#technical and crew management services

[elinashipservice]

Dwelloship technical and Crew Management Service

Dwelloship operates all technical and crew management services. Dwelloship has people who are well-trained and can easily manage all operations with the right skillsets and competence at the time, to optimize operations and commercial performance. Visit the website to know more: dwelloship.com

[spacedace]

Still thinking about the Social Worker Jazz concept that @gilbirda posted about and it's slowly turning into a full Anger Management fic send help

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Jason at length - much longer than it really should have taken really - set the resume down.

The new Social Worker’s resume. Because she was there, in his office, trying to convince him to hire her as a member of his criminal organization.

Crime Alley’s new social worker. A bright eyed Midwestern transplant from some tiny speck of a place that only qualified as a city because there was nothing bigger in a hundred miles in any direction to claim otherwise. The new social worker who had a Psy D. and three masters degrees and who had graduated Valedictorian. The one that had high paying private gigs lined up all over the country with the offering companies fighting over her.

The one who had, apparently, decided to take a shit job in Gotham’s shoddy social services department instead. The one that got kicked to Crime Alley - which was its own division despite technically being a small neighborhood in the grand scheme of things - within her first month. Supposedly for the sole purpose of scaring her off or getting her killed for all the questions she was asking and secret dealings she was sticking her nose into.

That social worker.

“I’m gonna need you to run this by me again.” Jason said, never so grateful for the voice modulator in his helmet as he was in that moment. It stripped out the bewilderment that had bled through into his words and made him sound stoic instead.

“I’d like to work for you.” The social worker - one Dr. Jasmine Nightingale - repeated primly. Back straight, clothes neat - if skewing more on the librarian side of professional - expression confident and hopeful. Completely and utterly oblivious of how fucking insane she sounded. “I was told that you’re the person in charge of Crime Alley.”

He resisted the urge to scrub at his face. It’d just look weird with his helmet on and not do anything to actually settle him in that moment anyway. “I understood that part.”

“Look, Doc,” She earned a doctorate and she was crazy enough to waltz into the office of one of Gotham’s most powerful Crime Lords, he’d be respectful about using her proper title at least, even if he suspected she was ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag. “You’re going to have to tell me why. I was under the impression the only reason you ended up dumped on our end of the city ws because you wouldn’t play ball. But now you want to sign up for my crew?”

Nightingale frowned a little at that.

“Is that what people are saying?”

“What else are they gonna say?” Jason answered, leaning back in his seat, “Head of the department only dumps Crime Alley on folks he don’t like. And everyone knows he doesn’t like anyone that can’t or won’t play his game by his rules.”

“Alright, well. I’ll give you that.” Nightingale conceded, “Payne doesn’t like me. The feeling’s mutual. But for the record,” She added giving him a wry smile, as if sharing wry smiles with Red Hood was just something people did, “I asked to be assigned to the Park Row and Bowery neighborhoods.”

“You wanted to work here.”

“Yes.”

“Bullshit.”

Nightingale laughed. It was a bright sound. Not especially clear or pretty, but warm and welcoming in a way that carefully calculated giggles or overdone guffaws couldn’t be. Something with real and honest amusement in it, that encouraged those nearby to laugh along. Not the kind of involuntary, nervous chuckling people tended to slip into when they thought they had pissed someone that scared them off.

She just wasn’t intimidated by him at all, was she?

Behind his helmet, Jason found himself smiling. Just a bit.

“I’m serious.” She assured, blue-green eyes meeting the dark stare of his helmet without a moment of hesitation. He watched as she brushed a lock of her bright red hair behind her ear and out of the way. She’d woven it all into a practical, neat braid but a few sly pieces had snuck out to bounce around her. Gilding her quiet professionalism with a playful charm that worked well with her academia but make it cottagecore kindergarten teacher aesthetic.

“I’ll admit, Gotham wasn’t part of my plan when I first graduated. Time and choices take you funny places sometimes.” She plucked an invisible bit of lint off her soft blue cardigan, not nervous but absent as her gaze went distant for a moment. Thinking back on the events that had led her to his fine city. In a blink, those sharp eyes were back to focusing entirely on him. “But Gotham is where I am now, and I want to help.”

She looked at him, a serious, determined expression settling easily on her face. “The city as a whole has so much chaos and crime breaking out all the time.” No censure or horror in her voice, just a neutral fact to be observed. “But where the rest of the city has millions of dollars poured into it by various foundations or charities run by the Waynes, Park Row is largely ignored.”

Jason watched as steeliness sharpened her gaze, the blue-green shifting from the shine of a bird’s wing to the warning hue of something poisonous and deadly. “No one deserves that. No one.” Her chin tilted up, proud but not imperious. “So yes, I want to work here. There are people in Park Row and the Bowery who need help and I refuse to let any of them feel like they are going to be ignored.”

Jason considered her.

Really looked at her. Pealing back his initial off handed impression of her as some clueless transplant in over her head with no idea of what she was doing or what she was poking her nose into to find the real woman beneath. Her confident poise, her clear unshakable belief, her unflinching willingness to look danger in the eye and not blink. The tense curve of her frown, the lines of pain at the corners of her eyes, the simmering anger beneath it all. There was an edge to her, too. Something sharp and dangerously well hidden by the cardigan and folksy charm of her accent.

It was personal for the woman before him, Jason realized. Maybe not Crime Alley specifically, but something about the whole situation. The treatment the neighborhood and its residents received from the city at large, from those even beyond it.

Crime Alley wasn’t a place that received much in the way of charitable thought. The average joe with their house in Somerset and job at some corporate shithole hating every second of their life but thinking at least I don’t live in Crime Alley. Those asshole hoity-toites in city hall throwing money around equally between shit that’d get them re-elected and their off-shore slush funds in the Caymens doing their damn level best to pretend the black mark on the other end of the city just didn’t exist. Bruce, flooding the entire city with charitable programs and carefully constructed infrastructures shying away from the manifested grief and trauma that was the place he watched his parents get murdered.

For the most part no one from outside of the Alley gave a shit about the Alley other than as a place to avoid at all costs. And most of the time those natives that manages to claw their way out into better and brighter lives didn’t ever turn to glance back. Orpheus could have learned a thing or to from an ex-Alley Kid who managed to eek out a steady 9-to-5 and move to Burnley.

And something about that seemed to piss Dr. Jasmine Nightingale Psy. D right the fuck off.

He could see why Bill said he liked her enough to let her in.

“Alright.” He said, tilting his head, watching the woman seated across from him carefully, “Still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here. Why you’re trying to get on my payroll.”

“I’m not trying to get on your payroll.” She said, some of the glinting edge softening, but the steel remaining. Strong and unyielding. “I’m trying to get into your community outreach program.”

Jason thanked god and all the saints once again for the gift of his helmet. That baby had saved his ass more times than he could count both by keeping his head in one piece and keeping his stupefied expressions wrapped up and hidden from view. Dr. Nightingale was one hell of a woman to make him have to rely on that fact twice in one conversation.

“Wasn’t aware that was something I had.”

Nightingale, not fortunate enough to have a full face covering helmet of her own, had nothing to hide her stupefied expression behind. Jason had a feeling she might have removed it to make sure he saw even if she did though. She looked like she had caught him eating glue like it was a cheese stick.

“Yes you do.” She said, sounding deeply confused but unshakable confident in what she was saying. “I’ve seen it. The soup kitchens, the shelters, the collection boxes for donating old clothes, the after school day care.” Nightingale ticked off on her fingers, “I’ve lived here for less than two weeks and I’ve lost count of all the things I’ve seen setup to help people struggling in the area that I’ve been very reliably informed you and your organization are behind.”

Oh.

Those.

“Those aren’t part of some community outreach program.” He said, “We are simply locals offering services for our neighbors.”

He watched as her caught-him-eating-glue expression shifted into one that said she’d stumbled upon him licking electrical sockets for a mid-day pick-me-up instead. He had to give it to her, the woman was not afraid to let one of the most dangerous men in the city know she thought he was a fucking idiot.

“Let me see if I understand this right.” She said, and he appreciated that there wasn’t any kind of condescension in her voice, even though she very clearly thought he’d been dropped on his head as a baby. Possibly from the top of a three story building. “You have a large group of people working together to plan, organize and execute multiple services in your area - your community, if you will - that provide aid and support to those that otherwise would not receive it. Reaching out with your available time and resources to offer these services, that you provide. For free.”

Alright, Jason got it. He had stumbled ass backwards into creating a community outreach program. But he wasn’t just going to let her think she won this one. He was Red Hood, he had a reputation to uphold here.

