#to make impossibly large timescales make sense to me

[transingthoseformers]

Early in the sixth episode of TFA Ratchet mentions that Cybertronians have been around for 10 billion years (in this universe at least) and you KNOW I've gotta run those numbers and use them to figure out how this mess (aka Cybertronians) happened. Maybe it's not a good idea to read the read more bc evolutionary science is CRAZY COMPLICATED

Bc the universe in the irl canon is what we consider around 13.7 billion years (it could be more for all we know but for now it looks like that) so that means in TFA Cybertronians developed when the universe was 3.7 billion years old-- pretty young. so you know as i am someone really into paleobiology and evolutionary science so little numbers like this make me very interested

bc other sources suggest the War was around 4 million years and one of my main HCs is that a Cybertronian lifespan is around 24 million years but if anybody has anything different please tell me. I'm going to take this line as when life began on Cybertron bc that's a smaller unit to deal with aaaand if it's referring to modern Cybertronians then idk what to say.

I particularly do not like the idea that Cybertronians were built by another species or created by one of their gods bc that means another being(s) had already hit pretty advanced levels before these guys. Also all the theistic debates and metaphysical ones. So for simplicity's sake I'm pretending they happened on their own on this case. It took humans 4.2 billion years from single celled organism to homo sapien sapien and around 50,000 to reach behavioral modernity.

Now since Cybertronians have much longer lifespans (not going to choose how new Cybertronians come about bc that's very different per universe not discussing fanon ideas either) but let's use our numbers from the world bank, bc mortality/birth rates varty wildly and we're gonna think very widescale here real quick so let's use the current data of 2.5 births per death because it's actually really hard to get a B:D ratio for an entire species's entire history. Generally, a number i found for rate of evolution was 4% per million years. Now we are gonna want to turn million to billion, bc a human lifespan is approximately 0.00041667% of a robot lifespan. So 4% per billion years for Cybertronians for now. I'm starting to really lose attention, but hang with me.(what counts as modernity honestly I don't even know at this point but around 45,000 is when Neanderthals went extinct but i do consider them fully sapient, but honestly it's the concept of self awareness and purposefully building culture that I'm going by rather than just pure instincts) so around what i got is 4 billion. Four billion years as a species.

Was this a waste of time likely very very likely. But i like that clear cut soft mini society that the fossil records and artifacts that they keep finding and the idea that the whole world seems like it's againat you yet you keep making music and sharing and taking care of each other. When you'd only need to fight each other if something serious happened rather than the petty rich ppl "survival of the fittest" nonsense of today. And I'd like to think of a time in Cybertronian history where it wasn't advanced enough to already be corrupt or at war. Where it was just surviving and building and learning for everyone. I'm in sociology this year, my last year of regular school and we just finished social classes and i feel like that's super useful when worldbuilding with these guys. and I've been coping badly with life so why not try to see how the rich culture of Cybertron built itself before the big crash of corruption and war and destruction. In every series we constantly see the Autobots learning more about human customs, but we rarely see the reverse. IDW is deep in that but i can't find the comics to read. So for now I'm trying to get timescales right to make the idea of living millions of years easier on my small human brain who can barely comprehend living through a whole day.

[bustedbernie]

what do you have to say to a leftist who has most of the same criticisms of the Democratic Party as other leftists, but who has also voted for them in every election in which she's been eligible? "well you didn't vote dumbass" like, literally can't be the sum of your defense for every Democratic political failure, can it?

To be patient, that patience brings fruit. Large-scale change happens over timescales that exceed a presidency or two and if you’re not invested in the long-haul, you’re going to be disappointed. To hold officials accountable, write letters, show up to council meetings and other easily-accessible things, even go to congressional offices. And be aware that what we say and do can affect others and their perceptions. That a lot of what Bernie Bros said in the primaries were directly copy/pasted by republicans to attack us (and it worked in a lot of places) hah. That getting voter participation way up is one of our largest goals regardless of where you sit on the left and being hyper-critical of democrats, calling them failures or corrupt, just doesn’t help that cause. And on that point, democrats have universally excelled at expanding voter access in every place they’ve been empowered to do so. But then, I also don’t think democratic failures as presented by leftists are often democratic failures at all. 

The ACA is pointed to sometimes as a democratic failure by this type, but I just don’t see it as a failure. It was a massive step forward. I think too, on this issue, people see the UK with its NHS, Canada with its various provincial single-payer plans, or France with its Sécurité-Sociale and they want something like that here. But, all of those systems were constructed over time and continue to evolve. And we’re not starting in the aftermath of the war. I think our efforts also need to be framed in the context of our politics. And that’s just not a pill that’s easy for this type to swallow. I mean, how can democrats have failed truly in the last 10 years when Mitch McConnell hasn’t even allowed votes on the most basic of democratic proposals? Are democrats really failing or have we been deprived of the power to make effective change? Despite that, we made some decent progress just with Obama at the helm. When they criticize us for being happy that Trump is gone, are you (or your friend) forgetting that Obama DID somehow get some good things through? It was less stressful? That there was that hope that we could keep making those changes as time passed? 

