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absolutebl · 1 year

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BL Streaming - Which Service is Worth Your Money?

I’m bored and I have a little extra time this morning so it’s time for ABL to play with the spreadsheet of doom.

Occasionally I get the question:

If I were to subscribe to only one platform for BL which should I pick?

This post is dated May 2023.

First things first. I am going to be (somewhat) objective about this and not judge on quality of content. Because if KinnPorsche is all you love in life, obvs you need iQIYI, but if you are a HIStory franchise stan, than it’s all about Viki. Those are your life choices, I’m just here to play numbers games, okay?

Secondly, some shows air on multiple platforms, particularly Viki & Gaga, but sometimes it’s Gaga & YouTube, occasionally it’s even iQIYI + others. This has only started happening in the last few years. Bed Friend was on 3 different platforms (GaGa, iQIYI, YT) - even though it was originally announced for Viki! I honestly don’t know how to track this, so I tend to log the spreadsheet with my preferred watching platform for that language, this will throw the numbers off for those platforms.

Since I join everything my platform preference choice is based on:

the quality of the subs/captions

the quality of the user experience

My subs experience tends to be:

YT = best for Thai

Viki = best for Korean and sometimes Japanese, okay for Thai

Gaga = best for Chinese and sometimes Japanese but very weak Thai subs

My user interface preference is:

YT, Viki, Gaga in that order then everyone else with iQIYI at the bottom. This is because I watch on mobile devices.

ASplay, WeTV, former Line, Amarin TV, Netflix and the other smaller suppliers (and apps) will all be grouped together for this assessment. Since they have so few offerings, by default I would not recommend subbing those platforms unless you are a hard stan of all BL with disposable income.

Super bad BLs that I watched back in the day on grey sites or YT (pre 2020 crack down) because there were no other options and I am a completest are still listed as grey. I would never suggest anyone watch these shows anyway, so I don’t care if they have now shown up on legitimate sites. If they are somewhere, it’s likely Gaga. Which means Gaga’s percentage of the market share is probably UNDER reported by my numbers.

Movies and cinema-only releases that never got international distribution fall into the “grey” category. If I got it off an indie subber, since that too is technically illegal, it falls into the grey category as well.

Final note: This is from a USA based IP, I don’t use a VPN, so platforms assessments are from that perspective.

Spring 2023, current state of the spreadsheet. AKA

Our BL Data Set

Total # of BLs = 564

# of BLs ongoing (so finished runtime is best guess) = 18

Just Answer the Damn Question

Round Number of Actual BLs - % of market share

YouTube = 218 - 38.6%

Gaga = 148 - 26.2%

Viki = 77 - 13.7%

Grey = 53 - 9.4%

BLs I’ve never been able to find on any platform (including grey): 36 - 6.4%

iQIYI = 14 - 2.5%

Other platforms = 12 - 2.2%

Margin of error: +- 1% (look I’m just not driven to be that accurate here)

Subscription Platforms Breakdown - % of market share

Eliminating YouTube, Grey, and missing BLs. Viki is included because I do not know which of theirs are behind the paywall and which are not.

Total subscribe-only BLs: 257

Gaga = 59%

Viki = 30%

iQIYI = 6%

Sml sites/apps = 5%

(rounded)

Okay but how about actual runtime?

Gaga = 360 hrs - 44%

Viki = 311 hrs - 38%

iQIYI = 98 hrs - 12%

Sml sites = 50 hrs - 6%

Anyway you cut it... on pure BL standards...

GAGAOOLALA WINS

Other consideration? In most places Gaga is ALSO the cheapest per month option.

Final Thoughts

YouTube (America’s Alphabet)

YT has the most pieces of content and longest overall runtime because of all the Thai stuff. ALSO bootlegs show up there, especially the early Chinese and Japanese stuff. They will often get taken down and you have to hunt for it again. YT takedowns come in waves, every 6 months or so.

However, GMMTV, some Star Hunter, some Studio Wabi Sabi, all the Vietnamese & Pinoy stuff (until now), and a few choice bits of Strongberry are YT content.

YT’s app is the best UX of a poor set (for me), but the web based YT at Premium level doesn’t work with Firefox. I use YT for work A LOT, so the fee for Premium ($13.99) and lack of ads + downloads (travel) is worth it for me, but I think it probubly isn’t if you’re on a budget.

GaGaOOLaLa (Taiwan’s Portico Media)

Of the pay to play platforms, GaGa dominates with the most BLs by all metrics. If you’re intersted in darker BL, GL and other queer content, very high heat, the history of the genre, or Japanese stuff - most of that is on GaGa. Also all of Strongberry and some of the newer queerer series (like My Ride).

At $6.99 a month it’s ALSO one of the cheapest options.

Gaga is based out of Taiwan, the only Asian country with marriage equality (as of 2022) AND it specializes in exclusively queer content so they need our support. If you can afford them, you should support them. GaGa is the only platform that will always have more BL, guaranteed (so long as Taiwan is autonomous). Ironically, you can follow their YT channel for previews and teasers to their latest series, short content, and acquisitions.

Their app isn’t great, but their web-based interface is fine. That said: there’s no categories (way to organize), and the way they roll out new episodes is unintuitive. Their mobile app ALWAYS pauses not mater what you actually want it to do and the lack of the quick skip ahead is frustrating.

Viki (Japan’s Rakutan)

Viki specializes in longer series, mostly Thai, Taiwanese, and a few of the Chinese bromances. It also now has a lot of KBLs. But in general only more recent stuff (2018 is as far back as they go).

At $4.99-$11.99 depending, it’s low to average cost. I’m not sure which one (if any) you actually need for BL. Most of my favorite new shows tend to air on Viki, and I like Rakutan as a parent company, so I don’t mind supporting them.

They happen to have 5 of my top ten BLs, which is A LOT (since I hand out 10/10 so rarely). So for me they host the objective best BL content.

They have the second best app (after YT, it’s kinda a combo of YT + Netflix) but the lack of a speed-up option is frustrating for many. Also the desktop version is super buggy. But they DO have categories you can name and control, which I love.

Other Platforms

iQIYI - is Mainland China based (hello Baidu, you ugly fucker), so the platform getting/pimping BL for an international audience only is… how do I put this?… oh yeah: shitty. I will often rename it Icky, for this reason. It clearly wants to break the market, but… do we want it in the market at all? How long will they host BLs? When will they be shut down and censored? I would say it’s only worth it if you really also like Chinese dramas. And even so, Viki also has A LOT of those. Unfortunately for us, Wabi Sabi seems to have cut a distribution deal with Icky. And, of course, there is the KinnPorsche situation (so ironic that Icky hosts the highest heat). The interface is a nightmare. They have the WORST app, even when you pay, it serves ads, some of which alpha crash the platform.

Netflix - here in the states it almost never has new BL content. Sometimes some old stuff. They tested the waters with SOTUS and Love Sick. I have a feeling they aren’t particularly intersted in this market. So if BL is what you watch, don’t bother. At last check they still had Gameboys and Your Name Engraved Herein and Wish You.

WeTV - acts like LineTV used to, has Manner of Death and We Best Love and a few of the more obscure Thai pulps. But probably not worth it for anyone but a completest.

Grey - Unknown or No Distributor

Indie subbers: there’s some BLs that you can watch by supporting indie subbers who supply private links to their personal versions. This is not legal, but it is a slightly nicer way to get stuff you can’t find anywhere else. I’ve done this for some Thai and Japanese stuff.

I find the leads for these sources here on Tumblr. If someone is giffing and talking about a show and I don’t know how they are getting hold of it, I simply ask.

DramaCool (USA) & Dailymotion (France) & Bilibili (China) and others - AKA the grey space. You SHOULD feel guilty using these sites, you’re stealing, but it’s where many of us go for BL we can’t find anywhere else (in defiance of what few morals we have left). These are BLs that originally sold to very odd platforms or never got international distribution. Unfortunately, some of my favorites are in this category like Great Men Academy or Seven Days. It’s a nightmare. The ads are terrible and the virus/bug risk is high. They get taken down all the time. Or the leads are faked. I use an old computer to access and suggest you take all necessary precautions yourself.

P’ABL SOAP BOX TIME

Look I work tangential to the entertainment industry, so if you thought I wasn’t going to learn you a little on this subject, you got another think coming.

HERE’S THE THING:

You watch a show on one of the grey platforms, ESPECIALLY if it actually has distribution on Gaga or Viki - you better review that shit. You spread the word and advocate for that content here, on MDL, on social media, with fan art, I don’t care. You steal it, you find a way to pay back in your time and/or creativity.

