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is-the-battlemech-cool-or-not · 20 days

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Atlas Gewitter AS7-K3-Tb2

Gewitter was the custom command 'Mech of Lieutenant General Theodora Marten-Steiner, notable for her role in the early formation of the Third Star League SLDF, Operation TOUCHDOWN, Operation WINDFALL, and the later Lyran War of Reclamation. Famous in her eventual role as commander of the hyper-elite Royal Guards RCT, the Lieutenant General also served as the second commanding officer of the Royal Black Watch regiment, after its second re-founding in 3151.

Gewitter is built on the Atlas chassis, though a great deal of modification has made it truly one-of-a-kind. The original platform upon which the venerable ‘Mech was built was the Atlas AS7-K3, notable for its inclusion of jump jets. They remained a hallmark of Gewitter, carrying through to the final model, introduced on the battlefields of Helios in October 3153, much to the horror of the Word of Blake forces at the Battle of Fort Bayeux.

Gewitter is, at first glance, a fairly standard Atlas mech, originally of Defiance Industries manufacture. However, after two major refits, very little remains of the original K3 as it entered service in 3134.

The first refit was conducted by the MechTechs of Skobel Mechworks at their Yakima Proving Grounds on Terra. There, for a time, Gewitter sat opposite Test Unit Sierra Five - the original Mackie and the first ever BattleMech - while the Atlas was fully rebuilt. The refit focused on integrating mixed Inner Sphere and Clan technology along with additional command gear, armor, and sensors; steps were also taken to shave weight from the original design. This further enhanced its pilot’s dynamic, fluid style with greater maneuverability. An extra additional step added late in the refit process, as ordered by Commanding General Melissa Hazen herself, saw Gewitter's right hand fitted with a half-ton, 24-karat engagement ring, complete with the largest natural diamonds ever cut in human history - the inside band of which was etched in micro-font with the entire Jade Falcon Remembrance. This ring remained upon Gewitter's right arm, even after the wedding of Hazen and Marten-Steiner in the aftermath of Operation TOUCHDOWN.

The second refit, performed on the battlefields of Helios by Star Captain (later Khan) Xerxes Truscott of Clan Star Adder, focused primarily on the integration of two newly designed, powerful, and devastating weapons: the Clan-spec Light Gauss Rifle and the Pile Bunker.

After this second and final refit, Gewitter was equipped as follows:

Atlas 'Gewitter' AS7-K3-Tb2

Mass: 100 tons

Chassis: Skobel 100-Lite Variable Composite Biped

Power Plant: Defiance Clan-Grade 400 XL

Cruising Speed: 43.2 kph

Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph

Jump Jets: Standard

Jump Capacity: 90 meters

Armor: Duralex Ferro-Fibrous w/ CASE II

Armament:

1 Light Gauss Rifle (C)

1 Streak SRM 4 (C)

2 ER Large Laser (C)

1 Pile Bunker (C)

Manufacturer: Defiance Industries (original)/Skobel MechWorks (refit #1)/Fursona's Fusiliers (refit #2)

Primary Factory: Defiance Manufacturing Annex - Kwangjong-Ni (original)/Yakima Proving Grounds, Terra (refit #1)/Argo Mechbay (refit #2)

Communication System: Clan-enhanced Irian E.A.R. w/ Nova CEWS & Studebaker-T19 Battle Computer

Targeting & Tracking System: Clan-enhanced Army Corporation Type 29K w/ Advanced Targeting Computer (w/ VRT)

Introduction Year: 3153

Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-X-X

Cost: 34,853,333 C-bills

Type: Atlas 'Gewitter'

Technology Base: Mixed (Unofficial)

Tonnage: 100

Battle Value: 2,729

Equipment Mass

Internal Structure Composite 5

Engine 400 XL 26.5

Walking MP: 4

Running MP: 6

Jumping MP: 3

Double Heat Sink 10 [20] 0

Gyro 4

Small Cockpit (Armored) 3

Armor Factor (Ferro) 297 15.5

Internal Armor

Structure Value

Head 3 9

Center Torso 31 47

Center Torso (rear) 5

R/L Torso 21 32

R/L Torso (rear) 10

R/L Arm 17 34

R/L Leg 21 42

Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand

Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand

Weapons

and Ammo Location Critical Heat Tonnage

Triple Strength Myomer RT/LT/RA/LA/RL/LL 1/per - 0.0

Jump Jet CT 1 - 2.0

Jump Jet RT 1 - 2.0

CASE II (Clan) RT 1 - 0.5

Light Gauss Rifle Ammo (32) RT 2 - 2.0

Streak SRM 4 Ammo (25) RT 1 - 1.0

Pile Bunker Ammo (5) RT 1 - 1.0

Pile Bunker Ammo (2) RT 1 - 0.5

Targeting Computer LA 4 - 4.0

ER Large Laser (Clan) LA 1 12 4.0

Jump Jet LT 1 - 2.0

CASE II LT 1 - 0.5

Streak SRM 4 (Clan) LT 1 3 2.0

Light Gauss Rifle (Clan)* LT 4 1 11.0

Armored Cowl (Armored) HD 1 - 1.5

Nova Combined Electronic Warfare System HD 1 - 1.5

ER Large Laser (Clan) RA 1 12 4.0

Pile Bunker (Clan)** RA 6 - 6.0

Engagement Ring*** RA - - 0.5

* = Heat 1, Dmg 12, Min.Rng 2, Short.Rng 1-7, Med.Rng: 8-16, Long.Rng: 17-24, Tons: 11, Crit.Slots: 4, Ammo/Ton: 16

** = A Pile Bunker inflicts one point of damage for every five tons the 'Mech weighs. When punching with a Pile Bunker, the user can choose to fire the pile, expending one shot of ammunition (5 ammo per ton) and generating 5 heat, scoring a critical on the location hit with a -2 modifier. In addition, if armor remains after an attack where the Pile Bunker has been fired, roll for a second critical hit with a -2 modifier. For each critical dealt, also deal one point of internal damage to that location.

*** = gives a -1/-1 morale bonus to pilot and gunnery skills - if (and only if) Theodora Marten-Steiner is piloting.

Features the following design quirks: Battle Computer, Battle Fists (LA), Battle Fists (RA), Combat Computer, Cowl, Distracting, Easy to Pilot, Extended Torso Twist, Fine Manipulators, Illegal Design (Custom Weapons+Custom Equipment), Improved Communications, Improved Sensors, Multi-Trac, Nimble Jumper, Reinforced Legs, Variable Range Targeting

#battletech #mechwarrior #oc lore #operation touchdown #tactical information

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catdotjpeg · 30 days

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The al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, one of the four remaining functional hospitals in the Gaza Strip, was included in an Israeli evacuation order on Monday, the Deir al-Balah municipality announced on Monday. The Gaza-based Palestinian health ministry said that the hospital continued to operate as of Monday afternoon local time, despite the Israeli evacuation order, and despite the proximity of Israeli troops. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is the only operating hospital in the overcrowded central governorate of Deir al-Balah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have been concentrated due to multiple displacements fleeing Israeli bombings. Currently, the hospital is treating some 100 resident patients. The Israeli army has been reducing the area it had designated as a “safe zone” to less than 25 square kilometers, pushing more people into the already-crowded center of Deir al-Balah under extreme sanitary conditions. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel’s violations against medical staff in a statement on Monday. According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israel has killed some 500 health workers in the Gaza Strip since October 7. In the same context, the union of the northern Gaza municipalities said in a joint statement on Monday that “the Gaza Strip is lacking the most fundamental services amidst a grave environmental catastrophe.” The statement was made by a group of municipality representatives who spoke to the media in the center of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday. According to their statement, Israel has destroyed over 1.5 million square meters’ worth of roads and streets, 35 water wells, five principal sewage water pumps, 200,000 meters of water pipelines, 100,000 meters of sewage pipelines, 5,000 meters of rain drainage pipelines, 57 power plants used to operate wells and sewage pumps, and about 95% of municipal machines and equipment used for garbage collection and public works. The statement added that most of the municipal facilities in some 37 buildings were also destroyed by Israeli forces, in addition to 15 public parks and the main water desalination plant that used to serve all of the north of the Strip. The statement also said that Israeli forces have destroyed 45,000 residential units in the north, rendering 75% of inhabitants homeless. The municipalities also warned of floods and deteriorating sanitary conditions as winter approaches due to the destruction of infrastructure. The municipal officials called on the international community to provide urgent assistance, especially repair parts, reconstruction material, and machine equipment. The officials called on international citizens to pressure their respective governments “to stop the war of genocide and destruction and save what remains of human life in the Gaza Strip.”

