professorscrooge

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do you think in the fix-it au, the Skywalkers can't play hide and seek bc they find each other too quickly with the Force

(commission info // tip jar!)

[professorscrooge]

Please make a post about the story of the RMS Carpathia, because it's something that's almost beyond belief and more people should know about it.

Carpathia received Titanic’s distress signal at 12:20am, April 15th, 1912. She was 58 miles away, a distance that absolutely could not be covered in less than four hours.

(Californian’s exact position at the time is…controversial. She was close enough to have helped. By all accounts she was close enough to see Titanic’s distress rockets. It’s uncertain to this day why her crew did not respond, or how many might not have been lost if she had been there. This is not the place for what-ifs. This is about what was done.)

Carpathia’s Captain Rostron had, yes, rolled out of bed instantly when woken by his radio operator, ordered his ship to Titanic’s aid and confirmed the signal before he was fully dressed. The man had never in his life responded to an emergency call. His goal tonight was to make sure nobody who heard that fact would ever believe it.

All of Carpathia’s lifeboats were swung out ready for deployment. Oil was set up to be poured off the side of the ship in case the sea turned choppy; oil would coat and calm the water near Carpathia if that happened, making it safer for lifeboats to draw up alongside her. He ordered lights to be rigged along the side of the ship so survivors could see it better, and had nets and ladders rigged along her sides ready to be dropped when they arrived, in order to let as many survivors as possible climb aboard at once.

I don’t know if his making provisions for there still being survivors in the water was optimism or not. I think he knew they were never going to get there in time for that. I think he did it anyway because, god, you have to hope.

Carpathia had three dining rooms, which were immediately converted into triage and first aid stations. Each had a doctor assigned to it. Hot soup, coffee, and tea were prepared in bulk in each dining room, and blankets and warm clothes were collected to be ready to hand out. By this time, many of the passengers were awake–prepping a ship for disaster relief isn’t quiet–and all of them stepped up to help, many donating their own clothes and blankets.

And then he did something I tend to refer to as diverting all power from life support.

Here’s the thing about steamships: They run on steam. Shocking, I know; but that steam powers everything on the ship, and right now, Carpathia needed power. So Rostron turned off hot water and central heating, which bled valuable steam power, to everywhere but the dining rooms–which, of course, were being used to make hot drinks and receive survivors. He woke up all the engineers, all the stokers and firemen, diverted all that steam back into the engines, and asked his ship to go as fast as she possibly could. And when she’d done that, he asked her to go faster.

I need you to understand that you simply can’t push a ship very far past its top speed. Pushing that much sheer tonnage through the water becomes harder with each extra knot past the speed it was designed for. Pushing a ship past its rated speed is not only reckless–it’s difficult to maneuver–but it puts an incredible amount of strain on the engines. Ships are not designed to exceed their top speed by even one knot. They can’t do it. It can’t be done.

Carpathia’s absolute do-or-die, the-engines-can’t-take-this-forever top speed was fourteen knots. Dodging icebergs, in the dark and the cold, surrounded by mist, she sustained a speed of almost seventeen and a half.

No one would have asked this of them. It wasn’t expected. They were almost sixty miles away, with icebergs in their path. They had a responsibility to respond; they did not have a responsibility to do the impossible and do it well. No one would have faulted them for taking more time to confirm the severity of the issue. No one would have blamed them for a slow and cautious approach. No one but themselves.

They damn near broke the laws of physics, galloping north headlong into the dark in the desperate hope that if they could shave an hour, half an hour, five minutes off their arrival time, maybe for one more person those five minutes would make the difference. I say: three people had died by the time they were lifted from the lifeboats. For all we know, in another hour it might have been more. I say they made all the difference in the world.

This ship and her crew received a message from a location they could not hope to reach in under four hours. Just barely over three hours later, they arrived at Titanic’s last known coordinates. Half an hour after that, at 4am, they would finally find the first of the lifeboats. it would take until 8:30 in the morning for the last survivor to be brought onboard. Passengers from Carpathia universally gave up their berths, staterooms, and clothing to the survivors, assisting the crew at every turn and sitting with the sobbing rescuees to offer whatever comfort they could.

In total, 705 people of Titanic’s original 2208 were brought onto Carpathia alive. No other ship would find survivors.

At 12:20am April 15th, 1912, there was a miracle on the North Atlantic. And it happened because a group of humans, some of them strangers, many of them only passengers on a small and unimpressive steam liner, looked at each other and decided: I cannot live with myself if I do anything less.

I think the least we can do is remember them for it.

[professorscrooge]

Dark Ahsoka's art for @phantasm-echo

I really liked the concept and decided to draw this gorgeous woman

[professorscrooge]

Because of my current reading I was contemplating what could motivate a woman to marry a slave if that would give her the status of slave, which seems like a somewhat baffling proposition. And then I wondered if Padme would do it for Anakin in a scenario where he's still enslaved.

She's very much a romantic, and very self-sacrificing. Granted, I think if she did that it would be a gamble rather than a self-enslavement. For one, the marriage would be a secret, so she'd only lose her freedom if they were found out. Secondly, I feel like it could be a political statement in itself. She's of such high stature herself, and a national hero, and Naboo itself isn't culturally on board with slavery. If it became known she could turn into a big legal challenge, and probably win.