I get it if you’re poor, but don’t be a goddamn scab. Find a way to reward content creators with non-monetary support. If you had the time to watch the thing you stole, you have time to pay it forward in some substantial way. Do this even if you didn’t steal it but got it for free. Do this if you read fanfic. Do this with articles, blogs, books. Do this with podcasts.

It isn’t hard to be a decent human and support creators. Don’t you dare just TAKE. If you’re that kind of person stop reading this blog immediately. I don’t want anything to do with you and you don’t deserve my words or my spreadsheet of Doom.

/rant

MORE ON THIS TOPIC WITH FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS

Original post on this subject that I adapted for this post.

(source)

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year

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Adobe steals your color

When a company breaks a product you rely on — wrecking decades of work — it’s natural to feel fury. Companies know this, so they try to deflect your rage by blaming their suppliers. Sometimes, it’s suppliers who are at fault — but other times, there is plenty of blame to go around.

For example, when Apple deleted all the working VPNs from its Chinese App Store and backdoored its Chinese cloud servers, it blamed the Chinese government. But the Chinese state knew that Apple had locked its devices so that its Chinese customers couldn’t install third-party apps.

That meant that an order to remove working VPNs and apps that used offshore clouds from the App Store would lock Apple customers into Chinese state surveillance. The order to block privacy tools was a completely foreseeable consequence of Apple’s locked-down “ecosystem.”

https://locusmag.com/2021/01/cory-doctorow-neofeudalism-and-the-digital-manor/

In 2013, Adobe started to shift its customers to the cloud, replacing apps like Photoshop and Illustrator with “Software as a Service” (“SaaS”) versions that you would have to pay rent on, every month, month after month, forever. It’s not hard to understand why this was an attractive proposition for Adobe!

Adobe, of course, billed its SaaS system as good for its customers — rather than paying thousands of dollars for its software up front, you could pay a few dollars (anywhere from $10-$50) every month instead. Eventually, of course, you’d end up paying more, assuming these were your professional tools, which you expected to use for the rest of your life.

For people who work in prepress, a key part of their Adobe tools is integration with Pantone. Pantone is a system for specifying color-matching. A Pantone number corresponds to a specific tint that’s either made by mixing the four standard print colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black, AKA “CMYK”), or by applying a “spot” color. Spot colors are added to print jobs after the normal CMYK passes — if you want a stripe of metallic gold or a blob of hot pink, you specify its Pantone number and the printer loads up a separate ink and runs your media through its printer one more time.

Pantone wants to license this system out, so it needs some kind of copyrightable element. There aren’t many of these in the Pantone system! There’s the trademark, but that’s a very thin barrier. Trademark has a broad “nominative use” exception: it’s not a trademark violation to say, “Pantone 448C corresponds to the hex color #4a412a.”

Perhaps there’s a copyright? Well yes, there’s a “thin” database copyright on the Pantone values and their ink equivalents. Anyone selling a RIP or printer that translates Pantone numbers to inks almost certainly has to license Pantone’s copyright there. And if you wanted to make an image-editing program that conveyed the ink data to a printer, you’d best take a license.

All of this is suddenly relevant because it appears that things have broken down between Adobe and Pantone. Rather than getting Pantone support bundled in with your Adobe apps, you must now pay $21/month for a Pantone plugin.

https://twitter.com/funwithstuff/status/1585850262656143360

Remember, Adobe’s apps have moved to the cloud. Any change that Adobe makes in its central servers ripples out to every Adobe user in the world instantaneously. If Adobe makes a change to its apps that you don’t like, you can’t just run an older version. SaaS vendors like to boast that with cloud-based apps, “you’re always running the latest version!”

The next version of Adobe’s apps will require you to pay that $21/month Pantone fee, or any Pantone-defined colors in your images will render as black. That’s true whether you created the file last week or 20 years ago.

Doubtless, Adobe will blame Pantone for this, and it’s true that Pantone’s greed is the root cause here. But this is an utterly foreseeable result of Adobe’s SaaS strategy. If Adobe’s customers were all running their apps locally, a move like this on Pantone’s part would simply cause every affected customer to run older versions of Adobe apps. Adobe wouldn’t be able to sell any upgrades and Pantone wouldn’t get any license fees.

But because Adobe is in the cloud, its customers don’t have that option. Adobe doesn’t have to have its users’ backs because if it caves to Pantone, users will still have to rent its software every month, and because that is the “latest version,” those users will also have to rent the Pantone plugin every month — forever.

What’s more, while there may not be any licensable copyright in a file that simply says, “Color this pixel with Pantone 448C” (provided the program doesn’t contain ink-mix descriptions), Adobe’s other products — its RIPs and Postscript engines — do depend on licensable elements of Pantone, so the company can’t afford to tell Pantone to go pound sand.

Like the Chinese government coming after Apple because they knew that any change that Apple made to its service would override its customers’ choices, Pantone came after Adobe because they knew that SaaS insulated Adobe from its customers’ wrath.

Adobe customers can’t even switch to its main rival, Figma. Adobe’s just dropped $20b to acquire that company and ensure that its customers can’t punish it for selling out by changing vendors.

Pantone started out as a tech company: a way to reliably specify ink mixes in different prepress houses and print shops. Today, it’s an “IP” company, where “IP” means “any law or policy that allows me to control the conduct of my customers, critics or competitors.”

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

That’s likewise true of Adobe. The move to SaaS is best understood as a means to exert control over Adobe’s customers and competitors. Combined with anti-competitive killer acquisitions that gobble up any rival that manages to escape this control, and you have a hostage situation that other IP companies like Pantone can exploit.

A decade or so ago, Ginger Coons created Open Colour Standard, an attempt to make an interoperable alternative to Pantone. Alas, it seems dormant today:

http://adaptstudio.ca/ocs/

Owning colors is a terrible idea and technically, it’s not possible to do so. Neither UPS Brown nor John Deere Green are “owned” in any meaningful sense, but the companies certainly want you to believe that they are. Inspired by them and Pantone, people with IP brain-worms keep trying to turn colors into property:

https://onezero.medium.com/crypto-copyright-bdf24f48bf99

The law is clear that colors aren’t property, but by combining SaaS, copyright, trademark, and other tech and policies, it is becoming increasingly likely that some corporation will stealing the colors out from under our very eyes.

[Image ID: A Pantone swatchbook; it slowly fades to grey, then to black.]

#pluralistic

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go-learn-esperanto · 8 months

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Also you mentioned a VPN, but are there any free ones? Specifically like a Firefox extension or something like that? I can't pay money for one, and i'm gonna switch to Firefox soon anyways (long story). Also ik I said this before but thx for the kitties :D

I'm not very knowledgeable on PC VPNs but I found this article linking some

What you've got to be aware is that if they're free they're always gonna have limitations.

For your phone I'm only knowledgeable on Android. Opera has a built in limited VPN. It works only on the Opera browser though.

However I've found an app that basically works as a VPN for your whole phone

It's limited in servers and I recommend you keep checking the VPN symbol from time to time as after a while it automatically turns off the VPN I think but it works for all apps that use your location which is really good.

I went looking and found this one that has a bunch more server options

It can have very long ads but that's the price for being free. Using it right now and it works 👍

I've now also tried this third option

At first it may appear like it has more options than the last one but don't be fooled! Most of the servers are premium. It does have better options if you want your location to be the US or Canada but that's mostly it. The Super Unlimited Proxy is better for European server options.

Well that's what I found for free! I hope it helps even if I know it's probable that you have an Apple device instead of Android because that's the US norm. —_—

#ask #Anonymous #VPN #Resources #Also no worries!#Don't be embarrassed by your ask #We all feel down sometimes and it wasn't something bad to vent #I don't feel burdened by your ask. I quite enjoy trying to help people.

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vladdyissues · 4 months

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I really want to read your fanfics but AO3 is blocked in my country 😥 It's so sad!

Somehow Fanfiction.net is still available. I know it is too much to ask but if you ever decide to create an account on Fanfiction.net, please, let us know 👉🏻👈🏻

I actually have a Fanfiction.net account since 2002*, but I haven't used it in quite some time. AO3 is where I post all my fanfiction these days**, mainly because they would not be allowed on FFN for their ratings and explicit content. Both of the Danny Phantom fanfics I currently have on AO3 would not be allowed on FFN.

