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mariacallous · 21 days

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Less than three months after Apple quietly debuted a tool for publishers to opt out of its AI training, a number of prominent news outlets and social platforms have taken the company up on it.

WIRED can confirm that Facebook, Instagram, Craigslist, Tumblr, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, Vox Media, the USA Today network, and WIRED’s parent company, Condé Nast, are among the many organizations opting to exclude their data from Apple’s AI training. The cold reception reflects a significant shift in both the perception and use of the robotic crawlers that have trawled the web for decades. Now that these bots play a key role in collecting AI training data, they’ve become a conflict zone over intellectual property and the future of the web.

This new tool, Applebot-Extended, is an extension to Apple’s web-crawling bot that specifically lets website owners tell Apple not to use their data for AI training. (Apple calls this “controlling data usage” in a blog post explaining how it works.) The original Applebot, announced in 2015, initially crawled the internet to power Apple’s search products like Siri and Spotlight. Recently, though, Applebot’s purpose has expanded: The data it collects can also be used to train the foundational models Apple created for its AI efforts.

Applebot-Extended is a way to respect publishers' rights, says Apple spokesperson Nadine Haija. It doesn’t actually stop the original Applebot from crawling the website—which would then impact how that website’s content appeared in Apple search products—but instead prevents that data from being used to train Apple's large language models and other generative AI projects. It is, in essence, a bot to customize how another bot works.

Publishers can block Applebot-Extended by updating a text file on their websites known as the Robots Exclusion Protocol, or robots.txt. This file has governed how bots go about scraping the web for decades—and like the bots themselves, it is now at the center of a larger fight over how AI gets trained. Many publishers have already updated their robots.txt files to block AI bots from OpenAI, Anthropic, and other major AI players.

Robots.txt allows website owners to block or permit bots on a case-by-case basis. While there’s no legal obligation for bots to adhere to what the text file says, compliance is a long-standing norm. (A norm that is sometimes ignored: Earlier this year, a WIRED investigation revealed that the AI startup Perplexity was ignoring robots.txt and surreptitiously scraping websites.)

Applebot-Extended is so new that relatively few websites block it yet. Ontario, Canada–based AI-detection startup Originality AI analyzed a sampling of 1,000 high-traffic websites last week and found that approximately 7 percent—predominantly news and media outlets—were blocking Applebot-Extended. This week, the AI agent watchdog service Dark Visitors ran its own analysis of another sampling of 1,000 high-traffic websites, finding that approximately 6 percent had the bot blocked. Taken together, these efforts suggest that the vast majority of website owners either don’t object to Apple’s AI training practices are simply unaware of the option to block Applebot-Extended.

In a separate analysis conducted this week, data journalist Ben Welsh found that just over a quarter of the news websites he surveyed (294 of 1,167 primarily English-language, US-based publications) are blocking Applebot-Extended. In comparison, Welsh found that 53 percent of the news websites in his sample block OpenAI’s bot. Google introduced its own AI-specific bot, Google-Extended, last September; it’s blocked by nearly 43 percent of those sites, a sign that Applebot-Extended may still be under the radar. As Welsh tells WIRED, though, the number has been “gradually moving” upward since he started looking.

Welsh has an ongoing project monitoring how news outlets approach major AI agents. “A bit of a divide has emerged among news publishers about whether or not they want to block these bots,” he says. “I don't have the answer to why every news organization made its decision. Obviously, we can read about many of them making licensing deals, where they're being paid in exchange for letting the bots in—maybe that's a factor.”

Last year, The New York Times reported that Apple was attempting to strike AI deals with publishers. Since then, competitors like OpenAI and Perplexity have announced partnerships with a variety of news outlets, social platforms, and other popular websites. “A lot of the largest publishers in the world are clearly taking a strategic approach,” says Originality AI founder Jon Gillham. “I think in some cases, there's a business strategy involved—like, withholding the data until a partnership agreement is in place.”

There is some evidence supporting Gillham’s theory. For example, Condé Nast websites used to block OpenAI’s web crawlers. After the company announced a partnership with OpenAI last week, it unblocked the company’s bots. (Condé Nast declined to comment on the record for this story.) Meanwhile, Buzzfeed spokesperson Juliana Clifton told WIRED that the company, which currently blocks Applebot-Extended, puts every AI web-crawling bot it can identify on its block list unless its owner has entered into a partnership—typically paid—with the company, which also owns the Huffington Post.

Because robots.txt needs to be edited manually, and there are so many new AI agents debuting, it can be difficult to keep an up-to-date block list. “People just don’t know what to block,” says Dark Visitors founder Gavin King. Dark Visitors offers a freemium service that automatically updates a client site’s robots.txt, and King says publishers make up a big portion of his clients because of copyright concerns.

Robots.txt might seem like the arcane territory of webmasters—but given its outsize importance to digital publishers in the AI age, it is now the domain of media executives. WIRED has learned that two CEOs from major media companies directly decide which bots to block.

Some outlets have explicitly noted that they block AI scraping tools because they do not currently have partnerships with their owners. “We’re blocking Applebot-Extended across all of Vox Media’s properties, as we have done with many other AI scraping tools when we don’t have a commercial agreement with the other party,” says Lauren Starke, Vox Media’s senior vice president of communications. “We believe in protecting the value of our published work.”

Others will only describe their reasoning in vague—but blunt!—terms. “The team determined, at this point in time, there was no value in allowing Applebot-Extended access to our content,” says Gannett chief communications officer Lark-Marie Antón.

Meanwhile, The New York Times, which is suing OpenAI over copyright infringement, is critical of the opt-out nature of Applebot-Extended and its ilk. “As the law and The Times' own terms of service make clear, scraping or using our content for commercial purposes is prohibited without our prior written permission,” says NYT director of external communications Charlie Stadtlander, noting that the Times will keep adding unauthorized bots to its block list as it finds them. “Importantly, copyright law still applies whether or not technical blocking measures are in place. Theft of copyrighted material is not something content owners need to opt out of.”

It’s unclear whether Apple is any closer to closing deals with publishers. If or when it does, though, the consequences of any data licensing or sharing arrangements may be visible in robots.txt files even before they are publicly announced.

“I find it fascinating that one of the most consequential technologies of our era is being developed, and the battle for its training data is playing out on this really obscure text file, in public for us all to see,” says Gillham.

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zvaigzdelasas · 1 year

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countries neighboring Mozambique, particularly fellow members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), also hope to benefit from gas exploitation [along with Europe]. They are counting on the 3.4 trillion cubic meters (tcm) of natural gas reserves in Mozambique and Tanzania to provide electrification and economic growth for the continent. [...]

But six years of conflict in Cabo Delgado has kept everyone waiting. The Mozambique LNG Project, the region’s largest, has had construction on hold since 2021, when it declared force majeure after insurgents captured the port town of Palma. African troops and international military aid have since helped subdue the insurgency.[...]

Stretching from just above the Comoros Islands to below the southern tip of Madagascar, the Mozambique Channel separates Madagascar from the African continent. It is an essential route for maritime traffic heading towards East Africa, the western side of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Persian Gulf. About 30% of global tanker traffic passes through there. The channel is vital for East Africa’s economy since the major Madagascar rivers empty into it, and it includes the exclusive economic zones of Mozambique, Tanzania, Madagascar, the Comoros, and France. Landlocked and southern African countries also rely on the channel to export goods to Asia and Europe. [...]

insurgents seized the port towns of Mocimboa da Praia in August 2020 and Palma in March 2021. Rwandan, SADC, and Mozambican forces have since retaken the port towns[...]

Both regions, particularly the EU, have increased resources to end the conflict. In 2022, the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) and Rwandan forces received $35 million from the European Peace Facility Fund, making Mozambique the biggest recipient after Ukraine. India has been the most active in protecting the Mozambique Channel. An Indian Navy P81 maritime patrol aircraft has been staging joint channel patrols with the French Navy since 2020. India also donated two patrol boats to Mozambique in 2021[...]

The SADC has a particularly keen interest in Mozambique’s gas as many member countries rely on imported petroleum, which puts their economies at the mercy of fluctuations in global oil prices. As the SADC’s economic powerhouse, South Africa has led efforts to stabilize Cabo Delgado. With 205 days of countrywide blackouts in 2022 due to failing coal-powered plants, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is counting on gas imports to ensure their energy security. He said, “Mozambique is endowed with significant volumes of natural gas. This can benefit the people of Mozambique and South Africa and the rest of the SADC region.” He emphasized that energy security was “vital to economic growth in our respective countries.”

