#most devastating cyclone

[latestnews69]

We feel completely abandoned': Mayotte residents call for help after devastating cyclone

As we've been reporting throughout the day, hundreds of people are feared dead in Mayotte after Cyclone Chido swept a path of devastation through the island.

Here's some of the latest footage we've seen, which shows views of the neighbourhood Labattoir from above: Read more

[reasonsforhope]

"Evening is approaching at the confluence of two rivers in the Bay of Bengal — the Payra and Bishkhali. Still, the fishermen at the pier in Gazimahmud village are busy preparing for the next day’s work — every boat here is now illuminated by small solar-powered devices.

“Solar power is now not only in homes, it is also at our work. Now, there is no rush to return home when it is evening,” says fisherman Altaf Hossain, who is arranging fishing nets in his boat so that he’s ready for tomorrow.

Hossain is now able to work longer hours and boost his income, and he doesn’t have to worry about his wife and kids at home at night. The children sit under a solar-powered light to study, while Hossain’s wife, Roksana Begum, does various chores.

“The sun gives us light both during the day and at night,” Begum says. “It has made our lives much easier and has changed our livelihoods.”

Gazimahmud village is about 30 kilometres away from Barguna Sadar, the southernmost district of Bangladesh. A winding road leads to this village, where the sea and two rivers meet. The people of this remote community still remember the devastation caused by the powerful Cyclone Sidr in 2007, when 30 locals died. When the storm hit, it was difficult for many to reach safety as the entire area was dark. Now, thanks to most of the houses in the village having solar power, the community feels better prepared for future disasters.

“We have more faith in solar power, because, when a storm comes, the electricity connection may be disconnected or the power may be turned off, but solar power helps us to find a safe shelter by showing us the way,” says resident Monir Hossain.

Unprecedented success

Bangladesh has implemented the world’s largest off-grid solar power programme, with 20 million people across the country benefiting, according to the World Bank.

What began as a pilot project in 2003, involving 50,000 households, ultimately reached 14% of the population within 15 years, while some 200,000 rural businesses and religious facilities benefited from the Solar Home Systems (SHS) initiative as well.

The programme, which officially ran until 2018, was implemented in partnership with the private sector. Among other measures, the state provided generous incentives, such as tax breaks, for rooftop solar installers, and also focused on ensuring financing mechanisms were in place.

Together with 56 partner organisations, the government installed 4.1 million solar systems in remote areas by 2018.

According to the World Bank, the initiative has improved health and living conditions — including by reducing the use of kerosene lamps and thereby tackling indoor air pollution — and boosted school attendance. It also led to household solar becoming “a credible electricity source”.

“The Solar Home Systems programme has shown that millions of dollars raised internationally can be efficiently leveraged to provide loans of as little as $100 in remote corners of the country, enabling a rural household to purchase a solar home system,” according to Amit Jain, a senior energy specialist at the World Bank...

To clean up its power grid and contribute to the fight against climate change, Bangladesh plans to install 4.1GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, up from around 1.2GW today."

-via The Progress Playbook, March 10, 2025

[sunarryn]

Dp X Marvel #6

They called him Wraith.

Not Phantom. Not Fenton. Not Danny. Those names belonged to a ghost of a boy that never made it out of a cold, steel lab buried beneath the earth—forgotten by the world, forsaken by the stars. Wraith was something else. A project. A weapon. An experiment that should have failed but didn’t. The product of every nightmare HYDRA ever dared to dream. Not even the Red Room could engineer something so devastating. Not even Arnim Zola’s data-crazed AI mind could fathom the scope of him. Even the Winter Soldier—their perfect killer—trembled at the mere scent of Wraith in the air. He was the one he whispered about when the old ghosts came clawing through his fractured memories. “The one they locked away. The one even I wasn’t allowed to see.”

They started with the basics: a perfected version of the Super Soldier Serum. Not the knockoffs that littered the black market. Not the diluted trash the Flag Smashers used. No, this was the pure, concentrated essence of bioengineered physical supremacy. It made him fast. Strong. Deadly. But that wasn’t enough. HYDRA didn’t want a man—they wanted a god.

They replaced his bones with vibranium, stolen from the very heart of Wakanda in a mission so secret even the Dora Milaje never learned of it. His skeleton was a lightweight fortress, a perfect balance between flexibility and unbreakability. He could be shot point-blank with an anti-tank rifle and not flinch. He could leap from ten thousand feet and land without cracking a toe. His spine alone was stronger than most armored vehicles.

