It was hard work pushing papers down the long bench. Mr. Uoka found himself drinking tea and eating nutrient scnes with countless other bureaucrats. Suddenly, however, he found himself suddenly eating scones with Mr. Hay Rekk, and didn't quite know what to say. all of his imagined witty barbs and urbane comments disappeared when what remained of the man looked down on him, sneering through his photoreceptors. 'Hatarti.'
'It's-well-'
'Come into the damn conference room.'
Mr. Uoka practically tripped over himself to follow. Rekk kicked a number of people out of the conference room, stuffed a cipher secretary into a chair, and then began. 'Harati. We're fucked. You're fucked. I'm fucked. And I don't even have a penis or a butthole, that's how fucked we area. Nearly five billion...fucking...insane. Your trade bloc going down the drain. You think you can help. Make it quick, or I'll make it happen somehow.'
'Thank you, Chancellor. I...um. Well...this is a very complicated situation, as you well know, of course-'
Rekk sagged. 'Uoka.'
'Yes, sir.'
'I know. I know how your fucking kind talk-'
'Are-are you saying that I am lesser because I am a-?!'
'Stelliberal? Yeah. Fuck you, lib.'
'...oh.'
'Short words. Give your point. We don't have much time.'
'Yes. Rekk—we need market development. Not maket-lead or centric—development of the market itself. Not just the places-'
'Cashification. Specialization. Less farmers.'
'Yes-precisely. No more barter. More goods moving through markets. Less subsistence.'
'Wagies, then. Townies, or urban poor.'
'I support urbanization, sir.'
'Don't call me sir.'
'Ok. Urbanization. Towns cannot grow the requisite numbers to break out into proper cosmopolitanism.'
'What if we can get them commuting?'
'A good idea, if done, sir!'
'I'm gonna do it. The cities are getting cargo and people rail. Fancy people rail. Good people rail. Make them get around and keep mixing.'
'Wonderful! Perhaps they might have sports leagues-'
'Only if they have riot divisions.' 'Tragic, sirr-Chancellor.'
'Rekk. Liberal.'
‘What about local commuting, to bind the cities and townies into one greater mass?’
‘I’m working on it. Gonna do freight lines out, and if they don’t attack the trains, then we’ll move on maybe getting some of them on them. Cargo stakeholders first, then maybe passengers. That might take a generation, but I’m going to make it happen.’
'You should accelerate cashification.'
'I'm trying. Right now, we’re slowly doing money storage. Making local banks. Moving money still needs to be figured out. I can't fucking even let them consider paper, they'll go nuts.'
'Armored cars and trains, local banks being able to do deposit transfers? That kind of thing?'
'Armored trains are rolling out now. Banks are gonna get fucking permitted at some point. Their majesties want strong basic regulations. It'll go slow, but the problem is how heavy that shit is.'
'Yes, indeed. Perhaps one can make the coins self-lighten?'
'Good idea, lemme write that down.'
'Here is a white paper, chancellor.'
'Got it. Next. Fusion.'
'Yes. Fusion. Civil fusion. The power of a star. Will they get electricity?'
'Everything is electric for the clones already. Fixed the web, too. For the peasants? Fuck no. We're gonna dole out miracles slowly so they don't melt down street lamps to make into weapons. Biggest one is atmospheric nitrogen fixing. We'll give em superstitious fertilizer, not some crap. Use lightning banks. We're also gonna light up all the cities, and electrify all public buildings and entertainment areas. The towns are gonna have a slow drip of things, very slow. Elite exposure first, gauge fuckery. If they act up, beat them smart.'
'There's no personal incentive right now to electrify, Rekk. Outside of the workplace, are you trying to generate mass demand?'
'Yeah.' Rekk looked pensive. 'Get the kids. Get the house managers…err…wives. That’s what they’re called. Make work-life easier.'
'Perhaps you might offer rental machinery, to ease the-'
'...you have another white paper?'
'Indeed, Chancellor.'
'Give it. What else?'
'Well, there is the Shining Lord's legacy of...advanced sciences.'
Rekk sighed. 'Yeah. Fuckers. Peasants...we were wrong. Couldn't see. They'd been made weak many years ago, before we were made. Broken people. Lost their chances. Their wants. Their selves. You speak about consumers. Buyers. Wanters. Needers. These people can't want or need anything that the Golden Ones said was bad.' 'They can act on their own.'
'Yeah. Everything Kweens did is stuff they'd do on their own. Build them up comfortably. Make them feel better. Safer. Not terrified. You seen them.'
Mr. Uoka had. 'They need to be able to want again. Or to recognize that they have needs.'
'Yeah. No more fear. No more pain. No empty bellies, or sick ones.'
'They need healthcare.'
Rekk tried to sneer. 'Working on that. Real busy. You think I got a headshrinker?'
‘I think it would help.’
‘I got drugs. Why don’t you take some?’
