#gas detection panel

[snsnorthern]

Securing Commercial Kitchens with Gas Interlock Systems

Commercial kitchens are bustling environments where safety is paramount. The risk of gas leaks and fires makes it essential to implement effective safety measures. One such critical safety device is a gas interlock system, designed to prevent dangerous situations by ensuring that ventilation systems are fully operational before gas appliances can be used.

Understanding the Functionality of Gas Interlock Systems

A gas interlock system serves as a safeguard in commercial kitchens, ensuring that gas supplies are automatically cut off if ventilation fails. This prevents the accumulation of dangerous gases and reduces the risk of fire or explosion. These systems are crucial for maintaining a safe working environment in any establishment that uses gas appliances.

The Role of Gas Interlock Panels in Enhancing Safety

At the heart of every gas interlock system is the gas interlock panel. This control panel is responsible for monitoring the status of the ventilation system and controlling the gas supply. If a fault is detected, the panel immediately shuts off the gas, preventing potential hazards. The panel’s role is vital in ensuring that the interlock system functions correctly and efficiently.

Compliance with Safety Regulations through Gas Interlock Systems

In many regions, safety regulations mandate the use of gas interlock systems in commercial kitchens. These regulations are in place to protect both staff and customers from the dangers of gas leaks and inadequate ventilation. By installing a gas interlock system, businesses can ensure they are compliant with local laws and provide a safer environment for everyone.

Key Features of Modern Gas Interlock Systems

Modern gas interlock systems are equipped with various features designed to enhance safety and functionality. These include sensors that monitor air pressure and flow, alarms that alert users to faults, and manual override functions for emergencies. These features make gas interlock systems an indispensable part of any commercial kitchen’s safety protocol.

The Importance of Regular Maintenance for Gas Interlock Systems

To ensure that a gas interlock system continues to function correctly, regular maintenance is essential. This includes checking the integrity of the ventilation system, testing sensors and alarms, and ensuring that the gas interlock panel is operating as intended. Regular maintenance helps to prevent system failures and ensures that the kitchen remains a safe environment.

Integrating Gas Interlock Systems with Other Safety Measures

While gas interlock systems are critical, they should be part of a broader safety strategy. This strategy might include fire suppression systems, regular staff training, and the use of personal protective equipment. Integrating gas interlock systems with these additional safety measures ensures comprehensive protection against potential hazards.

Choosing the Right Gas Interlock System for Your Kitchen

When selecting a gas interlock system, it is crucial to consider the specific needs of your kitchen. Factors such as the size of the kitchen, the type of gas appliances used, and local safety regulations will influence your choice. Investing in a reliable system tailored to your kitchen’s requirements ensures optimal safety and compliance.

Conclusion: Prioritize Safety with Advanced Gas Interlock Solutions

Commercial kitchens must prioritize safety to protect both staff and customers. A gas interlock system is an essential component of any kitchen’s safety measures, ensuring compliance with regulations and preventing dangerous incidents. To explore reliable gas interlock solutions, visit snsnorthern.com.

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[10thitsugaya]

Mangas I plan to make a colo from a panel (or more) in the coming future :

Gakuen Alice,

Blue Lock,

Kamemoshita Ron,

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Survey finds more hidden supermassive black holes than expected

Multiple NASA telescopes recently helped scientists search the sky for supermassive black holes—those up to billions of times heavier than the sun. The new survey is unique because it was as likely to find massive black holes that are hidden behind thick clouds of gas and dust as those that are not.

Astronomers think that every large galaxy in the universe has a supermassive black hole at its center. But testing this hypothesis is difficult because researchers can't hope to count the billions or even trillions of supermassive black holes thought to exist in the universe. Instead they have to extrapolate from smaller samples to learn about the larger population. So accurately measuring the ratio of hidden supermassive black holes in a given sample helps scientists better estimate the total number of supermassive black holes in the universe.

The new study published in The Astrophysical Journal found that about 35% of supermassive black holes are heavily obscured, meaning the surrounding clouds of gas and dust are so thick they block even low-energy X-ray light.

Comparable searches have previously found less than 15% of supermassive black holes are so obscured. Scientists think the true split should be closer to 50/50 based on models of how galaxies grow. If observations continue to indicate significantly less than half of supermassive black holes are hidden, scientists will need to adjust some key ideas they have about these objects and the role they play in shaping galaxies.

Hidden treasure

Although black holes are inherently dark—not even light can escape their gravity—they can also be some of the brightest objects in the universe: When gas gets pulled into orbit around a supermassive black hole, like water circling a drain, the extreme gravity creates such intense friction and heat that the gas reaches hundreds of thousands of degrees and radiates so brightly it can outshine all the stars in the surrounding galaxy.

The clouds of gas and dust that surround and replenish the bright central disk may roughly take the shape of a torus, or doughnut. If the doughnut hole is facing toward Earth, the bright central disk within it is visible; if the doughnut is seen edge-on, the disk is obscured.

Most telescopes can rather easily identify face-on supermassive black holes, though not edge-on ones. But there's an exception to this that the authors of the new paper took advantage of: The torus absorbs light from the central source and reemits lower-energy light in the infrared range (wavelengths slightly longer than what human eyes can detect). Essentially, the doughnuts glow in infrared.

These wavelengths of light were detected by NASA's Infrared Astronomical Satellite, or IRAS, which operated for 10 months in 1983 and was managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. A survey telescope that imaged the entire sky, IRAS was able to see the infrared emissions from the clouds surrounding supermassive black holes. Most importantly, it could spot edge-on and face-on black holes equally well.

For a given line-of-sight column density, each panel shows the fraction of detected hard 14–195 keV flux relative to the escaping flux at the minimum column density allowed by each model (NH,0). Credit: The Astrophysical Journal (2024). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad8236

IRAS caught hundreds of initial targets. Some of them turned out to be not heavily obscured black holes but galaxies with high rates of star formation that emit a similar infrared glow. So the authors of the new study used ground-based, visible-light telescopes to identify those galaxies and separate them from the hidden black holes.

To confirm edge-on, heavily obscured black holes, the researchers relied on NASA's NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array), an X-ray observatory also managed by JPL. X-rays are radiated by some of the hottest material around the black hole. Lower-energy X-rays are absorbed by the surrounding clouds of gas and dust, while the higher-energy X-rays observed by NuSTAR can penetrate and scatter off the clouds. Detecting these X-rays can take hours of observation, so scientists working with NuSTAR first need a telescope like IRAS to tell them where to look.

"It amazes me how useful IRAS and NuSTAR were for this project, especially despite IRAS being operational over 40 years ago," said study lead Peter Boorman, an astrophysicist at Caltech in Pasadena, California. "I think it shows the legacy value of telescope archives and the benefit of using multiple instruments and wavelengths of light together."

Numerical advantage

Determining the number of hidden black holes compared to nonhidden ones can help scientists understand how these black holes get so big. If they grow by consuming material, then a significant number of black holes should be surrounded by thick clouds and potentially obscured. Boorman and his co-authors say their study supports this hypothesis.

