#Nova Budgets

[disease-danger-darkness-silence]

Things I need to fix on my car

(Best case scenario | Worst-case Scenario) This is all based on whether I am physically capable of the work involved, and whether I have the tools to do the job. My car is the 2014 Chevy Impala. The 2006 Kia Rio5 I'm giving to my daughter, although that needs some work too. IMPORTANT STUFF IS MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK * The two most important for the Impala are the ABS sensors and new tires, honestly.

* ABS sensor and wire replacement on wheels: ($20 | $100) I may be able to fix this for almost no cost, if the sensor and sensor wire are OK, but I'd have to get some steel hangar strapping ($9) and figure out how to best secure it away from the axle, because that's what keeps wearing out the ABS sensor wires.

* New tires: ($500 | $750) Mine are falling apart. I could get some used ones for $200 but then they'd need replacement again in 6 months.

Windshield: (Free | $225) I have a resin kit to fix the chip/s in the windshield, but the entire thing is really pitted and I think it may crack this winter, regardless of a fix.

Fix wiring on side-windows: ($45| $200) If I can get a trim-pull kit ($21, or $40 with a big set of clips), I can probably just fix the wiring myself with a soldering iron and some replacement door clips ($6). If not I need a body professional to do it.

* Radiator drain and fill: ($45 | $200) I'm pretty sure I can do this myself. I need a fuck-ton of distilled water ($2), a bunch of radiator cleaner ($10), an oil pan to hold the old antifreeze in ($15), and winter antifreeze mix ($15). But if I can't, I need to take it in to a mechanic.

* Transmission drain and fill: ($175 | $1000) Also pretty sure I can do this myself. Transmission seal ($14), sealing oil pan ($15), transmission fluid (dextron 6, 5.3 qts, $35/gal), transmission filter ($28), transmission gasket ($9) and grease ($2). The biggest expense will be a new torque wrench (~$50), as mine died. Still cheaper than a transmission tune-up from a pro.

* Oil change: (75$ | $90+tip) Can definitely do this myself but I don't know that I wanna because laying under the car hurts my back a lot. Same with the other stuff. Blegh. Oil pan ($15), oil (full synthetic 5W-30, 6 qts, $7.50/qt or $28/5 qt), oil filter ($7), drain plug gasket ($15). Need a torque wrench for this, too.

Tune-up: ($124 | $250) I for sure can do this myself, basically just need to change the spark plugs. My car takes extra-special iridium plugs so it'll be a little pricy for six of them ($11x6). Need to get cabin ($24) and engine air ($24) filters, and a fuel filter ($10), too.

Fix bumper: ($30/$70 | $300) I'm pretty sure I can do this myself but I need spare clips ($6) and some filament ($15) for my 3D pen my sister got me. I also need to find said pen, or buy a new one ($40). And I need some sturdy, different-grit automotive sandpaper ($8).

Paint touch-ups: ($69 | $500) Car paint is expensive. I'd need automotive primer and the paint itself, and a topcoat, or have a pro do it. It's oddly important because it keeps it from rusting. I can get a kit in my car's color (WA636R) for ($69).

Wind deflectors for windows: ($65 | $) Pretty sure I can install these myself. If not I have to have a body shop do it and idk that I care enough. It would help with retaining heat in the winter and cool in the summer.

* Windshield wipers: ($52 | $92) Definitely can install these myself, it just depends on what brand is available when I go in for them - cheapest 22" driver's side is showing for $23 at Autozone, and 21" passenger side is showing $23 as well. Also need winter-rated window wash fluid ($5).

Detailing ($175 | $450) I can either do this myself by purchasing some things, or I can pay someone to do it for me. Things would be: drill wet-sanding kit ($19), drill brush cleaning kit ($36), upholstery cleaner ($19), upholstery protectant ($17), interior cleaner ($12), headlight cleaner ($20), protectant ($25). I already have a steamer, drill, and wet/dry shop vac (although there's a bomb accessory kit I wanna get regardless for $27). Either way, the car needs to be deep-cleaned, inside and out. It's bad. Although, now that I think about it, if I invested $300 in equipment (better steamer, larger chemicals, power washer) and chemicals, I could do detailing for friends and family and get my money back fairly quick, and I need to detail the Kia for Adrienne anyway.... Hm.

Things I need to do for the Kia for Adrienne

* Remove old bearings and install new ones. (Already have bearings and tools, just no hand strength to remove bearings. Need biiiig mallet.)

* Polish and fix headlights. (Need polish and some more UV resin, as well as bulbs.)

Get quote from fast glass about rear windows, or make a better mold of the rear windows and make better resin replacements.

* Pull oil pan and replace plug. (Have plug already, need impact wrench flex set).

* Change oil and oil filter. (Need oil and filter.)

* Change engine air filter. (Have filter.)

* Fix locks and handles. (Need trim pulling kit and spare clips.)

Deep-clean. (Need detailing kit, turtle wax, rainx, and dent-puller.)

* Fix windshield (either resin kit or replacement windshield).

