#the caleb catastrophe of 2020

[steamberrystudio]

Hi again! I just had some thoughts on Caleb that are hopefully helpful in some way? I really like him as a character, but I think that the way the demo has him is a big part of why he's so disliked--most of what I liked is in the asks about him. He has his moments in the demo--when Morgan is thrown around in the car, he's clearly bracing himself to keep her from getting hurt. I think more moments like that would help him in the PR department. For example, you mentioned that he is unhappy (1/2)

This is the last ask I’ll be answering about Caleb, as the situation has already come to a resolution based on our Discord discussions and discussions with Kickstarter backers. (In short, there are a number of backers who don’t want him changed. And since they have already paid for the product - and some of them backed specifically for Caleb - he won’t be changing beyond what I’ve already done).

I cannot make Caleb much nicer for plot reasons as a whole and feel that if I have to continually “nice-i-fy” him, I will ultimately diminish his character and route. I think this comes down to the fact that everything he says and does has a specific reason. He wasn’t written that way ‘just because’. Each behaviour was written as it is for the sake of specific moments that happen in later in his route.

For instance, the reason why he doesn’t explicitly say “I don’t like this any more than you do” or any variation is because this is a plot reveal in his route specifically for the sake of Morgan learning he’s not who she thought he was. If I have that in the common route then, well, it can’t be a reveal later on. This is what I meant in a previous ask when I mentioned that adding in moments of “niceness” or “understanding” erode the foundation of their romantic development because it diminishes his dramatic change in character.

There's a difference between expanding on an idea and introducing an idea. Introducing the idea of Caleb being unhappy with his orders has a different impact than just expanding on it because it was already revealed.

One of the confusing things (this isn’t aimed at you! It’s just an observation in general about this situation) about this has been how often people bring up things about Caleb as possible fixes, when other characters are guilty of the same things.

Caleb kidnaps Morgan, yes. But so does Ari (Caissa tries...Magnus knows they’re about to do it, and Jack is just being more stealthy in his approach). Caleb is dismissive of her questions, but so is Ari. I could be misremembering or forgetting my own writing (I do that a lot! LoL) but I believe Ari literally covers her mouth to shut her up at one point.

I know that Caleb may need extra care because he’s the gruff character that Morgan initially does not like...but that’s also the point. Many of the suggestions I’ve gotten feel designed to make him less gruff, and to rub Morgan the wrong way less, to show her that he does sympathise, or isn’t as mean. But all that is directly at odds with the purpose of his character in the game. Which is why my conundrum was about whether to keep him. I can’t make these kinds of edits without defying why he exists, essentially. So it came down to “completely change his character and purpose” or “remove his character entirely.”

But, of course, as I said, the backers have spoken and so that kind of decides that. Backers don’t want him gone and they don’t want him *changed* so...that won’t be happening. (There were also Misery gifs and threats about locking me in a room with angry cockatoos. So my hands are tied. Possibly literally.) ;A;

That said, I do want to also discuss that a big point of contention for many people is that Caleb, the only visibly not-white guy (Jack’s heritage is Latin American but I am not sure how many people view him as a person of colour compared to Caleb, who is visibly East/SE Asian in appearance), is being singled out for behaviours the others are guilty of as well - pretty much across the board.

Yes, Caleb is certainly gruff and angry compared to the others. But many of the specific things being brought up as possible fixes are not unique to his character (kidnapping Morgan, being dismissive of her, even not being terribly sympathetic when she cries. Jack is kind of amused by the situation, and Ari is the only one that expresses any sympathy at all - and it consists entirely of a disapproving dad look at Caleb).

People of colour in our community have expressed they feel Caleb is being unfairly targeted, really. They *want* to see characters of colour who are allowed to be flawed without having to be toned down and declawed and polished up to perfection to be more appealing. We had a frank discussion about how all the other love interests who are people of colour are *nice* or *polite* or *friendly.* (Reuben, Yuu, Jack, Lance - and Edan, Caleb’s possible replacement). There was an impassioned (and very compelling) request to not declaw Caleb when white love interests in games (including in Changeling, our last game) can get away with all sorts of terrible, bratty, and grouchy behaviour without getting called on it to this degree.

I think that’s also a valid point, which is another reason why I won’t be making further changes.

Finally, I want to conclude with this:

I’m not trying to shut down or be dismissive of feedback. I have edited Caleb. I edited before we released our last demo update, and I edited him again a few days ago. So when the game comes out, there will be some minor changes in how he treats Morgan. In some cases, I just altered language - sometimes I think it’s just a matter of a particular word giving the impression of an angrier action than I want. “Hauled me to my feet” can maybe a little more intense than “pulled me to my feet” or “grabbed my arm” can sound worse than “took me by the arm” - especially if a player is already indignant about Caleb not being polite enough.

I never particularly saw him as throwing Morgan around or being “violent” but looking at the writing critically, I can see how certain sentences might have read that way with the language being used. So I tried to address that where I could.

