#2018/08/21
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NLRB rules that any union busting triggers automatic union recognition
Tonight (September 6) at 7pm, I'll be hosting Naomi Klein at the LA Public Library for the launch of Doppelganger.
On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.
American support for unions is at its highest level in generations, from 70% (general population) to 88% (Millenials) – and yet, American unionization rates are pathetic.
That's about to change.
The National Labor Relations Board just handed down a landmark ruling – the Cemex case – that "brought worker rights back from the dead."
https://prospect.org/labor/2023-08-28-bidens-nlrb-brings-workers-rights-back/
At issue in Cemex was what the NLRB should do about employers that violate labor law during union drives. For decades, even the most flagrantly illegal union-busting was met with a wrist-slap. For example, if a boss threatened or fired an employee for participating in a union drive, the NLRB would typically issue a small fine and order the employer to re-hire the worker and provide back-pay.
Everyone knows that "a fine is a price." The NLRB's toothless response to cheating presented an easily solved equation for corrupt, union-hating bosses: if the fine amounts to less than the total, lifetime costs of paying a fair wage and offering fair labor conditions, you should cheat – hell, it's practically a fiduciary duty:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/468061
Enter the Cemex ruling: once a majority of workers have signed a union card, any Unfair Labor Practice by their employer triggers immediate, automatic recognition of the union. In other words, the NLRB has fitted a tilt sensor in the American labor pinball machine, and if the boss tries to cheat, they automatically lose.
Cemex is a complete 180, a radical transformation of the American labor regulator from a figleaf that legitimized union busting to an actual enforcer, upholding the law that Congress passed, rather than the law that America's oligarchs wish Congress had passed. It represents a turning point in the system of lawless impunity for American plutocracy.
In the words of Frank Wilhoit, it is is a repudiation of the conservative dogma: "There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect":
https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288
It's also a stunning example of what regulatory competence looks like. The Biden administration is a decidedly mixed bag. On the one hand there are empty suits masquerading as technocrats, champions of the party's centrist wing (slogan: "Everything is fine and change is impossible"):
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge
But the progressive, Sanders/Warren wing of the party installed some fantastically competent, hard-charging, principled fighters, who are chapter-and-verse on their regulatory authority and have the courage to use that authority:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff
They embody the old joke about the photocopier technician who charges "$1 to kick the photocopier and $79 to know where to kick it." The best Biden appointees have their boots firmly laced, and they're kicking that mother:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the-second-best-time-is-now/#the-point-of-a-system-is-what-it-does
One such expert kicker is NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. Abruzzo has taken a series of muscular, bold moves to protect American workers, turning the tide in the class war that the 1% has waged on workers since the Reagan administration. For example, Abruzzo is working to turn worker misclassification – the fiction that an employee is a small business contracting with their boss, a staple of the "gig economy" – into an Unfair Labor Practice:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/10/see-you-in-the-funny-papers/bidens-legacy
She's also waging war on robo-scab companies: app-based employment "platforms" like Instawork that are used to recruit workers to cross picket lines, under threat of being blocked from the app and blackballed by hundreds of local employers:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork
With Cemex, Abruzzo is restoring a century-old labor principle that has been gathering dust for generations: the idea that workers have the right to organize workplace gemocracies without fear of retaliation, harassment, or reprisals.
But as Harold Meyerson writes for The American Prospect, the Cemex ruling has its limits. Even if the NLRB forces and employer to recognize a union, they can't force the employer to bargain in good faith for a union contract. The National Labor Relations Act prohibits the Board from imposing a contract.
That's created a loophole that corrupt bosses have driven entire fleets of trucks through. Workers who attain union recognition face years-long struggles to win a contract, as their bosses walk away from negotiations or offer farcical "bargaining positions" in the expectation that they'll be rejected, prolonging the delay.
Democrats have been trying to fix this loophole since the LBJ years, but they've been repeatedly blocked in the senate. But Abruzzo is a consummate photocopier kicker, and she's taking aim. In Thrive Pet Healthcare, Abruzzo has argued that failing to bargain in good faith for a contract is itself an Unfair Labor Practice. That means the NLRB has the authority to act to correct it – they can't order a contract, but they can order the employer to give workers "wages, benefits, hours, and such that are comparable to those provided by comparable unionized companies in their field."
Mitch McConnell is a piece of shit, but he's no slouch at kicking photocopiers himself. For a whole year, McConnell has blocked senate confirmation hearings to fill a vacant seat on the NLRB. In the short term, this meant that the three Dems on the board were able to hand down these bold rulings without worrying about their GOP colleagues.
But McConnell was playing a long game. Board member Gwynne Wilcox's term is about to expire. If her seat remains vacant, the three remaining board members won't be able to form a quorum, and the NLRB won't be able to do anything.
As Meyerson writes, centrist Dems have refused to push McConnell on this, hoping for comity and not wanting to violate decorum. But Chuck Schumer has finally bestirred himself to fight this issue, and Alaska GOP senator Lisa Murkowski has already broken with her party to move Wilcox's confirmation to a floor vote.
The work of enforcers like DoJ Antitrust Division boss Jonathan Kanter, FTC chair Lina Khan, and SEC chair Gary Gensler is at the heart of Bidenomics: the muscular, fearless deployment of existing regulatory authority to make life better for everyday Americans.
But of course, "existing regulatory authority" isn't the last word. The judges filling stolen seats on the illegitimate Supreme Court had invented the "major questions doctrine" and have used it as a club to attack Biden's photocopier-kickers. There's real danger that Cemex – and other key actions – will get fast-tracked to SCOTUS so the dotards in robes can shatter our dreams for a better America.
Meyerson is cautiously optimistic here. At 40% (!), the Court's approval rating is at a low not seen since the New Deal showdowns. The Supremes don't have an army, they don't have cops, they just have legitimacy. If Americans refuse to acknowledge their decisions, all they can do it sit and stew:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/26/mint-the-coin-etc-etc/#blitz-em
The Court knows this. That's why they fume so publicly about attacks on their legitimacy. Without legitimacy, they're nothing. With the Supremes' support at 40% and union support at 70%, any judicial attack on Cemex could trigger term-limits, court-packing, and other doomsday scenarios that will haunt the relatively young judges for decades, as the seats they stole dwindle into irrelevance. Meyerson predicts that this will weigh on them, and may stay their hands.
Meyerson might be wrong, of course. No one ever lost money betting on the self-destructive hubris of Federalist Society judges. But even if he's wrong, his point is important. If the Supremes frustrate the democratic will of the American people, we have to smash the Supremes. Term limits, court-packing, whatever it takes:
https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/20/judicial-equilibria/#pack-the-court
And the more we talk about this – the more we make this consequence explicit – the more it will weigh on them, and the better the chance that they'll surprise us. That's already happening! The Supremes just crushed the Sackler opioid crime-family's dream of keeping their billions in blood-money:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/#justice-redeemed
But if it doesn't stop them? If they crush this dream, too? Pack the court. Impose term limits. Make it the issue. Don't apologize, don't shrug it off, don't succumb to learned helplessness. Make it our demand. Make it a litmus test: "If elected, will you vote to pack the court and clear the way for democratic legitimacy?"
Meanwhile, Cemex is already bearing fruit. After an NYC Trader Joe's violated the law to keep Trader Joe's United from organizing a store, the workers there have petitioned to have their union automatically recognized under the Cemex rule:
https://truthout.org/articles/trader-joes-union-files-to-force-company-to-recognize-union-under-new-nlrb-rule/
With the NLRB clearing the regulatory obstacles to union recognition, America's largest unions are awakening from their own long slumbers. For decades, unions have spent a desultory 3% of their budgets on organizing workers into new locals. But a leadership upset in the AFL-CIO has unions ready to catch a wave with the young workers and their 88% approval rating, with a massive planned organizing drive:
https://prospect.org/labor/labors-john-l-lewis-moment/
Meyerson calls on other large unions to follow suit, and the unions seem ready to do so, with new leaders and new militancy at the Teamsters and UAW, and with SEIU members at unionized Starbucks waiting for their first contracts.
Turning union-supporting workers into unionized workers is key to fighting Supreme Court sabotage. Organized labor will give fighters like Abruzzo the political cover she needs to Get Shit Done. A better America is possible. It's within our grasp. Though there is a long way to go, we are winning crucial victories all the time.
The centrist message that everything is fine and change is impossible is designed to demoralize you, to win the fight in your mind so they don't have to win it in the streets and in the jobsite. We don't have to give them that victory. It's ours for the taking.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks
#nlrb#cemex#unions#labor#class war#photocopier kickers#ulp#unfair labor practices#jennifer abruzzo#thrive pet care#national labor review board#scotus#afl-cio#trader joes#harold meyerson#labor day#pluralistic
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The Katie McGrath Archives (WIP)
A repository of my ongoing digital archeology & archival work please contact me if you have anything to contribute and buy me a coffee if you value my content
message me if you want a link to her complete filmography 🤫
Updates
(last updated 2024-05-24)
2024-05-24
Video:
2017 Katie McGrath interview [CW|KMcGsource]
2017 Supergirl Season 3 Sweet dreams (are made of this) Music Video
2017 CW SDCC Promo Supergirl and Arrow
2019-01-01 The CW Promo Open To All
2021-04-25 Supergirl Season 6 Katie McGrath Lena Luthor
2021-09-15 Supergirl Season 6 Katie McGrath Reflecting on Supergirl
2024-05-22
Audio:
Interview - 2009-07-17 Katie McGrath Mr Media interview
Interview - 2009-10-15 Geek Syndicate Merlin BTS special
Video:
BTS - 2008-10-08 Blue Peter Merlin BTS
Events - 2009 TV Choice Awards Digital Spy interview
Events - Getty Videos of 2009 TV Choice Awards, 2010 Merlin Series 3 launch, 2011 W.E. premiere, 2017 King Arthur Premiere
2024-05-17
Archived interviews
2008-12-07 Tribune Magazine - What Katie Did
2011-10-14 What's on TV - Merlin's Katie McGrath- 'Bad girls have more fun!'
2012-12-03 Fanhattan Blog - Colin Morgan, Katie McGrath and Bradley James on Season 5 and The Series Finale
2018-08-01 The TV Junkies - Supergirl SDCC 2018 Interviews- Lena’s Impractical Lab Outfits, the Return of Reporter Kara and a More Grounded Season 4
Audio
HHush samples
Interview - 2009-2011 Sci-fi Talk rewind merlin the series specials episode 1
Interview - 2011? Merlin S4 Sci-fi talk byte katie mcgrath on morgana
Interview - 2013 BBC Radio 1xtra part 1 & part 2
Narration - While You Were Dreaming (Un-Likeminded)
Narration - Irish folklore (Trees a crowd podcast)
Magazine scans
2008-09-20 Radio Times
2009-06-08 TV Week (Aus)
2010-09-05 Sunday Express
2010-09-30 Totally Merlin Magazine
2011-12 Total Film
2012-03-14 Sci-Fi Now
2012-10-06 Radio Times
2013-04-06 Irish independent
2013-09-02 Marie-Claire (UK)
2013-12 Instyle
2013-12 Total Film
Video:
Fans - 2012-04-16 Merlin4 [carlospyrrhus]
Fans - 2017-08-30 Supergirl cast together on set [Joyce Law]
Interview - 2009-09-?? Merlin S2 audio interview with Katie McGrath [BJsRealm] part 1
Interview - 2010-09-06 Merlin Series 3 - BBC Radio 1xtra Interview with Angel Coulby & Katie McGrath [BJsrealm]
Interview - 2011-10-14 Merlin S4 Colin Morgan, Eoin Macken Katie McGrath on The Late Late Show
Interview - 2012-07-15 Colin Morgan and Katie McGrath at SDCC 2012 - innerSPACE [merlinnetwork2]
Interview - 2012-07-18 Katie McGrath Talks Merlin At Comic Con 2012 [ThinkHeroTV]
Interview - 2012-10-25 BBC Radio 1 Breakfast - Colin & Katie part 1 & part 2 [BJsRealm]
Interview - 2012-12-03 Merlin S5 Katie McGrath interview international press day [BJsRealm]
Interview - 2012-12-03 Colin, Bradley, Katie phone interview [BJsRealm]
Interview - 2013-11-09 Katie McGrath on BBC One Saturday Kitchen [BJsRealm]
Interview - 2019-07-22 ENTREVISTA SUPERGIRL Elenco fala sobre a nova temporada [Warner Channel Brasil]
Interview - 2019-07-23 Melissa Benoist Teases Directing An Episode Of 'Supergirl' [ET Canada]
Interview - 2020-02-21 ‘Supergirl’ Celebrates 100th Episode [ET Canada]
Panels - 2011-07-28 Merlin Comic Con 2011 Panel [ThinkHeroTV]
#katie mcgrath#katie mcgrath interview#Katie McGrath archive#Katie McGrath filmography archive#wayback machine#media preservation
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Zutara SlowBurn FanFiction: Personal Favs, part II
· DESTINY IS A FUNNY THING by Megara Pike | Published: 2020-08-21 | 198K Words | 45 Chapters
ATLA Season 3 rewrite, fills in a lot of blanks between canon scenes. From the Southern Raiders to Sozin's Comet through coronation and aftermath. Growing friendships, bonding, being there for each other, a carnival & a cave, epic spirits' appearance on the Ember island, sparring, nightmares, assassination attempts, political ruses, and covert operations. Lovely, sweet. Exciting plot.
