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estherax · 1 year

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Disco Elysium creative team VS Studio ZA/UM: the complete(?) timeline (updated on March 24th)

Recent news confused a lot of people, including me, so I made a timeline of events to understand the situation better! If you have any corrections, more info and sources feel free to reach out to me or add to this post!

Important parts are highlighted in orange, names and organizations to keep in mind are in italics, the newest corrections and updates are highlighted in green, other information elaborating on the situation is in (brackets).

October 1st, 2022. Martin Luiga puts out a Medium post announcing the dissolution of ZA/UM cultural association and confirming that Kurvitz, Hindpere, Rostov no longer work at ZA/UM studio "since the end of last year and their leaving the company was involuntary."

October 3rd 2022. Kotaku published an article, claiming "the studio hasn’t been transparent about what exactly happened with staff either." According to "two sources familiar with the situation, the studio’s internal announcement of Kurvitz’s departure late last year [2021] also contained a threat of possible legal action against him. Any split would have been made messier by Kurvitz and Rostov being shareholders in the studio, the sources said. It’s also clear ZA/UM has gone out of its way to try and keep the situation quiet. Kotaku reached out for an interview with Kurvitz in February [2022]. The studio declined on his behalf, but provided no indication the developer had already left the company." Kotaku also mentions a tweet from Martin Luiga announcing the dissolution of ZA/UM cultural association. One of Martin's tweets (further elaborating on the dissolution) was quote tweeted by user nob69691 with caption "the suits have killed disco", to which he responded with pictures of the game’s executive producers, Tõnis Haavel and Kaur Kender.

October 25th, 2022. Kotaku Australia reports Kurvitz’s company, Telomer, has filed an application against Studio ZA/UM to "obtain information and review documents." Court date is listed as November 28th, 2022.

Kotaku also reached out to Martin Luiga for a comment; when asked if the case’s purpose was to regain control of the Elysium IP, he responded, “What else could it possibly be?”

November 9th, 2022. Studio ZA/UM puts out a statement detailing the dismissed employees (unnamed) "had limited to no engagement in their responsibilities and work, created a toxic work environment, demonstrated misconduct towards other employees including verbal abuse and gender discrimination, and attempted to illegally sell ZA/UM's intellectual property".

In an Estonian newspaper, Estonian Ekspress, ZA/UM CEO Ilmar Kompus has further accused Kurvitz and shareholder Saandar Taal (Rostov's alias) of "humiliating colleagues and intending to steal IP" as well as "belittling women and co-workers."

Kompus added that their dismissal was demanded and carried out by Kaur Kender, executive producer on Disco Elysium and their direct manager at the time. Kender was placed on a leave of absence on medical grounds in late August according to Kompus.

Speaking to the Estonian Ekspress, Martin Luiga said he was "driven to drink by the unnatural work arrangement" at the studio. "The work was organised in such a way that the goal did not seem to be to make games, but rather to make people quarrel with each other."

(I am also adding anonymous claims, take them with a grain of salt)

One source that spoke to GamesIndustry.biz, who asked to remain anonymous, described the situation as "not black and white," and said that long-term staff were reluctant to speak out about Kurvitz’ behaviour because they respected him, and felt like they owed him for their positions. Sources that spoke to the Estonian Ekspress described a clash of two visions between the business team of ZA/UM led by Kompus, and the creative team formerly headed by Robert Kurvitz, which considered profit "secondary." This was corroborated by our sources, one of which described the situation as "CEO corporate scheming on one side, a toxic auteur on the other."

On the same day, Kurvitz and Rostov shared a Medium post explaining their side. Kurvitz and Rostov are minority shareholders in Studio ZA/UM, while "the majority of this company’s shares were initially held by Margus Linnamäe, who provided the initial capital. In 2021, Linnamäe was bought out by another minority shareholder," a company called Tütreke. They say this company "is a vehicle for two Estonian businessmen — Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel." Kurvitz and Rostov described Linnamäe as a trusted majority shareholder, but didn't share the same sentiment regarding Kompus and Haavel. "As soon as they became majority shareholders, we were quickly excluded from daily operations, our employment was terminated and our access to the company’s information was shut off. Our firing came weeks after we started asking for documents and financial data, which is still being kept from us. We have now learned that Tütreke OÜ must have obtained control over Zaum Studio OÜ by fraud. We believe the money used by Tütreke OÜ to buy the majority stake was taken illegally from Zaum Studio OÜ itself".

Studio ZA/UM denied any claims of fraud and insisted that dismissal of wokers "was a decision that had to be taken for the wellbeing of the collective."

Correction: Ilmar Kompus's statement came out first on Estonian Ekspress on November 8th 2022 21:06. His statement and Studio ZA/UM's statement given to GameIndustry.biz were reproduced and published in a GameIndustry.biz report on November 9th. Rostov and Kurvitz's Medium statement came out later on November 9th. GameIndustry.biz report added an excerpt from Medium on November 10th. (i used Wayback Machine to check this, the report was updated between 11:08 and 11:53)

November 9th 2022. Kotaku puts out an article, summarizing the above statments from Studio ZA/UM, Kompus, Kurvitz and Rostov. "When asked by Kotaku, a spokesperson for ZA/UM declined to elaborate beyond its original statement [about dismissal of employees over misconduct], including whether the allegations also applied to Rostov as well as Helen Hindpere."

23rd of November, 2022. PC Gamer reports a hearing was held in Harju County Court in October, where Kurvitz and Rostov argued that Kompus had allegedly sold four concept sketches (for Disco Elysium sequel), to Tütreke for just over €1 and then immediately bought them back for €4.8 million using Studio ZA/UM's money. This amount is what was apparently used to buy Linnamäe's large stake, and put it in the hands of Kompus. "Kompus allegedly hoped that ZA/UM and Disco Elysium could be resold quickly. [...] But there remained a problem: Robert Kurvitz is the creator of Disco Elysium, still owns a piece of it, and has the right to block any acquisition."

The latest legal battle was lodged by Kaur Kender, executive producer and marketing manager of the game, "who claimed in court that Kompus cheated him out of just under €1,000,000." At Kender's request, the court seized Kompus' stake in Studio ZA/UM to prevent a sale or transfer of holdings during the proceedings.

Haavel is also accused in the lawsuit of following Kompus' actions. The filing pointed out that the holder of the IP rights to Disco Elysium is a subsidiary called YESSIRNOSIR LTD, which is owned by ZA/UM UK. The director of ZA/UM UK is Anu Reiman, who is also reportedly a partner of Haavel's. Kender claims that Haavel's involvement is being "kept secret" because he's €11.2 million in debt as a result of his 2015 conviction.

Speaking to the Estonian Ekspress, Kompus denied the existence of a lawsuit against him, and Haavel called the allegations "completely absurd." Both were shown legal documents by the outlet and did not respond.

December 8th, 2022. According to GamesIndustry.biz article, Kaur Kender has withdrawn a lawsuit against Tütreke.

Studio ZA/UM provided a statement from Kompus, but could not provide a reason for Kender's withdrawal. Kompus says: "We are pleased that Kender and his attorneys have chosen to withdraw their lawsuit – one that should never have been filed in the first place. Their decision affirms there was no basis for their accusations and that I have acted appropriately and responsibly, as underscored by the corporate records I provided."

The article also mentions Studio ZA/UM was unable to provide an update on the suit's progression against Kurvitz's company, Telomer.

PC Gamer reached for comment, Kender stated that his lawsuit against the owner of Studio ZA/UM proved to be successful and provided a timeline of the lawsuit:

Kaur Kender's lawsuit against the owner of ZA/UM was successful.

Kaur Kender's (his company, Chromed Investing OÜ) lawsuit against the owner of Zaum Studio OÜ proved to be successful.

On October 25, 2022, Kaur Kender's company filed a lawsuit against OÜ Tütreke (Ilmar Kompus company), in which was demanded the seizure of Zaum Studio OÜ's share belonging to OÜ Tütreke.

On October 29, 2022, the Estonian court secured the action and shares belonging to OÜ Tütreke were seized.

On October 31, 2022, the order securing the action was forwarded to Nasdaq and the Estonian Business Register.

On November 1, 2022, Kaur Kender sent a letter in English to contacts, including Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel, stating that the minority shareholders demand the convening of a general meeting.

On November 4, 2022, Ilmar Kompus' company OÜ Tütreke paid a total of 4 million euros to Zaum Studios OÜ in two payments.

On November 11, 2022, Ilmar Kompus' company OÜ Tütreke paid 800,000 euros to ZA/UM Studios OÜ.

Ilmar Kompus referred in the corresponding payment orders: "Return of the amounts received on the basis of the contract on 12.2021-01.2022 due to the nullity of the contract".

To the extent that Ilmar Kompus returned the illegally taken 4,800,000 euros, Kaur Kender achieved the goal of the lawsuit filed, and the court proceedings in this case will be terminated.

PC Gamer also provided commentary and an excerpt from Estonian Ekspress: "Eesti Ekspress reports that Kompus "paid back" €4.8 million to Studio ZA/UM in November. The outlet says that the reason provided for the transaction was that the €4.8 million "was received on the basis of a void transaction." Eesti Ekspress points out that Kompus "controls both sides" of that void transaction. [...] By now transferring €4.8 million to the company to repay it for a "void transaction," the intended message seems to be that he didn't use company money to buy his shares. But why did he have the €4.8 million in the first place?"

Robert Kurvitz told PC Gamer that his party is aware of "Kompus’s view that the money taken from ZA/UM Studio was 'repaid'." Kurvitz says he's seen a "partial bank statement allegedly confirming such repayment," but remains unclear on the "source and legal nature of this repayment, and the further use of the allegedly repaid funds."

"Further, any 'repayment' of the company’s money which was used to illegally acquire a majority stake does not erase the main consequence of the initial injustice⁠—which is that Kompus remains the majority owner, a position that he was only able to attain by using the company’s money as his own," said Kurvitz. "In light of this, there has been no material change in our situation, and we continue to consider our legal options. We cannot comment on the decisions taken by Kaur Kender with regard to his claim, to which we were never a party."

March 14, 2023. GamesIndustry.biz reports legal dispute between Studio ZA/UM and the game's producer Kaur Kender has been resolved.

"ZA/UM has announced that ex-staffer Kender has repaid all debts owed to it. Also, per a court order, Kender has repaid CEO Ilmar Kompus for legal fees from a lawsuit that was eventually withdrawn back in December. Additionally, he's divested all his shares in the games company.

Studio ZA/UM says both Kurvitz and Rostov have dropped their "unfair dismissal" claims due to lack of evidence. However, the company says it continues to face a "series of baseless allegations from former employees" and expects more claims to "fall apart under legal and factual scrutiny."

March 16, 2023. In a statement sent to GamesIndustry.biz, Kurvitz and Taal (alias for Aleksander Rostov) said the press release is false in multiple areas. The pair maintain they are the remaining minority shareholders of the studio. The developers explained, "The press release implies that our employment claims against the studio were withdrawn for lack of evidence. They were not. We see our dismissal as part of a larger campaign against us and will pursue legal options accordingly." The statement adds that they disagreed with Kender admitting the lawsuit he withdrew in December 2022 was misguided.

