#seattle robotics society

[moreclaypigeons]

ok now YOU have to tell me about your ocs (any but i’m especially curious about Raini ^w^)

OKAY well Lorem reminds me a bit of your Aspen, since she also travels around a lot and it's an integral part of her identity.

Raini, however, is my most recent character! She was made for a game of blades in the dark (@orbitalsparkle) where we play magical girls whose forms are like some form of the planets? Not exactly sure on the background of that all yet since we are only one session in.

I chose the planet Uranus because I was like I gotta for the goofs. And then I came to find that it's an amazing beautiful planet and it's my favorite color and it's nerdy and represents aquarius... idk y'all those are pretty good things for a character for me !!

Raini is short for Urania, which is a variation on Ourania, the muse of astronomy who is in turn derived from Ouranos, or, Uranus. Her last name is "Hele`ekala" which is what the planet Uranus is traditionally called in Hawaiian, it being a take on "Herschel," which is the last name of the man who discovered Uranus.

So the whole campaign takes place in a world in which a catastrophic event (death of the angels) caused the destruction of the modern internet and the reconstruction of society. It's described as being retrofuturistic, and technology as well as some aspects of culture take heavy inspiration from the early 2000s.

Raini lives in Newol Seattle in the year 2068. Life is pretty good for her- she lives in a community home with some other folks that she's come to consider family of some sort (it's pretty typical for the world they live in), and goes to the local high school where she's captain of the robotics team, and they pretty much kick ass. They love to build and solve problems and program. She is a very practical, and blunt person who doesn't show much emotion.

However straight-laced she may appear, she does have her one vice... she loves fighting. She organized a fight club within her community where humans and robots alike can battle, and she can get intense about it. It's not that they have it out for someone or want their suffering or whatever, but she just thinks violence and getting beat up is fun! And no it's not just an exercise thing, running doesn't give her the same adrenaline rush- she finds it extremely relaxing to go home with blood smeared over her face (whether it's hers or someone else's remains to be seen).

Oh and then there was the time she died. She doesn't remember much but she recalls something coming at her head? She has a bright mark around her neck to show for it, but, well.. she's alive now... And some deer told them that they're a magical girl? I guess?

Raini doesn't really get what's going on but she does get to fuck shit up and tinker with top secret tech so she doesn't really mind.

[mythic-quanta]

Unmasking the Supernatural World of Kolchak: The Night Stalker

Decades before shows like The X-Files, Supernatural, and Grimm brought monsters-of-the-week to the small screen, there was Kolchak: The Night Stalker. This short-lived 1970s series followed monster-hunting newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak as he investigated supernatural threats hiding in the shadows of modern-day Chicago.

Though it only aired for one season on ABC, Kolchak left an undeniable impact on network television and the horror/sci-fi genres. With its dark tone, witty lead character, and episodic paranormal stories, the show introduced key tropes that inspired future programs to embrace tales of vampires, robots, and UFOs. On the 45th anniversary of its debut, it’s time to revisit why Kolchak remains a cult favorite and seminal influence.

The Made-for-TV Films That Started It All

Kolchak’s origins begin with The Night Stalker, an ABC made-for-TV movie that aired in 1972. The film was penned by acclaimed sci-fi/horror writer Richard Matheson, who adapted an unpublished novel titled The Kolchak Papers. It featured Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, a reporter for the Independent News Service who investigates a string of Las Vegas murders committed by a modern-day vampire.

The Night Stalker was the highest-rated TV movie at the time with an unprecedented 33.2 rating. This smash success led ABC to quickly commission a sequel film, 1973’s The Night Strangler. Set in Seattle, this second movie saw Kolchak uncover a 146-year old alchemist extracting glandular fluids to stay alive. Both 90-minute films were ratings hits for ABC due to their supernatural hooks and McGavin’s performance as the persistent, quick-witted reporter willing to battle monsters.

Shifting to a Weekly Series in Primetime

Buoyed by the success of the Kolchak TV movies, ABC made the pivotal decision to order a third iteration as a weekly series. Simply titled Kolchak: The Night Stalker, the show premiered on September 13, 1974. It transplanted the Kolchak character from Seattle to Chicago and expanded the threats beyond vampires and alchemists.

While maintaining the core DNA of McGavin’s dogged reporting and dark monster themes, the series took an episodic, X-Files-esque approach with weekly supernatural adversaries. Over 20 episodes, Kolchak faced off against a diverse array of creatures like zombies, Jack the Ripper, a rakshasa, and even a robot assassin. He reported for the independent INS wire service, narrating his investigations in trademark hardboiled fashion.

The weekly format also introduced a regular supporting cast like Kolchak’s editor Tony Vincenzo (played by Simon Oakland). Despite its loyal following, Kolchak: The Night Stalker struggled in the ratings against programs like Sanford and Son and Chico and the Man. ABC declined to order a second season, while tying up the major storyline threads in the final episode.

Why the Show Became a Cult Favorite

Though short-lived as a series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker had an outsized impact that led to its eventual status as a cult classic. Carl Kolchak stepped directly from the pages of 1930s pulp fiction with his straw hat, seersucker suit, and refusal to let authority figures deter him from getting his scoop.

Darren McGavin fully embodied the role and gave it a layer of humor with his deadpan narration and quippy reactions to being fired on a regular basis. Kolchak feverishly typed away at his articles on a worn-out typewriter, determined to reveal the truth no matter the personal cost. His quest spoke directly to viewers who felt marginalized or dismissed in society.

The monsters themselves tapped into horror and sci-fi themes that the 1970s public was eager to see, from occult legends like the djinn to Creature from the Black Lagoon-style swamp beasts. ABC took a major risk bringing a genre program like Kolchak to their primetime lineup, paving the way for future series.

Legacy of a Genre Trailblazer

Though ratings struggled in its initial run, Kolchak: The Night Stalker turned out to be shockingly ahead of its time. It helped break major ground in bringing horror and supernatural themes to network television. Following Kolchak’s cue, ABC debuted sci-fi shows like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman in quick succession.

The “monster-of-the-week” episodic approach pioneered by the show became a staple of future programs like The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Fringe. Kolchak also popularized now-standard tropes like government UFO cover-ups, investigations of creatures hiding in plain sight, and paranormal journalism. Without Carl Kolchak’s odyssey, we may never have gotten to ride along with paranormal sleuths like Fox Mulder, the Winchester brothers, or Grimm’s Nick Burkhardt.

From the underground tunnels to dark alleys of Chicago, the show developed an aesthetic that became foundational for urban-set genre series. Traits like narration, morgue visits, and twisting stairs influenced everything from The X-Files to Evil.

The series memorably played on viewer “fear of the unknown” in the shadows of the everyday world. As Kolchak relentlessly chased down ghosts, witches, and serial killers, he showed it was possible to face the darkness with courage and wit.

Kolchak's Enduring Pop Culture Legacy

Though it went off the air in 1975 after just one 20-episode season, Kolchak: The Night Stalker continued finding new audiences through syndication and strong word-of-mouth. Darren McGavin reprised the role in two short-lived sequels – a 2005 TV movie on ABC and a short-lived 2008 series called Night Stalker. Neither quite captured the magic of the original.

Kolchak remains a highly influential part of pop culture, getting referenced in shows from The Simpsons to The X-Files. The character even appears in the novel Ready Player One, described as an “obscure 1970s TV character that only the most diehard geeks seem to remember.”

But those who do remember Kolchak hold the show close as a nostalgic gem full of monsters, mystery, and Carl’s determined reporting spirit. On the 45th anniversary of its debut, Kolchak: The Night Stalker deserves appreciation as a cult favorite that brought ghouls and dark supernatural themes to primetime. Through writers like Chris Carter and Joss Whedon, Carl Kolchak’s legacy shines on in today’s era of small-screen monster hunting.

Check out the original: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B000X2FVA4/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

[samueljkim]

Penumbra

The short album seems to be the platform of choice as of late. This collection of songs is admittedly not familiar territory for me. In some ways it feels really different, but in other ways it sounds like me more than ever. I think that's the balance I'm trying to work at: diverging far out and exploring new worlds, but also converging deeper into an identity as an artist.

This project all started with a song that was birthed by reading an Instagram post by a friend about trying to find a place where we can accept both the shadow and light sides of ourselves. The idea of knowing both your light and your shadow was so compelling I felt I needed to make a song out of it right away. The opening song was made almost in a day (but of course, a whole lot of editing came later). It sparked a lot of ideas of trying to listen to the world around us. Rather than choosing a side, where we can we sit where we experience some of the light and some of the shadow: the penumbra. I think the world I'm living in right now has a lot of extremes up against each other. Tension, dissatisfaction, confusion, and maybe catharsis even. It's all there living together.

I had been sitting on these songs for over a year. I thought I was going to get it out much sooner but I just kept holding on to them. It got to the point that I felt that I needed to release it soon or it would no longer be relevant to who I was. I actually have perhaps two more EPs in the pipeline and I couldn't work on the other ones until these had gone out into the world. I realize not many people would listen to this and some may overlook this EP because it doesn't quite fit with previous releases, but I knew that it still had something to say. I wanted the vocals to be choppy and robotic but fused with something somewhat soulful. I wanted it to be heartfelt but also cold and distant. I wanted it to feel like heavy machinery with a beat but also beating to an internal heart-like rhythm.

I learned some new things about production and mixing. I wanted to keep developing this new workflow where I get things out sooner and move on to new projects rather than obsessing over them for long periods and then lose that initial spark of energy. If it means that it's a bit rough around the edges and less polished, so be it. I've given up trying to serve perfectionist leanings because I don't think it's worth it in the end. I found new tricks and maybe learned some bad habits. I'm learning and evolving as I go.

