands, we need to ask you something." The teenager looked expectant. "Will you be Y/n's godmother?"

Tears sprang to her eyes as she frantically nodded. "Yes." She squeaked. "Hello Y/n. What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl."

*15 years ago*

"Come on Y/n. Say mama" Nat said as she bounced Y/n on her lap. Y/n had been babbling for months now, and everyone thinks she's going to say her first word.

"No, Y/n say dada"

Y/n started babbling and she blew bubbles out of her lips, drool dangerously close to dripping on her teddy bear.

"Mama" Nat said.

"Dada" Bucky said.

"A-a-a" Y/n babbled.

"Yeah! Mama!" Nat encouraged. "Come on baby. Say mama"

"Wa-wa-wana. Wana.: Y/n said, looking directly at Wanda.

"Yes! She said Wanda!" Wanda stood up and did a victory dance, pressing kisses all over her goddaughter's face.

"No! Y/n you were supposed to say Mama!" Nat said.

"Um, no, she was going to say dada!"

Everyone chimed in, talking over the top of each other about the word they thought Y/n was going to say. But the newly 1 year old was very overwhelmed at the noise, and she started crying, her little face bright red as her fists screwed up.

Bucky quickly scooped up his daughter and brought her to his chest, rocking her slowly to calm her cries. But she wouldn't calm down. Her cried only got louder. Nat told everyone to leave, apart from Wanda who was clearly her daughter's favourite. Bucky moved to the couch and sat down, still cradling Y/n to his chest. Her wails had turned into screams and Nat's heart broke slightly. Taking a seat beside Bucky, she carefully took her daughter from him and lifted up her shirt to lay her on her chest. Her cries subsided instantly and both parents breathed a sigh of relief.

That was Nat's advantage. Y/n loved being on Nat's skin. The trio's nightly routine consisted of Bucky and Nat laying in bed watching some random movie, whilst Y/n play on Nat's naked chest in just her diaper once she’d finished feeding.

The minute Y/n made contact with Nat's skin, her hands reached out. Nat and Bucky both laughed, knowing what her action meant.

“Do you mind if I-“ Nat gestured to her chest whilst looking at Wanda who just smiled softly, shaking her head.

“Don’t let me get in the way of little miss hungry. I can come back.”

“Don’t be silly Wanda,” Nat said as she adjusted herself to allow her baby girl to latch on whilst comfortably lying in her arms. "Oh she's mama's girl alright." She said with a smirk towards a very disgruntled Bucky.

Wanda watched the way her niece’s tiny hands clutched at Natasha’s skin as she drank yet her big green eyes stared directly at her auntie."I think you'll find she's a Wanda's girl."

"Watch it Maximoff. We can very easily strip you of that title." Bucky threatened, but he had a smile on his face. He loved how everyone loved Y/n.

"I'm not sure Y/n will be very happy about that."

*15 years ago*

"That's it Y/n, keep going." Wanda was encouraging her to stack her hoops in the correct order. The 2 year old shuffled around on her bottom as she clapped with delight, her teddy bear lying in her lap. Wanda watched her for a few more minutes before Clint called her name to ask her a question.

But Y/n hated the lack of attention. Being the only baby in the compound, she was used to everyone chatting to her and playing with her. So, when she found herself without anyone, she wasn't happy. She started whining, shuffling around to pull on Wanda's sleeves. But her auntie only offered her hand for Y/n to play with, which, for the 2 year old, was not enough. She whined louder, but Wanda only wiggled her fingers more.

Y/n held onto Wanda's hand and looked around. Her mama was sat on the couch next to Steve, and the 2 were chatting happily. Y/n whined again to try and get Nat's attention. She called out "Mama" but the room was loud so Nat didn't hear her.

Being a true Romanoff, Y/n was determined to get to Nat. She rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself to her feet. She wobbled slightly but stayed standing. The chatting had died down and Tony had started recording after seeing the little avenger on her feet. But Y/n didn't notice the new quiet room. She had her eyes set on Nat. Placing one foot in front of the other, she slowly waddled over to her mama, who had slid off the couch and was sat on the floor with her arms outstretched. Y/n took a few more wobbly steps, her destination almost touchable. With one more step she was scooped up into Nat's arms and they spun around together as the room erupted into cheers.

Y/n's bubbly laugh made everyone else laugh as they all celebrated. Her face was covered in kisses from both her mama and her papa and she kicked her legs happily as she settled on Nat's lap.

Nat bounced her daughter up and down on her knee, grinning at the giggles that Y/n let out. Her scarlett red hair had formed curls on the top of her tiny head and Nat ran her fingers through them. Her little miracle was the light of her life, and she had to pinch herself every now and then.

"You did such a good job baby!" Nat praised and Y/n pressed a messy kiss to her cheek. The toddler wiggled a bit on her mother's lap before she reached her arms out to Wanda.

"Wawa" she babbled, wanting attention from her aunt. Wanda internally squealed at the nickname that she had been gifted since the beginning and scooped Y/n into her arms.

"I love you I love you I love you!" She said as she also scattered kisses over her nieces face.

*11 years ago*

"Auntie Wanda?" 5 year old Y/n asked. "I don't wanna go to school anymore."

Wanda went to sit next to Y/n, who was sat on the bottom step of the stairs. "Why's that baby? You had so much fun last week."

Y/n stayed quiet for a moment before she spoke up. "I don't like it when people are mean to me. I wanna stay with you and mama and papa. You're nice to me."

Wanda's heart broke hearing her niece so sad. "Who's mean to you baby?"

"The boys in my class. They said I'm a carrot because of my hair. And someone put paint on my card that I made for Mama so she couldn't have it anymore." Y/N reached into her backpack and pulled out a piece of paper with a picture on it. There were 2 figures in the middle, which Wanda guessed were Y/n and Nat, and the sun had been painted in the background. But there was a thick black streak crossing the middle of the painting, it was obvious it wasn't supposed to be there.

"Oh baby." Wanda pulled her niece onto her knee. "I'm sure your mama will still love it. And you know what? I love it."

"Even though it's ruined?" Y/n asked, her big green eyes looking directly at Wanda.

"Yes. Because I can see it was beautiful. Do you know who ruined it?"

Y/n shrugged, which was understandable seeing as she had only been in school for 2 weeks. "The same boy who said I was a carrot. Bu- but I told him my hair is red, not orange, but he just laughed at me. And then everyone else did too. I don't wanna have red hair anymore."

"Y/n, look at me for a second.What do you think of mommy's hair?"

"Pretty" Y/n muttered.

"And mine?"

"Pretty"

"So why isn't yours pretty?"

"Because I don't look like mama. She's pretty but I don't look like that."

"Baby you're beautiful. And I don't know who's told you you don't look like your Mama, but you do. You're both beautiful, but you're prettier to me. But not with that frown. Can I see a smile?"

Y/n flashed her gappy toothy smile and Wanda laughed.

"Let's go show Mama your picture, yeah?"

Y/n didn't give her an answer, choosing the sprint away to find her mom, leaving Wanda on the stairs, grinning to herself.

*10 years ago*

"Wands? Can I come in?" Nat was stood outside her best friend's room, her hands clasping and unclasping together.

"Yeah sure it's unlocked."

The assassin carefully made her way into the room and took a seat on the edge of Wanda's bed. She was dressed in her black widow suit ready for a mission she was about to go on. But she had an important question.

"You leaving already?" Wanda commented but Nat didn't respond. "Nat?"

"Wands I need to ask you something. And I need you to answer truthfully."

"You're scaring me Nat. What's going on?"

Nat took a deep breath, her hands fiddling with her cuffs. "Will you promise to take care of Y/n when I'm gone?"

Wanda’s brow furrowed. "Of course. You know I always do. I love your kid." Y/n was her little angel, any moment they spent together was her favourite.

"No, I don't mean when I'm on a mission Wanda. I mean if I die. Will you promise to take care of her?" The redhead assassin was trying desperately to hold back her tears. Even though her daughter wasn’t so little anymore, she was almost 7, leaving on missions never got any easier.

"Nat I-"

"Please?!"

"You're not gonna die Nat, so you don't need to ask me. I'm not-"

Nat ran her hands over her face. "I can't go on this mission unless you tell me Wanda. I trust you. Bucky trusts you. We need to know Y/n is going to be safe if something happens to us. Please? I need to know my baby girl is gonna be ok without me."

Wanda moved to sit next to Nat and wrapped her in a hug. "I'll look after Y/n. But you cannot die. If you die, I will kill you. I cant lose you Nat. Please don't go."

Nat pressed her chin on the top of Wanda's head and kissed her softly. "I'll try my hardest."

The 2 stayed there for a few minutes before JARVIS alerted Nat it was time to go.

"I need to go and say bye to Y/n. Thank you Wanda. For everything."

And with that, she was gone.

*Now*

Wanda upheld her promise, always looking after Y/n when Nat was away. And luckily, both Nat and Bucky returned from that mission. And every mission up until now.

Wanda had been telling Y/n stories for a couple of hours, and finally the teenager was fast asleep, her old teddy bear tucked under her chin. That bear had been through everything that Y/n. The 2 were inseparable.

"They loved you Y/n. And they still do. They'll come home. I know it."

Wanda pressed a kiss to Y/n's forehead and buried down under the covers, laying an arm over her niece as a way of protecting her.

"Please come home, Nat. Y/n needs you... I need you." That was the last thought Wanda sent out into the universe before she fell asleep, praying Nat or Bucky would receive and there way home.

One day, hopefully.

#winterwidow #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x daughter!reader #natasha romanoff x reader #winterwidow x reader #winterwidow x daughter!reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x natasha romanoff #buckynat #buckynat x daughter!reader #wanda maximoff #marvel #fanfic #kaia speaks!

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

Peter Parker x widow!reader

I'm just imaging Natasha little sister coming to live at Stark tower and Peter falling head over heels

He just strikes me as the type to have a badass girlfriend while he's a softie

a/n: feels an appropriate for this to do a classic flirty sparring fic, don't you think? ♡

word count: 618

∼ gentle reminder that feedback, but especially reblogs are the way you support writers on here ∽

masterlist | join my taglist 

“You’re strong, right?” you nonchalantly asked as you passed Peter in the hallway, not stopping in your stride to wait for his answer. 

