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a-power-outlet · 2 months ago

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The Great Experiment - Chapter 4

Chapter Title: We'll Meet Again

Norm MacLean x Elodie Brooks (OC) | Pre-War AU

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Word Count: 3.6k

A/N: omg they're finally talking :D

Vaults 31, 32, and 33 were constructed over a period of five years. The base structure was dug out, and filled in with concrete using patented machines that Elodie didn't quite understand. They’d brought down pre-built portions of the vault, from the Overseer’s office to the Compost room, and assembled them like a three-dimensional puzzle.

The most impressive feat, though, was the four-story atrium, with a built-in Telesonic projector. She stood, watching the team on a lift as they assembled the massive piece of machinery. Her eyes were then drawn to the floor-to-ceiling screens, which were being inspected by a large crew with an even larger scissor lift. It was a wonder that it’d even made it down into Vault 33, but she heard rumors about an equipment elevator somewhere in the maze of hallways. She knew she should be doing her own job, but it was particularly fascinating, and relieving, to slow down and analyze the handiwork of other professions.

It also helped with the simmering anxiety of being down here. After all, this was a place meant to be used after the world had ended, after the bombs had fallen on the surface and rendered it inhabitable. This place wasn’t relieving to her in the slightest, it was a testament to humanity’s undoing.

Not that there was anything she could do to stop it. The best she could do was hope that her efforts for this project earned her a spot on the reservation list.

Elodie held out her clipboard, glancing at the foundation she was tasked to overlay as she compared it to a batch of previous schematics. Technically, she was here to collect measurements for the assembly of a hydroponics system below the floor of the atrium of all three vaults. Her and the other agricultural engineers had theoretically designed a system, yes, but they still had to get the exact measurements so that a design could be more than just that. They had to start producing parts, and machines, and an actual system that could provide for a batch of real, living humans that’d inhabit the vaults during the test run and beyond.

It definitely didn’t help that the Three Vaults Project, or TVP, as it’d come to be known, had a mandatory end-date of August of next year because of this test run. Simultaneously, then, every single project had been given a timeline of just over one year. And, of course, she only learned about this after she signed on, and after she’d arrived in California.

To make matters more annoying, they were incredibly restrictive on who was able to access which Vault. The members of the Agricultural Engineering division were divided into three teams, each assigned to one of the respective vaults. The layout was apparently the same in each Vault, so no one had to repeat any measurements or designs, but it didn’t help the fact that everything had to be relayed through electronic messages and very underpaid interns.

Sigh.

At least she was assigned to Vault 33, which had a beautiful view of the ocean. Once you made it past the Vault door retaining walls, and into the upper levels of the building that shielded them from the elements, the Santa Monica Pier was in full display, and it was definitely relaxing after an extended period of time underground.

It was something to look forward to after all of this work was done, and it was something that could keep her going. Whatever it took to get these files in by tomorrow, she’d indulge.

She moved to the nearby tables, which were an impromptu setup for the underground workers. The kitchens in the diner were the first things to be set up, thanks to their proximity to the atrium. So, the higher-ups decided to break them in by hiring people making lunch and dinner for whomever was working that day. It was also definitely a ploy to eliminate wasted time, as the Vaults themselves were set up a mile from the main TVP campus. Regardless, the smell was intoxicating, but she knew the flavor would be bland in comparison to the farm-grown fruits and vegetables she was used to.

The dwellers that were slated to live here would get to experience that. They were supposed to grow corn in Vault 33, if all of the information she’d been given was correct. Every agricultural system revolved around high levels of corn production. She’d designed them, though, to allow the assigned Hydroponics Engineer to easily alter the solution’s properties if needed.

Hopefully, the board would actually approve that measure. People couldn’t just eat corn. Sure, they didn’t have to worry about the nuances of soil chemistry when the chemistry was all controlled by dials and pumps injecting concentrates into water. They’d need a balanced diet, not just for health, but because the people themselves needed more. Living in a vault, only eating synthesized foods and corn, would be hellish. They needed variety, like tomatoes, and herbs, and fruits.

She laid her clipboard in front of her, flipping to a page and adding raspberries to the ever-growing list of seeds to recommend for the Seed Vault. If she was stuck underground for an unknown amount of years, possibly even her whole life, she’d want raspberries. It’d help with the existential dread of being trapped under a hundred feet of dirt and rock.

“What are you doing out of the lab?”

Her muscles tensed as she whirled around in her seat, nearly slamming her knees into the bench she was sitting on as she locked eyes with-

“Norm, stop doing that! You’re going to give me a heart attack!”

“That’s statistically unlikely,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her and faintly smiling. “How’s your day been?”

She looked him over. He had a cafeteria tray in his hands, and had on a typical set of dress clothes. Striped shirt, striped tie, and striped pants. The patterns were faint enough on the former and latter so that the middle stood out, and everything looked fairly cohesive. He’d even worn Vault Tec colors, but she wasn’t sure if that was intentional or not. Or, maybe it was standard attire for the men. Most seemed to wear a blue or yellow tie when possible, and Norm seemed fond of wearing one that contained both.

“Bleak,” she replied, clasping her clipboard to her chest. “If I don’t get this done quick, we have no chance of actually completing the agricultural setup in time.”

“You’ll get it done.”

“Because I have to.”

“And because you’re good at your job.”

“How do you know that? We’re in different departments. Fields. Specialties.”

“Got it. Last time I compliment you,” he said, scoffing. She could tell he was joking, even if they’d only been talking for a month, with how his eyebrows raised and his face faintly lit up.

“Can I sit?”

Her eyebrows raised as well, and she nodded before her mouth even formed words.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, sure!”

She pulled the clipboard closer to her side of the table as he took a seat and set down his tray. On it, there was some fried Cram, mashed potatoes, and green beans, which made Elodie grimace. Of course they'd push the ‘Vault Menu’ right away. They had to make sure it was fully capable of only making post-apocalyptic meals, or else it’d all be for naught.

“You drew those?”

He was pointing at her clipboard, and she nodded in response.

“Kinda,” she mumbled. “I designed the pipe system and the nutrient mixture. A couple others designed the actual pumps and soil mixtures. Someone’s even building a tractor, for some reason. Executives probably told them to, I guess. Might save five dollars.”

“It’s amusing to think of why our superiors do what they do,” he said, “For example, why do they give us a free cafeteria but no health insurance?”

“It’s probably cheaper,” she replied, looking back to her clipboard, then eyeing his tray again. She was hungry, now that she thought about it. “It’s cheaper to give us good food, I guess, because it helps us stay healthy. I’d like to get my eyes checked without shelling out a thousand dollars, though.”

“Everything has to be cheaper, that’s the Vault-Tec way.”

“Don’t say that so loud,” she said, furrowing her brows. “Someone might hear!”

“At this point, they can’t fire us. Plus, my dad would never let them fire me. And, he likes you, so you’re probably safe too.”

As if to accentuate his words, Norm placed an elbow on the table, resting his head against his palm as he looked at her.

“Is that why you’re slacking off? Because your dad can bail you out?”

“I’m not slacking off,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I was on my way upstairs. To the surface. I have to pick up a motherboard because our intern broke one. Then, I got hungry.”

“Ah,” she said, nodding. “The food doesn’t look bad.”

Curiously, he hadn’t eaten any of it yet.

“You should go get some before they run out,” he said, motioning towards the diner’s open doors with his chin.

“I doubt they will,” she replied. “And, I have work to do.

“Go eat, Elodie. Can’t work on an empty stomach.”

“Fine.”

Elodie sighed as she stood up from the table, walking over to the diner. She swiped her ID against the scanner, then grabbed a tray. He wasn’t wrong, since her rumbling stomach had only gotten worse the longer she stared at his untouched food and smelt the spices wafting over to her nostrils. And, she couldn’t deny that the fried Cram, regardless of the fact that they could have made something far healthier, looked absolutely delicious.