* Find key and copy. Look into if it'll take a fob.

Alignment and struts.

Fix the pull for popping the hood.

Tires possibly.

Transmission, radiator, and engine flush.

* Fuel filter and cabin air filter.

Possibly paint to fix any rusting that may be occurring.

* Battery needs to be charged and possibly replaced.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The provincial government is promising $610,000 in funding to study the feasibility of a light-rail service in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

A government news release on Friday said the study will be led by Cape Breton University and will incorporate the existing rail corridor and infrastructure. 

The announcement came a day after Economic Development Minister Susan Corkum Greek announced the government was ending a decades-long subsidy paid for unused Cape Breton railway lines.

Genesee & Wyoming, the sole owners of the line when trains stopped running in 2015, said there was not enough business at the time to justify the service. CN Rail bought a stake in Genesee & Wyoming last fall.

The province has spent more than $18 million in subsidies over the last 20 years propping up the Cape Breton line. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[strohller27]

.

[silvercanuck]

Please sign this petition if you're Canadian! 1.5 million disabled Canadians live in poverty. I am one of them. In Ontario, we make greater than $10,000 below the provincial and federal poverty lines. The federal plan right now is to give 600,000 of us $200 per month. That won't get us anywhere near the poverty line, and helping two fifths of those in need isn't good enough. Even giving each of us $1,000 per month won't get all of us to the poverty line, but it's a lot better than what the feds are suggesting. This will help us pay rent, afford food, and get a lot of us who can work back in the workforce.

https://act.leadnow.ca/CDB-1000/?utm_source=leadnow&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=blast2024-04-25

[marsoid]

i NEED to know how you got your hands on a 71 nova PLEASE

obsessively searching craigslist until i found one in my budget without any major mechanical problems. drove up to Washington, test drove, fell in love, brought her home 🥹

i think i got pretty lucky because i only got her for $8800 which is INSANE for a classic in such great condition

[mysticstronomy]

WHAT IS AN ISLAND UNIVERSE??

Blog#422

Saturday, July 27th, 2024.

Welcome back,

No other science engages human curiosity like astronomy. From antiquity onward, attempts to comprehend the architecture of the cosmos have commanded a substantial fraction of humankind’s mental budget for intellectual endeavor. Only in the last century, though, have astronomers grasped the structure of the cosmos accurately. Just a hundred years ago, a great debate raged about the fuzzy patches on the nighttime sky known as “cloudy stars,” or nebulae.

Some astronomers believed that those cosmic fuzzballs resided within the Milky Way, the galaxy containing the sun and billions of other stars. In those days the Milky Way essentially comprised the known universe. But some experts suspected the nebulae to be very distant stellar systems much like the Milky Way itself — “island universes” populating the vastness of space. Skeptics argued otherwise, contending that the nebulae would be impossibly far away if they contained stars similar in brightness to the sun.

In October 1917, the prominent astronomer Harlow Shapley reported that the brightness of novae in various nebulae would place some of them millions of light-years away, in conflict with other measurements of rapid internal motion within the nebulae. (At such large distances, internal motion would not be perceptible.) “Measurable internal proper motions,” Shapley wrote, “can not well be harmonized with ‘island universes’ of whatever size, if they are composed of normal stars.”

The centennial of Shapley’s paper is not being widely celebrated, of course, because he was wrong — distant nebulae are, in fact, island universes (the measurements of internal motion supposedly ruling that out turned out to be bogus). But there is another anniversary worth celebrating this year — the dodransbicentennial (or dodrabicentennial) of the founding of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society in 1842. That event is noteworthy for its connection to one of astronomy’s greatest mysteries: who first coined the phrase “island universe.”

Often that honor is attributed to the philosopher Immanuel Kant. But Kant wrote in German, and he didn’t use any phrase that could be translated as “island universe.” He was among the first to figure out the nature of the Milky Way, though. From ancient times, skywatchers had wondered at the eerie dim glowing band of light visible across the nighttime sky (until modern light pollution drowned it out). Galileo’s telescope revealed within the milky glow a vast population of stars too distant and dim to discern with the naked eye.

More than a century afterward, in 1755, Kant reasoned that the Milky Way was actually a large lens-shaped disk, a system of stars (including the sun) analogous to the sun’s system of planets.In essence, the Milky Way was the universe, a grand collection of countless worlds — stars surrounded by planets, possibly inhabited. Kant further speculated that the Milky Way was not alone. Nebulae, it seemed to him, were too big to be merely dim fuzzy stars. He deduced them to be at a great distance (too far for their individual stars to be detectable), each of them another entire “universe” like the Milky Way.

But he didn’t call them islands. When he used the German word for island (Insel), he was referring to things like Jamaica, or an uninhabited planet. When Kant said “these elliptical figures are just universes,” the actual term he used in German was Weltordnungen, which is literally translated as “world orders” (or in some places Weltgebäuden or Weltsystemen, world systems).

Originally published on https://www.sciencenews.org

COMING UP!!

(Wednesday, July 31st, 2024)

"DOES DARK ENERGY EXIST??"

