#stirling pdf

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Software of the Week: Stirling PDF

Details:

Purpose: Locally hosted web application that allows you to perform various operations on PDF files (manipulation, conversion, etc.)

OS Supported: Windows, Mac, Linux (anything that can run Docker containers)

Installer Size: ~245 MB-~953 MB depending on the version

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Languages Supported: 38 languages supported

License: Free and open source

Download Link: https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF

Over the last year or so I've been trying to replace online services in my life with offline alternatives for a two reasons.

Privacy. I don't have to worry what a bunch of strangers are doing with the files/information I give them. I try to give people as little data as possible; even if I trust the company providing the service in its current state, there is always the chance it will be sold to others I do NOT trust, and by then it's too late; my data is already out there and I don't have a say over what the new owners do with it

Availability: I don't want to depend on third-party service to always be up and running. The service could be having issues, or worse, the entire service could disappear from the internet (looking at all the YouTube to MP3 websites that Google keeps taking offline).I don't want to have to keep hunting down and vetting new services if my preferred one is down for some reason

The privacy aspect especially comes into play when I need to manipulate PDFs; rotating or removing pages, signing documents, converting from PDFs to Word or vice versa, etc.. Often the PDF is sensitive, and even if it isn't, someone could probably infer a bunch of information about you (or someone at your IP) over time based on what you upload.

Enter Stirling PDF, a self-hosted app that has functionality for just about every PDF manipulation you can imagine.

I'm serious. There are 46 different functions listed in the documentation, ranging from common (merging PDFs) to esoteric (redacting/blacking out specific words or phrases within PDFs). If you need to manipulate a PDF, Stirling PDF probably has you covered.

If this intrigues you, I encourage you to spin up an instance of Stirling PDF on your own system. I've linked their GitHub repo above, but if you happen to own a Synology or UGREEN NAS, Marius Bogdan Lixandru (AKA MariusHosting) has written a fantastic guide to getting started here (and also his website is just a nerdy delight all around).

[queer-ragnelle]

Seeking a book to read this winter break?

Brand "New" List of Additions to the Arthurian Preservation Project Archive

In time, all books will be added to my Retellings List or Medieval Literature List respectively, and possibly a third page for handbooks/informational resources. Retellings may be under construction for a bit as I reformat to accommodate the influx in links. There are some duplicates—Alan Lupack's and Mike Ashley's anthologies occasionally contain a one-off story I've otherwise included in an individual volume of collected works by the author.

Links connect to corresponding PDFs on my Google drive where they can be read and downloaded for free. But if you like what I do, consider supporting me on Ko-Fi. I haven't yet read these listings in full; I cannot attest to their content or quality. A big thank you to @wandrenowle for the help collecting!

Modern Retellings

Merlin in Love by Aaron Hill (1790) — Opera about Merlin & his love interest Columbine.

The Fortunate Island by Max Adeler (1882) — A family shipwrecks on an island only to discover its populated with Arthurian knights, including Dinadan, Bleoberis, & Agravaine.

Sir Marrok by Allen French (1902) — Werewolf knight.

The Story of Sir Galahad by Mary Blackwell Stirling (1908) — Illustrated retelling of Malory's Grail Quest.

The Story of Parzival by Mary Blackwell Stirling (1911) — Illustrated retelling of Eschenbach's Parzival.

Stories From King Arthur and His Round Table by Beatrice Clay (1913) — Illustrated retelling of Malory.

Cloud Castle and Other Papers by Edward Thomas (1922) — Contains two Arthurian entries: the story Bronwen The Welsh Idyll about Agravaine & his lady Bronwen, & the essay Isoud about the Prose Tristan.

Collected Poems by Rolfe Humphries (1924-1966) — Contains Dream of Rhonabwy about Owain & Arthur's chess game, A Brecon Version about Essylt/Trystan, Under Craig y Ddynas about Arthur's "sleeping" warriors, & The Return of Peredwr about the Grail Hero's arrival to court.

Peronnik the Fool by George Moore (1926) — The quest for the Holy Grail based on Breton folklore.

The Merriest Knight by Theodore Goodridge Roberts (1946-2001) — Anthology of short stories all about Dinadan.

The Eagles Have Flown by Henry Treece (1954) — A third Arthurian novel from Treece detailing the rivalry between Artos & Medrawt, with illustrations this time.

Launcelot, my Brother by Dorothy James Roberts (1954) — The fall of Camelot from Bors perspective, as a brother of Launcelot.

To the Chapel Perilous by Naomi Mitchison (1955) — Two rival journalists report about the goings on in Camelot.

The Pagan King by Edison Marshall (1959) — Historical fiction from the perspective of Pagan King Arthur.

Kinsmen of the Grail by Dorothy James Roberts (1963) — The Grail Quest but Gawain is Perceval's step dad.

Stories of King Arthur by Blanche Winder (1968) — Illustrated retelling of Malory.

Drustan the Wanderer by Anna Taylor (1971) — Retelling of Essylt/Drustan.

Merlin's Ring by H. Warner Munn (1974) Gwalchmai is a godson of Merlin's that uses his ring to travel through the magical & real worlds.

Lionors, Arthur's Uncrowned Queen by Barbara Ferry Johnson (1975) — Story of Arthur's sweetheart & mother of his son, Loholt.

Gawain and The Green Knight by Y. R. Ponsor (1979) — Illustrated prose retelling of SGATGK poem.

Firelord (#1), Beloved Exile (#2), The Lovers: Trystan and Yseult (#3) by Parke Godwin (pseudonym Kate Hawks) (1980-1999) — Book 1 Arthur, book 2 Guinevere, book 3 Trystan/Yseult.

Bride of the Spear by Kathleen Herbert (1982) — "Historical" romance retelling of Teneu/Owain.

Invitation to Camelot edited by Parke Godwin (1988) — Anthology of assorted Arthurian stories from authors like Phyllis Ann Karr & Sharan Newman.

Arthur, The Greatest King - An Anthology of Modern Arthurian Poems by Alan Lupack (1988) — Anthology of modern Arthurian poetry by various authors including E. A. Robinson, William Morris, C. S. Lewis, & Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The White Raven by Diana L Paxson (1988) — "Historical" romance retelling of Drustan/Esseilte.

Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson (1988) — Illustrated by Alan Lee.

The Pendragon Chronicles edited by Mike Ashley (1990) — An anthology of Arthurian stories, including some translations such as the Lady of the Fountain, and retellings by John Steinbeck & Phyllis Ann Karr.

Grails: Quest of the Dawn edited by Richard Gilliam (1992-1994) — Anthology of Grail Quest stories.

