#the “outlived” list has one less entry

[saturn-garden]

KISSINGER IS DEAD SOMEONE GET THE CRABS IT IS TIME TO RAVE

[yamayuandadu]

Arahsamnum 2021: Nungal

Yesterday’s post covered nebulous deities who, by the virtue of being at various points in time and space regarded as Nergal’s wives Today’s topic is instead a goddess who, while also known as a daughter in law of Enlil and Ninlil, is decidedly less nebulous than her husband. Nungal (also known as Manungal) was the goddess of prisons, and her husband was the obscure god Birdum. How obscure? It will suffice to say -I- was unable to find out much of value about his nature.

Nungal was chiefly associated with Nippur, though Wilfred G. Lambert considered it possible that she was originally the tutelary goddess of some forgotten town who simply outlived her original cult center as part of the pantheon of a major city. An alternate form of her name was Manungal, possibly a shortened form of Ama-Nungal, “Mother Nungal.” In some contexts it was treated as if it were an Akkadian equivalent of her name, even though both words are Sumerian. Due to their names being rather similar she was also sometimes confused with Ninegal, the goddess of palaces (not to be confused with Inanna’s epithet with the same meaning). You may remember her from a brief mention in the Lagamar post from a few days ago. To my knowledge, unlike Ninegal, Nungal doesn’t appear anywhere as Lagamar’s mom, though. Our main source of information about her is the hymn to Nungal - she is actually extremely uncommon in texts otherwise, which makes it all the more unusual that such a long and detailed composition was dedicated to her. Nungal’s character is pretty well defined in it: she is the “neck-stock of the Anunna gods,” punishes the wicked but shows compassion to the righteous. The hymn also introduces a host of servant deities associated with her. As an extension of her functions, Nungal was also regarded as an underworld goddess. In god lists she usually appears in sections dedicated to such deities (puzzlingly sometimes alongside the beer goddess Ninkasi), and in a surviving mythical fragment she appears in the underworld alongside fellow courtier of Enlil, Nintinugga. There is even an incantation which calls her the “lady of the underworld,” nin-kurra. The same incantation indicates she was believed to be the bane of Namtar. There are a few references to Ereshkigal being her mother, though to my knowledge the father goes unstated, similar to the instances where Ninazu is her son (the only instance I can think of where a deity is referred to as Ereshkiga’s child and the father is listed is an unusual text presenting the otherwise unknown view that Namtar was the son of Ereshkigal and Enlil, a strange and otherwise unattested pairing). In one case Ereshkigal is even credited with bestowing Manungal’s roles upon her. Of course, this tradition wasn’t universally accepted, since for instance in the well known myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal she’s evidently unmarried and has no children.

Further reading:

Nungal (Reallexikon der Assyriologie entry) by A. Cavigneaux and M. Krebernik

The Theology of Death by W. G. Lambert

Two New Sumerian Texts Involving The Netherworld and Funerary Offerings by J. Peterson

[otterskin]

Pet Peeves in Thor Stuff

Inspired by a few posts doing this, so thought I’d vent and get it out here.

1. MCU Loki’s Name

I don’t care what the fan-run wikis say. All the official MCU material, including the text of the actual movies themselves, call him Loki Odinson or, for a brief period, Loki of Asgard. Loki Laufeyson is the name of a character from Marvel comics, and him having that name makes sense for that character’s backstory, which is very, very different from ‘adopted at birth and a late discovery’ MCU Loki. Incidentally, Norse Mythology Loki is not Loki Laufeyson, he’s Loki Laufeyjarson, which is a matronym because Laufey is his mother in most Norse Myths.

Loki in Thor 1 was Loki Odinson, Avengers was Loki of Asgard, and he certainly seemed fond of Odin again in Ragnarok and officially reclaimed the title Odinson in IW. He’s called Odinson over and over again in official Marvel publications such as the illustrated dictionary. Please stop using the wrong name. It’s weird and wrong to assume his name MUST default to his birth-father’s upon discovery of adoption, no matter what he’d been called his whole life. Especially when I think it’s pretty clear that Loki vehemently rejects any relationship with that namesake. He literally murdered Laufey to prove to Odin he had only one father, I don’t know how he could be more clear about his preferences.

And yes, I do think that this invalidates the fan-wikis as good sources of information. If they can’t get a name right, you probably shouldn’t trust anything in the article below it. Stick with canon publications.

2. The Transformation Spell

And heck, while we’re on this page, yes, the spell keeping Loki Asgardian is Odin’s. I don’t mind fanfic that posits a different origin, because hey, we’re just trying to have fun here, do what you want and I’ve probably read a lot of it already - but this is the canon explanation, please stop messaging me to tell me I’m wrong when I say it’s Odin’s spell doing it. Also, the reason it didn’t break when Odin died is because magic can outlive the caster, as Doctor Strange said. This ain’t the Phantom Menace.

(Incidentally, this dictionary is fun and even has entries for Huginn and Muninn!)

3. Step-brothers and Half-brothers are different things and neither is correct for Thor and Loki’s relationship. Nor is Odin Loki’s step-father.

I don’t see this in the Thor Fandom much, it’s more in articles and reviews I’ve read, but it’s kinda appalling how people don’t know the difference between brothers, step-brothers, half-brothers, and blood-brothers. Not being sure who your second cousin twice removed is I get, but I would hope that these are much more commonly understood. Just to get it off my chest, even though I’m sure no-one reading has ever thought different -

Step-brothers are when two unrelated families are joined by marriage. The children share no biological parents, but their parents are married. Unless Odin married Laufey at some point, he is not Loki’s step-father, and Thor is not Loki’s step-brother. (I mean, Odin’s had a long and probably very interesting and mysterious life, so I suppose it’s POSSIBLE he had a real bender at one point, but even if he had a Vegas wedding to the King of the Frost Giants and then decided to throw away the ring as if nothing had happened, the relationship he has with Loki has always been identified as ‘Father’).

Half-brothers are when children share one biological parent, but not two. So unless that bender with Laufey got REALLY crazy, Loki is not Thor’s half-brother either.

Blood-brothers - So some people will use this phrase to refer to people who are related by blood, but that’s sort of an older phrase. However, for most elementary school kids and in the context of Norse Mythology, it has another meaning - two people, unrelated by birth, who undergo a ceremony that involves blood mixing as an oath of brotherhood. Norse-Myth Loki is usually depicted as blood-brothers with Odin (and, in a few rare stories I read, with Thor, instead, but that’s a long story about how Thor was slowly starting to replace Odin as chief patriarch and therefore subsuming a lot of his traits and relationships). However, in the MCU, neither of these meanings currently applies to Thor and Loki. They are not blood related, and they’ve not undergone any blood oath ceremony either (although you can bet your briskets I’d LOVE to see that and it’s been in my general prediction box/wish-list since 2011. Imagine how happy it’d make us to see Thor and Loki choose to have their relationship, rather than feeling like it was Odin’s decision and they’re just living with it.).

Brothers - if in doubt about any brotherly relationship, just say this and you won’t be wrong. Thor and Loki are brothers, or adopted brothers, full stop. So no more step-half-blood nonsense.

And to be clear, if you’re writing fanfic that re-imagines this relationship, this is in no way directed at you. I’m more venting at the dearth of articles, presumably written by university graduates with an English degree, who can’t seem to keep this straight.

4. Brother is a Proper Noun

While I’m on this brother train, a small grammatical note - ‘Father’, ‘Mother’, and ‘Brother’, if being used in place of a name, are proper nouns, which means they’re capitalized.

Ex. “Stop smearing your booger on my shirt, Brother.”

It’s not capitalized if it’s not being used in place of a name, but is simply referring to the noun.

Ex. 2 “My brother once ate a whole goat without noticing it was still alive.”

Ex. 3 “I never knew we had a sister.”

Sorry, sorry - but I see this mistake a lot while I’m reading and I daresay I make it myself all the time!

5. Frigga isn’t perfect

Real talk, one of my least favourite tropes in fiction is ‘Woman on a Pedestal’. I really feel it denies female characters agency if they’re made out to be perfect lovely angels loved by everyone. I’ve read a ton of great fics that explore the flaws Frigga is suggested to have in the MCU but never got the screen time to deal with, and they are some of my favourites. I’ve also read a ton where she’s endlessly patient, wise, righteous, and oh-so-much-better than that heartless Odin or oaf Thor, if only she’d been in charge the whole time, nothing would have gone wrong! It’s a matter of taste and I’d never tell anyone to not write what makes them happy, but I really do think Frigga’s a better character when you engage with her mistakes and oversights and less-than-noble aspects. Women in the MCU have really gotten a short shaft when it comes to character arcs, flaws, and general humanity. Almost all the mothers are on pedestals in it, and with that comes a lack of introspection. Frigga could be argued to be in that category, but at least there is some material to suggest her imperfections that can be exploited. (Unlike Quill and Stark’s mothers, say.)

I leave it up to everyone to interpret the character for themselves, but for me her weaknesses are that she

tends to deflect blame for her choices onto others, particularly Odin.

sometimes acts to smooth things over without really acknowledging hurt, either caused or experienced.

has a manipulative streak and isn’t afraid to leverage her sons’ affection for her to get them to do what she wants, which is often ‘smoothing things over’.

probably spoiled her kids a bit

has an allergy to giant knives

Personally I like these things about her. They come from her life as a peace-maker, both in her role as a politician and a Queen and in her role in the family. She’s loyal, clever, witty, a confidant, and had the best scene in Endgame by a long mile. Frigga is the mom we’ve seen the most of, and I would love to see more in any form.

AH.... that felt good. I might do another post on my problems with how Thor is sometimes portrayed, but that’s a whole other, very personal, thing. Thanks for reading this dumb thing.

