#commission engine review

[drewharrisonwriter]

A Better Man

Status: One Shot, Complete

Summary: Dieter goes back to a place he knows so well just to get a glimpse of a life he could have had.

Word Count: 2k words

Notes: IDK, I'm way into Dieter again these days, and thought of writing this fic that's full of yearning lol

P.S. My laptop, which served me well for 5 years, just gave out. With grad school, the recent loss of my stepdad, and ongoing medical bills, finances are tight. I’m currently managing writing commissions and my dissertation from my phone, which is okay but really challenging. If you can help with a donation or by commissioning some of my writing, it would mean the world to me. Just send me a message 💜 Thank you from the bottom of my heart for any support you can offer. 💜🙏🏻

I pull up to the house slowly, like I’m sneaking up on it. The engine hums under my grip, vibrating through the steering wheel, and I kill it with a sharp twist of the key. The quiet settles in around me, and I just sit there, staring at the place I used to know so well.

It’s funny. I don’t even know why I’m here. I’m not the sentimental type—at least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself for years—but somehow, I always end up right back here. Your house. The one you made a home, way back when everything felt so damn simple.

It’s been a while. The shutters are a different color now, a soft blue. You used to complain about how you never had time to take care of the garden, but it looks… alive now. Somebody’s been looking after it, after you. It’s like the house moved on, but me? I’m still stuck.

I lean back in the seat, staring through the windshield. I remember this place, and I remember you—us. Those days when I’d crash on your couch, no questions asked. The nights we’d laugh too loud, talk too much, and I’d forget, just for a second, about the chaos waiting outside your door. This used to be the one place that felt like it could be something real.

I close my eyes, and suddenly I’m back there, in those moments that play like an old movie I can’t turn off.

–

“You know, I could get used to this,” I said, my shoulder brushing against yours as we sat on the steps of your porch. The air was thick with the scent of your jasmine plant—always too sweet, but you loved it, so I never complained. I looked over at you, trying to hide my nerves behind a grin. “Just you, me, and this crappy little neighborhood.”

You laughed, and God, that laugh—it’s like a shot of adrenaline, better than any drug I’ve ever touched. “You say that now, but you’ll get bored. You always do.”

I wanted to argue, but I just shrugged, picking at the loose thread on my jeans. “Not with you,” I said softly. “You’re the only thing I never get tired of.”

You gave me this look—like you knew something I didn’t. “We’re not like that, Dieter. We’re... something else.”

I tried to smile, but it felt wrong. “Yeah, sure. Something else.” But I wasn’t so sure anymore. Not when everything was changing so fast. I could feel it slipping away, and I didn’t know how to hold on.

–

I showed up at your door, way past midnight. I was drunk, pissed off, and lost, but you still opened up, just like you always did. No questions, no judgment—just you in your pajamas, hair a mess, eyes sleepy but warm.

“Dieter, it’s late,” you mumbled, rubbing your eyes. “What’s going on?”

“I just... I needed to be here,” I said, brushing past you into the living room like I belonged there. And for a while, I think I did. I slumped onto the couch, burying my face in my hands. “Everything’s fucked. I fucked up.”

You sat down next to me, close but not too close. You always knew how to give me just enough space to breathe. “You’ll figure it out. You always do.”

I looked at you, and for a second, I forgot about the headlines, the shitty reviews, the people tearing me apart for the mess I’d made of my own career. “You ever think... maybe we should’ve done this differently?”

You raised an eyebrow, half amused, half sad. “Done what differently?”

I shrugged, feeling stupid for even bringing it up. “Us. This. Everything.”

You smiled, but it didn’t reach your eyes. “We are what we are, Dieter…”

I wanted to say something, anything, but the words got stuck somewhere between my head and my heart. So, I did what I always do—I let the moment pass, hoping it wouldn’t be the last.

–

“I’m done, Dieter. I can’t do this anymore.”

The words hung in the air, and I could feel my chest tighten. You stood there, calm but determined, like you’d been preparing for this moment for a long time. I tried to read your face, but it was like staring at a wall—no cracks, no second thoughts.

“What do you mean, you’re done?” I shot back, my voice sharper than I intended. “We’ve been together for years! We fight, we figure it out. That’s what we do.”

You exhaled, shaking your head slowly. “We’re not together, Dieter. Not really. Not in the way that matters.” You paused, searching for the right words, and I hated how composed you were while I felt like everything was falling apart. “I want a real relationship, Dieter. I want to feel like I’m more than just the person you run to when your life is spiraling. I want something that’s going somewhere.”

I stared at you, thrown by how final you sounded. “We are going somewhere. It’s just… complicated. But we can figure it out.”

“Complicated?” You scoffed, eyes narrowing. “Dieter, I’ve been with you through your worst. Through the scandals, the press, and the stretch of weeks you didn’t even call me because you were too drunk or too high to even remember who you were with. And I stood by you, I waited for you… waiting for things to get better, but they never did. And you know why? Because you never wanted them to.”

“That’s not true,” I argued, frustration bubbling over. “I love you, you know I do.”

“But what is that worth?” you said, your voice finally breaking, the tears threatening to spill but held back by sheer force of will. “Love isn’t enough when I’m stuck living half a life with someone who can’t even be bothered to call me just because... You can’t even take me out to a decent meal. The best I get is my couch, or sitting in a Five Guys parking lot, eating drive-thru in your car with the windows tinted so dark that no one sees us. That’s not a relationship, Dieter. It’s barely even anything.”

I tried to speak, but every excuse felt thin and worn out. You were tired of the same old lines, the same old promises that things would change. And deep down, I knew I couldn’t give you what you wanted, not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t know how.

“It’s not that easy,” I said, frustration lacing my voice. “I can’t just—”

“That’s the point!” you interrupted, your voice rising as you lost that calm veneer. “I don’t want it to be this way. And I can’t ask you to change your life for me, I won't even want to do that… to put me in your world when I know that no one would believe it if I even tried to scream it out loud that you love me. Who would believe some girl like me? Living this mundane life, far away from the adventures you’re off having when you’re not here, when you’re not hiding away with me.”

You softened for a moment, a flicker of the love we once had shining through the hurt. “I love you too, Dieter. But love isn’t enough. Not when I can’t even call you my boyfriend, not when I’m just the girl you go to hide away when it’s convenient.”

You looked at me, your eyes filled with a mix of sadness and resolve. “I need more than this. I need more than stolen moments and secret meetups. I need someone who isn’t afraid to be with me, who wants to be with me. And you’re not that person, Dieter. You never have been.”

The finality of your words hung in the air between us, heavy and suffocating. I wanted to fight, to tell you that I could change, that we could make it work, but deep down, I knew you were right. I’d always been too afraid to give you what you deserved, and now I was paying the price.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, the words feeling hollow and inadequate. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

You nodded, tears spilling over despite your best efforts to hold them back. “So am I,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper. “But I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep pretending that this is enough when it’s not.”

You turned to open the door, and I watched you go, my heart breaking as the door closed behind you. You didn’t even stop to hesitate or even look back… I wanted to run after you, to pull you back and promise that I’d be better, that I’d be the man you needed. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. And that was the moment I lost you—for good this time.

–

I don’t even know why I’m here, but I can’t seem to stay away. I park a little down the street, close enough to see but far enough to not be seen, and I watch through the large windows of your house. It’s early evening, the lights are on, and I can see you moving around the kitchen, your silhouette framed against the glow.

You’re different now. Softer. Happier. And as my eyes drift lower, I see the subtle curve of your stomach, round and unmistakable. You’re pregnant. Again.

It hits me like a punch, the memory of the first time I saw you like this. I remember the way your body changed, how your skin seemed to glow, how you moved with this new grace that had me staring at you like I’d never seen anything more beautiful. You were carrying someone else’s child, but all I could think about was how much I wanted you, how much I wanted to be the one to fill you up, to make you mine in every way possible.

You shift, one hand resting on your growing belly, and I feel it all over again—the longing, the jealousy, the regret. I’d lie awake at night, thinking about you, about what it would feel like to be the one who got to hold you when you were swollen with life, about the softness of your body pressed up against mine. And now, it’s like I’m being forced to watch the life I could have had unfold right in front of me.

You laugh at something, one hand absentmindedly smoothing down your shirt, and there’s this guy—your husband, I guess—walking in from another room. He leans in, kisses you on the cheek, and it’s so damn domestic that it makes me sick. I don’t even know him, but I hate him. I hate how he gets to have you in ways I never could.

I watch as he rests his hand on your stomach, his thumb rubbing gentle circles that make you smile. It’s intimate, tender, and I can’t tear my eyes away. You look so content, so fucking perfect, and all I can think is that I’m the idiot who let this slip through my fingers.

My grip on the steering wheel tightens, knuckles white as I fight the urge to storm up to that door and tell you everything I’ve been too scared to say. I want to tell you that you’re still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, that I miss you in ways I can’t even describe. I want to tell you that I wish it was me. That I wish I’d been enough.

But it’s too late. It’s always been too late.

I start the engine, but I don’t drive away right away. I just sit there, staring at the life that’s no longer mine, and I feel this hollow ache in my chest that I can’t ever seem to fill. I think about you, about the way you looked at me that night when you said you loved me but that it wasn’t enough. And maybe it never was.

As I pull away, I catch one last glimpse of you through the window, your hand resting on top of your oldest child's head while you spoke to your husband, and I feel like I’m leaving something behind all over again. Maybe one day, I’ll stop coming back here. Maybe one day, I’ll let go of this ghost that’s been haunting me.

But for now, all I can do is drive. Away from you. Away from the life I’ll never have. And I wonder, for the hundredth time, what might have been if I’d just been a better man.

[kaidanworkshop]

Workshop Progress: November Update

Happy Holidays guys, gals, and non-binary pals! Firstly, apologies for the delayed update! Flu and COVID season is in full force this year, and it seemed to have it out for not only the Workshop staff and families, but for our VA Paul Warren! We're happy to report that everyone is on the mend and returning to our regular workflow. Learn from our follies; make sure you're taking care of your own health as well! Last update we focused on our alpha and beta testing progress with the Creation Kit and Assets Team -- progress on that front continues as we add in more recorded lines and refine the new systems we've implemented; this update will be a deep dive focusing on our Writing Team and their workflow process in organizing, evaluating, and proposing changes to the base script via our peer review system. Besides this, we have our fourth recording session with Mr. Warren in the coming weeks; after this session, our business lead is projecting one more session will be enough to complete the rest of the original script, and we can begin to finalize what options the community has towards allocating the remaining funds. We've been compiling a few synopses of what those bonus content options will be, so stayed tuned on that front! Finally, we're very excited to show off some of what we've managed to implement, so one of our Community Team members will be streaming some of our current 1.3 beta for our Discord community this upcoming Wednesday, November 15th, 2023 at 3pm CST, and Thursday, November 16th, 2023 at 10am CST! With that out of the way, here's our Writing Team Workflow Deep Dive! Warning: The below contains spoilers!

The temperatures might be cooling down outside but we're staying nice and warm working on the Kaidan romance lines commission. As we move towards the more emotionally charged dialogues the player can have with Kaidan (i.e. his friendship and romance quests), we realized that our previous script notes for our VA needed to be a bit more robust in order to really convey the tone we're looking for. As much as we all love this silly little 10+ year old game, the reality is that Skyrim's engine has its limitations with regards to NPC emotivity and expression, so the onus falls on the voice acting to carry the extra emotional weight. While Kaidan is, on the surface, a rather reserved person, a major part of the growth he experiences with the player character is allowing himself to more vulnerable and forthcoming with his emotions. For prior commissions, our script to Mr. Warren was aggregated into spreadsheets broken up by quest name and dialogue path, with brief notes on delivery/different quest paths as needed.