I won’t be making any further additions or changes to what I have, though!

Thank you for your comment! I appreciate you taking the time to send your thoughts! <3

[ao3feed-jatp]

Space, the final frontier

by Goblinofthewords

While captaining the USS Phantom, Julie Molina accidentally picks up three survivors of a catastrophe and makes a dangerous enemy.

A Star Trek AU but can be read without previous Star Trek knowledge and just read as a normal space AU.

I can promise plenty of Willex and tragic backstories…

Sequel to “Seek our future in the stars” but can be read separately

 Title from TOS Star Trek.

Words: 1658, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M, Gen, M/M

Characters: Julie Molina, Alex Mercer (Julie and The Phantoms), Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Caleb Covington, Flynn Taylor

Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie Peters/Flynn Taylor, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Flynn & Julie Molina, Caleb Covington & Willie, Caleb Covington & Dante & Fuego & Willie

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Alternate Universe - Space, Fluff and Angst, Some Plot, Spaceships, gays in space, Alex Mercer Has Anxiety (Julie and the Phantoms), Alive Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer Needs a Hug (Julie and The Phantoms), Protective Julie Molina, Julie Molina and The Phantoms as Found Family, Julie Molina Needs a Hug, Willie Needs a Hug (Julie and The Phantoms), Betrayal, Rock music is replaced by a rock collection

from AO3 works tagged 'Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)' https://ift.tt/iv02tRd

[pop-punklouis]

Hello Hope! Can you recommend some tv shows? Your favs or must see or your recently seen

hi bb! of course!

• Dark (2017-2020)

A missing child sets four families on a frantic hunt for answers as they unearth a mind-bending mystery that spans three generations. (** the best depiction of time travel i’ve ever seen also one of the best shows i’ve ever seen)

• Mr. Robot (2015-2019

Elliot, a brilliant but highly unstable young cyber-security engineer and vigilante hacker, becomes a key figure in a complex game of global dominance when he and his shadowy allies try to take down the corrupt corporation he works for. (** one of the best shows i’ve ever seen)

• True Detective (Season 1)

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson play detectives determined to solve a macabre 1995 murder (** the best season of a television show i’ve ever seen. watched it at least four times. the best performances from McConaughey and Harrelson you’ll ever see. The symbolism in the last few episodes are jaw-dropping)

• Mindhunter (2017-2019)

Set in the late 1970s, two FBI agents are tasked with interviewing serial killers to solve open cases. (last season really focuses on how corrupt the police system is).

• Russian Doll (2019)

A cynical young woman in New York City keeps dying and returning to the party that's being thrown in her honor on that same evening. She tries to find a way out of this strange time loop.

• Broad City (2014-2019)

Called "sneak attack feminism" by the Wall Street Journal, the series follows two friends in New York City navigating their way though the minutiae that is life.

• Sharp Objects (2018)

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects stars Amy Adams as reporter Camille Preaker, who returns to her small hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. Trying to put together a psychological puzzle from her past, she finds herself identifying with the young victims a bit too closely.

• Trinkets (2019-2020)

An unexpected friendship forms when three teenage girls meet in Shoplifters Anonymous.

• Seinfeld (1989-1998)

The continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends. (** my favorite show of all time)

• Twin Peaks (1990-1991)

An idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.

• Parfum (2018)

When a singer is found murdered, with her scent glands excised from her body, detectives probe a group of friends who attended boarding school with her.

• The Chalet (2017)

A reunion of childhood friends at a remote chalet in the French Alps soon turns into a desperate struggle for survival as they get cut off from rest of the world and a shocking dark secret from the past surfaces.

• Westworld (2016—)

Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, explore a world in which every human appetite can be indulged without consequence.

Living with Yourself (2019)

An existential comedy about a man struggling in life who undergoes a new treatment to become a better person, only to find that he's been replaced by a new and improved version of himself.

• Skam— Norway (2015-2017)

The story of young teenagers and pupils on Hartvig Nissens upper secondary school in Oslo, and their troubles, scandals and everyday life. Each season is told from a different person's point of view. (**have also seen this series multiple times)

• The Vow (2020)

A look at the experiences of the members of the NXIVM, an organization and sex cult who made headlines for being charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

• Love, Victor (2020—)

Victor is a new student at Creekwood High School on his own journey of self-discovery, facing challenges at home, adjusting to a new city, and struggling with his sexual orientation.

• The Outsider (2020)

Adaptation of Stephen King's novel about the investigation of the gruesome murder of a boy in the Georgia woods and the mysterious force surrounding the case.

• Queer Eye (2018—)

• Sex Education (2019—)

A teenage boy with a sex therapist mother teams up with a high school classmate to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school.

• Schitts Creek (2015-2020)

When rich video-store magnate Johnny Rose and his family suddenly find themselves broke, they are forced to leave their pampered lives to regroup in Schitt's Creek.

