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danwhobrowses · 1 month

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One Piece Chapter 1110 - Initial Thoughts

FINALLY

The five have landed, and TCB had the audacity to not translate until late Friday, making us wait so long, but we're finally here, so let's not waste any more time.

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release too

Our cover story is a Yamato story, he's off to travel Wano just as Oden did, which he tells Momonosuke in this cover. Given the name, I'd expect that he may cross paths with Onimaru since it'll involve an Inari shrine

How ominous a title to have with 'Planetfall' too

The buster call watches on as it notices the similar effects to Saturn's arrival, Bluegrass seems particularly disturbed

The giants sense it too, with Bonney and Franky left to worry about the others

Vegapunk's broadcast involved showing off 'Vega-Coffee', which essentially is something that turns water into coffee

That ad break lasted 3 minutes, so there's still 7 minutes left

Marejois meanwhile is empty though, only the summoning circle appears

But Vegapunk is starting anyway, with the threat that the broadcast could be intercepted it's better to hasten

And finally we got the Gorosei fruits and it all seems to be Zoans, mainly Yokai

Saturn of course is the Gyuki, as we suspected from the design

Marcus Mars is an Itsumade, the 'Eerie bird'. According to research "Saw-like beak" and "talons as sharp as swords"

Topman Warcury is a Houki, not much info on it but that it's a Four Tusked Boar from China

Arguably the most badass design is Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, the Bakotsu. The skeletal horse is a vengeful spirit seeking revenge for being burned to death

And finally Shepherd Ju Peter, the only non-Yokai is a Sandworm. Because Oda definitely watched Dune recently

As Luffy stands down the Five Elder Planets, Sanji rushes off with Vegapunk's corpse ready to warn Nami and the others

V. Nusjuro is first to make a move, turning into a Centaur-like hybrid form as he lays waste to the Mark III pacifista surrounding the island

He was so quick that no Marine saw it either, only catching a faint image of a horse

Not even damaged, partially frozen, their 'neural circuitry' was frozen so he may've cut into their souls

I wonder if this could be a level Brook can attain

Mars is also on the move, but he's going up high

Sanji contacts Nami, telling them to get out now, soon enough Mars charges into the barrier

Luffy continues to dodge on the back foot against Saturn with Ju Peter and Warcury on the outskirts, but he notices that Ju Peter is burrowing

Usopp contacts Sanji, they're ready to leave but Zoro and Jinbe aren't here

The Sunny is safe and sound, but despite Brook's calmness he's getting his shins kicked by Lilith, who reminds him that the Sunny's only safe because of Usopp's bamboo shoots

Jinbe makes his way to Zoro, being within eyeshot

Zoro meanwhile finds himself slightly disarmed by Lucci, who taunts Zoro over his curiosity over the new sources of strong Haki

As Jinbe notes that they're still fighting, Sanji makes an off-comment, calling him a burden

Zoro has been ACTIVATED

Catching the sword that was disarmed, Zoro uses Santoryu against Lucci's leopard spots for the quick KO

The Chapter Notes point out that he references Hahava, the coldest hell of Buddhism

Plot demanded Zoro finish late, so finally Zoro has finished

Luffy meanwhile has been caught lacking, as the Sandworm comes for a bite

Dorry and Brogy have arrived though, much like they did in Little Garden (well one of them) they cut the gullet before Luffy can be swallowed

Luffy is glad to see some old friends, but now the numbers are a little more even

Well the Gorosei are definitely not weaklings

Terrifying creatures all in their own rights, they definitely set themselves up as powerful foes. Makes you wonder though what Imu could be if this is the base line huh?

There seems to be a bit more lines to draw this time around; with V. Nusjuro circling the island down below he may find himself crossing the Giants' ships, meaning Franky, Bonney, Atlas and maybe Sanji, Oimo and Kashii will likely have to confront him. Up above we have Mars looking to break through to the Labophase, which he likely will, leading to the crew having to find an opening there; Nami, Usopp, Zoro, Chopper, Robin, Jinbe and Brook plus Lilith is a greater numbers advantage, but Mars may also use the Seraphim if he's wily, does not look good for the CP agents, York and Kaku though, hope the first and latter got out safe.

Which leaves Luffy and the giants facing down Saturn, Ju Peter (I doubt he's dead) and Warcury. I could sadly see the captains not making it out, or holding off 3 so to get Luffy out. Let's not forget that Kizaru can always pull himself back into it (I hope Sentomaru also escaped). Plus there's still the matter of Vegapunk's broadcast itself.

It's not gonna be clean or pretty, but thinks are gonna get chaotic in the best and the worst way.

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beansidhebumbling · 6 months

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Wrapped together, in a wine-fuelled haze on the chaise longue they paint a charming picture, one Feyre might hang on a wall in place of her.

It would be precious if it wasn’t killing her.

It would be sweet if the ribbon of wire wrapped to her ribs didn’t cut into bone until she felt like screaming.

It would be romantic if it wasn’t them.

***

The one where Azriel and Nesta exclude Cassian from the equation.

Her hand is on his thigh.

Her hand is stroking his thigh to be precise.

Manicured fingers trace patterns into his leathers, running over the muscle, drawing swirling loops and arches. Maybe she’s writing her name Nesta muses. In shining eyes and heads tossed back in the unrestrained laughter of joy she sees the warmth they share and…they are beautiful.

She, spun of gold and merlot and freesia, is frustratingly beautiful with her hands on him.

Not that Mor is alone in her display of affection.

Cassian’s wing, lit a warm red from the sconces behind it, curves around the Morrigan, encasing her. Her mother told her of men like him. She recalls it now, dry hands braiding her hair as she sat staring herself down in the vanity, her reflection a little too sharp even as her face still clung to the soft roundness of childhood, the rhythmic plaiting and her mama’s lulling voice drawing Nesta into sleep as she warned of those who, like magpies, would chase shiny things. Easy to marry, easy to lose. Men who did not hold onto gold long enough to weigh it.

Wings and pointed ears and ageless eternities did not hide their essence. Men are only men after all, her mother’s words held true.

How like him to chase someone who does not want him.

And the Morrigan, gilded and flawless, velvet clinging to lush curves makes Nesta heart break, like looking at Cassian makes her ribs hurt. In a world so unfamiliar, the night alive and clinging to the edges of the room, shadows kissing the hems of her woollen skirt, in a land she is not meant for, Mor is familiar. A female adept at playing with the attention of others, who wields her beauty like a knife. In a ballroom long ago, on dancefloors she’d never see again, Nesta had done the same. She knew the intoxicating urge to hold onto those you did not did not desire... simply because you could.

Wrapped together, in a wine-fuelled haze on the chaise lounge they paint a charming picture- one Feyre might hang on a wall in place of her.

It would be precious if it wasn’t killing her.

It would be sweet if the ribbon of wire, wrapped to her ribs, didn’t cut into bone until she felt like screaming.

It would be romantic if it wasn’t them.

The Inner Circle are merry tonight, loud enough to compete with the buzzing in her ears, the thumping pain behind her eyes. She misses the question from the only one who has, thus far, remained as silent as she.

‘…hurt you?’

