#mimac

[biancarogers]

Mac Studio con M1 Max, REVIEW y Experiencia de USO tras 6 meses🔥 🍎 https://applevideos.co.uk/mac-studio/mac-studio-con-m1-max-review-y-experiencia-de-uso-tras-6-meses

[xtruss]

US ‘New Cold War’ Against China Is Self-Destructive

— By Jan Oberg | September 05, 2023

Illustration:Xia Qing/Global Times

Editor's Note:

The China-US bilateral relationship is one of the most important in the world. The trajectory of this relationship has attracted international attention. Still, the US is stepping up its efforts to suppress China on various fronts such as politics and diplomacy, economy, trade, technology, and military security, showing the true meaning of a cold war. The Global Times invites Chinese and foreign experts to expose the US' manipulation of the "new cold war" and reveal the damage it may potentially cause to the world.

A couple of years ago, The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF, in Sweden, of which I am the director, published "Behind The Smokescreen. An Analysis of the West's Destructive China Cold War Agenda And Why It Must Stop."

Among several perspectives of the US/Western accusation industry, we looked into the medialized stories about genocide in Xinjiang, forced labor and Taiwan, and nine mainstream media manipulation methods that aim to manufacture a systematically negative image of China in the Western mind.

We found that a cold war occurs by influencing the "free" press - also the Western state press - through three main mechanisms: a) Fake or fabricated stories, b) Omission - for instance, of every positive aspect of China's developments, and c) Source Ignorance: using the same few sources spreading disinformation, from the US rippling through and being repeated ad nauseam and never checking the root empirical evidence or validity of the assertions, in short, FOSI.

Ultimately, this causes a decay of the crucial and critical role of mainstream media and their conversion toward tabloid banalizing black-and-white worldviews - "we good, them evil" - that promote confrontation and warfare, all operated by the Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex, MIMAC.

Tragically for democracy, mainstream media have become the leaders in promoting militarism, armament and legitimizing the empire and its wars. What are the elements of the cold war in all this?

First and foremost, the cold war is a psycho-political phenomenon. It dichotomizes our incredibly complex world into two: good versus evil. It seeks to preserve our superiority and keep others submissive and weaker. It promises war if its deterrence fails. And it precludes a world of equals, cooperation and mutual learning. If you are No. 1 in a system, you do not learn and listen; you teach, bribe and issue orders.

Cold wars may go well for the cold warrior when in ascendancy. In the "old" Cold War in Europe, two fundamentally Western systems - one based on Karl Marx, the other on Adam Smith, to put it crudely - competed while the US/NATO ascended after 1945. On all power scales, it was superior to the Soviet Union and its system. We know how it ended.

The winner then - foolishly - took it all: The US/NATO world did what it pleased within its exceptionalist "international rules-based order," not the UN Charter and other parts of international law. Catchwords: out-of-NATO-area military actions in violation of NATO's own Treaty - Yugoslavia - and regime change/resource/anti-terrorism wars on an assembly line basis; NATO's expansion against all promises given to the Soviet Union.

It all went so well and seemed so easy. Why listen to or empathize with others? Why focus on the changing world when "we" are the change-makers, God's own country par excellence? If we can get away with it, we do it. However, prudence, statesmanship and long-range thinking would have compelled global impact analyses instead of narcissist imperial self-aggrandizement.

The US Unilaterally Initiates New Cold War Against China! Illustration: Liu Xidan/Global Times

It went so well that the West overlooked the Rest: China's impressive socio-economic development based on an eclectic combination of Chinese concepts - that the West still doesn't understand - and imported Western elements; the establishment and maturation of organizations like BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and African and other regional organizations.

The West also did not sense the actual price that would be paid for its militarism: It's huge and growing burden on all civilian sectors, including technology and economy, and - in the wake of the history of colonialism and imperialism - the Rest becoming more and more nationally and collectively self-reliant - a concept developed about 50 years ago and ridiculed by the West.

And what was the result? Well, this is written the day after BRICS expanded with essential countries in Africa, the Middle East and South America - a huge step toward a multipolar and cooperative Rest saying: We can do without you, America and Europe! If you want to cooperate on new, reasonable terms, we are ready, but the days of your Western hegemony and universalization of Western values are coming to an end.

Such is global macro history: Empires have come and gone, and that of the US/NATO is the last: Nobody is so naive as to believe that it has a God-given right to be the ruler of the whole world and force others to accept its values.

The enormous world order changing before our very eyes is as predictable as it is inexorable. Only the ignorance - blinding intoxication - of power overlooks it. The West has run its race and become over-extended, insensitive to other cultures and ways of thinking, and unable to adapt to system changes but insisted on steering unilaterally. It's losing legitimacy in the eyes of others, relative economic and political strength and the creative ability to outline a better future world that the Rest feels attracted to: Classical decline indicators!

What I have said here is pure Gandhian thinking: You may harm others by using violence - physical, economic, military, structural, cultural and environmental - but, sooner rather than later, your violence boomerangs: It corrupts, debases, brutalizes and makes you more loathed than loved. A critical mass will develop.

In a deeper socio-cultural sense, the Christian Occident has never appropriately problematized those many types of violence upon which it built its relations with the Rest.

The West's cold war on China is about so much more than the issues that dominate daily news - chips, trade, Taiwan and the topics of the permanent accusation industry. It's about profound tectonic changes in humanity's way of developing - and about whether or not the West will join and contribute or become a de-developed periphery in the new world. And whether its empire will go down with a whimper or a bang, or adapt to macro history's unavoidable changes.

We know very little about humanity's future in the next 100 or so years. The safest philosophy will be for the Rest to, despite all, extend compassion and cooperation to the good forces of the West and abstain from tit-for-tat against its evil ones.

—The Author is the Director of the Sweden-based Think Tank Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research.

[ameliathornromance]

“Is that him there?”