-- From "‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 325: As ceasefire talks falter, Israeli army orders evacuation of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital" by Qassam Muaddi for Mondoweiss, 26 Aug 2024

#palestine #deir al balah #gaza #gaza strip

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hirocimacruiser · 8 months

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Achieving a goal is the beginning of a new challenge. To run really fast, HKS thinks.

A drag race scene where people compete for 0.001 seconds over a distance of about 400 meters in just a few seconds. '91 is a drag field that demands quick response and power from the engine, clutch, suspension, and even a single drop of oil or gasoline, as well as durability and transmission ability to handle instantaneous high power. -In '95-'96, the ``HKS R32 DRAG GT-R'' won the series championship in the RRC Drag Race Championship for three consecutive years. The following year, in 1997, the ``HKS DRAG 180SX'' in the BERC Drag Race Championship Pro Stock class and the ``HKS R33 DRAG GT-R'' in the Pro GT-R class achieved the Avec Championship. Having achieved one goal in 1997, what we aimed for in 1998 is:

Quarter mile time in 9 seconds with FF base vehicle. They then talked about their know-how from drag racing to date, and ``HKS FF DRAG CELICA'' made its debut. The first goal was achieved on October 9, 1998 at Sendai Highlands with a time of 9.886 seconds. He further improved his time to 9.727 seconds, and in 1999 he set a goal of breaking the quarter mile in the 6-second range, and has already begun a new challenge. "Achieving a goal is the beginning of a new challenge" - HKS' never-ending battle continues

HKS

■Company overview

●Name HKS Co., Ltd. Established October 31, 1971

●Capital 607,475/Kawa Representative Director and President Naruyuki Hasegawa

●Location Head Office 2266 Kamiogawa, Kunikami City, 418-0192

●Business details

Development, design, and product sales of automobile parts, racing engines, turbocharger-related parts, and automotive components and systems Design, development, and manufacturing of original mufflers, suspensions, and engine parts Development of complete cars, development of aircraft engines

●Number of employees: 407 (333%, 74 women)

●Equipment overview

Experiment building: Dynamometer (1,000/800/600~300/200/PS) Chassis dynamo, exhaust gas analyzer

Old experimental building: Dynamometer (600/600-500-200/PS)

Manufacturing factory: 10ft machining center, 5 NC lathes, 41 cam polishing machines, 21 biston narai, 11 turning centers, 21 crank Kenjoshi, Monzen Kendanmei, 21 surface grinders, 1 gun drill machine.

Muffler factory: Pipe bender, robot welding machine, 1 laser machine, shell machine, multi-spot welding machine 11, 100T press, TIG welding machine, CO2 welding machine multi-stage

Muffler 2nd factory: Pipe bender / shirring / Yasuda machining center 1 piece

Suspension factory: Cold solid coiling machine, continuous coiling machine, surface grinding machine, shot peening machine, automatic setting machine, automatic load testing machine, etc.

●Affiliated companies

HKS Aviation Co., Ltd. HKS Service Center (Tokyo/West/Kyu)

HKS USA, INC (USA)

HKS EUROPE()

#HKS #JDM #HKS GTR #HKS 180SX #HKS drag car

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eretzyisrael · 8 months

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By EMANUEL FABIAN

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Beneath the Gaza Strip headquarters of the controversial United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known commonly as UNRWA, the Hamas terror group hid one of its most significant assets, the Israeli military has revealed.

The subterranean data center — complete with an electrical room, industrial battery power banks and living quarters for Hamas terrorists operating the computer servers — was built precisely under the location where Israel would not consider looking initially, let alone target in an airstrike.

The revelation of the server farm comes amid other accusations of UNRWA collusion with the Gaza-ruling terror group and the entanglement of the UN body that provides welfare and humanitarian services for Palestinian refugees from the 1948 and 1967 wars and their descendants.

Israel last month accused 12 staff with the UN Palestinian refugee agency of taking part in the October 7 massacre by Hamas-led terrorists, who killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in the murderous rampage.

Since the allegations became public late last month, UNRWA has seen many of its top donor countries announce funding freezes, leading to concerns that the agency could stop operating in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East within weeks.

But the IDF’s recent discovery of the Hamas data center while UNRWA is under increased scrutiny appears to be merely a coincidence.

Col. Benny Aharon walks into UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City, February 8, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters is located in Gaza City’s upscale Rimal neighborhood, an area that the IDF had previously operated in, dismantled the local Hamas battalion and withdrawn its troops from.

At the time of the initial ground offensive in Gaza City, the military had not found or known much about the Hamas data center. But new intelligence, primarily emerging from the Shin Bet interrogations of captured terrorists, helped pinpoint where to dig.

Related: UNRWA head says agency was in dark about Hamas center under Gaza HQ; Israel: ‘You knew’

“The IDF was here previously, the first time was to destroy the enemy, but when we were here the last time we collected a lot of intelligence documents and findings, a lot of prisoners, and thanks to this we reached here. Now we carried out a targeted operation to take this capability away,” said the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Benny Aharon, while giving a media tour of the tunnel and UN complex on Thursday.

“We had a basis of information, but not enough to be able to dig down 20 meters and find it, we needed a bit more. There’s information we get from prisoners we capture, from computers we find, from documents, maps,” he said.

The IDF in recent weeks has returned to carry out smaller operations in the northern Gaza Strip, after largely destroying Hamas’s fighting capabilities during the early stages of the ground offensive.

#gaza #hamas #unrwa #hamas servers

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huariqueje · 2 years

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“ More than 40 dead and Lima continued in silence “

The poster pasted in the vicinity of the Palace of Justice, in the center of Lima, the Peruvian capital, expresses the indignation at the indolence of the national authorities, state powers and political groups opposed to citizen protests, in the face of dozens of deaths in cities in the interior of the country. Photo: Mariela Jara/IPS

Lima – "We are not terrorists, we are women and men from the highlands who want respect and who do not kill us for asking for early elections and a Constituent Assembly," said Rosa Cachi, an Aymara indigenous woman from Puno, in the southern Andes of Peru, where she The protests against the government of President Dina Boluarte are concentrated.

The protests are concentrated in the southern Peruvian Andes and as a result of the brutal repression, 17 demonstrators died due to the impact of projectiles fired by the forces of order, in addition to a policeman who was allegedly burned by protesters. Adding the 28 deaths that occurred in December in other regions such as Apurímac -land of Boluarte and where the mobilizations originated-, Ayacucho, Arequipa, Junín, Cusco, La Libertad, there are more than 40 victims in the first 34 days of this government of transition, a fact that the National Human Rights Coordinator has described as a massacre. The 17 deaths of civilians occurred in a single day, on January 9, in Puno, one of the Peruvian regions with the greatest poverty and located at more than 3,800 meters above sea level, with a high Aymara indigenous population. The government disqualified the protests and, through the Prime Minister, Alberto Otárola, accused them of being financed by illegal activities such as drug trafficking and foreigners, and announced that order would be restored. On Tuesday the 10th, the cabinet he presides over received a vote of confidence from the Legislative Branch despite the deaths in his to have. For Javier Torres, political analyst and director of Noticias SER, the information portal of the Association of Rural Educational Services, this decision means a political endorsement of the government of Dina Boluarte, whose only response to the protest of the population is indiscriminate repression and the establishment of states of emergency and compulsory social immobilization. This last measure was issued for three days for Puno. “There is also a kind of total impunity, because we have news yesterday (January 10) that in Puno they are looking for the relatives of the victims to give false testimonies to protect the police officers. In this scenario, what the Congress of the Republic has done seems very serious to me,” he stressed.

In a telephone interview with IPS, Torres stated that the government of President Boluarte rests on two pillars: the armed forces, which are her main support, and the parliamentary majority, which has granted a vote of confidence to her ministerial cabinet.

The congressmen who voted in favor are mostly from benches such as Fuerza Popular, which represents Fujimorismo, Renovación Popular and Avanza País, who are from conservative and extreme right positions and have installed the discourse that the mobilizations are instigated by terrorism and they must be totally suppressed. These groups were joined by three others such as Acción Popular, Alianza para el Progreso and Somos Perú. who also defended the argument of the recovery of public order. Faced with this decision, Torres considered that the political class does not recognize the demands of the population. “In Ayacucho, Cusco, Puno, Apurímac, political demands are raised and they are the most democratic that can be given. They ask for an electoral process and a referendum, which is what is behind asking that the president leave and that they close the congress. It has nothing to do with secessionism or with communism or with Evo Morales”, he stated. But that -he added- the political class does not want to see it because the protest is a questioning of the central power, the way in which the elites of this country govern and make decisions, that is what is in question. In his opinion, the only viable way out of the current crisis is the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, the immediate convocation by Congress of general elections and that these be held in the shortest possible time, which would be six months, as he has stated that the National Elections Jury could be possible. “That would lower the pressure on the country. There are other measures that could help, but at this moment it is the institutional solution that we have left, because the other thing is that this government continues to maintain a repressive policy that what it is going to bring is more deaths and it is not going to solve the problem ”, warned. We continue in the fight Rosa Cachi, a Puno artisan from the Quilca peasant community, responded to the IPS call while participating in a citizen mobilization through the streets of downtown Puno demanding justice for the deaths that occurred in her region and rejecting the position of the main authorities of the country that seek to delegitimize their fight.

