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zvaigzdelasas · 1 year ago

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There’s little doubt that the American government has decided to slow China’s economic rise, most notably in the fields of technological development. To be sure, the Biden administration denies that these are its goals. Janet Yellen said on April 20, “China’s economic growth need not be incompatible with U.S. economic leadership. The United States remains the most dynamic and prosperous economy in the world. We have no reason to fear healthy economic competition with any country.” And Jake Sullivan said on April 27, “Our export controls will remain narrowly focused on technology that could tilt the military balance. We are simply ensuring that U.S. and allied technology is not used against us.”

Yet, in its deeds, the Biden administration has shown that its vision extends beyond those modest goals. It has not reversed the trade tariffs Donald Trump imposed in 2018 on China, even though presidential candidate Joe Biden criticized them in July 2019, saying: “President Trump may think he’s being tough on China. All that he’s delivered as a consequence of that is American farmers, manufacturers and consumers losing and paying more.” Instead, the Biden administration has tried to increase the pressure on China by banning the export of chips, semiconductor equipment, and selected software.

It has also persuaded its allies, like the Netherlands and Japan, to follow suit. More recently, on Aug. 9, the Biden administration issued an executive order prohibiting American investments in China involving “sensitive technologies and products in the semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence sectors” which “pose a particularly acute national security threat because of their potential to significantly advance the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities” of China.

All these actions confirm that the American government is trying to stop China’s growth. Yet, the big question is whether America can succeed in this campaign—and the answer is probably not. Fortunately, it is not too late for the United States to reorient its China policy toward an approach that would better serve Americans—and the rest of the world.[...]

Since the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, several efforts have been made to limit China’s access to or stop its development in various critical technologies, including nuclear weapons, space, satellite communication, GPS, semiconductors, supercomputers, and artificial intelligence. The United States has also tried to curb China’s market dominance in 5G, commercial drones, and electric vehicles (EVs). Throughout history, unilateral or extraterritorial enforcement efforts to curtail China’s technological rise have failed and, in the current context, are creating irreparable damage to long-standing U.S. geopolitical partnerships. In 1993 the Clinton administration tried to restrict China’s access to satellite technology. Today, China has some 540 satellites in space and is launching a competitor to Starlink.

When America restricted China’s access to its geospatial data system in 1999, China simply built its own parallel BeiDou Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) system in one of the first waves of major technological decoupling. In some measures, BeiDou is today better than GPS. It is the largest GNSS in the world, with 45 satellites to GPS’s 31, and is thus able to provide more signals in most global capitals. It is supported by 120 ground stations, resulting in greater accuracy, and has more advanced signal features, such as two-way messaging[...]

American measures to deprive China access to the most advanced chips could even damage America’s large chip-making companies more than it hurts China. China is the largest consumer of semiconductors in the world. Over the past ten years, China has been importing massive amounts of chips from American companies. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, China-based firms imported $70.5 billion worth of semiconductors from American firms in 2019, representing approximately 37 percent of these companies’ global sales. Some American companies, like Qorvo, Texas Instruments, and Broadcom, derive about half of their revenues from China. 60 percent of Qualcomm’s revenues, a quarter of Intel’s revenues, and a fifth of Nvidia’s sales are from the Chinese market. It’s no wonder that the CEOs of these three companies recently went to Washington to warn that U.S. industry leadership could be harmed by the export controls. American firms will also be hurt by retaliatory actions from China, such as China’s May ban on chips from US-based Micron Technology. China accounts for over 25 percent of Micron’s sales.[...]

The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association released a statement on July 17, saying that Washington’s repeated steps “to impose overly broad, ambiguous, and at times unilateral restrictions risk diminishing the U.S. semiconductor industry’s competitiveness, disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty, and prompting continued escalatory retaliation by China,” and called on the Biden administration not to implement further restrictions without more extensive engagement with semiconductor industry representatives and experts.

The Chips Act cannot subsidize the American semiconductor industry indefinitely, and there is no other global demand base to replace China. Other chip producing nations will inevitably break ranks and sell to China (as they have historically) and the American actions will be for naught. And, in banning the export of chips and other core inputs to China, America handed China its war plan years ahead of the battle. China is being goaded into building self-sufficiency far earlier than they would have otherwise. Prior to the ZTE and Huawei components bans, China was content to continue purchasing American chips and focusing on the front-end hardware. Peter Wennink, the CEO of ASML, stated that China is already leading in key applications and demand for semiconductors. Wennink wrote, “The roll-out of the telecommunication infrastructure, battery technology, that’s the sweet spot of mid-critical and mature semiconductors, and that’s where China without any exception is leading.”[...]

Former State Department official Susan Thornton, who oversaw the study as director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at NCAFP, said: “This audit of U.S.-China diplomacy shows that we can make progress through negotiations and that China follows through on its commitments. The notion that engagement with China did not benefit the U.S. is just not accurate.”[...]

One fundamental problem is that domestic politics in America are forcing American policymakers to take strident stands against China instead of pragmatic positions. For instance, sanctions preventing the Chinese Defense Minister, Li Shangfu, from traveling to the United States are standing in the way of U.S.-China defense dialogues to prevent military accidents.

19 Sep 23

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mariacallous · 1 year ago

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The European Union today agreed on the details of the AI Act, a far-reaching set of rules for the people building and using artificial intelligence. It’s a milestone law that, lawmakers hope, will create a blueprint for the rest of the world.

After months of debate about how to regulate companies like OpenAI, lawmakers from the EU’s three branches of government—the Parliament, Council, and Commission—spent more than 36 hours in total thrashing out the new legislation between Wednesday afternoon and Friday evening. Lawmakers were under pressure to strike a deal before the EU parliament election campaign starts in the new year.

“The EU AI Act is a global first,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on X. “[It is] a unique legal framework for the development of AI you can trust. And for the safety and fundamental rights of people and businesses.”

The law itself is not a world-first; China’s new rules for generative AI went into effect in August. But the EU AI Act is the most sweeping rulebook of its kind for the technology. It includes bans on biometric systems that identify people using sensitive characteristics such as sexual orientation and race, and the indiscriminate scraping of faces from the internet. Lawmakers also agreed that law enforcement should be able to use biometric identification systems in public spaces for certain crimes.

New transparency requirements for all general purpose AI models, like OpenAI's GPT-4, which powers ChatGPT, and stronger rules for “very powerful” models were also included. “The AI Act sets rules for large, powerful AI models, ensuring they do not present systemic risks to the Union,” says Dragos Tudorache, member of the European Parliament and one of two co-rapporteurs leading the negotiations.

Companies that don’t comply with the rules can be fined up to 7 percent of their global turnover. The bans on prohibited AI will take effect in six months, the transparency requirements in 12 months, and the full set of rules in around two years.

Measures designed to make it easier to protect copyright holders from generative AI and require general purpose AI systems to be more transparent about their energy use were also included.

“Europe has positioned itself as a pioneer, understanding the importance of its role as a global standard setter,” said European Commissioner Thierry Breton in a press conference on Friday night.

Over the two years lawmakers have been negotiating the rules agreed today, AI technology and the leading concerns about it have dramatically changed. When the AI Act was conceived in April 2021, policymakers were worried about opaque algorithms deciding who would get a job, be granted refugee status or receive social benefits. By 2022, there were examples that AI was actively harming people. In a Dutch scandal, decisions made by algorithms were linked to families being forcibly separated from their children, while students studying remotely alleged that AI systems discriminated against them based on the color of their skin.