The Merlin Chronicles edited by Mike Ashley (1995) — Anthology about Merlin from authors like Theodore Goodridge Roberts & Phyllis Ann Karr.

The Chronicles of the Holy Grail edited by Mike Ashley (1996) — Anthology about the Holy Grail from authors like Cherith Baldry & Phyllis Ann Karr.

The Chronicles of the Round Table edited by Mike Ashley (1997) — Anthology of assorted Arthurian stories from authors like Cherith Baldry & Phyllis Ann Karr.

Sleepless Knights by Mark H Williams (2013) — 1,500 years have passed but Lucan the Butler’s still on the clock.

Medieval Literature

Three Arthurian Romances (Caradoc, The Knight with The Sword, The Perilous Graveyard) [This is on the Internet Archive & cannot be downloaded. If someone could help with that, lmk!] translated by Ross G. Arthur

Le Bel Inconnu (The Fair Unknown) translated by Colleen P. Donagher

Segurant The Knight of the Dragon (Portuguese) edited by Emanuele Arioli

An Anglo-Norman Reader by Jane Bliss

Stanzaic Morte Arthur / Alliterative Morte Arthure edited by Larry D. Benson

Sir Perceval de Galles / Ywain and Gawain edited by Mary Flowers Braswell

Sir Gawain: Eleven Romances and Tales edited by Thomas Hahn

Prose Merlin edited by John Conlee

The Middle English Breton Lays edited by Eve Sailsbury & Anne Laskaya

Il Ciclo Di Guiron Le Courtois Volumes 1-7 (Italian)

Wace's Roman de Brut / Layamon's Brut by Robert Wace & Eugene Mason

Arthurian Literature by Women edited by Alan Lupack & Barbara Tepa Lupack

Handbooks

Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance by Lucy Allen Paton (1960)

A Companion to the Gawain-Poet edited by Derek Brewer (1990)

The Mammoth Book of King Arthur edited by Mike Ashley (2005)

A Bibliography of Modern Arthuriana 1500-2000 by Ann F. Howey & Stephen R. Reimer (2006)

[lemondaydream]

013 . CLEMENTINE — [ 𝚕𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗 𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 ] ...... DOWNLOAD NOW

Just in time for spring, CLEMENTINE is that sort of melancholic, soft, scrapbook feel. Took forever to place each one of those florals but I know so many of you have wanted something like this for a long time. Edit it in any way, shape, or form just please don’t remove my credit and link to lemondaydream.

These are meant to be only used by one person per purchase. Allowing others to make copies off of your copy is stealing. Please read the instructions on how to prevent this.

how to use

The link on the PDF you receive after purchase will take you directly to your copy when you click "make a copy"

Do not remove the credit from the top and bottom of the template

how to edit

All images on this doc are in "Drawings." To edit "drawings" simply right-click on where the image is, click "select image," and the box that pops up underneath has a button that says "edit." Edit will bring you to a pop-up window that will allow you to change the images by clicking "replace image" at the top right of the toolbar when clicking the picture.

Do not resize or paste any images into the doc, only use the method above.

The pictures on this doc are of Kedar Williams-Stirling, beautiful avatars made by ultra-violences, please go support this fantastic creator. The png images are found on pngtree, pngwing, and marginpar, edited in photoshop.

Changing the fonts may cause tables to shift and resize, be careful in doing this, and remember, ctrl+z is your friend, if something messes up, immediately undo. I do not recommend doing this.

The tables are structured in a way that will move pages and elements if their limit is exceeded, if you need more space, I highly recommend linking to a continuation at the end of that space.

May take a second to load on older pcs or poor wi-fi connections. On mobile, give it a second or close it and reopen it to have it load faster in print layout mode.

Thank you so, so much for your support! Likes and reblogs are super appreciated always!

[xlntwtch2]

from ceciliablomberg.com

  ABOUT CECILIA 

I grew up in Sundsvall in northern Sweden and moved to Stockholm in 1970 where I attended the National College of Art, Craft and Design (Konstfack) and received my MFA in 1976. Though I specialize in tapestry, I have also worked as a muralist and a graphics illustrator. 

    Since 1977 I have worked in the United States, producing tapestries for public and private collections, and commissioned works for hospitals, banks and for the headquarters of the Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, Oregon. I was commissioned by the Washington State Arts Commission (WSAC) to create major pieces for the new Washington State University campus in Vancouver, and for Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen, Washington. In 2010 I finished a commissioned piece for WSAC for Moxee Elementary School near Yakima, Washington, and in 2012 installed a tapestry, also commissioned by WSAC, for McMicken Heights Elementary School in Seatac, Washington. In 2017 I was commissioned by WSAC to create a tapestry for Sacajawea Elementary School in Richland, Washington. I installed the the Sacajawea Tapestry in 2018. 

     In 2017 I finished a commission consisting of eight saints for the U.S. Air Force Cadet Catholic Chapel in Colorado Springs, Colo. Each tapestry is 10.5 by 1.5 feet. In 2018 I completed and installed Sacajawea at an elem

     I spent two years in Scotland, working on a project recreating the Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries. Here is a link  to a PDF downloadable version. of an article about the project by Swedish journalist Agneta Gustavsson which appeared in a Swedish arts and crafts magazine. And here is a link to the Stirling Castle website about the project.

   My tapestries have appeared in numerous national and international exhibitions and my work is represented in Contemporary Textile Art - Scandinavia, The State of the Arts, The State of the Crafts, Fiberarts Design Book I, IV , V and VI, World Tapestry Today, and a number of magazines.

    I live with my husband in Gig Harbor, Washington.

some of my favorite woven tapestries, by Cecilia Blomberg:

Point Defiance Steps

Mates

Rising Tides

Vashon Steps

[ganesh8fbi]

Micro Combined Heat and Power Market  Size 2025, Share, Analysis,  Drivers and Forecast till 2032

The report begins with an overview of the Micro Combined Heat and Power Market 2025 and presents throughout its development. It provides a comprehensive analysis of all regional and key player segments providing closer insights into current market conditions and future market opportunities, along with drivers, trend segments, consumer behavior, price factors, and market performance and estimates. Forecast market information, SWOT analysis, Micro Combined Heat and Power Market scenario, and feasibility study are the important aspects analyzed in this report.