They burned out his organs, one by one, replacing them with biochemical synth-constructs, living machines that pulsed with a power that didn’t belong in the realm of science. His lungs filtered radiation. His kidneys could process raw acid. His stomach could digest metal. Disease didn’t touch him. Poisons turned inert inside him. He didn’t age. He didn’t sleep. He didn’t need to.

His blood… wasn’t blood. It shimmered when it moved. Viscous and luminous, like glowing starlight mixed with oil. Warm, but synthetic. Slick, but alive. It wasn’t just Extremis. It wasn’t just ectoplasm. It was something else entirely. Something that hummed when it moved, that responded to emotion, that sparked with eldritch light when he was angry. It healed him before injury even registered. It whispered to him in languages he never learned but somehow knew. It could ignite with a thought and turn his veins into conduits of fire and ice and terror. They bled him once, just to see what would happen. The blood ate through the floor, hissed like a serpent, and disappeared through the cracks. The lab tech who performed the procedure dissolved within thirty seconds.

And then there was his skin. It was soft, warm, perfectly human. If you touched him, he felt like a boy in his late teens—young, firm, deceptively fragile. But beneath that flawless layer of polymer-fused dermal tissue was something that didn’t burn, didn’t freeze, didn’t shatter. He walked through fire. He dove into the Mariana Trench. He stood unflinching beneath arctic storms and tropical cyclones. He once fought a vibranium-clawed assassin barehanded and didn’t bleed. The assassin didn’t survive.

But the worst part—what made him truly unkillable—was his heart and his brain.

They didn’t understand what they’d done. HYDRA liked to pretend they were gods, but even gods get scared when they tamper with forces they don’t understand. His heart wasn’t just a pump anymore—it was a fusion of quantum mechanics, biomechanical tubing, and something that throbbed with ectoplasmic radiation. It pulsed at its own rhythm, immune to external manipulation. It couldn’t be stopped. You could shoot him in the chest, burn him to ash, decapitate him—and the heart would keep beating. Worse, it could restart him.

The brain was worse. They hadn’t just enhanced his intelligence. They hadn’t just implanted neural tech and a language matrix and memories from assassins, soldiers, pilots, hackers, spies. No. They’d opened a door in his mind. They’d let something in. Something ancient. Something not from this world. Something not even from this dimension. It whispered to him when the moon was full. It guided his hands during missions. It told him where to strike, who to kill, what to become. Sometimes he heard it laughing.

Sometimes he laughed with it.

Wraith was the culmination of every evil science, every secret experiment, every whispered nightmare stitched together into a boy-shaped thing that wore a black suit and a bored expression and had a voice so calm it made seasoned killers nervous. He could walk into a room, look at you with those sky-blue eyes, and make your heart stop—because something about him was wrong. Not obviously wrong. Not monstrous or alien or robotic. No. It was subtle. A slowness to his smile. A tilt to his head. A precision to his movements that screamed in the back of your brain: This isn’t human. This is pretending to be human.

He escaped, of course. Nothing like him could be contained forever. The facility was a ruin within minutes. Bodies left stacked like cordwood. Walls melted. Floors cracked open. Not even the cameras could capture his escape—the footage was corrupted by a static that made your teeth ache and your eyes bleed. Every hard drive in the facility burned itself from the inside out. There was no trace of the boy they once called Danny Fenton.

Now, there are sightings. Rumors. Whispers. In Madripoor, they say he took down a cartel by himself, and the sky turned green when he screamed. In New York, people say he walked past the Sanctum Sanctorum and Doctor Strange flinched like he’d seen death. Wakandan scouts report strange readings near vibranium deposits—heat signatures that vanish into thin air. S.H.I.E.L.D. has classified him as an Omega-level threat.

The Winter Soldier? He saw him once. In an alley in Prague. Wraith didn’t attack. Didn’t speak. Just stared at him with those glacial eyes before disappearing in a flicker of light that bent reality itself. He didn’t sleep for three days after. When asked what was wrong, he just whispered, “They built something worse than me. And it remembers everything.”

Maybe there’s still a boy inside him, buried under steel and fire and ectoplasm and pain. Maybe that boy is screaming. Maybe he’s plotting. Maybe he’s just waiting. After all, you don’t build something like Wraith and expect him to stay still. You don’t break a boy into a god and expect him to forget.

[wachinyeya]

04.10.2025-Story by Marina Wang

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew, one of the most devastating tropical cyclones in U.S. history, ravaged Elliott Key, Florida. “Most of the island was covered in seawater, and about a quarter of the trees were either toppled or completely broken,” says Sarah Steele Cabrera, a biologist at the University of Florida. “There was not a leaf to be seen.”