Then, in November 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT, dramatically shifting the debate. The leap in AI’s flexibility and popularity triggered alarm in some AI experts, who drew hyperbolic comparisons between AI and nuclear weapons.

That discussion manifested in the AI Act negotiations in Brussels in the form of a debate about whether makers of so-called foundation models such as the one behind ChatGPT, like OpenAI and Google, should be considered as the root of potential problems and regulated accordingly—or whether new rules should instead focus on companies using those foundational models to build new AI-powered applications, such as chatbots or image generators.

Representatives of Europe’s generative AI industry expressed caution about regulating foundation models, saying it could hamper innovation among the bloc’s AI startups. “We cannot regulate an engine devoid of usage,” Arthur Mensch, CEO of French AI company Mistral, said last month. “We don’t regulate the C [programming] language because one can use it to develop malware. Instead, we ban malware.” Mistral’s foundation model 7B would be exempt under the rules agreed today because the company is still in the research and development phase, Carme Artigas, Spain's Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, said in the press conference.

The major point of disagreement during the final discussions that ran late into the night twice this week was whether law enforcement should be allowed to use facial recognition or other types of biometrics to identify people either in real time or retrospectively. “Both destroy anonymity in public spaces,” says Daniel Leufer, a senior policy analyst at digital rights group Access Now. Real-time biometric identification can identify a person standing in a train station right now using live security camera feeds, he explains, while “post” or retrospective biometric identification can figure out that the same person also visited the train station, a bank, and a supermarket yesterday, using previously banked images or video.

Leufer said he was disappointed by the “loopholes” for law enforcement that appeared to have been built into the version of the act finalized today.

European regulators’ slow response to the emergence of social media era loomed over discussions. Almost 20 years elapsed between Facebook's launch and the passage of the Digital Services Act—the EU rulebook designed to protect human rights online—taking effect this year. In that time, the bloc was forced to deal with the problems created by US platforms, while being unable to foster their smaller European challengers. “Maybe we could have prevented [the problems] better by earlier regulation,” Brando Benifei, one of two lead negotiators for the European Parliament, told WIRED in July. AI technology is moving fast. But it will still be many years until it’s possible to say whether the AI Act is more successful in containing the downsides of Silicon Valley’s latest export.

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tomorrowusa · 2 months ago

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Quit fixating on Putin's nukes FFS.

Donald Trump and his MAGA minions are trying to imply that aid for Ukraine will lead to nuclear war. This is bullshit which is meant to bolster Putin's illegal war of aggression against a peaceful neighbor.

We hear MAGA Russophiles repeat this whenever new aid or new weapons systems are sent to Ukraine. The last time I checked, Putin hasn't nuked San Diego or Memphis. And we have crossed more of Putin's "red lines" than Trump has red neckties.

Even a delusional imperialist like Vladimir Putin understands that the ultimate outcome of any nuclear war would leave him as a shirtless congealed blob of radioactive fat. ⚛

With nuclear option unlikely, Putin struggles to defend his red lines

“There has been an overflow of nuclear threats,” said a Russian official speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. “There is already immunity to such statements, and they don’t frighten anyone.” A Russian academic with close ties to senior Russian diplomats agreed, calling the nuclear option “the least possible” of scenarios, “because it really would lead to dissatisfaction among Russia’s partners in the Global South and also because clearly, from a military point of view, it is not very effective.”

The United States and its NATO allies have no intention of giving nukes to Ukraine.

What we don't hear from scare-mongering MAGA zombies or Putin-friendly tankies is that the war in Ukraine would end immediately if the Russian invaders simply left Ukraine. Anybody who truly wants peace should be telling Russia to get the fuck back to their own country.

This week, Trump and former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in an op-ed for the Hill that a decision to grant Ukraine permission to use Western long-range missiles “would put the world at greater risk of nuclear conflagration than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis” and called for direct negotiations with Moscow instead.

The only thing to "negotiate" with Moscow is a short ceasefire while Russia withdraws all its invading troops. The bottom line is that Russia has no business in Ukraine. The invasion is in violation of numerous international laws, treaties, and memoranda.

As for technology, Russia's means of using ICBMs in nuclear war just ain't what it used to be.

Latest Russian ICBM Test May Have Failed, Satellite Images Suggest

Russia is a third-rate power which happens to have nukes and a lot of empty territory that looks deceptively impressive on a map. Its ability to handle any atomic technology competently is questionable. Even during the glory days of the Soviet Union it gave the world its worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in 1986.

Chernobyl is in northern Ukraine which became independent in 1991. Ukrainians had done a good job of cleaning up much of the radioactive mess left by Moscow.

But Russia then temporarily occupied the area around Chernobyl in the early part of the invasion. Russian occupiers there did incredibly stupid things like dig military trenches in radioactive soil and loot radioactive materials to take home as souvenirs.

Russia has few serious competitors for the Darwin Awards this year. 🎖 ⚛️

What we should worry more about is another nuclear accident inside Russia caused by recklessness or incompetence. The sooner Ukraine is victorious, the more likely Russia will be able to tend to its own problems at home.

^^^ красные линии = red lines

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zelda-cooper · 11 months ago

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My version of Loonatics Unleashed

This is just my interpretation of this universe of "Loonatics Unleashed", don't take it as a summary of the series or as absolute truth to interpret your version. NO! It's just MY view and you have every right to disagree. Furthermore, there will be low-level words (even though I censor some) and there may be sensitive topics for certain people. Besides, this refers to the universe of Loonatics Unleashed, so for those who don't care, you can skip this blog, but for those who are a fan or if this interests you, you can continue reading.

Part 2

Part 3

So... I was researching hashtags for animated series that I like in general, whether it's the ones I've already mentioned like Steven Universe and The Owl House, or series that a lot of people don't know about, which is the case with the series "Loonatics Unleashed", which (giving a really bad summary-) is one of several Looney Tunes reinventions, but here it's about them in a superhero version. Yeah... The 2000s had that- Jokes aside, I really think it's a good series and I like it, even though the series has its flaws and I recognize that. And, interestingly, @drakepad-luv-2000 made a blog talking about her version of Loonatics Unleashed, with her Headcanons and ideas. So I'm making this blog copying his idea - Just kidding... I asked if I could do it with the same theme and she gave me permission. I'm not that dishonest. So, having given that introduction... Let's move on to my version of Loonatics Unleashed! AH- And if you want to share your opinion, leave it in the comments, but if you want to make a blog with the same theme, give credit to me and @drakepad-luv-2000, ok? Excellent! ^^

I'm going to end up dividing this blog into topics, the first will just be to reformulate the backstory and the second part will talk more about the characters themselves. I won't be able to talk about all the topics, in fact, these three are JUST to start talking about Loonatics Unleashed, there are also the conflicts and evolutions of the characters, their relationships, the villains themselves and even my OCs from this universe (you They thought I wouldn't put my character in, right? Obviously I would...-w-). So, if you feel like it, I can do a part two. But let's get down to business.

Series Plot (Reinvented)

Speaking of the series' plot, Drakepad, when talking about Headcanons, said that she wanted to change the plot a little to the year 2017 because it was more relatable for us, because the series, even though it takes place in the future, for some reason had the technologies of the years 2000 which are currently old... And, honestly, I agree with her point... But I still wanted to get this more futuristic theme for the series, as that's what gives the series a certain charm. So I'm going to mix some ideas... The series will take place in a year that is not exactly specified, but it will be both close to the years 2017 to 2024 (which is the current year that the blog is being published) and also having elements of Cyberpunk with Advanced Technology from science fiction films, also taking some things from hero stories.

