#where the ships launched in Earth 1960 or something

[swan2swan]

Watching the Beast Wars finale right now and remembering a question I had while watching the first four eps of G1 in the theater yesterday:

How did four million years pass on Cybertron without anything happening?

Did Beast Wars explain it by pointing out that the Ark and Nemesis both went through time, as well? Meaning that they crashed not just on Earth, but in the past, and fell asleep, then woke up, and as far as Cybertron was concerned, it was just a few years or so?

Were Elita-1 and company leading resistance for four million years and just never able to get an edge?

Was the situation on Cybertron so apocalyptic that they were stuck that way for millennia, with no progress, and just survived because they're robots?

Was there a Great Shutdown that happened?

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA discovers a long-sought global electric field on earth

Using observations from a NASA suborbital rocket, an international team of scientists has, for the first time, successfully measured a planet-wide electric field thought to be as fundamental to Earth as its gravity and magnetic fields. Known as the ambipolar electric field, scientists first hypothesized over 60 years ago that it drove how our planet’s atmosphere can escape above Earth’s North and South Poles. Measurements from the rocket, NASA’s Endurance mission, have confirmed the existence of the ambipolar field and quantified its strength, revealing its role in driving atmospheric escape and shaping our ionosphere — a layer of the upper atmosphere — more broadly.

Understanding the complex movements and evolution of our planet’s atmosphere provides clues not only to the history of Earth but also gives us insight into the mysteries of other planets and determining which ones might be hospitable to life. The paper was published Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in the journal Nature.

An Electric Field Drawing Particles Out to Space

Since the late 1960s, spacecraft flying over Earth’s poles have detected a stream of particles flowing from our atmosphere into space. Theorists predicted this outflow, which they dubbed the “polar wind,” spurring research to understand its causes. 

Some amount of outflow from our atmosphere was expected. Intense, unfiltered sunlight should cause some particles from our air to escape into space, like steam evaporating from a pot of water. But the observed polar wind was more mysterious. Many particles within it were cold, with no signs they had been heated — yet they were traveling at supersonic speeds.

“Something had to be drawing these particles out of the atmosphere,” said Glyn Collinson, principal investigator of Endurance at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of the paper. Scientists suspected a yet-to-be-discovered electric field could be at work.

The hypothesized electric field, generated at the subatomic scale, was expected to be incredibly weak, with its effects felt only over hundreds of miles. For decades, detecting it was beyond the limits of existing technology. In 2016, Collinson and his team got to work inventing a new instrument they thought was up to the task of measuring Earth’s ambipolar field.

Launching a Rocket from the Arctic

The team’s instruments and ideas were best suited for a suborbital rocket flight launched from the Arctic. In a nod to the ship that carried Ernest Shackleton on his famous 1914 voyage to Antarctica, the team named their mission Endurance. The scientists set a course for Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago just a few hundred miles from the North Pole and home to the northernmost rocket range in the world.

“Svalbard is the only rocket range in the world where you can fly through the polar wind and make the measurements we needed,” said Suzie Imber, a space physicist at the University of Leicester, UK, and co-author of the paper.

On May 11, 2022, Endurance launched and reached an altitude of 477.23 miles (768.03 kilometers), splashing down 19 minutes later in the Greenland Sea. Across the 322-mile altitude range where it collected data, Endurance measured a change in electric potential of only 0.55 volts.

“A half a volt is almost nothing — it’s only about as strong as a watch battery,” Collinson said. “But that’s just the right amount to explain the polar wind.”

Hydrogen ions, the most abundant type of particle in the polar wind, experience an outward force from this field 10.6 times stronger than gravity. “That’s more than enough to counter gravity — in fact, it’s enough to launch them upwards into space at supersonic speeds,” said Alex Glocer, Endurance project scientist at NASA Goddard and co-author of the paper.

Heavier particles also get a boost. Oxygen ions at that same altitude, immersed in this half-a-volt field, weigh half as much. In general, the team found that the ambipolar field increases what’s known as the “scale height” of the ionosphere by 271%, meaning the ionosphere remains denser to greater heights than it would be without it.

“It’s like this conveyor belt, lifting the atmosphere up into space,” Collinson added.

Endurance’s discovery has opened many new paths for exploration. The ambipolar field, as a fundamental energy field of our planet alongside gravity and magnetism, may have continuously shaped the evolution of our atmosphere in ways we can now begin to explore. Because it’s created by the internal dynamics of an atmosphere, similar electric fields are expected to exist on other planets, including Venus and Mars.

“Any planet with an atmosphere should have an ambipolar field,” Collinson said. “Now that we’ve finally measured it, we can begin learning how it’s shaped our planet as well as others over time.”

