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timelordthirteen · 5 years

Text

Killing Time 20/35

Detective Weaver/Belle French, Explicit

Summary: A Woven Beauty Law & Order-ish AU. Written for Writer’s Month 2019.

Chapter Summary: Belle and Weaver start working their new lead, and relationship status, with some surprising results.

Notes: I fully outlined the whole rest of this story yesterday. I'm so excited. Enjoy this chapter's little bit of sexy times.

Warnings: Miscarriage reference and discussion in some chapters. Please see AO3 for complete warnings and tags.

[AO3] Previous: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

Belle pushed the office door open with her hip and twisted as she came through, a sizable file box in her hands.

Weaver glanced up at her and then returned his eyes to the page in front of him which was a long list of former addresses for both Branson brothers. He was comparing them to the lists they had from the victims, seeking some kind of overlap that perhaps he had missed before, when he was startled by the sharp thud of Belle dropping the box on the table in front of him.

He blinked and then gave her an annoyed look. “And to what do I owe this interruption.”

“Birth records from 1999.”

“I thought they’d all been converted to digital?” He set down the page he’d been reviewing and frowned. “And that has what to do with what now?”

Belle smiled and pulled the lid off the box, flipping through the first few folders to see how they were organized. “About 90% of them had been scanned in and archived, when the budget for summer interns ran out, and well...”

Weaver let out a small ‘ah’ and sighed. Typical that the city would make it so far only to abandon the project because of money and never return to it. He took the first set of folders from Belle as she lifted them out and set them on his lap, idly thumbing them.

“So this is our next project...why?”

Her smile shifted to a wide grin and she dropped down on the sofa next to him. Their legs were pressed together, and braced her hand on his thigh as she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Since they had reconfirmed their feelings for each other, it was almost as if the last couple of years hadn’t happened. All the tension and awkwardness melted away and the old ease they’d had with each other returned in full in the span of a few days.

“I was looking over Molly’s file, since we confirmed that the hair they found on Eloise’s...bag...was hers, and I noticed the issue date on her birth certificate.”

She slid the photocopy from the county clerk’s office out of a folder and pointed to the date in the upper right corner. Weaver took the paper from her and sat back, as she turned and sat sideways on the sofa, watching him. Molly’s birthday was mid-January 1997, but the issued date on the birth certificate was from April of 1999.

“It’s two years off,” he said, setting paper down on the table. “So...why would that be? Did they have to amend it or something?”

Belle shook her head. “I thought that too, like maybe Mrs. Macreedy wasn’t Mrs. Macreedy when she had Molly, and there wasn’t a father listed initially, but they were married in 1992.”

“Somebody at the clerk’s office make a typo that had to be corrected later?” He’d seen that more than once from a misspelling on a form, bad handwriting, or a misunderstanding on which version of a name was being used.

Again, Belle’s head turned back and forth slowly as her lips started to curve. “Nope. It was actually issued in 1999.”

Weaver started to smile as well. She was teasing him with whatever clue she’d already figured out, and being adorable while she was at it. Her teeth caught on her lip, and he barely held himself back from kissing her.

“Am I supposed to keep guessing,” he asked, “or are you going to relieve my suspense?”

“Molly Macreedy was adopted.”

His eyes went wide at her words, and he sat forward, his frown returning. “What? Her parents never once mentioned that.”

“Well, it’s not like they would have thought it was relevant to our investigation,” she said with a shrug. “Maybe they wanted to keep it a secret, or maybe Molly didn’t even know.”

Blowing out a breath, he shook his head. “That’s a hell of a thing not to tell your child.”

“As you would know.”

He gave a nod to her offhand comment, remembering the entire debacle with his ex-wife and the boy he’d been led to believe was his son. It was a long time ago now, and his relationship with Neal had weathered the turmoil, coming out all the stronger for it in spite of their lack of blood relation. Even now he wished he could forget the sting of all the lies Milah had told.

Belle’s hand on his shoulder brought him back, and he turned to her, giving her a half smile. “Do we have the adoption records?”

She sighed and her face fell. “No, unfortunately. There are no adoption records in this state under the name Macreedy.”

His lips pursed briefly as he thought. “So it must have happened in another state then.”

“That’s one thought, yes,” she admitted.

“I have other thoughts, if you’re interested.” His gaze drifted down to the deep V made by her blouse and back up to meet her eyes. Then he waggled his eyebrows at her exaggeratedly

“Save it for later,” she said softly, leaning to press her lips against his. When she pulled back, she was all business. “I thought we’d confirm that by looking at the records from the same birthdate as Molly’s and work from there. If we can get enough specifics and show enough possible connections between her adoption and the case, we can reach out to other states and ask for their records.”

He sighed heavily. “Just what I love. More paperwork.”

Weaver groaned and his dropped back against the top of the sofa, his eyes closing as Belle’s soft lips dragged up the length of his cock one last time.

She pulled her mouth free with a wet pop and held his shaft in her hand as she pressed a kiss to the head. A crooked grin spread over her face, and he muttered a curse when she pushed up and climbed onto the sofa to straddle him. She closed the distance between them, and he met her halfway, letting out a soft, pleased sigh as their lips met. His arm went around her waist, pulling their bodies together as his free hand tangled in her hair.

They’d brought home work, as had become the norm, and started by dividing up the adoption records she’d requested from neighboring states. The pile from California alone would take them days to get through, but the revelation of Molly Macreedy’s parentage and the possibility of a connection between her and Eloise Gardner had given them enough motivation to carry them through the first few days. Belle had changed into more comfortable clothes and set herself on the floor in fron the sofa, her laptop on the coffee table and her notepad in her lap, while he stretched out behind her.

After a while, his eyes were burning from deciphering terrible handwriting and bad photocopies, and he let his left hand wander over her shoulder, giving it a light rub before slipping under the strap of her camisole. She offered no resistance when he went lower to cup her breast, and after a few minutes, turned the tables on him by unzipping his jeans and taking his rapidly hardening cock in her perfect mouth.

Weaver felt warm everywhere and he smiled as she pulled back, breaking the kiss. She didn’t go far, nuzzling against his cheek, her eyes, though half lidded and deep, like the dark blue gray color of the sky before a storm. Her fingers stroked through his hair as she pressed kisses to his cheek and jaw.

“Love you,” she said against his neck, and he gave her a firm squeeze with his arms.

“Your turn,” was his reply as his hands moved down over her backside, taking her yoga pants with them.

Belle sat back as he tugged the stretch fabric down her thighs, and pulled down the front of her top to bare her breasts to his mouth. He brushed the end of his nose over a nipple making her body jerk in response, her back arching and her hips rutting against him. His head dipped to take her nipple in his mouth, and she let out a high keening sound, her eyes squeezed shut, and he let out a groan of his own, muffled against her skin.

He’d switched between her breasts twice before he moved on, enjoying the way she begged with every gasp and shifted her hips impatiently. His thumb over her first, wanting to test her reaction, and he smiled, letting go of her nipple with a final nip of his teeth as she whimpered. Even that light touch had her toes curling into the sofa, her hips jerking towards his hand. Her clit was swollen and she was slick in every place, and he would’ve been lying if he said he didn’t get a thrill from feeling how much she wanted him, even after all these years and everything that had happened between them.

“Up,” he ordered, pulling his hand away to take hold of her pants.

She stumbled to her feet and let him pull them the rest of the way down before she stepped out of them. With her standing and him sitting, her pussy was at the perfect height, and he couldn’t help himself as he leaned forward and licked at her, dragging his tongue over her clit. She let out an utterly obscene sound, and he followed it by sliding a single finger inside her, pushing deep until her legs wobbled and she had to lean forward, bracing her hands on his shoulders.

Weaver leaned back and pulled her down across his lap again, his hand remaining between her legs all the way. One finger quickly became two, and then three as she moved in sync with him, panting and keening her pleasure. He wanted to be inside her properly, but that would have to wait until they went to bed later. He’d already had the privilege of watching her suck him dry, and right now he wanted to see her fall apart more than anything.

“Ian - fuck...”

Belle’s chest heaved and her hand slid in his hair, pulling hard as he pressed his thumb to her clit, letting it rub alongside the tender nub as his fingers thrust in and out of her slickness. Short nails scraped at his neck, pulling a low groan from his throat as her pussy spasmed and her whole body shuddered. His name fell from her lips over and over, but he didn’t stop stroking until she whined at the overstimulation and slumped against him. He pulled his hand free and wiped it on his thigh before he brought both arms up to hold her close as her breathing settled.

She hummed happily and turned her face into his warm neck, pressing a kiss to the spot where his pulse throbbed. “We’re not getting much work done.”

He laughed softly as she pulled back, and lifted the front of her camisole, dragging it teasingly over her still hard nipples. She bit her lip and made a small, gasping sound as the stretchy material grazed her chest, her eyes darkening as she looked down at him.

“Need another?” he asked, his voice low and his lips curving crookedly as he smoothed his hands down her sides.

She bent her head and kissed him firmly. “Later,” she said as her mouth moved to his ear, “when I’m kneeling on the bench in the bedroom and you’re fucking me hard from behind.”

