#electric gate motor

[rhk111sblog]

Vietnam's Agricultural Exports to China has already reached Usd 6.2 billion in the first nine Months of 2023 as both Countries vowed to even enhance even more their Military Cooperation and Exchanges. Both Vietnam and China also started allowing Tourist Vehicles to pass thru the Borders of their Countries; A Chinese Carmaker opened it first Electric Vehicle (EV) Factory in Thailand as Thailand asks to speed up the construction of the China-Thailand Railway which will be under China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Program

[ironmengatesdoorsdesign]

Revolutionize Your Property's Entry with Automatic Gates from IRON MEN GATES & DOORS DESIGN

Transform your property into a welcoming and safe haven with the help of automatic gates from IRON MEN GATES & DOORS DESIGN! We understand how important it is to have an entry system that not only looks great, but also provides added security for you and your family. Our custom-designed solutions provide optimal protection while enhancing the look of your home or business. Whether you are looking for a captivating wrought iron gate or a modern aluminum design, we've got something that will perfectly fit your style and budget. Let us show you how easy it is to revolutionize your space with automatic gates from IRON MEN GATES & DOORS DESIGN!

IRON MEN GATES & DOORS DESIGN  5520 Wilshire Blvd UNIT 208, Los Angeles, CA 90036 (844) 997-7555 https://ironmengatesandfencing.com/ https://iron-men-gatesdoors-design.business.site/ https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=87a8fa9d-55e1-476e-be9a-a85ff61aa556&cp=34.061417~-118.353968&lvl=16&imgid=095636c1-d736-4ff3-8ccd-9d1898142efa&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027

[fionayao2008]

Tripod Turnstile Overview Tripod Turnstile, Swing Turnstile, and also Flap Turnstile( RS Security Co., Ltd: www.szrssecurity.com) are modern control tools for pedestrian flows. They are made use of in places where the entry as well as leave of people need to be regulated, such as smart areas, canteens, resorts, galleries, gyms, clubs, trains, stations, docks, etc location. Using Tripod Turnstile, Swing Turnstile, as well as Flap Turnstile can make the flow of people organized. Tripod Turnstile, Swing Turnstile, Flap Turnstile are used in mix with smart cards, finger prints, barcodes and other identification system equipment to develop an intelligent access control channel control system; they are made use of in mix with computer systems, access control, participation, charging administration, ticket systems and also various other software application to create a The intelligent Turnstile Gate thorough management system can recognize features such as access control, presence, intake, ticketing, as well as current restricting. This Turnstile Gate monitoring system becomes part of the "all-in-one card" as well as is installed at passages such as neighborhoods, factories, smart structures, canteens, and so on. It can finish numerous monitoring features such as staff member card travel control, presence at leave job and also dishes, and also dining. Tripod Turnstile system functions Fast and practical: check out the card in and out with one swipe. Use the accredited IC card and wave it before the clever Tripod Turnstile reader to finish the Tripod Turnstile gate opening and also charge recording work. The card reading is non-directional and the reading and writing time is 0.1 seconds, which is fast and also convenient. Protection as well as discretion: Use background or regional confirmation, licensed issuance, and special identity, that is, the card can only be used in this system, and it is private and also risk-free. Dependability: Card radio frequency induction, dependable and also stable, with the capacity to court and also believe. Adaptability: The system can flexibly set entry and also leave control employees permissions, amount of time control, cardholder legitimacy as well as blacklist loss coverage, adding cards and various other features. Adaptability: Through consent, the individual card can be made use of for "one-card" management such as vehicle parking, participation, accessibility control, patrol, intake, and so on, making it very easy to recognize numerous uses one card. Simpleness: Easy to install, straightforward to attach, the software application has a Chinese interface and is very easy to run. Tripod Turnstile, Swing Turnstile, and also Flap Turnstile( RS Security Co., Ltd: www.szrssecurity.com) are modern-day control devices for pedestrian passages. The use of Tripod Turnstile, Swing Turnstile, and Flap Turnstile can make the flow of people organized. Make use of the authorized IC card and wave it in front of the wise Tripod Turnstile visitor to finish the Tripod Turnstile gate opening and cost recording work.

[rudhargroupindia]

Industrial Sliding Gate Manufacturer in India

Industrial sliding gates designed and fabricated with special square or rectangular hollow sections, along with MS sheets and flats assembled by high qualitywelding. Gates are aesthetically pleasing and the pre-tensioning of the gate leaf fabrication reduces the risk of bending and variousrange of models for gates weighing from 300 kg to 8000kg.

Automatic sliding gate plays an important role by preventing unauthorized entry by intruders into the residential as well as business premises. With high tech mechanisms and solid security, automatic sliding gate proves to be very safety in private and industrial application.

Single phase electronic (230 V) & Three phase electronic (400 V) ensures maximum performances even under adverse conditions, thanks to greater dynamic Torqueduring the initial phase ofoperation. Hi-Tech electronic control unit permits operation time adjustment, partial opening, automatic closing, step by step control, stop safety, reverse safety etc...

Telescopic Sliding Gate

Telescopic sliding gates are ideal for sites where maximum opening is required and back space is restricted due to structural conditions.

The gates are Fabricated with multi leaves which makes it possible to achieve maximum clear opening as compared to conventional sliding gate.

These gates have extremely robust fabrication with high level of security makingthem suitable for mostapplications.

All basic components of gates such asguide brackets, guide rollers, bottom rail, wheels, bearings, limit stop etc are of highest quality standards which ensures very goodstability.

Cantilever Sliding Gate

Cantilever sliding gates are also known as hanging gates or trackless gates as they use concealed mechanical bearings instead of wheels for its operation and the entire Gate is balanced on two hangers eliminating the need of a track. They operate on concealed mechanical bearings instead of wheels which reduces the maintenance cost. The self-supporting cantilever gate is a collaboration of efficient manufacturing, design, and European technology.

The advantage of using cantilever sliding gates is that they have no ground track or foundation in the roadway hence ideal for road surfaces which are uneven or sloping and vehicle does not experience anybumps.Gate is not prone to getting blocked by leaves or dirt hence reduced maintenance.

Swing Gate

Automatics wing gates by Rudhar Group are fabricated to provide safety, suitability and security against unauthorized invasion. Artistically fabricated these gates are fabricated with square pipes encased in a pipe frame tailored to meet the client’s necessities and are finished with spraypainting.

Hi-tech electronic control unit licenses operation time adjustment, partial opening, automatic closing, step by step control, stop safety, reverse safety & many more such actions.

Retractable Gate

Eliminate the need to designate a sliding storage zone.

Gates made from high strength aluminiumalloy & mounted with sparkling silver, stainless steel, plasticplates.

Any drift sand or stone accumulated due to wind and rain will not affect the normal operation of gates.

Equipped with anti-crash intelligent infrared double detectors enable gates to automatically retract when a person or object is detected ensuringsafety.