[avidlylivid]

everyone meet Lee Nova she has been spinning in my head at rapid speeds for like a week now

i love space and she does too, so i based the layout (loosely) on an official space heroes comic cover i saved a while a ago (under the cut)

i made this to be entered in @ultimatebabygirlsupremebattle 's competition for transfem leo(s)

(space heroes cover + short rant)

look at this and tell me it doesnt go hard. this is supposed to be for a knockoff series why did the creators put their budget into this masterpiece i am so upset there aren't more high quality covers available

ight so when drawing nova, i realised

despite watching 2012 tmnt from day 1 i never drew ANY of them

it is hard to pick names i completely forgot how difficult it is, i've been vibing with the same name for 4 years, sorry to everyone figuring out theirs

on the topic of names i was going to have her be 'Lenova' but it is apparently an obscure name and sounds too close to the 'lenovo' tech brand

backgrounds are hard

i need to practice colour theory oh god this is a mess

i hate drawing the knee/elbow pads i hate drawing them

character design hard :/

uh last few things if i draw any propaganda for her in the competition there is a very real chance her design will change slightly due to the fact i have never drawn the 2012 hamato siblings + her design currently feels a little too minimal. i personally don't think she'd change much about her appearance but she'd do a little more than this

also big thanks to my friends listening to me rant about her and sending a ton of progress screenshots, love you guys /p

[worstjourney]

The Millennials' Polar Expedition

A year ago today (23 Nov 2022), I launched Worst Journey Vol.1 at the Scott Polar Research Institute. This is the text of the speech I gave to the lovely people who turned up to celebrate.

As many of you know, my interest in the Terra Nova Expedition was sparked by Radio 4’s dramatisation of The Worst Journey in the World, now 14 years ago.  The story is an incredible story, and it got its claws into me, but what kept me coming back again and again were the people.  I couldn’t believe anyone so wonderful had ever really existed.  So when I finally succumbed to obsession and started reading all the books, it was the expedition members’ own words which I most cherished.  These were not always easy to come by, though, so plenty of popular histories were consumed as well.  Reading both in tandem, it soon became clear that, while there were some good books out there, there was a lot of sloppy research in the polar echo chamber as well.

I also discovered that no adaptation had attempted to get across the full scope of the expedition.  There has never been a full and fair dramatic retelling, all having been limited by time, budget, or ideology from telling the whole story truthfully.  I was determined that my adaptation would be both complete and accurate, and be as accountable as possible to those precious primary documents and the people who wrote them.

So the years of research began.  I moved to Cambridge to be able to drop in at SPRI and make the most of the archives.  Getting to Antarctica seemed impossible, but I went to New Zealand to get at least that much right, and on the way back stayed with relatives in Alberta, the most Antarctic place I could realistically visit.  I gathered reference for objects wherever I could.  Because Vol.1 takes place mainly on the Terra Nova, which is now a patch of sludge on the seabed off Greenland, I cobbled together a Franken-Nova in my mind, between the Discovery up in Dundee and the Star of India in San Diego.  I spent a week on a Jubilee Sailing Trust ship in order to depict tall-ship sailing correctly.  I’m sure I’ve still got loads of things wrong, but I did all I could, to get as much as I could, right.

But still, everyone I met who had been to Antarctica said, “you can’t understand Antarctica until you’ve been there, and you can’t tell the story without understanding Antarctica; you have to go.”  So I applied to the USAP’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, with faint hope, as they do “Ahrt” and I draw cartoons.  But I must have blagged a good grant proposal, because a year after applying, I was stepping out of a C-17 onto the Ross Ice Shelf.  The whole trip would have been worth it just to stand there, turn in a circle, and see how all the familiar photographs fit together.  But the USAP’s generosity didn’t stop there, and in the next month I saw Hut Point, Arrival Heights, the Beardmore Glacier (including the moraine on which the Polar Party stopped to “geologise”), and Cape Crozier, and made three visits to the Cape Evans hut.  Three!  On top of the visual reference I got priceless qualitative data.  The hardness of the sound.  The surprising warmth of the sun. The sugary texture of the snow.  The keen edge on a slight breeze.  The way your fingertips and toes can start to go when the rest of you is perfectly warm.  The SHEER INSANITY of Cape Crozier.  The veterans were right – I couldn’t have drawn it without having been there, but now I have, and can, and I am more grateful than I can ever adequately express.  With all these resources laid so copiously at my feet, all I had to do was sit down and draw the darn thing.  Luckily I have some very sound training to back me up on that.

Now, this is all very well for the how of making the book, and, I hope, interesting enough. But why?  Why am I putting so much effort into telling this story, and why now?