* I was around for both of the Fanfiction.net NC-17 purges and was able to avoid having some of my explicit stories deleted by simply changing the rating. Not the best practice; I now try to avoid doing stuff like that out of deference for my readers. I don't want anyone to get shocked by something that isn't properly tagged, rated or warned.

** Until last summer, I maintained a personal fanfiction archive using eFiction software on my own server, which would be accessible to everyone. However, the software expired and is no longer compatible with my latest version of PHP, so I had to shut it down. I'd been running it since 2004.

There is some good news, though! I downloaded my DP fanfics from AO3 and posted them on my Neocities account:

It's not the same as browsing AO3, but it's the best solution I can offer for now. Maybe I'll start downloading and posting all my fiction there. Let me know if you have any difficulty accessing Neocities, anon.

Additional:

I'm not sure if it's lawful in your country, but it might be possible for you to use a VPN to access AO3. I don't know if this is an option for you in your situation, or what devices you're using, but Mozilla Firefox is the best browser for privacy, and you can download an extension for a free VPN. I use a different type of service for my VPN, so I can't offer personal recommendations, but I invite anyone reading this to chime in with any tips or recs they may have.

#asks #ao3 #fanfiction #fanfiction.net #neocities #vpn #blocked sites #maybe this will be incentive for me to work on my neocities site #everyone should get a neocities page it's fun!#i'd love to see an old school DP fandom network sprout up there

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polkadotsunshine · 9 months

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how i pirate music

i'm seeing old posts hating on spotify circulating again, so i'll describe how i listen to music without paying for streaming

discovery through cracked spotify

i discover a lot of music through cracked versions of spotify. i'm in a number of circles that do music shares and i stream recommendations a few times before i decide to download anything

windows

i use the spot x modified client on my desktop: https://github.com/amd64fox/SpotX/. be sure to cancel your spotify subscription and remove your payment information before logging into any cracked version of spotify

android

these websites come and go, but you should be able to look up "spotify apk" and find a one button installation. you can get an up-to-date safe link by visiting the database in this reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ApksApps/comments/pcy1io/apksapps_official_megathread_apksme/

mac

i don't want to put anything weird on my work computer, which uses mac os, but if i control the music through my phone, then select my mac as the audio output device via spotify, i can listen ad free. here's the feature if you've not used it before: https://support.spotify.com/us/article/spotify-connect/

downloading music

file share

i download almost everything with soulseek, a p2p file sharing program: http://www.soulseekqt.net/. first you'll make a directory of music that you already have (say, from bandcamp) and soulseek will broadcast that to the world. you can then search other people's files for music you want and download it there

torrenting

i use the torrent client deluge: https://deluge-torrent.org/ and get my links from https://www.1377x.to/. you should use a vpn when torrenting; i happen to use surfshark because it's cheap. it is not perfect and if you want to torrent stuff there's better guides out there explaining how to do it safely

paying, but sticking it to the man

i buy more music now than i ever did when paying for streaming. i personally just use bandcamp, but i know people who use/rip CDs and other physical media. it's nice to support small artists and to upload big artists onto soulseek so other people can find it

audio quality

downloaded music is likely going to be higher quality than streamed music. if you don't know anything about audio quality i'd recommend downloading 320kps mp3 files. you can add a minbitrate filter at the bottom of your soulseek window. you've probably heard of FLAC before, but if you want to see how deep it goes, look up DSD or SACD

listening to downloaded music

windows

i use foobar2000: https://www.foobar2000.org/. it's designed to be modular and customizable, so it takes a little fiddling to get running. to start using it, i recommend: making a playlist and adding a file location of all your music (which should be your soulseek up and down directories). you can later make playlists of specific albums and tracks. then, look online for components like a theme or last.fm scrobbles if you want that kind of thing. last.fm scrobbles can be a great way to discover new music

android

foobar2000 recently released a mobile version but i haven't tried that yet. i use vinyl music player for no reason in particular: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.poupa.vinylmusicplayer

final notes

this isn't about doing music better; i just happen to like doing things this way. i still hang out and listen to my friends' cytube on loop. i blast nightcore on youtube. the goal is to listen to music and have a good time so do whatever is best for you

#music

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idonatedallofmyinternalorgans · 8 months

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Candle’s whole exit interview but I wrote it while moving

You’re very welcome

Indigo: Welcome dear listeners my name is [idfk what they said] and I could not be more eager for today’s guest. No one carries a more powerful presence, she’s a voice in the wind that I long to capture even the slightest murmur of. In the darkest of times, she offers all the guiding light. Prepare yourself, mortals, for Inanimate Insanity’s own.. Candle!

Candle: Thank you for the hyper aesthetic introduction, Indigo. You truly set the scene in a manner that could not possibly be broken by any manner of interruption.

Indigo: Thanks? Hmm, that’s awfully specific.

Life Ring: Interrupting here! Ahem, to bring you this video’s surf-tastic sponsor, SurfShark VPN!

SurfShark is an app and browser extension that let’s you change your digital location, AKA your computer or phone, to another country! So you can access the internet as if you’re actually there! Ever want to access a website or watch a show that’s unavailable in your territory? Well, with SurfShark VPN, that’ll be no problemo for you! For example, hit shows like Friends, The Office and Twin Peaks aren’t available on Netflix in the United States. But with SurfShark VPN, simply switch your virtual location to the country the show is available in, and voilà! Now they’re totally viewable! SurfShark VPN will also encrypt your online data for that extra razzle dazzle of security when browsing. Waiting to catch that flight at the airport and using that free public Wi-Fi? Well, you wouldn’t want to get hacked, would you? Well, with SurfShark VPN, if anyone is trying to snoop on you online, they won’t be able to see what you’re doing or where you’re doing it all from! And you can use your account on an unlimited amount of devices! Whether it be your Meecintosh, Mephone or, you know, any other real world equivalent! Purchasing a 24 months VPN plan is seriously one of the best options you can find now, and SurfShark has a great offer! Three months extra! Just scan the QR code on the screen or click the link in the description, and use my Promo Code: ANIMATION with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Oo-wee! Alright, now back to the interview!

Candle: And there it is, the return to your carefully crafted atmosphere. Despite the pause, your enthusiasm is already healing the deep wound in my soul.

Indigo: I’m glad to hear it. So, Did you actually feel hurt by this elimination? Cause if-so, it seems like you must’ve held back emotions when you got voted out, even Mephone said you were oddly calm.

Candle: To be honest, I always had sensed my time was drawing near. In fact, I felt as though I was dodging the thralls of time ever since I avoided the elimination in Episode 11. Perhaps I have been running on borrowed time ever since. It was only a matter of time.

Indigo: Oh, so in that case, Do you feel it’s worth staying on Indefinite Island for another chance?

Candle: Oh yes, I will be staying on Indefinite Island. I still feel that I have a purpose here in the game.

Indigo: Fantastic, I’m sure there’s still lots you can do here on the island while you wait, like your aura stand. How do you read auras?

Candle: It’s definitely an art. To put it as simply as I can, I use my third eye chakra to see into the depths of an individual soul. An aura is emitted during this process and the rest flows out naturally. In a sense, it’s communicating with someone as they bear their soul.

Indigo: Ohh! Speaking of which, you’ve had so many great connections out in the game. Do you think you may have made it any farther is Silver Spoon wasn’t a contestant? Or do you think he was helpful in how far you got?

Candle: Who can say? The strings of fate are ever unwinding and intertwining in new ways. I guess it would have just depended upon what type of game I wish to play. I will say this; there was a time I was sure he’d move on like everyone else, but had not. It was.. fascinating.

Indigo: Absolutely. I just want to say that you played a great game! But what is your biggest regret?

Candle: Thank you so much. That really means the world. I suppose it may be how I dealt with Yin-Yang when moving away from the Thinkers or rather, lack thereof, meeting Yin and Yang was definitely a highlight of my journey and I’m so proud of their personal growth. On a separate thought, I wish I would have started to play for myself a little sooner. I was so enthralled with aiding in my teammates’ victories and personal growth, that I may have forgotten about myself for too long. I’ve learned that it’s okay to take time to take care of oneself as well. Healthy body, happy mind, healthy aura, happy life.

Indigo: This question came from a viewer in the middle of an emergency, which is why I saved it until now. Let’s just see here.. Candle? I forgot how to breathe.

Candle: Oh my! Quick, call Dr Fizz!

Indigo: Great idea, I’ll message this listener with your advice long after this interview.

Candle: Praise the Earth Mother

Indigo: Next question. Candle, do you think Silver has any chance of winning the game?

Candle: Yes indeed. He’ll have a one in six chance; who’d have thought?