3 Sep 23

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ardl · 11 months

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From an infrastructural point of view, a splintering form of colonial occupation is characterized by a network of fast bypass roads, bridges, and tunnels that weave over and under one another in an attempt at maintaining the Fanonian “principle of reciprocal exclusivity.” According to Weizman, “the bypass roads attempt to separate Israeli traffic networks from Palestinian ones, preferably without allowing them ever to cross. They therefore emphasize the overlapping of two separate geographies that inhabit the same landscape. At points where the networks do cross, a makeshift separation is created. Most often, small dust roads are dug out to allow Palestinians to cross under the fast, wide highways on which Israeli vans and military vehicles rush between settlements.

Under conditions of vertical sovereignty and splintering colonial occupation, communities are separated across a y-axis. This leads to a proliferation of the sites of violence. The battlegrounds are not located solely at the surface of the earth. The underground as well as the airspace are transformed into conflict zones. There is no continuity between the ground and the sky. Even the boundaries in airspace are divided between lower and upper layers. Everywhere, the symbolics of the top (who is on top) is reiterated. Occupation of the skies therefore acquires a critical importance, since most of the policing is done from the air. Various other technologies are mobilized to this effect: sensors aboard unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), aerial reconnaissance jets, early warning Hawkeye planes, assault helicopters, an Earth-observation satellite, techniques of “hologrammatization.” Killing becomes precisely targeted.

Such precision is combined with the tactics of medieval siege warfare adapted to the networked sprawl of urban refugee camps. An orchestrated and systematic sabotage of the enemy’s societal and urban infrastructure network complements the appropriation of land, water, and airspace resources. Critical to these techniques of disabling the enemy is bulldozing: demolishing houses and cities; uprooting olive trees; riddling water tanks with bullets; bombing and jamming electronic communications; digging up roads; destroying electricity transformers; tearing up airport runways; disabling television and radio transmitters; smashing computers; ransacking cultural and politico-bureaucratic symbols of the proto-Palestinian state; looting medical equipment. In other words, infrastructural warfare. While the Apache helicopter gunship is used to police the air and to kill from overhead, the armored bulldozer (the Caterpillar D-9) is used on the ground as a weapon of war and intimidation.

Achille Mbembe - Necropolitics

#achille mbembe #necropolitics #palestine

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usafphantom2 · 1 year

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The story of the RAF Phantom who "asked" for refueling in flight of a KC-130 from Argentina

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 20/08/2023 - 15:13 in History, Military

The F-4 Phantom formed an important part of the Royal Air Force (RAF) combat aircraft force for more than twenty years and provided the British service with one of the most capable attack fighters in the world. Once, a crew of an RAF Phantom, as a joke, asked for fuel from an Argentine Air Force KC-130 flying over the Falklands.

Two versions of the Phantom with a Rolls Royce Spey engine went into service in the Royal Air Force. The FG1 (the version also used by the Royal Navy) in the role of interceptor and the FGR2 in the ground attack and in the tactical reconnaissance role in Germany.

From 1977, all the Phantoms of the British Royal Air Force were used ALMOST exclusively as interceptor fighters in the airspace of the United Kingdom.

The following story titled "Surprise" appeared in Richard Pike's book, "Phantom Boys Volume 2".

"With the potential, as they say, to shoot in the foot, there was irony and surprise in the situation. But there it was, an important day, a day of new beginnings, a day of 1993 that was recorded in many diaries. When the colonel himself entered the crew room - a colonel who turned out to be big, mustachioed, exuberant - a sudden silence fell on the room. When squadron leader Archie Liggat, as commanding officer of Squadron 234, a unit of tactical weapons and advanced training in the RAF Valley in Anglesey, stepped forward, shook the colonel's hand and said: "May I introduce some of my employees and students, sir..." And as Archie went through the subtleties, he was aware that each move of his was under the scrutiny "Good weather, isn't it?" routines, he felt, deep down, the pressure of secondary agendas. Perhaps he fed thoughts that, despite the demonstration of joviality, the colonel could be hard, petty and selfish - not that Archie had anything against the subject personally, only that, given the circumstances, it was difficult not to feel more than a little confused by the process. And few would argue that the procedures were, to say the least, quite unusual.

It was three years earlier, on a day in October 1990, when Archie was a Phantom pilot based in the Falkland Islands, that the scenario was set up for the remarkable reunion that would take place, totally by chance, during the colonel's visit to Valley. On the one hand, it was by chance that Archie, along with his colleagues, was on rapid reaction alert service (QRA) on that specific day in the Falklands. The men were prepared to react, if necessary, while waiting in a special crew room next to a hangar with two fully armed Phantom FGR2s. On the day in question, Archie and his colleagues were informed of a special request from the Argentine government regarding a large section of Antarctic ice, part of the renowned Wilkins ice shelf, which detached and was adrift in the South Atlantic seas. The Wilkins ice shelf, evidently stable for most of the 20th century, began to fragment. Concerned about the effects of global warming, scientific researchers from Argentina were eager to make detailed observations of the air.

As the aircraft to be used for these observations, a Lockheed C-130 Hercules operated by the Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Argentina or FAA), had limited range, the Argentines requested permission to fly over the Falkland Inner Conservation and Management Zone (FICZ). As this would be the first flight of this type by an FAA aircraft after the 1982 war, the subject was controversial. However, the UK government agreed to the flight on the condition that the C-130, when crossing the FICZ, was accompanied by two RAF Phantoms. To deal with language difficulties, Spanish-speaking air traffic controllers would be available at the Phantom base at RAF Mount Pleasant in East Falkland.

This is how the two QRA Phantoms took off that spring day in the Falklands to intercept, identify and escort the Argentine aircraft. The plan worked as planned and did not take long for Archie, as a pilot of the first QRA aircraft, to maintain the training on the left side of the C-130. When in position, he noticed that the Argentine aircraft, in addition to camouflage insignia and paint, was similar to the RAF C-130s of flight 1312 based at Mount Pleasant. The latter was modified to offer an in-flight refueling facility that the Phantoms occasionally used. While Archie and his navigator made a sentry on the left side of the Argentine, the other Phantom pilot maneuvered judiciously while his navigator took pictures. The Phantom crews did not make radio contact with the Argentine opposing numbers, although some polite nods occurred from time to time. With the C-130's cruising speed of less than 300 knots, the progress through the FICZ seemed, after a while, slow - in fact, strangely slow, actually tedious to the point that Archie started to get quite bored.

Possibly, at that point, Archie's thoughts may have wandered in different directions, including, perhaps, mental images of home, of his birthplace in Grantown-on-Spey, in the Scottish Highlands ... Suddenly, Archie had an idea; an idea he discussed with his navigator, which seemed quite amused with the absurd proposition. During the training, they discovered that the escorted aircraft was one of the two FAA KC-130s, a type of Hercules based on the U.S. Marine Corps variant used for in-flight refueling. Archie decided to accelerate his two levers to reposition the Phantom; he wanted to be fully visible to the Argentine cockpit crew. He then lowered his left hand of the two levers to the fuel panel below. With his eyes still watching Hercules, Archie's fingers carefully groped the switch of the in-flight refueling probe. The distinct shape of this switch was promptly identified. Now, when he operated the switch, Archie and his navigator heard the typical thuds and noises that indicated the movement of his flight refueling probe. When the device, normally leveled with the fuselage by the cockpit, left its housing, the movement signaled a standard silent procedural message interpreted by the aviators as: "I would like some fuel, please!"

The response of the Hercules cockpit crew was immediate: the heads of both pilots turned to look at their escort. Meanwhile, several other crew members, with interrogative facial expressions, began to crowd against the side windows. The replica could be imagined:

“They're crazy!”

"How can we deal with these people?"

“They must be stressed!”

"It's a stratagem."

"No, it's just a joke. Let's play together. With this, one of the Hercules men smiled at the Phantom crew and made a positive sign. Thus encouraged, Archie maneuvered backwards to adopt the standard "waiting" position of replenishment. After a moment or two, to his astonishment, Hercules' refueling basket took a slight turn before starting to emerge from the hose drum unit. As the fuel line slowly stretched, Archie followed her back and began to move to a refueling position. At this juncture, however, the captain of Hercules must have decided that the prank had already gone too far: the hose bumped until it stopped, stopped and then was quickly rolled back into his accommodation. Archie has now eased his levers forward to resume his previous position in the Hercules cockpit. When he was there, he briefly lowered the oxygen mask to make an exaggeratedly taciturn expression. The reaction of Hercules' crew was intriguing: even more faces appeared on the side windows, all with wide smiles. Some shook their heads from side to side and shook their fingers as if they were a mischievous student.

