#Sept 11 2015

[fatliberation]

they have a point though. you wouldn't need everyone to accommodate you if you just lost weight, but you're too lazy to stick to a healthy diet and exercise. it's that simple. I'd like to see you back up your claims, but you have no proof. you have got to stop lying to yourselves and face the facts

Must I go through this again? Fine. FINE. You guys are working my nerves today. You want to talk about facing the facts? Let's face the fucking facts.

In 2022, the US market cap of the weight loss industry was $75 billion [1, 3]. In 2021, the global market cap of the weight loss industry was estimated at $224.27 billion [2]. 

In 2020, the market shrunk by about 25%, but rebounded and then some since then [1, 3] By 2030, the global weight loss industry is expected to be valued at $405.4 billion [2]. If diets really worked, this industry would fall overnight. 

1. LaRosa, J. March 10, 2022. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Shrinks by 25% in 2020 with Pandemic, but Rebounds in 2021." Market Research Blog. 2. Staff. February 09, 2023. "[Latest] Global Weight Loss and Weight Management Market Size/Share Worth." Facts and Factors Research. 3. LaRosa, J. March 27, 2023. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Partially Recovers from the Pandemic." Market Research Blog.

Over 50 years of research conclusively demonstrates that virtually everyone who intentionally loses weight by manipulating their eating and exercise habits will regain the weight they lost within 3-5 years. And 75% will actually regain more weight than they lost [4].

4. Mann, T., Tomiyama, A.J., Westling, E., Lew, A.M., Samuels, B., Chatman, J. (2007). "Medicare’s Search For Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not The Answer." The American Psychologist, 62, 220-233. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2007.

The annual odds of a fat person attaining a so-called “normal” weight and maintaining that for 5 years is approximately 1 in 1000 [5].

5. Fildes, A., Charlton, J., Rudisill, C., Littlejohns, P., Prevost, A.T., & Gulliford, M.C. (2015). “Probability of an Obese Person Attaining Normal Body Weight: Cohort Study Using Electronic Health Records.” American Journal of Public Health, July 16, 2015: e1–e6.

Doctors became so desperate that they resorted to amputating parts of the digestive tract (bariatric surgery) in the hopes that it might finally result in long-term weight-loss. Except that doesn’t work either. [6] And it turns out it causes death [7],  addiction [8], malnutrition [9], and suicide [7].

6. Magro, Daniéla Oliviera, et al. “Long-Term Weight Regain after Gastric Bypass: A 5-Year Prospective Study - Obesity Surgery.” SpringerLink, 8 Apr. 2008. 7. Omalu, Bennet I, et al. “Death Rates and Causes of Death After Bariatric Surgery for Pennsylvania Residents, 1995 to 2004.” Jama Network, 1 Oct. 2007.  8. King, Wendy C., et al. “Prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders Before and After Bariatric Surgery.” Jama Network, 20 June 2012.  9. Gletsu-Miller, Nana, and Breanne N. Wright. “Mineral Malnutrition Following Bariatric Surgery.” Advances In Nutrition: An International Review Journal, Sept. 2013.

Evidence suggests that repeatedly losing and gaining weight is linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and altered immune function [10].

10. Tomiyama, A Janet, et al. “Long‐term Effects of Dieting: Is Weight Loss Related to Health?” Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6 July 2017.

Prescribed weight loss is the leading predictor of eating disorders [11].

11. Patton, GC, et al. “Onset of Adolescent Eating Disorders: Population Based Cohort Study over 3 Years.” BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 20 Mar. 1999.

The idea that “obesity” is unhealthy and can cause or exacerbate illnesses is a biased misrepresentation of the scientific literature that is informed more by bigotry than credible science [12]. 

12. Medvedyuk, Stella, et al. “Ideology, Obesity and the Social Determinants of Health: A Critical Analysis of the Obesity and Health Relationship” Taylor & Francis Online, 7 June 2017.

“Obesity” has no proven causative role in the onset of any chronic condition [13, 14] and its appearance may be a protective response to the onset of numerous chronic conditions generated from currently unknown causes [15, 16, 17, 18].

13. Kahn, BB, and JS Flier. “Obesity and Insulin Resistance.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Aug. 2000. 14. Cofield, Stacey S, et al. “Use of Causal Language in Observational Studies of Obesity and Nutrition.” Obesity Facts, 3 Dec. 2010.  15. Lavie, Carl J, et al. “Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: Risk Factor, Paradox, and Impact of Weight Loss.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 26 May 2009.  16. Uretsky, Seth, et al. “Obesity Paradox in Patients with Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease.” The American Journal of Medicine, Oct. 2007.  17. Mullen, John T, et al. “The Obesity Paradox: Body Mass Index and Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Nonbariatric General Surgery.” Annals of Surgery, July 2005. 18. Tseng, Chin-Hsiao. “Obesity Paradox: Differential Effects on Cancer and Noncancer Mortality in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.” Atherosclerosis, Jan. 2013.

Fatness was associated with only 1/3 the associated deaths that previous research estimated and being “overweight” conferred no increased risk at all, and may even be a protective factor against all-causes mortality relative to lower weight categories [19].

19. Flegal, Katherine M. “The Obesity Wars and the Education of a Researcher: A Personal Account.” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 15 June 2021.

Studies have observed that about 30% of so-called “normal weight” people are “unhealthy” whereas about 50% of so-called “overweight” people are “healthy”. Thus, using the BMI as an indicator of health results in the misclassification of some 75 million people in the United States alone [20]. 

20. Rey-López, JP, et al. “The Prevalence of Metabolically Healthy Obesity: A Systematic Review and Critical Evaluation of the Definitions Used.” Obesity Reviews : An Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 15 Oct. 2014.

While epidemiologists use BMI to calculate national obesity rates (nearly 35% for adults and 18% for kids), the distinctions can be arbitrary. In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold from 27.8 to 25—branding roughly 29 million Americans as fat overnight—to match international guidelines. But critics noted that those guidelines were drafted in part by the International Obesity Task Force, whose two principal funders were companies making weight loss drugs [21].

21. Butler, Kiera. “Why BMI Is a Big Fat Scam.” Mother Jones, 25 Aug. 2014. 

Body size is largely determined by genetics [22].

22. Wardle, J. Carnell, C. Haworth, R. Plomin. “Evidence for a strong genetic influence on childhood adiposity despite the force of the obesogenic environment” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 87, No. 2, Pages 398-404, February 2008.

Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index [23].  

23. Matheson, Eric M, et al. “Healthy Lifestyle Habits and Mortality in Overweight and Obese Individuals.” Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 25 Feb. 2012.

Weight stigma itself is deadly. Research shows that weight-based discrimination increases risk of death by 60% [24].

24. Sutin, Angela R., et al. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality .” Association for Psychological Science, 25 Sept. 2015.

Fat stigma in the medical establishment [25] and society at large arguably [26] kills more fat people than fat does [27, 28, 29].

25. Puhl, Rebecca, and Kelly D. Bronwell. “Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity.” Obesity Research, 6 Sept. 2012. 26. Engber, Daniel. “Glutton Intolerance: What If a War on Obesity Only Makes the Problem Worse?” Slate, 5 Oct. 2009.  27. Teachman, B. A., Gapinski, K. D., Brownell, K. D., Rawlins, M., & Jeyaram, S. (2003). Demonstrations of implicit anti-fat bias: The impact of providing causal information and evoking empathy. Health Psychology, 22(1), 68–78. 28. Chastain, Ragen. “So My Doctor Tried to Kill Me.” Dances With Fat, 15 Dec. 2009. 29. Sutin, Angelina R, Yannick Stephan, and Antonio Terraciano. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality.” Psychological Science, 26 Nov. 2015.

There's my "proof." Where is yours?

[jikooklove9795]

JIKOOK & NOV 8th 2015

In South Korea couples have a unique and delightful way of celebrating anniversaries marking special milestones. They commemorate these milestones by exchanging personalized gifts, going on romantic dates, by wearing matching clothes or by sharing photos documenting their relationship. This is done in recognition of their continuous love and appreciation.