Wind blasts through the train tunnel, past you and your Orc Boyfriend. Your Orc, raised an eyebrow and followed your finger pointed.

The person you were referring to, a human male with waterfalls of black hair, curling at his shoulders. His eyes were bloodshot and contoured with black rings, matching his dark hair.

The phrase, ‘Love, not hate’ tattooed above his left eyebrow. His scowling at passers by, wrinkled nose and judgemental stare opposed the important sentiment he decided to ink his face with. Sitting on the bench, he jogged his knee to an invisible jig, chain around his neck swaying.

Your Orcs’ eyes flicked from the phone screen in his hand, to the suspect and back to the screen. “Yup.” He tucked the phone away in his jeans pocket. “Now, let me handle this.”

“No,” you put a hand against your Orcs shoulder, stopping him from moving towards the subject. “We talked about this, you always come on too strong. And this isn’t too dangerous is it? It’s just an escort job.”

The Orc wrinkled his nose at you, “don’t say it like that, you make it out to be that we’re some kind of prostitutes.”

You rolled your eyes, “you knew what I meant. I’ll go and make contact, you hang back behind me and step in if it gets to be too much!” And without waiting for a response, you approached the man.

“Hey, Mr Mimac.” You started gently. The last time Mr Mimac had been seen was three months ago in Monaco… Snorting some kind of white powder, surrounded by Fae show girls and gambling away all the money his… ‘law abiding’ father had given him as a 21st birthday present.

God knows if he was on anything now.

But that’s why you and your Orc had turned up. Your duo went by many names in underground spaces: Good & Bad Cop, Brains and Brawn, Summer and Snow – fitting really, considering both of your conflicting appearances & approaches.

Orcs and Humans don’t normally get together like the two of you do. But it’s good to have a balance on perspectives, isn’t it?

Even if you disliked the brashness and ruthless behaviour of your boyfriend, you couldn’t deny that it paid off to have a scary guard dog with you wherever you went. It made you feel safer, especially when dealing with things like this.

Mr Mimac Junior didn’t even spare you a glance, eyes still glancing around the stations platform in the same critical gaze. “We’re here on behalf of your dad, he’s asked me and my partner to bring you back to him. He’s very worried about you.” You explained as delicately as possible.

“Fuck off…” The Junior turned to you, his scowl deepening. “I don’t care what my father asked you to do.” His voice slurred slightly, a strong chemical smell hit you like icy water.

You opened your mouth to respond, try to ease him into coming with you. But there was no time.

“Alright,” your Orc Boyfriend spoke up from behind you. “The lady asked quite politely.” He growled.

Still, Mr Mimac did not move. He sent a glare at your Orc, “so? I don’t take orders from anyone, do you know who I am?”

Uh oh.

“This is how it’s going to play out, hm?” Within an instance, your Orc was in front of you, hands leaned on the benches arm rests, bent down to the Juniors height.

The man’s eyes widened, leaning as far as he could before hitting the tiled wall behind him.

Any trace of irritation had gone from Mr Mimac’s face as your Orc continued, “My lovely lady may be polite, but me?” Your Orc Boyfriend drew a sharp breath, air between his large tusks. “I’m not so nice. You’re going to do what the lady says, otherwise your father is going to get a bloody pulp of flesh, and when he asks why you turned up in that state, I’m going to say that you were refusing to co-operate and I had to use some light force… I might just have to even break that pretty little necklace you have,” your Orc flicked a dangling diamond chain from around the man-child's neck.

You stifle a sigh, covering your forehead and blocking your eyes from the scene.

“Now, you’re going to apologise and come with us quietly.” Drawing himself back to you his full height, your Orc looped his thumbs through his belt loop, waiting for the Human to respond.

The man’s eyes darted to you, then back to your Orc. “’m sorry.” Mr Mimac squeaked.

“Better.” Your Orc jerked the Junior standing, the three of you marching out of the train station.

*

Mr Mimac Senior thanked you both profusely as his son was led away by his mother. Mimac Senior handed you a briefcase and sent you both on your way.

Getting back into the car, you cracked open the briefcase. Taking a stack of bills, you examined them carefully as your Orc Boyfriend turned the ignition and turned the car around.

After checking the bills authenticity, you snapped the case closed. The clicking of the cars indicator punctuated the air.

“I told you I could handle it.” You said, quietly.

“You did. He was just behaving like a jackass.” Your Orc replied, checking the lane before pulling out of the drive way. “I’m not going to let anyone talk to you like that.”

Despite the point being lost on your Orc, you couldn’t help the smile on your lips. “Thank you.” You meant it, how could you not? He was only looking out for you. “I feel bad, you’re always doing the dirty work. You should get some time to sit back and handle the easy stuff.”

“You shouldn’t feel bad. Remember what we agreed? I get my hands dirty, you keep yours clean and deal with business.” The car stopped at the traffic lights. "You’re smarter and better at negotiating.”

Engine humming, the streaking of red light illuminating his appearance, your Orc turned to you. “I love you, you know." He held his hand out to you.

You took it, intertwining your fingers with his. “I love you too.”