[boldcompanynews]

NASA’s Endurance Mission Measures Earth’s Ambipolar Electric Field for First Time - Journal Important Internet - BLOGGER https://www.merchant-business.com/nasas-endurance-mission-measures-earths-ambipolar-electric-field-for-first-time/?feed_id=181676&_unique_id=66cfb685e1b1a First hypothesized more than 60 years ago, the ambipolar electric field is a key driver of the polar wind, a steady outflow of charged particles into space that occurs above Earth’s poles. This electric field lifts charged particles in our upper atmosphere to greater heights than they would otherwise reach and may have shaped our planet’s evolution in ways yet to be explored.Collinson et al. report the existence of a +0.55 ± 0.09 V electric potential drop between 250 km and 768 km from a planetary electrostatic field generated exclusively by the outward pressure of ionospheric electrons; they experimentally demonstrate that the ambipolar field of Earth controls the structure of the polar ionosphere, boosting the scale height by 271%. Image credit: NASA.Since the 1960s, spacecraft flying over Earth’s poles have detected a stream of particles flowing from our atmosphere into space.Theorists predicted this outflow, which they dubbed the polar wind, spurring research to understand its causes.Some amount of outflow from our atmosphere was expected. Intense, unfiltered sunlight should cause some particles from our air to escape into space, like steam evaporating from a pot of water. But the observed polar wind was more mysterious.Many particles within it were cold, with no signs they had been heated — yet they were traveling at supersonic speeds.“Something had to be drawing these particles out of the atmosphere,” said Endurance principal investigator Dr. Glyn Collinson, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.The hypothesized electric field, generated at the subatomic scale, was expected to be incredibly weak, with its effects felt only over hundreds of miles.For decades, detecting it was beyond the limits of existing technology.In 2016, Dr. Collinson and colleagues got to work inventing a new instrument they thought was up to the task of measuring Earth’s ambipolar field.The team’s instruments and ideas were best suited for a suborbital rocket flight launched from the Arctic.In a nod to the ship that carried Ernest Shackleton on his famous 1914 voyage to Antarctica, the researchers named their mission Endurance.They set a course for Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago just a few hundred miles from the north pole and home to the northernmost rocket range in the world.“Svalbard is the only rocket range in the world where you can fly through the polar wind and make the measurements we needed,” said Dr. Suzie Imber, a space physicist at the University of Leicester.On May 11, 2022, Endurance launched and reached an altitude of 768.03 km (477.23 miles), splashing down 19 minutes later in the Greenland Sea.Across the 518.2-km (322-mile) altitude range where it collected data, Endurance measured a change in electric potential of only 0.55 volts (V).“A half a volt is almost nothing — it’s only about as strong as a watch battery. But that’s just the right amount to explain the polar wind,” Dr. Collinson said.Hydrogen ions, the most abundant type of particle in the polar wind, experience an outward force from this field 10.6 times stronger than gravity.“That’s more than enough to counter gravity – in fact, it’s enough to launch them upwards into space at supersonic speeds,” said Endurance project scientist Dr. Alex Glocer, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.Heavier particles also get a boost. Oxygen ions at that same altitude, immersed in this half-a-volt field, weigh half as much.In general, the scientists found that the ambipolar field increases what’s known as the scale height of the ionosphere by 271%, meaning the ionosphere remains denser to greater heights than it would be without it.“It’s like this conveyor belt, lifting the atmosphere up into space,” Dr.

Collinson said.Endurance’s discovery has opened many new paths for exploration.The ambipolar field, as a fundamental energy field of our planet alongside gravity and magnetism, may have continuously shaped the evolution of our atmosphere in ways we can now begin to explore.Because it’s created by the internal dynamics of an atmosphere, similar electric fields are expected to exist on other planets, including Venus and Mars.“Any planet with an atmosphere should have an ambipolar field. Now that we’ve finally measured it, we can begin learning how it’s shaped our planet as well as others over time,” Dr. Collinson said.The team’s results appear in the journal Nature._____G.A. Collinson et al. 2024. Earth’s ambipolar electrostatic field and its role in ion escape to space. Nature 632, 1021-1025; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07480-3This article is a version of a press-release from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. http://109.70.148.72/~merchant29/6network/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pexels-photo-6153881.jpeg #GLOBAL - BLOGGER First hypothesized ... BLOGGER - #GLOBAL

[mst3kproject]

The Ship of Monsters

Check me out, I’m being topical!  I had another review almost finished for today, but when I saw the news I knew I had to set that aside and find a movie about life on Venus.  This one is a ridiculous Mexican film starring Lorena Velazquez from Samson vs the Vampire Women (looking only slightly less like Cher) and one of those amazing cardboard robots you only get in the very worst of late 50’s and early 60’s sci-fi.

An atomic war on the planet Venus has killed off all the males, so an expedition is sent out in search of replacements, consisting of a native Venusian named Gamma, her Uranian navigator Beta, and their robot Tor.  After promising the Empress that they will bring back only the most manly of men, they wander the solar system a while collecting creatures with penises before an engine problem forces them to land on Earth.  The first human they meet there is Laureano Gomez, a singing cowboy with a well-earned reputation for telling tall tales.  One might assume one could predict the rest of the movie from there… but then Beta turns on Gamma and reveals that her true mission all along was to conquer a planet to feed the vampires of Uranus!

I gotta say… I did not see that coming.

The Ship of Monsters is supposed to be a comedy.  It’s seldom funny when it’s trying to be, although it mercifully avoids being the kind of desperately unfunny a lot of bad comedies are… possibly this is because it’s in Spanish, and by the time I’ve realized something is stupid there’s another subtitle to distract me. The jokes, such as they are, are pretty standard.  Tor the robot was created by an alien race, who were aware of Earth but never bothered exploring it because they thought the inhabitants weren’t very intelligent.  Laureano is in the habit of telling ridiculous stories to his drinking buddies, so of course when he claims the Earth is being invaded by space monsters they don’t believe him.  That sort of thing.  The movie is much funnier when it’s just showing us absurd situations, but to nobody’s surprise, The Ship of Monsters is at its funniest when it’s trying to be serious.

