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achieveandhunt · 5 years

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live typing extra life 2019

part 2

warning: this was a mistake and i’m in the grapes

this starts right at Facilities vs AH. link to first post

let’s fuck some shit up babEY

oh what the fuck they’re playing a prerecorded video

last year was a fuckin doozy, nobody forget that

“legends of the under achiever” i didn’t know someone wrote my biography

why do i hear geoff screaming “FIVE FUCKIN FOUR” in my head, like in the legends of the hidden temple minecraft videos

jeremy looks. so dead inside on this fine november evening

ryan buzzing while they’re trying to explain the rules

my video quality went down so much that i thought i was watching someone playing roblox for a second

ryan “salty mother fucker” haywood has made a lovely appearance. he’s my favorite

michael and lindsay looking so domestic makes me so happy,, they’re my parents

someone donated under the name “ryan goes feral” uh??? yeah? you say that like it’s a bad thing??

oH FUCK MICHAEL GO DRIVE WIN PLEASE

jeremy HAS BROKEN OUT THE GLASSES SHIT’S SERIOUS

NO THEY’RE LOSING GOD DAMMIT

ʳʸᵃⁿ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃᶜᵏᵍʳᵒᵘⁿᵈ, ᵠᵘᶦᵉᵗˡʸ: ʰᵉˡᵖ

JEREMY IT’S TIME TO TEST OUT THAT NONEXISTENT GAG REFLEX AND SWALLOW THE OPPONENT’S CONTROLLER

oh nvm they’re winning again lmao

OH FUCK thEYRE LOSING

oh nvm

OH FUCK

oh nvm they unplugged his contoller lol

OH FUCKING TH EY LOST MICHAEL JONES MY HEART IS BROKEN

the amount of people watching has gone up from 32k to 40k in the past fifteen minutes

michael “hurry up you dumb cunts” jones

“oh don’t worry about destroying our cabinet, it’s essentially matchsticks”

“how are you feeling john? are you ready for this?” “MM M M Mmm mM”

TEAM NICE DYNAMITE IS NEXT AND IM READY FOR PERMANENTLY RINGING EARS FROM ALL THE LEET DONATIONS

oH god here we go

“hopefully they haven’t been saving them all day” oh honey. you’ve got a big storm coming

if xavier slaps gavin i think gav might go up in a puff of smoke

i did the math, they went up 45k+ within five minutes of team nice dynamite showing up on stream

GAVIN AND MICHAEL ARE GOING TO DIE

THERE’S GONNA BE A MOONBALL SIZED HOLE IN GAVIN’S CHEST

ryan and lindsay both donating a grand during this segment... so good

the day gavin free successfully gets a tattoo is the day i drop dead

lindsay saying she didn’t want the TND tattoo on michael but she agreed because gav is michael’s boi :(((

i’m too sleep deprived for this i might cry

oh god michael’s punching the floor

i’m too sober for this

EIGHTY EIGHT LEET DONATIONS IN TWENTY MINUTES HOLY FUCJKIGN SHIT YOU GUYS ARE GONNA BE THROWING MOONBALLS FOR FUCKIN SIX YEARS

on a sentimental note- i love how much collective love we have for gav and michael,, they deserve it all

milk boarded has some not-so-great connotations attached to it

gavin “the bullshit bitch” free

a mark nutt reference?? in my 2019 extra life????

this just in: sarah is going to obliterate gavin

oh. oh my god. that was the sound of a wet fish smacking a wall

why is jeremy the liquor goblin walking like a crab that has a bird attached to its back??? see: flapping arms

that beer and milk concoction... gag

“drink that milk yard”

“YOU GOT MY TOES MILKY”

no. nO MICHAEL NO YOUR INTESTINES NOO

michael “the milk’s in my brain” jones

“stop pouring it on people!” “iT’S HARD DICKHEAD”

lindsay is now. taking a milk shower

*caiti brings a small roll of paper towels* *gavin gently places a single paper towel on the massive puddle of milk*

no LINDSAY NO THINK OF THE CHILDREN

gavin: this has gotten way out of hand. she’s... she’s swimming in an inch of milk! everyone knows you should swim in at least two!!

the fajita seasoning will solve everythinG everyone calm down

fiona: yeah this is my first extra life. jack: and what were you expecting? fiona: this. exactly this.

ah yes. the bunny suits have arrived and michael is ready to tackle gavin

aaaand here comes the AH fanfic. it can only get worse from here so buckle up fuckos

“holy fuckeroni”

“re-reanimated trevor”

michael is so fucking smashed and god i wish that was me

“cum-ductor”

fiona “this is a white man” nova

“bone-ating” *leet donation* *leet donation*

“ready set blow” made me genuinely bust a lung laughing

aaaand michael’s licking the floor which is to be expected

jeremy “i’m gonna actually harm you” dooley

IF ONE MORE PERSON BRINGS UP RANCH IM GOING TO WALK TO AUSTIN AND PROJECTILE VOMIT ON THE OFF TOPIC SET

no JEREMY NO YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE I THOUGHT YOU WOULDN’T DO THIS GET OFF THE F L O O R

don’t get close ups on jeremy’s tongue. don’t do that to me. i don’t want nightmares

“fuck root” “let’s just fucking fuck”

1 2 3 CONSENT

michael has gone full gerkie

alfredo’s look when larry is reading the part about trevor choking him is how i feel about everything that’s happened in the past twenty minutes

almost 300k in less than an hour

fiona saying “i don’t want this” overlaying michael humping a trash can

“TAKE THE TACO CHAD”

aaaand michael’s in the trash can

nO why is there a triangle is this a POETRY READING ALL OF A SUDDEN

oh thank god it’s over

OH FUCK THERE’S A N EPILOGUE

aaand trevor’s dead again. poor treyco

DUSK BOYS DUSK BOYS DUSK BOYS EVERYONE PUT A CUP IN YOUR PANTS

people singing along... what goes on

why am i downloading this fuckin song asap

jeremy turning his phone flashlight on and waving it like he’s at a concert god dammit i love these people so much

those are my BOYS

oh my gosh they’re still singing the song. why is my heart so happy from this i need to get slapped

“come on you’ve never been waterboarded before gavin?”

everyone standing in a circle shining their flashlights at gavin

someone surprise them and instead of a moonball just yeet a whole gallon of milk at them

actually, on second thought, no

OH god GavIN Is GOING to Die

gavin “i forgot to breathe” free

several milk explosions

gavin “my brain is cold” free

michael has milk dripping from his ears

i’m about to pass out i don’t know what’s happening

michael is in the grapes right now man

how many moonballs? oh, only 107. :)

i’m not writing this part- you guys have to watch the moonball segment yourself, if you didn’t watch it live!

team nice dynamite finishes up with over 300k!! holy shit, that’s so cool! this community is awesome

werewolf is up next!

xavier is such a gentleman can we keep him

alfredo: *chooses to kill miles* trevor in the audience: *silently freaking out*

xavier is about ruin another man on stream

miles has no self preservation instinct

barbara is now smelling fiona

this just in: i love alfredo and 100% would have done the same thing

trevor running up to film alfredo getting smacked. what an icon

alfredo SCREAMING oh my god i felt it in my soul

the high-five of the backs in solidarity of intense pain

miles choosing alfredo is so fucking good

and also, i feel so bad

his heart might shoot out of his asshole this time guys

oh NOOO HE’s so bruised :(((( fredo nooo :((

oh my god it’s gotten to the usual point in the stream where you start to question whether someone is going to die this time

rip blaine but at least i think he can take the hit

he can but ouch it still hurts me

barbara “i’m participating in the game” dunkleman

yo miles might win this game

the crowd when someone needs to shoot barb: TREVOR TREVOR TREVOR! trevor, with the strength of a thousand suns: N O

people are now chanting about shooting an unprotected trevor. the man already died once this stream god dammit

alfredo is about to throw hands for fiona

that’s a big F in the chat for miles, but his loss is well deserved

xavier’s hands could serve as a defibrillator

alfredo showed jeremy his chest and jeremy shied away as if he was looking at the sun

--- i’m taking another break to finish an assignment---

i’m barely alive and it’s ready set show time

oh god please no more shock collars

i’m so fucking tiiiiredd please take thge res t of this post wigth a grain of salt lbecasue i can hardly type at this ponitn

“do you want to control the shock collars” “will there be repercussions” “no” “fuck yeah i’ll do it then”

“smother the children. steal the baby” “DONT STEAL THE BABY TREVOR”

lunging forward “s c a r e t h e b a b y” “OKAY I’M PASSING THIS ONE”

“you can’t bake popcorn????” jeremy hits the floor

alec and matt clearly = dream team

oh thasnk god the shock collars are on their arms now i was stressed out for chris earlier

this stream does not promote recreational nyquil usage

i don’t even know how to explain the pure insanity of what ready set show has become

alec has become this whole segment

i would write more but i have no thoughts because my brain doesn’t work

larry “makes people fuck other people besides their wife” insert last name that my brain can’t come up with

anyways. marbles

oh. no marbles

i’ve blacked out idk what happened during backwardz compatible

i mean i was awake but does that really mean anything at this point

SPPOKU PSOOKY SPPOKKKY SPOOOKY !!! FUCL YEAH

cole is so good during this segment

oh so many 1337s right away

the real scariest thing during the segment: being genuine

oH my god the scream being pitched up. i have fucking dogs outside of my house now

i don’t fuck w/ ghosts no thank you

“aba-jail” wow if u guys weren’t gonna get haunted before you will now

okay i’m about to pass out i have to take a nap

oH fucking I SLEPT until thirty minutes before the en d fuck

conclusion: this community is incredible and raised an unimaginable amount of money for charity. the fact that rooster teeth does this every year is awesome, and honestly, it makes me feel hopeful in times when things aren’t so great. so yeah! for the kids & stuff

#extra life 2019 #rooster teeth #geoff ramsey #jack pattillo #ryan haywood #michael jones #jeremy dooley #gavin free #lindsay jones #trevor collins #matt bragg #fiona nova #alfredo diaz

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lostsummerdayz · 5 years

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Death Note One-Shot Chapter Review

“AH! SHINIGAMI!” But in 2020!

By: Nay Holland

Death Note started off as a manga and anime series that joined others in its ilk during the 2000s renaissance. This was the time period that brought us many herald classics such as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Inuyasha, Full Metal Alchemist, and Gurren Lagann. I can spend the entire time naming at least ten other series that would either go on to have devoted fans over a decade later or continue in some form. Of course Naruto lives on through Boruto, rumors of a Bleach revival are on the way, and One Piece is, well, never ending at this point.

However, among the “Roaring 00s” of anime, Death Note always stood out to me. While I was invested in Naruto since middle school, I hadn’t touched Death Note until my high school years. During this time, the series was still popular, yet it always seemed overshadowed by the other bigger names. Despite this, it remains a huge hit in Japan with several live action movies, a prequel light novel, several dramas, and a TV series.

Of course, there was also the Netflix Original film which was an attempt to “Americanize” the series, for whatever reason. Back in 2017 it was a talking point, mostly how it didn’t live up to the source material presented. Nowadays, no one really talks about it and it is probably for the best.

While Death Note is considered a cult classic in both the East and the West, it is no surprise that content is still being created to this day. The surprise factor stems from the unexpectant delivery of said content. On February 3rd 2020, the creators behind Death Note, author Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata, revisited the world that Kira left behind in a one-shot published by Viz Media.

While you don’t need to read the original manga to read the one-shot, the one-shot will assume you know the original source as many existing characters, themes, and events from the original manga are all featured within the chapter. That said, it will greatly enhance the experience if you know the source material. Past this point there will be spoilers on the original manga and the one-shot chapter as I’ll be referring to both.

This isn’t the first “one-shot” within the Death Note universe. The first official one-shot dates as far back as 2008, two years after the original series was completed. Set three years after Kira’s death, this one-shot focused on a new “Kira.” This “Kira” has access to the Death Note via a shinigami (who wasn’t Ryuk) and used it to murder those who had a low life expectancy. However, the new “L,” formerly known as Near, quickly shuts his antics down. The new “Kira” then uses the Death Note to kill himself and the shinigami retrieve the book.

Before we can discuss the latest one-shot, we first have to discuss Takeshi Obata’s art exhibit that was held in the Summer of 2019; Never Complete.

Never Complete was an art exhibit celebrating Obata’s thirty-years as a manga artist. Within the exhibit, many of his previous works from Hikaru no Go, Bakuman, Death Note, and the latest ongoing series, Platinum End were all on display.

Bonus content which included first drafts of illustrations, were also featured. Among the bonus content, the most peculiar one was a storyboard draft of the 87-page one-shot. The storyboard draft can be seen and read in almost its entirety on the official Shonen Jump Plus website. Six months later, we have an official release in both Japanese and English. The official English translation can be viewed here.

