#executive engineers roles | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

polarity-disturbed · 1 month ago

Text

I’ve seen some posts floating around saying things like, “Belinda was always a mom, the Doctor just corrected the timeline,” and I genuinely cannot stress enough how little that addresses the core issues people have with how her story was handled.

First of all, if that was the intention—if the idea was that Belinda was always meant to be a mother and the timeline just needed to be “set right”—they did a poor job of executing it. A twist that major, one that fundamentally alters a character’s identity or arc, requires setup. Foreshadowing. Emotional groundwork. You can’t just spring something that massive on the audience in the last five minutes and expect it to feel meaningful instead of disorienting.

And here’s the thing: Doctor Who has done that kind of plot before—successfully. A great comparison is Amy and Rory. The show literally did the “someone you love was erased from time and the universe needs to be corrected to bring them back” storyline already. And while I’ve got my own qualms with how Amy’s arc was handled overall, that particular beat actually worked.

Why? Because there were signs. The cracks in time. The missing memories. A sense of loss Amy couldn’t place. Little inconsistencies that made the audience lean forward and feel that something was wrong. Not to mention: Rory was introduced before he disappeared. We knew him. We saw his dynamic with Amy. We cared about him. We barely see Poppy in these two episodes, other than "child missing bad" we really have no attachment to her.

Now imagine if we never met Rory. If Amy had been introduced as a fierce, independent woman with no attachments, someone whose refusal to be tied down was a defining trait—and then the show suddenly revealed, in the finale, that actually she was about to get married the whole time to a man we’d never seen, and now she’s a devoted wife. No buildup. No context. Just surprise! emotional transformation. That would feel bizarre, right?

That’s exactly what happened with Belinda.

The final minutes of the finale reframe her not just as someone who once had a child, but as someone whose true self is supposedly defined by that role—and we’re meant to believe that this identity has now been “restored” to her, and we’re told it’s been restored to her as a reward. But it doesn’t feel like a revelation. It feels like a contradiction.

It’s like they wanted to write her as fierce and independent, but didn’t also want to imply that she wanted kids or thought about kids—because society still tends to associate maternal longing or caretaking instincts with weakness, or with not being a “strong” woman. So instead of exploring that complexity, they just didn’t. They wrote her as a fully autonomous character, with no visible yearning or absence, and then stapled a child onto her arc at the end.

And just to be absolutely clear: the problem is not that Belinda is a mother. You can write a fierce, independent, female-presenting character who’s also a parent. Those things are not mutually exclusive. The problem is that the story didn’t earn it.

Writers often avoid giving powerful women maternal traits because they assume femininity and strength can’t coexist—but that’s a separate conversation. The real issue here is that the show never showed us that this part of Belinda was missing. It never laid the groundwork for that emotional restoration to resonate. It didn’t feel like they revealed who she truly was—it felt like they replaced her with someone else.

It’s not that you can’t tell a story where a forgotten child or a missing family is recovered from a broken timeline. That kind of emotional twist can be powerful. But if that’s the story you want to tell, you have to earn it. You have to make the absence felt before you try to fill it. You have to let us sense the missing piece and ache for its return. Without that, it doesn’t feel like a twist—it feels like a contradiction.

And no, Poppy showing up once in The Story & the Engine is not proper setup. If this was truly the intended arc from the beginning, then it needed clues. Give us subtle signs. Let Belinda hesitate when asked simple questions. Let her glance at a photo and seem unsettled. Let her correct someone’s memory and then immediately second-guess herself. Plant a sense of wrongness in her own life that even she can’t quite name.

There’s even a interview with RTD about reshooting the beginning of The Robot Revolution to give Belinda roommates, because he thought no one would buy her owning an entire house by herself.

But if this twist with Poppy was truly planned from the start? Then leave her in that big, echoing house. Let it be part of the unease. Let there be a child’s toy tucked into the back of a drawer she doesn’t remember buying. A room she avoids, too pristine and untouched. A lullaby she hums under her breath without knowing where she learned it. Give us texture. Give us silence that feels too quiet.

Let us feel the shape of what’s missing before you tell us what it was.

That’s how you write a twist that resonates—by trusting your audience to notice the gaps, to feel the ache, and to recognize the truth when it finally appears. Not by pulling a rabbit out of a hat and calling it destiny.

#dw spoilers #doctor who spoilers #doctor who #fifteenth doctor #the reality war #the doctor #15th doctor #spoilers #rtd2 #rtd2 era #doctorwho #belinda chandra #My posts #my post #text post #polarity posts

1K notes · View notes

theonlyonesora · 3 days ago

Text

The Man Who Married Me

PAIRING: Lewis Hamilton x Reader x Max Verstappen

CH – 10

Australian Grand Prix – Post-Race Press Conference Top Three: Oscar Piastri (McLaren, P1), Max Verstappen (Mercedes, P2), Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari, P3)

The room was packed. Journalists, photographers, microphones angled forward like weapons aimed at the three podium finishers seated behind the long white couch bearing the F1 logo.

Oscar sat in the middle, glowing in his home race victory. Max, ever unreadable, leaned back in the couch beside him, towel still wrapped around his neck. Lewis, dressed in Ferrari red, sat rigidly at the end—his jaw set just a little too tight, his expression carved into something calm, controlled.

Flashes went off. Recorders rolled.

And the questions began.

Most were predictable—race strategy, tyre management, safety car timing, late overtakes. You could almost see Lewis tuning some of it out, nodding along with PR-polished grace. He answered as expected.

Until— A reporter from Sky Italia leaned forward, eyebrow raised, voice honeyed with hidden claws.

“Lewis, a quick question not so much about the race but… about dynamics off the track. There’s been a lot of talk about your wife’s role as Mercedes executive this season—especially now that she’s working closely with Max Verstappen. Given your shared history on track… how do you feel about her professional involvement with someone often called your fiercest rival?”

A sharp silence followed.

Even Max’s brow twitched, ever so slightly. Oscar blinked, clearly glad the question wasn’t for him.

Lewis smiled. Or something like it. Tight. Polished. Prepared.

“Well,” he began smoothly, “first of all, I think it’s important to separate personal and professional relationships. My wife’s work at Mercedes speaks for itself—she’s one of the smartest, most capable people in the paddock, and I have nothing but respect for the work she does.”

A few pens scribbled that down. Cameras flashed again.

“As for Max…” Lewis’s eyes flicked toward him briefly—just a flicker of history there, unspoken but not unseen. “He’s a talented driver. There’s no denying that. And if anyone can bring out the best in each other, it’s her and that team.”

Max didn’t react outwardly. Just sipped his water.

“Do I love seeing her lead my old team, working with a rival? Of course not,” Lewis added with a soft laugh that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “But I support her. That’s what love is. Supporting even when it’s not comfortable.”

There was a pause. The perfect amount.

“Besides,” he added, the edge of a grin returning, “I’ve never been afraid of competition.”

The room chuckled. Cameras snapped furiously.

It was a perfect answer.

Composed. Gracious. Just enough edge to remind them who he was.

But as he leaned back, the corner of his jaw twitched—the tiniest crack in the façade. Because beneath the charm and public polish, one thing was certain:

Lewis Hamilton hated that Max Verstappen was working with you. And even more than that—he hated that you seemed okay with it.

The paddock had begun to wind down, media packs thinned out, engineers shifting from frenzy to fatigue. The sun was setting behind the horizon, casting golden light over the garages and paddock walkways, soft and low. The air still held the tang of burnt rubber and victory champagne.

Most of the team had already gone out to celebrate a strong season start. P2 wasn’t a win—but for Max’s first race in silver and black, it was damn close.

But you stayed.

The hospitality suite was quiet now, dimly lit with most lights turned down. You sat at the sleek glass table near the back, data pad in front of you, jotting performance notes into the cloud.

Footsteps approached. Familiar, steady.

You didn’t need to look up to know it was him.

“Didn’t expect to find you still here,” Max said, his voice low, warm in the hush of the empty room.

You glanced up. His post-race gear was gone, replaced with a dark Mercedes hoodie and track pants, damp hair tousled from the shower. He looked young. Relaxed in a way you didn’t often see on the podium.

You tilted your head. “Didn’t think you were the type to skip the celebrations.”

He gave a small shrug. “They’ll still be at the bar an hour from now.” Then: “I’d rather talk about the car while it’s still fresh in my head.”

You gestured to the chair across from you. “Be my guest.”

He sat, stretching slightly. The silence that followed wasn’t awkward—it was familiar now. Comfortable.