She was glad, at least, she didn't have to eat lunch alone. In fact, Norm had willingly sought her out, quite a contrast to the hazy memories of their elementary school days. Back then, Norm was a typical loner, not that he wanted anything different. He’d sit on the end of a table, without much care for socializing, and Elodie would slip into the seat across from him. They’d chat, talk, and go back to their homerooms, meeting up after school to walk home together.

Rose often walked with them, if Elodie’s own mother wasn’t available. She was a sweet woman, and Elodie could see the features she’d passed to Norm and Lucy. Neither of them really resembled Hank, but their eyes were a dead giveaway of their relation to Rose.

“Food smells really good,” she said, placing her tray down right atop her clipboard.

Norm still hadn’t eaten anything, but picked up his fork the second that she’d sat down. She followed suit, cutting a piece of the fried Cram off and biting it off the fork.

“Mm… mm!”

He nodded in response, quickly taking another bite. She chuckled to herself, taking a sip of the Nuka-Cola she’d snagged for herself.

“It's good,” he said, eyes flickering up to hers. “Better than school lunch.”

“I was just thinking about that,” she said, feeling her face flush. “We’d trade the pieces of our meals around. You always wanted my carrots.”

“Because I gave you apple slices.”

“God, I’d love some apple slices right now,” she said, grinning mischievously as she popped another slice of Cram into her mouth. “Why can’t this be an apple orchard instead of a corn farm?”

“I dunno. You’re the plant person.”

“I am. And it’s because corn starch is pretty versatile, when I think about it. Apple trees are also way more complex to support with hydroponics. I just want an apple now, though.”

“You can get one when we’re back on the surface.”

“Yeah,” she said, sighing softly. “They don’t even have apple juice down here. It’s a crime.”

“The Nuka-Cola sponsorship was too lucrative.”

She laughed, letting out a soft snort before she covered her mouth in surprise.

“Are you always this skeptical of the company that pays your bills? That’s saving America from nuclear war?”

She briefly felt anxiety spike at the thought, even if it was self-induced. For all she knew, the bombs could have dropped on the surface already, with no warning. They’d have to scavenge whatever they could in the barely assembled shell of a vault they currently found themselves in.

Norm cleared his throat, and her attention shifted back to him.

“It’s always good to be skeptical,” he said. “Just, only in the right company.”

“I’m the right company?”

“You don’t want me fired. At least that’s my assumption.”

“Why would I want you to be? You’re funny, and, most importantly, you do your job.”

“I don’t have enthusiasm for it, according to Betty. She’s like, my personal HR manager, or something,” he said, sighing as he pushed the green beans around with his fork. “I get called into performance reviews every three months. Each time, I get told I lack enthusiasm. It’s hard to be enthusiastic about building vaults where only a few people can survive.”

Elodie nodded. He had a point, and she agreed with it. But, she couldn’t just air out her grievances when surrounded by a slew of other employees.

“I… don’t disagree. I wish we could help more people, but I’m happy to help who I can,” she said. “Besides, at this point, there’s not many jobs doing anything else. Unless you want to work food service-”

“No. I worked at the dining hall in VTU. Never again.”

“When did you do that?”

“The last two years I was there,” he grimaced, taking a quick swig of his own Nuka-Cola. “I lost my scholarship when I dropped out of the Overseer program, so it was the only money I had. Life is tricky like that.”

“I see,” she said, nodding despite her frown. “I didn't know you wanted to be an Overseer.”

“I didn’t,” he grumbled, clearly getting a bit agitated. Elodie felt her heart sink, but Norm kept talking. “My dad wanted me to be one. Lucy had already graduated from the program.”

“That sucks,” she replied. “I… well, on the bright side, maybe you served me dinner at some point.”

“Probably,” he said, face softening a bit. “When did you go?”

“Around the same time as you, most likely, but for four years. Had to actually do some research for my doctorate. I started in 2071, graduated in ‘75.”

“I graduated in ‘74.”

“Small world,” she said, chuckling a bit. “We probably crossed paths and didn't even know it.”

“It’s likely. But the campus was always packed.”

“I wonder if we ever took a monorail together.”

“That would be an extreme coincidence. Those only fit four people, maximum.”

“It’s fun to think about, though,” she grinned. “Maybe we were always crossing paths, but were meant to meet again here. If it happened back then, maybe we’d hate each other.”

“Bold to assume I don’t hate you now.”

“You do?”

“No.”

“Exactly!”

The two continued chatting back and forth, and Elodie found a sense of joy in actually getting to know each other again. They’d had conversations before, yes, but they were mostly superficial, about each other's days and vaguely catching up. But now… now they were bonding over how stupid the fraternities were at VTU, or about how the Vault-Boy statue always ended up covered in graffiti and underwear after football games. It was reassuring, to have an actual conversation where she didn’t have to worry about saying the wrong thing or keeping up a good face. She could laugh, and enjoy herself, even if she wasn’t being entirely proper.

Elodie even dared to explain how she’d left an offering at the statue one day, following the superstition that said it’d bring her a semester of good grades. She’d then gone on to elaborate on how her professor had accused her of cheating right after. Norm followed that up with his own story, saying he’d done the same and a pigeon instantly stole the piece of muffin he’d left. Nuka-Cola nearly shot out of her nose from laughter, and she proceeded to whine about how her nostrils were burning.

As their meals wrapped up, Norm was the first to stand, holding out a hand to Elodie.

“I’ll take your tray over.”

“You really don't have to, Norm.”

“I’m already going there.”

“Fine.”

She huffed, holding out the tray to him. Much to her dismay, though, she found that the tray she’d grabbed was fresh from the washer. And so, the top paper on her clipboard had stuck to it, with enough water having accumulated on the bottom of her tray to soak through the rest of the pages. When she’d raised her tray, a few sheets ripped off with a pathetic noise, accompanied by the pitter-pattering of the clipboard falling back to the table. She flipped through a few of them, groaning in annoyance as she realized they were all ruined. Every note, everything she’d done so far today, ruined.

Norm had quickly disappeared from her side, only to return a few moments later, sans their lunch trays. Either he sprinted over, or her fixation on the splotches of ink were making time pass even faster than usual. Both were believable at this point.

“Are you okay, El?”

“No,” she said, unclipping all the papers and balling them up. “I have to go to the surface. Aboveground. Back to campus. Whatever. To get more copies of these plans. God, I’m so stupid.”

“You’re not,” he said, taking the wad of papers and gently unfurling them. “These are still readable.”

“They’re not presentable. I need to redo them,” she groaned, taking the ball of papers from his hand and shoving them into her messenger bag. “You’re not getting rid of me yet, it seems. Sorry about that.”

“I don’t mind the company.”

“You sure? I feel like you’re the type who’d want to ride the elevator and bus alone.”

“I do, but I can make exceptions.”

Elodie felt her face flush, but not out of anger, or annoyance at her situation.

“Well, ah,” she stammered, grabbing her clipboard. “I don’t want to waste any more of your time, then.”

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but instead, he sighed and grabbed his own bag.

“Where do you have to go?”

“The IT office,” he replied. “I have a stash of motherboards, and a bunch of other spare parts. Good quality ones. If you ever break something, you can email me.”

“Noted.You’re my personal IT man anyways.”

“Just don't call too often. I have actual things I have to do.”

“Me too. It’ll work out.”

They turned to the elevator, which was set up fairly close to the makeshift cafeteria. Norm swiped his access card over the scanner, and the door opened. He put his arm over the door, motioning for her to step inside.

She sighed, pressing the button that would bring them to the vault’s entrance. The doors slid shut, and the elevator rumbled.

“Are other people bad? At their IT jobs?”

The question lingered in the air, something she was far too curious about to simply forget. Plus, if he took the bait…

“No,” he said. “Well, maybe.”

Bingo. Three points were added to her mood meter.

“You’re being cocky.”

“Am not.”

“Are too!”

She snickered to herself as the elevator began to rise, and Norm clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“You’re being annoying.”

“Ah, you do hate me!”

“Right now, maybe I do.”