"Your Light Your Shadow"

This song had this weird slow tempo funk to it. When that bassline comes in at the end, I knew I found something I liked. It's unusual but that weird sci-fi swagger was what I was looking for.

"Before or After"

A song about wrestling with the reality that we and the world around us seem to be in this repeating spiral. We want to be what we were before or dream of something after... it's hard to accept the present reality, but maybe once we do, we can actually learn to change right now. I loved Herbert's album, "Bodily Functions" and I wanted to capture some of that house flavor with some of my unique flavors on it.

"The Centre"

Note the Canadian spelling just to piss off this country I live in. The song didn't intend to sound like Phil Collins but here we are. I wanted it to be more like Drake and James Blake, but oh no, I get Phil. A lot of this song is about my observations of where are our fragmentations are taking us. I see splintering at every level of society and not sure where we go from here. The song offers no answers, just observations.

"Without You" (with Enereph)

I was working on a collaboration with Enerph, a great local artist in Seattle, and she showed a rough sketch she did for a song with a vocal and some noodling with an Arturia Polybrute. I recall her saying, "It would be cool if someone could rap on this".... and so I tried! haha. Honestly, I can't believe I did it. I just tried to record it as fast as possible before I became self-conscious. I had been listening to a lot of early Drum n' Bass with all of the lovely Amen breaks and wanted to bring that in to this as well. I couldn't have made this without Enereph. After finishing that song with her, I realized it really fit into the character of this EP and she graciously let me release it with the other songs. Check out her work. It's amazing.

"Crooked Lines"

I felt like I wanted something pulsing and more upbeat to balance the other downtempo songs. I wanted it to be a bit funky, a bit disco even. I wanted to capture some feeling of protest and dissatisfaction -- pushback for the ways that we keep making these unnecessary crooked lines of demarcation. I wanted soul but steeled by a song that had technology at the forefront. The robots of the machine are waking up and they want to stop taking the shit from idiots. Something like that.

"Dramatis Personae"

I'm guessing very few have read this far. This song was inspired by a fellow musician who was very naked about the pain they went through. It was sometimes painful to watch, or sometimes I would have to resist it like resisting watching a car crash on the side of the road. So much honesty, but in some ways, so much pretension and attention seeking. Isn't that all artists? People of drama. "Actors acting". We need those plays as part of humanity but in some ways, are they just mechanisms justifying our profound selfishness? I can't say. I can't fully explain why I wanted it to end with these expansive and cascading sounds at the end, but it just felt like the best way to end this EP. A washy glacier of sound taking us out into the darkness of unknown.

Streaming everywhere online.

Some more albums are on the way. I think there's one more electronic thing coming that's going to be pretty pop and finishes off the Kindness EP that almost nobody heard. I'm also thinking of making some kind of post-wave indie pop something or other with a lot of angular guitars. And then, I'll get around to this EP finally that was pretty dark and despairing... because those are always fun in their own way. On the other side of things, I want to keep developing my ability to do electronic music on hardware and software. So much sound and so little time. Thanks for your love if you ever sent it. If you didn't, I don't blame you.

[tastydregs]

Yikes, the U.S. is Now Using Facial Recognition Rigged Drones for Special Ops

Image: Getmilitaryphotos (Shutterstock)

Flying killer robots used to be a nightmarish sci-fi fantasy—something that only existed in James Cameron movies or Michael Crichton novels. These days, not so much. Not only is drone warfare close to two decades old, but innovations to this lethal technology are being developed all the time.

Case in point: New Scientist magazine recently unearthed a contract between the U.S. Air Force and a little known defense firm that shows the government is using reconnaissance and surveillance drones equipped with facial recognition to aid in special operations missions. While the magazine notes that those smaller drones aren’t typically armed (unlike, say, their big siblings, the Predator and the Reaper), they clearly present dizzying new possibilities for America’s most shadowy and deadly cadres. The Air Force’s provider is a Seattle-based firm, RealNetworks, which sells a platform dubbed Secure Accurate Facial Recognition, or SAFR. The government paid $729,056 for SAFR, which will be deployed “on an autonomous sUAS for special ops, ISR, and other expeditionary use-cases,” according to the contract. While not a ton is known about how the U.S. is using this technology or how long it’s been using it, one thing is certain: it’s creeping people out.

“Big huge NOPE to everything here,” tweeted Jake Wiener, a lawyer with the digital privacy organization EPIC, in response to the news.

Another critic, Nicholas Davis, of the University of Technology Sydney, told Newsweek: “There are innumerable ethical implications, from the way such devices might redistribute power or threaten groups within a society, to the ways in which they threaten established international humanitarian law in conflict zones.”

Skeptics have dutifully noted the horrifying nature of this particular integration. Given the fact that special operations units are most well known for their clandestine and lethal activities (read: assassinations and raids), the deployment of an AI-powered airborne robot affixed with face recording tech means America’s goon squads now have a powerful new tool to carry out their dark deeds. Motherboard notes that such drones could easily be used for “intelligence and target acquisition,” meaning that anybody being trailed by these little contraptions is probably in deep shit.

G/O Media may get a commission

The scariest thing about this development, frankly, is that it’s clearly only the beginning of the race to make drones faster, smarter, more sophisticated and, potentially, more lethal. From the Navy’s planned drone swarm warfare to the surge in drone use in the Russo-Ukrainian war, to the specter of flying robots that could come equipped with chemical or biological payloads, get ready for your worst sci-fi nightmares to come true.

[aerticle365]

The Enormous Ideology For IT Development By NCBN

Nara Chandrababu Naidu the Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh is a firm supporter of the use of information technology, and he successfully emphasized and illustrated how to use it to prepare for an orderly transition into an information society and knowledge economy. In addition, he made IT-enabled initiatives that aided in quick decision-making inside the government and improved the quality of governance for the wider populace.

Because of his endless efforts, Hyderabad, the “City of Pearls,” became an IT hub. With the launch of Chandrababu Naidu’s dream project, the Hi-Tech City in Hyderabad, in 1998, the IT revolution was triggered, and a slew of IT projects started coming to Hyderabad. Raheja Mindspace, an IT hub with over 80,000 employees, was formed in 2003 in Hyderabad.

With his constant efforts, Mr. Naidu also succeeded in persuading and inspiring the IT giant Microsoft to begin its R&D facility in Hyderabad for the first time outside the USA. These successful initiatives emulated other prestigious companies to start many new ventures. All these updates of extraordinary TDP achievements were passed to people with the help of TDP's latest news.

With Hyderabad becoming its second such facility outside of Seattle in 2004, Microsoft had a historic start. In addition, many other major worldwide IT businesses, including IBM, Dell, Deloitte, Computer Associates, and Oracle, have begun operations in Hyderabad after being inspired by Chandrababu Naidu’s proactive approach and help.

In 2001, Andhra Pradesh became the first state in the country to offer quick, paperless online services through e-Seva Centers, ahead of many developed nations. All forms of government information, utility bills, banking services, birth and death certificates, etc., are included.

Nara Chandrababu Naidu has launched an IT initiative by a group of NRIs who help the state government of Andhra Pradesh in different areas through mobile apps and others. The ‘Code for AP' is a non-profit association in the US that's supporting Andhra Pradesh in colorful robotization operations in e-governance and profitable and social development. This organization has 30 government departments having 100 volunteers, offering them technology-based solutions to streamline work. This organization has worked on different projects for the state government of Andhra Pradesh. They include 'Central Fund Monitoring Portal',  'News Room', 'Sentry Gate', and 'Mobile Device Management’. The Central Fund Monitoring Portal, a first-of-its-kind application for a state government, authorizes each department thorough understanding of any new scheme started by the Union government, officials said. By using 'Mobile Device Management’, government officials working on field projects are permitted with the latest smartphones and tablets for data collection purposes.

During his reign, Hyderabad’s software exports reached a high of $1 billion, making Hyderabad the fourth-largest city in the nation for IT exports. By 2013–14, exports had increased more than ten times, directly supporting 320,000 jobs in Hyderabad’s IT and ITES sectors.

In the year 1999, Shri Nara Chandrababu Naidu manufactured a vision statement called “Andhra Pradesh Vision 2020”.Later with the ideology of Naidu and some of the TDP MLA Candidates, the collaboration with US consultants McKinsey & Company was done. The 2020 vision ingrained various goals and objectives to be achieved. The idea focused on 19 Primary Growth Engines in all three subsectors and planned many actionable activities to achieve the objectives. He always wondered how to pass his motto of vision to the people using TDP's latest news and updates.

[hermannsthumb]

Please do holiday prompt 85 (unexpected apology)!

85. we haven’t been friends for years but we both end up at a mutual friend’s holiday party and you apologize for how things went down between us (which I wasn’t expecting in a million years)

from winter writing prompts here

it’s that time of year again everyone.....ive been so busy with school and zine stuff that im taking a little break to write this today ☺️ set very late 2019, before the Events of 2020

------------------

It occurs to Hermann as he stands amongst a handful of society’s most monied and high-ranking—mulled wine in hand, stiff suit buttoned too-tight around his neck—that he is not only completely out of his element, but residing at a level of desperation that he cringes to even consider. Hermann does not schmooze; Hermann has never had the capacity to schmooze; in all of his previous attempts at schmoozing (typically at the bequest of his father, who would tote Hermann around as a conversation piece at fundraising events), Hermann would come across invariably as disingenuous, uptight, and arrogant, and certainly not someone with whom one would entrust large cheques made out to the PPDC for.

Yes; desperation. To borrow the cliché, desperate times call for desperate measures. To borrow another, war changes man. Robots wage war on monsters from another world, the UN wages war on the jaeger program’s budget, and Hermann must wage war on prospective PPDC donors if he wishes to still be employed by the New Year. He can’t decide which sounds more horrendous, really.