Get Sample PDF Report:  https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/100143

Micro Combined Heat and Power Market  By Capacity (Up to 2 kW, 2 – 10 kW, and 10 – 50 kW), By Prime Mover (IC Engine, Stirling Engine, Fuel Cell, and Others), By Fuel (Natural Gas, Hydrogen, Renewable Resources, and Others), By Application (Residential and Commercial), and Regional Forecast, 2022-2029

The Micro Combined Heat and Power Market is experiencing robust growth driven by the expanding globally. The Micro Combined Heat and Power Market is poised for substantial growth as manufacturers across various industries embrace automation to enhance productivity, quality, and agility in their production processes. Micro Combined Heat and Power Market leverage robotics, machine vision, and advanced control technologies to streamline assembly tasks, reduce labor costs, and minimize errors.  As technology advances and automation becomes more accessible, the adoption of automated assembly systems is expected to accelerate, driving market growth and innovation in manufacturing. 

[cmondary]

STIRLING PDF : La gestion de vos pdf, simplement

📌 STIRLING PDF est un service en ligne multifonctionnelle pour la gestion des fichiers PDF, conçue pour simplifier les tâches complexes tout en restant accessible à tous. C'est une bonne alternative à I LOVE PDF. Merci à @benjamin Guyomarc'h 😉

https://stirlingpdf.io 📌 STIRLING PDF est un service en ligne multifonctionnelle pour la gestion des fichiers PDF, conçue pour simplifier les tâches complexes tout en restant accessible à tous. C’est une bonne alternative à I LOVE PDF.Merci à @benjamin Guyomarc’h pour la découverte 😉 📄 Visionner les PDF : Consultez, annotez, ajoutez du texte ou des images. 🖼️ Ajouter des images : Insérez des…

[curso-online]

A Última Carta de Amor | Jojo Moyes | LIVRO PDF

A Última Carta de Amor, de Jojo Moyes, é uma tocante narrativa que explora os temas de amor, memória e segredos com uma trama entrelaçada e envolvente. Publicado em 9 de maio de 2016, o livro é um exemplo brilhante do talento da autora em criar histórias que tocam o coração dos leitores. A trama se desenrola em dois períodos distintos: em 1960, Jennifer Stirling acorda em um hospital após um…

[hackernewsrobot]

Stirling PDF: Self-hosted, web-based PDF manipulation tool

https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF

[terryfound]

DigiPDF by La Digitale

"DigiPDF regroupe une série d’outils pour travailler sur vos fichiers PDF. L’application repose sur le service libre Stirling PDF." (Permalink) via https://digipdf.app/

[zeroloss]

Concentrated Solar Power Market Poised for a significant with a CAGR of 10.3%

The global concentrated solar power market was valued at $ 3,793.0 million in 2018 and is projected to reach $ 8,046.7 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 10.3% from 2019 to 2026. The MEA region accounted for nearly 21.0% market share in 2018.

The key players contributing in the global concentrated solar power market growth include Abengoa, Acciona, SolarReserve, BrightSource Energy, ACWA Power, GE Energy, Suntrace, SCHOTT, Frenell GMBH, and Siemens.

Get a PDF brochure for Industrial Insights and Business Intelligence:

CSP is generated in plants that utilize mirrors to focus the sun's energy on panel to create electricity or drive traditional steam turbines or engines. The thermal energy focused in a CSP plant can be used and stored to produce electricity when needed. Growing government support to adopt renewable technologies is expected to boost the demand for concentrated solar power plant.

Growth in environmental issues based on carbon emissions results in focus to decrease air pollution. This in turn raise demand for renewable energy such as solar energy. Thus, these factors are also anticipated to support the expansion of the market. However, high cost experienced during Concentrated Solar Power energy production restraints the market growth during the forecast period.

The report segments the concentrated solar power market on the basis of technology, end user industry, and region. Based on technology, the market is divided into parabolic trough, solar power tower, Fresnel reflectors, and dish Stirling. Based on technology, the parabolic trough segment dominated the market in 2017, owing to growing demand of electricity generation from parabolic trough technology.

In addition, China is actively boosting the growth of the market to cope up with its severe pollution problems and develop its domestic manufacturing industry. Furthermore, availability of low labor has led to increase in energy production through concentrated solar power, which fuels the growth of the market.

Concentrated solar power energy is generation of electricity via mirrors to concentrate the sunrays to the temperature varying between 400 and 1,000 °C. This energy is then usually employed in various applications such as heating fluid, mainly water or oil, which in turn produces steam or hot air. The steam produced is used to drive turbines connected to a generator to generate electricity. There are different types of mirror shapes and sun-tracking methods to provide useful energy, but all of them work under a same principle of driving a heat engine to generate electricity that can then be fed into the grid.

The report segments the concentrated solar power market on the basis of technology, end user industry, and region. Based on technology, the concentrated solar power market is divided into parabolic trough, solar power tower, fresnel reflectors and dish stirling. Parabolic trough is one of the earliest use technology in the concentrated solar power market. In parabolic trough technology the sun’s energy is concentrated by parabolically curved, trough-shaped reflectors onto a receiver pipe running along the inside of the curved surface.

Enquiry Before Buying:  https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/3093

Global Concentrated Solar Power Market Size, By Region

Based on region, Europe accounts for major share in the global concentrated solar power market and MEA is attributed to be the fastest growing region. It is expected that the European Union’s total CSP capacity can reach as high as 5 GW by the year 2030. CSP activity is continued in Europe on a pilot scale, including the construction in France of a 9 MW Fresnel facility, and the construction in Denmark of a hybrid biomass-CSP facility incorporating 17 MW of CSP.

Global concentrated solar power market share, by technology

Based on technology, the Parabolic trough technology segment dominated the market in 2018. Parabolic trough is one of the oldest technologies used to generate electricity from concentrated solar power. All parabolic trough plants used presently are "hybrids," and they utilize fossil fuel to supplement the solar output during low solar radiation periods.

Browse complete industry report : https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/concentrated-solar-thermal-market

Global concentrated solar power market share, by end user industry

Based on end use industry, the industrial segment is expected to grow with the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The temperature of the thermal oil or other heat transfer fluid flowing is increased from 293ºC to 393ºC through the pipe, and the heat energy is then used to generate electricity in a conventional steam generator. On the basis of end user industry, the concentrated solar power market is classified into residential, commercial, and industrial. By region, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. Pawan Kumar, the CEO of Allied Market Research, is leading the organization toward providing high-quality data and insights. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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[sagarg889]

External Combustion Engine Industry Dynamics, Segmentation & Future Outlook 2022 to 2032

During the forecast period, the external combustion engine market is anticipated to register a CAGR of 3.9%. The market is anticipated to reach a value of US$ 604.3 million in 2022 and US$ 889.0 million by 2032.