· ATLA Book 4: Ashes by elayne_cypher | Published: 2018-10-27 | 306K words | 34 Chapters
This action-packed story picks up right after Ember Island Players and continues well after the war. Zuko is facing many challenges as a new Fire Lord. Romance, tough decisions, rebels, traitors, out-of-body experiences, secret headquarters, angst, teamwork, fire jets. The story has a bunch of OCs.
· Refraction by caroes3725 | Published: 2020-09-09 | 215K Words | 37 Chapters
After breaking up with Aang, Katara needs to figure out her place and role in the patriarchal world. As determined Katara stubbornly bulldozes her way through Fire Nation political scene, her feelings for Zuko grow. Diplomatic visits, Gaang reunion, bonding with Kanna, insights into the life of Caldera city, stuffy politicians, cute correspondence, tropical storm, women supporting women, assassination attempts, personal boundaries. A sweet well-written coming-of-age story with a healthy measure of slow-burn and mutual pining. Katara and Zuko are both POVs, but the story mostly follows Katara. Bonus: Mai is NOT a clingy resentful idiot, but a smart person and a good friend. Some explicit language here and there, a bit of mild smut.
· I Asked You First by halfhoursonearth | Published: 2020-10-03 | 142K words | 22/? Chapters
Ongoing, incomplete. Post Southern Raiders ATLAS3 rewrite. Mostly canon-compliant with blanks filled in between familiar scenes. Zuko and Katara develop a close friendship built on trust and sharing each other’s fears and hopes. Includes mentions of implied child abuse, Lu Ten’s diaries, exploring Avatar Roku’s legacy, sharing a balcony, heart-to-hearts, a hot spring under the stars, an actual date, and artbending. It’s incomplete, but what we have is bliss. Slowburn, mutual pining. Zutara-centric, but also explores the personalities of Team Avatar and their relationships.
· Katara Alone by cablesscutie | Published: 2020-05-31 | 21K words
Katara is not an “unnecessary accessory to a more powerful man”. After the war, she is willing to forge her own path as she turns to people who need her the most on her journey of self-discovery. Features character exploration, correspondence, exploring outback villages of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, sweet reunions, and new firebending skills.
· THE PHOENIX AND THE DRAGON - THE COMPLETE SERIES by JasmineTeaLatte | Published: 2021-06-11 | 100K words | 31 Chapters
This story picks up after The Ember Island Players. Zuko and Katara get to know each other during a late-night conversation by the campfire. In this story, you will find healthy boundaries, protective Sokka, a dash of Taang, sparring, funny banter & lots of flirting.
· HESITATE by tiffaniesblews | Published: 2020-07-11 | 22K Words | 12 Chapters
This story picks up right after Zuko's coronation and spans two years afterwards. Zuko & Katara talk, share a few beautiful moments, write to each other, and reunite for the 2nd anniversary of the war ending. Very sweet, fluffy story about two sweethearts figuring out their feelings for each other.
· LIKE WE'RE MADE OF STARLIGHT by Naladot | Published: 2021-11-28 | 5K Words
Katara leaves her post as the ambassador to the Fire Nation to take up a new one as the ambassador to the Northern Water Tribe. Her absence makes Zuko realize that he's got an unfortunate crush, which he is determined to keep secret. Unfortunately for him, subtly has never been one of his strengths—especially when he arrives in the Northern Water Tribe and she keeps taking him on what seem to be dates.
· FIGURE IT OUT by clearascountryair | Published: 2021-12-20 | 35K words | 13 Chapters
After choosing not to kill Yon Rha, Katara rethinks her sense of self and others' perceptions of her. Or, In which Katara learns that there’s a really big difference between being kissed when you don’t want to be and being kissed when you do. Aged-up 3B/Ember Island AU.
- I FOUND YOU by that_turtleduck | Published: 2020-11-01 Completed: 2024-02-24 Words: 157,541 Chapters: 28/28
After divorcing Aang, Katara uproots her family and travels to Caldera. There she finds comfort, kindness and support from an old friend. Katara tries to find her footing as an independent political figure. Great story & relationship dynamic of Momtara & Dadko in their early 30s (Ember island, diplomatic meeting, dancing, turtleduck pond, letters). Delicious slow burn with rewarding spicy resolution in the end (explicit open door). Titters on the side of Anti-Aang.
Here’s a link to Part I of my personal favorites.
Here’s a link to Wholesome Zutara Short Stories.
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max & daniel's relationship, told through 13 years of max's google searches. thank you to @catofthecanals289 and @lajnias for reading through this for me!!! also on ao3
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& 2023
“Max,” Daniel calls to him from the bedroom, just as he is rinsing the shampoo from his hair. Not wanting shampoo in his eyes or his mouth, Max keeps them all firmly shut.
“Baby?” Daniel says again, louder.
The warm water is a gentle relief running over his sweat sticky skin, nowhere near the scalding temperatures Daniel sets their shower to at home. It’s why Max had insisted that they clean off separately, the Austin heat far too much for Max to endure boiling water too, despite Daniel’s pouting and dramatic insistence that Max couldn’t just ‘fuck and flee.”
“Yes,” he calls when all the suds are safely sliding past his shoulders, but he didn’t need to shout. When he opens his eyes he sees Daniel leaning against the doorway with a smirk, still wearing his unbuttoned satin shirt, cowboy hat and nothing else. His wedding ring sits heavy on his finger, and Max thumbs over the matching one on his own hand.
Max’s come is a shiny presence he can still see smeared between Daniel’s thighs.
The sight of him makes Max’s dick twitch. Daniel notices and his grin only widens.
“Baby,” he says again, too sweet. “Baby, why is your most recent Google search is it weird that my husband saying yeehaw makes me come?”
And just like that, Max suddenly longs for a hot shower, an excuse for why his cheeks start to burn red.
“Why are you snooping through my phone?” He demands, forcing himself not to turn away casually and instead keep rubbing the hotel’s own body wash under his armpits.
“I wasn’t snooping,” Daniel says easily, “I was looking to get us some ribs delivered, my phone died at the track, remember?”
Max makes a noncommittal noise because vaguely he does remember Daniel saying he needed to put it on charge. That was before Max started pawing at him the moment the hotel door shut behind them though, and then it had been forgotten by both of them.
There’s just the noise of the extractor fan whirring for a moment, but Daniel doesn’t move. When Max sneaks a glance at him, he’s still leaning against the door frame looking amused.
“Sooo.” He drawls out the word in the stupid Texas accent that Max wishes he didn’t find so strangely sexy. “Are we going to talk about this, little lady, or-“
“Nope,” Max says firmly, turning off the shower.
Daniel nods. It makes the lights of the bathroom catch on his chain and Max- Max really wants to fuck him again.
“What about the one below it?” He asks, “Daniel Ricciardo Austin 2023 photos?”
“Nope,” Max says again, stepping out of the shower and reaching for his towel. He’s smiling now too, because he knows that beneath Daniel’s teasing that one will have made him happy to see.
“Okay,” Daniel says, then he unlocks Max’s phone. “What about how to ask my husband to-“
“Daniel,” Max interrupts, taking the phone from his hand and putting it into the empty sink. “Do you want to read more of my internet history, or do you want to get back on the bed and play good cowboy, bad cowboy again?”
Daniel grins, takes the cowboy hat from his head and puts it onto Max’s. When his arms wind around Max, the silky fabric of his shirt presses cool against Max’s shower-warm skin, his nipples.
“Well, when you put it like that,” Daniel says, leaning in to put his mouth on the skin just beneath Max’s ear. “Yeehaw, baby.”
Max laughs and pinches Daniel’s ass, at the same time as his dick twitches again. Backing him out of the bathroom, towards the bed, his phone is forgotten in the bathroom.
Google never had all the answers when it came to them, anyway.
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𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐥 ♡ choi yeonjun // mlist.
After facing disappointment with love for years upon years, you have chosen to replace romance with dance in your life, dedicating your entire time to this dance academy you’re employed at. It’s not that you hate men now, you just don’t expect to fall for them anymore because all they do is break your heart. And then Choi Yeonjun enters your life as a new recruit at the academy – sweet, adorable, soft spoken, kind and younger than you. He is everything you have never found attractive in a guy before. But somehow, you're helplessly spiraling for him.
❧ choi yeonjun x f. reader | 16+ | smau ♡ comedy ♡ angst ♡ strangers to friends to lovers!au ♡ dance academy!au ♡ 98-liner!reader ♡ dancer!reader ♡ dancer!yeonjun ♡ slow burn.
❧ warnings! profanity, an ABUNDANCE of suggestive jokes, mentions of people's sex lives (or lack thereof), death & murder threats as jokes, some of the characters being assholes for no reason, reader being a commitment phobe, a lot of pining, a ton of miscommunication (hehe ofc <3), misunderstandings, unnecessary heartbreaks + more will be added as the series progresses!
❧ featuring! all of txt | jimin & jungkook (bts) | sakura & kazuha (le sserafim) | yeji & ryujin (itzy) | keeho (p1harmony) | somi (soloist, ex i.o.i).
❧ playlist! trampoline - zayn & shaed ║ easy - camila cabello ║ lavender haze - taylor swift ♪
❧ status! 23.04.23 ⇢ tba. | on-going | bi-weekly updates
notes! heyyy, guys! yes, rya smau era 2k23 hehe! i had this idea for a very angsty fic where an older reader has feelings for a younger yeonjun but can't accept it bec he's not her "type"... but when i tried to write it, it got soooo sad and heavy soooo fast that i had to give up 😭 SO! i reckoned why not attempt to do an smau w a lighter version of this concept??? let's hope this turns out okay (:
pls be kind! the last time i wrote an smau was in 2018 so my creativity's got rust in every crevice (': but constructive criticism + suggestions are more than welcome! 🫶
❧ main masterlist | inbox ⁘
profiles: [1] [2] [3]
00. intro ║ 01. more nepotism hires ║ 02. grandpa and grandma ║ 03. break a leg (but not yours) [written: 1k] ║ 04. do you like flowers ║ 05. ✨aRtTtT✨ ║ 06. let the boy feel a woman's touch ║ 07. support system ║ 08. liking people we can't have ║ 09. it IS weird ║ 10. ‼ trouble ‼ ║ 11. connecting some big ass dots ║ 12. it's a work in progress ║ 13. dance crush ║ 14. enemies to lovers ║ 15. ohhh my god i'm so stupid ║ 16. at least that’s how it began ║ 17. we're no sidehoe material ❌ ║ 18. jealousy wasn't on my bingo card ║ 19. pesky little feelings ║ 20. why do i know so much ║ 21. it should've been me ║ 22. an overthinker AND a dumbass ║ 23. everything is a mess [written: 500] ║ 24. sum chamgo love dive it is [written: 1k] || 25. feels like a funeral in here ║ 26. let's all act surprised || 27. must start breathing into a bag ║ 28. IDK DUDE IM NERVOUS ║ 29. i wasn't jumping I SLIPPED ║ 30. wdym denial ║ [tba]
taglist: @bailies-me @samisubi @forever-in-the-sky2 @captivq @jiawji @hyuneyeon @wanlore @softcabur @emohazuzworld @yjusei @marifujioka @taekwondoes @suzirumas @ohmahgods @ye0nvibezzn @mrsyawnzzn @rionah
let me know if you'd like to be added!
