#four percent group re

[feckcops]

Starmer’s so-called “landslide victory” is built on sand

A deeply unpopular leader, Starmer has not secured the resounding endorsement his 412 seat tally would suggest, while record numbers of Green and independent MPs could pose a robust leftist challenge to Starmer’s Government ­– if they get organised

Keir Starmer, an ersatz Blair without a hint of his charisma or vision, is now Prime Minister, despite securing a vote share six percentage points lower than Jeremy Corbyn in 2017. These results expose the widespread disillusionment, if not outright resentment, towards both Labour and the Tories. Smaller parties and independents had a great showing, with shock wins for Greens and pro-Palestine independents, but also Farage's Reform Party (if indeed you can call a limited company with a CEO and no membership a party). However, a large minority of eligible voters chose not to vote at all, with turnout dropping to 60 percent. This matches the record low set in 2001, when everyone knew Blair was set to be re-elected on a landslide. In elections expected to produce a new government, turnout usually rises – but not so this time. Shockingly, Labour’s mantra of “false hope is worse than no hope” failed to inspire any hope for real change.

It is a damning indictment of our voting system that a party can win over two thirds of seats and celebrate a “landslide victory” after winning over just one in five eligible voters. (Out of the 60 percent who voted, Labour only won a third of the vote.) Thanks to our twee unwritten constitution, this technical win grants Keir Starmer the right to form an electoral dictatorship for the next five years. However, the results do offer some silver linings...

Corbyn won his seat as an independent with a 7,250 vote lead over Labour, after he was blocked from running as Labour’s candidate in Islington North, a seat he'd held for 40 years. Labour also lost Chingford and Woodford Green to Ian Duncan Smith, after Faiza Shaheen was similarly blocked by Labour on dubious grounds and continued her campaign as an independent – ultimately this helped IDS win with around 17,200 votes, compared to Faiza Shaheen and the Labour candidate who each got around 12,500 votes. Shadow cabinet minister Jonathon Ashworth lost his seat to a pro-Palestine independent, along with three other Labour MPs, while another pro-Palestine independent left prominent Terf and shadow health minister Wes Streeting clinging on by a thread. Israel's brutal escalation of its 75 year-long genocide in Palestine has not only dismayed Muslims and anti-Semites, as the media love to imply, but a diverse coalition of people united by their outrage at leading politicians excusing, if not actively cheerleading, such barbarity. These results prove there is an electoral cost for enabling rogue states to commit crimes against humanity.

Beyond the three largest parties, the balance of power in Parliament now lies with a socialist, environmentalist, pro-Palestine left. The Greens won all four of their target seats – not only in the young, urban constituencies of Brighton Pavilion and Bristol Central, but also in the rural, once solidly Tory constituencies of Waveney Valley and North Herefordshire – an achievement few really thought possible. (Greens and pro-Palestine independents also came second in a record number of constituencies, laying the ground for more gains next time.) Those four Green MPs, along with Corbyn and the other four pro-Palestine independents, make up nearly double Reform’s five MPs. As such, we will have a principled leftist grouping in Parliament, not beholden to the Labour whip, to hold Starmer to account.

There is hope the new pro-Palestine independents can put aside subtle philosophical differences and work together to offer a robust left opposition to Starmer. We could see Corbyn and other independents join the Green Party. This would be a strategic move; they could still reasonably claim to be independent voices for their constituents as Green MPs, as the Green Party does not whip its MPs like other parties. Meanwhile, they would benefit from this established party’s resources, networks and mass membership. The highly democratic structure of the party means, if they brought a lot of their voters with them, new Green MPs could even secure a change to any Green policies they disagreed with. As for socialist Labour MPs, we could even see some defect to the Greens now they've secured their seats, especially if Labour remains a deeply hostile environment for them. Defections from Labour seem unlikely at this stage, but they cannot be ruled out.

More than anything, we should take heed that our best chance of enacting real change lies in our communities, through grassroots organising and direct, solidaristic action. Green and pro-Palestine independents only won by rooting themselves in their communities, engaging with the voters they hoped to represent, and inspiring masses of people to join their campaigns. We cannot rely on career politicians, whose class interests are diametrically opposed to ours, to protect us and our interests.

There's more to politics than elections, which only come around every few years and, all too often, seem to yield no real change. Real progress does not come from above. It is not gifted to us by the powers on high. It is fought for, from the ground up. In the words of Frederick Douglass, power concedes nothing without a demand. We must keep faith, keep fighting and keep organising. This election shows us that hard work can bear fruit. We know a better world is possible, but we won't achieve it by just voting. It’s on us to bring it about.

[renegades-garbage]

Admissions

Hey guys I'm back lol. Finding out about the new renegades book inspired me to write for the fandom again! I decided to write a little fic about Adrian and Nova getting back together a few months after the Supernova assuming that they broke up to deal with their mental health and such. This ended up being a lot longer than I intended and I did a shitty job proofreading but I love you all and hope you enjoy it anyway. It's also on ao3 as usual!

PS. I hate writing combat scenes so I simply didn't even though it may have been necessary sorry lol

Adrian watched as Nova examined the broken window. They were out on a call for a home invasion but considering this was the only thing amiss Adrian was beginning to wonder if this was just a prank by some neighborhood kids and not a robbery as the elderly woman inside was so convinced.

Most of Adrian’s team came back to work only a few weeks after the Supernova but Nova had, understandably, taken a bit longer. This was only her first week back on patrols after four months and Adrian would be lying if he said it wasn’t hell. He wouldn’t exactly call their breakup messy but it wasn’t exactly easy, necessary and mutual, but definitely not easy.

Nova was a very valuable asset to their team but she was also extremely strong willed and after a few months without her they all needed to remember how to work together again. That was the only reason he was finding her return difficult. It had nothing to do with the fact that she had been doing a lot of healing and had a new brightness to her skin and eyes, or the fact that she was experimenting with new hairstyles and clothes that suited her much more than what she had before. No, none of that had any impact on him. Breaking up was what was best for both of them and he knew that. He truly believed that. One hundred percent. 

“Sketch? Hello?” Ruby’s voice crackled through the communication band. He hadn’t even realized she’d been talking to him. 

“Sorry what did you say”

“I saaaaaiid” she replied in mock annoyance. “Did you guys find anything on that side of the house, because we’ve got nothing.”

“Just the broken window she was telling us about but it looks more like it got hit with a baseball or something than a home invasion.” Just as he said it Nova shone her flashlight inside.

“Adrian.” her voice shook a bit. “Look”

He peered through the broken glass and sitting on the floor was an orange haired puppet. 

Nova looked up at him concerned. In the weeks past a man impersonating the Puppeteer had been terrorizing homes with small children, and the Renegades hadn’t been able to catch him or even find any clues about his identity. He was all anyone was talking about at HQ and Adrian knew that his dad’s would have sent a more advanced patrol group if they were aware of the perpetrator, especially since Adrian hadn’t yet finished re-tattooing his sentinel abilities, but maybe this could be a good opportunity to prove themselves.

He lifted his wrist to his mouth “Red Assassin, Smokescreen can you guys go inside and check if this lady has any young grand-kids staying here or anything.”

Ruby’s voice flowed back through the band “Um sure but why? Is there something wr-... Wait, did you guys find something? Is it that puppet guy?”

“Ruby. Please just go check. We might have limited time.” 

“Yeah of course. Okay. We're going inside now.”

Nova began reaching her hand inside to grab the puppet. 

“Careful of the glass” Adrian warned though he knew she would be. Nova only nodded and offered a small mhm. 

Though the window was very low to the ground and the puppet was just inside Nova was having a hard time reaching due to the jagged glass. 

Adrian knew she wouldn't ask for help so he simply walked over and grabbed it easily.

“I could have done that.” She mumbled.

“I know”

They both looked down at the creepy thing which was almost an exact replica of Winston Pratt’s infamous puppet Hettie. A note was pinned to the front of the doll which read, It’s time to pay for your betrayal Nightmare. A shiver ran down his spine and Nova’s jaw hardened.

“We don’t have to do this, you know. We can always call for backup if this is too much.” The threat was disconcerting to say the least and even besides that, Adrian knew that Nova’s connection to The Puppeteer was complicated and this may not be the best thing for her mental recovery. 

“I'm fine Sketch.”

She didn’t exactly sound fine, and Adrian wanted to insist that they call someone else, considering Nova was much more important than his desire to prove himself, but before he got the chance they heard Oscar’s voice through his communication band.

“Two kids in the upstairs bedrooms. A boy and a girl. Going to check on them now.”

“I'm going to check the back of the house.” Nova began to walk towards the gate that led to the backyard. 

“I'll come with you, Monarch can check around the other side.” 

“No, everyone else is still inside. It's faster if you go around the front and I go around the back.”

“Nova there’s a note on this thing threatening you.” He said holding up the doll. “I'm not leaving you alone.” 

“Adrian I'm not scared of him and I can handle myself, you know that.” 

In any other situation Adrian would have insisted that they stay together, but there were kids in danger and they needed to find this guy. He didn’t want Nova to be unsafe but he was probably just being paranoid, how much of a threat could this guy be? 

—

Nova’s head was pounding. Her memories of the night were coming back to her in short bursts. The sound of maniacal laughter. A face covered in marionette makeup exactly like that of the Puppeteer. The cold press of a knife to her throat. Her hand fumbling to find bare skin. A stab in her side. Pain. Searing white-hot pain. And then nothing. That’s when she had lost consciousness. And now she was laying in a hospital bed with large bandages wrapped around her midsection. 