Mr. Uoka reminded the Chancellor that he was a liontaur, and that clone drugs wouldn’t work on him. Chancellor Rekk reminded the consultant that he had tried clone drugs and that they’d worked. Both stared at each other for a moment before moving on.
‘Healthcare, Rekk. Healthcare. They need it. On all worlds’
‘The Sunforgelands are unfucking themselves.’
‘I’ve watched them begin to separate from Kabria and develop their own identity. Of course, they will not be one for quite some time. If peasant marketisation truly fails, then they will be the obvious backstop.’
‘Yeah. But I’m not counting on them. We’re gonna use fusion electricity here to make a lot of drugs for the cities. Really pump them up. Introduction will take a while. The cities will export them to the townies.’
‘But why will the townies even go to the cities?’
‘Unno. It’ll be easy. Maybe get some money. Maybe come back and work for more money and clout. Farming will keep getting easier, so less people for less farms.’
‘Will you truly make an effort to make powered farming equipment common again, Rekk? Or will you be defeated by someone being afraid of tractors?’
‘We won’t. But we will make fuel at home. And we will figure out which of the fucked up mosses and weird foxes won’t be killing people. Seeds-’
‘The biotechnology of the Shining Lords persists. But how much does it, truly?’
‘Enough for us to gather it up and use it, though. Against them. We will use their seeds, and their bugs, and their birds, and we will force them to give us honey and nectar and grain. And we’ll keep em in hives and tree trunks and in farmlands and in those fucking makeshift swamps. And we’ll eat em. Tear the head off and suck out the guts until the little legs kick, kick, kick…’ Rekk seemed to be having more fun thinking about torturing the old animals of the Shining Lords than anything else.
‘...do they have…sufficient nutritional value?’
‘Yes. Taste like shit.’
Mr. Uoka considered saying that if the clones thought something tasted like shit, it truly did, but he kept that thought to himself.
‘How much will you be allowing them to see?’
‘All of it, cause fuck em. Let’s scare 'em straight.’
‘...that is an unusual motivation, Rekk. But I admire your commitment.’
‘Yeah, yeah. We’ll knock in some gardens with nice plants that make medicines and antibodies and stuff, and we’ll give em nutritional supplements-’
‘And birth control.’
‘Yeah, good point. Don’t want too many of them. Abortions should be cheap, fast, and easy.’
‘And birth control, Chancellor.’
‘You mean like for-before they screw?’
‘Yes. It will lead to a significant amount of independence for women–I don’t think the Shining Lords allowed anything beyond the gender binary, did they–and break up some of the core cycles of reproduction with an Epistocided people.’
‘Put the paper on the table.’
Mr. Uoka obliged.
‘They’ll shit their pants, Haraati-’
‘Hatari.’
‘And we’ll make em clean up the shit, and dry it, and use it for fucking manure. I will drag these dense ass motherfuckers-literally half the goddamn time-to decency, whether they like it or not. They’ll farm the land, and they’ll pay taxes, and they’ll buy regional, and they’ll fucking like it. And if they cause problems, Mr. Uoka, I’m going to-’
‘To show them some fucking compassion. They’re scared children. That’s what they are deep down.’
‘No, we’re going to give the fuckers the baton and ten years fixing hedgerows with powered equipment.’
‘During the riots, I took shelter in a building with some clone functionaries–Happies, a few Biggies or specials. A number of peasants…I’m not sure, must have been about 60…broke in. They were going to burn the place down around us, and I was scared. They were ignoring commands, and we were prepared to shoot them, and then–well–I didn’t want to shoot them. So I roared. And threw a chair. They all fled. Not a shot fired. They were that easily scared off. You don’t have to beat them. You don’t need to be harsh all the time. Spare them, Rekk. I’m not asking for absolution, but don’t be like your makers. They’ll be better if they can relax comfortably; they’ve tasted a bit of safety with all of the turmoil. Let them keep eating.’
‘...target the stunting, huh?’
‘Above all else. The Shining Leeches enslaved-’
Rekk cut off Mr. Uoka with peels of laughter. He enjoyed the multifaceted implications of that insult: weaknesses, dependency on others, ineffectiveness, false bravado–and the chance to cut the stress. Eventually, he got back on topic.
‘...they used biology to enslave ourselves. We use biology to free ourselves. But this doesn’t cover the magic.’
‘It’s degraded a lot over time, right? And her majesty is satisfying the demands of many of the laws. So there should be no problem.’
‘I hope so. There’s…big changes coming. Stuff I can’t reveal to you. Yeah, the investors will like it. But it’s going to be big, Hattie.’
‘What is it?’ Mr. Uoka overlooked his name being messed up again.
‘The beginning of the end.’

