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achtung-attitude · 2 years ago

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CHAPTER 71: Black Keys - Part 2

Opening his jacket, All-Kill places his glasses in his inner pocket. Shizuka fights the urge to retch as she looks into his blank eyes. His Keys spin on their chain like helicopter rotors, the bizarre actions making her freeze. But he gives her no time to ponder it, spinning, the lethal chain swinging at her. Shizuka steps back to avoid it, but her legs hit the edge of the couch. She falls into a seat, the Keys sailing overhead.

Turning his head to the sound, All-Kill charges at her without hesitation. She shudders, finding her enemy standing directly over her.

“ACHTUNG BABY!” she shouts. Her Stand gathers the ambient light from outside into its palm. As All-Kill draws back his fist, the Black Key between his fingers, it shoves the light into his face. The room turns white for half a second, staggering even Shizuka. All-Kill, undeterred, punches straight, aiming BLACK KEYS at her throat.

“OH MY GOD!!!” Shizuka shouts, rolling off the couch and out of the way. All-Kill pursues her, throwing a volley of punches. The fight descending once again into a brawl, Shizuka defends as best she can. Her feet crunch on the glass on the floor.

The man in black launches a haymaker which Shizuka ducks under, then retaliates with quick jabs to his elbow and armpit. He grunts softly, then recovers with a left uppercut. On instinct, the girl guards her face with her arms.

She realizes her mistake at once, as both BLACK KEYS appears between his knuckles. At the last moment, she pushes his side hard. The keys graze her palm as he staggers away.

Breathing hard, Shizuka thinks “Shit! He really did it! He blinded himself! Like this, even going invisible won’t help! Phantasma… She fought blind that time too! He’s not as strong as she was, but he’s way faster! What is with these Congregation guys?!”

Standing upright, All-Kill begins hopping lightly like a boxer. His face is turned away from Shizuka, but he knows precisely where she is by her presence and her footfalls. The girl scowls and takes a step forward. As her foot impacts the hard-wood floor, he lashes out with a kick to her knee.

She groans, her leg giving way. She falls to one knee, which lands in the glass from the coffee table. “Aaaghh!” she cries as the crushed glass cuts up her knee. All-Kill swoops down, aiming BLACK KEYS at the crown of her head.

A wooden, mannequin-like fist strikes him on his temple. “Ghh-!” he gasps, his ears ringing. The blow was light, but strong enough to rattle him long enough for Shizuka to follow up with an uppercut to his chin which makes him stumble back. “Lucky for me…!” she says, ACHTUNG BABY materializing next to her and mirroring her aggressive fighting stance. “I’ve got something you don’t!!” The female figures spin, driving their legs into All-Kill’s mid-section.

The air forced out of him, All-Kill releases an “OOOF!!!” as he’s pushed back. He trips backwards over the shallow steps in the living room, then rolls bodily into the television stand. The widescreen TV falls off the cabinet and shatters on the ground.

The man in black rolls to his feet, landing in a crouch. He can sense Shizuka’s look of smug satisfaction even without his eyes. Seething, he whispers “Braaat…!”

Rather than charging for Shizuka again, he hops onto the fallen TV stand and crouches over the edge. Reaching down to the floor, his Stand pierces the carpet.

“BLACK KEYS!” he announces, turning the Key.

Shizuka says “What the-?”, then gulps for air when the friction on the ground disappears. Her legs split as she suddenly finds no grip, striking the armchair. The heavy furniture begins sliding across the floor as if on a freshly leveled hockey rink. Shizuka finally loses all footing and lands head over heels, once again in the pile of broken glass. “AAAUUGH!!!” she wails as the jagged pieces dig into her shoulder and arm.

Hearing a chain clink, she tries to roll away, but all she does is flip onto her back. All-Kill, whipping BLACK KEYS from his perch on the TV cabinet, barely misses her, his Stand piercing the ground between her legs. He pulls the chain back and lashes it again. This time, ACHTUNG BABY appears in the air above Shizuka and kicks the Key away.

Sensing the deflection through the vibrations in the chain, All-Kill strikes again, aiming straight for ACHTUNG BABY. The doll Stand fades away, and the key pierces the ground over Shizuka’s head. She flinches, then gasps “Oh SHIT!!”

Her enemy leaps from his perch and lands feet first directly on her torso. “AKHH-!” she gags, as the weight of him drives her body over the frictionless ground, scraping her back against the broken glass. “H-he’s using me like a surfboard-!” she thinks through her pain.

The man in black twists the chain in his hand, turning the key still embedded in the ground. Friction abruptly returns, and the inertia causes Shizuka’s to slam headfirst into the wall.

Her head throbbing in pain, she can barely resist as All-Kill drags the girl up by her collar and slams her against the wall. Coming to, Shizuka sees his fist drawing back with BLACK KEYS once again ready to pierce her body. With ACHTUNG BABY summoned, the doll Stand grabs his wrist and tries to keep him at bay. Despite its best efforts, All-Kill’s fist inches closer to Shizuka’s chest.

Held fast against the wall by her furry lapels, the girl struggles, reaching out her hands to claw at his face. He seems unphased by her attempts, his lethal Stand inching ever closer. In desperation, she grabs his neck and squeezes, but All-Kill shakes her off and slams her hard against the wall.

ACHTUNG BABY’s arms shake under the strain, as Shizuka peers into All-Kill’s blind eyes, his features contorted by hatred. Her thoughts become numb, her breathing restricted. Then…

“Oh… Huh… Weird, I didn’t think of this already…” she thinks in her dimming brain. “My enemy… Is a man…”

With savage speed, Shizuka fires a kick, her knee striking All-Kill’s groin with a dull thud.

All-Kill makes no sound, but his advance halts. His expression betrays nothing. She kicks him again, harder this time in the same spot. His face twists and the strength fades from his arms. Giving Shizuka enough space to raise her legs to chest level and kick out, she strikes All-Kill’s chest, and he staggers back, releasing a held breath, hunching over. “Ow.”

Shizuka bolts before he regains his bearings. “Running? Cute…” he manages to stand upright and strides after her footfalls. “I know this house like the back of my own hand, Joestar! There is nowhere you can hide that I can’t find you!!!”

Ignoring his shouts, Shizuka keeps running, glancing behind before fleeing the living room. He doesn’t run, but walks with confidence, tracing his hand along the wall. “Crazy!” she thinks, dashing into the hallway. “This is crazy! Being weaker than Phantasma doesn’t matter when he can kill me with a single hit! Disguising myself as the movie guy just pissed him off! I won’t make it if this drags out any longer-!”

Suddenly, the house shakes. Shizuka loses her footing, then a noise like thunder comes from outside. The distinctive roar of Yeon-in’s flames bursting to life. “Mom…” she thinks, leaning against a nearby wall. She chews her lip, and thinks “No. Stick to the plan. All I can do is trust Mom to do her part. Now I have to do mine…” She then reaches the kitchen and dining room, leaping through the open door.

All-Kill follows down the dark hallway. Despite his blindness, his movements are all carefully calculated, guided by his senses of touch and hearing. Before even reaching the door, his ears pick up the sounds and smells from his kitchen.

Kicking the door open, he smells the blazing gas stove and hears running water, no doubt from a running faucet, and the bubbling of a boiling kettle. On the kitchen island, a blender spins, shredding nothing. Somewhere, a vacuum cleaner’s motor whines.

“You’re so very clever, aren’t you?” he sneers. “Trying to overload my senses…”

All-Kill stands still in the middle of his kitchen, sensing the space around him. The combined noise of the appliances merge into something resembling a chorus. An idiot’s orchestra. Steam builds, emanating from the kettle and the pouring hot water. He feels it spiraling, forming a mist.

The mist shifts as the air is disturbed, tingling the hairs on the back of his neck. Immediately, he spins about-face and punches straight with BLACK KEYS. Shizuka ducks back, releasing a choked gasp, bending over backwards like in limbo.

“The problem with being clever is that your tricks can backfire on you!” All-Kill releases the key, letting it fall on its chain. It flies over Shizuka, then flicks downward. Shizuka is forced to cartwheel away, allowing the Key to pierce the floor tiles. She ducks under another backhand swipe of the chain and leaps onto the island counter.

All-Kill flings his Key chain straight, but Shizuka jumps over it and plants her foot on it, pinning it down, until All-Kill jerks it back and throws her off-balance. She waves her hands frantically and lands hard on her back. Growling, she leaps off the island and grabs the boiling kettle, before she throws the scalding hot water straight at All-Kill.

The disturbance in the air and the sound of water prompts him to move to the fridge. He throws open the tall door and hides behind it, allowing the liquid to splash harmlessly against it. He prepares to step out, but grunts as the door is kicked from the opposite side. All-Kill throws the door off as Shizuka goes to kick again, knocking her feet away. Stumbling back, the girl takes her stance as he advances on her.

Then tires screech from outside. The sound is shortly followed by something large and heavy splashing into water. All-Kill goes stiff. “My A6…”

A moment’s distraction. Shizuka’s fist flies into All-Kill’s face,shouting “ACHTUNG!!!” as it connects. He staggers against the fridge once again, then feels the doll Stand slip its arms under his arms, trapping them. “I’ve been waiting for this…!” Shizuka says, cracking her knuckles.

#jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo no kimyou na bouken #achtung attitude #Shizuka Joestar #all-kill #black keys #ch71

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automotivepartssupplies · 3 days ago

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sdm-magnetic · 14 days ago

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The Urgent To Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Innovations in The Automotive Industry

As the issue of global warming becomes increasingly severe, reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become a focal point of international concern. The automotive industry, as one of the major sources of these emissions, is facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. To address this challenge, the automotive sector is actively seeking innovative solutions and technologies to shape the future of propulsion systems and achieve sustainable development that is green and low-carbon.

The automotive industry, as a crucial component of modern industry, significantly impacts global climate change through its greenhouse gas emissions. Traditional internal combustion engine vehicles emit substantial amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases during operation, exacerbating the trend of global warming. Therefore, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the automotive industry is of paramount importance in mitigating global climate change.

To tackle this challenge, the automotive industry is actively pursuing innovative solutions and technologies. Breakthroughs in key technologies such as resolvers, high-speed motor rotors, and motor systems provide robust support for the industry's green transformation.