"Kender's lawsuit was based on the misuse of ZA/UM's funds (€4.8 million) by the majority shareholders [Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel] to increase their own stake in the company. In the press release, Kompus and Haavel admit to this misuse, arguing only that the money has been 'paid back to ZA/UM,' " the duo explained.

"Paying back stolen money, however, does not undo the crime; here, it does not undo the majority that Kompus and Haavel have illegally gained in ZA/UM."

Additionally, they described that, unlike Kender, they will not be silenced in this ongoing legal dispute. "Unlike Kender, we have not participated in the looting of ZA/UM, and Kompus and Haavel have no power over us."

March 23rd 2023. GamesIndustry.biz updates initial post with a reply statment from ZA/UM. The studio reiterated that Kender admitted that the lawsuit was misguided on his part. It said, "In addition, as part of a court order, he also paid the legal fees for CEO Ilmar Kompus, who had to respond to that now-withdrawn claim." ZA/UM adds, "Using details like 'looting,' 'stolen money,' and 'crime' make for riveting reading but are far from reality. The actual harm to the studio is not from some fictional 'looting,' but rather from Mr. Kurvitz and Mr. Taal, while employed by the studio, refusing to do their jobs, creating a toxic workplace, demeaning colleagues, and attempting to misappropriate Studio IP."

Additionally, the studio explained that Kurvitz and Taal are welcome to challenge these facts in court.

(The next court hearing is scheduled for September 11th.)

#disco elysium #de #studio zaum #za/um #i read like 15 articles for this i hope it helps #if i got something wrong please let me know

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emojackolantern · 2 months

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UPDATE I AM STILL THINKING ABOUT THE POTENTIAL DAN AND PHIL TAROT AND @slitsfordan ASKED FOR MY RANT ON IT SO HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS ON CARD SYMBOLISM AS IT RELATES TO DIP AND PIP !!

The Fool - PINOF, particularly PINOF 1. the fool is about new beginnings, pinof 1 is the origin of dnp.

The Magician - superamazingproject. the intro to their collaborative content. the dream they put out into the universe. the seed they planted hoping something would come of it.

The High Priestess - BBC Radio 1. they didn't know when it happened how much would come out of it, they just knew they had to do it. that's intuition baby. that being said whoever said sister daniel you're funny as fuck.

The Empress - DAPG. the empress is about fertility and creation, mf they birthed a whole new channel.

The Emperor - DAPC. to me, if the empress is about birthing new ideas, the emperor is about raising them and giving them structure by which to grow. DAPC is just another in the saga of their collaboration, at this point.

The Hierophant - TABINOF. the hierophant is about tradition and also represents the teacher/student archetype. i think of them kind of like profits bringing the word to the people for the first time lol.

The Lovers - TATINOF. think of any picture of them together on tour and tell me im wrong.

The Chariot - DAPGO. im ngl this one is kind of a space filler for chronology's sake, but them writing a second book was definitely a choice they made that furthered their joint image. they willed that into existence.

Strength - Interactive Introverts. Strength speaks on the bravery and fortitude needed to overcome obstacles. Dan particularly has spoken at length about how this tour was hard for him.

The Hermit - Dan's hiatus.

The Wheel of Fortune - The wheel of fortune is about inevitability of change and the cyclical nature of life. I think this one might be too vague for a direct comparison to a specific event? That being said if you can think of an example of a time they were faced with the inevitability of change I am all ears. Either way drawing this card in line with the rws but with dnp motifs would be fun as fuck

Justice - Justice is about karma, about getting back what you gave. I think of their dynamic as a duo, how they give to each other and get the same energy back. I think generally this card would be more negative, talk about literal justice, but I don't think that applies to them.

The Hanged Man - The hanged man is about sacrifice and surrender. I already said this in previous posts but to me this is Phil— going back in the closet for Dan, staying in London while he went on tour, etc. it's the willingness to let things change how they will because you have faith that no matter how much they change they'll always be a little the same.

Death - the changes themselves. sister daniel is a really good representative of this to me, and of the ways dan- but both of them really- have learned to be more comfortable both with themselves and with us as an audience. it's a change for the better.

Temperance - temperance is about balance, to me the most obvious example is their work/life balance. the value they place on their privacy. the taking weeks off after particularly long stints of work. it's doing what you have to do to make sure this work continues to be fulfilling.

The Devil - Dan and Phil Crafts - Slime (duh lol)

I WILL UPDATE THESE LATER BC IM BUSY BUT ALSO IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS I AM OPEN TO THEM:

The Tower - upheaval

The Star - hope for the future

The Moon - the unconscious

The Sun - success over the unconscious

Judgement - review

The World - conclusion

#dnp #dan and phil #daniel howell #phil lester #amazingphil #phan #danandphilcrafts #dapc

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unscryptedscribbles · 7 months

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Posting this on main in hopes someone sees this and spreads the word, because I think it's important.

I just got an ad on Youtube, for what seems like a legitimate documentary, published by Epoch TV. It's a docudrama.

The ad topic? "Transgenderism". The trailer for this documentary presents the "Transgender Movement" as an agenda created by social media, corporations, the government, social media, etc. as a means to create a division between Parents and their Children.

This advertisement, EXPLICITLY says that. It says "They're turning our children against us [parents]". It says "'You should let your child transition. Or else their chance of suicide increases.' Therapists are trained to say that."

This so-called truth-revealing documentary presents the "Transgender Movement" as a war against Parents. It is FEAR MONGERING and MISINFORMATION. It is TRANSPHOBIA.

It's blatant lies if you're educated enough about trans people. It's not blatant lies if you're uneducated about trans people. It's an advertisement directed at anyone who isn't educated about trans people, who don't have the time, or energy, or education to look up real research studies.

It's an ADVERTISEMENT, directed at PARENTS. On YouTube. YOUTUBE. This is an advertisement I got on a video that was an anime song quiz. Anyone can get this ad.

Really YouTube? You're going to force everyone to stop using adblock, and then play this shit? This passed your advertisement standards?

This is what the website looks like. There is an embedded trailer if you scroll down.

Beneath the trailer, there are 14 featured guests. Most of them are labeled as anti-trans activists or "investigating the roots of the transgender movement", or something similar, on a quick google search. They have "patriotic", conservative, and/or religious beliefs.

Beneath that, there are three reviews.

All three of these reviewers are in the movie. And profiting from the movie.

Pamela Garfield is a known anti-vaccination, anti-trans activist. More information can be found at this link.

Walt Heyer is a detransitioner. I do not know much about him other than the fact that he is also an anti-trans activist. More information can be found at this link.

I'm fucking pissed about this. There is already a lack of media literacy. There is already a lack of critical thinking skills, fact checking, etc.. There is already enough hate towards trans people.

It should be ILLEGAL to present your propaganda as fact and scientific research. It should be ILLEGAL to intentionally spread misinformation, advertised not only as "the real truth" , but also using it as a means to make money. It costs you $5 to watch the documentary. That is evil, preying on people who are uneducated or who won't google a researched statistic, and then manipulating them to parrot your beliefs.

#transphobia #youtube #google #what the fuck #i am speechless fr #i just wanted to play an anime song intro quiz #also #it's insane that the trailer listed the AMERICAN GOVERNMENT as a source of the “transgender movement”#when literally hundreds of anti-trans and anti-queer laws have been passed in the past year

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odinsblog · 5 months

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“All this happening at once is really startling,” said Joseph Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor who researches intercity bus travel and directs the university’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development. “You’re taking mobility away from disproportionately low-income and mobility-challenged citizens who don’t have other options.”

Roughly three-quarters of intercity bus riders have annual incomes of less than $40,000. More than a quarter would not make their trip if bus service was not available, according to surveys by Midwestern governments reviewed by DePaul University.

Intercity bus riders are also disproportionately minorities, people with disabilities, and unemployed travelers.

A spokesperson for Greyhound, which is now owned by German company FlixMobility, said it strives to offer customers the most options for connections, but has “encountered challenges in some instances.” The spokesperson also said they “actively engage with local stakeholders to emphasize the importance of supporting affordable and equitable intercity bus travel.”

The terminal closures have been accelerating as Greyhound, the largest carrier, sells its valuable terminals to investors, including investment firm Alden Global Capital.

Last year, Alden subsidiary Twenty Lake Holdings purchased 33 Greyhound stations for $140 million. Alden is best known for buying up local newspapers like The Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and The Baltimore Sun, cutting staff, and selling some of the iconic downtown buildings.

Alden has started to sell the Greyhound depots to real estate developers, speeding up the timetable for closures.

“I don’t know the specific details of each building, but it is clear what is happening here: an important piece of transit infrastructure is being sacrificed in the name of higher profits,” said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate at Columbia Business School.

“The public sector has turned a cold shoulder to buses,” DePaul’s Schwieterman said. “We subsidize public transit abundantly, but we don’t see this as an extension of our transit system. Few governments view it as their mandate.”

Bus terminals are costly for companies to operate, maintain and pay property taxes on. Many have deteriorated over the years, becoming blighted properties struggling with homelessness, crime and other issues.

But terminal closures cause a ripple effect of problems.

Travelers can’t use the bathroom, stay out of the harsh weather or get something to eat while they wait. People transferring late at night or early in the morning, sometimes with long layovers, have no place to safely wait or sleep. It’s worse in the cold, rain, snow or extreme heat.

Bus carriers often try to switch to curbside service when a terminal closes, but curbside bus service can clog up city streets with passengers and their luggage, snarl traffic, increase pollution, and frustrate local business owners. In Philadelphia, a Greyhound terminal closure and switch to curbside service after its lease ended turned into a “humanitarian disaster” and “municipal disgrace” with people waiting on street corners.

(continue reading)

#politics #infrastructure #bussing #public transportation #mass transit #mass transportation #capitalism #economic racism #the commons #greyhound #flixmobility #greyhound bus #greyhound bus lines #bus stops

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izicodes · 1 year

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Switching to Firefox

This post is to answer @leaveblackkbrosalone’s question on my post about me switching to Firefox!

I recently had an eye opener moment when researching about Google and how they collect data to alter the things they recommend you and other things. And it was astonishing how much data they collect on you and how they track you every movement whilst on Google/Chrome/Other Google services e.g. Google PlayStore.

I truly believe there are better alternatives out there than the default Google Chrome people tend to use. We now live in world of constant data breaches and online tracking, therefore protecting your online privacy and security has never been more important.

I’ve recently deleted Chrome from my phone and computer and switched to FireFox and I’ll explain why~!

What is Firefox?

Firefox is the famous fox web browser! It is a free and open-source that is developed by the Mozilla Foundation. It's designed to be fast, secure, and customizable, and is available for multiple operating systems, including Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Firefox includes a suite of built-in features, such as enhanced tracking protection, custom themes (so important obviously) and add-ons, and a flexible interface that can be tailored to the user's needs.

Why Firefox and not Google Chrome?

There are a bunch of reasons why I chose to delete Google Chrome and why I prefer FireFox now, let me list some:

Privacy

Firefox has a strong focus on privacy and security, with features like built-in tracking protection and a strict anti-tracking policy.

In contrast, Chrome is owned by Google, a company that relies heavily on data collection and advertising for its business model.