Original Source: Motorized Gates

[amselectricpu]

Home security Company,

Website : https://www.amsefence.com

Address : plot No 60-F Block, Punjab Small Industries Corporative Housing Society, Lahore, Punjab

Phone +92 310 025 777 1

AMS Electric Fence Company registered since 2013, a certified ISO-9001 company in 51a, Ziegelhuttenstrasse, Babenhausen, Hesse, Germany. AMS certified Engineers always try to provide best security equipments according to modern era of world. AMS Electric Fence Company is Leading Electric Fence equipments Supply all over World. In 2013 start company with supply of electric fence products now in 2022 Walter Hans is the CEO of Company has manufacturing unit in German.

Walter Hans as C.E.O of Company always try to provide best security equipments in low as we can low provide rates with in best warranty period of electric fence energizer and accessories in all over world at wholesale rates.. C.E.O Message Products AMS Always try to provide complete solution of boundary wall security for top wall by smart electric fence in all over world according to below stated products line

Electric Fence Energizer Electric Fence Insulators Electric Fence SS Post & Support Electric Fence Indication Lights Electric Fence Warning Sign Plates Siren & battery Backup Wifi Module for remote Access High Tensioner Wires

[kaijuno]

Remember Tesla Cybertruck's oversized windshield wiper? The one that appears too large to exist, at least not without malfunctioning in some way? Well, it turns out that it is.

"On affected vehicles, the front windshield wiper motor controller may stop functioning due to electrical overstress to the gate driver component," the recall report says. "A non-functioning windshield wiper may reduce visibility in certain operating conditions, which may increase the risk of a collision."

This is not the Cybertruck's first recall rodeo. The company recalled all of the Cybertrucks it sold in April 2024 due to accelerator pad issues. Unlike many of Tesla's other recalls, which were easily solved with a software update, these Cybertruck recalls required a visit to a service center. All in all, Tesla has issued four Cybertruck recalls since the car went on sale in November of 2023

[kremlin]

how can an IC fab stepper motor move only 10nm per ste

for reference, this question is talking about machines called steppers that are used in the production of integrated circuits (you know, computer chips)

integrated circuit fabrication is, without a doubt, the most complex and involved behaviour humans have ever exhibited, and we're not going to go into it today, it is way too much. it happens in fabrication facilities which are vast campuses of buildings on the order of dozens and dozens of city blocks. to even get in most of those buildings you even need to wear a special bunny suit. anyways, there is obviously a lot of complicated, expensive equipment involved, but the one that takes the cake is the stepper. it's where the magic happens.

when people talk about chip sizes and moore's law and all that, they're talking about the smallest features we can print onto a chip, usually the transistor gate length. this is on the order of tens of nanometers currently. in order to achieve that, we have to have some device capable of working accurately & precisely down to the tens of nanometers. this is the stepper. it aligns photomasks accurately to such a degree for exposure. that is "the magic" i mentioned

the good modern steppers used in the production of, e.g. the intel i7 CPU in your computer are made by one company. they run about $200mm USD. lol:

with the cowling off:

inside this thing, photomasks are physically aligned, and their alignment has to be accurate to within nanometers, like i said. the straightforward answer to this question, is that such alignment is done with linear motors. we just build them to an insane degree of precision, and then control and drive them with ultra-high-accuracy electronics. fundamentally speaking, just like with a normal induction motor, you can measure the electrical characteristics of the windings during operation and deduce details about your rotor (or in this case, where your actuator is in space). if you use ultra-high-precision electronics, you get accordingly precise details. (like, where on the X axis your actuator is sitting)

these sorts of extremely niche motors, of course, also need a whole daughter industry to design and manufacturer. the stepper vendor doesn't just do that in-house. i found one such company. these things, or, these other things would be examples

[justkidneying]

Strychnine Poisoning

Strychnine (C21H22N2O2) is a neurotoxin that was once used as a medication, but is now used as a pesticide. It acts as a glycine antagonist, preventing the hyperpolarization through the normal mechanisms of ligand-gated chloride channels. By preventing the inhibitory transmitter function, action potentials may be generated with a lower threshold.

Now let's metabolize that medical word salad with the help of my knowledge enzymes (I'm sorry >_<)

How do nerves work? Nerves work because of things called neurotransmitters. The most popular one is acetylcholine (ACh). This is able to cause an "action potential," which is a spike of electricity that allows things to happen and signals to flow. How does it do this? When ACh binds to a receptor (at a synapse), it causes the action potential to continue flowing down the nerve. When that nerve ends at a muscle cell, another release of ACh causes that muscle to contract. ACh works by opening ion channels when it is bound to a receptor, which allows ions to flow into cells.

What is nerve inhibition? Some neurotransmitters are inhibitory. This means that stop action potentials from being generated. One of these is called Glycine (it's an amino acid). When it is released and binds to its receptor, it opens chloride ion channels, which cause hyperpolarization of the neuron. This means that a greater amount of an excitatory transmitter (like ACh) is needed to generate an action potential.

What does Strychnine do? Strychnine binds to the same receptor as Glycine, which keeps Glycine from doing its job. These means that the neurons are not hyperpolarized and less neurotransmitter is needed to generate an action potential. This affects the motor neurons of the central nervous system, and allows them to fire more easily. The ultimate result is spastic muscle contractions.

How does Strychnine actually kill someone? Spastic muscle contractions are bad, but they're even worse when we're talking about the diaphragm. This is a dome shaped muscle that is the primary respiratory muscle. If it is irritated, it causes hiccups; if it is convulsing, it causes asphyxiation (no air).

How toxic is Strychnine? Very. The lethal dose for a human is 0.001 mg per kilogram (or 0.000454 mg per pound) of body weight. So a 150lb (68 kg) person would only need to ingest 0.0681 mg to experience lethal effects.

What are the symptoms? A low dose can cause agitation, spasms, dark urine, muscle pain, and restlessness. A higher dose will cause respiratory difficulties and failure, ultimately leading to brain death. Severe muscle spams and convulsions will also be present. One important finding that contrasts this with a tonic-clonic seizure is that the poisoned patient will be conscious and aware while they are convulsing, while someone having a seizure will not (isn't that terrifying??)

Where can we find Strychnine? It used to be used in medicine as a heart and bowel stimulant (increases muscle contractions) and as an athletic enhancer. Today, it is found in rat poisons. It is also present in the plant Strychnos nux-vomica of Southern Asia and Australia. It is a colorless crystal with a bitter taste.

Conclusion: This is an extremely lethal and available toxin, so it probably be a pretty good choice for fictional poisonings (in my opinion). Seizures are always exciting in fiction, I guess. If you want to read more about those, I made a post on them the other day. If you want to find more information on poisons, I have a few posts on others as well.

Notes: I hope you guys liked this one, as I know poisonings is leading in the poll right now. If it wins, I'll make another poisons post.

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo, 2022. Maranello’s first concept car designed specifically for the Gran Turismo® videogame series, has been revealed. The launch of the Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo brings the 75th anniversary celebrations of when the marque’s first-ever racing car, the 125 S, exited the factory gates in 1947, to an official close. The virtual racer is powered by the 120º 3-litre turbo V6 hybrid drivetrain using three electric motors with one on the rear axle and one on each of the front wheels. The ICE is tuned to produce 1030hp while the electric motors provide an additional 326hp. The Ferrari will be unveiled at the Gran Turismo World Finals in Monte-Carlo and will become available to all users of GT7 from the December 23, 2022, while a full-scale design study will be displayed in the Ferrari Museum in Maranello from December 15.