“So,” you began, scrolling down your tablet, “fuel mapping in Sector 3 was off compared to Oscar. Not by much. But just enough to lose that bite in the final laps.”

“I felt that,” he nodded. “Couldn’t push as hard as I wanted to. Rear grip was—” he made a face “—untrustworthy.”

You smirked. “That’s the technical term?”

He gave you a look, dry and amused. “I’m being polite.”

You exchanged data, notes, a few low jokes about Kimi’s overambitious radio calls. But gradually, the conversation shifted. The silence between the technical talk grew longer, heavier.

Finally, Max leaned back in his chair, fingers tracing the rim of his water bottle.

“You handled that well today.”

You blinked. “Handled what?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Press. Lewis. All of it.”

You glanced down, a flicker of exhaustion showing through. “I’m used to pretending everything’s fine.”

He was quiet for a beat. “You don’t have to do that with me.”

The words sat between you like a lit match.

You looked up, eyes meeting his—calm, steady, and something else. Not pity. Not flirtation. Just presence.

Real and rare.

You exhaled softly, voice more vulnerable than you intended. “I thought seeing him would feel like coming home again.” A pause. “But it didn’t.”

Max didn’t rush to respond. When he did, his tone was careful. “You still love him?”

Your throat tightened.

“I think I still love who he used to be,” you whispered. “But now I’m starting to wonder if I’ve just been loving the memory.”

Max didn’t touch you. Didn’t move closer. But his gaze never wavered.

“I know what that feels like,” he said quietly.

Your eyes searched his face. “Do you?”

He gave a faint, bitter smile. “I was with someone for a long time, remember? But we were over before either of us admitted it. We just didn’t want to say it out loud.”

“You and...I didn't know you had broken up ”

“She didn't want to make it public yet, she said I had enough pressure leaving Red Bull”

“That's nice of her, I’m sorry I know that this can be hard”

“Yeah but it was better this way ”

You nodded slowly, understanding more in that moment than words could say.

The silence returned—but this time it was laced with something different.

Not longing. Not desire. But a beginning.

Of trust.

Of something new.

He stood after a while, hands in his pockets.

“I’ll leave you to it,” he said gently. “But… if you ever don’t want to be alone with all of it, you can call me.”

You didn’t answer right away.

You just looked at him, and for the first time in a long time, your chest didn’t feel so heavy.

“Thanks, Max.”

And when he left, he didn’t look back. But your eyes stayed on the door long after it closed.

Hotel Suite, Grand Hyatt

The luxury suite was dimly lit, city lights glowing behind the sheer curtains that framed the window. You hadn’t unpacked—your suitcase lay half-open in the corner. The room was silent aside from the occasional ping of your phone, a reminder that the world never slept.

You were scrolling absentmindedly through the race headlines on Twitter when one specific notification pulled you upright.

@F1Secrets

Spotted: Max Verstappen and the Mercedes exec (yes, her) deep in conversation long after everyone else had left. Private debrief or something else? 👀 [📸: attached image]

You tapped the image, breath catching in your throat.

It was blurry, dim, obviously taken from a distance—but the photo was unmistakable.

You and Max, in the hospitality suite. Sitting across from each other, heads tilted in close, faces lit only by the soft lights and the screen of your tablet. It looked… intimate.

Too intimate.

And of course, the internet exploded:

@PitlaneDrama I’m sorry but… Kelly hasn’t posted a single “congrats” for Max today and now this? 👀👀👀

@MaxStappenNews Why does this look more like a date than a debrief 💀

@TeamLH7 Lewis did NOT deserve this. Can’t believe people are romanticizing this.

Your stomach dropped.

You didn’t even hear the hotel door open at first—until Lewis’s voice broke the silence.

“I saw the photo.”

You turned, startled.

He stood just inside the doorway, dressed in a hoodie and joggers, face unreadable. He had taken off his jewelry, his rings, his watch—all the show. He looked exhausted. Human.

You straightened up. “It’s not what it looks like.”

His mouth twitched into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Of course it isn’t.”

But you could hear it in his voice—that thread of something too raw to hide.

He walked in slowly, closing the door behind him.

“She didn’t congratulate him,” he said, almost to himself. “Kelly. Not a tweet. Not a story. Not a post.”

You looked away. “I can’t speak for her.”

“No,” he said, tone sharp now. “But you can speak for yourself.”

You met his gaze. “What do you want me to say, Lewis? That I didn’t kiss him? That I didn’t fuck him behind the garage? Because I didn’t.”

“That’s not what I—”

“You’re right,” you cut in, voice steady. “It’s not what it looks like. But I’m tired of pretending that everything’s okay just because we kissed in front of some cameras.”

Lewis closed his eyes, breathing hard. “I miss you.”

That stopped you.

The words came out broken. Honest. But too late.

You looked at him—at the man you married, the man who used to be your best friend—and you felt the familiar ache bloom in your chest again.

“I miss us,” he added. “Before all of this. Before I started fucking everything up.”

You took a deep breath, voice barely above a whisper. “Then why did you let it get this far?”

He didn’t answer.

Instead, he crossed the space between you and reached for your hand. You let him hold it—for a second. For the memory.

And then you gently pulled away.

“I don’t want to be a performance anymore,” you said quietly. “Not for the cameras. Not for the fans. And not for you.”

Lewis looked like you’d slapped him.

But he nodded. Slowly. As if he knew that this was what loving you now looked like—not being able to fix it anymore.

You turned away, walking to the window, looking out over the Melbourne skyline.

Your phone buzzed again.

Another headline. Another photo.

You didn’t check it. You just stood there, staring at the city below.

And behind you, Lewis sat down on the edge of the bed, silent—like a man who’d finally realized that losing a race didn’t hurt half as much as losing you.

The city below shimmered like a dream—blurry lights, long highways, voices in the wind that didn’t quite reach you. Cars still moved on the streets, lives still rushed forward. But for you, everything had stopped.

Behind you, Lewis stood in the doorway of the balcony, arms crossed, jaw tight. He had just said it—the words you never thought you’d hear from the man who once chased you across three countries just to say “I miss you.”

“If you want to go out with Max… I won’t stop you.”

It came out like a peace offering. A generous thing.

But it didn’t feel generous. It felt like giving up.

“We opened this marriage for both of us,” he added. “Not just me.”

You turned away from him, leaning on the balcony railing, blinking hard against the sting in your eyes.

It was supposed to feel like freedom. But all you felt was grief.

You didn’t want freedom. You wanted your husband to fight for you.

Instead, he gave you permission. And somehow, that was worse.

You let the silence stretch between you, the space thick with all the things neither of you had the courage to say. Finally, your voice cut through it—low, but sharp as glass:

“I don’t want to go out with him.”

Lewis blinked. But you didn’t turn. You stayed facing the city, watching headlights disappear down roads you couldn’t follow.

“I didn’t ask for this,” you continued. “I didn’t want some modern, open… whatever this is. I just wanted you. I would’ve followed you anywhere, Lewis.”

You heard his breath hitch—just barely.

“But you didn’t want to be followed. You wanted to run.”

Still no answer.

You weren’t crying. You couldn’t. Not anymore. The well was dry. But your heart was loud—louder than the streets below, louder than the silence between you.

“I don’t want Max. I want my husband. The man who used to say no race was worth more than coming home to me.”

Finally, he stepped forward. Quiet. Careful. Like he was afraid of breaking something that was already in pieces.

“I’m still that man,” he said softly.

You shook your head, still not looking at him. “No. You’re someone who’s okay with watching me slip away.”

And then—your voice broke just a little.

“And I’m tired of begging you to stay.”

Behind you, Lewis said nothing. Not because he didn’t care. But because he didn’t know how to fight for you anymore without admitting he was the one who let go first.

You didn’t speak again. And neither did he.

But as you stood there, on the balcony overlooking a world still moving forward, you realized that maybe love doesn’t always die with an explosion.

Sometimes, it fades out slowly. Quiet. And disappointing.

Feel free to give your opinion or suggestion.

TAG LIST: @virtualperfectioncat , @starrgir1 , @the-secret-formulaone, @anunstablefangirl, @tillyt04, @dakotapaigelove, @loadedwafflefries

122 notes · View notes

vantaeries · 1 year ago

Text

🐈‍⬛ PICK A PILE : GHIBLI CAT 🐈‍⬛

FUTURE SPOUSE : THEIR APPROACH TO THEIR CAREER & WHEN THEY MET YOU

PILE 1 PILE 2 PILE 3

Disclaimer : This is a general reading. It may or may not resonate with you. Please take what resonates and leave what doesn't. Remember, the energies can change from time to time. So pick wisely.