The meteor part... It will be discarded because, honestly... How the HELL did the meteor only affect Acmetropolis, but not the whole world?! If it's something like the dinosaur meteor, there would be people with powers ALL OVER THE WORLD. Ok, I think I'm demanding too much logic for a children's series, but still... They could have elaborated more. Back... So, if the meteor was discarded... What caused the characters' powers? And here I get the idea of a classic Anime... Akira!

If you don't know the plot of the exquisite film, it's basically a Japan (or just Tokyo, I don't remember-) in the Cyberpunk future caused after a nuclear explosion (or not, that's a story spoiler-) that made the city become a technological place, however, underneath all the neon and wealth, the poor part of the city ends up suffering a lot from marginality and crime, mainly affecting the young people of this generation who do not respect their elders and do not know the history, they were just born in a country already destroyed. And, in the middle of the story, children with paranormal powers are revealed... I know the story is crazy, but the film is good... It's just a bit violent in many ways-

Returning to the story of Loonatics... I adapted the story of the series a little with some content that she herself showed, like the fact that there are aliens and such... And taking some conspiracies from real life, because it might help... (or not, you know- ). It's also good to get a little of Zadavia's story and her brother's story itself, it's still similar to the original. The main difference is the context of everything... In the beginning, the brothers actually worked together to achieve union with certain planets with the High Council, however they both took care of different things. Zadavia was the more diplomatic person, while Optimatus was the one who took care of the military troops and this made them have different views, but to a certain extent they got along well. However, the day came that the High Council found out about the Milky Way and, consequently, about the planet Earth, so Optimatus and some soldiers went to the planet to try to keep a close eye on the place. But, well... Being human is a complicated being, and if he is already bad with his own species, who will say with Aliens? It didn't happen otherwise, Optimatus and his soldiers were captured and taken to Area 51, where they were tortured and many died in experiments, which is why Optimatus' burns and scars appeared here. He managed to escape, however... He was completely changed and, when he returned, he wanted to annihilate planet Earth and the entire human race for the savagery he went through.

Even hearing the experiences he went through, the High Council denied the proposal for mass annihilation, largely due to Zadavia, who believed that not all humans were bad. Then follows the same idea of Optimatus having kidnapped (in this case, REALLY KILLED) the rest of the council and only being left with Zadavia, who took refuge on Earth because she was one of the few races physically similar to his own, while Optimatus, also trying annihilating the human race, caused an explosion in one of the cities, which was where he was captured, which killed many people, others were left with irreversible damage to their DNA and there were also places still affected by radiation. There were survivors who, in the future, would end up developing mutations in the future that would give them powers, who are our protagonists and also some villains in the series.

In the future, the city managed to rebuild itself, becoming the Acmetropolis that we see today, which on the one hand, became a city full of technology and neon, but on the other, in the poorest and dirtiest regions, it became a place full of crime and both adults and young people traumatized by the "atomic" explosion. The media, at the time, said that it was an explosion caused by an enemy country, but in fact, it was one of Optimatus' attempts to take revenge on humans. While Zadavia? She tried to start life again on Earth, however her alien appearance made her hide her real appearance with a hologram device, making her pass as a mere normal human, both to really start over and to hide from her brother. But, of course... One time or another... He would come back... And until then, she would have to prepare herself too.

And that's kind of the plot of this version, at least, the story of the reason for the technologies and the powers of the protagonists and villains. I don't know if it's too crazy or if it's a bit "cliché", but either way... I feel like I managed to create a good initial plot, in a way, but now, having already mentioned them... Let's talk about the characters.

Main Characters (Reinvented)

I'm going to say right away in this topic that, basically, I'm going to take some ideas from Drakepad, but just as inspiration. Like the fact that Ace and Lexi are brothers here (because considering they are descendants of Bugs Bunny and Lola Bunny, it's really weird for them to ship...), but I want to make it clear that I'm not going to change the gender of the characters. There are also things like the characters being adults in this version and having already gained their powers before the explosion, but certain events were triggers for them to awaken them. I only change gender or sexuality when it really suits and makes sense, but I honestly like to maintain a certain Canon of the series, and in this case it will be the gender of the protagonists (sexuality is another story...7w7). And another thing... Among the protagonists, there will be NO ships, but there may be some implicit insinuations of a certain relationship between the characters, however very subtle. So let's start with Ace and Lexi...

• Ace and Lexi Bunny

The two are twin brothers who were born in Acmetropolis and, when they were little, they were one of several people who survived the explosion event with their parents by pure luck, however, their mother ended up passing away after medical complications caused by the event, which made Lexi become the "woman" of the family, having to take care of the house, while Ace started working with his father and younger brothers to earn a living. Ace and Lexi, prematurely, ended up having to mature very early to be able to help their family members, with the boy being more affected, even more so with his father also being distant from him, making Ace learn to fight to defend his brothers and having to leave many of the dreams and goals aside sometimes, but I always had a fascination for these heroes from old films. Lexi, in turn, learned several household chores, but still managed to discover her passion for music and dance, dreaming of being a songwriter or singer, to try to bring hope to everyone. As adults, while Lexi managed to enter a more musical career, as a music teacher, Ace also tried to follow his dream of being an actor, but he was unable to pursue the career, as they always judged him as someone incapable, making him give up on that altogether. and starting to work as a handyman. Their powers awakened together, on a day at work, Lexi was going to pick up her brother from one of his jobs, when she was approached by some bad-intentioned boys, with Ace trying to defend her, but both being incapacitated. However, when they were going to harm both of them, that was a trigger for their powers to awaken, which scared the guys and made them run away, calling them monsters and freaks. An event that would mark them forever... And that, in the future, would make them approached by Zadavia and make them meet the rest of the team.

• Danger Duck

The duck is one of several orphans left over from the Acmetropolis explosion, having been trapped in the rubble of their home for many days, scared. When he was found, he was sent to an orphanage along with several other children, where he met his best friend and "brother" Pinkster, who was the only person he could really call a friend, as they were both excluded by the other children. for being "animals" among thousands of human children. Until the day came when the last couple arrived at the orphanage, where Duck used the two-sided coin to be adopted by the couple, a fact that he would regret for the rest of his life... After being adopted, his new parents They gave him all the love they could, but Duck still didn't feel like he belonged to that family, after all they were human and he was a duck. This made him very insecure, but he always tried to hide it in some way. As an adult, he left home and tried to find a job so he could support himself and be able to do well in some way, whether it was being rich or having some form of power, but he was always put down and ridiculed. The trigger that made him awaken his powers was in another one of the many horrible jobs he had, in which he was stressed to such a level that he wanted to disappear from there, which made him teleport to another place, which scared everyone and they made they run away. And, just like the Bunny brothers, he found Zadavia and joined the team.

• Slam Tasmanian

There is not much information about his family, but it is known that he was born in Australia into a huge family. In Slam's case, he just went to Acmetropolis to have a better life, but he was affected by the post-explosion radiation that still resided in certain places. He worked as an underground fighter to earn money, which is where his powers awakened and he used them to his advantage. And when they asked about it, the organizers said "Ah, it's a special effect". He was discovered and found by Loonatics and Zadavia, who offered him to join the team.