She laughed again, and noticed the faintest redness on his cheeks. Hell, he was even smiling, a nonchalant smirk as he leaned against the railing around the perimeter of the elevator.

“If you’re mad at me, then I’ll never call you for IT help.”

“Good. I hope your computer breaks. And your plants die.”

Elodie snorted again, covering her mouth as she braced herself against the railing.

“That’s so mean!”

“Mm. I told you, I'd never compliment you again.”

“Fine. We’ll just sit in silence the whole elevator ride then. All two minutes!”

“Okay.”

The ride was silent for half of the time, but Elodie quickly began to giggle as they approached the surface. Norm didn’t crack, which just made Elodie laugh more, and she didn't stop giggling until the sunlight hit their faces, and he finally spoke up.

“Don’t trip when you’re getting on the bus.”

“Hey!”

“It’s a fair warning.”

“Fine. Well, make sure you don’t trip either. Or I’ll trip you again.”

“Rude, Elodie.”

They boarded the bus back, teasing each other back and forth throughout the short ride. It was a relief, honestly, from the stress of having to redo everything. They’d even walked together to her building, which was on the way to his.

They stood in front of each other as she grinned, noting how his face was still slightly flushed.

“See you around, Norm.”

He smiled back, cheeks faintly red.

“Bye, Elodie.”

She had no idea why she was practically skipping into her office, but she wasn't about to argue with it. It was annoying to reprint all of the paperwork, and it was annoying to ride the bus back, and sign back into the Vault and get verified. It was tedious as hell to take all of her measurements again, but hey, getting the same number twice was always a good sign.

At the end of the day, she made her way back to her cubicle, and curiously…

There was a bag of apple slices placed onto the surface, with a small note attached.

Found them in the IT building’s cafe. Figured you’d want some.

-Norm

Now that… that made her whole week absolutely perfect. It didn’t matter how many times she had to redraw the same schematic, or explain to her non-scientific bosses why certain things were crucial when growing plants. She did it all with a smile on her face, and a tingling feeling in her body.

Strange.

#norm maclean #fallout tv #normelodie #the great experiment - apoweroutlet #fallout #oc x canon

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scotianostra · 6 months ago

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On January 7th 1451 a Papal Bull from Pope Nicolas IV enabled the foundation of Glasgow University.

Today The University is 574 years old and is the second oldest University in Scotland after St Andrews.

Now housed mainly in Glasgow's West End the origins on the institution however lie in the city's oldest street, in the Merchant City.

The university was inaugurated in 1451 at the request of William Turnbull, Bishop of Glasgow after a Papal Bull was issued by Pope Nicholas V. It was part of King James II's plan to bring Scotland up to speed with England – which already had two universities, Oxford and Cambridge.

The original Bull was among the treasures of the Metropolitan See taken to France by Archbishop Beaton at the Reformation but the modern University retains a transcript made in 1490. Beaton also took with him the University mace which had been made in 1465. Unlike other treasures, this was recovered and returned to the University 30 years later, and is still in its possession today.

Lectures were originally held in Glasgow Cathedral, before moving to nearby buildings on the city's High Street in 1457.

In 1563, Mary, Queen of Scots granted the university a 13-acre site on Glasgow's High street that had, until the Reformation, been home to a Dominican (Blackfriars) friary. The Old College ran along the busy High Street, with a main gateway in its centre that led through to two courtyards and walled gardens.

But as student numbers rocketed, the university was force to sell up their Old College campus and move somewhere cheaper. In 1863 it was bought for £100,000 to the City of Glasgow Union Railway Company, to be used as a goods yard. It was later demolished and housing was built there instead.

The decision was heavily criticised at the time as an act of "cultural vandalism." Nevertheless, the Uni heading west to Gilmorehill – away from the polluted air and the hustle and bustle of the city.

Work started on the new site in the west end in 1866, with the university taking up official residence in 1870.

Prolific architect George Gilbert Scott undertook the grand task of designing the new University buildings – which were the biggest in Britain beside the Houses of Parliament at the time.

The decision not to open up the commissioning process to other designers was met with controversy… Not to mention Scott's Gothic style went against the grain of the architectural landscape of the city, which ventured towards a Greek design.

According to Glasgow Uni's website, esteemed architect Alexander 'Greek' Thomson was not too impressed. He complained Scott wouldn't pay the project the attention it deserved because of how busy he was in his career.

He also added: "There is not a modern Gothic revival building of more than ten years standing that any one cares a straw about." Meoooow.

Nevertheless, Scott pressed on - building one of the most striking landmarks in the west end. The Bute and Randolph halls were completed after Scott's death in by his son Oldrid in 1891, which also included the Gothic bell tower, which stands at 278 feet high.

The Lion and Unicorn staircase was also famously moved, brick by brick, to Gilmorehill – now leading into the west wing of the main building beside the University Chapel.

Pearce Lodge, which sits at the bottom of University Avenue, is also formed by various parts of the Old College buildings. The stonework entrance to the original High Street building was also carefully erected at the gatehouse of the new campus.

The university expanded further over the years – including the A-listed reading room in the 1930s. It also snapped up a number of Victorian terraced houses, where the departments of Psychology, Computing Science and most of the Arts Faculty are based. Elsewhere. the leafy Garscube estate was bought in 1947 for The Veterinary Sciences school in Bearsden.

So, next time you see that regal clock tower and spire looming against the west end skyline, you can remember Glasgow Uni's journey across the city to its rightful place.

To find out more about the history of Glasgow University, visit their website.

#scotland #scottish #history #education #University #glasgow

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archinform · 8 months ago

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Pleasant Home, Oak Park IL

Pleasant Home (Farson-Mills House), 1897, 217 Home Avenue, Oak Park, IL 60302

Pleasant Home

George W. Maher designed this 30-room mansion for millionaire banker John W. Farson of Oak Park. Farson purchased the lot at the corner of Pleasant St. and Home Ave. in 1892 for $20,000, the largest price ever paid for a residential lot in Oak Park. Over the following years he acquired land to the south and west for a large garden.

Herbert S. Mills, the second owner of Pleasant Home, made his fortune in the amusement business. The Mills family sold the house in 1939 to the Park District of Oak Park, the grounds being designated as Mills Park in their honor.

The home today is operated as a historic house museum, an events venue, and serves as the headquarters for The Pleasant Home Foundation.

The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Illustration of Pleasant Home from The Inland Architect and News Record

Considered one of the earliest examples of prairie school architecture, Pleasant Home is often viewed as the finest surviving example of Maher's residential work. The house was completed three years after Frank Lloyd Wright's Winslow House in River Forest, an early expression of Wright's emerging design principles, later to be known as the prairie style.

The Prairie School developed in sympathy with the ideals and design aesthetics of the Arts and Crafts movement of 19th century England by John Ruskin, William Morris, and others. It is also seen as a successor to the Chicago School of architecture associated with architects William Le Baron Jenney, H.H. Richardson, Daniel H. Burnham, John Wellborn Root, Dankmar Adler, and Louis Sullivan.

The Prairie School attempted to develop an indigenous North American style of architecture, without the design elements and aesthetic vocabulary of earlier styles of European-influenced architecture such as the Queen Anne and Gothic Revival styles.

The smooth surfaces of Roman brick, the low-pitched, hipped roof and the broad entrance porch of the Parson House are characteristic features of Maher's work that link him to the early modern designs of his Prairie School contemporaries. In the Parson House Maher also introduced his personal design philosophy, which he called motif rhythm theory, to unify the decorative details of the house and its furnishings. The house retains its historic integrity in terms of materials, design and setting. Virtually all of the original decoration specified by George Maher is preserved and the lavish decorative treatment is everywhere apparent on the interior.