[offender42085]

Post 1218

Before and After......

Mitchell Seth Littleton, South Carolina inmate 366132, born 1997, incarceration intake May 2021 at age 24, scheduled for release January 2025

Burglary of a Safe/Vault, Burglary, Petit Larceny, Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle

In August 2015, a York, South Carolina teenager was jailed after he told police he stole his father’s work truck from the York Electric Cooperative ("YECC") -- the local public utility -- and reportedly helped others steal more items from the utility’s parking lot.

Mitchell Seth Littleton, 18 at the time, was arrested after York police were alerted to a suspicious person driving a YEC truck through the parking lot of the York Wal-Mart at 3 a.m. in the morning and shining a light into the windows of cars.

The day before, YEC officials reported that two bucket trucks owned by a subcontractor had been stolen from a fenced-in area on Alexander Love Highway. The two vehicles, a Ford F-550 and a Ford F-750, were valued at a total of $135,000. A large amount of unsheathed copper wiring, valued at $2,500, also was reported missing from the beds of several other trucks in the lot.

YEC workers said the thefts must have taken place between 9:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, and 7:30 a.m. Aug. 9. When police located Littleton with the truck on Aug. 10, he told them he took it from his father’s work place, according to an arrest report. He also said he was with two other individuals who went to the YEC lot to steal more items through a back gate he reportedly left unlocked using his father’s keys.

Police went to the lot and discovered the gate open, the key still in the lock and fresh tire tracks leading inside. Officers did not locate anyone at the scene. When someone from YEC arrived on scene, he was unable to identify anything that might be missing. The YEC employee identified the truck driven by Littleton as belonging to their Fort Mill office. The York PD report notes a York County sheriff’s deputy also located one of the missing trucks in York on later that day.

Littleton was held at the York County Detention Center with a bond of $81,092.50 at the time of his arrest.

The matter languishes in the courts for a number of years before a final conviction was pronounced in January 2019. Littleton was sentenced for a total of 7 years.

4y

[stevebattle]

Sir-O-Gate (1983) by Marc Arc, Long Beach, CA. "Marc Arc, a marine electrician from Long Beach, Calif., took another approach in fabricating Sir-O-Gate. This robot consists of a microprocessor-controlled motorized base with a small claw mounted on a telescoping boom. The base serves as a small tabletop and this robot can pluck small objects from its top. Surplus motors and a retractable electric antenna assembly supply power and radio-controlled direction. Sir-O-Gate uses a Motorola "6800-based" experimenter's board." –The Smartest Homebuilt Robots, by Tom Carroll, Popular Mechanics, April 1984.

[stormxpadme]

Whumptober 2024 No. 8 - "Leave the lights on."

06/04/2018

By the time Hank finally made it to his newest case after some once-again spectacularly useless stop in the Principal's office and unplanned interruptions the low electric hum of a treadmill motor and comparatively leisurely walking on it could be heard from the general examination hall already. So it was that kind of patient to whom Hank had hectically administered the most important ones of the necessary treatments right after their arrival ... And the next steps towards recovery had now apparently been initiated without him.

“Hello, you two.” He greeted the young man, who to his relief was finally no longer unconscious, on what was fortunately the only occupied med stretcher right now, with an implied bow because the young man made no move to take his hand, and grabbed a data pad and pen from his belt. “I'm sorry I didn’t come back earlier. One of the active warriors was scheduled for pain therapy this morning, and one of the younger students needed stitches. Brief check-up and then we'll cross off the basic data real quick so that there are no unpleasant surprises in terms of supplies and treatment in the first few days, alright? It won't take long.” Hank followed the teenager's alienated gaze to the other side of the room, where another sick bay visitor was absorbed in their running training, giving neither of them as much as a glance. He waved the young man off. “Ignore her. Monthly stress ECG. It's part of the mandatory fitness check for all team members.” He ignored the boy's snide snort at the mention of the not-so-harmless side job that some of the teachers and staff members of this mansion occasionally pursued, and opened the hastily created database entry in the Mutant High network for his current problem child with practiced clicks. “Little Pit Bull isn't even listening. Unfortunately, we had painters over in the other rooms this morning, so the air in there is hardly tolerable right now. Thanks, Andréo, I'll be fine now.” Hank got a new pair of giant gloves from the largest storage cabinet on the wall, containing the most important utensils for his daily duties, and gave a nod of appreciation to the teenager who had taken care of the new arrival, reliable as always when Hank occasionally prepared him for his dream job as a doctor during his last year of high school. But the following conversation, Hank needed to have in private, or rather, in semi-privacy. “Please leave us alone.”

“If you insist.” Visibly reluctantly, Andréo rose from the stool that had been made especially for him, a somewhat arduous movement accompanied by a flinch and the corners of his mouth pulled downwards. The heat of the beginning of some summer of the century was an additional burden for already chronically overstrained muscles. “Let them fix you real quick, alright? Can't fight the mother hens in this room anyway. The less you argue, the faster you'll be out of here.” He winked at the newcomer amicably, gallantly ignoring the boy's tight lips, and closed the door behind him.

“You know, you could have just knocked. The body scanner would probably still have let you through without an issue.” Hank tried casualty too, without much success. It wasn't often that children or teenagers came to Mutant High who were not only familiar from certain sad files already, but also from a first spectacularly failed attempt years ago to give the person in question a new start in this mansion.

In this case, the file was called Bastian Murray, and its contents had appeared at dawn at the X-Men's garden gate out of nowhere with his horse, completely exhausted. Bastian had collapsed before a group of teenagers just busy with their running lap could have reached him.

Andréo had barely been able to save the boy from a crucial fall on the asphalt with the help of a breakneck dive.

Often enough, Hank had nothing to do down here for days at a stretch, but today, the fleas had apparently scored a group discount from the school's accident insurance. One of the external first-graders had run face-first into the vaulting horse upon their landing before Hank had even had made it to Scott's office, and a twelve-year-old had accidentally cut her arm deep on the chitin skin of one of her classmates, romping around.

Hank hadn't even had a chance yet to change his red-stained lab coat. Upon taking another closer look at Bastian, immediately discovering even more damage than with a provisory scan by hand and Shi'ar tech earlier, he decided not to waste time on that now either. The boy had apparently refused to let Andréo help, and the removal of a forcibly implanted inhibitor device from between his guts earlier had obviously not had any effect yet. Restlessly rubbing one of his fangs with the tip of his tongue, Hank repeatedly held his mobile scanner over the boy's chest, relieved to see that the radiation level in his cells had at least dropped significantly. “Give it a moment. After so many months with artificial suppressants in your blood, the body needs a moment to flush out this filth. But I think your healing factor will be fully restored by tonight. Until then, I'll have to handle those scratches in the paintwork conservatively, I'm afraid.”

“No need. I'm alive. I'll wait for this crap to vanish by itself.” The boy's posture noticeably tensed when Hank leaned in; his dark eyes closed for a moment too long. He tried to hide it, but Hank immediately felt the teenager startle when he took him by the upper arm to talk some sense into him. “Cheekbone's just sprained anyway, I think.”