At the time, conservationists fretted that the enormous hurricane was going to wipe out the last of the island’s Schaus’ swallowtails (Papilio aristodemus), a species of endangered black-and-yellow butterfly native to southern Florida and now found only on Elliott Key and nearby Key Largo. And the butterfly’s numbers on the island did take an initial hit from the storm. But only four years later, much to scientists’ surprise, the population jumped dramatically. Now, a 36-year-long dataset shows that Schaus’ swallowtails saw similar post-hurricane population bumps after two subsequent hurricanes: Wilma in 2005 and Irma in 2017.

In 1976, the Schaus’ swallowtail butterfly became one of the first insects to be listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, Cabrera says. This critically endangered butterfly prefers higher-elevation hammock forests with a mix of standing trees and grassland—a habitat that also happens to be prime real estate in the Florida Keys. The butterfly’s numbers on Elliott Key hit an all-time low in 2007, just two years after Hurricane Wilma, with an estimated 56 individuals remaining. But the most recent estimate from 2021 shows the island’s population sitting at a slightly more comfortable 4,400 or so.

While it seems counterintuitive, the dataset suggests that hurricanes are partly responsible for the butterfly’s current spike in population. To make sense of the recurring post-hurricane peaks, Cabrera and colleagues analyzed how butterfly numbers varied with precipitation, wind speed, temperature, and other meteorological variables.

When a hurricane first makes landfall, Cabrera says, the storm’s high winds kill many adult butterflies, while its surges of salty ocean water drown many caterpillars. In the immediate storm’s aftermath, both butterflies and caterpillars have fewer flowers or leaves to feed on. But as the damage fades and the years march on, toppled trees and downed branches create gaps in the canopy that let light penetrate to the forest floor. With more space and light, understory plants flourish, bringing fresh greenery for caterpillars and blooming flowers for butterflies.

“Hurricanes are natural disturbance events that shape population dynamics in ways that we are only just beginning to understand,” Cabrera says. 

Jess Zimmerman, an ecologist at the University of Puerto Rico who was not involved in the study, says the nearly four decades of observations that went into this research offer the perspective of a wide-angle lens, yielding much more insight into the butterfly’s long-term crests and troughs than a narrower dataset could provide. As a result, he says, scientists are now more confident that the Schaus’ swallowtail population has remained fairly stable over the long term, despite high year-to-year volatility.

In general, Zimmerman says, animals that evolved in areas prone to disturbance are adapted to handle those variables. Schaus’ swallowtails, like many of the insects that Zimmerman studies, have many offspring and their populations can balloon under the right conditions. “They have ways of making it through these disturbances without getting lost,” he says.

[yousaucygirl]

Right now my two hyperfixations are Ace Attorney and Ride the Cyclone and the gremlin in my brain is telling me to smush them together. So... Ace Attorney rtc AU.

I think the most obvious one is Klav as Mischa. They're both Europeans who make music, somewhat of a bad boy reputation, and are DEFINITELY at least a little fruity. Plus Klav would absolutely belt out a song for his lobe.

Next, I think that Miles Edgeworth himself would be Noel Gruber. They're both sassy, pretentious gay men, Miles definitely has a secret thing for French noir films, and Miles would hate working at a Taco Bell and having a song he ironically listened to played at his funeral. Plus Bratworth is so Noel Gruber.

Ocean is Sebastien Debeste. Ocean thinks she's da best (see what I did?) just like Sebastian. Both are top of the class and take that a little too seriously. Sebastian would also call himself a futher muckin' hero. He's also a bit misguided like Ocean but ultimately has a good heart. He would also want the second chance at life as bad as Ocean because he knows he can do great things.

Constance was a bit difficult. I mean, I doubt anyone in the Ace Attorney series had a lot of good memories in their childhood homes, but I think that Maya was the closest. I mean, she goes back to Kurain often and has good memories with Mia and Pearl. Then there's Constance’s song Sugarcloud that really seals Maya in her role. Maya absolutely believes in escapism from her issues. Like, look at her family, then look at her. There's no way that girl isn't burying all of her problems. Plus out of all the characters, Maya is one of the nicest.

Here me out for Ricky: Apollo. Firstly, there's an entire musical number about sexy cat women, and who better to shove into the roll than the man who calls his cat his girlfriend? And with his million backstories, it's almost inevitable that he lived in a house with fourteen cats at some point. Ricky is also a very sweet character and very perceptive to others' emotions, especially Jane's.

