Suddenly very aware of the reasons why I hesitated to re-read Ship of Magic and skipped through to Tawny Man before circling back. I want to take Ronica Vestrit gently by the hand, lead her to the ocean, and push her in to tread water until she agrees that she was insane for thinking that her child who has been interning at sea for years on a magic boat would be cool with suddenly giving that up to live on land and marry well or whatever. I do not care that she is a bereaved old woman, she had months to prepare and kept pushing to take over making decisions in sailing matters that were clearly not her expertise.
Frankly astonishing that an impulsive 18-or-19 year old like Althea didn't just walk on to the Vivacia and kill herself in despair to become one with the liveship at that point. She suddenly loses everything at once after having her sanity and desire to remain sober and proper worn away by 5 months of being micro-aggressioned by the misogynist who had been given full authority to gaslight her as he fucked up a routine 2 month voyage. For at least a little while here Kyle is the luckiest incompetent man alive that he extended their voyage just long enough that Ephron Vestrit died immediately after they arrived and Althea didn't have a chance to say her piece about his captaincy. If Kyle is such a good solid captain then what happened to the ship that he had before the Vivacia was handed to him? How is having a fleet of two family ships turning profit not better than one?? No I don't think that Althea should have been captain like she wanted (at least not yet) but Ephron did have a sensible plan for that in a successor who he has been preparing.
And then the slave trade vs. Rain Wild River trade debate comes up and Ronica has the nerve to be like, yeah the slave ship idea will surely be the better option. After several paragraphs earlier spent being morally indignant about the cheap labour of "indentured servants" that the neighbours use to work their fields. Like ??? Lady are you low-key hoping that the ship goes crazy and kills everyone on board to teach this man a lesson? You persuaded your dying husband away from every other decision he wanted for captaining the boat, but the line is drawn at letting this asshole break family tradition and take a chance at maybe dying from a plague? I guess that might be Ronica's flaw in a nutshell - she clings to the illusion of there being a "safe" and sensible traditional option in an inherently unsafe and magical setting that is experiencing a period of change.
They're all believable people in a regressive society that is also in a recession but I still want to throw things at them.
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West Japan Railways unveils 40-foot humanoid robot to tackle worker shortages and enhance safety
- By Nuadox Crew -
West Japan Railways is introducing a 40-feet-tall humanoid robot to help with train line maintenance, addressing worker shortages and reducing accidents in Japan's aging population.
The robot, mounted on a truck and operated from a cockpit, has powerful limbs and camera-equipped eyes, allowing precise control by a human operator.
Developed by Jinki Ittai Co and Nippon Signal Co, the robot can handle tasks like lifting heavy loads, felling trees, removing obstacles, painting, and replacing signal equipment.
This mechanization aims to improve safety and efficiency, potentially reducing the required workforce by 30% and creating a more diverse working environment.
Header image credit: West Japan Railways
Read more at Interesting Engineering
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Other recent news
Space-Resilient Probiotic Bacteria: MIT researchers have given probiotic bacteria a space-resilient superpower, which could be crucial for long-term space missions.
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Fusion Protein Breakthrough: Researchers from Columbia University and the La Jolla Institute for Immunology have made a breakthrough in developing a novel measles vaccine using fusion proteins.
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Good news! Not only have we discovered that tardigrades thwart destruction by turning themselves into glass, but we potentially have a future in which we can use their proteins to freeze-dry medications and vaccines to transport to disadvantaged communities!!
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Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #20
May 24-31 2024
The EPA awards $900 million to school districts across the country to replace diesel fueled school buses with cleaner alternatives. The money will go to 530 school districts across nearly every state, DC, tribal community, and US territory. The funds will help replace 3,400 buses with cleaner alternatives, 92% of the new buses will be 100% green electric. This adds to the $3 billion the Biden administration has already spent to replace 8,500 school buses across 1,000 school districts in the last 2 years.
For the first time the federal government released guidelines for Voluntary Carbon Markets. Voluntary Carbon Markets are a system by which companies off set their carbon emissions by funding project to fight climate change like investing in wind or solar power. Critics have changed that companies are using them just for PR and their funding often goes to projects that would happen any ways thus not offsetting emissions. The new guidelines seek to insure integrity in the Carbon Markets and make sure they make a meaningful impact. It also pushes companies to address emissions first and use offsets only as a last resort.
The IRS announced it'll take its direct file program nationwide in 2025. In 2024 140,000 tax payers in 12 states used the direct file pilot program and the IRS now plans to bring it to all Americans next tax season. Right now the program is only for simple W-2 returns with no side income but the IRS has plans to expand it to more complex filings in the future. This is one of the many projects at the IRS being funded through President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.
The White House announced steps to boost nuclear energy in America. Nuclear power in the single largest green energy source in the country accounting for 19% of America's total energy. Boosting Nuclear energy is a key part of the Biden administration's strategy to reach a carbon free electricity sector by 2035. The administration has invested in bring the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan back on-line, and extending the life of Diablo Canyon in California. In addition the Military will be deploying new small modular nuclear reactors and microreactors to power its installations. The Administration is setting up a task force to help combat the delays and cost overruns that have often derailed new nuclear projects and the Administration is supporting two Gen III+ SMR demonstration projects to highlight the safety and efficiency of the next generation of nuclear power.
The Department of Agriculture announced $824 million in new funding to protect livestock health and combat H5N1. The funding will go toward early detection, vaccine research, and supporting farmers impacted. The USDA is also launching a nation wide Dairy Herd Status Pilot Program, hopefully this program will give us a live look at the health of America's dairy herd and help with early detection. The Biden Administration has reacted quickly and proactively to the early cases of H5N1 to make sure it doesn't spread to the human population and become another pandemic situation.
The White House announced a partnership with 21 states to help supercharge America's aging energy grid. Years of little to no investment in America's Infrastructure has left our energy grid lagging behind the 21st century tech. This partnership aims to squeeze all the energy we can out of our current system while we rush to update and modernize. Last month the administration announced a plan to lay 100,000 miles of new transmission lines over the next five years. The 21 states all with Democratic governors are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.
The Department of Transportation announced $343 million to update 8 of America's oldest and busiest transportation stations for disability accessibility. These include the MBTA's the Green Line's light-rail B and C branches in Boston, Cleveland's Blue Line, New Orleans' St. Charles Streetcar route, and projects in San Francisco and New York City and other locations
The Department of interior announced two projects for water in Western states. $179 million for drought resilience projects in California and Utah and $242 million for expanding water access in California, Colorado and Washington. The projects should help support drinking water for 6.4 million people every year.
HUD announced $150 million for affordable housing for tribal communities. This adds to the over $1 billion dollars for tribal housing announced earlier in the month. Neil Whitegull of the Ho-Chunk Nation said at the announcement "I know a lot of times as Native Americans we've been here and we've seen people that have said, ‘Oh yeah, we'd like to help Indians.’ And they take a picture and they go away. We never see it, But there's been a commitment here, with the increase in funding, grants, and this administration that is bringing their folks out. And there's a real commitment, I think, to Native American tribes that we've never seen before."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged $135 million to help Moldavia. Since the outbreak of Russia's war against neighboring Ukraine the US has given $774 million in aid to tiny Moldavia. Moldavia has long been dependent on Russian energy but thanks to US investment in the countries energy security Moldavia is breaking away from Russia and moving forward with EU membership.
The US and Guatemala launched the "Youth With Purpose” initiative. The initiative will be run through the Central America Service Corps, launched in 2022 by Vice President Harris the CASC is part of the Biden Administration's efforts to improve life in Central America. The Youth With Purpose program will train 25,000 young Guatemalans and connect with with service projects throughout the country.
Bonus: Today, May 31st 2024, is the last day of the Affordable Connectivity Program. The program helped 23 million Americans connect to the internet while saving them $30 to $75 dollars every month. Despite repeated calls from President Biden Republicans in Congress have refused to act to renew the program. The White House has worked with private companies to get them to agree to extend the savings to the end of 2024. The Biden Administration has invested $90 Billion high-speed internet investments. Such as $42.45 billion for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment, $1 billion for the The Middle Mile program laying 12,000 miles of regional fiber networks, and distributed nearly 30,000 connected devices to students and communities, including more than 3,600 through the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program
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