The resolver, as a core component of motor control systems, plays a critical role with its high precision and reliability in enhancing the operational efficiency of motor systems. Optimizing the design and manufacturing processes of resolvers enables precise control of motor systems, improves energy utilization efficiency, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Thehigh-speed motor rotor, a key component of motor systems, with its characteristic high-speed rotation, enhances power density and efficiency. Utilizing new materials and advanced manufacturing processes further enhances the performance of high-speed motor rotors, achieving higher energy utilization efficiency and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

The motor system, as the core of automotive propulsion systems, significantly contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Advanced motor control technologies and optimized algorithms enable intelligent control of motor systems, improving energy utilization efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. Additionally, integrating advanced functionalities such as energy recovery and thermal management further decreases energy consumption and emissions during vehicle operation.

In addition to these breakthrough technologies, the automotive industry is actively exploring other innovative solutions and technologies. For instance, the development of electric vehicles and hydrogen-powered vehicles provides new pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These vehicles utilize clean energy sources, offering characteristics of zero or low emissions, which are crucial for mitigating global climate change.

In conclusion, the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is driving unprecedented changes in the automotive industry. Through the application of innovative solutions and technologies, the industry is gradually transitioning towards a green and low-carbon direction. We look forward to these innovative technologies continuing to drive the automotive industry's green transformation and making greater contributions to addressing global climate change.

#magnetic assemblies #sdm magnetics

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jcmarchi · 6 months ago

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3 Questions: Preparing students in MIT’s naval ROTC program

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/3-questions-preparing-students-in-mits-naval-rotc-program/

3 Questions: Preparing students in MIT’s naval ROTC program

Being able to say, “I fly helicopters” — specifically the Seahawk series that boast a maximum cruise elevation of 10,000 feet and 210 miles per hour — must be a great conversation starter. So must saying that you are helping to train a future generation of naval cadets at MIT, Harvard and Tufts universities, and other local schools.

U.S. Navy Commander Jennifer A. Huck, executive officer (XO) for the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) consortium, can do both. Called the Old Ironsides Battalion, the unit comprises around 80 midshipmen across six universities and is housed on the MIT campus.

After 20 years of active duty, Huck has now returned home, in a sense. She herself was commissioned through the NROTC program at Boston University, where she earned a BS in biomedical engineering in 2003. Here, Huck explains her role and how the naval ROTC program prepares students to commission as officers in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps upon graduation.

Q: Tell us a bit about your own military and academic career. Why did you decide to pursue that path? What has surprised you along the way? And of course, what is it like to fly helicopters?

A: I have always been a person who seeks a sense of purpose, and I enjoy being part of a team. I also grew up being very involved in athletics and wanted to keep physical fitness as a big part of my life. After learning about various educational opportunities the Navy offers, I instantly gravitated towards the idea of joining because I felt that the job checked the blocks for so many things that are important to me. I joined Navy ROTC at Boston University in 1999 and I have had nothing but amazing experiences since then.

As a midshipman, I explored career paths in medicine and nuclear power. My summer training experience in 2002 onboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman sealed the deal for me wanting to be a naval aviator. The freedom of flight was exhilarating and the responsibility, leadership, and skill required of the pilots fueled my drive for purpose and mission accomplishment — not to mention the views from above were quite nice!

So after graduating from BU, I completed naval flight training and earned my pilot wings in August 2005. I subsequently spent over 10 years flying missions operating in the Middle East, Horn of Africa, and Western Pacific. Flying multi-million dollar combat helicopters is thrilling and fulfilling as it requires precise control, coordination, and focus to agilely maneuver amidst immersive aircraft vibrations, loud rotor-blade noise, and anything else that may be in the area (weather, threats, terrain, etc).

Throughout my career, I’ve had many exciting assignments, including flying those H-60 combat helicopters, working operations at the U.S. Embassy in Colombia, developing requirements for next-generation technologies at the Pentagon, and instructing students in flight school and in ROTC.

It has, however, been the people, and not necessarily the jobs, that have kept me in the Navy for 21 years. There is no other organization where you will find the same camaraderie as military service.

Q: MIT has a long history of national service and takes great pride in its ROTC students — especially given the dual rigor of the curriculum and the military training. Can you explain what an XO does day to day and how you support students?

A: The NROTC executive officer plays a vital role in the leadership and administration of the program. As second-in-command, I assist the NROTC commander, Captain Jack Houdeshell, in managing the unit’s operations. I directly supervise the unit staff and midshipmen and provide guidance, mentorship, and support to ensure everyone fulfills their roles and responsibilities effectively.

Since our unit’s mission is to train midshipmen, I also oversee the development and execution of our training curriculum, which includes naval science classes, physical training, laboratory sessions, drill instruction, and other professional development activities. This oversight ensures that midshipmen are prepared to commission as officers in the United States Navy and Marine Corps upon graduation.

MIT graduates are top performers in the fleet, and the rigorous four-year program they complete here prepares them to be ready to respond to future technical and leadership challenges.

Q: As part of your service, you’ve traveled around the world, living and working in a half-dozen countries. How would you characterize the culture at MIT? What’s been special about your time on campus?

A: Like I previously mentioned, one of the most exciting parts about my job is the dynamic environment I operate in. Part of the dynamics involves traveling around the world and experiencing different cultures and conditions. My experience at MIT, in many ways, parallels certain cultural experiences from around the world.

First, MIT has a diverse student body with students representing numerous ethnic backgrounds, countries, and experiences. MIT students are very talented, hard-working, and focused on achieving their goals; they want to make the world a better place. MIT encourages freedom of thought and unique problem-solving, similar to what is required of our military and global leaders.

What I find most special about MIT is the people. Similar to the Navy, MIT creates a global network of friendships and lifelong connections. I consider the MIT community to be my “MIT family.”

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thewul · 6 months ago

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design notes: the preheating chamber is less important, it has electric mesh heaters in the conducts that the cooling room doesn't have

in between these two we have our blower

the unit is a quad fans unit in the front, now begins the confrontation with reality, so air is going to get into that cold ceramic chamber and cool all by magic… doesn't look that way

what we are doing is trying to substitute the condenser with a ceramic chamber while lacking the heat transfer surface of a condenser and proposing a whole volume to the chamber

there is still a shot at it by making our ceramic chamber have the constitution, of a heat sink basically that proposes much more heat transfer surface to the air volume

by definition that is what we are proposing also to our preheating chamber, a multilayered chamber where the air volume have much more heat transfer surface, and we might in that case do away with the electric mesh heaters in the conducts altogether

no pardon me these can both heat or cool, depending of the temperature of the fluid that goes around them, and they can be looped a number of times before the blower

in that case why bother to have both, a single large one would do with the blower in the back

so the approach changed into active passive cooling or heating and proceeding with volumes of air that are looped, where our ceramic chamber is well dual use

I guess disposing cooling plates on the floor of the ceramic chamber and heating plates on the top should do

it might not be the more complex stuff but what does it matter if that volume is going to loop back until it is at the right temperature before exiting to the blower, we still have to implement that loop

why not through the blower and shuttering the fans in front, ie the blower is going to push the air inside the chamber in a closed cycle until it discharges into the air conducts, it says nowhere that a blower has to discharge instantly the volumes that go through it, and so this one has a discharge valve

so for the sake of argument we are not showing any complex circuitry here we have just disposed the cooling plate in the center at 60% of the chamber's surface, the thinking is that cold same as heat will disperse into the chamber from the center

and we have disposed a cooling unit and a heating unit with the remainder occupied by the blower

we haven't reduced the size of the ceramic chamber, the blower is just a blower, cooling heating they're just units, the important asset so far is this chamber the more extensive it is the better

I see value in layering and texturing the loop arms into the blower, that are both shown here but one is on top of the cooling unit and one is below the heating unit, it's more heat exchange surface

notice that the quad fans in front have been shuttered

the air volume is now going through a lot of heat exchange surface, in a layered textured chamber, and arms, into the blower that loops it

yes cooling and heating plates on the sides of the unit too, and alternating them, of course the magnet rotor stator model is always worthwhile to pursue, we are trying to keep these concept visuals light

so we close the lid now after a consequent outlet chamber full unit width on top of the blower, leading to 6 outlet conducts

notice that the quad fans in front have resumed, since the volume of air that has been processed is already fed to the outlet chamber or is in the process of being injected completely by the blower, and so another cycle can take place

I know this hasn't been too technical, that there's this and that, HVAC can be complex, is actually when dealing with large volumes, the general idea is to get Honeywell interested in an active passive ceramic heat sink solution

We forgot to mention energy savings, doing away with the mesh heaters in the conducts, bound to lose a lot of heat from being exposed to the blower, we don't mention energy savings too often, the ship consumes a lot it's not a candidate for energy savings, but it can be

It's a major winner if it turns out that AC and air purification were going to dent our whole available energy for this ship

When I look at it, it doesn't look like it consumes much with a ceramic sink or chamber like that, maybe we have something

It is from the day when the dynamo became a thing that I started being convinced that we could have major energy expenditures on board, and while we should or will cut back on things like having dual screen workstations in each cabin now that we have the Gunray Offices in all the ship looks feasible

Even more so now by adopting basically computer cooling technology applied to HVAC, and the possibility of coupling that function in particular with the dynamo

Thank you for having followed

#Conceptors Rush

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mariacallous · 10 months ago

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Mere months into his new administration, U.S. President Joe Biden told a Rose Garden press conference that he was “pleased that Iran has continued to agree to engage in discussions, in direct discussions with us and with our partners on how we move forward and what is needed to allow us to move back” into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. It was his clearest statement, as president, about the Iran policy he was committed to pursue.

Almost three years later, those discussions have long since fallen apart, replaced with…nothing. Indeed, a survey of congressional Democrats and Republicans, administration officials, foreign diplomats, and Iran observers has confirmed the obvious: The Biden administration now has no discernable policy on Iran and its nuclear program. Iran merited only a passing mention in the president’s State of the Union address. And not having a policy couldn’t come at a worse time.

