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p-and-p-admin · 6 years ago

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Interview given to The Severus Snape and Hermione Granger Shipping Fan Group. (sharing here Admin approved)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718373383293/

Hello Subversa and welcome to Behind the Quill, thank-you for letting us get to know you a little better.

Many of our members will be familiar with your stories which include This Time, Improbable Felicity and of course, The Love You Take.

Okay, let’s jump right in.

What's the story behind your pen name?

My tagline on LiveJournal was Subversive Subversions, and that kind of says it all about me. I like to stir the pot

Which Harry Potter character do you identify with the most?

I identify most with Hermione, the book-loving swot. Oddly enough, on the various Sorting tests I’ve taken, I always Sort into Ravenclaw. (Until I took the Pottermore test, where I Sorted into Slytherin; I blame years of living in Snape’s head).

Do you have a favourite genre to read?

I grew up reading voraciously. My first genre of choice was romance. As an adult, I began reading thriller/suspense books, and I really didn’t come back to reading romance until I began writing fanfic.

Do you have a favourite "classic" novel?

It would be a toss-up between Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Jane Eyre. I see shades of SSHG in them all.

At what age did you start writing?

I took my first run at writing when I was eight years old. My parents, however, discouraged the idea of me being a writer, and even though I started a number of stories over the years, I never finished one until I began writing fanfic in my forties.

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

It was in April 2005, while I was impatiently waiting for HBP to be published. I was noodling around the Internet and I stumbled over Mugglenet. As I was gobbling up all the content, I found a link to their fanfiction.

I perused the genres, and under romance, I found the pairings. When I saw SSHG, I was horrified. So of course, I had to read something.

I read The Long Wait by ancientgirl, and I couldn’t stop. I was completely enchanted, and I thought to myself, “I could do this.” So I started writing Master of Enchantment.

I have to say that Potterverse, and specifically the SSHG fandom, became my obsession and occupied all my thoughts for several years. I pretty much read nothing but fanfic and did continual re-reads of the HP series during that time--this from a woman who previously read 3 novels a week.

What's the best theme you've ever come across in a fic? Is it a theme represented in your own works?

JKR may not know it, but her greatest creation is Severus Snape, the antagonistic protagonist.

I have always been driven by Snape’s plight. It is the theme I am most drawn to in stories I read. Over and over again through my years of active fanfic writing, I tried to give him redemption and the happiness he deserves.

What fandoms are you involved in other than Harry Potter?

I watched the birth and rise of the Sherlock BBC fandom on LiveJournal, and I saw a number of friends go over to that particular dark side. I read some of the fic, but was never tempted to write it.

As a favour to a friend, I wrote a Twilight fanfic story for a gift exchange on LiveJournal (it was awful).

So, Potterverse is really my only fandom.

If you could make one change to canon, what would it be? Do you have a favourite piece of fanon?

I basically hated book 7. The whole Deathly Hallows thing felt like something JKR introduced out of thin air. I hated the interminable camping trip. I hated the epilogue (except for “and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew”) and the idea that you must marry the person you crushed on in high school.

Mostly, of course, I hated the death of Snape.

So my change would be to have Snape survive, be vindicated in the eyes of the world, and live to earn the happiness he had never known before.

My favourite fanon thing is the myriad ways we have of making Snape survive Nagini’s attack.

Do you listen to music when you write or do you prefer quiet?

I always listen to music. Every piece I have ever written has its own soundtrack. I have piles of CDs from the time before I had an iPod, with the name of the current story I was writing scrawled on it in Sharpie. The longer pieces had soundtracks that evolved over the course of the story. There are songs that still pierce me with the memories of what I felt when I wrote. Music is an integral part of my process.

What are your favourite fanfictions of all time?

Wow. This is a hard question. I’m sure that any list I create will be missing an important story. Nevertheless, here are some, in no particular order:

Care of Magical Creatures

She Was Beautiful to Him

Guard... Check... Mate

Second Life

Big Name Death Eater

Marry a Choice

The Absinthe of Reason

I'll Never Take Advantage

Irresistible

The Bookshop

The Price of Madness

King of Swords

Denial

No Loyalty in the Moonlight

You Can't Have One Without The Other

The Language of Flowers

Are you a plotter or a pantser? How does that affect your writing process?

I am a total pantser. It means I can write myself into a corner and have to write myself out again.

What is your writing genre of choice?

Forever and always, romance. Often with a side of erotica.

Which of your stories are you most proud of? Why?

Transcendent Quality of Remembrance, because there were two timelines running and it was an intricate plot device. It is also one of the most heart-wrenching stories I’ve ever written.

Did it unfold as you imagined it or did you find the unexpected cropped up as you wrote? What did you learn from writing it?

I have to admit, the unexpected always crops up as I write. I’m one of those people who believe without apology in my Muse.

As for what I learned, I found that writing the entire story before trying to post it meant the story would hang together better without me having to write myself out of a corner. I probably went back and changed the first chapter seven or eight times due to developments in the plot.

How personal is the story to you, and do you think that made it harder or easier to write?

Everything I write is intensely personal to me. I am immersed in my story, and I feel every emotion. It is the only way I have ever written. I don’t think I could write something I didn’t feel. So it’s neither easier nor harder. It is what it is.

What books or authors have influenced you? How do you think that shows in your writing?

Georgette Heyer, who wrote a large number of Regency romances, was and is a huge influence on my writing. I think I absorbed her turns of phrase and plot devices and romantic hero figures through my skin. It absolutely shows in my writing.

Do people in your everyday life know you write fanfiction?

Not my coworkers or family outside of my husband and children. My best friend knows I write fanfic.

How true for you is the notion of "writing for yourself"?

For me, it’s the only way I can do it. I have to be consumed by the basic idea and let it live in me as I write. I write the stories I want to read about the subjects that fascinate and inspire me.

How important is it for you to interact with your audience? How do you engage with them? Just at the point of publishing? Through social media?

During my active fanfic writing years, I was immersed with my audience. At that time, SSHG Fandom pretty much lived in LiveJournal, and I was active there every day. I was not very good at answering reviews, but I tended to put author’s notes before and/or after chapters as a way of engaging with my readers.

What is the best advice you've received about writing?

To write the story I want to read. To fall in love with my protagonist.

What do you do when you hit writer's block?

Walk away from the computer and pick up a pen and pad of paper.

Has anything in real life trickled down into your writing?

Many, many things about my romance with my husband were fodder for the romances I’ve written.

Do you have any stories in the works? Can you give us a teaser?

I am striving to complete my first novel of original fiction. It’s the beginning of a trilogy. All have been written (first draft), and the first has been to a professional editor. I’m striving to complete a draft with her suggestions.

It’s about a swotty girl and her teacher. (shock)

They live in a magical world with conflict. (further shock)

There is lots of sex with a BDSM twist.

The protagonist is (in my heart) Severus Snape in disguise. He has his own brand of physical unattractiveness and a mesmerizing presence.

Any words of encouragement to other writers?

Write what’s in your heart. Use a good beta reader. Take constructive criticism in the spirit it is offered. Ignore trolls.

Thanks so much for giving us your time.

#fanfiction #fanfic #writing #severus snape #snape #pro snape #hermione granger #snamione

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thedevilinwriting · 3 years ago

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Lately I’ve been hooked on a new idea for a book (it always happens) and since many of my ideas never escape from the “idea” phase, I’ve decided to research into story structures to help.

When it comes to plotter or pantser, I’ve always been stuck in the middle. I’m too impatient to spend weeks and months plotting a novel, yet my quality of writing plummets when I don’t have some kind of outline. Also the fact that I tend to write dialogue first, then piece it together and write the scene around it, I need to have an outline first before I can write the first draft. Hence why I’ve decided to try a story structure to help me finally finish a draft.

My problem with story structures is I need to have examples to use them. On their own, they confuse me. The description is there but I have no way to apply it to my own story idea. This is why examples are key, and there are plenty across the internet for books and movies that follow certain story structures like Save The Cat or The Fichtean curve. To make things easier for me, I’ve chosen my favourite movie ever (which may surprise you, but I was 8 when it came out and in many ways it solidified my love for novel writing. It’s also very nostalgic and is more of a “feel good” movie to me then anything else). That is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It’s the easiest for me to understand in terms of story structure since I know the movie off the back of my hand.

When searching up story structure examples for The Hobbit, most are about the book, and of course, they span the bigger plot of The Hobbit which the movies splits into three mini plots. So I decided to try to make my own for each story structure and post it here, just in case anyone else is like me and needs help. The first I’ll be posting is the Hero’s Journey story structure, which most closely follows the movie plot-line.

(Spoilers of course)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Ordinary world:

(We meet our hero in their mundane “status quo”)

We meet Bilbo Baggins, who lives in The Shire. He serves a peaceful life without conflict and despises the thought of adventure, despite his maternal ancestry being filled with it.

Call to adventure:

(Adventure starts as the protagonist is pulled out of their comfort zone and placed in a position to make a choice to venture into a new world)

Gandalf arrives and attempts to offer an adventure, though he doesn’t elaborate, or get to elaborate, before Bilbo immediately refuses. Bilbo is puzzled that anyone would ask him to accompany them on an adventure, as he of all people wanted no part in the sort. He enters his home quickly, escaping Gandalf and leaving behind only the smallest of formality.

Refusal to call:

(The doubts set in and the protagonist cannot afford to face the dangers within the new world, they dig their feet in, refusing to make the choice that will pull the plot forward)

That evening, 13 dwarves, accompanied by Gandalf, turn up uninvited to Bilbo’s home. Bilbo has no choice but to listen as they speak of the quest they will be undertaking, once again offering the role of fourteenth member to Bilbo. Though slightly more willing this time after hearing of their plight, he still refuses. It’s not that Bilbo doesn’t want to see the outside world, he’s scared to face the evil out there. He lacks courage.

Meeting the Mentor:

(The protagonist decides to go on the journey but they are inexperienced and have frankly been pulled in at the deep end. They surface in tact only thanks to the help of this mentor character which keeps them afloat and provides them with the means to do so)

Bilbo’s mentor is Gandalf. This plot point spans across most of the beginning of the book as Bilbo meets Gandalf in call to adventure. Bilbo wakes up to find the dwarves all departed, and believes it to be a dream, until he sees the unsigned contract on his table. He decides to follow them, to “go on an adventure!”, and after handing the signed contract over, is officially a member of the company.

Crossing the first threshold:

(The protagonist is well and truly off on their adventure, there is no turning back now. The comfort zone has been exited and the real plot can begin)

No turning back now, Bilbo and Thorin’s company are on their way to Erebor to reclaim the lonely mountain. Bilbo enters the wide wide world that’s beyond the Shire.

Tests, Allies and Enemies:

(Longest stage of the story. The protagonist comes to terms with the new world and learns to survive within it, meeting friend and foe on the journey)

Bilbo begins to get acquainted with the outside world and its dangers. He runs for his life from warg scouts, tricks trolls and gets caught between a rock giant battle. However, not all people are enemies, as he enters Rivendell and meets Lord Elrond and the elves, and also the wizard Radagast the Brown.

Approach to the inmost cave:

(Not an actual cave (though in my case it is), this is the step towards the protagonist’s goal)

The goal of the company is to reclaim Erebor, however in the first movie, the goal for Bilbo, personally, is to gain the strength and courage able to keep him alive on this adventure. Bilbo and the dwarf company attempt to sleep in a cave on the mountain pass after escaping a rock giant battle. Bilbo is on edge after a confrontation with the company’s leader, Thorin Oakenshield, who had solidified Bilbo’s doubts that he wasn’t strong enough or courageous enough to continue on with them. He shouldn’t have left the Shire. Bilbo decides to pack his bags and go back to Rivendell, until a dwarf notices him and tries to stop him from leaving. Bilbo snaps and tells him that they do not understand how he feels since the dwarves don’t have a home and so cannot feel homesick. Upon saying this, Bilbo immediately backtracks and deeply apologises for his words, but the dwarves can only agree with him.