Kathleen Cummings, National Historic Landmark Nomination, 1996

Detail of front porch support column

Stained glass entrance and flanking windows

Entrance hall fireplace beneath Pleasant Home panel

Detail of lion head carving, repeated throughout the house, on entrance hall built-in bench

Carved screen in entry hall in front of the music room on the mezzanine

Stained glass entrance window

Reception room

Living room or sitting room

Dining room ceiling fixture

Dining room

Dining room corner, leading to summer dining room

Domed light fixture in the library

Library

Original Maher-designed dining table and chairs, now displayed on the second floor

The stunning original wall colors are seen in the above two photos of second-floor bedrooms

Vintage views of Pleasant Home, from the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, Art Institute of Chicago:

Left: George W. Maher and John W. Farson in the garden of Pleasant Home

Right: Entrance hall

Left: dining room Right: sitting room

The Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, Art Institute of Chicago, house a copy of the 1902 publication "Farson, John, Residence; Farson-Mills Pleasant Home." The publication contains many views of the house, exterior and interior.

Collection Call Number FF Special NA7239.M34 A65 1902.

Access the digitized copy at this link:

#Farson #house #Oak Park #Illinois #Pleasant Home #George W. Maher #Maher #architecture #chicago #photography #Prairie Style #residential

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stonecreationslongisland · 5 months ago

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Stone Creations of Long Island specializes in hardscape designs, poolscapes and outdoor living (retaining walls, outdoor grills, firepits, patios and walkways, water features, foundations). We also compliment the hardscapes with beautiful and distinct softscapes (edging, mulching, plantings, low voltage lighting, sodding). The products we offer and use in our projects are the best and most field proven in the industry and our craftsmanship warranties show our commitment to customer satisfaction. We are committed to detail, quality work, and customer satisfaction. At Stone Creations of Long Island, most importantly, we enjoy what we do and feel fortunate to have the opportunity to create such beautiful environments.. We welcome the opportunity to earn your trust and deliver you the best service in the industry. (631) 678-6896

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#stone creations of long island #stone creations li #deer park ny 11729 #dix hills ny 11746

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theblackbookofarkera · 7 months ago

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Lesh Kath Dohr

Rising from the cracked earth of what was once the Lake of Hali, Lesh Kath Dohr stands as a monument to engineered malevolence. The fortress's stark geometries seem to actively reject natural forms, its angles and proportions deliberately calculated by its designer, the mad sorcerer Mazar ka-Sarno, to induce feelings of dread and insignificance in those who behold it.

The structure is built from massive blocks of black stone quarried from deep beneath the ancient lakebed, each block treated with alchemical processes that render them not just impervious to conventional siege weapons, but uncomfortable to look at for extended periods. The stone seems to absorb light rather than reflect it, creating an impression of depth that makes it difficult for observers to accurately judge distances or scale within the fortress's walls.

Lesh Kath Dohr's most distinctive feature is its hierarchical arrangement of perfectly square towers, each slightly offset from the others in a pattern that ka-Sarno claimed was based on "the geometry of pain." These towers are connected by enclosed bridges that cast impossibly dark shadows regardless of the sun's position. The fortress walls are uniformly vertical, broken only by arrow slits that have been engineered to amplify the screams of prisoners and the howls of the Kathic war hounds, carrying these sounds for miles across the dried lakebed.

The fortress's main gate is a masterwork of psychological warfare, designed as a massive mouth-like opening lined with sharp-edged geometric teeth. The approach to this gate is deliberate in its exposure, forcing visitors to walk a long, gradually narrowing causeway with no cover or shade. The walls on either side are angled to create wind effects that produce a constant, low-frequency moan, while the flagstones of the causeway itself are carved with scenes of torture that become progressively more disturbing as one nears the entrance.

The interior layout follows what ka-Sarno called "the Principles of Festering Despair." The courtyards and training grounds are arranged in concentric squares, each level slightly lower than the last, creating the impression of descending into an artificial hell. The parade ground where the Brazen Hounds conduct their drills is paved with polished obsidian, its surface kept perpetually slick with water to reflect the sky - creating a disorienting effect for those forced to watch the company's demonstrations of power.

Deep within the fortress lies the Flesh Kennels, a sprawling series of kennels and training areas where the company's Kathic war hounds are bred and conditioned. The complex is designed with acoustic channels that collect and amplify the beasts' howls, directing them through the fortress's ventilation system. This creates an ever-present background of bestial noise that seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

The fortress's dungeons deserve special mention, as they represent perhaps the purest expression of ka-Sarno's twisted genius. Rather than traditional cells, the detention areas are constructed as a series of geometrically perfect cubes, each precisely calculated to amplify feelings of isolation and despair. The walls are lined with copper sheets inscribed with mathematical formulas that ka-Sarno claimed would "resonate with human suffering," though whether this is truth or merely psychological warfare is unknown.

One of the fortress's most practical yet disturbing features is its water collection system. The entire structure is designed to channel and collect even the slightest rainfall, storing it in deep cisterns beneath the foundation. These cisterns are accessed through a series of narrow spiral staircases, each step carved with symbols from ka-Sarno's personal system of mathematical mysticism. The water itself, filtered through layers of enchanted copper, is said to retain a metallic taste that never quite leaves the mouth.

The company's administrative center occupies the highest tower, known as the Throne of Calculation. Here, the Brazen Hounds maintain their meticulous records of atrocity in a library whose shelves are arranged in the same geometric patterns as the fortress itself. The reading room features windows of specially treated glass that cast prismatic shadows, creating an environment where even the act of reviewing documents becomes an exercise in disorientation.

The fortress's parade ground is surrounded by copper poles topped with the preserved heads of those who have attempted to infiltrate or assault Lesh Kath Dohr. These poles are arranged in precise mathematical patterns that, when viewed from the commander's balcony, form complex geometric shapes said to have mystical significance in ka-Sarno's theories of architectural sorcery.

The training grounds where new recruits are broken and remade in the company's image are perhaps the most deliberately oppressive areas of the fortress. The walls here are set at angles that create constant shadows regardless of the time of day, while the ground is paved with stones of varying heights, making it impossible to find stable footing. The overall effect is one of perpetual physical and psychological destabilization.

In recent years, the fortress has begun to develop its own legends among the Brazen Hounds themselves. Some claim that ka-Sarno's geometries are slowly altering the very fabric of reality around Lesh Kath Dohr, while others insist that the fortress itself has developed a form of consciousness, actively working to break the spirits of those imprisoned within its walls. Whether these stories represent truth or simply the psychological effect of living within such a deliberately oppressive structure remains unclear.

What is clear is that Lesh Kath Dohr serves its purpose with terrible efficiency. It is more than merely a fortress - it is a machine designed to process human brutality, transforming ordinary soldiers into the efficient dealers of atrocity that make up the Brazen Hounds' ranks. In this, at least, Mazar ka-Sarno's mad vision has been entirely successful.

#conworld #worldbuilding #low fantasy #world building #arkera #creative writing #dark fantasy #fantasy world

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generation1point5 · 2 years ago

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You are a violent and irrepressible miracle. The vacuum of cosmos and the stars burning in it are afraid of you. Given enough time you would wipe us all out and replace us with nothing -- just by accident.

Armored Core 6 marks a triumphant return of a venerable series that has until now taken a backseat to FromSoftware's Souls games, which has overtaken all its prior IPs as their defining work. Armored Core 6 itself is a culmination of many things, and draws from more than just its direct predecessors; gameplay-wise, it inherits much of the lessons learned from the Souls series as well; after Miyazaki laid the foundations, the primary director for the game was left in the hands of Yamamura, who designed the gameplay for Sekiro.

FromSoftware retains a remarkable ability to provide challenging gameplay that evolves over a series while maintaining key elements that retain a sense of continuity across the IP. Armored Core has taken many forms over its many years, but its cornerstone feature is expansive customization of one's mech build. This has been maintained and expanded upon in Armored Core 6, whose level design and enemy variety encourages exploration and experimentation with different types of builds. It is not simply about tailoring an optimal loadout for the mission; given time and familiarity over one's personal approach and developing skills, the mech builds in Armored Core 6 are about utilizing the strengths of one's playstyle as much as it applying its nuances in a variety of situations.

