#she let it run out of battery because she passively wants to die

[trans-queen-administrator]

I adore Cherie Vasil for many reasons but especially because she made a dead man's switch where she'd blow up if she didn't call a phone number every so often and then she let her phone battery run out because she was having too much fun listening to some music so she almost exploded herself. Iconic really, no one does it like her.

[graffitibible]

Building ocs to complement the characters like that is an absolute galaxy brain move, are there any specific ones from starry eyed??

thank you!! and yes, all the most prominent ocs in starry-eyed (i.e. the other two crews he had prior to the fab four) were built to complement or highlight some aspect of jet. i’m not sure how well some of them came across but they were all meant to correspond to or develop a trait of jet’s.

doublestar signifies jet’s relationship with assertiveness. he’s not a super assertive personality by nature (he tends to be drawn to people with a lot of conviction and external confidence, like dust devil and party poison) but some of that has to do with his upbringing. he wasn’t really encouraged to figure out his own relationship with leadership because doublestar was a very “i take charge and you do what i say” personality even if it was with benign intentions. it’s in part because of doublestar that jet has a lot of doubt about making his own decisions for himself and feels more comfortable following someone else’s lead, and also one of the key reasons he puts so much weight on himself to always perform well. she complimented him a TON for the things he was really good at and she did this with good intentions - he’s a great sharpshooter, he’s a fast runner, he’s got excellent instincts for survival. but because jet’s a heavy internalizer, he took all that to mean “oh, i have to perform those things ALWAYS and it’s my direct fault for things that go wrong in those areas because I’m The Best At Them Like Doublestar Said.” so for all that doublestar did her best to prepare him and her group for desert life, she didn’t excel at that in every respect lol

coma doze represents a humor, impulse, and lust for life that jet didn’t really allow himself to have, even as a kid. coma chases emotional highs; jet never allows that for himself. jet’s own enjoyment of something is literally always the last thing on jet’s list of priorities. coma’s a much more lighthearted, spur of the moment kind of guy than jet ever allowed himself to be, and also incredibly pathos-driven. coma’s willingness to throw himself at the fight taking place in the analog wars has more to do with a need to do something with himself than any genuine investment in the struggle taking place. those moments where jet says “fuck it” and does something stupid (like charging a scarecrow while he’s completely alone and without backup for example lol) come from a similar place. most of the time coma’s willing to let his emotional high dictate where he ends up without considering the why or how or the aftermath of it. this is meant to be a clear contrast to jet, who even at his angriest and stupidest, has a reason for doing what he does. he sees a scarecrow, he’s overcome with anger and frustration and a willingness to avenge his friends - but even in that state of heightened emotion he still has a moment where he weighs the risks of the action before he decides to take it.

nova cane indicates jet’s skewed priorities and his sense of strategy, which ties into the above point, as well as his familial mindset and loyalty. that moment before he does something stupid or does something big where he checks himself and weighs the risks of it, that’s something that i wanted nova to represent. nova’s the voice of dissent when coma wants to charge in guns blazing and try and turn the tide of the analog wars, because she’s got the presence of mind to note that two people aren’t going to change the landscape of an entire war. and yet she’s also the person who doesn’t register that she’s been shot because she’s too busy fucking up the dracs that fucked with her crew. the risks to herself don’t sit on the same level as the risks to the crew as a whole, which probably seems pretty familiar since jet’s very much the same way. the risks he takes when it’s his own life on the line are significantly greater than the risks he’s willing to take when it’s the well-being of the group that’s put in the crossfire. nova was there to vocalize and highlight that a little since it’s not something that jet ever sat down and verbalized to himself, and not necessarily something he’s even aware of. it’s a little more evident when it’s someone else falling into those same patterns because that’s less subject to the inherent biases of jet’s pov.

nine-volt rocket was there to highlight jet’s tendencies for codependency. there are a lot of instances in part i where rocket was having a hard time (both physically and emotionally) and jet helps them out with basically no prompting from anyone. a lot of the “nurturing” (read: self-sacrificial) instincts jet picked up early in life have to do with rocket and this notion of “other people have it worse than me so i have to push myself to help them out since i don’t have it as bad” which is categorically not true but jet has a piss-poor conceptualization of his own limitations because of it. he always prioritizes other people above himself, and part of that is because for as long as he can remember, he’s kind of had to do that. of course the idea that he “has” to do it is more or less manufactured. no one asked him to take care of rocket or anything. he internalized the idea that he’s the “most capable” person in the group and so assumed that the responsibility fell down to him and because it tied into the “survival of the group” mentality, no one questioned it.