For each commission, we have two members of our staff sit in with Mr. Warren and offer direction as he works his way through the script. We tend to get around 3 to 8 different takes of each line, with around 250 - 300 lines per commission. Once complete, Mr. Warren sends us the full audio, and the next leg of processing begins. Our absolute savior of an audio tech gets to work splitting all the hundreds of different takes up into individual cuts, as well as processing the audio for any latent sounds or fuzziness in the background. Once separated, they're placed in an associated thread for staff members to listen to and vote on.

Sometimes we are very lucky, and there's a clear winner for the individual take. Sometimes.

Other times, ties must be split. Or not.

It is also during this process that we'll identify lines that might've been misread or otherwise need a retake. We aggregate a list and discuss our feelings on it, then shoot them back to Mr. Warren with further clarification on what we're looking for in his delivery. The process of receiving, splitting, and voting on the retake lines then begins again.

This method of breaking down these emotion-fueled dialogues really helps us as a staff keep a firm grasp on the original presented characterization of Kaidan, and not get wrapped up in trying to unnecessarily change or otherwise alter his dialogue. There's a reason this follower remains one of the most popular within the Skyrim community, and the last thing we want to do is damage LivTempleton's magic with arbitrary wordsmithing. Still, sometimes changes are needed. We try to keep them as minimal as possible, but some lines stuck out due to strange wording or odd delivery. For example, Kaidan's response to this line was originally "You do, eh? Well keep digging there, you might make it to Akavir." We felt that it didn't flow very well, and depending on how far the player has progressed in his personal quest, it might not make any sense for him to be mentioning Akavir at all yet. The below change smooths out the transition in this conversation.

Another example of a change we're adding in is creating a path for players to exit the romance path completely -- as it is now, if you wear an Amulet of Mara and initiate the romance path, there is no way to change your mind. However, we always felt that the below line pathing was very harsh; after all, Kaidan exits the conversation completely and shuts down. Working in a way to 'break up' with him via this dialogue path (sorry Kai!) felt like an easy way to work in a new mod function without having to create entirely new dialogue -- it saves money for extra content in the future, something very near and dear to our business lead's heart.

Finally, one of our favorite changes is rewording the "How do you feel about me?" dialogue tree. Given that not all players will be following the 'hot' or 'warm' romance paths, this line of questioning from the player felt like the LDB was fishing for compliments -- not a good look in our opinion. We changed this to instead be a more equitable exchange of compliments between the two ("I think we make a good team" & "Can I tell you something? I'm glad we met"). Also, we use this format to track which lines will have multiple nickname/pronoun takes.

As we approach the final sets of scripts to wrap up the revoice section of the Workshop timeline, this process may undoubtedly change again when we begin discussing how we'd like to work with the community in producing Workshop original scripts -- which is exciting! In using a peer review system from start to finish, we keep ourselves open to workflow improvement suggestions that ultimately makes the process easier in the long run. While this method of group voting and review undoubtedly adds extra time to production -- especially given the logistics of scheduling multiple staff meetings to accommodate all the different time zones our staff members live in -- we feel that it results in a more polished product, and one in which all the members of each team feel empowered to discuss and offer their insights for our favorite CVF. We'll see you for the beta 1.3 livestreams on Wednesday, November 15th, 2023 at 3pm CST, and Thursday, November 16th, 2023 at 10am CST!

[probablyasocialecologist]

Building at great height requires a massive amount more material than a typical high-rise. The upper storeys of super- and megatall buildings – which often include hundreds of metres of unoccupiable ‘vanity’ height – are buffeted by ferocious wind loads, with any sway at all introducing enormous destabilising forces into the structure below. They are home to hefty services that raise water, coolant, people and air to great heights, and these heights must be offset by deep underground foundations. ‘If you’ve ever seen any Revit models [of London high-rises, there is pretty much as much concrete in those foundations as there is above ground,’ says Natasha Watson, an engineer at Buro Happold who leads the firm’s efforts to measure and reduce embodied carbon in its projects. Even in areas  with firmer ground than London, Watson explains, the awe-inspiring physics of skyscrapers has a huge material cost.

In an industry that is chronically lacking in transparency around its ecological, social and labour impact, it is difficult to find good data on the carbon footprint of skyscrapers. But the assessments that are available bear out the physics. Watson and her colleagues’ modelling shows that the efficiency of structural material usage, by floor area, drops above just three storeys. According to a 2015 study commissioned by the CTBUH, the whole life emissions of both energy use and materials for a 120m concrete and steel structure are nearly five times higher than those of its 60m equivalent. Who knows what the cost becomes at 600m? 

It is not yet possible to avoid this cost by using less ecologically destructive materials. Although some 100m-tall timber buildings are beginning to appear, they are nowhere near the 600m ‘megatall’ mark. According to Watson, finding a sufficient volume and quality of reused steel and concrete structural components for such a large, high-performance building would also likely be challenging.

Even at city level, the huge carbon cost of skyscrapers fails to outweigh any potential benefits that they might achieve from restraining urban sprawl. A study in npj Urban Sustainability in 2021 showed that the most carbon-efficient way for cities to grow is by developing densely built low-rise environments. The carbon cost of taller buildings is greater than carbon savings from restricted land use. This means that high-density low-rise cities such as Paris are more carbon-efficient than high-density high-rise cities such as New York. 

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Hurricane Oscar: Foresight, solidarity and unity in the face of any contingency

https://www.granma.cu/

Preserving people's lives is the priority in the face of the onslaught of Hurricane Oscar, said Joel Queipo Ruiz, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the Provincial Defense Council.

This governing body, activated in full composition, just like that of the municipalities, reviewed the provisions with which it acts in the current phase of cyclone alarm in which the territory finds itself.

Here, according to the assessment, the population protection commissions are activated up to the CDR level, with emphasis on the transfer of people to the homes of relatives and friends, and evacuation centers determined for these cases.

The actions aimed at ensuring the lives of our fellow citizens, although they have been accelerated in recent hours, have been based on rational movements that are made from the most distant and difficult-to-access sites, while taking into account residents in coastal flood zones.

Also taken into account are those who live near riverbanks, as well as in areas that may be covered by water due to rainfall, and in areas downstream of reservoirs, especially in the municipalities of Moa, Sagua de Tánamo and Frank País.

In addition, the protection of inhabitants in mountain communities and rural areas that may be isolated is being monitored, and they have been advised to move them to caves or engineering works near these sites.

The guidelines included strict restrictions on access to risk areas such as rivers, streams, canals, reservoirs and bridges, areas of potential landslides and waters below dams.

The municipal defense councils were required to increase the supply of drinking water to the most remote populations and those that depend on water trucks, while they were instructed to carefully follow and comply with what was established for the protection or evacuation of material resources stored in facilities with structural vulnerabilities.

Regarding the actions to be undertaken in the recovery phase after the passage of the meteor, among other things, it was decided to collect the vegetables and other agricultural products that the winds and rains could destroy, and at the same time speed up the harvest of those that could be damaged, which will be followed by the immediate sowing of short-cycle crops.

Regarding the handling of the storm in tourist resorts, where thousands of foreign visitors are staying, the authorities in the sector reported that all of them, as well as the nationals staying there, are protected.

It was also learned that in all coastal municipalities instructions were given for the return to land of vessels that were carrying out work at sea, so that they could be transferred to points that offer them safety.

Particular attention was paid to the availability of food, with agricultural authorities stating that instructions had been given to supply the markets with food and other products, and that their entities had been instructed to prepare soups and ajiacos, among other things, to sell to the population.

The actions undertaken to speed up the sale of the products in the standard family basket and to protect those in the warehouses were specified. In the province, actions continued for the distribution of fuel to the municipalities, so that the operation of the emergency generators can be assured, which guarantee, above all, the vitality of the medical services, the supply of water to the population and communications. Likewise, the sale of liquefied gas to the population continued.

[aimeedaisies]

The Princess Royal’s Official Engagements in March 2024

01/03 In Dubai Princess Anne; 🇦🇪

As President of the Mission to Seafarers, visited Dubai Ports World in Port of Jebel Ali. 🚢

As President of the Mission to Seafarers, attended a Women in Shipping and Trading Conference Panel Discussion at Dubai Ports World Pavilion. 👩‍💼🛳️

Opened Donnelly Lines British Forces Headquarters at Al Minhad Airbase. 🛫

Called upon HH Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum (wife of the Vice President and PM of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai). 👑

Attended a Royal British Legion Reception on board the QUEEN ELIZABETH II floating hotel. 🍾

As President of the Royal Yachting Association, visited Dubai Offshore Sailing Club. 🛥️

As President of the Mission to Seafarers, this attended a Dinner at the One and Only Royal Mirage Hotel. 🍽️

02/03 Departed Dubai International Airport and returned to Heathrow Airport 🇦🇪✈️🇬🇧

04/03 As Guardian of the Chaffinch Trust, held a Management Team Meeting at Gatcombe Park. 🤝

As Guardian of Give Them A Sporting Chance, held a Management Team Meeting at Gatcombe Park. ⚽️

unofficial Along with the Duke of Kent (President of the RNLI), Sir Tim (Vice President of the RNLI) attended a Service of Thanksgiving to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the RNLI at Westminster Abbey. 🛟

05/03 As Patron of Livability, visited New Court Place, to mark its 180th Anniversary. 🦼

Opened First Garden Cities Homes' Sheltered Housing Scheme at John Coxall Court in Letchworth Garden City. 🏡

As Patron of the Butler Trust, visited HMP/Young Offenders Institute Aylesbury. 🔗👮

06/03 On behalf of the King, held two investiture ceremonies at Windsor Castle. 🎖️

07/03 As President, attended the 32nd National Equine Forum at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 🐴

As Grand Master of the Royal Victorian Order, attended Evensong and a Reception at The King’s Chapel of the Savoy. ⛪️🎖️

08/03 As Chancellor of the University of London, visited King’s College London’s Portable MRI Project at the Denmark Hill Campus. 🩻

As Patron of Save the Children UK, attended the International Women’s Day Luncheon at Bluebird on Kings Road. 👭💪

10/03 Attended the Global Fraud Summit at the Guildhall in London. 💻👾

11/03 Attended the Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey alongside The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, The Princess Royal, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and The Duke of Kent. 🌎🌍🌏

Attended a Commonwealth Day Reception at Westminster Abbey. 🌍🥂

With Sir Tim As Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Butchers, attended the Annual City Food and Drink Lecture at Guildhall. 🍽️🍾

12/03 With Sir Tim Attended a luncheon on board Hebridean Princess to mark its 60th Anniversary in Greenock. 🥪

With Sir Tim Visited Peel Ports Group Limited Greenock Ocean Terminal. 🛳️

13/03 unofficial Attended Style Wednesday at Cheltenham Festival. 👒

14/03 unofficial Attended St. Patrick’s Thursday at Cheltenham Festival. ☘️

15/03 With Sir Tim Attended Gold Cup Friday at Cheltenham Festival. 🏆

16/03 With Sir Tim As Patron of the Scottish Rugby Union, attended the Six Nations Rugby Match between Scotland and Ireland at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🏉

18/03 As Patron of Save the Children UK, attended the International Financial Review Annual Awards Dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.🏅

19/03 As Patron of Sense, opened Sense Hub Loughborough.🦻👨‍🦯

On behalf of The King, with the Duchess of Edinburgh, held a Reception for Korean War Veterans at Buckingham Palace. 🪖

As Patron of the Butler Trust, held the Annual Awards Ceremony at St James’s Palace. 🏆

With Sir Tim As President of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, attended a Presidential Dinner at Fishmongers’ Hall. 🐟🍽️

20/03 Held a morning and an afternoon investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle. 🎖️

21/03 As President of the Benenden Society and Founders’ Patron of Benenden School, attended the Centenary Service in Canterbury Cathedral. ⛪️👩‍🦰