[del-uxie]

(Log Index 0000AZ)

NOTE: Entry was made after ‘DIVERGENCE INCIDENT [TS]’. Individuals outside of this divergent timespace should take this with a grain of salt. - Calcis

LOG TYPE: SPECIMEN DESCRIPTION

AUTHOR: CALCIS

CREATION INDEX: 09K CREATION DATE: 01/02/██ SPECIMEN NUMBER: UNKNOWN, but PRESUMED 1 SPECIES NAME: VISUA INANIMUS AGE: N/A, INANIMATE. Active for 12 sweeps at time of writing.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Subject takes the form of an ARCADE CABINET, though on occasion, it has favoured other forms of communication, such as COMPUTER SCREENS, a SPEAK’N’SPELL, and GAME CONSOLES. It is not restricted to TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICES, and has been known to inhabit CRYSTAL BALLS, packs of PLAYING CARDS, and DRIED TEA LEAVES. It makes no attempt to disguise itself by selecting items that would blend in – when found, subject appears OUTSIDE OF ITS USUAL ENVIRONMENT, such as the ARCADE CABINET found in a prairie 2km west of any arcades.

When interacting with new subjects, it attempts to provide notes or posters to encourage interaction, such as ‘Play me’ or ‘See your future: Only 5 caegars a fortune!’. Once the subject has interacted with them at least once, these notes disappear. Researchers have noticed papers physically disintegrating in their hands one week after initial meeting.

Subject claims it has a physical form, but will not reveal it. It claims no subject has reached ‘far enough progression’ for this to be the case.

CREATION PROCESS: Subject was SPLICED from REMAINS of an UNKNOWN BLOOD COLOUR generously provided by the EMPIRE. Samples were solely taken from the EYES, as they had the most complete genetic tissue available. Remains were then placed under the light of ██████, and once sufficient growth was completed, it was combined with elements of circuitry, as well as other inanimate objects. Due to the sheer variety of items that were experimented with, as well as the very small sample size, 09K is classified as a 1A organism, especially due to the spontaneous generation after a blast of ████████, close to the [TS] divergence incident. Subsequently, no trace of any items used – that is, not even the original ones that samples were taken from – was found. A set of playing cards instead appeared on RS. CALCIS’ desk 8 weeks later, with a small note reading ‘Play me’.

BIO: Subject is classed as DANGEROUS, and must not be interacted with by anyone outside of the RESEARCH CENTRE under any circumstances. If such a thing occurs, said individual must remain in the facility for ONE WEEK, after which the effects of 09K generally subside. Once appearing to an individual, it remains in one place until interacted with. If it is interacted with, then ignored, it appears to grow agitated when interacted with again, and eventually disappears and reappears in a different form, refusing to speak to the individual again. For the sake of simplicity, the individual interacting with 09K will be referred to as 09K-A from now on.

Once interacted with, 09K will perform the usual function expected for ONE TURN of whatever form it takes – subsequently, it will speak directly to 09K-A. If provided with a screen, it will communicate through this – inanimate object such as cards have the writing on them altered once turned over, and words appear in the crystal ball. More detailed notes on each FORM are provided further on.

09K will claim that 09K-A has psychic visions. It will then list off various inane facts – such as the names of other INDIVIDUALS in the room, or their favourite food, prompting 09K-A to ask said individual about them. The first prediction is ALWAYS INCORRECT. Further predictions are not offered for at least 15 minutes after the first (and that is only with INCREASED INTERACTION), but once the second or third prediction is offered, it is correct. All further predictions are always correct, and 09K only moves onto further predictions once 09K-A has performed the request asked, such as the aforementioned asking of the name.

Once 09K senses that 09K-A trusts its predictions are true, it requests to be taken with 09K-A. If it is not already portable, it outlines a very clear process for making itself so. Once this request changes, the predictions become more personally relevant. Furthermore, 09K also responds to personal conversation after this stage, unless 09K-A has recently refused to enact a task. This is not recommended due to risk of real TRUST building and therefore potential ESCAPE. After about half a dozen of said predictions, the requests gradually become more sinister, as well as the predictions becoming more enticing to the individual. Requests have repeatedly been homicidal in nature. There appears to be no true end point to the requests – however, once 09K-A refuses, no further predictions are offered, and testing with 09K effectively must cease until it resets.

It appears to genuinely simply receive these ‘visions’, rather its information being derived from enhanced intuition. It cannot explain why it gets the visions – it does not attribute them to psiionics, either, as it explains that it is not a troll, but merely an ‘embodiment of your own latent abilities’. Though conversation has been VERY LIMITED, it appears to resent being contained. It will often attempt to escape through TESTERS – as such, subjects that become instances of 09K-A must be under strong observation, and constantly report each request that 09K makes of them, even if they are physically visible to other researchers. If 09K-A begins to become secretive, or protective of 09K, risk of ESCAPE increases, and 09K-A must be isolated in a comfortable environment for one week.

TESTING RESULTS:

Tester: RS. Calcis Form: Playing cards, first encountered with a note saying ‘Play me!’ Requests:

Asking name of INSPECTOR MERCER, which was incorrect

Asking name of RS. MORIBA, which was correct

 Asking RS. MORIBA what her favourite food was, which was correct

 ...

Cooking a requested meal for 09K, which 09K-A was to consume. Meal was a plate of SPAGHETTI, the quality of which 09K was dubious of.

Typing out a copy of the novel ‘Paradise Lost’ for 10 minutes per day, for a week.

Buying and wearing a custom-tailored suit. Request denied, as this would require leaving the facility. 09K seemed mildly disgruntled, but resumed testing the next week with its mood restored. (END POINT (EP)-01)

Telling MORIBA she was a wench who would die loveless and alone if she kept 09K trapped here like this. Request denied, as this was very rude. 09K repeated testing with CALCIS very shortly afterwards, seeming pleased with itself. (EP-02)

Burning down the house uphill from the facility. Request denied due to homicidal intent. (EP-03)

Request to burn down grocery store approximately 10km away from facility. Request denied to homicidal intent. (EP-04).

...

Release from facility. Request denied due to prior violent requests. 09K became unresponsive to further testing for approximately HALF A SWEEP afterwards, refusing to reset itself, provide predictions, make requests, or otherwise be active in any way. After testing with MORIBA resumed, it became responsive again, and less talkative than before. (EP-12) Subsequently, testing responsibilities shifted to RS. MORIBA until research was complete.

Tester: RS. MORIBA Form: Crystal ball, with note laid out next to it. Requests:

...

...

Burning 09K-A’s labcoat.

Cutting 09k-A’s hair to a bob.

Taking out the trash.

...

Shaving 09K-A’s hair completely, until it was bald. Initially denied, but as this was further in terms of predictions than the previous attempt with RS. CALCIS (EP-05) had gotten, it was eventually obliged.

Dressing up as ████████████, apparently for 09K’s own amusement.

...

Burning down entire facility. Request denied to homicidal intent. (EP-06)

Being passed to INSPECTOR MERCER. Request denied, as he was not authorised to test at the time. (EP-07)

...

...

Complete destruction of 09K after (EP-12). Request denied, as testing was not yet complete.

After satisfied with her research, RS. MORIBA contained 09K in its own space, approximately 200ft. underground. According to her, it had outlived its usefulness.

Tester: INSPECTOR MERCER Form: Games console – NES. Requests:

...

...

Purchase of a 5x3cm LCD screen, to be fitted into the back of a controller, as well as several obscure pieces of circuitry, some of which had to be hand-engineered. In spite of this, 09K-A did not find this especially difficult, saying that 09K’s instructions were ‘more damned helpful than any fucking GrubTube rando had ever been’. 09K-A said 09K could make a living from this kind of tech stuff, to which 09K did not respond.

Request to keep its further requests secret. Any subsequent requests were uncovered after testing ceased with INSPECTOR MERCER, and it was assumed that all requests being made by 09K were mundane. Testing parameters were altered after this.

...

Request to be brought to 1B-005B (ERICUS FELIDAE, or, according to MERCER, the “catboy”). The two observed one another for 15 minutes, before 09K-A informed 09K that 005B cannot read, though it can speak. 09K-A then began reading aloud, albeit in whispers, what 09K said to 005B. The two appeared to get along.

...

Request to be brought out for a drive with 09K-A. Initially, 09K-A was apprehensive, but subject left the testing area anyway. 09K-A repeated getting more and more personally relevant visions, some that apparently ‘sincerely helped him put his life in the right direction’, though he would not say why. In the middle of one of these incredibly intense visions, which had now shifted to 09K-A’s direct consciousness, incident ██████████ occured. 09K-A then appeared in an unknown building, with what appeared to be bloodstains all over its bodies. The building appeared to be a club of some sort – the dead bodies (at least 8-9) themselves were all seared straight through the chest, resembling some kind of laser beam.

09K-A had no recollection of the incident, but seemed oddly peaceful. 09K-A was brought in for a week of testing, in which all of his vitals were far lower than usual, especially his resting heart beat and overall reaction time. It appeared he was under some form of sedative, though no strange chemicals were found in his system. It is presumed that if an EP-nature request is obliged, this effect occurs on 09K-A’s body.

Further questioning by researchers found that the bodies belonged to members of staff from an ENTERTAINMENT CLUB – or rather, a masquerade of one, the base of operations of one of the local GANGS that was notorious for its goal to TOTALLY CONTROL all aspects of the city. The only remaining member of staff on duty at the time expressed extreme remorse at the situation – it said it was supposed to be on duty, but it had left its post wrongly. It said it anticipated extreme discipline from its boss, and due to the results of (EP-09), testers for 09K must be selected far more carefully. When questioned about the incident, 09K was unresponsive. After the results of (EP-12) and onwards, it relinquished, if involuntarily, that its desire was to stop said group before it was ‘too late’. Apparently, it also knew that it had made things far worse for them. It had given visions of an individual there, and their eventual ascent into the height of the gang – pitying the individual (this pity possibly prompted by the immense level of trust 09K-A had in it), it strived to ‘save’ it. In my own opinion, this was doomed to fail. For whatever reason, 09K-A only seems to understand homicide as an end result to solve problems, and does not have the emotional intelligence to genuinely help people.

ADDENDUM: It really is a shame, isn’t it? If there were a way to embed emotional understanding into the creatures I make, I would do it within a heartbeat. Sometimes, however, they regrettably turn out like this. I wonder if I am missing something – but I suppose that answer will never again be found in 09K. It’s buried many feet underground, forever, and nobody will ever see it again. It’s not even under observation anymore – MORIBA explicitly forbade cameras down there. She doesn’t want a bad name to our organisation, or even a name at all, and I get that. But... I don’t know.

I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.

[julianwolski]

Issue #24 - Why should you watch The Old Guard?