Now let's dive into see how Jikook celebrates a special a date in their relationship.

On Nov 8th 2015 Jikook posts their first video together on twitter

Exactly 100 days after Nov 8th 2015 Jungkook made a tweet about the importance of lyrics in a song and uploaded his cover of Nothing Like Us by Justin Bieber

One year later on Nov 8th 2016 Jimin posts a video of Jungkook and him sitting together on a plane

On Nov 8th 2017 Jungkook releases his first ever GCF. It was video documenting Jimin and Jungkook's private trip to Japan in 2017. A trip Jungkook planned and arranged as a birthday gift to Jimin

On Jan 26th 2018, which is 811 days from Nov 8th 2015 Jimin posted this pic. Do you see the black & white reference at the foot of the champagne glass? Interesting right??!!

On August 2018 BTS were in Malta filming BV Season 3.

1000 days after Nov 8th 2015 Jungkook posted a selca while in Malta at 10:13 local time which is Jimin time

And on the 1500the day from Nov 8th 2015 Jimin posts a selca at 1:50

Now before we move on let's take a moment to remember that Jimin won the Search King Challenge question where BTS had to find the 2000th day from the first episode of Run BTS. He used the NAVER Anniversary Calculator. Jungkook was not far behind. He was about to answer but lost by a few seconds to Jimin. Hoseok had no idea about the calendar while Namjoon went for Google. So, this shows Jimin often uses the calculator for finding important dates and anniversaries

Okay, now back to our main topic.

BTS PTD Seoul Concert in March 2022. And during the concert...

He said "This is Jimin from grade 2 class 3 number 15". Cause March 10th 2022 was exactly 2315 days from Nov 8th 2015.

Remember the rectangular Maison Margeila pendant which Jimin wears? He wears the one where the number 11 is encircled.

Let's take out 11 and add all the other numbers on this pendant.

10+12+13+14+15+16

And we get 80

So, what do we have

11/8

On Feb 21 2022 Jungkook posted a video on his IG highlighting 23:08 which is basically 11:08 however the story was originally posted at 1 am

On October 26th 2022 (which is 13 days after Jimin's birthday and 13 days to Nov 8th) while in Qatar Jungkook posted a pic on his IG at 11:08 pm KST

There are a myriad of references to 11/8 from song covers, song recommendations ending at the 1:18 mark to pics posted by both Jimin and Jungkook.

Both Jungkook and Jimin has shown how they are serious about these numbers relating to their relationship or those about each other. Reminds me of how Jimin started a live on Sept 1st 2023 wearing a 1997 model watch adjusted to Jungkook's birth time

Nov 8th 2024 marks their 9 years of togetherness.

So, let me conclude this post by wishing the couple a

"Happy Anniversary"

💛💜

Credits to the owner of the video

[destinationtoast]

Calling Game of Thrones fans with knowledge of the fandom's history! [see also: Supernatural version]

I'm in the midst of putting together some fandom deep dives as part of my analysis of TV Fandom Fix-Its on AO3, including GoT. I'm trying to give context for how many fanworks the fandom was producing overall, and when overall spikes in fandom activity were happening, and I could use help.

Specifically, I'm trying to label AO3 activity spikes with what episodes/events seemed to contribute to them. But I'm probably missing important context. E.g., I know there were other events like fanwork exchanges happening that might have been contributors to some activity spikes, or things the show creators said/did might also have contributed sometimes.

If you have theories about why the red spikes between seasons happened near the following dates, that would be excellent:

Dec 28, 2020

May 11, 2020

Oct 5, 2015

Sept 29, 2014

July 21, 2014

And if you think I'm missing important context for some of the other spikes, or I made goofs on some of the labels, please LMK!

This was posted on April 10, 2024; I'm hoping for relevant replies in the next few days.

If you prefer to look at the raw data, it's too long to list here, but you can read it in this spreadsheet. And you can view the graph and labels bigger in this slide.

Thanks so much in advance!!

(If you have questions or critiques, please click through and read more context on AO3 or click through to the OP version of this post, which I will update with clarifications as needed.)

[dragonagefanevents]

Dragon Age Fan Event Listings

The beauty of fan events is that they are run by fans.

Including you.

▸What are the types of fan events? - #education

▸Start a new event! - #how tos (coming soon)

▸Ask Box - send us advice, or ask for it!

▸Blog Tag List

Below is a list of all Dragon Age fan-run events we can find. The links should bring you to the most recent iteration of the event. Where possible, the time period the event covers is listed next to the event.

Want to get an event listed? Check out the link and submit. Look here for multi-fandom events, or more events in general.

Event Masterlist - #compendium

Bangs

25k Big Bang (July - November)

10k Big Bang (March - April)

Dragon Age Reverse Bang

Exchanges

Arlathan Exchange (April - June)

DA Polyshipping (August - November)

Handers Exchange (March - May)

Templartations Exchange (March - May)

Black Emporium Rare Pair Exchange (June - September)

Platonic Ideal Gen Fic Exchange (December - February)

Smutquisition (January - March)

Theme Weeks/Months

Krem Week 2024 (July 22 - 28)

City Elf Week (August 5 - August 11)

Zevwarden Week (2024 dates TBD)

Tranquil Week (August 25 - 31)

Sera Appreciation Week (Oct 13 - 19)

Kink Memes

Dragon Age Kink Meme (Dreamwidth) | DAO | DA2 | DAI

Zines

Dragon Age Flower Zine (Creation Period)

Wanderers Zine (Creation Period)

Dragon Age OC Zine (Mod Apps Open)

Alistair Zine (Creation Period)

Special Events

Dragon Age Drunk Writing Circle

Dragon Age Annual (2025 Production Period)

Dragon Age Create-A-Thon (Begins Sept 15 2024)

Reddit Weekly Dragon Age Writing Prompts

Unofficial Dragon Age Day (Dec 4)

Solavellan Day (April 11)

Past Events

Retired Bangs

DragonAgeBB (last: 2015; formerly on LJ and elsewhere)

Retired Exchanges

Demands of the Qun (Qunari)

A Paragon of Their Kind (DA Dwarves)

Solas Lovers

Hightown Funk (Varric/Hawke)

Retired Theme Weeks/Months

Autumn of Anders (Anders Appreciation Event)

Dalish Week

30 Days of Dorian (Dorian Appreciation Event)

Dragon Age Fan Week (2013)

Cullen Appreciation Week (2019)

Cullen Week (2021)

14 Days of DA Lovers

Fenris Appreciation Month (2017)

Rylen Appreciation Week (2018)

Sera Appreciation Week (2019)

Sub!Solas Week (2016)

Past Zines

Adoribull Fairytales

Age of Romance Zine (Incomplete)

ApprovesGreatly (Incomplete)

Andoralis Zine

Arcana: A Dragon Age Zine

Arlathvhen Zine (Incomplete)

Beyond the Veil Zine (Zine)

Bring Down the Sky Bioware Fanzine

Dragon Age 2 10th Anniversary Zine (Zine)

Dragon Age Codex Zine & Myths and Legends Zine

Fortitudo Dorian Artbook

Good for Each Other (Adoribull Zine)

In Peace, Vigilance Zine

Insufficient Skill Fanzine

Legend Mark Zine

Lotus and Root OC Zine

Love Across Thedas Zine (Zine)

Na Via Lerno Victoria (Fenris Zine)

Patron of the Arts Zine

Rebel Hearts Handers Zine (Zine)

Road to the Imperium Zine

Solasmancy Zine

Sunlight (Anders Zine)

The Coming Storm Zine (Ukrainian Zine)

The Dragon Age Zine (Russian Zine)

The Keeper's Codex Fairy Tale Zine

The Unsung Dragon Age Zine

The Zevran Zine (incomplete)

Thedosian Archives (incomplete)

to be happy (FenHawke Zine)

Wicked Eyes: A Dragon Age Finery Zine

Year of the Mabari (Incomplete)

Other Past Events

Dragon Age Calendar 2018

Dragon Age Calendar 2021

For Fans by Fans - Fan Forge

[devilsupdates]

Update on trade

Again this is coming from ESPN and the Devils app

We got a goalie!!!!

