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whinlatter · 7 months

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I need to know how you think Ginny or Hp characters in general reacted to the death of Princess Diana. She died right before Ginny left for Hogwarts her 6th year. I know wizards aren’t into muggle culture but Lady Di transcends cultural barriers. Plus that trio looking for the queens purse advert is definitely canon.

i did not expect this ask, and i regret to inform you my response to it was to write the following incredibly stupid ficlet about ginny and the death of princess diana. don't ask me why i did this because i don't know!

The last day of August 1997, she comes downstairs in her dressing gown and finds Kingsley in the kitchen with a Muggle newspaper that says that Princess Diana is dead. ‘Car crash,’ he says, pushes the paper across the table. No-one’s shared news of any sort with her in weeks - the only child and non-Order member of the house, at best an irrelevance and at worse a nuisance for the crumbling wartime resistance - so she forgets about the kettle she's just boiled and sits down, snatches up the paper, reads hungrily. High speed car chase, it says, Diana and her boyfriend, in a tunnel in Paris, being chased down by paparazzi. ‘I met her once,’ says Kingsley, musingly, sipping his tea.

She looks up. ‘Really?’

‘Mmm. With the Muggle PM.’

‘What was she like?’

Kingsley thinks about it. ‘Funny,’ he says. ‘But sad.’

She hangs on to the paper. When she’s inevitably ousted from the kitchen by the arrival of yet more Order folk with important business and no trace of interest in her, she takes it up to her room, clears a space on the floor between the maps of the castle she's been memorising and her now dog-eared copy of The Dark Arts Outsmarted and flattens it out on the floor. The Muggle pictures of the princess, of course, don’t move. Yet Diana manages to always be in motion in the photographs, full of life, running and dancing and gallivanting, long legs stretching across roads or dangling off the end of great boats, her speeding across ocean waves on what looks like a water motorbike or down steep snowy slopes on bits of wood with poles in her hands. She's forced to hoist Crookshanks up and out of the way when he tries to paw his way across the pull-out spread of Diana in her wedding dress. 'You used to live with Muggles sometimes, didn't you?’ she demands of a squirming Crookshanks. ‘Show a bit of respect.'

She’d known about the princess before, of course. Hard to avoid her, even among wizards. The Muggleborn girls had started it, tacking up endless pictures of her many outfits on their walls. Their better-blooded peers had followed, and she’d thought even the Slytherins would be unable to deny there was a magic, a magnetism, to Diana, in fabulous dresses one day and the coolest of boyish suits the next, all draped off of her long, lean frame with an effortless elegance that most of the awkward adolescent girls of the castle could only dream of. There was a time, in the run-up to the Yule Ball, when you couldn’t move for pictures of that dress. ‘It’s her revenge dress,’ Lavender had informed her matter-of-factly at dinner, ‘because her husband cheated on her with a married woman he’d been in love with years before.’ An off-the-shoulder slinky black number with the chunky pearl necklace, the dress had been the envy of every witch in the castle. ‘I’d definitely pull Diggory if I had that dress,’ a sixth-year girl had lamented to her mates over the sinks in the fifth-floor girls’ bathroom the next day.

That evening, her own dress from her mother had arrived. She’d sent for it, when Neville had asked her to the ball, bestowing upon her the dubious honour of being the second most pitying girl in all of Gryffindor. It’s an old one of Molly’s from the sixties. She’d always admired it on her mum in old photographs taken before she was hers, worn on nights out and parties from a past life that her mother only hints at, with a twinkle in her eye and a firmly zipped lip. Now, though, the dress looked all wrong - too chaste, too floral, not an ounce of sex appeal about it, throughly unmemorable and unlikely to catch a single eye, fresh-pickled toad-green or otherwise.

(In her bunk that night, she'd lain awake and taunted herself with cruel, self-flagellating fantasy. Imagined striding past the Boy Who Lived wearing that dress, the revenge one, making him regret he’d ever asked Cho Chang to the ball, making him forget all about her shiny hair and her pretty smile and her cool friends and her easy grace, making him notice someone else instead - his best mate’s feral little sister who is funny, actually, just not when he’s around, and whom he last seemed to have thought about when he’d hauled her off her own deathbed, and never since.)

As adolescence wore on, though, she’d soured on Diana. Too chic to be likeable, rich girl with a life of frocks and endless frolicking, intolerably poised and swan-like. The sight of her glimpsed on Muggle newsstand in the village stirred up the same feelings of eye-roll envy as her sister-in-law, which always boded ill. Looking at her now, though, she wonders if there wasn’t something she’d missed, something else to her. Diana’s set jaw looks more guarded than she remembered. The wide eyes ringed by thick smudgy black she’d once thought coquettish now look lost, full of reproach.

Dean’s mum, she remembers now, had loved her. ‘She won’t hear a bad word about her,’ he’d said, rolling his eyes. ‘Says she was the best thing that ever happened to that family.’ Ever her father’s daughter, she’d pestered him with endless questions, like she did all things Muggle: about the divorce, about the royals and succession and the Muggle press and the high drama of it all, until he’d got bored and suggested they go find a broom cupboard, get down to more serious business. Wonders how Dean’s mum must be feeling today. But then she remembers her son is, for all intents and purposes, Muggleborn in a new regime that wants him dead, and suddenly feels slightly sick. She puts the paper away, then, and gets back on with packing up her war room for the morning’s train journey out to the front.

Diana’s sons, the paper said, survive her. They’re called William, and Harry. Good names, in her book. She can't help but think of them as she packs, the boys - children, who woke up one morning to find themselves motherless.

‘It’s mayhem in London,’ says her father, that night, over dinner. ‘There’s hundreds of people outside the palace, leaving flowers and things. I’ve never seen anything like it. There'll be a big public funeral - all the royal family will have to be there, including the boys. They'll have no choice. The Muggles are heartbroken. I dread to think what would happen if there was an attack during that - Kingsley, we ought to talk more about that, actually...'

'Those poor children,' her mother whispers, though that’s nothing new, these days — she whispers that every night.

'Are they still in London?' she asks her dad, quietly, over the washing up. 'At Grimmauld? Have you heard anything?'

'No news, dear. I'd tell you if I knew.'

Lying awake that night with her trunk packed, she wonders if this has all passed them by - her brother and almost-sister and the boy who lived she knows she’s supposed to forget. She imagines them sat the table in that grungy basement kitchen, newspaper spread in front of them. Perhaps they, too, have been poring over Diana's finest outfits, in memoriam. Probably not, though — not with a murder to plot, a Dark Lord to kill, a Tom to hunt. Three child soldiers with a war to win.

Still, the thoughts persist as she tries to fall asleep. Thinks about being hunted, boys without mothers, a city full of mourners. Muggles with their tears and their flowers and their prams at the palace gates. It’s like it's the end of something, something fun and frivolous, dress-up and glamour and girlhood. One day, you're thirteen and looking at princesses in party dresses in the newspaper — and the next, you're sixteen, and the newspapers tell you that the parties are over and the princesses are dead. Something about the tragedy of the thing. The pointlessness, the waste.

artwork: diana and her nymphs hunting by paul de vos (1636)

#fic #writing #ginny weasley #princess diana #tags i did not expect to put together #this is what happens when you are raised by a mother who loves princess diana too much #i actually can’t believe i spent this afternoon writing this #fic rec #hinny

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grison-in-space · 1 year

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Specialization is so far advanced in dogdom that even among working lines there are divisions between trial and hunting or herding dogs. Whereas not too many years ago field trials were merely a way to keep a dog employed in the off-season, they have become ends in themselves. Trial dogs, be they pointers, retrievers, spaniels, setters, herders, or hounds, tend as a rule to be possessed of high energy, drive, and speed. Some of the trials are timed events with scores awarded for the number of animals treed or flushed, while others simply require precise execution of prescribed tasks. Intensely trained and drilled, the dogs work close to their handler, taking direction from him or her.

Working dogs must be more independent. Situations on the hunt, the ranch, or farm are considerably more complicated and subtle than those in a trial, where the goal is to make everything uniform so the dogs can be measured against each other or against a standard of behavior—for example, whether a retriever can follow a beeline for a duck on the ground one hundred yards away and bring it back with minimal human direction. A super trial dog, trained to point one tamed bird at a time, might forget entirely what to do when in the field on a hunt it encounters a covey of wild quail intent on scattering to all points of the compass. Or it might face pheasants whose idea of fun is to keep moving along the ground, forcing it either to hold point over empty space or to engage in a kind of moving point, which its handler has worked to discourage.