The novel solution that FromSoftware conceived to address accessibility for players new to the series while maintaining its trademark difficulty is the ability for player to modify their build mid-mission if they die, a feature that was not present in any prior title. This allows players to experiment and alter their mech to fit better a particular situation, but S-ranking missions require a mastery of the game mechanics such that your mech build must remain unaltered throughout the whole mission. The skill ceiling is high, but the climb to that point is not a sheer wall; you learn to build the stairs as you go on.

The defining feature for Armored Core 6's combat cycle is the introduction of a stagger bar, reminiscent of Sekiro's posture system. Unlike Sekiro, however, there is no scripted death blow upon stagger; it is simply a brief window of time where all types of damage dealt are greatly amplified. In addition, the time-to-kill for Armored Core 6 is significantly shorter than in any prior title; this is mitigated in part by the introduction of repair kits, which can only be refilled by resupply drones (also a new feature). There is a sense of both scarcity and efficiency in Armored Core 6; one's build must be able to either tank the damage they receive and brute-force their way through with sheer firepower, or find the finesse to deal damage while remaining mobile enough to avoid taking hits in turn. Veterans of the series that want to S-Rank missions are expected to complete it with minimal use of repair kits and foregoing the resupply, using only the ammo they start out with.

The principal mechanisms for conveying the values of capitalism have been evident as a trademark of the series from the very beginning; every mission's "score" is a direct correlation to one's income, with deductions for both repairs and ammo consumption taken into account. To get a higher score and maximize income, efficiency becomes the gold standard. As a mercenary, the player engages in violence for profit, to become a well-oiled war machine that maximizes destruction at minimal cost. If there was ever a visual metaphor for the military industrial complex, it is the Armored Core.

Armored Core 6 takes these trademark concepts and gameplay features and runs with them in ways both reminiscent of prior titles and also in new directions. It takes the space travel setting of the first two games, the late-stage capitalist exploitation of 4 and For Answer, the individualism of 5 and Verdict Day, and the undercurrent of artificial intelligence seen in Armored Core 3. It synthesizes these elements to create a new story, a sophisticated sci-fi narrative where corporate, colonial forces stumble upon a substance set to revolutionize human society, whereupon a lone mercenary alters the fate of an entire species.

Spoilers for the story of Armored Core 6 below.

The game is set on the fictional planet Rubicon 3, in a distant star system colonized by humanity. There, they discover the substance they dub "Coral," which after initial study is discovered to possess revolutionary applications in the fields of energy and telecommunications.

Like much of FromSoft's Soulsborne series, the player and protagonist of the series is lowly regarded, a mercenary pilot and recipient of older generation cybernetic augmentation to transfuse Coral within human beings to help operate giant walking machines called Armored Cores. This augmentation also results in a myriad of side effects, including suppressed emotional capacity and coral burn-in affecting the brain. The player's character doesn't seem to take particularly well to their augmentation: in the story trailer released for the game, the scientist operating on the player character describes them as "functional," and tells your handler not to expect much more than that. The player works under an overseer named Walter, who promises the player character a reason to live. The player begins their journey at rock bottom, and they have to fight their way up through a plethora of competing powers.

The humanity of the player's character is almost never recognized; the identity of the player is left both ambitious and ultimately irrelevant. For all intents and purposes, your sole official identification is Augmented Human C4-621; Walter refers to you by the pronoun "it" and "621," an object and a number. To those familiar with Walter's repute, you are seen as nothing more than his hound. Even your callsign on Rubicon 3 is not your own, but scavenged from the wreck of another: Raven. The businesses operating on Rubicon see you as one of many freelance mercs that can be hired as additional muscle to be used and thrown away at their disposal, most notably shown with the Arquebus Corporation. To Balam Industries, you are Gun 13, an auxiliary to supplement their frontlines. Should you choose to work with the Rubicon Liberation Front, you are known among their number as a war buddy.

The plethora of names, callsigns and terms speaks less to the identity of the player and more to how they are seen and treated by the varied cast of characters in Armored Core 6. It is almost as if the player is a mirror by which the characters in the game can be perceived: how they see others, how they see themselves. What is revealed is more sophisticated than a simple story about greedy executives, ruthless killers, and cynical opportunists, though these are all present in abundant measure. The picture that FromSoftware paints is supremely human; a story of motivations both admirable and self-interested, employing noble and ignoble means alike to often ambiguous and troubling results. The heroes have clear flaws and the villains retain points of sympathy.

These points of nuance, however, fit within a rather clear-cut setting. When the Coral is discovered to be volatile, the Fires of Ibis set Rubicon 3 ablaze, annihilating most life on the planet and igniting the entire star system. In the wake of that disaster, the Planetary Closure Administration was formed to maintain strict oversight over the ruins of the planet. Their control is upheld through a complex system of heavily armed closure satellites and a war fleet possessing advanced military technology. When Coral is rediscovered on the planet, however, the PCA must contend with a rapidly growing corporate presence that begins to conduct surveys and harvesting efforts in a second gold rush. All the companies must abide by the PCA's watchful presence, and at first they dare not intrude upon sealed-off sections of the planet guarded by the local PCA garrison, the Subject Guard. Instead, they fight among both themselves and the surviving natives who resist their incursion in the form of the Rubicon Liberation Front.

Where there is Coral, there is blood.

The imperial and colonial undertones of Armored Core 6 are obvious. A largely blind and unwieldy imperial power neglects the needs of the local inhabitants being exploited by the forces of capital. It is in this environment through which the player character enters the scene, slipping past the PCA’s orbital defenses to land on Rubicon 3 and assume a false identity to begin operations on the planet.

At first, Handler Walter ostensibly acts as the typical mercenary handler. He sees the opportunity to profit from the ongoing conflict on Rubicon 3 to claim a Coral vein and strike it rich, and thereby offering the means for the player character to undo their augmentation and buy a fresh start in life. The player thus perpetuates the system of exploitation and violence at the behest of capitalist forces to obtain the means for their own welfare.

The early jobs introduce the competing companies and their subsidiaries as they try to get a leg up on the others and also dismantle the resistance of the Rubicon Liberation Front. This chaotic pattern continues mostly uninterrupted until Walter gives the player a personal mission to attack a Coral monitoring station operated by the PCA. In the unexpected Coral surge that follows, the player makes contact with a Rubiconian within the Coral, Ayre. This marks a turning point within the story, whereupon the player begins to express greater agency, and becomes more aware of the unfolding plot around them.

The local release of Coral and its movement across the planet's surface serves as a guiding beacon to a much greater gathering of Coral in another part of Rubicon 3, which soon attracts the interests of all the major powers. Following this lead, the player interacts with RaD, led by Cinder Carla, to secure the means of crossing the ocean where the Coral begins to coalesce. Afterwards, the player becomes the vanguard for the corporations to expand their surveying efforts, with the Rubicon Liberation Front following close behind. In light of these developments, the PCA moves to unilaterally shut down all further incursion by deploying its warfleet to enforce order. All the other factions in response turn their weapons and resources against the PCA, while also searching for an edge over their competitors so that they emerge from the conflict on top of everone else.

In the end, the PCA is driven off-planet and Arquebus Corporation gains a decisive advantage, seizing a wealth of abandoned PCA technology and quickly leveraging their newfound firepower against their opponents, resulting in Balam's own withdrawal and the elimination of the Rubicon Liberation Force as an effective resistance. Arquebus's near-total control is cemented after they exploit the player's efforts to explore Watchpoint Alpha and discover the Remnants of Institute City, where the Coral has coalesced and gathered. Arquebus neutralizes the player's Armored Core and begins their efforts to expand a colossal Coral siphoning planet into outer space, allowing for seamless extraction and widespread distribution.

Through the last efforts of Walter and prior collaborations with Carla, the player breaks free from imprisonment within Arquebus, and raises the colony ship Xylem from its resting place on Rubicon to use as a last-ditch effort to stop Arquebus, and its ill-fated plans. At this point, the player learns of Walter and Carla's true identities as members of Overseer, the inheritors of the Rubicon Research Institute's troubled legacy who look to address its failures surrounding the research, exploitation, and mishandling of Coral.