How to pick : Close your eyes, take a deep breath and clear your mind. Trust your intuition and choose a pile that you are most drawn to.

PILE 1

🐈🐈‍⬛ - For those who choose this pile, the profession of your future spouse is often marked by risks and rewards. It requires them to attend many social events, hosting parties or business meetings. No doubt they have good communication skills. Any words that come out of their mouth manage to gain favor from their bosses or clients. However, if they use these skills to trick and manipulate others for their business advantage, it could be the start of their downfall. They might even be willing to change their profession or workplace if it doesn't benefit them. It's like they only seek fun and money in the workplace. It's most likely that when they meet you, they will start to take their work more seriously and responsibly. This could happen when you both work together. From platonic, both of you slowly became lovers. I think you will help your FS to see the big picture in future where you both lead each other in work. So yes, it's definitely like a work couple.

🐈🐈‍⬛ - In their chart, Prominent Jupiter, Air Sign (Gemini & Aquarius), Strong Mercury, Water Sign (Scorpio)

🐈🐈‍⬛ - Possible career fields : judge, lawyer, banker , investor, business person, investigator, entrepreneur, artist & leader

PILE 2

🐈🐈‍⬛ - For this pile, you and your future spouse will start a business together or work in partnership. Before starting the business, one of you might have experienced some conflict, but when you meet, you'll both have the idea to open a business. You will serve as pillars of support for each other. For example, if you open a coffee shop, they will make the coffee while you take the orders. The only thing you need to be mindful of is maintaining balance. Misunderstandings or confusion may arise if one of you is emotionally guarded or secretive. If any problems or issues related to work or love occur, both of you need to sit down and have a deep conversation. Otherwise, one of you might harbor a lot of dissatisfaction and potentially isolate themselves in their work.

🐈🐈‍⬛ - In their chart : Strong Cancer & Moon, Gemini, Aquarius, Taurus, Moon - Mercury

🐈🐈‍⬛ - Possible career field : Travel blogger, therapist, counselor, teacher, entrepreneur, cooks, stall managers

Pile 3

🐈🐈‍⬛ - For those who choose this pile, your future spouse (FS) is determined and focused. Once they choose a field, they set their mindset and goals firmly on it. Due to this determination, they might overwork themselves. The universe advises them to rest, as they are working themselves like a robot. It's likely they experienced heartbreak before, possibly neglecting their previous partner because of their intense focus on work. After the breakup, they grieved over their mistakes. When they meet you, they feel a nurturing and welcoming energy, making them dream of building a family with you. Both of you will strive to provide comfort and financial security in the relationship. For some of you, this might mean having a child soon after starting the relationship. For others, it could mean that one of you may act like a child (not in a negative way, but in a sense that this relationship will heal your inner child).

🐈🐈‍⬛ - In their Chart : Strong Venus (Libra, Taurus), Venus - Saturn, Capricorn, Cancer

🐈🐈‍⬛ - Possible career field : Work in entertainment, musician, artist, banker, florist, executive role (CEO), engineering

Feel free to suggest topic to me in my ask box. Thanks. Enjoy the reading

#free tarot #tarot reading #tarot #tarot community #pac reading #free readings #ghibli aesthetic #future spouse #pick a pile #pick a card #pick an image #tarot cards #future spouse reading

726 notes · View notes

nasa · 2 years ago

Text

What’s It Like to Work in NASA’s Mission Control Center?

In the latest installment of our First Woman graphic novel series, we see Commander Callie Rodriguez embark on the next phase of her trailblazing journey, as she leaves the Moon to take the helm at Mission Control.

Flight directors work in Mission Control to oversee operations of the International Space Station and Artemis missions to the Moon. They have a unique, overarching perspective focused on integration between all the systems that make a mission a success – flight directors have to learn a little about a lot.

Diane Dailey and Chloe Mehring were selected as flight directors in 2021. They’ll be taking your questions about what it’s like to lead teams of flight controllers, engineers, and countless professionals, both agencywide and internationally, in an Answer Time session on Nov. 28, 2023, from noon to 1 p.m. EST (9-10 a.m. PST) here on our Tumblr!

Like Callie, how did their unique backgrounds and previous experience, prepare them for this role? What are they excited about as we return to the Moon?

🚨 Ask your questions now by visiting https://nasa.tumblr.com/ask.

Diane Dailey started her career at NASA in 2006 in the space station Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) group. As an ECLSS flight controller, she logged more than 1,700 hours of console time, supported 10 space shuttle missions, and led the ECLSS team. She transitioned to the Integration and System Engineering (ISE) group, where she was the lead flight controller for the 10th and 21st Commercial Resupply Services missions for SpaceX. In addition, she was the ISE lead for NASA’s SpaceX Demo-1 and Demo-2 crew spacecraft test flights. Dailey was also a capsule communicator (Capcom) controller and instructor.

She was selected as a flight director in 2021 and chose her call sign of “Horizon Flight” during her first shift in November of that year. She has since served as the Lead Flight director for the ISS Expedition 68, led the development of a contingency spacewalk, and led a spacewalk in June to install a new solar array on the space station. She is currently working on development of the upcoming Artemis II mission and the Human Lander Systems which will return humanity to the moon. Dailey was raised in Lubbock, Texas, and graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. She is married and a mother of two. She enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time outdoors.

Chloe Mehring started her NASA career in 2008 in the Flight Operations’ propulsion systems group and supported 11 space shuttle missions. She served as propulsion support officer for Exploration Flight Test-1, the first test flight of the Orion spacecraft that will be used for Artemis missions to the Moon. Mehring was also a lead NASA propulsion officer for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and served as backup lead for the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. She was accepted into the 2021 Flight Director class and worked her first shift in February 2022, taking on the call sign “Lion Flight”. Since becoming certified, she has worked over 100 shifts, lead the NG-17 cargo resupply mission team, and executed two United States spacewalks within 10 days of each other. She became certified as a Boeing Starliner Flight Director, sat console for the unmanned test flight in May 2022 (OFT-2) and will be leading the undock team for the first crewed mission on Starliner in the spring of next year. She originally is from Mifflinville, Pennsylvania, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from The Pennsylvania State University in State College. She is a wife, a mom to one boy, and she enjoys fitness, cooking and gardening.

#answertime #NASA #flight director #First Woman #astronaut #Artemis #Orion #graphic novels #comics #spaceblr #women in STEM #STEM #NASA women #CallieFirst

2K notes · View notes

dostoyevsky-official · 5 months ago

Text

The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover

WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer. The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. None have responded to requests for comment from WIRED. Representatives from OPM, GSA, and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment. [...] Kliger, whose LinkedIn lists him as a special advisor to the director of OPM and who is listed in internal records reviewed by WIRED as a special advisor to the director for information technology, attended UC Berkeley until 2020; most recently, according to his LinkedIn, he worked for the AI company Databricks. His Substack includes a post titled “The Curious Case of Matt Gaetz: How the Deep State Destroys Its Enemies,” as well as another titled “Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense: The Warrior Washington Fears.”

these people are nazis orchestrating an illegal, unconstitutional takeover of government agencies and tapping into your personal data. they need to be arrested, charged with crimes, before that doxxed, harassed, etc.

156 notes · View notes

vintagegeekculture · 1 year ago

Text

Because she was an intentionally mysterious woman initially only seen in a single episode, and before she got an on-air backstory in the recent streaming series, Star Trek supplementary material developed contradictory information on who - or what - Number One, the female first executive officer of the Enterprise, was. To my count, she has four different, completely incompatible backstories in the comics and novels, and this is absolutely unique in Star Trek, which usually keeps it consistent.

Peter David, in his New Frontier novels, identified Number One as a long lived immortal human mutant (like Flint from the original series) named “Morgan Primus” who was an early genius in cybernetics and artificial intelligence, which is why the Enterprise computer has her voice. One of the names Morgan Primus assumed to hide her immortality was Morgan Lefler, and one of her daughters was Robin Lefler, Wesley Crusher’s love interest from the Next Generation Series played by Ashley Judd. Robin Lefler did not inherit her mutant ability to heal all injuries.