[444names]

japanese cities and forenames + roman emperor forenames

Agawadahi Akahio Akaigifu Akasamuns Akashimai Akayn Aketoyan Akitomi Amiyoshi Anaomi Ariko Asaitoka Asakazuki Asato Asuri Atsuki Atsungo Atsunjiro Atsusa Aurazuya Aureboro Ayaba Ayoshōma Ayuko Basuzō Calerū Chide Chigeno Chikugi Chikujino Chima Chiro Chirō Chisadide Chiya Chonobuzu Chūhei Daakineo Dahichi Dayasa Echirō Eimieki Einus Eisai Erihihari Fukiyoso Fukuren Fuminki Fumotomi Fumuke Fuyasa Genzō Geyoka Gyōhx Gōtama Hachi Hachigeya Hachiko Hajori Hananenzo Hariharu Harima Hariyo Hayuke Heijō Hibihirō Hideyasu Higetsura Hihinjō Hikihei Hikurō Himotaku Hinori Hiokatsuo Hirasamio Hirin Hiroshirō Hisaizu Hishin Hitonoboe Hiwakus Hondahi Hōichi Ichibeo Ichige Ichigu Ichisuka Ikichide Imahide Imasuki Inake Inama Inuminobe Ishimiga Ispashihi Isōji Iwakikan Iwarumi Iwatsuki Izukei Jovitsufu Juninorio Jūshiora Kadaya Kagahira Kagasairl Kagashi Kahachi Kahato Kaisatsuo Kakeizō Kamato Kamatō Kamini Karumie Kasaio Kasakeoko Kashihi Kashikurō Kashirō Kasuhio Katomin Katsu Katsusa Katsuta Katsuzawa Kayohikai Kayuru Kazun Kazuozs Kazus Keijiromo Kemotoyo Kenjō Kepho Kichiga Kiharo Kikoshi Kikuma Kingv Kitaki Kitsuoko Kiyokan Kogan Kogaura Kokka Koritsu Kosubaru Kugure Kuken Kumara Kumichiko Kumita Kumuto Kuozawao Kutarō Kuyuki Kyukegawa Kyōsukeki Kyūtakepg Kōfuma Kōkazuo Kōsuji Machisaka Madaya Magayatsu Mahiasan Maima Maomo Masamarie Masdo Mashi Mashihi Mashiko Mashinohi Masio Masooko Masugu Masuhi Masuki Matachi Mataka Matoyoso Matsumi Mayuki Meizuke Michi Michimuke Michiro Michizue Mikuki Millian Mimac Mimaneya Minaga Minaoyos Minaraki Minehiro Mingoya Minorina Miroe Misasio Mitari Mitoki Mitose Mitoyura Mitsume Miyashi Miyoshiro Miyuzuko Mizuhi Mokima Momisu Morian Motada Motojō Mototo Munki Munpeizu Murumi Nabumu Nagamito Nagane Nagashirō Nagoe Nakurō Nandō Nanemichi Nanori Naohe Naokie Naotaki Narada Naruyato Nasai Nasuke Nazuki Nehibō Nemas Nezanos Nichideru Nichisao Nihamoe Nihishi Nikami Niusahora Niusona Noborusu Nobuka Nobumadaq Nobune Nobuyuko Norian Noshi Ogatsuzō Olycero Otomatsu Otsuzō Oyako Phochika Phone Rasashisa Rendō Rianzō Rinori Roichira Ronao Ryoshiro Ryōkaki Ryōsari Ryōsurō Ryōtaka Ryōtsugae Ryūgawa Saemiko Sakakiman Sakasa Sakazū Sakeizu Sakitsuo Sakoda Sakogari Sakunobu Samianri Samiyaneo Sanami Sashiko Sayofuke Sayosen Sebaiiyo Seiice Seijira Seijō Seiyayuko Seminake Sen'q Senaru Senatsu Senta Setan Shibara Shibu Shide Shidehiku Shigenzō Shigosaki Shihoka Shikazu Shilisa Shimana Shimiyami Shintauda Shiri Shiro Shirō Shisa Shisaaro Shishi Shitsugw Shitupiku Shiyaohi Shizu Shukeppei Shuniusa Shunzawa Shōeiji Shōeiko Shōfu Shūichiro Sonan Stakenki Suhiko Suhiru Sukimi Sukonjiro Sōichiro Sōichizō Sōichūō Sōkaoto Sōtaka Tachigawa Tadai Tadayan Tadosuki Tagato Tahaya Taijiko Takada Takatsuke Takazu Takehiros Takenta Takihi Takio Takitsuo Takodu' Takos Takugoe Tario Taroe Taruratsu Tateppei Tenko Terozo Teruhara Tetomoto Theiichi Theizō Thema Themu Thonuma Tohara Tokura Tomin Tomori Tomotara Tonaka Tonakao Toshibō Toshida Toshide Towatsugi Toyamirō Toyuka Trana Tsukentai Tsukubara Tsuni Tsuoki Tsushō Tōdabf Tōgemaru Tōnaga Ubasa Udiansl Umanobu Umioshisa Unawaji Urianaru Uwarume Valbasa Valetsūji Viakahi Yagawanao Yahishirō Yaisahi Yakon Yakuro Yamae Yamiyoshi Yandg Yasakoga Yasei Yasuhina Yawajk Yohara Yokami Yokatsu Yokoto Yoshin Yosho Yosuni Yukateru Yukei Yukeno Yukikaka Yumine Yumio Yumiyoshi Yurai Yōheise Yōtada Yūshiki Yūtainora Yūtaki Zenao Zomoru Ōfuki Ōgemasa Ōmasayasa Ōsugi Ōsumito Ōsuni Ōtako

[wumblr]

i like to play a fun game where i try to understand math. this is missing the left side of the equation (S = ...) but otherwise i think it might say

“for an object, action across a trajectory is approximately its mass (m) times the integral of its trajectory, which is [the speed of light squared times (one minus the gravitational potential over 2), minus the speed of light times frame dragging times non-relativistic velocity, minus (the kroenecker delta and gravitational waves), times v sub i (?) times velocity over 2] (... and also, d (?) times time)″

whew. maybe someday i will figure out what v sub i, the kroenecker delta, and d are, or when you’re supposed to multiply things by each other and when not

anyway the point of this equation is that smaller interferometers can be used to detect larger objects (it’s not quite that simple, because larger interferometers can also detect larger gravitational waves)

this paper is about building a 1m “matter wave interferometer”, a mini-LIGO or “MIMAC” (mesoscopic interference for for metric and curvature)

so i think what they’re saying is, a meter-scale interferometer could directly detect the curvature of space, and then use it to detect (supermassive merger scale) gravitational waves, as well as gravitational frame-dragging effects from the earth