• The Expanse (2015—)

In the 24th century, a disparate band of antiheroes unravel a vast conspiracy that threatens the Solar System's fragile state of cold war.

• Vikings (2013—)

Vikings transports us to the brutal and mysterious world of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking warrior and farmer who yearns to explore - and raid - the distant shores across the ocean.

• Chernobyl (2019)

In April 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics becomes one of the world's worst man-made catastrophes

• Sense8 (2015-2018)

A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order.

• Derry Girls (2018—)

The personal exploits of a 16-year-old girl and her family and friends during the Troubles in the early 1990s.

• The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo (2016)

A wonderous story of the complexities of relationships, friendly and romantic. Blurring the lines of expected troupes through random comedy and a realistic, interconnected interaction

• Special (2019—)

A young gay man with cerebral palsy branches out from his insular existence in hopes of finally going after the life he wants.

[sweetsmellosuccess]

TIFF 2020: Days 5 & 6

Films: 5

Best Film of the Day(s): New Order

Good Joe Bell: Or, The Education of a Straight White Father. What Reinaldo Marcus Green’s film lacks in depth, it tries hard to make up for with earnestness. Mark Wahlberg plays the real-life father, who was in the process of walking across America in honor of his gay son, who committed suicide after being badly bullied in his smalltown Oregon high school, before he was accidentally hit on the road and killed in Colorado, six months into his planned two-year sojourn. The story is cut up between the present, with Joe on the road, doing terse speaking engagements (as Wahlberg plays him, the taciturn Bell isn’t much for public speaking), at local high schools and churches, and flashbacks to the past, as his son, Jadin (Reid Miller), attempts to get through his high school experience while being the subject of bullying, both in-person and via the Internet, until he reaches his breaking point. The message is certainly resonant, and Miller plays Jadin with the right amount of heartbreaking pathos, but Green’s film feels unnecessarily mechanized in order to put Joe front and center of the story (using a hallucination of Jadin at the beginning, which allows Joe to interact with him feels more than a little manipulative). Bell, with his quick temper, and impatience for anything that’s not directly to do with him, is a reasonable stand-in for exactly the type of straight white male who should be watching the film (but more than likely won’t). Wahlberg is gifted at playing this sort of character, who wants to have the full attention of everyone any point in time he chooses (“Did you hear what I said?” he asks incredulously after making an announcement and not receiving the proper praise for it). He’s a complicated dude, which the film alludes to without entirely capturing: He’s ready to fight at a moment’s notice, but shies away from directly confronting any of Jadin’s tormentors; has the good intention to take action to draw attention to the problem, but doesn't seem the least bit prepared to give a speech that really makes an impact (one detail the film does make work: His manner of saying “I love you” to his wife or sons, but only as a way of getting them to say it back to him). Connie Britton plays Lola, Jadin’s mother, a largely thankless role as the nurturer of the family, loving both her sons (Jadin’s brother Joseph is played by Maxwell Jenkins), and staying supportive no matter their father’s attitude. Near the end of his journey, as Joe begins to see the true folly of his ways, he meets a Sheriff (Gary Sinise), whose oldest son is also gay, which allows the two men to sit on the front porch of the sheriff’s house and contemplate the ways in which their lives didn’t go as expected. It’s clearly meant for the kick-ass Wahlberg audience (as Jadin says earlier in the film, they’re the actual problem), but I very much doubt they will be heading in droves to see it.

New Order: Meet the new boss, only in Michel Franco’s damning portrait of a society locked forever in cycles of oppression, revolution, and new oppression, it makes no difference who you are, what your belief system is, or whether or not you subscribe to a moral set of ethics. After an ominous opening montage of imagery largely taken from the film to come, we shortly begin at a resplendent wedding held at the city manse of a wealthy businessman for his daughter, Marianne (Naian Gonzalez Norvind), and her betrothed, Alan (Dario Yazbek Bernal). As Marianne’s mother, Pilar (Patricia Bernal) happily secrets away the envelopes carrying the new couples’ gift money in her safe, and rich and powerful families co-mingle, the distant danger of a furious revolution, lead by violent rioters raising up against the economic disparities of the city, seems at first to be light-years away. Until it isn’t. As rioters infiltrate the house, with the help of an insider, chaos reigns and bullets fly. The next morning, many people have been shot, the house has been utterly pillaged, and Marianne has been taken hostage by a rogue group of military, who snatch up wealthy-seeming refugees and hold them for ransom at an undisclosed outpost. By film’s end, Franco, working from his own screenplay, leaves no man, woman, or child unmarked. The wealthy are callous and vain, the rioters bloodthirsty and cruel, the hostage takers unbelievably greedy and horrible, and the righteous vanquished by further corruption at even higher levels of power. It’s a bit like the ending of a Coen brothers picture (Burn After Reading comes to mind), in which all loose ends are closed, and few, if any, people are any the wiser for it; only, there’s nothing the least bit arch in Franco’s thrown gauntlet: We aren’t spared the worst of it by indelible Coens’ proxies. We are all to blame, it would seem, and it has nothing to do with original sin: Our conniving, violent nature will undo any and all attempts to curb it. Insatiable avarice is our continual undoing, washing over us like the green paint the rioters hurl at passing cars and pedestrians, marking them as the enemy. In Franco’s thunderous film, nobody emerges unscathed; we’re all set on fire.

