#hybrid!pentagon

[chaoticremix2]

tag guide

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

War and Lenin in the 21st century, part 4

By Gary Wilson

The Cold War was a class war between two irreconcilable social systems — imperialist capitalism and socialism. It was called cold because there wasn’t an outright military war. In form, it’s more like what today is called a hybrid war, including extensive covert operations, economic sanctions, cyber warfare, and heavy propaganda. The current economic, diplomatic, political, and military conflict between the United States and China is often called the “new Cold War.”

[croquis-el]

Why not an orange or what was lost again during localization

The first case of Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies (Gyakuten Saiban 5) greets us with the mummy Apollo (Odoroki Hosuke), a panicking Athena (Kizuki Kokone) and the defendant Juniper Woods (Shinobu Morizumi), who treats Athena to an orange to calm her nerves and wish her strength.

What if I told you that there is no orange at all?

これ････差し入れ持ってきたの。 うちの畑で取れた子なんだ。

kore sashiire motte kita no. Uchi no hata de toreta kona nda.

I brought this as a gift. It's from my garden.

あ、ありがとう! えーっと、これはイヨカンかな?

a, arigatō! E ̄ tto, koreha iyokan ka na?

Oh, thank you! Um, is this Iyokan?

うん。････おばあちゃんが言ってたの。

un. O bāchan ga itteta no.

Yeah. ...Grandma told me.

イヨカン食べると、 “いい予感”なんだって。

iyokan taberu to, “ī yokan”na n datte.

Apparently, if you eat iyokan, you get a good feeling.

(やば。わたし、なんでイヨカンを にぎりしめて涙ぐんでるんだろ)

(yaba. Watashi, nande iyo kan o nigirishimete namidagun deru ndaro)

(Oh no! Why am I clutching an iyokan and crying?)

Stop. Iyokan? A good feeling? Let's figure it out.

The iyokan (伊予柑 - Citrus × iyo), also known as anadomikan (穴門みかん) and Gokaku no Iyokan, is a Japanese citrus fruit, similar in appearance to a mandarin orange.

The name "Iyo" was taken from the ancient name of a place in Ehime Prefecture, the Iyo province.

The flesh is slightly sour and more bitter than an orange, but sweeter than a grapefruit.

There is a variation grown into a pentagon shape to promote good luck also giving it another nickname, Gokaku no Iyokan, which translates into "Pentagonal Iyokan"

(which is also very similar to the expression 合格 [goukaku] — to meet the requirements;

試験に合格する. [shiken ni goukaku suru]  — to pass (to endure) an exam;)

And what kind of "good feelings" are these?

In Japan, the citrus can be seen during springtime as a seasonal KitKat flavor with messages of "good luck" to students studying for exams on each packet. The name "iyokan" is also a near-homophone for "good feeling" in Japanese, and is used as such in its marketing.

“いい予感”

いい — good, beautiful; kind

予感 (よかん) [yokan] - presentiment; premonition

好感 [koukan] — a good feeling; kind feelings, disposition, sympathy;

___________________________________________

I am not surprised that the original name was lost (even the translator makes an orange out of this word). Although it is a hybrid of tangerine...

The localization successfully changed the meaning of the fruit, adjusting it to an orange. Still, the meaning of orange in Western culture varies - "fertility", "prosperity", "longevity", "strength" etc.

Although, it was possible to leave Juniper's grandmother Japanese, especially considering that the granddaughter learned the meaning of citrus from her. Well, that's my personal opinion.

___________________________________________

Dictionaries and forums helped me again, please don't scold me for shortcomings and mistakes. Just point it out

[mariacallous]

Geopolitical storm clouds are gathering at the far reaches of Pax Americana, and yet there is remarkably little sign that the U.S. government or the American people have awoken to the mounting dangers. The threat posed by China and Russia and their rogue nation allies rated only passing mention in last year’s presidential campaign, for instance, which in typical fashion revolved around domestic issues such as the economy and inflation. Asked to choose among five issues in an NBC exit poll, only 4 percent of the voters surveyed during last year’s presidential election named foreign policy as a priority.

President Donald Trump has talked a lot about restoring strong U.S. leadership in an increasingly unstable world, but in its first two months, his administration has mostly sown chaos at home and doubt abroad about the reliability of the United States as an ally.

The administration’s ready-fire-aim approach to national security and world affairs stands in stark contrast to the sense of very real urgency felt at the United States’ geographic military commands, which are positioned forward around the globe.

In essence, these military headquarters are sentries on the far battlements of the U.S.-led, post-World War II international order. From their vantage point, Washington’s military and security forces already find themselves stretched thin by intense combat operations, hybrid and proxy warfare, and tense military standoffs with an increasingly cohesive “axis of autocracies” that is spread out over six time zones that span the globe.

Listen closely to the warnings from these outposts, and you can detect the sound of alarms clanging while the United States continues listing even as geopolitical storm clouds darken.

From the hillside headquarters of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Honolulu, commanders can gaze down on the tranquil waters of Pearl Harbor, where the surface of the water has an oily sheen resulting from persistent leakage from the once mighty battleship USS Arizona, sunk by Japanese bombs more than 80 years ago. The locals refer to the sheen as “black tears,” in memory of the 1,102 U.S. service members still entombed in the wreckage below.

Pearl Harbor is a place for quiet contemplation, and from the nearby vantage point of Indo-Pacific Command, it is impossible not to reflect on the dangers that accumulate when rising powers—such as 1930s-era Japan and Germany—confront status quo powers—such as that era’s Great Britain and the United States.

Today, the Indo-Pacific Command is consumed by the meteoric rise of another superpower in Asia—one whose bullying and provocations toward the United States and its regional allies have increased in rough proportion to a military expansion that recently retired leader of the command Admiral John Aquilino characterized as “the largest military buildup that we’re seeing in history, both conventional and nuclear.”

China’s massive defense manufacturing base now churns out weapons systems at a pace estimated at five to six times as fast as its anemic U.S. counterpart. Beijing already boasts not only the world’s largest navy, but also a shipbuilding capacity roughly 230 times that of the United States, according to Office of Naval Intelligence estimates.

Not coincidentally, in the past year alone, China’s armed forces have held live-fire exercises bracketing Taiwan, a democratic country that the Chinese Communist Party considers a breakaway province. Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army also regularly attacks the ships of the Philippines—a U.S. treaty ally—near contested islands. According to the Pentagon, since the fall of 2021 there have been more than 180 incidents of Chinese warplanes performing “coercive and risky” maneuvers targeting U.S. military aircraft in international airspace.

In congressional testimony in May 2024, Aquilino, then the head of Indo-Pacific Command, said that “all indications point to” the Chinese military meeting leader Xi Jinping’s deadline of being ready for a potential invasion of Taiwan by 2027.

Given that three of China’s standing war plans are built around that Taiwan scenario, the Pentagon has held classified war games testing the U.S. military’s readiness for such a contingency dating back a decade. Many Americans are not even aware that those secret war games consistently indicate that U.S. forces would not only lose that war, but also that they would lose it fast.

Contemplating the growing disparity in defense industrial capacity and Beijing’s aggressive claim of hegemony over the entire South China Sea, then- U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall III summarized conventional wisdom in September 2023 while speaking at a conference: “China is preparing for war, and specifically for a war with the United States.”