Meanwhile, the captain of Hercules raised his cup of coffee in greeting, a sign that Archie interpreted as "no resentment". He therefore retracted his refueling probe and maintained a slightly broader formation as if indicating: 'Okay. It's agreed!' For the next hour, Archie maintained this position as the formation flew on the planned course that took the aircraft directly over the Mount Pleasant airfield and then towards the eastern limit of the FICZ. When there, Archie complied with the internationally agreed signal 'you are free to proceed' before giving a cheerful nod and moving sharply to the left as he headed back to Mount Pleasant.

After landing, Archie and the other crew members were duly informed by intelligence officers who asked adequately intelligent questions. As usual, there were forms to fill out, documents to sign, do this and that to ensure a satisfactory bureaucratic progression, but in a short time, in the hustle and bustle of a hectic life, the incident began to retreat to the back of Archie's mind. In fact, three years passed before memory was awakened, three years during which he moved from Leuchars to the 74º Squadron at the RAF Wattisham in Suffolk, where, among other functions, he was the acrobatic exhibition pilot of the Phantom - the last type in the RAF. In the fall of 1992, coinciding with the transition from RAF Wattisham to the Army Air Corps, he was assigned to the RAF Valley as commanding officer of the 234º Squadron, a training unit whose motto 'ignem mortemque despuimus' may have instilled a sense of admiration in the student body. (especially when they learned the meaning - 'we

***

Perhaps this motto was also appropriate when issues related to Argentina arose, although, as it has been about ten years since the Falklands War, efforts were underway to normalize relations. As part of this process, a new Argentine air attaché was appointed, a colonel who was being introduced to staff at several Royal Air Force stations throughout the country, including RAF Valley. With the choice of Squadron 234 as one of the units to be visited, on the day in question employees and students lined up to receive their important guest. To greet the colonel, the officers' cafeteria had provided tea with adequate tea cups, cutlery, fine cookies, sandwiches, buttoons and everything.

When the colonel finally arrived, he turned out to be a great man, of an exuberant nature, who seemed to go well with a mustache that could have made the legendary 'Biggles' proud. To accompany the colonel, elegantly uniformed members of the aeronautical attaché's team were accompanied by a group of senior officers of the Royal Air Force. In contrast, Archie and his men wore their normal day-to-day flight suits. When Archie made the appropriate presentations, he was relieved to see that the colonel was an affable guy who talked freely with everyone present. Perhaps it was even more surprising, therefore, when the colonel suddenly stopped talking to look, stunned, at a badge he had just seen in Archie's flying costume. The badge, innocuous enough for Archie to think, revealed the achievement of 1,000 hours of flight in a Phantom.

"Have you ever been to the Falklands?" asked the colonel. An embarrassed silence came down over the room.

“Yes, sir. On several occasions," Archie said, "although we called the islands something else." He looked nervously around the room. Some of the top officers of the Royal Air Force made an ugly face in disapproval.

"On several occasions?"

“Yes. I was assigned to fly in Phantoms.

"Interesting," said the colonel. After a break, he continued: "In fact, I flew there myself."

"You?"

“In fact. That's... in a way.

"Sir?"

“It must have been about three years ago. I was aboard a C-130 that was allowed to fly over the Falklands — the first FAA aircraft to do so since the war. We had to be escorted by two Phantoms, one of whom pretended to need in-flight refueling from our C-130." The colonel laughed and continued: "It was all a joke, of course. But he broke the ice, so to speak, and the captain of the C-130 was willing to play together to a certain extent."

Immediately, Archie waved to one of his students, whispered a message that made the student run to come back after a moment or two with Archie's logbook. Sneaking hurriedly, Archie found a specific page with a loosely inserted photograph. He extracted the photograph and showed it to the colonel whose face, while studying the photo, seemed at first shocked, then confused, amused and surprised. "Is this you...?" said the colonel. "Yes, sir. I was on duty that day - I was the Phantom pilot who pretended to need refueling in flight."

“My God...” The colonel stared at Archie and then, in a spontaneous act, patted him on the shoulder, shook his hand vigorously and grabbed him in a bear hug. Now, in a growing spirit of munificence, the colonel rummaged through his pocket to take out a leather bag that contained a medal from the Argentine aviation academy. Without further ado, the colonel solemnly fixed the medal on Archie's flying costume before, with his mustache bristled with pride, took a step back and greeted our gallant protagonist.

With this, the conversation in the room resumed while poor Archie, while struggling to recover from the momentary vertigo induced by such extravagance, was relieved to see that the group of senior officers of the Royal Air Force now seemed a little less sad. Maybe Archie felt a little dizzy, taken by surprise by the bizarre and unplanned experience. Was it, however, totally unplanned? Reflecting, Archie concluded that the colonel seemed, in some way, pre-prepared. If not, why carry such a medal anyway? Certainly not at the chance of finding some random individual who instantly needed one?

Finally, when the colonel and his group made mention of leaving, he approached Archie to shake his hand warmly. “Goodbye, my friend. Please pay a visit to the Argentine air academy one day, huh?"

“Thank you, sir. That would be... Archie suddenly noticed the way the colonel was looking at him. When the colonel nodded and turned to leave, Archie got the clear impression that he knew all the time who Archie was. He could never be sure, of course, and as he watched the Argentine officer and his entourage leave, Archie realized that all that strange episode would have to remain one of life's little surprises.

Merely illustrative images

Source: The Aviation Geek Club

Tags: Military AviationFAA - Fuerza Aerea Argentina/Força Aérea ArgentinaFalklands/Malvinas WarHISTORYRAF - Royal Air Force/Royal Air Force

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Daytona Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work around the world of aviation.

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astrabear · 11 months

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trick or treat

Happy Halloween! Have another abandoned work in progress! Sorry it's so depressing, I guess you got a trick.

**** Nile did extensive research into funerary customs of the Neolithic Eurasian steppes, but Andy said she didn’t remember any of that shit, and as far as she was concerned they should just dump her body in a hole. So Nile researched development trends, the migration patterns caused by climate change, and law enforcement practices. Then she gave up and picked a spot in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone that she was reasonably confident they could sneak in and out of and that wouldn’t be dug up for the foreseeable future. But this was all for later – it wasn’t time yet, she just liked being prepared.

And then it was time.

And then, about a week later – when they were in a safehouse outside Riga, still mostly numb, encouraging each other to eat and sleep while not doing it themselves, trying to keep Booker distracted so he wouldn’t think about how much he wanted to drink – they hauled themselves out of bed one morning and discovered Quỳnh had gone. All she took with her was a change of clothes; all she left behind was a note that read, “Give me a year. I’ll be in touch. I promised her.”

Nile was blindingly furious at first. How could Quỳnh give them something else to grieve? How could she leave Nile to take care of these men on her own? But over the next few days it dawned on her that Joe and Nicky each thought they were taking care of her, and after that she noticed that while they missed Quỳnh they were not distressed by it, and she decided to stop trying to be the older sister she’d grown up having to be.

Slowly, day by day, they got through it. Every few weeks, Quỳnh would send a postcard to Sulastri (Copley’s replacement’s replacement), or text her from a stolen phone, and she’d pass the information on to the rest of the team. Quỳnh never said where she was or what she was doing, only that she was still all right. The year turned into two, then five, a decade. She’d leave notes and keepsakes in safehouses and stashes as she passed by, and they took to doing the same. No one ever talked about when she might rejoin them, or at least not while Nile was around.

Most of the time, they were too busy to dwell on it. There were climate refugees to relocate from submerged islands in the South Pacific (safely, in communities, rather than in the camps and holding facilities they’d otherwise be stuck in.) They broke up a water cartel in Chennai and a black market for diverted relief supplies operating out of Asmara; Booker crashed the accounts of their backers and investors and transferred their funds to reforestation programs, which amused him. They drove Sulastri crazy by acting as human shields during protests and riots, forcing her to hunt down and alter or delete recordings. After Nicky shattered his collarbone taking a blow meant for a teenage boy’s head, she stopped scolding them about it.

They went to ground for a little while, literally, in Andy’s old French mine. A nascent military coup in Turkey had suddenly found itself bereft of leadership, and the team wanted to wait out the uproar somewhere under the radar. They’d installed a few modern amenities over the years (a composting toilet, a camp shower, a discreet charging station outside the mine for their solar batteries), and it made a nice respite from the 40-degree heat baking most of Europe.

