#investment casting technolog

[rudracasting]

Investment Casting Manufacturers

From ancient times molding and casting have been considered one of the most important which used to make tools and weapons in past.But with the advancement in the world,this process of casting and molding has also advanced which has helped many industries to develop and establish at greater heights.Nowadays most machines are made by using the casting and molding process.Feinguss foundry is a well-established casting and molding company,that helps to provide the best quality metal casting and molding services.Investment casting manufacturers benefit you with high-grade cast and molding metal that is even used to make decorative items.

http://www.rudracastings.com/scopes-of-supplies/

[arttsuka]

Just something that's been bothering me. What's up with the whitewashing in trigun stampede?

Somehow the 1998 version had more diversity in skin colors than the 2023 version

[probablyasocialecologist]

There is no obvious path between today’s machine learning models — which mimic human creativity by predicting the next word, sound, or pixel — and an AI that can form a hostile intent or circumvent our every effort to contain it. Regardless, it is fair to ask why Dr. Frankenstein is holding the pitchfork. Why is it that the people building, deploying, and profiting from AI are the ones leading the call to focus public attention on its existential risk? Well, I can see at least two possible reasons. The first is that it requires far less sacrifice on their part to call attention to a hypothetical threat than to address the more immediate harms and costs that AI is already imposing on society. Today’s AI is plagued by error and replete with bias. It makes up facts and reproduces discriminatory heuristics. It empowers both government and consumer surveillance. AI is displacing labor and exacerbating income and wealth inequality. It poses an enormous and escalating threat to the environment, consuming an enormous and growing amount of energy and fueling a race to extract materials from a beleaguered Earth. These societal costs aren’t easily absorbed. Mitigating them requires a significant commitment of personnel and other resources, which doesn’t make shareholders happy — and which is why the market recently rewarded tech companies for laying off many members of their privacy, security, or ethics teams. How much easier would life be for AI companies if the public instead fixated on speculative theories about far-off threats that may or may not actually bear out? What would action to “mitigate the risk of extinction” even look like? I submit that it would consist of vague whitepapers, series of workshops led by speculative philosophers, and donations to computer science labs that are willing to speak the language of longtermism. This would be a pittance, compared with the effort required to reverse what AI is already doing to displace labor, exacerbate inequality, and accelerate environmental degradation. A second reason the AI community might be motivated to cast the technology as posing an existential risk could be, ironically, to reinforce the idea that AI has enormous potential. Convincing the public that AI is so powerful that it could end human existence would be a pretty effective way for AI scientists to make the case that what they are working on is important. Doomsaying is great marketing. The long-term fear may be that AI will threaten humanity, but the near-term fear, for anyone who doesn’t incorporate AI into their business, agency, or classroom, is that they will be left behind. The same goes for national policy: If AI poses existential risks, U.S. policymakers might say, we better not let China beat us to it for lack of investment or overregulation. (It is telling that Sam Altman — the CEO of OpenAI and a signatory of the Center for AI Safety statement — warned the E.U. that his company will pull out of Europe if regulations become too burdensome.)

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

the vespid used to have armor when on all their models i wonder what the lore reason is for them now deciding to go in naked did they just become freaky?

So, Kill Team lore says Though less widespread than the Kroot, who make up a large percentage of the T’au Empire’s auxiliaries, the Vespid are afforded no less respect by the Fire Caste due to their resilience and combat utility. They were initially introduced as small teams of support troops armed with vicious neutron blasters – short-ranged weapons that used the Vespid homeworld’s unique crystals to project deadly radiation. Their deployments have since grown to encompass a wider range of battlefield roles, and all are armed with wondrous Earth Caste inventions.

From this, we could infer that, as understanding of the Vespid has increased, the T'au have discovered that they don't actually need armour, and that their physiology renders armour pointless. Being innately highly mobile and tough to the point that the T'au can just funnel technology purely into communication equipment and weapons would be very cool, and helps demonstrate the T'au Empire's willingness to learn about and properly utilise allies. If some of your guys don't need armour, invest in weaponry and gear that enables them to operate effectively within their own niche.

[literary-illuminati]

An Arbitrary Collection of Book Recommendations

(put together for a friend out of SFF I've read over the last couple of years)

Cli-Fi

Tusks of Extinction and/or The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. They’re pretty different books in a lot of ways – one is a novel about discovering a certain species of squid in the Pacific might have developed symbolic language and writing, the other a novella about a de-extinction initiative to restore mammoths to the Siberian taiga – but they share a pretty huge overlap in setting, tone and themes. Specifically, a deep and passionate preoccupation with animal conservation (and a rather despairing perspective on it), as well as a fascination with transhumanism and how technology can affect the nature of consciousness. Mountain is his first work, and far more substantial, but I’d call it a bit of a noble failure in achieving what it tries for. Tusks is much more limited and contained, but manages what it’s going for.

A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys. In a post-post-apocalyptic world that’s just about figured out how to rebuild itself from the climate disasters of the 21st century (but that’s still very much a work in progress), aliens descend from the sky and make First Contact. They’re a symbiotic civilization, and they’re overjoyed at the chance to welcome a third species into their little interstellar community – and consider it a mission of mercy besides, since every other species they’ve ever encountered destroyed themselves and their planet before escaping it. Awkwardly, our heroine and her whole society are actually pretty invested in Earth and the restoration thereof – and worried that a) the alien’s rescue effort might not care about their opinions and b) that other interest groups on earth might be more willing to give the hyper-advanced space-dwelling aliens the answers they want to hear. Basically 100% sociological worldbuilding and political intrigue, so take that as you will.

Throwback Sci Fi

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky is possibly the only thing I’ve read published in decades to take the old cliche of ‘this generic-seeming fantasy world is actually the wreckage of a ruined space age civilization, and ‘magic’ and ‘monsters’ are the remnants of the technology’ and play it entirely straight. Specifically, it’s a two-POV novella, where half the story is told from the perspective of a runaway princess beseeching the ancient wizard who helped found her dynasty for help against a magical threat, and half is from the perspective form the last surviving member of a xeno-anthropology mission woken out of stasis by the consequences of the last time he broke the Prime Directive knocking on his ship tower door and asking for help. Generally just incredible fun.

Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh is, I think, the only thing on this list written before the turn of the millennium. It’s proper space opera, about a habitat orbiting an immensely valuable living world that’s the lynchpin of logistics for the functionally rogue Earth Fleet’s attempt to hold off or defeat rebelling and somewhat alien colonies further out. The plot is honestly hard to summarize, except that it captures the feel of being history better than very nearly any other spec fic I’ve ever read – a massive cast, none of them with a clear idea of what’s going on, clashing and contradictory agendas, random chance and communications delays playing key roles, lots of messy ending, not a single world-shaking heroes or satanic masterminds deforming the shape of things with their narrative gravity to be seen. Somewhat dated, but it all very impressively well done.

Pulpy Gay Urban Fantasy Period Piece Detective Stories Where Angels Play a Prominent Role

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark stars Fatma el-Sha’arawi, the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities in Cairo, a couple of decades after magic returned to the world and entirely derailed the course of Victorian imperialism. There’s djinn and angels and crocodile gods, and also an impossible murder that needs solving! The mystery isn’t exactly intellectually taxing, but this is a very fun tropey whodunnit whose finale involves a giant robot.