Ordeal:

(The protagonist faces the biggest fear so far and if they come out alive, it will have transformed them. It’s not the climax of the story, but the main conflict of the second act)

The cave floor suddenly opens up, throwing the company down into the Goblin tunnels. As the dwarves are lead away to be presented to the Goblin king, Bilbo manages to slip further down into the caves, knocking himself out. Upon waking, Bilbo watches as Gollum takes a goblin to feast on, dropping The Ring from its pocket as it does so. Bilbo takes the ring and tries to find a way out of the lair, but gets cornered quickly by the Gollum, who calls itself Sméagol. Bilbo has to outwit Sméagol by playing riddles with it for the prize of being shown the way out. Despite going back on its word and attempting to kill Bilbo after Bilbo wins, the Hobbit manages to escape the tunnels using the new power of The Ring. Upon confronted with the option to kill Sméagol, Bilbo thinks back to Gandalf’s words when he was given his sword and chooses to spare it. “True courage is not in knowing when to take a life, but when to spare one.” (I remembered that off the top of my head, so proud)

Reward:

(The protagonist gets their reward, the thing they have been searching for, and believe they are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for their journey)

Bilbo has escaped the Goblin mines and now possesses The Ring of power which is vital in helping him in his role in the company. He joins back up with the company, bringing a newfound hope, and decides to stay with them for the goal of helping them gain back their home. Now returned back with the group he feels he belongs to, Bilbo believes he sees a light at the end of the tunnel.

The Road Back:

(As The Hobbit kindly puts it “out of the frying pan and into the fire”, the protagonist’s light at the end of the tunnel was nothing more than a ruse. The climax is building and the protagonist must use every strength and power they have learnt throughout the adventure to help them succeed. They must contend with the consequences of their reward)

The light at the end of the tunnel is much further than Bilbo thought, as he and the company are suddenly set upon by a pack of orcs led by the main antagonist, Azog, who has been working from the shadows this whole time. The consequence of Bilbo finding the ring is that the Goblin King was able to lead Azog The Defiler to Thorin’s position. The dwarves flee from the enemy as they are severely outnumbered, but are cornered at the edge of a cliff and resort to climbing the trees to escape the wargs. Thorin decides to selflessly face his long-time enemy one last time, but it ends badly for him and his life is thrown into mortal danger.

Resurrection:

(The true climax of the story. The protagonist must face the last test to prove that they really have transformed. Hence undergoing a “resurrection”)

Bilbo’s last test is finding the courage to step in and save Thorin from Azog and the orcs who are all incredibly more powerful than Bilbo. Bilbo has no way to face them off, he knows this, but he finds the courage to try. Upon saving Thorin and proving to all that he had that courage within him, the courage that Gandalf had hinted at in the call to adventure point, the rest of the company leave the safety of the trees to help defend Thorin and Bilbo and take a stand against Azog. They manage to fight long enough for Gandalf’s summoned eagles to appear and rescue them.

Return with the elixir:

(The protagonist finally gets to return home, coming back a different person to who they left as and carrying with them the fruits of their labour)

Although Bilbo doesn’t return home just yet, he is pushed forward in the overall story. The eagles carry the company to safety upon the Carrock and it is here that Thorin finally renounces his previous disdain for Bilbo, solidifying the fact that Bilbo belonged with them and was not a burden. They hug, their friendship now fully blossomed ready for the continuing fights ahead. Bilbo feels ready to take them on, equipped with his found courage, feeling of belonging and The Ring to aid him. The company notice Erebor in the distance and observe a thrush fly past on its way to the mountain, reminding the members of the prophecy and their end goal. Bilbo’s elixir isn’t a material possession (in the overall story it’s his fourteenth share of the treasure), it’s the prize of friendship and belonging. Bilbo walks away from the battle with thirteen new allies who he knew trusted in him and the strength to change someone else’s life - by helping the dwarves reclaim their home.

#hero’s journey #story structure #creative writing #writing #writing help #beat sheet #the hobbit #Plotter #pantser #nanowrimo #camp nanowrimo #camp nano july 2022 #plot line #plotting #first draft #new story

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linkspooky · 7 years ago

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This is a voltron ask. Do you think Pidge will face any consequences for being ok with trading Lotor for her dad? I mean the whole thing was never going to work out even if Lotor didn't say so. I get Pidge was angry but she was so out of line. She was even ok with him dying. I get Lotor isnt the most innocent guy but that was just too much.They shouldnt tried to calm her down atleast. I get that this is a struggle her character always had but i cant see her really getting past that. PT 1

Though I do get that there are more seasons to wait for I just feel like this was a misstep on the writers part. PT2

Let’s pretend the writers have everything intentional and avoid talking about writing missteps and whatnot for now. Also you are going to get a giant text block for your answer because you asked a question about an animated show and not a manga and I hate digging up screenshots from tv shows.

Alright so let the text block begin. Yes, I agree with you that we’re supposed to see Lotor being sold off and handed back to his father as Pidge being unsympathetic to his plight. The consequence to that is most likely going to come in the form of Lotor himself.

If I were to best describe Lotor as a character I would say that he is somebody who is constantly on the defense. The few times he wasn’t on the defense, he lost things that couldn’t be lost. When he lets his guard down he’s betrayed almost every single time.

He helps his hand picked generals, and then the moment he shows vulnerability in front of them they try to sell him to Zarkon. He goes through elaborate steps of selling information to try to earn the Paladin’s trust, and then immediately afterwords they sell him to Zarkon. The only two people that sort of tried to sympathize with him were Shirou who was most likely being controlled by Haggar, and Allura.

Did you notice that despite being on their team, basically the only paladin that Lotor ever interacts with or shows any interest in as a person is Allura. That’s more than just them having being altean blooded in common, it’s also a calculated risk for Lotor not to open up to the whole team because once again he is on the defense.

That’s why he can’t pass the lion trial. It’s almost impossible for him to show vulnerability at this point. Allura who has normal friends and normal relatinoships somewhat with the paladins at this point developing after so many seasons is able to show vulnerability because those friends are people she can trust with seeing that side of her. Lotor has nobody like that in his life. When he shows vulnerability in front of everyone, he’s immediately punished.

I’m not even so sure of his bond with Allura, he sort of tends to present an overly perfect version of himself to her. The same way that Lotor presented a scheming and always in command version of himself to his generals. I think the soft Lotor that Allura sees, and the hard Lotor that the generals see are neither closer nor farther away from the real Lotor, but they are defense mechanisms that can come out in certain situations.

Which is another thing, for as much of a plotter Lotor is Lotor pretty much is only ever shown reacting to outside circumstances rather than acting or moving forward on his own. This is something that stems from a lack of identity as well, Lotor is always on the defense.

My conclusion is that most likely Pidge being so willing to sell him down the river is a straw that broke the camel’s back on Lotor’s attempts to get close to any of the earth paladins that might receive him. Eventually that could become a consequence the next time Lotor reads a situation as hostile to his continued survival and once more needs to enter defensive mode.

#metasks #Anonymous

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rauthschild · 5 years ago

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Ratings For “Commie Fest 2020” Ghost Convention Collapse As Friday Marks Trump Finale Start

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers

An interesting new Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) report circulating in the Kremlin today discussing some of the top moments and highlights from day two of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, that’s otherwise been branded as “Commie Fest 2020” and the “Ghost Convention”, says that aside from its featuring a parade of old white men called “Party Elders” and a gaggle of demented “Never Trumpers”, its most prominent moment was when Joe Biden officially won the socialist Democratic nomination to battle President Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election by his having received over 3,550 votes, as compared to the over 1,150 votes received by his closest opponent Bernie Sanders—and upon winning, then saw Joe Biden being introduced by his wife Dr. Jill Biden—whom while wrapping his arm around, then saw Joe Biden looking at the camera and stunningly telling the American people “Hi everybody. I’m Joe Biden’s husband”.

An actual live Joe Biden senile moment that was followed by former President Bill Clinton lecturing President Trump about his conduct in the Oval Office—the same Oval Office where President Clinton infamously placed in his mouth a cigar after his intern Monica Lewinsky removed it from her vagina while giving him oral sex—and in a seriously “You Can’t Make This Up Moment”, photos of former President Clinton being massaged by a Epstein “sex slave” surfaced just in time for his convention speech—though for sheer lunatic socialist Democrat hypocrisy, former President Clinton is now competing with US Senator Elizabeth Warren—who’s most infamously known as “Pocahontas”, because she lied her way to power falsely claiming she was a native American—yet in another “You Can’t Make This Up Moment”, saw this convention choosing Senator “Pocahontas” Warren to be the featured speaker before their Native American caucus meeting.

Shocking moments, though, it’s uncertain how many of the American people will ever know about, as evidenced by the information contained in the article “Journalists Will Not Be Center Stage: As Political Conventions Go Virtual, The Party's Over For The Press”, that describes the plight of reporters covering “Commie Fest 2020” with the words “It feels like showing up at the prom on the wrong night”—a plight equaled by the 10 US television networks covering this convention whose day one viewership was only 19.7-million people—as opposed to the 26-million who watched the day one opening night of the convention in 2016—and is an historic ratings collapse for this socialist Democratic convention made even more meaningful when noting that of the 19.7-million viewers who did bother to watch it, about 4-million of them were watching it on a Fox News that’s crushed all of TV in the summer ratings—mainly, one supposes. for comic relief.

And are Fox News viewers undoubtedly, like the vast numbers of the American people, caring not at all about the socialist Democrats, as they are all eagerly awaiting the end game finale being planned for by President Trump—that’s set to start in two days time on Friday—and is when feared United States Attorney John Durham has just announced he will interview top coup plotter former CIA Director John Brennan—the last witness US Attorney Durham needs to hear from—a fact known to Brennan, who’s already acknowledged “I’m in their crosshairs”—and after which can begin the arrests and prosecutions for what President Trump has called “The Biggest Political Crime In American History”.

According to this report, for anyone wanting to understand what the true state of America is today, one need only look at the grave warning issued to President Trump before he took office by socialist Democrat Party lawmaker US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who ominously said: “Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community — they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you”—and the words just written by now retired top CIA official Marc Polymeropoulos, who describes this spy agency operating in manner “to avoid the wrath of their political master, the president of the United States”—a warning and words that bookend the last 4-years of the life led by President Trump—who is not a “political master”, but the duly elected leader of the United States, who was democratically placed into power by the American people—as opposed to the CIA, and every other US intelligence agency, whom no one elected to power, and whose crimes against the American people and the world are legendary—and is why President John F. Kennedy is said to have “wanted to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds”—and to begin saw President Kennedy firing CIA Director Allen Dulles—after which President Kennedy was assassinated in a public execution.

And after being assassinated, this report notes, saw newly sworn in President Lyndon Johnson appointing fired CIA Director Allenn Dulles to lead the investigation into President Kennedy’s assassination murder—and when understanding, makes it perfectly explainable why top Muller Russian Hoax investigator Andrew Wiseman is now urging all of the prosecutors and investigators in the United States Department of Justice not to cooperate with United States Attorney General William Barr or feared United States Attorney John Durham—an actual crime committed by Wiseman, as it’s illegal to interfere with an investigation.

Though to grasp the full totality of what’s occurring, this report explains, one needs only hear the words spoken this past week by socialist-globalist leader George Soros—who after warning his comrades that “We are in a crisis, the worst crisis in my lifetime since the Second World War”, directly threatened President Trump by stating: “I am confident that Trump will turn out to be a transitory phenomenon, hopefully ending in November…But he remains very dangerous, he’s fighting for his life and he will do anything to stay in power, because he has violated the Constitution in many different ways and if he loses the presidency he will be held accountable”.