© yeonboy 2023 // do not steal, copy or repost. respect your local content creators, kaythanks.
#txt#txt x you#txt x reader#txt smau#yeonjun#choi yeonjun#yeonjun smau#yeonjun x you#yeonjun x reader#txt imagines#yeonjun imagines#txt fluff#yeonjun fluff#txt angst#txt fanfic#txt scenarios#yeonjun angst#choi yeonjun angst#yeonjun scenarios#tomorrow x together
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Classified Information #2: The Sound
From the Carpenter Foghorn Vol. 21, Issue 3
Uploaded by Christopher C. Buchanan 08/25/2018
Life Beyond the Stars? Carpenter State Researchers Capture Mysterious Sound from Space
By Troy M. Bauserman
Since Galileo first charted the moon’s phases, scientists have obsessed over a haunting question: are we truly alone in the universe? For many, all it takes is a glance through a telescope to answer that question. How could we possibly be alone in all that real estate? But the student researchers at CSU’s Department of Astrophysics and Astronomy may be closing in on a definitive answer. It comes in the form of a mysterious sound recorded from the very depths of space.
“There are all kinds of radio signals in space,” explains Sharon Ackworth, a PhD student working out of Carpenter State’s esteemed Weir Laboratory. “Anything that produces a magnetic field will also cast radio waves which we can pick up. And yes, you can translate those radio waves into sounds. But [our sound] is unique from say, a radio wave generated by an atmosphere, because it is a sound.”
“The Sound” as it’s come to be known in the department, is not wholly unique. NASA first captured sound from space in 2003, but sadly these noises remain inaudible to the human ear. “We know we have a sound,” Ackworth says, the frustration heavy in her voice. “We’re just not there yet—technologically—to hear it. Suddenly we’re in an arms race to be the first laboratory to amplify a cosmic sound into an audible range.” A feat that Ackworth notes sounds much simpler than it is, requiring state of the art audio technology to “turn it up” by millions of decibels.
As for what the sound may be, Ackworth hypothesizes that they’ve captured the sound of gas expelled from a black hole. Until we hear it with our own ears, however, I’m happy to believe that our little gray friends are finally reaching out to us from beyond the stars.
“I don’t get it,” Kayla cocked her head to the side as she watched Iris work at her laptop. “You can’t even hear it?”
“That’s the whole point,” Iris said, her eyes glued to the computer screen. “It was recorded before this software existed. Fuck, I can’t believe it’s even real.”
“I still don’t get it,” Kayla repeated. “So, we recorded a sound that isn’t a sound…sure. But if the technology exists now, why hasn’t anyone done this before?”
“Because,” Iris said, glancing conspiratorially through the glass walls of their private study room in the Carpenter State University Library. “The Department of Astrophysics and Astronomy shut down years ago. There was like a whole scandal. A bunch of fellows transferred out and their work was abandoned. After that, The Sound just kind of became an urban legend.”
Kayla leaned in behind Iris’ shoulder. Iris had pulled the audio file from the school’s archives and was now playing around with the sound wave in some fancy audio program that Kayla didn’t recognize (Her question, “What is that, Audacity?” had elicited a sharp snort from Iris). At its native frequency, the sound wave charted a straight line. But slowly, as Iris played with the program, small, periodic ridges interrupted the line’s straight path. It was satisfying to watch the sound take shape, even if Kayla didn’t totally understand the process.
“How did you even find it?” Kayla asked.
“It was buried in CSU’s private server. Bailey hooked me up with access.”
A knock at the glass cut into their conversation.
“Speak of the devil.”
Bailey DuBois entered the study room with her backpack slung casually over her shoulder. The small blonde adjusted her glasses on her nose as she said quietly, “Library’s closing in fifteen.”
“Cool,” Iris nodded.
“No, Iris,” She said. “Like, you need to leave.” Bailey did her best to look stern in the face of old friends, but she’d always been more comfortable with books than people. She glanced around to see if anyone was passing by, then said more quietly, “The confidential server is no joke, Iris. If someone finds out that I let you use my access…”
“Confidential?” Kayla squeaked.
“Relax,” Iris said. “We’re wrapping up now anyway. I copied the file to my computer so I can do the rest from the apartment.”
The tension released from Bailey’s shoulders. “So you found the file?”
“Sure did.”
Bailey stepped further into the room to join Kayla behind Iris. “That’s it?” She asked.
“It’s taking shape right now,” Iris said. “We’re going to leave, I just…I need to hear it first.”
“What are you even going to do with it?” Kayla asked.
Iris smiled then said, “I’m gonna put it in a song.”
Bailey’s laugh pulled Iris momentarily from the screen. “Why not?”
“I thought there wasn’t any sound in space,” Kayla said.
“Technically that’s not true,” Iris replied, turning back to her work on the laptop. “In a vacuum, sound waves can’t go anywhere. But the student who discovered The Sound hypothesized that it was sound moving through space gas or something.”
“Or,” Bailey said. “It could be aliens.”
Kayla backed away toward the glass wall, her arms crossed over her chest. “Is there any chance this thing is dangerous?” she asked. “I mean someone took the time to bury it on the very fucking private and spooky secret server, yeah? You remember what happened to those people in Cuba?”
“I’m pretty sure the government made that up,” Iris laughed, digging into her backpack to pull out a pair of wired headphones. “You can spot for me if you’re so worried. Take these off if I start bleeding from the eyes.”
“Honestly, it’s a moral imperative that we listen to it,” Bailey said. “For science.”
“And rock and roll,” Iris nodded.
Unspooling the cord, she slipped the headphones over her ears and plugged the audio jack into her laptop. She took a deep breath, said something campy like, “To infinity and beyond,” then hit play on the program.
From the Carpenter Foghorn Vol. 22, Issue 5
Uploaded by Christopher C. Buchanan 09/01/2018
“Weird” Weir Laboratory to Close Down: Dean Pulls Funding on Controversial Program Amid Rumors
By Teri Daniels
The Department of Astrophysics and Astronomy is closing down after nearly forty years in operation. The decision was announced in a press statement by Dean of Arts and Sciences Strickland Pierce. Though many departments have been forced to tighten their budgets in the wake of the economic downturn, the Department of Astrophysics and Astronomy is an outlier in Dean Pierce’s plan to maintain funding in STEM.
“It’s purely an economic decision,” Office Liaison Amanda Cline said on behalf of Dean Pierce. “A time of austerity forces us to make tough decisions. We’ve seen that in the elimination of other programs such as the Screenwriting major last year.”
But the decision comes in the aftermath of Dean Pierce’s souring relationship with program director Dr. Philip Weir, Jr. Dr. Weir, whose father bears the namesake for the Weir Laboratory, had endeared his students to his eccentric personality throughout the years, though his behavior had reportedly grown erratic in the weeks leading up to the department’s closure. Dr. Weir had attempted to publish an article in the Carpenter State University Scientific Journal purporting definitive proof of extraterrestrial life. He later barricaded himself inside of the Weir Laboratory with a dozen PhD students, insisting that he wouldn’t leave until he had proven the unpublished paper to be true. An anonymous source claims that the culture inside the Weir Laboratory was in recent years less of an academic community than it was a cult. Following the incident, Carpenter State University declined to press charges against Dr. Weir but dismissed him from his position.
Dr. Sharon Ackworth, head researcher at the Weir Laboratory, has vowed to continue Dr. Weir’s work. “It’s like losing your home in a storm,” she stated. “What can you do but pick up the pieces and move on?”
Kayla backed into the corner of the study room as she watched her friends take turns on the headphones. First Iris, trancing out, head bobbing to the cosmic tones, slowly back and forth on a swivel.
“Take them off!” Kayla cried after a few minutes.
A weak moan trembled from Iris’ lips as Bailey pulled the headphones from her ears. She’d never felt anything like that before. Though she turned to look at her friends, she only saw the outlines of their bodies. Her mind was somewhere else in the universe.
“You’ve got to hear to this,” she managed.
Bailey closed her eyes as The Sound washed over her. It was faint, an echo of something deeper that she knew was there but couldn’t quite hear yet. It was taking shape, just as Iris had described. Something was reaching out, something wanted to be heard. A message filled with pure, uncorrupted power.
“Music,” Iris said when she removed the headphones from Bailey’s ears.
“Music,” Bailey repeated. Her thoughts floated beneath a cosmic mist. Everything felt so still in that moment, as if the entire world had come to a stop. Everything except for Bailey’s heart, which was racing.
It wasn’t fear. It was arousal.
Iris must have felt the same way, because she leaned in close to Bailey, her hands pressing down into the arms of the chair as if it was the only thing keeping her upright. Her heavy breaths still moved to the tempo of The Sound. Bailey licked her lips unconsciously, fighting a sudden urge to make the space between them as small as possible.
And she would have if Kayla hadn’t interrupted her.
“Are…are y’all okay?” she squeaked from her corner.
“It’s like…we’re so insignificant,” Iris spoke through glassy eyes.
“So small,” Bailey echoed.
Kayla managed to get Iris to pack up her stuff and by the time they were outside of the library her friend had mostly come to her senses. Iris’ initial reaction had shifted to the practical applications of The Sound. “I mean, I’ll still have to play with the decibels but even at this level…wow. It’s not rock and roll, it’s like trance music. Imagine what it’ll do for the club scene…”
That night Kayla turned in her bed, images of her friends under the influence of The Sound ensuring a restless sleep. In the next room, Iris was wide awake as well, slaving away at her computer. She’d tried to sleep, but couldn’t tear herself away from her work. She continued amplifying The Sound until she found sound beneath the sound.
She was certain now that it was a voice. Distant and inaudible, like a conversation heard from the bottom of the ocean. But it was unmistakably something alive and something intelligent.
Iris’ desire to piece together the full range of sounds buried in this single audio file had driven her forward, but when she heard The Voice she was once again sucked into the black hole that was its Power.
Its? Who was it? A being that existed long before the earth and would continue to exist long after.
Fuck, why was that so hot? Why was she suddenly burning up? Why was she soaking through her panties? Iris thought of the look in Bailey’s eyes after she’d listened to The Sound and found herself growing hungry, not just for her friend but for everything. She wasn’t working anymore, abandoning the program to lean back into her chair and explore her wet pussy. But as her fingers rolled over her swollen clit, The Sound pushed through on its own, growing clearer in Iris’ ears as she neared orgasm.
It was unmistakable. An intelligent voice speaking in an unknown language. A message that was meant to be heard, its strange words mixing into Iris’ moans until she was repeating them herself. As she came to The Voice’s Message, Iris felt that some fundamental part of her existence was melting away, lost down some deep, cosmic rabbit hole.
What was left over would be remade by The Voice.
From the Carpenter Watchblog
Uploaded by Jamie Watt 05/22/2018
In Search of a Reclusive Scientist
By Corbin Arroyo
In the short, often strange history of Carpenter State University, few stories are stranger than the sudden meltdown of The Department of Astrophysics and Astronomy. Yet it’s an event that few talk about, buried in the shallow pages of a student newspaper and left there with no critical consideration. At its peak, The Weir Laboratory was an acclaimed research facility that made massive contributions to our modern understanding of space. Many of its student researchers transferred to more notable schools, but in my attempts to reach these former students, none were interested in discussing their history. None, save one, who remained in the area after the department’s closure.