• Tech E. Coyote

Again, he is another person affected by the explosion, but in Tech's case, the problems would have started a little earlier. He had been diagnosed with autism since he was little, which made him have some problems communicating with people and had restricted interests, which made him suffer a lot of bullying. However, it was with his parents that he developed a passion for technology, building several things with them. When he went to college, he met Mallory, who became her friend (and possible crush...?), but when he found out about her plan, he soon stopped her and reported it to the teachers, leaving him alone again. His powers were slowly awakening, starting with his molecular regeneration, where some injuries and burns were suddenly healed, until he was able to manipulate metal, which was very useful later in his work. He was found by Zadavia and the others who, as he deduced, also gained their powers from the explosion, joining the team as well.

• Rev Runner

Finally, we come to my favorite. Rev has always been a hyperactive child who didn't pay attention to things, mainly because he has ADHD, however his father didn't want to believe that, just saying that "He's just an overly agitated Roadrunner" or "He's just throwing a tantrum" . Rev then continued with this mental condition, without knowing he had it, always pressured by his family to continue their business, especially after the explosion, where they were trying to get back on their feet. Soon Rev gained a younger sister, "Riley", however the little one didn't like acting like a girl and wore much more of Rev's old clothes, with the older brother always calling her by the pronouns "He/His". Soon, "Riley" came out as a trans man and became "Rip", but his father never accepted this and always said that "his daughter" was contradicting him, making the situation at home even worse. When Rev turned 18, he immediately wanted to take his brother with him, but again was stopped by his parents, unfortunately having to go alone. This small event made him, little by little, unlock the powers that, like Tech, were gradually unlocked, and which he used in his work as a delivery man. He was soon found by Loonatics and Zadavia, also joining the team.

Conclusion

And that's it, folks! There are still A LOT of things I still want to cover in my version of Loonatics, but the blog is already getting huge... So I'll leave it for a probable part two. Thank you for reading this blog! BYEEEEE!!!

#loonatics unleashed #rev runner #tech e coyote #ace bunny #lexi bunny #danger duck #slam tasmanian #loonatics #looney tunes

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newtypezaku · 2 months ago

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Jerid's Sortie Order (1987)

"Hey, Zaku, surely it doesn't take you two and a half years to read a book." It does when you set it aside for several months to watch a ton of hella mid isekai anime, start the first G-Saviour novel and go even slower because of all the hella mid isekai anime, and then forget about both for several more months because you're too lazy to do language practice after work. But I did it eventually!

As with Char's Return, this is a single-player RPG with choose-your-own-adventure branching and turn-based combat. This time, you're Jerid Messa in the final days of his Titans training. When guerrillas take over a Federation base and threaten to use their own experimental technology against them, Bask Om gives Jerid 24 hours to save the day. Summary under the cut.

Setting

January, UC 0087. Buckland Base in Alaska hosts several experimental technologies away from prying eyes. Research into artificial Newtypes has begun. It also has a perimeter defense system powered by Kerberos, a satellite power station in geostationary orbit above the base. Using "Wave Catchers," microwaves received from Kerberos are converted into electricity that can power high-output beam weaponry, which could enhance the defenses of bases without large nuclear reactors. Kerberos itself could also be used as an orbital weapon...

In the Bering Sea to the west, Jerid Messa, Emma Sheen, and Kacricon Cacooler are five months into their special training program to become Titans officers. They are aboard the Graf Zeppelin, a massive attack carrier initially developed by Zeon but captured and completed by the Federation. The program is nicknamed "Top Gundam," a portmanteau constructed from the old US Navy's flight academy and the ace machine of the One Year War.

Characters

Jerid Messa: You assume the role of 23-year-old Jerid Messa at the end of his training. As the protagonist, Jerid doesn't come across as abrasive or comically evil as his anime counterpart.

Emma Sheen: A fellow student at Top Gundam. Described as a woman of Eastern descent with graceful features and the air of an honors student.

Kacricon Cacooler: A fellow student at Top Gundam. A rough, veteran-looking guy who Jerid has known for longer than Emma.

Bask Om: A high-ranking officer within the Titans who arrives at the Graf Zeppelin with a dangerous, time-sensitive, mission.

Alaska Native old man: Helps Jerid after a guerrilla encounter in a village. He has little intel but leaves an impact on Jerid by explaining his reasons for living traditionally.

Alaska Native young girl: The old man's granddaughter, who helps rally Jerid's fighting spirit and gives him another reason to complete the mission.

Ex-Zeon soldier: Crash-landed in the region during the One Year War, was healed by the Alaska Natives who found him, and decided to live in their village after growing tired of the war.

Enemy commander: A middle-aged man described as having sharp eyes despite an otherwise scrawny, hollow appearance.

Tom Cruising: Senior Crewman with the local guard. He shows up at the end to congratulate Jerid on his success and remind you that this is supposed to be loosely based on Top Gun.

Mechanics

MS-06MH Marine Hizack: One of three MS that Jerid can select for the mission; it confers an advantage in underwater combat but cannot use beam weapons. Its model number suggests that, despite the name, it's more likely to be the MS-06M/MSM-01 Zaku Marine Type that appeared in Zeta.

MS-09 Dom Blizzard Type: Presumably equivalent to the MSV-R Dom Cold Climate Type. It also appears in the game text as the MS-09F2.

MS-14A Gelgoog

MS-17B Galbaldy Alpha

MS-87D Nashorn: "Zeon's Phantom MS" that saw limited deployment during the One Year War, armed with a hyper rifle.

MSM-10 Zock

MAN-07 Grabro

RMV-05 Guntank Hover: Presumably derived from the RMV-1 as a hovering vehicle, although its in-book art depicts a machine with an upper body that's closer to the original Guntank but with a mono-eye head.

RGC-80 GM Cannon

RGM-79R Gundam Copy Type: Shares the same model number as retrofitted GMs that led to the development of the RMS-179; in the game, though, it's a clone of the original Gundam with Amuro's combat data.

RMS-179 GM II: One of three mobile suits Jerid can select for the mission; it has more HP than the Marine Hizack and is the only unit that can use a beam rifle.

RMS-106 Hizack: One of three mobile suits Jerid can select for the mission. It's used in the training exercises before the mission starts and has stronger armor than either the Marine Hizack or GM II.

RMS-117 Galbaldy Beta

ORX-003 Domingo: Described as the predecessor of the ORX-005 Gaplant, a transformable mobile suit with exceptionally high speed and aerial combat capabilities.

MAX-09 Dura: A behemoth MS nearly 70 meters tall and weighing 685 tons, it was developed from the Big Zam. The Dura has multiple high-output beam cannons, a deflection shield that weakens beam attacks, and, learning from the Big Zam's defeat, sub-arms with close-combat weapons. It is the final boss. Confusingly listed in the book's MS table as the MAX-09, on the back cover as the MAX-07, and in the game text as the MAX-11.

FF-3 Saberfish

M-4A3 Salamander: A hovertank armed with missiles.

Fa-223 Drache: Described as a combat helicopter, but its in-game artwork looks more like the fusion of a Luggun and a Dopp.

Dodai Kai

Story

Aboard the Graf Zeppelin, Jerid, Emma, and Kacricon go through their last big round of combat training. In a simulator, Jerid pilots a Hizack against up to three opponents: a damaged GM II, another Hizack, and the Gundam with Amuro's combat data. After simulator training is completed, the three participate in mock aerial combat aboard Hizacks riding Dodai Kais. (The number of opponents you defeat during the training phase determines how many skill points you start with.)