“What makes you think any of that is free?” He tilted his head at just the right angle, the one that cast shadows across the planes of his helmet and made him look hell-touched and terrifying. “Just because we don’t charge money, doesn’t mean there isn’t a price to pay.”

Dr. Nightingale, dressed like a damn kindergarten teacher, laughed at him.

[thatdisasterauthor]

@teagantheamazing Hope you don't mind, but I wanted to pull this reply out to talk about a little more in depth, because I think it is important that people understand this as we move forward.

Also, I am speaking as a private citizen here, not as an employee of the Forest Service.

In the United States, wildland fire response is handled at three basic levels: Federal, State, and Local.

Federally, it is further broken down into the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. (Some parks have their own fire crews as well, but that varies from park to park, and they're usually still technically Forest Service.) There's really not a ton of difference between the two aside from whose name is on your paycheck. Pay is the same across each, structure is the same across each, training is the same across each. Federal crews and resources are, generally, the main and biggest responders to wildfires because wildfires tend to happen primarily on federal lands.

At the state and local level things vary a lot from state to state. You can have things like the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control in Colorado and Cal Fire in California, and you can have local structure departments that also have wildland divisions and/or training. Some of the local departments will be volunteer. State and local responders also work closely with federal responders, but how much and for how long varies from fire to fire.

Then, on top of all of that, you have private/contract crews. They are what it says on the tin: private crews of firefighters. Some of these crews are great! Very professional, very skilled. Others are...ah...not.

Now, what I am concerned about specifically as we head into this new administration is what is going to happen at the federal level. As I mentioned in the original post, the Forest Service is already struggling. It has ALWAYS been struggling. Without giving you a whole huge history lesson, the Forest Service was founded in the early 1900s by Teddy Roosevelt to protect public lands and preserve them for future use. People threw a FIT about it, specifically people who wanted to basically strip mine the forests for every single available resource. Taft was elected after Roosevelt and basically started undoing everything his predecessor had done. The budget for the Forest Service was destroyed, protections were rolled back. The only reason the Forest Service survived was because in 1910 there was a MASSIVE fire. It was, at the time, unprecedented and the Forest Service was able to use it to lobby for better funding going forward. But the same cycle has repeated ever since. An administration that doesn't value conservation will come in, shred the budget, there will be deadly consequences that make the next administration pad the budget some, and then it will start again.

It's a lot like people who stop taking their medicine because they think they're cured since they feel better, but they only feel better because they were taking their medicine.

So what happens now? Well, it's already happening and it happened under Biden, and will only get worse under Trump. To keep it simple, there are two kinds of federal employment: seasonal, and year-round. Most of the federal Forest Service jobs are seasonal, because the work is seasonal. This includes firefighters, but it also includes things like park rangers and trail maintenance crews. From late spring to early fall there are tooooons of people working. Then, the rest of the year, its a skeleton crew of year-rounders doing mostly maintenance work, controlled burns, paperwork, stuff like that.

Now, with all of that said, here is where we stand at this specific moment: the decision has already been made that the Forest Service will not be hiring seasonal workers outside of firefighting next year. This means no seasonal park rangers, no seasonal maintenance people, none of that. This means next year parks are going to be a MESS. Bathrooms will not be cleaned regularly, campgrounds will not be maintained, trails will not be maintained, and a ton of other stuff. The year-rounder skeleton crew will be all we've got. And, crucially, there will be less professionals monitoring the woods looking for new fires. Rangers, even ones not working directly on fire stuff, are a crucial level of protection for spotting and reporting fires.

Secondary to that is the pay issue. Even if you're a year-rounder, the pay is abysmal. Your average out the gate, newbie wildland firefighter is going to make around $17/hr base pay if they work for a federal agency. Now, there's a ton of random stuff that can bump that pay up even without the retention bonus we're currently getting. You get a night differential and a Sunday differential for starters, and hazard pay when you are actively working a fire, plus there's ALWAYS overtime, sometimes an insane amount of it. Then there's per diem if you are traveling for a fire, and that can be a nice little bump too. But the point/problem is that the pay is VERY unpredictable. You can have a massively busy season and be swimming in money, or you can have a slow as fuck season and end up scrapping by because the base pay isn't enough. The Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act is supposed to fix this by bumping up the base pay, but that can has been kicked back and forth in the government for yeeeears now.

Now, as you mentioned, people CAN transfer their federal qualifications for fire to state and private crews. It generally pays better if you do. But we do not want to privatize fire response. Given the size of this country, given the spread of the population within it, we have to have a federal firefighting force. Leaving it to the states and private companies will not be enough.

That is where we are starting the new administration: abysmal pay, failing departments, and slimmed back hiring. Given Trump's repeated insistence on slimming down the government, on withholding aid in blue states, on getting rid of things like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (which is also crucial for firefighting), and other things in that vein, I think we are staring down the barrel of a very, very dangerous time.

So, some action items if you want to help:

Call your local representatives and insist they pass the Wildland Firefighter Protection Act NOW, before the new administration comes in. The new administration could still screw it up, but we've gotta at least try.

Be patient and understanding with Park Rangers in the coming years. They are doing their best with what they've got.

Take responsibility for your use of public lands. Clean up after yourself, pick up litter when you see it, and donate if there is a way for you to do so.

Educate yourself and your community on wildland fire even if you don't think you are in a wildland fire prone area. Learn about and implement defensible space around your homes and communities. I'll be doing a lot of education around this going forward, so if you have questions or want help please ask me!

[rin-solo]

Following especially the latest season of Prodigy, I would just like to give a shoutout to Chakotay.

I actually liked him even back in Voyager, although he could definitely have been written better in that show. But then Prodigy came, and despite his limited screen time, that show did him SO well I can still barely believe it. And no, I'm not talking about how unexpectedly hot he looks in a cowboy hat ... That's the bonus cherry on top if anything.

If Prodigy proved anything (besides that it is now one of my favorite Star Treks of all time) is that Chakotay's earned that captain's chair, and so, so much respect.

I love how we get to see him be the selfless, dedicated, strong leader that he is and has always been, entirely disconnected from Janeway or any other legacy character. Now more than ever Chakotay and Janeway are just equally hardcore, badass captains who would give their lives for the greater good in an instant, and that's part of what makes them so great. Their equality, despite the different ranks, really came across in Prodigy more than ever before, which I loved to see.

Honestly, whenever I see Chakotay dismissed as a doormat or "best off as second in command" I just kind of rage a little. Even back in Voyager, it was pretty clear to me that he wasn't (for example, some people seem to forget that he was a captain originally and only became a first officer for the good of the Maquis crew.)

And now that we have Prodigy ... Even though we don't really see much of it on screen (which is a shame), I like reminding myself how, since the launch of the Protostar, he went through 12 (!) more years of (self-)sacrifice and (leadership) hell and managed to come out of that seemingly stronger and more certain of his place and himself than ever.

Even the events of "The Last Flight of the Protostar" aside ... Just think about how many life-altering, defining, difficult choices and sacrifices he had to make in those 12 years.

In the timeline that was averted, he sacrificed his only shot to get back home through the wormhole (the Protostar) to save the Federation from the weapon on board.

In the new timeline, he sacrificed himself by choosing to stay on that planet where he and Adreek landed, also for the sake of protecting the Federation from the weapon on the Protostar.

Chakotay was technically stranded in the Delta Quadrant twice (once with Voyager, once with the Protostar), and despite how abysmally things went on his first command, he never sacrificed his integrity or his dedication to Starfleet's values. He becomes a little grumpy over 10 years in solitude, but honestly, who wouldn't? And then the first thing he does after being rescued is take over Voyager-A and continue his service ... That's some dedication if I've ever seen it. I think he may have wanted to prove something there ... and honestly, he couldn't have succeeded more.

And no, he did not "teach" Dal that his place was "the second in command" ... On the contrary, he very likely showed Dal through his own competence and perseverance that Dal himself was simply not ready yet for such a responsibility.

He's just an extraordinary captain who has gone through things and made choices that very few others could have made. Choices like sending the Protostar back in time, that had the fate of the entire Federation depending on it.

I adore Prodigy in general, but one of the things I adore the most is that it finally shows us more of why Chakotay is not second to Janeway or to anyone. He's his own leader, his own character, and his own captain who deserves so much more acknowledgment.

