#Compton-Lilly

[meringuejellyfish]

lets talk about this otto figment

[denimbex1986]

'It has been nearly 80 years since the world entered the nuclear age. But the complex story of the making of the first atomic bomb, the decisions US leaders made to use these terrible new weapons on cities, and the post-war policy missteps that opened the door to the dangerous Cold War arms race are all now starting to fade from public consciousness.

The existence of nuclear weapons and the dangers they pose, while well-known and widely feared, are accepted by far too many of those living in one of the world’s nine nuclear-armed countries as part of their “normal” daily lives.

A new survey conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Carnegie Corporation of New York finds that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that “US nuclear weapons have been effective at preventing conflict between the United States and other countries.” At the same time, “a majority of the [American] public is unsure they can assess the benefits or harm of nuclear weapons” but “are at least somewhat interested in learning more about US nuclear weapon policy.”

Christopher Nolan’s mesmerizing, thought-provoking, and sometimes disturbing feature-length film, Oppenheimer, provides a jolting, timely reminder for millions of moviegoers that nuclear weapons are anything but normal because the leaders of a few nations have the power to destroy us all. But it also leaves the viewers with lots of questions unaddressed in the film.

Stunning depiction and some omissions. Over the course of three hours of compelling, visually stunning, expertly crafted cinema, Oppenheimer explores most, but not all, of the key technical, political, and moral data points surrounding the development of nuclear weapons—from the “Gadget” (the nickname for the plutonium-implosion device detonated at Trinity), to questions raised about the morality and necessity of using these new weapons on Japanese cities after the defeat of Germany, the controversy about the post-war development of the “Super” (as the thermonuclear or fusion weapon is often called) to counter the Soviets, and how J. Robert Oppenheimer and his fellow scientists fell victim to the Cold War-era national security apparatus.

Nolan’s script, which is largely based on Kai Bird’s and Martin Sherwin’s masterful 2005 biography American Prometheus, is told from Oppenheimer’s perspective. As such, the film doesn’t directly show the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But in perhaps the most emotionally powerful and creative scene in the film, it does make it clear that the chief scientist and other leaders of the Manhattan Project were haunted by knowledge that their invention directly led to the horrific deaths of civilians (which they would later learn had resulted in some 220,000 deaths by the end of 1945).

Not surprisingly, the film bypasses some key storylines relating the bomb’s deadly legacy. These include the lingering health impacts on people downwind from the Trinity blast and subsequent 215 other US atmospheric nuclear tests conducted on US-occupied Marshall Islands in the Pacific and later in Nevada. The film does not mention either the massive health or environmental toll of the sprawling nuclear weapons production complex, all of which were spawned by the Manhattan Project.

But Oppenheimer does succeed in showing how America’s post-war leaders rejected the scientists’ warnings about the long-term dangers of a new race to stockpile atomic weapons and sought short-term advantage over their new Soviet enemy instead.

One can only hope that the film’s eloquent ending scenes will prompt the viewers to think—even long after they leave the theater—about the growing present danger of nuclear arms racing and nuclear war and solutions to move the world away from the brink.

Paths not taken. On the whole, Nolan’s Oppenheimer brings to life the complex, nuanced story of how the “father of the atomic bomb” (as Oppenheimer is often referred to) led its development in order to defeat the Nazis, how he declined to oppose the use of the bomb on Japanese cities as Germany was defeated, and how he finally sought to use his notoriety and access to shape US policy in ways that might reduce the absolute dangers the Manhattan Project he directed had unleashed.

Nolan’s film, however, could have done more to remind viewers of the historical evidence— which is presented in American Prometheus and other historical studies, including Martin Sherwin’s earlier work, A World Destroyed; Hiroshima and Its Legacies—that challenges the official and enduring narrative of the US government that the use of the atomic bombs was necessary to end the war and avoid a massive US invasion of the Japanese homeland that was scheduled for November 1, 1945.

In one scene, Oppenheimer takes us into a meeting of the Interim Committee, the group set up by War Secretary Henry Stimson following Germany’s defeat of May 1945 to directly advise the president and Congress on issues relating to both civilian and military use of nuclear energy. In Nolan’s version, we hear echoes of the arguments being made by many of the Manhattan Project scientists against rushing toward military use on Japanese cities.

Notes of its June 1, 1945 meeting indicate that the Interim Committee dismissed alternative views and agreed that “the final selection of the target was essentially a military decision,” although added “that the bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible.”

Oppenheimer was aware that most of his fellow scientists favored a technical demonstration test of the bomb on a remote area as a warning shot to the Japanese. Another brief scene in the film depicts a meeting at Los Alamos some time before the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing being led by chemist Lilli Hornig, who worked in the explosives division. In the scene we hear the outlines of the scientists’ arguments against the military use of the bomb against Japanese cities.

As documented in American Prometheus (but not mentioned in the film) Hornig would later be one of the 155 Los Alamos scientists who signed a petition urging that the first atom bomb be demonstrated on an uninhabited island as opposed to being dropped on a city without warning.

Despite the many Los Alamos scientists’ opposition, the final recommendation of the Los Alamos Scientific Committee—which included Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, Enrico Fermi, and Arthur Compton—to Stimson weighed in on the side of immediate military use.

Nolan’s film shows how the dissenting views of the scientists were not effectively communicated by the Manhattan Project director to officials in Washington, but it doesn’t show the other ways in which those dissenting views were censored. This was the fate of the Franck Committee report of June 11, 1945, which considered the plan to bomb Japanese cities without warning as “inadvisable” because it would lead to “indiscriminate destruction upon mankind, precipitate the race of armaments, and prejudice the possibility of reaching an international agreement on the future control of such weapons.” When James Franck (a German physicist and Nobel Prize winner on exile at the University of Chicago) went to Washington to deliver the report he had compiled, he was told falsely that Stimson was out of town. The report was then seized by the Army, classified, and never reached the president and his war secretary.

Nolan’s script includes a dramatic, if brief, scene showing how Leo Szilard tried and failed to enlist Oppenheimer in support of the Manhattan Project scientists’ petition against what they viewed as an unnecessary use of the atomic bombs on a nearly defeated Japan. But the now famous Szilard Petition would never be delivered to President Truman and his advisors. The petition made a strong and detailed the case for not using the new weapon until Japan was given another opportunity to surrender. Oppenheimer would fail to endorse or present this argument to Stimson.

Truman’s decision despite alternatives. Several historians, including Martin Sherwin, have uncovered information and documentation that strongly suggest that the United States need not have dropped the first (and even less the second) atomic bomb on Japan to end World War II and that there was time for a technical demonstration test—one that Szilard and his co-signatories proposed—to hasten Japan’s surrender.

Contrary to the enduring myth, US President Harry Truman and his advisors were aware of alternatives to the bombings. They also knew as early as June 1945 that the Japanese government understood the war was lost and was seeking acceptable terms of surrender. Nevertheless, Truman authorized the use of the atomic bombs mainly to enshrine the US postwar geostrategic position vis-à-vis the Soviet Union.

US military commanders and the analysts with the US Strategic Bombing Survey advised Truman, Stimson, and Secretary of State James Byrnes in June 1945 that “by the coordinated impact of blockade and direct [conventional] air attack, Japan could be forced to surrender without invasion.” Unfortunately, none of these historical developments were conveyed in Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

As Sherwin put it in 1987 in the introduction to his book, A World Destroyed, “the choice in the summer of 1945 was not between conventional invasion or a nuclear war. It was a choice between various forms of diplomacy and warfare. While the decision Truman made is understandable, it was not inevitable. It was even avoidable.”

The film vividly conveys Oppenheimer’s increasing concern about the dangers of an unconstrained post-war nuclear arms race with the Soviets. It shows how Truman and Byrnes clung to the naive hope that the Soviets would “never” acquire an atomic bomb on their own and how, in their blindness, they failed to consider what should be done if Moscow rapidly built and tested its own atomic bomb. But the film falls short of showing the scientist’s efforts to advance, in practical terms, a recommendation of the June 1945 Franck Report, which proposed a post-war arrangement to establish some form of international control on the atomic bomb to avert its proliferation and further use in war.

In January 1946, the foreign ministers of the UN Security Council members had agreed to set up a United Nations commission to advise on the destruction of all existing atomic weapons and to work toward using atomic energy for peaceful purposes. Oppenheimer was drafted to serve as the chief scientific US representative at the UN commission. The result, known as the Acheson-Lillienthal report, which was delivered to Truman in March 1946, called for international ownership and operation of all “dangerous” nuclear activities, which covered virtually the entire nuclear fuel cycle. Under the plan, a new international atomic development authority would oversee the development of atomic weapons and managed their associated facilities. This would mean for the United States to essentially relinquish its monopoly on the atomic bomb after the international controls had been established.

Skeptical at that prospect, Byrnes appointed Bernard Baruch to recast and deliver the formal US proposal before the UN commission. What became known as the Baruch Plan proposed to remove the Security Council’s veto power to members in case of violation of international controls and detailed the various “stages” through which such controls would have to evolve before the United States would consider giving up its atomic monopoly. The Soviet Union unsurprisingly opposed to the plan, and this earliest effort to negotiate international controls soon sputtered out completely, “relegating disarmament to, at best, a distant goal,” as disarmament expert Randy Rydell puts it.

Despite these omissions, Nolan’s film does a masterful job of illustrating why Oppenheimer became strongly opposed to the development of the even more powerful hydrogen bombs and Truman’s rejection of such calls for restraint. Of course, Oppenheimer was not the only Manhattan Project scientist who was unwilling to support the development of the hydrogen bomb and who advocated for arms control to avert a dangerous superpower arms race. In May 1946, Albert Einstein announced the formation of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists to educate and mobilize other scientists and the public on the dangers to humanity of the nuclear weapons.

The committee—including many members had been part of the Manhattan Project—declared: “We scientists recognize our inescapable responsibility to carry to our fellow citizens an understanding of the simple facts of atomic energy and its implications for society. In this lies our only security and our only hope. We believe that an informed citizenry will act for life and not for death.” The Emergency Committee helped set off the decades-long, ongoing chain reaction of civil society campaigning to better inform the public debate on nuclear weapons policy and advance effective action on arms control and disarmament.

The future is in our hands. The viewers of Oppenheimer will certainly walk out of theaters with a lot of blind spots. Among them are the consequences of the early failures of US and Soviet leaders to engage in effective dialogue to rein-in the development and stockpiling of ever more powerful and plentiful nuclear stockpiles through the Cold War era.

As American Prometheus notes, in 1965 an interviewer asked Oppenheimer what he thought of Sen. Robert Kennedy’s proposal that President Johnson initiate talks with the Soviet Union to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons, to which he said: “It’s 20 years too late … it should have been done the day after Trinity.”

Today, we have an even more complex and dangerous array of nuclear risks that might yet, as Nolan warns us at the end of his film, ultimately “set the world on fire.” In 2023, the United States and Russia together still possess roughly 90 percent of the 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world, with each still deploying some 1,500 thermonuclear warheads on strategic missiles and bombers primed to launch within minutes of the go-order.