Even Though I Knew The End by C. L. Polk is significantly more restrained and grounded in its urban fantasy. It’s early 20th century Chicago, and a PI is doing one last job to top off the nest egg she’s leaving her girlfriend before the debt on her deal with the devil comes due. By what may or may not be coincidence, she stumbles across a particularly gruesome crime scene – and is offered a deal to earn back her soul by solving the mystery behind it. Very noir detective, with a setting that just oozes care and research and a satisfyingly tight plot.

High Concept Stuff That Loves Playing around With Format and the Idea of Narratives

Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente is a story about a famous documentarian vanishing on shoot amid mysterious and suspicious circumstances, as told by the recovered scraps of the footage she was filming, and different drafts of her (famous director) father’s attempt to dramatize the events as a memorial to her. It’s set in a solar system where every planet is habitable and most were colonized in the 19th century, and culturally humanity coasts on in an eternal Belle Epoque and (more importantly) Golden Age of Hollywood. Something like half the book is written as scripts and transcripts. This description should by now either have sold you or put you off entirely.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez is the only classic-style epic fantasy on this list, I believe? The emperor and his three demigod sons hold subjugated in terror, but things are changing. The emperor, terrified of death, has ordered a great fleet assembled to carry him across the sea in pursuit of immortality. The day before he sets out on his grand pilgrimage to the coast, a guilt-ridden guard helps the goddess of the moon escape her binding beneath the palace. From there, things spiral rapidly out of anyone’s control. The story’s told through two or three (depending( different layers of narrative framing devices, and has immense amounts of fun playing with perspective and format and ideas about storytelling and legacy.

I Couldn’t Think of Any Categories That Included More Than One of These

All The Names They Used For God by Anjali Sachdeva is a collection of short stories, and probably the most literary thing on this list? The stories range wildly across setting and genre, but are each more or less about the intrusion of the numinous or transcendent or divine into a world that cracks and breaks trying to contain it. It is very easily the most artistically coherent short story collection I’ve ever read, which I found pretty fascinating to read – but honestly I’m mostly just including this on the strength of Killer of Kings, a story about an angel sent down to be John Milton’s muse as he writes Paradise Lost which is probably one of the best things I read last year period.

Last Exit by Max Gladstone – the Three Parts Dead and How You Lose the Time War guy – could be described as a deconstruction of ‘a bunch of teenagers/college kids discover magic and quest to save the world!’ stories, but honestly I’d say that obscures more than it reveals. Still, the story is set with that having happened a decade in the past, and the kids in question have thoroughly fucked up. Zelda, the protagonist, is kept from suicide by survivor’s guilt as much as anything, and now travels across America working poverty jobs and sleeping in her car as she hunts the monsters leaking in through the edges of a country rotting at the seams. Then there’s a monster growing in the cracks of the liberty bell, an in putting it down she gets a vision of someone she thought was dead is just trapped – or maybe changed. So it’s time to get the gang together again and save the world! This one’s hard to rec without spoiling a lot, but the prose and characterization are all just sublime. Oddly in conversation with the whole Delta Green cosmic horror monster hunting subgenre for a story with nothing to do with Lovecraft.

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh is a story about aliens destroying the earth, and growing up in the pseudo-fascist asteroid survivalist compound of the last bits of the human military that never surrendered. It stars a heroine whose genuinely indoctrinated for the first chunk of the book and just deeply endearing terrible and awful to interact with, and also has a plot that’s effectively impossible to describe without spoiling the big twist at the end of the first act. Possibly the only book I read last year which I actively wish was longer – which is both compliment and genuine complaint, for the record, the ending’s a bit messy. Still, genuinely meaty Big Ideas space opera with very well-done characterization and a plot that does hold together. 

[desultory-novice]

I don't know if this was always mentioned, but I personally headcannon Daroach, being the charming gentleman thief he is, likes to playfully flirt with Susie from time to time. Either to steal something from her, or just to mess with her.

Gentleman thief vs Business woman just seems like a fun dynamic to play with!

Anon, I am shaking your hand...!

Yes, I think they have a potentially wonderful dynamic and ought to interact WAY more than they do! Red and Pink. Grey and White. Rich business woman and literal RAT MAN. (Both "ice" themed too.)

...Not to mention that before she was a CEO, Susie fashioned herself as a "corporate spy" working against her father! Spy vs Thief, anyone? She may know some tricks of her own from that particular skillset! And boy, wouldn't THAT be a fun conversation to listen in on!

(And yet you can see how they would have completely different outtakes on life, too! Business and order versus the free life of a phantom thief! A woman who is always looking centuries forward technology-wise vs a rat man who acts and dresses like he's from an 18th century crime novel, including fantasy steampunk tech.)

Now, I'm one of the odd ones who sees *most* of the cast as adults, including those that others don't (it's a personal attachment / investment + wanting to see more spectrum-coded adults in fiction thing) but I can appreciate the fun of having the ones who feel the most "inarguably adult" have a little playful "strictly business" flirting!

-

Not that the ask was specifically about shipping as much as simply how Daroach talks to her (and lets be honest, guy probably flirts w/ MOST people) but when it comes to actual -interest-/sexuality HC, I enjoy me some (Dark) Metaroach and ZanSusie, but those two are at LEAST bi! I feel they can have a little ship tease!/lh

-

Edit: Right as I was sending this post to the queue, my brain whispered “Why do they need to be messing with EACH OTHER when they could COOPERATE?” And floated me a mental picture of some one-shot evil corporation that Daroach and Susie have BOTH infiltrated separately (in disguise) to get dirt on, only to run into each other, recognize each other, and are encouraged to cooperate to get what they need!

…Kirby expanded cast animeeeeee…

[thegildedbee]

Calm/Hobby: May 7 & 8 Prompts from @calaisreno

As his Air Baltic flight from Oslo begins its descent into Tallinn, Sherlock stares distractedly out the window at the thinning layer of clouds, and pushes back at the whisper of bleakness that it it is the Estonian coastline coming into view, not the South East shores of England. He girds himself with stoicism as he feels a tendril of melancholy begin to unfurl at the fact that Sherlock Holmes no longer exists, now that Herr Lukas Sigerson has taken his place.

He knows that this new identity will only be the first of many.

Sigerson has brown eyes, and wears dark brown tortoiseshell glasses; his dark hair is beginning to have a salt and pepper cast to it, his lower face is covered by stubble. His loose-limbed gait is relaxed, and there's a remnant of a tendency to stutter when he speaks. Hidden from view are the still-healing cracked ribs on the right side of his torso, the damaged ligaments of his right knee, and the fact that the ossicular chain within his right ear bears traces of having been successfully reconstructed, the surgical repair restoring the hearing he had lost after the trauma to his skull. 

When Sherlock had been ready to leave the UK to begin to grapple with Moriarty’s extant remains -- the people and infrastructure and schemes dispersed across the globe -- it had been hard to determine what to do first and where and why. Of the three assassins in London on the day of his fall, the one assigned to Mrs. Hudson – a thuggish fellow more noteworthy for his brawn than any brains – had been rolled up by Mycroft’s people even before Sherlock had been delivered to the morgue. The one assigned to Lestrade had been somewhat harder to ferret out, but as Sherlock began piecing together what details he could collect during his recuperation, he had determined that he was a functionary who had infiltrated the Met – and the resolution of that criminal had also been left to Mycroftian minions. 

But John’s sniper was of a different cast altogether, an experienced professional who had made no mistakes and vanished like vapor. Sherlock believed that individual had been more than a freelance hire -– Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade had been brought into the mix of those in danger of losing their lives because every action of Moriarty’s was as theatrical and excessive as it was insane: ransoming John’s life had always been the true motive. John’s sniper would have been especially close to Moriarty, and likely a member of the upper echelon of his criminal syndicate. Sherlock suspected that acquiring the information that would allow him to destroy this person was going to be an exceedingly difficult proposition.

He needed information, and Sherlock had finally decided that the place to begin was with Estonia, the tiny nation that had regained its independence from Soviet occupation in 1991, and that had chosen to bypass the encumbering drag of the impoverished infrastructure bequeathed from the Soviets, by abandoning it. Estonia had instead risked its future by constructing an economy based on the latest digital technologies, leapfrogging more advanced nations as it became a cyber-powered incubator of innovation, and one of the most wired countries in the world. Sherlock had no doubt that Moriarty would have been intent on turning this transformation to his own advantage; he would have found the opportunity irresistible.

Moriarty’s claim to have a code that could take over any computer was false, but even so Sherlock suspected that this fabulation pointed at something all too real: investments by Moriarity in the dark web, and in the recruitment of cadres of hackers to be manipulated into hijacking computer networks. In April and May of 2007, Estonia had been besieged for three weeks by waves of cyberattacks that had crippled its digital public and private sectors, from government entities such as the foreign and defense ministries, to banks, corporate enterprises, and media outlets. Estonia had traced the attacks to actors within Moldova’s breakaway state of Transnistria, a long narrow geographic entity bordering Ukraine that displayed the Soviet Communist hammer-and-sickle on its flag and coat of arms. Sherlock suspected that these cyberterrorist actors were performing roles under Moriarty’s direction, and that he would find information from within Estonia that would point to the far-flung nodes of his enemy’s wretched empire. 

With their impending arrival in Tallinn, the melancholy that had emerged begins to become more deeply rooted, and Sherlock’s mind's eye paints pictures of what lies in the deep of the sea passage below, and across the sea miles beyond Britain’s and Europe’s contours – fragments of exploded ordnance littering the ocean floor, where bodies entombed in submarines and battleships are testament to the destructive capabilities of bands of people bent on glory and riches and domination.

His meandering thoughts catch hold of a memory in the viewing room of his mind palace, the one that records the evenings when John had chosen a film to share as they sat propped up together on the sofa in the darkness. It focused on the US Army Air Force unit that flew missions from East Anglia in World War II, and the appointment of a new commanding officer tasked with reversing the underperformance of the bombing teams. 

He had been riveted by the harsh speech the uncompromising commander delivers to the group of pilots, who simmer with resentment at his theory that part of their problems lie with their playing it safe. He tells them that while fear is to be expected, the only choice they have is to stop worrying about the fear, and about themselves. He can still feel the chill of premonition when he heard the figure on the screen bite out his message: “We’re in a war – a shooting war. We’ve got to fight. And some of us have got to die." But it was the follow-on command that is engraved in his mind beyond the memory palace, visible in the shadow of all else he is thinking about: "Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead. After that, it won’t be so tough.” And so, too, was his bombing run a flight into the unknown, against unseen enemies, the actions of a self-created ghost who must reckon that he truly inhabits the underworld from this point on.

Sherlock closes his eyes and continues work on the new spaces that he has been constructing in his mind palace, an effort that never fails to bring him calm, even when other emotions are in play. These new rooms are cloisters and refectories based on the architecture of a thirteenth-century monastery, in deference to Tallinn’s remarkable preservation of the medieval city within its precincts, and he has reserved this adjacent building for whatever part Eastern Europe will play in his sojourns. It is complicated artistry, and he is the last one to rise and exit the airplane.

As Herr Sigerson makes his way toward the front of the compact airport, he adjusts the rucksack on his shoulder, and tugs the bottom of his jumper to straighten it. As a standard issue Norwegian, he is, of course, kitted out in knitted wool, although the garment he wears is only a single hue; the vividly colored patterns favored by so many of the inhabitants of his improvised homeland hurt both his eyesight and his sense of fashion. Sherlock smiles at the thought that John would be amused, were he to see his couture, and consider it revenge for Sherlock’s hobby of “inadvertently” wreaking havoc on the least attractive of John’s jumpers.

Sherlock's half-zip pullover is a dark navy blue with a beautiful sheen, and it is not completely devoid of decoration – it is just that the design is woven into the single color, slightly raised, subdued in its visibility. On the back is the Norse symbol of the vegvisir, which was said to allow its possessor to always find the right path, no matter how turbulent the environment might be. Next to the wayfinding icon is a letter from the ancient runic alphabet said to summon good luck. No doubt John would also be amused at the fact that his relentlessly rational friend is carrying these mystical totems on his body. Although, perhaps not, were he to know of the future toward which Sherlock has now committed himself. ........................................................ @calaisreno @totallysilvergirl @friday411 @peanitbear @original-welovethebeekeeper rest of the @s in the tags, which will work for communication purposes, I hope? just say the word if you want to be untagged or tagged xoxoxo

[windvexer]

hiii chicken. i have an issue i was hoping you can help with, maybe give some ideas. i have a whole list of mental illnesses and a big symptom is struggling with showering everyday plus keeping my house clean. the problem is i feel like i cannot undertake any spiritual task (even a tarot reading) if i haven't fully showered+ cleaned my house. it's a mix of my religious upbringing and feeling like everything is spiritually unclean too if it is physically unclean. i cannot even wave some incense around because it feels useless. i understand the best solution to this is that i actually just keep everything clean but i was hoping to hear something else that might help too. thank you 🫶

Hi, Anon. I imagine that the best solution is probably not just keeping everything clean all the time or else you can't practice your faith.

So I'll speak on the only thing I can, which is magical cleansing theory and technique.

So first! Let's get some definitions going.

Spiritually unclean is a bit of a loaded term, I think, because usually people take "spiritual" to mean "faith; belief; my interaction with what I hold sacred" (&etc), and then spiritually unclean can sound like, "my faith tells me I'm dirty unless I clean all of the time," which I don't think is something I can help with.

Instead, we can perhaps choose more discrete terms to discuss the topic.

One helpful term here may be profane, as in, not sacred; nonreligious. This definition of profane is close to worldly, which is something secular; in contrast to the spiritual.

Completely separate from that is something we might call supernatural energy. For our purposes, supernatural energy can be described as the supernatural body of a wide variety of phenomenon, from emotions, to gods and spirits, to abstractions such as elements and concepts (try channeling the supernatural energy of beauty, or the concept of a cozy mystery novel!).

Given these definitions, we've got a couple of avenues of exploration.

Generally, a lot of witches and practitioners really do enjoy having sacred spaces in their homes. These are usually small spaces, because they tend to be difficult and even tedious to properly maintain.

Few of us have the space to maintain an entire room as a temple in the home; if we're lucky, we get a whole sacred bookshelf. Many practitioners can't, or don't want to, keep sacred spaces in their homes at all.

Wicca and Traditional Witchcraft, and I don't know whom else but I'm sure we're not the literal only two, have dealt with the concept of sacred space by casting a temporary circle, the space within considered to be highly sacred in many ways useful to a witch.

So when you say, "I feel like everything is spiritually unclean," if what you mean is, "I feel like my home is worldly, profane; I want to transform it into a sacred space suitable for practicing my faith," then my reply to you is:

Invest in the witchcraft knowledge and skills which allow you, as the witch, to delineate manageable spiritual spaces within your home and keep them magically safeguarded and separate from everyday living spaces.

Witches can build and safeguard sacred spaces; we have the technology. We can build permanent physical spaces, like altar rooms and shrines, but we can also build temporary spaces, like circles.

After all, if a construction company can block out the profanity of the outside world just by putting cladding on a frame, why can't you separate the sacredness of a small, manageable working space by building magical walls actually intended for that purpose?

Regarding self-cleansing, in your case showering:

If the purpose of your showering is to make you, personally, feel as if you've "crossed the threshold" into a state of sacredness, that's certainly not invalid.

However, it may be worth examining in your practice if A) other things can deliver you into a state of sacredness without triggering unwanted focus on physical cleaning, and B) exactly how sacred you've got to be to perform typical witchcraft practices that you'd like to perform.

In my practice, I wouldn't say I've ever got to get sacred, but I do often have to get into headspace, which may be another function that showering (and cleaning the house itself) is performing for you. If you haven't, practicing shifting your state of consciousness or entering "magical headspace" intentionally and with chosen cues may be very valuable to you.

Now, all of the above completely aside, when you say that you feel your space is spiritually unclean, perhaps what you mean is "my house regularly accumulates supernatural energy, and I feel that it's useless to practice if these other energies are getting in the way."

And that's a whole other can of beans.

The short answer is that this can be dealt with in the same way as sacredness; draw a magical line in the sand, and say "this smaller space is where I'm doing my working, and I'll manage the energy inside of it, but not without."

The long answer is to perhaps begin questioning why your home is so filled with all these stifling supernatural energies, and how you can take proactive steps to limit unwanted types.

People and animals tend to shed energy during the normal course of their lives. Energy does tend to accumulate in unused corners of rooms, even if those corners are regularly tidied and dusted. And all of this is nothing to say of events like parties, arguments, holiday festivities, and spirit or god interactions that can rapidly shift what supernatural energies are cluttering up a place.

In part, this can be dealt with using proactive spellwork. Enchanted objects can be put near doors to comb through incoming energy and help prevent unwanted varieties from coming in. Servitors can be created to munch on certain types of energy and poo out cozy white light. Charms on the top of door jambs work particularly well to manage energy flow through the household.

That incense being waved around can clean out unwanted energy, too - and frankly, if it doesn't, then there is more practice to be had in regards to enchanting substances for the purposes of cleansing.

Normal cleaning can be supercharged with magic to not only ensure unwanted types of energy are removed, but also to have a preventative effect to help stop them from coming back right away.

If there are special factors, like a household member constantly leaking awful vibes onto the rug, magic can also be done to stop their energy from spilling out; or, proactive spellwork can be done to divert or adjust upcoming unwanted events, and so on.

I wouldn't say it's wrong to want a house that specifically has only got your favorite types of energy in it, but the practical does tend to get in the way quite a lot.

Like, I live with other people. Witchcraft isn't mind games or psychology. If you strip the house of energy and refill it with a certain type, other people notice. Pets notice. Spirits especially notice, and Lord knows they're going to have their opinions on it.

If your only method of cleansing your home is entirely cleaning it every single time, there are a lot more helpful and proactive cleansing techniques out there, is what I'm saying.

At the end of the day, I'm real loosey-goosey on belief. Once I believed ritualistic cleansing was the only way, then I believed in the power of regular cleaning, then there was no difference between cleanliness and dirtiness, or sacred and profane; then it all mattered again but it was easy, and coming up here in a minute I suspect it'll all still matter but it'll be hard.

Wanting a sacred space, wanting a clean space, believing in cleanliness and sacredness; these are not the issues.

It sounds like for you, the issue is learning how to manage your needs and separate your sacred/clean working space from your everyday living.

I genuinely think there are a ton of angles to approach your concerns. Why does waving around incense feel useless? Did you not enchant it, and if so, what evidence do you have that your technique works, or does not work? How often have you tried casting spells in your untidy house versus a tidied one, and what are your rates of success for each?

Can you enter magical headspace in an untidy space? Can you do so in public if you have sufficient privacy? Can you do so in someone else's untidy house? How much practice have you put into magical techniques of connection? Have you been relying on cleaning house to shift you into magical headspace?

Anyway. I hope this all helps. Have a great night :)

[kkoct-ik]

what are we thinking

(explanations / elaborations under the cut)

confidence: ★★★ = most, ☆☆☆ = least

★★☆ mew-chan: there's a popular theory about Gin's apparent significance that suggests any number of things are hidden in mew-chan. i dont feel strongly on one theory or another, but i think it's a solid idea

★★★ Sara does not win (the game): i think it would be poetic if in spite of her win rate / being favoured she refuses to win or otherwise destroys the game

★★★ one bad end: like the mindbreak / Q-taro escapes ending, i think it would be fun if there was a way to fail during the minigame segment

★★☆ Keiji gets decimated: he's overdue and if i don't get to see his mangled corpse i'll be very disappointed. i do not think he is surviving to the main game, and if he does, i think he will be the Sacrifice (there's a convincing argument about how this is the only card he has not had thus far)

★★★ Kai & Joe: this is a loose end i hope is tied up. i'm very invested in Joe's relevance and how suspicious / strange some of his behaviour in chapter 1 is

★☆☆ mishima's head / collar: Midori assumes his collar is how Keiji 'cheated' the russian roulette, so the game clearly hasn't forgotten about it. assuming he is actually dead, i speculate it will be used to cheat / cause issues at some point in 3-2, depending on who actually has it

★★★ Meister doppelgänger: Safalin's clue that floormasters die after meeting their doppelgänger is never used during 3-1's russian roulette. one version of Sara's father and Meister have the same sprites. if Mr. C is not Meister, he is his doppel. if Mr. C is Meister, Dummy!Mr. C is his doppel (see two Mr. Chidouins square)

★☆☆ hospital bed: this is a loose end im looking out for. i've seen some insane cope theories about it & i'm not huge on any in particular, but i would love to see it cleared up

★★★ BANGER music: this should have been the free space but i'm really looking forward to it

★☆☆ we cannot save the Dummies: sorry dummy fans. the game has made a point to make the cast come to terms with the fact that human lives are more important than dummy lives. i think this theme of the value of life will become relevant at least one more time

★★☆ Hades' descendants: Q-taro is an orphan, Reko/Alice & Shin/Kanna are siblings (ie. have one set of parents between them), Gin has a step-father, Sara may or may not be adopted; i think there is some link between the participants' parents and why they were sought out by ASU-NARO

★☆☆ Midori's doll body: it's still out there. where did it go. this is not an insane cope that we see Midori again, i kind of hope we don't, but his fixed dummy body is still in the equation

★★☆ ASU-NARO Gin: ties into the mew-chan theory, elaborates on it. i don't believe he's a liar, but i do think there are a lot of inconsistencies around him. also Miley mother theory is solid and we are definitely not all delusional

★★★ Shin revenge: Shin swears to kill all of us. i specify Keiji because he could realistically be killed (Shin has a soft spot for Gin, and we are the protagonist). i don't really think Shin will anybody, but i think he will be given the opportunity to. (that said if there is an ending where he loses his mind and kills us all i will not complain)

★★★ suicide: whether it's a noble one like Kai's, or a deranged one like Gashu's, i am almost certain there will be a suicide