Have you ever wanted to watch a blockbuster, full-on action movie, with mega-stars and a big budget, special effects, and all the works, but also wished that there was a gay couple thrown there in the middle? Not just as a one-shot appearance over the course of a two-hour feature, but as a central point of the story, as something that you couldn’t ignore if you looked the other way for two minutes? And also, a couple that wasn’t there to be killed off? In fact, what about a gay pairing that can’t even die?

Well, I think we finally reached that point in time when I can definitely give you a recommendation that hit all of those points. But there’s more. This next entry in our list can’t be reduced to a simple gay movie, it’s a lot more than that. Not only we have main characters who are queer, a central romance between men that has been happening for centuries, we also get a completely queer-coded movie, that bends the boundaries of sexuality from the first moment, without sexualizing its characters in the least.

It’s kind of a dream come true. And it’s also a damn good movie, so what else could we ask? 

In my opinion? Maybe a sequel?

The Old Guard is the story of humans who can outlive their generation of peers, sometimes for centuries, and maybe more. They have this supernatural power of not dying by any means until it’s their time, and for that reason, they end up leaving a mark on the world they live, whether they want it or not. It’s less about their survival and more about hiding from the world while they try to find something worthwhile, as you have a long existence, and without anything to tie you down, it wouldn’t be meaningful.

The central duo in the story is Andy and Nile, two women of strong character who embody different stages of the life of an immortal being, someone who’s ending their run and someone’s who’s just starting out in this path. They are such a fantastic pair of ladies, so well-written, with motives and fears and inner-strength that never seems underserved. 

It seems brilliant to see them coming together on the screen, fighting each other and then finding what brings them together.

But we also get two lovers, Nicky and Joe. And these two were so incredible in the run of the movie, from their connection through simple eye contact to the way they speak to each other, and of one another. There’s no discovery of who they are, no coming out moment, in fact, yet the movie still managed to hit any homophobe in the face with one of the most brilliant scenes between any gay couple I’ve seen. 

It felt so refreshing to see queer characters being queer without having to be singled out in the cast, or put aside for their antics because of who they were. Yet even in their somewhat understated queerness, there’s a strong romantic bond between them that it’s impossible to mistake. You cannot watch the movie and say that they were just friends helping each other out, that they were two men seeking warmth and the helping hand of one another. That kind of shit doesn’t have a place here.

They are unashamedly in love with one another, and we get to see them definitely putting their whole feelings out there, pretty much saying to the world that this is it, they have nothing to hide, and you have to handle it.

And there’s more than that. I loved that the framing of most scenes is devoid of that focus on the sexual prowess of our characters, which is somewhat of a staple in action movies. We always get that scene where they have to make love in front of the camera, and there’s none of that here. As I said before, the camera somewhat queer-codes a lot of the interactions between the characters, we see the chemistry between a lot of them, there’s nothing of that emotional distance we’re expected to see, it’s almost as if the director is waiting for us to imagine the repercussions of those gazes, of the way these people look at each other.

There’s nothing not to love in this movie, in my opinion. You can imagine your headcanons, or just take things as they are. The story is rich and full of possibilities, the acting is good, we get a colorful cast and the setting that spans all over the world. The action is gripping, the world is their playground. 

And if you want more, there’s also the chance to find some more content in the graphic novels the movie was based on.

And you can read the first issue for free right here.

In the case you haven’t guessed by now, I’m trying to give as few spoilers as I can, because you should definitely watch this movie. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it, it’s just that good. 

And if you ever felt disappointed after seeing your favorite gays dying on the big screen, just know that it feels invigorating to see them reviving time and time again in this movie. In fact, they treat death as something to long for, but unreachable for most of their lives, so they can live long. They can live again and again, instead of dying at the end of the movie. There’s nothing to be disappointed about here. You just have to watch and watch again--which I just did.

You have to watch The Old Guard.

[breadknight-likes-things]

Bread’s Skate (?!) Journal 09/06/20: The Other Ones: A Look Back On The Tony Hawk Imitators Of The Early 2000's....And BMX XXX.

Looking back at Tony Hawk as a series that's pretty solidly in the past can cause someone to easily forget how those games were actually thought of at the time: Hyper popular.  As a result of that popularity, it was easy to see a bunch of other games and franchises that wanted a piece of that money, some from Activision themselves, some....very much not.  Some of these games were good!  Some of these games were so bad that they've become something of a legendary laughing stock in the game landscape as a whole.  

As I said, Activision was no stranger to trying to apply the Tony Hawk formula to other sports in an attempt to cash in on the extreme success of their franchise.  Sometimes these cash in's actually made for decent, if unoriginal games.  Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX was more or less a carbon copy of the Tony Hawk formula, but with BMX Bikes instead of Skateboards, and it actually worked pretty well once you got used to the inherent differences of the two different styles.  Other attempts were not quite as fortunate as Matt Hoffman though, and both of them sort of had the same "downhill" problem.   Shaun Palmers Pro Snowboarder was an attempt to put the Tony Hawk formula into a snowboarding game, and while that should reasonably work, the linear and all downhill nature of the levels really didn't lend themselves to a fun time.  

Following from Shaun Palmer was "Wakeboarding Unleashed featuring Shaun Murray" which is quite a title!  It was originally revealed with the far more descriptive name as "Shaun Murray's Pro Wakeboarder" but I have to assume that was changed to...distance the game from Tony Hawk?  It's a confusing move to say the least.  The game was actually quite decent, more so than you'd assume from something like a wakeboarding game, and you can tell there was some talent behind it, the games issue was that, by design, it was pretty much always on rails.  You were literally pulled through the levels behind a speed boat, and even though there was plenty to trick off, it lent a feeling that you were just being guided to the cool set pieces rather than actually doing any exploration of your own, it deserved better.  Hell, it at least deserves it's own Wikipedia page, the only mention of it at all is on Shaun Murray's very small Wikipedia entry, an ignoble end for a game that least tried something new.

I had to find a screenshot for Shaun Murray, which I swear is real, and this is the only one I could easily find online.  I swear this game happened!

Of course Activision wasn't the only studio trying to capitalize on the extreme sports craze and the Tony Hawk trick heavy style.  EA found what I would consider the greatest success with franchises like SSX, and one entry wonders like Freakstyle (which is a seminal game for me as a kid, but one I feel very few people even know exist), a sort of blend of SSX and racing through the lens of Motocross.  Hell, eventually EA would make Skate, which outlived Tony Hawk itself for a few years, and I already wrote about earlier this week, an excellent franchise that was nonetheless heavily inspired by THPS.

Now, there are far more imitators and hanger on's, some good (Splashdown, while closer to Wave Race, definitely stole some of it's vibes from THPS). Some incredibly bad (Gravity Games: Vert, Street, Dirt,  an abysmally bad Tony Hawk ripoff from the early 2000's immediately springs to mind) and some downright strange (Four words: Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure).  But only one company tried so hard and failed so miserably, and that's Acclaim, and BMX XXX.

This is genuinely what some of the worst impulses of the video game industry look like.

Acclaim had found success early on by getting Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX out only one year after Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and it certainly wasn't a terrible game.  It felt a little clunkier than what came out of Neversoft at the time, but it was definitely playable.  Acclaim also went on to put out Aggressive Inline, which, while it might sound insane to say about an inline skating video game, is genuinely one of the best extreme sports games ever made.  So Acclaim had real reason to believe they actually could put something out that would rival Tony Hawk!  Then they put out BMX XXX.  

BMX XXX is one of the most insipidly stupid things that any company has ever produced, certainly one of the worst video games ever made, and was so bad that Dave Mirra forced Acclaim to take his name off of it before release.  You really can boil this game down to two things: Dave Mirra's okay BMX game play, and the horn-dog mindset of a 13 year old boy that just found an issue of Hustler in the woods.  It's incredibly embarrassing!  Full of hookers, pimps, literal strip club videos, dogs fucking and humor that was shitty and mean spirited even by the standards of 2004.  It's astounding that anybody thought this game would sell at all, let alone do the impressive numbers they wanted for it.  Even the console manufacturers didn't really seem to want this thing on their consoles, Sony out and out censored the nudity even (which yes, the game featured full polygonal breasts, and they are horrifying to look at today), and though the other two allowed the nudity to slide, they made it pretty clear they thought the game was terrible.

BMX XXX is a punchline today, rightfully, but I think it did so much harm to the idea of a competing extreme sports franchise, that any further attempt to really hone in on an Tony Hawk alike just sort of stopped right there.  It actually came out pretty early on, in 2002, long before some of the other games I've mentioned on this list even, but the damage it did was impossible to ignore.  Activision kept trying, we still got the occasional excellent SSX game, and we got Skate.  Hell, we even got Ubisoft making a couple of tries, first with Shaun White doing a snowboarding and Skateboarding game, then with Steep.  The concept wasn't killed entirely, a favorite of mine, Amped 3 for Xbox 360, even came out just a few years later, but it felt like the spirit was gone, and it never really came back.  Thankfully, these days, we have more independent developers putting out their own vision of what an extreme sports game can be.  I hope this new generation of developers can really get us back to the glory days of the extreme sports game, and even if they don't end up making it too far, at least they're going to try.

And things might get a little weird.

[oscartrivia]

All 84 Best Original Song Oscar Winners Ranked Worst to Best (Part 2)

Here’s Part 2 of our ranking of the best (and worst) Oscar selections for Best Original Song. If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, you can start there, or just trust me that you’re only missing the 12 worst songs in Oscar history and just start here!

72. Writing's on the Wall (from Spectre — 2015)

Of all the James Bond songs on this list, this one is the least exciting. For me, Sam Smith’s vocals just make this a strange song. Maybe it’s unfair, but with Adele’s excellent “Skyfall” coming just a few years earlier, this song just doesn’t quite measure up.

71. It Goes Like It Goes (from Norma Rae — 1979)

Norma Rae is an important film, and the lyrics of this song are a sugarcoated version of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” without the bite. The melody is  uninspired, and overall the song is a waste of Jennifer Warnes considerable vocal talents.

70. I'm Easy (from Nashville — 1975)

“I’m Easy” is a perfectly pleasant little country ditty, but there’s nothing particularly special about it. Nashville is full of songs with more energy and more fun than this one.