Well, it means a lot to me personally.  To begin to understand why, you need to know that I grew up in the 80s and 90s, at the height of individualist, goal-oriented, success-driven, dog-eat-dog, devil-take-the-hindmost neoliberalism.  It was just assumed that humans, when you get right down to it, were basically self-interested jerks, and I saw plenty of them around so I had no reason to question this assumption.  The idea was that if you did everything right, and worked really hard, you could retire at 45 to a yacht in the Bahamas, and if you didn’t retire to a yacht, well, you just hadn’t tried hard enough.  Character, in the sense of rigorous personal virtue, was for schmucks.  What mattered was success.  Even as my politics evolved, I still took it as a given that this was how the world worked, and that was how people generally were – after all, there was no lack of corroborating evidence.  So: I worked really hard.  I single-mindedly pursued my self-interest.  I made sacrifices, and put in the time, and fought my way into my dream job and all the success I could have asked for.

And then I met the Terra Nova guys.

What struck me most about them was that even when everything was going wrong, when their expectations were shattered and they had to face the cruellest reality, they were still kind.  Not backbiting, recriminating, blame-throwing, defensive, or mean, as one would expect – they were lovely to each other, patient, supportive, self-sacrificing; in fact the worse things got, the better they were.  They still treated each other as friends even when it wasn’t in their self-interest, was even contrary to their self-interest.  I didn’t know people could be like that.  But there they were, in plain writing, being thoroughly, bafflingly, decent.  Not just the Polar Party – everyone had to face their own brutal realities at some point, and they all did so with a grace I never thought possible.

It presented a very important question:

When everything goes belly-up, and you’re facing the worst, what sort of person will you be?

Or perhaps more acutely: What sort of person would you rather be with?

It was so contrary to the world I lived in, to the reality I knew – it was a peek into an alternate dimension, populated entirely with lovely, lovely people, who really, genuinely believed that “it’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game,” and behaved accordingly.  It couldn’t be real.  There had to be a deeper, unpleasant truth: that was how the world worked, after all.  I kept digging, expecting to hit bottom at some point, but I only found more gold, all the way down.  How could I not spend my life on this?

Mythology exists to pass on a culture’s values, moral code, and survival information – how to face challenges and prevail.  Scott’s story entered the British mythology, and had staying power, because it exemplified those things so profoundly for the culture that created and received it.  But the culture changed, and there were new values; Scott’s legacy was first inverted and then cast aside.  The new culture needed a new epic hero.  You’d think it would be Amundsen, the epitome of ruthless success, but “Make Plan – Execute Plan – Go Home” has no mythic value, so he didn’t stick.  The hero needed challenges, he needed setbacks, and he needed to win, on our terms.

Shackleton!  Shackleton was a winner!  Shackleton told us what we knew to be true and wanted to hear at epic volume: that if you want something badly enough, and try really hard, you will succeed!  (Especially if you can control the narrative.)  Scott, on the other hand, tells us that if you want something badly enough, and try really hard . . . you may nevertheless die horribly in the snow.  Nobody wants to hear that!  What a downer!  I think it’s no coincidence that Shackleton exploded into popular culture in the late 90s and has dominated it ever since: he is the mythic hero of the zeitgeist. I am always being asked if I’ll be doing Shackleton next.  He has six graphic novels already!  That is plenty!  But people still want to tell and be told his story, because it’s a heroic myth that validates our worldview.

That’s why I am so determined to tell the Scott story, because Scott is who we don’t realise we need right now – and Wilson, and Bowers, and Cherry, and Atch, and all the rest.  The Terra Nova Expedition is the Millennials’ polar expedition.  We’ve worked really hard, we’ve done everything we were supposed to, we made what appeared to be the right decisions at the time, and we’re still losing.  Nothing in the mythology we’ve been fed has prepared us for this.  No amount of positive attitude is going to change it.  We have all the aphorisms in the world, but what we need is an example of how to behave when the chips are down, when the Boss is not sailing into the tempest to rescue us, when the Yelcho is not on the horizon.  When circumstances are beyond your power to change, how do you make the best of your bad situation?  What does that look like? Even if you can’t fix anything, how do you make it better for the people around you – or at the very least, not worse?  Scott tells us: you can be patient, supportive, and humble; see who needs help and offer it; be realistic but don’t give in to despair; and if you’re up against a wall with no hope of rescue, go out in a blaze of kindness.  We learn by imitation: it’s easy to say these things, but to see them in action, in much harder circumstances than we will ever face, is a far greater help.  And to see them exemplified by real, flawed, complicated people like us is better still; they are not fairy-tale ideals, they are achievable. Real people achieved them.

My upbringing in the 80s milieu of selfishness, which set me up to receive the Scott story so gratefully, is hardly unique.  There are millions of us who are hungry for a counter-narrative.  My generation is desperate for demonstrations of caring, whether it’s activism or social justice or government policies that don’t abandon the vulnerable.  We’ve seen selfishness poison the world, and we want an alternative.  The time for competition is past; we must cooperate or perish, but we don’t know how to do it because our mythology is founded on competition.  The Scott story, if told properly, explodes the Just World Fallacy, and liberates us from the lie that has ruled our lives: that you make your own luck.  What happens, happens: what matters is how you respond to it.  My obsession with accuracy is in part to honour the men, and in part because Cherry was the ultimate stickler and he’d give me a hard time if I didn’t, but also because, if I’m telling the story to a new generation, I’m damn well going to make sure we get that much RIGHT.  It’s been really interesting to see, online, how my generation and the next have glommed onto polar exploration narratives, not as thrilling feats of derring-do, but as emotional explorations of found family and cooperative resilience.  We love them because they love each other, and loving each other helps get them through, and we want – we need – to see how that’s done.  It’s time to give them the Terra Nova story, and to tell it fully, fairly, and honestly, in all its complexity, because that is how their example is most useful to us.  Not as gods, and not as fools, but as real human beings who were excellent to each other in the face of disaster.  I only hope that I, a latecomer to their ways, can do them justice.