Remarkably, the theater-wide view from the village of Mons, Belgium, home to NATO’s sprawling Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), is equally alarming.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 set off the largest conflict in Europe since World War II, is now in its fourth bloody year. During that time, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that Putin has transitioned the Russian economy to a near-total wartime footing, spending an estimated 7.1 percent of the country’s GDP on defense in 2024.

Despite mounting a large military resupply mission to help keep Ukraine in the fight, the United States and its NATO allies have been continually deterred from more decisive support by a level of nuclear weapons saber-rattling and brinkmanship by Moscow that the world has not seen since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. That brinksmanship escalated dramatically in November 2024, after Russia attacked Ukraine for the first time with a new type of intermediate-range ballistic missile that is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead as well as conventional ones.

The virulently anti-Western axis of autocracies that has come to Russia’s aid in its aggression against Ukraine and its challenge to the supposed U.S.-led, rules-based international order is increasingly alarming to U.S. security officials. China has lived up to its “no limits” partnership with Russia, which was announced just before the invasion, rescuing it from the isolation of Western sanctions with bilateral trade that soared to a record $240 billion in 2023. Beijing acts as a willing buyer for Russian oil while supplying Moscow with subcomponents such as drone and missile engines as well as the semiconductors that are critical to its burgeoning defense industry.

Despite its own conflict with Israel, the theocratic regime in Iran has also stepped in with shipments of ballistic missiles and thousands of lethal Shahed drones for Moscow’s war against its democratic neighbor.

The rogue regime in the so-called hermit kingdom of North Korea, a de facto nuclear weapons state and the most insular dictatorship in the world, has likewise provided Russia with short-range ballistic missiles and what South Korean authorities have estimated as 8 million artillery shells. And in a dramatic escalation of the conflict, U.S. intelligence officials revealed in late 2024 that Pyongyang had also sent an estimated 12,000 special forces troops to fight alongside their Russian counterparts against Ukraine. U.S. officials believe that in return, Moscow is sharing advanced air defense systems with Pyongyang.

In response to Western support for Ukraine, Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency has also greatly intensified its hybrid war against Europe, resulting in what Western intelligence officials characterize as a “an unprecedented rise” in acts of sabotage, arson, cyberattacks and attempted assassinations on NATO soil. In an article in Financial Times, the heads of the CIA and Britain’s MI6 described Russian intelligence activity as a “reckless campaign of sabotage across Europe.”

Western efforts to keep Ukraine supplied, even with fundamental war materials such as standard munitions and low-tech drones, have also revealed glaring deficiencies in industrial capacity in the once-vaunted U.S. “arsenal of democracy.” According to NATO intelligence estimates, Russia is on track to annually produce nearly three times as many artillery shells as the United States and its European allies combined (with 3 million shells versus 1.2 million, respectively). Russia has also dramatically increased its production of relatively cheap drones. Its close ally Beijing already dominates the worldwide market for commercial drones, with just one Chinese company accounting for approximately 70 percent of global production.

The view of the Middle East from the U.S. Central Command Forward Headquarters at al-Udeid Airbase in Qatar is no more reassuring. The war against Israel that the Gaza-based Hamas militant group launched to devastating effect on Oct. 7, 2023, quickly revealed itself as a coordinated attack on the United States’ closest ally in the region by Iran-led proxies that constitute Tehran’s so-called axis of resistance, which comprises Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, and Houthi rebels in Yemen. The resulting war thus rapidly spread throughout the volatile region, including in the form of rare direct attacks between Israeli and Iran proper.

From the outset of the conflict, the U.S. military surged forces to come to Israel’s defense, with the Biden administration dispatching two aircraft carrier battle groups beginning in fall 2023. As a result, U.S. warships and aircraft were involved in the most intensive combat operations at sea since World War II, helping to protect Israel from missile attacks by Iran and its proxies, responding to attacks on U.S. bases and ships in the region, and engaging with Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen in an attempt to thwart their attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

While Iran and its axis of resistance have been seriously weakened by the conflict, the intense strains of recent combat deployments on a historically small and overstretched U.S. military have been exposed for all to see. Defense Department officials have admitted struggling to find sufficient air defense systems to protect their allies in both the Middle East and Europe, and they are running short of key munitions such as surface-to-air missiles.

In late 2024, the Pentagon also announced the withdrawal of the last U.S. aircraft carrier deployed in the region. Asked about the redeployments and the gaps in presence they represent, Gen. Charles Brown Jr., the recently sacked chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that the Defense Department had no choice but to “step back and take a look” at spiking demand and the impact of extended deployments on U.S. forces, “not just in the Middle East, but really around the world.”

Back home, the Trump administration continues to signal a realignment away from the United States’ traditional role as the so-called leader of the free world, even recently voting with Russia and North Korea at the United Nations against resolutions condemning Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. For its part, Congress continues in its nearly unbroken, decadelong streak of failing to pass a defense budget on time, severely curtailing efforts to stabilize acquisition programs and reorient the Pentagon’s strategic direction to confront rapidly growing threats.

In a report published in December and titled “Restoring Freedom’s Forge,” Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, the new chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, took note of the urgency of this moment. “Over the last four decades, the defense acquisition system has ground to a virtual halt, buried under a mountain of statutes and regulations from Congress and the Pentagon,” he wrote.

And a congressionally mandated Commission on the National Defense Strategy (NDS) report released in July 2024 backed that conclusion with its own stark warning: “The threats the United States faces are the most serious and most challenging the nation has encountered since 1945 and include the potential for near-term major war,” the report began, noting that the United States has not fought such a global conflict since World War II, nearly 80 years ago, and last prepared for such a contingency during the Cold War, 35 years ago. “It is not prepared today,” the authors added.

Retired Rep. Jane Harman, the former chairwoman of the House Intelligence Committee, also served as the chair of the recent NDS Commission review.

In the event of a conflict with China or Russia, Harman noted in a recent interview with the Defense Writers Group, “there will be a major cyberattack on our critical infrastructure. When the lights go out in our cities, and our ports close, and our transportation systems melt down, people will start to pay attention. So maybe we can help them pay attention” ahead of what would surely be a catastrophe.

[thelostdreamsthings]

NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg confirmed in September that Russia invaded Ukraine to prevent NATO expansion:

- This is his prerogative. If you argue NATO provoked the war, then you are a "Russian propagandist" who "legitimises" the invasion and must be censored and cancelled

- For context: In 1990 and 1994, NATO countries signed agreements with Russia promising indivisible security and ending the dividing lines in Europe. In 1997, the NATO-Russia Founding Act committed NATO to not place permanent troops in the new member states.

All of these agreements have been breached.

In 1992, a Pentagon memo was leaked to the NY Times and WaPo.

The document basically said that the U.S. should stay No.1 and prevent the reemergence of any rivals like Russia, Germany, China or Iran.

Interestingly, even Biden condemned this imperialist ambition!

"Biden condemned the document as a radical assertion of American hegemony — ‘literally a Pax Americana.’"

But then he supported jihadist war in Syria, Neo-Nazi war in Ukraine, hybrid war on China etc.