This hilarity comes in many forms, covering just about all the possible bases for a dirt-cheap 1960 sci-fi film.  We have spaceship sets made of cardboard, covered with buttons that don’t actually press and levers conveniently placed so people can bump into them during fight scenes.  We have Tor, with his tin can body that’s always a little dinged up but never in the same places, giving us clues as to what order the scenes might have been shot in.  He also has wiggly spring antennae and makes a little whirring noise every time he moves. We have space babes in silver bathing suits and glittery high heels.  Vampire-Beta, sporting plastic fangs that look like they came from the bottom of a cereal box, could be the female counterpart to the guy from Dracula vs Frankenstein, and the puppet used to represent her in flight is nearly as bad as the one from The Devil Bat.

The ‘monsters’ of the title are a bulging-brained Martian prince, a scaly cyclops, a spidery creature with venomous fangs, and the mobile skeleton of what appears to be a *damn worwelf (he tells us that his race has Evolved Beyond Flesh... apparently not Beyond Bones, though).  The costumes are all terrible, particularly the warwulf puppet, whose backbone extends into his mouth and who has to be carried around with his feet dangling in any shot that’s not a close-up.  It’s nice, though, that a little imagination went into them, and somebody gave a bit of thought to the idea that a monstrous appearance is relative.  The Martian tells Beta that he admires her ambition and might even marry her if she weren’t so ugly by his planet’s standards.

At the end, naturally, this alien invasion is defeated by Laureano, his twelve-year-old brother, and a cardboard robot, while Gamma just stands around and screams.  With a movie like this I expect nothing less.  The denouement contains my favourite intentional joke in the whole thing, in which Gamma stays on Earth with her True Love, and Tor the robot takes his, the Jukebox, back to Venus with him!  Tom Servo would have given a speech to congratulate the happy couple, and I can just see him breaking down into happy tears before he got five lines in.

(The wirwalf skeleton is not present at the climactic fight, by the way… no explanation is offered, and I strongly suspect that they broke the puppet trying.  I rather enjoy this omission, because it lets me imagine him getting lost or maybe buried by an enterprising dog, and finally finding his way back to the landing site only to learn that they’ve left without him.)

I called Laureano a cowboy but he only has one cow.  Her name is Lolobrijida and she is the very first time I have ever seen a movie spur a hero into action by killing his cow.  She gets a proper Teenagers from Outer Space death, with her skeleton left behind propped up by metal struts like a dinosaur in a museum!

I also called him a singing cowboy, which he is – there are several songs, including one in which he tries to explain to Gamma and Beta what ‘love’ means.  The songs have pleasant but forgettable Mexican pop melodies, and none of the lyrics make a whole lot of sense.  Being translated over-literally from Spanish probably didn’t do them any favours (my own Spanish tops out at yo no tengo dinero), but I still can’t imagine that the What Is Love song clarified anything.

Laureano himself comes across as kind of a fool, but he’s not actually a full-on idiot, which is quite important.  If he were the kind of one-dimensional ‘comedic nitwit’ embodied in characters like Dropo, or the janitor from Reptilicus, he’d be insufferable.  Laureano is no genius, but he’s got personality traits besides being stupid – he cares deeply for his little brother Chuy and for his animals, and he doesn’t treat Gamma and Beta’s appearance as two women for the price of one.  Very quickly he decides that Gamma is the one he loves, and he sticks to that, doing his best to let Beta down gently even when she offers to make him a king.  He’s also smart enough to trick Beta into dancing with him so he can steal the device she uses to control the rocket and Tor, and to listen to Gamma when she tells him about the various monsters’ weaknesses.

Gamma and Beta, on the other hand, don’t have a lot to them besides the basic fact that Gamma is the Nice One and Beta is Evil. Gamma starts out in the story with a strong sense of duty, and it’s a bit disappointing to see her abandon that because of Tru Luv.  I would have liked the ending better if she’d taken Laureano home with her so that the two of them could be the Adam and Eve of the new Venusian race.  Meanwhile, Beta shows no sign of any loyalty except to herself and her own ambition.  Her original mission, to secure Earth as a blood supply for the Uranians, falls by the wayside as she decides she’s going to conquer and rule the planet herself.

So The Ship of Monsters isn’t exactly a feminist manifesto, but neither is it complete misogynistic garbage like Project Moon Base.  The whole premise, after all, rests on a planet of women being able to develop space travel all on their own!  This is a fairly surprising plot point, because in many ‘planet of women’ movies like Fire Maidens of Outer Space or Cat Women of the Moon, the ladies need the virile Earth Men to come to them.

There’s also a little bit of actual science peeking out of the cracks.  The moment for launch of the rocket from Venus is determined by when ‘the elliptical orbits coincide’.  Launch timing is, indeed, a delicate art depending very much on what’s orbiting where. There’s also the moment when, trying to land on Earth, Gamma and Beta worry that the friction, combined with our oxygen-rich atmosphere, will set their ship on fire.  This stuff is pretty impressive coming from a time when the moon landing was still nearly a decade away.  There are even a couple of scenes in zero gravity that honestly aren’t totally terrible.  I mean, I’ve seen better, but I’ve also seen much, much worse.