Which I think would make for a super interesting fic tbh. …might have to nerf the Naboo or make the Hutts more powerful/ AU it all a bit because as it is I'm having trouble believing she'd be in any real danger.

Then there's her children- under this mode of transmission, her children would be slaves, so she's not just risking herself. Which would be fine if she and Anakin were sensible about birth control, but they are demonstrably not. So that would add a whole other layer.

[professorscrooge]

The kid commander.

Ahsoka stands on the bridge of the ship watching the fighters scream past. Watching the plasma bolts bloom into smoking plumes of flame when they puncture a hull.

She relays instructions to the bridge crew. A steadiness in her voice that has no right being there. Men scurry around her. Rushing from one station to another. Carrying out her orders.

She is laying siege to a another vessel. Raining fire upon it. Hemming it in with her fighters. Breaking the hull open little by little. Putting just enough pressure on it so that the crew will surrender.

It's a dangerous game. Applying violence to someone without the intention of killing them. It's a lot like torture. If your subject was a ship instead of a body. Breaking it in the nonvital places so it can still recover enough to tell you what you want to hear.

She waves a hand to the closest CO as she gives her next order. Not bothering to so much as step away from the place she's chosen to stand. The place that gives her an optimal view of the battleground.

Skywalker is out there in his fighter somewhere. Still very much a part of this battle. But not leading it. Doing his favorite thing instead. Flying recklessly through enemy space confusing them into flying poorly and getting themselves killed.

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from the enemy ship." A member of the comm crew shouts.

"Put them through." She says, stifling a self satisfied smile and tucking her arms behind her back in a regulation at easy stance.

The Separatist commander's face appears on the screen, looking like he might have been tossed around a bit.

"This is Commander Tano of the 501st legion of the Grand Army of the Republic." Ahsoka introduces herself according to protocal.

"Who? Where's Skywalker?" the man on the screen demands.

"The General has seeded command to me. I think you'll find I am more than capable of discussing the terms of your surrender." She sounds unaffected by the insult.

"I-I-I will not be surrendering to some child." He sounds almost too confused to be really angry. But plenty offended.

"Then perhaps we should give you more time to consider it." Before the man has time to protest Ahsoka raises a hand. The transmission cuts out abruptly. The fool's confused face frozen momentarily in shock as the signal breaks.

She doesn't flinch as the battle continues to rage around her. Her own men far outnumber the enemy. Their fighters have been beaten back behind their frigate already. Which is already smoldering all over, virtually without shields and on it's last leg. They have minutes until this battle is over. Whether by surrender or distruction.

Rex knows Ahsoka is hoping for surrender. Whatever her bravado says, she is a jedi at heart. But her also knows that she will blow the enemy ship to rubble, if she must.

Ahsoka cares about bringing her men home. Cares about it more than winning the war. More than enjoying the power trip she's indulging in now. With her shoulders broad and her chin up. Every man in the room following her word.

Not just because they have to. Because they are experiencing this all with her. She is leading them to victory and they know it.

The comms officer makes another announcement as another desk jockey in greys brings her a steaming cup. Ahsoka gestures with one hand and accepts the cup with the other.

"I will discuss the terms of my surrender." The Separatist grits out through his teeth.

"Excellent, we'll begin."

[professorscrooge]

guy who does unboxing videos but he only talks about the boxes

[professorscrooge]

would be fun if for once characters in a scifi story landed on a planet and it was like desert or whatever and theyre like ooh... a desert world.... and the people who live there are like what? no? this is just a desert. planets are very big. they have multiple biomes

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[professorscrooge]

Truly the siblings of all time.

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[professorscrooge]

Local Writer Shocked As She Realises Planned 'Short Fanfic' Is Turning Into Multi Chapters Plot Oriented Slow Burn Fanfic

[professorscrooge]

Bathtub Bacta

So… I have a guilty love of the prohibition era.  I’dd never want to LIVE then, but int terms of really interesting social dynamics, fashion, art and narrative possibility, its really, really interesting.   During the ‘Would-Bacta-work-as-lube?“ question posed by @poplitealqueen a few months ago, I set about scouring-SCOURING, I TELL YOU- Wookieepedia and all my SW-related material to find out what Bacta actually COST, and how it operated, to answer the question of whether it was economically and practically feasible.  And I found out that:

1. It apparently makes ideal lube, as long as you don’t mind the smell of Pineapple.

2. It’s basically ultra-thick saline with suspended nutrients and ACTUAL BACTERIA in it.

(so, these next couple conclusions are made in the face of conflicting canons, but it’s the one that makes the most sense for how shit plays out)

3. Bacta is the GMO reconstruction of Kolto, which is a psuedo-parastic microorganism that may or may not be related to midichlorians that alters it’s DNA to turn into the host’s cells.  (IDK it’s science fiction, roll with it) Kolto was the more effective substance, able to treat things like cirrhosis, brain damage, etc,- but was wiped out by a virus during the KOTOR era as part of a plot to get rid of the Jedi.