As it is compressed by the combustion of an external fuel through the heat exchanger or an engine wall, the demand for external combustion engines is increasing. However, the external combustion engine market share is likely to increase due to the engine’s weight, bulk, and size in terms of structural design. Aside from these characteristics, external combustion engine has low noise and emission levels, which raises demand for them.

However, Stirling engines and steam engines are the two most common types of external combustion engines. Due to their superior efficiency to steam engines, Stirling engines stand out as one of the most popular among these and are likely to see increased use.

Request a PDF Sample Copy of this Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5461

The big capacity segment dominated the global external combustion engine market in terms of revenue shares in 2021, and this trend is anticipated to continue throughout the forecast period.

They can also operate quietly during the forecast period and can use any type of heat source. Many different applications, including thermal power plants, nuclear power plants, ships, trains, and pumps, use external combustion systems. A completely new single-piston combustion engine is currently being developed by ECT.

Advancing and Constraint Factors in the External Combustion System Market

Drivers:

Due to its flexibility in arrangement and ability to use any source of heat, the market for external combustion systems is anticipated to grow over the course of the forecast period. Fuel is burned by the engine outside of the power cylinder, which is anticipated to play a significant role during the forecast period.

Additionally, external combustion engines use heat from sources like solar, geothermal, biomass, or municipal waste. These elements support the market’s expansion during the anticipated period. Additionally, flexibility in an arrangement is possible to further support the external combustion engine over the forecast period due to external combustion.

Aside from that, the market is being driven by the various advantages of external combustion systems, such as continuous external combustion, which lowers emissions and eliminates the exhaust of high-pressure combustion products.

Restraints:

It is expected that the long startup times of external combustion engines will restrain the market’s growth over the forecast period. Furthermore, risk factors like the boiler bursting due to too much steam pressure have compelled the end users to endorse alternative machinery.

During the forecast period, this action is anticipated to restrain the market’s expansion for external combustion engines. Over the course of the forecast period, it is also anticipated that the external combustion engine’s high investment costs and poor efficiency will restrain market expansion.

Analysis of Asia Pacific External Combustion Engine Market

During the forecast period, the Asia Pacific region will primarily dominate the market for external combustion engines. Due to the region’s rapid industrialization and expanding number of power plants, nations like China, India, and Japan are experiencing rapid economic growth.

Additionally, over the course of the forecast period, the marine industry in the APAC region experienced significant growth, which significantly boosted the market for external combustion engines. Over the course of the forecast period, the APAC region’s external combustion engine market is anticipated to experience strong growth.

Condition of North American & Europe Regions in the External Combustion Engine

Due to the region’s growing need for external combustion engines for a variety of applications, including pumps, ships, power plants,., North America is a significant market for these engines. Out of all the regions, North America will hold 18% of the market during the forecast period.

On the other hand, the external combustion engine market is also expanding steadily in the Europe region, gaining 22% of the market during the forecast period. The region’s market is being driven by expanding industrialization and major thermal plant construction. Due to the increasing use of external combustion engines in recent years and the UK’s position as a leading nation, the market is growing quickly.

Competitive Landscape:

Skilful Players in the External Combustion Engine Market

Due to the presence of so many major players during the forecast period, the market is fragmented. Through their various marketing strategies, the players are essential in generating the most revenue.

They are employing methodologies to spur market expansion and win the lion’s share. Mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, product launches, and other strategies are examples of marketing tactics.

Recent Developments in External Combustion Engine

Recent advancements in real-time control, fuel injection, sensors, and other technologies have brought the potential external combustion engine to a high level. Manufacturers are implementing cutting-edge technology to improve performance in the automotive sector. External combustion engines with high efficiency are now available thanks to recent technologies.

Read Full Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/external-combustion-engine-market

Key Segments

By Product Type:

Steam Engine

Stirling Engine

By Application:

Pump

Ship

Thermal Power Plant

Train

Nuclear Power Plant

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Asia Pacific

Middle East and Africa

Europe

[bewitchingbooktours]

Cover Reveal : L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 39 #CoverReveal #writersofthefuture

L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 39

L. Ron Hubbard, S. M. Stirling, Kevin J. Anderson, Lazarus Chernik, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and 24 Award-Winning new authors and illustrators.

Edited by Dean Wesley Smith and Jody Lynn Nye 

Genre: SciFi/Fantasy Anthology 

Publisher: Galaxy Press 

Date of Publication:  May 16, 2023

Number of pages: 544

Cover Artist: Tom Wood

EPUB ISBN: 9781619867659

Kindle ISBN: 9781619867666

Adobe PDF ISBN: 9781619867673

Trade Paperback ISBN: 9781619867680

Tagline: Anthology of Award-Winning Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Stories- From vampires and werewolves to space exploration and time travel, you will love these 12 original and diverse stories because they were selected by some of your favorite authors.

Book Description:

Join a team of time travelers who set out to save London from a terrorist’s nuclear attack … when a blast from the past changes everything.

Meet a vampire, a dragon and a shape-shifting Chihuahua in Key West … this is one beach party that’s about to get wild!

Follow Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., who’s investigating the craziest case of his so-called life.…

A miracle? An omen? Or something else? One day, they arrived in droves—the foxes of the desert, the field, the imagination….—“Kitsune” by Devon Bohm

When a vampire, a dragon and a shape-shifting Chihuahua meet on a beach in Key West, fireworks go off! But that’s just the background.—“Moonlight and Funk” by Marianne Xenos

The Grim Reaper, trapped in an IRS agent’s dying body, must regain his powers before he dies and faces judgment for his original sin.—“Death and the Taxman” by David Hankins

In a metaverse future, a woman who exposes falseness in others must decide what is real to her—the love she lost or the love she may have found.—“Under My Cypresses” by Jason Palmatier

Vic Harden wasn’t lured by glory on a daring mission into the reaches of outer space—he was ordered out there by his editor.—“The Unwilling Hero” by L. Ron Hubbard

Dangerous opportunities present themselves when an alien ship arrives in the solar system seeking repairs.—“White Elephant” by David K. Henrickson

With her spaceship at the wrong end of a pirate’s guns, a former war hero must face down her enemies and demons to save Earth’s last best chance for peace.—“Piracy for Beginners” by J. R. Johnson

Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., faces one of his funniest and most perplexing cases ever—an enlightened ogre, a salamander with low self-esteem, and a raging fire dragon terrorizing the Unnatural Quarter!—“Fire in the Hole” by Kevin J. Anderson

Years after the Second Holocaust, the last surviving Jews on earth attempt to rewrite the past.—“A Trickle in History” by Elaine Midcoh

When I said I’d do anything to pay off my debts and get back home to Earth, I didn’t mean survey a derelict spaceship at the edge of the solar system—but here I am.—“The Withering Sky” by Arthur H. Manners