“Would you like more wine, Dr. Gottlieb?” a passing waiter asks Hermann, and Hermann shakes his head.

“No, thank you,” he says. Hermann has always been a maudlin drunk; he doesn’t fancy risking over-drinking tonight, and making an embarrassment of himself by confessing to perfect strangers that his parents never loved him or that he fears he’ll never make a true human connection.

“Dr. Gottlieb?” someone says, incredulously.

Oh, bugger. He’s been found out. Hermann sighs, flattens down his cowlick, and plasters on a fake smile: the time has come for him to, er, lie back and think of the PPDC, so to speak. Hopefully it’ll go fast.

But when Hermann turns, it’s not to find some acquaintance of his father, or a perfect stranger familiar with his work, or even a distant colleague; it’s to find one Newton Geiszler (who Hermann may have considered a colleague, once, but certainly not anymore), dressed in a horrendous eyesore of a gold (gold) suit, nursing a large red cocktail in each hand, and staring at Hermann like he can’t decide if he wants to say something or turn and run. Hermann mirrors his stare. A pin could drop between them, and Hermann reckons, despite the undercurrent of music and chatter, they would be able to hear it.

Hermann is the one to break it. “Newton,” he says. Then he amends, quickly, “Dr. Geiszler. I wasn’t aware…” He coughs. He suddenly wishes he took another mulled wine, and wonders if it’s too late to summon back the waiter. “You are…here.”

“Uh,” Newton says. “Yeah.”

The last time Hermann saw Newton Geiszler, they were standing under an awning outside a Starbucks while a torrential downpour of rain pounded against the sidewalk and soaked their shoes. Hermann was shouting. Newton was shouting, too, and he may have also been crying. They had been asked to leave the building on account of it. That was nearly three years ago. “Er,” Hermann says. “Business? Or pleasure?”

Newton has hardly changed in the almost-three years; his hair remains thick and unruly, his jaw in bad need of a shave, his glasses smudged and slightly crooked. The suit is a bloody eyesore, though. Hermann imagines Newton thought it was festive. “Business.” Newton snorts. “God, you think I’d come here for fun? I haven’t had the money for a new sample in months, it was either this or, I don’t know, sticking mutated fish under microscopes. Kaiju blue poisoning. Been there done that, and not what I need to be doing now, you know? And you can thank your dad for that too, not having any fucking samples to work with, I mean, and his stupid wall—but I guess that’s why you’re here too. I heard they’re talking about pulling the plug on the jaeger program.”

Newton speaks quickly, and with a bewildering tendency to leap between topics like a game of hopscotch, something Hermann had quite forgotten. (They’d only met the once, after all, and Newton disguises it better in writing.) He follows it nonetheless. “Yes, well, they’re still only just rumors,” Hermann says, though he knows (with a certainty) that one more major failing of a jaeger might spell the end of it, “and I certainly hope they stay as such. I take it you’re with the PPDC now, then?”

Newton jerks a thumb towards the waistband of his gold suit, spilling a bit of his cocktail on the floor; Hermann at last notices the PPDC badge clipped to it. Newton’s grin is identical to the one in his photograph. “Hell yeah, dude,” he says. “They finally hired me about a month after we—” The corners of his mouth twitch down, ever so slightly. “—uh, got coffee.”

It had been a long-standing complaint of Newton’s, back when they wrote each other, that the PPDC was perfectly happy to use his research but turned a blind eye whenever he submitted yet another application for their k-science research team. Personality conflicts, Hermann always presumed. He and Newton certainly had plenty. Perhaps Hermann’s not the only one who’s grown desperate—a thought he scolds himself for the unkindness of a moment later. Newton is a brilliant scientist despite his difficulties and their past. “Of course,” Hermann says. “Well, congratulations. I hadn’t heard.”

“Wine?” a passing waiter asks them.

Newton shakes his head. Hermann takes one this time, gratefully.

“It’s been alright,” Newton says. He downs the entirety of the red cocktail in his right hand. “Like I said. Not many samples to work with. They had me stationed over in Vladivostok, but I got leave for the holidays. And for this I guess.”

“I’ve been in Seattle,” Hermann says. “I reckon they’ll be transferring me soon, though I haven’t an idea where.” More rumors, of course.

For a moment he allows himself the brief fantasy of being transferred somewhere with Newton, or perhaps it’s more of a fear than a fantasy—year after year of this sort of insufferable awkwardness? Being forced to work together? It’s something Hermann had longed for in the past, spending every day with his marvelous penpal at his side. It instills a sort of nausea in him now. Newton touches his arm before Hermann has the chance to excuse himself hide in the loo. “Hey, dude, listen,” Newton says. “About us getting coffee. I feel like I owe you an apology.”

Hermann can’t help it; he snorts, though he immediately regrets it. Newton, at least, does not look offended. “Do you?” Hermann says. Two and a half bloody years too late.

“I mean it,” Newton says. He blinks earnestly at Hermann, and squeezes Hermann’s arm. “I screwed it all up that day, and I could’ve—I don’t know, written, or texted, or anything to apologize, but I didn’t. And that was shitty of me. So I’m sorry, I really am. And…yeah. That’s it, I guess.”

It’s the last thing Hermann expected to hear today. It’s the last thing he expected to hear from Newton. The radio silence following that disastrous day at the coffee shop had been awful—and it’d been infuriating, too. Where had they even gone wrong that day? Hermann can’t remember anymore. Probably a fight over something inconsequential. “I see,” Hermann says. “Well. Er. Thank you, Newton. Your apology is...appreciated.”

“Cool,” Newton says.

He stares at Hermann expectantly.

“Oh,” Hermann says. “And I’m sorry, too, I suppose.”

“Cool,” Newton repeats.

He smiles at Hermann, and Hermann is momentarily suffocated by it, and the sudden reemergence of feelings he thought he’d quashed years ago. Newton is still very attractive. Very, very attractive. Hermann’s arm is warm and tingly from where Newton touched him, and he realizes the warmth is spreading up to his neck and cheeks—he’s blushing. “Hey, wanna check out the snack table with me?” Newton says. “I love the rich people food at shit like this. The last one I went to had oysters, which is totally weird. Like, it’s a gala.”

Hermann decides to accept it as the strange peace offering it obviously is meant to be. “Alright,” he says. “Though, I insist you explain your monstrosity of a suit first.”

“It’s classy,” Newton says. “Anyway, you’re one to talk, buddy.”

[renegadeagitator-blog]

Setting Headcanons

So. Halcyon Daze lives on a not-necessarily-Epilogue-compatible alternate universe of Earth C. I’m going to explore that a lil bit here.

We start with a version of Earth which was affected by a series of alien-invasion induced environmental disasters such as global warming and melted ice caps. It was an ocean-logged apocalypse with skeletons of old Earth life and architecture.

Some accelerated space time later due to godly intervention, the ocean has had time to recede. Ice caps reform. SALT AND FOSSILS AND RUINS, EVERYWHERE.

No idea how the absence of a sun would affect this realistically, but we’ll just handwave that part since it’s not like anyone else has thought about it, either.

Continents have drifted to more closely resemble the supercontinent Pangea Proxima than the Earth continent configuration we’re familiar with. Not entirely sure how the terrain and climate would look yet, but I’ll have to keep that in mind when I separate the four “Kingdoms” in a map-draft.

For the non-Homestucks, there’s four main sentient species we’re dealing with here: Humans, Trolls, Carapacians, and Consorts. Each have their own “Kingdoms”, but there’s also places that have a lot of interspecies populations. I’m not a wiki. I’m sorry.

Also, I’m collectively calling the eight humans who won sBurb and achieved God Tier the Pantheon in this universe. They divide into two groups of four, Alphas and Betas, based on the universe iterations they’re actually from. The Alphas’ Earth formed the basis of Earth C. Daze is tangentially associated with the Alphas, but it’s a Strained relationship.

Given how anti-monarchy the Mayor, a major founding Carapacian of the new planet, was, I think “Kingdom” is an artifact term that has more to do with how Carapacians are chess-people and they were the ones raising everyone else for a while than anything to do with having an actual King. Naming privileges go to the first people able to put syllables together, imagine that?

Daze lives in a metropolitan city deep in the heart of the Troll Kingdom. It’s not the capitol or anything like that, since Daze is trying to avoid anywhere Too Central in his determination to avoid the Pantheon. Luckily, the Alphas don’t have any direct ties to Troll society, so he’s able to manage that pretty easily.

Because it’s my AU, my rules, I like to think this particular city is on the shore of one of the major seas. It’s an IT and mechanical industrial hub, because Daze would be drawn to those kind of places for his own needs. Maybe a Troll version of Seattle meets San Francisco. Now named Current Point.

I can take as much aesthetic inspiration from Blade Runner and Neuromancer and Trollify it as much as I want. And no one can stop me. Mwahaha.

On that note, while there is some works in robotics and developments in artificial intelligence, it hasn’t quite taken off to the point that AI of Daze’s sophistication are anything like common. Especially since the process that created him is an ethical nightmare not easily replicated in a vacuum.

It’s more like battle bots or personal aides or Baymax-like health droids. 

Troll tech tends to run closer along the line of bioaugmentation, anyway, rather than conventional circuits and robotics. 

When Daze ambles about in his one of his robo-bodies, people tend to just think he’s a very sophisticated drone rather than an autonomous being. Or a weird cosplayer. He’s not so much discriminated against as he’s a very invisible minority.

But hey, he’s got an eternity to change that at his own pace, right?