The New Jersey Devils announced today that the team has acquired goaltender Jake Allen from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for New Jersey’s conditional third-round selection in the 2025 NHL Draft. Montreal will retain 50% of Allen’s salary both this year and in 2024-25, the last year of his contract. The announcement was made by President/General Manager Tom Fitzgerald.

The conditions on the pick are as follows: if Allen plays in 40 regular-season games in the 2024-25 season and his club qualifies for the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the 2025 third-round pick becomes New Jersey’s 2025 second-round selection.

Allen, 33, joins New Jersey after spending the last four seasons with Montreal. The 6’2”, 195lbs. goaltender recorded a 41-68-15 career record with the Canadiens, while also earning three shutouts and a 3.30 goals-against average (GAA). Allen posted 6-12-3 record in 21 games this season for Montreal and owns a 6-1-0 career record playing at Prudential Center.

Before Allen was traded to Montreal on Sept. 2, 2020, he played in parts of eight seasons with the St. Louis Blues from 2011-12 to 2019-20. Allen earned 148 career wins with St. Louis, which ranks second all-time for Blues franchise history. The Fredericton, New Brunswick native logged his first career regular season start on Feb. 13, 2013, in a 4-3 win at Detroit. He recorded a career-high 33 wins in 2016-17 with St. Louis and earned a career-high six shutouts in 2015-16.

The veteran netminder also carries Stanley Cup Playoff experience, after playing in six postseasons with St. Louis, and was a member of their 2019 Stanley Cup championship team. Allen has played in 29 career postseason contests and owns an 11-12 overall record with a 2.06 GAA.

Born on Aug.7, 1990, St. Louis selected Allen in the second round, 34th overall, in the 2008 NHL Draft. He also represented Canada on the international stage at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) U18 World Junior Championship (WJC) in 2007-08 and 2009-10. Allen helped Canada win a Gold Medal in 2008 and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. He also earned a Silver Medal with Canada at the 2010 WJC.

[usafphantom2]

The B-21 Raider: Designed For Low Risk

head-on view of B-21

Images released during the week of the Air and Space Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference revealed a head-on view that allowed for a reliable estimate of the wingspan.

Credit: Northrop Grumman

The design of Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Raider points to a conservative approach on the part of the U.S. Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office. The B-21’s resemblance to the original B-2 bomber design is close, but it is a smaller aircraft, with a wingspan estimated at 132 ft. compared with the B-2’s 172 ft., and is approximately half the empty weight. The planform itself is driven by the need to accommodate complex inlets and exhausts and a large weapon bay within the flying-wing profile while staying within a maximum thickness-to-chord ratio compatible with efficient flight above Mach 0.8.

Planform of two bombers

Credit: Giuseppe Picarella/TheCutawayCompany.com

The B-21 planform, which has not been officially released, was depicted in a video that accompanied a presentation by Gen. Duke Richardson, commander of the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command, on Sept. 11 at the Air and Space Force Association’s (AFA) Air, Space & Cyber Conference at National Harbor, Maryland. A new set of images released that week included an undistorted head-on view that permitted a reliable estimate of the wingspan. Recently recovered unclassified imagery from Pratt & Whitney presentations dating back to the early 2010s proved to be a close match for the B-21’s inlets.

U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office prioritized use of mature subsystems

Northrop draws on aspects of B-2 bomber and X-47B UCAV

The B-21’s low-risk design in part stems from the program’s origins. Before 2009, the Air Force was working to a requirement known as Next-Generation Bomber (NGB). It has been characterized as complex and ambitious, with a full suite of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors, a self-defense capability and long endurance. This was canceled in April 2009 by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The following year, the Air Force proposed a different approach to the mission, which Pentagon leadership found acceptable: a Long-Range Strike family of systems including classified uncrewed aircraft systems for ISR and electronic attack (the former becoming the Northrop Grumman RQ-180), a replacement cruise missile (now the Raytheon AGM-181) and the Long-Range Strike-Bomber (LRS-B), for which a contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman in October 2015.

Aside from scrubbed and scaled-back requirements, the LRS-B project differed from NGB in three ways: Unit cost was a key performance parameter; two competing teams were funded through preliminary design review, which normally takes place after contract award; and management was assigned to the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO). The RCO modeled its approach on the Lockheed F-117, developed using mature subsystems in a new platform so that the program could focus on applying new technology.

B-21 diagram

Click on this image to see an interactive version of a microcutaway of design features likely on the U.S. Air Force's next stealth bomber.

The B-21 emerging today is evidence that these principles have been adhered to. Its configuration and stealth technology have evolved from the “flying saucer” approach used on the B-2, but originally proposed in the late 1950s. Remarkably, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works founder and former chief Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, in a retrospective paper delivered in 1975 and quoting pre-SR-71 Blackbird work, noted that “a shape similar to flying saucers, with a sharp edge and no protuberances, has a very low radar cross-section without any anti-radar treatment.” And at a February 1959 conference with President Dwight Eisenhower, also discussing the future Blackbird, Harvard physicist Edward Purcell remarked that “the best shape would be a flying saucer.”

No documents found so far have explained the exact connection between the flying saucer phenomenon—the original popular term for unidentified aerial phenomena—and early stealth developments. But one part of the explanation may be that the mysterious craft were often believed to evade radar detection and that it would naturally occur to anyone with knowledge of radar that the shape might have something to do with it.

The classic 1950s flying saucer shape—seamless and continuously curved, with a domed center flaring out to a sharp edge—is visible on the B-21. Some details, though, are reminiscent of the X-47B—the uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) designed by Northrop Grumman—such as the longer nose, or “beak.” This feature is a result of the need for continuous sharp leading edges, but with a curved-down nose to improve stall characteristics. As on the B-2, however, the saucer profile in elevation is matched with a straight-edge planform to concentrate residual radar reflections—reduced by deep-section radar-absorbent material (RAM) edges—in the smallest possible number of “spikes.”

The design benefits from advances in computational engineering and simulation. The B-2 was designed with the help of early 2D computational fluid dynamics (CFD), but airflows on a blended wing body shape are highly 3D with effects propagating from the center-body outward, and more recent designs using 3D CFD are more efficient.

Computational electromagnetics allows for better low radar cross-section (RCS) shapes and more efficient use of RAM and eliminates much of the empirical cut-and-try methods used in earlier programs: Northrop Grumman closed its Tejon Ranch, California, outdoor RCS test range in 2011.

The B-21 is also the first known major U.S. military aircraft program to be fully designed on a digital thread, with not only the shape but the physical characteristics of each part built into a digital prototype. This has allowed errors to be caught early and has made it possible, according to program officials, to incorporate all core systems on the first aircraft.

The differences from the B-2 include the new bomber’s planform. In fact, the B-2 planform at contract award in October 1981 was similar to the B-21’s now, but a low-altitude dash capability was added to the requirement late in its evolution. In early 1983, Northrop engineers discovered that the original design had insufficient control power to alleviate gust loads at the same time as controlling the aircraft, and it was necessary to add control area farther aft, close to the centerline, for rigidity. The fix resulted in the B-2’s unique planform, but at a price in time, weight and cost—and the low-altitude capability was never used.

Some of the features carried over from the X-47B include the apparent absence of split brake-rudder surfaces. Instead, the plan-view sketch suggests the presence of “inlay” surfaces above the wing, which would not be used in stealth mode. Instead, lateral and longitudinal control are provided by eight trailing-edge surfaces, augmented by differential thrust as on the B-2.

The center-body section matches images of highly serpentine inlets mated to a medium-bypass engine. Pratt & Whitney discussed such an engine, the PW9000, as a future bomber powerplant in 2010 but has not mentioned it since. The PW9000 used the core of the PW1000G commercial engine family, mated to a direct-drive fan with a 4:1 bypass ratio. On the B-2, the low-bypass GE F118 engine was selected because it was too risky to place a higher-bypass engine, more sensitive to flow distortion, behind the curved and RAM-treated inlet ducts needed to hide the fan face from radar. With the aid of better CFD, that problem can be eliminated: Northrop Grumman proposed a large bomber UAV in 2005, powered by two modified GE CF34 turbofans, and Lockheed Martin flew the Polecat demonstrator in 2006 with two Williams FJ44s.