If a Russian or US leader were to decide to use nuclear weapons first, say in a conflict in Europe, it could potentially quickly escalate to nuclear war, involving a massive exchange of thermonuclear weapons, with hundreds or thousands of detonations occurring within minutes of each other. In such a scenario, tens of millions of people would be killed or injured in the first few hours of the conflict alone.

After a decade of dithering on nuclear arms control and as tensions between today’s major nuclear-armed adversaries grows, we are on the verge of a new era of unconstrained nuclear competition and danger—which some call the second Cold War.

Important bilateral nuclear arms control agreements are now either gone, being ignored, or in jeopardy. Russia’s war on Ukraine has derailed regular US-Russian talks on nuclear risk reduction and arms control. In February 2023, Russia “suspended” the implementation of New START—the only remaining treaty that verifiably limits the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals which is set to expire in early 2026—citing the United States “hostile” attitude but pledged to abide by the central limits of the treaty. Meanwhile, the world’s nuclear-armed nations continue to pour tens of billions of dollars each year to replace and upgrade their deadly arsenals. Those so-called modernization programs can only lead to growing perceived threats which will justify even further spending in an unstoppable spree, which now could become an even more dangerous three-way arms race between the United States, Russia, and China.

Progress on arms control and disarmament is therefore urgent. With sufficient political will and public and international pressure, it is also possible.

For instance, on June 2, President Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan declared that the United States is ready to engage in nuclear arms control diplomacy with Russia (as well as with China, France, and the United Kingdom) “without preconditions.” Sullivan suggested that “rather than waiting to resolve all of our bilateral differences, the United States is ready to engage Russia now to manage nuclear risks and develop a post-2026 arms control framework.”

On June 5, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded that Russia remains open to dialogue with the United States on arms control and described Sullivan’s comments as “important and positive.”

To date, however, the two sides have not yet engaged in discussions about how to restart talks on a post-2026 arms control framework.

Now is the time for the two sides to begin a serious dialogue focused on a new arms control and disarmament. In the absence of such a US-Russia arrangement before New START ends, each side could upload more warheads on their strategic delivery systems quickly, and China might decide to accelerate its ongoing strategic nuclear buildup. Avoiding such a scenario is in the national security interests of all nations.

The negotiation of a complex, bilateral nuclear arms control framework to replace New START would be difficult in good times and extraordinarily difficult so long as Russia’s war on Ukraine continues.

Nevertheless, there is scope for the White House and the Kremlin to reach a unilateral, reciprocal arrangement that neither side will exceed the deployed strategic warhead limit set by New START until a more permanent arms control arrangement comes into effect. This would contribute to a more stable international security environment and improve conditions for overdue progress on multilateral nuclear arms control and disarmament.

According to Sullivan, the Biden administration also supports “new multilateral arms control efforts,” involving all five nuclear-armed members of the UN Security Council. Sullivan proposed that all five countries agree on greater transparency on nuclear doctrines, more effective crisis communications channels, common rules for missile launch notification, and policies to keep “humans in the loop” for command, control, and use of nuclear weapons (in a clear reference to the new risk factor posed by the use of artificial intelligence in those systems).

In addition to these steps, all five countries can and should immediately reaffirm and update a forgotten 1973 US-Soviet agreement on the prevention of nuclear war, which pledges they will “refrain from the threat or use of force against the other party, against the allies of the other party and against other countries, in circumstances which may endanger international peace and security.” It requires that “if at any time there is the risk of a nuclear conflict [each side] shall immediately enter into urgent consultations … to avert this risk.”

Another bold multilateral measure would be for all five nuclear-armed members of the UN Security Council to observe an immediate global nuclear freeze, by which China, France, and the United Kingdom would cap the overall size of their nuclear arsenals and agree to halt fissile material production, so long as Russia and the United States cap their stockpiles and negotiate a new framework to cut their arsenals.

Oppenheimer should remind the public that more nuclear weapons make us all less secure and that we must continue to demand our leaders to pursue the safer path through disarmament diplomacy and toward a world without nuclear weapons before it is too late.'

—that challenges the official and enduring narrative of the US government that the use of the atomic bombs was necessary to end the war and avoid a massive US invasion of the Japanese homeland that was scheduled for November 1, 1945.

In one scene, Oppenheimer takes us into a meeting of the Interim Committee, the group set up by War Secretary Henry Stimson following Germany’s defeat of May 1945 to directly advise the president and Congress on issues relating to both civilian and military use of nuclear energy. In Nolan’s version, we hear echoes of the arguments being made by many of the Manhattan Project scientists against rushing toward military use on Japanese cities.

Notes of its June 1, 1945 meeting indicate that the Interim Committee dismissed alternative views and agreed that “the final selection of the target was essentially a military decision,” although added “that the bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible.”

Oppenheimer was aware that most of his fellow scientists favored a technical demonstration test of the bomb on a remote area as a warning shot to the Japanese. Another brief scene in the film depicts a meeting at Los Alamos some time before the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing being led by chemist Lilli Hornig, who worked in the explosives division. In the scene we hear the outlines of the scientists’ arguments against the military use of the bomb against Japanese cities.

As documented in American Prometheus (but not mentioned in the film) Hornig would later be one of the 155 Los Alamos scientists who signed a petition urging that the first atom bomb be demonstrated on an uninhabited island as opposed to being dropped on a city without warning.

Despite the many Los Alamos scientists’ opposition, the final recommendation of the Los Alamos Scientific Committee—which included Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, Enrico Fermi, and Arthur Compton—to Stimson weighed in on the side of immediate military use.

Nolan’s film shows how the dissenting views of the scientists were not effectively communicated by the Manhattan Project director to officials in Washington, but it doesn’t show the other ways in which those dissenting views were censored. This was the fate of the Franck Committee report of June 11, 1945, which considered the plan to bomb Japanese cities without warning as “inadvisable” because it would lead to “indiscriminate destruction upon mankind, precipitate the race of armaments, and prejudice the possibility of reaching an international agreement on the future control of such weapons.” When James Franck (a German physicist and Nobel Prize winner on exile at the University of Chicago) went to Washington to deliver the report he had compiled, he was told falsely that Stimson was out of town. The report was then seized by the Army, classified, and never reached the president and his war secretary.

Nolan’s script includes a dramatic, if brief, scene showing how Leo Szilard tried and failed to enlist Oppenheimer in support of the Manhattan Project scientists’ petition against what they viewed as an unnecessary use of the atomic bombs on a nearly defeated Japan. But the now famous Szilard Petition would never be delivered to President Truman and his advisors. The petition made a strong and detailed the case for not using the new weapon until Japan was given another opportunity to surrender. Oppenheimer would fail to endorse or present this argument to Stimson.

Truman’s decision despite alternatives. Several historians, including Martin Sherwin, have uncovered information and documentation that strongly suggest that the United States need not have dropped the first (and even less the second) atomic bomb on Japan to end World War II and that there was time for a technical demonstration test—one that Szilard and his co-signatories proposed—to hasten Japan’s surrender.

Contrary to the enduring myth, US President Harry Truman and his advisors were aware of alternatives to the bombings. They also knew as early as June 1945 that the Japanese government understood the war was lost and was seeking acceptable terms of surrender. Nevertheless, Truman authorized the use of the atomic bombs mainly to enshrine the US postwar geostrategic position vis-à-vis the Soviet Union.

US military commanders and the analysts with the US Strategic Bombing Survey advised Truman, Stimson, and Secretary of State James Byrnes in June 1945 that “by the coordinated impact of blockade and direct [conventional] air attack, Japan could be forced to surrender without invasion.” Unfortunately, none of these historical developments were conveyed in Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

As Sherwin put it in 1987 in the introduction to his book, A World Destroyed, “the choice in the summer of 1945 was not between conventional invasion or a nuclear war. It was a choice between various forms of diplomacy and warfare. While the decision Truman made is understandable, it was not inevitable. It was even avoidable.”

The film vividly conveys Oppenheimer’s increasing concern about the dangers of an unconstrained post-war nuclear arms race with the Soviets. It shows how Truman and Byrnes clung to the naive hope that the Soviets would “never” acquire an atomic bomb on their own and how, in their blindness, they failed to consider what should be done if Moscow rapidly built and tested its own atomic bomb. But the film falls short of showing the scientist’s efforts to advance, in practical terms, a recommendation of the June 1945 Franck Report, which proposed a post-war arrangement to establish some form of international control on the atomic bomb to avert its proliferation and further use in war.

In January 1946, the foreign ministers of the UN Security Council members had agreed to set up a United Nations commission to advise on the destruction of all existing atomic weapons and to work toward using atomic energy for peaceful purposes. Oppenheimer was drafted to serve as the chief scientific US representative at the UN commission. The result, known as the Acheson-Lillienthal report, which was delivered to Truman in March 1946, called for international ownership and operation of all “dangerous” nuclear activities, which covered virtually the entire nuclear fuel cycle. Under the plan, a new international atomic development authority would oversee the development of atomic weapons and managed their associated facilities. This would mean for the United States to essentially relinquish its monopoly on the atomic bomb after the international controls had been established.

Skeptical at that prospect, Byrnes appointed Bernard Baruch to recast and deliver the formal US proposal before the UN commission. What became known as the Baruch Plan proposed to remove the Security Council’s veto power to members in case of violation of international controls and detailed the various “stages” through which such controls would have to evolve before the United States would consider giving up its atomic monopoly. The Soviet Union unsurprisingly opposed to the plan, and this earliest effort to negotiate international controls soon sputtered out completely, “relegating disarmament to, at best, a distant goal,” as disarmament expert Randy Rydell puts it.

Despite these omissions, Nolan’s film does a masterful job of illustrating why Oppenheimer became strongly opposed to the development of the even more powerful hydrogen bombs and Truman’s rejection of such calls for restraint. Of course, Oppenheimer was not the only Manhattan Project scientist who was unwilling to support the development of the hydrogen bomb and who advocated for arms control to avert a dangerous superpower arms race. In May 1946, Albert Einstein announced the formation of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists to educate and mobilize other scientists and the public on the dangers to humanity of the nuclear weapons.

The committee—including many members had been part of the Manhattan Project—declared: “We scientists recognize our inescapable responsibility to carry to our fellow citizens an understanding of the simple facts of atomic energy and its implications for society. In this lies our only security and our only hope. We believe that an informed citizenry will act for life and not for death.” The Emergency Committee helped set off the decades-long, ongoing chain reaction of civil society campaigning to better inform the public debate on nuclear weapons policy and advance effective action on arms control and disarmament.

The future is in our hands. The viewers of Oppenheimer will certainly walk out of theaters with a lot of blind spots. Among them are the consequences of the early failures of US and Soviet leaders to engage in effective dialogue to rein-in the development and stockpiling of ever more powerful and plentiful nuclear stockpiles through the Cold War era.

As American Prometheus notes, in 1965 an interviewer asked Oppenheimer what he thought of Sen. Robert Kennedy’s proposal that President Johnson initiate talks with the Soviet Union to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons, to which he said: “It’s 20 years too late … it should have been done the day after Trinity.”