Our story begins right where the previous one-shot left off. The shinigami who wasn’t Ryuk, gives Ryuk back the Death Note, claiming he was unsuccessful while also giving him an apple as an offering. Being bored of the shinigami world as well as a craving for more apples, Ryuk sets off to see who could be the successor of the Death Note. If it entails free apples, Ryuk ain’t complaining.

We then get to meet a young Minoru Tanaka, a middle schooler who is known for having the highest test grades in the region. When Ryuk introduces himself to Tanaka, the only thing Ryuk knows is that Tanaka is smart in school, comparing Minoru Tanaka to Light Yagami’s aptitude in school.

However, his actual grades are mediocre at best. This already contrasts Light who was a certified genius both in tests as well as grades. As Tanaka explains that his ability to score high on tests are dependent on his knowledge of IQ tests and quizzes, he bemoans that adults who see grades yet fail to see the bigger picture are no better.

As Tanaka holds the Death Note in his hand, all he knows is that it was once Kira’s. It is during this scene that we learn the state of Tokyo after Kira’s death, ten years later. Yagami’s legacy lives on as he is taught in schools around Tokyo. Tanaka exclaims that he was taught about him in Ethics class and in World History class, both of whom consider him to be an evil mass-murdering sociopath that placed Tokyo on the brink of destruction.

There’s just one problem with holding the single most powerful and dangerous weapon in the world. What good is a Death Note if you can’t even read its instructions?

While this wasn’t a problem for Light as he was a genius who understood fluent English and Japanese, here was a middle schooler who struggled with English. He asks Ryuk to translate the English into Japanese, just so that he can understand how to use it.

However, while not as academically bright as Light, Minoru is more logical with his approach. He understands how the Death Note was used in the past. The major difference between the past and the present are the increase in security measures to ensure a repeat of what happened doesn’t transpire again. When Ryuk asks if Minoru can use the Death Note the same way that Kira did, Minoru hesitates.

Knowing the state of Tokyo right now as well as knowing the history of Kira and the Death Note, he has no interest or intentions of using the Death Note for similar deeds. Here lies a normal child who excels at critical thinking who has the opportunity of a lifetime.

Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. He also can’t risk the book falling into the hands of someone else who would use the book for the same reasons Kira did, or worse. So he does the one thing that he could do in this situation. He buys himself two years of time. He tells Ryuk to come back to him in two years, while asking him two critical questions.

The first question he asks is if it was possible for those who touched the notebook to still see Ryuk. This would involve the former Investigation Team and Near, who brought Kira to justice.

The second question was how far can Ryuk move around without being close to Minoru. This comes into play two years later when Minoru decides to ultimately sell the Death Note.

That’s right. He sells the Death Note.

But not just to anyone, especially not via Craigslist either.

Conveniently, the TV broadcast station is close by Tanaka’s house. With a pen and paper he tells Ryuk to write a message that will incur interest without actually having to directly contact Tanaka himself. Since the net and all of its usage can be easily tracked, using the TV to broadcast the message provides a safe approach for Tanaka to cover his trail. Rather, you can’t cover a trail you never create.

Conversely, those who had seen Ryuk from ten years ago, were able to see Ryuk on television. This introduces several key characters from the original series into the one-shot. The first is Matsuda, who is every bit as hot headed and foolishly passionate in the present as he was in the past.

The second, is L.

Not the L we know, but, the current L. Near.

Fragments of the iconic “L vs Kira” fight start to show over the next few pages as the bids for the Death Note reaches into the trillions and L continuously wondering how things are playing out. He understands that the “Auction Kira” or “A-Kira” is playing a very cautious game, but fails to see the endgame.

As the bid for the Death Note reaches record highs, it is revealed that the two nations bidding for the Death Note are none other than…

...The United States of America…

...And China….

Despite two of the largest world leaders in the hot seat bidding on the Death Note, Minoru is unphased. In the end, the USA wins the auction. At this point, Near awaits to figure out just how “A-Kira” is going to attain the money. Thinking this through, Minoru demands payment in such a way that it is almost impossible to be tracked down.

Within this time period, it is enough for Tanaka to relinquish ownership of the Death Note, forget he had it, and live a peaceful life along with millions of others in Japan. Given the circumstances and how millions will have access to such money, as well as the owner of the Death Note forgetting he had the Death Note, Near backs off, admitting defeat.

There is one fatal flaw to Tanaka’s entire plan and it was a flaw that would lead to his death.

Turns out Tanaka was so smart that not only did he outsmart the smartest human alive, but he also outsmarted the Shinigami King himself. Shortly before the Death Note was relinquished, the King ordered Ryuk to write a new rule within the Death Note. The rule being this.

With even the Shinigami King being upset that the Death Note was allowed to be sold to another, this new rule ensured that Tanaka was going to die a month from now. The president, however, chose to relinquish ownership, but declares that he has the power of Kira to herald his power over everyone else.

So, as stated in the new ruling of the Death Note, Tanaka’s name was written in Ryuk’s Death Note as soon as he received the money and the chapter ends on that note.

The first thing I want to mention is that Tanaka was too smart for his own good. Kira’s downfall was that his God complex forced him to become disillusioned. Tanaka’s downfall was the complete opposite. He felt his plan was entirely foolproof without taking into the variable of the shinigami lowballing him.

This reminded me of the time when Rem declared that she would kill Light if he ever caused the death or harm of Misa. At this point this was Light’s first interaction with another shinigami. Knowing who Rem was and the type of person she was, he was able to manipulate her to his livelihood by sacrificing herself. Tanaka never got to see the Shinigami King himself, and the King made sure of it.

Tanaka not only never met another shinigami so he could understand how they would behave, but he also never met Near---I mean L. I gotta stop calling him Near.

He never got to meet L, he never got to meet the investigation team. All of Tanaka’s actions were met through the safety of his room. This was beneficial as he was able to cover his tracks, but it proved his downfall as he followed a plan from start to finish without thinking of the variables.

The moment Tanaka relinquished ownership, his fate was sealed. Tanaka wouldn’t have known about the rule change and it wouldn’t be up to Ryuk to remind him. Ryuk is many things, but Ryuk is a shinigami of his words.

It’s because of Ryuk being a shinigami of his word that proved to be fatal to Light as well. From the beginning of Light’s reign into Kira, Ryuk promised that if Light were to ever put himself in a situation where Light would die, Ryuk would write his name in the Death Note.

Ryuk never had the chance to warn Tanaka about the rule change as he was told never to show his face again. Thus, Tanaka died oblivious to anything that he had done, unlike Light who died knowing all of the things he’d done.

The final thing I want to reflect upon is the concept of legacy. Throughout the chapter we’re told about the lasting impression Kira had on not just Japan, but the entire world. It was this legacy that spurred the interest of ownership of the Death Note to begin with. Even if the Death Note was never used, the fact that it could be used to incite fear and dominance among one’s nation and the world is enough for anyone in a position of power.

The caveat of covering your path is that no one knows your name. This was the entire point of Tanaka’s ownership of the Death Note. He wanted to get rid of it while also making a profit off of it. If all of Japan would reap the benefits of the Death Note, then it was just a bonus.

His mother wouldn’t struggle, his family wouldn’t struggle, everyone would be set for life. This one child single-handedly caused an entire economic bubble and yet his legacy would be left behind with no one knowing who he was.

If you’re a fan of the series, I highly recommend giving this a read. In fact it makes me want to revisit the series one more time. It was nice seeing how my old favorites were doing ten years later, both literally and within universe. It was also a good read that, much like the original Death Note, left a lot to think about as far as current events.

The timing of the release of this chapter, the realistic physical details of the world leaders for USA and China, and the themes shared within the chapter are non-coincidental I believe. While a Death Note is obviously fantasy, it reads itself like a parody of modern-day politics. A caricature of the lengths those in power would go to obtain a destructive instrument used for intimidation purposes.

Unfortunately, even if you do everything in your power to just live a peaceful life, in the words of Ryuk…

#death note #death note one shot #ryuk #kira #light yagami #minoru tanaka #l #near #manga #anime #review

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kudamomo · 6 years

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Top 10 Favorite Anime

*Doesn’t contain spoilers (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡

1. Michiko to Hatchin (2008-2009)

“Michiko to Hatchin,” may appear slightly flawed to the eyes of others, but I have fallen completely in love with this show for a plethora of reasons, both personal and critical. First and foremost, diversity is theme I am particularly fond of, fictionally and in the real world, so seeing an anime that takes place in South America was like a much needed breath of fresh air. On top of that, the soundtrack was completely on par with the gunslinger vibe the show gave off while still keeping the setting of South America in mind. Typically, in 24 episode long shows, such as “Michiko to Hatchin,” the show will begin to drag at some point during the middle. However, the director, Sayo Yamamoto, skillfully switches the show from being story driven to episodic as to keep the viewer entertained and when the time came, picked the story right back up where it left off. Ultimately, I bestow this show with the first 10 out of 10 on this list for its unique setting, characters, and adept pacing.

2. Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999)

Arguably, not only Shinichiro Watanabe’s greatest creation, but one of the greatest anime shows of all time, is the iconic “Cowboy Bebop.” As to why this show is ranked so high up in this list, as well as any other top anime list, is fairly self explanatory. But to reiterate basically the entire anime community’s opinion on “Cowboy Bebop,” first, it takes place sometime in the far future and hubs on the misadventures of the bounty hunter, Spike Spiegel, and his partners as they search for criminals. Essentially, every aspect of the show is nearly or truly is perfect. The smashing soundtrack to the wonderfully cultivated characters to the attractively sculpted ending, everything, and I mean everything, about “Cowboy Bebop,” screams a 10 out of 10.

3. Barakamon (2014)

“Barakamon,” is a light hearted, genuinely funny, comedic slice of life anime. It pivots on Handa Seishuu, a calligrapher with a tremendous ego and severe anger issues. After punching another renowned calligrapher, after he criticized Handa’s work for being comparatively lifeless and ‘textbook,’ essentially boring, he is exiled to Gotō Island to better himself and his works. In his duration on Gotō Island, he encounters outlandish Japanese village folk, such as a little girl named Naru Kotoishi. Sooner or later, Handa soon finds himself changing for the better as a result of his stay on Gotō Island. Personally, comedy anime have never been my cup of tea for the sole reason that they fail to make me laugh, but evidently “Barakamon,” came along. I mean, I fell so hard in love with this series that I own the first nine volumes of the manga for it is astoundingly beautiful and hilarious. “Barakamon,” is a soon to be classic for the next generation of anime fans and a simple 10 out of 10 that will surely get laughs out of any person to come across it.

4. Mind Game (2004)

Made by the man, the myth, and the legend himself, comes debatably Masaaki Yuasa’s greatest work, “Mind Game.” “Mind Game,” is in fact a film not a single person could ever explain to you what it’s about. If anything could describe the film, is that it’s about the mind boggling experience of second chances and rebirth. If that doesn’t seem to have enough substance for you, then keep in mind, based off of Masaaki Yuasa’s track record of finely tuned character development and crazy animation, you’ll have to trust me when I say this, “Mind Game,” is a must see for it is nothing short of cinematic, surreal, masterpiece for I myself even own a copy of this movie. Conclusively, the irrefutable rating this film deserves is an obvious 10 out of 10.

5. Mononoke (2007)

“Mononoke,” no, not the movie, is a spinoff of the 2006 horror series “Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales.” “Mononoke,” is an episodic series that focuses on a mysterious demon vanquisher, respectively disguised as a medicine seller, and the trials and tribulations he must go through in order to save the demoniac and surmount the demon itself. The first notable feature of “Mononoke” is its usage of color and perspective(s) that make each story within the show all the more captivating and exciting to watch. To go along with that, each story goes in massive depth with its characters, successfully inducing a very emotionally powerful relationship with the viewer almost every time. Yet, as the ending isn’t necessarily sub par, it leaves you hungering for more. Nonetheless, this show deserves nothing but a 10 out of 10.

6. Ping Pong the Animation (2014)

This being Masaaki Yuasa’s second appearance on this list, the only other work this position could've been gifted to is his masterful “Ping Pong the Animation.” Masaaki Yuasa, once again, is notorious for his stellar character development and this is it in its prime. Somehow, each character, no matter how insignificant, has a profound effect on the show and everlasting impact on the viewer. It’s almost unbelievable how a show about ping pong could be so relatable with the main characters inner struggles and their escapist hobbies whilst remaining an intense an interesting sports anime like any other. A facile 10 out of 10.

7. Kekkai Sensen (2015-2017)

“Kekkai sensen,” is definitely one of the more light hearted series on this list in which it’s about the supernatural monsters that now live alongside humans in places such as Hellsalem's Lot, formerly known as New York City. The main character soon finds himself leading out an extraordinary life in the said city as he joins the estranged group Libra after attaining the All-seeing Eyes of the Gods at the expense of his sister's eyesight. “Kekkai Sensen,” is a fun and witty show that any anime fan would enjoy. The visuals are eye-catching as well as the music being funky, making it quite the delightful series. Even so, as the finale approaches, it becomes unexpectedly emotional furthering the show’s greatest and superiority as well as establishing a great sense of character depth. Final rating, 9.6 out of 10.