“They tell us that we are terrorists, that they finance us from another country, that drug traffickers give us money. It is not like this. We are men and women from the highlands, we are natives, we want respect for our native people. They can't treat us this way," he exclaimed. And he continued: “I am in the streets of the city right now because we do not agree with what Mrs. Boluarte says that elections cannot be brought forward this year until 2024, what they want is to stay in power with this Congress that the people reject”. In addition to the advancement of elections, it also demands that a constituent assembly be installed to elaborate a new Constitution. “We live from our pachamama, from our water and look, so many resources from our land that they take away and it is not left for the town or for the countryside. Only at the time of the elections do they arrive saying, brothers and sisters, vote for me. Then they forget. We don't like that, it shouldn't be like that anymore," she questioned.

In addition to the advancement of elections, it also demands that a constituent assembly be installed to elaborate a new Constitution. “We live from our pachamama, from our water and look, so many resources from our land that they take away and it is not left for the town or for the countryside. Only at the time of the elections do they arrive saying, brothers and sisters, vote for me. Then they forget. We don't like that, it shouldn't be like that anymore," she questioned. Cachi, who is also dedicated to family farming, lamented the indolence of the powers of the State in the face of the deaths that occurred in his region, Puno. “We are mobilizing for our dead who are not recognized by Mrs. Dina Boluarte, the ministerial cabinet or Congress. It is an indignation for us, that is why we have come here in mourning, with black clothes. They don't have to kill us for protesting and demanding what is fair," he insisted. In Lima, citizen vigils have been held in front of the Palace of Justice, in the center of the capital, to express rejection of the government's repressive policy, show solidarity with the families of the victims and demand justice. On the 10th, the National Prosecutor's Office announced the start of a preliminary investigation for the alleged crimes of genocide, qualified homicide and serious injuries against the Peruvian president, the head of her cabinet and the defense and interior ministers, the latter responsible for the actions of the armed forces and the national police respectively. The investigations will cover the deaths during the demonstrations in December and January. Filed in: Featured Cover, Governance, Report, Latest News Latin America and the Caribbean, Crime and justice, Democracy and Politics

https://ipsnoticias.net/2023/01/gobierno-de-boluarte-en-peru-podria-incrementar-represion-para-sostenerse/

#Peru #indigenous peru #racisme #peru highlands women #indigenous repression #Aymara indigenous population #Juliaca Puno Peru #human rights

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lonestarflight · 1 year

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Space Station Concepts: Dual Keel

"The new 'Dual Keel' Station was largely based on Lockheed and McDonnell-Douglas designs and its structure was much stiffer and hence easier to stabilize. It would offer additional space for external instruments plus a better microgravity environment than the previous gravity gradient-stabilized 'Power Tower.' The number of crew members was increased to 8 astronauts because scientists were concerned that a crew of six would be too busy with assembly and maintenance tasks and have no time for research. NASA's target date for the launch of the first element was now January 1993 while the initial operational capability had slipped to January 1994 mainly because the Fiscal 1986 budget was reduced from $280 million to just $200 million.

"McDonnell-Douglas illustration of the 'Dual Keel crew modules.

This McDonnell-Douglas concept drawing depicts a robotic arm controlled by an astronaut. The arm is being used to maneuver a new addition to the space station into place. The robotic arm was to have been essential to building the space station in orbit.”

11 Shuttle flights would be required for initial assembly. Officially, the estimated cost of the Station had only increased by $400 million but there were concerns that NASA was once again hiding the true cost of the larger, more complex 'Dual Keel' design.

“Dual Keel space station – Initial Operational Capability (IOC) Configuration, 11-15-85”

NASA struggled to define a 'Dual Keel' design that met all the various cost, engineering, safety, launch and user requirements. By the time Phase B1 ended in March 1986, the size of the truss structure elements had been increased from 3 x 3 meters to 5 x 5 meters for additional strength and stiffness. Another early 1986 modification involved the power system, which was upgraded to 87.5 kW. By the end of Phase B1 in March 1986, NASA had settled for a hybrid system consisting of 37.5 kW photovoltaic arrays and 50 kW solar thermodynamic generators. The number of American crew modules was also reduced from four to two while European and Japanese laboratories were incorporated in the design for the first time. The habitable volume remained the same, though, since the length of the US modules was increased to 13.3 meters. NASA Space Station Office submitted its recommended final baseline in May 1986 as Phase C/D started. The number of instrument mounting ports was reduced to five, down from an earlier projection of nine. One of the two bays for satellite servicing was also deleted.

According to the May '86 Space Station assembly sequence, the first element would be launched in January 1993. The Station would support man-tended operations after the sixth Shuttle assembly mission in August 1993 and be ready for permanent occupation after the ninth mission in January 1994. Initial Operating Capability (IOC) would be achieved after 21 flights -- twice as many as the 1984 estimate.

By the time of the 'Dual Keel' Space Station's final flight sequence overview in October 1986 NASA had to insert an additional eight Shuttle flights into the manifest. By this time, increased complexity and Shuttle payload capability reductions had increased the required number of assembly flights to more than 30 for an Initial Operating Capability (IOC) vs. 8-10 in 1984.

"The design of the Space Station has undergone the first major configuration change prior to the start of Phase B. The artist’s concept here depicts the updated Dual Keel method which retains many of the basic elements of the previously considered Power Tower concept. The primary difference is the move to favor two vertical booms rather than the Power Tower’s single boom. The dual booms provide additional framework for the attachment of other structures. Pressurized modules have also been moved from the lower area of the Power Tower concept to the Center of gravity. This has been done, NASA officials say, to meet the needs of future space station customers for the best microgravity environment attainable. More refinements are expected in the design as the program works toward the Systems Requirements Review in March of 1986."

NASA's new Space Station design was criticized in a widely publicized astronaut office briefing by Shuttle astronaut Gordon Fullerton. The Dual Keel design was found to provide poor access for maintenance, visibility from habitable areas was obstructed, there was no provision for internal vehicle 'hands on' access to EVA equipment. No crew escape vehicle had been added although a small fleet plus lower-than-hoped-for flight rates means astronauts could not be rescued as easily by the Shuttle. The Canadian manipulator was regarded as insufficient for building and maintaining such a complex Station. Fullerton also criticized excessive EVA 'spacewalk' requirements, including a 'long and complex' assembly sequence. 'Basic structure, wire runs, and plumbing are not easily designed for replacement / repair. EVA crew time even for planned maintenance was excessive. Correction of design errors may not be possible; unplanned failures may not be fixable at all...'

McDonnell-Douglas' redesigned 'Dual Keel' crew modules of this period introduced separate 'node modules' or docking ports which also accommodated many systems that would not have fit inside the original 'Power Tower' crew modules. NASA was still planning to contribute two laboratory modules plus two habitation modules in late 1985. Gordon Fullerton and other observers felt the Station's habitable volume was too limited when the number of US modules was reduced to one lab plus one habitation module. There would be no room for a second shower, commode or 'safe haven' emergency provisions. A Boeing longer 13.3-meter module was introduced in early 1986.

"Display model of Dual Keel Space Station concept (1986); boxy rectangular truss structure with attached modules and extended solar array wings. 1:100 Scale."

The Space Station was briefly suspended by a major row in the summer of 1986 when NASA tried to reassign some habitation module responsibilities from the Johnson Space Center to the Marshall Space Flight Center. A compromise was reached in September 1986, but it was yet another indication of the Station's Byzantine management structure and turf battles between NASA centers. But Congress still approved the project's $420-million Fiscal 1987 budget while imposing a number of restriction: power levels of at least 37.5 kW, fully outfit the microgravity lab by the sixth assembly flight, attach useful science payload by the third flight, launch all US elements before the foreign modules and restrict ESA's Columbus module to life sciences. The congressional requirements would essentially have forced NASA to change the Station along the lines of a new proposal which then, surprisingly, emerged from JSC. NASA had previously testified in Congress that no Station funds were being spent on alternative design studies. Using funding earmarked for alternate assembly sequence research, the Johnson Space Center nonetheless ordered its main contractors (Rockwell and McDonnell-Douglas) to examine a smaller, more compact configuration while keeping NASA headquarters in the dark about it... This caused additional confusion about who was really in charge of the project: NASA headquarters or Johnson.