Doing a double take, he sputtered, “w-what?”

“Come with me,” you kept your eyes fixed forward as you called back to him, “I need someone to train with.”

“Uh, okay,” you heard his footsteps catch up to yours. 

Readjusting the protective wraps your fists were already enveloped in, you soon rounded the corner into the gym, briefly giving each of your arms a good stretch to each side on your determined stride towards the wide mat in the centre of the room. 

“Alright,” you spun around, gesturing for him to step closer, joining you on the square pad, “no webs or anything,” you rolled your neck, a quiet crack resounding at the stretch, “just some good old fashion one on one, yeah?”

“I really don’t wanna hurt you,” he exhaled lowly as you raised your clenched fists.

“Well, that makes one of us,” you chuckled, not needing any longer before pouncing, landing a swift blow to the side of his jaw, “come on, hit me!”

A grimace briefly blooming from where you struck him, he groaned, “I can’t, I’m sorry, it just feels wrong to hit a girl.”

“Parker,” you rolled your eyes and vocalised the reason for your choice of sparring partner, “I wanted a challenge, so give me a fucking challenge.”

Your leg arced all the way up to his shoulder, though your foot barely even managed a tap him before he had somehow twisted you down onto the floor, overpowering you with his staggering strength. Thinking that was enough, a soft smile curled up on Peter’s lips as he hovered above you, waiting for you to tap out. 

Though when your palm reluctantly came down upon the mat and you both got back up, you quickly hissed, “again!” 

“You sure you don’t wanna just-,” his sentence crumbled as you cut him off with yet another punch.

“I said again!” you tightened your core and spun up onto his shoulders in an attempt to take him down. Smirking as you felt him begin to tumble, the celebration sadly didn’t last very long as you didn’t land on your feet as you usually did, his instincts haven kicked in and sent you rolling across the floor.

All the air in your lungs got knocked out as your body collided with one of the sporadic pillars in the room, an excruciating pain flaring up in your right shoulder at the impact. 

“Oh my god,” Peter rushed to your side as you slowly sat up, “I am so so sorry, I swear I didn’t mean to-”

“Peter,” you groaned to shut him up, peeking down at your dislocated joint, “I’m fine,” your laboured breaths filled the air, “just pop it back into place.”

“What?”

Squinting up at his horrified features, you carefully got back up on your feet and murmured, “fine, I’ll just do it myself then,” before turning to face the column and pressing your injured shoulder against it. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Peter winched, “you could make it worse like that if you-” the loud snap as you rammed against the post, popping it back into place, effectively shut him up completely. 

“Sure, if you’re an idiot and don’t know how to do it,” you exhaled as the sharp stinging melted into a more bearable ache, “you have no idea how many times I've had it happen. Still remember the first time I had to figure out how to do it on my own. I was on an assignment in Düsseldorf, hiding in this closet and I couldn’t make a sound…”

© 2023 thyme-in-a-bubble 

#lea’s writing #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker imagine #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker x fem!reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker request #tasm!peter imagine #tasm!peter x reader #tasm!peter parker x reader #mcu!peter x reader #mcu!peter parker x reader #tasm!peter parker imagine #tasm!peter parker fanfiction #peter parker fluff #black widow!reader #peter parker x black widow!reader #peter parker x widow!reader

[ghelgheli]

According to Marx, metabolic rift appears in three different levels and forms. First and most fundamentally, metabolic rift is the material disruption of cyclical processes in natural metabolism under the regime of capital. Marx’s favourite example is the exhaustion of the soil by modern agriculture. Modern large-scale, industrial agriculture makes plants absorb soil nutrition as much as and as fast as possible so that they can be sold to customers in large cities even beyond national borders. It was Justus von Liebig’s Agricultural Chemistry (1862) and his theory of metabolism that prompted Marx to integrate an analysis of the ‘robbery’ system of agriculture into Capital. [...]

Liebig harshly criticized modern ‘robbery agriculture’ (Raubbau), which only aims at the maximization of short-term profit and lets plants absorb as many nutrients from the soil as possible without replenishing them. Market competition drives farmers to large-scale agriculture, intensifying land usage without sufficient management and care. As a consequence, modern capitalist agriculture created a dangerous disruption in the metabolic cycle of soil nutrients. [...]

Marx formulated the problem of soil exhaustion as a contradiction created by capitalist production in the metabolism between humans and nature. Insofar as value cannot fully take the metabolism between humans and nature into account and capitalist production prioritizes the infinite accumulation of value, the realization of sustainable production within capitalism faces insurmountable barriers.

This fundamental level of metabolic rift in the form of the disruption of material flow cannot occur without being supplemented and reinforced by two further dimensions. The second dimension of metabolic rift is the spatial rift. Marx highly valued Liebig in Capital because his Agricultural Chemistry provided a scientific foundation for his earlier critical analysis of the social division of labour, which he conceptualized as the ‘contradiction between town and country’ in The German Ideology. Liebig lamented that those crops that are sold in modern large cities do not return to the original soil after they are consumed by the workers. Instead, they flow into the rivers as sewage via water closets, only strengthening the tendency towards soil exhaustion.

This antagonistic spatial relationship between town and country – it can be called ‘spatial rift’ – is founded upon a violent process of so-called primitive accumulation accompanied by depeasantization and massive urban growth of the working-class population concentrated in large cities. This not only necessitates the long-distance transport of products but also significantly increases the demand for agricultural products in large cities, leading to continuous cropping without fallowing under large-scale agriculture, which is intensified even more through market competition. In other words, robbery agriculture does not exist without the social division of labour unique to capitalist production, which is based upon the concentration of the working class in large cities and the corresponding necessity for the constant transport of their food from the countryside. [...]

The third dimension of metabolic rift is the temporal rift. As is obvious from the slow formation of soil nutrients and fossil fuels and the accelerating circulation of capital, there emerges a rift between nature’s time and capital’s time. Capital constantly attempts to shorten its turnover time and maximize valorization in a given time – the shortening of turnover time is an effective way of increasing the quantity of profit in the face of the decreasing rate of profit. This process is accompanied by increasing demands for floating capital in the form of cheap and abundant raw and auxiliary materials. Furthermore, capital constantly revolutionizes the production process, augmenting productive forces with an unprecedented speed compared with precapitalist societies. Productive forces can double or triple with the introduction of new machines, but nature cannot change its formation processes of phosphor or fossil fuel, so ‘it was likely that productivity in the production of raw materials would tend not to increase as rapidly as productivity in general (and, accordingly, the growing requirements for raw materials)’ (Lebowitz 2009: 138). This tendency can never be fully suspended because natural cycles exist independently of capital’s demands. Capital cannot produce without nature, but it also wishes that nature would vanish. [...]

The contradiction of capitalist accumulation is that increases in the social productivity are accompanied by a decrease in natural productivity due to robbery [... i]t is thus essential for capital to secure stable access to cheap resources, energy and food. [...]

The exploration of the earth and the invention of new technologies cannot repair the rift. The rift remains ‘irreparable’ in capitalism. This is because capital attempts to overcome rifts without recognizing its own absolute limits, which it cannot do. Instead, it simply attempts to relativize the absolute. This is what Marx meant when he wrote ‘every limit appears a barrier to overcome’ (Grundrisse: 408). Capital constantly invents new technologies, develops means of transportation, discovers new use-values and expands markets to overcome natural limits. [...]

Corresponding to the three dimensions of metabolic rifts, there are also three ways of shifting them. First, there is technological shift. Although Liebig warned about the collapse of European civilization due to robbery agriculture in the 19th century, his prediction apparently did not come true. This is largely thanks to Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, who invented the so-called Haber-Bosch process in 1906 that enabled the industrial mass production of ammonia (NH3) by fixing nitrogen from the air, and thus of chemical fertilizer to maintain soil fertility. Historically speaking, the problem of soil exhaustion due to a lack of inorganic substances was largely resolved thanks to this invention. Nevertheless, the Haber-Bosch process did not heal the rift but only shifted, generating other problems on a larger scale.

The production of NH3 uses a massive amount of natural gas as a source of hydrogen (H). In other words, it squanders another limited resource in order to produce ammonia as a remedy to soil exhaustion, but it is also quite energy intensive, producing a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2) (responsible for 1 per cent of the total carbon emission in the world). Furthermore, excessive applications of chemical fertilizer leach into the environment, causing eutrophication and red tide, while nitrogen oxide pollutes water. Overdependence on chemical fertilizer disrupts soil ecology, so that it results in soil erosion, low water- and nutrient-holding capacity, and increased vulnerability to diseases and insects. Consequently, more frequent irrigation, a larger amount of fertilizer and more powerful equipment become necessary, together with pesticides. This kind of industrial agriculture consumes not just water but large quantities of oil also, which makes agriculture a serious driver of climate change. [...]

[T]here remains a constant need to shift the rift under capitalism, which continues to bring about new problems. This contradiction becomes more discernible in considering the second type of shifting the metabolic rift – that is, spatial shift, which expands the antagonism of the city and the countryside to a global scale in favour of the Global North. Spatial shift creates externality by a geographic displacement of ecological burdens to another social group living somewhere else. Again, Marx discussed this issue in relation to soil exhaustion in core capitalist countries in the 19th century. On the coast of Peru there were small islands consisting of the excrement of seabirds called guano that had accumulated over many years to form ‘guano islands’. [...]

In the 19th century, guano became ‘necessary’ to sustain soil fertility in Europe. Millions of tons of guano were dug up and continuously exported to Europe, resulting in its rapid exhaustion. Extractivism was accompanied by the brutal oppression of Indigenous people and the severe exploitation of thousands of Chinese ‘c**lies’ working under cruel conditions. Ultimately, the exhaustion of guano reserves provoked the Guano War (1865–6) and the Saltpetre War (1879–84) in the battle for the remaining guano reserves. As John Bellamy Foster and Brett Clark (2009) argue, such a solution in favour of the Global North resulted in ‘ecological imperialism’. Although ecological imperialism shifts the rift to the peripheries and makes its imminent violence invisible in the centre, the metabolic rift only deepens on a global scale through long-distance trade, and the nutrient cycle becomes even more severely disrupted.