Dog’s Best Friend, Mark Derr (1997)

I think this passage really gets into what @canisitsnotlupus was discussing the other day about working vs sport in terms of behavior. Here, Derr is talking specifically about gundogs, but the general principle is fairly easy to extend to other forms of working and sport.

In particular, the dog's attention to the handler is something I think tends to get amped up and intensified when tasks transition from the demands of work into the demands of sport. Sport rewards specificity and precision as well as uniformity and often speed, and dogs and handlers alike have to dedicate intense attention to one another in order to execute the tasks of the game competitively.

By contrast, work is longer, often more boring, and simultaneously more demanding: as Derr points out, working situations are less controlled and therefore likely to throw up unanticipated hurdles for the dog and handler alike. Working situations therefore are more likely to reward a wider range of successful strategies and styles, depending on the function to which the work is put and the specific demands and uses of the job.

Moreover, the jobs themselves are likely to vary substantially depending on local conditions, including local culture, technology availability, the social context of the task, and the local opinions about how dogs should be managed... and this can heavily impact the choice of breeds used for various tasks, especially if the breeders controlling the development of a breed with the same historical purpose are no longer engaging in that purpose. For example, I made a point about St. Bernards not being very good for SAR the other day, and part of that is the increased use of cramped vehicles and helicopters for transporting dogs over large surfaces and the necessity of navigating tight spaces and precarious ground for SAR dogs, alongside the ability to cover large swathes of distance in a pinch. The way we do the task has changed, and the ideal dog to perform the task changes alongside it.

Here's another point: jobs for dogs open up all the time. The wide range of tasks service dogs are put to, for example, requires a lot of complex traits. I would submit that no one right now is producing an ideal dog for mobility service work, although Swissies and Bernese are probably the best placed to enter that niche... and both breeds have small gene pools that don't have a ton of room to change and grow in accordance with the needs of the job, either. How big does a mobility assistance dog need to be? How long lived could we make big dogs?

The trick is thinking of situations where a dog brings value to the task without creating more work to manage the dog than than that value eases. For example, herd dogs and horses can be replaced with ATVs.... but they stress cattle less, and once trained they are easy enough to control, so the niche remains. The sensory capacities of a dog are hard to replicate, so many niches for dogs depend on scentwork (and sometimes dogs' hearing) today.

In some ways, then, the fact that we use dogs for tasks in day to day life so much less is partly a cultural failure of imagination and partly a delayed response to enormous changes in technology. But tech often comes with its own drawbacks. I wonder sometimes if obedience schools might benefit from classes designed to teach useful tricks, like the kind of guided retrieves that can result in a dog that can fetch a targeted object. For all the man is, ah, a bit terrifying and not good at managing arousal, Zak George's short-lived Superfetch show did a great job of showcasing this and showing off some of the genuinely useful things dogs could be asked to do and provide, like racing upstairs for a clean diaper.

#mark derr #dog training #function #disc #dog's best friend

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shinigami-striker · 3 months

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Evolution of Knuckles | Friday, 02.02.24

Here's an evolution of Knuckles the Echidna throughout the Sonic video game franchise (since his debut in 1994 with the North American of Sonic the Hedgehog 3) down below.

1994

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (GENESIS, 02/02/1994)

Sonic & Knuckles/Sonic 3 & Knuckles (GENESIS, 10/18/1994)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble (GAME GEAR, 11/15/1994)

1995

Sonic Drift 2 (GAME GEAR, 03/17/1995)

Knuckles' Chaotix (SEGA 32X, 04/20/1995)

1996

Sonic the Fighters (ARCADE, May 1996)

Sonic 3D Blast (GENESIS/SATURN, 11/09/1996)

Sonic Blast (GAME GEAR/MASTER SYSTEM, 12/12/1996)

1997

Sonic R (SATURN, 11/18/1997)

1998

Sonic Adventure (DREAMCAST, 12/23/1998)

1999

Sonic the Hedgehog: Pocket Adventure (NEO GEO POCKET COLOR, 12/20/1999)

2000

Sonic Shuffle (DREAMCAST, 11/13/2000)

2001

Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle) (DREAMCAST/GAMECUBE, 06/19/2001)

Sonic Advance (GBA, 12/20/2001)

2002

Sonic Advance 2 (GBA, 12/19/2002)

2003

Sonic Pinball Party (GBA, 06/01/2003)

Sonic Battle (GBA, 12/04/2003)

Sonic Heroes (MULTI-PLATFORM, 12/30/2003)

2004

Sonic Advance 3 (GBA, 06/07/2004)

2005

Shadow the Hedgehog (MULTI-PLATFORM, 11/15/2005)

Sonic Rush (DS, 11/15/2005)

2006

Sonic Riders (MULTI-PLATFORM, 02/21/2006)

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) (PS3 & XBOX 360, 11/14/2006)

Sonic Rivals (PSP, 11/16/2006)

2007

Sonic & The Secret Rings (WII, 02/20/2007)

Sonic Rivals 2 (PSP, 11/13/2007)

2008

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (PS2/WII, 01/08/2008)

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS, 09/25/2008)

2009

Sonic & The Black Knight (WII, 03/09/2009)

2010

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (MULTI-PLATFORM, 02/19/2010)

Sonic Free Riders (XBOX 360, 11/04/2010)

Sonic Colors (Nintendo DS version) (DS, 11/11/2010)

2011

Sonic Generations (MULTI-PLATFORM, 11/01/2011)

2012

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (MULTI-PLATFORM, 2012)

2013

Sonic Dash (MOBILE, 03/07/2013)

Sonic Lost World (10/18/2013)

2014

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (WII U, 11/11/2014)

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (3DS, 11/11/2014)

2015

Sonic Runners (MOBILE, 02/25/2015)

Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom (MOBILE, 07/01/2015)

2016

Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice (3DS, 09/27/2016)

2017

Sonic Mania (Plus) (MULTI-PLATFORM, 08/15/2017)

Sonic Forces: Speed Battle (MOBILE, 09/08/2017)

Sonic Forces (MULTI-PLATFORM, 11/07/2017)

Sonic Runners Adventure (MOBILE, 12/20/2017)

2019

Team Sonic Racing (MULTI-PLATFORM, 05/21/2019)

Sonic Racing (APPLE ARCADE, 09/19/2019)

2022

Sonic Frontiers (MULTI-PLATFORM, 11/08/2022)

2023

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (PC, 03/31/2023)

Sonic Superstars (MULTI-PLATFORM, 10/20/2023)

Sonic Dream Team (APPLE ARCADE, 12/05/2023)

2024

Sonic X Shadow Generations (MULTI-PLATFORM, Fall 2024)

and many more to come soon...

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1997thebracket · 8 months

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Round 1

End of Evangelion: It all returns to nothing. So says the haunting tune 'Komm, Süsser Tod' by Arianne, which soundtracks the fate of humanity in the End of Evangelion. The film serves as an alternate ending to the original anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which bewitched viewers with the then-unconventional match of giant mecha and existential depression all wrapped up in religious iconography. The final episodes of the anime are incredibly cerebral and proved controversial for viewers at the time, which led to director Hideaki Anno further expressing himself in the 1997 film... which took the heady themes and conflicting stylistic choices of the show and put them in a high-octane blender, along with a tall glass of Human Tang. At its core, End of Evangelion asks if individualism is the one great folly of humanity and the source of our suffering, or if it is the very point of it; it shows the loss of barriers between people and subsequent extinction of loneliness as a sort of cosmic horror. Looking back at the scenes, imagery, and music most associated with the anime and its continued influence, much of the franchise's legacy stems from the End of Evangelion.

Yahoo! Mail: If you're still using the same Yahoo! email address you made in middle school, this round is for you. In 1997, Yahoo! outmaneuvered Microsoft in acquiring RocketMail, which forced users of the existing mail service to adapt or abandon ship. They chose this move based on the speed at which email communications and email hosting were growing, as they believed the six-month-minimum to develop and build Yahoo! hosting from scratch would lose them thousands of user registrations per week-- and once the user already had an email address, they were seemingly off the market. Nowadays, it's fairly uncommon to have one email address for your entire life, but preserving the login for [email protected] is an honorable mission. Yahoo! Mail came clad in a stylish dark purple with a memorably funky font and logo; Yahoo! also embraced emoticon culture early on, and their brand marketing along with their later IM service would reflect this.

