#technically not sot related. but.

[atsushis-fangs]

North: ali, you love me, right? Scotland: ...normally I'd say yes with little hesitation but I feel like this is going somewhere I dont like.

@winterwrites23

[sonicfrontiers]

OOUGGH IM SO GLAD IM NOT THE ONLY ONE THINKING ABOUT SEA OF THIEVES HLVRAI AU... PLEASE !!!! PLEASE PLEASE SHARE UR IDEAS I WANNA HEAR THEM SO BAD

OHHH ANON YOU HAVE SAVED MY FUCKING LIFE WITH THIS ASK THANK YOU SO MUCH

SO !! i barely have anything yet bc i just had this fucking brain blast like an hour ago but. here are my Thoughts so far:

so the very first thing i tried to think of was like. what everyone is? i did my best w this but i am so fuckin open to ideas..... i don’t know shit! 

the easiest answer right off the bat was who the humans are (or at least the pirates who appear to be human) in this. we got the science team as the pirate crew—gordon, tommy, bubby, and coomer! they are sailing the seas and maybe they are not doing a very good job of it but it’s fine. it’s Fine

the second easiest answer was benrey’s situation. we got skeletons fuck yeah. benrey got some of that curse uh oh! however w benrey’s situation that’s more like... sometimes being a skeleton rather than just steadily turning into one, i thought maybe the curse fucked up on him? maybe it’s like. he’s only half cursed to just sometimes be a skeleton but he can also look human again too. i don’t fucking know. also OH SHIT BENREY HAS TO BE NOT HUMAN UHJHHHHHHHH fuck it guess he’s part ancient now too. i guess. shit i’ll have to spend more time on him but this is.. the gist

next we got uhh forzen babey. i’ll be honest i’m not too confident on this one. i had the vague idea that maybe he’s a mermaid? although whether he’s one of the mermaids that steals sunken pirates and turns them into mermaids or one of the mermaids who was turned into a pirate i can’t really decide. i mean the pirates-turned-mermaids are always helpful in game, and forzen. well. Isn’t, but the mermaid-mermaids live so far deep that they’re never seen? so i don’t know. but he’s out there.... in the ocean....... somewhere....... waiting for me to have more brain power to answer this

it’s darnold time! i’ll be honest i also don’t have many ideas for this guy. i thought maybe he’s got something to do with the order of souls? that’s vaguely related to potions right? sage darnold with the oos eyes curse and he reads the fuckin skull juices to help out the crew with their voyages..... i think? there are other options too but this is the one that jumped out at me the most!

GREGORY MAN. the man himself. SO I GOT TWO POSSIBILITIES HERE FOR THIS GUY. what i can’t decide on is how much of canon sot i want to be canon in this au... mainly, the stuff abt the pirate lord. i got two options here, one of which is that ramsey still exists as the pirate lord and he hangs out doing mostly the same shit he does in canon, and gman is like. an ancient who stuck around the sea of thieves for whatever reason? which would make tommy a descendant of the ancients too, hence why i specified earlier that all the pirates in the crew might not be human..... EITHER THAT OR gman is the pirate lord and ramsey fuckin uh doesn’t exist in the au. and i CANNOT for the life of me decide which i like better. ANY HELP APPRECIATE HERE PLS

OH ALSO I FORGOT SUNKIST HE’S A MONKEY THAT TOMMY HAS AND HE CAN DO COOL TRICKS AND EVERYONE LOVES HIM. HE’S IMMORTAL SOMEHOW. DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT

THEN. it’s tim,e for “how the fuck did everyone get past the shroud into the sot”

i think no matter who the pirate lord is in this au they’d have no problems letting pretty much anyone in honestly. ramsey just kinda says “oh you washed up unconscious on the shores of old sailor’s isle? cool let me just not ask any questions and part the shroud for you real quick ok bye” and honestly i can’t imagine gman would be much different—although he’d probably be more cryptic abt it than ramsey is

SO. GORDOS. i feel like him coming to the sot was a last resort of sorts. he feels lost in life, unsure what his goal is or where he’s going, and he hears of this mystical sea that nobody who enters ever leaves but apparently there’s adventure and treasure and wonder there so he’s like fuck it, i’ve got nothing else to do and goes there hoping to find some sort of purpose. and find it he does :)

tommy time! i feel like whatever brought him here had to be partially related to his dad? either he’s just There bc. well. his dad’s the fuckin pirate lord, or gman’s all cryptid abt being an ancient and left tommy to sort of grow up in the sot on his own while gman kept a distant eye on him, just so tommy wouldn’t find out too much abt being an ancient or whatever. uh. so he’s pretty familiar w the world of sot and all its wacky magic shit! 

(actual sot lore question here bc this is smth i don’t know—does all the magic that happens in sea of thieves happen beyond the shroud? i wonder if the rest of the world also has skeletons and giant sea monsters and magic and shit or if it’s just inside the sea of thieves...... hmmm for this au i’m gonna assume that all magic is something unique to the sea of thieves and doesn’t happen beyond the shroud) 

The Bubby. honestly i like the idea that bubby came to the sot just to like... get away from the outside world? like maybe he’s on the run from something............ this is very very vague in my mind and is extremely subject to change but i like the whole “I’M LEAVING THIS WORLD!” thing as bubby being like fuck the regular world i’m going into the flesh eating devil shroud and nobody can stop me. and then he did

coomer. the man himself. i think coomer came to the sot searching for adventure! and more to learn! he’s always looking to broaden his horizons and where else to go but to the mystical sea of thieves when looking for new experiences? coomer is just here to have a good time :)

UH i think darnold already existed in the sot... he just sorta Lives There... there are npcs who just fucking were born and raised there right. like tasha was in the sot at age 4 so it makes sense right?? darnold just live here and he helps get the crew from the outside world familiar with the sot!

FORZEN has been in the sot for ages—either he’s always been here as a mermaid or he got turned into one so long ago and he’s just been getting angrier and angrier w it every year he’s trapped here. he barely remember why he came anymore but god does he regret it. :(

gman either way just kind of Is There huh..... as the pirate lord i honestly can’t imagine his origin being much different than ramsey’s? like he just makes friends w the ancients like hey what’s up i like this sea. my sea now. or he Is an ancient and just fucking chills there. whatever

OK THAT’S MOSTLY IT FOR WHAT I HAVE FOR TECHNICAL STUFF WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO IT..... HERE ARE SOME OTHER FUN BITS I THOUGHT OF:

bubby discovers firebombs and Uh Oh. Uh Oh Everyone Watch Out Bubby’s Got Fire Powers Now. he only accidentally sets the ship on fire SOMETIMES it’s FINE. (also his favorite region is the devil’s roar. unsurprisingly. he likes the chaos it brings)

bubby and tommy + coomer as well are agents of chaos in general. they don’t follow the fuckin Rules and it makes gordon’s life a living hell. 

bubby: look gordon i dug up some grubs! gordon: cool man, put those in the barrel and we can use them to fish late- bubby: (shoving the grubs in his mouth) gordon: BUBBY NO WHAT THE FUCK DON’T EAT TH coomer: oh, what a good idea, bubby! i am feeling quite hungry myself! (also starts eating worms) gordon: I’M COOKING DINNER AT THE CAMPFIRE RIGHT NOW PLEASE DON’T tommy: oh are the worms okay to eat? i wonder what they taste like gordon: NO STOP benrey, shoving worms in gordon’s face: eat worms? eat worms now please?

coomer finds out how to launch himself out of a cannon and he becomes unstoppable. the crew is attacked by an enemy ship and everyone’s like “oh fuck everyone get to the cannons!” and they go there to find coomer fucking launching himself directly onto the enemy ship, and he kills their entire crew in seconds. by the time he mermaids back to his ship everyone is fucking stunned silent and coomer is just like “well, that takes care of that! let’s get back on course, gentlemen!” and since then they just fucking fire coomer at people like a weapon whenever they get attacked by other pirates or skeletons. It Always Works

UH AND I THINK THAT’S KIND OF WHAT I HAVE SO FAR? i might be forgetting something but this post is long enough as is...... 

IF ANYONE HAS ANYTHING TO ADD FEEL FREE!!! i love sea of thieves so fuckin much man... and i didn’t even TOUCH on anything like any of the reaper’s bones shit which i would be interested in looking at getting involved in this au somehow...... i will probably come back to this if anyone else is interested !! otherwise that’s all i got for now!!!! thank you so much for asking anon!!!!!

[bgn846]

Worthy Chapter 1: Bright Idea FFXV A/B/O Promnis

Summary:            

Being the thirteenth in line for the throne of Niflheim was bad enough. However, add the complication of being a rare omegan male to the mix and things were downright terrible.  Prompto had a small dream to sit on the throne one day if only to prove his worth.  He knew he couldn’t do it alone so he decides his best option is to hire a brilliant advisor to guide him to the top.

The issue being the advisor he really wants is already employed by the prince of Lucis, Noctis Lucis Caelum.   He also has to get over his innate fear of alphas since as it turns out the advisor is a rather intimidating one.

Will Prompto ever get the chance to rise in his position or will he be stuck at the bottom forever?

Written for the 2019 Promnis Big Bang

This is a re-post of an older work.  Wanted to set it free in the world again. :)

CHAPTER ONE:

The sides of the container felt like they were pressing in on him, but Prompto knew that couldn’t be true.  Wooden crates don’t suddenly develop the ability to move; his mind was playing tricks on him. The fact that the crate also held a stone statue didn’t help either.  What space was available was cramped and lumpy.

 Prompto kept telling himself that he only needed to deal with the waves of claustrophobia for another hour tops.  The dizzying feeling he was experiencing was nearly unbearable. He knew he was sweating profusely and closing his eyes only seemed to make it worse.  Being able to touch all the sides of his makeshift prison at the same time was not comforting.

 The ride in the drop ship from Niflheim to Lucis didn’t take more than a couple hours.  He knew that he’d been stuck in there for an hour already, according to his phone. Sixty more minutes.  He could do this. So long as he didn’t focus on the stale air and lack of light.

 Gods he had to stay calm. The last thing he needed was to be prematurely discovered due to  his distressed scent. If his irritating step brothers had let him come, then he wouldn’t be in this predicament.  Prompto didn’t remember there being a rule anywhere about omegas not being able to do dignitary visits.

 Sadly, his step-father was no longer alive, or he would have defended the poor blond.  The king of Niflheim had passed peacefully in his sleep two years ago. This left the country to be ruled by his remaining thirteen children, all of whom were alpha’s except for one: Prompto, the rare omegan male.  

 Since he wasn’t technically related to any of his brothers by blood, it made court life difficult.  The king had married his mother after she’d been widowed for many years. Prompto had grown to love his new step-father, but his brothers were another story.  They at least treated his mother with respect even after the king’s death.

 She had the smarts to stay out of the way of their antics and appear where they needed her for this and that.  She was still queen, despite her lack of power, and his mother knew better than to rock the boat. So life had gone on and Prompto had watched as he was pushed further and further out of the picture.

 Not that being thirteenth in line meant anything.  He realistically knew he’d never make it near the throne, which was why he was currently hiding in a crate bound for Insomnia.  Noctis Lucis Caelum, the only son and heir to the throne of Lucis, was a lucky sot. He didn’t have brothers to fight with, and his rise to the throne was guaranteed.  Prompto also knew he wasn’t alone in his endeavors. He had a royal advisor.

 Ignis Stupeo Scientia of House Scientia.  The man was renowned for his mental prowess, among many other traits.  Scientia was the reason Prompto had subjected himself to this risky trip.  He wished to hire the advisor for his own advancement. Niflheim wasn’t a rich nation, but it at least had enough royal reserves to pay handsomely for someone in Scientia’s position.    

 Prompto’s issue, though, would be finding Scientia to make his offer without getting caught.  Actually, who was he kidding? He had a lot of issues to deal with. A rather long list was growing in his head as he sat in the dark.  How would he know when exactly to exit the crate without getting caught? Was finding food and shelter going to be a problem? Why didn’t he pack a freaking bag?  Astrals, he was doomed. Maybe he should just stay in the crate and hope they forgot to unload it and went back home.

 That wish was not granted.  As soon as the ship landed, the crate started moving.  It was being unloaded. Trying to control his breathing, Prompto waited until the crate stopped and the voices nearby drifted away.  Groping around in the dark, he felt for the gap that indicated the lose panel of wood. Once he located it, he pulled it away and squeezed out.

 He’d had enough sense to change before he’d smuggled himself onboard.  Nothing stands out more than a blond-haired man wandering around in white princely raiment.  It was strange to be wearing civilian clothes, but it was necessary to blend in. Now all he to do was figure out where he was and how to locate Scientia.

 Peering out from behind a large shipping container revealed that the city center was not close.  Damn, how was he going to get to the citadel? His step brothers that had made the journey were riding in a caravan of fancy cars.  Unless he wanted a beating, he would have to stay out of their sight. His presence alone would make them go full alpha at this point.

 He’d been strictly forbidden from journeying with them to Insomnia.  His eldest step-brother, Alban, had resorted to shouting when Prompto had requested to go with them.  He was an omega, and he was not fit to travel with the royal party. The visit was merely to mark the centennial anniversary of the peace treaty signed between the nations.   Hence the giving of gifts, such as the statue he’d been stuck traveling with.

 A terrible idea flitted through the blond’s mind when he saw the royal’s tall clothing case being loaded on a truck.  He needed to hide in their luggage. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to get past the gate at the citadel.

 Prompto copied moves from a spy movie he’d seen recently and tried his best to covertly run towards the truck before they closed the door.  He was nearly there when a group of airport workers appeared. They were coming his way, and they were looking for something.

 He watched in horror as the group of men, probably all alphas, began sniffing around.  Shit. They were sniffing for him! One issue with emitting scents was you could never smell your own.  A distressed omega was easy to smell, and these men were headed straight for him.

 He ducked down behind a box and tried his best to calm down.   This was spectacularly bad. They would catch him and would not believe his story.  He didn’t bring any documentation; he was simply an unclaimed omega. They would probably kidnap him or force themselves on him.  That thought made Prompto shudder.    

 They were close enough now that he could hear them talking. Then suddenly a surge of alpha scent clogged his nostrils.  It was pure lust, they weren’t even hiding it.  

 “I know I smell a fucking omega,” one man piped up with a gruff voice.

 “It’s strong.  Must have been a stowaway.”

 “That’ll mean more fun for us, then.” Another chuckled sadistically.   “They’ll have no one to help them.”

 Prompto had to bite his hand to keep from whimpering.  He most definitely didn’t want to get caught by these thugs.  Suddenly, he heard another man yelling farther away. The group of men grunted in response and tried to yell back.

 “We can’t help you right now, man.  We’re hunting for something.”

 The response that came was still too far away to really hear.   Whatever they’d been told made them grumble louder, but they started to walk away.

 “This sucks.  There’s an unclaimed omega out there hiding, and we won’t be able to come back until later to search.”

 Okay.  That decided it.  Prompto absolutely needed to get his butt on the truck heading towards the citadel.  Using another silly spy movie move, Prompto threw a rock he’d picked up at a container to make a loud noise.   The two men loading the luggage turned and watched for a few minutes. It was just enough time for the prince to scurry on board and hide behind a large suitcase.

 The near encounter with the gross alphas had shaken him; he was trembling and had to sit down.  Thankfully, the men finished loading a few minutes later, and the door was closed right after. Great.  Stuck in another dark cramped space. Sighing heavily, Prompto tried to gather his thoughts.

 They might check the truck when they got to the gate; he needed to hide again.  The one benefit to technically being in the royal family was that he knew the combo to the luggage lock.  Using his phone flashlight, he was able to squish into the tall clothing case. Hopefully he didn’t pass out before they reached the guest quarters.