Good job guys.

So Bacta is the GMO they managed to cobble together afterwards with the remaining info they had, and while it’s pretty miraculous as a traumatic injury treatment, it doesn’t do chronic diseases like Kolto did

4. Bacta is literally grown in cultured vats, much the way insulin is farmed today.

5. While it’s heavily regulated in the TPM era, because it’s MEDICAL EQUIPMENT, it’s still really easy to grow once you get your startup costs out of the way.

6. The expensive part of bacta is the administration devices- bacta doesn’t do well in tubes, so you either need to keep a small live colony (a bacta tank ala ESB), or flash-freeze them in the ultra thick saline, and have a small…bacterial microwave, essentially, to thaw bits of it out for use.

7. During the clone wars, Palpatine subsidized the crap out of the bacta industry so he’d have enough for his army and the worlds loyal to him- post 66, he was a punitive asshole who controlled all “legitimate” (but not necessarily well-run) bacta production, and would just not ship it to worlds he didn’t like.

The point I’m getting at is- The conditions are PERFECT for there to be a massive Bootleg Bacta trade starting in TPM and going all through the empire (and into TFA probably, we’ll see what the timeline looks like once this all shakes out)  Just thing- ALL the shenanigans people got up to with bootlegging, but with bacta.

People with illicit ‘stills’ in the basement, people doing insane planetary runs to get it to worlds in need- or pirating Imperial ships for the stuff.  Kids going to school with an “ice pack” in their lunch bag, only to give the frozen bacta to their Rebel-sympathizing teacher.  Imperial Facilities get raided by Bacta Pirates, not for the shitty imperial strain, but literally to pull the piping and saline tanks out of the walls. 

Of course, some people are gonna be unscrupulous and cut corners with their vats, resulting in horrible mutant strains that do god knows what (but that’s another plot bunny).  Or Strains of bacta that are more refined and effective, because much of the scientific Community was not friends with Sheevy P, even before the war.

AND CLONES WOULD KICK ASS AT BACTA FARMING- because a LOT of bacta farming happened On Kamino, and hell, it was probably part of chores to tend to the tanks. “Feed the vats so your brothers can live”

The HARD part about starting your own farm is 1. finding/making suitable vats 2. GETTING YOUR HANDS ON A GOOD STRAIN.

Kix becomes an unintentional fucktillionaire distributing the Kamino strain.  He wasn’t even charging, people just kept giving him money. “Uncle Jesse’s Extra-Viscosity Varmint Grease” is the joke name of the best strain.  Kix is SO MAD that drunk Jesse named it that but you know? No imp inspection officer has ever wanted to open those barrels.

 The things people pretend to be shipping instead of bacta though, which might actually include booze:

 "Booze! Twelve million gallons of Zanbar Blue!“ “Oh that stuff is gross. Carry on.”

Also, the REALLY enterprising people who figure out how to start mixing spice in with their bacta- and create a medical revolution in the process. Glitterstim is a bad idea to snort, but the trace amounts in the “Candy Cane” strain heal nerve damage! "Pineapple express” is a strain that essentially acts as a topical PTSD treatment  "Beskar Berserker” is a strain that has some pretty awesome painkiller/amphetamine combo, and while it was meant to keep people from coding, it becomes REALLY popular with former ARC troopers.

Hera gets Kanan a strain called “second sight” after he loses his eyes.  She did it because it was supposed to be good for treating optic injuries and numbing visual hallucinations… they find out later it’s basically bacta + Midichlorian chow.

Anyway, this was a fun thought, please feel free to play with it if you want and tell me all about it

[professorscrooge]

"Bury My Mother Pale and Slight (Myla's Song)" - Amalgemotion

A little bit of Hollow Knight in your Star Wars

I wanted something simple, yet emotional. I think i like it. It was a bit difficult to distribute the characters among the verses. Some fit perfectly, while others have to be interpreted. Like, "the lady, lovely and pale" suited Padme well too, but i choose "the writer" because of, well, a broken heart (i guess you can interpret the senator as a writer, in some sense?). "The sage and his sons all three" was also good for Yoda and his lineage (Dooku, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan). That's why I didn't take the last verse, because I couldn't find suitable characters for it (you can write your own ideas if you want).

But otherwise, I like the result.

[professorscrooge]

pro or anti whatever you are can we at least agree that the sensationalism of true crime, presented without scrutiny as real life and exploiting the trauma of real people, all at the forefront of mainstream social media and television, is and always will be more harmful than some gay freaks writing incest fanfiction on a website used by 0.1% of the worlds population

[professorscrooge]

The Joker's iconic look is a fun little pop culture fossil. Like, he's not a circus clown or a birthday clown or a rodeo clown or any other kind of clown you might bump into today: he's specifically a vaudeville clown. We don't have those anymore, so that specific type of clown is now just "the Joker".

[professorscrooge]

recently finished reading the martian

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AU where qui-gon leaves the order to train anakin

ft. a stressed obi-wan and reluctant ally maul (anakin thinks they’re besties tho)

happy may the 4th everyone