Today, we have an even more complex and dangerous array of nuclear risks that might yet, as Nolan warns us at the end of his film, ultimately “set the world on fire.” In 2023, the United States and Russia together still possess roughly 90 percent of the 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world, with each still deploying some 1,500 thermonuclear warheads on strategic missiles and bombers primed to launch within minutes of the go-order.

If a Russian or US leader were to decide to use nuclear weapons first, say in a conflict in Europe, it could potentially quickly escalate to nuclear war, involving a massive exchange of thermonuclear weapons, with hundreds or thousands of detonations occurring within minutes of each other. In such a scenario, tens of millions of people would be killed or injured in the first few hours of the conflict alone.

After a decade of dithering on nuclear arms control and as tensions between today’s major nuclear-armed adversaries grows, we are on the verge of a new era of unconstrained nuclear competition and danger—which some call the second Cold War.

Important bilateral nuclear arms control agreements are now either gone, being ignored, or in jeopardy. Russia’s war on Ukraine has derailed regular US-Russian talks on nuclear risk reduction and arms control. In February 2023, Russia “suspended” the implementation of New START—the only remaining treaty that verifiably limits the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals which is set to expire in early 2026—citing the United States “hostile” attitude but pledged to abide by the central limits of the treaty. Meanwhile, the world’s nuclear-armed nations continue to pour tens of billions of dollars each year to replace and upgrade their deadly arsenals. Those so-called modernization programs can only lead to growing perceived threats which will justify even further spending in an unstoppable spree, which now could become an even more dangerous three-way arms race between the United States, Russia, and China.

Progress on arms control and disarmament is therefore urgent. With sufficient political will and public and international pressure, it is also possible.

For instance, on June 2, President Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan declared that the United States is ready to engage in nuclear arms control diplomacy with Russia (as well as with China, France, and the United Kingdom) “without preconditions.” Sullivan suggested that “rather than waiting to resolve all of our bilateral differences, the United States is ready to engage Russia now to manage nuclear risks and develop a post-2026 arms control framework.”

On June 5, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded that Russia remains open to dialogue with the United States on arms control and described Sullivan’s comments as “important and positive.”

To date, however, the two sides have not yet engaged in discussions about how to restart talks on a post-2026 arms control framework.

Now is the time for the two sides to begin a serious dialogue focused on a new arms control and disarmament. In the absence of such a US-Russia arrangement before New START ends, each side could upload more warheads on their strategic delivery systems quickly, and China might decide to accelerate its ongoing strategic nuclear buildup. Avoiding such a scenario is in the national security interests of all nations.

The negotiation of a complex, bilateral nuclear arms control framework to replace New START would be difficult in good times and extraordinarily difficult so long as Russia’s war on Ukraine continues.

Nevertheless, there is scope for the White House and the Kremlin to reach a unilateral, reciprocal arrangement that neither side will exceed the deployed strategic warhead limit set by New START until a more permanent arms control arrangement comes into effect. This would contribute to a more stable international security environment and improve conditions for overdue progress on multilateral nuclear arms control and disarmament.

According to Sullivan, the Biden administration also supports “new multilateral arms control efforts,” involving all five nuclear-armed members of the UN Security Council. Sullivan proposed that all five countries agree on greater transparency on nuclear doctrines, more effective crisis communications channels, common rules for missile launch notification, and policies to keep “humans in the loop” for command, control, and use of nuclear weapons (in a clear reference to the new risk factor posed by the use of artificial intelligence in those systems).

In addition to these steps, all five countries can and should immediately reaffirm and update a forgotten 1973 US-Soviet agreement on the prevention of nuclear war, which pledges they will “refrain from the threat or use of force against the other party, against the allies of the other party and against other countries, in circumstances which may endanger international peace and security.” It requires that “if at any time there is the risk of a nuclear conflict [each side] shall immediately enter into urgent consultations … to avert this risk.”

Another bold multilateral measure would be for all five nuclear-armed members of the UN Security Council to observe an immediate global nuclear freeze, by which China, France, and the United Kingdom would cap the overall size of their nuclear arsenals and agree to halt fissile material production, so long as Russia and the United States cap their stockpiles and negotiate a new framework to cut their arsenals.

Oppenheimer should remind the public that more nuclear weapons make us all less secure and that we must continue to demand our leaders to pursue the safer path through disarmament diplomacy and toward a world without nuclear weapons before it is too late.'

[lboogie1906]

Lolita Files (September 25, 1963) is an author, screenwriter, and producer. Among her six bestselling novels are book club favorites Scenes from a Sistah and Child of God. Her sixth novel, sex.lies.murder.fame was optioned for film with her adapting the screenplay.

The book Once Upon A Time In Compton by former Compton Gang Unit Detectives Timothy M. Brennan and Robert Ladd, along with her, about Brennan and Ladd’s years in the gang unit, the rise of Gangsta rap, gang wars, the LA riots, the investigations of the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., and the fall of the Compton Police Department was published on April 25, 2017.

She has a BA in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Florida and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She worked as a stringer for the student newspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator, and was a member of the University of Florida Gospel Choir. In her senior year, she was a Senator representing the College of Journalism and Communications in UF’s Student Senate.

She was born in Fort Lauderdale to Lillie and Arthur James Files, Sr. She was heavily immersed in mythology, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. Her love of Shakespeare, Toni Morrison, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Zora Neale Hurston, Louise Meriwether, Vladimir Nabokov, Chinua Achebe, Claude Brown, Richard Wright, Gustav Flaubert, and Greek playwrights Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, and Aristophanes would inform and influence much of her works. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphakappaalpha

[thehyperrequiem]

Happy Feet (Thehypercutter style) Cast Remastered

A recast for this from my old account.

“Son of Mr. and Mrs. Gallard, little sweet boy Augustus has a big problem: he can't sing a single note. In a world where everyone needs a heart song to attract a soul mate, Augustus feels he doesn't belong there. Our hero Augustus is the worst singer in the world, but he can tap dance brilliantly.”

“Augustus Aquato (Armin Shimerman) the psychic, now called the Master of Tap, has an unusual problem: Raz, his son, is reluctant to dance. Raz runs away from home and encounters the Luigi (Charles Martinet)--a human that can fly. Poor Augustus can't compete with Raz’s unusual new role model. But, when the world is shaken by powerful forces, Raz gets a chance to see his father's true colors as Augustus gathers all characters great and small to set things right again.”

Augustus Aquato (Psychonauts) as Mumble

Donatella Aquato (Psychonauts) as Gloria

Jose Gallard (Balan Wonderworld) as Memphis

Jose Gallard’s Wife (Balan Wonderworld) as Norma Jean

Elder Custard Cookie (Cookie Run) as Noah the Elder

Creme Republic Elders (Cookie Run) as The Elders

Ford Cruller (Psychonauts) as Ramone

Compton Boole (Psychonauts) as Raul

Otto Mentallis (Psychonauts) as Rinaldo

Bob Zanatto (Psychonauts) as Nestor

Helmut Fullbear (Psychonauts) as Lombardo

Truman Zanatto (Psychonauts) as Lovelace

Hol Horse (Jjba) as Seymour

Fortstopher IV (Balan Wonderworld) as Big Boss Skua

The Hydrac (Balan Wonderworld) as Dino the Skua

The Grim Creeper (Balan Wonderworld) as Frankie the Skua

Barktholomew and Worville Wright (Balan Wonderworld) as Brokebeak and Francesco the Skuas

Blue Diamond (Steven Universe) as Miss Viola

Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe) as Mrs. Astrakhan

Bowser (Mario) as Rojas the Leopard Seal

Rasputin Aquato (Psychonauts) as Erik

Dion, Frazie, Tala, and Queepie Aquatos (Psychonauts) as Themselves/Erik’s Siblings

Cass Milligan (Balan Wonderworld) as Boadicea

Lilli Zanotto (Psychonauts) as Herself/Lovelace’s Daughter

Pancake Cookie (Cookie Run) as Atticus

Strabby and Kweeble (Bugsnax) as Will and Bill the Krill

Luigi (Mario) as The Mighty Sven

Lucrecia Mux (Psychonauts) as Carmen

Cassie O'Pia (Psychonauts) as Herself/Carmen's Friend/Raul's Partner

Scovillia Cookies (Cookie Run) as The Elephant Seals

Capsaicin Cookie (Cookie Run) as Bryan the Beachmaster

[presidentstalkeyes]

More Psychonaut Headcanons:

So I've been thinking. It's implied a lot in both (main) games that the Psychonauts as an organization has a divided reputation, with some viewing it as past its prime and no longer needed - Lilli being the biggest example. The Psychonauts' financial woes in the second game only reinforce the theme - clearly they're not getting as much funding as they used to, from... whoever their backers are.

I'm assuming they receive funding from governments who 'opt in' to make use of their services. They're headquartered in the US because that's where Green Needle Gulch and the Quarry is, and they have a lot of American agents, but that doesn't make them an American organization. Indeed, at least two of the original Psychic Seven are non-American, possibly more (Lucy is Grulovian, Cassie is Chinese, Helmut and possibly Otto are ambiguously European going from their names, and Compton is presumably British going from his accent). Not to mention they got their big break (if you can call it that) from being called on by the international community to battle a problem in Grulovia.

It's clear they didn't start out with the intention of becoming some kind of international psychic safeguarding force - it's stated by Otto that the 'true mission' of the Psychonauts is scientific research, and Ford at the end of 2 says he wants the organization to return to its scientifically-minded roots. However, judging from the implied poor state of psychic acceptance before their arrival, I find it hard to believe there wasn't at least the implication they'd use that research to further the cause of ensuring safety for psychics everywhere.

It was only after the Maligula disaster that it was made clear there needed to be a deterrent against psychic threats, since as the nature of psychics became better understood, that drastically increased the chance they'd grow to that level of power in the first place. Since the Psychonauts were at the cutting edge of that research, it was decided they'd have the responsibility of looking into these threats and curtailing them. Fighting psychic threats was considered a part of their research - by tackling them, and exploring their minds, they'd gather valuable data.

The Psychonauts' 'downfall' in the eyes of many came about as a result of four things, each of them intertwined.

The first was politics. Since it's implied the games take place during the Cold War, neither of the major power blocs at the time were really keen on a powerful, independent agency that transcends borders and answers to neither side (a majority of their agents are from 'Western' countries but Mikhail - and possibly Sasha, depending on which Germany he's from - shows they'll consider prospects from the Eastern Bloc, too).

Furthermore, both the United States and the Soviet Union undoubtedly would have wanted to use psychic powers for their own gain, with no regard for the long-term impact on psychic safety. A majority of Soviet-aligned states would have banned the Psychonauts altogether, viewing them as a Western meddler, while the cold war-era US would have paid lip service to supporting them but start its own in-house 'psychic soldier' programs on the side, siphoning money and resources away from the Psychonauts (which is bad because their HQ is based within US borders). Deprived of much-needed funding, that leads us to problem two...