Attended the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and Choir Presentation Concert at Spencer House. 🎻🎼

22/03 Opened the new North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Allied Rapid Reaction Corps Headquarters Accommodation at the Officers’ Mess in Imjin Barracks. 🌊

Visited the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre and Ministry of Defence Medal Office at Innsworth House in Imjin Barracks. ⛑️🎖️

As Patron of Stroud Hospital League of Friends, visited Stroud Maternity Unit. 🏥👶

25/03 Visited MacRebur Limited. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🛣️

Visited the Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial at Lockerbie Garden of Remembrance. 🌹👼🏻

As President of the Scotch Chef’s Club, opened Browns Food Group’s new facilities at Kelloholm Industrial Estate. 🐄

As Royal Patron of Friends of TS Queen Mary, attended a Reception at the Hilton Glasgow. ⛴️🥂

26/03 Opened the Rural and Veterinary Innovation Centre at Scotland's Rural College in Inverness. 🩺🐑

As Chancellor of the University of the Highlands and Islands, attended the Integrated Land Use Conference. 🚜🧑‍🌾

As Royal Patron of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, visited the Saving Wildcats Project at Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig. 🐯🦁

As Patron and Honorary Member of the Grand Antiquity Society of Glasgow, attended a Dinner at the Trades Hall of Glasgow. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿📜

Unofficial Sir Tim, as Chair of Trustees, attended the opening of the Adani Green Energy Gallery at the Science Museum 🌍🍃💚

31/03 unofficial With Sir Tim Attended the Easter Mattins service held at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle ⛪️🐣

Total official engagements for Anne in March: 49

2024 total so far: 134

Total official engagements accompanied by Tim in March: 6

2024 total so far: 29

FYI - due to certain royal family members being off ill/in recovery I won't be posting everyone's engagement counts out of respect, I am continuing to count them and release the totals at the end of the year.

[driftward]

Folks don't talk much about the war around these parts, but you can see its scars in the people it touched. Not much more to say about that, but you best be aware of that history. For some folk, it stays with them.

A Desertwalkers story.

The Engineer in the Machine

The military was a mighty machine, the treads of which rolled across oceans and valleys, powerful gears upon which to grind policy and the will of the people. And Ada Fairlight was a dutiful cog in that mighty edifice, doing her part as mighty gears moved slowly around her, directing the will of a nation.

Today, that machine would be put to different purpose. Smaller, finer gears would come into play today, for it was a delicate work they would be doing. Information and logs and testimony would be fed in, and from that material and with those fuels, the machine would grind fine, until nothing but truth remained.

And then the machine would deliver justice.

It was with this in her mind that she entered the chambers of the military court, a somber affair in which she would play her part, same as she always had, every day since she had been commissioned to be part of the machine.

Fellow officers and bureaucrats moved around the chamber as she took her seat, enlisted men and women seeing to their various needs. It was an affair of quiet, hushed noise, full of murmurs and humming as people spoke. But at last, the place fell silent, as everyone took their place.

“Captain Fairlight,” the Master at Arms called, and she responded, arriving at the podium in accordance with rule and regulation.

“Do you swear that the witness you bear today shall be whole and truthful under the watchful gaze of the Fury and the Twelve?”

“I do.”

The Master at Arms gave her a salute, which she returned.

The Admiral in charge of the hearing cleared his throat. “Captain Fairlight, if you would please explain the circumstances and situation leading up to the incident aboard the Royal Service Ship Uragnite on the date in question.”

~*~

Captain Ada Fairlight was in the engineering spaces of the R.S.S. Uragnite, inspecting the equipment. As the chief maintenance officer onboard, she had responsibilities, and it was one of these responsibilities she was tending to now.

The ship was, in her opinion, in shambles. Operational, but she was constantly finding maintenance that needed to be done. She felt that it was bad enough to violate operational doctrine, but Major Mirkasch, Head of Engineering disagreed and overrode her every time she submitted her findings. Every sennight was another argument with him. She had plans that would allow them to repair while underway and still keep the ship going, but he was obsessed with the ledger and meeting aggressive deployment schedules.

She could smell the faint acridity from overworked electrical wiring as she made her way through the engineering spaces to inspect one of the gas cutoff valves. The ship had a mess of steam and ceruleum pipes serving as veins to feed it its lifeblood, and the valves were critical for their safe operation.

And also the subject of another ongoing argument between Captain Fairlight and Major Mirkasch.

With a sigh, she turned to the maintenance log locker to review it. Before she could open its latch, however, she was thrown up against it, or rather it rocked forward and slammed into her, as the deck under her feet became unstable and she felt, more than heard, a boom crack throughout the ship.

They were still in port. There was no possibility of that being an enemy attack. Almost on instinct, she reached up into the overhead, pulling herself up to touch a hand to the ceruleum line.

It was warm, it was vibrating, and it was howling.

She ran to the cutoff valve, where its motor was already making a valiant effort, yet failing. The emergency alarm began to sound as she got to it, just in time to hear it make a terrible grinding noise, and stop, all life gone from it. She leapt for its clutch, and wrenched it, throwing her whole body into disengaging it.

“Emergency report, emergency report,” sounded over the loudspeakers, from a voice that had been trained to maintain utter calm in any calamity. “Gas rupture in berthing.”

There was another engineering compartment between here and there. The hatch to one of them was in front of her. Anyone already in there was trapped until the gas flow could be stopped.

She grabbed the oversized valve, nearly two fulms across. Its size meant it was an absolute bear to operate manually. One hand on either side of it, she began to work it, even as she snapped orders out, even as she tried to get the situation under control.

“Contact control! Tell them the bravo gas cutoff valve is stuck.” An enlisted man rushed forward to take her spot, but she was already in motion, her hand a vice on the valve as she wedged her knee underneath a convenient piece of machinery and used her stomach, her legs, gravity, her arms, every onze available to her to pull that side down. “I have this! Retrieve respirators, make sure the O2 lines are running!” As her first hand made its way to the bottom of the valve’s motion, on the other side she secured her grip, and now she pushed up, continuing the rotation of the valve, every muscle from her toes up through her legs, her spine, and her arm serving as a kinetic chain. “Get ready for egress! Chief, charge water to the fire main!”

Gods, she hoped the gas would not ignite. Right now this was just an emergency. A spark would turn it into a catastrophe of conflagration.

The people in the space moved to carry out her orders, and she remained in motion on the valve. Down on one side, up on the other. Pull, push. It did not take long before her muscles were burning, her breathing labored, but she continued on. She could hear sounds on the other side of the compartment door, good men and women waiting to escape before the ceruleum turned their lungs into caustic soup.

Down. Up. Wrench. Turn.

The record for closing the valve manually was thirty six seconds. She was determined to do better.

At last, the valve hit its stop, and would go no further. The little needle indicator showed it was shut. Her entire body slick with sweat, she let go, and wobbled as she tried to steady herself.

Already exhausted, but there was more to do. She pointed to a nearby enlisted person.

“Verify that valve and report!” she commanded as she went to the hatch, placing one hand on its wheel as the enlisted person scampered to take her place on the valve.

“Secure!”

“Report to control! Everyone else, stand back!”

She quickly spun the wheel, and slammed the hatch open into its catch. A wave of the stench of vaporized ceruleum slammed into her senses at the same time several people spilled out. Some were coughing, wheezing into their masks, quickly trying to get clear, trying to escape.

With them was Alastor. Of course he was with them. The infantry were his responsibility, and he was carrying two of them, both unconscious.

“Where is your respirator?” demanded Ada.

His voice had a pitched creak to it as he spoke. “Not enough to go around. Had to give it away. Let me just grab someone else’s, I have to go back in-”

He made to move around her, but she shoved her shoulder into his, bodily dragging him to the side.

“You can’t go back in! Those fumes are already eating your lungs!”

He glared at her, and coughed heavily, as if to prove her point. Thick mucous flecked from his mouth, globs of it landing to wobble on his chin.

“I have more people in there.”

Ada glanced back at the open hatch. It stunk, and the air had that wavey, purple quality to it that told her that there was far too much gas in there.

She pointed, giving an order. “You, fetch me a respirator,” she said. She turned to Alastor. “You will sit this out. This is not up for debate. Grab a respirator, sit down for at least a count of thirty, clear out your lungs. I will get your people.”

Alastor glared at her, unruly. He was older than her, but she outranked him. After a moment, though, he nodded, and sat on the ground.

“Good man,” she said, taking the respirator as it was handed to her. No flash hood. Risk of fire was too great, she would need to find one. She checked its bladders. It would need to be topped off as she went, but at least she would not be breathing in any fumes. “Report to damage control command, let them know that Captain Fairlight is entering the -”

Her ears were ringing, and the world’s sounds were subdued, distant. She was in so much pain, she was not quite sure where she hurt and where she didn’t. She rolled over, and pushed herself off the deck. She could feel a wave of heat flowing by above her, searing the air. Her skull felt like it may near as well have been exploded. As she struggled to stand, she looked around, and saw smoke. There were bodies on the floor, some like her, struggling to stand.

Others were slicked with blood. Some were not moving.

Some were on fire.

She saw a ripple of purple in the air turn blue with flame and burn itself out.

She looked back to the hatch to the other compartment, and she saw flames in the air, dancing, lighting and dying and lighting again in turn as they met purple waves and broiled.

And nearby was her brother.

He was writhing on the deck, seemingly unable to control his limbs. He was kicking his legs out spastically, his arms trying to grab any surface. It was as though he was panicked, trying to escape some terrible thing. He was gasping, and blue fire sputtered from his mouth, and died, and came back to life.

His lungs were on fire.

Ada dived for him, having to fight him to the ground. She got her arms and legs around him, trying to wrap them around his, trying to keep him from getting leverage, trying to keep him on the deck. Long enough for her to wrap a hand around his mouth, and to get her fingers around his nose, and to pinch it shut.

He writhed in her arms, his back arching and his gut spasming, as he continued to try to fight her. But she held on, rocking with him, refusing to let go. Refusing to let him escape. Refusing to let him take another breath.

He grew weak, and then he stilled, ultimately collapsing against him. She waited.

Held on.

Gave him a count of thirty.

Around her, people rushed, trying to salvage the situation. Two fire hoses were spilled out, and one of them was pointed into the next compartment. It could not put out a fire of this nature, but the deluge of water might keep the compartment cool enough to reduce further damage.

The fire would burn itself out soon enough.

Just as she hoped it had done in his lungs.

At last, she let go, and pushed her brother off of her, wedging him into a corner. She did not know if he was alive or dead. Either way, he would need to be out of the way until the medical team could tend to him.

She got up to her feet, and walked over to the door to the next compartment. An oppressive heat rolled out of it, warning her away. If she was to go in there now, without a flash hood, the heat would well be enough to melt her respirator to her face.

But there were still people in there.

She retrieved several ratchet straps, and grabbed the second fire main away from the person holding it. They just watched as she shoved the hose up the front hem of her uniform top, up the front of her chest, sticking its nozzle just under her chin, and then used the ratchet straps to make sure it stayed in place.

Once she was certain it was secure, she headed for the hatch.

One of the enlisted tried to stop her.

“Ser, you can’t go in there,” they said.

She shrugged them off, not breaking stride. “There are people in there. I need to get them out,” she said.

She had told Alastor she would get them.

She would have done it anyroad.

Nobody deserved this hell.

When the heat became too much to bear, she wrenched open the nozzle on the firemain. A deluge of freezing water exploded under her chin, soaking her immediately.

Thus protected, she made her way into the next compartment.

She quickly found two people, one unconscious, the other struggling to get them out. She took over, and pointed back to where she had come from. “Go! I have this one!” she yelled, as she planted her body under the unconscious one and hoisted them into the air. The first one nodded, and together, they made their way back out. She dumped her human cargo on the floor without ceremony, and dove back in.