Wrapped in shadows, the edges of his silhouette hazy, a figment of her imagination if it weren’t for the way his glass filled and emptied with merlot throughout the night. He sits across from her, the only two still at the dining table, its mahogany surface bearing the aftermath of dinner, china marred with the remnants of a feast, silverware thrown atop haphazardly. There is still enough food left on those plates to feed them twice over. The spoon that lies beside her teacup is ornate and delicately engraved. They wear their wealth casually here. She did once too, though those memories of brocade and jewels are sketched lightly now, masked by the fog of time. They pale next to the vivid recollection of eating worms from the wet earth, of the endless gnawing hunger that could not be filled.

Did Feyre ever wake at night to the feel of their slimy forms still wriggling in her mouth, their segmented peach bodies crushing between molars?

It is the boom of Cassian’s laugh that jerks her back to the present. She has no idea how long it’s been but Azriel’s eyes, dark and deep are locked on her still. He is attentive. Always passing her dishes, finding her a seat, respectful of her silence at these pantomimes. A gentleman her mother might have said, if this were a different life, if he bore a different form.

‘Excuse me?’

She asks, voice hoarse from disuse. It’s been over a day since she’s spoken, trading in nods, shrugs, and the sharp tilt of her head, face set just so, to keep conversation at bay.

‘Doesn’t it hurt you?’

His voice, so soft she barely catches the words. His face, what she can see of it is the same. Shadows seep down his brow, like extensions of the curly fringe that masks his forehead.

‘Doesn’t what hurt me?’

The Shadowsinger says nothing, merely turning slightly in his chair to nod at the pair still ensconced in the far corner of the room.

Nesta intakes a breath, a sharp reflexive whoosh of air. That seems to be answer enough for him.

His face contorts with disgust. She’s never seen Azriel so expressive. Always cloaked in his shadows or the mask of apathy he seems to favour, he has remained largely unreadable to her. Until now. She reckons even Amren, still not fluent in the language of expression, could decipher his distress. The tendrils of darkness around him move agitatedly, a churning mess of darkness.

‘Your mate does you great disservice.’

He mutters.

Her ribs ache again. Body rebelling against mind. How familiar.

‘He is not mine.’

The words are choked out of her, and yet the male, usually tactful, continues with another cut, like he cannot help himself from spilling that which he can no longer contain.

‘He is not hers.’

The words are hot and his mouth is open to continue when she interrupts him, needing someone else to be bleeding at the table too.

‘She is not yours either.’

Her barb stops Azriel short. The silence sits between them. A third outcast at the table. And it too bleeds until each second stretches like a band, the tension thick between them.

Even in their bubble where time stands still, she can see movement and joy surrounding them. A deck of cards has emerged and Feyre is howling with laughter as she slaps her hand, a full house she reckons, down on the carpet in triumph. How foolish to play against her sister. Whip-smart and cunning and the best liar she knows.

When have the Inner Circle ever been wise?

And so, they sit like two wraiths as the clocks stop around them until Azriel reaches for his wine and time snaps back into its rhythm. He swirls the glass by the stem and while examining its contents, declares with a forced lightness,

‘Cassian has always been careless. Always taking from me. Books, wing lotion, knives, …. females.’

Any semblance of civility his voice had held vanishes as he drawls,

‘Forgetful too you know? Very little of what he takes ever makes its way back to me.’

He gulps down wine. It’s the most he’s ever spoken to her alone, outside of weather and war and other such trivialities she thinks drily.

‘Do you truly believe a female can be taken?’

Nesta snarks. Her pulse quickens slightly as Azriel lets the question hang, echoing between them, before raising an eyebrow, the left corner of his mouth pulling into a lobsided smirk.

‘No.. I mean...’

She huffs.

‘Don’t be obtuse Azriel. If we are assigning characteristics I believe that one is Cassian’s.’

The smirk widens into a wicked grin and the Shadowsinger laughs, a sonorous chuckle from deep in his chest that escapes despite himself, even as he covers his mouth to contain it.

‘Oh that wasn’t very nice.’

The words are mocking and delighted and far too cheerful.

He is striking as his eyes glow and his shadows dance. Too pretty to be trusted. As quickly as his mirth arrives it departs however and he sobers himself before answering,

‘You misunderstand me and that is my fault. My words were ill-considered. I am slow to move, in love and outside it. Cassian is quick to jump in and out of emotion. When he.. takes someone I have been yearning for, been courting at my own glacial pace, they rarely turn back to me once he is done with them.’

‘Are there not enough fae in Prythian for you both?’

His eyes darken as his gaze drops to his glass once more.

‘You would think and yet..’

He gestures behind him flippantly.

Nesta snorts.

‘Mother burn me. Men are the same everywhere.’

‘I am no man.’

His immediate contest, confessed bemusedly, is hardly a compelling defence .

‘You’re a man in every way that counts if you truly believe your pissing contest with Cassian has any sway on the Morrigan’s heart.’

Understanding dawns on his face but his expression only darkens as he snarls,

‘I’ll survive Mor’s rejection. Even your sister could read the writing on that wall. He betrayed me.’

Nesta leans back in her seat, eyebrows arched. What a shame Azriel is not hers. He seems, like her, to have the bad habit of clinging too hard to those he cares for. Maybe he’d relish the marks she’d leave on him. Visions of his sculpted chest branded with her scratches don’t disrupt her quick retort,

‘You’re quite nasty when you’re hurt.’

Azriel cocks an eyebrow at her. The message delivered clearly. Nesta would be familiar with that particular flaw it says.

Too familiar.

The shattered pieces of the Archeron sisterhood prod at her throat, making it hard to swallow.

Familiar enough to guess at what Azriel might be searching for. She reaches for his hand and lays her own upon it, ignoring how he flinches at the contact initially, before grasping at it like a lifeline, the gentle warmth of his scarred palm melting something within her, the pad of his index resting on her pulse taking stock of the uptick of her unsteady heart.

Despite the rumours it has been a long time since she has been touched at all. She revels in the quiet exhilaration of skin on skin, in the comfort they both find in the spaces between words.

She whispers breathily,

‘I’m sorry he hurt you. You deserve better, you know?’

Azriel sighs, a heavy push of air emptying his lungs of life and face of the anger it contained mere seconds ago, until all that remains is something that could be hurt, that could be heartbreak. Cassian is very careless indeed she realises.

‘So do you.’

Azriel glances back at his circle, not one of whom noted his absence, his engagement with the harpy of Velaris. He has always been like this Nesta contemplates, circling the periphery, clinging, like his shadows, to the edge of a gathering. She had always assumed that to be a choice, now she questions whether, like her, there is simply no space for him elsewhere.

His jaw is clenched on turning back to her, the remnants of a baleful glare not quite dissipated as he leans towards her, movement calculatedly slow. His plump lower lip drops slightly in surprise as she leans in, her torso pressing against her dinner plate, surely staining her only good dress. Will the sauce from the stew seep like blood into the cotton, an extension of the contusion that has surely formed by her ribs?

She can just about see the dark swirls of tiny shadows that circle his pupils, as the table that has always seemed too narrow is suddenly irritatingly wide. The unbidden need to be close enough to count the thick lashes that frame his eyes, to have the shadows that are stroking her collarbone plait into her hair is urgent and unrelenting.

Her heart pounds in her ears and all she can focus on is the choppy meter of his breath as he murmurs,

‘How about we get out of here?’

His plea is addressed to her lips, eyes affixed on them, following the dart of her tongue as she whets them. In the shadows she has found someone made of the same mettle. In the shadows she has found something new.