69. The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart) (from Crazy Heart — 2009)

Crazy Heart may have just suffered from poor timing--it’s core song “The Weary Kind” has some of the heart that “I’m Easy” lacks, but the film itself pales in comparison to Country Strong which came just a year later and told a story that has some big similarities. It was also a shame to see this song win over “Loin de Paname” (one of the best foreign-language songs ever nominated for an Oscar), and over a pair of ditties from The Princess and the Frog that handed Randy Newman his 17th and 18th Oscar losses.

68. Born Free (from Born Free — 1966)

This song has a certain nostalgic value for people from a certain era, but its soaring crescendos just aren’t enough to lift this song out of the basement of this list. There’s nothing terrible about “Born Free,” it’s just a song that doesn’t hold up 50+ years later.

67. You'll Never Know (from Hello, Frisco, Hello — 1943)

A sweet but forgettable little ditty from a film that could be described the same way. Somehow, though, the best version of this song came when the original performer, Alice Faye, sang it again over 40 years later:

66. Sweet Leilani (from Waikiki Wedding — 1937)

The legendary Bing Crosby sang 14 nominated songs over the years, starting with 1934′s “Love in Bloom” all the way to 1960′s “The Second Time Around.” The songs range from outright classics (we’ll talk about “White Christmas” and “Swinging on a Star” much later) to oddities like “Zing a Little Zong” to my personal favorite, 1945′s “Ac-Cen-Tchu-Ate the Positive.” While “Sweet Leilani” isn’t the worst of the bunch, it does fall on the blander side, especially compared to the rest of Bing’s body of work.

65. Sooner Or Later (I Always Get My Man) (from Dick Tracy — 1990)

Say one thing for this tune: its appeal has long outlived that of the film it originated from. The double entendre and lyrical wordplay are trademarks of its author, Stephen Sondheim, but what actually makes this song halfway decent is Madonna’s sultry vocal performance.

64. Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) (from Arthur — 1981)

I’m not entirely sure what “If you get caught between the moon and New York City, the best that you can do is fall in love.” actually means. And I’ve spent more time than I should admit thinking about it. It seems like it’s calling NYC a romantic place, but I’m just not sure that’s what the words mean. Anyways, this song is a bit of an earworm sometimes. Not too bad, but nothing too special either. And it beat out what I think is one of the better James Bond flick themes, Sheena Easton singing “For Your Eyes Only.”

63. Baby, It's Cold Outside (from Neptune's Daughter — 1949)

This perennial Christmas favorite has been the subject of much discussion over the years about whether it holds up against modern sensibilities (particularly the “what’s in this drink” line). The cringeworthiness of the songs outward premise—that a woman is trying to leave and a man is trying to coerce her into spending the night—may not take into account the context of the film or the era, but that doesn’t invalidate the critique itself. The best songs are timeless, and this song is problematic in the #MeToo era. Those factors bumped it down on this list, below songs with less catchy melodies and much less staying power.

62. Mona Lisa (from Captain Carey, U.S.A. — 1950)

It’s hard to dislike any song with Nat King Cole’s velvety vocals. This song is a bit simplistic, and seems to have literally nothing to do with the film it originates from...it’s just a song about a painting, apropos of nothing. 

61. It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp (from Hustle & Flow — 2005)

I distinctly remember being very annoyed when this song won the Oscar. Unlike the previous entry on this list, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” definitely fits into the film it comes from, and it’s indicative of music in the the genre and era it occupies, but the lyrics are still a bit hard to swallow. To make matters worse, the song beat out Dolly Parton’s beautiful, heartwarming “Travelin’ Through,” which deserved far more accolades than it received. Despite its issues, though, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” falls squarely in the “so-so” section of this list for it’s peppy, catchy beat and its groundbreaking status as the first hip-hop winner of Best Song.

[everiter5-blog]

20 Insightful Quotes About Garage Door Companies Poland Ohio

One-automobile garage doors value $250 to $3,000 for materials and $150 to $500 for installation. A single overhead storage door is eight to 10 feet extensive by 7 to eight toes tall. Garage doors with built-in insulation value $150 to $800+ more than non-insulated models or $400 to $4,000. Insulated storage doorways lower vitality payments and maintain the garage hotter, cooler, and quieter. Garage door insulation kits price $40 to $200 to retrofit present doorways DIY. Insulation kits are straightforward-to-set up however are less power-efficient and have a lower R-value than new pre-insulated garage doors.

May take some getting used to or we’ll swap out the brackets – they’re just plastic inserts that snap in – to a square shape.

Thankfully we nonetheless had them installed at eye stage so we are able to still easily see out or in.

It seems in all places I actually have seemed since they had been put in at present – hindsight is 20/20 – all the steel and aluminum door windows are small, smaller than a panel part.

We bought metal doorways from an area small enterprise installer, nevertheless, the installer’s truck had a unique name on it so he was probably a contractor.

Carriage-house style doors solely seem like they swing open. They really transfer up and down on a regular observe, just like each different garage door. These fake wood carriage-style garage doorways are molded from real wood boards to duplicate the grain patterns and particulars. Moore, Oklahoma, the site of a devastating and powerful twister in May 2013, recently turned the nation’s first city to undertake constructing codes that target minimizing twister harm. The metropolis’s new residential constructing necessities embrace garage doors that withstand winds up to 135 mph, rather than the accepted commonplace of ninety mph. While there’s no such thing as a tornado-proof or hurricane-proof door, there are wind-rated choices that will assist secure and add worth to your property. The actual wind-load requirements for garage doorways varies depending on native building codes, but throughout Florida doors must face up to winds starting from a hundred to a garage door company Poland Ohio hundred and fifty mph.

I’ve all the time thought picket garage doors look good, but it does make sense that they'd be slightly pricier and take upkeep. Before you begin your quest for a new storage door, measure your garage’s opening. Buying a brand new storage door is a as soon as- or twice-in-a-lifetime project for most owners. If the time has come to switch yours, either as a part of a rework or as a result of the old one has outlived its useful life, you might be probably in unfamiliar territory.

However, Gadco offers blue, gray, hunter green and deep crimson on some of its doors. If you are truly choosy when it comes to colour, painting your steel door—or portray or staining a wooden one—is an choice. Many householders use the garage as their major entrance. If you’re certainly one of them, contemplate an insulated garage door. For one factor, insulation ensures larger comfort in the storage.

In truth, on a cold day, a nicely-insulated door can hold the garage 10 to 20 levels warmer, based on a research by carried out by residential storage door producer Clopay. There are financial savings at stake, too, as a result of as the most important opening within the residence, the storage door can affect your house’s general power efficiency. By minimizing drafts and thermal vitality transfer, an insulated storage door might help lower monthly utility payments. That stated, much is dependent upon the standard of the insulation. To perceive the insulating capability of a garage door, consult its listed R-worth. The greater the R-worth, the better the door’s efficiency.

door will cost anywhere from $800 to $8,000 and an excellent salesperson may allow you to find low cost storage doors. Maybe you need a new garage door as a result of the one you have now could be warping and looks a little shabby. Perhaps the storage door isn’t opening and closing correctly as a result of the apparatus that lifts and lowers it needs to be replaced, repaired, or in any other case up to date. Or maybe you are planning to add a new garage or expand the one you've now, so you're on the lookout for a garage door contractor to assist design or set up an entire new door. Note how the new, semi-custom wood carriage-home fashion garage doorways coordinate with the front entry door.

New two-automotive garage doors costs are $450 to $4,000 for materials and $200 to $600 for installation. Most double-extensive garage doors are 12 to 16 ft extensive by 7 or 8 ft tall.

The Design is Hopelessly Antiquated - Never underestimate the influence your garage door has on the curb enchantment of your home and, by extension, its worth. If your door can remember when the Berlin Wall got here down it’s in all probability time to switch it simply on general aesthetic ideas.

[bimakaro]

Secure your future now with iSelect Star Term Plan at Bimakaro.in

Secure your future now with iSelect Star Term Plan at Bimakaro.in

 The times we live are very uncertain, making any event turn bad within a few seconds. Therefore, we have to ensure that we secure ourselves and our family’s financial stability by choosing an insurance plan that suits our budget, requirements, purpose and needs. Term insurance plans are the answer to navigate through such situations as any untoward incidents can happen at any point in time.

 A term insurance policy is the most basic form of life protection taken by an individual on his or her own life. The policyholder or the nominee is paid the sum assured, in case of any unfortunate event such as accident, death, disability etc. But the most significant task is finding insurance providers provide the right term insurance policy best suited for your needs as many types of plans.

 Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company, a joint venture Canara Bank, HSBC Insurance and Punjab National Bank, was established in 2008. They offer a wide variety of insurance products that include health insurance, term plans, retirement solutions etc., to target a different set of customers.

iSelect Star Term Plan, the term insurance policy product by Canara Life Insurance Company is a highly flexible insurance plan designed to protect against life uncertainties. It offers enhanced features that allow you to customise the premium and policy term. Not only this, one can opt to receive all the premiums paid till the maturity if they survive or outlive the policy term. This, along with various other benefits, makes it a pure protection policy, that will meet your requirements.

 Canara life insurance has packed in many other salient features into this plan, which we have explained in detail below:

Age of entry: A person who has completed a minimum age of 18 years and has not exceeded a maximum age of 65 years is eligible to avail this plan from Canara term insurance company.

Sum assured: The minimum sum assured in iSelect star plan is 25 lakhs. The insurance provider shall pay this amount to the nominee or dependents of the policyholder in case of his or her death. While fixing the sum assured, you must consider the current liabilities, income, expenses, family needs, etc. As a less sum assured, you will make you underinsured, leaving you at a larger risk.

Maturity Pay-outs: The maturity benefits of iSelect star term plan are paid out in multiple ways, such as lump-sum pay-out or regular monthly income or part lump-sum part monthly income. The mode is decided by the individual, depending on their specific needs.

Flexible policy term: The plan gives all-round flexibility to choose the premium payment term and policy term, thereby providing you with the choice to opt for tenure as per your convenience. A policyholder can make the payment for the entire term or in the durations of 5/10/15/20/25 years. The iselect star term plan also supports the monthly or annual payment of premiums to lessen the burden on your pocket.

Spouse coverage: A highlight of this Canara life insurance policy is the facility to add your spouse to the same policy, without buying a new individual policy. This can be called a unique feature provided in the iselect star term plan, which will benefit young couples who do not want to go for two individual term plans. The cost also comes down hugely reducing the total premium outgo.