“No, that's a fracture, definitely,” Hank objected after cautiously tracing the deeply blue discolored spot with a fingertip. ”But fractures heal. Nothing a cooling mask won't take care of within a few days, even if your mutation powers will take some time more to recover. Anything else that hurts?”

“Nothing that can't wait.” Bastian let out a sigh of relief when Hank let go of him, instinctively pulling a light sheet over his body as if he'd noticed Hank's shocked staring from the corner of his eye. ”Just dizzy, that's why I couldn't stay on Samba's back earlier. Never happened before.”

“At least you parked more elegantly than I did when I came here,” their listener over on the treadmill suddenly piped up. ”Three and a half parking spaces and almost two torn-off side mirrors. Our vehicle freak here has been holding that against me for 20 years now.”

“I wasn't planning on staying here that long.” Bastian barely looked at the woman; it was obvious that, just like during his first extremely brief stay here a few years ago, he was trying not to get any closer to any Mutant High resident than necessary. “But right now, I need some time off, whether I like it or not. I'm afraid I threw up on your assistant's shirt earlier, Doctor McCoy. Maybe a ...”

“... concussion,” Hank added. ”Probably. For someone with a healing factor, your self-diagnosis is at least not entirely off.” He held the mobile scanning pen over Bastian's cheek again, this time without touching him, so as not to cause him any more pain. “This, in any case, isn't anything complicated indeed. I'll give you something to make you feel better in a moment. Any allergies or intolerances of yours that the inhibitor revealed?”

“Except against X-Men?” Bastian grinned wryly. “None that I know of.”

“Good.” Provoking Hank took more than tired sarcasm. Being able to slip a line into Bastian's elbow at the first attempt already was a relief after the verbal wrestling match in Scott's office. “At least as a patient, you are always welcome here. Your veins make a great example for some in this house.” The dig was not least directed at a certain third party in the room.

The woman didn't even bat a lid, hardened when it came to certain attacks after all this time as well. “If we have to postpone our vacation in the Maldives for another few more years because you guys can't handle things here alone for two weeks, I'm sure I'll earn that Snow White complexion in no time.”

“What's in that?” Continuing to ignore the banter demonstratively, Bastian narrowed his eyes at the infusion bag in Hank's hand.

“Light painkillers, dimenhydrinate to counter the reverse eating, and saline for the system. Twice a day for five days, then you'll be back on your feet even without your healing factor if necessary. I hope. As a rule, I don't make promises before the first general examination is complete.” Hank grabbed his datapad again.

“So I can stay until I can see straight again?” Bastian asked, suddenly with his heart beating so hard and fast that Hank's enhanced senses could catch the sound like drumbeats. ”Actually, I've been meaning to get off my ass and finally take care of myself alone for months, but the world's spinning around me a little too fast right now for that.”

“Take all the time you need.” Hank sat down on the edge of the boy's bed, still keeping a discreet distance, to tend to minor abrasions on his face. "In this house, we offer mutants all the help we're able to give, whether they're looking for a home or just support.”

“Well, until I find my own spot ..." Bastian murmured, still a little hesitant. His tense posture finally relaxed a little when the drugs began to take effect. “But really only until then, just so we're clear. This mansion doesn't exactly vibe with me, as you probably remember. There are a few people here whose faces I can't deal with. And I've heard that once you've become part of this whole X-Men madness, it's hard to get away again from Westchester. Brainwashing and all that.”

Hank decided to focus on data acquisition rather than commenting on this nonsense, which was not only spread by enemies of his team but also by the odd former resident. Mostly out of wounded pride, because most of the students in this house simply didn't have the necessary gifts or hadn’t been disciplined enough to make up for this physical deficit, so it had been out of the question to offer them a place on the X-Men's team with a clear conscience. As far as such rumors were concerned, it was usually better for Hank's nerves to let someone else do the talking.

“I wish that were the case,” the woman across the bed, who was now trotting at a much faster pace and with more incline, raised her voice again. ”Sure, then it would be really cramped here in the house by now, but I wouldn't have had to say goodbye to hundreds of children, crying my eyes out. You got any idea how much you have to drink to compensate for that much dehydration? And alcohol is off the list for that, sadly.”

“I wasn’t talking about the students ...” For the first time, Bastian sounded thrown off his grumpy game plan.

“Well, where do you think we get our employees, and where we do the recruitment for our special unit? Mutants don't grow on trees.” The woman threw her head back and laughed softly, not even the slightest hint of sweat glistening on her skin. It looked like in the case of this particular team member, Hank could spare himself the actual fitness check this month. “But here's an insider tip if you don't like the brand name: Form X-41 in the guest network. Our IT whiz should have programmed access for you already. The list isn't particularly long, but we've compiled all the mutant aid organizations among normal people known to us, in case someone would rather try to find work and housing this way. Unfortunately, almost all of them are minimum-wage jobs, but they're enough to afford a shared flat in some outskirts. Maybe. In form X-42, you'll find the mutant safety net; the prospects there are more lucrative. Since you like freezing your butt off, Siberia might be just right for you. Colossus and Shadowcat would be thrilled. It's been long since we last sent them any fresh meat. As a mutant, you should keep as far away from the Kremlin as possible for the sake of your freedom and health though. It's warmer in Vancouver, but Jubilee suffers from 24/7 sugar shock courtesy of her mutation. Personally, I can only stand that for a week's vacation at a time. Especially since I've never heard her husband shut up for more than five minutes either. Hammy the Squirrel in a double edition is too much for my taste."

“Look who's talking.” Of which, for Bastian's slightly dazed mind, there was indeed far too much of, though he did seem impressed that the stranger was able to cross her marathon off the list during her little lecture without getting out of breath even once.

“Comes with the job.” The woman was entirely unfazed, only her cheeks had flushed a little, which was probably also not exactly due to the physical exertion either. “Our reputation is bad enough, as you have just proven so impressively. If we send someone away alone, I rather make sure they at least don't get themselves into trouble right again on our doorstep. Things were generally more peaceful with Banshee in Central Europe than here or at Piotr and Kade's or Jubilation's. But that option sadly no longer exists as you know.” The woman's features promptly darkened with anger at an as-of-yet unexplained tragedy not even processed yet in the slightest. “Anyone thinking this school's headmaster is torture to work with as a field leader has not met Sean's daughter after he's been murdered. That whole thing went down the drain faster than we could help. Theresa is a former riding pupil of mine, by the way. That was one of those goodbyes after which our furball here threatened me with drips because I couldn't find the off switch for those damn tears for a week.”

For a moment, the well-fitting mask of hyperactivity in the shape of a lecture that was not being held in this room for the first time by this person, slipped, always interrupted at this same point by a too-fast blinking, by her voice breaking.

“So why didn't you go with her if things with your partnering teams are so much better than here?” Bastian started to sound interested against his will. And now he was so distracted at last that Hank could turn his attention to the somewhat more unpleasant examinations under the shield of the blanket, where, since Andréo had freed Bastian from his torn and bloody clothes before already, more and more bruises and untreated wounds came to light, adding to his growing aggression. Bastian accepted it reluctantly but at least without a protest that Hank cleaned the damages and covered them with sterile bandages before adding a higher dose of ibuprofen to the boy's IV. Pouting, he even parted with a tiny strand of brunette hair, with the necessary superficial skin samples for DNA acquirement, looking and turning in Hank's direction when Hank maneuvered him under the body and retina scanner, and only occasionally rolling his eyes, muttering something about “over-motivated idealists” that was easy to ignore.