I think it’s also facetious when they spend so much time talking about democratic failures. Regardless of whether or not this particular friend votes, there are many others like them that don’t. Doesn’t this friend bear some of the onus for these “failures” for not getting others like them to vote Democratic? Democrats have routinely been punished for progressive legislation proposals since the 90s. Part of why the ACA was such a massive win was due to the leftover bruises from when Clinton tried to pass his healthcare proposals. What is this friend doing to change the environment to make these proposals less scary? How do you get people that are open-minded to making changes but who currently are comfortable with the system on board? Because Bernie’s “ban private insurance” chased a lot of folks that would perhaps be in favor of wide healthcare reform away. Or “Castro was chill, he taught people to read...” This is a pretty consistent thing leftists do. If we aren’t meeting people where they are and where they are now, how can we win? 

I guess I’d tell your friend that democrats already do reflect on their failures and it’s an attribute that is built into the party apparatus. I’d ask them why they fail to reflect on their own failures, the failures of the progressive caucus in the most general sense, and the failure of the left itself to take accountability? At what point is this “democratic failure” just a projection to escape accountability? Because I’ve noticed that when AOC says most people in swing districts that supported M4A got reelected, she blocks people on twitter for pointing out that many of those “swing-districts” she cites are D+20 districts. Xochitl Torres-Small was hurt by AOC and Bernie Sanders in a R+2/5 district. How do leftists think anything we want (yes, we, because even most “moderate” dems want many of the same things as the leftists despite their claims), without those marginal districts? And how do we win the Senate at all if we can’t field candidates that can win state-wide? 

I think me and lot of the folks that follow this blog do call themselves leftists, or would call themselves leftists, but don’t want to associate with very vocal people like your friend because though we may be pleased that they are voting well, we are frustrated that this friend is hurting us in other ways. We are frustrated that they call our policy accomplishments half-measures or failures. We are frustrated by how many of our leftist allies are willing to sacrifice the need for social justice for perceived economic gains. There are so many domains and areas where we could really increase our margins that are stymied because we get written off as extreme. Progressives that have won council seats now talk about how getting progressive legislation is almost impossible with progressive language (and i use progressive to reference Bernie Sanders-type followers). Yet, they note that you can start making progress with other language. Parking minimums can be voted away by talking about more liberty for development, options for renters and owners, a healthier market, etc. “Incentive programs” are easier to pass than a new tax. Maybe leftists see these things as failures and an abortion of progressive values. But I think we see it as getting things done in a way that CAN be done, and be done now. 

I would ask your friend to look to examples where incrementalism has helped cement democratic power and led to real, physical changes. In this country, the slow embracing of public transit by a larger number of people is a good example. Those first light rail lines in Denver, Houston and Phoenix were heated. Pulling teeth. Sometimes even violent rhetoric was used. For a silly little train. But once you get that first little segment of light rail, over a decade or so, people adjust and it’s not so bad. Then they might even want it to serve THEIR neighborhood. Maybe so they could get to an airport without driving, or see a ball game without parking, or get drinks with friends and enjoy the conversation rather than pay attention to the road. They might even want to use it to get to and from work everyday. Or to run errands. And that’s exactly what has happened in each of those cities. Phoenix in particular defeated a Koch-backed ballot measure and voted to fund multi-mile extensions to its system and begin planning even more. Hopefully, in two more decades, those will bear lots of fruit, leading to more sustainable, humane cities, that are more accessible, cleaner, and dense. We also saw Maricopa County vote blue. Small things, over time, add up. Change happens. Attitudes move.  We can do that with healthcare. If we can get a public option added to the ACA, it will just naturally expose how wasteful insurance actually is. People will be more likely to buy into it. And it will help build trust with people who “don’t want the government involved with my doctor.” And given how we’ve seen the politics shift just since the ACA was passed, something akin to M4A would likely be right around the corner. 

So yeah, hold democrats accountable. But the thing is, we already mostly do that. I’d tell them to remember who the real enemy is, and if they are criticizing Nancy Pelosi or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or whomever more than they criticize Mitch McConnell and his fascist army, then i have to doubt how progressive your friend is in the first place, regardless of their voting habit. 

[shreddedleopard]

Decided to post AQR on AO3 too ...

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, 進撃の巨人 | Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan (Movies) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Levi Characters: Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss, Levi, Eren Yeager, Hange Zoë, Mikasa Ackerman, Connie Springer, Jean Kirstein, Sasha Blouse Additional Tags: RivaHisu, Canon Universe, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Feels, Post-Time Skip, Reiss-Ackerman Bond, Ackerman Bond, Royal Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss, Pregnancy, Secret Relationship Summary:

When Historia realises she must become pregnant to delay the plans of the Paradis Government, she is left with the impossible choice of selecting the father of her future child. There are many possible candidates, however Historia knows that there is only one set of genes which will give her child the very best chances of survival. The only problem is, will he consent to it?

Notes:

Important information for you to be aware of before you begin:

+This is a Levihisu fic - despite this, I would invite all shippers to read - I didn't realise I shipped them until I wrote this, either!

+This work was originally posted and is updated on Fanfiction.net, where it is currently at Arc 4. The version posted here is a re-edited, tidied up version.

+I have tried my absolute best to write AQR to run alongside the Manga; there are elements that I've tweaked from canon (timescales, for example) but right now, as of Chapter 119, I don't think there are any plot points which could be seen as diverging hugely from the realms of canon possibility (don't get me wrong, the events of the story are highly, HIGHLY unlikely to be anything like Yam's reveals to us in the Manga, but what I'm saying is they technically COULD be possible.)

