is this anything

Symphogear, Ep. 1 (Cont)

So obviously, Hibiki lived. What, you thought she died? Nah, not yet.

The show punts us back to the present.

And Hibiki’s in a brand new school! Looks good. It looks better than most University campuses. So it be in the psuedo-future, where pods and towers and glass are everywhere, and god knows how the condensation works in the building.

And it’s a music academy! Because fuck you, this is a musical anime. What, you thought she was going to a technical school? Trade school? No buddy. Better get with the choir ‘cause we singin’ out here.

All the teachers hate Hibiki, because she’s the world’s biggest goof.

This is karmically balanced by her having such a swanky dormitory that it outrivals most high end studio apartments. Look at this shit. Look how many square feet that is. A family could live in here. Is she paying for this? How can you afford this?

“i saved my money”

Her roommate? It should be obvious.

Her soon-to-be wife. This is not an exaggeration. She literally acts like her housewife. This is something even the voice actresses keep in mind. It’s that ingrained.

I... what? But. But they do...

She loves her idiot girlfriend.

Tsubasa is going solo for depressingly obvious reasons. Also, she goes to this school! Nobody really cares, though. It’s sorta weird really, you’d think more people would freak out that a pop star of national acclaim would be getting classes at their school, but nah! Not a damn person cares. It’s just the usual.

Oh right. Hibiki cares. That’s real fucking creepy, Hibiki.

This scar is important. It’s what she got after the whole incident. You might say it’s going to show off her... forte! Eh? Eh...? ‘Cause, ‘cause it’s a forte symbol, and it means force in italian, and it means she’s gonna get stronger, and... okay. Okay, I’ll shut up.

Harry Potter jokes aside, Hibiki isn’t just tailing Tsubasa to be a creepy stalker. She wants answers; mainly an explanation for what the fuck happened during that whole Noisefest 2017 thing, and why they were in admittedly cool outfits singing to themselves without any music (because presumably the music is only in our perspective, not theirs).

Hibiki’s really hung up about not dying, and she’s worried the whole Symphogear revelation was just part of a near death hallucination. Like seeing angels right before dying, except a bit more anime.

Anyway, time to go to sleep together with your bestest friend in the whole wide world who clearly would not marry you at the drop of a dime.

In the top bunk of a bunk bed. Clearly heterosexual behavior. Straight as straight can be.

Meanwhile the Noise are wrecking shop in some undisclosed location somewhere as the military keeps attacking them.

This is a bad time to point out that guns, bullets, and all conventional artillery and means of warfare have no effect on the Noise. This is also a bad time to remind you that this is not the first altercation; so much so that civilians are on a first name basis with them.

“i am literally being thrown into a meat grinder”

Tsubasa shows up explicitly to clown on the military, putting the F. U. in SNAFU.

Tsubasa is currently an angsty gay mess. Her girlfriend’s gone, she’s in the same school as the person she sacrificed her life for, and she’s real fucking lonely. Also her family sucks ass. I mean real ass. Not the traditional ass. We’re talking advanced ass.

Abridged footage of Tsubasa defeating the Noise.

“why the fuck were we even sent out to begin with”

Meanwhile at Lydian, where fully stocked healthy buffet options are just The Norm in this cafeteria. You know, just making more higher tier casual food restaurants be put to shame by this.

Hibiki eats the SHIT out of things. Spiritually, she’s basically Goku.

Tsubasa comes in and some girls sorta lose their shit but otherwise they’re really keeping it together for being near a celebrity. Hibiki gets up and-

“uhhhhhhhh hi”

Awkward sniffing noises.

“aw damn shits gettin real too bad i cant watch this i got a four course meal to get to HA CHA CHA”

And in a single hand gesture, Tsubasa absolutely destroys the shit out of Hibiki.

Annihilated. Never living that one down. Total destruction of her ego.

You know it’s bad when even your girlfriend-to-be roasts you for it.

Yeah, pirating is the only way to get the- I mean! Digital goods are only to be retrieved through purchase.

Anyway. Our lovely little nerd sets off to buy some limited edition CDs of her favorite idol and also her classmate, Tsubasa; the clipped wing of Zwei Wing. A fitting, but unfortunatre title. Hibiki is all giddy about this until her Hibiki sense tingles.

The patented HibikiSense technology only goes off in two scenarios: When she’s hungry, and when she’s in danger. Using her limited, but sharpened, braincells, Hibiki understands that she already ate several times. So the only thing left is-

You know, you’d think there’d be zone warnings about this kind of stuff it happens on the regular. But this is Hibiki, so she probably never paid attention to them.

Intense fax noises in brain.

Hibiki, being A Good Person, goes out of her way to save a little girl she heard in danger.

Weirdly, the day changed rapidly, but fuck it, we all know it’s for the drama.

I want you to take a moment to process this picture. How long do you think the Noise have just been standing there to catch those two? Do you think they all collectively went “You know, they’re gonna end up here, so let’s just wait it out for a bit.” And then just stood there for hours? These are the things that keep me up at night.

Hibiki makes her run to the shelter with the girl, but failed to realize having 4 meals in succession is a real bad thing to do before running what culminates a triathlon.

Hibiki remembers Kanade’s words of advice, though. They ring out something like:

So she keeps going. And going. And going.

What a thrill...

She makes it to the roof of some... power facility complex? With strong Megaman vibes? And they hide out there, blissfully unaware that this does not stop something that has rockets phase right through them. And can, y’know, fly.

Surprise, motherfucker. Thought you saw the last of me.

Cornered, and out of options, she does what any main protagonist would do in the worst possible situation.

Whips out some good ol’ fashioned superpowers, baby!

Even the noise are confused! They literally look at each other and go “uhhh, what” and wonder what the fuck is going on!

“ohhhhhhh my GODDDDD WHY IS THIS HAPPENING MY EYES”

Naturally it’s just GOTTA be an EVENT everybody’s gotta know about.

“oh my god the gaydar’s OFF THE CHARTS”

The impact of this is that this is Kanade’s old relic, which was used as the basis of her Symphogear. This gives two implications: She’s alive (she can’t be), or someone else is wearing her duds in a hand-me-down fashion.

GUNGIR DATTO?!

“no fucking why. is. is she alive? she cant be. she died in my fucking arms. i SAW her die. how the fuck- who stole her clothes? thats impossible. oh my fucking god. my brain cant take this. who the fuck is running around in my deceased girlfriend’s clothes. im going to fuck them up so bad. im going to rewire their skeleton so they have legs for arms. theyre gonna be lanky fucking kong once i get my hands on them. ohhhh my god. i need to destress at panera or something. fuck. oh my fucking god.”

As the elemental piss stream vortex keeps pulsating out of Hibiki’s chest like a strange, pulsating flashlight of energy, her very body transforms to embrace the relic and become..

Feral? She’s turning feral? Oh shit. I didn’t remember this. Oh boy. Better go see a dentist later.

Oh Jesus Christ.

I hope you never watch AKIRA, Hibiki.

Oh. Oh, you thought this was gonna be a happy transformation? You thought wrong, viewer. Hibiki is no longer fucking around. And to think, this is just the beginning...

Not a Monster

[Diana x Brynn]

[AU where Diana works at an archery arena and hunts monsters in her spare time. Brynn is still half valkyrie but nobody actually knows about her ancestry. She lives on earth so she can learn more about humans.]

------------

The employee at the archery arena leans against the wall behind the register. She holds an open book in one hand and an apple in the other. She takes another bite out of the half-eaten fruit and turns the page. In gold letters, the hard cover reads The Odds and Ends of Monster Anatomy: A Pocket Encyclopedia for the Expert Hunter or Huntress. It was a gift to herself, along with a new model of night vision goggles. The copper name plate on her work-issued black shirt says Diana. Several scratches lie across the plate and the corners have worn down to a dull silver.  

Diana listens to the children shrieking in the party room. She smirks as she hears strands of her co-worker’s voice. It seems the parents won’t discipline the rowdy kids so poor James has to do it himself. She feels bad but not enough to trade spots with him. She’s not on break but nobody’s lining up to register or pay for gear so she’s taking advantage of the situation.

The glass doors swing open and a group of people drone in. Diana judges that, based on the attire, they’re here for a company function. Many of them carry duffel bags or backpacks – probably filled with athletic clothing. She looks bemused. Most of those clothes probably haven’t been used in a while. She opens the ledger sheet on the computer.  She sees the entry for the birthday party and under that, she reads: Bee9 Solutions – 13:00, company package, 17 persons.

She tosses the rest of her apple into the bin under the counter and closer her book. Seventeen employees, all of them probably fed up with each other and annoyed at their boss, she smiles professionally, they’re going to eviscerate themselves.

A man approaches the counter. He has a chiselled beard and thinning hair. The suit he wears looks expensive. She registers his party and he shoves a business card under her nose. Politely, Diana pretends to tuck it into her pocket. She drops it in the waste bin when he looks away.

She leads them to the locker rooms and rounds them up to the armory once they’ve changed. She spells out the safety rules and shows them how to put the safety gear on. She watches as they fit arm guards and chest plates around their bodies. A cute, blond, lady catches Diana’s eye. Dozens of braids weave up her head and into a tight side bun. Diana muses over the intricacy of it. Must’ve taken her hours. Does she have to be so extra?

After issuing the bows and quivers of arrows, Diana address the large group.

“If you need anything come back to the armory. Look for someone in a shirt like mine – you can’t miss it, there are white targets printed on the back and the front of each shirt. I’ll be up in the arena rafters, reffing and watching for foul play. Have fun, kiddos.” She leaves just as Kayla arrives to open the arena doors. After a quick elevator ride, Diana steps out above the arena. The “rafters” is just one large platform that circles the arena. Two bridges intersect in the center, connecting the halfway points of the platform. They do a quick training with Kayla before she sets off the countdown on the large score board.

Diana watches with mild interest. The office drones handle the equipment better than she expected but their skills are dismal at best. Still, the insults they scream at each other are enough to entertain. She catches sight of the blond from earlier. Her braids catch the arena lights as she weaves between the obstacles. Diana leans against the metal railing and watches. This lady moves like she has wings on her back – her feet barely touch the ground. She nails most of her shots with compelling accuracy. Diana figures she must have prior training. She watches for the rest of the hour.

They regroup in the armory and Diana wanders among the employees, offering help with the armor. Casually, she makes her way over to the blond. If she wasn’t going to get a number, Diana at least wanted a name.

“Need any help?” She starts, lamely.

“That is kind of you.” The lady smiles, “I have enough practice to do it on my own.” She rips the Velcro apart on her arm guard. Her tone pitches high but not in a grating way. It pitches in a regal way – the sort of way that makes one shut up, sit and listen.

“It seemed like that. You’re pretty good, for an office drone. Almost as good as me.”

“My performance was lacking. I was trying to keep things fair for the other team.”

“Careful, they might hear you. What’s your name?”

“Brynn.”

“Brynn.” She hums. The name rolls off the tongue like butter. “Where do you usually do archery?”

“Sometimes the forest behind my apartment. In all honestly, I’m more prone to axe throwing.”

Diana gives her a once over. It’s questionable but Brynn certainly has the biceps of an axe-thrower. “You should try practicing in our complex. We have the newest equipment from this season and you won’t find prices like ours at other arenas.” Diana pulls a business card out of her pocket and holds it out between two fingers. “Besides, you’ll get to see this pretty face every time you walk in.”

Brynn takes the card from Diana. On the front is the name, phone number, email and fax number for the arena. On the back is Diana’s cell number. She has more of these cards, for specific situations such as this one. She raises a thin, blond brow, “It’s a little forward of you.”

“I’d hardly consider this forward. If it’s forward that you want, I can show you forward.”

Brynn’s eyes dart back to the small card, “I think I’ll pass. Perhaps I’ll send you a text tonight. It wouldn’t be too much trouble to get an employee discount?”

“None at all.” Diana smiles easily.

---------------

Brynn glides in through the automatic doors the next Tuesday. She wears a peach button down that tucks neatly into a navy pencil skirt. Her black pumps click against the linoleum. She’s already put her hair up in a tight bun. She’s made fewer braids this time but it’s still very intricate.

Diana stands behind the register and pretends to read. There’s a small, flat mirror concealed in the pages of her book. She checks the state of her double winged liner before she closes the book and puts it on the shelf under the counter. She watches Brynn click across the floor and envies the employees in her department.

Diana makes her way around the counter and takes Brynn to the locker room. They make small talk and ask about each other’s day.  

“How do you do your hair like that?” Diana asks as they put on the armor.

“Magic.” Brynn answers, distracted with the straps on the chest plate. Diana decides that Brynn must be joking. The get their weapons and settle into the arena. Everyone’s gone home for the day. The score board remains dark, but Diana keeps track in her head.

Diana lets Brynn play man hunt for a while. She keeps hidden behind barriers and obstacles. She uses the tactic in competitions and, more frequently, on monsters. Eventually, the impatience wears on their higher-level thinking and they start to take riskier attacks. Brynn’s arrows nearly nick Diana a few times.

After ten minutes, she steals herself and loads her first arrow. She runs from the barrier and catches Brynn by surprise. The arrow leaves her fingers and the string reverberates through the bow. It heads straight for Brynn’s shoulder.

The arrow never hits its mark.

“Huh?” She’s not sure what went wrong. Brynn loads another arrow and the rubber head catches Diana’s side. The chase continues. Diana gets a chance to tie up the score. She misses again and this time she can see the way the arrow drifts slightly to the left, like something unseen diverts its course. By the end of the hour, she manages to score two hits. Brynn, despite the obvious advantage, only manages to land three arrows.

“Say… how did you get into archery?” Diana asks as they strip their armor. She doesn’t really listen as Brynn describes a sunny village and her fierce aunt. She watches the way Brynn removes the chest plate. The Velcro parts but her fingers barely clutch and pull at the straps. Her muscles flex in odd patterns and Diana notices fangs in her smile.

“Magic.” She remembers Brynn’s voice, powerful and uninterested. Fuck. Now you’ve done it. You’ve seduced a monster, Diana concludes. What even is she? Vamp? Fae?

“Diana, are you alright? You look a little pale.” They’ve moved into the locker room and Brynn is back in her skirt. “Did you drink enough water?” Her concern makes Diana’s heart skip.

The monster seduced you, more like.

“What? Oh, no, I’m fine, thanks.” She puts on a smile, “I realized that I … didn’t pay my cable bills this month.”

“Be thankful it wasn’t your credit balance.” Brynn closes the locker and Diana follows her out, shutting the lights on her way. “Do you have anything else going on tonight?” Brynn asks as Diana locks up.

Stakeout at a graveyard, she doesn’t say. “Thinking of you, probably.” Diana winks instead. Her mouth feels dry.

“Why don’t I take you axe throwing next week? My treat.”

“Sounds like an axe-cellent idea. I’m super axe-cited.” Diana imagines the way Brynn might lodge an axe into the thick bark of an ancient tree. She shivers pleasantly.

Brynn’s giggle delights Diana’s ears. “Great.”

Maybe she isn’t even a monster. She could be a different mystical being. Or a hybrid – hybrids aren’t technically monsters.

“Yeah… I’ll text you tomorrow.”

“Of course. Good night, Diana.” She gazes under her lashes at Diana. 

“Good night.” Diana nods. She walks briskly to her red Toyota Yaris.

She can’t stop thinking of Brynn’s smile and the way the moon glittered against those pretty fangs. 

- Fin.

Requested by @onetrickdiana for that writing prompt post. Hope you like it :)

Sorry in advance for any spelling and grammar errors.

Back From The Dead: Round Two.

Rounding up a week in Hollyoaks (21st-25th May 2018)

It’s time for another weekly round up and what a week it’s been. After being pronounced dead last week, Sienna turned up alive and well, ready for a showdown with murderous daughter, Nico (who was thought to have died in a fire two years ago) on the hospital roof. As Sienna fought Nico for baby Sebastian, who should interrupt them but kiddie snatcher, Warren Fox, who himself was also thought to have met a fiery end a few years back. His stay in the village was brief and he ended up doing a runner with Sebastian, leaving Sienna with only pregnant fugitive, Nico, for company. As if that wasn’t enough drama for one week, we were also treated to delightful scenes of Glenn shooting his son dead and Tony getting electrocuted by a blender. By the end of the week, my face resembled that of Zara Phillips watching an American preacher at a Royal wedding...