Their third night there, Nile took second watch. While Joe climbed back into his sleeping bag with Nicky, she settled down just inside the entrance with her night-vision goggles. She let the midnight sounds wash over her: more traffic noises than the last time, fewer birds and insects. When they’d arrived, Booker had commented they were lucky not to find squatters there; Nicky had wondered if maybe it was unethical not to invite people in. Nile sometimes felt oddly cheated, as though she’d become immortal too late to really enjoy it. It was hard to take breaks when instant communications meant they were always aware of how badly they were needed, and it was harder to feel optimistic about human progress and the potential of the future when everything seemed to be falling apart. Joe told her that the entire 20th Century felt that way to him; climate change wasn’t nearly as depressing as two world wars in rapid succession. Nile couldn’t really argue with that, but she stared out into the still, muggy night and saw a future that only held more losses.

And then – a noise. Coming from near the gate. Animal, not mechanical. Large. A person? She stood silently, gun at the ready. One person, moving quietly and confidently; they were coming toward the mine and knew exactly where they were going. They were…

“Quỳnh?”

“Nile!” She bounded over, and in the moment before she wrapped Nile in a hug, Nile saw she was grinning ear to ear. Nile found herself smiling to match, and her cheeks felt stiff. How long since she’d smiled like that? How long since she’d felt relief and comfort, and the rush of warmth in her chest that she vaguely recognized as happiness?

She pulled back from the hug enough to say, “Come on in, let me go wake the guys.”

“No, no, I’ll stay out here for a while. You’re on watch? I’ll sit with you.”

The mention of keeping watch reminded her that they should stay silent, but she couldn’t help herself. “You know they’ll be glad to see you, right?”

Quỳnh laughed softly and took her hand. “I’m not afraid of seeing them. But as long as I stay out here, I can pretend there are four people inside, not three.” They sat simultaneously, still holding hands.

“Is that… do you still… it’s been ten years. You haven’t spent all that time imagining Andy was here.”

“Not all of it. Not even most of it. But sometimes.”

She smiled again; Nile couldn’t remember ever seeing her so relaxed. It was oddly unsettling. A horrible thought came to her, and she asked, “Are you still healing?”

Quỳnh squeezed her hand. “I can show you, if you like.”

“I’ll pass.” She tried to keep her focus on the world around them, but her gaze kept returning to Quỳnh. She looked well-rested, serene. Clean clothes, neatly-trimmed hair. Nile felt about a thousand years older. “You didn’t come here because of us, did you?”

Quỳnh shook her head. “I was in the area, and it seemed like a good place to spend the night. I didn’t know you were here.”

“Will you stay? At least until they wake up? Or… you could stay longer. If you want.”

They sat in silence for a moment. Quỳnh turned to face her and let go of her hand. “You’ve been working.”

Nile sighed. “Pretty much non-stop.”

“Your next job?”

“Eco-fascists. They say the only way to save the planet is to speed up population decline, and they’re destroying infrastructure in refugee camps.”

Quỳnh cocked her head to the side like a bird, an old gesture that Nile hadn’t seen in decades. “And are you stopping them, or helping them?”

Nile had lived with Quỳnh longer than she’d lived with her own mother. She’d fought with her, and beside her; yelled at her, cried with her, died in her arms. She suddenly wondered if she knew her at all. “Which one do you want it to be?”

“Stopping them.”

“Why?”

“I want you to try to stop them because… because it’s more hopeful. I don’t want things to be so bad that the greatest good is served by letting people die. I want there to be a future that’s worth protecting people for.”

Nile’s breath caught in her throat and tears pricked her eyes. None of her reasons for taking this job had anything to do with hope. She swallowed, twice, before she could speak. She’d meant to confirm that yes, the goal was to protect the refugees. But what she actual said was, “What was it that you promised Andy?”

Quỳnh just smiled that same calm smile. “Why don’t I keep watch for you while you get some rest? I promise I’ll still be here when you wake.”

#ask game #my fic #the old guard #if you're into near future climate crisis fics i can rec you a good one #i doubt i'll finish this #i think everything i intended to do with it has already been covered in other stuff i've written

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promisecitymoments · 1 year

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What is Promise City? An Examination of the Modern Lie

It was the middle years of the 21st century. As the world fell deeper into disorder and chaos, a resolution was passed by the UN - build impenetrable fortress-cities, one for each region of the world. Sworn to perpetual neutrality and serving as a grand, living repository for all cultures and peoples, Promise City is the jewel of the United Nations Megacity initiative, and home to upwards of eighty nine million people.

It is called home by people from every corner of the world, who speak every language, making it a wildly diverse place. The City was planned from the ground up, fanning out from its centre in the First District, now called the High Rise.

The City is divided into 13 Districts, each of which serves a different purpose. From the desolate and collapsing streets of the Basilissa Exclusion Zone to the highly pedestrianised and narrow backroads of Nihonmachi District, the purpose and peoples of the City can change on an almost street-to-street basis.

Most of the Districts are partially built on or straddle the river Vitae, a huge estuary which has been artificially widened as the years have passed to accommodate the continuous traffic going to and from the City's major industrial centres and the ports of the world. It didn't start with the name, but was rechristened when its expansion began, for from the beginning it was intended to be the City's primary artery, the vein that pumped its lifeblood to its heart.

The dream of Promise broke under the weight of the modern world as the global scene made slow steps towards order and peace and a new agent of governance emerged. It took cues from the chaebol conglomerates of the Korean republic, the zaibatsus of the new Japan, the oligarchic kleptocracies of Russia and the runaway monopolies of America.

It became something new, with power transcending that of national governments. It became the modern multinational corporation, an organisational and logistical superstructure with fingers and operations all across the globe, their origins swaddled in mystery and their servants in the hundreds of thousands.

The concept of the nation-state is now a joke, a foreign idea taken seriously only in corners of the world that the average metropolitan never needs to think of. And the worst part? The people of the ever-shrinking middle class were more than keen to look the other way, as long as the wages were good and the abuses were just out of sight.

In Promise City there emerged three corporations of supreme importance.

The first was Byzantion Security Systems, an electronics, military technology and communications magnate. It was the first among equals, the largest company in all the world.

Second to it were two, ÆSIR Arms and Machinery and Tlalocan Ltd., companies which both survive on the military-industrial complex that has ripped the third world asunder. Each was like a kingdom, an empire unto itself, their CEOs like Gods among men. Their employees numbered in the indirect millions, in every corner of the earth, in every business imaginable. In the modern age, it is almost impossible to do business without crossing one of the Three, or, failing that, without crossing another of the major corporations in the world.

Their positions as the leaders of the world seemed unshakeable. They could not be touched, no matter what resistance was mounted against them. Public or private, it seemed like nothing could be done to halt the corporations.

Then came October 21st, 20XX. Judgement Day.

The City ground to a halt that cold autumn afternoon, forced to watch as a monstrous machine brought entire blocks down in its rampage. Thousands were killed in the District of Paxtonville and the High Rise almost immediately, and further thousands were displaced all across the rest of the City.

With the sudden and violent dissolution of the Byzantion Group by its former CEO/CSO Alexios Konstantinatos, a power vacuum unlike anything as seen in living memory was suddenly created in every corner of the globe.

Infrastructure totally broke down wherever Byzantion’s influence could be felt, the company’s assets were suddenly fair game to anyone who could scrape up the funds and hundreds of thousands of people, involved with the corporation at every level of production and distribution, were suddenly without work.

The world economy quickly crashed with this essential link in the global chain removed. It’s been a year and though the company’s rivals have moved fast, they are only now starting to put the pieces of the world back together.

Trade is still limited to short distances through motor convoys and trains, with international shipping having all but ceased except in cases of extreme duress, such as the humanitarian crisis and complete breakdown of civil order faced here.

In the rubble, the UN has stepped in to revive the now-paralyzed City authorities and rebuild the City’s domestic law enforcement unit, the Promise City Police Department (PCPD). However, their influence is far from absolute - running the streets are gangs of every shape, size and stripe, from typical criminal groups preying on vice and need to organised groups of political agitators and to fringe sects of complete extremists.

There is no more global order. Stability is a myth, a thing of the past. Rubble and seemingly endless corpses have done nothing to stymie the ambitions of pushers and hustlers, those obsessed with status and wealth. At the end of the day, there are still plenty of jobs out there that need doing, and plenty of people willing to risk it all to do them. The world is rudderless, the City insane…

… and in this madness there exist chances one can only dream of.