Weaver swallowed hard and moaned, already feeling the return of that hazy warmth of arousal even as she climbed to her feet and redressed. He exhaled and let the feeling drift away, refocusing his mind on what they’d been working on before they’d been distracted by more pleasurable pursuits.

“I was thinking,” he said, “that we could save ourselves some work and just ask the Macreedys what they know.”

Belle tugged the cuff of her pants down where it had ridden high on her ankle, and frowned. “They pretty much told us in no uncertain terms they never wanted to see Seattle PD or anyone from the DA’s office again, so...?”

He shrugged as he stood and zipped his fly. “Yeah, but that was when their daughter’s death was still fresh, and we kept showing up at their door with a million questions and no bloody leads. Now we have two killers behind bars.”

She sighed and ran the back of her thumbnail over her bottom lip. Her eyes ran over the stacks of papers sitting around the space, and landed on her laptop screen. She’d been working her way through searches of adoption records by county in the state of Oregon, trying to correlate dates to the date of what they assumed was Molly’s adoption.

“Yeah,” she agreed, staring down at the blinking cursor as it flashed in an empty date field. “Maybe, but...I don’t want to be the one to make that phone call.”

Weaver stepped up behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders and drawing her back against him as his fingers gently kneaded her tense muscles. “I’ll do it.” She sighed again and looked back at him. “Are you sure?”

He nodded and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and she groaned as his thumb pressed at the side of her neck. “You’re a mess, sweetheart.”

Belle let out a snorting laugh. “Yeah, I know. I haven’t had a spa day in ages.”

“Or a day off?”

There was another sigh as her head dropped forward, providing his hands with more access to the back of her neck and the tops of her shoulders. “That hasn’t been a mandatory holiday during which I probably brought work home anyway? No.”

He let his hands run down over her shoulders and then wrap around her from behind. “When this is over, we should -” he whispered, almost afraid to say it and risk her pushing him away again, “we should go somewhere.”

Belle swallowed and closed her eyes as he squeezed her against his chest. The thought of a vacation with Ian, even for a few days, gave her a strange feeling. They’d admitted their feelings, temporarily reconciled, and had come back to the apartment to live together in every way possible, but they hadn’t talked about what any of this meant.

“Yeah?”

“If you want,” he replied softly, bringing his hands up to hold hers where they crossed over her abdomen.

She started to smile as their fingers intertwined. “Where?”

Weaver’s nose pressed into her hair as he breathed her in, content for the moment that she hadn’t rejected the idea outright. “Anywhere you want to go.”

Belle hung up the phone, after thanking the Macreedys for a third time, and sagged in her chair.

It had taken a couple of days to get a response from their attorney, but they’d agreed to a conference call which had gone much better than she and Weaver had expected. Evelyn Macreedy seemed almost relieved that they knew the truth about the adoption, though she’d been quite shocked to hear about the possible link between Molly and another potential victim. The husband, David, however, was still reluctant to talk to them and remained quiet for most of the call until the very end when he asked about the Branson brothers. Weaver assured him that both suspects were staying in jail through their trial, and that seemed to placate him for the most part.

The Macreedys explained that Molly’s biological mother had given birth to her in a Nevada prison, where she was serving time for theft, fraud, and a host of other non-violent offenses. Molly was first put into foster care, with the intention that at some point she might be returned to her mother, but unfortunately, after her biological mother was released on parole, the woman left the state and was never heard from again. The Macreedys were living in Henderson at the time, a city just south of Las Vegas, where David worked in project management for a building contractor. They’d moved there from Phoenix when housing was booming in the area in the 80s and 90s.

They’d struggled for several years to have a baby, and then turned to adoption through an attorney friend of David’s. They adopted Molly from foster care when she was two years old, but shortly after David’s career took them to Seattle. They filed the appropriate paperwork to seal the adoption records, and decided not to tell Molly. Evelyn admitted she was terrified that Molly would want to find her biological mother, and that they would lose her too. By the end of their story Belle was near tears, her left hand clinging to Weaver’s under the table.

Something had been nagging at Weaver’s brain from the second Evelyn had mentioned that they lived in Nevada, and as soon as the call came to an end, he was digging through the case file on Nick Branson. There was so much material involved in the case it was hard to keep it all in his head, and it annoyed him that so many of the pieces were scattered across storage boxes, file cabinets, and folders.

Belle ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I feel so bad for them. They went through so much to get their daughter, and just when her life is getting going, just went she’s about to be a full fledged adult with the whole rest of her life in front of her, she’s...gone. Taken from them just like they feared.”

Weaver frowned and looked over at Belle. “Are you okay?”

She sniffed and pushed to her feet. “Yeah, it just sucks.”

“Aye, it does,” he replied, as he returned to his search.

Belle came over to stand next to him, peering into the case box. “What are you looking for?”

“I’m not sure yet.” He pulled out a folder, his brow furrowed, and flipped it open. His eyes scanned the first page, and as he came to the bottom, his eyes went wide. “Shit.”

“What?”

“This,” he said, handing Belle the relevant sheet. He set the rest of the folder aside and pointed to a line near the bottom. “It’s a list of Nick Branson’s previous addresses.”

The dates on the entry aligned with Molly's adoption, and Belle felt like she’d been punched in the chest as she read the line three times to make sure she what she was seeing was real.

Nicholas Branson 775 Cottage Grove Rd Apt 4B Las Vegas, NV 89119

She blinked and looked up at Weaver, her mouth hanging open. “Shit.”

#rumbelle #rumbelle fic #woven beauty #woven beauty fic #killing time #fic #my woven beauty fic #lemon fic

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tkwrtnewsfeed · 7 years

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Newsfeed #86 August 13, 2017 (13 Úrimë)

ICYMI: Fantastic Credits and Where to Give Them.

I worked in Hollywood for 4 /12 years and one of my good friends is an intellectual property lawyer I’ve known since then--well over 16 years--with a client list that includes none other than Maurice (Kevin Kline) in the live-action film “Beauty and the Beast” starring Emma Watson.

(My attorney could sue anyone spreading salacious rumors about me and my work should he choose to do so, but I’m not a jerk. But he does know about it; he’s good at what he does--he’s successfully sued Google).

Translation: I’m at least 3-7 degrees of knowing how to give credit to artists. Otherwise, my attorney/friend would have me shot at sunrise. Would you like to learn how to do it without being a pain about it and spreading unscrupulous rumors? Let me explain Copyright © from a legal perspective from 30 years of working with copyrighted materials with an actual attorney that specializes in artistic intellectual properties with 40 years of experience that includes everything from visual art, music, film, books and has won a major copyright infringement case against Google (among other high profile cases) for major A-List celebrities.

1) Whatever you do is copyrighted from the moment you put it on paper by law. You don’t have to bitch about anyone stealing it perpetually. HOWEVER, you can’t complain about someone posting it anywhere in public (Pinterest, mostly) if YOU post it anywhere in public. If you share it, even asking people not to, it is already public and can go anywhere. What people CAN’T do is SAY it’s theirs. If they explicitly say “I did this” and they didn’t, you have a case. Otherwise, it is NOT copyright infringement if someone posts it anywhere.

It would be nice if EVERYONE would give credit--I try to do it if I do or link back to the original place I find something and that is time consuming if the work is not located where it came from (dead-link) or it was digitally stolen--something my attorney told me about a couple years ago. I see it all the time. But, if you make it public, it is assumed to be public. It is NOT ASSUMED to not to be copyrighted. Put that cute copyright sign on it and let it go. You should have the original as collateral, I would think. That’s the only way no one can claim it and you can properly bitch about it w/o an official U.S. Copyright.

2) I PUT “Images: ©2012, 2013, 2014. Warner Brothers Pictures. The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. All Rights Reserved.” on pretty much every post for The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy because the photos I use BELONG to Warner Brothers/New Line Cinema/Wingnut Productions. Altered by someone online doesn’t change this UNLESS the person altering got permission from WB/NLC/Wingnut to alter it. Otherwise, it is their property and they can sue anyone that alters their work and put their name on it if they so choose. I post this disclaimer to keep from GETTING sued--even though I don’t alter the photo in anyway. Gifs are the same way and currently seen as pirated these days and are subject to suit as with screen caps.

The reason no one gets sued over screen caps and gifs is because no one is making $$ off of them. You only get credit for edit not the work of the camera guy that was paid to shoot a film and the studio that owns his camera work. Unlike Marvel that has begun digital copyrights on some photos (you post something on Facebook, it automatically gives credit). The minute someone charges for any altered screen caps, gifs or photos and calls it their own work, that is the legal definition of copyright infringement.

Without proper credit, you are open to lawsuit by the studios, photographers. I go out of my way to avoid altered anything because then I could get sued even if I didn’t alter it--even if I am not making money from it. Which brings me to the next point:

3) IF I was making $$ and using someone’s art, then I could get sued. That means I’m not paying the original person their due (licensing fees) for use of their work. THAT includes my original story that uses and will use a great number of canonical characters from Tolkien. If I want to turn The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy into a book, I have to do it the right way--which is get permission from the Tolkien Estate (I’ve had the paperwork since 2016 when it was shown to me by a member of the Mythopoeic Society--they are close to the Estate). They can allow me to publish after negotiations of paying for use of the characters or force me to put “not affiliated with the Tolkien Estate” and/or change names if they so choose.