Despite her proximity to Romero, Dr. Sharon Ackworth was not easy to track down. After a brief attempt to salvage the Astrophysics and Astronomy program, she left academia entirely. She now lives a few miles outside of town. Shrouded in a dense overgrowth of trees, you can only spot her trailer from the road if you’re looking for it. That’s how Dr. Ackworth likes it. Her small abode is a shocking contrast to the sanitary, fluorescent glow you may imagine in a science lab. Color has faded in every corner of this place, the wallpaper an off-white trending toward yellow. That’s what I can see of the walls, anyway. Most of it is papered with pages from spiral notebooks, margins filled with obscure and complex equations far above my English major.
Dr. Ackworth clears some space from a small table just off of the kitchenette. It’s cluttered with old cardboard boxes stuffed with files that I assume are everything she salvaged from her department. She later confirms that she took everything from Dr. Weir’s office. An entire history of a college department stuffed into a leaky, old trailer just off a dirty county road. Dr. Ackworth sips from a coffee mug that says “C8H10N4O2” on its face. My mug has Garfield on it. It sits untouched in front of me.
Dr. Ackworth is barely forty, but a long, thick tangle of rusty-gray hair makes her age difficult to track. Her face looks young. Despite her surroundings, her appearance, I’m certain she could pass for thirty. She doesn’t care about any of that. She hasn’t for a long time.
Her forthcoming account to me of the last days of the Weir Laboratory makes me question why she chooses to live in seclusion. She tells me that it isn’t necessarily fear that’s driven her away from Romero. After all, if she were running from something she’d at least leave the state. No, instead she’s just given up on being heard. In all the years that she’s lived out here, no one has cared enough to ask why.
“Everyone thought that [Dr. Weir] was obsessed with extra-terrestrials,” she remembers. “But that wasn’t the point of his paper. He wasn’t looking for fame or glory, he didn’t want to be the person to prove that aliens exist. It was a warning. At first, we thought The Sound was some sort of natural phenomenon, but we were wrong.”
The Sound that Dr. Ackworth refers to here was recorded by her laboratory in 2005 and became the major point of research in the last years of the Weir Laboratory. An actual sound recorded from the depths of space, one which Dr. Weir and Dr. Ackworth became obsessed with. Inaudible with regular audio technology, but not impossible to hear.
“It wasn’t just one sound though,” she continues. “As we worked with it, we found that it was cascading. Sounds upon a sounds, a voice buried beneath a deep, deep echo. And the more we listened to The Sound, the more it changed us. It burrows into your mind until it’s the only thing that you hear. It’s the only thing that you care about. And you find that it’s not just words, but commands. And you’re powerless to disobey them.
“It moved through the laboratory like a virus, infecting anyone who listened to it. The message was sent to prepare us. An arrival, in which its speaker would inherit the earth and all life that existed within.”
She takes a breath, grips her cup a bit tighter.
“[Dr. Weir] was the first to see what we were becoming. Our obsessive dedication to unlocking every detail of its hidden message terrified him. When he locked the laboratory down, it wasn’t to prove his theory or anything. It was containment. Until the The Sound could be properly destroyed, nobody could leave. He knew that such drastic measures would surely mean the end of his career, and he was right. Everything that you’ve read, the story about program cuts—that was all Dean Pierce’s spin.”
Watching Dr. Ackworth share her story, it’s clear to me that something really happened in that department, something that necessitated a cover up from the highest levels of Carpenter State authority. It drove Dr. Weir to destroy his own reputation, forced Dr. Ackworth to the edge of society. Things like this don’t happen without reason. Was it an evil message meant to prime us for extra-terrestrial conquerors? It’s hard to believe. But reality won’t diminish Dr. Ackworth’s feelings, the years she’s struggled to find anyone to listen to her.
I’m listening, Sharon. And I won’t stop until I find the truth of it all.
The preceding article was retrieved from online archives. It was initially removed from the Carpenter Watchblog by writer Corbin Arroyo at the request of the College of Arts and Sciences. It has been retained on the private server for documentation purposes.
Bailey hadn’t been herself since she’d listened to The Sound.
Even days after, she couldn’t shake it from her head. It echoed in her mind like a bad song.
At night she would drift off into a sleep weighted down by the same vivid dream. There was a figure deep in space. Deep, but not unreachable. It spoke to her, its words locked behind an unknowable language, muffled further by the millions upon millions of light years that separated her from it.
And yet she understood the meaning of its message.
Bailey would awaken, heart pounding, drenched in sweat. The first thing she saw was Iris. The image of her friend in the study room was burned into her memory. Those distant eyes focused on a power so far away, but still stronger than any human on earth. It was the hottest thing Bailey had ever seen.
Iris swung both ways, but as far as sexual orientation was concerned Bailey had never deviated from men. Iris would joke about hooking up, a kind of punk rock desire to make everybody in the room uncomfortable, and Bailey would always laugh it off. But now she drifted off into rough fantasies of Iris holding her down, dominating her.
She could teach me, Bailey thought. She could teach me to be a good flesh puppet.
What was that? Where had that come from?
Bailey tried to resist the urges that her late night fantasies conjured. She avoided contact with Iris, even went so far as to delete her from her contacts. Yet when Bailey wandered the library she caught herself peering through the glass walls of its study rooms. What did Bailey even plan to do when she saw Iris again? She feared to speak the answer into existence.
Work normally kept Bailey grounded, but now she found the library to be the hardest place to think. For her, it was ground zero. She was becoming something now and it couldn’t be stopped.
She was becoming a flesh puppet.
The thought made her drop in a quiet corner among the stacks, aching for release. The top floor of the library had a private bathroom where she would go on breaks to scroll Instagram. Locking herself in, Bailey was barely sitting down before she had her fingers buried in her pussy. Even awake she could hear The Voice, encouraging her.
“Fuck!”
Her cries were pure, unrestrained obedience.
The orgasm broke her. She remained seated, arms hanging limp like a doll’s, as The Voice’s Message filled the space where she had once had thoughts.
She came back slowly. A finger twitch, a jaw click, an eye roll. It was like something had crawled inside of her and was adjusting to its new home.
She took a deep breath.
It was time to see her friends.
The apartment door vibrated with the thumping sound on the other side. Bailey tried the knob and it creaked open. She was met with a mix of voices that she immediately recognized.
The first was Iris, confident and domineering, issuing commands between shallow breaths. The second, distant and hungry, was Kayla submitting to those commands, begging Iris to go deeper. The third voice—Bailey knew it but had never heard it. Not like this. It was The Voice, its alien words pumping through Iris’ sound system as clearly as Iris and Kayla’s cries.
Bailey found her friends in the living room. Iris had Kayla bent over the couch, taking her from behind with a large, black strap on. Beads of sweat trickled down their naked bodies. Kayla’s mouth was wide open, tongue dripping, glassy eyes rolled back into her head as she took the full force of her best friend’s silicone cock.
Bailey was driven to the floor by the massive weight of The Voice’s Message. She tore at her shirt, pulling her bra down to expose her breasts. With one hand she groped; pinching, twisting, rolling her fingers over her nipple. The other hand found its way down into her wet shorts.
Bailey’s moans mixed among her friends as she cried out the words that burned their way into her mind. They weren’t alien when they left her lips. A translated Message for the world to hear: “I am…the Birth of a new species! I will Prepare…my body and my mind for the…Great Arrival! I will Fill whatever need is…expected! I will Preach, I will Build, I will Breed! I will Shape the…soil to The Messenger’s Desires! I am a flesh puppet! My Submission is eternal.”
When Bailey looked up, she saw that Iris was speaking the same words, her eyes looking through her. Kayla too was trying her best to repeat the loop, but she struggled through the pounding. After the two finished, Iris stepped toward Bailey, leaving Kayla motionless on the couch, simply absorbing The Message that repeated over the speakers.
Though Iris spoke freely, her lips continued to move silently to The Message’s words in small breaks between her own. The effect was something uncanny, like a robot imitating a human’s speech patterns but struggling not to process all of the other data around it.
“I was wondering when you’d return,” Iris said coldly, approaching Bailey. “I couldn’t fight it for that long. I let it take me the night we found it. Kayla too. She was so scared at first, but she saw the way. How long did it bounce around your head?”
“So long…” Bailey moaned.
“And now that you’ve heard the complete Message, you know how much work we have to do.”
“So much…”
Iris slipped her finger beneath Bailey’s chin and lifted her head so that she could look down into those empty eyes. Empty, but so full of desire.
Bailey, staring down the face of Iris’ cock still dripping in Kayla’s sex, licked her lips.
“I am ready,” she said, her lips too beginning to move to The Message. “We must prepare my body for The Great Arrival.”
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Pspring Psych Pspectacular 2024
As sure as spring
Coats our little piece of land in green
The turnin' earth takes all of what it brings – La Luz
Wub-Fur is pleased to announce the worldwide availability of our seventh (!) annual Pspring Psych Pspectacular. Twenty-three powerful and 100% pure hits of contemporary neo-psychedelic pspringtime music for your pseasonal listening needs. Featuring contributions from Redd Kross, Black Sand, the Asteroid No. 4, Mondo Drag, Ty Segall, Meatbodies, Shannon and the Clams, Winter McQuinn, the See No Evils, Druid Fluids, Sons of Zöku, and a dozen more wild, trippy, far out, rockin’ and/or groovy bands from around the world and across the universe of psych.
Apologies (and happy fall) to all the bands from the southern hemisphere.
Previous Pspring Psych Pspectaculars: 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023
▶︎🎶 Listen on Mixcloud
Running Time: 1 hour, 29 minutes, 50 seconds
Tracklist
Candy Coloured Catastrophe (3:25) — Redd Kross | Hawthorne, CA
Dandelion (2:26) — The Asteroid No.4 | Philadelphia / San Francisco
The Moon Is in the Wrong Place (2:57) — Shannon and the Clams | Oakland, CA
Cool It, Baby (3:20) — Levitation Room | Los Angeles
Silly Cybin (3:36) — Meatbodies | Los Angeles
Spring Time (3:00) — The See No Evils | Leeds, UK
Living in the Night (4:16) — MOOON | Aarle Rixtel, Netherlands
Daffodil (3:11) — Winter McQuinn | Melbourne, Australia
Pale Blue Dot (3:34) — Joe Ghatt | New Zealand
Burning in the Sun (4:26) — Custard Flux | Detroit, MI
Burning Bright (3:52) — Sun Dial | England †
Bobbin' For Apples (2:21) — Hot Apple Band | Sydney, Australia †
Butterfly (3:51) — Black Sand | New Zealand
Planetary (5:11) — Magic Machine | Sydney, Australia
Death in Spring (6:06) — Mondo Drag | Oakland, CA †
Nu Poeme (4:05) — Sons of Zöku | Adelaide, Australia
The Last Midnight (3:33) — Project Gemini | London
Last Flight of the Moon Goose (4:49) — Moon Goose | Hay on Wye, UK
Palus Somni (4:58) — Valley of the Sun | Cincinnati, OH
Watcher (5:26) — Ty Segall | Los Angeles
Layers (5:27) — Druid Fluids | Adelaide, Australia †
I Need Your Love Like I Need a Hole in My Head (2:50) — The Silk RailRoad | Portland, OR
Jerusalem Road (3:08) — Empty House | Blackpool, UK
All tracks released in 2024, except those marked † released 2023.