+Following on from the above, this story WILL contain manga spoilers right up to the latest chapters - I highly recommend you don't read this unless you're familiar with these, one so that you're not spoiled, and two so that it makes a bit more sense!

ARC 1: REQUEST

ARC 2: FULFILLMENT

ARC 3: THE FORGE

ARC 4: DELIVERANCE

ARC 1: REQUEST

'An act of asking politely, formally or officially for something.'

CHAPTER 1: A Visitor at the Orphanage

Levi pulled his hood tighter around his sullen features and swept quietly along the path to the old farmhouse. There was a faint light drifting through the window, but the usual chatter of young, excitable voices was absent in the late evening air.

He reached the door and gave two swift knocks, before glancing behind him. He was alone still; good.

A moment later, the door cracked ajar, and one pale blue iris met his pale grey through the gap.

"Oh, Captain!" Historia pulled the door open the rest of the way to reveal her short figure, clothed in a plain dress more fitting of a lowly maid than royalty. "Hange told me to expect you."

"Good." Levi swept passed her into the hallway without invitation.

Historia closed the door softly and lead Levi through into the large dining area of the farmhouse. She gestured to one of the many worn, wooden chairs set at the table at the centre of the room. Levi sat, finally removing his hood.

"Tea?" Historia asked.

Levi inclined his head. "Are all of the brats asleep now? Or are we likely to be interrupted?" He raised an eyebrow at Historia, who rolled her eyes but smiled good-naturedly despite Levi's curt words. "They're all asleep. We're good. I'll make us a pot." With that, she disappeared into the adjoining kitchen.

Levi gave an inaudible 'tch' at her eye-roll; her confidence around him these days was far from the nervous demeanour of that honey-haired girl he had threatened in the dining room of a farmhouse not too dissimilar to this those four years ago. He was reminded of the playful punch to his arm she had given not so long after becoming Queen, and her daring him to retaliate. She had been right – what could he do about it, really? He may have once been her Captain and she his subordinate, but she was now his Queen. Check mate.

"I'm surprised you don't have people to make tea for you these days, Your Majesty." He made sure the sarcasm in his voice was especially evident. She may be the Queen, but he was still as difficult as he had ever been. Some things would never change.

Historia popped her head around the door frame, tea leaves in hand. "Surely you know me better that that, Captain? After all these years, and all that tea I brewed you when you helped me open this place!" She gave a soft chuckle before returning to her task. "Keep your voice down. What's the nature of this shady late evening visit, anyway?"

It was Levi's turn to roll his eyes this time. "I forgot how much you enjoy playing woman of the people." He paused, waiting for her retort from the other room. When none came, he continued. "We've uncovered information regarding the situation with Zeke, and the plans for your, ah … future."

Historia returned to the table, a tray of tea in her hands and a frown painted across her pretty features. "What sort of information? From who?"

Levi took a cup in his fingers from the tray she set down, avoiding the dainty handle, as was his way. He sipped quietly, before raising his eyes to meet Historia's across the table. "Premier Zackley and The government don't trust Zeke, and particularly this new-found secretive relationship with Eren." Levi sighed. "Honestly, I can't say I blame them completely; he certainly wouldn't be my first choice of ally." He placed the cup down and knitted his fingers together, elbows on the table.

Historia nodded her head and took a sip of her tea. "Go on, Captain."

"They grow very nervous. They dislike the fact that Zeke is a not a pawn in this game they can easily control. They do, however, have options to change this …" Levi glanced at Historia, trying to gauge her reaction, looking for any sign she understood where this conversation was heading.

"They want control over the Beast Titan. I imagine they'd also like to know a bit more about this 'secret plan' of Zeke's," Historia pointed out. She frowned. "The easiest way to achieve this, I think, would be to have a titan under their control consume Zeke, thus inheriting his power and memories …" She glanced back at The Captain, clearly looking for confirmation.

"So you're not just a pretty face then, Your Majesty. You've been paying attention." Levi sat back in his chair, and simply regarded the young woman before him for a moment.

It was now Historia's turn to give a small 'tsk' of annoyance. "Of course. It's my duty, isn't it?" Her eyes blazed fiercely across the table at the Captain. "So where do I fit into this?"

Levi raised his eyebrows at her. "Surely you know that answer?"

Historia hesitated, her dainty blond eyebrows knitted together in consideration. Suddenly, her eyes widened with realisation. "They want to replicate Zeke's circumstances exactly, using someone from Paradis. They need royal blood … My royal blood. Just like Eren said. They ... want me to transform into a Titan, and consume Zeke...?"

Levi nodded. "They've come back to that idea. Except they want to do it sooner, rather than later, so that everything is done to their terms rather than Zeke's. They think if we wait, he could betray us and use this secret plan for his own gains." He watched Historia gaze down into her now empty tea cup.

"I see." A small frown spread across her features. "So what would you have me do, Captain?" She lifted her eyes to his once again.

"I would not 'have' you do anything, Historia." Levi tried to keep his expression unreadable and his face flat. "Gone are the days where I can coerce you into doing what I believe is the right thing, as you once pointed out to me."