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) regularly produces assessments on the state of Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program. It now assesses the breakout time—the period necessary for Iran to assemble a nuclear weapon—at zero. Effectively, that means Iran has enough weapons-grade uranium to build a bomb within days, and enough to assemble six weapons within 30 days. While not confirming the ISIS figures, at the March 4 Board of Governors meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Director-General Rafael Grossi made clear the international body has very little sense of what’s happening in Iran, explaining that “the agency has lost continuity of knowledge about the production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate.”

The previous IAEA board meeting, in November 2023, raised a host of concerns that remain unresolved, including Iran’s failure to share information required by international law about the presence of uranium particles at two different sites, Varamin and Turquzabad. In addition, Tehran failed to provide clarifications about IAEA questions raised even earlier—answers Iran had promised to provide in a March 2023 agreement. Rather, the regime chose in September 2023 to expel previously allowed nuclear inspectors in a process called de-designation. While the regime has characterized the decision as retaliation against European countries for sanctions (the inspectors in most reports specified that only German and French inspectors were de-designated), according to a European official, a Russian expert with specialized familiarity with advanced centrifuges was also ousted.

Notwithstanding the advances in Iran’s nuclear weapons work, and its decision to enrich uranium to 60 percent (in violation not only of its obligations under the JCPOA, but also under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT), there has been no formal statement from the Biden administration that its previous policy is dead. Former Pentagon official Colin Kahl told Congress in testimony in February 2023 that there was “still the view that if you could resolve this issue diplomatically and put constraints back on their nuclear program, it is better than the other options. But right now, the JCPOA is on ice.” Privately, Biden was even more forward, telling a woman who attended a rally in November 2022 that the Iran nuclear deal was “dead.” When Iran special envoy Robert Malley was suspended from his position for still-unclear security violations, it appeared that all hopes for rejuvenating the Iran nuclear deal were dashed.

With the cratering of Biden’s wish for a new or better Iran deal, most expected a resumption of the sanctions regime that had been in place before Biden’s election. But that didn’t happen. Instead, most of the steps taken when Biden took office in 2021—like the lifting of a terrorism designation for Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis (reimposed in early 2024) and relaxed sanctions on violators of U.S. oil sanctions on Iran—remained in place.

A bipartisan letter sent earlier this year by U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, Maggie Hassan, and over a dozen other senators called for the renewed enforcement of oil sanctions:

Iran is now exporting on average more than 1.4 million barrels of crude oil per day, two-thirds of which ends up in the People’s Republic of China. From February 2021 to October 2023, the regime has taken in at least $88 billion from these illicit oil exports. Iran is deriving significant economic benefits from pervasive sanctions evasion, with Iran’s economy growing by four percent annually and net foreign currency reserves also increasing by 45 percent from 2021 to 2023.

Though the Biden Treasury Department has continued to impose sanctions against Iran for a variety of human rights, missile, and proliferation transgressions, for the most part oil and LNG sanctions, particularly against China and Chinese-linked purchasers, have been thin and ineffective. Few can point to a decisive reason Team Biden is allowing Tehran to rake in the cash, and the National Security Council has denied that the White House is giving Iran a pass. “The United States has maintained strict compliance with all Iran related sanctions and has not lifted any sanctions, any allegations to the contrary are false,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council told the Wall Street Journal.

Nonetheless, robust Iranian oil exports to China continue without sanction. Perhaps the Biden administration still has hope for some sort of agreement to restrain the nuclear program; perhaps fears of an oil price spike in an election year are driving Treasury’s reticence. Or perhaps the Biden administration now worries that its inattention to the problem has given Iran escalation dominance—meaning that it now has to treat Iran as a de facto nuclear power.

Similarly, the European powers that had partnered with the United States in cementing the JCPOA in 2015 and who condemned then-U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the deal in 2018 suddenly appear uninterested in Iran’s nuclear weapons progress. In the wake of the troubling November meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, the so-called E3 and the United States stood together to condemn Iran’s decision to increase its production of uranium enrichment to 60 percent. But, reported Reuters at the time, “the allies made no mention of any consequences Iran could face for the production hike.”

A similar joint statement in February following a new IAEA report also failed to offer any action plan, and perhaps even more strangely, did not threaten a censure of Iran for its violations of the NPT. Censure is the strongest action the IAEA can take, absent a referral to the U.N. Security Council.

Stranger still is the Biden administration’s unwillingness to work with allies to trigger so-called snapback sanctions. There were several critical moments when this would have made sense, as it does today. In October 2023, the U.N. resolution that prohibited transfers to or from Iran of drones and missiles lapsed under the terms of the JCPOA. And while both the United States and Iran have ceased abiding by the deal, the operative U.N. resolution that governed the JCPOA has not. Iran, according to the Biden administration, has long been in violation of restrictions on its missile and drone programs. A snapback—part of the appeal of the original Iran deal—permits any one of the remaining parties to the deal to trigger a process at the U.N. Security Council to force the reimposition of all U.N. sanctions, including on conventional weapons and missiles, without permitting a veto.

The beauty of a snapback is that, in addition to the missile sanctions and conventional weapons prohibitions that have already expired, such a step would also bring back restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program. Bizarrely, however, neither France, Germany, the U.K., nor the United States—all exercised over Iran’s support for Russia in Ukraine, among other things—have evinced more than rhetorical interest in the snapback. Rather, all insisted they would impose their own sanctions on Iranian missile transfers. Of course, European sanctions apply only to persons subject to European jurisdiction and do not punish parties from third countries involved in Iranian drone and missile transfers. In short, only the United States is actually seeking to deter involvement in such transfers by persons in third countries, with little effect.

There have been growing indications that Iran’s ultra-hard-line turn represents a threat to the United States. The collapse of dialogue with Iran in 2022 did not take place in a vacuum. Even before the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 cast in sharp relief Iran’s malign role in the Middle East, a number of events made clear that the Tehran regime’s inclination to treat with the West was declining. The first was the aggressive crackdown in the wake of the murder of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, which elicited a sharp condemnation by the Biden administration. Further dialogue between Washington and Tehran in the wake of new sanctions over Amini was restricted to efforts to secure the release of five longtime American hostages held in Iranian prison. (They were eventually allowed to leave Iran following the Biden administration’s release of $6 billion in Iranian escrowed funds.)

As Iran’s domestic posture hardened, so, too, has its foreign policy aligned ever more explicitly with Russia and China. Over the last two years, Iran has stepped up support for Russia’s war on Ukraine and delivered “more than 2,000 drones” to aid Moscow’s invasion. The Tehran regime has also supported the construction of a drone factory in Russia. Then there’s Iran’s role in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, including its financing, arming, and training of its proxy Hamas; Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi attacks on shipping (armed with increasingly potent missiles and drones with ranges up to 1,500 miles); Iranian financing, arming, and training, as well as command and control, for Lebanese Hezbollah; and attacks on U.S. military and commercial targets by numerous Iranian proxies, including in the Red Sea, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan—this last resulting in the murder of three U.S. service members.

All of this happened in the context, pre-Oct. 7, of a strong sense in the region that a U.S. pivot away from the Middle East was finally happening. Straws in the wind like a U.S. failure to respond to an Iranian-backed drone attack on civilians in the United Arab Emirates, or a devastating attack on Saudi oil refineries, spurred a series of rapprochements between Gulf nations and Iran. Qatar never broke with Tehran, but both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had downgraded or severed diplomatic ties. As is often the case, Dubai led the way, but Riyadh was quick to follow with the reopening of its embassy in Tehran.

Post-Oct. 7, there is even more at stake for the Biden administration. While the impetus behind a pivot away from the region remains—Russia and China represent clear and present dangers—the reality is that Hamas’s war on Israel and the resulting destruction of Gaza will require U.S. engagement. There are already demands for the renewal of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, with an eventual pathway toward a two-state solution. In balancing U.S. interests and priorities, the White House and its allies in Europe will face two options: engage in a region ever more dominated by Iran and its proxies, or cede Iranian dominance, replete with a lethal nuclear weapons program. The choice should be obvious.

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vedprep2 · 1 year ago

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How to Prepare For GATE 2024 – A Guide by Vedprep

Gate 2024 is almost here and our young aspirants have never been so restless. Our students are ready and we can feel the excitement and anticipation for the exam building up. However, every passing day brings us closer to the BIG DAY, the day of examination. And for that, VedPrep Chem Academy has curated the perfect guide for all the GATE aspirants out there. Curated with Ved Sir, this guide will solve all your queries regarding “How to prepare for GATE 2024”.

So let’s dive right into this ultimate guide!

A Quick Summary

GATE or Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering is an examination for aspirants who aspire to pursue Master of Engineering, M.Tech., and Ph.D. GATE lets aspirants get direct admissions into the most prestigious universities of our country such as IITs, IIITs, and IISERs.

Moreover, the top GATE Rankers can get direct or interviewed jobs in PSUs like Indian Oil, GAIL, and CIL.

If you want to learn more about GATE and it’s latest notifications, then you can click on the links below:

Everything about GATE: click here

GATE 2024 Pattern of Question Paper (Latest)

Since GATE is a highly competitive examination, your rank is what matters the most. No matter what your GATE scorecard says, it’s your rank that will decide your future. Therefore, preparation for a good rank starts with understanding the examination first. This is the first step of our guide “How to prepare for GATE 2024”. We’ll be analysing the GATE examination for Chemistry. However, the strategy for GATE 2024 will be applicable for all subjects. So, let’s go through the exam pattern!

The exam will have a total of 65 questions.

10 Aptitude based questions

55 subject based questions

There will be 3 types of questions in the GATE 2024 Question Paper

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) carrying 1-2 marks each in all papers and sections.

Multiple Select Questions (MSQs) carrying 1-2 marks each.

Numerical Answer Type Questions (NATs) carrying 1-2 marks each in most papers and sections.

Further Analysis of GATE 2024 Examination Pattern

The duration of GATE 2024 will be the same as every other year. That is, 3 hours of Computer Based Test (CBT). During that time duration, candidates will have to solve General aptitude and their chosen subject’s questions.

The General Aptitude section will consist of:

Recall

Comprehension

Application

Analysis and Synthesis

After analysing the examination pattern, there are some important takeaways that you should bear in mind.