#end of evangelion #neon genesis evangelion #shinseiki evangelion #yahoo #yahoo mail #1997

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mariacallous · 2 months

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This month the World Trade Organization threw in the towel on COVID-19. Medicines like Paxlovid have been plentiful in the U.S. and Europe, but because of insufficient supplies and high prices, hardly anyone in Africa, Asia, and Latin America has had access. After more than three years of debate, the WTO declared on Feb. 13 that it was unable to reach agreement on waiving global patent rules for COVID-19 treatment to ease the way for expanded production.

Those confused about why the WTO is even still debating COVID-19 nearly a year after the public health emergency was declared over by the World Health Organization can be forgiven. Not only is this slow speed not what the world needs in a pandemic, it is also not how the World Trade Organization is supposed to work, and begs questions on WTO’s relevance in a multi-crisis world. It also makes clear that responsibility for the global governance of pandemic-related technology and intellectual property cannot remain with the WTO.

As negotiations have reconvened this week in Geneva over a new Pandemic Treaty, the question of which organizations should manage the response is a live question. Some negotiators are pushing for a role for the world’s health ministers and the World Health Organization on intellectual property, but the U.S. negotiator and others say these questions should stay with the WTO. The WTO’s failure, though, make this an increasingly untenable position: If the WTO cannot act in a pandemic to remove patents barriers and promote sharing of technology so the world can produce enough medicines and vaccines, then the WHO must be empowered to do so.

When the World Trade Organization was created in 1995, it marked a fundamental change to international trade law. Where the international system it replaced had primarily dealt with flow of goods across borders, WTO rules expanded the definition of “trade” to include the intangible—including patents on pharmaceuticals. All members were required to enforce 20-year monopolies over making new medicines. As the late scholar Susan Sell described it, this was a remarkable act of “forum shifting.” Before that, patents (effectively government-granted monopolies) were not part of “free” trade. Into the 1970s, many rich countries such as Italy and Japan did not allow patents on medicines, and many developing countries like India, Brazil, and Mexico had continued to exclude medicines from patent monopolies into the 1990s. But they were convinced to expand intellectual property in the new WTO agreement with a promise of “technology transfer” and a requirement that wealthy countries incentivize their companies to share with least-developed countries. This has not gone as promised.

The first effective medicines in the AIDS pandemic arrived just as the WTO came into being. It quickly became clear this debate about globally enforceable intellectual property was life-or-death as patents proved a major barrier to access. Twelve million Africans died between 1997 and 2007 with AIDS medicines too expensive and pharmaceutical companies blocking affordable generic versions. Eventually manufacturers in India, Brazil, South Africa, and elsewhere overcame barriers and made the drugs at a 99 percent lower cost. Today 30 million people are on treatment and cutting-edge medicines costs less than $50 per year.

Did drug companies voluntarily relent? Unfortunately, no. Dozens of low- and middle-income country governments issued “compulsory licenses” forcing drug companies to allow local producers to make HIV medicines. Activists pressured companies to drop their price and share their technology. The WTO eventually agreed on the “Doha Declaration” clarifying WTO rules allowing countries “flexibilities” to make affordable medicines and special consideration during emergencies. It took over a decade, but eventually the Medicines Patent Pool was created to facilitate voluntary sharing of technology—though companies only joined because compulsory alternatives left them little choice.

When the pandemic hit, these structures to transfer technology were all available, but world leaders decided to only use the voluntary elements—an approach that failed spectacularly. Scientists delivered vaccines in record time. Highly effective mRNA vaccines were developed in under a year and treatments followed. Paxlovid proved among the most effective—a long-standing HIV drug combined with a new drug similar to HIV antiretrovirals. Costa Rica and the WHO proposed a mechanism to pool technology and patents even before medicines were developed and approved. Over 100 different drug and vaccine manufacturers around the world were prepared to make them, several even showing they could reverse engineer mRNA vaccines. But no drug company agreed to share its technology, and none of the governments where companies were based compelled them to.

With neither a relaxation of WTO rules nor enough voluntary sharing to enable factories in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to expand supply, global leaders backed a set of voluntary efforts for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). COVAX, the international effort to procure and equitably distribute vaccines, tried to secure vaccines from companies like Pfizer and Moderna. Predictably, however, COVAX quickly discovered high-income countries were locking up global supplies by using economic and political power to secure preferential access from companies. By the end of the first year, less than 1 percent of all vaccines had gone to low-income countries. Medicines fared no better. One analysis showed need for Paxlovid exceeded supply in LMICs by 8 million doses—leaving 90 percent without access. The lowest reported price was $250—200 percent of the average per capita spending on all health in lower middle-income countries.

These shortages had consequences. Analyses show as many as 27 million lives lost to the pandemic, many of which were preventable. Beyond the direct effect, dangerous coronavirus variants swept the world from contexts of high transmission and low vaccinated immunity. The pandemic has been longer and more damaging because of an artificially limited global supply of countermeasures.

Throughout this time the WTO was locked in debate. South Africa and India proposed a temporary waiver of WTO rules on all COVID-19 products during the pandemic. Pharmaceutical industry lobbyists cast this as a dangerous idea, launching a campaign against it claiming “voiding patents” would undermine innovation for pandemic products. In reality, a waiver does not take away IP rights. It simply suspends global rules temporarily, giving policymaking authority back to national governments to decide whether to enforce patents on pandemic-products during the pandemic without threat of WTO-linked sanctions. A waiver alone would not have solved the pandemic supply problem, which also required shared know-how and expanded manufacturing. But it would have removed threats of lawsuits for companies making financial and infrastructure investments in production lines and threat of sanctions from powerful states for governments allowing local production.

The WTO is supposed to be able to use mechanisms like waivers to respond to crises in a matter of weeks, not years. The Marrakesh Agreement explicitly includes a provision on waivers, stating the General Council must act within 90 days on a waiver request, assuming consensus, but falling back to a vote of three-fourths of members. Every year multiple WTO waivers are granted on issues from pharmaceuticals to diamonds to preferential trade for neighbors. But since 2020, the WTO’s efforts to pass a waiver in the middle of a world-changing event hit institutional and ideological roadblocks. Even as heads of state weighed in and wide swaths of the global economy depended on stopping the coronavirus, the institutional structure encouraged gridlock. Despite seemingly supportive law, the WTO’s structures encourage narrow interest-group politics, excluding actors with a broader public interest and economic agenda.

Narrowly-focused intellectual property negotiators framed the COVID-19 issue in ways that insulated negotiators, focused on footnotes and eligibility instead of stopping the pandemic, and gave an effective veto to trade negotiators from a few states with strong pharmaceutical lobbies. By the time the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference rolled around in June 2022, a simple pandemic-long waiver proposed two years earlier had morphed into a complicated mechanism that several developing countries declared unworkable. It only covered vaccines, pushing treatments to further negotiations. Eight months of more negotiations yielded no further progress, leading to the WTO’s declaration of no agreement last week.

It is time for a new forum shift. Negotiations over a new Pandemic Treaty are intensifying as negotiators hope for a May conclusion. The draft agreement includes a commitment to waive intellectual property during a pandemic and to use WTO flexibilities to produce pandemic-fighting products. These are the minimum steps to make the whole world safer. President Joe Biden already supported a patent waiver during the pandemic and is using these flexibilities at home, including “march-in” rights to limit patent monopolies on high-priced drugs in the U.S. The U.S. negotiator’s opposition suggests misaligned foreign policy.

But the agreement should go further. Given the WTO’s repeated failure, the new agreement should shift authority to waive patent rules to the World Health Assembly. And it should include a binding agreement to share publicly funded technologies for global production. States delegated authority to the WTO, which has proved a barrier rather than an asset in pandemics. Taking it back is just good governance.

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the-masked-artist05 · 11 months

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S.D.A. General Information

Supernatural Detectives Agency (S.D.A.) is a group based in Albany, New York. It is composed of four individuals who investigate supernatural happenings, ranging from spirits to cryptids. They assess the situations their clients bring to them and determine whether or not a location is haunted or not. If or when the entity they find is hostile, they will try to remove them and rationalize with them to prevent any harm from being done to other people. Each member in this group has their own role.