Intra-agency friction and mission creep. As it turns out, there's a lot of moving parts behind ensuring psychic safety. Sometimes it involves fighting a psychic bad guy, other times it involves rehabilitating that same bad guy so they don't cause any more trouble. Sometimes it involves teaching children - or indeed, adults - how to properly control their powers so they're not a danger to themselves and others. Sometimes it involves studying not only psychics but non-psychics who've had contact with psychic phenomena. All of this requires money and administration, leading to all sorts of divisions and bureaucracy. It also requires facilities, which means more money, more staff to run those facilities, etc. At a certain point it becomes difficult to keep track of everything, leading to some parts of the agency operating largely independently - bad news if they end up turning into money-sinks (and have little to nothing to do with psychics at all, like food chains and media franchises). As a result, issues with individual agents were often sidelined, which lead to...

Problem three, scandals and a loss in public trust. Considering both Coach Oleander and Gristol Malik were able to conduct their evil plans right under the Psychonauts' noses, possibly for years, despite a majority of agents having some kind of telepathy... well, it doesn't paint a flattering picture of their ability to keep their own staff under control. And that's just when their ire is aimed at itself - imagine if a Psychonaut agent went rogue and started targeting ordinary civilians. Even most 'harmless' psychic powers like Clairvoyance are easily abusable - which is a prime reason why psychics struggle to find acceptance, as many will assume they're up to no good. I personally think many repressive governments throughout history would have (forcibly) used psychics to their own ends, painting an image of psychics being a tool of the oppressor. The Psychonauts promised to change all of that, and so seeing that promise broken, even slightly, would come off as a major betrayal.

The fourth problem, weirdly enough, was that despite all of this, the Psychonauts actually succeeded in improving the state of psychic acceptance... in the more wealthy 'Western' countries where it drew a lot of its personnel from, and where it got most of its funding. Ironically, this success lead to the organization being seen as 'redundant' as these countries started passing legislation to protect psychics and promote psychic safety programs of their own, while private entities also started offering psychic services (at a hefty price, yes, but still). This lead to the funding drying up even further, and by the time the games roll around the organization has been forced to downsize significantly to cut costs.

The chief counter-argument among the Psychonauts leadership to the idea that they're 'no longer needed' is that it's simply not true. There are still huge swathes of the world where psychics are routinely exploited and turned into weapons against normal people, hurting everyone involved - even in so-called 'accepting' countries there's problems, and it's important to have an independent entity run by psychics, for psychics, beholden to no government or corporation that might seek to use them as tools in unrelated conflicts.

Those like Ford and Otto who want the Psychonauts to go back to its roots would argue that, more than anything, knowledge is power - they could accomplish just as much as they could in their heyday, if not more so, and with less fuss, simply by cooperating with governments in an advisory role and organizing large-scale research efforts; focusing on proactive prevention, not reaction.

In fanfics set in the future, I imagine the Psychonauts have undergone something of a reorganization, becoming overall more decentralized and clandestine, with cells based all over the world funding themselves both openly and via fronts (and having their own leadership to reduce the amount of micromanagement needed) and are accountable to each other (capable of smacking each other down if they fall out of line). The Motherlobe (which remains the public 'face' of the agency) having more concrete divisions with clearly-defined duties and an upper limit on personnel to ensure quality of mind, and R&D splitting off into an entirely separate organization, Mentallis Labs, focused only on R&D. It provides the Psychonauts with their technology and scientific know-how but doesn't get directly involved with their other activities.

[hamable]

Psychonauts 2 post-game mentor/mentee list I promised a while ago:

So I was gonna make a connection between the psychic 7 and the 7 interns, but it wasn’t a clean parallel and it excluded Lilly, so instead I’m reshaping it to Who I’d pair up as mentors/mentees post-game:

Interns (8 (no! 9 actually, I’m adding Fraizie.)

Lizzy, Sam, Morris, Norma, Gisu, Adam, Lilly, Raz, Frazie

Potential Mentors:

Ford, Lucy, Truman, Hollis, Milla, Sasha, Helmut, Bob, Compton, Cassie, Otto, Oleander.

Helmet & Augustus: (HA SIKE, ITS 10 INTERNS) I wasn’t gonna include Augustus, but then I imagined him interacting with Helmut and they gave immediate best friend vibes. They would get along swimmingly. They both have this love of performance and similar temperaments and I really think it’d be like throwing two theater kids together. They’d be inseparable. They’d have so many ideas for psychic flourishes and music performances and asdhdkfj imagine it with me.

Lucy & Raz: Lucy wouldn’t take an actual intern on, but I think she and Raz (and the rest of the Aquatos) would spend their time post game healing together. In that context, it’s an obvious pairing. Let them rediscover their familial connection to psychics together, let them literally test the waters they’ve been wary of their whole lives together.

Milla & Frazie: a perfect match to me, personally. Frazie still has reservations about herself and psychics as a whole. Who else to guide her through it than someone as warm, uplifting, encouraging, and fun as Milla? Added bonus is her specialization in levitation, and I feel like the circus born Aquatos would pick up and excel in that right away.

Bob and Lily: another obvious pairing, similar situation to Raz and Lucy. They haven’t spent time together yet, and I think it would mean so much to Bob to see his little firecracker of a niece so excited about plants and their psychic properties. And look at all the cool stuff he’s got: exploding plant bulbs, psychically linked vine system? Lily would absolutely lose her mind.

Otto & gisu: I love engineer Gisu, and while we don’t get a whole lot of in game time with either of them, I headcanon these two to be similar in temperament, especially with tinkering and experimenting. Perfect pairing, no notes.

Oleander & Sam: Extremely Funny. Will not separate these two even though Ik her grandfather is literally Right Over There.

Cassie & Morris: discovering even more ways to reach out into the world, psychically or otherwise. Also, Morris would be so pumped to have a doodle archetype Co-DJ.

Truman & Norma: she seems like she admires strong leadership and would wanna learn from the Head himself.

Sasha & Lizzie: chill vibes, and I think Sasha would like the challenge of helping develop a power set that isn’t as similar to his own.

Hollis & Adam: similar to Norma, I think he’d want to develop as a leader and learn what it takes to run something like the Psychonauts. I think she’d challenge him and help him grow into a really powerful psychic.

Ford: listen. LISTEN. There are split views on this man. I’m gonna tentatively say that maybe we don’t put this guy in charge of a child for a little bit...

Compton: I feel bad I couldn’t find an intern for him but maybe Queepie would like to talk to animals.

Alternates:

Truman & Adam: Adam was my other candidate to shadow the Grand Head. He’s got the feel of a future leader and would probably really enjoy learning from him.

Lucy & adam: now, I don’t think Lucy is in a place to be teaching or mentoring anyone immediately post game, and further down the line when she’s more recovered and like her old self, Raz would be an obvious choice to pair with her. But for some reason I really wanna see Adam and Lucy interact. Adam SCREAMS sweet, smart young man that old ladies just eat up. She’d tell him stories and teaches him tricks and I think hed have the right balance of humility and gumption, and patience. I think she’d find his yo-yo delightful.

Milla & gisu: like morris, gisu is skilled in levitation and definitely has an eye for fun that would work well with Milla’s whole vibe.

Compton & Sam: another family pair, but I want them to work together on cooking. I feel bad not pairing Compton with someone in my initial list bc his whole thing was about growing more confidence in himself and I think it’d suit him well to have an intern look up to him.

Otto & Lizzy: she’d be so into all his weird gadgets and they’d be squirreled away in their little lab working on unethical horrors beyond our comprehension and also a top secret soft serve ice cream machine for the intern dorms.

Bob & Sam: Bob has his exploding plant pods and sentient/psychically linked vine system and probably loads of other stuff that Sam would find fascinating. And that’s just what we saw while he was hiding away, imagine what he can do now that he’s happier and healthier. Actually, maybe it’s be dangerous putting these two together. Crazy powerful plant guy and tyrannical animal whisperer could be too powerful a duo…

Milla & Morris: I liked this initial pairing and wouldn’t be mad to see it continue!

Helmut & Raz: I love their dynamic and honestly I just need Helmut post game, freshly refunneled into his recovered body, hunting down Raz to give him the biggest, most monstrous bear hug anyone’s ever witnessed. This kid fully rehabilitated him for a near brain dead state. He save his life. He’s Raz’s number 1 fan and will be for the rest of his life.

[groupmomlipton]

Hello!!! My name is Grace, pronouns are she/her. I am Pisces and my fav flowers are tied between Lillies or lavender.

Thank you so much for this😙

another pisces!! i love 💖

lilies and lavender are both such classic, beautiful flowers. and, as a Pisces, i know youve got a soft heart. you need a classic sweetheart to match that so i'd pair you with the lovely buck compton. he's a gentleman but he's also a helluva lot of fun. you meet in the stands of a baseball game when he gives you his raincoat so you don't ruin your hair. his friends tease him but he's steadfast and offers you some of his popcorn.

[bohemiandeer]

Aight, It’s Psychonauts Brainrot Hour so, here have my headcanons on what everyone smells like:

First Game(minus Ford and Augustus):

Raz: Old worn leather, wool and buttered popcorn, as well as stew and powdered chalk depending on time spent around the circus/caravan, and a hint of dirt from his time at camp.

Sasha: Very thick mixture of Cigarettes and Cologne, latter to cover up the former, occasionally Machine Oil and Wielded Metal but usually only when he’s been down in the lab or in the work shop for prolonged periods of time. 

Milla: “Gee,Your Hair Smells Terrific” Shampoo and Conditioner, along with Rosehip Oil, Cocoa Butter,Scented Candles/Incense and sweet perfumes that vary by the day. Sort of a lot like the fruity/floral/sweet scent sections at Bath & Bodyworks. Lilli: Woodsmoke,Pertichor(Rain Smell),Mint and Vanilla Perfume, as well as flowers. The Campers: Craft Glue, Pine Needles, Summer camp Food and for some reason in my head, Cheez its. Either Cheez its, Peanuts or Smores/Animal Crackers depending on the Camper. I imagine Kitty,Franke and Elka also smell like those flavoured children’s lip balms, especially the ones that smell like Strawberries, Bubblegum and Cotton Candy, on top of Kitty smelling like those candy scented body sprays they always market to tween girls. Milka also smells like cat fur. Crystal also smells like Thin Mints, and so does Clem by osmosis. Nils always has the faint smell of chocolate Animal Crackers on him. And Mikhail is the one who is especially guilty of smelling like Pine Needles, but also always has the faint scent of lake water and cattails on him as well. Oleander: A Camo shop, as well as that New Tent smell. A Rabbit Enclosure.

Loboto: Dried blood, Salt Water and a Dentist's Office

Boyd: Molotov Cocktail Solution,Milk,Cigarettes and someone who hasn’t had a shower in 6 or more years. Also Kitty Litter. Gloria: Vintage Perfume, Flowers, Plant Soil and Old Makeup, specifically Lipstick. 

Edgar: Acrylic and Fabric Paints, Linseed Oil, Paint Thinner and Vinegar. 