There’s also one weirdly prescient moment when Laureano, telling one of his silly stories in the pub, describes being surrounded by dinosaurs – only to get a laugh a moment later when he mentions that they had beautiful plumage.  I’m not sure whether this is meant to be a joke in that Laureano is exaggerating an actual encounter with an angry bird into something more fearsome (I think we’re to assume that the whole story is totally made up), or whether it’s just supposed to be funny that Laureano thinks dinosaurs had feathers instead of scales.  Either way, it’s the equivalent of the moon Fornax in Menace from Outer Space being so reminiscent of Io.  There’s no way the writers could have known that, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

The Ship of Monsters is very cheap and very dumb, but it’s good fun for those of us who like crummy old alien invasion movies, and I recommend it to anybody in that demographic.  As for actual life on Venus… I feel like a lot of the people getting excited are too young to remember when Bill Clinton told the world that we had totally found life on Mars. ��Humans have been discovering life on other planets for about two hundred years and every single one of those ‘discoveries’ has turned out to be either a mistake or an outright lie.  We have plenty enough to panic about this year without a Venusian invasion.

[eastertag]

@cookidoughlilac gift for @photowizard17

Easter 2020 TAG prompts

Prompt 1: The boys painting Easter eggs

Every so often, the world would come to its senses and not try anything dangerous. When this happened, the boys would sigh a breath a relief and would find activities to do as a family.

This time, their break occurred around Easter. The sun outside was shining and warm, the pool was cool and inviting, and the boys were out on the patio, sat around a garden table with eggs in front of them. There were various little pots of paint placed in the centre of the table, with plenty of brushes of varying sizes ready to be used.

Despite all the preparation, there was still one thing missing.

“Where’s dad? Is he coming out to paint Easter eggs with us?” Gordon piped up, twisting around in his seat to look for the man in question.

“Dad said he’ll be out in a minute,” Scott explained, picking up his egg and examining it carefully, “he said he’s changing into a cooler shirt.”

“Which shirt?” Gordon asked suspiciously, “Not the flamingo one, right?”

“What’s so bad about the flamingo one? I thought you liked all of those weird patterns.” Alan quipped, grinning as he gestured to the Hawaiian design his brother was wearing.

“My shirt is fashionable I’ll have you know. Dad’s shirt looks like something from the previous century. Ya know, the 1960s, or somewhere around that time.”

“I wouldn’t call your sense of style fashionable…” Scott sighed, glancing across the table to his younger siblings, “More of a fashion disaster…”

This quip earnt several good-humoured sniggers from Virgil, John and Alan. Scott, in true oldest brother fashion, simply grinned at Gordon – his own way of saying he’d won that fair and square. In response, Gordon crossed his arms and sighed, shaking his head a little.

“Would someone care to explain why Gordon has the face of an unhappy guppy?”

The brothers all spun around in their seats, instantly with bright smiles on their faces as their father walked over to the table they were all sat at. Just as predicted (or feared, if you were Gordon), Jeff sported his flamingo shirt and eased himself into a plastic chair at the head of the garden table.

“Now that I’m here, how about we start? What will you boys paint on your eggs, hm?” Jeff asked, looking to his five sons with pride and warmth.

“I’m gonna paint 3’s launch!” Alan beamed, dipping his paintbrush into the red paint closest to him.

“I’m thinking of painting the sea and the horizon, at sunset.” Gordon grinned, “Sunset is the best over the water.”

“That’s true, sunset is good,” John nodded in agreement, “But you can’t deny that seeing Earth below you is just as mesmerising. I’ll be painting that.”

“You could paint that in your sleep!” Gordon teased, “Will there be a tiny Global One on your egg as well?”

“Global One is not that close, Gordon.” Alan explained seriously before breaking into a cheeky smirk, “If it were, Captain O’Bannon would be over way more often!”

“What’s this?” Jeff asked curiously, looking between his sons.

“Oh, just John’s girlfriend—” Gordon and Alan began, grins so wide Jeff momentarily wondered if they had been replaced by Cheshire cats.

“Ridley is not my girlfriend…” John interjected with a little sigh.

“…yet!” Virgil teased, earning a glare from John, “What? All I’m saying is that it’s painfully obvious you both like each other, you might as well, what’s the phrase? Live long and get some.”

The boys at the table broke out into a thunderous laugh as John rested his head against the table in a mixture of embarrassment and frustration. Gordon was laughing so hard he had to wipe a tear from his eye, and Scott dissolved into hiccups from his laughter.

In the end, though, eggs were painted; each egg beautiful, intricate, and unmistakeably unique. Jeff had fashioned a six-cup egg holder to put on his desk, and each of his son’s eggs was carefully placed inside, alongside his own.

Alan had painted Thunderbird 3 during launch, the bright red against the dark greys of the hanger, with a white plumage of smoke lining the bottom of his egg.

Gordon’s sunset egg was warm in colour, with the rich blues rippling around the egg. Virgil had helped create a rippling water effect, and it made the sunset even more stunning.

John’s Earth-from-space egg was painted completely black, except for the blue-green marble on one side of the egg. It was simple yet elegant and executed to perfection.

Virgil’s egg had the image of a piano surrounded by music notes on a completely white background. It was comforting for Jeff to know that Virgil still played after all of these years. He could still remember the tiny son playing for the family whenever they were at the ranch.

Scott had painted the clouds and the sky. It was, after all, where he had wanted to be ever since he was little. In a way, it amused Jeff how Scott was still as enthusiastic about the sky as when he was just a small boy. He was ambitious, and his hard work had paid off.

Jeff’s, by comparison, was fairly plain. On his egg was the villa with a backdrop of the jungle. It was home, and that’s where he was. Home, with his mother, sons and the people around he considered family. That was his egg, and that was the way he wanted to live for the rest of his life. With his family.