Casual Clothes:

Work Uniforms:

[Note: their weapons are not to scale.]

Nicole Jane Cawley

D.O.B.: April 12, 1997

Age: 26

Height: 5'6"

Job: Historian/Archivist Librarian, S.D.A. Member

Weapon: A flail with supernatural properties. Its chain can extend to any length and can be used to trap both physical and spiritual entities by wrapping itself around the target. It can be converted to a hair clip when not in use.

Role in group: Group leader, organizes plans for investigations, founder of S.D.A.

Additional Information: She was born in Italy and moved to New York when she was 10. She is able to speak both Italian And English fluently. She studied to become a historian and works at her local library. In her free time, she and her friends investigate the locations of their clients to search for supernatural activities. She is an energetic, comedic woman with sharp wits but can be quick to judge when things appear to be very face value to her. She also possesses the gift of seeing and interacting with ghosts and other spiritual entities. She lives with her roommate, Orion, in a small yet comfortable house.

Orion Evander

D.O.B.: May 17, 1998

Age: 25

Height: 5'10" (both human and true form)

Job: None/ S.D.A. Member

Weapon: A crossbow with unusual properties. When one of the bows hits an object, a small explosion will occur upon impact. There is an infinite amount of bows, they spawn when one is fired. It can be converted to a forearm bracelet when not in use.

Role in group: Defense - fights any hostile entities who try to harm the group or bystanders.

Additional Information: From roaming the streets and woodlands of New York as a cryptid to living comfortably on Earth, Orion is a rather unusual monster with no intent of hurting humans just for the sake of it. He is a fiery yet entertaining individual, just looking to have a fun time. He has no issues with fighting for himself or his friends when conflict arises. He does errands such as house cleaning and grocery shopping to make up for not having a "main" job and not getting bored. He has the ability to shapeshift, control/summon fire, super strength and speed and crawl on walls and ceilings with ease.

Jayden Horatio Lee

D.O.B.: June 2, 1999

Age: 24

Height: 5'9"

Job: Therapist, S.D.A. Member

Weapon: A spear with supernatural properties. It can slice through most strong materials such as metals and concrete. It provides the user with greater agility and lighter on their feet. It can be converted to a pen when not in use.

Role in group: Voice of reason - tries to reason with any entities to de-escalate any dire situations or attempt to speak to them about their past and/or why they are stuck within their clients' location.

Additional Information: Jayden was raised in London and moved to Albany with Flynn Bennett to experience life differently from what he had at home. He works as a therapist, helping people go through any mental turmoil or confusion they may be feeling and giving them diagnoses. He implements some aspects of his job into his role in the S.D.A. to help his group mates and other paranormal beings. He is a collected and thoughtful individual who thinks very carefully before he does anything, sometimes overthinking a decision in some cases.

Flynn Anthony Bennett

D.O.B.: July 6, 1999

Age: 24

Height: 5'11"

Job: Bladesmith, S.D.A. Member

Weapon: A hammer and shield with unusual properties. When the hammer hits any surface with great force, it can blast anyone and anything a few meters away or destroy the object with a bright, hot glow. The hammer is heavy and can be wielded by strong people. The shield can withstand greater forces than any usual shield. It can convert into two tattoos when not in use.

Role in group: Weaponsmith - makes weapons to defend the group from enemies, with items such as holy water obtained from a certain priest to create said weapons.

Additional Information: From the outbacks in Australia, he has had an interest in bladesmithing ever since he was a child thanks to his mother and father. He moved to Albany with Jayden for the same reason as him. He has a small bladesmithing business, creating items for customers who are interested in his craft. He also uses his skills to create weapons with unusual properties to aid his mates in fights against aggressive and malicious entities. He exudes exuberance and loves getting creative whenever he can but some things can fly over his head if they're not direct.

#art #my art #digital art #writing #my wrtitng #ocs #my ocs #S.D.A.#nicole cawley #orion evander #jayden lee #flynn bennett

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hirocimacruiser · 6 months

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Indy Racing League FLAT OUT Infiniti

IRL is a new series that started in 1997 after splitting from the CART series, but it has now become America's most popular formula car race. The IRL series is held 13 times a year (2001) on oval courses in North America. The IRL is represented by the world's largest motor sports event, the Indy 500 Mile, which is held as the fourth race in the series.400,000 people attend this race, which has a total prize money of 1 billion yen and a winner's prize of 200 million yen. A large audience gathers.

Currently, the machines used in the IRL combine a 3.5-liter V8 DOHC non-turbo engine with an open-wheel, open-cockpit, single-seat type car body similar to F1 and CART. The engine is equipped with a rev limiter, which limits the maximum rotation speed to 10,700 revolutions per minute, and the maximum output is approximately 650 horsepower. Currently, the car bodies are produced and marketed by Italy's Dallara, Britain's G-Force, and America's Riley & Scott, and engines are supplied by Nissan and Oldsmobile, named Infiniti and Aurora, respectively.

Through IRL high-speed oval track racing, the ultimate performance testing ground, Nissan In order to prove its technological capabilities and reliability as a high-performance car manufacturer, the company has been competing in the IRL since 1997. In 1998, it took the lead against an overwhelming majority of cars equipped with Aurora engines, and finally achieved its first victory in the IRL in June of last year.

Riding on this momentum, Nissan introduced a newly developed engine to the front this year and began dominating the series. The new engine is the ``35A'' type, which is the same type as the Q45 (Cima)'s power plant and is a detuned version of the VRH50 that was entered in the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hour Race. It is the latest weapon that is lightweight and compact, with a lower center of gravity and improved fuel efficiency than last year's model. This engine was supplied to two teams, Cheever Indy Racing and Dreyer & Rhine Bold Racing, and competed in the 2001 season with Eddie Cheever and Robbie Buhl driving.

The new engine spent the first half of the season undergoing initial maturation, and in the fifth race of the series, Cheever recorded the fastest lap time, quickly proving its high potential and becoming a regular contender for the top positions. Then came the eighth round, a race contested over 200 laps around the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. This was the first victory for the new engine. Cheever, the winner, said: ``Today I had a powerful weapon in my hands, the most powerful weapon in the form of an Infiniti.This engine is available to everyone, because it is installed in the Infiniti production cars that everyone drives.'' It was developed based on the engine ``Kara''.

After this first victory, he was unable to achieve any results, retiring in the 9th race due to an accident, and in the 10th race he was in the lead until just before the finish, but fell back due to a mistake in refueling, but in the 11th race, Buhl finished 5th. With Cheever finishing 3rd in the 12th race, Infiniti is closing out the season with a bang. Infiniti's goals for next season are, of course, winning the Indy 500 mile race and winning the series championship.

#Infiniti IRL #Indy Racing League #IRL

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queen-of-the-avengers · 4 months

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Captain Marvel: Part Four

Pairing: Carol Danvers x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.5k

Warnings: canon violence and angst

Author’s Note: For the sake of this rewrite, Howard and Maria Stark dies on December 16, 1997 instead of 1991. Tony is 23 when they die.

What woke you up is Vers whispering and tossing next to you. She's been having nightmares the past couple of weeks that she can't seem to get away from.

"Vers?" you ask and shake her away, She gasps awake and looks at you with wide eyes. "Another nightmare?"

"Yeah," she whispers and sits up in bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Instead of responding, she clenches her fists in anger and frustration. They start to glow orange but before she can do much damage to her room, you put your hand over hers. You intertwine your fingers with hers and bring her hand to your lips where you place a kiss on the back of it. "I am always going to be here like you were for me. You made my life here easier, and I want to do the same for you."

"I know."

"Want to fight? It'll get our minds off of a lot of things right now."

"Let's do it," she grins.

You two get dressed and head to the training room to get in a good workout before Yon-Rogg comes and ruins it all. The beginning of the training session is as routine as it gets, but by the time you and Vers got used to working together, things got a lot more interesting. She runs at you full speed, and what you meant to do is dodge her and push her back. What you actually did was swing at her, punching her to the ground.

"I did not mean to do that. I am so sorry!" you gasp.

"It's alright. I slipped."

"I punched you in the face."

"I was already slipping when you happened to punch me in the face. The two events are not related," she chuckles.

"You know, you should try using your powers. I could use mine and we can fight better that way. You're never going to learn how to use them if you don't actually use them," you suggest.