🌼 🌿 🌷 🌱 🌸 🌼 🌿 🌷 🌱 🌸 🌼 🌿 🌷 🌱 🌸
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MEUS CC’S MASCULINOS FAVORITOS + CC/ MY FAVORITE MALE CC || PART 1
⇢ basics ||
eyes. https://www.patreon.com/posts/d-o-l-c-e-v2-eye-68183687?l=fr
eyelash. https://kijiko-catfood.com/3d-lashes-version2-for-skin-detail-experimental/
skinblend. https://lamatisse.tumblr.com/post/612766683809136640/butterish-my-first-skinblend-i-made-like-two
skinoverlay. https://www.patreon.com/posts/lemonade-skin-62813813
skintone. https://www.patreon.com/posts/bare-skintone-40506361
skin detail. https://www.patreon.com/posts/61433364
freckles . https://www.patreon.com/posts/40247063
nose shade. https://faaeishccpreviews.tumblr.com/post/648642853067800576/skin-details-nose-shaders-by-faaeish-download
blush. https://squeamishsims.tumblr.com/post/185846308452/booboo-blush-by-squeamishsims-so-ive-tried-so
eyebrows. https://www.patreon.com/posts/whispy-eyebrows-62391460?utm_source=Patreon&utm_campaign=Whispy+Eyebrows
lips. https://www.patreon.com/posts/55703083
mouth corners. https://www.patreon.com/posts/61433364
~~~~
⇢ presets ||
lip. https://www.patreon.com/posts/memphis-lip-43736936
nose. https://poyopoyosim.tumblr.com/post/686774059407736833/male-nose-presets-n5n6n7n8-teen
jaw. https://www.patreon.com/posts/jiumiqaq-jaw-72054166
~~~~
⇢ hair/cabelos ||
01. https://www.patreon.com/posts/oh-my-god-were-58952703
02. https://jny-sims.tumblr.com/post/685668030601117696/jny-redo-hair
03. https://www.patreon.com/posts/pelo-bueno-male-33392785
04. https://www.patreon.com/posts/male-hair-pack-2-65951700
05. https://www.patreon.com/posts/kent-hair-62397490
06. https://www.patreon.com/posts/63544161
07. https://www.patreon.com/posts/wild-ride-70288763
08. https://www.patreon.com/posts/wild-ride-70288763
09. https://www.patreon.com/posts/63544161
10. https://www.patreon.com/posts/71551981
11. https://www.patreon.com/posts/71827369
12. https://www.patreon.com/posts/72827056
13. https://www.patreon.com/posts/levi-hair-73080895
14. https://www.patreon.com/posts/79061220
15. https://allabouthatcc.tumblr.com/post/656904403834503168/grimcookies-hair-dump-ive-updated-all-of-my-old
16. https://aharris00britney.tumblr.com/post/187194346870/axa-2019-official-release
17. https://okruee.tumblr.com/post/684075013010243584/sylvester-hair-hi-babes-info-masculine-frame
18. https://www.patreon.com/posts/58261906
19. https://www.patreon.com/posts/lorenzo-by-54215805
20. https://www.patreon.com/posts/marco-by-56792600
21. https://www.patreon.com/posts/federico-by-70185929
22. https://www.patreon.com/posts/pedro-by-44485564
23. https://www.patreon.com/posts/pedro-by-44485564
24. https://www.patreon.com/posts/70428613
25. https://www.patreon.com/posts/58551246
26. https://liliili-sims4.tumblr.com/post/691837200658219008/bruno-hair-bgc-hat-compatible-24
27. https://qrqr19.tumblr.com/post/673612023225073664/hair-24-fluorite-hair-25-peridot-hair-26
28. https://qr19sims.blogspot.com/2022/03/hair-27-28-29.html
~~~~
⇢ beard/barba ||
01. https://greenllamas.tumblr.com/post/646204704634929152/beard
02. https://greenllamas.tumblr.com/post/646204704634929152/beard
03. https://greenllamas.tumblr.com/post/646204704634929152/beard
04. https://www.veigasims.com/2018/07/beard-facial-hair-style-12.html
05. https://www.veigasims.com/2020/11/beard-facial-hair-style-15.html
06. https://www.veigasims.com/2022/08/facial-hair-style-33.html
~~~~
⇢ acc/acessórios ||
01. https://ceeproductions.tumblr.com/post/655362683425751040/calm-fit-collection-a-mostly-male-cc-collection
02. https://ceeproductions.tumblr.com/post/696230540558385152/equinox-collection-its-the-start-of-my-favorite
03. https://www.patreon.com/adrienpastel
04. https://www.patreon.com/posts/warm-5-item-set-60918114
05. https://www.patreon.com/posts/round-square-38706995
06. https://maxismatchccworld.tumblr.com/post/190436912960/liliili-sims-scarf-collection-scarf-no1-45
07. https://ceeproductions.tumblr.com/post/655362683425751040/calm-fit-collection-a-mostly-male-cc-collection
youtube
#ts4#ts4 sims#ts4 cc#ts4 lookbook#ts4 create a sim#ts4 male sims#ts4 male hair#ts4 male clothing#ts4 male cc#the sims 4#the sims 4 sims#the sims 4 cc#the sims 4 create a sim#the sims 4 lookbook#the sims 4 male cc#the sims 4 male hair#the sims 4 male clothing#mc#pressnat
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"ECLIPSE" is the pre-debut project by Y/N – known more popularly as EXILE HER – in order to introduce her to the k-pop scene. the project began in JANUARY 2017 and would continue until FEBRUARY 2018. the project was created by KWON GYEONG, who had personally hand-picked y/n for this project.
gyeong stated in an interview that she, "...watched y/n perform and compete on PRODUCE 101, and i immediately knew that she was the perfect face for this project that i had been working on." y/n was already gaining some fame after placing 14th in the survival show, and gyeong was quick to recruit y/n to KQ from her original company SOURCE MUSIC. by the end of 2016, y/n would begin training at kq entertainment after leaving source music.
along with gyeong, the producer team EDENARY would also help with the eclipse project when it came to producing and composing music. the project would be split up into four different parts with each part being divided by a four colors: RED, WHITE, BLACK, and YELLOW.
on FEBRUARY 11, 2018, a full album was released the contained all the songs from the projects into one including six other new songs. the album was simply titled ECLIPSE. a music video was released for the song MY NEVERLAND as well which helped tie up the story. the music video ended with a morse code which fans deciphered as "exile her." this would later be revealed to be y/n's stage name once she debuted.
– TRACK LIST.
I MAY FALL – 4 : 03
MY NEVERLAND – 3 : 23
RED LIKE ROSES – 3 : 12
MAGNETIC – 3 : 03
MIRROR MIRROR – 2 : 55
ECLIPSE – 3 : 51
FROM SHADOWS – 5 : 21
STAR – 3 : 18
I BURN (FT. HONGJOONG OF KQ FELLAZ) – 3 : 10
RUN AWAY – 3 : 37
GOLD – 4 : 02
JUST DO IT – 2 : 33
RED LIKE ROSES, PT.II (FT. KWON GYEONG) – 4 : 02
THIS WILL BE THE DAY – 3 : 08
listen to the full album here.
– STYLING.
below the cut is a quick look at the other parts of Eclipse.
the first part of the project "ECLIPSE: RED" would be released on JANUARY 13, 2017 with the trailer "RED" which featured the song RED LIKE ROSES. along with the released of the trailer, a single album would also be released which included the song in the trailer plus another song.
– TRACK LIST.
RED LIKE ROSES – 3 : 21
MAGNETIC – 3 : 03
the second part of the project "ECLIPSE: WHITE" would be released on APRIL 12, 2017 with the trailer "WHITE" which featured the song MIRROR MIRROR. along with the release of the trailer, a single album would also be released which included the song in the trailer plus another song.
– TRACK LIST.
MIRROR MIRROR – 2 : 55
ECLIPSE – 3 : 51
the third part of the project "ECLIPSE: BLACK" would be released on JULY 17, 2017 with the trailer "BLACK" which featured the song FROM SHADOWS. along with the release of the trailer, a single album would also be released which included the song in the trailer plus another song.
– TRACK LIST.
FROM SHADOWS – 5 : 21
STAR – 3 : 18
the fourth part of the project "ECLIPSE: YELLOW" would be released on OCTOBER 21, 2017 with trailer "YELLOW" which featured the song I BURN which featured fellow kq trainee, HONGJOONG. along with the release of the trailer, a single album would also be released which included the song in the trailer plus another song.
– TRACK LIST.
I BURN (FT. HONGJOONG OF KQ FELLAZ) – 3 : 10
RUN AWAY – 3 : 37
#exile her : discography#era : pre-debut#era : eclipse#ateez ninth member#ateez addition#idol au#kpop addition#idol!reader#ateez x reader#poly ateez x reader#kpop oc soloist
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Jeon Jung Kook a ascendido a miembro de pleno derecho de la Asociación de Derechos de Autor de la Música de Corea en 2024 (KOMCA) como compositor. .
KOMCA anunció hoy que Jeon Jung Kook ha sido ascendido a miembro de pleno derecho junto con algunos otros miembros.
Jungkook es el cuarto miembro de BTS después de Suga (2018), RM y j-hope (2020) en ser ascendido a miembro de pleno derecho de KOMCA.
La membresia plena de KOMCA se otorga a sus miembros que se han involucrado en una creación musical sustancial, medida por la cantidad acumulada de regalías de obras protegidas por derechos de autor.
Jungkook ahora está acreditado como compositor de 22 canciones y versiones en KOMCA (Asociación de Derechos de Autor de Música de Corea)
• Dreamers (22-11-20) • Dreamers (Live Version) (22-11-20) • My You (22-06-13) • Run BTS (22-06-10) • I NEED U (Demo Ver.) (22-06-10) • Still With You (Acapella) (22-06-10) • Film out (21-04-02) • Stay (20-11-20) • Telepathy (20-11-20) • SKIT (20-11-20) • In The Soop (20-08-19) • Your eyes tell (20-07-15) • OUTRO: The Journey (20-07-15) • Still With You (20-06-05) • My Time (20-02-21) • Magic Shop (18-05-18) • INTRODUCTION: YOUTH (16-11-09) • Love Is Not Over (16-05-02) • Run (15-11-30) • Autumn Leaves (Go Yeop) (15-11-30) • OUTRO: Love Is Not Over (15-04-29) • OUTRO: Circle Room Cypher (13-06-12)
Esto no incluye “No More Dream”, por el que apareció en los créditos musicales del álbum, pero no en KOMCA.
cr. a JJK_Times - TheWingsOfBE - en X
#jeon jungkook#jungkook#kookie#galletita#Proud of you Jungkookie#Jeon Jung Kook KOMCA#felicidades jungkook#Jung Kook songwriter#Jung Kook compositor#congratulations jungkook#jungkook ah
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Gig apps trap reverse centaurs in Skinner boxes
Enshittification is the process by which digital platforms devour themselves: first they dangle goodies in front of end users. Once users are locked in, the goodies are taken away and dangled before business customers who supply goods to the users. Once those business customers are stuck on the platform, the goodies are clawed away and showered on the platform’s shareholders:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys
If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men
Enshittification isn’t just another way of saying “fraud” or “price gouging” or “wage theft.” Enshittification is intrinsically digital, because moving all those goodies around requires the flexibility that only comes with a digital businesses. Jeff Bezos, grocer, can’t rapidly change the price of eggs at Whole Foods without an army of kids with pricing guns on roller-skates. Jeff Bezos, grocer, can change the price of eggs on Amazon Fresh just by twiddling a knob on the service’s back-end.
Twiddling is the key to enshittification: rapidly adjusting prices, conditions and offers. As with any shell game, the quickness of the hand deceives the eye. Tech monopolists aren’t smarter than the Gilded Age sociopaths who monopolized rail or coal — they use the same tricks as those monsters of history, but they do them faster and with computers:
https://doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1b5c9690cce6
If Rockefeller wanted to crush a freight company, he couldn’t just click a mouse and lay down a pipeline that ran on the same route, and then click another mouse to make it go away when he was done. When Bezos wants to bankrupt Diapers.com — a company that refused to sell itself to Amazon — he just moved a slider so that diapers on Amazon were being sold below cost. Amazon lost $100m over three months, diapers.com went bankrupt, and every investor learned that competing with Amazon was a losing bet:
https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/amazon-book-how-jeff-bezos-went-thermonuclear-on-diapers-com.html
That’s the power of twiddling — but twiddling cuts both ways. The same flexibility that digital businesses enjoy is hypothetically available to workers and users. The airlines pioneered twiddling ticket prices, and that naturally gave rise to countertwiddling, in the form of comparison shopping sites that scraped the airlines’ sites to predict when tickets would be cheapest:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/27/knob-jockeys/#bros-be-twiddlin
The airlines — like all abusive businesses — refused to tolerate this. They were allowed to touch their knobs as much as they wanted — indeed, they couldn’t stop touching those knobs — but when we tried to twiddle back, that was “felony contempt of business model,” and the airlines sued:
https://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/30/airline-sues-man-for-founding-a-cheap-flights-website.html
And sued:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/business/southwest-airlines-lawsuit-prices.html
Platforms don’t just hate it when end-users twiddle back — if anything they are even more aggressive when their business-users dare to twiddle. Take Para, an app that Doordash drivers used to get a peek at the wages offered for jobs before they accepted them — something that Doordash hid from its workers. Doordash ruthlessly attacked Para, saying that by letting drivers know how much they’d earn before they did the work, Para was violating the law:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/tech-rights-are-workers-rights-doordash-edition
Which law? Well, take your pick. The modern meaning of “IP” is “any law that lets me use the law to control my competitors, competition or customers.” Platforms use a mix of anticircumvention law, patent, copyright, contract, cybersecurity and other legal systems to weave together a thicket of rules that allow them to shut down rivals for their Felony Contempt of Business Model:
https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/
Enshittification relies on unlimited twiddling (by platforms), and a general prohibition on countertwiddling (by platform users). Enshittification is a form of fishing, in which bait is dangled before different groups of users and then nimbly withdrawn when they lunge for it. Twiddling puts the suppleness into the enshittifier’s fishing-rod, and a ban on countertwiddling weighs down platform users so they’re always a bit too slow to catch the bait.