That’s enough broad strokes for now, but feel free to send me some anons if you wanna ask me questions. Goodness knows I’m going to have a lot of fun building this all to make sense anyway.

[quarktrinity]

Alright, Hemmingway, what's the plot? (Seriously tho I am interested in Earth, 2068 pls tell me more about it)

SO GLAD YOU ASKED

earth 2068 is a hybrid speculative-fiction/science-fiction narrative that takes place in, you guessed it, the year 2068. the surface of the earth has been rendered inhabitable by a run-of-the-mill nuclear fallout that took place twenty years prior to the story. luckily, seattle-based megacorporation LION robotics, and CEO phil gacutan, has our back, encasing a few thousand square miles of land in a giant radiation-proof dome, and pushing that dome off the mainland, sinking to the floor of the pacific ocean, where humanity can recuperate and continue society, sans federal government and 99% of the world, leaving them in a cyberpunk anarcho-capitalist faux-utopia.

but thats not really whats important!

enter protagonist flynn valakos, whos lived his entire life in this submarine environment, and likes dinosaurs. flynn, through his risk-taking competence, gets roped into a small group of STEM-field prodigies, led by vermillion gacutan, engineer and offspring of phil gacutan. vermillions group is kind of not a fan of the way whats left of humanity has become dependent on LION robotics, and plans on Doing Something About It. specifically, piercing the fabric of spacetime and preventing the nuclear fallout from ever happening.

expect explicit criticisms of capitalism and the cyberpunk setting, more robots than you can count, time travel shenanigans, and acronyms up the wazoo.

[metaverseproductions]

Chapter 1.5 (Bill Gates and the road to Implanted Humans)

Down the Rabbit Hole we go. 

Back on June 1st of 2015, the reputable IEEE published an article titled “Medical Microbots Take a Fantastic Voyage Into Reality”. This was the year after I had read about the Max Planck “micro scallops” and wondered what it would take to get critical mass implanted with these micro robots (and future nano bots). 

In referencing the article’s approach of having a Doctor implant hundreds or  thousands of “micro grippers” (developed by Johns Hopkins) into the human body to perform a biopsy, the natural progression of questioning its capabilities led me to ask if they can also be used to implant micro or nano chips into the body”?

What would be the purpose of this on the grand scale of humanity? Beyond medical applications of implanted technology (such as heart monitors) that can already be hacked, what if the ultimate goal was behavior modification of the masses? We know that this is possible based on previous lab tests on mice, but could it work on humans? 

I often wonder if US Patent #US6754472B1 filed by Microsoft was designed for more than just systems integration between wearable and implantable IoT technologies. (Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6754472B1/en)

"...a body of a living creature for coupling the first device to the second device and for conducting the electrical signal from the first device to the second device and the initialization information from the second device to the first device, wherein the first and second devices establish a master and a slave relationship there between."  Makes one think of the #Matrix and  #HumanBatteries 

On April 10th 2020, China’s CCTV went live with Bill Gates and made the following comment:

“You are being attacked in the U.S., they say the #CoronaVirus originated from the process of vaccine development under your supervision. What is your take on this Bill Gates conspiracy”?  

His response begins with: “I say it’s ironic, if you take somebody that is doing their best to get the world ready...”

I will tell you what is TRULY IRONIC! How about that “Event 201″ that took place on October 2019, TWO MONTHS before the COVID19 Pandemic began and was hosted  by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Source: https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/about

About the Event 201 exercise

Event 201 was a 3.5-hour pandemic tabletop exercise that simulated a series of dramatic, scenario-based facilitated discussions, confronting difficult, true-to-life dilemmas associated with response to a hypothetical, but scientifically plausible, pandemic. 15 global business, government, and public health leaders were players in the simulation exercise that highlighted unresolved real-world policy and economic issues that could be solved with sufficient political will, financial investment, and attention now and in the future.

The exercise consisted of pre-recorded news broadcasts, live “staff” briefings, and moderated discussions on specific topics. These issues were carefully designed in a compelling narrative that educated the participants and the audience.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, World Economic Forum, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation jointly propose these recommendations.

Purpose

In recent years, the world has seen a growing number of epidemic events, amounting to approximately 200 events annually. These events are increasing, and they are disruptive to health, economies, and society. Managing these events already strains global capacity, even absent a pandemic threat. Experts agree that it is only a matter of time before one of these epidemics becomes global—a pandemic with potentially catastrophic consequences. A severe pandemic, which becomes “Event 201,” would require reliable cooperation among several industries, national governments, and key international institutions.

Recent economic studies show that pandemics will be the cause of an average annual economic loss of 0.7% of global GDP—or $570 billion. The players’ responses to the scenario illuminated the need for cooperation among industry, national governments, key international institutions, and civil society, to avoid the catastrophic consequences that could arise from a large-scale pandemic.

Similar to the Center’s 3 previous exercises—Clade X, Dark Winter, and Atlantic Storm—Event 201 aimed to educate senior leaders at the highest level of US and international governments and leaders in global industries.

It is also a tool to inform members of the policy and preparedness communities and the general public. This is distinct from many other forms of simulation exercises that test protocols or technical policies of a specific organization. Exercises similar to Event 201 are a particularly effective way to help policymakers gain a fuller understanding of the urgent challenges they could face in a dynamic, real-world crisis.

Recommendations

The next severe pandemic will not only cause great illness and loss of life but could also trigger major cascading economic and societal consequences that could contribute greatly to global impact and suffering. The Event 201 pandemic exercise, conducted on October 18, 2019, vividly demonstrated a number of these important gaps in pandemic preparedness as well as some of the elements of the solutions between the public and private sectors that will be needed to fill them. The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, World Economic Forum, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation jointly propose these recommendations.

When/where

Friday, October 18, 2019 8:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The Pierre hotel New York, NY

Audience

An invitation-only audience of nearly 130 people attended the exercises, and a livestream of the event was available to everyone. Video coverage is available here.

Exercise team

Eric Toner, MD, is the exercise team lead from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Crystal Watson, DrPH, MPH and Tara Kirk Sell, PhD, MA are co-leads from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Ryan Morhard, JD, is the exercise lead from the World Economic Forum, and Jeffrey French is the exercise lead for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Exercise team members are Tom Inglesby, MD; Anita Cicero, JD; Randy Larsen, USAF (retired); Caitlin Rivers, PhD, MPH; Diane Meyer, RN, MPH; Matthew Shearer, MPH; Matthew Watson; Richard Bruns, PhD; Jackie Fox; Andrea Lapp; Margaret Miller; Carol Miller; and Julia Cizek.

Event 201 was supported by funding from the Open Philanthropy Project.

###

Then five months later (March 2020), in the midst of the CoronaVirus epidemic being declared a global pandemic, this news breaks from LinkedIn (Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/13/bill-gates-leaves-microsoft-board.html):

“Microsoft announced on Friday that Bill Gates is leaving the board, effective Friday. “I have made the decision to step down from both of the public boards on which I serve – Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway – to dedicate more time to philanthropic priorities including global health and development, education, and my increasing engagement in tackling climate change”.

Basically, the “pandemic scenario” of Event 201 became a reality. Bill Gates leaves Microsoft to focus full time on his Foundation, which coincidentially had been funding coronavirus research and has now been revealed to be the second largest funder to the World Health Organization (WHO), coincidentally, (yet again) in charge of coming up with the vaccine for COVID19. Who profits from the pandemic under this scenario? Bingo! Just look at the history of Microsoft and how Bill Gates became a billionaire. It was not by playing nice and more like a chapter from of the Art of War.

Yet the disbelief doesn't stop there. How about that #ID2020 and what Bill Gates calls for in a "national tracking system similar to South Korea, saying that "in Seattle, the [University of Washington] is providing thousands of tests per day but no one is connected to a national tracking system" and that "Whenever there is a positive test it should be seen to understand where the disease is and whether we need to strengthen the social distancing." (Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/03/18/bill-gates-calls-for-national-tracking-system-for-coronavirus-during-reddit-ama/#36c92b5e6a72)

Could this ID2020 be implanted? Would that benefit Microsoft’s U.S. patent #US6754472B1?

The United Nations seems to think there are significant risks associated with a digital identity roll-out, such as: “Digital identity carries significant risk if not thoughtfully designed and carefully implemented. We do not underestimate the risks of data misuse and abuse, particularly when digital identity systems are designed as large, centralized databases”. (Source: https://id2020.org/manifesto)

All in all, I would say that the sense of irony expressed by Bill Gates on the #CCTV interview, is a two-way street as #WeThePeople of the United States have more time to research in self isolation and petition the White House to investigate Bill Gates.

Who gets to play God in this time? Event 201 was a game of playing God to develop depopulation strategies for a Human Disruption. While the intent might have found a root cause in the question of how to survive Climate Change, why is the survival and evolution of the human species primarily in the hands of Bill Gates?

If human overpopulation is such an issue, why isn’t Euthanasia legal for humans everywhere? Think about it, how many people suffering from old age, disease, poverty, and extreme suffering would opt for dying quickly and peacefully. Why choose for others and take away someone’s power over their own body and existence? 

My advice: find out what magnets are needed to remove grippers, buy them and start developing methods for removing micro and nano bots from the body.  Also help to promote active voluntuary euthanasia around the world before pushing for legislation to place technology into the bodies of millions of people against their will.

[sciencespies]

Mother of invention: the new gadgets dreamt up to fight coronavirus

https://sciencespies.com/news/mother-of-invention-the-new-gadgets-dreamt-up-to-fight-coronavirus/

Mother of invention: the new gadgets dreamt up to fight coronavirus

LONDON/OAKLAND/BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Driving to work at his factory to the west of London last week, designer Steve Brooks had coronavirus on his mind. What could he make that would let him open a door without touching the handle?