★★☆ floormaster collars: hey it's the reason i made this bingo at all. i think every single floormaster being trapped by the game (bar Midori, but i'll get to that) is an insane reveal (not just Gashu; if you look at them, all of their necks are hidden from us exactly where a collar would be). i'd love to see a floormaster executed or have their lack of autonomy highlighted in some other way

★★☆ cast revival: i think this would be fucked up, and the technology exists. it also ties into the theme of the value of life, the theme of grief, et cetera

★★★ two Mr. Chidouins: this is my personal tinhat theory that combines the fact that Mr. Chidouin has two distinct sets of sprites, and the fact that the Mr. Chidouin Kai speaks to says he is not Sara's 'real father' (commonly interpreted as adoption, but it's possible this is because this Mr. Chidouin is a dummy). accordingly i think Meister-like Mr. Chidouin (that we see in the winner's room with Sara) is his real/human version

★★☆ memorandum author: i have no strong copes on who (Mr. C / Meister / anyone else), but chances are they will become very relevant as the purpose of the game is finally revealed, and i am assuming we will meet them in person (ie. that they are not long dead)

★★☆ massacre / slaughter ending: either a Sacrifice win or a 'contestant kills everybody in a brutal bloody way' bad end. i will not accept anything ambiguous; i'm looking for an ending where everyone is Dead

☆☆☆ vows & trials: i was going to specifically manifest Gin's first trial being revealed, but i've decided this is my cope square. i want to know about all of them

★★�� Keiji's vow: Mr. Policeman had a kid. "jou" pun. i firmly believe Joe is Mr. Policeman's kid and Keiji's vow was to atone for / get closure for his crime by meeting Mr. Policeman's kid. i hope it recontextualises Joe's initial suspicion of Keiji / attitudes towards police too

★★☆ three new characters: in my mind: Ms. Shortcake (we know of), the dummy version of Mr. Chidouin (previously only seen in Kai's flashback, but likely to become relevant), and a secret third thing. i know this square is a little cheap, but you never know

★★☆ Midori is a huge liar: Midori is at the Least not a traditional floormaster (not a dessert, openly antagonistic & violent towards participants, can remove his collar, was originally supposed to participate), so i speculate that he does not have to follow the floormaster's code, and therefore is able to lie. this boils down to the fact that i simply don't believe that Joe was a handicap, and am suspicious about what is being told to us about AI Sara as well

[bluebellsstories]

The Amazing Digital Circus severance AU: Meet the outies!

I had more ideas for this and decided that the best way to explore it is with the main cast's other identities!

In the digital adventure work unit, six people work as guides. Each person has their own reason for getting severed.

Agatha (Ragatha) is a mother of five who loves her kids more than anything. She used to be a stay at home mother until an accident put her husband out of work. Now she must provide the money for her family, but how can she balance her work and family life? With severance of course! Now she no longer has to worry about bringing the stress of work back home, giving her all her time to focus on her family. One must wonder where Ragatha's motherly traits come from?

Grace (Gangle) comes from a wealthy family that actually invested in the severance technology for C&A. Grace was force to undergo severance to convince the circus that it was safe. Grace would rather draw pictures and watch anime, but she couldn't say no to her family, so Gangle was born. They say it's fine, but every time she goes to work, she comes out feeling miserable. Could it be a mean co-worker? Regardless, Grace is doomed to be pushed around.

Ray (Kinger) is a kind but odd outcast, who deep down just wants some buddies. Being aware that severance makes you forget your time at work, he nonetheless undergoes it for the potential commodore. And who knows? If he thinks really hard, maybe he will remember something. During the operation, something goes wrong and the chip gets broken. Now Kinger can't remember anything in the digital circus either. Though maybe it's because his memories are mixing...

Jack (Jax) is a complex mix of envy, sadism and hedonist. Jack never cared about having a real job, he just wants to cause problems and have fun doing it. That changes when his sister does something that impresses the whole family. Her making something of herself causes the family to lose faith in Jack. He never had their approval before, but now that they're actively ignoring him, he's a little hurt. After a long time searching, he discovers a job that pays a lot, requires no effort and lets him have fun at other people expense: The digital Circus. Maybe with a steady job, things can go back to the way they were before.

Ash (Zooble) wants to be left alone for the most part. They took the job so that they don't have to remember any people. They wouldn't have even gotten a job if it wasn't so expensive to be alive. Though maybe underneath the cynicism is a person who's unsure about their purpose in life. Maybe they try not to care because caring only hurts you worse in the long run. Though whatever the reason may be, they aren't gonna open up about it anytime soon.

Polly (Pomni) was an accountant caught in a massive layoff at her company. Desperate to find another high paying job, she comes across the Digital Circus thinking that her livelihood was saved. Though the more time she spends working, the more she thinks something is wrong, like her other self doesn't want to be there. She wants to ignore it but she finds herself growing more and more curious. What is the circus like? What is her innie like? She might just have to find that out...

What do y'all think? I certainly had fun writing this! Let me know if y'all want more and I'll come up with something else!

[sol-consort]

I can imagine humans remaking beloved classic (in 2185 these are classics) movies and shows to include a mixed species cast so we can share those stories with the rest of the galaxy? Can you imagine version of The Office that takes place on the Citadel? Instead of Brooklyn 99 it’s Zakera 99? Imagine the MCU but we actually have aliens to fill in the alien roles. There’s currently a fully fleshed out version of space Hunger Games that exists solely in my head.

The elcor hamlet will always be my favourite and we were ROBBED by not being able to watch it in full in ME3. I would gladly actually pay for a dlc where you go to the theater to watch the elcor hamlet with a companion and keeping shushing them through the whole thing.

Can you imagine the comments Javik would say? The sass? The cuntiness? The audacity as he starts scoffing at the show but ends up being super invested at the end? Demanding to see more of these human theatre shows, it is a must now obey the protheon you primitive and take him on more theatre dates.

Can you imagine the insufferable person Garrus would be during it? Commenting on how this all could easily be solved if one of them just had a sniper rifle after every scene, saying how you should've booked the exclusive balcony tickets instead since they have the perfect position for sniping people.

Anyway so.

I think the aliens would find it so hilarious how we've depicted aliens in our medias so far before first contact. It becomes a widespread genre of shows that are just humans depictions of aliens. No matter what the show or movie genre is, it will always be treated as a comedy.

The only species not amused by this are the salarian who are actually offput by how close our alien depilation was of them and their technology. It's so uncanny and spot on for a mere guess so their government launched a secret program to check if salarians actually made any first contact with the humans by accident before.

Also the fact the elcor adapted helmet tells me that the aliens shows and movies just are boring at best and human widespread television will be a popular hit amongst the aliens who immediately get invested int the MCU, DC and especially these drama romance reality shows. It also spreads a misconception that this is how humans actually choose their mate, by bringing in a harem and eliminating them one by one by not offering a rose.

There's is an influx of species suddenly giving a single rose to their human crush.

The drell love aquaman, that's all I have to say.

Also spongebob, it becomes a great hit with their children. Turians kids prefer paw patrols while the asari claim they would never show their children human trash shows but turn on cocomelon in secret because it's the only thing that gets their screaming babies to quiet down.

Also batman will definitely become a great obsession to the turians, cough Garrus cough, who may or may not go through a batman phase.

It's not the asari who end up gravitating towards movies like the barbie movie or bridesmaids, but the salarians instead. They're absolutely invested in desperate housewives and drag shows, having full on scientific debates on the current drama in the show.