8. In This Corner of the World (2017)

“In This Corner of the World,” is a film that takes place in Hiroshima during World War II, which focuses on a young woman by the name of Suzu and her daily struggles during this time period. This seemingly drab movie in fact blossoms into something tragically beautiful and easily one of the greatest anime films ever composed, alongside the aforementioned “Mind game.” It unexpectedly tugs at your heart strings with magnificently animated pieces of Suzu’s art to display her interpersonal feelings when faced with particular situations, topped with an equally wondrous soundtrack. This film executes all the components, such as character development, pacing, and directing, of a good anime perfectly, making it optimal for critical and personal enjoyment. Final verdict, an easy 10 out of 10.

9. Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-1996)

“Neon Genesis Evangelion,” is another iconic franchise that effected the anime community as well as the mecha genre itself as we know it today. “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” takes place in a post-apocalyptic era whereas humanity’s last hopes is in the hands of Nerv, a special agency ran by the United Nations. Nerv was founded in order to combat Angels, the species responsible for the destruction of Earth, using Evangelions. The show specifically focuses on the youth, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei, who pilot the Evangelions and their emotional reactions as a result of the responsibility being forcibly left on their shoulders. Although “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” is nothing apparent to reality, it feels exactly like real life. The emotional responses of the characters are ones you would witness in real people or rather experience yourself. The realism and psychology this show implements is absolutely groundbreaking and proved extremely influential on future mature anime. Thus, “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” is so deservingly awarded with a 10 out of 10 for the emotional levels throughout each episode.

10. Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis (2014)

Based off the “Shingeki no Bahamut,” card game franchise comes “Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis,” as created by Studio Mappa. The show centers on a world of demons that are in constant war against angels and humans, but as the ancient dragon Bahamut appears before them and lays waste to their planet, the aforementioned races combined their forces in order to expel Bahamut and preserve life. However, thousands of years later, a mysterious woman by the name Amira appears in front of two bounty hunters, Favaro and kaiser, who ironically holds half of the key that is sealing Bahamut away. Simply, this show is nothing short of badass paired with a rock and roll soundtrack combined with quirky characters who you will fall in love with as they fall in love with each other. Final rating, 9.8 out of 10.

#michiko to hatchin #cowboy bebop #barakamon #mind game #mononoke #ping pong the animation #kekkai sensen #in this corner of the world #neon genesis evangelion #shingeki no bahamut: genesis #anime #anime review #anime film #anime movie #shinichiro watanabe #masaaki yuasa #studio mappa #studio bones #science saru

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perfectirishgifts · 4 years

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Disney’s Master Class: How To Get Everyone To Wear A Face Mask

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/disneys-master-class-how-to-get-everyone-to-wear-a-face-mask/

Disney’s Master Class: How To Get Everyone To Wear A Face Mask

Since reopening this summer, Disney World has required face masks inside its theme parks.

Since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, surveys have consistently shown that the majority of Americans support mandates for wearing face masks in public.

What’s perhaps even more important is that travelers have demonstrated a clear desire to see those mandates enforced. Think back to May, when major U.S. airlines were rolling out new face mask requirements while at the same time telling flight crews not to ruffle the feathers of non-compliers, as reported by Reuters. After the predictable backlash, the airlines were forced to get much tougher about enforcing mask usage. Nowadays, passengers who refuse to wear face coverings are often banned from flying or, at the least, escorted off flights, often to applause and jeers from fellow travelers.

While airlines eventually came around to the importance of enforcing their own policies, Walt Disney World was prepared to walk the walk from the get-go. Before the Orlando mega-resort reopened last summer, Disney understood that attracting visitors after a four-month closure during a pandemic would require going above and beyond to keep its employees and visitors safe. One of the central pillars in Disney World’s reopening plan has been its strict face mask policy.

Mask compliance at Walt Disney World is “virtually 100%,” says Len Testa, a statistician and the founder of Touring Plans, a popular app and website that uses big data and user-generated intel to help theme-park-goers slash wait times. Since the theme parks reopened, Testa’s team of on-the-ground employees has been tracking face mask compliance.

Every day, Testa’s team picks a random location at a random Disney World theme park and counts 500 people. “Of those 500 people, we determine how many were wearing their masks exactly according to Disney’s mask guidelines,” explains Testa. That means wearing a face covering that is secure and covers the nose and mouth. “And the only time that you can take it off is when you are actively eating or drinking while stationary, not while walking around or in a ride queue,” he says.

At Epcot last Wednesday, compliance was 99%, which Testa says is pretty typical. “Also, when mask compliance isn’t 100%, it’s not like somebody’s walking around all day without a mask,” he says. “It’s generally someone walking who pulls the mask down for a second, takes a sip of soda, and puts it right back on.”

Getting everyone to wear a mask in a place the size of San Francisco is all the more impressive given that Disney World is located in a state without a mask mandate. Currently, about 89% of Floridians report wearing a mask all or most of the time, according to Carnegie Mellon’s CovidCast, a project tracking real-time statistics related to the coronavirus. That puts the Sunshine State about midway between South Dakota (82%) and Vermont (97%).

Put another way, mask compliance at Disney World is as high or higher than virtually anywhere in the nation. This is achieved through a combination of clear, consistent messaging and zero-tolerance enforcement.

“There’s no way you could come and not be aware of the mask policy,” says Tom Corless, founder of the Disney fan site WDW News Today. “It is impossible that you would not encounter a sign, an audio announcement, or some disclaimer when you’re purchasing tickets or a hotel room or whatever.”

Park-goers hear frequent audio announcements and come across signs, like one near the entrance to Magic Kingdom, that do not mince words: “Guests not properly wearing an approved mask will be asked to leave.”

And Disney means it, say Testa and Corless, who have both witnessed staff members whisk non-compliers out of the parks. What’s more, they say, Disney has shown a willingness to stop a ride if staff members spot a maskless face. Without singling anyone out, they’ll make an announcement and wait for the offender to replace his or her mask before restarting the attraction.

“So someone might think, ‘No one’s watching now. I can finally take this down. I’m in a dark space,’” says Corless, noting that Disney has internal security cameras on virtually every attraction. “People think no one’s watching, but there usually is.”

Which is exactly what happened last week when Corless went to see “Impressions de France,” a short film screened at Epcot’s France pavilion. “And the film starts, and it’s dark, and I see a cast member with a little light wand, and she’s waving at somebody. Then I see that two people have taken down their masks in the theater, and I don’t know how she saw it. It’s pretty dark in there, but she spotted it. And she didn’t stop the film, but she certainly made her way through the seating to make sure these people pulled their masks back up for the rest of the film.”

MORE FROM FORBESFirst Look: Disney World’s New Star Wars Hotel Is A Space Cruiser To A Galaxy Far, Far AwayBy Suzanne Rowan Kelleher

Stories like these highlight Disney’s proactive approach to enforcement. The company anticipates where people might be most likely to remove their masks and positions watchdogs accordingly. For instance, staff members are strategically placed near the most iconic holiday decorations, like the big Christmas trees in the Magic Kingdom, and they keep their eyes peeled for anyone who might try and drop their mask down to take a photo.

“And as soon as that happens, I’m not going to say they’re shouting, but there’s very loud insistence to say, ‘Please put your mask on,’” says Testa. “And it’s not just one person. It’s multiple people from different angles all coming over and saying it at the same time. They are very serious. They know the places where it’s going to happen, and they’re doing exactly what they need to do.”

Disney’s face mask policy is just one in a slew of rigorous Covid-19 protocols that also include enhanced sanitation, temperature checks, and modifications to many attractions and character interactions.

Of course, there are distancing markers on every attraction that denote how far apart you’re supposed to stand. “The lines look really, really long because everyone is six feet apart. But if you look at the actual time that you’re spending in line, we’re still seeing historically low wait times for most rides,” says Testa. “In past Thanksgivings, the wait times would have been two or three times higher than they were this year easily, if not more.”

Another key change is the temporary ban on walk-up tickets. Guests must use the online Disney Park Pass reservations system to buy tickets in advance and make reservations at one of the four main theme parks per day. This allows Disney to limit daily attendance in each park to 35% capacity — up from 25% in the summer. While this reservation system will be kept in place at least into 2022, modified Park Hopper ticket options, which will allow guests to visit more than one park in a day, are returning next month.

On the whole, say Testa and Corless, Disney park-goers seem happy to adhere to these rules in exchange for being able to enjoy themselves. There have been days when all four parks reached that 35% capacity maximum, says Testa. For the Magic Kingdom, roughly one third capacity translates to 31,500 people.

“That’s barely half of what an average day was right before the pandemic,” says Testa. “Some people may say, ‘Well, 31,000 people is way too many for the Magic Kingdom.’ But historically it’s not. And Disney’s doing a really good job of spacing people out.”

Corless, who has visited Disney World nearly every day since the resort reopened over the summer, says he’s proof that Disney is getting it right. “I’ve been tested several times. I don’t have antibodies. I’ve never tested positive for coronavirus,” he says. “It proves that masks, and compliance, and other rules, and enforcement absolutely can work. It’s beautiful.”

Disney did not respond to Forbes’ request for an interview.

First Look: Disney World’s New Star Wars Hotel Is A Space Cruiser To A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Covid-19 Alert: The 10 Riskiest States To Visit A Week After Thanksgiving, Ranked

More from Travel in Perfectirishgifts

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blogparanormalexpresso2stuff · 4 years

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youtube

5 Shocking Paranormal Videos That Have Been Solved (Or Have They...?)

Published on 5 Dec 2020

When investigating the paranormal, hoaxes are guaranteed. Sometimes misidentification, sometimes deliberate fakes, these cases can remain a mystery. When evidence is presented as a video, opinions are often more divided, with the truth being easier to spot for those with a sceptical eye. Then, explanations are offered. Yet, even the most obvious hoaxes and misidentifications, can leave a hint of doubt... [LINKS to full videos in credits ⬇️]

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It is our intention to provide factual and educational information on this channel. As such, we go to great lengths to use a wide range of source materials which we deem to be trustworthy. We always strive to do the best research we possibly can before posting a new video. That said, due to the often complex and bizarre nature of the subject matter we cover, we recognise that we may make mistakes from time to time. For this reason, we encourage you to do your own research and, in case we have made a mistake, welcome you leave a friendly comment and correct us. Thank you.

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jeramymobley · 5 years

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How Brand Identity Can Be Flexible And Consistent

Open any brand guidelines and you’ll likely find a page or two about correct logo usage. As one of the most sacred elements of any brand, strict instructions on amount of padding, what it can and can’t be placed next to or on top of, purposely limit choices to avoid a free-for-all of activations.

At Turner Duckworth, they’ve reimagined how McDonald’s expresses their brand, and have come up with a stunning visual identity. McDonald’s ‘golden arches’ are one of the best-known marks in the world. That’s equity you don’t want to gamble with, but Turner Duckworth felt it was being under-utilized. Jenny Brewer provides a great recap of the brand updates over at the It’s Nice That blog:

Color: A more disciplined palette anchors around the gold and red, with gold being emphasized. The agency shifted the color targets for legibility and “optimum foodiness”.

Photography: The brand is steering away from unrealistic props so common in the QSR category like cutting boards, marble counters and glass bowls. Instead, they will focus on where the food is enjoyed. This is more authentic.

The logo: The logo isn’t changing, but how it can be used is getting more relaxed. “The Golden Arches are an extremely well-crafted, recognized asset, that symbolizes a sense of welcome, familiarity, connection, etc, but they were hidden away or shown small and preciously,” the team explains. So, Turner Duckworth developed a system it calls “Archery” which sees the arches used in new ways – oversized, cropped, angled, bold, even implied (exemplifying their recognizability).

Icons: Icons feature staple items from the menu, but they aren’t cleaned up and polished to perfection. “Anyone can draw a burger or fries, so we needed to set the graphics apart in a distinctly McDonald’s way. ‘Flawesome’ is one of our creative principles for the brand. It’s about celebrating imperfection rather than hiding it.” So, the illustrations will show cheese melting or ketchup on the end of a french fry. These carry over into branded apparel and other digital tactics.

Typeface: A number of different typefaces have been consolidated in favor of Speedee, a new typeface that takes inspiration from the McDonald’s wordmark and the form of the golden options.

There are a few things happening here that brands should pay attention to. First, bending and stretching your logo isn’t an instant death sentence for the brand. Think about how movie studios use their intro animations to feature films. The Universal Studios globe has often been altered to lead into the intro credits or scenes. Same with the Paramount Mountain or the MGM Lion. You can use elements of your identity to add motion and create greater association in unexpected places.

Second, this idea of “flawesome” is actually quite awesome. In recent years, we’ve seen more brands pursuing authenticity over perfection. Ditching standard photography elements in the industry for photos of food being enjoyed is much more compelling than seeing white linen tablecloths. Also, it’s a nice touch to show imperfections in the illustrations like sesame seeds sprinkled on the bun.