[red-velvet-0w0]

Erins list of media recomendations

Are you bored and looking for a new show to get into?

Did you follow me for one specific fandom and now have no idea what 90% of my posts are about?

Well look no further!

here is a list of a bunch of really cool media (of various genres/mediums) that I love and you might love too! (these are mostly going to be smaller fandoms/media that i dont think gets the attention they deserve):

Hello From the Hallowoods (podcast): My beloved! if you are a fan of Malevolent or TMA, and want other queer eye themed horror podcasts, this is my #1 recomendation. It is by far my favorite podcast of all time, and needs way more love then it gets. its currently still releasing episodes and is on its 4th season (slightly spoilery pitch (if you dont like spoilers look away): a scattered group of survivors of an apocalypse known as "the black rains" fight to survive in a strange and magical forest, as an all seeing god watches from afar)

Witherburn After School News (podcast): Another great underappreciated queer podcast. its still releasing episodes and is currently still in its first season. Though there are supernatural elements, the story remains far more grounded and interested in the ordinary lives of the people. Gives a lot of the same vibes of season 1 TMA, but if instead of the statements being the focus, the characters were given the spotlight while the supernatural stories loomed in the background (slightly spoilery pitch (if you dont like spoilers look away): a young reporter in a small town decides starts an afterschool radio show, where she discusses the goings on around town, and takes it upon herself to investigate the dissapearences of children that the police refuse to acknowledge)

Aurora Webcomic (webcomic): A webcomic made by OSP Red herself! the art and storytelling is phenomanal, and all of the characters are impecibaly written. it is currently in its second arc, and regularly releasing 3 pages a week. (also fun fact its where i got the name erin from) (slightly spoilery pitch (if you dont like spoilers look away): a demigod must rescue his master from a god-stealing witch before she is able to use his soul to end all life on earth. along the way he meets up with a cast of colorful characters, each with their own quests, who decide to band together to save the world)

Nova Drift (video game): did you ever play that old Asteroids video game back in the day? did you ever wonder what it would be like if it was instead a fast paced bright neon roguelike where you massacred everybody who stood in your path with high tech machinery? well nova drift has you covered! its a ton of fun and increadibly addicting, with tons of complexity and endless replayability

Epithet Erased (indie cartoon): If wordplay was a series. it was created by the youtuber JelloApocalypse based off of a rpg campaign he played with friends. Though its artstyle is relatively simple due to its low budget, the limits put upon the animation allow it to find new and creative ways to tell its story. (slightly spoilery pitch (if you dont like spoilers look away): In a universe where people have words tied to their souls that grant them powers, 6 people must battle it out in a museum for control over an ancient artifact)

The Wandering Inn (web fiction): another one of the reasons I go by Erin! though I honestly really need to catch up with it, I highly recomend the wandering inn if youre interested in more long-form stories. It is currently on volume 10 (i think im not sure) and each volume is longer then the last. If youre a fan of storys with hundreds of characters and shifting viewpoints youll love it. otherwise you should run in fear because you will not be able to remember half of the characters by volume 2. (slightly spoilery pitch (if you dont like spoilers look away): A chess prodigy from earth named Erin Solstice suddenly finds herself transported into an RPG style fantasy world with magic, classes, and levels. to survive, she decides to become a bartender)

Bigtop Burger (indie cartoon): If youre a fan of absurdist comedies, this is the show for you. Its made by the youtuber Worthikids and just finished its second season. its incredibly short and can be binged in its entirety in just over half an hour. (slightly spoilery pitch (if you dont like spoilers look away): a clown themed food truck attempt to sell burgers, while fighting with their rival food truck, and slowly realizing that their boss is not who they thought he was)

Kid Vampire (indie cartoon): much like Bigtop, KV is a simple and charming show with not much more going on. if your looking for some fun fluffy stories about some kids having fun, id recomend it, but if your looking for something more serious you might want to look elsewhere. Its made by the youtuber Mummy Joe, and is actively releasing episodes. (slightly spoilery pitch (if you dont like spoilers look away): a vampire child named Kid Vampire is sent to go to school with humans to kill them and steal their blood, but ends up making some new friends instead.)

Those are nowhere near all of my favorites, but id highly recomend you check at least 1 out! I adore all of these and if I can get even 1 more person to become a fan, ill consider that a win!