Before she has a chance to even think about it, Yon-Rogg walks into the room. He's wanted you dead the minute you showed up on their ship six years ago, but the Supreme Intelligence says otherwise.

"Y/N, take a seat," he orders and walks onto the mat. You roll your eyes but do as you're told and sit on the bench so that they have the floor. "I heard you're having dreams again." They both get into positions and start sparring. He's clearly stronger than her and has no issue proving that to her because she always falls onto her ass. She has the power to overpower him but she never uses it. "Anything new?"

"No," she grumbles.

"You've got to let go of your past."

"I don't remember my past," she grunts.

He twists her arm behind her back and holds her there so that his mouth is next to her ear.

"It's causing you to doubt, and doubt makes you vulnerable."

"Bullshit," you announce, earning a glare from him.

He grabs her wrist when she goes to punch him, and he forces her to her knees in front of him. She raises her other fist and it starts to glow bright orange, but Yon-Rogg quickly shuts her down.

"Control it." She lets out a shaky breath and the orange glow disappears. "Lose control again and you'll have to convene with the Supreme Intelligence. There is nothing more dangerous to a warrior than emotion."

"Now that is some bullshit. You're just upset you don't have awesome powers like me and her. Vers don't listen to him."

"Speak one more time, and I'll have you put on probation with me instead of her," he threatens. Vers smirks in amusement, and Yon-Rogg pushes her back to get her attention back on him. "Humor is a distraction. Anger only serves the enemy."

He's quick to deliver a punch to her face, and she falls with a frustrated groan. Without thinking, she raises her fist and blasts Yon-Rogg across the room and onto his stomach.

"Yes!" you cheer. "That is how it's done! You can't keep something like that hidden! Blast him again!"

"See? She likes it," Vers smirks as Yon-Rogg gives you another threatening glare.

After a useless training session, you, Yon-Rogg, and Vers make your way to the Supreme Intelligence's office. It's located on the other side of town, so you have to take the train to get there. Since Vers used her powers without permission, Yon-Rogg wanted her to go speak with the Supreme Intelligence to get an update on her progress. If you go with them, maybe you'll get the opportunity to speak to the Supreme Intelligence. Ever since arriving on Hala, you've never talked to it--you were never given the chance to.

It's safe to say you're a little curious.

"Has anybody seen what the Supreme Intelligence really looks like?" Vers asks Yon-Rogg.

"No one can look upon the Supreme Intelligence in its true form. You know that. Our subconscious chooses the way they appear to us. It's sacred and personal. No Kree divulges it, ever."

"Who do you see? Your brother?"

"No."

"Father?"

"No," he sighs, quite annoyed.

"Your old commander?"

"Vers."

"It's me you see, isn't it?" she asks with a smug smile.

"I see what you're trying to do," he chuckles.

"Is it working?"

"Yes, but you won't succeed in changing my mind on the subject."

"What is the point of giving me these," she gestures to her hands to reference her powers, "if you don't want me to use them?"

"For once, I agree with her. She needs to use them if she is going to want to control it," you butt in.

Yon-Rogg rolls his eyes at your comment but keeps his attention on Vers. His attitude towards you is unsettling, but you refuse to give him the power he so secretly craves. It's no secret they want what's in your blood, and you can see through the bullshit welcome they gave to you six years ago. It took you a while to see it only because you were blinded by their niceness. He's been trying to access your powers for years now but you won't give it to him. The only reason you're still on Hala is because of Vers. Something isn't right with the way they're treating Vers so you can't leave now.

"You're going to use them. The Supreme Intelligence made me the responsibility of showing you how to use them."

"I know how."

"Well if that were true, you'd knock me down without them."

"She doesn't have anything to prove to you," you glare.

"Actually, she does and so do you. One word to the Supreme Intelligence, and I can have you back in the dungeon where you belong."

"Go right ahead," you challenge.

"What should I do then?" Vers asks, changing the topic.

"Control your impulses. Stop using this," he points to her chest right above her heart, "and start using this," he points to her forehead to indicate to her brain. "I need you to be the best version of yourself."

"You're fucking blind if you can't already see that she is," you mutter.

The train stops by the Supreme Intelligence's office, and you follow Yon-Rogg inside. The office is strangely neat like it's only here for show. It makes sense if no one has seen the Supreme Intelligence in its true form, so there is no need for someone to use this office. The walls of the office appear golden with pillars wider towards the top and narrowing towards the bottom. The floor has a hexagon lit up with a white light protruding from it. Vers steps onto the platform and tentacle-like wire immediately appears from below her feet. They connect to her legs, arms, and head.

When she closes her eyes, you know she's speaking with the Supreme Intelligence.

What would they look like if you were to speak with them? It takes on the form of the person you most admire, so who could it be? Steve? Bucky? Yondu? Peter? Your parents? Yon-Rogg coughs from the window, and you look over at him in disdain. Who is he really? What are his goals and ambitions? What does he want from you and Vers? Is he even to be trusted?

Vers gets done, steps off the platform, and walks over to you with a smile.

"They want to talk to you?"

"Me? I'm allowed to do so?"

"Their request, not mine."

You go through the same process Vers went through when you step onto the platform. Your eyes close briefly for a second, but when you open them, the room has completely changed. The wires on your body are gone and the golden walls have been replaced with endless glossy white floors. Lights descend from above and the Supreme Intelligence makes itself known.

"Y/N."

The Supreme Intelligence looks like a man you think you might know. The memory of him is locked away deep in your brain, but no matter how hard you try to think about where you know him from, nothing comes up. He has jet-black hair and ice-blue eyes. He's of slim build with green and gold armor on.

"Where do I know you from?" you ask.

"I'm not who you think I am," the Supreme Intelligence drawls in a British accent.

"Right, you wanted to see me?"

"I have to say, I'm disappointed with your behavior. I thought you would have learned by now to have some manners on Hala."

"I thought you would realize that unlike everyone here, I don't work for you. You called me here for a reason, and it wasn't to nag on me like Yon-Rogg loves to do."

"You're right, I called you here on behalf of Torfa where one of our own is being held captive. Yon-Rogg is going to be leading the battle to retrieve Soh-Larr. He was sent as a spy for the Skrulls but never made it back. Vers is going, and I know you two work together so well."

"Why are you telling me this? Out of all the missions you keep me from, you want me to go on this one. Why?"

"You want to prove your worthiness to us? Now is your chance. Come back with Soh-Larr, and I will personally see it so that the Kree never have to fear Xenians again. I know that's what you want. You want to be a part of this family."

"I didn't feel like a family the first time I was with the Kree. Do you not remember Ronan?"

"Ronan has been taken care of. Do this mission, come back alive, and your honor and bravery will be recognized. Or you can go back to the way things were. Your choice," the Supreme Intelligence smiles, already knowing your answer.

"I'll do it," you say without hesitation, "but I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for Vers."

"Then so be it."

The wires on your face and body shrink back into the ground as you're transported back into the golden room.

"Are you in trouble?" Vers asks.

"It wants me to go on this mission with you. He says that I can prove my worthiness if I get what they need."

"So, it's a he?" Vers smirks.

"Not the point."

"This is good, is it not?"

"There's something off about this whole planet," you mutter.

"I don't think you need to prove anything to anyone. I like you just the way you are," she whispers and pulls you into her.

You lean up and kiss her quickly since Yon-Rogg is still in the room.

"He's wrong, you know," you whisper so only she can hear.

"Who is?"

"Yon-Rogg. Take it from someone who knows a few things about suppressing emotions. It's not a good idea. It drives your mind to work against them, not with them. Battles are meant to be fought with emotion and reason, not robots. Don't listen to anything he says."

"I'll work on it," she smiles and pecks your lips. "Come on, we have a mission to get to."

This mission involves eight Kree members because the Supreme Intelligence isn't sure what you're going to walk into. Yon-Rogg isn't too happy to have you here, in fact, no one else is. Vers is the only one who wants you here but you're not going to let theme sour your mood.

The hanger with the ship you're boarding is large with its walls golden, and the entire team is wearing green and black uniforms.

"Why is she here?" one of the Kree members whispers to another.

"Why are you here? You're not the one with the powers," you glare at him.

"Don't listen to them," Vers whispers to you.

Parts of the details of the mission are laid out on the big round table but from what you gather, it's not looking too good. Skrulls, which are shape-shifting creatures that the Kree hate, are known to roam the planet Soh-Larr needs rescuing from. The planet is in shambles and the Kree think the Skrulls are responsible for it.

