#and it makes me want to switch over to a rail-based factory

[caassette]

aaaauuurrrgghhhh.......why woudl you say this to me >:(

How to finally finish a game of Factorio

DON'T: Spend 200+ hours repeating the early game

DON'T: Always give up when you reach Oil Processing

MAYBE: Stay up until 2 AM handling biter attacks

DO: ???

[greatwyrmgold]

Before I start the next stage of base-building, I need to plan.

No base screenshots this time. Just diagrams and rambling and ratios. But this post forces me to get my thoughts in order and turns them into something I can consult later, and hopefully someone else will find these ideas useful.

This chart, courtesy of Kirk McDonald's Factorio Calculator, shows most of the steps and ratios needed to get about a hundred SPM. That's what a single rocket silo with three productivity modules mark 3 can achieve, so it's a decent benchmark to aim for. (Mining, smelting, oil-cracking, and wire-assembling are over to the left of this part of the graph. But they're less important.

The lines are a mess, but the numbers are clear, especially if I switch back to the list. This requires something like 18 yellow belts of iron and copper, which is absurd. If I switch to red belts, we get a slightly less absurd nine belts of each (plus 3.6 of green circuits, 1.9 of plastic, and basically everything else <1).

Most of the copper and about a third of the iron are in green circuits. Nearly half of the iron goes into steel. Remove that, and I only need 1.2 belts of iron and 3.7 of copper, about half of which goes into low-density structure.

None of this accounts for non-science production, of course (e.g. automating those assembling machine 3's). But even so, that's a lot less resources than I was anticipating. I considered leaving a spot for trains to add more resources to the bus, but it looks like that's basically unnecessary—especially if I ship in green circuits and steel from elsewhere.

I'm still gonna do it, though.

Next, a diagram I made myself.

At the top are things I intend to put on the main bus. Maybe not coal and batteries, and stone bricks are only required for three things (furnaces for purple science, walls for gray, and miscellaneous furnaces/oil refineries) so they'll fall off the bus quickly enough, but the important thing is that they're excluded from the rest of the diagram.

Automation, logistic, and military science are simple enough. Automation is just bus ingredients, while logistic and military science are basic things, half of which I want to mass-produce anyway. At this stage of the bus, I can also build some basic factory stuff, like mining drills and assemblers Mk 2 and more red belts.

This probably sounds weird, but I think it makes sense to put production science next. (Red chips need to go somewhere earlier, but that's fine.) Its three products are disconnected from things made elsewhere, and it lets me get stone bricks off the bus early. Actually, I might just set up that stone unloading station here, to feed rails to purple science and bricks to wall/electric furnace/miscellaneous factory stuff production.

And chemical science is directly linked to utility science, because both use engines. Ideally I'd like one line of engine assemblers that gets split 2:1 between blue science and electric engines, with a few engines of each type getting stashed for making flame turrets and rocket silos and stuff.

Anyways, the rest of chemical science is straightforward, and utility science isn't much harder. The tricky bit will be setting up a circuit system that lets me set how many logistics and construction bots I want in the robot network, which is something I'll definitely do just to the side of the bus.

And then space science. But that's quite a way off.

All that in mind, let's get some figures.

We'll need almost four red belts of green chips, most of which are going into red and blue chip production. This will take something like four belts of iron and six of copper. Yeah, I should just make green chips off-site.

Green chips aside, phase 1 science requires less than a belt of copper and iron, plus coal for the grenades and stone bricks for the walls.

Phase 2 science requires those bricks, a couple belts of iron, half a belt of copper, and plastic. Also advanced circuits.

Phase 3 science requires like half a belt of copper and iron, plus plastic and sulfur.

Phase 4 requires a full belt of iron, a belt and a half of copper, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff like batteries and plastic and oil.

Phase 5 (Space) requires most of a belt of iron, almost two belts of copper, two belts of green chips, a belt of plastic, and a bunch of other random stuff.

To keep this nice and expandable, I'd say that four belts each of iron and copper with refill stops between phases should be good. Excessive for one rocket, but when I want to run five rocket silos for infinite research I'll thank me.

Likewise, three belts of green chips (which get replaced by red and blue down the bus) sounds good. A belt of steel, one of gears, one or two belts of plastic, maybe a battery belt.

While I'm here, I'll throw together some thoughts about where to produce various factory buildings.

Electric miners, pumpjacks, red belts, chemical plants, power poles, inserters, and assembler 2's can all go in phase 1.

Furnaces and oil refineries need to go with the other stone brick stuff, at the phase 1/2 boundary.

Substations, roboports, and logistics chests can go in phase 2, after the red chips.

Blue belts can go in phase 3, alongside electric engines. They both need lubricant. Getting the red belts to the blue belts to lubricate them is gonna be interesting. Is that a low-volume train job or a long-distance bot job? Or an awkward belt job? Or maybe Renai Transportation has some silly solution?

Not much new in phase 4.

Assembler 3's share speed modules 1 with RCUs, so it makes sense to build them together. Shipping assembler 2's from one end of the bus to the other is like the belt thing, but more.

Explosives need coal, which if it's not on the bus are only going to grenades. But they also need sulfur from blue science. Hm.

Nuclear reactor stuff and rocket silos are best handled in temporary production setups. Or maybe even handcrafted.

Oh yeah, labs need to go somewhere too.

[anime-onlys]

Spring '21 anime list: What I tried, what I'm watching, and first impressions!

Shaman King (2021)

I hadn't heard about this show until the reboot was announced, and it seems neat so I'll give it a shot! Hesitation isn't quite the right word, but I am watching cautiously because there's a lot about early 2000's anime that should stay in the early 2000's. I'm prepared to take a certain amount of product-of-its-time-ness, but only so much.

I really like its unique visual style. It feels like it's got a similar vibe to Soul Eater and TWEWY with its chunky proportions and face design, and the squash-and-stretch animation really lends itself to comedic moments. I feel like there are some eminently cosplayable designs in my future.

Character-wise, it's only been one episode but I'm taking a liking to Yoh. Based on the OP I hope that Ryuu will be an early-antagonist-turned-loudmouth-friend like JJBA's Okuyasu or Sk8's Shadow. That's one of my favorite character tropes.

The World Ends With You the Animation

My friend is a huge TWEWY fan, so our group was really looking forward to this anime. I saw a little of the gameplay when the Switch version was released, up to the end of episode 1's plot. I know it's going to be excellent story wise, and I already may be planning on making cosplay of that Reaper with the skeleton hoodie.

I love a unique visual style and an awesome soundtrack, of course TWEWY already had that coming in. The CGI Noise are a little clunky, but allow for some really great fight sequences. The characters' CGI models are nearly seamless with the 2D. It feels like the plot is moving fast, but according to my friend they just skipped some fetch quests and puzzle solving that wouldn't have been interesting to animate.

I'm really looking forward to this one each week!

Dragon Goes House-Hunting

One of those "eh, we'll give it a shot" shows. A bunch of us have been eyeing real estate lately, so at the very least it's topical. If done right, the concept could be fun!

We spent most of the episode HATING the dragon's character design. Its proportions are just...awkward in every way. The neck is extremely short and thick and leads into a human-muscled torso, the arms are tiny twigs, and the legs are a little too human and a little too thick to be anything but unnerving. It's bad.

Oddly, except for the dragon, the rest of the creature designs are pretty great! In contrast to a lot of anime, they let them be really non-human and had a good design sense. The humor was solid, the Monster Hunter references were on point, and the character interactions were fun. The OP is GREAT, too!

We'll be continuing this one! If you can make your eyes stop hating you for forcing them to look at the Monster Factory reject of a dragon, I'd say give it a shot.

You Can Make A Mug Too

Now that Yuru Camp is over, we wanted another lighthearted anime that might teach us something while it's at it. You Can Make A Mug Too was one of our picks to sample because one member of anime night has recently acquired a kiln.

My impression is an approving but unenthusiastic "Fine, really." You can definitely tell it's an anime made to bring in tourism to the town it's based in. The characters don't really grab me, but they set up a solid emotional backbone for the story. The production quality isn't stunning, I was hoping for some nice pottery wheel animation but didn't get any.

It's probably a decent show, but we won't watch any more because of the next one on the list.

Supercub

Going straight from You Can Make A Mug to Supercub was like going from store-brand ice pops to fresh gelato. I can already tell this is my favorite anime of the season, hands down.

First, the production quality is excellent. The backgrounds are beautiful, the score is understated but well done to the point that Debussey's Clair de Lune felt like it had been made for the scene it was used for.

More than the production quality alone, this anime's direction is exceptional. It takes 'show don't tell' and uses it perfectly, using body language and soundtrack and shot composition to communicate as much or more than the sparse dialogue. Like, they made my heart skip a beat with nothing but color grading. THAT kind of exceptional.

I haven't spoken much about the plot because I really have no idea where it's going to go. Will we fill in why Koguma is so alone, or will we only move forward to seeing her connect? Will the past of that Supercub come back to haunt her? This feels like an anime that can and will absolutely wreck me, but at the starting line all I can say is I'm READY.

If you only watch one thing this season, watch Supercub.

Continuing anime:

My Hero Academia Season 5:

This season is interesting because for the first time, I think I'm going into it with almost zero spoilers (Dabi's real name is the only one I have). The only plot spoiler I thought I had, that Hawks was somehow working with the League of Villains, was revealed at the end of episode 1. I really enjoy going into things blind so I'm looking forward to this season!

However, the OP is the most disappointing thing out there. Nothing about the song, animation or composition is memorable or even noteworthy. Bones and MHA have access to all the money and talent in the industry and they best they can do is "Fine, I guess".

Yuukoku no Moriarty season 2 (Split cour):

I really enjoyed Moriarty's first season, but the second part of a split-cour always has the risk of running off the rails. What I enjoyed most about the first cour was the reverse-whodunit formula: Here's a terrible noble and the people they hurt, how does Moriarty get rid of them while making it look like an accident? The end of cour 1 started to focus heavily on Sherlock and I don't want the show's namesake to end up sidelined.

Knowing Irene was coming, I was really hoping for a Scandal in Belgravia that follows the books...at all, where the end of the story is that Irene escapes with the photo (except this time aided by the Moriarty brothers). Few or no Sherlock adaptations actually want to engage with the sexism of the era or today's, and just want to paint her as a blackmailer or temptress instead of a woman holding onto the power to protect herself. The beginning was extremely promising, but that went off the rails pretty quick. I still haven't yet seen an adaptation of Irene Adler that I like.

Zombieland Saga: Revenge

I watch this show because it's fun and ridiculous, and I get to hear Mamoru Miyano having the time of his life in the recording booth. I love this show because it always ends up surprising me with its solid emotional backbone. It looks like this season is shaping up to be more of the same!

What blew me away was this episode was the first time I saw a CGI dance sequence that I LIKED. Ever. The characters used different mocap so they weren't eerily in sync, the song and dance itself was well made and supported by excellent camera direction and shot composition, there were 2D cuts to closeups of the dancers as well as audience, and they actually pushed facial expression!

It's a good time. Give it a shot.

[beermanoftana]

falling [tony stark]

a repost, originally posted in my former writing blog

relationship: tony stark x stark!daughter!reader

warning: swearing, none; mistakes here or there

request (anon): hey! would you wanna write a tony stark x daughter reader where like tony didn’t die and mysterio actually wants to get revenge on tony himself instead of poor spider boy :( and like beck ends up involving tony’s daughter in it somehow?? just very angsty but fluff at the end,,,,i just love tony being a dad

notes:  i got carried away with this, i realize there’s not too much angst but i hope you still like it. also, i made pepper the mother here.

summary: y/n stark has been taken, and it’s up to tony to save her

After Tony’s near-death experience during the war with Thanos, you can’t help but stand by him almost 24/7. It’s not that you don’t trust him alone, it’s just that…well, yes, you really don’t trust him alone. He could fall over and need help getting up, he could be having nightmares and you aren’t there to wake him, and most importantly, he could be calling out for you and you’re not there to give him a hug and say it’s okay; he’s done that a few times, call you out, thankfully you were right there by his side.

It’s been months since then but nothing has changed between him and you. You’ve relaxed a bit more; only looking behind you from time to time when you’re both working in the lab, not feeling jittery at every sound you hear, like the spoon clattering on the ground or cough and wheeze, but you’re still always alert and by his side.

One day, you were looking through some paperwork Tony had asked you to go through with him. You didn’t like doing anything that had to do with paper, especially when it came to those working for your father as you thought everything was supposed to be between them and him for now, but your dad asked you ever so nicely and you couldn’t help but say yes. Sometimes you think he’s taking advantage of your love for him, but you just laugh that off. ‘Of course not,’ you think with a smirk and a roll of your eyes.

So here you are, on the dining table with papers scattered around you and Tony on the other side with his Stark technology running through some systems, You stare at the hologram before looking down at the physical pieces of paper. You ask him why he still kept papers when his awesome geniusness could file his work easily.

“Sometimes good ol’ paperwork is good for the brain, y/n. Easily editable with a pen. It’s exercise. Doesn’t strain your young eyes much…yet.” He shrugged. “And also, I didn’t make that, one of my earlier assistants did.”

You nodded your head slowly. ‘Well that explains things.’ You look again at the scattered paper before sighing. You were so used to using your dad’s gadgets that when it came to proper work, aside from studies, you couldn’t fathom using a pen to edit anything in front of you. You’d rather be touching the screen, typing and swiping away as the data  was backed-up every time even a slight change was done.

Before long, you’ve reached the last employee. Quentin Beck. He was an older man, younger than Tony but definitely older than you. His facial hair reminded you of your father’s. And in some weird way, despite that fact, you found him kinda cute. You raised the paper to show your father and ask if the man still worked for him.

“Ah, Quentin Beck, yeah, I remember him. He helped out with the Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing.”

“The B.A.R.F.?” you clarify.

“That’s the one.” Tony nodded and pointed at you with his index finger. “He was pretty unstable so I had to fire him. Well, I asked Pepper to fire him. He was a good one, could be considered a genius. But again, he was unstable and we couldn’t have that.”

You look again at the picture and decide that it was best he was fired, who knows what he could have done?

So you mark the paper as ‘terminated’ and placed it in a pile with the rest of the fired employees. “What would you like me to do with these stacks, Dad?” you ask. You’ve got four stacks now labeled EMPLOYED, TERMINATED, RETIRING, RESIGNED. “Garage? Study? My room?”

Tony gave a small smile. “Put the EMPLOYED and RETIRING in my study, the RESIGNED and TERMINATED in the storage room in the garage, I’ll have a look at them later.”

“Which means never,” you correct, smirking.

“That is not true. I need to check my former employees, too.” Tony chuckled. “I have to focus on the now but I swear I’ll check out those two piles as well. Keep them nearest the door so I have no choice but to stumble upon them soon…er, or later.”

You giggle. “Okay. Sure, Dad.”

You grab the pile EMPLOYED and placed it inside one box, writing the name on the side, and doing the same for the rest of the papers. You stack the EMPLOYED and RETIRING together, then the TERMINATED and RESIGNED together. First you bring up the two initial boxes to Tony’s study, carefully placing it beside his chair. You go back to the dining room and grab the latter boxes and walk to the side of the house where the door to the garage is.

Entering the darkened room with only the moon as the source of light coming in from the open door for the cars, you walk slowly to the corner and enter the larger-than-most storage room. Switching on the lights, you place the boxes down near the door as instructed and dust your hands. “Job well done, y/n. Job well done.”