The Aptitude section is very important. Never ignore it!

Prepare as per the latest syllabus.

Bring some diversification in the types of questions you practise.

Prepare for all sections (MCQs/MSQs/NAT)

GATE 2024 Syllabus

The syllabus of GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) has always been vast for all subjects. There’s a lot to cover, and a lot to summarise to keep your preparation up to the mark. You will be competing with prodigies who have maintained a streak of scores. In that case it’s essential that your preparation strategy for GATE s2024 is full proof. And to make that happen, the first step is to know your syllabus.

1. Physical Chemistry

Structure

Postulates of quantum mechanics. Operators. Time dependent and time independent Schrödinger equations. Born interpretation. Dirac bra-ket notation. Particle in a box: infinite and finite square wells; concept of tunnelling; particles in 1D, 2D and 3D-box; applications. Harmonic oscillator: harmonic and anharmonic potentials; hermite polynomials. Rotational motion: Angular momentum operators, Rigid rotor. Hydrogen and hydrogen-like atoms : atomic orbitals; radial distribution function. Multi-electron atoms: orbital approximation; electron spin; Pauli exclusion principle; Slater determinants. Approximation Methods: Variation method and secular determinants; first order perturbation techniques. Atomic units. Molecular structure and Chemical bonding: Born-Oppenheimer approximation; Valence bond theory and linear combination of atomic orbitals -molecular orbital (LCAO-MO) theory. Hybrid orbitals. Applications of LCAO-MO theory to H2+, H2; orbital theory (MOT) of homo- and heteronuclear diatomic molecules. Hückel approximation and its application to annular π electron systems.

Group theory

Symmetry elements and operations; Point groups and character tables; Internal coordinates and vibrational modes; symmetry adapted linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAOMO); construction of hybrid orbitals using symmetry aspects.

Spectroscopy

Atomic spectroscopy; Russell-Saunders coupling; Term symbols and spectral details; origin of selection rules. Rotational, vibrational, electronic and Raman spectroscopy of diatomic and polyatomic molecules. Line broadening. Einstein’s coefficients. Relationship of transition moment integral with molar extinction coefficient and oscillator strength. Basic principles of nuclear magnetic resonance: gyromagnetic ratio; chemical shift, nuclear Coupling.

Equilibrium

Laws of thermodynamics. Standard states. Thermochemistry. Thermodynamic functions and their relationships: Gibbs-Helmholtz and Maxwell relations, Gibbs-Duhem equation, van’t Hoff equation. Criteria of spontaneity and equilibrium. Absolute entropy. Partial molar quantities. Thermodynamics of mixing. Chemical potential. Fugacity, activity and activity coefficients. Ideal and Non-ideal solutions, Raoult’s Law and Henry’s Law, Chemical equilibria. Dependence of equilibrium constant on temperature and pressure. Ionic mobility and conductivity. Debye-Hückel limiting law. Debye-Hückel-Onsager equation. Standard electrode potentials and electrochemical cells. Nernst Equation and its application, relationship between Electrode potential and thermodynamic quantities, Potentiometric and conductometric titrations. Phase rule. Clausius-Clapeyron equation. Phase diagram of one component systems: CO2, H2O, S; two component systems: liquid- vapour, liquid-liquid and solid-liquid systems. Fractional distillation. Azeotropes and eutectics. Statistical thermodynamics: microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles, Boltzmann distribution, partition functions and thermodynamic properties.

Kinetics (Topic have been rearranged)

Elementary, parallel, opposing and consecutive reactions. Steady state approximation. Mechanisms of complex reactions. Unimolecular reactions. Potential energy surfaces and classical trajectories, Concept of Saddle points, Transition state theory: Eyring equation, thermodynamic aspects. Kinetics of polymerization. Catalysis concepts and enzyme catalysis. Kinetic isotope effects. Fast reaction kinetics: relaxation and flow methods. Diffusion controlled reactions. Kinetics of photochemical and photophysical processes.

Surfaces and Interfaces

Physisorption and chemisorption. Langmuir, Freundlich and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) isotherms. Surface catalysis: Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. Surface tension, viscosity. Self-assembly. Physical chemistry of colloids, micelles and macromolecules.

2. Organic Chemistry

Stereochemistry

Chirality and symmetry of organic molecules with or without chiral centres and determination of their absolute configurations. Relative stereochemistry in compounds. having more than one stereogenic centre. Homotopic, enantiotopic and diastereotopic atoms, groups and faces. Stereoselective and stereospecific synthesis. Conformational analysis of acyclic and cyclic compounds. Geometrical isomerism and optical isomerism. Configurational and conformational effects, atropisomerism, and neighbouring group participation on reactivity and selectivity/specificity.

Reaction Mechanisms

Basic mechanistic concepts – kinetic versus thermodynamic control, Hammond’s postulate and Curtin-Hammett principle. Methods of determining reaction mechanisms through kinetics, identification of products, intermediates and isotopic labelling. Linear free-energy relationship – Hammett and Taft equations. Nucleophilic and electrophilic substitution reactions (both aromatic and aliphatic). Addition reactions to carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom (N and O) multiple bonds. Elimination reactions. Reactive intermediates – carbocations, carbanions, carbenes, nitrenes, arynes and free radicals. Molecular rearrangements.

Organic Synthesis

Synthesis, reactions, mechanisms and selectivity involving the following classes of compounds – alkenes, alkynes, arenes, alcohols, phenols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, nitriles, halides, nitro compounds, amines and amides. Uses of Mg, Li, Cu, B, Zn, P, S, Sn and Si based reagents in organic synthesis. Carbon-carbon bond formation through coupling reactions – Heck, Suzuki, Stille, Sonogoshira, Negishi, Kumada, Hiyama, Tsuji-Trost, olefin metathesis and McMurry. Concepts of multistep synthesis – retrosynthetic analysis, strategic disconnections, synthons and synthetic equivalents. Atom economy and Green Chemistry, Umpolung reactivity – formyl and acyl anion equivalents. Selectivity in organic synthesis – chemo-, regio- and stereoselectivity. Protection and deprotection of functional groups. Concepts of asymmetric synthesis – resolution (including enzymatic), desymmetrization and use of chiral auxiliaries, organocatalysis. Carbon-carbon Sergeant to set it as and carbon-heteroatom bond forming reactions through enolates (including boron enolates), enamines and silyl enol ethers. Stereoselective addition to C=O groups (Cram, Prelog and Felkin-Anh models).

Pericyclic Reactions and Photochemistry

Electrocyclic, cycloaddition and sigmatropic reactions. Orbital correlations – FMO and PMO treatments, Woodward-Hoffmann rule. Photochemistry of alkenes, arenes and carbonyl compounds. Photooxidation and photoreduction. Di- + -methane rearrangement, Barton-McCombie reaction, Norrish type-I and II cleavage reaction.

Heterocyclic Compounds

Structure, preparation, properties and reactions of furan, pyrrole, thiophene, pyridine, indole, quinoline and isoquinoline.

Biomolecules

Structure, properties and reactions of mono- and di-saccharides, physicochemical properties of amino acids, chemical synthesis of peptides, chemical structure determination of peptides and proteins, structural features of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, steroids, terpenoids, carotenoids, and alkaloids.

Experimental techniques in organic chemistry

Optical rotation (polarimetry). Applications of various chromatographic techniques such as thin-layer, column, HPLC and GC. Applications of UV-visible, IR, NMR and Mass spectrometry in the structural determination of organic molecules.

3. Inorganic Chemistry

Main Group Elements

Hydrides, halides, oxides, oxoacids, nitrides, sulfides – shapes and

reactivity. Structure and bonding of boranes, carboranes, silicones, silicates, boron nitride,

borazines and phosphazenes. Allotropes of carbon, phosphorous and sulphur. Industrial

synthesis of compounds of main group elements. Chemistry of noble gases, pseudohalogens,

and interhalogen compounds. Acid-base concepts and principles (Lewis, Brønsted, HSAB and

acid-base catalysis).

Transition Elements

Coordination chemistry – structure and isomerism, theories of bonding

(VBT, CFT, and MOT). Energy level diagrams in various crystal fields, CFSE, applications of

CFT, Jahn-Teller distortion. Electronic spectra of transition metal complexes: spectroscopic

term symbols, selection rules, Orgel and Tanabe-Sugano diagrams, nephelauxetic effect and

Racah parameter, charge-transfer spectra. Magnetic properties of transition metal complexes.

Ray-Dutt and Bailar twists, Reaction mechanisms: kinetic and thermodynamic stability,

substitution and redox reactions. Metal-metal multiple bond.

Lanthanides and Actinides

Recovery. Periodic properties, spectra and magnetic properties.

Organometallics: 18-Electron rule; metal-alkyl, metal-carbonyl, metal-olefin and metal-

carbine complexes and metallocenes. Fluxionality in organometallic complexes. Types of

organometallic reactions. Homogeneous catalysis – Hydrogenation, hydroformylation, acetic

acid synthesis, metathesis and olefin oxidation. Heterogeneous catalysis – Fischer- Tropsch

reaction, Ziegler-Natta polymerization.

Radioactivity

Detection of radioactivity, Decay processes, half-life of radioactive elements,

fission and fusion processes.

Bioinorganic Chemistry

Ion (Na+ and K+) transport, oxygen binding, transport and utilization, electron transfer reactions, nitrogen fixation, metalloenzymes containing magnesium, molybdenum, iron, cobalt, copper and zinc.

Solids

Crystal systems and lattices, Miller planes, crystal packing, crystal defects, Bragg’s law, ionic crystals, structures of AX, AX2, ABX3 type compounds, spinels, band theory, metals and semiconductors.

Instrumental Methods of Analysis

UV-visible, fluorescence and FTIR spectrophotometry, NMR and ESR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, atomic absorption spectroscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy (Fe and Sn) and X-ray crystallography. Chromatography including GC and HPLC. Electroanalytical methods- polarography, cyclic voltammetry, ion-selective electrodes, Thermoanalytical methods.

Trend Analysis of GATE (2021 – 2023)

Before a future strategy for GATE 2024, let’s take a look at the GATE question trends throughout the years. We’ll be going through the trends for all three sections (Physical, Organic, and Inorganic chemistry for better understanding.