Indigo: Not me, it’s a steep competition. Did you ever feel threatened by anyone in the game, both strategy-wise and challenge-wise?

Candle: Oh, absolutely! Nickel and Balloon’s baneful friendship made for a formidable alliance, even if Balloon may have been wearing some rose tinted glasses. I’d also say Clover, as her lucky abilities defy the laws of fate and nature altogether. Although, how is one truly to compete with that? She is sweet though.

Indigo: Very sweet indeed. What is your favourite thing to do in your free time?

Candle: This may surprise you, but I do enjoy playing tabletop RPGs. I love creating stories with my friends. My favourite class is warlock.

Indigo: Hm, feels fitting, well with you and your magical abilities. Why is it that when you had swapped bodies with Silver, he couldn’t fly when he put out your flame?

Candle: Oh, Indigo, one cannot learn to fly by pouring water onto oneself.

Indigo: Ahh, of course. Will you teach me how to fly?

Candle: Step one, remove water out of the equation.

Indigo: ..remove water.. also noted. But any insight in general into how your Inner-Flame works?

Candle: Well, ‘works’ implies a sense of ability. As though I’m tapping into some whimsical superpower. However, while the Inner-Flame shares my soul, it carries a mind of its own. That’s why when someone connects to it, they best be wary, lest it consume you. But we’re on pretty nice terms, so we’re fine.

Indigo: Oh.. wow. I’m not quite sure if the flying is quite worth a hassle. Nextly, why is it that you decide to split up Balloon and Nickel? They were fun!

Candle: You mean at the glacier challenge? Well, Silver and I had established ourselves as key players of the Loony-Balloony alliance, as the two who ensured their survival against the Thinkers, the next step was to ensure that we weren’t the lowest on the pecking order. Therefore, poking at the inherently unstable relationship between Balloon and Nickel was our surest bet disrupting their trio with Bot. However, witnessing the aftermath, even I was surprised at how quick their bond was to snap. I sense that if they cannot work this out soon, it will be their downfall.

Indigo: Ooh, spooky. Following all of the craziness in that last vote, do you respect Balloon’s decision for voting for you?

Candle: Yes and no. Yes because he made a strategic choice. Can’t hold it against him if you’re participating in a game like Inanimate Insanity. And no because part of me feels like he may have been swayed into it by a certain someone who is just as strategic.

Indigo: You made plenty of bold strategic decisions as well. How do you feel about the whole villain arc you went through? Did it feel good?

Candle: Goodness! Me, a villain? Was it really that bad of me to want to try and focus on my own needs for once? My teammates had all started to find their own paths, and I felt like I was soon to be left behind. Such as the nature of the game. If being there for myself when I felt lost makes me a villain, then I guess it was an arc for me.

Indigo: I hear you. Speaking of villains, to wrap this up, I’d love to know how it feels to have left Silver Spoon behind. He was very sad to see you were eliminated, not sure if he’s the same.

Candle: Was he now? Interesting. Perhaps we will need to reconnect regarding that.

Indigo: Wonderfully vague as always! Thank you, Candle! Best of luck whenever the rejoin challenge comes along. And to our Inanimate audience, a very special thank you for all of your questions. Curiosity is a powerful thing! Be sure to subscribe to catch the next opportunity to have your question read. This has been Indigo Zircon Rose with IPR, signing off!

#inanimate insanity #ii #candle ii #candle inanimate insanity #i was hyperfixating so bad #silver spoon ii #inanimate insanity invitational

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feliciafancybottom · 22 days

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Still no luck with Etsy 😭 😭 😭 My best friend's son has an Etsy store and she said that I can send my listings to her and she'll have him put them in his shop for me. He is saving money for his top surgery, so I can try and promote his art too and hopefully help him get more sales too. He is wildly talented so that won't be difficult. Still, it's not ideal. I'd rather be in control of my own business. I mean, I am appreciative, it is an incredibly kind offer but my friend has so much on her plate and I hate to add to her load. She assures me it's not a problem but I still feel like it's an added stressor that she doesn't need, plus I want to be in control of my own business. I want to be able to know what is being posted and when. I have been looking into it and I have narrowed the reason for my suspension down to two possibilities, one more likely than the other. First and the one that I doubt it the problem it that my Etsy account is in my maiden name and my bank account is still in my married name because I am lazy and never bothered changing it back when I got divorced. I can easily prove that by showing them my divorce certificate if that is the problem, or even change the account name if it is really such a big deal. The more likely problem, I think, is that I was using a VPN because I live in Australia and LOTS of the shows I like don't stream here so I often have to pretend that I live in the UK or US if I want to see them. I was watching Masters of Sex while I was setting up my store and it didn't even occur to me that it would set off alarms with the Etsy bots. Oops. I have an email address that I can write a very apologetic letter to and hope that I get someone sympathetic who will give me another chance but if not... I don't know. Maybe when my son gets home from interstate I could set up a store using his details, but then I have to come up with a new shop name. Do you know how long it took me to think of a name for the one that got suspended? I mean, to think of a name that wasn't already taken? Approximately six thousand years. Fuck. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to throw them my way. I looked into selling elsewhere but there isn't really anywhere that has the same reach as Etsy. I am already at a disadvantage with such a niche market. I mean, I am not opposed to making other themes if people request them but Good Omens and Shennant are my hyperfixations and left to my own devices, that is what I like making. So if I take my weird little GO, DT& MS dolls to a site than no one has heard of, I figure I will never sell anything unless I bec0me really, really amazing at marketing. It's funny because when I was at Uni, I was always the one that got put in charge of all the bloody marketing projects and I hated it. And I still hate it. I'm terrible at it. All because I made one decent poster once. God, I whine a lot. I did sell a couple of old paintings this week so that was good. Like the grown up I totally am, instead of using the money to pay the electricity bill that is due next week I bought David Tennant boots. This time next week I may not have a light source or heating (I live in Queensland, we don't need heating) but I will have cool purple Docs. I'm just joking. I will pay the electricity bill. I just probably should have been responsible and done that first but, whatever. I am immature and it cheered me up for like five minutes.

#etsy #good omens #shennant #good omens fanart #doc martens #just talking crap #david tennant #michael sheen #comfort shopping #vpn #oops

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catchontvshop · 2 months

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Catchon TV

Our review delves into Catchon TV, a catchontv.shop IPTV service in the UK, known for its extensive content range and compatibility with various devices like Amazon Firestick. We explore Catchon TV features and subscription plans, while also introducing “The Best Alternative to Catchon TV in 2024 — Catchon TV,” to aid in comparing both services for your UK IPTV needs. This guide offers valuable insights, whether seeking a new subscription or a better alternative.Low Prices Guarantee,+17000 Channels,Compatible with All Devices,FHD & SD Channels,Anti Freeze Stable Technology,99.99% Up-time Servers,Available Worldwide,VPN Allowed,24/7 Premium Support,7-Days Money-Back Guarantee,100% Secure Payments Website: https://catchontv.shop/

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weirdthoughtsandideas · 3 months

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Ok I saw the first episode of Siempre fui yo S2

Since I got a vpn I thought why not check everything out while I can. I gotta say, I’m feeling like it’s gonna be a completely other story this season. Last season wrapped up things nicely. I think what they are trying to do is have one mystery every season. And the mystery this season? A thief at the island!

Yeah. They’re at an island. And, they need to leave all of their devices locked up because Pipe is so famous now that he does not want to risk the press coming there.

Honestly, having written murder mysteries and currently writing one now, I’m like 🫣 but I don’t think there’s any murder mystery going on. Though, last season they had someone getting shot by a gun and characters getting tied up in a car, so maybe.

Things have changed a lot. No one is together anymore, except for Sammy and Kevin. I did feel like Angie and Charly just were ”a heat that burned out quickly” thing. But Lupe and Noah?? They had this WHOOOLE back and forth only for not being together at the beginning of this. Lupe is now enganged to some dude who reminds me of Benicio (but it’s not him). Still, seeing her fiancé I am like 😧 he doesn’t feel that great

Just from this one episode alone, I’m getting the vibes of this being some fanfiction where everyone goes to a private island, all couples broken up with each other, and then suddenly they’re gonna get back together by just being on the island alone all the time. I also get Tini the movie vibes and now I’m like ”this is the Soy Luna Tini-the-movie-esque movie we never got where all the characters we love are gone and the mc instead hangs out with characters we never have seen before but she treats like her best friends”. But this is also… much more adult.