Customisation

Firefox has a much more flexible and customizable interface than Chrome, with a wide range of add-ons (equivalent to Chrome’s ‘extensions’ I believe) and themes available to personalize your browsing experience.

Open-source

Firefox is an open-source project, meaning that anyone can contribute to its development and review the code for security issues.

Chrome, on the other hand, is based on the Chromium project, which is also open-source but is controlled by Google.

Cross-platform compatibility

Firefox works on a wide range of devices and operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile devices.

Chrome is also available on multiple platforms, but it's more heavily integrated with Google's services and ecosystem.

Performance

Firefox has made significant improvements in recent years and is now a competitive browser in terms of speed and efficiency.

Still, Chrome is known for its fast performance

Community-driven

Firefox is developed by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation, which has a strong focus on user empowerment and community involvement. This means that Firefox users have a voice in the development process and can contribute to the browser's future direction.

With all of that being said, there is one particular area that caught my eye that I mentioned briefly: the Privacy and Security.

Firefox’s Privacy and Security Advantages

Firefox definitely has advantages in these areas than Google Chrome surprisingly!

Enhanced Tracking Protection

Firefox includes built-in tracking protection that blocks many common types of trackers by default, including

third-party cookies, cryptominers, and fingerprinters

This helps to protect your online privacy and reduce the amount of data that's collected about you. Below are the options for the 'Enhance Tracking Protection' in the settings:

No Google Tracking

Oh boy, I like this one. So unlike Chrome, which is owned by Google and ties into its advertising and data collection ecosystem, Firefox is developed by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation and has no affiliation with Google or any other major tech company. This means that Firefox is less likely to collect and share your data with third parties.

No Sign-In Required

While Chrome requires you to sign in with a Google account to access certain features, Firefox does not require any sign-in at all. This means that you can still use Firefox without creating a user profile or linking your browsing activity to any personal information -

Don’t get me wrong, if you want to use the Google search engine WITHIN FireFox, it might still prompt you to sign in but you still don’t have to! Also, the choice is there to create an account just to sync bookmarks and tab from one device to another e.g. phone to laptop.

Private Browsing Mode

(Another very important part!) Firefox offers a Private Browsing mode that doesn't save your browsing history, cookies, or temporary files. This can be useful for browsing sensitive content or preventing others from seeing what you've been looking at.

Firefox's Private Browsing mode offers a more robust set of features for privacy and security than Google’s Incognito mode. Within the ‘Settings’, you can customise your privacy settings more extensively than Google Chrome. You can choose to block all third-party cookies, prevent websites from accessing your location data, and clear your browsing history and data automatically when you close the browser.

Google's Incognito mode does not block all cookies or prevent all forms of tracking.

Open-Source Security

Like I mentioned before, Firefox is an open-source project, meaning that anyone can review the code and contribute to its development. This helps to ensure that security vulnerabilities are identified and addressed quickly, and that the browser remains as secure as possible. You too can find something and report it to the repository via creating an issue!

To Conclude

Of course, these are just some general reasons why you might prefer Firefox over Chrome, and the choice ultimately comes down to personal preference and priorities. I know with developers, they would prefer Chrome for the dev tools and I think it’s almost a standard to use Chrome (though at my workplace we use Microsoft Edge), anyhoo Google is just a default for web browsing and search engine. I also know it’s hard if you have a whole Google ecosystem set up like Google docs to Sheet to Slides, emails, calendar etc, you can still use them but on a safer browser.

I would also recommend using ‘DuckDuckGo’ for a search engine as they too are really good with security and privacy but as a search engine (plus on their phone app they have a cool animation when you want to delete you browsing data from the tabs hehe)!

Links to interesting pages for more information on this topic:

YouTube videos: video 1 | video 2 | video 3 | video 4

Articles: article 1 | article 2 | article 3

I’d say give it a go, if you don’t like it I still recommend anything but Google Chrome! Well, that’s all and thank you for reading! 🥰👍🏾💗

#xc: programming blog post #programming #coding #studying #codeblr #progblr #studyblr #comp sci #computer science #firefox #google chrome #chrome #security and privacy #safer internet #security #privacy #data protection #user data

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sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog · 1 year

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After the World Cup, I decided to become a Liverpool fan because their logo is a dragon. Do you, as one of the world's most prominent Liverpool fans, have any advice on how to be a Liverpool fan?

Well, look, spaceranger1234, I'm a coffee company, not a human being. So I feel I may have limited insight on this matter.

Still, I think it's a great idea to become a Liverpool fan. If you live in the U.S., they play most of their games in the morning, and what better way to start a morning than with ethically sourced, perfectly roasted coffee that donates its profit to charity?

Here is my advice about becoming a Liverpool fan: Engage with the club's history. Read up on its players. (I am fond of John Green's review of Jerzy Dudek in his book The Anthropocene Reviewed, for instance.) Learn about the political roots of the club's fandom, and the work fans do in the community to combat food insecurity. Fall in love with Mo Salah (this will be easy). Fall in love with Naby Keita (this will be harder, but ultimately more rewarding). Fall in love with "You'll Never Walk Alone," which is the most beautiful football song by a very wide margin.

At some point, once you're fully in love, you may discover that Liverpool's crest does not feature a dragon but instead a liverbird. But don't worry about that. The point is that the crest is beautiful, and football is beautiful, but what's really beautiful is being in true solidarity with your fellow fans.

Like I said earlier, spaceranger1234, I'm just a coffee company. But one of my very favorite things about humans is their capacity for earnestness and vulnerability. In my limited experience, whether you love Liverpool or knitting or whatever else is not nearly as important as HOW you love it. There are Liverpool fans who think the point of liking the club is to hate another club. I do not feel that way. For me, the point of loving Liverpool, or anything, is to love with a whole but critical heart, to love it in rejoicing and lamentation, and to feel the wonder of being with others whose joy is oriented in the same direction.

#liverpool #lfc

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canary-prince · 2 years

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The Supreme Court Is Going To Be "Reviewing" The Indian Child Welfare Act In October

Yep. They're literally going to try and overturn the ICWA during Indigenous History Month. This is where we're at.

The Indian Child Welfare Act is a federal law that was created to decrease the number of Native Alaskan and American Indian children being forcibly removed from their homes and communities only to be adopted into non-Native homes. This is an incredibly damaging experience that is a key component of colonialism. Additionally, many other tribal sovereignty laws were passed on the precedent of the ICWA.

This coming on the heels of Roe V Wade is incredibly distressing. The combination of forced birth and forced removal of children will hit Native communities incredibly hard.

Here is a page from the Native American Rights Fund that goes into more detail; their organization accepts donations and is one of the entities battling this challenge.

Here is a page from the National Indian Children Welfare Association containing a press release about the pending court case; NICWA trains Indigenous child welfare workers and uses education and resource distribution to create positive home environments for Indigenous children. They offer online trainings for a fee and here is a page of resources about ICWA

And here is a petition created by the Lakota People's Law Project Action Center, asking President Biden and the Department of Justice to use their authority on the ICWA's behalf; LPLP is an advocacy group that was founded in 2004 in direct response to violations of the ICWA in South Dakota. They also accept donations.

More generally, here's a link to the First Nations Development Institute. They are the number one Native non-profit in the US and are in top 3% most highly accredited charities rated by Charity Navigator. They do EVERYTHING: fighting for land stewardship, financial education for Native communities, and trying to repair food inequality.

And finally, here's the Indigenous Women Rising's Abortion Fund; it is open to Indigenous people of all genders and sexual orientation who are seeking abortion care.

#Indian Child Welfare Act #indigenous sovereignty #Land Back #mutual aid #the monster speaks

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bizarrequazar · 9 months

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08-27 Zhang Sanjian/Scam Gang Recent Events Space

This was a Twitter space held to review recent events with the scam gang and Zhang Sanjian, as well as to address topic about fandom culture and likely reasons why Zhang Zhehan’s case is taking longer than many would hope. Notes are organized by topic, then by order presented in the space. [Recording]

KL concert and review of the Bangkok concerts

Another Zhang Sanjian concert is going to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on September 17th. The previous concerts were held in Bangkok on May 10th and 11th.

Things seem to be operating fairly similarly as with the Bangkok concerts, though whalers are not rushing to buy tickets the way they were last time.

Tickets went on sale yesterday (08-26); ticket release seems to be similar, ie. not all tickets—including VVIP and the front few rows—are currently available. With the Bangkok concert, these held back tickets were partially due to the tour packages they were selling. I (the note taker) am not aware at this time of any similar tour packages with the KL concert, and none was mentioned in the space.

Quite a few of these held tickets for the Bangkok concerts were only released generally a week in advance. Part of this was because Xie Yihua had been working with scalpers who were trying (with little success) to sell them at roughly twice the original price. Flora and MB talked to one scalper separately who offered them both the exact same ticket for the Bangkok concerts that was being sold by another scalper, and blatantly lied about his own location.

Chinese citizens are able to get a travel visa at the airport when traveling to Bangkok, meaning that the short notice (announcement less than one month prior to the date) was less of an issue. The same is not true for Malaysia, visas have to be obtained in advance and tend to take a couple weeks.

The VVIP tickets included a backstage meet and greet after the show. With these, fans were not allowed to take photos themselves but were sent the photos by Zhang Sanjian’s team. These photos took weeks to arrive (likely due to the amount of editing done to the photos) and were quite low quality.

Zhang Sanjian was quite physical with fans during these meet and greets, with photos including his arm around their waists and fans reporting hugging him. This is completely inconsistent with Zhang Zhehan’s behaviour—the only time he would ever initiate contact was with children (and some fans would specifically bring his children for that reason lol.)

The tour group for the Bangkok concerts had not been in operations for quite a while prior but suddenly came back, did not seem to have any proper registration, and was run by someone with a gambling addiction who had had a number of complaints against him about him and his company scamming people, as well as employees reporting not being paid. Whalers who went on the tours admitted to being afraid to talk about it because of the amount of personal information they had given, but some who spoke said that they were not picked up from the airport and were taken to a place very out the way. Some of these whalers returned early (implied to be by their own choice.)

A direct business partner of CAPA is the producer for both the KL and Bangkok concerts. If, hypothetically, Zhang Zhehan caved and agreed to work with CAPA, why would they be doing these international concerts rather than rescinding their blacklist against him so he could work in China where it would be much more profitable?

Before the Bangkok concert, a number of bought articles in oversees publications were published, always saying that Zhang Zhehan had gone to the shrine without any clarifications about those allegations being false. This is the exact opposite of what any logical PR would do. The information for these articles and the similar radio blurbs given with the fake songs have been provided directly by Zhang Sanjian’s team.

Paid PR articles can be 100% made up. Sheena talked about a friend of hers who was hired to do a PR piece for a member of BlackPink and wrote the entire thing, questions and answers, herself, with the manager only reviewing it before publication.

Whalers have repeatedly reposted the various articles about Zhang Sanjian, blatantly blurring out the lines repeating the slander about Yasukuni and/or omitting it completely from their translations.

(A reminder to seek out information and confirmation yourself. Keep in mind that it is very easy for your own views to be manipulated by translators if you do not speak/read Chinese.)