As to how exactly President Trump has “violated the Constitution”, this report continues, neither Soros nor anyone else can explain to anyone—and is due to the fact that President Trump has done no such thing, as evidenced by the reality that he’s strictly abided by every court ruling made, even those that went against him—which makes him an ordinary American leader that, like all who came before him, is abiding by the law and constitution—but does see it being the truth that President Trump is “fighting for his life” as he knows these vile socialists will “hold him accountable” for any made up crime they can think of to charge him and his family with should he lose power—but in keeping score, does see over 25 top former Obama officials in the FBI and Department of Justice having resigned in disgrace or been fired by President Trump—this past week saw US Attorney Durham criminally indicting and gaining a guilty plea from top FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith in what is being described as: “This plea is like finding water seeping from the base of a dam…The problem is not one muddy puddle…The problem is that it foreshadows the dam’s failure, releasing a torrent…That’s what the Clinesmith plea portends”—while to date not a single glove has been laid on President Trump or any of his family members—which shows who the real criminals are violating the law and Constitution.

In any normal country based on the rule of law and impartial dispensation of justice, this report further notes, the “biggest political crime and scandal in history” being alleged by its democratically elected leader would demand an immediate complete investigation of the facts and the bringing to swift criminal account of everyone found participating in it—though in America today the exact opposite is occurring, as the socialist Democrats are demanding that US Attorney Durham stop his investigation into the crimes committed against President Trump—and when hearing US Attorney General Barr say that he “won’t wait until after election to reveal Durham’s findings”, these socialist Democrats then launched a full-scale attack against him saying that if any criminal indictments were issued they would be in violation of the “60-day rule” put in place for the purpose to prevent such indictments from influencing an election or helping a particular candidate or party—an attack US Attorney General Barr quickly fended off by saying that the criminal probe led by US Attorney Durham isn’t focused on either candidate, former vice president Joe Biden or Trump, so this Justice Department deadline isn’t relevant—all of which leads to it being wondered what these socialist Democrats are so terrified of the American people discovering before the election—as if what they claim is true and no crimes were committed, one would think they’d want all of the American people to know before the election that President Trump was making this all up.

While all of these machinations are occurring, this report continues, the US Senate yesterday released their nearly 1,000-page final report on the Trump-Russia Hoax Investigation—a document that concluded like the Mueller Report did that there is: “absolutely no evidence that then-candidate Donald Trump colluded with Russia”—but did determine that “the FBI gave the unverified anti-Trump dossier unjustified credence”—the same FBI who this past week arrested a former CIA officer caught spying for Communist China—was a spy the CIA captured on video taking money from Communist Chinese intelligence officials in 2001—but for reasons yet to be explained by anyone, was a CIA spy for Communist China the FBI shockingly hired to work for them in 2004—and while working for the FBI, kept handing over America’s secrets to Communist China—and makes it no wonder why President Trump said about them when he saw the crimes they were committing against him: “Don’t believe the intelligence community—I warned you about them!”.

Also in a normal country, this report further details, the crimes committed against President Trump would be exposed by the free press for all of its citizens to see and know about so it could never happen again—but in America today, sees its leftist mainstream propaganda media establishment working overtime to keep everything of truth hidden so it won’t be known—best exampled this past week when the leftist media pushed the lying narrative that criminally indicted FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith was a low-level employee, when the reality is that he was a top FBI lawyer embedded in the very heart of the coup plot against President Trump—while top leftist MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who more than anyone else pushed these coup plotters’ lies, has now gone silent and won’t tell her viewers anything as this coup plot unravels—a silence not being observed by leftist radical CNN host Anderson Cooper, who yesterday exploded in a 20-minute scream fest on live televison against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell—a scream fest that included Cooper calling Lindell a “snake oil salesman” because this devout Christian businessman dared to say that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was effective in treating the coronavirus—though according to Cooper’s demonic logic, it now means that both socialist Democrat Party Governor Tim Walz of the State of Minnesota and Republic Party Governor Mike DeWine of the State of Ohio are also snake oil salesman, because both of them have just lifted their bans on the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of the coronavirus as the 53 scientific studies proving its effectiveness said they should—but in explaining why Cooper went lunatic mad, it could because of the “Why Isn’t This Front Page News?” moment that’s just occurred after the CDC released its latest coronavirus death chart that leaves CNN with nothing to really report on anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S_Xl2eOeeY&feature=emb_logo

WARNING: Twitter and Facebook will ban any account that posts this official chart released by the United States Centers for Disease Control.

While “Commie Fest 2020” rolls into its third day, this report concludes, it’s notable to mention that the Trump Campaign has deeper pockets, and outraised the Biden Campaign in July—a Trump Campaign become more fearless after having just watched Republican Party candidate Laura Loomer win her election primary for the US Congress in the Florida district that’s home to President Trump and his wife First Lady Melania Trump—an election victory for Loomer made astounding because every social media outlet has banned her—and was gobsmackingly followed yesterday by famed life-long socialist Democrat Party black civil rights attorney Leo Terrell going on live television to don a MAGA hat and shockingly announce that he’s supporting President Trump—all of which has now been joined by black Republican Party candidate Kimberly Klacik, who while running for a seat in the US Congress for her hometown Baltimore-Maryland, yesterday released what can only be described as one of the most powerful campaign video ads ever seen in American history, wherein she exposes the crimes the socialist Democrats have been committing against black peoples for decades.

0 notes

dorkforty · 7 years ago

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Art by Tom Kelly: https://tomkellyart.deviantart.com/gallery/

So it’s been a while since we did any Fantastic Four Re-Mix. A full year, in fact. What can I say? I hit a snag in the plot and let myself get tripped up on it. And I’ve always felt just slightly silly doing these things, anyway, so it seemed better to just wander off. But I re-read the earlier chapters recently, and realized that I liked them quite a bit. That lead me back in, and I had enough story left to tell that I decided to unsnarl my plot and keep going.

(And then, of course, they announced this week that they’re finally launching a new Fantastic Four book this summer. So I figured that, if I was going to finish this thing, I needed to go ahead and do it.)

But like I said… It’s been a while. So I suppose some explanations are in order. If this is your first time encountering the Fantastic Four Remix, for instance, I’m sure you have some questions…

WHAT IS IT? A far-more-complicated-than-I-imagined working-through of some ideas I had to relaunch the Fantastic Four from scratch, in the present-day.

WHY WOULD ANYONE DO SUCH A THING? Because I love the Fantastic Four. And since there hasn’t been an FF book in a while, I figured I might as well fill the gap.

WHY NOT JUST WRITE STORIES THEN, YOU FREAK? Because I had a lot of ground I wanted to cover, and wasn’t willing to devote that much time to writing characters I don’t own without getting paid for it. I love my readers, but I don’t love them THAT much.

IF YOU REALLY LOVED US, YOU’D WRITE MORE FUNNYBOOK REVIEWS! Piss off! I’m just having fun here, okay?! Gahd! Get off my back!

ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT. SO WHERE COULD I READ THE REST OF THIS NONSENSE? IF I WAS INTERESTED? WHICH I’M NOT. Nope. Sorry. Not gonna tell ya. You were rude.

OH FOR GOD’S SAKE! I’M SORRY, OKAY? I’D REALLY LIKE TO READ THEM. IF ONLY TO SEE HOW STUPID YOU ARE. Well… Okay. Previous chapters of the FF Remix can be found here:

https://dorkforty.wordpress.com/tag/fantastic-four-remix/

ALRIGHT, THEN! Alright!

Ahem. Sorry about that. These new readers can be SO touchy. For the rest of you, though…

WHAT HAS COME BEFORE: Oh, lots of stuff. I am nothing if not a complicated plotter. To really steep yourself in all the various details, you’d have to go back and read the whole thing. I’ll try to fill in background where I can, but here’s a rough overall picture to get you started:

Reed Richards put together a team for a mission to explore the Negative Zone: Ben Grimm (pilot)! Johnny Storm (mechanic)! Susan Storm (the journalist who tells their story to the world)! But upon arrival, they collided with an alien artifact and were bombarded with THE POWER COSMIC! This gave them their familiar powers as the Fantastic Four. They uncover a SECRET INVASION plot by the shape-shifting alien SKRULL, which is an on-going subplot. Reed’s friendly rival VICTOR VON DOOM hires the team to test his experimental TIME PLATFORM, and in the process, Ben becomes Blackbeard (dubbed THINGBEARD by Johnny)…

…an incident that’s still echoing through the story now. Doom is a continuing character in the Re-Mix, a villainous foil to the team, ala John Bryne’s Lex Luthor. He has an on-going scheme to wrest control of Latveria from the tyrannical regime that killed his gypsy family, and a growing suspicion that the FF represent a dangerous threat to mankind that must be eliminated. Likewise, PRINCE NAMOR the SUBMARINER is a continuing character, a noble-but-arrogant anti-hero type who has until recently been romancing Sue. As in the original story, he was discovered as a wandering amnesiac, who’d been missing since the end of World War II. But he’s since found lost Atlantis, saved it from the barbarian Attuma, and been rejected as their monarch (they adopted democracy in his absence). He’s currently serving as Atlantis’ ambassador to the UN, and is romantically entangled with the Lady Dorma.

Re-Mix Dorma is the former consort of Attuma, a fierce barbarian woman tossed aside in favor of “soft Atlantean women” when Attuma conquered Atlantis. She helped Namor defeat him, and has since been wrapped up in a quadrangle of sorts with Reed, Sue, and Namor (weird romance having become an unexpected theme of the Re-Mix). That’s all ended recently, and Reed and Sue are finally starting to look like they might get together after all (though throwing roadblocks in front of that inevitable relationship has been perversely pleasing, and I’m not quite done doing it yet).

But, Dorma. I’ve been struggling to find a decent image that matched the slightly unearthly look I wanted for her (and the Atlanteans in general), but here’s a Photoshop job I stumbled across recently that does a fair job of it. I couldn’t find reference to the artist, unfortunately. But the eyes are really striking, I think:

At any rate.

In recent issues, the Thing was captured by THE INHUMANS, who want to put him on trial for the murder of a crew of Inhuman scouts back during the THINGBEARD INCIDENT. That murder didn’t happen, however, so the rest of the team freed him, causing incredible strife within the Inhuman ruling class in the process, and then escaped from the SECRET CITY OF ATILLAN with the queen’s little sister CRYSTAL in tow. They were pursued by KARNAK and GORGON, but then there was a whole huge incident with the newly-awakened FIN FANG FOOM, and everybody teamed up to deal with it. In the aftermath, Karnak shook Ben’s hand… AND SPLIT HIM IN HALF WITH THE DEADLY ONE-INCH PUNCH! Quickly teleporting out with the aid of Lockjaw, Karnak informed the team that they were welcome to offer up a defense of Ben at his trial, in one week’s time. And that’s where we pick the story up now…

ARC FOURTEEN: THE TRIAL OF THE THING!

This will be a two-pronged arc, with one side giving a more realistic picture of Inhuman society as Crystal and Johnny return to Attilan to prepare for Ben’s trial, and the other following Reed and Sue as they search for evidence of what happened to the Inhuman scouts. But first…

PART ONE: INTERLUDE

After the all-out action of the last story arc, we take an issue to catch up with the supporting cast and our various subplots:

When last we saw Frankie Raye (Johnny Storm’s girlfriend/rival on the outlaw racing circuit)…

…she’d had a drunken make-out session with rival driver Tura. Frankie broke it off before things got too heavy, but she’s still a little shaken up by it. For one thing, she’s surprised at herself for showing such loyalty to Johnny. I mean, they’re just havin’ some fun, right? RIGHT? Hurm. Heading to the garage the next morning, she hopes to commiserate with her BFF/mechanic Wyatt Wingfoot, but instead walks in on him in the aftermath of a night of passion with Jean-Paul Valley, driver for the Northern Lights racing team (who, in another world, is the mutant super hero Northstar). This is primarily a comedic scene, but Frankie’s confusion and frustration plays off Johnny’s increasing infatuation with Crystal, setting up the inevitable triangle.