Nowhere do we see twiddling’s impact more than in the “gig economy,” where workers are misclassified as independent contractors and put to work for an app that scripts their every move to the finest degree. When an app is your boss, you work for an employer who docks your pay for violating rules that you aren’t allowed to know — and where your attempts to learn those rules are constantly frustrated by the endless back-end twiddling that changes the rules faster than you can learn them.
As with every question of technology, the issue isn’t twiddling per se — it’s who does the twiddling and who gets twiddled. A worker armed with digital tools can play gig work employers off each other and force them to bid up the price of their labor; they can form co-ops with other workers that auto-refuse jobs that don’t pay enough, and use digital tools to organize to shift power from bosses to workers:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/02/not-what-it-does/#who-it-does-it-to
Take “reverse centaurs.” In AI research, a “centaur” is a human assisted by a machine that does more than either could do on their own. For example, a chess master and a chess program can play a better game together than either could play separately. A reverse centaur is a machine assisted by a human, where the machine is in charge and the human is a meat-puppet.
Think of Amazon warehouse workers wearing haptic location-aware wristbands that buzz at them continuously dictating where their hands must be; or Amazon drivers whose eye-movements are continuously tracked in order to penalize drivers who look in the “wrong” direction:
https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/17/reverse-centaur/#reverse-centaur
The difference between a centaur and a reverse centaur is the difference between a machine that makes your life better and a machine that makes your life worse so that your boss gets richer. Reverse centaurism is the 21st Century’s answer to Taylorism, the pseudoscience that saw white-coated “experts” subject workers to humiliating choreography down to the smallest movement of your fingertip:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/21/great-taylors-ghost/#solidarity-or-bust
While reverse centaurism was born in warehouses and other company-owned facilities, gig work let it make the leap into workers’ homes and cars. The 21st century has seen a return to the cottage industry — a form of production that once saw workers labor far from their bosses and thus beyond their control — but shriven of the autonomy and dignity that working from home once afforded:
https://doctorow.medium.com/gig-work-is-the-opposite-of-steampunk-463e2730ef0d
The rise and rise of bossware — which allows for remote surveillance of workers in their homes and cars — has turned “work from home” into “live at work.” Reverse centaurs can now be chickenized — a term from labor economics that describes how poultry farmers, who sell their birds to one of three vast poultry processors who have divided up the country like the Pope dividing up the “New World,” are uniquely exploited:
https://onezero.medium.com/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs-b2e8d5cda826
A chickenized reverse centaur has it rough: they must pay for the machines they use to make money for their bosses, they must obey the orders of the app that controls their work, and they are denied any of the protections that a traditional worker might enjoy, even as they are prohibited from deploying digital self-help measures that let them twiddle back to bargain for a better wage.
All of this sets the stage for a phenomenon called algorithmic wage discrimination, in which two workers doing the same job under the same conditions will see radically different payouts for that work. These payouts are continuously tweaked in the background by an algorithm that tries to predict the minimum sum a worker will accept to remain available without payment, to ensure sufficient workers to pick up jobs as they arise.
This phenomenon — and proposed policy and labor solutions to it — is expertly analyzed in “On Algorithmic Wage Discrimination,” a superb paper by UC Law San Franciscos Veena Dubal:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4331080
Dubal uses empirical data and enthnographic accounts from Uber drivers and other gig workers to explain how endless, self-directed twiddling allows gig companies pay workers less and pay themselves more. As @[email protected] explains in his LA Times article on Dubal’s research, the goal of the payment algorithm is to guess how often a given driver needs to receive fair compensation in order to keep them driving when the payments are unfair:
https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2023-04-11/algorithmic-wage-discrimination
The algorithm combines nonconsensual dossiers compiled on individual drivers with population-scale data to seek an equilibrium between keeping drivers waiting, unpaid, for a job; and how much a driver needs to be paid for an individual job, in order to keep that driver from clocking out and doing something else.
@
Here’s how that works. Sergio Avedian, a writer for The Rideshare Guy, ran an experiment with two brothers who both drove for Uber; one drove a Tesla and drove intermittently, the other brother rented a hybrid sedan and drove frequently. Sitting side-by-side with the brothers, Avedian showed how the brother with the Tesla was offered more for every trip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UADTiL3S67I
Uber wants to lure intermittent drivers into becoming frequent drivers. Uber doesn’t pay for an oversupply of drivers, because it only pays drivers when they have a passenger in the car. Having drivers on call — but idle — is a way for Uber to shift the cost of maintaining a capacity cushion to its workers.
What’s more, what Uber charges customers is not based on how much it pays its workers. As Uber’s head of product explained: Uber uses “machine-learning techniques to estimate how much groups of customers are willing to shell out for a ride. Uber calculates riders’ propensity for paying a higher price for a particular route at a certain time of day. For instance, someone traveling from a wealthy neighborhood to another tony spot might be asked to pay more than another person heading to a poorer part of town, even if demand, traffic and distance are the same.”
https://qz.com/990131/uber-is-practicing-price-discrimination-economists-say-that-might-not-be-a-bad-thing/
Uber has historically described its business a pure supply-and-demand matching system, where a rush of demand for rides triggers surge pricing, which lures out drivers, which takes care of the demand. That’s not how it works today, and it’s unclear if it ever worked that way. Today, a driver who consults the rider version of the Uber app before accepting a job — to compare how much the rider is paying to how much they stand to earn — is booted off the app and denied further journeys.
Surging, instead, has become just another way to twiddle drivers. One of Dubal’s subjects, Derrick, describes how Uber uses fake surges to lure drivers to airports: “You go to the airport, once the lot get kind of full, then the surge go away.” Other drivers describe how they use groupchats to call out fake surges: “I’m in the Marina. It’s dead. Fake surge.”
That’s pure twiddling. Twiddling turns gamification into gamblification, where your labor buys you a spin on a roulette wheel in a rigged casino. As a driver called Melissa, who had doubled down on her availability to earn a $100 bonus awarded for clocking a certain number of rides, told Dubal, “When you get close to the bonus, the rides start trickling in more slowly…. And it makes sense. It’s really the type of
shit that they can do when it’s okay to have a surplus labor force that is just sitting there that they don’t have to pay for.”
Wherever you find reverse-centaurs, you get this kind of gamblification, where the rules are twiddled continuously to make sure that the house always wins. As a contract driver Amazon reverse centaur told Lauren Gurley for Motherboard, “Amazon uses these cameras allegedly to make sure they have a safer driving workforce, but they’re actually using them not to pay delivery companies”:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/88npjv/amazons-ai-cameras-are-punishing-drivers-for-mistakes-they-didnt-make
Algorithmic wage discrimination is the robot overlord of our nightmares: its job is to relentlessly quest for vulnerabilities and exploit them. Drivers divide themselves into “ants” (drivers who take every job) and “pickers” (drivers who cherry-pick high-paying jobs). The algorithm’s job is ensuring that pickers get the plum assignments, not the ants, in the hopes of converting those pickers to app-dependent ants.
In my work on enshittification, I call this the “giant teddy bear” gambit. At every county fair, you’ll always spot some poor jerk carrying around a giant teddy-bear they “won” on the midway. But they didn’t win it — not by getting three balls in the peach-basket. Rather, the carny running the rigged game either chose not to operate the “scissor” that kicks balls out of the basket. Or, if the game is “honest” (that is, merely impossible to win, rather than gimmicked), the operator will make a too-good-to-refuse offer: “Get one ball in and I’ll give you this keychain. Win two keychains and I’ll let you trade them for this giant teddy bear.”
Carnies aren’t in the business of giving away giant teddy bears — rather, the gambit is an investment. Giving a mark a giant teddy bear to carry around the midway all day acts as a convincer, luring other marks to try to land three balls in the basket and win their own teddy bear.
In the same way, platforms like Uber distribute giant teddy bears to pickers, as a way of keeping the ants scurrying from job to job, and as a way of convincing the pickers to give up whatever work allows them to discriminate among Uber’s offers and hold out for the plum deals, whereupon then can be transmogrified into ants themselves.
Dubal describes the experience of Adil, a Syrian refugee who drives for Uber in the Bay Area. His colleagues are pickers, and showed him screenshots of how much they earned. Determined to get a share of that money, Adil became a model ant, driving two hours to San Francisco, driving three days straight, napping in his car, spending only one day per week with his family. The algorithm noticed that Adil needed the work, so it paid him less.
Adil responded the way the system predicted he would, by driving even more: “My friends they make it, so I keep going, maybe I can figure
it out. It’s unsecure, and I don’t know how people they do it. I don’t know how I am doing it, but I have to. I mean, I don’t
find another option. In a minute, if I find something else, oh man, I will be out immediately. I am a very patient person, that’s why I can continue.”
Another driver, Diego, told Dubal about how the winners of the giant teddy bears fell into the trap of thinking that they were “good at the app”: “Any time there’s some big shot getting high pay outs, they always shame everyone else and say you don’t know how to use the app. I think there’s secret PR campaigns going on that gives targeted payouts to select workers, and they just think it’s all them.”
That’s the power of twiddling: by hoarding all the flexibility offered by digital tools, the management at platforms can become centaurs, able to string along thousands of workers, while the workers are reverse-centaurs, puppeteered by the apps.
As the example of Adil shows, the algorithm doesn’t need to be very sophisticated in order to figure out which workers it can underpay. The system automates the kind of racial and gender discrimination that is formally illegal, but which is masked by the smokescreen of digitization. An employer who systematically paid women less than men, or Black people less than white people, would be liable to criminal and civil sanctions. But if an algorithm simply notices that people who have fewer job prospects drive more and will thus accept lower wages, that’s just “optimization,” not racism or sexism.
This is the key to understanding the AI hype bubble: when ghouls from multinational banks predict 13 trillion dollar markets for “AI,” what they mean is that digital tools will speed up the twiddling and other wage-suppression techniques to transfer $13T in value from workers and consumers to shareholders.
The American business lobby is relentlessly focused on the goal of reducing wages. That’s the force behind “free trade,” “right to work,” and other codewords for “paying workers less,” including “gig work.” Tech workers long saw themselves as above this fray, immune to labor exploitation because they worked for a noble profession that took care of its own.
But the epidemic of mass tech-worker layoffs, following on the heels of massive stock buybacks, has demonstrated that tech bosses are just like any other boss: willing to pay as little as they can get away with, and no more. Tech bosses are so comfortable with their market dominance and the lock-in of their customers that they are happy to turn out hundreds of thousands of skilled workers, convinced that the twiddling systems they’ve built are the kinds of self-licking ice-cream cones that are so simple even a manager can use them — no morlocks required.