Although, I still feel that we were robbed of some of Chakotay's best moments by not showing us the arrival of the Protostar on Solum and later the events preceding its (presumably) emergency landing on that planet where it stayed for ten years (honestly, I'd love for future Prodigy seasons to have maybe a flashback episode or two about the Protostar's maiden voyage and Chakotay's arrival on Solum and maybe later on that planet where he was stranded.)

Anyway, long rant over ... All I wanted to say was that Chakotay has more than earned the command of Voyager-A; seeing him in that chair made me very happy, I won't lie.

And I really hope if/when Prodigy gets more seasons, he'll be a more major character because he deserves a more central role.

[trekmupf]

Trapped in a Car With Someone You Don’t Want to Be Trapped in a Car With

Pro

Kirk being torn between his "duties" in the military structure of Starfleet and the duty to his crew / his friends

McCoy waking up and immediately doctoring

The way McCoy sits in the chair; Once again I'm stating the obvious: McCoy is very beautiful in this episode and his winged eyeliner is everything

We're getting to know Spock better: his problems connecting with the human crew and understanding them (something he learns later on, which is great character development), a new side to his logic, the fact that he's not driven by power (getting command)

Also the fact that the McCoy / Spock dynamic this early on the show is different from later on: the disagreements are less friendly banter and more actual fights, McCoy doesn't know Spock that well (thinking he's interested in power / command is wrong) and they don't work together as well, which is a great way to mark their development in later episodes

there's also a clear separation between Spock and the others, Spock's alone and doesn't have someone to confide in; later on Spock and McCoy are a duo

especially the scene where they're fighting over the funeral service highlights why McCoy, Spock and Kirk work best together and what can happen when one of them isn't around to balance them out

Spock is genuinely so irritated by his logic not working, he's so visibly annoyed several times

"Strange. Step by step I have made the the correct and logical decisions, and yet two men have died"

Spock's failures as a commander also highlights what makes Kirk such a great captain, as he manages to use logic and command while also balancing the human and empathetic side of it

Spock learning so much and growing during this, technically a great leader but he learns his own limits

Scotty best repair boy, the way he crouches and crawls into spaces to repair the shuttle and then engineer magic!

Also Scotty's attitude in the face of death is so great and telling about him. He realizes first what's going to happen and accepts it calmly, smiles and compliments Spock, having an air of comfort and peace around him

@ Kirk and McCoy in the last scene, how close do you guys need to be to have a conversation?

Kirk pointing out that Spock's action was based on hope and was therefore human and Spock trying to explain it away as a non emotional and therefore Vulcan action and the others just like him so much while he does so; it's not mean spirited but just lovely and such a great contrast to the tension earlier in the episode

So many of the shots inside the shuttle are accidently funny due to the camera angles they had use because of the tight space

Direct and straightforward episode set up: We have limited time (medicine needs to be brought to another planet) and the shuttle with two of our main characters gets lost in a phenomenon

Kirks desperation rising during his scenes the longer his crew is lost

great tension by the double plot: the immediate threat on the planet and the time pressure on the ship

I absolutely prefer the original special effects over the CGI remake. Look at how good the shuttle craft looks in comparison – taken from this youtube video which I recommend

Con

even for Trek the monsters are sort of shit

very minor but I'm annoyed at the uniform inconsistency, its yellow shirts not red shirt dying, the travesty

I know the commissioner is there to remind us of the time frame but his constant repeating starts to be annoying. I'm Kirk, just done with this guy (even though yes, he's right)

everyone but the yellow shirts who die have shit to do and opinions to have except the women who is just scared and doesn't wanna die

Counter: none

Quote "Did I? I may have been mistaken" - Spock "Well, at least I lived long enough to hear that" - McCoy

Moment: When the group sits in the doomed transporter together, knowing they're about to die but they seem collected

Free Bones because you can see his great make up in this one

Summary: Not quite bottle episode (even though it feels like it) that focusses on Spock and his struggles as a (half-) vulcan working with humans and his disconnect with them using a gripping and tense narrative; Over the course of the episode Spock learns a lot about humans, his connection to them and himself and he and his companions gather more respect for each other Previous Episode - Next Episode - All TOS Reviews

[acheronist]

woah it seems like i missed the first eleven words of your post but in spite of that would it be okay if i asked about what you think thomas armitage and henry peglar spent four years doing while they were sailing around the equator on the gannet together

LET THE RECORD SHOW THAT IT IS THE YEAR IS 1834. it's also early april. cool and crisp but sunny one could assume. we are boarding the hms gannet (an 18 gun brig-sloop), and we are signed on for four years, sailing across the atlantic and then working in service of the british navy in north america + the west indies. henry peter peglar was born in 1812 and is at this point twenty two years of age. thomas middlename armitage is born in 1805 . much less information about thomas is readily available to me so we're really entering crazygirl speculation, but we know he's at least 28 but probably closer to 29. i love it when the least problematic thing about a couple is their age difference.

i don't know what thomas was up to, besides allegedly being married for eight years and having some kids and then fucking off to the navy instead of being a father (closeted deadbeat dad backstory? married young just to appease family backstory? lavender marriage backstory?) but in the last few year before this henry had: worked under a captain who was notorious for lashing his men, said Yikes this guy sucks i don't want to be lashed, wrote for a discharge, got on a new boat. new boat was captained by the same crazed captain as before, so he bailed again, and ended up on a ship he'd previously been on before, and then got lashed for being drunk and mutinous under the old-new captain anyways. my poor boy. the takeaway from this is when he's getting onto the gannet as captain of the foretop, his shoulders are covered in barely healed over scars.

good news is tho he got a promotion!!!! a few, technically!! henry's captain of the foretop, now, and likely spends his days up in the ropes and rigging, climbing around and fixing the sails. he's good at this and does an excellent job. this is also his first time as a senior petty officer aboard a ship, plus he was acting as coxswain AND working gunner crew when necessary. (shoutout to his childhood in his dad's gunsmithing workshop)

thomas armitage is rated as an AB right now iirc, and with only so many men aboard, surely their paths must begin to cross. thomas has got a pretty good coverstory of Marriage, but henry's never had any romantic affairs recorded thus far and has been pretty career focused for most of his life so far as far as i can tell. oh you've been in the navy since puberty? mm. mhm. okay.

well anyways no one would blink twice at some fellow crewmates who run in the same social circles sharing a meal every now and then. lots of people do that. and henry likes to write, has always liked to write and keep a journal! the atlantic is clear and beautiful but to make good pace, henry doesn't get the time to write until late into the evenings. men aboard see him writing constantly in his spare time, and he gets a reputation for it. once, maybe during a meal, the ships boys nervously ask him if he'd mind helping them with their letters. he laughs and says his spellings not very good, he's not much of a teacher, always been a sailor, but he'll help of course, if they'd like that. thomas can't help but overhear and remembers how it felt to sign his marriage certificate to cecelia with an X, not even able to scratch his own name out across the line. maybe that was better though, he hadn't really signed anything, and it felt like he wasn't truly tied to her, not in a way that was real. marriage consummated, sure, but he didn't know his children. wasn't in their lives. much preferred the company of his fellow sailors, the ease and routine of a crowded ship. sent most of his money home, of course, and never saw them. couldn't send any letters home, couldn't read any letters that managed to reach him, either.

still, if someone aboard was offering to teach, maybe it'd be worthwhile to speak to him more. try and learn. so he strikes up a friendship with mr. peglar. easy easy easy. he's funny, he's clever. gets silly after too much drink, freckles easily under the clear sunlight, works hard and his company is pleasant. he's strong and competent and good at his job-- jobs-- and there's not much to dislike about him. lots of men like him, but even on the hottest days as they sail south, when men strip down to their skins, henry still walks about the decks with his shirt buttoned all the way up. it's a nice thing to see-- thomas has always appreciated it when a shirt is well worn. when a uniform is respected and kept in order. you understand, of course.

so maybe, on a quiet night, one where henry's lingering up in the crow's nest with his pages again, tom gets the nerve to climb up. scares the hell of out henry on accident, and they both laugh it off. make room for each other in the cramped space. talk about the view, the waves and how they stretch out to the horizon, clear and gorgeous. tom hadn't realized the height would make such a difference. henry agrees, explains its part of why he likes to hide up in the heights of the ropes so often. they talk, and talk, and talk until the stars come out. tom doesn't even remember that he crawled up the ropes in the first place to ask henry if he could teach him to write, not until theyre both down on deck and henry's folded his pencil and papers away.