Wildfire: It’s a hoary Hollywood staple to substitute individuals as emotional stand-ins to capture the direness of historic catastrophic events, scaling everything down so we care more about the couple in star-crossed love than the war going on all around them. In Cathy Brady’s Irish drama, however, a pair of sisters are reunited after a year’s absence in the North Ireland bordertown in which they grew up, products of the uneasy peace, post-Troubles, in which everyone is meant to get along as one country, though hard feelings still abound. Kelly (Nika McGuigan) returns to the staid home of her sister, Lauren (Nora-Jane Noone), after taking off on her own the year before, and, by all appearances, living as a vagabond. Initially thrilled to have her sister back, Lauren is also still angry with her for taking off suddenly and not making any contact since. When the girls were little, their father was killed in a political bombing, and their mother might have committed suicide as a result (the car accident that killed her was, apparently, suspicious). Left to their own devices, then, they developed a fierce protective shell against any outsiders, including, it turns out Lauren’s increasingly concerned husband (Martin McCann), and longtime family friend Veronica (Joanne Crawford). The film changes gears when Lauren finally accepts Kelly again, and the two reform their partnership as intense as it was before. As the film points out, in a real sense, they are all each other truly have in the aftermath of their tragic childhood. The film clicks better into focus as well in its final act, when the sisters are reunited against all comers, and the world around them is better revealed for what it is: They represent the schism still very much a part of their community that no one else wants to see. Instead, people hang about in bars, or at work, nursing the bitternesses and hurts of the Troubles in private, and putting their public energy to getting along. Kelly, with her wildnesses and significant impulse control issues (trying to teach a young boy how to hold his breath underwater is, perhaps, not best accomplished by holding him down until he begins to panic), is at least honest with her feelings, open to her various wounds, and refusing to put the past behind them. Their mother gets referred to as “crazy” in the town’s estimation, but it’s more likely she, like her two daughters, represents the clear-eyed view of someone who refuses to live in denial.

Concrete Cowboy: Philadelphia as an open prairie has a nice vibe, and Ricky Staub’s film about a troubled teen who mother takes him from Detroit to where his father, an urban cowboy, lives in North Philly in hopes to setting the kid straight, is made with genuine care and gets solid performances from its mixture of professional and amateur actors. If this sounds like faintly damning praise, it’s only because despite its strengths, it still feels like a great set-up in search of a suitable story. Based on the real-life Fletcher Street stables (and the novel from Greg Neri), in which locals on the rough streets of the city shelter and take care of a group of horses for the sheer love of riding, the story follows the difficult maturation of Cole (Caleb McLaughlin), a decent enough kid, but searching for his place in the world, and the tough-love tactics of his dad, Harp (Idris Elba), a longtime cowboy, who hasn’t been in his son’s life in more than a decade. Cole starts out hating everything about his new situation, from Harp’s barebones lifestyle (not only are the cupboards empty, and the fridge filled with nothing but Coke and Bud Light, Harp keeps one of his horses in the living room, sharing it with his son), to being forced to muck the stalls out at the stables to earn his chance to ride, takes up with an old friend, Smush (Jharrel Jerome), a charismatic kid caught up in the drug life. Naturally, Cole’s choice comes down to which sort of life he wants to have, his father’s hardscrabble but honest approach (made more attractive when Cole develops a bond with his own horse, Boo), or Smush’s push for increased market share and more money to buy his own piece of land out West. Shot on location in North Philly, and around the city  —  one shot, in which Cole sits astride boo in full silhouette against a mottled purple sky, the lampposts standing in for saguaros, hits just the right note -- Staub’s film has a properly gritty texture, and the use of some of the real Fletcher cowboys adds further verisimilitude, but the story moves predictably enough, beat-by-beat, that it doesn’t hit with the potency it might have been capable of with a less predictable narrative arc.  

In a year of bizarre happenings, and altered realities, TIFF has shifted its gears to a significantly paired down virtual festival. Thus, U.S. film critics are regulated to watching the international offerings from our own living room couches.

[3fluffies]

Pacific Rim Headcanon: The Early Years Timeline, 2024...

For those who’ve forgotten, this timeline accompanies my Generation K prequel series for Pacific Rim.  It is my headcanon mixed with movie, novel, and extended canons of every kaiju attack and other significant events in the Kaiju War, including several original Jaeger characters and lots of original kaiju, based on the movie canon that the number of attacks steadily increased after 2013.  See end of post for links to the previous years and a guide to my original Jaegers.