[sorrytobreakyourheart]

Micmacs: weapon manufacturing criticism in a comedy

So in On Why Pre-Afghanistan Tony Stark Isn’t a Bad Person ( while not a hero ) I talked about the movie Mimacs à tire-larigot as a counterpoint to all my positive arguments to defend Tony as a weapon manufacturer, and I figured that

(A) most of you probably don’t know that movie since it’s french ( like me) ( and I’m writing this in English, which is probably not helping but eitherway )

(B) I should probably expand on why exactly liking Micmacs and agreeing to a lot of it doesn’t negate my feelings on Tony’s ethics

+ there’s a lot about that movie that stands on its own, without me throwing Tony at it. It’s, first of all, a comedy, though, so of course there isn’t a long and winded commentary of weapon manufacturing thrown in the middle by a character.

The parts that directly relates to Tony or the MCU in general will be in italics.

( I’m not, obviously, going to tell you absolutely everything about it, but mostly the part about weapon manufacturing and how it ties in with Tony’s past )

First of all, the story ( and, because I can’t control myself, the arguments in the middle ):

The Incidents

Bazil ( Danny Boon ) is a child in 1979 when his father ( a soldier ) is killed by a landmine as the man is working on removing landmines from the maroccan part of the Sahara. His mother receives his father’s things, and he learns that La Vigilante de L’Armement was the landmine’s manufacturer.

30 years later, Bazil is shot in the head by a stray bullet from a car/moto chase between two criminals, and survives, but the bullet is still inside his brain because removing it has 9/10 odds of leaving him a vegetable. That also means he spends a lot of the rest of the movie suffering from that bullet, with the risk of dying without warning at any moment. Later, he’s given the bulletcase his replacement at work found on the road: it’s from Les Arsenaux d’Aubervilliers.

Now, I would be the first to say that yes, his life was fucked up by those two weapons, but the manufacturers are not necessarily the ( only ) ones responsible for that. Assuming those two enterprises followed the rules, you can say that the first guilty party in his father’s death is the government/military that started the war/decided to use landmines, and that the criminals in the shooting could have stolen those weapons ( or gotten it from a stolen shipment ) from the military, making it the criminals’ fault.

Both are true, regardless of the manufacturers’ own guilt.

The Aftermath

On top of having lost his father and risking death by inconvenient bullet everyday of his life, Bazil lost his job ( logical, someone had to do the work while he was recuperating ) and now lives on the street, scrapping by as he goes.

After a few months, he’s taken in a by a group/family of other lost people. They live in a cavern of recycling materials ( and by recycling trash ). There’s Tambouille ( Mama Chow in English ) who’s the group’s mom. Placard ( Slammer ), who did 25 years and is possibly a former crook from what we see. Remmington, an African ethnograph who somehow ended up poor in Paris like the rest of them and uses an overwhelming amount of french language clichés. La Môme Caoutchouc ( Elastic Girl ), a contorsionist. Petit Pierre ( Tiny Pete ), an old man who doesn’t really speak but makes incredible automatons. Fracasse ( Buster ), a former human cannonball with the injuries that goes with the job. Calculette ( Calculator ), a girl whose ability to tell anything and anyone’s measurements is basically a superpower.

The Revenge

One day, as Bazil is collecting things thrown away to use again, he ends up right in between the buildings of Les Arsenaux d’Aubervilliers and of La Vigilante de l’Armement. He recognizes the logos, and tries to get to talk with the CEO of Les Arsenaux ( bullet ) for compensation, but get thrown out. Then he cross the street, and hears a speech by the CEO of La Vigilante about how making weapons is awesome ( I’m admittedly symplifying here ).

Frankly, at that point Nicolas Thibault de Fenouillet ( old-style CEO, Les Arsenaux ) and François Marconi ( modern-style CEO, La Vigilante ) don’t seem that different from Tony. They live in luxury, make weapons for their country and possibly its allies, their public persona is not necessarily likeable, but you can always chalk it up to the fact that yes, it’s a public persona ( they aren’t engineer, though, just the CEO ).

Except. Tony might have refused to see Bazil, if he had come to him for a bullet made by SI, but he wouldn’t have made the kind of joke de Fenouillet did ( “He says he has one of our bullet in his brain, sir”/”well that makes something for him to remember us by” ). On top of that, when Bazil was thrown out by security, they took their time to mock him and his head wound, to be cruel. That’s not a behavior Tony would have tolerated from his employees, supposing de Fenouillet knew about it.

Except, I made an argument in my previous post about the Ares Award and Tony’s absence, him not necessarily wanting an award for being a weapon manufacturer, and that directly relates to Marconi’s speech. Marconi, him, is there, and makes the praise of his business, and jokes about Rimbaud having been a poet only to become a weapon dealer, and himself planning to do it the other way. He does it unprompted. He shows the ego we keep hearing about in Tony, when Tony wasn’t even there for his own award ceremony, when Tony only said that the weapon industry was necessary when Christine Everhart basically asked him if she was ashamed.

Anyway, Bazil is angry. He wants revenge, which, okay.

He starts spying on both CEOs, making a plan to take them both down. And as it turns out, Marconi is ( oh, surprise! ) contacted by an African ex-dictator who wants to start up shit again because he likes being a dictator better than being an ex-dictator. Marconi spends about two seconds and a half saying he only sells to legitimate clients, before being told how much he’s going make, and then, his ethics go right through the window.

Which, you know. Tony never agreed to do. Not even when the Ten Rings kidnapped him and tortured him.

There’s a confrontation with the rest of the gang, and eventually everyone in on the plan ( which, you know, is about making les “Marchants de la Mort” pay; you know where I’m going here ).