Entrepreneurs Matthew Toles and Joseph Toles, co-founders of the company Slightly Robot, show smartbands, the Immutouch, which buzz when the wearer’s hand goes near their face, to prevent spreading the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Seattle, U.S., in this handout picture taken March 31, 2020. Immutouch/Handout via REUTERS

“Everyone has to use their little finger or find the bit of the door that nobody’s touched,” said the designer and owner at DDB Ltd, a company which makes office furniture. So he produced a hook to do the job.

The so-called hygienehook is small enough to fit in a pocket and made from a non-porous material, which makes it easy to clean. It is one of hundreds of gadgets dreamt up in recent days and weeks to help prevent people from spreading the coronavirus.

From furniture makers to AI software developers, companies around the world are adapting existing products or inventing new ones to help fight the pandemic or just make life easier for those working from home, in hospitals or stuck in quarantine.

The flurry of innovation comes as companies from Ford (F.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA) to luxury goods giant LVMH (LVMH.PA) retool plants to make critical equipment like hand sanitizers, ventilators and masks.

In years gone by it was large companies like these, with the financial clout and factories, who typically had to be relied upon to move rapidly from designing a prototype to manufacturing the product.

A crucial difference now, though, is that 3D printing and high-tech software mean devices can be produced faster than ever by companies big and small.

“There is definitely a ton of people with 3D resources very willing to help,” said MacKenzie Brown, founder of California-based product design company CAD Crowd.

Two weeks ago, his company launched a month-long contest for practical devices for navigating the new coronavirus world.

About 65 entries have poured in, including a wrist-mounted disinfectant sprayer, half gloves for knuckle-pushing of buttons and a device that lets you open car doors without touching the handle, aimed at cab users.

As the pandemic makes people far more aware of hygiene, some new products may have a shelf life beyond the current crisis.

‘WE HAD THE ALGORITHM’

Startups are retooling their technology.

In Seattle, brothers Joseph and Matthew Toles and their friend Justin Ith, who own a young company called Slightly Robot, had developed a wristband after college aimed at reducing compulsive skin-picking, nail-biting, and hair-pulling.

When their home city reported its first fatalities from the virus last month, they adapted the design to create a new smartband, the Immutouch, which buzzes when the wearer’s hand goes near their face.

“We had the algorithm, we had the software and the hardware. We’ve repurposed it for face-touching,” Matthew Toles said in an interview. “We made 350 devices and a website in one week and now it’s how fast can we ramp up.”

Romanian robotic software company UiPath has meanwhile found a way for nurses in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in the Irish capital Dublin to ditch time-consuming data entry and automate filing of virus test results. It hopes to replicate it in other hospitals.

Scylla, a U.S.-based AI company that makes gun detection systems for schools and casinos, turned its sights on the virus when China, the original epicenter of the outbreak, reported its first cases three months ago.

It has re-deployed its AI analytics software to measure the temperature of a person’s forehead, sending out an alert if it detects a fever. Taking images from a thermal camera, the software can be used in public buildings like hospitals and airports, and corporate offices, chief technology officer Ara Ghazaryan said.

The government of a South American nation has placed an order for 5,000 licenses of Scylla’s system for its public buildings and transport system, Ghazaryan said. He declined to name the country.

WORLD WAR TWO INNOVATION

Global upheaval often spawns new products and innovation.

The current burst of creativity may eventually compare to that seen during World War Two when companies, governments and scientists embarked on projects that had lasting consequences.

Technology used to help guide rockets eventually led to the first satellites and putting men on the moon.

“There’s no question that inventors will be coming up with hundreds, if not thousands, of new ideas,” said Kane Kramer, inventor and co-founder of the British Inventor’s Society. He first conceived the idea of downloading music and data in the late 1970s.

“Everyone’s downed tools and are only picking them up to fight the virus. It’s a global war.”

Many companies are donating their new wares or selling them at cost price. The CAD Crowd contest designs are free for download and use, for example. For some, though, the extra business could provide a financial cushion as other sources of income evaporate during the pandemic.

DDB designer Brooks near London has worked quickly.

Slideshow (2 Images)

Less than a week after his first design, four different models of the hook went on sale this week, selling at just under 15 pounds ($18.60) each. He is donating one hook for every one he sells.

Now Brooks is turning his creative eye to another gadget along similar lines.

“We’ve already had a request from the National Health Service in Wales about designing something for pushing a door.”

Additional reporting by Nadine Schimroszik in Berlin; Editing by Pravin Char

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

#News

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The 2019 Locus Award nominees: your guide to the best sf/f of 2018

Locus Magazine has published its annual Locus Award finalists, a shortlist of the best science fiction and fantasy of the past calendar year. I rely on this list to find the books I've overlooked (so. many. books.). This year's looks like a bumper crop.

Now that the finalists have been announced, Locus subscribers and others can cast their votes; the awards will be presented in Seattle during a weekend-long event that runs June 28-30, MC'ed by Connie Willis.

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager US; Hodder & Stoughton)

The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)

If Tomorrow Comes, Nancy Kress (Tor)

Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris US; Solaris UK)

Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit UK)

Embers of War, Gareth L. Powell (Titan US; Titan UK)

Elysium Fire, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz; Orbit US)

Red Moon, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Unholy Land, Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon)

Space Opera, Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)

FANTASY NOVEL

Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch (DAW; Gollancz)

Foundryside, Robert Jackson Bennett (Crown; Jo Fletcher)

The Monster Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson (Tor)

Deep Roots, Ruthanna Emrys (Tor.com Publishing)

Ahab’s Return, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Theodora Goss (Saga)

The Mere Wife, Maria Dahvana Headley (MCD)

The Wonder Engine, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)

Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)

Creatures of Want and Ruin, Molly Tanzer (John Joseph Adams)

HORROR NOVEL

In the Night Wood, Dale Bailey (John Joseph Adams)

Unlanguage, Michael Cisco (Eraserhead)

We Sold Our Souls, Grady Hendrix (Quirk)

Coyote Songs, Gabino Iglesias (Broken River)

The Hunger, Alma Katsu (Putnam; Bantam Press UK)

The Outsider, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton)

The Listener, Robert McCammon (Cemetery Dance)

Cross Her Heart, Sarah Pinborough (HarperCollins UK/Morrow)

The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay (Morrow; Titan UK)

Tide of Stone, Kaaron Warren (Omnium Gatherum)

YOUNG ADULT BOOK

The Gone Away Place, Christopher Barzak (Knopf)

The Cruel Prince, Holly Black (Little, Brown; Hot Key)

The Belles, Dhonielle Clayton (Freeform; Gollancz)

Tess of the Road, Rachel Hartman (Random House)

Dread Nation, Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)

Cross Fire, Fonda Lee (Scholastic)

The Agony House, Cherie Priest & Tara O’Connor (Levine)

Half-Witch, John Schoffstall (Big Mouth House)

Impostors, Scott Westerfeld (Scholastic US; Scholastic UK)

Mapping the Bones, Jane Yolen (Philomel)

FIRST NOVEL

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt; Macmillan)

Semiosis, Sue Burke (Tor)

Armed in Her Fashion, Kate Heartfield (ChiZine)

The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)

The Quantum Magician, Derek Künsken (Solaris US; Solaris UK)

Annex, Rich Larson (Orbit US)

Severance, Ling Ma (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

Witchmark, C.L. Polk (Tor.com Publishing)

Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)

Empire of Sand, Tasha Suri (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

NOVELLA

The Black God’s Drums, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)

The Tea Master and the Detective, Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean)

“Umbernight“, Carolyn Ives Gilman (Clarkesworld 2/18)

Black Helicopters, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Tor.com Publishing)

Time Was, Ian McDonald (Tor.com Publishing)

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, Kelly Robson (Tor.com Publishing)

The Freeze-Frame Revolution, Peter Watts (Tachyon)

Artificial Condition, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)

Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)

The Descent of Monsters, JY Yang (Tor.com Publishing)

NOVELETTE

“The Donner Party”, Dale Bailey (F&SF 1–2/18)

“Okay, Glory”, Elizabeth Bear (Twelve Tomorrows)

“No Flight Without the Shatter“, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com 8/15/18)

The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com Publishing)

“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections“, Tina Connolly (Tor.com 7/11/18)

“An Agent of Utopia”, Andy Duncan (An Agent of Utopia)

“Queen Lily“, Theodora Goss (Lightspeed 11/18)

“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth“, Daryl Gregory (Tor.com 9/19/18)

“Quality Time”, Ken Liu (Robots vs Fairies)

“How to Swallow the Moon“, Isabel Yap (Uncanny 11–12/18)

SHORT STORY

“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington“, Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside 2/18)

“The Bookcase Expedition”, Jeffrey Ford (Robots vs Fairies)

“STET“, Sarah Gailey (Fireside 10/18)

“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies“, Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/6/18)

“Cuisine des Mémoires”, N.K. Jemisin (How Long ’til Black Future Month?)

“The Storyteller’s Replacement”, N.K. Jemisin (How Long ’til Black Future Month?)