Fred: Pinewood, Duckcloth and Cardboard, as well as Craft Glue.

Sheegor: The Ocean. Also a Dentist’s Office by Osmosis.

The Psychic 7:

Ford: Shoe Polish, as well as generic Bacon,Barber's Shampoo, Dettol and Dishwash Soap. 

Lucy: Wool, Meat Stew, Lavender, Tea and freshly washed Quilts

Otto: Just, Copious amounts of Coffee, Machine Oil and a bastard that hasn't left his sacred dwellings for almost 3 years. 

Cassie: Honey, Lemon Tea and old/antique book scent, aged paper 

Compton: Anxiety, actually no. I always headcanon him as smelling like Black Liquorice for some reason. Black Liquorice and Sugared Black Tea with Honey.

Bob: Fertiliser as well as Pertichor(that classic Rain smell), Plants/Herbs and when he was still drinking, Alcohol.

Helmut: Hookah. If not just generally very sweet, like Strawberries and Butterscotch.

Motherlobe Folk:

Truman: Sage and Vintage Men's Cologne

Hollis: Expensive, rather musky/oriental smelling perfumes. I imagine something like Amber,Musk and Sandalwood. Nick: Aggressively like fish.  Agents in general always seem to have this looming air freshener smell to them, sorta like an Airplane, like that musky New Plane/Fresh Scented Air Freshener smell. Also Noodlebowl lady smells like breakfast and baked goods.

The Interns:

Norma: Hell, no for real, she smells like she's perpetually on fire. That sort of Smoke smell, just a very aggressive Smoke smell

Lizzie: that bottle of Dior's Poison Perfume that she shoplifted a good bit back

Adam: Teakwood Cologne/Body spray and fresh linen

Sam: Pancakes, very questionable pancakes paired with pine needles, goat fur and what a hamster would smell like. 

Morris: An aggressive amount of Hair Gel and Axe Body Spray

Gisu: A Skateshop, that sort of woodsy, wheel grease, Acrylic Paint, New Vans smell is what I'd best describe it as. 

The Aquatos:

They all smell like chalk powder in some sense including faint visages of such on Raz since that's what they use to dust their hands to prevent them from getting sweaty during shows and practice sessions

Augustus: Very woodsy, like Pine needles, freshly chopped wood and a Fireplace, with a thick scent of French Toast, Chalk and Burnt Caramel, very faint smell of popcorn

Donatella: Cheap but fancy Rose Scented Perfume and florally scented Talcum Powder as well as powdered chalk.

Dion: An aggressive amount of Hair Grease, paired with one spray of Men's Cologne and a faint smell of sweat and powdered chalk

Frazie: Very strongly of Marzipan, like that very aggressive Almond Meal candy smell, with a very faint scent of talcum powder, chalk,hay and buttered popcorn 

Mirtala: One spray of Dona's cologne, paired with the smell of chalk, cotton candy and that little kid smell of Baby powder/Baby food and Crayons

Queepie: Little kid smell (again of Baby powder, Baby food and Crayons) + Dirt

If you've been around little kids or have had little siblings before, you know exactly what smell I'm talking about, that's just the best descriptors I have for it.

[citrus-cactus]

Finished the story of Psychonauts 2 last week! It was really good. Like, REALLY, really good. I don’t have anything profound to say, but here are my thoughts if you wanna read ‘em. Obviously there are SPOILERS BELOW, so click at your own risk if you haven’t played into post-game! (FWIW, I HIGHLY recommend playing this game as spoiler-free as possible. And play the original, while you’re at it!).

Here’s a pretty tame spoiler that I don’t think anyone will mind me sharing though: RAZ IS A CUTE. JUST LOOK AT HIM:

Things I appreciated:

Raz asking permission before entering almost every brain

PET THE GOATS

BOBBY DANCE

Getting to see Whispering Rock a couple of different ways! Actually, the theme of showing events from multiple perspectives (and the different forms of trauma resulting from certain events) was really good.

Raz helping the Psychic Seven help themselves. The game is so gentle with these old damaged hippies. SO GOOD.

QUEEPIE AND FRAZIE and just… all the Aquatos, man. What a group.

The family being given space to grieve together (important) before yeeting their middle boy into the whirlpool (badass). And them still having a lot to unpack/figure out post-game. It’s complicated, man! Of COURSE they wouldn’t have it all figured out yet!

Larry and Pam! LOL.

SAM BOOLE, WTH. Best dialogue tree in the game??? XDDDD

WHOMST in-universe put the graffiti on the back side of the funicular? Oleander?? :O

I have not finished the Scavenger Hunt yet, so idk if Raz gets his clothes back. I’m betting not *shakes psychic fist at Norma* XD

Powers and combat were all really cool!

ANIMATION! ALSO!! REALLY!!! GOOD!!!!!

I’M STILL LOSING MY DANG MIND OVER RAZ’S ARCHETYPE, good god. Double Fine, you mad geniuses, how DARE you stage a Zim/Gir reunion in the year 2021??? If anyone has ever equipped the pin that mutes that delightful little paper lad, I cannot emphasize enough how dead you are to me XD

I thought Cassie sounded a little like Mona Marshall?? The credits proved me wrong, but there were several moments I thought “…maybe??” (I have a much easier time ID’ing her when she’s playing a boyish character than a woman, whoops!)

So much symbolism in the brains! “Subtle” is maybe the wrong word to use, but between some of the throwaway dialogue, the different subsections in each, and the different set designs, most of the mental states just felt more… complex? nuanced? than the first game.

I don’t actually know if I could pick a favorite level! Compton’s Cookoff was definitely the most unique (I would have appreciated the option to try the food challenges again, but “getting the best time” is obviously NOT THE POINT, so kudos to the game making it about the story/character and not about the player here!), and I really enjoyed the paper-and-book-aesthetic of Cassie’s! Bob’s boss battle was one of the most poignant, but the 60’s psychedelic aesthetic and Nona’s different layers were really creative and fun. I also liked that we got a few different styles for Raz (especially in the 2D sections!) but I always could have used more!

On that note though, CENSORS! IN!! SEQUINS!!! XDDDDDDD

THE MUSIC!!! My husband and I JUST realized that Peter McConnell scored the Sly Cooper series as well, so we have newfound RESPECT and AWE for this guy’s ability to write absolutely fantastic music in so many distinct styles and genres. Both of the songs w/ lyrics also slap.

The return/spiritual successor of Goggalor (Pootie-lor???). Amazing. Incredible. Did not expect it, loved it for how narratively important it was. The ending in general just made me quite emotional.

The post-game conversation between Truman and Lilli. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it absolutely RADIATES Tim Schafer dad/real-life daughter energy.

The Grulovia level was a really interesting way to introduce a villain. Based on every level previous, I was actually prepared for the game to offer some sympathetic facet of Gristol (such as finding out the ride was something he had been conditioned to think from a lifetime of hearing an idealized version of the story from his parents, and it was somewhere he would go to rationalize his actions despite not really believing them… or something), but obviously the longer you spend there, the more you realize it’s something he constructed himself, and he is actually delusional (er, delugional) about Maligula and his family’s legacy. Really sets up an interesting parallel with Raz, in a way. Gristol’s mental state is essentially that of a child… but Raz is an ACTUAL child, and demonstrates more maturity, empathy and understanding than both Gristol the kid (see the Mental Vaults) and Gristol the adult. Kind of amazing he was able to fool a whole building full of psychics for as long as he did (and I guess he was a fine mail clerk too??), but tl;dr I like how the game’s “true” villain is the only one who is unable to change/experience any sort of remorse for his actions (maybe the jury’s still out on Dr. Loboto though XD)

A little concerned that Hollis said Gristol’s fate was to be “experimentation,” and only corrected to say “therapy” when questioned by Raz. UM. This game does make it part of its point showing us the flaws in the Psychonauts, both as an organization and as individuals, leaving them in a bit of a mortally grey area (who are clearly mismanaging their resources if they have a whole Motherlobe of agents doing who-knows-what and their primary source of funding is running summer camps for psychic children). I am… definitely concerned about what Hollis said (as well as Otto’s assertion that he would be picking up where the Seven left off!), but I guess I can accept it as part of the theme that no one and nothing is perfect. Maybe that’s sequel fodder though??? (hey, I can dream about Psychonauts 3, can’t I? XD)

Genuinely though, I’m just… SO PROUD OF RAZ. He’s going to be such a good agent someday!!!*cries forever over one begoggled psychic acrobat son boy*

[taki118]

I wanna talk about Bob’s Bottles

Specifically I wanna talk about the three sub islands in his mind, the characters associated with them and what this says about Bob and his mindset cause it just breaks my heart.

Spoilers for Psychonauts 2

First up the Truman island

Unlike the rest of the sub islands Truman only says one thing with Raz even taking note of it only that Bob is fired. When we go into Bob’s version of the motherlobe we see that his firing with the last direct interaction he had with his nephew. While it was a cruel and harsh thing to Bob it’s clear from how Bob talks that Truman was trying to help him. We don’t know much about the Zanotto family but it’s very clear the Tia suffered from depression and alcoholism and that while Bob wanted to burry these things and just remember the good parts of his mother, his brother did not likely warning his son to watch out for the signs. Bob stating that he doesn’t need help, that he just needs to work, means Truman wasn’t really firing him and just wanted him to seek professional help. Help that Bob did not want to admit he needed. 

It’s very obvious that Truman cares about his Uncle as he is aware of where Bob has been all this time but allows people to think he’s missing, sending letters to him about his life, including pictures of his grand niece, all in an attempt to help as best he can and show he still cares. Bob was putting himself and others in danger and it’s very likely Truman had tried to get Bob to accept professional help before. He had no choice but to fire him.

But all Bob can focus on is that his nephew fired him. That even his nephew can see how pathetic and useless he is. 

Second is the Lili Island

In a way the Lili island is the saddest because she’s nothing but a conduit for Bob’s own negative thoughts. He has never met Lili, he doesn’t know her personality, doesn’t even know her voice and the only reason he knows what she looks like is because Truman sends Bob pictures likely in hopes that he will want a relationship with her. Which he very obviously does. 

A representation of his grand niece would not occupy his mind if he didn’t want to know her, if he didn’t want to be a presence in her life. It’s very likely his desire to meet her nearly made him leave his isolation at least once. But his own fears stop him. 

His image of Lili says that he’d just screw it all up, meaning he thinks if they ever met she’d hate him, see him as a failure, that its better for her to just learn the stories of him rather than him ruin things. And god it kills cause it’s clear Bob is very similar to Lili and she likely would have loved having him in her life.

Final one the Otto Island

Now this one is tricky cause honestly its the one that carries the most assumptions. Unlike Truman and Lilli where it’s clear what they represent, his failure in work and his perceived failure at any future life. Otto’s exact relationship with Bob is not clear cut or even if this figure is suppose to represent wholly Otto. 