Historia gave a small laugh at that. "I think 'coerce' is putting it lightly, when you decided your hands around my throat were the best approach to 'coerce' me into becoming Queen."

Levi dismissed her last comment with a small flick of his hand, feeling the very faintest trace of guilt at his previous, very physical, methods with the girl. "Either way, this is your decision to make as Queen. Except, if you don't wish to become a Titan and consume Zeke, I honestly don't think a simple 'No' would do it. If they have to do it by force, I imagine they'd have no problem, considering the level of threat they believe Zeke to be."

"I don't particularly want to become a Titan Shifter, if I'm honest."

That is probably the understatement of the century, Levi thought, eyeing Historia's apparently calm exterior disbelievingly. He wondered whether she had always suspected this day might come.

"Do you think Zeke is a threat? Do you trust him?" She asked, her blue eyes searching his.

Levi sighed. "Do I trust him? Absolutely not. Do I think he's a threat? Potentially." He paused, turning his cup in its saucer absent-mindedly. "But do I think turning him into Titan food out of fear is the right thing to do?" He glanced at Historia, and for a second was sure he caught a glimmer of fear in the girl's eyes. "No, it's not. It's a knee-jerk reaction. And we are forgetting one very important element in all of this."

"Eren." Historia murmured.

"Yes. And while I confess that Jaeger can be an idiot at times - reckless and hot headed - I truly believe that his intentions are for the benefit of Paradis, and his comrades. I don't believe he would agree to go along with any detrimental plan Zeke may throw his way, and I don't believe, either, that he could be brainwashed or otherwise persuaded to change this. His will is too strong when he knows what he wants. He's too much of a titan sized pain in the ass, quite frankly." Levi put his head in his hands, suddenly reminded of the headache that the head strong Jaeger had personally caused him over the years. Yet it was somehow because of everything that they had been through together, that Levi still felt that he could trust Eren.

There was a small chuckle from across the table.

Levi looked up "What?"

"Nothing, Captain. It's just – you seem to be speaking from personal experience." Historia chuckled again.

"Hmph."Levi sat back and folded his arms.

"So, you think we're better off letting Zeke continue with his plan?" Historia was thoughtful. "Just go along with it? Because you trust Eren?"

"Erwin trusted Eren, and I trusted Erwin." Levi raised a hand to his temple. "I think, what we need, is time. I don't know what the right answer is, but I know turning you into a titan right now and consuming Zeke is not it."

Historia nodded, slowly. "Agreed, then. But you said saying 'No' is not going to cut it, right?" She folded her arms. "So how can I stop the government from physically forcing this on to me? What, are you going to be my personal body guard? I know you're Humanity's Strongest, Captain, but there's one hell of a lot more MPs than you."

Levi rolled his eyes. "Please. As though I'd have the time to hang out in some farmhouse drinking tea all day." He suddenly lent forward, his fingers steepled. "We've got to be smarter than that, Historia. We don't want them to think we're purposefully delaying their plans. How do you suppose we might do that?"

Historia raised an eyebrow quizzically. "I've no idea, Captain, but I feel as though you might be about to enlighten me?"

Levi tilted his head slightly, wondering how to best phrase what he needed to tell her next. He'd never been very good at this shit. "You're very important to the success of Paradis, Historia. The people love you. You're also the last of the Royal bloodline who is completely, undoubtedly loyal to this island. The government would never risk harming you ... or your offspring."

The Captain sat before Historia quietly, eyebrows raised, hoping that the emphasis placed on his last words would sink in.

"My … offspring?" Historia repeated back quietly. Suddenly, she snapped her head up to meet Levi's expectant gaze. "Wait, what? You want me to get pregnant!?"

[sciencespies]

A Massive Meteor May Have Destroyed The Biblical City Of Sodom

https://sciencespies.com/news/a-massive-meteor-may-have-destroyed-the-biblical-city-of-sodom/

A Massive Meteor May Have Destroyed The Biblical City Of Sodom

The story of the destruction of Sodom is detailed in both the Bible and the Koran. The destruction was rapid and intense.

“And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.” – Genesis 19:28

Is it possible that this story has roots in historical reality? Recent archeological findings published in Nature by researchers of the Comet Research Group indicate that a large meteor may have destroyed the ancient city of Tall el-Hammam, and that this destruction may have gone on to form the basis of the Biblical story of the destruction of Sodom.

Clues within Ruins of Destruction

Walking through the excavation of Tall el-Hammam is a fascinating, yet haunting, voyage. Puzzling findings indicate that the city was destroyed rapidly in a scorching fireball which is hard to explain. Pottery and mudbricks were melted. People were ripped limb from limb, and their bones are found smashed and scattered, buried in layers of ash, charcoal, and pulverized mudbricks. As archeologists dig through the ancient rock, they uncover a tell-tale blackened layer, where the rocks themselves tell the story of intense and widespread fires.

Three layers within the archeological dig indicate that something drastic happened here. The bottom layer is made of pulverized bricks, melted roof clay, charcoal, burned seeds, and scraps of burnt clothing. Above this is a windblown layer of small bits of plaster, charcoal, and limestone spherules. Topping it off is a dark, almost black, layer of ash and charcoal.