Finally, the way McDonald’s has packaged up their guidelines is one of the best I’ve seen. You’re familiar with 200 page PDFs brands roll out to drive agency and global execution. These overly long, and comprehensive documents can be a challenge to navigate and understand, unless you’re very interested in that type of content. Instead, they’ve created a design hub which is an online repository of inspiration and brand assets. Instead of a massive brand book, they’ve atomized the content into cheat sheets, a smaller set of pages that spell out the new identity in a way audiences can consume (and in a format that is easy to update).

Think about how you can bend your brand’s identity to fit into our ever-changing world.

The Blake Project Can Help: The Strategic Brand Storytelling Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Growwth and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

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askwwwwd · 6 years

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WHAT WOULD WONDER WOMAN DO? - Gun Control In America Pt. 2 (Originally posted January 24, 2018)

[Editor’s Note: This article was originally planned for a different time, but after the tragic shooting in a Kentucky school yesterday, we agreed that this article is, sadly, always poignant in America. It is published here unaltered with respect to recent events.]

Just over two years ago on December 9, 2015, I wrote the inaugural “What Would Wonder Woman Do?” article, and it’s topic was Gun Control in America. In the opening of the article I explained just how delicate a topic it is, yet how nonchalant I seem to be about the issue, due to my upbringing; Being raised by two father figures which consisted of a life long police officer and a hunter, guns were merely an every day occurrence to me. I realize that I was and still am more than comfortable with them than most. I believe that to be due in much part to my understanding of them. Both my father & stepfather instilled the responsibility of gun handling at a young age, but it wasn’t until the day I fired a gun for the first time that I truly understood it’s power. Much like George Perez’s Diana of the early 80’s, after firing it I could feel alertness in every cell in my being. With wide eyes similar to those in Perez’s panels, I delicately put the gun down and said, “No one should have that much power.”

Photo excerpt from Wonder Woman #1 by George Perez, Courtesy DC Comics.

NO ONE SHOULD HAVE THAT MUCH POWER

That statement has stayed with me throughout my life. What I observed as a boy, is that essentially any random person was able to harness this extreme power over people; Boiled down to it’s core, it’s the power of life and death. As I dove into Diana’s mythology for the first WWWD about Gun Control, similar sentiments seemed to echo through the decades. Marston’s original Wonder Woman was a remedy to what was essentially an abuse of power happening in the 40’s. Hate, anger, and oppression of patriarchal society had truly reared it’s ugly head in less than admirable ways during WWII. What Dr. Marston observed was that the qualities needed to combat such hate and oppression, were those viewed to be ‘feminine’ and had become despised. It was there his solution was found. “Women’s strong qualities have been despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of superman plus all of the allure of a good and beautiful woman.” And with that, Wonder Woman was born. We learned that her agendas of love and fair play, were probably her most powerful weapons.

1942 Wonder Woman excerpt courtesy DC Comics.

Throughout Dr. Marston’s adventures she constantly ministered messages of love and equality, and used her fabulous abilities as the defender of those who couldn’t defend themselves. One of her most memorable and popular abilities was deflecting bullets with her bracelets. In Marston’s comic it was her last and greatest test of readiness for her journey into Patriarchal society. Translation to me? The sheer power of masculine aggression and ego was represented by the most obvious representation of destructive power…a gun. I don’t believe this to be a mistake, and her ability to deflect that masculine energy with ‘feminine’ jewelry, in my opinion, wasn’t a mistake either. Therefore, I don’t think it’s difficult to surmise how Wonder Woman feels about guns, and even with the release of the 2017 Gal Gadot movie, it doesn’t seem that much has changed. But just in case you weren’t clear on that, I put together seven picture/video examples of Wonder Woman handling guns alongside some gun statistics from 2015 (when I wrote the first article) through 2017. Enjoy!

Dr. William Moulton Marston’s ‘Bullets and Bracelets’ test for Wonder Woman’s entry to patriarchal society.

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Season 3, episode 12 – “Gault’s Brain” (1978) we see Lynda Carter’s Amazing Amazon asking to join a sporting round of shooting clay pigeons. After picking up the gun, she takes a beat and hands it back. Then proceeds to throw her ammo instead of shooting it from a gun. After hitting each of her targets she says, “It’s much more sporting that way!” There is a message in this scene…there is ALWAYS an alternative. With the Gun Violence Archive showing a steady rise in incidents each year, we would do good to follow her example for finding alternatives.

Wonder Woman screen shot courtesy Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Season 3, episode 9 – “The Deadly Dolphin” (1978), Wonder Woman stops a man who is impersonating a police officer. When he pulls a rifle on her, Diana exasperatedly bends the long barrel until it is actually pointing back at him; Almost pointing towards his feet. This imagery reminded me of the old adage, “shooting yourself in the foot”. I can only imagine that her message to him (and us) is that resorting to gun usage to settle issues, injures no one but ourselves. Seeing the Gun Violence Archive total number of injuries continue to increase since 2015, reminds me that we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot.

Wonder Woman screenshot courtesy Warner Bros Entertainment.

Season 2, episode 13 – “Death In Disguise” (1978), Wonder Woman bends an assailant’s gun and utilizes it to shackle the man who just shot at her. The symbolism here for me, was profound. As we continue to utilize this weapon with such ferocity, it enslaves us to our own aggression. Upon noticing the Gun Violence Archive statistics for defensive use continue to increase since 2015, I can’t help but think that even when attempting defense, we are enslaving ourselves to the Marstonian destructive power of guns.

Wonder Woman screen shot courtesy Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Wonder Woman (2017) – In the feature film’s No Man’s Land scene, we see Gal Gadot’s Diana taking on the full impact of gunfire from the opposing side. Patty Jenkins’ vision delivered to us a visual depiction of Marston’s original intention, which is that our beloved Diana fights on all of our behalves. As our champion, she shields us from the aggression, anger, and hate Marston seemed to associate with guns. Like a modern day centurion, she is our protector in almost the same way a police officer would be today; Only without guns. After seeing the Gun Violence Archive’s statistics on officer involved incidents where the subject was shot or killed, we would all be so glad to have a non-gun wielding advocate as she, on our side.

Wonder Woman film screenshot courtesy Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Wonder Woman has been known to show a little bit of frustration with guns now and then. Two specific modern day examples by Gal Gadot come to mind. In the movie, after enduring the onslaught of gunfire, she takes her shield and literally breaks the machine gun that had opened fire on her earlier, in half. Then, moments later, in hand to hand combat, Diana took the gun of someone who had attempted to shoot her, and broke it across her back. After being shot at so much, one could imagine how annoyed she might begin to feel with a continual onslaught of bullets. With the Gun Violence Archive showing that the number of deaths from guns are increasing annually, frustration is a feeling to which anyone can relate.

Wonder Woman film screen capture courtesy Warner Bros. Entertainment.

The cartoon versions of Wonder Woman don’t seem to let up on these ideas, either. Shannon Farnon, Susan Eisenberg, Rachel Kimsey, and Keri Russel have all given voice to the Amazing Amazon, and have all played their virtual share of bullets and bracelets. Part of why so many women have had a chance to play her in cartoon, is because Wonder Woman is essential to young viewers. Not just because of her message of love and self-empowerment, but also her consistent visual critique of gun usage. Like both Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot’s live action examples, each Wonder Woman cartoon version produced has displayed a distaste for, alternatives to, and consequences of gun use. In the consequences department, one example always seems to catch my eye, and that’s when Keri Russel’s self titled 2009 film’s Wonder Woman deflects a bullet so that it injures one of her assailants. With Wonder Woman’s gun critique message so important to children of all ages, it was especially disheartening to see the Gun Violence Archive statistics slowly increase in the area of teens killed or injured by guns.

Wonder Woman (2009) screen capture courtesy Warner Bros. Entertainment.

WHAT WONDER WOMAN WOULD DO

Like Dr. William Moulton Marston’s original Wonder Woman adventures depict, guns can be great at sport and preparing us for the challenges ahead. However, as the George Perez WW highlighted, that kind of power should only be wielded by those who truly understand the responsibility it carries. I was happy to see our most iconic Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot exemplify the importance of that idea. After writing many of these articles, I’ve come to view Marston’s psychological calling in society to be a healer. One which understood the incredible power of the mind. When we change our minds we can truly change the world. Anything is possible. And he gave us a phenomenal example and template for us to utilize: The example of Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter, Gal Gadot, Shannon Farnon, Susan Eisenberg, Rachel Kimsey, and Keri Russel have all contributed to Wonder Woman’s example. Through it, we are shown that we don’t need a gun to resolve issues or even defend ourselves. The true power is our ability to love. The hate, oppression, and masculine aggression and ego can be deflected with love. We can utilize our powers within to love each other and ourselves to ensure safety for all. So while she may not demand that we change our constitution, I believe What Wonder Woman Would Do is encourage us to live more responsibly for our fellow man and for ourselves. Taking away rights is never the Amazonian way. But coming together in a sense of community and deciding on ways we can legislate to ensure others behave responsibly is exactly what Wonder Woman would do about gun control in America. It’s Love and Fair Play all the way!

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palmburnt-a-blog · 8 years

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WISHLIST UNDER THE CUT. CATEGORIZED BY MUSES.

shoot me a message if you’re interested.

IN GENERAL:

pre-established anything goes. i love not going through the time to experiment with development. the more odd, the better.

ships are nice too !! i’m always seeking them for muses they fit for.

starting with the literature...

ROLAND DESCHAIN:

the dark tower blogs. the dark tower aus. the dark tower verses. the threads. seriously. im craving it, and if youre familiar with the series i highly encourage it

roland doesn’t talk much, but it doesn’t mean he’s not gonna care for a muse. i’d love to get a long-term plot going about a journey (metaphorical or literal, you decide) with a muse and like, what it means for the development of the two of them. similar to how he developed with jake.

DOC SPORTELLO:

threads in general would be pretty nice, y’all.

60′s-70′s shit. historical muses or aus work. time travelers. fuck. idc. but i love that era and i love referencing it so it’d honestly be a thrill.

ISSERLEY:

threads would be nice, y’all.

if your muse just happens to be a muscular dude who hitchhikes, please hit me up. i’ll explain the whole damn synopsis of under the skin to you. just let isserley kidnap him

MIMMI WU:

please dear GOD someone enter her sex shop

i’d also love to explore a ship, or sort of one, with a sort of girlfriend situation. maybe not girlfriends but similar to her relationship with lisbeth where they’re just seeing each other.

THE MAN:

i’ll pay someone three dollars if they make the boy. i’ll do it. i will

the road doesn’t have zombies or nuclear radiation... and because of that the world in it is so gloomy. i fucking LOVE IT. so if you ever get the chance to do some apocalypse threads with him, please lemme develop the setting of the actual novel

moving on to movies...

JOHN WICK:

characters from the movie would be fun, but not required

for once i actually want really.. not personal threads. normally i’m all about intimacy with a muse but for him i want standard shit. i want more ties to his stuff with mobs, mafias, gangs, etc. i want him to do a hit. i want him to work together with someone on a hit. i love it. i love it

COOPER:

interstellar muses, please and fucking thank you!

other than that idk. not much

LOU BLOOM:

FUCKED UP LOU BLOOM

i want that side of him where he screams at the mirror to COME OUT !!!!

WHICH REQUIRES A FUCK OF A LOT OF TENSION ON HIM BUT IDC I WANT IT

MAUL:

THREADS

but also i’ve taken a liking to old hermit maul being shown in rebels. i kinda like that whole ‘fuck obi-wan’ thing he’s still carrying

JANGO:

THREADS

but also bounty hunter drama.......im a slut for it

SCOTT PILGRIM:

scott pilgrim blogs

the graphic novels are fucking dorky. i dont wanna be stuck with michael ceras face so pls do some stuff with those icons pls

ALEJANDRO GILLICK:

i want to explore his brutality and i don’t wanna hold it back. like he shot a fucking ten year old and i don’t wanna dumb down that trait about him so give me RLY DARK THREADS NOW THANKS

LEE CHANDLER:

it’s hard to capture the same vibe from the film mostly because unless someone makes like, patrick, or randi or somebody... i’m gonna mostly be doing drunk boston janitor lee

which is fine. that’s thrilling. and in fact id like to see him develop relationships in that sort of life

i’m not saying friendships? but im kinda saying friendships i mean hes so distant its gonna be hard but itll happen. maybe

i want him to cry for once. or come close he BARELY FUCKING CRIED

stuff exploring his suicidal tendencies

now tv

JOE MACMILLAN:

@ male muses please lemme explore the sexuality of joe

and also.. sex stuff for @ everyone is good. its good

i also wanna see more emotional stuff for him too but that requires relationship development blah blah blah

when will lizzy make her multi and put my cameron howe im so loyal to on it? thanks

GORDON CLARK:

i just want him to die

CLAIRE COHLE:

i wanna shove sofia into our threads tbh honestly to be honest

idk if theres any true detective fans out there but im craving someone like... telling her about rust and the events of the show. thats not rust himself

also i want her to mom out too

ZEKE FIGUERO:

stuff involving his writing/poetry/raps. i did slam in high school bitches.

stuff about the 70s. stuff about the bronx. in the 70s.