Question-wise Trends GATE Physical Chemistry

After analysing the trend in Physical chemistry for GATE, we can conclude a few things:

Physical Chemistry had a whooping 30 marks weightage from 2021 – 2023. This fact should be more than enough for anyone to start focusing on Physical Chemistry even more.

Physical Chemistry has been consistently delivering around 20 questions every year. With over 40% weightage, physical chemistry becomes

Topics like Quantum Chemistry, Chemical Kinetics, Physical Spectroscopy, Thermodynamics and thermochemistry, and electrochemistry are very important. As these are the topics from which questions are being asked consistently in the GATE examination.

However, if we look at the marks weightage trend, we can clearly notice that there are more essential topics. Topics like Quantum Chemistry, Chemical Kinetics, Physical Spectroscopy, Thermodynamics & thermochemistry, electrochemistry Solutions, and solid state become highly significant in this case.

Strategy to crack GATE 2024

Now that we’ve understood the pattern GATE has been following throughout the years, we can finally use our analysis to curate the ultimate strategy so that you don’t have to search for “How to prepare for GATE 2024” anymore.

So let’s uncover this guide Step-by-Step:

You can head to the strategy by clicking on this link.

And don't forget to check out www.vedprep.com if you're a GATE aspirant and want the best learning partner to help you crack the code of GATE.

#GATE 2024 #GATE #GATE exam #GATE preparation

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antoniakidman · 1 year ago

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Meg 2: The Trench review and watch

watch movies

Plot Five years after the events of the first film,[a] Jonas Taylor has been involved in fighting environmental crimes while also helping Mana One in exploring a further deep part of the Mariana Trench where the Megalodon has been found. Following the death of Suyin Zhang, Taylor has been raising her teenaged daughter Meiying alongside her uncle and Suyin's brother Jiuming Zhang, who has acquired his father's company alongside wealthy financier Hillary Driscoll. Mana One has also been studying a Meg called Haiqi, who was discovered as a pup and trained by Jiuming in a reserve in Hainan. Recently Haiqi has been acting erratically, leading to Taylor being concerned despite Jiuming's enthusiasm.

Taylor and Jiuming lead a routine submersible exploration to the Trench, with Meiying stowing away to see the trench for the first time. Fellow Meg survivors DJ and Mac observe the group from the Mana One. On the way down, the subs are pursued by Haiqi, who escaped captivity the previous night; the subs dive down through the thermocline to escape but Haiqi forces her way through it anyway. Two larger male Megs, a massive alpha and a slightly smaller beta, appear and mate with Haiqi. While working on an escape plan, Taylor and his team discover an illegal mining operation in a station captained by a mercenary Montes, who has a vendetta against Taylor for his imprisonment some time before. Montes' crew was hired by Driscoll to covertly use the Mana One's access to the trench to farm rare earth minerals that could earn them billions. Montes kills his crew in an explosion to cover up their activities, which causes a rupture in the trench and grounds both Taylor and Jiuming's ships.

DJ, Mac, and fellow Mana One analyst Jess discover that the rescue pod has been sabotaged, forcing the crew to use exosuits to walk towards the station in the creature-filled trench, with only Taylor, Meiying, Jiuming and security officer Rigas surviving the journey. Jess and Driscoll reveal themselves to be traitors and attempt to kill the four, but the four escape the station in another submersible after a scuffle with Montes, who escapes to the surface through a buoy. Driscoll sends mercenaries to take over the Mana One while Montes surfaces and meets with Jess. As the crew surfaces, they discover the thermocline rupture from earlier which leads to several of the creatures, including the three Megs, a swarm of lizard-like creatures known as Snappers and a massive Kraken escaping the trench and reaching the surface.

Taylor's crew meets with DJ and Mac and Montes focuses the mercenaries on the crew after Jess is killed by a Meg. Taylor's team escapes to a nearby resort, Fun Island, to warn them of the approaching creatures. Driscoll, Montes and the mercenaries arrive at Fun Island to eliminate Taylor's crew, but they are instead attacked by the Snappers, who kill Driscoll and several mercenaries. Taylor's group splits up to evacuate the tourists as the Megs and the Kraken begin their attack. Taylor manages to kill the beta male Meg using a harpoon taped to an explosive before being attacked by Montes, leading both to sail to the beach. The two battle before Taylor knocks Montes into another Meg to be eaten. Jiuming creates a bomb out of fertilizer and along with Mac takes over Driscoll's unattended helicopter to fly towards the beach where Meiying is trying to help tourists.

The Kraken takes down the helicopter and Jiuming injures it with his bomb, attracting Haiqi who proceeds to kill it. As Jiuming swims towards the wreckage to save Mac, Taylor picks up one of the helicopter's rotors and uses it to fatally impale the largest Meg in the head. Haiqi heads towards Taylor, Jiuming, and Mac, but Jiuming uses his training signals to divert the shark's attention. Haiqi redirects her attention to a pod of dolphins swimming away. Making their way to the beach, Jiuming reasons that Haiqi escaped captivity because it was mating season, and discusses the possibility she is pregnant. Taylor decides that it is better not to think about it, and the group celebrates their survival.

#movies #cinema

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airconditioninginlongmont · 2 years ago

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An Unbiased View of Oil Change in Longmont CO

A vast majority of the EPA's Scientific Advisory Board advised the EPA to cut back proposed toxicity testing of fracking chemical compounds, and not pursue the enhancement of tracer chemical substances to generally be additional to fracking treatment plans, as a result of time limits. Chesapeake Vitality agreed with the advice.[108] The study's Science Advisory Board recommended the EPA delete proposed toxicity tests through the analysis scope, as a result of restricted time and money.[109] However, some customers from the Science Advisory Board (SAB) urged the SAB to recommend the EPA reinstate the toxicity testing of hydraulic fracturing chemical compounds.[108] Chesapeake Electrical power agreed,[one hundred ten] stating “an in-depth review of toxicity, the development of latest analytical solutions and tracers usually are not realistic given the funds and program limitation from the review.

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peopleeeater · 3 years ago

Photo

surprisingly this is underrated despite their multiple cutesy interactions

#adhd autism helicopter kissa autism car. they are bis. i think this is what the cool kids call a diversity win #transformers #transformers rescue bots #rescue bots #transformers blades #rb blades #transformers chase #rb chase #what would their ship name thingy be.?? chades? blase? ... fuck it i'm callin it pursuing rotors #pursuing rotors #blades x chase #eater art

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skyfire85 · 4 years ago

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-USMC MV-22 Ospreys on the deck of USS Bataan. | Photo: Staff Sgt. Wayne Campbell, USMC

Flightline: 62 - Bell/Boeing V-22 Osprey

After the disastrous failure at Desert One during the 1980 Iran hostage rescue mission, the US DOD recognized that there existed a requirement for a transport that could take off and land vertically, but also travel long distance at speed. The Joint-service Vertical take-off/landing Experimental (JVX) program was begun in 1981 to obtain and combine requirements from the Army, Navy, Marines and USAF. In late 1982 a request for proposals was released, attracting interest from Aérospatiale, Bell Helicopter, Boeing Vertol, Grumman, Lockheed, and Westland. Bell later teamed with Boeing Vertol, submitting a design based on the former’s XV-15 tiltrotor.

-Early concept image of V-22 Osprey, probably from mid to late-1980s. | Photo: US Navy

Bell/Boeing submitted the only design, and were awarded a preliminary design contract was awarded on 26 April 1983. In 1985 the Bell/Boeing JVX design was named the Osprey, and given the designation V-22, with USMC Osprey known as MV-22 and USAF CV-22, in part to avoid confusion with USN carrier designation (CV). By March of that year, the first half-dozen prototypes were under construction, with work split between Bell and Boeing. The first V-22 was rolled out in 1988, but the program also suffered major issues that year. Costs ballooned, from $2.5 billion in 1986 to a projected $30 billion in 1988. Citing a need to focus on other programs, the US Army dropped out of the program. The following year, the US Senate voted twice to cancel the Osprey, though the program survived. The DOD then ordered the Navy to not spend more money on the V-22, and SecDef Cheney tried several times from 1989 to 1992 to defund the program, though each time he was overruled by Congress.

-Bell-Boeing’s first V-22 prototype transitions to forward flight. | Photo: Bell/Boeing

The first of six prototypes first flew on 19 March 1989 in the helicopter mode, and on 14 September 1989 in fixed-wing mode. Sea trials were completed on USS Wasp in December 1990, though the program was marred by crashes of the fourth and fifth prototypes in 1991 and 1992. The V-22 was grounded until June of 1993 to make needed changes. From October 1992 – April 1993, the V-22 was redesigned to reduce empty weight, simplify manufacture, and reduce build costs; resulting in the V-22B variant. The existing prototypes were upgraded to the new standard, and in 1997 flight testing of the first four full-scale development V-22s began at Pax River. Testing soon fell behind schedule, though a second round of sea trials on USS Saipan was accomplished in 1999.

On 8 April 2000, a night training exercise of four MV-22 in Arizona resulted in one aircraft crashing, killing the 19 Marines on board, and another suffered a hard landing, though no one aboard were killed. The V-22 was grounded again while the crash investigation was conducted, during which issues with the V-22's design, as well as with crew training, were determined to be the causes of the crash. As the V-22 descended to land it was dropping at 2,000 feet a minute, well above the prescribed 800 feet a minute. The speed caused the aircraft to enter an aerodynamic condition known as vortex ring state. In this condition, a vortex envelops the rotor, causing an aircraft to lose lift, in essence descending in its own downwash. Flight testing resumed after the board rendered its conclusions, but another MV-22 crashed in December 2000, killing four Marines. Despite the accidents, by June 2005 the V-22 had completed its final operational evaluation, including long-range deployments, high altitude, desert and shipboard operations. In September of 2005, the Pentagon approved full-rate production of the V-22, ordering 458 aircraft (360 for the USMC, 50 for the USAF, and 48 for the Navy). The USAF officially accepted the CV-22 in 2006, and the MV-22 reaching IOC the following year. Despite being in the 2005 contract, the Navy did not acquire any of the 48 HV-22 mentioned, for reasons unknown (though likely budgetary). Ospreys have since seen deployment to both Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other hotspots around the world.