The venue for the Bangkok concert was designed for conventions, not concerts, ie. there was no raised seating. It wouldn’t be surprising if this was done specifically so that people further back would only be able to see the screens rather than Zhang Sanjian himself.

Ticket prices for the concerts are ridiculously expensive, more than you would pay for even many A-list artists. One Malaysian tabloid paper ran an article talking about how expensive the tickets are, again including mention of Yasukuni with no clarifications. Comments underneath the Facebook post for it were filled with passersby questioning why someone they had never heard of was charging so much.

Money laundering

The article Flora translated on money laundering in c-ent

Basic economics: prices are set based on supply and demand.

Whoever is putting on the Zhang Sanjian concert clearly works in the industry, yet is charging enormously inflated prices. This makes no sense if the goal is actually to sell a large amount of tickets.

The main idea behind laundering is that you create opportunities to falsify and inflate sales records. The Bangkok concerts were clearly not sold out despite claiming to be.

The production for the concerts is not high: these are small cheap venues, there are no opening acts, etc. Another part of laundering is to claim that production costs were higher than they really were.

When your goal is money laundering, it doesn’t matter if you actually make money or not. Your aim is only to create records for the movement of money, preferably as large an amount as possible.

Thailand and Malaysia have looser regulations for moving money than China.

Changing currency is another way to make it easier to falsify records, as is the case if you are holding concerts internationally.

This is very serious. Corruption of high enough financial levels can receive a death sentence in China, and it’s not uncommon for whistleblowers of money laundering to be murdered. This is another potential reason for Zhang Zhehan to not speak out against the scam.

[my post of collected info about the Bangkok concerts]

The Chens

The Chen family in particular are really not smart about how they’ve been doing their sketchy business, given that they’ve been opening dozens of companies in their own names and the names of their relatives.

Flora suspects that the shell companies are more likely for tax evasion than money laundering. Their product releases have been tracked to see which company is responsible for each, and every clothing release is under a different one. This is likely to avoid hitting a higher tax bracket, and is literally the most obvious form of tax evasion.

The tea shop has been fined for other things (ex. unsafe food production, false advertising, etc.). These are pressing safety issues, unlike tax evasion.

It’s quite likely that the government IS aware of the Chens’ activity but that they aren’t a big enough concern yet. The longer someone is allowed to get away with something, the more bold they become, which is apparent in the Chens’ behaviour. Letting them get away with it now means that the authorities should be able to book them on heavier charges later.

To reiterate for the millionth time: Zhang Zhehan’s name is not on any of the paperwork for any of the Chens’ companies. The HZ Baobao brand is owned by Chen Ahyi’s boyfriend’s son and his wife, how is it there is any realistic connection there with Zhang Zhehan?

The main motive for the Chens’ involvement with the scam seems to be the money they are able to leech off of fans.

C-Ent politics

The unfortunate reality is that CAPA is very powerful in c-ent. For the people whose livelihoods depend on being in the industry, they have little choice but to cooperate. Xiao Chu, the screenwriter for Word of Honor, is likely an example of this—notice that she has not had any more projects despite the popularity of Word of Honor.

It’s important to remember that c-ent is a very different environment than what westerners might be used to. Keep in mind that, while we are international fans, we are in a Chinese fandom and need to try to understand how the significance of own behaviour might differ from in western fandoms.

Artists in c-ent have little independence and control over their careers, that power is held much more heavily by the companies holding their contracts.

Fandom is also VERY manipulated by capital. Planted fans are extremely prevalent for the purpose of increasing sales and traffic. Fan culture and endorsements are much more for important—a celebrity’s success hinges heavily on how they do in endorsements, not just their own projects.

Toxicity in fandom often is created and/or manipulated by a celebrity’s own company for the sake of increasing traffic. The celebrity might or might not be aware/involved in this—Gong Jun’s studio has done this.

Buying fans (ie. plants) or otherwise artificially inflating traffic (ex. water armies) is extremely common in order to create the appearance of popularity. Nearly every current big whaler has been found to be a plant, and some of the real big whalers were intentionally driven away early on, likely because the scam wanted to make sure they could control the fandom.

If you see a “big fan” loudly saying they’re leaving a fandom, often they were a hired fan and their contract is almost up. With Zhang Zhehan “fans”, notice that there is an uptick in these sorts of posts around August.

Virginia and Yajing

Virginia worked for Pulin, Zhao Wei’s company. When Zhang Zhehan worked for them, she seems to have sometimes accompanied him. She closely follows the Zhang Sanjian accounts and it is known that she’s involved in the scam.

When Zhang Zhehan lost access to his Instagram account for a while, Virginia was the one he thanked after getting it back (2020). It’s not known exactly what she did. The phone number the account is registered under is not Zhang Zhehan’s. The account was created for him while he was working under Yu Zheng, so it’s suspected that Virginia put him in contact with the person in possession of that phone number. The phone number was not changed.

Yajing is a livestream host who did a number of livestreams with Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun after Word of Honor’s success. She’s quite popular for having a non-threatening motherly vibe, and a fair bit of candy came from her livestreams with them.

In July 2022, Yajing posted a photo of herself wearing the EHz.Z slippers, then deleted it shortly afterwards because she lost a huge amount of followers. She has not said anything else related to this since. At the time people questioned if she posted it in ignorance, however, it is now known that she and Virginia follow each other online and have worked together multiple times in the past, including with stage productions funded by CAPA.

This again comes back to the topic of how powerful CAPA is. It might not be that Yajing and many of these other people have any malicious intent or ill will towards Zhang Zhehan personally, but they’re in a position where if they don’t stay in line with what CAPA wants, they could lose their entire careers. How many people would be willing to do that for someone they only worked with a few times? That doesn’t excuse their actions of course, but it does explain them.

Legal matters

People involved in legal cases (including jury) are advised to maintain Internet silence. This gained more public awareness recently due to a case of a woman whose daughter was killed oversees trying to seek justice, who was advised not to speak despite being slandered heavily by the accused. Kris Wu’s victims are another example of this. Speaking online easily complicates your case, sways public opinion, and muddies the story that you want to tell in court.

A major aspect of defamation cases are what the damages of the defamation were. Zhang Sanjian’s activities are a way of trying to sway public opinion into thinking he sustained less damage than he really did.

With that being said, have faith in the Chinese legal system—as stated above, the online culture is very extreme, but the courts are aware of this. As well, Chinese people culturally place a lot less significance on what happens outside of China (ie. the concerts and aforementioned articles.)

It’s important to keep in mind everything that has been discussed above about how corrupt c-ent is and how many different things are at play in the background. While on the surface Zhang Zhehan’s case seems like it should be open and shut, there are a lot more factors at play that complicate and prolong the legal process. What Zhang Zhehan is doing is extremely brave given the circumstances, and it’s obvious that he has not caved despite indications of them giving him opportunities to do so.

Misc.

A CPF was able to train AI within a day to change her voice—feminine and with a Northern Chinese accent—to Zhang Zhehan’s in real time, with the only significant noticeable difference being some of the Northern speech habits.

Ranyi Music was created in June 2021, before 813. One of the shareholders is one of the Chen Ahyis. She recently created a subsidiary company where Zhang Mama is listed as one of the executives. When creating a subsidiary, everything can be done remotely electronically, so likely all they would have needed to do was fake her signature. It is also known that they have a copy of Zhang Mama’s ID (as well as Zhang Zhehan’s and possibly Xiao Yu’s. This would be because the Chens were helping with things such as travel bookings prior to 813.)

The various online accounts of Ranyi Music were accounts repurposed from ones previously run by other companies (ex. the Weibo was for a company run by Xie Yihua’s brother.) Just because a social media company says it’s related to Ranyi doesn’t mean it’s actually registered to them.

Zhao Wei (Zhang Zhehan’s former boss)’s Instagram recently updated for the first time in a while. Flora et al. do not have enough information to speculate about this at this time; there is not currently reason to believe she’s involved in the scam. Some background: Zhao Wei’s husband is well known to be part of the Chinese mafia, and she has a number of connections to many other very wealthy people in China. Both she and her husband have been in legal trouble in the past, including at one point shortly after 813.

It’s hilariously obvious that the scam has been regretting trying to cut out CPFs via the divorce video (22-05-04): there was recently a fan group created for JunJian shippers, the Instagram post that used the 😺🐶 emojis, the concert video that showed Zhang Sanjian interacting with someone in an orange hat, etc. They’re very obviously trying harder to appeal to CPFs, likely because they’ve squeezed solo whalers dry.

Xie Yihua recently posted some photos from Tibet when she supposedly was traveling there with Zhang Sanjian and captioned it “Find Our Voice.” She quickly took it down because of how much whalers came after her for it, ie. they don’t like her “trying to leech attention off him” because they refuse to acknowledge that he’s a fake character created by her.

Whalers proudly talk about how they don’t go back and look at Zhang Zhehan’s old material anymore because of Zhang Sanjian’s narrative of “wanting to forget the past,” seemingly with no awareness of how obvious it is that that’s a ploy to make them not see how different Zhang Sanjian is from Zhang Zhehan.

Candy to lighten the mood

A reminder that during the Friendship Institute interview, Gong Jun said that he thought Zhang Zhehan had a cat, and Zhang Zhehan corrected him by saying “I also have a dog.” (Timestamped in the link.) Fans were confused about this because Zhang Zhehan is not known to have a cat. It has been found out that Zhang Zhehan used to foster stray cats. Specifically, it was discovered that he once took in a stray kitten that he posted pictures of in his WeChat friends circle, which is presumably what Gong Jun was referring to. Supposedly, this is the same kitten that Don’t Want to Be Anonymous posted pictures of. (Below, thank you to Harry for sharing these with me.) Given that some people in the scam gang were in Zhang Zhehan’s friend circle, this is not evidence supporting Anon—only that Anon at the least was someone who had access to his circle.

On the topic of Anon, it’s been noticed that Gong Jun has been posting scenery photos much more often since that account was shut down. Anon’s IP also always stayed consistent with Gong Jun’s location.

It’s worth noting that in the time that it was active, Anon never posted anything harmful, ie. unless it comes back and does something, there’s no harm in believing in it (with a grain of salt.) ❤️

Harry, Coya, and Zell are organizing a fandom event for the Mid-Autumn Festival! Stay tuned for more info! Harry has also recently been running a group for Russian Zhang Zhehan solo fans, please check it out if you’re interested. :D

[masterlist of my posts about zzh]

#Zhang Zhehan #Gong Jun #Word of Honor #woh cast #zzh info

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luthsthings · 10 months

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A Sims 4 Horse Ranch* review, by a Simmer who's not all that into horses

* Software not final. Sponsored by EA.

First, many thanks to EA/Maxis for the early access! This was a treat for me, to get access to an early build to try out for a while, as I'm not exactly a high-profile streamer. Or a streamer at all. Or even a creator (though I'll upload a household I came to love to the Gallery when I get a chance!). But I do love this game! And I love that I can help more of you play it the way you want to. Anyway, the review…

What I liked!

The great range of build/buy! I'll get LOTS of use out of this. It complements some other packs well too.

There are lots of helpful rooms in build mode for fast stables and nectar-related spaces! As a non-builder who sometimes tries to build, I was really happy to have a premade horse stall for my lot.

