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gaymer-hag-stan · 3 years ago

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Lara Croft's Biography

This is my attempt at consolidating Core Design's two biographies for Lara Croft as well as Crystal Dynamics' revised version for Legend into one, cohesive background story that includes all key events from her past adventures. Certain elements of the first nine games and their backstories are bound to be included in the new, unified timeline so any Reboot fans that are not as familiar with Classic Lara may find this interesting to read :) Hope you like it!

Name: Lara Croft

Nationality: British

Date of Birth: 14 February 1968

Birthplace: Wimbledon, London

Marital Status: Single

Blood Group: AB-

Height: 1,75m

Weight: 58 kg

Hair Colour: Brunnette

Eye Colour: Brown

Distinguishing Features: 9mm Handguns

Bio

Lady Lara Croft is an 11th generation Countess. The Croft family was granted the title and rights to Abbingdon, Surrey by King Edward VI in 1547. The Croft Estates are comprised of three separate manor houses, two of which are maintained by the National Trust, and the third is home to Lady Croft.

Lady Croft herself has suffered several personal tragedies, including the deaths of both parents on separate occasions before she came of age. Reputably an accredited genius and Olympic-standard gymnast, Lady Croft is the focus of wild speculation and intense debate in both the scientific and political communities in addition to the popular press. Idealized and vilified in equal measure, she is perhaps one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures of our time.

Lara Croft was born in Surrey's Parkside hospital on the 14th of February in 1968 to Lady Amelia Croft and the notorious archeologist Lord Richard Croft, the late Earl of Abbingdon. She was raised to be an aristocrat from birth, and had lived in luxury and security aloof from the world at large. Between the ages of three and six, she attended the Abbingdon Girls School, where it quickly became clear that she was an exceptionally gifted child.

At the age of nine she survived a plane crash in the Himalayas that took the life of her mother. In perhaps the first story of her prodigious indomitability, she somehow survived a solo ten-day trek across the Himalayan mountains, one of the most hostile environments on the planet. The story goes that when she arrived in Katmandu she went to the nearest bar and made a polite telephone call to her father asking if it would be convenient for him to come and pick her up.

For six years following the plane crash, Lara rarely left her father's side, traveling around the world from one archeological dig site to another. During this period she was ostensibly given a standard education from private tutors, but it would probably be more accurate to say she was her father's full time apprentice.

When Lara was fifteen, her father went missing in Cambodia. Extensive searches by the authorities and Lara herself turned up human remains that could not definitively be identified. Since Lord Croft's body was not officially recovered, Lara could not directly inherit the Croft title and Lara was thrust into a bitter family feud over control of the Abbingdon estates with her uncle Lord Errol Croft. Lara eventually won the legal battle, and took possession of her inheritance but at the cost of a deep rift in the Croft family that left her estranged from her living relatives.

At 16 she began studying at Gordonstoun, one of Britain's most prominent boarding schools where she discovered the mountains of Scotland. One day Lara came across a copy of National Geographic on the hall table. The front cover featured a familiar name - Professor Werner Von Croy. A respected archaeologist, Von Croy had once lectured at Lara's school to pupils & parents alike.

The experience had a profound effect on Lara, triggering a desire for travel to remote locations in search of adventure. In some ways Von Croy had become an inspirational figure for Lara. As Lara read further, she learned that Von Croy was currently preparing for an archaeological tour across Asia, culminating in a potential new discovery to be made in Cambodia. Unable to pass up this opportunity, she walked over to the desk & penned a letter to Von Croy. She Introduced herself and offered financial assistance in exchange for her place on the expedition. Von Croy's reply assured her that the territories were friendly and that he had ample experience to look after both his & Lara's well being.

Lara's company as an assistant would be welcome, as was the offer of such a generous cheque. He remembered Lara from his lecture - her incessant yet insightful questions had made quite an impression upon him. And so it was agreed that Lara would accompany Von Croy for the duration of the tour.

At 21, while in college, she was part of a team of aspiring archaeologists in charge of a dig in Paraiso, Peru. Her closest friends, Amanda Evert, aspiring anthropologist, and Anaya Imanu, engineer, among them. They were attempting to break through the tomb of the Queen of Tiwanaku. The expedition was cut short however, as a tragic accident led to the deaths of most of Lara's friends and colleagues, including Amanda, with Lara and Anaya emerging from the dig as the only two known survivors.

Lara probably should have died there, as most did, instead she learned how to depend on her wits to stay alive in hostile conditions a world away from her sheltered upbringing. Her experiences had had a profound effect on her and in that process transformed herself as well. Her Peruvian odyssey was both miraculous and enlightening, as the young woman not only survived, but gained a perspective on herself and the world that made her past appear shallow and naive. Out of the darkness of her ordeal, she saw her future reflected in a different light.

She felt profoundly that there was more for her in this life than the coddled existence that had become her numbing habit. Unable to stand the suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society any longer, she realized that she was only truly alive when she was travelling alone. Over the eight following years she acquired an intimate knowledge of ancient civilizations across the globe. Despite this drastic life change, Lara still retains the essence of her upbringing - most notably with her polite, upper-class accent. She turned to writing to fund her trips.

While in England, Lara lives in a mansion in Surrey which she inherited many years ago. At one time she saw little use in it but now realises that, if nothing else, it is at least handy for storing all the artifacts she has acquired on her travels. She has also had a custom-built assault course constructed in the grounds for training purposes.

Lady Lara Croft has already eclipsed her father's career; as of this writing she is credited with the discovery of some fifteen archeological sites of international significance. These sites are still yielding new and exciting insights to the past on an ongoing basis. No one can deny Lady Croft's incredible contribution to the field of archeology, however she is not without her detractors.

Lara's methods have been frequently called into question by government officials and other practicing archeologists. She has been described variously as anything from cavalier to downright irresponsible. Some scholars have suggested that her notorious lack of documentation and brute force methodology have contaminated countless sites and done more harm than good. There have even been (unsubstantiated) allegations that Lara actually takes items from these sites before informing the international community of their locations, and that she is nothing more than a glorified treasure hunter.

Despite the tabloid press's infatuation with her, Lara Croft guards her privacy with complete determination. She has never granted an interview nor made any personal comment to any of the rumors associated with her, preferring to express herself through brief formal statements given by the family solicitors, Hardgraves and Moore.

Predictably there have been a number of unofficial biographies printed about the young Countess, that attribute wild and fantastic feats to her exploits, ranging from the discovery of living dinosaurs in the Congo to infiltrating the infamous Area 51 in Nevada. The official line from the Croft Estate to these works is simply that "...these books are utter rot: disgraceful, trashy works of total fiction."

Nevertheless if you even make a cursory search on the Internet for the Unexplained, the Mysterious and the Downright Unbelievable, time and again you will find Lara Croft's name appearing. She appears to be a hero to conspiracy theorists and alternate history aficionados alike.

It seems the further you dig into Lady Croft's life, the more bewildering and mysterious she becomes. Perhaps like the archeological sites she discovers, we have only scratched the surface of this incredible woman and the complex and inscrutable secrets buried deep within her.

Lara Croft became the seeker of truths, both large and small, and in that pursuit she continues to this day.

Employment

Lara doesn't consider tomb raiding as a job, merely a way of life - although she has been known to uncover archeological artifacts on commission. To fund her radical lifestyle, Lara writes travel books. Titles so far have included 'A Tyrannosaurus is Jawing at My Head' and 'Slaying Bigfoot'. Her common complaint though is that she doesn't have enough time to put pen to paper.

As well as uncovering many notorious archeological sites - including the Atlantean pyramid and the last resting place of the dagger of Xian, Lara has found fame in other areas - she has driven the dangerous Alaskan Highway from Tierra del Fuego in South America in record time (although this was later denounced by the Guinness Book of Records due to her "reckless driving") and she hit the headlines again when she hunted out and killed Bigfoot in North America.

Sports

Not much of a team player. Discovered rock climbing while at Gordonstoun and used to set off into the hills alone during netball practice. Also took up shooting as an extra-curricular activity but was instantly banned for showing "too keen an interest'. However, the strength that climbing gave her fingers was to become useful when she started pulling triggers for real.

Music

Lara was brought up to appreciate classical music but having been a guest on U2's Popmart tour, has since become a fan of their music. She has also been introduced to the sounds of Nine inch Nails by her Aunty and considers it "good easy listening". Finds trance music, in general, good for training.

Food

Despite being a proficient cook from her days at finishing school and having sampled most of the exotic delicacies of the world, Lara usually opts for beans on toast when at home.

Hobbies

Any challenging sports. Has a particular interest in experimenting with different, often extreme forms of transport. Has also once admitted to stitching a kind of Bayeaux tapestry of her own adventures while at home.

Ambition

With her unique physical abilities, Lara is certain of being able to break many world athletic records and so sees no challenge in this herself. Her main ambitions still lie in the undefined world of tombs and the past. She has also however, developed a personal regard for Brian Blessed's attempts to climb Everest. If he never succeeds, she is determined to piggy-back him up there.

Heroes

All the great ancient figures who respected themselves enough to design such intricate tombs to be buried in. "Nobody goes to trouble like that anymore..."

Fears

Her Aunty's Corgi which has bitten her on several occasions - about which, for once, there is little she can do.

Lucky Charm

Any gun at hand.

#Tomb Raider #Lara Croft #Lara Croft Tomb Raider #Lara #Video Games #Gaming

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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years ago

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Anjou’s Motivation

Chisei Gen thought: "Anjou is a gentleman, an educator, but he likes to play, sometimes at the expense of doing his job." “

"It's just a mask he uses to disguise himself. He's very good at covering his heart with flashy appearances, very few people know about his past, and I've been getting some clues for almost a decade." Tachibana Masamune clapped, "Yasha, go to the archives and get me the files of Hilbert Jean Anjou." ”

The plain-colored file bag was soon placed in front of Tachibana, from which he poured out a file and placed it in front of the Chisei. Chisei looked at the home page, the heart slightly surprised.

“Name: Hilbert Ron Anjou

Birthday: 10/28/1878

City of Birth: Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK

Education: Ph.D., Trinity College, Cambridge”

It's a personal file by Hilbert Jean Ange, the president of Cassel College, hundreds of pages thick, with dense text documenting details from birth to this day. As a mixed-race and also of rare longevity, Anjou has lived for almost 130 years. Many of the things he may not remember, were quietly recorded in this file. Chisei never knew that the family's archives still contained such top secrets, even within Cassel College, no one knew about Anjou's past. His old man was dead, and his past was buried in a grave.

"It's a patchwork of several archives, and the result of our own adjustment, so it may not be accurate. However, it may restore Professor Anjou's life. The content is too complicated, I'll pick the important parts to tell you.

"Unlike what many people think, Hilbert Jean Ange is actually an orphan whose last name, 'Anjou', comes from French, but he was actually born in Yorkshire, England, a small city called Harrogate. He is not only a nobleman, butas a child lived very poor, so he can be said to have suffered. His adoptive parents adopted a lot of children and trained them to beg, and Anjou was one of the most special of the children. He was a hybrid, and at the age of twelve he showed amazing talent. He learned Latin and Greek without a teacher, and was appreciated by the local bishop, who offered him an annuity to study in London so that he could get a chance to go to Cambridge University. There he met the man who really changed his life, Menek Cassel, the elder son of the Cassel family, the founder of the Secret Party LionHeart, and one of the greatest dragon-slaughterers of all time. “

"Menek was twenty-one years old at the time, and Anjou was sixteen years old, and after a lonely childhood and teenage years, Anjou met another man with dragon blood for the first time. Menek recommended him to join the Secret Party and become the first member of the Lions Heart Club. But even Menek didn't think he'd unearthed such excellent blood, and the teenager who came out of the small town of Harrogate would end up as the leader of the Secret Party and the terminator of the dragon. To Anjou, Menek was like his brother, and everyone in the Lion's Heart was his family, because with these people, he was finally able to struggle out of his loneliness. It was the happiest time of his life, he studied at Cambridge, secretly participated in the activities of the secret party, his charm was the greatest bloom. The girls wanted to be with him, the boys were proud to be friends with him. He is a good academic and wore the latest fashions. The playboy image he showed today is the foundation that accumulated at that time.”

"Today's Lion's Heart is just a student association at Cassel College, but at the time it was the Youth League of the Secret Party, the world's best dragon butcher's team. Lion Heart will give Anjou not only friendship, but also glory and dreams. Everyone thinks Lion heart will be the light of hope for the secret party, and Menek Kassel has no doubt that he will be the next secret party leader. But suddenly the great change came, in the event known as 'the Lament of Summer’, the secret party's home Kassel Estate was attacked by the Dragons at night, a Dragon King-level enemy infiltrated into the estate, and the Dragon Servitors surrounded them from the outside. Lionheart fell as war dead.”

"It sounds weird, " Chisei interrupted Tachibana’s account, "In this case, the dragons show similar patterns of behavior to humans, they use strategies, launched a similar military night raid attack, which is not in line with the dragon's behavior patterns." Dragons are proud, noble clans that wake up to growl at the world, destroy all enemies with unparalleled violence, and disdain convert operations.

Tachibana nodded: "Yes, it's very strange, but we can't get to know the truth." 'Lament of Summer' is the top secret of the Secret Party, and hundreds of years on, the Secret Party has not released its findings on anyone other than the school board. But all the evidence suggests that the dragons did launch such a night raid, that they broken in from the inside and should have completely destroyed the secret party. But there is a man who pulls the wind, the world's genius Menek Cassel actually broke out to match the power of the Dragon King. The Cassel family, the greatest dragon-butcher family in history, declined, and no one could ever inherit its glory. The LionHeart was gone, and Hilbert Jean Ange is the only survivor. ”

"Ange wasn't in Cassel's estate at the time?" Chisei asked.