“Firelight“, Ursula K. Le Guin (Paris Review Summer ’18)

“The Starship and the Temple Cat“, Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 2/1/18)

“Mother of Invention“, Nnedi Okorafor (Future Tense)

“The Court Magician“, Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed 1/18)

ANTHOLOGY

The Best Horror of the Year Volume Ten, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Night Shade)

The Book of Magic, Gardner Dozois, ed. (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-fifth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin’s Griffin)

Worlds Seen in Passing, Irene Gallo, ed. (Tor.com Publishing)

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018, N.K. Jemisin & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner)

Robots vs Fairies, Dominik Parisien & Navah Wolfe, eds. (Saga)

The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Twelve, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Solaris US; Solaris UK)

Infinity’s End, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Solaris US; Solaris UK)

The Underwater Ballroom Society, Tiffany Trent & Stephanie Burgis, eds. (Five Fathoms)

The Future Is Female!, Lisa Yaszek, ed. (Library of America)

COLLECTION

The Tangled Lands, Paolo Bacigalupi & Tobias S. Buckell (Saga)

Brief Cases, Jim Butcher (Ace; Orbit UK)

An Agent of Utopia, Andy Duncan (Small Beer)

How Long ’til Black Future Month?, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

The Dinosaur Tourist, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean)

Fire & Blood, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)

All the Fabulous Beasts, Priya Sharma (Undertow)

The Future Is Blue, Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean)

Starlings, Jo Walton (Tachyon)

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale, Jane Yolen (Tachyon)

MAGAZINE

Analog

Asimov’s

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Clarkesworld

F&SF

Fireside

Lightspeed

Strange Horizons

Tor.com

Uncanny

PUBLISHER

Angry Robot

Baen

DAW

Gollancz

Orbit

Saga

Small Beer

Subterranean

Tachyon

Tor

EDITOR

John Joseph Adams

Neil Clarke

Ellen Datlow

Gardner Dozois

C.C. Finlay

Jonathan Strahan

Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas

Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

Sheila Williams

Navah Wolfe

ARTIST

Kinuko Y. Craft

Galen Dara

Julie Dillon

Leo & Diane Dillon

Bob Eggleton

Victo Ngai

John Picacio

Shaun Tan

Charles Vess

Michael Whelan

NON-FICTION

Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece, Michael Benson (Simon & Schuster)

Sense of Wonder: Short Fiction Reviews (2009-2017), Gardner Dozois (ReAnimus)

Strange Stars, Jason Heller (Melville House)

Dreams Must Explain Themselves: The Selected Non-Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin, Ursula K. Le Guin (Gollancz)

Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing, Ursula K. Le Guin & David Naimon (Tin House)

Old Futures: Speculative Fiction and Queer Possibility, Alexis Lothian (NYU Press)

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth, Catherine McIlwaine, ed. (Bodleian Library)

Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction, Alec Nevala-Lee (Dey Street)

None of This Is Normal: The Fiction of Jeff VanderMeer, Benjamin J. Robertson (University of Minnesota Press)

An Informal History of the Hugos: A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards, 1953-2000, Jo Walton (Tor)

ART BOOK

Yoshitaka Amano, Yoshitaka Amano: The Illustrated Biography – Beyond the Fantasy, Florent Gorges (Les Éditions Pix’n Love 2015; Dark Horse)

Spectrum 25: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, John Fleskes, ed. (Flesk)

John Howe, A Middle-earth Traveler: Sketches from Bag End to Mordor (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; HarperCollins UK)

Jeffrey Alan Love, The Thousand Demon Tree (Flesk)

Simon Stålenhag, The Electric State (Fria Ligan ’17; Skybound)

Shaun Tan, Cicada (Lothian; Levine ’19)

Charles Vess, The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, Ursula K. Le Guin (Saga)

Michael Whelan, Beyond Science Fiction: The Alternative Realism of Michael Whelan (Baby Tattoo)

Dungeons & Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History, Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, & Sam Witwer (Ten Speed)

Lisbeth Zwerger, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling (Levine)

https://boingboing.net/2019/05/07/futures-of-the-past-year.html

[barnessimon]

[ tom holland, twenty three, male, he/him ━ hey, I just saw [ simon barnes ] walking down the streets of crownsville. they’ve lived in town for [ twenty years ], and you can catch them around town working as a [ science teacher ], and I hear they’re known to be [ enthusiastic & patient ] and [ anti-social & snarky ]. if asked, they would say their aesthetic would be [ four-leaf clovers, old national geographic magazines, and the smell of gas bunsen burners ]. ━ [ ashley, 22, cst, she/her ]

hello hello, I’m ashley rollin’ in with my lil bean simon. he’s a mess, has a lot going on, but also has a lot to love about him. 

LINK to pinterest board.

when simon was born, his mother left him at a local fire department (classy, eh?) he was placed in foster care from that time until he was three years old when he finally found a home with the barnes’ family. he doesn’t remember his time in the system other than snippets and he tries not to dwell on it. the barnes are his family and they have been for as long as he can remember, nothing outweighs that in his mind.

in school, he was considered a bit of an outcast. tending to keep to himself, he only had a select few friends and tended to keep his head down more often than not. his personality really came to shine in his after-school activities; the national chemical honor’s society, robotics, and surprisingly, soccer.

at the age of 17, he found what he thought to be real love with one of his best friends in high school- chloe. she seemed to be everything that simon thought he wasn’t; collected, confident, calm, the three c’s of peril, if you will. after a few months of dating and having not the most protected sex (thanks, sex-ed programs of the usa) they found out that she was pregnant. it took simon a while to warm up to it and that threw chloe off, making her question his devotion to her. as much as he tried to convince her otherwise, it fell on deaf ears. she cut off contact from him completely and went as far as to withdraw from their school before graduation to finish up online.

chloe was furious with simon, so much so, that she tried to bar him from visiting at the hospital when audrey- their daughter- was born. enlisting his dad’s help, simon was able to make it to the hospital. he didn’t get the opportunity to watch the birth, but he was allowed to visit and spend time with audrey once everything was said and done.

once simon turned eighteen, he turned to his dad again for help in filing a custody case to ensure that he got to see his daughter. it took a few months and a lot of worry and heartache but he was granted partial custody, which at the beginning, meant he got to have her every other holiday and on the weekends while he was attending school. now that he has a stable job and is completing classes for his master’s degree at night, he gets to have audrey on not only the weekends and every other holiday, but he gets her during the entire summer as well. it’s not the optimal of situations, and it does tear him up inside that he misses so many important moments, but he’ll do what he has to in order to keep up their legal agreement.

between juggling working on a master’s degree and seeing his daughter as much as he can, simon works as a sixth grade science teacher and loves it. the spark he sees in these eleven year old faces when they understand a concept he’s teaching and the look of awe they have when they work with chemical reactions keeps him going. even though he’s quite new to the whole teaching gig, he was meant for it.

a few little headcanons i have for this bean

his biological family is originally from seattle, washington. they lived in a small house right off the coast- you could see the outline of mt. rainier from their backyard.

though, simon loves science in general, his favorite subject is chemistry. creating reactions is akin to mixing potions in his mind and he will never doubt that he’s a wizard in the making

THIS NERD has multiple posters hanging in his room, a couple with a few science puns and one huge one of the periodic table. he also has an anatomically correct skeleton named skelly that he brings in for their anatomy portion each year. he dresses skelly up differently each week at the school. there’s a tub in his closet with anything from feather boas to halloween masks to school jerseys. the kids love it and it gives simon an excuse to pop by the thrift store whenever he gets a chance.

out of all the odd hobbies simon has, the most adorable is probably his collection of four-leaf clovers. he keeps them all pressed and sealed in a leatherbound book on his bedside table. everytime he visits a park he makes a point to search for them. it’s a hobby he indulges with audrey when he takes her on the weekends, too.

simon doesn’t really seem the type on the outside, but he owns a vintage 1969 bmw r 60 / 2. it’s his pride and joy. whenever the weather gets nice enough, you can find him cruising down the streets on it or picking up replacement parts and putting them on himself.

[ninja-muse]

Science Fiction Recommendation Masterpost

$ for LGBT characters £ for characters of colour € for characters with disabilities * for problematic content ! for #ownvoices

(all based on my slightly spotty memory, so feel free to correct if I’ve missed something)

Does not include time travel, superheroes, or alternate history.

Classics

1984 - George Orwell

Winston is a patriot, until a chance encounter and his job altering history start him thinking. Big Brother, it turns out, isn’t acting in his best interests.

A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter Miller

In the centuries after a nuclear war, a group of desert monks have devoted themselves to preserving scientific knowledge with the hope of someday rebuilding civilization.

The Chrysalids - John Wyndham *

In a Newfoundland rife with religious fundamentalism and genetic mutation, a boy, his cousin, and his sister must hide their telepathy or risk everything to live freely.

Dune - Frank Herbert $*£*

Even before fleeing to the open desert of Arakkis and its taciturn worm-riding nomads, Paul Atreides’ life was fraught with danger. Now he must use his understanding of people and politics to weather everything his world can throw at him, including sandstorms, a baron with a grudge, and those who want him to be a prophesied hero.

Foundation - Isaac Asimov

Hari Seldon has designed a program that predicts the paths of civilization. What better way to test it than to start a utopian colony at the furthest edge of known space?

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Victor Frankenstein is fascinated by anatomy and determined to prove resurrection possible. Once he succeeds, he’s equally determined to get as far from the sentient corpse as he can, when all the Creature wants is a hug and someone to talk to.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

When Arthur Dent woke up, he thought the bulldozer levelling his house was the worst his day could get. By teatime, he’s halfway across the galaxy on a ship that runs on probability, with his alien best friend, the two-headed President of the Galaxy, and a depressed robot—and things are just getting started.

I, Robot - Isaac Asimov

A series of short stories that outlines the evolution of robotic technology and society around it.

The Planet of the Apes - Pierre Bowles

An astronaut crashes on an alien planet populated by sentient, speaking great apes. They put him in a zoo until he proves he’s not an animal. A brilliant examination of race and what it means to be human.

Space Opera

the Expanse series - James S.A. Corey $£€

Humanity has colonized the solar system, but hasn’t fixed its other problems. The Belters are disenfranchised and preparing a rebellion. Earth and Mars are in a paranoid arms race. Corporations can do just about anything they want. Throw in a terrifying virus, an alien threat, and a space crew who do the right thing and damn the consequences, and things are about to get very interesting.