Extra Inbuilt coverages: Life throws surprises at unexpected times, and it is necessary that our insurance policy also handles it well. For example, you may want to increase your life cover after the birth of a first child, or you may require an accident cover, additionally, at the age of 40 years. Canara life insurance’s iselect term plan makes this possible by offering a choice of inbuilt coverages such as Accidental Death Benefit, Child Support Benefit, Accidental Total and Permanent Disability Benefit.

Choose your plan: The iSelect star term plan’s unique facility is the option given to policyholders to choose from 3 different plan options based on what they require at the policy’s time of maturity. The plan types are as follows:

Plan Option Life:  With     this plan, the death benefit amount is given if the policyholder dies or     diagnosed with any terminal illness during the policy term.

Plan Option Life Plus: In     this plan, the death benefit is paid on the death of the insured person or     a terminal illness diagnosis. In case, the policyholder outlives the     policy term, he or she would receive the premiums paid, at the time of     maturity while the coverage of policy shall continue up to 99 years.

Plan Option Life with Return of Premium: Here, the policyholder gets death benefit pay-out due to     death or terminal illness. If they survive the policy term, the     policyholder’s premiums till maturity period are paid back.

 Once you complete reading about all the details of Canara life insurance’s iselect star plan, it is common to think about how to buy it.

 To purchase this policy online, visit www.bimakaro.in and fill the required details in the fields provided. On clicking ‘View quotes’ button, you will be able to see the list of insurance providers offering term plans along with their premiums. From the list, you may choose iselect star plan issued by Canara life insurance company and move ahead with the application process.

 Bimakaro.in functions as your trusted companion in the search for buying the right insurance policy. The site simplifies the entire process of buying insurance online by segregating policies based on your life stage (single, married, with kids etc.,) and giving a detailed overview of all plans. It also allows you to compare each plan's pricing, features, and benefits in a single screen rather than opening multiple tabs to check each product. The customer service section at Bimakaro. is equipped with dedicated phone numbers. You may call to get your questions answered on plan choice, policy claims, or any other issues related to insurance plans.

With multiple advantages, waiting to be utilised, get the iselect star term plan from Canara life insurance immediately from Bimakaro.in, and secure your financial future.

[solivar]

Time

The piece I wrote for Blackwatch Classified, @blackwatchzine.

In which Gabriel Reyes is stuck firmly in the “bargaining” stage and if I’d known about Moira O’Deorain she’d totally have been here – and very clever with the Irish Gaelic there, Blizzard.

Extracting intelligence assets was never a thing that could be described as fun – mostly because, by the time extraction became a necessity, the surrounding situation had devolved to such an extent that managing it was as much a matter of luck as planning. And, as a general rule, Gabriel Reyes despised relying on luck.

The present extraction operation was even less enjoyable than usual, primarily because they weren’t removing their asset alone. No, they were pulling their agent and her husband and her two children, one of whom was a surly teenager. Which was why Shimada was handling the actual on-the-ground removal process: the whole cyborg ninja thing was, in the estimation of the Agent-In-Command, just awesome enough to help pre-empt any difficulties. Gabe had to admit that the AIC appeared to have a point and things had gone smoothly for Shimada, his two fire teams worth of backup, and the asset-and-family. They were making brisk progress through the smuggler tunnels used to bring contraband into the city. It made being relegated to observer status at the extraction point just slightly more tolerable.

“Approaching the inner perimeter barriers.” Shimada’s voice in his ear, using subvocal communication protocol to avoid pickup by any parabolic listening devices.

“I gotcha,” the AIC drawled from a few feet away. “Deploying countermeasures in 3…2…1…” The holoscreens displaying the output of the perimeter security monitors split, feeding the false information that opened the way for the extraction team. “You got ten minutes.”

A low chuckle. “I will only need…” What he needed slid away in a sleet storm of audio distortion, loud enough that Gabe hissed and pulled the communicator out of his ear.

Jesse, in the command pod, did not react at all. Tiny explosions of darkness went off in front of his eyes, the sonic distortion increased in pitch and volume, and it felt as though someone had picked up the extraction vehicle and tilted it sharply on its side. Or, at least, it looked that way from his perspective on the floor. The last thing he saw, before the little explosions of darkness turned into an unrelieved field of the same, was Jesse turning in the command chair and the look on his face.

“So what you’re saying,” Gabriel said, twenty hours later, from a bed in Watchpoint Geneva’s medical center, “is that I, who haven’t had a goddamned sniffle in twenty years, had a seizure.”

“I could show you the biotelemetry if you insist but, yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” Dr. Monika Lucchesi, the head of Neurology, said. “To be specific a generalized tonic seizure with a notable sensory component. Has this ever happened before?”

Gabriel gave her the look he usually reserved for people who ought to know better asking unutterably stupid questions. “No.”

“Any family history of epilepsy?”

“No.”

“Any recent blows to the head?”

“Other than the one I just enjoyed when I hit the floor? No.”

The good doctor checked off items on her workpad. “There are a number of possible neurological causes but in order to determine specifics I recommend a full diagnostic health survey.” She smiled beatifically. “Also, there’s someone here to see you. I’ll let you two talk while I get things in motion.”

“I didn’t agree to that!” He snapped at her retreating back as she opened the door and slipped smoothly to one side to allow his visitor entry.

“All things bein’ equal, boss, I’m not sure that she cares.” Jesse smiled crookedly from the door. “Can’t say I blame her.”

“Lord save me from the both of you, then.” Gabriel rolled his eyes heavenward. “Report.”

“Exfiltration and extraction of all assets and asset-adjacent individuals was completed within the specified optimal timeframe. Liftoff occurred at 03:35 hours local time and transit was completed within six hours. The asset and asset-adjacent individuals have since been handed off to Out-processing for assignment to their new identities.” The corner of Jesse’s mouth twitched and he handed over the workpad containing all the relevant reports. “Commander Gabriel Reyes was remanded to the care of Medical upon touchdown and continues his tradition of being a total pain in the ass to all healthcare providers.”

“Wiseass.” Gabriel growled, but on cursory examination all the paperwork seemed to be in order, and just looking at it was making him more tired than he should be. “How’s Genji?”

“Doin’ okay. He didn’t have to stab anybody and I think he actually got along with the teenager, so that was a plus.” Jesse settled into the chair at his bedside. “You?”

“For the record, this was not actually part of the plan.” Gabriel hid the tablet under the sheets. “If I were going to throw something unexpected at you for your first AIC of asset exfiltration, stupid neurological tricks wouldn’t even be on the list of possible options.”

“And that ain’t an answer.” Jesse planted his chin on a fist and eyed him narrowly.

“Headachy. Tired.” Both were true, and he let his head fall back into the pillows. “Stuck here for the foreseeable future unless I pull rank and discharge myself.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t do that.” Jesse rose. “You look like crap, I don’t mind sayin’ that you scared the crap outta me, and you probably oughta get some rest. More than you’ve been gettin’, at least.”

“I’ll take that under advisement.” But Jesse admitting to fear out loud gave him pause, and so he stayed in Medical for the duration of the health survey. And for a few days more when Lucchesi insisted on looping in Ziegler, and Ziegler insisted on running her own battery of diagnostics.

“A brain tumor? Are you fucking kidding me?”

As it turned out, she was not.

The Department of Defense did, eventually, send Dr. Lucchesi his personal medical documentation from the archives of the Soldier Enhancement Program, all but three paragraphs of it redacted. He could have told her the odds of getting any useful information out of them were slim to none but he hadn’t wanted to rob her of hope.

He quietly removed himself from field work. Pragmatically, the odds of being able to continue while receiving treatment were nonexistent. The location made it conventionally inoperable, and the extent of the secondary metastases through his nervous system left chemo as the applicable therapy. The same enhanced healing processes that had masked the symptoms long enough for it to turn into a Stage IV malignancy might not allow even that, given the speed with which is body metabolized every other drug in the world. Not for the first time, he wondered if the SEP had included a use by date on everyone that had endured it, given the extent to which its biological improvements were now helping to kill him.

Preventing Jesse from finding out was a weapons-grade pain in the ass. He had noticed the change in the active field roster – impossible not to – but initially held discretion as the better part of valor. Three months on, that was no longer true. Gabriel could and did fend off his delicate little nibbles around the edges but keeping him out of the Medical intranet had required Athena’s personal intervention to thwart him and his ICE-cutting methods. It made developing plans for the inevitable power devolution within the ranks of Blackwatch a thousand times harder. Under ideal circumstances, he would have spent another year or two easing Jesse into the idea that command responsibility was something he could handle and then another five solidifying that realization into the bedrock of his psyche and then he would have handed off the role, secure in the knowledge that his hand-chosen, hand-trained successor was ready.

Time was no longer a luxury he could afford. It wasn’t only his body failing at the worst conceivable moment. It was the entire world and the organization he’d devoted his life to building coming apart at the seams, more or less simultaneously. At that moment, sitting in his office, waiting for the newest report from medical to arrive, a handful of news streams open in one screen, the latest bullshit from New York on another, and his own structured plan for Blackwatch to outlive him on yet a third, he was forced to wonder if survival was even an option.

His system’s incoming message tone sounded. He was not particularly surprised by its content: no noticeable change in the size of the primary or secondary cancerous lesions. His body was eating the goddamned chemo before it could do its job. Nanobiotic medicine had a second-line treatment but it was highly experimental, not yet approved for human clinical trials, and possibly contraindicated thanks to his altered biology.

Ziegler thought it was worth a shot, if an experimental protocol could be approved. If he approved and was willing to take the risk.

A little more time was all he needed.

[itsiotrecords-blog]

http://ift.tt/2tqstSK

It’s no surprise that there is a vast global divide in life expectancy, with those living in more developed countries far more likely to live into their 70’s and 80’s than those from less-developed countries. The divide is so considerable that the predicted life span of those at the top of the life expectancy table is almost double that of those at the bottom. But which nations can expect their people to live the longest? Here’s a look at the ten that come closest to immortality.

