#battle facility zine

[cardinal-crossing]

Applications are open for the @battle-facility-zine! Check out the Carrd and the Neocities (desktop only) for more info!

The Guidelines for each application can be found here: - General Guidelines - Writer Guidelines - Artist Guidelines - Merch Guidelines

[legendslugia]

You are not immune to Mt. Battle.

In all seriousness, If you havent applied to In Pursuit of Victory: a Battle Facility Zine, this is your sign to GO DO THAT NOW!!

Applications to participate in this Digital Zine dedicated the Battle Facilities of the Pokemon franchise and the beloved characters who run them close later this week on SUNDAY, MARCH 31ST! Apply before time runs out!

Artist/Digital Merch Application Writing Application

[battle-facility-zine]

In Pursuit of Victory! a free digital zine dedicated to the Pokémon Battle Facilities will open Contributor Applications Soon!

Challengers, make sure to start building portfolio strategies for your applications to this Facility focused zine! And make sure to mark the dates on your calendars as applications will officially open on February 20th at 4:00PM EST and will end on March 24th 11:59PM EST! See you all then!

If you would like to see our guidelines for applications please review our General, Artist, Writing, and Merch Guidelines!

For more information on the project please check out our CARRD or Neocities!

[mousetrappart]

Hey! You! Are you aware there's only ONE DAY left until apps for the @battle-facility-zine open?? Pyramid King Brandon would want you to know.

[t1meslayer]

Going in for round 2!

I had a lot of fun with my Debrief for "Stone-Cold Lovers (Ch. 3)," and I think there's a bunch of interesting, insightful aspects to my writing here given Splatoon's setting offers plenty of aquatic-themed worldbuilding.

So, let's get into it! Check out my full author's commentary below the cut — but only after you've had the chance to read "By Moonlight," my latest Splatoon fanfic.

I've been playing Splatoon since the 2015 original on Wii U. But to be completely honest, the series never hit me until Splat3. I never bought Octo Expansion (though I did watch most of it), so "Return of the Mammalians" may have just become the first time I truly appreciated how insane the series' lore is. Playing through the final battle during a road trip back from San Francisco with a couple of buddies is something I'll remember forever.

I also fell in love with Shiver and Marie as a couple, spawning a whole host of fanfictions.

But that's neither here nor there. Because this story is about Pearlina.

(The featured image evolved over time)

Another consequence of my foolishness circa Splatoon 2 is I didn't realize how much I liked Off the Hook's music. In fact, the origins of this very fanfic came from a brief obsession with Marina's piano-playing prowess on songs like "Tentacle to the Metal" when Splatoon 3 released in 2022. A connection to the 1st Movement of "Moonlight Sonata" was baked into the premise by their similar set of three notes playing in succession.

Though, I should be clear: I am not a classical music nerd, nor any kind of music nerd. I have a pretty terrible ear for music, and as a result don't listen to much (video game soundtracks notwithstanding, most of my ambient noise is YouTube videos, TV, or podcasts).

If we want to get really deep into the weeds of how pathetic I am, my main attachment to "Moonlight Sonata" stems from Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak (2002) on the GBA.

My rendition of Marina playing the song even ends at essentially the same point as this game's usage, since it's baked into my soul.

When's Hamtaro coming to Nintendo Switch Online, cowards?

That being said, I largely based the in-universe playing on this video by Rousseau, a YouTube channel that creates fancy visuals for piano covers of classical and pop music:

My original plan was to have Eight gift the Beethoven book to Pearl and Marina as an oddity acquired through raiding Grizzco facilities following "Return of the Mammalians." However, the idea came back in full-force with the release of Splatoon 3: Side Order. There was a brief period where I considered applying to the Pearlina zine "You and Me Against the Universe!" with something similar, but that was before I fell into my drive to write for zines.

Side Order definitely feels like a test run for more fleshed-out Roguelike modes in future Splatoon games, but I'm enjoying it all the same. And I just had to include tidbits of lore like Eight joining Off the Hook's world tour.

As one final note on "Moonlight Sonata," this is the first time I've written a musical performance as prose. My Mariver fic "Harmonic Frequencies" ends with a bit of choreography for Deep Cut's tribute to "Calamari Inkantation," but that's about as far as it goes. Luckily, my sister is studying Music Education and Music Performance in college (and she graduates soon!), so I was able to lean on her as a source of knowledge.

She just had to suffer through my insufferable gay seafood to get there.

Her main advice was to think of writing musical prose not as a literal translation of sheet music, but instead to really hone in on the emotions of listening to music. It took a bit to figure out the right balance between describing the performance itself and the more emotive images it conjures in Pearl's head, but I love the outcome!

My sister said, "Also the moonlight stuff is fire af." Clearly I've peaked.

===

Fun Fact: She told me I should look into the creepier aspects of "Moonlight Sonata" while writing. Did you know that the song is dedicated to then-16-year-old Countess Giulietta Guicciardi (per Brittanica), a student whom he fell in love with (per New York Times)?

Because I didn't.

===

My presentation of Pearl changed a fair bit over the course of this writing. Pearl's They/She pronouns were pretty spur of the moment, and the idea of They/She Napoleon has since become a running in-joke between me and my beta reader, the incredible artist Trybard (who was the source of my great screencap preview post that I blocked out for anonymity of personal socials).

Pearl with full tattoo sleeves was also a sudden decision that's entirely inspired by a Twitter post; I unfortunately cannot find that post anymore, it disappeared after I shifted pages. Likewise, Pearl learning Octarian is part-cute girlfriend stuff, part-excuse to use the joke about them reading Beethoven as "Beat-Havin'" that came to me in a flash of divine inspiration.

Marina doesn't get nearly as much love in the personal headcanon department, it was Trybard who suggested she might wear a citrus-y perfume smell. I added the motor oil.

I also added the fact that she's living it up in Pearl's downtown apartment, and lending out goofy manga-themed sleep shirts.

Off the Hook's apartment setting only includes the windowed hallway and main foyer (which I hope adds to the sense that Pearl is rich enough to afford the most ridiculously huge apartment of all time). However, there are two tidbits about the setting that I quite enjoy:

First, did you catch the bit about the charred piece of hull? I wanted to keep it subtle in writing, but my intent was referencing the NILS Statue! Did Pearl or Marina take the trophy? Who knows.

Second, Off the Hook's wall of records went through hefty trial-and-error. I settled on the idea of giving them Gold/Platinum/Diamond records (ala the real-world practice of Recording Industry Association of America certification) while listening to the collective works of Off the Hook. Given this is pre-Splat3, I imagined that the new recording of "Nasty Majesty" and their Splatfest theme "Color Pulse" would have among the most attention.

I also imagined that Splatoon wouldn't just use an exact 1-1 copy of our record certifications. Thus, the Recording Industry Association of Inkadia (RIAI) was born.

Rather than using precious metals to delineate sales, I decided to go with the more Splatoon-feeling marker of "neon records." I actually did a minor amount of research, predominately leaning on the website of Brigham Young University physics and astronomy professor Harold T. Stokes to figure out Neon's color spectrum.

Using this, I equated:

Violet = Gold (500,000 sales)

Green = Platinum (One Million sales)

Yellow = Double Platinum (Two Million sales)

Red = Diamond (Ten Million sales)

I even formatted the text to look like an actual RIAA plaque, just with the color's name rather than a literal record. AO3's HTML formatting can only go so far.

I used the "acronym" formatting to add extra context in the form of each song's to-date sales, which was all I originally planned to say. Learned all about that option in my horrific opening chapter to the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fic "Paradiso," in which Arven has a nightmare that breaks the text "House of Leaves" style.

And that, my friends, is all she wrote.

I could go way deeper into the minutia Pearl's boisterous tone or Marina utilizing mechanical terms, but the broad strokes of where certain ideas originate seems like a better use of my "Debrief" time. Let me know what more you might want to see me discuss going forward, or what ideas for Splatoon fics you wanna see added to my eternal backlog! (The poll-winning Stardew Valley piece has to take priority now — no more game release distractions~)

Though, as one final note: Yes, the title is a Sailor Moon reference.