High-powered telescopes bring galactic life to our TVs, and network tuner Hank Enos figures he’s seen everything—until the day an alien boy stares back.—“The Fall of Crodendra M.” by T. J. Knight

Knights, damsels and dragons, curses and fates foretold—the stuff of legends and stories, but unexpectedly perverse.—“Constant Never” by S. M. Stirling

Determined to save his wife, Tumelo takes an unlikely client through South Africa’s ruins to the heart of the Desolation—a journey that will cost or save everything.—“The Children of Desolation” by Spencer Sekulin

When a terrorist smuggles a nuclear weapon into London, a team regresses in time to AD 1093 to assassinate a knight on the battlefield, thereby eliminating the terrorist a millennia before his birth.—“Timelines and Bloodlines” by L. H. Davis

The Grand Exam, a gateway to power for one, likely death for all others—its entrants include ambitious nobles, desperate peasants, and Quiet Gate, an old woman with nothing left to lose.—“The Last History” by Samuel Parr

Pre Order at

Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/3Ix44o8

BaM https://bit.ly/3xqzu98

Bookshop https://bit.ly/3HZG0bG

About the Contest:

The international Writers of the Future Contest was created and endowed by L. Ron Hubbard. After several years of success in fostering new writers, the Illustrators of the Future Contest followed. The winning stories are illustrated and published in the annual L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future anthology. Described by critics as a perennial “glimpse of tomorrow’s stars,” a “must-have for the genre reader,” and “the bestselling science fiction anthology series of all time,” it is today the most enduring and top-ranking publication of its kind.  

The blue-ribbon panel of judges is what makes this possible. The winning stories are selected by bestselling authors, including Brandon Sanderson, Orson Scott Card, Nnedi Okorafor, Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert, Jody Lynn Nye, Larry Niven, Robert J. Sawyer, Katherine Kurtz, and many others. The best of the best are hand-picked each year. 

There is no entry fee, and stories are judged blind, making it a fair competition for all authors and illustrators who enter from anywhere in the world. There are cash prizes. The winners are paid professional rates and maintain their rights. 

It is an excellent program for new authors and readers, who often discover their next favorite writer.

Enter the Writing Contest https://www.writersofthefuture.com/enter-writer-contest/

Free Writing Workshop https://www.writersofthefuture.com/writing-workshop/

Writing Podcast: https://www.writersofthefuture.com/podcast/

Writers Forum: https://www.writersofthefuture.com/forum/

Writing Contest Rules https://www.writersofthefuture.com/contest-rules-writers/

Contest Judges: https://www.writersofthefuture.com/writer-judges/ 

Contest Blog: www.writersofthefuture.com/blog

List of Writers of the Future and L. Ron Hubbard books 

https://galaxypress.com/l-ron-hubbard-books/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WotFContest

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WotFContest

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wotfcontest/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/RealWotF/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WritersoftheFuture

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wotfcontest

[scotianostra]

Larbert House.

Over the past couple of weeks, as part of my charity fundraiser I have featured a couple of properties in the Falkirk area that are derelict and in dire need of being rescued, this post shows what can be done if the right developer comes along. Isn’t it good to see the before and after pics of this house restored, rather than in ruins.

The Georgian house forms a prominent feature on a small hill overlooking Larbert Loch, which I have posted many pics of in the past with Larbert Parish Church from my last post a short distance away across the water. Larbert estate was a relatively late formation it had its origins in the late 18th century, with the original house (called Mount Riddell) built on the highest point in the parish of Larbert for the Riddells of Ardnamurchan.

  The house was remodelled in 1822 for the owner, Sir Gilbert Stirling, by the architect David Hamilton, who also designed the church in my earlier post, it was renamed then as Larbert House. It was altered again in the late 19th century. From the early 20th century it had other incarnations, first as part of a mental hospital known as The Colony.  After the war the National Health Service was formed in 1948 and the Colony, along with the Bellsdyke hospital, was transferred to it.

There were many ancillary buildings apart from the main house, these included  bowling green and tennis courts, the Loch was even used for ice skating and of course curling, I was amazed to find out that the last Bonspiel at Larbert was held as recently as the early 1980s.

Nearing the end of the 20th century old buildings at the Colony and Larbert House were declared surplus to requirements in 1997 they were abandoned Empty ruins inevitably attract weird bands of paranormal investigators and Larbert House is no exception. An old Facebook page was by an author who was investigating rumours of paranormal activity at Bellsdyke makes interesting reading. Unfortunatley it looks like it has now been deleted I did find some quotes from it including this:

  "Larbert House is supposed to be haunted," said one contributor. "About 15 years ago it was confirmed by private investigators that there is a pond just down from it known as The Icie, and there is supposed to be a ghost of a lady that floats about on it... named the Grey Lady."

The Grey Lady seems to be the most common ghost in stories I have read of hauntings!

  On New Years Day 2007 the house was victim of arson which destroyed the roof and the main fabric of the building. Despite being listed some of the other houses around the house were demolished. Forth Valley Hospital was built on the ground where these stood, and a local businessman stepped in to purchase Larbert House leading to the renaissance of the property, the development as whole is called  Larbert House & Country Estate and the house is now split into apartments, a new wing was added to facilitate more homes. A new viewing platform was added to the Loch and a Maggie’s Centre enjoys the tranquillity of the surroundings. More pics of them to come.

If you want the full history check out Falkirk Local History Society’s PDF here https://falkirklocalhistory.club/around-and-about-the-area-2/houses-and-estates/larbert-house/

[thatsnotcanonpodcasts]

Robin Hood, Bohemia Interactive, ESRB & Mathematically perfect steak

Welcome back. We've been expecting you.

We have a bit of a longer episode than usual this week because we just had so many interesting people to talk about, including a liar who looks like Hugh Jackman, and one of the most prolific Astronomers to ever live.

But, first up, the Nerds discuss the rumoured Disney Robin Hood remake. In live action. With photorealistic CGI. This sounds terrifying. This is a terrible idea. This will haunt your nightmares forever.

One of Professor's favourite game studios has had a great year, and Professor wants to talk about their future. Bohemia Interactive has some great projects in the works that are well worth checking out, so we've got a summary for you.

Dev-i-Boy has brought us the ESRB's disappointing attempt to resolve the Lootbox debate. He and Professor agree that this is a poor response. Maybe one day there will be a solution, but not today.

Dev-i has also found the algorithm for creating the perfect steak. It involves dozens of factors and complicated equations. But don't pull this paper out next time you go to a barbecue, or everyone will go home before you start cooking.