dust devil is one of those assertive personalities that jet’s drawn to. they’re representative of some of the early germs for the sense of justice that would later drive jet and by extension the fabulous four. dust devil’s aware that some things in the world are very broken and really wants to fix them but ultimately his plan to do that comes down to “break shit very loudly and raise hell doing it” which made for great catharsis but not much in the way of tactical warfare. because jet didn’t have any great stake in the analog wars other than the loss of nova and coma (which more came down to both of them being in the wrong place at the wrong time), dust devil was pretty necessary to introduce that element of “this affects everybody in the desert and you should care about it.” also on a less serious note dust devil existed to make it evident that jet’s Very Gay. i write the fab four as a family unit more than anything else so writing romantic interactions within the group doesn’t super jive with me. but i wanted it to be apparent that jet’s a dude who likes other masc-aligned folks so that’s what that whole mild panic over dust devil planting one on him came from.

fever queen is another character that highlighted jet’s self-sacrificial and codependent tendencies, and this was meant to call to light just how unhealthy they were. queen likes to vent to him and doesn’t really take into account how jet feels about these things - it’s a surprise to zir when jet chimes in because what queen really wants is a blank wall to throw things at so ze can get it out of zir system. queen also has this innate cynicism that’s supposed to counter jet’s own mindset - ze doesn’t think that any efforts to fight back against BLi are worthwhile and are ultimately doomed to fail, but sticks with the group out of necessity. while jet’s not so optimistic to feel like he can singlehandedly tip the balance of a desert-wide struggle, there’s a reason that he’s drawn to the idea of hitting back against better living, and that’s because of the sense of justice i touched on in the point above. queen was also meant to indicate that jet’s ultimately a pretty extroverted person, despite how nonverbal he is. he gets his energy from other people. queen similarly wants to be surrounded by other people, even if ze doesn’t believe in what they’re fighting for, and that’s something jet can relate to.

haywire is a natural exaggeration of jet’s self-destructive tendencies, and is also meant to indicate that a lot of those tendencies stem from a fundamental sense of self-loathing. haywire is dying and knows it. she doesn’t give a fuck about long-term survivability. she hurls herself headfirst into every firefight and when it isn’t charging straight into every clap she runs across, it’s out and out baiting people into fucking with her. jet might not be dying but he’s got a similar mindset. he’s super willing to put himself in the line of fire because he thinks nothing of himself, thinks nothing of the worth of his own life. his self-destruction isn’t big and flashy the way it is for haywire or someone like party poison or fun ghoul, but it’s very much present nonetheless. there’s that moment where haywire basically begs jet to kill her because she’s got a lungful of poisonous gas and she’s dying in a very slow and painful matter, and jet refuses. this is supposed to be a demonstrable contrast to how jet indulges his own self-destruction at the end of part ii. he’s not the kind of guy to put a gun to his own head, but he’ll wander the desert until he dies. he’ll entertain the idea of waltzing into battery city or out into the remains of zone seven just to see what happens. it’s a passive self-destruction as opposed to haywire’s active self-destruction, but that doesn’t make it any less retroactively horrifying that he and haywire are so goddamned casual about how willing they are to Fucking Die.

100% titanium is maybe the most obvious. they gave jet a “voice” in a sense because while jet’s a primarily nonverbal dude, titan was entirely nonverbal due to injury. but even before jet started picking up sign language from them, he got them in a way that not a lot of the other members of the group did, with the exception of raya. titan was there to make it a little more obvious that jet’s actually extremely good at reading other people’s body language and communicating nonverbally. he doesn’t need words to make his point and other people don’t need to spell out their points to him when he can pick most of the big points from the little things - how they stand, how fast they’re talking, how much they’re moving, their expression, etc. titan’s easily one of the characters in part ii that jet has the closest and best relationship with, and i also wanted a character to emphasize that jet has a massive capacity for a genuine love and warmth. some of his most genuine moments in part ii come from his interactions with titan.