You're welcome.

[n3rdlif343va]

Chasing Gold Zine Promo Ficlet No. 5

The fourth ficlet in my promos for my piece in the @yoichasinggoldzine! (read on Ao3: Memories )

This is an AU where Yuuri and Victor are retired Olympic athletes, who now coach Paralympic athletes. You can follow the series on Ao3 here

Ficlet 1, Ficlet 2, Ficlet 3 , Ficlet 4 on Tumblr

Pre-orders are now OPEN but the bundles are going fast! Please head to the blog to place your orders!!

The suitcases were propped by the front door. Yuri’s bike stood in the middle of the living room, shining and waiting to be slipped into its protective bag. Plane tickets were tucked in the front of Victor’s carry on, along with the USB drive containing Yuri’s medical history and copies of every document that Victor had completed on Yuri’s behalf. Everything was tagged, organized and ready for their early morning departure.

Alone in the darkness of his own bedroom, Victor stared at the ceiling as he mentally reviewed their list and schedule for the following day. He had memorized every detail, yet he couldn’t tell his brain it was time to shut down for sleep. Apprehension and worry weighed heavier on him than the down blanket covering his body on the bed.

He owed Yuri victory. He owed Yuri his time and his care. He owed Yuri distinctive proof that his life and career weren’t over. Not out of any obligation dictated by his place as Yuri’s coach, but out of the love that he held for the young man, deep-seated and unspoken within his heart. And out of his own guilt, which still wallowed in his stomach like a lurking beast waiting to devour him.

Groaning, Victor rolled onto his side, burying his face into his pillow. No matter what Yuri said, Victor knew that Yuri had gone to the lake because Victor had trained there. He had gone alone, returning wet and gloating when Yakov got to him in the parking lot of their training facility. Victor had stood idly by, distracted by his own departure for what would be inevitably his last performance in the world’s most prestigious competition. He hadn’t known that at the time, just as he hadn’t known that the miniscule cut across Yuri’s shin had introduced deadly bacteria into his body.

Lying on his stomach, Victor gripped his pillow, fists clenching and unclenching. He had left Russia with Yakov, last seeing Yuri’s back disappearing into the locker rooms moving with the jaunty walk of the young teenager he was. All was quiet until the night after Victor’s race. When his phone rang, the world stopped spinning, and Victor had thrown all of his belongings into the closest bags. He raced from his room, his vision tunneled to the tragedy happening at home.

No matter how hard he tried, Victor couldn’t erase the image of Yuri, small and frail in the middle of the sterile hospital room. By the time he had reached St. Petersburg, Yakov leading the way through the long hallways filled with the smell of people balanced between life and death, Yuri’s leg had already been amputated and the antibiotics had begun to fight the remaining threats of infection. Yuri was asleep for three days, worn out from his body’s battle to save its own life.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Victor tried to will away the threat of the memory, but it came to him anyway.

“Yura, listen to the doctor,” Yakov said, placing a firm hand on Yuri’s arm to try to calm his thrashing. Yuri had been awake for less than thirty minutes and all hell was breaking loose. Victor leaned against the window, Mila standing at his side, both of them wishing that they didn’t have to watch Yuri’s life shatter.

“Fuck the doctor,” Yuri spat, clawing the oxygen tubes from his nose and throwing the hollow plastic to the ground. Victor winced, letting his shoulders sink as he felt Mila press closer to his side. “He stole my fucking leg.” To emphasize his point, Yuri threw back the bed covers, revealing his leg which now ended at his knee.

“The removal of that portion of your leg was necessary to save your life,” the doctor took a deep breath, maintaining eye contact with Yuri as he continued, “before you leave here, you will be fitted with a prosthesis. You will walk again and you will live. In this situation you are very lucky.”

Rage ripping from Yuri in a primal scream, he grabbed the tissue box on his roll away tray and threw it against the wall. The sharp thud made everyone in the room jump, with the exception of the doctor. “I’m a triathlete with no leg. If I can’t compete, then I have no life. You should have let me die.”

Tears soaked through the fabric covering Victor’s pillow. When the anger had passed, Yuri had become nothing but a shell, a ghost of the fiery person he had always been. Victor had gone to the hospital every day, sitting quietly in the room with a book in his lap, never asking the questions that everyone else did. He saw Yuri leave for physical therapy and return, only to unhook and drop his new leg to the ground, without expression or feeling. Yuri hadn’t died from the infection, but his spirit had.

One day Victor had run late for his visit. His head had finally cleared of the emotional fog and he had attempted to catch up on the remaining results from the games he had so abruptly abandoned. Yuuri’s retirement announcement glared at him from the screen of his laptop, flipping his world upside down for the second time in ten days. Scanning the article with a shaky hand on his touchpad, he picked up only on the key details. Yuuri had retired the morning after Victor had left the athlete’s compound, information that made Victor’s stomach sour instantly. A week later, an announcement was made that Yuuri would be coaching Paralympic hopeful Kenjirou Minami.

With thoughts of Yuuri and his abrupt change in career path, Victor had walked into Yuri’s hospital room, mind halfway somewhere else. The shouts slamming off the walls had immediately gained his full attention. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who had stumbled upon the idea of redirecting Yuri’s training. The fight occurring in front of him centered on Yakov stating his inability to coach Yuri and Yuri screaming at his former coach for abandoning him.

Victor remembered making his offer at a volume barely above a whisper. He didn’t know anything about being a coach, but he also refused to continue his own career if it meant competing without Yuuri Katsuki. Yakov had thrown up his hands and dragged Victor backwards from the room, barking about Victor throwing away his life.

His decision to coach Yuri had never felt like that though. He had poured through every book and medical journal he could find in order to develop a training regimen for Yuri. He had purchased Yuri’s modified bike with his own money and found a sponsor to pay for the specialized prosthesis that Yuri wore to race. When Yuri had shown up on his doorstep, duffle bag and two trash bags filled with clothes sitting beside him, Victor had welcomed him in without hesitation.

Rolling over again, Victor returned to his spot staring at the ceiling. It no longer mattered why Victor had offered to coach Yuri or why Yuri had accepted the offer. They were a partnership, a coach and an athlete fighting for one goal. Until Yuri lowered himself into the water. Then Victor would have to stand back, he would have to let Yuri go and pray that all the training was enough to carry him through to gold. All of the confidence Victor had felt before his own races was missing now, leaving him only with trepidation and desperate silent pleas for Yuri’s success. He would turn in all of his gold medals, if only to give Yuri this one.

Sighing, Victor forced his eyes closed feeling the tears catch on his eyelashes. Wordlessly, he begged his mind to quiet and finally let him sleep.

Down the hallway, Yuri laid in his bed, cat draped over his chest, wondering if tomorrow was the beginning or the ending of his life. With silent tears rolling down his face, Yuri closed his eyes as exhaustion overtook him.

[orbemnews]