In addition, black holes influence the galaxies they live in, mostly by impacting how galaxies grow. This happens because black holes surrounded by massive clouds of gas and dust can consume vast—but not infinite—amounts of material. If too much falls toward a black hole at once, the black hole starts coughing up the excess and firing it back out into the galaxy. That can disperse gas clouds within the galaxy where stars are forming, slowing the rate of star formation there.

"If we didn't have black holes, galaxies would be much larger," said Poshak Gandhi, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom and a co-author on the new study. "So if we didn't have a supermassive black hole in our Milky Way galaxy, there might be many more stars in the sky. That's just one example of how black holes can influence a galaxy's evolution."

TOP IMAGE:A supermassive black hole surrounded by a torus of gas and dust is depicted in four different wavelengths of light in this artist’s concept. Visible light (top right) and low-energy X-rays (bottom left) are blocked by the torus; infrared (top left) is scattered and reemitted; and some high energy X-rays (bottom right) can penetrate the torus. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

LOWER IMAGE: For a given line-of-sight column density, each panel shows the fraction of detected hard 14–195 keV flux relative to the escaping flux at the minimum column density allowed by each model (NH,0). Credit: The Astrophysical Journal (2024). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad8236

[fenricken]

DCxDP Week 2023 Day 2

Day 2: Danny Fenton | Full Hazmat AU | Fear Gas

Continuation of Day One

John was bored out of his mind, but he needed to pretend to be paying attention as whichever Green Lantern this was droned on and on about something Constantine didn’t care about. The Bat had been after him more often, asking him questions about Dani ever since they met in the House. John wasn’t exactly down with Batman investigating his kid, so he took to escaping as soon as the opportunity arose. Unfortunately, this just led to Batman trying to find him everytime John was in the vicinity.

The Green Lantern stopped for a questions, and John was ready to breathe a sigh of relief that it was almost over, when alarms started going off.

“Ecto-entity detected approaching Watchtower. Readying offensive measures.”

Batman pulled up the monitors, and John immediately recognized Dani in her ghost form.

“Shut down the counter-measures!” he shouted, Batman immediately backing him up to Flash, who turned them off. John and Batman rushed to one of the rooms with windows, hoping Dani would get the message and meet them where they were visible, ignoring whether or not the rest of the Justice League followed. 

As hoped, Dani phased through the window and rushed towards John.

“Dad! Dad! It’s Danny! He hasn’t been answering his phone, so I went to Metropolis to see Jazz, but she hadn’t heard from him either! So she’s going to Amity to see if she can figure out what’s going on and I thought, well maybe we need an adultier-adult but you’re the adultiest adult I know who can help!” Dani sucked in a huge breath when she had finished getting her words out in a rush.

“Alright, alright, I’ll head over there right away to look for your brother. But, I want you to stay out of there, love do you hear me? I know you’d want to help your brother, but if something’s gone topsy-turvy in a ghost way we need you to keep your distance so you’re safe, yeah?”

“She can stay up here.” Batman grunted. “I’ll go with you, and we can keep her updated.”

Dani looked hesitantly over at the other heroes before looking back at Batman. “You’ll give me updates the whole time?”

“Hmm” Batman grunted, giving her a slight nod.

“Ok…”

Seeing she was prepared to stay at the Watchtower, John turned to Batman. “Let me get some anti-overshadowing spells on you, just in case, then we can head out.”

—

“I got eyes on the last lab technician, looks like he’s just about to leave and then we should just have to worry about the guards.” Red Robin reported to his teammates. Impulse was bouncing around impatiently, while Superboy was using his enhanced vision to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Wonder Girl was sitting closer to their chosen entrance, keeping an eye out for anyone who might spot them when they enter.

They had been casing out the DEO facility ever since Secret told them she suspected they were holding an entity hostage again. She had sat this mission out, but the rest were ready to get the drop on the facility tonight and rescue anyone that might be being held captive, as well as figure out which organization the DEO was apparently collaborating with.

The group began sneaking their way towards Wonder Girly, who was now holding the roof-paneling up. They dropped down into the empty warehouse’s rafters, keeping silent so as not to alert the guards that were patrolling the inside.

“There, far corner, just like RR said,” Impulse pointed to a door that was guarded by two men. Every other guard was occupied with patrolling the warehouse. The team steadily made their way towards the door, keeping quiet, but moving quickly.

Once they reached the door, Red Robin noticed a grate at the same level as the rafters, which seemed to lead directly into the next room. He silently pointed it out to his teammates, who exchanged confused looks with each other. They decided to risk it anyway, if it meant they could avoid having to take out the guards at the door.

The crawled through, and landed in front of a containment unit filled with gas. Red Robin and Impulse immediately headed towards the computers to get any information they could about what was going on, while Superboy and Wonder Girl took a look around the rest of the lab to figure out if they could find whoever Secret told them about.

Red Robin finally spoke, breaking the quiet. “It looks like they were experimenting with the effects of fear gas on…something. I think I can siphon the fear gas on the containment unit.

“Well, do it.” Wonder Girl said, as she and Superboy turned to face the containment unit.

Red Robin clicked a couple buttons, and the four teens gathered around to watch the gas siphon out of the containment unit, revealing a small figure lying prone on the floor. 

“I think it should be safe to go in now.” Red Robin said. Impulse and Superboy were already figuring out how to get the chamber open. As soon as the door opened, Wonder Girl and Superboy approached to pick up the child.

He had white hair, and they could see green lights below his eyelids, though they never opened. His breathing was shallow, and his heartbeat slow.

“He’s so tiny… He can’t be older than 5 or 6.” Superboy said, making sure he was settled properly in Wonder Girl’s arms.

“Let’s get out of here, quickly. I’ll set charges to blow up everything, and Impulse can help me get out.” Red Robin said, indicating the vent again.

“On it.” Superboy and Wonder Girl crawled through the vent again, making their way across the rafters to their initial entry point. Red Robin and Impulse followed soon after, and they left together as a team.

When they were a few rooftops away, Red Robin triggered the charges, and they watched the facility go up in flames.

“Mmmm… Where a’ I..?” They turned to face the kid, who was staring at them sleepily.

“Hey, you’re alright. You’re safe now.” Superboy told him. The boy didn’t seem to register the words, and fell back asleep.

“We should get him back to the Watchtower now.” Wonder Girl said. The team quickly made their way to the zeta tubes, and to the medical section, where the boy was taken for observation.

Secret approached them as they were watching the medical team take stock of the boy. “Thanks,” she said. They all turned in silence, to watch as doctors and nurses rushed around, taking the boy's vitals.

“Of course.”

A/N:

Was more tired than I though, lol, took way longer than expected to finish this.

Still hoping to get at least one more day's prompts in to continue this, but don't know if I'll continue using dpxdc week prompts to finish the story

[darkw1ng-duck]

I am St Canard’s #1 superhero/detective, Darkwing Duck!! It can be difficult to meet an amazing avenger such as myself, so that’s why I created this blog! To make it easier for the people to connect with their favorite superhero! While Darkwing is speaking, Gosalyn is copying whatever they do and Launchpad is trying not to laugh. The crime fighter does not notice her at all.