mantarraya is meant to represent jet’s faith. she was initially there out of necessity - there was this nonverbal character that no one else would logically be able to understand, so mantarraya was there to streamline that. but more than that, i needed someone to remind jet of the faith he kept back in part i since queen was an outright nonbeliever and neither haywire nor devil were all that devoted to the idea of the witch. so raya believes in the witch, she believes in destroya, and she’s hopeful that she’ll see the latter raze battery city in her lifetime. for her, her faith takes the sting out of the inevitability of death - the witch will take care of her once she eats it, so it’ll be okay. jet doesn’t have that same confidence, in part because he pours so much of himself into others rather than into himself. so much of him wants to shut down and stop but he refuses to indulge that because other people need him. maybe the witch will take care of him, but he won’t be there to help of everyone else who needs him, and what’s worse is he’ll be helpless to stop whatever happens next. it was that existential fear that raised its head toward the end of part iii, because he hadn’t really taken the time to confront it until then. 

[j-shute]

If you care about the environment, back Warren. Not Sanders.

I’m not an American, I’m a Brit. But what I’m about to say here is valid across all countries. It’s not your fault if what I’m about to say comes as a surprise to you, the main stream media have collectively failed to challenge and inform you about it. 

A while back, Bernie Sanders posted this:

This is entirely accurate. Climate change is a major issue, and we need a competent strategy to deal with it.

Bernie also posted this:

This is disingenuous. Yes, we need to transform our energy systems, but there are many ways to do that. Some fall more to the ‘pragmatic’ side, similar to the UK’s stance (use gas to end coal, while building nuclear and offshore wind). Others are on the ‘purist’ side, such as Germany (No more fossil fuel capacity, phase out nuclear, wind and solar). 

Bernie is a purist, and that’s bad.

This is the Vermont Yankee power station:

Built in the 1970′s, it produced 70% of Vermont’s (Bernie’s home state) electricity. It received an extension to run into the 2030′s but was shut down in 2014 due to being undercut by cheap gas power. 

The US reactor fleet has a 100GW capacity, and produces 20% of the countries power. It is their largest source of carbon free power. By extending the plant licenses, a common and highly regulated practice, most of them could run safely into the 2030′s, 2040′s and, in some cases, 2050′s.

Many older reactors though suffer from a financial double whammy. On one side is cheap natural gas electricity, on the other is subsidised renewables. Providing financial assistance to keep these plants open is one of the cheapest ways of stopping more emissions.

Bernie Sanders opposes any license extensions, any financial help, and any new nuclear new build.

This is a NuScale SMR

It is a mass producible small reactor that is passively safe. It CAN’T melt down. It’ll be cheap, easy to build, and has been privately financed by a set of US companies. It is one year away from passing through the US licensing requirements, with the first plant planned for operation in 2026-2027. 

Under Bernie Sanders plans, a decade of work and investment, and a potential critical tool in the fight against climate change, will be dealt a hammer blow.

But that’s not the only problem with Bernie: 

The US shale revolution dealt a hammer blow to coal, allowing the country to meet the Kyoto protocol targets without even trying. Not only is it a vital transition fuel (until the last coal plant is shut down), but it’s got a strong future in a carbon neutral world.

This is a prototype Carbon Capture power plant

Like the Nuscale SMR’s, it’s a project that’s been ticking along in the background, pushed on by private backers. It uses the Allam Cycle, named after it’s inventor, to produce electricity at the same efficiency as current gas stations, alongside pipeline ready pure CO2. 

I repeat, it’s carbon capture and storage at the same price as current electricity. This is a monster of a game changer, with the first commercial plants planned for 2022-2024.

Bernie Sanders, though, is opposed to CCS in all forms. Like nuclear, he calls it a false solution.

But couldn’t we run on renewables regardless?

Even if you feel concerned at a climate activist throwing away some of our best tools, you might feel that their drive towards the solution more than makes up for it. After all, you can run the country on wind and solar, can’t you?

Well, you can. But it’s nigh on impossible to do so.

Despite what climate activists tell you, the wind isn’t always blowing everywhere:

Above is a graph showing the change in wind production from season to season. Below is a closer look at how wind production across Europe (I couldn’t find one for the USA) can nosedive at the same time. Madrid is as far away from Helsinki as New York is from Los Angeles. Even across a continent, the wind isn’t always blowing everywhere.