anyways... henry's often busy-- working. always working. its hard to pin him down but thomas begins to seek him out. gets scant minutes of each day to grip his shoulder, friendly-- NORMAL-- and smile. talk. nothing salacious-- of course not, one has to be careful aboard ships lest he wants rumors to start. but still. when henry begins seeking him out as well, it's a good feeling. sometimes the sun shines so bright and thomas gets to crane his neck up, picking out henry's dark silhouette against the blue sky and gets a few seconds to watch him work in the rigging.

and finally the ship gets a land break. a short one, mind, but a break nonetheless. the ship's docked in trinidad, henry practically begs thomas to join him off to a party. friends of someone on board throwing the whole thing over on the beachfront. spoke awful loud about it that morning, so it's not quite an open invitation, but seems informal enough that if they arrive at the right time, no one will notice they hadn't been properly invited. thomas wasn't expected to get drunk under the table like this, but apparently henry's much better at handling his alcohol, and its late-- or very early, depending-- when they finally stumble back out to the beach. its cooler out here and its lovely-- dark and salty and sweet and exotic. thomas hadn't ever been to a party like this. he has to twist his fingers into henry's shirt collar to keep upright, and maybe that's the first time he properly notices the lines of scars peeking out from below the collar. wouldn't ever see them if he hadn't pulled henry's shirt out of sorts while they stumbled over the sand-- giggling like boys and splashing barefoot along the shoreline before they returned to the gannet. and thomas wouldn't bring it up no no no that's far too forward especially because it wasn't something he was meant to see anyways but he keeps it in mind. he keeps it sooo in mind he kind of begins to suck at his job once daylight and the hangover hit him because all he can focus on is wondering how far down henry's back the scars go. what he could have possibly done to be lashed in the first place.

so he doesn't ask. he doesn't ask and he doesn't think about it, just struggles through the alphabet that henry has him copying down and thomas kind of hates himself but he copies his shaky letters down and does his job and keeps a nice distance but still... if he takes every meal with henry across the table then that's fine. they have to go over thomas's terrible alphabet practices and have a billion other things to talk about .

and the gannet moves along, so does thomas. so does henry. and its all well until the ships docks again-- cumana this time, and some men get permission to leave the ship. they'll be back on the sea again for a long while after this so the officers aboard allow it and henry just wants to walk so thomas is fine to walk with him. and it wasn't like they'd planned to find a party again, this just seems to be a joyful part of the world. and it's hosted by some americans this time, so they don't even need to struggle with the language barrier too badly! and thomas tries not to drink so much, wants to be there to take care of henry this time. and stays in the back a bit-- watches henry become best of friends with these strangers and he sings and dances alongside them, and isn't it nice how his face lights up when he spots thomas still there against the wall, so unabashedly pleased that he'd not disappeared while henry hadn't been paying attention!! and well maybe henry stumbles out of the crowd and pulls thomas into the thick of it, his hands all warm from the weather here and calloused from work and a bit sticky from spilled drinks, and brings thomas into the crowd to dance. and gets thomas to sing too because when everyone else is loud, no one really notices them specifically, and its okayyy its okay! its okay. theyre nobody here, it barely matters. just come dance. and thomas does follow after him and he does sing and he does dance. and they rent a room for a few hours before anyone notices they've not made it back to the gannet yet, and thomas gets to peel henry out of his clothes and do up every single button again after, like they'd never been undone in the first place. glances around the room one last time, and couldn't believe henry nearly left his wallet on the bureau top-- tucked it back into henry's pockets himself before they left minutes apart to avoid suspicion. but they got away with it which is THRILLING. and they keep on like this-- a cycle of working with their heads down and indulging away from the ship when they could manage it. halfheartedly teaching thomas his letters, which never quite sticks but that's alright, and seeing the sights and wonders every day, side by side, seeing the turtles swim slowly by and basking together in the heat and excitement of a new place with a strong sense of anonymity.

and its two and a half more years of this, of catching each other's eye between the ropes and Knowing it'll never last, things like this never do, but isn't it nice to have it now? and it's two and a half more years of this, and thomas does get to see the long, gnarled scars that trace down over henry's shoulders and spine, once, twice, three times, more and more until he begins to lose track. and its two and a half more years of secreting affections away up in the crows nest at strange hours when no one would notice. and its two and a half more days until they both get their discharges and the gannet docks again at sheerness and they hadn't talked about it, about what's next, because isn't it obvious? there's nothing next. this wasn't more than an affair, but it was a lovely one. it might even be one that hurts forever.

and it's february 1838 when they meet up at a pub in kent-- thomas kissed cecelia's cheek before he'd and said he was off for a pint with a friend-- and it's in a crowded pub when henry has to lean in across the table to tell him he's signed onto hms temeraire, just because he can't bear to stay in one spot. not anymore, loves the sea far too much to be on shore for very long. and thomas has to tell him that's good-- that's best for him. has to tell him to be careful in the ropes, he won't be there to watch out for him this time. and henry knows better than to ask if there's an address he could write to-- thomas wouldn't give that, and thomas wouldn't be able to write back either way. he'd still never gotten the hang of making his letters blend together gracefully into words, not in the way that henry always could. so they shake hands, fingers digging in a little bit too tightly, until they let go and that's all. thomas armitage and henry peglar go on their separate ways, resigned to the fact that they'll likely never see each other again.

and its seven years until they DO see each other again, running into each other, completely unexpected. isn't it so odd? isn't it so funny how things work out like that? do you think fate's real? well it must be, surely the navy's bigger than this to just be happenstance. they both needed jobs again at the same time, is all. heard the same rumors about john franklin's arctic expedition, whispers of optimism trickling down to even the most common gossiping circles of sailors. both couldn't resist the idea of it. both walked the chatham dockyard with their things in tow, keeping an eye out for hms terror, talking again as if no time had passed, about what to expect from the sandwich islands, if it'd be at all like the west indies... and well, they might be, once they make it that far.

who can really say, though. they're older this time. it'd be different, surely. maybe it'd just be best to be pleased for a friendship-- a more steady, meaningful companionship as they got through the passage. who can say. who could know.

[sleepingdeath-light]

warming your bed ; 18+

requested by ; nobody — reposted from another blog of mine

word count ; 772

content ; one night stand, oral, technically the set up for smut but there’s still sexual content hence the rating

fandom ; pirates of the caribbean

pairing ; captain jack sparrow x female reader

read also on ; ao3

minors and ageless blogs will be blocked

It’s a quiet summer evening; the type of day where you have the time to sit out on the balcony and watch the sun set from a cloudless sky over a calm ocean. A few dozen docked ships partially silhouetted by the gradually fading light as your patrons slowly filter out of your tavern doors. One by one they stumbled and tumbled out onto the pier, arm in arm and exchanging plentiful raucous laughter and drunken conversation (as far as one would call it that) with each and every one of them grinning widely from ear to ear.

Yeah, a quiet night indeed. At the very least you had been spared from having to play witness or mediator to many bar fights — only having seeing the tail-end of one before another customer broke it up to spare you the trouble. No hassle, minimal mess, not very loud. It was a harbour-business’ dream. Some people were just good like that — you just wished you’d see them more often than just through the summer.

But even with the consideration of your pillaging patrons, there was still a great deal of work to do — and you couldn’t very well have them do the chores for you. They were your guests, after all, not your employees (lord knows you couldn’t afford any with all of the expenses you have to look out for; the joys of working with pirates). So you turned to go back inside, soapy bucket and rag in hand.

Or, rather, you tried to go back inside but your path was obstructed by a swaying figure that reeked of rum. Another pirate, it seemed.

Oh joy.

Like many others before him, he says he’s looking for shelter and a drink — says he’s on bad terms with his crew and got kicked off for the night. Part of you wants to turn him away or pry about what exactly got a captain (as he identified himself) voted off of his own ship, but you decide against it and put on your best service smile and usher him over to the messy reception area, writing his name with a worn down quill before leading him to the bar.

Captain Jack Sparrow, he introduced himself with a slight drunken slur to his voice, and you can’t help but feel like you’d heard the name before. Mostly in complaints from customers, remarks about how ridiculous and illogical he is — how he doesn’t seem to have very much self awareness or adherence to the code (a code you knew better than to pry about). But none of that really mattered here; the captain was now a patron of yours and so long as he payed you fairly you couldn’t care less for his reputation.

Business is business, after all.

From there it doesn’t take very long for him to start getting rather talkative — and, very openly flirty at that. He takes each drink offered with a smile and a wink and thanks you with compliments that gradually get more and more flustering than flattering… and yet you find yourself getting more fond of the eccentric man’s company, engaging him with conversation and listening intently to each (likely heavily embellished) story he tells.