Also I still ship Angie and Lupe I’m looking forward to the pool scene of them I saw bts footage from

#siempre fui yo

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beardedmrbean · 1 year

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BETHESDA - The mayor of College Park was arrested for possession and distribution of child pornography Thursday morning, according to officials.

47-year-old Patrick Wojahn (D) faces up to 360 years in prison after being charged by Prince George's County Police with 40 counts of possession of child exploitative material and 16 counts of distribution of child exploitative material.

Police say on February 17, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified PGPD that a social media account in Prince George's County distributed suspected child pornography in January. Police say they investigated the matter and found the social media account with the screen name "skippy_md" belonged to Wojahn. Investigators believe Wojahn was using a virtual private network (VPN) to mask his location when accessing the social media account.

Investigators say they linked the social media account to Wojahn after a subpoena revealed that his College Park government email address was listed as the recovery email for the account. They also discovered Wojahn's phone number and home IP address were linked to the account.

Detectives served a search warrant at Wojahn's home on February 28, recovering multiple cell phones, a storage device, a tablet and a computer. According to court documents, investigators discovered several pieces of child pornography involving prepubescent boys on the devices.

Wojahn was elected mayor of College Park in November 2015, after serving as a City Councilmember for eight years. Wojahn submitted his letter of resignation Wednesday night, effective Thursday morning, according to a statement from the City of College Park.

"On February 28, 2023, a search warrant was executed on my residence as part of an ongoing police investigation. I have cooperated fully, and will continue to cooperate, with law enforcement," said Wojahn in his letter of resignation. "While this investigation does not involve any official city business of any kind, it is in the best interests of our community that I step aside and not serve as a distraction."

Mayor Pro Tem Denise Mitchell will serve as presiding officer until a Special Election is held and a new mayor is sworn in, according to the City of College Park.

"The City of College Park was made aware this morning of former Mayor Patrick Wojahn’s arrest by Prince George’s County Police and the charges that have been filed. We are shocked and disturbed by the news; what has come to light in this investigation is a total surprise to us. The City knows that this news is distressing and difficult for our community, and we encourage our residents to seek any help they feel necessary to work through this trying time. This is an on-going and active investigation. The City will respect the process of this investigation and will cooperate fully with requests for information. All related media inquiries about the arrest and charges should be directed to the Prince George’s County Police Department."

#nunyas news

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year

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How Apple could open its App Store without really opening its App Store

Last week, Mark Gurman published a blockbuster story in Bloomberg, revealing Apple’s plan to allow third-party Ios App Stores to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Apple didn’t confirm it, but I believe it. Gurman’s sourcing was impeccable:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/will-apple-allow-users-to-install-third-party-app-stores-sideload-in-europe

This is a huge deal. While Apple’s “curated” approach to software delivers benefits to users, those benefits are unreliable. As I explain in a new post for EFF’s Deeplinks blog, Apple only fights for its users when doing so is good for its shareholders. But when something is good for Apple shareholders and bad for its customers, the shareholders win, every time:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/heres-how-apple-could-open-its-app-store-without-really-opening-its-app-store

To see how this works, just consider Apple’s record in China. First, Apple removed all working VPN apps from its Chinese App Store, to facilitate state spying on its Chinese customers:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-apple-vpn/apple-says-it-is-removing-vpn-services-from-china-app-store-idUSKBN1AE0BQ

Then Apple backdoored its Chinese cloud servers, to further facilitate state surveillance of Chinese Iphone owners:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.html

Then, just last month, Apple neutered Airdrop’s P2P file-sharing in order to help the Chinese state in its campaign to stamp out protests:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/11/apple-limits-iphone-filesharing-feature-used-by-protesters-in-china

Apple claims that its App Store is a fortress that protects its users against external threats. But the Iphone is designed to block its owners from choosing rival app stores, which means that when Apple betrays its customers, the fortress walls become prison walls. Governments know this, and they rely on it when they demand that Apple compromise its customers to totalitarian surveillance:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/11/foreseeable-consequences/#airdropped

Now, there’s an interesting contrast here. When the DFBI demanded that Apple backdoor its devices to aid in the prosecution of the San Bernardino shooters, Apple took its customers’ side, bravely refusing to compromise its devices:

https://www.eff.org/cases/apple-challenges-fbi-all-writs-act-order

That was the right call to make. Does it mean that Apple doesn’t value privacy for its Chinese customers’ privacy as much as it values it for American customers? Does it mean that Apple respects the CCP more than it respects the FBI?

Not at all. It just means that China was able to threaten Apple’s shareholders in ways that the DoJ couldn’t. Standing up to the Chinese government would threaten Apple’s access to 350 million middle-class Chinese potential customers, and an equal number of Chinese low-waged workers who could be tapped to manufacture Apple devices under brutal labor conditions at rock-bottom prices.

Standing up to the FBI didn’t threaten Apple’s shareholders the way that standing up to the CCP would, so Apple stood up for its American users and sold out its Chinese users.

But that doesn’t mean that US Apple customers are safe. In the US, Apple defends its customers from rival commercial threats, but actively prevents those customers from defending themselves against Apple’s own commercial threats.

Famously, Apple took its customers side over Facebook’s, adding an amazing, best-in-class, one-click opt-out to tracking, which is costing Facebook $10 billion per year. You love to see it:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/02/facebook-says-apple-ios-privacy-change-will-cost-10-billion-this-year.html

On the other hand…Apple secretly continued to its customers’ clicks, taps, gestures, apps and keystrokes, even after those customers explicitly opted out of tracking, and used that data to build nonconsensual dossiers on every Ios owner for use in its own ad-targeting business:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Apple defended its customers against Facebook’s predation, but not its own. When Apple’s shareholder interests are on the line, Apple’s App Store becomes a prison, not a fortress: because Apple controls which software you can install, it can (and does) block you from installing apps that extend its block on commercial surveillance to Apple itself.

Then there’s the app tax. Apple charges app makers a 30% commission on all their sales, which means that certain businesses literally can’t exist. Take audiobooks: audiobook sellers have 20% gross margins on their wares. If they sell their audiobooks through apps and pay a 30% vig to Apple, they lose money on every sale. Thus, the only Ios app that will sell you an audiobook is Apple’s own Apple Books.

Apple Books requires authors and publishers to wrap their books in Apple’s DRM, and the DMCA makes it a felony to supply your own readers with a tool to convert the books you published to a rival’s format. That means that readers have to surrender every book they’ve bought on Apple Books if you switch platforms and ask them to follow you. It’s not just social media that turns creators into digital sharecroppers.

It’s not any better when it comes to the businesses that can eke out an existence under the app tax’s yoke. These businesses pass their extra costs on to Apple’s customers, who ultimately bear the app tax burden. Because every app maker has to pay the app tax, they all tacitly collude to hike their prices. And because mobile is a duopoly, the app tax is also buried in every Android app, because Google has exactly the same app tax as Apple (Google will also be forced to remove barriers to third-party app stores under the DMA).

All this to say that it is a terrible error to impute morals or values to giant corporations. Apple and Google are both immortal colony organisms that view human beings as inconvenient gut flora. They are remorseless paperclip-maximizing artificial life forms. They are, in other words, limited liability corporations.

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/paperclip-maximizer

“If you’re not paying for the product, you’re the product” sounds good, but it’s absolutely wrong. You can’t bribe a paperclip-maximizing colony organism into treating you with dignity by spending money with it. Companies’ treatment of you depends on what they can get away with — not their “personalities.” Apple doesn’t respect privacy — it thinks it can make more paperclips by giving some of its customers some privacy. As soon as Apple finds a way to make more paperclips by spying on those you (say, by starting its own internal adtech business), it will spy on you, and the $1000 you spent on your Iphone will not save you.

Once you understand that corporate conduct is a matter of power, not personality, then you understand that the way to prevent companies from harming you is to meet their power with countervailing power. This is why tech worker unions matter: organized labor has historically been the most important check on corporate power, which is why tech companies are so vicious in the face of union drives:

https://www.epi.org/publication/unions-decline-inequality-rises/

Beyond labor, two other forces can discipline corporate conduct: regulation and competition. The biggest threat to a business’s customers is that business’s own shareholders. A company might defend its customers against a rival, but they will never defend its customers against its own shareholders.

Regulation and competition both impose costs on shareholder who abuse their customers: regulation can punish bad conduct with fines that come out of shareholder profits, and competition can create a race to the top as businesses seek to poach each others’ customers by offering them progressively better deals.