Under Putin, the Russian economy grew a staggering 1000% between 2000 and 2013.

So, guess what happened in 2014?

A color revolution in Ukraine by the US, followed by sanctions on Russia etc. etc.

Sabotaging others to stay No.1 is a key strategy of the American Empire.

[dertaglichedan]

The Pentagon is funding alternatives to meat protein, which includes using fungi for food for U.S. service members as part of the White House’s sustainable bioeconomy agenda.

The Department of Defense is focusing on investments into fungi protein as an alternative to animal protein, after initially seeking to fund lab-grown meat earlier this year in an effort to reduce carbon emissions. Critics have pushed back on such initiatives, arguing that they are negatively affecting the military.

In November, the DOD announced that it had given 34 awards totaling over $60 million to bioindustrial firms under the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP). $1.38 million was given to The Fynder Group “to plan a bioproduction facility for fungi-based proteins that can be incorporated into military ready-to-eat meals.”

The program is part of President Joe Biden's Executive Order 14081, "Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy," which is “aimed at bolstering America's bioeconomic strengths while helping the Department achieve advanced defense capabilities,” according to the DOD.

The projects that were awarded funding from the DOD program “will be eligible to receive follow-on ‘build’ awards providing access to up to $100 million to construct U.S.-based bioindustrial manufacturing facilities,” the DOD announcement added.

Fungi-based proteins

In August, as part of the DBIMP, the DOD awarded nearly $1.5 million to The Better Meat Company, which “harness[es] the amazing power of fermentation to make delicious, clean mycoprotein ingredients for food companies to use as the basis of their hybrid and fully animal-free meats.”

“The Better Meat Company, based in West Sacramento, California, was awarded $1.48 million to plan a bioproduction facility for mycoprotein ingredients that are shelf-stable, have high protein and fiber contents, and can be dehydrated,” according to the DOD.

To make the meat alternatives, the company explains that they “feed starchy foods to microscopic fungi and allow them to naturally turn into the meatiest animal-free protein on the planet.”

[demolotl]

Specfolcats are a creature I made, they are a hose cat hybrid but from space they’re beautiful majestic creatures that come from exploding stars,they are a rare find but when you do find one becoming friends with it would be in your best interest as they can grant the wishes for those it trusts. They are playful and very fun to be around and can be tamed easily.

This is a open species feel free to use Specfolcats as much as you want and however you want I only ask you to tag me if you do I want to see what you do to them.

Traits

They have the strong body of a horse with the head and fur of cats,they are eyeless and use echolocation to “see” and they have a very strong scenes of smell and can hear very far. they come in a big range of unique colours, blue purple and pink are the most common but they can be any colour. Their fur patterns are mostly a pentagon pattern with speckled dots that mimic a starry sky all of their spots and patterns glow in the dark as well as the inside of their mouth and tongues. They are usually freakishly tall and big.

[harrelltut]

when is mainstream american idiocracy [a.i.] media’s fake 2024 Xspace alien invasion [a.i.] of nasa.gov's basic artificial intel [a.i.] regenerating [air] outdated 3d computer generated images [cgi] reported by the overcompensated mainstream media pundits puppets who regurgitate professional and consumer [pc] marketplace teleprompter scripts for profit… aggressively sold to you easily distracted consumer slaves as real reality tv news like their... :::yawn::: 2024 american idiocracy [a.i.] president election survey :::yawn:::… since Apollo 11 never landed on the quantumharrell.tech moon satellite w/the mars landrover.de discovery communication [d.c.] defender… built by us scientifically ancient [usa] schwarzer deutscher [usd] film set designers on autodesk.com behind the american extraterrestrial visitation television series Ancient Aliens on the pseudo history.com network of mundane science theories fiction stories... popularized to you mainstream 2d matrix consumers of overpriced 3d printed marketplace goods junk… stored in restricted underground area 51 military access studio warehouses of 1946 roswell ufo incident props [i/p] created by the quantumharrell.tech SKY defense.gov media department of quantumharrelltech.ca.gov

WELCOME BACK HOME IMMORTAL [HIM] U.S. MILITARY KING SOLOMON-MICHAEL HARRELL, JR.™

i.b.monk [ibm] mode [i’m] tech [IT] steelecartel.com @ quantumharrelltech.ca.gov

eye kingtutdna.com domain creator [d.c.] of harrelltut.com

eye think [e.t.] like autocad-86 1.30 (7/11/83) Victor 9000 (c) copyright 1982,1983,2024 autodesk, inc. [a.i.] serial number: 06-002009

is this the highy anticipated 1000 yr old alien invasion [a.i.] the legislators of mexico held a hearing for?!?!?!... OMFG MICHAEL [OM]!!! THIS IS PATHETIC!!!

who you callin an extra terrestrial [e.t.]?!?!?!… 1968-michaelharrelljr.com interplanetary 9 [i9] ether aluhum sky anunnaqi of sirius blackanunnaqi.tech patent wealth!!!

blah blah blah aliens... blah blah blah aliens... blah blah blah aliens history.com of mundane science fiction 

cgi joe [max headroom] clueless

mundane blah blah blah white house speech

big deal

tune in for their latest blah blah blah distraction

deal with it

inferior tech always go KABOOM!!!

quantuumharrellufo.tech fcc interdimensional 

1968-michaelharrelljr.com domain creator [d.c.] of anu golden 9 ether [age] 1968 genXspace.com congress who already know about us 144,000 quantumharrellufo.tech engineer architects from planet x [nibiru]

blah blah blah aliens... blah blah blah aliens... blah blah blah alien creatures human hybrids reported in las vegas

anything not natural to earth must be automatically [auto] control alt deleted [cad]

blah blah blah aliens... blah blah blah aliens... blah blah blah aliens

nasa aeronautics never landed on our holographic telecom moon satellite planet

artificial intel [a.i.] = american idiocracy [a.i.] = alien invasion [a.i.]

© 1698-2223 QUANTUM HARRELL TECH LLC All Pentagon DotCom defense.gov Department Domain Rights Reserved @ 1921 QUANTUM 2023 HARRELL 2024 T-Mobile.com 2025 Apple.com & IBM.com [A.i.] LLC of ATLANTIS [L.A.] 5000

[the-strange-world]

Rating May Kpop Releases

Including prereleases and Japanese releases

Masterpiece (10) / Amazing (9) / Good (7-8) / Ok (6) / Meh (5) / Didn’t like (0-4)

UNFORGIVEN - LE SSERAFIM & Nile Rodgers - 10/10 - So good! I love the “unforgiven, I’m a villain, I’m a” part ~ fave bside (of the new songs) - No-Return (Into the unknown) and I liked some of the other songs too

Welcome To My World - aespa [prerelease] - 2/10 - I thought it was going somewhere and it never did

Wind And Wish - BTOB - 5/10 - it’s ok. Probably won’t listen to it much if ever

HYBRID - MAX CHANGMIN & Ha Hyun Woo - 7/10 - would be amazing as a musical montage at the end of an episode or something. Not something I would listen to much

U - iKON - 3/10

Heartbreak Club - Colde feat. LEE CHANHYUK - 2/10

THE POYZ BANANA CHACHA - THE BOYZ - 10/10 - Idc that this is a song made for kids. It’s a bop!