#1 Australia You don’t have to look far to understand why Aussies can expect a lengthy existence of up to 81.91 years. Most residents live a laid-back, stress-free life, and consume a healthy, balanced diet. The healthcare system in Australia is also of a high standard, and the population is well educated about the importance of health. Females born in Australia are predicted to live 84.35 years, while males can expect a life span of 79.4 years. But it isn’t all good news for the Aussies, as their life expectancy could plummet in the coming years, due to a steep rise in obesity rates among adults. Hey, nothing lasts forever, even long life.

#2 Guernsey Guernsey, a small island in the English Channel, inhabits just over 65,000 residents. The island is a British overseas territory, but boasts a far higher life expectancy than mainland Britain. The overall life expectancy for the people of Guernsey is 82.32, in comparison to the 80.1 years of mainland Brits. Like most entries on this list, the island of Guernsey is very wealthy, which perhaps explains the high life expectancy. Most inhabitants can afford to live a high-quality lifestyle, with lots of residents originally from rich countries such as the UK and France. The island also has very few dangerous manual jobs, and has an excellent healthcare system.

#3 Switzerland Switzerland, with an overall life expectancy of 82.28 years, has a reputation for being one of the most peaceful nations on earth, with very little conflict and a stable economy and government. Switzerland also has one of the highest GDP per capita rates in the world. The Swiss are known for having very high standards in all public sectors; including health and education, and the people of Switzerland generally live a high quality lifestyle, consuming a healthy and balanced diet. Swiss women are expected to live an average of 6 years longer than their male counterparts, by the way. Swiss dudes clearly aren’t consuming enough of their country’s delicious chocolate.

#4 Andorra After a huge boom in tourist numbers, Andorra has been transformed from one of the poorest countries in Europe into one of the richest in the world. It hosts vast mountains and stunning landscapes, but also a population who firmly believe in living a natural, peaceful, healthy life. It is common for people in their 70’s and 80’s to exercise daily, and the population is well educated about the importance of having a healthy diet. There is also virtually no violence, and Andorra has been labeled as one of the safest places on Earth. As a result of their lifestyle, Andorrans can expect to live into their 80’s and beyond. At birth, females are expected to live to around 85, while males have a life expectancy of just over 80. The overall figure for Andorra’s life expectancy is 82.58 years, placing it 3rd in the whole of Europe, despite its puny size.

#5 Hong Kong Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, makes it onto the list with an overall life expectancy of 82.2 years. This figure is considerably higher than that of China itself, which has an overall expectancy of just 75. Males from Hong Kong have a life expectancy of 79.3 years, while females can expect to live to 85. Hong Kong is one of the wealthiest cities in Asia, and occupies some of the richest people in the world. It also has a booming economy and very low tax rates, meaning its residents have more money to spend on healthcare and a healthy diet, contributing to a longer life span.

#6 San Marino San Marino, the fifth smallest country in the world (even smaller than Andorra) is mostly made up of Italian immigrants, but its inhabitants can expect to live around two years longer than those in Italy, with an overall life expectancy of 83.12 years. Like Guernsey, San Marino has very few manual jobs, and residents enjoy a relatively relaxed and stress free lifestyle. They share a similar diet to that of Italy, which is generally healthy and nutritious. Females born in San Marino today are expected to live 85.7 years, while males are once again predicted to live to just over 80.

#7 Singapore Singapore boasts an impressive overall life expectancy of just over 84 years. As one of the wealthiest places on Earth, it possesses one of the strongest economies around and can afford to spend freely on improving services for its residents. Thus, it has subsequently developed one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the world, ranking 6th globally in a 2000 study. The people of Singapore and their lifestyle choice is also a considerable factor influencing life expectancy. As with most countries in East Asia, diet generally consists of naturally sources foods rich in nutrients and antioxidants. The common trend of females outliving males continues, with females expected to live to 85, in comparison to the expected life span of 80 for males.

#8 Japan The Japanese are renowned for their exceptionally healthy lifestyle. Fish, seaweed, and green tea are all prominent in their diet, and contain numerous health benefits that are proved to help prevent the deadliest of diseases, including cancer and heart disease. Their diet and lifestyle has also resulted in Japan having one of the lowest obesity rates in the world, with just 3.5% of the population considered overweight. At birth, Japanese females have a life expectancy of around 86 years, while males can expect to live to around 82. Overall, Japan’s life expectancy is 84.19 years – a figure which puts most other developed countries to shame.

#9 Macau Like Hong Kong, Macau is a Special Administrative Region of China, with a population of just over half a million people. And their status isn’t the only thing they have in common, with Macau also having a very high life expectancy. Renowned for its casinos and gambling culture, Macau has attracted billions of dollars of foreign investment. It also has one of the highest GDP per capita rates in the world at $77,353, and is a place commonly favored by the rich. Inhabitants can expect to live well into their 80’s, with the average life span being 84.46 years. Women are once again expected to live longer than their male counterparts, with an average life span of 87.5 years, compared to 81.5 years for males. But if you think that’s amazing …

#10 Monaco With an astonishing overall life expectancy of 89.6 years, Monaco outlives everybody else on Earth by a considerable margin. A popular tourist destination and home to super-rich immigrants, Monaco is one of the wealthiest places on earth. At birth, females in Monaco have a life expectancy of a staggering 93.7 years, while males can also expect a lengthy life span of 85.7 years. Most residents live a lavish lifestyle, with workers usually occupying very well paid jobs. As a result, the people of Monaco can afford the very best in healthcare and diet. So in Monaco, not only can money buy you a luxury yacht in an exclusive marina, but it can also seemingly buy you more time on this Earth. But no matter where you live, clearly the #1 method to cheating death is: be a lady.

Source: TopTenz

[mike2768]

Pest Control Service For Rat

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For serious infestations of rodents & requiring immediate same day pest control service for rat http://ift.tt/1eIZPl4 (905) 582 5502 Oakville & Burlington or (289) 396-5426 Hamilton & Ancaster. A certified professional exterminator is usually very necessary. When using rodent control company take care not to go by price alone. Be sure the hired exterminators are licensed, bonded and possess all necessary skills and experience in rodent set up control before permitting them to tackle your pest control service for the rodent job you require.

Mouse Exterminator Hamilton

The relationship between people and rats dates back ever a great deal farther. Rats were worshiped by ancient Egyptians and they are generally considered to be synonymous with wealth in Japan. People in China, consider rats a symbol of prosperity and there is a temple focused on them in India. There are records of rats being kept as pets by people in England during the 1800s along with the first rat club was established in 1976.

Rats … Is Our Worst Enemy Worldwide. It is also because this little animal continues to be at war with us for thousands of years, which is winning the war around us. For whenever we trap, kill or utilize in laboratories 1000 rats, chances are they previously killed a minimum of one hundred million people in Europe and worldwide, the also kill countless of our animals we use as food sources, and so they eat us out of our homes, they damage our communication systems along with our light sources, that could cause millions of dollars in fire damage every year alone.

As a result of man has been capable of colonize the world, man has migrated and so the rat has hitched a ride and today we offer transport of quality, than ever before if the rat were required to traveling then by horse and cart hiding in boxes, today rats will go anywhere they likes, they are able to choose different rides; by airlines, sea ships, train carts, truck transport, car hitching and when they finds final destination there exists us humans to welcome them. Man offers rodents every need, secure warm houses, places to hide in factories, sheds to borrow under, man provides huge cities its keep are ready made underground runways by means of ducts, sewer piping as well as overhead runways by means of cables and telephone lines after which to just make life easier and much better for the rat to follow through providing quick access in between to locations and provides food by the bucket load. The waste in cities here in Toronto Ontario is big along with the rat is not going to let free food go waste.

Many rodents are referred to as ‘True Rats’ which fall in to the Latin genus Rattus, the most typical of those being the Brown Rat – Rattus Norvegicus and Black Rat. These two rats are the most useful known and quite crucial to the humans. The Black Rat is a bit more timid and much less seen in comparison to the Brown Rat that we see in our homes. This is mainly due to Brown Rat driving the Black rat out, overpowering its habitat and competing due to the food availability. Many other species in addition have become endangered through competition with Black and Brown Rats – sewer rats!

Rats are large rodents than their cousin the little mighty mice. They grow between 8-16 inches long contributing to ten ounces in weight. They usually hide in the attic, involving the walls, or through to the ceiling. They are nocturnal critters that eat almost anything edible with their taste. Rats could also reproduce fast six to twelve offspring in less than a month. In just 4 to 5 months, these young rats can produce another list of offspring.

Rats learn real fast and possess the capacity to work out how to get to a meal source, it may be by climbing, digging, or gnawing. They can run along electric cables, beams and rafters of course, if its head can fit by having a hole the entire body will follow and fit through. They will travel approximately 500 meters to go to a source of food, when they can’t get over or through they’re going to go round or under nesting near the food source .

A lot of individuals worldwide hate these nasty creatures: mice, rats and so on. Moreover, some people will really panic jumping around when they see them. On top of that, you really must remember that rodents may distribute unsafe infections especially if you wounded . Therefore, as soon as you spotted them in the house or your office business, you truly should immediately make a move to get rid of them. In the event you do not like mice and have got simply no time plus want to handle this specific rodent problem, it’s suggested to contact the specialist specific pest control service for rat maximumpestcontrol.ca (905) 582- 5502 that appropriately eradicate all of your pesky rodents, ants, insects. Needless to say, you may should pay, still, it’s the most reliable alternative.

Some pest control organizations provide warranty, which implies that should you discover virtually any mice or possibly bedbugs, professionals will return complete the job again at no cost. The main advantage of seeking qualified pest control company guidance is that these specialized fellas get experience with fixing these complications. Thus, they certainly know how to eradicate them, the places they hide out and what destroys them without causing any damages to your home.

Rats in addition need water to outlive. As an exterminator, I usually suspect rats at home if I know there is a water source or a lake nearby especially around lakeshore areas in Toronto . Wells can attract rats, and they’re extremely common in cities. Places like Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington & Hamilton Ontario all have the brown rats and usually seen running outside our backyard in day time.

Rats and mice will enter your property because they’re searching for food and secure shelter for their kids. They can squeeze through small openings and may often chew through structures to gain entry to your house. One of the best methods to avoid difficulty with rodents is prevention. You can start to make your own home rodent-proof by sealing openings which could exist around plumbing and all ac pipes, replace broken soffit vents, install rodent covers over exterior dryer vents, and fix all open gaps were soffit and eaves meets if any. Indeed, any opening from as small as one fourth of an inch ought to be covered to stop rodents from entering your house.