As usual, we bring you the games of the week. Professor and his girlfriend are finding out why they shouldn't have kids in Think of the Children. DJ and Professor are still playing Generation Zero. Professor is better at surviving the robot apocalypse than he is at raising kids. Dev-i is playing VR chat again. We wish him luck in his quest to become an anime girl.

Live action Robin Hood movie starring animals

            -https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/robin-hood-remake-works-at-disney-blindspotting-director-1289702

Bohemia Interactive sales reaching 68 million USD

            -https://www.bohemia.net/blog/bohemia-interactive-sales-reaching-68-milion-usd-in-2019

ESRB’s new measures to combat loot boxes

                - https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/13/21219192/esrb-new-label-loot-boxes-gacha-game

The mathematically perfect steak

            -https://www.sciencenews.org/article/math-equations-cooking-perfect-steak-beef-meat-simulation

                - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140%2Fepjp%2Fs13360-020-00311-0

Games Played

Professor

– Think of the Children - https://store.steampowered.com/app/573600/Think_of_the_Children/

Rating: 4.5/5

DJ

– Generation Zero - https://store.steampowered.com/app/704270/Generation_Zero/ 

Rating: 4.5/5

Dev-i-Boy

– VRChat - https://store.steampowered.com/app/438100/VRChat/ 

Rating: 4/5

Other topics discussed

Cats movie butthole cut coming soon

- https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/6/21207710/cats-release-the-butthole-cut

ARMA 3 (open-world, realism-based, military tactical shooter video game developed and published by Bohemia Interactive.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARMA_3

DayZ (DayZ is a survival video game developed and published by Bohemia Interactive.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DayZ_(video_game)

ARMA 3 APEX : Old man

- https://arma3.com/news/arma-3-apex-old-man-is-now-available

ARMA 3 developers arrested in Greece

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARMA_3#Espionage_arrests

ARMA 3 banned in Iran

- https://www.polygon.com/gaming/2012/9/19/3357600/arma-3-banned-in-iran

Vigor (Free-to-play online action game by Bohemia Interactive for the Xbox One.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigor_(video_game)

Minecraft Hunger Games

- https://www.yahoo.com/news/blogs/technology-blog/minecraft-hunger-games-exists-just-amazing-imagining-165117705.html

Star Wars Battlefront II (action shooter video game based on the Star Wars film franchise.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Battlefront_II_(2017_video_game)

Heston Blumenthal's perfect steak

- https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/heston-blumenthals-perfect-steak

Perfect steak journal article

- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1908.10787.pdf

Flory-Huggin’s theory (Flory–Huggins solution theory is a lattice model of the thermodynamics of polymer solutions which takes account of the great dissimilarity in molecular sizes in adapting the usual expression for the entropy of mixing.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flory%E2%80%93Huggins_solution_theory

Incredible dads save kids compilation

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RIhUUt88ZM

Oculus Quest (Oculus Quest is our first all-in-one gaming system for virtual reality.)

- https://www.oculus.com/quest/?locale=en_US

Ugandan Knuckles (Ugandan Knuckles is the nickname given to a depiction of the character Knuckles from the Sonic franchise created by YouTuber Gregzilla, which is often used as an avatar by players in the multiplayer game VRChat who repeat phrases like "do you know the way" and memes associated with the country Uganda, most notably the film Who Killed Captain Alex? and Zulul.)

- https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ugandan-knuckles

Simp (Simp, often interpreted as an acronym for Sucker Idolizing Mediocre Pussy or a portmanteau of "sissy" and "pimp," is a slang expression used to ridicule males who are perceived as being overly invested in a woman and acting submissive to that person.)

- https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/simp

Amiga 500 (The Amiga 500, also known as the A500, is the first low-end Commodore Amiga 16/32-bitmultimedia home/personal computer.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500

Conway’s Game Of Life (The Game of Life, also known simply as Life, is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematicianJohn Horton Conway in 1970.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life

 Build a working game of Tetris in Conway's Game of Life

- https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/11880/build-a-working-game-of-tetris-in-conways-game-of-life

The Avengers (British espionage television programme created in 1961.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_(TV_series)

The Avengers (1998 American action spy film adaptation of the British television series of the same name directed by Jeremiah Chechik.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_(1998_film)

Brown note (a infrasonic frequency that would cause humans to lose control of their bowels due to resonance.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_note

Ted Kaczynski (also known as the Unabomber, is an American domestic terrorist, anarchist, and former mathematics professor.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski

Ken Kesey (American novelist, essayist, and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey

That’s not COVID (TNC podcast)

- https://thatsnotcanon.com/thatsnotcovidpodcast

Shout Outs

11 April 2020 – John Conway, a renowned mathematician who created one of the first computer games passes away - https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/us/john-conway-death-obit-trnd/index.html

John Conway, English mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory,number theory,combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branches of recreational mathematics, most notably the invention of the cellular automaton called the Game of Life. A Google search for "Conway's Game of Life" prompts the search engine to automatically start playing the game. It is now commonly used as an introductory exercise in computing classes. Conway used his love of games to connect with children, spending time at math camps across the country. He passed away from complications from COVID-19 at the age of 82 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

12 April 2020 – Sir Stirling Moss, F1 driver known as one of the best behind the wheel, passes away - https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/stirling-moss-f1-driver-known-as-one-of-the-best-behind-the-wheel-dies-at-90/2020/04/12/91f03b9c-7cd3-11ea-9040-68981f488eed_story.html

Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of competition and has been described as "the greatest driver never to win the World Championship". Mr. Moss was known in his sport as “Mr. Motor Racing.” Long after his retirement, he was also considered a British national treasure — a dashing gentleman racer who was chivalrous and always sportsmanlike to his competitors despite the cut and thrust of motor racing. He was knighted by Prince Charles, standing in for the queen, in 2000. Mr. Moss’s sportsmanship was perhaps most evident in 1958, when he could have won the world championship after taking the Portuguese Grand Prix in Porto in his British-made Vanwall racecar. His archrival, Mike Hawthorn, finished second, giving him a key six points, which would have clinched the world title. But Hawthorn, a fellow Englishman, was threatened with disqualification for pushing his stalled Ferrari back onto the track after a spin. His disqualification would have put Mr. Moss in the driver’s seat for the world title. But Mr. Moss told race officials that Hawthorn had pushed his Ferrari only on an off-the-track area and should not be disqualified. His intervention swayed the officials, who awarded Hawthorn second place, eventually enabling him to win the F1 world championship by a single point over Mr. Moss. He passed away from a long illness at the age of 90 in Mayfair, London.