Alternatively, the DC Star Trek Comics of the early 1980s said that Number One was from an obscure planet of peaceful, open, friendly telepaths who resemble humans exactly, and that she was present at first contact with Starfleet. They explained that her blunt, direct, undiplomatic manner is due to her being from a telepathic culture that values total honesty. This would make her the first telepath on the Enterprise, with Spock and Arex coming later. Her planet was created before the Next Generation, but her species being a peaceful, open, telepathic race resembling Mediterranean humans who are not well known or commonly encountered in the original series era….well, that certainly sounds an awful lot like Betazoids to me. If this backstory is true, she may have been the first Betazoid seen on screen, in much the same way fans generally believe Trelane was either Q or a member of the Q Continuum.

D.C. Fontana’s only Star Trek novel, “Vulcan’s Glory,” was one of the earliest attempts to give the character a backstory, and was the most consequential long term. The first novel set in the era of the first Star Trek pilot with Captain Pike and a young Spock, "Vulcan's Glory" identified Number One as being an Illyrian, a race of human-like beings who specialize in species wide breeding programs and genetic improvement. This genetic superiority is why she was cool, intellectual, aloof, and a bit arrogant. Her nickname “Number One” came from the fact she was the supreme product of the hyper-competitive Illyrian system, and won at everything from academics to athletics. According to DC Fontana, her actual Illyrian name is impossible to pronounce, so when dealing with humans, she assumed the human name “Una Chin-Riley.” Una of course, being “Number One” in Greek.

As DC Fontana is such an important figure in Star Trek history and only actually wrote one Star Trek novel in her life, many future materials used the backstory established in “Vulcan’s Glory,” like the David Stern Pike-era novels of the 2010s....but more importantly, the Discovery and Strange New Worlds series, which canonized the “Una Chin-Reilly” name by using it on screen (I remember gasping when Pike called her Una in a Discovery episode, meaning they were going with the Fontana backstory, a detail that may not have been significant to the casual viewer). Since DC Fontana wrote “Vulcan’s Glory” in the 80s, a lot more information was learned about the role of genetic engineering in the Federation, however, and interesting things were done in that series to bring her in line with everything we’ve learned since in Deep Space 9 and Enterprise about augmentation and the society wide prejudice against it. For example, they established that the fact Number One was Illyrian was not public knowledge, but that she pretended to be human her entire life.

The one person who didn’t see fit to give her a backstory or even a real name was John "Johnny Redbeard" Byrne in his comic series about the Cage era Enterprise, who thought the mystery of the character was the most interesting thing about her, and he was deliberately cagey about any details. To Johnny Redbeard, she was just “Number One.” There was a running joke that every time someone says her actual name, or when we see her personnel file, it was blurred out, or somebody’s thumb was over it, and so on. It was rather like the running joke where Mr. Burns never remembers Homer Simpson's name. Johnny Redbeard loves mystery men and women who don't talk about their past, since that was the characterization he famously gave to Wolverine in his X-Men comics.

The one detail of Number One's past that is clear is that Number One in Byrne's comics is competent, mysterious, and has mystique, certainly, but she is completely human, without any powers. Byrne always got exasperated that his X-Men co-creator Chris Claremont added fantastical and far out details to the background of X-Men characters (like how Nightcrawler's girlfriend Amanda turned out to be a sorceress) because he felt "some people should just be allowed to be normal." Byrne always said his original idea for Wolverine's "true" backstory was that he was a Vietnam veteran in intelligence who volunteered for bionic experiments that wiped his memory, and disliked the idea he was immortal, and vetoed the very, very early Dave Cockrum idea Wolverine was an actual mutated wolverine who achieved sentience and a human shape (which early X-Men comics hint at). Byrne was reportedly enraged that they gave Moira MacTaggart a mutant power, as he saw her as just being a scrappy Scottish housekeeper.

Johnny Redbeard didn’t give Number One a past (other than to show she was on the Enterprise's shakedown cruise with Robert April as a rookie officer), but he did give her a future, as he showed an older Number One as a starship commander in the Kirk era (aging gracefully with a white tuft like Tongolele), and later, a flag officer in the Motion Picture era.

To what extent are these backstories compatible? Well, with what we currently know about Number One, that she hid her true species and status to avoid prejudice, it could be that some of the other versions were tall tales she spread to obscure her true origins. The John Byrne idea she served as an Ensign with Robert April in the Enterprise's very first mission hasn't been confirmed, but hasn't been denied, either. The Peter David "Morgan Primus" backstory is completely incompatible, but perhaps there are some elements to it that are true, like the idea that the early part of her career involved working as a computer engineer in artificial intelligence, which is why the computer has her voice.

#star trek #tos #snw #number one

605 notes · View notes

thewinter-eden · 4 days ago

Text

You Live Like This? - PT VII

Series master list PART 2 INFO

pairing: Bang Chan x fem!reader rating: mature, dark themes summary: home invader!Chris makes good on his promise to rob your ex to avenge your painful breakup, only to find that you're already there trying to collect your belongings. In order to keep your ex-bf from including you as an accomplice in his inevitable police report, you have to pretend you don't know the robber who keeps flirting with you. (plus like a lot more)

warnings: camping, murder, Ateez mentioned, mature. Short chapter for feels and because I’m tired enough to sew myself to a mattress with no regrets. I’m using states as location descriptors because it’s what I know for this long ass roadtrip setting. It’s not more specific than that, just a narrative tool.

word count: ~3k

Read the notes in the warnings please.

Shock.

That’s all you feel.

You recognize it today, after yesterday, but this is different.

They had to use dogs to find him. They’re being hurried back into their vehicles, excited by a job well done. The K-9 units are parked by the tree line, engines still running.

The boys must have woken up to find him missing. There’s a search and rescue team, packing up their gear, heading out at the revelation that there’s nothing for them to do.

You watch the truck roll leisurely past, the men inside rolling up their sleeves with languid movements, resting their arms out the open windows, conversational smiles on their faces. Going back to the station after a needless call, off to wait for the next assignment.

The truck pulls off to the side so another car can pass. A big black van, ‘coroner’ painted on the sides in cold white letters.

Someone in white nitrile gloves is taking pictures of Jisung. A big heavy lens, inches from his face. The officer adjusts the zoom. Takes a shot of his throat. Steps back and nearly trips over Jisung’s bent knee. Rights himself with a short laugh, takes pictures of his wrists.

Another officer in a jacket that screams CSI like a headline across his shoulders kneels down and lifts Jisung’s hands, scrapes under one fingernail with a swab, drops the hand into the dirt.

“Watch your step.” Someone orders. “It’s behind you, step easy.”

It.

Jisung.

“Take one here, behind the ear.” Someone turns Jisung’s head with a finger.

Jisung’s cheek lands in the dirt.

He’s looking right at you.

But he’s not.

The camera man moves back up towards the other officer, plants his feet on either side of Jisung’s legs, takes a picture. Clicks the lens cap back on. “Alright, that’s it.”

They put Jisung in a bag.

Zip it over his still face.

When he’s gone, that’s when you see the boys.

Chan is talking to an officer with a notepad, his hands clutching his arms, cheeks red with misery.

Seungmin and Felix are sitting in the dirt, bent over each other, weeping.

Changbin has Jeongin against his chest, turned away from the body. He doesn’t let him watch them put the bag on a cart and wheel it into the coroner’s van. Hyunjin crowds in from the other side, face buried in Jeongin’s hair.

Minho stands alone.

Solemn.

Shocked.

Empty.

A mirror image of you, a statue amid gasping and pearl-clutching campers, unaware of the ones who push past you to get a closer look at the once in a lifetime experience.

Officers push them back. They’re telling you to go back to your campsites. Chastising parents for letting their small children wander close.

But it’s a morbid fascination. A train wreck. A public execution, of days of old, a family event.

The hand that took yours, the arm that wrapped around your back, the face on your film role, the smile that invited yours. A body. In a bag. On a cart. In the back of a refrigerated van.

Channie Hyung sent me to make sure you’re not being bothered by an annoying ex boyfriend?

There. You can put more on once this starts to go down. When the bigger pieces of wood burn most of the way up, that’s the best time to start cooking. You’ll get more control and consistent heat that way.

You should come with us, it’ll be fun. You can meet the guys. Show Chan we’re not all heathens.

You’re hyung’s friend.

The explorers have arrived! Ready to see if we can get ourselves cursed?

We were all just worried about you.

Chan, Minho, Changbin, Hyunjin, Felix, Seungmin, Jeongin.

Seven.

Chan.

Minho.

Changbin.

Hyunjin.

Felix.

Seungmin.

Jeongin.

He’s not there.

You count again.

And again.

Jeongin’s voice rings out, a broken cry.