Example of a Tolkien allowed to go to press with “non-affiliated” tag of Tolkien. It’s clean, so the Estate probably doesn’t mind so much. Not all of these “non-affiliated” books are bad or not liked by the Estate. The label is not exclusively a non-endorsement--there might be something unknown about as to why it’s there.

Example of a book with the coveted “Tolkien Trademark” and approved by the Estate--spoke with one of the authors; pretty cool.

You want this, you better have your %^$* together. Yes, they give them out, but they are particular--do it right: legal and above board.

I’m not making any revenue off of TKWR Trilogy but if I were, I wouldn’t be using film photos. I would HIRE an artist to tag along over to the final phase of getting this book turned into something sold on Amazon or in Barnes & Noble. Then, the artist of choice would get paid for their work properly. They could use the work from this book anywhere they wanted and it would be protected forever--example of this would be Ted Nasmith.

Due to all the rumors about people say I’m doing because they have nothing better to do with their time (regardless of the obvious), I decided not to share any Tolkien Fan Art, use and Tolkien Fan Art or consider any Tolkien Fan Art unsolicited by anyone on Tumblr, Pinterest, DeviantArt or anywhere else that isn’t done by anyone not represented by an agent or a lawyer. If I so choose, artists will have to go through my lawyer--not me. After today, there will be no artists’ works mentioned or shared by me anywhere again until I’m done with the entire trilogy--unless idiots stop spreading lies and rumors (they won’t so don’t hold your breath).

I discovered a lot of fan art pertaining to my book and I could say something, but I’m not a jerk and I’m not complaining. I’m also not making any $$ of the book. It is assumed to be public but not assumed not to be copyrighted--which it actually is (ask my attorney).

I will do something should I decide to take any number of offers to publish after a lot of legalities I will go through. For now, I’ll just watch to make sure no one’s claiming my work--my words--as their own (and some have which is why I sent the book to witnesses so I have a case and proof should I do something later on). The book will change in the final form as I edit; it already has with additions and changes in Book II: The Saga of Thranduil and Book I: The Epic of Eryn Galen and Book III: The Last Tale of Legolas Lasgalen.

I love artists here, but a few ruined it for everyone. I’ve had artists wanting to illustrate Book II: The Saga of Thranduil, but now that’s been narrowed to only one that doesn’t accuse me of salacious and reputation-altering deeds I’ve never done. Having a friend that’s a respected and experienced intellectual properties attorney with connections in the U.S. and Europe that has worked within the industry successfully for 30+ years with a stellar reputation protecting my works--all of them including screenplays, poetry, stage plays--makes it possible for me to help protect an artist of my choosing (and he’s already done wonders for clothing designer friend of mine in Florida that designed things for my film project HERETIC: THE LEGEND OF AKHENATEN*). He loves protecting properties and takes referrals. I’m not helping anyone spreading rumors.

Thank you, Captain Obvious. That was obvious.

I told someone once that I would, but they thought it better to insult me rather than allowing me to connect them to a publisher I knew that could have looked at their work without the long query process. You make connections in the business and it’s good to keep them and I do.

I live by the motto: “The ass you kick today may be the ass you kiss tomorrow” so I try to be nice and respectful to everyone--even I have to draw a line.

[By the way, there will be a LOT of versions coming for The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy. This one is the Annotated Version--complete with all the notes and references and explanations of the use of Tolkien to create the entire trilogy. Let’s just say it took 4 hours to do the first bibliography and I just added more books. This one (which will be done for both the original version and extended version) will take years.]

But if you don’t want to be seen as an artist, it’s a safe bet you won’t think pinning = stealing. Pinterest is nothing more than a bulletin board for what people like--it’s not supposed to deal in copyright protection like YouTube or Instagram where you are actually legally protected by copyright law. If they were, a lot of stuff they still allow would be subject to lawsuit against them--not the pinners. They blame pinners to keep themselves from being liable for allowing copyrighted properties. I’ve already deleted my Art page of potential artists for The Kingdom of he Woodland Realm Trilogy. I’ve gotten blocked on Pinterest by people here on Pinterest over pins I re-pinned years ago over what they don’t know--probably out of spite. I don’t mind and don’t care. My job is to finish my work to the best of my ability and move on to the next.

Writing has been my life since the age of two. Only an act of GOD is going to keep me from doing what I love. I write because I love it. If it’s liked, I’m happy. If its not, that isn’t a deterrent for me to stop. Like any artist, I want to protect my work--but I’m going to do it the right way and I’m going to give credit due when credit is due if I eventually use an artist for The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy. Full Stop--end of sentence. There is nothing left to say. I have to do it right because I have a too many people in the business watching me and if I’m not doing what is right, they aren’t going to want to work with me and that lessens the work I put in to write this and it will not be able to help a fellow artist along the way. My attorney acts as a free attorney for artists that can’t afford to hire expensive attorneys for protection because he believes in protecting the rights of artists and we often work together on helping artist connect with attorneys that work for free for all artists (Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts).

I know, that won’t keep some people from being jerks--I just wanted to put it out there.

*HERETIC: THE LEGEND OF AKHENATEN by Jaynaé Miller (me) is copyrighted by the U.S. Copyright Office. Any unauthorized use is strictly prohibited without prior consent for the next 100 years. In other words, I could sue a major studio if they don’t buy it from me. This is a wholly LEGAL and Recognized (and stamped) copyright. It doesn’t make the original copyright less potent, it just makes your work recognized by law and gives you further protection for your works. This includes photography, visual art, books, film, plays, videos, logos. Being a copyrighted work, it is also subject to the Berne Agreement (World Copyright Organization) guidelines for international use. With this, it wouldn’t matter where you work is posted, if someone said it was theirs, it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. Once you put a stamp on it, by law, it is already protected by the government as it is being sent via the federal government--and it is protected from loss of materials sent as well (USPS is good and finding it, too; get a tracking number and it is found faster).

I know all this stuff because I work with copyrighted and trademarked things since I wrote my first opera and lyrics for which my music teacher taught me about this in fifth grade. I’ve written adaptations with permission of the original writers. The More You Know depends on how much you care to know.--J.

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deathbars · 7 years

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It all started in October, during fall break. I was sitting at my desk, it had just been recently cleaned, so a few papers were on it but it had no dust. My laptop was open, the peridot shimejis climbing all over the screen due to my current (and still current) steven universe obsession. I wasn’t using it, it was just open and on, wasting power. I was scrolling through posts on my phone. A friend was spamming the post button on all their memes and I was indulging myself. They started posting some memes that didn’t really make much sense at the time, they were of these weird cartoon characters that I didn’t recognize as from a television show, or a movie. They were funny nonetheless, but I kept scrolling until I got to a particularly funny one (or at least I laughed slightly more at this one than I did the others). I started paying attention to the posts and I found out that they were part of a webcomic, called Homestuck. I remember a friend telling me to read it but I never got past the first 4 acts, it was really boring and I forgot to read half the text on the page every time. So, I decided to have another go at it, and started speed reading Homestuck. Little did I know that this comic is literally a lifelong commitment one does not simply read it, it becomes part of you. Every page has an image that is eventually a memory burned into your head. That was an eventful Fall break. I did nothing but read from the afternoon to midnight jumping like a semi-innocent teenager viewing something they shouldn’t whenever anyone walked into my room.

It was November. My instagram, facebook, and several other social shenanigan outlets now had a new look to them. I was now at about Act 5 and Homestuck had now consumed my entire mind, and frame of attention. When I wasn't reading it was I was thinking about it and posting about it.

I had a problem. I never really considered it a big problem. But it's a problem nonetheless. I was incapable of having a minor interest, all or nothing for me. If I don't absolutely love it, then I was probably uninterested or disliked it. Homestuck was an exaggeration of said problem.

In about the middle of November I finally finished, all 8,124 pages. Somehow I craved MORE.

Somehow I had also become incredibly attached to a particular character in which I related to intensely. I can put it blankly: He’s a grey skinned juggalo with candy-corn goat horns that does alien drugs with purple blood, from another universe named Gamzee Makara. Relating to that is probably a problem in itself but that's besides the point. I finally did something I had never done before. Something I had never loved a fandom so much as to even entertain the thought. This beautiful thing called Cosplay.

Oh the joys I’ve had.

Horns, horns everywhere. I bought a giant $20 box of Crayola’s Model Magic and went to work instantly. I started out small, asking my friends which horns the liked best showing them a diagram of every single pair of horns in homestuck. Then eventually, made my nearly 12” Goat horns. I bought $25 authentic pants from Welovefine, a cheap capricorn shirt, and a wig.