Fortuna - Kristyn Merbeth - $ - *

Scorpia Kaiser is a screw-up, the family pilot, and out to prove she has what it takes to take over smuggling operations from Mama. Corvus Kaiser, exiled from his family to fight a war he doesn’t believe in, is finally coming home. Then a smuggling deal goes massively south and suddenly, what was going to be a difficult time becomes much, much worse.

the Saga series - Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples $£€

An inter-species family flees the military powers tearing the galaxy apart. Their luck goes up. Their luck goes down. They meet the best and worst the galaxy can offer—and through it all, a little girl grows up. A nuanced look at prejudice, hope, and love.

the Shieldrunner Pirates series - R.E. Stearns $£€

A lesbian couple arrives at the pirate base on Barbary Station expecting a welcome to the crew, but are assigned to take out the murderous station A.I. instead. As much about social skills and interpersonal dynamics as it is about guns and hacking.

the Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold $*£€

How do you solve a problem like Miles Vorkosigan? He’s too smart for his own good, too impulsive and progressive for his military culture, surely too disabled to amount to anything. And he (and his accidental mercenary fleet) are going to prove everyone wrong. Dryly witty and generally feminist.

Horror, Apocalypses, and Dystopias

The Rampart Trilogy - M.R. Carey $£€

Koli wants more than his future offers, starting with becoming a Rampart, with control of ancient technology. His attempts to change his cards send him on an unforgettable journey of discovery.

Devolution - Max Brooks $£€

An elite sustainable community outside Seattle finds itself stranded after Mount Rainier erupts—and there are creatures in the forest. Hairy ones, with big feet.

The Girl with All the Gifts - M.R. Carey £

Melanie gets up, goes to school, eats her food, and idolises her teacher just like any pre-teen. However, when her school’s attacked by Hungries and she, her teacher, a doctor, and the surviving soldiers have to flee, Melanie begins to realise she’s … not exactly normal after all.

The Giver - Lois Lowry

When Jonah turns twelve, his regimented community assigns him to apprentice to the Keeper of Memories. The memories Jonah receives throw everything he knows into question, and he must choose between the quiet life laid out for him and the emotion and independence he’s discovering.

The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

In a world where most women are sterile, Handmaids are stripped of their identity and given out as surrogate wombs. This is Offred’s story of oppression, resistance, and escape.

the Hunger Games trilogy - Susanne Collins £€

In an America where teens fight to the death for entertainment and the survival of their District, Katniss Everdeen volunteers—and finds herself the unwilling face of the rebellion.

Into the Drowning Deep - Mira Grant $£€ !

Was the terror on the Atargatis a hoax? Are there mermaids deep in the Pacific? A ship full of scientists has been sent to find out. They are not prepared.

the Newsflesh trilogy - Mira Grant $£€ *

A generation after the zombie apocalypse, humanity’s secure behind blood tests and heightened security and Georgia and Shaun Mason, and their Newflesh team, have been hired to blog the Presidential campaign, which is perfect until the first outbreak. Conspiracies, mad and sane science, and social critique ensue.

the Parasitology trilogy - Mira Grant $£€

Sal awoke from her coma to a family she didn’t remember, a body that wouldn’t respond, and restrictions on her autonomy that seriously chafe. Now she’s on her feet and resisting, but at the worst time. People are starting to die from their miracle-cure tapeworm implants and it’s looking like Sal’s implant might be … different.

the Passage trilogy - Justin Cronin £

A century ago, a virus turned most of humanity into bloodsucking monsters or food. Now the descendants of a group of survivors must strike out across a wasteland, looking for a safe new home. Better and darker than it sounds. Christian overtones.

The Space Between Worlds - Mikaiah Johnson $£ !

Cara’s climbed out of the toxic slums and into a job as a traverser, visiting parallel worlds and capturing data. She’s this close to having all her dreams—and then she uncovers a murder.

Other

Blindsight - Peter Watts

An independent observer is sent on a first contact mission, but the aliens and the secrets on board push him into a completely different role. About perception and ethics more than anything else, and I nearly “shelved” it in the horror section.

Congo - Michael Crichton £*

A team of scientists push deep into the African jungle in search of a society of mythical sentient gorillas, but the jungle pushes back.

The Diamond Age, or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer - Neal Stephenson £€

An inventor misplaces a one-of-a-kind book. A girl from the slums finds it and it changes her life. A nearly Dickensian future full of hope, tenacity, vim, and nanotech.

Eifelheim - Michael Flynn

An alien ship crashes in the medieval Black Forest and the village priest, steeped in heretical philosophy and medieval science, must intercede between the survivors and the peasants who see only demons.

The Martian - Andy Weir £

Mark Watney wakes up to find he’s been left behind on Mars. Fortunately he’s a botanist, he’s smart, and he has potatoes. A thrilling survival story paired with hilariously explained science that will leave you believing it already happened.

Passage - Connie Willis €

Joanna Lander is a psychologist studying near-death experiences, which is hard when you never know who in the hospital will have one. When a new (and cute) neurologist finds a way to induce them, she turns to the closest subject she can find—herself. The most heart-wrenching of Willis’s novels.

Shine - Jetse de Vries, ed. £

An anthology of optimistic, uplifting science fiction, with stories ranging from space opera to solarpunk and everything in between.

Snowcrash - Neal Stephenson £

Hiro Protagonist is the hacker’s hacker. There’s a virus in the Metaverse that’s killing people and he’s on the case. At least when he’s not delivering pizza. Both glorious cyberpunk and a send-up of the same.

[jesse-pinkman123]

Automated Liquid Handling Systems Market Size Share Trends Forecast 2026

Automated Liquid Handling Systems - Competitive Analysis

Major players operating in Automated Liquid Handling Systems Market are focused on new product launches. For instance, in October 2017, Qiagen launched a next-generation DNA testing automated workflow in collaboration with International Commission of Missing Persons (ICMP) for DNA identification through Qiagen’s instruments and consumables for DNA extraction, liquid handling, and others.

Automated liquid handling systems are multipurpose tools designed to perform multiple tasks in laboratories that include sampling, mixing, and combining of liquid samples automatically. The automated liquid handling system facilitates elimination of sample contamination and reduces manual work of lab personnel by performing several laboratory tasks. These workstations are able to measure samples, add reagents, and ensure addition of liquids to bioassays in uniform pattern. The liquid handling workstations differ in volume of samples that can be handled and are available with variety of integrated software to maintain the footprint of the tasks carried out by these instruments.

Market players are introducing compact and user-friendly liquid handling workstations that can be operated in small and mid-level laboratories, in order sustain in the competitive market. For instance, in January 2014, Hamilton Robotics introduced NIMBUS PCR workstation at the annual Society for Laboratory Automation & Screening Conference. It is a compact and affordable workstation that enables fast and flexible assay set up. Moreover, Tecan Group Limited introduced Fluent Gx Automation workstation in February 2018 that is designed specifically to meet the stringent needs of clinical and regulated laboratories.

* The sample copy includes: Report Summary, Table of Contents, Segmentation, Competitive Landscape, Report Structure, Methodology.

Request a sample copy of this report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/2021

Automated Liquid Handling Systems Market Dynamics

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly focusing on conducting number of research and development activities as well as outsourcing such activities to academic and private research institutes, which is increasing the number of new laboratory set-ups. This in turn increases demand for liquid handling systems, thereby fostering the market growth. Moreover, pharmaceutical companies are increasingly outsourcing their research to privately-based contract research organizations (CRO) to stay competitive in the exponentially growing pharmaceutical and biotechnology medicines sector. For instance, in May 2018, Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc.—a developer of novel therapeutic products entered into an agreement with Medpace—a clinical research organization (CRO)—to conduct the first of two pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials for RP-G28 among patients with lactose intolerance (LI). In October 2016, Sun Pharma—an India-based pharmaceutical company—announced plans to increase its research and development activities by investing in a new R&D unit at Madhya Pradesh, India.

However, automated liquid handling systems are unaffordable for medical settings in emerging economies and small-scale laboratories, due to its high cost, which in turn is a major factor hindering the market growth. Moreover, stringent manufacturing requirements for receiving commercial license and market approvals by various governmental agencies such as the FDA and European Commission, increases the costs of these devices. Furthermore, integration of Information Technology (IT) in lab flow instruments requires high manufacturing expenses, leading to elevated prices of these devices. The low cost options available in portable formats do not provide accuracy and reliable test results. For instance, according to a report published by Food and Drug Association (FDA) and A2LA Certification Board, 2013, bending of tips due to external factors may result in around 10% errors in pipetting accuracy in low cost automated liquid handling systems.

Browse Research Report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/automated-liquid-handling-systems-market-2021

Automated Liquid Handling Systems - Regional Insights

North America accounted for the largest share in the Automated Liquid Handling Systems market, followed by Europe market in 2016, owing to rapid development and launch of novel tissue automatic and robotic assisted liquid handling workstations. For instance, in January 2014, Hamilton Robotics introduced NIMBUS PCR Workstation—a compact and affordable pipetting workstation that enables fast and flexible assay setup for endpoint, real-time, qPCR or multiplex PCR.

Furthermore, several European companies are receiving funds from various public as well as private sources to conduct advanced research for developing drugs through progressive research and innovation. For instance, in June 2017, Novartis AG received US$ 300 million fund from Medicxi—an investor in life sciences research—to develop novel technology and therapies in areas ranging from diabetes management to robotic surgery.