Meanwhile, Namor sponsors the Latverian rebels in their bid to be recognized by the UN. It’s a controversial choice, considering Namor’s attack on the country’s legal government alongside Latverian expatriate Dr. Doom. But Namor handles the situation with an uncharacteristic elegance, explaining that his attack is what first brought the rebels’ plight to his attention. “My actions were misguided, based on poor intelligence about a Latverian attack on Atlantis. But the Hammerfell government is tyrannical nonetheless. And just as we in Atlantis have learned to embrace democracy, I believe that the Latverian people deserve the same chance.”

Alicia Masters (blind sculptress, lady friend of the Thing, and possible Skrull) gets a visit from her father Phillip (aka the Puppet Master, a famous stage puppeteer, and a secret Skrull agent).

As he promised he would, Phillip asks Alicia if she’d have a word with the FF about making a public appearance with Gabriel (charismatic evangelist and anti-Skrull activist). Alicia looks suspicious (“Dad, what are you up to?!”), but he assures her it’s all on the up and up. “Nobody wants the Skrull off Earth more than me, honey. You know that.” The two of them exchange a meaningful look, but Alicia remains ill at ease.

Of course, WE know that Masters only met with Gabriel to give his psychoactive clay time to bond, so that he could make a puppet of the man, under orders from the Skrull high command. But Alicia evidently does not. How much she knows or doesn’t know is – hopefully – the subject of much reader speculation at this point.

We also get back to the mysterious Men in Black (who’ve been going around asking questions about the FF for purposes unknown). Somewhere in the American Midwest, the dark-haired Man in Black (the one who seems to disapprove of the team) approaches a tidy home in a small town. The name on the mailbox reads “Grimm.” A sturdily-built elderly woman answers the door. Tall, with steel-gray hair, she’s a handsome woman in spite of her age (think Big Barda as somebody’s grandma). She’s wearing a leather workman’s apron, with a pair of leather gloves tucked into the waist and a pair of safety goggles resting on her head. “Miss Petunia Grimm? I’d like to ask you some questions about your nephew…”

CUT back to Namor, relaxing in his chambers with Dorma after his speech. He expresses distaste with it. “Embracing Democracy,” it seems, is not really something he’s very interested in. Dorma (ever conniving) soothes him, reassuring him that the deception, though necessary for diplomacy, will only be temporary. “If Doom can really deliver on his promises, darling, you’ll be back on the throne again soon. And then you need never worry about lying again.” They kiss, but their embrace is interrupted by a call from Hong Kong. Namor’s annoyance turns to shock, however, when hears a voice he never thought he’d hear again: his cousin Namora, ruler of the Atlantean splinter city of Pacifica, and protector of the Pacific Rim!

(She was introduced in the Fin Fang Foom arc, but that’s wwaaayy too complicated to explain here.)

The issue closes on Dr. Doom, watching news coverage of Namor’s UN speech from multiple different international sources, to gauge world-wide reaction to his scheme. His phone rings (though a phone seems like an awfully prosaic device for Doom to be using – maybe it’s some kind of cell access built into his mask?). It’s his lawyers, telling him that his strategy for dealing with the charges against him for his part in Namor’s attack on Latveria (long story) has worked. There are a few details left to clean up, but it looks like he’ll walk away clean. Pleased, Doom turns to a computer screen and opens a document labeled “Time Drone Analytics: Latverian Overthrow Stage Two.” His reverie is interrupted, however, by an unexpected visit from Reed Richards and Susan Storm!

REED: “We need your Time Platform, Victor! Lives may depend on it!”

TO BE CONTINUED!!

TWO: HOMECOMING

This issue deals with Crystal and Johnny, returning to Attilan to prepare for the trial. Its events take place over the course of a week, as they get things in order and await Reed and Sue’s return, hopefully with evidence that will clear the Thing.

It’s an awkward homecoming for Crystal; when she fled the city with the FF, she flouted generations of cultural tradition, and abandoned her duty to Inhuman society, as well (she was betrothed to Triton, Lord of the Undersea, and Black Bolt’s only equal). If it weren’t for Karnak’s judgment of her moral superiority in the Fin Fang Foom incident, she might be tossed in a cell upon her return. But Karnak’s word holds much sway, and so she is tolerated, if not welcomed back with open arms. Her sister Medusa, in particular, treats her coldly.

Visual Note: I haven’t found many Inhumans redesigns I liked all that much, but here’s a Crystal design I stumbled across that I do like. It’s alien, but still attractive, and the pose gives her a bit more fire to boot:

It’s through these various conflicts that we gain a more balanced view of Inhuman society. Black Bolt is far from the tyrant he seemed in the first Inhumans arc. He actually rules wisely and justly, and is beloved by his people. Gorgon is revealed as a melancholy poet, rather than the brute he pretended to be in pursuit of the FF. And Karnak… His final attack on the Thing has filled him with guilt and (worse for a man of his station and abilities) doubt. He spends every minute in deep meditation, emerging only to tend Ben’s wounds.

Ben, for his part, is doing as well as can be expected. After the attack, he’s undergone a shocking physical change: his rocky outer shell having been split in half by Karnak, his body shed it like a crushed fingernail, revealing a soft “nail bed” beneath. His exposed flesh is reddish-orange and very sensitive to touch. Inhuman medicine has helped as much as possible, but he’s still obviously quite uncomfortable. He faces it with a surprising humor, however, and little of the self-pity that’s haunted him since his transformation. Over the course of the week, he endears himself to many in Attilan, and eventually confesses to Johnny that he feels comfortable there. “For once, I’m not the ugliest guy in the room.”

Part of Ben’s change stems from the time he spends with Karnak. He applies healing unguents to Ben’s sensitive flesh, his abilities allowing him to apply the medications with only the slightest discomfort. But he also teaches Ben some of his meditative techniques, teaching him how to mentally overcome the pain, and in the process, helps him find peace within himself. (Note: this is a good opportunity for some cool trippy visuals. Specifically, some of Ben’s meditations could be built around the patterns of the Thing’s rocky hide.)

Meanwhile, Medusa, Crystal, and Johnny travel with Lockjaw to contact and gather witnesses. Black Bolt (speaking, as always, through Medusa) places a strict limit on the number of outsiders allowed into Attilan, however, and vetoes any of Ben’s military buddies, arguing that agents of human governments would be beholden to reveal Attilan’s existence to their superiors. That leaves them with three options: Alicia Masters, Ben Baxter (builder/owner of the Baxter Building, and mentor to Reed), and (gathered at Ben’s suggestion) his Aunt Petunia. Alicia and Petunia come immediately, with the others agreeing to testify on the day of the trial.

We see Johnny and Crystal grow closer through all of this. His attraction is obvious, and he makes her laugh in a situation that’s otherwise very difficult for her. Triton (to whom Crystal is still technically betrothed) stands between them, making Johnny reluctant to act on his feelings. But Triton hasn’t been seen in the upper city since the confrontation in Black Bolt’s throne room, and Crystal hasn’t attempted to contact him. Her desire for freedom has only intensified since her Terrigenesis, her emotions coming more and more to mirror the tempestuousness of her elemental powers. Eventually, as the week is winding down, she makes the first move. They kiss… And are interrupted by Medusa.

In a cold fury, she informs them that, even though Reed and Sue have not returned, the trial will go on as scheduled. And Crystal has been assigned to speak for the defense.

TO BE CONTINUED!!

THREE: PLUNDER

So where the hell are Reed and Sue? The next two issues answer that question.

We open with the two of them, and Dr. Doom, preparing for a jaunt into THINGBEARD TIMES to discover the fate of the Inhuman pirates Ben is accused of murdering. They’re dressed in clothing appropriate to the era, with Doom in his more subdued “Phantom of the Opera” style mask (Re-Mix Doom has several different costume variations to suit various social situations), and a few subtle accouterments that function like his full armor, but at only a fraction of the full suit’s power level.

(I’m told these are props from one of the bad FF movies, but they give you the general idea.)

He’s also improved his Time Platform since the last time we saw it, moving on from the prototype to something more streamlined and easier to control. He’s agreed to let them use it, but only on the condition that he himself goes with them, to ensure that they do nothing to alter history… “this time.”

(In flashback, we see how Reed and Sue got from Hong Kong to New York so quickly: they hitched a ride with Aged Genghis, who transported them magically back to the Baxter Building. When they thank him for his aid, he just smiles a vacant smile and says, “Anything for Wise Grimm.” Then he disappears in a puff of smoke.)

And so they’re off! Reed has brought along a sensor device that he’s attuned to detect Terrigen energies, which he hopes to use to find the Inhuman ship and its cargo. But first, they need some idea of where to start looking. That trail begins with the historical Blackbeard, Edward Teach (who capitalized on the fear surrounding the Thingbeard Incident to take the name for himself). Teach has no idea where the Inhuman crew is, but he gives them the name of another pirate who might: Lord Plunder, who’s most likely to be found across the Atlantic along the Gold Coast of Africa.

(Plunder is, of course, a long-standing Marvel name. If you want to assume this guy’s an ancestor of Ka-Zar, I’m not gonna stop you.)

They find Plunder freshly-returned from a trip to the Savage Land, selling live velociraptors to the highest bidder. They attend the auction, hoping to use it as an in to get information out of Plunder. Reed places bids (much to Doom’s chagrin – that could alter history, after all). But luckily, he’s outbid by… THE BLACK PANTHER! This is our first glimpse of the Panther, an ancestor of the modern-day T’Challa (who we’ll see in a later arc). He uses the raptors to destroy a slave port and free some captured Wakandans. Our Heroes get swept up in that action, aiding the Panther, but being helpless to stop the carnage he unleashes in the attack. Once that’s resolved, Plunder tells them what he knows. He has done business with the Inhuman crew in the past, but last he knew, they were heading round the Cape of Good Hope and back up toward Singapore.

An aside: Among Plunder’s crew is a Savage Land native who bears a striking resemblance to Reed’s mother. Reed (who spent time in the Savage Land when his parents took him there as a child) speaks to her in her own language, asking about her heritage. She tells him that her grandparents came to the Savage Land mysteriously one day, and disappeared just as mysteriously when she was a child. And Reed, she says, looks a lot like her grandfather… (TO BE CONTINUED!!)

(Note: Other Marvel Comics pirates who could be in Plunder’s crew: Patience Drew (aka the Queen of Spiders) Jebediah Fate (an immortal) Long John McGurk (a stranded space alien) Raza Longknife (another stranded alien, posing as a Pacific Islander) Jim Spliny, Black Mike, Maura Hawke, Slug McCarthy, Fredric Falkon, Heinrich Von Grubb

Most of these would just be easter eggs, names assigned to various background characters. But since I crawled down an interweb rabbit hole to get them, I thought I should share.)

FOUR: SHIPWRECKED

Plunder’s information leads Our Heroes to the South Pacific, and the Terrigen detector leads them to the future Monster Island, where they find the Inhuman ship run aground. There’s no sign of life, or of the ship’s Terrigen cargo.

Reed, Sue, and Doom split up to search the island for clues. Reed heads immediately to the volcano at the island’s center, and confirms his suspicions: the Terrigen has already been dumped inside. Searching for the cave the team found in the last storyline, he also finds the dormant Fin Fang Foom slumbering in peace, the Terrigen’s mutagenic effects not yet birthing monsters from his flesh.

Doom, meanwhile, finds a survivor of the shipwreck in the jungle. He’s just finished covering up a mass grave, in which he’s buried the bodies of his fellow crewmen. Delirious and half-crazed, he tells Doom the story of how the ship came to be there. They were caught up in a vicious storm, the worst any of them had ever seen. Conditions were so bad that communications with Attilan became impossible, and they feared they might be lost at sea. Struggling to keep afloat, they were then set upon by an armored warrior who came out of the storm itself and slaughtered everyone. This lone survivor lived only because he was pulled overboard during the attack, and brought to the island. He was delirious through much of the experience, but he claims that his benefactor was the man who helped them retrieve the Terrigen cargo in America: Benjamin J. Grimm, the man they dubbed Blackbeard!

Because, again, I can’t post this picture enough.