I was prepared for my first Comic con. I wanted to meet some more monstrosities like myself, and boy did I underestimate the number of Homestucks that would be at that con. Before they even opened the Vendor hall, a Tavros cosplayer called to me from across the room

“Gamzee is GAY”

“Be the Jelly to my Peanut Butter” (reference to a Ship name PB&J also known as Gamtav)

I just about lost it. It was the best day of my life. Overall that Con was probably a success, I only made One child cry and I failed to answer a question of a single fan.

“Why aren’t you locked in a fridge”

I… I was laughing way too hard and I totally failed. But other than that it was great and I met a few... interesting people. Apparently my Love for gamzee was not an uncommon thing, there were at least five other Gamzees there one of which was slightly intimidating and they acted like how I was supposed be acting but cosplaying the wrong version of of gamzee to match. Another gamzee was really nice and actually used his real hair for the cosplay and I thought that was pretty great, He also stole my bike horn and got his unsealed paint all over it but that was fine because the show he put on was exceptional. Maybe it was him, or maybe it was just the fact that we all looked really similar, something caught the ABC4Utah reporter’s attention. He asked us all to meet at the station/booth for a live interview at 4 or something. We all got totally lost but we eventually found it. There were homestucks on the weather intermission. At the end of the con, or at least when I had to leave, I got one big picture of (mostly) everyone and I’ve ever since improved my cosplay and ran around the school sporting my weird gear to see if people will notice.

My grandma told my mom that my aunt showed her my instagram and she thought I was a satanist. My Mother thinks it’s a Phase; Half of those cosplayers were no less than 18 years old.

I've semi-converted most of my friends, but alas, there’s another predominate religion in the area that gets in my way constantly. One friend calls me a weeb, but he’s a Nazi so his opinion on my obsession is irrelevant, but he does have a few converted to his side of Anti-Homestucks so thats a small problem; the war continues.

Anyway my life’s a self caused mess and I bought a yard of purple fabric for the next con in september. The fact that this event hasn’t really even ended yet, this memoir is sort of a presentoir.

heres a nice little memmoir i actually handed in to my english teacher

#homestuck #my homestuck story #lmao #why do i do these things #gamzee #gamtav

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macabreerudition · 7 years

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My name is Paper Ghostie and I’m a Formon.

Ghostie Rants On: Her Experience as a Mormon.

So, as a popular blog on here, @just-shower-thoughts, has helped be realize, not all water-based introversion is brilliant. But, there is some that make you rant about things in your past. I was marveling at how often I have friends in my work group who are kind enough to offer me rides home

It led to my realization that a lot has changed in the past few years:

the rides from my coworkers wouldn’t be allowed to be even considered

my relationship with my fiancé just wouldn’t do

my dress for my wedding would be scandalous

even my daily language would be wrong

Well, that was just a mere six years ago, due to the style of faith I was following at the time: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. If you are interested I have linked the English version and the language selection page of their official website. Link 1 and Link 2

Below is mostly a rant, as the secondary title indicates. I will be trying to keep the facts straight and will make corrections as needed. So, I know there are going to be people who will call me bigoted (if I get any views on this, honestly). I know that I’m going to be told I have to be more accepting of different views. I get it, I really do.I will be mostly presenting my views mixed with facts I have learned during and since I have ostracized myself from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Notes to consider before reading past the Keep reading link:

The faith will be referred to sarcastically several different forms. But, I will strictly be speaking about my experience with the LDS faith.

My experience with this sect of Christianity fell between August of 2011 and mostly ended around November or December of 2013.¹

While I would like to say that these negative points and opinions are few and far between, many other former members agree.

My living situation and mental state have both drastically improved.¹

A lot of the humor in the initial rant is sarcastic and simply “done”.

The following is the initial rant that I wrote that started this post and I wanted to not only address a lot of the errors that are in the rant but also to explain my own humor in this situation. :

I was wondering: how is it the LDS faith is an actual thing. For fuck's sake, they do proxy baptisms for the dead and the believe Jesus fucking Christ, himself, (and a buncha other dead folks, I suppose) is preaching to the dead in the spirit world to spread the "restored" word to these dead people.² So *if* these people choose to accept Christ into their... afterlives??? that they can have the baptism bit already done for them. Fucking weird, right?

Then, we have the fucking proxy weddings that are held so deceased couples can /correctly/ be married in the Temple™. (<--- Yes, I am placing a trademark on that and I’ll go over why later.) And, this ceremony can be performed with two full-blooded siblings as the proxies for the bride and groom...³

What in the Sam Hill... how can this be a thing?! How can someone with, like, two fully functioning brain cell that rub together, can look at that and go, "that's not fucking weird at all; in fact, we consider that sacred.."

What?! What???

How? How can you--- I went through that shit for two years... acting like I'm okay with all of it. Ya know? And, I still cannot, for the life of me, get how people think it's not only peachy but REVERED to do these ceremonies. I was in the fucking heated dunk tank that was on the backs of 12 oxen to represent the Mormon settlers blah blah blah. ⁴

AND I CANNOT SWIM AND HAVE A FEAR OF DROWNING! But did that stop them from wanting me to do my "duty" as a Sister™(Trademark is totally needed here) of the Church™? N O p E!

So, first, let us address the superscripts that I’m sure you all have noticed.

¹ I will be making a post if asked about addressing not only how I came into that situation but why I was willing to get into that situation.

² This was actually never fully clarified to me when I asked questions. And in the interest and pursuit of keeping my then-current home life more tolerable, I chose to act like I accepted the vague answers I received.

³ The family I lived with consisted of my best friend, her mother, and her maternal uncle. The uncle and mom had performed a wedding for the deceased for a pair of their ancestors. A video on baptisms for the dead and, honestly, an interesting article about a woman used as an example for an eternal marriage. Finally, another article on the same subject of Eternal Marriage.

⁴ The twelve oxen mentioned were actually a representation of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. I still believe the oxen are a nod to the fact that oxen would have been a popular animal sought after for the Mormon settlers’ long journey.

Am I completely right? No, absolutely not. I was in the wrong to even act as though I believed in this honestly sacred belief only to abandon it as immediately as the opportunity came to me. I should have been more honest to not only the family I lived with but also my friends and family back home. Do I regret posing as a Mormon for two years in the long run? No. I do not believe that I did terrible deeds a member of the church. In fact, the church taught me a lot of things that I don’t believe I would have learned without this experience and for that I am very grateful.

That’s my rant for now. I do still dearly cherish my best friend and the people I met through the church, but I simply cannot agree with some of the fundamental values that support this institution. I may, again, if requested, go over what are my issues with the church, but for now... I think this will be good for now. I mean, I’m sure we’re about at the third page.

#Ghostie Rants #Ghostie Rants On #Her Experience as a Mormon.#Former LDS #All links are to the LDS website

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jasonmcgathey · 5 years

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Columbus References In Popular Culture

This page is dedicated to fictional works which have either been set in or referenced dear old Columbus, or else nonfictional ones which mention our fair city, though not entirely set here (if interested in documents which were actually created here, and/or by C-bus residents, see my “C-bus Artifacts” tab instead). Many of these occurred when the city was even more obscure than it is now, and therefore felt all the more bizarre:

100% Fresh – Adam Sandler (stand up comedy special). This Netflix offering was filmed in part at the Schottenstein Center. I haven’t seen it but the one pun I’ve heard about calling this the “Schlongenstein Center” sounds pretty lame. Amazingly, enough, however, considering it came out in 2018, this received some fairly strong Rotten Tomato scores – although the weirdest aspect might be that Paul Thomas Anderson filmed part of it. Then again, that could explain the robust reviews.

Family Ties – (TV series). Unless I’m missing something, they don’t come right out of the gate declaring where this sitcom family lives. Having said that, you’re immediately aware that the series has a very Ohio-ish feel to it – someone involved with the show’s creation clearly must have been from here. Many of us thought it completely mindblowing that there was a girl named Jenny Keaton at our school. Elise even kind of reminded me of my stepmom at the time. But I don’t actually remember anyone making a big deal of or for that matter even noticing at the time that this show was supposed to be set in this neck of the woods, probably due to this slow reveal.

As I begin binge watching the seasons, the first Ohio reference I notice at all doesn’t occur until episode 4. This older chick’s trying to seduce Alex and he’s attempting to cool her down with jokes about the Cleveland Indians (safe to say this was a suitably frosty topic circa 1982). And I don’t detect even an oblique mention of Columbus until the 6th episode, when one of Steven’s coworkers jokes about filming Woody Hayes’s house for half an hour. It’s a funny line on its own, but assumes a whole other surreal luster if you are actually watching the episodes in order and have no clue about their location.

Over time, it’s eventually established that Steven works at the Columbus PBS station. Though everyone in my family seemed to agree that he was the funniest character on the show, Alex became the breakout star and it probably explains why Michael J. Fox was the token celebrity here for Hands Across America. Rumors began to surface that the show’s creators had the Bexley area in mind when crafting this timeless family comedy, but, I don’t know, it doesn’t really look like Bexley to me. I’m thinking more like the older parts of Upper Arlington, or possibly Gahanna.

Other references of note:

Season 2, Episode 4 – Mallory receives a letter from the (fictional, as far as I know) Columbus Express newspaper saying she won this mother/daughter modeling contest, and will be featured in the Sunday supplement.