Your hands are cold. He was just there last night. He’s not here.

Hyunjin throws something. Shatters it against a tree.

A park ranger touches your arm and says something that sounds garbled and inhuman. He pushes you backwards and your feet follow.

“Go back to your campsite, miss.”

“Are you alright?”

“Can you hear me?”

“Did you know him?”

Why would he ask you that? Your eyes are on his face. Jisung’s face. That boisterous smile.

“Ma’am, are you alright?”

Not Jisung’s face. Another face. Concerned and kind. Not Jisung.

“Go back to your campsite, miss. Someone will be by to speak with you.” Not Jisung says, and gives you another gentle push.

You walk away.

Your face is colder than your hands. Wet, cold, skin prickling. You’re crying. When did you start crying?

Was it when you saw Jisung?

Or when you saw the body in the bag?

It’s some grace of your subconscious that guides you back to your car, your fingers scuffing over the bumper, dirt and grit under your hands.

Your reflection is a splotchy face, swollen eyes, shattered by a mirror of the trees overhead and the open sky, looming behind you like an ocean you’ll fall into.

Blinking, you feel the ground under your feet again. The sky is just the sky. Your face is just your face. But where your chin should be is a little blue square.

You blink again.

It’s a blue sticky note, taped to the dusty surface of your windshield.

Black marker.

Woosung’s handwriting.

‘I know what you did.’

Your hands are moving before your brain catches up, snatching the sticky note off the window, hurling it into your dwindling cookfire. The note curls, blackens, turns to ash.

And every second of your panic captured on your dash cam.

You stumble to your picnic table, falling onto the bench, jerking your phone out of your pocket with trembling feelings.

You can’t delete the footage. It’s a death sentence. An admission of guilt. But you can make sure that when you show the police your playback, you cut the clip when you hurry off to see the commotion at Chan’s campsite.

Voices are pressing in, a squad car rolling by with the radio connected to the speaker on the hood, officers issuing orders.

They declare to your entire campground that two of your people being murdered in separate states is a matter of more thorough investigation, urging you all to put off your travel plans and stay at the campsite for another day.

You listen to the announcement in a haze.

You don’t have enough groceries to cook for the day’s meals, but you’ve lost your appetite. Everyone is ordered to wait at your sites so the officers can find you for questions later, so you bend over your phone and make sure you have enough reception to pull up the app for your dash cam while you wait.

It’s hot.

Your hands are shaking.

Your stomach is cramping with anxiety.

I know what you did.

Woosung’s handwriting.

Your spot doesn’t have a lot of shade, and soon you’re sweating through the clothes Chan let you borrow. It’s a cramped task to change in your tent, but you manage to slip into a tank top and shorts before deciding to use your extra time to tie up all the flaps and let your tent air out.

I know what you did.

So much for your first solo roadtrip.

You trace your fingertips along the various knife carvings that prior campers have left on the surface of the table, listening to the birdsong.

Maybe it’s a sign.

Maybe camping isn’t for you.

Maybe you need to take up another hobby that allows you to appreciate life, like pottery. Or blacksmithing.

The coroner’s van roars past your site, and fear roils in your stomach.

He’s gone.

Jisung’s gone.

They’re taking him away.

If two of you have been killed, so far apart, doesn’t that mean that someone traveling with you has to be the culprit?

If two of you have been killed.

Woosung’s handwriting, burned to ash.

You had no suspicion of it being Chan, knowing him to be some kind of hobbyist who only threatens to scare, not to deliver. But now, you’re not sure.

In all fairness, he’s the only criminal you know.

He’s the only other one who knows what you did to Woosung. The only other one who knows about the mug.

But Woosung’s handwriting.

And how could Chan kill one of his own friends?

Jealousy over you?

Even after you fell into his arms last night?

If you’re even slightly worried that it’s him, do you tell the police everything you know? That he broke into your house to rob you and held a knife to your throat?

Do you tell them that you led him to Woosung’s house and helped him terrify the man for fun?

You can’t.

You’ve already lived through one taste of ruination—you can’t incriminate yourself and fuck up your records for life.

But Chan doesn’t write with Woosung’s hand.

He didn’t have your mug.

To distract yourself from the anxiety swirling in your gut, you scroll on Instagram, your feed flooded with posts from all of the new people you’ve begun following.

Jisung, a day ago, posing next to a state sign. The first post you see.

You scroll away too fast.

Hyunjin’s aesthetic post of the fast food lunch you had all shared yesterday at the gas station.

Another post by Hyunjin, this one of a sketch of their campsite two days ago.

Felix throwing up a peace sign next to a carving of a bear that had been at your last campground.

Changbin’s latest post from a few minutes ago, a shot of a pair of shoes captioned with a heart emoji.

Somehow you know they’re Jisung’s shoes, even though he’s careful not to attach any information to the sentimental image. ‘Can’t leave you behind, buddy’ the caption says.

Jisung had been right where you’re sitting last night. You’d talked to him, laughed with him, watched him entertain eight people like he’s done it a million times.

How does this happen?

How are you supposed to process this?

Two people that you knew are dead.

Murdered.

Targeted by someone.

How do you live with this?

What do you say if their names ever come up again?

“Oh, I knew him. He was murdered near my tent while I slept.”

“Yes, that’s my ex boyfriend. He was murdered.”

Do people say those things?

Do they think about them for the rest of their lives?

And what about you?

You’re traveling in the same group that has been targeted by some psycho.

Did they have a grudge against Woosung and Jisung, two people who, to your knowledge, didn’t even know each other?

Are you targeted too?

The police soon come by your site, asking you so many questions that you don’t know the answers to.

Did they have any enemies?

Were they acting strange? Did they seem worried?

Has someone in your group been giving you any odd or uncomfortable feelings?

Your fear over the situation is obvious. They watch your footage and ask you to forward a copy to the station, and then they leave you alone.

They tell you you can move around the campground and go into town for supplies, but that they want you to stay an extra night to be safe.

It doesn’t make sense.

Stay the night to be safe?

At the place where someone has already been murdered?

But you agree, not having much of a choice, and watch them move on to the next campsite.

It’s only mid morning when they leave.

You wander to the bathrooms to take a shower, but it only takes you twenty minutes. Just to kill more time, you drive to the closest store and buy a repeat of ingredients from last night, but you’re not even sure if you’ll have the stomach to cook it.

By the time you return, the sun is high in the sky and the police are still crawling around the grounds.

A couple of officers seem to be on patrol, passing by your spot multiple times. You don’t know if they’re guarding you or waiting for someone to offer to confess.

Either way, you force yourself to ignore them.

A few hours later, you’re in your car with the air conditioning cranked up, attempting to read one of your books but mostly scanning without processing, watching each unread page receive a fresh splattering of tears each time you blink, when someone knocks on your window.

It’s Chan.

His eyes are bloodshot, his face downcast as he peers in at you.

Maybe you should be afraid of him, but you pop your locks and let him slip into the passenger seat.

He all but falls into your car, pulling the door shut behind him with barely enough energy to latch it.

He’s been crying.

That much is obvious.

You don’t ask him how he’s doing. It’s an offensive question.

For the longest time, he doesn’t say anything, just sits next to you with a pitiful hunch in his shoulders, letting the cold air wash over him.

You turn a page. Blink. Listen to the soft pat as a watery splotch appears on the page. The words are nonsense to you, but it’s better than creating an awkward space by just waiting for him to speak.

“I didn’t do this,” he utters in a low croak.

When you meet his eyes, you know it’s the truth. Maybe you don’t have evidence, but you believe him.

“I know.”

His posture relaxes ever so slightly. “He was my best friend.”

You don’t have anything to say. You don’t really know Chan, and you didn’t really know Jisung. Even saying you’re sorry seems hollow and empty.

“I don’t…” he breaks off with a ragged breath. “I don’t understand. Who would do this? Why?”

You don’t know.

He doesn’t expect you to.

“Chan—”

He looks at you, eyes wide and hopeful, like you’ll have something to say that can fix all this.

But nothing can fix all this.

“If your friends want to come over here, they can.” You offer instead. “I’m sure it’s difficult, being at your camp.” Where Jisung was. Where his things are. Where the body was.

He nods bleakly, wiping his eyes. “That’s very kind of you. Thank you.” He slides his phone out of his pocket, but he doesn’t unlock it. It sits listlessly in his lap, like he’s already forgotten why he’s holding it.