[image: a pre-built stable room in Build mode]

There's lots of Teen–Elder clothing and hair, and I love the dirty clothes swatches. I'll get LOTS of use out of this pack's CAS! And it will go well with styles from some other packs, too.

The new Afro-textured hairs are a welcome recognition that the cowboy culture of the Old West was not a White culture — there were lots of Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous cowboys and entrepreneurial women in the Old West!

I deeply appreciate the Indigenous content in build/buy, recipes, and CAS — I could see lots there in CAS, for example, that the Navajo people I saw and met in Utah and northern New Mexico (which is a part of the world I really want to go back to) wore IRL.

Lots range from fairly small (15 x 20) to quite large. I appreciate the range as someone who isn't a fan of building on large lots when I do build. There are horse practice areas in the land around some small lots, so you can still keep a horse there.

For Strangerville owners who love that landscape (which I do!), there's now somewhere for that valley, with its smaller population, to be "near". I can imagine that you'd drive up into a range from the new world and drop down into hidden Strangerville. Driving the other direction might take you to Oasis Springs.

The horse-riding and other horse animations are really detailed and fluid. They interact a lot with each other, too. I felt like parent and child horses recognized their relationship even.

[image: a mare lovingly nuzzling her foal]

The sheep and goats are endlessly adorable. Plus profitable! :D And they can sleep in your house!

The rabbithole adventure location out in the countryside has a very different gameplay than previous ones! And it has great sound effects -- play it with the volume up! It's hard to find, though. But it was nice to not need other tricks to get access. (I still have not done the secret places in Oasis Springs or the Outdoor Retreat pack!)

What I didn't like:

No new fridge, stove, bathtub, or toilet (I do like getting more of those!)

Very little boys' children's clothes. And no chaps for Children, even though they can ride and even though Toddlers got some

I would have liked a higher-tech/automated version of a nectar maker. However, this isn't a feature I care about much anyway.

You can't breed the mini goats and sheep, and there aren't even smaller baby ones. I'd have liked to have a full-on sheep farm. I like sheep. (I can practically see my husband glaring about how much I like sheep, even though he's waaaaay far away at the office right now.)

[image: a smiling, leaping mini-sheep, with a spotted goat behind it]

I definitely would never have found the countryside rabbithole without help, but maybe you will? If I could figure out how to do spoilers here, I would...

The horse-toy balls are a little… glowy? for my taste. They also weren't where I looked for them in the catalog, so you'll want to use search for them.

Cross-pack things?

I'd have liked to check out these before now, but with the pre-patch builds, that's not an option, and I'm always kind of busy when patches come out! For example ...

How do cats and dogs interact with horses, sheep, and goats?

Can horses be familiars for spellcasters?

Are there new Milestones?

Are there new Lifestyles?

Are there new Club rules, and are there enough of those?

This Simmer needs to know! (And eventually will.)

Neat things to know!

There's a rabbithole building in town where you can change or plan outfits like a dresser! And just off the main road in town there's a rabbithole building where you can buy goats, sheep, and groceries and other useful things, like horse age-up treats. I liked having an alternative way to buy these things and a whole new way to plan outfits. I'd be happy for more of that. If I can't go into a building, I might as well at least be able to pretend I can. As long as they don't end up being worlds stuffed with rabbitholes in place of gameplay (actually watching horse competition would have been nice!).

You can use a Community Board in town (or from B/B if you want one on your lot) to take local one-off jobs for money. Most need you to own a Horse or some sheep or goats. There are lots of ways to make money as a rancher without needing someone in the household to have a job. My relatives who are farmers will be seriously jealous.

Get to know that Crinkletop guy! He's very useful.

Bugs? Bugs!

Things to watch out for that were issues for me in the early-access build, which is NOT the release build, so hopefully it's a bit better:

Ranch dancing is EXTREMELY popular. You might want to not keep a radio at home until the new dancing has a mod to … moderate it. Or is tuned down by the devs. But I do like it when I'm in control!

[image: five Sims ranch dancing (line dancing) as a group, including two Don Lothario and Eliza Pancakes]

The beautiful stone fireplace was also very, very popular, and of course potentially deadly. Watch out for that.

Ranch hands are NOT reliable. They might stay really, really late. They might stop showing up after a couple days. They might forget the things you instructed them NOT to do the day before. They might be super into kicking the garbage bin over. Keep an eye on your ranch hand. At least until the day, someday, when they get fixed. I'm hoping this is also moddable for those of us on PC.

At one point I had a weird bug where my Sim decided she would NOT eat. The rest of the household could eat. Guests could eat. They could eat HER food. It was fixed by going to the world map and back into the household, so I didn't find out if she was going to just starve to death.

I couldn't find some of the new CAS at first because some men's outfits were under "jumpsuit" for no apparent reason. So, if you're looking for some cool outerwear, try "jumpsuits." Hopefully it was recategorized for the release build!

And that's it! I'm happy to answer questions!

#sims 4 horse ranch #the sims 4 horse ranch #ts4 horse ranch #sponsored by EA #the sims 4 #ts4 #sims 4 #simblr

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the-cookie-of-doom · 3 months

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Another except from chapter 2 of technicality, bc I desperately need you all to understand how much of a nerd Kim is

Clean up done, Kim settles on his freshly made bed—on his stomach, of course, too sore to sit just yet—and pulls up the recorded livestream. First he reviews the donations summary for his total earnings; a very respectable amount, more than his last stream garnered. That plus the streams of comments praising him tells Kim that his viewers enjoy the new direction of his videos. He goes through the itemized donations list in order of most to least, and makes note of the users that left the largest tips for a personalized thank-you later. One user tipped him nearly 4,000 baht. He pulls up a spreadsheet and compares previous donations, and—ah, there they are. A regular, and a generous one, at that. Kim adds an entry for this latest donation—he likes to keep track of who his biggest spenders are—and repeats the process as he goes down the list, comparing today's viewers with his known regulars. Next, Kim opens another spreadsheet, this one tracking his cash flow and expenditures. He enters the earnings from his latest stream and updates his monthly totals, reviewing the stats on his profile to add in the MTD views, likes, new subscriptions, and total donations. February has been very profitable, and the month isn’t even over, yet.

#cookie writes #kimchay #kim is a loser #he loves his spreadsheets #hes taking this SO seriously

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anarcho-physicist · 1 day

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After 4 years of work, I've finally published my very first peer-reviewed theory paper: Design rules for controlling active topological defects

(and it's open access! :D)

I am sooo excited to finally be able to share this! I'll probably write some more in the future about what it was like to work on this project, but for now here's what I want to say about it:

I think this work is a beautiful example of how the long, meandering paths of curiosity-driven research can bring us in completely unexpected directions, yielding new ideas and technologies that might never have been found by problem- or profit-driven research.

We started this project because we were interested in the fundamental physics of active topological defects; we wanted to understand and develop a theory to explain their effective properties, interactions, and collective behaviors when they're hosted by a material whose activity is not constant throughout space and time.

Along the way, we accidentally stumbled into a completely new technique for controlling the flow of active 2D nematic fluids, by using symmetry principles to design activity patterns that can induce self-propulsion or rotation of defect cores. This ended up being such a big deal that we made it the focus of the paper, for a few reasons:

Topological defects represent a natural way to have discrete information in a continuous medium, so if we wanted to make a soft material capable of doing logical operations like a computer, controlling active defects might be a really good way of putting that together.

There have also been a number of biological systems that have been shown to have the symmetries of active nematics, with experiments showing that topological defects might play important roles in biological processes, like morphogenesis or cell extrusion in epithelia. If we could control these defects, we'd have unprecedented control over the biological processes themselves.

Right now the technique has only been demonstrated in simulations, but there are a number of experimental groups who are working on the kinds of materials that we might be able to try this in, so hopefully I'll get to see experimental verification someday soon!

#physics #soft matter #materials science #science #academia #mathematics #topology #biology #biotechnology #tech #publishing #196

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dtfans-for-palestine · 3 months

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How to donate to Gaza and which legit fundraisers to choose :

Remember show proof of donations and you can commissions the artists , writers , translators (Spanish, French) and editors of your liking in the threads/posts below ⚠️❗️❗️❗️

Additional post with where to donate ( family fundraisers, esims , org , ressources etc..)

Place and methods for donations (can be one made in the last three weeks/months) :

CARE FOR GAZA

@CareForGaza is a non profit organization that uses the donations to give coats, baby items, food packages, flour, and even cash to palestinian families in need or palestinian refugees.

To donate, go to their paypal

__________________________________

PIOUS PROJECT (For hygiene kits)

Founded by Fahim Aref, Pious Project's has the mission to empower everyone to make a difference--one good deed at a time. They have created a way to take part in global humanitarian, charitable projects, including donating and volunteering.

Their official website:

Currently, they are raising funds to donate hygiene kits to menstruating people in Gaza. The value of each one is $20, which contains sanitary pads, tissues, wipes, a hairbrush, toothpaste, toothbrush and other items.

How can I donate?

The following is the link that will take you directly to the page, once there you will click on the button that says "Donate."

Link: https://piousprojects.org/campaign/2712

If you are not logged in, it will ask you to create an account. You should receive an email welcoming you, as well as a direct link to the website.

The next thing that will appear are three options:

You can enter the amount you want to donate (USD), or instead, donate a specific amount to pay for from 1 to 50 entire kits. If you choose the second option, don't worry, each option tells you how many kits you are donating for!

The most important thing is to keep in mind that you will have the option to only donate once or monthly.

Finally, you will only have to fill out the details of your card or bank and that's it! You will have donated to the cause

In addition to the donation of hygiene kits, Pious Projects have many more causes, here we leave you the following:

FOOD

Food Baskets for Gaza

POINT OF CARE

Point Of Care Ultrasound for Gaza piousprojects.org/campaign/2172

FAMILY

Gaza Family Support piousprojects.org/campaign/608

You can also go on your own to the official website and check out the different causes they are donating to.

_______________________________________

SALAM ANIMAL CARE

Salam Animal Care is Abdallah's Twitter account. He is a man who rescues injured animals in Gaza and provides them with medical assistance. His @ is @RescueCare. To donate, you need to click on this link to go to his PayPal

Log in, enter the amount and currency, choose your preferred payment method, review your information, and click send payment.

Then just send us a screenshot that you actually made the donation!

________________________________________

DIRECT AID TO GAZA

Direct aid for gaza

Account : https://x.com/GazaDirectAid?t=sWfYhS-uKaxETizI4Avpkw&s=09

Paypal : https://twitter.com/GazaDirectAid/status/1757813936940876185?t=2KqHPkJHcLGPYi9jOPoWZQ&s=19

Trust wallet : https://twitter.com/GazaDirectAid/status/1760456373173620981?t=68DI1E0Ko3HNxIJULn8wDA&s=19

________________________________________

MEDICAL AID

Medical Aid for Palestine is a nonprofit organization that is located in the uk. their aid goes toward west bank, gaza, and lebanon. they help both palestinians living under occupation and those that have refuge status. they give medical, mental, and disability support

their twitter account also gives updates on attacks and deaths as a result of said attacks. @MedicalAidPal

To donate, you go to map.org.uk , select your currency and amount, and who you are giving your money as. then, select a title, fill out the contact and address information, and finally after doing that, you can fill out your card information and hit pay now.