The drama unfolded as the McQueen’s and Joel prepared for Sienna’s funeral, and it’s safe to say that Myra showed far more emotion about the demise than she did when three of her own children died. The preparations were soon interrupted by Josh, who informed them that they were going to use the funeral as an opportunity to catch Nico and that little Sebastian would hopefully act as catnip to the psychotic teenager. However, with Sebastian feeling unwell, Myra refused to let him attend and he remained at home with Sally, who ended up rushing him to A&E for reasons unknown (she seemed to go from “he needs to sleep” to “he needs to get to A&E” faster than Nana McQueen charging towards a buffet). Unfortunately, when Sally carelessly took her eyes of the baby, Nico snatched him and headed to the roof, where she was met by Sienna. It didn’t really make sense why she went up there given that she could have just gone back out the door she had just come through, but a rooftop is a far more exciting place for a showdown than the road outside the hospital, I suppose.

Sienna admitted that her death had been faked in a bid to catch Nico and begged her daughter to hand over Sebastian and turn herself in. However, Nico had a trick up her sleeve (or under her jacket) as she revealed that she was pregnant and so couldn’t possibly go to prison. As Sienna tried to process the news, she was interrupted by Warren, who offered her the chance to leave the village with him and be reunited with Sophie. The fact that he renamed her ‘Katy’ before he left the village last year was nothing but a distant memory. With Nico pulling her in one direction, and Warren the other, Sienna was left torn but ultimately, the pull of her non-psychotic daughter was too strong and she chose Warren, leaving Nico raging. As Nico lunged at her Mother, Warren made off with Sebastian, admitting that the whole thing had been a ploy to get his son back. 

Back at The Dog, the mourners were enjoying the wake, with Nancy, Darren and Tom partaking in a little game as they recalled all of the crazy things Sienna had done. Just then, the woman herself burst in, begging for help to track down Warren and Sebastian. Joel in particular was furious with Sienna and clearly does not process the brain cells to understand that her faking her death had been organised by the police, as he ranted at her for what she had done. With no one believing Sienna’s claims, she returned to her flat to find Nico waiting for her. The pair hatched a plan to leave the village together and Sienna soon found the perfect way to fund their getaway when she discovered that Darren and Mandy had been having an affair. Not wanting their respective partners to find out, Mandy and Darren reluctantly handed over cash meant for the restaurant, leaving Nancy furious when she realised it had gone. However, Nancy was soon distracted when she received a letter from Fran, the woman who had killed her sister, Becca, asking to meet.

Meanwhile, Glenn was furious when he discovered that someone had tipped the police off about an impending job and quickly decided that the culprit must have been Zack. Wanting to teach him a lesson, Glenn took the rather extreme decision to kill him and ordered Adam to help. Of course, we know that Adam is the grass and he was determined to keep his secret whilst also ensuring that Zack stayed alive. Not an easy task by any means but Adam soon saw his opportunity when he offered to do the deed whilst Glenn checked on the van. Running into the woods with his hostage, Adam let Zack go free but, just as he prepared to fire his gun into the air, Glenn interrupted, and was so angry with his son that he killed him. 

As the only police offer in Hollyoaks still alive, Roxy was tasked with investigating the death, and her first job was to break the news to Adam’s devastated family, whilst also trying to keep her own emotions in check. Grace immediately suspected that her Brother’s death was related to the job he and Glenn had been planning, but Glenn made her feel bad about the suggestion and insisted that he had nothing to do with it. One person who wasn’t convinced was Maxine and she accused Glenn of killing Adam. With Roxy also baying for Glenn’s blood, she tried to get Maxine to pick up where Adam had left off and gave her a listening device to plant in Glenn’s office. Unfortunately, Glenn caught her and knew straight away what she was up to. With Maxine determined to do anything possible to bring Glenn to justice, he knew he had to get her back on side quickly and so told her he had a brain aneurism and was dying. Although initially skeptical, Maxine soon appeared to believe him and told Roxy that she was no longer willing to help her. I bet Glenn’s not really dying. We’re not that lucky.

In other news this week, Alfie’s mental state continued to cause concern when he convinced himself that he was about to be reunited with Jade. Alfie was angry when Yasmine interrupted the ‘reunion’ but the voice in his head told him to be nice to her so she wouldn’t get suspicious. Also this week, Luke took a peek at Mandy’s messages and was devastated to discover that she was cheating on him. However, when confronted, she refused to reveal who it was with. Finally, there were arguments in the Hutchinson household as Tony and Diane couldn’t agree on whether or not to tell Tegan about Dee Dee’s illness. Dee Dee was left upset when she saw her parents arguing and punished them by asking for Scott to stay with her in hospital that night instead. There was soon happier news for the family when a phone call from Scott informed them that Dee Dee was responding well to her new treatment. 

5 Things We Learnt This Week:

1. Never take your eyes of a baby in the A&E of Dee Valley Hospital. They’ll be gone in a flash and nobody will have seen a thing. 

2. Tom’s black tie has gone missing. Which is most odd. You’d think that, given the amount of times he’s had to wear it, he’d just keep it on his person at all times, ready for the next funeral. 

3. Milkshakes make everything better. Except when the blender you’re trying to make one in blows up. 

4. Tony once bought Mandy a fax machine for Christmas. How romantic.

5. Divorce parties are a thing now and you can have one at The Hutch. Well, you’ve got to cash in where you can!

Characters Featured:

Adam, Cleo, Courtney, Darren, Dee Dee, Diane, DS Roxy Cassidy, Glenn, Grace, Jack, Jesse, Joel, Kim, Leela, Luke, Mandy, Maxine, Minnie, Myra, Nancy, Nico, Sally, Sebastian, Sienna, Simone, Tom, Tony, Warren, Yasmine and Zack. 

Past Characters Mentioned:

Jade Albright, Patrick Blake, Ben Bradley, Carley Bradley, Tracey Donovan, Becca Dean, Katy Fox, Neeta Kaur, Andy Morgan, Sue Morgan, Dodger Savage, Will Savage, Darcy Wilde.

Business & Pleasure

Kevin Mallory was sitting in his office, waiting for his assistant Valerie Rivera to arrive. Valerie drove her Ford Edge into her company parking space, got out, locked the door & went inside, where she saw a note on her desk telling her to go see Kevin in his office. She wondered what was happening but would soon find out. She walked in & Kevin greeted her with a smile & “Good morning Val. Take a seat”. She did & replied back, “Good morning Kevin. You sure look chipper today”. “I am. Actually, we are. Danny & I are very impressed with you. Not only are we giving you a raise in pay, a bonus, & also, your own office next to mine. The one next door has been remodeled to look just like mine”. She couldn’t believe it. Just a month in & she’s earned all this! “Thank you to both of you!”. “You’re welcome. I am also taking you to lunch today to celebrate. Everyone is gone today so it’s just you & me”, he said. Danny is Kevin’s brother. They took over the company when their father Clark retired. Their mother Sarah does payroll & their sister Karina is the company HR representative. They all flew to Atlanta for an architectural & construction seminar, & the construction crew was working on the new subdivision going up in town. Kevin liked the idea of being alone with her for a change without distraction.

The day before, Valerie & Kevin were just finishing up on a contract call with a big client. They got off the phone, got the paperwork drawn up, & faxed to the client. As they were waiting for it to be sent back, Valerie & Kevin were about to share their first-ever kiss with each other, when the door burst open, with Danny & Deanna coming in to announce they were headed out for the trip to Atlanta & told them to go home since it’s closing time. Kevin told Valerie to go ahead & head home, as he would lock up & leave.

Kevin took Valerie next door to see her new office, as the crew had finished getting it work ready for her: freshly painted and hardwood floor put in, plus her wifi, surround sound, & all electronics up to speed for her. “This is beautiful! Thank you Kevin”, she said & hugged him. He liked the feel of her in his arms & she liked it as well. Their hug was longer than expected & afterward, their eyes met. Kevin kissed her like he wanted to before the interruption the day before. His arms went around Valerie’s waist & hers went around him. Their kiss was romantic & turned passionate quickly as their tongues met. Valerie felt Kevin’s hands slip down to her bottom & she slipped her hands to Kevin’s bottom. Kevin’s lips left hers & went to her neck. “Ohhhhh Kevin”, she sighed. She was wearing his favorite dress & also the one that she wore the day she interviewed for & got the job with the company: a blue silk dress that zipped in the front. She wore it unzipped about 1/4 of the way; just enough for Kevin to see she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath & he got a preview of her cleavage. Kevin’s lips moved lower to where her cleavage was visible, making her shiver with desire. He took one of his hands from her bottom & unzipped her dress. He caressed a breast as he kissed her again very passionately. He removed her dress completely, then sucked  & kissed her breast. When he stood up, she unbuttoned his shirt & took it off. They kissed again, him sliding his hands in the back of her lacy panties. She loved feeling his bare chest against hers. “I want you Val”, he said. “I want you too Kevin”, she answered back, finding the button & zipper on his pants & undoing them. She began to slide his pants down his legs. He stepped out of them. She felt the silk of his boxers & it made him shudder. She eyeballed the bulge in his boxers & smiled. He let her take his boxers off & she let him take her panties off. He removed his shoes & socks as she removed her sandals.

He took her by the hand & led her to the couch. She saw the same electric button on the wall that was in Kevin’s & Danny’s offices. The couches would make out to a bed if the button is pushed. “Allow me”, Val said & pushed the button. “Time to initiate your office”, Kevin said as they lay down on the bed. Their foreplay was magical. Valerie went down on Kevin & pleasured his manhood with her hands & orally. Kevin was very vocal as Valerie sucked him. “Good thing nobody is here”, she joked. He laughed & said, “Babe, these offices are soundproof for a reason”. Val got vocal as well when Kevin pleasured her pussy with his tongue & his middle finger, which she told him was the way to build her orgasm. “Slowly is what I enjoy”. 

Afterward, he told her he’d been in love with her since the day she walked in for an interview. Said it was love at first sight for him. She said she fell for him at first sight as well. Then she jokingly asked if he had ever put the moves on any other employees. He said his former assistant was male & gay. Kevin & Matt (the assistant) became really good friends & did a lot together outside of work. “One night, he & I were at my place, got drunk, & Matt kissed me. He was actually a great kisser so I kissed him back. The next thing I knew, he was sucking me & he was damn good! But what happened next was even better. Now trust me when I say I am not a gay guy by any means, but when he fucked me that night, I really enjoyed it. I fucked him in return.” “That turns me on”, Val said, kissing him. “Really? I figured you would be repulsed by that”, Kevin said. “Oh no. I love watching men do sexual things together. I watch male gay porn”, she said with a smile. “What is your ultimate sexual fantasy then?”, he asked. “Having sex with you & another guy & then watching you two go at it”, she replied. “I bet I could make that happen”, he said with a smile. 

Valerie & Kevin made love. He answered the phone when calls came in but otherwise he was inside Valerie most of the day. They came together multiple times & made a mess of the sheets. They stripped the bed, put new sheets on it, & put the couch back the way it was. Kevin invited Val to his house for the weekend. They stopped at her place, which she shared with her sister, & got extra clothes, makeup, & other essentials. Her sister was on a cruise with her boyfriend & his family.

They went to grab dinner before going to Kevin’s. They sat in a romantic, dimly-lit round booth. They ordered their food & some drinks & were waiting. Kevin slid his hand up Val’s leg & was kissing her lips. She had her dressed unzipped farther than when she got in the office. Her nipples were on the verge of showing. She didn’t care. Their waiter loved it, as he kept staring at her chest. 

Kevin & Val laughed about that while in bed that night. They made love again & were postcoital afterward, talking & laughing. “I wonder if that waiter would have had sex with us if I asked him to”, Val said, laughing. “He gave you his phone number so maybe he would”, Kevin said, laughing in return. When Kevin went to the restroom as they waited for their main course, the waiter, Paul, was talking to Val & flat out told her how lucky a guy Kevin is to have her & how sexy she is. He then told her if she ever wanted to date more than one guy she could call him. He was a hot looking guy too. He then told her he would give anything to see her breasts. She bent forward so he could look down her dress. “Omg your breasts are sexy as hell”, Paul said. “Thank you. Glad you like”, she said. “Just so you know, you’re making me very horny. I’d better go check on your food”, he said. When Kevin returned she told him everything. He laughed when she told him she bent forward so Paul could see her breasts & that he said they were sexy. 

Kevin & Val were very busy with work & sex was their “release outlet” when they had down time. It got busier & busier with no time for sex eventually. One day, a familiar face came to their office to inquire about getting a house built. It was Matt, Kevin’s former assistant, who Val was very floored by when she met him. He was gorgeous! Matt & Kevin caught up on things & Kevin invited him to dinner with him & Val at his place. Matt accepted. He & Kevin went golfing that day & were talking about old times. Matt asked what being with Val was like & Kevin told him she was great in bed & very sexy. Matt then asked, “Would she ever have a threesome”? Kevin laughed & said, “Matt, I thought you were gay”. He then confessed that he’s straight & always has been but that he had always wanted to have sex with a man to see what it’s like. Kevin answered him. “She wants a threesome. I say we give it to her tonight after dinner”. Matt was all for it. 

The guys came home & Val was getting the tail end of dinner done. Fettucini Alfredo and salad were for dinner. She had the table set & told the guys she would be back out momentarily. She changed from her robe (she had showered while dinner was cooking) into one of Kevin’s oversized baseball jerseys, which she left unbuttoned halfway & some flats on her feet. She put her hair back with some barrettes. “You look stunning”, Matt said & kissed her cheek. “Thank you handsome”, she said. 

Dinner was eaten, dishes were done, food was put away, & the threesome went & sat on the couch. Val was in the middle between the guys. The guys were drinking beer & Val had her White Claws. Matt was talking to Val & made her laugh. He then took her White Claw, set it down, & started kissing her in front of Kevin. Kevin loved it & was getting turned on as he watched Matt unbutton her jersey & fondle one of her breasts. He continued undoing the jersey & started sucking on her breast. Valerie moaned as Matt continued making love to her breast with his tongue. She opened her legs & Matt slid a finger in her freshly shaved pussy. Kevin took his shirt off & undid his shorts, sliding them off. He was naked & began to touch his cock. Matt removed her jersey & sucked her other breast. Matt told Kevin to take over while he undressed. Kevin made out with Val & fingered her pussy. She stroked his cock. Matt was now naked too & sat back next to Val. She stroked his cock too & went back & forth kissing the guys. They went to the bedroom. Matt & Kevin made out & Val was fingering herself watching the guys do their thing. Kevin fucked Matt & came deep in Matt’s ass. Valerie had an orgasm watching that. Matt then fucked Valerie. She begged him to cum inside her & he did. Kevin began stroking his cock. He wanted inside his girlfriend’s pussy again. Matt had other ideas. He got Kevin to stroke him. Matt was soon hard & fucked Kevin. Matt came very hard & deep inside Kevin’s ass. Kevin then fucked Valerie & came inside her. They kept on drinking and messing around. At 2 in the morning, Kevin passed out. Matt & Valerie went in the guest room & fucked all night. 

From that night on, Valerie spread herself between Kevin & Matt. Kevin contracted COVID & Valerie stayed at Matt’s. He was finally in his new house. Matt & Valerie were constantly fucking each other. 

When Kevin got better & she returned home, she & Kevin had sex. After they were done, they were lying in bed cuddling when Danny called. He told Kevin that Matt had been killed in an accident by a drunk driver. 

Valerie & Kevin got married & she found out she was pregnant. They had a boy & named him Matthew Paul.

I hate feeling so annoyed by it but my head receptionist has been treating me like the girls in high school did and I can’t quite put a finger on what that means but it’s just. ugh

we got a new girl who does tech and reception back in like January or something and of course when someone is new everyone’s a little wary but welcoming. I wasn’t sure how I felt about her but I didn’t work directly with her enough, and then COVID hit and she ended up on the other team with Alexa. and I’d see Alexa tagging her in things on facebook but when you’re stuck with the same people 12 hours a day you do end up closer to them. whatever, you know?

but since we’ve been back together it feels like the girls on the other team are acting cliquey. at least, Alexa, the tech/receptionist girl, and another newer tech (though she’s honestly really nice and is cool with everyone). I get it, you all were on the same team for months. you got close. but even when we have staff meetings they’ll sit together and talk amongst themselves and won’t include the rest of us, so we’re just awkwardly sitting around while they talk and make their little inside jokes. we weren’t NOT good together as a team on our side, but we didn’t get like that.