As aerial training concludes, you're all summoned by Bask Om. He explains that guerrillas have captured nearby Buckland Base -- and by extension, Kerberos, which is controlled remotely -- and are demanding that the Federation government release Zeon war prisoners. Because of the beam turrets powered by the Kerberos satellite, directly attacking the base is not an option. Neither is destroying the satellite itself. What about the Wave Catchers? Their locations are a closely-guarded secret, so they have to be found first.

If their demands aren't met within 30 hours, the guerrillas will use Kerberos to attack colonies. An organization as proud and just as the Titans could never allow a laser to strike a colony; the very idea is preposterous. Due to Minovsky Particle interference, someone has to locate and destroy the Wave Catchers and then call for reinforcements using laser-line communication from the Buckland Base control tower. The mission is assigned to Jerid, the one with the highest marks among the three trainees.

Once Jerid selects a machine and weapons, he departs the Graf Zeppelin in a high-speed capsule to one of two locations on the Alaskan coast. The mission area is a 6x4 grid and moving to an adjacent cell takes two hours, although this is reduced to one if a high-mobility item is equipped. All objectives must be achieved within 24 hours.

Jerid is free to roam the grid, encountering various enemies (defeating them earns more skill points) and procuring items that will help him later. Several, such as infrared goggles, are for the eventual infiltration of Buckland Base. Others are additional ammo or different weapons for his MS, in addition to repair docks that fully restore the unit's HP but require two hours to use. A few areas are also protected by minefields.

With the exception of two Alaska Native villages, the region is sparsely populated. He is more likely to run into a guerrilla than a civilian, although the latter do have items and information if you are able to converse. A young girl in one village gifts him a protective amulet that fits neatly into the breast pocket of his normal suit, which certainly isn't foreshadowing anything.

After destroying all three Wave Catchers and crossing the minefield outside Buckland Base, Jerid breaks into the facility in search of the communications room. There are infrared sensors along the way that must be avoided and gun-toting troops guard most routes. After reaching the room and sending the laser communication, the enemy commander and his men attack, but Jerid survives a gunshot thanks to the protective amulet. He still blacks out.

When Jerid wakes up, he's in a large dome under the base where the enemy commander has graciously provided him with his MS, repaired and rearmed, for a fight to the death against two artificial Newtypes loaded with Char and Amuro's combat data. Seeing the Gundam, Jerid recalls a family trip to Ireland where he met a girl who showed him a commemorative photobook of the machine. Jerid defeats both and the commander angrily prepares to destroy the dome from the inside, but since Jerid successfully called for help, Emma and Kacricon arrive to prevent the dome from collapsing on him.

Upon exiting the dome, the enemy deploys its final card, the Dura. It immediately bathes the area in fire and threatens to destroy the Graf Zeppelin approaching offshore. Jerid, Emma, and Kacricon all fight together and eventually bring the lumbering hulk down. (Although it's not a game over if either Emma or Kacricon die, this does lead to a bad ending where Jerid dies from extreme fatigue at the end of the mission.) With the Dura's defeat, the Buckland Base staff are rescued, as are civilians from the two villages who were captured after you left. You are reunited with the young girl, who reminds you of the one you met in Ireland years ago.

Jerid, Emma, and Kacricon return victorious to the Graf Zeppelin. Jerid does a victory roll on the deck, causing Bask to spill hot coffee on himself in the control room because, remember, this is Top Gun. At the debriefing, Bask promotes them all to Lieutenant Junior Grade and offers them the chance to become Gundam Mk. II test pilots (Two months later, the AEUG infiltrates Green Oasis and any character growth that Jerid experienced while completing this mission is lost when he encounters an autistic teenager.)

So there you have it!

Most of the story is contained the prologue and epilogue, as there's no canonical path to completing the mission. Only the Wave Catcher cells and the young girl's village are hard requirements, but given where they are relative to each other, you need to find a high-mobility item as early as possible. Same deal with items for base infiltration; you need at least two of the infrared goggles, wire rope, and landmover to reach the comms room before getting caught. There's probably also a fine line you have to walk between avoiding battles and fighting them for skill points, because repairs are expensive time-wise.

Dunno what's next; I certainly have no shortage of books to try!

#mobile suit gundam #zeta gundam #jerid messa #jerid's sortie order #gundam

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oneirophasia · 2 months ago

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There's an old computer game called Star Control II. You're from a human colony which lost contact with Earth generations ago, and you're the captain of a brand new FTL starship on a mission to back to your homeworld. Earth, it turns out, has been discovered by the Ur-Quan, alien conquerors who give every other species a choice between being pressed into service as battle thralls, or giving up all advanced technology and being permanently confined to their homeworld beneath an impenetrable forcefield. Humans chose to be bubbled, and now that you're here it's up to you to find out how to defeat the Ur-Quan and free them.

It's sort of like Mass Effect if instead of a cover shooter it were a spaceship combat simulator from 1992. It's great. (And also, after a lot of copyright lawsuits between the developers and publishers, open-source freeware! The Ur-Quan Masters is a fanmade quality update with the creators' blessing.)

The first aliens you're actually likely to meet are the Spathi, a species of cowardly bivalves who call you "hunam" and are both drily cynical about your claims of peaceful intent and stoically shameless in avoiding danger. (They also, incidentally, speedran bronzesmithing to nuclear power in less than a century, so trifle with them at your own risk.)

Each day when we awaken we call forth the traditional Spathi prayer:

"Oh God... Please don't let me die today! Tomorrow would be so much better!"

When they surrendered to the Ur-Quan, the Spathi High Council voted enthusiastically for the "impenetrable force field" option, but alas! in a cruel miscommunication ended up as battle thralls anyway.

The Ur-Quan left a detachment of Spathi on the moon in case the humans tried anything tricky, then took their fleet corewards. In their absence, the Spathi decided it would be safer to watch from a little further away. You find the base on Pluto, populated by an officer named Fwiffo who drew the short Ta Puun stick every time and is doing his best to make it look like they're still fully-armed and staffed. Everyone else has "strategically redeployed" one at a time back to Spathiwa as reinforcements to defend against something called the Ultimate Evil, whom they believe may attack them at any moment:

As yet, the Ultimate Evil remains largely unmanifest, and its powers and exact intentions are still a bit obscure, since it lurks just outside the range of even the most sensitive, long-range detectors... which we feel gives conclusive evidence as to The Ultimate Evil's nefarious intent.

This has all been a roundabout build-up to this joke, as an explanation that this is what people sound like to me who take the Dark Forest hypothesis seriously.

#star control ii #the ur-quan masters #the dark forest #philosophy #thought processes #silly #video games

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duckprintspress · 3 months ago

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8 Epistolary Books for World Letter Writing Day

Today, September 1st, is World Letter Writing Day. to celebrate, we asked our contributors about their favorite books with a prominent role of letters (both traditional and electronic). Some of these books are fully epistolary, in some, letters play an important part in the story. Contributors to this list are: Shea Sullivan, Alex, Shadaras, Polls, Sanne and boneturtle.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar

Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?

Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.

The Tiger’s Daughter (Ascendant series) by K. Arsenault Rivera

Even gods can be slain….

The Hokkaran empire has conquered every land within their bold reach―but failed to notice a lurking darkness festering within the people. Now, their border walls begin to crumble, and villages fall to demons swarming out of the forests.