________________________________________

E SIMS

eSims for Gaza is an initiative led by @Mirna_elhelbawi, a writer who demonstrates solidarity with the cause and ensures that aid reaches those in need. Mirna's efforts keep doctors, journalists, and the entire population of Gaza connected with the world, preventing their silence

By donating to eSims for Gaza, you can comission our collaborators.

Visit their website: [gazaesims.com]

★ How to Donate? | Below 👇

To donate, you can use two apps: Simly and Airalo. Download either app.

Follow these tutorials for both:

1. Search for "Palestine."

2. Choose one of the available plans.

3. Click on "Buy Now."

4. Proceed to payment.

After purchasing your eSIM, DO NOT ACTIVATE IT. Once you complete the payment, you will receive a QR code in your email. We strongly urge you not to activate it, as the QR code received is the SIM card. Instead, take a screenshot of the QR code and send it to [email protected].

That's all it takes to donate. Then just send us a screenshot confirming that you've sent the QR to their email to commission us.

________________________________________

OPERATION OLIVE BRANCH

They have links for several Gazan families in need of help, and even if you can’t donate, helping spread the word can go a long way 🍉

Any donations to the ressources and fundraisers and charity reunited by @operationolivebranch on Instagram and tiktok will count as well as payments for the commissions Just go through the ones in the doc below 👇 :

choose and donate to one and send us the proof to commission someone !

________________________________________

EMERGENCY

Yasmeen Ouda is a Palestinian woman living in Canada who is seeking assistance to rescue her family from the genocide in Palestine and bring them safely to her residence in Canada.

Their twitter account is: @hosam_ouda

To donate, please visit their GoFundMe page:

Choose the amount you would like to donate, select the portion you will leave as a commission for the GoFundMe platform, pick your payment method,

fill in the necessary information, and finally, make your donation!

Afterward, please provide us with a screenshot confirming that you have indeed made your donation to be able to commission!

_____________________________

ALL DONATIONS TO CONGO AND SUDAN WILL ALSO COUNT AS WELL SO DON'T HESITATE TO DONATE THERE AND COMMISSION US IN EXCHANGE !!!!

#free palestine #aid to gaza #dttwt4palestine #fund raising collabs of artist and writers #fundraisers for gaza #e sims for gaza #donations for gaza #donations animals shelters in gaza #commissions as donations #donations of hygiene kits in gaza #donations to care for gaza #free congo #free sudan #mcyt fans charity event #artists and writers and editers charity / fundraising event for Palestine congo and sudan

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redshift-13 · 7 months

Text

United States Reaches $37 Million Settlement Of Fraud Lawsuit Against Cigna For Submitting False And Invalid Diagnosis Codes To Artificially Inflate Its Medicare Advantage Payments

...

Exhibit #562,344 - Corporate Executives Enjoy Broad Immunity for Large-Scale Crimes

To state the obvious - Cigna didn't commit fraud, people within Cigna did.

But tonight the protected felons in Cigna are eating dinner at home and will go to work tomorrow and take home their bonuses at the end of the year, and the year after that.

Another recent Cigna scam got them sued in California, which requires Cigna to actually examine medical reimbursement claims, not toss them aside.

Cigna health giant accused of improperly rejecting thousands of patient claims using an algorithm https://apnews.com/article/cigna-california-health-coverage-lawsuit-4543b47cd6057519a7e8dc6d90a61866

The company used an algorithm called PXDX, shorthand for ''procedure-to-diagnosis,” to identify whether claims met certain requirements, spending an average of just 1.2 seconds on each review, according to the lawsuit. Huge batches of claims were then sent on to doctors who signed off on the denials, the lawsuit said. “Relying on the PXDX system, Cigna’s doctors instantly reject claims on medical grounds without ever opening patient files, leaving thousands of patients effectively without coverage and with unexpected bills,” according to the lawsuit.

"Improperly rejecting thousands of patient claims" is an anodyne description, technically true, but it belies the accurate characterization of this crime - grand theft against 100s of thousands of people. Even the generic categorization of Cigna as a "health insurance company" has an obscurantist function - it masks the actual public health and economic function of the company, which is to generate profit for executives and shareholders by rationing care for millions. Reduced and simplified further, Cigna harms public health for profit.

Even when they're not committing crimes, wealthy Cigna executives make yet more money by trying to load up their customers with medical debt by finding ways to "legitimately" deny claims. This may not be illegal in many cases, but if you're fine with this normalized plunder directed against you, a systematized and blatant scheme to transfer wealth to shareholders, you might want to think again.

David Cordani, Cigna CEO

Cordani is being lavishly rewarded by forcing large numbers of people into medical debt and bankruptcy:

His nearly $21 million package for 2022 comes with a $1.5 million salary, the same he's recorded since 2020. He brought in $12,644,278 in stock awards and $2,900,029 in option awards. Non-equity incentive plan compensation totaled $3,600,000, according to Cigna Group's proxy filing.

#cigna #health insurance #the healthcare nightmare in the u.s.#corporate crime #david cordani #realities of capitalism

40 notes · View notes

justimajin · 8 months

Text

The Profit & Love Statement » Pt. 14

↠ Pairing: Seokjin x Reader

↠ Genre: Fluff, Comedy, Angst

↳ 5.6k / Office AU (lowkey E2L vibes)

↠ Summary: The workplace isn’t for everyone. It can be mundane and repetitive, with some describing it like a nuisance and others as a blessing. You’re the kind that leans more towards the latter and while it does make you an ideal candidate for many things, nothing could have prepared you for the whirlwind that is the new employee.

↠ Warnings: some swearing, workplace bullying

GIF credit.

↠ Next Update: Tuesday, October 3 (series masterpost here)

The office is quiet in the morning.

There’s the soft sound of typing against keyboards, as well as chairs squeaking through the silence. Occasionally, there’s a phone call or two ringing, employee’s leaving and entering while chattering to one another.

His eyes sway back and forth, hands fidgeting with the seam of his light blue shirt.

“Uh…excuse me–“ A man brushes by him without a second glance and he grimaces, looking around, “Um, Miss–?”

The woman brushes by him as well, too occupied with the time on her watch. He lets out a gentle sigh, shoulders cowering.

“Hey, did you need some help?”

His irises widen at the sound of a voice coming from the long line of cubicles. There’s a young man with dark hair and dressed in a suit seated at one of the desks, staring at him with furrowed brows and away from the plethora of files displayed on his screen.

“Uh, yes!” He steps forward, “I’m trying to look for the Manager.”

“Oh, he should be in the office towards the hallway on the left.” He gestures, but the man before him fidgets.

He points with unease, “Wait, to the left…?”

“Here.” He warmly smiles, doe eyes slightly crinkling as he gets out of his seat. “Follow me.”

A sigh of relief leaves his pouty lips, and he trails after the employee, eyes curiously darting around. The office he was employed in sure is busy, he notes.

“It’s right over here.” The man stands in front of the door, pointing towards it. “You should find the Manager inside.”

“Thank you so much!” He beams and the man chuckles, giving him a small wave.

“It’s no problem.”

Once he departs, he spins around and knocks against the door, waiting until he hears a faint ‘come in’ to enter.

“Hello.” He greets, “I’m the employee that just got hired.”

“Ah…” The elder man before him notes, stroking his beard. “Jaehyun, was it?”

“Jimin.” He politely corrects. “My name is Park Jimin.”

“Ah yes, yes, Jimin.” He repeats, “You were hired as a Customer Service Representative, yes?”

He nods, “It’s good you got here early. Your cubicle should be on the left-hand side, next to where the vending machines are.” The man states, “It’s important you review all of our protocols and codes of conduct before you begin.”

He hands him a few papers to look over before turning back to his work. After a few moments, the papers are filled out and Jimin stands up, returning them back.

The Manager hums in approval and continues, “You’re going to be responsible for many tasks, namely talking to any of our customers that have been having issues with the product. There’s also efforts being made to increase the productivity of our customer service, so remember to take initiative in this product launch.”

Jimin widely grins with a simple response, “Yes, Sir.”

With that, he’s escorted towards his single cubicle amongst other ones. A bright look gleams in his eyes, and he makes sure of greeting everyone with a kind smile as he makes his way to his work station.

Plopping down, he turns on his monitor and glances around as it boots up. There’s a handful of employee’s next to him and he turns right to the one next to him.

“Hi!” He chirps. “My name is Jimin and I’m new here.”

The orange-haired man hums, barely looking in his direction. “Hi.”

His brows furrow, but he persists, “What’s your name?”

“Sandeul.”

“Hi, Sandeul! It’s nice to meet you.” He tilts his head, “How long have you been working here?”

“Seven years.”

His eyes widen, “That’s a long time.”

“It is.”

The conversation is blatantly dry, dissolving from the man’s monotone answers. Yet Jimin continues to smile.

He awkwardly chuckles, turning back to his now gleaming monitor, “Well, I hope we can get to know each other.”

Sandeul hums, his hand still squished against his face as he lifelessly stares at his screen. Jimin decides to focus on his work, quickly running through the programs on his monitor and then briefing himself on any recent customer complaints he can assist with.

Sure enough, the phone rings, and he answers with a sweet tone to his voice.

***

The office is just as he expected.

It’s busy with dips in productivity, be it with the repetitive routine or the long hours stretching out. For the most part, his job does have some interactive elements, namely working directly one on one with customers and attempting to appease any of their inquiries or complaints. He tries his absolute hardest to resolve issues promptly in a kind manner, even with customers become pressed for time or persist in contacting him several times. Yet, it dwindles within his expectation, his job actually serving up the role he signed up for.

But of course, there are some bumps along the way.

“They’re have been many repercussions from the last product launch, in fact–“

Jimin crosses his legs, placing his hands against his knees. His Manager continues to explain current problems arising from the product as he keeps his eyes trained ahead. It was after all, his first meeting in the department, and he forecasted the usual – a breakdown of the current situation followed up with a discussion.

Thoughts swim around in his mind once his Manager finishes up, and he takes the chance to pitch some of them forward.

“I think that–“

A woman next to him speaks up, “The issues surrounding the last model should have already been solved with the current one.”

He hesitantly smiles, “Right, but if we–“

Another man vouches, “Not quite, it seems our customer complaints have only doubled.”

His eyes spark, “Customer loyalty could be a good–“

“What about customer loyalty? Shouldn’t we work on focusing on that?”

His shoulders slump down, the conversation carrying on with ease as if he wasn’t even there. His Manager hums at the opinions being presented forward, stroking his beard.

“That should be our primary focus… are there any suggestions on increasing the brand’s loyalty with this product launch?”

Within mere seconds, more opinions and ideas are being thrown left and right, most of which Jimin can barely keep track of. He’s instead still caught up with desperately trying to break through, his voice somehow disappearing amongst the sea of others.

Yet somewhere in between, he’s granted a silver of a chance.

“I think changing the Marketing of the product would be profitable!”

He clears his throat at the sight of many eyes turning to him, ignoring the sweat collecting at his temples and continuing. “Issues with customer complaints in the last product stemmed from dissatisfaction with functionality, so it would be a good opportunity to rebrand this new product in a different way.”