Alexa has known I’ve been doing crafting since well before this all started. she knew I’d been tossing around the idea of an etsy shop. I finally made one. I’ve been sewing and crocheting and starting resin and I sewed a TON of masks for the clinic. she’s seen things I’ve posted on facebook and instagram. she’ll say stuff like “oh that’s cool” when I’ve told her about the things I’ve made. which, cool, I don’t need everyone to be enthusiastically supportive. we’re not close friends, I don’t expect her to do anything.

but the tech/reception girl recently started learning how to make resin things and she’s now making custom pet tags; which, cool! that’s awesome! but I’ve seen Alexa share her posts twice now to her own instagram. like “hey go support my coworker and her cute pet tags!”

I just made a facebook page for my shop too and maybe she just hasn’t been on facebook, which, okay, whatever. I literally just made the page so maybe it’s too soon to be bitter about it. but she’s liked the other girl’s facebook page.

and it just stings, you know? I don’t know what I did that she’s suddenly changed in how she sees me. she used to tag me in story posts when we’d share hot chocolate, she called me her work bestie once, we relate on the chronic illness struggles, and I was like, oh, cool, a work friend! that’s always nice to have. but now she rarely talks to me unless there’s something wrong and it feels like she just acts different towards me. it’s so hard to describe. it’s just like fucking high school, and my lab in college. people (women especially for some reason) get all toned-down around me. they aren’t unkind, but they can be somewhat brisk. I can read it on their faces— it’s like they don’t want to be talking to me and are patiently waiting for me to say what I need to say. it makes me so nervous. it’s like they’re just tolerating my presence. they’re being polite because they have to, but I can tell they don’t want me around. Alexa will talk down to me sometimes too and that’s annoying. but there’s something just straight up different about how she treats me now and I’m not a fan.

and the tech/receptionist girl.. I honestly don’t like her much. I gave her a chance. I try to be understanding with new people because I know that I don’t know them. but she literally always seems annoyed. at everyone and everything. all the time. she mumbles and sometimes when I go into treatment to get the techs’ attention for an appointment that’s just arrived, I’ll hear her say something and I can’t tell if she’s acknowledging the appointment or in her own space. she’s gotten annoyed with me and told me to put the check in clipboard on the shelf we put those on when I hesitate because I’m not sure if I got my message across. she couldn’t sound more disinterested when she answers the phone and talks to clients. and I’ve heard her on multiple occasions saying nasty things about clients based on what they look like. I get that some people are rude or weird or whatever but saying shit about them just based on their looks? fuck off with that. she was ranting to me a few weeks ago about how their team felt like they were cleaning up my team’s mistakes during split shifts and they were acting like we were so incompetent. a few times she mentioned split shifts and mentioned our team in a negative way. and I told her, “...well, we felt the same way about you guys”.

and everyone that was on her team adores her. they think her attitude is endearing. I get that things are frustrating and now you have a baby with your boyfriend at 23 and you’re making a tech salary which isn’t a lot and you have to commute from another state, but don’t make your annoyance everyone else’s problem. but she makes funny quips sometimes so they like her.

last night I was closing with the other head receptionist. it wasn’t terribly busy last night even though it was crazy in the morning, and we were feeling kind of bored. I was trying to stay on top of scans and emails all day and I finally caught up by close. she let me go home not long after because our last few appointments were still there and she took today off anyway. this morning I woke up to a text to the reception group asking if surgery paperwork got done. the receptionist I was working with was like “oh shit, sorry, and I even stayed late!” no response. I sent an “oh no I forgot too, I’m sorry”. and Alexa texted a whole paragraph like “Lou said it wasn’t busy last night and this morning has been crazy and there was a whole pile of scans this morning too”

you know what? you’re right. it wasn’t busy last night. we both should have remembered to check for drop off paperwork but we didn’t. that was my mistake before I left, and that was also Tricia’s mistake because she closed up shop and should have taken stock. but when I left there were no scans to be done. maybe two, but I had already clocked out and Tricia could have easily scanned and attached them. the techs bring up papers to scan after we close, it’s not like I’m just leaving them there intentionally for morning staff just to fuck everyone over with more stupid busy work. and I know for a FACT that the new girl told Alexa it wasn’t busy last night because she was there and she’s been taking every opportunity she can to say shit about us because of all these assumptions she’s made since we were on split teams. acting like we’re just partying it up and being lazy on purpose. she’s ranted to me about how she thinks Tricia stays late intentionally to get more hours because there’s nothing to do after close. I wouldn’t know if that’s true but it’s annoying as hell that she just makes shit up in her head and gets herself all worked up about it.

surgery paperwork is a morning thing too. nobody told us it hadn’t been done. yes, we should have checked, and that’s our mistake. but Alexa has dropped the ball in the morning and I’ve texted her after close like “did the paperwork get done?” and she’s been like “oh shit sorry no” and I fucking take care of it without complaining because that’s my job. I get it. people forget things. lord knows I do. there was one day the doctors got really annoyed at me because sending out negative fecal test results is a reception job and none of the result emails got sent. I wasn’t there that morning and labs are a morning thing, so I didn’t know why they hadn’t gotten sent. I looked into it, none of the fecal labs had downloaded to the computer system, so it looked like they hadn’t come in yet. but the doctors showed me the actual lab website, which had the results. that had in fact come in. Alexa should know to check that, she has the login information printed out and on the front desk and she’s also been a vet receptionist for 8 years and should know about the lab site, but it didn’t happen. so I had to stay late and go through all the fecal results that had come back and send out the emails. I didn’t even know that that had happened because, again, morning thing, not my job as a closer, but I took care of it anyway because my job IS to pick up where my coworkers drop the ball. I didn’t get annoyed (at least not THAT annoyed) and I didn’t point fingers or act like anyone was being lazy. because that’s my fucking job.

so I didn’t much appreciate this morning being made to feel like we were just being lazy and like we didn’t just genuinely forget to do the drop off paperwork. we know how stressful the head vet’s surgery days are (which, of course that would be today). she always has 3-5 procedures and today there were 4 and two drop offs for ultrasounds. we didn’t just not do the paperwork to spite the morning staff. I wouldn’t do that to anyone intentionally. but they sure are fucking acting like it.

the head vet told me something back in April when she and Tricia pulled me in for that meeting that really stuck with me: assume best intentions. assume competence. she told me that the other reception team had gotten really annoyed with us one thursday when they came in after we’d had our last day and there was a whole pile of faxes that needed to be sent, and they were mad that we just left it for them. we hadn’t. the doctors just didn’t put those up there until after we left. and that changed my attitude considerably. I had been getting annoyed at the other team for doing similar things. but I tried to remind myself that they were probably doing their best too and everyone drops the ball sometimes. the head vet brought that up at our last staff meeting too and I wish those two had thought about it more. they just prefer to point fingers I guess.

I’m just annoyed. I hate feeling like this. I hate feeling shunned by people when I don’t even know what I did. literally all the girls in high school acted like that towards me. they wouldn’t give me the time of day if they didn’t have to. I don’t know what Alexa has in her head about me now but I’m sure whatever it is is wrong. and I’m sick of thinking about it. I shouldn’t even give her the real estate in my brain. I should focus on the people that do like me instead of searching for reasons why others don’t. I don’t know what she likes so much about that new girl but I don’t really care either. they can go off and be cliquey and I’ll just keep actually trying to be nice and understanding towards everyone.

it’s funny too because I have a feeling Alexa is annoyed about me posting about my fatigue on instagram stories, thinking I don’t have it as bad as she does because she has MS. I didn’t lose sight in one eye temporarily and I don’t have brain lesions and I don’t have a ton of meds I have to be on and I don’t get the MS hug or painsomnia or whatever else, so obviously I shouldn’t complain. but she complains all the fucking time. half her instagram stories are her complaining about being in pain and not being able to sleep, you know, the same thing I also have issues with. 50% of what she posts is MS related and the other 50% is about how much she misses california. maybe I just don’t have it as bad in her eyes because my illness isn’t my entire personality. I try not to complain about it and I try to push myself to my own detriment because I have a job and that job entails being a functioning cog in a whole machine.

I don’t know. I think I’m going to take a week off next month with my PTO. just catch up with myself. I haven’t had an actual break since I started this fucking job. I’ve been lucky with a few 3 day weekends but that’s it. we get one day off for holidays. the actual holiday. I’m a little nervous to ask for a whole week but fuck it. I’ve been at the clinic for 14 months now and haven’t asked for any time off for anything that wasn’t medical-related. I deserve a fucking week.

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On this web page: You may require a PDF visitor to watch a few of the data on this web page. See EPA's About PDF page for more information - epa. Although importers must follow suitable generator demands in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 262, consisting of the unique requirements of Component 262, Subpart F, importers can not build up hazardous waste for even more than 10 days without a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) storage space permit.

Department of Transportation (DOT) packaging regulations (40 CFR section 263.12). You need to fill in as well as submit EPA Form 8700-12. Directions on exactly how to accessibility EPA Type 8700-12 and where to submit it are readily available at Exactly how Unsafe Waste Generators, Transporters, as well as Treatment, Storage Space and Disposal Facilities Can Acquire EPA Identification Numbers (basel convention).

Until changes to EPA Type 8700-12 are approved by OMB, EPA advises that recognized traders wanting to ask for an EPA ID number in order to organize for import of hazardous wastes fill in and also submit the existing type. The requester should: 1) on web page 1 of the form, reflect his or her workplace as the website concerned; and also 2) in "Product 13-Comments" on web page 4 of the form, state that she or he is an acknowledged investor that schedules import of dangerous waste, global waste or invested lead batteries based on Component 262 Subpart H requirements.

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The regulations for imports of unsafe waste allow the importer or the importer's agent to sign the RCRA generator qualification declaration on the show instead of the generator (40 CFR area 262.84( c)( 1 )). european. The only need for an agent signing the reveal is that the representative has to be in some way lawfully affiliated with the U.S.

The broker might authorize the show qualification only if the broker's company has an EPA identification number (needing an U.S. address) or the broker is lawfully pertaining to the importer (e.g (non hazardous)., a subsidiary). A broker finalizing as an agent due to a lawful connection to the importer should position the U.S..

EPA identification number of the importer on the manifest (waste disposal). Under 40 CFR section 264.71( a)( 3) and also 40 section CFR 265.71( a)( 3 ), the U.S. treatment, storage space and disposal center (TSDF) getting a RCRA manifested contaminated materials shipment from an international resource is required to add the appropriate permission number from consent documentation supplied by EPA to the TSDF for each and every waste provided on the reveal, matched to the relevant listing number for the waste, and send out a duplicate of the reveal within thirty (30) days of delivery to EPA utilizing the addresses noted in 40 CFR 262.82( e) till the facility can submit such a copy to the e-Manifest system per 40 CFR 264.71( a)( 2 )( v).

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The waste stream authorization number for each and every waste stream is a combination of the EPA notification ID number along with the waste stream number from the notice. The EPA notification ID number for an import notice is constantly 6 digits, adhered to by a "/", complied with by 2 numbers, followed by "I/", complied with by two figures.

The waste stream consent number is the first six figures of the EPA notice ID number, complied with by "I", adhered to by the last two figures of the EPA notification ID number, complied with by the sequence number from the notice for the details waste stream concerned, padded bent on 3 numbers - basel action.

Just facilities that are called for to submit to EPA duplicates of RCRA materializes for import shipments under 40 CFR section 264 (basel convention).71( a)( 3 ) or 40 CFR section 265.71( a)( 3 ), or the state equivalent to those needs, are impacted by the import permission documentation requirements. EPA sends out a cover letter and duplicate of the notice to all U.S..

importer that the import is allowed. The EPA cover letter and also connected notice act as EPA's import authorization documentation for the shipments. EPA will mail, fax, or email the letter and notification utilizing the contact info detailed for the facilities in the notification. EPA is offering the letter as well as foreign notification for your possible usage as well as recordkeeping due to the fact that your center is noted as an obtaining facility or acting receiving facility in the affixed notice - epa.

Under regular situations you must receive consent documents from EPA, but some instances of when you would certainly not obtain consent documents from EPA are: Inaccurate call details was listed for your facility in the notification by either the international exporter or the UNITED STATE importer, or Your center accepted recycle or dispose of a single import delivery that was denied by the receiving center provided in the authorization documentation.

If the shipment was originally denied, you should get in touch with the original assigned center or the listed UNITED STATE importer to get a duplicate of the EPA-provided authorization documents. If the shipment was not at first rejected, you ought to promptly contact the provided UNITED STATE importer to get a duplicate of the consent paperwork.

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Although the land disposal restrictions attach at the point a contaminated materials is created, the RCRA regulations can only relate to parties in the USA. When contaminated materials is imported from Canada, the U - basel action.S. importer need to abide by all suitable RCRA requirements, including the dangerous waste identification treatments for generators found in Component 262.11.

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On the other hand, importers of unsafe waste should follow all appropriate RCRA needs, including LDR as well as the unique needs for importers of contaminated materials. Yes. Starting on December 31, 2016, all imports of RCRA unsafe waste should have EPA consent, consisting of those contaminateds materials handled under the alternate standards of 40 CFR Component 266 or the global waste requirements of 40 CFR Part 273. In cases where the country of export does not manage the shipment as a contaminated materials export, the United States importer is required to submit an import notice to EPA straight.

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Postal Mail Distribution, mail to: Interest: Notification of Intent to ImportOffice of Land and Emergency Situation ManagementOffice of Resource Conservation as well as RecoveryMaterials Healing and also Waste Monitoring DivisionInternational Branch (Mail Code 2255A) Environmental Defense Agency1200 Pennsylvania Ave (non hazardous). NW.Washington, DC 20460 For Messenger Solution, mail to: Interest: Notification of Intent to ImportOffice of Land and Emergency ManagementOffice of Source Preservation as well as RecoveryMaterials Healing and Waste Administration DivisionInternational Branch (Mail Code 2255A) Environmental Management AgencyWilliam Jefferson Clinton South BuildingRoom 6144, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave.

areas, such as the island of Midway, are exempt to import regulations due to the fact that they are not imported from an international country. On the other hand, if a harmful waste is imported from an U.S. army base situated in an additional country, import policies will apply. basel action. It is the obligation of a harmful waste importer to perform all typical RCRA generator demands - developing countries.

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Where even more than a single person drops within the range of an importer, all events entailed with the importation of harmful waste can be held jointly and severally accountable for conformity with the generator demands in Component 262 (european). Nonetheless, we recommend that one of the parties think the generator duties in support of all parties.

Nevertheless, EPA books the right to enforce against any of the events if the requirements of Part 262 are not properly fulfilled . [2] If a waste is transferred from an U - basel convention.S. territory or State to a 2nd U.S. territory or State using one more country, the export needs do not apply due to the fact that the assigned facility is not in a foreign nation.

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You require to fill in and also send EPA Form 8700-12. Directions on just how to access EPA Type 8700-12 and where to send it are available at Exactly how Contaminated Materials Generators, Transporters, and also Treatment, Storage Space as well as Disposal Facilities Can Acquire EPA Identification Numbers.Changes to EPA Form 8700-12 are being created as well as accepted in order to clarify on the kind the requirement for identified investors to acquire an EPA ID number before arranging for new exports or imports of dangerous waste. The requester needs to: 1) on web page 1 of the.

type, show his/her workplace as the site concerned; as well as 2 )in" Thing 13-Comments "on web page 4 of the kind, state that he or she is a recognized trader that organizes for export of contaminated materials, universal waste or invested lead batteries subject to Part 262 Subpart H needs. United States merchants and also discover preparers have to access WIETS with EPA's Central Information Exchange( CDX) (electronic waste). U.S. exporters will require to very first register in CDX as a certifier for WIETS in order to be able to prepare export notices in WIETS and also certify/sign/submit them electronically to EPA. Just an US exporter can accredit that a digital notification is full, authorize it online, as well as submit it to EPA. Companies that prepare export notifications for United States exporters can register as a notification preparer in CDX for WIETS.