Away on the silver steppes, the remaining tribes of nomadic Qorin retreat and protect their own, having bartered a treaty with the empire, exchanging inheritance through the dynasties. It is up to two young warriors, raised together across borders since their prophesied birth, to save the world from the encroaching demons.

This is the story of an infamous Qorin warrior, Barsalayaa Shefali, a spoiled divine warrior empress, O-Shizuka, and a power that can reach through time and space to save a land from a truly insidious evil.

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings in a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent.

Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000’s – a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.

What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

Always Human by Ari North

In the near-future, people use technology to give the illusion of all kinds of body modifications-but some people have “Egan’s Syndrome,” a highly sensitive immune system that rejects these “mods” and are unable to use them. Those who are affected maintain a “natural” appearance, reliant on cosmetics and hair dye at most to help them play with their looks.

Sunati is attracted to Austen the first time she sees her and is drawn to what she assumes is Austen’s bravery and confidence to live life unmodded. When Sunati learns the truth, she’s still attracted to Austen and asks her on a date. Gradually, their relationship unfolds as they deal with friends, family, and the emotional conflicts that come with every romance. Together, they will learn and grow in a story that reminds us no matter how technology evolves, we will remain . . . always human.

Affinity by Sarah Waters

Set in and around the women’s prison at Milbank in the 1870s, Affinity is an eerie and utterly compelling ghost story, a complex and intriguing literary mystery and a poignant love story with an unexpected twist in the tale. Following the death of her father, Margaret Prior has decided to pursue some ‘good work’ with the lady criminals of one of London’s most notorious gaols. Surrounded by prisoners, murderers and common thieves, Margaret feels herself drawn to one of the prisons more unlikely inmates – the imprisoned spiritualist – Selina Dawes. Sympathetic to the plight of this innocent-seeming girl, Margaret sees herself dispensing guidance and perhaps friendship on her visits, little expecting to find herself dabbling in a twilight world of seances, shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions.

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan series) by Arkady Martine

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn’t an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire series) by Yoon Ha Lee

When Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for her unconventional tactics, Kel Command gives her a chance to redeem herself, by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles from the heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake: if the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.

Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress. The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own.

As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao – because she might be his next victim.

What are your favorite epistolary queer books? Tell us in the comments!

Want to chat your favorite reads with us? Join our Book Lover’s Discord server!

Update your Goodreads TBR with any of these books by visiting our shelf on Goodreads!

#duck prints press #rec list #book recommendations #queer books #queer book recommendations #lgbtqia books #world letter writing day

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shark-shark-shark-shark-shar · 5 months ago

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cookie cutter shark, which are named for the round ‘cookie’ bite marks they leave once bit through submarines and did so sure the Cold War

The submarines were among the most advanced weapons technology during the Cold War. As they sailed beneath the water, officials began to note sporadic issues. These included leaking oil lines, chunks missing from electrical cables, damaged sonar domes and sound probes that would suddenly stop working.

Oftentimes, the damage was severe enough that the vessels needed to return to their bases for repairs.

While the Navy initially suspected the damage to be the result of a new Soviet weapon, it was actually caused by something much more unexpected: a shark about the size of a house cat

The Navy eventually realized the shark was behind the damage to its nuclear submarines and decided the best way to counter it was to place a fiberglass dome around the vessels’ most sensitive parts.

#shark facts #sharkcore #shark post #sharks #shark

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 6 months ago

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 5, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 06, 2024

Today the S&P 500, which tracks the stock performance of 500 of the biggest companies on U.S. stock exchanges, closed at a new record high of 5,354. The Nasdaq Composite, which is weighted toward the information technology sector, also closed at a record high of 17,187. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was also up, but not to a new record. It closed at 38,807.

That notable economic news got very little attention, likely in part because there is so much else going on.

Most dramatically, House speaker Mike Johnson elevated Ronny Jackson (R-TX) and Scott Perry (R-PA) to the House Intelligence Committee, giving them oversight of the entire U.S. intelligence community and access to the nation’s most sensitive foreign intelligence. The Intelligence community includes intelligence from the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Space Force, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Department, the State Department, the Department of Energy (which oversees information about nuclear weapons), the Treasury Department, and the Department of Homeland Security.

It also oversees the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and that oversight is likely a key reason Johnson put Jackson and Perry on the committee.

A former Navy admiral, Jackson was Trump’s White House physician. Trump liked him enough to try unsuccessfully to promote him into the cabinet and within the U.S. Navy, and then to back him successfully for Congress after he retired from the Navy in 2019. In 2022 the U.S. Navy demoted him from admiral to captain after a 2021 report by the inspector general of the Defense Department showed he had “disparaged, belittled, bullied, and humiliated” his staff and abused alcohol on at least two occasions when he was supposed to be providing medical care to government officials.

Perry is more problematic than Jackson. Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, told the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol that Perry played an important role in the plan to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election. She told podcast host Scott Lamar in October 2023 that Perry was “central to the planning of January 6,” and she has said repeatedly that Perry asked Trump for a pardon before he left office.

Federal authorities from the FBI seized Perry’s cell phone in 2022 as part of their investigation into the effort to seize the presidency; he is the only member of Congress whose cell phone was seized. Like Trump, who has attacked the FBI since then-director James Comey refused to drop the investigation into the connections between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian operatives, Perry has complained bitterly about the FBI’s investigation of him.

Now, Perry will be on the committee that oversees the FBI. In a statement, he said: “I look forward to providing not only a fresh perspective, but conducting actual oversight—not blind obedience to some facets of our Intel Community that all too often abuse their powers, resources, and authority to spy on the American People.”

Former director of the CIA General Michael Hayden wrote: “That’s unbelievable. Both of them. Intelligence Committee? God help us.”

There is other news about the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election: yesterday Wisconsin attorney general Josh Kaul filed felony forgery charges against attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who planned the use of fake electors; former judge James Troupis, who managed Trump’s 2020 campaign in Wisconsin; and Michael Roman, a political operative who allegedly delivered the paperwork for Wisconsin’s fake electors to a congressional staffer to try to get them to Vice President Mike Pence.

On January 6, 2021, after the document was delivered, Troupis texted to Chesebro: “Excellent. Tomorrow let’s talk about SCOTUS strategy going forward. Enjoy the history you have made possible today.”

In Georgia, a court of appeals paused the case against Trump and his co-conspirators from proceeding until it rules on Trump’s appeal to disqualify Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis. It has tentatively set a hearing date for October 4, meaning that voters will not get to learn the outcome of the trial until after the election. If Trump is reelected, the trial will almost certainly not go forward.

The federal criminal case against Trump for retaining classified documents is also stalled. Judge Aileen Cannon not only has put off hearings, she has added a hearing on June 21 to consider whether Special Counsel Jack Smith was properly appointed in the first place. She is revisiting a decision already decided in the affirmative in 2019 by the Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals. She has also taken the highly unusual step of inviting three people not involved in the case to argue in that hearing: two will argue that the appointment is invalid, one will argue that it was done properly.

Meanwhile, there were signs over the past few days of the deeply different party principles at the heart of the 2024 election. At an event to reach Black voters in what Julia Terruso and Sean Collins Walsh of the Philadelphia Inquirer described as “one of the whitest and most conservative parts of Philly,” Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL), who is Black, illustrated the grip of a fantasy idyllic past on MAGA Republicans.

Donalds praised the Jim Crow era of American history—which was literally named for a vicious caricature of African Americans that helped to justify the lynching that characterized the period—because “during Jim Crow the Black family was together.” He blamed the Great Society programs of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, including civil rights and social welfare programs, for eroding family values.