The next one was harder. She found them unconscious, one arm stuck in between ladder rungs where they had tried to escape. She almost burned her hands getting them free before she retreated to a locker to retrieve a pair of heavy leather gauntlets. She came back, pulled them out, and carried them to the exit before immediately returning.

Overhead, the loudspeaker continued to make announcements. “Fire in forward engineering compartment upper level. Fire in aft infantry berthing upper level. Plant steam out in progress. Prepare to receive emergency recovery teams.”

The next one, she pulled off the deck, having to peel their face off the grating where they had melted and become stuck. She ran back with them, set them down, returned. Her arms burned. Her lungs burned from exertion. Freezing water continued to rush into her face, but the heat of the space leaned against her on all sides. She could feel it on her skin, clawing into her.

She had to duck lower, stay down close to the deck. If she looked up, she could see the air above her rippling and writhing, a living thing, roiling and wavy from the heat. Under her heavy leather clad boots, the metal grating that made up the floor was sagging.

She kept moving.

There was less and less purple in the air as the vaporized ceruleum burnt itself out. With the cutoff valve closed, no more could enter the space. But the damage had been done, and she came across insulation that had been crisped, blackened on its edges. As she carried one person out, she could see metal sagging, melting in terrible heat, on the edge of the compartment. It looked as though it was beginning to sweat little metal droplets.

She saw a body too close to the slag as she moved.

They would have to rest there. She could only spare time for the living.

The fire hose could not make it all the way to the next compartment over, but there was another fire hose on the way. She took several long precious moments to undo her ad-hoc ratchet strap arrangement, swapping out one hose for the other, and abandoning the first one, being careful to make sure that she always had at least one with its nozzle open and spraying water into her head.

Her face was sore from the constant deluge. She had to stop to refill the respirator several times. Everything hurt, and nothing was getting better.

Nevertheless, she persisted, pulling out as many as she could find, until finally she set one body down on the deck out in safety, out where she had started, and two people grabbed her from either side. One of them turned off the hose keeping her cool.

She fought against them. “There is more in there! I have to go back!”

“Your job is done, Captain!” one of them yelled. “The recovery team is here!”

She pulled against them, one last time, almost out of reflex. But they were right. In her haste, in her single minded determination, she had missed that several men and women had finally arrived, dressed in the oversized puffy suits meant for exactly this kind of work. Fully sealed. Fully insulated. Even now, they were pushing past other people, and entering the hell beyond.

She stopped fighting, and nodded. One of the people on her let go, but the other held on. She got her legs firmly under her, and tried to push to stand taller, to get leverage and move, but he kept her.

“Let me go,” she said.

“Respirator off, captain,” he said.

After a moment, she pulled it off, and winced. Her face hurt. She took a deep breath in, and her wince became a grimace. Breathing, cooler air against her face, everything hurt.

She realized she must look a mess. Her uniform was in tatters. She became aware that her legs and arms must have been terribly burnt. She was drenched from head to toe in dirty water from the fire system, and stunk, of that, of ceruleum, of engineering, of sweat. She could feel her hair matted against her skull, gross and slimy.

She finally got a look at the person who had been helping to hold her back, and noted the medical symbol on his uniform as he looked her over.

He finished his examination, reached up, and drew something on her forehead.

“You’ve been triaged,” he said. “Unfit. Get yourself out of the way, captain, before you become another casualty.”

She wanted to fight him on that.

But she looked around. There were already people here, and more coming in. While she had been rushing back and forth, fires had been put out. Equipment had been turned off. Other medics were present, tending to other bodies.

She swallowed, and nodded, and finally at last he let her go. She stumbled away from him, trying to stay out of the way of the others as they did their work, searching until she found the corner she had tucked her brother in.

She sat down heavily on the ground, and pushed herself against him, and felt the fight leave her.

She was tired.

But the plant was in good hands. The plant was safe. She had done what she could, and it would have to be enough.

~*~

Ada walked out of the courtroom, and was surprised to see Alastor sitting on a bench in the hallway.

“Do not stand up,” she said as she began to walk over him. “Do not stand up, do not salute me, stop it, do not-”

But he had come to full attention, and his hand came up in a sharp salute.

“Ser Fairlight.”

She came to a stop, pulling herself up to return the salute. “I hate you so much.”

“You hate me so much… what?”

“I hate you so much, Ser Fairlight. Sit down.”

He grinned, and released his salute, allowing her to drop hers as he lowered himself carefully to the bench. Ada sat primly next to him, and wrinkled her nose angrily at him, which caused him to let out a wheezing laugh.

“What are you even doing here? I was certain your hearing was not until tomorrow?”

“It isn’t. I thought I’d see how my little sister was doing.”

“I am both taller and heavier than you.”

“Fine, my bigger sister.”

“You should be in the infirmary. You are crippled.”

“Not yet, I’m not.”

She frowned at him.

“At least, not until they declare it during my hearing, right?” he said, as he wheeze-laughed again.

“The only thing keeping me from hitting you is sympathy.”

“And your overly keen sense of propriety.”

“There are rules to society, Alastor. You should learn a few sometime.”

He grinned as he sat back, and she sighed at him.

“How’s it going in there?” he asked.

“Going from the top down. We just finished my testimony on the accident. Questioning will continue when I go back in there, as they decide what to do with me.”

Alastor leaned forward slowly, a frown creasing his forehead.

“What do you mean, what to do with you?”

“I suspect I shall be asked for my resignation.”

“What? Why!? That doesn’t make any sense - you’re a bloody hero!”

Ada did not look at her brother.

“No commanding officer will ever trust me again.”

Alastor opened his mouth to respond, but a polite cough stopped him.

“Ser Fairlight?”

“Yes?” they both responded, looking up.

The enlistedperson looked momentarily taken aback, but recovered quickly.

“Captain Ada Fairlight,” he said. “The court is ready.”

“More testimony,” she said. “I will meet you after, Alastor.”

~*~

Captain Ada Fairlight frowned as she looked through the maintenance logs.

Main machinery upper level was still in terrible disarray. Red tags fluttered in fan driven breeze, marking equipment that was out of service or otherwise not to be operated. Workers made their way through the space and around her, working on repairs as they were able, while she and the watch tried to stay out of their way.

Above her head as she read, the bravo ceruleum cutoff valve was one of the items that had a red tag hung from it. The valve stem was suspected to be bent, which was part of what made it so difficult to open or shut. It was a problem Ada had known about for some time, and one of many matters on which she and the Head Engineer had often argued.

Before the accident, she had ordered it and that side of the ceruleum system to be taken out of service pending further inspection and repair.

Someone had marked it as repaired, put it back into service, and signed off on it being in good function. In the maintenance log, she found the name of the enlistedperson who had supposedly done the work.

None of their initials or signatures were anywhere in the log, however. Nor that of their supervisor, or anyone who might have helped them.

Just Captain Mirkasch’s signature, at the very end, verifying the work complete.

She looked at the name of the worker again. One of hers, but they had not been in the engineering spaces as of late, even before the accident. Indeed, they had been a near neighbor of hers these past few days. She tapped her finger on their name.

The safety officer came up to her while she was thinking. “I’ve accounted for most of the emergency kits. It’s possible that some material was destroyed during the accident, but I think we’re still shorter than we should be.”

“Thank you, captain,” she said. “Have you reviewed my work so far?”

“I have, and added my own,” they said. “Soon as you sign, I will countersign.”

She nodded.

It was not until the next day that she made her way down to the Head Engineer’s office, knocking on the door as she arrived.

“Enter,” she heard through the door, and she let herself in.

The office was familiar to her. About the size of two of the junior officer’s wardrooms, it was dominated by a large desk, which in turn was covered with diagrams, charts, and reference books. Each wall of the room had a different diagram on it, one showing the steam and gas plant schematic, another showing electrical wiring throughout the ship, another showing a full layout of where all the equipment was.

Captain Mirkasch was sitting at his desk, reviewing paperwork. He glanced up at Ada as she entered.

“Captain Fairlight,” he said dryly. “The infirmary release you early?”

Ada stopped in front of the desk, and saluted. “Major Mirkasch. I wished to speak with you regarding the gas leak incident.”

“Repairs are still under way, Captain, and engineering has the matter well in hand,” he said dismissively.

“The original gas line rupture was probably just an act of nature,” she began.

“Oh good, finally, a matter on which we can agree.”

“But I believe that the resulting explosion and follow on series of events were completely avoidable.”

He looked up at her, frowning.

“You see, ser,” she continued. “I think the cascade of failures began with the bravo cutout valve. We have known for some time that the stem on the valve was bent. A bent stem meant the valve was very difficult to operate, open or shut. If you perhaps had let me place a Pattern on the valve-”

“Yes, yes, we have had this argument a dozen dozen times, Captain, and let me remind you, once again, that the use of your superstitions is permitted, but not required. This ship has one mission, and one mission only. We deliver troops to the front line. Nothing more, nothing less. Anything that might interfere with that mission is, or might prevent us from deploying, is simply out of the question. Now, if that’s all, I would like to get back to work.”

Ada bristled at the use of the word superstitions, but let it go. She had a more important point to pursue.

“Not all, Major. Leaving aside the matter of my plan to keep the plant operational and safe, I believe that, over time, the operation of that valve became too much for the motor to handle. This placed repeated strain on it, leading to its failure. With that motor, the valve can be closed in four to five seconds. Without it, that valve takes near half a minute to close for even our best operators, during which time forward engineering and berthing were flooded with volatile ceruleum. Resulting in an explosive air mix.”

“Supposedly,” said Mirkasch. “And what do you want me to do about it, captain, go back in time and replace the valve?”

“I will get to that,” said Ada. “Another factor that I think led to the explosion was poor conditions in the electrics. A lot of that gear was rather warmer than it should have been, with insulation missing in places. Heat or a spark, plus the volatile air mixture, led to the explosion, injuring several. More were injured or killed due to a lack of available safety gear.”

“Need I remind you, Captain, we are at war. Supplies can be difficult to obtain, and the mission of this ship is paramount. A few missing respirators or a shortage in flash gear is to be expected.”

“We are failing to accomplish that mission now, ser.”

“Yes, thanks to an accident outside of our control. Is there anything else, Captain? I have better things to do than talk in circles around you today.”

Ada clasped her hands behind her back. “I remember that motor failing, Major. I personally saw it taken out of commission. A look into the maintenance logs showed that someone placed it back in to service. I believe they did so without actually performing the maintenance in question, judging from the condition of the motor.”

Major Mirkasch studied her carefully, steeping his fingers in front of him.

“Whoever they are, they will be in serious trouble if so,” he said, carefully.

“You signed off on their work, ser.”

He nodded. “I sign off on all work in the plant, Captain, but I cannot review every single maintenance task that has to be done. Spot checks are the standard. And if this person elected to not perform the maintenance in question, then there would have been nothing for me to check.”

Not how that works, thought Ada to herself.

“Anyroad. Pass their name to me, I will investigate further.”

“I already have, ser,” she said. “I wondered, at first, how they had done the maintenance at all.”

The Major raised his eyebrows.

“Fireman Rhotflamsyn has been in the infirmary since shortly after coming aboard. Fell down a ladder well, broke his leg. We have not been able to spare the time to return him home to a proper hospital, so the medical staff set his leg and have been keeping him as still as possible.”

She continued as the Major frowned at her. “You would know that, of course, ser, if you bothered to keep track of our people at any other time besides morning muster.”

“…watch your tone, Captain. What are you trying to say?”

“I am trying to say nothing, ser. The logs, however, say much. My predecessor also had much to say about the condition of the electronics, but it seems you repeatedly overrode him on the matter. The safety officer claims that the responsibility for plant safety equipment falls upon you, and yet our inventory of such seems to be short of what it should be. And the logs tell of maintenance done on my motor, but my motor is dead. Three people with it. Plus fifteen injured.”