Moreover, biopharmaceutical giants are focusing on conducting clinical trial research in Asian countries, due to easy patient recruitment and availability of highly skilled professionals to conduct research experiments. This is resulting in rising number of research laboratories in the region. Such increasing number of research laboratories is expected to propel the market growth. For instance, in March 2017, Herbalife Company partnered with Indian pharma company—Syngene to establish their new R&D lab at Bangalore, India.

Major players operating in the market are Aurora Biomed, Inc., Hamilton Company, Tecan Group Ltd, Eppendorf AG, Qiagen N.V., Mettler-Toledo International Inc., Corning, Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., PerkinElmer, Inc., Agilent Technologies, Inc., Danaher Corporation, and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Buy-Now this research report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/buy-now/2021

About Coherent Market Insights:            

Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.

Contact Us:

mailto:sales@coherentmarketinsights.com

U.S. Office:

Name:  Mr. Shah

Coherent Market Insights 1001 4th Ave,

# 3200 Seattle, WA 98154, U.S.

US :  +1-206-701-6702

UK :  +44-020-8133-4027

JAPAN :  +050-5539-1737

[newstfionline]

Sunday, June 27, 2021

People in advanced economies say their society is more divided than before pandemic (Pew Research Center) A median of 34% of adults across 17 advanced economies feel their society is more united than before the pandemic, but about six-in-ten report that national divisions have worsened since the outbreak began. In 12 of 13 countries surveyed in both 2020 and 2021, feelings of division have increased significantly, in some cases by more than 30 percentage points. Some of these divisions reflect how people view the social limitations they have faced, such as stay-at-home orders or mask mandates while in public.

Historic heat wave blasts Northwest as wildfire risks soar (AP) The Pacific Northwest sweltered Friday and braced for even hotter weather through the weekend as a historic heat wave hit Washington and Oregon, with temperatures in many areas expected to top out up to 30 degrees above normal. The extreme and dangerous heat was expected to break all-time records in cities and towns from eastern Washington state to Portland to southern Oregon as concerns mounted about wildfire risk in a region that is already experiencing a crippling and extended drought. Seattle was expected to edge above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) over the weekend and in Portland, Oregon, weather forecasters said the thermometer could soar to 108 F (42 C) by Sunday, breaking an all-time record of 107 F (42 C) set in 1981. Unusually hot weather was expected to extend into next week for much of the region.

Why police have been quitting in droves (NYT) When the media adopts a storyline, sometimes stories that fit into the narrative are retained while those that don’t quite fit are discarded. While there’s been a wholly justifiable focus on police brutality, there hasn’t been much attention paid to a group of people caught in the media crossfire: good cops who do a good job but are still treated like the bad guys. Those cops are quitting in high numbers. Consider the experience of Officer Lindsay C. Rose in Asheville, N.C.: “Various friends and relatives had stopped speaking to her because she was a cop. During a protest in June around Police Headquarters, a demonstrator lobbed an explosive charge that set her pants on fire and scorched her legs. She said she was spit on. She was belittled. Members of the city’s gay community, an inclusive clan that had welcomed her in when she first settled in Asheville, stood near her at one event and chanted, ‘All gay cops are traitors,’ she said. By September, still deeply demoralized despite taking several months off to recuperate, Officer Rose decided that she was done.” Rose wasn’t alone. At police departments across the country, “retirements were up 45 percent and resignations rose by 18 percent in the year from April 2020 to April 2021.” About a third of the Asheville police force has left the job. Their chief explains: “They said that we have become the bad guys, and we did not get into this to become the bad guys.”

Disappearances rise on Mexico’s ‘highway of death’ to border (AP) As many as 50 people are missing after setting out on three-hour car trips this year between Mexico’s industrial hub of Monterrey and the border city of Nuevo Laredo on a well-traveled stretch of road local media have dubbed “the highway of death.” Relatives say family members simply vanished. The disappearances, and last week’s shooting of 15 apparently innocent bystanders in Reynosa, suggest Mexico is returning to the dark days of the 2006-2012 drug war when cartel gunmen often targeted the general public as well as one another. As many as half a dozen of those who disappeared on the highway are believed to be U.S. citizens or residents, though the U.S. Embassy could not confirm their status. One, José de Jesús Gómez from Irving, Texas, reportedly disappeared on the highway on June 3. Most of the victims are believed to have disappeared approaching or leaving the cartel-dominated city of Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas. About a half-dozen men have reappeared alive, badly beaten, and all they will say is that armed men forced them to stop on the highway and took their vehicles.

Prominent Nicaraguan opposition leaders and journalists flee an escalating government crackdown (Washington Post) The stream of high-profile opposition leaders, journalists and members of civil society fleeing Nicaragua has surged, as the regime of President Daniel Ortega wages the most alarming political crackdown in the country’s recent history ahead of a November election. In the last week, several of the most influential critics of the Ortega regime sneaked out of the country—convinced they would be detained if they remained. Journalists for mainstream publications were stripped of their passports, but decided to leave anyway. Even some of Ortega’s former top Sandinista comrades are seeking refuge abroad. The consequences for remaining in the country could be dire: Over the past several months, at least 16 opposition figures have been jailed. Journalists have also come under threat in recent weeks. Veteran journalist Miguel Mendoza was detained on June 21, when police broke into his home. The day before that, police arrested Miguel Mora, the former director of 100% Noticias. Mora had stepped down from his role at the outlet to run for president. Julio López, another prominent journalist, was stripped of his passport last week. He decided at that point to seek refuge in Costa Rica.

Russia launches Mediterranean drills amid rift with Britain (AP) The Russian military on Friday launched sweeping maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea featuring warplanes armed with state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles, a show of force amid a surge in tensions following an incident with a British destroyer in the Black Sea. Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of British destroyer Defender on Wednesday to force her out of an area near Crimea that Russia claims as its territorial waters. Britain denied that account, insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon and said she was sailing in Ukrainian waters. The Russian drills that began Friday in the eastern Mediterranean come as a British carrier strike group is in the area. Earlier this week, British and U.S. F-35 fighters from HMS Queen Elizabeth flew combat sorties against the Islamic State group.

Pakistan’s leader sparks protests by blaming women ‘wearing very few clothes’ for sexual assaults (Washington Post) Pakistan’s prime minister is facing protests and calls for a public apology after suggesting there would be fewer sexual assaults if women dressed more modestly. In an interview with Axios earlier this week, Imran Khan was asked about whether there was a “rape epidemic” in Pakistan, where advocates believe that a large number of assaults go unreported. “If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the man unless they are robots. I mean, it’s common sense,” he responded. Women in Pakistan responded by sharing photographs of the “modest” clothing that they were wearing when they were sexually harassed, as well as anecdotes about inappropriate behavior they have encountered—such as unwanted touching—even when conservatively dressed in traditional headscarves and shalwar kameez. It’s the second time in recent months that Khan — who was one of Pakistan’s top cricket players and a national celebrity before he entered politics—has come under fire for his comments about rape.

Thirteen peacekeepers wounded, six soldiers killed in Mali militant attacks (Reuters) Thirteen U.N. peacekeepers, 12 Germans and one Belgian, were wounded in northern Mali on Friday by a car bomb, the U.N. mission said, while Mali’s army said six of its soldiers were killed in a separate attack in the centre of the country. The attack in the north targeted a temporary base set up by the peacekeepers near the village of Ichagara in the Gao region, where Islamist insurgents linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State are active.

UN: Madagascar droughts push 400,000 toward starvation (AP) The U.N. World Food Program says southern Madagascar is in the throes of back-to-back droughts that are pushing 400,000 people toward starvation, and have already caused deaths from severe hunger. Lola Castro, WFP’s regional director in southern Africa, told a news conference Friday that she witnessed “a very dramatic and desperate situation” during her recent visit with WFP chief David Beasley to the Indian Ocean island nation of 26 million people. Hundreds of adults and children were “wasted,” and hundreds of kids were skin and bones and receiving nutritional support, she said. In 28 years working for WFP on four continents, Castro said she had “never seen anything this bad” except in 1998 in Bahr el-Gazal in what is now South Sudan.

As virus surges in Uganda, hospitals accused of profiteering (AP) As he struggled to breathe earlier this month, Dr. Nathan Tumubone was tormented by thoughts of hospitalization as a COVID-19 patient. Thinking of the costs involved, he knew he wanted to stay home. “The truth is I didn’t want to go to hospital,” said the general practitioner. “We’ve seen the costs are really high, and one wouldn’t want to get in there.” As virus cases surge in Uganda, making scarce hospital beds even more expensive, concern is growing over the alleged exploitation of patients by private hospitals accused of demanding payment up front and hiking fees. Although the practice of requiring deposits from patients has long been seen as acceptable in this East African country where few have health insurance, it is raising anger among some who cite attempts to profiteer from the pandemic. Some hospital bills shared by families of COVID-19 patients emerging from intensive care show sums of up to $15,000, a small fortune in a country where annual per capita income is less than $1,000.

Intel report is inconclusive about UFOs (AP) A long-awaited U.S. government report on UFOs released Friday makes at least one thing clear: The truth is still out there. Investigators did not find extraterrestrial links in reviewing 144 sightings of aircraft or other devices apparently flying at mysterious speeds or trajectories. But they drew few other conclusions and instead highlighted the need for better data collection about what’s increasingly seen by Democrats and Republicans as a national security concern. In all but one of the sightings investigated, there was too little information for investigators to even broadly characterize the nature of the incident. Long the domain of science fiction and so-called ufologists, the subject of UFOs has in recent years drawn serious study from the Pentagon and intelligence agencies. Congress last year required the creation of the report delivered Friday. While its lack of conclusions has already been made public, the report on what the government calls “unidentified aerial phenomena” still represents a milestone in the study of the issue.