 If they found him stashed in their luggage, he’d most likely get locked back up in the box.  That would be extremely unpleasant. His step brothers weren’t exactly known for their kindness towards him.

 Unable to stop shaking, Prompto focused on breathing slowly.   The space he was currently occupied felt even tighter than the wooden crate. All the clothing was pressing up against his body and triggering his claustrophobia something fierce.

 Again waiting for the voices outside to fade, he cautiously exited the luggage case. Prompto all but collapsed on the floor when he felt the rush of fresh air hit his face.   Assuming he looked a right mess, he only took a moment to catch his breath and then scrambled to find another hiding spot.

 He’d moved just in time.  The door to the guest suite swung in, and Alban strode in with his brother Otho.  They were having a heated discussion.

 “I told you not to let Porcius come.  He’s a total bore,” Otho complained. “The Lucians will kick us out if he continues on in this manner.”

 “Relax.  It will be over soon enough, and then we’ll be home.   Captain Drautos and the Marshal know he’s harmless. They’ll escort him away from people, if need be.  So enjoy the food for now and the banquet tomorrow night. It’s the one time a year we get to have a taste of all the pretty Lucian girls they invite,” Alban commented.

 “Yeah, easy for you to say. They flock to you, since you’re first in line.  All those pretty girls want is to be queen.”

 Alban laughed.  “True, true. . . but you never know. I could actually meet someone worthy one of these visits.”

 “I doubt it, Alban.  You’re an absolute prick.” Otho snickered.

 It sounded like the two had resorted to shoving each other as the conversation died out.  The sound of the door opening and closing again indicated they’d left. Peering out from the drapery stack he’d been standing behind revealed an empty room.  He still had to get out and into the citadel to find Scientia. Staring at the door to the suite revealed an issue; he had no way of knowing who, if anyone, was in the hallway.

 There had to be an access corridor somewhere for the staff.  He simply needed to find that. After about twenty minutes and a few pinched fingers, Prompto found another door.  This one was expertly hidden in a wall of books. Shoving the secret door open, he stumbled out into a clinically lit concrete hallway.  The sound of the door latching and locking behind him caused Prompto to panic. Shit, how was he supposed to get back into the room now?

 He had no map and no idea where to go.  Opting to slowly wander the endless corridors, Prompto spent the next two hours hopelessly lost.  He was tired and thirsty and starting to wish he’d never hatched this hair-brained scheme.

 A small creaking sound would catch Prompto’s attention every so often, and he was starting to worry that this mind was playing tricks on him.  A moment later, he was being roughly tackled to the hard floor. He wasn’t sure whether to be grateful he wasn’t actually mad or just plain scared to death.

 Prompto had been trained to fight, but he had no one to spar with, so his skills were terrible.  The person who had attacked him was the total opposite. He even knew how to use magic – wait. That could only mean one thing.

 He’d been found by the last person he wanted to see: Noctis Lucis Caelum.  

 “What are you doing? What’s your mission?” Noctis growled in his ear as he pinned him to the cold ground.

 The Lucian prince had a knee in his back to keep him in place, and after a second, Prompto realized he was securing his wrists behind his back.  That act alone caused the blond to truly panic. “No, no! Please don’t do that. Don’t hurt me!” he wailed. His fear was taking over.

 “Well, tell me who you are, and maybe I’ll be nicer,” the prince retorted.

 Prompto couldn’t think straight and lied.  “I’m a servant for the Argentum family. Please, I got lost, don’t hurt me!”

 “Pffft, like I’m gonna believe that. Come on, buttercup.  You’re coming with me until I get you properly I.D’d,” Noctis announced as he briskly pulled Prompto upright and forced him to walk down the hall.

 Time blurred in Prompto’s mind, and after what felt like an hour but was probably closer to a few minutes, he was being shoved in a fancy wing chair.  Before he was able to register what was happening, Noctis had tied his ankles together as well.

 “Sit still and keep quiet.  I’m calling for backup.”

 Prompto wanted the chair to swallow him whole; this was so, so bad.  He pulled at his bonds slightly to test them. Noctis had done a good job.  He was stuck. He was aware of the prince on a call with someone. He caught the tail end of the conversation.

 “I found him wandering the back private corridors.” He paused as the other person spoke.  “I don’t know, Specs. Just come and help me figure it out, please.”

 The call ended shortly after, and Prompto was forced to wait. He hoped he wouldn’t pass out.  The anxiety alone was going to stop his heart. It wasn’t true, though; his heart was going to explode.  He had only to wait on their next visitor to prove it. The door to the room gracefully swung open and in stepped Scientia.

 Prompto’s mind was awash with emotion.  His rehearsed speech for Scientia was leaking out of his brain as the seconds ticked by.  It was being swept away by fear. The blond hadn’t taken into account one major thing: Scientia was an alpha.  He’d gotten the wrong information on the advisor. Based off the look Noctis was giving the man, he knew what had happened.

 Foolish omega that he was, he’d assumed Noctis was an alpha and Scientia a beta.  As he sat trembling in the chair, he saw his mistake clear as day. It was the reverse.  Alpha’s were a problem for him - a very big problem. When Noctis had tackled him, he’d been so caught off guard that it didn’t register that Noctis didn’t smell like an alpha.

 Most interactions with alphas went terribly for Prompto - so much so that he tried to avoid them all together. Hiding in his quarters and rarely making public appearances helped, but he was on his own right now.      

 What transpired next was unexpected, as Ignis stood near the door and dumbly looked from Noctis and back to Prompto.  “Noct, may I ask why on Eos you have decided to assault the crown prince of Niflheim?”

 “Wha – no—I’ve met them all, and he isn’t one of them,” Noct spit out in disbelief.

 “I can assure you, Highness, that this is Prince Argentum the thirteenth in line for the throne of Niflheim.”

 Noct was speechless as he stared at Prompto.  “Nooo, I would have remembered that. He looks nothing like them!” The prince was scrambling, trying to save face.  “I do read the briefings you give me. I’m not that bad!”  

 Ignis turned back to face Prompto. “Highness, do forgive prince Noctis. He can be lacking in manners at times, but I can assure you he means well.”  The advisor started walking over to his side of the room.

 Prompto yelped and shook his head vehemently.  “Stay away from me! Don’t hurt me!”

 This stopped Ignis in his tracks as a look of pure confusion bloomed on his pale face. “Highness, you’re safe. I can assure you of that. I won’t hurt you.”  He edged a little closer, seeming to test for a reaction. This also allowed the advisor to clearly see Prompto’s feet.  

 Still reeling from the whole experience, Prompto tried to curl in on himself. He wanted to hide.   But in an instant, the mood changed. The air was thick with the smell of an angry alpha.

 Ignis’ voice rang out loudly. “Noctis Lucis Caelum, why have you restrained him?!  For six sake, I can’t handle this right now! Go fetch me a glass of water. Now!” He growled.

 Stealing a glance at the dark-haired prince, the blond could tell that this reaction from Scientia was extremely rare.  The prince of Lucis looked like a kicked puppy. His eyes were wide, and he backed away quickly to leave the room. Looking back to Scientia, Prompto was expecting the anger to merely be redirected to him.  However, the advisor simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The scent in the room changed again, and Prompto could feel himself calming down.

 He whined softly, since he didn’t really understand what was going on.  When Scientia opened his eyes again, he seemed more relaxed.

 “Highness.  If I may, I would like to release you.” Scientia stated as he waited for Prompto to agree.

 Prompto’s brain was mush. He couldn’t think straight anymore, but he did know he wanted to be untied.  He just had to risk letting this alpha touch him. “Promise you won’t hurt me?” he questioned again quietly.

 “I promise.” Scientia replied, still waiting for permission to approach.

 Nodding slowly, Prompto still couldn’t help but flinch when Ignis began walking over.  He closed his eyes and waited. The rope at his feet was loosened first, and he felt a strong but gentle touch squeeze his calf.  Daring to crack his eyes open, he was surprised to find Ignis kneeling on the floor beside him.

 The very idea of an alpha kneeling before an omega would have made his step brothers cringe.  Yet, here was one doing just that. Prompto allowed Ignis to coax him forward in the chair so he could reach his hands.    

 “Are you injured in any way?  I can secure a potion for you, if necessary,” the alpha asked from where he was still crouched on the floor.

 Shaking his head, Prompto leaned back in the chair and rubbed his wrists.  Noctis finally came back into the room with a glass of water. He stalled out a few steps from them as if waiting for permission.

 Ignis sighed and motioned him over.  “I’m not cross with you, Noct. It’s merely a diplomacy nightmare when you accidentally attack a visiting prince.”

 “No one knows I’m here,” Prompto offered right away. “I wasn’t supposed to come on this trip.”

 The prince of lucis made an odd grunting noise and looked at Ignis with a ‘I told you so’ expression.

 Ignis rolled his eyes and pointed at the glass of water.  “I do believe our guest might be thirsty.”

 Once Prompto had secured the glass with both hands, he nearly gulped its whole contents down.  Then, in a flash, his insecurities came flooding back. What if they were drugging him? He must have looked distressed, or maybe he’d started emitting a scent, because in an instant the advisor was in his line of sight with a concerned look.

 Oddly enough, it was Prince Noctis who figured out the issue.   His solution was to snatch the glass back and take a sip. “It’s not been tampered with. It’s just water.” He finished, then set the glass down on the coffee table.  “I’m sorry I tackled you. I really didn’t recognize you.”

 Unable to respond due to his nerves, Prompto focused on breathing.  The calm feeling from earlier was still permeating his senses and helping.  Unfortunately, his journey was over almost before it had begun. Now that he’d been caught, there was no choice but to face his step-brothers’ wrath and hope the punishment wasn’t too severe.   Scientia being an alpha had wrecked his plan. Prompto wasn’t sure he could handle working with one.

 “So I suppose I’ll have to fess up for delaying you, huh?” The prince pondered from where he leaned against the sofa arm.

 “Um – you don’t have to say anything.  I can go back to the room by myself.” Prompto hoped they might let him walk out of there without issue.

 “What if you get lost again?  I can’t let that happen. Now that I know who you are, I really need to make sure you stay in good hands,” Prince Noctis announced.

 “Highness, may I inquire as to how you arrived here?” Scientia asked, looking at Prompto.

 The blond tried his best to not look at the floor when he answered, but it was so hard with Scientia’s green eyes staring right at him.  “I snuck aboard the drop ship in the cargo area.”

 Noct leaned forward at the comment and looked slightly shocked. “I thought when you said that no one knew you were here, you only meant you came on a different ship.  Not that you stowed away!”

 Shaking his head, Prompto lost the battle to continue looking at the advisor.  He averted his eyes, focusing on the floor instead. Scientia hadn’t moved from his position.  Prompto didn’t know why, but it was comforting to not be talked down to.

 Ignis seemed lost in thought and eventually repositioned himself to sit on the coffee table.  “Might it be more prudent for you to remain hidden while you’re here? I’m sure we can arrange a covert transport to take you back home.”    

 Hardly able to believe what he was hearing, Prompto nearly fell out of his chair.  “You mean it?” he asked, wide-eyed.

 “Why would that make a difference? His family is here - wouldn’t that be a better way to get home?” Prince Noctis asked, perplexed.

 Scientia pursed his lips and looked up at the prince.  “I trust that you have at least been able to deduce that Prince Argentum is an omega, correct?”

 “Well, yeah, of course, wha --.”

 “Then you should also be aware that the royal family of Niflheim is headed mostly by alphas.  Who happen to have a rather dated opinion of omegas. Which is rather upsetting considering that one of their own is of that dynamic.”

 The Lucian prince addressed Prompto directly for his next bevy of questions.  “So you would prefer that none of your brothers know you’re here?”

 “Step-brothers,” Prompto corrected.

 “Sorry, but won’t someone notice you’re missing back home if you are gone for more than a day?”

 “Not really.  I mostly stay in my room,” the blond mumbled.

 “The queen perhaps? Might you like to get a message to her?” Scientia asked kindly.

 Prompto sighed. “My mum already knows.  I knew she’d come looking for me, so I told her my plan.”

 “Yeah, that was my next question. What on Eos would you come here for?”  Noct blurted.

 The truth was easy to say, but Prompto knew he would be laughed at if he admitted his real reason for coming, so he lied again.  “Uh, I just really wanted to see the capital city. I’ve never been.”

 Prince Noctis scowled at the response.  “That sounds a little lame to me, but I guess everyone has their own dreams.”

 “Noctis!” Scientia exclaimed.  “Why are you being so crass today? What has gotten into you?”

 The prince of Lucis rolled his eyes and looked away.  Clearly he’d been around Ignis for a long time to treat him that way and not get reprimanded.

 The advisor frowned and made to stand up.  “I will work on securing transport for you to return home.  Would you be alright staying here with Noctis for now?”

 Prompto thought for a second and was working through his fears. Noctis didn’t seem that bad. He was a beta and had the chill demeanor of one to match.  If the prince didn’t mind him staying, then he did feel safe there. “I would like to stay, if it’s alright.” he responded meekly.

 Scientia looked to the dark-haired prince and waited for an answer.  Prince Noctis shrugged noncommittally. “I thought all visitors to my suite had to go through a background check first.”  It appeared to Prompto that the lucian prince was trying to point out a mistake to Scientia.  

 The royal advisor raised an eyebrow and turned to Noctis. “What makes you think I have not done this already?  Prince Prompto was on the list of possible guests so he has already undergone the background check.”    

 “Oh.” Noctis mumbled, “I don’t mind if he stays then.  It will be nice to have someone else around.” He finished.

 “Very well, then.  I will return once I have more information.   Noct, I believe you may need to order dinner soon.  I have a feeling our fair-haired friend here may be getting hungry.”

 As if on cue, Prompto’s stomach growled loudly, and he could feel his face flushing.  “So you won’t tell my step-brothers I’m here?” he confirmed again, still slightly scared of what would happen if they found out.  

 “Your safety is important.  I will endeavor to keep your presence hidden while you are visiting, Highness.” Ignis offered with a small bow.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to work.”  

 As quickly as the man had breezed into his life, he waltzed back out.  Scientia was gone, and Prompto wasn’t sure he’d see him again. He was a coward for not saying anything about his real reason for coming. Maybe he saw the bond that already existed between Noct and his advisor. They were close, and he knew Scientia wouldn’t leave his position.  No money on Eos would convince him otherwise. That much was obvious.

 Noct’s waving hand suddenly appeared in his vision.  “Hey, you okay there? Um – do you want to play some video games while we wait for dinner?”

 “Huh? Sorry, uh – yeah, sure, that sounds like fun.”

 “Don’t tell Iggy I had to ask, but what is your first name?”

 “Who’s Igg—y?” Prompto tried out the name on his lips.

 “Ignis, my advisor. The tall dude who invoked the power of the gods on my ass earlier when he asked for water.”  

 “Oh. My name is Prompto.”

 Prince Noctis sighed and seemed to relax a little.  “That’s a good name. You can call me Noct, by the way.  All my friends do.”

 Prompto was slightly stunned by that admission as he followed Noct into another room and watched the prince get his game system ready.  Maybe he was wrong to assume he wouldn’t get along with the other prince. Getting comfy on the couch, he accepted a gaming controller and proceeded to tune out the real world.

 For the first time he actually felt at ease.  Maybe he would survive his adventure yet.

> Next Chapter 2

[not-poignant]

(this might be a bit personal, and by all means please don't feel pressured to answer) but considering how dark some of your stuff can get, have you ever been troubled by some of the characters/their actions in your stories (and semi-related) had to take some time to cope with writing a difficult scene?

This is a tough one so I’m going to put a lot of it under a read more (sorry phone browsers).

I’ve had the occasional moment of struggling with content because of being troubled by it.