January 1, 2024 (1 month, 8 days since last attack):  Bukavac, Category IV, attacks Nome, Alaska and is destroyed by Brawler Yukon, Romeo Blue, and Tacit Ronin.

This is Brawler Yukon’s first combat since it was taken out of commission to serve as the Jaeger Academy’s “training mech” after being badly damaged in November 2015.

January 30, 2024 (29 days since last attack):  Xiangliu, Category III, attacks  Laoag City, Philippines, and is destroyed by Tacit Ronin and Horizon Brave.

Tacit Ronin becomes the first Jaeger since the earliest days of the war to have back-to-back combat deployments.

February 24, 2024 (25 days since last attack):  Ordure, Category IV, attacks Eureka, California, US and is destroyed by Striker Eureka, Mammoth Apostle, Romeo Blue and Yankee Star.  

February 29, 2024:  Leap Day Jaeger Remembrance.  Rangers and supporters of the Jaeger Program and PPDC hold world-wide memorial events for the PPDC personnel and Jaeger pilots who have been killed in the war.

Tendo Choi and the remaining pilots of Class 2016-B gather in Anchorage to honor Yancy Becket and their other classmates who have died in the war.  

Raleigh Becket witnesses some memorials from the Wall of Life’s Seattle site, but does not participate.

March 20, 2024 (25 days since last attack):  Savage, Category III, attacks French Polynesia, but escapes Hydra Corinthian and Amazon Delta.  It reemerges in the Sea of Japan and is destroyed by Nova Hyperion and Tacit Ronin.

April 7, 2024 (17 days since last attack): Zernobog, Category IV, attacks Sendai, Japan and is repelled by Nova Hyperion and Shaolin Rogue before being destroyed by Cherno Alpha at the Siberian Wall off the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, .

Nova Hyperion joins the “back-to-back club.”

May 7, 2024 (30 days since last attack):  Kurat, Category IV, attacks Cairns, Australia and is destroyed by Vulcan Specter, Tacit Ronin, and Hydra Corinthian.

Late May 2024:  The Jaeger Academy’s final class graduates, and the Academy officially closes along with the PPDC proving Grounds and Jaeger Assembly Building on Kodiak Island.

June 5, 2024 (29 days since last attack):  Himantura, Category IV, attacks Honolulu, Hawaii, US, and is destroyed by Striker Eureka, Vulcan Specter, and Hydra Corinthian.

Vulcan Specter and Hydra Corinthian join the “back-to-back club.”

July 5, 2024 (30 days since last attack):  Insurrector, Category IV, attacks Los Angeles, California, US.  Striker Eureka, Brawler Yukon, and Yankee Star are deployed.

Yankee Star’s left hemisphere, Caleb Mitchell, suffers a seizure, causing the drift to break mid-combat.  His co-pilot, Tanisha Davis, is unable to continue the fight solo.

Yankee Star’s nuclear reactor is severely damaged but the two pilots safely eject and are rescued by Striker Eureka.

Striker Eureka and Brawler Yukon destroy the kaiju.

Caleb Mitchell is diagnosed with cancer, and Yankee Star is taken to Oblivion Bay.

Striker Eureka has its first back-to-back engagements.

Mid-July 2024:  Marshal Ana Ramirez is removed as commanding officer of the Los Angeles Shatterdome.

July 30, 2024 (25 days since last attack):  Bonesquid, Category IV, attacks  Port Moresby, Papua, New Guinea, and is destroyed by Striker Eureka, Tacit Ronin, and Butterfly Sword.

Striker Eureka also engages the kaiju, becoming the first Jaeger with three successive combat deployments 

August 14, 2024 (14 days after last attack):  Hound, Category IV, attacks Auckland, New Zealand, and is killed by Chrome Brutus and Tacit Ronin.

Chuck Hansen turns 21.

August 28, 2024 (14 days after last attack):  Biantal, Category IV, attacks Taipei, Taiwan, and is killed by Crimson Typhoon and Vulcan Specter.

September 14, 2024 (16 days after last attack):  Taranais, Category IV, attacks Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, and is destroyed by Tacit Ronin and Cherno Alpha.

September 25, 2024 (11 days since last attack):  Rachnid, Category IV, attacks Brisbane, Australia and is destroyed by Striker Eureka and Mammoth Apostle.

Vulcan Specter and Striker Eureka initially deploy alone, but Vulcan Specter’s reactor sustains catastrophic damage resulting in a nuclear meltdown.

Vulcan’s pilots, Devi and Susanti Hassan, receive fatal doses of radiation, and elect to walk Vulcan off the continental shelf and self-destruct to save Brisbane from fallout.

With 9 kills, Vulcan Specter is the most successful Jaeger in history to date.

September 29, 2024:  Nagasaki Shatterdome closes and its commanding officer, Colonel Sanae Okita, is removed.  Japan’s Jaeger Program is consolidated in Tokyo Shatterdome.