A few short minutes after he began spinning his elaborate tales of the seas, the two of you were stumbling your way through the halls of your inn — wanting to hear more than just his fantastical stories and needing to feel more than just his hand on your thigh. You could feel his greedy hands roaming freely over your body as you just barely manage to grab the key and unlock the door before you both fall into a heap on the wooden floor.

He tasted of rum and the sea, with an eager tongue and teeth that bit your lips red and raw — leaving his mark without shame or regard for the outside world and letting you get drunk off of him. Large, calloused hands pinched and groped at you through the thin fabrics of your sullied dress; pushing your skirts up to your waist and tugging your bodice down to expose your breasts to his greedy gaze.

Pinching, tugging and twisting; he payed close attention to your chest until your nipples pebbled under his fingertips and only then did he turn his attention to your soaked pussy — reaching down through your undergarments to slide his index finger along your slit. And when he pulls away from the kiss to suck it clean and comments on your taste, you know that you’re in for a long night, and you can’t even bring yourself to complain.

[bangtanhoneys]

Bangtan Baby: Bangtan Day Out!

Trying to organise a trip out with eight members of BTS, one child, a team of bodyguards, three managers, one small camera crew and one make-up artist (because you know) was a logistical nightmare. Especially since it had been mentioned casually that Seokjin and Grace were going to take their child out to the zoo in Seoul, everyone had decided to come. 

So began the mission of the Bangtan Day Out their managers had called it.

They didn’t want to pull strings and do the ‘BTS want to come to the zoo, can you close it down for us’ but with the amount of people in the team required, a call went ahead for them to come and view the zoo just for their pleasure. 

Considering Bora was now two years old and had never been properly to a zoo, especially in her hometown of Seoul. Also her parents didn’t need everyone gawking at her in such a public setting they couldn’t quite control.

“Okay,” Hobi stood at the entrance to the zoo with his hands on his hips. He had been deemed the most responsible one and had been in charge of tickets and the map. “Let’s not cause too much trouble,” he added with a pointed look at the maknae line. “Let’s not get lost,” he continued as he glanced at Namjoon. “And let’s make sure Bora has a good time,” this time he looked at Jin and Grace as well as Yoongi who had the two year old on his shoulders.

The little one had picked Yoongi to be her ride for the day. 

That was a privilege in itself and the man in question waved away concern for his shoulder. If he got too tired, he knew Jungkook would jump in.

“Ready?” Hobi asked, getting nods from his members and then the crew.

“Onwards!”

“Hobi-hyung, you’re in a fun mood today,” Jimin commented from beside Jungkook who had his camera ready.

“Well it’s not everyday we get to enjoy a fun day out with our niece is it?”

Comebacks, albums, tours, performances, photoshoots and the like tended to take up most of the time ever since they came back from military service and then there was a pause for at least Grace to go through her pregnancy comfortably until she had been ready to join them. 

There was a break between their last comeback and the next one, giving plenty of space to bring Bora along for day trips out. Hence the reason for the family trip out to see the animals. Even though Hobi was in charge of the map, Taehyung suggested they should visit the animals that represented themselves which then started an argument over whose animal was better.

“But Taehyung is both a tiger and a bear, which is unfair,” Jimin pointed out as Jungkook pouted. “And I’m a bunny and sometimes kangaroo so how is that going to work?”

“And Seokjin-hyung is both a hamster and a llama,” Namjoon helpfully added as they walked in the direction of the lions. 

“Poor Yoongi-hyung isn’t going to see any cats today,” Jungkook butted in.

“Technically, lions are felines,” Yoongi sent a glare to the maknae who grinned at him. Tiny fingers tightened against the bucket hat he had chosen to wear, making his head tilt. “What’s wrong Bora?”

“Mama,” the tiny voice said as a tiny finger pointed in the direction of the sign that said ‘Wolf & Fox Enclosure' with a large fox and wolf on either side of it.  

There was a brief pause before Seokjin went into dad mode, proudly settling his daughter on his own shoulders from Yoongi’s while boasting how clever she was just as Namjoon puffed up his chest, also proudly stating how she got her intelligence from him. 

“Looking pretty smug there,” Hobi whispered to Grace who had said nothing during the whole thing. “It might have nothing to do with the fact that I’ve been teaching her about foxes lately,” Grace whispered back.

Hobi cackled and held out his hand for his female member to hit in return. Never go against a mother and a smart baby.

[whencyclopedia]

SS Great Britain

The SS Great Britain was a steam-powered ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) which sailed on its maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York in May 1845. It was the largest passenger ship in the world at the time and showed that giant metal steamships were faster and more energy-efficient than smaller wooden vessels.

Brunel & Steamships

One of the problems of the early ships powered by steam engines was that they required a prodigious amount of coal and freshwater to run. With massive holds full of fuel, there was not a lot of space left for passengers, and so most of these early steamships were limited to rivers or close shore work. The British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel had the idea that massively increasing the scale of ships would solve the problem of space and a transatlantic passenger and freight service could be profitably run. The steamships would reach their destination port faster than sailing hips not because of their speed per hour necessarily but because they did not need to tack against a headwind and could take the straightest possible route.

Brunel was already a successful rail magnate, but in 1835, he formed the Great Western Steamship Company. Brunel's first giant steamship, the SS Great Western (SS denotes it as a steamship), was completed in 1838, but this vessel was made of wood. Great Western came second to SS Sirius, built by the Transatlantic Steamship Company, in the April 1838 'race' to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. Sirius technically won the race (if it had ever been such) by just one day, but it had started four days earlier than Great Western and had been obliged to start burning cargo when it ran out of fuel. Great Western, in contrast, had overcome the delay of a fire in the engine room on its first day out at sea, had not needed to stop for fuel in Cork, and had arrived in the United States after 17 days with over 200 tons of coal to spare.

Great Western could carry 128 passengers in luxurious style, plus a crew of 60. The return journey from New York to Bristol took just 14 days, double the speed that most sailing ships could manage (Sirius took 18 days for the same voyage back). It was obvious that Brunel had unlocked the key to faster ships. SS Great Western made 67 more crossings of the Atlantic and managed a top speed of 11 knots, although this was still just a little over half the speed of the fastest sailing ships, the tea clippers, in optimal conditions. Now Brunel had proven that steam could work, he was determined to build an even more modern transatlantic steamship, this time with an iron hull. The profits from Great Western would be ploughed right back into the production of an entirely new type of ship, bigger, faster, and more efficient than ever seen before.

Continue reading...

[funnywormz]

Almost afraid to ask because I suspect there's lizard sex elements based on the posts, but what's threshold day?

the most simple answer to this is that threshold day is an annual star trek fandom celebration of the star trek voyager episode "threshold", the 15th episode of its second season which aired on the 29th of january, 1996!

but why threshold, specifically? a general answer is that it's because the episode is absolutely nuts. it's generally regarded as one of the worst, if not THE worst star trek episode ever (i definitely disagree with this, i think it's a genuinely good episode), but it also won an emmy............

a brief plot summary is that tom paris, voyager's pilot, wants to test a new form of warp drive technology which would enable ships to go at "warp 10" a speed previously thought to be impossible, which is so fast that travelling at it means you'd theoretically be everywhere in the universe at once. he ends up testing it, and initially everything seems fine, but then a few hours after the test he collapses in the mess hall and ends up in sickbay. the doctor determines that going at warp 10 has had an odd effect on paris's dna, causing it to rapidly mutate and "evolve".

throughout the episode, paris continues to mutate physically and mentally, becoming confused and violent and increasingly non-human looking. eventually he manages to bust out of sickbay and kidnaps the captain, taking her with him on another warp 10 flight. they then set down on a random planet.

it takes voyager a while to find them. by that point, both paris and the captain's dna mutations have caused them to transform into salamander-like creatures, almost completely unrecognisable as humans.

they also, at some point, had hyper evolved salamander sex and made salamander triplets.

the voyager crew takes paris and the captain back onto the ship, but leave their babies behind on the planet. a quick bit of (hand-wavy) genetic treatment by the doctor goes on, and paris and janeway are restored back to their original human selves. paris apologises to the captain for getting her knocked up while she was a salamander, and the captain responds by being like "ok but who says it's not the female that initiates mating in this species 😏". and that's the end of the fucking episode basically

i think threshold day is a thing in general bc the episode has some genuinely really cool elements and the practical effects are AWESOME, but also the last 10 minutes of it are absolutely nuts and easy to make fun of. it's like a perfect mixture of being good enough to be watchable but bad enough that you finish it like "what the hell just happened". it's also a popular day bc people generally view commander chakotay's decision to leave paris and janeway's salamander babies behind as a mistake, which i agree with. like what happened to them?? they're just there on that planet all alone???? did they even survive......... and if janeway and paris could be turned back into humans, technically the salamander babies are hypothetically human kids too and they just left them behind? SMH......... it's so sad............