But by contrast it’s funny because, I think some of the most difficult scenes for others, are actually some of the easiest for me to write. For example, the chapter where Connor is basically kidnapped by Gabriel and given the highball, was so easy to write it was like swimming (which is the only sports-like skill I’m good at). If everything could be like that, oh my goodness, I can’t even imagine. It was an intense, emotionally fraught, joyful experience of the likes I don’t know how to explain to other people who don’t experience that.

So there’s not always any rhyme or reason to it either. I struggled with significant chunks of Strange Sights. I couldn’t finish The Drawn Bead because it just felt like we were heading towards torture porn but I also knew I couldn’t do justice to the horror of Gwyn’s memory AND it has a tragic ending and I struggle to write those for longer pieces. I tend to struggle with characters being separated from each other. So the beginning of Into Shadows We Fall, when Jack and Pitch are completely separated from each other, that was so difficult for me personally, that I actually ended up massively shortening how long they were meant to be separated for. Even though Pitch and Jack have a really thorny relationship when Pitch is returned, I still preferred that to their being absent from each other.

But I didn’t have as much of a problem with it, when it was Gwyn and Augus.

It’s not predictable, sometimes I enjoy writing the troubling content on a very visceral level. Either because I feel like I’m in my element as a writer. Or I know it’s going to be so satisfying (for me) for the character to recover from it later. Or I know that it’s going to lead to something I’ve been craving writing. I mean I wouldn’t write so much of that kind of content if I didn’t get something really tangible out of it.

There are still things that surprise me, still scenes that become more difficult as I write them, not because of ‘technical writing reasons’ but because of the thematic content. Often, for me, it highlights things I probably won’t enjoy writing again. Strange Sights for me worked as a series of oneshots, but as a long-term abusive and rape-filled relationship, it didn’t actually become comfortable for me until Augus began to be allowed to have boundaries. So I probably won’t write a couple that toxic ever again outside of novellas and PWPs. With the beginning of Into Shadows We Fall, I learned I had to be really careful with character separation, and that three chapters was about my limit (from memory, I think I stuck to this - or just about - in COFT).

But...maybe it would make people feel better if I said I really struggled with writing Gavril taunting Jack. Or Jack being whipped by Bunnymund. Or Augus torturing him in chapter 4 of ISWF. Or Gwyn being tormented by his mother. Or Mosk having flashbacks of Davix and Olphix. I find them intense, sure, but I don’t dislike doing it. Even though I often really feel for the character who is experiencing the torment. Gwyn goes through a fairly graphic description an MRI the next chapter in SOTS, and though I myself actually had an MRI phobia for a few years (it was the reason I developed claustrophobia), I found the scene itself disturbing, but deeply satisfying enough that I wouldn’t call it something where I needed to take time out to cope.

As for me being troubled by how the characters are actually behaving... This is tricky. I mean of course a lot of them are doing stupid, terrible, harmful, cruel, illegal things. I don’t condone it in reality. But thinking of these things happening in fiction is different to thinking about them happening in reality. The fact is, ‘dubcon’ in reality is just rape, and if I applied real world standards to non-real scenarios filled with tropes and the Id, yeah sure, I would be troubled, but I’d also not be writing any of this content.

As an addendum to that, for me their behaviour always makes sense to me from their perspective. Whether it’s Mosk being emotionally abusive with no concept of it. Gwyn raping Augus. Augus killing Efnisien. Pitch in TGATNW being heartless and constantly pushing Jack away with very cruel behaviour. Even Davix and Olphix. Whatever their behaviour is, if I can understand their motives behind it, I tend to struggle with it a lot less.

I don’t like to squick myself with my own writing, as a general rule. So no, I’m not looking to write things where I need to take breaks from my own writing to cope. But I think to be blunt, my life is filled with things more challenging than what I put a lot of my characters through, and my emotional ability to handle disturbing behaviour is broader than I think it would be for some other people. It doesn’t mean I lack empathy or compassion, if anything I hope that through my writing, people can see that I have great compassion for the characters that often suffer the most, through my need to build up a chosen/found family around them, and pour love onto them, even if they don’t know what to do with it.

Those that are here in the pit of ‘enjoying Pia’s writing’ are probably here because the comfort when it comes is - I hope - tangible and visceral, the loneliness when it’s comforted away reaches past the screen and means something. And holding onto that thread myself is why I enjoy the hurt part of the hurt/comfort as much as the comfort part, but also why I don’t like to write one without the other.

And finally, most of my POV characters, by the time we get to them, have been through their darkest moments in their pasts. The only way we often access their worst moments is through flashbacks, memories, dialogue or their aversions. That might feel very extreme to some, but for me, it means by the time we get to them, they’re already starting to recover something for themselves. The worst has happened.

Even if they go through something during the story, say - Connor in Eversion with Gabriel - I just think ‘it’s okay, they’re already in the story, their support is there, they’re going to be okay.’ It’s...extremely rare for me to write stories where the character goes through their worst trauma within the story. Science of Fear is an exception to that, but as most people know if they’ve read it - Nathan blacks out early on, and then once more, we only find out the details of his worst trauma in the form of nightmares, flashbacks and dialogue.

That’s partly because I feel personally that I write trauma recovery stories, and not trauma stories (it doesn’t sound like a huge difference, but to me it’s a huge difference). And then secondly because there is a buffer through the trauma itself being in the form of a memory. That...makes it a lot easier for me to cope with. I’ve spent my entire life learning how to cope with flashbacks, after all. But also, even if the character is clearly destroyed by a flashback, the fact is, they survived it. The flashback is living proof they survived it.

But anyway, I’d say me taking breaks from my own writing because of disturbing content specifically doesn’t really happen anymore and I can’t remember the last time it did. I take breaks because I’m struggling with a chapter - i.e. how to write it mechanically, or because I feel like it doesn’t have the emotional strength I want it to have yet. I am actually very comfortable with many of the themes I write, I’d have a far squickier, grosser, harder time writing pregnancy, or a story filled with only fluff, which is y’know, why...I don’t really write those things, lol. I’m too much of a hedonist to want to write content that scared me away from my own content? Like, you do you, folks, but I’m going to be over here actually enjoying what I write, disturbing matter and all.

That doesn’t mean other people can’t have a hard time with it. It’s totally okay for people to take breaks from whatever they read, for whatever reason. And since a lot of the characters I write do engage in troubling behaviour, it wouldn’t be great if people said ‘that behaviour is okay to do in real life’ because it isn’t. But if someone said ‘god I love that villain because he’s awful’ then yeah, I’m right there with pom poms, because that’s my jam too. And if someone else said ‘I can’t stand that villain because he’s awful’ then yeah, that’s awesome as well.

And if people need to take breaks while reading what I’m writing because they’re engaging in self-care, then good! I’ve needed to do the same with other people’s writing. Because the journey of the reader is different to the journey of the writer (this is for me, truest when writing porn, lmao, I’m not turning myself on when I write those scenes, but I sure as hell hope I’m turning on at least some readers --> so if I’m not walking away from the disturbing content in my own writing, that doesn’t mean I’m not hoping people won’t be disturbed when reading it).

[pomegranate-salad]

Seeds of thought : Wicdiv 1923 special

A belated happy new year to you all ! And for my first SOT of the year, I couldn’t have hoped for a better subject. There were a lot of different directions I could have taken this analysis in given how rich the material was, so I ended up going for what I thought would be the most challenging to explore. Get ready folks : we’re going to get philosophical for this one. Thoughts and opinion under the cut, not spoiler-free.

TOMORROW BELONGS…

 As we reach the third instalment of the “pantheons of the past” specials, common themes and threads are starting to appear more clearly. Each special has taken us to very different eras and revolved around different stakes, each hiding a deeper reflexion on Art and artists : the value of creators for society in the 455AD special, their immortality versus their legacy in the 1831 one. But in none of them is that reflexion disconnected from the era in which it takes place ; moreover, there is always a relation between the two, as the debate on Art walks along the changing times. More specifically, each special takes us at a turning point in History, both in and of itself and in what it means to be an artist. The 455AD special took us not only to the end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the hegemony of Christianity, but also at the end of Roman culture and its disdain for artists. Art would soon find a new breath either in the Byzantine Empire or in Christian art. 1831 sits at the end of the first Industrial Revolution and the beginning of nationalisms in Europe as well as the last years of the Romantics movement. As I’ve remarked before, despite Ananke’s claims that the pantheon’s role is to “inspire” and stave off the “great darkness”, more often than not the gods belong to the dying side of artists from which the new dominant form of Art is trying to emerge. This pattern of last breaths, of breaking points within the specials, really calls into question how much the gods can really affect the upcoming times and stir History in a different direction. As supposed representatives of the “spirit of the era”, the inner turmoil of the pantheon rather seems to reflect the boiling of the world around, pushing and pulling from it along the complex links that unite History and Art and the evolution of the two.

 This theme is addressed more directly than ever in the 1923 special, which takes us to the Interwar period in a pantheon divided between proponents of the “high Arts” of the past and torchbearers of the “low Arts” born from technical discoveries. Here, the correspondence between the Historical context and the artistic evolutions incarnated by the pantheon is almost textual : we are “in between wars” the same way the gods sit “between” Art of the past and future, as poetry and literature will never reach the levels of popularity cinema and music will attain again. But I think one important thing to consider when analysing this issue is how much this perspective derives from our modern point of view : the upcoming future of cinema is as bright to us as the certainty of a Second World War. To the gods themselves, none of these two futures is yet written in stone, or even written at all. One thing that is lost to us as children of the future is how much a period of uncertainty and shift in culture the Roaring Twenties were – as it often is with eras on the heel of massive destruction. At the times, it truly felt like the future was anybody’s game, with new countries, new political structures for international relations, new cultural mediums and scenes. Except for the Cassandras of the era who probably saw in the Versailles treaty the seed of an approaching new conflict, nothing in 1923 must have had the fragrance of ineluctability. Or, for that matter, necessity. Indeed, if we read Ananke as the incarnation of the necessity she posits herself to be, the fact that every single member of the pantheon is still alive toward the end of the two years can very well be read as a testament to the uncertainty and changeability of the era, in which every form of art and artist has its place because the world has not yet determined what the future of art ought to be.

 And so, it is not surprising that Ananke should use the inner tensions of the pantheon to lead it to destroy itself instead of acting mostly on her own as she does in the 2010s. Because the “spirit of the era” belongs to all of them, then some of them might very well be incited to seize it for themselves and stir it in their preferred direction. One form of Art threatened by another trying to orientate History for their own needs.

 Now here’s an interesting question : has Art ever guided History ? It is commonly accepted that art accompanies the times and that societal change can often retrospectively be spotted within the works of contemporaneous artists. But to what extent can Art really pretend to shape the future ? The word Ananke frequently uses to describe the gods, “inspiration” seems to imply some kind of influence ; after all, “inspiration” come from the Latin “in-spiro”, literally “breathe within” – the same way Art would breathe into society the spirit of the future. However, this seems to get less true the further back you go in time : if a piece of art cannot be diffused further than a few royal court, or even a monastery, what kind of immediate influence can it hope to have on its own ? The first recording of an artistic movement marking a turning point in History would probably have to be Renaissance era, and even then, it found its sources in a scientific, philosophical and religious movement rather than a purely artistic one, and one that mainly touched the elite.

However, the 1923 pantheon might be different. After World War II, film critic and member of the Frankfurt School Siegfried Kracauer went back to the expressionist cinema of Weimar Germany and wondered if the seeds of fascism could be detected in these apparently apolitical pieces from definitely not-fascist filmmakers. He found out a pattern of dilemma between chaos and tyranny, with figures like Dr Caligari, Dr Mabuse, count Orlok, and of course, Fredersen and Rotwang from Metropolis. Films in which authority seems the only refuge against the invisible menace lurking in the shadows. In From Caligari to Hitler, he postulated that film, as a mass media, took a lot of people to make and was seen by a large number of people. As such, it couldn’t help but reflect the fears and desires of the masses, and be the cradle in which those same masses envisioned solutions to their problems. These reflexions gave birth to the cultivation theory formulated by Gerbner and Gross in 1976, according to which the media we consummate shape our worldview precisely because the masses are the source of the content of mass media. In their time, it was television.

 But in 1923, at the dawn of the cinematic age, this may be the first time that the masses shape Art, and that in turn, Art shapes the masses. This is precisely what Baal and Set rebel against : “the masses are the quicksand of the soul” as the public is becoming the prism and the bottleneck of Art. Their solution is a mathematically obvious one : suppress the masses, so they cannot influence Art. As paradoxical as it can be, their plan to use Art to guide History aims at severing the link between the two. Which is also why their plan is a mortiferous one : they are supposed inspirations who wish to deprive the world of their light. Toasting each other’s brilliance is all they care about as they don’t view Art as inspirational but as internal : Art is self-sufficient, as it can progress on its own without exterior output.

 In that regard it’s interesting to examine which gods join them in their pursuit. Skuld and Urdr represent the bad side of progressivism, the temptation of an ordered future which so often materialized in eugenic beliefs. “Woden” incarnates the pull of totalitarianism, a propagandist masquerading under the greasepaint of an art movement he didn’t create but of which he is co-opting the aesthetic. The Norns are manipulated by Baal and Set the same way progressivists were manipulated by the elite to maintain themselves in power under the guise of change, and the contempt of the elite for the masses was used by totalitarianisms to bring both under their thumb. Each of them aims to warp the zeitgeist in a different direction, yet they gather around the idea of manipulating their role as “inspiration” to influence society. The role they envision for the artist is defined by their vision of History : the Norns want Art to guide society, Baal and Set want Art to be cut from society, and Woden wants Art to serve society.

 Now compare that to the “new gods” : their role seems much less determined by what they want than by what society wants. The cinema gods all seem both dedicated to and constricted by their need to perform : Minerva “struggles to get into character”, Susanoo fills up the role of the comic relief despite not being happy himself, but in order to make other people happy and, as the Morrigan hints it, because such role needs to be filled one way or the other. Amaterasu, if she doesn’t seem as affected by performance as her counterparts, is the only god in the special to perform, better yet, to do so repeatedly, to the point of getting tired. The vocabulary of working is frequently used to describe her performance : she may like performing, but it still requires work, experimenting, polishing, physical input. Their main concern is their public ; their role as artists, until their final sacrifice, doesn’t extend further than what society expects of them. None of them concerns themself much with “Art for the sake of Art”, or even with making a lasting imprint on this world – even their sacrifice isn’t about stirring it in their wanted direction but simply saving it from supposed total destruction. They may be artists, but their Art is neither about them nor about itself, nor is it a mean to a nobler end ; it exists only in relation to its audience.

 The confrontation between new and old gods is not just about what society should look like, but what use should an artist make of their art, both as an artist and as a part of society. Meaning the gods don’t just differ in their art, but in the relation they entertain with it. Another member of the Frankfurt school, Walter Benjamin, expanded on Kracauer’s theory to consider the side of the artist : because art is now shaped by the masses and subject to mass production, a piece of Art has grown closer to a product, meaning it loses its intense relationship with its creator as the sole reflection of their individuality. Now Art was never disconnected from society in a way that would allow it to be a pure reflexion of the artist’s soul – this past only lives in Baal and Set’s fantasies. But the new scope of mass production and consumption means that the connexion between artist and art has become more tenuous than ever before, and the only way to truly ignore the public’s desire would be to retire from the world. But on the other end, it allows artists to be more than ever part of society, as their creations do not need to occupy their entire life. The 1923 special sees Amaterasu’s performances be appreciated by several gods who all show diverse degrees of fascination. Even in the main series where gods are openly “fans” of each other, only Laura has ever shown that level of entrancement with another god’s performance. In neither of the other specials have we seen the gods enjoying each other’s power. But in 1923, every god has something to say about the other’s Art, even openly employing this term, while the other specials and the main series were always careful to not pierce too much the veil of the metaphor. The gods of 1923 are as much producers as they are consumers of art themselves, both artist and audience.