On the House floor, Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) urged Donalds to “check yourself before you wreck yourself.” Democratic National Committee chair Jamie Harrison was less poetic but more succinct. He wrote: “These fools have lost their damn minds….”

In the Senate, Democrats forced Republicans to vote on advancing a bill to protect access to contraception. Republicans threatened a filibuster, meaning it would take 60 votes to bring the bill forward. And so the measure failed by a vote of 51 in favor to 39 against (Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer of New York voted no so he could bring the measure up again). Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted in favor of the measure. All the other Republicans either voted no or did not vote.

All the Republicans running for reelection this year voted no: John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).

Some of them said they voted no because there was no danger that Republicans would attack contraception, claiming that Democrats were just “fear-mongering.” But in 2022, House Republicans overwhelmingly voted against protecting contraceptive rights, and in an interview last month, Trump said he was looking at restrictions on contraceptives before his campaign walked the statement back. Yesterday, in a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on “How Abortion Bans Have Created a Health Care Nightmare Across America,” a Republican witness, Dr. Christina Francis, chief executive officer of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) took the position that IUDs and Plan B emergency contraception constitute abortion and should be banned. In the Senate itself, Jodi Ernst (R-IA) has already proposed getting rid of Plan B.

A February 2024 poll showed that 80% of American voters said that protecting access to birth control was “deeply important” to them.

For all their rhetoric about “America First,” MAGA Republicans are out of step with actual Americans. The Trump loyalists now in charge of the Republican National Committee also appear to be remarkably ill-informed about the country itself. Sam Brody, political reporter for the Boston Globe, noted yesterday that on their website promoting the Republican National Convention to be held in July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Republicans used a photograph not of Milwaukee, but of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #MAGA Republicans #out of step #Women #women's rights #reproductive rights #MAGA felons #not sending us their best #contraception #Jim Crow #corrupt GOP #criminal GOP #criminal enterprises

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ticktockaura · 1 month ago

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As North Korea, Iran and China support Russia’s war, is a ‘new axis’ emerging?

Hong KongCNN —

The thousands of North Korean troops US intelligence says arrived in Russia for training this month have sparked concern they will be deployed to bolster Moscow’s battlefront in Ukraine.

They’ve also turned up alarm from the United States and its allies that growing coordination between anti-West countries is creating a much broader, urgent security threat – one where partnerships of convenience are evolving into more outright military ties.

Hundreds of Iranian drones have also been part of Moscow’s onslaught on Ukraine, and last month the US said Tehran had sent the warring country short-range ballistic missiles as well.

China, meanwhile, has been accused of powering Russia’s war machine with substantial amounts of “dual use” goods like microelectronics and machine tools, which can be used to make weapons. Last week, the US for the first time penalized two Chinese firms for supplying complete weapons systems. All three countries have denied they are providing such support.

Taking stock of the emerging cooperation, a Congress-backed group that evaluates US defense strategy dubbed Russia, China, Iran and North Korea this summer an “axis of growing malign partnerships.”

The fear is that a shared animosity toward the US is increasingly driving these countries to work together – amplifying the threat that any one of them alone poses to Washington or its allies, not just in one region but perhaps in multiple parts of the world at the same time.

“If (North Korea) is a co-belligerent, their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf, that is a very, very serious issue, and it will have impacts not only on in Europe — it will also impact things in the Indo Pacific as well,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday in the first US confirmation of North Korean troops in Russia.

‘A real risk’

Viewed from the West, however, China’s refusal to cut off economic lifelines to a UN sanctions-defiant North Korea and a Russia that has threatened the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine is often seen as an open endorsement of these regimes.

In July, the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, an independent group tasked by Congress with evaluating US defense strategy, said China and Russia’s partnership had “deepened and broadened” to include a military and economic partnership with Iran and North Korea.

“This new alignment of nations opposed to US interests creates a real risk, if not likelihood, that conflict anywhere could become a multi-theater or global war,” it said.

China has repeatedly insisted that its relationship with Russia is one of “non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party.”

NATO has also in recent years moved to ramp up relations with US allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific, with a meeting of defense ministers last week joined for the first time by Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

In the short term, Russia’s weapons partnerships also open the door for Iran and North Korea to potentially obtain and produce Moscow’s sensitive weapons technologies and even ship them around the world, according to Carnegie’s Zhao.

The current dynamics also raise the risk that future conflicts – including one where China is at the center and not Russia – see coordination between the four, some analysts assess.

#gaza #free gaza #gaza genocide #gaza strip #gazaunderattack #palestine #palestine genocide #lebanon #russia #ukraine #iran

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cavalierzee · 1 year ago

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Zionist Israel Is The Greatest Enemy Of The United States

Zionism is fundamentally un-American.

Zionism does not reflect American values.

If you are an American posing as an Israeli settler, you’re not American.

If you’re an American who is serving/served in the IDF as an American citizen…you’re not.

If you are affiliated with either the ADL/AIPAC, you should have to register as a foreign agent.

Zionist Israel is not a friend of the United States—just the opposite.

Zionist Israel attacked the USS Liberty.

Zionist Israel spied/spies on the U.S.

Zionist Israel has shared U.S. secrets with nations hostile to the U.S.

Zionist Israel has shared sensitive U.S. technology with nations hostile to the U.S.

Zionist Israel actively interferes with U.S. elections.

Zionist Israeli officials openly brag about “owning” the U.S. Congress.

Zionist Israel is the greatest enemy of the United States, if for no other reason than it has insinuated itself into the very fabric of American political and social discourse, much like a parasite that takes control of its host.

Israel has a right to exist as part of a two-state solution where there is a Palestinian state that operates on an equal standing with Israel.

Zionist Israel has no right to exist.

Nuclear weapons are a tool of intimidation of Zionist Israel.

Israel cannot possess nuclear weapons.

The best way to defend Israel is to outlaw Zionist Israel.

Got it?

—> By Scott Ritter

Former U.S. Marine Corp Intelligence Analyst and UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq

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xtruss · 1 year ago

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The First Light of Trinity

— By Alex Wellerstein | July 16, 2015 | Annals of Technology

Seventy years ago, the flash of a nuclear bomb illuminated the skies over Alamogordo, New Mexico. Courtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory

The light of a nuclear explosion is unlike anything else on Earth. This is because the heat of a nuclear explosion is unlike anything else on Earth. Seventy years ago today, when the first atomic weapon was tested, they called its light cosmic. Where else, except in the interiors of stars, do the temperatures reach into the tens of millions of degrees? It is that blistering radiation, released in a reaction that takes about a millionth of a second to complete, that makes the light so unearthly, that gives it the strength to burn through photographic paper and wound human eyes. The heat is such that the air around it becomes luminous and incandescent and then opaque; for a moment, the brightness hides itself. Then the air expands outward, shedding its energy at the speed of sound—the blast wave that destroys houses, hospitals, schools, cities.

The test was given the evocative code name of Trinity, although no one seems to know precisely why. One theory is that J. Robert Oppenheimer, the head of the U.S. government’s laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and the director of science for the Manhattan Project, which designed and built the bomb, chose the name as an allusion to the poetry of John Donne. Oppenheimer’s former mistress, Jean Tatlock, a student at the University of California, Berkeley, when he was a professor there, had introduced him to Donne’s work before she committed suicide, in early 1944. But Oppenheimer later claimed not to recall where the name came from.