The complex tragedy of the story approaches its apex at this point; over time, the player learns that Coral is not merely a substance that can be exploited for energy or telecommunications; it is a biological life form, capable of interaction and sentient communication with human thought. Its existence as an intelligent species can be directly correlated to human perception, ethics, and values. As the Rubicon Research Institute discovered, Coral's is self-propagating, and the rate of its growth increases exponentially in proportion to its environment; in a vacuum, the potential for Coral's expansion approaches infinity. Fearing this outbreak and its ramifications for their own species, the scientists of Rubicon III enacted an emergency contingency plan and burned the Coral; the Fires of Ibis that consumed the planet and the entire star system. Some of the Coral survived, however, and began to reproduce.

This discovery, however, was not made by the corporations. The PCA had been aware of the Coral's survival and the Rubicon Research Institute's experimentation, but intended to keep this information under wraps. Despite their efforts, however, the rediscovery of Coral was nevertheless leaked by a hacktivist collective, called Branch, that infiltrated the PCA's planetary defenses and transmitted this information to the public. Among their number was the original bearer of the callsign that you steal upon arrival to the planet, Raven. This same Raven challenges you midway through the game in a test of skill to determine whether you possess the means to realize your own ambitions, as all previous bearers of the callsign had before them. It is a title passed on from one mercenary to the next.

Self-determination as a theme has always been prevalent in FromSoft games and a recurring motif in the Armored Core franchise. The idea of the Armored Core and its customizability is not merely an expression of efficiency in applications of violence, but also an expression of personality, and indeed identity. At its apex, you become the force with which all others must contend, or be brought low by the force of your will made manifest in the war machine you pilot. Almost every single-player campaign in the series has explored this concept, both in the context of complex sociopolitical structures of capitalism and in the context of more classic sci-fi settings of life governed by advanced artificial intelligence.

Armored Core VI features both; besides the influence of corporations, there are two major artificial intelligences that govern two of the most powerful entities in the game. The first is the PCA, which is governed by an artificial intelligence that evaluates and responds to threats endangering the closure of Rubicon 3. The second ALLMIND, a mercenary support system the player slowly discovers to be the main driving force behind the unfolding events of the game. The artificial intelligence of the PCA represents order, stability, and stagnation as they try (and fail) to uphold the status quo of Rubicon. ALLMIND by contrast is an accelerationist, hoping to drive and guide the evolution of humanity through the release of Coral, to achieve the very thing that the Rubicon Research Institute and Overseer seek to prevent. To this end, ALLMIND manipulates and engineers much of the situation that the players find themselves in, to the point where their choices can sometimes feel devoid of real meaning. Yet at the end of the game, even the machinations of artificial intelligence that govern much of humanity's circumstances also bow to the triumph of human will.

Each of the game's endings has the player stand alone as the sole force by which change is achieved, each a commentary on the nature of humanity and the efforts of its constituents to alter that nature.

If the player chooses to pursue a path as Walter's hound, the player prevents the Coral collapse by repeating the Fires of Ibis, but on an even larger scale, annihilating both the Coral and the remaining human life on Rubicon 3. If the player chooses instead to trust Ayre in finding an alternative within their current means, they betray Overseer and rally the remnants of native resistance on Rubicon 3 to throw off the influence of the PCA, the corporations, and Overseer, an effort that brings an uncertain future and plunges the planet into chaos. The third is to attract the attention of ALLMIND, and participate in its plans to unleash the Coral so that the synthesis between it and humanity may propel both species into a new age. Each come with their own merits and points of concern.

To burn the Coral constitutes both a genocide and a xenocide; it is an act of regression far greater than the attempts by the PCA to maintain the status quo, an outright rejection of everything that had been accomplished by the Rubicon Research Institute, the corporations that followed, and the technology that enabled humanity to make contact with an alien species. In the end, the PCA and the corporations, seeing nothing that remains, make a joint statement to leave Rubicon as a dead planet forever, and to forever after halt all further research into Coral. On its face it is a horrific path, and yet it is not entirely reprehensible in light of the other two endings.

The betrayal of Overseer and the corporations both for the sake of a future for both humanity and the Coral puts the priorities of the inhabitants of Rubicon 3 front and center. Though difficult, the good intention of this path is the purest of the three. Yet the future of this path is the most uncertain; the corporations and the PCA still vie for control of the planet, and in the face of a greatly diminished Rubicon Liberation Front, the prospects for a road to freedom through revolution is a distant and bloody prospect. Moreover, much of the systems of exploitation of both the Coral and humans trapped under the forces of capital remain intact. Brutal augmentation procedures that require the harvest of Coral and inhumane surgery on patients is required for contact between species to be possible, to say nothing the other ways in which the forces of capital exploit both peoples. Rubicon 3 stands alone against an interstellar capitalist power structure with near-limitless manpower and resources to reassert dominance over a single planet.

Then we come to ALLMIND's plan, to more perfectly synthesize the union of the two species and accelerate the evolution of both. To pursue this path is to go where many others had turned away; it flies directly in the face of what Overseer sought to prevent, what the leader of the Rubicon Liberation Front turned away from, and represents a complete overthrow of the capitalist system that the corporations profit from. This final path positions you to betray just about everyone, including ALLMIND itself when it judges you a threat to the plan. Upon release, Coral and humanity are indeed united, two peoples made into one, synthesized into a new existence with the Armored Core as it's vessel...and its combat modes activated. The future of the two peoples is not a peaceful one; if anything, its potential for widespread violence and imperial applications of power had just been magnified to a truly intergalactic level.

The other interesting twist to the game's themes is how it almost separates itself from its original anticapitalistic sentiments; though dominant, the greatest expressions of capital and monetary power never achieve what they desire at any of the routes' ends. The pursuit of profit always ended up falling away to more compelling motivations in each of the three endings. It shows that capitalism, at the end, is a temporary and in fact fading thing. There are deeper forces and urges at work within the human soul that find its way out, and indeed surpass greed. But is that force ultimately for good? Perhaps not when it is expressed through mercenary violence, even if that mercenary violence is in pursuit of that greater cause.

On its face, one might label these three ends the bad, the good, and the true ending respectively. Yet each ending seems to me to compliment the others by providing alternate perspectives that complicate the moral analysis of the whole. If the future of a united existence between Coral and humanity translates into an unprecedented application of military power by an ascendant species, then Overseer's extreme measures to prevent that union is not as heartless as one might think. The incrementalism of attempting to liberate Rubicon 3 and avoiding direct synthesis does nothing to address the root causes and systems that have created the crisis over the planet and its people to begin with, and leaves the success of the whole endeavor in doubt.

True to much of FromSoft's motifs across its games, there is a paradoxical existentialism to its messaging that I admire, a tremendous, almost disproportionate level of nuanced commentary on human nature and the human condition that is not only applied to the mech genre, but also deconstructs some of its most well-known tropes and puts them into insightful applications that elevates a niche genre of gaming into high art.

If I were to sum up FromSoft's sentiment with Armored Core VI, it is that the triumph of human will can alter cycles of human behavior but never truly break them, at least not when that human will is expressed through force, the Armored Core. By your own choices in mech build and taking missions from certain clients and the developing circumstances around them, by destroying all obstacles in their path, the player holds the fates of countless people, two whole species, in their grasp. This grasp is yet limited to preservation and destruction; it may change the form, but not the substance. Even in the ending when the substance of the two peoples are changed, it takes on the form of a mercenary pilot in control of a war machine: the greatest expression of the worst developments of human history.

What Ayre fears becomes true: she and the player are doomed to spark conflict wherever they go.