The woman also did, raising her left hand to show a simple gold ring with a small diamond in it, the only piece of jewelry she was wearing even for her training. “Me, I can't get away from here that easily indeed. Long-distance relationships aren't really our thing. And Sean only accepted high-level mutants for his team back then. I never made it that far. Somehow there was never enough time to develop my powers.” This time it was his teammate who ignored an unwilling growl from Hank's direction, as she had perfected it in the course of the years. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the right setting for that kind of discussion, and Hank was simply no longer interested in that for a second time today either. “Guess that's just how it is when you don’t mutate before turning twenty.”

“Twenty …?” Bastian no longer even seemed to notice how far he had turned to his conversation partner, that he barely looked up when another band-aid covered a particularly badly infected wound. When the woman confronted him with a gap in his education – which was an actually surprising one, given Bastian's experiences in another mutant refuges –, he even blushed a little.

“Late mutant. It's rare.” The woman briefly wiped her face with a towel, not so much to cool down, as Hank knew, but rather to hide a bitter expression on her full lips. ”Unfortunately. Otherwise, I might not have been terrorized by Magneto nonstop during my first year here. Without the X-Men, I would be spending my life in a constant coma in the Brotherhood's basement, connected to catheters, IVs, and probes, while they use my blood to forcibly mutate the entire world population against their will. That does leave a certain sense of obligation, sure. And you need it when you have to let go of almost everyone in your life whom you teach to protect themselves from such crap.”

Bastian was visibly at a loss for words. “Frankly, I would have expected better marketing from you guys.”

“Do I look like someone trying to sell people glorified heroic tales?” Hank's teammate pointed down at her small, well-trained body in simple, short leggings and a spaghetti strap top, revealing very old but still clearly visible scars. “For that, you'd have to make a trip to Frost Ltd. A membership there comes with a whole lot of mental manipulation thrown in for free though. I try to avoid sending people there. Not worth half a star on Yelp. Hank, this thing needs more juice.” Impatiently, the woman tapped the controls of the treadmill, but couldn't get it to pick up speed or incline any further. “Do you at least finally have some weights in here?”

“Out of the question. You're welcome to set up a gym in your office.”

“When was the last time you saw me there?”

“Your problem, not mine.” Hank pointed a warning claw at the treadmill. ”You dopamine junkies will not start stealing my patients right from under my nose to train them before I've even finished patching them up.”

“Nobody needs to patch me up, and I don't need no training either.” Bastian had apparently remembered his endeavor to be as unbearable as possible in order to be left alone and reluctantly pulled his left leg away before Hank had decided whether he actually needed a needle and thread for this particularly disgusting cut on the inside, which he very much doubted came from a razor, or whether Shi'ar glue would do the trick.

“Debatable. Both,” Hank replied ironically, but held up a butterfly as a compromise until Bastian reluctantly turned his leg outwards again so that Hank could reach the highly sensitive spot. ”So whose wrong side did you get on, anyway? Mutant haters? Inhibitors, you don't get at the mall. It wasn't these people from that lab back then who got their hands on you again, was it?”

“Not half as dramatic as that, don't worry. Just my ex. Ex-Marine. He's probably still had that damn thing from back then. Jealous type, that one. With the damper, he tried to make sure I would never leave again after I'd moved in with him.” Bastian lowered his eyes again remarkably quickly for his previous unruliness. “Today, he got into trouble with the cops. I don’t care for that shit. He didn't like that I finally wanted to get the hell out of there. But I made it out of the house when he left to go drink with his buddies. Suddenly, it all happened so fast … That's why I'm really glad you have a free spot here. I'm sorry if it doesn’t sound like it.”

“After what has happened in Alaska, your mistrust is understandable, don't worry.” Hank reached for another bandaid for the tear at the corner of Basti's mouth, which had burst open again during the boy's first few longer sentences in a row. That tantrum of said partner couldn't have been that harmless. Not for the first time that day, Hank thanked fate that the regular supply of Shi'ar technology to this house hadn't stopped when the former head of the school had decided to move in with the leader of that alien species almost two decades ago. This multipurpose salve, the recipe for which Hank had brought back from his only trip into space back then, would take care of all wounds within a few hours without leaving any scars. “We'll talk about this later. Right now, I'm just glad you found your way here after all this time. Do you want to report your ex-boyfriend? It's what he deserves.”

“He wasn't my boyfriend. I slept with him because I had nowhere else to go. With him and whoever else he brought home when he needed buck to pay his gambling debts,” Bastian replied flatly. ”The answer is no. Bastard's in enough trouble for pimping other people out without me having to deal with the police. I've had a few not-so-nice run-ins with the vice squad in the past. If I reported anyone, they'd die laughing.” A grin, far too bitter for a boy his age, curled on his pale lips, which only had the lump in Hank's throat grow thicker. “Look, I'm trying hard to ignore all these rumors right now that there's only naive snobs living here, but not all of us end up in a golden cage when we fall on our faces because of our genes. If you've never had to survive alone out there, if you're trained to become a fighting machine between swanky statues and in high-tech classrooms, you probably can't understand why people rather sort out some shit themselves.” Goddamn ... So this teenager had had an even harder time than the X-Men had known so far – unfortunately not an isolated case among mutant children. Bastian feeling like rebelling against everyone and everything for the moment was understandable – and ironic enough considering another of his former professions and the stage name that had gone with it back then. And right now, said hostility was clearly aimed toward the fitness corner again, where the fast hammering of strong runner legs had now stopped, probably causing Bastian to fear that he would soon be pushed from two sides at close range.

But Hank's teammate rather preferred stretching exercises after the endurance effort. With one leg held high above her head, supported by a wall, she slowly pulled herself towards the dark blue metal paneling inch by inch, in a perfect split, and then braced herself there with crossed arms, as if she were lounging on a sofa. “Oh, you know, Doctor McCoy and I are just trying to hide our disappointment right now.” Although Hanks' enhanced senses didn't miss the woman's body's radiating a hint of shock at certain revelations too, she managed to maintain her aura of composure. Only that she remained in said exercise a little longer than necessary, trying to numb the dark feelings in her own soul Bastian's story had caused with painful physical efforts, betrayed the truth. “Loser perverts abusing people who are not even legal in all states yet? Those, we're actually happy to help get a grip on their oh-so uncontrollable urges if their victims don't want to go to court. The support group for trauma caused by illegal mutant prostitution meets on Tuesdays at four, by the way. Right now, we got seven active members. They tend to get candid when it comes to experiences with customers, just as a warning. But you don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

“I'm not interested in listening to anything either,” Bastian replied, a lot less brusque than he'd surely meant to thanks to his growing surprise. "I'm not ...”