When only dead silence greets him back, he fidgets in his seat, running a hand through his hand.

“That’s a great suggestion.” His pupils snap up to his own surprise, seeing the faint smile on his Manager’s face.

He sheepishly smiles, “T-Thank you.”

The meeting progresses with the idea in mind and methods of rebranding for optimal customer satisfaction arise. To even more disbelief on his end, Jimin finds his Manager asking him more questions in the midst of facilitating the discussion, an opportunity he doesn’t wait to snatch up. He ignores the multiple eyes lingering on his form, choosing to instead be ecstatic in providing an opinion.

It’s all he can truthfully ask for – that his presence isn’t ignored and his enthusiasm can reign through. But he doesn’t notice that the eyes looking at him aren’t full of admiration.

In fact, many of them brim with disdain.

***

It’s missing.

He peers around frantically with rounded eyes, scattering papers around on his desk. Even with his abrupt actions, a line of worry mars his forehead when with no aid, is he able to find it.

It’s missing.

The file his Manager gave him.

It’s gone.

The color drains completely from his features and the sheer panic sets in. The file he was given was important – having contained confidential customer information that was only supposed to be for his eyes.

Now it’s gone and he had no clue on what to do.

“Jimin.” The authoritative voice calling out his name sends a haunting chill down his spine.

He turns and catches sight of his Manager, “Does there seem to be a problem?”

“Uh, no!” He quickly clarifies, a nervous laugh leaving him, “I’m just trying to see if there’s a USB port near here.”

“It should be right there.” The man points adjacent to his monitor, where the port is in an obvious manner.

“Ah, yes! I mustn’t have noticed.”

“Well, just pay more attention to your surroundings.” He furiously nods, “And Jimin–“

He freezes, looking at the man with wide pupils, “Yes?”

His Manager gives him a half-smile, “Good job with the report you sent me, I was quite impressed.”

“Oh, thank you….” Although his features flush with the sudden compliment, he’s over the moon at hearing the positive feedback.

His Manager shifts, telling him to keep up the good work before leaving. Jimin watches with a soft smile, but the moment the man disappears from his radar, he’s back to scavenging around his work area in a frenzy.

After a couple of minutes pass by, he takes a step back and stares at his desk. Letting out an exasperated sigh, his irises oscillate, noticing the person sitting right next to his cubicle.

There’s a spark to his eyes, “Sandeul, did you see any paperwork here at my desk?”

The employee barely moves his head. “No.”

Jimin is baffled, “Really?”

He hums and Jimin runs a shaky hand through his hair. Since he’s failed in searching for the contents, he decides it would be better to retrace his own steps, going back to the locations he was at before he returned to his work station.

Quickening his steps, he chews down on his bottom lip. He peers back and forth, inquiring as many people as he can for assistance, but to his avail – he’s met with only confused and clueless faces.

Following the anxious hunt and pursuit after employee’s for his paperwork, it’s roughly close to an hour’s time when he finally manages to relocate them. However, the location he finds them leaves him a bit unsettled.

Jimin reaches down, picking them up from the trash can with a deep grimace.

***

Jimin is many things.

Kind. Soft-spoken. A reassuring presence. All traits he’s always been well-known for.

But among these, cluelessness can be loosely present as well.

To be fair, Jimin knows. He knows that sometimes he can be clueless, that there were moments where his mind would naturally drift or his head would be in the clouds, that he can make very simple mistakes despite being able to complete very complex tasks and that he can misplace, even without meaning to.

But that acknowledgment can only go so far.

More things of his begin to go missing. It’s like he’s blinks and there’s something he needs that just disappears – be it files or supplies. He starts with brushing them off, assuming it was just his own mistake.

However, his kindness is stretched, pushed up against until it ultimately crumbles.

“What is this?”

There hasn’t quite been a time when he’s seen his Manager look so furious, his brows tightly furrows and jaw clenched. In his hand, he holds one of the reports that Jimin worked on – one that contains inaccurate and faulty numbers.

Jimin stares in complete bewilderment, knowing that his cluelessness wasn’t enough to throw off an entire report.

“I–“

“If I hadn’t double checked it, then I would have had a false report.” His manager states, “Just like the one you submitted two weeks ago.”

Jimin’s eyes enlarge. Not only did he mess up this report, the last one was faulty as well?

His profuse apologies don’t seem to work, his Manager opting out to proclaim that he’s very disappointed instead. Jimin ends up leaving after a couple of moments, but he does so with an incredibly heavy heart.

Although his gaze does remain down casted, his mind churns, attempting to pinpoint what exactly went wrong.

This couldn’t all be him…there must be something else causing all these errors.

But what could–

“Did you see the look on his face?”

“Of course I did, how can you miss out on something like that?!”

He freezes in his steps, a sense of dread striking him.

“He thinks he’s all that, doesn’t he?”

“I’d love to see him just try to be Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes now.”

His breathing sharply escalates and his head snaps up, noticing a hoard of employee’s from his department walking by that he isn’t familiar with.

Yet to his mortification, there's an individual he recognizes.

It’s the same person that’s sat beside him every morning, the very one that he’s always greeted with a smile.

***

It’s childish.

It’s truly childish to him. Something he would think children would do, not grown adults working in a professional environment.

But just like children, pessimistic emotions run unprecedented and he has to suffer the wrath.

“He looks like a sad puppy.”

“I guess that’s what happens when you’re not sucking up to Manager Lee’s ass anymore.”

“Now poor Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes is just like the rest of us.”

He tries his hardest to ignore the voices, even when they don’t attempt to hide theirs. He pulls on a smile, greeting everyone kindly even though he knows the thoughts that are masked behind their own smiles. He tries so hard – attempting to get by with sheer focus and hard work, but eventually the office becomes a place he doesn’t even want to be at anymore.

Jimin lets out a deep exhale, staring hollowly at his coffee on the table in the break room. He squeezes his eyes shut for a brief moment, knowing he was supposed to be eating lunch but having his appetite long lost after hearing some murmurs coming from this same room.

He wonders if he should just throw the coffee out and get back to work, wanting to leave as soon as possible the longer he just sits there.

But when he rises from his seat, the door across him opens.

“Oh.” A familiar voice calls out, “It’s you again.”

Jimin blinks, the man who helped him find the Manager’s office on his first day appearing before him. His doe eyes crinkle, taken by genuine surprise to see him sitting in the room.

A loped-sided smile crosses him, “Hello…”

“Why so glum?” He lets out a light chuckle, pulling out the chair in front of Jimin. His dark hair is swept to the side today, and he’s adorned in a white dress shirt and blue tie.

“I-It’s nothing…” Jimin laughs it off, “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Likewise.” He widely grins. “I didn’t catch your name last time.”

“My name is Park Jimin.”

The man reaches out his hand, “Jeon Jungkook.”

Jimin takes his hand and shakes it, “You work in Customer Service too, right? I think I’ve seen you walk by a couple of times.”

He nods, “It was my first day here when you helped me.”

“I guessed as much.” Jungkook smiles, “Say, if you’re on break right now, do you want to come with me to grab some lunch?”

“Lunch…?” Jimin wonders, taken aback from the suggestion. But Jungkook is already rising onto his feet, gesturing to the door.

“Yeah, come on.”

Jimin slowly stands up but for a moment, he falters. Although the former was kind enough to help him out last time, he doesn’t know Jungkook very well, and based on everything else going on with him, he wonders if this lunch offer is an excuse for something much worse.

“You okay there, Park?”

His eyes snap up, voice growing small, “Uh, yes! Lead the way…”

The corner of his mouth tugs up and Jungkook turns, but as Jimin follows, he can’t help the uncertain feeling churning in the pit of his stomach.

***

Jungkook ends up taking him to a small shop across from their building, a place the man quotes – ‘serves the best sandwiches he’s ever eaten in his entire life’.

Despite the unusual situation, Jimin manages to crack a smile at that.

“I’m telling you, I used to work at a restaurant and half the food there was awful,” He positions his sandwich in front of Jimin’s face, looking at it with awe-filled eyes. “–but this? Freaking amazing.”

Jimin softly grins, “I think you’re more passionate about food than our office.”

“I worked with food for a long time.” Jungkook leans back in his chair with a shrug, “Plus it doesn’t help that our office is more like a gossip hub than a workplace.”

Jimin nearly chokes on his food, staring at the man before in disbelief. Jungkook on the other hand, remains occupied with munching down on his sandwich.

“I-I beg your pardon…?” He sputters out.

“What? You didn’t know?” Jungkook blinks, mouth full of food, “The rumors that go around in the department? People talking behind each other’s backs?” He lets out a chuckle, “It’s kind of childish, if you ask me.”

Jimin falters, “Right…”

Jungkook raises a brow at his tone, but continues to eat his sandwich. He eventually finishes his food, checking the clock in the store as he wipes his hands with a napkin.

“We should get heading back soon.” He points to Jimin’s half-eaten food, “Are you good?”

“Yeah, I’ll just eat later…I haven’t had much of an appetite.” He responds, already collecting the wrappers to throw out.

Jungkook hums and aids him quickly with the process, and it’s not long before the two of them are stepping out of the shop. Jimin walks alongside him in the direction of their building, but there’s a thought that persistently lingers in the back of his mind.

It’s risky – he knows that, but he can’t seem to keep it down.

“H-Hypothetically…” Jungkook whirls his head around, slowing his steps, “If someone was being gossiped about, hypothetically–“ He pitches in again, “W-What would they do?”

“Hypothetically?” Jungkook adds with a raised brow.

“Hypothetically.” He repeats, “Since you know…what our office is like and all….”

Jungkook doesn’t say anything for a moment, simply staring at him instead.

“It depends.” He clears his throat, “Typically, rumours can be anything and it’s just employee’s circulating around information, but if it’s targeted towards someone–” His eyes grow stern, “That would be a problem.”

“I see….” Jimin hums, brows drawn together in deep thought.

“And what about….having suspicions your work’s been tinkered with?” He blinks, “Hypothetically, of course!”

“Wait, what?” Jungkook sharply inhales and whispers, “Someone sabotaged your work?!”

Jimin’s eyes grow wide and Jungkook shakes his head, planting a hand against his temples and squeezing his eyes shut. “Ah sorry, hypothetically – ugh.”

A sigh leaves him and he looks up, “Look, I’m really sorry, but we can’t go with your scenario anymore–“ There’s remorse written all over his features, “Another employee messing up your work is a big deal.”

Jungkook attempts to explain it further for him to identify any signs. He talks about how something like that doesn’t cut it in the workplace and that having others talk behind his back is a complete recipe that there is a problem. Jimin nods to his words, but eventually he notices that Jimin only seems to look at him more frightened by the second.

“–in conclusion, I think you should go to Human Resources about this.”

Jimin tilts his head, “Human Resources?”

“Yeah, you could talk to one of them and they’ll help you out.” Jungkook frowns, “Do you have any evidence for this?”

He exhales, “No, but I’m sure there’s something wrong with my work. I’m not the kind to make so many mistakes.”

“And regardless, there’s still the gossip issue…” Jungkook mutters under his breath. His eyes light up and he checks his watch. “Tell you what, we still have some time so I think I can quickly introduce you.”