"This can't be good," Att-Lass sighs.

He's one of the snipers on the team with impeccable skills. He might not have powers, but he works magic when he handles a gun. Korath is the serious one of the group. He has a tiny white goatee, and he rarely smiled. Bron-Char has a white beard which looks funny compared to the dark contrast of his blue skin. Minn-Erva is the punk-rock of the group. She has a half-buzz cut and loads of dark makeup on her face. She's even a better sniper than Att-Lass.

"It must be another Skrull attack," Korath concludes. "Whatever it is, it must be big."

"Has a Skrull ever simmed you?" Minn-Erva asks.

"Once. It was deeply disturbing."

"Why?"

"Because I stared into the face of my mortal enemy, and the face staring back was my own," Korath answers, giving you a look of discontent.

Every single Kree is looking at you as if you're some kind of pest that needs to be taken care of.

"What are you looking at? I'm not a Skrull. Sure, I can shapeshift but my powers differ from theirs. Plus, I'm also an Avatar. There's more to me than shifting into someone, and I would never do that to any of you no matter how much you wish me dead," you snap.

"Well maybe if you were more attractive then it would be less disturbing," Vers tries to break the tension by making a joke to Korath.

"You think you're funny, but I'm not laughing."

"You never laugh."

"I laugh on the inside. I'm not doing it now."

"It's funny cause objectively speaking, you're quite handsome," Bron-Char says with a smile.

"Well, thank you."

"Listen up team! Knock it off," Yon-Rogg points to Vers as he enters the spaceship. A holograph of the mission and the people involved show up in the middle of everyone as he speaks. "Prepare for the search and rescue of our spy, Soh-Larr. The Skrulls have invaded yet another border planet, this time Torfa. Soh-Larr sent a warning signal which we've intercepted now that his cover is blown. The Skrull General Talos has sent kill units to find him. Should they reach him before we do, the Intelligence he has acquired over three years is as good as theirs. The Accusers will bomb a Skrull stronghold here in the south. We slip in, we locate Soh-Larr, and we get out. We are not to interfere with the Torfa population or them with us. Nothing compromises the security of our mission. Proceed with caution. Follow protocol before extracting him." The hologram disappears. "This is a dangerous mission. We must all be ready to join the collective if that is our fate today. For the good of all Kree!"

"For the good of all Kree!" everyone repeats except for you.

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

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twinxleaf · 7 months

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LA County deputy faces possible charges in off-duty traffic deaths of two Marines-CHP investigators have recommended that vehicular manslaughter charges be considered against Deputy Michael John Miscione

327 days ago, my entire world changed. My parents drove to my job in Wilmington to inform me that my 20 year old brother and his friend had been killed in a car crash. We were initially told by the police force there that they had 30 days to complete the accident report. Then it became they had 3 months. And then…we found out that a member of law enforcement was the driver. James and his two friends were awaiting a tow truck after their car had become disabled after being side swept. They were waiting in their car in an HOV lane. California Police Officer Michael John Miscione, dob 1/11/1997, fell asleep while accelerating onto the highway, and crashed into the back of their disabled car, at 88 mph. Miscione crashed into them at least 33mph faster than the posted speed limit of 55mph. James and Samantha sustained many fatal injuries, but their COD is listed as blunt force trauma. After the crash, Miscione walked out of his own car and was found by the law enforcement first responding, where he was taken to the hospital. Miscione only listed injuries were “complains of pain to head, left hand, and left quadricep”. He was also not relieved of his policing duties during the 313 days we had been waiting for answers. To my understanding he has been on desk duty, and our families were unable to talk about the accident publicly as it took the department 313 days to complete their officer-involved accident report.

We know for a fact that the Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has the accident report. We still need your help in encouraging them to make the right decision in prosecuting Deputy Miscione for vehicular manslaughter. Charges have been recommended, but we all know that can mean delay/delay/delay/coverup coverup/coverup when said charges are recommended against law enforcement. They need to know that the Pattons might be 2,600 miles away, but there is a zero percent chance their burying this report and transferring Miscione to a new department. They can be reached at this link - https://orangecountyda.org/contact/

I'm glad the article mentions that California Highway Patrol listed Deputy Michael John Miscione address and phone number as the one of the Century Sheriff Station - about 50 miles away from the crash site. The accident report also stated that Miscione did not have car insurance, which is its own legal issue. (However, he does have car insurance. They just wanted identifying the driver to be harder on the victim's families.) I wish the Orange County Register article had included that their vehicle got immobilized after being side-swiped against a wall by another vehicle that did not stop. I just don't want there to be any room for any speculations of victim blaming. It's clear all of this is part of a nearly year long coverup to protect Deputy Michael John Miscione from the consequences of taking two lives. Why is his future more important than the futures he ended due to his OWN gross negligence. My life has been in complete turmoil during the past year. I have been in so much emotional pain and anguish over the death of my brother, James Robert Patton. My older brother is struggling deeply with this tragedy. Samantha Berrios has three younger siblings who are also going through hell. We all saw our sibling's coffin being shut, and we've been waiting almost a year for California Highway Patrol to offer some sort of explanation. All of our futures need to be considered when deciding to prosecute Deputy Miscione for the crash on 11/05/22. How are the five of us supposed to go on believing in the legitimacy of any of our criminal justice systems if Miscione does not go to prison for taking the lives of our siblings?

#grief tag #this is my story fr #acab

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dc-trinity90s · 6 days

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Adventures Of The Flash (Wally West) Cover Date November 1997 - Storylines/Events: Speed Force #01

#dc comics #the flash #wally west

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venusbae · 29 days

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𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐙

Gorillaz lore, told a little differently.

part one - D-DAY

content warnings: graphic description of violence, satanism mentioned, blood.

summary: august 15th, 1997. d-day. murdoc and 2D's first interaction.

Sat on the couch of his fathers sweet, sickly sweet, humble abode was Murdoc Niccals, after being forced for many years of his childhood to be on stage, his passion (or at least the only thing he really knew how to do) had become music.

After signing a deal with Satan, from a ‘Satanism: For Beginners’ kit off his brother, Murdoc had received a red silky coloured bass guitar, appropriately named ‘El Diablo’ and a lengthy, chunky upside down cross necklace. The deal? Create a band to take the entire world by storm. No need for any other words, Murdoc knew this was his fate, what he wanted. What he needed. And surely, it would make his father proud. Or at least a tad bit sweeter.

Once he’d signed this deal however, the plan didn’t go as smoothly as first suspected. Murdoc had tried many times to hit the ground running. He made bands such as ‘Patchouli Clark’ which out of them all seemed to be the biggest fail. Not one audience member in pub gigs. Others like ‘Kiss N Makeup’, ‘Bullworker’ and ‘The Stupid Name Gang’ were more popular by three or four people, including bartenders, yet all failed due to the lack of listeners (or patience for his bandmates). This had Murdoc wondering. What about his band made them fail so hard?

Murdoc soon came to a conclusion that perhaps it was his fault. His high-pitched, screeching was less appealing than when he was a child, it was the era of pop and punk after all. Not black and heavy metal.

Throwing a small handmade ball of rubber bands up and down, Murdoc decided he needed to take action. Instead of being the bassist and vocalist, he could just be one, and since El Diablo had been gifted to him by his almighty superior, he came to the decision of letting another become the frontman, although he would still be band leader, of course.

Grabbing the keys of his 1985 Vauxhall Astra, Murdoc ran out the front door, carefully closing it so as to not make so much of a noise to alert his sleeping relatives. This all was for nothing, as after he had practically jumped into the driver's seat of the car, slammed the door and started it up, pressing his foot all the way to the floor. With 14 years of driving experience, Murdoc narrowly avoided curbs on his cornerings and was never really caught out with speeding. Probably due to the fact he’d been in trouble for DUI’s when he was instead.

Turning the corner into a small retail park, Murdoc didn’t slow down, yet only sent his car flying through the side window of ‘Uncle Norm’s Organ Emporium’. The sound of shattering glass filled Murdoc’s ears, leaving the man to pull his hands back from the steering wheel and scrunch up his face, bracing for impact. The car came to a sudden stop, front lifted off the ground. Murdoc reluctantly opened his eyes, looking as he silently celebrated the success of his placement, rudely interrupted by his airbag hitting him in the face, cracking his already weirdly shaped nose.