I’m a pretty busy hero in my fight against the fiendish foes that plague our fair city, though I will do my best to reply to everyone as soon as possible! A- Darkwing is interrupted by the pilot's giggling

What’s got you laughing so much LP? Darkwing says with an unamused expression.

Ugh wait don’t tell me you crashed into one of the shelves and a canister of laughing gas went off again? Darkwing face palmed. Gosalyn does the same, but more dramatically. Heh heh nah its not that, Deedubya!

Well what is it Launchpad?! I’m dying to know what could be so funny that caused you to interrupt my intro! Darkwing crossed his arms, looking very impatient and annoyed. Gosalyn copies him. Haha you might wanna turn around!

DW turns around and sees Gos, she waves at him. Hey Darkwing!!

G-I mean little girl I do not know, what are you doing here?! Shouldn’t you be at home doing something like uhh homework!? Got bored and wanted to hang out with you guys!

Heheh uhh d’ya want me to stop the tape? Darkwing and Gosalyn stare at the pilot.

Yeahh. Just make sure to cut this part out before it gets uploaded. WHAT! Ya can count on me, Deedubya!

End of recording.

Link to my askbox --- > https://darkw1ng-duck.tumblr.com/ask

OOC: Unfortunately I couldn't find the energy to finish drawing the rest of these panels. Here's the sketches for the whole scene though!

[yuriinadress]

OK one good thing that I loved about Fitzmartin's writing of Bernard in this issue was that he's just some fucking guy. Like he's always been some fucking guy pre and post n52 but he's some guy with a lot of charisma and it's weird kind of charisma that specifically works on Gothamites (yeah he hasn't actually met anyone else that isn't from Gotham but I fucking know I'm right)

So seeing that panel with Bernard leading a group of boat queers, emotionally unstable bat vigilantes, and Detective Williams and Darcy gave me just so much validation. Because I can absolutely see him in this kind of role again, gathering up random Gothamites, whether he knows they're vigilantes or not, and just leading/working with them???

And just putting it out there, I think it would be a great way to reintroduce some forgotten gothamites like colin wilkes or the ga kids

[r0tt1ng-c0rps3-69]

YIPPEEE

The AMX-56 Leclerc is a tank that was first produced in 1992 by France, and it is considered (not just by me) to be one of the best combat tank designs, despite being untested. The tank is 9.87 meters (32.4 feet) long, 3.71 meters (12.2 feet) wide, and 2.53 meters (8.3 feet) high. It weighs around 54,500 kilograms (120,152 pounds), or about 60.1 tons. 

The main gun is the 120mm GIAT CN120-26/52. This gun has 5 main types of ammunition: 120mm Armour-Piercing projectiles, 120mm High-Explosive projectiles, APFSDS (Armour-Piercing, Fin-Stabilized, Discarding Sabot) rounds, and HEAT (High-Explosive, Anti-Tank) rounds. For actual shooting, it has a fully automatic fire control system, which is aided by nightvision, laser rangefinder, and FINDERS. FINDERS (Fast Information, Navigation, Decision, and Reporting System) provides a map that can show the soldiers current active targets, route planning, and figure out if someone is friend or foe. 

It's also unique because it has a 12.7mm GIAT M693 coaxial heavy machine gun, while coaxial machine guns are usually 7.62 mm. It also can hold 27 smoke grenade dischargers, which are part of the GALIX CVPS (combat vehicle protection system). Despite all the heavy machinery, it has a relatively low profile design, which makes it super hard to spot on the battle field!!

It can hold 40 120mm rounds total for the GIAT CN120-26/52. This ammunition is set away from the main seating and protected by blast panels, which makes sure the crew is safe in case the ammunition gets hit by an enemy. It can also hold 1,100 12.7mm rounds, and 3,000 7.62 rounds! 

To add to crew safety, it has an internal automatic fire suppression system, which detects and can put out fires. There's also a NBC system (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) to help with airborne diseases. 

The actual tank is made of NERA, Non-explosive/Non-energetic Reactive Armour. The entire tank is powered by a SACM UDU V8X T9 Hyperbar 8-cylinder diesel fuel engine with 1500 horsepower, while the average car has about 200 horsepower :333 The engine is also tied to a SESM ESM500 series automatic transmission system, which let's the tank reach speed of 44 mph on ideal surfaces. It has an operational range of 340 miles, but can be extended to 400 miles through extra fuel source. When idle, it switches to a Turbomeca TM-7083 gas turbine engine, which minimizes the auditory and visual signals. 

Despite this tank being fucking awesome, it hasn't really been used in actual combat!! Only about 862 AMX-56 Leclerc tanks have been manufactured so far, and they mostly stay in France and the UAE :333

Holy- THAT IS SO DAMN COOL??? HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS??? EUFHSJ TYSM 4 TELLING MEEE ICISNFNS

[eleanor-is-fine]

RQG 143 Separation Anxiety

The party is split... under the ocean, mad GM [in the game 😉]

Shoin taunts about not being able to see, should relocate... Zolf, Azu, Cel plan to levitate through the room of dancing mannequins. Gas is heavy

Oh great move! They scoop the heavy gas into bags of holding, enough to leave a space near the ceiling (Zolf closes the vents)

The puppet dancers keep twerking and spinning and knives come out while they spin - obviously what did in the body in the corner, and by the wall, and there's the head over there

Searching the body - beautiful old adamantine ax, healing potion, and fur clothing with "property of Shoin" tags... remember the clothes made for the party?!

Meanwhile Hamid and Skraak make their way down the tunnel avoiding more tripwires, Entrapment style. End up in a room with a tank in the middle with two fierce looking sea creatures in it. Complicated trap on the next door seems to dismantle the tank, terrible painful noise, water starts coming in - into a room set up like a chessboard with a body in the middle

Back to party, they walk through a corridor of water and see through the walls what might be a giant robot tentacle monster moving around the domes of the complex - moving along a travelator

Back to chess room, look at the body - Detect Magic = Cloak of Elvenkind and a Stalking Dagger (major bonus after studying a situation). Speakers have been smashed, scorch marks, looks like person came through a wall panel

Back to Travelator of Doom of Teamwork - there are murals on the wall as they go past, from well crafted at the beginning to just stuck together at the end. Complex, and tunnel, isn't looking good. Zolf happens to look up and sees a huge shape coming down right toward the top of the tunnel - Run!

Heavy impact - shredded remains of a maHOOsive blue whale hits the glass.

[tobiasdrake]

We're in. And we are making bad choices.

For the record, I'm pretty sure that whoever attacked us slipped out the door into the panel room and is now hiding behind the giant vault door we had to open to get in here. But, just like Desuhiko wouldn't let us disarm security, Yuma won't let us go back out into the panel room and check.

Fink the Slaughter Artist is right there, guys.