The tug at her ribs is easy to ignore when the cool kiss of his shadows trace the neckline of her dress.

‘Take me.’

#nezriel #nesta #azriel #acotar #acotar fanfic #gemwrites

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mariacallous · 25 days

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“I am opposed to war, unless in self-defense.” This was the most-liked comment on Douyin—the Chinese counterpart to TikTok—in reaction to a speech delivered by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Jan. 9. In his address, Wang previewed China’s top diplomatic goals for 2024 and emphasized “the unwavering resolve of all 1.4 billion Chinese citizens to achieve reunification with Taiwan,” a statement made just days prior to the island’s general elections.

The broader reaction to Wang’s remarks likely wasn’t what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hoped for: Tens of thousands of Chinese social media users responded, many of them with grievances, sarcasm, and defiance, widely questioning the costs of a potential war.

One man from Shanghai complained, “Who is going to fight the war? If I die, who is going to pay my mortgage or my car loan?” Wang’s speech framed “national unification” as one of “China’s core interests,” but as one user from Hunan rebutted, “[China’s] core interests are that every Chinese can be treated equally and have access to elderly care and health care.” The pushback went beyond economic and social grievances. Some posters were even bolder, suggesting that Taiwan’s democracy may demonstrate a political alternative to mainland China: “The fact that Taiwanese choose their own way of life,” said one commentator from Shandong, “might show that Chinese people can take a different route.”

The mood among social media users is a sharp departure from past elections. After almost every Taiwanese general election since 2016, a wave of pro-war fever has swept the Chinese internet. After Taiwan’s 2020 elections, for example, upbeat war enthusiasts in China produced oil paintings that illustrated wild fantasies of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) capturing Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen alive after landing in Taiwan and forcing her to sign an official surrender document onboard a Chinese aircraft carrier—a scene reminiscent of the 1945 Japanese surrender that ended World War II.

In 2021, one of the most popular songs to go viral on Chinese social media was “Take A Bullet Train to Taiwan in 2035.” Its allusion to a high-speed rail line connecting Beijing and Taipei was a dog whistle to nationalist masses who hoped that unification was on the horizon—by force, if necessary.

Absent from these fantasies, however, was the blood and violence that accompanies real war. At the time, China’s star was rising on the international stage, and public confidence was riding high on China’s success in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic within its borders. As such, the sentiments surrounding unification and the use of military force were quite romantic; many people believed that victory over Taiwan would be easy, that the Taiwanese would surrender voluntarily if the PLA simply blockaded the island.

In 2024, however, things have changed. The most recent Taiwanese presidential election—in which the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won a repeat victory—served as an uncomfortable reminder to the Chinese public that neither Taiwanese politicians nor voters are interested in Beijing’s plans for political unification. Although the forceful unification narrative still exists, any push from nationalists to reignite war fever has now run into a wall of skepticism following the DPP victory.

“Wake up,” one Weibo user wrote in opposition to the broader online calls for forceful unification. “Stop dreaming,” another echoed. The defiant voices are becoming a common reaction to the suggested use of military force to an extent rarely seen, given the massive culture of censorship on Chinese social media.

A clear reason for this change is China’s economic slowdown. While Taiwan went to the polls in 2024, China was grappling with a youth unemployment rate above 20 percent, a housing market crisis with sales down by 45 percent, and a stock market in free fall that lost $6 trillion in just three years, the likes of which haven’t been seen in almost a decade. News about Taiwanese elections failed to arouse the same nationalistic reactions among the preoccupied Chinese public that had occurred in the previous two contests.

Instead, the 2024 elections triggered a flood of complaints: “Sort out our own economy, what a mess.” a Shanghai resident said angrily. “Look at our stock market,” an apparently frustrated investor from Hunan grieved, “It’d be better to keep the status quo, and leave Taiwanese alone.” The gloomy economy has made some commenters question the underlying justification for war: “With low-income people making less than 1,000 yuan a month ($140), and the national insurance tax going up, huge medical bills, and unaffordable apartments, why do you want forceful unification? I don’t get it.”

“It is the economy that really matters,” another person from Tianjin pointed out. “[Taiwan] being independent or not has nothing to do with ordinary people.”

The changing attitudes toward Taiwan’s elections reflect a broader shift in public sentiment in China’s online space. Discontent about the country’s poor economic reality has been growing louder, drowning out calls for a military takeover.

Ironically, the CCP’s own past propaganda efforts contributed to this cooling effect. Right before Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, visited Taiwan in August 2022, official and semiofficial rhetoric in mainland China was so belligerent that it led many Chinese to believe that the day of unification had finally arrived and that the military would shoot down her plane and launch its attack on Taiwan imminently.

This was the peak of forceful unification hysteria, but it only left its crusaders disappointed. In the end, there was not only no shootdown of Pelosi’s plane, but there also weren’t even military exercises conducted before she left Taiwan. Many Chinese, especially forceful unification advocates, felt betrayed and disillusioned by their government’s failure to follow through on its belligerent rhetoric, and the after-effects of this letdown are still being felt today.

During Taiwan’s 2024 elections, war enthusiasts were continuously reminded of Beijing’s military inaction following Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan. “Have you guys forgotten Pelosi?” one said. One commonly repeated joke, observing the lack of military action, scoffed that the only thing that was fired up when Pelosi visited was the stove in her hotel. The kinds of threats that once resonated with nationalists now drew widespread ridicule online: “delusion,” “talking a big game,” “an unrealistic fantasy,” and “all hat, no cattle.”

Meanwhile, at the other end of the Chinese political spectrum, the 2024 election prompted the resurgence of the view among many liberals that Taiwan’s democracy represents a desirable political model. In the early 2010s, many Chinese saw Taiwan as a beacon of hope for Chinese society—a liberal, civic, and democratic alternative to the one-party state. The liberal Chinese writer Han Han coined a popular phrase—“The most beautiful scenery of Taiwan is its people.”—that encapsulated the view of how trustworthy and free a people can become under democracy.

But after the crackdown on liberal intellectuals and online speech under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the honeymoon did not last long and was gradually replaced by a climate of xenophobia, jingoism, war euphoria, and a longing for unification by force. Making matters worse, a growing nationalist mood in Taiwan led many to believe that Taiwanese looked down on mainlanders.

The 2024 elections, however, prompted a renewed interest from the Chinese public about their neighbor, home to the world’s only Chinese-speaking democracy. News about Taiwanese elections aroused great curiosity on Weibo about the nuts and bolts of the electoral process—what a ballot looks like, how many ballots one can cast, how votes are counted, and how candidates are selected. When a few Taiwanese Weibo users answered these questions, they were liked and retweeted by thousands of Chinese accounts, drawing genuine admiration and blessings from many.

“Are we going to see one day like this?” one user from Gansu wondered with a crying emoji. “Maybe this is accumulating experience for our own future: giving speeches, holding debates, and counting votes,” commented another, from Tianjin.

China’s shifting public sentiment is bound to have repercussions for cross-strait relations, but it would probably be a bridge too far to infer that the Chinese public will fiercely oppose a war in the Taiwan Strait. Ultimately, the nationalist base remains. At present, the euphoria about forceful unification is quieting down, mainly because the party’s over-the-top propaganda failed to meet the expectations of its most ardent supporters. But if aggressive rhetoric were followed by military action in the future, war fever could be easily fanned again.