[rudracasting]

Best Investment Casting Manufacturers

Metals are considered to be the most important tool from ancient times,as various tools and machines are made by using metals,metals are one of the strongest things in our world,and are used in every sector.These tools and machines are made by molding and casting the tools and machines.The molding process is a process that has been practiced since ancient times and requires good skills.Feinguss foundary provides you with the best quality molded and casting metal services,and the best investment casting manufacturers provide the best quality molded and cast metals with lifelong durability.

http://www.rudracastings.com/scopes-of-supplies/

[mariacallous]

Following a string of water main bursts in Atlanta, the country is once again grappling with an age-old conundrum: how to stay ahead of an increasingly intractable list of water infrastructure challenges. Corroded pipes—some nearly a century old—failed near downtown and Midtown Atlanta, leading to shutoffs, boil-water advisories, and growing frustrations for thousands of households and businesses (the final tally is still unclear). Repair crews raced to fix the bursts and local leaders pledged financial relief for those affected, but ongoing concerns remain over the full extent of the water system’s needs.

Atlanta’s water needs are locally problematic, but they are also nationally emblematic of a broader water infrastructure challenge: America is failing to invest enough in its water systems.

From Flint, Mich., to Jackson, Miss., to a seemingly unending number of urban and rural communities, the country’s water infrastructure is aging and in need of repair. Contaminated drinking water, including lead pollution, is often the most glaring sign of an often-invisible challenge. But leaking pipes, combined sewer overflows, and other chronic issues persist too. An increasingly destructive climate, including more frequent floods and droughts, is not helping matters either. The ripple effects of these failures are also extensive across different systems, leading to network failures across neighborhoods and entire regions.

More than $600 billion in investment is estimated to be needed over the next 20 years to keep up with all the necessary improvements, according to the latest EPA national water assessments. Even with more federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), these estimates continue to escalate.

Water main bursts like those in Atlanta are the quintessential example of our investment backlog. An estimated 260,000 pipe failures happen each year, or about 11.1 breaks for every 100 miles of pipes, based on a survey conducted by Utah State researchers. Many of these pipes are older (53 years on average) and made of more susceptible materials such as cast iron. But more striking is that an estimated 20% of pipes in this survey are beyond their useful life and will require $452 billion to replace. This figure also does not account for all the utilities scattered across the country, but only captures a fraction of the full extent of the national cost.

While these various water infrastructure needs and costs are concerning in themselves, the bigger issue is the lack of financial capacity to address them. Local water utilities are the primary owners and operators of this infrastructure, responsible for upwards of 90% of all public spending each year on the country’s water needs. Yet, with more than 50,000 utilities in the U.S., they are often highly localized and fragmented in their operations and service areas, as well as limited in their ability to generate predictable and durable revenue from ratepayers. That’s especially the case in cities like Flint and Jackson that have endured population loss and economic disinvestment over many decades. The tension between balancing water investment and affordability is ever-present.

The financial pressure is immense on local utilities—and other state agencies—who are constantly trying to cobble together enough resources to stay ahead of these needs. Beyond increasing rates, utilities are implementing new fees (e.g. stormwater fees) to keep up with the pace of repairs and other regulatory pressures. They are appealing to voters and passing ballot referenda; Atlanta, in fact, recently approved a one-cent sales tax to cover needed water upgrades. Utilities are also investing in more cost-effective designs, technologies, and other upgrades to provide more reliable service; Atlanta has also invested in widespread pipe improvements and more resilient green infrastructure installations.

But even these steps are not enough, as Atlanta’s recent experience demonstrates. So where does the country go from here?

The first step is to establish increased, sustained federal water funding. While the IIJA pumped about $57 billion into a host of different water infrastructure improvements, this figure still pales in comparison to the price tags noted earlier. Even when including additional funding for watershed and resilience improvements from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), there is still an outstanding needs gap. Federal investment, ideally tuned to need and ability to pay, can ensure all communities gain the resources they need. Recent conversations in Washington have generally supported more investment, including reauthorization of funding for flood control and other waterway projects. But the reality is that federal funding lags behind the full scale of water needs nationally, and utilities are scrambling for predictable resources.

The second step is to support continued local and state experimentation. While many utilities are struggling to simply keep up with existing repairs, that should not be an excuse for failing to test more proactive and collaborative solutions. Considering alternative revenue sources, breaking down governance siloes, and creating new asset management strategies are among these possible solutions. Admittedly, larger urban water systems tend to have greater capital budgets, existing financial resources, and staffing levels to accelerate new types of projects and other repairs. Seattle, for instance, has established more comprehensive and community-led plans around different upgrades, as have utilities in Milwaukee, Washington, and other cities. But utilities in more resource-constrained cities like Camden, N.J., and Buffalo, N.Y., are also launching innovative plans and partnerships to accelerate improvements.

Atlanta’s water dilemma is not an isolated phenomenon. Expect more water disruptions in the months and years to come. At this point, it’s not a question of if, but when in many communities. As these challenges and their associated price tags mount, though, they will serve as continual reminders of the need for more sustained funding and proactive innovation.

[writingmochi]

a terra incognita character introduction

cast: jake ✗ fem.reader

synopsis: as the world entered the middle of the 21st century, many things have changed for the better or for worse in the newly united korea peninsula: the preparation for the succession of the new conglomerates of the past decade, the uprising of deviant androids, and the new layer of life shield by walls of codes. in the middle of it, two beings are trying to understand each other and the situation of the world they live in; an unknown territory

genre: cyberpunk, cyber noir, psychological thriller, science fiction, dystopian future, politics and philosophies regarding artificial intelligence and humanity, romance, drama, angst, mature content (war and revolution, explicit smut)

based on: video game cyberpunk 2077 (2020) and detroit: become human (2018), anime serial experiments lain (1998), and tv show succession (2018-2023)

masterlist

from south seoul

shim laboratories is a korean multinational megacorporation dealing in manufacturers of machinery and artificial intelligence. the company is also one of the largest distributors of androids in the global market, pioneering the creation and usage of androids to be used on a day-to-day basis such as in domestic activities or even as soldiers. prior to the release of their android products, they also excelled in the usage of artificial intelligence in day-to-day life including hardware manufacturing or machinery used for city facilities, home appliances, and military technology such as drones that were used in the cyber war of 2027-2030.

jake

name: shim jaeyun ; jake shim

aliases: wolfe (cyberspace)

age: 20

species: human

gender: male

family: dad (alive), mom (alive), yoon (sister; alive)

affiliation: shim laboratories, shim conglomerate

backstory: born in 2030, jake is the eldest of the shim siblings and will succeed his father as the ceo of shim laboratories. a versatile man, he's currently doing a double major in business management and mechanical engineering at seoul national university while also doing training in the labs.

yoon

name: shim jayun ; nicole shim (portrayed by stayc's yoon)

aliases: gynger (cyberspace), yoon (nickname)

age: 18

species: human

gender: female

family: dad (alive), mom (alive), jake (brother; alive)

affiliation: shim laboratories, shim conglomerate

backstory: born in 2032, yoon is the youngest of the shim siblings and a so-called rebel among the conglomerate children. passionate in humanities, she wants to study anthropology after graduating high school.

park corp is a korean multinational megacorporation specializing in police contracting, personal & corporate security, and security consultancy services. they invest in the military-industrial manufacturing of advanced defence tools in united korea, producing weapons used to help defend the korea soil in the cyber war of 2027-2030. their role is pivotal to protect high-ranking people in united korea, making them successful post-war as their services are also used by people worldwide.