September 30, 2024:  Tamsin Sevier dies of cancer.

October 1, 2024:  The PPDC and UN direct the commanding officers of the Shatterdomes to choose one representative to report on the Jaeger Program.  Stacker Pentecost is chosen partly by default as the only volunteer.

October 3, 2024:  Tendo Choi resigns as Support Chief for Striker Eureka and returns to Anchorage as Support Chief of the Mark-3 Restoration Program.

Indra Hassan, former Support Chief of Vulcan Specter and cousin of the late Devi and Susanti Hasan, remains in Sydney as Striker Eureka’s Support Chief.

October 4, 2024 (9 days since last attack):  Likho, Category III, attacks Kuching, Malaysia and is destroyed by Striker Eureka.

Mammoth Apostle is destroyed, and both of its pilots, Ken Gould and Bobby Kanda, former US National Guardsmen, are killed.

October 18, 2024:  Lima Shatterdome closes.

October 31, 2024 (27 days since last attack):  Fiend, Category IV, attacks Acapulco, Mexico, and is destroyed by Striker Eureka.

Brawler Yukon is destroyed, but Caitlin Lightcap and Sergio D’Onofrio survive with minor injuries.

November 5, 2024:  Jerald “Jerry” Lunk is elected President of the United States, running on an anti-Jaeger, pro-Wall campaign, vowing that the entire coastal United States will be behind an Anti-Kaiju Wall by the end of his first year in office.

November 19, 2024 (20 days since last attack):  Tailspitter, Category IV, attacks Sapporo, Japan and is destroyed by Crimson Typhoon.

Before being destroyed, Tailspitter is engaged by Tacit Ronin and Katana Eagle and destroys Katana Eagle.

Katana Eagle’s pilots,  Bora Sagong of South Korea and Riyoji Aso of Japan, are both killed.

November 30, 2024 (11 days since last attack): Kojiyama, Category III, is destroyed by Crimson Typhoon in the Bohai Sea.

Crimson Typhoon’s partner, Silver Lion, is destroyed, killing both pilots.

December 11 2024:  Anchorage Shatterdome closes.  The Mark-3 Restoration Project relocates to Hong Kong.  Stacker Pentecost introduces the plan for Operation Pitfall to the remaining Jaeger pilots.

December 24, 2024 (25 days since last attack):  Ebenezer, Category IV, attacks Panama City, Panama, and is destroyed by Puma Real and Hydra Corinthian.

Here are the links to my blog entries about the headcanons that make up my Pacific Rim fanfic series:

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Mark-4 Jaegers.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Mark-3 Jaegers.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Mark-2 Jaegers.

Fanon/Side-Story:  Yankee Star, America’s Mark-2 Jaeger.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  Talon “Tango” Tasmania.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Shatterdome Commanding Officers

Generation K: Original Character Master List.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Early Years Timeline, 2013-2015.

Pacific Rim Headcanon: The Early Years Timeline, 2016-2017.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Early Years Timeline, 2018.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Early Years Timeline, 2019.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Early Years Timeline, 2020.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Early Years Timeline, 2021.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Early Years Timeline, 2022.

Pacific Rim Headcanon:  The Early Years Timeline, 2023.

[un-enfant-immature]

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez calls out big tech on climate change controversy

The newly minted social media star congresswoman is wasting no time in tearing into tech companies.

In a recent letter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined Maine representative Chellie Pingree in calling out tech companies for supporting an event they believe to be inconsistent with big tech’s ostensibly climate-friendly attitude. Ocasio-Cortez is a noted champion of a Democratic package of sweeping environmental reforms called the Green New Deal — a term we can expect to hear a lot more leading into 2020.

The letter, addressed to Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai, expresses that the representatives were “deeply disappointed” to see that these companies sponsored a recent D.C. conference that featured a talk “denying established science on climate change” at a recent libertarian conference called LibertyCon.

LibertyCon appears to have hosted at least one group on the wrong side of the scientific consensus around climate change. That group, the CO2 Coalition, reportedly promoted the “good news” about carbon emissions with handouts promoting the supposed positive effects of the noxious gases on agriculture. A member of the group, Caleb Rossiter, spoke on a panel titled “Let’s Talk About Not Talking: Should There Be ‘No Debate’ that Industrial Carbon Dioxide is Causing Climate Catastrophe?”

As the letter reads:

“We understand that sponsorship of an event or conference is a common occurrence and that these sponsorships do not automatically indicate that the company endorses the variety of political viewpoints that may be presented at these events. However, given the magnitude and urgency of the climate crisis that we are now facing, we find it imperative to ensure that the climate-related views espoused at LibertyCon do not reflect the values of your companies going forward.

As you are well aware, the spreading of misinformation can be dangerous to our society. Today’s coordinated campaign to deny climate change, or put a positive spin on its effects, is not unlike that of the tobacco companies which once sought to discredit their product’s link to cancer… We cannot afford to make the same mistake again with climate change.