The third dimension of metabolic shift is the temporal shift. The discrepancy between nature’s time and capital’s time does not immediately bring about an ecological disaster because nature possesses ‘elasticity’. Its limits are not static but modifiable to a great extent. Climate crisis is a representative case of this metabolic shift. Massive CO2 emissions due to the excessive usage of fossil fuels is an apparent cause of climate change, but the emission of greenhouse gas does not immediately crystallize as climate breakdown. Capital exploits the opportunities opened up by this time lag to secure more profits from previous investments in drills and pipelines. Since capital reflects the voice of current shareholders, but not that of future generations, the costs are shifted onto the latter. As a result, future generations suffer from consequences for which they are not responsible. Marx characterized such an attitude inherent to capitalist development with the slogan ‘Après moi le déluge!’ (Capital I: 381).

This time lag generated by a temporal shift also induces a hope that it would be possible to invent new epoch-making technologies to combat against the ecological crisis in the future. In fact, one may think that it is better to continue economic growth which promotes technological development, rather than over-reducing carbon dioxide emissions and adversely affecting the economy. However, even if new negative emission technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) are invented, it will take a long time for them to spread throughout society and replace the old ones. In the meantime, the environmental crisis will continue to worsen due to our current inaction. As a result, the expected effects of the new technology can be cancelled out.

Kohei Saito, Marx in the Anthropocene

#reading #kohei saito #as promised #long post

[balkanradfem]

I keep thinking everyone knows the exact same information as me, but since I'm about to make more posts about textiles and clothing, as I'm reading the book on them, I'm going to write down some basic information, just in case it's not very common, because a lot of this I only gathered recently. If I get something wrong please correct me in a kind way!

So where does the clothing come from, and how do we make it? During most of the history, textiles were made by women, from natural materials; flax, wool, cotton, silk, jute. Recently we started using more synthetic materials, like acrylic, polyester, nylon, spandex. If you want to make clothing from the natural materials, like wool or cotton, they first need to be processed, cleaned and combed, then spun into yarn, or thread. Spinning is the process where women manage to pull a thin part of the material and spin the fibres into one consistent, firm thread. It's super impressive to watch them do it and I have no idea how they manage to make it consistent, I've not yet tried to do it myself.

Once the thread is done, it can be made into a textile by knitting, crochet, or weaving. There are also other more complex, decorative methods, like tatting or lacing.

For knitting, you need two needles, or a special circular needle, or, there are also knitting machines, which you can use to make woolen fabric. For weaving, you need a loom. For crochet, you need a crochet hook. While knitting and weaving can be done by a machine, crochet can only be done by hand. Woven fabrics are firm, sturdy, durable, and not stretchy, while knit fabric is the most stretchy and soft. I'm not sure about crochet since I only have one crochet garment, but mine is very sturdy!

All of these methods were historically done by women; families were able to grow flax plants close to their homes, and women would then create linens, woven textiles made from processed flax, which was used to make sheets and clothing. Linen was specifically useful in keeping people clean, since it's very good at absorbing moisture. Used as an under-garment, it was capable of absorbing sweat, and protecting the outer layers, which were not washed. Experiments have shown that frequently changing into clean linen was more effective at keeping clean than showering and then putting on the same clothing back on.

Women's ability to create clothing was sadly exploited, and women were even banned to sell it commercially, or from competing at the commercial market, but their husbands were allowed to profit off of their craft.

In the USA, cotton was the most produced material, however for this too people were enslaved and exploited; cotton took human labour to grow, harvest and process, it also required a lot of water, and caused destruction of environment, because of the chemicals used in it's growth, and the unsustainability of monocrops.

Creating a piece of clothing out of textiles, or sewing, is a process that still cannot be completely automated; while you can use a sewing machine, you cannot make a machine that would produce a whole garment out of textiles. No mass-produced piece of clothing was sewn by a machine, it always has to be made by a human being. This is why a lot of the sewing labour is currently outsourced to third-world countries and companies use modern slavery in order to create fast fashion; there is no machine that can do it, so by the rules of capitalism, the companies are trying to get that labour as cheap as possible, often at the cost of human lives.

We didn't use to have as many garments as we do today, in the 18th century people would have two outfits, one for normal days of the week, and one for Sunday. The clothing they owned was usually made to fit them exactly, either by a female member of the family, or a seamstress, and these garments were made to last them for decades. As clothing became cheaper to buy than to make at home, and more of it became mass-produced, people started acquiring more of it, but also using it for lesser period of time. This would eventually grow into a bigger problem, due to the amount of chemicals and labour used to grow, process, dye and sew the garments, and the amount of waste we were starting to accumulate.

Introduction of synthetic materials, like acrylic, made the yarn and the textiles much cheaper, however it lacks the important properties natural materials have. Do you ever notice how synthetic garments sometimes continue smelling bad even after you wash them? That is because they'll absorb sweat, but become hydrophobic when wet, meaning they will take in your sweat, but refuse to let it go once they're in the water. This means that the longer you have them, the worst their stink becomes. This, of course, can be hidden by the generous use of scented fabric softener, but it won't exactly make the garment clean. This information I've learned recently, but it helped me identify what were the most synthetic pieces of clothing I had. Acrylic clothing had also proven to shed 1.5 more microplastics than any other polyester when put into the washing machine.

Having our clothing grown, processed, spun, woven/knit, and then sewn far out of sight, it's possible to lose the sight of where it came from, or how it's made. Only by trying to do it yourself, or learning closely about the process can one learn to appreciate what a monumental task it is, to create fabric, or a garment. Other than the synthetic textiles, of which I still know very little of, all of the natural clothing is a product of plants and animals, it takes land, farming, agriculture and water to grow the plants, raise the animals, and then labour to process and spin the fibres. It's also something people used to do in their gardens, inside of their homes, something that was normal for women to do, and to trade for anything else they needed, saving them from having to work for wages. Women making fabric was always to the benefit of everyone around them, while m*n taking over the industry and doing it commercially, ultimately brought slave labour to a lot of people, cheap and low quality garments to the select few, and money to the hands of the exploiters.

Being curious about clothing and what becomes of it, is a big benefit to the environment and the future of the earth! Knowing what the textile industry is doing, and how does it affect the planet, can be a great motivator to try and sew, or upcycle and mend clothing, or create garments. It's presented to us as something women were forced to do in the past, and it's connected to 'feminine hobbies', but in actuality, it is power to create something humans cannot do without. Women in the past used it's power too, whenever they could. And we are the only ones who ever used this power for good.

#textiles #clothing #linen #women's history #herstory #radical feminism #sewing #weaving #crochet #synthetic fiber #random information on clothing i've gathered #i feel much smarter so i wanna share! #if anyone knows more and wants to share please add #my sources are the book Worn #and dozens of youtube videos on textiles I've watched recently

[seat-safety-switch]

For a couple years, I worked in a video store in a small town. In many ways, this was the culmination of a childhood dream: routine, unchallenging labour. If you were a particularly annoying labour analyst, all I actually ever “did” was ring up rentals, restock returns in the morning, and clean the windows. Customer service has its own way of filling the space left by the actual work, though.

People who have worked retail are a sort of elite corps. For one thing, you’re never rude to another retail employee for the entire rest of your life. You’ve been in the trenches, too, and even if you somehow managed to escape, you’d still have had that shared trauma to know how bad that shift could get for that shelf-stocker at Maybe’s Drugs off I-40.

I have all the usual complaints, but there’s something else, too. My unique problem is this: I had this one customer who came in every Monday morning, asking for the same movie. We never had that movie, which is the crux of our conflict. He – and I can’t remember his name anymore, even if the electroshock therapy had been effective – never took “no” for an answer, and would come back the next week. He’d ask for the same thing, by title. No other details: no barcode, no publisher, no actors. Not even a description of the plot (he hadn’t seen it yet, obviously.) Now, this was before broadband internet was widely available, so I’d have to dial up after hours to America Online, and see if the movie had been added to their database. It never did, except one night I saw some folks talking about it in a video store chat room.

Their customers, too, were asking for this film. Insistently. After talking about it that night, we decided that we would form a bit of a trade union group. If any of us heard anything on this mysterious VHS, we would share the knowledge with the rest of the group. That retail-worker camaraderie at work again, you see. Nothing ever came of it, but I did end up becoming good friends with a manager at a Hobart’s Movies in Ames, Iowa, and we were even roommates for awhile before he got a new job at Seaworld. I moved on, too, making my slow, but inevitably in retrospect, drift towards the coast. Still, the whole thing bothered me. For years afterward, I would turn on my computer every Monday night, long after I had left the job, and search for any clue as to the existence of this film.

Once, on a day off, I called a librarian, who got pissy at me for even asking about it, and demanded to know who had put me up to calling her as a prank. I hung up in a panic, but she called back for hours. Obviously, she was also undergoing the same situation, and I felt shame at having brought a momentary pain to another proud Retail-American.

Now, video rental stores are a thing of the past. Even in small towns, they have been reduced to just a fond memory and an abandoned corner of a strip mall. Maybe my customer’s quest doesn’t matter anymore. The aggregation of the world’s knowledge into one hissing, unseen beast at the centre of our collective technological hallucination is complete. If they don’t have it, pick a different one. All I know is that, one day, someone will find a copy of this movie, and I’ll be able to go back to that town and shove it in the ground where the video store once stood. On that day, I can finally rest, freed from the slavedriver that is Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.

[iberiancadre]

Blaming job precarity on labour protections, thay is some real neoliberal shit for a post tagged "real marxist hours". Are you sure there aren't any other causes? Like, I don't know, the recessions and crashes of 2008/2012/2014/2020, tolerance of employers who hire and pay under the table, insufficient protections for people affected by the practice (especially non-EU workers), relative disregard for unions in labour law negotiations, inequalities in infrastructure distribution and so on? None of those things are essential parts of social democracy, they're the consequences of right-wing attacks on it, and Spain's specific failures at social democracy are not universal nor a reflection of the system in general.