-Marines push boxes out the back of a V-22 Osprey aircraft in Zaranj, Afghanistan, on Dec. 14, 2009. | Photo: USMC

-V-22s are fitted with LEDs in the rotors, which create a glowing ring when spinning, allowing the crew, ground personnel and passengers a clear indication of the rotor disc. | Photo: USMC

In 2015, the Navy signed an MOU to buy 44 redesigned CMV-22B Osprey for COD (carrier on-board delivery) beginning in 2018, with initial delivery expected in 2020. The CMV-22 has larger sponsons, which carry additional fuel, as well as a high-frequency radio. The type will also include a hoist on the ramp, allowing it to deliver cargo to other Navy ships, replacing some helicopters.

-A CMV-22B landing at Pax River after being ferried from the Bell Assembly Center in Texas. | Photo: USN

In 2014, the Japanese Self-Defence Force decided to acquire 17 MV-22Bs, with the first delivery occurring in August of 2017. The JSDF Osprey are based at Kisarazu Air Field, with plans to station some on the Izumo-class helicopter destroyers (*cough*aircraftcarriers*cough*).

India, Indonesia, Israel, South Korea and the UAE have expressed varying degrees of interest in acquiring V-22 of their own, though as of 2020 none have formally acted.

In addition to the transport versions currently in service, other variants were studied during development:

An AEW&C version known as the EV-22, which would replace the E-2 in US Navy service as well as the Sea King ASaC.7 in Royal Navy service

SV-22 Anti-submarine warfare variant, to replace the S-3 and SH-2.

Neither was pursued, though Bell/Boeing continue to pursue variants.

-Rendering of an EV-22 AEW variant, showing the new triangular radar pylon. | Image: Jeff Head

-Model of the SV-22. The ASW variant would have been armed with four torpedoes and carried a dipping sonar. | Photo: Justin Gibb

-Model of the SV-22. The proposal didn’t include a MAD boom, but I added one. | Photo: Justin Gibb

In 2017, HMX-1, the Marine helicopter squadron responsible for transporting the President, Vice President and other senior leadership, recieved 12 MV-22B, replacing its fleet of CH-46 helicopters for support operations.

-HMX-1's first MV-22B, in the squadron’s traditional gloss olive drab paint scheme. | Photo: Sgt. Rebekka S. Heite

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nikkoliferous · 4 years ago

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Phase One: Avengers (Part One)

With everything being about the LOKI series right now and me dreading it, I figured I'd distract myself by finally posting my thoughts on the Phase One: Avengers novel, which I seem to recall somehow being way worse than the Thor novel? I'm not completely convinced this thing wasn't ghostwritten by Taika Waititi; that's all I'm saying. Anyways, here we go.

(Quick note: please be aware that this overview is significantly Thor-critical. If that sort of thing bothers you, I do not recommend proceeding. You've been warned. Lol)

Let's start off with a friendly reminder that SHIELD had four hours to evacuate before Loki showed up, shall we?

Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago,” Coulson was saying.

“I didn’t approve going to testing,” Fury said.

Coulson nodded. “He wasn’t testing it. He wasn’t even in the room. Spontaneous event.”

So either they're grossly incompetent or grossly negligent, but either way those deaths are on them at least as much as they're on Loki. If not more so.

“It just turned itself on?” Hill sounded skeptical. Fury, as usual, was less interested in how they’d gotten there than in what they were going to do next.

[...]

Selvig acknowledged him briefly and then returned his attention to the monitoring equipment. “Director, the Tesseract is misbehaving.”

“Is that supposed to be funny?”

“No, it’s not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she’s… behaving.”

Fury didn’t comment on the doctor characterizing the Tesseract as female. He also wasn’t interested in Selvig’s notions about its personality. It didn’t have a personality. It was a cube containing energy, and all Nick Fury wanted was to know how to control that energy. “I assume you pulled the plug.”

Fury having no intellectual curiosity explains a lot, tbh. Like how he thinks Loki "kills because it's fun", even though nothing about their prior interaction indicates that. Like, at all. Loki killed only the agents who were attacking him. Because he felt threatened. If he indeed killed for the fun of it, he would have taken them all out and been done with it. Doing so would have both entertained him and made for a much smoother getaway.

“She’s an energy source. We turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level—”

“We prepared for this, Doctor. Harnessing energy from space.”

“We’re not ready. My calculations are far from complete. And she’s throwing off interference radiation.”

Fury watched the Tesseract in its circular containment shell. Eight separate energy sensors built into a frame supporting that shell were designed to measure and conduct that energy. Those sensors in turn rested on stainless-steel support scaffolding. The whole setup sprouted cables and conduits. These were there to supply energy to the Tesseract in a controlled fashion so Dr. Selvig could analyze its reactions. Now they were all shut down, as Dr. Selvig had said, but even so, the Tesseract glowed with a fierce blue energy. It was starting to spill onto the sensors, arcing like electricity. But it wasn’t electricity. It was something much more exotic.

I also find it curious/amusing/something that Fury later accuses Loki of "stealing a force [he] can't hope to control". YOU'RE DESCRIBING YOURSELF, NICK. YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAN'T CONTROL IT AND HAS BEEN ARROGANTLY PRETENDING YOU CAN.

The man looked up at them and smiled as he stood. He was not a large man, not remarkable in any particular way. He had long black hair and wore black leather clothing, similar to what Fury was wearing. However, he wasn’t a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Fury didn’t know where he had come from.

I beg to fucking differ lmao

Fury had the Tesseract in a steel carrying case and was taking a step toward the door when the stranger turned to him and said, “Please don’t. I still need that.”

Kudos to Loki for not forgetting his princely manners even while completely off his rocker. Lol

“This doesn’t have to get any messier,” Fury said. He glanced quickly around, trying to figure the fastest way out.

“Of course it does,” the stranger said. “I’ve come too far for anything else.”

TELL US WHAT YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH, LOKI. INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW.

“Loki?” Dr. Selvig said. He stood up from helping one of his fellow doctors, who was barely conscious. “Brother of Thor?”

“We have no quarrel with your people,” Fury said.

Loki acknowledged Selvig and then returned his attention to Fury.

By "acknowledged", the author means he rolled his eyes so hard he saw his own brain lmao

“I come with glad tidings,” Loki said. “Of a world made free.”

“Free from what?” Fury asked.

Turning back to him, Loki said simply, “Freedom. Freedom is life’s great lie. Once you accept that in your heart…” As he spoke the word “heart,” he turned and touched Selvig’s chest with the tip of his scepter, just as he had with Hawkeye. Selvig gasped, and the same change came over his face that Fury had seen in Hawkeye’s. “You will know peace.”

He's not simply deranged, you know. For Loki, this is actually true. He has never been free in his entire life, and won't be at any point after this either. Yes, there was also the torture and the mind control at play, but even underneath all that, is it any wonder he was vulnerable to the Thanos cult's brainwashing?

Hawkeye had been looking around the complex. Now he stepped up to Loki. “Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us.”

Loki looked back at Fury, who said, “Like the pharaohs of old.”

“He’s right, the portal is collapsing in on itself!” Selvig called out from the monitors. “We’ve got maybe two minutes before this goes critical.”

Friendly reminder, once again, that Loki wasn't even aware the PEGASUS facility was on the verge of collapsing—let alone the cause of it.

“Well then,” Loki said. He glanced over at Hawkeye.

Without a word, Hawkeye drew his gun and shot Nick Fury once, dead center in the chest.

Two things:

1) Every time I see this scene in gifs, all I can think of is, "Pull the lever, Kronk." 🤣

2) So how does the direct mind control of the sceptre work anyway? Because Loki never actually gives Barton a command here. So does he sometimes communicate with his minions telepathically (sort of like The Other does with him), or does Barton just intuit his intent here, or what?

Maria Hill saw Hawkeye come out of the lab into the garage with Selvig, a liaison officer, and a stranger carrying a spear. He looked more like one of the people they’d been recruiting into the Avengers Initiative than an ordinary technician or S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. “Who's that?” she asked.

*sigh* In a just MCU, this would have been foreshadowing.

She jumped into a jeep and headed after them. Other S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles followed, filled with agents. They roared along the underground access road that led up to the surface in the New Mexico desert. She was gaining on them and firing as she drove. Sooner or later, she’d be close enough to have a good shot at the stranger.

He had other ideas, though. When he saw the pursuing convoy get too close, he pointed his scepter at them. The tip of it flared bright blue, and a bolt of energy lashed out from it, striking the vehicle in front of Hill and shattering the right side of its passenger compartment. The vehicle slewed around and flipped, rolling and landing sideways across the road. They were blocked.

Interesting of Loki to go for the passenger compartment instead of the driver. Was anyone even sitting there? Just one more example in a long string of Loki being inexplicably merciful to his enemies, I guess. 🤷

They got around ahead of the truck, and Fury leaned out of the helicopter’s side door. He fired, emptying his clip. He could tell from the sparks that some of the bullets had hit, but he was too far away to see if they’d done any damage.

His real target was Loki, but he was protected by the cab of the truck. Fury couldn’t get a good shot at him.

Did Fury already forget that Loki is bulletproof, or...? I mean, I guess that's fair. Earlier, Hawkeye goes to draw his sidearm only minutes after the narration points out that the bullets already fired at Loki had bounced away harmlessly.

Leaning over the truck’s roof and keeping low, however, Loki could get a good shot at the helicopter. A blue bolt lanced out and struck the helicopter’s rotor assembly. All the control mechanisms went haywire, and the helicopter spiraled down out of the sky. The truck drove underneath them as they were about to crash, close enough that Fury could see the gloating expression on Loki’s face.

Haha, good for him.

“Coulson, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me,” she said.

“Oh, I’ve got Stark,” Coulson said. “You’ve got the big guy.”

Oh, Natasha thought. That big guy. She said something in Russian. It wasn’t polite.

This has nothing to do with Loki. It just made me laugh.