NOT 70S STUFF. MODERN RAPPER ZEKE

MORTY SMITH:

god knows

WILLIAM HILL:

this is us muses

stuff involving his life when he was younger, with his poetry, art, protests, sexuality, and drug usage

LINDA BELCHER:

i just want somebody to make bob or the kids is that so hard to ask

now to the video games.

MERCY:

field medic stuff?? like her work in the middle east and places of crisis

young 19 year old surgeon angela whos far too young to be doing what the fuck shes doing

SOMBRA:

HACKER. SHIT. NOW

NOW TO THE OCS...

ALINEA:

her story doesnt extend much further from what happens with her dad, so things including her love life, her drug usage, and her academics would be lit and very easy to do

however i wanna get into HER SIDE of the aliens and the sleepwalking so if you like the sound of that pls just hmu its a Long Situation

stuff in alaska. give me alaska threads

BARRY:

GIVE HIM A BOYFRIEND!!!

this is so weird but pre-established ties to fucking mimmi. someone know this grandma.

someone whos able to see ghosts so they can cry

dance battles to michael jackson

ELENA:

please let her dye and cut your hair

please let her pass out on your couch after having a terrifying vision

please let her predict your muse’s fate

FRANK:

COLD. WAR. THREADS.

explore his sexuality

things regarding his alcoholism, his wife, or his son

HASIM:

all i can literally say is threads

worldbuild and chill ?

IMHOTEP:

there is nothing i want more than to imhotep to literally break down and go to town with how much he hate himself, his life, and his sister. i want him to talk abt how much he despises all of it

stuff when he’s in jail. prisoners so to speak

npcs from the storyline

ISAIK:

give a computer some friends

orrrr alternatively, be mean to isaik and witness the unleashing of computer hell which is vague but if you thought he was NICE...

MARCUS:

its far too much to ask for npcs from his storyline considering i aint posted anything abt them yet

plus theres the screenplay WITH THEM

but coastal shores stuff. smoke weed on a carousel with him and fall off

#THIS EXHAUSTED ME.............................#i encourage everyone to read it though. maybe smth will Connect with yall #WISHLIST ( w. )

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Zack Snyder’s Justice League Concept Art Finally Brings Green Lantern to the Movie

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Zack Snyder’s Justice League made its once-unlikely arrival on HBO Max this past March, showcasing what was hyped as the director’s definitive vision of the 2017 DC Extended Universe megamovie, which he was initially unable to complete. While, for fans of Snyder, it lived up to said hype, the conversation about unrealized concepts shifted to Justice League member Green Lantern, who studio Warner Bros. insisted be cut from the reworked film. However, Snyder has been stoking interest in his unused Green Lantern concept ever since, notably with a recent reveal of concept art that sets the emerald ring-wielder’s role into context.

While the idea of the Green Lantern Corps was very much present in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, specifically its prologue, which was set around 5,000 years in the past, that usage was intended to set the stage for a present-day member to show up and join our heroes: John Stewart. Indeed, amongst the major behind-the-scenes revelations about the film that have been popping up over the past few months, it had become known that Snyder secretly cast actor Wayne T. Carr for the role in the lengthy redux, and had even shot scenes. Thus, in what is just the latest tease on this front, Snyder has used his Vero account to post a concept painting that essentially reveals what Carr’s Lantern was set to accomplish.

The setup of the vibrantly verdant painted image (seen in full just below,) should seem familiar to anyone who saw the Snyder Cut, since it resembles the film-ending teaser scene in which Harry Lennix’s Secretary of Defense Calvin Swanwick—revealed uniquely in this non-canon version of the film to be the shapeshifting Martian Manhunter—assumes full alien form to casually fly in and pay a visit to Affleck’s Bruce Wayne at his lakeside home, powerfully not even acknowledging the pretense of secrecy attached to his identity of Batman. He then proceeds to warn Bruce about an oncoming war over Darkseid’s relentless pursuit of the Anti-Life Equation, and offers up his services in the oncoming war, setting up what Snyder had planned to be a trilogy (at least) of Justice League films. Of course, the concept art reveals that Snyder’s original intent with this scene was to serve as a proper introduction to Carr’s John Stewart/Green Lantern, rather than Lennix’s Martian Manhunter, who had spent the film disguised as Martha Kent, setting up a slow-burn introduction.

Zack Snyder

Tellingly, Snyder’s post of the Green Lantern concept art also includes a lengthy, contextually cryptic quote from Joseph Campbell, the American author who famously identified the mythological template of genre storytelling. A key part of the passage, which states, “And all you have to do to transform your hell into a paradise is to turn your fall into a voluntary act,” seems to reference his falling out with Warner Bros., which was recently revealed to have been more monumental than was publicly known. Pertinently, Warner did let the director make the Snyder Cut into his own cinematic sandbox for the most part, but the omission of Green Lantern was a key concession the director had to make, since the studio has spent the past few years pondering ideas for a film reboot of some kind after the underperforming 2011 Ryan Reynolds-headlined movie. While an HBO Max live-action Green Lantern TV series is taking shape with Finn Wittrock as Guy Gardner and Jeremy Irvine as Alan Scott, the studio still clearly wants the proverbial runway cleared on the movie side of things.

Movies

Zack Snyder on Snyderverse: It’s ‘Completely Mapped Out’

By Don Kaye

Green Lantern: What Guy Gardner Means for the HBO Series

By Joseph Baxter

Indeed, John Stewart is a Green Lantern Corps initiate—who was initially a backup for Hal Jordan—who, upon his 1971 introduction, eventually came into his own in the annals of DC Comics. While Stewart, an important early example of a black comic book hero, was initially introduced as an architect recruited by the Corps, he would become more famously defined by a retconned backstory, in which he was a former U.S. Marine, whose effectiveness as a Lantern comes from an aggressive military-honed attitude, notably reflected in his ring-powered constructs, which typically tend to take shape as gigantic cannons mounted on his hands. Indeed, Carr would have been the very first live-action representation of the now-iconic character—at least, notwithstanding a teased scene in the final episode of The CW’s Arrow, which implied that series-spanning character John Diggle (David Ramsey) had come upon a Green Lantern ring, and would become a version of Stewart. However, a subsequent role reprisal in an Arrowverse series nipped that notion in the bud.

Zack Snyder

Despite that, Snyder is sending out clear signals to the legion of fans who helped make the Snyder Cut a reality that there’s even more to his vision than what was seen in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. This past May, he posted a set image of Carr wearing a motion capture suit standing against a green screen appropriately backlit with green lighting, thereby revealing a rough idea of how Carr’s version of the character would have looked onscreen. Shortly after that, video footage emerged of Snyder speaking at a convention, in which he shows attendees a concept image—straight off his phone—of Carr fully rendered in his Green Lantern outfit. Thusly, the latest concept image explains where Snyder was going story-wise with Carr’s John Stewart. However, such an inclusion could have put Warner in a position it finds undesirable, having to further work off Snyder’s concepts. This is especially touchy, given the porous nature of the DCEU films, which are being tenuously covered with the story spackle of a Multiverse explanation, notably exemplified by upcoming Earth-2 set reboot film The Batman.

Zack Snyder

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Regardless, Snyder’s John Stewart/Green Lantern seems to be re-whetting appetites that were seemingly satiated by the Snyder Cut. While it is highly unlikely to bear any fruit, the same was said about the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement, which has, indicatively, evolved into #RestoreTheSnyderverse. For now, though, the concept art shall have to suffice.

The post Zack Snyder’s Justice League Concept Art Finally Brings Green Lantern to the Movie appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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bizbrolly · 5 years

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Top 10 Innovative Web Design Trends

1. Serifs on screen

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We’ve all heard the rule that serifs are for print and sans serifs are for the screen. But what are design trends for if not to give convention a little shaking up?

While sans, with its clean readability, is still the go-to for longer bouts of website copy, more and more brands are turning towards bold serifs in other aspects of their designs such as headers and callouts. There’s a good reason for this: serifs were designed to be decorative, making them perfect for emphasis.

And even though serifs are often associated with the past, they have lots of character and are more adaptable than you might think. Take for example the rounded serifs that play into Mailchimp’s cheerful branding. Or the wedge serifs and bold strokes that create a modern look for Medium.

2. Black-and-white palettes

Color is one of the most important elements in a website. It cultivates a mood, unifies a brand and guides users through an interface by creating visual landmarks. For 2020, we’re seeing daring black-and-white web design making impressive statements.

Color is literally how we see the world by light particles being absorbed. When color is missing, we begin to see the world differently: textures and shapes become clearer, and the world seems noticeably slower.

White by itself is clean and reserved whereas black is strong and assertive. Combine these and you get an altogether striking look.

Ironically, the biggest effect black-and-white designs can have is in their combination with minimal amounts of color. Adding an accent color will not only break up the sea of monochrome but will make points of interest and calls-to-action leap out.

3. Natural, organic shapes

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Though web pages are typically set up for systematic grids, designers are turning towards natural shapes and smooth lines. Geometric structures such as squares, rectangles, and triangles with their sharp corners do create a sense of stability, but 2020 trends are more concerned with a feeling of accessibility and comfort.

Learn More- 10 UI UX MISTAKES THAT CAN RUIN YOUR MOBILE APP

Because organic shapes are naturally imperfect and asymmetrical, they can provide depth to a web design that makes page elements stand out. They are based in nature (think of the curving forms of trees and hills), but free-drawn elements can capture the spontaneity of man-made accidents such as paint splatter. The goal here is for web development and design to feel human and alive through the illusion of movement.

4. Glitch art

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No trends list would be complete without some form of retro design making its comeback. In the case of glitch art, it’s retro went wrong — those moments when the crinkled film or a slow dial-up connection led to a distorted if unintentionally striking, image.

Glitches are significant in our modern times when computers are so pervasive. We fear the machines taking over, but we also don’t know what we’d do without them. Hence, the breakdown of technology makes for appealing subject matter both as an idea and in its design execution, where it can draw the viewer’s eye to those parts of the site that are warped, double exposed and glitchy. It’s a strange, futuristic time we live in, and no one is quite sure where it is all heading. Glitch art amplifies this feeling of disorientation by giving websites a distinctly psychedelic look.

5. Micro-interactions

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Micro-interactions are events with one purpose: to surprise the user and create an event that is inviting and human. Every time you take a small action on a website or app and there is a specific response to it, this is a micro-interaction. When you refresh a Twitter page and hear a beep, this is a micro-interaction. Or when you check Facebook, the red icon displaying your message count is — you guessed it — a micro-interaction.

These have been the most common uses of them, but in 2020, web pages will heavily feature their more interactive incarnations. Hover and scrolling animations, chimes, and much more. All in all, this is a way to involve your audience on your website, to subtly transmit information to the users about their actions and usage, and make web pages feel a little smarter.

6. Chatbots evolve

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Chatbots have been up-and-coming for a while now but will finally move into the spotlight in 2019. This is mostly due to the advancements in AI and machine learning, making them more intelligent and efficient.

The new chatbots will be showing up more and more on web pages with higher levels of customization than we’ve seen in past iterations. Bright colors will make them not only more prominent on the page but more inviting. We can also predict an influx of friendly mascots to represent brands and give these bots a personable face.

Learn More- TOP 10 WEB DESIGN PRINCIPLES

7. Even more video content

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You don’t need an explainer video to tell you that video content for the web is nothing new. Video not only diversifies the page but caters to an on-the-go audience who don’t have the time to scan through a lot of text.

What is new is the move Google has made toward mixed search page results, featuring video content above standard web pages. This has led websites to prioritize video production in order to make themselves easily searchable and offer content in the most efficient, shareable way.

8. Minimalism

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Perhaps one of the most classic and timeless web design trends, minimalism is often the go-to aesthetic of choice. The fewer elements and content on a website, the less your audience will have to think. If a website is designed in the right way, it will show the user exactly what she is looking for.

Minimalism will continue to dominate the digital landscape in 2020. Animations and fade-in effects that make scrolling more engaging will give web pages freedom to space out their content and thus result in more whitespace, contrast, and clear typography without too many distracting elements.

9. Thumb-friendly navigation

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With mobile browsing having firmly overtaken desktop, design overall is becoming increasingly thumb-friendly. One of the most important studies in this area was that of Josh Clark with his book Designing for Touch, in which he investigates how users hold their mobile phones and how their movements, particularly those of the thumb, should be processed in the web design process. More and more now, users will encounter navigation tailored to the thumb, such as the hamburger menu moved to the bottom of mobile screens.

10. Diversity

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Too often, people forget that the web has always been accompanied by a pair of other important W’s: ’World Wide.’ The internet connects billions of people all around the world from various different cultures, abilities, ages, gender identities — people who want to see themselves reflected in their content rather than grinning stock photo models.