Further evidence of innovation in the propulsion installation is that it is one of very few specific B-21 problem areas mentioned in public. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, mentioned potential inlet and exhaust issues in March 2018. In March 2021, then-RCO Director Randall Walden said that a redesign was completed before the design was frozen, without affecting the schedule.

A higher bypass ratio provides much better specific fuel consumption than the B-2’s fighter-type engine, improving range, and would enable a cooler, lower-velocity exhaust, not only lowering the B-21’s infrared signature but also alleviating thermomechanical stress on the open “aft deck” area of the exhaust, immediately ahead of the trailing edge.

The B-21’s structure benefits from the absence of a low-level flight requirement and improvements in both composite materials and RAM, reducing the use of fillers and tapes. While the RAM itself would perform the same functions as on earlier stealth aircraft, with multiple layers to absorb energy, diffuse surface currents and protect the skin from lightning, it would require less maintenance than the notoriously finicky B-2 surface.

Internally, the B-21 apparently uses many proven systems. At the AFA meeting, Doug Young, Northrop Grumman vice president and general manager for strike systems, noted that where possible, the company has used commercial components and systems on the aircraft, reducing costs and taking advantage of long-lasting commercial supply networks. Early in the program, one Washington consultant with close ties to BAE Systems disclosed that the electronic warfare system of the B-21 is closely related to the Lockheed Martin F-35’s ASQ-239.

The most important feature of the avionics, however, is an open mission systems architecture. Young compares older systems with adding peripherals to a computer in the early PC age, where “you had to go through a whole rigmarole to make it work.” But the B-21 has standard interfaces and a partitioned architecture where changes to the mission systems cannot affect flight-critical functions.

The B-21 program includes a “software factory,” Young said, which is already developing capabilities beyond the service-entry baseline. And under a program called Spirit Realm, a partitioned architecture is being developed for the B-2 fleet.

After Lockheed Martin and Boeing unsuccessfully protested the Air Force’s B-21 contract award to Northrop Grumman, a consultant to both companies wrote that “there’s a real possibility that the B-21 program isn’t executable at the price the winning team bid—which would mean either big cost overruns or program termination.”

Northrop has warned that it faces up to a $1.2 billion charge on the first five years of low-rate initial production for the B-21 due to inflation-related cost increases not anticipated when bids were submitted in 2015.

But a lesson to be drawn from the B-21’s appearance is that the designers of the B-2 did an amazingly good job “inventing to schedule” while existing materials and subsystems were inadequate and produced a basic vehicle architecture that was still considered the best choice almost 40 years later.

[cricxuss]

COMME LA MORT, IL FAUT REGARDER LA SEXUALITE EN FACE SANS FERMER LES YEUX !

Suis-je un poète pornographe ? Si c'est le cas, je m'inscris dans une longue tradition si j'en juge par le recueil "Anthologie de la poésie érotique " publié en 2010 par les éditions Garnier. En effet, dans ce florilège le réalisme le plus cru côtoie le raffinement le plus délicat, de l'Antiquité grecque et romaine jusqu'au début du XXème siècle, qu'il s'agisse de poètes renommés ou de petits maîtres. Dans ces oeuvres s'exprime une volonté de subversion et d'émancipation. Sous ces coups de boutoir, la vieille morale vacille et les masques tombent. Aujourd'hui, avec les outils du numérique, la donne a changé même si l'hypocrisie persiste car "on estime que près de 60 % des internautes surfent, à un moment ou à un autre, sur des sites au contenu pornographique" (extrait de '" Bêtes de sexe ", Editions Michel Quintin, 2015).

LA SEXUALITE VECUE PAR DES POETES, LOIN DE L'AMOUR CHASTE OU DU LYRISME ROMANTIQUE...

Jacques Prévert participa aux entretiens sur la sexualité dont le groupe de Breton commença la publication dans le numéro 11 de la Révolution surréaliste. « Le surréalisme, dira André Breton, a tout fait pour lever les tabous qui empêchent qu'on traite librement du monde sexuel et de tout le monde sexuel, perversions comprises – monde dont j'ai été amené à dire plus tard qu'en dépit des sondages entre tous mémorables qu'y auront opérés Sade et Freud, il n'a pas, que je sache, cessé d'opposer à notre volonté de pénétration de l'univers son infracassable noyau de nuit. »

Les Recherches sur la sexualité. Part d'objectivité, déterminations individuelles, degré de conscience se déroulèrent pendant sept soirées du 27 janvier au 6 mai 1928. Les deux premières furent publiées in extenso dans La Révolution surréaliste. Prévert participa à six de ces soirées.

Jamais on n'avait parlé aussi clairement dans une revue autre que celles qui se vendaient sous le manteau, de l'onanisme féminin, dont Breton pensait le plus grand bien, vivement approuvé par Prévert qui s'en déclarait tout à fait partisan. A l'appui extraits de dialogues on ne peut plus directs entre les deux hommes […] :

Prévert : Que pense Breton de la sodomie entre homme et femme ?

Breton : Le plus grand bien.

Prévert : Vous y êtes-vous déjà livré ?

Breton : Parfaitement.

Queneau : Faites-vous toujours l'amour de la même façon ; sinon est-ce pour accroître votre jouissance ou celle de la femme ?

Breton : Fort heureusement non, je m'ennuierais trop. Quant à la femme elle peut prendre l'initiative de changer autant qu'elle veut.

Prévert : Je suis de l'avis de Breton.

Quand les questions se firent plus précises chacun tint à ajouter son grain de sel à une conversation qui se révélait de plus en plus pimentée :

Breton : Quelles sont les attitudes passionnelles qui vous sollicitent le plus ? Baron ?

Baron : Le 69, la position dite « en levrette ».

Duhamel : La position dite « en levrette », le 69.

Aragon : Je suis extrêmement limité. Les diverses attitudes me sollicitent également comme autant d'impossibilité. Ce que j'aime le mieux, c'est ma pollution pendant la fellation active de ma part. En fait, je fais presque toujours l'amour de la manière la plus simple.

Man Ray : Pas de préférences. Ce qui m'intrigue le plus, c'est la fellation de l'homme par la femme, parce que c'est ce qui s'est présenté pour moi le plus rarement.

Noll : La fellation de la femme par moi, ou bien sexe sur sexe, bouche sur bouche, le 69.

Sadoul : Pas de préférence violente. Cependant, la fellation de la femme par moi.

Aragon : Qu'est-ce qui vous excite le plus ?

Duhamel : Les jambes et les cuisses d'une femme. Ensuite le sexe, les cuisses et les fesses.

Prévert : Les fesses.

Queneau : Le cul.

Aragon : L'idée de la jouissance de la femme.

Noll : C'est aussi tout ce qui m'intéresse.

Duhamel : Egalement.

Péret : Pour les parties du corps, les jambes et les seins. Par ailleurs, voir une femme se masturber.

[…]

Breton : Dans quelle mesure Aragon considère-t-il que l'érection est nécessaire à l'accomplissement de l'acte sexuel ?

Aragon : Un certain degré d'érection est nécessaire mais, en ce qui me concerne, je n'ai jamais que des érections incomplètes.

Breton : Juges-tu que c'est regrettable ?

Aragon : Comme tous les déboires physiques, mais pas davantage. Je ne le regrette pas plus que de ne pouvoir soulever des pianos à bout de bras.

Aragon se souviendra de ces aveux publics en écrivant La Grande Gaîté, recueil de poèmes publiés l'année suivante (1929) et dans lesquels on trouve ce quatrain où le poète ironise :

Il y a ceux qui bandent

Il y a ceux qui ne bandent pas

Généralement je me range

Dans la seconde catégorie

Extrait du livre : « Jacques Prévert » par Yves Courrière, Gallimard, 2000.