The Major’s lip curled, and he looked as though he was about to say something terrible, but he stopped himself, leaning back in his chair, and taking the time to compose himself.

“Supposedly, Captain. Supposedly. Let me tell you what I see. I see a Captain, upset over the unfortunate circumstances that led to her brother getting hurt. Unable to find fault, she has exceeded her duties and the bounds of propriety, is finding fault where there is none, and is thinking to turn a tragedy into a drumhead.”

“My brother was far from the only person hurt, ser.”

“Nevertheless. This is all pointless conjecture. We shall wait and see what the official report says, which I am certain will find that this entire incident, while tragic, was simply an accident.”

Ada took a deep breath in.

“We will not need to wait, ser.”

The Major became very, very still.

“What?”

“I am allowed to compile such a report, per regulation. It falls within my duties and responsibilities, and by the letter of law, I am empowered to make such a report if I see fit. I have seen fit. My report has been fact checked and signed off by a fellow officer, and as of this morning, is up before the executive officer for review. The intent of this meeting is to inform you of my findings, as well as to inform you that the report has been submitted.”

The Major stood up slowly, leaning on his knuckles on the desk.

“You went over my head,” he said, measuring his words out.

“Which is also permitted by regulation, ser,” she said.

“You went over. My head,” he said again. “You are out of line, Captain.”

“What I did was fully within the code of,” she began, her voice ice.

“Captain Fairlight. Attention!” he barked.

Ada snapped immediately to stand fully at attention.

“You went over my head,” he snarled. “You have violated the chain of command for your own selfish, stupid, petty purposes. You have -”

He stopped, and turned his head to the side to growl, as he took several deep breaths. When he spoke next, his voice grinded, growled, threatening.

“You are insubordinate, and you have violated a sacred trust, Captain. You will give me your resignation before the end of the day.”

“That is explicitly called out in the regulations as an illegal order, Major, and I shall not follow it.”

“While you are at attention, Captain, you do not speak unless asked a direct question.”

Ada’s jaw tightened.

He stared at her, waiting, daring her to speak again, but she remained silent.

“You are relieved of your duties, Captain. When I dismiss you, you are to return to your quarters, and you will stay there. And if I see you anywhere else before you are sent for, you won’t have to wait for the court martial. Do I make myself clear?”

Ada continued to stare past the wall at nothing. “Aye, ser.”

The Major sat back down at his desk, and he glared at her, challenging, but she did not respond.

“Get out of my sight.”

Ada saluted him, pivoted, and left.

~*~

Final closing statements had been made, and the Admiralty had convened to close out. Ada sat amongst those under judgement, listening carefully, as findings and judgements were passed. Judgement of the ship’s captain was first, as everything that happened under his command was automatically his responsibility, by long tradition. The admiralty declared him innocent of malfeasance, and the events that had happened under his command an act of the gods. He would be removed from duty for reassignment to a shore command.

A relatively light sentence, given what had occurred, but Ada frowned at the declaration of the ‘act of the gods’.

The executive officer was next, and his judgement was much the same, and Ada began to feel unease.

Then Major Mirkasch.

“Major Mirkasch, attention.”

Ada was now paying keen attention.

“In the matter of the incident onboard the R.S.S. Uragnite on the date in question, on the question of whether or not Major Mirkasch is guilty of gross malfeasance, dereliction of duty, falsifying logs, and related charges, the Admiralty has reviewed the evidence and found him not guilty.”

The courtroom remained otherwise silent as the Admiral continued. Ada became aware of a terrible pain in her jaw, radiating up through her skull and threatening to crush her restraint.

“Major Mirkasch, you will remain onboard the R.S.S. Uragnite pending completion of turnover duties. Once those are complete, you will be given new orders to be transferred to another fleet. Do you understand this order?”

“Yes, ser.”

“Do you have any questions?”

“No, ser.”

“You may be seated.”

Major Mirkasch saluted, and sat down. Ada could feel her nails biting into her palms.

“Captain Fairlight, attention.”

Ada came to her feet smartly.

“In the matter of Captain Fairlight’s guilt regarding insubordination, conduct unbecoming of an officer, disobeying a direct order, dereliction of duty, and related charges, the Admiralty has reviewed the evidence and found her not guilty.”

Ada stood stock still.

“Captain Fairlight, you are hereby removed from your post. You are detached from the R.S.S. Uragnite effective immediately. Upon the closing of these proceedings, you will proceed to personnel, to retrieve your new orders to another ship in the fleet. Do you understand this order?”

No.

“Yes, ser.”

“Do you have any questions?”

Just one.

“No, ser.”

“You may be seated.”

Ada saluted, and sat, feeling as though she was snapping down into her seat like a spring being violently brought to full compression. The hearing continued, as the admiralty worked their way through the other officers, chiefs, and enlisted, thorough in their judgement of the accident.

She paid little attention, stunned. None of it made any sense. One of them had to be right. Either herself or Major Mirkasch. The court had found both of them not guilty. Exonerated them both. Had even set them on paths to continue to serve.

He had gotten people killed.

She would never be trusted by any command ever again.

This was all wrong.

At last, the hearing came to an end. The entire room came to their feet on command, and then, once dismissed, began to file out of the room. Ada just sat back down in her chair, still unbelieving in the outcome, still uncertain of what to do next.

As he passed by her, Major Mirkasch just nodded in her direction. “Captain,” he said, no malice, no heat, just a flat acknowledgement, simply stated. He did not seem to expect a response, not pausing for one as he continued to make his way out.

Finally, at last, it was just her, the Master at Arms, and one of the admirals in the courtroom.

The admiral continued to scribble something for his notes. The Master at Arms cleared his throat politely. Ada took the hint, and stood up, but at the same time, the admiral glanced up to see her.

“Did you have a question, Captain?” asked the admiral.

She did. But did she wish to pursue it?

“Aye, ser. Permission to approach and speak, ser.”

“Approach and ask your question.”

She walked up to the row of judge’s desks where the admiralty had sat on high and listened to testimony, deliberated their decisions, and passed judgement. Once she was close, she saluted, and waited until the admiral saluted back before she spoke.

“Just… why, ser?”

The admiral looked her over.

“My testimony and Mirkasch’s were in opposition, ser. Either he could be guilty, or I am, or both of us. But to dismiss the charges? And send us back to fleet? I do not understand, ser.”

The admiral sighed, and sat back in his seat, and considered Ada for a moment.

“Plainspeak, then, Captain. Major Mirkasch is well liked by his peers, and is the son of retired Admiral Mirkasch. You will note also that he has made it to Major. He has done his job well enough up until now, without major incident. To dismiss him would require a political will we simply do not have at the moment. No. We will see him assigned somewhere with a stricter XO who will do a somewhat better job keeping an eye on him. In addition, one of the officers who will be reporting to him may be subordinate in the rank structure, but his family has rather more pull than his. We’ll see him do his job.”

“What of the dead and injured?”

“Plainspeak, Captain, plainspeak. What of them? We are at war. Casualties happen. Unfortunate, but the machine must move on.”

More like a beast, if it was eating its people like this, thought Ada.

“And what of me, ser?”

“You have family of your own which we wish to be careful of. And in addition, Captain, frankly, you are too valuable to go away. Now, I will confess, I do not fully understand the full extent of all of this Pattern and new engineering, but we recognize that it, and you, are extremely valuable. You will find the ship you are going to will be rather more, ah, accommodating of your more… radical ideas.”

Ada shook her head. “I turned in my superior officer, ser. I … was right to go past him in the chain of command, but I also recognize that nobody else will see it that way. My career is effectively over.”

“Plainspeak is the word of the day, captain. And the word of this admiralty is thus.”

He put his pen down for a moment, clasped his hands in front of him, and leaned forward to look her in the eye.

“We do not give a damn.”

Ada felt her temper turn to ice.

“I shall turn in my resignation, then.”

“Should have thought to do that earlier. Too late now. I will personally reject any such letter that you submit.”

She glared at him.

“For that matter, why did you wait to do so? Might have avoided charges. It’s not generally in our best interest to go after someone for insubordination if they leave of their volition.”

“I wanted to see how this turned out, ser. And … and I wanted to see the right thing done, ser.”

The admiral drummed his fingers on the desk thoughtfully.

“You were never going to turn in a resignation letter. I’ve met officers like you before, and that’s what I think. No, I know your kind. You signed a contract and took an oath, and you’ll see them both through before the military is done with you. No, I think you’ll be staying, Captain. We’ll be better for it.”

She hated that he was right.

He capped his pen, and began to organize his papers. “If it makes you feel any better, we will be keeping a very close eye on the Major, family connections or no. Was there anything else?”

“No, ser.”

“Very well. Dismissed, Captain Fairlight.”

Ada came to attention, saluted, turned, and left.

~*~

Alastor was no longer in the hallway when she left, which was just as well at the moment. She did not feel like talking to him.

She did not feel like telling him that she had failed.

She did not feel like telling him that they had both been failed.

She walked, steadily, stiffly, keeping herself composed, keeping her head high.

And she thought of the one bit of testimony that she did not tell in the courtroom.

Of how she sat next to his still body. How she had reached over. How weak she had felt, after all had been said and done. How dead she felt.

How dead he felt.

How she had pulled him into her arms, and curled up around him, and began to sob as the ship around her creaked, as its mighty metal groaned, as the great vessel struggled to keep itself alive. Of how it felt that the death was reaching through its bones, threatening to drag the whole crew down.

She did not tell them that she felt she had left her feelings there, in that moment, sobbing against a body she did not know was alive.

She turned and looked up at the large military complex building. A gigantic edifice of stone, gray and imposing. A beast, in truth, whose belly consumed lives and delivered nothing of worth.

The machine had always been an illusion. Slick and clean, efficient and capable to outside eyes.

But she knew better, now.

The machine was bleeding to death, but the beast fed well.

She turned her back to it, and walked away.

[mariacallous]

On Nov. 14, 2023, Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda declared the start of winter in Gaza as sheets of rain flooded the streets. A month later, Owda told her followers that “we’re drowning” in an Instagram reel that showed displaced civilians bailing out an inundated tent. In January, she turned the camera on her own tent, describing how the rain seeped through the plastic sheeting as she slept.

The conditions that Owda depicted will be far worse when Gaza’s winter rains return this year, after 14 months of unprecedented destruction that has left 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.1 million people displaced. Approximately 86 percent of Gaza’s landmass is under permanent evacuation order. A Sept. 29 United Nations satellite analysis showed that Israeli military operations had damaged or destroyed 66 percent of all structures in the territory, including 227,591 housing units. By June, 67 percent of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure was out of commission.

Each year, from December to February, some parts of Gaza receive one-third of their annual rainfall, and large swaths of the territory flood. A 2020 review in the Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering identified 34 factors that increase people’s risk of death in floods, such as cold temperatures and poor quality housing; Gaza currently qualifies for 33 of them.

In addition to casualties in Gaza caused directly by Israeli military action, tens of thousands of people have likely died from indirect causes due to Israel’s blockade of the territory and widespread destruction of infrastructure. Winter floods will exacerbate these issues, leaving the population more vulnerable to life-threatening health and environmental hazards. Without immediate, large-scale humanitarian intervention backed by the United States, Gaza’s water and sanitation crisis could cascade into an unprecedented catastrophe.

Al-Mawasi is a sandy, 9-mile-long strip of seaside land in southwestern Gaza that Israel has designated as the only “humanitarian safe zone” in the territory. Currently, 1.8 million people are thought to be living in al-Mawasi, almost all in makeshift tents. The Norwegian Refugee Council estimated in September that the area had a population density of some 78,000 people per square mile, approximately twice that of Cairo.