Which brings me back to the DMA, the EU’s pending regulation forcing Apple to open its app store, and Apple’s leaked plans to comply with the regulation. This is (potentially) great news, because rival app stores can offer Apple customers an escape hatch from mandatory surveillance and price-gouging.

But the devil is in the details. There are so many ways that Apple can use malicious compliance to appear to offer a competitive app marketplace without actually doing so. In my article for EFF, I offer a checklist of fuckieries to watch for in Apple’s plans:

• Forcing software authors in Apple’s Developer Program. Not only does this force developers to pay Apple for the privilege of selling to Iphone owners, but it also forces them to sign onto a Bible-thick EULA that places all kinds of arbitrary limits on their software. It’s not enough for Apple to open up to rival app stores — it also must not sabotage rivals who produce competing SDKs for Ios.

• Forcing App Store criteria on rival app stores. Apple mustn’t be permitted to turn legitimate vetting for security or privacy risks into editorial control over which apps Ios users are allowed to use. Apple may not want to carry games that highlight labor conditions in high-tech manufacturing sweatshops:

https://venturebeat.com/games/apple-drops-uncomfortable-sweatshop-hd-game-from-app-store/

And it may object to apps that track US drone killings of civilians abroad:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/aug/30/apple-blocks-us-drone-strike-app

But those arbitrary editorial conditions shouldn’t be imposed on rival app stores.

• Taxing rival app stores for “security vetting.” Apple is not the only entity qualified to assess the security of apps:

https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2022/01/letter-to-the-us-senate-judiciary-committee-on-app-stores.html

and it’s just as capable as its rivals of making grave errors:

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/apple-fixes-exploited-iphone-zero/

It’s fine to say that app stores must submit to third-party security certification, but they should be free to choose Apple out of a field of qualified privacy certifiers.

• Requiring third-party app stores to process payments with Apple. The app tax should be disciplined by competition. Allowing Apple to extract 30% from transactions in its rivals’ app stores would defeat the whole purpose of the DMA.

• Arbitrarily revoking third party app stores. It’s foreseeable that some third-party app stores would be so incompetent or malicious that Apple could revoke their ability to operate on Ios devices. However, if Apple were to pretextually shut down third-party app stores, it could sour Iphone owners off the whole prospect of getting apps elsewhere.

Apple must not be permitted to use its power to shut down app stores in an anti-competitive way, but distinguishing pretextual shutdowns from bona fide ones is a time-consuming, fact-intensive process that could leave customers in limbo for years.

One way to manage this is for regulators to dangle massive fines for pretextual shutdowns. In addition to this, Apple must make some provision to continue its customers’ access to the apps, media and data from the app stores it shuts down.

All of this points to the role that regulators pay, even (especially) when it comes to disciplining companies through competition. The DMA is overseen by the EU Commission, which has the power to investigate, verify and approve (or reject) the standards that Apple sets for privacy, security, and app stores themselves. The Commission should anticipate and fund the regulators needed to manage these tasks quickly, thoroughly and efficiently.

Finally, Europeans shouldn’t have all the fun. If Apple can do this for Europeans, it can do it for every Apple device owner. If you bought an Ios device, it’s yours, not Apple’s, and you should have the right to technological self determination that Europeans get when it comes to deciding which software it runs.

Image: Electronic Frontier Foundation https://www.eff.org/files/banner_library/eu-flag-11.png

CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

[Image ID: An EU flag. The blue background has a fine tracery of etched circuitry.]

#pluralistic #apple #malicious compliance #walled gardens #app stores #interoperability #interop #european union #eu #digital markets act #ios #dma

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bestiptv2023 · 2 years

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IPTVFOLLOW is the next generation IPTV service with 30,000+ Live TV, 120,000 Movies and 45,000+ VOD. Every update daily.

IPTVFOLLOW has US, UK, and other PPV sections with F1, Horse Racing, MotoGP, NBA, NFL, UFC, and international events up to 4k and 8k quality streaming.

Features:

It offers the latest movies and VOD shows with all kinds of sports and gaming channels including USA local and entertainment channels. Simultaneous viewing of up to 5 devices Providing 24/6 customer support is good and friendly. This service supports MAG, EPG and Enigma. IP location closed: No Friendly VPN: Yes Payment options: major debit card and credit card Supported devices: Amazon FireTV Sticks, Android TV Box, Android Mobile and Tablet, Nvidia Shield TV, Google TV, Formuler Z

Streaming Quality Up to 8k available

Separate Categories for sports and events

Works with or without a VPN

Multiple connections Plan

Not IP Bound

EPG Available

2-7 Days Promised Refund

24/7 Customer Services

Offers VOD options for movies and TV series

PPV and major sports packages

Major News and International Channels

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Provides customer support through live chat and email

This online streaming platform offers quality channels so you can stream them without facing buffering.

It is one of the best IPTV service providers that allows you to watch your favorite movies and TV shows on multiple devices without paying any additional subscription fees. It also offers select packages and premium plans for additional features.

IPTV FOLLOW is one of the best IPTV providers that has a great lineup of English TV channels.

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This IPTV Android player Offers Electronic Program Guide (EPG)

The standard plan comes with 2 connections

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otterbot-mkii · 1 year

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!!! TRIGGER WARNING: Heavy topics/strong language !!! Bill S. 686 – RESTRICT Act, AKA: The TikTok Ban Link: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686/text?s=1&r=15 The purpose of this Bill is to allow the US government to invade US citizen’s privacy, censor, and control content available or to or already owned by US citizens on the internet, by restricting access to data owned by “foreign adversaries”. The Bill does not even mention TikTok in any capacity and at best, TikTok would fall under the “foreign adversaries” category. However, due to the ambiguous nature of the term “foreign adversaries”, this could imply that any apps, not just TikTok would become banned if they came from one of the listed “foreign adversaries”, which are listed below. 1) The People’s Republic of China, including the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Region 2) The Republic of Cuba 3) The Islamic Republic of Iran 4) The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 5) The Russian Federation 6) The Bolivian Republic of Venezuela under the regime of Nicolás Moros The above list is also subject to change. If passed, the following can and likely will occur as there is little to no information within the bill that states what the probable cause for the following actions may be as the appointed government individuals do *not* have to provide any sort of proof, transcripts, or information as to why they came to the conclusions they came to warranting the following: - Surveillance and invasions of privacy using existing technologies owned by US citizens including but not limited to modems, routers, smart devices (this includes security cameras), and more. - Invasions of privacy in the form of accessing citizen’s private messages and data on any platform, regardless of device, as well as the modification of private messages and data. - Censoring of the internet to US citizens at the US government’s discretion, notably the censorship of access to data owned by “foreign adversaries”. - Dissolvement of online gathering places in which information being shared is considered unsafe, unsavory, undesirable, or inappropriate. Circumvention of any of the restrictions on data that this Bill puts into effect such as using a VPN, will be considered illegal and will result in up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million USD. This Bill also has retroactive effects in that should you be caught in possession of any pirated material that was obtained in the past no matter how far in the past the material was obtained, or caught with any evidence of possession of pirated material, you can receive legal ramifications as well. This includes present and potential future attempts, meaning that you can be caught talking about pirating content and you will become a suspect, and the government will then proceed to surveil you without your knowledge. These are just some of the more notable actions this Bill allows the government to take, all of which are unconstitutional and hypocritical in that the US is attempting to ban TikTok for it's data harvesting practices which are nowhere near as bad as Facebook's an Amazon's practices.

I implore all of you whom are US citizens to fight for your right to freedom as you should because not fighting for your freedom is simply giving it up and frankly, if you aren’t willing to fight for your freedom to live and exist as a human just as any other human should be entitled to regardless of skin color, orientation, religion, etc, then you don’t deserve your freedoms.

Please, contact your representatives via email or phone and politely tell them the following:

Dear [Representative Title Here] [Representative Name Here],

I hope you are doing well. I am contacting you to inform you that should you support Bill S. 686 or the TikTok Ban, I will actively vote and campaign for your opponent in your next primary

Thank you,

[Your Name Here]

To find and contact your representatives and members of congress, click this link: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

You may be prompted for a zip code plus four extra digits to get your representatives and members of congress, precisely. If you don’t know those four extra digits, click this link to look up your exact zip code from USPS: https://tools.usps.com/zip-code-lookup.htm?byaddress

When your representatives/members of congress are displayed to you, simply email them using the above template and you’re done. It’s not as long an arduous as it seems and I’ve given you the tools and resources to make it even simpler.