[henrykathman]

I have too many thoughts on The Great Gatsby (2013)

Music by Molly Noise (She/Her)

YouTube | Podcast | Patreon

This video sees me delving into the 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann; a film that many have regarded as a definitive version of F Scott Fitzgerald's original novel, while others regard it as a dubstep-laden imitation of the literary classic. Which one is it? Settle in and find out, old sport!

Work Cited:

Agur, Colin. "Negotiated Order: The Fourth Amendment, Telephone Surveillance, and Social Interactions, 1878��1968." Information & Culture 48.4 (2013): 419-447. https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/182084/Agur%20-%20I%26C%20-%20Negotiated%20Order.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y 

“Baz to Make ‘Gatsby’ Choice.” The New York Post, Achived through the Wayback Machine, 10 Feb. 2011, archive.ph/20130111073735/www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/baz_to_make_gatsby_choice_I5ngKh4aqSwiEmZh6H0iKJ#selection-2097.0-2097.27.

Beaton, Kate. “Great Gatsbys.” Hark! A Vagrant, 10 May 2013, www.harkavagrant.com/?id=259-. Accessed 25 July 2023.

“Elvis (2022) and the Utter Mediocrity of Biopics.” Broey Deschanel, Youtube, 27 Sept. 2022, youtu.be/Fu96gDcrEeU. Accessed 25 July 2023.

Ferriss, S. (2018), Refashioning the Modern American Dream: The Great Gatsby, The Wolf of Wall Street, and American Hustle. J Am Cult, 41: 153-175. https://doi.org/10.1111/jacc.12869

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925.

Kroenert, Tim. “Baz Luhrmann versus the God of Capitalism.” Eureka Street, vol. 23, no. 11, June 2013, pp. 25–26. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=a9h&AN=90006908&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Luhrmann, Baz, et al. The Great Gatsby Screenplay. 2013, stephenfollows.com/resource-docs/scripts/greatgatsby_sp.pdf.

MacLean, Tessa. "Preserving Utopia: Musical Style in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby." Literature/Film Quarterly 44.2 (2016): 120-131.

McGirr, Lisa. The war on alcohol: Prohibition and the rise of the American state. WW Norton & Company, 2015.

Miller, Alyssa. “Baz Luhrmann Really Is the ‘Stanley Kubrick of Confetti’ and This Is Why.” No Film School, 11 Nov. 2022, nofilmschool.com/baz-luhrmanns-editing-and-visual-style.

Noer, Michael. “No. 14 Gatsby, Jay.” Forbes, 13 Apr. 2010, www.forbes.com/2010/04/13/great-gatsby-bio-opinions-fictional-15-10-fitzgerald.html?sh=672907174535. Accessed 25 July 2023.

Piff, P. K., et al. “Higher Social Class Predicts Increased Unethical Behavior.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 109, no. 11, Feb. 2012, pp. 4086–91, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118373109.

“Searching for Sugar Man (2012) - Full Cast and Crew.” The Internet Movie Database, Amazon, 2012, www.imdb.com/title/tt2125608/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm. Accessed 25 Aug. 2023.

Seitz, Matt Zoller. “Baz Luhrmann Is the Stanley Kubrick of Confetti.” Vulture, 9 Nov. 2022, www.vulture.com/2022/11/baz-luhrmann-knows-hes-the-stanley-kubrick-of-confetti.html.

Stewart, Jack. “The Cars of the Great Gatsby.” The Daily Drive | Consumer Guide®, 16 May 2013, blog.consumerguide.com/the-cars-of-the-great-gatsby/.

[nancydrewwouldnever]

The Receipts: The Supermoon of Doom (Sept 2015)

So, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to just leap into the messy active part of the Chris/Jenny timeline in 2016 without first looking through what came before it. Namely, the weird overlapping with Minka’s last go-around in 2015. So, here it is, the beginning of it: September 2015!

September 2 – Chris attended the premiere of Before We Go at the Arclight Theater in Los Angeles.  He looked hot in that Italian suit, but his sad eyes said all that needed to be said about what he now felt about his first directing venture.

THE LAST ‘MINKA DAY’

Sept 5 – Chris and Minka are papped walking her dogs outside her house in WeHo

Later that day, Chris hosted a Labor Day Weekend BBQ at his L.A. house. Minka attended. She stayed at his house that weekend. At some point, one of her friends visited and took a pic in the famous backyard.

Sept 11-13 – Las Vegas (?)

Sept 13 – Chris makes a pair of tweets showing he had been in Las Vegas over the weekend. It Is unknown if Minka was with him. (This timing lines up with other trips taken to Vegas at the same time of year to celebrate the birthdays of both Scott and Tara.)

Sept 14 – Chris appears on ‘The Talk’ to promo Before We Go

Sept 17 – Chris appears at a Fila event in Shanghai, China, with Scott and Guillermo accompanying him

Sept 25-26 – Chris attends the Salt Lake City Comic Con, his first convention appearance. He and Hayley Atwell spend the weekend being awesome together.

Sept 27 – Gifted begins pre-production and rehearsals in Savannah, GA

For those who don’t remember their astronomical events, this day was also a supermoon event. Jenny went wild with the tweets because of it.

JS tweets from Sept 27th:

And the deleted third one I don't have a screencap of: "What if my pussy vibes so hard w the SUPERMOON that is grabs my heart & they dance out of my underpants & across the dinner table & into the sea"

So, whatever else was happening, the supermoon had Jenny really preoccupied with her pussy. Good to know.

Sept 28 – Jenny makes an IG repost of bts Gifted rehearsals

And that's September 2015!

[rabbitcruiser]

Spirit of America 9/11 Memorial, Cashmere, WA (No. 4)

Wherever you were on Sept. 11, 2001, Americans from coast to coast were affected by the terrorist attacks unleashed on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, even if they had no personal connection.

That’s why John Jackson — a Tenino metal worker, U.S. Army veteran and owner of Jackson Field Welding Services, Inc. — was confused and frustrated when, after years of working with Washington state officials to get a 9/11 memorial placed on the Capitol campus in Olympia, he was suddenly told the memorial had no significance to the state in 2011.

Eventually, the memorial found a home in Cashmere in Central Washington in 2015.

The bronze statue features a firefighter, a military service member, a flight attendant and an office worker standing around the footprint of the Twin Towers, joined in hands facing outwards in a semi circle, signaling a missing person.

“To complete the memorial, you actually have to join in and hold hands,” Jackson said. “I wanted to be able to say it represented every single human being on the planet. If you feel like you’re not represented, then you can stand there.”   

Back in November 2001, Jackson created the Spirit of America Memorial Foundation to build a memorial.

[...]

Located at Riverside Park in Cashmere, the memorial was officially dedicated in 2015 and stands there permanently. Aside from the bronze statues, the memorial includes the pieces of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Twin Tower statues, a Flight 93 memorial and reflection benches.

Source

[vickiabelson]

** TODAY SEPT 11th/ SPECIAL DAY SPECIAL TIME **

RUMER 1 PM PT LIVE FROM LONDON

I first heard about Rumer through our mutual friend, the late, J Marhsall Craig.  As soon as I had my first taste I became obsessed with her and made it my quest to have her sing in my living room.  I saw her perform at a benefit concert about 10 yrs ago and vowed to make it happen. A great friend and collaborator of the late, beloved PF Sloan, Rumer oft lived across the country and abroad, I met her at last at PF’s memorial 9 yrs ago, just after he’d performed in the living room.  We became fast friends and I’ve listened to her in heavy rotation almost non-stop since. We came thisclose to her appearing at Women Who Write in 2016, and it’s taken all this time to get her on Game Changers… good things come to those who wait. 

Under the name of Sarah Prentice, Rumer sang with the London-based folk/indie band La Honda between 2000 and 2001. In 2004, she formed Rumer & The Denials and released an early version of Come To Me High, and an acoustic recording of Slow.

Rumer's debut album, Seasons of My Soul, was released in 2010. Her debut single, Slow, was featured on Smooth FM, one of my favorite songs, ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvYUfwMBCrU  and the single Aretha on BBC Radio 2’s Record of the Week feature.