And the issue of colonial and post-colonial exploitation wasn't addressed sufficiently in marx's very works either, or under any application of socialism in a country already high-up in the hierarchy of imperialism (remember when a certain socialist country became one of the largest fossil fuel producers by drilling oil on indigenous land, effectively turning most of "its" territory into a settler colonial regime servicing the state oil industry? Talk about funding public expenses through imperialism!)

All of what you're saying sounds great and would be valid if they weren't objectively false. I don't think you're usamerican (the target audience of the post you're replying to) but you sure sound like one. If you aren't, we'll I'm sorry but you're just ignorant:

btw this is in relation to this post in case anyone wants to read it

"Blaming job precarity on labor protections sounds like neoliberalism" If by protecting labor you mean legalizing and protecting a type of work that allows workers to spend most of the year effectively unemployed, unable to claim unemployment because they're technically employed, and also prevents them from getting a second job because they are at the mercy of their first employer's needs? Then yeah, I am blaming labor protections for job precarity. This is one especially egregious example of what the socdems in this country have done, and it's funny you mention neolibs because this new law allowing "fixed discontinuous" work is a direct continuation of the 2012 labor reform done by neoliberals. I am blaming a precarious form of work which already has millions of contracts under it for precarious work.

I'll remind you also that marxists/communists are not just the people to the left of socdems or progressives or how you may call it. We reject the very system all those other ideologies operate within, therefore any criticism aimed towards social-democracy isn't comparable to neoliberalism because it's levied from a completely different framework.

"The recessions of 2008/2012/2014/2020 are a cause of precarious work and a consequences of right-wing attacks" it's funny you mention 4 crisis because it leads very well into the point about recessions. Capitalism, because of the anarchic nature of its production and focus on maximizing profit, has cyclical recessions regardless of who is managing capitalism at the moment. Recessions in capitalism have occurred since capitalism first took form, because of mechanisms like overproduction (capital tends to produce too much, inflating stockpiles and eventually necessitating a sudden drop in prices) and the falling rate of profit:

The rate of profit is the total portion of value that capitalists as a class are able to extract from the working class after paying off their costs. Because of reasons too complex to explain here (but you can look at graphs and verify that it always tends to fall), the rate of profit tends to fall and diminish. The only times it ever increases is because of destruction of capital and/or productive forces, such as during a war, or because of superprofits enabled by imperialism. This rate of profit has been getting smaller and smaller, it temporarily rises after recessions and it also means capitalism will either destroy itself or destroy the human race in an effort to raise it. The rate of profit is not applicable to individual companies or even sectors, it is a capitalist class wide trend.

Going back to the point of recessions, they aren't the sole reason for precarious work. they certainly worsen it, but the point of the post is that social-democracy not only does not alleviate this particular problem, but they are also fully capable of worsening it. They are doing this in Spain and in other countries too.

"Tolerance of employers who pay under the table is a cause of precarious work and a consequence of right-wing attacks" First of all, this wasn't the kind of precarious work I was talking about in the post innit?. Apart from that, who do you think is tolerating extralegal work. Is the right-wing forcing social-democrat governments across the world to tolerate this? Of course not. Work that isn't regulated by a contract is useful to the bourgeoisie because it keeps a portion of the working class in a limbo between unemployment and employment, allowing the reserve army of labor to not shrink while also exploiting a part of this reserve army and generally lowering costs. Social-democracy tolerates this because it is just one manager of capitalism, and they fundamentally serve the class interests of the infrastructure because they are part of the superstructure. This is true regardless of how much they like to talk like pro-worker communists and how much welfare they instate.

"Insufficient protection for people under irregular work contracts or no contracts, especially inmigrants, is a cause of precarious work and a consequence of right-wing attacks" This is also not the kind of precarious work I was talking about in the post. Regardless, the reason for this is similar to the one I explained above, it is convenient of capitalism to have workers halfway between employment and unemployment, and social-democracy protects capitalism. It's really insidious of you to bring up non-european workers and their exploitation while defending social-democracy, since the various European progressive and left-of-center governments have all contributed one way or another to NATO's interventions in SWANA and West Africa, the very places these inmigrant workers come from, escaping the violence these governments have caused, sponsored and benefitted from. I've already addressed who benefits from the cheap labor these inmigrants and refugees produce.

"Disregard of unions in labor law negotiations is a cause of precarious work and a consequence of right-wing attacks" Oh boy have I talked about unions on this blog. In short, unions are not the magic wand which makes exploitation disappear that so many people on this website and app seem to think they are. Their only function is to achieve temporary better working conditions while staying within the bounds of capitalism and salary work. This is also a point that's really funny to make while talking about the social-democrat precarious labor reforms because they signed it with the full approval of every big labor union in Spain. Another aspect of unions that I addressed in the linked post is that they also serve as the lapdogs of social-democracy. Something that happens in every single country where social-democrats are in power including the usamerican leftist's crush, the nordic countries.

Socialism-communism isn't when UBI, good wages and beating the capitalists at their own game. It's the complete overthrow of a bourgeois system to replace it with a proletariat system, it is rejecting the workings of the game at which social-democrats and labor unions pretend to try to win.

"Inequalities in infrastructure distribution is a cause of precarious work and a consequence of right-wing attacks" I'm not exactly sure if by infrastructure you're referring to like, roads and railways, or infrastructure in the sense of the avenues through which the state provides welfare, subsidies, etc. Either way, the inequality in the distribution of things like communication networks, utilities and state programs is one of the many contradictions inseparable from capitalism. I thought the point of "inequality is inherent to capitalism" was like, leftism 101. Is anon aware that social-democracy is still capitalism? Universal healthcare and government programs are not going to solve the unavoidable effects of the capitalist mode of production. That's what revolutionary marxism is for.

"So many more things are a cause for precarious work and a consequence of right-wing attacks" I can't answer if you don't give me more concrete examples, sadly. But I hope it's become clear to the reader why social-democracy is not the way to solve all of this issues, and why it is actually interested in keeping it around.

"None of those things are essential to social-democracy, and Spain's particular case isn't reflective of social-democracy in general" If I were a lesser man I'd say you sound like what "tankies" sound like to anti-communists when we address the mistakes and failings of proletariat states. But I don't think this would be a good answer to you, and I get the point you're making. Social-democracy is one variant of government in bourgeois democracies.

For this point to make sense to you, anon, (im really trying to be patient here, if I come across as condescending it's not intentional) you have to first understand that marxists believe, noht without reason, that the primary character of any state is the economic system that it protects. In our case, this system, the infrastructure, is capitalism, so the state and any party that governs it (part of the superstructure) will keep protecting capitalism because that is what's in its class interests. Individual people are able to go against class interests, but individual actions are close to irrelevant when we talk about the infrastructure.

It's not that every aspect discussed is essential to social-democracy, it's that social-democracy is essential to capitalism, which in turn ensures the existence of these problems. You're putting the cart before the horse.

With that denser part out of the way, regarding Spain's case. The post you're replying to wasn't meant to be an exhaustive treaty on the class character of social-democracy. It's a rant complaining about seeing usamericans championing the very fucking same talking points and policies that I see every single day fail. I know that social-democracy across various countries is different when it comes to these particular cases. But their class character is the same and their function within imperialist capitalism is the same.

To the second part of the ask now.

"The issue of colonialism wasn't very discussed in Marx's works" Yeah I know. Maybe you're under the impression that marxists are blind followers of Marx, I understand. But if you ask any actual marxist or communist, they'll acknowledge that Marx and Engels lacked in a lot of places (especially Engels in anthropology, he was very racist and uninformed in that regard). Which is why we also recommend people read other works such as Lenin's, which as far as I'm aware popularized the term of imperialism as a descriptor for capitalism, and the concept of dividing capitalism into stages, so many pseudo-communists like to say. There is also a myriad of work about imperialist capitalism written by colonialized people, such as Frantz Fanon or Eduardo Galeano. These are the places where marxist theory is most developed regarding colonialism, and it's where the idea of social-democracies in imperial core countries benefitting from imperialism in every instance comes from.

As a side note on marxism, the reason it's called that is not because we treat every work of Marx like holy texts, but because the analytical framework that his works establish and develop is the basis for any analysis and criticism of class conflict and revolutionary communism. We do not blindly follow what he says, we take his works (or any marxist work for that matter), instead, we analyze, critique and explore the ideas presented.

"The USSR was imperialist" (this is basically what anon is saying in the last portion of the ask) Imperialism is a specific stage in the development of capitalism, characterized by the export and tendency to monopoly of capital. It is a concrete economic descriptor that is useful to a specific timeframe in history. It is not, however, when a big country does something in a small country and expands. This definition, while simpler and more useful to the liberal status-quo, is functionally useless to define a state when it can be applied to the Greek colonization of the Mediterranean in the 6th century BC, the trading kingdoms of South East Asia, the Roman state before Caesar and the prinicipate, the germanic tribes that moved into souther Europe, the mongol state (and later states) that stretched from the sea of Japan to Hungary and from the arctic circle to Persia, the Incas and Aztecs, the HRE, the Iriquois confederacy (I'm not that sure on this one, but I'm including it because they were quite big and that's what qualifies as an empire to some people), the various rich kingdoms of west Africa, the modern USA and a long etcetera.

The more popular definition of imperialism, the one that somehow tries to coherently categorize all of the examples above and more under the same word, essentially boils down to territorial expansion. It should be called expanisonism, not imperialism. So if you're using that definition, and it looks like it, then yeah, the USSR was expanisonist. Extending the proletariat state against bourgeois states is good, actually.