 In many regards, 1923 hits the sweet spot between the 1831 pantheon, which showed isolated gods only concerned with their art, and 455AD Lucifer, who rejected his power as an artist to don another role out of concern for his city.

This special shows the gods torn between existing as individuals and acting as inspiration, which incidentally might be why so many seem fused with the creations of their real-life counterparts. Should the gods exist primarily through their art or as individuals in the society they’re a part of ? This questioning is even voiced out loud in the special, as Neptune points out that “a god should be many things, but a man most of all”. If we follow the metaphor, “an artist should be many things, but a man most of all”. An artist cannot afford to stop being a man and a member of society. But they cannot free themselves of this duality either : they have to “inspire” while living this inspiration. Give as much as they receive. If they choose to stop being either man or an inspiration – well, we saw the results. The gods are all walking the line between losing their connexion to humanity while reaching deeper for the sake of Art, and being dissolved within the mass and at the mercy of the times. As it becomes clearer that Ananke’s purpose is much more complicated than simply letting History carry on, the gods dilemma regarding what to do with their power threatens every day to become irrelevant ; has they ever any power over History at all ? Every single pantheon has seen its era die with them and onto a new phase of Art and History. This could indicate that the pantheon means nothing, or on the contrary that their sacrifice at the hand of necessity is all about burying the past to give birth to the future – the same way Ananke seems to reincarnate within a young god in an unclear manner.

But all in all, isn’t that the fate of every artist ? If truly Art can fashion History, then once it is done doing so, it belongs in the past – unable to carry over in a world that it helped shape, and therefore cannot influence anymore. Only the artist can cross through, and maybe live in the world they inspired, within their own dream, their own spirit of the era, always nested within their creations, and so, never truly theirs.

  WHAT I THOUGHT OF THE SPECIAL

 Why do we love murder mysteries ? It’s a question I asked myself repeatedly while reading this special, and one I have to try and answer in order to explain why I didn’t like this one so much.

Before we get into that, I have to explain my metrics : I do understand that this special could be seen as much more than a murder mystery ; after all the “mystery” part only takes about half of the special – which is a problem in and of itself, but we’ll get into that later. However, this special is conceived and written using the codes and structures of the murder mystery, which is why when I say I don’t think it’s a very good one, this impacts my opinion of the special as a whole. It would be unfair to judge the 455AD special because it fails at being a war story, as the “war” part is but a device to a larger story ; it is not unfair to judge the 1923 special by how it fares at being a murder mystery, because this is what it was built to be and what it presents itself as.

 So why do we love murder mysteries ? Now I think much smarter people than I must have weighted on that, but personally, I think their appeal comes from their most basic form : a puzzle. What is a puzzle ? It’s a perfectly self-contained form of entertainment. Its solution is within itself, not yet visible, but surely there ; there is no need to involve yourself in it further than to crack it, and once you have, it is done. A murder mystery functions the same way : from the very beginning, its setting, its characters, their history, are all part of one large puzzle waiting to be cracked, and reading further means slowly piecing it together and revealing its intricacies. But no piece is ever added, every element of the story is there from the start and each of them remains until having been completely explored. It requires just the right level of commitment from the reader, and can be done with once the book is closed.

So to me, 3 characteristics of a good murder mystery can be identified : a self-contained solution, a worthwhile progression and a fulfilling resolution.

 With that posed, let’s now look at the 1923 special so I can try to explain why I didn’t find it satisfying, starting with the most debatable point : I don’t think this special is playing fair with us. There’s an inherent problem to it which is that some of what’s happening must be left unanswered in order not to spoil the main series. But that means that a good part of the story comes straight out of a magician’s hat, starting with the killing of Dionysus via the light system and onto the lighthouse-spirit-capturing-device-that-doesn’t-actually-work-yet-does-something-yet-unexplained. It was tolerable when it was about a machine in the main series since we knew an explanation would come later, but here it means we are supposed to get satisfied with what we get until we maybe get more in the main series. It is deeply unsatisfying to see a huge plotpoint come out of nowhere in that fashion : as nothing before it was introduced even hinted at it. And none of it really is never treated as part of a mystery : the way Dionysus was killed is explained in the page right after, meaning this intriguing way to kill is immediately spoiled and never matters again. So as a result of all this, I stopped early being involved with the mystery, trying to solve it along and trace out what could be going on and simply waited for what the special would dump on my plate next. This is what I mean when I say the solution isn’t self-contained : it doesn’t emerge naturally from its initial setting, it simply adds up more elements and then tells you this was what was going on all along.

 The second thing that bothered me was the progression of the story. This is, after all, the most enjoyable part of a murder mystery ; otherwise, everyone would simply read the first and last chapters.  We read to watch characters, their motivations and shared history unfold, while we learn more about the murder itself. As I said, the murder in the special may be beautifully drawn, but there is no mystery to them, bare the murderer. And it really pains me to say that, as I think character work is the best and most original part of wicdiv as a whole, but the characters in the 1923 special is really where it fails for me. Most of the characters are a little better than two-dimensional (I mean, can you name more than two character traits for either Baal or Amon-Ra ?) and worst of all, there is no evolution from the initial setting. I don’t mean character development, as it would be unfair to demand it from a single special, but simply the reveal of anything about the characters that wasn’t made clear from the start. Baal and Set’s elitism, the love triangle, Woden’s beliefs, Minerva and Ananke’s game, every single one of these was established in full in the first pages and never received more nuance or consideration. Yes, more stuff happened in relation to them, but would your description of them be different at the beginning or at the end of the comic ? Lucifer dies on page 12, while Amon-Ra lives until the end of the comic, yet I know no more about Amon-Ra than I know about Lucifer. I’d say the best-established device in the comic is the betrayal of two-thirds of the Norns, and even then, we’re talking about characters we barely know.

And that’s also a problem when it comes to the mystery part. There are three categories of baddies in the special : Baal and Set, Woden, and Ananke and Minerva. Or, to sum it up, every single character that we were told was unsympathetic from the start. We were on the lookout for Ananke and Minerva’s action from the start due to the main series, and the other bad guys turn out to be My other suit is even more racist, 100% authentic vintage Nazi, and Really bad place Tahani. Surprise surprise.

 And all of it plays to explain why I found the resolution so unrewarding. In terms of structure, there’s a reason why at the end of an Agatha Christie the murderer calmly stays in a room while a little Belgian guy explains their crime to everybody and then doesn’t even try to run away : it’s because once the mystery is resolved, pursuing the story would be boring. Why would we care what happens next since everything that was introduced has found a satisfactory explanation ? And the special is no different, which is why it’s such a problem that the murder are explained halfway through the issue. Not only does this explanation rely on one of the most basic tools of the murder mystery writer arsenal – several murderers giving each other alibis – and implicating the most obvious characters imaginable, it leads to a whole second part whose point I struggle to find. It’s clear that the goal was to make it a triple-unfolding mystery, with Woden using his co-conspirators and Ananke having laid out the whole thing, but it doesn’t work because of what we know from the main series : we know Woden tend to be slippery, which is why I was instantly suspicious of his “death”, we know that Ananke and Minerva are playing a long game, and perhaps more importantly, we know how the whole thing end from the first issue of wicdiv. There is no stake to the lacklustre fight toward the end of the comic because we already know who wins it, somehow what happens next and who is behind the whole thing. There is no “subsequent” part of the mystery at play here : once the murderers are revealed halfway, then the special pretty much laid out all its cards, except the ones we’d really be interested in but are left for the main series to unveil. We simultaneously know too much and not enough about each character from the start, and nothing about that changes from beginning to end.

 So this is why, to me, this special fails at telling the type of story it wants to tell : it uses the codes of a genre but doesn’t deliver a satisfying genre story. As for the rest of what the comic does in terms of formal device, i.e. the dual novel/comic/illustration structure, I’d describe it as incredibly frustrating. I’ve read a lot the word “experimental” thrown around in reviews of this special, but mostly what it tells me is that anything that remotely differs from your typical comic book is apparently experimental. Neither the prose nor the comic are used in a particularly novel way, bare the fact that they are both used here. And to me, this dual format is not put to very good use here. For starters, I fail to see the reasoning being doing one part in prose and the other in comic : at the beginning, comic comes at the end of a chapter with a few establishing panels and then a full page illustration of the murder. But as we get closer to the end, the comic parts start to appear for no apparent reason, and disturbs the rhythm of the whole piece. Why is the unveiling of the conspiracy in comic but the scene between Ananke and Woden is not ? Mostly, what part are relegated to prose seem to be the part that the author want to leave in the dark as much as possible ; but that’s another way that this special made me just wait out the next change, since I didn’t know if I’d get prose or comic on the page turn.

But really, what frustrates me most about the format is its wasted potential. The whole point – and metatextuality – of alternating between prose and drawing means that several forms of representation and interaction with the reader are available, but the opportunity to see them complete and play out each other is not seized. One example that was particularly egregious to me was Dionysus’ body experiments. They first appear in written form, and are first described as “difficult to explain”. But clearly it’s not so difficult to explain, given that an illustration of it is later given to us. Having both prose and comic should be the opportunity to describe what cannot be represented, and represent what cannot be described. Instead, prose and comic seem to seize the same material and simply deal with it in their preferred form. There’s no reward to having to alternate between prose and comic if the exact same story could very well be told entirely in one or the other format and not lose anything.

As for the prose and comics on their own, it’s not that either of them is bad, but I don’t find them particularly breathtaking either. Gillen’s prose loses a lot of its singularity from the comic format, especially in the non-dialogue parts. I think the problems of the dual format come in part from Gillen always thinking as a comic writer, even in his prose, meaning that when he writes he always has in mind how such a scene could be represented, which prevents his pure prose from ever straying far from the comic parts. As for the comic, the full page illustrations are always beautiful and I’m a sucker for a sepia palette. The parts where the panel mimic a filmstrip and use cue cards from silent films are the most novel thing this special does and I wish it had done more of it. Still, fight scenes and dynamic characters might not be Aud Koch’s strong point, meaning their choices to have most comic pages toward the end robs us of one part of her talent.

 Really, what it all comes down to is : I’m disappointed. With the story, with the format and with the execution. With a premise as insanely perfect as “Ananke only has a few days to kill twelve – or eleven – gods on an island” there had had to be a way to tell a better story. With the beautiful art of Aud Koch, Gillen’s playful writing style and a meditation on multiple forms of art, the formal part should have knocked it out of the park. Instead, it just… is. Yes, what I said in the intro is still true : this is a rich issue, with much to discuss and many threads to pull. But the whole reason I’ve adopted this format for my SOTs is because I firmly believe something can be rich and profound while not necessarily being great on its own. I do think this special is better than the 1831 one where they were kind of figuring out the quirks of them, but in terms of story, character work, emotional involvement, the 455AD special is still my favourite one. Hey, they can’t all be winners for everybody. It’s just a shame that this one wasn’t for me.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/the-latest-thailand-closes-myanmar-border-crossings-world-news/

The Latest: Thailand closes Myanmar border crossings | World News

BANGKOK — Thailand has closed all border crossings between its northern province of Tak and Myanmar after five people in the Thai border town of Mae Sot tested positive for the coronavirus.

The five, none of whom exhibited symptoms, are the first locally transmitted cases confirmed in Thailand since early September, when a prison inmate tested positive.

All five are members of a family of Myanmar nationals residing in Thailand. Two were initially confirmed to be affected and added to Saturday’s total of Thai cases, while three were officially added Sunday.

Along with cases found among people quarantined after arriving from abroad, seven additions on Sunday brought Thailand’s total number of cases to 3,686, including 59 deaths.

In response to the new cases, schools in the Mae Sot area were ordered closed for seven days and only take-out service is allowed at restaurants and food stalls. Shops, malls and fresh markets remain open but must take temperature checks and enforce social distancing.

Thai authorities in the past two months have sought to tighten crossings in northern Thailand, which shares a long border with Myanmar, where there has been a surge of coronavirus cases since August.

———

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Rural Midwest hospitals struggling to handle virus surge

— Trump plays down virus as he steps up pitch for second term

— US resorts adapt to new normal of skiing amid pandemic

— Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Germans to come together like they did in the spring to slow the spread of the coronavirus as the country posted another daily record of new cases.

— Iran has its death toll from the coronavirus has passed the milestone of 30,000, in what has been the Mideast region’s worst outbreak.

— Europe’s economy was just catching its breath from what had been the sharpest recession in modern history. A resurgence in coronavirus cases this month is a bitter blow that will likely turn what was meant to be a period of healing for the economy into a lean winter of job losses and bankruptcies.

———

Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

———

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

NEW DELHI — India has added 61,871 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, raising its total to about 7.5 million.

The Health Ministry on Sunday also registered 1,033 new fatalities, taking the death toll to 114,031.

The country is continuing a downward trend in new cases, but virus-related fatalities jumped after recording the lowest daily figure of 680 in nearly three months on Friday.

Some experts say India’s numbers may not be reliable because of poor reporting and inadequate health infrastructure. India is also relying heavily on antigen tests, which are faster but less accurate than traditional RT-PCR tests.

Health officials have warned about the potential for the virus to spread during the religious festival season beginning later this month. New Delhi is also bracing for high air pollution levels, making the coronavirus fight more complicated in upcoming months.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked officials to prepare cold storage chains and distribution network for vaccine delivery along the lines of conducting elections, involving all levels of government and citizen groups.

According to Indian officials, three vaccines are in advanced stages of development.

———

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne, has loosened lockdown restrictions as new and active COVID-19 continue to decline.

From midnight Sunday, Melbourne residents will no longer face limits on the time they can spend away from their homes for education or recreation. Previous restrictions allowing Melburnians to travel only 5 kilometers (3 miles) from home will increase at midnight to 25 kilometers (15 miles).

Outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people from two households will be allowed and golf and tennis can resume.

Victoria state reported only two new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and no deaths. The rolling 14-day average of cases dropped to eight, the lowest in four months.

There were only 137 active cases across Victoria state on Sunday with 12 people receiving hospital treatment, none in intensive care.

Regulations will be further loosened on Nov. 2 with the partial reopening of shops, bars and restaurants.

———

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation, which sprawls across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, reported 53 new coronavirus cases and no new deaths Saturday.

The total number of cases on the reservation is now 10,913. The total number of deaths remains at 571.

———

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — State officials say an outbreak of coronavirus has infected 33 inmates at a prison in Fairbanks, causing the facility to go into quarantine for 14 days.

The Alaska Department of Corrections says 32 of the cases at the Fairbanks Correctional Center are men and one is a woman. All of those infected were housed in the general population.

Other inmates are being tested for coronavirus, with results expected by Monday. The inmates with coronavirus are being isolated in a separate unit of the prison.

The facility serves northern Alaska and has male and female inmates, some of whom are serving sentences and others of whom are awaiting trial.

———

Pennsylvania is reporting 1,857 new COVID-19 cases, the second-highest daily total since the beginning of pandemic, days after officials said the commonwealth was seeing a “fall resurgence” of the coronavirus.

The numbers announced Saturday by the state health department are exceeded only by the 1,989 cases reported April 9 and bring the statewide total to almost 181,000. Nine new deaths were reported, bringing the total number of deaths associated with the virus to 8,466.

On Wednesday, the state’s health secretary pronounced Pennsylvania “at the start of the fall resurgence” of COVID-19 but said there were no plans to reimpose a stay-at-home order or shut down businesses again in response.

Dr. Rachel Levine said Pennsylvania is more prepared for such an influx than it was in the spring, citing a contact tracing program in place, more personal protective equipment supplies and enough hospital beds available.