Burt Bacharach invited Rumer to his home in California so he could hear her sing, and wrote a number of songs for her with lyricist Steven Sater. A Christmas EP, Rumer Sings Bacharach at Christmas was released in 2010. It featured Some Lovers, from the musical by Bacharach and Sater, Gift of the Magi.

In 2011 Rumer was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act And Best British Female Solo Artist, she was nominated for for the UK Asian Music Award for Best Alternative Act and Best Newcomer and won the former, she was also nominated for the MOJO Award for Best Breakthrough Act, Best Album with Seasons of My Soul and Song of the Year with Slow and Won the MOJO Award for Best Breakthrough Act that same year. 

Rumer released her second album Boys Don’t Cry, which contains a selection of songs by artists and writers from the 70s.

Rumer released her second album of all original material, and her third total studio album, Into Colour in 2014 in the UK, Ireland, and Japan. The record was then released worldwide in early 2015 by Atlantic Records. 

In 2015, Rumer released a collection of unreleased tracks and b-sides from her back catalog entitled, "B Sides and Rarities". The collection features collaborations with the likes of Dionne Warwick, Stephen Bishop, and Michael Feinstein.  

Close your eyes and Karen Carpenter lives… in bluesier, sexier, more soulful sounds… she’s most oft accompanied by her collaborator and husband Rob Shirakbari, Burt Bacharah’s long-time musical director. She’s sung at the White House for President Obama, been Elton John’s special guest at his BBC Electric Proms concert, sang Jimmy Webb’s P.F. Sloan, with PF Sloan, and recorded it for Jimmy Webb, and appeared on an episode of Daryl Hall’s Daryl House where they performed Sara Smile together as well as I Can Go For That. Unforgettable!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzr6mvDar30

Rumer’s last album, Nashville Tears, released in 2020 covers songs from singer/songwriter, Hugh Prestwood, created during a joyful time in Rumer’s life, enjoying the bliss of motherhood. We’ll be discussing her new single, Before The Planes, which is tragically so apt for this day. 

I so look forward to catching up with my girlfriend, with whom I’ve shared deep truths and laughs. Her voice moves me like no other. It’ll be 9 pm in London, early afternoon here, so I don’t have long to wait. YAY!

Rumer Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson 

Wednesday, 9/11/24, 1 pm PT, 4 pm ET

Streaming Live on my Facebook

WednesDaily by Toni Vincent & @peter_and_paul_ Cartoons

[fundieinfoplace]

Do you have any info or confirmation on the rumored Caldwell-Duggar #4 or Swanson-Duggar #2 & #3?

Jim Bob confirmed in Joy's baby video that Gunnar was indeed #30 and being the 15th boy and that Nora #31 is the tiebreaker. So here's the breakdown

1. Mackynzie Renee Duggar oct 2009

● Baby M #2 Duggar

2. Michael James Duggar june 2011

3. Marcus Anthony Duggar june 2013

4. Israel David Dillard april 2015

5. Meredith Grace Duggar june

6. Spurgeon Elliott Seewald nov

7. Henry Wilberforce Seewald feb 2017

8. Samuel Scott Dillard july

9. Mason Garrett Duggar sept

10. Gideon Martyn Forsyth feb 2018

11. Garrett David Caldwell Duggar june

12. Felicity Nicole Vuolo july

●Asa Matthew

13. Ivy Jane Seewald may 2019

●Annabell Elise

14. Addison Renee Caldwell Duggar nov

15. Bella Milagro Swanson Duggar nov

16. Maryella Hope Duggar nov

17. Grace Annette Burnett Duggar jan 2020

●Halleli Grace

18. Evelyn Mae Forsyth aug

●Baby C

●Baby Seewald #4

19. Evangeline Jo Vuolo nov

20. Brooklyn Praise Caldwell Duggar feb 2021

21. Fern Elliana Seewald july

●River Bliss

22. Madyson Lily Duggar oct

23. Daisy Marie Swanson Duggar april 2022

24. Truett Oliver Nakatsu Duggar may

25. Collin Gene Caldwell Duggar june

26. Frederick Michael Dillard july

27. Charles John Burnett Duggar sept

● Baby Seewald #5

28. Brynley Noelle Wissmann Duggar Dec

29. Ezra Robert Swanson Duggar May 2023

30. Gunner James Forsyth may

31. Nora Kate Nakatsu Duggar may

Mackynzie, Meredith, Maryella, Madyson, Gracie, Ivy, Fern, Felicity, Evangeline, Addison, Brooklynn, Bella, Daisy and Brynley (before Nora)= 15 girls

Michael, Marcus, Mason, Charlie. Israel, Samuel, Frederick, Spurgeon, Henry, Garrett, Collin, Ezra, Gideon, Gunnar and Truett= 15 boys

So Caldwell #4 is a boy with my chosen Placer name of Collin Gene.

Swanson #2 is a girl named Daisy Marie.

And Swanson #3 is a boy with my chosen Placer name of Ezra Robert. Also here's a recent picture of Lauren Pregnant with her third

[kdrama-movies-more]

Timeline

1940, Feb 14th: Jung Ui-hwan is born (inquiry report)

1965, Apr 28th : Ha Seong-min born

1966, May 18th : Jung Mi-ok was born (case file)

1966, Nov 4th : Cha Ju-man born (inquiry report; "google" info)

1977, Oct 13 : Park Jong-bae was born

~1977 : Jeon Gwang-sik was born

1978, Apr 18 : Hong Mi-yeon(Park Jong-bae's wife) was born

1988, Sept 6th : Bong Ye Bun was born

1990, Nov 28th : Kim Seon-woo's birthday (presumably, inquiry report)

1993 : Hyeon-ok's 21-25 fencing diary's year

2002, Jan : Assemblyman Yoon's Mujin redevelopment fraud file(Mi-ok's news) 2002 till 2005

2002, Mar 25 : Cha Ju-man's last address change/moved in to Mujin(inquiry report)

2005, Nov 13 (11:15?) : dod/tod(estd.) Jung Mi-ok (aged 40) [place: Mujin Port]

2005, Nov 14 (13:04) : Car and body of Jung Mi-ok recovered (ep 1 first scene)

2007, Jan 17th : Bong Ye-bun gets into Veterinary school

2007 : Jungsan Daily(newspaper Bong's mom wrote for) ceases publication

2012, Feb 1st : Bong Ye-bun gets veterinary license

2014 : The 7 years later in the vet office we see in episode 1 before it cuts to another 8 years(=15 years)

2015, Jul 12 : Justin(Park Kang-jun) is born

2015, Sep 15 : Cho Ae-ran gets into debt with Kim Seon-hwa of the Mujin Coffee Shop

~2016 : Jang-yeol meets Seung-gil (17th b'day)

~2017 : Seung-gil's 18th birthday

~2018 : Seung-gil's 19th birthday

2019, Sept 23rd : Cha Ju-man's lecture at Hankuk University

2019 : Kim Seon-woo drops out of Hankuk University after Cha Ju-man's lecture

~2020 : Bae Deok-hee joins the police department

2021, Sept 6: Ok-hui's memory of Ye-bun drunkenly dancing in front of a police car

2022, Sept 6 : Bong Ye-bun turns 35

2022, Sept 20: Kim Seon-woo's last address change date(as in the report)

2022, Sept 25 : dod Kim Si-a (aged 24) [place: Mujin Beach]

2022, Oct 6th : dod Park Seung-gil (aged 23) [place: Mujin General Hospital]

2022, Oct 20th : dod Lee Ji-suk (aged 27) [place: Road near fishing spot]

2022, Oct 20th : Cha Ju-man is elected

2022, Oct 21st : Cho Ae-ran's debt is paid off

2022, Nov 1 : dod Cha Ju-man(57) is murdered, Jung Ui-hwan framed

2022, ~Nov : Jung Ui-hwan(83) dies of his injury

2022, Nov 6th : Cha Ju-man's corruption is published about; day1/2 of Ui-hwan's funeral