"No, he was in close contact with the Dragon King, and after his injury he fell into the cellar and passed out as though dead. He recovered the next morning and witnessed the saddest images of his life, with corpses piling up, human beings and Death Servitors hugging each other at the last moments of their lives, not out of affection, but trying to tear each other apart. The only person standing was Menek Cassel, but it was a corpse with a broken knife. Before that, Anjou probably never thought that the war between man and dragons would be so decisive, so cruel, flowing with blood like a river. Only one side survives this war, and even if all you can do is move your jaw, you have to climb over and bite your opponent's throat. ”

"Anjou dug his friend's graves with his own hands and burned them to ashes. He buried the ashes, and he buried his past. When the Secret Party found him, he walked alone in the wilderness, like The Walking Dead, and after he was rescued he said only one word, 'The world turned out to be so cruel'. The doctor said he could not imagine such a seriously injured near-death patient could have such energy, with so many bodies piled up to be burned on the pyre. The doctor said that there must be some amazing mental strength to support the body of the young man. Then Anjou fell asleep and earned a year before he woke up again, and the doctor almost thought he wouldn't wake up again. ”

But he did not become depressed when he woke up, but showed amazing activity. In the 'Lament of Summer’, the secret party elite suffered heavy losses. The young Hilbert Jean Anjou suddenly rose to power at the top of the secretive party. To some extent, he was the beneficiary of 'Lament of Summer. But that didn't bring him any joy. The elegant, active, conceited Anjou disappeared, leaving only the lone, iron-fisted powerman. The old playboy is only the mask he used to disguise himself, he had only a lonely avenger in his heart, always carrying a sharp iron blade. He continued to consolidate his rights, cultivate cronies and take control of the entire Cassel Academy in order to mobilize the most elite teams when it came to dragon slaughtering. This led to the school board's dissatisfaction with him, but Ange is irreplaceable. He had been to hell and back, so he is no longer afraid of death.”

"He was lonely and poor, but his encounter with Menek Cassel changed his life. Overnight, he won honor, dreams, friends, even family, but overnight lost all this, once again closed in the abyss of loneliness. The Dragons took everything from him, and he was determined to take revenge. What the doctor called 'some amazing spiritual force' was hatred, and the dragon taught him the cruelty of the world, from which moment he transformed him into the world's most terrifying dragon-butcher.” Tachibana whispered, "The dragons should regret keeping the man alive." ”

Silence for a long time, Chisei sighed softly: "No wonder everyone said 'don't be an enemy with Anjou', that kind of man's heart hidden coal mine, anger is ignited will not be extinguished until the enemy is burned, or burn themselves to ashes." ”

"Hate has created a paranoid personality, he is a ruthless man, no relatives and no friends. He was good to the students, because he needed them to fight for him, everyone was a tool in his eyes, a tool he used to avenge the Dragons.”

---- Dragon Raja III

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bbq-hawks-wings · 5 years ago

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hey! I've seen a bunch of posts on how HPSC is slightly corrupted and all, could you explain if you understand this? They're (die hard villain fans) usually using this as a justification to slam the heroes for raiding the army. I'm quite confused sorry

I’d be more than happy to, friend! I have a strong feeling it’s going to be a key detail in the story moving forward so it’s good to go back in reviewing everything we know now; plus, it gives me the perfect chance to offer up my theory that ropes in Aizawa, Midnight, and Present Mic. Buckle up, though, because this gets a little long.

The HPSC tells heroes what to do.

The Hero Public Safety Commission is a pocket of the Japanese national government in this universe, sort of like how the FDA is in America.

It’s important to note that HPSC is a separate entity from the heroes. They’re the ones giving out licenses, disciplining rouge heroes, overseeing hero training, acting as liaison between heroes and law enforcement, organizing cooperative efforts with multiple heroes across different regions, and managing the general image of heroes with events like the Hero Rankings Billboard.

Heroes have to obey directives given by the HPSC and hero schools have to align with guidelines set by the HPSC, but heroes don’t usually get a say in these decisions and often only get to complain about how things are done and are stuck doing it anyway. If someone is caught heroing without a license or not in hero uniform, you can be fined and/or jailed. If a hero doesn’t keep up with paperwork or runs off and does their own thing they can also be fined and have their license suspended. If a hero goes AWOL or completely flips out they can have their license permanently taken away and be jailed.

It’s actually even more important to note that way heroes are allowed to operate and answer to the government is actually closer in line to a militia than a police force. In fact, while heroes are allowed to make arrests and use their quirks, they are more restricted in what they can and can’t do on their own than the police. If a hero wants to work with other heroes on an investigation, they have to use the private network (administrated by the HPSC) or communicate in person. In the case with the Shie Hassaikai or looking for Kurogiri and the LoV where police cooperation was necessary to carry out the investigation and bring in the gang right away there was no choice but to be transparent with the HPSC.

However, the HPSC doesn’t have to be transparent with the heroes.

They require heroes to give up all their information to keep working as heroes, but they don’t have any accountability for themselves and have notably dodged scrutiny up to this point with public backlash almost always falling on the heroes who have little to no say in how they run things.

Starting back at the beginning of the series with the USJ incident, it understandably garnered massive media attention - it should have. Dozens of unknown, random two-bit villains poured into the most secure, prestigious hero school in all of Japan undetected and resulted in the serious injury of two teachers and could have included the students as well if All Might had not been there to fight and subdue the inhuman monster - the Nomu - who had up to that point had never been seen before.

It’s not unreasonable that UA initially got the blowback from this as it could have been chalked up to complacency causing a lapse in security that the HPSC absolutely wouldn’t have been accountable for. It’s treated like a one-off event and despite investigations going nowhere on it, it’s ultimately downplayed and checked out in the background while continuing with the Sports Festival in high spirits. However, things get worse.

After passing their semester exams the Hero Course first-years head off to do practical training in the mountains with a hero team named the Wild Wild Pussycats. Remember, because this is a hero training initiative between a school and a hero team, the HPSC is likely involved at least on some administrative level in regards to granting permission and securing the patch of mountainside to use even if this detail is not acknowledged in the series. Despite efforts to only include the staff, teachers, and heroes involved word somehow still gets out - resulting in more student, hero, and teacher injuries, and most importantly the kidnapping of one of the students.

This can no longer be swept under the rug. A lot happens in the secret hideout raid revealing lots of stuff with the plot, including All-for-One’s direct involvement, but it doesn’t add anything more to our notes besides the fact UA is once again blamed and heroes are thrown under the bus instead of the organization overseeing them.

Fast forward to the Provisional License Arc. This is the first time we see the HPSC acting explicitly. It’s noted that they passed significantly more students this year than previously. Yokumiru Mera, the tired proctor, is overworked. The HPSC has a reason to urgently pump more students into the “working force” now than it had before, though at the moment it’s written off as a result of All Might’s retirement.

During the Shie Hassaikai arc the only suspect detail we get is the fact that the raid on compound is inexplicably compromised, and somehow the yakuza knew the heroes and police were coming. We’ll come back to this and to the leaks in UA again later.

Skipping the remedial courses and school festival arc, we get to the Pro Hero Arc. Big lights, pomp and circumstance, and a massive powerful Nomu attack that nearly kills the freshly crowned #1 Hero. From this point forward, what we get of the HSPC is mainly through Hawks and his experience with him. After the fight, we get a flashback of the President of the HSPC herself telling him to ignore civilian casualties in his mission to infiltrate the LoV, that he has to do it solo, and that he can’t tell anyone. Briefly in the next chapter he says that despite his objections he can’t actually tell them no.

Hold up!

Did a government agency just tell a hero to secretly get in with the villains no matter what, and when he objects and asks whether he’s just supposed to ignore collateral damage in the process is told, “You can and you will”?! (That’s a verbatim quote from chapter 192.) I thought this agency was supposed to hep people and keep them safe!

We get smatterings of interactions between Hawks and the HPSC, and though we don’t get anything from there side we’re getting that every questionable or deplorable thing Hawks does or needs to get on the LoV’s good side is acknowledged and endorsed by the HPSC. “I’m in contact with the shady guy who loosed that monster in the middle of the city with no warning. He wants me to kill the other top hero who just recovered and to join the definitely-dangerous doomsday cult, and maybe THEN he’ll let me in on what’s going on.” Ok, sure. Nothing morally questionable about any of that...

Jump to chapter 267. Up to this point, this note about Hawks’ past has been hinted at, but is here finally confirmed with a chilling detail. Kids who enter hero work may get special coaching by their families when they’re young, but the threshold for entering formal government-regulated training isn’t until 14/15 years of age in the last few years of their education. Chapter 267 shows a little Keigo Takami no older than about 8, at best, being told by the HPSC that he doesn’t get to call himself by his own name anymore. From now on, he’s going to be a hero, and only a hero, and it’s going to long and hard. Back in 192, two mysterious figures promise the same boy, shown at the same age, that his family will be taken care of.

Whatever circumstances led Keigo’s family to end up in the situation they did, they accepted an offer from a government agency, the HPSC specifically - you can see their headquarters in the flashback - to take away their very young son, take away his identity (and implicitly his family), and groom him to be government tool for the rest of his life - a commitment he had no true say in and that he could not understand at the time.

And it gets worse.

Endeavor works with the HPSC regularly as all heroes have to, but his relationship with them and what they’ll let him get away with gets put into greater question the longer we look at it. He turned to eugenics to create a hero he couldn’t be and surpass All Might for the sole purpose of satisfying his own ego. He bought a girl from her family and forced her to have his kids, then subjected those kids to cruel training - passing over each one until he got to one he felt he could work with -, beat his wife as well, and some kind of action he was involved in lead to the death of his oldest son. While the domestic abuse could be hidden, the death of his child cannot. What’s more, shortly after (very shortly if timelines add up), his youngest son received a permanent burn scar on the heat-resistant side of his face and his wife was locked away in a mental institution for a decade.

And the HPSC never bats an eye. They could take away his license. They could call the police. They could have exposed him to the public or at least ordered an investigation. But they didn’t. On some level they knew, and they did nothing.

But it might be even worse.

I skipped over this detail chronologically, but it’s the linchpin for just how corrupt the HPSC might be if all this lines up. Looking at the Endeavor Agency Arc, we get a seemingly random confrontation with a guy called Starservant (chapter 243) who prattles off a prophecy about the Dark Lord returning and his Dark Stars conspiring against humanity which will bring the world to ruin. He calls out Endeavor specifically as the shining light that beckons the darkness, but this sounds an awful lot like the deranged wailing of some crazy old man, right?

Let’s jump over an entire series now to the spin-off serial Vigilantes. This series takes place in the same universe at an earlier point in the timeline of the main story - and take an extra little note that there’s an underlying subplot about unusual drugs meant to enhance quirks (that often result in mutating the user) and that someone may be using them to clandestinely run experiments on humans from the shadows.

In chapter 59 we get flashbacked to Eraserhead, Midnight, and Present Mic’s childhood experiences at UA, and we’re also introduced to Oboro Shirakumo - their fellow classmate and dear friend. We get a few chapters establishing their relationships and their goals and dream for the future until chapter 63 where things make a drastic turn in tone. On what should be a routine hero training exercise as third-year seniors a giant, monstrous villain shows up and attacks while the UA kids are escorting a class of preschoolers around town.

In the scuffle, though Aizawa is able to single-handedly come out victorious, in the fight and debris Shirakumo is struck in the head by falling concrete as he tries to lead the children to safety and dies on the scene. Go back to main series, chapter 254-255, the villain Kurogiri is detained but the police are having no luck questioning him. They get a sliver of a lead and call in Present Mic and Eraserhead to interrogate him, and it’s confirmed that Kurogiri was a human experiment of Doctor Ujiko - the mad scientist bio-engineer responsible for the Nomu and outspokenly faithful servant of All-for-One - created from the corpse of their dearly departed Oboro.

Here’s the kicker, though, in Japan they don’t often bury their dead. Funerals next to never include an open casket - the loved one is cremated first, their ashes placed on an funeral shrine with their picture, and the loved ones mourn there. That means Ujiko needed to get to the body before it was cremated - which requires some fast work; but that’s not even the worst of it. Jumping one last time to chapter 270, Ujiko recognizes Mic as a friend of Shirakumo and boldly admits the entire time he was after Aizawa for his quirk.

That attack more than 10 years ago was premeditated. This goes back a long ways. How did he find this information - about their quirks and their movements and where to find them? How did Ujiko get the body out of the morgue without anyone catching him? Could it be the same way his fellow servants of All-for-One were able to get into the USJ? And the Training Camp? And the Yakuza raid? All-for-One has a lot of connections for his faithful servants to move about freely in this world of heroes despite every effort being take to stop them.

Somehow, these shining lights can never seem to outrun the dark no matter how hard they try, as if there’s a conspiracy against them. But a conspiracy of that level would have to come all the way from the top! If you wanted to get poetic about it, you could even say the stars themselves are conspiring against us. But that old man was crazy, right? If he wasn’t crazy - if he was right at all - then no matter what way you slice it:

This is bad.

#I'm not the first one to comment on this meta #but that old man looks a little less crazy every chapter #bnha meta #mha meta #mha manga spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #hpsc meta

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danwhobrowses · 4 years ago

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One Piece Chapter 993: Initial Thoughts

Sometimes we’re just not allowed to have a good time Chapter 993 takes an age to translate but we finally can get down to the initial thoughts segment of the chapter. I had to move to another source since the other one was just sitting on French for hours

Spoilers for Chapter 993, Also Support the Official Release

For the cover story we should probably have changed it to ‘Gang Bege’s Oh My Family’ to ‘You Go Gotti!’ because Gotti is the proper winner here. Lola is his bride getting to finally marry, Pound gets to witness a wedding and things are at least rosy there

The Fire Festival was actually quite intriguing, it was a festival so pro-Oden it makes you wonder how the pro-Orochi education gets enforced if this happens annually, and what of the Kaido forces that stay behind? What happens to them?

Oda also making sure we notice absences of Tsuru, Hitetsu, Hiyori and Tama...just sayin’

Now that is more like it from Queen, a bullet that’s turning our allies into vicious ice demons. This could be the forefront for Chopper or even a possibility of a powerful ally turning into an Ice Demon. I wonder if Brook could control dominion over them too? Ooooh imagine Ice Demon Apoo? Or Hawkins infecting his Straw Demon with the Ice Demon!