“They can move your tents over too.” You say. You don’t know why you’re offering it, except that he looks so broken next to you that you want to do anything you can to help him. “If we’re all together tonight, at least we can vouch for each other if something happens.”

He nods again. “That sounds good.”

He’s not really hearing you.

“Chan.”

His gaze meets yours again, and finds your arms open to him.

He gives a short laugh, like he’s embarrassed that you feel the need to offer him comfort in the cramped front seat of your car, but you frown at him. “Come here.”

The hesitation disappears immediately.

He leans over your center console like it’s not there and throws his arms around you like he needs to hold something to survive, and crumbles into your embrace.

He doesn’t stay there for long, taking a few deep breaths against the side of your neck to settle himself as everything that happened over the past twelve hours cements itself into your reality with inarguable finality.

When he pushes himself back into the passenger seat, staring down at the phone still in his lap, your straighten your shirt with trembling hands. “So are you all going back home now?” It barely even occurs to you to be upset about the concert anymore.

Chan nods stiffly, rubbing his wrist over his eyes. “As soon as the police let us go. We just can’t…all this just for a concert…and now that he’s gone…you know?”

It’s fragments of the disconnected thoughts swarming his conscious, but you get the gist. “Yeah.”

That’s when it hits you. A baseball bat to the stomach, realization of what you completely missed mere hours ago.

You’d watched every bit of that playback with the police, fast forwarded from the moment you crawled into your tent last night to the moment you’d wandered off in pursuit of the sirens and shouting campers.

Not once had someone approached your car.

Not once had someone snuck by and taped the note to your windshield.

No one had appeared in that footage but you.

to be continued

< last chapter

tag list : @whatdoyouwanttocallmefor @estella-novella @babyphotos0325 @softfor-svtptg @furfoxsake22 @tubelightanyaa @kayleefriedchicken @rockstarkkami @sp1derst0rrr @eastjonowhere @its-stayville-forever @allenajade-ite @naraportokala @jinniejjam @blackberryrains @feetoffthemalfoy @highandalive @scarlet789 @ramadiiiisme @thecutiepieme @lemonn015 @darlingsoulbeautifulthoughts @dreamingartist13 @ebnabi @bangtan-sonyeondamn8 @lemonn015 @thepoeticpurplepotato @brbwritingfanfic @skzlover24 @stephanieeeyang @my-neurodivergent-world @xgridx @igotajuicyass @annovaz @robinnotgood24 @butterflybananabread @tirena1 @nougatjade @wickedbutlovely @justiceforvillains @beewilko @nougatjade @ellelabelle @qwonyoung23 @hwangjoanna @akindaflora @uhnanix @staylovesmiley @skzittomebabyuhhuhx3 @ateez-atiny380 @diekleinesuesse @skzswife @sspersonally @love-and-other-possibilities @inlovewithstraykids @igotajuicyass

#skz #stray kids #crack #crack horror #bang chan #chan #skz x reader #stray kids x reader #chan x reader #bang chan x reader #camping #murder mystery

109 notes · View notes

joehills · 1 year ago

Text

Sunk Cost Fallodyssey

I spent $2.72 buying Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game and was dismayed to discover that Codeweavers Crossover would only install, but not run the executable.

Unwilling to give up, I spent a few hours attempting different Crossover bottle tweaks before stumbling onto the existence of the Fallout: Community Edition project, a modern reimplementation of the game's engine with compatibility for modern computers.

At last, the game launched successfully, and I learned from the opening cinematic that war is transformative but static, and was allowed to access the character creation screen:

Since I don't know anything about Fallout, I decided to create a character based on Kaladin Stormblessed from the Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive novels. In Sanderson's story, Kaladin is an unlucky son of a small-town physician somehow trapped in a cycle of being beaten within an inch of death while everyone else around him is killed, losing whatever job he had at the time, and ending up with a new job that is somehow more dangerous.

I started by lowering my character's luck stat to the game's floor of 1 (Very Bad), then re-investing the spare points into maxing out his endurance at 10 (Heroic) and bumping up his agility, charisma, and intelligence a bit each. I took a point out of perception because Sanderson's Kaladin usually needs obvious things explained to him.

For his three Tag Skills, I selected Melee Weapons, First Aid, and Doctor since Sanderson's Kaladin had training both as a spearman and as a physician.

For the first of his two optional traits, I selected Good Natured, which dropped his combat skills but boosted his First Aid, Doctor, Speech, and Barter abilities. My other choice here was Jinxed, which causes both the character and everyone around them to roll critical failures more often.

I started the game and died a dozen times to random encounters in the wastes. I was still having fun, but admit that I was growing a bit discouraged when I finally found my first actual spear on a random corpse giant molerats were dining on family-style.

Since grabbing the spear and fleeing those molerats, things have been looking up! I hit level two and have reached Vault 15 with far fewer deaths. The vault itself seems to be in poor repair, but without a rope to drop down the elevator shaft, I may need to continue my adventure elsewhere...

#fallout: a post nuclear role playing game #fallout #fallout community edition #kaladin stormblessed #joehills #Joe hills #joehillsTSD #lets play #lets play fallout #Joe hills plays fallout

427 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 11 months ago

Text

Circular battery self-sufficiency

I'm coming to DEFCON! On FRIDAY (Aug 9), I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On SATURDAY (Aug 10), I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

If we are going to survive the climate emergency, we will have to electrify – that is, transition from burning fossil fuels to collecting, storing, transmitting and using renewable energy generated by e.g. the tides, the wind, and (especially) the Sun.

Electrification is a big project, but it's not an insurmountable one. Planning and executing an electric future is like eating the elephant: we do it one step at a time. This is characteristic of big engineering projects, which explains why so many people find it hard to imagine pulling this off.

As a layperson, you are far more likely to be exposed to a work of popular science than you are a work of popular engineering. Pop science is great, but its role is to familiarize you with theory, not practice. Popular engineering is a minuscule and obscure genre, which is a pity, because it's one of my favorites.

Weathering the climate emergency is going to require a lot of politics, to be sure, but it's also going to require a lot of engineering, which is why I'm grateful for the nascent but vital (and growing) field of popular engineering. Not to mention, the practitioners of popular engineering tend to be a lot of fun, like the hosts of the Well That's Your Problem podcast, a superb long-form leftist podcast about engineering disasters (with slides!):

https://www.youtube.com/@welltheresyourproblempodca1465

If you want to get started on popular engineering and the climate, your first stop should be the "Without the Hot Air" series, which tackles sustainable energy, materials, transportation and food as engineering problems. You'll never think about climate the same way again:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/06/methane-diet/#3kg-per-day

Then there's Saul Griffith's 2021 book Electrify, which is basically a roadmap for carrying out the electrification of America and the world:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/09/practical-visionary/#popular-engineering

Griffith's book is inspiring and visionary, but to really get a sense of how fantastic an electrified world can be, it's gotta be Deb Chachra's How Infrastructure Works:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/17/care-work/#charismatic-megaprojects

Chachra is a material scientist who teaches at Olin College, and her book is a hymn to the historical and philosophical underpinnings of infrastructure, but more than anything, it's a popular engineering book about what is possible. For example, if we want to give every person on Earth the energy budget of a Canadian (like an American, but colder), we would only have to capture 0.4% of the solar energy that reaches the Earth's surface.

Now, this is a gigantic task, but it's a tractable one. Resolving it will require a very careful – and massive – marshaling of materials, particularly copper, but also a large number of conflict minerals and rare earths. It's gonna be hard.

But it's not impossible, let alone inconceivable. Indeed, Chachra's biggest contribution in this book is to make a compelling case for reconceiving our relationship to energy and materials. As a species, we have always treated energy as scarce, trying to wring every erg and therm that we can out of our energy sources. Meanwhile, we've treated materials as abundant, digging them up or chopping them down, using them briefly, then tossing them on a midden or burying them in a pit.

Chachra argues that this is precisely backwards. Our planet gets a fresh supply of energy twice a day, with sunrise (solar) and moonrise (tides). On the other hand, we've only got one Earth's worth of materials, supplemented very sporadically when a meteor survives entry into our atmosphere. Mining asteroids, the Moon and other planets is a losing proposition for the long foreseeable future:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/09/astrobezzle/#send-robots-instead

The promise of marshaling a very large amount of materials is that it will deliver effectively limitless, clean energy. This project will take a lot of time and its benefits will primarily accrue to people who come after its builders, which is why it is infrastructure. As Chachra says, infrastructure is inherently altruistic, a gift to our neighbors and our descendants. If all you want is a place to stick your own poop, you don't need to build a citywide sanitation system.