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But considering that notification preparers must note a United States exporter-certifier that will need to fund or verify you in CDX, your client needs to complete the CDX registration process initially. EPA personnel can not act as sponsors for notification preparers in CDX.Please note that exporter-certifiers need to normally choose the first choice when sponsoring a notice preparer from a separate business(" Enroller person, above, to execute responsibilities that represent my organization"). After replicating a notification, you can then edit information worrying the listed waste streams, location facilities, carriers, and ports, or include new things as required - developing countries. Paper export notices must have approval provided prior to December 31, 2016. If formerly submitted paper export notifications do not obtain consent before December 31, 2016, a brand-new digital alert will certainly have to be submitted. EPA highly advises that you finish your CDX https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/recognizedtrader enrollment so that you can replicate and resubmit your export notification as promptly as feasible if your approval is not released before December 31, 2016. In this instance, the exporter needs to obtain permission showing the new name by utilizing an amended notification or finishing a new notification altogether. In this situation, the exporter must submit a brand-new notification of intent to EPA as well as get approval before delivering to the different foreign http://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=Hazardous Waste Exporting facility. Yes. The manifest and also the Recognition of Authorization serve different purposes. The manifest is needed to track the dangerous waste from "cradle to grave." Because of this, it is very important to recognize the generator of the contaminated materials. Merchants are called for to submit an export yearly report with EPA no later on than March 1 of each year summarizing the types, amounts, frequency, as well as supreme location of all such contaminated materials exported during the previous schedule.

year. eu member. If the exporter did not deliver any contaminated materials after having actually acquired permission to export specific contaminateds materials, the merchant should submit an export annual record noting that the amount shipped under the provided consent (s )was absolutely no. For instance, if an exporter indicators a manifest in 2015 for a waste to be exported, however the waste does not leave the nation until 2016, the shipment would be reported on the 2016 annual record which schedules on March 1, 2017. The Recognition of Approval letter will provide the waste stream authorization numbers for each and every waste stream from the export notification - european. The EPA notice ID number for an export notification is always six figures, complied with by a"/", adhered to by two numbers, complied with by" E/ ", followed by two digits. An example of an EPA notice ID number is" 000373/10E/10". The waste stream permission number is the initial 6 digits.

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of the EPA notice ID number, followed by" E ", followed by the last 2 figures of the EPA notification ID number, complied with by the series number from the notice for the certain waste stream concerned, padded bent on 3 digits (southeast asia).

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Organised closet, organised life: What a career as a wardrobe stylist looks like

Anita Krizanovic is a successful stylist. On her website, one can see numerous fashion shoots for magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, Elle or Vogue and she styles TV shows, influencers and artists as well. Apart from that, she recently launched a new project: fashion illusion. As a wardrobe stylist, she helps her clients organise their closets and thus translating to an organised life. As her career shows, success does not necessarily have to be defined via a straight forward career path. FashionUnited spoke with her about her work.

How did you become a stylist?

When I was 16, I worked as a temp for Buffalo Boots in Frankfurt, Germany and in five years, I not only worked in the stores but also at fairs. That was my first connection with the fashion industry. After that, I reached my current styling career via detours. After graduating from high school, I trained as a fashion PR consultant - at a time when editorial was still sending out fax messages! After that, I studied marketing communication in Cologne and worked for various companies, among them Bread & Butter Berlin. In my late twenties, I finally fulfilled my childhood dream and studied fashion design in Berlin.

During my studies, styling was the topic when presenting my own collection; I started networking with colleagues and people in the industry and realised first projects already while still at university. During our practice semester, I had the opportunity to work for the first episodes of the TV show „X-Factor“ and that convinced me to make this my profession and start my own business as a stylist.

What does it take or what does one need to do to be successful as a stylist?

It is important to enjoy the profession and networking is also essential. The creative industry is constantly changing; especially social media has changed much in recent years. And one has to continuously assert oneself and keep at it. The most important thing is never to lose trust in oneself and the most beautiful feedback is happy customers. In the end, that it what defines success most clearly. More than anything else, those who want to work as stylists have to be realiable. Because one has to first gain the brands' and agencies' trust before one can borrow a collection. And of course, at the end of the day, one has to be good at one's job, and apart from creativity and networking, one has to know designers and trends, be good at organising and not lose the fun in fashion.

A few examples please: Which projects were you in charge of as a stylist?

Most exciting was working for a daily styling TV documentary that we shot all over Germany for a few years. I was in charge of styling and organsing more than 130 candidates and had to manage my own styling team. Here, we captured real women with real problems who got help with various wardrobe and styling problems.

Apart from TV, I worked as a stylist on editorials for Elle or Vogue, advertisements, music videos, e-commerce or celebrity outfits. Every job requires tackling it in a different way. One meets so many different people; after all, that makes the job so special, intense and diversified.

Which ones were particularly fun and why?

Particularly fun are projects with colleagues who bring a certain kind of energy along and who make sure that work does not feel like work. I like to remember my cover shoot for Elle Slovenia with photographer Suzana Holtgrave who lent me wonderful Chanel pieces. The whole process is always terribly exciting, from choosing the look via the enquiry and acceptance to delivering the actual production. Every time I am excited like a small child when big brands say yes and I open the parcels like Christmas presents.

Apart from the whole process, the biggest joy is the finished product, the completed music video or to see the celebrity on the Red Carpet or to open a magazine with your editorial in it or the happy private client who looks at you happy and content after your visit.

And what are the disadvantages of the job that nobody thinks about?

As is the case with most creative professions, work is omnipresent. There are no fixed timings to work or relax and one has to learn to take self-care breaks and to stick to them. As soon as I accept a job, my brain goes on overdrive and I start visualising the looks and prepare lists of what has to be done when; there is no off button for that. Also by now, I have many colleagues who have become friends so we talk about work even outside of work. I don't see this as a real disadvantage but one has to know one's limits and learn to know when they are reached.

I do see it as a disadvantage of how spontaneous one has to remain in this job. That also affects one's private life. Many times I have to cancel plans because a job has come in on short notice. I am very grateful to my friends and family for understanding this.

Recently, you launched your new project "Fashion Illusion". What prompted you to do this?

I first had the idea more than 15 years ago when I read an article about Kate Moss' wardrobe stylist at the time. The idea to organise closets for others, to shop for them and to style them fascinated me. I already saved the website name „Illusion Fashion“ many years ago and used it initially as a blog. Last summer, I remembered this moment and I said to myself 'if not now, then when?'.

The concept for Fashion Illusion was already there; I just had to tweak it and feed content to the website and since the beginning of the year, the wardrobe service is now online.

I realised how unsure people are when it comes to fashion and that I wanted to be closer to the end customer and help them.

What exactly do you do?

My motto is 'to have a well organised wardrobe is the beginning of a well organised life'. That means gaining confidence through analysis, clarity and structure and becoming the master of one's wardrobe. I offer different service packages; mainly it is an in-home service, meaning I come home to the clients and go through their wardrobe together with them. That also includes weeding out and gaining an idea of what is there and what is actually needed.

The most exciting part is the clients' wow-effect when they realise the connection between a lack of a clear view and purchase decision that are not smart or the surprised expressions when seeing the many potential looks that their wardrobe offers. According to their insecurities, I help them with type of figure, new job, new phase of life or occasion to find something that fits and more than anything to feel good for a long time.

Often, less is more. I do not want to primarily push new purchases or encourage consumerism but to first "shop" in one's own closet.

And to those who are already confident in their style or generally have less time, I offer services like personal shopping or cleaning out their closet. With my different packages, I have tried to cover all needs.

You have been called the German Marie Condo; how do you feel about that?

Marie Condo helps people clean out their past; I help people design their future. Marie Condo provides structures, how to best clean up; I, however, help people keep their own style and needs in mind and give each client individual advice.

What can each one of us do to consume fashion more sustainably?

Sustainable consumerism does not only mean switching over to organic qualities but to wear the clothes that one owns as long as possible and to make future purchase decisions more consciously. Because even a jeans made out of organic cotton takes 8,000 litres to produce.

Of course, one should not take the fun out of certain trends and can buy something that one does not really need but that should not always be the case and when buying something new, one should not buy impulsively.

As part of a TV documentary, I was at the second largest recycling plant for textiles in Germany and it is simply horrifying to see the heaps of clothes, partly unworn, that end up in collection bins.

This is why I help my clients select purposefully, advise about repair and care and depending on the state, suggest selling on various online portals or at the flea market. Or I help them make the right decision for donating the clothes, making sure they end up with people who need them. Regardless of what one decides to do, it is important to extend the clothes' life span.

Photo: Anita Krizanovic

This article was originally published on FashionUnited DE; edited and translated by Simone Preuss.

Source: https://fashionunited.com/news/fashion/organised-closet-organised-life-what-a-career-as-a-wardrobe-stylist-looks-like/2019052828030

The gay things at prom

I think my blog will turn into something where I only talk about gay shit. Simply because I feel that it needs to be appreciated more. Not on Tumblr, because Tumblr loves gay shit but just used as an outlet for me to show other people we need to appreciate the little gay shit that happens in real life.

So it's prom season here. I don't know why, it's the middle of winter and fucking cold and no where near the end of the school year but it just is. They hold the ball at the local event centre just across the road from my house every year and people always come back. I went last year but got really bored and left half through but this year I was determined to stand through the whole thing. I didn't have a great view but felt close enough and got to see people's asses as they walked the red carpet and tripped in their heels. It was your typical heterosexual prom. Hot girls with pounds of make up on and skimpy outfits dragging on the arms of pre-pubescent teenage boys with lots of money and sports cars. I didn't mind it, it was fun to admire how much money one could spend on a single event.

It was strange seeing the kids I surely pointed as gay with girls or the lesbians swooning over guys. Maybe my suspicions are wrong but maybe they are right and they don't have a date of the same sex but plenty of friends of the opposite sex and are just nice people. It's not hard to hold hands with someone you can tolerate and maybe they're just far in the closet. You know, I know I'm a complete faggot and I would take a girl no questions asked but I'd take my guy friend if he didn't have anyone else to go with because there's nothing worse than going to prom by yourself. (Don't know why I'm calling it prom, it's the ball but whatever) it's the best thing to do, help a friend out.

I remember standing on my toes and seeing a girl who I knew was gay and anticipating who her date would be getting out of the other side of the car because I couldn't see immediately and I was just hoping and hoping it wasn't a guy. It was a guy in the end but doesn't matter, I got to experience some pretty homosexual content later in the night. Not that any of these were confirmed, but I saw two lesbian couples and 1 gay couple. (I wonder what my dad would have said about that.)

The first lesbian couple was of two girls I knew actually. One of them went to gay club and apparently nobody liked her but shes cute and the other one is of this smart girl who always wears trousers to school. I think her dad is one of the music teachers. They had fresh outfits like it wasn't the same boring typical shit, they wore orange and red which seemed an odd combination but they stole the carpet. The other couple I didnt know but we're equally as cute. One wore a white dress suit thingy and the other a cute blue dress. So that was nice and maybe not completely pointless in the first place.

A few guys would walk down the aisle together as other girls would and you'd always think 'oh there's the gays' but they'd always do some sort of 'bro shake' and wouldn't touch each other anymore, like everyone knows two guys walking down the red carpet is the gayest shit ever, you gotta justify your sexuality if you be doing that.

But then along came some actual gays. It was the very end. All the cars had done their rounds....there was just a shopping trolley wrapped in tinsel to go. (creative car choice btw, really left the show on a high note) In it were two guys, one of which I knew. Can you just imagine how gay two guys sitting in a trolley would be like? There's no room to avoid cock to ass contact and therefore you cant #nohomo your way out of that one. If you jumped in straight you jumped out gay, just fax. One of them was the definition of twink, he was blonde, had floppy hair, was short and had dick sucking lips. I'm sure my friends used to have a crush on him. Anyway they got out of the trolley, looked around slightly anxiously and hesitantly, grabbed each other's hands.

The crowd thought it was the funniest shit ever. In fact, that was the loudest it had been all night, like stfu oh haha they're gay? Really funny. Jk jk it was pretty funny. You didn't really expect it because as far as my town knew there werent any gay guys.

I don't claim to know them but bitch they are gay. There is no backing down from that. They confidently strutted down that red carpet, defying the laughter, stopping for pictures without stopping the handholding. They went right through the doors without stopping, it felt so real, it felt like I uncovered a secret of the universe or something.

As I mentioned before, they were the last to go into the centre so it was especially memorable. I just remember this one frame inside my head. The frame is of them getting their picture taken halfway up the carpet, their hands very clearly clasped together and their bodies standing in the same confident stance and having such a powerful aura surround them, facing the whole judgemental crowd. Defying everything and promoting the gay agenda. It was really such a powerful scene to end off with and I keep wondering what my dad would have said.

And If somehow these guys arent miraculously gay or something, they gotta live down a picture of them holding hands for the rest of their lives. Now, I know some cool straight people, but none of them would do shit like that they knew they had to live with.

Vital evidence destroyed without being examined

Vital evidence in the fatal shooting of a young Deepcut soldier was destroyed after police decided within minutes his death was self inflicted. Geoff Gray’s blood stained uniform was incinerated after a routine post mortem the day after his body was discovered with two bullet wounds to the forehead. Paperwork which would have shown who signed out the weapon found next to the body was routinely shredded without being examined. Pte Gray, 17, was the third young soldier to die from gunshot wounds at the Princess Royal barracks between 1995 and 2002. His body was eventually found around an hour after shots were heard soon after he went on a loan patrol round the controversial Surrey camp. Police and military have always maintained the young Londoner took his own life despite no evidence of personal problems, bullying or dissatisfaction with army life. His second inquest, ordered after the High Court ruled it was in the public interest, heard detectives from Surrey Police made the decision not to investigate his death within two hours. The army camp near the Surrey village of Deepcut was on high alert following the September 11 attacks on the USA in 2001.

Not suspicious

A former camp adjutant told the inquest at Woking he was told the death was not suspicious by civilian police on the morning the body was found.

Then captain James Mowle was contacted at home just after 2:30am on September 17.

He said he was told within two hours by a plain clothes civilian CID officer the death was not being treated as suspicious.

“I vividly remember that.

“I wanted to know exactly what the view was at the time because it could have been a security incident.

“When the police officer informed me, I clarified no third party involved therefore it was self inflicted.

“I then asked the police officer if I could inform the military to that effect.”

Geoff Gray

Former Surrey Coroner’s Officer Sue Masters confirmed Pte Gray’s uniform was bagged and binned for incineration straight after a post mortem the next day. Ms Masters has been a Coroner’s Officer for six years when Pte Gray was killed. She told Bridget Dolan QC for the inquest she attended the examination of his body. She said the autopsy was routine and no photographs were taken. “Nobody asked for photographs to be taken at the post mortem,” she said. No forensic tests were carried out on the uniform, gloves, beret or body. There was some staining on the beret, the former Coroner’s Officer said. “Minimal, some. “Blood tests weren’t done on it. “I’m assuming it was blood,” Ms Masters said, The uniform was sent for destruction after a conversation with adjutant James Mowle. He was accompanying Pte Gray’s parents who were at the Frimley Green army hospital to view their son’s body.

Incinerated

John Cooper QC for the family asked the former Coroner’s Officer if she thought the coronial investigation should be extremely diligent and comprehensive knowing his was the third solider death at Deepcut.

“Were you aware of public concern or interest,” he asked.

“I didn’t really become aware of it.

“The only thing I was aware of at that time was three young people had died as a result of incidents involving guns.

“I am not responsible for making decisions as to how post mortems or investigations are conducted,” Ms Masters said.

Mr Cooper said the destruction of the uniform had caused the family considerable anxiety.

“I’m not responsible for authorising the disposal,” Ms Masters said.

“The police would have told me it was no longer required.

“Surrey police saying they didn’t require it and the military saying they didn’t require it.”

James Mowle, who finished his military career as Major, said he was at the hospital to offer support to the family and was not representing the army.

“I assumed those conversations were going on between the Surrey Police, coroner’s office and the army SIB.

“I’m a logistician.

“It was not my place to say if they were required or not.”

Bridget Dolan QC

Army documents which showed who was on guard and which position they were assigned to were not produced at the first inquest until after an army officer offered to clear up confusion over who was where on the night. Peter Skinsley, who was due to take over from James Mowle as adjutant on the day Pte Gray died, said he offered to supply documents to the first inquest to clear up confused witness evidence. He arranged for guard room logs to be faxed to the hearing in 2002 to confirm who was where and when. The documents had not been requested before the inquest. He explained notes showing who signed out each individual weapon for guard duty were routinely destroyed within a couple of months. Nicholas Moss for the MoD said: “There was a standard process for them to be kept in the guard room and destroyed as a matter of routine because there was no particular need to keep them?” “At that time, in September 2001, that was the process, yes,” Mr Skinsley said. The inquest continues.

Consulting Girlfriend

Consulting Receptionist: Chapter One | Chapter Two

Paring: Greg Lestrade/Reader

Tags: female reader, undercover Sherlock Holmes, undercover as a couple, male + female friendship, the opera, Scotland Yard, gun violence, fluff, romance

Summary: Reader and Greg have been going strong for a while, and she has a reputation as a sort of relationship advice guru. Enter Sherlock, who requires you for a case. And catastrophe. Of course, that's just the perks of befriending a Holmes.