As you switch off the lights, you were aware of a movement from behind the car. Thinking it could be a cat, you shrug it off. But the shadow loomed closer and it was in the shape of a person, not a small animal. You were trapped. “Dad,” you croaked. You thought you could hide your fear but obviously not. “Dad!” you tried again.

“Hello, y/n.”

Then everything went dark.

You finally woke up to the sound of machines zooming around. It was bright and you blinked your eyes a few times to adjust to it. You noticed your hands were bound together with a rope and you sighed in defeat knowing fully well that you’re nothing without the technology from the lab.

So you look around the area again. You’re in the corner of a very large room. There were railings nearby and you could see how high you were, probably at the topmost floor of a very big building, maybe it was an old factory once.

There were people around you but they paid you no mind. You were tempted to call one of them but your voice was dry and you realized how thirsty you were.

Thankfully, your feet and legs were free and so you tried your best to move around, even trying to stand up, but they were jelly-like and you couldn’t get off an inch from the ground. Sighing in frustration, you glared at those around you, hoping to be noticed.

Later, after a few minutes of people-watching, someone came forward and looked at you, tilting their head as if you were some new specimen. “You’re awake.”

“I can’t believe you can tell,” you reply with an edge in your voice. “Who are you supposed to be?”

“Dr. Riva,” he introduced himself. “It’s good that you’re unharmed.”

“I better be, my dad will freak.”

“Oh, we know.”

You snap your head back a little. ‘So this is for my dad,’ you thought. ‘He hasn’t done anything these past few months to make any new enemies.’

“You’re probably wondering who we are,” Dr. RIva continued.

“No shit, Sherlock.” You look around again for any signs of a video recorder, or if any more people were listening to the conversation between you and Dr. Riva. “And where am I supposed to be?”

He shrugged. “We’ll let Mr. Stark find out for himself. Now, why don’t you make yourself more presentable.”

“Am I not presentable?” you taunted.

Suddenly, another man appeared. Taller, broader, more handsome. And you’ve definitely seen him somewhere before. Quentin Beck. “Hello, y/n.” He smiled at you, his hands pointing to different directions. He was wearing a funny outfit but now is not the time to laugh. “I see you’ve grown. Haven’t changed much, though.”

“You know me?” you wonder. You’ve never seen him before aside from the picture earlier so why was he talking like he knew her form before. “I’ve never seen you before in my life.”

“I was a Stark employee, y/n. I’ve seen many things come and go from the home of Tony Stark. Unfortunately, I wasn’t important enough to be remembered.” He gritted his teeth. “I wasn’t important enough for your daddy dearest to give me credit with my own work! He even fired me! Do you know how that affected me?”

You begin to shy away from him slowly. ‘This guy is unstable,’ you remembered, ‘gotta keep him away.’

“But I swore that I’d get my revenge,” Beck continued. “And so I have you. Now all we have to do is wait for Mr. Stark and we’re all set.”

Meanwhile, back in the Stark home, Tony had been looking around for you. He’d gone to every room, checked yours more than he can count. He scouted the area near the house for any signs of you but you were, as he feared, missing.

“Pep, have you seen y/n?” he finally asked. He was afraid of asking his wife, he didn’t want her worrying about anything for the time being. She, too, had gone through a lot. “I can’t find her anywhere.”

Pepper uncrossed her legs from the sofa and looked at Tony worriedly. “She’s gone?”

“Afraid so.” He scratched the back of his head. “But don’t worry, I placed a tracker on her phone. I didn’t want to use it because ‘teenage privacy’ but I guess I don’t have much of a choice now.” He sighed and turned on his phone. After a few seconds of fiddling with it, he frowned. Pepper noticed and asked what was wrong. “It’s been messed with.”

“Oh, Tony.”

“I got this, I got this.” Tony held onto her hand to assure her. As he was thinking of what else he could do, the doorbell rang and the intercom came to life. An idea popped into his head. Pepper went to answer the door as he ran to his study.

He was ready to check every camera that was attached to his house but he decided it was best to start with the garage since that was where you said you’d be the last time he saw you. ‘And I will see her again,’

Back in Quentin Beck’s base, he was still watching over you, and you would sneer at every chance you could get. That’s when he heard it. “He’s here,” he announced. “He’s here! He’s finally here! Everyone to your positions!”

You heaved a heavy sigh. ‘Dad.’

Tony Stark, in his latest suit, burst through the door and flew midair. He raised his arms in two different directions and took out as much guns and blasters as he could, aiming them all in different areas. His head shifted around looking for signs of his daughter. “Where’s y/n?” he demanded when he couldn’t see you.

“Mr. Stark!” Beck called out. Tony calculated quickly that you were both on the fiftieth floor. “It’s me, Quentin Beck! You remember me, don’t you?”

From behind his mask, Tony glared. “I don’t give a damn about you, Quentin. Where’s my daughter and I won’t harm a single employee in this building.”

Beck laughed. “Oh, Mr. Stark. Since when have you cared about anyone but yourself?”

“Give me back my daughter.”

“Not until you admit that I’m a better genius than you!”

You rolled your eyes. ‘Here we go.’

“Fine, you’re a better genius than me, now where’s y/n?”

Beck laughed again. “You have to mean it, Tony. You don’t just say it. You have to mean it.” He shook his head. “Mean it like when I gave my heart and soul to that holographic illusion system and you just said that it was your creation and even gave it that stupid name!”

“B.A.R.F.,” you reminded him.

“Shut up!” he exclaimed. He turned back to your father and said, “I told you we could have done great things with it! But what did you do? You turned into some therapeutic shit! The world doesn’t need that, Tony!”

“Tell me, Beck, what have you done with that technology? Hm? Tell me what you’re going to use it for.” Tony was slowly flying up to the topmost floor, his blasters still at the ready. “Enlighten me, Beck.”

Beck smirked. “I’m going to be the greatest superhero the world has ever seen.” He turned to an employee and shouted, “Now!”

To yours and Tony’s surprise, a cyclone monster appeared. Your eyes widened, you’ve never seen anything like that before. “Dad,” you murmured. But someone had carried you from the ground and brought you closer to the railings.

Tony was busy fending off the cyclone. He used his blasters to hit certain areas and you could see that the monster was getting transparent in some areas. Without finishing off the hologram, he flew to the level you and Beck were in and landed on the floor. “Don’t forget, Beck, I know how this technology works. You’re not fooling me.”

Beck gave an evil grin. “Oh, I just did.” He snapped his fingers and the person holding you threw you off of the rails.

“Daddy!” you screamed.

“Y/n!” Tony called out.

You were falling and falling and falling. The bright lights made you more scared as you knew that if you looked down, you’d know exactly where’d you be. “Daddy!” you screamed again. You could hear Tony screaming your name but he was too far away. You closed your eyes as tears fell and floated away. “Dad,” you called out softly.

Then you stopped falling. You didn’t know where you stopped, how close you were to the ground, and you didn’t care. You looked up and saw that Iron Man was carrying you and you were both floating in midair.

“I got you,” Tony whispered, “I got you.” He pulled you in for a hug and you wrapped your arms around him. “I got you.” And you sobbed.

You didn’t know where Quentin Beck ran off to. But Tony was able to call his friends and arrested the employees they were able to gather up. Dr. Riva was not one of them.

For the rest of the night, as you and Tony stayed in the area to help out if you could, he wouldn’t leave your side and you would lean on him from time to time, just to make sure he was right there with you. “So much for me being by your side all the time, huh, Dad?”

“I think it’s time for a change,” he replied. He saluted at your godfather Rhodey before turning back to you. “You know I love you, right, y/n?”

You smiled. “I love you, too, Dad.” After a few minutes you said, “I want a cheeseburger.”

[ashlan-zeal]

It's hard to wake up from a nightmare if you aren't even asleep.

One moment Ezra was dreaming of running through Lothal's fields at night, and the next one he felt himself being yanked back. He was endlessly falling backwards through the darkness of space, seeing the stars pulling away from him. The very core of his been was filled with a sense of dread. He felt he was going to... cease to be. His mind was racing in panic... his friends... Kanan! They wouldn't know what happened to him. He instinctively reached out with the Force using all his strength, straining his very soul.

KANAN!

"AAH!" Ezra's body jolted to the floor, entangled in bed-sheets and surrounded in darkness. He was panting and trembling with a lingering sense of apprehension. His heart was still beating desperately. Breathe, he thought, calm yourself, it was just a dream. He was disoriented as he pulled the sheet over his head. "I'm-... I'm sorry Zeb, I didn't mean to wake you..." but there was no complaining, no groans or questions, only silence in the room. “Zeb?” Ezra called again. Something was wrong. Besides the chilling silence, something else was wrong. It was like he... he couldn't feel the Force fully.

Confused, Ezra looked around as his eyes focused and adapted to the lack of light around him. A realization hit him. He was not in the Ghost. He scrambled up in a hurry, hitting a table and making a stormtrooper helmet fall at his feet. He held his breath and his heart skipped a beat... He recognized this place. It was his old room in the Tower. The tower in Lothal.

"No, it can't be," he whispered in disbelief. He had been in the Ghost. He was sure of it. He tried to retrace his steps from the last day. They had saved the scientists after Saw had left them to deal with the Kyber crystal going off. They had dropped the scientist on a secure location and had just gone into hyperspace. Hera had told them it would be hours before arriving back to Yavin so everyone should just try to catch up some sleep while they could. They had all agreed. And then...

... he woke up here. Had something happened on the way back? Nothing made sense. He massaged his forehead trying to calm himself and just think, but he was startled when his fingers touched his hair... his hair was longer.

“What?”

His hair was longer. That didn't just happened. He rushed to the small refresher and turned on the lights while looking at the mirror. Yes, his hair was longer... not as long as he used to have it but-...

His eyes widened. The scars on his cheek were gone. His trembling fingers traced the area where they should've been. His scars were gone. The scars he had gotten when...

-Where is Kanan? Where is everyone!?-

“Kanan? Hera? Sabine! ZEB!? CHOPPER?” Ezra almost fumbled out of the refresher trying to reach for the light switch because the place was cluttered. He didn't remember leaving so much stuff behind. He turned the lights on of the rest of the room, revealing a very lived in room. His first collection of helmets were still here but they should have been in the Ghost... there were also several other helmets he never remembered getting. His old trunk was open and full of clothes, a couple of boots his current size were close to the bed, the table had a few unopened rations and a couple of credits in it. The place was clearly being occupied. He ran outside and gripped the railing. A strong wind with hit his face.

Even if it was night, Ezra could see the dark clouds of smog from the factories illuminated by the lights of the city. He glanced around the tower in shock. Beyond the highways, the fields burned. There was nothing else. No Phantom, no Ghost. Nothing.

"No. No...this is all wrong," Ezra whispered trembling. "I need to... I need to find them. They... they must be on the city..." he tried to convince himself. He didn’t sense them through the Force but he wasn’t able to use the Force fully like that either. Maybe it was a drug? Maybe he was sick?

He went back in to his room, grabbing the boots and a shirt. He hurried down, almost tripping on the stairs. Once he reached the bottom of the tower he found a modded speeder bike parked just outside. Ezra stopped cold. He recognized this model. Before he had joined the Rebels he had wanted to get one like that, either stolen or bought, to get around more easily... but then he didn't, settling for a far more common model when doing their missions. He pushed the thought aside and took it anyway. He had no time to waste. The sooner he found out what happened, the better.

Ezra headed into the city, taking great lengths to stay out of sight of patrols. He hadn't heard of Azadi in a while so he didn’t know the current location of the Lothal cell, but he might find one of his contacts, learn of what was going on and get a message across back to Yavin.

Ezra left the bike hidden in an alley and walked tense through the streets, checking over his shoulder every now and then. He tried to relax and look casual but as soon as he turned around the corner he bumped into a whole squad of troopers. He froze on his spot. It was in that moment he realized he didn't have neither a blaster nor his lightsaber with him.

The troopers were discussing their shifts and one of them turned to Ezra.

"Move along. This street is blocked until morning," the trooper motioned to Ezra to turn back somewhat annoyed. Ezra slowly nodded hoping he wouldn’t recognize him and stepped away. Once he was at some distance he sighed in relief. Even if they had gotten a good look at him, they hadn't even cared.

-Good, that means I can look around without worry. Maybe these are new troops… and I don’t see any posters with my face on it-

He kept walking on the opposite direction hoping to see a familiar face or a sign from Azadi's group. He arrived to the main avenue that lead directly to the Imperial Base. A rising anxiety surged on his chest. Before he knew it, he was walking towards the base until he almost reached the restricted landing areas. He looked over, taking the sight of the TIE fighters lined up and ground units moving around. Then he saw him.

"Kallus," Ezra’s eyes widened with a sense of hope. But... why was Kallus here? He was going to get discovered in the middle of the base! Everyone knew him! Ezra carefully crossed into the facility and stopped a few steps behind Alexandr making sure no one else was watching them.

"Hey, Kallus," Ezra whispered tensing. The man turned around, raising an eyebrow curiously at him. He looked extremely tired and worn out. He was wearing his old ISB uniform and haircut.

"This is restricted area, citizen. Leave-..."

"Kallus, what's going on?" Ezra asked him completely confused.

"*Agent* Kallus" Kallus said stressing the word. He did a double take, clearly wondering if he was supposed to know him.

"C’mon, stop the act. I’m… I was worried, ok? What are you doing here? Why are we here?" Ezra was almost begging him for an answer.

"You are clearly confused. Are you drunk, young man?" Kallus frowned.

"I...what? No. Wh-"

"Your name?"

"It's... It's me. Ezra. Ezra Bridger," he said with a hint of desperation. If this was some kind of joke he had enough. Why didn’t he recognize him? Even with the longer hair...

Kallus looked on his datapad. "Uhm, a few misdemeanors, vagrancy... Listen, I don't have time for this,” Kallus sighed, his expression became darker. “If you don’t leave I'll have you arrested immediately. If you want to turn your life around and become a productive member of the Empire…” he made a small pause as if he was trying to convince he was saying the truth “...we are still looking for able bodies for our ground troops. Now if you excuse me, I have more pressing matter to attend-"

"But-"

"Ah... here he comes," Kallus said looking up at the incoming ship. Ezra followed his gaze and saw… and Inquisitor ship.

"No," Ezra whispered in terror. Kallus didn’t hear him, but noticed he was still behind him.

"Do I need to call in the troopers then?"

But Ezra wasn’t hearing him. He was panicking. The Inquisitors were supposed to be gone, RIGHT? He-... he couldn’t fight an Inquisitor alone not without weapons, not without his lightsaber, not without the Force. He ran.

Kallus looked at him go and gave a small chuckle. Yeah, the Inquisitors had that effect on people. He braced himself to welcome this one in Lothal.

At first Ezra didn’t know where he was running to. He needed to put as much space between him and the Inquisitor as possible, but then, he started to slow down, realizing he had ran towards his old house had stood once. Only that… the house was there. Unburnt.

“It can’t be,” he said, trying to breathe but after a few second of his mind going blank and just being overwhelmed by everything, the tears started to fall down. “Kanan... I don’t get it. I don’t…” he sobbed quietly, covering his mouth attempting to not raise anymore attention to himself. He couldn’t handle this anymore. He made his way back to his bike and returned to the tower.