“Not traumatized?" The woman only threw him an inquiring glance before she changed sides, trying to achieve vertical records with a marginally weaker leg as well. “In that case, I can recommend a former prostitute working for us. It's been two decades, but he was pretty good at it back then. Got paid nicely in both money and information. Trading red light stories sometimes helps when your thoughts start going in the wrong direction, he says. If you want to stay in business, we'll have to think of a solution for your living space. As I said, this topic has no place in the lives of minors. But I can get you in touch with an active mutant colleague of yours. You'll just have to go there alone. We're not exactly besties. And if you please, if you go back on the streets, stay away from the sewers. It's hard enough to keep the Morlocks from selling their bodies to get by, and almost none of them are even 18 yet. Contrary to what you've been told about us, we're really into consent here.”

“But I'm not a ... I didn't want to ... I don't plan to ...” It had taken a little longer than usual, but now Bastian had been torn from the arrogance of his self-pity at last.

The woman seemed to feel a little sorry for him and came to stand straight again, wiping her face once more and throwing her towel in the vague direction of the laundry hatch. “As I said: No matter what your decision in that regard is, it's entirely up to you. The most important function of this mansion is to provide help, no matter in which way.”

Almost seeking help in the face of such rhetorical superiority, Bastian turned back to Hank. “Who is this, Doctor McCoy? What's going on here?”

Hank pulled Katja close for a brief hug and a loving pat on the back of the head for her somewhat too enthusiastic efforts, pulling up a chair up to the bed in a well-practiced, elegant movement with a foot claw. “As the teenagers here would say, you've been visited by the Mutant High's in-house predator department. She's our Kitten.“ He nodded briefly at his workmate.

“But he's the one with the claws,” Katja added just as briefly, but with an unmistakable smirk.

“Seriously? That's your pitch?” Bastian was at least able to grin weakly again, even though he was visibly irritated at being dragged into a first therapy session without asking. ”With that Boomer humor, you guys must be married.”

“My husband would object to that, too.” Katja crossed her legs on the stool in a small balancing act, as always driven by far too much restlessness to sit still for even five minutes.

“Who would be …?”

A mischievous chuckle, which even after almost two decades had lost none of the infatuation from the early days. “Principal Summers?” Bastian gasping now at last, eyes wide open, that was a much-needed and relieving change after the stressful topics that had just been discussed. ”Welcome to Mutant High.”

“So this is how you truly catch new students in your web.” That did no longer sound half as aggressive. The information that had been literally dropped in passing had noticeably left an impression. The most important thing Katja had learned in her psychology studies at the time was how to relax the mind of a patient before filling it with any well-intentioned advice.

“No, this is how we say hello.” Katja held out her hand to the young man so shy could finally introduce herself by name. Bastian was still shell-shocked enough to take it immediately. “You and I didn't meet back then when the others got you out of that laboratory because I was in Germany with my daughter and her best friend at the time. My husband, you've already met but he doesn't like this job interview flair in his office that Professor Xavier used to prefer either. And I only have mine so that my files don't pile up to the ceiling in our bedroom.”

“So you don't teach?” Bastian sounded almost a little … disappointed. Yes, someone had definitely just left a good first impression.

“Riding and gymnastics only, and only when our actual teachers are absent, but the counseling center rarely leaves me time for that. If there's one thing the mutant world always needs, it's people with a sympathetic ear, broad shoulders to lean on, and an incurable helper syndrome.” Sometimes Hank wondered if Katja, in all that deeply rooted self-deprecation, even noticed the way people like this so distraught young man looked at her after spending less than thirty minutes in the same room with her, comforted in their pain by something you couldn't learn from a textbook. Something that twenty years ago, had already not least made Charles and Ororo involve a complete stranger in their childcare in this house. But to have a positive influence on her in this regard, that was Scott's job, and as long as whatever Katja was doing helped, Hank would be damned if he tried to slow her down.

“Right now, what I need is a good night's sleep. But I'll probably come back to that. That's already cleared my synapses once in a while back when I was with Jericho. And you don't give people a chance to get used to the idea of such counseling first anyway,” Bastian said after a few seconds of silence. It didn't have nearly as much bite as earlier.

“You develop some tricks over time,“ Katja shrugged, not at all guiltily.

“So you guys do this often, huh?” Bastian raised an eyebrow pointedly in Hank's direction.

“Usually, we give people 24 hours to settle in, but Cat really wanted an autograph from your second mutant personality.”

“Fuck you, McCoy,” Katja replied just as charmingly, which promptly caused Bastian to gasp again.

Well, if adapting to the slang of the street of your conversation partner helped to prevent them from jumping off the medical stretcher out of shyness ... “No thanks. Especially not as long as you're obviously spending way too much time with Logan.”

Too late, it occurred to Hank that this wasn't exactly the most empathetic topic of the day, and Bastian's expression promptly darkened again.

“This guy really still hangs around here?”

“The man lives here,” Hank reminded the boy with a sigh. “So maybe it's rather Siberia for you after all, if you can't handle that. But the mansion is actually big enough to avoid each other.”

“Do I at least get time to decide that, or will you guys rush me through that, too?” Bastian still sounded a little annoyed about being deceived, but anything else would have been surprising from a nineteen-year-old with a definitely very healthy ego.

“Everyone does. I personally make sure of that. Because I didn't have a chance to think things over when I was in your situation.” Katja's fingertips unconsciously grazed one of the few scars on her side not left by that psycho Anderson back then, but in fact by Hank himself with one of his medical scalpels. ”I arrived at this house a week before Liberty Island.”

Bastian whistled through his teeth, strong and melodic enough to remind Hank once again that there had been a time when this young guy had had something completely different planned for his life but selling himself to the next best bastard for a living. “Hell of an introduction.”

“And for me, triggered by my ex-boyfriend, too, yes,” Katja replied with a wry grin. “Other than your guy though, he didn't do anything to deserve me frying him with lightning. You sure you don't want to tell me where your ex lives? And do think about that report, okay? Even if it's just so the guy doesn't move on to the next victim. Our social and political position is nowhere near as bad as it was twenty years ago. There are way too many of us now. Since people in Washington started making sure themselves that the right people sit in the mutant department, we can usually defend ourselves successfully when we are discriminated. Let's be grateful for that and work to make things even better instead of constantly complaining about grievances. This house stands for that too.”

“I'll think about it.” It was clear that despite all the feigned toughness, Bastian didn't like the idea of having to see this guy again, even if it was in a courtroom. “Maybe I'll stop by the asshole myself when I'm fit again and can morph. I'm usually not that easily pushed around. I wasn't paying attention for a moment when I arrived there, and then it was already too late to react because of the damn damper. Fortunately, Samba got between us today, otherwise, things would have been even worse.”

“How long have you been with this man?“ Hank asked thoughtfully.

“Half a year.” Bastian suppressed a yawn. Thanks to the drugs, his tiredness was finally making itself felt. After the first necessary emotional support, the boy now needed rest above all. “Well, ever since New York II is no more. He owns a ranch on the outskirts of New York, and I was able to leave Samba there. That's mostly why I stayed. She has been my everything since Jericho gave her to me in Alaska. I secretly put aside quite a bit of money. I'd planned to leave soon anyway.”