Solar, meanwhile, varies everywhere according to the seasons. In northern latitudes such as the UK, a solar panel might produce ten times more power in the summer as in the winter. Even in California, solar in the summer can produce 1.5-2X what it does in the winter.

Which, in southern desert states, is good. They need little heating in the winter, and aircon in the summer. Big desert solar arrays at low latitudes are a good source of energy. Less efficient, inherently badly optimised and far more expensive rooftop solar further north (where you need lots of winter heating) are about as useful as Mao’s backyard furnaces were at making steel.

But what about batteries?

I’m sure many people will now talk about storing power. However, the idea that we can economically do this (similar to the idea that the wind is always blowing) is probably one of the most successful bits of fake news ever spun. Let me illustrate.

This is Vogtle units 3 and 4:

With a project cost of $17 billion, renewable energy enthusiasts like to paint it as a perfect example of the failures of modern nuclear.

This is Tesla’s Big battery:

Costing $50 million USD, Renewable enthusiasts like to paint it as a triumph of renewables.

The big battery stores 129mwh of electricity, which equates to $387 per kwh of storage. Or, $0.387 billion per Gwh. For $17 billion, you get 44 Gwh of storage.

Vogtle will produce that same amount of energy in just over 18 hours.

Even if you use the most expensive, finance inclusive, cost for Vogtle, it will still fill the equivalent storage potential in 29 hours.

To run a fully intermittent grid, we’d need days if not weeks of storage. Or, we could spend a fraction of that money on nuclear power, and be done.

But what about pumped Hydro?

Again, let’s use a sense of scale to explain how much you’d need. Something big, like this:

Lake Erie and Ontario are separated in elevation by 99m. Assuming you use dams and locks to turn them into a giant upper and lower reservoir, how much energy could you store?

By draining 1m of water from the smaller Ontario, and pumping it into Erie, you could store 4,600GWH of electricity.

The US uses around 2,740 per day on average. So you’d have a viable short-term store for the entire country. It wouldn’t be seasonal storage.

The equivalent storage using batteries would cost over $1.38 trillion. This is enough for 81 Vogtle plants. They would have 194GW of capacity, and produce 4196GWH a day.

Using Nuscale SMR’s at the current quoted price (which could come down if you get a dedicated assembly line going) you could get 328 GW of capacity.

What about seasonal storage?

In countries with winter heating seasons, you need a reliable source of energy or people will freeze and die. Even with Nuclear, you’re at the peak of energy requirements, so it’s uneconomical to build to that point.

Instead, you can use biogas, biomass and waste to energy. Stockpiling your fuel throughout the year, you can burn it when most needed. Even better, in many cases you can convert existing fossil fuel plants.

Credit where credit is due, Bernie Sanders is pro bio-energy (as opposed to some (even purer) greens). At the same time, he is anti-waste to energy.

So what is the point of this?

The point is that we can’t simply add ‘Wind, solar, batteries’ and get an energy system that works. There are serious technological limitations and economic realities. Long term energy storage is incredibly cost prohibitive. The wind doesn’t always blow everywhere. In any case, if we only have a short time to stop emitting carbon, why shoot your biggest contributor of green energy at the same time?

Germany lost a decade due to its closure of its reactors, and still has some of Europe's dirtiest electricity. Had they closed the Lignite plants in North-Rhine Westphalia instead, they’d of cut their emissions while opening up giant pits like the Hambach mine for conversion into pumped storage sites. I’ve done the calculations, they could run the country for half a day on that level of storage.

In contrast, France is the only developed country to turn a dirty grid into a clean grid. They did it decades ago with nuclear, but there are those in power who want to shut reactors down early. They don’t care that they can build out renewables anyway, and export the extra energy or use it for transport. They care more about killing nuclear than saving the planet.

This is why Warren is better than Sanders.

Elizabeth Warren wants a green new deal and medicaid for all, just like Sanders. Unlike him, she’s open to keeping the US nuclear fleet going. She’s open to new reactors and CCS. Both have a plan and a drive, but hers is open to more options and focuses on what the real enemy is. Bernie is a purist. Purism sounds good. But wherever you look, it’s the pragmatists that have always performed better.

I care strongly about the environment and global warming, which is why, if I could, I’d vote for Warren. Because you can’t say that global warming is the biggest threat we face and then throw away our best tools against it.