The coming winter rains will transform al-Mawasi and the rest of Gaza into a death trap. The combination of poor shelter, lack of drinking water, and abysmal sanitation will cause unknown numbers of preventable deaths. Waterborne diseases, acute diarrhea, and infection often arise in such conditions. Floodwaters are a transmission vector for bacteria such as cholera-causing Vibrio cholerae, viruses such as Hepatitis A, parasites, and fungal infections. The inability to keep dry will also leave Palestinians in Gaza vulnerable to hypothermia and pneumonia.

Israel’s assaults on Gaza have destroyed every sewage processing plant and 70 percent of sewage pumps in the territory. In June, Oxfam reported that al-Mawasi contained only 121 latrines, then serving half a million people; on Nov. 16, Al Jazeera reported that Khan Younis had no fuel for sewage pumps, wells, or water purification.

Infection control and hygiene have long been severely compromised in Gaza. Before Oct. 7, 2023, waterborne illness was already the top killer of children in Gaza. Oxfam reported in 2017 that “Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza severely limits, or prevents altogether, the entry of materials that would allow the water and sanitation sector in Gaza to recover from years of conflict and de-development.”

The widespread destruction of housing, sewage, water, and sanitation infrastructure—as well as prolonged malnutrition and repeated displacement—has severely exacerbated this long-standing problem. During the summer dry season, rates of diarrheal disease in Gaza were 25 times higher than prewar levels. People used makeshift latrines and were forced to dump waste wherever they could. The practice further polluted Gaza’s already contaminated shoreline and groundwater supplies.

Furthermore, Israel’s blockade of commercial goods has caused such scarcity that a 2.6-ounce bar of soap costs $10, while shampoo and laundry detergent are unavailable. Israel has blocked organizations such as Doctors Without Borders from importing hygiene kits. U.S. health care workers who volunteered in Gaza recently reported that since October 2023, basic sanitation items have been unavailable even in hospitals.

Hydration is an acute challenge for Palestinians in Gaza, too. Proper rehydration for those suffering from intestinal diseases is impossible. International humanitarian law requires that civilian infrastructure related to water and civilian access to water be protected. However, since October 2023, people in Gaza have had access to only 6 percent of the water they had prior to the war. Israel has cut or undersupplied water lines that run into Gaza. It has also banned fuel from entering the strip, blocked the transfer of bottled water, compromised local desalination capacity, and destroyed water warehouses. That means that 95 percent of people in Gaza currently have no access to clean water.

Oxfam estimated in July that Palestinians in al-Mawasi could access only 2.5 liters of water per person per day when only 1 million people were sheltering there, far below the international standard of 15 liters per person per day in a humanitarian crisis. Repairing water delivery systems is dangerous in Gaza; the Israeli military recently bombed a car carrying Palestinian water engineers attempting to repair infrastructure, killing four people, despite the fact that they had coordinated their movements with Israel.

Malnutrition and starvation weaken a person’s immune system and ability to heal from injuries. They also permanently impair children’s development. Most people who die of starvation succumb to otherwise trivial infections due to weakened immunity. Widespread malnutrition and starvation have left Gaza’s entire population vulnerable to waterborne disease, especially children under 5. Recent reports place 86 percent of Gaza’s population in phases three to five of acute food insecurity, where mortality increases significantly.

Amid flooding, displaced people are also at grave risk for exposure to environmental hazards such as toxic sludge, as rainwater combines with the rubble of bombed-out buildings. Exposure-related hypothermia and pneumonia will become additional problems, particularly for children. Nighttime temperatures of 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which are typical of winters in Gaza, are not harmful to adequately sheltered people—but young, sick, older, and malnourished people whose clothes are continuously wet will slowly die in such conditions.

The Biden administration has recognized that winter rains and flooding portend a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza—unless Israel significantly eases its stranglehold on the territory. On Oct. 13, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent the Israeli government a letter with clear and specific criteria related to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, to be met within 30 days. “Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for U.S. policy,” they wrote.

The letter listed measures on which Israel was obligated to act to avoid potentially triggering legal provisions that would halt U.S. weapons transfers. Blinken and Austin further specified that proposed legislation in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to ban activities by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) “would devastate the Gaza humanitarian response.”

Those 30 days elapsed on Nov. 12, but Israel has facilitated less than 15 percent of the specified aid delivery goal. Humanitarian aid deliveries are at their lowest levels in 11 months. “Israel’s actions failed to meet any of the specific criteria set out in the U.S. letter,” a coalition of eight international aid organizations wrote in a detailed “Gaza Scorecard.”

Israel not only failed to meet the U.S. criteria but also took action that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in northern Gaza. On Oct. 28, the Knesset banned UNRWA from any activity in Israel, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, or Gaza. Still, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Nov. 12 that “we at this time have not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of U.S. law.”

The Gaza Health Ministry has reported 43,985 Palestinian deaths since Oct. 7, 2023, of which 70 percent are women and children. Though ongoing hostilities and the decimation of Gaza’s medical facilities complicate precise recording, available data indicates that Israeli military action has directly and indirectly killed at least 118,908 people. Drawing on comparisons to other conflicts, one public health scholar estimated that by the end of 2024, a total of 335,500 Palestinians may have died since the beginning of the war.

A growing list of U.N. institutions and experts, governments, rights groups, and scholars have labeled Israel’s actions in Gaza as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Mitigating the imminent winter catastrophe in Gaza would require at the very least a cease-fire, a surge of aid deliveries, safe access for humanitarian and engineering teams, and the entry of fuel. Israel has staunchly refused to allow such moves in the past, arguing that they would aid Hamas.

Only extreme U.S. pressure on the Israeli government can achieve these ends. Since Israel has not responded to the Biden administration’s calls to protect civilians in Gaza, the United States should take decisive action by halting arms transfers and jet fuel deliveries. In line with recommendations from Human Rights Watch and other international organizations, Washington could also apply targeted sanctions on Israeli officials “credibly implicated in ongoing serious violations.”

For now, the United States is increasingly out of step with international institutions and its own allies in its support for Israel. This week, the U.S. Senate rejected legislation designed to restrict weapons sales to Israel, and Washington vetoed an otherwise unanimous U.N. Security Council cease-fire resolution. On Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the crime of starvation.

The impending winter rains will place hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza in immediate and entirely avoidable lethal jeopardy. There is a very narrow window for action. A massive humanitarian effort now could save hundreds of thousands of lives. This may be the last opportunity for the Biden administration to make a difference in Gaza.

[monster-fluffery]

Monster Lover Book Review!(18+)

“Whispers of the Deep” and “Song of the Abyss”

Author: Emma Hamm

Book Length: 381 Pages

SPOILER WARNING!!

Description on the Back - Whispers of the Deep

“One of the many engineers that keeps Beta, the city under the sea, running, Mira only wants to make her family proud and to prove herself worthy. She knows the mysterious city better than anyone and it’s her dream to help it flourish.

But then, on a solo job in an abandoned section of the city, she encounters a monster of legend. An undine. A dangerous merman from an ancient civilization, long forgotten.

Arges has fought his entire life for his people. With deadly creatures under his control, he plans to eradicate Beta once and for all to protect his kind and their peaceful way of life. But when a human woman saves him, she unknowingly creates a bond between them, one he can’t ignore. Even though her flaming red hair haunts his dreams, he needs her for information on the undine’s enemies.

So he steals her. Keeps her. Feeds her. Only to realize their bond is far deeper than captor and captive. He cannot let her go—but he cannot keep her under the sea. In a battle to determine if love can survive a war beneath the waves, it will be their decision that changes the tides.”

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

My Rating

5 Stars!

Why do I like it so much?

This is actually my favorite book series! It was the third monster lover book I had picked up. Compared to the others, it dialed back on the “spice” and it focused heavily on the characters, their differences, the stories before each other, and both sides of the coin are developed in a very intricate way! You can tell the author has put her heart and soul into her works. For a good portion of the book, Arges and Mira couldn’t even speak to each other. Yet, even with the communication barrier.. All of their interactions were interesting! I’ve never finished a book so fast in my life.

Not only this, but the book itself is made beautifully. The author is against AI artwork (as far as I’m aware) and all of the artwork within her books are commissioned from other artists! From the covers, to the inner cover, and every chapter page has a sketch of the pairing involved with beautiful decor. Her books are pretty to look at and the stories are so interesting that it doesn’t take away from the focus!

I also really enjoyed the technology of the setting Mira came from. She is from an underwater city called “Beta” and there are other underwater cities we will and have seen in other books so far! The way the author describes each setting is utterly captivating. Not to mention, our protagonist is accompanied by a little robot programmed with its own emotions! It’s magnificently written and charming!

I also really like the detail of the species of merman themselves. The merfolk call themselves “People of Water” while the humans call them Undines. The merfolk also call humans “Achromos”. This was another detail I very much enjoyed!

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

Numerical Ratings

Storyline: 9/10

Interaction: 10/10

World Building: 10/10

Spiciness Rating (Amount): 5/10

Spiciness Rating (Enjoyment): 10/10

Would I read it again? ABSOLUTELY.

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

What about the Other Book(s)?

All I can say about this is that the 2nd book is just as good, if not even better than the first! If you enjoy Whispers of the Deep.. You will enjoy Song of the Abyss!

Not only this.. but the 3rd book will be available in November of 2024!

There may or may not be a 4th book planned as well if I’m remembering correctly!

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

Where can I buy/read this Book?

These books are available on

🪼Emma Hamm’s Website

🪼Amazon

🪼Emma Hamm’s Tik Tok Shop

Formats of Book

🪼Paperback/Hardcover (I recommend!)

🪼E-Book/Kindle

🪼Audio Book

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

Emma Hamm’s Website

I hope you enjoy! Feel free to Recommend Books! 🪼

[chussyracing]

what has been happening in the world of motorsports lately?

F1 Academy will have their own Netflix show with Reese Witherspoon

Courtney Crone joined F1 Academy this weekend as a wildcard entry for QVC

Ruth Buscombe joined F1TV experts for the rest of the season as she serves her gardening leave

Newey has been set aside from the RBR F1 project with immediate effect, he will focus on their hypercar project after Miami to avoid access to any information about 2025 and especially 2026 car prospects

reports of James Vowles meeting with Adrian Newey before Miami appeared, so some journals are speculating about him going to Williams in the future

rumours about Jonathan Wheatley possibly leaving RBR, which have been reported by a few journals, were denied by RBR

Pierre Waché signed a new contract expiring at the end of 2028 with RBR according to Racingnews365 (they say he signed a contract in 2023 but in the recent news and destabilization of the team, he extended this February)

12 members of US Congress wrote an open letter to Liberty Media over the lack of clarity over failed Andretti F1 entry and they are referencing Sherman Antitrust Act

Guenther Steiner is suing Haas for profit, which they owe him for using his image in promotional material

McLaren announced eBay as another official partner of the team

Ferrari Museum is now listed on Airbnb among "icons", the package includes VIP tickets for Imola with Marc Gene, dinner at Cavallino, private tour of Ferrari Museum, hot lap at Fiorano and a sleepover in a bed directly in the museum

Ferrari will bring their biggest upgrade package so far this season in Imola during the next GP

as a part of events remembering Senna and Ratzensberger, Seb Vettel will driver Senna's 1993 McLaren MP4/8 during the race weekend

Netflix posted a teaser for a new short Senna series

Spanish media (or Antonio Lobato specifically) speculated that Carlos Sainz has denied the Audi offer to which Carlos responded that he is still in talks with multiple teams

Valtteri Bottas' race engineer was fire before Miami without any previous discussion with Valtteri - it is a part of the structural changes before the team becomes Audi (probably also considering drivers, because he also said he is talking to teams and has options to stay in F1)

FIA confirmed they received the official request to allow Kimi Antonelli to race before he turns 18 and the voting process will follow, because multiple parties have to make up a decision which demands a rule change

Kimi Antonelli and Mick Schumacher will test W13 in Silverstone for a direct comparison of the two, James Vowles denied Kimi will be driving in Logan's car in Imola in an interview with Lawrence Baretto and then Williams representative spoke to Will Buxton and said they will not be commenting on driver contracts at this time

Fernando Alonso wants to meet up with Ben Sulayem over harsh penalties for Spanish drivers

Aston Martin's right to review the penalty from China has been dismissed (TLDR they submitted a new angle but the evidence wasn't deemed as substantial and new)

after F1 commission postponed the decision over a possible rule change to award 12 point positions instead of just 10, they will now evaluate 20 scored positions instead

stewards asked for a rule change after Kevin's track terrorism this whole weekend lmao

Alpine's upgrades for Imola put them to the weight limit for the first time this season (congrats Este on the singular point)

Lewis drove W12 in New York as a part of the WhatsApp partnership, which also saw the app changing red formula emoji to Mercedes colors

[aedesluminis]

Napoléon Bonaparte on Lazare Carnot

Carnot, born in Burgundy, had entered very young the corps of engineers, and shewed himself an advocate of the System of Montalembert. He was considered by his companions an eccentric character, and was already a knight of the order of St. Louis when the Revolution begun, the principles of which he warmly espoused. He became a member of the convention, and was one of the Comité de Salut public with Robespierre, Barère, Couthon, Saint-Just, Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d' Herbois, &c. He shewed himself particularly inveterate against the nobility, and found himself in consequence, frequently engaged in quarrels with Robespierre, who, towards the close of his lite, had taken a great many nobles under his protection.