The destruction of Sodom by fire and brimstone. Lot’s wife is turned to a pillar of salt (Genesis … [+] chapters XVIII and XIX), illustration by Gustave DorŽ (1832 Ð 1883) (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Perhaps most puzzling are the melted objects found in the ruins of Tall el-Hammam. Melted pottery shards, which melt at temperatures above 1500C. Mudbricks, that melt above 1400C. A host of melted elements and minerals, such as platinum, iridium, and quartz.

There are also clues at the microscopic level. Archeologists also found carbon, likely originating from wood or plants, shocked to form structures like microscopic diamonds.

Almost as if it is peaking out of a layer of ancient pulverized mudbricks, the top of a skull emerges from the rock. It’s buried up to the bridge of its nose – the rest is embedded within a matrix of melted mudbricks. Stained with ash, it now has a brick-red tinge. The right eye socket has been crushed. Around it is a constellation of tiny bone fragments, which show the scar of high temperatures. Most of them are smaller than a penny.

There is more. Archeologists found that the massively thick walls of the city were sheared off. Millions of the mudbricks that made the city simply disappeared, potentially pulverized to microscopic pieces. Another piece of the puzzle – debris, whether it be shards of pottery or melted bricks, always seemed to point to the northeast.

In the cosmic airburst of Tunguska in 1908, fallen trees all lay in the same direction. This … [+] directionality was also seen in the debris in Tall el-Hammam. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The spherules, tiny sand-sized balls of melted material, are particularly interesting. Some of these consist of calcium carbonate. “Extreme high temperatures (>1500 C) melted limestone plaster applied to the walls (mainly in the Palace area),” says Dr. Christopher Moore, a scientist at the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program at the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology and author on the study. He goes on to explain how these spherules were formed. “Vaporized limestone plaster then quickly cooled in the air to form the numerous calcium carbonate spherules.” Other spherules found were formed of iron or silica.

What could have caused this level of destruction?

Root of Destruction

3,600 years ago, the city of Tall el-Hammam was a bustling metropolis. With a population of about 8,000 people, it was the largest city in the region.

But around 1650 B.C.E, that came to an end.

The researchers of the study looked at several things that could account for the destruction. Warfare seemed unlikely, as there was no other archeological evidence of spearpoints or other weapons. Tornadoes are rare in the area, and it would be difficult to imagine how a tornado could cause the extent of damage seen in human bones. Earthquakes could have led to fires, but could not explain the high-temperature melting of minerals. The authors looked at all sorts of natural disasters, from widespread city fires to volcanism to lightning. Of the 17 types of observations they made, there was only one event that fit all the data – a meteor.

A meteor – either an impact or an airburst, fit the data at Tall el-Hammam.

getty

This meteor could have hit the city itself or nearby, or could have exploded in the air, like the Tunguska meteor in 1908 over Siberia. Either one could cause the level of destruction seen.

The authors used the online Impact Calculator to simulate a meteor approaching Tall el-Hammam. This meteor likely would have been between 60 and 75 m across, putting it at potentially larger than the bolide that exploded in the Tunguska event. It is unlikely to be much larger than this though, Dr. Allen West of the Comet Research Group, one of the authors of the study, explains. “Otherwise, the object would have hit the ground and created a large crater like Meteor Crater in Arizona.”

Nearby Ruins

Tall el-Hammam was not the only city to be destroyed that day.

22 km to the west lay the city of Jericho. This city was destroyed on a similar timescale as Tall el-Hammam. The city walls, along with buildings, tumbled, and the city burnt to the ground. Storerooms caught fire, causing pottery to burst. Human bones were found shattered and mixed in with the ruin. The main fortification of the city, in the direction of Tall el-Hammam, collapsed. However, no evidence of extremely high temperatures (>1200C), like melted pottery or mudbricks, was found.

Buried in Salt

The entire ancient city had another strange characteristic. It was covered in salt.

“After the excavators would finish for the day, dew would often condense in the excavated walls overnight,” West told me. “When they returned in the morning, the destruction layer often was marked by a white crust of salt that had leached out overnight.”

Where did this salt come from? It seems that the sheer amount of salt is most likely tied to the meteor impact. “Perhaps the impact landed in shallow water of the Dead Sea, which is greater than about 30% salt, and splashed across the valley.” West explains.

Salt from the Dead Sea was scattered over the surrounding area after the impact, rendering it … [+] infertile for 600 years.

getty

This salt took the once fertile land and potentially made it sterile, making it near impossible to grow wheat and barley, two of the most important crops of the era. In fact, the entire area was then unoccupied for up to 600 years.

Ties to Sodom?

Is it possible that the destruction of Tall el-Hammam was the historical basis that became the story of Sodom?

Surely, the destruction of Tall el-Hammam would have been memorable. For the unlucky people who lived within the city, it is likely that no one survived. Malcolm A. LeCompte, a researcher on the study from the Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research, points out that it is possible that tribesmen, women, and shepherds in nearby fields may have lived to tell the tale, although they may have been blinded or deafened by the explosion. In addition, there may have been some survivors within Jericho.

What about the timing? For now, the timing of the story of Sodom and the destruction of Tall el-Hammam seem to agree. “We can say with a high degree of confidence that the simultaneous destruction of Tall el-Hammam and every other city, town, and village in the Kikkar occurred ca 1650 BCE +/- 30 years,” says Dr. Phil Silvia, an author on the study from Trinity Southwest University, “which is the time of Abraham and Lot.”

“Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He … [+] looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace.” (Genesis, Chapter 19, 27-28). Woodcut after a drawing by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German painter, 1794 – 1872) from my archive, published in 1877.”

getty

The idea that Tall el-Hammam might have been Sodom goes back to the 18th or 19th centuries. It had fallen out of favor, but is once again slowly gaining steam. Silvia was the one who hypothesized in 2018 that a meteor may have been the culprit.

“The Bible mentions only one eyewitness—Abraham,” Silvia explains to me. “He went up [to the top] and looked down upon Sodom and saw smoke rising from the whole plain like smoke from a furnace…. he probably saw the flash of the airburst the evening before, but it was to dangerous to venture out at night, so he waited until the next morning to investigate.”

#News

[lhs3020b]

The Fugitive Worlds, by Bob Shaw

The Fugitive Worlds is the last novel in the Land/Overland trilogy. Since I’ve commented on the other two, here are my thoughts. And beware! here there (may) be Ropes! possbly even intersecting ones!

OVERVIEW

It's two generations or so after the Migration from Land. If you squint, society on Overland may have improved - apparently it has got a bit more meritocratic, there certainly has been some progress on gender issues, and this time the novel doesn't open with a random peasant being dragged off to be executed on some noble's arbitrary whim. Technology and infrastructure are changing - Cassyll Maraquine's industrial empire seems to be overseeing a pivot toward a metal-and-steam based economy, and in fact they seem to be in the early stages of an industrial revolution. On the plus side, this presumably means Overland isn't faced with another ptertha crisis in the near future, though a cynic may wonder if they've just swapped one environmental crisis for another one in a few centuries' time, when the seas start rising and the deserts begin to expand. But not to fear - there's every chance that the whole of society will be swept away by cataclysm long before that ominous possibility can occur!

You see, change is afoot in Overland's domain. Because, to the consternation of everyone except the government (who remain supremely complacent), a fourth planet has suddenly appeared in their star system. Attempts are made to bring this to the attention of the queen; unfortunately she's utterly fixated on a demented scheme to extend her reign back to Land itself.

At the opening of the novel, Toller Maraquine II, grandson of the star of the first two books, is discontent. As Cassyll's son, he could have had a life of wealth, privilege and social influence. Instead he spends his time mooning after his supposedly-heroic grandfather - yes, the same one who managed to simply forget that his first wife existed! Toller II, unfortunately, has inherited his grandfather's impetuousness and basic lack of any common sense. He's certainly not a monster, but he is an idiot. This is shown in the book's opening scenes, where he falls blindly in love with the Countess Vantara, despite the fact that she's an obvious schemer and bully.

Seeking to impress Vantara, Toller involves himself with the planned re-expansion onto Land. This swiftly gets disrupted, though, by the appearance of an expanding crystalline disk, growing across the zero-g datum plane that exists between the two twinned planets. The disk's rapid expansion cuts off travel between Land and Overland - it expands beyond the region of breathable air where the two planets' atmospheres meet - and to make matters worse, the Countess vanishes while trying to traverse said region! Oh no! Toller, of course, immediately resolves that he must go and rescue her. (She has treated him with nothing except derision and contempt by this point, and he of course fails to read the very obvious message in there.)

The predictable result of this is that Toller gets himself and his crew abducted by aliens, because of course the people of Land and Overland are actually currently bystanders in someone else's plans. Fortunately for Toller, the Dussarrans show no interest in probing him. Unfortunately for him, the expanding crystalline disk is actually a complex machine intended to relocate Dussarra itself away from the galaxy they all currently live in.

You see, the aliens believe that they are imminently threatened - their researchers have found evidence pointing to a collision between so-called "Ropes" somewhere astronomically nearby. (Ropes appear to be similar to the class of hypothetical topological defects that we call "cosmic strings" - fortunately for us, there's no evidence that cosmic strings actually exist in our universe.) This collision, they believe, will have produced an explosion somewhere between a gamma ray burst and a cosmological phase change. They fear that a wave of destruction is currently zooming toward them, at or close to the speed of light. If they are right, there is certainly no chance of Dussarra surviving it, hence their decision to begin relocating their planet.

Unfortunately there's a smaller problem. The Xa, the relocation engine they're constructing across the datum plane? When activated, it will destroy Land and Overland. The Dussarrans may be about to finish what the ptertha started around fifty years previously - the complete destruction of all civilisation on either Land or Overland!

A LEVER TO MOVE THE WORLD

Before we go any further, I'll give the Dussarrans credit for one thing: whatever their other faults, at least they're willing to think big. They are, after all, trying to address the Rope problem at source. If it were us in their situation ... well, half the newspapers would insist that Ropes don't exist, another third would claim they're leftist conspiracies to steal our precious body fluids, the remaining handful would write something mealy-mouthed about how Ropes might exist but maybe we shouldn't "overreact" for fear of a "pro-Rope" backlash. Centrists would call for a grand bargain with the Ropes - they can toast only HALF the planet in return for a top-up pupil premium on private school fees! Youtube user MagaCrypto2024 will tell you to invest your life savings in their newly-minted RopeCoin ("if it's golden enough for the quantum vacuum, it's gold enough for YOU!") and then a Tory would take 52% of the vote on a platform about how Ropes are great beacuse they'll eradicate the benefits claimants. 10 seconds after that, the shockwave demolishes the entire planet, and of course no-one ever admits that perhaps, just perhaps, they may have got it a bit wrong.

I'll say it again, whatever their other faults, at least Dussarra has managed to react to the crisis, and their behaviour isn't completely-insane.

That said, the Dussarrans' solution does suck.

Apparently the Xa requires weightlessness and a large supply of free oxygen to grow. It's not really clear why the Dussarrans couldn't have simply built a large bubble, say at one of their Lagrange points, pumped that full of air, and grew their Xa in there. There is a suggestion that the planetary alignment between Land and Overland is important too, the book does flip-flop this a bit too. Anyway we're left with the impression that the Dussarrans didn't have a lot of choice in where they built the Xa and they do genuinely believe that they are fleeing a cosmologically-apocalyptic event. Also, it's a plot point that Dussarra isn't an ideologically-coherent monolith; in fact the plan faces substantial internal dissent, and this actually boils over into something as close as the Dussarrans can have to a civil war. This is doubly-significant as the Dussarrans' telepathy also stops them from fighting each other in the usual manner - bluntly, when someone dies nearby, the telepathic backlash is utterly-paralysing to any exposed Dussarran. Killing someone yourself would thus be near-impossible for a Dussarran, though as is common in Shaw novels, the Dussarran elite has found a way to do an end-run around this problem. (Non-lethal weapons don't have the same paralysing impact!)

On a slight tangent, one interesting twist in "The Fugitive Worlds" is that Toller and co are basically NPCs in the Dussarrans' story, and they don't realise it.

The place, I think, where the Dussarrans' scheme becomes morally-unacceptable is their failure to evacuate Land and Overland. The population of Dussarra is at least thirty million - that's their capital city alone! - and in fact is implied to be in the billions. They're a modern industrial society with modern technology, after all. By contrast, even if the Landers have been breeding like bunnies for the last two generations, the population of Overland still can't be more than a few hundred thousand at absolute most. My guess is that a more plausible number would be more like 50-75,000. Perhaps 250,000 if you stretch it (a low death rate and every family putting out 4, 5 or 6+ kids could just about get you there in this timescale).

The Dussarrans have remote teleportation tech, and the denouement shows that said tech can reach anywhere on Overland, even at a distance of millions of miles. In principle, they could remove everyone from Overland, and given the vast difference in population, they could certainly accomodate a few thousand more people on Dussarra. The point I'm making here is that an evacuation was possible; there was no technological, infrastructural or economic barrier that would have precluded it. Granted the Overlanders probably would have reacted badly to being hoovered off their homeworld - who wouldn't? - but, they're not 100% immune to reason either. As Divvidiv's interations with Toller show, Overlanders are capable of understanding the Rope problem, especially when telepathy is used to help said understanding along.

(Also, for that matter, there was nothing to stop the Dussarran government from trying to open diplomatic relations with Queen Dasseene's regime, and maybe saying "Uh, guys, sorry to be a nuisance but we've got some news you might want to hear about...")

Under normal circumstances, of course, abducting everyone off of their own homeworld would be bad. It's still not great, even in context. But, the Dussarrans do have genuine reason to believe that The End Of All Things is barrelling toward them at nearly speed of light. When the Rope-intersection event lights up Land/Overland's skies, we can reasonably assume that it will destroy both of those planets too. In fact, Divvidiv confirms this possibility in as many words. Relocating everyone to Dussarra, then using the Xa and the Land/Overland binary to relocate the planet somewhere safe would, in context, strike me as a morally-defensible solution to the crisis. While it would be sad to lose Land and Overland, it would at least allow both societies to survive.

(The question of Farland is never addressed in this. As far as we can tell, the Farlanders are on their own during this particular cosmological emergency.)

Perhaps unfortunately for everyone, Dussarra's leadership have apparently decided to pull a Thanos instead. Why they skipped over the obvious non-genocidal solution is never directly addressed, though there are hints. The Dussarran leadership patronisingly describes Overlanders as "Primitives" - it's implied that their racism is a factor in their failure to do anything for their new neighbours. Also, thinking about it, the callousness is thematically-consistent with the rest of the series. Throughout this trilogy we see leaders making decisions that are at-best based on expediency alone - witness how quick King Prad was to abandon Ro-Atabri in the first book - or sometimes, decisions are based actively on malice and spite (see the Sgt Gnapperl subplot from the second book). From that point of view, the behaviour of Director Zunnunun and the Dussarran authorities is not particularly-unusual.

The scheme also ends up entirely-backfiring. You see, the wrong planet gets displaced. Ooops.

We never learn the fate of Land or Dussarra for an absolute fact; Toller's post-event speculations are bleak, but the narrative may imply that Dussarra at least could have survived. (The Dussarran rebels return there after the confrontation on Overland - I don't think they would have done that if they thought that their Xa-disrupting box was going to destroy their homeworld in the process!) I'm less optimistic for Land - the planet is probably toast - but that said, there is no "on-screen" death and what happened during the Xa's activation was definitely 100% Off The Rails, so who knows? I suppose it's at least possible that Land could have survived the Xa's activation.