NASA's first detailed cost assessment in February 1987 revealed the 'Dual Keel' Space Station would cost at least $14.5 billion in 1984 dollars, or $21 billion in current-year dollars. This caused a political uproar in Congress, where many politicians had started to express doubt about the project. However, NASA and Reagan Administration officials reached a compromise in March 1987 which allowed the agency to proceed with a cheaper $12.2-billion Phase One Station. This design initially omitted the $3.4-billion 'Dual Keel' structure and half of the power generators. It was dubbed 'Freedom'.

Article by Marcus Lindroos"

-Information from astronautix.com: link

Date: 1984-86

NASA ID: C-1986-2694, GPN-2003-00110, C-1985-8626, C-1985-8751, S85-42963, S87-38365, 86-H-332, KSC-85C-303, GPN-2003-00110

Mike Acs's Collection: SS23 B

National Air and Space Museum: A20100236000

NM Museum of Space History: DUAL KEEL SPACE STATION-0001, DUAL KEEL SPACE STATION-0002

SDASM Archives: 14_025378

Posted on Flickr by Numbers Station: link

#Space Station Dual Keel #Space Station Concept #Space Station Freedom #Space Station #concept art #NASA #1984 #1985 #1986 #my post

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learnwithmearticles · 3 months

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Technology's Use of Water

While water is renewable, it is finite. Its renewability depends on us using and managing our water resources responsibly.

Previous articles on this page have discussed hydropower and how it produces less waste and costs less than other resources. We have also briefly discussed how other energy sources consume water as a coolant or receptacle for waste. Entire university courses are dedicated to human uses of water.

Water Scarcity

Only 3% of water on Earth is freshwater. Of course, we need this to drink, but we need it for many more services beyond that.

Many plumbing fixtures are made of copper, which saltwater severely corrodes, same as lead and, over a longer time, PVC. Toilets on average use 1-5 gallons of water per flush. If we want to preserve freshwater by switching to saltwater plumbing, we would have to rethink and re-pipe entire plumbing systems.

We lose safe water in rain, as well. Supported by a study in Environmental Science and Technology, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2022 stated that rainwater is not safe to drink. Chemicals known as per-/poly-fluoroalkyl substances break down extremely slowly, and have leached from many products like cleaners, fabrics, and shampoo into the water cycle. Removing PFAS from water requires filters of activated carbon or reverse osmosis membranes, which also require frequent maintenance.

A lot of water is also not available to us because it is in ice caps and glaciers, which are estimated to be about 68% of Earth’s freshwater. This water is also being lost, because as glaciers melt at increasing rates, that freshwater becomes saltwater in the ocean.

These limitations mean that water is not necessarily renewable yet, especially because treating water produces its own waste and pollution. We have to be responsible with the small percentage of water we have access to.

Irresponsible Use

There are a ridiculous amount of ways in which we waste water. Leaks, watering lawns, and leaving taps running are some of the big household wastes of water. While individual accountability and changes can still make a big difference, I want to focus on bigger impacts.

One example is in nuclear power production. Nuclear power plants use water to cool down used fuel when it is done being used in the reactor. This results in radioactive and thermal water pollution.

Agriculture is another common cause of water pollution. Excess water from rain or artificial watering runs off of agricultural fields and flows towards streams and bodies of water. This runoff often includes amounts of fertilizers and pesticides ranging from minimal to extremely harmful. This leads to improper levels of oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen within the water. Like water contaminated by pharmaceuticals, this is not safe to drink, and something not safe for skin contact.

Technology is also a major factor of water demands. Artificial Intelligence and cryptocurrency are heavy water consumers.

AI is beneficial within waste management, as it is able to quickly analyze information and identify issues, potential problems, and potential areas of improvement. Unfortunately, AI training requires a large amount of water. One study states that training GPT-3 alone can evaporate 700,000 liters of freshwater. In 2027, AI is predicted to consume 4.2 to 6.6 billion cubic meters of water. In comparison, Denmark nationally consumes around one billion cubic meters in a year.

Cryptocurrency is even worse. It goes through a process called mining in which transactions are verified and new ‘coins’ are generated into the system. This process is extremely water-demanding. For example, in 2021, mining of Bitcoin consumed more than 1,600 gigaliters of global water. On average, each cryptocurrency transaction consumes 16,000 liters of water in cooling down the computer equipment and the power plants that provide the electricity.

Saltwater as an alternative in these situations does exist; however, this process has the disadvantages of one-time use, large water intake, sewage discharge, and ocean pollution. Technology has begun to improve on this method with seawater circulation cooling technology, which reduces sewage discharge and water intake, but remains an imperfect solution.

Technology has the potential to drastically improve environmental management and restoration, but still has a long way to go before we offset the huge impacts we have made. Freshwater is taken for granted by many people, and the systems that disproportionately consume the most of it are not held accountable. This cycle must stop if we want to make water a truly renewable resource.

Additional Resources

1. Water Renewability

2. Corrosion on Plumbing

3. Treating PFAS

4. Household Water Waste

5. Nuclear Water Waste

6. AI Helping Water Management

7. AI Water Consumption

8. Crypto Mining Water Consumption

9. Seawater cooling technology

#renewable power #renewable energy #water #water pollution #technology #artificial intelligence #ai training #cryptocurrency #digital currency #bitcoin #article #research #resources #environment #climate change #science

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girlactionfigure · 2 years

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Brave Italian Priest

Holy life cut short

Giuseppe Girotti was a Catholic priest who opposed Mussolini’s fascist regime and created escape routes and safe havens for persecuted Italian Jews.

Born in Alba, Italy in 1905, Giuseppe was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family. He was baptized as an infant and received his First Communion and Confirmation at age seven. When Giuseppe was thirteen years old, he heard a sermon from a Dominican preacher that changed his life. He felt that God called him to the priesthood, and he began studying at a Dominican convent the next year. After an extensive period of study and service, Giuseppe was ordained in 1930 and continued his study of scripture in Rome and Jerusalem. During his time in the Holy Land, Father Giuseppe developed close friendships with religious Jews there, and became a leader in interfaith outreach efforts, focusing on bridge-building with the Jewish community rather than proselytizing.

Father Giuseppe published a scholarly work on the Book of Isaiah from the Jewish Bible in 1938 and then was hired as a theology professor at a convent of his order in Turin, Italy. When not working he volunteered at a nearby hospice. During this time, fascist Benito Mussolini rose to power in Italy. He led his country into the Second World War on the Axis side in 1940, and became a loyal ally to Hitler and Nazi Germany. Father Giuseppe strongly and openly opposed Mussolini, and after the Nazis occupied his country in 1943, he began saving Italian Jews from the Holocaust. Calling Jews “Carriers of the Word of God” and “Elder brothers,” Father Giuseppe developed a system of escape routes and secure hiding places for Jews targeted by the Nazis. His deep knowledge of Judaism and Jewish culture helped him connect with Jews in need.

One of the first Italian Jews Father Giuseppe saved was an 18 year old girl named Emma Falco, who’d been his neighbor when growing up in Alba. Emma was expelled from school for being Jewish, and her father’s electrical meter factory was confiscated by the Nazis. He found a safe hiding place for Emma and her mother in a Turin convent, and provided her father with false identification papers which enabled him to escape Italy and immigrate to America. The family was reunited after the war, and Emma later married Sergio DeBenedetti, a prominent physicist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Emma and Sergio were married for 50 years, and after her beloved husband’s death, Emma endowed the Falco-DeBenedetti Career Development Professorship in Physics, which helps promising young physicists conduct their research. Generations of physicists have now benefitted from this program, and most are likely not aware of the debt they owe to the Catholic priest who saved Emma’s life.

In 1944, Father Giuseppe was transporting a wounded Jewish resistance fighter to a safe house when he was betrayed to the Nazi authorities. He was taken to a prison in Turin while his monastic superior tried to get him released. However, the attempt failed and Father Giuseppe was transferred to another prison, then another, finally winding up at Dachau concentration camp on October 9, 1944. He was tattooed with inmate number 113355. He was imprisoned with 1000 other priests in a squalid barracks meant to hold less than 200 people.

While incarcerated, Father Giuseppe developed a fast-growing malignancy in his leg which was diagnosed as carcinoma. He was placed in the camp’s medical center, where instead of receiving treatment he was killed with a lethal injection of gasoline a week after arriving. The brave priest was buried in a mass grave. One of his fellow inmates wrote an inscription on his now-empty bunk: “Here slept Saint Giuseppe Girotti.”

Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem honored Father Giuseppe posthumously as Righteous Among the Nations, and a tree was planted in his honor in Jerusalem.

For saving innocent lives at the cost of his own, we honor Father Giuseppe Girotti as this week’s Thursday Hero.

#Thursday Hero

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total-drama-takes-takes-2 · 1 year

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tta episode 8

“Last time, on Total Takes Action: our cast competed in an all-out period drama, complete with costumes, ballroom dancing, and a thrilling Victorian mystery. Max and Michael stirred up some trouble, but it was the latter of the group who stumbled across the coveted Immunity Idol- before she gave it away and took the walk of shame herself, begrudgingly leaving Max and Scary behind to battle out their differences themselves. Will they kill each other? Or will their feud only result in life-threatening injuries? Find out now, on Total! Takes! Island!”

The sun has just barely risen over the film lot, but Scruffy is up bright and early nonetheless. Using nothing but four tires, a broken whistle, shards of glass, and a few sandbags they snagged from the sets, they’d constructed an obstacle course around the lot.

They stoop over the asphalt, chalking down a line in front of them before standing and placing their hands on their hips to proudly survey their creation.

“Here goes nothing,”

They blow the whistle, only emitting a faint wheezing sound, and start off, sprinting across the first leg of the track. Next comes the tire jumps, which they maneuver through with expert speed and agility. They pass through the valley of sandbags and scoop up two, putting one over either shoulder- but the extra weight only motivates them further, and they bound through the course until reaching the pit of broken glass. They take a deep breath and swing one sandbag’s attached rope forward, catching a streetlamp, and swing over the hole, landing on their feet on the other side.

The white chalk line reappears in the distance and they stop, taking the remaining sandbag and spinning in circles until they’ve built up enough speed to throw it across the line, far, far away.

On the other side of camp, Sha-Mod opens one of the doors to the trailers and shrieks as one of the sandbags lands meters away from him.

“Oops!” Scruffy yells from across the lot. “Sorry!”

O sticks his head out of the trailer doorway and sighs. “They’re at it again, aren’t they?”

Sha-Mod mumbles and yawns.

---

O: “I learned a lot from Michela- but if I’m going to become an expert therapist, I have to be flexible enough to take on any case. And I think I just found my next patient!”

---

The craft services tent feels more crowded than usual this morning- though, that’s probably because Max and Scary’s negative energy is clouding the space with hatred and evil. The two have chosen opposite ends of the table to sit at, crossing their arms and glaring at each other. Everyone else has chosen a side to align themselves with- O and Fren with Max, Scruffy and Sha-Mod with Scary.

Peter watches as Chef dumps something greenish-yellow and wet on his tray and he retreats towards the seating area. Since the merge is today, the two separate tables have been reduced to just one in the center of the room.

Peter’s eyes dart between either side, both crowded with an even number of individuals. He scratches his neck nervously.

---

PETER: “In conflicts like this, I’d normally choose the side with the least amount of people- to even the scale and bring a little universal harmony to the room- I hate odd numbers!”

---

“Peter, over here!” Fren waves. Peter breathes a sigh of relief, having been formally invited over and thus not having to make the decision by himself.

On the other side of the table, Scruffy is standing behind Scary, jogging in place. They have a set of earbuds in, listening to something fast and powerful- and loud. Sha-Mod is nodding along with the music across from Scary, herself trying to read.

She glances up, annoyed, as Scruffy breathes heavily over her shoulder, and then snaps the book shut.

They turn- “Scruffy?”

The green-haired trainee pops out an earbud. “Can’t talk now, working!”

---

SCRUFFY: “Yes, I started this season off poorly- but that’s behind me now, and after last episode, I realized what I was missing- more training! It couldn’t be any clearer to me!”

---

Scary rolls his eyes. “Okay, but, seriously. We’re not here to win money, we’re here to-”

“Uncover whatever scandal Chris is hiding and sue him for 46.7 million dollars, yeah, yeah- why can’t we do both?” they huff, stopping their jog to stretch. “Make it 47.7 million!”

“Because we’re wasting our time with these dumb challenges already! I keep getting sucked into them, and forgetting my mission, and I need you to-”

Scruffy doesn’t respond, too busy twisting their body like a human pretzel and breathing in loud bursts. Scary massages her temples.

“46.7 million dollars?” Sha-Mod asks, spooning his green slime. “That’s a lot of money… that could probably buy at least twelve castles.”

“46.7 is just the baseline I calculated. Depending on what we find, we could be talking 100, 200 million,” Scary says nonchalantly, opening their book back up.

Sha-Mod’s eyes widen, and he leans forward. “I want in!”

Scary opens their mouth to reject him, but is interrupted by the sound of Scruffy doing jumping jacks on the wet grass behind them. She sighs. “Okay, fine. I need another goon, anyway,”

“Yes!” he pumps his fist victoriously. “I’m a goon!”

“Good morning, contestants- or should I say, girlbosses? Meet me outside the makeup and hair booth in ten!”

---

The crowd of remaining players stands before the makeshift confessional as Chris steps out of it, his hair shiny and flowing and blonde. He looks behind him with a grin. “Thanks, Rhonda,”

Scary’s jaw drops. Max suppresses a laugh.

“Hey, man, do you know what a bleach job like this costs?!” Chris shouts, throwing out his arms for emphasis. “And I wouldn’t act so cocky, since today’s challenge is blonder than this ‘do- the eponymous chick flick!”

No one seems exactly thrilled, but some look paler than others- both Max and Scary’s faces have twisted into unpleasant, pained expressions.

“That’s right! Today’s challenge will be all about gossip, boys, and shopping- and what would a chick flick be without an awesome makeover scene?” Chris chuckles. “Which brings me to your first task- since today’s episode marks the official merge- AKA, you’re on your own from here on out- you’ll be choosing a temporary teammate for makeovers. Everything you’ll need will be in the hair and makeup department, and the best look will win a special prize for the next round. Ciao!”

Chris chuckles and walks off, waving to the disturbed crowd.

Peter quivers. “But- there’s an uneven number of us!”

“Hey, don’t worry, mate,” Fren says, smiling confidently. “Back home, I’m an expert in all things fashion- Vogue England has me on speed-dial. I can easily take two!”

O scooches over to Scruffy, who’s busy rotating their wrists and popping their joints. “Team?”

“What? Oh, yeah!” they nod. “This kinda reminds me of how Heather went through a ton of wig phases in Drama’s version of action. And when Courtney came back-”

“Okay!” O interrupts. “Let’s get in that studio!”

Sha-Mod and Scary begrudgingly team up, leaving Max with Fren and Peter. He sighs.

---

MAX: “This is hell. We’re in hell. Scary killed me in my sleep last week, and I went to hell, and this is my eternal punishment,”

---

Scary sits in the designated salon chair first, sighing and opening up their book. Sha-Mod looks over their shoulder and squints at the confusing mathematical symbols and large, scary words on the page, and then shakes his head. “So… what do you want me to do?”

Scary speaks plainly. “Make it work,”

Across the room, the Fren trio has set up shop, though only 2/3rds of the group seem excited.

“Okay, so, here’s what I’m thinking for you, Peter- extensions- blue! They would make your eyes just pop,” Fren nods along. “I can blend them seamlessly into your natural length- then of course, we have to do some makeup…”

“Oh, no. Absolutely not,” Max says, standing. “I will not be turned into a Barbie doll so you can prove to everyone that you’re special.”

Peter watches the confrontation nervously. Fren scoffs, putting his hands on his hips. “Don’t even get me started. Besides, I wouldn’t do the same thing for both of you- that would just be unprofessional. Sit!”

“I don’t-”

“Do you want to win this or not?”

Max crosses his arms and sits down, annoyed. Fren smiles and wheels off Peter to the hair-washing stations.

---

O brushes through Scruffy’s hair as they practice holding their breath.

“Annnnd… time!” O shouts. “Six minutes!” Scruffy grins.

“Not my best, but not my worst. All I know is that I’m gonna kill when we get to the next underwater challenge!”

“You think we’re gonna have one of those?”

“Maybe! In the original TDA, there was an episode where the contestants were locked in a chamber that was slowly filling up with water. If I were there, I would’ve gotten them out in no time,” Scruffy states, matter-of-factly.

O frowns, and then takes a few deep breaths.

“What was that?” Scruffy asks.

“That made me a little anxious. When I get anxious, I like to take a few deep breaths to calm down,” he says, explaining with a wide smile. “If I have time, I do some meditation, or practice thoughtfulness.”

---

O: “Using therapy techniques to help bring some peace to this chaotic crew is my personal speciality. If everyone learned how to breathe, ground, and reflect, this show would be a breeze!”