Despite the prevalence of extreme nationalism, Chinese public opinion is more divided on Taiwan than it seems, and these divisions are only likely to increase. What concerns most ordinary Chinese are decent jobs, good income, accumulating savings for retirement, and getting affordable access to health care and housing.

So long as the economy is struggling and people’s livelihoods are threatened, there is no guarantee that the CCP’s attempts to exploit nationalism will work; quite the opposite, it could be faced with plenty of pushback.

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fanning-the-flames · 7 months

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Moonshot: A Cheng'e Story

[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Next>

Cover

Part 1 of 5

Astronaut Wei Wuxian is about to make history as part of China's first human moon landing on September 12, 2030. He is woken up from a recurring dream (nightmare) where he grasps at a stream of light by the call to report for the landing. The team is made up of the commander, Lan Wangji, the pilot, Wei Wuxian, and the communications officer, Wen Qionglin. Wen Qionglin passes along well wishes from Director Jin, which Wei Wuxian is suspicious of, though the Director does want the mission to go well for his son to lead the Mars mission.

After a successful moon landing, Wei Wuxian drives him and Lan Wangji on the moon rover, where Lan Wangji is even more reticent than usual. Suddenly a white hare jumps in front of the rover, causing a crash. It hops away into the arms of a human figure in purple robes.

Next >

2021 Cheng'e: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [x]

2022 Cheng’e: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]

Don't worry, the Jade Hares in this comic are as tough as jade and near indestructible. He didn't even get hit, but would've been fine regardless.

Er...spoilers below? You probably know who the Hare is...

#wei wuxian #lan wangji #cql #mdzs #the untamed #chang e au #chengxian #don't read this if you are looking for wangxian #for those who saw that early post of this #apologies #comic #chinese mythology #challenge: draw a story in space with as little space as possible #definitely if this was fully fleshed out there would be the near disaster landing #saved by wwx quick reflexes and ingenuity #so imagine all that happened as well

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 month

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This day in history

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TUCSON (Mar 9-10), then San Francisco (Mar 13), Anaheim, and more!

#15yrsago Chinese gold farming https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/mar/05/virtual-world-china

#10yrsago Comment-spammers threaten to sabotage their victims through Google Disavow if the evidence of their vandalism isn’t removed https://ellis.fyi/blog/gordon-sands-threatens-seattle-bubble-google-disavow-comment-spam/

#10yrsago Obama whirls the copyright lobbyist/government official revolving door https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/03/obama-nominates-former-sopa-lobbyist-help-lead-tpp-negotiations

#10yrsago CIA spied on Senate committee writing damning torture report and Obama knew about it https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/05/obama-cia-senate-intelligence-committee-torture

#5yrsago Jibo the social robot announces that its VC overlords have remote-killswitched it, makes pathetic farewell address and dances a final step https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/3/4/18250104/jibo-social-robot-server-shutdown-offline-dead

#5yrsago Bowing to public pressure, Coinbase announces it will “transition out” the ex-Hacking Team cybermercenaries whose company it just bought https://www.vice.com/en/article/qvyndw/coinbase-says-ex-hacking-team-members-will-transition-out-after-users-protest

#5yrsago The NSA has reportedly stopped data-mining Americans’ phone and SMS records https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/us/politics/nsa-phone-records-program-shut-down.html

#5yrsago Facebook forces you to expose your phone number to the whole world in order to turn on two-factor authentication https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/03/facebook-doubles-down-misusing-your-phone-number

#5yrsago America is not “polarized”: it’s a land where a small minority tyrannize the supermajority https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/opinion/oppression-majority.html

Name your price for 18 of my DRM-free ebooks and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the Humble Cory Doctorow Bundle.

#pluralistic

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usafphantom2 · 4 months

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At Beale Air Force Base , in California, you would think that the SR-71 Blackbird program would be the biggest blackest deepest secret. You would be wrong.

The biggest secret was Senior Bowl.

M-21 and D-21.

According to Air Force Test Center History Office documents, all manned flights over the Soviet Union were discontinued by President Dwight Eisenhower after Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane was shot down May 1, 1960. However even if the US government was planning on using satellites for reconnaissance, the technology was still a few years away and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) determined unmanned drones could fill the gap until satellites became viable.

For this reason in the 1960s the famed Lockheed “Skunk Works” developed the D-21 a highly-advanced, remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) designed to carry out high-speed, high-altitude strategic reconnaissance missions over hostile territory.

The D-21 required a mothership to launch given its ramjet engine, which needed to be air-launched at a certain speed to activate. Initially, Lockheed testers used an M-21 (essentially a modified SR-71 Blackbird) to air launch the D-21 drone. The D-21 would be launched from the back of the M-21. Ideally, after conducting its reconnaissance mission it would eject a hatch with photo equipment to be recovered either mid-air or after the hatch landed.

However, on the fourth flight test, the D-21 experienced an “asymmetric unstart” as it passed through the bow wake of the M-21 causing the mothership to pitch up and collide with the D-21 at Mach 3.25. Crewmembers Bill Park and Ray Torick ejected from the M-21, but Torick’s flight suit became ripped and filled with water when he plunged into the ocean where he drowned.

B-52 and D-21.

After the accident and after the death of Ray Torick, a test flight engineer, the M-21 launch program was cancelled but testers still believed the D-21 would make a valuable reconnaissance vehicle and decided to launch the drone from B-52Hs under a top secret test program named Tagboard. The new code name for the D-21 project became Senior Bowl.

It was Kelly Johnson, President of Skunk Works, who suggested to use the B-52. As a result of Johnson’s advice two B-52’s were modified: 61#0021 and 60#0036. Both B-52’s are still in the US Air Force (USAF) inventory. The ultra secret 4200 test squadron was formed at Beale.

Only a few of the men that flew the SR-71 had been read into the program: out of necessity one of the few included my father Richard “Butch” Sheffield, SR-71 RSO who had already been read into Oxcart in 1965. In his unpublished book he writes that on the flightline he was with Bob Spencer, SR-71 pilot. They were taxing out when they saw the B-52 with a drone underneath it. Spencer asked ‘What is that under that B-52?’ My Dad responded ‘I have no idea.’ He couldn’t tell Bob Spencer the truth.

These two B-52‘s were kept away at the end of the runway apart from any other operations.

D-21 drone.

The D-21s were used on four flights over communist China but none of these missions fully succeeded.

Two flights were successful, however the imagery could not be recovered from the D-21’s hatch. The other two operational flights ended with one being lost in a heavily defended area and the other D-21 simply disappeared after launch.

The main mission of the D-21 was to fly over China and take pictures of its nuclear weapons test facility in the remote west central of the country near Lop Nor.

The pictures were supposed to be dropped in the ocean and recovered by the Navy. During the Cold War this information was necessary for the defense of the US.

This print is available in multiple sizes from AircraftProfilePrints.com – CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS. B-52H Stratofortress 2nd BW, 20th BS, LA/60-0008 “Lucky Lady IV”.

The fourth and final mission of the D-21 drone took place on Mar. 20, 1971 and was undertaken by D-21 #527. Experts at the 4200th Support Squadron and at Skunk Works concluded that #527 must have malfunctioned. It was thought to have gone down near Lop Nor. This drone is on display in China at their national aviation museum. So we know that it got close.