We get some humorous bickering though with Sanji and Luffy over conserving Luffy’s energy, only for Jimbei to do it in one hit and get some lip from Sanji for stealing his thunder. It kinda reminds me of what was flashbacked in the last chapter with the Scabbards wanting to prove themselves the most loyal

Bao Huang though with her Squirrel SMILE somehow can see through those Eye tags too, using a catto with one, interesting security system for sure but bad for Momo’s party as King issues the kill order

Seeing Who’s Who didn’t surprise me for that, but seeing Ulti did, I mean she’s got Usopp and Nami to deal with

Ooooh Sasaki looking evil pissed there

Shinobu’s got a lot sticking out of her at the mercy of Sasaki’s ‘Armored Corps’, makes you wonder if he has a similar DF to his team, Ankylosaur DF anyone?

Also can we appreciate Tank Face over here, that guy has it rough

But looks like Yamato will be fighting Sasaki for this bout

Scabbards are right though, battle’s not done just because Kaido has fell

Kaido continues with being a little hard to read though, at one point he’s like ‘how dare you harm my precious subordinates’ but then here it’s ‘I wouldn’t have minded if you killed me tbh’

And therein lies my worry, hurting Kaido is one thing but killing him is an entirely different story. Even when you can land sufficient hits it only takes one hit

And they had to pick Kiku...freaking wind scythe breath stuff

Nice of Oda to note ‘no break next week’ though

So...ouch First and foremost I do not believe Kiku is dead. Short an arm definitely and probably out of commission but not dead. Personally I am predicting some allies and even crewmates taking some heavy blows from this raid, but there is a ray of hope from these injuries and it’s that our alliance just happens to have 3 of the best doctors in the One Piece world (Chopper, Law and Marco) and all happen to be in Onigashima right now. Still it’s gonna boil some blood, Izo did not reunite with their sister just to watch Kaido kill them. And Kin’emon is definitely gonna take it to heart, but I wonder if Oda’s decommissioning Kiku because of how similar her skills are with Brook’s ice-themed swordplay, I still think that taking Kaido may end up being a crew effort. But Kaido’s forces are showing their fangs a little; Sasaki has axes to grind, Queen has his zombie army (which will inevitably block off the lower floors to force more of the tower climb), King is...well he’s chilling but he’s got eyes around the place - whether that’s just a unique thing to Bao Huang or maybe Who’s Who’s DF is yet to be seen - and Kaido is literally showing his fangs. We could be in for a few dire chapters up ahead but we do have some idea where each Straw Hat is right now (besides Brook); Franky still has that Number, Usopp and Nami are taking Pay-Pay and Ulti who is keeping her ears close to the Yamato situation, Zoro is with Drake in the Ice Demon infested floors, Robin is with Chopper on that same floor and Sanji and Jimbei are trying to keep Luffy out of trouble, which I would bet he will still find and force both of them to hang back so he can get to Kaido. I do think someone has to come support Yamato, I don’t see them taking Sasaki and his fleet on their own successfully, and I’m certain someone will have to give King and Who’s Who something to contend with. We are still missing content from team Law, team Kid, Caribou, shadowy guy in the bushes, Brook, Hawkins, Hyou and his Yakuza buddies, and I’m sure others. Just gotta strap in and pray that your favourites survive

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carriagelamp · 4 years ago

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November 2020: A Months of Familiarity

This November ended up being a month of me either rereading old favourites, exploring new books by favourite authors, or a mix of both.

…Be prepared for so much Terry Prachett, I found his audiobooks on Libby last month and since that I’ve been unstoppable.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

The first of my Terry Practhett books to mention! I chose to include this one on my list because it’s a beautiful stand alone novel, perfect to read if you’ve never touched on of Pratchett’s works before, and is often overlooked.

The book is about Maurice, an “amazing” cat by his own admission, who has teamed up with a stupid boy and his very own plague of rats. The moneymaking scheme is simple: set the rats loose on a town and after causing a panic let the boy stroll in and offer to play his pipe and lead them away… for a fee. This is working well, until Maurice, the boy, and the rats arrive in the town Bad Blintz. Here the rats are beginning to question the morality of their work, the boy gets entangled with a young, mischievous local girl, and they’re all shocked to find out that the town already has a real rat infestation… or so the rat catchers claim. Things quickly turn sinister and deadly as the group is forced to confront not only the cruelty of humanity, but something even more sinister living in the small, dark, hidden place of the town.

This is a YA book, unlike some of Pratchett’s other novels, so it’s a quick, fun read, while still having all of his dry wit and heavy, complicated thoughts about society, morality, belief, and what it means to be a person. It’s a genuine delight to see Maurice and the rats, recently made sentient by wizards’ rubbish, struggle to come to terms with who they were and who they are now.

Black Pearl Ponies: Red Star & Wildflower

Y’all it ain’t a secret at this point that I enjoy a stupid horse girl book, right? I picked up the first two books of the Black Pearl Ponies books from the library on a whim and they were basically what they promised. Girl lives with family on ranch, father helps train horses, girl goes on pony adventures with ponies. A particular focus is given to horse welfare and care. Very mediocre but a nice thoughtless covid read if you, like me, get a craving for animals books written for seven year olds from time to time. Plus this comes with the added humour of it being written, as far as I can tell, by a British author who thinks all Americans are stetson wearing cowboys which I find unreasonably funny.

Crenshaw

I love Katherine Applegate’s work; I read the Endling series earlier this year and they are overwhelmingly good. Crenshaw was also an enjoyable read, though not my favourite by her. It read a little bit like a book I read last fall, No Fixed Address, which was also a very good read though not my usual genre. Crenshaw is about a boy, Jackson, whose family, though close-knit and loving, is experiencing financial difficulties and struggle with food scarcity, homelessness, and all the instability and stress that results from this. During this tumultuous time, Jackson is surprised by the reappearance of a tall, bipedal, snarky cat — Crenshaw, his old imaginary friend. This is a charming book that blends genuine, real world hardships with whimsy and magical realism.

The Enemy Above: A Novel of WWII

Since it was Rememberance Day this month, I decided to pick up a holocaust novel. This book is about 12-year-old Anton, a young Jewish boy who finds himself fleeing from his Polish farm in the middle of the night with his old grandma when a German raiding party that attacks their village in an effort to make the countryside “judenfrei”. The book is, perhaps, not the most well-fleshed out, but it’s fast-paced and exciting for a child/YA audience that’s being introduced to holocaust literature, without trying to downplay the absolutely horror and brutality of the Nazis. It manages to strike a satisfying balance between fear, tragedy, and hope.

“Everything he had heard was true. He was just a twelve-year-old boy and yet they hunted him. He had broken no laws, done nothing wrong. He was simply born Jewish. How could anyone want to kill him for it?”

Gregor the Overlander

Somehow I never knew that Suzanne Collins wrote anything other than The Hunger Games? I stumbled across this series at a used bookstore and was first taken by the cover and then shocked when I realized I recognized the author’s name. Well The Hunger Games was such a good read, how could I not pick up a book with people riding on a giant fucking bat?

Such a good choice. I’m almost done book two and bought book three today after work. It is exactly the sort of low fantasy that I live for, when a fantasy world lives so close to the real world that you can practically touch it. I also love the fact that while all the wild fantastical elements are happening, you still have the main character taking care of his toddler sister the whole time. It’s at times charming, hilarious, and nerve-wracking!

It’s about Gregor, a normal kid who’s doing his best to help his mom take care of his two younger siblings ever since his father disappeared years ago. Gregor expected months of boredom when he agrees to stay home over the summer instead of going to camp like his sister in order to watch his baby sister, Boots, and their grandma while his mom is at work. He never could have expected that a simple trip to the apartment’s laundry room would lead to both him and Boots tumbling miles beneath the earth into the pitch black Underland, a place filled with giant rats and bugs and people with translucent skin who fly through the massive caverns on huge bats. He also could have never expected that he would get wrapped up in a deadly prophecy that would force him to travel into distant, dark lands into the waiting claws of an overwhelming enemy.

Kings, Queens, and In-Between

A Canadian queer novel that I’ve seen trumpeted everywhere. Libraries, classrooms, bookstore, this book got so much hype (and has such a pleasing cover) that I had to get my hands on it. Now, I’ve got to admit that it’s not really my genre; I don’t love realistic fiction. But that being said, it’s a fun, heart-warming, queer romp through that explores gender, sexuality, love, family, friendship… there’s a lot of lovable, quirky, complicated characters that get thrown together in unexpected ways at a local summer carnival. While there’s tension and misunderstandings and mistakes, this is overall a very optimistic and loving novel, and would be a great read if you want a queer novel that reads like cotton candy.

Love, The Tiger

This book is the graphic novel equivalent of a nature documentary. There’s no text, but you follow a day in the life of a tiger as it moves through the jungle on the quest for food. The art is honestly beyond outstanding, and though it’s a really quick read it is so very worth it. I’ve also read Love, The Lion in this series (also good, though a bit more confusing imho) as well as one of the books from his other series Little Tails which is still very nature and education based, though for a slightly younger audience.

Making Money

More Pratchett! Making Money was the first Discworld book I ever read, and it’s one of my most reread ones — it’s an ultimate comfort read! This is technically the sequel to Going Postal (another book I reread this month), in which conman Moist Von Lipwig is saved from a rightful death at the noose in exchange for agreeing to work for the city. Going Postal sees Moist narrowly dodging death in many varied forms as he tries to get the Anhk-Morpork postal service back on its feet and get the drifts of dead, whispering letters moving again. In Making Money things at the post office have become… too easy. Moist is bored, restless, until he finds himself thrust into a new job: head of the Royal Mint. There he has been given not only charge of the biggest bank in Anhk-Morpork, but also a dog with a price on its head, a lethal family with all the money in the world out for his blood, and the fear that his secret past life may be on the verge of being exposed to everyone, all while he’s desperately trying to make money…

The Moist series is honestly an example of Pratchett at his absolute best imo, and the amount of humour, wit, adventure, and scathing commentary he can build around a bank is outstanding. Cannot recommend enough.

The One And Only Ivan

Another book I’ve been hearing everyone talk about, as well as another Katherine Applegate book. It’s been on my radar for a while, but with the sequel and a movie coming out, it had everything at a fever pitch and I finally picked it up. Fantastic read, I definitely enjoyed it more than Crenshaw. This book was based off the true story of Ivan, a gorilla taken from his home in the jungle and sold to the owner of a mall, where he spent years of his life growing from child to adult silverback in a small, concrete enclosure. In this fictionalized version, everything changes for Ivan and his friends, when a new baby elephant is bought to help revitalize the mall attractions and Ivan makes a promise he doesn’t know how to keep: to protect this baby, and keep her from living the life Ivan and his friends were forced to. This book made me very emotional. Applegate’s picture book that goes along with it is also a great companion read.

Ranma ½

I realized that our library had the 2-in-1 editions of Ranma ½ and honestly that was it for me. This has been a favourite series of mine since I was in middle school and realized that the creator of Inuyasha had written other things. It is unapologetically ridiculous and larger-than-life and you have to love the shameless joy it has at being ludicrous. It does start to feel a little repetitive the further into the series you go, but at the moment, with covid, I find I have a huge tolerance for rereading slightly repetitive things so long as they make me happy. And boy howdy does the vaguely queer undertones, endless pining, and relentless slapstick of Ranma ½ make me happy. This is classic manga y’all and if you’ve never read it you should!

The basic premise, for anyone that doesn’t is that of an bonkers martial arts comedy. It follows Ranma and his father who, while training in China, fell into cursed springs. Each spring has the tragic legend of a person or animal who drowned in it, and if someone falls in they inevitably turn into that creature any time they’re doused in cold water. Ranma had the misfortune of falling into “The Spring of Drowned Girl” and, indeed, turns into a girl anytime he’s hit with cold water. Things continue to spiral out of control when Ranma meets his arranged fiancée, Akane, who is as exasperated by this situation as Ranma. Both would rather be fighting people than worrying about things like romance. And don’t worry, there is lots and lots and lots and lots of some of the goofiest martial arts fights that you can imagine for a bunch of high schoolers.

Through the Woods

A beautiful and creepy Canadian graphic novel. I honestly really don’t even know how to describe it in a way that does it justice. It’s a collection of short horror stories, with beautiful, flowing art style that draws you in and sends chills down your spine. I’ll let the art doing the talk, and honestly beg you to go find a way to read this graphic novel:

The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner: And Other Stories

The last Terry Pratchett book on my list (though shout out to the others I’ve listened to this month: Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Men At Arms, and Snuff) and one that I actually physically, rather than listening to the audiobook. I included this one because unlike the others, this was a Pratchett book I had never read before. It collects a number of Pratchett’s short stories that had been written for children over a number of years. These weren’t necessarily my favourite examples of Pratchett’s writing (I prefer his longer work that can really dive into social issues) but it was such a quick, easy, fun read that you can’t really help but be charmed by it. I liked the stories that took place in “the wild wild west (of Wales)” in particular.

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dunnystuff · 4 years ago

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Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2021 11:23 AM

Subject: Rich's Blog

Hi to all -

Texas

State representative James Talarico (D) , who has a Masters in Education from Harvard, claims that 'modern science' shows that there are at least six genders, not the two we have known since the beginning of time. As it turns out, he was referring to a study that explained several very rare medical conditions, which produced physical abnormalities. Of course, he would like you to believe that these were the result of personal choice, not accidents of nature.

Houston

The DA there has decided to 'pardon' George Floyd for some of his previous crimes. That means we can now elevate him to sainthood. Please stop burning our cities and shooting people.

Investigate Covid

This gets better and better. One of the largest investors in the vaccines for this is Bill Gates. So, he has set up a committee to investigate this ailment and the treatments for it. Gosh, I wonder what they will discover?