12 April 2020 – Tim Brooke Taylor, best known for his work on The Goodies and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue passes away - https://www.etonline.com/tim-brooke-taylor-the-goodies-star-dies-at-79-of-coronavirus-complications-144654

Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor, English comedian and actor. He was best known as a member of The Goodies, starring in the television series throughout the 1970s and picking up international recognition in Australia and New Zealand. He also appeared as an actor in various sitcoms, and was a panellist on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue for almost 50 years. In 2008, Brooke-Taylor was heard in the Doctor Who audio story The Zygon Who Fell To Earth, made by Big Finish Productions. Paul McGann played the Eighth Doctor, and Brooke-Taylor played the part of Mims, a Zygon taking the shape of a human. In 2011, Brooke-Taylor was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) during Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday Honors, for his services to entertainment. He passed away from complications from COVID-19 at the age of 79 in the United Kingdom.

13 April 2020 – Rick May, who voiced Star Fox 64 and Team Fortress II passed away - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8216159/Rick-voiced-Star-Fox-64-Team-Fortress-II-characters-dies-79-coronavirus.html

Rick May, American voice actor and theatrical performer, director, and teacher from Seattle, Washington. He began voice acting in video games in the late 1990s, including roles as Peppy Hare and Andross in Star Fox 64, Peppy Hare might not be one of gaming's most famous characters, but May’s line in 1997's Star Fox 64 where he played Fox McCloud’s mentor is one of the most iconic lines in gaming history - so much so that even Google got in on the beloved meme. Go ahead, Google "Do a barrel roll". His other various campaign characters, include Genghis Khan, in Age of Empires II'; and Soldier in Team Fortress 2. He passed away from complications from COVID-19 at the age of 79 in Seattle,Washington.

14 April 2020 – Pip Baker, one half of the Dr Who writing duo known as Pip and Jane Baker passes away - http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2020/04/pip-baker-died-2020.html

Pip Baker, along with his wife and writing partner Jane, was one of the best-known writers from the mid 80's era of Doctor Who, writing eleven episodes for the series. Together they created the Rani, a female Time Lord scientist who was brought to life so vividly by the late Kate O'Mara, as well a creating the companion Mel. The Bakers scripted or contributed to four serials for the programme in the 1980s: The Mark of the Rani, The Trial of a Time Lord, Parts 9–12 and 14 (also known as Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe); and Time and the Rani. They have also written novelisations of these stories, as well as a Make Your Own Adventure With Doctor Who (Find Your Fate With Doctor Who in the United States) gamebook titled Race Against Time. Pip and Jane's audio story The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind featured the return of the Rani and was released in 2000. He passed away from complication from a fall at the age of 91 in the United Kingdom.

Remembrances

5 April 2020 – Honor Blackman - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_Blackman

English actress, widely known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers, Bond girlPussy Galore in Goldfinger, Julia Daggett in Shalako and Hera in Jason and the Argonauts. She is also known for her role as Laura West in the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand. At 38, she was one of the oldest actresses to play a Bond girl, and was five years older than the star Sean Connery. Albert R. Broccoli said Blackman was cast opposite Sean Connery in the James Bond films based on her success in the British television series The Avengers. He knew that most American audiences would not have seen the programme. Broccoli said, "The Brits would love her because they knew her as Mrs. Gale, the Yanks would like her because she was so good, it was a perfect combination." She died from natural causes at the age of 94 in Lewes, Sussex.

13 April 1938 – Grey Owl - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Owl

Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, commonly known as Grey Owl, was a British-born conservationist, fur trapper, and writer who pretended to be a First Nations person. While he achieved fame as a conservationist during his life, after his death the revelation that he was not Indigenous, along with other autobiographical fabrications, negatively affected his reputation. Belaney rose to prominence as a notable author and lecturer, primarily on environmental issues. In working with the National Parks Branch, Grey Owl became the subject of many films, and was established as the "'caretaker of park animals' at Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba" in 1931. Together with his numerous articles, books, films and lectures, his views on conservation reached audiences beyond the borders of Canada. His conservation views largely focused on humans' negative impact on nature through their commodification of nature's resources for profits, and a need for humans to develop a respect for the natural world. Recognition of Belaney has included biographies, a historic plaque at his birthplace, and a 1999 biopic about his life by the director Richard Attenborough. He died from pneumonia at the age of 49 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

13 April 1941 – Annie Jump Cannon - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Jump_Cannon

American astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. With Edward C. Pickering, she is credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme, which was the first serious attempt to organize and classify stars based on their temperatures and spectral types. She was nearly deaf throughout her career. She was a suffragist and a member of the National Women's Party. Cannon manually classified more stars in a lifetime than anyone else, with a total of around 350,000 stars. She discovered 300 variable stars, five novas, and one spectroscopic binary, creating a bibliography that included about 200,000 references. She discovered her first star in 1898, though she was not able to confirm it until 1905. When she first started cataloging the stars, she was able to classify 1,000 stars in three years, but by 1913, she was able to work on 200 stars an hour. Cannon could classify three stars a minute just by looking at their spectral patterns and, if using a magnifying glass, could classify stars down to the ninth magnitude, around 16 times fainter than the human eye can see. Her work was also highly accurate. In 1925 she became the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate of science from Oxford University. In 1935, she created the Annie J. Cannon Prize for "the woman of any country, whose contributions to the science of astronomy are the most distinguished." She died from congestive heart failure at the age of 77 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

13 April 1944 - Cécile Chaminade - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9cile_Chaminade

French composer and pianist. In 1913, she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, a first for a female composer. Ambroise Thomas said, "This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman." In 1908 she visited the United States, where she was accorded a hearty welcome. Her compositions were tremendous favorites with the American public, and such pieces as the Scarf Dance or the Ballet No. 1 were to be found in the music libraries of many lovers of piano music of the time. She composed a Konzertstück for piano and orchestra, the ballet music to Callirhoé and other orchestral works. Her songs, such as The Silver Ring and Ritournelle, were also great favorites. In London in November 1901, she made gramophone recordings of seven of her compositions for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company; these are among the most sought-after piano recordings by collectors, though they have been reissued on compact disk. Chaminade was relegated to obscurity for the second half of the 20th century, her piano pieces and songs mostly forgotten, with the Flute Concertino in D major, Op. 107, composed for the 1902 Paris Conservatoire Concours, her most popular piece today. Chaminade's music has been described as tuneful, highly accessible and mildly chromatic, and it may be regarded as bearing the typical characteristics of late-Romantic French music. She died at the age of 86 in Monte Carlo.