Season 2, Episode 12 – Steven says he hopes to catch the OSU-Iowa game on TV. This would have been the 1983 season. Just for entertainment value I looked up the result of this particular contest – the Buckeyes lost, 20-14, falling to a 2-1 record on the year. In the actual episode, OSU is down 16-12 on the final play of the game and this bratty kid Steven’s babysitting messes up his reception.

Season 2, Episode 14 – Tom Hanks guest stars for the 2nd time as Elise’s brother. Considering that he’s a wee bit too fond of drink these days, the family convinces him to call AA. Upon doing so, he initially makes a lame joke to the receptionist, about selling her a subscription to the Columbus Express.

This is as far as I’ve made it thus far with my binge watching research. However, this topic seems so urgent that I’m rushing to press with what I’ve got. Expect continual reports as I work through all 7 seasons.

Little Man Tate – (movie). While mostly filmed in Cincinnati, some Columbus footage is shot and makes the cut. Found among these scenes are the Wexner Center for the Arts, and downtown’s Ohio Theatre.

Our Towns – James and Deborah Fallows (nonfiction book): It’s kind of a murky, unformed premise, and I also found their writing style a little dull. But this husband and wife duo decide to fly themselves around, checking out what makes certain “small towns” in America tick. Of course even they admit it’s a bit ridiculous to refer to Columbus as a small town, although they usually don’t clarify what criteria made them choose which places, Columbus included. There’s a moderately informative chat with former mayor Michael Coleman, and the library director and a couple of other figures around town, but I wouldn’t really call this a highly engaging read.

Permanent Midnight – Jerry Stahl (memoir): This is a thoroughly engrossing read on its own, as a well-known screenwriter documents his struggles with drug addiction. The Columbus parts all occur early in the book, and are fun for different reasons, as he chronicles his early days working for Hustler magazine (I had no idea it started here, until reading this) while living at a YMCA here in C-bus.

Point Break: Who among us can ever possibly forget that Keanu Reeves’s character, the immortal Johnny Utah, is a quarterback for Ohio State before blowing out his knee, and therefore joining the FBI?

Ready Player One: The novel sets some of the action in Columbus, especially along High Street, but these references feel a little hokey and unnecessary. For the film version, Steven Spielberg decided to move the hero’s home to Columbus entirely, which might be arbitrary but is also less awkward. If I had to hazard a guess as to where The Stacks would be located, I’m going with Marble Cliff. Somewhere around that whole quarry area et cetera on McKinley Avenue.

Road Outside Columbus – O.A.R. (song). Of A Revolution are a curious case. The four original members formed this band and even released a couple of albums while still living in Maryland – and then all four of them moved here to attend OSU, adding a fifth member while doing so. They played out a ton while in school here, and were a popular draw, as I remember for example the girl who lived next door to us was majorly into them, she and all her friends. They were constantly going out to see this band play in bars all around town. Still, having said that, I don’t consider them a Columbus band. To my knowledge they never recorded any music here. I can see the argument both ways, but it feels more like an extended residency.

Road Outside Columbus has to be the best song I’ve heard from them. It’s a pleasant, catchy, Dave Matthews style jam from their 2003 album, In Between Now And Then. The subject matter is fairly obvious as Marc Roberge sings about having found his second home, though only living here a short while, even namechecking Riverside Drive and High Street in the process. And actually I think these lyrics even bolster my case that they are technically not a Columbus band, seem to be admitting as much themselves.

Roadshow – Neil Peart (nonfiction book): This really entertaining and in-depth document, written by the drummer for rock legends Rush, chronicles his decision to travel from show to show on the 2004 tour via motorcycle. He briefly mentions a show at Polaris, though no details are provided. Apparently has some family living just outside of Columbus, though, and he visits that Motorcycle Hall Of Fame in Pickerington.

The Simpsons – (TV series). Season 29’s Grampy Can You Hear Me episode is partially set at OSU. It mentions Brutus Buckeye and there’s a scene depicting the Oval.

“The Soul Is Not A Smithy” – David Foster Wallace (short story). In this tale from the Oblivion collection, a 4th grade teacher suffers a meltdown and takes hostages. I remember the kid narrating it mentions goofing around along the Olentangy River. Also trying to decide where this fictional school would be located, based upon the vague descriptions, and figuring that it must be in Upper Arlington, somewhere around Reed Road.

Teachers – (movie). This inner city school drama was filmed entirely here in town. It’s an okay if somewhat cheesy flick mostly recommended to those interested in spotting landmarks around town, and/or Nick Nolte fans. The soundtrack is probably better.

Traffic – (movie). Some of the scenes were filmed in Columbus, I think all of them downtown. Back in their snarky, pre-Dispatch ownership days, The Other Paper ran a pretty comical piece detailing how Michael Douglas successfully avoided them while filming.

Vitale – Dick Vitale (memoir). OSU had never enjoyed much of a basketball program as of this book’s creation in the late 1980’s. Nonetheless, Dick predicts that freshly minted coach Gary Williams will elevate the Buckeyes to regular top ten threats and national title contenders. Williams lasts three seasons, displaying very little of this alleged prowess.

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#books #movies #television #100% Fresh #Adam Sandler #David Foster Wallace #Family Ties #Jerry Stahl

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tortuga-aak · 7 years

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'The Martian' author Andy Weir solved moon economics to make his new book 'Artemis' believable

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

"The Martian" author Andy Weir has a new novel about a heist on the moon called "Artemis."

The book, which goes on sale Tuesday, strives for a high level of scientific and economic realism to make its story believable.

The author used real-world economics to create a reason his fictional moon colony might exist.

According to Weir's calculations, in a few decades it may cost $70,000 for a two-week vacation to the moon.

Editor's note: "Artemis" is the second sci-fi novel written by Andy Weir, author of the blockbuster sci-fi novel "The Martian." The new book goes on sale Tuesday. Just as Weir accomplished with "The Martian," he strived for a high level of scientific realism with "Artemis."

But his new story is not a tale of survival like the first.

Instead, "Artemis" is a fictional heist story that takes place at the moon's first city (also called Artemis). Weir wanted to make the plot as believable as possible, so he became an "armchair economist" and drafted an in-depth financial argument for his lunar colony based on real-world market forces.

When Weir offered us a 3,000-word (and spoiler-free) treatise laying out the economics behind his fictional moon city, we couldn't resist. Here's why he thinks lunar vacations just might make the first permanent lunar colony a reality.

Introduction

Crown PublishingAre you a pedantic little s---? Do you ask questions like "Why does the Federation have starships if they can beam people hundreds of light-years?" or "Why don't the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance just mass-produce droids with piloting skills instead of risking their own lives?"

Well, good. So am I.

"Artemis" takes place in a city on the Moon. Lunar colonies in sci-fi usually have medium to high levels of bulls--- in their economics. Yeah, I know, nobody reads sci-fi for an economics lesson. But I want it to at least make sense.

So this paper is all about Artemis's economy and how it works. There are no spoilers for the story, so you can freely read it beforehand if you're the sort of person who likes bonus material so much you'll read it before you read the actual story.

Why isn't this in the book?

Because it's boring. Hell, if we learned anything from "The Phantom Menace" it's this: never start a sci-fi story with a description of complex macroeconomics.

You might not even make it through this paper. That's okay, it's not supposed to be entertaining. If you get bored, stop reading. This paper is for the one percenters — the folks who have nagging doubts in their suspension of belief because something sticks in their craw. I'm one of those people, and for me the economics has to make sense for a setting to work.

Price point

NASA/James Blair and Lauren HarnettIf you could have a lunar vacation for $70,000, would you do it? Many people would jump at the chance. They'd get a second mortgage just to pay for it. This, in a nutshell, is the economic foundation of Artemis. It's all about tourism, and it's based on the presumption that the price for that tourism can be driven down to the point that ordinary people can afford it.

The pricey part of anything space-related is getting it to space in the first place. It's incredibly expensive to put mass into LEO (Low Earth Orbit). And if you want to put something on the moon, you have to get a whole ship into LEO that can then travel to the moon. If that impediment were removed, or greatly reduced, we'd have a thriving space tourism industry.

My belief is that we are already on track to a commercial space industry that will do just that.

Money? What money?

I did the research for this in 2015, so all the monetary references in this paper refer to prices and values in 2015 US dollars.

Current cost to LEO

NASA

Before I talk about predictions, let's talk about reality. How much does it cost to put mass into LEO right now?

First off, I start with the assumption that this has to be an actual profitable system. Not something that only exists on government support or subsidy. So I'm disregarding launch systems that are government-run. They have no profit motive, so even if they charge for freight to LEO and even if that charge is low, those are not real economic values. The system would not scale or sustain itself.

The cheapest way to get mass to LEO (at the time of this writing) is with a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster. They charge $61.2 million for the launch, and it can put 13,150kg of mass into LEO. So right now, that means it costs $4,653 per kilogram.

Now you have some context for comparing the real world to the imagined one I'm about to show you.