Maybe this was a bad dream. Maybe he just needed to go back and sleep it off. Maybe Kallus was right and he was drugged or something. He somehow managed to sleep… but when dawn came Ezra soon realized he was trapped in a life that was a complete nightmare.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15618783

[friendlyfacestabbing]

Gravity is a Cruel Mistress (the people chasing us are worse): 1/3

Summary: Patton falls from the roof of a six storey building. Logan is determined to catch him. (If Logan does a little falling of his own, then that’s neither here nor there.)

Chapter 1: In which Logan has Opinions on ties (and Patton is inconvenienced at a Police checkpoint).

A/N: Part 2 of Renegades! Or: And they were roommates! kids on the run from a totalitarian government! Chapter 1 is up, and I’ll post the remaining two chapters over the next few days. The boys are 15/16 in this one. It’s technically platonic, but you wouldn't have to squint particularly hard to make it pre-romantic Logicality.

Words: 2075

Warnings: Heights, Police, Retail, Parkour (let me know if I’ve missed anything).

AO3 here.

Part 1 here.

It is 4:28 on a Wednesday afternoon, and Logan has been running for approximately eighteen minutes and thirty five seconds. He is currently sprinting across the rooftops of the local retail district, and doing his best to dodge chimneys, ventilation ducts, glass ceilings, aerials, enraged pigeons, and long long drops to the ground. Running along with him are his closest friends Virgil, Roman, and Patton. Oh, of course. And the squad of government enforcers they picked up roughly eleven minutes ago. Just in front of Logan Roman is darting around a skylight, while further ahead Virgil hurdles an air conditioning unit. Logan flicks a glance over his shoulder and notes that Patton has dropped back slightly, but is still comfortably outpacing the dozen people in black body armour bringing up the rear.

It is pure accident that has landed the regime's goons on their tail. They hadn't even been doing anything illegal. Apart from existing, of course. And travelling without a relevant district permit. And carrying fraudulent identification documents. And using assumed names. (And Virgil never travels anywhere without at least one knuckle duster.) Alright so there was some technically illegal conduct occurring, but they weren't actively making trouble. Anyway.

They'd been sitting on a bus…

Roman and Patton are quietly talking, Logan is reading a newspaper he's found and Virgil is staring out the window at the passing shops. Which is when the bus makes a stop, two Transit Police get onboard and begin inspecting all of the passengers' ID Cards. One of the grey uniformed officers approaches them, and the four calmly and without any hesitation hand over their cards. (They really are excellent forgeries.) Cards marked, photos verified, personal data scanned, and “Victor Zalakos”, “Rory Anderson”, and “Lucas Preston” are cleared for travel and have put their cards back in their pockets. But “Patrick Northington's” card is not returned, and the officer wanders back to his colleague and they hold a whispered conversation, while shooting appraising glances at Patton.

“Patrick Northington!”

“Yes Sir?”

“Come here please,” and one of them gestures “Patrick” over.

“Okay!” Patton bounces out of his seat, the very picture of helpful citizenry.

Logan isn't worried. Patton can project an absolutely flawless air of dutiful obedience at will, and has wide-eyed innocence down to an art-form. Logan has watched him walk away from no less than six obviously incriminating situations simply by appearing politely baffled and anxiously patriotic whenever the authorities challenged him. Talking his way out of an ID card mixup is going to be plain sailing, and a pleasure to watch. Then the officer pulls out a retinal scanner.

Logan feels Roman inhale beside him, and he can see the sudden tension in the line of Virgil's shoulders.

Patton obligingly pulls down his glasses and holds perfectly still for the scan, and then while the machine is processing he chirps, “Is there a problem, officers?”

“Nothing you need concern yourself with citizen,” the first states in a bored monotone.

“Oh good!” says Patton, and hooks his fingers into the back of his trousers. I'm blown.

Logan catches Roman's eye and lifts an eyebrow. Noted?

Roman shoots back a disarming smile. Message received.

Virgil turns casually and leans one arm against the seat back. “What are we thinking for dinner L? Pasta? Curry? Pizza? Tacos? I could go a pizza.” Escape plan 1, 2, 3, or 4? I like 3.

“Mmhmm. Pizza is good,” Roman muses. 3 might work.

“I don't think we are in the pizza shop's area anymore, but the curry place does delivery,” counters Logan. Our location is bad for 3. 2 will work better.

“True,” agrees Roman.

Virgil is nodding as well, and then he turns and calls down the bus, “Hey Pat! We're gonna go for curry later! Okay?” We're going for escape plan 2. Objections?

Patton shoots a grin over his shoulder. “Sounds good Vi!”

They have whatever time it takes the retinal scanner to finish processing and completely expose who “Patrick Northington” really is. Logan knows that isn't long, and is already cataloguing what the next steps of survival have to be. First, Patton distracts the officers while the other three smash the rear window emergency exit to leave the bus. Second, they navigate the surrounding traffic and run northeast towards the shopping centre. Third, use the late-afternoon crowd to lose their pursuers. If successful, alter appearances and lay low amongst the arcade games until pursuers have given up and departed. If unsuccessful, go to Phase Two: Use the shopping centre's escalators and emergency stairwell to get to the roof. Pull the fire alarm on the way up to delay pursuers and shut down centre electrical systems. If possible, vandalise the fuse box and cause a blackout. Run their previously scouted path across the rooftops to the south (plaza, construction zone, old rail shed, train station, aquatic centre, warehouse currently being refurbished, mattress factory, occupied warehouse). Hide in their bolthole in the industrial district. It's a solid plan, meticulous and bulletproof, the trademarks of anything Logan and Virgil get their figurative hands on. He nods to himself. Between the four of us, provided no one is injured, this should work.

The scanner beeps. Virgil, Logan and Roman all subtly tense.

One of the officers whispers in awe, “Holy shit. It's him. I don't believe it.”

The other frowns and grabs Patton's shoulder firmly. “I'm calling it in.”

“Sir? What's happening? Him who?” an utterly baffled Patton exclaims loudly.

Time to go. The three rise very quietly from their seats and head to the back of the bus. Virgil slips his brass knuckles out of his pocket and prepares to break the window as soon as Patton makes his move.

“Nice try. Elridge,” the first officer sneers, and Logan has to look back now because Patton is about to be brilliant and he doesn't want to miss a second of it.

“What? But I'm Patrick Northington!” Logan knows from experience how that plaintive voice of innocent befuddlement, combined with enormous sky blue eyes and an open freckled face will make anyone doubt anything, including their own name. “The scanner even says so!”

And when both officers look down at the display, just to make sure of the evidence of their own eyes, Patton grabs the hand on his shoulder, yanks hard and flips the officer over his hip and into his partner. Patton then snatches “Patrick Northington's” ID Card, bolts down the aisle of the bus and tumbles straight out the smashed back window alongside Logan. They land on the road together and zigzag across three lanes of traffic after Virgil and Roman, who are already just shy of reaching the shopping centre courtyard.

They'd done their best to blend in with respectable society before they left base, but the four are still slightly shabbier than the crowd around them. Back on base they'd be wearing whatever they felt like, usually shirts with angry slogans, fingerless gloves, oversized jumpers, shredded denim and pyjamas. Out in public they have to look far more respectable. Roman has removed his piercings, Virgil's hair is back to brown, Patton looks like a golfing advertisement and Logan is even wearing a tie. Which is exactly how he looks on base as well, now that he gives it some thought. What else am I supposed to do? Take it off? A tie is an incredibly useful object. It can be a bandage, a gag, a pair of handcuffs, a blindfold, a sling, a belt... How else is one supposed to inconspicuously smuggle three feet of solidly woven fabric with a multitude of purposes except by wearing it?

They all spread out slightly while keeping each other in view, reach the front entrance, and attempt to disappear by matching the movement and demographics of the crowd around them. Patton attaches himself to the back of a group of highschoolers and trails along giggling. Virgil wears his best dead inside retail-worker-on-a-break stare and is immediately invisible. Logan does a convincing impression of a young scholar and/or professional with places to be. Roman engages a young man selling hand cream in an intense conversation about cuticle maintenance for ten metres, where he switches to chatting to the next salesperson about salt lamps.

They are making solid progress past the foodcourt when a solid wall of people up ahead interrupts their ambling escape attempt. Apparently, a posse with “get me your manager” haircuts has lost their tenuous grip on reality, gone completely postal, and thrown furniture through three shop fronts while setting fire to the bins. (Logan spent a season in retail and does not miss it. He honestly prefers being at war. There's less screaming, and if you get shot at least you're allowed to sit down.) There are firefighters onsite, as well as a full squad of Government Enforcers to contain the carnage and take statements from witnesses.

Between the roped off broken glass, the various rescue personnel, store security, the still agitated instigators and every other curious passerby, the commotion has created a blockage in passageway, and people are only getting past the mess in ones and twos. After a bit of a scramble over debris (not a problem). And some close proximity to several enforcers (…...has the potential to be a problem).

Roman (currently out in front) chucks a glance back over his shoulder to Logan and lifts his eyebrows. Yeah?

Logan grimaces and slides his glasses up his nose. No other options.

Roman shrugs, and joins the slow stream of people diverting around the mess. Patton allows two other people in front of him, then follows. Just as Virgil is stepping forward, he looks back at Logan, and then at something over Logan's shoulder that makes his eyes widen. Logan sends him a questioning look, and Virgil turns back and keeps moving slowly after the others, but he's tapping his fingers on his right thigh. The pursuit is back.

Logan doesn't look back, but keeps pace with everyone else. We need to clear the blockage and get moving again, before-

“STOP THAT KID!!!”

Well, before that.

It's not a problem yet. The transit officers are still a good distance away. The corridor is packed with people, especially children, so any enforcers close enough to actually apprehend them have no idea which kid to go after.

Which is when one of the officers yells, “PATTON!!! STOP!!!”

And Patton looks up. Right into the face of the nearest enforcer, who is watching him very closely. Still not necessarily a proble-

“Oops,” says Patton.

Fifteen feet away Logan sighs in frustration. Now it's a problem. Roman grabs Patton and yanks him away from the enforcer reaching for him. They both dash away, as Virgil emerges from the press of people he's spent the last two minutes elbowing a path through and sprints after them. Logan gives up on navigating the crowd and instead starts dodging his way through the police tape and debris. He can hear more shouting from behind him, so he pulls a stand of magazines down in his wake for good measure. On to phase two.

At the top of the escalators Virgil rockets ahead to deal with the fusebox and Roman sets off the fire alarm. The shopping centre is immediately filled with wailing sirens, flashing lights, and panicking people that are far more concerned with leaving the building as fast as possible than being of assistance to law enforcement. Three steps up the maintenance stairway to the roof the lights go out, and Virgil rejoins them shortly afterwards.

Roman is the first through the door onto the roof, and he is immediately looking around on the ground for something to use to jam the door closed behind them. Patton, Logan, and Virgil emerge as well, Roman shoves a rusted star-picket through the door-handle, and they stand for a brief second grinning hysterically at each other. And then Logan turns south, and they all begin to run towards where they know they'll be safe. There is the shriek of metal behind them as someone tries to force the door, but Logan isn't concerned. They're running now, and something would have to go catastrophically wrong for them to be caught. Dashing across rooftops is something they've been doing for years; the world of open sky and twisted metal is theirs and the mid-afternoon breeze snatches at their clothes as they figuratively fly across the skyline.

[e350tb]

Steven Universe: Ruby Stars - Chapter Ten

(Special thanks to @real-fakedoors for proofreading this!)

Sledgehammer

Two jet fighters roared over Wilmingmore.

Clancy frowned as he watched them soar through the dawn sky. Not having slept well, he decided to get some coffee before Bracknell woke up and went out for an early breakfast. He had just driven back into the factory parking lot when he'd seen the jets, silver streaks against the reddish-blue sky. They were headed due south, and he wondered if they were bound for Beach City. Perhaps they had cameras attached, and they'd be taking pictures for Colonel Bradshaw - he wouldn't be surprised if they were.

He was just about to head inside when he heard another growling roar, this one far closer to the ground. He turned to the parking lot entrance - a convoy of olive drab army trucks rumbled through the gate, pulling up in front of the factory. Shouted commands filled the air as soldiers piled out of the backs, assembling in the empty car park - behind them, a jeep rolled in, pulling up in front of the bewildered agent.

Colonel Bradshaw climbed out of the back, joined by Major King. The major handed the colonel a folder, which he promptly handed down to Clancy.

"What the hell is this?" demanded Clancy.

"The situation's changed, Agent Miller," Bradshaw replied, "We have orders from on high."

Clancy looked over the unassuming manila folder, emblazoned by the golden and navy accents of the Presidential Seal. That, he thought, certainly couldn't be good.

"The gem situation has become untenable," continued Bradshaw, "We've had the fire at the rail depot, an attack on a public mall, the worm destroying our chopper, the assault on Captain Clark..."

"Poor man," said Clancy, entirely unsympathetically.

"...not to mention the abductions and the loss of that Barriger kid," finished Bradshaw.

"Barriga, sir," corrected Major King.

"Yes, thank you, Ernest," nodded Bradshaw, "Point is, we need to bring this situation under control."

Clancy let the words sink in, his tongue soured with the bitterness of their meaning. No, this was not good. Not good at all.

That being said, Clancy had been in the game long enough to know when to argue outright and when to… persuade. Men like Bradshaw don’t take well to defiance, he had learned that the hard way. The only realistic option he had was to try to appeal to reason.

He cleared his throat and feigned something that sounded like deferential disagreement. "With all due respect, sir, the situation is under control. As I advised you, the Crystal Gems have it..."

"The Crystal Gems have hell, Agent Miller!" snapped Bradshaw, "How many more people are gonna be dragged into space while they have things under control, huh? How many more government artefacts are they gonna steal?!"

"We have no evidence that they stole that Ruby, Colonel Bradshaw," growled Clancy, struggling to keep the venom from his tone.

"Well then, who did, Agent?" demanded Bradshaw.

Clancy didn't reply.

"No more, Miller," snarled Bradshaw, his eyes narrowing, "I'm taking control of the situation. That folder details Operation Sledgehammer. I have a mandate to bring Beach City and the surrounding area under military law..."

Clancy opened the folder, reading the contents. His face paled - they couldn't seriously be thinking...

"...as well as to either capture the Crystal Gems," finished Bradshaw, "Or terminate them with extreme prejudice."

Steven laid out the rug and put down the picnic basket.

He and Connie were out in the forest, about a mile away from Beach City. It was a lovely morning - there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the sun shone brilliantly through the canopy of trees. While he continued to set up the picnic, Connie checked the weather on her phone. There didn't seem to be any change in the forecast - the sun would shine all day.

It was a good chance to finally scale things back for a day and focus on themselves.

Connie was just about to close her phone when the news app flashed quickly.

No-fly zone enacted over Southern Delmarva due to hijack threat, POTUS says.

As if on cue, the silence of the forest was broken by the dim roar of a fighter jet. Connie looked up, watching it roar through the deep blue of the sky and off into the distance. If she squinted, Connie could just about make out its shape - it had a pointed nose like a dart, and a pair of wings towards the back of the fuselage. It was long gone before she could make out any more details.

"Huh," she muttered.

"What is it?" asked Steven.

"Nothing," shrugged Connie, "Just saw a plane."

She sat down as Steven handed her a sandwich.

"So, things have been pretty hectic lately, haven't they?" she said.