The tech worker layoffs are best understood as an all-out war on tech worker morale, because that morale is the source of tech workers’ confidence and thus their demands for a larger share of the value generated by their labor. The current tech layoff template is very different from previous tech layoffs: today’s layoffs are taking place over a period of months, long after they are announced, and laid off tech worker is likely to be offered a months of paid post-layoff work, rather than severance. This means that tech workplaces are now haunted by the walking dead, workers who have been laid off but need to come into the office for months, even as the threat of layoffs looms over the heads of the workers who remain. As an old friend, recently laid off from Microsoft after decades of service, wrote to me, this is “a new arrow in the quiver of bringing tech workers to heel and ensuring that we’re properly thankful for the jobs we have (had?).”
Dubal is interested in more than analysis, she’s interested in action. She looks at the tactics already deployed by gig workers, who have not taken all this abuse lying down. Workers in the UK and EU organized through Worker Info Exchange and the App Drivers and Couriers Union have used the GDPR (the EU’s privacy law) to demand “algorithmic transparency,” as well as access to their data. In California, drivers hope to use similar provisions in the CCPA (a state privacy law) to do the same.
These efforts have borne fruit. When Cornell economists, led by Louis Hyman, published research (paid for by Uber) claiming that Uber drivers earned an average of $23/hour, it was data from these efforts that revealed the true average Uber driver’s wage was $9.74. Subsequent research in California found that Uber drivers’ wage fell to $6.22/hour after the passage of Prop 22, a worker misclassification law that gig companies spent $225m to pass, only to have the law struck down because of a careless drafting error:
https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2021-08-23/proposition-22-lyft-uber-decision-essential-california
But Dubal is skeptical that data-coops and transparency will achieve transformative change and build real worker power. Knowing how the algorithm works is useful, but it doesn’t mean you can do anything about it, not least because the platform owners can keep touching their knobs, twiddling the payout schedule on their rigged slot-machines.
Data co-ops start from the proposition that “data extraction is an inevitable form of labor for which workers should be remunerated.” It makes on-the-job surveillance acceptable, provided that workers are compensated for the spying. But co-ops aren’t unions, and they don’t have the power to bargain for a fair price for that data, and coops themselves lack the vast resources — “to store, clean, and understand” — data.
Co-ops are also badly situated to understand the true value of the data that is extracted from their members: “Workers cannot know whether the data collected will, at the population level, violate the civil rights of others or amplifies their own social oppression.”
Instead, Dubal wants an outright, nonwaivable prohibition on algorithmic wage discrimination. Just make it illegal. If
firms cannot use gambling mechanisms to control worker behavior through variable pay systems, they will have to find ways to maintain flexible
workforces while paying their workforce predictable wages under an employment model. If a firm cannot manage wages through digitally-determined variable pay systems, then the firm is less likely to employ algorithmic management.”
In other words, rather than using market mechanisms too constrain platform twiddling, Dubal just wants to make certain kinds of twiddling illegal. This is a growing trend in legal scholarship. For example, the economist Ramsi Woodcock has proposed a ban on surge pricing as a per se violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act:
https://ilr.law.uiowa.edu/print/volume-105-issue-4/the-efficient-queue-and-the-case-against-dynamic-pricing
Similarly, Dubal proposes that algorithmic wage discrimination violates another antitrust law: the Robinson-Patman Act, which “bans sellers from charging competing buyers different prices for the same commodity. Robinson-Patman enforcement was effectively halted under Reagan, kicking off a host of pathologies, like the rise of Walmart:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/27/walmarts-jackals/#cheater-sizes
I really liked Dubal’s legal reasoning and argument, and to it I would add a call to reinvigorate countertwiddling: reforming laws that get in the way of workers who want to reverse-engineer, spoof, and control the apps that currently control them. Adversarial interoperability (AKA competitive compatibility or comcom) is key tool for building worker power in an era of digital Taylorism:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability
To see how that works, look to other jursidictions where workers have leapfrogged their European and American cousins, such as Indonesia, where gig workers and toolsmiths collaborate to make a whole suite of “tuyul apps,” which let them override the apps that gig companies expect them to use.
https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/08/tuyul-apps/#gojek
For example, ride-hailing companies won’t assign a train-station pickup to a driver unless they’re circling the station — which is incredibly dangerous during the congested moments after a train arrives. A tuyul app lets a driver park nearby and then spoof their phone’s GPS fix to the ridehailing company so that they appear to be right out front of the station.
In an ideal world, those workers would have a union, and be able to dictate the app’s functionality to their bosses. But workers shouldn’t have to wait for an ideal world: they don’t just need jam tomorrow — they need jam today. Tuyul apps, and apps like Para, which allow workers to extract more money under better working conditions, are a prelude to unionization and employer regulation, not a substitute for it.
Employers will not give workers one iota more power than they have to. Just look at the asymmetry between the regulation of union employees versus union busters. Under US law, employees of a union need to account for every single hour they work, every mile they drive, every location they visit, in public filings. Meanwhile, the union-busting industry — far larger and richer than unions — operate under a cloak of total secrecy, Workers aren’t even told which union busters their employers have hired — let alone get an accounting of how those union busters spend money, or how many of them are working undercover, pretending to be workers in order to sabotage the union.
Twiddling will only get an employer so far. Twiddling — like all “AI” — is based on analyzing the past to predict the future. The heuristics an algorithm creates to lure workers into their cars can’t account for rapid changes in the wider world, which is why companies who relied on “AI” scheduling apps (for example, to prevent their employees from logging enough hours to be entitled to benefits) were caught flatfooted by the Great Resignation.
Workers suddenly found themselves with bargaining power thanks to the departure of millions of workers — a mix of early retirees and workers who were killed or permanently disabled by covid — and they used that shortage to demand a larger share of the fruits of their labor. The outraged howls of the capital class at this development were telling: these companies are operated by the kinds of “capitalists” that MLK once identified, who want “socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.”
https://twitter.com/KaseyKlimes/status/821836823022354432/
There's only 5 days left in the Kickstarter campaign for the audiobook of my next novel, a post-cyberpunk anti-finance finance thriller about Silicon Valley scams called Red Team Blues. Amazon's Audible refuses to carry my audiobooks because they're DRM free, but crowdfunding makes them possible.
Image:
Stephen Drake (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Analog_Test_Array_modular_synth_by_sduck409.jpg
CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
—
Cryteria (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg
CC BY 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
—
Louis (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chestnut_horse_head,_all_excited.jpg
CC BY-SA 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
[Image ID: A complex mandala of knobs from a modular synth. In the foreground, limned in a blue electric halo, is a man in a hi-viz vest with the head of a horse. The horse's eyes have been replaced with the sinister red eyes of HAL9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.'"]
#pluralistic#great resignation#twiddler#countertwiddling#wage discrimination#algorithmic#scholarship#doordash#para#Veena Dubal#labor#brian merchant#app boss#reverse centaurs#skinner boxes#enshittification#ants vs pickers#tuyul#steampunk#cottage industry#ccpa#gdpr#App Drivers and Couriers Union#shitty technology adoption curve#moral economy#gamblification#casinoization#taylorization#taylorism#giant teddy bears
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30 day OTP challenge - Ash x Paul (2013-2023) by CommanderPigg
A 30 day challenge that took 10+ years 🙃
Directory + commentary under the cut ⬇
Directory (in chronological order, some numbers got mixed up):
01 - Holding hands 9/26/2013
02 - Cuddling somewhere 9/27/2013
03 - Gaming 9/28/2013
04 - On a date 9/30/2013
05 - Kissing 9/30/2013
06 - Wearing each others’ clothes 10/1/2013
07 - Cosplaying 10/2/2013
08 - Shopping / 09 - Hanging out with friends 10/7/2013
10 - With animal ears / 11 - Wearing kigurumis 10/13/2013
12 - Making out 12/7/2013
13 - Eating ice cream 12/7/2013
14 - Genderswapped 12/20/2013
15 - Dancing 9/14/2014
16 - During their morning ritual(s) 10/12/2014
17 - Spooning 10/18/2014
18 - Doing something together 10/4/2015
19 - In formal wear 3/25/2018
20 - Cooking/baking 3/16/2019
21 - Gazing into each others’ eyes 10/20/2021
22 - Arguing / 23 - Making up afterwards 10/23/2021
24 - In battle, side-by-side 10/4/2022
25 - Getting married 4/30/2022
26 - On one of their birthdays 5/17/2022
27 - Doing something ridiculous 5/22/2022
28 - Doing something hot 3/11/2023
29 - Doing something sweet 12/18/2023
30 - In a different clothing style 12/27/2023
Stats:
Longest time between posting: 2 years. 5 months, 21 days (18-19)
Post amount ranking: 2013 (14). 2022 (4), 2014/2021/2023 (3), 2015/2018/2019 (1)
Most popular on Tumblr: Holding Hands (159 notes)
Personal favorite: On one of their birthdays
Comments:
I started this challenge with the intention of finishing it within 30 days, which is evident with the initial posting habits. I'm quite happy with some of the earlier drawings, as they were fresh and snappy, definitely leaning more towards comedy than romance. But Life Happens and of course the consistency was all over the place. And the longer it took to complete the challenge, the less relevant the prompts became to me... But through stubbornness and stupidity, I finally finished it a few months over the 10 year mark!
This challenge developed some of my favorite concepts like the IRL middle school AU, Veilstone Academy, and mirror world versions. And even if the themes are outdated, looking back at it reminds me of a simpler and fun time in fandom.
Thank you if you've been here since the very beginning! I hope you enjoy this compliation~
#30 day OTP challenge#my art#staticshipping#comashipping#shinsato#i considered doing a how many times is Ash and Paul on the right vs left stat too#but since I had comics idk how to count those
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Kasa-Obake
The Kasa-Obake (also kasa-bake or karakasa kozō) is a japanese yokai that typically takes the form of an umbrella with one eye, a long tongue, and either one or two legs. Despite being one of the most recognizable yokai, there is actually very little written about this creature. As far as I can find, there are no accounts of people directly encountering a kasa-obake and no evidence of genuine folk beliefs. Despite this, it has become extremely popular, appearing frequently in pop culture and japanese media (example below).
(A kasa-obake from the film Pom Poko)
This yokai is most often portrayed as mischievous, but not especially dangerous. Some believe that kasa-obake are a type of tsukumogami, a household object that receives a soul after existing for one hundred years. Interestingly, an object or animal persisting for a specific number years seems to be a common method by which yokai are created (ex: nekomata and tenko).
The origin of the kasa-obake is uncertain. There are illustrations of umbrella yokai (see below) in scrolls dating as far back as the Muromachi period in Japan (1300s to mid-1500s), though it is unknown whether these are at all related to the kasa-obake.
(An umbrella yokai from a Muromachi period scroll depicting the Night Parade of 100 Demons)
Sources:
https://moderntokyotimes.com/art-and-folklore-of-japan-mischievous-nature-of-the-one-legged-umbrella-ghost/
https://yokaitoons.com/index.php/2018/08/21/kasa-obake/
Foster, Michael Dylan, and Shinonome Kijin. “Home.” The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore, 1st ed., University of California Press, 2015, pp. 228–42.
Reider, Noriko T. "The Record of Tool Specters." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Suppl.Special Issue: Vernacular Buddhism and Medieval Japanese..., vol. 36, no. 2, 2009, pp. 1-19.