Why Gadhafi's private jet is gathering dust on a French airfield (CNN) — The images that came out of Tripoli International Airport in August 2011 have become defining symbols of the downfall of the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, the autocrat who ruled Libya with an iron fist for over four decades. Rebel forces had just taken control of the country’s airport and captured a major prize. Short of capturing Gadhafi himself — Libya’s ousted leader would be killed by rebel forces weeks later — they had taken hold of one of his gaudiest symbols of power. Bullets and shrapnel had riddled the fuselage of the four-engined Airbus A340-200 aircraft, but the interior was still intact. Foreign journalists were soon invited on board to see it for themselves. One after another, the innermost chambers of Libya’s presidential plane — by that point occupied by Kalashnikov-toting rebel militiamen — revealed their secrets: a hot tub, a private cinema, a mirror-lined master bedroom and more. Although on the outside it looked like just another airliner of Libya’s flag carrier, Afriqiyah Airways, this extravagantly fitted aircraft was Gadhafi’s very own flying palace. Refit, recycle, repurpose? The fate of this luxurious presidential plane soon presented Libya’s new authorities with a quandary: What to do with an aircraft so closely associated with the excesses of its late dictator? One option was to strip it of its VIP interior and turn it into a regular airliner. That was, after all, what happened to the presidential A340 of Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, also deposed in the wave of revolutions that shook the Arab world in 2011. In that case, the aircraft was sold to Turkish Airlines. This was not to be case with the Gadhafi plane but still, one thing was clear: Whatever final use it was given, the aircraft was in need of an extensive and thorough refit. That’s why, in 2012, the former presidential aircraft, registration 5A-ONE, was flown to the facilities of EAS Industries (currently Sabena Technics), an aerospace maintenance and repair firm and Air France subcontractor based in Perpignan, in the south of France. Unlike other airliners that were caught in the 2011 crossfire at Tripoli airport and had to be written off, Gadhafi’s A340 remained airworthy. The damage it suffered during the airport battle, though, was serious enough that the 900-mile trip to France had to be flown at a third of the normal cruising altitude and its landing gear couldn’t be retracted at all. A Libyan rebel relaxes in the plane at Tripoli in August 2011. PATRICK BAZ/AFP via Getty Images Lawsuits and controversy Once in France, the aircraft was repaired and repainted. The old Afriqiyah “9999” livery, which commemorated the declaration of a resolution to establish the African Union on September 9, 1999, was soon gone, replaced by a new one sporting the Libyan flag. By 2013, the aircraft was ready to fly again, but rather than entering commercial service, it was retained by the Libyan government for its own use. A short-lived tour, because, with the security situation in Libya deteriorating, by March 2014, 5A-ONE was back in Perpignan. This time, though, its arrival on French soil marked the start of an international judicial imbroglio which has kept Gadhafi’s Airbus grounded to this day. Lawsuits and controversy seem to follow this airframe wherever it goes. It was first delivered, in 1996, to Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the playboy brother of the Sultan of Brunei. The prince is said to have spent $250 million customizing it before selling it less than four years later, at a time when he was entangled in a judicial feud with his family over the use of state funds. The aircraft was then snapped up by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a prominent billionaire businessman and member of the Saudi Arabia royal family, who seems to have an inclination for large luxurious aircraft (back in 2007 he is reported to have ordered an A380 corporate jet, a VIP version of Airbus’ superjumbo, which was ultimately never built). But, soon after, the A340 was back on the market and it is at this point that Gadhafi enters the picture. The Libyan leader finally acquired it in 2006 for $120 million. This sale resulted in a Jordanian businesswoman called Daad Sharab suing Prince Al-Waleed in the UK, claiming she was owed money for her role in brokering the deal. In 2013, a London court ruled in her favor, ordering the Saudi to pay her $10 million plus interest. This was the first of several high-profile legal cases linked to this aircraft. In August 2011, a Libyan rebel sits in the cockpit of the A340 that already had amassed a colorful history. PATRICK BAZ/AFP via Getty Images Caught in crossfire In the same year Gadhafi bought his Airbus, the Libyan government signed a deal with the Al Kharafi Group, a Kuwait-based conglomerate, to develop a seaside resort in Tajura, near Tripoli. It was not long before this deal started to go sour and, in 2010, it was canceled by the Libyan side. The Kuwaiti group responded by suing Libya at an international arbitration court in Cairo, which in 2013 awarded the firm $930 million in damages, based on an estimation of the potential returns of the project, had it gone ahead. This was to be but the first act of a complex legal dispute taking place in multiple jurisdictions that is still ongoing today. Gadhafi’s presidential plane was to be caught, again, in a crossfire — only this time it was of the legal rather than literal kind. The Al Kharafi Group sued the Libyan state in France too, so when the A340 landed in Perpignan, they sought to have it impounded. However, in 2015 a local French court ruled the aircraft, which at the time was said to have a market value of around $60 million, belonged to a sovereign nation and therefore it enjoyed immunity to a claim of this nature. The claimants appealed and, as their case was slowly making their way up through the French legal system, the former presidential plane was racking up other sorts of liabilities. By 2016 maintenance, repair and refitting fees had gone up to nearly €3 million, which made Air France a party in the judicial process too, adding an extra layer of complexity to the case. This amount is likely to have gone up since then, and this happens also in a context in which the market value of gas-guzzling, four-engined planes, like the 25-year old Libyan A340, has plummeted. Nevertheless, it seems that the aircraft is still being maintained and looked after. In late 2020, local spotters observed its engines getting started, a regular procedure for aircraft kept in long-term storage, but are still airworthy. At this stage, it is hard to tell what the future holds for what has come to be known as “Gadhafi’s jet”. Coincidentally, it’s not the only presidential jet that has become a long-term resident at Perpignan. Two other African presidential jets, both Boeing 727s, of the governments of Benin and Mauritania respectively, are also in long-term storage at the French Catalan airfield. And more recently, in January 2021, another presidential Airbus A340 paid a visit to the same facilities to undergo maintenance. This one, though, used by French president Emmanuel Macron, is not expected to remain long among the vineyards of Roussillon. Source link Orbem News #airfield #dust #French #Gadhafis #gathering #jet #Private

[deckthehollss-blog1]

Email Advertising And Marketing Lesson (3 )