As much as Armored Core VI emphasizes player choice, player agency, and player power and achievement, it is always through the lens of violence, and thereby expresses the limits and conditions by which progress can be achieved through such methods. It is a subtle but moving encapsulation of human endeavors and history, and the existential limits by which ideas of progress and growth can be pursued. I could write whole essays on individual characters, corporate entities, and the etymology of the part names alone, but for now I wanted to simply explore at a high level the incredible depth and creative genius of Armored Core VI. It is FromSoft at their best, and Fires of Rubicon winning best action game is, in my opinion, well-deserved. For what it has accomplished through gameplay, narrative, and artistic vision, I believe it deserves much more.

#armored core vi #armored core fires of rubicon

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scp-scp-096 · 10 months ago

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Why Does SCP-096 Cry?

The Haunting Silence

Deep within the corridors of Site-19, SCP-096 sits in its containment chamber, a barren room designed to minimize the risk of exposure to its face. The entity, commonly known as "The Shy Guy," is infamous for its relentless pursuit and annihilation of anyone who glimpses its face. But there’s one question that has lingered in the minds of the researchers who study it: Why does SCP-096 cry?

Unlike other anomalies, SCP-096 displays a profoundly human characteristic—crying. Its sobs echo through the concrete walls, a haunting melody of despair that unsettles even the most hardened Foundation personnel. The sound of its weeping is soft, almost delicate, as if the creature is trapped in an endless loop of sorrow.

A Researcher’s Curiosity

Dr. Eliza Hawthorne, a seasoned researcher at the Foundation, had always been intrigued by SCP-096’s behavior. While others focused on its violent tendencies, she was drawn to the anomaly’s quieter moments—those rare instances when it was not a harbinger of death but rather a pitiable being, tormented by some inner anguish.

Determined to uncover the source of SCP-096’s distress, Dr. Hawthorne began to meticulously analyze the entity's behavior. She spent hours listening to recordings of its sobs, searching for any clues that could explain its pain. As she delved deeper, she noticed a pattern. SCP-096 cried most intensely after each containment breach, as if mourning the lives it had taken.

Theories and Speculation

Dr. Hawthorne’s observations led her to theorize that SCP-096’s crying might be tied to a residual sense of guilt or shame. Could it be that, despite its monstrous appearance and deadly nature, SCP-096 retained some semblance of human emotion? Was it aware of the devastation it caused, and did that awareness drive it to tears?

The idea was controversial. Many of her colleagues dismissed the notion that SCP-096 could possess any form of empathy or regret. After all, it was a creature designed to kill, a mindless force of nature. But Dr. Hawthorne couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to SCP-096 than met the eye.

The Experiment

Driven by her curiosity, Dr. Hawthorne proposed an experiment. She wanted to observe SCP-096 immediately after a containment breach to see if its behavior changed when faced with the aftermath of its actions. The experiment was risky, but with proper precautions, it could be done without anyone seeing SCP-096’s face.

A D-Class personnel was selected for the test, instructed to enter SCP-096’s containment chamber and view a photograph of its face. As expected, SCP-096 entered its rage state, brutally terminating the D-Class individual. But what happened next stunned everyone present.

As SCP-096 returned to its passive state, it knelt beside the lifeless body and began to cry. This was not the usual soft weeping the researchers were accustomed to; this was something different—something deeper. The creature’s wails were filled with a profound sadness, as if it were mourning not just the loss of the D-Class, but something far more significant.

A Glimpse Into the Past

The results of the experiment led Dr. Hawthorne to a startling conclusion. What if SCP-096’s tears were a remnant of a forgotten life, a fragment of a human soul trapped within a monstrous form? She hypothesized that SCP-096 might have once been human, cursed or transformed into the entity it is now. The crying could be a manifestation of that lost humanity, a desperate attempt to connect with a past it could no longer remember.

But there was no way to prove this theory. SCP-096’s origins were shrouded in mystery, buried deep within the Foundation’s archives or perhaps lost to time. All that remained were its tears, a haunting reminder of the being’s inexplicable sorrow.

The Final Cry

As Dr. Hawthorne continued her research, she found herself increasingly haunted by SCP-096’s cries. They were not just the cries of a monster—they were the cries of something that had once been human, something that was now lost in a sea of violence and death.

One night, as she listened to the latest recording of SCP-096’s sobs, Dr. Hawthorne made a decision. She would request to be reassigned, to distance herself from the entity that had consumed her thoughts. But before she could, she received a final audio file—one that would change everything.

In the recording, SCP-096 was not crying as usual. Instead, it whispered a single word, barely audible but unmistakable: “Why?”

Dr. Hawthorne froze, her heart pounding in her chest. The word was filled with a pain so deep, so raw, that it brought tears to her own eyes. It was a question without an answer, a cry for help from a creature that was beyond saving.

And so, Dr. Hawthorne left the Foundation, carrying with her the memory of SCP-096’s final cry—a cry that would forever echo in her mind, a reminder of the mystery that would never be solved.

In the end, the question remained: Why does SCP-096 cry? Perhaps it is a mystery that will never be fully understood, a puzzle piece that will forever remain missing. But one thing is certain—the tears of SCP-096 are more than just a biological response; they are the last vestige of a forgotten soul lost in a world of darkness.

Refer

Why Does SCP 096 Cry? SCP 096’s Screaming

#scp 096 #scp #scp fandom

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 2 years ago

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By: David Randall

Published: Oct 3, 2023

In the Wall Street Journal, Mahzarin Banaji and Frank Dobbin recently published “Why DEI Training Doesn’t Work—and How to Fix It,” a defense of implicit-bias research in the guise of a critique of current corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings. Banaji is one of the two inventors of the concept of implicit bias, and of the related implicit association test (IAT). She and Dobbin hope to acknowledge the flaws of DEI trainings while preserving implicit-bias research—and the associated program of political activism. The authors lament that DEI trainings elicit shame in their subjects, and that they are largely being used to bolster workforce-management policies against possible litigation. Their problem with DEI trainings is not that they are discriminatory, but that they do not strike the right tone:

Reminding managers that they can use these tools to suss out problems and nip them in the bud helps them to feel capable of managing biases and microaggressions. When managers use these skills, they retain women and people of color for long enough to come up for promotion. . . . training isn’t designed to blame people for their moral failings. Instead, it’s galvanizing them to support organizational change by arming them with knowledge.

The problems with DEI trainings are not in their tone, however, but in their substance. The implicit-bias theory (also called unconscious-bias theory) on which these trainings are based has no scientific basis, as years of examinations have consistently demonstrated. Lee Jussim puts it politely in his “12 Reasons to Be Skeptical of Common Claims About Implicit Bias,” but the Open Science Foundation’s archive of Articles Critical of the IAT and Implicit Bias renders a harsher verdict. In 2011, Etienne LeBel and Sampo Paunonen reviewed evidence that measures of implicit bias possess low reliability. In other words, when you test for implicit bias multiple times, you rarely get the same result. Their conclusion was that some part of “implicit bias” is really “random measurement error.” In 2017, Heather Mac Donald’s intensive examination of the theory and its empirical basis (or lack thereof) concluded that the “implicit-bias crusade is agenda-driven social science.” And Bertram Gawronski’s 2019 review of the scholarly literature on implicit-bias research also concludes that there’s no proof that people aren’t self-aware enough to know what’s causing their supposedly “implicit” or “unconscious” biases; and that you can’t prove that there’s any relationship between how people do on the test and how they behave in the real world.

As far back as 2009, Hart Blanton and colleagues reexamined research data on implicit bias. They found that 70 percent of whites who supposedly displayed implicit bias against blacks actually discriminated in favor of blacks.

It’s not just that there’s “insufficient evidence” that implicit bias doesn’t matter. There’s even evidence of a negative correlation between “implicit bias” and actual behavior. So we shouldn’t just be “skeptical” of implicit-bias theory. We should scoff at it.

In 2023, Jason Chin and colleagues noted that the entire field of behavioral-priming research has been largely discredited, which, in turn, eviscerates the basic framework justifying the argument that implicit-bias training reduces prejudicial behavior. As for the implicit-attitude test, Edouard Machery’s scathing 2022 article concludes: “We do not know what indirect measures measure; indirect measures are unreliable at the individual level, and people’s scores vary from occasion to occasion; indirect measures predict behavior poorly, and we do not know in which contexts they could be more predictive.”