Senior Bowl lasted from January 1968 until Jul. 15, 1971. Interestingly, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Ben Rich (then retired president of Lockheed’s Skunk Works) finally had an opportunity to tour Russia himself. While in Moscow, the KGB presented Rich with a gift of what they thought were the remains of a stealth fighter that had crashed in their territory. As it turned out, the wreckage was actually pieces and parts of the lost D-21 Drone!

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Facebook Page Habubrats for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

This model is available from AirModels – CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS.

Linda Sheffield Miller

Grew up at Beale Air Force Base, California. I am a Habubrat. Graduated from North Dakota State University. Former Public School Substitute Teacher, (all subjects all grades). Member of the DAR (Daughters of the Revolutionary War). I am interested in History, especially the history of SR-71. Married, Mother of three wonderful daughters and four extremely handsome grandsons. I live near Washington, DC.

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nikproxima · 1 year

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MTV initial study, done by Marshall Space Flight Center, by Max

Revised conceptual study for MTV, circa 1982 design freeze, by Max

MTV Minerva being serviced prior to departure on an Olympus mission, as well as OV-106 Intrepid, by Jay

The Olympus Mars Transfer Vehicle was something of a miracle of science and engineering, and showcased some of the greatest cooperation for the entire program as a whole. As important as landing on the surface of Mars is, getting to Mars is a whole different half of the equation, and ensuring that the right equipment would do the job was part of the uphill battle for the program. In the beginning of the design process, it was unclear whether or not the architecture would be chemical, nuclear, or some sort of strange combination of the two. Highly experimental solar electric or even nuclear electric proposals had been thrown around, but it was unclear whether those would be ready in time for the projected late 1990s landing date. Initially, things were dire, as the Olympus Partners stared down the failures of General Atomics to produce a working Valkyrie engine, the key to a reusable nuclear architecture. Ultimately, Lockheed and Naval Reactors would succeed in flying their demonstrator, Way-Seeker, and secure the contract to produce the propulsion section. Boeing would lead the work on Habitat design, a radical new concept for inflatable modules that would enable much greater volume on a single launch. This inflatable habitat would be augmented by a Utility Node, also built by Boeing, and would contain the life support, air lock, and docking systems that would be utilized by ships visiting the MTV. Two Multi Purpose Mission Modules, built by Thales Aerospace, would join the MTV before a mission was due to depart, enabling greater habitable volume and delivering mission specific equipment for the intended landing site. The final component, the Earth Return Lifeboat, would ensure the safety of the crew if something were to go wrong. This capsule would be a large, Apollo CM derived vehicle built by Lockheed and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (later Airbus), and could seat a crew of 8.

The MTVs of the Olympus Fleet, Minerva, Prometheus, Hera and Selene, would do their duty well. Each would lead the way in pioneering new triumphs and bring comfort to the crew in times of hardship. They would shelter them from storms, and bring their crews home every time. Even during the disaster of Olympus 9, where all hope seemed lost, Hera gave her all to ensure that her crew would get home safely, sacrificing herself into the inky void of space to throw her passengers home. Towards the end of their usable lives, Minerva, Prometheus and Selene would see continued use supporting Destiny, shuttling cargo landers and crew to and from the lunar surface as infrastructure quickly spread. For the crew of Foundation, the outpost in Noctis, a fleet of new MTVs would emerge, chemical-electric, nuclear and even chemical "cargo sleds" that would push great volumes of equipment. The Americans would lead the charge with their radical Chem-NEP design, the Armstrong class. These would be fully reusable, and leverage design work being done since the start of the program. Japan and Canada would contribute heavily to the Armstrong Class, with logistics modules and robotic arms as their main gifts. Europe's largest contribution would be the Euro-Russian Copernicus Class, a nuclear thermal system based on work done by the Americans in the early days of Olympus. These would be smaller in crew complement but much larger in cargo volume, delivering great aeroshells to the surface. China would also deliver new vehicles, the fully solar-electric Tianzhou class, based on their earlier endeavors in asteroid exploration. These were strictly for cargo, and ensured that Chinese Taikonauts had seats onboard American or European MTVs. This fleet of MTVs would enable a continuous human presence on Mars in the low hundreds throughout the middle of the 21st century.

#proxima: a human exploration of mars #alternate history #science #space #space story #science fiction #alternate future #mars #mars transfer vehicle #NASA #spaceflight #story #worldbuilding

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mysticstronomy · 1 year

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WILL WE EVER COLONIZE OTHER PLANETS??

Blog#247

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2022

Welcome back,

While humans have long thought of gods living in the sky, the idea of space travel or humans living in space dates to at least 1610 after the invention of the telescope when German astronomer Johannes Kepler wrote to Italian astronomer Galileo: “Let us create vessels and sails adjusted to the heavenly ether, and there will be plenty of people unafraid of the empty wastes. In the meantime, we shall prepare, for the brave sky-travellers, maps of the celestial bodies.”

In popular culture, space travel dates back to at least the mid-1600s when Cyrano de Bergerac first wrote of traveling to space in a rocket. Space fantasies flourished after Jules Verne’s “From Earth to the Moon” was published in 1865, and again when RKO Pictures released a film adaptation, A Trip to the Moon, in 1902. Dreams of space settlement hit a zenith in the 1950s with Walt Disney productions such as “Man and the Moon,” and science fiction novels including Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (1950).

Fueling popular imagination at the time was the American space race with Russia, amid which NASA was formed in the United States on July 29, 1958, when President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law. After the Russians put the first person, Yuri Gagarin, in space on Apr. 12, 1961, NASA put the first people, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on the Moon in July 1969. What was science fiction began to look more like possibility.

Over the next six decades, NASA would launch space stations, land rovers on Mars, and orbit Pluto and Jupiter, among other accomplishments. NASA’s ongoing Artemis program, launched by President Trump in 2017, intends to return humans to the Moon, landing the first woman on the lunar surface, by 2024.

As of June 17, 2021, three countries had space programs with human space flight capabilities: China, Russia, and the United States. India’s planned human space flights have been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but they may launch in 2023. However, NASA ended its space shuttle program in 2011 when the shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 21.

NASA astronauts going into space afterward rode along with Russians until 2020 when SpaceX took over and first launched NASA astronauts into space on Apr. 23, 2021. SpaceX is a commercial space travel business owned by Elon Musk that has ignited commercial space travel enthusiasm and the idea of “space tourism.” Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin have generated similar excitement.

Richard Branson launched himself, two pilots, and three mission specialists into space [as defined by the United States] from New Mexico for a 90-minute flight on the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 mission on July 11, 2021. The flight marked the first time that passengers, rather than astronauts, went into space.

Originally published on www.britannica.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, November 26th, 2022)

"WHAT IS THE COSMIC CENSORSHIP THEORY??"

#astronomy #outer space #alternate universe #astrophysics #spacecraft #universe #white universe #parallel universe #space #astrophotography

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disneyworldshowdown · 11 months

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Welcome!

This is the WDW attraction showdown, where we determine what is the best ride/show at Walt Disney World. This tournament will have both currently operating and defunct attractions represented, so your favorite attraction should be represented on here! I hope you enjoy the tournament!