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fortheloveofwonderland · 1 year

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The Kids Aren’t Alright | Chapter 3

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Chapter Summary - JJ and Spencer both fight against feelings they wish would go away. Meanwhile, Luke starts to spiral.

Pairing - Spencer Reid x BAU Team / later chapters include Moreid, Temily and Ralvez.

Category - mystery | coming of age | fluff | angst | smut

Content Warnings - pining JJ, more mean kids, slight self deprecating thoughts, smoking, mention of weed.

WC - 3.5k

Chapter 3 - Dreaming With a Broken Heart

When you’re dreaming with a broken heart,

The waking up is the hardest part.

You roll out of bed and down on your knees,

And for a moment, you can hardly breathe.

Once upon a time the BAU’s photography program was one of the shining glories of the camp. They’d had state of the art Canon digital cameras for each camper in a group, even a few analog cameras and an impressive darkroom where they kids were shown the dying art of developing film. Nowadays, the program left a lot to be desired.

The darkrooms had been demolished and analog cameras gotten rid of. Over time they’d been left with fewer and fewer digital ones and now only three remained. Trying to get a group of twenty teenagers excited to share three cameras was a hard task for Jennifer Jareau. She’d been excited her first summer here, two years ago, when they’d at least had enough cameras for half of the group. She’d always enjoyed art and getting to spend her summer roaming the outdoors teaching the teens how to compose photographs was a lot of fun. She used to have them make scrapbooks of their works to take home to their parents but the camp printers went the way of most of the cameras and now their images were destined to be deleted once the kids went home. It was sad really, without anything to show for it the kids didn’t care about the art form anymore. They’d be able to edit their images in Penelope’s computer class later, crowded around one device while the bubbly blonde tried to get excited over menial photoshop tutorials when last summer she’d been teaching the campers all about VPNs and firewalls.

Mostly JJ would spend the day watching the kids argue over the cameras or sit twiddling their thumbs whilst waiting their turn. Today she’d taken them down past the lake to the dirt track tucked away on the other side of the trees where another group or twenty kids fought over two ATV’s to ride. She perched on a large rock just at the edge of the clearing, far enough away that her group weren’t going to get mowed down by the all-terrain vehicles and the boisterous kids riding them. She tried her best to stay away from this particular area of the camp because she didn’t want to be seen as some kind of stalker.

Usually she had her groups photograph the kids in boats on the lake or Matt’s wall climbing activities, sometimes even sports games. Anything to keep herself away from the object of her desire. But after seeing her so pally with Alvez this morning, JJ couldn’t stay away. She told herself the speed in which the ATV’s flew around the track was a great opportunity to teach the teens about shutter speeds and ISOs, but that wasn’t the full story.

The truth was JJ had been enamoured by Emily Prentiss from the first time she met her two summers ago. Emily was two years JJ’s senior and had shown the younger girl the ropes so to speak. That first summer the two girls had been inseparable, spending every moment of their free time together. JJ had never felt this way about someone before, least of all a girl. But Emily was magnetic, confident and beautiful and she made butterflies form in JJ’s stomach. Over the course of the summer, JJ had fallen head over heels.

But the following summer had been different. Some new counsellors joined the staff, one of whom was Tara Lewis. Tara and Emily were the same age and bonded instantly, leaving JJ out in the cold. Since then things had never been the same between JJ and Emily. They still talked but it wasn’t the way it used to be. They didn’t sit up at night talking and giggling by the lake, they didn’t share lingering glances across the campfire. JJ had spent a whole year building up the relationship in her head, desperate to see Emily again and maybe even confess her feelings but she never had the chance. And this summer Tara was back again and things were just the same as last year. So instead of watching her group or even watching the kids on the ATV’s, she was watching the beautiful instructor.

Emily’s long hair was tied back from her face, her bangs sticking to her forehead slightly due to the heat. The sleeves of her top were rolled up to her elbows and her jeans were tucked into the calf high boots she had to wear for the purposes of demonstrating how the vehicles worked. She held her helmet under her arm, cushioned against her hip and she didn’t take her eyes off of the two kids on the ATV’s skidding around the dirt track. And JJ didn’t take her eyes off of Emily. She was so tunnel visioned on the other girl she didn’t notice one of the teens approaching until a shadow was cast over her face. She glanced up to see the lanky figure of one of the boys hovering over her with a camera.

“Just wanted to know what you thought of these.” Riley Jenkins smiled sweetly at JJ as she pushed herself up off of the rock.

He was only seventeen and already had at least a foot in height on JJ. He was a good kid from what she’d seen, friendly and kind, unlike a lot of other boys his age. She took the camera from him and looked at the digital display. She clicked through a few photos until she found one that captured her attention. It was a shot of one of the ATV’s as it was airborne, only a foot off the ground but he’d clearly listened to what she’d told them about the shutter speeds to be able to take such a shot and have it be so clear. But it was what was in the background that caught JJ’s eye.

Emily Prentiss profile was bathed in sunlight, the slight sheen of sweat on her brow glistening. Her lip was upturned at the corner as she smiled at the two kids on their ATV’s. JJ thought she looked like a goddess, an angel fallen to earth. Her heart clenched in her chest, wanting to look at nothing but this photo for the rest of her life.

“Wow, good job Jenkins. These are really great.” She forced her eyes off of the display and onto the boy next to her.

He smiled brightly, slightly bashfully, as he took the camera back off of her.

“Thank you.” He blushed a little.

“Teachers pet much, Jenkins?” Someone scoffed and JJ turned to them with a frown.

“Firstly Hernandez, I’m not a teacher.” JJ scowled at the trouble maker. “And secondly, I’d like to see you do better.”

JJ motioned for Riley to hand the camera over to Hernandez who rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Not interested. Sorry.” He turned his back on JJ and Riley and shuffled over to a group of his cohorts.

Riley hung his head in embarrassment, holding the camera limply. JJ was going to comfort him, she told herself that anyway, but she felt a set of eyes on her. When she looked up, Emily was smiling at her from a distance and JJ forgot her own name, let alone Riley next to her. She awkwardly waved in the older girl's direction, feeling her cheeks flush pink as she did so. Emily waved back before she was turning back to her own group of teens.

JJ chewed on her lip, making sure to catalogue the interaction in her head like she did every interaction with Emily, no matter how small. And just like that, Riley was a long forgotten memory.

***

After showering the lake water off of himself and fishing out a dry uniform, Spencer headed back out of his cabin, hair still slightly damp. He quickly locked the door behind him and when he turned, there was someone waiting for him at the bottom of the steps.

Luke stood sheepishly on the path, hugging Spencer’s chemistry book tightly to his chest.

“You uh…forgot this.” He seemed to give it a squeeze before holding it out in his hand.

Spencer slowly descended the stairs and took the book from him with a small smile.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” Luke shrugged. “I’m really sorry about earlier. I can swim, I just…I can swim.”

“You sure about that?” Spencer raised an eyebrow at him.

“I can kinda swim. I’m ok but I’m not going to win any medals if you know what I mean? I can keep my head above water but I’m not so sure I’d be able to keep two heads above water. Strauss never even asked when she offered me the job so I figured it wasn’t that important. The sailing part I’m good at. Not so much the swimming.” His cheeks flushed red and he chewed on his bottom lip in embarrassment.

“Let’s just hope no one else drowns before I get back from speaking to Hotch. Try to keep them all alive until I get back, yeah?” Spencer sent him a playful smirk which Luke couldn’t help but return.

“I’ll try my best.” He nodded with a small chuckle.

Spencer felt his heart soar at the sound coming from Luke’s lips. This boy was doing things to Spencer he’d never experienced. And he wanted more of it, so much more. But that could never happen, Spencer was not allowing himself to succumb to those kinds of thoughts so he quickly shook his head, trying to snap himself out of it. Luke was hot, he just wanted to sleep with him, nothing more. Never anything more.

“I should uh…go find Hotch.�� He averted his gaze, not trusting himself to look at Luke for too long.

“Yeah sure. I’ll see you later.”

“Uh huh.” Spencer mumbled and then he was scurrying away, leaving Luke slightly confused.

One minute Spencer had been friendly, even borderline flirtatious and the next he’d turned cold out of nowhere. Luke didn’t understand. Perhaps he was imagining the whole thing. Maybe Spencer wasn’t flirting with him at all and Luke had just built the whole thing up in his head. Maybe Spencer was just trying to be nice, but like everyone else had grown sick of Luke already. He wouldn’t be surprised, wouldn’t even blame him. Luke was sick of himself too. It was his own fault really, he made a rule never to let himself get close to people and he’d almost crossed that line today. He’d let himself crack open his walls if only a little, testing the waters and seeing what it might be like to have a friend.