———

OKLAHOMA CITY — The number of hospitalizations due to the coronavirus remained near a record high in Oklahoma on Saturday while the number of reported cases increased by 1,195 and deaths rose by 14.

Some 792 people were hospitalized, the state Department of Health said Saturday, one fewer than the one-day record of 793 reported Friday. There are 106,503 total cases reported since the pandemic began in March and 1,168 deaths due to COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

The department said that there were 8,272 new coronavirus cases during the week ending Thursday, an increase of 15% from the previous week, and 58 additional deaths from the previous week due to COVID-19.

———

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s daily average of new coronavirus infections continued growing at record levels with Saturday’s update from state health officials, who also added 31 more COVID-19 deaths to the state’s toll.

The state health department’s daily update showed Indiana’s seven-day rolling average of newly confirmed COVID-19 infections reached 1,799 as of Friday. That is the highest level the state has seen during the pandemic and has more than doubled over the past three weeks.

The 2,521 new infections reported Saturday, a daily high, marked the second straight day that figure topped 2,000 in a single day. The health department said the number was inflated by about 100 cases that weren’t previously included because of technical issues. The newly recorded deaths raise Indiana’s death toll to 3,918, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus infections, according to the health department.

Gov. Eric Holcomb cited the increase in cases on Wednesday when he said he would continue the statewide mask mandate for another month. Holcomb chastised those who resist wearing masks as disregarding the safety of others.

——

NEW YORK — Movie theaters in New York state can reopen beginning next Friday with restrictions on audience size and other precautions in place, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.

Theaters in New York City aren’t included, and counties must have a positivity rate below 2% on a 14-day average and have no “cluster zones.”

Audiences will be restricted to 25% of capacity with a maximum of 50 people per screen, Cuomo said at his briefing. Masks will be required and there will be assigned seating to ensure social distancing.

This week, the Global Cinema Federation sent an open letter to Cuomo urging him to let theaters reopen, saying Hollywood studios may continue delaying their remaining 2020 releases if theaters remain closed. The group asked Cuomo to adopt a county-by-county plan for theater openings based on virus data, similar what it said California Gov. Gavin Newsom has done.

[hpmmailman-blog]

So, What’s a Practicum, Anyway?

Contributors: Celia Wright, Fatema Begum, Lauren Hoisl, Morgan Traina, Jade Tan, Katie Glockner, Grace Son, Nyashadzashe Makoni, Heather Xu

As a prospective, incoming, or first year student, you’ll probably hear a lot about the student practicum. But what do HPM students do for our practicums, anyway? Learn more from our second years about what we really worked on over the summer.

Celia Wright spent her summer in Mae Sot, Thailand, working with migrants on the Thai-Burma border through the Burma Children Medical Fund. The organization works to treat patients who require complex medical procedures unavailable within Myanmar.

Every dollar really makes a difference in global health (both due to judicious spending practices and different costs of living - my lunch every day cost 50 cents). Working with small organizations can allow an individual to make a sizeable impact in a short time, and to learn a ton about management outside of their individual job responsibilities. An intern with a large foundation may be confined to their cubicle and very specific job responsibilities/deliverables. While I had specific responsibilities and deliverables, I had the freedom to work on most things I wanted to, to sit in on every important conversation, and to evaluate organizational operations that fell outside my official purview. - Celia

Fatema Begum had the opportunity to work at the Mount Sinai Hospital as an Ambulatory Care Operations Intern, focusing on improving patient experience and access to care within an outpatient OB/GYN clinic.  

Working on this project piqued my interest in healthcare management as it allowed me to think of the patient’s interaction with the clinic at every touch point. In just a few short weeks, I learned about communicating, influencing, gaining trust and buy-in. Successful process improvement involved communication at every level of the organization, collaboration, and staff engagement... The enriching experience and the impact these projects had on patients shaped my career aspiration of working in hospital administration to combine my interests in ambulatory care and population health. Additionally, it crystallized my decision to continue working for an organization whose mission and culture aligned with my values. After graduation, I'm enthusiastic about returning to work at the Mount Sinai Health System as an Administrative Fellow. - Fatema

Lauren Hoisl was able to spend six months with the World Health Organization as a Global Health Certificate student. 

The first half of my practicum took place in Geneva, Switzerland, where I gained exposure to the high level politics and agenda setting that takes place at Headquarters. During the second half I was in the Regional Office for Africa, in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, learning how global frameworks are adapted to the regional context and disseminated to the Country Offices. These experiences helped me develop the skills necessary to navigate a large bureaucracy and will certainly enable me to work more effectively once I return to country level health systems strengthening initiatives. - Lauren

Morgan Traina, a HPM-Chronic Disease Epidemiology student, completed her practicum with Analysis Group (Economic, Financial and Strategy consulting) in Menlo Park, and worked as an Analyst with their healthcare team.

I enjoyed the challenging nature of the work, and the ability to integrate and apply skills that I had learned in both HPM and Epidemiology courses. One of the main projects that I worked on was a budget impact model - it was interesting and rewarding to see how the work put into this model could have a real-world impact, affecting pricing and coverage options for patients, providers, and manufacturers. The most enjoyable part of the summer was getting to know the AG Menlo Park team. Everyone was eager to help me learn, and they made my practicum a truly memorable experience. - Morgan

Jade Tan worked with two different organizations for her student practicum: not only was she an Executive Intern at  Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), but she also worked at the Microbiology Genetics Lab on Columbia’s Morningside campus.

This was an opportunity to explore both sides of my interests — executive management at a health-related organization, and wet lab research... The most valuable lesson I learned during these experiences is that taking the initiative to ask is often rewarded — whether it’s asking to sit on executive/board-level meetings, or trying out the new Python database. You never know when the answer will be ‘yes'. A lot of times, the worst thing they might say is ‘no'. - Jade

Katie Glockner spent her summer in Mexico City, working on program evaluation for various reproductive health initiatives at the Population Council. 

My practicum was a rich experience in personal and professional growth - not only did I get to build my technical skills for research and data analysis, but I also was able to explore another country and culture on my own. I definitely learned the importance of asking questions and understanding the subtleties within translation! - Katie

Grace Son spent her practicum at the Quality Management Department of Lenox Hill Hospital, working with both clinical and non-clinical staff on process improvement initiatives to improve sepsis bundle compliance.

My project was especially rewarding because I had the privilege of seeing one issue through so many different perspectives – the registrar, bed management, patient transport, nurses, providers, and even lab technicians. This experience introduced me to the immensely intricate interdisciplinary nature of hospital operations and definitely sparked my interest in a career in healthcare management. - Grace

Nyashadzashe Makoni did her practicum as a Strategic Information Intern with ICAP in Zimbabwe as a Global Health Certificate student.

A few things I learnt were that no matter how many hours you spend in a classroom, it does not compare to being in the field experiencing all the case studies we read in real life. And your coursework never translates as perfectly in your practicum as it does on paper. Life is unpredictable. Another thing- bureaucracy bureaucracy bureaucracy! In order for your project to take off, you really need to go through many influential people and constantly make some compromises to get the support you need. - Nyashadzashe 

Heather Xu completed her practicum as a research project. After the summer, she’s been able to continue her work -- and even gave an oral presentation at the international stroke conference!

Stay tuned for the rest of our upcoming mini-series focusing on students’ practicum-related tips and tales!

[thecatchat]

Okay! So Mole-Goat power couple with Mount. Lion child is locked down!

I forgot about Antfrost! Oops! I like your idea of having the Polar Bear and Fox as the equivalent of secretary of state (basically foreign affairs handler) and secretary of treasury(basically Head of regulating trading)! I think Polar Bear works best as sos and Fox as sot. Antfrost as the Head Knight of the Tundra works perfectly! Loving the Saber Tooth Tiger idea! I just forgot about it!

Yah, I think the title Head Kight is basically being secretary of defense yes!

Now that you mention it, Bee being the head kight fits perfectly and same for the Wolf being head of the nation! What does Ekoms mean?

Oh! That's a good question! I think it might be a mixture, we have elements from their species but not all of it. Like, Bee's do technically have families and not just one single queen Bee who births everyone, but they refers to their communities as their hives and your family is your "family hive". Does that make sense? I feel like the culture is very much "family is bound by hard work, honey, and love" and found family is just as valid as blood family. Bee's that go off to explore and live their own life, frequently visit and have a tendency to adopt children and pets along the way. Also, I feel like with no single queen Bee, poly-relasonships are pretty common.

Yah, lots of Bee's and birds (let's talk about the Bee's and the birds!). Oh yah! Like, they probably have stairs in most places, especially government or foreign relation buildings. But yah, residents in the forest are either incredibly good at climbing or can fly, so Quackity probably does have a bit of trouble with that place. "Sunshine, if one other person asks me why I can't fly, I'm committing a murder." As long as he sticks by Sapnap and/or Karl I think he'd be fine. It's probably an acceptable practice to walk with your loved ones if they can't fly, so by sticking by one of them, it's probably not too bad. The Parrot I can see getting along with Karl like a wild fire, in the fact that if no one stops or contains them it can get very chaotic.

Mesa and the Plains having a strong economic relationship actually works very well! Design being a big part in both cultures but in different ways! In the Plains it's flowers: as a gift, as a language, as a source of dye, and more. Different colors of clay pots are included in the flower language. Also glass vases are very popular. The buildings and architecture are built to co exist, many houses have siding that allows for vines or other plants to be grown there, people considering what plants they want to grow as just as or more important than the color of the actual house.

In the Mesa, it's clay and sand: as a gift, as a tool, maybe as a language? Clay sculptures, clay pottery, clay towns. You know those towns that were built into the cliffs by Native Americans? that's what I'm thinking of for Mesa. Just with more detailed sidings, like, carving pictures or important moments into the walls of your home are a common hobby or job. Wood buildings are only common on the tops of cliffs. Glass art is just as common. Idea: what if Mesa almost had a civil war with itself over glass art vs clay art? Like, not recently but in the past couple hundred years.

Idea: the Cow and Rabbit were rivals for the longest time and there was a competition for the position but they tied, and then tied in both tie breaker events. So Sheep went, "why can't we have both?" And so now the two are trying to learn how to get along, when they work together they are amazing because they read each other so well, it's just that they have to unlearn hating each other first.

Hey, came up with some concepts for the sorta "heads of state" for all the different [non-nether] places in Quarry.

Tundra- main exports are ice and fish, leader ideas: polar bear, arctic fox, arctic hare,

Polar bear: very friendly, gives Bear hugs, older and wiser but with a youthful air to them

Arctic Fox: professional, young adult, new but mature, more elegant air to them, has a temper they're still learning to control/not rise to bait,

Arctic Hare: more rough and scrappy, impatient, not much here

Woodland- main exports are wood and honey, leader ideas: bee, cat, wolf

Bee: Queen bee, a bit bossy but knows when to back off, past mid-life crisis but not elderly, 40-50 ish, somewhere between a grandma and a CEO.

Cat: cozy but rough, a little over cautious, Motherly, maybe an actual mom?, has either 1 "mini me" child that mimics her all the time, or has like 35 kids and knows them all by heart,

Wolf: friendly for the most part, does not take insults well, but is very caring, always thinking about how different things will effect their country (AKA their pack), a bit "brooding" around New people, but very friendly once you know them

Mountains- main exports are rock and ore, leader ideas: ram/goat, mountain lion, mole

Goat: you know that one goat species that can walk on surfaces on 92 degree angles, that's them, is in their 90s with the agility of a god, lots of knitted stuff, grandmotherly but in a tough cookie kind of way,

Mountain Lion: quieter and reserved, you will forget they exist until they speak, when they do talk its with wisdom, slight mystic vibes, a bit of a recluse, either in their 20s or their 50s and no one knows which,

Mole: I know they technically don't fall under the expanded mob list, but hear me out, I imagine the mountains economy is majorly supported by their ore industry which requires mining, Moles are known for their extensive tunneling, I'm imagining a hearty old guy, used to mine in their younger years and absolutely does it when they can find time, is blind but no one actually realizes this until several years into them being leader because they have perfected walking around in mines with uneven ground and compare that to walking blind in a castle is a breeze, idea: Mole is married to Ram/Goat and they are a power couple, I'm loving this, maybe Mountain Lion is adopted child?

Jungle- main exports are wood and coco beans, leader ideas: parrot, panda bear,

Parrot: young and full of energy, is an inventor/engineer in spare time, a little all over the place, wears the Quarry version of old aviator goggles,

Panda bear: not a lot of ideas, Other than super polite and a little dorky, maybe a dad?

Mesa- main exports are clay and cactuses, leader ideas: vulture, goat, rattle snake

Vulture: think the current Queen if they lived in Colorado, beloved by the residents, a lot of people joke that they are basically a walking corpse, no one tells them that to their face, very good at their job,

Ram: rough as the terrain, headstrong with a good heart, doing their best, was probably on a ranch or farm before becoming the leader, just wants to shear some animal sheep, knows how to hold her ground but not always when to let some ground go,

Rattle Snake: very heavy focus on justice, think a hardened sheriff from the wild west became a knight and then was promoted to head of the country, takes no shit, rules are rules type person, I think the Mesa in general is a lot like the wild west but with swords and bows and arrows instead of guns, I like the idea of them being a copper head specially, those are poisonous, oh wait they are a reptile.... they don't have to be cold blooded, or maybe they have End ancestors and it showed up as scales

Plains- main exports are flowers and farm products, leader ideas: sheep, cow, bee

Sheep: young and kind, flowers woven into their hair, knows how to argue their point calmly but firmly, kinda came into the role with little training so they're still getting their feet under themselves, the first to offer aid, brings cookies to all the meetings, very good cook

Cow: hard work is the dream work, definitely works out, raised on a farm and it shows, very blunt to the point of possible rudeness, has a more relaxed vibe but knows how to buckle down and work hard,

Rabbit: relaxed vibes, if they need to they are not above karate kicking someone, they seem nice but is honestly waiting for the chance to go apeshit, I feel like they wear a hanker cheif around their neck, has like 20 siblings, they are either the middle child exactly or the eldest.

What do you think? I don't have any names yet, just concepts.

OO I love all of these! Tomorrow we should talk about how the government of each works. We’ve established The Nether Kingdoms, Mycelium Isles, and End (and have kind of settled on the tundra being a monorchy as well) but the way they all function is different and so fun! 

Name ideas (first or last):

Tundra - Albedo, Boreas, Buster, Canis, Delft, Eci, Fleck, Glide, Gale, Lepus (good for hare), Looc, Bliz, Skate, Squall, Tuft, Zephyr

Woodland - Aspin, Ash, Aril, Axe, Balsa, Brook, Dia, Ekoms, Gala, Golden, Jepmit, Kauri, Nectar, Redde, Rup, Sap

Mountains - Cascade, Cliff, Crys, Cuiw, Emin, Halides, Horizon, Ingot, Ken (maybe for the lion?), Linn, Pix, Palisade, Ridge, Slate, Tiwwns, Uozijoh 

Jungle - Aloe, Bean, Bromeliad, Cacao, Cain, Dart, Erythro, Flit, Howl, Kalei, Kunjt, Leuko, Melano, Mosy (I’m partial to this one), Passiflora, Sajow, 

Mesa - Arid, Barrel, Bolt, Chollas, Clay, Crocker, Dustin, Eolian, Inlet, Kcits, Kiln, Par, Pane, Switch, Sirocco, Spike

Plains - Crest, Ivory, Moc, Neb, Oscine, Oxeye, Poppy, Rye, Scutch, Senooy Silk, Steppe. Spur, Sky, Kera, Zoysia

[ashesuponwool]

The nature of the Bond

(I often dabble with the depth and the intensity of the connection between Lamb and Wolf and the human conitations that people would relate to it. Are they siblings are they lovers or are they something else

The answer is that they are a little of all three. Technically as two halves of a whole being that would make them at least siblings in most senses and often the affection they share is very familial and innocent in these instances. Like an older sibling guiding her younger Lamb cares for Wolf and answers all his uestions, like wise Wolf protects lamb from any physical harm like an older brother would.