Even small considerations of the past (like Apple’s varying skin tones for emojis) have gone a long way in making people of all walks of life feel a little more welcome in a brand’s digital space. 2020 should see web designers make even bigger leaps towards inclusiveness, from improved accessibility standards to socially conscious and diverse imagery. The world still has a long way to go in this arena, but these designers can use their craft to demonstrate that the web is supposed to be about real people making real connections.

Reference- https://99designs.com/blog/trends/web-design-trends-2019/

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#web design services #ecommerce Web design company #innovative web design #innovative design trends #Web Design Ideas #web design principles

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sammihain300 · 5 years

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The Truth Behind 9/11

The conspiracy theories started flying just days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC. Over the decade since, several technically elaborate claims have been refined by the “9/11 Truth” movement. Do these intricate arguments—including the rapid collapses of the towers, alleged evidence of thermite usage at Ground Zero, and the collapse of World Trade Center (WTC) 7 (a forty-seven-story building damaged by the fall of WTC 1) “into its own footprint at freefall acceleration”—disprove the mainstream consensus that the September 11, 2001, attacks were the work of al-Qaeda terrorists using hijacked airplanes? In a word: No.after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC. Over the decade since, several technically elaborate claims have been refined by the “9/11 Truth” movement. Do these intricate arguments—including the rapid collapses of the towers, alleged evidence of thermite usage at Ground Zero, and the collapse of World Trade Center (WTC) 7 (a forty-seven-story building damaged by the fall of WTC 1) “into its own footprint at freefall acceleration”—disprove the mainstream consensus that the September 11, 2001, attacks were the work of al-Qaeda terrorists using hijacked airplanes? In a word: No.

The Players

Dylan Avery and Jason Bermas, the creators of the low-budget documentary film Loose Change, did much to give the 9/11 Truth movement significant momentum in 2005 and in following years. The film, which has undergone several revisions, has been shown on many television stations but is primarily an Internet and DVD phenomenon. Its basic claims are that Flight 77 could not have accounted for the damage at the Pentagon, that the Twin Tower fires were insufficient to cause their collapse, and that cell phone calls from the hijacked airplanes would have been impossible at the time (Avery 2009).

David Ray Griffin is a theologian whose voluminous writings on 9/11 are frequently cited by other 9/11 theorists. NASA scientist Ryan Mackey has written a very thorough critique of Griffin’s claims (Mackey 2008).

Once known as Fleischmann and Pons’s competitor for “cold fusion” research in Utah, Steven Jones has written several 9/11 Truth articles. His work with others (including chemist Niels Harrit of Denmark) on detecting nanothermite in WTC dust is frequently cited as “peer-reviewed research” that proves “inside job” claims.

Physics teacher David Chandler has produced several papers and Internet videos contending that high school physics easily shows that the tower collapses could not have happened from gravity alone. He claims this proves that explosives must have been used.

In the past few years, architect Richard Gage’s group, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911 Truth), has provided “Truthers” with the ability to claim that thousands of engineering and architecture professionals demand a new investigation into the cause of the attacks. Gage travels the world giving presentations, and his group puts on news conferences and mock debates several times a year (but most often around September 11, the anniversary of the attack) (Thomas 2009; Thomas 2010c).

Hollywood stars who have publicly supported 9/11 Truth claims include Rosie O’Donnell, Charlie Sheen, and Ed Asner. Sheen often talks 9/11 with radio host Alex Jones (www.infowars.com). These celebrities frequently cite (and sometimes mangle) claims made by Truther proponents like Griffin and Gage. Former wrestler and Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura has done two 9/11 conspiracy shows on his TruTV series Conspiracy Theory (see “Dave Thomas vs. Jesse Ventura: The Skeptical Smackdown”).

The Claims

As with any well-developed pseudoscience, literally thousands of individual arguments can be advanced in support of the proposition that the United States secretly carried out the September 11 attacks. This report will examine the most enduring and oft cited of these claims: “free fall” of the towers, reports of thermite and molten steel, and WTC 7’s curious collapse. Some of the factions that have developed (such as the “no-planers”) will also be described briefly.

Claim One:

“The Twin Towers collapsed at free-fall accelerations through the path of greatest resistance.”

Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of September 11 was the rapid destruction of both 110-story Twin Towers: after the collapses began due to cascading structural failures at the airplane impact locations, each tower fell completely in just fifteen to twenty seconds. Mainstream scientific analyses, including years of work by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), generally looked at the cause of each collapse: the intense fires (started by jet fuel and fed by office contents and high winds) eventually caused floor trusses to sag, pulling the perimeter walls inward until they finally snapped. At this instant, the entire upper section of each tower fell the height of one floor, initiating an inevitable, progressive, and utterly catastrophic collapse of each of the structures.

While the mainstream explanation (dismissed as the “official story” by 9/11 Truthers) usually ends with the initiation of these unstoppable collapses, the 9/11 Truth movement’s attacks begin there. Gage of AE911 Truth says on that group’s website, “Destruction [of the Twin Towers] proceeds through the path of greatest resistance at nearly free-fall acceleration” (Gage 2011; emphasis added). Many 9/11 Truther pundits drop the “nearly” and say simply that the collapses were at free fall. Truthers then insist that free fall acceleration indicates a complete lack of resistance, proving that the structures were demolished with explosives. We are also told that the sheer mass of the towers, “80,000 tons of structural steel,” would simply resist collapse.

How could the buildings fall so quickly? It’s been explained very well in the technical literature by Northwestern’s Zdenek Bazant, PhD, and others (see, for example, Bazant 2008). I’ve developed a simpler physics model of the progressive collapses that agrees quite well with the main points of Bazant’s more rigorous results (Thomas 2010b). Here are some of my findings:

Each floor of the towers contained over two million kilograms of mass. The gravitational potential energy of a standing tower with twelve-foot floors extending upward 110 stories can be calculated straightforwardly; it comes to over 420 billion joules of energy, or the equivalent of 100 tons of TNT per tower. This energy, which was released completely during the collapses, is more than the energy of some of the smaller nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal, such as the W-48 (72 tons TNT) (Sublette 2006). This is where the energy required to break columns, pulverize concrete, and expel debris through windows came from. (Truthers often compare such expulsions of air and debris, visible several floors below the collapse fronts, to “squibs,” explosive devices often used in demolitions. However, they are readily explained by pressure changes as the towers, acting like a gigantic bicycle pump being compressed, collapsed.)

The Twin Towers used a “tube within a tube” architectural design, which provided considerable open office space in the interiors of the Towers. Much of the structural support was provided by a dense grouping of thick central core columns in the interior and the perimeter walls on the outside. When the towers began to collapse, large parts of the inner cores (called “the Spires” in 9/11 Truth circles) were actually left standing, briefly, before they, too, toppled over. The perimeter walls were largely forced to peel outward in large sections, producing the iconic images of Ground Zero with which we’re all familiar. Between the outer perimeter and the inner core, the weight of the upper sections plowed through one floor after another, breaking the floor connection brackets and support columns, pulverizing concrete decks, and gaining momentum and mass with each additional floor failure. Had the buildings been constructed differently (the Port Authority was allowed to circumvent some existing New York buildings requirements for the Towers), the collapses might not have even happened (Young 2007).

Even the 9/11 Truth movement’s most eminent physicists are confused about the basic principle of the difference between static and dynamic forces. A piece of paper, taped across a jar’s opening, will support a heavy coin such as a quarter indefinitely (static load). However, if the coin is dropped from just a few inches up, it will tear right through the paper (dynamic load). Given the information at hand—for example, the mass of the upper section of the north tower (fifty-eight million kilograms), the distance it fell (3.8 meters, about twelve feet), and the stiffness/rigidity of the lower structure itself, the dynamic force imparted on the lower section can be estimated as some thirty times the upper portion’s weight. This is many times the lower structure’s safety margin, which explains why it was quickly overwhelmed.

Once progressive collapse began, there were decreasing time intervals of free fall (between floors), punctuated by very brief, incredibly violent collisions—decelerations—of the upper mass, for each floor in turn. There was resistance at every step of the collapse, as the upper section collided with and incorporated each floor below. Conservation of momentum shows that the reductions in falling speed were slight as each floor was impacted, going as the ratio of floors before to floors after (e.g. 14/15, or about 94 percent, for the first impact). Accordingly, the upper section fell from rest to about 19 mph, was slowed down to 18 mph by the first impact, continued to fall until a speed of 26 mph was reached, was then slowed down to 24 mph by another impact, and so on. While the first plunge lasted about nine-tenths of a second, the upper section took only four-tenths of a second to fall through the next floor, three-tenths of a second for the next one, and so on until the bottom floors, which were crushed at a rate of just seven-hundredths of a second each, at speeds of over 100 mph. Yes, there was resistance at every step, as many tons of structural steel was demolished; yet the entire process, like an avalanche, lasted only fifteen to twenty seconds, about 50 to 100 percent longer than true “free fall” would have lasted.

Physics teacher David Chandler’s measurements of the first seconds of the collapse of the North Tower (WTC 1) showed that it fell with increasing speed but at only two-thirds of gravitational acceleration (g) (Chandler 2010). Chandler argues that this means the bottom section exerted a constant upward force of one-third of the upper section’s weight upon its mass, and he declares that this force should have been much larger, indicating that “some sort of controlled demolition was at work.”

Second, Chandler argues that being a Newtonian action/reaction pair, the impact force of the upper section on the lower section was only a third of the upper part’s weight. However, I’ve found that his estimate of the downward impact force was too low by a factor of one hundred. In addition, I found that the actual process—a series of twelve-foot free falls punctuated by violent and brief collisions with each floor—would have resulted in an average acceleration of precisely what Chandler measured for the start of the collapse of WTC 1, namely 2/3 g. (By the end of the collapse, my calculations indicate an average acceleration of only 1/3 g, but this can’t be measured in dust-obscured videos.)

Claim Two:

“Nano-thermite and military-grade explosives were found in dust from the towers. Tons of melted steel were found in tower debris.”

The thermite reaction is very hot, but it is also very slow compared to high explosives.

Real controlled demolitions commonly use explosives to topple large buildings. However, the hallmarks of actual demolitions (the characteristic “boom-boom-boom-boom” sounds and the flashes of high explosives) were completely absent in Manhattan on the morning of September 11, 2001. Many 9/11 Truth advocates, including architect Richard Gage, insist that high explosives must have been used to bring down the Twin Towers, as they say this is the only process that can possibly explain the “ejection of debris hundreds of feet from the towers.” However, they simultaneously insist that thermite or a derivative (thermate, nanothermite, etc.) was used instead, so as to topple the towers quietly. (This is but one of many instances in which 9/11 Truth claims flatly contradict each other.) Thermite itself fails as an explanation for the destruction of the Towers on many levels:

The thermite reaction, which takes place between iron oxide (rust) and powdered aluminum, is practical for welding train tracks in the field and for destroying engines of vehicles that must be left behind during combat operations. The self-sustaining reaction, once initiated with heat, produces significant volumes of molten iron, which can melt and cut iron structures beneath it. For thermite to melt through a normally vertical steel beam, however, special high-temperature containment must be added to prevent the molten iron from simply dropping straight down uselessly. The thermite reaction is very hot, but it is also very slow compared to high explosives. Thermite is simply not practical for carrying out a controlled demolition, and there is no documentation of it ever having been used for that purpose.

Jesse Ventura hired New Mexico Tech to show how nanothermite can slice through a large steel beam. The experiment was a total failure—even in the optimum (horizontal) configuration, the layer of nanothermite produced lots of flame and smoke but no actual damage to the massive I-beam tested. However, Ventura’s TruTV Conspiracy Theory show slyly passed it off as a rousing success (Thomas 2010a).

Niels Harrit and Steven Jones, along with several coauthors, published the “peer-reviewed” paper “Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe” in the Bentham Open Chemical Physics Journal (Harrit 2009). This article does not make the case for thermite use on 9/11. The paper examined “distinctive red/gray chips” found in WTC dust (unfortunately, with no chain of custody for the dust), and these were claimed to be thermitic because of their composition (iron oxides and pure aluminum) and other chemical properties. However, the presence of rust and aluminum does not prove the use of thermite, because iron oxide and aluminum are found in manycommon items that existed in the towers. Furthermore, the authors admit that their “differential scanning calorimeter” measurements of the supposed thermitic material showed results at about 450 degrees C below the temperature at which normal thermite reacts (Fana 2006). Finally, the scan of the red side of the “thermitic material” of Harrit/Jones is a dead-on match to material Jones himself identified as “WTC Steel Primer Paint” in his Hard Evidence Down Under Tour in November of 2009 (“Sunstealer” 2011).

Harrit’s article describes the red portion of the chips as “unreacted thermitic material.” But while thermite may be slow, it does not stop its reaction once it has begun. Because thermite supplies its own oxygen (via iron oxides), it can even burn underwater. Suggesting that the samples show partially reacted thermite is preposterous. Claiming that thermite would explain molten pools of steel weeks and months after the attack is equally preposterous.