Harry Truman

On March 12, 1947, Truman spoke to congress. Growing up in the shadow of FDR, Truman adopted some of the same ideas about the imperial presidency, and the use of Executive Orders to bypass congress and the courts. As he prepared for another of his agenda items, he told congress that "The American way of life is under assault by foreign powers that used terror and oppression, a controlled press, and radio. Fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedom."

Does that sound familiar? Things never change much, do they?

Personal Identifying Information

We are concerned about Big Tech, and how totally intrusive they are into our personal lives and business. So is Europe. Only, they did something about it. Tech companies like Google and Facebook are not allowed to collect any information that can identify an individual, or target them for advertising, or sell their data. They get billion-dollar fines when caught.

Think of this like an analogy - it is okay to count the number of cars passing a certain point. That is information that can be used to plan roads and fix problems. But it is not okay to collect tag numbers of those cars, or take photos of the car and driver. You cannot target that driver for ads specific to his car or dress, or any other thing.

We could do that here, if congress was not on the take.

Arizona

The ballot recount is back! Democrats do not want this. The team will examine all ballots for all sorts of things. Are they on correct ballot paper? Are mail in ballots marked with folds? Are marks made by hand, or printed by machine? Are envelopes date stamped by the post office? And many other things. Democrats fear this, as it could reverse the election, which was won by a very slim margin. So, they filed a suit to block this review. The judge ruled that they could challenge the legality of a recount, but if they lost that challenge, then the party would be liable for all legal and court costs, plus a million dollar fine. They withdrew the challenge. But they just cannot let this happen! Other states are also considering a recount, like Georgia. Georgia had far more fraud than Arizona (best estimates are that 600,000 phony votes were cast - and Biden won the state by only 10,000.) So, democrats are 'judge shopping' to find one who will rule in their favor, as they did on the first round of challenges. Amazing how those Obama appointed judges all could not see any evidence of fraud, etc. Guess who is at the top of their wish list? A relative of Bill Gates.

Notice that Biden came right out and announced his mask mandates for everyone, forever. And, his plans to spend, spend, spend trillions of dollars we do not have. Got to get in all those agenda items before this election is overturned and he is gone, along with his handlers and lackeys.

Kamala Harris

The CARE packages given to illegal children include books - and one written by Kamala. Some wonder if she is profiting from this mess. Kamala says NO. And, the people who provide these kits also say that the books were 'donated', and no taxpayer money was spent on them, and Kamala did not make a profit. Well, at least not directly, and in a straightforward way. There are lots of ways to 'encourage' someone to purchase books, and then donate them via a third party.

Tennessee

Governor Bill Lee has announced an end to mask mandates and all the rest. He says that the pandemic is past, and this is now a manageable health condition. Fauci turned purple on hearing that news.

Alexandria, VA

Marlo Gonzeles, 26, died after being held down on the ground by police officers. This happened about the same time as the verdict in the Derek Chauvin case. Marlo was drunk and disorderly, very combative, and creating trouble all around. When pinned down by police, he expired.

Rudy Giuliani

Feds raided his NY apartment, seized his computers and electronics, etc. They are still seeking some evidence that Trump did something they did not like, and that Rudy helped him. I wonder if the officers wore black, and had the double lightning bolt symbol on their collars?

Summer Travel

Lots of people are thinking of taking to the road this summer, after this long year. But there may be a problem with gas shortages. Well, not the gas itself, there is plenty on hand. But there is a real shortage of drivers for the tanker trucks that fill your local stations. About 10% of fuel trucks are parked, for lack of drivers. Plan ahead, and avoid delays waiting for fuel.

Seal those Records!

The latest proposal from the looney left is to seal all previous criminal records, so that they are not used to impact, say, job applications, credit reports and employment opportunities for all those convicted of low-level non-violent crimes. I don't know, those are things I would want to know about a potential employee. A thief is just as deadly to business as an angry person who attacks others.

Sam Johnson

Sam was CEO of an on-line medical service called Visu Wells. He went to the prom to take photos, and came across a male wearing a floor length red dress, slit up the sides to show a little leg. Sam was not impressed, and said 'slanderous' things like 'you are a male, not a female. This is not manly.' The snowflake was so upset, he cried, and complained. Sam was fired from his job, for his 'insensitive' comments.

Delmar, Delaware

Here in Biden's back yard, a police officer was called because a man was threatening, and attacking his elderly neighbors. Due to 'defund the police', only one officer was sent. The perp, Randon Wilkerson, 30, was covered in gang tattoos, and trying to find a gun in the home of his elderly neighbors, so he could steal it. He had a rap sheet with 38 arrests for things like assault, burglary, and other crimes. The officer was sneak attacked, blindsided when he arrived, and severely beaten. Most of the neighbors, who had been watching all this, cowered in their homes. When the officer did not respond to calls, other officers came, and found a badly injured officer. They also easily found and arrested Randon. What sort of 'justice' will Biden give either party?

Rich

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 4 years ago

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Atrocities in Nicaragua: In 1981 the Moonies sponsored a news conference for Contra chief “Chicano” Cardenal

The Pittsburg Press December 20, 1982

By Katherine Ellison

... The Coalition for a Free World [formed in 1981] was organized by CARP, the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles. Dan Fefferman, CARP’s national president in New York, describes the group – founded 28 years ago in South Korea – as “a Reverend Moon organization, but not a Unification Church organization.”

“CARP is legally separate from the church, and primarily educational.” Fefferman said.

Both former Moonies and police, however, contend that CARP is a major recruiting arm of the church.

Local events sponsored by CARP members and, more recently, the coalition have included twice-monthly political discussions, a May flag-burning ceremony in front of the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco, a march last year [1981] to honor visiting then-President José Napoleón Duarte of El Salvador, and a September [1981] news conference with militarist Nicaraguan exile José “Chicano” Cardenal. [who was at that time a Nicaraguan contra chief – he lost his role in the CIA shakeup of the Democratic Nationalist Force in 1982.]

Mike Cardone, a member of both CARP and the Unification Church, said he has been trying to unite two rival Nicaraguan exile factions in the San Francisco Bay area.

One, represented by Cardenal and with U.S. political headquarters in Miami, includes ex-members of deposed dictator Anastasio Somoza’s national guard, who are currently carrying out raids into Nicaragua from bases in Honduras. That group, the Nicaraguan Democratic Front, reportedly has been receiving clandestine aid in Honduras from the Honduran military and the CIA.

The other group is led by dissident members of the Nicaraguan Sandinista government who have repeatedly refused to deal with Somoza’s ex-followers, the Somocistas.

Describing the intent of the Coalition for a Free World, Cardone said: “We’re trying to create a platform where (the exiles) can express their ideology – we’d like them to have a clear idea of how and why we’re fighting.

“We’re not promoting violence,” he added. “I mean, granted, (Cardenal’s) got an army. But what are his motivations, his ideals? The guy’s coming from somewhere, and we want to help him explain to the American public what his problem is.”

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Inside the League – The shocking exposé of how terrorists, Nazis, and Latin American death squads have infiltrated the World Anti-Communist League. by Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson.

page 247 “... former contra chief José Francisco “Chicano” Cardenal (who lost his role in the 1982 CIA shakeup of the FDN [Nicaraguan Democratic Force] )”

page 233 “CAUSA [a Moonie organized front group] also turned its attention to the Nicaraguan exiles. In a Tegucigalpa safe-house in 1983, contra leader Fernando “El Negro” Chamorro told one of the authors that CAUSA had first approached him the year before, offering to help “unite the contra factions” [who were fighting the legitimate government of Nicaragua].”

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In 1985 the Washington Times sponsored a fund for the Contras who committed atrocities, and trafficked drugs to the US

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Nicaragua rebels accused of abuses

The New York Times March 7, 1985

A new report by a private group asserts that over the last three years, rebels from one of the organizations seeking to overthrow the Nicaraguan Government have engaged in a pattern of attacks and atrocities against civilian targets.

A preliminary draft copy, made available here, gives details of 28 incidents that it says “have resulted in assassination, torture, rape, kidnapping and mutilation of civilians.”

Four of the 28 incidents were chosen at random and witnesses were independently interviewed by The New York Times. These interviews seemed to verify some of the details in the report.

The new report, prepared by a three-member team headed by Reed Brody, a former New York State Assistant Attorney General, is based on interviews conducted in Nicaragua between September 1984 and January 1985. It is to be officially released in Washington on Thursday.

The findings are similar to those in a report issued today in Washington by Americas Watch, a private, non-political organization that monitors human rights in the Western Hemisphere. At the same time, the Americas Watch study cited human rights abuses by the other side, noting that there had been violations by the Nicaraguan Army. But it said that there had been a “sharp decline” in such abuses by the Government since 1982. The reports are being released in advance of what is expected to be a heated debate in Congress over United States financing for the anti- Sandinista rebels prior to a vote later this month. President Reagan has asked Congress to renew $14 million in financing to the insurgents, whom he has described as “freedom fighters” who are the “moral equal of our Founding Fathers.”

One Rebel Group Cited

The allegations of killing, rape and kidnapping described in the Brody report seem to apply only to the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, which is based in Honduras and is most active in the northern part of Nicaragua. No charges of atrocities were made by witnesses against the other main anti-Sandinista military force, the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance, which is dominated by disgruntled former officials of the Sandinista Government.

With the help of the Washington law firm of Reichler and Appelbaum, which is representing Nicaragua in its lawsuit against the United States in the International Court of Justice, Mr. Brody’s group was able to obtain official cooperation in arranging interviews with victims of rebel violence.

The follow-up interviews of the witnesses were conducted by The Times in Spanish, in the presence of relatives. No Nicaraguan police, army or other Government officials were present, and none of the interviews were arranged through official channels.

Law Firm Proposed Study

Although Mr. Brody says he disagrees with Reagan Administration policies in Nicaragua, he says he undertook the project out of personal, not political, interest. At the same time, he acknowledges that the release of his report during the debate over renewed aid to the rebels “is not unintentional.”

Reichler and Appelbaum, the law firm, originally proposed an independent study and arranged for Mr. Brody’s participation.

One of the witnesses, who was quoted in the report and later was questioned by The Times, described an early morning attack that he said came as he was on his way to pick coffee at a cooperative farm north of here.

Along with about 30 other volunteers, the witness, Santos Roger Briones, 16 years old, said he was was traveling in a Government-owned truck early last December. Nearly a kilometer ahead was a pickup truck carrying armed soldiers who had been supposed to protect the unarmed civilians from rebel attack.

Suddenly, Mr. Briones recalled, the dump truck was peppered with rifle, machine-gun, grenade and rocket fire. Many in the truck were wounded. Those who could jumped down and ran for their lives.

Played Dead

“I was hit in the foot and was covered with blood, so I lay on the ground, pretending to be dead,” said Mr. Briones. He said he remained motionless as men in blue uniforms robbed him of his boots and wallet. “Then the contras came and cut the throats of the people who stayed on the truck,” he said, using a Spanish term for the rebels.

“When they were finished, they set the truck on fire,” he added. “From where I was lying, I could hear the groans and the screams of those who were being burned alive.”

All told, 21 civilians ranging in age from five to 60 were killed, 8 wounded and one kidnapped in that incident, which is discussed in the Brody report.

Both the interviews with The Times and the report itself indicate that the distinction between combatants and noncombatants is not always clear in Nicaragua. Civilian vehicles sometimes offer rides to hitchhiking soldiers in uniform, and farmers, workers and students in civilian dress often carry arms for what they say is self-defense.

Recurring Patterns Cited

Unarmed victims of the guerrilla attacks said in each case that they shouted that they were civilians as soon as the firing started. In some instances the shooting stopped, they said, but in other cases it continued.

The witnesses interviewed by The Times described several patterns that they said enabled them to identify their attackers as rebels. There were constant references, for example, to blue uniforms with shoulder patches reading “F.D.N.,’’ the Spanish initials for the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, as well as repeated mentions of Chinese-made AK-47 machine guns and a type of Belgian-made rifle that the Nicaraguan Democratic Force uses.

Witnesses also spoke of tents, knapsacks, and boots with “U.S.A.’’ printed on them, which they took as proof that their captors were rebel forces and not Sandinista troops trying to pass themselves off as insurgents. Another characteristic, the witnesses said, was the constant use of a word meaning ‘rabid dog’ that the Nicaraguan Democratic Force uses to refer to Sandinistas and their supporters.

An Abduction Described

Each of these patterns was mentioned by Digna Barreda de Ubeda, 29, who told of an ordeal at the hands of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force that began in May 1983 with a visit to her uncle in Sapote, north of here. She and her husband were abducted at gunpoint by men claiming to be officials of the Ministry of the Interior investigating counterrevolutionary activities.

Once outside of the town, however, the men identified themselves as members of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force and began to beat her 50-year-old husband, she said. The couple was marched to an encampment commanded, Mrs. Barreda says, by men called “Poison” and “The Vulture.”

Mrs. Barreda said she made no effort to hide her pro-Sandinista sympathies. She is a member of a Christian peasant self-help group that works closely with Sandinista groups and also belongs to the official Nicaraguan Women’s Association; her husband fought with the Sandinistas during the insurrection in 1979 that ousted Gen. Anastasio Somoza Debayle.

“There were 50 or 60 of them in the group, and over five days they took turns raping me until each had had his chance,” said Mrs. Barreda.

While she was being raped, said Mrs. Barreda, other soldiers standing by stabbed her with bayonets in the legs and side. During some episodes, she says, her husband was forced to watch.

Mrs. Barreda said that during her five days as a captive she witnessed the torture and murder of a peasant acquaintance who had been kidnapped by the Nicaraguan Democratic Force in a separate incident.

“They asked him if he loved the revolution,” she recalled. “He said, ‘Yes, I love the revolution, because it has given me land, which is more than Somoza ever did.’

“So they started to gouge out his eyes with a spoon,” she said. “Then they bayoneted him through the neck.”They finished him off with a burst of machine gun fire,” she said.

Mrs. Barreda said the soldier who was told to set her free raped her again. She said her husband was released shortly afterward.