But Luke didn’t need friends. He didn’t need anyone. He’d been alone long enough now and he was doing just fine. Why upset the balance and try to change things, when it would inevitably end in tragedy anyway? He had briefly let himself fantasise of something more with Spencer, let himself foolishly believe that he might be worth more. But it was nothing more than a flight of fancy and Luke would not allow himself to live in that delusion a moment longer. Getting his hopes up always ended badly for Luke. It was better for him to be alone.

***

Penelope Garcia is: BORED! 😩🦄

Penelope’s pink nails clicked against the screen of her smartphone as she updated her Facebook status with a small sigh as she hit “Post”. Her eyes remained on the group of teens crowded around the lone computer, she had long ago learnt to touch type and rarely needed to look at the device. The group had just come from JJ’s photography outing and were now trying their hand at photoshopping at the images they took. Penelope sat on a table behind them, barely able to see the computer screen with all the bodies surrounding it. But as long as they kept themselves busy it didn’t matter to her what exactly they were doing.

Her phone vibrated in her hand and she opened Facebook again to see the new comment on her post.

Jennifer Jareau: at least we have the campfire party tonight! While Strauss is away, the counsellors will play 😘

Penelope laughed lightly at JJ’s comment, pleased for a smile to be on her face. JJ was the closest thing Penelope had to a best friend at camp, they started working here the same summer and were now in their third year together. They were extremely different people, chalk and cheese really, but that didn’t stop them from growing as close as they had.

Penelope was about to reply to JJ’s comment when another one popped up.

Derek Morgan: if you actually spent more time doing your job and less time on socials you might not be so bored, baby girl 😝

Penelope felt her cheeks instantly burn as she read the comment from Morgan, specifically the use of the pet name baby girl which never failed to make her heart leap into her throat. She wasn’t delusional, she knew she never stood a chance with a guy like Derek Morgan. She’d stood by and watched each summer while he flirted shamelessly with every female camp counsellor who wasn’t her, Emily, Tara, even JJ, and all the others who had come and gone over the years. She wasn’t Morgan’s type and she knew it. Of course it hurt, it filled the outwardly bubbly and confident girl with an innumerable amount of insecurities which she kept bottled up beneath her pink and fluffy exterior. But it never stopped her from imagining what it might be like for Derek Morgan to look at her in that way.

It wasn’t as though she didn’t have interest in her. Back home the neighbourhood dork Kevin Lynch was utterly besotted with her. Admittedly she enjoyed the attention, even if she did find him a little creepy. Then of course there was the ever so lovely Sam who liked to listen to her play her ukulele and whose smile was so magnetic it sometimes took her breath away. But still she couldn’t shake Derek from her mind, even though she knew it would never happen.

She gave each of the comments a thumbs up but decided not to reply to either of them and clicked the button on the side of her phone to lock it. When she tuned back into the room some of the kids around the computer were giggling among themselves.

“What’s so funny, chickadees?” Penelope got to her feet and skittered towards them on her too high heels that Strauss was always telling her were “inappropriate” for camp.

“Look at the way she’s looking at her! Pathetic!” One of the girls nearest the screen giggled.

“Her tongue might as well be hanging out of her mouth.” Another girl scoffed.

“What’s going on here? Scoot over.” Penelope gently pushed her way through the teens to get a look at the computer screen and what the kids were laughing at.

Penelope inhaled deeply as she took in the picture on the display that one of the campers had snapped. It was taken down by the ATV track but it didn’t show any of the campers. Just two counsellors.

Emily was in the distance, chewing mindfully on her bottom lip, whilst decked out in her ATV gear. In the foreground was JJ, the look on her face similar to that Penelope imagined her own to look like whenever she saw Morgan. JJ was the literal depiction of the heart eye emoji. There was no way to misinterpret the way she looked at Emily like she hung the damn moon.

So that was why JJ had been so concerned about Luke and Emily this morning. She didn’t have a crush on Luke, she had one on Emily. But why wouldn’t JJ tell her that? Penelope told JJ everything and she thought the other girl did the same. Did she not think Penelope would understand? Was she ashamed? Had Penelope done something to make JJ think she wouldn’t accept her? Penelope suddenly felt terrible, like the world's worst friend. JJ felt as though she had no one to talk to about this when she should have been able to turn to Penelope.

The giggling continued around her and she pushed the teens out the way, snatching the mouse out of one of the girls hands and quickly closing the window so the photograph vanished.

“That’s enough.” She snapped at the group. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Computer time is over, now you all get to sit in silence for the next twenty minutes and think about the way you acted.”

Penelope scurried back to where she’d been sitting while the kids started muttering under their breath. She plopped down on the table before giving them all her sternest look.

“I said silence.” She spat, in a tone she’d never used before. It seemed to work though as the muttering died out and the room fell quiet.

She pulled out her phone again, opened her messages and tapped out a quick text.

📱 Jennifer Jareau: meet me behind the sports building at lunch time. We need to talk xoxo

***

Spencer might have proven his aptitude at swimming, but when it came to boats, it was quickly clear that was best left to Luke. To say the young genius was uncoordinated would be an understatement and Luke lost count of the amount of times in the space of one session, the boy nearly capsized. He’d spoken to Hotch who had been far too busy with other things to care much about what Spencer was saying and shooed him away like a fly with a “yeah, sure whatever.” He’d run it by Strauss when she was back but for today at least he was assisting Luke at the lake.

Eventually Spencer had stopped trying to be a champion canoer and observed from the dock with Luke. Conversation didn’t flow as it had earlier, Spencer read his text book while Luke sat awkwardly at his side. It was the last session before lunch when Luke would be able to finally have a smoke without the campers around - that was strictly against the rules - and boy did he need one.

As soon as his watch read twelve thirty, he called the kids out of the lake and sent them on their way to the canteen at the top of the hill. Spencer hung back to help Luke get the boats back to the shed. As soon as everything was away, Luke fished in his jacket pocket for his smokes and quickly lit one. He noticed Spencer watching him as he inhaled and then exhaled the smoke.

“Want one?”

“Uh, no thanks. I don’t smoke.” Spencer shook his head, only just refraining from telling Luke all the grizzly facts relating to smoking deaths. “Are you going up for lunch?”

Luke took a deep drag, holding the smoke down in his lungs for a few seconds before puffing it back out of his mouth.

“In a minute. You can go on ahead if you want, don’t feel like you have to wait for me.” Luke sighed as he spoke, leaning back against the boat shack.

“No it’s ok I’ll…” Spencer trailed off as his eyes wandered a little way up the hill where Morgan was standing, waving him over.

Luke saw it too and it wasn’t lost on him the dopey smile that sprung to Spencer’s lips.

“Go, it’s fine. I’ll be up when I’m done.” Luke spat a little harsher than he meant to.

Spencer looked towards Luke and then back at Morgan, then to Luke again who would not make eye contact with him. It was simpler if he just focused his attention on Morgan. His attraction to Morgan was animalistic, no chance of feelings developing there. He knew the same could not be said for his feelings towards Luke. Morgan was the safer option, he was less likely to get his heart broken that way. So with a sigh, he turned his back on Luke and started away.

“See you.” He called back but he didn’t turn around.

Luke swallowed a lump in his throat and watched Spencer go. When he reached Morgan, the older man pulled him into a large bear hug, and Spencer nuzzled against his strong chest while Morgan messed up his hair. That could be him. If he wasn’t so fucked up that he could be honest about his feelings, that could be him holding Spencer in that way. It should be him. But of course, who would be stupid enough to choose Luke Alvez over Derek Morgan?

He took another pull of the cigarette but it wasn’t hitting the spot so he tossed it on the dock and stamped it out with his boot. He needed something stronger to take the edge off, nicotine wasn’t going to cut it. He fished into his inside pocket and pulled out the little tin he kept inside. Opening the lid he was met by that delectable scent usually reserved for after his shift.

One blunt couldn’t hurt. Just one hit to get him through the rest of the day was all he needed. No one ever had to know.

Taglist

@andiebeaword @dreatine @measure-in-pain @takeyourleap-of-faith @dirtytissuebox @smurphyse @ssa-uglywhore27 @reidselle @reidsbookclub

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #luke alvez #derek morgan #moreid #ralvez #emily prentiss #tara lewis #temily #jennifer jareau #penelope garcia #david rossi #aaron hotchner #summer camp #summer camp au

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