Full list of attractions below:

Magic Kingdom:

Walt Disney World Railroad

Main Street Vehicles

Jungle Cruise

Pirates of the Caribbean

Swiss Family Treehouse

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Frontierland Shooting Gallery

Country Bear Jamboree

Tom Sawyer Island

Haunted Mansion

The Hall of Presidents

Liberty Square Riverboat

"it's a small world"

Mickey's Philharmagic

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Peter Pan's Flight

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

The Barnstormer

Prince Charming Regal Carousel

Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid

Mad Tea Party

Space Mountain

TRON: Lightcycle Run

Tomorrowland Speedway

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor

PeopleMover

Astro Orbiter

Epcot:

Spaceship Earth

Journey Into Imagination with Figment

Test Track (post-2012)

Mission: SPACE

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

Soarin' Around the World

Living with the Land

Awesome Planet

The Seas with Nemo & Friends

Turtle Talk with Crush

Gran Fiesta Tour

Frozen Ever After

Reflections of China

Impressions de France

The American Adventure

Remy's Ratatouille Adventure

Canada Far and Wide

Disney's Hollywood Studios:

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster

Fantasmic!

Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage

Indiana Jones: Epic Stunt Spectacular

Star Tours - The Adventures Continue

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run

Toy Story Mania!

Alien Swirling Saucers

Slinky Dog Dash

Muppet*Vision 3D

Disney Junior Live on Stage

Disney's Animal Kingdom:

It's Tough to be a Bug!

Avatar Flight of Passage

Na'vi River Journey

Kilimanjaro Safaris

Wildlife Express Train

Expedition Everest

Kali River Rapids

Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... Beyond!

Festival of the Lion King

DINOSAUR

Triceratop Spin

Defunct Attractions:

Test Track (pre-2012)

Soarin' (original)

Journey Into Imagination (original)

Journey Into YOUR Imagination

Maelstrom

Splash Mountain

Primeval Whirl

World of Motion

Ellen's Energy Adventure

The Great Movie Ride

Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Snow White's Scary Adventures

Mickey Mouse Revue

America the Beautiful

Mission to Mars

ExtraTERRORestrial: Alien Encounter

Stitch's Great Escape!

Horizons

The Living Seas

Body Wars

Cranium Command

Captain EO

Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!

Food Rocks

Kitchen Kabaret

Innoventions

Circle of Life

El Rio del Tiempo

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - Play It!

Sounds Dangerous!

The American Idol Experience

Studio Backlot Tour

Lights, Motors, Action!

#tournament #disney #disney world #disney parks #epcot #theme park #theme parks #magic kingdom #animal kingdom #hollywood studios

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nemo-duspy-writes · 4 months

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Let's see whether it's appreciated to put a snippet of my current WIP here. It's hard Sci-Fi, called Anarchtica, and mostly takes place in the early 23rd century in the Antarctic.

i'd love to hear what you think of this start of the Prologue. It's only the first draft, so don't be too harsh.

Anarchtica

Prologue

Somewhere on the Antarctic circle - 2057-12-31

From the small research vessel on a calm sea, Professor Bergmann spotted one of the massive, converted cargo ships. If he had spotted it, the staffless ship must've spotted them as well, though it did not make any efforts to change its course. It kept gliding through the water slowly, mostly moved by the current. It resembled a whale, using minimal movements to conserve energy.

The container ship's propellers would only engage to keep the vessel on its long trip around Antarctica, or, after the curtain project is activated tomorrow, to hunt down every man-made object trying to cross the boundary to the cold continent.

Bergmann's ship was the last manned vessel allowed in these waters, the last that would see the southern land mass for 150 years. The silence was eerie, it stood in stark contrast to the bustling of workers that used to work here over the last few years. The temporary housing still marred the otherwise untouched land, a windswept desert of snow and black rock. Though, it wasn't totally dead anymore. On some spots by the seaside, the snow had melted, and resilient plants took the opportunity.

A bit away from the coast, on the side of a hill was a massive concrete cube. It had many nicknames while it was being built, but the one that stuck was 'Chtultwo', a portmanteau of the cosmic horror's name and two.

Within its thick walls lay the world's entire stock of Sodium-22-chloride. Chemically nothing more than table salt. You could have used it for cooking, if the sodium isotope hadn't been radioactive, producing Neon-22 by emitting a positron - the antiparticle to an electron. Half-life time: 2.6 years. That in and of its own isn't too special, nothing that would warrant quarantining an entire continent. Until they figured out that Sodium-22 is the perfect catalyst for cold fusion of deuterium. The reaction created enough heat to be self-sufficient.

This was a great discovery. It promised an easy way to cover the world's entire energy needs for millennia, or even making the colonization of the solar system feasible.

Then, in 2048, the city of Kairo was wiped off the earth by an explosion bigger than the Tzar bomba's. The victim count was above 10 Million. The culprit was suspected to be a small terrorist cell, having built a cheap and easy fusion bomb with the help of Sodium-22.

The destructive power that was the driving force for most politics since the second half of the 20th century, now in the hands of everyone with college level physics' knowledge, water, and a few grams of a relatively easy to buy isotope.

This was one of the few times in history the world came together. They knew no human and no government on the planet should wield such power. They put heavy restrictions on every way to produce or isolate the isotope, and they confiscated each gram of Sodium-22.

At this point, the distrust between the nations welled up again. China absolutely refused the Americans' plan to store it in a safe area on their mainland until it is degraded, and vice versa. There needed to be a land on earth that was not affiliated with any nation, tectonically stable and easy to defend from anyone trying to take it.

As ludicrous as it sounded, Antarctica was the only option.

And so, they rebuilt a fleet of container ships to be armed with drones, controlled by an AI program whose task was to destroy every attempt to reach the Sodium-22, until it was degraded far enough to be a threat. They settled on 150 years; in that time the stock would degrade to 4.3 quintillionth of its original mass.

A big challenge was to make sure the ships survived the time without any outside help; that they wouldn't run out of energy. Most of the vessels were fitted with fission reactors; reliable and tested. But for some, as an experiment, some ships had different energy sources in their bellies.

His colleague, Doctor Defarote, joined Prof. Bergmann at the railing.

She blew into her hands to warm them up.

"Cold here even in the summer," she said with a strong Argentinian accent.

"Yes, Daria," Professor Bergmann said, his view still on the container ship. "It's not that much of a loss that no one can be here for one and a half centuries."

Daria looked at him. "Is that sarcasm? We will miss all the effects that climate change has on it. With it becoming more temperate, we will lose out on the opportunity to observe a new ecosystem forming, while we will miss a lot of the old inhabitants dying. It's a loss for everyone."

"Yes, I know. But we won't be able to change it."

The container ship was now almost at their vessel.

"Which number is that?" Doctor Defarote asked.

"34"

"Oh, so this is yours?"

"Yes." Professor Bergmann couldn't hold back the proud smile. "A thorium fission reactor coupled with an inertia-type fusion reactor. Not as efficient as a theoretical Natwotwo, but more efficient than anything else right now, while still being reliable enough to run for more than 200 years."

The container ship passed them, showing how much bigger it was compared to their vessel. Like an unscalable wall of steel.

The Professor and his colleague looked at it with awe.

"A true marvel of human engineering," he said. "A monument to the intellect of humans and that with science and technology, their creations can even withstand the harshest conditions."

Doctor Defarote scoffed. "For me it means exactly the opposite. That humans are stupid and stubborn, that they'd rather quarantine a whole continent than not using the newest science to kill other people or destroy our home planet."

"What a pessimistic view." The vibration of the device in his jacket interrupted their conversation. "We can discuss this later, but I think it's time to leave the area. We don't want to be on this side of the curtain when it activates."