ANYWAYS anon i hope this was a serviceable explanation!

[hiemaldesirae]

Swap AU:

Angel Dust does get called into the studio for work, but he only does one shoot per month. He's actually filling Valentino and Alastor on what Vox, Husker, and Charlie are up too. Thanks to Angel, all of Valentino's workers get a 250 dollar raise because of the pictures and coat he managed to grab for Alastor.

Alastor's Shadow is under strict instructions not to leave Vox's side, no matter what. Vox only really knows it's there when it decides it's board of playing at being a regular Shadow. Which usually happens when Vox is at the hotel, doing paperwork.

Vox's Geotia is related to Stolas! He's a nephew via Paimon. He's been to almost all of Octavia's Bday parties.

Valentino and Vox technically remote when Vox rescues both Charlie and Angel Dust when Charlie interrupts a shoot and catches everything on fire. Before Valentino can put it out, Alastor appears and shit nearly hits the fan(--he murders and devours the remaining camera crew, and cast except Angel, Charlie and Val) before Vox himself appears.

Vox just appearing immediately calms the radio demon down, his form returning to the one everyone recognizes as he gently moves towards Vox, a dark possessiveness in his eyes.

Vox tells Charlie to grab Angel and go, now he'll be right behind them, and Alastor chuckles, purring softly. "Will you, darling?" He asks, voice smooth. "Just this once I'll let you go. But next time I have you in my hand like this....you'll be mine, Vox. Mine and mine alone. Now go."

Vox and company run.

THE COAT???? lmfao angels working overtime that boy better be getting raises in the thousands if hes nabbing voxs fucking hotelier uniform. the disrespect :sob: and to think alastor probably sleeps with the coat held in his arms and his nose bured into the collar to smell voxs scent... god hes such a freak

WHAT NO WAY??? my god. for some reason i just cant stop thinking of those mafia (??) ad games where its like level 1 hitman to level 100 hitman... and in my eyes im thinking of canon vox as level 1 stalker swap alastor as level 100 stalker. theyre so terrible theyre meant for each other (which is actually. an interesting concept hmm what would happen if swap!al and canon!vox met)

oh!!! cute little guy... imagining vox just bursting down the hotel doors and setting down this tiny little owl one day and going 'found us a casino manager'. vaggie and charlie are freaked out of their minds because thats a KID and a GOETIA where the FUCK did he get that

im gonna.be sick. nonny whywould you do this to me.... my HEART fuck WAGWHHDJ... alastor going insane and only calming down when vox arrives on scene... vox telling the others to go without him and promising that he'll be right with them but alastor just laughs about it because he knows vox will end up with him in the end...theyre horrible. i need more of them immediately thank u nonny for ur incredible service

[lonestarflight]

Cancelled Missions: Testing Shuttle Manipulator Arms During Earth-Orbital Apollo Missions (1971-1972)

In this drawing by NASA engineer Caldwell Johnson, twin human-like Space Shuttle robot arms with human-like hands deploy from the Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) Bay to grip the derelict Skylab space station.

"Caldwell Johnson, co-holder with Maxime Faget of the Mercury space capsule patent, was chief of the Spacecraft Design Division at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston, Texas, when he proposed that astronauts test prototype Space Shuttle manipulator arms and end effectors during Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) missions in Earth orbit. In a February 1971 memorandum to Faget, NASA MSC's director of Engineering and Development, Johnson described the manipulator test mission as a worthwhile alternative to the Earth survey, space rescue, and joint U.S./Soviet CSM missions then under study.

At the time Johnson proposed the Shuttle manipulator arm test, three of the original 10 planned Apollo lunar landing missions had been cancelled, the second Skylab space station (Skylab B) appeared increasingly unlikely to reach orbit, and the Space Shuttle had not yet been formally approved. NASA managers foresaw that the Apollo and Skylab mission cancellations would leave them with surplus Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rockets after the last mission to Skylab A. They sought low-cost Earth-orbital missions that would put the surplus hardware to good use and fill the multi-year gap in U.S. piloted missions expected to occur in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Johnson envisioned Shuttle manipulators capable of bending and gripping much as do human arms and hands, thus enabling them to hold onto virtually anything. He suggested that a pair of prototype arms be mounted in a CSM Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) Bay, and that the CSM "pretend to be a Shuttle" during rendezvous operations with the derelict Skylab space station.

The CSM's three-man crew could, he told Faget, use the manipulators to grip and move Skylab. They might also use them to demonstrate a space rescue, capture an 'errant satellite,' or remove film from SIM Bay cameras and pass it to the astronauts through a special airlock installed in place of the docking unit in the CSM's nose.

Faget enthusiastically received Johnson's proposal (he penned 'Yes! This is great' on his copy of the February 1971 memo). The proposal generated less enthusiasm elsewhere, however.

Undaunted, Johnson proposed in May 1972 that Shuttle manipulator hardware replace Earth resources instruments that had been dropped for lack of funds from the planned U.S.-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission. President Richard Nixon had called on NASA to develop the Space Shuttle just four months before (January 1972). Johnson asked Faget for permission to perform 'a brief technical and programmatic feasibility study' of the concept, and Faget gave him permission to prepare a presentation for Aaron Cohen, manager of the newly created Space Shuttle Program Office at MSC.

In his June 1972 presentation to Cohen, Johnson declared that '[c]argo handling by manipulators is a key element of the Shuttle concept.' He noted that CSM-111, the spacecraft tagged for the ASTP mission, would have no SIM Bay in its drum-shaped Service Module (SM), and suggested that a single 28-foot-long Shuttle manipulator arm could be mounted near the Service Propulsion System (SPS) main engine in place of the lunar Apollo S-band high-gain antenna, which would not be required during Earth-orbital missions.

During ascent to orbit, the manipulator would ride folded beneath the CSM near the ASTP Docking Module (DM) within the streamlined Spacecraft Launch Adapter. During SPS burns, the astronauts would stabilize the manipulator so that acceleration would not damage it by commanding it to grip a handle installed on the SM near the base of the CSM's conical Command Module (CM).

Johnson had by this time mostly dropped the concept of an all-purpose human hand-like 'end effector' for the manipulator; he informed Cohen that the end effector design was 'undetermined.' The Shuttle manipulator demonstration would take place after CSM-111 had undocked from the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft and moved away to perform independent maneuvers and experiments.

The astronauts in the CSM would first use a TV camera mounted on the arm's wrist to inspect the CSM and DM, then would use the end effector to manipulate 'some device' on the DM. They would then command the end effector to grip a handle on the DM, undock the DM from the CSM, and use the manipulator to redock the DM to the CSM. Finally, they would undock the DM and repeatedly capture it with the manipulator.

Caldwell Johnson's depiction of a prototype Shuttle manipulator arm with a hand-like end effector. The manipulator grasps the Docking Module meant to link U.S. Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission.

Johnson estimated that new hardware for the ASTP Shuttle manipulator demonstration would add 168 pounds (76.2 kilograms) to the CM and 553 pounds (250.8 kilograms) to the SM. He expected that concept studies and pre-design would be completed in January 1973. Detail design would commence in October 1972 and be completed by 1 July 1973, at which time CSM-111 would undergo modification for the manipulator demonstration.

Johnson envisioned that MSC would build two manipulators in house. The first, for testing and training, would be completed in January 1974. The flight unit would be completed in May 1974, tested and checked out by August 1974, and launched into orbit attached to CSM-111 in July 1975. Johnson optimistically placed the cost of the manipulator arm demonstration at just $25 million.

CSM-111, the last Apollo spacecraft to fly, reached Earth orbit on schedule on 15 July 1975. By then, Caldwell Johnson had retired from NASA. CSM-111 carried no manipulator arm; the tests Johnson had proposed had been judged to be unnecessary.

That same month, the U.S. space agency, short on funds, invited Canada to develop and build the Shuttle manipulator arm. The Remote Manipulator System — also called the Canadarm — first reached orbit on board the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-2, the second flight of the Shuttle program, on 12 November 1981."

source

[beardedmrbean]

Boeing Leaks

After years of delays and technical problems, Boeing's Starliner finally made it to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board last week.