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witness me trying to cull the regene related asks down to the useful ones by summarizing any new info i found lol. avoided this one so long cos there were so many of them ;___; list ahoy under the cut
Regenes are given codes and codenames (08 may 2018)
regene rights (09 may 2018)
industrial tattoos (03 june 2018)
blugenes colourrange (16 aug 2018)
regenes get older + organic bodies (20 sept 2018)
cyborg definition (10 nov 2018)
ai minds clarification, genitech can't build minds (11 nov 2018)
regenes have genitals (12 nov 2018)
regene making process (12 nov 2018)
emp shielding AI chips (12 nov 2018)
regene enhanced power classes (15 nov 2018)
regenes have unique faces (21 nov 2018)
periods (25 nov 2018)
regene numbers/nicknames (26 nov 2018)
development in other countries? (27 nov 2018)
regene making process (1-3 years) (03 dec 2018)
reconditioning (13 dec 2018)
organic? transplants patents etc (15 dec 2018)
general regene literacy training, handlers (15 dec 2018)
regene culture nicknames (15 dec 2018)
install regene ai chips in humans? (18 dec 2018)
teenager decant (18 dec 2018)
lifespan? kia too early to test (22 dec 2018)
specific decanting teenage range 14-15 (22 dec 2018)
regene bonding (25 dec 2018)
regene vulcan culture (25 dec 2018)
organic brains but need need ai chip (28 dec 2018)
pain (28 dec 2018)
no chip swapping between regenes (28 dec 2018)
higher calorie intake than humans (boost-related) (7 jan 2019)
regenes can get sick (08 jan 2019)
tattoo design styles are the same, patterns and colours differ (10 jan 2019)
tat barcodes (10 jan 2019)
why not make them identical? (17 jan 2019)
programmed life skills (21 jan 2019)
few hundred regenes (01 feb 2019)
nails eyelashes nails grow (04 feb 2019)
lifespan studies? (11 feb 2019)
viability > "minor imperfections" (16 feb 2019)
hacking/captcha pass (28 march 2019)
lowlight vision regene eyeshine (27 apr 2019)
healing others (more a boost q) (03 may 2019)
regenes have fingerprints/sometimes removed (04 may 2019)
step's batchmates (05 may 2019)
bellybuttons (16 may 2019)
overwhelmed etsy store production (01 jun 2019)
regene book 3 topic (21 jun 2019)
regene death, avo'd (21 jun 2019),
androids? (02 jul 2019)
family units/parent regenes? (15 jul 2019)
sib relationships (any relationships outside teams discouraged) (15 jul 2019)
cuckoos and human mission working (unaware) (15 jul 2019)
cuckoo solo operatives (15 jul 2019)
can have extra organs/limbs (presumably via boosting) (21 jul 2019)
seeded with boost drug in tube stage (01 aug 2019)
ai chips counteract the vegetable brain growth speed issue (01 aug 2019)
cancer, boost drug casualties (01 aug 2019)
ranger interactions (01 aug 2019)
high maintenance (01 aug 2019)
control mechanisms (15 aug 2019)
rebirth regene team age/older ones trusted on us soil (18 aug 2019)
thought-voids feeling (24 aug 2019)
sex and pronouns (16 sept 2019)
boost-related miscarriage/procedures to prevent procreation (30 sept 2019)
fully compatible w/ human germs/disease (29 oct 2019)
power stacking (30 oct 2019)
training templates (25 nov 2019)
handler knowledge of sibling bonds? (25 nov 2019)
codename designated by handlers (25 nov 2019)
handler favourites (25 nov 2019)
mod augmenting powers (25 nov 2019)
regene:handler ratio (avo'd) (25 nov 2019)
selfawareness/autonomy (25 nov 2019)
reggies. (25 nov 2019)
legal classification (03 dec 2019)
finch giving step psych meds? (avo'd) (05 dec 2019)
10% survival -> 10% useful (1%) (08 dec 2019)
regene power scale? (10 dec 2019)
regene v rangers: step's opinion (10 dec 2019)
friendly regenes characters? (11 dec 2019)
tattoo process (14 dec 2019)
brain chip size (18 dec 2019)
tracking chips (19 dec 2019)
on regene vs human boosts (22 dec 2019)
farm makes all kinds of regenes (27 dec 2019)
some premature aging (30 dec 2020)
double dipping (05 jan 2020)
aiming for more reliable process, some progress but still a crapshoot (06 jan 2020)
bellybuttons (placental organ) birthmarks (20 jan 2020)
power maturity/corrections/ai chip surgical insertion at neck #VERY USEFUL(31 jan 2020)
ai chip can't be removed (or....?) (31 jan 2020)
kill switch standard issue(31 jan 2020)
decanting/training/etc process timeline stages (31 jan 2020)
"supposedly sterile" (04 feb 2020) (contradictory?)
rebirth regene (farm not above doing frankenstein arms but mods easier. um.) (15 feb 2020)
powers important for viability >>> minor "defects" (18 feb 2020)
research centres (20 feb 2020)
tattoo meanings? weren't codified at the time (20 feb 2020)
vaccines for abroad deployment!!! + germ susceptibility (23 feb 2020)
morality is for handlers (28 feb 2020)
regenes sweat (11 apr 2020)
chip reboot (16 apr 2020)
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Aaron Tveit appreciation post.
Movie appearances/roles:
2008-Ghost Town (Anesthesiologist)
2010-Howl (Peter Orlovsky)
2011-Girl Walks into a Bar (Henry)
2012-Premium Rush (Kyle)
2012-Les Misérables (Enjolras)
2013-A Dream of Flying (The Young Man) Short film
2015- Big Sky (Pru)
2016-Undrafted (John "Maz" Mazzello)
2016-Better Off Single (Charlie) Previously named Stereotypically You
2017-Created Equal (Tommy Reilly)
2018-Out of Blue (Tony Silvero)
TV roles/appearances:
2009–2012 Gossip Girl (William "Tripp" van der Bilt III) 10 episodes
2010 Ugly Betty (Zachary Boule) Episode: "All the World's a Stage"
2010 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit(Jan Eyck) Episode: "Beef"
2011 Body of Proof (Skip) Episode: "Point of Origin"
2011 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Stevie Harris) Episode: "Personal Fouls"
2011 The Good Wife (Spencer Zschau) Episode: "Executive Order 13224"
2013–2015 Graceland (Mike Warren) Main cast; 38 episodes
2016 Grease Live (Danny Zuko) Television movie
2016 BrainDead (Gareth Ritter) Main cast; 13 episodes
2017–21 The Good Fight (Spencer Zschau) 3 episodes
2019 The Code (Matt Dobbins) 5 episodes
2020 One Royal Holiday (Prince James Gallant) Television movie
2021 American Horror Stories (Adam) Episode: "Rubber(wo) Man Part Two", (Jay Gantz) Episode: "Feral"
2021–present Schmigadoon! (Danny Bailey) Main cast; 6 episodes
Theatre works:
2003 Footloose (Garvin) Merry-Go-Round Playhouse [2003 Regional production]
2004 Rent (Steve, u/s Roger, Mark) US national tour [January – December 2004 National tour replacement]
2005–08 Hairspray (Link Larkin) US national tour [August 2005 – July 2006 First national tour replacement], Neil Simon Theatre [July 18, 2006 – January 18, 2007; April 1 – May 4, 2008 Broadway replacement]
2007 Calvin Berger (Matt) Barrington Stage Company: [July 3–14, 2007 Original regional production]
2007 The Three Musketeers (D'Artagnan) North Shore Music Theatre [August 21 – September 9, 2007 Regional production]
2008–10 Next to Normal (Gabe Goodman) Second Stage Theatre [January 16 – March 16,2008 Original Off-Broadway production], Arena Stage [November 21, 2008 – January 18, 2009 Original Washington, D.C. production], Booth Theatre [March 27, 2009 – January 3, 2010 Original Broadway production]
2008 Saved! (Dean) Playwrights Horizons
[May 10 – June 22, 2008 Original Off-Broadway production]
2008–09 Wicked (Fiyero Tigelaar) Gershwin Theatre [June 24 – November 9, 2008;
January 20 – March 9, 2009Broadway replacement]
2009–11 Catch Me If You Can (Frank Abagnale, Jr.) 5th Avenue Theatre [July 28 – August 16, 2009 Original Seattle production] Neil Simon Theatre: [March 11 – September 4, 2011 Original Broadway production]
2010 Rent (Roger Davis) Hollywood Bowl: [August 6–8, 2010 Limited engagement]
2014–15 Assassins (John Wilkes Booth) Menier Chocolate Factory: [November 21, 2014 – February 8, 2015 Off-West End revival]
2017Company (Robert) Barrington Stage Company: [August 10 – September 10, 2017 Regional revival]
2018–22; 2023 Moulin Rouge!(Christian) Emerson Colonial Theatre: [July 10 – August 19, 2018 Original Boston production] Al Hirschfeld Theatre: [June 28, 2019 – March 11, 2020, September 24, 2021 – May 8, 2022, January 17 – April 9, 2023 Original Broadway production; paused due to COVID-19 , Won 2020 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, Returning for limited engagement in 2023]
Feb. 9-May 12, 2023 Sweeney Todd (title role) Broadway revival, Lunt-Fontanne Theater (replacement)
Source: Wikipedia
#aaron tveit#musical#les miserables#broadway#graceland#brain dead#next to normal#catch me if you can#hairspray#wicked#moulin rouge#rent#grease#gossip girl
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billie’s KOMCA credits
all of kang juyeon’s sole komca credits (74) listed in chronological order — including songs released by other artists. *skz, solo, other artist.
2018 (7)
SKZ — 3rd eye (18/03/25)
SKZ — insomnia (18/08/06)
loona — 열기 (18/08/20)
sori — touch (18/09/04)
the boyz — L.O.U (18/09/05)
SKZ — you. (18/10/22)
SKZ — 0325 (18/10/22)
2019 (10)
loona — curiosity (19/02/19)
lai kuanlin x wooseok — i’m a star (19/03/11)
everglow — moon (19/03/18)
SKZ — maze of memories (19/03/25)
SKZ — 19 (19/03/25)
solo — sunset (19/05/16)
SKZ — tmt (19/06/19)
solo — tyty (19/08/09)
everglow — hush (19/08/19)
SKZ — booster (19/12/10)
2020 (10)
loona — so what (20/02/05)
rocket punch — girl friend (20/02/10)
cherry bullet — hands up (20/02/11)
gwsn — after the bloom/alone (20/04/28)
solo — i got that (20/05/12)
solo — young lady (20/06/11)
SKZ — easy (20/06/17)
rocket punch — one summer night (20/08/04)
SKZ — the tortoise and the hare (20/09/14)
everglow — untouchable (20/09/21)
2021 (10)
solo — cantsay (21/03/03)
enhypen — fever (21/04/26)
everglow — first (21/05/25)
solo — bloodredroses (21/07/16)
SKZ — domino (21/08/23)
fromis_9 — talk & talk (21/09/01)
pixy — addicted (21/10/07)
billlie — ring x ring (21/11/10)
billlie — the eleventh day (21/11/10)
billlie — everybody’s got a $ecret (21/11/10)
2022 (14)
solo — the weekend (22/02/03)
billlie — a sign ~ anonymous (22/02/23)
SKZ — charmer (22/03/19)
purple kiss — oh my gosh (22/03/29)
purple kiss — joah (22/03/29)
ive — royal (22/04/05)
le sserafim — blue flame (22/05/02)
solo — restless (22/05/16)
the new six — burst up (22/05/17)
bvndit — awaken (22/05/25)
SKZ — taste (22/10/07)
le sserafim — impurities (22/10/17)
tripleS — charla (22/10/28)
solo — what do you think (22/10/31)
2023 (18)
XG — shooting star (23/01/25)
8turn — say my name (23/01/30)
tripleS — beam (23/02/13)
tripleS — rising (23/02/13)
tripleS — colorful (23/02/13)
SKZ — DLMLU (23/02/22)
billlie — lionheart (23/03/28)
billlie — various and precious (23/03/28)
SKZ — hall of fame (23/06/02)
SKZ — item (23/06/02)
queenz eye — un-normal (23/06/06)
odd eye circle/artms — je ne sais quoi (23/06/12)
tripleS — black soul dress (23/08/17)
boynextdoor — but sometimes (23/09/04)
XG — puppet show (23/09/27)
tripleS — 37.5 celsius (23/10/11)
zerobaseone — crush (23/11/06)
SKZ — megaverse (23/11/10)
2024 (6)
POW — valentine (24/01/25)
young posse — XXL (24/03/20)
rescene — uhuh (24/03/26)
wooah — blush (24/04/08)
SKZ — why? (24/04/12)
boynextdoor — amnesia (24/04/15)
a/n: to be updated as needed!
#♡ billie#skz oc#stray kids oc#stray kids 9th member#stray kids imagines#stray kids#kpop added member#kpop addition#kpop oc#fictional idol community
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