------

Prompt 2: Virgil angst

“There are 10 things you need to know.”

Scott tensed as he heard his younger brother’s grumbling voice from behind. If the sound of a voice could kill, Scott would be 6 feet under. He practically trembled as he turned on his heel, looking into the eyes of his plaid draped sibling.

“Virgil, wait, please. I can explain -”

“Number 1. I have been out all morning, up since before dawn to help those poor people in that mudslide rescue.”

“I know you were out this morning Virgil, I helped John monitor the end of the rescue after I got up.” Scott pleaded. He could tell his brother was seething just by the tone in his voice. One short intake a breath, then he could continue to try to reason with his brother. Only, Virgil had other ideas.

“Number 2. It was pouring down the entire time I was on that rescue, and I came back covered head to toe in mud. I was caked in it. It’s taken me the better part of an hour to scrub it all off!”

One breath and one step backwards – Scott was the oldest, after all, so he knew the best ways to try to calm his brother down. Virgil took a step towards Scott, not wanting to let his older brother escape before he was through with him.

“Number 3. As the main pilot of Thunderbird 2, I now have the duty of cleaning all the muck and filth out of my ship. You know, on the in case I’m called out again. I have to make sure my girl looks presentable at all times.”

“If you need help with cleaning, we can help you with that. That’s not an -”

“Number 4.”

“Virgil -”

“Number 4, Scott. We almost lost children today. But we have a duty of care to everyone, so I risked moving our position to make sure I could get them safely, whilst putting my life on the line.”

Scott needed to tread carefully. Virgil never was the angry brother, but when he was, hell could freeze over. If he said the wrong thing, his chances at landing in their medical bay with a broken nose would be high.

“Virgil, if I had known -”

“Number 5. When I got back to the island, when I had landed safely, everyone was still either asleep or relaxing. But I won’t get to relax today, not when I have already been up, and probably will have to be up until I pass out in the vague direction of my room later on tonight. Hell, maybe even tomorrow morning.”

The dance Scott found himself in with Virgil annoyed him the most. Every time he took a step back, his brother would step forward. Scott knew he deserved this, but getting chewed out by his closest friend still stung.

“Number 6. A proper breakfast consists of something sustainable, like toast, or cereal. You did not eat a sustainable breakfast.”

Scott groaned, frustrated. First his crime against Virgil, and now he was getting chewed out about his eating habits.

“Virgil, I know perfectly well what a good breakfast is but -”

“Number 7. Stop interrupting me with your excuses. They’re not working.”

Scott shifted, moving backwards and felt the legs of their father’s desk. He gulped quietly, knowing that he was not going to be able to move much further.

“Number 8. We have a policy in this house that we don’t take what doesn’t belong to us.”

“I know, but it was left on the side and I thought it was mine -”

“Number 9. These little treats only come once a year for us. We sure as hell deserve them, especially after horrible rescues like these.”

By this point, Virgil had trapped Scott between himself, and their father’s desk. Scott was practically bending back over it, still trying his best to create space that simply wasn’t there.

“Number 10.” Virgil hissed, leaning to Scott’s ear, “You don’t go near my Thorntons again, or I will make sure Grandma makes you her food creation test subject.”

With that, Virgil swiftly stood straight again, glaring down at his terrified older brother.

“You get me?”

Scott simply nodded and Virgil stepped back, letting his brother escape. He smirked to himself.

That’ll teach Scott not to eat the Easter eggs that didn’t belong to him.

----

Prompt 3: Someone finds an uninjured bunny on a rescue

“Once I’ve checked the perimeter to ensure there’s nobody else to move to the safety zone, you’ll be free to start heading back, Thunderbird Shadow.”

“Copy that, Thunderbird 1. Just shout if you need me for anything else.”

With that, Kayo headed back over to her craft, leaning against the legs to catch her breath and mull over the rescue in her head. They were lucky in a way; this rescue was considered easy for them. A textbook rescue with a textbook way of dealing with it – that is if there ever was a textbook written on what they did. The people were safe and at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.

Kayo watched the people in the safety zone with a smile. Despite the horror they had all been through, families were sitting with each other, children were playing together, and various older folk were exchanging stories about their children who had long since grown up and flown the nest. It showed just how resilient people could be.

“Thunderbird 1 to Thunderbird Shadow.” Scott called, looking down from his craft as he circled high above the safety zone, “All town residents have been accounted for. You’re free to head back whilst Virgil and I get these people to the next town over.”

“Alright Scott,” Kayo answered with a wave, “I’ll see you when you get back.”

She climbed into her ship, relaxing into the pilot seat just enough as she started up the engines. With a few practised motions, pre-flight checks were completed, and within minutes Kayo had taken to the skies, soaring high above the safety zone as she began the journey back to the island.

Kayo knew she was going to arrive at least an hour before Virgil or Scott did. Although she was tired, her brain still whirled into motion, coming up with potential ways to spend that free hour.

Perhaps a hot bath was in order. Kayo was fully aware of how her muscles ached. What better way was there to relieve the stress built up than soaking herself in a rose bubble bath? Nobody would distract her unless there was another rescue call that came in.

Then again, Kayo was hungry. Being a member of an elite rescue group meant that sometimes meals would be skipped. And Kayo had had to forgo lunch to suit up. It was unlikely that anyone would be using the kitchen at this hour, which meant she could make herself something edible.