Word Count: 2,092

Posting Date:  2016-06-27

Current Date: 2017-05-15

It began when someone blurted out to Anderson that you had banged the boss and won his heart over. Those exact words bled from Donovan's mouth, and forever in Scotland Yard thereon you were no longer the administrator, the gopher, the coffee collector: you were _______ ________, girlfriend of Detective Inspector Gregory Lestrade, and now immune to their complimentary jabs.

You were _______, a tea lover and enthusiast (a passion shared with Triplet and Rogers) and nobody nicked your nice brews anymore.

And, most importantly, you were ________. The best relationship advice giver (according to Nina Lordy from HR, who you accidentally got to split from her abusive ex).

The funny thing was, though, that everyone went out of their way to just speak to you, in the most inconspicuous ways for your words of unadulterated pure wisdom. It had been known around the Yard that if a someone bought you a bribe of exotic tea, or faxed you a sneakily-taken, attractive photo of DI Lestrade, you would take the case. It had been almost a year of this; your locker was jammed with jars for your tea bags, and unsorted loose papers of your hot boyfriend the cop all over the place.

And maybe that was going to end.

"I heard from two people that knew people that you are a good relationship advice-giver," a familiar voice entered the foyer of your administration desk. "So I've come for a consultation."

At this, you glance up. And your face pales.

"Mr - Holmes," you stutter.

Sherlock Holmes was notorious for not caring. Or, maybe caring too much and not telling anyone he felt different. But with him and his cheekbones and tall collar and smirk; you almost felt the shadow of greatness mixed with a smidge of arrogance had swallowed you whole and was going to gargle you out.

"Yes, that's my name. You're _______, the administrator John couldn't help babbling about?" He demands.

Your lip twitches in a sort of smile. Only last fortnight John accompanied Greg to the station (something about seeing crime scene evidence to help write his blog). And before you knew it, Bob was your uncle and John had handed you a nicely crafted teapot for advice to keep the love alive with himself and Mary.

"Well, Mr Holmes," you start, gazing at his mass of midnight curls, "If you'd just read my name badge," you tap it with a green pen, "you'd know it. What can I do you for? You usually forgo me and go straight to the Detective Inspector."

He tilts his head. "Yes, I suppose you're correct. I'm not here for George -,"

"Greg."

"But for you. It's for a case. I'm not so...good at attachments in love like I would like to be, and I was wondering..." He trailed off. For a moment all you could think about was how annoying and egocentric he was, and how Sherlock possibly would rank number one in the most selfish men list. All he talked about was his all-important cases, even now to your face. "...you just need to assess some people for me."

You take a deep breath.

"Mr Holmes," you start, "you do know that I'm not a professional love expert, or dating advisor," you remind him. "I'm a secretary. For Scotland Yard."

He nods. "Ah, yes, you are. You're just a secretary. But it's your instinct that I need. So, are you in?" The consulting detective asks you. "Or are you out?"

You huff. "Mr Holmes, I'm supposed to be working right now -,"

"Nobody will notice. It's not a problem if you're busy with me. So? What is your answer, Miss _________?"

Your eyes drift to the picture on your desk, framed away from the eye of the public. It's a shot of yourself and Greg, on one of the first dates he took you on. The both of you looked so happy; his eyes sparkling in the camera flash light that the waiter snapped, your smile unreserved and bright.

Greg would be okay with this.

Wouldn't he?

"If I accept, will it interfere with my work hours?" You probe.

Sherlock takes a moment to think, and leans his elbows on the tall bench that separates him from you. "No. But it happens late at night."

You hesitate. It's been years since anything exciting or fun has happened to you - and no, having a shooter rush in five months ago and blow up half of your foyer wouldn't count as fun.

"Sure." You agree. "I'm in. Where am I required to be, Mr Holmes?"

The curly haired detective rolls his eyes. "Please, don't call me that, I'm not my brother. As for the details of the case, I've them in this envelope here." Sherlock slid a crisp periwinkle blue package toward you. It's the size of a regular envelope, but this seems to bulge with contents, swollen with possibilities. "My phone number is in the inside. Text it when you are ready to undergo this."

There's a kerfuffle upstairs and for a moment you wonder if that's Greg dealing with press and the precocious serial killer of the month. He'd be swamped with telephone interviews and paperwork until midnight. At least.

He wouldn't notice much if you went gallivanting around for the greater good.

"Gotcha," you beam. "Text you, keep it on the DL from my boss, be a love guru."

Sherlock sighs. "I wouldn't -," but he's interrupted by his phone, screeching a factory-set ringtone from his greatcoat. From his numerous pockets, he withdraws a small phone, and answers just as smoothly - ,"...John, I'm working. Yes, actually working, not pretending this time, I told you I am busy this week, with the -,"

He's silent.

In fact, everything is silent. The phone isn't ringing for a change, and the hubbub upstairs has lowered their din. Even London outside the doors and the sprawling city has held its breath in Sherlock Holmes' pause, waiting.

"On my way. Miss ________, you're required far earlier than I previously expected, we have to go." He hangs the phone up, and shoves the blue envelope to your now-standing chest.

Over your shoulder, you call out to your fellow secretary co-worker, Magellan. "I'm just popping out, you have to man the desk!"

And then you're off.

---

The evening went on to become something you never expected; Sherlock dragged you into a boutique for a evening dress, and a handed you a wig a shade opposite to your natural colour. Maybe it was then, or the fact he handed you the tickets to an opera soon after, when you felt slightly off. 

"What exactly do you require me for, Mr - Sherlock?" you ask, trying to keep up with his long legs. "I thought I was on as a ... romance consultant. Not a spy."

He clucks. "You're just an accomplice, _______. I need you to observe a couple we will be seated with for the show. They are serial killers, and based on their mood swings, the more casualties. I've you with me to assess what they are going through." Sherlock pauses, and adds in a lower voice, "I'm no good at reading emotions like that."

You nod. "It's okay. Not everyone are."

Sherlock manages a small smile. "Thank you, _______. Gareth is lucky to have you."

"Greg and I are lucky to have each other," you blush, noticing where the two of you have marched yourselves. "Holy shit, this is the seriously posh end of London, Sherlock, what in God's name are we doing here? I can't afford to breathe here, let alone pretend to be your fiancé for this case!" A bead of sweat falls behind your neck. "I don't think I can do this. I'm no silver spoon."

Sherlock takes a deep breath, and turns to you. "Take a deep breath, and ... pretend you're about to go meet the Queen of England." he tells you. "You wouldn't mess around if you were about to see Her Majesty, would you?"

You shake your head.

"Good. Think of the royal family and those babies. Now, here's where we go. Remember, you're Carrie Branson, and I am -,"

"Henry William Reuben," you parrot, and taking a breath, get into character. "Are you ready, my darling? I'm positively dying to see the opera tonight."

 ---

Nearly three hours later, and in the observation section, there still was no couple. Every second you focus on the fact that Sherlock keeps pointing out people; snipers, fake opera watchers, security guards turning a blind eye, and you feel your pulse escalating.

After he gestures that there is someone behind you, you realise that speaking is out of the question.

We should leave, you write on his trouser leg. 

"I know you need to relieve yourself, darling," Sherlock drawls, his voice sickly sweet in a way you'd never expected him to be able to act, "But it's nearly over, and my favorite part is the end. You know that."

You nod. "Yes, dear."

Not five minutes later, though, your phone silently buzzes, your little screen filled with texts from Greg. 

Where are you?

______, Maggie says you went off with Sherlock, where are you?

Don't tell me you're at the opera!

Oh f-

______ text me back as soon as you get this. 

It's a hostage situation-to-be. Get out if you're in. Greg

"Dear," you tell Sherlock under your breath, "I have to insist on going to the ladies' room."  

But just as you stand, you feel a hard barrel placed against the small of your back. Slowly, you raise your hands in defeat. You know a gun against your body, anywhere. "And I have to insist otherwise, Mrs Sherlock Holmes." 

"Actually, she's Mrs Greg Lestrade," a familiar voice rejoins. Greg. "I have the place surrounded. Tell your people to stand down in the next thirty seconds or I will arrest you."

---

Twenty three hours later, and you're in Greg's bathtub, ears underneath the water, nearly submerged. After writing and giving the statements as to why you were at the almost-siege and not your post at the front desk, you are doing your best to try and forget the feeling of seeing the end so close. 

"Love? Is now a good time to come in?" Greg calls out. He knocks twice. 

"Yeah, come on in," you reply. Your hair is all wet, and drips down your nose. "I'm sorry."

The face of your boyfriend steps into the room. He's out of his tactical gear (not that that isn't a bad look on his body) and into a pair of pajamas you'd picked out for his birthday. You remember thinking they would bring out the brown in his eyes in a better way. Now, they only make his eyes wider, sadder.

"Don't apologise," Greg whispers. He sits beside the tub, head level with yours. "You're just like me, wantin' to fix things the best way you possibly can. I don't blame you for going out with Sherlock and doin' what you did, but ..." He takes a breath.

"I really thought that man was going to shoot me," you breathe. "I felt like he was going to blow me away and I wouldn't have said goodbye or anything to you. I -," you choke. "I love you, Greg."

He nods. "I know, ______. I can't bear the idea of losing you."

"It's almost funny, you know?" You sniffle. "We both live such dangerous lives."

Greg smiles. "Yeah. But I just can't picture m'self as the next Bond, you know?" he nudges your head lightly. A smile spreads. "There she is. My gorgeous girlfriend."

That's when you remember. "Greg?"

He hums. 

"Back in the siege, you said something, about me being married to you, or something?" you prompt. "What was that about? Are we - do you really think you're going to do that one day?"

Greg rests his head on the bath tub ledge. "Of course, _______. I'm going to marry the shit out of you. Do you? Want to -,"

You nod. If you didn't know any better, there's a ripe red blush across your face. "One day. I've had enough excitement for one today, but Gregory Lestrade, I will marry the shit out of you too."

"I love you," He reaches over, and kisses your nose, and goes to rise. "Now, don't stay too long in the tub, consulting girlfriend, fiancée to be, future wife. You'll catch a cold." Greg winks.

"I love you more!" you shout back. 

>> NEXT CHAPTER

bits and pieces (only a few since the rest of my drafts are just literally like 3 sentences.)

i had kind of a cracky dream about monteri being wren’s parents lmao they gave him to tommy’s cousins because they were on the run still so~ 

“what’s his name?” mummy’s friend is sitting in front of him, legs crossed like him, and wren looks up at his mummy, who smiles at him. 

“she’s a girl,” he says, bouncing the small pink pony off the grass, “her name is diamond sprinkles, cause she’s a sparkly lady horse and her wife,” he picks up the blue and green elephant, “is mister tango, and sparrow said they’s ladies cause...” he can’t remember the long words she used, but he nods. 

the man who came with him makes a funny noise, touching his shoulder. “he got the naming thing from you,” and they smile at each other kinda like how wren thinks diamond and mister probably would too. 

“do you mind if pip and i play with you for a bit?” he asks, and wren grins because sparrow’s fun to play with but she always gets bored. maybe they won’t get bored! 

a vidia thing i never really finished

sometimes nadia gives him a headache. it’s a good kind of headache, really, but he’s never sure exactly where he stands with her. he knows she likes him, and for probably more than just the sex, but it’s complicated. 

“stay,” he says, stretched out across his bed in pretty much the perfect way to show off all his muscles, and she shakes her head, getting dressed swiftly. “sit with me,” he suggests, breaking a kiss just to say that, and if she shows up in the great hall, she goes straight to gryffindor. 

but then she does stuff that suggests otherwise, like pulling his arm around her shoulders after they apparated into london for a date or the rare smile he caught directed at his sister.

so he’s pretty sure she likes him, but he’d maybe just like to wake up to her the next morning and not to the cold side of the bed. 

meant to be a 5+1 about taylor swift songs fox listened to while fax were broken up lmao

fox ignores haley’s texts, just as he’s been doing for the past week. it’s not like he’s doing it on purpose -- almost everyone’s texts have been going ignored lately. 

it’s just better, staying in bed with max, their feet and legs twined together, holding his hand, touching every part of him. it’s like when the only space they had together was max’s bedroom, except they’re older now and this is different. nobody got their head caught in their shirt, nobody’s listening for heavy footsteps, nobody’s caught between this and the rest of the world. it’s alarmingly close to perfect 

if his phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. max murmurs something against his neck he doesn’t catch, but fox shrugs. it’s not important. he nuzzles max’s head, half forehead and half hair, exhaling in one long deep breath. 

then max’s phone vibrates, and since max is in med school (and therefore the much more responsible one of the two) he reaches for it, breaking their hand-holding. 

“why is haley texting me about her taylor swift albums?” he asks, eyebrows raised, and fox groans as he reaches for his own phone. “ah, you apparently still have red, and she wants to have adam listen to begin again so they can talk about using the instrumental for her walk?” max reads this off, sounding no less confused, and fox reaches for his phone. 

“you’ll get it tomorrow,” he says as he types, hitting send and setting his phone to silent in the same gesture. “now, you.” 

“me?” max smiles at him, easily settling into fox’s arm around his waist pulling him back in. 

Remembrance {Part I}

Author: Zoe 

(A/N: Due to such overwhelming support for the series, let's get this started!)

Plot Summary: Cassian Andor is a salesman for Valley Tech, a company specializing in selling various computer parts to other companies. You're the receptionist for Valley Tech, with a little crush on your coworker. Little do you know, Cassian has known you longer than you can even remember. And he's going to help you get those memories back.

"Mr. Ryscandor, there's a call waiting for you on line three." You spoke into the receiver, before transferring the call over to his office as a figure came up to your desk.

You smiled, recognizing him in an instant. "Hi, Cassian."

"Hello." He spoke, a bit nervous but happy to see you. "I need these copies faxed to Mr. Norimen. It's the profit margins for the month."

You nodded, taking the papers. "Are you going to the company retreat? It should be nice."

"I plan to. Are you going?" He asked, as you nodded. "Good, maybe we'll be able to make it more bearable than the last one."

You both chuckled, before the phone on his desk rang and you stopped talking, only waving as he returned to his desk.

Sitting down and looking up at you from his spot and your place at the receptionist desk, he sighed, picking up the phone. "Valley Tech, this is Cassian. How may I help you?" He listened as the client droned on and on about new keyboards for their company, and Cassian soon looked down at his to do list. Every day, all the checks were marked except for one.

'Help her remember.'

"Y/N, please! Please, no!" He cried, holding you as the troopers marched closer and closer, mowing down members of your squadron. You could hear their frantic cries of 'The commander's been shot!'

"Cassian… Y-You need to go. Get the plans…" You wheezed, clutching onto your chest at the open wound from the trooper's relentless fire.

Cassian shook his head, trembling and showing weakness, a rare sight for anyone to behold. "No. No, I'm not going to let you die, okay? We're...We're going to get you on a ship, we'll send you back to base. I'll come home to you. We'll have our wedding, we'll raise a family, just like we wanted. We'll have a boy and a girl, remember? We… We were going to name them, remember?"

"Ellor for our baby boy… A-And Aurren for our baby girl, right?" You smiled as Cassian nodded, his arms wrapped around your trembling body, before your breath hitched and you felt your vision fade. "We still can… Just, not now."

Cassian gulped, holding you closer as Jyn rushed to his side, shocked at your sight. One of the few friends she had made was dying. "Don't… Don't say that. Don't say that. You promised him, Y/N. I was going to help you plan your wedding, you said you were going to let your children meet all of us. You were… you were going to let me be an aunt." She chuckled dryly, unable to even comprehend how she felt properly. "I was going to spoil them rotten."

You let tears slip down your face, as you forced yourself up to kiss Cassian's cheek, then held Jyn's hand. "It's going to happen. I'm going to die…. But, don't worry, okay? I'll see you again. I-I'll remember you, I promise.... And we can pick up right where we left off."

Their frantic yells became blurred.

The last thing you felt was Cassian's lips against your own.

In the next life, you didn't keep your promise.

"Yes, of course Ms. Mothma." You hung up and went over to Cassian's desk as he quickly closed his to-do list. "Hey."

"Hi." He smiled, looking up at you. "Are we going to get an early break, or is it work-related?"

"I wish. Mon Mothma wants you to see her in her office." You smiled, as he stood up, leaning into you on a strange instinct, before pulling back quickly and just patting you on the forearm.

"Wish me luck." He sighed, heading to the elevator.

You chuckled at his actions. God, he was cute. Sweetest man alive. 