The article’s publication process was so politicized and bizarre that the editor-in-chief of the Bentham journal that featured Jones’s article, Marie-Paule Pileni, resigned in protest (Hoffman 2009).

Thermitic demolition should have created copious pools of melted steel at Ground Zero, but nothing remotely like this was ever found. Truthers say iron microspheres found in the rubble indicate thermite; since hot fires and spot-welding do produce very tiny spheres of iron, though, these “microspheres” are not unexpected. Pictures of cranes holding red-hot materials in the rubble are said to show molten steel. Had this been the case, however, the crane rigs would have immediately seized up (Blanchard 2006). No reports of “molten steel” in the tower basements have ever been credibly verified (Roberts 2008). Some Truthers claim that a few pieces of sulfidized “eutectic” steel found in the towers proves thermate (thermite with sulfur) usage, but this occurred because sulfur, released from burned drywall, corroded the steel as it stewed in the pile for weeks (Roberts 2008).

Claim Three:

“Tower 7, which wasn’t hit by a plane, collapsed neatly into its own footprint.”

Courtesy of the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

The enigma of WTC 7 is becoming increasingly popular in Truther circles. We’re told that it wasn’t hit by a plane and was subjected to just a few “small office fires.” Yet it collapsed anyway, late in the afternoon of September 11, “falling neatly into its own footprint at freefall acceleration, just like a normal controlled demolition.” In particular, Truthers point to a brief period of freefall (2.25 seconds) that was confirmed by NIST in its WTC 7 final report (Sunder 2008; NIST 2010) as proving that the building was purposely imploded. However, WTC 7, too, fails to prove 9/11 was an “inside job”:

What is often conveniently left out of the story are actual reports from NYFD firefighters at the scene, which describe huge, raging, unfought fires on many floors at once and visible deformations and creaking of the building prior to its collapse (Roberts 2008). Tower 7 was not hit by an airplane; however, it was struck by a 110-story flaming skyscraper, the North Tower. The fires raged for hours, and they eventually caused a critical column (#79) to fail because of thermal expansion; NIST determined that this column was crucial to the building and could even be considered a design flaw. Its failure would have collapsed the building even without the other structural damage from WTC 1’s collapse and the fires.

WTC 7’s brief 2.25 seconds of free fall is now the Truthers’ best “smoking gun.” The claim usually goes like this: “The fifty-eight perimeter columns would have resisted and slowed the collapse to much less than freefall. The ‘freefall’ of WTC 7, admitted to by NIST, proves it was controlled demolition.” The problem is that this is a straw man argument. NIST found the collapse occurred in three stages. The first stage, which lasted 1.75 seconds, is when the fifty-eight perimeter columns were buckled; during this interval, the rooftop actually fell only about seven feet. This is because the breaking of columns saps speed, indeed making the collapse slower than free fall. In the second stage, which lasted 2.25 seconds, the already-buckled columns provided negligible support, and the north face of the structure free-fell about eight stories. (Try taking a plastic drinking straw and buckling it by folding it over and then pushing down on the bent straw with your hand. The crimped straw provides almost no resistance to vertical forces, and neither did the buckled columns of WTC 7.) The third stage described by NIST, which lasted 1.4 seconds, was again less-than-free fall, as the structure fell another 130 feet as it impacted more non-buckled structures toward the bottom of the building (NIST 2010).

The other half of the equation is that WTC 7 resembles a “classic controlled demolition” because it supposedly “imploded, collapsing completely, and landed in its own footprint” (Gage 2011). In actuality, it twisted and tilted over to one side as it fell, and parts of the building severely damaged two neighboring buildings (the Verizon and Fiterman Hall structures). When challenged with the obvious fact that Tower 7 spilled far outside its footprint, however, Truthers will often change their tune and start saying that any resemblance to a natural collapse is part of the cover-up.

Early on, it was mainly MIHOP (“Made it happen on purpose”) versus LIHOP (“Let it happen on purpose”). Nowadays most serious Truthers down-pedal the “no-planers,” who say no plane hit the Pentagon or even the Towers. There is considerable friction between some groups, with certain 9/11 Truth groups attacking others as “disinformation agents.” However, 9/11 Truth is mostly a big tent. Many “serious” groups such as AE911 Truth quietly champion “no-planers” such as former pilot Dwain Deets, engineer Anders Bjorkman, and Craig Ranke of Citizen Investigation Team (CIT) (Gage 2011). Gage formally withdrew his support of CIT in February 2011, even as his website touted 9/11 articles in Foreign Policy Journal, an online publication notorious for its frequent forays into Holocaust denial.

Conclusion

As Ted Goertzel pointed out in his recent Skeptical Inquirer article “The Conspiracy Meme: Why Conspiracy Theories Appeal and Persist,” “When an alleged fact is debunked, the conspiracy meme often just replaces it with another fact” (Goertzel 2011). In another ten years, will the 9/11 Truth movement have developed new arguments, or will it stick with the polished claims discussed here? Either way, it appears this American conspiracy theory classic is here to stay.

The 9/11 Truth Conspiracy Is a Distraction from the Real Crimes of Our Government

Americans love a conspiracy. According to a May 17 Zogby poll, 42 percent believe the U.S. government and the 9/11 Commission are covering up what really happened on Sept. 11, 2001.

There is something comforting about a world where someone is in charge–either for good (think gods) or evil (think Bush insiders plotting 9/11). Many people prefer to believe a Procrustean conspiracy rather than accept the alternative: Life can be random, viciously unjust and meaningless; tragedy and joy alike flow from complex combinations of good and bad intentions, careful plotting, random happenstance and bumbling incompetence.

Conspiracy hypotheses often consist of a vast pile of circumstantial evidence shaped into a seemingly coherent whole with the strong glue of faith. Debunk one or even many allegations and the pile still stands, impressive in its bulk and ideological coherence. If size were all, it would convince Pyrrho himself.

Scientific theories, on the other hand, depend on interlocking chains of evidence: The integrity of the whole relies on the soundness of each link. Break any one and the theory founders.

The 9/11 conspiracy is a classic example of a faith-based pile hypothesis. Its proponents cite a mountain of evidence to conclude that the U.S. government perpetrated the 9/11 attacks for its own traitorous ends, chiefly staging “a new Pearl Harbor” to rally support for an invasion of Iraq.

I spent months as a researcher conducting a fact-by-fact dissection of a few key aspects of this hypothesis. I approached the project knowing that U.S. cabals had previously concocted casus belli to drive public support for war: the Gulf of Tonkin for Vietnam, incubator babies for the first Gulf War. And clearly from its early days, the Bush administration had lusted for war with Iraq.

But the hypothesis that it planned and executed the 9/11 attacks is just not supported by a chain of evidence, nor do the facts support the conspiracists' key charge that World Trade Center buildings were destroyed by pre-positioned explosives.

Structural engineers found the destruction consistent with fires caused by the jet liner strike; that temperatures need not actually melt the steel but that expansion and other fire-related stresses would account for compromised architectural integrity.

When David Ray Griffin, a theologian by trade, said it was “physically impossible by laws of physics” for the planes alone to have brought down the towers, I asked what engineers had confirmed that. “I haven't talked to any because they would be too afraid to tell the truth,” he said. “How would you be able to protect your family if you were to accuse the government?” he asked, accusing the government.

Many conspiracists offer the collapse of WTC Building 7 as the strongest evidence for the kind of controlled demolition that would prove a plot. Although not hit by planes, it was damaged by debris, and suffered fires eventually fueled by up to 42,000 gallons of diesel fuel stored near ground level. Griffin cited as evidence of government complicity that the building's sprinkler system should have, but didn't, put out the fires. But the theologian did not know and had not considered that the collapse of the towers had broken the area's water main.

Another conspiracist, Alex Jones, writes on his Web site, “Larry Silverstein, the owner of the WTC complex, admitted … that he and the NYFD decided to 'pull' WTC 7.” (Leave aside how unlikely it would be for the government to include Silverstein in a treasonous conspiracy, or that the NYFD was in on it, too.)

Silverstein's actual quote: “I remember getting a call from the fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were going to be able to contain the fire, and I said, 'We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it.' And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse.”

Jones continues: “The word 'pull' is industry jargon for taking a building down with explosives.” In fact, a Lexis Nexis search for a three-year period fails to find one American reference to “pull a building” without the preposition “down” when referring to intentional destruction. An alternative explanation would be that given the lack of water and the number of injured and missing firefighters, the NYFD decided to pull workers from Building 7 to concentrate on search and rescue at the fallen towers.

In the end, this kind of undermining of individual “facts,” although relatively easy, is irrelevant for those who base their beliefs on piles rather than chains of evidence.

But the work should be done. Pile conspiracies can be dangerous. Those who deny that HIV is responsible for AIDS, for example, have contributed to unnecessary infections and deaths.

And the 9/11 conspiracy hypotheses distract from the growing chain of evidence documenting how the Bush administration actually manipulated this country to war on a train of lies riding tracks of fear–cynically using the bodies of the 9/11 victims as fuel.

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HISTORY DEPT.

What Trump and Clinton Did on 9/11

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump took different paths on that day. Their experiences shaped them and their campaigns.

By MICHAEL KRUSE

September 10, 2016

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Michael Kruse is a senior staff writer for Politico.

Hours after terrorists piloted hijacked jets into the World Trade Center’s twin towers, Donald Trump agreed to do a live phone interview on local television in New York. Alan Marcus, who was working that day for WWOR as an on-air analyst, asked the real estate mogul to step into a role that seemed fanciful at the time.

“In the year 2000, Donald,” said Marcus, a former Trump publicist, consultant and friend, “you considered running for president. If you had done that, and if you had been successful, what do you think you’d be doing right now?”

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“Well,” Trump answered, “I’d be taking a very, very tough line. I mean, you know, most people feel they know at least approximately the group of people that did this and where they are. But boy would you have to take a hard line on this. This just can’t be tolerated.”

Compared to the flame-throwing temperament he has demonstrated throughout his current presidential campaign, the most striking revelation of the video from September 11, 2001—plucked exclusively at POLITICO’s request from the WWOR archives—is Trump’s composure and tone. A decade and a half before pledging to “bomb the shit out of” ISIS and proposing a deportation force and a Muslim ban, Trump didn’t talk about retribution or leap to conclusions about who was responsible. In fact, he avoided identifying potential enemies—any terrorist organization or Muslims in general. He spoke cogently and even poignantly about New York’s changed skyline and the need to never forget.

Only parenthetically in the middle of the 10-minute conversation did Trump turn to a favorite topic—size. “40 Wall Street,” he said, referring to his 71-story building blocks away from the now-collapsed twin towers, “actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest—and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest.”

Marcus chalked up the remark to “Donald being Donald. … He is the brand manager of Trump, and he is going to tout that brand, and he does it reflexively,” he said. “Even on that day.”

Trump calls into WWOR-TV on 9/11

Donald Trump says his building is tallest in lower Manhattan after fall of twin towers of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. From Fox 5 News NY: http://bit.ly/2cspghV

Donald Trump says his building is tallest in lower Manhattan after fall of twin towers

Trump calls into WWOR-TV about the 9/11 attacks

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That day, 15 years ago this Sunday, thrust many people into new roles. While Trump was trying on the mantle of statesman, Hillary Clinton’s visibility was given a sudden boost. Before the end of the day, Clinton, then the junior senator from New York with less than a year on the job and scrupulously deferential to her senior colleagues, would find herself on CNN, being interviewed in primetime by the network’s congressional correspondent, Jonathan Karl.

“We have to make it very clear,” she continued, “that we cannot permit any state, any government, any institution or individual to pursue terrorism aims that are directed at the United States or any country with impunity. So I’m hoping that this is the kind of dramatic, terrible catastrophe that unites the entire civilized world.”

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As the Trump and Clinton campaigns mark this anniversary by going temporarily dark—a brief respite from a toxic, unsettling campaign—it is possible to see their respective experiences on September 11 as turning points that seem especially resonant now as these two candidates with deep New York connections vie bitterly for the job of leader of the free world.

Clinton was early in her first stint as a politician in her own right, after more than a decade as the wife of a governor and eight years as the wife of the president. One of the most famous women in the world wanted to be seen, she said, as “a workhorse, not a show horse.”

Trump was more than a decade removed from his rise in the late ‘80s and his fall of the early ‘90s, well past his first spate of corporate bankruptcies and his brush with personal financial disaster—but he was still two-plus years from the opening episode of The Apprentice, the reality TV show that elevated his fame to unprecedented heights. At this juncture, though, Trump was a businessman in New York, a debt-saddled owner of casinos in Atlantic City and planning a new building in Chicago. He had divorced his second wife. He was dating the woman who would become his third, the former Melania Knauss. He was a registered Democrat. He had just toyed with running for president, again, this time on the Reform Party ticket, generating headlines and eye rolls. He was known mostly for being known. “He was a nonentity,” Trump biographer Tim O’Brien said. “Someone who was trying to regain his status as a player,” longtime New York gossip columnist George Rush added.