The operation was designated as top secret, which was a problem, since the whole point was to create an explosion that could be heard for a hundred miles around and seen for two hundred. How to keep such a spectacle under wraps? Oppenheimer and his colleagues considered several sites, including a patch of desert around two hundred miles east of Los Angeles, an island eighty miles southwest of Santa Monica, and a series of sand bars ten miles off the Texas coast. Eventually, they chose a place much closer to home, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on an Army Air Forces bombing range in a valley called the Jornada del Muerto (“Journey of the Dead Man,” an indication of its unforgiving landscape). Freshwater had to be driven in, seven hundred gallons at a time, from a town forty miles away. To wire the site for a telephone connection required laying four miles of cable. The most expensive single line item in the budget was for the construction of bomb-proof shelters, which would protect some of the more than two hundred and fifty observers of the test.

The area immediately around the bombing range was sparsely populated but not by any means barren. It was within two hundred miles of Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and El Paso. The nearest town of more than fifty people was fewer than thirty miles away, and the nearest occupied ranch was only twelve miles away—long distances for a person, but not for light or a radioactive cloud. (One of Trinity’s more unusual financial appropriations, later on, was for the acquisition of several dozen head of cattle that had had their hair discolored by the explosion.) The Army made preparations to impose martial law after the test if necessary, keeping a military force of a hundred and sixty men on hand to manage any evacuations. Photographic film, sensitive to radioactivity, was stowed in nearby towns, to provide “medical legal” evidence of contamination in the future. Seismographs in Tucson, Denver, and Chihuahua, Mexico, would reveal how far away the explosion could be detected.

The Trinity test weapon. Courtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory

On July 16, 1945, the planned date of the test, the weather was poor. Thunderstorms were moving through the area, raising the twin hazards of electricity and rain. The test weapon, known euphemistically as the gadget, was mounted inside a shack atop a hundred-foot steel tower. It was a Frankenstein’s monster of wires, screws, switches, high explosives, radioactive materials, and diagnostic devices, and was crude enough that it could be tripped by a passing storm. (This had already happened once, with a model of the bomb’s electrical system.) Rain, or even too many clouds, could cause other problems—a spontaneous radioactive thunderstorm after detonation, unpredictable magnifications of the blast wave off a layer of warm air. It was later calculated that, even without the possibility of mechanical or electrical failure, there was still more than a one-in-ten chance of the gadget failing to perform optimally.

The scientists were prepared to cancel the test and wait for better weather when, at five in the morning, conditions began to improve. At five-ten, they announced that the test was going forward. At five-twenty-five, a rocket near the tower was shot into the sky—the five-minute warning. Another went up at five-twenty-nine. Forty-five seconds before zero hour, a switch was thrown in the control bunker, starting an automated timer. Just before five-thirty, an electrical pulse ran the five and a half miles across the desert from the bunker to the tower, up into the firing unit of the bomb. Within a hundred millionths of a second, a series of thirty-two charges went off around the device’s core, compressing the sphere of plutonium inside from about the size of an orange to that of a lime. Then the gadget exploded.

General Thomas Farrell, the deputy commander of the Manhattan Project, was in the control bunker with Oppenheimer when the blast went off. “The whole country was lighted by a searing light with the intensity many times that of the midday sun,” he wrote immediately afterward. “It was golden, purple, violet, gray, and blue. It lighted every peak, crevasse, and ridge of the nearby mountain range with a clarity and beauty that cannot be described but must be seen to be imagined. It was that beauty the great poets dream about but describe most poorly and inadequately.” Twenty-seven miles away from the tower, the Berkeley physicist and Nobel Prize winner Ernest O. Lawrence was stepping out of a car. “Just as I put my foot on the ground I was enveloped with a warm brilliant yellow white light—from darkness to brilliant sunshine in an instant,” he wrote. James Conant, the president of Harvard University, was watching from the V.I.P. viewing spot, ten miles from the tower. “The enormity of the light and its length quite stunned me,” he wrote. “The whole sky suddenly full of white light like the end of the world.”

In its first milliseconds, the Trinity fireball burned through photographic film. Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration

Trinity was filmed exclusively in black and white and without audio. In the main footage of the explosion, the fireball rises out of the frame before the cameraman, dazed by the sight, pans upward to follow it. The written accounts of the test, of which there are many, grapple with how to describe an experience for which no terminology had yet been invented. Some eventually settle on what would become the standard lexicon. Luis Alvarez, a physicist and future participant in the Hiroshima bombing, viewed Trinity from the air. He likened the debris cloud, which rose to a height of some thirty thousand feet in ten minutes, to “a parachute which was being blown up by a large electric fan,” noting that it “had very much the appearance of a large mushroom.” Charles Thomas, the vice-president of Monsanto, a major Manhattan Project contractor, observed the same. “It looked like a giant mushroom; the stalk was the thousands of tons of sand being sucked up by the explosion; the top of the mushroom was a flowering ball of fire,” he wrote. “It resembled a giant brain the convolutions of which were constantly changing.”

In the months before the test, the Manhattan Project scientists had estimated that their bomb would yield the equivalent of between seven hundred and five thousand tons of TNT. As it turned out, the detonation force was equal to about twenty thousand tons of TNT—four times larger than the expected maximum. The light was visible as far away as Amarillo, Texas, more than two hundred and eighty miles to the east, on the other side of a mountain range. Windows were reported broken in Silver City, New Mexico, some hundred and eighty miles to the southwest. Here, again, the written accounts converge. Thomas: “It is safe to say that nothing as terrible has been made by man before.” Lawrence: “There was restrained applause, but more a hushed murmuring bordering on reverence.” Farrell: “The strong, sustained, awesome roar … warned of doomsday and made us feel that we puny things were blasphemous.” Nevertheless, the plainclothes military police who were stationed in nearby towns reported that those who saw the light seemed to accept the government’s explanation, which was that an ammunition dump had exploded.

Trinity was only the first nuclear detonation of the summer of 1945. Two more followed, in early August, over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing as many as a quarter of a million people. By October, Norris Bradbury, the new director of Los Alamos, had proposed that the United States conduct “subsequent Trinity’s.” There was more to learn about the bomb, he argued, in a memo to the new coördinating council for the lab, and without the immediate pressure of making a weapon for war, “another TR might even be FUN.” A year after the test at Alamogordo, new ones began, at Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands. They were not given literary names. Able, Baker, and Charlie were slated for 1946; X-ray, Yoke, and Zebra were slated for 1948. These were letters in the military radio alphabet—a clarification of who was really the master of the bomb.

Irradiated Kodak X-ray film. Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration

By 1992, the U.S. government had conducted more than a thousand nuclear tests, and other nations—China, France, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—had joined in the frenzy. The last aboveground detonation took place over Lop Nur, a dried-up salt lake in northwestern China, in 1980. We are some years away, in other words, from the day when no living person will have seen that unearthly light firsthand. But Trinity left secondhand signs behind. Because the gadget exploded so close to the ground, the fireball sucked up dirt and debris. Some of it melted and settled back down, cooling into a radioactive green glass that was dubbed Trinitite, and some of it floated away. A minute quantity of the dust ended up in a river about a thousand miles east of Alamogordo, where, in early August, 1945, it was taken up into a paper mill that manufactured strawboard for Eastman Kodak. The strawboard was used to pack some of the company’s industrial X-ray film, which, when it was developed, was mottled with dark blotches and pinpoint stars—the final exposure of the first light of the nuclear age.

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