Was he leaning in to kiss you earlier?

Probably not. After all, you've got quite a schoolgirl crush on him, you could easily misread his actions. Embarrassingly, you've even had dreams about him. Dreams of him talking to you, walking beside you, sharing kisses and making love.

Unfortunately, they weren't always anything cliche and romantic, like him and you holding hands and walking on the beach. Most of the time, it was always you being held in his arms, dying while your friend Jyn was next to him.

Yeah, pretty weird.

"Yes, Andor." She sighed, leaning forward at her desk. "Does she…"

"...No." Cassian sighed, fiddling with his tie. Even before, he was never one for formal attire, and he still isn't now. "Nothing."

Mon Mothma sent him a sympathetic smile. "Someday."

"What if that day never comes?" He blurted, gulping down the lump in his throat. "What if she never remembers? I've already had to watch her as she dated other men and comforted her when her heart was broken by them!"

His breath shook, and he gathered himself, speaking softer. "What if she meets someone new? We never have our wedding. We never have our children."

Mon Mothma simply sat up straight, poised and direct. "Cassian."

"Yes?"

"Do you still love Y/N?"

Cassian sighed, thinking about before. Sneaking around on base, sweet kisses when nobody was around. Heartfelt reunions and passionate nights. "Of course I do. I always will. With every fiber of my being."

Mon Mothma set her hands on the table, standing up. For a moment, Cassian felt like he was in the command center again. She spoke to him, brows furrowed. "She doesn't remember. That doesn't mean you can't help her. You love her, right? Then don't give up on her. You didn't before, and you aren't going to now. The Captain Andor I knew never backed away from something that mattered. And I am fairly sure that the only thing that mattered to you more than the rebellion was Commander Y/L/N."

"You're right." He mumbled, a newfound determination firing up inside him.

"Look, the company retreat is next month. The lodge we're staying at ended up putting your rooms next to each other. Don't do anything risky, just, talk to her. Help her remember. She should be easier to talk to about this when you're alone. Until then, just help her jog her memory. Take her out sometime. I know she's bound to say yes."

Cassian smiled, standing up and dusting his suit off. "Thank you. I appreciate this more than you could ever know."

Mon Mothma simply dismissed him and smiled, stating a phrase that's nonexistent in this new lifetime. "May the Force be with you, Cassian."

She returned to her paperwork.

The Amazing Adventurers of Spider-Man

As a third entry in my series analyzing theme park rides I wanted to take a step back in time and talk about one of my favorite rides ever made, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. This ride opened with the park in 1999 and is considered one of the best rides there, and until late last year was one of the most complex and well executed rides in Orlando. The ride to top it? Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Here’s the thing, both rides’ development was headed by Scott Trowbridge. While I won’t be specifically comparing the two in this piece, while riding the similarities are apparent. I still maintain though that Rise of the Resistance is closer to the Haunted Mansion’s DNA than Spidey’s. 

We begin in Marvel Superhero Island, an area themed to a very 90s comics version of New York City. We see massive cutouts of various heroes and villains, some of them even parading around on ATVs. The gigantic Hulk coaster soars above us and we hear the roars coming from the gamma experiments gone awry. Heavy bass and electric guitar wails are heard all around as. This is not a realistic take on Marvel comics, from the bright colors to the ginormous character cutouts, this is not Marvel come to life but rather, you standing inside a comic book. Think less MCU and more Dick Tracy. Despite how much this goes against the ideas of theme park immersion nowadays, it still works. Likely because this specific era of Marvel is exactly what I fell in love with as a kid, but still, it feels like all the X-treme glory of 90s comics, without any of the overly long and exhausting story arcs nobody cares for. 

The experience starts when you enter the headquarters of the Daily Bugle and make your way through the offices. You see the desks of all our favorite employees like Betty Brant and Ben Urich, the darkroom of the Bugle’s now in-house photographer Peter Parker, and of course the giant portrait of the paper’s editor in chief, J. Jonah Jameson. As you walk you’ll notice that all the phones are ringing off the hook and faxes are coming in. The TVs are all tuned to the news where the biggest theft in New York history is unfolding live. The Sinister Syndicate has been assembled by Doctor Octopus with the villains Hobgoblin, Electro, Hydroman, and Scream, and they’re wreaking absolute havoc on the city! Not only that, Doc Ock’s anti gravity gun has allowed him to steal the Statue of Liberty herself! On a night as crazy as this the Daily Bugle needs as many reporters as it can get so you’ve been recruited to go on the scene in a state of the art armored vehicle to get report from the frontline on the villains and what Spider-Man is doing to stop them. After getting briefed you exit into the alley behind the office building, board your vehicle, don your 3D glasses, and set out to get the story. 

This queue experience informs you of a LOT of things in a very short amount of time. During this time you’re learning who Spider-Man is, who the sinister syndicate is, who the members are, what each of their powers are, and what crimes they’ve committed. It’s all done incredibly efficiently because it’s delivered to you via the news report story mechanic. It’s a great excuse for characters to talk directly at you and explain exactly what you need to know. Further, everything is given in segments so you’re never taking in more than one point at a time. You’ll see a reporter talking about Hydroman, Hydroman attacking, and then it’ll cut to the same style of video for Electro, then Scream, and so on. For the theft of the statue of liberty, you actually see as Doc Ock steals it with his antigravity gun and the reporters immediately will comment wondering where in the city he could be hiding it. All of these segments are ended with Spider-Man stopping the attack, but the villains getting away. Teaching these things are super important because the ride is heavily depended on you having a clear understanding of the story and everything going on. Similarly, Rise of the Resistance is also a heavily story dependent ride, one that is even more complex because it contains multiple twists at the very beginning.

Your vehicle then takes off into the city, above you the shadow of Spider-Man swinging by can be seen, accompanied by the spider signal. Jameson orders you via radio to get a winning report and then suddenly Spider-Man himself jumps on to the hood of your car (with an accompanying lurch forward to account for his landing)! He warns you that this could be the most dangerous night of his life, and yours, and then swings away. Pressured by Jameson again, you pursue. After dodging an oncoming garbage truck and escaping into a seemingly abandoned warehouse, you find the deconstructed statue of liberty, and the sinister syndicate continuing their plans! Unfortunately for you, you’re caught and they each try to take you down. 

The ride system used here is a cool one. The actual vehicle you’re in is a multi axis motion simulator, it can move you forward, backward, left, right, rotate, and probably more that I’m not aware of. Not only that, it’s on a track and moves through the show building as would any other dark ride. The building itself is adorned with practical set pieces like walls, crates, statue of liberty pieces as well as screens. These screens are where characters appear and work together with practical effects to create full experience. For example, the garbage truck that your vehicle nearly crashes into is a real effect of an object coming towards you, but the driver window featuring a Stan Lee cameo is a screen. When Spider-Man lands on your vehicle your simply very close to a giant screen and your car moves perfectly in sync. Not only that, but each ride film does a process of “squinching” in which the perspective of the shot is perfectly synced with the movements of your ride vehicle to always have high amounts of depth, otherwise it would look like a flat video instead of the the 3D effect. This ride is constantly playing with perspective, I’ll explain more further on.

Each villain tries to personally stop you, Electro shocks your vehicle making it vibrate wildly, Scream nearly pounces on your car, Doc Ock attempts to shoot you with his anti gravity gun, Hydroman almost drowns you, and Hobgoblin tries to bomb you from the air. Luckily, Spider-Man is on the scene to prevent any harm as you make it out of the maze-like warehouse and back on to the street. 

Again, this section perfectly shows the ways the ride system, the screens, and the effects work in tandem. When Hobgoblin tosses a bomb at you and Spider-Man webs it away, you are looking at a screen, moving underneath a physical bridge, and the explosion is accompanied by a real fireball effect. Each villain gets their own separate moment to show off their powers and personally attack you. This further drives home exactly who they are and what they can do. That knowledge is crucial and will come into play soon.

Once out on the street, Doc Ock decides to go around Spider-Man and take your vehicle hostage. He uses his anti gravity gun to lift you up towards the rooftops of Manhattan while Spider-Man pursues in an attempt to rescue you. Right when Spidey webs your vehicle he’s snatched in the air by Hobgoblin on his glider and all of you are now flown through the urban canyons at incredible speed. The entire syndicate has now tied up Spider-Man to a rooftop and your vehicle is hanging by a thread as all the villains slowly encroach to take you down together. Suddenly, Spider-Man bursts from behind and uses the villains' powers against them. He webs Electro into Hydroman where the two of them shock each other and crash into Hobgoblin whose pumpkin bombs all explode at once, allowing Spider-Man to then take out Scream and Doc Ock. Just when everything seemed over, Doctor Octopus uses reverse his anti gravity gun to send your vehicle falling down from the skyscrapers and into ground! As your hurtle down and see the asphalt of your doom getting closer and closer, Spidey webs up a net as fast as he can spin it and your fall is safely cushioned just in time.

This sequence sequence is the most involved scene, perfect for the climax of the ride. Now that you know every character’s powers and personality, you’ve got all you need to know to understand how they work together without it being a pure mess. Not only that, the ride is comfortable playing with perspective as well to make you feel as though your altitude on the ride is changing too. When your vehicle is lifted up to the rooftops you’ll see a screen in front of you showing the ride film but on both sides are practical canvas backdrops like you’d find on movie sets depicting the windows of a New York high rise. Both backdrops are designed to roll at rapid speed giving the illusion of your vehicle flying upwards. The same effect works when your perspective is shited to that of hanging off the side of the building and looking up, as well as when you’re facing down towards the ground. In reality, the ride vehicle only ever moves six inches above the ground during the entire ride. This effect was revisited in Rise of the Resistance but significantly different. On that attraction your vehicle really does lift up roughly thirty feet above ground level before dropping back down later in the ride. 

Finally, back on the slightly safer streets of New York, Spider-Man hangs upside down in front of you, the sinister syndicate tightly wound up behind him and lady liberty being returned to her island. He congratulates you on your efforts before swinging away to turn over the bad guys, as your vehicle drives back you’ll hear Stan Lee instruct you on how to safely disembark and see that Spider-Man left the anti gravity gun pointed straight at Jameson in his office, the “raise” he’d been wanting for so long! The day is saved and Spider-Man couldn’t have done it without you.

The ride is perfectly bookended with the classic story of you helping out one of your favorite characters on what may seem like a crazy day for you but is just a typical one for them. This story was repeated in Rise of the Resistance, but it’s been a staple seen in attractions like Star Tours, Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, and countless others. I will say though, it is almost exclusive to attractions based on film properties and is not very common on attractions with original stories and characters. Makes sense because it’s arguably the best way to create story in which large groups of people would be meeting and interacting with characters, but it makes one wonder if a different type of story might be introduced at some point. 

So there you have it, a brief overview of The Amazing Adventurers of Spider-Man at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure. While I approached this one from the perspective of it being a precursor to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, there’s another attraction at Universal Studios next door that is structured almost like a response to one of the most classic Disney rides of all time. But I’ll leave that one for another time.

Talking Bitcoin with Andreas Antonopoulos – Lightning, Halving, Privacy, Dollar, & Tech