Or maybe, just maybe, she could go and sunbathe on a pool floatie until Scott needed to land. The peace that was floating on the water, with the clouds, the sea on the horizon, and the setting sun was quite possibly one of the best things in the world she could imagine. Nothing would ever come close to being as breath-taking.

Kayo was brought out of her half daydream when a brown fluff jumped over her shoulder and onto her console. Within a second, her craft was plummeting out of the sky, with Kayo frantically trying to regain control. The brown fluff, frightened by the sudden falling sensation, bounced around and ended up on Kayo’s shoulder again, screaming into her ear.

It took Kayo several seconds of fast thinking to right her falling ship. The screaming fluff on her shoulder settled after it realised the imminent danger was over and took to nibbling on her hair.

Kayo couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Of all the crafts that could gain a stowaway in the form of a small brown bunny, of course, it had to be hers.

[kinetic-elaboration]

October 16: 1x19 Tomorrow Is Yesterday

Today, one of the best, most entertaining, and most fun TOS episodes.

This intro is so strange lol. If I were watching this in 1967, I’d be like “Has Star Trek been preempted by something dumb?” It’s also very short.

That is in fact the definition of a UFO--what’s less identified than the Enterprise?

I can’t wait until a space ship of people from the future shows up. It’s 2020 so anything could happen.

Captain’s Log: This is weird!

I love all the shots of the Enterprise through this ep. How clearly it’s cut and pasted against the sky, the weird and jerky way it moves.

So I was confused by the use of the term “black star”--it is in fact a black hole (Spock’s eternal nemesis lol); that term just wasn’t well known or settled on to describe that particular phenomenon in 1967.

The method of time travel reminds me of The Naked Time (wasn’t that also like snapping a rubber band?) and according to the amazon trivia, this was supposed to be The Naked Time part two--which actually would have been pretty cool.

“If Scotty’s not dead” lol. How dark.

Amazed by how efficient this ship is--they get those reports back to Spock really damn fast.

I love how Kirk is so smart and good at history that he can immediately date when they are based on the news about a moon landing. (Although actually this episode pre-dates the actual moon landing so that was just a guess as to when it would happen, which I find AMAZING tbh.)

The drama of the time travel reveal! Close up on Kirk’s face: WHAT??

Sulu’s eye makeup is great. Bones’s is too, later.

“The craft might have nuclear warheads, which would be rather inconvenient for us.”

Kirk doesn’t know his own lady’s strength. Whoops, we accidentally destroyed your ship.

Why does Christopher beam up standing? Because it would be too funny if he beamed up sitting and then immediately fell on his ass?

Kirk immediately checks him out, and then starts flirting. He is so shameless.

“I’m a Captain too! I’m from Iowa!”

“Woman?” / “Crewman” feminist exchange paired with that horn music that usually accompanies Jessica Rabbit. Well A for effort boys.

The Enterprise is one of only 12 in the fleet. Not that that’s really trustworthy since everything in S1 of TOS is seat of the pants random facts and numbers lol. This episode refers to BOTH Starfleet and UESPA--and possibly the Federation? Already can’t remember. I don’t understand any more than Captain Christopher does.

“We’re a combined service.” Combined from what?

Captain Christopher was one of the best guest characters. Love how he’s on this amazing futuristic ship and the only thing he can say about it is “you guys sure fuck up a lot.”

Spock is having tons of fun with the new Earthman like IMMEDIATELY. “I also don’t believe in little green men--by which I mean don’t call me little.”

Another ep in which Spock is referred to as a Lt. Cmdr. while pretty clearly wearing a Commander’s uniform.

“Don’t touch anything.”

“Anything else on your mind, Mr. Spock? A threesome perhaps?”

“Jim, we cannot not exist.”

“That flight suit must be uncomfortable”--so unsubtle in wanting to get him undressed. “Why don’t you slip into something a little more comfortable, Captain?”

“Signet 14 is a planet dominated by women...with a sense of humor.”

“You can’t go home now that you know what the future looks like--damn fine, I mean take a look at us.”

“We’ve no place to go!” Oh Scotty, always coming in to burst some bubbles. They should have just gone on tours everyone’s home towns for fun.

And now Captain Christopher tries to escape. Exactly what Kirk would do in his situation. And yet Kirk is perplexed: “I sent him to his room--and he’s not in his room!”

Bones is so convinced that they have to leave and get back to their own time because they can’t have 435 people just wandering around 20th century Earth changing the timelines and that’s legit--but I think they could have stuck him in 1960s Georgia and he’d do fine. Except for the racism.

“Now you’re sounding like Spock.” Jim! How dare!!

“Could he be reeducated to forget his family” sounds VERY suspicious out of context. Or, really, in context.

Bones identifying that Spock is joking is hilarious and sweet. He pretends he doesn’t know him, but he does.

Kirk’s face when Spock is talking about Christopher Jr. is so MUCH--he looks like he could try.

I love the colors of this episode. I would buy a color tv for this for sure.

“Our tractor beam caught and crushed an Air Force plane.” Well that’s not good. Hard to explain that one.

Sulu gets to go on a one-on-one away mission with the Captain! And he’s obviously having a grand time.

“Look at this cool bulletin board!”

“Look at this primitive computer!” Which Kirk can identify because he likes going to museums because he’s a NERD I rest my case.

I feel like Spock is super alien today. Just giving off a lot of alien vibes. “I am working on my calculations.”

This episode is so hilarious; I love it. This guy’s reactions to Kirk and Sulu and their communicator, and their reactions to him and the whole situation. It’s really pretty cure comedy without much bearing on the plot--just for fun.