[rockybloo]

What type(s) of anime do you think your ocs would watch?

I'm gonna answer with Glitter and Guilt AND Beanstalked characters for this (sorry Nova and Pluto but I dunno WHAT y'alls tastes would be like) SO this is gonna be a little long

Glitter and Guilt

For Sweetheart, I view her as being a magical girl fan as well as enjoying some of the more action oriented ones. So if she finds an action filled magical girl anime (where they flex their budget during fight scenes) she is a happy girl.

Bitterbat latches onto whatever Sweetheart enjoys but I also see him getting interested in monster taming and battling anime like Pokemon and Digimon.

They both have some meta tastes in anime because I think it's funny.

For Dear, he's a shounen fan. He binges them like junk food and gets into "Who would win in a fight" debates with his brother that wind up escalating to them both getting into physical fights. I see him getting Redhot interested in all the battles and over the top attacks.

Baby enjoys a ton of anime so she bounces around but her big favorites are any horror and bloody anime. She likes the stuff that leaves you having to watch some puppy and kitty compilation videos afterwards.

Honey is a slice of lifer. She likes all the mundane stuff flipped into funny situations with a bunch of lovable characters. She enjoys when there's a romantic aspect, especially the slow burns.

As for Red-hot, Halite, and Sourpuss - I see Red-hot enjoying shounen, Halite enjoying slice of life, and Sourpuss liking monster taming anime.

Beanstalked

For everyone's Earth counterparts (aka the Modern AU) I see Jack enjoying adventure anime. They typically have the right amount of a fantasy slice of life and action so he gets the best of both worlds

Nana is tricky but for some reason the concept of her being fond of psychological thrillers is sticking with me. She'd also like the dark fantasy ones.

I think Pin would hate slice of life ones unless they were really funny. He'd get too irritated at the character's decisions to finish an episode. If you sat him in front of an action anime with tons of flashing fighting, you have a better chance of having him finish the whole thing.

Kai wants some feel good anime. He doesn't want any sad endings or tragedies. So he'd probably stick to slice of life anime since everything is relatively in the realm of safety.

Ashe likes the goofy anime. I dunno how to describe 'em but she is the type to enjoy some Osomatsu San or Crayon Shin-chan (I have watched neither of these but they have Ashe energy).

[ardatli]

I have a VERY cool, too-smart-for-his-own-good, 12-year-old kid, who is very into thresher sharks. They are his favourite shark, which are themselves his favourite marine animal. (He drew my icon, Eagle Shark, when he was 10. It Is Awesome.) Marine biology is his dream career, particularly if it can involve sharks. And lasers, apparently.

I want to do something cool for him - for Hanukkah, or his birthday, or his bar mitzvah next year, idk - that involves thresher sharks.

It can't realistically involve travel. Flying somewhere outside of Nova Scotia / Montreal / Ottawa / Toronto to swim with thresher sharks is not in the budget. (Can you even swim with thresher sharks? They're small, but mighty.) I am a poor adjunct academic, and his dad draws cartoons.

What I would like to do is crowdsource a running list of Cool Shit Involving Thresher Sharks. Lego kits, stuffies, movies we can buy, documentaries to watch... researchers' youtube channels? Amazing science books written for a popular audience?

Something's going to be the right thing. I just don't know what that is yet. If you stumble on something, add it to a reblog.

Thresher sharks. Hit me.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Promoters unveiled the first proposed offshore wind project for Nova Scotia in Halifax on Wednesday.Nova East Wind wants to install 20 to 25 floating wind turbines 25 kilometres off Goldboro on the province's Eastern Shore and supply up to 400 megawatts of electricity to the province's power grid by the end of the decade.

The company is a partnership between majority owner SBM Offshore, a global ocean energy service company based in Amsterdam, and developer DP Energy of Ireland.

Ambroise Wattez, SBM director of project development, told reporters the project will cost between $1 billion and $1.5-billion.

The electricity is intended for domestic consumption to replace energy currently generated by Nova Scotia Power's coal-fired plants, which must close by 2030. The electricity would be transported along the ocean bottom by an undersea cable. The route follows an abandoned offshore gas pipeline corridor. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[bryanharryrombough]

RPG a Day 2024: Day Ten

RPG you'd like to see on TV: This one has already happened, and it did not go well.

In 2001, Heavy Gear (an RPG, wargame & card game) was adapted into an animated series by Sony Animation Studio. Heavy Gear: The Animated Series would be Sony’s second all-CG TV series, and only the third such series up to that point (the first having been Mainframe Studios' Reboot).

The original premise for the series was to have three phases: The story would begin in the Heavy Gear sport duelling circuit that would also introduce the cold-war themed setting of Terra Nova and its two superpowers, the Confederated Northern City-States and the Allied Southern Territories; then the story would move on to the outbreak of war between the two superpowers; then finally, Earth would invade, forcing north and south to ally against a mutual enemy.