One method used to introducing predator smells that can be bought at a wildlife store into the rodent’s environment. They will probably be repelled by most of these smells since they going to be scared of entering that portion of the home. You can also literally introduce predators towards the environment like adopting cats, dogs and even something similar to a barn owl if you are a farmer. They will maintain your population of rodents down considerably and continually non stop working for you.

The biggest trouble with these rodents is they breed extremely fast producing non stop babies. Saskatchewan and many other related places in Toronto Ontario is experiencing a real huge rats problem that they just don’t know what to do anymore. Apparently poor waste management attracted both rats and mice along with the populations are simply exploding. The government in Ontario is spending lots of money to try somehow stop and control these exterior out of control situations.

These rats as well as the mice are disease carriers. They will leave their waste on foodstuffs, utensils, and basically anything and everything they are actually get their hands on. As a result, it will become feasible for anyone at home to build up diseases. Since rodents goes anywhere and everywhere, including garbage bins, drains pipe and in many cases the filthiest of places the sewer, they are extremely dirty and it will harm you badly if not treated in time.

Since carry a wide array of diseases. This is one of the main reasons you don’t want them to get into your property. Despite the fears of many people, it is extremely unlikely rats will transmit rabies into humans. There are not any reported cases of this happening in the United States & Canada. There are a few reported cases of this happening somewhere else on the planet.

Preventing rodents from entering our homes is a difficult task to carry on, especially given their determination to get warm shelter to pass the colder months. There are several items that you’re able to do as being a homeowner to assist prevent from gaining entry in the fall. Check the reasons for your home if there are any exterior cracks or crevices be sure you seal them immediately, most rodents can squeeze using an opening of only 1/8 of an inch. Store any garbage containers or wood logs away from your property side walls and make trees and bushes trimmed out of the house so they cant climb.

If rodents already are a problem in your property you ought to put away any foodstuffs into sealed containers and your dry good in stored containers in order to avoid from developing a food source. You should also search for any water leaks that may be using as a possible source of drinking. You will also intend to make certain you tidy up the basement clutter and attic so that they will not have areas to cover in to conceal. You also need to make certain that aren’t any spaces underneath doors or around exterior windows also inspect the garage rubber bottom piece and make sure the garage door especially at night not kept open for too long intervals.

Don’t forget the roof inspection. Roofs will also be common avenues rats including the mice used to achieve entrance to buildings especially around the corners. Inspecting the roof often for loose shingles or holes is very much recommended to make a note of, as those openings are perfect entry ways from the pest’s perspective thinking. Installing chimney caps and covering vents with durable mesh screens is a good idea preventing further rodents entry.

Each and every household does need to implement efficient pest control treatment for you to get reduce insects and rodents like mice, rats, ants, bud bugs & fleas, spiders, etc. Internet supplies a great source to find good providers who provides effective pest-proofing & elimination treatment http://ift.tt/2c8eFUB . In colder regions, it’s an absolute required to execute timely pest management to take out the rats as well as other dangerous insects like bed bugs & fleas that induce a true threat to human lives to certain measures on daily basis.

MaximumPestControlServices knows that both rats & mice transmit diseases and contaminate all types of food that we eat. These professionals may also be aware fire marshals give these rodents credit for starting a large number of fires in buildings and homes. These terrifying guests chew on a wide choice of things including electrical wires. Using the services of professionals to remove these complaints is definitely an investment in safety. Contact Maximum Today Calling (905) 582-5502 or (289) 396-5426.

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[inexcon]

RSI Comm-Link: Anvil Hurricane Q&A

Anvil Hurricane Q&A - Part I

Greetings Citizens,

Meet the A4A Hurricane, a fighting spacecraft that packs a deadly punch into a slight fuselage. The spacecraft compensates for its lack of creature comforts with its powerful armament, boasting six guns capable of blasting their way through nearly anything. Hurricane pilots have yet to find an enemy shield they can’t knock down.

But enough of the marketing speak. You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. Let’s get right to it.

Special thanks to Calix Reneau, Kirk Tome, and Steven Kam for their efforts providing answers to these questions.

Questions & Answers

These questions were submitted by backers to the Anvil Hurricane Q&A thread on Spectrum, and were selected based on the amount of upvotes received over the last week.

Can the turret be slaved like the Super Hornet?

The most upvoted question in the Q&A thread! The plan is to support slaved turrets in general – and the Hurricane’s turret will be no exception. While the balance factors for these slaved turrets are not yet fully determined, the current design direction would require the use of an avionics blade (you can think of it like installing a card into one of your PC motherboard slots) to provide the functionality and manage the additional workload on the targeting computer and related gear when in use. Up to this point, we’ve integrated some of the remote turrets on the current list of flight-ready ships on case by case basis so far, but the long-term preference is to establish a consistent systemic solution to remote turret integration rather than simply accommodating the various edge cases one ship hardpoint at a time. Overall, a lone pilot will not be totally kneecapped if their gunner decides to take the day off, but solo operating a ship designed for multiple crewmen would need to consider a loadout adjustment, and avionics would be part of that decision.

Where does this ship stand in speed and maneuverability to other ships?

The Hurricane is faster than it is nimble, designed to rush into trouble, wreck things, and then rush back out to regroup. It was designed with speed and hitting power at the cost of durability. While nimbleness always seems like a nice trait to have, Hurricane drivers have historically noted that giving in to the temptation to engage in a turning dogfight and keeping pace in the middle of the fray does not play to the Hurricane’s strengths. A good-sized boost tank gives it plenty of afterburner to help it scrape its way out of those tougher situations, but it’s for sprinting, not marathons.

Will there be a flashfire mount to replace the turret with an appropriate sized fixed mount? / Are we able to change out the top turret for one large fixed gun?

The flashfire mount design is being revisited. The Hurricane’s turret was designed to fall in line with the newer turret/remote gimbal system. The current direction is to limit the allowed size increase / mount cost to prevent too much edge-case exploitability; where a S6 would be overkill, 2xS4 might be ok. Furthermore, remote gimbals may have stricter resource bandwidth than turrets, so the peak installed performance of such guns may be less than if they were placed on a standard fixed mount, but again, this system is in the middle of revision, so please understand that this is very much subject to change.

Will this be an effective ship for a solo pilot or will it need someone in it’s turret to function properly?

The Hurricane is at its best when deployed with a pilot and turret gunner who coordinate well with each other. If you’re flying a Hurricane solo, the natural tendency is to fight while focused mainly forward; even with a look-aim capability, you’re going to be largely focusing your firepower within a fighter’s traditional business end. This is formidable firepower, but the Hurricane still shines best with a dual crew: the pilot can handle the demanding maneuvers and situational awareness required for survival and can also keep an eye towards the resource management that is so critical to this ship (see also below, re: power management) while the gunner makes sure the enemy always has plenty to think about. Meanwhile, the gunner gets some simple access to multi-crew features, helping out with radar and missile locks. Have a plan going in, work as a team, and the two crew become a force of nature. This ship is all about staggering performance potential but with significant risk management as the price of entry.

What sets the Hurricane apart from other fighters such as the Hornet, Buccaneer, Gladius, and Sabre? Does it have any particular strengths or weaknesses that might make someone choose one over the other?

The Hornet is a boxer, happy to trade slugs and rely on grit and stamina to be the one left standing. The Buccaneer would prefer to let the opponent take all the beating. The Sabre likes to strike from the shadows. The Gladius likes to chase its prey. Meanwhile, the Hurricane believes that life is short, combat should be shorter: pick a target, eliminate it before it hurts you, repeat.

As with any ship, the eventual goal is to let you customize your loadouts to your liking based on your ship’s available capabilities and budget. While you can run an energy loadout, there is a definite slant towards ballistics with the Hurricane, as the small powerplant means there isn’t a ton of power to go around – this ship is optimized for decisive action, not for protracted fights. The turret is great for strafing runs on planetside targets, blasting medium-sized targets gunship-style while the pilot’s attention is focused elsewhere, or suppressing the enemy while the pilot navigates asteroid alleys and debris fields.

How can the Hurricane be a heavy fighter when it is smaller and lighter than any of the current medium fighters and most of the light fighters?

The Hurricane punches well outside of its weight class, that’s for sure. The slight chassis may read like a light fighter, but in tactical terms that label doesn’t fit at all. The Hurricane is not meant to be flown like a light fighter, if by light fighter you’re going to imply ‘dogfighter’. Pitting a Hurricane against a Gladius or Avenger is certainly feasible, but it is an unnecessary risk – ‘overwhelming force’ is the entire focus of the ship, and it is meant to be used against heavily fortified ships and outposts, especially the kind that an average fighter’s loadout might struggle to hurt without risky prolonged fire and the exposure that comes with it. In-game and historically, it’s also worth remembering that the Hurricane’s design originally hails from another time, and for its time it was certainly pretty heavy.

Given that the Hurricane is a “glass hammer,” can we expect the pilot and gunner to have ejection seats?

Yes, both pilot and gunner seats come with ejection features. While Anvil may not have designed the Hurricane initially – that credit belongs to Casse Aerospace – Anvil’s design philosophy includes pilot survivability. Anvil is proud of their history of aces, and know better than anyone that the biggest fish in the sea got that way by outliving their equipment – after all, no one stays undefeated forever.

What is the operational range of the Hurricane? On a scale from Gladius to Vanguard?

The Hurricane is more mid-range. The stark accommodations make for an uncomfortable trip, but it has fuel enough to find its way to trouble. The quantum drive and jump module mean it is capable of venturing off on its own, but it is closer in range to the Gladius than the Vanguard. Operationally, it isn’t a long-range, deep space fighter like the Vanguard – in the Tevarin War, the Hurricane was deployed to exploit breaches in Tevarin Phalanx shields, so they usually weren’t operating alone. In most cases they would have needed to have legs only about as long as the rest of the fighters, bombers, or support ships they were flying with, and the Hurricane’s extreme risk-reward focus doesn’t quite fit the profile for long-range patrol.

How advanced are we expecting the power generator to be on this ship? Will there be a lot of room for upgrading it if it’s low end, or can we not expect to squeeze much more out of the slot than the base generator?