One does wonder how it would cope with the abrupt removal of Overland's tides, though.

That said, Overland seems to experience weirdly few direct consequences for its displacement. The main effect is an abrupt change in the sky, followed later by the confusing discovery that Pi no longer exactly equals 3, but instead is somehow closer to 3.14. There are no storms or earthquakes - it's not clear how the tidal relaxation of Overland's crust had no geological consequences at all. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the new solar tides are exactly equal to the ones Overland previously experienced?

Oh yes, I mentioned "solar" tides, didn't I? This is because the last few pages of "The Fugitive Worlds" are even more head-bending then they sound. While the galaxies and daylight stars and comets and meteors all vanish, and the number of stars in the sky decline sharply, the Overlanders are surprised to discover that they have a lot more planetary neighbours that they did even hours ago. In the course of one night of observations, Cassyll and Bartan find five distinct planets, and quickly postulate that more could exist. The cream coloured gas giant with the big ring catches their attention, and they're confused about how to count the binary between the blue planet and it's one-quarter-sized greyish companion? moon? neighbour?

Yes, a cream-coloured gas giant with a prominent ring system, Pi quite possibly equal to 3.141592654..., a blue planet with a greyish moon that's about one quarter its diameter ... hmmm, I wonder where Overland could have gone? Such a mystery, no possible clues, amirite? Oh yes, the blue one is described as being quite bright, so apparently Overland's new orbit is fairly near to it. Given how relatively-empty Overland is, you do does find yourself wondering just how long before their heavily-populated new neighbour decides that they're next on the menu for Manifest Destiny...

(Just in case anyone's confused about what the ending implies, the descriptions suggest that Overland has been displaced not only out of its own universe, but into our solar system. The cream-coloured ringed planet is clearly Saturn, and the blue/grey binary is the Earth-Moon system. The five planets Cassyll and Bartan find are presumably most of the ones from classical antiquity - Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Earth-Moon system. Presumably they missed out Mercury, but in fairness its closeness to the Sun makes it the hardest of the classical planets to observe, so this is reasonable. But needless to say, this ending does come firmly out of the left field.)

BUT WHAT OF THE PEOPLE?

In terms of characterisation this novel continues the threads of the previous two. Shaw does do a good job of painting believable people - their flaws, errors and misjudgements are all very human. No-one does anything that real people wouldn't, or haven't. Toller's hero-worshipping his wife-amnesiac grandfather (have I mentioned the airbrushing that Fera Rivoo got halfway through the first book?) is believable. People do behave like this, idolising idiots and putting others on pedestals. His infatuation with Vantara is depressingly-believable too. People fall for people they shouldn't all the time. This sort of meltdown is arguably one side of the romantic coin, after all.

Vantara - well, there are plenty of status-obsessed bullies out there who are also secretly cowards. She's the monarchical version of every bad middle manager you've ever met. One of the book's subplots is how she gradually falls from Toller's esteem, though it takes until the denouement before he finally sees her for what she is. Also, interestingly, the romance plot gets subverted at this point. Toller manages to find someone else, someone who is both a better person and who will hopefully balance his more self-destructive tendencies with basic common sense.

Also, Vantara's entire career basically hangs off of the fact that a close relative is also the Queen. With Queen Dasseene's health in sharp decline and a clear suggestion that her reign will soon end, one suspects that Vantara's star will go down with her. Also this won't be helped by the fact that Vantara was physically there, on the field with the Dussarran rebels' Xa-disrupting box and she did - not a lot? It was almost the end of Overland, and heroic deeds were notable largely by their absence on her part.

The Dussarrans feel less real. That said, Divvidiv's combination of complacency, careerism and partly-sublimated guilt at the necks he knows he's stepping on in his job - yes, it does feel consistent with your average out-of-their-depth middle manager. We see less of Director Zunnunun and we know of the Palace of Numbers only indirectly, but their general superiosity and smugness are consistent with what I know of senior-management-as-a-group. However, Dussarra does remain slightly out-of-focus even in the second half of the book, when Toller and co are literally stood on it.

Cassyll and Bartan pop up every now and then in the narrative, but they're not so directly-involved. They're mainly there to try to explain events to the Queen, who is clearly severely ill and also severely in denial about being ill.

Another niggle aboout this book is that it carries on dropping plot threads, much like the other two. What happened to the people the Queen sent to Land? Did Dussarra survive? What happened to the rebels? Was the Rope-intersection really real? We never get clear answers or, in some cases, any answers at all. It almost feels like this novel was intended as a sequel-hook for a fourth book, or perhaps some new trilogy, but said trilogy never arrived. Honestly, that might be for the best. (Do we really want to read a novel about Overland being plowed up for luxury executive mansions while the surviving population are herded off to reservations, or all die from the flu or other imported terrestrial diseases? Given the Kolcorronian monarchy's behaviour in the first book, being on the wrong end of a colonial expansion would have a certain bleak irony, but it wouldn't be fun to read.)

So again, like the previous two, this one is a page-turner. It's hard to put down. But like the previous two, it suffers from dropped plot-threads and perhaps also a few too many out-of-the-left-field WTF? moments. That said, I did enjoy re-reading it, and I can see why it made such an impression on younger!me all the way back in the 1990s, when I first read this trilogy.