The plan, in fact, consist of a lot of shennanigans that probably wouldn’t work in real life, but the gang is just that good, and it’s a movie. They start by incapacitating the dictator’s men, and Remington pretends to be them to offer de Fenouillet the same deal, so that both CEOs think the other one undermined him when the deal doesn’t happen. Then they get in, wreck Marconi’s cars, steal de Fenouillet’s rather disturbing collection of famous people’s body parts, steal a shipment of bombs, etc.

From there the CEOs are the one escalating. Marconi put pressure on a cleaning lady to sabotage de Fenouillet’s testing unit, which causes a massive explosion at the plant of Les Arsenaux, and there are no casualties but only by chance. De Fenouillet sends a tactical team to kidnap/murder Marconi.

It’s all interrupted when the dictator’s men get back in the story and play Russian Roulette with Marconi ( before the tactical team gets there ), Bazil gets caught because he was worrying about Elastic Girl ( who was looking for blackmail, and is currently hinidng in the fridge ), and the CEOs finally realize what’s going on ( kinda ).

Bazil almost gets killed, but the gang as a Plan B, and ends up kidnapping de Fenouillet and Marconi instead, staging a flight and arrival in the desert, putting a grenade ( not armed ) in de Fenouillet’s mouth, who’s sitting on Marconi’s shoulders, who’s standing on a landmine ( not armed either ), while they are all disguised as arab women with picture of their dead/injured children.

Before long the two are confessing to a lot of things, starting with all the people who are not legitimate clients they sold things to ( IRA, ISIS, you name it ). They are being recorded, of course, and when the gang stops acting and reveals who they are, they also download the video on ( old, old ) YouTube. Les Arsenaux and La Vigilante are about to close, de Fenouillet and Marconi are ridiculed, about to be tried, and lost all their support.

Bazil is happy with his new family.

The End.

Non-Violence

Bazil & Co’s plan never involved violence. They aren’t looking to kill either CEOs, and the employees are not treated like acceptable casualties just because they work for the two assholes. In fact, the only people who die here are not part of the plan, are killed by de Fenouillet’s men, are the dictator’s men. The most violent thing they did was release bees on workers to steal the bombs, and send a car with goons in it in a billboard

Unlike, say, Wanda and Pietro’s plan, who just didn’t give a damn about what happened to anyone ( the Avengers themselves, but also all the people who would get caught up in whatever they’d pushed Tony into doing ) as long as they got to kill Tony, to make Tony suffer, until they realized it had gone too far and (A) they were going to die too, (B) maybe seven billions people was a bit too high a casualty count even for them.

The only thing you can blame the gang for is the explosion at the factory ( if there had been casualties ), in that they instigated the rivalry, but, in the end, that’s on Marconi, much more than on the gang, because he’s the one who decided to do that ( and by pressuring an imigrant couple to do his dirty work, no less ).

Tony wouldn’t have deliberately endangered people like that. If he was like that, he’d have dropped a missile on Gulmira to get rid of the Ten Rings, without care for the civilians casualties, instead of getting there in person and targetting only the terrorists.

A Plan that wouldn’t have worked if they hadn’t deserved it

Despite the fact that Bazil wants revenge, his whole plan only works if de Fenouillet and Marconi are, in fact, assholes. Marconi didn’t have to accept the dictator’s deal, but he did. De Fenouillet didn’t have to accept the dictator’s deal, but he did. When they thought the other one had started trashing their stuff, they didn’t have to escalate. Marconi didn’t have to take his employee’s visa so that his wife would be forced to sabotage Les Arsenaux. De Fenouillet didn’t have to try and murder Marconi.

If they hadn’t sold weapons to ISIS/etc, they wouldn’t have had anything to confess at the end. They’d probably have been ridiculed, but it couldn’t have done any grave damage to their lives. In fact, the gang would have probably been labelled as the villains for having harrassed/kidnapped/threatened ( since they didn’t know the landmine and the grenade weren’t armed ) people who were doing their job within the law.

At every turn, the CEOs had a choice, and at every turn, they disappointed. Which is why the plan worked.

Tony refused to sell/make weapons for terrorists, which is what pushed Obadiah to get rid of him. Tony demands a lot of his employees, but he doesn’t force them to do anything, they can leave if they want, if they think he’s wrong.

And if Tony, somehow, had still ended up in the same situation, threatened with death to admit to having done things illegal... He wouldn’t have had anything to admit, because he didn’t do it.

Reality vs. Fiction

That’s the big difference between Tony Stark and de Fenouillet and Marconi. He’s not a bad person for being a weapon manufacturer, because he did it following the rules, but they aren’t, because they didn’t.

Being a weapon manufacturer, again, isn’t a bad thing per se, even if it isn’t a good thing either. As long as there isn’t world peace, and the absolute assurance that this peace will go undisturbed, we need soldiers, we need weapons, and therefore we need weapon manufacturers ( but I already made my argument about it in my last post ).

Now, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that most, or maybe even, all, of the real-world weapon manufacturers are not good people who always follow the rules. But in case you hadn’t noticed, Tony Stark is the ideal ( or as close as ) of what a weapon manufacturer should be ( still not good per se, still not bad per se ), because he lives in a fictional world.

If you can believe in a soldier who never obeys orders he thinks are wrong and yet never gets disciplined because of it, if you can believe in a guy who turns into a giant green rage monster, if you can believe that six people can stop an alien invasion, and then you tell me you can’t picture a honest weapon manufacturer in that same world, well.

What we don’t need are weapon manufacturers like de Fenouillet and Marconi. What we need are people who are willing to make them fall, but not by using violence first either, not when it’s not needed, not when you can do it differently.