Now first thing to note is that this Otto says how none of the Pyschic Six actually liked Otto, that they only wanted Helmut but Bob just tagged along and that they always thought Helmut should be with someone else. It’s clear to me that Bob is using Otto as a mouth piece for his own insecurity regarding his friendships and romantic relationship, but the bigger question is why?

I have a few thoughts

1) It’s because at the time Otto was the only one left. Helmut was missing, Ford wasn’t all there, Cassie left, and Compton had secured himself away only Otto was around to see him at his very worst and in Bob’s mind think the worst of him.

2) It’s because he viewed Otto as the honest one. From what I can tell Otto does not mince words and is very direct regardless of what is or isnt nice. If this is the case Bob could view Otto as objectively always speaking the truth.

3) It’s because the two were close. Now we can’t know this for sure I’ve seen the arguments that suggest they weren’t but we do know Otto made some sort of decorative sword for Bob’s wedding special, and according to Helmuts level the two often spent time together (yes they were arguing but for some people this is an enjoyable thing to do with a friend). If we go off the theory that after Helmut Bob was closest with Otto then having him voice all these insecurity’s would hit harder. 

All of these theories hurt a LOT. 

The second thing to note is what Bob’s imagine of Otto says. That none of them liked Bob and only took him along cause of Helmut and that they all thought Bob wasn’t good enough for Helmut. We know the first thing is untrue as Bob was recruited BEFORE Helmut. (but when you’re in the state Bob’s in logic doesnt mean anything) The rest is obviously Bob’s own thoughts of himself and things he’s insecure about. These are the sort of intrusive thoughts that are difficult to leave ones mind, especially when coming from someone else. 

Bobs Bottles was such a heart breaking level and the more I think on it the sadder it gets. It’s such a good visualization of depression and negative thinking that just spirals out of control when you take your supports away. And like they didnt need to add these small islands but they did and it added so much to the level and Bob as a character.

[ccliffjumperr]

ooooh whats the plot of the swap au? or is it just an idea so far?

I'm so glad you asked!

Basically, the main thing is that the Psychic 7 and the Interns swap places. So you play as Lucrecia Galochio (not Mux, she's 14 in this so she was never married) and after an eventful few days at the summer camp with her new friends Ford and Otto, she goes to the Motherlobe! There she befriends Bob, Cassie, Compton, and Helmut, and has to uncover the mystery of just who this Razputin person was who drowned Grulovia, and how to prevent people from trying to bring him back to life.

It was a little difficult to assign every role, since it's switching up generations and how people are related to each other. For example, Lilli Zanotto, the grand head of the Psychonauts is Truman's mom, and Bob's aunt. But I'll manage!

Adam is the second head of the Psychonauts, and one of the founders. He runs the place along with Lilli. The other members of au Psychic 7 are Morris, who has a high tech radio station in the quarry, Lizzie and Sam, who have both left the Motherlobe to go live in the woods, and Norma works at the summer camp. It's... not her favorite thing to do. But she's the one who helps Lucy in the "first game." Gisu however died in the battle against Razputin- whose name as Maligula I have not decided yet.

As for the interns? They are a lot more involved in the story, Ford and Otto already being good friends with Lucy. In the first half, they can be found in a variety of places depending on how much you've progressed the story. Cassie can be found next to the history screens at first, and then later reading a book in an isolated part of the quarry. Bob is first found in the nerve center like "I want to visit my aunt... but is it awkward for me to?" and then later comforting his cousin in the garden area of the quarry, and then later is sitting with Helmut in the questionable area. They're experimenting how well different plants will grow with music! Compton stays inside the whole time, getting overwhelmed by all the animals. At first he's standing next to Cassie at the history screens, and then later is in the Atrium, near the mural. Otto is first in the atrium, talking to Ford. Then he's out in his treehouse lab in the quarry, and then next to the Forgetful Forest- he warns Lucy of an Ice Witch that haunts the forest with her terrible familiars and then when he enters the forest with her, gets the shit scared out of him by said Ice Witch. Helmut is in the Noodle Bowl first, and then outside in the quarry listening to Morris's radio station, and then is with Bob in the questionable area. And then Ford is in the atrium first, then the treehouse with Otto, and then back in the Motherlobe in the Nerve Center.

When Lucy finds out the truth about Razputin, before she can tell her family/get intercepted by Norma, she runs into Ford and the other interns who all comfort her and agree that they'll help her with this mission no matter what. So they're present in Green Needle Gulch! They help Lucy get to each area. And even in the final level- I still haven't decided what's going on there, but if it is still a ride, they show up in pairs along the way and help Lucy through everything, and at the end, Truman gets to beat up whoever stole his Mom's brain.

I have a lot more to say, but I've rambled for long enough. If there's any more specific questions about this au, please send an ask!

[strategicacts]

STRATEGIC ACTS DONATION — JANUARY 2019

On the 9th of every month, the anniversary of the morning after the 2016 election, we will donate to an organization engaged in the hard work of standing against and undoing the damage of the presidency a minority of voters put into place. In tribute to Hillary Clinton’s greater share of the popular vote, we will donate $48.20 to the organization in question and invite others to join us in doing the same. The original post that explains it all is here.

In a post-credit button of the 2015 film Ant-Man, the character played by Evangeline Lilly — who was instrumental in preparing the title hero for his new lifetime cause of doing good and then stood on the sidelines as he saved the day — is gifted her very own costume, complete with the accoutrements that will give her an equal shake against super-powered foes. “It’s about damn time,” she says.

The line worked in the context of the film and the character, but it also offered a more pointed meta-commentary on the blockbuster in which the character resided. Marvel Studios had already shifted the movie business on its axis with a series of interconnected films that absolutely dominated the box office, but it was a decidedly male-centric series of features. Now proudly celebrating ten years of pop culture dominance, the studio still has yet to release a film that features a female lead. The shortcoming is finally addressed in March. Captain Marvel stars Oscar-winner Brie Larson as the title hero, and having a woman in the main role is important, because representation matters.

Inspired by similar campaigns mounted last year for Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time, there’s an effort afoot to help get girls without the means to do so on their own out to see the first Marvel superhero movie fronted by a female. The GoFundMe campaign created by We Have Stories and Girls Inc. of Greater Los Angeles puts it plainly and perfectly:

Everyone should have an opportunity to see women in roles they can aspire to one day be, roles that show women as strong, smart and bold. From a teacher to a fighter pilot—or a superhero. This is an opportunity to continue to empower girls to be just that.

On their website, Girls Inc. of Greater Los Angeles describes the organization’s mission:

Girls Inc. of Greater Los Angeles provides hundreds of girls with life-changing support and real solutions to the unique issues they face. At Girls Inc. of Greater Los Angeles, we provide support and programming for schools in South Los Angeles, Compton, and Watts California. This is through our education enrichment program that focuses on STEM Education, Literacy, and Math.

That’s why we’re giving the SEND GIRLS TO SEE CAPTAIN MARVEL campaign our January 2019 donation of $48.20.

If you have the means, we humbly ask that you join us in doing so. DONATIONS CAN BE MADE AT THE GoFundMe page set up for the Captain Marvel campaign.

For those who want to bypass the corporate partnership but still support a good cause, DONATIONS CAN ALSO BE MADE DIRECTLY TO GIRLS INC. OF GREATER LOS ANGELES.

[alemicheli76]

"I gatti d'Italia" di Monica Cirinnà, Lilli Garrone, Newton Compton. A cura di Alessandra Micheli

“I gatti d’Italia” di Monica Cirinnà, Lilli Garrone, Newton Compton. A cura di Alessandra Micheli

Dove ci sono i gatti io appaio. Sono una fissata? Una irriducibile gattara? Forse. Fatto è che questo strano felino, cosi piccolo e cosi potente,cosi magico, mi affascina. Ne sono letteralmente affascinata. Dalle orecchie a punta, il muso a volte scavato, ( zigomi cosi perfetti, che chirurgo spicciaci casa) a volte cosi tondo da sembrare un peluche, dalla coda dritta e fiera, che svetta…

[aion-rsa]

Hulu New Releases: January 2021

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

A new year means a new start. But in its list of new year releases for January 2021, Hulu is sending a message of…eh, we’ll get the year started in February. Not to be overly rude to the usually sturdy streaming service, but there’s not much going on for Hulu in 2021’s first month.

Perhaps the biggest release of note is something that already enjoyed a successful release for ITV in the U.K. The Sister is the lates thriller from Neil Cross (Luther) and it makes its U.S. debut on Hulu on Jan. 22. 2020 comedies Save Yourselves and Like a Boss both arrive on Jan. 1. Hulu original film The Ultimate Playlist of Noise premieres on Jan. 15 and TV series Everyone is Doing Great arrives on Jan. 13.

Thankfully Hulu’s library titles are a bit livelier this month. Jan. 1 sees the arrival of Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Boogie Nights, Face/Off, The Princess Bride, The Truman Show, and more. Then when the network TV season gets rolling, Hulu gets to be the streaming home to new seasons of shows like Prodigal Son, 9-1-1, and 9-1-1: Lone Star.

Ultimately, there will be plenty to watch on Hulu at the beginning of 2021. It will just be another month or so before the streamer comes through with some major original blockbusters.

Hulu New Releases – January 2021

January 1 Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest: Special (ABC) Fire Force: Season 2, Episodes 1-12 (DUBBED) (Funimation) 1900 (1977) 1900 (Extended Cut) (1977) A Night at the Roxbury (1998) American Gigolo (1980) Arachnophobia (1990) The Arrival (1996) Austin Powers In Goldmember (2002) Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997) Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) Bad Company (2002) Blade Runner: The Final Cut (2007) Blood Diamond (2006) Bloody Sunday (2002) Blow (2001) Boogie Nights (1997) Breakdown (1997) Broken Arrow (1996) The Brothers McMullen (1995) Bully (2001) Changing Lanes (2002) Chaplin (1992) Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (2009) Cloverfield (2008) Coneheads (1993) Constantine (2005) The Cooler (2003) The Core (2003) Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) Cujo (1983) Dance Flick (2009) Date Night (2010) Dead Poets Society (1989) Dead Presidents (1995) The Dead Zone (1983) Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2009) Donnie Brasco (1997) The Duff (2015) Enemy at the Gates (2001) Escape from Alcatraz (1979) Eve’s Bayou (1997) Face/Off (1997) The Firm (1993) The Foot Fist Way (2008) Footloose (1984) Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974) Frozen (2010) The Gift (2000) Girl Most Likely (2013) Good Luck Chuck (2007) Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) The Haunting (1999) Hell or High water (2016) Hondo (1953) Hot Shots! (1991) How Do You Know (2010) In & Out (1997) Indecent Proposal (1993) Internal Affairs (1990) Kiss the Girls (1997) The Ladies Man (2000) Last of the Mohicans: Director’s Cut (1992) The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) Like a Boss (2020) The Longest Yard (1974) Look Who’s Talking (1989) Look Who’s Talking Now (1993) Look Who’s Talking Too (1990) Lost In Space (1998) Love And Basketball (2000) Major League (1989) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) The Mexican (2001) More Than a Game (2008) Mousehunt (1997) My Best Friend’S Girl (2008) New In Town (2009) Night at the Museum (2006) Paycheck (2003) The Peacemaker (1997) Places in the Heart (1984) Poseidon (2006) Pride (2007) The Princess Bride (1987) Push (2009) The Quick and the Dead (1995) Regarding Henry (1991) The Relic (1997) The Rules Of Attraction (2002) Salt (2010) Save Yourselves (2020) Selena (1997) Shrek (2001) The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) Soul Plane (2004) Species (1995) Star Kid (1998) Star Trek Beyond (2016) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Starman (1984) Stephen King’s Graveyard Shift (1990) Super Dark Times (2017) The Three Musketeers (2011) The Truman Show (1998) Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) Virtuosity (1995) Walking Tall (1973) War (2007) Where Hope Grows (2015) Wonder Boys (2000) Young Adult (2011) January 4 Call Me Kat: Season 1 Finale (FOX) The Rookie: Season 3 Premiere (ABC) January 5 The Bachelor: Season 25 Premiere (ABC) The Wall: Season 4 Premiere (NBC) Boruto: Complete Season 1 (DUBBED) (Viz) January 6      Gordon Ramsay’s American Road Trip: Series Premiere (FOX) Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: Season 2 Premiere (NBC) Mighty Oak (2020)   January 7      Name That Tune: Series Premiere (FOX) Vanderpump Rules: Complete Season 8 (Bravo) Gretel & Hansel (2020) January 8      The Hustler: Series Premiere (ABC) The Chase: Series Premiere (ABC) Celebrity Wheel of Fortune: Series Premiere (ABC) Mr. Mayor: Series Premiere (NBC) A Certain Scientific Railgun Part 2: Complete Season 3 (DUBBED) (Funimation) Celebs Go Dating: Complete Seasons 6 – 8 (All3Media) Tattoo Fixers Extreme UK: Complete Seasons 5 & 6 (All3Media) January 10 One-Punch Man: Complete Season 2 (DUBBED) (Viz)