I don't know what you think settler-colonialism is, but extracting fossil fuels definitely isn't it. Also, the oil and gas was extracted by the corresponding republics within the USSR. Many smaller republics, such as Turkmenistan, could specialize in fossil fuel extraction because the USSR guaranteed that the goods they didn't produce would reach them regardless. This is one of the reason the capitalist shock therapy posg-1991 forced onto the ex-soviet republics was so catastrophic, their production was organized under the assumption that they wouldn't need to sell off half their country to access basic consumer goods from a capitalist market.

Goddamn was that a long post to type on a phone. If anyone, including anon, replies to this with a low effort insult or to what they think I said instead of what was written on the post, I'm going to block you without exception. you've all been warned

#real marxist hours #you better fucking read this anon

[leggerefiore]

Hey, I saw that your requests are open so I wanted to ask how Maxie, Archie, Cyrus and maybe some other characters of your choice would be like as dads, if you want to write about that ^^;

anon don't let me make more pokemen dilfs.

uhhh took this as a /reader thing since that's how my blog is.

cw: afab reader, light mentions of pregnancy and birth, mostly focused on villains being dads, mentions of termination for a second in cyrus's part,

characters: Maxie, Archie, Cyrus, Volo

☀️Maxie🌋

🪨 When you first told the Magma Leader the news, he had nearly fainted. He was certain he had been careful, but his mind instantly drew a few times such a thing could have occurred. Maxie actually needs to be supported by how limp his limbs go. Truly, he did not know how to handle the idea he was going to be a father. For some reason, his brain recalled the child who had opposed his team as he debated his next move. Being a dad did not sound awful to him. He just was completely unsure as to what to do.

🪨 Somehow, he managed to get over his immediate hesitations and considered the positives. The redhead was not getting any younger, after all. He had felt a strange uncle-like care for the child who had stopped him. It was not so bad having a child to look out for, he thought. Plus, he had beaten Archie in something again. He soon found himself pouring countless hours into guides and information related to parenthood and fatherhood. Being well-informed was the first step he felt.

🪨 He had his ups and downs throughout the pregnancy before finally having a full-on breakdown during labour. His practised stern expression gone with his sanity. They had to give him a bag for his frantic breathing, and he had to be removed from the room. He would later apologise for his behaviour, but it was all too surreal for him. But, in the end, he stares in wonder at the newborn. The small boy's weight in his arms was so light, yet so heavy. Tufts of red hair decorated his head as Maxie took in another shaky breath.

🪨 It was a struggle actually adjusting to parenthood. Reading was one thing, a screaming baby at one in the morning was another. Still, he powered through it all. There was something enchanting to watch as the baby grew more and more aware. His son seemed to grow an affinity for grabbing at his hair or trying to take his glasses while making interesting coos and gurgles at him. He was not sure just what kind of person they would grow into, but he was determined to help try to raise them into a person who would be mindful of the environment and kind.

🪨 As they grew, Maxie found himself seeing too much of himself in his son. They could be just as stubborn and unyielding as he was, while being oddly fascinated with geology as he was. He even had to stop his son from eating dirt at one point, which stirred unfortunate youthful memories out of the Magma Leader. Despite how they would butt heads, Maxie felt strangely in tune with him. He loved letting his son read his reports and explaining the different meanings held within.

🪨 He felt especially cocky when he introduced Archie to his boy, smirking at how the pirate seemingly was lost as to how the redhead actually reproduced. Before he could rub his life achievement in his face, Archie knelt down and ruffled the boy's head with a friendly grin. He bit his tongue. The Aqua Leader congratulated his counterpart genuinely and told the boy to keep an eye out for his old man. All Maxie could do was grumble in return.

🪨 He tries to be fair, but he knows boundaries are important and healthy for children. The effects of being too permissive with children often led to the creation of troublesome people, after all. Though he does not want his son to feel rejected and like Maxie does not care for him, he makes sure to have actual discussions with his son about why and how with things. He does feel like his child has a good understanding of these things in the end but feels like he accidentally imposed many of his mannerisms onto his son.

🪨 Team Magma ends up talking about the so-named mini Maxie frequently. The obvious resemblance between their leader and his son is just so fascinating. Even Courtney wishes to coo over an almost perfect clone of her leader. Tabitha just nervously laughs whenever the boy follows his dad in to watch the Magma scientists work. He is very well accepted, no matter his age. Grunts even nervously act as properly as they do when their leader strolls in.

🪨 Overall, Maxie ends up as a slightly overbearing parent who tries to understand his kid and have them understand him back. He goes from being nervous about parenthood to being deeply grateful for the change. His son brought an odd new purpose into his life after everything that had happened with Groudon. He truly enjoys every moment spent with his family.

🌧Archie🌊

💧 When you told Archie about the news, he scooped you up like you weighed nothing and spun you around excitedly. The Aqua Leader had been feeling like something was missing from his life, and he feels like you just answered it. There is no hesitation or doubt from the man — No, this must be his destiny. The little scamp that had been his odd rival while he tried to awaken Kyogre made him realise how nice being a dad could be. He instantly begins to ramble off assorted ideas and plans while you can only stare at him.

💧 Honestly, he probably had been unconsciously trying for a child. Archie thought back on his own youth with both happy and confused feelings. Having a kid could be really difficult, he realised. Shelly came in to save him by gifting him a bunch of parenting books and reminding him that it was a genuinely serious change in his life. He suddenly felt more grounded, for lack of a better word, in his thoughts. Plus, he had beaten Maxie in something! Not that he really thought his rival wanted a kid, though.

💧 He does simply everything for you during your pregnancy. Archie proves just how dedicated he can be to a goal with his attentiveness to you. Even during the birth, he stood at your side with a bright grin and endless support. Though, internally, he would admit he was panicking just a bit. This was still a dangerous process, even if he treated the doctors and whatever else. Though, when everything calmed down and a small infant was laid in your arms, his heart just felt full. A little girl was now the newest and most important member of his crew.

💧 His adjustment to life with a baby is something amazing. It seemed he really took all the advice in those books to heart, as he just accepted his sleep schedule was going to be ruined until the poor girl found a schedule. Archie did not mind, simply happy to see more and more of the little thing. He even found a good nickname for her when she held a small death grip on his beard. His little Clamperl. She was quite fond of laughing and giggling, too, which made his heart feel even warmer. However, sadly, everyone around him stuck down him wanting to try infant swimming classes.

💧 As she grew, Archie was a bit amazed about how she seemed to be just like him. A strong affinity for water and loving to just be around people. Both of them could just spend all day on the beach and in the water playing around, making Archie think back to his own youth. He had loved the ocean then as much as he loved it now and is glad to pass his love on to his daughter. The Aqua Leader adored teaching her all about marine life and the many creatures that lurked in the waiting waves. She seemed to absorb the information like a sponge.

💧 He felt smug when Maxie saw him and his daughter in Slateport. The redhead stood stunned at the little girl holding his rival's hand tightly. The Magma Leader approached with careful steps. The girl just beamed up at him. Maxie actually smiled back at her. He shot a glance at Archie. He carefully listened to the little girl excitedly telling him about the Chinchou she saw. The Aqua Leader's feelings changed. Maxie almost seemed proud of him. Before Maxie departed, he congratulated Archie and told the girl to keep her dad in line. She just grinned up at him.

💧 He is a bit too lenient with his daughter, he knows. The girl simply deserves everything he feels, and he struggles to tell her no. Of course, he does know the importance of setting up boundaries for kids so they do not get all out of control. Though, he absolutely struggles with punishments, sadly. His softness, thankfully, is not taken advantage of because his daughter is just as oddly good-natured as he is.

💧 His team is just eager to have his daughter around. She loves playing around with the grunts, even when it ends with her horribly beating them in a pokemon battle. Everyone just sees her like another Archie, almost. She is just less likely to give out orders. Shelly simply adores the girl and loves dressing her up or just hanging out with her while Archie is too busy to be with her. Matt, on the other hand, is overly protective over her. The poor guy is terrified that his bro's daughter is in danger because of how small she is. Granted, she is very safe because the entirety of Team Aqua would hunt whoever hurt her down.

💧 In the end, he is quite excited to be a father and eager to do everything he possibly can for his child. He struggles a bit when it comes to pushing back on her and is probably too permissive for it to be good, but his example of bring redeeming himself from his past actions and genuinely caring for pokemon and the sea sets a good example for her. She quickly adopts many of his interests in protecting the environment, and he feels certain that his change of heart after Kyogre was all for good with that.

🌌Cyrus🛰

☄️ When you told Cyrus of the news, he froze. His entire world seemingly paused, and the only thing he could hear was the sound of his heart racing. Father… Him? No, he could not. What a terrifying thought. His own childhood creeping up his back as he debated how to most kindly ask for a possible termination. Your immediate refusal shook him even more. Losing you was not something that he believed he could bear in this world, so sickeningly consumed by spirit. Could you not just wait for his perfect world to start a family?

☄️ He relents after his initial panic. Your joy is apparent with how you speak to the unborn child and loving place a hand over where they should be. Was twenty-seven an appropriate age to start a family? He supposed there was little time to consider. Immediately, he found himself drowning in guides upon guides upon books and informational videos until he felt somewhat confident in what being a parent entailed. He absolutely dreaded every coming minute of it, but he refused to make that apparent to his future child. Cyrus would not dare even imitate his parents.

☄️ Amazingly, he managed to stay by your side during the stages of labour. While he almost constantly wanted to leave the room, horrified but what he could only blame on spirit, he remained and forced his feelings down to support you and advocate when you were unable to. You seemed grateful for his unfaltering support in the end, smiling as you held the infant girl in your arms. Cyrus felt amazed by her very existence. Soft blue tufts were on her head, while her face seemed frozen in a familiar expression. You called her a mini Cyrus. He could only feel awestruck.

☄️ He struggled immensely in the shift after bringing her home. Thankfully, it was less due to the constant awakenings (as his insomnia made that easy enough to deal with) but more so how she simply existed in his space. Her cries broke his heart, making him fear he was already falling into the ways of his parents. Yet, he found that she was straightforward to comfort, simply craving to be held and softly spoken to. Her eyes, the same colour as his, adoringly stared up at him, and he suddenly felt warm inside.