ERASE ME - ONEUS - 10/10 - loved it! ~ fave bsides - Unforgettable & ECHO

Spicy - aespa - 8/10 - i didn’t like it at first but as the song goes on it grew on me. Idk the song kinda gives me on uneasy vibe. It’s good tho ~ fave bside - I’m Unhappy

Ordinary Confession - Lee Mujin - 6/10 - it’s a nice song but I would listen to it again

NO LIMIT - CRAXY - 8/10 - I like how it’s like 2 different songs

Allergy - (G)I-DLE [prerelease] - ♾/10 - obsessed with this song! Might be one of my favorite songs this year so far

CHO - Feverse - 6/10 - I’m not sure what this is tbh. I think girl group members competed playing video games and the ones who won are the ones singing ~ fave bside - I Promise

BAD BOY - MIRANI feat. BIG Naughty - ♾/10 - Billie Eilish vibes (2 title tracks for this album) ➕

Candy - MIRANI feat. Leellamarz & Coogie - 8/10 - it’s chill ~ fave bside - Make U Mine

WAVE - IVE [JP] - 9/10

ALWAYS - XODIAC - 7/10

Shh - PENTAGON - 9/10

Kaze - YOUNHA - 4/10

Lovesick - SUNGMIN - 5/10 - not really my style of music

Fly Away - AB6IX [JP] - 3/10

Chemistry - THE7 - 9/10

Siren - ICHILLIN’ - 6/10

Bubble - AIMERS - 9/10 - it’s fun. There was one bside (Cherish) and I liked it

Yes! Love - J.UNA - 10/10 ~ fave bside - Stars

Queencard - (G)I-DLE - ♾/10 - obsessed with this song! It’s so funny and fun. The mv was everything! The dance battle? Iconic. I lost it when the surgeons started dancing. It ended well too! Some of the lyrics are unhinged/silly and some are really cool. They really came through with this comeback! It’s so good and unique as always with them ~ fav bsides - Paradise and Lucid but I liked All Night too!

My Ultimate First Love - 10cm - 5/10

Before the Petals Fall - CHEN - 4/10

Hare Hare - TWICE [JP] - 10/10 - it’s fun ~ I liked the only bside - Catch a Wave

MIDNIGHT SKY - XODIAC [Prerelease] - 6/10 - it’s calming

FANFARE - INI [Prerelease] - 7/10

STOP - KESSIA feat. Van Corso - 5/10

Crazy Like That - VERIVERY - 8/10 - it’s chill and different than the usual title track. I like it!

Movie Star - MIJOO - 6/10

WATERFALL - YOUNITE - 9/10 - a summer song!

GingaMingaYo (the strange world) - Billlie [JP] - 9/10 - I hate when kpop idols release a Japanese version of one of their songs as the title track. I want new songs and some of the bsides can be the Japanese version of one of their songs. But gingamingayo is one of my favorite songs ever so it deserves a 9 with one point taken off because it’s not a new song. Same with Everybody’s Got a $ecret. It was the only bside but I love that song so it’s my favorite

Ride For me - DeVita feat. DAWN [Prerelease] - 6/10

Naughty - DeVita - 7/10

LOVE YOU! - Kim Feel feat. Tablo - 6/10

Next to Me - ATBO - 9.5/10 - it’s very chill and I love the chorus. It’s giving a 90s vibe. It’s very different than the usual title track

Lie to me - AVOKID - 9/10 - fav bside - gravity (feat. 123)

Karma - BLACK SWAN - ♾/10 - THIS IS SO GOOD!!! ~ fav bside (there was only one on the album) - Cat & Mouse - I loved it! I could see it getting big on tiktok tbh

Blue Moon - N.Flying - 10/10

Bite Me - ENHYPEN - 9/10 - it’s so good. My favorite part is the “oh my, oh my god” I’m obsessed with that part! I wish the chorus was different ~ fav bside - Karma

FREEDOM - JOOHONEY - 10/10 - different than what I expect and omg it’s so good!!! It sounds like a soundtrack for marvel or something. I didn’t like any of the bsides tho

ICKY - KARD - 10/10 - the chorus is catchy! I didn’t like the bsides

Dream Walking - KIM DOAH - 5/10 - I like the nas at the end

BONVOYAGE - Dreamcatcher - 10/10 - I love this song! It’s a pretty song and a little different from their other stuff but still very them and still rock. I loved it! My fav part is the “I know you I know you” I did have it at a 9 after the first listen but had to change it to a 10! Didn’t like any of the bsides. All the bsides have been disappointing me lately

DOXA - SECRET NUMBER - 3/10

WONDERLAND (English Ver.) - TRI.BE - 6/10

Woo Woo - n.SSign - 10/10 - it has an older sound! It feels nostalgic. I like that they had an acoustic version on the album too. ~ fav B-sides - Beautiful and BOUNCE! I liked Need U too

Eyes On Me - HELLO GLOOM - 7/10

LOSER - AB6IX - ♾/10 - AMAZING!!! ~ fav bside - SUCKER

Save me, Kill me - CIX - 10/10 - it’s so good ~ fav bsides - Color and Back to life

Numb - E.SO - 8/10

Bloom - Yang Hee Eun & CHEN - 7/10 - the songs so pretty and I love when they sang together

SPECIAL LOVE - XODIAC - 6/10

Bad At Us - xooos - 8/10 ~ fav bside - Fabricated Love

Don’t Call Me - NINE to SIX - 6/10 - didn’t expect this at all but I love it! I wish there was more singing tho tbh. They both have so much talent. Real triple threats!!! ~ fav bside - Digital Love

Delicious - THE BOYZ [JP prerelease] - 10/10 - they did it AGAIN!!!

Diamond - Rothy - 5/10

Finale - DIAWINGS - 8/10

Columbus - The Deep & Mist - 5/10 - definitely electronic music

[sergioguymanproust]

Millions of us have already seen them ,and every single days all over Earth sightings are reported ,and they ,our disgusting government officials and the local police can no longer say we are crazy ,and pretend we are just hallucinating. Nope ,no more ! We have pictures , videos , and sketches ,heck even videos from the ISS. NASA also ,the Pentagon files from the Air Force ,the marines ,the special forces pilots ,what more proof do you need ?We are slowly but surely being invaded ! That’s a fact !The Our traumatic experience that a civilian men or women ,children suffers when is abducted will stay with them forever.We now know with certainty that they are not here temporarily,folks they are here to stay,and they are in fact staying. We already know that they arrived here long before we were created and introduced in the pen .We have to stop fooling ourselves ,just look what is going on right now in Antarctica. Our government knows exactly what is going on.But us civilians are not included,wonder why? Because folks we have been coexisting with two alien species for decades ,heck they even walk the halls of the Pentagon and the White House and Congress. The reptilians and the Greys. The ones we as a human race are subservient to are the Tall Whites. This doesn’t mean we are friendly as we hybrid humans like to believe ,no siree! Let’s just say these are business relationships nothing more .There is plenty of proof that we have been even at war with some of reptilian subspecies. Well,more in coming postings. Words by Sergio GuymanProust.