January 11    Lights Out (2016) The Rhythm Section (2020) January 12      A Little Late with Lilly Singh: Season 2 Premiere (NBC) January 13      Prodigal Son: Season 2 Premiere (FOX) The Resident: Season 4 Premiere (FOX) Everyone is Doing Great: Complete Season 1 (Endeavor Content) January 14      Call Your Mother: Series Premiere (ABC) Alone (2020) The Secrets We Keep (2020) January 15      Endlings: Complete Season 2 (Hulu Original) The Ultimate Playlist of Noise: Film Premiere (Hulu Original) January 17      Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Complete Season 3 (SUBBED) (Infinite Frontiers) No Escape (2020) January 18      I Don’t Know How She Does It (2011) January 19      9-1-1: Season 4 Premiere (FOX) 9-1-1: Lone Star: Season 2 Premiere (FOX) January 20 90 Day Fiancé: Self-Quarantined: Complete Season 1 (TLC) A Very Brady Renovation: Complete Season 1 (HGTV) Car Kings: Complete Season 1 (Discovery) Cutthroat Kitchen: Complete Season 14 (Food Network) Gold Rush: Complete Season 10 (Discovery) House Hunters International: Complete Season 138 (HGTV) House Hunters: Complete Season 163 (HGTV) Property Brothers: Forever Home: Complete Season 1 (HGTV) Puppy Bowl: Complete Seasons 14 & 15 (Animal Planet) River Monsters: Complete Season 9 (Animal Planet) Rob Riggle: Global Investigator: Complete Season 1 (Discovery) Rock The Block: Complete Season 1 (HGTV) Save My Skin: Complete Season 1 (TLC) Torn from the Headlines: New York Post Reports: Complete Season 1 (ID) Who Killed Jeffrey Epstein?: Complete Season 1 (ID) Worst Bakers in America: Complete Season 2 (Food Network) Worst Cooks in America: Complete Season 17 (Food Network) January 22 Derek Delgaudio’s In & Of Itself: Film Special Premiere (Hulu Original) The Sister: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original) Grown-ish: Season 3B Premiere (Freeform) Terra Willy (2020) January 27 Mixed-Ish: Season 2 Premiere (ABC) The Haves and Have Nots: Complete Season 7B (OWN) January 29 Jann: Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (Distribution 360)

Leaving Hulu – January 2021

January 3 The Waterboy (1998)

January 7 Scream 4 (2011)          

January 24 Awaiting (2015) Janis: Little Blue Girl (2015) Le Ride (2016) Respectable: The Mary Millington Story (2016) Soufra (2017) The Ghoul (2015)         The Heart of Nuba (2018)

January 29 School Dance (2014)

January 31 12 Rounds (2009) Arachnophobia (1990) Bad Company (2002) Beerfest (2006) Blow (2001) Blue City (1986) Breakdown (1997) Christmas In Compton (2012) Christmas In Vermont (2016) Click (2006) Cloverfield (2008) Constantine (2005) Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) Dance Flick (2009) Dead Presidents (1995) Death At A Funeral (2010) Donnie Brasco (1997) I Heart Huckabees (2003) In & Out (1997) Indecent Proposal (1993) Lady in a Cage (1964) Look Who’s Talking (1989) Look Who’s Talking Now (1993) Look Who’s Talking Too (1990) Love Hurts (1990) Major League (1989) Maverick (1994) My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) Next Day Air (2009) Once Upon A Time At Christmas (2017) Pride (2007) Shrink (2009) Spy Next Door (2010) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Sydney White (2007) The Blair Witch Project (1999) The Christmas Tale (2005) The Dog Who Saved Christmas (2009) The Eye (2008) The Fifth Element (1997) The Final Girls (2015) The Horse Whisperer (1998) The Ladies Man (2000) The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) The Longest Yard (1974) The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001) The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003) The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002) The Pirates! Band Of Misfits (2012) The Prestige (2006) The Skull (1965) W. (2008)

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

The post Hulu New Releases: January 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/380KwpH

[ktliterary]

What I'm Looking For: Aida Z. Lilly

I’m excited to be open to queries for speculative fiction in upper middle grade, YA, and adult; in YA and upper MG contemporary, I am exclusively looking for stories from LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and other marginalized groups; graphic novels for upper middle grade, YA, and adult from author-illustrators with a unique story; fresh, modern, and original contemporary adult fiction that fits in with my wishlist; and narrative non-fiction (but no true crime).

Across all genres, the writing, voice, and characters have to hook me and make me feel something. I want stories about the good, bad, and ugly of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I’m also interested in cults, the occult, mental health, and magic. I’m looking for the kind-of-weird and completely amazing! Good writing is the most important aspect for me. I love great ideas, but I really need the execution of those ideas to be brilliant. I want to be drawn in within the first few pages, and I’m okay with not having all the answers (at first anyway). I want to read the story only you can tell. I want to accidentally learn things only you can teach me.

I love all things speculative—well, except horror (touches of it in other spec fiction are fine though). What really catches my eye is SFF with real issues tackled in thought-provoking ways, like Grossman’s MAGICIANS series (and show). This shouldn’t be super shocking since I grew up loving the ANIMORPHS series. I like a big, diverse cast with love in their hearts and problems in their lives. Even though these kids had to save the world, they still dealt with familial strife, romantic problems, the failings of adults, and the emotions that accompanied the war and the “normal” lives they had to lead. So give me ANIMORPHS for adults with even more diversity.

On that note, I want feminist projects (especially where feminism is unexpected) and books written by and about people from marginalized communities. As a first-gen Middle Eastern American, I enjoy hearing other people’s immigration tales. If you have written the next KIM’S CONVENIENCE, EMAIL ME RIGHT THIS SECOND BECAUSE I LOVE YOU.

I want ALLLLLLL the queer SFF please! There is so little of it, and it is so needed!

I like mythology (especially when it’s written as beautifully as Madeline Miller does it), music (Juliet, Naked and Daisy Jones & The Six are some of my faves), unreliable narrators, multiple viewpoints, stories that take place at college/grad school, flawed characters, a sense of humor, friendships (complicated ones, too), L.A. stories, tales of NYC, puzzles (think more Dan Brown, less National Treasure), and the atmosphere of Carnivàle, Darren Shan’s CIRQUE DU FREAK, Euphoria, and New Orleans. Magic and superheroes are some of my favorite things, especially when those characters act in a very human way and have very human problems (The Boys, Hancock, Super Ex-Girlfriend). I love a good origin story (even if I’ve seen Peter Parker have three of them onscreen…)

My taste veers from AMERICAN PSYCHO to HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE (and lots in between). Engage me enough to make me laugh AND cry. Give me humor and heart (like Handler’s LIFE WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME); give me a character like Dr. Cox from Scrubs or someone Gordon Ramsay-esque, who secretly has a soft center. Conversely, I also want ALL THE DARKNESS. Because while I love the cuteness of Detective Pikachu, I also live for authors like Leïla Slimani, Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk, who capture the ugly sides of human nature in sharp, acerbic light. I won’t shy away from your THREE WOMEN, TWEAK, EDUCATED, or MY DARK VANESSA.

Shows and movies I love: ALL THINGS STUDIO GHIBLI, Kim’s Convenience, Pose, American Horror Story: Coven, The L Word (both), Big Love, Fresh off the Boat (the book and show), Guardians of the Galaxy (and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe), Supernatural, Lost, Modern Family, anything Mindy Kaling touches (books and shows), Workin’ Moms, Abrams’s Star Trek reboot, The Affair, South Park, Dexter (the books and show), Broad City, The Last Man on Earth (I nearly cried when they canceled this), Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Crash, What Dreams May Come, Interview with the Vampire, Queen of the Damned, Death Note, Straight Outta Compton, Monsters University, The Sopranos, How to Get Away with Murder, Stepbrothers, Zoolander, The Boondocks, Little Nemo, Selena, Shin Chan, Rent, Sweeney Todd, Dope, The Halloween Tree (the book and the movie), The Office, American Housewife, For Colored Girls, LotR, Mad Men, Mystery Men, Sons of Anarchy, Fringe, The King of Queens, Cloverfield, Super 8, Blade Runner 2049, Good Will Hunting, Adventure Time, Detective Pikachu, Good Boys

Books and authors I love: The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell (and his standup), Mira Jacob, Daisy Jones and the Six, There There, Eat a Peach, Convenience Store Woman, Double Cup Love, Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines, Born a Crime (and Noah’s standup), Tranny, The Hate U Give, Warcross duology, Leïla Slimani, Rainbow Rowell, The Heart’s Invisible Furies, The Time Traveler’s Wife, I Am Legend (the movie, too), The Amory Wars (and the music about them), Saga, Deadendia, The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Chuck Palahniuk, Kid Gloves, Zatanna and the House of Secrets, Sing, Unburied, Sing, The Wheel of Time series, Hyperbole and a Half, Bret Easton Ellis, Harry Potter (but not Rowling), Artemis Fowl, Riordan and friends, Life Will Be the Death of Me, The Interestings, Station Eleven, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking up with Me, Hey Kiddo, The New Kid, Furious Thing, Number One Chinese Restaurant, The Girls at 17 Swann Street, Ready Player One (and the movie), Wildwood, Red at the Bone, Juliet, Naked, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, Fun Home, American Housewife, Madeline Miller, Gaiman, Christopher Moore, Haruki Murakami, Patrick Rothfuss, The Goldfinch, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Kevin Kwan, Dave Eggers, My Dark Vanessa, All of us with Wings, Graveyard Shift, Life of Pi, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, America for Beginners, The Storyteller’s Secret, Never Let Me Go, Priestdaddy, Educated, Three Women, Augusten Burroughs, Furiously Happy, Okay, Fine, Whatever, Fights: One Boy’s Triumph over Violence, The Usual Suspects (Maurice Broaddus), V.E. Schwab, The Silent Patient, Uprooted, Pierce Brown, The Enderverse, Blake Crouch, The Hunger Games, John Dies at the End

Maybe not the best fit for: Political thriller Gross out Horror (some touches are okay in SFF) Picture books Chapter books Animal protagonists Flowery language in fantasy Very technical or math-heavy sci-fi Historical fiction WW2 or cops or Civil War/antebellum “Inspirational”

What I’m Looking For: Aida Z. Lilly was originally published on kt literary

[mysticcollector-things]

Drug history, origin of the pill

Tablets (from the Latin word Tabulettae ) is a solid dosage form obtained by pressing granules and powders, which include one or more medicinal substances.