Professor Bergmann ripped his eyes from the massive steel hull. As he turned to go under deck, he spotted something else on the horizon in the water and froze.

"Is that another ship?"

#sci fi writing #science fiction #scifi #writing #writer #writeblr #snippet #new story #novel #writer on tumblr #writers #creative writing #wip

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ricky-croissant · 1 year

Video

youtube

🥁- 🥁 - 🥁 - 🥁 - 🥁 🥁 🥁 🥁 📯- 📯 - 📯 - 📯 This is -wavy news, I’m bert thee tertle. The small Ape tells us what’s next in the president’s dump.

Ur mum’sabitch, you bastard! President Dump and his purp lawyer Rudy Poopy Poopliani Pumped Joe-Biden’s erection. President pump personally pushed for probes of political opponents, including Joe Bo ᗺ McDemocrat, th-at’s all ho-mies. Washington.

Republicrackers are mounting President Dump while insisting nothing’s wrong.

Republicans say that the Trump presidency is a complete charade, that the last election -is simply invalid, getim outta office, and democrats are just bored, and grasping atPenis to make Shit happen-... That is poor repoorting.

An American siseh-bah uh-uh bahduh consiʂ duh consiƧiƧ conduh-bah uh bar ɿɒd duh combarah sis of of turkey. Hummus has more.

The man is noɯɐu. The man is a-turkey. Greecey and hair-ey. SogroƧ. President Dump tried to Pork him, but the turkey refused entry. I’m Bent-

And this is wavy news. Godzilla fired a barrage of turkeys into the country music association awards on Thursday, killing dozens of awards. Sgt. Music-allotta has more.

LEFREƎЯꟻLE REE ƎЯ Я Я MOM- The C.R.A.P. started with a medley of allstar country shit and setup the evening for girl-power, but males took all the awards [ :( ] Girth Brooks took the female entertainer of the year award for the -umpth time. Luubed Co-cks took won the female vocalist award, and mus-ty grapes took the best award-award, and Ashley McNews took best New-dist. McNews recalled once playing a chip chow for joj-Prine, who complimented her cock. “The next day he shook my g-ay” *Woo!* “And he said Eureka, you’re no good” *Laughter*.

Turkey’s fired a barrage of salami rockets into music groups on Thursday, after shitty music killed dozens of people. Royal-Doyal has salami and turkey. Nom nom nom.

Militant rock groups, Salami-Jihad, killed Nickle-back on Thursday. Calming the worst rock in months. That is Royal-ing.

Turkey’s built barricades and stockpiled makeshift weapons, setting the stage for salami showdowns. Sabrina shat her clothes.

I was woken yesterday at d-icks thirty by the lunch alarm like for 8 minutes str8, and then like at lunchtime we had an emergency lunch with the lunch president and he basically made the lunch way more severe than we realized?

China’s global times announced big honking titties- collapsed... Our nuclear turkey has taken important steps to landing its first countrymusicspacecraft on Mars. Garth brooks reports.

Space success! Space applause met the completion of the Spacelander test on Space day. Its Space journey to Mars should take about 7 Space minutes. It’s a powerful Space rocket called Space Launch 5 to transport the Space probe through Space. It’s off to the Moon first to bring back some Space rocks. It’s the third Space man in Space with it’s own Space Rocket.

That is Roiters Loser, and in Hell, I’m spurting-jizz. Wavy news... 📯- 📯 - 📯 - 📯 - 📯- 📯 - 📯 📯- 📯 - 📯 - 📯 -*toot*

#ytp #noisepuppet

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ltenvs3000f23 · 5 months

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Unit 9 Blog Post

Interpet (through this blog) the most amazing thing you know about nature – get us excited. This is your blog – your audience isn’t in the field with you so bring the field to your armchair reader.

There are so many concepts of nature that I can speak upon that amaze me, such as bioluminesence, the beauty of the northern lights, and the captivating diversity in nature. However, for this week’s blog, I wanted to take a different approach and reflect upon the beauty that humans have provided within nature. Every piece tells a fascinating story; a collection can form a narrative that spans centuries, continents, and cultures.

I find it astounding to look back at the technical wonders that have shaped history, especially as we stand on the shoulders of innovation in the 21st century. When the world's wonders, like the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Colosseum, were built, they were engineering marvels. Fast forward to the present, and we are surrounded by a brand new category of wonder: the digital world.

I believe that a lot of the reason we are able to look back and appreciate our history is due to technology. It makes it so convenient for all of us to enhance our knowledge on a topic or concept that we find interesting. It is also worth noting that technology can aid in the transmission of interpretive messages at sites, allowing more visitors to learn about the location (Beck et al. 2018, p. 465). For example, when my family and I went to Los Angeles, we visited the Griffith Observatory (same planetarium seen in ‘La La Land’!). During this visit, we watched a show at the Dome at the planetarium that used the Zeiss Star Projector. The live show we watched was ‘Signs of Life’ which uncovered what it took to put life in the universe. I was truly captivated, along with the audience, by the magnificence of technology and how it can be used to interpret aspects of our history.

In the modern era, prominent technological wonders include the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station, and Mars rovers. These innovative technologies have allowed for explanations of many mysteries in space as well as discoveries. Furthermore, the Hubble Space Telescope has provided us with countless stunning photos of space exploration and the beauty that exists within our solar system—a universe that will never cease to amaze me.

However, among these technological wonders, it is important not to forget the wonders that breathe history—true testaments to human ingenuity and ambition. Each structure within nature holds a unique place in history, leaving a persistent mark on the world (Beck et al. 2018, p. 329). As an Egyptian, it only feels fitting for me to speak of the brilliance of the pyramids of Giza. This is the only one of the Ancient Wonders of the World to survive largely intact today, along with its intricate details and massive scale. Though it remains a mystery how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids without modern technology, it sparks many theories on how exactly they were created. Nevertheless, it’s inspiring how these architectural marvels, whether ancient or modern, captivate tourists with their awe-inspiring designs and historical significance.

I hope you all find this as interesting as I do, we're embedded within nature and that includes the history that precedes us and continues to evolve. It is also fascinating to me personally how technology and the human creations embedded within nature can strive for many diverse interpretations!

I have provided some images taken from the Hubble Space telescope below :)

References

Beck, L., Cable, T.T., & Knudson, D.M. (2018). Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage For a Better World. Sagamore-Venture Publishing.

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p-perkeys · 6 months

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So glad you liked the suggestion! I never want things to come across as pushy or demanding as I really appreciate the effort writers and artists put into working especially when it’s for FREE! I’m just a little awkward🙃. I used to do a bit of fic writing for marvel but it dropped off when life got messy & I had the idea for a fic about Erista coming to Krakoa for sanctuary from Dr Abraham Cornelius who became obsessed with creating a new and perfect Wolverine, I just could never get the setting right? If you know what I mean 😬.

I had the idea that Dr A had been trying for years, maybe to incorporate Logan’s other human children and they all failed much like the later clones such as Zelda, Bellona etc so he decided on a mutant born child of Logan’s but that only left him with two adults (depending on if Raze exists in the fic) so he spied on him for years and found Logan’s last location in Antarctica where the secret savage lands lay (I was going to use it in a 616 setting like that underground forest found in china in a sinkhole lmaoo). When he discovered the newly born/toddler Erista he kidnapped him and raised him in a settling much like Laura/Gabby and gave him the re enforced claws much like the girls. When he’s about 16-18 he escaped around the time of Krakoa going into the Mars/life saving medication etc era and asked for sanctuary. Obviously he’s new and shiny and (in my idea) sweeter than Akihiro had been so everyone flocks around him which sours Akihiro who had just started to get on (be civil) with Logan & unlike Akihiro, Erista wasn’t really phased by Logan not being around and didn’t blame him for any of it, he just wants a home and to feel safe.