Got stabbed. Three times, as a matter of fact, judging from the wounds in his back.

Honestly, as Slaughter Art goes, I'm disappointed. Fink had ample time and this whole room to use as his canvas. "On floor stabbed by knife" is about as mediocre of a presentation as it gets.

You're gonna have to step up your game, Fink. Check out the Nail Man crime scenes some time. Now that is dedication to the craft. I'm sorry but as a critic, I'm going to have to give this piece my lowest score ever: 76.5/100.

About fucking time. That's what I wanted to do a minute ago and you were like, "NOOOO We gotta check the body!"

We could be in there right now checking the body if you hadn't stopped me.

OH BY WE YOU MEAN "YOU'. Okay man. Nice to see the limits to your bravado are shining through again.

I mean that affectionately. I said back at Aetheria Academy that I get it: Desuhiko's job is undercover intelligence gathering. He doesn't work homicides. That's fair. I won't fault him for it.

But it's funny.

Okay, I can breathe. We'll be able to access the crime scene without choking to death on poison gas now. And I still think Fink is hiding behind that big metal door, so we might manage to corner them.

If they don't have an alternate point of exit then they have to get past us somehow. As long as we're thorough and don't rush to the scene like idiots, this should work out.

There goes that idea. If Fink isn't behind the door, then where the hell are they? That knife didn't levitate itself into Huesca's back three times.

I mean, it could have. Superpowers exist. But it didn't. He reacted to the presence of another human being in the room with him, so the killer was physically present. Somehow.

Super dead.

I'm intrigued by the whiteboard back there. It's possible that it's like that from use, but someone also might have done that to erase... something they didn't want made. If only there was a way to see what it looked like before.

...if we brought Halara here, they could use their Postcognition to see what the crime scene looked like at the moment the first witness laid eyes on it. Which would be....

Us! That would be us. Halara can use Postcognition to make this room resemble what it looks like right now, as we speak.

...

Okay, that's not going to be very useful. Especially when Shinigami can do the same thing.

I mean. Like. Almost half of the killings were me. So. I'm at a 7 victim body-count versus 11 victims not killed by me. Not counting the two Peacekeeper goons that Yomi had executed for failure.

If it makes you feel better, there's about to be more once Shinigami and I figure out whodunit.

Excuse you, Shinigami. My corpse-production rate is also probably unparalleled within the WDO. I've certainly killed way more people than any Master Detective I've met to date. Well, except maybe Halara.

Oh, this will look good on our rap sheet. Everyone, prepare to say hihi to Yomi when he walks on. I want us all to give him our biggest smiles and most pleasant waves, like there's absolutely nothing wrong with this scene at all.

He won't be fooled for a second but he'll certainly be taken aback by it, and that will be a funny sight before we die.

...actually, on second thought, maybe we could rearm security. Close the door, turn the traps back on, and let Yomi tear out his hair trying to figure out how to pry us out of here. Then we can take our time investigating the death.

Nope, too late. Plan A then.

HIHI BUDDY! How are you? I'm swell! :D

The latter, as a matter of fact. Good guess, man. I can't even begin to try and defend myself when we all know I'll be going 8-to-12 by the time the sun rises again over Kanai Ward.

Yuma, we should probably go with that plan. We can buy time for Halara to get here by... whatever method Yakou did and then kick everyone's ass.

Oooh, a party! We should definitely go along with that plan! I've been wanting a party since we first got to the sub. Maybe there'll be cupcakes.

Wait, no, these guys are fascists. Sprinkled donuts. The monsters.

HA! Distraction! I recognize that shrieking voice. The guy "dying in agony" outside is Yakou.

Watch for our chance to bail, guys.

DON'T TELL YOMI, YOU DIPSHIT. Oh my god. All that effort to create a convincing distraction and Desuhiko blurts out, "LOOK, HE'S DISTRACTING YOMI!!!"

Yuma, I know you're generally non-violent except for all the murders but slap him.

Oh hey, it's my CTU plan! Throw Desuhiko at them and run like hell! Fubuki, Yuma, this is our chance!

In seriousness, I have no idea how this would seriously work. Those two guys have guns trained on us and a third with a baton is at the door. Desuhiko's hug of doom wouldn't stop them from shooting us in the slightest.

But okay. I guess this is how we get out of here.

Least we can go hook up with Yakou and figure out a new avenue for--

Oh. Uh. Hi. You must be Fink. How's tricks....

Oh. That's how.

Shit.

Oh, shit.

Oh, shit, that wasn't a distraction! IT'S HIM! IT'S FUCKING HIM! YAKOU IS THE FIRST TO DIE.

I mean he was the most expendable. Out of everyone here, I'll miss him the least. But still. Fuck. I am not ready for people to start dropping dead.

Fink again. Tossed his cloak aside to reveal a lab coat underneath, just before 'rounding the corner and vanishing from sight.

Total poser move. Definitely Halara. :P

Another one of Fink's knives. They all have the same F carved into them. Fink likes to leave his knives behind at his crime scenes so everyone knows he did it.

We broke the tradition of two bodies in chapter three so that we could have two bodies in chapter four.

Hooo. Why Yakou? He was out-of-disguise so this wasn't a mistaken identify or anything. Which, on that note, why was he out-of-disguise? But. In any case. What could Fink have possibly had against Yakou?

Was this revenge? Did Fink cheat on his wife and Yakou exposed him? I have no idea what to make of this.

We are officially across the threshold. Our teammates are mortal now. That. Is terrifying.

[kudosmyhero]

Detective Comics (vol. 1) #664: Knightfall, part 12: Who Rules the Night

Read Date: November 05, 2023 Cover Date: July 1993 ● Writer: Chuck Dixon ● Penciler: Graham Nolan ● Inker: Scott Hanna ● Colorist: Adrienne Roy ● Letterer: John Costanza ● Editor: Scott Peterson ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers (👏=didn't like it, 👏👏=it was ok, 👏👏👏=I liked it, 👏👏👏👏=I really liked it!, 👏👏👏👏👏=I loved it!)

Reactions As I Read: ● wait… what? I thought they were in the Batcave… ● I love Adrienne Roy’s use of color

● they’re not gonna be real paramedics, are they ● ALFRED <3 ● what a stunning panel

● the art is really beautiful this issue ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: Bane has broken the Batman, and displays his triumph on the streets of Gotham City, holding his enemy's limp body high over his head. In further show of his superiority, Bane tosses Batman's body from the top of a building, and it lands in a crumpled heap on the sidewalk. Officer Marz and Renée Montoya call an ambulance and do crowd control, ascertaining that Batman is still alive. When the ambulance arrives, Alfred Pennyworth, disguised as an EMT, to ensure that he is taken back to the Batcave. He assures Montoya that Batman is in good hands.

When Alfred realizes that Batman's back has been broken, Robin argues that he should be taken to a hospital. Alfred refuses, explaining that by bringing him to a hospital, it would expose Bruce Wayne as the Batman, and destroy his identity. Instead, they take him back to the cave and hope to stabilize him enough until they can come up with a reasonable explanation as to why Bruce Wayne would have these injuries.

Back on the scene, Commissioner Gordon realizes that Batman never arrived at the hospital, becoming angry with Montoya. However, when Harvey Bullock suggests that it might have been some of Batman's own people who took him, the Commissioner's mood changes.

In their hideout, the Joker bemoans the fact that a mere rookie managed to take down the Batman, after he and the most dangerous of Batman's Rogues Gallery have tried since the Arkham breakout. Similarly, Scarecrow is annoyed that they wasted their time on kidnapping the Mayor, and failed to gain control over Gotham or the ransom he needed to continue his experiments. Scarecrow becomes frustrated with Joker's mockery, and sprays him with fear gas. Of course, the gas has no effect, given the Joker's natural immunity to toxins. In retaliation for simply trying, the Joker savagely beats Scarecrow into unconsciousness with a chair.

In the Batcave, Alfred manages to get Bruce stable, though he is still comatose and feverish. Unfortunately, Alfred lacks the required medications to treat spinal trauma - and it is needed within the next hour to be effective. Robin and Azrael get into the Batmobile and speed off in search of the drug Decadron, which is required lest Batman be paralyzed for life.

Sarah Essen-Gordon finds her husband atop Gotham City Police Headquarters, waiting by the Bat-Signal. She puts aside her dislike of Batman in order to comfort him, as he wonders if his friend is alright. He promises to be down in a minute, still hoping for a sign from Batman's partners.

In a seedy Gotham hotel, the Ventriloquist watches as his two puppets, Socko and Scarface, become increasingly negative toward one another. Eventually, the two dummies point guns at each other, and the Ventriloquist shoots himself in both hands.

Robin appears in Commissioner Gordon's office, and begs for help in getting the Decadron needed for Batman's recovery. The Commissioner dispatches Bullock and Montoya to drive as fast as possible to a trauma centre, pick up the drugs, and deliver it to a deserted cul-de-sac. When they arrive at the dead end, Robin and Azrael snatch away the package, and rush back to Alfred.

With the Decadron administered, all the heroes can do is wait…

(https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Detective_Comics_Vol_1_664)

Fan Art: Azrael by JPRart

Accompanying Podcast: ● Everyone Loves the Drake - episode 34

[lostlosersclub]

OKI OKI OKI

The AMX-56 Leclerc is a tank that was first produced in 1992 by France, and it is considered (not just by me) to be one of the best combat tank designs, despite being untested. The tank is 9.87 meters (32.4 feet) long, 3.71 meters (12.2 feet) wide, and 2.53 meters (8.3 feet) high. It weighs around 54,500 kilograms (120,152 pounds), or about 60.1 tons. 

The main gun is the 120mm GIAT CN120-26/52. This gun has 5 main types of ammunition: 120mm Armour-Piercing projectiles, 120mm High-Explosive projectiles, APFSDS (Armour-Piercing, Fin-Stabilized, Discarding Sabot) rounds, and HEAT (High-Explosive, Anti-Tank) rounds. For actual shooting, it has a fully automatic fire control system, which is aided by nightvision, laser rangefinder, and FINDERS. FINDERS (Fast Information, Navigation, Decision, and Reporting System) provides a map that can show the soldiers current active targets, route planning, and figure out if someone is friend or foe. 

It's also unique because it has a 12.7mm GIAT M693 coaxial heavy machine gun, while coaxial machine guns are usually 7.62 mm. It also can hold 27 smoke grenade dischargers, which are part of the GALIX CVPS (combat vehicle protection system). Despite all the heavy machinery, it has a relatively low profile design, which makes it super hard to spot on the battle field!!

It can hold 40 120mm rounds total for the GIAT CN120-26/52. This ammunition is set away from the main seating and protected by blast panels, which makes sure the crew is safe in case the ammunition gets hit by an enemy. It can also hold 1,100 12.7mm rounds, and 3,000 7.62 rounds! 

To add to crew safety, it has an internal automatic fire suppression system, which detects and can put out fires. There's also a NBC system (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) to help with airborne diseases. 

The actual tank is made of NERA, Non-explosive/Non-energetic Reactive Armour. The entire tank is powered by a SACM UDU V8X T9 Hyperbar 8-cylinder diesel fuel engine with 1500 horsepower, while the average car has about 200 horsepower :333 The engine is also tied to a SESM ESM500 series automatic transmission system, which let's the tank reach speed of 44 mph on ideal surfaces. It has an operational range of 340 miles, but can be extended to 400 miles through extra fuel source. When idle, it switches to a Turbomeca TM-7083 gas turbine engine, which minimizes the auditory and visual signals. 

Despite this tank being fucking awesome, it hasn't really been used in actual combat!! Only about 862 AMX-56 Leclerc tanks have been manufactured so far, and they mostly stay in France and the UAE :333

whoag bro that tank sounds fuckin awesome thank you for sending me this !

[ratinacoat]

The AMX-56 Leclerc is a tank that was first produced in 1992 by France, and it is considered (not just by me) to be one of the best combat tank designs, despite being untested. The tank is 9.87 meters (32.4 feet) long, 3.71 meters (12.2 feet) wide, and 2.53 meters (8.3 feet) high. It weighs around 54,500 kilograms (120,152 pounds), or about 60.1 tons.

The main gun is the 120mm GIAT CN120-26/52. This gun has 5 main types of ammunition: 120mm Armour-Piercing projectiles, 120mm High-Explosive projectiles, APFSDS (Armour-Piercing, Fin-Stabilized, Discarding Sabot) rounds, and HEAT (High-Explosive, Anti-Tank) rounds. For actual shooting, it has a fully automatic fire control system, which is aided by nightvision, laser rangefinder, and FINDERS. FINDERS (Fast Information, Navigation, Decision, and Reporting System) provides a map that can show the soldiers current active targets, route planning, and figure out if someone is friend or foe.

It's also unique because it has a 12.7mm GIAT M693 coaxial heavy machine gun, while coaxial machine guns are usually 7.62 mm. It also can hold 27 smoke grenade dischargers, which are part of the GALIX CVPS (combat vehicle protection system). Despite all the heavy machinery, it has a relatively low profile design, which makes it super hard to spot on the battle field!!

It can hold 40 120mm rounds total for the GIAT CN120-26/52. This ammunition is set away from the main seating and protected by blast panels, which makes sure the crew is safe in case the ammunition gets hit by an enemy. It can also hold 1,100 12.7mm rounds, and 3,000 7.62 rounds!

To add to crew safety, it has an internal automatic fire suppression system, which detects and can put out fires. There's also a NBC system (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) to help with airborne diseases.

The actual tank is made of NERA, Non-explosive/Non-energetic Reactive Armour. The entire tank is powered by a SACM UDU V8X T9 Hyperbar 8-cylinder diesel fuel engine with 1500 horsepower, while the average car has about 200 horsepower :333 The engine is also tied to a SESM ESM500 series automatic transmission system, which let's the tank reach speed of 44 mph on ideal surfaces. It has an operational range of 340 miles, but can be extended to 400 miles through extra fuel source. When idle, it switches to a Turbomeca TM-7083 gas turbine engine, which minimizes the auditory and visual signals.

Despite this tank being fucking awesome, it hasn't really been used in actual combat!! Only about 862 AMX-56 Leclerc tanks have been manufactured so far, and they mostly stay in France and the UAE :3

That's really cool, thank you for sharing! I've never known much about tanks and this was really interesting.

[jcsmicasereports]

Emerging infectious agents: an unusual case of Metapneumovirus pneumonia in an adult patient by Graziana Francesca Greco in Journal of Clinical Case Reports Medical Images and Health Sciences

Abstract

Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV), a relatively new virus, is a common cause of acute respiratory infection, especially common in the pediatric population. Despite hMPV infection in adults is possible, this rarely results in serious clinical manifestation. Here, we describe a hypoxemic respiratory failure related to pneumonia in an adult patient in whom hMPV was detected in respiratory samples.

Keywords

Human Metapneumovirus; SARS-CoV-2; Covid-19.

CASE HISTORY

A 61-yr-old caucasian man presented to the Emergency Department (ASST Mantua Hospital, Mantua, Italy) with fever up to 39°C, poorly responsive to antipyretics, nocturnal dyspnea and productive cough with mucus-purulent sputum for three days. On physical examination he appeared in good general condition, collaborating and oriented. The following parameters were recorded: blood pressure 140/90mmHg, heart rate of 100 beats min-1; respiratory rate of 23 breaths min-1; and body temperature of 38.4°C. His arterial oxygen saturation on room air was 87%. Chest examination revealed abnormal breath sounds with rhonchi and fine crackles in the middle lobe and inferior lobes bilaterally, no wheezes were heard. Laboratory findings revealed lymphocytosis (81000 x 103/µl), low platelet count (113000 x 106/µl) and an increase in alanine transaminase value (59 U/L), total bilirubin value (1.13 mg/dL) and CPR value (112 mg/L). Room air arterial blood gas analysis showed a normocapnic hypoxemia: pH 7.43, carbon dioxide tension 40.5 mmHg, oxygen tension 60.4 mmHg, and HCO3 24 mmol L-1. The  SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection test on nasopharyngeal swab was negative. A chest radiograph showed multiple, small, patchy opacities in the right upper and middle lobe and  no pleural effusion was observed. Based on these findings he was admitted to the Respiratory Department.

His medical history included chronic lymphocytic leukemia in follow-up which did not require any specific treatment. He denied taking any medications or to be a smoker, he drinks a glass of wine once a day and has no known allergies. The patient was a farmer who cultivates wheat and maize but he had no animal exposure and no travel history in the last few years. There is no family history or childhood history of respiratory complaints. He was vaccinated with three dosesagainst the SARS-CoV-2 infection (Pfizer) but not against the influenza virus.

Based on the patient’s presentation and testing results, on suspicion of bacterial pneumonia he was empirically treated with IV Piperacillin/Tazobactam, the patient required oxygen support at 3L min-1 and an inhalation therapy with Beclomethasone/Formoterol was set up ex adiuvantibus. In the following days, several microbiological investigations were carried out to determine the etiology of pneumonia: blood culture, urinoculture, sputum culture, Legionella, Haemofilus and Pneumococcus serologic tests, Legionella pneumophila and Pneumococcal urinary antigen test, all of which were negative.

A  nasopharyngeal swab FilmArray Respiratory Panel Assay (NP FARP) was then requested: it was positive for human Metapneumovirus and the result was confirmed by repeating the test. For non responder fever and further increase of CPR (230 mg/l) and PCT (0.27 ng/ml), Levofloxacin and later Meropenem were added in the perspective of a resistant bacterial etiology.  On  the 6th hospitalization day a chest computed tomography (CT) scan was obtained (Figures 1 and 2) which demonstrated large opacities with gradient borders, distributed in the peribronchial area at the right upper lobe, middle lobe and both the lower lobes; they tended to the confluence configuring parenchymal consolidations with aerial bronchogram at the level of the cost-phrenic angle. Imaging also showed bilateral hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy (max diameter 3.4 x 2 cm), splenomegaly and absence of pleural effusion. Blood chemistry tests for HIV, Aspergillus antigen and galactomannan were also investigated but turned out negative. To rule out other infectious agents the patient underwent bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) into the middle lobe. BAL provides material for various microbiological and cytological tests: Gram stain, culture, Koch’s bacillus DNA, Galactomannan, Cytomegalovirus and P. Jirovecii and immunological analysis were negative. From respiratory virus panel on BAL only human Metapneumovirus was isolated, this unique microbiological data was according to the NP FARP’s result,  thus supporting and confirming the new hypothesis of a viral pneumonia in an adult patient with probable secondary mild immunosuppression due to his hematological disease. About ten days after entering the ward, there was a gradual decrease of CPR and a progressive improvement in clinical conditions and respiratory function to allow the suspension of oxygen therapy. At the end of hospitalization, pulmonary function tests were performed and showed a restrictive syndrome (FEV1/FVC 76.2, TLC 68% and VC 79% of predicted) and mild reduction of diffusion capacity (DLCO 62% and KCO 99%), probably representing the residual functional impairment due to viral pneumonia. The patient finally suspended all therapies and at discharge was referred for a one-month follow-up visit.

DISCUSSION

Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV), a relatively new virus first discovered in 2001, has been detected in 4-16% of patients with acute respiratory infections [1] [2] [3]. In particular, a recent review of 48 previous articles, including 100,151 patients under the age of five hospitalized for CAP, identified this virus as a cause of pneumonia in 3.9% of patients [4]. A recent study of 1386 hospitalized adult patients identified hMPV pneumonia in only 1.64%, indicating that it was much less common than in the infant population [5]. Metapneumovirus causes disease primarily in infants, but rarely can infect immunosuppressed individuals and elderly as well. Seroprevalence studies have shown that 90-100% of 5-10 years old children have previous infection [6]. Reinfection can occur during adulthood because of defected immunity acquired during the first contact with hMPV and/or because of different viral genotypes. The incubation period varies widely but is typically 3-5 days. The disease severity depends on the patient's condition and it ranges from mild upper airway infection to life-threatening pneumonia or bronchiolitis [7]. Clinically, Metapneumovirus infection is often indistinguishable from RSV infection, particularly in the pediatric population, and common symptoms include hypoxemia, cough, fever, upper and lower airway infections and wheezing [8]. hMPV infant patients are often hospitalized  for bronchiolitis and pneumonia [9]. In young adults, a flu-like syndrome with fever may occur in a small number of instances, but infection in geriatric subjects may cause severe clinical manifestations such as pneumonia and, in rare cases, death [10].

As described in this case, it was not surprising that antibiotics and corticosteroids were administered in most patients infected with Metapneumovirus mainly for two reasons: in most cases the specific diagnostic tests for hMPV are not carried out at admission and/or physicians prefer to continue steroid and antibiotic treatment to control potential unidentified bacterial infections in patients in which no etiological agent had been identified associated with hMPV infection. The overuse of these drugs could therefore be reduced through the adoption at admission of specific diagnostic tests for such etiological agent, especially if specific risk factors are present (age, immunodepression, etc.). In addition, the adoption of such tests could reduce the nosocomial spread of this virus, allowing an early isolation of the infected patient [11].

Conflicts of interest: The authors certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript. Funding: The authors report no involvement in the research by the sponsor that could have influenced the outcome of this work.

Authors’ contributions : All authors contributed equally to the manuscript and read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

[gothamcityhistory]

Detective Comics #27

Where it all began

Cover:

This is a great cover to start things out! It's iconic!! I always love seeing the redraws of this!

I got this screenshot of the cover from the Batman: The Golden Age Vol. 1 which you can tell from the fact that the words "THE BATMAN!" on the cover are black and not red like the original cover from 1939. For the rest of this post I will be using screenshots from an old digitization of the comic except for a few which I got from The Golden Age Vol 1. which I use at the end. Even though it says "64 pages of action" on the cover, The "Bat-Man" story is only 9 pages long and I will only be focusing on that. (Sorry Slam Bradley fans!) Now to get into the issue.

It starts off with this title page where they introduce the "Bat-Man" to the reader. It's very nice!

It's very strange to see him labeled at the "Bat-Man". I'm just not used to it but anyways they drop it fully Detective Comics #30. (Also note that I read it like "Bat Dash Man")

It's also very sad to see The Batman only credited to Bob Kane. Bill Finger did mostly everything and didn't get recognition for it until 2015.

Anyway, Back to the comic-

Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon are chilling out at Gordon's place when suddenly Gordon gets a call about a recent murder. They need him there right away and in the most laid-back way, he's like, "Hey, Bruce, buddy, pal, chum, they need me at a murder scene... Wanna come with?"

and Bruce is deadass like "Eh sure. Why not"

Everything was so casual in the 30s god damn.

Anyway, They rush over to the scene of the crime

and after "a thorough examination of the scene of the crime" they decide to talk to the victims son, who is the current murder suspect.

He's like, "I didn't do it, I only grabbed the knife when I pulled it out of my dad's chest!" And, weirdly, Gordon doesn't press any further on it. He's just like "Yep okay."

Also, he could've stayed alive if you didn't pull the knife out dummy. But I digress

He then responds to Gordon's question like "Dunno, Except these 3 guys"

Also the comedic timing of that- I made a joke to my friend when I first read this comic that the reason why Steve Crane was excited was because he bet Lambert a hundred bucks in 1939 dollars that the threat on his life was real- I know excited back then meant having excessive emotions but I just thought it was funny.

You sus mf. I SEE you Bruce. If that even is your real name.

I also love this panel.

After Crane gets shot the murderer/robber escapes with a piece of paper.

When Suddenly...

The Bat-Man shows up and beats the hell out of them and takes the paper. Then Gordon and the police arrive to Steven Crane's house as the Bat-Man runs away. Gordon then finds out Crane has been killed and decides to go to Paul Rogers house

Also look at my little man

He's so proud of himself.

I also love the fact that he drives off in Bruce Wayne's car from earlier in the issue. He's so silly

Meanwhile, Rogers goes to his friend's, Alfred Stryker's, neighboring Laboratory where he encounters Strykers assistant, Jennings, and gets smacked and trapped by him.

I thought this panel was hilarious.

Like Boi! What kind of guinea pigs are you experimenting with that you need to a jar that can fit a human inside and also why are you gassing guinea pigs???

He then seals the chamber but not before the "Bat-Man" enters, plugs the gas-jet and breaks Rogers out.

Speaks for itself really. Styker then finds out his assistant failed at killing Rogers and tries to kill him himself but the Bat-Man, who had hidden, jumps out and prevents the Stryker from killing Roger. The Bat-Man explains why Stryker like Velma at the end of an episode and then Stryker breaks out of The Bat-Mans hold and then

The Bat-Man straight up kills him and is like "Good."

Bro is so sus. No one acts this way. And then what's more is that Gordon is like "Man. bro is so bored all the time."

Look at my silly dressing up in his bat fursuit!!

Can't wait for next month!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sorry I basically recapped the whole story. It was very short but every panel had something interesting happening!! I definitely recommend it!!

Things I liked and found interesting!!

I found it interesting how they have text explaining the situation instead of just letting the photos do the talking.

Thought It's probably like that because they only had 9 pages to tell the story.

I liked Commissioner Gordon's fit in this issue.

It's a very nice Zebra-like suit that would allow him to fit in with the the weirdo 248 issues from now. It's just so snazzy!

I also like how Gordon takes things at face value and doesn't do some deeper thinking like how I'd assume a police commissioner would. "Well obviously he didn't kill his father. He literally just said he didn't". "I just told Bruce something amazing and he looks like he had heard it before. He must lead a boring life"

I also love The Bat-Man costume in this issue

Purple glove Batman... My beloved <3

The art in this issue is great too!! I'll pick out a few of my favourite panels to show.

Thank you all for reading my first blog post!!

Come back whenever! Rarely the same Bat-Time but always the same Bat-Blog

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Scientists detect sign that a crucial ocean current is near collapse

By Sarah Kaplan

The Atlantic Ocean’s sensitive circulation system has become slower and less resilient, according to a new analysis of 150 years of temperature data — raising the possibility that this crucial element of the climate system could collapse within the next few decades.

Scientists have long seen the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, as one of the planet’s most vulnerable “tipping elements” —meaning the system could undergo an abrupt and irreversible change, with dramatic consequences for the rest of the globe. Under Earth’s current climate, this aquatic conveyor belt transports warm, salty water from the tropics to the North Atlantic, and then sends colder water back south along the ocean floor. But as rising global temperatures melt Arctic ice, the resulting influx of cold freshwater has thrown a wrench in the system — and could shut it down entirely.

The study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications suggests that continued warming will push the AMOC over its “tipping point” around the middle of this century. The shift would be as abrupt and irreversible as turning off a light switch, and it could lead to dramatic changes in weather on either side of the Atlantic.

“This is a really worrying result,” said Peter Ditlevsen, a climate physicist at the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the new study. “This is really showing we need a hard foot on the brake” of greenhouse gas emissions.

Ditlevsen’s analysis is at odds with the most recent report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which drew on multiple climate models and concluded with “medium confidence” that the AMOC will not fully collapse this century.

Other experts on the AMOC also cautioned that because the new study doesn’t present new observations of the entire ocean system — instead, it is extrapolating about the future based on past data from a limited region of the Atlantic — its conclusions should be taken with a grain of salt.

“The qualitative statement that AMOC has been losing stability in the last century remains true even taking all uncertainties into account,” said Niklas Boers, a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “But the uncertainties are too high for a reliable estimate of the time of AMOC tipping.”

The new study adds to a growing body of evidence that this crucial ocean system is in peril. Since 2004, observations from a network of ocean buoys has showed the AMOC getting weaker — though the limited time frame of that data set makes it hard to establish a trend. Scientists have also analyzed multiple “proxy” indicators of the current’s strength, including microscopic organisms and tiny sediments from the seafloor, to show the system is in its weakest state in more than 1,000 years.

For their analysis, Peter Ditlevsen and his colleague Susanne Ditlevsen (who is Peter’s sister) examined records of sea surface temperatures going back to 1870. In recent years, they found, temperatures in the northernmost waters of the Atlantic have undergone bigger fluctuations and taken longer to return to normal. These are “early warning signals” that the AMOC is becoming critically unstable, the scientists said — like the increasingly wild wobbles before a tower of Jenga blocks starts to fall.

Susanne Ditlevsen, a statistician at the University of Copenhagen, then developed an advanced mathematical model to predict how much more wobbling the AMOC system can handle. The results suggest that the AMOC could collapse any time between now and 2095, and as early as 2025, the authors said.

The consequences would not be nearly as dire as they appear in the 2004 sci-fi film “The Day After Tomorrow,” in which a sudden shutdown of the current causes a flash freeze across the northern hemisphere. But it could lead to a drop in temperatures in northern Europe and elevated warming in the tropics, Peter Ditlevsen said, as well as stronger storms on the East Coast of North America.

Marilena Oltmanns, an oceanographer at the National Oceanography Center in Britain, noted in a statement that the temperatures in the north Atlantic are “only one part of a highly complex, dynamical system.” Though her own research on marine physics supports the Ditlevsens’ conclusion that this particular region could reach a tipping point this century, she is wary of linking that transition to a full-scale change in Atlantic Ocean circulation.

Yet the dangers of even a partial AMOC shutdown mean any indicators of instability are worth investigating, said Stefan Rahmstorf, another oceanographer at the Potsdam Institute who was not involved in the new study.

“As always in science, a single study provides limited evidence, but when multiple approaches lead to similar conclusions this must be taken very seriously,” he said. “The scientific evidence now is that we can’t even rule out crossing a tipping point already in the next decade or two.”

Chris Mooney contributed to this report.

[Washington Post]

[chroniclers-circle]

chromium 2a

She was lucky there were more planets than just the first one in the Chromium system. The first touchdown on the gas-giant moon had been a bust—but there was plenty more for her to uncover here. Like on the mid-sized rocky planet she orbited now. The glittering expanse of stars beamed at her from the panel of glass in the hallway between her living quarters and the command-bridge of the ship.

There wasn’t a lot of time, but she leaned forward and pressed her face against it—and just breathed. The ship subroutines would include a scolding message for her in the logs tomorrow morning about her lack of attention to proper cleanliness and maintenance standards for exterior view-ports, but she couldn’t care less at the moment. If they’d wanted her to care what the computer thought, they wouldn’t have made it feel like the letters she got from her far-flung family: rare, untimely, and often with the air of disapproving of her general choices in life.

Her eyes fluttered closed as she stood alone in front of the vast expanse of space, only two meters insulated from the endless void.

Before long it was time to suit up again though. Her hair went into a braid, then a bun, then was finally tucked into the helmet of her space-suit. Seals were done up, vital monitors were engaged, and equipment were checked and double checked. She headed for the gangplank, and hit the button for the airlock door once more.

Sys.log: First Impressions

The notification system on her wrist marks a ping the moment her foot touches the planet’s dusty surface.

It seemed that unlike Chromium 1b, the notable features of 2a were located far underground. Which meant that she’d need to find a way down there in order to investigate, fulfill her exploration obligations, and find samples. She glanced out over the barren wasteland around her—it didn’t seem as though the Chromium system had birthed any life. What she had seen so far were vast isolated verandas, and the view stretching before her was yet another one.

It was so similar to what she felt standing before the viewport in her ship. It was so alien to everything she’d ever felt before. She didn’t know the last time she’d heard her own voice. The notification system pinged again. Her scanners had found a cave entrance.

She had her way down.

Sys.log: Descent

The cavern mouth yawned before her. Thick powder caked the crevices around it, evidence of powerful erosive wind that she hadn’t yet encountered. Her boots sank down into it, until it covered her boots up to the ankles, teasing at the seal where her suit ended. She wrinkled her nose and peered down into the depths. She couldn’t hear anything that wasn’t recorded and piped into the helmet of her suit—and the device worked well to filter out environmental background noise—but she thought she could hear her breathing echoed back at her from deep within the hole in front of her.

She flexed her fingers and activated the flashlight at the end of her gloves and the one embedded into the center of her helmet, between her eyes, and began her descent.

The walls crooked full of ragged rocks, with faults and cracks that seemed the result of whatever pressures and winds arose on the surface. She wouldn’t be surprised if this was a planet eternally wrecked with storms. She’d likely landed in the only patch of calm weather in a very long time.

Her feet sank into the powder as she pressed inward and downward, hunting for the elusive signal that her scanners had detected. The hologram of a map flashed on her wrist, the ghost bones of some ancient pattern surrounding her, promising her something worthwhile to add to her report. Her feet slid beneath her, and she kept going.

Sys.log: Ruin Filled Caverns

She wanted to chalk it up to her imagination when she first noticed—but after a handful more steps into what could only be the remnants of a long forgotten city, she gave in to the realization that the walls themselves were glowing. It was not a strong glow, she had seen brighter bioluminescent algae on Myril, but it was enough that she could make out the corners and contours of every crumbling building and disintegrating wall.

There had been people here once. Her hypothesis about the Chromium system was wrong—but not entirely. For whoever had lived her once was long dead. Dust and the fine powder from the surface dulled the glow, and proved that she was the first person to set foot in these caverns for at least a millenia, if not more. She looked around more closely, trying to figure out if she could uncover why the city had been so totally abandoned.

Stepping closer to the wall, she realized. The powder down here was different than the surface. Down here, the powder came away black on the fingertips of her gloves. Char. Soot. Things had burned down here, and there was every likelihood that the fine powder that sifted across the dusty surface was comprised partly of bones. She shuddered, and stepped back toward the middle of what used to be a street.

Walking through the ruins was less the awesome experience she’d had on other planets, and more the acknowledgment of an unknown mausoleum. A tragedy had taken place here, and she would do nothing to undermine the profound solemnity that such a truth required.

The walls had been carved with art, beautiful runes in angular shapes that she could not read—perhaps that no one left in the universe could read. She had not seen any other signs of life on this planet, after all, and the evidence of storms on the surface could have been the result of any extinction level event.

She swallowed, and looked around once more. She’d snagged a pebble that had fallen from one of the walls as a sample of that glowing rock—and that was all there was left to do here.

She made it back to her ship quickly, and the glowing pebble bid farewell to its home planet, and found itself tucked next to the strange chrome fruit as evidence of her ventures through the Chromium system.

NEXT PLANET