But then there are times where it is so much more than familial love, those quiet peaceful moments where they cling to one another and never want to let go, the sot peppered kisses along Wolf’s jaw and the gentle nips against Lambs shoulders. Where they physically able to couple like mortals could there is no doubt they would have done so. Wolf’s ardent possessiveness over Lamb and his dislike of humans affections for her is something that puts more stain on him that most would realise 

But beyond all of this the two are essentially at the end of all it, two halves of the same whole. They are one man split into two entities to stave off a crushing loneliness and to fill a void that can only be done by each other. there is no Lamb without Wolf, and there is no Wolf without Lamb. the two cannot function without the other half of themselves that is the centre of their whole world. It is the closest thing to Love that Death has known and they will never ever let it go.

[ah17hh]

Science approaches on Satanism. via /r/satanism

Science approaches on Satanism.

Hello, there! As my username indicates, I do like Satan and Science. I have a few years of experience being a scientist, and a few months of experience with Satanism. I work with and do research on Communication, field in which I'm currently getting a Masters degree, and when I'm not reading papers on that field, I enjoy reading about Satanism. So I decided to take a look on how these two interests of mine overlap.

Imo Science is not as accessible as it should be. Texts are boring and written in technical language, and almost everything is behind paywalls set by publishers. The University which I'm affiliated allow a free-pass to some databases, so I'm mapping the topic "satanism" in one of those databases - Web of Science, which encompasses a bunch of papers, articles, conference meetings and so on from different countries.

Here is a quick diagnosis, if someone is interested. :) One of my goals for next year is creating a website or something of the sort to make this studies most available for those non-scientists out there. At the end, I'll link a .csv file with the 216 results, dating from 1995 to 2019, so y'all can read at least the abstracts.

Study fields

No surprises here: Religion is the field with most entries. In general, the graph shows three main areas of interest: Religion Studies (I did not have the time to do a deep look here, but I'm assuming there are a lot of comparative analysis there); Psychology (maybe related to the whole "satanism drama" from end of 20th century?); and Humanities (here we have, for instance, papers about the representation of Satanism in media).

Years of publication

Here we can see something interesting. There are few works published per year, with exception of 2017 (17 results) and 2018 (15) results. I'm not acknowledged enough to interpret this data. My hyphotesis is that the media attention that CoS and SoT recently gathered has to do with it.

Countries

Again, no surprises. The most proeminent country is the US, and we can see why, really. Some results in particular caught my attention: South Africa, Sweden/Norway and Brazil (that's my country!). From what I see, South African publications are about representation of the Devil on religious practice there (even the representation of the Devil related to HIV). Sweden and Norway because of the whole black metal scene from the 90's, that got pretty big media coverage there. My guess is that these articles are related to the subjecct. And Brazil because we had our own "satanic hysteria" on the 90's, and our currently President is very religious (his campaign mote was "Brazil above everything, God above all") and there is a strong religious tension between Christians and African religions.

Conclusions

I did not have the time to give a insightful look at everything, but from what I could see, scientists are not creating theories about Satanism (and that would not be expected, really). It looks like Satanism is a material of analysis to help to understand theories from different fields of study. So it is a very different reading from a LaVey book or sommething of the sort. Here is the entire database. :) Just download it and import on Microsoft Excel or any similar software.

Submitted December 10, 2019 at 07:40PM by satanscience via reddit https://ift.tt/2REUup2

[albaniaenergymarket-lg]

Sektori energjetik motor i punësimit Lorenc Gordani

Sektori energjetik motor i punësimit

Autori: Dr. Lorenc Gordani Këshilltar Ligjor për Çështjet e Energjisë

Fokusi i çdo diskutimi midis ekonomistëve në mediat evropiane është sektori i energjisë. Sa këtu shikon jo aq zhvillimet e investimeve, por me shume ato qe katalizatoret e tyre, siç është hapja e ish-monopoleve publike, futja e shërbimeve energjetike, zhvillimi i qëndrueshëm, inovacioni, punësimi, konkurrenca, etj. Keshtu vendet e reja te punës në energjinë e gjelbër vetëm vitin e kaluar panë një rritje prej 15%. Ndërsa këto diskutime do ishin te dobishme edhe midis nesh, deri këtu duket se kane mbizotëruar ato lidhur me rivalitetin politike midis palëve. Megjithatë, për të qenë më preciz, një ndryshim ka filluar, por jo me shpejtësinë dhe ndikimin e duhur. Deri më tani, reforma nuk ka dhënë ende rezultatet e pritshme mbi konsumatorin dhe ekonominë. E gjithë kjo është pak paradoksale, duke iu referuar potencialit që ka energjia në vendin tonë, e tille për te qene në një nivel tërheqës për sektorët e tjerë, ndërsa sot në tërësinë e saj vështirë se arrin ne vetëm 6% të prodhimit bruto duke përfshire një force pune ne rreth 17,000 persona. Por ndoshta situata përfaqëson shumë më mire metafora e ajsbergut. Në fakt, sektori i energjisë ka përfunduar një cikël të parë të zhvillimit shpesh kaotik dhe te pa mirë menduar, dhe tani duket se po hyn në një fazë të re, më të pjekur, por edhe me reflektuese. Një periudhë në të cilën projeksionet janë se ajo mund "të shpërthejë" shpejt potencialin e saj në të gjitha drejtimet, duke përfshirë punësimin, veçanërisht për të rinjtë dhe gjininë femërore. Pra, për të qenë më konkret, për herë të parë në terma absolutë kemi zhvillime të rëndësishme në projektet fotovoltaike. Deri më tani ka pasur projekte të vogla këtu-atje, një mini-park 1 MW në Korçë, për disa muaj po punohet për të hyrë në fazën e ndërtimit të së paku 10 parqeve, të cilat së bashku formojnë 20 MW. Ndërsa për herë të parë është kaluar në dhënien e kapacitete të reja në bazë të ankandeve Pv mbi 50 MW. Sa këtu po shoqërohet me interes te theksuar në veçanti nga kompanitë ndërkombëtare të specializuara, por gjithashtu edhe për fondet e zhvillimit. Siç është hyre ne fazën e paraqitjes se propozimeve reale dhe diskutimeve konkrete për investimet në prodhimin e energjisë së erës. Ndër risitë kryesore është filozofia e re e garës. Prokurimi publik, të paktën për koncesionet e hidrocentraleve, është zbatuar qe në gjeneratën e tyre të parë në fillim të viteve 2000. Sidoqoftë, tashme është hapur një gare për një kapacitet mbi 50 MW, shumë më të madh se të gjitha që janë siguruar deri këtu, në projektin e ministrisë së energjisë. E gjithë kjo jo vetëm për përzgjedhjen e fituesit, por edhe për mbështetjen që do të marrin (p.sh. çmimi i blerjes së energjisë). Energji që do të shitet direkt në bursën e energjisë pa kaluar nga OSHEE-ja (fakt qe ndihmon hapjen e tregut). Ndër të tjera, duhet të theksohet se përveç 50 MW që do të blihen me kontratë afatgjatë, pjesa tjetër e të paktën 20 MW do të tregtohet në tregun e lirë. Pra thelbi i përgjithshëm është se sektori i energjisë po ofron potencialin te shtuar me hapjen e tij. Shifrat tregojnë qe kapitalet ndjekin sinjalet e tregut. Për sa i përket energjisë, vetëm tregu krijon një vizion të qartë, por mbi të gjitha aftësinë për të shoqëruar procesin e vendimmarrjes me masa konkrete veprimi. Vendet e rajonit duket se e kanë kuptuar tendencën e ardhshme dhe po nxitojnë për te lancuar bursat e tyre te energjisë. Nder te fundit edhe një vend fare i vogël si Mali i zi, i cili llogarit pjesëmarrjen ne te edhe te Shqipërisë. Prandaj, meqenëse projektet e energjisë janë afatgjata, d.m.th. mbi 30-40 vjet, ne duhet të fillojmë të punojmë sot për të krijuar një perspektive te re për sektorin. Natyrisht, mbeten shumë aspekte për te arritur ne hapjen e tregut, por nje pjese e madhe është bërë, dhe kohët e fundit po punohet për të ndërmarrë masa konkrete në lidhje me aktivizimin e bursës, hyrje ne operim te furnitorëve të pavarur të energjisë elektrike, integrimin në tregun rajonal të energjisë, kompletimin e infrastrukturës me Maqedoninë e cila është vendi i fundit me të cilin nuk kemi një ndërlidhje tokësore etj. Nga ana tjetër, bursa e energjisë dhe hapja e tregut do të jetë vetëm hapi i parë i domosdoshëm, por jo i vetë-mjaftueshëm. Në të njëjtën kohë, është e nevojshme të kuptohen dhe të krijohen mundësi për të tërhequr në vend investimet. Fakti është se ne duhet të bëhemi konkurrues në ato fusha ku kemi potencial. Pra, para së gjithash, duhet të synojmë që në mënyrë efikase të përdorim përparësitë natyrore që na dallojnë nga vendet e tjera. Kështu, mjafton te shikojmë çfarë bëjnë fqinjët tanë. Kështu, Serbia ka arritur të hapë zyrat one stop shop, e cila në rastin tonë përbën bërthamën e parë të QKB dhe mbetet në letër që nga viti 2009. Ose Mali i Zi ka bërë një udhërrëfyes për investitorët e huaj për disa vite. Personalisht mendoj se alternativat janë shumë: kështu që mund të punohet qe çdo biznesi ti çohet një guide mbi mundësitë e investimeve jo vetëm ne anglisht por gjuhen e vete amtarë. E njëjta gjë duhet të bëhet edhe nga përfaqësitë tona në vendet nga ku kemi interes për thithjen e investimeve. Me tej duhet te punohet për zhvillimin e potencialit të investimeve që sjellin punësim dhe kanë bazën e tyre në shërbimet energjetike të tilla si ato që lidhen me efikasitetin energjetik dhe auditimin. Proceset që nuk kërkojnë investime intensive si për shumë sektorë të tjerë infrastrukturorë, pasi që në qendër ata kanë kontributin e profesionistëve si auditorët apo menaxherët e energjisë, kompanitë e shërbimit publik etj. Ku kapitali publik që do të injektohet në më shumë se 100 milionë euro deri në vitin 2020 do të shumëzohet duke aktivizuar kapital privat për 15-17 herë. Jemi një nga vendet me më shumë ujë, diell, burime natyrore në Evropë dhe jemi ende importues të energjisë. Pra le te vazhdojmë te importojmë makineri dhe teknologji, por jo të paguajmë energji kur të gjithë mund ta prodhojnë atë në vend. Mundësitë janë testuar, metodologjia është pothuajse e plotë dhe kjo kategori është edhe më e thjeshtë te aplikohet sepse panelet e saj janë pozicionuar në çatitë e kompanisë ose familjeve, e cila shmang problemet e pronësisë. Për më tepër, hapja e tregut, me potencialin hidroelektrik që kemi, na lejon të dominojmë në bursat e energjisë. E gjithë bota sot po konkurron për të ndërtuar akumulatorë dhe bateri gjigante, dhe ne mjaftojmë te vejmë një dige, sipas te gjitha standardeve dhe pa prekur parqet dhe zonat me potencial unik, por duke rregulluar regjimin e ujerave, duke zhvilluar peshkimi dhe turizmi, dhe kthyer ne lojtare ne bursat, çmimet e të cilave janë në luhatje të forte në ankandet ndërditorë. Dhe ndoshta sa këtu do sillte te menduarin për te përdorur mineraleve ne vend duke krijuar vlera më të madhe të mundshme nga burimet natyrore. Për më tepër, bazuar në energji me kosto më të ulët në vend, mund të mendohet për krijimin e një industrie që ka nevojë për shumë energji, duke u bërë më konkurruese dhe duke përmirësuar ekuilibrin tregtar dhe duke dalë në treg me produkte të vërteta të prodhuara në Shqipëri dhe jo duke eksportuar krahun e kualifikuar te punës. Integrimi evropian është pikërisht ky, jo deklarata formale apo ligjet në letër, por hapat konkretë që reformojnë ne qelizën çdo sektor ekonomik dhe social. Le të mos harrojmë se ideja e Evropës ka në gjenezë tregun dhe me saktësisht burimet e energjisë. Për ta bërë këtë, është e domosdoshme të fillohet duke hedhur themelet dhe parimet që mbështesin trajnimin e duhur në përpjekjet për ndërtimin e një zhvillimi te qëndrueshme ne afatgjate. Disclaimer: The ownership and the opinion expressed pertain to the author. While all the effort are made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advices as individual situations may differ and should be discussed with an expert. For any specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, contact us through “lorenc_gordani@albaniaenergy.org”. Most Read Publications Most Visit Section Read the full article

[haggertyadventuretime]

Getting Close!

Only three days before we head home! Aaah!

So, Mae Sot was ok! It was very interesting to see such a mix of ethnicities in one place: Thai people, Burmese people, and a few people who looked like they were Indian or Bangladeshi or something, with a pretty half and half mix of Muslims and Buddhists from all of those places. The result was seeing men wearing radically different clothing to what I have been used to seeing (ie blue jeans), many wearing sarongs and head caps, and women wearing hijabs that go down past their waists. The Burmese folk would always wear a characteristic yellow paint on their face, which is made from the powder of a ground up root mixed with water to use as sun screen. Children wear it all over their faces, men and women usually have a design or a few choice places they put it on (nose, cheeks, forehead).

Mae Sot is well known as a market town, since it’s right on the border of Myanmar where a friendship bridge is, so we decided to check it out! The most famous market is actually on the line that separates the two countries, you access it by walking around the checkpoint to exit Thailand. There is a large covered market that sells all sorts of miss-labeled semi-precious stones: Quartzite is called jade, jade is called emerald. I guess a lot of these stones come from traders in Myanmar. There were people who were basically standing in Myanmar hawking knockoff cigarettes, and other knock-off cig and booze stands that were cantilevered off the Thai sidewalk and technically being sold over Burmese soil. There was also what looked like a refugee camp right there as well, so maybe it’s more of a no-man’s land or a place that’s not under Thai rule, but also safe for people seeking refuge from the junta. We had some lunch at the market, which turned out to be very underwhelming, we are pretty sure that even though we played the game of ‘point to a random word on a menu and see what comes out,’ we were served fried rice and pad thai, the whitest foods they could probably think of, while we were looking forward to whatever soup it was that everyone else was eating. Whatever! We went back into town and had delicious Burmese curry.

We stayed in Mae Sot for two nights in yet another very comfortable bed situation, which was so nice.

The next spot for adventure was Koh Tao, an island in the lower Gulf of Thailand. To get there, we boarded a prop plane to Bangkok, and then took that same prop job to Chumphon, the closest airport on the main land to the island. That makes three trips in a propeller plane that We have enjoyed on this trip! I will not miss it, they are loud and their takeoffs and landings are sooooo bumpy. Anyways. We get to Chumphon Airport, and it’s getting late. We didn’t know exactly how to get into town, and the airport staff basically told us we had to leave every two minutes as we were trying to research where to stay for the night. We wanted to take the night ferry from Chumphon to Koh Tao, which would get us to the island at around 5am, but there were no taxis at the airport, just a minibus that was operated by the high speed catamaran that also goes to the Islands, so we took the minibus, which they said “goes to the pier.” Well, it turns out that Chumphon has hundreds of piers, they’re all privately owned, and we were being taken to one way our in the middle of nowhere, but conveniently has a hotel next to it, and I bet you the owners are somehow related to the driver and the lady who gives out catamaran tickets at the airport. So we kind of got scammed in that way, since at that point we were obliged to take a room at the hotel (it was under $30, but I still wasn’t happy about it). There was also basically nothing we could do about it, since we had no way of calling a taxi and didn’t have time to plan our next move in the airport like we had wanted to do. So the next morning, we got up very early and watched a very beautiful sunrise over the ocean, boarded the catamaran (a new method of transportation for this trip!) and set off to Koh Tao.