But when exactly it'll be able to undock and deliver its crew of two back to the surface remains to be seen.

Teams have discovered an astonishing five different helium leaks so far, each representing yet another thorn in the spacecraft's already cursed development. The gas is "used in spacecraft thruster systems to allow the thrusters to fire" while navigating through space, according to Boeing.

NASA is giving Boeing another four days, extending Wilmore and Williams' mission onboard the ISS from June 14 to no earlier than June 18, though it's unclear whether the leaks are to blame for the delay. Boeing is still "assessing what impacts, if any, five small leaks in the service module helium manifolds would have on the remainder of the mission," according to an update.

Boeing has been through hell and back in its attempts to get its first crewed test flight off the ground, including countless delays, scrubs, technical screwups, and an unsuccessful uncrewed test flight back in 2019.

Where that leaves Starliner's future viability for providing NASA with a reliable way to get astronauts to the space station remains to be seen. While it has managed to dock with the ISS, its mission isn't over until Wilmore and Williams are safely back on the ground.

Hole Story

Last month, officials discovered the first helium leak, which was later underplayed by officials and determined not to be severe enough to delay its journey to the ISS.

On its way up, the capsule sprang even more helium leaks. Even docking procedures didn't initially go as planned, with Boeing calling off its first attempt due to reaction-control thrusters malfunctioning.

There's a lot we still don't know about Starliner's current status. Fortunately, engineers have determined that the capsule will have plenty of helium for its return mission, roughly ten times as much as it needs to maneuver through the near vacuum of space.

"While Starliner is docked, all the manifolds are closed per normal mission operations preventing helium loss from the tanks," Boeing explained in its update.

Meanwhile, NASA is making the most out of the situation.

"The additional time in orbit will allow the crew to perform a spacewalk on Thursday, June 13, while engineers complete Starliner systems checkouts," ISS officials tweeted, referring to two different space station crew members. ________________________________

I'd make Boeing jokes if it weren't for the fact that people could die

[qettleqorn]

*Slams fists on table* THESE HEIRS for the wip ask game pls 😤

These Heirs | Multi-Ships | JJK | Consort AU

So, as you and the whole of the Anxiety Anonymous crew know, we have a charming little AU for the JJK verse. Which, I have shared this a little on the Group Discord but I'll reshare it again.

Specifically, it was about how Sukuna as we know it does want to be considered the Prince Consort, more so the Emperor, even though that title does go to Shiu-Kong by technicality as he did father the first heir. (Yi Jeong, the firstborn child and son) But it starts off basically with Sukuna outright demanding he too should be able to have an heir with the empress. Pushing her up against a brick wall to show that he is very willing to provide his services still despite her not having visited him in some time other than to talk.

Which she quickly replies with a-

"You wish to be emperor, my prince consort, not out of love or loyalty, but out of desire to be seen as the all-powerful."

Because at this point as we all know the two know one another more than just between the sheets. By this point, he has been by her side for the better part of a decade. Izumi has already had their baby boy Yuuji approximately ten years ago as well. (How he hasn't managed to get an heir, well, Kin is just a very busy woman and is still trying to train him well enough for her cousin.) But the empire still only has one true ruler and every day she's getting pressured to pick, and every day it's looking less and less like it will be him.

Which of course, annoys the ever-loving crap out of him especially when he believes they both know he'd be the better option since they can even one another out. They have a good balance of level-headedness between them.

But she doesn't view it as such, it also doesn't help that she favors Shiu Kong and then also Nanami- a man who is not her consort.

Again, this annoys and pisses him off because- what is he doing wrong to not make her see he is good for the empire. As he is not just a brilliant mastermind of tactics, he's a man of the arts, he's driven with passion! Sure he can be brutish, but that's where she would come in!

Well, some time passes and he's lounging in the bath as Uraume scrubs him down. When they ask him a question,

"May I ask a question Lord Sukuna?" Digging their nails into the cloth as it scrubbed into Sukuna's tan skin. It was a thought that had only recently plagued them, but one they thought would not bother their lord. Shifting up as the still warm water drained from off his abdomen, dripping down his biceps and back. A crack in his neck as he stretched out the muscles. Sukuna gave an agreeable hum knowing it was not often Uraume asked much of him. Something he liked from the dual-hair-toned monk. Not holding back or stopping their efforts to clean the highly sought-after consort. Uraume was inwardly delighted to get permission to speak somewhat freely. "We have all heard how Lord Shiu Kong was brought on, Lady Manami, & Lady Yuki as well." Putting their weight into their scrubbing as they got to his shoulder blades, Uraume made a small hmph as they caught their breath. "Well, it left us curious of you. Not even the empress speaks on it."

It would lead to Sukuna dismissing them so he could finish his bath alone. Not answering their question outright, but just saying that he was the most expensive and skilled just as he still is. Which left him to think about how they really met the first time.

"As you know you may not disclose that the royal highness is here nor what it is that goes on between you both." The lanky old woman who presented herself as Mae-Hui's aid. "Yeah, yeah." With his client not yet before him, the pink-haired youth dismissed the old woman with a wave.

He thinks it's just another job, he'll pop her cherry, and then- boom. Another satisfied customer.

The reason why she was here was not for the sins of the flesh. Not as if it truly mattered what she was here for, she was paying for his time as it was. So what did it matter if she chose to just talk?

Except, she isn't, Mae-Hui Kim is the first client to actually try and talk with him. To get to know him and doesn't even sleep with him that night.

"Where are you from?" "A place far from here, it does not matter my lady." "But it does matter." Her fingers brushed over his knuckles, wrapping them around the tattoo markings on his wrists. "I wish to know of it so it does matter." The word pressed into his palm like a secret he desperately wanted to keep. But the alcohol he had spilt between his lips made it drip like a faucet during the winter months. "Megijima." Its name alone flooded his mind with memories. Pulling his wrists from her grasp, he wrung them around her own hands, thick and pristine fingers keeping them in a tight hold and pushing them back to her chest. The look of a dull moment written on his face. "Megijima?" "It's the island where I was born." "I've heard stories about-." "Peaches and ogres I'm sure, the peaches are delicious but there are no ogres beyond what you see before you." Shaking her head as she shut her eyes as if saying that he was wrong about the assumption he made- which he was. "The most famous poets get their best works from resting there." Despite the rather flat-face reaction, he was giving her. Sukuna was surprised she mentioned that. Before he had been sold off he could recall the poems the madam of the brothel had read to him and the other unfortunate children born of the dissolute harlots of her halls. The wench was brash, crude, and all around he knew she'd be in hell waiting for him with all the other sinners he had cursed. "I heard a retired general once visited and had come back with an abundance of treasure." Her lips curled as she lay there. She was actually enjoying this and he could not believe it. "About forty or so years ago from what I recall is when it took place, my father use to read me his writings. A rare chance encounter I know." He knew exactly who she was talking about. That man was the reason why he was here now.

So, when she denies him the opportunity to aid her, it hurts oddly enough.

Sukuna may not love her, but he respects her and he wants to make the empire an even stronger place. Wants to elevate its status on a worldwide spread just as she has with him to some degree.

She of course would then introduce him to her cousin. Who is absolutely enamored by him. They would have Yuuji but she'd have to give it away. Due to societal views.

This is then where Kin of course buys Sukuna's contract and begins to try and tame his feral ways so Izumi can have the man. This is where Sukuna would begin falling in love with Izumi from the constant predicaments Kin manages to put them into.

He likes her rabbit-like qualities, not just for a breeding kink joke, but the way she gets flustered. How she gives him something to make her work on and tease. She's a cute little thing that has enchanted him.

But sometimes loyalty and love can not mix. Sukuna feels a great loyalty to Kin and wishes to prove that he can be what they all "need". As I had stated before. BUT, but, this would later bring us to The Bug Hunt chapter. In which afterwards. Kin makes the ultimate decision to release Sukuna from her care and into Izumi's against his desires. Practically naming Shiu Kong as her Prince Consort in the process because Sukuna nearly gets Yi Jeong killed. Even though it was an unintentional accident that led the young prince to fall down a cliff.

This is of course when Sukuna and Izumi would get to grow closer and they'd actually get to properly know one another. He'd still be sour regardless of course, but somewhere along the line, she'd tell him about how she wishes she- well they, could meet their child.

He knows Yuuji is alive, they both do, especially after the winter party event. What she didn't know (and this is where I adlib a little because I'm not sure if it'll be group-approved) is that Yaga had messaged him about Yuuji sometime ago after Sayuri found the boy. After all Sukuna and Yuuji are practically the spitting image of one another.