“Did you go to school?” Hank tried in vain to put as much calmness into his voice as Katja. Even though this wasn't the first time he had had to deal with something like this, of course ... You just never got used to it.

Bastian had to physically recover first, lose his suspicion of everything and everyone. Before that, it didn't make any sense to try and process this terrible past, which he was now talking about with such masterful distance again.

“No, don't need that. I'm good enough to work as a riding instructor and trainer. Jumping, dressage, cross-country ... I'll even do the jockeying for you if you need it.”

“Careful what you wish for, or we'll come back to that sooner than you'd like,” Katja remarked, immediately with a much more honest sparkling in her eyes at the mention of one of her favorite topics. “Our breeding stable, Pride Of X, is always looking for good athletes, and, as I said, we can always use riding instructors here. These are the best conditions for you to build a future in this house. That way, you can continue to earn your own money, if that's what matters to you. I know that made me feel a lot better back then. But for the papers, you should still graduate. You can do that even if you prefer to move into your own apartment. We've been accepting external students for a few years now. I'm sure there can't be missing a lot, is it?”

“A year and a few months. I used to be a singer as you know by now from what Jericho told you. I lost time because of my tours and all the promotion,” Bastian explained, slightly embarrassed. ”Whatever. Better than the street.”

“I'll say.” The treatment of the wounds was finally completed, and Hank hadn't found any other serious injuries. So he could withdraw with a clear conscience. ”What do you say, Bastian, try to get some sleep? I'll keep the Pit Bull away from you for the next few hours, I promise.”

“Oh, that's okay.” Bastian snorted at Katja. ”You won't fool me that easily anymore. After all, I do know all your files from the New York II database, just not all the faces yet. Otherwise, you'd have been busted immediately. We'll get even as soon as I can morph again. And just for the record: Then I'm 'Shade' for you guys, please. With the code name quirk, I guess I fit in quite well here, don't I?“

“One of the more charming quirks of this school.” Hank quickly became serious again, though.

Said code name had reminded him of what he knew about Bastian's powers in this other body. It was probably more thanks to Bastian's stay in the once-protected seclusion of New York II than to luck that the boy had ended up here, and not with another mutant organization that would have welcomed him with open arms as a potentially very powerful fighter.

“By the way, I'm happy you didn't decide to join the Brotherhood.”

“The Brotherhood?” Bastian frowned thoughtfully, without pain, it seemed, which probably meant that this conversation would be over in five minutes either way. ”Jericho didn't have a lot of love for them, but I've read up about them in online media a few times. They don't sound particularly dangerous.”

“Believe me: Jericho usually knew what he was talking about.” The mention of this particular mutant left a deep sense of depression not only on Bastian's face; Hank was not surprised to see Katja playing with her wedding ring absentmindedly from the corner of his eyes. “The Brotherhood is changing its face faster than its leader can thanks to her mutation. They used to be one of the most feared mutant terrorist groups on the planet, but under Magneto's leadership, they fortunately never succeeded with their deadly plans. After the Great Inferno, they were considered all but defeated. After Magneto's death, they suddenly resurfaced, pretending to look for non-violent solutions.” Hank snorted disparagingly, the memory of that tearful live appearance at the Congress still very much present in his mind years later. The X-Men had hardly been able to believe their eyes ... and even less what had happened at the end of that public conference. “Their leaders were then immunized by the President. Ever since then, they have been involved in politics, supposedly working for a tolerant coexistence between humans and mutants, but they keep on riling people up with unrealistic demands. They claim to not want to harm anyone, but they are hiding in an unknown place and training every mutant they can find for war.”

“Pretty creepy.” Bastian wrinkled his nose. “Don't worry, doc. I've never cared a lot for people trying to pull me into anything. I prefer the stables over the battlefield. Unless someone's pissing me off,” he added harshly, but not elaborating any further. It was no secret that Jericho, too, had trained his charges extensively in fighting and defense techniques, regardless of their age. At the next restless wandering of his gaze across the room, Bastian's eyebrow suddenly went up when he noticed a holo-image on the partition wall to the laboratory that showed two repeated seconds of a red-haired young woman in black leather clothing. “Image or video?” He sat up a little to be able to see better. Now he was really curious, and Hank couldn't blame him. There were few mutants who didn't know this face.

It wasn't something the X-Men discussed with every new arrival, and this image was actually sacred, but Katja and Hank both sensed that Bastian was beginning to trust them, and that had seemed completely utopian at the beginning of this conversation. It wasn’t just that the boy deserved to finally find a permanent home ... There was always the worry about any reasonably talented mutant about where he or she would turn to if they didn't feel comfortable here. The X-Men had to be happy about anyone who didn't go to Watergate.

So, at Hank's reluctant nod, Katja took the square data carrier from the wall, touching it only by the frame, and held it out to Bastian. “Just press here.”

“Thank you.” Very carefully, with just a fingertip, Bastian touched the button that deactivated the holo-video mode. The curious glistening in his eyes turned into an excited sparkle when his suspicion was confirmed as to who was on this recording.

'Scott, can you stop filming for a second?' The woman in the video projected into the air turned to the camera with an exaggeratedly annoyed expression, but she couldn't quite hide the proud smile on her lips as she strode through the very room that Hank, Katja, and Bastian were in.

'Out of the question. This is your first job as a doctor after a mission. That needs to go down in the archives.' The picture blurred a little when the cameraman laughed softly.

'If you guys are always going to be this clumsy in the field, I can soon never leave this place again,' the doctor grumbled. 'At least sit down. Your knee has taken quite a hit. You stay, Ororo! Don't even think about trying to get out of this.'

A third, also very young voice joined, from a person who couldn't be seen, but the mere mention of that name made Bastian inevitably tighten his lips again. 'Tone it down, doctor. I just ...'

'You almost got shot and fell off a balcony, so sit down and shut up!' The doctor put her hands on her waist and turned to the camera again. 'Scott, if you don't put that stupid thing away, I'll hide the Vicodin from you in the next few days.'

'Sadist.' Again that amused laugh ... Then the colors over the image blurred as the flap over the projection lens closed.

“Is that Phoenix?” Bastian asked quietly, an obligatory question.

Hank felt his expression harden involuntarily, and this time he couldn't do anything about it. It still hurt, after all this time. Especially because there would probably never be anyone who could see Jean the way she was in this film. No one except the people in this house, for whom she had died three times. “For the world out there. Not for us. Her name was Jean Grey, and she used to treat some mutants right here in these rooms.” He reactivated the photo setting before hanging the frame back in its place, after a brief squeeze of Katja's now also very low-hanging shoulder. “I like having her around. The picture makes me feel like she's still here somehow, watching over me.”

“And then people say I'm a freak.”

“Excuse me?” It was Hank's turn to raise an eyebrow disapprovingly. Sometimes he wished he could just have turned off certain enhanced senses.

“Nothing. I mean: Thank you for letting me watch this before you guys tuck me in.” Bastian tried to sit up again a little. It was clear, the idea of sleeping in the middle of the day didn’t appeal to him, despite his exhaustion. But the headache, which continued to plague him despite the anesthetic, made him groan softly and sink back.

“Don't.” Hank fleetingly put his paw on his arm again. "You need to rest. If there's too much on your mind right now, do you want a sleeping pill? In a few hours, everything will look different.”