☄️ Her growing up was both a relief and torment to him. She proved herself just as reclusive as he could be and not interested in any other kids for the most part. Cyrus felt strange seeing his daughter hidden in her room and burying herself in whatever hobby she had decided to indulge in. It was like staring into a mirror that reflected one's younger days. He found himself being someone she could talk to about her hobbies, happy to listen at any time. Cyrus felt even more stunned whenever she followed him to his office and watched how he worked on his machines. It slowly turned into him explaining everything to her and her wishing to help him.

☄️ He flinched at how Cynthia caught him out at the Veilstone department store with his daughter one day. The champion stared in silence at them for a moment before falling into her unusual polite grin and waving at the small girl. Cyrus knew that the blonde would not do anything to her yet still felt strangely nervous about how she had gazed at him specifically. The babbled quietly to Cynthia about her interests, and she could only smile more at the girl. When the woman finally left, her final glance back at him spoke too many words. “You accepted this world, didn't you?” Had he? Cyrus forced those thoughts away.

☄️ He, truthfully, is quite soft as a parent. What he has been through has made him terrified of ever inflicting such pain onto a child. Cyrus is much too weak when it comes to his daughter and folds into himself for what she asks for. He strangely finds her already perfect. In fact, he dared to even say her spirit was somehow complete. He does make sure she understands social norms and boundaries, still, but she seems to come to understand on her own all the same. The only downside is that he struggles to be affectionate with her, only allowing himself the rare hug and mostly relying on petting her head.

☄️ Team Galactic is oddly obsessed with their boss's mysterious child. How she just showed up one day after Cyrus took an unexpected few weeks off. They all found themselves engaged in watching how she mimicked her father unknowingly. Mars and Jupiter love playing with the little girl, seeing a need for a more feminine touch in her life and finding her fun to dress up. While Saturn seemingly finds himself on babysitting duty whenever Cyrus gets busy. He secretly enjoys these moments and shows her games on his computer. The grunts are constantly getting jumpscared by her accidental glare.

☄️ Overall, he struggles quite a bit with his own childhood, but desperately does not want his beloved child to ever go through what he had. Cyrus leans probably strict in some ways, yet extremely permissive and passive in other ways. At first, the idea of parenthood nearly makes him ill, but he somehow moves past it into deeply enjoying the connection he has with his daughter. While he still has not accepted this painfully incomplete world, he feels his daughter is leading him to another possible answer to his inquiries and wishes to see what she thinks when she is at an age to understand. Perhaps he would even dare let her make the new world herself.

💫Volo📜

⭐️ When you told him the news, he sincerely debated fleeing and hiding again. Being a parent was a terrifying concept to him. He simply was not someone who had much interest in establishing a family line. After all, he had made very obvious his intentions to continue pursuing Hisui's myths to one day finish his goals. While he may have relented to whatever kind of relationship this was, he was not sure a child was something he needed. Then you mentioned that his child would come from one chosen by Arceus, and he suddenly gave in.

⭐️ He supposes that a child from both his blood of the ancient Sinnoh people and yours from that of one chosen by Arceus sounded too good. Besides, he had begun to wonder what should happen if he failed in his endeavours. A descendant could carry on where he left off, even possibly creating the world he so desired and bringing him back should he die. His acceptance is quiet and subtle. He finds himself listening to men and women about their experiences of being parents as he wanders around Hisui. Bravely, he even questions Cogita about what is entailed, intriguing her.

⭐️ He could not be at your side for any process of the delivery since he was very much wanted for his crimes in Jubilife, but he was somewhat doting during the pregnancy. He attempted to get whatever you requested, though he felt like he was going a bit mad when you sent him out hunting for seemingly endless leeks out in the wilds. Volo was mostly following Cogita's instructions here. It was about a week after the birth when you finally managed to sneak out of the village with the infant for him to finally greet the child. He could only stare at the sleeping face of his daughter in mild bewilderment. Soft golden tufts were across her head as she nuzzled into his warmth. His heart felt oddly heavy.

⭐️ When you finally escaped back to his home, he felt distressed by how needy the child was. Crying nearly relentlessly and needing attention more than he expected, yet before he could complain, he realised how he felt about those thoughts. Quickly, he shut them down and took to intently caring for the child. How could he have even thought such a thing about his child? He felt ill. Her confused coos and giggles at lease forced the pain out of his heart. She always seemed so entranced with his hair and desperately tried to grab it. Her grey eyes held pure adoration as she turned her head to find him whenever he was not holding her.

⭐️ As she grew, he became worried. His own youth was extremely difficult and lonely. The only person he felt he could turn to was rarely around, so he always found himself alone and ruminating on his complicated feelings. It all seemed pointless with how easily she spoke with other people. A bit like him, he supposed. Her intrigue with his investigations of ruins and myths drew her in, too. The girl listening to her father go on and on about history and stories of myths. Volo felt oddly eager. It seemed his legacy would inherit his interests. She began joining him to look over ruins and learn the culture of the ancient Sinnoh people.

⭐️ Cogita seemed smitten with his daughter, he had noticed. The older woman had often been there for him in his youth, and now it appeared her intentions remained the same for the girl. If his partner was busy while he was, too, he found her more than willing to babysit. She shared just as many myths to the girl as he had. The girl seemed utterly fascinated with everything, just as he had been. Though, he could feel the slight glare Cogita would give him when he listened in. It seemed she was more than aware of his darker plans.

⭐️ Volo is not really sure how to parent. He tries to be supportive towards his daughter, but struggles to understand if what he is doing is right or wrong. His parents were not exactly around him enough to help him even now by an example. He almost ends up treating her like a pokemon. Firm boundaries and obvious things you do and do not do. She has many moments of frustration towards the blond, which he entirely understands. Though, he does find himself overly protective of her. He feels she is in danger as the hero of Hisui's child alongside being his own, not mentioning the general danger of Hisui alone.

⭐️ From what he hears, the Galaxy Team simply adores her. Laventon cannot stop himself from going on and on about pokemon behaviours to the girl, and even bravely offering her another one of the pokemon he brought from his home region. Cyllene seems to fret over her wellbeing whenever you take her out of the village to his home, claiming she is too young to explore the harsh wilderness even while being monitored. Even Kamado has a strange soft spot for the kid, probably trying to make up for what he did to you. Volo can only sigh at all that.

⭐️ Ultimately, he has many shortcomings as a parent. It is a difficult change for him, but he forces himself to be at least more supportive and caring than his own parents were towards him. He honestly can be a little too harsh with his words, but somehow, his daughter seems to get he is trying his best. Her love for history and mythology makes him feel confident she will pick up where he left off should anything ever happen to him. After all, he plans to take her to the Temple of Sinnoh and explain to her his ultimate goals. She is already being trained in battling as a wielder by him. But, somehow, he wonders if she really will. The look in her eyes is much like his own yet different.

#pokemon x reader #volo x reader #cyrus x reader #maxie x reader #archie x reader #pokemon/reader #volo/reader #cyrus/reader #archie/reader #maxie/reader #pokemon volo x reader #pokemon cyrus x reader #pokemon archie x reader #pokemon maxie x reader

[keeper-of-gates]

i really like how chapter 3 is just literally saying that "hey, dead kids. traumatic events happened here and the effects are still here" by literally showing you the horrors through the auditory and the physicality of what chapter 3 has to offer.

Chapter 1 gave us a "yeah, something happened" but nothing substantial to grasp on other than what remains of posters and vhs tapes. Chapter 2 managed to at least expand on the orphan program by introducing the games station and it's true purpose of progression of tests on the mind through child-friendly means. Even the literal videos mob ent. gave us only a small bit of information about what happened before the Hour of Joy, such as the consent of a terminally ill worker being put into a toy.

Chapter 3 just gives us the bigger scale on everything the game gave us as snacks.

We see empty beds, empty cots, picture frames of children whose fates are left between 2-3 outcomes with one with them actually being adopted before even being pulled from the choice altogether simply because they had the ability to be good at reacting to colours. We see an actual system on how these children get treated and how everything works, from the titual nanny in Home Sweet Home, to the teachers of the school to even the scientists overviewing everything.

We know that actual adoptions do take place also, even if the potential parent/s are just the employees. But we know that Playcare's purpose isn't that straightforward, because the children are monitored as potential candidates for the experiments and are picked with the reason being that they're "sick" to whoever asks, child or otherwise.

And it appears that most of the workers in playcare are left in the dark, much like the factory workers if the woman who was left to care for a certain room of children was absolutely distraught of one child getting a nightmare to the point where the child had to be taken away and has to be interviewed by a person who seems to not be in the same emotional wave about the ordeal in the first place. Any mention of the children directly in both the interview and the report seems to call them directly, affectionately or otherwise, son or daughter, either from overattachment or as a professional act.

The experiments themselves are the unwilling second hand, created as sentient, yet obedient tools for entertainment, care and labour by any unfortunate human chosen, and it is obvious that Playtime Co, shown in teasers, aren't really picky when it comes to it. I even have doubts that they only use one singular person, child or adult, alone to create a bigger body considering how, y'know, big they are.

Playtime Co. literally died from the inside during the Hour of Joy, when the toys finally had enough. Exactly how many people died is unknown but in comparison to death in any medium, watching it in game as the toys the player faced had killed everyone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, with no one surviving and being taken into consideration. were they considered missing? Did anyone try to investigate everything? or did it all get swept under the rug by whoever was still alive and representing the company?

Then, the decade after everything, it still continued. Soon there was no food. factions started to form between factory floors, with each territory and domain being barren of mercy and food. Any toy was fair game in consideration. Even if that fair game was who you considered your own kin or your friends.

I think Poppy Playtime is getting closer to breaking the mascot horror mould that Fnaf had set in stone for nearly a decade. Would that be good or better for the market? I'm not sure, but at least, it's going to be part of the pillar that will be looked back on.

#poppy playtime #poppy playtime chapter 3 #ppt #chapter 3

[probablyasocialecologist]

Disabled people’s own accounts, as well as reports of employers, prove that Deaf and disabled people were an intrinsic part of the textile workforce. In addition, evidence collected as part of investigations on behalf of the Government into conditions in textile mills show high levels of industrial injuries amongst workers. Accidents from machinery, constant loud noise and the effects of working in unventilated premises led to large numbers of workers becoming disabled as a consequence of work. Some people’s injuries meant that they were no longer able to work, and many did unfortunately end up in the workhouse. However, many other disabled people stayed in work – through sheer necessity, to meet the demands of the industry, or simply because they were able to. My research puts disabled people at the centre of the history of industrialisation, rather than pushing them to the margins. It challenges some widely-held stereotypes of disabled people and shows that they were (and continue to be) part of the world of work. Not dependent, not tragic, not inspirational – but reliable colleagues, friends and family members. Disabled people were involved in Britain’s leading industry during the nineteenth century: textile production. They also played their part in improving working conditions in the textile factories at the height of industrialisation. For instance, the 1832 parliamentary committee to investigate factory conditions, chaired by Leeds Member of Parliament Michael Sadler, followed by the Government’s Factories Inquiry Commission of 1833, finally gave disabled workers the chance to speak up. Giving evidence meant that they were not merely victims of industrialisation, but that they were contributing to the movement for reform and the struggle for better working conditions. The resulting reports ultimately led to legislation which reduced working hours, set up factory inspections and made further improvements to the workplace.

[...]

Because of the noise, weavers in the textile factories gradually became expert lip readers. This was a necessity rather than a choice – the weaving sheds were such noisy places that a combination of lip-reading and hand-signing was the only way to communicate. Lip-reading was more than just a practical form of communication for the weavers – it was a badge of honour. It showed that you were used to manual work, no matter that you were now deaf, and set you apart from the mills’ office workers and management.

#disability #industrial revolution #ableism #deafness

[astolary]

Hiya!! I absolutely adore the way you write tighnari! If you are okie with it, may I request him and his s/o playing hide and seek together?

Thank you<3

I hope you have a lovely rest of your day/night

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓'𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐈𝐑 .

( Synopsis ) He knew what you both wanted, and you knew what you both wanted.

( Pairing ) Established Relationship. Tighnari x GN! Reader

( Content Warnings ) Tighnari playing hide and seek with reader? It sounds ooc of him but I see him being playful with the reader if they play hide and seek (in a fluffy way) HSHSHJ

( Word Count ) 1.0k+ words // NOT EDITED!

It's been 1 minute and 30 seconds since you started hiding, and you were scared.

One, it would take TIGHNARI a while to find you as your scent blended in with all the life forms residing in Gandharva Ville, along with the scent of Collei's famous pita pockets— but you never knew.

Two, if he could hear the morning dew, he could listen for your laboured breaths— but you never knew! Was he playing with you?

Three, did the forest rangers manage to stall him? You've been a flurry of chaos. Running, around the village, using the four-leaf sigils to pick up the pace, begging your amused co-workers to bombard him with more duties or paperwork—

The leaves rustled behind you, crunching and shaking and screaming and begging you to get up: Hello! Get out of your head! You're going to get caught in the lamest way possible!

"I was wondering where my love could be," Someone mused. "I got overwhelmed with the seemingly suspicious amount of spices Collei used when she asked me to test her food, the sheets of parchment that fell on my hands, and the dogs running over to me all of a sudden. I wonder who could be behind that catastrophe?"

The leaves stopped rustling as if they were shaking their heads at you in mock disappointment. How dare you. We rustled and forced our plant cells to wiggle for you— yet you fail to stay hidden for just 2 minutes. Seriously? 1 minute and 42 seconds? You could have at least stayed hidden for another 3 seconds to make the record 1 minute and 45.

A certain leaf floated and danced in front of your eyes. A bushy, furry, hairy green tail wrapping itself around your body teasingly.

Your eyes stayed glued to the leaf, refusing your defeat. You traced the details of the green plant, admiring the delicately glued flowers and gold flakes embedded in it.

"Do you remember this leaf?" Tighnari asked all of a sudden, staying tails length away from you. (He'll let the game last a while longer, after all, he didn't touch you with his hands yet.)

You nodded fondly.

What was it, the tenth kiss you both would share at the beginning of the relationship? At that time the wind was picking up when he was going to share a kiss with you— only for a leaf from the tree above the both of you to slip in between your lips, effectively blocking Tighnari from feeling your lips against his own.

Although your amused laughter was serotine for his heart, he was most certainly not pleased. His ears twitched around, embarrassed and flustered.

"Do you know what else I'm planning to do with this leaf?" An amused tone edged his voice.

(He's getting his 'revenge.')

You froze and slowly stood up. A forest breeze weaved itself with the strands of your hair. It was like the forest gained hope for you, yes! We believe in you! Now run with those puny legs of yours!

You wholeheartedly agreed, and boosted yourself with the four-leaf sigil conveniently only a few meters away from you.

Tighnari laughed, then you laughed—

— then the forest rangers started cackling when they caught sight of you, Collei giggled, the dogs barked happily, the birds chirped melodiously, and then the forest sang and laughed all together.

"5 seconds!"

Five.

Your heart sped up in excitement, fear, anticipation, childishness, fear dread shame— oh archons you were going to die who cares at this point you were fighting a losing game— "No! Please! I'm tired!" You heaved.

Four.

Despite your complaints, you continued running at a slightly slower pace, then you turned around and grinned— and Tighnari saw the world pause for a moment. You continued pushing him to the limits, yet always slowing down and reminding him to take a break. You listened attentively to his ramblings about research, yet somehow you both would drift away from the topic and end up talking about what you did today.

Three.

The world continued revolving.

Two.

You ran as fast as you could, using what oxygen you had left in your lungs to see mercy for one more time. Faster than the time you chased after him when he stubbornly marched (crawled) further into the desert when you were both younger; faster than the time he chased after you when you stole his final research paper draft, final-final research paper draft, and final-final-final research paper draft.

One.

But not fast enough that you stray far from him (your beacon home), him losing you from his hold (he'll do his best to protect you in this world.)

Zero.

So Tighnari got up, and ran and ran and ran after you.

He promises to do his best to make you smile and laugh. To welcome you home with open arms and lean his forehead against yours and rub his nose with your own. To give his 1000/1000 in the relationship. To love you not because of his primal instincts but because he loved you as both fox and human. To go against the problem instead of fighting each other—

—You promise to not be with him just because of the promise, but because you want to be with him and love him and let him love you. To not say I love you too as if agreeing with him that you loved him as well (you do), but to say I love you too because you wanted to show him more of your love as he has done with you—

You were both an organized mess, the strings twirling and tangling tightly like a cascade of braids.

"—(NAME)! RUN! MASTER TIGHNARI IS CATCHING UP TO YOU!" The children squealed. But it was too late.

You laughed when Tighnari tackled you to the ground. You both rolled on the damp, dirty, luscious grass.

Tighnari squeezed you tight.

"I got you." He murmured, smiling on your shoulder.

"Yeah," You agreed. "You got me."

Then, the forest healed.

—

The forest rangers marvelled at you both.

"Everyone relish at this moment." Umm mused. "He'll be back to being his cranky, sarcastic self later and scold you all."

The forest rangers saw Celestia as they marveled at you both.

Oh dear... Collei contemplated. At least they're both happy.

astolary 2023 — do not edit, repost, or translate. © genshin official art

#（ ❁ଓ.° ） astro! genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin x you #tighnari x reader #genshin tighnari x reader #genshin scenarios

[vacuouslyfalse]

Indeed, as we shall see more fully in the next chapter, not merely the Portuguese but many early colonial administrations found it useful and necessary to manage Indians through ascriptive corporate organizations. This was true of the Dutch and the early British administration in Sri Lanka, for example. Under British rule, in 1829 the Board of Commissioners recognized that government exaction of compulsory labor-dues had “the effect of perpetuating distinctions of Castes—as long as labour is compulsory the demand for it must be regulated according to caste.”

This, I think, is an incredibly crucial idea. Castes predate and are distinct from colonial systems of control but are co-opted by them because they're so damn useful for extracting value.

#caste

[apas-95]

[20 May 2022]

“With one letter [our employer] sent us away, and our dialogue turned into a monologue,” says Anton Gorb, a trade union representative at Ukraine’s largest private postal service, New Post. [...]

In March, the Ukrainian parliament passed wartime legislation that severely curtailed the ability of trade unions to represent their members, introduced ‘suspension of employment’ (meaning employees are not fired, but their work and wages are suspended) and gave employers the right to unilaterally suspend collective agreements.

But beyond this temporary measure, a group of Ukrainian MPs and officials are now aiming to further ‘liberalise’ and ‘de-Sovietise’ the country’s labour laws. Under a draft law, people who work in small and medium-sized firms – those which have up to 250 employees – would, in effect, be removed from the country’s existing labour laws and covered by individual contracts negotiated with their employer. More than 70% of the Ukrainian workforce would be affected by this change.

Against a background of concerns that Ukrainian officials are using Russia’s invasion to push through a long-awaited radical deregulation of labour laws, one expert has warned that the introduction of civil law into labour relations risks opening a “Pandora’s box” for workers. [...]

But in April, under Ukraine’s wartime suspension of certain labour rights – which was billed as ‘temporary’ – New Post’s management revoked 30 points of the collective agreement with the trade union.

Most of these points relate to coordination of working conditions with trade unions, but also some social guarantees, such as providing workers with uniforms, the availability of a first-aid kit at the workplace, working hours and others. [...]

“De facto, this regime assumes that literally anything can be entered into an employee’s employment contract, without reference to Ukrainian labour laws. For example, additional grounds for dismissal, liability, or even a 100-hour week,” explains Sandul.

Ukrainian workers had previously protested against the introduction of this law, but as protests have now been banned by the Ukrainian government (using wartime emergency powers) it’s unlikely they’ll be able to stop it going through.