‘Miss Artino?” 

Nova opened her eyes and looked up at the man in the white doctor's coat standing next to her bed. An older, balding man with friendly eyes.

“How are you feeling?”

“Um…fine I guess” she replied, testing her voice, and it was true she did feel fine. She had some soreness from the wound in her side but the prodigy doctors at HQ were some of the finest and she was sure it would heal completely within a couple of days.

“Good, the wound was pretty severe but it looks like you’ll make a full recovery. Would you like me to let your friends in? They've been here all night.”

Right. Her friends. Her team. Adrian. Was he okay? 

She shook herself. She should be asking about her whole team. She shouldn’t care any more about Adrian’s safety than the rest of them. And she didn’t. She definitely didn’t.

“Miss Artino?” The doctor looked at her mildly concerned, and Nova didn’t blame him. She probably looked crazy right now.

She cleared her throat “Yeah, yes please let them in.”

The doctor offered a small friendly nod and walked over to the door, exiting the room and letting her team file in. Ruby being the first to burst through the door, followed by Oscar, Danna, and Adrian. He- They all looked tired, drawing some minor scrapes and bruises but they were otherwise unharmed. 

“Oh my stars I am so glad you're okay,” Ruby rushed over to Nova’s bed offering an enthusiastic yet gentle hug, which Nova did her best to return. “You were covered in blood and it looked awful. I mean the doctors told us it wasn’t as bad as it looked but it was terrifying and that guy was so creepy.” Ruby shuttered.

“Oh come on we all knew she would be fine. Nova is the toughest of us all.” Oscar walked over to give her a gentle nudge on the shoulder. “You did have us scared for a second there Artino, but I knew you’d pull through.”

She could tell that Oscar was trying to sound braver than he actually felt, as he so often did. It warmed Nova’s heart a bit to see that her team truly cared, even if they couldn't all fully admit it.

“Well I'm glad you had faith in me.” she said a bit weakly. She was still tired from the battle and her injury. “What happened to the Puppeteer impersonator after I passed out?’

The answer came from Danna “You ended up putting him to sleep right as he got you. We have him in custody.” 

Nova nodded. This was a relief to her. She didn’t want that guy out there impersonating Winston, especially if it meant hurting kids. That, and she didn’t almost die for nothing. 

“I'm really glad you're okay Nova.” Danna sounded sincere when she said these words. Nova didn’t think Danna would want her to die, no matter how rocky their relationship, but the way she said it made it seem like more than that. Like maybe in these past few months she had found friendship and maybe even forgiveness for Nova. 

“Thank you.” Nova offered the brightest smile she could muster up, but it wasn’t great. 

She turned her eyes to Adrian who hadn’t said a single word since they had walked in. He looked like he’d been crying. Maybe that meant he still had feelings for her? No, he was just concerned, as he would be for any of his teammates. She wasn’t special, well, not anymore. And she shouldn’t hope to be anyway. They couldn’t be together. And besides she was over him. Totally. One hundred percent. They just stared at each other. No words came to her, and no words came to him either apparently.

“Weeeeeelll,” Oscar’s voice cut through the tension. “Guess it’s time to get home, maybe grab some food. Long night and all.” He said, gently grabbing his girlfriend's arm and feigning a yawn. Nova just shook her head at him. 

Danna began walking towards the door as well. “Yeah I’m gonna second that.” 

They each said a rushed goodbye, and Nova thanked them for sticking around before they exited the room.  

She looked back at Adrian. She had the striking thought that he looked handsome, even with obvious red eyes from tears, and being awake for many hours, he still looked handsome. She knew she shouldn’t be thinking about that, this wasn’t the time nor the place, and they had been broken up for months. But still, she thought it.

When he finally spoke his words were heavy. “I thought I lost you.” 

Stupidly, Nova relished in the words he chose. Not, ‘I thought you died’ or ‘I didn’t know if you’d be okay’. He didn’t want to lose her and that meant something. To both of them, she hoped. “Nova this is what? The third time you’ve almost died? You have to be more careful.”

This was slightly offensive to Nova considering his track record. “You're the one who’s always saying this job is dangerous, and you're almost more reckless than me.” 

“I know. I know okay.” he sighed. “But you should've let me come with you as back up. Someone else could have checked the rest of the house.”

“Well it’s over now and I’m fine. I survived.”

“No Nova, it's not over now.” He was starting to become angry, well not angry but more…flustered? Nova didn’t understand why he was acting like this. He knew better than anybody about risking his life. “This is our job. This right here.” He made a general gesture to the space around them. Or maybe between them? She couldn’t quite tell. “This is our life.”

“Adrian. I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.” And the truth was she didn’t. Why was he getting so upset?

“Nova I can’t do this okay.” He was almost struggling to get the words out now. “I can’t go into work everyday and watch the person that I love almost die.”

Nova was taken aback. There it was. Plain and simple. His admission that he still loved her. And she wanted to believe him, but he knew they couldn’t be together. This was sleep deprivation and emotion talking. He couldn’t possibly know what he’s saying. 

“Adrian, maybe you should get some sleep, and we can talk about this tomorrow.” It hurt Nova to say these words but she knew she had to. Out of respect for him. 

“No, Nova this past week has been horrible. Ever since the Supernova things have been hard, but having you here, around the team, with me, but not with me. It’s been hell. I know exactly what I’m saying. I love you, Nova Artino.” Nova’s jaw was almost on the floor at this point and she saw the look in his eye as he misread whatever he was seeing on her face. 

He started towards the door. “Um you know what, maybe I should get some rest, and we can just put this behin-”

“Adrian” 

“No, I'm really sorry. You're trying to heal and I’m just-”

“Adrian” She said again, more forcefully this time, stopping him in his tracks. She could practically hear Adrians heart racing, alongside her own. 

“Come here.” Adrian started towards the bed slowly and as soon as he was close enough Novas grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled his lips to her own. Adrian made a small noise of surprise but didn’t pull away. He  sat down on the edge of the bed, cupping her face in his hands as the kiss became more intense. 

Nova pulled away gently pressing their foreheads together.

“I love you too Adrian Everheart.” 

He smiled that beautiful smile of his and pressed one final kiss to her lips.

“Do you mind if I stay here tonight? It's pretty late and I told my dads I would stay in one of the rooms we rent out.”

“I would love for you to stay with me.”

Adrian gently maneuvered himself and the blankets so that they could both lay down without hurting her. They laid together in comfortable silence for a few moments, a feeling Nova had missed so much these past months, until Adrian whispered into the darkness. 

“So does this mean we’re back together?”

Nova just laughed and replied “I hope so.”

[happyllamaglama]

Llamas are members of the camelid family meaning they're pretty closely related to vicuñas and camels.

Camelids first appeared on the Central Plains of North America about 40 million years ago. About 3 million years ago, llamas' ancestors migrated to South America.

During the last ice age (10,000-12,000 years ago) camelids went extinct in North America. Now there are around 160,000 llamas and 100,000 alpacas in the United States and Canada.

Llamas were first domesticated and used as pack animals 4,000 to 5,000 years ago in the Peruvian highlands.

Llamas can grow as much as 6 feet tall though the average llama between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall.

Llamas weigh between 280 and 450 pounds and can carry 25 to 30 percent of their body weight, so a 400-pound male llama can carry about 100 to 120 pounds on a trek of 10 to 12 miles with no problem.

Llamas know their own limits. If you try to overload a llama with too much weight, the llama is likely to lie down or simply refuse to move.

In the Andes Mountains of Peru, llama fleece has been shorn and used in textiles for about 6,000 years. Llama wool is light, warm, water-repellent, and free of lanolin.

Llamas are hardy and well suited to harsh environments. They are quite sure-footed, easily navigating rocky terrain at high altitudes.

Llamas are smart and easy to train.

Llamas have been used as guard animals for livestock like sheep or even alpacas in North America since the '80s. They require almost no training to be an effective guard.

Llamas don't bite. They spit when they're agitated, but that's mostly at each other. Llamas also kick and neck wrestle each other when agitated.

Llamas are vegetarians and have very efficient digestive systems.

A llama's stomach has three compartments. They are called the rumen, omasum, and abomasum. A cow's stomach has four compartments. Like cows, llamas must regurgitate and re-chew their food to digest it completely.

Llama poop has almost no odor. Llama farmers refer to llama manure as "llama beans." It makes for a great, eco-friendly fertilizer. Historically, the Incas in Peru burned dried llama poop for fuel.

Llamas live to be about 20 years old. Though some only live for 15 years and others live to be 30 years old.

A baby llama is called a "cria" which is Spanish for baby. It's pronounced KREE-uh. Baby alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos are also called crias. Mama llamas usually only have one baby at a time and llama twins are incredibly rare. Pregnancy lasts for about 350 days, nearly a full year. Crias weigh 20 to 35 pounds at birth.

Llamas come in a range of solid and spotted colors including black, gray, beige, brown, red, and white.

Llamas are social animals and prefer to live with other llamas or herd animals. The social structure of llamas changes frequently and a male llama can move up the social ladder by picking, and winning, small fights with the leader of the group.

A group of llamas is called a herd.

Llamas have two wild "cousins" that have never been domesticated: the vicuña and the guanaco. The Guanaco is closely related to the llama. Vicuñas are thought to be the ancestors of alpacas.

The current population of llamas and alpacas in South America is estimated to be more than 7 million.

Yarn made from llama fiber is soft and lightweight, yet remarkably warm. The soft, undercoat is used for garments and handicrafts while the coarse, outer coat is frequently used for rugs and ropes.

Trying to tell the difference between a llama and an alpaca? Two obvious things to look for: Llamas are generally about twice the size of alpacas, and alpacas have short, pointy ears, whereas llamas have much longer ears that stand straight up and give them an alert look.

thoughtco.com/fun-facts-about-llamas-3880940.

[hannahssimblr]

Chapter Six

We leave for Dublin early on Saturday. It’s the only morning of the whole summer so far that I haven’t gone into the sea for a swim, but I don’t mind. I am vibrating with excitement as I dash down the steps of the mobile home and through the gates of the holiday park where Jude and Jen are waiting for me in the car. Claire and Kelly will be asleep for hours yet, and I am glad that they aren’t up to see me leaving, because I don’t want to have to explain why I’m so thrilled about going to a gallery. I know they just wouldn’t understand. 

“Looking very chipper for half seven in the morning.” Jen says as I hop into the back. I buckle my seatbelt eagerly. “I don’t know, I’m just excited!”

“You morning people are all the same.” She is half asleep in the passenger seat and it’s the first time I’ve seen her without makeup on. She looks a lot younger. 

“I’m a morning person and it pisses her off.” Jude smirks. “Sorry that I want to get up to Dublin early so that you can have a nice day.”

“Okay. Yeah. You said that already.”

“Just focus on the pancake breakfast we’ll have.”

“Yes, it will be delicious. Now shut your stupid smirky little mouth and drive us, taxi man.” She curls up and shuts her eyes, he starts the car and then we’re gone. 

The streets are bustling already by the time we arrive. We park up in an underground car park near Trinity College and make our way onto the leafy Georgian streets, and I stare up at the buildings in appreciation as we pass them. There’s something about this city that I just love, it’s got an atmosphere like nowhere else, lively and young and bursting at the seams with excitement and opportunity. I don’t get to come here very often and I want to take it all in slowly, but Jude and Jen are on a mission. They weave through the crowds, hopping off footpaths onto roads and dashing across, as they are veterans of Dublin. They grew up here, went to school here, spent their weekends in these parks and shops and for them it is nothing special, it’s just another town. I try to follow their path but I keep bumping into people, tripping on cracks in the pavements, clumsily stumbling between parked cars. I’m glad that they never look around and notice me doing everything the wrong way.

They stop suddenly groaning in frustration, and when I catch up to them I realise we’re trapped behind a huge group of tourists dismounting a fifty two seater bus. They block the path entirely and we’re forced to stop and wait. The tour leader at the front of the group holds up a huge American flag and Jen cackles joyfully. “Jude! Oh my god! We’ve found your people!”

“Yeah! Wow! All of my Irish-American friends in their homeland, back to discover their roots.”

Jen puts on a silly American accent. “I’m four percent Irish, and I’ve come to kiss the Blarney Stone.”

Jude joins in and his accent is obviously better: “Where’s all the fields and the sheep? Is that Big Ben?” I giggle with them as we run across the road to get away from the crowd and Jude continues. “Hey! Somebody call the cops! Those young people are jaywalking!” I think that it’s novel that he pokes fun at himself like that, as I feel I’d be a bit defensive of myself if I were him. 

When we go into a sweet little cafe off Grafton street and order pancakes for breakfast, Jen does her makeup at the table. She’s very good at it, the way that she draws her eyeliner in one smooth stroke is fascinating to me. I feel like mine always turns out uneven and wobbly and I end up just wiping it off. 

As we eat, I decide to ask Jude a little bit more about his background. “So everyone was saying that your dad is from the States?”

“Yeah.” He says. “I was born there – down in New Mexico.”

“Wow, that sounds amazing.”

“It was alright” He says with a shrug. “It always sounds kind of exotic to people, but it was a really normal town with nothing much to do, I mean, ever since Breaking Bad has come out, everyone seems to think that my life was somehow like that.” He laughs. “But really, there were, like, just big highways and malls.”

“So nobody cooking meth?”

He smirks. “I mean, probably. I guess they just didn’t invite me to help for some reason. No six year olds in the lab, or some bullshit.”

I smile “You’ve lived here in Ireland a while?”

“Well,” He leans back in his chair. “Since I was ten. My parents tried out American life for a few years, I did elementary school and all that, but I think it was just too hard. My mom missed her family and the easier lifestyle back in Ireland, so we moved back.”

“And you like it here?”

“Sure!”

“That’s because he has the best friends in the world.” Jen says as she applies her lipstick. “And we all love him to bits.”

“Aw, so sentimental.” He says.

“…and let’s not forget about the women! If I had as many girls knocking on my door as he does I’d be pretty happy too.”

He laughs in surprise and pushes her playfully. “Don’t say that to her!”

“It’s true!” She cackles. “Evie, they love him. Can’t keep their grubby hands away, and I don’t know what it is, because he’s obviously rotten. Right?”

I laugh along and say “Yeah, so ugly.” 

He turns to me eyes wide, pretending to be shocked. “Hey! I expected better from you.”

“Sorry” I giggle. “I don’t mean it! You’re not ugly.”

“Ugh, He knows he’s not.” Jen says “Let’s not inflate his ego any more, if he gets any more powerful he’ll end up sleeping with the rest of the women who don’t already fancy him and there’ll be nobody left for the rest of us poor peasants.”

He surrenders his knife and fork and throws his hands up. “That’s enough of that. Poor girl doesn’t want to know these things about me, she’ll think I’m some sort of… floozy.” He looks straight into my eyes and my stomach erupts with butterflies – he really is so beautiful. “I haven’t slept with everyone in Dublin. She’s telling lies.” 

Then he pushes his chair back suddenly and it gives me a fright. “Let’s go to the gallery now please, if we’ve all finished picking on me.”

“I don’t know if we’re all the way done with you yet,” says Jen. “But yeah, you’re right. Let’s head on.” She packs up the rest of her makeup, and then we pay for our pancakes and leave. 

Prev // Next

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, April 21

SPIKE: Hey! Hey, let's be reasonable about this. (Riley slams him up against a pillar.) RILEY: You may have noticed, Spike... (he punches Spike in the face) RILEY: I left reasonable about three exits back.

~~Into the Woods~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Pillow Talk by veronyxk84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Five times Angel made chocolates for Buffy and the one time she made some for him by Liana_Medea (Buffy/Angel, G)

For Emergencies by Bobbie23 (Giles/Jenny, G)

By a whisker by squiddz (Spike & original cat character, Buffy/Spike, T)

Brick by Boring Brick by Wretched_Little_Words (Buffy & Kendra, G)

Это уже не смешно by B_E_S (Buffy/Angel, G, in Russian)

Riley's Special Spike (the plastic one, you ninny) by InvariablyStupidIdeas (Spike/Riley, M)

On a subway? by scooby-group-texts (Spike, Dawn, not rated - mentions of canon violence)

Something Red by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Pillow Talk by VeroNyxK84 (Buffy/Spike, anthology rated PG-13)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Going Astral - Chapter 1 by Geliot99 (Buffy/Spike, M)

Across Ages, Ch. 27 by Isabeau (Buffy/Spike, R)

Ties to the World, Ch. 33 by The Danish Bird (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Love Bites, Ch. 4 by cawthraven (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Truth and Consequences, Ch. 14 by JamesMFan (Buffy/Spike, R)

In Any Life, Ch. 12 by Spikelover4ever (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Hand in Flightless Hand, Ch. 4 by tragic (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Afterburn: In The Dark, Ch. 3 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Sweet Dreams (Or A Beautiful Nightmare) Ch. 2 by goodbyetoyou (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Tortured Slayer Department, Ch. 1 by BewitchedXx (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

A Ripple In Time, Ch. 1 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

To All We Guard, Ch. 12 by simmony (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Gargoyle, Ch. 4 by ClowniestLivEver (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Centerfold, Ch. 2 by all choseny, Passion4Spike, MissLuci (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Something Blue painting by novivi (Buffy/Spike, worksafe)

Fanvid: Look What You Made Me Do by starryeyesxx (Buffy)

Gifset: The Albatross by detectivedawnsummers (Buffy/Spike, worksafe, includes canon death scenes)

spike + textposts by spikespeaches ()

[Reviews & Recaps]

Re: Can’t decide between S2 & S3 as the best season of Buffy by occidentaltourist

the dichotomy of band candy by shiteatinggrin

BTVS/Angel Rewatch Chronicles: Seasons 5/2, Part Four by QualifiedApathetic

Coming to the end of my 16th rewatch by Xandertheokay

[Recs & In Search Of]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fanfic Rec – a list by alwaysakin

[Fandom Discussions]

Contextless Jenny musing #47 by hal-1500

Re: you have to work on a group project with Oz, how does it go? by momsforroadhead

I cannot with s4 ending with Xander as “the heart.” by nicnacsnonsense

Crack Fic Idea: Bucky x Reader x Spike Love Triangle [Marvel crossover] by scoonsalicious

Okay, just some musing about Buffy Summers by deus--auri

When someone tells me "I normally don't like Riley but I like the way you write him." by riley-summers

Drusilla (the incredible layers of Drusilla added to the scene in Destiny) by thedeathscar

If you were to use one episode to represent each couple which would you use? by jdpm1991

What is your favourite headcanon that you one-hundred percent believe in? hosted by RavenNight789

Did anyone else feel Faith's arc would be played wildly differently if it had somehow continued on Buffy by sadhungryandvirgin

Full 180 on Dawn by Stellz04

Angelus in s2 out-Spikes Spike by Due_Resolution_8551

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[rabbitcruiser]

National Aviation Day

National Aviation Day on August 19 should make us stop and think about the power of flight. Yet, some scientific and technological marvels become so commonplace that we seldom take the time to re-examine their revolutionary impact with an open and inquisitive mind.  In just a handful of generations, aviation went from pure, pie-in-the-sky speculation to a mundane reality that inspires about as much wonder as a trip aboard a Greyhound bus.

It’s that ho-hum attitude to the miracle of flight that makes National Aviation Day such an excellent national observation.  Plus, it takes place on  Orville Wright’s birthday!

Let’s take a closer look.

National Aviation Day timeline

1st Century ADChinese emperor

Legend has it that Chinese Emperor Wang Mang ordered a soldier to strap two wings to his back, who then flew 100 meters.

9th Century ADAn Andalusian takes flight

Abbas ibn Firnas is said to have covered himself with feathers, attached wings to his body and (according to Algerian historian Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari) "flew a considerable distance."

1799Cayley is the "father of aviation"

Sir George Cayley, an English engineer, described the model for a modern airplane — a fixed-wing machine with lift, propulsion and control mechanisms.

August 19, 1871Brother Orville is born

Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio. His older brother, Wilbur, had been born in Millville, Indiana, on April 16, 1867.

December 17, 1903Orville pilots a plane

The Wright Brothers — with Orville at the helm and Wilbur making a final wing adjustment — completed the first sustained flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft on a spit of land four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

National Aviation Day Activities

Take a trip to North Carolina

Build your own airplane

Go "planespotting"!

What better way to commemorate the achievements of the Wright brothers than by flying to North Carolina and visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills? Think of it as a pilgrimage to the spot where American flight first took off.

It doesn't have to be a real one, of course. You can build an airplane using Legos. Or, you can go for that old school-days standby — the paper plane.

Gather with a group of friends where you can watch airplanes taking off and landing. Bring food if the spirit moves you — a "planespotting" picnic!

5 High-flying Facts About Aviation

There aren't that many aviophobes

Maybe that's because so few have flown

A president flies

It started with bicycles

Who needs an engine?

Although it may seem like a lot of people are afraid to fly, aviophobia afflicts only about 6.5 percent of the population.

Worldwide, only about 5 percent of the population has been on an airplane.

The first U.S. president to fly in an airplane was the adventurous Theodore Roosevelt, who flew in a Wright Flyer on October 11, 1910.

The Wright Brothers got their mechanical training as owners of a bicycle shop.

A Boeing 747 without engine power can glide about two miles for every 1,000 feet or so that the plane is above the ground.

Why We Love National Aviation Day

We always choose the window seat

Space is the final frontier

The proclamation is simple and beautiful

Yes, some of us still stare in wonder out the plane's window as we ponder something that seems delightfully impossible. We are, after all, sitting inside a giant flying machine traveling many hundreds of miles per hour, thousands of feet above the landscape below. How can this be?

Many of the mechanical, technological and scientific breakthroughs in space travel would be unthinkable without the advancements inspired by the Wright Brothers' original experiments on a sandy strip of North Carolina coastline.

The National Aviation Day proclamation invites "the people of the United States to observe National Aviation Day with appropriate exercises to further stimulate interest in aviation in the United States." In short, it's a day to keep planes on the membrane!

Source

[erinptah]

Annotated Fall Bonus Strip #1

In print, this is the break between Volume 5 and Volume 6, and a lot of stuff will get re-introduced or finally-explained in the next chapter.

It’s also where these bonus comics fall in the original archive order! Perfectly timed for a slightly-longer chapter break. I’ll be posting these Mondays and Thursdays until we have the whole set.

And hey, look, this is where I put all my sources about food drives.

Timothy is delivering statistics from Bread for the World, which is an excellent organization, even if its name isn’t as chantable as Everybody Gets A Loaf And A Fish. (Some further analysis from Slacktivist.) (And even more from Slate.)

Bennett: Welcome back to Definitely Right News with Arthur Bennett! Brought to you by Bucks News. Today’s topic: feeding the poor. What’s the deal with that? Don’t regular meals just cut into the time they could be using to look for jobs? The government needs to get out of this area completely. Churches have programs to deal with this kind of thing, right? I haven’t checked. But I assume they do!

Timothy: Ahem . . .

Hi there! My name is Timothy Mattei. I work for a church. In fact, I’m a coordinator for our Everybody Gets A Loaf And A Fish! program. And there’s one tiny problem with your let-us-handle-all-the-food plan:

Right now, private groups are doing one twenty-fourth of the nutrition assistance in this country. Not half! Not even a tenth! We have four point two percent of this covered. The government is handling the other 95.8%.

We can’t do 24 times as much work! Even if we could, where are we going to get 24 times the money? Are you going to up your charitable donations by 2300%?

Bennett: Uh . . . Sure!

Next time we have a canned goods drive at the office, I’ll bring in 24 cans of peas instead of one!

Timothy: Lord, give me the strength not to hit this man with a fish.

(Originally posted here on But I'm A Cat Person.)

[infamousbrad]

"Y Combinator, a start-up accelerator that moved from the South Bay to San Francisco this year, said it is still seeing many AI applicants. Sixty-four percent of its most recent batch of companies were AI-focused, and nearly 60 percent of its overall AI portfolio is based in San Francisco. ¶ Jared Friedman, a group partner at the accelerator, says this is reminiscent of the early 2000s web boom."

(Danielle Abril, "From doom to boom: AI is slowly re-energizing San Francisco. Buzzy AI startups are landing big investments, drawing talent to the city and occupying more real estate." Washington Post, October 23, 2023.)

Dude!?! You're not supposed to say that part out loud!

[themaidenofwords]

On my planet, a missing limb is akin to a death sentence.

My race is born with six primary appendages. Four we walk with. Two we hold things with. This is how it is meant to be. Any deviations from the proper genetic structure are dealt with before birth. Our healers are capable of re-configuring faulty genetics before the egg is laid and the hatching grows deformed. This is how it is meant to be.

There have been cases of tragic accidents post birth. Times where sickness or the untimely collapse of a grimblespire has made the sacrifice of a limb necessary. The part must be sacrificed so that the whole may live on. Some learn to live past the tragedy. Most do not. This is natural. This is how it is meant to be.

The wars changed all of that.

My race was a peaceful one. We were not prepared for the grueling cost of constant destruction and misery. We didn't have enough soldiers to begin with, and then we began to lose the soldiers we did have on the battlefield. Many of those that survived lost a limb or three. It used to be that these survivors would be sent home to try and learn how to live their lives in the face of their missing parts. After all, it is not the end if only part is sacrificed for the whole. There is still a chance.

But those were the old days when we had soldiers to spare. When we could afford to release our wounded. When the battle didn't rely on their mutilated joints.

The first volunteers for prosthetic replacements had haunted eyes. They underwent surgery and awoke with metal grafted into skin and nerves that screamed wrong unnatural get it off. The first volunteers never made it back to the battlefield. The strongest of the group only made it a few weeks before succumbing to the allure of a quick death. Nature never meant for what was lost to be replaced by machines. A living abomination seemed an affront to our society.

The second and third batch of volunteers ended in the same way. They lasted longer than the first group, but in the end they could not face the unnatural hatefulness of themselves. All suicidal methods were removed, and the amputees responded by retreating within their minds to escape themselves.

It wasn't until the fifth batch of volunteers that we faced success. Only two of that group went on to continue the fight on the battlefield, using their new limbs in defense of their home. At our best, only forty percent of prosthetic recipients ever returned to the battlefield.

Metal and flesh were never meant to bind. Nerves were never meant to be replaced with wiring. A sacrificed limb was never meant to return. This is not how it was meant to be.

And yet

We had no choice but to continue. Four out of ten surviving soldiers meant four more defenders of our planet. The cost could not be too high when our families and hatchlings were at stake. So, on we fought, desperately begging for peace.

And then the Federation sent the humans as reinforcements. Humans, who are know for being loyal to a cause and devilish fighters. They could turn our war around.

And so they did.

The humans descended from their ships with their various skin colors painting a multicolored horde of white, tan, brown, and metal. Dozens if not hundreds of soldiers who had cybernetic arms or legs, and some with both. Far past the point that would have driven one of my people mad, the humans stood tall with only grim-- but sane-- determination in their eyes.

Our leader approached the human general-- who himself had an unnervingly red hued prosthetic eye shining out of his face-- and tried to discover their secret. How many soldiers had they sacrificed to have so many damaged ones on the field.

"Damaged? What, are our soldiers not good enough for you?" The general's offense was clear even through the translator.

"That was not my meaning," Our leader said ubiquitously. "My people have been forced to resort to cybernetic additions in order to continue the fight, but most patients do not make it past a full cycle. Nature rebels against the unnatural."

The general's red eyed implant seemed to glow brighter. "Our injured soldiers are not worthless or broken. Whether they choose to use prosthetics or no, their value is not diminished. Yes, the loss of a limb is traumatic, but work with them to recover as much as possible."

Our leader's antennae wavered in confusion. "Is it not better for nature to take its course?"

"What is natural is living. And whatever we can do to help someone live again and live fully we will do it. We choose to grow stronger from our tragedies, not submit."

"I feel that my people has much to learn from yours, General."

"If we can help your soldiers live on, then I would be more than happy to assist you."

The war did not end without more tragedy, but end it did.

The humans introduced my people to their therapists and counselors. They showed us how to move past our tragedies and better accommodate those who were injured.

This is right. This is natural.

To overcome and live.

When a soldier loses a limb, it is a tragedy. Soldiers are needed at peak efficiency, so they must undergoes the unthinkable - grafting metal to flesh. A horrific abomination, the mere process is often enough to shatter what is left of their mind. Then, there are the humans.

[bllsbailey]

CNN's Poll of Polls Provides a Shocking Update on Trump’s Chances

Only time will tell which polling methodology was correct, but Donald J. Trump is performing better than ever, especially in the Midwest. Kamala Harris isn’t breaking away like she needs to regarding countering the underestimated Trump vote. Joe Biden was ahead of Trump by several points in the waning weeks of the 2020 election and still just squeezed by; he only won Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes. It wasn’t necessarily a landslide. Trump only needed 46,000 votes to be re-elected in 2020, so Harris only being ahead by two to three points isn’t enough. 

With the latest slew of polling data, CNN’s poll of polls gives Trump a near-70 percent chance of winning the 2024 election:

What’s glaring is the underperformance by Kamala Harris among core Democratic voter groups. She’s woefully underwater with union voters, projected to be the worst performing Democrat in a generation. She’s grossly underperforming among black and Jewish voters, too. Is she doing better than Biden in some crosstabs? Sure, but having a pulse isn’t a high benchmark. 

Don’t let up for a second, but it’s not doom and gloom territory which was where we were at this point four years ago.

Trending on Townhall Videos

[pcttrailsidereader]

Project 2025, Trump, and the Department of the Interior

The topic of public lands rarely surfaces in the questions posed in presidential and vice-presidential debates. It is difficult to know how either the Trump or the Harris administration will approach public lands apart from how the first Trump administration dealt with the issue and, assuming that Harris shares some of the philosophy of Joe Biden, how the last four years have unfolded.

In this post, I intend to look at the Trump record as well as the roadmap laid out by Project 2025, the policy white paper written by conservatives and a number of former Trump staffers. Between 2016 - 2020, the Trump administration systematically reduced the emphasis on climate change, re-examined a handful of wilderness and protected land designations, relocated the BLM headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado (the Biden administration returned the headquarters to Washington, D.C.), and supported oil and mineral extraction and reduced regulation. He also signed the Great American Outdoors Act which has pumped significant funding (billions!) back into public lands. The GAOA also provided annual funding to the decades-old Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). These are two very positive initiatives in support of public lands.

Project 2025 has several thrusts as it relates to the Department of the Interior. Based upon the 2016 - 2020 record, these areas of emphasis seem to be in line with Trump priorities:

1) Departmental overhaul

The Department of the Interior encompasses nine bureaus, each with distinct missions ranging from managing national parks to overseeing energy resources. Project 2025 proposes several administrative and structural changes. One of the first major proposals is to again return BLM headquarters back to the American West from Washington, D.C. This move, combined with the implementation of Trump's Schedule F proposal aimed at increasing accountability in hiring and firing federal employees, suggests a significant shift in the DOI's operational dynamics.

2) Energy production and resource extraction

The energy section of the chapter was written by Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance, an oil and gas industry group; Dan Kish of the Institute for Energy Research, a think tank long skeptical of human-caused climate change; and Katie Tubb of the Heritage Foundation. The authors set the tone of the section, titled “Restoring American Energy Dominance,” with this passage:

“Given the dire adverse national impact of Biden’s war on fossil fuels, no other initiative is as important for the DOI under a conservative President than the restoration of the department’s historic role managing the nation’s vast storehouse of hydrocarbons, much of which is yet to be discovered.”

The energy section calls for rolling back Biden-era executive orders and reinstating Trump-era policies that favor oil and gas development. Specific proposals include expanding onshore and offshore oil and gas lease sales, restarting the federal coal leasing program, and reversing protections for areas like the White River National Forest in Colorado.

This aggressive push toward fossil fuel development raises environmental and economic concerns. Critics argue that such policies could undermine efforts to combat climate change and protect public lands from overexploitation.

3) Regulatory and policy reforms

Project 2025 also targets regulatory frameworks like the National Environmental Policy Act, seeking to streamline environmental reviews and permitting processes while eliminating climate reviews for federally funded projects. The document proposes reinstating Trump-era limitations on the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which could lead to reduced protections for vulnerable species.

Further, the project aims to revoke President Joe Biden’s 30-by-30 plan, which aims to conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, and seeks the repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906, potentially opening up national monuments to commercial activities.

4) Implications for Indigenous lands

The document outlines plans to facilitate fossil fuel and mineral development on Indian lands and overhaul the Bureau of Indian Education. These proposals, combined with securing the nation's borders to protect tribal lands, suggest a significant shift in how the federal government interacts with Native American tribes.

5) A critical examination

Project 2025 presents a vision for the Department of the Interior that aligns closely with the priorities of the Trump administration. While Project 2025 presents a bold vision for the department, its potential impacts on public lands, environmental protections and Indigenous rights demand critical scrutiny. Proponents argue that these changes are necessary for economic growth and national security, but the emphasis on deregulation and resource extraction raises concerns about long-term sustainability and the balance between economic development and conservation. As voters and policymakers consider these proposals, it is essential to weigh the long-term consequences for America's natural heritage and the principles of conservation that have guided the DOI for over a century.

The sweeping changes proposed in Project 2025 underscore a broader ideological battle over the role of government in managing natural resources and protecting the environment. As these plans come under public and political scrutiny, the stakes for America's public lands and natural heritage could not be higher. The next administration's approach to these issues will shape the nation's environmental and energy policies for years to come.

In a future post, I will take a look at the Biden record and any statements that Harris has made on the topic.

It is imperative that those of us who use and love the land, make our voices heard by voting!

[libraryofcirclaria]

1264

Library of Circlaria

Cabotton University Timeline

1253-55

The music program, up to this point, had been collectively run by numerous Cabotton Scholars, serving as the last "holdout" of former Headmaster Thomas Snow's old curriculum and being known for having numerous informal music group ensembles. Headmaster Cross, however, had a vision to re-establish this program as one with more integrity and unity. Slightly more than half of those in the program actually supported Cross in this endeavor despite opposition led by Kara Tomwell. And in May 1253, Cabotton University hired Robert Manning, who started his tenure that fall and established a new music program which would grow into one of good repute in the years to come.

Also under Cross' leadership, and with majority passage of University Council, the University filed for and officially became an accredited institution under the Congress of Circlaria, meaning that it received important international funding.

Cross sought re-election as Headmaster in 1255, proposing in his next term to have the University build much-needed off-campus housing as well as four more Schools on the Campus. These new Schools were to be focused on the subjects of finance, trade, and medicine. Challenging him, from former Headmaster Snow's faction, was Kara Tomwell, who promised to bring back the old research-based curriculum from the Thomas Snow era. Tomwell was also opposed to Cross' student housing expansion agenda, citing the excessive costs, and proposed alternatively to build library branches carrying University textbooks and establish a remote learning curriculum. The majority of the student body, however, was very supportive of Cross' achievement of Cabotton University's Congress of Circlaria accreditation in that it helped to avoid budget shortfalls without having to force the University to charge tuition. And so Cross won re-election in 1255 with 60 percent of the vote.

1255-61

Under Cross' policy, with construction beginning in the summer of 1256 and finishing in the summer 1257, the First Student Housing Expansion Initiative included a Fleming House Residence in downtown Cabotton Proper, a James Randall House Residence North of Cabotton, a Thomas Adams House Residence East of Cabotton, a Karl Deering House Residence South of Cabotton, and an Alexander Norris House Residence West of Cabotton. Each Residence had only one level and was considered to be the Sixth Floor of each University House. Each Residence also followed the same floor plan as the Fifth Floor of each House at Cabotton University. And each Residence was connected with the other Four, and also the Main Campus, by an underground granular thread cable rail tram system.

In 1257, an incident on Mount Carris triggered panic across the University as well as across the nation. Headmaster Cross responded by stepping up the powers and security measures of the Campus Watch, and also by dispatching University Reserve Corps to the Mount Carris region and take part in an agenda that ultimately failed to subdue the Finzi Darkfire Community but resulted in compromises between them and the Retunian Federal Government. Nonetheless, those in the Corps received recognition from the Federal Government and academic credit from the University.

James Black was the incumbent Prime Minister of the Retunian Republic at the time. However, Edward Jackson, an alumnus of Cabotton University, announced in June 1257 his intent to run for the Prime Minister position in the upcoming 1260 election, running on behalf of a new centrist third party called the Diplomatic Party. As a highlight to his campaign, Jackson promised to conference with the Great Northern banks for donations to fund a Retunian federal block grant that he, should he become elected Prime Minister, promised to give to the University as well as a similar block grant to the Pagotta family to establish a deep-trade business. Jackson made a campaign stop at Cabotton University in the summer of 1258, where he oversaw a temporary model deep-trade market exchange forum for participating students, at the end of which he gave an inspiring speech. Student sentiment up to that point, both on behalf of the liberal National Labor Party and the conservative Foundationist Party, had been against deep-trade, which was seen as nothing more than a money game among the privileged elite. After Jackson's visit, however, a large faction of both camps in the student body had come to support Jackson's deep-trade agenda for the Republic.

In 1259, the Retunian Republic was made to engage in a short-lived but intense conflict, known as the Chemkan War, against a notorious maritime terror organization known as the Vandalish. Headmaster Cross recruited numerous University Corps to take part in this. And incumbent Prime Minster James Black gave them honors and monetary awards afterward, while Headmaster Cross gave them, once again, credits toward graduation. This led some Cabotton Scholars to gravitate toward the Thomas Snow faction and decry such "privileges" as compromising the University principle of student equality. Cross defended his policies, though he was still concerned about his prospects for the upcoming 1261 Headmaster election. So he broke with an unwritten precedent by endorsing Edward Jackson for the Prime Minister election.

This endorsement gave those Cabotton students supporting Jackson a feeling of empowerment; and so they voted in droves in the 1260 general election. Cross was seen as more conservative as Thomas Snow, and so had only roughly more than half of the student body supporting him. However, many in Snow's faction were Jackson supporters, and so had turned to support Cross after his endorsement.

Edward Jackson had narrowly won the 1260 election, but this was nonetheless a win. So Jackson began his tenure as Prime Minister per constitutional protocol in January 1261. That year, he worked an agenda involving infiltration and shrewd diplomacy against the remaining government seat of the former Combrian Chartered State in the Diamond District of Hasphitat. After they submitted to Retunian federal jurisdiction, the Combrian National Bank was subsequently liquidated and divided into what would become the Big Five Banks. The Five Banks, after a round of legislation, donated further funds to the block grants that Jackson promised the University and the Pagotta family, grants which he finally signed into policy by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, in September 1261, Martin Cross, up against the now-divided Snow faction which failed to back a single opposition candidate that year, won handily re-election as the University Headmaster for a third term.

West Horizon and the Renovations

The measure signed by Prime Minister Jackson in late 1261 delivered the promised block grants to Cabotton University and the Pagotta family. For the University, this meant funding for the construction of four new Schools: the School of Deep Trade toward the Northwest, the School of Lightfire toward the Northeast, the School of Finance toward the Southwest, and New Hospital and School of Medicine toward the Southeast. The measure almost came to an impasse in University Council in 1262, as Kara Tomwell and the Thomas Snow camp made enough counter-arguments to spark intense and prolonged debates. However, after endorsements and promises made by the Pagotta family, the University Council finally voted to proceed with the construction project.

Construction on the four Schools began in the summer of 1263 and concluded by fall 1264. On 02 September 1264, the Pagotta officially opened a newly-constructed state-of-the-art facility in Three Points, Ereautea, establishing the lightfire company: West Horizon.

<- 1252 <- || -> 1276 ->

[unwilting]

Problems of Political Reeducation in West Germany, 1945-1960

by Michael H. Kater

In the first place, there were no set criteria as to who qualified as a bona fide Nazi and who did not, and, if a person came under suspicion, which of the four "guilty" categories he or she should be assigned to.8 There were numerous anomalies. At one extreme stood convinced Nazis who had never joined any of the indictable organizations, and at the other there were card- carrying nominal Nazis who were truly opponents of Hitler. It was not uncommon for the former type to go scot free, while the latter lost whatever job he or she had held and subsequently was interned...

Nazis might be released by the British in their zone and rearrested by the Americans in their jurisdiction. Some Germans found it easy to assume employment in the French Zone after eviction from their jobs in the American Sector, in open contravention of a January 1946 Allied Control Council ruling.

The blanket failure of political reeducation through the medium of denazification thus produced, at the end of the 1940s, a peculiar set of psycho-political circumstances in which old-style Nazism was given the chance to flourish once again and new fruits of rightist extremism might be harvested. As Gustav Stolper then put it, "what was initiated as a denazification policy has become the surest, most effective vehicle for re-nazification." Indeed, the renewed rise of radical movements on the right after 1945 turned out to be partly the result of Allied policy, which in the very throes of the German catastrophe had specified that Germans be allowed to enter into democratic pursuits. Even though a strong central government had been postulated to counteract the rise of radical rightwing parties, participatory democracy entailed that a full spectrum of political interest groups be tolerated, not excluding the extremists from the right.

In the American Zone in 1946, about 57 percent of men and women surveyed were satisfied with denazification, but only 32 percent were in 1948, and 17 percent in 1949. By 1953 there were 40 percent who actually thought denazification harmful. Against this background, the increased expressions of pro-Nazi sentiment is hardly surprising. In the Western zone as a whole, 40 percent of persons polled conceded in 1946 that National Socialism had been "a good idea, just not well executed"; while 55 percent said this in 1948. Further, between May 1951 and December 1952 the proportion of those who recognized "more good than bad" in Nazism rose from 34 to 44 percent, and in July 1952 a full third of the Federal Republic's citizens still acknowledged some form of admiration for the Fuhrer. Distrust of parliamentary democracy was tempered with fears of Communism in the Eastern zone, often needlessly so, because both resulted from the same popular lack of interest in the democratic process. A cross- section of Germans surveyed in a poll in March 1949 indicated that four out of ten eligible voters cared nothing for the foundation of West German democracy, the newly charted Basic Law. There was more than a kernel of truth in what Delbert Clark, an astute observer of West Germany, reported back to his fellow Americans that year, namely, that "democracy" to Germans meant simply "carbonated soft drinks, chewing gum, baseball and anti-Communism."

To all intents and purposes, within the first three years after the "German Catastrophe," as the liberal-conservative historian Friedrich Meinecke would call it, outright Nazi professors had been removed, the old universities had been reactivated, and new institutions of higher learning in Mainz, Speyer, and West Berlin, based on Western democratic patterns, had been founded. But die-hard Nazi professors were soon endangering the higher education system in two significant ways. First, the more militant of the excluded academics organized themselves under the leadership of Dr. Herbert Grabert, a former Wurzburg University instructor, and started to condemn the universities as centers of intolerance and oppression because they had dared, in collusion with the Military Governments, to ostracize "patriotic" colleagues. Their offensive lobby, whatever threat it may have posed to teaching and learning in the reconstituted universities, certainly was harmful to the timid democratic beginnings in German society as a whole. Indeed, the group surrounding Grabert, with printing presses and considerable funds at its disposal, in time became the intellectual vanguard of sundry neo-Nazisms of the fiffies and sixties. Second, and potentially more lethal, was the fact that professors, who were old Nazis or fellow-travelers, successfully reasserted their biased influence in the classrooms. These were men who had stayed on after May 1945 because they had been overlooked, were actually needed for their expertise by the Allies, or had managed their comebacks as a consequence of relaxed denazification strictures.

Renegade Nazi professors in all the classic disciplines posed a real problem. "Foreigners find it hard to believe what German scholars are once again lecturing from their chairs," wrote Gottingen jurist Hans Thieme in April 1953, adding that Germans were generally ignored in international scientific ventures. Law was a most important field because its teachers had the power either to sharpen or snuff out democratic consciousness. Therefore Nazi or proto-Nazi professors of law were perhaps the most insidious of all. One may refer to Ernst Rudolf Huber, virtually a crown jurist for the Third Reich, who had impressively justified the Fuhrer's will as an encompassing legal precedent. The prewar persecution of the Jews to him was legitimate. Born in 1903, this Nazi party member (May 1933) had been a full professor of law at Kiel, Leipzig, and "Reichsuniversitat" Strassburg between 1933 and 1945. Dismissed by the Allies, he then became a judicial adviser to the Federal Economics Ministry in 1949 before resuming a professorship in Freiburg in 1956 and later changing to Gottingen…

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 7mar24

from the trashy reddit

***

What happens when you embarrass the powers

[On 1mar24] FBI agents escorted a handcuffed Steve Baker, an investigative reporter at The Blaze, following his reporting on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The FBI issued a signed arrest warrant ordering Baker to self-surrender Friday to a Dallas courthouse relating to his presence at the riot, according to Baker’s Twitter thread from Tuesday. He worked as an independent journalist at the time and said he did not commit any property damage and only entered the U.S. Capitol building after the Senate and House were evacuated, according to Baker’s Oct. 2, 2023 piece on the matter.*** In January, attorneys representing Baker told The Blaze that the Justice Department could be organizing a “retaliation” against him over breaking two “greatly embarrassing” stories about the DOJ.***

***

Can't find enough pr0n in Dakota?

A group of four Republicans in the South Dakota state Senate Judiciary Committee killed a bill Thursday that would require pornography sites to implement an ID check for age verification. The four Republican senators, Michael Rohl, Helene Duhamel, Michael Walsh, and David Wheeler, provided the four votes necessary to prevent HB 1257 from advancing to the floor of the Senate. But Republican state Rep. Bethany Soye told the Washington Examiner in an interview that there will be an effort next week to “smoke out” the bill and force a floor vote in the Senate.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2898673/south-dakota-senators-put-the-pornography-industry-first

***

If we treat them as Bullet Attracting Persons, I'm all in!

REDUXX @ReduxxMag Kentucky Senator Karen Berg argued in favor of "child sex dolls" for "minor attracted persons" during a meeting of the Judiciary Committee yesterday. Berg's comments were made during the debate of HB 207, which would prohibit the possession and importing of child sex dolls.

***

Staging a death?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Easykelly david1 (@_davidstv1)

***

Welcome to reality, Oregon

CNN — Lawmakers in Oregon have overwhelmingly passed a bill that would make possession of a small amount of certain drugs a misdemeanor in the state, moving to re-criminalize substances like fentanyl roughly three years after the state became the first in the nation to de-criminalize the possession and personal use of all drugs. The measure, HB4002, now goes to Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek’s desk for her consideration. Kotek has not publicly said whether she supports the measure, though in late January the governor joined local officials in declaring a fentanyl state of emergency in downtown Portland. Asked about the governor’s next steps regarding the legislation, Kotek’s office did not indicate whether she would sign it but said any changes to Measure 110 “would have to pass the balancing test of concrete, measurable improved outcomes for individuals who are struggling with addiction and accountability.” Under the measure, offenders could face up to six months in jail, or, in place of criminal penalties, elect to undergo drug treatment.*** https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/01/politics/oregon-legislature-drug-bill-re-criminalize/index.html

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Austin hasn't been real Texas for some years

AUSTIN, TX — Early last December, a billionaire named Daniel Lubetzky, who had moved to Austin, Texas, from New York City during the pandemic, hosted a meeting of civic leaders and businesspeople in the city. The number one subject on everyone’s mind was Austin’s troubling crime rate. According to FBI crime statistics, as of October 2023, crime was higher in the Texas capital than the average number of murders, aggravated assaults, and robberies in the rest of Texas—and the nation. Violent crime, for instance, was nearly 40 percent higher in Austin than the national average. Meanwhile, since 2021, felonies were being knocked down to misdemeanors, criminals were avoiding jail time altogether, and victims were feeling ignored by the system. The number of criminal cases waiting to be prosecuted had reached an astounding 7,000. The group agreed that one person in particular was to blame: Travis County district attorney José Garza, a 44-year-old former workers’ rights attorney. Garza swept into office after the Black Lives Matters protests, backed by groups funded by George Soros. Like other Soros-supported DAs across the country, including George Gascón in Los Angeles, Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, and Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, Garza promised to make the criminal justice system more humane—eliminating most drug possession prosecutions, calling for fewer and shorter sentences, holding the police to account. But this progressive agenda simply hasn’t worked.*** Given that Austin is a Democratic stronghold, the real race for DA will be decided on Tuesday, when the primary is held. In blue cities across the country that elected progressive prosecutors post-George Floyd, the pendulum is already swinging back. Virtually all progressive prosecutors elected in 2020 are facing a backlash from citizens upset at their leniency towards criminals. The policies of San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin proved so unpopular that he was recalled in 2022. In Los Angeles, DA George Gascon is facing 11 opponents, all of them vowing to reverse his reform agenda. In Austin, this race will signal whether Democrats in the Texas capital have also had enough of the progressive criminal justice reforms that have become a pillar of the party. *** When I later asked Garza for a source for his data, he pointed me to crime statistics compiled by the Austin Police Department. Sure enough, many crimes were down between 2022 and 2023. But if one took 2021 as the starting point, the year Garza became the DA, all the major crime categories had increased substantially, including murder, aggravated assault, and arson. And, as several Sylestine supporters pointed out to me, some of the less severe crimes, like burglary and larceny, were likely down because Garza’s office wasn’t prosecuting them.*** But try telling that to the victims of sexual assault and other violent crimes—especially women who say Garza’s policies actually deprived them of justice. Victim advocates can cite plenty of examples: there was the case of Santos Celso-Flores, who participated in a gang rape of a 13-year-old girl, got out on a $40 bond, and then, back on the streets, allegedly raped two more teenage girls. Or Richard Adeyemi Williams, who in a fit of rage repeatedly raped and strangled his ex-girlfriend. After pleading guilty, Williams spent 90 days in prison, and received a “deferred adjudication” from Garza’s office, meaning the crime will be erased from his record after five years.  In June 2021, Lynn Isaak became one of Austin’s crime victims, attacked by a predator named Antonio Cordero Rios during her morning run. Though she fought him off, her leg was shattered; she says she will never be able to run again. And after Rios was arrested, other women came forward to say he had done the same to them. But instead of taking Isaak’s case to a jury, Garza cut a plea bargain with Rios, allowing him to accept 10 years’ probation in lieu of jail time.***

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Ok, let's put both of you in jail

Athens, Georgia's Democrat Mayor Kelly Girtz held a press conference Wednesday morning aimed at tamping down righteous outrage from residents of his city following the murder of Laken Riley allegedly carried out by Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.  However Mayor Girtz thought things would go, he probably didn't expect to be shouted down by his own constituents who are rightfully outraged at the violent murder of a nursing student near the University of Georgia campus — and the city policies they see as contributing to the tragic slaying of a young woman.  "Responsibility for this crime rests solely upon the perpetrator," Girtz said in his efforts to deny responsibility as reporters sought an explanation for the fact that multiple illegal immigrants were found in Ibarra's residence — apparent evidence that Athens was at least a safe haven for those unlawfully in the United States.  When Girtz attempted to excuse his own policies from any culpability and dismiss the idea that his leadership had seen the introduction of "sanctuary city" policies in Athens, residents weren't having any of it.  Shouts of "You're a liar" erupted from attendees at the mayor's press conference. Others held signs declaring "BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS," "STOP LYING," and "Make Athens Safe Again." *** As Fox News Digital noted in its report on the overwhelming show of disapproval for Girtz's leadership, "protesters have demanded Athens-Clarke County revoke a 2019 resolution in which the government welcomed 'people from all lands and backgrounds,' including illegal immigrants" — a resolution signed by Mayor Girtz in August 2019.

Mayor Girtz's "insane" display got even worse, as our friend Mary Katharine Ham noted of the city leader's complete misfire of a press conference:  https://twitter.com/i/status/1762905345574252836

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Good toon

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Georgia v. Trump case update

A Georgia prosecutor has offered to testify that another witnesses' testimony was wrong about Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade. Willis is leading the case against former President Donald Trump, who has been charged with 2020 election interference in Georgia. In a Monday court filing, Cindi Lee Yeager, a co-chief deputy district attorney for Cobb County, Georgia, said Terrence Bradley, Wade's former divorce lawyer, told her Willis and Wade's relationship began earlier than they stated, Newsweek reported. Bradley last month said under oath he did not know or could not remember when Willis and Wade's relationship began. The filing said Yeager claimed on Friday that Bradley had told her that Wade and Willis met and started their romantic relationship in 2019, and Willis had told Bradley to keep it quiet.*** The filing added that Yeager "watched Mr. Bradley's testimony before the Court and became concerned as a result of the fact that what Mr. Bradley testified to on the witness stand was directly contrary to what Mr. Bradley had told Ms. Yeager in person," Newsweek reported.*** https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/georgia-prosecutor-testimony/2024/03/05/id/1155990

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How unsavory!

Bartender Haleigh Cauley detailed the “nasty” incident allegedly involving Hailey Bieber’s older sister, Alaia Baldwin Aronow — and a used tampon. “It was a hot mess,” Cauley told Us Weekly exclusively on Friday, March 1, after news broke that Aronow, 31, had been arrested for assault. Cauley was bartending at Club Elan in Savannah, GA, on Saturday, February 24, she says, when security informed her that there “was an intoxicated female” — who has since been identified as Aronow — and two friends in the employee restroom. She remembered asking the three women to leave — noting they couldn’t be in the employee restroom — before noticing that there was vomit in the bathroom sink. “Her friends said she needed a minute and she said, ‘I need to change my tampon,’” Cauley told Us of Aronow. “She proceeded to stay in the bathroom. I told her again she had to leave and she said, ‘I’m changing my tampon, do you want to see it?’ And flings it up and it smacks my face.”*** https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bartender-recalls-alaia-baldwin-used-155214715.html

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Royal Pedophilian

A Royal Caribbean cruise employee has been arrested after allegedly setting up hidden cameras inside passenger bathrooms to spy on young girls. Arvin Joseph Mirasol, 34, a citizen of the Philippines, was arrested Sunday after a guest aboard the Symphony of the Seas cruise ship found a camera in her bathroom on Feb. 25. The guest, who was staying in a room with her sister and mother, found the hidden camera when she reached under the sink to grab a roll of toilet paper and found the camera "affixed to the counter underneath the sink," the probable cause affidavit said.*** Once the ship docked, Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office were alerted and spoke with security and Mirasol. His electronics, including his phone, an SD card, camera, and USB stick, were investigated that same day. On the USB stick, law enforcement discovered "numerous videos of naked females undressing" as well as child pornography, the criminal complaint affidavit said. One video showed Mirasol himself installing a camera into a guest room's bathroom. Mirasol admitted in a post-Miranda interview to taping a video camera in guests’ bathrooms when he worked as an attendant and said he'd pleasure himself after retrieving the camera and viewing its footage, the affidavit said. “Mirasol revealed that he has been placing these cameras in the bathroom since he started working on Symphony of the Seas around December 2023,” the filing said.*** https://www.yahoo.com/news/royal-caribbean-cruise-employee-arrested-174528194.html

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Bomb threat at Home Depot?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lexi Allen (@lexitelevision)

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Die, Eagles, die! Oh, uh...

Police say eight Philadelphia high school students waiting to board a city bus after classes Wednesday were wounded by gunshots from suspects who jumped from a car and opened fire, the fourth shooting on the transit system in as many days. The previous three shootings each involved a fatality. At least one student was critically wounded at the bus stop, a 16-year-old who was hit nine times, Kevin Bethel, the city's police commissioner, said at a news conference. The others were in stable condition. Bethel said the Northeast High School students, ranging in age from 15 to 17, were waiting for the bus around 3 p.m. when three people emerged from the car, which was waiting at the scene, and fired more than 30 shots. Police then received numerous 911 calls about a "mass shooting on the highway near Dunkin Donuts," in northeast Philadelphia, according to police spokesperson Tanya Little.*** https://www.newsmax.com/us/philadelphia-bus-mass-shooting/2024/03/06/id/1156268

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Let's see if she'll roll on Baldwin

A jury convicted a movie weapons supervisor of involuntary manslaughter on Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” The verdict against movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed assigns new blame in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021 after an assistant director last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm. Baldwin, the lead actor and a co-producer on “Rust,” was indicted by a grand jury in January on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He was pointing a gun at Hutchins on a movie set outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Prosecutors at a two week trial alleged Gutierrez-Reed unwittingly brought live ammunition onto the set of “Rust” while flouting basic industry gun-safety guidelines. The involuntary manslaughter charge against Gutierrez-Reed carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. The defendant was ordered immediately after the verdict too be taken into custody by deputies after the verdict was read in the court. Gutierrez-Reed, a 24-year-old on her second feature film as armorer at the time of the 2021 shooting, had pleaded not guilty before trial to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering at the trial held in downtown Santa Fe.*** https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/closing-arguments-trial-baldwin-shooting/2024/03/06/id/1156267

The defense apparently presented and argued evidence that fault for the homicide belonged to Baldwin.

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Didn't peel say something about "To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment."

Hundreds of National Guard troops began flooding city subways Wednesday as part of a crime-fighting plan suddenly unveiled by Gov. Kathy Hochul following a series of attacks underground. The governor defended the major show of force — not seen since the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks — as an “even better” way to help New York City “solve this crisis.” “These brazen heinous attacks on our subway system will not be tolerated,” Hochul declared from the MTA’s Transit Rail Control Center in Midtown, pointing to last week’s random slashing of a train conductor and other recent acts of violence. In total, 750 National Guardsmen and 250 state and MTA cops will help the NYPD patrol “the city’s busiest transit stations” and check commuters’ bags, Hochul said – adding the initiative came after meetings with Mayor Eric Adams, MTA officials and the NYPD last week. The announcement of her “five point plan” to combat transit crime came the day after Adams — who was noticeably absent from the gov’s press conference — had already revealed the NYPD would be enhancing bag checks and stepping up its presence in the system.*** https://nypost.com/2024/03/06/us-news/gov-hochul-to-deploy-1000-national-guardsman-state-cops-to-carry-out-bag-checks-in-nyc-subways/

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[webmaster10]

RPA’s impact on business: How it’s transforming the industry

Robotic process automation (RPA), is a technology that allows anyone to set up software (robots) to mimic and combine human activities while engaging with digital systems to complete a business process. RPA automates repetitive, routine, rule-based tasks so that people can focus on more important business needs. Approximately 10,000 businesses have invested in RPA in the past four years. Despite its popularity, businesses are still having difficulty scaling up RPA adoption.

Business Benefits Of RPA

According to a report conducted by global technology research firm Information Services Group, 72 percent of businesses will use robotic process automation to cut expenses, reduce average transaction handling time, boost productivity, and improve compliance management.

Reduce human interference to improve data quality and reduce process errors.

Optimizing time-centric and repetitive routine processes

Increases go-to-market speed by maximizing productivity

Increases agility in operation

How Different Businesses Operations Are Leveraging RPA Automation

Administrative functions: In any industry or business, administrative tasks are time-consuming. Employees can focus on other important duties by reducing the requirement to accomplish these. Business today has numerous administrative duties that could benefit from office automation. For Example, recording actions and meeting minutes, recording attendance, responding to FAQ emails, scheduling meetings, ordering supplies, Creating, and filing invoices and Inventory Management.

Accounting and Finance – RPA will help you close all the gaps in financial automation and accounting automation. Few of the major use case where Infoveave is giving transformational results are Customer Onboarding and Invoicing, Cash Application, Logistics Management, Invoice Processing and Payment Processing.

Customer Service: Unreliable Customer Service Management with manual customer request handling results in tracking information mistakes and customer dissatisfaction due to delayed response/resolution times. Resolving client problems necessitates travelling through several company systems, which takes time and effort. Customer experience is one of the most significant aspects of the business in the age of experience as a currency. The companies can have a customer service management (CSM) solution that simply interacts with numerous business systems and pulls data based on the customer request and delivers a unified solution by automating customer service with RPA.

Human Resources: Some of the rule-based activities in HR include screening applicant resumes, recruiting, onboarding, attendance monitoring, payroll administration, and employee data management. These activities result in a significant amount of paperwork and manual data processing. These activities may be automated end-to-end using Infoveave’s RPA platform by integrating and re-organizing the systems without significantly altering the current setup.

IT Operations: Data input and data migration are examples of repetitive IT procedures. Although qualified personnel can complete these duties, they are tedious and time-consuming. Infoveave’s RPA platform can completely automate these procedures, resulting in increased efficiency and accuracy. Infoveave’s RPAs may check and update application software, administer databases, and provide technical assistance. It may also be used to manage backups and recoveries, run daily automatic system checks, and track user experience.

Risk Management: RPA can conduct proactive and fully automated business process audits for enterprises. Automated procedures can anticipate risk and notify stakeholders of potential issues.

Sales and Marketing: Within your CRM system, Infoveave’s RPA makes customer case management simple. Account managers and sales teams may save time by automating the input of client data such as quotations, comments, and order/shipment tracking. Contract administration is another task that may be automated with a CRM system. RPA bots may track document expiration dates and automatically send messages to stakeholders engaged in the sales process.

Procurement: A variety of time-consuming, manual operations in the procurement department are well-suited to bots produced with Infoveave’s robotic process automation (RPA) platform. Contract management, demand management, third-party risk management, and supplier management are examples of these functions. Procurement organizations can benefit from RPA since it can save money and improve processes.

Conclusion

RPA is a crucial facilitator for digital transformation activities. RPA can enhance core operations and provide greater agility, speed, and quality in areas such as accounts payable process automation, invoice processing automation, and supply chain automation, to name a few. Furthermore, firms might see a visible return on investment within weeks after deployment.

Original Source: RPA’s impact on business: How it’s transforming the industry

[rabbitcruiser]

National Aviation Day

National Aviation Day on August 19 should make us stop and think about the power of flight. Yet, some scientific and technological marvels become so commonplace that we seldom take the time to re-examine their revolutionary impact with an open and inquisitive mind.  In just a handful of generations, aviation went from pure, pie-in-the-sky speculation to a mundane reality that inspires about as much wonder as a trip aboard a Greyhound bus.

It’s that ho-hum attitude to the miracle of flight that makes National Aviation Day such an excellent national observation.  Plus, it takes place on  Orville Wright’s birthday!

Let’s take a closer look.

National Aviation Day timeline

1st Century ADChinese emperor

Legend has it that Chinese Emperor Wang Mang ordered a soldier to strap two wings to his back, who then flew 100 meters.

9th Century ADAn Andalusian takes flight

Abbas ibn Firnas is said to have covered himself with feathers, attached wings to his body and (according to Algerian historian Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari) "flew a considerable distance."

1799Cayley is the "father of aviation"

Sir George Cayley, an English engineer, described the model for a modern airplane — a fixed-wing machine with lift, propulsion and control mechanisms.

August 19, 1871Brother Orville is born

Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio. His older brother, Wilbur, had been born in Millville, Indiana, on April 16, 1867.

December 17, 1903Orville pilots a plane

The Wright Brothers — with Orville at the helm and Wilbur making a final wing adjustment — completed the first sustained flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft on a spit of land four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

National Aviation Day Activities

Take a trip to North Carolina

Build your own airplane

Go "planespotting"!

What better way to commemorate the achievements of the Wright brothers than by flying to North Carolina and visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills? Think of it as a pilgrimage to the spot where American flight first took off.

It doesn't have to be a real one, of course. You can build an airplane using Legos. Or, you can go for that old school-days standby — the paper plane.

Gather with a group of friends where you can watch airplanes taking off and landing. Bring food if the spirit moves you — a "planespotting" picnic!

5 High-flying Facts About Aviation

There aren't that many aviophobes

Maybe that's because so few have flown

A president flies

It started with bicycles

Who needs an engine?

Although it may seem like a lot of people are afraid to fly, aviophobia afflicts only about 6.5 percent of the population.

Worldwide, only about 5 percent of the population has been on an airplane.

The first U.S. president to fly in an airplane was the adventurous Theodore Roosevelt, who flew in a Wright Flyer on October 11, 1910.

The Wright Brothers got their mechanical training as owners of a bicycle shop.

A Boeing 747 without engine power can glide about two miles for every 1,000 feet or so that the plane is above the ground.

Why We Love National Aviation Day

We always choose the window seat

Space is the final frontier

The proclamation is simple and beautiful

Yes, some of us still stare in wonder out the plane's window as we ponder something that seems delightfully impossible. We are, after all, sitting inside a giant flying machine traveling many hundreds of miles per hour, thousands of feet above the landscape below. How can this be?

Many of the mechanical, technological and scientific breakthroughs in space travel would be unthinkable without the advancements inspired by the Wright Brothers' original experiments on a sandy strip of North Carolina coastline.

The National Aviation Day proclamation invites "the people of the United States to observe National Aviation Day with appropriate exercises to further stimulate interest in aviation in the United States." In short, it's a day to keep planes on the membrane!

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