Elsewhere, Sue explores the wreck of the ship. Using her ability to make other things invisible, she looks around for secret compartments, or even just things they might have overlooked on their quick initial search. After poking around a bit, she finds the ship’s log tucked away in the captain’s quarters. It confirms the FF’s departure (Reed coming off far worse than Ben), then reveals the same story just told to Doom, but (crucially) ending before the arrival of the armored warrior. She finds a knapsack among the captain’s gear, puts the book in it, and is about to leave, but stops when she hears something. Turning toward what appears to be an ordinary part of the ship’s hull, she reaches out to make it invisible. We don’t see what’s inside, but she gasps as we…

CUT to the jungle, where Doom pumps the pirate for more information. But, exhausted from his exertions and nearly dead from exposure, he instead collapses into Doom’s arms. Doom lowers him to the ground and, holding him in a soothing manner, calmly snaps the pirate’s neck.

CUT back to Sue as she exits the ship, carrying the knapsack, but nothing else. She seems pensive, but none the worse for wear. Reed’s arriving on the beach at the same time, and, brandishing the bag, Sue tells him that she thinks she’s found what they need to clear Ben. Doom, however, is nowhere to be found.

CUT to Doom, emerging from the Time Platform back in his Time Lab in the present. Stepping calmly to a computer console, he begins reviewing records of previous time jaunts, revealing that he was the one who killed the Inhuman crew! He was positive, in fact, that he’d gotten them all. But his review of the tapes reveals something he’d missed in the heat of the battle: a scaly orange hand pulling one cowering pirate overboard, and away from Doom’s wrath.

“Grimm,” he says. “Obviously more resourceful than I gave him credit for.”

He pauses, thinking. Weighing his options. Then he goes over to the Time Platform control panel, and cuts the tether to Reed and Sue.

CUT to the two of them on the beach, at the exact moment we last saw them. Suddenly, they’re ripped out of spacetime, screaming in a psychedelic void.

TO BE CONTINUED!!

FIVE: MADNESS

A Few Words on Inhuman Justice: In a society that regularly spawns psychics and empaths, it strikes me that trials would work a bit differently. The truth of any testimony could be determined on the spot. But because memory is faulty, truth is relative. Two different people can testify to the same events, tell different stories, and both be truthful according to how they remember things happening. So the Inhumans depend on something I’m calling “Psychic Forensics.” A jury of psychic sensitives listens to testimony from as large a pool of witnesses as possible, and collates all the various stories into one narrative that’s then accepted as truth. Hard evidence trumps this, of course, and the arguments of the prosecution and defense can help shape these narratives, as well. But in a case like Ben’s, where there is no hard evidence due to the great length of time that’s passed, testimonial truth is enough to convict.

That would seem to make this a simple matter, then. Both Ben and Johnny were there when Reed forcibly removed Ben from the Inhuman ship, when the crew was still very much alive. But things are more complicated than they appear…

(Storytelling Note: We get varying degrees of detail on all testimony, seeing it filtered through the lens of the psychic jury. This allows for some trippy visuals (always a good thing), but also for us to avoid going into too much detail about things the reader already knows. So it’s conveyed through snippets of dialogue, flashback, and warped, hazy remembrances shaded by each speaker’s own perspective.)

The trial begins at dawn. Black Bolt serves as judge, with Medusa as prosecutor, and Crystal on defense. Karnak sits at the head of the jury, vigilant for flaws in their understanding of events. The prosecution goes first, establishing their case against the accused, leaving the defense to argue against once the case has been laid out.

Medusa opens by calling Ben and Johnny to the stand. They testify to their leaving the ship, and are found to be telling the truth. But Medusa seems unperturbed, and presses on to establish Ben’s history of violence, arguing that he is not always in his right mind, or in complete control of his own actions.

Petunia fills in some childhood background on Ben. She raised him from around age 10, when his parents were killed in a car accident. Young Ben struggled with depression and anger throughout his adolescence, constantly getting into fights and becoming increasingly aggressive before finally finding an outlet for it in football. Johnny and Bob Baxter pick up the narrative with the Breach Craft team, and Ben’s history as The Thing, with Medusa emphasizing his erratic behavior throughout.

She finishes this line of questioning with Ben’s most recent rampage, when he was (unknown to anyone) under the control of the Puppet Master. Ben himself testifies to that incident, and his memory of it is fractured and hazy. He remembers only parts of it, and in those memories he’s like a spectator to his own actions, watching impassively while his body does things of its own accord.

We give special focus to Karnak during this testimony. Something is troubling him, but he’s not quite sure what. Everyone else, though, is shaken. The team’s been buffeted from adventure to adventure so much since this last rampage that none of them have taken time to really think about it. But when it’s laid out like this… There’s clearly something wrong with him. Even Ben himself starts to wonder if he’s too unstable to be allowed to roam free.

Her argument having been rather convincingly made, Medusa then closes the first day of the trial by lowering the boom: her ally Victor Von Doom (who, like Reed and Sue, is unavailable for testimony) has given her Time Drone video footage, which she shows to the court. It mirrors that of the footage we saw at the end of last issue, with the Inhuman ship in the midst of a terrible storm. But instead of Doom slaughtering the crew, it’s Ben!

This, Medusa argues, is incontrovertible proof. Not that Ben killed their scouts during the Thingbeard Incident, but that he WILL do so, in some future time jaunt rampage that’s yet to happen. The question before the court, then, is not one of guilt or innocence. It’s whether they will execute him for crimes he has yet to commit, or prevent him from committing them in the first place, by simply imprisoning him in Attilan… forever!

SIX: REVELATIONS

We pick up the night after Medusa’s devastating prosecution argument. The first day of the trial has ended with things not looking good for Ben. Alicia tries to comfort him, but he’s fallen into despair. He no longer trusts his own sanity, and tells her to leave. “I might hurt ya, baby, and not even know it. So scram. Get outta here. Go back to New York and forget you ever knew me.” But she’s not having any of it. She knew the risk when she started dating him, and honestly kind of likes it. “So you don’t get to push me away, you big orange bastard. Not over this.”

CUT to Crystal’s chambers. Medusa comes for a visit, and they have it out over Crystal’s abandonment of her duty to Attilan (and Triton) over what Medusa calls “lust for a pretty young human boy.” Crystal bristles at that (visual note: her elemental powers flare up around her dramatically when she gets mad), but ultimately Medusa’s concern is well-intended. She doesn’t want to see her sister become an outcast because of a youthful indiscretion. They part on better terms, but Crystal is left confused and upset. She doesn’t want to marry Triton, but should she really throw her lot in with a bunch of outsiders because of that? She worries about her sympathies in her upcoming defense, as we…

CUT to Karnak, deep in meditation once again, replaying Ben’s testimony in his head with the aid of an elderly Inhuman named RANDAC the ORACLE, an experienced and highly-skilled psychic. Karnak doesn’t believe that Ben was lying, but he noticed something, and its exact nature escaped him. But now, with Randac’s aid, he spots it: a flash of something, just as Ben is talking about blacking out in advance of his last rampage.

Visual note: the “flash” could be expressed as a very narrow panel, showing a sliver of whatever it is he gets the impression of, but not enough to identify it. They continue working to uncover it, through the night and all the way until…

DAWN! Though Karnak has sent word that he is unable to serve with the jury, the trial continues, and Crystal begins her defense. She starts by casting doubt on Doom’s video. Johnny testifies to the bad intelligence Doom gave Namor (which caused Namor’s ill-advised attack on Latveria), and Baxter reveals Doom’s threat to “deal with” the FF if he ever deemed them too dangerous to live. “Without this man here to submit to questioning, the truth of his work can’t be confirmed! So can we really condemn Benjamin Grimm to death for a crime that even the prosecution admits he has not yet committed?”

CUT to Karnak, zeroing in, the narrow flash panel getting wider… wider… but still not wide enough.

BACK to the courtroom! Crystal cites Ben’s many acts of heroism, and explains the torment his transformation has caused him (something the Inhumans, whose entire culture is built around such transformations, don’t really understand at all). Johnny and Bob Baxter act as character witnesses, guided now to discuss Ben’s positive qualities. They admit to Ben’s instability, but stress the great good he’s done, and can still do. This terrible future – if that video does, indeed, show the future – can still be averted with the support of friends and advisors, and a woman who loves him.

That’s Alicia’s cue to take the stand, and she gives eloquent testimony to Ben’s heroic soul. Even Medusa seems moved by it. In the background, we see an Inhuman court official conducting a genetic scan on her (as he’s done for every other witness), looking first puzzled, and eventually alarmed. Just as she finishes her speech, the Gene Lord leaps to his feet, and makes a shocking proclamation: “THIS WOMAN IS A SKRULL!”

CUT to Karnak. Finally, something clicks, and the flash panel stands fully revealed: it’s Alicia’s first statue of Ben!

BACK to the courtroom! Alicia tells her story. Sent to Earth as a far advance scout decades ago, Phillip Masters (the Puppet Master) settled, married a human woman, and gave birth to a daughter: Alicia herself. Her parents kept her father’s true nature from her until she hit puberty, when her Skrull genes began to manifest. Full shape-shifting isn’t possible for her, but she can slightly alter her form by shifting mass from one part of her body to another. It’s useful for retrieving things she’s dropped into tight spaces (and for her love life with Ben), but otherwise it’s not something she even thinks about very much. As far as she’s concerned, she’s human.

She knows nothing of the Skrull beyond that. As far as she knows, her father severed ties with his people after she was born, and hasn’t worked for them since. She doesn’t know the details, but he’s told her not to worry. His loyalty lies with her, and her loyalty lies with Earth. The jury verifies the truth of her statements, but the revelation still unsettles the courtroom. Alicia looks plaintively at Ben, but his expression is impossible to read.

Black Bolt signals for a recess, but before court can adjourn, there’s a flash of energy as a portal opens in the center of the room. Out of it step an elderly Reed Richards and Susan Storm, dressed in primitive tribal garb, and seeming to have aged 40 years since their departure. With them is a strange young woman, tall and thin, with pale green skin and bulbous black eyes. Reed is holding a device that looks like a modified version of one of Doom’s Time Platform remotes. He turns a dial on it, then looks around and smiles. “We made it, Sue! We finally made it!”

The portal collapses behind them, and Sue steps forward, holding the knapsack she collected from the Inhuman pirate ship. “Lord Black Bolt. We apologize for our tardiness. There were… difficulties on the road. But we have important information for the court!”

TO BE CONTINUED!!

And that, believe it or not, concludes The Trial of the Thing. Yes, there are still issues to be resolved. But the story goes somewhere else for a while first, so that’s what we’ll deal with next time. For now, though, all we’re left with are…

ARC FOURTEEN NOTES

The long break between posts masks this somewhat, but I’m slightly concerned that I may be giving the audience “adventure fatigue.” I very much wanted to emulate the great Steve Ditko Dr. Strange run through this part of the Re-Mix, with its string of endless cliffhangers, new creations, and excitement. But readers eventually need an ending, and we’re now roughly 26 issues into never-ending adventure. Seriously. We’ve gone from the introduction of the Frightful Four (6 issues) to the introduction of the Inhumans (6 issues) to Fin Fang Foom (8 issues) to the trial (6 issues), with each arc rolling right into the next, and the only true resolution being the defeat of Foom.

Even I’m getting tired at this point, which may be an additional reason I stalled out on the series last year. So I think it may be time to wrap things up a bit. I still have a good bit of story left to tell before I’m done with my ideas for the Re-Mix, but it might be wise to have some clear beginning-middle-and-end arcs before we launch off into the grand finale.

(An aside: I just went back and did a rough issue count for the Re-Mix to date. This arc takes us up to issue 82! Insanity! I had originally thought this might take around 100 issues total, but I’ve got enough for another 50, easy. More, if I explore a few half-formed side concepts along the way. Hmm. Maybe I should go for 200 instead. Hmm…)

One last thing: In re-reading the previous installments of this series, I became acutely aware that I haven’t focused enough on Sue. I have to keep reminding myself that she’s our narrator, so we’re getting her perspective on everything as we go. But I had this idea at the outset that she would become more self-confident as time went on, and that her powers would grow accordingly. But she doesn’t even have her force fields yet! So I need to give her some attention. And soon.