Jane Doe herself. The spooky, odd girl who has no identity. Because this is an AU and I am God, the role of Jane Doe is going to Phoenix Wright. One, Phoenix would HATE not having an identity. Through the Ace Attorney series, he made a name for himself. His career and reputation meant so much to him that he was completely lost after being disbarred. Not only that, but we know very little about Phoenix's past. We don't know his parents, if he had any siblings, or what his childhood was like aside from everything with Miles. All we really know about his family is his distant grandfather, Ryunosuke Naruhodo. He would also be devastating on Jane as he's the protagonist of his series, and he would lose that.

Lastly, there's Karnak. The one who summoned these silly dead teenagers and gave one another chance at life. It's literally the judge. In Ace Attorney, he listens as these goofy little fruits make their cases and ultimately decides if the defendant lives or dies. While Karnak doesn't necessarily condemn the other to death, he has the power to give one the prize of life.

[darkmaga-returns]

By Linnea Lueken

Media outlets such as Carbon Brief and The Guardian recently ran articles claiming that climate change is making tropical cyclones worse shortly after cyclone Chido caused destruction and tragic loss of life in Mayotte and Mozambique this past December. This is false. Tropical cyclones are not worsening. Data show no increase in the severity or number of hurricanes and typhoons. In fact, recent research suggests that there has actually been a modest decrease in cyclone frequency and power over the past 30 years.

The Carbon Brief post, “Chido hits; Coal’s new peak; Africa’s energy transition,” citing the Associated Press, claimed that Chido was the “most intense storm to hit Mayotte in 90 years,” and that “[s]cientists have long suggested that climate change is making cyclones worse in the region, but a lack of weather data has hindered more conclusive claims.”

The Guardian’s coverage in the article “Hundreds feared dead as Cyclone Chido devastates French island of Mayotte,” rightly focused examined tragedy of the disaster that occurred there, but the paper could not help itself, claiming in the very last paragraph that tropical cyclones are “getting worse because of the climate emergency,” and “cause large humanitarian crises in poor countries in southern Africa, which contribute a tiny amount to global heating, underlining their call for more help from rich nations to deal with the impacts of climate change.”

The Guardian’s point that African nations need more help because of wealthier nations’ alleged larger contributions to “global heating” is silly, because one imagines that aid would be needed and requested by poor countries when natural disasters occur regardless of climate change. They require help because they are underdeveloped, and they are underdeveloped for a variety of reasons, among them poor institutions, limited property rights, and political corruption, none having to do with climate change.

[askkanataigarashi]

Hey! It's nice to meet you, my name's Kanata Igarashi!

Wait, who am I? Oh I'm a demon slayer 😁 I started a little over a year ago. After finding out the corps existed and all, I just decided to join because...well, why not? Besides, there's more good I can do for the world than my same old life, day in and day out 😊

Oh, what do I look like? Easy!

Heh, pretty cool right? An awesome friend, @larz-barz drew this portrait of me and not to brag but I look pretty good 😉

What else 🤔... I mean, I've got a nice family but I try not to talk about them much cuz of the, well, demons duh. I really love traveling and seeing everything, meeting everyone, but I kinda wish they could come with me sometimes; I definitely try my best to stop in as much as I can to see them :)

Food? Hmm..I like a bit of everything to be honest. Can't stand cooking but if I had to pick a favorite, it's GOT to be my mom's pork cutlets. As for everything else, if it's on my plate I'll eat it basically (but seriously please don't make me cook).

My friends and I sometimes clash cuz they're always riding me to train harder *cough* Amari *cough* but I wanna explore the arts more; painting, writing, dancing, that kind of stuff. Maybe when the demons are gone, you'll see me in the papers someday😉

I think that's it for me though, see ya! 😄

~Character Summary~

Age: 19

Pronouns: he/him

Height: 5'10

Rank: Kinoe

Race: Human

Breathing Technique: Water Breathing (beginning) -> Storm Breathing

First Form: Cyclone- A quick twist of the torso that summons a powerful wind storm and has the power to blast multiple weak demons to pieces. Can be mastered and strengthened to take on a lower level Upper Rank singlehandedly coupled with extreme stamina and battle strategy.

Second Form: Ferocious Winter- Swinging swords across/in front of the user in an ‘X’ form. This summons icy winds and blizzard like conditions to provide cover and hide from the enemy, either for an opportunity to attack or escape.

Third Form: Divine Light- A violent cascade of lightning strikes to attack a group of low level demons. The lightning can also be absorbed and manipulated through the users weapon, which allows the strike of the beheading to be amplified in power; this can be used to fight upper level demons.

Fourth Form: Earthquake- A head on attack that requires the most force behind it. Every step taken towards the demon opens fissures into the earth that any enemy can and will fall into. Straightforward strike but the user can twist their body to dodge enemy attacks.