#cyberpunk #fiction #unreality #future #city #futuristic #Promise City #original character #sci fi #urban decay #literature #ttrpg #mecha #high tech #low life #tw: disasters #tw: mass casualties

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kenyatta · 1 year

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If you know something about the history, the map is an extraordinary display of one of the most important demographic trends of the past two centuries: the great reversal of urban/rural health outcomes—a transformation that began with Snow and Farr’s work in the middle of the 19th century. A century and half ago, the most deadly places to live in industrialized countries were the big cities. Today it’s the countryside that kills you. Here in Brooklyn, for instance, average life expectancy is about five years higher than the overall US average—that’s not affluent brownstown Brooklyn, mind you, that’s all 2.8 million residents of Kings County. There’s one other important point that should be made about the life expectancy map that is not immediately visible from just looking at it: the striking disparities you see there are not exclusively reflecting an underlying problem with our healthcare system. A huge part of what is driving the historic decline in life expectancy over the past few years is the spike in deaths in teenagers and young adults, thanks to opioid overdoses, suicide, gun deaths, and traffic accidents. (As I was writing this post, David Wallace-Wells published an excellent op-ed diving into this point in more detail.) Overall LE expectancy numbers can be dramatically altered when young people die. (The high rate of infant and childhood mortality for most of human history is why LE was so shockingly low—somewhere in the low to mid-30s—for so long.) The same principle applies when a large cohort of 20-year-olds start dying. Even though the map also happens to roughly coincide with vaccination rates, COVID is less responsible for the variation in LE here, because COVID mortalities are so skewed towards the elderly. The closest thing that I can think of to what we are seeing with young people in the red zone on this map is what the US lived through in 1918-1919, when the combination of the war and the Great Influenza (which for complicated reasons was disproportionately lethal for young people, and relatively mild for older folks) killed a significant number of otherwise health young adults. That comparison should be a wake-up call for all of us.

A Tale Of Two Countries - by Steven Johnson

#life expectancy #u.s.#health

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airbrushfather · 1 year

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OKAY IM ABOUT TO START SPEAKINGGGG

the fact they're still doing staggered teasers is INSANE behaviour. it's august 24th, and if we assume there's going to be 7 or 8 attractions this year (3 mazes, 3 zones, a show, and possibly a roaming team) even if they were dropping one announcement a day that would put them at august 31st-september 1st for announcing the whole lineup - but the kicker is - They Don't Drop A Teaser Every Day.

let's live in a world for a second where they do drop a teaser every day for the next week. that still leaves the park with only seven days to drum up excitement for oktoberfest, which is any uk park's least attended event simply because it happens in september - which is a low foot-traffic month to begin with. plus, oktoberfest at merlin parks is famously underwhelming -- i've never felt the urge to go to an oktoberfest event and i'm the freak that i am. maybe it's of more interest to the general public than it would be to me (or even your standard enthusiast) - because of the beer - but the fact is that oktoberfest is simply the least engaging of the 4 events tpr are offering this year - there's no exclusive food offering, very little entertainment (carnival and mardi gras have shows, fright nights has the scare attractions, oktoberfest may have like. an oompah band.) there's not even extended opening hours - a smart business decision by tpr, yes, but one must wonder if it would draw more people in - perhaps an evening crowd would be enticed if there were extended hours, people coming after work or school to enjoy the 'vibes' and a coaster or two. but, i digress. all of this is to say - oktoberfest needs all the help it can get. leaving it with only seven days of devoted social media attention, especially after the buzz that would be caused - at least in the enthusiast community - by the fright nights lineup announcement.

whatever the play is here, it's wild, and it does disservice to what could (potentially) otherwise be an event just as exciting as carnival or fright nights, if it was given the right amount of attention and marketing. i love the staggered fright nights teasers (and i hate them, it's a double edged sword), but it must be drawn into question whether - with the lineup announcement being made such a big deal, as it has in recent years since ka productions started leading the marketing - they are unintentionally erasing oktoberfest from the public conscience, and whether, were the timings handled differently, oktoberfest could thrive and not just serve as something to tide over the ents team between summer and halloween.

#danny talks tpfn #i missed the announcement because i was writing this post lol #it'll only be doors though i bet #this is my equivalent of cricket for some of you guys #im in my psbb era

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bizarrequazar · 2 years

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GJ and ZZH Updates — January 22-28

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

01-22 → Zhang Su posted a douyin a few minutes before midnight, leaving the comment on it, “New Year's Eve~ Those who spit at me are really meaningless, I have never hurt him, so you can spit whatever you want~ If you still support him, go support his new songs and trendy brand~ As his friend of 18 years, it’s not that you make friends just for show, there are some things you can’t help if you don’t believe it, time will prove it” [screenshot] (I’m not linking the douyin itself because I don’t want to give him traffic, DM me if you want the link) This was well timed, as Flora finished the wiki page for him the following day, which outlines exactly what a good “friend of 18 years” he’s been.

→ #GongJun and #HappyJunZhe2023 trended on Twitter.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted three photos of him from 12-31 holding Lunar New Year’s items. Caption: “At the beginning of the new year, window stenciles are posted, the red envelopes are full of blessings, and spring comes. Chinese New Year's Day is destined to be the beginning of good luck, remember to turn on the TV today and watch the boss @ Gong Jun Simon!”

→ The Weibo account for Fox Spirit Matchmaker posted a new poster for the show featuring Gong Jun and the female lead Yang Mi.

→ Gong Jun posted a promotional image for the Youth Exhibition program he would appear in on 01-24. Caption: “In the new year, I hope to jump out of my comfort zone and see more scenery that I’ve never seen before. In the brand-new Year of the Rabbit, I also wish you a bright future and to not to shrink back. On January 24th at 20:00 on the third day of the Chinese New Year, I will take you into a special ‘Youth Exhibition’, remember to come and see it!”

→ 361° posted two photo ads [here] and [here] featuring Gong Jun.

→ The Instagram posted a video of “Zhang Zhehan”, “Zhang Mama”, and “Zhang Zhehan’s nephew” sending New Year’s greetings.

→ Gong Jun’s studio reposted a video by People’s Daily of Gong Jun’s Dragon TV appearance that would air later (full videos linked below) with the added caption: “Fighting with swords in the jianghu, living a bold life, watch boss @ Gong Jun Simon's chivalrous transformation tonight! In the coming year, I wish everyone good luck and a happy New Year!”

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted sixteen photos from his Dragon TV appearance. Caption: “The whirling chivalrous man, willful and dashing, boss @ Gong Jun Simon is free and unrestrained, happily singing a song of the jianghu.”

→ Gong Jun posted a douyin of himself in his outfit from his later Beijing TV performance. Caption: “There are a lot of ‘skins’ in the New Year!🤓” BGM is Rollin by Calvin Harris.

→ Gong Jun appeared on Dragon TV’s Spring Festival Gala, where he performed 刀剑如梦 originally by Wakin Chau and did some magic tricks. [performance] [translated lyrics] [subbed magic tricks] (cw a bunny falls, no obvious signs that it was hurt) Fan Observations: - The hanfu worn by some of the backup dancers (below) is the same one that Zhang Zhehan wore on 2021-07-14. At that time, fans of another artist whom I will refrain from naming slandered Zhang Zhehan online, claiming that the outfit had been made exclusively for that artist who had worn it previously. The use of the hanfu here—and for multiple backup dancers nonetheless—is pretty much spitting in the faces of those people. - During the first part of the performance, there’s an illustrated cherry tree with a single white blossom.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted nine photos of Gong Jun in the outfit from his later Beijing TV performance. Caption: “The green shirt welcomes the spring, smelling the snow on the branches. Boss @ Gong Jun Simon is going to the Chinese New Year appointment at the #Beijing TV Spring Festival Gala# tonight!”

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted a douyin of him from the above photoshoot. Caption: “Snow is falling, green shirts are fluttering, and boss @ Gong Jun Simon starts the first work diary of the lunar calendar 🐰 year!” BGM is 探窗 (钢琴版) by 汐音社.

→ Gong Jun appeared on Beijing TV’s Spring Festival Gala, performing the song Blood Actor originally by HITA. [performance] [lyric video with contextual info] Fan Observations: - Some drew parallels between the lyrics of this song and those of the song Zhang Zhehan recited part of on 2021-07-26. - As mentioned in last week’s post, HITA is openly and actively a CPF. [Here] is a song she wrote specifically for them. 😊

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted nine photos from his Beijing TV performance. Caption: “The rhyme of the opera is melodious, and the music and shadow overlap. Boss @ Gong Jun Simon's green shirt appeared, tasting the meaning of rhythm and leading the elegance of the country.”

→ #Gong Jun sings beautifully# trended at #9 on Weibo hotsearch, and #GongJun, #龚俊Simon, and Junjun trended on Twitter.

01-23 → Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Fresh posted four gifs of Gong Jun.

01-24 → Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun. Fan Observation: Someone mentioned that they’ve been using these same photos for ages, so I checked and they've been using this specific one since literally the first day of their endorsement on 2021-10-29. 🤡 Judging by hairstyles, I would guess he hasn’t done more than MAYBE three photoshoots for them, if I’m being generous.