"Mm-hmm," nodded Steven, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

He swallowed, clearing his mouth.

"I'm just glad Sadie's getting used to everything," he added, "But I hope she talks to her mom soon."

"I don't know," mused Connie, "I'd be pretty mad if it was me. I mean, it'd be like..."

She thought back to Stevonnie's dream on the jungle moon base and smirked.

"...if my mom actually was Yellow Diamond."

Steven chuckled.

"Wow, that'd be weird," he said.

"I know, right?" replied Connie, "Can you imagine my mom as an alien dictator?"

She picked up her phone and held it to her ear.

"No, Doctor West," she said in an impression of her mother, "If that patient isn't ready by the time I arrive I'm gonna have you shattered!" She lowered her phone. "Okay, Connie, I need you to be ready for tennis practice in an Earth hour." She raised the phone again. "Shattered, I tell you! Shattered!"

The two burst into laughter. Steven wiped a tear from his eye.

"Aw, I shouldn't laugh," he admitted, "But hey, funny's funny."

Suddenly, they heard a thump and a rustling from the bushes. Steven glanced over - he saw nothing.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Squirrel?" shrugged Connie.

Steven got up, walking carefully towards the bushes.

"It could be hurt," he said, "I just want to make sure it's okay."

Connie's phone beeped. She picked it up; the news app had flashed again.

Martial law instituted in Beach City and Crossroads areas. Army command advises all citizens to return home immediately.

"Uh... Steven?"

Steven wasn't listening. He leaned down next to a bush, carefully pushing the branches aside.

"It's okay, little fella," he said, "We'll make sure you're feeling better, and we'll give you a name! You can be called San..."

He pushed aside the last branches.

"...dy..."

Connie's eyes widened as she took in the tall, blue figure crouched behind the bush.

"...Lapis?"

Peedee watched warily as a column of army trucks rumbled onto the boardwalk. Each of them found a spot to pull up and deposit their cargoes of heavily armed soldiers. It was surreal - it was like one of those old films about America being invaded, but this time, the occupying force was their own army.

A jeep screeched to a halt outside Fish Stew Pizza. Nanefua and her bodyguards were already stepping out to meet the blue-uniformed officer that jumped out the back.

"Mayor Pizza," he said officiously, "Major Ernest King, U.S. Army Air Force. On behalf of the Gem Task Force, I've been asked to inform you that we are taking over the running of this town, effective immediately."

"Under whose authority?" demanded Nanefua.

"Under the authority of the President of the United States," replied Major King, "Furthermore, Colonel Bradshaw would like to brief you immediately regarding the situation with the Crystal Gems. Please be present in your office in half an hour."

He saluted crisply and climbed back into the jeep. It sped away before Nanefua could reply.

The Mayor shook her head and crossed her arms.

"Rude," she muttered before walking back towards the restaurant.

Peedee furrowed his brow and turned on the radio. Perhaps that would explain what was going on.

"...am Lieutenant-Colonel Bradshaw," a voice said, his voice light and slightly Southern, "Gem Task Force, United States Army. As of this morning, the townships of Beach City, Ocean Town, Charm City and Crossroads are being placed under martial law under the orders of the President. I assure you that this is being done in a humane and professional manner."

An ear-splitting crash filled the air. Peedee jumped and looked up the boardwalk.

A tank had sunk turret-first into the boardwalk, which had splintered under its weight. The commander was standing in the hatch, looking sheepishly from left to right.

"Uh... nothin' to see here, folks," he said.

Greg had just finished washing down a car when they came.

Two armoured vehicles screamed around the corner. Greg stepped back in shock as the lead vehicle rolled on top of the car, crushing it beneath the treads. The commander leaned out the hatch, looking at the wreckage - he grinned mischievously.

"Ha! Nice," he said.

"Nice?! That was somebody's car!" exclaimed Greg.

"Yeah, well, you got bigger problems, Mac," shrugged the commander.

The rear hatches of both vehicles opened and a squad of soldiers emerged. Boots clicking loudly on the pavement, they swiftly took positions around Greg, encircling him on all sides. He swallowed - everywhere he looked, he could see somebody pointing a gun at him.

"Uh... I think you've got the wrong guy?" he said nervously.

"Greg Universe?" replied the commander.

"Uh..."

"Yeah, thought so," nodded the commander, "You're under arrest by order of Colonel Bradshaw and the Gem Task Force."

"But... why?!" exclaimed Greg, "What have I done?!"

"Heck if I know, Mac," grunted the commander, "But I hear the Colonel wants you pretty bad."

He smirked unpleasantly.

"Unless you don't wanna come?"

Slowly, Greg put his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, okay, I-I'll come quietly..."

Sadie watched from the top of the lighthouse as the army vehicles rolled into and around Beach City. She clutched the rail with shaking hands, listening to the radio.

"With your help, we will see the Crystal Gems apprehended safely. Remember, the army is here to help. Thank you."

The radio switched off, replaced by the tones of the Emergency Warning System. Jenny switched it off and joined her next to the rail.

It had supposed to be an easy day. The band had met at the lighthouse to talk about their next song (Sadie was still pretty into the werewolf idea), and while that meant trying not to trip over Ronaldo and ignoring his 'True Werewolf Factoids', the atmosphere in the old building was lovely. The sun was shining high in the sky, and looking over Beach City in the brilliant sunlight was quiet relaxing.

At least it had been, until the tanks rolled in.

Sadie could see them rolling across the beach, cutting off access to the Temple. They seemed to be stopping a few hundred metres away from the Temple itself - Sadie wondered if they were waiting for the Crystal Gems to surrender. Not very likely, she thought.

"Man, this is surreal," muttered Jenny, watching a helicopter land in the town square.

Sadie nodded.

"Why now, though?" asked Jenny, "The Gems have been here since, like, forever. If they'd wanted to start something, they would've done it years ago. Where were they when that big green hand showed up and we had to evacuate? That at least would have made sense."

"Something must've changed," mused Sadie.

She thought back to the wrecked helicopter in the Beta Kindergarten. Surely that couldn't have been it? It had only been one helicopter, and they'd saved the crew, hadn't they?

Distantly, she heard loud boots on the stairwell. She turned to the window, and moments later a few soldiers entered the lantern room. She glanced to Jenny - they nodded and headed back in.

The leader of the soldiers, a man in a blue uniform, was talking politely but firmly to Buck, Sour Cream and Ronaldo.

"...this lighthouse has been appropriated for use by the military as an observation post," he was saying, "You will need to vacate the premises."

"But I live here!" exclaimed Ronaldo.

"We can talk about compensation when the crisis is over," replied the officer, "But you'll need to leave. We need this building for use against the Crystal Gems."

"Use against the Crystal Gems?"

Ronaldo crossed his arms.

"I'll have you know that I used to be a Crystal Gem," he declared.

The officer and his troops exchanged glances.

Five minutes later, the officer shoved a handcuffed Ronaldo into the back of his jeep. He turned and nodded to the other kids.

"Sorry for the disruption, kids," he said.

He climbed into the jeep and drove away.

"Dang," said Buck.

"So," asked Sour Cream, "What do we do now? I mean, we can go to my place, but I kinda don't think I'm up for anymore song-writing..."

"We can go check in with Nana," suggested Jenny, "She's the mayor now, so she'll know what's happening, right?"

"Unless she's been arrested too," said Sadie darkly.

"I still don't get why they're doing this now," said Jenny, scratching her chin, "It just doesn't make any sense..."

Sadie thought back. She remembered the Delmarva Centre and the incident with the corrupted Quartz...

"OSS! Stay back!"

A man stepped through the dust, carrying a crowbar. Sadie's eyes widened.

It was Clancy Miller.

Sadie narrowed her eyes.

"Clancy," she growled.

"This is Captain Wayne Clark of the Gem Task Force!"

Pearl rolled her eyes.

She, Garnet, Amethyst and Peridot watched as the loud, angry captain bellowed into his microphone. He certainly seemed confident, which might have had something to do with the squads of troops that surrounded the Beach House, backed up by a half-dozen tanks. She wondered if they actually intended to attack the Temple.

"We have you surrounded on all sides!" the Captain thundered, "If you do not come out by sundown and surrender yourselves to our custody, we will be forced to assault your base with extreme force. I repeat, you have until sundown to comply!"

"What does he think he is, a cowboy or something?" asked Amethyst.

"He looks nothing like a cow," added Peridot dismissively.

"He's definitely confident." Pearl turned to Garnet, frowning. "Do they have a chance?"

Garnet shook her head.

"Not in a direct battle," she replied, "None of their weapons could penetrate the Temple door. We wouldn't even have to fight them."

"I get the sense there's a 'but' coming up, G," said Amethyst.

Garnet nodded.

"They seem willing to use our allies to get to us," she said flatly. "The humans in town. Greg. Connie..."

Pearl's hands flew to her lips, covering the tiny gasp that escaped her lips.

"Steven," she whispered.

Garnet only nodded, looking particularly severe as she gazed out of the window.

Beside them, Amethyst fidgeted uncomfortably. "I-I mean, they wouldn't actually do anything to the humans, right Garnet? They're supposed to protect them - like Greg and Connie are both humans! They couldn't just attack them, right? And Steven, too..."

"Steven isn't exactly human," Peridot corrected, though her usually poindexter attitude seemed awfully bitter.

Pearl looked about ready to draw swords, so Garnet raised a hand to stay their worries.

"There's a number of possibilities... I can't know for certain how this will play out. But we need to plan."

"There's a gem who wants to escape Homeworld," said Lapis, "I'm trying to help her."

Lapis' return had been met with laughter and hugs from Steven, which was understandable - but Connie had been less ecstatic. It seemed strange to her - Lapis had left because she was afraid of the Diamonds returning. Why, then, would she come back? And why would she recommend another gem come here? It just seemed too good to be true.

That having been said, it'd didn't look like Lapis was lying. Connie had learned the facial tics that people sometimes made when they weren't telling the truth, and Lapis had none of those; and there certainly wasn't any sign that she was brainwashed or anything. Still, something about this made her feel uneasy.

"Lapis, that's so nice of you!" exclaimed Steven, grinning broadly, "I'm sure the Gems would be thrilled to have her!"

Lapis smiled.

"I hope so," she replied, "I mean, they might not be glad to have me, after everything that's happened..."

"Water under the bridge," chuckled Steven, "You get it? Water? Because... because you do water stuff?"

Lapis laughed.

"No," she said.

"Well, I'll explain it to you one day," shrugged Steven. “C’mon, we’ve got to go back to the Temple right now! Peridot is there, and she’ll be so --”

“No!” Lapis flinched away like Steven had hit her. “N-no, I can’t face her. Not… not yet. We should help this gem first. She stole a ship and is just waiting for a signal to come down to the surface… I didn’t know where might be a good place?”

Connie tapped her chin, thoughtful. "Well, away from the army, at any rate."

She winced as she heard another fighter jet scream overhead.

"How about the warehouse?" asked Steven, "They probably won't look there, right? The only things there are Mr. Smiley's stash of old wrestling magazines!"

Connie nodded.

"That might work," she agreed, "Okay, let's go set it up for... Lapis, who was this gem again?"

"Seraphinite," replied Lapis.

Greg winced as the soldiers shoved him roughly to the office floor. He looked to his left, and found himself next to Doug and Priyanka - he swallowed and grinned nervously at them. Thankfully, they seemed more focused on being angry at the military officers than being angry at him.

"Major King's bringing the last one up now," one of the soldiers said.

"Good," nodded Bradshaw.

He was sitting behind the Mayor's desk, Clancy Miller and Philbert Bracknell behind him. The former looked as though his temper was threatening to burst through the dam of self-control - Bracknell, for his part, just looked confused. In front of them, Nanefua paced angrily, giving Bradshaw a piece of her mind.

"You have no right to detain my townsfolk," she snapped, "They haven't done anything wrong!"

"That's for me to decide, madam," replied Bradshaw, "I have orders to neutralise all threats. Other countries would've handled this in a far more violent fashion, and..."

"That doesn't make you right!" growled Nanefua.

The door opened. Major King marched into the room and pushed Ronaldo onto the ground next to Greg - for his part, he seemed to be slightly less forceful than the other soldiers. Slightly.

"Ronaldo?" quizzed Greg.

"I'm a person of interest!" said Ronaldo excitedly.

"Alright," said Bradshaw, standing up, "Douglas and Priyanka Maheswaran, Gregory Universe née DeMayo, and Ronaldo Fryman alias 'Bloodstone...'"

Ronaldo beamed.

"...you are charged with association with treasonous alien elements," he continued, "You will detained until..."

"Warrant," snapped Doug.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Bradshaw.

"Warrant," Doug repeated, "Where is it?"

"My warrant," snapped Bradshaw, "Is the power vested in me by the President of the United States. My warrant is my oath to the people, who I am sworn to protect."

He turned to King.

"Where are their kids, anyway?" he demanded.

"If you touch a hair on Connie's head," thundered Priyanka, leaning forward, "I swear..."

"...you'll go to prison for assaulting an officer," grunted Bradshaw.

"We couldn't find them, sir," replied King, "I've got men looking for them now. I've ordered them to use discretion to prevent..."

"Discretion?" snapped Bradshaw, "Does this look like the time for discretion?"

"...they're kids, sir," said King.

"They're a national security threat," replied Bradshaw, "I understand it's not easy, but I need Steven and Candy..."

"Connie, sir."

"Thank you, Ernest - Steven and Connie in custody."

Major King swallowed.

"Yes sir," he said, "I'll... I'll handle it myself, sir."

"See that you do."

King saluted and left the room.

"Now, we have a conundrum," said Bradshaw, scratching his chin, "We got a couple of Crystal Gems who aren't coming out of their hole. We need to coax them."

He turned to Greg and grinned.

"I think I know just how to do that," he continued, "Bracknell, take the other three to the town square - I'm sending them to Fort Raleigh for detainment, you're gonna make sure they make it intact."

Bracknell turned to Clancy, who nodded.

"Don't rock the boat, Bracknell," he whispered, "I'll sort this out as soon as I can."

Bracknell swallowed. A couple of soldiers barged into the room, pulling Priyanka and Doug to their feet. Greg watched as they were dragged out - as they left, he just about saw Priyanka mouth something to him.

It's not your fault.

He sighed in relief as Bracknell escorted Ronaldo out of the office. Nanefua shot the agent a dirty look as he left.

"And where," she demanded, "Is Fort Raleigh?"

"West," replied Bradshaw, "Clancy, grab Mr. Universe. We're going down to the beach."

Clancy furrowed his brow.

"The beach?" he replied incredulously, "You're not seriously thinking of..."

"If it gets 'em out, Miller, then yes."

"Sir, that breaks just about every protocol in the book!" exclaimed Clancy, "You can't..."

"What the President doesn't know, won't hurt him," replied Bradshaw.

Watching the malicious smirk play at the Colonel’s lips, Greg felt his stomach drop.

Sadie marched up the street, the Cool Kids struggling to keep up as she purposefully made her way to Barb's house. Her face was set into a deep scowl. They encountered Onion going the other way - he gulped when he saw Sadie and quickly crossed the road.

She opened the fence and marched to the front door. She knocked three times, with a lot more force than was probably necessary.

The door opened.

"Sadie?" Barb gasped, "You came back?"

"I need to talk to Clancy," replied Sadie, her fists clenched, "You have his number. I'm calling him... and then I need to go again."

She sighed, calming down slightly.

"I'm sorry, I just... I'm still not ready to talk."

There was a long silence as the Cool Kids caught up.

"Uh... apart from that, though, how's it going, Ms. Miller?" asked Sour Cream.

Clancy sat in his car, waiting for the soldiers to finish bundling a handcuffed Greg into the back of the Colonel's jeep. It wasn't so much that Greg was struggling - they'd blindfolded him, and he couldn't find his way into the car. The soldiers were trying and failing to direct him, and their sergeant's face was starting to look something like a swollen plum as he watched his troops fumble. It'd have been funny if the situation wasn't so serious.

His phone rang. Clancy grit his teeth and turned on the bluetooth speaker - now simply wasn't the time.

"Agent Clancy Miller?"

"What the hell is the army doing here?!"

Clancy winced. That was Sadie's voice.

"Sadie, uh, this-this isn't the time, I-I'm very busy..."

"Yeah, I noticed. Why are they going after the gems? What did you tell them?!"

"I told them to leave it well enough alone!" snapped Clancy, "It's not my fault they can't listen to their own advisors!"

The Colonel jumped into the jeep and it started. Clancy grunted, driving along behind him.

"Look, this is a really bad time," he said, "I'll get them out of here, but I need time..."

"What, you're just gonna give them the Crystal Gems?" demanded Sadie.

"They can't take 'em in a straight fight," replied Clancy, "You know..."

"So you'll just let other people get hurt! Just like you always do!"

Clancy winced.

"I'm working on it," he replied, "I... it's hard, okay! Talking to Bradshaw's like talking to a brick wall, and if I push too hard, he might... he might figure out I'm covering for you."

There was no reply, so he continued.

"They already think I know where the ruby is," he continued, "One step out of line and they could find me out. They could find you out! I-I want to help people, I want to stop them for from getting the Gems, but... but I won't do anything that leads them to you."

He sighed.

"I don't know if I can save everyone," he finished, "But I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I couldn't save you. I've done enough to hurt your family."

He pulled up at the end of the road, just in front of the slope up to the lighthouse.

"Look, I have to go," he said, "Just... lay low until this is finished, okay? I'll work it out."

"Clancy, you... I can't..."

He looked up. Bradshaw had climbed out of the jeep and was walking towards him.

"Sadie, I gotta hang up," he said, "I..."

Bradshaw leaned against the window. He was grinning now, like a shark who had just cornered his prey. Clancy furrowed his brow - what was he so happy about?

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a phone, pressing a button on it and pulling it to his ear.

"You didn't seriously think we wouldn't have bugged your phone, did you Clancy?"

"So, Sadie Miller."

Sadie's shivered as she listened to the voice on the other end of the line. It maintained the facade of military protocol, but there was a hint of grim, sneering satisfaction. She glanced over to her mother on the other side of the kitchen table - her face was set in a frown.

"I imagine you have my ruby," he said.

"It isn't yours," replied Sadie, trying hard not to sound as nervous as she was.

"Oh, but it is, Ms. Miller, and you're gonna deliver it to me," replied Bradshaw, "Or Clancy here is going to be in a bit of trouble..."

Faintly, Sadie could hear a dull thud and a cry of pain.

"And what if I can't?" asked Sadie.

Barb gritted her teeth and mouthed a reply. Don't tell them.

"Oh, I believe you can," said Bradshaw, "In fact, I believe you can take that ruby wherever you want. Ain't that right, 1GK?"

Sadie's blood ran cold.

"How long have you known?"

"I've suspected since the fire at the depot," explained Bradshaw, "But I knew after you drew your weapon in a public mall at Wilmingmore... oh come on, Clancy, you're a secret agent, you wouldn't tell me if you suspected me of something..."

Sadie swallowed.

"So what happens to me?" she asked, "If I give myself up?"

There was a long pause.

"I'm not at liberty to say."

Sadie closed her eyes and nodded.

"If I come," she said, "You leave the Crystal Gems alone. You let Clancy and everyone else you've kidnapped go. You leave Beach City and never come back. Got it?"

"Sadie, no!" exclaimed Barb.

"...deal. Half-an-hour, outside the Temple. Come alone."

The Colonel chuckled.

"I look forward to making your acquaintance."

The line went dead. Sadie collapsed into her chair, rubbing her forehead.

"Sadie!" exclaimed Barb, "You can't give yourself up! I'm not letting you..."

"Mom."

Sadie stood up.

"I've just had dumbest idea in history," she said, "And it's really dangerous, and I'm probably gonna have to wing most of this, because I haven't thought it through..."

She took a deep breath and offered Barb a shaky smile.

"...and I'm gonna need your help."

Barb stared for a just a moment, as if processing what Sadie had said. Then, very slowly, her face broke into a smile.

"That's my girl," she said.

Lapis paced back and forth in the warehouse, occasionally looking up into the afternoon sky. Connie watched her dubiously - she knew Steven trusted her completely, but she couldn't help but feel that something was distinctly off about her behaviour.

Quite suddenly, they heard a rustling outside the warehouse. All eyes fell on the door, which started to groan ominously.

"What's going on?" asked Steven, "Who is that?"

The door flew open with a loud crash. A squad of about six soldiers, led by a man in a blue uniform, burst into the warehouse, weapons drawn. The blue uniformed man advanced on the three, shouting a warning.

"My name is Major Ernest King!" he shouted, "I have orders to take Steven Universe and Connie Maheswaran into custody. Do not resist!"

"What?!" exclaimed Steven, "But we're innocent!"

"Where the heck is your warrant?!" demanded Connie.

Lapis narrowed her eyes.

"No," she said, "You can't be allowed to ruin this."

"This is a military matter, ma'am!" snapped King, "And... wait, you're a gem..."

Lapis raised her arms. The sea by the warehouse began to rise into the air, like a gigantic tsunami in slow motion. The soldiers looked up in horror as the foamy water twisted and formed into a giant fist, ready to smash down upon them; Connie's eyes widened as she realised that she and Steven were also in its shadow.

"Lapis, no, don't hurt them!" shouted Steven, running up to his friend.

Lapis turned to him, her face twisted into a dark scowl. For the briefest moment, Connie swore she saw a speck of white in her pupils.

"I'm sorry, Rose Quartz," she snarled, "But I won't allow anything to stop Seraphinite."

A sonic boom filled the air, shattering windows for about a mile around. Connie would have given it a lot more thought, except for the fact that it was swiftly followed by a much closer boom as the fist of water came down. She heard shouts and scream, a few scattered shots rang out, and then she was consumed by water. For a minute, she struggled desperately for breath, thrashing in the endless blue void.

Then, mercifully, she fell into darkness.

[englishchinesetranslations]

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

With a Russia-China-Iran triple bitch slap on the hegemon, we now have a brand new geopolitical chessboard...

It took 18 years after Shock and Awe unleashed on Iraq for the Hegemon to be mercilessly shocked and awed by a virtually simultaneous, diplomatic Russia-China one-two.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) meets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) in Beijing, China on March 23, 2021. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout/Anadolu Agency

How this is a real game-changing moment cannot be emphasized enough; 21st century geopolitics will never be the same again.

Yet it was the Hegemon who first crossed the diplomatic Rubicon. The handlers behind hologram Joe “I’ll do whatever you want me to do, Nance” Biden had whispered in his earpiece to brand Russian President Vladimir Putin as a soulless “killer” in the middle of a softball interview.

Not even at the height of the Cold War the superpowers resorted to ad hominem attacks. The result of such an astonishing blunder was to regiment virtually the whole Russian population behind Putin – because that was perceived as an attack against the Russian state.

Then came Putin’s cool, calm, collected – and quite diplomatic – response, which needs to be carefully pondered. These sharp as a dagger words are arguably the most devastatingly powerful five minutes in the history of post-truth international relations.

In For Leviathan, it’s so cold in Alaska, we forecasted what could take place in the US-China 2+2 summit at a shabby hotel in Anchorage, with cheap bowls of instant noodles thrown in as extra bonus.

China’s millennial diplomatic protocol establishes that discussions start around common ground – which are then extolled as being more important than disagreements between negotiating parties. That’s at the heart of the concept of “no loss of face”. Only afterwards the parties discuss their differences.

Yet it was totally predictable that a bunch of amateurish, tactless and clueless Americans would smash those basic diplomatic rules to show “strength” to their home crowd, distilling the proverbial litany on Taiwan, Hong Kong, South China Sea, “genocide” of Uighurs.

Oh dear. There was not a single State Dept. hack with minimal knowledge of East Asia to warn the amateurs you don’t mess with the formidable head of the Foreign Affairs Commission at the CCP’s Central Committee, Yang Jiechi, with impunity.

Visibly startled, but controlling his exasperation, Yang Jiechi struck back. And the rhetorical shots were heard around the whole Global South.

They had to include a basic lesson in manners:

“If you want to deal with us properly, let’s have some mutual respect and do things the right way”.

But what stood out was a stinging, concise diagnostic blending history and politics:

The United States is not qualified to talk to China in a condescending manner. The Chinese people will not accept that. It must be based on mutual respect to deal with China, and history will prove that those who seek to strangle China will suffer in the end.

And all that translated in real time by young, attractive and ultra-skilled Zhang Jing – who inevitably became an overnight superstar in China, reaping an astonishing 400 million plus hits on Weibo.

The incompetence of the “diplomatic” arm of the Biden-Harris administration beggars belief. Using a basic Sun Tzu maneuver, Yang Jiechi turned the tables and voiced the predominant sentiment of the overwhelming majority of the planet. Stuff your unilateral “rules-based order”. We, the nations of the world, privilege the UN charter and the primacy of international law.

So this is what the Russia-China one-two achieved almost instantaneously: from now on, the Hegemon should be treated, all across the Global South with, at best, disdain.

An inevitable historical process

Pre-Alaska, the Americans went on a charming offensive in Japan and South Korea for “consultations”. That’s irrelevant. What matters is post-Alaska, and the crucial Sergey Lavrov-Wang Yi meeting of Foreign Ministers in Guilin.

Lavrov, always unflappable, clarified in an interview with Chinese media how the Russia-China strategic partnership sees the current US diplomatic train wreck:

As a matter of fact, they have largely lost the skill of classical diplomacy. Diplomacy is about relations between people, the ability to listen to each other, to hear one another and to strike a balance between competing interests. These are exactly the values ​​that Russia and China are promoting in diplomacy.

The inevitable consequence is that Russia-China must “consolidate our independence: “The United States has declared limiting the advance of technology in Russia and China as its goal. So, we must reduce our exposure to sanctions by strengthening our technological independence and switching to settlements in national and international currencies other than the dollar. We need to move away from using Western-controlled international payment systems.”

Russia-China have clearly identified, as Lavrov pointed out, how the “Western partners” are “promoting their ideology-driven agenda aimed at preserving their dominance by holding back progress in other countries. Their policies run counter to the objective international developments and, as they used to say at some point, are on the wrong side of history. The historical process will come into its own, no matter what happens.”

As a stark presentation of an inevitable “historical process”, it doesn’t get more crystal clear than that. And predictably, it didn’t take time for the “Western partners” to fall back into – what else – their same old sanction bag of tricks.

Here we go again: a US, UK, EU, Canada “alliance” sanctioning selected Chinese officials because, in Blinken’s words, “the PRC [People’s Republic of China] continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.”

The EU, UK, and Canada didn’t have the guts to sanction a key player: Xinjiang party chief Chen Quanguo, who’s a Politburo member. The Chinese response would have been – economically – devastating.

Still, Beijing counterpunched with its own sanctions – targeting, crucially, the German far-right evangelical nut posing as “scholar” who produced the bulk of the completely debunked “proof” of a million Uighurs held in concentration camps.

Once again, the “Western partners” are impermeable to logic. Adding to the already appalling state of EU-Russia relations, Brussels chooses to also antagonize China based on a single fake dossier, playing right into the Hegemon’s not exactly secret Divide and Rule agenda.

Mission (nearly) accomplished: Brussels diplomats tell me the EU Parliament is all but set to refuse to ratify the China-EU trade deal painstakingly negotiated by Merkel and Macron. The consequences will be immense.

So Blinken will have reasons to be cheerful when he meets assorted eurocrats and NATO bureaucrats this week, ahead of the NATO summit.

One has to applaud the gall of the “Western partners”. It’s 18 years since Shock and Awe – the start of the bombing, invasion and destruction of Iraq. It’s 10 years since the start of the total destruction of Libya by NATO and its GCC minions, with Obama-Biden “leading from behind”. It’s 10 years since the start of the savage destruction of Syria by proxy – complete with jihadis disguised as “moderate rebels”.

Yet now the “Western partners” are so mortified by the plight of Muslims in Western China.

At least there are some cracks within the EU illusionist circus. Last week, the French Armed Forces Joint Reflection Circle (CRI) – in fact an independent think tank of former high officers – wrote a startling open letter to cardboard NATO secretary-general Stoltenberg de facto accusing him of behaving as an American stooge with the implementation of NATO 2030 plan. The French officers drew the correct conclusion: the US/NATO combo is the main cause of appalling relations with Russia.

These Ides of March

Meanwhile, sanctions hysteria advance like a runaway train. Biden-Harris has already threatened to impose extra sanctions on Chinese oil imports from Iran. And there’s more in the pipeline – on manufacturing, technology, 5G, supply chains, semiconductors.

And yet nobody is trembling in their boots. Right on cue with Russia-China, Iran has stepped up the game, with Ayatollah Khamenei issuing the guidelines for Tehran’s return to the JCPOA.

1. The US regime is in no position to make new demands or changes regarding the nuclear deal.

2. The US is weaker today than when the JCPOA was signed.

3. Iran is in a stronger position now. If anyone can impose new demands it’s Iran and not the US.

And with that we have a Russia-China-Iran triple bitch slap on the Hegemon.

In our latest conversation/interview, to be released soon in a video + transcript package, Michael Hudson – arguably the world’s top economist – hit the heart of the matter:

The fight against China, the fear of China is that you can’t do to China, what you did to Russia. America would love for there to be a Yeltsin figure in China to say, let’s just give all of the railroads that you’ve built, the high-speed rail, let’s give the wealth, let’s give all the factories to individuals and let the individuals run everything and, then we’ll lend them the money, or we’ll buy them out and then we can control them financially. And China’s not letting that happen. And Russia stopped that from happening. And the fury in the West is that somehow, the American financial system is unable to take over foreign resources, foreign agriculture. It is left only with military means of grabbing them as we are seeing in the near East. And you’re seeing in the Ukraine right now.

To be continued. As it stands, we should all make sure that the Ides of March – the 2021 version – have already configured a brand new geopolitical chessboard. The Russia-China Double Helix on high-speed rail has left the station – and there’s no turning back.

[jambrass0-blog]

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction and Negative Churn

My grandfather said to me once: “Two negatives can create a positive in English, but what is the point of that?” He continued by saying: “It is clever dialogue when Bert says to Mary Poppins ‘If you don’t want to go nowhere…,’ but that phrasing was intended as humor, rather than to improve clarity.” He was referring to the lyric “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in a song by the Rolling Stones I was listening to at the time. That story reminds me of a joke:

A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. “In English,” he said, “a double negative creates a positive. In some languages though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However,” he pointed out, “there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative.” A voice from the back of the room then spoke up, “Yeah, right.”

I have similar feelings to those expressed by my grandfather when I encounter the business term “negative churn” since it is also a double negative. The origin story of the term “negative churn” I have heard is that it was invented by Bessemer Venture Partners. My guess is that Bessemer had a portfolio company that was losing customers due to customer churn, but the business was gaining enough revenue from existing customers that the net change in revenue was net positive. In short, the tern “negative churn” was probably created as a form of Kryptonite to downplay the existence of customer churn. It seems clear that some people believe that negative churn is useful in talking up the value an increase in net revenue to counter the existence of customer churn. This Kryptonite-style rhetorical approach reminds of the way doctors use Latin terms to impress patients or some people use terms like “adjusted EBITDA before items.”

Derek Pilling identifies another problem wit the terms negative churn here:

“What if the revenue gained from existing customers who purchase more over time is less than revenue lost from existing customers who purchase less over time. Such a scenario would indicate that Negative Churn is NEGATIVE! Can Negative Churn be negative? Should we call this scenario Negative, Negative Churn? Of course not.”

The simplest way to describe what some people call “negative churn” would be to rename it “expansion revenue” or “account expansion.” There are a few helpful of blog posts and articles on the internet about this type of revenue written by several people including Lincoln Murphy. After including this tweet in his essay:

Murphy writes that businesses which know how to grow expansion revenue are:

“really good at promoting additional use that requires more resources or additional functionality which expands revenue, as well as using up-sells and cross-sells to grow per-customer revenue. In my experience, since SaaS providers with high churn rates simply don’t do the things necessary to reduce churn in the first place, they rarely do things necessary to expand revenue at all, let alone enough to overcome what is lost through churn. From what I’ve seen, providers with an unacceptable SaaS churn rate don’t know how to – or for whatever reason simply choose not to – leverage up-sell, cross-sell, or even down-sell opportunities, so their churn rate is rarely offset by expansion revenue.”

What are some examples of expansion revenue? One example of expansion revenue is upselling and another is cross-selling.

I will discuss upselling first, which happens when a business sells a higher-end version of the same product. David Skok explains upselling quite simply using an illustration:

Joel York writes:

“Upselling increases the average recurring revenue per customer over time. It is an increase in price, not volume. SaaS churn is fundamentally a volume problem, negative virality. Upselling is better viewed as a transition from one average price scenario to another. It can soften the impact of churn, but it cannot reverse it.”

A so-called freemium business model is just one example of an “upsell” or cross-sell. The freemium model is classically illustrated here in a South Park episode:

And here:

One unsavory and sometimes illegal form of upsell is the bait and switch, which is a sales tactic that lures customers into a selling environment with low prices on unavailable items with the aim of upselling them on a more expensive product. If the seller has the “bait” in stock and is willing to sell it but talks the buyer into buying something else, that is not “bait and switch.” If the seller does not intend to or cannot sell the “bait,” it is often illegal.

In addition to using upselling to increase revenue per customer, the same objective can be created via “cross-selling,” which is selling different products to the same customers. In his post on negative churn Tomasz Tunguz explain that a cross-sell includes selling: “adjacent products that increases the value of the core product (ex. AWS S3, EMR, etc).” Salesforce.com both does cross-selling and enables it in its products:

Some examples of cross-selling include an electronics retailer offering a deal on a computer case, mouse, and screen cleaning wipes to a customer who purchases a new laptop, or an insurance provider offering renters’ insurance to its car policyholders.

One of the more notable examples of a failure related to cross-selling done improperly is the Wells Fargo example. This bank created incentive programs for cross selling that went disastrously off the rails. I could write a long blog post on what went wrong in the case of Well Fargo. Have they abandoned cross-selling? No. That cross-selling remains core to any financial service supermarket’s business model. American Banker magazine notes:

“Wells has stopped reporting its fabled cross-selling ratio, and executives at the bank have spoken about moving from a sales-oriented culture to one that is more service-driven. But one of the clearest messages from the embattled company’s investor day was that selling additional products to existing customers remains a key part of the bank’s strategy. Top Wells executives crowed Thursday about steps they are taking to improve customer referrals from the bank’s sprawling branch network to its wealth management unit. And in what seemed like déjà vu, the bank’s head of consumer lending said that one of his key strategies for building the mortgage business is to attract more of Wells Fargo’s existing customers.

Other businesses in other industries rely on cross-selling in a big way. For example, a software business like Twilio or a hardware and software business like Cisco are successfully cross-selling other services (like video and security features) to customers.  Open View Labs has a slide which illustrate cross-selling:

Upselling and cross-selling are very desirable even if conflating them by using the term negative churn is not. David Skok has created a slide explaining negative churn but underneath it all is really “expansion revenue:

How do you do upsell? Skok again has a simple but clear explanatory slide below in which the key addition to the usual sales funnel (in blue) is an extender for expansion revenue (in green pointed to by the red arrow):

The cost to acquire a new customer by means of an upsell versus a cross-sell are quite different. David Skok points out: The median CAC ratio per $1 of upsells is $0.27, or 24% of the CAC to acquire each new customer dollar. The CAC ratio number for expansions is $0.20, or 18% of the CAC to acquire each new customer dollar. For renewals, it is $0.13, or 12%. These results are substantially similar to previous years.” This survey that Skok is basing his statements on illustrates the difference:

One important aspect of all this is to understand what Bill Gurley said here:

“The LTV formula, when used correctly, can be a good tactical tool for monitoring and comparing like-minded variable market programs, especially across channels. But like any model, its proper use is entirely dependent on the assumptions used in that model. Also, people who have a hidden agenda or who confuse a model with reality can misuse it.”

It is possible to use a churn model that contains equations like this:

And many variables like this:

That something is possible, does not mean it is always useful. It depends. I am sometimes pleased with the result when someone does this sort of very complex modelling work on a variable like churn and even more pleased that it is not me doing that work. The best goal is to be approximately right, rather than precisely wrong. Complex is not necessarily better. A complex model is only as good as its assumptions and the real world is filled with risk, uncertainty and ignorance. Some probability distributions of possible future states of the world are not known and some future states of the world are not known. Uncertainty and ignorance are always present. The real world is rarely merely risky like roulette. Formulas can’t make uncertainty and ignorance disappear.

Customer churn is never good and its negative financial impact can often be nonlinear. Replacing a customer who churns means more customer acquisition cost whereas keeping that customer is usually far less expensive (renewal CAC). Pilling adds to what he said above: “Churn should be analyzed independently from the revenue lift from upsell (or extension) that has the potential to drive organic revenue growth in an installed base of customers. Conflating the two is dangerous.” It is important to start with first principles in looking a these issues related to negative churn as is illustrated in this analogous case from another problem set:

One aspect of modern business and financial terms that isn’t talked about nearly enough is how far behind Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are behind actual business and financial practices. GAAP often still assumes that a business is just like the pin factory that Adam Smith wrote about in his book Wealth of Nations. As just one example, customer “churn” does not have a standard definition. Churn is a measure of negative growth. But the definitions of churn people and businesses use are all over the map. One article on the topic reveals that the authors found: “43 different ways public SaaS companies were accounting for the metric.” If mobile operators and other types of businesses where included the figure would be far higher.

Here are some example definitions:

Retention rate: The probability that a customer keeps his relationship with a business over a given period. The retention rate can be estimated from an analysis of historical data.

Churn Rate: The probability that a customer ends the relationship with a business during a given period. The churn rate is (1- retention rate). In other words, churn is the reciprocal of the retention rate.

To make matters even more complex, there is “user churn” and there is “revenue churn” which are not the same. There is net churn and gross churn. And there is logo churn. Will the accounting profession ever respond to the fact that we have evolved beyond an economy compose of Pin Factories? Maybe. But perhaps I should not complain since understanding the difference between a pin factory and a modern business is a huge source of investing alpha. Endowing a Pin Factory Chair of Accounting and SEC reporting might be a good idea to preserve potential investing alpha for future generations.

This is Charlie Munger on the limitations of accounting generally:

“…accounting [is] the language of practical business life. It was a very useful thing to deliver to civilization. I’ve heard it came to civilization through Venice which of course was once the great commercial power in the Mediterranean. However, double-entry bookkeeping was a hell of an invention. And it’s not that hard to understand. But you have to know enough about it to understand its limitations because although accounting is the starting place, it’s only a crude approximation. And it’s not very hard to understand its limitations. For example, everyone can see that you have to more or less just guess at the useful life of a jet airplane or anything like that. Just because you express the depreciation rate in neat numbers doesn’t make it anything you really know.”

Despite this complexity, some definition of churn must be selected since this variable must be used in a formula that is a helpful guide to running a business when used correctly. Similarly, a definition of revenue per customer must be determined and calculated. Be careful out there.

If you want to learn more about churn you might want to try my classic essay: “Everyone Poops and has Customer Churn” https://25iq.com/2017/01/27/everyone-poops-and-has-customer-churn-and-a-dozen-notes/

End Notes:

http://chaotic-flow.com/negative-churn-its-not-that-i-dont-dislike-it-i-do/

http://derekpilling.com/negative-churn/

http://abovethecrowd.com/2012/09/04/the-dangerous-seduction-of-the-lifetime-value-ltv-formula/

https://www.profitwell.com/blog/the-complete-saas-guide-to-calculating-churn-rate-and-keeping-it-simple

https://sixteenventures.com/negative-saas-churn-rate

http://tomtunguz.com/negative-churn/

https://www.thesaascfo.com/what-is-net-negative-churn-in-saas/

https://www.forentrepreneurs.com/why-churn-is-critical-in-saas/

https://www.americanbanker.com/news/cross-selling-isnt-dead-and-other-takeaways-from-wells-fargos-investor-day

https://labs.openviewpartners.com/the-magic-of-negative-churn/#.W2ngNNJKi70

http://derekpilling.com/negative-churn/

https://www.quora.com/Could-the-customer-churn-rate-be-negative

https://www.chargebee.com/blog/saas-unit-economics-negative-churn/

http://www.pm.lth.se/fileadmin/pm/Exjobb/Filer_fram_till_foerra_aaret/Exjobb_2013/Flordahl___Friberg/CLV_ERICSSON_Flordal_Friberg.pdf

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1704.05729.pdf

https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2018/08/09/dropbox-inc-dbx-q2-2018-earnings-conference-call-t.aspx

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Source: https://25iq.com/2018/08/25/i-cant-get-no-satisfaction-and-negative-churn/

[jbtuned]

Looking to get more fuel out of your current fuel system? Recently upgraded to a Walbro 450, Deatcchwerks 400 or any number of the AEM, Aeromotive etc. 300 series fuel pumps out there on the market? How about you already have or want to switch to AN braided or Stainless Steel Fuel lines? How about increasing your overall fuel flow efficiency by up to 30% and for cheap.

Yea, I said Cheap and who doesn’t want more available fuel. More air and fuel means more power after all.

We recently released our JBtuned OEM Hanger Modification Kit. This kit is a very cost effective solution for anyone who has been looking to get every last drop of fuel from a single in tank fuel pump such as the Walbro 450.

Fuel pump technology has majorly improved over the years with new pumps claiming numbers up to 700hp using a single in tank pump setup. This really is a huge benefit for the enthusiast who is not looking to sump a tank, run an aftermarket tank or doesn’t want the headache for building a surge tank setup. Clean, simple, drop it in and boom you have the fuel you need.

With these more powerful pumps comes new problems.

The Problem we are fixing

The OEM Civic, Integra, etc. Fuel pump Hanger is the most restrictive part of the fuel system and its the part no one seems to upgrade or they do it in such a way to hurt performance.

There is no point increasing your fuel lines to a larger size just to bottleneck the system by using OEM size feed and returns coming through the OEM Top Hat. Increasing the size of these passages is a must if you truly want to see the gains of all those fuel performance parts you purchased not to mention increase the life expectancy of your fuel pump.

Before we get started I have listed all the cars this kit will work for.

Application List:

Ef Civic

CRX

EG Civic

EK Civic

DA Integra

DC Integra

Delsol

Prelude

Wiring

Running something like a 450 on your OEM wires is a sure way to start a fire. When a pump can pull over 20 amps you really will need to run upgraded wiring and relay. When using Tefzel wire I personally use 14-12 AWG on my Honda setups.

So the question becomes. How do you get the wiring into the tank safely without leaks, vapors, and permanently attaching them in.

We use a special bulkhead wire fitting for the job. This fitting allows you to run your wires into/out of the hanger and provides a solid seal around the wires. No epoxy needed.

  Feed Line

This is where the major improvement in fuel flow comes in. Your factory feed line was never designed to support the horsepower numbers that current forced induction and high compression naturally aspirated engines are producing these days.

All too often I see tuners adapting the OEM hanger inlet and outlets to 6an 8an and even 10an fuel lines. These are usually run from the top hat to the fuel rail and back. This is a huge problem as you are leaving the most restrictive part of your fuel system, the OEM hanger to massively restrict your flow.

What our kit does to fix this issue is replace the feed outlet section with a fitting properly sized for each fuel pump and adapts it to 6an or 8an hose.

Example. The outlet of a Walbro 450 is 3/4. Or feed fitting come with a 3/4 Barb end for the in tank portion and either 6an or 8an for the outside of the hanger.

This removes any restrictions and removes excess stress on your fuel pump itself.

The actual feed line

The actual feed line used is convoluted submersible PTFE Tube that was specifically chosen for its ability to handle corrosive ethanol based fuels, maintain strength and flexibility. We mold our tubing to match the exact outlet size of the fuel pump your using. This removes restriction starting inside the gas tank and continues through the hanger into your AN Lines.

Clarifying an earlier statement

Earlier in this article I said that alot of people upgrade there hanger wrong. Let me explain.

For the longest time when I have seen someone trying to modify there OEM hanger they all to often realize that standard AN fittings will not allow the OEM tank cover to be used. This usually results in the use of a hard cut 90 degree bulkhead to keep the height down. This is the problem. You should never if possible force a fluid to make an immediate or harsh turn. By doing this you are creating cavitation in the fuel system and while you might increase flow you are still hurting yourself and not getting maximum performance our of your system.

Cavitation if you don’t know is the enemy here.

Here is a great video done by injector dynamics of the topic if you would like to learn more

Return Line

The return line uses your old factory feed line as a return line. We supply a quick connect fitting to 6an adapter to make install as simple as possible. There is not really alot to say here other than it works and it works well.

e85 / Ethanol Proof

Another advantage of running our hanger setup is the resistances to e85. Everything included in our kits is made from the highest grade materials such as PTFE and stainless steel to prevent corrosion and decay of parts from extended exposure to Ethanol based fuels.

Top Hat / Tank Cover Modification

Real estate on the OEM Hanger is very limited. You will find that the Pump hanger will have to be modified by drilling and cutting sections of the metal off to make room for the larger fittings. Some hangers such as the Eg Ef civics require more work than the dc Integra or Ek civic.

As much as we tried, there is no way to upgrade your hanger setup without the modification of your tank cover. Here is an example of how you can modify the cover.

Conclusion

Our JBtuned hanger Mod kit is the easiest, cost effective and complete way to modify your OEM hanger to really take advantage of your single fuel pump.

Here is the Direct Link if your interested in purchasing our kit.