( though, the Plan almost went South at one point, which is why, sometimes, you also need an assurance, like, say, a way not to get killed by the weapon manufacturer who has, *gasp*, weapons! )

[audio-bomb]

The Rough Guide To Cajun Dance - The origins of this music go back to the meeting of French and Mimac people in Cananda & evolved as the population moved to Louisiana, and became known as Cajuns. It’s heavy of the fiddle and super upbeat. This guide is a good entry into the genre. (2004, World Music Network) https://www.instagram.com/p/CW7IoP8L0Xa/?utm_medium=tumblr

[biancarogers]

Mac Studio con M1 Max, REVIEW y Experiencia de USO tras 6 meses🔥 🍎 https://applevideos.co.uk/mac-studio/mac-studio-con-m1-max-review-y-experiencia-de-uso-tras-6-meses

[anythingstephenking]

Don’t Get Old Dummies

Alt. Title: Religion is Complicated

I have a complicated relationship with King stories where God plays a central role. We know King believes in a higher power, but a cursory Google search tells me he doesn’t practice any particular faith. And while many (ahem, most) of King’s stories follow the good vs. evil dichotomy, a smaller grouping take organized religion head on. This is one of those books.

Reviews of Revival were mixed but I really enjoyed it.

Hiding beneath the guise of “special electricity” (eyeroll) creating Frankenstein monsters, it’s one of King’s more human novels. It’s 2014, King is pushing 70 and starting to really ruminate on what’s next. Listen, we’re not any strangers to King’s fascination with death. If Lisey’s Story taught us anything, it’s to not watch the Apple+ series. Oh, also that life is pretty precious and no one here knows what’s next.

Let’s back up a bit. Revival is the life story of Jamie Morton. We meet him as a child, playing on the dirt road of his rural Maine home. Jamie first encounters Charles Jacobs in his youth, where Charles and his adorable little family have relocated to pastor the local Methodist church. King was raise Methodist BTW. In the vein of some of King’s most successful storytelling, Jamie gets a real lovely coming of age story. He joins a band, meets a girl, and dreams of a life outside of the Maine woods. Sound familiar? Ayup.

When we’re with Jamie, we’re happy; even when Jamie is strung out on H and sleeping in bed bug ridden motel rooms. He’ll turn his life around, we know it. And he does, with the help of his very own Dr. Frankenstein, Charles Jacobs.

Jacobs falls from God’s grace when his wife and son die tragically and he tells the lord to kindly fuck right off. It’s cool Charlie, I get it. He doesn’t fall into the drug trap like Jamie, but instead becomes some sort of electricity magician, doing cheap parlor tricks that seem innocuous but are actually pretty dangerous.

Anywho, Jamie and Charlie cross paths every few decades, with Jamie pulling himself away from drugs with the help of some electricity therapy from Charlie. It’s a cheap way to write off a major addiction, but we readers are just so happy for Jamie that we can’t be bothered with the process. Charlie is so obsessed with where his wife and son went, and with his faith gone he’s determined to use science to determine what’s in the afterlife.

Wonder what his beautiful wife and young son are up to after they died? Well don’t forget we’re in a Stephen King story, so, uh, it’s not great. Turns out the afterlife is just giant ant overloads torturing humans? The ending of this story is very giant-spider-at-the-end-of-IT, and while it shouldn’t work, it totally does. Criticism for this novel generally falls on the ending coming out of left field, but I ask these critics, have any of you read Stephen King before? Pick up Gerald’s Game and call me in the morning.

At the end of the day, we’re looking at god, faith, the afterlife and the fragility of human life. Like I said up top, King’s pushing 70 and it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to understand that the time has come for him for him to reflect back on his years here on earth and what’s waiting for us. The moral of the story is; don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to. More literally, don’t harness god’s power of lightning to awaken the ant overlords? Death is coming for all of us; maybe just enjoy the ride and don’t dig too deep and don’t bury humans at the Mimac burial grounds.

Revival is a page turner, although in somewhat of a cheap way if I am being honest with myself. There’s a lot of chapter breaks that end with nonsense like “if I had only known what happened next I would have turned around”. Reading you’re all WHAT HAPPENS NEXT JAMIE, and while the payoff is satisfying, being exhausted the next day because I couldn’t bring myself to put the book down at midnight the night before made me mega crabby.

All that aside, if you can suspend enough disbelief to not question the weird electricity shit, it’s quote a lovely tale of little moments that add up to a life well lived. Until the ants show up, of course.

8/10

First Line: In one way, at least, our lives really are like movies.

Last Line: I will come to Mother.

Adaptations

TLDR: My guy Mike Flannigan was slated to direct this story but got shut down because he didn’t have the budget to make the ants scary enough.

[pekarskiservis]

MULTI DROP POLIN FXL 600. Multifunkcionalna masina za proizvodnju cajnih kekseva. Masina radi sa jednom depositor glavom (jednu boju testa) i ima opcije rada brizganih (sapica, puslica itd) , rezanih (cajni kolutic, vanilica i sl) kekseva. Takodje masina uz dodatni pribor podrzava rad i sa tecnim testima ( mafini, razne kore i sl). Multifunkcionalni  display sa ikonicama i nasem jezikom obezbedjuje lagan rad. Svi parametri vezano  za rad masine  i geometriju keksa se podesavaju na PLC. Servis obezbedjen .   PEKARSKI SERVIS 23 godine iskustva. posetite pekarskiservis .   rs Nova  i polovna oprema za keks i cokoladu. Kontaktirajte nas za vise informacija.   +381 64 324 1806 #multidropdepositor #multidrop #keks #polin #mimac #proizvodnja keksa #pekarski servis (у месту Užice) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9ER_Q_hRSu/?igshid=14rtx5ae1b0l2

[jacquescartier1491]

June 18, 1534. The tribe traded furs and skins and were called the Mimacs.

[jaques-cartier1491-blog]

Moving On

Today we were able to trade furs, food, and other items with the Mimac. This helped us regain our food sources that the plagues took away from us. So, after exploring a whole lot here we know that it is time to move on.