---

Scruffy nods. “Ohhh, yeah. I’ve tried that before. Didn’t like it,”

O stops brushing and his eyes widen. “Um… what?”

“What? You think you’re the only person on the cast who knows about psychology? I’ve taken six university level classes and two online courses, just to write my 11th grade thesis paper on Izzy. I’ve tried all that… reflective stuff, and it just doesn’t work for me,” They explain, taking the brush from O’s hands and continuing the work themselves. “I’m very action-oriented. Get it? Action? Like the show we’re on?”

They laugh to themselves as O stares at them in horror.

---

O: “Doesn’t work? Doesn’t WORK!? No, no… they just must not be doing it right- or they’re not doing it enough! What is WRONG with this cast?!”

---

Scary sighs, taking off the cucumbers Sha-Mod had placed over their eyes and sitting up as soon as the sound of the hair dryer dulled down.

“That took forever,” she says, flicking the sliced vegetables away. “Ready for- oh. My. God.”

Sha-Mod beams, handing them a small mirror. “You like?”

“LIKE?!” she stands, grabbing the mirror. “I’M BLONDE!”

He shrugs. “You said do whatever.”

“NO- I SAID MAKE IT WORK! THIS IS NOT MAKING IT WORK!”

Fren passes by with Max, the latter’s head wrapped in a towel. “Woah, nice shade. Is that ashy blonde I spy?”

Sha-Mod crosses his arms and nods. Though his face is concealed, it’s obvious he’s smirking triumphantly. Scary seethes.

“I will NOT let you reduce me to an airheaded bimbo! Dye it back NOW!”

Chris’ voice blares over the intercom. “One more hour, stylists!”

Scary screams in frustration and shoves Sha-Mod into the chair before picking up a pair of scissors and grinning maliciously.

---

“Alright, let’s see what we got here-” Chris stands outside the makeup and hair confessional, hands on his hips. Chef is beside him, holding a clipboard. “First pair… let’s do Scruffy and O!”

The two emerge, looking about the same, just slightly more trim and polished.

“Ummm… what’e the big reveal here?” Chris asks.

Scruffy holds out their hands. “We got manicures. It’s clear polish,”

The host narrows his eyes and turns to Chef, who gives them a thumbs down. “Three out of nine on the Chef-o-Meter. Not ideal. Next… Scary and Sha-Mod, let’s see those looks!”

Sha-Mod steps down, confidently striking a pose. His hair is bright pink now, and there’s mascara and false lashes on the Lightning picture. Obviously, Scary’s mission to humiliate him like he did her backfired terribly, since Sha-Mod seems to be in his prime.

Scary begrudgingly follows, still very blonde.

“Ooh, now THOSE are some changes. Chef?”

8/9 on the Chef-o-Meter.

“Who’s left… ah, yes, our trio- Peter, Max, and Fren!”

The lights suddenly seem to dim and Chris raises an eyebrow. A blanket of fog rolls over the area and beams of multicolored light shine throughout the space. An echo-ey voice speaks as electropop blasts:

“Presenting… presenting… presenting… Master Fren’s very own… very own… very own… Frendom Posse!”

Fren walks out first, nails repainted, the ends of his hair dyed a slightly different shade of pink, a designer scarf around his neck and sunglasses on his face. He strikes a few poses, and everyone but Scary Oohs and Ahhs at the presentation.

Then, the smoke clears and Peter and Max stand awkwardly behind him. The latter looking like he’s about to start killing, the former looking a little confused and lost. Nonetheless, Peter’s blue extensions and the slightly lighter brown highlights in Max’s hair look good enough to distract from their weird presentation.

Fren strikes a final pose and tosses his sunglasses into the crowd. They hit Scary in the eye and she hisses.

“Wow. Flashy,” Chris says. “Chef?”

7/9.

“Against all odds, Scary Lite and Sha-Fabulous have won!”

Fren stares blankly, frozen in place. Max shoves him over as he storms by to rejoin the crowd, and he falls like a tree to the forest floor. Sha-Mod cheers and Scary grumbles a quick “you got lucky” as Chef approaches them with two boxes.

“In these boxes are two keys that will help you with the next round of the competition,” Chris explains as each accepts the gifts. Sha-Mod holds it up to his ear and shakes it.

“These are too light. Let me guess- empty?” Scary rolls her eyes. She opens the box and pulls out a standard-grade #2 pencil. "Oh, great! A weapon!" she grins at Sha-Mod.

“Not… quite. Because the next part of this challenge has nothing to do with makeup or hair- it’s a law school entrance exam!”

“WHAT?!” she shouts.

Max crosses his arms. “Yeah, I’m not complaining, but what exactly does that have to do with chick flicks?”

“You poor uneducated soul,” Chris shakes his head. “Everyone knows that every chick flick protagonist is much smarter than she looks- good girls with big dreams make big money!”

---

Scary sighs.

SCARY: “At least it’s not more shopping- or worse, boy-crazy ass kissing!”

---

“And- oh, yeah- that reminds me! Every chick flick has a dreamboat love interest who’s only into unique, smart, classy ladies- if you pass the exam, you’ll impress Bradley Chadington over here,”

Chef walks over with a cardboard cutout of a blonde guy. Scary puts her head in her hands.

“Now, if you’ll follow me- the testing room awaits!”

---

MAX: “This is insane. From nearly poisoning us to making us take college entrance exams… Frankly, I’d take the poisoning,”

---

The courtroom set has been modified to an exam hall, each individual desk spaced out from one another. The cardboard cutout of Bradley sits at the front of the room, next to the “teacher’s” desk- where Chef is sitting, adjusting his reading glasses and leafing through packets.

“Here’s how this works- once you complete your exam, you’ll send it up to Professor Chef for grading- whoever wins gets immunity for today,”

The contestants smile- but that expression soon drops when Chris begins passing out comically huge stacks of paper. “You have three hours to complete your tests,”

While most of the players look nervous and begin to slowly leaf through their packets, Scary smiles confidently.

---

SCARY: “I’m no law student, but I’ve done my fair share of research into regulations and government spending- some of that must’ve rubbed off,”

---

Scruffy nervously taps their foot, drums their fingers against the desk, and whistles quietly.

O leans over. “If you’re anxious, you can try some grounding exercises. I know a few that-”

“No thanks!” Scruffy whispers back. “Fidgeting helps me read!”

O twitches.

---

O: “Maybe… maybe Scruffy doesn’t have anxiety. Could it be possible that I mis-unofficially-diagnosed someone?” he thinks for a moment. “No- that would mean Dr. Anderson could misdiagnose me, and science can’t be wrong… can it?”

---

Sha-Mod leafs through his packet, humming to himself. Max runs his fingers through his hair and chews on his pencil eraser. Peter scribbles down statistics on the side of his test.

---

PETER: “I don’t know anything about law, and I'm not so good at choosing... so I thought… well, there are only multiple choice questions- how hard could it be to guess the probability of each one being A, B, or C?”

---

“Done!” Scary shouts, running to the front of the room and dropping off his massive test packet. Chef grumbles and begins leafing through it.

“I don’t get paid enough for this,”

Max follows, then O, Peter shortly behind. Scruffy comes next, leaving Sha-Mod and Fren, neither of which looking particularly nervous.

---

FREN: “Yeah, in primary I volunteered to work the phones at a law firm that only dealt with very important personnel- celebrities, millionaires, people you probably haven’t even heard of- I’ve picked up a thing or two!”

---

Chef hands back Scary’s paper. “A,”

“Yes!” She grabs it back, leafing through the answers as Fren turns in his test.

The scores pour out- Max gets a B+, Peter an A-, O and Scruffy both at a perfectly in-sync 70%, a C- for each.

Finally, Sha-Mod finishes his test and turns it in. Chef sighs and flips through it, but as he gets past the first ten or so pages, his expression shifts from annoyed to surprised, then from surprised to shocked.

“I can’t believe this- I’ve never seen anything like this before-” he murmurs. Scary raises an eyebrow. “A perfect 100%- it’s impossible! A+! A+! You’re going to Harvard, kid! Oh, and Fren got a D-.”

“WHAT?!” Fren shouts. Sha-Mod jumps up and down with joy, and runs over to hug the cardboard cutout.

Scary’s jaw drops. “You have got to be joking- that clown- HOW?!”

“Well, Chris said that we were doing all this to impress a boy, right? I just imagined my boy McLovin, and the answers came naturally!” Sha-Mod nodded.

“YOU GUESSED?!”

Peter scratches his chin. “That’s… well, it’s statistically quite possible,"

Max nods. “They say that if you give a million monkeys typewriters, one of them will end up writing Shakespeare,”

“THAT’S INSANE!” Scary shouts, flipping a desk. “YOU CANNOT LET THIS BABOON WIN! IT’S NOT FAIR!”