“That sounds like a really good idea," Bastian agreed. “Uh ... Mrs. Summers?”

While Hank was already busy with the infusion again, Katja had silently made her way to the door. Her job here was finished for the moment, and this very vivid memory of someone she was still missing terribly had visibly affected her. Nevertheless, she managed to put on another friendly expression in Bastian's direction. “I'll see you later. And ‘Cat’ is just fine. Like I said, I rarely teach here. Hey, Hank ...” The smile turned into a familiar harsh line of depression and unease around Katja's mouth, as something seemed to come to her mind regarding Bastian's story, which she could understand all too well, given her own lousy experiences with certain psychopaths in this world, no matter hard she stubbornly she refused confiding about that in anyone but her husband. “Leave the lights on when you go, okay?”

With a surprised frown, Bastian seemed to notice from Katja's clenched shoulders and her fleeing gaze that he could not have wished for a better advisor at his side in this new home, and he gave the woman a grateful nod, visibly dazed after Hank had reduced the intensity of the neon lights on the ceiling by a few levels, but not completely. “Thank you, Cat.”

*******************************************************************************

@whumptober | @whumptober-archive

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[dailyrickastley]

Rick's £8,000 bill to insure his new BMW

"RICK ASTLEY has vroomed his way £25,000 on a 150 mph BMW super-car. But the 21-year-old heart-throb got a shock when he tried to insure it... and was quoted £8,000 just to get behind the wheel. Rick, who zoomed from tea-boy to superstar in just five months, paid up without batting an eyelid. The singer bough a BMW 325 Sports after friends kept taking the mickey out of his battered Mazda. The new motor boasts a fuel-injected 2.5-litre engine, metallic black paint, black leather seats, electric sun roof, tinted glass, alloy wheels and an on board computer. Car salesman Malcolm Owen, of Hexagon, in High Gate, North London, says: "It is truly a beautiful car and one of our best sellers.

Power

"Rick is a lovely bloke - always laughing and joking - and it was a real pleasure to do business with him. "He even autographed photos of himself for the staff." A spokesman for the Association of the British Insures says: "The cost of £8,000 to insure is the underwriters" assessments of the risk, taking into account Mr. Astley's age, the profession and the power of the car." Rick could have bought himself any car in the world - and insured it - if he had agreed to sing his two British smash hits in Japanese. Profits from the sale Never Gonna Give You Up and When I Fall In Love would have netted him up to £1 million if released in the Far East in Japanese. But Rick refused to sing in Japanese and the sales of the records will net him only £150,000. ⦿ I can reveal that Rick will be touring Britain this summer - his first live dates since he shot to fame in back in August."

[1863-project]

What *are* bullet trains, really? I know that the hype around them is how fast they are, but how do they work? Is there anything specific that makes them faster or is it just thanks to the more streamlined design?

I'm going to do my best to put this in layman's terms, so feel free to let me know if anything is confusing!

The term Shinkansen literally translates into "new main line" or "new trunk line." The project was originally discussed in the 1930s, but World War II more or less put it on hold for some time. In the earliest days of the project, the design of the trainsets did lead them to be referred to as "dangan ressha," which does actually translate to "bullet train." One of the major people spearheading the project was Hideo Shima, who was also responsible for the D51 and C62 steam locomotives, both beloved in Japan to this day. His greatest champion was Shinji Sogou, who knew the Shinkansen needed to be standard gauge to operate at higher speeds. Despite opposition, Sogou convinced politicians to back the plans for what would become the Tokaido Shinkansen. When it got too expensive, both Shima and Sogou resigned, but today they're regarded far more favorably, because the line was absurdly successful right out of the gate. Before the Shinkansen, it took over six hours to get between Tokyo and Osaka. The new train, launched in 1964 just in time for the Olympics, did the same trip in four hours, and was doing it in three hours and ten minutes one year later.

This post isn't really meant to talk about history, though, it's about how these things work, so let's get down to it.

The key to their success: the Shinkansen uses EMUs, electric multiple units.

If you live in an urban area, you've probably seen an EMU before if your city has mass transit. The NYC Subway, for one example, uses EMUs. There are no set locomotives on the Shinkansen, just cars with cabs; as you've probably seen, the ones where engineers drive from have those lovely streamlined snouts. This actually reduces the weight of the trainset, as they don't need to keep a power source on board - all their power is transmitted from the electrical wires above via pantographs. The pantograph is the little arm that reaches up from the train to touch the wires. Here's a Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 with a pantograph up for comparison:

(image source; this GG1 is Blackjack and she lives at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, PA)

The modern pantographs on the Shinkansen trainsets are a lot sleeker and quieter. Here's how it looks on the E6:

(image source)

The Shinkansen cars also have a larger loading gauge than most rolling stock. This means trains can have 5-across seating instead of the 4-across seating most passenger trains do, which in turn means you can move the same amount of passengers with a shorter, and therefore lighter, trainset.

They also benefit from traction - all wheel axles are powered, because the Shinkansen are EMUs. More motored axles means higher acceleration, which means the Shinkansen can stop more frequently and immediately pick up the pace right away once it's time to get moving again. Because of this, Shinkansen lines have more stops in proportion to their lengths than other high-speed rail systems do, since they can accelerate back up to top speed faster.

The current fastest Shinkansen model is my favorite, the E5 and its sister, the H5.

(image source)

The E5 and the H5 can hit around 200 mph at their maximum when they're allowed to stretch their legs, and they have the most gorgeous streamlining, with sleek snouts and really cool paint jobs. I have a few models of the E5 in my room in my apartment.

They'll be surpassed in speed when the SCMaglev officially opens - but that's an entirely different form of technology from the Shinkansen. That thing is going to be incredible.

Importantly, the Shinkansen lines are kept completely separate from slower lines.

This way, they don't cross with narrow gauge trains, other passenger trains, or freight trains, which enables them to run at higher speeds without having to slow down or stop to let other trains through. This also allows them to maintain those speeds safely. If you're American, you're probably aware of how this limits Amtrak speeds - they have to share the rails with the freight companies, and even on the Northeast Corridor, where the Acela runs, there are only a few pockets where the trains can really whip because of this. This is actually a crucial element to making high-speed rail successful and safe.

I hope this is what you had in mind, anon!

[ystk-archive]

CAPSULE 25th Anniversary Special Live Mix [complete]

DOWNLOAD HERE (WAV + MP3)

Note: The portion of “You are the reason” here has been carefully pieced together in three places, but the rest of the mix is as-is. Complete recording brought to you by prfm-multiverse and me. Live mix by Nakata Yasutaka.

SETLIST:

Get down

I’m Feeling You

super speeder Judy Jedy

more more more

Never Let Me Go

Motor Force

Robot Disco

ひかりのディスコ (Instrumental)

FLASH BACK

the Time is Now

Player

Factory

Welcome to my world

Sound of Silence

フューチャー・ウェイヴ (Instrumental)

OPEN THE GATE

WORLD OF FANTASY

construction

Eternity

You are the reason

バーチャル・フリーダム (Instrumental)

Phantom

Hello

Electric light Moon light

megalopolis

Love Me