Okay, the title can be very confusing, but I’ll try to summarize some of my stories in a couple of lines, keeping the fresher for the end (btw sorry in advance if my English is crap :P). Story 1: my(18M) bsf(18F) stole my first kiss because she felt pity for me because the party she organized wasn’t going well for me (she didn’t knew about all the first kiss thing, and we were both equally shocked). Story 2: this time it’s my turn to organize a party, everything is set up and I decide to invite a girl I met a few days before. And well the party ended with 4 people making out with her, 2 people actually having sex with her (she asked me too, but my pride was stronger than the vodka I had in my body) and a couple ruined. Now that you have an idea about the cataclysmic events I can create let’s focus on the main event: Me, one of my classmates and his bf were going to a pride parade (I’m straight and they’re both bi, but I was curious about all this pride thing, it was very interesting too tbh). Then the bf tells me that one of his friends was coming with us (underlining the fact that she was a girl and straight, I was like “okay(?)”). So I meet this girl (we’ll call her Chris) and we start talking and going around the city while the other two friends were following the parade. I immediately find in her very interesting traits (and she’s very cute too). That night there would’ve been a party in my town (I’m from South-Tyrol, every year in different towns many parties are organized and last for days), she agrees and we go to my place, the plan was simple: we arrive at 19:30, my friend comes at 20:00, leave his things at my place (he slept here) and then we go partying. Not even the time to step foot in my house that my friend calls me and goes “I’ll arrive at 21:30 and I’ll be in town, cya”. So the situation by far is this: I’m home alone, with a girl I literal just met and my friend just ditched me so I have to be with her for 2 hours (in that moment that was both a bless and a curse, not knowing what to do). So we just decide to watch random things on YouTube on the couch and I notice that she’s leaning her head on my shoulder, at first I was like “maybe she’s tired”, then she hugs my arm and leans her body reeeeeeally close to me (I was panicking, because this is not something my brain is trained for). I try to play along and everything goes well. We go to this party, we danced a bit and then I walked with her to her mom’s car and nothing, everything ends. EXCEPT FOR THE FACT that she followed me on Insta (I didn’t knew that), she sends me her number and we already organized our next date and I’m super happy about this.
TL;DR My love life is crazy, finally something normal is happening and I’m going on my first official date 🗿

2023 NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

Baton Rouge Regional - Game 5

Elimination Game

(2) Oregon State vs. (3) Sam Houston State

Alex Box Stadium - Baton Rouge, LA
10:25 PM ET 9:25 PM CT 8:25 PM MT 7:25 PM PT
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, 75°F. Wind W 5mph
TV: ESPN+
Radio: OSU Radio SHSU Radio
Live Stats

Box score

Circle K on Bluebonnet and I10
Hands down the worst Circle K that I have experienced in Baton Rouge. Watched the manager berate an elderly customer for requesting service instead of using the automated checkout, and when customer left the manager then talked shit to all the customers and her subordinates about the elderly lady. Today, two days later, I pull up to buy cigarettes and the sign on the door says “Restroom Break will be back in 15 minutes”. As I sit here typing this it’s been 35 minutes and counting.

(Background: Rank amateur who reads about linguistics sometimes. I don't know if this is exactly appropriate but this seems like a community that might appreciate it.)
In another post, the relationship of Haitian Creole to French came up, and the point that it's sometimes incorrectly assumed to be a mere dialect of French. I mentioned my experience that reading Creole is particularly interesting as a native English speaker with conversational French, as I can frequently recognize a noun by reading it out loud, i.e. using roughly English phonetics reveals the French cognate. (Example: Ayisyen kreyol->"eye-ee-syen cray-ole"=oh wait, like haïtien and créole, so it's Haitian Creole.) Because it's a multi-step process where I don't get it until I hear myself say it, it often has a fun little thrill of recognition. However, trying to read any further, it becomes clear that the grammar and syntax aren't even slightly Romance, and I'm utterly lost. So, for fun, I pulled up the Lord's Prayer and tried to see what I could make of it, with liberal assistance from Google Translate:
Papa nou ki nan sièl la, --OK, decent start. "Papa" is a freebie in any language, and qui and ciel are easy enough. Though it's already a warning sign that the order of possessives is different, and I wouldn't speculate on exactly what nan and la are doing here. [Looked it up: Even knowing full well that la is an article in French, the fact that it FOLLOWS the noun is throwing me for a serious loop.]
Nou mandé pou yo toujou réspékté non ou. --I can see nous demande and toujours respecter. Otherwise, the syntax seems unexpectedly closer to English, so I'm getting the vibe a British sailor docked in Port-au-Prince shortly after a double rum tot, and is struggling to speak politely with the few dozen French words he remembers from school.
Vi-n tabli gouvènman ou, --...what just happened? OK, établir and gouvernement I got, but what is that hyphen doing and what is on either side of it? [Looked it up, apparently hyphens/apostrophes have been removed in modern spelling reforms, so vi-n is one word? I guess I could see viens établi gouvernement as a similarly-archaic construction to "kingdom come," which in fairness is gibberish in modern English.]
pou yo fè volonté ou so latè, --Puzzled for a bit, Haitian Creole Wikipedia's page on latè was kind enough to give me a big blue satellite picture of la terre, felt dumb there. Lait and latté were both false friends. I'm fully appreciating how much dead wood Creole sheds from French orthography.
tankou yo fè-l nan sièl la. --What? I cannot get past the false friend of tankou, which I think is the last thing our Limey midshipman mumbles as someone offers him a cot to sleep it off. I know what this line should mean but I'm hitting a wall. [Looked it up: apparently tankou is from autant comme and is the "like" preposition. Also finally looked up yo which can be "they/them" or an article? I'm completely out of my depth.]
Manjé nou bézouin an, ban nou-l jòdi-a. --Forget it, "eat us need (something)," I'm crushing this. Also, I guess the Sabbath is on Thursday in Haiti because of the time difference. [Looked it up, jòdi is not from jeudi but rather aujourd'hui, now with 60% less letters! Cut that dead wood.]
Padonnin tout mal nou fè, --"Pardonin'" tout mal nous fait? No, that's what LOUISIANA Creole should sound like. I can totally see this as a joke "under construction" sign on a bathroom at the courthouse in Baton Rouge.
minm jan nou padonnin moun ki fè nou mal. --Umm...minm is même? Something about how reflexive verbs and prepositions work in Creole? How is knowing the meaning of the text STILL not enough? [Looked it up, and still confused.]
Pa kité nou nan pozision pou-n tonbé nan tantasion, --Another one where I can't recognize it until I read it out loud and hear myself saying "pas quitté," so I guess this is "don't leave us in the position to tomber into temptation?"
min, délivré nou anba Satan.
-Well, you don't want to be en bas Satan, that's for sure.
[Paské, sé pou ou tout otorité, tout pouvoua
--Still couldn't guess that parce que from paské, and while tout autorite and pouvoir are clearly consistent with omnipotence the grammar is beyond be.
ak tout louanj, dépi tout tan ak pou tout tan.] --If my French was better or I wasn't a heathen, I might have known louanger was "to praise/glorify." Must have spent more time in cafés than églises. Depuis I got, but Tan=temps is a reach, I'm learning that nasal pronunciation helps. Looked up ak whose etymology is hilariously listed as coming from French avec, Wolof ak, "or both," which I believe covers most of the possibilities for a West African-French creole.
Amèn.
--You pranksters, this is clearly a SEMITIC creole :P

Circle K on Bluebonnet and I10
Hands down the worst Circle K that I have experienced in Baton Rouge. Watched the manager berate an elderly customer for requesting service instead of using the automated checkout, and when customer left the manager then talked shit to all the customers and her subordinates about the elderly lady. Today, two days later, I pull up to buy cigarettes and the sign on the door says “Restroom Break will be back in 15 minutes”. As I sit here typing this it’s been 35 minutes and counting.

While driving home from New Orleans to Baton Rouge we passed probably 5 small spots with bush fires right by the shoulder. All between the LaPlace and Donaldsonville exits. I didn’t notice any presence of the fire department at any of them. Are these controlled burns?

Monday 5th June - Fiver Feed : Five things to do today in Glasgow for around a Fiver or FREE!
Instagram here for extra stuff and things, come join the fun! (Disclaimer - may not actually be any fun)
Shoutout for Glasgow Science Festival 1st - 11th June, 100's of activities, most are free!
​

• Talk/Debate/Q'n'A - Autonomy Live Panel Event! - £Free (Ticketed)
• What does it mean to be self-ruling? How can I know if I truly am making my decisions autonomously? A live debate between autonomy experts about their clashing views on what it means to be autonomous. This event is catered to all, even with no prior knowledge of philosophy or autonomy!
• 14:00 - 16:00 University of Glasgow Hetherington Building Room 118 G12 8QQ

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• Walk/Health/Wellbeing - Active Soles Walking Group - £Free
• Active Soles is a friendly and inclusive walking group for people of all ages and abilities. A little exercise a week and keeping yourself fit and active have a positive effect on your health and well-being. Becca will take you and the group on a relaxing walk throughout the green space, whilst giving you the opportunity to interact with others.
• 18:00 - 19:00 Alexandra Park Main Gate Alexandra Parade G31 3LH

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• Gig/Rock/Community - Abrazos w/ Stride x Rock DI - £3/Five£7/£9 (Pay What You Decide)
• A special LIVE gig between Paragon's Stride band and Rock DI from Mexico visiting Scotland for the very first time. What began as an online musical exchange has developed into a unique international collaboration between two incredible bands. The pair released an epic rock album together - Abrazos (“Hugs” in Spanish) - reflecting on their lived experiences about disability, the pandemic and the longing to connect across distance.
• 18:30 - 21:30 Cottiers Theatre 93-95 Hyndland St G11 5PU

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• Improv/Comedy - All Made Up! - £3
• Monthly show of improvisational comedy with some of the best comedians in Scotland.Three teams get 30 minutes each to do whatever they want. The rest will be - as they like to say - All Made Up!
• 19:00 - 21:30 McNeills 106 Torrisdale Street G42 8PH

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• Dance Lessons - Introduction to Salsa Dance - £25 for 5 weeks/£7 PAYG (Cash Only)
• This is an Introductory course for 5 weeks to help you learn basic Salsa moves and then decide if you want to continue learning more! Designed for people who have never danced salsa before or know very little. Come in what you feel comfortable in. Don't worry about your age, Salsa is for everyone!
• 20:00 - 21:00 Boteco De Brasil 62 Trongate G1 5EP

Just imagine having to fight off 7 foot Crawfish, huge Alligators, and (I think) the first ever water entity : Catfish! It could take place in like either New Orleans, or Baton Rouge, and a DLC for it could be like some descendent of Huey P. Long trying to govern what’s left of Louisiana, kinda like NCR style but worse, the faction he has could be Calle spike “LNP” or Louisiana Nation Protection or smth like that

i’m queer, and so are both of my friends and since it’s pride month, there’s a going to be a pride parade at the end of the month in my town
the town isn’t very big so it won’t be thousands of people there, apparently it was a few hundred last year
we’re all neurodivergent so i just wanted to know what anyone’s experiences were? it seems like it could be very overwhelming and scary but i don’t have experience of my own. I find it very hard to leave the house on my own but would it be manageable with my friends there too?

Honestly it was the boost I really needed lately. I'd gotten my hair cut the day before, in the style I was saving up for, was super excited to go.
I don't necessarily present as androgynous as I'd like to yet; slowly working on saving money to change my name, swap out wardrobe stuff and other things like that but I've got pretty limited income. I'm not exactly hiding that I'm nonbinary anymore but I'd love to be able to present a lot more androgynously than I really manage to currently.
At the parade I had on a pin that says "they/them" in black font on a rainbow background that I was wearing and was wearing a shirt I made for last year's pride festival/parade, it isn't nonbinary themed but it's rainbow/pride colors. Had my binder on. Had on some baggy jeans. For context. So it wasn't SUPER obvious that I was nonbinary but I was having a good time even just getting to go as it's hard for me to necessarily get a ride up to the closest parade.
Was standing at the edge of the parade with my service dog, who had his tail dyed and as we live in a relatively small area, it's not shocking a few people recognized us. Had one person walking IN the parade point to me and say to someone they were walking with, "I know that person". Instead of saying "I know her" like a lot of people in my area do still.
Also while we were waiting out a short rainstorm in a little art studio up the block I had someone else notice the sticker in my phone case (it's a bouquet of flowers that's in nonbinary colors and says "you are enough") and hand me a pin from the festival this year with the nonbinary flag on it.
Even just those two experiences of being gendered and identified correctly without the person having to ask made me feel SEEN. Made me feel so happy. I rarely get that in my town. Not one time throughout the entire day was I misgendered. Which has NEVER happened before to me.

So, I just want confirmation that I'm a piece of garbage for doing something today.
Police in my town put up barricades for a parade today. All the side streets along this main street were blocked by orange-and-white barricades, prompting people not to enter the main street bc of the parade.
Most of the parade went through. And then... as per usual... people don't give a hoot and move the barricades bc they can't be bothered by not driving on that street for a measly 3 hours (10a-1p).
After 99% of the parade went past, there was a parade straggler going down the "blocked" street. Almost gets hit bc of someone who moved a barricade & went down the street. Thankfully he moved to the sidewalk for the rest of the parade route & wasn't in danger any more.
So... I moved 2 barricades & put them back so no one else would drive on the street.
An older lady driving a big white pickup (not that it matters, but just for visualization purposes) comes roaring down the street, stopping at a blockade. She gets out of her car, proceeds to move the barricade out of the way, and then yells at me for putting the barricade back in place. I tell her "the street is supposed to be blocked for the parade". She then explains how it would require her driving 1/2 mile out of her way to go around the blocked street. Followed by "Besides, I'm in a hurry. I've got things to do".
In my mind, the safety of a child, adult, anybody is always more important than "being in a hurry" and "I've got things to do". I never want to see anyone end up in the hospital bc they were hit, or worse, lose a child or parent.
Of course, these days, everyone is out for themselves and cannot be bothered by caring for others.
So, hey... bring it on... tell me that I'm the jerk for putting the street blockade thing back in place.