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/07/world/nicaragua-rebels-accused-of-abuses.html?searchResultPosition=2

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In 1985 the Washington Times sponsored a fund for the Contras who committed atrocities, and trafficked drugs to the US

In Bolivia, Moon disciple Tom Ward and the former Hitler SS Officer, Klaus Barbie were often seen together

How Sun Myung Moon’s organization helped to establish Bolivia as South America’s first narco-state.

Sun Myung Moon organization activities in Central & South America

Robert Parry’s investigations into Sun Myung Moon

Sun Myung Moon: The Emperor of the Universe, transcript and links

Sun Myung Moon makes me feel ashamed to be Korean

1. Moon’s first son wrote a letter saying his father was a fraud. 2. Ashamed to be Korean 3. Sun Myung Moon: “Women have twice the sin” 4. “Japanese blood is dirty,” Mrs Gil Ja Sa Eu said 5. Moon’s Divine Principle Theory Applied 6. Sun Myung Moon’s explanation of the Fall of Man is based on his Confucian ideas of lineage, and his belief in shaman sex rituals. 7. The establishment of a worldwide government under Moon 8. Sun Myung Moon in 2012: “There is no Mother” 9. Moon’s words on Hak Ja Han, Justin Kook Jin and Sean Hyung Jin 10. Hak Ja Han married “God” in January 2012. Moon was furious. 11. The Sokcho Incident – the removal of Hyun Jin from the succession 12. In 2018 Hak Ja Han was questioned about the Sokcho Incident

#contras #Nicaragua #atrocities #Ronald Reagan #Sun Myung Moon #Moonies #Unification Church #Hak Ja Han

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blackcoverfan · 4 years ago

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Online plagues, protein folding and spotting fake news: what games can teach us during the coronavirus pandemic

A lot of us do not take video games as well seriously. But video games are also simulations in which genuine people play, make decisions and connect. This makes video games effective tools for discovering and comprehending complicated scenarios, such as how illness spread out and even just how to treat them. The 'damaged blood' incident Among the initial occurrences that showed epidemiologists as well as health researchers that games might provide insight right into the spread of transmittable disease happened in 2005. It started with a new raid experience in the video game developed to permitted a tiny team of gamers to fight an opponent that might "contaminate" personalities with a curse called "damaged blood". The curse would certainly minimize their health and wellness with time, and also spread from player to gamer near. But a pest permitted gamers' pet dogs as well as minions to lug the curse into the video game's bigger online globe. All of a sudden menstruation was spreading throughout nearly 4 million players, and also the people who ran the video game had little control. Is this beginning to seem eerily familiar? What's even more, gamers in the game showed the exact same practices that people carry out in response to a real-life pandemic. Some gamers followed the suggestions of the publisher of the video game to stay clear of contaminated locations. Others rebelled, some didn't care, as well as some encamped in remote locations far from everybody else. Amusement video games such as Pandemic extremely directly describe what we are all experiencing today. In this video game, gamers collaborate in order to deal with an infection--- as well as in its simpleness, it can illustrate why social communication is so crucial in our worldwide fight against the illness yet is also extremely hard. Modelling and simulation-- using official, mathematical and usually computerised computations-- support policy makers and also globe leaders to make the right decisions. These versions work as devices for vital choices such as shutting borders and national lockdowns. It takes substantial quantities of reliable data and also deep proficiency to develop and also analyze such models. A video game like Pandemic, or Wow, lets gamers take part in simplified versions of such crisis scenarios as well as can provide understanding right into human practices in these conditions. The streamlined yet sensible scenarios permit interaction, as well as discovering by doing, without the risk of real-world effects. Gamings as research laboratories Gamings can also aid us to establish brand-new clinical options. In Foldit, gamers can individually interact with protein folding, a crucial procedure in molecular biology. It is difficult to mimic with computer systems, yet it plays a role in drug exploration as well as comprehending specific kinds of conditions. The video game makes use of a multitude of private players as well as the highest scoring options are assessed by scientists as possible brand-new services. The spin is that each node is-- once again-- a human mind taking into consideration solutions, and this model surpasses computational formulas trying the exact same job. In one instance, players were able to locate an evasive HIV enzyme in simply 3 weeks. The video game is currently being used directly to looking for services to the coronavirus. Gamings are likewise aiding scientists better comprehend the spread of misinformation regarding COVID-19, in a job of the American College Game Laboratory. (Among the authors of this short article is affiliated with the Video game Laboratory.). With over a million plays, the recorded dataset supplies essential insights into just how gamers view and also categorise details. The brand-new pandemic version of the video game is currently educating us of dangerous patterns in rumours as well as misinforming details at this hard time. Discovering the best means ahead. Games may supply some much-needed getaway as well as social connection in this time of physical distancing, yet they are likewise unbelievable tools for finding out more regarding the real world. In locations such as global health and wellness, they can act as really human simulations that help us prepare for unbelievable circumstances and examination numerous contending concepts to find up with the most effective means onward.

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ask-de-writer · 5 years ago

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An excerpt from GONE TO SEA, a novel in progress

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to the World of Sea

CHILDREN’S PLAY

An excerpt from GONE TO SEA, a novel in progress

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

3688 words in this excerpt

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All sorts of Fan Activity, fiction, art, cosplay, music or anything else is ACTIVELY encouraged!

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What Mecat told Kurin was basically true. The fundamental discoveries of glue in Strong Skin was made by children wanting to make toys. They even made some boats and some ships. Over time, their arts got lost and Mecat had to show the scattered men on Sea how to do again what the children had learned.

The original colonists to Sea were all picked for being, among other criteria, quite bright. Somehow, nobody paid attention to the fact that many bright people have bright children too.

When Adults get too busy, they often put the concerns of children last. In an environment like Sea, that may be a mistake of sorts . . .

Chapter 04. Children at Play

As is the case everywhere that there are children, they play. In some of their playing, they imitate their elders. They also do another thing that children have done since the dawn of time. Because the only toys that the adults thought to bring or make were educational, they raided the trash for fun things to play with.

Cora Halyn dug the pan out of the waste stream dumpster. Grinning, she held it up for the others to see. “What good is that?” asked Mikal Novotnoy.

Cora grinned some more and threw out several used twenty centimeter air filter disks made from the dried skin of the Strong's shark. She said happily, “I was there when the cooks made this mess out of some Moreson's eels. They tried to soak it out, scrape it and even chip it loose. Since it melted once, I don't know why they didn't try to melt it again. If it will melt, we can squish it into these disks and make Frisbees!”

Jason Torres asked her, “Did they chuck out any of the Shark's teeth or bones?”

Cora promptly dove back into the dumpster. The sound of things shifting and thumping about followed. Several large pieces of bone and some ten to fourteen centimeter long razor sharp and naturally serrated teeth cascaded out of the trash bin. Cora vaulted out after them.

“Why did you want the teeth and bones, Jase?” she asked curiously.

Jason cut a finger as he gathered up the teeth and bones that Cora dug out for him. He paused long enough to suck the cut a moment before commenting, “Those teeth are sharp! I thought that it might be fun to try doing some scrimshaw with them. Maybe even make my dad a present that he can use, like a paperweight or something.”

The children gathered up their booty of trash and went to the recycle center. Mister Makle looked over what the children wanted and asked, “What do you want with the pan? The rest is no problem but that pan is aluminum. We can remelt it and make new things from it.”

Cora grinned and pointed out, “True, but we already get all of the new aluminum that we want by processing seawater. What we really want is the goo in the pan. I think that we can melt it and work it into the used filter disks. If I am right we can make Frisbees out of them! Those eels are pretty common so we can make lots of toys like that if it works.”

Shrugging and smiling, Mister Makle signed a release for the children's salvage and said, “Be sure to let me know if that trick works! I'd like a Frisbee too!”

The next day, Cora and the rest of her crowd brought Mister Makle a home-made Frisbee.

Cora proudly explained, “The goo by itself was way too brittle when it hardened in the disks. We fixed that by mixing in some oil that we got by rendering the waxy stuff. Now it is strong and somewhat flexible. Here, try it!” She expertly flipped the disk to him.

Mister Makle caught the disk with a delighted smile and did try it. He flexed it some and then tossed the disk so that it bounced off a wall and examined it again. He smiled even more as he said, “Keep me and the rest of the waste management and maintenance team in Frisbees and you can have anything that you want from the trash if it isn't dangerous. OK?”

Jason grinned back and said, “Sounds easy enough. There's lots of those used filter disks. We have another idea that you might like.”

Interested, Mister Makle asked, “What is that?”

Seeing that there was an adult who wasn't too busy to pay attention, the assorted children of Cora's crowd gathered around and said, “Fishing! When we saw how tough that Strong's skin and eel goo is, we made a pole out of some of it.”

Mikal added, “We figured out that if you cut a big mussel loose and just set it in some seawater, it will put out the attachment foot to start making new holdfast strands. We put a little chunk of bone near where the foot comes out. As soon as it stuck the holdfast thread to the bone, we started to pull real gently. We got over five meters of line from it.”

Mister Makle said, “I'd like to see that. What are you going to use for a hook?”

Cora said, “We are going to try several things to see what works best. The dense bone from the Strong's shark will be the base for most of them. A few will be carved out of shell from the mussels. Got a piece of paper? Mala'klea will sketch them up for you. Her folks were in the Polynesian Back to the Ocean movement. She's learned all sorts of neat stuff from them.”

Black haired little Mala'klea silently took a pen and began sketching quickly. It only took a few moments for her to hand Mister Makle the paper with a half dozen different hook designs on it, complete with notes about materials and the glue applications where necessary.

While she was sketching Mister Makle asked Cora, “Doesn't she talk?”

Cora gave a half grin and replied, “Yes she does, when she has something to say. It is worth listening when she does speak because it is always good.”

Mala'klea did suddenly look up at Cora with a smile and said, “We can overlap disks to make laminated planks. We could make a sailing canoe from them.” She fell silent again and took another sheet of paper.

Her nearly flying pen sketched rapidly. A simple dory built design for a long, deep keeled and moderately wide canoe-like boat took shape. It had a large outrigger or secondary hull and a deck on struts between the main hull and the smaller one.

Mister Makle looked at the paper and commented, “Sweet design. This is all done with equal angles for the ribs. That will make the fabrication easy. You kids will need a formal adult supervisor for a project this big. How long do you actually plan to make it?”

Cora grinned in relief that their idea wasn't just being blown off by a man whose department was critical to building it. She replied, “We thought that about twenty meters should make it safe from Strong's sharks and most of the other big fish that we know of.”

Mister Makle studied the drawing and sections seriously for a moment and said, “That will be way too large to manage easily with paddles. Will it have a sail?”

Cora agreed, “It will have two masts and three sails. Mala'klea has that all figured out. Her mom was the captain of the Mona Loa. It was a sailing ship of the Polynesian Back to the Ocean Movement.”

Mister Makle grinned widely and said, “You do know that this boat is as big as the two ships that the station engineers are planning to build, don't you?”

“Sure we do,” Cora replied confidently. “Size is a relative thing. Theirs will be wider and deeper in the hull and have two masts. Those round ships will be able to carry a lot more than our voyaging canoes and will have a longer range. We figure that these will be way faster, though.”

Mister Makle asked, “Would you be willing to practice on a smaller boat or two using the same principles, just to test your ideas before you commit to building the big one?

“I know that the maintenance crew would be willing to do the supervision in their off time. They want a chance to play about with boat building but the shipyard is being a real prat about it ever since Mister Angerson got put in charge. This will be a big job because of all of the Moreson's eels that you will have to catch. I can set the recycle folks to salvaging all of the filters that come through.”

Cora got a faraway look and then suggested, “That would be great. We could use a test boat to catch the eels that we will need. If everything works as well as it should, we could even help the maintenance team to make some boats for their own use.

“I think that Pele Barant would be our best senior supervisor. Not only is she Mala'klea's mom, she knows all about primitive tools and things because she was in the Polynesian Back to the Ocean movement. She's also a top flight mechanical engineer.”

Mister Makle promptly placed a call through his computer. “Mrs. Barant, this is Mister Makle down in the Waste Management office. Your daughter and some other children are down here.

“What? No. There is nothing wrong. In fact, I think that they want to do something very right. It will need a senior supervisor who understands so-called primitive tools and materials.

“They told me that you were in the Polynesian Back to the Ocean movement on Earth and that you might make a good person to supervise their work. Oh, did I forget to say what it was? They want to make a surprisingly large sailing canoe based on a Polynesian voyaging canoe.

“Yes, I thought that you might like to see how they plan to do it and the materials that they have found. Recycle has turned up a few other native things that might be useful in the project as well.

“So, we will see you in a few minutes? Excellent! We will be waiting.”

He turned back to the children and told Mala'klea, “That really got your mother's attention. Do you kids know that this is the first proposed project to use only things and materials from Sea?”

Cora grinned and held up one of the flying disks. “Not quite. We made these first. To do them right we had to make a knife that would cut that Strong's shark skin. It is really tough stuff.

“Jason, do you have those knives that you and Mala'klea made? If you have them handy, we could show them to Mrs. Barant. Mister Makle might like to see them, too.”

Mister Makle leaned back in his office chair and said, “I would like to see them. My department got stuck with making those filter disks and you would not believe how fast that skin will dull a knife. Thing is, Pele is on her way down. Save the knives and show them to both of us at once. She is the expert on things like this.”

Several of the maintenance crew came into the office. One of the women exclaimed, “Boss! How did you get Frisbees? I applied to engineering to make us some for recreation and they turned their noses up at the job. Said that they had more important tasks than toys!”

Mister Makle grinned and tousled Cora's hair as he replied, “They turned me down too, Molly. The kids here made these out of old air filter disks and some sort of glue that they made out of Moreson's eels. They work really great. Here, Molly, catch!” He flipped a disk at the woman who had spoken.

Startled, Molly reflexively caught the disk. She paused long enough to examine the disk carefully. She said quietly, “This looks like it was press molded. How did you guys make it?”

Cora smiled in delight at the recognition of their work and replied, “We made one that worked really well. We used it to make a form that we do press them into. All that we need to do is wax the form and our hands. Then we work the glue into the disk and push it tightly into the form by hand. It needs about twenty minutes to set up and then we can pop it out and make another. That's about all that there is to it.”