jay

name: park jongseong ; jay park

aliases: blu (cyberspace)

age: 20

species: human

gender: male

family: dad (alive), mom (alive), seonghwa (brother; missing), uncle (alive), aunt (alive), chaeyoung (cousin; alive), sunghoon (cousin; alive)

affiliation: park corp, park conglomerate

backstory: born in 2030, jay is the youngest of the park siblings and will succeed his dad to be the co-ceo of park corp, specializing in defence and weapons manufacturing, who works alongside his uncle (sunghoon's dad). studying business management and law, jay was pushed forward in the line of succession as his brother, park seonghwa (b. 2026), is currently missing.

sunghoon

name: park sunghoon ; benjamin park

aliases: frost (cyberspace)

age: 20

species: human

gender: male

family: dad (alive), mom (alive), chaeyoung (sister; alive), uncle (alive), aunt (alive), seonghwa (cousin; missing), jay (cousin; alive)

affiliation: park corp, park conglomerate

backstory: born in 2030, sunghoon is the youngest of the park siblings and will succeed his dad to be the co-ceo of park corp, specializing in security services, who works alongside his uncle (jay's dad). studying business management and law, sunghoon was pushed forward in the line of succession as his sister, park chaeyoung (b. 2025), decided to drop out of the line to go and live in aotearoa.

intelee is a korean multinational megacorporation that is working in the manufacture of computer software, information technology, and computer networks. their role is pivotal as they created the cyber wall to protect united korea in the cyber war of 2027-2030, utilizing their intelligence to defend against cyber warfare attacks such as malware and viruses. after the war, they contributed to connecting the technological network of the korean peninsula and recovered the internet after it was shut down during the war. their protective software and platforms are sought after by governments globally as they recover the fastest after the war.

heeseung

name: lee heeseung ; evan lee

aliases: roe (cyberspace)

age: 21

species: human

gender: male

family: dad (alive), mom (alive), jaehee (sister; alive), uncle (alive), aunt (alive), soojin (cousin; alive)

affiliation: intelee, lee conglomerate

backstory: born in 2029, heeseung is the eldest of the lee siblings and will succeed his father as the ceo of intelee. he's currently majoring in business management and computer sciences.

jaehee

name: lee jaehee ; monica lee (portrayed by weeekly's jaehee)

aliases: dion (cyberspace)

age: 18

species: human

gender: female

family: dad (alive), mom (alive), heeseung (brother; alive),uncle (alive), aunt (alive), soojin (cousin; alive)

affiliation: intelee, lee conglomerate

backstory: born in 2032, jaehee is the youngest of the lee siblings. passionate about healthcare, she wants to study biological engineering after graduating high school.

OTHER CHARACTERS

soojin

name: lee soojin (portrayed by weeekly's soojin)

aliases: katt (cyberspace)

age: 21

species: human

gender: female

family: dad (alive), mom (alive), uncle (alive), aunt (alive), heeseung (cousin; alive), jaehee (cousin; alive)

affiliation: intelee, lee conglomerate

backstory: born in 2029, soojin is part of the lee conglomerate as the cousin of both heeseung and jaehee. currently studying business management specializing in finance, she is in the line of succession to replace her dad as cfo of intelee.

jimin

name: kim jimin (portrayed by weeekly's monday)

aliases: lin (cyberspace)

age: 20

species: human

gender: female

family: dad (alive), mom (alive)

affiliation: kim conglomerate

backstory: born in 2030, jimin is the only child of the kim conglomerate who controls the current largest media company in united korea. she's currently studying communications and business management and will succeed her mom as ceo.

taglist: @raeyunshm @endzii23 @fluffyywoo @camipendragon @hiqhkey @wccycc @cha0thicpisces @y4wnjunz @yeehawnana @beansworldsstuff @kimipxl @blurryriki @reallysmolrenjun @frukkoneeeeg

© writingmochi on tumblr, 2021-2024. all rights reserved

[vote-democrat-president-congress]

NYTimes, The Editorial Board: 9/30/2024

The Only Patriotic Choice for President

"It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities — wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, discipline — that he most lacks.

Those disqualifying characteristics are compounded by everything else that limits his ability to fulfill the duties of the president: his many criminal charges, his advancing age, his fundamental lack of interest in policy and his increasingly bizarre cast of associates.

This unequivocal, dispiriting truth — Donald Trump is not fit to be president — should be enough for any voter who cares about the health of our country and the stability of our democracy to deny him re-election.

For this reason, regardless of any political disagreements voters might have with her, Kamala Harris is the only patriotic choice for president.

Most presidential elections are, at their core, about two different visions of America that emerge from competing policies and principles. This one is about something more foundational. It is about whether we invite into the highest office in the land a man who has revealed, unmistakably, that he will degrade the values, defy the norms and dismantle the institutions that have made our country strong.

As a dedicated public servant who has demonstrated care, competence and an unwavering commitment to the Constitution, Ms. Harris stands alone in this race. She may not be the perfect candidate for every voter, especially those who are frustrated and angry about our government’s failures to fix what’s broken — from our immigration system to public schools to housing costs to gun violence. Yet we urge Americans to contrast Ms. Harris’s record with her opponent’s.

Ms. Harris is more than a necessary alternative. There is also an optimistic case for elevating her, one that is rooted in her policies and borne out by her experience as vice president, a senator and a state attorney general.

Over the past 10 weeks, Ms. Harris has offered a shared future for all citizens, beyond hate and division. She has begun to describe a set of thoughtful plans to help American families.

While character is enormously important — in this election, pre-eminently so — policies matter. Many Americans remain deeply concerned about their prospects and their children’s in an unstable and unforgiving world. For them, Ms. Harris is clearly the better choice. She has committed to using the power of her office to help Americans better afford the things they need, to make it easier to own a home, to support small businesses and to help workers. Mr. Trump’s economic priorities are more tax cuts, which would benefit mostly the wealthy, and more tariffs, which will make prices even more unmanageable for the poor and middle class.

Beyond the economy, Ms. Harris promises to continue working to expand access to health care and reduce its cost. She has a long record of fighting to protect women’s health and reproductive freedom. Mr. Trump spent years trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and boasts of picking the Supreme Court justices who ended the constitutional right to an abortion.

Globally, Ms. Harris would work to maintain and strengthen the alliances with like-minded nations that have long advanced American interests abroad and maintained the nation’s security. Mr. Trump — who has long praised autocrats like Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban and Kim Jong-un — has threatened to blow those democratic alliances apart. Ms. Harris recognizes the need for global solutions to the global problem of climate change and would continue President Biden’s major investments in the industries and technologies necessary to achieve that goal. Mr. Trump rejects the accepted science, and his contempt for low-carbon energy solutions is matched only by his trollish fealty to fossil fuels.

As for immigration, a huge and largely unsolved issue, the former president continues to demonize and dehumanize immigrants, while Ms. Harris at least offers hope for a compromise, long denied by Congress, to secure the borders and return the nation to a sane immigration system.

Many voters have said they want more details about the vice president’s plans, as well as more unscripted encounters in which she explains her vision and policies. They are right to ask. Given the stakes of this election, Ms. Harris may think that she is running a campaign designed to minimize the risks of an unforced error — answering journalists’ questions and offering greater policy detail could court controversy, after all — under the belief that being the only viable alternative to Mr. Trump may be enough to bring her to victory. That strategy may ultimately prove winning, but it’s a disservice to the American people and to her own record. And leaving the public with a sense that she is being shielded from tough questions, as Mr. Biden has been, could backfire by undermining her core argument that a capable new generation stands ready to take the reins of power.