- August 10

[arxt1]

Mesoscopic Interference for Metric and Curvature (MIMAC) & Gravitational Wave Detection. (arXiv:1807.10830v3 [gr-qc] UPDATED)

A compact detector for space-time metric and curvature is highly desirable. Here we show that quantum spatial superpositions of mesoscopic objects, of the type which would in principle become possible with a combination of state of the art techniques and taking into account the known sources of decoherence, could be exploited to create such a detector. By using Stern-Gerlach (SG) interferometry with masses much larger than atoms, where the interferometric signal is extracted by measuring spins, we show that accelerations as low as $5\times10^{-15}\textrm{ms}^{-2}\textrm{Hz}^{-1/2}$ or better, as well as the frame dragging effects caused by the Earth, could be sensed. Constructing such an apparatus to be non-symmetric would also enable the direct detection of curvature and gravitational waves (GWs). The GW sensitivity scales differently from the stray acceleration sensitivity, a unique feature of MIMAC. We have identified mitigation mechanisms for the known sources of noise, namely Gravity Gradient Noise (GGN), uncertainty principle and electro-magnetic forces. Hence it could potentially lead to a meter sized, orientable and vibrational noise (thermal/seismic) resilient detector of mid (ground based) and low (space based) frequency GWs from massive binaries (the predicted regimes are similar to those targeted by atom interferometers and LISA).

from gr-qc updates on arXiv.org https://ift.tt/2Ao1e3v

[clubofinfo]

Expert: Today marks the 15th Anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Neither solid analyses, moral reasoning and decent argument nor history’s probably largest pre-war, anti-war demonstrations worldwide had any discernible impact on the Bush and Blair Administrations’ decision to go to war and do so on a false pretext. Neither could major allies like France and Germany by their opposition to the war on Iraq persuade Washington and London to first try a peaceful resolution in accordance with the UN Charter provisions. TFF was deeply engaged in preventing this war – also by being on the ground in Iraq – and wants to a) document the research we did and how we argued back then and b) contribute to this tragedy never being forgotten. We also want to place our analyses and debate articles at the disposal – in one place – of the students, researchers, concerned citizens and others who are willing to spend the time and energy in understanding it more in depth and from a peace and conflict-resolution perspective – which is still far from known in the public debate, politics and media. We are not – out of what would be false, misplaced modesty – seeking to hide the fact that we made a much more comprehensive conflict analysis and produced much better predictions than the intelligence services, foreign ministries and foreign policy institutes of Western interventionist governments and, grosso modo, the Western mainstream media and their commentator experts (few of whom had, of course, ever set foot on Iraq’s dry soil). In short, there were alternative modes of understanding back then – and there are in today’s wars too. It would have been possible to solve the conflicts without causing the unspeakable human suffering we see still today – as would the later conflicts. Wars take place because somebody wants them to be fought for this or that reason – and never the reasons offered to the public. And while wars may also sometimes be seen as mistakes, as wrong means-end calculations – repeated wars are not mistakes. They are produced by elites who benefit from them being fought and who turn warfare into their nation’s lifestyle, or addiction. Photo © Jan Oberg: The little boy was photographed in 2002 in the book market of old Baghdad. He must be about 20 years old today. If he is still alive. From the Iraq Photo Series The invasion, occupation, mismanagement and the 13 years of sanctions destroyed large parts of an ancient civilisation and took the lives of about 1 million people. How many have been wounded in their body and souls? How many have committed suicide during these 15 years? How many became clinically traumatized? How many will hate the US and other West for the rest of their lives? Well, who knows? We only know that the whole interventionist, militarist enterprise achieved none of its official goals – deliberately deceptive as they were – outlined as helping to bring about democracy, freedom, development, human rights, the liberation of women – and, of course, stabilisation and peace. This invasion killed many more innocent Iraqis than Saddam Hussein had ever managed to kill. The one thing morally corrupt Western leaders have argued ever since is, of course, “that we did get rid of the dictator.” The human, social and cultural price for that – minor – achievement was totally out of proportion of any possible legal and moral consideration, devoid as it also was of a need for a fair trial or any other fairness. And they built on the conflict illiterate assumption that conflicts are mainly about individuals. Additionally, the way it was done, built on a culturally arrogant right to limitless killing in a foreign land – and deliberately of innocent civilians who were already sitting inside Saddam’s cage. There are words for that: Terrorism – state terrorism. Racism and de-humanisation. Like is usually stated about Hiroshima and Nagasaki: It must never be forgotten and never repeated. Tragically, it already has in Libya from 2011 and in Syria from the same year. And the war on Afghanistan – 10/7 in unjustified response to 9/11 – is still on, no exit strategy and no end to the misery in sight. The United States of today seems constitutionally unable to learn anything from its own history, its failures and deliberate mass killing wars and will, eventually, therefore consume itself in geopolitical overreach and addiction to the militarism that already President Eisenhower warned against and which, in the shape of the much more cancer-like US MIMAC – Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex, dominates US foreign policy and undermines, bit-by-bit, what good the US has stood for since 1945 in the eyes of the world. ***** TFF conducted two fact-finding mission before the war – in 2002 and 2003, the latter ending less than a month before the invasion. We conducted about 165 interviews in Baghdad, Babylon and Basra in the south and with top officials of the UNIKOM mission at the demilitarized zone at the border between Iraq and Kuwait. We talked with high-level politicians, 5 hours with Number Three man in the system, Dr Tariq Aziz, with Saddam’s primary weapons adviser and liaison with the international missions, Parliamentarians, Baath Party officials, CSOs – civil society organisations, and one intellectual in house arrest. We interviewed the heads of all UN missions present. And we were generously invited to give lectures at the House of Friendship for dignitaries, field marshalls, Baath Party members etc. At no point were we “misused” by anyone to appear in radio or television. In between our meetings – some arranged by the tiny Swedish-Iraqi Friendship Association, official meetings by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other meetings freely by ourselves – we explored the mentioned cities, their marketplaces, mosques, historical sites, museums etc. and talked with people in shops who invited us in for a cup of tea, with people in the streets who stopped us and wanted to tell us what they felt about the situation, conversed with families enjoying their Friday, visitors to Baghdad’s oldest café, bookstore owners, bakers, hotel owners, taxi drivers and, of course, some foreign diplomats too. (See the photo series mentioned above). No, we were not experts on Iraq and were not in command of the Arab language. But we were open, intensely listening and dialoguing about possible ways to avoid the invasion that everybody feared would happen anytime. We tried to understand this conflict from “the other” side. Top officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted us late evening meetings, eager to tell us everything – because of having been systematically deprived of all options to interact with Western political circles. The West did not answer letters from Baghdad. We felt – deeply – the civilisation, the hospitality and the special heart-warming, genuine welcome the foreigner would get in this amazing culture – in contrast to what the author had, almost simultaneously, experienced with Israeli security people at Tel Aviv’s airport or how the foreigner is met in today’s Europe, particularly if being a Muslim. It deserves mention that although every Iraqi knew that the risk of the US starting a war was high and increasing (and sanctions had been strangulating the country for years) – and they knew the West better than the West knew Iraq – we who looked Western and could just as well have been perceived as Americans when walking the streets did not experience as much as one instance of unfriendly or threatening attitudes or utterances. Kindness and decency all around. There are experiences in one’s international life that compels one to reflect on the deeper meaning of concepts such as decency, civilisation and generosity and to compare them with how they are expressed in our own Western societies. ***** TFF is a network of peace and conflict researchers, theoreticians and practitioners. It’s people-financed and, therefore, independent of government and corporate funding. It’s all-volunteer and operating on a shoestring budget. We are not – out of what would be false, misplaced modesty – trying to hide the fact that we made a much more comprehensive conflict analysis and produced much better predictions than the intelligence services, foreign ministries and foreign policy institutes of the Western interventionist governments and, grosso modo, the Western mainstream media and their commentator experts (few of whom had, of course, ever set foot on Iraq’s dry soil). It’s up to anyone in doubt about the validity of this statement to read the materials on the links below – but we are not publishing them here for that reason. We based our analyses and predictions on these four elements: a) our fact-finding visits; b) some reading about Iraq and the region; c) knowledge and practical experience from decades of work in the field of peace and conflict studies; and, d) on-the-ground experience from numerous conflict zones such as Yugoslavia, Georgia, Somalia and many other places our team members had work (mostly in UN missions). ***** We take pride in producing analyses as things happen and not, as most academics, publish studies years after things have happened. And in doing both diagnosis, prognosis and coming up with peace proposals when they matter most. Being critical and constructive years later may be helpful for research and public education but much less so for the people whose lives are acutely at stake. And it is before the violence breaks out that lively public debates and intelligent ideas about violence-prevention and peace-making are most needed. • Click here for a selection of writings by TFF Associates at the time and as they were written at the time. http://clubof.info/