Email Advertising and marketing LessonI moved into a brand-new workplace recently as well as was unpacking when I recognized I was fading quick and needed a caffeine fix. Appears my Starbucks coffee device had obtained shed with the movers. I panicked." residential doors Weatherford OK what?" I believed. I had never gone a full afternoon without a latte. I understood something would certainly happen if I didn't get one, and it would possibly be the example that would create my specialist, so skipping my caffeine solution was not an alternative. I currently had two pages of issues we were covering. I guess the unboxing would certainly need to be placed on hold.I established my Starbucks radar on full sharp and also complied with the route of laid-back organisation clothes. Indeed, 2 blocks later I located a Starbucks on the edge. As I drew open the door, a little gent whisked in under my arm. And that is exactly how I fulfilled Mr. Pibs.Mr. Pibs had actually been coming to that certain Starbucks considering that it opened up. Every mid-day regarding the very same time as my existing 'mind fade,' he also needed a solution. We got our coffees as well as made our means to the comfortable chairs.Mr. Pibs told me he remained in wholesale animal products and also had his own manufacturing facility. He launched 25 years ago with a small shop in his garage and currently leased a 200,000 square foot center and also used over fifty employees. We drank our coffees as well as chatted regarding company. I asked him exactly how he marketed his products to prospective retail outlets."We have a subscriber-based newsletter," he claimed. "About 2500 quality family pet stores throughout the United States."I was impressed! 2500 leads does not seem like much but these stores had asked to be gotten in touch with. The shops were real, prospective customers looking for product. "So do you keep in touch month-to-month or do you find seasonal jobs much better?" I delicately asked."Regular monthly!" Mr. Pibs said loudly in horror. "That would be $50,000 of postage a year! No, we send our full color sales brochure on a yearly basis, costs us about $4000 in mailing charges. I draw a couple of girls off the setting up line and also get them licking stamps as well as stuffing envelopes. We've been doing our advertising similar to this given that the second year we started. Certain is fantastic that printing is a whole lot cheaper nowadays. Conserves us a bundle!"I gagged on the foam in my cup and also really felt an acquainted feeling come over me. Prior to I knew it I was standing and swing my arms around my head in big circles."Mr.Pibs, are you ridiculous?" I chewed out the top of my lungs, and started to tirade, arms swing. "What marketing cave did you simply creep out of? Why not put your brochure online? Why not make use of a normal Email Advertising campaign to communicate with the family pet stores regularly? Are you anti-technology? Why are on planet are you sending out all that stuff by mail?." And also then I realized I rarely understood this man as well as was essentially informing him he was a buffoon. But I didn't have time to compose myself because at that very minute, when I was in mid-sentence of my Email Marketing tirade, in walked my grandmother.Crap! I had actually forgotten Grammy was going to satisfy me at my new workplace! She promptly identified me as well as made a beeline in my direction. As she got closer I discovered she had a very strange looking hat on her head. It was all bumpy and sort of appeared like a bag. I observed an acquainted looking tag: Victoria's Secret.Since when did Victoria's Secret make hats?But I did not have time to ask, I had to make Grandmother believe we were expected to meet at the Starbucks and I likewise had to make up quick with Mr. Pibs before my brand-new close friend assumed I was a lunatic.I looked to Mr.Pibs, as well as discovered he was frozen, mouth hanging open in shock at my Email Advertising, arm swing, soapbox speech.Grandma got hold of the uninhabited seat next to Mr. Pibs and plunked herself down, scooching her behind, frantically trying to get it past the arm rests.Mr. Pibs defrosted and also whispered in scary, "That females has a set of underclothing-- on her head."And also indeed my Grandma did without a doubt have a set of Victoria's Secret undergarments on her head, hiding a mass of curlers.I gasped."Child," my granny said, "I have actually been looking almost everywhere for you!" Noticing Mr. Pibs, as well as not aware he and I had been having a discussion, Grandma looked a little alarmed at my little frozen pal. Not a surprise; the lack of color in his face was tough to miss. "Tiny man," she said, "You look ill, is the coffee as well solid for your tiny tummy?""Granny," I spoke gradually, transforming toward Mr. Pibs. "This is my brand-new pal, Mr. Pibs." : "Mr. Pibs, I apologize for my Email Advertising tirade, this is my Grammy. We had a coffee day this afternoon."My grandmother extended her hand in a motion of welcome. Mr.Pibs rested still, looking at my grandma's hair curler cover."Woman, why is there underclothing on your head?""Oh this?" she claimed, as she whipped off the over-stretched skivvies, discovering a selection of pink and white curlers. "These are old and also all extended of form from too many years on the rear. This pair functions wonderful to keeps my curlers in position. I upgraded to organic cotton underclothing years ago."As well as with that said we, or instead Grandma and also Mr. Pibs, laughed as well as talked away the afternoon. Those two hit it off so well I located myself a little bored. Simply as well, I could not obtain Mr. Pibs"advertising and marketing method' out of my mind. Well, at the very least the United States post office would certainly not go out of company anytime soon with Mr. Pibs around. I rested there enjoying those two laugh it up, as well as drank my head in shock at my granny's Victoria's Secret curling iron coverer. Mr. Pibs' advertising and marketing strategy was a whole lot like those underclothing. Old, unfit, and all drooped out.I fulfilled Mr. Pibs once again for coffee (without the interruption of Grammy as well as her head gitch) as well as stated to him that any type of company that was not energetic online as well as making use of Email Advertising and marketing may wish to retire. He concurred that his whole method must be placed in a remainder residence. It was type of challenging explaining all that Email Advertising and marketing things to Mr.Pibs; he was an actual Email Advertising and marketing newbie.I battled for a little bit with examples as well as realized the photo of those droopy undergarments on my Grandma's head was a best location to begin. I kept selecting the gonch theme and also Mr. Pibs gradually began to recognize the difference in each sort of Email Advertising method. We talked Email Advertising and marketing method and exactly how a cabinet filled with a variety of undergarments styles was genuinely the most effective alternative for complete marketing support.If you are having a difficult time explaining Email Marketing to your antique boss or your customers, feel totally free to try out several of these. They worked with Mr. Pibs so I make certain they will certainly help you.Broadcast Messages are like Bands: These little numbers function excellent at introducing, "Hey take a look at me, look at all the things I need to use ... today!" You do wish to exercise some restraint, nevertheless. Much like you do not wish to be using a thong everyday, neither would you send a broadcast message everyday.Auto-Responders are like Complete Figured Female's Petty Pants: If you are not up on full-figured minor pants, they look extra like a pair of long tight shorts. Large figured women use minor trousers to stop the upper legs from rubbing with each other. In a similar way, auto-responders protect against the chafing away of your time and sources because of answering the same questions over and over as well as over. Female's minor pants make all numbers, regardless of dimension, resemble a million bucks. Auto-Responders make you look like a hero with prompt practical feedbacks despite if it is simply you running the program or a whole office packed with customer care reps.Regularly Delivered E-Newsletters are like 100% Cotton Briefs: For routine wear you can't defeat a set of 100% cotton briefs and also for client retention you can't beat a consistently delivered e-newsletter. Every person prefers a various cut of brief relying on the amount of desired coverage, and it's no different in the e-mail world. Every business has a various idea of what their normal e-zine will cover and also what type of promo it will offer their products and services.Mr. Pibs and also I still meet at the Starbucks once a week or so for our mid-day caffeine repair. His firm has actually truly taken off because he got on board with Email Advertising. I assume he will probably be moving right into a bigger warehouse in the New Year just to stay up to date with orders. He also released a new line of product (using e-mail, certainly)to commemorate - Pudgy Young puppy Petty Pants.And the notorious curler cover? We did not understand it till later on that day however Grandma's droopy underwear got left on the table at Starbucks together with a calling card I had actually taken out throughout my Email Advertising tirade. I question that discovered the saggy gonch? Would certainly I ever before discover? Would the discoverer of those skivvies come to be a future client? I'll maintain you uploaded if anything materializes.And me? My Starbucks coffee machine surfaced after 3 months of circumnavigating the western states yet I still locate my method down the block most afternoons. I have actually likewise been reworking my own regular email advertising project due to my decision to try a reduced cut short for routine wear. Revealing more product details is confirming to be very reliable. My conversion price suggests my customers are actually valuing the enhanced direct exposure I'm providing my products as well as services.Is your advertising and marketing technique a little sagged, over stretched and broken? Attempt Email Advertising and marketing on for dimension. It can be found in all type of cuts as well as designs assured to enhance your lower line. I observed a familiar looking label: Victoria's Secret.Since when did Victoria's Secret make hats?But I did not have time to ask, I had to make Granny assume we were intended to satisfy at the Starbucks and I also had to make up quick with Mr. Pibs before my brand-new good friend assumed I was a lunatic.I transformed to Mr.Pibs, as well as noticed he was frozen, mouth hanging open in shock at my Email Advertising and marketing, arm waving, soapbox speech.Grandma ordered the vacant seat next to Mr. Pibs and plunked herself down, scooching her behind, seriously attempting to obtain it past the arm rests.Mr. Old, out of form, as well as all drooped out.I met Mr. Pibs once more for coffee (without the distraction of Grammy as well as her head gitch) and also stated to him that any business that was not energetic online and also using Email Marketing could desire to retire. It was kind of difficult clarifying all that Email Advertising things to Mr.Pibs; he was an actual Email Advertising newbie.I had a hard time for a bit with examples as well as recognized the picture of those droopy underclothing on my Granny's head was an ideal area to begin. I kept going with the gonch theme and also Mr. Pibs gradually started to comprehend the difference in each type of Email Marketing technique. We talked Email Advertising method and also just how a drawer full of a variety of underwear designs was absolutely the finest alternative for total advertising and marketing support.If you are having a challenging time discussing Email Advertising and marketing to your antique employer or your customers, feel totally free to attempt on some of these.

[brooklynfireproof]

New York Asian Film Festival, Brooklyn Fire Proof News and Openings, Mike Diana Doc, Millennium Film Workshop, and Mono No Aware

The 2018 New York Asian Film Festival is Now Open! Win Free Tickets from Sponsor Brooklyn Fire Proof

New York, NY (June 12, 2018) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema have announced the 17th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), June 29 – July 15, 2018. Brooklyn Fire Proof is pleased to be a sponsor of this exciting festival for the third consecutive year. We’ll be giving away free tickets to several screenings this year via our newsletter, so be sure to subscribe!

From vicious, life-destroying phone scams to balletic battles between equally corrupt cops and yakuza, NYAFF offers films that reflect on contemporary society while offering extreme genre pleasures. There are self-referential takes on cinematic zombies, existential date nights, and teens finding their own corners of the world despite familial and societal expectations. After last year’s Sweet Sixteen, this year’s program is dubbed the Savage Seventeenth edition with four world premieres, three international premieres, 21 North American premieres, three U.S. premieres, and twelve New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting comedies, dramas, thrillers, romances, horrors and arthouse films from East Asia.

Savage Seventeen: The festival has a rich history of presenting films that deal with the social issue of teenage bullying. Many of these have proven to be launching pads for some of Asia’s biggest stars, and the subject is at the root of such modern classics as All About Lily Chou-Chou, Whispering Corridors, and Confessions. In a year when youths in the U.S. are standing their ground and demanding political change, NYAFF presents the North American premieres of three films about teenagers who just won’t take it anymore: Kim Ui-seok’s After My Death, Ogata Takaomi’s The Hungry Lion, and Naito Eisuke’s competition title Liverleaf.

More than ever, the festival aims to show that Asia is a beacon of cinematic excitement, its films as rich in provocative artistry and as emotionally compelling as those of its Western counterpart. In the age of algorithm-dictated curation and Eurocentrism, NYAFF holds two convictions: that taste in films cannot be deduced or reduced to one’s browser history; and that the best in new cinema is rising from the East.

Opening Night is the North American premiere of Tominaga Masanori’s Dynamite Graffiti, an unorthodox and sprightly drama based on the life and times of Japanese porn mag king Suei Akira, who cultivated future artists such as Araki Nobuyoshi and Moriyama Daido. This spirited tale of sexual exploitation is an ode to free expression, proving that the so-called “smut” of today might very well become the art of tomorrow. The film is a metaphor for the humble origins of the festival as a Chinatown-born grindhouse showcase introducing the works of Johnnie To and several of the modern masters of Korean cinema.

Closing Night is the world premiere of Erik Matti’s BuyBust from the Philippines. On the surface, it is structured like an action film in the vein of The Raid, with superstar Anne Curtis and MMA worldchampion Brandon Vera as narcs taking down a drug kingpin against insurmountable odds over one unrelenting rainy night. The film employed 309 stuntmen and features a wildly ambitious three-minute, one-cut action scene. Being a Matti film, it also offers a searing perspective on the ongoing drug war and broader issues of political corruption. The director and stars will attend the screening. Our next newsletter - in the days ahead - will have NYAFF ticket giveaways from Brooklyn Fire Proof!

New Stage Openings in September and New Stage Developments

While the entire calendar year at Brooklyn Fire Proof has thus far been almost fully booked with cooking shows and competition shows (with just a couple of brief features films, a horror short film, an experimental film, and a couple of commercial and photo shoots squeezed in a couple of brief windows). We're happy to announce that we do have some good blocks of availability coming up starting in early September! We of course love long-term gigs, but we're willing to work with any and all productions of any size. Contact us about booking! We haven't had a ton of time and space to do some new announcements about stage developments, and we'll do a feature right here in our newsletter about it very soon, but we do have some new things to tease:

New, additional silent AC! Our Stage A has been increased by an additional 10 tons of HVAC, for a total of 30 tons! Our Stage B has an additional 5 ton HVAC unit, and the Seltzer Rooms have an additional 10 tons as well.

A turnkey production office (with phones, internet, and furnishings) in one of two new parking/exterior location lots we've acquired over the past year or so. One of the lots is outfitted with a rolling gate, 24 hour access, and security cameras.

A fully-outfitted restaurant/bar with lovely exteriors for location shooting/catering/craft services. This is the former home of Brooklyn Fire Proof East and Terra Firma and it's currently available for shoots!

Of course, we still have multiple buildings of artists' lofts and industrial locationsavailable to productions as well.

We'll go over all of this stuff and more in a future newsletter, but feel free to drop us a line with any questions. 

"Boiled Angels: The Trial of Mike Diana" at Fantasia Fest

The feature-length documentary about our friend Mike Diana's legal troubles in Florida in the early '90s has a couple of upcoming screenings at this year's Fantasia Fest onJuly 14th and July 18th. Mike is the only artist successfully convicted of obscenity in the United States, based on the distribution of his underground comic/zine "Boiled Angel." Noted NYC underground filmmaker Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case, Frankenhooker) directed this amazing film about Mike's experiences. If you'll remember, Brooklyn Fire Proof hosted a Kickstarter live-streamed telethon with Mike, Frank and the rest of their amazing team back in November of 2016 to raise money to complete this film. We caught the premiere at the inaugural What the Fest? at IFC Center this year, and it's an engrossing and important documentary that we think everyone should see, whether you care for Mr. Diana's controversial art or not. Check out the film at Fantasia Fest and other upcoming festivals, with a theatrical release hopefully on the horizon.

Millennium Film Workshop Screens Czech Masterpiece "Daisies" in Washington Square Park, This Saturday, June 30th

This Saturday, June 30th, 8pm-10pm, our friends and collaborators the Millennium Film Workshop - in collaboration with NYSCA and NYC Parks and Recreation - present the Czech 1966 experimental feminist film classic - ‘DAISIES’- being screening outside at NYC’s WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK (GARIBALDI PLAZA). Suggested Donation $5 outdoor screening.

Millennium Film Workshop's ‘Personal Cinema’ series work by female film auteur: Vera Chytilova, directed and Banned in 1966! A film that remains a staple of the Czech experimental underground film movement that was compelled to break rules and boundaries all across the world.

Millennium will be screening a few films in the park this summer. Keep an eye out for more screenings.

Summer Happenings from Mono No Aware

Our friends at MONO NO AWARE are offering affordable filmmaking workshops, a Drive in movie field trip, screenings and cinema facilities! Join their film-positive community this summer! MONO NO AWARE is a 501c3 cinema-arts non-profit organization working to promote connectivity through the cinematic experience. Based in Brooklyn, NY, MONO NO AWARE has cultivated a film-positive community that presents monthly artist-in-person screenings, organizes affordable analogue film making workshops, accessible equipment rentals and facilities, operates a film distribution initiative, plans cinema field trips, and hosts an annual exhibition for contemporary artists and international filmmakers whose work incorporates Super 8mm, 16mm, 35mm or altered light projections as part of a live performance or installation. Brooklyn Fire Proof has worked with Mono No Aware on a number of workshops, screenings, and events in the past, and we're always happy to support their great orgainzation. Get invovled!

[crystleneel346-blog]

Floyd VERSUS Conor And also Nobody Cares About Harvey?

Seven Factors Your Competitors Know About gel.

Effort supervisor John Carr allotments Catholic Social Thought and its own applications along with pupils as a supplement instructor in the Team of Theology. In addition to Pure Media Pioneers, we are campaigning for a fund for young business owners on similar terms as student finances. Comic books & Mental Health: zine-making shop along with Una// Reside Celebration// 1800. Quick onward to 2007, only 10 years later, as well as HFFT became an included, signed up, charity along with its own Panel of Supervisors and also 63 programs. Sun 15 Nov, Cinema from Battle, Royal Armouries, 15:00 - 16:30, totally free admittance along with Saturday/Weekend convention elapsed, Restricted space accessible, so satisfy show up early, satisfy keep in mind: Notion Blister carries out not handle film web content, this screening is actually suggested for grows older 12A. At Big Thought and feelings, our target is actually to bridge the option void by carrying quality, imagination-based computer programming to 150,000 under-resourced trainees across 433 internet sites in Dallas.

A summer months discovering plan is actually merely a listing of tasks, celebrations or plans that your pupil can easily join over the summertime. Sun Sixth Nov, Headlines Area, Royal Armouries (Fourth Floor), 14. If you have any inquiries concerning where and the best ways to utilize More hints, you can call us at our webpage. 10-15.00, cost-free admittance with Sunday/Weekend convention pass, All Ages, yet simply note: Notion Blister performs not control panel web content.

How you can Find out about gel In Simply 10 Times.

Cherie Blair While strides are being brought in, women's entrepreneurship still lags males's in every but 7 countries worldwide. But definitely being included with meeting one thing new or even helping social business people that have truly interesting tips obtain something off the ground or even as much as incrustation with exactly what I would certainly phone mezzanine funding" ... that could be actually trendy too. Currently in the 1960s, Lewis had called for multi-party democracy in Africa's diverse conditions entailing corresponding depiction; union authorities; as well as federalist devolution. The Principle unites the teaching faculty, editing experts, and research holdings of the Peirce Edition Job, the Santayana Version, the Frederick Douglass Papers, and also the Facility for Ray Bradbury Researches along with associated scholarly courses in American Researches, Professional Editing, and United States philosophy.

It is actually truly essential for entrepreneurs in order to help each other, this must be part of their DNA. The panel of a global strategies business sought us to play the task of facilitator in the course of a 'dream treatment' for their supervisors, while their Human Resources department requested a planner from an exterior experimental course for the very same team, so as they could possibly relax after a spell of hard work.

Why Is gel So Famous?

This is one thing that is actually been occurring for many hundreds of years. Her vision additionally obtained off the language from her political mentor, Thabo Mbeki, in operation phrases like 'African Awakening' as well as 'African Century'. I'm not saying you have peace coming from someone else's suffering, yet I am actually claiming that you should know that you are actually not alone, which traits will modify and also get better. Typically business people can easily develop a good item as well as a company but need to bring in monitoring that can help extend and also produce an absolutely terrific business. Jerry Yang Entrepreneurship especially in innovation is actually based on development to make brand-new market chances, and interruption to disintermediate existing markets. There currently are actually courses to assist work and treatment that will undoubtedly be actually a protract revenues. It seems to be to me that the human/civic element of metropolitan areas is one thing planners and developers discover intimidating in some way, and also just about concept against at times. Justin L. Barrett joined the More voluminous School from Psychological science in 2011 as Thrive Lecturer from Developmental Science and also Director of the Thrive Center for Human being Advancement.

With Idea Blister getting bigger every year, our company developed Bub's Lobby - a silent, tranquil location to run away the groups as well as take some time far from the dynamic convention halls. My hope is actually that business people prepare their sights high, to take on huge problems and difficulties, and have that course from enthusiasm and also determination to have notable effect. Gary White Conventional wisdom, fairly appropriately, broach this nearing water crisis at the macro-level that claims our team are actually running through our supplies from freshwater. It means nothing at all, and those slogans simply own people outrageous - That mosts likely to show the intellectual vacuousness from people who say them. Profile pages indicated along with a reference mark suggest the guest will definitely have a planned finalizing port at the event (full time particulars TBC).

[thaissa1918]

CIA - Al-Qaeda Operative Employed in States as Bosnian Muslim Diplomat Al-Qaeda Operative Employed in States as Bosnian Muslim Diplomat

CIA - Al-Qaeda Operative Employed in States as Bosnian Muslim Diplomat Al-Qaeda Operative Employed in States as Bosnian Muslim Diplomat

Dr Darko Trifunovic - Counter Terrorism

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Dr Darko Trifunovic - Al Qaeda Operative Employed in States as Bosnian Muslim Diplomat By Darko Trifunovic at 12:00 AM on 7/8/2009

Dr Darko Trifunovic - Rewarding terrorism, deception in Kosovo By Darko Trifunovic at 3:17 PM on 12/3/2008

Dr Darko Trifunovic - Rewarding terrorism, deception in Kosovo By Darko Trifunovic at 3:17 PM on 12/3/2008

Dr Darko Trifunovic - Safe Haven" for Al Qaeda and Taliban in Pakistan By Darko Trifunovic at 5:14 AM on 7/30/2008

Dr Darko Trifunovic - Al Qaeda Video Urges Muslims to Kill Saudi King for Hosting Interfaith Conference By Darko Trifunovic at 2:24 PM on 7/29/2008

Al Qaeda in America

Dr Darko...DarkoNYC

Dr Darko Trifunovic - Al Qaeda Operative Employed in States as Bosnian Muslim Diplomat

Posted by Darko Trifunovic on Wednesday, July 08, 2009 12:00:00 AM

CIA - Al-Qaeda Operative Employed in States as Bosnian Muslim Diplomat

Al-Qaeda Operative Employed in States as Bosnian Muslim Diplomat

Sep 17th, 2008 | By De-Construct.net | In Current

Safet Catovic

Abdel Kadeer Moktari Abu Mali

Main Al-Qaeda Operative for the Balkans Enjoys a Diplomatic Cover

Al-Qaeda operative Safet Catovic [pdf. document] is employed as a counselor in one of three diplomatic-consular offices of the Bosnian federation in U.S., the experts for radical Islam said, as reported by the Serbian media.

The man regarded by the anti-terrorist experts as a key figure of the terrorist Islamic network in the Muslim part of Bosnia is considered a coordinator of all the extremist terrorist actions and operations conducted from the Balkan cells of the Islamic terrorist organizations.

“The key al-Qaeda operative for the Balkans, Safet Catovic works as an ‘adviser’ in a Bosnian Muslim diplomatic office in the United States,” said Darko Trifunovic, professor at Belgrade Faculty of Security.

“Together with Muhamed Sacirbey, Catovic was running the non-governmental organization Global Medical Fund, which was involved in bringing over [to former Yugoslavia] mujahedin mercenaries — the operation known under the codename Winter ‘94,” Trifunovic said.

El Mujahedin and Summer Jihad Camp in the Heart of U.S.

The El Mujahedin unit comprised of Arab mercenaries sent over to Bosnia-Herzegovina to help Izetbegovic exterminate the Serbs during Bosnian civil war counted 3,500 troops. Overall, it is estimated that there were 10,000-15,000 Muslim mercenaries from the Islamic countries operating in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 civil war. Many were promptly given citizenship by the Izetbegovic regime and settled on the property of the ethnically cleansed Serb population after the war.

“On August 2001, Safet Catovic organized the summer Jihad Camp at the place where one of the planes which targeted the twin towers was downed, together with imam Sirai Fahai, suspect in the first attack on New York Trade Center, in 1993″, Trifunovic explained.

One of Serbia’s main anti-terrorism experts isn’t the only one who raised the red flag over the man behind a Bosnian Muslim “diplomatic counselor”. Bosnia’s Dzevad Galijasevic also claims Catovic is an intruder, hiding behind the false identity.

“Catovic is of African-Asian origin, most likely from Algeria. He is a member of the GIA (Group Islamic of Algeria). Safet Abid Catovic is a false identity he took from the Bosnian Muslim who died in 1992. He is a very important link in the chain, a link between the formal part of the [Bosnian Muslim] government and the informal organizational units,” Dzevad Galijasevic told Bosnian Serb Glas Srpske.

He added that Catovic is probably Abdel Kadeer Moktari Abu Mali, former commander of the Bosnian El Mujahedin unit.

However, Bosnian Muslim officials claim that after his arrival to war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina, Safet Catovic was first issued documents on the name Halid Ibn Abdullah, after which he changed his last name first to Catic (Chatich) and then to Catovic (Chatovich), while all the other data in his documents remained unchanged.

Islamic and American Mercenaries Work Hand-in-Hand in the Balkans

Galijasevic further revealed that this al-Qaeda mercenary was approached in Bosnia by the members of the American mercenary organization MPRI — Military Professional Resources Incorporated — an unofficial Pentagon army with more four-star-generals than the official U.S. Army, for training and militarily aiding terrorists in civil wars around the world, involved on the Croat side in extermination of Krajina Serbs, on the Kosovo Albanian side in terrorizing Serbian police and civilian population to trigger the civil war, on the Bosnian Muslim side to push the Serbs out of most of Bosnia-Herzegovina, on the Georgian side to try to ethnically cleanse South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the recent assault, etc. At the request of a high U.S. official, Catovic was pulled to United States because of the information he possessed and, since then, he is officially an employee of Bosnian Muslim diplomatic-consular office.

“He’s an operative who links troops on the ground with the leadership, financial circles and headquarters. He is always in the positions of the informal nature, at the posts of the military attache, adviser, etc,” Galijasevic stressed.

Assertions [.pdf document] that Catovic is the key al-Qaeda operative for the Balkans, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, are not new. It is assumed that the American security services also possess the information about Catovic to whom Bosnian Muslim leadership issued false documents, conveniently providing him with the identity of a dead man.

Catovic was a deputy director of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Permanent Mission in the UN, and he was also a spokesman for two Islamic “humanitarian” organizations FBI closed due to terrorist activities: Benevolence International Federation and the Global Relief Agency.