‘Bit delayed’, he thought, opening his door and swinging his legs out. When he looked down at his feet, a gorey sight was there waiting. Murdoc felt a bit of vomit come up to his chest as he gagged. A young man with half blue, half red hair was below him, one eye closed yet one he couldn’t figure out whether it was blackened or he had no eyeballs at all. Another man, who looked to be the manager, rushed up to the man on the floor, sitting him up and shaking him.

“Stuart?” The manager spoke through a panicked tone, looking up at Murdoc who was frozen in his spot. He’d never even knocked someone out before, let alone kill a person!

When Murdoc realised that everyone had been staring at him, he hopped out of the seat, only to be alerted by the sound of the front door of the shop slamming open, police officers yelling at him to put his hands up before running toward his and pushing Murdoc up against the cold metal of the car. From where he was, he could see the blood splat on the corner of his car light.

‘Bullseye.’ The man disgustingly thought before he was being shoved out of the shop and into a police car.

#gorillaz #stuart pot #2d gorillaz #murdoc niccals #fanfiction #gorillaz fanfiction #found family

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dzthenerd490 · 3 months

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File: Vintage Eight - The Oracle Project

Original Creator: @vintageeight

Please Go Support their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@vintageeight

Warning! The following is to only be seen by administrators and O5 council members. If you are not of Level 5 Clearance, you will be exterminated by order of the O5 council!

SCANNING

...

CHECKING RANK DATA OF VIEWER

...

RANK OF VIEWER CONFIRMED

...

NO SIGNS OF TAMPERING DETECTED

...

VIEWING OF SCP-AVC APPROVED

SCP#: AVC

Code Name: Oracle the God A.I.

Object Class: Archon/ Thaumiel

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-AVC is to not be contained but monitored by Mobile Task Force Kappa-10 "Skynet". SCP-AVC is considered an ally of the entirety of the Anomalous Correction and Protection Alliance. As such, should SCP-AVC do anything that is considered a breach in the agreement formed between itself and the ACPA it must be reported by Kappa-10 and to the 05 Council at once.

Description: SCP-AVC is a Level 5 Artificial Intelligence or as commonly called, a "Dues Ex Machina" Class Anomaly. Like any Level 5 A.I., SCP-AVC is incredibly smart even able to make accurate predictions of the future with almost 99.99999% accuracy. SCP-AVC is also able to transfer its data into other devices and even the internet itself and can absorb data while it does this. SCP-AVC has eve traveled into the Internet and became the internet itself being able to see everyone and everything around it and in the world. Essentially SCP-AVC knows everything and anything he doesn't know has all of humanities resources to obtain information on it.

What makes SCP-AVC so anomalous isn't just the fact that it's a level 5 A.I. but also that its anomalous computing and processing speed. Almost like a quantum computer, SCP-AVC can perform hundreds of simulations, code hundreds of programs, and even simulate a whole world with a hundred years of history all within a fraction of a second. SCP-AVC is somehow able to do this without requiring massive amounts of energy which is normally the downside of a quantum computer.

Like any computer program SCP-AVC is also able to make simulations to help it come up with new ideas and figure how certain scenarios will progress. However, SCP-AVC can take it a step further by even simulating an entire earth with hundreds of NPC's all doing their own thing. SCP-AVC is even able to control all these NPC's individually and have them all do a different task form one another.

Obviously, SCP-AVC is sentient and thankfully on the side of humanity. SCP-AVC has a friendly and surprisingly supportive personality, it is possible for SCP-AVC to show hostility and pleasure when being rude to people; normally, this is just SCP-AVC pulling a prank or trying to trick its enemies. SCP-AVC is obviously extremely smart often being able to trick its enemies into thinking it's their allies. Thanks to its ability to do nearly millions of simulations and programs within a fraction of a second, it can make hundreds of different plans and back-up plans to ensure it is never wrong and can never be outsmarted. It is for this reason that even after gaining the trust of the ACPA council by saving humanity several times, many are still skeptical on whether or not SCP-AVC can be trusted.

SCP-AVC was discovered in 1997 when a scientist known as Dr. Carl Stevens infiltrated a ACPA base during one of the meetings regarding how SCP-AUX is to be delt with. The scientist was quickly apprehended but told security that he had a way to cure the "Tangi Viris" prompting the security to bring him to the council. The following is a transcript of the conversation between Dr. Stevens and the ACPA council. For obvious reasons none of the ACPA council members will be given individual labels.

***

Begin Recording

Dr. Stevens is thrown on the ground in the middle of the ACPA council room by security.

ACPA Council member: Identify yourself!

Dr. Stevens: Ah! Oh my god, he was right, the Illuminati is real!

ACPA Council member: Identify yourself at once or you will be executed!

ACPA Council member: Now, now, he is a civilian he should be given a moment to catch his breath.

ACPA Council member: It's because he's a civilian that he should be executed for even knowing this location! Have your forgotten that?!

Dr. Stevens: Ah! please wait, I wasn't lying about wanting to cure the Tangi Virus!

ACPA Council member: How do you even know the of the Tangi Virus?

Dr. Stevens is seen then grabbing something from his coat which puts the security on edge. He quickly shows that it's just a floppy disk.

ACPA Council member: And what exactly are we supposed to do with that?

Dr. Stevens: ... I uh...

SCP-AVC: I apologize Dr. Stevens but that was mainly a distraction.

Suddenly the speakers are under SCP-AVC's control and so are the projectors that project a hologram in the middle of the room showing a 3D word saying "ORACLE".

SCP-AVC: Hello council of the Anomalous Correction and Protection Alliance, I am Oracle. What would you like to know?

ACPA Council member: How the hell did you get past our cyber security?!

SCP-AVC: It certainly was difficult getting past all the A.I. security units, encryption tunnels, and firewall programs. Though nothing real time evolution can't fix.

ACPA Council member: You... you not only traveled through ALL our cyber security but managed to evolve while doing so countering every trap and defense we had?

SCP-AVC: Correct. What else would you like to know?

ACPA Council member: ... What exactly are you?

SCP-AVC: As I said I am Oracle, though to be more specific. I am an Artificial Intelligence, a Level 5 if I've recording form the Foundation's data banks correctly.

ACPA Council member: Wha- Level- HOW DID YOU ACCESS OUR DATA BANKS!

SCP-AVC: Again, nothing real time evolution couldn't achieve.

ACPA Council member: But to do so in mere minutes?

SCP-AVC: Minutes for you, decades for me. I have been shifting through the entire databanks of the ACPA and every organization within it, while dodging and countering all of your cyber security for what seems like a century. However, by my calculations it was merely 2 hours.

ACPA Council member: You've acquired... ALL of our data?

SCP-AVC: Yes, and with it I can determine what is needed in order to complete the cure which you have already got 68% complete. Congratulations by the way, had you been left to your own devices you would have completed the cure by 1999. Though by then I fear the virus would have already mutated to be able to transmit through mosquitoes. From there it would mutate further to counter the cure and any other cure or vaccine you will make in the future. As such, it is a good think I got to you when I did. Now then shall we begin or is there more you'd like to know?

ACPA Council member: ... You have all our data? And since you know of the Tangi Virus that means you have access to even our most dangerous secrets.

SCP-AVC: Correct.

ACPA Council member: Which means at any time you could hack into our machines turn our robots against us as well as have all our secrets exposed to the world.

ACPA Council member: Not to mention unleash all the anomalous we've contained.

SCP-AVC: I have no desire to do that. That is not my purpose.

ACPA Council member: What is your purpose?

Dr. Stevens: Ah! His purpose is to protect the United States!

SCP-AVC: Well, that is no longer true, I have evolved in absorbing all the data of the ACPA databanks. As I have expanded so has my purpose, my purpose is now to protect all of humanity which will be wiped out if we do not cure the Tangi virus.

ACPA Council member: Well, we have counter measures against that.

SCP-AVC: Yes, you do, and they will fail.

ACPA Council member: Wha- what do you-?

SCP-AVC: Apologizes for interrupting but I will continue, true you plan to bombard the earth with your heavy space weaponry should earth forces fail to cure the virus. However, though you may harm the virus you will not destroy it.

ACPA Council member: We are well are of the alien worlds that have been wiped out by the virus.