My bulls--- assumption

REUTERS/Andy Clark

I have absolutely nothing to back this up but instinct. But here it is, the core assumption I have made that enables the world of "Artemis."

Assumption: The commercial space industry, through competition and engineering advances, will settle down to the same fuel-to-overhead ratio as the modern airline industry.

Okay, so what do I mean by that? How did airlines get into this?

The airline industry is a good parallel for the space industry. Both involve transporting people and freight. Both require extremely expensive, complex vehicles with maintenance overhead. Both consume fuel.

So I have assumed, right or wrong, that a fully profitable commercial space industry would eventually become very much like the commercial airline industry. So let's look at the airline industry for some clues as to what things cost.

Fuel overhead ratio

Airlines need staff to fly and maintain their aircraft. They need to pay applicable taxes and gate fees. They need to buy new planes, repair worn-out parts, manage their company pension plan, and everything else a service industry has to do. But by far, the largest chunk of their non-payroll operating budget goes to fuel. That's what costs the most for any given flight.

So the question is this: What percentage of an airline's total revenues ultimately goes toward buying fuel? That's what we're going to work out first.

I have no special understanding of the airline industry. I just went online and did my own research. I looked at ticket prices, noted the price of jet fuel, etc. This could be wildly flawed, but it's a good place to start.

First off, I had to choose an aircraft to work with. I selected the Boeing 777-300ER. It's one of the most popular aircraft in the world, servicing long-haul flights be all the major airlines. It's fuel efficient, effective, and has a stellar safety record.

Here are some stats for the 777-300ER:

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

The next thing I did was look as some long-haul flights around the world. I wanted to get an even spread of information, so I looked at three different routes, of differing lengths, flown by three different airlines. A more comprehensive study would have to include dozens or maybe hundreds, but I just did three — I'm just trying to make a foundation for a story, not get investor money.

So, to that end, I looked at a United Airlines flight from New York to London, an Air France from Paris to Tokyo, and a Qantas flight from Los Angeles to Sydney. Each of these flights are on 777-300ER aircraft, and their ticket prices are all for the same day in late 2015. Note: the United flight prices are rough averages based on samples of different rates – their web page at the time was cagey on actual ticket prices.

Here's what I learned:

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

For each flight, I noted the price of each class of ticket, then worked out the take — the total amount of money the airline gets if every seat on the plane is sold at its listed cost. The fuel consumed is based on the flight duration and the fuel consumption rate of the aircraft. The cost of that fuel is based on the market price of jet fuel on the day I looked up those tickets, which was $0.475/kg. (Actually, the price was 38 cents per liter, but I wanted price per kg and jet fuel has a density of 0.8kg/L).

I was surprised to see that they all has such similar fuel overhead ratios. It makes me feel like my crackpot theory might actually work out.

Yeah, I don't have enough data, but screw it. I'm going to use the value 16.5%, which is roughly the average of those three. So for the rest of this paper I'll assume a commercial airline spends 16.5% of its take on fuel.

A commercial spacecraft

SpaceX/Flickr (public domain)

Okay, great. I have a rough idea of fuel overhead. So what? What the hell would an efficient commercial spacecraft be like? What would it weigh? How many people could it carry? What would it use for fuel and how much would that fuel cost?

I don't have answers to any of that, of course. So I'll just pull a couple more assumptions right out of my ass.

Assumption: A passenger spacecraft would weigh the same as a passenger aircraft capable of carrying the same number of people.

Okay, yeah. That's a big assumption. But, to be clear, I'm talking about dry weight (not including fuel). And aircraft are pretty similar to spacecraft in a lot of ways. They're pressure vessels, they have life support systems to keep everyone on board alive, they have big heavy engines, pilots, etc. So that's what I'm going with.

And for my comparison I'll use, of course, the Boeing 777-300ER. Same as before. I'm also assuming this is a trip to a transfer ship or space station. So the spacecraft itself doesn't have to serve as home to the passengers. All it does is get them to orbit. This means there's really no need for first class at all. The 12-minute trip to orbit does not require high-end seating for anyone. So instead of its normal configuration, I'm going with the high-density version that can seat 550 people.

And now on to the final bit of guesswork.

Assumption: The commercial space industry will use hydrogen-oxygen fuel

The thing that matters most about rocket fuel is a property called "specific impulse." I don't want to bore you with physics (I'm here to bore you with economics) so I'll just say this: specific impulse is a measure of how efficient a rocket fuel is. The higher a fuel's specific impulse, the less of it you need to get a ship moving a given velocity. And hydrogen-oxygen fuel has the best specific impulse known. Also, it creates water as its exhaust, so there are no pollutants. And finally, it's cheap to produce.

Right now, there are engineering limitations to using hydrogen-oxygen fuel. The main one being that it burns very hot — hotter than any engine can handle. But again, I'm assuming all these challenges get researched and solved by a profit-hungry industry.

The final piece of the puzzle is the cost of hydrogen and oxygen. This was a little harder to find. I was able to find reliable data on the 2002 price of bulk hydrogen, so I adjusted the 2002 dollars into 2015 dollars and got $0.93/kg. As for oxygen, I used the publicly available data on what NASA pays for it — $0.16/kg in 2015 dollars. The reaction requires one part hydrogen and eight parts oxygen (by mass), so the total fuel cost is $0.245/kg.

That's the last bit of information we needed to calculate the…

Price of getting a person into space

NASA

Okay, we have a ship that weighs 165,500kg and we're going to put 550 passengers on it. We'll give them 100kg each for their bodies and luggage. That's a total mass of 215,500kg.

The specific impulse of hydrogen-oxygen fuel is 389s (yes, the unit for measuring specific impulse is "seconds". It makes no intuitive sense, just roll with it). To get to LEO you need to accelerate by 9,800m/s. LEO actually only requires 7,800m/s, but you lose around 2,000m/s during the ascent to air resistance and other inefficiencies.

Again, I'm skipping over the physics (Tsiolkovsky's Rocket Equation, if you're curious) but those numbers mean we'll need 12.04kg of fuel for every 1kg we want to put into LEO. We want to put 215,000kg into LEO, so we need 2,594,620kg of fuel.

At our calculated fuel cost ($0.245/kg) that means the total fuel cost for the launch is $637,200.

Now I get to use my airline fuel overhead figure. Airlines have 16.5% fuel overhead ratio and we're going to assume the space industry will as well. So $637,109 is 16.5% of our total ticket take. And that means our total take is $3,861,266.

Our ship carries 550 passengers, meaning each passenger will have to pay

$7,020.48

Sorry to put that in dramatic bold print with a box around it, but I thought it was exciting. Would you pay seven thousand bucks to go to low Earth orbit? Millions of people would say "yes."

What about freight?

I looked around at the prices for air freight and found that, on average, you can air mail 200kg of cargo for about the price it would take to send a person. This means people cost twice as much to ship as cargo. That makes sense — cargo doesn't need seats, air pressure, bathrooms, or complimentary peanuts. For space travel, the cargo ships also wouldn't need anywhere near as much safety. If a shipment of frozen food blows up on launch, replacing the cargo is trivial.

So I followed the aviation industry's general pattern and decided that freight to LEO would end up costing about half as much as a human. Or, more importantly, would cost $7,020.48 per 200kg. So that means you can get mass to LEO for

$35.10 per kg!

Again, I apologize for the drama, but holy s---! That's a hell of a lot less than the $4,653/kg it costs today.

Are such advances reasonable? Well, "Artemis" takes place in the 2080s, which is over 60 years from the time of this writing. Consider the advancements in the aviation industry from its beginnings in the 1930s to the 1990s. Yes, it's possible. When enough money is up for grabs, anything's possible.

What about getting from LEO to the Moon?

NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center

Okay, so we have people and cargo in LEO. So what? We want them on the Moon. Well, here's where things bifurcate.

To get people to the Moon, they would make lunar cyclers. These are space hotels in a ballistic orbit (meaning: it doesn't require fuel to maintain) that regularly visits Earth and the Moon. It would take 7 days to get to the Moon with this system. You still have to accelerate the people to catch up with the space hotel, but at least you don't have to accelerate the hotel itself over and over. So the fuel cost is minimized.

It's hard to say how much that would cost. But with a $35.10/kg cost to LEO, the mass of the hotel wouldn't be too much of a financial burden for whatever company built it. I admit I didn't work out the economics of the space hotel or what it would cost for your stay. But considering how cheap the cost of freight to LEO is, I'm sure it would be small compared to the rest of the trip. On the order of an actual hotel stay (and a hell of a lot more awesome).

But you still have to accelerate people up to the cycler and then decelerate them to land on the Moon.

According to my research, it takes a total of 5,930m/s of delta-v to get from LEO to the surface of the Moon. More physics and math happens here, but it means that for every kilogram of cargo you want to put on the lunar surface, you have to put 4.73kg of mass into LEO. 1kg of actual cargo, and 3.73kg of fuel to get that cargo to the Moon.

So what's it cost to put freight on the Moon? Well, it would cost 4.73 times what it would cost to put the cargo in LEO. So, while it costs $35.10 to put a kilogram into LEO, it would cost $166.02 to put it on the surface of the Moon.