But speaking of the future…

In Our Next Exciting Episode: Adventures in Time and Introspection! Past Peace and Future War! Politics! Wakanda! Plus… INFINITE THINGBEARD!

Fantastic Four Re-Mix, Part Seven: The Trial of the Thing! So it's been a while since we did any Fantastic Four Re-Mix. A full year, in fact.

#comic books #Crystal #Dr Doom #fan fiction #Fantastic Four #Fantastic Four Remix #Inhumans #Lord Plunder #Namor #The Thing #Thingbeard

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albinohare · 6 years ago

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Man overboard: How to react and safely recover your crewmate

How quickly you react in a man overboard situation can be critical. Pro navigator Mike Broughton gives his top tips and explains how technology can help

An image taken by the author during trials of using an infra-red camera to find a MOB

Turning a yacht around after a person goes overboard (MOB) and heading back in the right direction to retrieve them isn’t always easy when you’re taken by surprise, particularly at night. As navigators we need to employ all the help available to us, and be able to use any electronic tools instantly.

Sadly, there have been MOB occurrences when the technology has been available and not deployed, or not deployed correctly. The obvious solution is to practice MOB drills.

Coming from a military aviation background I’m used to placing a great emphasis on practising emergencies. To survive military flying training you need to be able to maintain a cool head when things are falling apart. The focus is on developing ‘automotive actions’ to a crisis. Learning the correct initial actions to an emergency is essential for a pilot as these first actions are carried out in seconds.

‘Subsequent actions’ are carried out in a longer timescale, and often with the help of flight reference cards. These can also help confirm those vital ‘initial actions’. I can still remember how to shut down both engines of a Sea King in mid-air in the event of a fire, some 25 years since I last flew that type of helicopter! Sailors can also learn from this method of training.

Different MOB drills are needed for different yachts, depending on wind strength, sea state, number and experience of crew, point of sail, boat speed and time of day. There is good reason why the RYA doesn’t specify a single way to execute a MOB recovery. However, whatever type of yacht you sail, there are still some ‘initial actions’ for MOB that can be standardised.

The subsequent actions will vary depending on the conditions mentioned above. Practice helps a great deal, but even talking through these actions when alongside will help. Not many people go out and practise MOB drills at night.

Searching for a MOB in the dark is never easy. Apart from AIS PLBs, one of the best new ways of showing your position is to utilise ultra-bright LED flares. They are mesmerisingly bright. They last five to six hours and can easily be switched on and off like a torch. I’ve also trialled using an infrared camera.

Using technology

Modern technology can now help in an MOB situation more than ever before, from wearable transmitters that activate an alarm when a crewmember is out of range, to personal locator beacons (PLBs). Crew can now activate the MOB button not just on the chartplotter but also on a smart watch.

Clever boat instrument systems can also translate that information onto other displays that is easy to interpret. If you have AIS transposed onto your chartplotter or navigation software then it can pick up an AIS PLB. Some activate an audio alarm but it helps to know what to expect.

In last year’s RORC Caribbean 600 race, when the 53ft catamaran Fujin capsized at night, I was navigating on a Ker 56 reaching at 20 knots. I’d gone below to download weather data and could hardly hear myself think as the noisy carbon boat crashed through waves. But I heard a beeping sound coming out of the back of the laptop so I checked my power leads and struggled to find reason for it.

About to give up, I scrolled through several weather programmes and discovered it coming from the Adrena navigation software and found my only clue to Fujin’s plight – an AIS PLB and a round red circle on the chart about three miles ahead.

Unable to transmit a Mayday or recover their grab bag in the windy conditions, a Fujin crewmember had initiated his AIS PLB. This was their initial alert. With an AIS PLB there is no boat name showing, so my initial suspicion was that we were looking for a single person in the water – but instead found a capsized catamaran with the whole crew waving torches hoping we’d see them. From this PLB activation a full recovery operation was launched and Fujin was eventually saved.

Article continues below…

Fujin: The inside story of this carbon catamaran’s Caribbean refit

After Fujin capsized during the 2018 RORC Caribbean 600 race it would have been understandable if owner Greg Slyngstad had…

Bluewater Sailing Techniques Part 7: man overboard under spinnaker

Man overboard at sea is thankfully a very rare occurrence. But with any risk assessment, you have to consider the…

If you are overboard in the water, understanding how to activate your PLB or automatic identification system (AIS) transmitter is imperative. Some are set up to activate with your lifejacket and some people (me included) like to have my AIS PLB in my pocket should I happen to ‘sin’ and not wear a lifejacket when sailing in warm waters.

Knowing how to summon help on your VHF radio should also be part of your pre-sailing safety brief. Showing your crew how to push the distress button to utilise the digital selective calling (DSC) is a rapid way to send details of your identity and position.

Due to the annoying number of false alarms, if you press the red button in anger then you need to be ready to authenticate the message with voice or repeat the signal to give the coastguard the confidence to act on a genuine alarm.

Immediate man overboard actions

Call out ‘Man Overboard’ to alert the rest of the crew

Drop a lifebuoy/danbuoy/jonbuoy

Get a crew member to point at the person in the water (where the helmsman can easily see them)

Press the MOB button on chart plotter/smart watch

By day, throw an orange smoke cannister (have one in easy reach of the helm), at night throw a floating torch

Start your recovery manoeuvre

About the author

Mike Broughton is a pro race navigator who has won many titles including World and European championships. He is a qualified MCA Master to captain superyachts and previously had a successful career in the Fleet Air Arm flying Sea King and Lynx helicopters.

First published in the October 2019 edition of Yachting World.

The post Man overboard: How to react and safely recover your crewmate appeared first on Yachting World.

Source Crocodile Bag Authentic Crocodile Skin Bag

from WordPress http://www.amansions.com/man-overboard-how-to-react-and-safely-recover-your-crewmate/

#Luxury Magazine

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thearnoldtully · 6 years ago

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Canada: The Community Garden Plot Scheme Of 1933

Industry, Unemployment, And Urban Agroecology In Hamilton’s Great Depression

By C. Duncan Chambers McMaster University, Masters Thesis History 979 August 8, 2017

Introduction

On March 4th, 1933, both of Hamilton’s local newspapers ran a short article announcing that a new committee had been appointed to provide garden plots, tools, seeds, and supervision to unemployed, married men in the city. The Hamilton Herald wrote that the committee “is expected to carry on this year on a more extensive and systematic scale than heretofore.” That season, the City of Hamilton, which had organized 145 garden plots in 1931, and 512 in 1932, would attempt the largest urban community gardening scheme in Canadian history.

Questionnaires to assess interest among unemployed men were first released in the Hamilton Spectator on March 21, with the committee expecting around 1,000 people total to respond. Just 3 days later, they had received 800 applications for garden plots. Another 5 days after that, this number had hit 1,200. In the first few days of April both local newspapers reported 2,000 potential participants. Five days after that, 1,000 more unemployed, married men had applied for garden plots, and then another 2 days later, on April 12th, there were 3,700 applications filled out, even though the committee had only found enough land to accommodate 3,000. The number continued to skyrocket, with the Spectator reporting over 4,000, April 17th, and both newspapers boasting 4,700 applicants by the end of the month. In mid-May the Herald wrote that there were nearly 5,000 willing gardeners in Hamilton, and the Spectator, on May 26 suggested that that number was peaking around 5,200. Finally, in the Hamilton City Council Minutes on May 30th, 1933, it was recorded that there would be 6,000 urban garden plots, including 100’ by 25’ plots on large multi-acre tracts of donated land, similar gardens arranged for former employees by industrial firms, and backyard gardeners who would have their seeds furnished by the committee.

For Hamiltonians in the Great Depression, this municipal program, which various parties referred to as the garden scheme, the garden plot, and the relief gardens, caused much excitement and debate in the city and beyond. Already, by May 16, the Spectator reported that Mayor John Peebles was calling it “the biggest thing which has been done in Hamilton for many years.” In the Herald he was cited as claiming that “the garden plot was the most successful community relief aid effort the city had tried.” By the end of the season, the scheme had commanded attention from the Ontario government, with the then-provincial minister of agriculture, T. L. Kennedy saying that “no other city in the province had advanced so far and well along community plot lines.” Another article suggested that “no movement of recent years has been tackled with more zeal or has attracted wider attention to our city.” However, these events have been largely forgotten, and only one published article of which I am aware briefly mentions the scheme. In the over-120 newspaper articles, and the several pages of minutes from various committees on the events surrounding the Community Garden Plots Committee, from the 1933 season alone, there is a story to tell.

Beyond the amusing and unexpected events that surround the gardens that the city, its manufacturing and industrial companies, and its citizens facilitated that season, this story illuminates a larger trend in the history of industrial civilization. It takes place before and after 1 May 1933; which historian Michiel Horn has called the nadir of Canada’s Great Depression, when “fully a third of wage earners…were estimated to be out of work.” When industrial and economic conditions plunged further than anyone had ever seen, the municipal government, and factory owners of this highly industrialized city stabilized the system as many governments and individuals before and since have; through promoting urban gardening. But, with the land, seeds, and some guidance, Hamiltonians were able to take control of their material needs in such a way that they had an opportunity to imagine new or modified structures for society, which would provide them more freedom from dependence on the government and factory jobs. Thus, while this remains the story of Hamilton’s unique relief gardens programme, it is really about how urban gardening can stabilize cities, buffer industry, and re-empower people, all at the same time.

Employing methods from environmental history, this paper seeks to describe how urban agroecology was understood and used by the Hamilton municipal government, the industrial firms, and the unemployed gardeners to suit their diverse, and sometimes contradictory purposes. These three groups mobilized different understandings and facets of “non-human nature” to contest or legitimize practices of vegetable garden-based self-sufficiency in the city. Thus, after a theoretical section on environmental history and urban agriculture, the following three sections treat each of the aforementioned groups of actors in turn. First, the municipal government and the various bureaus and organizations it employed, including the newly appointed Community Garden Plots Committee, were most concerned with “the bottom line.” That is, they mobilized urban agroecology primarily to save money, and keep unemployed people busy, allowing them to spend less on direct relief payments and to quell agitation. They were also interested in the plight of the industrial concerns, which hoped to maintain worker morale, and keep them comfortably and firmly in the capitalist system, until it could be repaired. Thus, the second of these sections details the intimate and complex relationships between landscape and industry, urban agriculture and deindustrialization, and various modes of production and consumption. Finally, for all its system-stabilizing qualities, urban subsistence gardening simultaneously became subversive to these industrial systems. While many of the garden plotters, as one newspaper article called them, were eager to return to their comfortable factory jobs whenever economic conditions improved, others discovered an opportunity to imagine a new decentralized societal organization, in which communities worked alongside their local environment the meet their basic material, emotional, and spiritual needs, and thereby take control of their own lives. In each of these three sections, I explicitly consider the ecology of the city and the role that the urban environment played in creating unpredictable or inherent conditions, which human actors were forced to consider when deciding to take action. I argue that urban agroecology simultaneously became a system-stabilizing or buffering tool, as well as a radical or potentially revolutionary force in Hamilton’s Great Depression, in 1933. In the greatest crisis capitalism had ever seen, both the built and the “natural” environment in Hamilton and its surroundings came together to produce the greatest mobilization of community gardening the nation has ever seen, either before or since.

Read the complete article here.

from Gardening http://cityfarmer.info/canada-the-community-garden-plot-scheme-of-1933/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

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marineclarity · 8 years ago

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Improving The Odds with Satellite Beacons

Improving The Odds with Satellite Beacons,

Courtesy of ACR

For most sailors, buying search-and-rescue equipment is akin to purchasing earthquake insurance — something wise homeowners carry but hope to never, ever use. Take the well-documented example of Leopard, a 57-foot catamaran that was some 400 nautical miles north of the Dominican Republic, sailing south-southeast en route to St. Maarten on the evening of November 16, 2016. Capt. Charles Nethersole was aboard with crewmembers Carolyn Bailey and Bert Jno Lewis as Leopard negotiated 18-knot winds and lumpy seas with a double tuck in her mainsail. Realizing that they were overcanvased, Nethersole, a professional captain with 41 years of experience, and Lewis reefed the staysail while Bailey prepared dinner.