Molly happily flipped the disk to another of her crew, even though the range was short. It never got to him. A small Black haired woman dived in from the door and caught the disk before he had a chance at it. She bounced energetically off one of the office walls and stood, examining the disk intently. She flexed it and said, “Here, Klea! Catch!”

The disk sailed across to little Mala'klea who did catch it expertly. Beaming, she said, “Thanks, Mom! This one is for Molly and her team. We have more and can make them for anyone else that wants one!”

Mister Makle observed, “That is more than I have heard you say even when you were drawing up the boat plan.”

Mala'klea, cringing like she expected to be hit, looked about fearfully, and went silent. Pele crouched beside her daughter and pulled her into a hug. Mala'klea hugged back fiercely, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

Pele spared a look for the shocked Recycle and Maintenance people in the big office. Still holding her daughter, she told them, “Klea was one of the children that Mister Angerson was caught beating for refusing to pray to his God during their schooling time. Instead of teaching them math, he was trying to force the children to follow him in his suicidal mania that he calls a religion.

“He was particularly brutal to those kids that he called pagans. Since my little Klea follows our family's polytheistic beliefs, he beat her the worst of all. The station's doctors found two cracked ribs and a hairline fracture of the right radius.

“Mala'klea refused to give in to his assault but he did manage break her trust in most people.

“Mister Angerson has been formally required to surrender his teaching duties and stay away from the children. He has been forbidden to ever touch or speak to any of them. His own wife and two children moved into our apartment to get away from him. Trisha has filed with the station's Executive Committee for a divorce.”

One of the men from Molly's Maintenance crew said, “I know about the schooling problem. I was on the jury. What Angerson did sickened us all. He claimed that God Himself ordered him to discipline the children for their unbelief and that God's orders override the Colonial Charter. We all disagreed. The verdict was unanimous.”

Molly volunteered, “That idiot Marcus cornered me once and tried to convince me that we are doomed. God sent us all here to die by slow starvation for our sins. Seems that we are all to be the Sacrifice For The New Covenant to preserve all of mankind's colonies in space.

“He seems to forget that both the thymine and lysine that are our last real stumbling blocks have been spotted from orbit, even if they haven't been isolated to any particular organism yet. In the meantime, the plants and animals that we brought along are filling the gap. We will find what we need someday, probably soon.”

Pele nodded to Molly then gave her daughter another hug and asked her, “Do you have any sort of plan or working drawings for the boat that Mister Makle mentioned? What are you thinking of making it out of?”

Everyone watched silently as Mala'klea went fearfully to Mister Makle's desk and, darting glances all about, brought her mother the pages of sketches. She took one of the flying disks from Cora and wordlessly handed it to her mother as well.

Pele's eyes lit up and she sat cross-legged in front of Mala'klea and patted her lap. Looking meaningfully about at the other adults for silence, Pele said, “This is a wonderful start, Klea. Please tell me about it.”

Mala'klea began almost inaudibly, “We can use old filter disks and rectangles to make the planks. See, Mother? The big side planks are the same width all along their length. By keeping the angles of the side to bottom planks the same, it is just a long four plank dory, the same way that the old Polynesian voyaging ships were built.”

Mother gave daughter a quick hug and prodded, “How will you make the planks out of the smaller pieces, Dear?”

Mala'klea answered more confidently, “To make the flying disks we had to make a glue out of Moreson's eels. Because of the messy way that they come apart when we heat them, we call them Goo fish. We had to try several ways to get the glue right. We had some of the disks stick together by accident. That gave me the idea for laminating the parts.”

Pele nodded in happy seeming approval. “Very observant, Klea. How will you hold the planks and ribs together?”

The other children of Cora's Crowd almost bit their lips to keep quiet. Cora stopped one of Molly's crew from speaking by whispering, “We have seen this before. This is how Pele helps Mala'klea to stop being scared. Let Klea answer for now.”

The man nodded understanding and held his tongue.

Mala'klea almost eagerly told her mother, “We can get strings from the mussels that grow almost everywhere on the Station's docks. Cora figured out the glue and filter thing but it was Jason who thought of the string. It was Matty that thought of making a boat. I put their ideas together.

“We can use string that we make from the mussel threads to tie the parts together. Once we are ready, we can laminate more skin over the joints to waterproof them. We can lock the ribs into place the same way. It is only a little different from the way that you were putting together the latest big Polynesian ship that you and your friends were building back on Earth.”

Pele grinned at her daughter, and looking her in the eye, pointed out, “Those planks and parts will need to be trimmed to shape, and many holes drilled in them to tie them together. How will you manage that?”

By now, Mala'klea was answering eagerly and openly again. “Jason and I made some knives and other tools out of Strong's shark teeth! Jason brought them down here to show to Mr. Makle. We can cut and trim the glued skin with them. We made an awl that can make the holes. When you were making that big canoe, you had a bow drill thing to make the holes but I couldn't remember how to make one.”

Jason silently handed a roll-up of knives and other tools to Mala'klea who unrolled it to show her mother. Pele took the time to examine each knife and tool carefully. She thoughtfully tested edges and checked the orientation of the natural serrations in the fangs that the knife and tool edges and points were made of. One tool was made from a piece of flat bone with fairly coarse teeth carved into it for spreading and forcing glue into the skin. The tool had the sheen of a waxy coating worked into the bone. They all had handles formed of many layers of the skin and glue. Each handle was carefully formed to fit the hands of the children. Pele even examined the leather of the roll-up.

Nodding with a smile as she felt the softness of the leather, Pele asked Mala'klea, “Is this made out of some of the Strong's skin with your oil from the Goo fish worked in to soften it?”

Mala'klea smiled at her mother and said, “Yes, mother. Mikal Novotnoy thought of doing that. We all worked on different parts of it. It is stitched with the mussel string. We needed something that would keep the tools sharp and save us from getting cut on them.”

Pele gave Mala'klea another hug and stood up, holding the child's hand. She said, “This is a really well thought out project, Klea. I especially like the way that you gave credit for ideas to the others. I think that this ship will make a great project.

“It will need you children to do a lot of math to figure out the details. You will need good language skills to present what you figure out to the rest. We can use this project for a big part of you kid's schooling. It will make a perfect demonstration of the relationship between what you are taught in class and the real world. It will also be more fun than any lessons should be.”

Mr. Makle thoughtfully consulted his computer, accessing the Public Announcements. Looking up he said, “You kids don't need to worry about Mr. Angerson any more. He is forbidden to even come near to any of you, including his own family or your projects. If he tries, we can lock him up. The Executive Order implementing the jury verdict of child abuse was posted about four days ago.”

Pele looked over at Mr. Makle and asked him, “How can we keep him away from this project? It will need a lot of room to build it and, because of their time in the classrooms, the kids won't be able to work on it all of the day.”

Mr. Makle looked cheerfully at the children of Cora's Crowd and said, “Maintenance will contribute building space for it down on Maintenance Dock C. Its access ways all lock. As soon as you are ready for the actual building to begin, let me know and I will formally reserve it for you. Due to the suspicion of sabotage to the Reverse Osmosis Desalination plant, we have been given the authority to forbid access to ANY unauthorized personnel. We can arrest trespassers if necessary. C Dock is already equipped with surveillance cameras and alarms.

“We installed the locks, alarms and cameras because we are storing those new fiberglass boats that you have been making for us down there. If we do have a saboteur, those boats could become a prime target.”

The End of Chapter 4

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to the World of Sea

#CHILDREN’S PLAY #excerpt from GONE TO SEA #World of Sea #Written by De Writer

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rjzimmerman · 5 years ago

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This is an Op-Ed by New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman. His proposal gets to the core of my observation that either Russia, some other international or domestic actor or actors, or ourselves are dividing the trump opposition into waring camps. Democrats who consider themselves moderates or progressives or conservatives or socialists getting ready for a suicidal internecine warfare, while the trump republican party gleefully watches as they win in November. If whoever wins the Democratic Party primary will take steps such as those recommended by Thomas Friedman, then I’m positive the republican party and all its bits and pieces will lose and may be damaged for years. Here’s an excerpt (long excerpt, so I can snatch the essence of his entire recommendation):

If this election turns out to be just between a self-proclaimed socialist and an undiagnosed sociopath, we will be in a terrible, terrible place as a country. How do we prevent that?

That’s all I am thinking about right now. My short answer is that the Democrats have to do something extraordinary — forge a national unity ticket the likes of which they have never forged before. And that’s true even if Democrats nominate someone other than Bernie Sanders.

What would this super ticket look like? Well, I suggest Sanders — and Michael Bloomberg, who seems to be his most viable long-term challenger — lay it out this way:

“I want people to know that if I am the Democratic nominee these will be my cabinet choices — my team of rivals. I want Amy Klobuchar as my vice president. Her decency, experience and moderation will be greatly appreciated across America and particularly in the Midwest. I want Mike Bloomberg (or Bernie Sanders) as my secretary of the Treasury. Our plans for addressing income inequality are actually not that far apart, and if we can blend them together it will be great for the country and reassure markets. I want Joe Biden as my secretary of state. No one in our party knows the world better or has more credibility with our allies than Joe. I will ask Elizabeth Warren to serve as health and human services secretary. No one could bring more energy and intellect to the task of expanding health care for more Americans than Senator Warren.

“I want Kamala Harris for attorney general. She has the toughness and integrity needed to clean up the corrupt mess Donald Trump has created in our Justice Department. I would like Mayor Pete as homeland security secretary; his intelligence and military background would make him a quick study in that job. I would like Tom Steyer to head a new cabinet position: secretary of national infrastructure. We’re going to rebuild America, not just build a wall on the border with Mexico. And I am asking Cory Booker, the former mayor of Newark, to become secretary of housing and urban development. Who would bring more passion to the task of revitalizing our inner cities than Cory?

“I am asking Mitt Romney to be my commerce secretary. He is the best person to promote American business and technology abroad — and it is vital that the public understands that my government will be representing all Americans, including Republicans. I would like Andrew Yang to be energy secretary, overseeing our nuclear stockpile and renewable energy innovation. He’d be awesome.

“I am asking Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to serve as our U.N. ambassador. Can you imagine how our international standing would improve with youth worldwide with her representing next-gen America? And I want Senator Michael Bennet, the former superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, to be my secretary of education. No one understands education reform better than he does. Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna would be an ideal secretary of labor, balancing robots and workers to create “new collar” jobs.

“Finally, I am asking William H. McRaven, the retired Navy admiral who commanded the U.S. Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014 and oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden, to be my defense secretary. Admiral McRaven, more than any other retired military officer, has had the courage and integrity to speak out against the way President Trump has politicized our intelligence agencies.”

#trump #Democrats #2020 presidential campaign #Senator Bernie Sanders

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yobaba30 · 5 years ago

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If this election turns out to be just between a self-proclaimed socialist and an undiagnosed sociopath, we will be in a terrible, terrible place as a country. How do we prevent that?

What would this super ticket look like? Well, I suggest Sanders — and Michael Bloomberg, who seems to be his most viable long-term challenger — lay it out this way:

Only last week, McRaven wrote an essay in The Washington Post decrying Trump’s firing of Joe Maguire as acting director of national intelligence — the nation’s top intelligence officer — for doing his job when he had an aide brief a bipartisan committee of Congress on Russia’s renewed efforts to tilt our election toward Trump.

“Edmund Burke,” wrote McRaven, “the Irish statesman and philosopher, once said: ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’”

If Bernie or Bloomberg or whoever emerges to head the Democratic ticket brings together such a team of rivals, I am confident it will defeat Trump in a landslide. But if progressives think they can win without the moderates — or the moderates without the progressives — they are crazy. And they’d be taking a huge risk with the future of the country by trying.

And I mean a huge risk. Back in May 2018, the former House speaker John Boehner declared: “There is no Republican Party. There’s a Trump party. The Republican Party is kind of taking a nap somewhere.”

It’s actually not napping anymore. It’s dead.

And I will tell you the day it died. It was just last week, when Trump sacked Maguire for advancing the truth and replaced him with a loyalist, an incompetent political hack, Richard Grenell. Grenell is the widely disliked U.S. ambassador to Germany, a post for which he is also unfit. Grenell is now purging the intelligence service of Trump critics. How are we going to get unvarnished, nonpolitical intelligence analysis when the message goes out that if your expert conclusions disagree with Trump’s wishes, you’re gone?

I don’t accept, but can vaguely understand, Republicans’ rallying around Trump on impeachment. But when Republicans, the self-proclaimed national security party — folks like Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton — don’t lift a finger to stop Trump’s politicization of our first line of defense — the national intelligence directorate set up after 9/11 — then the Republican Party is not asleep. It’s dead and buried.

And that is why a respected, nonpartisan military intelligence professional like Bill McRaven felt compelled to warn what happens when good people are silent in the face of evil. Our retired generals don’t go public like that very often. But he was practically screaming, “This is a four-alarm fire, a category 5 hurricane.” And the G.O.P. response? Silence.

Veteran political analyst E.J. Dionne, in his valuable new book, “Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country,” got this exactly right: We have no responsible Republican Party anymore. It is a deformed Trump personality cult. If the country is going to be governed responsibly, that leadership can come only from Democrats and disaffected Republicans courageous enough to stand up to Trump. It is crucial, therefore, argues Dionne, that moderate and progressive Democrats find a way to build a governing coalition together.

Neither can defeat the other. Neither can win without the other. Neither can govern without the other.

If they don’t join together — if the Democrats opt for a circular firing squad — you can kiss the America you grew up in goodbye.