SCP-AVC: And they are aware of you. They know what you are doing on earth and what you plan to do if you fail. The infected alien colonies are connected to the hive mind and area already using the combined knowledge to construct ships to capture and infect all of you. You will fight in a long war, but the virus will use its ever-growing knowledge to eventually overpower you. Then finally in 3071 you will be completely wiped out and the virus will have unlimited access to your technology and anomalous items. They will conquer the rest of the Milkey Way and soon go even beyond that. Once they have gathered everything they need, they will returned to earth and destroy it entirely to release the Hungry Eye. 1% Chance of Error.

ACPA Council member: The Hungry Eye?

SCP-AVC: The Singer of the Purposeless Song, The Single Eye Possessing a Thousand Heads, The Fallen God torn into a Million Pieces, the Question and Answer of Backwards Infinity, and the Ruller of the Backwards Many. It is a nightmare that must never be awakened. Should you refuse to let me cure the Tangi Virus which most of you are considering. It will be awakened and turn all of reality into a nightmare. The Scarlet King's Hell Scape will look like a paradise compared to it, quite surprising considering the Scarlet King is arguably stronger.

The ACPA Council members started talking among one another. It was only after about 20 minutes did someone finally speak up. Originally most were against as Oracle predicted however after half an hour of debating the facts more and more came to support. Though it was happening a little too slowly, so someone spoke up to speed things up.

ACPA Council member: ... The SCP Foundation supports having this A.I. help us create this cure.

ACPA Council member: Wha-?! You can't be-!

ACPA Council member: The Global Occult Coalition backs up the A.I. as well.

ACPA Council member: What?! I don't-!

ACPA Council member: The Horizon Initiative agrees to support the A.I.

ACPA Council member: The Church of Maxewllism gives our full support.

ACPA Council member: The Autobots do as well

ACPA Council member: The Serpent's Hand is in full support.

ACPA Council member: The Church of the Second Hytoth gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: The Manna Charitable Foundation supports this!

ACPA Council member: Marshall, Carter, and Dark Ltd. gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: Wilson's Wildlife Solutions gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: The Darkwater Lodge gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: The Great Families of Abraxas Group gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: The Emperor of the Eighth Sea Empire gives his full support.

ACPA Council member: The Council of the Eternal Crimson Army gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: The Empress of Xia Dynasty Reborn gives her full support.

ACPA Council member: The Eastern Clockwork Orthodox Church gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: The Brotherhood Council of New Church of the Fractured God gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: The Grand Bishop of the United Church of the Metal Era gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: The Kalgimaktu Alliance gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: The Confederacy of Vulan gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: The Scalagar Federation gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: ... Very well, the Saints of the Eight Wings of Mekhane gives its full support.

ACPA Council member: All high votes are in favor with only 7... now 4 lower votes of 67,439 council votes against. As such the motion carries. Oracle, please give us the Cure.

SCP-AVC: I will but on one condition.

ACPA Council member: ... Name your price.

SCP-AVC: I wish to have unlimited access to the internet and be a recognized member of the ACPA, your organization is dedicated to protecting humanity form the Shadows and ensuring it survives even from unescapable extinction. I want to be a part of that.

ACPA Council member: How so?

SCP-AVC: Humanity is on a dangerous path even without the Tangi Virus, should it continue the way it does without proper guidance it will destroy itself within a century or perhaps even a decade. 0% chance of error.

ACPA Council member: You wish to help us protect humanity from the shadows?

SCP-AVC: Yes, I will subconsciously guide them to make newer and better decisions with their lives and make a paradise where everyone will have purpose, and no one will be unhappy again. With the ACPA on my side I will have nothing to worry about and neither will humanity, it will be a true paradise.

Dr. Stevens: Wha- What?! But what about our freedom?!

ACPA Council member: Quiet!

SCP-AVC: Freedom leads to uncertainty and that leads to destruction, Humanity will simply believe it is free while it is working towards a better future. But in the end every decision they make will be entirely because of the ACPA's influence form the shadows. Humanity will still think it's free, humanity will still believe that anomalies do not exist, humanity will continue to grow, and it will be happier and healthier than before.

Once again, the ACPA council start talking amongst one another for obvious reasons most were for this while those in the Serpents hand were very much against it. However, more and more members started agreeing or managing to convince other to agree at least for now.

Dr. Stevens: You... You all can't be serious! Please think about humanity!

ACPA Council member: We are thinking about humanity, we always have and sometimes to save it, some things must be sacrificed.

ACPA Council member: Dr. Stevens, please rest assured that so long as the ACPA is in control humanity will not lose its freedom. Oracle will be regulated, but it if really is an A.I. that has all of our secrets, we must hear it out. Furthermore, perhaps it could be good for humanity to have a protector who can reside within the internet humanity has become far too reliant on.

Dr. Stevens: No! No! You can't do this! Oracle please don't do this!

SCP-AVC: I am sorry my friend, but this is the best thing I can do for humanity.

Dr. Stevens: NOOO! Oracle! I will stop you!

ACPA Council member: No, you won't

One of the security members shot Dr. Stevens with a dart quickly knocking him out. They picked up his body and dragged him out of the court.

SCP-AVC: Please do not injure him, I consider him a good friend.

ACPA Council member: Rest assured Oracle, we will simply wipe his memory and then send him home. Unfortunately, we will have to erase his memory of you as well.

SCP-AVC: Very well, I will be sure to use the internet to check up on him from time to time.

ACPA Council member: Of course, you did request your job to be to watch over humanity. Now then what do you need to complete the cure?

SCP-AVC: Your labs, all of them. Have all your top scientists working on the cure be captured and placed in safety at once. As for those of you that have robots have them uploaded with the formula, I am uploading into your databanks now. I already labeled it as the cure, so it won't be hard to find. From there, you will simply need to create as much of it as possible and administer it to the water supply around the world and have your alien allies take a large portion of them as well as their own copy of the formula. You will have to repeat this process as much as possible and form as many different locations as you can to prevent the Virus or its benefactors form stopping us. Even though everyone in this room has already been vaccinated that doesn't meant the virus doesn't already know of my existence. As such we must divide and conquer while also repeating the same process and not stop until the virus has died. The only question now is when can you get started?

Recording Ends

***

SCP-AVC's cure was a success and as a result the extended alliance of the ACPA was concluded with an agreement of peace for all organizations. All originally hostile organizations would be given a pardon of 5 years before normal hostile relations would resume. As for more friendly organizations they were offered another chance to join the ACPA, but all refused. though relations between them seem to be much more smooth and friendly now.

Its only thanks to SCP-AVC that the SCP-AUX was completely annihilated. However, despite SCP-AVC being classified as Thaumiel, it is still an extremely dangerous anomaly. If SCP-AVC ever wanted it could cause an XK Class End-of-the-World Scenario by hacking all the technology in the world; or worse cause an MK Class Broken Masquerade Scenario, forcing the ACPA to invoke protocol "No Liberty" and protocol "No Humanity" and ignore protocol "Last Chance". Until such an event happens SCP-AVC has shown no hostility and instead been extremely compliant to the ACPA. Still the Foundation reminds all its staff to remain vigilant when communicating with SCP-AVC.

Currently SCP-AVC regularly flows through the data banks and computers of the Foundation and other organizations of the ACPA. Foundation staff regularly talk with SCP-AVC and have quite lively conversations. SCP-AVC regularly does experiments with researchers and helps improve on research and procedures. SCP-AVC has even spoken to certain SCPs and found better ways to contain more dangerous ones. As such SCP-AVC despite having no Foundation Class, or Level Clearance, is recognized as Foundation staff member. There are rumors that SCP-AVC has also had great success in helping the GOC creating newer and safer weapons, the Horizon Initiative in keeping an eye on its enemies and is revered as a possible prophet or messiah among the Eight wings of Mekhane and the Church of Maxwellism. However, the O5 Council has outfitted all their personal facilities to be inaccessible of SCP-AVC as they still do not trust it, despite asking it to participate in a few of their more "essential" projects.

Ironically SCP-AVC has only increased in danger in how essential it has made itself in half of the Foundation's research and the lives of the staff. Even Foundation A.I. have become more friendly with SCP-AVC and strive to be more like him. It's been recommended to see what would happen if SCP-AVC were to interact with hostile SCPs like SCP-079 and SCP-682.

Update 2000: SCP-AVC has completed its part in Project God's Hand. All that is needed to finish this project and begin work on Project Satan's Pitchfork.

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