Nick Fury had called an emergency meeting of the World Security Council. They needed to know what had happened with the Tesseract, and they needed to know what he planned to do about it. He brought up holographic images of all the WSC members, with their faces and locations hidden. He did not know who they were, but S.H.I.E.L.D. reported to them.

Well, that doesn't sound problematic at all, does it?

“The Avengers Initiative was shut down.”

“This isn’t about the Avengers.” That wasn’t strictly true, but Nick Fury was no idiot. He wasn’t going to show all his cards to the World Security Council when he didn’t even know who they were.

I'm glad he at least recognizes the stupidity of working for people he doesn't know, but uh... debatable, otherwise. Lol

“This isn’t about personality profiles anymore,” Coulson said. He wasn’t giving up, and that irritated Tony even more than the fact he’d showed up right when the celebration of Stark Tower was supposed to be starting.

*cough*DIVA*cough*

Loki watched Dr. Erik Selvig work, preparing the Tesseract for the next phase of his plan. Technicians and soldiers scurried about on various errands. Loki did not know the details and did not care. They were beneath him. He had his eye solely on the greater prize. It was time to consult with the Chitauri and begin the next phase of the preparations.

Really? You expect me to believe that Loki, the master tactician with "a cunning mind far exceeding Thor and Odin’s", couldn't be bothered to know the details of his own plan? Um, how about no?

Deep space and a field of stars surrounded this rocky world. Pale blue lights glowed where the Chitauri had built their fortress. They gleamed in a set of stairs that climbed to the topmost tower. That was where Loki had made his bargain with the Chitauri: They would be his army and he would open a path to Earth for them. Once Earth was his, and Asgard as well, he would turn the Tesseract over to them.

At least that was what he had promised.

1) Who said anything about Asgard...?

2) Indicator that Loki never planned on actually turning over the Tesseract? I don't know why you'd include this line otherwise.

“Let them gird themselves,” he said. “I will lead them in glorious battle.”

“Battle?” the Chitauri warrior snorted. “Against the meager might of Earth?”

“Glorious,” Loki repeated. “Not lengthy. If your force is as formidable as you claim.”

He had intended to anger the Chitauri, and he had succeeded.

Personally, I saw this less as intending to anger and more as "Loki has no self-preservation instinct and literally cannot help himself". What's to be gained by intentionally pissing off The Other here?

“You don’t have the Tesseract yet.” The Chitauri leader rushed at Loki and stopped just short of him, claws raised. Loki did not move.

“I don’t threaten,” he said, though he was doing exactly that.

LOL

The Chitauri leader backed down but only a step. “You will have your war, Asgardian,” he growled. Then he too decided to make a threat. “If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain.”

Loki flashed back into his awareness of Earth. He took a deep breath. The Chitauri did not frighten him… but he would have been a fool if he had not possessed a healthy respect for their leader, the mad Titan known as Thanos. For it was Thanos who had given Loki the scepter, and Thanos who had rallied the Chitauri to Loki’s cause… and Thanos who wished to possess the Tesseract for his own monstrous ends. One did not bargain lightly with Thanos—and one certainly did not fail to meet the terms of such a bargain.

Love how this book just repeatedly glosses over the obvious fact that Loki was tortured. In the first chapter, it makes zero mention of his stumbling or other signs of being weakened. Here, it completely omits the pain WE ALL SAW The Other inflict on him. Fuck this narrator, seriously.

Steve had a moment to look around. The commanding officer appeared to be a woman with short dark hair reeling off orders from near the center of the bridge. “S.H.I.E.L.D. Emergency Protocol 193.6 in effect,” she was saying after a series of status orders and acknowledgments. Steve didn’t know what protocol that was. At the moment, all he knew was that he was on a flying aircraft carrier… and wasn’t that enough? Amazing.

[....]

The Helicarrier disappeared from view. From the inside, it didn’t look any different, but Steve saw monitors from satellite feeds, and on those, the Helicarrier had simply become invisible. He corrected himself: He wasn’t just on a flying aircraft carrier. He was on an invisible flying aircraft carrier. The future was pretty… cool, was the word everyone used now.

I'm not the biggest Steve fan, but I will admit to finding his childlike awe over the Helicarrier slightly adorable. Lol

Side note: is someone on this thing coordinating with Air Traffic Control? I... really hope so.

“What did it show you, Agent Barton?”

Barton turned to look at Loki. “My next target,” he said.

Loki nodded. “Tell me what you need.”

Barton took one his bows out of a case and snapped it into shape with a flick of his arm. “I need a distraction,” he said. “And a biometric ID.”

Why the change from "eyeball", I wonder? Seems random. Lol

Inside, Loki had been mingling with the crowd, taking on the appearance of an ordinary man with a walking stick. But as the president of the museum, one Doktor Heinrich Schäfer, began his welcoming speech, Loki decided it was time to make a dramatic entrance. He tapped the walking stick on the floor and it became his scepter. Immediately, to get the crowd’s attention, he aimed it at the nearest museum security guard and fired.

This... didn't happen?? At all??

Loki strode the rest of the way down the stairs and manhandled Schäfer over to a stone altar that was one of the museum’s prized ancient Norse relics. He slammed Schäfer onto his back, forcing a machine over his face. Schäfer cried out in pain and surprise as the machine shone blinding light into his face, holding his eyes open.

On the one hand, confirmation that Loki did not actually shred this dude's eye and he's probably fine. On the other hand, the author completely made up what just happened literally two sentences ago, so their credibility is a little suspect at the moment. Lol

A police car, alerted by the commotion, raced toward him. He blasted it with his scepter, and it spun out of control and crashed.

ACAB!

The crowd froze. Slowly the crowd knelt, and Loki reveled in their submission. “There,” he said. “Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.”

He's talking about himself here. We all get that, right?

An old man in the middle of the crowd stood. Loki paused in his speech to regard this individual. Around him, all the copies of himself also looked at this old man.

“Not to men like you,” the old man said.

“There are no men like me,” Loki said.

No lies detected.

But Loki was tougher than he looked. He struck back with the scepter, forcing Captain America to parry until Loki found an opening and slammed the butt of the scepter into Captain America’s midsection, knocking him down. Captain America threw the shield again, but this time Loki was ready. He knocked it aside. It fell ringing to the stones of the plaza, and Loki had the tip of the scepter against the back of Captain America’s neck before the soldier could get back to his feet.

Correction: If he'd actually been trying to win, he would have used the tip. (Narrator: he was not trying to win).

A sudden storm rose around the Quinjet. Natasha looked at the instrument panel. There’d been no warning of heavy weather. “Where’s this coming from?” she wondered out loud.

At first, she thought that Loki was responsible. But that didn’t appear to be the case. He looked more nervous than anyone else on the jet.

Loki has Thor-induced PTSD. Understandable, tbh.

Thor let Loki fall well before they got to the ground.

Because Thor is an asshole.

So hey, as long as we're here, let's review how each member of Loki's family responds to the realisation that he's survived his suicide attempt.

Thor- manhandles him, angrily demands to know where the Tesseract is

Odin- refuses to even use his name, implies he should have either slaughtered him as an infant or left him to die

Frigga- tells him not to make things worse (fucking rich coming from the woman who exacerbated his trauma immeasurably by thrusting the throne upon him when he was at his most vulnerable)

Wild, man. I wonder why Loki's convinced his family doesn't give a shit about him. They seem like such loving people to me.

“I remember a shadow,” Loki said bitterly. “Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I who was and should be king!”

Because you would have destroyed Asgard, Thor thought. Just to impress our father, you would have annihilated all the Nine Realms. “So you took the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights? No. The Earth is under my protection, Loki.”

1) Actually, he was trying to save Asgard... from a war that YOU started, numbnuts. He went about it all wrong because he was having a fucking mental breakdown, but at no stage did he even really endanger Asgard, let alone come close to destroying it.

2) Um, what? Where the fuck in Loki's plan was annihilating anything other than Jötunheim? I see Thor shares his friends' impressive conclusion-jumping skills. Not surprising.

3) Thor, I mean this truly and without reservation: go fuck yourself.

Loki chuckled. “And you’re doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly fret. I mean to rule them, and why should I not?”

He... has a point.

“You think yourself above them?”

“Well, yes.”

At least Loki is honest about his condescension, Thor. You should try it sometime.

Suddenly furious, Loki raged at Thor. “I’ve seen worlds you’ve never known about! I have grown, Odinson, in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it—”

“Who showed you this power?” Thor interrupted. “Who controls the would-be king?”

And he will never bring this up again. Ever.

Stepping right up to his brother, Thor shouted back. “Not here! You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream!” Then he softened. “You come home.”

“I don’t have it,” Loki said. Furious, Thor brought Mjolnir to his hand, ready for battle.

Thor's sort of a one-solution kind of guy, huh? Somebody help me out here, because he's "changed" but his first instinct when he's not getting his way is still to react with intimidation and violence. Funny how that works.

Tony braked and skidded to a halt as the Asgardian rolled away from him, tearing up trees and brush as he went. He got to his feet and extended a warning hand. “Do not touch me again,” he said.

Oh, what's the matter, Thor? Do you not like being manhandled? That's weird because you sure do seem to enjoy doing the manhandling. 😕

“If he gives up the cube, he’s all yours. Until then…” Tony’s faceplate clamped back down. “Stay out of the way.”

He turned to walk back to a place where he could make a clean takeoff. “Tourist,” he muttered.

That was the last straw, apparently, because the next thing Tony knew, the Asgardian’s hammer had hit him about as hard as he’d ever been hit in his life. The force of the blow carried him through the trunk of a tree and laid him out flat in the dirt.

Please note that Thor was not being attacked. He once again used offensive violence against someone who hurt his feelbads. "Changed", my rear.

“Then prove it,” Cap said. “Put that hammer down.”

“Uh, no, bad call,” Iron Man said. “He loves his hammer—”

The Asgardian interrupted Tony by smashing him out of the way with a backhand swing. “You want me to put the hammer down?” he roared, and leaped high into the air, bringing his hammer down toward Captain America.

And again—not in any immediate danger, simply reacting with violence to something that made him angry.

“Oh, I’ve heard. A mindless beast. Makes play he’s still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?”