Carnot was laborious, sincere on every occasion, but unaccustomed to intrigue, and easily deceived. He was attached to Jourdan, as commissioner from the Convention, at the time Jourdan " was employed in relieving the town of Mentz, " which was besieged ; and he rendered some services on the occasion. At the Comité de Salut public, he directed the operations of the war, and was found useful, but he had neither experience nor practice in the affairs of war. He shewed on every occasion a great strength of mind.

After the events of Thermidor, when the Convention caused all the members of the Comité de Salut public to be arrested, with the exception of himself, Carnot insisted upon sharing their fate. This conduct was the more noble, inasmuch as public opinion had pronounced itself violently against the Comité. He was named member of the Directory after Vendemiaire; but after the 9th Thermidor his mind was deeply affected by the reproaches of public opinion, which accused the Comité of ail the blood which had flowed on the scaffold. lie felt the necessity of gaining esteem, and believing that he took the lead, he suffered himself to be led by some of those who directed the party from abroad. His merit was then extolled to the skies, but he did not deserve the praises of the enemies of France; he found himself placed in a critical situation, and fell in Fructidor.

After the 18th Brumaire, Carnot was recalled by the First Consul and placed in the department of war; he had several quarrels with the minister of the finances, and Dufresnes the director of the treasury, in which it is but fair to say that he was always in the wrong. At last he left the department, persuaded that it could no longer go on for want of money.

When a member of the Tribunate, he spoke and voted against the establishment of the Empire; but his conduct, open and manly, gave no uneasiness to the administration. At a later period he was appointed chief inspector of reviews, and received from the Emperor on his retiring from the service a pension of twenty thousand francs. As Iong as things went on prosperously, the Emperor heard nothing of him; but after the campaign of Russia, at the time of the disasters of France, Carnot asked to be employed ; he was appointed to command the town of Antwerp, and he behaved well at his post. On his return in 1815, the Emperor, after a little hesitation, appointed him to be minister of the interior, and had no cause to repent of having done so; he found him faithful, laborious, full of probity, and always sincere. In the months of June, Carnot was named one of the Commission of the Provisional Government, but being unfit for the place, he was duped.

— Las Cases, Memorial of Saint Helena, English edition (1823), p. 139-142

[willowreader]

https://www.healthcentral.com/condition/coronavirus/long-covid-is-a-chronic-disease

Yes, Covid is a chronic disease.

NEWSLETTERS

Medically Reviewed

It’s Official: Long COVID Is a Chronic Disease

A new report from the Social Security Administration and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine confirms that COVID can cause long-term illness and, for some, permanent disability. We spoke to one of the report’s leading scientists.

Updated Jun 21, 2024

By

Michele G. Sullivan

Medical ReviewerTabitha Woolpert, M.D., M.P.H.



Getty Images/wildpixel

Editor's note: HealthCentral first asked the question, “What If COVID Is Chronic?“ in early 2021. Millions were living with unusual, life-upending, and sometimes painful post-infection symptoms of COVID-19 that lingered for many weeks or months—even after a negative test suggested they’d cleared the virus. From those early days, we made it our mission to chronicle the emerging science of long COVID, documenting an increasing body of research that suggested long COVID might be a new category of chronic disease. In June 2024, the scientific community announced that for some, COVID can indeed be a chronic disease.

A new 265-page report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, commissioned by the Social Security Administration, confirms what some scientists have long suspected: Infection from COVID can lead to lingering symptoms and long-term, possibly permanent disability. The report officially categorizes long COVID as a chronic condition that requires new and better ways to diagnose it, treat it, and help pay to manage it as we continue to learn to co-exist with the threat that this ever-mutating virus brings to us, now and in the future.

Symptoms of chronic COVID, per the report, include shortness of breath, cough, persistent fatigue, difficulty concentrating, memory changes, recurring headache, lightheadedness, fast heart rate, sleep disturbance, problems with taste or smell, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea. These symptoms may present as diagnosable conditions including interstitial lung disease and hypoxemia, cardiovascular disease and arrhythmias, cognitive impairment, mood disorders, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and more.

[bisphenol-a]

San Francisco closed the lid Sunday on the saga of a $1.7 million public restroom. To commemorate the commode’s installation, residents celebrated at a “potty party” they called the Toilet Bowl.

Lookie-loos lined up in the Noe Valley Town Square to give the loo a whirl. A band played songs including “Sloop John B” by the Beach Boys. (“This is a song about a john!” the band leader explained.) Children sipped lemonade and ate chocolate cupcakes while they tossed bean bags into plastic training potties on the ground.

San Francisco may have been a laughingstock over the news that it planned to spend $1.7 million to construct a single public restroom with a sink and toilet, getting skewered by late-night comedians and inspiring the “it” costume at Halloween parties.

But on Sunday, the city got the last laugh.

“We wanted to, you know, really roll with it,” said Zach D’Angelo, dressed as a giant roll of toilet paper with a red plunger as his hat. D’Angelo, the host of Tuesday night trivia at a pub down the street, served as the Toilet Bowl’s emcee — or, as he put it, the Grand Poobah.

“I am flush with excitement!” he exclaimed before he started telling toilet jokes that he said he had gotten from his 7-year-old nephew.

The mood wasn’t quite so lighthearted in October 2022 when city officials announced a news conference in the Noe Valley Town Square to celebrate securing $1.7 million in state funds to build the 150-square-foot restroom — enough money to buy a whole single-family house in the city.

The square was built in 2016 with outdoor seating, a playground and plumbing for a public toilet, but no actual toilet, because money for the project had fallen short.

Just as puzzling as the price tag was the timeline. The city said it would take two to three years to install the restroom, even after it secured the state funds.

Neighbors and a local journalist (well, me) began to question the details of the project. City officials explained the toilet would have to be approved by numerous city commissions. It would also be subject to environmental review. All that, plus the high cost of construction in the city, made the project expensive and time-consuming.

Politicians began distancing themselves from the bathroom brouhaha. Gov. Gavin Newsom took back the state money.

Then, Chad Kaufman, president of the Public Restroom Company, offered to donate a modular toilet instead. He and Vaughan Buckley, the chief executive of Volumetric Building Companies, paid for architecture and engineering work to get the site ready. They also paid for a truck to carry the modular toilet to the square, a crane to lift it into place and union labor to install it.

The tab for the city dropped to $200,000, and Mayor London Breed announced legislation that she said would help bring down the cost of other public projects. It would let city departments team up to get group discounts on goods and services for small jobs. The state gave the $1.7 million back to San Francisco again, and the city says it will be used to build more toilets.

In the end, the new red restroom in the Noe Valley Town Square was worthy of celebration. On Sunday, a woman doled out toilet trivia. Local librarians handed out free copies of children’s books entitled “Everyone Poops” and “Time to Use the Potty.” There was a toilet-themed costume contest with whoopee cushions as prizes.

Three San Francisco politicians — Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, State Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblyman Matt Haney — addressed the crowd. Haney posed for a photo in front of the bathroom.

“It’s not gold-plated, but it’s worth its weight in gold,” he said with a laugh.

Debra Niemann, director of the Noe Valley Association, a neighborhood improvement group, said she didn’t think the toilet travails had done much to make city projects, including public restrooms, any cheaper to build.

“But at least we got one,” she said. “It’s beautiful. It’s clean. It’s simple. It’s everything you could want in a public toilet.”

[azeeyfinance]

Making money through blogging involves a combination of creating high-quality content, growing an audience, and monetizing your blog effectively.

Making money through blogging involves a combination of creating high-quality content, growing an audience, and monetizing your blog effectively. Here are some strategies to help you get started:

1. Choose a Profitable Niche

Pick a niche that you're passionate about but also has a potential audience interested in it. Popular niches include:

Personal finance

Health and fitness

Travel

Lifestyle

Technology

Food

Fashion

Ensure there's enough demand for content in that area and that you can create consistent, valuable content.

2. Build Your Audience

Consistent Content: Publish regularly and ensure your content is high quality. Write blog posts that address your audience’s problems or needs.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Optimize your content to rank in search engines like Google. Research keywords relevant to your niche and use them strategically in your posts.

Social Media: Promote your blog on social platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook to reach more people and drive traffic to your blog.

Email Marketing: Create an email list to nurture a dedicated audience. You can offer free resources like eBooks or checklists in exchange for email sign-ups.

3. Monetize Your Blog

There are several ways to make money from your blog:

a) Affiliate Marketing

Join affiliate programs where you promote other people's products and earn a commission for each sale made through your referral link.

Some popular affiliate programs include Amazon Associates, ShareASale, and CJ Affiliate.

Write reviews, how-to guides, or round-up lists with affiliate links.

b) Display Ads

You can make money by displaying ads on your blog. Google AdSense is a popular network that places ads on your site and pays you based on impressions or clicks.

The more traffic you have, the higher your potential earnings.

c) Sponsored Posts

Companies might pay you to write blog posts about their products or services.

Build a strong enough readership, and brands will reach out to you directly, or you can pitch to them.

d) Sell Products or Services

Digital Products: Create and sell eBooks, printables, courses, or guides.

Physical Products: If relevant to your niche, you can sell physical goods or branded merchandise.

Services: Offer services such as consulting, coaching, or freelance writing if you have expertise in your niche.

e) Membership or Subscription

Offer premium content to your audience for a monthly or yearly fee. You can create a membership area on your blog where subscribers get access to exclusive resources.

Examples include Patreon or building a private community for paid members.

f) Freelance Blogging

If you have good writing skills, offer freelance blogging services to other businesses. Many companies hire freelance bloggers to write for their websites, and you can earn by working with them.

g) Create a Course or Webinar

If you have expertise in your niche, create a course or webinar and sell it on platforms like Teachable, Udemy, or directly on your blog.

4. Grow Your Traffic

Collaborate with Others: Guest post on other blogs, collaborate with influencers in your niche, or participate in blogger round-ups.

Use Pinterest: For niches like lifestyle, food, fashion, and travel, Pinterest is a powerful tool to drive traffic. Design eye-catching pins that link to your blog.

Paid Advertising: Once you’ve optimized your content and built some organic traffic, consider investing in paid ads (Google Ads, Facebook Ads) to boost traffic further.