MEANING!

Izumi and Sukuna might have a chance to meet their son.

It was one of those secrets that Mae-Hui didn't know about because he didn't want her to. Since he figured it would make him lose his chance even more. Just to later find out she knew Yuuji was alive because she had gone back to his old employer to hook up with some other consort.

Mae-Hui in this time though has also unintentionally pushed aside her favored cousin since giving Sukuna to her. Because now she is worried about her eldest child and less about her outer family.

This is where we get into Yuuta's portion of the story!

AND AND AND! DSFSDG- anyways, it's basically just about the drama of the royal family. How Sukuna gets kicked out of the palace, Yuuta and Yi Jeong are almost killed, Izumi and Kin get a little rift in their friendship, and just DRAMA!

[dyke-pollinator]

Im in the mood for a story

Im a little drunk and im in the mood to share a story with yall of when I was out living in Nevada. This was back in 2017 or so.

This story requires some backstory so please indulge me.

I was a crew leader, managing a group of 4-9 people ranging from 18-23 ( I was 24 at the time). Part of that meant helping them integrate into the new location they moved to (Reno, Nevada) despite living out of my car at this time.

One of my crew members, who I will call Shawn, was...... Interesting to say the least. He was a pretty interesting person, but was definitely way too interested in falling in love while on this job.

So while he was out with some other members on their off week, he confessed his feelings for another crew member who turned him down. He proceeded to seriously harm himself. So now, on my crew, I had to manage that shit and make sure he wasn’t a risk to himself. Because of course this motherfucker was on my crew and technically my responsibility.

Everything was basically fine. Shawn and the other member barely interacted and we were learning a lot about how to cut down trees safely.

During one of our hitches (time in the field) where we were building cattle fences on the border of Utah, this bitch decided he wanted to go for a walk. So idk if you know what the middle of no where Utah looks like but its basically the same as this for 100 miles in every directions 

Barely any geographic features. Insanely easy to get lost. 

We had a rule where if you were gonna split off from the group,  you had to let the crew lead (me) know, and you had to explicitly say where you were gonna go. He decided he wanted cell phone signal one night, and told no one where he was going.

He got lost. In the middle of the desert. I need you to understand how horrifying that is. There’s nothing out there. You can walk for 200+ miles (350km) in any direction and find literally nothing. Especially on the Nevada / Utah border. 

By 8pm we were all wondering where he was till a random person was like “Oh he went that was looking for signal”. Like wtf? Excuse me? We searched in the direction he went for like 4 hours before we called emergency services & our organization that was gonna send out reinforcements to help us look.

We parked our giant truck on the top on the highest hill around us, with our high beems on, and blared on the horn all night, hoping that he was going to find his way back to us. He never did.

We spent 38 hours looking for this person, and since we all knew his history, we legitimately thought he was dead.\

The next day we had the whole BLM (Bureau of Land Management) looking for him. They were about to call in the fucking helicopters.

Now, this next part is gonna sound like some bullshit I just made up but I stg it is true. My dumbass forgot to restock the first aid kit. My co-lead got stung by a bee / wasp while we were doing a grid search, and for the first time in his life, he had a major allergic reaction that none of the leftover meds we had would take down.

So we had to take him into town (an approximately 15 mile drive on back roads) and I did it since I was one of the few that was allowed to drive our trucks.

This motherfucker, Shawn, literally stumbled across the road while I was driving my co-lead into to town. Idk how the fuck he found this road. Idk how the fuck his timing was absolutely perfect. But we found him. After 56 hours when all of us thought he was already dead.

We would have NEVER found him if not for this random happenstance. Some divine power wanted this kid alive I swear. Its some of the most insane shit I have ever experienced.

And here’s the kicker: THIS HAPPENED ON THE 3RD DAY OF AN 8 DAY PROJECT AND THEY MADE ALL OF US FINISH OUR WORK INCLUDING THE DUDE THAT WAS LAST FOR THAT LONG

The moral is never trust Non-profit organizations. They dont give a fuck about you. 

And if yall wanna head this story from Shawn’s perspective just lmk I am happy to share it.

[vicmillen]

Nooooo... I want my wip done dammit. But anyway my mind got hijacked by a sci-fi au, so. Here we go again I guess, have some sci-fi settings for the LU boys🫠🫠

Feel free to use any or all of this setting for yourself, if anyone is interested. Credits appreciated tho not needed.

General background

The Links came from different time period due to the unavoidable time delay and time wrap in intergalactic travel (think Ender's Game and how all the ships arrived at the same time despite spanning decades in departure). Up to recent times where instant wrap becomes a thing, at least.

The Links, and maybe the Zeldas too, may or may not have came from a common clone source (think Dances On The Snow style cloning, gee I love that novel)

There's a war involving a certain holder of the force of power, at some point.

I actually have no idea what the Links gathered for, something something evil shadows, I guess?

Is time travel a thing? I don't know. Depends on if they fucked with the spacetime continuum hard enough (they have). Though I refuse to melt my brain again for any inevitable paradox situations so for now let's pretend they haven't.

The Links

Sky was a well decorated pilot for the Hylian air force, back when air force is still it's own division. He is the furthest back in terms of time period, being one of the test pilot on board project Skyloft, the very first large scale long distance warp jump in Hylian history. Very skilled pilot, despite the outdated training. Fi is helping a lot with his retraining. His jet is simply named Crimson.

Four is a engineer from the Picori system. At one point got himself into a freak accident involving a cloning station and a lunatic scientist. Extremely quick learner and good at solve technical problems (it's like working fourth times the normal speed, you know:)

Time is humble ranch hand, or so he claims. He's not entirely wrong, but before he become said ranch hand, he has a complicated history with the Hylian council and the intelligence community. Specialized in mech suits, heavy hitter.

Twilight is the actual rancher, being Time's adopted son. However he got himself involved in a series of abduction and trafficking cases, and somehow ended up in some human experiment. Straight up not having a good time tbh. Though he broke himself out and took down the rig before Time got invited to the carnage, which is good because there's at least something left of the offenders. Good at mech suits and piloting jets, but specialized in hand to hand. Hand to claw? Hand to fang?

Warriors was an army captain on board of Artemis' flagship. Though he specialized more on the strategic planning than the daily management, hence why Wind is the unofficial captain of the ship now. Comes across as snobby at first because damn non of this gang have any training or discipline? Mech fighter, heavy hitter. Good with jet piloting too, just don't comes with his own jet. Copilot with Sky if needed.

Wind ran with Tetra's crew before whatever leads to him joining the chain, so a privateer. Though he prefers pirate, just sounds that much cooler. He comes with his own jet, the Red Lion. Talented pilot, very good at scouting. Surprisingly the most experienced in managing the staff on board since it's similar scale as Tetra's.

Legend is, well he'll say he's a merchant. Hauling and selling perfectly legal merchandise. The Federals disagree, but they're mistaken. His private jet, Sir Raven, is not technically armed, but the 'merchandise' on board is varied and certainly useful in hostile situations. Very skilled at navigating and bullshitting the feds and fighting with his custom weaponry. Kind of a weapons expert too.

Hyrule may or may not have been one of the perfectly legal merchandise that required Legend's shipping service at some point. And may or may not have led to Legend gaining yet another wanted poster somewhere, somehow. Works miracles with the med unit, and like Legend is great with the unusual weapons that they rig up.

Wild is a cyborg, multi talented but especially appreciated for working miracles with the food assembly thingie. Despite being the only one on board that don't need edible material to survive. Technically the owner of the ship, and technically is part of the ship too. Take care of the daily management with Wind.

The ships

The ship they're currently aboard is the Master Ship Zero very original I know, Fi is the ship's Ai. Though the three jets in the hull each have their own system. The master ship is not really meant for a crew of only 9, but between the Fours and some creative problem solving, they managed pretty well. (Or maybe the Links didn't came alone, so there are more crew, like Malon Ravio and idk, somebody else.)

Wind's Red Lion is the smallest and lightest jet. Single pilot, speedy and stealthy, but very little fire power.

Sky's Crimson is a antique very traditional fighter jet, though it's is under heavy modification to suit the need of the current situation. For a fighter is on the small side, but comes with heavy fire power.

Legend's Sir Raven is a modified commercial jet, packs a surprising punch. But overall focused on camouflage shielding and speed. The largest jet among the three, actually. At least the largest hull. Can fit the whole chain inside if need must, but cannot provide sustainable life support for more than three people.