Tablets may be with or without excipients.

In total, there are forty physical forms of tablets. The two most common tablet forms are chamfered and biconvex, convenient for swallowing.

A tablet may be in the following physical form:

cylinder,

ball,

cube

rhombus,

rectangle,

triangle,

quadrangle

pentagon,

hexagon,

octagon,

in the shape of a heart.

The structure of the structure of the tablets can be:

uncovered (traditional)

coated

skeleton (skeletal),

single layer

layered.

According to the action of the tablet can be, including:

Effervescent . Uncoated tablets, usually containing carbonates or acidic substances, quickly reacting in water with the release of carbon dioxide (hiss when dissolved);

Gastro-resistant . Coated tablets stable in the gastric juice and releasing a drug substance in the intestines;

With a modified release . Coated or uncoated tablets at a predictable rate or place of release of a drug substance;

Dispersible in the oral cavity . They differ from traditional tablets in that they dissolve in the oral cavity and do not require swallowing.

Dragee (from the French word dragee ) is a solid dosage form obtained by layer-by-layer application of active active substances on microparticles of inert carriers using sugar syrups. The most famous dragee in the USSR was Revit.

Capsules (from the Latin word capsula - "small chest, drawer, box") - dosage form consisting of a hard or soft gelatin shell, inside of which one or more active active substances are contained, with or without added excipients. Capsules today are known to us largely thanks to the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, who began their mass production at the beginning of the 20th century.

Pills (from the Latin word pilula, ball, ball ) is a solid dosage unit for oral administration in the form of dense balls. Pills weighing more than 0.5 grams are called boluses, less than 0.1 grams are called granules.

Dragees, capsules and pills are not tablets, they are independent dosage forms.

The purpose of the tablets is the most diverse today. There are antibiotic pills , high blood pressure, birth control pills, blood thinners, cough pills, weight loss pills, toothache pills, tablets for children contain special formulations for children, there are cough pills and even diuretic pills. It is impossible to physically list the entire spectrum of applications.

Despite the fact that when creating drugs in the pharmaceutical industry, various forms are used: drops, ointments, gels, sprays - tablets, as before, remain the basis of the dosage form.

Talking about pills, it will not be superfluous to mention the long path traveled by pharmaceuticals to obtain a modern, perfect dosage form. You can order any modern medicines on this site https://medication-house.com/.

History of pills

The history of the pill goes back to ancient times. For several centuries BC, healers guessed to grind medicinal substances to a finely divided state, ideal for external use, and not very convenient for internal use. At one time, pharmacists learned to mix medicinal powder with a delicious thickener (aromatic resins, oils, spices) and make balls or cakes from this mass. Unfortunately, these predecessors of the modern tablet were ineffective: the active substances bound by the resin passed the gastrointestinal tract almost unchanged, a similar dosage form was buried in the annals of history for many centuries.

Philip Aureol Theophrast Bombast von Hohenheim (known in the history of medicine under the name Paracelsus) also addressed the topic of manufacturing tablet forms of drugs, creating one of the prototypes of a modern tablet. It was Paracelsus who proposed moisturizing and compressing medicinal substances under pressure, and not only at the expense of thickeners, but it did not come to mass production.

From pill to pill

The most ancient progenitor of a modern tablet should be considered a pill. The pill (pilula) was invented in ancient Rome and was first described by the erudite writer Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder . Pliny the Elder left behind the fundamental encyclopedic essay Natural History, which contains a number of sections devoted to medicine and pharmacology, including a description of the manufacture of pills.

The pill manufacturing technology is remotely similar to the tablet manufacturing technology: long deep grooves were hollowed out in the stone, filled with a mixture of the necessary medicinal ingredients and a thickener. After solidification of the mass, it was removed from the stone and cut into small disks, in the form of tablets. The stone for the manufacture of pills was called the " pharmacy stone ", the oldest of the stones discovered by archaeologists dates back to 500 BC. 

Pills - dosage form

The solid dosage form of drugs, a modern tablet, was invented in 1843 by the British artist, writer and inventor William Brockedon (William Brockedon, 1778-1854). The first tablet drug in the history of pharmaceuticals was potassium bicarbonate - an antacid drug that reduces the acidity of gastric juice.

The technology for the production of tablets differed significantly from the method of manufacturing ancient Roman pills. The first tablets were obtained by pressing with a sledgehammer or hammer blows on a metal tube with a powder mixture placed in it. The invention of a new dosage form - tablets - happened by chance. Brockdon, as an artist, was looking for an optimal method of pressing lead powder for pencil leads to avoid scattering. The task was to get for drawing not only durable, but also a soft stylus.

Brockdon, once, instead of a lead powder, put in a metal tube a powder of potassium carbonate (potash), which the doctor prescribed for him from pain in his stomach. After another flattening of the tube, Brokdon’s hands turned out to be the prototype of a modern tablet - a white stylus, which remained to be cut with a hacksaw into small pieces, convenient for placing in the mouth and drinking water. In 1844, a new form of drug production method was patented.

Doctors and scientists liked the new dosage form of drug delivery so much that three years later, pharmacists of all progressive powers of that time: the UK, USA, France, Switzerland, Germany, were engaged in the manufacture of tablets.

Later, various drugs were tried to compress into tablets, and what worked on potash was not applicable to other substances: having received a strong tablet dosage form, it was not always possible to achieve the required level of bioavailability. The main difficulty was the poor solubility of the first tablets in water. The problem was solved by introducing excipients into their composition - sugar and starch.

Pills that dissolve easily in the stomach were invented in 1880 by the American physician William Erastus Upjohn, who, four years later, created a machine for the production of tablets in large quantities. In 1886, Upjon founded Upjohn Pill and Granule Company, which lasted until 1995, when it merged with Swiss Pharmacia. Today, Pharmacia are part of the pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer.

The tablet, as a dosage form, was recognized in 1901, after mentioning the VII edition in the Swedish Pharmacopoeia.

With the start of production of Alka Seltzer anti-nausea and hangover products, a new class of water-soluble tablets has emerged in the pharmaceutical market, most of which are known as effervescent tablets. The history of the invention of soluble tablets is very interesting.

In 1925, the American pharmaceutical company Dr. Miles Laboratories ”, located in the city of Elkhart (Indiana) (which is today part of the German pharmaceutical holding Bayer), began work on the creation of readily soluble tablets, but to no avail: the form was created, the current composition was absent. In January 1928, during the period of the flu and colds epidemic, going to the editorial office of the local newspaper The Elkhart Truth, the head of the Dr. Miles company Andrew Beardsley found the entire staff at workplaces. The recipe for health turned out to be simple: members of the editorial systematically consumed a mixture of aspirin, soda and lemon juice. A month later, Beardsley's subordinates created a soluble Aspir-Vess tablet, later called Alka-Seltzer, positioned as a remedy for colds, flu, headaches, consequences of overeating, pain and heaviness in the stomach. Relief of a hangover and the prevention of delirium (a mental disorder occurring with impaired consciousness) when taking Alka-Seltzer were an unplanned side effect. Trading Alka-Seltzer today is owned by Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany.

Dr. Miles Laboratories has developed an equally interesting and important invention that has made life easier for patients with diabetes.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, there were no tools to measure the level of glycemia ( blood sugar ). In 1908, an American biochemist, physiologist, Stanley Benedict, developed a solution containing copper sulfate and tartaric acid that changed its color from blue to green or brown when interacting with urine containing glucose. Since 1921, a solution called “Benedict’s reagent” began to be produced in the USA in the form of tablets.

Dr. Miles also produced this reagent in tablets under the Clinitest brand name (modified dry reagent in the form of tablets contained additional sodium hydroxide) until 1941, when its employees Walter Ames Compton and Joseph Moris Trenir (Joseph Maurice Treneer) did not guess to put the reagent on a paper strip. The first indicator (touch) test strips intended to assess the extent of glucosuria in patients with diabetes, they were called Clinistrip (later - Clinistix). Two years later, the latest diagnostic tool began to be produced in the Netherlands, Italy, Canada, Great Britain and France.

Click and share the article with your friends:

Thus, largely thanks to the tablet, the test strip was invented, which is used today in every medical laboratory.

However, let us return to unplanned side effects that quite often lead to a change in the initial plans of companies to position certain drugs in the pharmaceutical market: the history of the development of Viagra tablets is no less interesting to the history of Alka-Seltzer.

In 1992, the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer (Pfizer) conducted a series of clinical trials new medicine for heart diseases - sildenafil citrate (Sildenafil citrate). The trials for the company ended extremely unsuccessfully: the new drug did not demonstrate the expected therapeutic effect on the heart muscle, while the male drug testers from the control group noted the exciting effect of taking this drug: instead of a positive effect on cardiac blood flow, future Viagra pills helped to improve blood flow in the area pelvic organs, causing an erection.

A side effect of taking other pills, Mirapex PD, is that taking these pills can cause hiccups .

The history of the development and improvement of tablets is rich and diverse, Evgeny Borisovich Kryukov, a chemist-pharmacist from Belarus, a regular author of the site, has collected the most interesting facts about medicines that you can familiarize yourself with.

Today, a pill is not just a round form of medicine. In the form of tablets, endoscopic equipment is released; they are chipped and assigned to them the functions of entire laboratories that monitor the slightest changes in the patient's condition.

Today, they are trying to replace the injections with pills: by the joint efforts of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and representatives of the Massachusetts General Clinical Hospital, a tablet with "microneedles" has been developed for patients with diabetes, which will painlessly inject insulin into the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. This tablet is coated with an acid-sensitive substance that breaks down when it enters the intestines. After taking and splitting the coating, the muscles of the gastrointestinal tract promoting the food squeeze the tablet, the needles inject the medicine inside.