#united states politics and government

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never---ending---story · 5 years ago

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A Walking Nightmare

New year, new story. Here's a story with my treasured ocs. I haven’t checked this because god said I should and I won’t let him do that

Possible triggers: death, gore, end of the world/apocalypse, food, starvation (not self-inflicted)

The guy looked like death. Sawyer wouldn’t deny that in a million years. Then again nowadays everyone looked like death. Still, Sawyer stood by what he said. Everyone Sawyer knew looked like death but this kid took it to a new level. He was primarily nothing but skin and bone and his skin was caked in a thin layer of dirt. Now, with only 10 years of education under his belt, Sawyer was sure of one thing. This strangely cute but mangled boy wasn’t gonna make it to next week if he didn’t get either medical attention or at the very least some food. Luckily Sawyer had a solid balance. Elliot was in med school before the infection that swept America was leaked and boy oh boy did Carson get them some food after his last raid. They’d be good for months as far as he was concerned. What was the harm in bringing in another boy?

Though, Sawyer was sure he shouldn’t have been thinking at that moment because the boy who was seemingly ripped to shreds was now holding a knife up to him.

“How did you find this place?” he hissed through gritted teeth. The boy’s voice was raspy but didn’t pack a lot of punch. It was slightly gruff though it was clear he rarely spoke. The boy had an accent. A small one but it stood out to Sawyer none the less.

Sawyer only aimed his breath up at his wavy pink locks to blow a strand of hair out of his eye

“I’m a scavenger idiot” Sawyer responded sassily.

Cute quiet nightmare chuckled darkly

“A dang good one I suppose?” he questioned.

Sawyer nodded “I would bet I’m the best one there is,” he lied through his teeth “Of course, there’s no evidence to back that up considering,” he cleared his throat “our situation”

The boy lowered his sharp blade. It didn’t glimmer like most knives. It wasn’t clean and had ruby red bloodstains along the blade and small stains on the hilt. Sawyer added a new dagger to the mental list of essentials for this mysterious survivor. He made sure this boy saw him looking at his knife

“Come with me and I can give you a new knife and some clean clothes” he offered “hell I’ll give you the hoodie I’m wearing.”

The boy peered at Sawyer doubtfully. Like he couldn’t decide if he should trust him or gouge his eyes out of their sockets. He had a fire raging behind his eyes though. A hunger that told Sawyer he was not a person to be messed with, but Sawyer couldn’t bring himself to care

“Listen, you’re cute and all,” he started “and I happen to have a keen eye. I can see the hunger behind your eyes” Sawyer felt himself smirk as the boy looked on in confusion “but you’ve gotta at least take me out to dinner before I consider doing any of that with you”

The boy shoved him away from him as Sawyer’s laughs came out like a bray. His face was flushed

“Alright!” he cried with a fixated glare to Sawyer “I can tell you’re nothing but a threat to my pride” he mumbled, which only earned a snort from Sawyer.

“What’s your name,” Sawyer asked, “if I am no longer a threat then I would hope we can get along.” The boy rolled his eyes but obliged to Sawyer’s simple request.

“My friends call..called me Radio. If you want to be my friend I guess you can call me that. I’m gonna call you princess bubblegum”

Sawyer’s entire face lit up “I’d be honored!” he exclaimed throwing a hand over his heart fondly. After a beat, he looked at his newfound friend “What kind of name it Radio?”

Radio crossed his arms and looked at Sawyer “I helped my dad fix radios. It’s nothing special” he explained looking at his feet. It was like the memory caused him pain, which, if Sawyer thought about it, made sense. Once tragedy struck, memories of your previous happy life stung. To Sawyer, they felt like a stab to the heart. That is exactly why he chose to bury his emotions deep down to the tips of his toes.

A scream echoed in the streets above them and Sawyer frowned “Well if you’re going to be my new best friend-”

“Who said anything about best friends” Radio interjected

Sawyer ignored him “I should introduce you to my family” The skinny boy in front of Sawyer looked shocked

“You have a family?’

“No. By family I mean people I’ve teamed up with. You can’t really survive out here alone”

Radio thought about that, and while he did Sawyer took it upon himself to look around. This kid’s living accommodations were not good. Wallpaper was peeling and it was awfully dark. Sure they had lost electricity a while ago but it looked like the only light in the room was coming from a small window. There was no decor, only plain peeling walls. It was honestly depressing. There was no personality to place. It wasn’t a home, it was more like a prison.

Sawyer twirled around on his heels “how ‘bout we get you out of here Radio” he offered “I’ve got shelter, running water, food, and friends”

Radio stared blankly at him. It reminded Sawyer of one of the horrid creatures roaming the streets above them. Not only was Radio small and frail, but he also looked awfully sad. The boy looked at his feet for a moment

“Yeah, alright. I’ve got nothing better to do” he obliged, grabbing a backpack that was leaning against a wall “I’ll just waste away in here anyway. I’d hate to eat you as a zombie, especially since I haven’t gotten to take you out to dinner yet”

Sawyer flinched at the mention of zombies and being killed by one, though he knew it was the brutal truth. If Radio died here he would just waste away and eventually rise to join the undead army. It wasn’t always this way. It started with people contracting the Black Plague up in Canada and scientists trying to fix it. In the end, there was an outbreak at the lab. The disease samples paired with the lab’s chemicals created an unstoppable force. This being said, Sawyer was still optimistic. He offered a soft smile and extended his hand to Radio

“Let’s get a move on. Those walkers will be here any minute,” Sawyer said. Then something sawyer wasn’t expecting, happened. Radio grabbed Sawyer’s extended hand timidly. He could feel Radio’s hand shaking in his own but it wasn’t apparent on his face that anything was wrong. He ruled out the fact that nothing was wrong and settled on the fact that the kid must have been a really good actor.

Sawyer’s boots made soft stomping sounds as he walked across the room to the ladder “I’ll go first.” he offered “there could be something out there”

Radio rolled his eyes and let go of Sawyer’s hand, pushing past him “I’ve been on my own for two years-”

“This whole thing has been happening for four years” Sawyer interjected and Radio’s shoulders stiffened

“Fine then. Four years. My point still stands. I’ve been on my own for four years I can handle a few zombies. It’s why I wear steel-toed boots”

Radio hauled himself up the ladder and peaked his head over. He looked around before slipping up into the rotting streets of New York City

Sawyer was treading carefully as he walked, not wanted to arouse anything around. To keep the beings in the shadows where they were. Radio was twirling his knife around his finger and at some point had tied a red and white bandana around his face

“What’s the bandana for?” Sawyer had asked only to have Radio hiss at him to shut up. It was fair though. Rousing the walkers wouldn’t be fun.

Speaking of walkers one stumbled out of a dark alleyway stupidly. As it hobbled along the street with flaying skin its dead eyes found Radio. It made a strange gurgling sound of interest and started limping over to them. Sawyer stepped in front of Radio as it got closer

“Bubble gum I can defend myself” he argued, but Sawyer wasn’t going to stand down. He pulled a gun from his pocket and Radio snatched it from his hands “are you dumb! You can’t go around firing a gun at a zombie! It’s like a food bell to them!”

“What else am I suppose to use” he hissed

Radio rolled his eyes and set the gun on the concrete. He then pulled a knife out from his pocket, this one considerably cleaner than the one Radio threatened him with earlier.

“Use this,” he said, placing the blade in Sawyer’s palm and closing his fingers around it

Sawyer looked at the blade. “Thank you I-” he started but Radio quickly shoved him out of the way and dug the blade of his own knife into the eye socket of the walker Sawyer was attempting to protect him from. He tilted the knife up and the walker made a gurgled sound before falling to cold concrete. Radio pressed his boot to the head of the walker and put down pressure until- CRACK- the skull had collapsed and the walker was clearly not going to get back up. At the sickening crunching noise of the skull, Sawyer felt nauseated. He pushed himself onto his feet and then looked over at Radio to see the crushed skull. He felt like throwing up, so that’s what he did. Right onto Radio’s shoes.

Sawyer whimpered and looked up at Radio, stumbling back “I’m so sorry” was the first thing that left his lips. There was a sour taste in his mouth and he snuffled, wiping at his watery eyes. It was becoming increasingly obvious that they viewed the walkers extremely differently.

Radio shook his head “You’re um” he kicked his foot away from either of them to get the puke off his foot

“You’re fine bubblegum. I did the same thing the first time I killed a zombie” he confessed “but I’m guessing you’ve killed them before,” Radio assumed “you’re armed”

Sawyer brushed his sleeve across his mouth “I have before. I don’t like doing it but I do. It’s just you..you crushed his head like it was nothing,” he whimpered

“Well, it was going to kill you if I didn’t do anything. Let’s get going it’s cold” Radio changed the topic and nodded in the direction they were originally heading

Sawyer just nodded softly and grabbed Radio’s hand so he wouldn’t get tugged away without being noticed “We’re nearly home” he muttered, picking up his face. He might’ve been just above the average height but wanted to hurry, even if that meant taking longer strides the usual.

Sawyer pressed his hand to a scanned on a hidden gate. They had made a small hike through the woods to the tall metal gate.

“Who is it?” he voice asked through the mic. His voice was low but it was apparent the guy speaking had a smirk on his face.

Sawyer sighed and looked at Radio “That would be Carson.” he faced the scanner again which had a small camera “It’s Sawyer you idiot,” he said.

The voice on the other end scoffed “I wasn’t talking to you. What have I told you about hook-ups during the apocalypse?”

Sawyer squeaked and his face flushed. Radio was snickering behind his bandana.

“It’s not like that!” he cried “I’m saving him!”

Radio raised his eyebrows “I didn’t need saving” he added “he just offered me better shelter”

There was a beeping sound through the speaker

“Fine fine. Well dad man Elliot is making tacos” he said before seemingly leaving

The doors squeaked open and Sawyer and Radio walked in. The streets were damp as everywhere else was. Behind the gates was a grand house that stood tall. It was almost as if someone had prepared for the end of the world. Like a survivalist. The metal doors clanged shut as Sawyer pulled a key from his pocket. He shoved it into the keyhole and turned it. The door clicked and Sawyer opened the door. Radio was following close by his side.

To his right, there was a staircase and left of the staircase was a hallway that led to a living room. To the far left of the foyer was an office that seemed unoccupied and to the far-right led to a dining room.

Out of the blue, there was scuttling down the stairs. A boy with long wavy brown hair, black glasses, and blue eyes looked at Radio. He was skinny, but a different skinny compared to Radio. He was healthy, Radio was starving and living off rations. He smiled and charged at Sawyer, wrapping his arms around him

“You were gone for quite a few hours. I was worried” he mumbled. Sawyer sighed and patted his back

“I’m sorry,” Sawyer apologized “we just ran into some trouble is all”

Radio shuffled awkwardly on his feet as Sawyer and the brunette spoke. The brunette gripped Sawyer’s shoulder and Radio felt a pang of jealously. The stranger smiled “So Elliot was looking through the stuff I got and found spaghetti. So we aren’t doing tacos anymore, but we’ll see. Hopefully, he won’t burn it” Sawyer laughed. He looked over at Radio, whispered something into Sawyer’s ear and smiled at Radio.

“Hey,” he greeted and stuck out his hand, stepping around Sawyer “I’m Carson Anderson”

Radio took his Carson’s hand into hi down and shook it quickly before letting go “Radio”

Carson raised an eyebrow “Radio…”

“Well, that’s private information. My real name and my last”

Carson rolled his eyes “Fine then.” He looked him up and down “You need some new clothes” he commented quietly, more talking to himself. Radio’s stomach growled “and maybe some food.” Carson turned around to face Sawyer and relayed this information to him. Sawyer nodded and faced Radio

“We should get you settled in. Maybe some new clothes, a shower?” he offered. Radio felt his face heat up from embarrassment. He hadn’t realized how poorly he was presenting himself.

“I’d like that,” he said sheepishly. Sawyer nodded and grabbed Radio’s hand, dragging him up the stairs. Radio took one last moment to look over and seen Carson with a smirk looking at them before he was pulled out of view.

Radio peeked his head out of the bathroom to see if anyone was in the room. The bathroom was connected to Sawyer’s bedroom so he felt inclined to check. Sawyer looked up from the bed.

“Need something?” he asked “We have plenty of stuff”

Radio shook his head “No um” He sighed “Do you have a jacket or hoodie?” he asked

Sawyer stood up and opened a drawer “not in the room, but you can have mine. Unless you wanna wear my other blue one”

Radio smiled softly at him “Thank you, you’re a lifesaver bubblegum”

Sawyer smiled back at him and walked out of the room. When the door closed with a small click Radio slipped out of the bathroom and felt himself fall onto the bed. The closes Sawyer gave him were the nicest he had in a long while. They were clean and soft. It had been years since he felt like he could sleep soundly since the apocalypse started. It all started in his living room. The day was normal and quiet as many days in August happened to be when there was a banging at his door. His mother put down her cards from their card game and answered. “Caio!” she had greeted before screaming at the top of her lungs. That was the day it started. August 16th. Things hadn’t gotten better since then though. He ran to a friend’s house after that, and they had been inseparable. Until she died that is. Since then Radio had learned not to trust anyone. He found it hard at first but it soon became easy. It was as simple as seeing someone and turning the other way instead of running for help. It became even easier when everyone left learned the same thing. Even if the human race was going extinct it didn’t stop people from forming gangs, killing each other, and all-around acting like maniacs. These were the things that Radio didn’t like to think about, especially before bed. Who knew the apocalypse and his impending doom would keep him awake at night?

The door creaked open and Radio looked over. Sawyer walked into the room with a plate and dark blue hoodie

“Dinner might be a minute. Elliot caught half of the pasta on fire” he chuckled “no, I don’t know how he did it. Though that’s what Carson told me”

Radio took the hoodie from Sawyer’d hands and pulled on it on. He smiled at him “Thank you so much” he said truthfully “I can cook for you guys. I’m Italian and my mom_

Sawyer just shook his head “You need to sleep Radio. Maybe tomorrow?”

Radio sighed “Fine but I will not let this Elliot guy disgrace pasta ever again”

Sawyer chuckled softly “Don’t let me cook ever” he warned “I’ve burnt toast and nearly burnt your toast” he said handing Radio the plate he waked in with

Radio laughed at him and gratefully took the toast that Sawyer offered and took a bite of it. He smiled at Sawyer who happily returned it.