What's more, we can trade energy for materials. Manufacturing goods so that they gracefully decompose back into the material stream at the end of their lives is energy intensive. Harvesting materials from badly designed goods is also energy intensive. But if once we build out the renewables grid (which will take a lot of materials), we will have all the energy we need (to preserve and re-use our materials).

Our species' historical approach to materials is not (ahem) carved in stone. It is contingent. It has changed. It can change again. It needs to change, because the way we extract materials today is both unjust and unsustainable.

The horrific nature of material extraction under capitalism – and its geopolitics (e.g. "We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.") – has many made comrades in the climate fight skeptical (or worse, cynical) about a clean energy transition. They do the back-of-the-envelope math about the material budget for electrification, mentally convert that to the number of wildlife preserves, low-income communities, unspoiled habitat and indigenous lands that we would destroy in the process of gathering those materials, and conclude that the whole thing is a farce.

That analysis is important, but it's incomplete. Yes, marshaling all those materials in the way that we do today would be catastrophic. But the point of a climate transition is that we will transition our approach to our planet, our energy, and our materials. That transition can and should challenge all the assumptions underpinning electrification doomerism.

Take the material bill itself: the assumption that a transition will require a linearly scaled quantity of materials includes the assumption that cleantech won't find substantial efficiencies in its material usage. Thankfully, that's a very bad assumption! Cleantech is just getting started. It's at the stage where we're still uncovering massive improvements to production (unlike fossil fuel technology, whose available efficiencies have been discovered and exploited, so that progress is glacial and negligible).

Take copper: electrification requires a lot of copper. But the amount of copper needed for each part of the cleantech revolution is declining faster than the demand for cleantech is rising. Just one example: between the first and second iteration of the Rivian electric vehicle, designers figured out how to remove 1.6 miles of copper wire from each vehicle:

https://insideevs.com/news/722265/rivian-r1s-r1t-wiring/

That's just one iteration and one technology! And yeah, EVs are only peripheral to a cleantech transition; for one thing, geometry hates cars. We're going to have to build a lot of mass transit, and we're going to be realizing these efficiencies with every generation of train, bus, and tram:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/29/geometry-hates-uber/#toronto-the-gullible

We have just lived through a massive surge in electrification, with unimaginable quantities of new renewables coming online and a stunning replacement of conventional vehicles with EVs, and throughout that surge, demand for copper remained flat:

https://www.chemanalyst.com/NewsAndDeals/NewsDetails/copper-wire-price-remains-stable-amidst-surplus-supply-and-expanding-mining-25416#:~:text=Global%20Copper%20wire%20Price%20Remains%20Stable%20Amidst%20Surplus%20Supply%20and%20Expanding%20Mining%20Activities

This isn't to say that cleantech is a solved problem. There are many political aspects to cleantech that remain pernicious, like the fact that so many of the cleantech offerings on the market are built around extractive financial arrangements (like lease-back rooftop solar) and "smart" appliances (like heat pumps and induction tops) that require enshittification-ready apps:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/26/unplanned-obsolescence/#better-micetraps

There's a quiet struggle going on between cleantech efficiencies and the finance sector's predation, from lease-back to apps to the carbon-credit scam, but many of those conflicts are cashing out in favor of a sustainable future and it doesn't help our cause to ignore those: we should be cheering them on!

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/12/s-curve/#anything-that-cant-go-on-forever-eventually-stops

Take "innovation." Silicon Valley's string of pump-and-dump nonsense – cryptocurrency, NFTs, metaverse, web3, and now AI – have made "innovation" into a dirty word. As the AI bubble bursts, the very idea of innovation is turning into a punchline:

https://www.wheresyoured.at/burst-damage/

But cleantech is excitingly, wonderfully innovative. The contrast between the fake innovation of Silicon Valley and the real – and vital – innovation of cleantech couldn't be starker, or more inspiring:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/30/posiwid/#social-cost-of-carbon

Like the "battery problem." Whenever the renewables future is raised, there's always a doomer insisting that batteries are an unsolved – and unsolvable – problem, and without massive batteries, there's no sense in trying, because the public won't accept brownouts when the sun goes down and the wind stops blowing.

Sometimes, these people are shilling boondoggles like nuclear power (reminder: this is Hiroshima Day):

https://theconversation.com/dutton-wants-australia-to-join-the-nuclear-renaissance-but-this-dream-has-failed-before-209584

Other times, they're just trying to foreclose on the conversation about a renewables transition altogether. But sometimes, these doubts are raised by comrades who really do want a transition and have serious questions about power storage.

If you're one of those people, I have some very good news: battery tech is taking off. Some of that takes the form of wild and cool new approaches. In Finland, a Scottish company is converting a disused copper mine into a gravity battery. During the day, excess renewables hoist a platform piled with tons of rock up a 530m shaft. At night, the platform lowers slowly, driving a turbine and releasing its potential energy. This is incredibly efficient, has a tiny (and sustainable) bill of materials, and it's highly replicable. The world has sufficient abandoned mine-shafts to store 70TWh of power – that's the daily energy budget for the entire planet. What's more, every mine shaft has a beefy connection to the power grid, because you can't run a mine without a lot of power:

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/02/06/this-disused-mine-in-finland-is-being-turned-into-a-gravity-battery-to-store-renewable-ene

Gravity batteries are great for utility-scale storage, but we also need a lot of batteries for things that we can't keep plugged into the wall, like vehicles, personal electronics, etc. There's great news on that score, too! "The Battery Mineral Loop" is a new report from the Rocky Mountain Institute that describes the path to "circular battery self-sufficiency":

https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/07/the_battery_mineral_loop_report_July.pdf

The big idea: rather than digging up new minerals to make batteries, we can recycle minerals from dead batteries to make new ones. Remember, energy can be traded for materials: we can expend more energy on designs that are optimized to decompose back into their component materials, or we can expend more energy extracting materials from designs that aren't optimized for recycling.

Both things are already happening. From the executive summary:

The chemistry of batteries is rapidly improving: over the past decade, we've reduced per-using demand for lithium, nickle and cobalt by 60-140%, and most lithium batteries are being recycled, not landfilled.

Within a decade, we'll hit peak mineral demand for batteries. By the mid-2030s, the amount of new "virgin minerals" needed to meet our battery demand will stop growing and start declining.

By 2050, we could attain net zero mineral demand for batteries: that is, we could meet all our energy storage needs without digging up any more minerals.

We are on a path to a "one-off" extraction effort. We can already build batteries that work for 10-15 years and whose materials can be recycled with 90-94% efficiency.

The total quantity of minerals we need to extract to permanently satisfy the world's energy storage needs is about 125m tons.

This last point is the one that caught my eye. Extracting 125m tons of anything is a tall order, and depending on how it's done, it could wreak a terrible toll on people and the places they live.

But one question I learned to ask from Tim Harford and BBC More Or Less is "is that a big number?" 125m tons sure feels like a large number, but it is one seventeenth of the amount of fossil fuels we dig up every year just for road transport. In other words, we're talking about spending the next thirty years carefully, sustainably, humanely extracting about 5.8% of the materials we currently pump and dig every year for our cars. Do that, and we satisfy our battery needs more-or-less forever.

This is a big engineering project. We've done those before. Crisscrossing the world with roads, supplying billions of fossil-fuel vehicles, building the infrastructure for refueling them, pumping billions of gallons of oil – all of that was done in living memory. As Robin Sloan wrote:

Did people say, at the dawn of the automobile: are you kidding me? This technology will require a ubiquitous network of refueling stations, one or two at every major intersection … even if there WAS that much gas in the world, how would you move it around at that scale? If everybody buys a car, you’ll need to build highways, HUGE ones — you’ll need to dig up cities! Madness!

https://www.robinsloan.com/newsletters/room-for-everybody/

That big project cost trillions and required bending the productive capacity of many nations to its completion. It produced a ghastly geopolitics that elevated petrostates – a hole in the ground, surrounded by guns – to kingmakers whose autocrats can knock the world on its ass at will.