The island is just gorgeous. It’s mountainous throughout, with giant 10-foot tall boulders stacked on each other everywhere, including all along the coasts. We decided to walk the perimeter of the island on a very scenic path that takes you through a lot of fancy resorts that were out of our price range. The walk is pretty hot even without our bags, you go up a lot of stairs and steep ramps, but it’s mostly paved and has great viewpoints. We stopped when we found the most perfect bay, turquoise water framed by giant white boulders with more happy boulder friends jutting out of the water like a Bob Ross painting. Bungalows are super basic, set back into the face of the steep wooded mountain. You have to walk up about three flights of steps before getting to the bungalow from the beach, but they have a view of the ocean, perfect unspoilt beach within a two minute walk through a forest of succulents and aloe. It’s the most picturesque place I’ve ever been to! It’s 80+ degrees every day, drops to 75 at night, so a fan and a cold shower is all you need. We are facing west, so we go to a restaurant owned by the people who own our bungalows and watch the sun set over the ocean. The walk into town is our workout for the day, and we spend most time choosing which perfect beach to swim at. We were those jerks sending pictures of the beach to our Bostonian and WNY family and friends as they were digging out from 17 inches of snow in sub-zero temperatures. Life is great! We decide to just stay here for a week, we stumbled across our perfect beach, so we figured it was our time to finally relax and reward ourselves for a very action-packed adventure coming to an end. Hammock time!!!

This island is well known for its sea life and diving sites, so the main “tourist ghetto” is just covered in diving schools. You can get an open water certification here cheaper than pretty much anywhere else in the world, apparently. The nice thing is, even in town, most of the dummies (read: party backpackers) we avoid on our trip are underwater when we are out and about. We are always beach side by night time, so we haven’t experienced the beach parties, but apparently it gets pretty bumpin’ at night. It’s quite the walk to do at night and we are feeling lazy, and the beach bar is good enough for us.

We went on a snorkeling tour a few days ago, and we saw some living coral, lots of fish and a small shark! Don’t worry, they don’t have bitey sharks here, just really small ones or whale sharks (they also don’t bite). Whale sharks are more of a thing you see diving. I’ve also just snorkeled around our beach area, someone saw a sea turtle around the beach bar the other day! I have not seen one yet, just lots of fish (and on land, giant geckos, another thing I love). That same person showed me a picture of a python eating a squirrel outside her bungalow down the island, and I was very jealous. I would have loved to see that!!

So, we plan on lingering until we have stayed a full week, then leave (booo!) to the Andaman side for two days, before taking a flight (hopefully-still need to book it at time of writing, and the electricity is down on the whole island for the day because of the heat) from Phuket to Singapore. Then we will nap in Singapore’s Airport for a few hours before our 6am flight to Hong Kong. We have an 8 hour layover in Hong Kong since our flight there was moved, so obviously we will be using that time to eat dim sum and see the Bruce Lee statue (and get another stamp in our passports!). Then it’s a 15.5 hour flight back to Boston, only we arrive 4 hours after we left Hong Kong, gaining half a day. So, maybe one more blog post after this!

Edit: Flight booked, Air BnB confirmed, just two more nights in Thailand!

[mohanmekap]

In the tilt of time when it seems that everything is blinded into the boundaries of 24 hours and the day, still there is scope when we move towards other parts of the universe I ours endeavor towards discovering in unknown places. In order to find whether there is any traces of civilization elsewhere at the sides of universe or the presence of anxiousness whether we are alone or the presence of aliens which we listen from time to time provides more and more interesting aspects to understand and move beyond such unknown places.

The universe is an unknown entity and moving beyond or going inside of it we do not know what else is present out there but still more and more ambitious to go beyond encourages us so much of the time to reach out there.

It is an unknown entity and we do not have any iota of knowledge about the way universe performs and in addition to this going to the place in times of unknown provides so many of unanswered questions and that continues to pose so many of difficult propositions which time and again does create the state of extreme difficulties in managing these aspects of achieving so much.

How to overcome the lifespan of humans and as we see there are many ideas but still implementation of these ideas does become extremely difficult so far as the process of such manner of scientific excellence is still in the state of wilderness.

Some thinks of creating clone of humans so that one should be there one after another but is it the most ethical manners to move into such ideas and when these are looked into the eyes of ethics and saving humanity the possibilities of creation of clones to survive in these wilderness inside vast ocean of mystery of universe still shrouded in deeper mysteries which might have ever be discovered and managed well but still some believe that this could in the form of chain interaction could revive the age factors.

There is one difficult when the so called chained living of the same clones is there as the memory distribution from one single aspect to that of other clones varied and many a times this results in generation of too many self-confusing ideas that makes the entire movement of ideas difficult to understand and with due course of time different shades of ideas of the similar happenings becomes so confused with each other that ultimately the performance appraisal of each and every actions moves into similar and concurrent dynamism which might not have happened in times that could have possible underscores each and every momentous decision making processes.

The concept of cloning can have similar appearances but the brain powers cannot be same and for this small portion of original brains can be implanted but that too can have shady sort of imagery available out there and in this way the most fundamental and triggering aspects to utilize these in the sense of complete accumulation of enlarging the single life into multiple identities but still one could see and find that the brains of the original person cannot be shared and that makes extremely difficult for people around as the sophisticated knowledge know how could not be found elsewhere and that is main cause of knowledge gap that is out there.

The next part to prolong the life of humans in order to cope with the longer journey of the universe is to find out, whether the propositions of state of hibernation is a viable alternative or not one need to find it out in complete detail. So far we have been not listed in the state of the ways to create the state of hibernation and then restart the life and the process should be automation as while reaching to the far away destination.

There are many concerns in creation of the state of complete hibernation such as the process of hibernation is its infancy and the second point is how to get back from long sleep and how to be these operation to be automated and how come if someone due to some technical error in the longer space journey happens to be awake before time and how he could come back again to the stage of absolute hibernation.

What about some people awake from the state of hibernation in the midway of over 200 years of journey and then that person could be awake in this state of passengers and that means that person will not be able to finish the journey due to presence of life sum total not exceedingly to the presence of the light years of journey scheduling. Is there way this can be controlled from earth station which is absolute no as the form of sending and receiving messages, and in order to control from the state of control from the earth, duration of message could have been more than the living years of humans.

This makes the control of human life as well as dealing with these technicalities extremely difficult to manage with and for this it is important and essential to understand the processes of each of these in the eyes of complete identifiable inventories of ideas to materialize each and every aspects and managing these makes every actions has to be done within the space shuttle and sot probably by the clones or by robots working inside of it but still there is vast question over understanding their forms of identities and manageable actions to recognize and finds out the real solutions in the times of crisis.

There are so many hurdles into this but at least there is a concept to work with and above all the single most paramount importance attached with it was that of the presence of vast number of ideas and the most simple and significant of this is to identify the correct way in which space shuttle needs to be built, complete in accordance with technology know how, so that during the longer space journey which tears into years, in fact for light years one could find that the entire structure of space shuttle needs to be well attended and should not be break during the course of events at any stage of journey.

So that the entire hibernation system or cloning system whatever in use in order to attend the age gap of humans in relation with light years, should provide the same sort of insulation inside of space shuttle so that ultimately whatever be inside of space shuttle remains as it is and this could prove to be extremely secure zones for passengers of space shuttle.

In order to secure whatever be the human zones inside of space shuttle one needs to understand it needs to be done in complete accordance with that of atmosphere of earth as well as it should provide enough forms of identification of ideas so that persons inside space shuttle should be moving freely and it should be so solid that no other attack into it either from space or from chemical or any other reactions from space remains to be as it is and stronger like the atmosphere of earth in order to survive the longest possible journey to find out the similar human or alien races anywhere in universe.

Read more:

https://mohanmekap.com/2017/12/whether-suspended-animation-could-allow-astronauts-to-survive-missions-to-space-and-beyond/#ixzz52eHsTUBW

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5 Ways The War On Drugs Has Always Been Racist As Hell

Sometimes drugs can ruin lives, and sometimes they’re simply a fun Friday night. It’s a complicated subject, and we’re not going to take a side. We will, however, point out that a lot of so-called anti-drug efforts which authorities have put together over the years have mostly been excuses to harass minorities. We’re talking about how …

5

White Employers Got Black Employees To Use Cocaine, Then Panicked About It

Cocaine used to be just another food additive which could be found in everything from children’s pain medication to pop. You’d think its 1914 ban would’ve come down to “Holy shit, we’re putting cocaine in everything, what the hell were we thinking? It must have been all the … oh.” But while people were aware of the dangers of cocaine abuse among middle- and upper-class white Americans, that’s not why it was banned. Instead, lawmakers were driven by the early 20th century equivalent of a racist chain email from your grandpa. There were stories of black Americans supposedly abusing cocaine, gaining superhuman strength, and using that strength to attack white men and sexually assault white women.

Wiki Commons Using up precious cocaine earmarked for white children.

If you’re wondering what happened to the “black people gain drug-based superpowers and use them to commit crime” chapter of your history book, then obvious spoiler alert: It wasn’t really happening. What was happening was that cocaine use among black laborers was widespread. Its recreational use was tolerated, and sometimes white employers were explicitly giving it to their workers, in both cases because they believed it would make the employees work harder. We, uh … we used to be pretty dumb when it came to drugs.

Somehow, the “let’s give our workers coke” strategy backfired, as ridiculous stories began to spread. In 1914, The New York Times ran an article claiming that “most of the attacks upon white women of the South are the direct result of the ‘cocaine-crazed’ Negro brain” and “Negro cocaine fiends are now a known Southern menace.” While “Negro Cocaine Fiends” would be a great ironic album title, there was, shockingly, no evidence of crazed black people running wild.

While widespread use of cocaine probably wasn’t great for anyone’s disposition, “news” reports claimed that cocaine made black men hallucinate taunts and abuse, as well as gain incredible accuracy with guns and immunity to bullet wounds which would stop or kill a sober man. Holy shit! Why wasn’t cocaine being used in secret supersoldier projects? Oh, right, because it was all bullshit. But the 1914 ban was passed anyway thanks to those myths, and not out of fact-based concerns about the health risks of cocaine. (Because white people could handle their coke, goddammit!)

If you want a silver lining, the ban largely put a stop to lynchings of black men based on the “We think he’s high on coke, so he probably raped someone or whatever” clause. It also, uh, fueled nasty, often lethal stereotypes about impoverished minorities and drugs for decades to come, but that’s something, right?

4

Banning Alcohol From Native American Reservations Has Its Roots In A Myth That They’re Genetically Unable To Handle Booze

Yeah, there’s a running trend of white people thinking other people react differently to intoxicating substances. You may have heard the still-prevalent idea that the genes of Native Americans make them biologically prone to alcohol abuse. Supposedly, when Europeans introduced Natives to alcohol, their bodies didn’t know how to handle it and a tremendous cultural struggle with alcoholism ensued. No sir, it wasn’t the depression and trauma of watching their friends and family die while their culture and lifestyle were extinguished which contributed to alcohol abuse — it was biology! Not whitey’s fault, so deal with it.

William Faden “After all, they did trade Manhattan for four six-packs.”

It is true that Native Americans experience problems with alcohol … at a rate equal to white people. But thanks to stereotypes, we tend to view alcoholism among Natives as a moral failing endemic to their culture, while an alcoholic white guy is some dude with a problem who doesn’t reflect on other white people. Natives do experience more alcohol-related health problems than whites, but that’s because as a group, they have inferior access to healthcare, healthy food, etc. — a problem which is a subject for a future wacky comedy article.

For governing whites, prohibition laws on Native reservations were seen as a quick and easy way to address alcoholism. Natives can’t handle their booze, so cut them off and punish those who try to keep drinking. But Natives tended to see prohibition as white people trying to force a solution on them … to address a problem which they also forced on them. It’s like if someone smashed your car window and then took away your driver’s license because they said you were a bad driver for letting your window get smashed.

But even if the root causes are horrible stereotypes, prohibition is still meant to help, right? It’s certainly an improvement from the days when laws against selling booze to Natives were lifted so settlers could turn a tidy profit from alcohol abuse. But “meant” is the keyword there. If you treat Native American alcohol abuse as a unique and more desperate problem than it is among other people, you create brand-new problems. Stereotypes about Natives and alcoholism can make them too embarrassed to seek medical treatment, and it can also lead to Natives who have never touched a drink in their lives getting rejected from jobs. Hey, do you think those kind of bullshit economic punishments might contribute to alcohol abuse?

Also, a total ban on alcohol leads to people getting arrested for possession of a single beer, even though the stigma of having a criminal record is going to do someone more harm than one can of Bud Light. In one especially depressing incident, one cousin stabbed another to death over a bottle of beer, which A) might not have happened if beer wasn’t illegal, and B) is a clear sign that prohibition isn’t working. Could the truly atrocious living conditions on many reservations be contributing to incidents like that? Nah, they probably just can’t handle their firewater, right?

3

America’s War Against Opium Was Fueled By The Fear Of Race-Mixing

Another trend in antique drug laws is a baseless belief that minorities were stealing away white women and enabling the heinous crime of race-mixing (and implicitly, the equally heinous crime of white women not having sex with racist white dudes, even though they were totally nice guys who had their best interests at heart). Exhibit #317-B is San Francisco circa 1875, when Chinese immigrants, mostly railroad and mine workers, liked to unwind after a long day on the job by smoking opium. Hey, we’ve all been there.

The Bancroft Library “Mondays, right?”

White locals accused the Chinese of taking jobs from them during a rough economic downturn (technically true, but they were performing dangerous labor for shit pay, which is the kind of job that white locals tend to turn down or not even be offered). That complaint somehow morphed into accusations that opium dens were “girl traps.” The Chinese supposedly lured white women and teens into their dens with opium-laced candy and other treats until they were addicted and willing to have sex for more, which maybe says more about the people dreaming up such accusations than anything else.

So San Francisco outlawed opium smoking in 1875. But this was a nationwide belief. In New York City in 1883, a local worrywart set up surveillance teams to keep an eye on suspected opium dens which were supposedly corrupting white women. Tellingly, this surveillance was done by people from other neighborhoods, as most local whites didn’t have an issue with their Chinese neighbors. But they called the police whenever they suspected a stranger’s vagina was in peril, and a series of raids uncovered … a 19-year-old woman. Singular. Who didn’t appear to be an addicted sex slave. Claims that girls as young as ten were escaping before the police showed up were unproven, probably because they were super-duper made up.

But troublesome “facts” didn’t stop people from declaring that “hundreds of American girls” were becoming “associates and then slaves of the Mongolian” (old-timey racists weren’t big on demographic accuracy). So by 1909, Congress had made opium smoking, and only smoking, illegal nationwide. Drinking and injecting tinctures — how white Americans liked their medicinal and recreational opium — was still totally cool for a while, presumably as long as you pinky swore not to seduce dozens of sex slaves with the contents of your medicine cabinet.