Fifth Form: Total Devastation- A quick series of lightning flashes followed by a dry forest fire to help trap demons and enemies. Can not be used during any precipitous weather and has limited range.

Sixth Form: Thunderous Eruption- Used in hand with Earthquake, this form produces magma and lava from the open fissures in the ground, creates a much higher risk scenario to defeat demons but much more effective against upper levels.

Seventh Form: Tidal Waves- A flood of wisteria infused water in the form of a tsunami that allows the user to drown or flood out multiple enemies, or condense it to overpower an upper level demon. This weakens the demons for actual combat.

Family: Keiji (Father), Nilou (Mother), Sora (sister, 15); Ryūko (sister, 12); Sulien (brother, 12)

Likes: art and music, dancing, dandelions, shopping

Dislikes: cooking, laundry, reading

Relationship Status: Single/Secret Admirer

Impressions:

[schoolchaos]

None of my friends listen to enough musicals for me to just send them "guys i think i might be sad" and a screenshot of my search history with lyrics to songs like Flowers from Hadestown, It's Quiet Uptown from Hamilton, Dead Mom and Home from Beetlejuice, most of Dear Evan Hansen, Michael In The Bathroom from Be More Chill, The Ballad Of Jane Doe from Ride the Cyclone, etc etc and then be like "hey, u good? U ok??" and this is a devastating thing

[noneedtofearorhope]

Closer than ever: It is now 89 seconds to midnight

In 2024, humanity edged ever closer to catastrophe. Trends that have deeply concerned the Science and Security Board continued, and despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies have failed to do what is needed to change course. Consequently, we now move the Doomsday Clock from 90 seconds to 89 seconds to midnight—the closest it has ever been to catastrophe. Our fervent hope is that leaders will recognize the world’s existential predicament and take bold action to reduce the threats posed by nuclear weapons, climate change, and the potential misuse of biological science and a variety of emerging technologies.

In setting the Clock one second closer to midnight, we send a stark signal: Because the world is already perilously close to the precipice, a move of even a single second should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning that every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster.

In regard to nuclear risk, the war in Ukraine, now in its third year, looms over the world; the conflict could become nuclear at any moment because of a rash decision or through accident or miscalculation. Conflict in the Middle East threatens to spiral out of control into a wider war without warning. The countries that possess nuclear weapons are increasing the size and role of their arsenals, investing hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons that can destroy civilization. The nuclear arms control process is collapsing, and high-level contacts among nuclear powers are totally inadequate given the danger at hand. Alarmingly, it is no longer unusual for countries without nuclear weapons to consider developing arsenals of their own—actions that would undermine longstanding nonproliferation efforts and increase the ways in which nuclear war could start.

The impacts of climate change increased in the last year as myriad indicators, including sea-level rise and global surface temperature, surpassed previous records. The global greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change continued to rise. Extreme weather and other climate change-influenced events—floods, tropical cyclones, heat waves, drought, and wildfires—affected every continent. The long-term prognosis for the world’s attempts to deal with climate change remains poor, as most governments fail to enact the financing and policy initiatives necessary to halt global warming. Growth in solar and wind energy has been impressive but remains insufficient to stabilize the climate. Judging from recent electoral campaigns, climate change is viewed as a low priority in the United States and many other countries.

In the biological arena, emerging and re-emerging diseases continue to threaten the economy, society, and security of the world. The off-season appearance and in-season continuance of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), its spread to farm animals and dairy products, and the occurrence of human cases have combined to create the possibility of a devastating human pandemic. Supposedly high-containment biological laboratories continue to be built throughout the world, but oversight regimes for them are not keeping pace, increasing the possibility that pathogens with pandemic potential may escape. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have increased the risk that terrorists or countries may attain the capability of designing biological weapons for which countermeasures do not exist.

An array of other disruptive technologies advanced last year in ways that make the world more dangerous. Systems that incorporate artificial intelligence in military targeting have been used in Ukraine and the Middle East, and several countries are moving to integrate artificial intelligence into their militaries. Such efforts raise questions about the extent to which machines will be allowed to make military decisions—even decisions that could kill on a vast scale, including those related to the use of nuclear weapons. Tensions among the major powers are increasingly reflected in competition in space, where China and Russia are actively developing anti-satellite capabilities; the United States has alleged that Russia has tested a satellite with a dummy warhead on it, suggesting plans to place nuclear weapons in orbit.