By contrast, this giant engineering project is relatively modest, and it will upend that global order, yielding energy sovereignty (and its handmaiden, national resliency) to every country on Earth. Doing it well will be hard, and require that we rethink our relationship to energy and materials, but that's a bonus, not a cost. Changing how we use materials and energy will make all our lives better, it will improve the lives of the living things we share the planet with, and it will strip the monsters who currently control our energy supply of their political, economic, and electric power.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/06/with-great-power/#comes-great-responsibility

#pluralistic #debcha #solarpunk #energy #cleantech #bill mckibben #material science #promethean climate transition #rocky mountain institute #battery mineral loop #climate #environment #peak minerals

297 notes · View notes

astrologydray · 5 months ago

Text

♑️Capricorn Mc in the each of the degrees🐐

If you have a Capricorn Midheaven (MC), your career and public image are shaped by Capricorn’s themes of ambition, discipline, structure, and responsibility. You are likely drawn to roles that require practicality, leadership, and long-term commitment. Capricorn MC individuals thrive in corporate settings, government positions, finance, or any career that demands hard work, perseverance, and organizational skills.

• 0° Capricorn (Aries Point) – A powerful public image, likely to gain recognition through hard work, leadership, or a corporate role. Your career may be highly visible and require determination and long-term planning.

• 1° Capricorn – Highly ambitious with a strong desire to achieve. Likely to excel in leadership roles, management, or government positions that require authority and responsibility.

• 2° Capricorn – Practical and strategic, focused on building a solid foundation. Likely to succeed in finance, real estate, or business management.

• 3° Capricorn – Focused on long-term career goals. Likely to thrive in corporate environments, law, or any field that requires stability and longevity.

• 4° Capricorn – A natural leader with a strong sense of responsibility. Could succeed in executive roles, government, or nonprofit management.

• 5° Capricorn – Practical, structured, and goal-oriented. Likely to work in finance, engineering, or any career requiring precision and long-term planning.

• 6° Capricorn – Drawn to roles that require discipline, order, and organization. Likely to work in project management, finance, or logistics.

• 7° Capricorn – Strong focus on building relationships that support your career goals. Likely to succeed in partnerships, corporate leadership, or law.

• 8° Capricorn – Focused on business and financial stability, likely to thrive in corporate finance, investing, or accounting.

• 9° Capricorn – Highly driven and focused on long-term achievements. Likely to excel in government, law, or business management.

• 10° Capricorn – Natural authority figure, likely to work in executive roles, management, or politics where leadership and responsibility are key.

• 11° Capricorn – A strong sense of ambition and stability. Likely to succeed in corporate structures, finance, or education, especially in leadership roles.

• 12° Capricorn – Strategic and practical, likely to work in business development, real estate, or law. You may be drawn to careers that require a balance between structure and growth.

• 13° Capricorn – A natural in executive roles or positions that require organizational skills. Likely to thrive in management or leadership positions.

• 14° Capricorn – Highly disciplined with a focus on material success. Could work in finance, real estate, or corporate law.

• 15° Capricorn – Focused on building a solid foundation for long-term career success. Likely to thrive in management, project leadership, or engineering.

• 16° Capricorn – Strategic and ambitious, likely to work in politics, business, or high-level administration.

• 17° Capricorn – Strong sense of duty and responsibility. Likely to excel in law, government, or corporate environments.

• 18° Capricorn – Focused on achieving status and recognition through hard work and discipline. Likely to work in finance, real estate, or law.

• 19° Capricorn – Highly ambitious and hardworking. Likely to work in corporate leadership, finance, or management positions that offer career growth.

• 20° Capricorn – Very career-driven and focused on creating a legacy. Likely to excel in executive roles, business development, or project management.

• 21° Capricorn – A natural manager or strategist, likely to succeed in business, finance, or corporate roles.

• 22° Capricorn – Strong work ethic and practical ambition. Likely to work in leadership or administrative roles, particularly in finance, real estate, or management.

• 23° Capricorn – Focused on creating stability and security in your career. Likely to excel in accounting, investment, or law.

• 24° Capricorn – Highly driven to achieve professional success through hard work, discipline, and long-term vision. Likely to work in business, corporate leadership, or finance.

• 25° Capricorn – Focused on building a strong professional reputation. Likely to thrive in executive roles, finance, or corporate law.

• 26° Capricorn – Structured and strategic, likely to succeed in management roles, business development, or corporate law.

• 27° Capricorn – Focused on practicality, discipline, and structure in your career. Likely to thrive in finance, real estate, or leadership roles.

• 28° Capricorn – Ambitious with a strong focus on career success and longevity. Likely to work in politics, business, or corporate leadership.

• 29° Capricorn (Anaretic Degree) – A culmination of discipline, responsibility, and ambition. Likely to find career success through roles that require leadership, authority, and long-term commitment, but you may also feel the weight of responsibility at times. This degree can bring fated opportunities that require major career decisions and long-term growth.

#astro notes #astrology #birth chart #astro observations #astro community #astrology degrees #astrology observations #capricorn #CapricornMC

109 notes · View notes

groverapologist · 1 year ago

Text

New Athens, a Percy Jackson HeadCanon:

Percy discussed with Annabeth how he wished New Rome was closer to Manhattan, or that Camp Halfblood had its own similar city so that he could be closer to his family and hometown. this sparked an idea for Annabeth.

after finishing her olympus project, she began to work on her pitch for New Athens, a safehaven for Greek and Roman demigods to grow old and live their lives in right next to Camp Halfblood. Though it was Percy who sparked the idea, the idea became so much larger and more significant than an offhand wish.

with the help of chiron and dionysus, annabeth gets her pitch approved, and work begins.

demigods of all godly parenthood have their chances to shine in the process;

Athena kids are mainly city planners, civil engineers, and architects.

Hephaestus kids are mechanics, constructors, and advisers for the civil engineers.

Demeter kids are mainly agricultural engineers, and alongside Persephone kids, also environmental engineers.

Hermes and Iris kids are transportation engineers, and Hermes kids also focus on hospitality of Roman demigods and hunters.

Apollo kids are healthcare executives and administrators, and together with Dionysus kids, they focus on entertainment.

Aphrodite kids focus on the sociological aspects of urban planning.

Ares kids focus on safety and protection.

There are much more jobs as well, some predominantly run by other demigods (Hypnos, Hecate, etc), and some run by a mixture.

While the jobs are predominantly separated by lineage, any demigod is allowed to work any job they desire.

Frank and Hazel also send in Roman volunteers to provide assistance in the development process. In their words, "You need as many hands as possible to build a city from scratch".

Leo worked considerably on this as this was his chance to be in a place where he felt he belonged. It also felt like a way to honour Jason's legacy as Jason lived in New Rome but chose Camp Halfblood. Leo wholeheartedly believes that had Jason been alive, he would want nothing more than for Camp Halfblood to be a liveable and lively place.

Leo builds a monument in Jason's memory. It is engraved with the words "Lover, Brother, Friend, Praetor, Hero. Symbol of Roman and Greek Unity. Lightning Boy." When it was first revealed, he and Piper sat there all day, holding each other.

while piper offers all the help she can, she never once seriously considers living in New Athens. while her demigod lineage is something so integral to who she is, she would rather live in the outside world. Leo and Annabeth understand.

clarisse works on a monument for all heroes lost in the battle of manhattan. even though it was her idea, it still hurts to see Silena's name engraved on the marble.

dionysus pretends to hate it, despite having played a huge role in convincing the gods (especially Zeus) that this was a great idea. he never takes credit for that. annabeth only ever finds out through chiron, months after they started work.

the project takes years to complete, but it makes annabeth's world. she considers it one of her greatest achievements, if not the greatest; she has helped her people and the future generations to come. this work cannot be forgotten. her love for demigods is written all over the city, and so many generations will see it.

percy opens a small candy shop the first moment he can. it mostly sells blue candy.

leo finally opens a garage, becoming the best mechanic of New Athens.

annabeth continues working on architecture, helping build any new buildings and working on any expansions.

grover and juniper build a family together there, their home near the woods. percy, annabeth, and grover stay close the entire time.

piper visits often. she and leo always visit Jason's monument when she does, and they leave flowers every time.

will and nico own an apartment. will's still a doctor. nico becomes a teacher. it's a surreal feeling to be able to help kids feel safe and happy, something he did not often get at their age. they've adopted two cats together.

when hazel and frank have the opportunity, they visit as well. they visit nico and will whenever they can, and percy and annabeth and leo and piper as much as possible too. despite being tied down to new rome, they still love New Athens.

reyna and thalia only visit with the hunters, but both go to jason's monument together. they don't have to talk to understand each other.

chiron is happy. in his thousands of years of working at camp, he had never had the ability to see his pupils live long lives. even if they'd lived to their 80s+, they never did so at camp. it's a new experience for him, and to all greek halfbloods who could now feel safe as they grew older in a place that accepted them with open arms.

371 notes · View notes