→ Fresh posted four more gifs of Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted two photos of him from the 2023 Online Audio-Visual Ceremony he would appear in that evening. Caption: “Firm and proud, hard-blooded. Tonight at 20:00 boss @ Gong Jun Simon stars in ‘Youth History’, recalling the heroic years of the past and expressing the spirit of the times.”

→ Gong Jun appeared in the 2023 Online Audio-Visual Ceremony, performing in a group song and acting in a skit. [full performance] (no subs yet)

01-25 → The Instagram posted a video of a clip from a fourth stolen song that would be released the following day. This was 洪荒剧场, the same song mentioned above that the real Zhang Zhehan had recited some of during his livestream on 2021-07-26, which was intended to debut it at the cancelled concert. (Quite coincidental timing, if you ask me.) Fan Observation: The photos used were leaked by August 2022, and the song demo was leaked in October 2021.

Also, the Instagram’s pfp was changed again, now to one of the most recent white haired photos. This might have happened a day or two earlier before I noticed.

→ Gong Jun made a post promoting the new drama Turn on the Right Way of Life. Caption: “Support Bo-ge's new drama! ... Catch up tonight!”

01-26 → The fourth stolen song was released. In the credits, it lists only Zhang Zhehan as the lyricist despite the real Zhang Zhehan having mentioned that it was written by Tang Tian.

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun posted nine illustrations of the God of Wealth. Caption: “God of Wealth, God of Wealth, look at me! ! !” Fan Observation: The eighth picture was used by Zhang Zhehan as a pfp when he first made the Super3 Instagram account.

→ #ZhangZhehan trended on Twitter.

01-27 → #ZhangZhehan continued to trend on Twitter, #TheRealZhangZhehan also trended.

→ Wang Yixu, the CEO of STELLAR Pictures responded to a question on Weibo, saying that both Rising with the Wind and Fox Spirit Matchmaker will include songs performed by Gong Jun.

→ The Instagram posted a video of “Zhang Zhehan” playing basketball.

01-28 → #TheRealZhangZhehan continued to trend on Twitter.

→ MARRSGREEN posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Kangshifu posted three photo ads featuring Gong Jun.

→ Addition 01-29: The Instagram posted a video of “Zhang Zhehan” playing with fireworks; this video had been posted to Weibo the previous day. [Here] is a video highlighting a glitch in the deepfake.

Additional Reading: → Flora’s daily fan news → Flora also finished the wiki page for Xie Yihua this week.

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This post was last edited 2023-01-29.

#Zhang Zhehan #Gong Jun #Word of Honor #woh cast #lld timeline

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generalpierrotdameron · 11 months

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As Phase III of Star Wars: The High Republic begins, the aftermath of the Nihil attack on Starlight remains fresh as the one-year anniversary looms. In the upcoming novel, The Eye of Darkness by George Mann, fans will reunite with favorite characters from Phase I of the multimedia initiative, including Jedi Master Elzar Mann. In StarWars.com's exclusive excerpt from the book, which arrives November 14, return to Coruscant where we find Elzar considering his place in the galaxy, the Republic, and the brewing conflict while he grieves the absence of his two best friends…

High above the soaring spires of Coruscant, the stars turned in their firmament as they always had, as they always would. Pinpricks of light denoting distant suns, distant worlds, distant peoples, mirrored by the glittering lights of the city far below.

It should have been beautiful.

Yet to Elzar Mann, the stars looked wrong. No matter how hard or how long he peered up at them from his vantage point on the grand balcony outside the chancellor’s office, they just seemed somehow off kilter, out of sorts. As if the galaxy had become kinked, twisted, changed. As if everything he’d once relied upon — every still point in a chaotic galaxy — had been suddenly yanked away, pulled out roughly from under him while he tried to remain standing.

It had been the same ever since the fall of Starlight Beacon and . . .

. . . and Stellan.

Elzar closed his eyes and allowed the breeze to ruffle his unkempt hair, as if hoping that the chill wind could somehow sweep away the memories, carry them off into the streaming lanes of traffic and away through the spires and domes until they were gone. He’d noticed that a few gray strands had appeared around his temples in recent months. He’d lost weight, too, and while he was still toned — he’d taken to practicing lightsaber drills late into the night, most nights — he’d grown thin. He’d tried to convince himself that it was a result of the work, of keeping himself so busy trying to figure out a solution to the Nihil problem, but he knew he was allowing things to worry away at him.

How Stellan would have laughed at him. Nudged him in the ribs and told him to cease dwelling on things that were done. To focus on the here and now. To do what needed to be done, and accept that the Force guided his hand, now as it always had.

But Stellan was gone. He was one with the Force. He had been for a year. Elzar knew that his old friend had found peace. And yet his absence was still marked. Not just a hole in the Jedi’s hearts and minds, but in their leadership, too. Especially now that the Nihil had won, had shattered Starlight Beacon and subsequently annexed dozens of worlds, an entire sector of the Outer Rim, from the rest of the galaxy. This area was being called the Nihil Occlusion Zone, and was separated by an invisible barrier that made it all possible.

The Stormwall: a vast web that disrupted hyperspace travel, causing any vessel that attempted to cross it to be wrenched violently back out of hyperspace, either destroying it immediately or causing it to disappear without a trace. There’d been much debate about what exactly happened to those missing ships, given that communication across the Stormwall was also impeded, but the assumption was that any ships that weren’t destroyed in the attempt were being corralled by Nihil patrols on the other side, and deposited into so-called kill zones. Certainly, they were never heard from again.

Worse, the network of relays and buoys — or “stormseeds” — that powered the Stormwall was so large that traveling across it without lightspeed was equally out of the question. Any ship trying to breach such a vast gulf of space at sublight speeds would have to travel for a hundred years before reaching its destination. Not only that, but any attempt at sublight ingress was being met and destroyed by Nihil patrols or swarms of scav droids, alerted by the automated systems that controlled the Stormwall technology. Patrols that could traverse the Stormwall and deliver a killing blow before the target was even aware it had happened.

It was ingenious, in its own way, and it had so far frustrated all Jedi or Republic attempts to bypass it, usually with disastrous results. Ships flown by droids. Electromagnetic pulses. Data slicing. Sustained attack on the well-shielded stormseeds. Nothing had worked. Nothing at all.

With the Stormwall, the Nihil had carved out their own domain, challenging the Republic at every turn. And with the Nameless — or “Force Eaters,” as they were also known — they had unleashed a weapon that even the Jedi could not stop. A weapon that targeted the very essence of who the Jedi were. A weapon designed to obliterate them.

Elzar exhaled.

This would all have been so much easier if Avar were by his side. Instead, she was somewhere deep in the Occlusion Zone, as distant to him as Stellan was.

They’d stood together on Eiram, watching the last vestiges of the Beacon slip beneath the cold, crushing waves, carrying all the Republic’s hopes and dreams down with it. It had been a symbol of strength and unity, of light in the dark, of hope. And the Nihil, led by Marchion Ro, had turned that symbol against them. Now it was a symbol of nothing but failure and loss.

Elzar had allowed Avar to take his hand in that moment, to lend him strength. He’d taken comfort from that; a shared understanding, a silent acknowledgment that they still had each other, despite everything. Despite the galaxy turning to chaos around them. But he cursed himself now that, lost in his own shock and grief, his own shame at what he had done, he had failed to ask Avar how she had felt. Had failed to offer her the comfort that she had offered him. And that pain she’d been carrying, that sense of loss and failure, had driven her away.

Unless it was him that had driven her away. That was the notion that haunted him, that plagued him with uncertainty and shame. He’d finally worked up the courage to confide in her about what had happened in the final moments of Starlight Beacon. How he’d acted without thought, murdering the Nihil woman, Chancey Yarrow, as she’d tried to save them all. He hadn’t known it at the time, of course. He’d assumed she was just another Nihil trying to sabotage the Jedi’s attempts to save the station. But the results were the same: He’d ended their last chance at saving Starlight, and in doing so had taken the life of someone who’d been trying to help.

Everything that had come afterward was now partly his fault. He had to make amends, to try to embody even a tiny sliver of the good that Stellan had gifted to the galaxy. To somehow try to fill the hole that Stellan had left behind. He’d told Avar all of this, the words spilling from his mouth on the shores of Eiram.

Avar had said all the right things, of course. All the platitudes and reassurances, repeating all the tenets of the Force and the reminders that everything happened for a reason, that he wasn’t to blame. That only the Nihil carried that weight upon their shoulders. She’d shown him all the mercy and understanding for which he’d hoped.

And yet . . . Elzar couldn’t help but wonder if it had also been part of the reason she’d gone, accepting a mission to try to get closer to the Nihil, to discover their intentions in the aftermath of their victory. Intentions that none of them could have anticipated.