2

Alcohol Prohibition Was An Anti-Immigrant And Anti-Black Panic

Prohibition and the events leading up to it had all sorts of complex causes. But one of those causes was a bunch of tedious people getting together to complain about immigrants — specifically the still-viewed-as-extremely-anti-American Germans and Irish and their love of beer. Because when history is at its worst, the masses are swayed to the side of the people complaining about beer instead of enjoying it.

In 1855 Chicago, the mayor and his followers were concerned about the influence of foreigners who took jobs and pledged spiritual allegiance to one of the most dastardly villains in history: the Pope. Gasp! They were especially distrusting of Irish and German immigrants, who liked to hit the pub on Sunday, their one day off. The Chicago Tribune called Irish Catholics “depraved, worthless and irredeemable drunkards and sots which curse the community.” We’re assuming that “sot” was a harsh burn back then.

So Chicago dusted off an old law which required taverns to be closed on Sunday … but only enforced it in immigrant communities. Chicago also sextupled the price of an annual liquor license to $300 (about 7,800 modern dollars) to try to drive immigrant bars out of business. 200 tavern owners were brought up on charges, and when the first one went to trial, there were massive protests, because you don’t fuck with a 19th century working man’s booze. One protester was killed, the mayor’s political career tanked, and the laws were eventually repealed, but it wasn’t the end of anti-letting-immigrants-drink sentiment.

The Prohibition movement was in full swing during World War I, and as you hopefully remember from history class, Germany was on team Not America. So Prohibitionist propaganda linked beer and brewing with Germany, and therefore treason. Prohibitionists also connected drinking with the Irish and other immigrants, with one congressman calling foreign drinkers the “degenerate vote” which “overwhelmed the liberties of free people” and were a “menace to our institutions.” Irish Americans were accused of being unpatriotic if they opposed Prohibition or the war, which silenced dissent.

Meanwhile, in the South, “colored only” saloons were declared “centers of vice, schools of iniquity, and hot-beds of crime.” Prohibitionists dressed the movement up as concern for those poor black people who were spending all their money and “[feeding] their animalism,” but they also accused black saloons of threatening the safety of white women and children. Because who knew what those dastardly blacks were planning when whites couldn’t keep an eye on them?

Again, Prohibition was complicated, but to some proponents, taking away one of the joys of minorities while making them less scary to the sort of people who wring their hands a lot was a big plus. One Southern Prohibitionist even argued that getting rid of saloons could prevent a race war and keep black Americans from rampaging through the streets, because ready access to alcohol was obviously the only reason black Southerners might get mad at white Southerners.

1

Numerous Government Officials Have Confirmed That Laws Against Drugs Are Based On Race

So far we’ve only given you historical examples, but you know what they say about history repeating itself to screw over minorities. Here, for example, is a 2015 interview with a former DEA agent who says they were told not to target drug sellers and users in rich areas, even though drugs are as prevalent there as anywhere else. The reasoning was that rich (read: mostly white) people have connections to lawyers, politicians, and judges who could make life a living hell for the DEA, while people in poorer areas (read: generally nonwhite people) wouldn’t be able to fight back.

You can find comments like that throughout American history. In the ’30s, Harry Anslinger, one of the big shots behind cannabis laws, said, “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men,” and, “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.” It’s admittedly kind of refreshing to hear someone be openly racist instead of trying to dress it up as being “for their own good,” although it sounds like Mrs. Anslinger probably had an unsatisfying marriage.

Ironic, considering her husband was named “Anslinger.”

Now let’s skip through time to a 2016 article on a 1994 talk with John Ehrlichman, one of Nixon’s top advisors and a Watergate jailbird. He told Harper’s, “The Nixon White House had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people … We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” He then presumably twirled his mustache and demanded one billion dollars, or else he would melt the ice caps.

The Nixon administration’s official line was that they were responding to a heroin epidemic and an uptick in the smoking of jazz cigarettes, as we believe the cool kids still call weed. And to be fair, several of Ehrlichman’s children and colleagues called bullshit on his statements, suggesting he either never said them or was being sarcastic (the writer who talked to Ehrilchman thinks he was serious and trying to atone). Nixon did establish drug education and addiction treatment programs, but also signed off on no-knock searches and is on record as referring to black Americans as “little Negro bastards” who “live like a bunch of dogs.” Again, drugs are complicated. You’re welcome to draw your own conclusions.

But while you’re reaching those conclusions, keep in mind that the drug war is incarcerating African American men at a rate about four times worse than black South Africans were during apartheid. Oh, and thanks to drug laws, there are more black men in the prison system than there were black men enslaved in 1850. So … maybe a change in strategy is in order here.

Mark is on Twitter and has a book.

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Boost your Imagination – Engineering Degree from ISB&M SOT

Engineering is a field of education in which imagination and creativity is used to the fullest which would bring you satisfaction and pride through your work. It is one of those professions whose presence is felt in every aspect of the society from the buildings built to the airplane and ships, entertainment industry, medical science and others.

Giving a new dimension to the society through inventions and innovations, engineers play an important role in the progress of the nation which is greatly dependent on technology. From the field of agriculture to aerospace and petroleum the role of engineers decides the growth in that area. Technology is one of the main contributors to the economy of most countries as it brings in business from all around the world.

Technical education has been popular for decades now because of the job opportunities in this field. It attracts students who are high on facing challenges and would like to unfurl the mysteries of technology. A degree in engineering gives an opportunity to work in the desired industry or allows one to pursue higher education and also to move towards the field of research and development.

ISB&M School of Technology of Pune is an esteemed institution for engineering degree course which gives you an opportunity to pursue your dreams to become one of the outstanding engineers. The institution offers Bachelor of Engineering courses which is affiliated to the University of Pune and is approved by AICTE New Delhi. It has received the recognition by the State Government of Maharashtra. The engineering courses offered are:

Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics & Telecommunications Bachelor of Engineering in Computers Science Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology

ISB&M SOT, with its highly qualified and skilled faculty, is working towards providing an educational environment of international standards along with encouraging students to foster a strong sense of responsibility and ethical practices. Aiming at nurturing the dynamic professionals, the institute trains their students to acquire all skills and knowledge needed by an engineer to given an exemplary performance to shape his/her career. ISB&M School of Technology, a constituent of the Peoples Empowerment Group was founded in the year 2010 and is progressing towards success.

The Mechanical Engineering department has well equipped laboratories like the CAD/CAM lab, Thermodynamics Lab, Heat Transfer Lab, Fluid Transfer Lab and others which gives tremendous support to the students in their education and in research related to areas of CAD/CAM, Material Science and Production Technology.

The Computer Science department has highly qualified faculty and state of the art facilities which covers all aspects of computers that are considered to be pre-requisites for jobs in the computer industry.

Information Technology, back bone of all the industries deals with data storage, retrieval and communication. The department of Information Technology with excellent and innovative teaching methods is of great advantage to students who wish to make a career in this field.

The well equipped labs of the Electronics & Telecommunications department supports the curriculum and faculty research through its well equipped Analog Electronics Lab, Digital Logic Lab, Communication Engineering Lab, Power Lab and Computer Simulation Lab. For more information please visit http://www.isbmsot.com/

from JournalsLINE http://journalsline.com/2017/06/19/boost-your-imagination-engineering-degree-from-isbm-sot/ from Journals LINE https://journalsline.tumblr.com/post/162006551620

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Ja ku do të ndërtohet Termocentrali Kosova e Re

Ja ku do të ndërtohet Termocentrali Kosova e Re

Ministri i Zhvillimit Ekonomik, Valdrin Lluka përmes faqes së tij zyrtare në Facebook ka treguar në detaje se ku do të ndërtohet Termocentrali Kosova e Re. Tutje ai ka përmendur disa kritere të cilat janë përdorur gjatë përzgjedhjes së lokacionit për ndërtimin e termocentralin të ri. “Përfundimisht lokacioni i përzgjedhur për ndërtimin e Termocentralit Kosova e Re është pranë TC Kosova B. Lokacioni është një fushë industriale që gjendet përafërsisht 1.5 kilometra në perëndim të Obiliqit dhe 9 kilometra në perëndim të Prishtinës”, ka shkruar ai. Postimi i plotë i ministrit Lluka: Ashtu siç kemi premtuar si Ministri e Zhvillimit Ekonomik, po fillojmë të shpalosim një e nga një temat më kyçe të dala nga marrëveshjet e nënshkruara mes Qeverisë së Kosovës, ndërmarrjeve publike në Kosovë (KEK, KOSTT, Ibër-Lepenci) dhe ContourGlobal – investitorit për ndërtimin e termocentralit Kosova e Re. Sot do ta trajtoj Marrëveshjen për Bartjen e Lokacionit (ang. Site Transfer Agreement), të cilën mund ta shkarkoni këtu. https://goo.gl/6Wjte5 Dua të filloj me një përmbledhje mbi përzgjedhjen e lokacionit. Një studim i para-fizibilitetit, i realizuar në vitin 2006 i financuar nga Bashkimi Evropian kishte identifikuar tri lokacione për ndërtimin e termocentralit të ri: pranë TC Kosova B, në Bivolak dhe në Grabovc të Poshtëm. Në fillim të vitit 2007 u shtua edhe një lokacion i mundshëm pranë TC Kosova A, duke zëvendësuar atë në Grabovc të Poshtëm. Mirëpo, si rrjedhojë e debatit publik në kuadër të Vlerësimit Strategjik Mjedisor dhe Social (VSMS), lokacioni pranë TC Kosova A doli të jetë i papërshtatshëm. Edhe shoqëria civile në atë kohë doli me rekomandim që lokacioni pranë TC Kosova B të shfrytëzohet për ndërtimin e blloqeve të reja, si vazhdimësi e blloqeve B1, dhe B2. Këto janë kriteret e përdorura gjatë përzgjedhjes së lokacionit për ndërtimin e termocentralin të ri: – të jetë i përcaktuar si zonë për aktivitete industriale, ose zonë e mëhershme industriale (ang. brown-field); – sipërfaqe toke e pashfrytëzuar ose që mund të lirohet lehtë; – topografi relativisht e rrafshët me kushte të pranueshme gjeo-teknike, zonë me intensitet jo të lartë sizmik, dhe pa rrezik të vërshimit; – të jetë në kahun tjetër të erës nga qendrat e populluara dhe jo në afërsi të qendrave të banimit; – të jetë larg parqeve natyrore, habitateve të mbrojtura, dhe zonave arkeologjike; – të mos ketë dukshmëri të lartë duke ndikuar negativisht në peizazh; – të jetë sa më afër infrastrukturës ekzistuese energjetike, infrastrukturës të furnizimit me ujë dhe të furnizimit me lëndë djegëse; – të ketë qasje të lehtë në infrastrukturë të transportit rrugorë dhe hekurudhor; – lokacion me pronësi që eviton nevojën për shpronësime dhe zhvendosje eventuale; dhe – të ketë vlerësim të kënaqshëm ekonomik. Përfundimisht lokacioni i përzgjedhur për ndërtimin e Termocentralit Kosova e Re është pranë TC Kosova B. Lokacioni është një fushë industriale që gjendet përafërsisht 1.5 kilometra në perëndim të Obiliqit dhe 9 kilometra në perëndim të Prishtinës. Vlen të përmendet se në kohën kur është ndërtuar TC Kosova B, ky lokacion ishte përzgjedhur si i përshtatshëm për ndërtimin e kapaciteteve të reja deri 2000 MW. Prandaj, janë bërë investime përkatëse në kanalin e furnizimit me ujë (kanali i Ibër-Lepencit), infrastrukturën e transportit, dhe rrjetin e transmisionit (nënstacioni 400/220 KOSTT, pranë TC Kosova B). Lokacioni i përzgjedhur do të shfrytëzojë plotësisht infrastrukturën energjetike ekzistuese përfshirë deponinë e qymyrit, që rezulton me kosto më të ulët të ndërtimit dhe përfundimisht reflektohet me çmim më të vogël të energjisë. Marrëveshja për bartjen e lokacionit rregullon marrëdhëniet mes ContourGlobal dhe KEK Sh.a. ku lënda e marrëveshjes është (1) shitja dhe bartja e lokacionit ku do të ndërtohet Termocentrali Kosova e Re, (2) qasja në tokë shtesë gjatë fazës së ndërtimit, si dhe (3) lejimi i kalimit të infrastrukturës përcjellëse të TC Kosova e Re nëpër pronë të KEK-ut, si p.sh. infrastruktura e furnizimit me ujë nga kanali i Ibër-Lepencit apo transportit të hirit dhe gjipsit në deponitë e përkufizuara në zonat e shfrytëzuara të mihjes së linjitit. Pronar i vetëm i tokës ku do të ndërtohet termocentrali Kosova e Re është Korporata Energjetike e Kosovës Sh.a., (pronë e shtetit) dhe nuk ka asnjë parcelë private që të ketë nevojë për shpronësim. Çmimi i shitjes së tokës ku do të ndërtohet termocentrali Kosova e Re është caktuar vetëm si vlerë simbolike, pra 10 Euro në tërësi, dhe kjo është bërë për shkak se lokacioni së bashku me termocentralin Kosova e Re do të transferohen në pronësi të shtetit pas 20 viteve dhe pa asnjë kosto. Kalimi i pronës nga KEK tek ContourGlobal pritet të bëhet në të njëjtën ditë me arritjen e përmbylljes financiare. Kjo bëhet vetëm atëherë kur investitori i ka përmbushur të gjitha obligimet e veta për projektin – siç është përzgjedhja e kompanisë ndërtuese, ofrimi i garancive përkatëse, sigurimi i plotë (100%) i financimit në formë të kontributit të ekuitetit dhe i kredive nga huadhënësit, marrja e të gjitha lejeve dhe pëlqimeve përkatëse etj. E nga ana tjetër, edhe kur Qeveria e Kosovës t’i ketë përmbushur të gjitha obligimet e veta në kuadër të pakos së marrëveshjeve të projektit. Lokacioni ku do të ndërtohet termocentrali Kosova e Re në asnjë mënyrë nuk do të ndikojë në operimin e rregullt të TC Kosova B. Për më tepër, mes dy termocentraleve është lënë hapësirë e mjaftueshme për zgjerimin eventual të kapaciteteve të TC Kosova B, nëse kjo do të jetë opsion në të ardhmen. Me lejoni t’ju informojë se gjatë muajve të ardhshëm, Qeveria e Kosovës është zotuar për disa studime teknike shtesë për lokacionin, të dhëna të cilat do të përdoren në përgatitjen e tenderit për ndërtimin e termocentralit Kosova e Re. Përfundim: TC Kosova e Re do të ndërtohet në afërsi të TC Kosova B me qëllim të shfrytëzimit të infrastrukturës ekzistuese e që do të rezulton me çmim më të ulët të ndërtimit / çmimit të energjisë; I tërë lokacioni është në pronësi të KEK Sh.a. dhe shmang nevojën për shpronësime; Çmimi i caktuar është simbolik, duke marr parasysh se lokacioni me gjithë termocentralin Kosova e Re bartet në pronësi të Qeverisë së Kosovës pas 20 viteve; Lokacioni nuk bartet para se investitori të përmbushë të gjitha obligimet që rrjedhin nga marrëveshjet komerciale, d.m.th. deri në datën e përmbylljes financiare; Lokacioni i përzgjedhur nuk kufizon operimin e rregullt të TC Kosova B, nuk pengon implementimin e aktiviteteve për rehabilitimin e TC Kosova B dhe nuk kufizon zgjerimin eventual të kapaciteteve të TC Kosova B. The post Ja ku do të ndërtohet Termocentrali Kosova e Re appeared first on Revista Monitor. Source: Ja ku do të ndërtohet Termocentrali Kosova e Re Disclaimer: The authorship and the opinion expressed pertain to their authors. While all the effort are made by Esc Adriatic to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations may differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer. For any specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, contact us through “esco@albaniaenergy.org”.

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