“I don’t hear anything.” I mean--you’re officers?? That’s the best you can do?

“Hmmm, you’re not Jim.” “We seem to have another problem.” “An unfortunate accident.” Bones taking the gun and probably keeping it. The absolutely on point score. “Our guest seems quite satisfied to remain where he is.”

Also “A subplot of this episode is that Kirk and Sulu steal government documents from an Air Force base” sounds very fake, but it’s completely true and accurate.

Kirk just straight up LAUNCHING himself at those guys. The ONLY valid fight scenes are in Star Trek TOS and it’s all because of Kirk and his highly choreographed fight moves.

“Three against one? Why don’t you get two more guys and make it a fair fight.”

But then as soon as he’s caught he turns on the charm.

Spock: “Poor photography.” He never knows the right thing to say, does he?

And now the obligatory moment when Bones accuses Spock of not caring about Jim even though he of all people should know better.

This interrogation scene is also hilarious and one of my favorites. How he doesn’t say his middle name is Tiberius. Wincing when they throw the weapon around. “I’m a little green man from Alpha Centuri.” “This little thing? Just something I slipped on.” “Two hundred years? That oughtta be just about right.”

Tbh sometimes I do feel better about the AOS!Kirk characterization because of scenes like this. Like, you could see that mid-20s Kirk turning into this mid-30s Kirk; the sense of humor is similar.

This man in the beret is having a fun time. I think he’d like to stay here. Also, I find the food replicators in the transporter room really random but I guess that was a budget issue.

This is such a good-natured episode. Everyone’s so friendly, so forgiving of light moments of back-stabbery, so generally good-hearted.

You’ve seen the Vulcan nerve pinch, now get ready for the Sulu shoulder chop! And then the Vulcan nerve pinch! And then the  Kirk very-fake-looking punch in the face!

Spock so obviously wants to kiss it better. The camera is away from them for so long, it’s possible there was a lot of hand fondling going on.

And then everything about the rest of the scene--how Spock somehow leaves by one door and comes in by another to get behind Christopher; how he lurks out of focus in the background; the random shots of Sulu’s face; all the opportunities for Kirk to look Fond.

Aw, poor Christopher. Didn’t get into NASA but he still gets to go to space. I wonder if a part of him did remember all this and that’s how he inspired his son to work on the Saturn probe.

Also there is no way for DC Fontana or anyone else to know this but there was a Saturn probe launched in 2004, which is approximately the right timeline to match this ep--if Christopher’s son was born in 1970, he would have been in his mid-30s in 2004.

“You only have 15 years, so you better hurry”--Kirk, hurrying to get his last flirty comment in.

More shaky ship and more people throwing themselves around the set. Never gets old.

Christopher sure learned the ship fast. He’s already pushing buttons to talk to the bridge. Maybe NASA made a mistake.

Scotty is a genius lol--they were SUPER precise in getting both of those guys back to the exact right moment in time.

“Mr. Scott is still with us”--again!

Uhura really likes the lady computer voice.

“The Enterprise is home!”

Amazing ep, as expected. I don’t have deep commentary on it because it wasn’t a deep episode, but it was a rollicking fun time. Next up is Court Martial, primarily memorable for the introduction of Kirk’s ex-girlfriend, The Lawyer.

[ramajmedia]

Star Trek Has More Wars Than Star Wars: Here Are The Greatest

Here are the greatest wars of Star Trek, which has actually had more wars across its franchise than Star Wars. At its core, Star Trek is about an optimistic future of space exploration and the harmonious co-existence of multiple worlds as embodied by the United Federation of Planets. And yet, Star Trek's history is full of conflict; indeed, after The Original Series in the 1960s, every Star Trek TV series has been embroiled in some form of war.

Predating Star Wars' creation by a decade, Star Trek's central tenet is about seeking out new worlds and new civilizations. But even though Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and the Starship Enterprise of the 23rd-century dealt with all manner of hostile alien lifeforms, actual full-blown wars weren't something depicted until Star Trek: The Next Generation's 24th-century era. By contrast, George Lucas' creation was titled Star Wars but the films really only dealt with three wars: The Clone Wars of the prequels, the conflict between the Empire and the Rebellion in the original trilogy, and the First Order vs. the Resistance in the sequel trilogy. Meanwhile, the five Star Trek spinoff TV series have involved several wars across the various eras of the Federation.

Next: After 13 Years Of Rights Issues, Star Trek Is Whole Again

Indeed, the history of Star Trek was forged through wars: the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s gave rise to the villainous Khan and World War III in the 21st-century devastated humanity before First Contact with the Vulcans opened the door to the establishment of Starfleet. The United Federation of Planets was then founded in 2161, which Star Trek: Enterprise's Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) presided over. But prior to the Federation's formation, the Earth-Romulan War of 2156-2160 led to the creation of the Romulan Neutral Zone and Star Trek: Discovery's Klingon War of 2257 was an outbreak of open hostilities in the middle of a Cold War that lasted over 70 years, which finally ended when the Klingons sued for peace in 2293, as seen in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

While the Star Trek movies set in the Prime and Kelvin timelines had their share of violent conflicts, the greatest wars of Star Trek were depicted across the various TV series from Star Trek: The Next Generation to Star Trek: Discovery. Here are the epic Star Trek wars that cumulatively outnumber those of Star Wars.