Now she, too, was lost. Trapped behind the Stormwall, deep in Nihil space. He didn’t even know if she was still alive.

No, Elzar. You’d know. She’s still out there.

She has to be.

He would bring her back. Avar and the others who shared her fate. He would find a way. The threat of the Nihil would be ended. The Stormwall would fall, and peace would be returned to the galaxy.

There was no choice. He would do what Stellan would have done. No matter that they’d already tried everything they could think of. No matter that the Nihil had defeated them at every turn.

He would find a way.

He had to.

It was the only way to make things right.

#sw books #thr #George Mann #Elzar Mann #The Eye of Darkness #Stellan Gios #avar kriss

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newstfionline · 1 year

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Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Cars increasingly out of reach (Washington Post) Like homes, cars are becoming more and more exclusive to America’s upper class. In March, the average price for a new car in the U.S. hit $48,008, up 30% from March of 2020. The price hikes were originally sparked by inflation and global chip shortages, but they’ve remained high even as those pressures ease. U.S. automakers have increasingly turned away from cheaper compact cars and towards high-margin SUVs and trucks thanks to a 25% import tariff on foreign big cars. Currently, the average American car loan payment has reached $730 per month, well over $100 above pre-pandemic rates. Loans are also getting longer, with more people’s loan terms reaching 72 or 73 months.

Lines stretch down the block at food banks as costs go up and pandemic aid expires (Bloomberg) The line outside Boston’s American Red Cross Food Pantry on a recent Saturday morning stretched the length of two football fields. The number of people filing into the red-brick industrial-zone warehouse on some days now exceeds the worst periods of the pandemic economic crisis, and in April it had the second highest monthly traffic since it opened in 1982, according to David Andre, the director. His organization, like food banks across the country, has been flooded with requests for help since food-stamp recipients were hit with a double blow: the expiration of a temporary boost in benefits put in place during the pandemic and onerous grocery prices, which are running 24% above pre-COVID levels. “It’s a hunger cliff—inflation and ending these emergency allotments,” Andre said. “People are really crashing.”

King Charles III takes day off after busy coronation weekend (AP) On the third day of his long coronation weekend, King Charles III rested. Monday was, after all, a holiday declared in honor of his crowning and he had spent several whirlwind days of elaborately choreographed public festivities capped with an off-the-cuff cameo on “American Idol.” While Charles, 74, had no public appearances, he sent a note of “heartfelt thanks” for the many celebrations in his honor. “To know that we have your support and encouragement, and to witness your kindness expressed in so many different ways, has been the greatest possible coronation gift, as we now rededicate our lives to serving the people,” he wrote on behalf of himself and Queen Camilla. Other royals, including one of the youngest, picked up the mantle of service the king had called for Monday in declaring the “Big Help Out” that was said to draw millions to volunteer a couple hours on their day off. Prince William, heir to the throne, took controls of a small backhoe with his youngest son, Prince Louis, in his lap as his family helped renovate a Scout hut in Slough.

Unintended cable-cutting in Germany (Bloomberg) Germany has absolutely no clue where its cables, pipes and power lines are buried, and they have 5.7 million kilometers of them buried somewhere, but unfortunately people didn’t really keep good track and it’s causing massive problems in green electrification because new infrastructure projects keep digging up and breaking the old ones. There are now approximately 100,000 accidental cable cuts per year. In Lower Saxony alone, roughly 11,000 local road authorities keep the data.

Putin says ‘real war’ being waged against Russia on lower-key Victory Day (Washington Post) Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that a “real war” was being waged against Russia amid muted Victory Day celebrations on Tuesday. “A real war has once again been waged against our homeland. Today, civilization is at a critical juncture,” Putin said at the ceremony marking the end of World War II. “We want to see a future of peace, freedom and stability,” added the leader who more than a year ago ordered what he calls “the special military operation” in Ukraine that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. In his speech, Putin quickly pivoted to blaming the war on the “Western elites.” “We believe that any ideology of superiority is inherently disgusting, criminal and deadly,” he said. “However, Western globalists and elites still talk about their exclusivity, pit people and split society, provoke bloody conflicts and upheavals, sow hatred, Russophobia, aggressive nationalism, and destroy traditional family values that make a person a person.” Putin then reiterated his claim that Ukraine had become “hostage to a coup d’etat and the criminal regime formed by its Western masters” and “a bargaining chip in the implementation of their cruel, selfish plans.”

Wagner Walks It Back (NYT) Russia’s Wagner group has declared that it will be keeping up its presence at the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, just two days after its founder, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, declared that his troops would be abandoning the front due to lack of ammunition and weaponry. “We have been promised as much ammunition and armament as we need to keep going,” Prigozhin said in a statement announcing the Wagner group’s return Sunday.

Chaos and Shortages in Parts of Occupied Ukraine Amid Russian Evacuation Orders (NYT) People living in Russian-occupied areas of southern Ukraine described in recent days an atmosphere of confusion, defiance and scarcity, as the occupation authorities ordered tens of thousands of civilians to evacuate in the face of a looming Ukrainian offensive. The New York Times communicated with more than a dozen people in occupied towns and villages in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine, by phone and through secure messaging applications. They said gas stations were running dry, grocery store shelves were emptying and A.T.M.s were out of cash. “They discharge people from the hospitals and take away the equipment,” said Andriy, 38, a resident of occupied Kamianka-Dniprovska in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine. “Then they close them. No one explains why and for how long. And people are afraid to ask since there are armed soldiers around.” With heavy fighting expected very soon, the message from occupation authorities has been clear for days: Leave now. Most civilians fled the area long ago—primarily to Ukrainian-held territory—but Ukrainians say that despite hardship and fear, most of those who remain are staying.

As key votes loom, Turkish parties vow to send migrants home (AP) For Nidal Jumaa, a Syrian from Aleppo, life in Turkey is tough. He works part-time at a furniture workshop and collects plastics and cardboard from trash cans that he sells for recycling, but can hardly afford the rent for his run-down house in a low-income neighborhood of Ankara. Despite the hardship, the 31-year-old would prefer to remain in Turkey than return to Syria where he no longer has a house or a job. Most of all, he worries that his 2-year-old son, Hikmat, who requires regular medical supervision following two surgeries, wouldn’t be able to receive the treatment he needs back home. “Where would we go in Syria? Everywhere is destroyed because of the war,” Jumaa said. “We can’t go back. Hikmat is sick. He can’t even walk.” Syrians fleeing the civil war—now into its 12th year—were once welcomed in Turkey out of compassion, making the country home to the world’s largest refugee community. But as their numbers grew—and as the country began to grapple with a battered economy, including skyrocketing food and housing prices—so did calls for their return. A shortage of housing and shelters following a devastating earthquake in February revived calls for the return of Syrians, who number at least 3.7 million.

Pakistan’s ex-PM Imran Khan arrested, sparking violence (AP) Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested and dragged from court Tuesday as he appeared to face charges in multiple graft cases, a dramatic escalation of political tensions that sparked violent demonstrations by his angry supporters across the country. The arrest of Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 but remains the leading opposition figure, represented the latest confrontation to roil Pakistan, which has seen former prime ministers arrested over the years and interventions by its powerful military. At least one person was reported killed in clashes between protesters and the military in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, with another five people wounded there, while about 15 injuries were reported amid similar violence in Karachi, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore.

Vietnam heat wave (Guardian) On Saturday, Vietnam experienced the highest temperature in the nation’s history soon after neighboring Asian countries were swept by a wave of, well, heat waves. Temperatures in the country’s Thanh Hoa province reached 44.1C (111.38F), breaking the previous record of 43.4C, reached in 2019. Thailand and Myanmar also experienced record temperatures in April, with Thailand reporting temperatures of 44.6C (tying a previous heat record), and Myanmar recording a high of 43.8C (the highest temperature recorded in a decade). Bangladesh’s capital also experienced its highest temperature since the 1960s. Back in Vietnam, authorities called on citizens to remain indoors during the heat wave, and the streets were mostly clear of people come midday. Farmers worked to finish their work before 10 a.m., and the country’s government marshaled its electricity and water supplies to keep people safe in the heat.

Emergency declared, student missing in New Zealand floods (AP) Authorities in Auckland declared a state of emergency Tuesday as flooding again hit New Zealand’s largest city. Further north in the city of Whangārei, a high school student was missing after a school group that was exploring caves got into trouble when floodwaters hit. Fire and emergency crews said they had responded to more than 200 calls, most of them in Auckland. Many were for floodwaters entering buildings, but they had also responded to landslides, falling trees and trapped cars. Severe weather has plagued the North Island this year. In January, four people were killed when floodwaters hit Auckland. In February, 11 people died when Cyclone Gabrielle hit.