I don’t know how well that plan would have turned out, but it wasn’t to be. Early in the series’ production, the show’s backers (Bohbot Kids Network) ran into financial difficulties and slashed the budget. The production team was greatly reduced and the budget for production of new digital assets was cut. The planned war storylines of the second and third phases were dropped and the action was kept on the duelling circuit (because they already had the digital assets for that). And so Heavy Gear: The Animated Series would just spin its wheels for the rest of its run, becoming, in the words of one of the show’s creators: “…just another show with not much to say”.

The series, unsurprisingly, was not a hit. And with its demise, the planned Heavy Gear action figure line died as well. Ending my hopes of running eye-catching games of Heavy Gear at conventions with action figures.

[scope-dogg]

What mecha shows did you enjoy but would not recommend to people (flawed personal favourites, shows with high entry barrier, etc.)?

Several come to mind.

Blue SPT Layzner: TV run got shitcanned prematurely and has probably the mast slapdash ending of any mecha show save maybe the TV run of Ideon. OVA adaptation opens with rushed compilation of first half of TV series that's dull to watch and not especially coherent on its own before it gets to the altered and much improved ending. Feels like there's no right way to watch it, you have to do both and piece it together in your head. Definitely one to check out after you've seen Takahashi's better work like Votoms and Dougram, though it's infuriating because the series has banger music and mecha design, and the hypothetical ideal version of the plot that you don't have to basically kitbash together in your head is really good.

Dancouga: Production values are amazing in first episodes and then turn to complete dogshit shortly thereafter, like they literally spent their whole budget up front and then had to pay their animators in loose change and leftover fast food. Very strange pacing. However I've always really liked the main protagonist Shinobu Fujiwara whose voice actor honestly carries the show on his back, and I've had a soft spot for Dancouga the mecha itself for a long time - but it doesn't actually show up until half way in. Yet somehow I can't deny the charm of the show despite how slapdash it is thanks to its interesting approach to the super robot formula, and it leads into Requiem for Victims which is the true ending for the TV plot and a followup called God Bless Dancouga, both of which are banger OVAs (and then another kinda shitty one after that but who cares.) Unfortunately they all make no sense without watching the TV run. It's a franchise for hardcore mecha fans only, though IIRC the 2000s sequel Dancouga Nova is basically disconnected and stands on its own, for better or worse. I've yet to watch it.

Tryder G7: 80s super robot show that's kind of like a part slice-of-life anime, honestly ahead of its time in a lot of ways. Would be my go-to recommendation for 80s super robot shows if there was a decent fansub. The one that exists is a Russian translation of the official Italian subs that then got translated into English and it's as disastrous as you might expect. Not only is it incoherent but even as a non-Japanese speaker I can tell it's often inaccurate. Frustrating because I can tell it's a good show that deserves a proper English sub for fans.

Cross Ange: Notorious show by the Gundam Seed creators. The concept and lore of this show is batshit insane, the mecha are cool, the main character turns out to be interesting and likable despite very negative first impressions, however there's no denying that it's buried under a thick vaneer of shallow coombait and it runs itself off the rails with zany plot at points. Honestly better than its reputation suggests but hard to recommend without looking like a pervert.

Shinkon Gattai Godannar: Basically the same thing, coombait super robot series, fun action, not a bad story. At the same time if you've ever seen a gif of absurd breast physics in anime from the 2000s there's a decent chance it's from Godannar. Good show at the end of the day, better than it has a right to be, artstyle is gonna be a big turnoff for many people and I don't necessarily blame them.

Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise: Probably the weirdest of the build series, also IMO the best. Downside: you have to suffer through the profoundly mediocre original Build Divers to get the most out of it and I'm not sure that price is worth it.

Probably more that I could add. Honourable mention has to go Gundam Seed Stargazer because you have to suffer through Gundam Seed Destiny to get to it, but I hear that the new Gundam Seed movie that's also set after Destiny is good so perhaps the cost-to-benefit ratio of suffering through Destiny has changed.

[chernobog13]

From the "we're out of money so make a kaiju out of a balloon and some drapes" era of Ultraman Leo comes Nova the Saucer Kaiju.

Literally, things were so bad financially during production of Ultraman Leo that drastic changes were made to slash the budget. That's why Dan Moroboshi, MAC (Monster Attacking Crew), and most of the supporting cast were killed off in episode 40. With no MAC, there was also no need for all the sets and mecha miniatures.

Enter the Saucer Kaiju: puppets and props looking like flying saucers that needed minimal costuming. They looked as cheap as they were, but somehow Nova here caught the fans' attention, and has reappeared in several Ultra series since then.

[captain-n-crunchies]

$50

Rich Bf/ Itachi x Black/Chubby Reader

' 60% OFF SALE AT FASHION NOVA SUMMER DEALS FOR THE HOES!"

Summer deals for the hoes??? Now Fashion Nova play too much I thought as I scrolled down the site on my iPad, hitting the flashing sign on my screen. Endless amounts of outside and summer outfits littered my screen...but that's no sale! $30 for a 2-piece top and bottom!? Yes, it gave brunch or mimosas at the beach but still, it only 10% off but, I tap my size and the color and continued adding endless amount of clothes, shoes, and earrings into my cart.