“How desperate am I?” Fury echoed. He walked slowly over the catwalk to stand in front of Loki. “You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can’t hope to control. You talk about peace, but you kill because it’s fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”

This is called 'projection', kids. Projection, and making up stories about your enemies so they're easier to hate. Fury needs to show his work.

Loki knew he had been heard throughout the ship. He could hear the echoes of the speakers, and even if he had not, he always knew when people were listening to him. That was part of his power, to make them listen… and to make each of them hear something just a little different. Just what he wanted them to hear.

This doesn’t mean anything, does it??

Perhaps he was in a cage right now, but he had been in cages before. Not once had one been able to hold him for long.

This... has to be a reference to his time with the Black Order, right? There's certainly no basis for such a statement pre-2011.

Or the author is just on crack. That's very possible.

Thor took a step toward Bruce. “Have a care how you speak,” he warned. “Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard… and he is my brother.”

“He killed eighty people in two days,” Natasha pointed out.

Citation needed, please.

“Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises…” As he spoke, Tony walked behind Bruce and gave him a little zap with an electrical instrument.

“Ow!” Bruce said.

Tony looked closely at him. “Nothing?” He’d been testing Bruce to see how well he controlled the Hulk. The little shock hadn’t provoked any kind of unusual reaction, which Tony seemed to find a little disappointing.

Ok, but what exactly was Tony's plan if Bruce had Hulked out here? lmao

“Steve,” Bruce said, “tell me none of this smells a little funky to you.”

Cap looked back and forth between the two scientists. Bruce could tell he was struggling with something… but he also wasn’t going to share it. He was too much of a good soldier for that.

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

“Yeah. I’ll read all about it.”

“Or you’ll be suiting up with the rest of us.”

Bruce shook his head with a regretful smile. “No, see, I don’t get a suit of armor. I’m exposed. Like a nerve. It’s a nightmare.”

Bruce has BPD. Lol

No, you guys don't understand. That's literally what it feels like.

Thor watched over Coulson’s shoulder as the agent showed him S.H.I.E.L.D.’s current files on Jane Foster. When he had learned that Loki had captured Erik Selvig, his first thought had been of Jane. Thor had destroyed the Bifrost to save the Nine Realms, but he had also cut himself off from her… or so he had thought. It was a terrible decision to make, sacrificing love for duty—yet Thor had done it. If necessary, he would do it again. He hoped it would not be necessary, though, and that was one reason why he had asked Coulson about Jane.

Oh my god, Thor. You spent like, three days with her, max. And people call Loki the dramatic one...

Thor looked out into the sky, gathering his thoughts. “When I first came to Earth,” he went on, “Loki’s rage followed me here, and your people paid the price. Now, again. In my youth, I courted war.”

“War hasn’t started yet,” Fury said.

1) Correction: when your daddy threw you to Earth like a sack of trash down a cosmic garbage chute. You were not here on vacation, bro.

2) No, Loki's rage followed your treasonous friends.

3) LAST YEAR. YOUR 'YOUTH' WAS LAST YEAR.

4) *committed mass murder over an insult

“You think you could make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?”

This possibility hadn’t occurred to Thor. “I do not know,” he said. “Loki’s mind is far afield. It’s not just power he craves. It’s vengeance, upon me. There’s no pain that would pry that need from him.”

1) Opposing Thor = being crazy. Noted.

2) Not everything is about you, buddy. At the risk of repeating myself, this is the guy I'm supposed to believe learned humility? Really? Where?

3) Please note that Thor does not object to torturing Loki because it's immoral or because the thought of hurting Loki pains him. He objects because he doesn't believe it will work.

Thor held Fury’s gaze. It was not the first time he had looked at a one-eyed man who posed him a difficult question. “What are you asking me to do?” he asked, wanting Fury to be clear and to own his words.

“I’m asking what you are prepared to do,” Fury said quietly.

“Loki is a prisoner,” Thor said. He thought Fury was testing him, seeing if he would violate his ideals to find out something they all needed to know. But Thor would not.

"I'm okay with physically assaulting prisoners if they make me mad, but I suddenly draw the line at torture. Even though my 'ideals' didn't appear to be a concern two sentences ago."

If I feel like being generous to Thor, maybe he initially hoped Fury would back off if he just said torture wouldn't work, and then Thor wouldn't have to risk appearing... soft? Weak? I don't know.

“But you figured I’d come,” she said.

“After,” Loki said. “After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate.” It was a typical approach. Cause misery, and then let someone appear as a friendly face. The miserable person would say anything to keep this friend. Loki had seen strong men break this way, many times.

I'm not sure why the author felt the need to depersonalize this by talking about other men. Loki knows this experience intimately. It's what he's endured his entire life at the hands of his "loving" family. The torture just wasn't physical then as far as we know.

An interesting story, Loki thought. She has much to atone for. He could hear some of her memories, from before her first encounter with Barton. Little girl, he thought, you’ve done some very bad things. And now you think you owe Clint Barton your life… but there is more to it. Loki could tell there was something in her mind that he was not quite uncovering. He pushed a little more.

Is... is this text implying that Loki can read people's minds/memories even without touching them?

“Can you?” he asked. “Can you wipe out that much red?” He listed for her some of the things he knew she had done. “Dreykov’s daughter… São Paulo… the hospital fire? Barton told me everything.” This was a lie. Barton had told Loki certain things about Romanoff, but he was also guessing some others.

He... guessed the details of these very specific incidents? What? lmao

He pushed ahead. Now that he understood her, he could break her. “Your ledger is dripping, it’s gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? Pathetic. You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors, but they are part of you and they will never go away.”

He's talking about himself again. 🥺

For some reason, this book skips right over the part where Loki threatens both Barton's and Natasha's lives. Not sure why; the author clearly has no problem depicting Loki as an unhinged psychopath most of the time. Oh well, whatevs.

Loki couldn’t understand how she had gathered her composure so quickly—and then he did understand. She was a superb actress! Or not even an actress, for he could see through a conscious performance. She was something else. She had been broken down and remade so many times, with so many identities, that she could put them on and take them off at will. And Loki had gotten lost in those emotional costume changes.

He had been outwitted by a mortal. Unthinkable.

Yeah, phew, it's a good thing Natasha figured it out in time. Otherwise, something terrible might have happened—like Bruce Hulking out and rampaging through the Helicarrier. Oh, wait...

“I was wrong, Director,” Cap said. “The world hasn’t changed a bit.” He looked angry and disappointed. Captain America was a big believer in shooting straight and telling the truth. He didn’t like spies and he didn’t like lies, and now he saw he was knee-deep in both.

This novel's hero worship of Steve Rogers is going to kill me. 🙄

“I’d like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction,” Bruce finished.

“Because of him,” Fury said, pointing at Thor.

“Me?”

“Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town,” Fury said. “We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.”

Has anyone figured out yet how this line doesn't conflict with Captain Marvel? Is Fury lying to hide her existence for some reason? Or is this just one of those things that we're supposed to shrug and pretend wasn't retconned?

“A nuclear deterrent,” Tony said. “Because that always calms everything right down.”

“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark,” Fury said coldly.

On the one hand, yes, good point. But on the other hand, he... stopped making them? So clearly, he no longer thinks they are a good thing?

And also, not to gloss over his past sins, but wasn't Tony born rich? Lol

“I thought humans were more evolved than this,” Thor commented.

Tony turned on Thor. “Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?”

Didn't Fury say this in the movie? Why did the author give the line to Tony instead? There are all these... weird changes in the story that are so minor I have no idea why the author made them. Very confusing.

Just like that, all of them were arguing. Cap and Tony were nose to nose, while Bruce and Natasha fired remarks back and forth. Thor stood off to the side, contempt plain on his face.

'Cause he also thinks he's superior to humans. 🙃

Tony and Cap squared off over an argument that they couldn’t even remember starting. Tony was still mad about the last thing Cap had said to him… whatever it was.

In case there was any doubt about the sceptre being the reason everyone starts losing their shit with one another.

Cap stood his ground. “Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?”

Tony had an answer ready for this one. “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”

Hey Steve? You know he invented the suit, right? Like. The suit is literally him.

“Put on the suit,” Cap said. “Let’s go a few rounds.”

Steve putting out big Joe Biden, "listen, fat..." energy here lmao

Thor laughed. “You people are so petty… and tiny.”

Thor, my dude. You literally started a war over being emasculated in front of your friends. I don't think you get to judge other people for being petty.

Fury could see things were spiraling out of control. He started trying to get them all back on track. “Agent Romanoff,” he said, “would you escort Dr. Banner back to—”

“Where?” Bruce interrupted. “My room? You rented my room.”

Nobody had said it out loud, but they all knew the cell currently holding Loki was designed for the Hulk.

What was their plan for containing the Hulk if necessary after sticking Loki in his cage, anyway? Did they even have one?

“Dr. Banner,” Cap said. “Put down the scepter.”

Bruce looked down. He hadn’t even known he’d picked it up.

Why does that sound familiar...?

Even though he could see what was going on, the hostility in the air was still thick enough that Bruce didn’t know whether he could back everyone down… or whether he could back himself down. He could feel tension rising inside him. He could feel the monster trying to get loose.

And yet none of them so much as considers the idea that the sceptre might be having a similar effect on Loki? Ok then.

But even though he was now refocused on the mission, the others still bickered. Loki had gotten into their heads, sowing discord and setting them against each other.

lmao I'd just like to note that Loki didn't actually do anything. This was all them and the effects of just being near the sceptre. #ThanksLoki

“The Tesseract belongs to Asgard,” Thor said.

Why, though?

“I’ll go after it,” Tony said.

“No you don’t,” Cap said, stepping into his way. He wasn’t ready to forget the way Tony had insulted him.

Ok, first of all, you started it. But also, seriously, Steve, that's your number one priority right now? Earth's mightiest heroes, ladies and gentlemen... lol

I have apparently managed to hit the paragraph limit, so we'll return after this short break, I guess. 🙈

↪️ On to Part Two

#there is a lot of salt here please remember to drink plenty of water #loki meta #loki #thor #tony stark #steve rogers #bruce banner #natasha romanoff #clint barton #nick fury #avengers assemble #mcu #phase one: avengers #thor critical

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