[mariacallous]

On October 10, 2018, Tyndall Air Force Base on the Gulf of Mexico—a pillar of American air superiority—found itself under aerial attack. Hurricane Michael, first spotted as a Category 2 storm off the Florida coast, unexpectedly hulked up to a Category 5. Sustained winds of 155 miles per hour whipped into the base, flinging power poles, flipping F-22s, and totaling more than 200 buildings. The sole saving grace: Despite sitting on a peninsula, Tyndall avoided flood damage. Michael’s 9-to-14-foot storm surge swamped other parts of Florida. Tyndall’s main defense was luck.

That $5 billion disaster at Tyndall was just one of a mounting number of extreme-weather events that convinced the US Department of Defense that it needed new ideas to protect the 1,700 coastal bases it’s responsible for globally. As hurricanes Helene and Milton have just shown, beachfront residents face compounding threats from climate change, and the Pentagon is no exception. Rising oceans are chewing away the shore. Stronger storms are more capable of flooding land.

In response, Tyndall will later this month test a new way to protect shorelines from intensified waves and storm surges: a prototype artificial reef, designed by a team led by Rutgers University scientists. The 50-meter-wide array, made up of three chevron-shaped structures each weighing about 46,000 pounds, can take 70 percent of the oomph out of waves, according to tests. But this isn’t your grandaddy’s seawall. It’s specifically designed to be colonized by oysters, some of nature’s most effective wave-killers.

If researchers can optimize these creatures to work in tandem with new artificial structures placed at sea, they believe the resulting barriers can take 90 percent of the energy out of waves. David Bushek, who directs the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory at Rutgers, swears he’s not hoping for a megastorm to come and show what his team’s unit is made of. But he’s not not hoping for one. “Models are always imperfect. They’re always a replica of something,” he says. “They’re not the real thing.”

The project is one of three being developed under a $67.6 million program launched by the US government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa. Cheekily called Reefense, the initiative is the Pentagon’s effort to test if “hybrid” reefs, combining manmade structures with oysters or corals, can perform as well as a good ol’ seawall. Darpa chose three research teams, all led by US universities, in 2022. After two years of intensive research and development, their prototypes are starting to go into the water, with Rutgers’ first up.

Today, the Pentagon protects its coastal assets much as civilians do: by hardening them. Common approaches involve armoring the shore with retaining walls or arranging heavy objects, like rocks or concrete blocks, in long rows. But hardscape structures come with tradeoffs. They deflect rather than absorb wave energy, so protecting one’s own shoreline means exposing someone else’s. They’re also static: As sea levels rise and storms get stronger, it’s getting easier for water to surmount these structures. This wears them down faster and demands constant, expensive repairs.

In recent decades, a new idea has emerged: using nature as infrastructure. Restoring coastal habitats like marshes and mangroves, it turns out, helps hold off waves and storms. “Instead of armoring, you’re using nature’s natural capacity to absorb wave energy,” says Donna Marie Bilkovic, a professor at the Virginia Institute for Marine Science. Darpa is particularly interested in two creatures whose numbers have been decimated by humans but which are terrific wave-breakers when allowed to thrive: oysters and corals.

Oysters are effective wave-killers because of how they grow. The bivalves pile onto each other in large, sturdy mounds. The resulting structure, unlike a smooth seawall, is replete with nooks, crannies, and convolutions. When a wave strikes, its energy gets diffused into these gaps, and further spent on the jagged, complex surfaces of the oysters. Also unlike a seawall, an oyster wall can grow. Oysters have been shown to be capable of building vertically at a rate that matches sea-level rise—which suggests they’ll retain some protective value against higher tides and stronger storms.

Today hundreds of human-tended oyster reefs, particularly on America’s Atlantic coast, use these principles to protect the shore. They take diverse approaches; some look much like natural reefs, while others have an artificial component. Some cultivate oysters for food, with coastal protection a nice co-benefit; others are built specifically to preserve shorelines. What’s missing amid all this experimentation, says Bilkovic, is systematic performance data—the kind that could validate which approaches are most effective and cost-effective. “Right now the innovation is outpacing the science,” she says. “We need to have some type of systematic monitoring of projects, so we can better understand where the techniques work the best. There just isn’t funding, frankly.”

Rather than wait for the data needed to engineer the perfect reef, Darpa wants to rapidly innovate them through a burst of R&D. Reefense has given awardees five years to deploy hybrid reefs that take up to 90 percent of the energy out of waves, without costing significantly more than traditional solutions. The manmade component should block waves immediately. But it should be quickly enhanced by organisms that build, in months or years, a living structure that would take nature decades.

The Rutgers team has built its prototype out of 788 interlocked concrete modules, each 2 feet wide and ranging in height from 1 to 2 feet tall. They have a scalloped appearance, with shelves jutting in all directions. Internally, all these shelves are connected by holes.

What this means is that when a wave strikes this structure, it smashes into the internal geometry, swirls around, and exits with less energy. This effect alone weakens the wave by 70 percent, according to the US Army Corps of Engineers, which tested a scale model in a wave simulator in Mississippi. But the effect should only improve as oysters colonize the structure. Bushek and his team have tried to design the shelves with the right hardness, texture, and shading to entice them.

But the reef’s value would be diminished if, say, disease were to wipe the mollusks out. This is why Darpa has tasked Rutgers with also engineering oysters resistant to dermo, a protozoan that’s dogged Atlantic oysters for decades. Darpa prohibited them using genetic-modification techniques. But thanks to recent advances in genomics, the Rutgers team can rapidly identify individual oysters with disease-resistant traits. It exposes these oysters to dermo in a lab, and crossbreeds the survivors, producing hardier mollusks. Traditionally it takes about three years to breed a generation of oysters for better disease resistance; Bushek says his team has done it in one.

Oysters may suit the DoD’s needs in temperate waters, but for bases in tropical climates, it’s coral that builds the best seawalls. Hawaii, for instance, enjoys the protection of “fringing” coral reefs that extend offshore for hundreds of yards in a gentle slope along the seabed. The colossal, complex, and porous character of this surface exhausts wave energy over long distances, says Ben Jones, an oceanographer for the Applied Research Laboratory at the University of Hawaii—and head of the university’s Reefense project. He said it’s not unusual to see ocean swells of 6 to 8 feet way offshore, while the water at the seashore laps gently.

Inspired by this effect, Jones and a team of researchers are designing an array that they’ll deploy near a US Marine Corps base in Oahu whose shoreline is rapidly receding. While the final design isn’t set yet, the broad strokes are: It will feature two 50-meter-wide barriers laid in rows, backed by 20 pyramid-like obstacles. All of these are hollow, thin-walled structures with sloping profiles and lots of big holes. Waves that crash into them will lose energy by crawling up the sides, but two design aspects of the structure—the width of the holes and the thinness of the walls—will generate turbulence in the water, causing it to spin off more energy as heat.

In the team’s full vision, the units are bolstered by about a thousand small coral colonies. Jones’ group plans to cover the structures with concrete modules that are about 20 inches in diameter. These have grooves and crevices that offer perfect shelters for coral larvae. The team will initially implant them with lab-bred coral. But they’re also experimenting with enticements, like light and sound, that help attract coral larvae from the wild—the better to build a wall that nature, not the Pentagon, will tend.