Nethersole and Lewis had just entered Leopard’s pilothouse, with Nethersole at the interior helm, when a meteorological juggernaut of wind and waves arrived via the starboard quarter.

“The boat got literally picked up,” said Nethersole, positing that they crossed tacks with a vortex-triggered pressure drop. “It was like being in an elevator. We went up, and then we just went over.”

The sea-smart crew quickly grabbed their ditch bag, immersion-survival suits and Leopard’s life raft, and escaped the saloon for the (relative) safety of the inverted wingdeck, where Nethersole activated the boat’s ACR GlobalFix Pro EPIRB. Several hours later, a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 arrived and directed the Mexico-bound bulk carrier Aloe to their rescue.

While you can bet your keel that abandoning ship was the last thing on the Leopard crew’s mind three minutes before encountering their crisis, their story highlights the four critical components to a successful search-and-rescue operation, namely the ability to alert, locate, track and rescue a stricken vessel or mariner. Given that Leopard’s emergency position-indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB, continuously reported its GPS location, along with its vessel-registered 406 MHz emergency satellite-communications signal, rescuing authorities were quickly alerted to the emergency and updated with the EPIRB’s position information. This let the Coast Guard pinpoint the catamaran and direct its rescue.

Yet while Nethersole and company enjoyed a textbook-perfect rescue, this would not have been possible without the International Cospas-Sarsat Programme, which began in 1979 as a collaborative effort by the United States, France and the former Soviet Union to provide a satellite monitoring and emergency-signal relay service that’s free of charge to all mariners.

Today, Cospas-Sarsat involves 43 nations that maintain an always-listening system of satellites and air-, land- and water-based assets. While contemporary search-and-rescue equipment and systems, including Cospas-Sarsat, have already saved at least 40,000 lives, the next-generation satellite-monitoring system promises better and faster service, along with the ability to support more sophisticated beacons, the first of which are already hitting chandlery shelves.

A Multilayered Network

Things get complicated when dozens of satellites, ground-monitoring stations and different rescuing authorities, such as the Coast Guard, are involved. However, Cospas-Sarsat’s schema involves a five-step process that begins when a satellite-mounted transponder detects a 406 MHz emergency signal from an EPIRB or an individually registered personal locator beacon, or PLB.

The transponder either passes the information directly to an earth-based receiver, known as a local user terminal, or it stores and forwards when a ground station, or LUT, comes into range. Once the LUT receives the signal, it’s sent to a mission control center that’s located in the country of the beacon’s registration. From there, the mission control center directs the message to a rescue coordination center, which conducts the physical rescue.

The speed with which an emergency signal reaches a rescue coordination center depends on where the emergency signal originated and what kind of satellite received the call. Cospas-Sarsat currently has two fully operational satellite constellations aloft, with a third under construction. Each system works in a different manner, but collectively, these different constellations provide redundant and complementary safety layers.

Cospas-Sarsat’s first-generation and still active Low-Altitude Earth Orbit Search and Rescue system is a constellation of five satellites. LEOSAR satellites use Doppler processing to pinpoint a beacon’s location, without a GPS position sent from the EPIRB or PLB. LEOSAR coverage is noncontinuous and requires multiple satellite passes, each taking roughly 100 minutes, to triangulate a beacon’s latitude and longitude. Also, because these satellites sometimes store information while waiting for contact with a ground station, a rescue operation can be further delayed.

Cospas-Sarsat’s second-generation Geostationary Orbit Search and Rescue system, known as GEOSAR, involves a constellation of six geostationary satellites that provide continuous coverage and the ability to quickly alert a ground station to an active 406 MHz signal. Unlike LEOSAR, GEOSAR satellites can’t use Doppler processing to self-calculate a beacon’s position, so contemporary EPIRBs and PLBs, including ACR’s GlobalFix Pro, which Leopard’s crew used, include a built-in global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, allowing the beacon to determine its exact position information from GPS (United States), GLONASS (Russia) or Galileo (EU) satellites. The position fix is then sent by the rescue beacon to the satellite and relayed to the appropriate rescue agencies. While GNSS information dramatically reduces the amount of time it takes for rescuers to arrive on scene, not all EPIRBs are currently required to carry GNSS receivers. When buying a rescue beacon, it’s important to know if it includes this feature.

The third layer in Cospas-Sarsat’s ever-evolving network, the Medium-Altitude Earth Orbit Search and Rescue system, known as MEOSAR, won’t be fully operational until 2021 or 2022, but once complete, it will involve a constellation of 72 different satellites, plus upgraded terrestrial assets, including significantly advanced antennas.

MEOSAR incorporates the best of its forebears, namely LEOSAR’s Doppler processing and GEOSAR’s GPS-positioning capabilities. Once complete, MEOSAR will be able to quickly triangulate a beacon’s signal and nearly instantaneously share this information with an LUT. One caveat, however: MEOSAR will not offer coverage in the highest latitudes.

While Nethersole and company endured some worrisome hours before the C-130 arrived, in the future, those in peril will not have to wait to see if their signal was received and whether rescuers are on their way. Galileo satellites within MEOSAR’s constellation will include a return link signal (operational with properly equipped EPIRBs by 2018) that notifies a beacon user when their signal has been received.

This peace of mind can prevent life-and-death dominoes from toppling. Sean McCrystal, McMurdo’s marketing manager of search-and-rescue solutions, recalls the story of four Irish mariners whose vessel sank. They activated their EPIRB, but a crisis of confidence ensued; convinced that their signals hadn’t been received, three of them swam for shore and drowned. The fourth was rescued. “They made their decision because they didn’t think help was coming,” says McCrystal.

New Features Soon

In addition to being faster, MEOSAR’s advent, coupled with recently issued Federal Communications Commission regulations, allows EPIRB manufacturers to innovate in life-saving ways. For example, McMurdo’s recently released FastFind G8 AIS broadcasts four signals. Two are data feeds associated with satellites, 406 MHz and 121.5 MHz (a legacy frequency employed by rescuing authorities for final-mile homing using specialized equipment), and the other two incorporate a GPS location and automatic identification system (AIS) data, which alerts all local AIS-equipped traffic to the emergency signal so they can quickly render assistance.

This is a critical upgrade because previous EPIRBs only transmitted satellite-communication signals, meaning that while an official rescuing agency gets notified, nearby traffic is electronically blind to any nearby plights. By also broadcasting an AIS signal, the crews of AIS-enabled boats will see emergency alerts on their chart plotter or AIS display. And if their own EPIRB has accidentally activated, it will stave off false alarms. As of this writing, McMurdo is the only manufacturer to offer a multi-signal EPIRB, but other players likely will follow.

Interestingly, while manufacturers are adding AIS to their EPIRBs, MEOSAR will theoretically allow them to remove other frequencies. “Next-generation EPIRBs won’t need a GNSS-derived GPS location because of the sheer number of satellites, and also because ground stations are so much more accurate,” says McCrystal.

Still, while MEOSAR’s Doppler location-processing capabilities may remove the need for GNSS, the data broadcast is likely to be included because Cospas-Sarsat employs a multilayered approach.

“Technology is always getting better — for example, the additional level of satellites — but LEOSAR and GEOSAR are still fully operative and will continue to work,” says Nichole Kalil, ACR Electronics’ public affairs and media manager. “MEOSAR is the icing on the cake.” Because of this, EPIRBs will need GNSS receivers (at least) until older satellites are retired. In fact, the FCC is requiring that all new EPIRBs sold in the United States after January 1, 2019, be GNSS-equipped.

Besides a quicker rescue, sailors will benefit in other ways as manufacturers introduce new products. As with consumer electronics, feature lists are becoming richer while price tags are getting leaner, thus lowering an important barrier of entry. For example, a decade ago, a non-GNSS-equipped EPIRB sold for around $1,000. Today, $400 buys a contemporary GNSS-equipped beacon.

“You’re going to spend that or more on your Yeti cooler,” says Kalil. Additionally, EPIRB rental programs, such as the one that ACR and McMurdo have created with the BoatUS Foundation or that ACR has established with Sea Tow, help make safety gear readily attainable.

On a Personal Note

While EPIRBs are registered to vessels, PLBs are intended to be worn by individual crewmembers, which means you can carry one whenever you go out on the water, and on any boat.

PLBs that transmit 406 MHz satellite signals must be registered to individual sailors, just as an EPIRB gets registered to a particular boat. When activated, they connect with the Cospas-Sarsat network to alert rescuers ashore.

AIS-broadcasting personal beacons, which transmit on VHF radio frequencies, are programmed to send a signal to your own vessel and chart plotter or other AIS-equipped boats in the vicinity, but an alarm will not be picked up by any satellite network.

Examples of contemporary PLBs and AIS man-overboard devices include ACR’s ResQLink+ PLB and its new AISLink MOB, and McMurdo’s FastFind 220 and SmartFind 220.

In a perfect world, sailors could buy one device that would operate in both modes, but as of this writing, the FCC doesn’t allow a single personal device to broadcast both 406 MHz and AIS signals. Part of the issue, at least, is because of battery-life requirements and the limitations of just how big a power supply can be built into a pocket-size beacon. However, regulations remain the highest hurdle to jump before a single PLB-type device will be legally allowed to broadcast both 406 MHz and AIS signals.

As a result, some safety-conscious sailors carry multiple devices to ensure their emergency signals are heard by rescue authorities, local marine traffic and their own boat.

“It’s something the market wants,” says Kalil, adding that ACR is listening. Hopefully, the FCC will change its regulations, but until then, the best move is to stack the odds in your favor because the costs are relatively small and the return on investment is immense.

Manufacturers also build GPS communicators/messengers that can reliably be used in emergencies. Examples of this equipment include Garmin’s inReach and the Spot Satellite Messenger. Depending on the model, users can employ these devices to send pre-scripted messages to friends and family (e.g., “All good on our end.”), along with latitude and longitude information. Some models also let people on shore ping the unit to learn the user’s location information, and these devices also come with an SOS button that directly contacts the privately operated GEOS Rescue Coordination Center with the user’s position and personal information. It’s important to remember that GEOS is a private U.S.-based company, not an internationally funded, multinational government program like Cospas-Sarsat. However, the two organizations often contact the same rescue agencies in the event of an emergency.

Additionally, Garmin’s inReach devices can be paired with a user’s smartphone, taking advantage of its keyboard to type, send and receive short text messages via the unit’s Iridium satellite communication connection. Some inReach models include a built-in chart-plotter screen so the device itself can be used for navigation. Other units can share information via Bluetooth with a smartphone and tablet, providing those devices with location data. Users can also download weather reports. Unlike the other equipment discussed in this article, both the Spot and Garmin’s inReach require a monthly or yearly subscription service. However, these plans can sometimes be “winterized” during months of inactivity.

– – –

David Schmidt is CW’s electronics editor.