In the ensuing years, he would use his TV-charged celebrity to barge more seriously onto the national political scene, currying favor with far-right portions of the population by pushing conspiracy theories about President Obama’s birthplace. And Clinton would work as a senator to secure aid for victims and workers of the 9/11 attacks and then go on to become a key cabinet member to the same president Trump needled, furthering as Secretary of State an international prominence as large as the made-for-TV boss from The Apprentice.

But both of them started that day like everybody else—as witnesses to the unfolding horror.

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Trump was in New York, on Fifth Avenue in Trump Tower, where he works and lives, and he watched first on TV and then out his windows, staring four miles south at the black smoke in the blue sky.

“We saw it,” said George Ross, a longtime attorney for Trump and an executive vice president of the Trump Organization. “We saw it out the window. I was sitting in his office.” Ross described the mood in the office as “unbelief.”

“We were listening to the news, like everybody else,” he said.

Clinton, meanwhile, was down in Washington, at her home on Whitehaven. She had CNN on as she talked on the phone with her legislative director when the first plane hit. Then the second. By the time she got to the Capitol, the Pentagon had been hit by a third plane. Capitol police were evacuating Senate office buildings. She dialed her daughter, who was in New York. She dialed her husband, who was in Australia. She and other senators received a briefing at the Capitol police station early in the evening. And after “a day indelibly etched in my mind,” and as nightfall approached, Clinton joined congressional colleagues on the steps of the Capitol, standing next to some of her fiercest political opponents, singing “God Bless America” with tears in her eyes.

But maybe the most surprising difference between Clinton and Trump on September 11 and in the nerve-racking days and weeks that followed: She, not he, sounded like the tougher talker.

In the immediate aftermath of the worst terrorist attacks in the history of the country, Trump talked publicly mostly about the buildings, and his buildings, and market ramifications and the character and resiliency of the citizens of the city where he’s lived almost his entire life. But reporters then had only so much reason to ask him about issues of national security or foreign policy.

In Clinton’s voice, though, in remarks in news conferences and TV interviews and on the Senate floor, there was an audible mixture of patriotism and hopes for bipartisanship—and vengeance, too. A full week before President Bush painted a stark divide of a new world—“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,” he said in an address to a joint session of Congress on September 20—Clinton expressed the identical idea, and in equally bellicose terms, on CBS Evening News. “Every nation has to be either with us, or against us,” she told Dan Rather. “Those who harbor terrorists, or who finance them, are going to pay a price.”

***

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The night of September 10, 2001, Trump was at a Marc Jacobs fashion show in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, cheering from the front rowhe shared with Hilary Swank, Sarah Jessica Parker and Monica Lewinsky.

Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown was there, too, and spotted his “bobbing-custard comb-over,” she would write later in the Washington Post.

“How are you?” she asked.

“Bigger than ever,” he said.

The next morning, Trump stayed in his apartment in Trump Tower longer than normal, he would tell shock jock Howard Stern, because he wanted to watch a TV interview with Jack Welch, who had retired as the CEO of General Electric and had a new business book he was publicizing called Straight from the Gut. News programming broke in after the first plane hit.

“I saw the whole thing,” Trump told Stern, saying he had windows from which he could see the World Trade Center. “I mean, specifically, I have two windows that are focused on the building.” He made his way 40 floors down to his office.

He called Larry Silverstein, the real estate magnate who recently had purchased the World Trade Center lease—“a very sad call,” Trump would tell Real Estate Weekly.

He talked briefly with a reporter from the New York Times. Randal C. Archibold had been assigned a story on building security in the city.

“It was hard getting people on the phones,” Archibold said this week. “The telephones were screwy because of the attacks. I basically called him because I knew he had a reputation of being fairly accessible. I figured it was a good shot.”

Archibold left a message with a secretary. Trump called back quickly.

Trump said he had heard many people who worked in offices at 40 Wall Street had scrambled over piles of debris to flee. He said he and other owners of buildings would have to reassess safety precautions—but pointed out the difficulty of guarding against an attack from the air.

“When they start dealing with airplanes,” Trump told Archibold, “that’s beyond anything you can do but bring in the Air Force to get them before they get you.”

What Archibold remembers about the conversation, he said, wasn’t so much what Trump said but how he said it.

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“He wasn’t bombastic in any way,” Archibold said. “There was no anger or bile in his voice. I remember he was, I think, like everybody else, in shock and dismayed at what happened. I wouldn’t say somber—but not like you see on the campaign trail today. I don’t remember him being the kind of character you see now, kind of … very forceful, let’s call it.”

And Trump did the WWOR interview, similar in tenor.

“This country is different today,” Trump said, “and it’s going to be different than it ever was for many years to come.”

He added, “I guess the big thing you really will have to do is never forget.”

“He was terrific for most of the interview,” Marcus said, but the tallest-building comment was par for the course for Trump—“ready, fire, aim,” Marcus said, “never ready, aim, fire.”

“I think it was an all-of-a-sudden epiphany for him, and he seemed to just blurt it out,” Rolland Smith, one of the anchors of that day’s coverage of the attacks, said this week.

“We’re all New Yorkers. We all had interviewed him,” said Brenda Blackmon, the other WWOR anchor who conducted the interview. “It was a shock, but not a surprise.”

Including the calls and the interviews, Trump didn’t do much out of the ordinary that day, said Ross, the attorney and executive vice president of the Trump Organization.

“It was just a day like any other day, except it was a horrible situation,” he said. “We were in business, and this went down.”

In Washington, Clinton’s business that day was supposed to include a Senate hearing on early childhood education. Laura Bush, her successor in the East Wing of the White House, was scheduled to testify. Looking forward to discussion about a subject that was a lifelong interest of hers, Clinton opted to wear a cheerful yellow suit.

When she saw on CNN the second plane hit the south tower while on the phone with Ann O’Leary, her legislative director, “she knew it was terrorism,” according to O’Leary. “She knew already, or suspected, which terrorist organization it was. She was very concerned about whether our country was ready, and raised these concerns on the call, and said, ‘I need to come in immediately. I need to get off the phone. I need to get in my car and come to the Senate.’”

Capitol police started ordering people out of congressional office buildings. O’Leary led 15 or so junior staffers outside. Clinton’s Secret Service Suburban pulled up.

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“She kind of held her hands out,” O’Leary said, “and we came to her …”

Clinton saw Gene Sperling, an economic adviser to her husband, and called to him to get into her vehicle. He watched her try to reach her daughter in New York, try to reach FEMA, try to make sense of the mounting national calamity.

“It was like watching her move back and forth from each role in her life minute by minute,” Sperling told John Harris a few months later. “Then suddenly, the radio announcer starts screaming, ‘Oh my God, the World Trade Tower has collapsed, oh my God, the World Trade Tower has collapsed …’”

By the time Clinton sang “God Bless America” in the fading light on the steps of the Capitol before going on CNN, she was no longer wearing yellow. She was wearing black.

“We can’t let these evil acts in any way deter us from making it clear that the United States is resolute,” Clinton told Karl, the congressional correspondent, “and we are going to support the president.”

The next morning, September 12, in remarks on the Senate floor, she said, “My daughter told me that it was one of those days where the skies were totally clear and there was a breeze and people were starting to line up at the polling places to vote because it was primary day, election day—a continuation of the commitment to democracy and self-government that has set us apart from every society that has ever existed because of the longevity of our democracy and the will of our people to constantly renew ourselves. New Yorkers went from standing in line to vote to standing in line to donate blood in just a few hours.”

She said, “I have expressed my strong support for the president—not only as the senator from New York, but as someone for eight years who has some sense of the burdens and responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of the human being we make our president.”

That afternoon, she joined her fellow senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, and also Charles Rangel, the Democratic congressman from New York, and boarded a FEMA plane to New York, where they got into a helicopter, which flew to Ground Zero and circled above the smoking, twisted wreckage. Clinton described it “like a scene out of Dante’s Inferno.”

“From the sky as we flew in, looking down on the Trade Center, what I saw were what looked like the gates of Hell,” she said, according to the New Yorker. “Any person of faith knows that evil is omnipresent, and the struggle we face is to overcome the tendency to lash out in violence at each other. My religion starts with the story of one brother murdering another. Human nature is always going to challenge us. But I believe that God has a purpose, and the challenge of being human is to overcome the cheap, easy allure of evil.”

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On the ground, wearing a surgical mask, the caustic air burned her lungs and eyes as she toured the disaster site with New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and governor George Pataki. She caught the last train out of Penn Station before it closed for the night.

Two days after the attacks, in a private meeting with Republican and Democratic colleagues at the Capitol, she described what she had seen, according to the New York Daily News, choking back tears. Later, she met with the president in the Oval Office, her first visit there since she was First Lady, along with Schumer wrangling from Bush a commitment for $20 billion of federal aid for New York alone—$11 billion of which was ultimately provided. Clinton told Bush, Frank Bruni would write, “that few people could understand the loneliness of the White House, but that she did, and she wanted him to know that.”

As that was happening in Washington, Trump was in New York, spotted walking near Ground Zero, according to Newsday, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and red tie and talking into his cell phone. “No, no,” he was overheard saying. “The building’s gone.”

Four blocks from the site, he did an interview with a news station in Germany.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump told the reporter, Stephan Bachenheimer. “The devastation. The human life that’s been just wasted, for no reason whatsoever. It is a terrible scene. It is a terrible sight. But New Yorkers are very strong and resilient, and they’ll rebuild quickly.”

He told Bachenheimer workers of his were pitching in with the recovery. “We have a lot of men down here right now,” he said. “We have over 100, another 125 coming.”

“Mr. Trump,” Bachenheimer asked, “what should be the response to this attack How should the U.S. respond …?”

“Well,” Trump said, squinting into the sun, “I think they have to respond quickly and effectively. They have to find out exactly what the cause was, who did it, and they have to go after these people, because there is no other choice.” He spoke of the challenge of preventing such an attack. “People were willing to die,” he said, “and when they’re willing to die, and when they’re willing to be kamikazes in a sense, there’s very little you can do about it.”

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In an interview this week from France, where Bachenheimer was vacationing, he said it seemed like Trump was in a hurry. “He said, ‘How long does it take? I have very little time,’” Bachenheimer said. Then he answered questions for longer than expected.

The cameraman, Markus Zeffler, said it’s often difficult to get VIP-type Americans to agree to go on foreign TV stations. This, he recalled, was not the case with Trump. Zeffler told Trump their station was like German CNN. “It wasn’t hard to convince him to come on,” he said.

The following day, September 14, Clinton joined her husband and four other former presidents at a prayer service at Washington’s National Cathedral.

On Monday of the following week, she traveled to New York, where she was on hand to re-open the New York Stock Exchange.

Trump that day talked on the phone to a reporter from the New York Post about what should happen at Ground Zero.

“Once they get it cleared—and that is going to be a very long process—we will all have a better idea of what can be done on the site,” he said. “The current mindset is to put up new towers, and I agree with that.”

But they shouldn’t be exact replicas, he added.

“To be blunt, they were not great buildings,” Trump said. “They only became great upon their demise last Tuesday.”

***

Clinton, it is now clear, would get one thing really wrong in the weeks and months after September 11.

Nicholas Lemann of the New Yorker met with her in Washington in late September and asked if she thought the attacks in some sense would prove to be a unifying force—if the diabolical havoc of the day would rid the national debate of extreme polarization and anti-government rage.

“I think the answer is that we saw government in action,” she said. “It wasn’t some abstract target of our discontent. It was the firefighters. It was the emergency workers. It was the elected officials who were leading and comforting. It had a human face. And now, when we’re looking at the war against terrorism, we’re asking ourselves: How do we beef up security? Well, maybe the government has to do more. How do we root out these terrorists? Well, the government has to come up with the plans and the intelligence and the resources. We had the luxury—some might say the failure of historical understanding—after the end of the Cold War that gave people the idea that they didn’t need a government, or they needed it in only the most rudimentary way, and there was a collective sense of misunderstanding about what government is and does.”

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In her first memoir, Living History, published in 2003, she would write, “That September morning changed me …”

And in an interview in 2006, she would say, “I felt this overwhelming sense of loss, and commitment and obligation to do everything I could do …”

Trump, on the other hand, would tell the Chicago Sun-Times a week after the attacks he was looking at design options in the planning of his tower in that city, “some tall, some not so tall,” he said. “Tall buildings are what make architecture in Chicago and New York great.” (That’s not the way the architects remembered it, one of the architects said later, the Chicago Tribune reporting Trump’s representatives no longer wanted the tower “to be the world’s tallest building. Shorter would be better.”)

Not two months after the attacks, Trump gave a speech to Wharton Business School graduates, according to Real Estate Weekly. In the question-and-answer session, one of them told Trump he had just before September 11 bought an apartment near what had turned into Ground Zero.

“What should I do now?” he asked.

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