Ms. Harris is not wrong, however, on the clear dangers of returning Mr. Trump to office. He has promised to be a different kind of president this time, one who is unrestrained by checks on power built into the American political system. His pledge to be “a dictator” on “Day 1” might have indeed been a joke — but his undisguised fondness for dictatorships and the strongmen who run them is anything but.

Most notably, he systematically undermined public confidence in the result of the 2020 election and then attempted to overturn it — an effort that culminated in an insurrection at the Capitol to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power and resulted in him and some of his most prominent supporters being charged with crimes. He has not committed to honoring the result of this election and continues to insist, as he did at the debate with Ms. Harris on Sept. 10, that he won in 2020. He has apparently made a willingness to support his lies a litmus test for those in his orbit, starting with JD Vance, who would be his vice president.

His disdain for the rule of law goes beyond his efforts to obtain power; it is also central to how he plans to use it. Mr. Trump and his supporters have described a 2025 agenda that would give him the power to carry out the most extreme of his promises and threats. He vows, for instance, to turn the federal bureaucracy and even the Justice Department into weapons of his will to hurt his political enemies. In at least 10 instances during his presidency, he did exactly that, pressuring federal agencies and prosecutors to punish people he felt had wronged him, with little or no legal basis for prosecution.

Some of the people Mr. Trump appointed in his last term saved America from his most dangerous impulses. They refused to break laws on his behalf and spoke up when he put his own interests above his country’s. As a result, the former president intends, if re-elected, to surround himself with people who are unwilling to defy his demands. Today’s version of Mr. Trump — the twice-impeached version that faces a barrage of criminal charges — may prove to be the restrained version.

Unless American voters stand up to him, Mr. Trump will have the power to do profound and lasting harm to our democracy.

That is not simply an opinion of Mr. Trump’s character by his critics; it is a judgment of his presidency from those who know it best — the very people he appointed to serve in the most important positions of his White House. It is telling that among those who fear a second Trump presidency are people who worked for him and saw him at close range.

Mike Pence, Mr. Trump’s vice president, has repudiated him. No other vice president in modern history has done this. “I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States,” Mr. Pence has said. “And anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again.”

Mr. Trump’s attorney general has raised similar concerns about his fundamental unfitness. And his chief of staff. And his defense secretary. And his national security advisers. And his education secretary. And on and on — a record of denunciation without precedent in the nation’s long history.

That’s not to say Mr. Trump did not add to the public conversation. In particular, he broke decades of Washington consensus and led both parties to wrestle with the downsides of globalization, unrestrained trade and China’s rise. His criminal-justice reform efforts were well placed, his focus on Covid vaccine development paid off, and his decision to use an emergency public health measure to turn away migrants at the border was the right call at the start of the pandemic. Yet even when the former president’s overall aim may have had merit, his operational incompetence, his mercurial temperament and his outright recklessness often led to bad outcomes. Mr. Trump’s tariffs cost Americans billions of dollars. His attacks on China have ratcheted up military tensions with America’s strongest rival and a nuclear superpower. His handling of the Covid crisis contributed to historic declines in confidence in public health, and to the loss of many lives. His overreach on immigration policies, such as his executive order on family separation, was widely denounced as inhumane and often ineffective.

And those were his wins. His tax plan added $2 trillion to the national debt; his promised extension of them would add $5.8 trillion over the next decade. His withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal destabilized the Middle East. His support for antidemocratic strongmen like Mr. Putin emboldened human rights abusers all over the world. He instigated the longest government shutdown ever. His sympathetic comments toward the Proud Boys expanded the influence of domestic right-wing extremist groups.

In the years since he left office, Mr. Trump was convicted on felony charges of falsifying business records, was found liable in civil court for sexual abuse and faces two, possibly three, other criminal cases. He has continued to stoke chaos and encourage violence and lawlessness whenever it suits his political aims, most recently promoting vicious lies against Haitian immigrants. He recognizes that ordinary people — voters, jurors, journalists, election officials, law enforcement officers and many others who are willing to do their duty as citizens and public servants — have the power to hold him to account, so he has spent the past three and a half years trying to undermine them and sow distrust in anyone or any institution that might stand in his way.

Most dangerous for American democracy, Mr. Trump has transformed the Republican Party — an institution that once prided itself on principle and honored its obligations to the law and the Constitution — into little more than an instrument of his quest to regain power. The Republicans who support Ms. Harris recognize that this election is about something more fundamental than narrow partisan interest. It is about principles that go beyond party.

In 2020 this board made the strongest case it could against the re-election of Mr. Trump. Four years later, many Americans have put his excesses out of their minds. We urge them and those who may look back at that period with nostalgia or feel that their lives are not much better now than they were three years ago to recognize that his first term was a warning and that a second Trump term would be much more damaging and divisive than the first.

Kamala Harris is the only choice."

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/opinion/editorials/kamala-harris-2024.html

[tomorrowusa]

Hurricane Helene was not the first tropical cyclone to hit Georgia. But it entered the state through Georgia's land border with Florida, still at hurricane strength, and retained its tropical characteristics all the way through the middle of the state until exiting at the border with North Carolina and Tennessee.

Helene was one of the increasing number of tropical cyclones experiencing rapid intensification. And it also moved more rapidly than usual for a storm of this type at such latitudes. What people in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee experienced with Helene may be a taste of our climate future.

Helene reminded many Georgia voters, especially younger voters, that climate is an issue which needs to be addressed.

In 2020, Donald Trump lost Georgia to Joe Biden by 11,779 votes out of nearly 5 million cast in the state, one of the closest races in that election.  Since that time, the Peach State has seen an increase in extreme heat days, rising sea levels and frost damage to crops. And the electorate has grown more concerned about climate change — with 76% of registered voters now supporting congressional action on climate. This time around, with voters in the battleground state closely divided between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, climate activists are determined to make sure that their concerns help swing the election to Harris, whose policies are seen as more climate-friendly than those of the former president. Almost half a million voters in Georgia who have expressed concerns about climate change but have not voted in the last two election cycles are now being targeted by the Environmental Voter Project. The overwhelming majority of the voters in this group (88%) are between the ages of 18 and 34 and almost half are Black.  Of all the states, “Georgia has the largest number of low-propensity climate voters,” said Nathanie Stinnett, director and founder of EVP, which is nonpartisan but because of its climate focus tends to mobilize more Democratic voters. The group has been targeting young voters in the state with door-to-door canvassing, phone calls, direct mail and social media.  According to EVP’s polling, 40% of young voters in five battleground states including Georgia will only support candidates who prioritize climate change — it’s a “deal breaker” for them. And an additional 40% of them said they’d prefer candidates who make it a priority to address climate change. “Young voters are seeing the increases in extreme weather events in Georgia and their rising power bills driven in large part by fossil fuel costs, and noting the need for greater investment in climate technology and solar,” said Marqus Cole, the director of church engagement and outreach for the Evangelical Environmental Network and a former political candidate. 

Voters in climate sensitive states need to hear more about climate-denying Donald Trump's coziness with fossil fuel companies. While the increasingly demented Trump often has trouble putting a sentence together, he has no difficulty reciting his favorite mantra, "DRILL! DRILL! DRILL!"