Chris watches the display with delight. Chef raises an eyebrow. “Should I stop her?”

“No, no, I want to see where this goes,”

“HE’S A GOON, MY GOON! I CHOSE HIM SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE HE’S GOT THE IQ OF A BRICK!”

Max grins. “Divine karma, compadre,”

“KARMA ISN’T REAL! LUCK ISN’T REAL! OH MY GOD- THIS IS CHAOS!” Scary shouts, swiping the stack of tests off Chef’s desk before turning to Sha-Mod like a rabid animal. “I HAVE BEEN CARRYING YOU AND YOUR BOYTOYS THROUGHOUT THIS ENTIRE CONTEST- YOU WOULDN’T EVEN BE HERE IF IT WEREN’T FOR ME! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO WIN!”

She storms over and grabs Sha-Mod by the collar. “YOU WON’T EVEN SHOW YOUR OWN FACE- WELL, MR. WINNER, LET’S SHOW THE WORLD WHO’S REALLY WINNING THIS!” The crowd stares in shock, a thick layer of suspense hovering over the room as Scary grabs the edge of the Lightning picture. “DUMB LOVERBOY- WHO EVEN CARES ABOUT BOYS! BOYS ARE STUPID! DOING THINGS FOR LOVE IS STUPID!”

“Ding-ding!” Chris shouts. “And here, we have our winner!”

Scary stops dead in her tracks and turns like a deer caught in headlights. Their blonde hair is a frizzy mess, eyes wild. “What did you say?”

“See, the goal was never to impress a boy- an empowered female protagonist in a chick flick always learns that boys are garbage, and she should do things for herself- so in a way, this was a test… within a test,” Chris explains. “And Scary won by denouncing boys and girlbossing her way to victory.”

“I… I won!” Scary says, smiling insanely and laughing like a maniac. She drops Sha-Mod and he scampers away. “I won! I won! I won!”

Max shakes his head, feigning pity. “Poor thing. Being surrounded by stupid people has finally gotten to her,”

“Do you think we should intervene?” O asks, starting forward. Scruffy holds an arm out to stop him. “Let’s save that for a later episode,”

Chris chuckles. “Alright- Scary wins immunity. The rest of you, I’ll see at the Gilded Chris’ tonight,”

---

“What a day- meltdown after meltdown, tantrum after tantrum- you kids really have a way of reminding me why I do what I do,” Chris wipes away a tear as he stands at the podium. “Unfortunately, one of you will be heading home today- never to return, EVER!”

Max rolls his eyes.

“Since Scary has immunity, she’ll be receiving the first Gilded Chris,” he tosses them the gold-wrapped chocolate. They beam.

“Next, we have O- Scruffy- and Peter,”

“Max,”

Max smiles and accepts the award. Scary doesn’t even seem to care.

“Fren- you didn’t exactly impress anyone today, and you made at least one player pretty mad. And Sha-Mod… well, let’s just say you have a price on your head right now,” Chris chuckles. “But only one of you is going home… and that person… is…”

Sha-Mod takes a deep breath, and Fren quivers.

“...Sha-Mod. Fren, you’re safe,”

Sha-Mod stands curtly, holding a confident pose. Scary waves good-bye and bites the head off her Chris.

---

SHA-MOD: “I voted myself out. I’m not ashamed to admit it! What happened today with Scary… I can’t have that happen again. My identity is sacred, like a wizard’s orb or a magic amulet- not just anybody gets to have it. They have to be a beginning mage at the very least… Scary is barely a spell-caster,” he trails off. “Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah- no, thanks! Besides, this show has given me a lot of good business ideas to get rich off of instead. Why has no one cornered the ghost-hunting market yet?!”

---

“Who will have an epic meltdown next time? And who will be taking the next walk of shame? Find out soon, on Total! Takes! Island!”

#tta #total takes action #drops this and then runs away

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unchartedpotential · 15 days

Text

The American Radiator Building, now known as the Bryant Park Hotel, is one of the most iconic early skyscrapers in New York City. Located at 40 West 40th Street, it overlooks Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan. This building, constructed in 1924, is a standout example of the fusion of Gothic Revival and Art Deco styles, designed by renowned architects Raymond Hood and André Fouilhoux. Its design and significance have made it a prominent fixture in New York City's skyline and a key piece of the city’s architectural history.

Historical Overview:

Originally commissioned by the American Radiator Company, the building was intended to serve as the company's headquarters. At the time, the American Radiator Company was a major player in heating and plumbing systems, so the building was constructed to reflect both industrial power and modern elegance. The black brick exterior, intended to symbolize coal, and the gold trim, representing fire, are metaphors for the company’s business, combining both raw industrial elements with luxurious, forward-thinking design.

Key Points and Architectural Significance:

Architectural Design and Style:

Designed by Raymond Hood, who later designed the famous Rockefeller Center, and André Fouilhoux, the building is a hybrid of Gothic Revival and Art Deco architecture.

Its most striking feature is its black brick facade, an unconventional choice at the time, symbolizing coal. The gold trim on the setbacks and pinnacles represents fire, directly tying the building’s aesthetics to the American Radiator Company's role in the coal and heating industries.

The building's verticality, ornamentation, and setbacks are early signs of what would become the dominant Art Deco skyscraper style in New York throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

Height and Structure:

The building stands at 338 feet (103 meters) and has 23 stories, a significant height for its time.

Its steel-frame construction allowed for large vertical dimensions, and the use of setbacks—required by the 1916 Zoning Resolution—helped shape the city's modern skyscraper aesthetic.

Symbolism in Materials:

The choice of materials in the building’s facade is symbolic: black bricks represent coal, the source of heat, while gold represents fire and energy, key elements of the heating and radiator industry.

The use of industrial imagery in an elegant building was groundbreaking, and the American Radiator Building is often cited as a precursor to the Art Deco movement, blending industrial might with luxury and beauty.

Cultural Impact:

The building’s bold design and rich symbolism caught the attention of artists and critics alike. It was famously painted by Georgia O'Keeffe in her 1927 work Radiator Building – Night, New York, where she depicted the building against a luminous nighttime cityscape, highlighting its iconic shape and glowing gold details.

The American Radiator Building became a symbol of the modern age—where industry, art, and architecture met—at a time when New York was asserting itself as a global center of innovation and culture.

Transition to the Bryant Park Hotel:

In 2001, the building was converted into the Bryant Park Hotel, a luxury boutique hotel that retained much of its original architectural grandeur. The hotel has kept many of the building's iconic features while adding modern amenities and services. The hotel continues to be a cultural landmark, hosting events and celebrities, and maintaining the historical aura of the building.

Influence on Future Architecture:

The American Radiator Building is often considered a precursor to the fully developed Art Deco style that would dominate New York architecture in the 1920s and 1930s. Raymond Hood’s design sensibilities, displayed in this building, were later applied in his more famous projects, like Rockefeller Center and the McGraw-Hill Building.

Its bold color scheme of black and gold was highly unusual for its time and set the stage for a more adventurous approach to materials and ornamentation in skyscrapers.

Legacy and Preservation:

The building was designated a New York City Landmark in 1974, ensuring its preservation as a crucial piece of the city's architectural history.

It has become a cherished part of the New York skyline, particularly noticeable from Bryant Park, and remains a favorite subject for photographers and architects due to its striking contrast with nearby modern glass skyscrapers.

Conclusion:

The American Radiator Building is an outstanding example of how industrial symbolism and modern aesthetics can blend into a masterpiece of architecture. Its use of black bricks and gold accents to reflect the heating industry, coupled with its early adoption of Art Deco styling, make it an important precursor to many of New York's iconic buildings. Its transformation into the Bryant Park Hotel in the 21st century has allowed the building to retain its place in both the city's history and its future, continuing to serve as a symbol of New York’s architectural evolution.

- Not mine just sharing

#america #dark gothic #gothic #aesthetic #creative inspiration #art #photography #skyscraper #architecture #structure #buildings #historical #art deco #inspiration #motivation #ideas #creativity

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 28 days

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NASA’s Europa Clipper Gets Set of Super-Size Solar Arrays

The largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for planetary exploration just got its ‘wings’ — massive solar arrays to power it on the journey to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft recently got outfitted with a set of enormous solar arrays at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Each measuring about 46½ feet (14.2 meters) long and about 13½ feet (4.1 meters) high, the arrays are the biggest NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission. They have to be large so they can soak up as much sunlight as possible during the spacecraft’s investigation of Jupiter’s moon Europa, which is five times farther from the Sun than Earth is.