5. Optimize for Conversion

Clear Call-to-Action: Whether it's signing up for an email list, buying a product, or clicking an affiliate link, make sure your blog has clear CTAs (calls to action) to guide your audience toward the next step.

A/B Testing: Experiment with different designs, headlines, and strategies to see what resonates best with your audience and leads to higher conversions.

6. Track and Scale

Use analytics tools (like Google Analytics) to track your traffic, identify top-performing content, and make data-driven decisions.

As your blog grows, consider outsourcing tasks (e.g., content writing, social media management) to focus on scaling your income.

Summary of Monetization Methods:

Affiliate Marketing

Display Ads (e.g., Google AdSense)

Sponsored Posts

Selling Products/Services (Digital or Physical)

Membership or Subscription

Freelance Blogging

Creating and Selling Courses/Webinars

By combining these methods, consistently producing valuable content, and growing your audience, you can turn blogging into a profitable venture.

[jotadoul]

🥰 anka and i are sharing a prion disease right now so we're rewatching the JJBA OVA. and okay. maybe it was the weed but i think it might be... i think it's my favourite thing ever made. that's ever existed. for all time. it's my favourite thing that exists. my favourite thing that Is. it really does makes me feel exactly like the ending of HEAT... LOL and i'm serious about this. it's like a stun gun or like being sandblasted where i'm shot outside of my body helpless to what's happening. horrible feeling and i love it very much.

and i feel soooooooo fucking VINDICATED because i dug deep into japanese forums + blogs and found people celebrating it ;__; there are discussions from this year (2024) even! people agree that it's gorgeous and that if you're going to watch (or even read) any version, it should be this one. that it rewards you on rewatches... which is true. every time i see it, i find something new, some extra bit of care that goes toward the structure of the mood. so many subtle movements in the acting, so much elegance to the balance of exposition in the dialogue. mainly in the japanese version, but it's not like it's lost in the english dub, just different. the voice actors did an amazing job with tone— notably there's this shaky tightness in Jotaro's voice during moments of fear/stress that enhances his expressions, actions.

i found people talking about the tension, acting, a wonderful review on the use of shifting, dynamic lighting throughout the OVA, the way the sound design— engineered by Skywalker Sound with score by a very young (~19) Marco D'Ambrosio— fills in SO MUCH for the animation with tasteful specificity in implying things like unique weight for footsteps, for Avdol's rings, or how the sound of Geb is like a strange layered scream. and fortunately found many people talking about being in awe of n'doul's humanity and how he has serious rizz lol and that he, in any version, is the only serious sobering moment of the glory gods... WAAAAH then i come on twitter or whatever and people are like "looks like shit, worst fight in the thing," and it's like jesus h. christ get a LIFE. i'm sorry you were tricked and lied to, but bad taste can be fixed if you just open your heart a little.

i do not feel moved whatsoever to watch the rest of the TV series (i made it up to the hunting episode of DIU.) something can be faithful and also a major downgrade, by intending to be as faithful as possible, misses the elements that make it what it is. besides, modern anime looks like real shit right now and i won't force myself through it solely because it exists. but i love this adaptation. i would rather see a beautiful interpretation that prioritises an effective, effecting mood, that tries to compromise with purpose and synthesise the source into what an animated version— the short film that this is— can do for it. what the form can heighten. there are little movements, upticks in speed or anxious stillness. the breathless timing and gravity of jotaro touching down and star platinum ripping right out of him like a major leaguer performing another major league hit. n'doul reacting to iggy, jumping slightly while kneeling. jotaro wiping off his fingers with a hanky and then rubbing them together. the entire scene with polnareff on the crates. oh GOD and the opening with the inverted sun... the cane... the cane scene cannot Not destroy you, be honest.

why did they include the red granite obelisk, notably from aswan, one of which was at one time commissioned by hadrian for his boyfriend antinous who drowned in the nile? that didn't have to be there, but isn't it beautiful? (and they put the eye hieroglyph right where we can see it... uuugh.) never mind the actual canonical content, with jotaro and n'doul mutually captivated, delighted, by each other's skill until the end. it's so painful knowing the inevitable outcome but it still somehow sneaks up on you with the way it's paced and i love to be rocked by it every time. the only guy ever to be spared on purpose— respecting him that much! and the respect is mutual! jesus, his monologue! he's the only one to be mourned. THE only one to be buried. by hand. alone. the fight begins under high noon sun and the burial completes at dusk. he's 17. fuck me.

i love when a story is never allowed to fully wrap up into the typical "and it was all worth it!" sort of vibe, which, in a way, is what happens, but it never rises to the point where... where that positivity matches the intensity of what was shown to you previously, or that those losses are meant to be forgotten in the wake of righteousness. and as far as i can recall, this is something araki has perfected over time. i'm thinking about the brutal bit in DIU with josuke carrying? dragging? okuyasu, and the particulars of kira's fate. but i'm REALLY thinking of VA, with giorno &co. in the office, and the epilogue. and then obviously SO. and then SBR. and JJL. this approach, the bittersweet heartache or outright mourning, has become a precise weapon and i can see the through-line from SDC. now that i've watched HEAT i can see why araki said that he cries every time he watches it. it's wrenching. and a big part of that is that you don't necessarily expect it because of genre or style flourishes, and that's really special. to be caught unawares, because you were already caught, you've been caught this whole time and now you have to take it.

i now know that yeah. yes. this is The definition of a special interest. because i have to, must, rotate this object in my head compulsively and purposefully so i can see every angle and crevice. i intuitively understand that i shouldn't be so bowled over and bitchy about it after so many years, sooo many years, but i can't help it! you like what you like and this is the benchmark. it pains me that it is so finite. that i've confusingly hung my heart on something that no one on earth could give one (1) solitary fuck about, and therefor there is an abrupt end to material. so i AM left rotating shapes in my head sussing out indentations in the form. kinda crazy. but fighting against it is maybe more punishing in a way.

this fight was chosen as the opening to the OVA because it's one where everyone is present. this fight was also going to be the entirety of the OVA, but araki liked it so much he requested more episodes 🥰💕

[reachartwork]

Superhuman Geometeorological Engineering Regulation Act of 2012

Section 1: Short Title

This Act may be cited as the "Superhuman Geometeorological Engineering Regulation Act of 2012."

Section 2: Definitions

(a) Geometeorological Engineering: The use of superhuman abilities to deliberately manipulate or alter weather patterns, atmospheric conditions, geological structures, or related environmental phenomena, beyond the scope of non-superhuman interventions such as cloud seeding, weather modification, or geoengineering.

(b) Weather Control: The specific superhuman ability to influence, direct, or modify meteorological conditions such as temperature, precipitation, wind, or atmospheric pressure, in a manner or scale that exceeds the capabilities of non-superhuman weather modification techniques.

(c) Geological Manipulation: The superhuman ability to alter, shape, or influence geological structures, including but not limited to the formation or modification of landforms, seismic activity, or volcanic processes, beyond the scope of non-superhuman geoengineering or geological engineering practices.

(d) Superhuman Geometeorological Intervention Scale (SGIS): A quantitative measure developed by the Superhuman Geometeorological Engineering Commission (SGEC) to assess the magnitude, extent, and potential impact of superhuman geometeorological engineering activities. The SGIS ranges from 1 (minimal intervention) to 10 (global-scale alteration).

Section 3: Licensing and Oversight

(a) Establishment of the Superhuman Geometeorological Engineering Commission (SGEC): A federal regulatory body under the National Superhuman Response Agency (NSRA) to oversee and regulate geometeorological engineering activities conducted by superhumans.

(b) Licensing Requirement: Superhumans engaging in geometeorological engineering must obtain a license from the SGEC. This license is separate from and in addition to the general License to Utilize Metahuman Abilities (LUMA).

(c) Licensing Criteria: To obtain a license, applicants must meet the following requirements:

Possession of a master's degree or higher in atmospheric sciences, geology, environmental sciences, or a related field from an accredited university.

Completion of a rigorous SGEC-approved training program on the scientific, environmental, and ethical aspects of geometeorological engineering.

Demonstration of mastery over their specific geometeorological abilities through a series of SGEC-administered tests and simulations.

Thorough understanding of potential environmental impacts and commitment to adhering to SGEC regulations and best practices.

Passing a comprehensive background check and psychological evaluation to ensure mental fitness and ethical conduct.

(d) Ongoing Monitoring and Reporting: Licensed individuals are subject to regular performance reviews, mandatory continuing education, and must submit detailed reports of their activities to the SGEC on a quarterly basis.

Want to read more? Check it out on the official Chum website! Today!

[miloscat]

[Review] Antonball Deluxe (NS)

Wario meets Arkanoid meets Punch Ball Mario Bros.!

Having wrapped up my Wario Land fest, I picked this out of my backlog due to it taking some inspiration from the big goof. Summitsphere had previously published Annalynn, which models itself on arcade classics of the early 80s, and this likewise remixes ideas from retro games both popular and niche. Their next game is actually a direct Wario Land homage, but it's not out yet!

Antonball started as a pair of Game Boy homebrews made in just a few days: one a mashup of brick breaking platforming, and the other an expansion on Hudson's Punch Ball Mario Bros., which is itself a neat little remix of Mario Bros. but with a ball projectile. Antonball Deluxe fleshes both of these out, and adds a head-to-head brick-breaking Pong-esque multiplayer mode reminiscent of one of the faux-retro games in the underrated Game Center CX 3. All in all it's a nice package.

The Wario inspiration comes in the design of the main character Anton and the general tone, as well as a shoulder-barge attack that can be used in mid-air. You can also do a high-jump that looks a bit like the backflip in Donkey Kong 94 (you see, this game is very citational!). In the primary game mode, you use your moves to platform around the single-screen stages in order to body block the bouncing ball and break all the bricks. Sometimes there are enemies or hazards to avoid, and powerups to claim. There are 30 stages but I wasn't able to finish them all, as it gets super hard and it's all too easy to let balls slip past you.

I had a better time with the Punch Ball mode, whose story focuses on Anton's coworker Annie. Annie was specifically added as an equal but feminine counterpart to Anton's Wario-like depravity and goblin charisma, something the Wario series itself has always lacked. There are actually a bunch of unlockable characters, by the way, that you can freely use in any mode including the Waluigi-esque Danton, versions of Anton in different art styles, Anton's dog and Annie's cat, guests from other indie games, and—my favourite—the punny "Ant on Ball". It's an ant on a ball.

Punch Ball by its nature is less twitchy and more about carefully manoeuvring and stunning enemies with the ball so you can knock them out, with a variety of foes with different behaviours, some even interacting with the ball in interesting ways. Some clever level design gives you another 30 stages of fun in a quite different format, even though it uses the same movement engine and controls. The Switch version I played also comes bundled with what was DLC on PC, with two extra joke characters and level packs based on the original Game Boy homebrews.

Silly designs and jokey art permeate this collection, and the interstitial cutscenes add a lot of character to this wacky little world and its denizens. Full disclosure, the illustration and some cutscene art was done by my friend Cameron Reigle (hire him! commission him!), but even if I didn't know him I would be in love with the art in this game, from the goofy cutscenes to the moody backgrounds to the chunky pixel art. It's actually a shame for me that the sequel is going in a slightly different direction artistically, because the look of Antonball is so much fun (there's a grid filter on by default, but it looked better to me when I turned it off)!

I'm impressed by how Antonball was able to hone in on specific mechanics from retro games and remix them in such fun ways. It comes together really well in this package, even if I think the progression in the Antonball mode could have been a bit more merciful. I couldn't engage much with Vs. mode on my own, but I have no complaints for Punch Ball mode, it's great. Actually speaking of multiplayer, both of the solo modes can be tackled in simultaneous co-op with up to four players, which is nice. What else can I say? Check it out!