The dangers we have just listed are greatly exacerbated by a potent threat multiplier: the spread of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories that degrade the communication ecosystem and increasingly blur the line between truth and falsehood. Advances in AI are making it easier to spread false or inauthentic information across the internet—and harder to detect it. At the same time, nations are engaging in cross-border efforts to use disinformation and other forms of propaganda to subvert elections, while some technology, media, and political leaders aid the spread of lies and conspiracy theories. This corruption of the information ecosystem undermines the public discourse and honest debate upon which democracy depends. The battered information landscape is also producing leaders who discount science and endeavor to suppress free speech and human rights, compromising the fact-based public discussions that are required to combat the enormous threats facing the world.

Blindly continuing on the current path is a form of madness. The United States, China, and Russia have the collective power to destroy civilization. These three countries have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink, and they can do so if their leaders seriously commence good-faith discussions about the global threats outlined here. Despite their profound disagreements, they should take that first step without delay. The world depends on immediate action.

It is 89 seconds to midnight.

[mindblowingscience]

With warmer oceans serving as fuel, Atlantic hurricanes are now more than twice as likely as before to rapidly intensify from wimpy minor hurricanes to powerful and catastrophic, a study said Thursday. Last month Hurricane Lee went from barely a hurricane at 80 mph (129 kph) to the most powerful Category 5 hurricane with 155 mph (249 kph) winds in 24 hours. In 2017, before it devastated Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria went from a Category 1 storm with 90 mph (145 kph) to a top-of-the-chart whopper with 160 mph (257 kph) winds in just 15 hours. The study looked at 830 Atlantic tropical cyclones since 1971. It found that in the last 20 years, 8.1% of the time storms powered from a Category 1 minor storm to a major hurricane in just 24 hours. That happened only 3.2% of the time from 1971 to 1990, according to a study in the journal Scientific Reports. Category 1 hurricanes top out at 95 mph (153 kph) and a hurricane has to have at least 111 mph (178 kph) winds to become major.

Continue Reading.

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Capitalism’s climate catastrophe: How fossil fuel giants fueled the storm crisis

By Scott Scheffer

On Sept. 26, Hurricane Helene hit near Tampa, Florida, and tore north and then northwest through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, even reaching the eastern part of Tennessee.

Helene stretched about 400 miles across and sustained 140 mph winds, smashing into homes and leaving millions without electricity. The flooding and devastation from the wind were at a historic level. 

No areas near the path were spared, and the mountain community of Asheville, North Carolina, was utterly destroyed by flooding. A local journalist reported seeing two homes being swept away by raging water that then crashed into each other.

Just two weeks later, Hurricane Milton landed 75 miles south of Helene’s landfall and ripped its way north/northwest across the panhandle and then out into the Atlantic. Work crews were clearing debris from Helene when Milton arrived. 

It’s not unusual for hurricanes to spawn a few tornados. Usually, they’re weak and fizzle out quickly. Not these. The storm yielded a record 38 of them, and they smashed everything in their paths.

As of Oct. 15, the combined death toll had climbed to 268, and there were still 192 people unaccounted for. Damage estimates are all over the map, from $35 billion to $200 billion.

These were two of the most destructive storms in history. “Thousand-year” storms are happening frequently now. Hurricanes, droughts, and cyclones are increasing in severity. Heat waves are more frequent and threaten to make some cities that millions call home uninhabitable.

This is all a product of the capitalist economy. Giant energy companies and their banking partners have pushed the exploitation of fossil fuels, spewed gigatons of CO2, methane, and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and caused global warming. 

[kawaiijohn]

Woo yay yippieeee even :(

From James spann Twitter (above imbed):

WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATE: Milton remains a catastrophic category five hurricane early this morning with winds of 160 mph. The hurricane is about 300 miles southwest of Tampa, and is moving to the northeast at 14 mph. A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for... * Florida west coast from Flamingo northward to Yankeetown, including Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay * Sebastian Inlet Florida to Altamaha Sound Georgia, including the St. Johns River A Hurricane Warning is in effect for... * Florida west coast from Bonita Beach northward to Suwannee River, including Tampa Bay * Florida east coast from the St. Lucie/Martin County Line northward to Ponte Vedra Beach From NHC Milton is moving northeastward at 12 kt in the flow between a mid-to upper-level trough over the northern Gulf and a ridge located over the Greater Antilles. This motion should generally continue until Milton makes landfall in Florida, which is likely to occur late tonight or early tomorrow morning. After the hurricane reaches the coast, a turn to the east-northeast is expected as another trough approaches the system from the west. Milton should exit Florida and move over the Atlantic waters tomorrow afternoon and accelerate eastward after that. The NHC track forecast is nudged a little to the north of the previous one to be in better agreement with the latest models. It should be noted that this forecast is based on the model fields, not the interpolated models which appear to be too far south. Users are urged not to focus on the exact landfall point as the average error at 24 hours is about 40 miles. The global models agree that vertical wind shear is expected begin to increase over Milton later today, and that should cause some weakening. However, there is high confidence that Milton will remain a very dangerous hurricane when it reaches Florida, and maintain hurricane status as it moves across the state. The cyclone is expected to become extratropical over the Atlantic on Friday and gradually weaken. The NHC intensity forecast is similar to the previous one and near the high end of the model guidance. Milton's wind field is expected to grow considerably in size while it moves across Florida. Additionally, a large region of tropical storm and hurricane-force winds could occur on the northwest/back side of the storm since Milton will be interacting with a frontal boundary and beginning extratropical transition. Damaging winds, life-threatening storm surge, and heavy rainfall will extend well outside the forecast cone. This is a very serious situation and residents in Florida should closely follow orders from their local emergency management officials. Evacuations and other preparations should be rushed to completion. Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida. Key messages *A large area of destructive storm surge, with highest inundations of 10 ft or greater, is expected along a portion of the west-central coast of the Florida Peninsula. If you are in the Storm Surge Warning area, this is an extremely life-threatening situation, and you should evacuate as soon as possible if ordered by local officials. *Devastating hurricane-force winds are expected along portions of the west coast of Florida, where a Hurricane Warning is in effect. Milton is forecast to remain a hurricane while it crosses the Florida Peninsula and life-threatening hurricane-force winds, especially in gusts, are expected to spread inland across the peninsula. Preparations to protect life and property, including being ready for long-duration power outages, should be rushed to completion. *Heavy rainfall across the Florida Peninsula through tomorrow brings the risk of catastrophic and life-threatening flash and urban flooding along with moderate to major river flooding, especially in areas where coastal and inland flooding combine to increase the overall flood threat.

Stay safe y'all.

[deepfriedhopesanddreams]

Minicons in my Neon Road au!

Though the minicons still follow some similar rules in the regular Transformers robots in disguise, I did make some changes to some of the minicons.

They still need to form a mutual contract with their host I mean partners! Yes partners!!

Just like the original there's:

Activators

Buzzsaws

Cyclones

Torpedoes

Weaponizers

Unaligned factory made minicons (UFMMs)

Each of these minicons hailed from some part of Cybertron:

Activators are from Nova Cronum, the ability to power boost their partners with tremendous energy. They have a high intellect and constantly search for a partner equal to their taste and IQ. But when war struck, they proved to be quite helpful (though they are still very picky).

Buzzsaws are one of the most commonly used minicons ever, they mostly stick around in Iacon city. They are the ideal little companions/bodyguards. But they seem to have inferiority complexes around other minicons, in the minicon world, they are considered average. In the war, their cuts are very useful in battle of course.

Cyclones origin homes are unknown, they could be found almost everywhere in Cybertron, from the wild to the cities, they are considered an enigma. They only seem to transform into wrecking balls and bash everything in their wake. They are "possibly" the least smart out of all the minicons (but that doesn't mean they can't learn like normal minicons, they're like earth children with neuro divergency, they need extra attention). When it comes to the war, they simply jump into the action for the thrills.

Torpedoes are from one of the Cybertron seas, possibly the Argon sea. Due to their recent migration to the cities, they are quite skittish or uninterested in other bots, simply trying to live a peaceful life. In the war, their damages were devastating, from the sea to the air above.

Weaponizers are a bit complicated with their origins, during the war, many minicons from all over Cybertron were modified into weaponizers to aid either the Autobots or the Decepticons. Their alt-modes vary from swords, spears, blasters, etc. They don't seem too happy about their place in the war...

Factory made minicons are well made from factories that are close to Tagan Heights. They only simply follow protocols and orders from superiors, but in some places they would be given personalities to liven up the workplace. They transform into various tools, but special ones could be given with built in weapons compact inside of them. During the war they seemed to be split, on one half, they were actively used, but the other, some locations of these minicons were so isolated and untouched, they weren't aware of the destruction on the planet.

The minicons relations...

It appears that they seem to be mostly on unfriendly terms, that doesn't mean it's on every minicon.

There are some cases of mixed minicons (commonly called Mixicons) for example Activators/Buzzsaws, Buzzsaws/Torpedoes, Cyclones/Weaponizers, etc. this shows a lot of interesting designs on their newly formed kin, though how they do this is unknown. Factory made minicons are incompatible with these minicons.