The arrays have been folded up and secured against the spacecraft’s main body for launch, but when they’re deployed in space, Europa Clipper will span more than 100 feet (30.5 meters) — a few feet longer than a professional basketball court. The “wings,” as the engineers call them, are so big that they could only be opened one at a time in the clean room of Kennedy’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where teams are readying the spacecraft for its launch period, which opens Oct. 10.

Flying in Deep Space

Meanwhile, engineers continue to assess tests conducted on the radiation hardiness of transistors on the spacecraft. Longevity is key, because the spacecraft will journey more than five years to arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030. As it orbits the gas giant, the probe will fly by Europa multiple times, using a suite of science instruments to find out whether the ocean underneath its ice shell has conditions that could support life.

Powering those flybys in a region of the solar system that receives only 3% to 4% of the sunlight Earth gets, each solar array is composed of five panels. Designed and built at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, and Airbus in Leiden, Netherlands, they are much more sensitive than the type of solar arrays used on homes, and the highly efficient spacecraft will make the most of the power they generate.

At Jupiter, Europa Clipper’s arrays will together provide roughly 700 watts of electricity, about what a small microwave oven or a coffee maker needs to operate. On the spacecraft, batteries will store the power to run all of the electronics, a full payload of science instruments, communications equipment, the computer, and an entire propulsion system that includes 24 engines.

While doing all of that, the arrays must operate in extreme cold. The hardware’s temperature will plunge to minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 240 degrees Celsius) when in Jupiter’s shadow. To ensure that the panels can operate in those extremes, engineers tested them in a specialized cryogenic chamber at Liège Space Center in Belgium.

“The spacecraft is cozy. It has heaters and an active thermal loop, which keep it in a much more normal temperature range,” said APL’s Taejoo Lee, the solar array product delivery manager. “But the solar arrays are exposed to the vacuum of space without any heaters. They’re completely passive, so whatever the environment is, those are the temperatures they get.”

About 90 minutes after launch, the arrays will unfurl from their folded position over the course of about 40 minutes. About two weeks later, six antennas affixed to the arrays will also deploy to their full size. The antennas belong to the radar instrument, which will search for water within and beneath the moon’s thick ice shell, and they are enormous, unfolding to a length of 57.7 feet (17.6 meters), perpendicular to the arrays.

“At the beginning of the project, we really thought it would be nearly impossible to develop a solar array strong enough to hold these gigantic antennas,” Lee said. “It was difficult, but the team brought a lot of creativity to the challenge, and we figured it out.”

More About the Mission

Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed the main spacecraft body in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.

NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.

TOP IMAGE: NASA’s Europa Clipper is seen here on Aug. 21 at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers and technicians deployed and tested the giant solar arrays to be sure they will operate in flight. Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux

CENTRE IMAGE: NASA’s Europa Clipper is seen here on Aug. 21 in a clean room at Kennedy Space Center after engineers and technicians tested and stowed the spacecraft’s giant solar arrays. Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux

LOWER IMAGE: This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter. The mission’s launch period opens Oct. 10. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #nasa #astrophysics #europa clipper

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hirocimacruiser · 3 months

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Puma Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V

Mitsubishi TEST&SERVICE

Debuted in the second race. In qualifying, he suddenly took the first corner of R. In the finals, he was at the top for a while. 4th place in qualifying (1st in class), 4th in final (1st in class). Driver: Akihiko Nakatani/Sakae Obata.

③Suspension damper is KYB. The spring is Ralliart. ④Safety fuel tank is made by ATN. Capacity is 120ℓ. ⑤The steering wheel is MOMO buckskin. ⑥ The meter is Pi system. On the left is the Omori boost gauge. ⑦The door hinges are carved out because they hit the roll cage. (8, 9) was originally a work RS-Z (8JX 17). The tires are 225/45R17 ADVAN. 1⑩ Replace the radiator with one made by Denso. (11) The oil cooler is genuine. (12) Aero mirror is Valdisport. ⑬The rear is equipped with a differential cooler. LSD is Ralliart (viscous only in the center). (14)The roll bar passes through the bulkhead. The tower bar is Valdisport. There was a WRC plan for the ECU, but the current one is the original. Commercialization is also under consideration. (15)The muffler is thin, about 80mm. (16)The yellow part on the console is the starter, and the one below is the water spray. (17) The roll cage is for FIA-approved rallies. (18) shift is a sword. The knob is a small screwdriver, which is my preference. (19) seats are Valdisport Type II. (20) The roll cage looks like a bird cage. Please compare it with the Impreza on the right.

In the second race, they defeated the Nissan Development Team's GT-R. The tire size/tread has been expanded since Evo IV, reducing the time by approximately 2 seconds.

Exceeded IV in all aspects. There are no flaws!

``The new EVO V has solved all the shortcomings of the EVO IV . In particular, thanks to the wider tread, cornering speed has improved dramatically. It has become my specialty.'' Mr. Yamada of Test & Service maintains the ``Puma Evo,'' which achieved amazing times and came close to the G T-R. When building the vehicle, they placed emphasis on improving the suspension, which is subject to increased strain due to the increased cornering force. Therefore, in testing and service, even if a high input value is added, it cannot be accepted.

I decided to build a strong body. However, the main difference from the Impreza is that instead of welding reinforcement such as adding more spots, the main reinforcement is the extensive use of a strong roll bar that penetrates the body and is also used in WRC. Looking at each part, there are only a few welded parts. The weight is also 30kg more than the standard. This idea is common to the EVO era. With the reinforcement so far, the driver

``I can feel the movement of my feet''

It seems that the comments are satisfying. The engine has a proven track record of being packed to the hilt, starting with the Evo, and is powerful and stable enough to keep its rivals at bay. The cooling performance seems to be high, and the original oil cooler is used as is. “If we keep boiling it down like this, we can last for at least one fight.”

Nakatani seemed to be breathing heavily.

PROVA Eifel Dunlop GC8 Impreza

Debuted in last year's final race! Suddenly took first place in qualifying. This year, he will participate in the second race. 12th place in qualifying (8th in class), retired in finals. Driver: Kazuo Shimizu/Tsutomu Shibuya.

④ The fuel tank is 120ℓ. (5, 6, 7) All aero parts are Prova. The side duct is effective in cooling the brakes. ⑧⑨ The tires are DL/Formula R (205/ 50R16) and the Enkei Sports 7.5J x 16. (10) differential cooler is made by Calsonic. (11) The Prova damper and spring are Swift from Tokyo Spring. (12) Two oil coolers are installed on the engine and one on the transmission. In particular, the latter has a high calorific value and is a must-have item. The radiator is also a large capacity type. ⑬The steering wheel is Impul 913 special. (14)The engine is STi tuned. Management is the same as for WRC cars. The roll cage has been changed and the battery has been made smaller. (15)The seat is full carbon made by Mooncraft. (16) The roll cage is very simple. (17,18) meter is Pi system. On the console, from the right, there is a transmission oil pump, a differential oil pump, and a reserve tank switch for using up to the last liter. Below is a display switch for the Pi data logger. ⑲The square plate visible at the back of the rear center section is the weight. (20) The rear suspension mounting area has been fully reinforced with welding.

This is the first car that Fuji Heavy Industries has officially started working on, from rally to circuit. Once you get used to the world of racing, it can be intimidating.

Unexpected or unexpected. 4 doors are more rigid than 2 doors

``Thanks to the horizontally opposed engine, everything is symmetrical, which means excellent weight balance.This is the lifeblood and appeal of this car.Also, by making full use of the four-wheel drive provided, cornering performance is improved. However, it's the direction of the settings. Thanks to this, the advantage is that you can turn with the same feeling whether it's a rainy day or a sunny day.'' Mr. Fukushima from Bulova Race Garage will be participating in the race. However, the design is older than its rivals, and it seems that the body rigidity is completely lacking, so strengthening it is necessary for the vehicle.

The most important item in production. especially the way it twists

It is said that reinforcement has been focused on the suspension mounting area (to increase suspension rigidity). Also, since last year, the use of flashy two-doors has been allowed in Super Taikyu, but the only reason why four-doors are still used is because they are highly rigid.

The roll cage isn't used much either visually. This was done to reduce weight, and only the minimum necessary parts were included after thorough body reinforcement. The weight was 30kg lighter than the standard, and 30kg was placed as weight on the passenger seat and rear center to thoroughly improve the weight balance. The body is completely finished, but is this it?

Their problem is the engine. It's a little lacking in power. If I go up a little bit more, I can catch up with EVO. It seems like STi's hard work will determine what happens next.

#Puma Mitsubishi Lancer #EVO 5 #Lanevo #Eifel GC8 Impreza WRX #GC8 #GC8 WRX #Evo lancer

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