According to the earlier information, it was Catovic who enabled Husein Zivalj and Hasan Chengic to get in contact with the international Islamic organization TWRA, Faith’s Third World Relief Agency, through which Bosnian Muslim regime started smuggling weapons for the Muslim army at the start of the Bosnian civil war, in 1992.

http://de-construct.net/e-zine/?p=2751

(Debka ist eine professionelle Informationsquelle zur Terrorbekämpfung)

New Jihadist Army Forming in Balkans

June 24, 2002, 5:12 PM (GMT+02:00)

The next radical Islamic terror attack in America could well originate in a corner of the Balkans, where a new jihad force is taking shape quietly and unhindered. In its last issue, published on Friday, June 21, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources reported that close to 20,000 fighters, battled-hardened veterans and eager young recruits, are already under arms, with more joining up all the time.

An Islamist bloc of nations (whose formation has been reported in the past byDEBKAfile) - made up of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, al Qaeda and Hizballah, with active Palestinian support - is behind the new Muslim Balkan army. Saudi, Iranian and Iraqi intelligence services and al Qaeda operations officers in Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Albania are tasked with recruitment, training and organization. The units are armed with modern weaponry, including missiles and artillery, while handpicked young Muslim recruits have been sent to sign up at private flying schools, especially in the CzechRepublic and Bulgaria, as the nucleus of an air force.

Having learned the lessons of the war in Afghanistan, planners and commanders keep their heads well down, their training bases and facilities well hidden.

Recruitment is brisk among the ethnic Albanian Muslim populations of Kosovo, Macedonia and Bosnia, as well as Albania proper. Hundreds of mosques are sprouting in these countries, funded from deep Saudi pockets. The mosques open cultural societies to attract boys aged 15 to 16 and enroll them at medressas which, like their Pakistani prototypes, integrate military training in their curricula. The result is an expanding recruiting pool for terrorists, the same as Pakistan’s medressas, before the US invasion of Afghanistan.

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Al Qaeda

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jihad

[mndigr]

Half-Life 3 scenario procureo (otkriven kraj igre)

Mark Lajdo, jedan od bivših pisaca/scenarista iz Valve kompanije, koji je radio na pisanju scenarija za Half-Life 2, izbacio je kratak sinopsis na svom sajtu (u obliku pisma Gordona Freemana, glavnog protagoniste serijala) u kojem se daje sažet pregled događaja nakon Half-Life Episode 2, i može se svrstati u period nikad izašle epizode 3, kao i trećeg nastavka u serijalu, Half-Life 3. Iako ovo deluje kao sjajne vesti, zapravo se na ovaj način i zvanično stavlja tačka na nadu da ćemo ikada videti nastavak ove kultne igre. Piscima koji su radili za Valve (a podsećamo, svi scenaristi su napustili Valve u prethodnom periodu) je ovih dana istekao NDA (ugovor o ćutanju), pa imaju slobodu da govore o svom radu u Valve kompaniji, te se otuda i pojavio ovaj dokument. Njegovim otkrivanjem praktično je završeno poglavlje u istoriji zvano Half-Life, jer Valve nikada ne bi dozvolio da se ovaj dokument objavi ukoliko zaista rade na igri i Mark Lajdo zna da bi bio tužen, tako da je ovo uradio sa potpunom zakonskom slobodom. Ipak, za mnoge fanove ovo predstavlja veliki momenat, jer za mnoge od njih više nije ni bila važna sama igra, taj famozni Half-Life 3, objašnjava Play! Zine, već su jednostavno želeli da saznaju kako se cela priča i završava - hteli da vide kraj čitave sage, jer je priča bila važnija od igre. Ako pitate fanove, potpuno bi bio dobrodošao i neki strip, novela ili bilo koji drugi oblik umetnosti, koji bi zaokružio priču. Tako da, iako je sa jedne strane razočaranje što Half-Life 3 verovatno nikada nećemo videti, s druge strane ovo je neka vrsta konačnog mira za fanove, jer su pročitali kako se sve odigralo do kraja. Link ka stranici gde je Mark izbacio ovu priču je trenutno mrtav jer je preopterećen, ali transkript celog teksta možete u originalu pročitati u nastavku. Namerno smo izbegli spojlere u vesti, tako da ostavljamo zainteresovanima da sami pročitaju sadržaj sinopsisa, pa nam onda prenesite vaše utiske u komentarima, da li ste zadovoljni kako se priča završila? Čekamo vaše komentare ispod vesti i na Facebook, Twitter i Instagram mreži. HALF-LIFE 3 kraj igre: “I hope this letter finds you well. I can hear your complaint already, “Gordon Freeman, we have not heard from you in ages!” Well, if you care to hear excuses, I have plenty, the greatest of them being I’ve been in other dimensions and whatnot, unable to reach you by the usual means. This was the case until eighteen months ago, when I experienced a critical change in my circumstances, and was redeposited on these shores. In the time since, I have been able to think occasionally about how best to describe the intervening years, my years of silence. I do first apologize for the wait, and that done, hasten to finally explain (albeit briefly, quickly, and in very little detail) events following those described in my previous game (referred to herewith as Episode 2). To begin with, as you may recall from the closing paragraphs of my previous missive, the death of Eli Vance shook us all. The Resistance team was traumatized, unable to be sure how much of our plan might be compromised, and whether it made any sense to go on at all as we had intended. And yet, once Eli had been buried, we found the strength and courage to regroup. It was the strong belief of his brave daughter, the feisty Alyx Vance, that we should continue on as her father had wished. We had the Antarctic coordinates, transmitted by Eli’s long-time assistant, Dr. Judith Mossman, which we believed to mark the location of the lost luxury liner Borealis. Eli had felt strongly that the Borealis should be destroyed rather than allow it to fall into the hands of the Combine. Others on our team disagreed, believing that the Borealis might hold the secret to the revolution’s success. Either way, the arguments were moot until we found the vessel. Therefore, immediately after the service for Dr. Vance, Alyx and I boarded a seaplane and set off for the Antarctic; a much larger support team, mainly militia, was to follow by separate transport. It is still unclear to me exactly what brought down our little aircraft. The following hours spent traversing the frigid waste in a blizzard are also a jumbled blur, ill-remembered and poorly defined. The next thing I clearly recall is our final approach to the coordinates Dr. Mossman has provided, and where we expected to find the Borealis. What we found instead was a complex fortified installation, showing all the hallmarks of sinister Combine technology. It surrounded a large open field of ice. Of the Borealis itself there was no sign…or not at first. But as we stealthily infiltrated the Combine installation, we noticed a recurent, strangely coherent auroral effect–as of a vast hologram fading in and out of view. This bizarre phenomenon initially seemed an effect caused by an immense Combine lensing system, Alyx and I soon realized that what we were actually seeing was the luxury liner Borealis itself, phasing in and out of existence at the focus of the Combine devices. The aliens had erected their compound to study and seize the ship whenever it materialized. What Dr. Mossman had provided were not coordinates for where the sub was located, but instead for where it was predicted to arrive. The liner was oscillating in and out of our reality, its pulses were gradually steadying, but there was no guarantee it would settle into place for long–or at all. We determined that we must put ourselves into position to board it at the instant it became completely physical. At this point we were briefly detained–not captured by the Combine, as we feared at first, but by minions of our former nemesis, the conniving and duplicitous Wallace Breen. Dr. Breen was not as we had last seen him–which is to say, he was not dead. At some point, the Combine had saved out an earlier version of his consciousness, and upon his physical demise, they had imprinted the back-up personality into a biological blank resembling an enormous grub. The Breen-grub, despite occupying a position of relative power in the Combine hierarchy, seemed nervous and frightened of me in particular. Wallace did not know how his previous incarnation, the original Dr. Breen, had died. He knew only that I was responsible. Therefore the grub treated us with great caution. Still, he soon confessed (never able to keep quiet for long) that he was herself a prisoner of the Combine. He took no pleasure from her current grotesque existence, and pleaded with us to end his life. Alyx believed that a quick death was more than Wallace Breen deserved, but for my part, I felt a modicum of pity and compassion. Out of Alyx ’s sight, I might have done something to hasten the grub’s demise before we proceeded. Not far from where we had been detained by Dr. Breen, we found Judith Mossman being held in a Combine interrogation cell. Things were tense between Judith and Alyx, as might be imagined. Alyx blamed Judith for her father’s death…news of which, Judith was devastated to hear for the first time. Judith tried to convince Alyx that she had been a double agent serving the resistance all along, doing only what Eli had asked of her, even though she knew it meant he risked being seen by her peers–by all of us–as a traitor. I was convinced; Alyx less so. But from a pragmatic point of view, we depended on Dr. Mossman; for along with the Borealis coordinates, she possessed resonance keys which would be necessary to bring the liner fully into our plane of existence. We skirmished with Combine soldiers protecting a Combine research post, then Dr. Mossman attuned the Borealis to precisely the frequencies needed to bring it into (brief) coherence. In the short time available to us, we scrambled aboard the ship, with an unknown number of Combine agents close behind. The ship cohered for only a short time, and then its oscillations resume. It was too late for our own military support, which arrived and joined the Combine forces in battle just as we rebounded between universes, once again unmoored. What happened next is even harder to explain. Alyx Vance, Dr. Mossman and myself sought control of the ship–its power source, its control room, its navigation center. The liner’s history proved nonlinear. Years before, during the Combine invasion, various members of an earlier science team, working in the hull of a dry-docked liner situated at the Aperture Science Enrichment Center in Lake Huron, had assembled what they called the Bootstrap Device. If it worked as intended, it would emit a field large enough to surround the ship. This field would then itself travel instantaneously to any chosen destination without having to cover the intervening space. There was no need for entry or exit portals, or any other devices; it was entirely self-contained. Unfortunately, the device had never been tested. As the Combine pushed Earth into the Seven Hour War, the aliens seized control of our most important research facilities. The staff of the Borealis , with no other wish than to keep the ship out of Combine hands, acted in desperation. The switched on the field and flung the Borealis toward the most distant destination they could target: Antarctica. What they did not realize was that the Bootstrap Device travelled in time as well as space. Nor was it limited to one time or one location. The Borealis, and the moment of its activation, were stretched across space and time, between the nearly forgotten Lake Michigan of the Seven Hour War and the present day Antarctic; it was pulled taut as an elastic band, vibrating, except where at certain points along its length one could find still points, like the harmonic spots along a vibrating guitar string. One of these harmonics was where we boarded, but the string ran forward and back, in both time and space, and we were soon pulled in every direction ourselves. Time grew confused. Looking from the bridge, we could see the drydocks of Aperture Science at the moment of teleportation, just as the Combine forces closed in from land, sea and air. At the same time, we could see the Antarctic wastelands, where our friends were fighting to make their way to the protean Borealis; and in addition, glimpses of other worlds, somewhere in the future perhaps, or even in the past. Alyx grew convinced we were seeing one of the Combine’s central staging areas for invading other worlds–such as our own. We meanwhile fought a running battle throughout the ship, pursued by Combine forces. We struggled to understand our stiuation, and to agree on our course of action. Could we alter the course of the Borealis? Should we run it aground in the Antarctic, giving our peers the chance to study it? Should we destroy it with all hands aboard, our own included? It was impossible to hold a coherent thought, given the baffling and paradoxical timeloops, which passed through the ship like bubbles. I felt I was going mad, that we all were, confronting myriad versions of ourselves, in that ship that was half ghost-ship, half nightmare funhouse. What it came down to, at last, was a choice. Judith Mossman argued, reasonably, that we should save the Borealis and deliver it to the Resistance, that our intelligent peers might study and harness its power. But Alyx reminded me she had sworn she would honor her father’s demand that we destroy the ship. She hatched a plan to set the Borealis to self-destruct, while riding it into the heart of the Combine’s invasion nexus. Judith and Alyx argued. Judith overpowered Alyx and brought the Borealis area, preparing to shut off the Bootstrap Device and settle the ship on the ice. Then I heard a shot, and Judith fell. Alyx had decided for all of us, or her weapon had. With Dr. Mossman dead, we were committed to the suicide plunge. Grimly, Alyx and I armed the Borealis, creating a time-travelling missile, and steered it for the heart of the Combine’s command center. At this point, as you will no doubt be unsurprised to hear, a Certain Sinister Figure appeared, in the form of that sneering trickster, the G-Man. For once he appeared not to me, but to Alyx Vance. Alyx had not seen the cryptical schoolmarm (no male equivalent) since childhood, but she recognized him instantly. “Come along with me now, we’ve places to do and things to be,” said the G-Man, and Alyx acquiesced. She followed the strange grey man out of the Borealis, out of our reality. For me, there was no convenient door held open; only a snicker and a sideways glance. I was left alone, riding the weaponized luxury liner into the heart of a Combine world. An immense light blazed. I caught a cosmic view of a brilliantly glittering Dyson sphere. The vastness of the Combine’s power, the futility of our struggle, blossomed briefly in my awareness. I saw everything. Mainly I saw how the Borealis, our most powerful weapon, would register as less than a fizzling matchhead as it blew itself apart. And what remained of me would be even less than that. Just then, as you have surely already foreseen, the Vortigaunts parted their own checkered curtains of reality, reached in as they have on prior occasions, plucked me out, and set me aside. I barely got to see the fireworks begin. And here we are. I spoke of my return to this shore. It has been a circuitous path to lands I once knew, and surprising to see how much the terrain has changed. Enough time has passed that few remember me, or what I was saying when last I spoke, or what precisely we hoped to accomplish. At this point, the resistance will have failed or succeeded, no thanks to me. Old friends have been silenced, or fallen by the wayside. I no longer know or recognize most members of the research team, though I believe the spirit of rebellion still persists. I expect you know better than I the appropriate course of action, and I leave you to it. Except no further correspondence from me regarding these matters; this is my final episode. Yours in infinite finality, Gordon Freeman, Ph.D. “ Let's block ads! (Why?)