So what's it cost to go to the moon!?

SpaceX/YouTube

You have to get your body to LEO ($7020), and then soft-landed on the moon. So you end up needing the same overhead – 4.73 times the LEO cost.

$33,206.87

Yeah, I did the box/bold thing again. Call the cops, I don't care. People would be very willing to pay $33,000 for a trip to the Moon.

What about the trip back? Well, it's much cheaper, because you're leaving the Moon's gravity, not Earth's. Plus, you don't have to use rocket fuel to dump velocity at Earth — you can use the atmosphere to brake with. And you would probably also be using fuel generated on the Moon (aluminum and oxygen, both in massive supply on the Moon, make a good monopropellant), so even it wouldn't have to be imported.

I didn't do the math on the return trip, but let's approximate it to half the trip out. So the round-trip is clocking in at about $45,000 (not including a total of 14 days' stay in the space hotel).

What does it cost to stay on the Moon?

You have to eat. You can eat Gunk if you want — that's a product created right in Artemis out of algae. It's nutritionally balanced and grown locally, so it's nice and cheap. But if you want real food, you'll have to eat imports. A typical person will eat 500 to 1000 grams of food per day (not including the water weight). We've established that lunar freight costs about $166/kg. So you'll spend $80 to $160 every day just to eat. Not bad for an extravagant vacation.

Total cost

Accommodation and meal prices would be comparable to high-end hotels and restaurants on Earth. Say $160/day for food and $500/day for a hotel. Of course you'll want to do stuff while you're there, which will cost more money. So call it $800/day.

However long you want to stay on the moon, add 14 days (for the space hotel that takes you there and back) and multiply by $800. That's your expenses on the trip itself. So let's say you want a two-week stay. That's a total of 28 days of expenses at $800, so $22,400. Round that up to $25,000 because vacations always cost more than you expect. That plus the $45,000 travel costs totals $70,000.

So I ask again: Would you pay $70,000 for a lunar vacation?

NOW WATCH: This company wants to mine the Moon using robots — and they could be doing it within three years

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ramialkarmi · 7 years

Text

'The Martian' author Andy Weir solved moon economics to make his new book 'Artemis' believable

"The Martian" author Andy Weir has a new novel about a heist on the moon called "Artemis".

The book, which goes on sale Tuesday, strives for a high level of scientific and economic realism to make its story believable.

The author used real-world economics to create a reason his fictional moon colony might exist.

According to Weir's calculations, in a few decades it may cost $70,000 for a two-week vacation to the moon.

Editor's note: "Artemis" is the second sci-fi novel written by Andy Weir, author of the blockbuster sci-fi novel "The Martian." The new book goes on sale Tuesday. Just as Weir accomplished with "The Martian", he strived for a high level of scientific realism with "Artemis".

But his new story is not a tale of survival like the first.

Introduction

Are you a pedantic little s---? Do you ask questions like "Why does the Federation have starships if they can beam people hundreds of light-years?" or "Why don't the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance just mass-produce droids with piloting skills instead of risking their own lives?"

Well, good. So am I.

Why isn't this in the book?

Because it's boring. Hell, if we learned anything from "The Phantom Menace" it's this: never start a sci-fi story with a description of complex macroeconomics.

Price point

If you could have a lunar vacation for $70,000, would you do it? Many people would jump at the chance. They'd get a second mortgage just to pay for it. This, in a nutshell, is the economic foundation of Artemis. It's all about tourism, and it's based on the presumption that the price for that tourism can be driven down to the point that ordinary people can afford it.

My belief is that we are already on track to a commercial space industry that will do just that.

Money? What money?

I did the research for this in 2015, so all the monetary references in this paper refer to prices and values in 2015 US dollars.

Current cost to LEO

Before I talk about predictions, let's talk about reality. How much does it cost to put mass into LEO right now?

Now you have some context for comparing the real world to the imagined one I'm about to show you.

My bulls--- assumption

I have absolutely nothing to back this up but instinct. But here it is, the core assumption I have made that enables the world of "Artemis."

Assumption: The commercial space industry, through competition and engineering advances, will settle down to the same fuel-to-overhead ratio as the modern airline industry.

Okay, so what do I mean by that? How did airlines get into this?

Fuel overhead ratio

So the question is this: What percentage of an airline's total revenues ultimately goes toward buying fuel? That's what we're going to work out first.

Here are some stats for the 777-300ER:

Here's what I learned:

I was surprised to see that they all has such similar fuel overhead ratios. It makes me feel like my crackpot theory might actually work out.

A commercial spacecraft

I don't have answers to any of that, of course. So I'll just pull a couple more assumptions right out of my ass.

Assumption: A passenger spacecraft would weigh the same as a passenger aircraft capable of carrying the same number of people.

And now on to the final bit of guesswork.

Assumption: The commercial space industry will use hydrogen-oxygen fuel

That's the last bit of information we needed to calculate the…

Price of getting a person into space

Okay, we have a ship that weighs 165,500kg and we're going to put 550 passengers on it. We'll give them 100kg each for their bodies and luggage. That's a total mass of 215,500kg.

At our calculated fuel cost ($0.245/kg) that means the total fuel cost for the launch is $637,200.

Our ship carries 550 passengers, meaning each passenger will have to pay

$7,020.48

Sorry to put that in dramatic bold print with a box around it, but I thought it was exciting. Would you pay seven thousand bucks to go to low Earth orbit? Millions of people would say "yes".

What about freight?

$35.10 per kg!

Again, I apologize for the drama, but holy s---! That's a hell of a lot less than the $4,653/kg it costs today.

What about getting from LEO to the Moon?

Okay, so we have people and cargo in LEO. So what? We want them on the Moon. Well, here's where things bifurcate.

But you still have to accelerate people up to the cycler and then decelerate them to land on the Moon.

So what's it cost to go to the moon!?

You have to get your body to LEO ($7020), and then soft-landed on the moon. So you end up needing the same overhead – 4.73 times the LEO cost.

$33,206.87

Yeah, I did the box/bold thing again. Call the cops, I don't care. People would be very willing to pay $33,000 for a trip to the Moon.

I didn't do the math on the return trip, but let's approximate it to half the trip out. So the round-trip is clocking in at about $45,000 (not including a total of 14 days' stay in the space hotel).

What does it cost to stay on the Moon?

Total cost

So I ask again: Would you pay $70,000 for a lunar vacation?

SEE ALSO: 'The Martian' author Andy Weir is convinced we'll colonize the moon — but says colonizing Mars doesn't make any sense

DON'T MISS: Here's the full presentation Elon Musk gave about colonizing Mars

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This company wants to mine the Moon using robots — and they could be doing it within three years

#Tech Insider #Arab #Entrepreneurship #sillicon alley insider

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emulatingrizal-blog · 7 years

Text

Rodrigo Duterte: the Adolf Hitler of the Philippines (An Argumentative Paper)

Since Duterte took office in June last year, there has been an increasing drug-related deaths because of his promise to eradicate every drug pusher and drug lord until the end of his term in 2022. The research team of the Human Rights Watch claimed that this so-called “war on drugs” has led to the deaths of over 7,000 Filipinos who were mostly urban poor, killing alleged drug users. Alleged—technically speaking, the innocent people. Does that not ring a bell? Is it not Hitler-like? The holocaust approach? Rodrigo Duterte is the Philippine version of Adolf Hitler.

Holocaust, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “the mass slaughter of European civilians and especially Jews by the Nazis during World War II.” This persecution of six million Jews is done by the Nazi community led by the infamous Adolf Hitler. Duterte and Hitler are very similar—particularly in their administrations’ cornerstone, Hitler’s “final solution” and Duterte’s “war on drugs”—in terms of their aim to eradicate threats to the society, the authority they possess in the country, and the large-scale support they are having.

President Rodrigo Duterte promised during his presidential campaign that the drug problem will be solved within three to six months. The elimination of the drug problem is said to consequentially solve crime incidents in the Philippines. The palace claimed in August 2016, three months into Duterte’s term, that the drug war lowered crime rate. PNP report showed that, comparing the statistics from last year, the crime rate went down by 9.8 percent—from 56,339 to 50, 817. However, various human rights activists and even the Church are against the extrajudicial killings coupled with this war on drugs and that there are other means of fighting drugs. This war on drugs killed those who were accused of being related to any drug activities, without due process. Kian Delos Santos, Carl Angelo Arnaiz, Reynaldo De Guzman—these were the names of the suspected drug users, nanlaban so they got shot by the police. Later on in the investigation, they were proven to be innocent. Duterte apologized but said that the war on drugs is assumed to have “collateral damage.” It is interesting to know that “almost all” of the victims of EJK were “either unemployed or have worked menial jobs.” Just like what happened during the Nazi regime, innocent people were also killed—Jewish people, Roma (Gypsies), and the handicapped, among others. They were considered as “serious biological threat to the purity of the German (Aryan) Race” (My Jewish Learning, n.d.). Germans think of themselves as racially superior over these groups of people—an assumption, just like how PNP assumed of Kian as a drug pusher, a threat to the peace of our society. In addition, the approaches are both brutal. To cite an example, the narrative of Pierre Seel, a 16-year old gay holocaust survivor, reflected how he was “arrested, tortured, and beaten, with no defense, without a trial”. In the Philippines, Reynaldo de Guzman, 14, was found dead had been stabbed 30 times while his face was covered in packing tape—a macabre act of mutilation, the drug war signature.