2022, Nov 20 : dod Jeon Gwang-sik(45)

2022, Nov 28 : Kim Seon-woo officially turns 33

~2022, Nov 30 : dod Kim Seon-woo(33)

(ages might be in Korean system)

The Mujin Raincoat killer victims

Cho Ae-ran

Jung Ui-hwan

Jung Mi-ok

Bong Ye-bun

Kim Seon-woo

Cha Ju-man; has a spouse and a son; official birthplace is given in Incheon

[beni75]

Photos and texts: @eric_treece

1-. Lightning shots have been pretty elusive this year for me! Need another year like 2010 and storm like this one near Peyton, Colorado

2-. Lightning south of Brewster, Kansas, in May 2006

3-. Lightning streaks across we the sky near Charlevoix, Michigan in Sept. 2013

4-. Lightning strikes a tree about 1-2 mile away on July 3, 2015 near the town of Elbert, Colorado

5-. Lightning striking near Simla, Colorado

6-. Lightning striking near Spring Valley Ranch golf course clubhouse near Elizabeth, Colorado

7-. Lightning. Storm off of Chicago in the summer of 2012

8-. Mammatus clouds at sunse on a supercell storm near Grand Is, Nebraska in May 2004

9-. Mammatus clouds hang over the windmills near Ramah, Colorado. June 2013

10-. Monsoon storm at sunset on july 3, 2015 east of Pueblo, Colorado

11-. Moonsoon season is almost upon us in Colorado

12-. One of my favorite lightning shots that I have captured while out sailing! This one taken last summer on Lake Michigan

13-. One of the most beautifully structured Supercell Storms I have ever witnessed in Winona, Kansas

14-. Rain of Fire monsson storm near Elizabeth, Colorado in August 2010

15-. Run like Hell! Horace, Kansas. July 19, 2015

16-. Severe warned storm north of Matheson, Colorado on June 4, 2015

17-. Simla, Colorado on june 4, 2015

18-. Stormy skies in Elbert County, Colorado. June 2015

19-. supercell storm approaching an old farmstead near Lydia, Kansas on July 19, 2015

20-. The little storm that couldn't! Western, Kansas in may 2012

21-. The only time I could get into position to get 2 of the tornadoes of the Simla, Colorado

22-. There is an incredible feeling when you get on that one magical storm that gives you the opportunity to shoot lightning like this!

23-. This beautiful little rope tornado spawned from a supercell storm near Akron, Colorado in may 2014

24-. Throwback to about this time last year as this awesome anvil crawler lightning bolt shot across the sky in Burns Harbor, Indiana!

25-. Tornado south of Simla. Colorado June 4, 2015

26-. Union Pacific 1823 southbound near Limon, Colorado, in june with a SVR Warnerd thunderstorm on its heels!

27-. Without a doubt this is the most popular picture I have ever taken. Union Pacific 7698 speeds past with a supercell storm on its heels on may 19, 2014

28-. Yesterday was a beautiful day at Rocky Mountain National Park. Colorado

29-. Lightning on a foggy night near Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 12, 2014

30-. Lightning on May 23, 2011. North f Kingfisher, Oklahoma!

[mariacallous]

On July 31, 2022, a U.S. drone strike killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri at a Taliban guest house in Kabul. A year later, al Qaeda has still not announced Zawahiri’s successor.

This has made it difficult for the core group to stake a claim to the leadership of the global jihadi movement or even to remain an important player regionally or internationally. Indeed, al Qaeda, the broader set of affiliate groups it claims to lead, and the jihadi movement as a whole have all suffered repeated blows in recent years—reducing the threat to the United States and its allies.

For an organization that once struck fear into the hearts and minds of millions of Americans after Sept. 11, 2001, and sparked a so-called global war on terror that dramatically reoriented U.S. foreign policy for two decades, al Qaeda’s almost complete disappearance from both the daily news headlines and the broader foreign-policy conversation in Washington these days is remarkable.

A quick look at the number of deadly jihadi attacks in the United States since 9/11 suggests the organization’s decline in both capabilities and ideological influence. According to data from the New America Foundation, jihadis have killed 107 Americans on U.S. soil since 9/11, compared with the 130 killed by right-wing terrorists. The last significant jihadi attack was four years ago, when a Saudi Air Force trainee working with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the group’s Yemen branch, killed three sailors at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in 2019. Pensacola was the only post-9/11 attack on U.S. soil that a jihadi group abroad coordinated; the others involved jihadis who were inspired by al Qaeda or its onetime affiliate turned competitor, the Islamic State, but who had little or no contact with the groups themselves.

The core organization that Zawahiri led has not directed an attack on the United States since 9/11, and after a spate of bloody attacks in Europe, has not conducted one there since the London attacks of 2005—almost 20 years ago. In Europe, affiliates such as AQAP have had more success, such as that group’s 2015 attack on the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, but their operations have also decreased in recent years. The Islamic State has conducted more attacks than al Qaeda affiliates, including devastating shootings and suicide bombings in Paris and Brussels in 2015 and 2016 respectively, but a pattern of decline in Europe is clear.

Once-strong affiliates such as AQAP, as well as al Qaeda-linked groups in the Philippines, Syria, and other countries, have suffered numerous leadership losses, internal divisions, and other debilitating problems, making it harder for them to conduct external attacks. Measuring overall support is difficult, but foreign fighters no longer flock to places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, where the Islamic State and al Qaeda were once ascendant and are now far weaker. To be clear, the picture is not all bad for jihadis—in Africa, new jihadi organizations are emerging, and strong groups such as al-Shabab in Somalia are flourishing—but decline is evident in most of the rest of the world.

Part of this weakness is due to the civil war that erupted in 2013 within the jihadi movement between al Qaeda and its upstart offshoot, the Islamic State. In many Muslim countries, most notably Afghanistan, parts of the Sahel, and Syria, al Qaeda and its allies directly waged war against the rival Islamic State organization and its so-called “provinces.” Today in Afghanistan, allies of al Qaeda—the Taliban—are in a bloody fight with the Islamic State’s proxy. In addition to the tangible impact the death toll has had on the capabilities of all involved, this infighting also discredited both movements: Few starry-eyed, would-be holy warriors are eager to sign up to kill other holy warriors.

The movement has also fragmented and localized. Most of the affiliate groups— from Mali to Nigeria to Afghanistan—now focus almost exclusively on the local civil war or insurgency that they are fighting in. You still do not want to be a Western missionary or tourist who stumbles across their path, but this shift in focus reduces the chance of an international terrorist attack. Some jihadi groups, such as those in West Africa, probably could launch a terrorist strike on the West if they put in the effort—they are just focused elsewhere. Their brutality is directed toward their own countries and at their neighbors, with thousands of people—many of them Muslims themselves—dying from terrorist attacks and civil wars involving jihadi groups.

The enduring counterterrorism campaign against al Qaeda and its affiliates, as well as the Islamic State and other parts of the movement, has also taken its toll. U.S. drone strikes have relentlessly decimated the ranks of the senior al Qaeda core, affiliate leaders, and other jihadi figures, even when they try to hide in remote parts of Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Today, the core al Qaeda organization has “far fewer” than 200 fighters, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The anti-Islamic State campaign, too, has proved highly effective. At the height of its so-called caliphate in 2014 and 2015, the group ruled over millions of people and controlled territory in Iraq and Syria the size of Great Britain. But by 2019, the U.S.-led coalition drove the caliphate underground. The group still launches attacks in Iraq and Syria and has thousands of fighters there, but like many al Qaeda affiliates, it appears focused on the civil war it is fighting, not international terrorism.

U.S. training and aid extended to foreign militaries and security forces has made them more capable of and more willing to target local jihadi groups, while an ongoing global intelligence campaign disrupts jihadi cells around the world. Because of this constant manhunt, it is dangerous for jihadi leaders to communicate, making it hard for them to direct affiliate groups and operatives, further decentralizing the movement. As the groups weaken, they have a harder time overcoming more rigorous airport screening and travel controls, while more aggressive FBI efforts make it more likely that plots in the United States will be discovered.