“Anyway, I’m going to help Elliot our non-chef make something edible. Come down when you want” Sawyer said before bounding out of the room and closing the door.

Radio took a deep breath. As much as he enjoyed the company that he was given and the shelter, he knew he couldn’t stay. He could, but Raffaello ‘Radio” De Luca worked alone. Being cooped up in a house for too long would tear him apart bit by bit and he knew that. But he decided that he would enjoy it while he could still handle it all. Sawyer seemed content, yet free-spirited. He was roaming alone when he found Radio even though he seemed to have a good support system.

As skinny as Carson was he intimidated Radio ever so slightly. Whether it was his height or the fact that he had survived four years of the apocalypse easily. Or looked as if he was handling it well. Radio finished his toast and rolled onto his back to continue thinking. It was clear that the boys in this house knew how to survive. The first thing he thought of that could possibly teach survival was boy scouts. Was sawyer a boy scout? Carson maybe? It suddenly dawned on him that boy scouts didn’t teach apocalypse survival, but wilderness survival. Even so, it didn’t stop him from smiling at the image of Sawyer in a boy scouts vest. Speaking of Sawyer, Radio thought he was nice. Sassy, but still all around a sweet guy. His hair was cute and wavy and his eyes a deep chocolate brown. He had a bit of a retro vibe to him between his tucked-in shirt and bleached and cuffed jeans. Even if he was cute Radio didn’t want to find himself falling for him. It was the apocalypse and people died every day and he knew he would be taken eventually.

That was the part that scared him the most. Death. Once he died he would, one day, become one of the monsters on the street. Hopefully, though, he would get his skull crushed first thing. One thing he knew more than anyone was the feeling of being trapped and he didn’t think he could handle the idea of being trapped in his own bloodthirsty corpse he couldn’t control anymore.

Radio ran his fingers through his still slightly wet hair. It felt nice to not be caked in dirt. It was his first real shower in years. He had soap products, buckets of water, and the rain to keep him semi-clean but, nothing compared to the feeling of hot water hitting your skin and the smell of floral shampoo. He was surprised at how much they really had. Sure, things were told and battered but they still worked. Radio had done some snooping around the closet had a full shelf filled with shampoo and body wash. He already liked it here an awful lot.

A beam of light was cast across Radio’s face and looked over to see a blonde-haired boy standing in the hallway holding a lantern. Radio hadn’t realized how dark the room was until blondy had come in with a light source.

“Hi,” the boy greeted quietly. His voice was soft and smooth “, dinner is ready and as the mom friend I can’t let someone as skinny as Sawyer has said skip it”

Radio said straight up very quickly. More food? Sawyer has already mentioned dinner but now that he really thought about it his stomach growled. He thought it was quiet but it was loud enough for the blonde boy to hear. He chuckled “C’mon kid,” he said with a gesture for Radio to follow “I’m Elliot. You can trust me. Also, get some socks on. It’s cold in the house”

Radio didn.t have any socks but he hoped sawyer wouldn’t him stealing some of his. He bounced over to the dresser and pulled out the first pair of socks he could find. They were light blue with avocados on them. Radio laughed a bit before shoving his feet into the soft fabric of the socks. By this point, Elliot had taken it upon himself to come into the room. He seemed very nice. Calm, collected and mature. Radio was glad to see that. He needed some form of guidance in his life and Elliot seemed like someone he could go to for that. He was also starting to get the feeling he was the youngest.

Radio pushed himself up from the wooden floors and faced Elliot. “What are we having?” he asked

Elliot beamed at him for some odd reason “Spaghetti!” he said cheerfully “Sawyer ended up helping me because I’m a terrible cook. All of us are but with our powers combined we make..we make an okay chef”

Radio chuckled at him “I guess that’s what I can contribute to this place then. My mama taught me too cook”

Elliot stood up “Perfect’ he said, smile never fading “but for now you’ll have to put up with me slightly overcooked spaghetti”

Radio shook his head “I haven’t eaten a solid meal that wasn’t heated up or from a can in a few years. Your undercooked pasta sounds like heaven to me.”

#apocalypse #death #story #personal story #self written #self writings #original character #original #characters #my writing #my ocs #oc writing #apocalypse world #zombie apocalypse #text post

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jamesgierach · 5 years ago

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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s

“State of the City” Address, 2019)

(Excerpt) (Draft prepared by James E. Gierach)

Mayor Lightfoot’s “2019 State of the City” Observations and Aims re Violence, Gangs, Guns, Drugs, Immigration, Healthcare, Policing, Racism and Corruption

[CHICAGO_. Marking her FIRST 100 days in office as Chicago’s mayor, just a few days before Labor Day 2019, the following comments are taken from a SUGGESTED DRAFT of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s first “STATE OF THE CITY” address.]

‘My fellow Chicagoans —

Though we have made progress in reducing the number of HOMICIDES and SHOOTINGS in Chicago, violent crime remains all too prevalent in too many Chicago neighborhoods, increasingly leeching even onto “the Magnificent Mile,” into our best neighborhoods, and onto Chicago expressways.

VIOLENCE can erupt anywhere in today’s climate.

Though the number of ILLEGAL GUNS recovered by Chicago Police has increased, likely to reach 10,000 illegal guns by year’s end, and despite numerous anti-violence initiatives and strategies put in place over three, Chicago mayoral administrations spanning decades, I am convinced that so long as DRUG PROHIBITION remains “the Law of the Land,” Chicago will continue to be plagued by painful, unrelenting gang and gun violence.

DRUG PROHIBITION PROFITS ARE THE LIFEBLOOD OF CHICAGO GANGS. And Chicago gangs are the center core of our gun and violence crises.

Under the new leadership of Gov. JB Pritzker, effective January 1st, Illinois has LEGALIZED RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA, and soon will have largely removed marijuana from drug-dealer shelves, the drug substance most commonly used by Chicagoans, Americans and people around the world.

This great accomplishment was achieved by thoughtful LEGISLATIVE ACT and by stoke of the GOVERNOR’S PEN — not by action of a drug task force, paid-informant, or raiding police SWAT team.

I hasten to add: By delivering this “State of the City Address,” I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THAT PEOPLE USE MARIJUANA.

Individual freedom to choose whether or not to use marijuana, because recreational marijuana use has now been legalized in Illinois for persons 21 years-of-age or older, does not mean individuals should choose to use it.

But I do applaud the removal of marijuana from the REVENUE STREAM of Chicago GANGS and UNLICENSED DRUG DEALERS, who use those revenues to buy weapons of mass destruction — ASSAULT WEAPONS and HANDGUNS. Those weapons in the hands of drug gangsters are used to intimidate witnesses, acquire turf, and lure kids with aspirations to succeed in life by passing through a “GOLDEN PROHIBITION GATEWAY” that purportedly offers easy money and the accumulation of great wealth without need of formal education or hard work.

But MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION IS NOT ANSWER ENOUGH to right today’s wrongs, resulting from society’s return to the sorry Al Capone-chapter of Chicago prohibition history.

I say, DRUG PROHIBITION IS WORSE than a hundred alcohol Prohibitions in terms of unintended and unforeseen bad consequences.

AL CAPONE needed to buy trucks and warehouses to move and store bulky liquor, a big capital outlay limiting entry into the business. In contrast, drug prohibition invites every smart, disadvantaged, or aspiring kid into the powdered, drug-concentrate business without need of startup capital. A plastic baggy containing heroin, fentanyl, cocaine or other powdered drug worth $1,000 on the street won’t even bulge a youngster’s bluejeans pocket.

All that is required to go into Chicago’s, drug-prohibition business is a gun to compete and a pair of gym shoes to get away.

The illicit drug business attracts not only the young and ambitious, but also experienced and disparate parolees. For many thousands of “ex-cons” released back into communities on Chicago’s West and South Sides, and elsewhere, drugs are often the EMPLOYER OF LAST RESORT.

These ill-conceived societal rules have instilled in the minds of many people living on the fringe of society the notion that “It’s them or us,” “Kill or be killed,” “I’m not going back to prison.” This desperate and unforgiving thought must end. But how?

Dr. Gary Slutkin, founder of CEASEFIRE, a violence-interrupter nonprofit organization that has received funding from the City of Chicago, among other governments, was nearly correct 30 years ago when he first suggested that we should treat violence as a disease.

More correctly, he should have said, that DRUG PROHIBITION is a disease that causes unending violence, and many other systemic diseases; and that all are without cure or significant remediation, UNLESS WE RETREAT from counterproductive drug-prohibition policy.

I believe that so long as we have drug users unable to access a legal, labeled and reasonably affordable supply of the substances to which many users are addicted, the myriad horrors of drug prohibition will continue to fowl the Chicago landscape. Those DRUG PROHIBITION horrors, implicitly built into all drug prohibition policies, include the following UNENDING and INSURMOUNTABLE CHALLENGES:

• ACCIDENTAL DRUG OVERDOSE DEATHS, caused by users’ voluntary consumption of unlabeled, untested and unregulated illegal drugs;

• drug warriors and innocent crossfire victims left dead or wounded in unending, Chicago TURF WARS, including street-settled drug business disputes and RETALIATORY SHOOTINGS;

• gang members needfully armed with ever more POWERFUL GUNS to meet rival competitors in a free-for-all fight for CONTROL OF DRUG MARKETS, customers and gang members;

• UNAFFORDABLE, BULLET-HOLE HEALTHCARE;

• the need for MORE POLICE, metal detectors, cameras and MORE TECHNOLOGY in the public way;

• the need for MORE SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS, counselors and trauma centers;

The list of drug-prohibition horrors is much longer, and without exhaustion includes:

• RACIALLY-DISPARATE and HEAVY-HANDED POLICING;

• MONEY JUDGMENTS in the hundreds of millions of dollars expended to settle ABUSIVE POLICING LAWSUITS and fund DOJ CONSENT DECREE COMPLIANCE;

• CRIMINAL COURT INJUSTICES;

• FAMILY SEPARATION and BREAKDOWN, caused by MASS INCARCERATION of nonviolent (disproportionately Black and Brown) drug users, and dealers-dealers trying to survive and make a living;

• communities filled with unemployed and often UNEMPLOYABLE WORKERS needlessly saddled with drug-conviction backgrounds;

• and TERRORIZED IMMIGRANTS, DRUG-WAR REFUGEES really, flocking to the U.S.-Mexican border, and eventually to friendly cities like Chicago, to escape the violent consequences of UNITED NATIONS-MANDATED and U.S.-SUPPORTED drug prohibition policies adversely impacting many people from Central America and Latin America.

Of course, DRUG POLICY REFORM ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH.

We must continue and accelerate our “WEED AND SEED” INITIATIVES with enhanced job opportunities, infrastructure improvements, and government and private investment and cooperation—all essential ingredients to address these problems, as long-recognized by all.

But what we have all been much slower to recognize or callout is the UNINTENDED DAMAGE caused by DRUG-PROHIBITION POLICIES enacted and enforced at the LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL LEVELS.

ZERO TOLERANCE OF DRUGS has been the watchword and commonly-supported public policy endorsed by the masses, political and religious leaders, and honorable members of the press for too long — OVER HALF A CENTURY.

This mainstream intolerance, and implicit and explicit endorsement of drug prohibition governmental polices, has preceded successive Chicago, and American, DRUG CRISES with marijuana, LSD, cocaine, crack cocaine, PCP, heroin, ecstasy, methamphetamines, fentanyl and 803 newly invented synthetic mind-altering substances, the latter over just the past decade.

The “SHADOW REPORT” — prepared by the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), based in the United Kingdom, a collective of over 100 nonprofit organizations — authoritatively documents GLOBAL DRUG POLICY FAILURES, including DRAMATICALLY INCREASED PRODUCTION OF OPIATES, COCAINE and SYNTHETIC DRUGS over the past decade. I refer all Chicagoans to the 138-page IDPC report available in five languages. https://idpc.net/publications/2018/10/taking-stock-a-decade-of-drug-policy-a-civil-society-shadow-report

Finally, I acknowledge that, alone, Chicago cannot untie the DRUG-PROHIBITION GORDIAN KNOT, cinched so tightly to so many of our Chicago problems for so long.

It will require the cooperation of the CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL, COOK COUNTY BOARD, the ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, the u.S. CONGRESS, the UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS, the INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD, ECOSOC, the UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION and approximately 186 NATIONS OF THE WORLD who have heretofore agreed to support and execute disastrous, UN drug-prohibition CONVENTIONS and POLICIES.

Alone, no one can solve this gargantuan, monolithic, global and Chicago drug prohibition policy conundrum with poisonous tentacles reaching everywhere.

But I intend to dismantle the illicit drug business in Chicago by fighting for EXPERIMENTAL DRUG POLICY REFORM IDEAS, including programs and initiatives embracing drug decriminalization and drug legalization.

And of course, Chicago will also be supporting drug treatment on demand, clean needles, naloxone for all, methadone, suboxone, buprenorphine clinics, mobile drug dispensaries for on-site consumption, safe injection sites, and other HARM-REDUCTION INITIATIVES.

TOGETHER, WE CAN DO THIS. WE CAN AGAIN MAKES DRUG POLICY A MEDICAL PROBLEM, NOT A RAINFALL OF SOCIETAL PROHIBITION CRISES.

We can do it by supporting drug-tolerant ideas aimed to eliminate prohibition drug markets and undercut gang revenues, ideas that simply “TAKE THE PROFIT OUT OF DRUGS.” Because armed gangs will not give up their core, addicted user-base without a fight, I will deploy Chicago police to protect drug users and drug dispensaries at every location and in every legal drug venue.

Now, I’d like to turn to Chicago’s financial problems, including our billion dollar budget shortfall, our budget-busting contractual pension obligations, school contract negotiations and the failed soda tax….’

[Draft prepared for the Honorable Mayor Lori Lightfoot by James E. Gierach, a supporter and admirer of Mayor Lightfoot.]

James E. Gierach

Palos Park, Illinois

Originally drafted, Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Edited, Friday, March 5, 2021

[Mayor Lightfoot’s Thursday address now about 48 hours out.]

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