' Tachi gon whoop my ass after this one..' I thought when reviewing my entre cart, Itachi loves it when I spoil myself or put a dent in his wallet but, lately he's told me to spend a little less, I understand it thought I filled up my walk in closet to the max and my shoes is practically covering the wall; when I walk into the closet you'll think it's a mall just full of outfits from the summer time to winter chic to spring flings etc. I delete a few items the cart only depleting by a smidge, I look down at the price...a whopping $640.87 but, I got free shipping! I open my cashapp my balance is $800 buttt I could ask tachi to give me just a bit more, right? I bite my nails and think should I order it with my money and be an independent baddie on a budget? Or be a baddie with a walking wallet on her with no budget? As I think I hear the door open.

" Baby? Com'er for a second"

' Tachi's home!' I thought as I put on my Ugg slippers and went quickly down the stairs, Itachi now sitting on the couch with his glass of whiskey and his computer; I tip-toe behind him and cover his eyes with a childish giggle.

" Guess Who?" I say with a smile, he chuckles and hums for a second.

" Hm? Is it my wonderful reader?"

" No, it your wonderful, gorgeous, beautiful, breath taking, sexy, darling reader"

He just chuckled and kissed my hand as I come around to sit beside him, my plush thighs connecting with his when he lifts my legs onto his thig and rubs my calf. I lean closer a give him a peck whispering a welcome home from his long day at work. He kisses me back and he tells me about work, his eyes now calmer and less tense. We talk about what we have planned for the week and other things that came into our brains.

" Darling, have you did what I asked of you for today?"

Shit! I forgot, Itachi told me to try to clean out one side of my closet so I can have a tidy area for the rest of the year so going bit by bit I did see some shoes I didn't like but, I didn't donate them or threw them away NO! I put them in the attic because I couldn't let them go to waste! What if pink Chanel come back in style and I can just bring the whole collection back? Through my inner turmoil Itachi watches me with a black expression as I awkwardly try to explain.

" Well, I did clean out some but, I got tired, so I took a nap, then I made me a little snack for the hour because I only ate a bagel and-"

" So, you didn't clean out much?"

" It's progress...You just have to lean into it! See if you look at it from my point of view it very hard for a girl to get rid of -"

" So, you didn't clean, nor have you gotten rid of anything dear?"

I just sighed and nodded, putting my head down and looking away. Itachi sighs and lifts my chin up and kisses my lips.

" Let's see how much you've done then we can go on from there hm?"

" But! You've been at work all day, Tachi! It wouldn't be fair to let you help my mess."

" Nonsense dear, up now let's see what 'progress' you've made"

He airs quotes progress and picks me up from the couch onto my feet and walks to our bedroom while I slowly walk behind him, he's too calm...like Itachi would never hurt me but, he doesn't do the not listening thing. When me and Tachi first started this, he set clear rules that disrespect and disobedience would come with spanking, a short allowance, and no sex for week or 2 months depending on what I did, usually I'm a peach! only go punished a few times when I got a bit too bold with him. As I finally gotten into our room, he's standing there with a disappoint look.

" Only five pairs of shoes are in a box and two tops darling? This looks like 30 minutes of work-"

" Actually, an hour! It would hard because I love the leather heels but, they kind of hurt my feet but it's my only pair of leather heels I mean, I do have dark denim thigh highs but, they aren't giving the way those heels did, so I did a process and-"

" Darling."

I stopped talking and looked at his stern face, he sits on the bed and pats his thigh, and takes the band from his long hair down and loosens his tie.

" How many you think hm?"

" How many what?"

" You know what baby don't act dumb, unless you are as dumb as I thought.

My legs tighten as I try to explain how I should get away from this one punishment ranging from pleas to bargains but, Tachi just shakes his head and pats his thigh again.

" Not going to say it again baby, you've got 10 seconds before it 30 spankings and no cumming till the entire closet is clean."

He started counting and I quickly bend over his lap.

" Please me gentle Tachi" I said small and meek

" No promises my angel"

*SMACK!*

*After her ass got tore up*

" Your going to listen to me more hm?"

" Yes sir.."

" Good, now tomorrow I'm off I'm going to help you clean out some of it okay baby?"

I just nod snuggling into him, he tore my ass up and then gon try to be all loving after? Thats real bipolar but, whatever; I grab my phone from the table and see the sale is almost over.

" Tachi?"

" Hm?"

" Can I borrow $50?"

He looks down at me with one eye and I show him the sale, he rolls his eyes and pats my head.

" Later dear, go to sleep"

I nod, shutting down my hand and climbing on top of his thin frame hold his shoulders and laying my head on his chest.

" Night Tachi"

" Night baby"

..." Can I borrow $50-"

"No"

A.N: ( Im back like crack! Yall tis was my mannnn back in 89' like when I tell you he was BAD! He was, and yall I've been so tired like I tried to write but I couldn't so I'm post more now that I'm motivated.)

Like and comment who yall wanna see next!