With variations, this broad counterterrorism campaign began under U.S. President George W. Bush after 9/11 and continued in the Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and now Joe Biden administrations, suggesting that it has considerable staying power regardless of which party is in the White House.

It may also explain part of why al Qaeda has not named a new leader. Some senior al Qaeda operatives are hiding in Iran, including Saif al-Adel, whom some say is al Qaeda’s de facto leader. Tehran does not cooperate with U.S. intelligence, and Iran is a no-go zone for the U.S. military, as a strike there would be seen as an act of war. That makes it hard to target operatives there. (Though Israel managed to kill a senior al Qaeda figure in Iran.)

However, the Iranian government also places restrictions on al Qaeda figures in the country, as Tehran hardly needs another reason for the United States and its allies to punish it. In addition, in the highly sectarian world of jihadi politics, al Qaeda’s quiet alliance with Iran is a source of  criticism from the Islamic State and other jihadis. Having your de facto leader be a prisoner, or at least muzzled, in a country that many jihadis consider to be worse than the United States is hardly a way to win new followers.

Obama, Trump, and Biden all sought to reduce the U.S. military presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan, with the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan being the most dramatic example. Such a shift has reduced the number of nearby U.S. targets and simply made the United States less important to the region (often at the expense of U.S. influence and regional stability), making it hard to push locally focused groups to see the United States as their main enemy. In addition, the civil wars in Mali, Somalia, Yemen, and elsewhere do not have the emotive power for many Muslims that Iraq did after 2003 or Syria after 2011, reducing the number of foreigners who volunteer to fight in the jihadi ranks.

Afghanistan remains an important question mark. The Taliban appear to value international legitimacy, but their hosting of Zawahiri and general refusal to distance themselves from al Qaeda raise questions about whether the group will allow their territory to again be used to stage international terrorist attacks. Although the United States was able to kill Zawahiri in Afghanistan, the lack of an on-the-ground presence makes it hard to gather intelligence, conduct strikes, and otherwise maintain pressure on groups in the region.

Zawahiri’s death compounded many problems for the jihadi movement. There is no obvious successor, as most members of the founding generation are dead or, like Adel, isolated from the rest of the movement. With no clear leader, it is hard for the core organization to direct its affiliates or even to encourage unaffiliated jihadis to attack the United States: These loose cannons will find inspiration elsewhere or nowhere at all.

Perhaps most importantly, time does not appear to be on al Qaeda’s side. The terrorist world is highly competitive, and as al Qaeda dawdles, new causes and groups arise to compete for money and recruits, while the U.S.-led counterterrorism campaign continues to thin its ranks.

[favoriteanimatedtheatricalfilm]

2023 Disney Film Tournament

All films that count under my criteria are under the cut, as well as my poll posting schedule. If you feel like a film should or should not be included, feel free to send an ask!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the automatic winner of the 1930s section because it’s the only one.

Positive propaganda is allowed, I just may not publish it all if there is heavy volume.

Winners of the year have a sun emoji and are italicized, winners of the decade have a moon emoji and are bolded, the final winner will be blue and have a star emoji.

1930s

☀️🌙1937 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

1940s - Week 1, 11 July 2023

1940

Pinocchio

☀️🌙Fantasia

1941 - Dumbo

1942 - Bambi

1943 - Saludos Amigos

1945 - The Three Caballeros

1946 - Make Mine Music

1947 - Fun and Fancy Free

1948 - Melody Time

1949 - The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

1950s - Week 2, July 18 2023

1950 - Cinderella

☀️🌙1951 - Alice in Wonderland

1953 - Peter Pan

1955 - Lady and the Tramp

1959 - Sleeping Beauty

1960s - Week 3, July 25 2023

☀️🌙1961 - One Hundred and One Dalmatians

1963 - The Sword in the Stone

1967 - The Jungle Book

1970s - Week 4, Aug 1 2023

☀️🌙1970 - The Aristocats

1973 - Robin Hood

1977

☀️The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Rescuers

1980s - Week 5, Aug 8 2023

1981 - The Fox and the Hound

1985 - The Black Cauldron

☀️🌙1986 - The Great Mouse Detective

1988 - Oliver & Company

1989 - The Little Mermaid

1990s - Week 6-7, Aug 15 & Aug 22 2023

1990 - The Rescuers Down Under

1991 - Beauty and the Beast

1992 - Aladdin

1994 - The Lion King

1995

A Goofy Movie

Pocahontas

☀️Toy Story

1996 (because there is no 1993 movie, I will fit both of these in the decade poll)

James and the Giant Peach

☀️The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1997 - Hercules

1998

☀️🌙✨Mulan

The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride

A Bug’s Life

1999

Doug’s 1st Movie

☀️Tarzan

Toy Story 2

Fantasia 2000

2000s - Week 8-9, Aug 29 & Sept 5 2023

2000

The Tigger Movie

Dinosaur

☀️🌙The Emperor’s New Groove

2001

Recess: School’s Out

☀️Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Monsters, Inc.

2002

Return to Never Land

☀️Lilo & Stitch

Spirited Away

Treasure Planet

The Jungle Book 2

2003

Piglet’s Big Movie

☀️Finding Nemo

Brother Bear

2004

Teacher’s Pet

Home on the Range

☀️The Incredibles

2005

Pooh’s Heffalump Movie

☀️Howl’s Moving Castle

Valiant

Chicken Little

2006

Bambi II

The Wild

Cars

☀️The Nightmare Before Christmas

2007

Meet The Robinsons

☀️Ratatouille

2008

☀️WALL•E

Roadside Romeo

Tinker Bell

Bolt

2009

Up

Ponyo

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure

Disney’s A Christmas Carol

☀️The Princess and the Frog

2010s - Week 10-11, Sept 12 & Sept 19 2023

2010

Toy Story 3

Tales from Earthsea

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue

☀️🌙Tangled

2011

Mars Needs Moms

Cars 2

☀️Winnie the Pooh

2012

The Secret World of Arietty

Arjun: The Warrior Prince

☀️Brave

Secret of the Wings

Wreck-It Ralph

2013

Monsters University

Planes

☀️Frozen

2014

The Pirate Fairy

Planes: Fire & Rescue

☀️Big Hero 6

2015

Tinker Bell & the Legend of the Never Beast

☀️Inside Out

The Good Dinosaur

2016

Zootopia

Finding Dory

☀️Moana

2017

Cars 3

☀️Coco

2018

☀️Incredibles 2

Ralph Breaks the Internet

2019

Toy Story 4

☀️Frozen II

2020s - Week 12, Sept 26 2023 (They JUST all fit!)

2020

☀️Onward

Soul

2021

Raya and the Last Dragon

Luca

☀️🌙Encanto

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

2022

☀️Turning Red

Lightyear

Strange World

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Favorite Over All the Decades - Week 13, Oct 3 2023

The list of contenders for this poll will update as the results roll in.

1930s - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

1940s - Fantasia (1940)

1950s - Alice in Wonderland (1951)

1960s - One Hundred and one Dalmatians (1961)

1970s - The Aristocats (1970)

1980s - The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

1990s - Mulan (1998)

2000s - The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

2010s - Tangled (2010)

2020-2022 - Encanto (2021)

Overall Winner: Mulan (1998)

The NEW 2020s poll, with the winners from 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 as the contenders, will start January 1, 2024.

If the overall 2020s movie winner changes, I will then hold a new decades poll on January 8, 2024.

The 2020s poll from 2024 and onward (lol) will just have the top movie from each year go against the new ones. If we run out of slots available for all the new movies with the previous winners, I will hold a poll with just the new movies, get a winner, and then run it against the old year winners of the 2020s.

If I remember to run this tournament into the 2030s, I will do an Over the Centuries poll comparing the favorite of one century of Disney animation to another :).

My main blog is @deathsmallcaps and my art blog is @patheticbatman if curiosity strikes you.

I’m pretty sure there is another poll going on like this, I’m just running this one for my own amusement, and because I like to think about these in terms of decades.