#ukraine #russia #unions #labour #workers rights #labour rights

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 10 December 2006, former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, died. His regime, which swept into power after a bloody 1973 coup and saw thousands of socialists, workers, and others rounded up, tortured and executed, was enthusiastically supported by both British and US governments. Pinochet was close friends with UK Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (with whom he is pictured), and when Spain tried to extradite Pinochet from Britain to face trial for torture and murder, Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw ruled that he should not be extradited. He was allowed to return freely to Chile where he was immune from prosecution. Although Pinochet was stripped of his immunity in 2004 and charged with multiple counts of kidnapping, torture and murder, he died in 2006 before being convicted or punished. Much of the Western media still praises Pinochet's economic policies, but in reality his supposed economic achievements are largely a myth. He initially adopted the right-wing policies of economist Milton Friedman's and his Chicago Boys, abolishing the minimum wage, effectively banning unions, cutting taxes on corporations and the rich and privatising state-run enterprises. 10 years of his rule saw unemployment rise from 4.3% to 22% while real wages tumbled by 40% and the proportion of people living in poverty doubled to 40%. The US State Department then reported that: "Chile is a casebook study in sound economic management" while Friedman declared a Chilean economic "Miracle". Despite Pinochet's fall from power and death, Chile has remained under his shadow with a Pinochet-era constitution. The government eventually agreed to scrap the constitution following a nationwide uprising in Chile which began in October 2019. A new constitution was drafted but voted down in a referendum. So struggles related to it at a grassroots level continue. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2157088841142921/?type=3

[dreamescapeswriting]

BTS ~ You Go Into Labour On A Plane [Request]

⤜ WORD COUNT:2K

⤜GENRE: platonic friend with BTS goes into labour, attempted humour, iffy dialogue, over dramatic hehe, angst, fluffy, 

PAIRING: OT7 X Fem!Reader

⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - October 2022

⤜MASTERLIST

"Walking is good for you when you're on a plane, it stops blood clots," Jimin stated as you began to waddle up and down the main part of the private jet, your hands holding onto your lower back as you let out a small groan every time you moved. Maybe getting onto a plane when you were 8 months pregnant had been a mistake but you'd been cleared for travel and it was part of your job. The boys had just finished their last night of the tour and now all of you were flying home and you were pretty happy about it too, you'd missed your own bed and the comfort of your home. You never would have gone on the tour if it hadn't been for the fact that you were the member's manager and it was part of your job description. 

"Did she kick you today yet? I'm still pissed I haven't got to feel it." Taehyung grumbled as he watched you waddling past his seat, all of the members were like uncles to your unborn daughter and each of them was excited to finally meet her. 

"Not yet, she's being quiet which is unusual for her," You admitted with a shy giggle, whimpering a little when you suddenly felt a sharp pain in your back but you put it down to pregnancy pains. You stopped beside Jungkook's seat and rested your hands on it for a couple of seconds, leaning yourself forward as you felt another pain beginning to radiate through your back,

"S-Shit," You grunted a little, turning to look over at Jin who was staring back at you with widened eyes, his face instantly began to pale as he thought about what this was all going to mean.

"Did Yn wet herself?" Jungkook asked from behind you, you slowly looked down at the puddle on the floor and you blubbered a little as tears began to rush to your eyes. The movies and all of the shows you'd watched over the years had lied to you, your waters broke and it wasn't some massive splash it was a tiny pop followed by a little water. Instantly the small panic you'd been experiencing before began to bubble over inside of you as you realised that you were currently 42,000 feet in the air with no doctor around you and no painkillers that were going to be able to get rid of the effects of your contractions. 

"Is it what I think it is?!" Jimin yelled out suddenly, your eyes turning to look at the member who was closest to you and you nodded instantly reaching out to hold onto him as you felt a burst of pain radiating up and down your back. Alarms began to ring in each of the member's minds as they realised that this was the moment that they'd been waiting for for months and it was finally going to happen...Only they weren't as prepared as they thought that they were going to be. There was no hospital close by, your "to go" bags were at the studios and at your home where you weren't and there was no way you were going to be able to give birth on a plane. 

As Jimin slowly walked you over to you your body began to shake as you thought about it more and more. This wasn't supposed to happen yet, you were supposed to have more time but it appeared as though babies were destined to come whenever they pleased.

"S-Someone get blankets! Someone get some warm water!" Hoseok started ordering the members around as Jimin slowly laid back his chair for you to take before he helped you sit down. Thank god for private jets, at least you weren't going to be disrupting an entire plane of passengers with your delivery but this wasn't exactly where you had imagined bringing your daughter into the world and especially not with the men you worked with helping you deliver. In all of the times, you'd planned the hospital trips the members were going to be waiting in the waiting room, not in the delivery room with you. 

"I-I'm not having the baby on a plane!" You yelled out to Namjoon who was suddenly by your side and telling Jimin to go and help Taehyung with blankets and towels. Jungkook had disappeared toward the front of the plane and somehow talked his way into the cockpit and you were beginning to freak out. All of them seemed to be pretty okay with you giving birth on a plane in front of them but that was the last thing you wanted.

"You'll be fine, the baby will be fine," Namjoon assured you but you grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him so that he was face to face with you. Your skin was burning as you thought about delivering a baby while you were flying through the sky, 

"I'm not giving birth on a plane Namjoon, no hell no way!" You warned him as he smiled weakly at you he didn't want you to do this either but it wasn't as though you had much of a choice if your contractions were already starting.

"It's not time, she's not supposed to deliver for another month," Jin said in a panicked tone, his eyes almost as wide as yours as he rushed over to you and shook his head. He continued to ramble on about how nothing was ready to back home for the baby and that all of them were supposed to be finishing things off which in turn only made you panic more.

"The nursery isn't done! Neither is the one in Yoongi's studio," He told Namjoon as you whined and squeezed onto the armrests of the chair slowly turning to see Yoongi who was fast asleep in the chair beside you. All of the boys were being so nice to you, they always had been but since getting pregnant they had been more attentive to you, especially since your boyfriend had left you when he discovered you were pregnant. There was supposed to be a nursery inside of Yoongi's studio so that you could come to work and still have the baby with you at all times, HYBE had been completely accommodating to you.

"Everything will be fine, Yn isn't going to give birth on the plane," Yoongi said calmly as he slowly opened his eyes to look at you and you whimpered a little. Usually, Yoongi's calm words and demeanour were enough to reassure you but right now they were doing nothing to aid you. Everything didn't feel as though it was going to be fine, in fact, it felt as though everything was falling apart around you.

"So help me Yoongi if I deliver this baby on a plane I will make you help me deliver the baby," You warned him as he slowly sat up and looked down at his watch,

"It's only been two minutes since your first contraction, as long as you're not having another one so soon we have plenty of time until we can get you to land," Yoongi looked at you and you smiled weakly at him trying to get his words to stay in your mind. He'd been going to a lot of the birthing classes with you whenever he had the chance to and you were thankful that at least one of you had been paying attention to the classes. 

"The pilot said he's going to radio the closest airport and find out if we can do an emergency landing," Jungkook said as he was panting heavily,

"I also have a nurse on the phone that said she'll be willing to go through birthing techniques if the time comes," Jungkook thought that he was helping but bringing back the thought of delivering only made you panic once again.

"I am NOT giving birth on this plane!" You yelled at him, groaning as you began to worry about having your daughter in the middle of the air. While it would be a great story to tell it wasn't exactly one that you wanted to do, what if something went wrong? What if you ended up hurting her? The boys didn't know the first thing about delivering a baby.

"She asked if you know how dilated you are," Jungkook asked while staring at you innocently, you whimpered and shook your head at him. How in the hell were you supposed to know how dilated you were? You'd only just started having contractions surely you were 1 cm? Why didn't anyone teach you this from a young age, why were you only ever given one birthing class on the actual Birth?!

"I don't know," You cried out and shook your head, your eyebrows knitting together as you wondered about how you were supposed to check that by yourself.

"I can check," Jungkook said before you screamed at him to get away from you, you stared him in the eyes and he could have sworn it felt as though he was being stared at by the devil. There was no way you were going to let any of them look under your skirt even if it was for medical purposes.

"I'm fine. The baby is fine, I haven't had another contraction yet." You whispered even though you were mostly trying to convince yourself of that more than you were the members.

"Is the baby going to just shoot out? Do we need to catch it?!" Jimin asked with a grossed-out look on his face, everyone slowly turned to look at him before Jungkook pulled him away from you. 

"The pilot is going to do an emergency landing," Hoseok called out from near the cock pit, he was simply refusing to come any closer to you as he didn't want to risk seeing anything.

"See, everything will be completely fine!" Hoseok added before you glared over in his direction,

"I'm about to push a baby out of my vagina everything is far from fine!" You yelled out before another contraction began to hit you, instantly your right and left hands were taken by Yoongi and Namjoon who were coaching you through your breathing. It was going to be a long flight until you landed if this was what you were going to be dealing with, your eyes slowly landed on Jin who now looked like he was going to pass out. 

"Someone catch Jin," You whined out, rolling your head back against the seat in pain while you heard shuffling from the men as they went to help their eldest member. 

"Fuck me," You whimpered as you laid your head back against the seat, you were drenched in sweat and the plane was filled with the sounds of a crying baby girl.

"Congratulations mummy," The nurse said as she gently laid your little girl against your chest, your eyes softening as all of the pain you'd been feeling for the last hour slowly faded away from you. This must have been what people meant when they said that the pain of birth melted away as soon as you looked into the eyes of your newborn because you'd forgotten everything the second you held her. 

"I'll send the members back on," The nurse chuckled as you nodded at her, your head slowly looking around the private jet that was no doubt going to be in need of a deep clean. The plane had landed before you went into labour but there was no time to get you from the plane to the hospital so you'd had to deliver on the plane but at least the boys weren't there.

"Uncle Jin is here," Jin called out as he walked through the door and smiled at you, he was smiling back at you with a bandaid on his head from where he had passed out earlier in the plane ride.

"Where are her other uncles?" You giggled as he knelt down beside your seat, his hand gently running across your daughter's cheek as he couldn't help but smile.

"Jimin threw up when the nurse came off the plane so they're cleaning him up," He admitted before Yoongi and Namjoon slowly came on board to come and greet the newest edition of the team.

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