We look forward to hearing from you in the hope that we can continue to count on you as allies in the fight for a more sustainable future.”

As Mother Jones reported, Google contributed something in the ballpark of $25,000 for the event, with Facebook and Microsoft chipping in around $10,000 each.

[toomanysinks]

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez calls out big tech on climate change controversy

The newly minted social media star congresswoman is wasting no time in tearing into tech companies.

In a recent letter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined Maine representative Chellie Pingree in calling out tech companies for supporting an event they believe to be inconsistent with big tech’s ostensibly climate-friendly attitude. Ocasio-Cortez is a noted champion of a Democratic package of sweeping environmental reforms called the Green New Deal — a term we can expect to hear a lot more leading into 2020.

The letter, addressed to Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai, expresses that the representatives were “deeply disappointed” to see that these companies sponsored a recent D.C. conference that featured a talk “denying established science on climate change” at a recent libertarian conference called LibertyCon.

LibertyCon appears to have hosted at least one group on the wrong side of the scientific consensus around climate change. That group, the CO2 Coalition, reportedly promoted the “good news” about carbon emissions with handouts promoting the supposed positive effects of the noxious gases on agriculture. A member of the group, Caleb Rossiter, spoke on a panel titled “Let’s Talk About Not Talking: Should There Be ‘No Debate’ that Industrial Carbon Dioxide is Causing Climate Catastrophe?”

As the letter reads:

“We understand that sponsorship of an event or conference is a common occurrence and that these sponsorships do not automatically indicate that the company endorses the variety of political viewpoints that may be presented at these events. However, given the magnitude and urgency of the climate crisis that we are now facing, we find it imperative to ensure that the climate-related views espoused at LibertyCon do not reflect the values of your companies going forward.

As you are well aware, the spreading of misinformation can be dangerous to our society. Today’s coordinated campaign to deny climate change, or put a positive spin on its effects, is not unlike that of the tobacco companies which once sought to discredit their product’s link to cancer… We cannot afford to make the same mistake again with climate change.

We look forward to hearing from you in the hope that we can continue to count on you as allies in the fight for a more sustainable future.”

As Mother Jones reported, Google contributed something in the ballpark of $25,000 for the event, with Facebook and Microsoft chipping in around $10,000 each.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/28/ocasio-cortez-google-facebook-microsoft/

[fmservers]

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez calls out big tech on climate change controversy

The newly minted social media star congresswoman is wasting no time in tearing into tech companies.

In a recent letter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined Maine representative Chellie Pingree in calling out tech companies for supporting an event they believe to be inconsistent with big tech’s ostensibly climate-friendly attitude. Ocasio-Cortez is a noted champion of a Democratic package of sweeping environmental reforms called the Green New Deal — a term we can expect to hear a lot more leading into 2020.

The letter, addressed to Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai, expresses that the representatives were “deeply disappointed” to see that these companies sponsored a recent D.C. conference that featured a talk “denying established science on climate change” at a recent libertarian conference called LibertyCon.

LibertyCon appears to have hosted at least one group on the wrong side of the scientific consensus around climate change. That group, the CO2 Coalition, reportedly promoted the “good news” about carbon emissions with handouts promoting the supposed positive effects of the noxious gases on agriculture. A member of the group, Caleb Rossiter, spoke on a panel titled “Let’s Talk About Not Talking: Should There Be ‘No Debate’ that Industrial Carbon Dioxide is Causing Climate Catastrophe?”

As the letter reads:

“We understand that sponsorship of an event or conference is a common occurrence and that these sponsorships do not automatically indicate that the company endorses the variety of political viewpoints that may be presented at these events. However, given the magnitude and urgency of the climate crisis that we are now facing, we find it imperative to ensure that the climate-related views espoused at LibertyCon do not reflect the values of your companies going forward.

As you are well aware, the spreading of misinformation can be dangerous to our society. Today’s coordinated campaign to deny climate change, or put a positive spin on its effects, is not unlike that of the tobacco companies which once sought to discredit their product’s link to cancer… We cannot afford to make the same mistake again with climate change.

We look forward to hearing from you in the hope that we can continue to count on you as allies in the fight for a more sustainable future.”

As Mother Jones reported, Google contributed something in the ballpark of $25,000 for the event, with Facebook and Microsoft chipping in around $10,000 each.

Via Taylor Hatmaker https://techcrunch.com

[investmart007]

HONOLULU | Once-powerful Hawaii hurricane downgraded to tropical storm

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/kq6GI0

HONOLULU | Once-powerful Hawaii hurricane downgraded to tropical storm

HONOLULU — A powerful hurricane that threatened Hawaii for a week rapidly disintegrated to become a tropical storm south of Honolulu. But meteorologists warned heavy rains could still wallop the islands with flash flooding and punishing winds.