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to the show, everyone. It’s the Krypto Lark I’m very, very excited to have on the show today. Andre is Antonopoulos. He’s Bitcoin educator, tech entrepreneur, host of the most educational YouTube channel related to Bitcoin and podcast as well. So and is an author of many, many fantastic books, including The Internet of Money, which is why my personal favorites I’d pick it up and show it to Dave has actually lent out When I friends because a book on a shelf isn’t doing a lot of good in terms of spreading knowledge. So there it is. That’s the third volume of the series. Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic. With links down below for the podcast, the YouTube channel. And we can grab some of those books as well. But Andre is thank you so much for coming on the channel to have a chat with me today about bitcoin. Don’t think it’s a real pleasure. Looking forward to this. So I think let’s just go ahead and really dive straight into this. I think let’s start off with talking a little bit about maybe some of the bigger mission of Bitcoin. And I think what we can start off with is talking about your thoughts on where the dollar is heading these days. I mean, do you see a situation where we could be seeing hyper inflation coming or are we going to move into a more deflationary economy? We all know that meme that goes round Bitcoin fixes this. But but is it really fixing this and has this crisis kind of lifted the veil? Do you think for a lot of people on the the falseness of Fiat? Yeah. You know, when people talk about what Bitcoin’s real mission is, there seem to be really two big camps. One camp is a monetary perspective and economic perspective that is about sound money, scarcity, limited supply and low inflation. And the other camp is looking at bitcoin as an open international currency that is accessible to all anywhere, anytime without getting authorization available to the unbanked and underbanked and a non-political neutral, an open protocol for the Internet that makes money possible on a much larger scale and creates economic inclusion. I’m in the latter camp, so my perspective on the monetary economics of bitcoin isn’t probably as strident as you might think. And I’m not sure how this plays out economically. To me, that’s not the biggest and most interesting feature of bitcoin, but obviously its importance to many and the atomic implications are huge. So, you know, it’s funny how the most salient characteristic of bitcoin from a monetary perspective is revealed primarily when international currencies, various international currency, especially the reserve currency, the dollar and others shoot themselves in the foot in the most spectacular fashion and create economic conditions that are very dangerous. I like to say often that I’m here to talk to you about the biggest monetary experiments, the most crazy, risky experiment that’s ever happens. And no, that’s not Bitcoin. It’s the infinite set of quantitative easing, infinite stimulus, unlimited printing and unlimited debts experiments. I think it’s important to realize this has never happened before. So all of the people who are like trying to place bets on how this turns out, hyperinflation, deflation, stagflation spirals, Deedes authorization and all of these other things, they have no clue. Nobody has any clue. I’m part of the reason for that is because we have no historical analog to go back to. This has never happened before. Certainly not on this scale, but but not even in terms of the fundamentals. I think we’re entering a very dangerous period, and the reason it’s a dangerous period is not so much because of the economic impact of these moves, but more the political impact of these moves. And to me, the political impact of these moves is that we have detached from market forces and and the fundamental economic basis for for market pricing. And what that means is that we’ve moved into the territory of centrally managed economies that are fine tuned by technocrats. And we’ve seen back to experiments before. So we know that doesn’t end well, because if you disconnect from market signals, a lot of malinvestments and misallocation of funds tends to happen. No, no country can really scale. Especially countries, because the United States can really scale decision making to the point where a few central bureaucrats can decide which companies are essential, which companies are non-essential, which companies should receive support. Which companies should not. Which employees should. How to allocate these enormous amounts of money that dwarf gross domestic product. And all of these moves essentially basically remove markets from the equation. That’s a very dangerous move we’ve seen with the current crisis that’s going on. A lot of talk around implementing central bank digital currencies. Lieber is getting a lot of attention. Once again, we saw this I think was the first the second draft of the stimulus package in the US, the first stimulus package, not the third or the fourth when the Rons who now actually including language around a digital dollar. Do you think that De’borah and a central bank digital currency issued by whether it’s the United States or China or the European Union, whoever else, is this going to help or hurt Bitcoin? It’s going to be entirely irrelevant to Bitcoin. It’s it’s a bit like, you know, introducing a new model of cars and saying, is this going to help or hurt the airline industry? We’re flying above all that shit. Behind is Libra Central Bank, digital currencies. All of those systems lack the fundamental components that make bitcoin interesting and differance. They’re not difference at all. I use that acronym to remind my viewers what the fundamentals are and that the acronym is RIP CORD because we’re having to parachute out of a crashing plane here and REPORTSTHAT stands for a revolutionary, immutable, public, collaborative, open resistance and decentralized. And guess what? Central. Digital currencies, leaper corporate currencies are not that they are centralized, their control, their surveillance mechanisms, they have none of the characteristics of open public blockchain cryptocurrencies. The interesting thing about these new technological currencies is that they’re not controlled by a single party. In fact, their control is decentralized and they’re open to anyone who participates. And they remove all of the barriers to entry and friction points of faxing authorization and control. So from that perspective, they introduce something really novel to the monetary system really, truly open global borderless, neutral currencies which have never existed before. And the CBD seas are simply taking it, taking the name of blockchain. If they even have anything to do with technology and trying to wrap the same pig in a new package, you know, put lips comments and serve it up with something revolutionary, something disruptive, something new. It’s nothing new. In fact, it’s dangerous. Both both corporate currencies like Leaper and Central Bank digital currencies are extremely dangerous because the the end point here is the eradication of cash as an open peer to peer transparence, anonymous mechanism for transacting that no one needs permission to use. And we’re reaching the end of the era of cash and our future is going to be digital currencies. The question now is whether those digital currencies are going to be centrally controlled and surveilled. Troll and private. The problem is that if you give centralized institutions control over something as important as money in a society, they can use that control to amass enormous power. They can use that control to crush any dissent or opposition, and they will start picking winners and losers and they can turn off anybody their entire financial lives. Your ability to buy food by flipping a bit in a database. That is a very scary world. And of course, you know, first they’re going to come for the terrorists and then they’re going to come for the child pornographers. And then they’re going to come for the, I don’t know, pot sellers and gun sellers and porn magazine makers and God knows what else. And then they’re going to come for anyone who speaks up about anything that’s contrary to their politics. This is a very, very dangerous path. Totalitarian surveillance of money leads to totalitarian politics and it’s an unavoidable outcome. So we need to make a very smart choice here and the choice to use the open, decentralized than neutral currencies of the people rather than the close surveillance, totalitarian currencies of either nation, states reinventing themselves or corporations trying to become nation states. You said it very, very well there. Do you think that we can actually see a country being brave enough to embrace public open networks to actually issue their central bank currency on a public open network or to actually start acquiring bitcoin for a central bank reserve? Who cares? It doesn’t really matter. So the enforcement of national institutions of an open, decentralized, Internet based cryptocurrency is irrelevant. It’s almost like saying will governments build Web sites to offer their government services on the Web to carers? That’s not where the action is happening. The wave the old world will try to adapt to a new environment is irrelevant to that new environment. What really matters is whether people will choose to use this among many other cryptocurrencies, whether they will have that choice and whether they will exercise that choice not in exclusion or replacement of their state currencies, but to as an alternative that gives them better results, better freedoms. This is about open markets for currencies. And so the centralized enforcement or authorization of a nation state is irrelevant in the era of the Internet. Yes, some countries are probably going to adopt that, just like, you know, some countries have adopted the dollar as their de facto national currency because they either can’t afford to print their own or because their own has collapsed irretrievably. But again, who cares? We’re not we’re not looking for approval. That’s that’s it’s a bit like saying, do you think some of the horse buggy manufacturers are eventually going to transform themselves into automotive manufacturers? Who cares? I want to switch the conversation up the way here from the kind of the bigger vision stuff to watch the lightning network. Do you think that the lightning network has kind of lived up to its promise? Why have we not seen more support from wallets and from exchanges to actually implement the lightning network? Currently, I think we see more bitcoin locked up in tokenized on a theory than there is bitcoin locked up on the lightning network. So is this a failure of the Leighton network or is it still just trying to find its feet? Oh, it’s so early to. I mean, I don’t think we can really call winners and losers. Now, keep in mind, I’m biased. I’m writing a book about the Lightning Network because I think it’s a fascinating technology, but it’s really, really early days. This is like the web in nineteen ninety eight ninety nine. And it really hasn’t come into its own. One of the important things to realize about all of these technologies is that the innovation is happening in different layers. And when you have innovation like the Lightning Network, which is actually accelerates its innovation in the bitcoin space by opening up to new APIs and new more rapid development models. When when new things are introduced to the protocol level, those effectively do not exist until they exist in a user interface for users. So this is one of the fundamental issues we have in any of these technologies. You can make something great and new technology and then if none of the wallets implemented, it doesn’t exist and you have to wait for the wallets to catch up. And wallets are actually one of the least monetized, least well invested infrastructure components in the entire blockchain space. There is a weak point. So as a result, it may take two or three years. And so you see these technologies trickle in to two wallets. On average, it takes about three years. So we’re nowhere near seeing the full potential. I think the Lightning Network is a fantastic technology and I don’t really see it as competing against other technologies like decentralized finance. It’s happening in a. All of these are complementary and they work very well together. Do you think that Bitcoin’s lack of privacy could be a problem? You know, we’ve seen first hand we do have the wasabi wallet, which gives people the option to send private transactions. But on the flip side, we’ve seen regulators come after a Bitcoin mixer developer in the past and we have companies like Chain Alices, which provide governments with details on Bitcoin transactions. So is this a flaw of Bitcoin? Is that it? We have more privacy on Bitcoin or is this a plus of Bitcoin? It’s a flaw of Bitcoin, most certainly. And I’ve been talking about that for six or seven years now about the importance of privacy and strengthening privacy in Bitcoin just to make a point there. They didn’t come after a developer fixing services that came after an operator of mixing servers, which is a very, very different thing. No one has so far prosecuted developers for, I think, software the bay themselves soon all to operate. That would be a very serious First Amendment issue. So in Bitcoin security, privacy is difficult. You have to be very careful in order to maintain your privacy. And that’s a weakness. Fortunately, there are a number of technologies that are making that are likely to make that much better. One of them is a series of changes that are being introduced bitcoin now. Schnoor signatures, top rates and typescript of the technical names. But in any case, it’s it’s a package that allows transactions to appear as if there are simple payments when they’re much more complex script. So for example, a transaction that opens and closes a lightning channel instead of being easily identifiable as such and allowing you to identify which channel on which nodes interacted with it instead will appear as a single payment from a sender to a recipient’s mixed among all of the other payments. In technical terms, what that does is it increases the anonymity set of transactions, making it much more difficult to do this kind of analysis. Companies like Catamount changeless and others are basically in an arms race against privacy. And what they’re doing is they’re providing the world’s worst dictators and regimes, either directly or indirectly, with information that violates the civil rights of millions of people. I think it’s fundamentally immoral to even work at a company like this. And just like I would consider it’s immoral to work for a weapons manufacturer or, you know, a company that builds cages for refugee concentration camps. You have to make some choices when you work. And those moral choices are important, but they’re an arms race that they’re gradually losing and they will eventually lose because it simply becomes harder and harder to track these transactions. The lightning network is another privacy technology that is going to help with that. Together with some of the other technologies being introduced. But yeah, it is a weakness. And that’s also why I’m interested in the broader ecosystem, because Bitcoin isn’t alone. It’s part of an ecosystem of cryptocurrency, some of which have stronger privacy characteristics that are very easily interchangeable with very low barriers and switching costs. And I think it’s important to look at the ecosystem. Do you think that Bitcoin might be developing too slowly? LICHTMAN stuck on five transactions per second for a very, very long time. And I don’t see where we’re going. Aside from Lighton network, of course, where we’re going to go beyond that, a lot of people do call it all is a weakness of Bitcoin that it hasn’t been perhaps developing its fastest way to basically see happening across the crypto ecosystem. Well, Bitcoin is fundamentally the most conservative system out there because it’s intended to be extremely robust and secure and able to resist attacks by collusion or cooperation between nation state level actors. And so far, it has resisted attacks at that level, whereas many of the smaller competitors that are attempting to scale things up by reducing decentralization are going to pay a very big price and they’re much easier to attack than than Bitcoin. So from that perspective, that’s a design choice. It’s not an accident. It’s not a it’s a deliberate design choice to keep things conservative in order to maximize decentralization. There are some fundamental design tradeoffs here that you can’t just wave away. If you create a system where everybody has to validates everything and that’s a security feature, then that system will necessarily not scale. If you increase the scale of that system, then it becomes a burden on everyone who’s trying to validate. And that means you lose validators until eventually you have very few validators easily identified, easily coerced, and the system is is vulnerable to attacks. So that’s the fundamental tradeoff. And it’s not an easy tradeoff to solve. One of the best solutions in my mind is to move off chain many of the transactions that do not need to be validated by everyone while maintaining the same security models through smart contracts. And that’s what the Lightning Network is doing, given the ability of the lightning network to do millions of transactions per seconds while maintaining the full security of the bitcoin chain. I think that’s a much better avenue for scaling the system. It’s a really revolutionary technology when you start to understand what the lightning network is. And like you said, it’s still the very early days for outside of the Bitcoin ecosystem specifically. So why do ecosystem overall. But what is the technology that’s getting you most excited right now in the entire cryptocurrency space? Well, there’s there’s a couple of technologies that are keeping me most excited. Certainly I’ve been interested for the past four years. And smart contracts and blockchains that execute smart contracts on a virtual machine such as the theorem I’ve written about, that’s one of my books, mastering a Theorem from a technical perspective. And I think we’re beginning to see some early examples of how these can express a rather rich applications. Of course, we’re still at the toy scale and there’s all kinds of complexity and risk that comes with that. But it’s very interesting to see the very rapid pace of developments, for example, and decentralized finance. A lot of interesting examples coming out there. And what’s interesting here is that I’m hoping that we’ll move from the stage where technology is used to replicate or mimic the status quo, the existing sets of applications. So you have a better tool and you use it to build the same thing you were building before, just bigger, better, faster. And the next stage of that is where we start building things that simply could not be done with the existing set of tools. That’s when it really is innovative. And I think we’re reaching that point with decentralized finance. You know, when we look at the Internet, for example, in the early days, everyone was like, OK, how many fax machines does this replace? Because the only way to perceive the Internet and to measure its value was by the metrics of the previous system and to understand it and how it it simulates or mimics the previous system. But of course, all of the value does not come from there. It comes when you that question stops making any sense. So how many bank accounts can you replace with cryptocurrency? Is this level where. Now, when we stop asking that question, we start thinking about applications you couldn’t do before. That’s when we really see the innovation that excites me. The other one that excites me equally and for the same reasons is the very rapid developments in cryptography, fundamental research that has been spurred on by bitcoin. If you think about it, Bitcoin is the largest civilian deployment of cryptography ever. It’s the largest practical application of cryptography that has reached consumer level ever other than, let’s say, a hard, hard drive encryption. And it’s as such, it’s it’s kind of pioneering cryptography. And as a result, it’s it’s spurred research. Zero knowledge proofs is a perfect example. The amounts of research that has come out of the zero knowledge proof area just in the last two years is staggering and it’s moving really, really fast. All of these things within a decade will turn into practical applications that truly revolutionize finance. I think that’s one thing that a lot of people, they get very anxious and impatient about how quickly this technology is going to roll out. But if take the long term perspective, you know, you said right, 10 years from now, whereas this technology, I mean, was the application level of that going to be now? The final topic going to touch on here with you is the bit coin having obviously about I think 20 days away at this point. There’s been a lot of speculation on what it’s going to mean for Bitcoin, the markets, the miners, all of this stuff in a wider perspective. What’s your take on the impact of the Bitcoin having? Well, interestingly enough, the Bitcoin having is happening in stages because there are a bunch of Falk’s of Bitcoin. That’s because of various quirks in the development. Ended up mining a lot more blocks and got to the having first and they saw some really radical effects because of the low hash rates. They became vulnerable to attacks and very low cost. It’s kind of a preview of what happens when you have a system where you can move to a more profitable competitor with the same mining equipment. Now Bitcoin doesn’t have a more profitable competitor with the same mining equipment. It is the most profitable competitor. So we’re not going to see that’s in fact, with the Bitcoin having I think in the short term, we’re going to see a lot of volatility. People are obviously worried and they’re going to be trading on on the emotional impacts of all of that. It’s going to take months after the having for everything to kind of settle down and for us to start seeing some of the fundamental impact of the constraint and supply that that will be because of the because of the halving in terms of demand. Demand is still very, very strong in Bitcoin. And I expect it to be even stronger as we see, you know, various national experiments with currency creating very weird conditions. People need safe haven assets. Right now, I think Bitcoin is one of them. That’s a personal opinion. I can’t give you financial advice, but so, you know, a whole lot of nothing is going to happen with the having. It’s just going to happen. And then ten minutes later, a new block is going to come out. And then ten minutes later, a new block is going to come out. And all of the people who wrote articles about the death spiral of Bitcoin that is imminent and how bitcoin is going to die again and again and again, they write obituaries so fast are going to be proven wrong. And of course, are not going to revise any of their obituaries. So I’ll just find a new reason to write more. That’s what Bitcoin does. Ironically, the story of is bitcoin dead yet is one of our greatest marketing successes, because every time someone here is that it’s not dead yet, that builds a bit of cognitive dissonance in their minds. And gradually they realize this thing is rather resilient. Haven’t needed a bail out yet. That is a great point. There is no big bailouts for bitcoin. Just a bit of a follow up to that question. The long term impact of having is going forward, not just this time. We’re talking potentially even decades down the road. Do you think that the incentives will actually keep pace as we see the block awards falling and miners needing to really subsist off of basically transaction fees at some point in the future? Well, first of all, we have a very, very long time to to look out for that. And we already know what that’s going to be. So people adjust their expectations accordingly on a daily basis. These profitability considerations happen every single day. Miners look at fees and block subsidy. Electricity costs. Operating costs. Hardware costs for mining. And they make decisions as to which miners are still profitable and which ones are not turning off the ones that are not. ET cetera, et cetera. It’s a constantly, dynamically adapting system. So in the long run, you know this we don’t know obviously how this is going to play out. But from my perspective, I think that we’re going to see is more transactions with more expensive fees, substituting for the block subsidy quite comfortably. And, you know, we have enough proof of work mining right now to keep the network secure. So even maintaining it at this level is perfectly fine. I don’t see a problem with that. It’s such a long term consideration and so much will change with Bitcoin. You know, we were having this discussion at the last having I guess, well, lightning that we’re didn’t even exist then. So how do you know that completely changes the equation of how fees are used to open on closed channels. So how can we possibly predict what’s going to happen in four years? You know, 50 percent of Bitcoin’s life time in in in a space that moves so fast. Perry, very interesting stuff. Andreas, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come and come and chat with everyone here on the channel. Again, just a reminder, there are links down below. We can check out the YouTube channel. The podcast and of course, get yourself one of those fantastic books that Andre has written. If you haven’t read the Internet of money yet or four volumes, two or three, you definitely get your hands on one of those. Sondre is. Thank you so much for coming on and having a chat. It’s been a pleasure, Laura. Thank you so much. Thank you.

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Talking Bitcoin with Andreas Antonopoulos – Lightning, Halving, Privacy, Dollar, & Tech