Press group calls for Israeli accountability in media deaths (AP) The Israeli military has systematically evaded accountability in the deaths of 20 journalists over the past two decades, launching slow and opaque investigations that have never resulted in prosecution or punishment, an international press-freedom group said in a report Tuesday. The Committee to Protect Journalists issued its report ahead of the one-year anniversary of the death of Shireen Abu Akleh—a Palestinian-American journalist with the Al Jazeera satellite channel who was killed while covering an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank. The New York-based CPJ documented the cases of 20 journalists killed by Israeli military fire over the last 22 years. Eighteen of the dead were Palestinians, while the other two were European foreign correspondents. At least 13, including Abu Akleh, were clearly identified as journalists or traveling in vehicles marked with press insignia, it said.

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 3 senior militants, 10 others (AP) Israel killed three senior commanders of the militant Islamic Jihad group in targeted airstrikes early Tuesday, the military said. Palestinian health officials said 13 people were killed in all, including the commanders, their wives, several of their children and others nearby. The attacks in densely populated residential areas set the stage for a new round of heavy fighting. They hit the top floor of an apartment building in Gaza City and a house in the southern town of Rafah. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 20 people were injured, and that ambulances were continuing to evacuate people from the targeted areas. Airstrikes continued in the early hours, targeting militant training sites, Israel said.

Egypt ‘surrounded by a ring of fire’ (NPR) The violence in Sudan is affecting neighboring countries like Egypt, where tens of thousands of refugees have crossed over. NPR’s Aya Batrawy reported from Aswan, a city on the Nile, where she says there’s been a “flurry of diplomacy” in the area in recent days. Batrawy reports that “the threat of a proxy war that draws in other countries is real.” She adds, “Egypt does see this as a direct threat to its stability,” with newspapers describing the country as “being surrounded by a ring of fire, with Libya and Sudan and Gaza and Israel all around its borders.”

Does sex get better with age? (NPR) A lot of people anticipate enjoying their golden years—but what does that look like? Time for hobbies, travel, spoiling your grandkids? What about great sex? A study published last month in The Gerontologist looks at how well our sexual expectations match up with reality over time. As part of the MIDUS (Midlife in the US) study, hundreds of partnered adults ages 45 and up were asked to rate how satisfying they expected their sex lives to be 10 years in the future. Researchers then checked in with the participants a decade later. Their findings seem to demonstrate the power of positive thinking. Participants who were optimistic about their sex lives reported having significantly more frequent and more satisfying sex than those who had lower expectations.

#headlines #news

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bizarropurugly · 1 year

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I hate to sound like a boomer but tiktok, instagram, and youtube are becoming banes on our existences

there’s so much problematic shit coming out of this, of trying to be a “viral sensation” or desperately trying to get views, and it is absolutely horrifying

like we have people posing and playing in historical areas of tragedy, the peak of disrespectful disaster tourism. they are STEALING and TOUCHING things, making pin ups in the fucking chernobyl exclusion zone or in auschwitz, it’s disgusting.

kids are getting seriously hurt and even dying. but not just kids, adults too. and they keep pulling shitstunts like pretending to faint in the middle of traffic to “prank” emergency services, or pretending to be armed robbers in a bank.

and then there’s the “family” channels, especially the kid ones. this is “toddlers and tiaras” level of vile and abusive.

humanity in itself is so fucking horrible, but now we get to parade ourselves to the world and have others copy how horrible we are. this isn’t rock bottom, it’s digging towards the core of the earth. I’ve never felt so furious and disappointed in people.

#that's a text post

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naturecpw · 2 years

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Everything You Need to Know About Clover Lawns, the Eco-Friendly Landscaping Trend That Calls for Just 4 Mowings Per Year Spend less time and money on your lawn by converting your grass to clover. By Lauren Wellbank October 03, 2022

Clover lawns—which recently went viral on TikTok—are the new trend in drought-friendly, heat-tolerant, and eco-forward landscaping. Homeowners everywhere are considering adding a bit of clover to their turf in an attempt to offset common lawn problems brought on by the climate crisis. But before you turn your turf into something a bit "greener," you'll want to see what professionals have to say about clover lawns—and why they might be coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

Clover Lawns, Explained

A clover lawn can be exclusively clover or a combination of clover and traditional turf grass, says Jen McDonald, a certified organic garden specialist and co-founder of Garden Girls, a garden design company based in Houston, Texas. "Clover is actually a legume, which means that it draws nitrogen from the air and pulls it to the ground, which is highly beneficial to the soil, grass, and plants nearby," she says, adding that it also means that you won't need to give it a boost with fertilizer.

The Pros and Cons of Growing a Clover Lawns

Pros

This lawn style has plenty of benefits, including the fact that you're likely already growing some clover in your grass. "Rather than fighting it, consider it nature's gift," McDonald says. "The combination of the two promotes biodiversity and encourages pollinators to stop and stay awhile." Another benefit? If your grass typically looks less than green during hot, dry summer months, your clover turf will likely remain green no matter what, she says.

Cons

Of course, there are a few downsides, too. McDonald says that clover doesn't wear evenly when it comes to heavy foot traffic; turf grass handles this better. "One more very important tidbit on clover lawns for families—clover attracts honeybees," says McDonald. "It's primarily insect-pollinated, so if you have a family member with an allergy to bees, you'll want to avoid planting a clover lawn."

Clover Lawn Zones

Depending on the species, McDonald says clover grows best in the USDA plant hardiness zones 3 through 10. "Clover does particularly well in areas like California and Texas, which have mild winters and dry summers," she says, adding that Dutch White Clover is the most popular option. "It grows and spreads quickly when started in the spring, when temperatures range between 50 to 85 degrees."

Ana Maria Torres, the founder of AT Architects in New York, says clover does best in full sun, which is why she recommends giving this trend a try if you live in sunny, warmer zones (including 6 through 9). Regardless of where you live, though, "check in with your local nursery about which clover variety best suits the particular local ecosystem and climate of your lawn," says Torres.

How to Plant a Clover Lawn

While you may already have some clover growing in your grass, the trick to getting a fuller thatch boils down to prep work, says Torres.

Check Your Soil

"Most importantly, prepare and check your soil ahead of planting," Torres says, adding that you'll want to plant your clover seeds and water until they are established. "Clover lawns thrive in sandy or loamy soil with a pH between 6 and 7."

When to Plant

Spring is the best time to get started, according to McDonald. "In the early spring, mow your lawn after the first frost has passed," she says. At that time, if your soil's pH isn't up to snuff, you can amend your dirt by adding in some fine sand.

Planting Tips

"Mix your clover seed with sandy loam soil and cover the area. Lightly rake the area where you've seeded the clover," says McDonald. "Water daily for 10 to 14 days until you see germination." Reduce watering once the seedlings grow leaves; at that time, your lawn is considered established.

Related: These Unique Perennial Grasses Will Add Low-Maintenance Color to Your Garden

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usafphantom2 · 2 years

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Saab will be at the Dassault Aviation Falcon Albatros of the French Navy

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 10/24/2022 - 14:00 in Military

Saab TransponderTech's latest generation air transponders were selected to be integrated into Dassault Aviation's Albatros Falcon 2000LXS fleet for surveillance and maritime intervention of the French Navy.

The aircraft is part of the French Navy's AVSIMAR program and will ensure the maritime protection and defense of the territory. The program includes a total of 12 aircraft to replace the Falcon 50M and the Falcon 200 Guardian, which will be taken out of service between 2025 and 2030.

Saab's state-of-the-art AIS and VDES transponders meet the strict requirements of the Albatros platform - a multi-mission system ready to operate in a wide range of conditions, from the protection of the homeland and maritime security to government action at sea, through the fight against pollution and traffic, surveillance of borders and exclusion zones, fisheries policing, as well

"We are committed to providing Dassault with the latest generation of AIS sensors for the Falcon 2000 Albatros aircraft. It is a confirmation of Saab's ambition to be a leader in this maritime technology and a recognition of our long-term cooperation with Dassault," said Johanna Gustafsson, Managing Director of Saab TransponderTech.

Saab will deliver a total of 8 sets of systems, each including an AIS R5A transponder and a VDES/AIS R6A receiver. The R6A platform is a future-proof multichannel VDES and AIS receiver, specially designed for aerial applications and based on Saab's Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology. The R6A offers exceptional performance and flexibility in a very compact design. The unit has been extensively tested and qualified to meet VDES and aviation standards.

Tags: Military AviationDassault AviationFalcon 2000Marine Nationale / French Navysaab

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. It has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.