[davidkh07-blog-blog]

The Abbe Museum - Celebrating Native Americans History

In the event that you are going by the Bar Harbor zone, you'll unquestionably need to set aside opportunity to stop in the charming Abbe Museum, Documentary History Channel which is an exhibition hall intended to praise the Native Americans history and their legacy of Maine.

The Abbe Museum gives lovely projects and presentations about the Native American legacy in the range. Documentary History Channel, At one time there was just a little exhibition hall trailside, however today there is additionally an exquisite contemporary historical center that you can visit in Bar Harbor - right downtown.

The first musuem was established in 1926, in spite of the fact that it wasn't until the point when 1928 that it was opened to general society. It's name is from Dr. Robert Abbe, who established the historical center. It began with an accumulation that Dr. Abbe had of Native American curios, and he could persuade other people who had comparative accumulations to combine to build up the Abbe Museum Documentary History Channel archaeology.

The mission of the historical center is to help advance better gratefulness and comprehension of the Native Americans in Maine, including their archaic exploration, history, and their way of life. There are different projects, accumulations, and shows that emphasis on the nearby Native Americans, praising them at various times in Bar Harbor.

It wasn't until 2001 that the Bar Harbor downtown Abbe Museum was opened, and it houses both lasting displays and presentations that change too. There are brilliant displays at this historical center, as well as there are astounding instruction programs accessible for the whole family. Projects are offered for school bunches too, and the downtown Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor is open lasting through the year Documentary History Channel archaeology of the living and the dead.

At present one of the brilliant displays at the Abbe Museum is the "Take a second look: The Waponahki in Image and Verse" show. This is a delightful presentation that incorporates examinations of photos through utilization of verse by Mikhu Paul-Anderson.

A show that is coming soon to the historical center is the "Turned Path" presentation, which highlights 10 distinctive Native contemporary craftsmen. It incorporates delightful fine art that depends on customary beadwork. A few of the craftsmen that are incorporated are Pam Cunningham, Marie Watt, Lenny Novak, and Rick Hunt.

Amid the winter months the downtown Bar Harbor exhibition hall is open from Thursday through Saturday from 10am to 4pm. From May 21st through the early piece of November, the Abbe Museum is open every day from 10am to 6pm. Confirmation is $6 for grown-ups and youngsters between 6-15 years old are just $2. In any case, Abbe Museum individuals and Native Americans will be conceded for nothing.

A flawless shop is highlighted in the historical center too. It includes some wonderful legitimate Native American stock. There are beautiful carvings, wicker bin, gems, and numerous other Native American artistic expressions also. Only a couple of the craftsman tribes highlighted in the Abbe Museum shop incorporate the Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Mimac, and the Penobscot.

[eurooborudovanie]

Насадки металл на тестоотсадочные машины Mimac. Euromach.m@mail.ru, 89193821601. (at Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovskaya Oblast', Russia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRQfseGt7lc/?utm_medium=tumblr