JBtuned OEM Hanger Modification Kit

  Increase Fuel Flow by 30% for your EG EK Civic DC2 Integra by modifying your OEM Fuel Pump Hanger Looking to get more fuel out of your current fuel system? Recently upgraded to a Walbro 450, Deatcchwerks 400 or any number of the AEM, Aeromotive etc.

[katef-m]

Roll Bus Roll | Baltimore, MD (ii)

Back at base in Baltimore. 

Bags of laundry, and a morning in the coffee place downstairs, putting rough thought to 2017. Thinking about cities, and studying, and flights. 

A long, long, twelve mile run in early wafts of snow, so long it is nearly dark again when it comes to stretching and showering. Ice cream from a local creamery. All the John Cusack movies, Molly Ringwald too, but mostly Cusack: making friends pause for Springsteen’s High Fidelity cameo, and watching Say Anything’s boombox/car scene for the first time. 

The brunch of all brunches at Papermoon Diner, another recommendation from my history professor (‘I spent many an early, early morning there’), where the walls and beams are colourful, the ceiling stuffed with old toys and suspended ephemera, the pancakes vast, and the coffee bottomless. 

And then I am California-bound, again.

I am sensible enough to journey back to the airport in daylight this time, but the snow, which began to fall that morning, flakes so fluffy they seem to fall upwards, lines sidewalks quickly and thickly. Everybody on the Charm City Circulator wears an adequately-hooded coat; I do not. It is very cold. Judging by my insufficient attire, awkward bags, and incompetent traversal of snow, it would appear Llewyn Davis has switched Greenwich Village/Chicago for Baltimore (though I lack the guitar and the ginger tom). It is even colder at the light rail station, which sits in between roads, gathering the city’s snow in drifts. Here I meet Mike, who wears a veteran cap and round glasses, talks fast, lisps. He was in Vietnam, but what he wants to tell me about, when he twigs my accent, is his Navy SEALs service in Northampton, England. 

The unwieldy light rail comes clumbering out of the blizzard air and I sit in the second carriage. On every corner the train takes, the empty drivers seat spins wildly. Mike sits nearby, and rings somebody called Sarah - his wife, presumably - to check she’ll be there with the car at the station. I watch the veering landscape through wet windows: telephone lines, flat flaked rows of prefabs, plumes of factory smoke mingling with snow clouds, patches of grass beige and khaki and muted.

There’s another passenger opposite me, a man with a bicycle and a tupperware of cold leftover stew. His hair and beard are thick and flecked with grey, his eyes dark, and he’s wearing a hi-vis jacket, waterproof trousers, a balaclava, tailored bin bags over his shoes. He peels off his layers of makeshift snow-proofing and thermals carefully, methodically. He peels everything off to eat. After eating, he gives himself a head massage, his tan hands splayed around the back of his crown. Then he sits very still with the backs of his hands resting on his knees, as if meditating, except his eyes are open. Underneath all his weatherproofing, everything he wears - t shirt, jumper - is purple. His battered backpack is purple. Two stops before he gets off he begins to layer up again, and clips his helmet back on. It's still snowing outside.

In the airport I drink a McDonalds coffee - surprisingly good - and watch snow whiten the runways and pile up along the edges of buildings and aeroplane wings. Somehow my plane isn’t delayed. A man plays Duolingo on his phone and eats an apple, the volume - of both activities - turned right up. The entire gate is aware each time he progresses a level.

It's about -18 degrees in the tunnel between plane and gate and we all turn a little blue. On the runway before take-off the plane gets painted with bright multi-coloured de-icer fluid, from small funny vehicles with extended hoses. They look like mechanical giraffes, but I’m more interested in when the plane will actually take off and the seatbelt sign switch off, because I’m desperate for the bathroom. It’s like the final scene of Say Anything, in fact: just a lot less romantic. 

* * *

And then inside some tiny dream

And inside that some kind of me

And outside us rolls the bus and the time will go by

Till inside me I am asleep

[itsworn]

Engine Dyno Technique, Gen III Gasket Help, Weird AMC Engine Trivia

Chicken or Egg: Dyno Style

Peter Stanwicks; Haddam, CT: I don’t have any muscle cars or hot rods, but really admire the technology and craftsmanship. I mostly do old sports cars and boats. My most recent project was building a Bristol 100D cross-pushrod engine. What is the procedure for an engine dyno test? Is a load put on the engine gradually as the throttle is opened to wide-open throttle (WOT)? Is the load then reduced to allow the engine to gain rpm? Another way to ask the question: Is the entire dyno test done at WOT and the load varied to produce the rpm?

Steve Magnante: Interesting question, and one with a couple of answers. In the old days, dynos were manually operated and had two control levers: one connected to the carburetor and the other to the dyno to manipulate load. The results could be influenced by the operator and the technique used. Dyno operators had to be well trained or damage could result.

But today’s dynos are mostly automated and have one handle (or dial) that controls the throttle. Outfits like Superflow, Dynamic Test Systems (DTS), and Land & Sea manufacture a range of affordable dyno units, helping the practice of dyno testing and tuning spread throughout the land. Before this, dynos were the sole province of Detroit automakers and only the most well-funded professional race teams and engine shops.

During a test on a modern commercial unit, the operator generally pushes the handle from idle to full open (WOT) in a steady move that takes just a couple of seconds. From there, the handle is maxed and the computer controller takes over as long as the operator keeps the handle buried (pulling the handle back aborts the run in an emergency). To answer your question, the carburetor/EFI throttle blades are wide open throughout the test, which usually takes place over 15 to 20 seconds. Of course, without a load, revs would shoot to the moon and parts would scatter. But because the crank is attached to a power-absorption unit, it’s safely harnessed and protected from destruction. And it is the power-absorption unit that is discussed next.

Most affordable dynos found in small shops are of the water-brake variety. Here, a rotational element (affixed to the crankshaft) churns inside a stationary housing (stator). It’s quite similar to a torque converter, but with the converter held still and using water instead of ATF. The amount of drag on the crank/engine is controlled automatically by the dyno computer.

A strain gauge connected between the non-moving stator and its rigid mount determines how much torque the crankshaft is spitting out. Then, since horsepower is a mathematical equation derived from torque, the horsepower curve/chart is calculated by the dyno’s computer—as well as torque. Other sensors monitor, record, and print out information pertaining to A/F ratio, brake-specific fuel consumption, fluid temperatures, and more.

More expensive eddy-current dynos rely on an electrical current instead of water. Here, a steel rotating element (affixed to the crank) spins through an electromagnetic field. Increasing the magnetism adds load against the crank, which is then measured as torque. The eddy-current dynos are far more costly, but offer greater load-control precision. They can hold an engine within 1 or 2 rpm versus the less precise water-brake’s 5 to 10 rpm capability.

The cream of the crop is alternating-current dynos, which use (essentially) a huge AC electric motor. These dynos can measure engine output (by absorbing power), but also have the ability to reverse the situation, bully the engine, and power the crankshaft. This is useful in replicating real-world, on-track conditions where downshifting, upshifting, and coasting are part of the horsepower-delivery picture. In these modes, the rear tires of a moving car can actually “motor” the engine due to vehicle momentum. While water-brake and eddy-current dynos are passive, AC dynos can be active and copy this sort of condition.

To further answer your question about the relationship between the engine and dyno during testing, every dyno is calibrated to keep a firm grip on the crankshaft as they arm-wrestle each other. If this grip was iron-tight, the engine wouldn’t be able to accelerate and no data would be gathered. So dyno power-absorption units must be set to allow the engine to creep up to the preset redline. This is called the acceleration rate and is generally measured in rpm per second. Most commercial dynos let the engine rpm rise at the rate of 300 to 600 rpm per second, but this can be manipulated. Hopefully, this sheds some light on the dyno situation for you. As for your Bristol, there’s no law that says every car has to have a V8 to be quick and fun.

Hardly bigger than a 5-pound coffee can, the power-absorption unit—aka water-brake—is exactly that. Fairly inexpensive, water-brake test stands brought dyno testing to the common man.

Reader Peter Stanwick’s Bristol mill has hemispherical chambers, but every other pushrod is horizontal! You gotta Google “1938 BMW 328 engine” to see how it works!

In-Car, LS Cam-Swap Advice

Dave Conant; via CarCraft.com: I have an LS3 in a 1969 Nova, and I’m thinking about swapping cams. I really don’t want to go through the hassle of pulling the engine and want to do the swap in the car. I’m worried about the harmonic damper and front cover. I know Gen III engines don’t use alignment pins or dowels anywhere but the heads and transmission. How do I install the front cover so the seal is centered before the damper goes back on?

Steve Magnante: Being a total, clean-sheet design, the Gen III small-block gave Chevrolet engineers a rare opportunity to eliminate some to the previous small- and big-block’s more frustrating traits. Back in 1955 when Harry Barr, Ed Cole, and the guys whipped up the original 265ci mouse V8, many competing American V8 engine-block designs featured bulk-adding, deep-skirt crankcase extensions. By slashing the block down to the crankcase centerline, more than 50 pounds of dead weight was eliminated from the block alone. Then by making the intake manifold do double duty as the tappet valley cover, even more weight was saved.

But the resulting oil pan rail/timing cover was a sealing nightmare. With its dual cork side gaskets and semicircle end seals (one-piece by 1986), achieving a leak-free assembly was rare. By contrast, the Gen III takes sealing to a whole new level. All mating surfaces are flat and uninterrupted, and a new wave of gaskets—with integral silicone beads and foolproof, anti-crush shims—are the norm. They’re easy to seal up and rarely leak a drop of fluid.

That said, your observation regarding the Gen III’s lack of front cover-alignment pins is correct. The goal is to position the timing cover so there is equal distance all around the crank snout and seal before tightening it down. It’s not a big deal—if the engine is on a stand and out of the car. There, you can eyeball things and get by. But with the engine in the car, unless you’re a giraffe, it’s about impossible.

Predicting this hassle, GM service departments were issued special tools and fixtures to aid in-car servicing. Tool subcontractor Kent Moore Tools offers what you need. Get the front and rear cover-alignment tool set (PN J41476) and harmonic-damper installation kit (PN J41665). These tools and fixtures are easy to use and yield a leak-free job.

Speaking of yield, don’t forget that the factory damper bolt; like all fasteners on the Gen III V8, it’s a one-time-use, torque-to-yield item. The factory guide says to use the Kent Moore damper-installation tool to seat the damper after your cam swap. Then it says to take the old bolt and use it to crank down the damper to 240 ft-lb. Then you’re supposed to remove the old bolt and replace it with a fresh one. This bolt gets tightened to 37 ft-lb and a second pass with a rotational-angle-type torque wrench spins it another 140 degrees past the 37–ft-lb mark. Doing all of this in the car is a hassle. You can skip it by switching to an old-fashioned bolt from ARP (PN 234-2503). It’s even reusable!

More Info ARP Fasteners; 800/826-3045; ARP-bolts.com Kent Moore Tools; 888/220-8350; ToolSource.com

Some AMC Weirdness

Steve Magnante: Nobody asked for this one, but the aluminum-block construction seen in this month’s Bristol and LS3 engine discussions reminded me of some cool AMC engine history. Did you know AMC offered an optional aluminum-block, six-cylinder engine in 1961–1964? Manufactured for AMC by the Doehler-Jarvis division of the National Lead Company, it was essentially an aluminum-block version of Rambler’s iron 195.6ci OHV six. The alloy mill saved 50 pounds and was only offered in the midsize Rambler Classic—never the compact American (bummer).

AMC also toyed with an all-aluminum V8 that never saw mass production. Based on Rambler’s first 250, 287, 327 V8 family (1956–1967), only prototypes were made. Alcoa (the Aluminum Company of America) was in charge of casting the T356 sandcast blocks and heads. I discovered a 327ci version (in parts) in the hands of hardcore Rambler historian and collector Larry Daum.

One final bit of AMC engine trivia concerns the 1983 2.5L Jeep inline-four-cylinder engine. A replacement for the Pontiac-sourced 2.5 four used previously, the new 2.5 was expanded into the 4.0L inline-six in 1988. At AMC’s Kenosha, Wisconsin, engine plant, the four- and six-cylinder heads were machined on the same line for efficiency. But since the four-banger head was shorter than the six, it was cast with a dummy extension that allowed it to fit onto the same drilling, decking, tapping, and so on stations as the longer 4.0 head. After the final machining operation was completed, the stub was simply sawed off. The circular shaved area that accepts the thermostat housing on the 2.5 is where the stub used to exist. If only engines could talk—the stories they’d tell!

More than 100,000 aluminum-block sixes were installed in early 1960s Rambler Classics. I found this one in a Massachusetts boneyard.

Rambler’s version of an LS1, this lightweight 327 was produced in 1957 by Alcoa as a feasibility study.

The post Engine Dyno Technique, Gen III Gasket Help, Weird AMC Engine Trivia appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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[tenleaguesbeneath]

A few things that would make trains in Factorio better

1) More circuit network interaction. Specifically, I’m thinking train stops should be able to, 1, send a signal to the network when a train is in the station (not sure whether there should be a fixed channel for this or if it should be settable on the stop), ideally with the value of that signal being adjustable on the train’s properties (so the circuit network can know when a train is in the station and which train it is). This would let you make train stations that send goods to outposts more compact because they have some idea where the train is going (actually, you could also assign stops numbers and have them able to read off a train’s next destination, too), and 2, send the train’s cargo to the circuit network.

2) Block visualization. I see this as a button you can press (probably a keybind, maybe even make it part of the mode you toggle with alt, or something that just happens automatically when you hold or mouseover a signal like a roboport’s logistic and construction areas) that highlights different rail blocks in different colors. This is to make signaling complex junctions easier

While on the topic of usability things and signals, a better chain signal tooltip. Maybe “A signal that does not allow a train to enter a block unless it can enter the next, allowing for rail sections to be kept clear”; “better control of trains” is vague enough to be useless and it took me until my third time reading the wiki article that I understood what chain signals actually did.

3) More color customizability. Like instead of just having one color for the painted parts of the train, maybe have a main color, a highlight color, possibly a pattern (defining what’s main and what’s highlight), and maybe a decal you can add with one or two colors. This is mostly to make trains even more distinguishable when you’re running like 20 of them.

4) Being able to give trains permission to skip stations would be nice. I can see “skip if there’s a train in the station when you get to the last signal before it or the first chain signal before that” (if you have two trains serving one outpost, for instance, and they end up one right after the other, you can give them permission to skip it instead of waiting for the other) and “skip if you meet your conditions to leave the station when you leave the previous station” (so a train might skip a station if it’s full from the previous)

5) Being able to set leave conditions based on the inventory in specific cars. So you can have a “Inventory full: Car 3″ or “Cargo: Iron Ore > 1000 in Car 1″ on your leave conditions. This would be for if you have a train serve several outposts, loading a different car at each outpost (so as to make it so that you don’t entirely deplete one ore patch while doing nothing to the others), it can leave when that outpost’s car is full.