A third Reefense team, led by scientists at the University of Miami, takes its inspiration from a different sort of coral. Its design has a three-tiered structure. The foundation is made of long, hexagonal logs punctured with large holes; atop it is a dense layer with smaller holes—“imagine a sponge made of concrete,” says Andrew Baker, director of the university’s Coral Reef Futures Lab and the Reefense team lead.

The team thinks these artificial components will soak up plenty of wave energy—but it’s a crest of elkhorn coral at the top that will finish the job. Native to Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean, elkhorn like to build dense reefs in shallow-water areas with high-intensity waves. They don’t mind getting whacked by water because it helps them harvest food; this whacking keeps wave energy from getting to shore.

Disease has ravaged Florida’s elkhorn populations in recent decades, and now ocean heat waves are dealing further damage. But their critical condition has also motivated policymakers to pursue options to save this iconic state species—including Baker’s, which is to develop an elkhorn more rugged against disease, higher temperatures, and nastier waves. Under Reefense, Baker says, his lab has developed elkhorn with 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius more heat tolerance than their ancestors. They also claim to have boosted the heat thresholds of symbiotic algae—an existentially important occupant of any healthy reef—and cross-bred local elkhorn with those from Honduras, where reefs have mysteriously withstood scorching waters.

An unexpected permitting issue, though, will force the Miami team to exit Reefense in 2025, without building the test unit it hoped to deploy near a Florida naval base. The federal permitting authority wanted a pot of money set aside to uninstall the structure if needed; Darpa felt it couldn’t do that in a timely way, according to Baker. (Darpa told WIRED every Reefense project has unique permitting challenges, so the Miami team’s fate doesn’t necessarily speak to anything broader. Representatives for the other two Reefense projects said Baker’s issue hasn’t come up for them.)

Though his team’s work with Reefense is coming to a premature end, Baker says, he’s confident their innovations will get deployed elsewhere. He’s been working with Key Biscayne, an island village near Miami whose shorelines have been chewed up by storms. Roland Samimy, the village’s chief resilience and sustainability officer, says they spend millions of dollars every few years importing sand for their rapidly receding beaches. He’s eager to see if a hybrid structure, like the University of Miami design, could offer protection at far lower cost. “People are realizing their manmade structures aren’t as resilient as nature is,” he says.

By no means is Darpa the only one experimenting in these areas. Around the world, there are efforts tackling various pieces of the puzzle, like breeding coral for greater heat resistance, or combining coral and oysters with artificial reefs, or designing low-carbon concrete that makes building these structures less environmentally damaging. Bilkovic, of the Virginia Institute for Marine Science, says Reefense will be a success if it demonstrates better ways of doing things than the prevailing methods—and has the data to back this up. “I’m looking forward to seeing what their findings are,” she says. “They’re systematically assessing the effectiveness of the project. Those lessons learned can be translated to other areas, and if the techniques are effective and work well, they can easily be translated to other regions.”

As for Darpa, though the Reefense prototypes are just starting to go in the water, the work is just beginning. All of these first-generation units will be scrutinized—both by the research teams and independent government auditors—to see whether their real-world performance matches what was in the models. Reefense is scheduled to conclude with a final report to the DoD in 2027. It won’t have a “winner” per se; as the Pentagon has bases around the world, it’s likely these three projects will all produce learnings that are relevant elsewhere.

Although their client has the largest military budget in the world, the three Reefense teams have been asked to keep an eye on the economics. Darpa has asked that project costs “not greatly exceed” those of conventional solutions, and tasked government monitors with checking the teams’ math. Catherine Campbell, Reefense’s program manager at Darpa, says affordability doesn’t just make it more likely the Pentagon will employ the technology—but that civilians can, too.

“This isn’t something bespoke for the military … we need to be in line with those kinds of cost metrics [in the civilian sector],” Campbell said in an email. “And that gives it potential for commercialization.”

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Eon 1 Chapter 13

Previous | First | Next

Master Post - Patreon

“Being a member of The Liger Brigade has been a wild ride, no two ways about it,” Will explained to the rest of the guild as they all enjoyed lunch in the main hall. “You’d think you’re just doing some desk jobs because Captain Briggs wanted to keep me out of the military, but no. Apparently I needed to actually justify my membership in the brigade to the suits over in the Pentagon. I was asked to come along on a mission to Ohio as a fly on the wall and that spiraled into a whole career! There was a murder mystery in Minnesota, a magic anomaly in Maine, and a shark-human hybrid in Florida. I’ve even been to France, Japan, Ireland, Mexico, and Brazil. Japan and Ireland were my favorites.”

“I wasn’t sure what to make of him when he first joined, truth be told,” Rostislav said after sipping some of his drink and clearing his throat. “But then he told us about the stuff he had gotten up to beforehand. Honestly it puts my story to shame. I went to a magic academy in Londinium with Ludwig as a lad, then sat on my bum back at my family’s manor in Dacia up until I joined the PMRDO when the time was right.”

“Hold up,” Blood-Wraith interjected. “What’s ‘Londinium’ and ‘Dacia’?”

“London and Romania, I believe,” Gabriella answered. “Those are classical names for those places, I believe originating from Ancient Rome in my timeline.”

“And that’s what I’ve been told,” Rostislav replied, followed by him taking a bite of his sandwich.

Blood-Wraith nodded, then looked at Ludwig. “So is Almany your equivalent of Germany?”

“Ja,” he replied. “It was incredibly confusing when I arrived in the Unlight and people kept referring to me as ‘German.’”

“A little trivia, his Germany did not have to deal with the dictatorial mustache man,” Will added, his humor a tad awkward. “Sebastian on the other hand I have no idea.”

Tiberius looked over to Deimos and Vexation, who seemed to share his unease. “Such things are unknowable unless we look into them, so let’s hope Sebastian-0X either did not come to be or chose to live a normal life.”

“If it helps, Tiberius,” Ludwig started to say. “I am fully aware of the ongoing manhunt for Hecate-23 and it is of great concern to the PMRDO. Fortunately our Spiritus Magni Hecate has been on the lookout for The Eternal Order, ever since the third cataclysm.”

“Well that is good to hear, Ludwig. Drusa, do you have any thoughts on this matter?”

“Alternate timelines are weird…” she remarked. “I wonder what that version of me is up to right now…”

“Our Drusa tends to mingle amongst humanity from the shadows,” Ludwig answered. “She and our Octavia are on the PMRDO’s side and have been pivotal in convincing Spiritus Magnus Vita-bless her magnificence-not to wipe the slate clean.” The others noticed a brief hint of dread when Ludwig gave praise.

“Sounds about right to me,” Drusa said with a smile. “Although that Vita sounds a little more hot-headed then ours…”

“Our Drusa has also been somewhat interested in our Valentina, which…” Ludwig ended with a slight shudder.

Valentina could not help but notice that reaction and had to speak up on the matter. “Pardon my asking, but what is so bad about whatever my counterpart is doing that’s so… disconcerting?”

“The dukedom of Donnerherz, while prosperous, does lean into hedonism and mild decadence,” Ludwig elaborated. “I respect the advances they have made in magic and alchemy, but I could care less for their pursuits of pleasure and pride.”