The only documented list of these Mixicons:

Activators/Buzzsaws

Activators/Cyclones

Activators/Torpedoes

Activators/Weaponizers

Buzzsaws/Cyclones

Buzzsaws/Torpedoes

Buzzsaws/Weaponizers

Cyclone/Torpedoes

Cyclone/Weaponizers

Torpedoes/Weaponizers

Though some bots do claim these rare Mixicons exist, there appears to be little to no sightings of them ever, they are called the Landmine Mixicon and the Warhead Mixicon. This claim is so absurd, let's pray that these minicons never exist, EVER.

That is all the minicon info I could provide in this world, more updates will come in the future.

[mariacallous]

Record temperatures last year pushed the global water cycle to “new climatic extremes,” according to the Global Water Monitor 2024 report. The document, produced by an international consortium led by researchers at Australian National University, states that these climatic anomalies caused devastating floods and droughts that resulted in more than 8,700 deaths, the displacement of 40 million people, and economic losses exceeding $550 billion.

The report was conducted by an international team and was led by ANU professor Albert van Dijk. It reveals that 2024 was the warmest year so far for nearly 4 billion people in 111 countries, and that air temperatures over the Earth’s surface were 1.2 degrees Celsius higher than documented at the beginning of the century and 2.2 degrees Celsius higher than at the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Van Dijk asserts that water systems around the globe were affected. “From historic droughts to catastrophic floods, these severe climate variations affect lives, livelihoods, and entire ecosystems. Water is our most important resource, and its extreme conditions are among the greatest threats we face,” he says.

The report authors analyzed data from thousands of ground and satellite stations that collect near real-time information on critical water variables, including rainfall intensity and frequency, soil moisture, and flooding.

“We found rainfall records are being broken with increasing regularity. For example, record-high monthly rainfall totals were achieved 27 percent more frequently in 2024 than at the start of this century, whereas daily rainfall records were achieved 52 percent more frequently. Record lows were 38 percent more frequent, so we are seeing worse extremes on both sides,” says Van Dijk.

The research states that, as a consequence, sea-surface temperatures rose, intensifying tropical cyclones and droughts in the Amazon basin and southern Africa. Global warming favored the formation of slower-moving storms in Europe, Asia, and Brazil, subjecting some regions—such as Valencia in Spain—to extremely high levels of rain. Widespread flash floods occurred in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while rising levels in the Yangtze and Pearl rivers in southern China damaged rice crops.

“In Bangladesh, heavy monsoon rains and the release of water from dams affected more than 5.8 million people, and at least 1 million tons of rice were wiped out. In the Amazon basin, forest fires triggered by the hot, dry weather devastated more than 52,000 square kilometers in September alone, releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases,” Van Dijk says.

The study adds that changes in the water cycle intensified food shortages, impaired shipping routes, and disrupted hydropower generation in some regions. “We need to prepare for and adapt to inevitably more severe extreme events. That may mean adopting stronger flood defenses, developing new food production systems and more drought-resistant water supply networks,” suggests Van Dijk.

World leaders have pledged to implement measures and policies to prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by the end of the century, but the World Meteorological Organization has pointed out that current efforts are insufficient. The WMO estimates that there is an 80 percent chance that the average global temperature will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels again in at least one of the next five years. The projection suggests that humanity is far from meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and raises new concerns about the progress of climate change.

Securing financial resources is another challenge. The United Nations Environment Program estimates that the funding gap for climate change adaptation is between $194 billion and $366 billion annually.

António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, has said that “we are teetering on a planetary tightrope. Either leaders close the emissions gap or we are hurtling towards climate disaster, with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most. The countdown to action has begun.”

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

Very sad to hear Sinead O'Connor is apparently dead, no cause known yet but presumed suicide, as she's attempted the same several times the past few years.

She was an enormously talented woman, trapped in a body and mind that was obviously perpetually, ceaselessly, tormented and troubled her whole life long, so I always felt great affection for her, and humored all her many crazed proclamations at every point of her life: whatever she declared herself to be one year, she was going to declare herself something completely different three years later: Today she's a Catholic Priest, the next she's a Rastafarian, now she's converted to Islam. And so on.

But what drove her to such extremes was an original and courageous mind attempting above all else to make sense of the world and find answers while she was here: sometimes she got it wrong; sometimes she got it right: The entire world said she was crazy for tearing up a picture of the Pope on TV and condemning the Catholic Church for its sexual abuse of children: thirty years later and everyone you know agrees with her.

And throughout the continual chaos and devastation of her life, at the center of the cyclone remained, unwavering, that roaring Celtic soul and unmistakable voice: there was no-one like her in song before, and we won't see another like her again. I'm thankful she lived at the same time as me, and I hope she's found peace.

Most of the world seems to regard her as a one-hit wonder for "Nothing Compares 2U", but these are the songs I've most loved and first think of when I think of her, so I'll post them here: