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statsbot · 1 year ago

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SITUATION In an alternate history where time travel has been invented, a cabal of time-traveling traders and politicians are engaged in intertemporal arbitrage, using their future knowledge to corner markets throughout history. They've recently set their sights on the oyster trade of 19th century New York City, hoping to use their advanced refrigeration tech and insider info to make a killing. But their actions are destabilizing the timeline and threatening to erase key historical figures from existence. The party must unravel this temporal trade network and confront the mysterious mastermind behind it all before irreparable damage is done to the space-time continuum.

SETTING The adventure spans multiple eras, but key events occur in:

New York City, 1842 - The booming oyster trade has made the city the oyster capital of the world. Oyster cellars line Canal Street, shucking a staggering 700 million oysters a year. The docks bustle with oystermen.

The Far Future Oyster Vaults of Neo-Nassau, 2891 AD - Towering refrigerated vaults hold trillions of perfectly preserved bivalves. Chrono-barges zip through pneumatic tubes overhead. Neon-lit canals crisscross the city.

The Temporal Trade Hub, Outside Time - A mind-bending nexus where past, present and future intersect. Causality-defying architecture shifts like a kaleidoscope. Traders haggle over price fluctuations yet to occur.

CAST

Crassus Rockefeller III - Robber baron, mastermind behind the Oyster Futures Syndicate. Seeks to monopolize history's oyster supply. Wields a Causality Anchor that stabilizes him in spacetime.

Vivian "Viv" Wellfleet - Rogue chrono-trader with a heart of gold. Wants to stop Crassus and restore the timeline. Former collegiate oyster shucking champion.

Shucker Jim - Grizzled 19th century oysterman. Secretly an undercover Chronoguard agent. Rocket harpoon prosthetic arm. Loyal but haunted by a tragic past.

The Muculent Sibyl - Prophetic oyster-human hybrid from an alternate timeline where oysters evolved sapience. Whispers maddening future-truths. Chained in Crassus' vault.

Ostreida, the Oyster Goddess - Eldritch bivalve deity worshipped by a future oyster-cult. Seeks to flood Earth's history, returning it to a primordial sea.

The Chronoguard - Temporal law enforcement. Hardened time-cops in chromed exo-suits. Seek to stop illegal intertemporal trade by any means necessary.

The Oystermen's Union - Tough New York oyster workers, their livelihoods threatened by future sabotage. Burly, bearded, and brawny. Know the oyster beds like the back of their callused hands.

INITIAL CONDITIONS The 19th century oyster trade is booming, but prices have started fluctuating wildly and oyster shortages loom due to temporal meddling. Anachronistic tech has been found in oyster beds. Strange future-cultists lurk in oyster cellars, preaching the coming of an Oyster God. The Chronoguard has dispatched agents to 1842 to investigate, but Crassus' syndicate has a head start and deep pockets. The timeline is already fraying at the edges - historic oyster-lovers like Queen Victoria are fading from existence. The players arrive in old New York to find a temporal powder keg ready to blow.

GOALS

Crassus Rockefeller III - Corner the oyster market across all of history, making trillions. Ascend to economic godhood.

Vivian "Viv" Wellfleet - Stop Crassus, restore the original timeline, save the future. Maybe shuck some oysters along the way.

Shucker Jim - Complete his mission, avenge his partner, keep the space-time continuum safe from rogue traders and their greed.

The Muculent Sibyl - Escape her imprisonment, reveal cosmic truths, bring about the Oyster Singularity her visions foretell.

Ostreida, the Oyster Goddess - Flood Earth's history, make the world a oyster's paradise. Destroy upstart humanity.

The Chronoguard - Arrest Crassus and his cronies, stop the temporal trade in its tracks, preserve the integrity of the timeline.

The Oystermen's Union - Protect their way of life, drive out strange future interlopers, keep oyster prices stable and bellies full.

TOOLS/RESOURCES

Crassus Rockefeller III - Vast wealth, future tech, Causality Anchor, bribed officials across eras, oyster futures contracts.

Vivian "Viv" Wellfleet - Heirloom chrono-compass, knack for disguise, knowledge of oyster lore, her trusty quantum-shucking knife.

Shucker Jim - Rocket harpoon arm, Chronoguard combat training, 19th century street smarts, loyal oystermen contacts.

The Muculent Sibyl - Precognition, psychic whispers, eldritch oyster magic, fanatical mollusk-hybrid cultists.

Ostreida, the Oyster Goddess - Divine bivalve powers, oyster monster hordes, tidal magic, beachhead temples across history.

The Chronoguard - Jurisdiction across spacetime, stun-harpoons, chrono-cuffs, hardened exo-suits, orbital trawler-ships.

The Oystermen's Union - Strength in numbers, intricate knowledge of oyster beds, sturdy oyster boats, shucking solidarity.

SAMPLE SOLUTIONS

Infiltrate Crassus' syndicate posing as fellow traders, destabilize his operations from within while searching for evidence of his crimes. Coordinate with Chronoguard to arrest him in a dramatic sting.

Rally the Oystermen's Union to sabotage future tech and resist the Syndicate's strong-arm tactics. Stage a general strike to force the city to crack down on rogue traders.

Beat Crassus at his own game by cornering the oyster market first. Flood the market with your own supply via time travel, tanking prices and ruining his monopoly.

Cut a deal with Ostreida, brokering a compromise where oysters and humans can coexist across history. Use her power to threaten Crassus into surrendering.

Rescue the Muculent Sibyl and convince her to aid you with her prescient visions. Navigate the fluctuating timeways to always stay one step ahead of Crassus and his goons.

#ttrpg #campaign #dnd campaign #homebrew #tabletop #campaign idea #dggbot

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underatedwords · 27 days ago

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notes from fp3 - australia

track still very warm, so no one rushing to get out on track

drivers having to work carefully to warm the tyres to optimum temp. w/o overheating them

red flag 5mins in, ollie beached in the gravel at t11, didnt turn into the corner early enough and slid into gravel. out of session

lawson and mv running completely different front wings, crucial difference in aero package.

mv looking much more comfortable, and much faster, than yesterday

mclaren driving very nicely, smooth and obedient

jack had a big lock-up at t2, unsettled by bumps on track

carlos bumped the wall, asking pitwall to check for any damage

lawson pitted w/ suspected battery recharge issue, was actually a pneumatic issue, missed most of the session

lewis struggling w/ understeer then oversteer midway through corner, no improvement to his lap time

lando finished session p10, abandoned his fastest push lap after going wide through t10

both williams drivers looking fast and comfortable, good pace on both hard and soft tyres

ferrari struggling for pace, neither driver looking particularly comfortable, charles reporting significant oversteer

astons arent looking fast at all, seems to be a tricky drive

track got abt 1sec faster for each driver from their first push lap to their fastest - track cools slightly

most laps - carlos w/ 23

least laps - hulk w/ 15, ollie and lawson w/ 2

#f1 #fp3 #australian gp 2025 #ozsat25

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americaisdead · 1 year ago

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albuquerque islamic center. this building opened in 1979 as a bank, and still has its drive-up and pneumatic tube systems intact, as well several cool modernist lamps and brick detailing. architect unknown. albuquerque, new mexico. november 2023

#tag christof #america is dead #on the road #modernism #architecture #albuquerque #suburbia #sunbelt #nikon zf #voigtlander #apo lanthar

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seepunkrun · 1 year ago

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Esquire apparently asked "five tremendously talented writers" to submit works of short fiction contained on cocktail napkins with the prompt “write a story set at an office holiday party.” One of those writers was Chris Pine. Here's his entry, in his own handwriting:

Bruce Decker contemplates the stapler in front of him. Frank Sinatra plays on speakers down the hall. Somewhere near the heat of the party. But Bruce is, at the moment, most concerned with the stapler. Simple. Perfect, really. And it's right here, next to him. Before fax machines, cellular phones, pagers (he never saw the point), the internet, emails, digital paper trails, concurrent with the Rolodex and pneumatic tubes (he was thankful the building hadn't taken them out), there was the stapler. The proud general of the office supply corps. All clean lines. Distilled in purpose.

He's 80. Bruce is far past retirement. Somehow through solid work, an affable demeanor, a head of hair that remains steadfastly salt and pepper (leaning more dark brown than white—and that's not arrogance, that's honesty), a determined, thoughtful elegance (he's never worn another watch besides his grandfather's Hamilton), Bruce Decker is still standing. And so, he stands. No, not in the heat of the party. But close enough. Here, by the window which radiates a chill. There are snowflakes outside. Big, beautiful, cinematic ones.

He sees his reflection. It's faint, the outline of his body, the detail of his suit, but he can still make out a glint in the caverns of his eyes, the burgundy of his pocket square.

He hears laughter. A woman's laugh. It warms the back of his eyes, his neck. And he remembers he must buy flowers before the drive tomorrow. Yes, before the drive.

#this is exactly the kind of writing i'd expect from him #chris pine #preoccupied by thoughts of office supplies #my kind of guy #the best chris #p.s. i edited esquire's text a bit as it had at least two mistakes

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finn-m-corvex · 11 months ago

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Lightning in a Cubicle Pt. 4

And here it is! At long last! The fourth part of Lightning in a Cubicle! We have finally crossed the halfway marker and are on our way to the finale, which is looking like two more parts away (5 and 6) and that'll be a relief for me, honestly. I know this is quite late, but I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

Words: 3.4k

Slight TWs for very very very small wanting to rot in hell instead of the Administration! Taglist @rainofthetwilight @lightning-chicken @i-love-jay-walker and @sir-robyn! Enjoy! Remember if you want to be on future taglists, please tell me explicitly!

Sora was seriously growing on Jay, and it was a problem.

A couple of weeks had passed since the girl first became his intern, and she was probably the best thing that he could’ve ever asked for. She was efficient, on time, productive, and always managed to make him laugh on a day day. Plus, she was always on his side whenever Shitty Sharon decided to try and start shit, as her name implied. Overall, the past two weeks were probably the best that Jay ever experienced while working with the Administration, and he couldn’t think of anything else that would make it even better.

Well, there was one thing, but he already knew that there was no way he was ever getting those memories back.

“...so I told the guy to shove off if he didn’t want pictures of his ass hanging around the office,” Sora said between bites of food that the two picked up from the cafeteria, “because you know that I would’ve put his ass on the copier.”

“Oh, I know,” Jay said, looking at the girl fondly as she stuck her feet up on his desk. He couldn’t find it in himself to be angry about it, especially when his cubicle was as tiny as it was. “Then what happened?”

She continued to regale him with tales of her adventures in the mailroom three floors down, and Jay did his best to listen, but he was distracted.

Every night since Sora had shown up he would have dreams. Weird dreams of things that he couldn’t place, people that he couldn’t remember, and in the morning he would do his best to sketch whatever remnants he could pick out from the haze of his mind. The pictures were hanging up all around his apartment with push pins and thumbtacks, and Jay hoped that his inspection would be delayed. Otherwise he might get sent off to the psychiatric ward, and fined for all of the new drywall that would have to be installed.

Did the Administration even have a psychiatric ward? With how often upper management drives the lower classes crazy, they better have one. And it better not be coming out of Jay’s paycheck.

“Hey,” Sora said, snapping her fingers in front of his face, “are you even listening? Geez, don’t tell me we’ve gotta get you hearing aids now.”

“I’m listening,” Jay protested, “just thinking at the same time. You were saying something about one of the guys sticking his hand up the pneumatic tube?”

Jay’s brain kept working while Sora talked. All of his searches for someone named Lloyd turned up with nothing, unless he was somehow dreaming about the legendary Green Ninja, but there was no way that someone as ordinary as him would have any association with a ninja. Jay didn’t even know that Ninjago had ninja! Which you would think would be something that he would remember considering he was from Ninjago!

And yet, faint memories tugged at the farthest corners of his mind, there but just barely out of his reach. Most of them were of Cole in his black gi, great green scar on his forehead and eyes of charcoal brown, but there were some of a younger man in green next to a taller man in red, a harsh scar over the latter’s eye and irises a molten brown. One in white, with shiny metallic skin that gleamed in the sunlight and eyes glowing icy blue, but the one that twisted the knife is his gut the most was the one woman in his memories. She had beauty greater than the depths of the sea, with eyes that floated between blues and greens that he had only seen in pictures of ocean waves.

They were the Ninja.

He found things about all five of the Ninja: green, red, black, white, and gray or cyan since the articles couldn’t decide what color she officially was. She was the most gorgeous woman that Jay ever laid eyes on, and he knew that he would be thrilled if she ever became his manager—

“Jay!”

“What?” he said, annoyed.

The girl sighed. “Alright, now I know you’re not listening. What’s got you so distracted? I know you don’t like working overtime, but I thought the pay was good enough to help you at least pretend to be doing something.”

Usually it was, but even that sweet overtime couldn’t push his thoughts out of his head. “You said you lived in the Crossroads for a while, right? Did you learn anything about the Ninja?”

Sora looked surprised, and Jay knew how much of a risk this was. “I may have heard some things, why?”

“I-I was looking at some stuff about them to try and learn what they were like,” Jay said, but he decided to backtrack. “You know what? It’s nothing. We should probably just be heading home.”

“Wait,” Sora said, springing up after him as he stood and started grabbing up his things, “you can talk to me, Jay. What’s wrong?”

And he wanted to so badly; Jay trusted her more than he trusted anyone else in this place. Their trip to the aquarium had only strengthened their bond into something that Jay never knew he would have. Before she came into his life he probably would’ve said that he trusted Luke the most, but ever since he first met Sora he started acting more and more cagey whenever the two would walk by. He would only talk in short sentences to her, sometimes not at all, and it rubbed Jay the wrong way. “It’s nothing, really. Do you need me to walk you home?”

“Uh,” Sora paused, “I don’t think so. I should be okay.”

The two of them started walking out of the office, Jay bidding goodbye to the rest of his exhausted coworkers as they went. Luke was nowhere to be found, and the man standing there in the security uniform instead of Luke instantly brought a smile to Jay’s face. The shaggy hair was achingly familiar, and the man looked up to see who was exiting. A smile split Jay’s face in response to the man’s, and for some reason it just felt right to drop his briefcase and sprint to the man.

“Cole!” Jay exclaimed, jumping into the bigger man’s arms and hugging him tight. Cole laughed, reciprocating, and a rush of familiarity made him light-headed even though Jay only met this guy once before. Jay stayed there for a minute or two before realizing how weird it probably was to be hugging your security guard, and pulled back after a minute; Cole’s grip made it a little difficult, almost as if the ravenette didn’t want to let Jay go.

His head started throbbing, trying to conjure up all of the fragments that he could remember about Cole, but the only things that came to his mind were the drawings hanging up on his walls. They couldn’t be everything that Jay had from Cole, not when his arms made him feel safer than the Administration security forces ever did.

Smile still on his face, Cole put his hands on his hips. “Guess who got the job?”

“You did?” Jay guessed, and Cole flexed his large muscles as confirmation. Someone coughed from behind them and Jay belatedly realized that Sora was still standing there, looking very confused. Her eyes were wide as they looked at Cole, and Cole’s eyes widened in response.

“Oh! Sora, this is Cole. Cole, this is my intern Sora. She’s great,” Jay babbled, not noticing the tension starting to leak into the air. Instead, all he could focus on was that now he had his two favorite people in the entirety of the Administration in the same hallway. You would be surprised at how hard that was to accomplish in a building with over 300 floors.

“Yeah, we’ve met before,” Sora said stiffly, and Jay caught a brief glimpse of Cole making a shushing motion before he turned to look at his intern.

“Oh shit, really?”

“I saw her in the elevator the other day,” Cole said quickly, and Sora’s face scrunched in confusion before clearing. “We had a good talk about, uh, the printers and everything! Right Sora?”

“Printers?” Jay asked.

“Right! Printers!” Sora said, picking up Jay’s briefcase and handing it to him. “Pesky little things, right? C’mon, we should get going. We still have to get to your apartment.”

Jay sighed, patting Cole’s arm as he faced the now fixed elevator. “She’s right. Sorry man, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow—”

“I can walk with you,” Cole blurted, and Jay paused.

“Don’t you have to stay here and keep watch?”

“With all due respect, Jay, I don’t think anyone’s going to be breaking into the accounting department after 8 P.M. I can walk you to your house and come back. I’ll even walk Sora to wherever she needs to be so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Well, what did he have to lose? His job? Maybe that would be a free excuse to finally get out of this damn place.

“If you’re sure,” Jay said, walking to the elevator. He tried to hide the pep in his step, shoving his lightning down as far as it would go. There had already been way too many close calls with Sora, he couldn’t slip up now. “I’m on floor 275, so it might take a couple minutes.”

“Totally fine,” Cole assured, watching as Jay drew out his keycard and swiped it. The elevator dinged not even a minute later, and the three of them stepped inside as the doors closed behind them with their signature soft woosh. Cole was standing abnormally close to Jay, something that the man would’ve normally minded if it was anyone but Cole. Somehow it just felt right when it was Cole.

Some strange feeling of dread started to creep over him, but he knew it wasn’t from Cole and Sora. Memories tugged at his senses, and his sight started to blur with colors that Jay wasn’t familiar with as sounds pinged off of the elevator walls. What was happening?

Jay started babbling about random nonsense to pass the time, a nervous habit of his, but neither Cole nor Sora tried to stop him. If anything, Cole looked like he was hanging on every one of Jay’s words, and it was a nice change from the constant ignoring or fake interest from Jay’s coworkers. Now that Jay was looking at Cole properly, trying to focus on something he could see and process, he did kinda look like the black ninja from the pictures. His hair was a bit longer, and his face was a bit more weathered, but there was definitely a resemblance.

“Say, Cole,” Jay started, cutting his rant about the horrors of cardstock paper short, “would you happen to know anything about a group called the Ninja?”

Cole choked on air. Sora looked slightly alarmed and quickly whacked him on the back, Cole finally catching his breath and looking at Jay with wide eyes. “What?”

“If you’re from Ninjago, then you should know who the Ninja are, right?” Jay continued. His mouth felt weird from saying the word.

“O-Oh yeah,” Cole scratched the back of his head, “I guess you could say that. I, uh, actually knew them before the Merge happened?”

“What was the girl like?” Jay asked, fiddling with his sleeves. He couldn’t shake the feeling of deja vu, even though he knew for a fact that he had never been in this kind of situation before. “She’s really pretty, you know.”

The elevator whirred as it went up, and Jay noticed that Cole didn’t seem to be feeling any of the normal motion sickness effects. Maybe he was already accustomed to it. “I know,” Cole said, “I think you and her would’ve gotten along really well, Jay.”

“Seriously?” Jay’s face brightened, and Sora made a fake gagging sound in the background. “Shut it, Sora. What did she like? What did she eat? Is she still here? Is she nice?”

He grabbed the front of Cole’s shirt, reeling with sensory input from the memories, preparing himself to ask the most important question of all. “Is her favorite color blue?!”

The security guard looked a little startled at how close Jay had gotten in the past minute, but then he relaxed, chuckling. “Yeah, buddy, her favorite color is blue.”

Buddy. The word awakened something in Jay, and suddenly he was clutching onto Cole for a reason other than to be dramatic.

Lightning flashed in his head, blisteringly hot and turning his vision white as he gripped onto Cole’s shirt. Cole was saying his name but Jay couldn’t speak, his tongue feeling like a wad of cotton in his mouth as he was gasping for air. The elevator kept going up and up and up, but all Jay felt was falling down-

Crashing onto his knees, Jay kept heaving, feeling Sora’s hand on his back and Cole’s on his chest as his vision blurred with tears. Finally, the elevator came to a stop, and Jay couldn’t help the relief that came over him when he realized that he was finally going to be able to go home. But no matter how much he tried his knees wouldn’t move, and more tears came to his eyes when he realized that the others were going to have to help him get home. They were going to see what was in the apartment.

They were going to abandon him. Who wants to be friends with someone who was losing his fucking mind?

“Get him up,” Cole ordered, and Sora came up on Jay’s other side. She draped his arm across her shoulders and lifted, and the two of them dragged him out of the elevator and down the hallway. Jay was still getting his bearings back, head spinning out of control as the carpeted floor suddenly looked very inviting yet again. Anything was better than having to face them after something like this.

Sora scanned the hallway, looking at each of the numbered plates. “I don’t know which one is his!”

“64,” Jay croaked, and Cole found it almost immediately. The poor office worker tried to give the security guard his keycard, and Cole refused it at first, instead taking up a stance that indicated that he was going to kick Jay’s door down. Jay did not feel like explaining that to the house inspection team on top of everything else. “You break my door down and I’ll break your spine.”

“You could definitely try,” Cole grunted, but he heeded Jay’s warning, instead taking the keycard and swiping it.

A soft click, and the larger man pushed the door open. Sora brought Jay in and set him down on his ratty old couch, the man sinking into the cushions and slamming his eyes shut so he wouldn’t have to look around his apartment. Sora rubbed his shoulder, asking if he was okay, and then she noticed the drawings.

“Jay, what the hell is all of this?” she said, reaching out and touching one of the many pieces of paper. It was the first one he did back in his office, before he ever met her, of the Black Ninja in all of his glory and bearing a striking resemblance to the new security guard. Cole was also examining them, biting his lip as his fingers brushed across the one with the Black Ninja falling into the dark cloud. Jay never did manage to find any information on something like that happening in Ninjago. “Are-are you going crazy?”

“I…” Jay paused, “I don’t know. I don’t know anymore.”

Because he didn’t. He really, really didn’t.

And that scared him.

Looking away from the drawing, he watched as Cole’s hands tightened into fists, his face contorting into something that Jay didn’t recognize. Resignation? “There’s something that I should probably tell you,” Cole said softly, turning to look Jay in the eyes. “You’re not supposed to be here, Jay. You never were.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Jay said bitterly, blunt with hurt. “You think that I don’t know that I wasn’t meant to be here?”

“How much do you remember?”

Jay’s shoulders hitched. “Nothing. I don’t remember anything before this stupid place. All of these, all of them, they’re from my dreams. I don’t know what they’re trying to tell me, and I-I don’t even know if they mean anything.”

There was a box of tissues placed down next to him, and Jay glanced up to see Sora giving him a soft smile. “Here, these might help. Just take a few minutes, we’re not going anywhere.”

Grabbing up one of the tissues, Jay began to try and clean himself up a little, but he felt just as shattered and broken as he did on the first day he woke up. He had woken up in a bed, the same bed in his apartment, with only a note on the nightstand about how he had been in a coma from a workplace accident and that he was expected to be in his office at the normal time.

He didn’t know where his office was. He didn’t know the normal time. All he knew was that nothing, nothing felt right when he woke up and it hadn’t gotten better in three years of working in the Administration. There was always some small voice inside of him, whispering that he was destined for something greater than fixing copy machines, but-but..

Jay was trapped. He didn’t even know what he could say to get him out of that place.

But..but maybe they could help him get out.

Sora picked something up out of the box with his gi, left open on his messy desk, and Jay’s heart sank when he saw the light gleaming off of it. It was something that he only had second-hand knowledge about from his parents, and even that was fuzzy, but it was the only explanation he had to go off of because the Administration did not consider information about Ninjago traditions very important.

His Ying-Yang medallion.

Cole sucked in a breath when he saw it, eyes watering. “You still have that?”

“You know what it is?” Jay asked, standing up and instantly having to sit back down from the dizziness. He motioned for Sora to come closer, and took the medallion when she offered it. “Please, Cole, you have to tell me everything you know about this.”

Please. Please. They—they had to know something he didn’t, something to get him out and to see her—

Silence.

Sora wouldn’t meet Jay’s eyes, but he wasn’t giving her much of his attention; most of his attention was on the security guard, whose eyes softened, and Jay was startled to see tears forming at the corners. Cole quickly wiped them away with his jacket sleeve, grunting, before looking back up at Jay. Earthen brown on electric blue. Jay had the sinking feeling that this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

Maybe it had something to do with the drawing of the two figures trapped deep in an arena pit, staring each other down from atop a pillar. It was dark, and there was a green blade gleaming in the corner of his vision when he was fighting for his spot on the pillar, but he could still hear the sounds of screaming applause echoing in his ears. Jay knew now who was the one in the black suit, but..he never managed to dream up who the second person could’ve possibly been. Whose eyes he was looking through.

“Her-her name is Nya,” Cole started, his hands clenched into fists. “She’s the Elemental Master of Water, and my-my sister. You’re my brother.”

“My parents didn’t have another kid,” Jay said. Something wasn’t right. “They were too old. Is your name even Cole? Or was that a lie too?” The idea of Cole lying to him about this was nauseating, and Jay wished that he was still sitting down in the elevator, hitting the bottom floor and wishing that the cable would’ve snapped so he would be plummeting straight down to hell. Maybe he was already there.

“I’m not Ed and Edna’s kid, and I wasn’t lying about my name. I’m not lying to you,” breathing out of his nose, Cole met Jay’s eyes, hardening with a resolve that sent tingles up Jay’s spine. “Jay, I need you to listen very carefully to what I’m about to tell you, okay? You cannot freak out on me.”

Jay nodded, struggling to swallow past the lump of anxiety and fear in his throat. What-what was he?

Cole sighed. “You’re a Ninja, Jay.”

Yeah, he was in hell. Maybe he would’ve preferred the high water.

#ninjago #ninjago jay #finn's writing #ninjago dragons rising #ninjago cole #ninjago sora #lightning in a cubicle #ninjago dragons rising spoilers #finn's ninjago aus

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usafphantom2 · 11 months ago

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When Kelly Johnson was designing the A-12/YF-12 /MD-12 SR-71 he didn’t want the weight to be added for a starter on the airplane. He said the more it weighs the more fuel it will need. It was decided that two V-8 engines would be able to do the job. To start the Blackbird the fastest airplane in the world wasn’t exciting enough on top of that it sounded like the Indianapolis 500 getting the SR-71 ready to fly!

For this purpose alone, two of either above-mentioned Nailhead V8s were fused via a common transmission and drive shaft to work in tandem, then placed inside a metal housing mounted on four wheels with a trailer hitch and dubbed the AG330 "start cart." The resulting Chimera was attached directly to the Blackbird's two engines. Using the combined drive shaft, the two V8s spun the turbines to the point they could sustain compression by themselves. Nailhead V8s served as impromptu starter motors for the SR-71 and its cousins, the A-12 Archangel and the YF-12 fighter, until at least 1970, when the bulk of them were replaced with Chevy 454 V8s.

These were also phased out when a new, quieter pneumatic system was implemented to do the same job as the start cart at most airbases on U.S. soil the Blackbird and company operated from. Some remained for longer at auxiliary bases abroad, including a handful with the original Buick Nailheads, until the Blackbird and all its variants were retired in 1998. autoevolution.com/news/buick-wil…

Click here to listen to more information m.youtube.com/watch?embeds_r…

@Habubrats71 via X

#sr 71 blackbird #usaf

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scotianostra · 6 months ago

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October 23rd 1921 saw the death of John Boyd Dunlop who re-invented the pneumatic tyre from the design of fellow Scot, Robert W Thomson.

From its very beginnings it is obvious what Dunlop set out to do, to deliver a better driving experience for drivers and a better riding experience for riders.

Funnily enough the story does not start on four wheels or even on two, but on three. In 1888 Dunlop’s founder, John Boyd Dunlop, was watching his young son riding his tricycle on solid rubber tyres over cobbled ground. He noticed that his little boy was not going very fast and did not seem very comfortable. In trying to provide his son with a smoother ride and better handling Dunlop took the tricycle, wrapped its wheels in thin rubber sheets, glued them together and inflated them with a football pump. That way he developed the first air cushioning system in history, and laid the foundation for the first pneumatic tyre.

Less than a year later, Dunlop’s invention made its racing debut on two wheels. Enabling a little known rider to easily beat his stronger rivals in a series of bicycle races, thanks to the advantage given by his pneumatic tyres, immediately establishing the role of motorsports as a feature of the Dunlop heritage.

Dunlop immediately patented his idea and started to develop his invention into a commercial venture, founding what quickly became known as the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd.

The pictures show the man himself demonstrating his work.

#scotland #scottish #history #businessman

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gaijin-fujin-resonance · 2 months ago

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プシュケー - PSYCHE -

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Oh thank goodness, Hide has finally left the farty synth noises behind, and returned to form with one of his big, windswept shoegaze epics!

Hell, yes, this is what Hide is best at! Haunting minor chords, whispered vocals, intertwined textures - he’s been scratching this kind of itch since the days of Pleasure Land and Jupiter. But he’s really come into his own in the past decade, exploring this slightly Arabesque, slightly Spanish air on songs like El Dorado and Ai no Harem. He elegantly balances delicate, filigree pretty sounds with quite ugly sounds mixed low in the background to convey a sense of menace. Drifting prettiness on its own is not that interesting. But prettiness mixed in with the edge of fear results in the sense of awe that is crucial for true beauty.

It starts with a lovely, low filter sweep like a desert wind, then ups the anticipation with an insistent but slightly restrained, single-note bass keyboard drone. Yes! He’s toned down the squelchiness of the synth's filter and added a little overdrive, to minimise that fart-effect that spoiled some of the earlier tracks, but still maintains a dark, driving tone. When Yuta’s stringed bass comes in, it’s clean, but low and growly, coiling around the synth drone like a serpent. Natural and synth bass work together to create a compelling sense of movement.

On the verses, the guitars are clean, one striking bell-like chiming chords, the other strummed and silvery. Whispered background vocals help build an air of mystery, while Hide does that extremely Sakurai-like trick of close-miking but leaving in the breaths and gasps for air between phrases. It’s really quite sexy, isn’t it?

When the chorus comes in at 0:47, both guitars slam on the distortion - one chugging along with the synth bass, the other slashing an alarm through the hot, dense air. The long step delay catches and holds the riff subtly in the background, echoing away like a mirage while the kick drum and bass synth interweave a stomping dance rhythm. It’s such a simple trick: switching back and forth between quiet part / loud part and clean guitar / distorted guitar, but it’s so effective at building momentum, the way the guitars tease almost to the point of orgasm, before backing off again.

After the long build all on one chord, the keychange at 1:43 is a real pulse-quickening moment, but the mood doesn’t let up. Strangled pads drift through the background, evocative of The Cure in their Pornography era, but the real surprise is the moaning. Moaning? From our Hidehiko? I don’t know, he always struck me as so shy and straight-laced, blushing sweetly at Acchan’s provocative lyrics and onstage antics. And yet here, our prim and proper rhythm guitarist is very definitely sighing and mewling over the sensual synth breaks like a man tossed by desire. Honestly, I did not know you had it in you, Hide! (I mean, obviously, the man has three children, he knows about the facts of life as well as death on earth. I just wasn’t expecting him to evoke them so explicitly in performance!)

The whispered vocals of the last verse - especially the ones at 2:32, where all the instruments drop out except for the low, howling, wind-like synth and Hide’s close, breathy voice… my goodness, it’s like the moment in a film where the librarian suddenly takes off her glasses and… good heavens, Mr. Hoshino, you’re beautiful!

Ach, but the perfection of those very New Order-esque stabby synths creeping in through the background, giving way to a snare roll that sweeps us up into the chorus again! There’s a steampunk interlude during the break at 2:55, and when the chorus comes back, it has gone all INDUSTRIAL!!! Yes! Yes! Hide is muscling in on Imai's ‘weird sounds’ bandwagon, weaving in submarine depth charges, a huffing sound almost like a steam engine, metal-smashing samples, and a distinctly pneumatic drill-like tone that makes this Neubauten fan roll over on my back like a baby! The sample track carries on through the ecstatic orgasm of the last chorus, before fading out like a sudden rainstorm.

Best Bit: THE MOANING. Clearly, the moaning. Sorry, I will never get over the revelation that is the sudden sexy turn of Hide’s vocals. But oh yes. The music. Definitely that little steampunk break at 2:55, the ping of the sonar followed by the buzz of the drill-tone. Ugly sounds rendered extraordinarily beautiful in context. That’s what I listen to Buck-Tick for!

#buck-tick #subrosa #PSYCHE #プシュケー - PSYCHE -#buck tick #track by track #Youtube

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