Personally I don’t think Akihiro would be horrible to him and he wouldn’t hold a grudge forever but much like you said it would definitely make him feel like he might get replaced and particularly with the girls because they are his lifeline at that point, definitely think he’d be snarky and distant but as he’s trying to be a better person for his sisters it would be more internal that outwardly being a dick (Logan is fair game tho lmao, man needs to learn how to keep it in his pants!!!!)

That’s as far as I got in planning before life went to hell haha! Obviously you can adapt any of this to your own ideas/style of writing or completely change it up! I just love reading about them when I get the time.

Yes, I love that suggestion!! You're not pushy or demanding at all <3 I'm awkward too, more so on the internet I feel because I worry that I'm not coming across the right way with wording and things like that xD but you're perfect! Do you have any of your writings posted anywhere?? Because I would love to read them if you do! I understand how difficult it can be to juggle real life with things like that. I recently had to take like a two-month break from a long fic I'm currently working on because it was just too much to try to do that and then do other things :')

I absolutely love that idea!! You really put some time and thought into that! It's so perfect!! I especially love the twist of Erista not blaming Logan for his absence, that would definitely be a fun, new dynamic! Laura came around much faster than Aki did, but even she attacked Logan and blamed him for her existence/the abuse she went through when she first met him. It would be fun to see Logan's perspective on that, getting to meet a biological child and not having to try to work through anything. Erista would be more like Gabby, wouldn't he? Although maybe less sheltered because he didn't have siblings to help protect him? That would be so fascinating! I really, really love that!

I agree with your take on Akihiro! I think he's at a more stable point in his life now and like he'd probably be able to acknowledge where his feelings are coming from. But, like you said, I think he'd make Erista kind of... not "earn" his brotherhood, but make him work for it I guess haha like Akihiro would definitely be there if he needed backup, but it would probably take some time to just hang out casually. I'm sure it would reignite some of the ill feelings towards Logan again, I know some of Logan's absence is arguably justifiable, buttttt Akihiro is the oldest and I'm sure he would definitely have some comments about Logan continuing to have children when he seems to struggle to take care of the ones he knows he has (especially because Akihiro almost seems to have taken a bit of a father-like ((as most oldest siblings do, I suppose)) role, at least to Gabby, and very protective/much more involved with Laura than Logan has been in a long time)

I really love all of this though!! You have a brilliant mind! I can definitely work something up with this <3

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usafphantom2 · 1 month

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New Images Of China’s J-35 Naval Stealth Fighter, Could Depict Third Example

Oliver ParkenPUBLISHED Mar 13, 2024 9:10 PM EDT

A prototype J-35 stealth flghter in flight

Chinese internet via X/Twitter

Recent imagery shows what could be the third flying prototype of China's carrier-based Shenyang J-35 stealth fighter. The new visuals, which depict the aircraft from its underside, come after growing indications that the J-35 might eventually operate from China's two in-service carriers, Type 001 Liaoning and Type 002 Shandong, as well as future carriers fitted with catapults and arrestor gear, including the soon to set sail Type 003 Fujian.

The images were originally posted to the Chinese Weibo microblogging website earlier in March before being shared more widely. While the precise date they were taken remains murky, it has been indicated by Hui Tong on the Chinese Military Aviation blog that the aircraft was pictured as it approached the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation in Liaoning after a test flight. That same blog posits that this could be the third J-35, although we cannot confirm that at this time.

The images give us a view of the bottom of the J-35. We know from previous photos that the overall skin of the J-35 is quite smooth for low observable requirements. The rear of the aircraft shows largely standard exhaust nozzles — although we know the J-35 has serrated petals on its nozzles, although the enhanced image at the top of this post appears to have smoothed them out. The jet appears to be wearing a ventral bolt-on Luneburg lens (radar reflector) as is customary on stealth fighter aircraft when low-observability is not needed and can also be a challenge for flying in dense airspace. The style and placement look similar to the one found on the F-22 and, subsequently, the J-20. The J-35's landing gear features a twin nose wheel for carrier operations and a similar general layout as the F-35C.

Chinese internet via X

A navalized variant of the land-based Shenyang FC-31, the first flying J-35 prototype made its initial flight, at least that we know of, in October 2021, sporting a blue-green primer finish and wearing the serial 350001. The second known flying J-35 prototype, 350003, was subsequently spotted in July of 2022 with a low-visability gray tactical paint job. There was speculation that a third was pictured in flight in September 2023, although, as we noted at the time, the quality of the imagery made it difficult to ascertain whether the aircraft was indeed a navalized J-35 or a land-based FC-31 variant.

Of course, the emergence of the J-35 had long been considered closely linked with the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN) future catapult-assisted takeoff but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) carriers.

For a time, it was widely assumed that China would stick with operating J-15 fighters from Liaoning and Shandong, which are both equipped for short takeoff but arrested recovery (STOBAR) operations. More capable future CATOBAR carriers such as Fujian would subsequently feature air wings that include J-35s and CATOBAR versions of the J-15, among other aircraft and drones. This may no longer be the case.

However, imagery that emerged out of China at the beginning of last month purported to show a J-35 mockup onboard Liaoning while the carrier was in dock. Then, later in February, further imagery materialized which showed the article next to a J-15 mockup aboard Liaoning as the carrier set out to sea for further post-maintenance trials.

A close-up view of the mockups of the J-35 and the J-15 variant from late February. Chinese internet via X

While the possibility of J-35s performing regular operations from Liaoning and Shandong may not have been anticipated by many observers, this would seem to make sense, Andreas Rupprecht, a longtime China aerospace analyst and contributor to The War Zone, has stressed: "In my opinion [the J-35 joining the Liaoning and the Shandong] makes perfect sense," he said. "Before the Fujian is ready, especially as an operational carrier, the PLAN will need to spend a lot of time training with the J-35 on the deck and in the air. Even if the training is limited due to not having a catapult, the PLAN can gain a lot of flight hours and a lot of experience."

Actually operating J-35s from STOBAR carriers would have some drawbacks, it should be noted. While recovery is the same for both STOBAR and CATOBAR carriers, J-35s would have to make use of Liaoning and the Shandong's ski-jump ramps on the bow to launch. As such, they would have to take off with less payload, in terms of weapons and fuel, compared to launching via future CATOBAR carriers. The Fujian will feature advanced electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) type catapults, instead of traditional steam-powered catapults.

However, the overall benefit they would bring to China's in-service carriers could be significant. Alongside its low-observable characteristics, it is assumed that the J-35 will feature an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar alongside a host of advanced sensors, as well as very capable weaponry. Above all else, it would get these aircraft out to sea and operating, where major lessons can be learned, before Fujian is fully ready.

While this is all intriguing, it remains speculative. It could turn out that J-35 is either unsuitable for STOBAR operations or developmental timelines will mean that waiting for Fujian is a better move. We will have to wait and see how it all plays out.

Contact the authors: [email protected], [email protected]

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