Amidst the criticisms on this war on drugs, Duterte promised that he will protect the PNP with all of his power. Humans Right Watch has an 80-page report entitled “License to Kill: Philippine Police Killings in Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs’” where it was stated that Duterte condones vigilante killings and police misconduct related to the drug killings. In addition, there was an accusation against the PNP that they were paid for every killed drug pusher or drug lord. Some articles say that the rewards range from 8,000 to 15,000 pesos while other articles say that the minimum pay is 20,000 and the maximum is 50,000. The vigilante killings, which comprise of the two-thirds of the 7,000 deaths, are also said to be done by masked police officers. On the other hand, the Nazi community had the guts to kill the Jewish people because someone in power commanded them to do so. They are backed up by someone in power that is Hitler.

President Duterte is known for his group of supporter, the ka-DDS. House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, however, said that DDS means Die-hard Duterte Supporter and he admits that he is one of them. This group of Duterte supporters are all over social networking sites. They are in the comments’ section every time an online news article pop out about Duterte—always there to defend him. Hitler also had his own set of supporters. His supporters did not see Hitler as a politician, he was above politics. This explanation was further elaborated in the myth called that Fuhrer myth which says that Hitler is not seen as “power-hungry racist, but someone putting Germany and ‘Germans’ first.” So even Hitler had already conceded and committed suicide, this set of supporters still exist for him.

In the end, the former German Dictator Adolf Hitler and his troop got defeated by Russians in a war. He then decided to commit suicide because he believes in the principle that death is better than dishonor. However, the casualties during his administration had been done. Approximately six million innocent Jews—man, women, and children—were already killed. Will we let the same thing happen to our country with Rodrigo Duterte as Adolf Hitler? Every day, an average of 32 people dies due to the war on drugs and the death toll is still increasing. We should not let the war on drugs continue to kill innocent lives. The Philippines should fight against the tyranny that is Duterte.

References

Cruz, RG. (2016, December 17). Duterte: drug war to last till end of term. Retrieved from http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/12/16/16/duterte-drug-war-to-last-till-end-of-term

Holocaust (n.d.). In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/holocaust

Human Rights Watch (2017, March 2). Philippines: police deceit in ‘drug war’ killings.Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/02/philippines-police-deceit-drugwar-killings

Human Rights Watch (2016, August 1). “License to kill.” Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/03/02/license-kill/philippine-police-killings-duterteswar-drugs

Mijares, B. (2016, September 16). Alvarez: DDS means ‘die-hard Duterte supporters.’ Retrieved from one http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/15/16/alvarez-dds-means-die-hard-dutertesupporters

Mogato, M. & Baldwin, C. (2017, April 18). Special report: police describe kill rewards, staged crime scenes in Duterte’s drug war. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/usphilippines-duterte-police-specialrep/special-report-police-describe-kill-rewards-stagedcrime-scenes-in-dutertes-drug-war-idUSKBN17K1F4

My Jewish Learning (n.d.). Nazi Germany 1933-1939: early stages of persecution. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/02/philippines-police-deceit-drug-war-killings

Rauhala, E. (2017). The death of Philippine teen was supposed to be a turning point for president duterte. But youths keep getting killed. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/the-death-of-a-philippine-teen-was-supposed-tobe-a-turning-point-for-president-duterte-but-youths-keep-getting-killed1.487116#.WbZ7QnV9nIU

Ridley, L. (2015, January 1). The holocaust’s forgotten victims: million non-jewish people killed by Nazis. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/27/holocaust-nonjewish-victims_n_6555604.html

Romero, A. (2016, Auugust 14). Duterte’s drug war lowered crime rate, palace says. Retrieved from http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/08/14/1613405/dutertes-drug-war-loweredcrime-rate-palace-says

Sephton, C. (2017, April 21). Duterte denies police paid to kill criminals. Retrieved from http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/asiapacific/2017/04/21/duterte-denies-policepaid-to-kill-criminals.html

Sun Star Cebu (2017, July 21). Duterte must try out other means of fighting drugs, says Palma. Retrieved from http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2017/07/21/duterte-must-tryother-means-fighting-drugs-says-palma-554265

Why did hitler kill himself? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.historyonthenet.com/why-didhitler-kill-himself/

Wilde, R. (2017, June 27). Find out who supported Hitler and why. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/who-supported-hitler-and-why-1221371

Wolffe, R. (2017, August 16). The president of the united states is now a neo-nazi sympathizer. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/15/the-presidentof-the-united-states-is-now-a-neo-nazi-sympathiser

By Brianne Jovelle B. Blanco 2014-68540

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tortuga-aak · 7 years

Text

'The Martian' author Andy Weir solved moon economics to make his new book 'Artemis' believable

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

"The Martian" author Andy Weir has a new novel about a heist on the moon called "Artemis".

The book, which goes on sale Tuesday, strives for a high level of scientific and economic realism to make its story believable.

The author used real-world economics to create a reason his fictional moon colony might exist.

According to Weir's calculations, in a few decades it may cost $70,000 for a two-week vacation to the moon.

Editor's note: "Artemis" is the second sci-fi novel written by Andy Weir, author of the blockbuster sci-fi novel "The Martian." The new book goes on sale Tuesday. Just as Weir accomplished with "The Martian", he strived for a high level of scientific realism with "Artemis".

But his new story is not a tale of survival like the first.

Introduction

Well, good. So am I.

Why isn't this in the book?

Because it's boring. Hell, if we learned anything from "The Phantom Menace" it's this: never start a sci-fi story with a description of complex macroeconomics.

Price point

My belief is that we are already on track to a commercial space industry that will do just that.

Money? What money?

I did the research for this in 2015, so all the monetary references in this paper refer to prices and values in 2015 US dollars.

Current cost to LEO

NASA

Before I talk about predictions, let's talk about reality. How much does it cost to put mass into LEO right now?

Now you have some context for comparing the real world to the imagined one I'm about to show you.

My bulls--- assumption

REUTERS/Andy Clark

I have absolutely nothing to back this up but instinct. But here it is, the core assumption I have made that enables the world of "Artemis."

Assumption: The commercial space industry, through competition and engineering advances, will settle down to the same fuel-to-overhead ratio as the modern airline industry.

Okay, so what do I mean by that? How did airlines get into this?

Fuel overhead ratio

So the question is this: What percentage of an airline's total revenues ultimately goes toward buying fuel? That's what we're going to work out first.

Here are some stats for the 777-300ER:

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

Here's what I learned:

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

I was surprised to see that they all has such similar fuel overhead ratios. It makes me feel like my crackpot theory might actually work out.

A commercial spacecraft

SpaceX/Flickr (public domain)

I don't have answers to any of that, of course. So I'll just pull a couple more assumptions right out of my ass.

Assumption: A passenger spacecraft would weigh the same as a passenger aircraft capable of carrying the same number of people.

And now on to the final bit of guesswork.

Assumption: The commercial space industry will use hydrogen-oxygen fuel

That's the last bit of information we needed to calculate the…

Price of getting a person into space

NASA

Okay, we have a ship that weighs 165,500kg and we're going to put 550 passengers on it. We'll give them 100kg each for their bodies and luggage. That's a total mass of 215,500kg.

At our calculated fuel cost ($0.245/kg) that means the total fuel cost for the launch is $637,200.

Our ship carries 550 passengers, meaning each passenger will have to pay

$7,020.48

Sorry to put that in dramatic bold print with a box around it, but I thought it was exciting. Would you pay seven thousand bucks to go to low Earth orbit? Millions of people would say "yes".

What about freight?

$35.10 per kg!

Again, I apologize for the drama, but holy s---! That's a hell of a lot less than the $4,653/kg it costs today.

What about getting from LEO to the Moon?

NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center

Okay, so we have people and cargo in LEO. So what? We want them on the Moon. Well, here's where things bifurcate.

But you still have to accelerate people up to the cycler and then decelerate them to land on the Moon.

So what's it cost to go to the moon!?

SpaceX/YouTube

You have to get your body to LEO ($7020), and then soft-landed on the moon. So you end up needing the same overhead – 4.73 times the LEO cost.

$33,206.87

Yeah, I did the box/bold thing again. Call the cops, I don't care. People would be very willing to pay $33,000 for a trip to the Moon.

I didn't do the math on the return trip, but let's approximate it to half the trip out. So the round-trip is clocking in at about $45,000 (not including a total of 14 days' stay in the space hotel).

What does it cost to stay on the Moon?

Total cost

So I ask again: Would you pay $70,000 for a lunar vacation?

NOW WATCH: This company wants to mine the Moon using robots — and they could be doing it within three years

from Feedburner http://ift.tt/2zSc019

#Feedburner

0 notes