Gabriella looked at her mother with a mild glare. “You better not be getting any ideas…”

“Oh no, sweetie, I was just curious.” Valentina received a skeptical look from her daughter. “Although I may have to do a quick victory lap around Ellen when I get the chance…”

“Mother!” Gabriella scolded, with Weaver and some of the others chuckling.

Rostislav laughed to himself. “Fido’s only testy because one of his friends went all in on the Donnerherz lifestyle and…” He was cut off by a small thunder crack and a growl from Ludwig, mildly startling the others. “Alright, Jesus, chill, Rover.” He then glanced around, looking for something he could switch subjects to. “Oh hey, Weaver? You kind of remind me of Will now that I think about it…”

He was a little surprised by that comment, but laughed. “Yeah, I can see that,” Weaver replied. “Hey, Will? Do you have any interest in smithing?”

“I mean, I could if I wanted to…”

“Well feel free to swing by the shop when you get the chance, even in the future.”

“Thanks, Weaver. I’ll keep that in mind.”

The Future Squad talked for a little bit longer about themselves until lunch was finished. The conversation was more of the usual, consisting mostly of Will’s Liger Brigade stories. Nobody complained as they were quite interesting and the parts tangentially related to the guild were of particular note (even though Will had to leave out certain details for obvious reasons). Tiberius and Blood-Wraith would show the squad to their quarters for the duration of their stay and they were pleased by what they were presented. It was a spacious room with three separate beds, a series of bookshelves with things for them to read, and a nice, wooden table at the back. Will went and picked a bed, easing into the cushy mattress. His only complaint was that there was no television, but fortunately Ludwig found a modestly sized one in the closet and got it set up.

Not too long before dinner, the trio were visited by Tusk and Deimos. Tusk knew he was going to get a laundry list of questions from his niece and Deimos was keen to hear about Will’s friendship with Vlastimir. Of interest was also the fact that Rostislav hinted at being a vampire, Ludwig was a winged dog demon named Caacrinolaas, and Will was a primordial reincarnated as a dullahan. Dinner that night was pasta focused, being prepared by Desislav, Valentina, and Xavier Dufort (an Earth devil that served Valentina and her family). Not everyone was there, but it was still a delight for the future squad. Will could easily spot Valentina’s cooking as it was just like Antonio’s.

Ludwig was able to settle down that night with ease, but Will and Rostislav were a little hyper. Being in the past was a big deal, and sleeping in it was unheard of for the two. Ludwig wanted to get to bed early, but his teammates kept talking about the guild of the past. Such excitement was to be expected, so he would humor them and occasionally chime in on their conversation. Truthfully their enthusiasm was infectious and they all stayed up until around 11 PM. Fortunately they were able to sleep quietly and peacefully, save for Will who had to go to the bathroom occasionally.

An hour after lunch the following day, Blood-Wraith went to the squad’s quarters, as he had some questions for Will. “Hey, Will?” he called out as he knocked. “You there?”

“One second,” his voice called back. “Come on in!”

Stepping inside, Will looked like he had just hid something (presumably things from the future). “Will, you got a moment?”

“Sure, shoot.”

“So you really don’t remember that time we hung out at The Critical Chance Arcade or those times you visited me in the city?”

Will felt bad again, but this time he would do better. “Alright, here’s what I remember: I remember that I’m Zasiel, I’m a member of the Tah family, Stolas and Cynassa are my best friends, and Gabriella I vaguely remember. You? I don’t know. It’s all hazy, like a dream from a long time ago.”

Blood-Wraith sighed. “I see. Well no use trying to push it as Val said these kinds of memories need to come back naturally.”

Will nodded, followed by a moment’s pause. “Hey, Blood? Can we be friends?”

“We’re not friends already? I make it a point to get to know my fellow guildmates.”

It was tempting to say the obvious, but Will held his tongue, wanting to choose his words carefully. “I can’t say why, but let’s just say you’re in and out a lot. I’ve met you, but I haven’t gotten the chance to sit down and talk with you.”

“Oh, well that won’t do…” Blood-Wraith then thought about a solution for a moment. “When you get back, ask me to hang out with you. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, I’ll make time.”

This made Will smile. “Sure thing, Blood. Oh hey!” He then retrieved a card from the table. “In regards to Valerie, I’ve had experience with hexes before…”

The conversation was interrupted by Yale flying in and buzzing in his face. “Will, be careful what you say…”

Will gave a light, dismissive sigh with an eye roll. “Don’t worry, I read the guide more thoroughly. Anyways, this card is from my friend, Valentin…”

“Jeez, a lot of ‘Val’s’ recently, am I right?” Yale remarked, causing Will and Blood-Wraith to snicker.

Blood-Wraith took the shiny card and marveled at it, then handed it back. “So who is Valentin?”

“Valentin Karppinen is a cunning and clever mage who has been scorned many times by Sebastian,” Yale explained. “He fought back with guile and planning, even managing to sabotage and outwit the Death Knell Coven.”

“Annoyingly we were enemies at first…” Will added.

“Wow, impressive… the cleverness, I mean,” Blood-Wraith commented. “How did you even deal with that, Will?”

Will was about to speak, but Yale cut him off. “We had M.A.I.G. and The Liger Brigade by our side, keeping us safe. And things would have gone smoothly if Will had not walked right into several of Valentin’s traps…” Will groaned, causing Yale to chuckle a little.

Blood-Wraith could not help but laugh a little himself. “Don’t worry, Will. You’re here now and that’s what matters.”

He nodded and sighed again. “I suppose you’re right…”

“So does that hex do anything?”

Will wobbled the card a little, inspecting it. “I think it’s a blank at the moment…”

“Hmm, let me see it for a second. Aureolus has been teaching me stuff about this kind of magic.” Blood-Wraith studied the card for a moment, then focused on the idea of it having an effect. Rich, blue flames swirled into it, causing it to glow bright azure for a moment. “Here you go!” he said as he returned the card.

“Wow, thanks, Blood.” Will was amazed by the incredible picture of Azure Spider, but noticed it was surrounded by clouds. It also did not feel like there was anything to it at the moment. “Um, is it finished yet? It doesn’t look like it…”

“Probably not,” Yale assessed. “You’re not a hexer, this is a unique situation, we’re still in the past…”

“Yeah, Aureolus told me these things can take time to form and finalize,” Blood-Wraith pointed out.

“Fine with me, I can wait,” Will admitted.

Yale gave a slightly mocking laugh. “Like how you waited for Rostislav back in Firesnow Valley?” This made Will cross his arms with an annoyed look on his face, causing Blood-Wraith to giggle.

Before anything else could be said, the guild’s alarm system went off. It was loud, yet urgent with a reassuring nature to it. Will was startled at first, but perked right up and looked Blood-Wraith in the eye. “Hey hey hey, they’re playing our song. Come on, Blood, let’s go fight some monsters,” he said as he patted his shoulder and started to head out.

“Is that a reference? I feel like that’s a reference,” Blood-Wraith remarked with a laugh. Will’s upbeat disposition was definitely something to be admired.

Yale also laughed. “You would not believe the amount of film references he and Rostislav try to make given all the movies they watch…”

Once enough members were assembled in the situation room, Tiberius gave a run down of the intel that had been gathered. Valerie had deployed Guinevere to Fallwater Basin, presumably to retrieve an artifact the royal mages of The Iron City were interested in. Wanting to put his best foot forward, Blood-Wraith elected to take Dragoslava and The Future Squad along with him. The trio anticipated this and were ready to go. While it was ideal to retrieve whatever Valerie was after, the main priority of the mission was overcoming Guinevere. And Tiberius knew it was going to be interesting as he could tell that Guinevere was a clever one.

Blood-Wraith and his teammates took a second to go over some last minute details while Dragoslava made some preparations of her own. Upon heading out to the front gates, the four saw Dragoslava preparing her motorcycle. “Alright, gents, let’s go moving,” she said as she tested the gauges.

“Not going to travel with us, sister?” Blood-Wraith inquired.

“Fallwater Basin is within the Central Unlight, so I should be fine.”

Blood-Wraith shrugged in acceptance. “Fine with me. I’ll be overhead regardless.”

“That’s a nice motorcycle, Drago…” Will complimented, utterly amazed by the condition and craftsmanship.

“Thanks. Took a while to figure out how to get it just the way I wanted, but it was worth it. See you guys at the basin.” She then put her helmet on and tore out of there with a loud roar of the bike’s engine.

Blood-Wraith nodded and turned to Ludwig. “Need a lift? Golden Dragon has plenty of room…”

“Thank you, Blood, but I’ve got this.” Ludwig hovered a good distance into the air, surrounded himself in storm clouds, and flew off accompanied by the sound of thunder.

“Alright, I guess you two will definitely need a lift then…” Blood-Wraith focused and briefly shone with a golden light, assuming the form of Golden Dragon. “Air-dragon boarding now!” he said as he lowered himself to allow his passengers to climb up.

Will could feel his excitement building as he clambered up Blood-Wraith’s scales. “This is going to be so cool!” He could feel his inner child brimming with anticipation.

“Just wait until the guys back home hear that I got to ride a dragon,” Rostislav commented as he followed behind.

“What about your parents, Rostislav?” Blood-Wraith questioned.

“Oh? Er, yeah, them too, hehe.”

Blood-Wraith then fanned out his gigantic wings and prepared for take off. “Hold on tight, guys. This is going to be a bumpy ride.”

Next: Chapter 14

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[bllsbailey]

Pete Hegseth Drives the Stake Through Climate Change Driving Defense Policy

The Department of Defense is abandoning its nearly two decades-long focus on climate change as a national security issue. In a terse message to CNN, Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot

said, “Climate zealotry and other woke chimeras of the Left are not part of that core mission."

If CNN reporter Haley Britzky

thought tweeting the response would get a different answer, she was quickly disabused of that notion.

This is a major change for the Department of Defense that goes back at least five administrations. For reasons I've never really understood, the military has been vulnerable to environazis for decades. At Fort (Braxton) Bragg, large swaths of training area were put off limits because they were allegedly the nesting grounds of the then-endangered (it had a status upgrade in December) red-cockaded woodpecker. A freakin woodpecker. An acquaintance of mine was relieved of his command because one of his troops had pasted a picture of the bird on a target on a rifle range (the 1,000-inch range), and the wrong person happened onto the scene. If you're wondering why US Navy ships compare unfavorably to Soviet trawlers, circa 1980, in terms of rust, it is because the best paint is environmentally friendly.

The Department of Defense has been enamored of climate change since at least 2003 when Defense's Office of Net Assessment released a report titled An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security. Go to page 18 of the pdf to look at what were considered reasonable scenarios for 2025.

In 2007, the Center for Naval Analyses's Military Advisory Board produced a report titled National Security and the Threat of Climate Change. "Climate change can act as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, and it presents significant national security challenges for the United States," it drones on, "Accordingly, it is appropriate to start now to help mitigate the severity of some of these emergent challenges."  This is the first instance where climate change was something that the military would have to contend with (we call it terrain and weather), and articulate a role for Defense in mitigating the threat. 

The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review was heavy on climate.

The Department is increasing its use of renewable energy supplies and reducing energy demand to improve operational effectiveness, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in support of U.S. climate change initiatives, and protect the Department from energy price fluctuations. The Military Departments have invested in noncarbon power sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass energy at domestic installations and in vehicles powered by alternative fuels, including hybrid power, electricity, hydrogen, and compressed national gas. Solving military challenges— through such innovations as more efficient generators, better batteries, lighter materials, and tactically deployed energy sources—has the potential to yield spin-off technologies that benefit the civilian community as well. DoD will partner with academia, other U.S. agencies, and international partners to research, develop, test, and evaluate new sustainable energy technologies.

By the time the exorcists arrived to de-demon Lloyd Austin's office, the environment was driving the train.

Climate Adaption Plan by streiff on Scribd

The Army set a deadline of 2035 for all of its administrative vehicles to be electric and 2050 for tactical vehicles. 

Along the way, Defense invested tens of millions of dollars in "social science" research with a climate change edge.

That research portfolio was shut down Friday.

If climate change is real, it will be addressed at home and abroad by agencies not called the Department of Defense. When the Defense encounters it, it will come in the form of weather and terrain; how we got there will be an academic exercise. Secretary Hegseth is right; his focus has to be on training troops, structuring forces, modernizing equipment, and building warrior spirit to win wars, something Defense has gotten out of the habit of doing over the last 41 years.

Few things are harder than turning around a failing but complacent and self-satisfied organization. That is the challenge facing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The military services have been hollowed out through DEI and dysfunctional leadership. The industrial base is dead in the water. Follow RedState for some of the most informed coverage on his efforts to recreate a force in crisis. Join RedState VIP and help continue that coverage. Use promo code FIGHTto get 60% off your membership.

[ask-sunset-guild]

What was the main inspiration behind your character designs?

I mostlynwamted to make some cool hybrids and do some unique stuff with some of my favourite pokemon!

Maria was influences by how taurs seem popular on this site lately lol

The little pentagons on Cade are supposed to be like the ones on a soccer ball, cause that's what he is...

And for Blade I just wanted a cool looking new colour scheme, hence chimecho haha

That's all I got for now lol

[sergioguymanproust]

It doesn’t take much to figure out these are not hybrid humans folks .Nor figments of imagination of aboriginal people,nope,no siree! They are extraterrestrial creatures who hundreds or thousands of years ago landed in the Australian continent.Regardless of the take our scientific community gives them ,the proof is found all over the planet.Here is indeed the evidence. The best part is that similar beings have been recently sighted in Brazil,the US, Argentina ,Italy to name a few .Folks they are indeed coming back to this prison planet as some whistleblowers have said several times.We already know that the United States have had for years their hands , eyes and ears or spie network that the moment a crash happens,no matter where on Earth they can be hours away from the site and the local authorities jumping to secure and cordoned off the craft and their occupants. To be quickly flown to an American military base.The rest is history as they say. Well,I will continue to dig and dig for any tidbits of information that clear the surface of the alien agenda. Folks we are tired of our government smear and disinformation machine run by also the Pentagon. Well,more in coming postings.Words by Sergio GuymanProust.

Australian Art: Kimberley Rock Art