[battle-facility-zine]

The Interest Check for In Pursuit of Victory!: A Pokémon Battle Facility Zine is NOW OPEN!

Welcoming all challengers, this zine will be wholly dedicated to showing appreciation and love for the various Pokémon Battle Facilities that have been featured spanning across the generations! From the bosses who run them and the challengers they face off against to even the facilities themselves, we hope to showcase a variety of stories and illustrations about these dearly beloved facilities.

To help us gauge whether to go forward with the project, please fill out our INTEREST CHECK: https://forms.gle/my6MHz6yExZJnxUv5

For more information please visit our CARRD!

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Today is the LAST DAY to apply to In Pursuit of Victory! A Pokémon Battle Facility Zine!

Happy Easter, Challengers! As you all know, today March 31st is the last day to apply before our Contributor Applications close forever at 11:59 PM EST! If you haven't applied yet, now is your time to do so! We would also just like to thank everyone so far who has applied and wish everyone the best of luck on the next step ahead! As a reminder, Application Results will start going out on April 9th, at 5:00 PM EST so make sure to keep an eye on your inboxes!

You can review our Contributor Application Guidelines here before applying!

Here are the links to each application:

🔗Artist/Merch Application

🔗Writing Application

[battle-facility-zine]

Happy Pokémon Day, Challengers!

In accordance with sharing exciting Pokémon related news, we’re here to remind you all that Contributor Applications for our free digital Pokémon Battle Facility zine, In Pursuit of Victory! are still open and will remain so until March 24th! We’re looking for Page Artists, Writers, and Digital Merch Artists to join us in shining a spotlight on some of the more underappreciated Pokémon characters!

You can review our Contributor Application Guidelines here before applying!

Here are the links to each application:

🔗Artist/Merch Application

🔗Writing Application

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📑Mod Spotlight: Facility Head Intern Cardinal

Next up, please welcome our Intern Mod, @cardinal-crossing! They assist the team by interning as a Co-Head and Graphics Mod!

Hello! My name is Cardinal; I love Pokémon, and battling competitively is a hobby of mine. I am super excited to participate in a zine that showcases some of my favorite Battle Facilities and Battle Facility Heads!

Artist Applications | Writing Applications | Carrd | Neocities | App Guidelines