6) Stop Equivalencies. Being able to link two stops in a way that tells trains that they are equivalent and part of the same station, so that a train told to go to one can switch and use the other if it is full. This is, again, for managing multiple trains coming from outposts into your hub at once; if you have two unloading stops at your iron foundry serving five trains, for instance, it’d be more convenient if a train could be told to just take whichever one’s free rather than having one that it takes, and waits for if there’s another train there when it arrives even if the other one’s free. This situation is maybe more relevant to me because I use my rail network as my main bus and therefore everything that would go on my main bus passes through my central station, and so I have trains from my circuit production module, oil refinery, battery machine, and so on all piling into one unloading station

7) Dynamic slot reserving. The way I imagine this working is being able to have reserved slot “pages” (i.e. complete wagon inventories), and have it switch between preset pages of reserved slots at preset stops, inventory permitting (meaning that if a slot has something and wants to be reserved for something else, it doesn’t get reserved (maybe if there are blank slots on the page, one gets used instead or the offending item gets moved to them, but maybe it just gets in the way so you need to unload the car completely before reserving it). This might be a feature of an Advanced Cargo Wagon of some kind. This would allow a train to, e.g. go on a circuit where it gets iron from some stops with some slots reserved for copper and coal, goes on to a copper mine, and then clears those copper slot reservations when it goes to a coal mine, then goes to the smelteries to unload, setting its reserved slots as it begins its route again; with a train bus setup, it would also allow a train to have a bunch of reserved slots for copper, iron, plastic, sulfur, and artifacts when being loaded at the hub, go out to a factory, then clear those reserves or replace them with reserves for circuits, processing units, and modules to carry either back to the hub or onward to another production facility.

8) More dynamic scheduling. I’m imagining a system where you can schedule “runs” which have a sequence of stops, like a train schedule now, and a priority which at its simplest would tick up over time (I’d hope at a player-adjustable rate) and at its most complex would be based on the circuit state of some train controller, and a train that finishes a run is assigned the highest-priority run (resetting the run’s priority, if it ticks up over time; if it’s based on circuit state, then dropping the priority for already-assigned train runs would be left to players to program).

An application I can see for this is so that you can have several trains visiting mining outposts/oilfields based on which ones haven’t been visited in a while, rather than just running in a loop, or to dynamically assign trains to gather iron or copper ore based on your reserves of the relevant products; this could also be used if you have a train station with a bunch of boilers or steel furnaces (maybe you want to smelt on-site at one of your mines, or you have a side factory with its own generator), for instance; this system could be used to reassign the next ore train to come in to carry fuel to it when it runs low, instead of having to have one ore train alternate between its ore run and the fueling run. This would also help with carrying fuel to flame turrets. Again, this is more relevant to the train bus setup and it would be more convenient to supply production facilities based on the time that’s passed since I last supplied it than by guessing how long a train will take to complete its route and if it’ll supply it frequently enough if I give it one more station.

Semi-related, being able to copy/paste in the scheduling system would be nice (copying wait condition blocks from stop to stop and copying stops from train to train, or in the same train even if you want a train to do, say, two variations on the same loop)

9) Saving the most complex for second-to-last: Construction Wagon. This would be a very high-tech item that functions sort of like a mobile roboport. The applications I have in mind for this are, first, to maintain large fortifications such as perimeter walls that would otherwise require an enormous number of roboports; second, as an accessory on a train used for new construction, especially when you don’t have a personal roboport; third, to allow your rail network to self-heal after biter attacks destroy rails; and fourth, for the construction of structures like large solar arrays (i.e. things where the player puts down a bunch of blueprints, routes a train to the area, and then does something else while assemblers produce the necessary structures). It’s the first two that most inspired this

I see it working analogously to a personal roboport mounted on the train: it fields construction bots only, which draw from attached cargo wagons (since that’s already established as the train’s inventory); it may have repair pack slots, like a conventional roboport, though. I see it as between the stationary roboport and the personal roboport in terms of tech; its use as a construction aid (for construction sites where a player is present) would be made all-but-obsolete by the personal roboport (even if it has a larger radius than any amount of personal roboports that are practical with modular armor, having to haul an entire train around is inconvenient). It would need to unlock new scheduling options for trains it is attached to (I can see the order to find and fix any broken rails functioning as a train stop for scheduling purposes, for instance, as with a command to go between one pair of waypoints fixing anything that needs fixing in between); perhaps those could be research options, if giving the full functionality at first makes automated perimeter defense too easy.

As an added benefit, it could give its train the ability to use rail paths that include ghost rails, provided it has enough rail in its inventory to place them.

I could see it drawing power (to recharge its internal reserve from which it recharges its bots) either from having its own fuel slots in its inventory and burning that, by drawing power from the locomotive when it’s not using its full power to move the train, or from a separate “generator wagon” which would carry and burn fuel; the last would be the best option if other energy-intensive rail cars exist, though the only options I can think of for that would be very niche in their applications (there’s not much call for rail-mounted laser turrets, for instance, or cargo wagons that mount their own inserters to load and unload themselves direct from railside)

10) Less complex and also more a nice toy than new capabilities for the rail network, a logistic wagon that attaches to a logistic network when in a station (and otherwise functions as a cargo wagon). Have it dynamically function as an active provider, passive provider, requester, or non-logistic wagon based on what station it’s in. I could see request mode being simplified by combining reserved slots and requests (i.e. in request mode it requests that each reserved slot be filled with a full stack)

The super-dynamic and complex version of this would add a one-time request to itself for every unmet need it tries to satisfy (in active provision mode) in a given network; thus you could use it to connect two logistic networks over a long distance (where if one has a deficit, it requests it from the other and supplies it there). This could interact with the construction wagon by requesting things it tries to use but doesn’t have and that aren’t already being requested; this combination would allow a construction train to extend your main logistics network’s construction range to essentially any arbitrary part of your rail network. This could be a researchable upgrade, as well.

[itsworn]

Barn Find 1932 Ford Roadster Becomes a 1940s Hot Rod with Perfect Patina

Dreamer. Ever since it appeared as a bimonthly magazine in 2008, HOT ROD Deluxe has strived to keep the past alive. Barn finds understandably play an essential role in this scheme due to their historical importance, but the pool of dusty 1930s relics being stashed away continues to thin as time passes. Meaning: Good luck finding one. Dave York was one of those dreamers who resigned himself to the idea of never being able to come across such a find. However, the instincts of the Surrey, British Columbia, resident proved wrong, as his inspiring story will confirm.

Before digging further into our tale, let’s introduce a second Canadian largely responsible for its outcome: Cam Grant. Regular HOT ROD readers might remember his name, thanks to an extensive article devoted to him in the June 2012 issue. He incidentally launched a line of hot rod windshields in the style of the DuVall model, though he eventually sold all the patterns to his good friend Dave York. Cam has been a longtime hot rodder, having amassed an impressive assortment of vehicles and parts over the years, including a pair of ’32 Ford roadster bodies.

Their story goes something like this: According to legend, a Deuce had been sitting in a barn loft a few hundred miles outside of Vancouver, BC. “I was skeptical that it would be a ’32, let alone a roadster,” Dave says. “I was in Cam’s garage one night in 2010, and he told me two of his friends had taken a truck and trailer to search for the car. We joked, commenting that it might turn out to be a Chevy coach or something like that.” A week later, Dave returned to his buddy’s house for another bench-racing session. Cam showed him a picture on his computer of a Deuce roadster, in what looked like the inside of an old barn. Yep, the legend proved to be true. “Look closer,” Cam indicated; and as Dave zoomed in, he could discern a second ’32 roadster behind it. He was speechless. One of the two gentlemen who had found the Deuces truly scored, paying 1970s prices for the pair, which had been stored in the barn for three decades. However, they were not what he wanted, so he called Cam, who didn’t think twice about it and purchased them on the spot.

Along with many others, Dave informed Cam that if one of these shells came up for sale, he would be the man. Mister Grant decided to resuscitate the white body first and hung the blue one in his rafters. A couple of years passed, and Dave received a phone call with a familiar voice at the other end simply asking: “Do you want the blue roadster?” As soon as he hung up, he was on his way to Cam’s place with a car trailer in tow. Sure, reviving the old Ford tin might translate into challenges, from a bent dash to smashed door tops. “But I had a vision in my head, so these issues didn’t really matter. It was pure cool.”

Having a deep appreciation for historical hot rods, Dave insisted on preserving as much of the patina as possible, gingerly fixing one issue at a time. He started by cutting off the upper part of the inner doorskins, thus gaining access to the door tops, which needed to be hammered and dollied into shape. He never intended to metal-finish them. Then the cut-out areas were simply welded back in before tackling the next major job: the “twist” of the body, handled thanks to a Porto-Power ram, heat, hammers, and a dolly. You’ll be surprised how well the doors open and close now. Dave additionally managed to locate hood sides and tops with matching patina, along with a grille shell, altered eons ago by removing/filling the bezel and radiator cap.

Extracted from a ’39 Ford, the flathead V8 was originally from a ’41 Mercury, the perfect foundation for a ’40s-style hopped-up motor. It looks great, too. You can’t miss the Navarro heads and dual Stromberg carbs; however, the block hides a number of other popular hi-po goodies from the same era: Iskenderian 400 Jr. cam, Johnson adjustable lifters, together with Lincoln Zephyr springs and stainless valves. The burned air/fuel mixture travels through Red’s headers and 1-3/4-inch exhaust lines sans muffler. Since our photo session, Dave has also replaced the Mallory dual-point distributor with an H&C magneto fully rebuilt by Tom Cirello. Power makes its way to the rear wheels via a ’39 Ford gearbox; opening its top divulged a set of desirable (and stronger) Lincoln Zephyr gears, a rather unexpected but welcomed surprise.

The puzzle began to take shape, yet still missed a few components, such as the complete roadster top. “One of my friends, Keith Warren, fortunately had the irons and original wood that he had squirreled away since 1963,” Dave recalls enthusiastically. After chopping the stanchions and windshield frame by 4 inches, he went to work to cut the irons accordingly, achieving an esthetically pleasant chopped top. “Many thanks to my father, John, who handled the woodwork. The ends of the rear bow had to be extensively modified in particular so that the top wasn’t so wide in that area.”

One of the most difficult challenges was yet to come: What material could he use to cover the reworked top mechanism? New and fresh-looking canvas was obviously out of the question, but another friend, Paul Reichlin, had the perfect solution. The owner of Cedardale Upholstery in Mt. Vernon, Washington, Paul has a ton of experience with traditional hot rods, in addition to Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance winners. He had saved a complete but aging soft top from an older restoration, based on a phaeton almost a century old. Worn out and stained, the material was ideal for what York had in mind. It matches to perfection the old leather that covers the bench seat, as well as the original wood floorboards.

With Frank Burns handling the wiring and a few other friends helping along the way, Dave managed to build a ’32 Deluxe roadster that truly catches the spirit of the 1940s. He and the car have entered a number of events in recent times, including Southern California’s 2014 Grand National Roadster Show (a 2,600-mile round trip from Vancouver), where he parked within the renowned Suede Palace. A proud addition to the Torchmen Rod & Kustom Club out of Langley, BC, the derelict Ford still continues evolving, though, with the latest addition being a genuine Halibrand Culver City quick-change.

They say a hot rod is never finished, a gearhead’s motto already in 1946, and still applicable in 2017, as Dave York will confirm.

From the outset, Dave York’s plan for his barn-find roadster was to preserve the car’s patina, although the body still required a bit of TLC due to the body and dash being damaged. Dave did not use a speck of body filler during the restoration process.

These three pictures tell the tale of this fantastic find. The first photo divulges the vehicle, still a roller, during the 1970s. Next, you can see its shell in the company of a second ’32. “That white roadster had been channeled a long time ago,” Dave explains, “but the floor and subrails were gone. On the other hand, my blue roadster had great rails and floor, yet the areas along the cowl and a quarter-panel hadn’t fared well. When stored, the car had been rolled over on its top side with a bulldozer or some piece of equipment. Both door tops sustained damage, and the body was twisted. After years of collecting trapped water, the cowl and quarter-panel became pin-holed in a few areas.” The third photo shows the body and frame being moved out of the barn.

How cool is this chopped top? The material was salvaged from a late-teens phaeton, once in the hands of the Harrah’s Collection. It had sustained water damage while in storage. “That stained fabric was a little weak and tore easily, so I had it double-laminated with modern Stay Fast canvas,” Dave says.

The engine and three-speed gearbox came from a ’39 Ford cabriolet, as its owner wanted to swap it for a more up-to-date V8. Dave thought he had purchased a stock 221ci engine, but after removing the stock iron heads, he soon discovered it was originally from a ’41 Mercury and thereby displaced 239 ci.

As you would expect, the motor has that “1940s hot rod appearance,” thanks to a pair of Navarro heads (bought by one of Dave’s friends from Barney Navarro before he passed away in 2007) and dual vintage Stromberg 97s with SP tops, bolted to an equally old Edelbrock Slingshot 2×2 manifold.

Much in the spirit of 1940s hot rods, Dave’s roadster relies on a stock, non-dropped axle. However, the use of ’40 Ford juice brakes in lieu of cable-activated drums was a fairly common practice. The car also retains its factory lever shocks, front and aft. Notice the nice overall finish of the chassis and components, painted satin black.

“My father John located an old brown love seat at a secondhand store,” Dave remembers. “I stripped it of its patina’d leather hide, and Bob Campbell whipped up a great pleated seat for me.” Bomber-style belts have been a hot rodder favorite since the early days of the hobby.

A ’37 Lincoln Zephyr supplied the steering wheel, while the column support came from another Lincoln, of ’32 vintage. For ease of mind, a couple of old Sun gauges (oil temp and fuel level) were discretely positioned under the dash. We dig the Yankee accessory turn signal switch as well.

Dave elected to reuse the factory 90-mph ’32 speedo, while two additional Eelco instruments keep him informed of the oil pressure and battery charge. The original bronze SCTA badge to the right of the cluster came from friend Pat Swanson.

A bunch of hot rods built back in the ’40s ran their headlights fairly high, and this one is no exception. To achieve the feat, Dave modified/straightened two ’32 Ford fender braces, which now serve as individual stands for the Corcoran Brown headlights.

Period-correct Ford ’39 taillights look perfect on each side of the stock gas tank. Check out the rebuilt Houdaille lever shock, above the springs.

The roadster rolls on a set of 16×4 ’35 Ford rims, though you can’t see the wires anymore, ad they are being hidden behind a set of desirable Lyons wheel covers. Moderate rake relies on Firestone rubber measuring 6.00-16 and 7.50-16.

Here is a bonus picture recently snapped by Dave, showing the roadster now equipped with side curtains, a neat addition.

Tribute

A keeper of the “traditionalist” flame in British Columbia, Dave has also been known for his fantastic ’49 Ford cleverly built as a tribute to the mid-1950s custom cars. Its story begins 15 years ago when he purchased the shell of a Tudor sedan, primered and already chopped 3 inches by the previous owner. While managing to get his ride on the road fairly quickly, he was never satisfied with the top chop; so in 2009, he decided to completely revamp the vehicle. The roof lost another 3-inch slice, and the body received several alterations, such as moving the headlights forward 4 inches and installing ’51 Olds 98 taillights. The green color came from the 2007 Jeep paint chart. Under that hood lurks a more-than-able 327ci Chevy engine.

After Dave worked until 3 in the morning with friends, his maiden voyage behind the wheel was to Santa Maria’s 2010 Cruisin’ Nationals. It captured the imagination of many enthusiasts, so much so that the duo was invited to the 2011 Grand National Roadster Show. That year, the event offered a special exhibit called “Customs: Then and Now,” featuring no less than 75 “members of the custom car royalty,” with the oldest models built in the 1940s. Being a part of that exhibit certainly was a highlight in Dave’s years of involvement in the hot rod and custom scene, accompanied by his wonderful better half, Belinda.

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