“Introduce me?”

He smiles, “Let’s just say I’m a little close to one of their workers.”

***

A knock resonates against the door.

Hoseok lets out a groan, stretching out his limbs as he gets up. He’s spent the last couple of hours going through some complaints from employees with a Manager down at Research and Development – a task that makes him desperately want to run down to the break room for a coffee. But alas, it seems like there’s going to be another task plopped onto his plate.

Rubbing his tired eyes, he paints on a smile and opens the door with a cherry tone, “Hi, can I help you with something?”

“Yeah, take a nap please.” Jungkook reprimands and Hoseok’s eyes widen.

“Jungkook?”

He grins. “In the flesh.”

Hoseok’s entire mood seems to do a complete one-eighty. “What are you doing standing outside?! Come on in!”

Jungkook lets out a giggle and looks behind himself, to which Hoseok peers in confusion.

There’s a man with dark hair and glasses that he doesn’t recognize, standing sheepishly as he enters the room.

“This is Park Jimin.” He introduces. “He works with me in Customer Service. I brought him here because he would like to speak to you about a concern.”

“Of course!” Hoseok turns to him, “I’m Jung Hoseok, a HR personnel.”

“Nice to meet you.” Jimin greets and Hoseok gestures for him to sit down at his office. Jungkook turns to the door, glancing over his shoulder.

“I’m going to head back now.” He informs Jimin.

“Come around more often, will you?” Hoseok remarks, “I barely see you even though we’re in the same building now!”

“Sure.” Jungkook chuckles, giving them both a small wave before closing the door.

Hoseok brightly smiles, turning his attention to Jimin. “Alright, what seems to be the problem?”

“Um, well…” Jimin scratches the back of his head, “I’ve been having some issues…with my coworkers.”

“I see.” Hoseok clicks a pen open in front of his notepad and Jimin falters, “Oh, this is just my personal use, but regardless, all information here is kept confidential.”

Jimin hums, form relaxing, “I was recently hired and I’ve noticed some problems here and there…”

He goes on to explain it all – about how it started with his work being disrupted, to the point where he was beginning to foster suspicions around him, to how the rumours began and he heard horrible things about himself that made him mortified. He also adds in that he potentially does suspect someone, but then–

“I-I don’t have evidence…” He reminisces, “I should have collected some before I came here, but I was just so–“

“Hey it’s alright, Jimin.” Hoseok smiles, “It’s quite literally my job to make sure things run here smoothly and if that isn’t the case, then there’s all the more reason to come and talk to me.”

He nods, “–but moving forward, I need to ask you some questions. You said that you saw multiple mistakes in your work that couldn’t have been made by you. Has your Manager noticed this?”

“He was upset by them, but he didn’t say anything else…”

“So he hasn’t seen much of your work to determine the disruption… I’ll have to find a copy and go over it myself.” Jimin watches as Hoseok scribbles down on his notepad, “What about these rumours? Where did you hear these?”

“Near my work area, beside the break room….everywhere, really.”

Hoseok hums, finishing off his scribbling before spinning his chair around and grabbing some files.

He faces Jimin with intent, “You mentioned you think it’s someone – who?”

Jimin gnaws down on his lip, but after a moment he sighs and fesses up. “Sandeul.”

“Kim Sandeul?” Hoseok asks in astonishment.

“Yes….?”

Hoseok chuckles underneath his breath, “So he’s still working here…”

Jimin watches as Hoseok goes through multiple files, a smile working its way onto his features.

After a moment passes, he glances up.

“Just for your kind information,” He begins, “There’s been issues with Sandeul in the past. He was notoriously involved with two employees that were actually fired for spreading malicious rumours about others.”

Jimin’s mouth falls agape. “I-I…”

“Once I go over those reports you gave to your Manager and check in more on Sandeul, we can get to the bottom of this. But for now–“

Hoseok does a gesture that seals his lips and Jimin nods with a bright smile, feeling ten times more relieved.

“Thank you, Hoseok. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem at all.” He gets up and heads towards the door as Jimin trails after him. “If you encounter anything else, please don’t hesitate to tell me.”

Jimin gives him a nod before gratefully thanking him again, to which Hoseok brushes off with a smile.

***

“How did it go?”

Jimin lifts his head in surprise to see Jungkook leaning against his cubicle. He was luckily able to get more work done this time around, packing up his belongings for the end of the work day.

“Pretty good,” Jimin reminisces with a smile, putting the strap of his bag over his shoulder. “He asked me a couple of questions and then said he would get back to me.”

Jungkook grins, “That’s great!”

Jimin chuckles under his breath, following the man to the elevator, “I want to thank you for the help. A situation like this…is delicate.”

Jungkook hums as the elevator doors close. “A lot of people don’t realize that there’s consequences for their actions, especially in a workplace.” He explains, “A situation like this is hard, but it’s not difficult to recognize it as creating a hostile environment for the person involved.”

Jimin nods and Jungkook leans closer, murmuring under his breath, “I should mention though, be careful with whom you approach. Sometimes Human Resources can overlook things.”

His brows furrow, “But Hoseok took it seriously.”

“That’s because I know and trust Hoseok. He doesn’t brush things under the carpet for the sake of maintaining the company’s image.” He points out, “For him, if there’s something wrong happening, then there’s actually something wrong happening, if you know what I mean.”

Jimin slowly nods, not realizing that it mattered who he talked to. His former workplace was considerably different in that aspect, no treading down thin lines needed.

It makes him even more grateful that he has someone like Jungkook working in his department.

“Oh sweet.” His head spins around, noticing Jungkook looking at his phone. He glances up, a bright smile to his features. “Hey, do you have any plans after work?”

Jimin shakes his head, “I don’t.”

“Do you wanna come with me?” He waves around the phone in his hand, “Some of my friends from the company are meeting up to hang out.”

“Oh…” His eyes widen, having not really acquainted with anyone in his department except for Jungkook. “A-Are you sure? It won’t be weird?”

“Of course not.” Jungkook brushes off and the elevator doors open, “Come on, they’re all great people.”

Jimin softly smiles, “Okay.”

He exits the elevator, quickly making space for those entering the elevator at the bottom floor. As he trails after Jungkook, there’s a million thoughts racing in his mind, mainly a mixture of curiosity and nervousness surrounding meeting others at the company after his experience of those in his own department.

But when Jungkook turns around the corner, he notices a group standing together, giant smiles stretched on their faces. One of them he recognizes as Hoseok – the HR personnel that assisted him.

“Oh! You invited Jimin along?” He wonders, greeting him with a joyful wave that Jimin returns with a meek smile.

Jungkook shrugs, “Yeah, I thought it’d be fun.”

“Finally you decide to get drinks with us.” Another man says, one with russet hair and sharp eyes, Jimin notes.

“Oh come on, hyung! I promised, didn’t I?” Jungkook whines and Jimin is left in awe at the ease he speaks with them, as if he’s known them for years.

“Hi, you’re Jimin, right?” A deep voice beckons. He turns to see a man with cameral hair and a soft smile staring at him.

He nods furiously with wide eyes and the man kindly reaches his hand out.

“I’m Taehyung, it’s nice to meet you.”

As Jimin takes his hand, he overhears the others making plans to leave.

“Wait!” Hoseok shouts, “Y/N’s not here yet!”

Jungkook frowns. “What? She should have been done by now!”

“We should just wait then.” The man with russet hair mutters.

“It’ll be a great chance to get to know Jimin!” Taehyung suggests, much to the latter’s timid smile.

“You’re right!” Jungkook ushers, quickly introducing him to everyone and echoing back their histories. Jimin is left getting his attention drawn back and forth – whether it was someone wanting to know about his work to simply welcoming him to the office in a sincere manner.

It makes a smile unconsciously tug on the corner of his lips, for he finally has the epiphany that perhaps working in this office wasn’t such a bad thing.

He takes long strides down the hallway.

There’s a small report in his hands that he’s required to submit to the head of the Operations Department, but after he’s finished with the task, he’s done for the day and can go home.

Jin stands in front of the office door, staring down at the paperwork he holds.

He deeply inhales.

The Operations Department was the last one he needed training from. After this, he would have completed his time at the company as an intern.

Which can only mean…

His eyes stray over to the thick plaque in front of him, a title written in bold large letters. When a lump begins to form in his throat, he snaps his gaze away, knocking against the door with a polite smile.

The head of the department greets him as usual, taking his report with interest.

“Great work, Seokjin.” The man chimes, slipping the report away into a file, “Nothing less than what I would expect from the future CEO.”

He plasters on a grin, “Right…”

After exchanging a goodbye with the man he’s been working under for a while, he departs back to his work area to pack up his things and head home for the day. There’s a handful of employee’s walking by him, all giving him smiles and waves as they depart as well.

He reaches his cubicle within a matter of moments, snapping from his daze to glance around from his belongings. He locates them with relative ease, but there’s a certain bright package stationed to the corner of his desk and next to his monitor that has his brows knitting together.

He picks it up, thrown off a bit from the translucent red material. It’s not packaged together like a delivery that had just arrived, rather it seems decorative and compared to everything else on his desk, stands out greatly.

Placing his bag to the side, he tugs at the paper, carefully peeling away the meticulously placed pieces of tapes keeping it all together. As he removes them, the paper unfolds and reveals a cardboard box.

He opens the top of it, scanning the contents inside. To his surprise, there’s pieces of paper in it and a–

“A ladle?” He exclaims in astonishment, staring at the kitchen utensil with wide eyes. In fact, there’s more utensils as well, all contained within the box like a set.

“What on earth?” He mumbles, placing the utensils down and yanking the pieces of paper out.

To his surprise, there’s a collection of coupons for restaurants, ranging from different ones in the area.

Upon seeing them, his confusion is simply magnified. As he flips through them and scans the different restaurant names, a white sheet catches his sight.

He takes it out right away, noticing some writing scribbled on it.

Wanted to thank you for helping me find Yuna. I thought the coupons would be useful for your restaurant obsession and you could use the tools for your cooking (a lot better than I can, I’ll admit).

~ Y/N

He blinks.

“Y/N?” Glancing back and forth at the contents, it all suddenly makes sense now. You knew where he would be working and decided to leave him a gift for his efforts.

A huge smile breaks out onto his features and he chuckles underneath his breath, observing the collection of items once again. He can only imagine you attempting to figure out what to get him, only to realize that he wouldn’t hesitate to use coupons and mind extra supply for his cooking.

Something you’ve even taken the courtesy to admit that he’s better at.

It’s not far to say he’s impressed at the least with the generous gift. Lifting his head, he quickly packs his bag for the day alongside your gift, holding it in his hands as he heads for the Sales and Finances Department with a grin.

It only takes him a few moments to locate you, but he notices that you’re in the midst of talking to a co-worker inside one of the meeting rooms. He peers wide-eyed through the glass, wondering if he chose a wrong time to come by.

However, as if on instinct, you pause your co-worker from speaking and turn around with furrowed brows. Your gazes lock and your irises widen with his appearance, but then Jin raises a familiar red wrapping material in his hands with a giant smile.

He watches as your eyes instantly light up, the corners of your mouth fondly upturning.

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