Lane dumped nearly 3 feet of rain on parts of the Big Island of Hawaii over the past two days, forcing residents to flee their homes in waist-high water and officials to clear a series of landslides.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said people need to be vigilant and not let their guard down. But he was happy to hear the storm deteriorated.

“The good news is Lane got weak and fell apart. We dodged a bullet,” he said at a news conference on Friday.

Lane roared toward the island chain early this week as the most powerful type of hurricane measured: a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. That meant it was likely to cause catastrophic damage with winds 157 mph (252 kph) or above.

But upper-level winds known as shear swiftly tore the storm apart.

By late Friday, the National Weather Service said Lane had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 mph) as it slowly twisted west about 120 miles (240 km) south of Honolulu.

The outer bands of the hurricane dumped as much as 3 feet (1 meter) of rain in 48 hours on the mostly rural Big Island. The main town of Hilo, population 43,000, was flooded Friday with waist-high water as landslides shut down roads.

Margaret Collins, 69, woke up Thursday night to sounds in her Hilo backyard.

“So I got up out of bed and looked out my bedroom window and saw water 3 feet high gushing past my window,” she said. “And that’s when I realized I was standing in water.”

Collins called a neighbor for help, who crawled through bushes to bring her out of the house, half-carrying her as she clutched a plastic bag with medication.

The water knocked down a cement wall and lifted her truck out of the carport, sending it toward her neighbor’s house, she said.

“My house is completely inundated with mud-water,” said Collins, who was told the damage wouldn’t be covered by insurance. She hopes she can get federal assistance.

Elsewhere on the Big Island, the National Guard and firefighters rescued six people and a dog from a flooded home, while five California tourists were rescued from another house.

A different type of evacuation took place on Oahu, the state’s most populated island.

Officials with the Department of Land and Natural Resources transferred about 2,000 rare Hawaiian snails from a mountain marsh to offices in downtown Honolulu. A staffer will spend the night and place ice around their cages in case the air conditioning goes out.

Some of the snails are the last of their kind, including one named George that’s the sole remaining Achatinella apexfulva in captivity.

Staff members are trying to keep him safe in case he’s able to reproduce.

As flooding hit the Big Island, brush fires broke out in areas of Maui and Oahu susceptible to flames.

Some residents in a shelter on Maui had to flee when a fire got too close, and another fire forced people from their homes. A woman got burns on her hands and legs and was flown to Honolulu, Maui County spokesman Rod Antone said. Her condition wasn’t clear.

A man posted a video on Instagram showing flames several stories high starting to envelop parked cars. Josh Galinato said he was trying to sleep when he smelled smoke in his apartment in the tourist town of Lahaina.

“I opened up my front door, and I just saw the fire spreading and coming downhill,” Galinato said. He and neighbors honked horns to alert others to the danger.

Joseph Azam, who was vacationing in Maui with family and friends, hoped rain from the hurricane arrived before the flames did.

“Trying to figure which comes first, the fire or the rain,” said Azam, who’s from Oakland, California, and is staying at a hotel. “We’re praying the rain arrives soon.”

Others prayed for the rain to stay away.

In Waikiki, the man-made Ala Wai Canal is likely to flood if predicted rains arrive, said Ray Alexander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The canal marks the northern boundary of the Waikiki tourist district. Worries that it could overflow in heavy rains have prompted efforts to reduce the risk.

“The canal has flooded in the past, and I believe it’s safe to say based on the forecast of rainfall it’s likely to flood again — the impacts of which we aren’t prepared to say at this time,” Alexander said.

Major flooding could damage 3,000 structures and cost more than $1 billion in repairs, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspaper reported, citing corps estimates.

Officials received $345 million last summer to build detention basins, a flood wall and pumping station, beginning in 2020 and expected to be completed in 2023, Alexander said.

Not everyone feared the storm.

Swimmers and surfers ignored warnings from authorities and plunged into powerful waves at Oahu’s famed Waikiki Beach, which was closed.

Emergency officials said repeatedly over loudspeakers: “Please get out of the water! It’s very dangerous!” Honolulu mayor Caldwell pleaded with tourists that they were putting themselves in danger as the storm churned closer.

Crystal Bowden, a tourist from California, watched powerful waves crash against cliffs on Oahu’s southeast coast.

“I came in to visit, got here just in time for the hurricane,” Bowden said. “We’re kind of excited.”

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said about 2,000 people were in shelters, mostly in Oahu. Honolulu’s shelters would stay open until midday Saturday, Caldwell said.

The central Pacific gets fewer hurricanes than other regions, with about only four or five named storms a year. Hawaii rarely gets hit.

The last major storm to hit was Iniki in 1992. Others have come close in recent years. ___ Associated Press writers Brian Skoloff and Caleb Jones in Honolulu, Mark Thiessen and Dan Joling in Anchorage, Alaska, Colleen Long in Washington and Alina Hartounian and Annika Wolters in Phoenix contributed to this report

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER and AUDREY McAVOY ,Associated Press