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to the show, everyone. It’s the Krypto Lark I’m very, very excited to have on the show today. Andre is Antonopoulos. He’s Bitcoin educator, tech entrepreneur, host of the most educational YouTube channel related to Bitcoin and podcast as well. So and is an author of many, many fantastic books, including The Internet of Money, which is why my personal favorites I’d pick it up and show it to Dave has actually lent out When I friends because a book on a shelf isn’t doing a lot of good in terms of spreading knowledge. So there it is. That’s the third volume of the series. Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic. With links down below for the podcast, the YouTube channel. And we can grab some of those books as well. But Andre is thank you so much for coming on the channel to have a chat with me today about bitcoin. Don’t think it’s a real pleasure. Looking forward to this. So I think let’s just go ahead and really dive straight into this. I think let’s start off with talking a little bit about maybe some of the bigger mission of Bitcoin. And I think what we can start off with is talking about your thoughts on where the dollar is heading these days. I mean, do you see a situation where we could be seeing hyper inflation coming or are we going to move into a more deflationary economy? We all know that meme that goes round Bitcoin fixes this. But but is it really fixing this and has this crisis kind of lifted the veil? Do you think for a lot of people on the the falseness of Fiat? Yeah. You know, when people talk about what Bitcoin’s real mission is, there seem to be really two big camps. One camp is a monetary perspective and economic perspective that is about sound money, scarcity, limited supply and low inflation. And the other camp is looking at bitcoin as an open international currency that is accessible to all anywhere, anytime without getting authorization available to the unbanked and underbanked and a non-political neutral, an open protocol for the Internet that makes money possible on a much larger scale and creates economic inclusion. I’m in the latter camp, so my perspective on the monetary economics of bitcoin isn’t probably as strident as you might think. And I’m not sure how this plays out economically. To me, that’s not the biggest and most interesting feature of bitcoin, but obviously its importance to many and the atomic implications are huge. So, you know, it’s funny how the most salient characteristic of bitcoin from a monetary perspective is revealed primarily when international currencies, various international currency, especially the reserve currency, the dollar and others shoot themselves in the foot in the most spectacular fashion and create economic conditions that are very dangerous. I like to say often that I’m here to talk to you about the biggest monetary experiments, the most crazy, risky experiment that’s ever happens. And no, that’s not Bitcoin. It’s the infinite set of quantitative easing, infinite stimulus, unlimited printing and unlimited debts experiments. I think it’s important to realize this has never happened before. So all of the people who are like trying to place bets on how this turns out, hyperinflation, deflation, stagflation spirals, Deedes authorization and all of these other things, they have no clue. Nobody has any clue. I’m part of the reason for that is because we have no historical analog to go back to. This has never happened before. Certainly not on this scale, but but not even in terms of the fundamentals. I think we’re entering a very dangerous period, and the reason it’s a dangerous period is not so much because of the economic impact of these moves, but more the political impact of these moves. And to me, the political impact of these moves is that we have detached from market forces and and the fundamental economic basis for for market pricing. And what that means is that we’ve moved into the territory of centrally managed economies that are fine tuned by technocrats. And we’ve seen back to experiments before. So we know that doesn’t end well, because if you disconnect from market signals, a lot of malinvestments and misallocation of funds tends to happen. No, no country can really scale. Especially countries, because the United States can really scale decision making to the point where a few central bureaucrats can decide which companies are essential, which companies are non-essential, which companies should receive support. Which companies should not. Which employees should. How to allocate these enormous amounts of money that dwarf gross domestic product. And all of these moves essentially basically remove markets from the equation. That’s a very dangerous move we’ve seen with the current crisis that’s going on. A lot of talk around implementing central bank digital currencies. Lieber is getting a lot of attention. Once again, we saw this I think was the first the second draft of the stimulus package in the US, the first stimulus package, not the third or the fourth when the Rons who now actually including language around a digital dollar. Do you think that De’borah and a central bank digital currency issued by whether it’s the United States or China or the European Union, whoever else, is this going to help or hurt Bitcoin? It’s going to be entirely irrelevant to Bitcoin. It’s it’s a bit like, you know, introducing a new model of cars and saying, is this going to help or hurt the airline industry? We’re flying above all that shit. Behind is Libra Central Bank, digital currencies. All of those systems lack the fundamental components that make bitcoin interesting and differance. They’re not difference at all. I use that acronym to remind my viewers what the fundamentals are and that the acronym is RIP CORD because we’re having to parachute out of a crashing plane here and REPORTSTHAT stands for a revolutionary, immutable, public, collaborative, open resistance and decentralized. And guess what? Central. Digital currencies, leaper corporate currencies are not that they are centralized, their control, their surveillance mechanisms, they have none of the characteristics of open public blockchain cryptocurrencies. The interesting thing about these new technological currencies is that they’re not controlled by a single party. In fact, their control is decentralized and they’re open to anyone who participates. And they remove all of the barriers to entry and friction points of faxing authorization and control. So from that perspective, they introduce something really novel to the monetary system really, truly open global borderless, neutral currencies which have never existed before. And the CBD seas are simply taking it, taking the name of blockchain. If they even have anything to do with technology and trying to wrap the same pig in a new package, you know, put lips comments and serve it up with something revolutionary, something disruptive, something new. It’s nothing new. In fact, it’s dangerous. Both both corporate currencies like Leaper and Central Bank digital currencies are extremely dangerous because the the end point here is the eradication of cash as an open peer to peer transparence, anonymous mechanism for transacting that no one needs permission to use. And we’re reaching the end of the era of cash and our future is going to be digital currencies. The question now is whether those digital currencies are going to be centrally controlled and surveilled. Troll and private. The problem is that if you give centralized institutions control over something as important as money in a society, they can use that control to amass enormous power. They can use that control to crush any dissent or opposition, and they will start picking winners and losers and they can turn off anybody their entire financial lives. Your ability to buy food by flipping a bit in a database. That is a very scary world. And of course, you know, first they’re going to come for the terrorists and then they’re going to come for the child pornographers. And then they’re going to come for the, I don’t know, pot sellers and gun sellers and porn magazine makers and God knows what else. And then they’re going to come for anyone who speaks up about anything that’s contrary to their politics. This is a very, very dangerous path. Totalitarian surveillance of money leads to totalitarian politics and it’s an unavoidable outcome. So we need to make a very smart choice here and the choice to use the open, decentralized than neutral currencies of the people rather than the close surveillance, totalitarian currencies of either nation, states reinventing themselves or corporations trying to become nation states. You said it very, very well there. Do you think that we can actually see a country being brave enough to embrace public open networks to actually issue their central bank currency on a public open network or to actually start acquiring bitcoin for a central bank reserve? Who cares? It doesn’t really matter. So the enforcement of national institutions of an open, decentralized, Internet based cryptocurrency is irrelevant. It’s almost like saying will governments build Web sites to offer their government services on the Web to carers? That’s not where the action is happening. The wave the old world will try to adapt to a new environment is irrelevant to that new environment. What really matters is whether people will choose to use this among many other cryptocurrencies, whether they will have that choice and whether they will exercise that choice not in exclusion or replacement of their state currencies, but to as an alternative that gives them better results, better freedoms. This is about open markets for currencies. And so the centralized enforcement or authorization of a nation state is irrelevant in the era of the Internet. Yes, some countries are probably going to adopt that, just like, you know, some countries have adopted the dollar as their de facto national currency because they either can’t afford to print their own or because their own has collapsed irretrievably. But again, who cares? We’re not we’re not looking for approval. That’s that’s it’s a bit like saying, do you think some of the horse buggy manufacturers are eventually going to transform themselves into automotive manufacturers? Who cares? I want to switch the conversation up the way here from the kind of the bigger vision stuff to watch the lightning network. Do you think that the lightning network has kind of lived up to its promise? Why have we not seen more support from wallets and from exchanges to actually implement the lightning network? Currently, I think we see more bitcoin locked up in tokenized on a theory than there is bitcoin locked up on the lightning network. So is this a failure of the Leighton network or is it still just trying to find its feet? Oh, it’s so early to. I mean, I don’t think we can really call winners and losers. Now, keep in mind, I’m biased. I’m writing a book about the Lightning Network because I think it’s a fascinating technology, but it’s really, really early days. This is like the web in nineteen ninety eight ninety nine. And it really hasn’t come into its own. One of the important things to realize about all of these technologies is that the innovation is happening in different layers. And when you have innovation like the Lightning Network, which is actually accelerates its innovation in the bitcoin space by opening up to new APIs and new more rapid development models. When when new things are introduced to the protocol level, those effectively do not exist until they exist in a user interface for users. So this is one of the fundamental issues we have in any of these technologies. You can make something great and new technology and then if none of the wallets implemented, it doesn’t exist and you have to wait for the wallets to catch up. And wallets are actually one of the least monetized, least well invested infrastructure components in the entire blockchain space. There is a weak point. So as a result, it may take two or three years. And so you see these technologies trickle in to two wallets. On average, it takes about three years. So we’re nowhere near seeing the full potential. I think the Lightning Network is a fantastic technology and I don’t really see it as competing against other technologies like decentralized finance. It’s happening in a. All of these are complementary and they work very well together. Do you think that Bitcoin’s lack of privacy could be a problem? You know, we’ve seen first hand we do have the wasabi wallet, which gives people the option to send private transactions. But on the flip side, we’ve seen regulators come after a Bitcoin mixer developer in the past and we have companies like Chain Alices, which provide governments with details on Bitcoin transactions. So is this a flaw of Bitcoin? Is that it? We have more privacy on Bitcoin or is this a plus of Bitcoin? It’s a flaw of Bitcoin, most certainly. And I’ve been talking about that for six or seven years now about the importance of privacy and strengthening privacy in Bitcoin just to make a point there. They didn’t come after a developer fixing services that came after an operator of mixing servers, which is a very, very different thing. No one has so far prosecuted developers for, I think, software the bay themselves soon all to operate. That would be a very serious First Amendment issue. So in Bitcoin security, privacy is difficult. You have to be very careful in order to maintain your privacy. And that’s a weakness. Fortunately, there are a number of technologies that are making that are likely to make that much better. One of them is a series of changes that are being introduced bitcoin now. Schnoor signatures, top rates and typescript of the technical names. But in any case, it’s it’s a package that allows transactions to appear as if there are simple payments when they’re much more complex script. So for example, a transaction that opens and closes a lightning channel instead of being easily identifiable as such and allowing you to identify which channel on which nodes interacted with it instead will appear as a single payment from a sender to a recipient’s mixed among all of the other payments. In technical terms, what that does is it increases the anonymity set of transactions, making it much more difficult to do this kind of analysis. Companies like Catamount changeless and others are basically in an arms race against privacy. And what they’re doing is they’re providing the world’s worst dictators and regimes, either directly or indirectly, with information that violates the civil rights of millions of people. I think it’s fundamentally immoral to even work at a company like this. And just like I would consider it’s immoral to work for a weapons manufacturer or, you know, a company that builds cages for refugee concentration camps. You have to make some choices when you work. And those moral choices are important, but they’re an arms race that they’re gradually losing and they will eventually lose because it simply becomes harder and harder to track these transactions. The lightning network is another privacy technology that is going to help with that. Together with some of the other technologies being introduced. But yeah, it is a weakness. And that’s also why I’m interested in the broader ecosystem, because Bitcoin isn’t alone. It’s part of an ecosystem of cryptocurrency, some of which have stronger privacy characteristics that are very easily interchangeable with very low barriers and switching costs. And I think it’s important to look at the ecosystem. Do you think that Bitcoin might be developing too slowly? LICHTMAN stuck on five transactions per second for a very, very long time. And I don’t see where we’re going. Aside from Lighton network, of course, where we’re going to go beyond that, a lot of people do call it all is a weakness of Bitcoin that it hasn’t been perhaps developing its fastest way to basically see happening across the crypto ecosystem. Well, Bitcoin is fundamentally the most conservative system out there because it’s intended to be extremely robust and secure and able to resist attacks by collusion or cooperation between nation state level actors. And so far, it has resisted attacks at that level, whereas many of the smaller competitors that are attempting to scale things up by reducing decentralization are going to pay a very big price and they’re much easier to attack than than Bitcoin. So from that perspective, that’s a design choice. It’s not an accident. It’s not a it’s a deliberate design choice to keep things conservative in order to maximize decentralization. There are some fundamental design tradeoffs here that you can’t just wave away. If you create a system where everybody has to validates everything and that’s a security feature, then that system will necessarily not scale. If you increase the scale of that system, then it becomes a burden on everyone who’s trying to validate. And that means you lose validators until eventually you have very few validators easily identified, easily coerced, and the system is is vulnerable to attacks. So that’s the fundamental tradeoff. And it’s not an easy tradeoff to solve. One of the best solutions in my mind is to move off chain many of the transactions that do not need to be validated by everyone while maintaining the same security models through smart contracts. And that’s what the Lightning Network is doing, given the ability of the lightning network to do millions of transactions per seconds while maintaining the full security of the bitcoin chain. I think that’s a much better avenue for scaling the system. It’s a really revolutionary technology when you start to understand what the lightning network is. And like you said, it’s still the very early days for outside of the Bitcoin ecosystem specifically. So why do ecosystem overall. But what is the technology that’s getting you most excited right now in the entire cryptocurrency space? Well, there’s there’s a couple of technologies that are keeping me most excited. Certainly I’ve been interested for the past four years. And smart contracts and blockchains that execute smart contracts on a virtual machine such as the theorem I’ve written about, that’s one of my books, mastering a Theorem from a technical perspective. And I think we’re beginning to see some early examples of how these can express a rather rich applications. Of course, we’re still at the toy scale and there’s all kinds of complexity and risk that comes with that. But it’s very interesting to see the very rapid pace of developments, for example, and decentralized finance. A lot of interesting examples coming out there. And what’s interesting here is that I’m hoping that we’ll move from the stage where technology is used to replicate or mimic the status quo, the existing sets of applications. So you have a better tool and you use it to build the same thing you were building before, just bigger, better, faster. And the next stage of that is where we start building things that simply could not be done with the existing set of tools. That’s when it really is innovative. And I think we’re reaching that point with decentralized finance. You know, when we look at the Internet, for example, in the early days, everyone was like, OK, how many fax machines does this replace? Because the only way to perceive the Internet and to measure its value was by the metrics of the previous system and to understand it and how it it simulates or mimics the previous system. But of course, all of the value does not come from there. It comes when you that question stops making any sense. So how many bank accounts can you replace with cryptocurrency? Is this level where. Now, when we stop asking that question, we start thinking about applications you couldn’t do before. That’s when we really see the innovation that excites me. The other one that excites me equally and for the same reasons is the very rapid developments in cryptography, fundamental research that has been spurred on by bitcoin. If you think about it, Bitcoin is the largest civilian deployment of cryptography ever. It’s the largest practical application of cryptography that has reached consumer level ever other than, let’s say, a hard, hard drive encryption. And it’s as such, it’s it’s kind of pioneering cryptography. And as a result, it’s it’s spurred research. Zero knowledge proofs is a perfect example. The amounts of research that has come out of the zero knowledge proof area just in the last two years is staggering and it’s moving really, really fast. All of these things within a decade will turn into practical applications that truly revolutionize finance. I think that’s one thing that a lot of people, they get very anxious and impatient about how quickly this technology is going to roll out. But if take the long term perspective, you know, you said right, 10 years from now, whereas this technology, I mean, was the application level of that going to be now? The final topic going to touch on here with you is the bit coin having obviously about I think 20 days away at this point. There’s been a lot of speculation on what it’s going to mean for Bitcoin, the markets, the miners, all of this stuff in a wider perspective. What’s your take on the impact of the Bitcoin having? Well, interestingly enough, the Bitcoin having is happening in stages because there are a bunch of Falk’s of Bitcoin. That’s because of various quirks in the development. Ended up mining a lot more blocks and got to the having first and they saw some really radical effects because of the low hash rates. They became vulnerable to attacks and very low cost. It’s kind of a preview of what happens when you have a system where you can move to a more profitable competitor with the same mining equipment. Now Bitcoin doesn’t have a more profitable competitor with the same mining equipment. It is the most profitable competitor. So we’re not going to see that’s in fact, with the Bitcoin having I think in the short term, we’re going to see a lot of volatility. People are obviously worried and they’re going to be trading on on the emotional impacts of all of that. It’s going to take months after the having for everything to kind of settle down and for us to start seeing some of the fundamental impact of the constraint and supply that that will be because of the because of the halving in terms of demand. Demand is still very, very strong in Bitcoin. And I expect it to be even stronger as we see, you know, various national experiments with currency creating very weird conditions. People need safe haven assets. Right now, I think Bitcoin is one of them. That’s a personal opinion. I can’t give you financial advice, but so, you know, a whole lot of nothing is going to happen with the having. It’s just going to happen. And then ten minutes later, a new block is going to come out. And then ten minutes later, a new block is going to come out. And all of the people who wrote articles about the death spiral of Bitcoin that is imminent and how bitcoin is going to die again and again and again, they write obituaries so fast are going to be proven wrong. And of course, are not going to revise any of their obituaries. So I’ll just find a new reason to write more. That’s what Bitcoin does. Ironically, the story of is bitcoin dead yet is one of our greatest marketing successes, because every time someone here is that it’s not dead yet, that builds a bit of cognitive dissonance in their minds. And gradually they realize this thing is rather resilient. Haven’t needed a bail out yet. That is a great point. There is no big bailouts for bitcoin. Just a bit of a follow up to that question. The long term impact of having is going forward, not just this time. We’re talking potentially even decades down the road. Do you think that the incentives will actually keep pace as we see the block awards falling and miners needing to really subsist off of basically transaction fees at some point in the future? Well, first of all, we have a very, very long time to to look out for that. And we already know what that’s going to be. So people adjust their expectations accordingly on a daily basis. These profitability considerations happen every single day. Miners look at fees and block subsidy. Electricity costs. Operating costs. Hardware costs for mining. And they make decisions as to which miners are still profitable and which ones are not turning off the ones that are not. ET cetera, et cetera. It’s a constantly, dynamically adapting system. So in the long run, you know this we don’t know obviously how this is going to play out. But from my perspective, I think that we’re going to see is more transactions with more expensive fees, substituting for the block subsidy quite comfortably. And, you know, we have enough proof of work mining right now to keep the network secure. So even maintaining it at this level is perfectly fine. I don’t see a problem with that. It’s such a long term consideration and so much will change with Bitcoin. You know, we were having this discussion at the last having I guess, well, lightning that we’re didn’t even exist then. So how do you know that completely changes the equation of how fees are used to open on closed channels. So how can we possibly predict what’s going to happen in four years? You know, 50 percent of Bitcoin’s life time in in in a space that moves so fast. Perry, very interesting stuff. Andreas, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come and come and chat with everyone here on the channel. Again, just a reminder, there are links down below. We can check out the YouTube channel. The podcast and of course, get yourself one of those fantastic books that Andre has written. If you haven’t read the Internet of money yet or four volumes, two or three, you definitely get your hands on one of those. Sondre is. Thank you so much for coming on and having a chat. It’s been a pleasure, Laura. Thank you so much. Thank you.

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