Famous Birthdays

13 April 1570 – Guy Fawkes - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes

Also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Fawkes converted to Catholicism and left for mainland Europe, where he fought for Catholic Spain in the Eighty Years' War against Protestant Dutch reformers in the Low Countries. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England without success. He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England. Wintour introduced him to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters leased an undercroft beneath the House of Lords; Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder which they stockpiled there. The authorities were prompted by an anonymous letter to search Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and they found Fawkes guarding the explosives. He was questioned and tortured over the next few days and confessed to wanting to blow up the House of Lords. He became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, the failure of which has been commemorated in the UK as Guy Fawkes Night since 5 November 1605, when his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by fireworks. He was born in Stonegate, York.

13 April 1892 - Robert Watson-Watt - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Watson-Watt

Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, Scottish pioneer of radio direction finding and radar technology. Watt began his career in radio physics with a job at the Met Office, where he began looking for accurate ways to track thunderstorms using the radio signals given off by lightning. This led to the 1920s development of a system later known as huff-duff. Huff-duff allowed operators to determine the location of an enemy radio in seconds and it became a major part of the network of systems that helped defeat the U-boat threat. It is estimated that huff-duff was used in about a quarter of all attacks on U-boats. In 1935 Watt was asked to comment on reports of a German death ray based on radio. Watt and his assistant Arnold Frederic Wilkins quickly determined it was not possible, but Wilkins suggested using radio signals to locate aircraft at long distances. This led to a February 1935 demonstration where signals from a BBC short-wave transmitter were bounced off a Handley Page Heyford aircraft. Watt led the development of a practical version of this device, which entered service in 1938 under the code name Chain Home. Watson-Watt justified his choice of a non-optimal frequency for his radar, with his often-quoted “cult of the imperfect,” which he stated as “Give them the third-best to go on with; the second-best comes too late, [and] the best never comes.” He was born in Brechin,Angus.

13 April 1899 - Alfred Mosher Butts - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Mosher_Butts

American architect, famous for inventing the board gameScrabble in 1938. In the early 1930s after working as an architect but now unemployed, Butts set out to design a board game. He studied existing games and found that games fell into three categories: number games such as dice and bingo; move games such as chess and checkers; and word games such as anagrams. Butts decided to create a game that utilized both chance and skill by combining elements of anagrams and crossword puzzles, a popular pastime of the 1920s. Players would draw seven lettered tiles from a pool and then attempt to form words from their seven letters. A key to the game was Butts' analysis of the English language. Butts studied the front page of The New York Times to calculate how frequently each letter of the alphabet was used. He then used each letter's frequency to determine how many of each letter he would include in the game. He included only four "S" tiles so that the ability to make words plural would not make the game too easy. Butts initially called the game "Lexiko", but later changed the name to "Criss Cross Words", after considering "It", and began to look for a buyer. The game makers he originally contacted rejected the idea, but Butts was tenacious. Eventually, he sold the rights to entrepreneur and game-lover James Brunot, who made a few minor adjustments to the design and renamed the game "Scrabble." To memorialize Butts's importance to the invention of the game, there is a street sign at 35th Avenue and 81st Street in Jackson Heights that is stylized using letters, with their values in Scrabble as a subscript. He was born in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Events of Interest

13 April 1953 – Project MKUltra begins - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra

Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra), also called the CIA mind control program, is the code name given to a program of experiments on human subjects that were designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, some of which were illegal. Experiments on humans were intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through mind control. The project's intentionally obscure CIA cryptonym is made up of the digraph MK, meaning that the project was sponsored by the agency's Technical Services Staff, followed by the word Ultra which had previously been used to designate the most secret classification of World War II intelligence. Other related cryptonyms include Project MKNAOMI and Project MKDELTA. The project was organized through the Office of Scientific Intelligence of the CIA and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories. Code names for drug-related experiments were Project Bluebird and Project Artichoke. The program engaged in many illegal activities, including the use of U.S. and Canadian citizens as its unwitting test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy. MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects' mental states and brain functions. Techniques included the covert administration of high doses ofpsychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, electroshocks, hypnosis,sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as other forms of torture. In December 2018, declassified documents included a letter to an unidentified doctor discussing work on six dogs made to run, turn and stop via remote control and brain implants.

13 April 1970 - Apollo 13 oxygen tank explodes - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/apollo-13-oxygen-tank-explodes

On April 13, 1970, disaster strikes 200,000 miles from Earth when oxygen tank No. 2 blows up on Apollo 13, the third manned lunar landing mission. Astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise had left Earth two days before for the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon but were forced to turn their attention to simply making it home alive. Mission commander Lovell reported to mission control on Earth: “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” and it was discovered that the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water had been disrupted. The landing mission was aborted, and the astronauts and controllers on Earth scrambled to come up with emergency procedures. The crippled spacecraft continued to the moon, circled it, and began a long, cold journey back to Earth. The astronauts and mission control were faced with enormous logistical problems in stabilizing the spacecraft and its air supply and providing enough energy to the damaged fuel cells to allow successful reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. Navigation was another problem, and Apollo 13‘s course was repeatedly corrected with dramatic and untested maneuvers. On April 17, with the world anxiously watching, tragedy turned to triumph as the Apollo 13 astronauts touched down safely in the Pacific Ocean.

13 April 2017 - The US drops the largest ever non-nuclear weapon on Nangarhar Province,Afghanistan.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-43/B_MOAB

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Nangarhar_airstrike

 The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (commonly known as "Mother of All Bombs") is a large-yield bomb, developed for the United States military by Albert L. Weimorts, Jr. of the Air Force Research Laboratory. At the time of development, it was said to be the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the American arsenal. The basic principle resembles that of the BLU-82 Daisy Cutter, which was used to clear heavily wooded areas in the Vietnam War. Pentagon officials suggested MOAB might be used as an anti-personnel weapon, as part of the "shock and awe" strategy integral to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The MOAB is not a penetrator weapon and is primarily intended for soft to medium surface targets covering extended areas and targets in a contained environment such as a deep canyon or within a cave system. The MOAB was first dropped in combat in the 13 April 2017 airstrike against an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIS) tunnel complex in Achin District, Afghanistan. Casualty figures were initially reported as 36 but increased over the following days as reconnaissance units investigated the site. On 18 April 2017, one senior Afghan security official said the bomb killed 96 Islamic State militants, among them 13 major commanders. Stars and Stripes reported that General Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said that since the strike, the offensive operation in the area was resumed. An Afghan officer also said that trees 100 metres from the impact point had remained standing.

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Email - Nerds.Amalgamated@gmail.com

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