The factory loadout for the Hurricane allows it to achieve solid functionality, but there’s definitely room to customize. By 30th century standards, the ship is understocked in its power plant (remember, its original design is from another time in history), which means you’ll need to make frequent choices in power management between supplying power to thrusters, shields, or weapons, moreso than with “contemporary” fighter designs that inherently have a better balance in terms of pilot workload. Maintaining ballistics on your hardpoints will decrease the energy requirements, as will upgrading the power plant itself. You will have enough power to run energy weapons, but it can start to really eat into that precious resource which you’ll be wanting for defense and engagement/disengagement, making those power management decisions all the more critical in finding success. In general, we expect that running ballistic weapons in a Hurricane will be the typical loadout of choice, but we also anticipate no end of ingenuity from our players. We’re interested in seeing what you can do with the ship!

What’s the best tactic for the Hurricane to use in a dogfight? Zoom & Boom? Turning fight? Other?

Alone, I’d expect Hurricane pilots to favor attack runs and then kiting through tricky obstacles whenever available. When you are alone, it’s relatively difficult to isolate a distracted target, so a solo pilot is well-advised to pick his or her engagements carefully. In groups, I’d expect the preference to fall more towards alternating waves of boom and zoom, with a much heavier emphasis on team or group tactics, including weaves, wagon wheels, flexible formations, or other pack tactics designed to expose anyone who would threaten one Hurricane to devastating focused fire from the others.

Concept sale

About the Sale

The Hurricane concept sale will run through Monday, March 6, 2017. Standard and warbond versions are available, as are two packs that include a small discount on other ship types in Anvil’s expanding line-up. The loaner ship for the Hurricane will be the Anvil F7C-M Super Hornet. And if you want to know more? Around the Verse will feature the Hurricane in an upcoming ‘Ship Shape’ segment.

The Hurricane is being offered for the first time as a limited concept sale. This means that the ship design meets our specifications, but it is not yet ready to display in your Hangar, fight in Arena Commander, or fly in the Alpha. The sale includes Lifetime Insurance on the ship hull and a pair of decorative items for your Hangar. A future patch will add a Hurricane poster and then, once the in-game model is finished, you will also be given an in-game Hurricane mini ship model! Once this deal expires, the ship price will increase and not include Lifetime Insurance or these extras.

Disclaimer

Remember: we are offering this pledge ship to help fund Star Citizen’s development. The funding generated by sales such as this is what allows us to include deeper, non-combat oriented features in the Star Citizen world. Concept ships will be available for in-game credits in the final universe, and they are not required to start the game.

Additionally, please note that all decorative ‘flare’ items will also be available to acquire in the finished game world. Also, while the Hurricane will be entering the ship pipeline now, it will ultimately be released after other concept ships have been completed. The goal is to make additional ships available that give players a different experience rather than a particular advantage when the persistent universe launches.

http://bit.ly/2mfTA31

[solivar]

Time

The piece I wrote for Blackwatch Confidential.

In which Gabriel Reyes is stuck firmly in the “bargaining” stage and if I’d known about Moira O’Deorain she’d totally have been here -- and very clever with the Irish Gaelic there, Blizzard.

Extracting intelligence assets was never a thing that could be described as fun -- mostly because, by the time extraction became a necessity, the surrounding situation had devolved to such an extent that managing it was as much a matter of luck as planning. And, as a general rule, Gabriel Reyes despised relying on luck.

The present extraction operation was even less enjoyable than usual, primarily because they weren’t removing their asset alone. No, they were pulling their agent and her husband and her two children, one of whom was a surly teenager. Which was why Shimada was handling the actual on-the-ground removal process: the whole cyborg ninja thing was, in the estimation of the Agent-In-Command, just awesome enough to help pre-empt any difficulties. Gabe had to admit that the AIC appeared to have a point and things had gone smoothly for Shimada, his two fire teams worth of backup, and the asset-and-family. They were making brisk progress through the smuggler tunnels used to bring contraband into the city. It made being relegated to observer status at the extraction point just slightly more tolerable.

 “Approaching the inner perimeter barriers.” Shimada’s voice in his ear, using subvocal communication protocol to avoid pickup by any parabolic listening devices.

 “I gotcha,” the AIC drawled from a few feet away. “Deploying countermeasures in 3...2...1…” The holoscreens displaying the output of the perimeter security monitors split, feeding the false information that opened the way for the extraction team. “You got ten minutes.”

A low chuckle. “I will only need…” What he needed slid away in a sleet storm of audio distortion, loud enough that Gabe hissed and pulled the communicator out of his ear.

Jesse, in the command pod, did not react at all. Tiny explosions of darkness went off in front of his eyes, the sonic distortion increased in pitch and volume, and it felt as though someone had picked up the extraction vehicle and tilted it sharply on its side. Or, at least, it looked that way from his perspective on the floor. The last thing he saw, before the little explosions of darkness turned into an unrelieved field of the same, was Jesse turning in the command chair and the look on his face.

 “So what you’re saying,” Gabriel said, twenty hours later, from a bed in Watchpoint Geneva’s medical center, “is that I, who haven’t had a goddamned sniffle in twenty years, had a seizure.”

“I could show you the biotelemetry if you insist but, yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” Dr. Monika Lucchesi, the head of Neurology, said. “To be specific a generalized tonic seizure with a notable sensory component. Has this ever happened before?”

Gabriel gave her the look he usually reserved for people who ought to know better asking unutterably stupid questions. “No.”

 “Any family history of epilepsy?”

 “No.”

 “Any recent blows to the head?”

 “Other than the one I just enjoyed when I hit the floor? No.”

 The good doctor checked off items on her workpad. “There are a number of possible neurological causes but in order to determine specifics I recommend a full diagnostic health survey.” She smiled beatifically. “Also, there’s someone here to see you. I’ll let you two talk while I get things in motion.”

 “I didn’t agree to that!” He snapped at her retreating back as she opened the door and slipped smoothly to one side to allow his visitor entry.

 “All things bein’ equal, boss, I’m not sure that she cares.” Jesse smiled crookedly from the door. “Can’t say I blame her.”

 “Lord save me from the both of you, then.” Gabriel rolled his eyes heavenward. “Report.”

 “Exfiltration and extraction of all assets and asset-adjacent individuals was completed within the specified optimal timeframe. Liftoff occurred at 03:35 hours local time and transit was completed within six hours. The asset and asset-adjacent individuals have since been handed off to Out-processing for assignment to their new identities.” The corner of Jesse’s mouth twitched and he handed over the workpad containing all the relevant reports. “Commander Gabriel Reyes was remanded to the care of Medical upon touchdown and continues his tradition of being a total pain in the ass to all healthcare providers.”

 “Wiseass.” Gabriel growled, but on cursory examination all the paperwork seemed to be in order, and just looking at it was making him more tired than he should be. “How’s Genji?”

 “Doin’ okay. He didn’t have to stab anybody and I think he actually got along with the teenager, so that was a plus.” Jesse settled into the chair at his bedside. “You?”

 “For the record, this was not actually part of the plan.” Gabriel hid the tablet under the sheets. “If I were going to throw something unexpected at you for your first AIC of asset exfiltration, stupid neurological tricks wouldn’t even be on the list of possible options.”

 “And that ain’t an answer.” Jesse planted his chin on a fist and eyed him narrowly.

 “Headachy. Tired.” Both were true, and he let his head fall back into the pillows. “Stuck here for the foreseeable future unless I pull rank and discharge myself.”

 “Maybe you shouldn’t do that.” Jesse rose. “You look like crap, I don’t mind sayin’ that you scared the crap outta me, and you probably oughta get some rest. More than you’ve been gettin’, at least.”

 “I’ll take that under advisement.” But Jesse admitting to fear out loud gave him pause, and so he stayed in Medical for the duration of the health survey. And for a few days more when Lucchesi insisted on looping in Ziegler, and Ziegler insisted on running her own battery of diagnostics.

 “A brain tumor? Are you fucking kidding me?”

 As it turned out, she was not.

The Department of Defense did, eventually, send Dr. Lucchesi his personal medical documentation from the archives of the Soldier Enhancement Program, all but three paragraphs of it redacted. He could have told her the odds of getting any useful information out of them were slim to none but he hadn’t wanted to rob her of hope.

He quietly removed himself from field work. Pragmatically, the odds of being able to continue while receiving treatment were nonexistent. The location made it conventionally inoperable, and the extent of the secondary metastases through his nervous system left chemo as the applicable therapy. The same enhanced healing processes that had masked the symptoms long enough for it to turn into a Stage IV malignancy might not allow even that, given the speed with which is body metabolized every other drug in the world. Not for the first time, he wondered if the SEP had included a use by date on everyone that had endured it, given the extent to which its biological improvements were now helping to kill him.

Preventing Jesse from finding out was a weapons-grade pain in the ass. He had noticed the change in the active field roster -- impossible not to -- but initially held discretion as the better part of valor. Three months on, that was no longer true. Gabriel could and did fend off his delicate little nibbles around the edges but keeping him out of the Medical intranet had required Athena’s personal intervention to thwart him and his ICE-cutting methods. It made developing plans for the inevitable power devolution within the ranks of Blackwatch a thousand times harder. Under ideal circumstances, he would have spent another year or two easing Jesse into the idea that command responsibility was something he could handle and then another five solidifying that realization into the bedrock of his psyche and then he would have handed off the role, secure in the knowledge that his hand-chosen, hand-trained successor was ready.

Time was no longer a luxury he could afford. It wasn’t only his body failing at the worst conceivable moment. It was the entire world and the organization he’d devoted his life to building coming apart at the seams, more or less simultaneously. At that moment, sitting in his office, waiting for the newest report from medical to arrive, a handful of news streams open in one screen, the latest bullshit from New York on another, and his own structured plan for Blackwatch to outlive him on yet a third, he was forced to wonder if survival was even an option.

His system’s incoming message tone sounded. He was not particularly surprised by its content: no noticeable change in the size of the primary or secondary cancerous lesions. His body was eating the goddamned chemo before it could do its job. Nanobiotic medicine had a second-line treatment but it was highly experimental, not yet approved for human clinical trials, and possibly contraindicated thanks to his altered biology.

Ziegler thought it was worth a shot, if an experimental protocol could be approved. If he approved and was willing to take the risk.

A little more time was all he needed.