Banaji and Dobbin’s article also fails to reveal how crucial implicit-bias theory has been in support of the legal imposition of such trainings, whether labeled as DEI or not. Since 2007, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has “encouraged” employers to adopt diversity trainings preemptively to protect themselves against legal liability for “unconscious bias.” In government, the trainings have been imposed by presidential executive order, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Education, the Department of Justice, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Office of Personnel Management, the State Department, and the states of California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, San Francisco, and Washington.

Moreover, “implicit bias” is an essential tool by which progressive activists have worked around federal antidiscrimination law’s requirement of proof of discriminatory intent. The implicit-bias standard allows lawyers to seize on the law stating that a “hostile environment” is an actionable offense under antidiscrimination law. Implicit-bias doctrine allows any inequity to be treated as evidence of bias, and hence of a hostile environment. Implicit-bias theory is the prerequisite for dispensing with intent in anti-discrimination law.

It would be hard to establish in a court of law whether instilling shame was the goal or just a byproduct of DEI trainings. It would be desirable if the DEI advocates could produce trainings that did not have that effect. But Banaji and Dobbin ultimately oppose eliciting shame not primarily because it is wrong but because it will hamper the political activism they favor.

Professional critiques of implicit bias have shown, politely but repeatedly, that there is nothing there. Activists and scientists who think that science should serve political objectives want to believe in the existence of massive systemic bias to justify their goals of imposing “equity” by law and by litigation. Implicit bias is a pseudoscientific theory made to order for this purpose. It’s a house of cards, and governments and the private sector should terminate every program based on it.

Call it "Grievance Dowsing."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing

Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia), gravesites, malign "earth vibrations" and many other objects and materials without the use of a scientific apparatus. It is also known as divining (especially in water divining), doodlebugging (particularly in the United States, in searching for petroleum or treasure) or (when searching for water) water finding, or water witching (in the United States).

A Y-shaped twig or rod, or two L-shaped ones—individually called a dowsing rod, divining rod, vining rod, or witching rod—are sometimes used during dowsing, although some dowsers use other equipment or no equipment at all. The motion of such dowsing devices is generally attributed to the ideomotor phenomenon, a psychological response where a subject makes motions unconsciously. Put simply, dowsing rods respond to the user's accidental or involuntary movements.

The scientific evidence shows that dowsing is no more effective than random chance. It is therefore regarded as a pseudoscience.

#David Randall #implicit bias #implicit association #unconscious bias #phenology #discrimination #anti discrimination #systemic bias #pseudoscience #junk science #dowsing #grievance dowsing #religion is a mental illness

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leooliver2323 · 2 years ago

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Change Your Outdoor Oasis with Local Expert Landscapers

Introduction It takes talent, imagination, and a little bit of nature's magic to create a beautiful landscape. With the right landscaping, you can realize your ideas of a peaceful garden, a colorful paradise, or a useful outdoor area. Looking for guidance on where to begin? Look no further. Find the top landscapers in your area, learn about the world of landscaping, and learn about the vital landscape products that will make your outdoor space come to life.

The Goal of Landscape Design It takes more than just placing plants and stones to create a landscape that fits your style and enhances your property. Outside your door, a well-planned landscaping may increase curb appeal, increase property value, and offer a tranquil haven. Each component, from lush vegetation to tasteful hardscapes, adds to the overall beauty and functionality of your outdoor space.

Licensed landscapers While doing your own landscaping might be enjoyable, hiring a professional landscaper can help your job advance. These talented craftspeople bring years of experience, a great eye for detail, and knowledge of design. When you type in "landscapers near me," you're unlocking a world of imaginative options.

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Knowledge of hardscapes and effective execution Landscapers are adept at developing useful and aesthetically pleasing hardscapes that perfectly blend with the surrounding landscape, whether it be a patio, pathway, or retaining wall. Various tasks, such as excavation, planting, and installation, are included in landscaping projects. Professionals effectively handle these factors, which helps you save time and effort.

Investigating Local Landscape Supplies You'll need the correct tools to make your landscaping vision a reality. If you type "landscape supply near me," you'll find a number of crucial resources for your project.

Trees and Plants To fit your design, nurseries and garden centers provide a variety of plants, shrubs, and trees. These green components, which include bright flowers and trees that provide shade, are the foundation of your landscape. A successful landscape is built on a foundation of healthy soil. The numerous soil types, mulch, and compost that landscape supply retailers sell will enrich your garden beds and encourage plant development.

Tools and Hardscape Materials Landscape supply near me shops offer a variety of materials if your design calls for gravel accents, decorative rocks, or stone paths. Having the proper equipment on hand makes gardening easier to handle. Find shops that sell top-notch gardening tools and supplies.

Making Your Vision a Reality The objective is the same whether you hire professional landscapers or do it yourself: make your outdoor space a beautiful retreat. Every stage, from conception to completion, adds to the masterpiece that is your landscape.

Conclusion There are countless possibilities in the realm of landscaping. You can create an outdoor haven that represents your style and improves your way of life with the help of qualified landscapers and the accessibility of landscape supplies close by. So, take that first step, look into local landscapers, acquire your materials, and watch as your outside fantasies come true.

#Landscape #landscaping #landscapers near me #landscape supply near me #landscaping companies near me #landscaper #landscape near me

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foundationsolution1 · 6 months ago

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#Foundation Repair #Retaining Wall Repair #Foundation Solutions #Foundation #Wall Repair #foundation contractor #foundation experts #foundation repair solutions #foundation services #residential foundation repair services #foundation repair near me #foundation solution

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blazingsporerebel · 2 days ago

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Expert Masonry Services in Colorado Springs, CO – Westar Masonry Delivers Quality Craftsmanship

When it comes to enhancing the beauty and durability of your property, expert masonry services in Colorado Springs, CO are essential. At Westar Masonry, we specialize in top-tier masonry work, combining skilled craftsmanship with premium materials to deliver stunning and long-lasting results. Whether you need brickwork, stone installations, repairs, or custom designs, our team is dedicated to providing exceptional service tailored to your needs.

Why Choose Professional Masonry Services?

Masonry is more than just stacking bricks or stones—it’s an art that requires precision, experience, and an eye for detail. Hiring expert masonry services in Colorado Springs, CO ensures that your project is completed with structural integrity and aesthetic appeal. Poorly executed masonry can lead to cracks, water damage, and costly repairs down the line. At Westar Masonry, we take pride in delivering flawless workmanship that stands the test of time while enhancing your property’s curb appeal and value.

Our Comprehensive Masonry Services

Westar Masonry offers a wide range of services to meet all your masonry needs:

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No matter the scale of your project, our team has the expertise to bring your vision to life.

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Investing in expert masonry services in Colorado Springs, CO offers numerous advantages:

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At Westar Masonry, we use only the finest materials and techniques to maximize these benefits for your home or business.

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With so many masonry contractors in Colorado Springs, what makes Westar Masonry the best choice?

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When you choose us, you’re choosing reliability, excellence, and a commitment to superior results.

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Over time, masonry structures can develop problems such as:

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Transform Your Property with Custom Masonry Designs

Looking to upgrade your home’s exterior or create a stunning outdoor living space? Our expert masonry services in Colorado Springs, CO include custom designs tailored to your style. Whether you prefer a modern, rustic, or traditional look, we work closely with you to craft unique features like:

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Let Westar Masonry turn your ideas into reality with unmatched craftsmanship.

Contact Westar Masonry Today!

If you’re searching for reliable expert masonry services in Colorado Springs, CO, look no further than Westar Masonry. We are committed to excellence, from initial consultation to final touches. Whether you need repairs, new installations, or a complete masonry overhaul, our team is ready to help.

📞 Call us today for a free estimate and let’s start building something beautiful together!

With Westar Masonry, your property is in the hands of true professionals. Trust us to deliver stunning, durable, and high-quality masonry solutions that exceed your expectations.

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