,,https://www.marineclarity.com/improving-the-odds-with-satellite-beacons/,admin

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itmanco · 8 years ago

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Peace and the mercy of God Almighty be upon you and may peace be for us all, God willing. Peace for us all in every part of this big world, which is so complexed by its sanguinary conflicts, disturbed by its sharp contradictions, menaced now and then by destructive wars launched by man to annihilate his fellow man. Finally, amidst the ruins of what man has built and the remains of the victims of Mankind, there emerges neither victor nor vanquished. The only vanquished remains man, God's most sublime creation, man whom God has created - as Gandhi the apostle of peace puts it: to forge ahead to mould the way of life and worship God Almighty. Ladies and Gentlemen, there are moments in the life of nations and peoples when it is incumbent on those known for their wisdom and clarity of vision to overlook the past, with all its complexities and weighing memories, in a bold drive towards new horizons. We must all rise above all forms of fanaticism, self-deception and obsolete theories of superiority. The most important thing is never to forget that infallibility is the prerogative of God alone. Any life lost in war is a human life, A wife who becomes a widow is a human being entitled to a happy family life, Innocent children who are deprived of the care and compassion of their parents are ours, They command our top responsibility to afford them a comfortable life today and tomorrow. For the sake of them all, for the safeguard of the lives of all our sons and brothers, for affording our communities the opportunity to work for the progress and happiness of man and his right to a dignified life, for our responsibilities before the generations to come, for a smile on the face of every child born on our land - for all that Ladies and Gentlemen, let us be frank with each other, using straight-forward words and a clear conception, with no ambiguity. Let us be frank with each other today while the entire world, both East and West, follows these unparalleled moments which could prove to be a radical turning point in the history of this part of the world, if not in the history of the world as a whole. Let us be frank with each other as we answer this important question: how can we achieve permanent peace based on justice? Before I proclaim my answer, I wish to assure you that, in my clear and frank answer, I am basing myself on a number of facts which no one can deny. The first fact: no one can build his happiness at the expense of the misery of others. The second fact: never have I spoken or will ever speak in two languages. Never have I adopted or will adopt two policies. I never deal with anyone except in one language, one policy, and with one face. The third fact: direct confrontation and a straight line are the nearest and most successful methods to reach a clear objective. In my opinion, and I declare it to the whole world from this forum, the answer is neither difficult nor impossible, despite long years of feud, blood vengeance, spite and hatred, and breeding generations on concepts of total rift and deep-rooted animosity. The answer is not difficult, nor is it impossible, if we sincerely and faithfully follow a straight line. There was a huge wall between us which you tried to build up over a quarter of a century This wall constitutes a psychological barrier between us. A barrier of suspicion. A barrier of rejection. A barrier of fear of deception. A barrier of hallucinations around any action, deed or decision. A barrier of cautious and erroneous interpretations of all and every event or statement. It is this psychological barrier which I described in official statements as representing 70 percent of the whole problem. I ask you: why don't we stretch our hands with faith and sincerity so that, together, we might destroy this barrier? Why shouldn't ours and your will meet with faith and sincerity, so that together we might remove all suspicion of fear, betrayal and ill intentions? Why don't we stand together with the bravery of men and the boldness of heroes who dedicate themselves to a sublime objective? Why don't we stand together with the same courage and boldness to erect a huge edifice of peace that builds and does not destroy? An edifice that is a beacon for generations to come - the human message for construction, development and the dignity of man? Why should we bequeath to the coming generations the plight of bloodshed, death, orphans, widowhood, family disintegration, and the wailing of victims? Why don't we believe in the wisdom of God conveyed to us by the Proverbs of Solomon: "Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil; but to the counsellors of peace is joy. Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices with strife." Why don't we repeat together from the Psalms of David: "Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward they holy oracle. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours." To tell you the truth, peace cannot be worth its name unless it is based on justice, and not on the occupation of the land of others. It would not be appropriate for you to demand for yourselves what you deny others. With all frankness, and with the spirit that has prompted me to come to you today, I tell you: you have to give up, once and for all, the dreams of conquest, and give up the belief that force is the best method for dealing with the Arabs. I sincerely tell you that before us today lies the appropriate chance for peace, if we are really serious in our endeavours for peace. It is a chance that time cannot afford once again. It is a chance that, if lost or wasted, the plotter against it will bear the curse of humanity and the curse of history. Ladies and Gentlemen, peace is not the mere endorsement of written lines; rather, it is a rewriting of history. Peace is not a game of calling for peace to defend certain whims or hide certain ambitions. Peace is a giant struggle against all and every ambition and whim. Perhaps the examples taken from ancient and modern history teach us all that missiles, warships and nuclear weapons cannot establish security. Rather, they destroy what peace and security build. For the sake of our peoples, and for the sake of the civilizations made by man, we have to defend man everywhere against the rule of the force of arms, so that we may endow the rule of humanity with all the power of the values and principles that promote the sublime position of Mankind. encourage your leadership to struggle for peace. Let all endeavours be channelled towards building a huge edifice for peace, instead of walls strongholds and hideouts defended by destructive rockets. Introduce to the entire world the image of the new man in this area, so that he might set an example to the man of our age, the man of peace everywhere. Be the heralds to your sons. Tell them that past wars were the last of wars and the end of sorrows. Tell them that we are in for a new beginning to a new life - the life of love, prosperity, freedom and peace. You, bewailing mother; you, widowed wife; you, the son who lost a brother or a father; you, all victims of wars - fill the earth and space with recitals of peace. Fill bosoms and hearts with the aspirations of peace. Turn the song into a reality that blossoms and lives. Make hope a code of conduct and endeavour. The will of peoples is part of the will of God. I have delivered the message, and may God be my witness. I repeat with Zechariah, "Love right and justice." I quote the following verses from the holy Koran: "We believe in God and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes and in the books given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets from their lord. We make no distinction between one and another among them and to God we submit."

from I.T MAN http://ift.tt/1cjthd7 via IFTTTBy Samy Morsy

#IFTTT #FacebookPages

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ren-c-leyn · 6 years ago

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Get to know me Tag Game

I think I’ve done this one before, but why not? This time I was tagged by @howtowritethings, thank you =)

what genres do you write?

Fantasy, usually high fantasy but I don’t really know the subgenres well enough to say for certain what other ones I’ve dabbled in. I do sometimes write sci-fi and other things.

what’s on your reading wishlist?

So many I don’t even know where to start listing them all. I actually need to catch back up on my reading list XD I know the second book of the “Steel and Fire,” series is definitely waiting for me to finally start reading it, a few cozy mysteries, a few not-so-cozy mysteries, and some random fantasy books I’ve been collecting here and there.

who is your favourite character from your current wip?

From my main WIP, The Plight of a Sparrow, it would be Raina, without a doubt. From the other ones, it’s kind of a toss up.

what writing tropes do you like?

Adaptional badass characters, where they go from weakling to hero; The anti hero, the one where they’re escaping and one character stays behind to save the rest of the part, bonus points if there’s one character that either stays with that person or is screaming ‘I can’t leave them!’ while the rest of the party drags them away. Let’s see, it seems like there’s a few more I like, but I can’t think of them right off the top of my head.

what is the story behind your wip’s name?

The Plight of a Sparrow’s title is simple, really. I named the main character Sparrow, it’s about her plight, The Plight of a Sparrow. Silver Tiger is a plot point and a nickname for one of the characters. So, yeah. Not really a lot to tell there.

are you a pantser or a plotter?

I’m actually a planster, meaning I’m between the two. I can’t just jump into writing with no clue, otherwise I end up abandoning the project, but if I have a strict outline I wind up hating the project and quitting it anyways. So, I’ve come up of a weird method of plotting-but-not-plotting that seems to work for me.

do you post your work somewhere?

I post original short stories on here, but not exerts or chapters of my WIPs.

do you also read/write fanfic? if yes, for the same genres as what you write?

I don’t.

what is your favourite dessert? because why not.

Cheeeesssseee caaakkkkeee.

I can’t remember who I tagged last time I played this, so I’m leaving it an open tag. Have fun.

#tag game

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marineclarity · 8 years ago

Text

Improving The Odds with Satellite Beacons

Improving The Odds with Satellite Beacons,

Courtesy of ACR

Nethersole and Lewis had just entered Leopard’s pilothouse, with Nethersole at the interior helm, when a meteorological juggernaut of wind and waves arrived via the starboard quarter.

A Multilayered Network

New Features Soon

Still, while MEOSAR’s Doppler location-processing capabilities may remove the need for GNSS, the data broadcast is likely to be included because Cospas-Sarsat employs a multilayered approach.

On a Personal Note

While EPIRBs are registered to vessels, PLBs are intended to be worn by individual crewmembers, which means you can carry one whenever you go out on the water, and on any boat.

Examples of contemporary PLBs and AIS man-overboard devices include ACR’s ResQLink+ PLB and its new AISLink MOB, and McMurdo’s FastFind 220 and SmartFind 220.

As a result, some safety-conscious sailors carry multiple devices to ensure their emergency signals are heard by rescue authorities, local marine traffic and their own boat.

– – –

David Schmidt is CW’s electronics editor.

,,https://www.marineclarity.com/improving-the-odds-with-satellite-beacons/,admin

0 notes

marineclarity · 8 years ago

Text

Improving The Odds with Satellite Beacons

Improving The Odds with Satellite Beacons,

Courtesy of ACR

Nethersole and Lewis had just entered Leopard’s pilothouse, with Nethersole at the interior helm, when a meteorological juggernaut of wind and waves arrived via the starboard quarter.

A Multilayered Network

New Features Soon

Still, while MEOSAR’s Doppler location-processing capabilities may remove the need for GNSS, the data broadcast is likely to be included because Cospas-Sarsat employs a multilayered approach.

On a Personal Note

While EPIRBs are registered to vessels, PLBs are intended to be worn by individual crewmembers, which means you can carry one whenever you go out on the water, and on any boat.

Examples of contemporary PLBs and AIS man-overboard devices include ACR’s ResQLink+ PLB and its new AISLink MOB, and McMurdo’s FastFind 220 and SmartFind 220.

As a result, some safety-conscious sailors carry multiple devices to ensure their emergency signals are heard by rescue authorities, local marine traffic and their own boat.

– – –

David Schmidt is CW’s electronics editor.

,,https://www.marineclarity.com/improving-the-odds-with-satellite-beacons/,admin

0 notes

marineclarity · 8 years ago

Text

Improving The Odds with Satellite Beacons

Improving The Odds with Satellite Beacons,

Courtesy of ACR

Nethersole and Lewis had just entered Leopard’s pilothouse, with Nethersole at the interior helm, when a meteorological juggernaut of wind and waves arrived via the starboard quarter.

A Multilayered Network

New Features Soon

Still, while MEOSAR’s Doppler location-processing capabilities may remove the need for GNSS, the data broadcast is likely to be included because Cospas-Sarsat employs a multilayered approach.

On a Personal Note

While EPIRBs are registered to vessels, PLBs are intended to be worn by individual crewmembers, which means you can carry one whenever you go out on the water, and on any boat.

Examples of contemporary PLBs and AIS man-overboard devices include ACR’s ResQLink+ PLB and its new AISLink MOB, and McMurdo’s FastFind 220 and SmartFind 220.

As a result, some safety-conscious sailors carry multiple devices to ensure their emergency signals are heard by rescue authorities, local marine traffic and their own boat.

– – –

David Schmidt is CW’s electronics editor.

,,https://www.marineclarity.com/improving-the-odds-with-satellite-beacons/,admin

0 notes

marineclarity · 8 years ago

Text

Improving The Odds with Satellite Beacons

Improving The Odds with Satellite Beacons,

Courtesy of ACR

Nethersole and Lewis had just entered Leopard’s pilothouse, with Nethersole at the interior helm, when a meteorological juggernaut of wind and waves arrived via the starboard quarter.

A Multilayered Network

New Features Soon

Still, while MEOSAR’s Doppler location-processing capabilities may remove the need for GNSS, the data broadcast is likely to be included because Cospas-Sarsat employs a multilayered approach.

On a Personal Note

While EPIRBs are registered to vessels, PLBs are intended to be worn by individual crewmembers, which means you can carry one whenever you go out on the water, and on any boat.

Examples of contemporary PLBs and AIS man-overboard devices include ACR’s ResQLink+ PLB and its new AISLink MOB, and McMurdo’s FastFind 220 and SmartFind 220.

As a result, some safety-conscious sailors carry multiple devices to ensure their emergency signals are heard by rescue authorities, local marine traffic and their own boat.

– – –

David Schmidt is CW’s electronics editor.

,,https://www.marineclarity.com/improving-the-odds-with-satellite-beacons/,admin

0 notes