The Xindi War on Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise season 3 saw the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise caught up in a year-long war with the Xindi, which was just part of a larger Temporal Cold War fought across the timestream by different factions. In the Star Trek: Enterprise season 2 finale, the Xindi attacked Earth with a superweapon, which devastated a swath of Earth from Florida to Venezuela and killed seven million people.

Captain Archer led an upgraded Enterprise into the Delphic Expanse to stop the Xindi from launching a second attack; during the course of the war, Archer learned the Xindi were pawns of another race called the Sphere-Builders, who were capable of seeing alternate timelines. The Sphere-Builders were trying to destroy Earth in the 22nd century, fearing a future where the Federation would destroy the Sphere-Builders in the 26th century. Eventually, Archer made peace with the Xindi and convinced them that they were being manipulated by the Sphere-Builders; the Enterprise crew destroyed the Xindi primary weapon before it could attack Earth again and they destroyed the Spheres, banishing the Builders back to their native trans-dimensional realm.

Related: Star Trek's Crazy (& Brilliant) Reason Why So Many Aliens Look Human

The Borg Vs. Species 8472 on Star Trek: Voyager

In 2374, as the U.S.S. Voyager entered Borg space in the Delta Quadrant, they were caught in the middle of the war between the Borg and Species 8472. The two deadly races battled for over 5 months, with the Borg suffering heavy casualties as they encountered the first alien species they could not easily assimilate or defeat. Species 8472 was a highly-advanced biological race that existed in fluidic space. When the Borg discovered a way to access fluidic space, they tried and failed to conquer Species 8472, who then went on the offensive and invaded the Milky Way galaxy. One bio-ship from Species 8472 could destroy 15 Borg Cubes and in one encounter, Species 8472 destroyed 8 Borg planets, 312 ships, and killed 4,000,621 drones.

Fearing this new threat, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) partnered with the Borg, which brought Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) aboard the U.S.S. Voyager. The Starfleet/Borg alliance developed a biological weapon that forced Species 8472 back to fluidic space, ending the war. Later, Species 8472 determined that humanity was a greater threat than the Borg and created simulations in order to defeat the Federation and human beings. However, Janeway brokered peace with Species 8472, convincing them that the Federation had no designs on invading fluidic space.

The War Against Control on Star Trek: Discovery Season 2

In Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Control, Section 31's threat assessment system, attempted to gain sentience and wipe out all biological life in the galaxy - a goal Control achieved by the 32nd century according to the time-traveling Red Angel, who was revealed to be Dr. Gabrielle Burnham (Sonja Sohn). Much of Star Trek: Discovery season 2 centered on the U.S.S. Discovery's pursuit of the secret of the red signals in space, which ended up providing the means to stop Control. This included freeing Kaminar, the Kelpien homeworld, from dominion by the Ba'ul and Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) acquiring a Klingon time crystal.

It all culminated in the final battle against Control in Star Trek: Discovery's season 2 finale, "Such Sweet Sorrow", where the U.S.S. Discovery and the U.S.S. Enterprise were joined by the Kelpiens and the Klingons to battle Section 31's drone fleet. The climactic battle was the most eye-popping and violent space battle ever depicted in a Star Trek TV series and it ended with the destruction of Control as Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) assumed the identity of the Red Angel and led the Starship Discovery into the 32nd century to prevent Control from ever gaining sentience.

Related: Where Was The Enterprise During Star Trek: Discovery's Klingon War?

Star Trek: Discovery Season 1's Klingon War

The Klingon War against the Federation of 2256-2257 spanned the entirety of Star Trek: Discovery season 1. The war was started by Commander Michael Burnham at the Battle at the Binary Stars, which left her disgraced and imprisoned as Starfleet's first mutineer. Meanwhile, the Klingon Messiah T'Kuvma (Chris Obi) tried to unite all of the Great Houses under his leadership but after Burnham killed him, the warrior race splintered off into opposing factions while continuing the war against the Federation.

The Federation suffered devastating losses during the Klingon War: over 8,000 Starfleet personnel died in the first 6 months of the conflict. Nine months later, twenty percent of Federation space was occupied by the Klingons, including Starfleet's Starbase 1, which saw 80,000 lives lost. When the U.S.S. Discovery returned from its diversion into the Mirror Universe, the Terran Emperor Phillipa Georgiou, posing as her counterpart Captain Philippa Georgiou, attempted to commit genocide on the Klingon homeworld in a bid to end the war before the Klingons could invade Earth. In response, Michael Burnham allied with L'Rell (Mary Elizabeth Chieffo) to stop Georgiou's plan; they installed L'Rell as the new Klingon High Chancellor and ended the war.

The Federation Vs. The Borg on Star Trek: The Next Generation

The Federation's conflict with the Borg was mostly fought in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the subsequent feature film Star Trek: First Contact. In the classic two-part episode "The Best of Both Worlds", the Borg Collective mounted their invasion of the Federation, assimilating Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and turning him into Locutus of Borg. It culminated in the Battle of Wolf 359, one of the most destructive engagements of the 24th century: 39 Starfleet ships were lost against one Borg Cube, with over 11,000 people either killed or assimilated. Though the U.S.S. Enterprise-D rescued Picard and destroyed the Borg Cube, it wouldn't be their last encounter with the Borg.

The Battle of Wolf 359 had lasting repercussions: the Defiant-class starships were developed to fight the Borg and Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) lost his wife Jennifer in the conflict. The Borg later attempted to time travel and assimilate 22nd century Earth in Star Trek: First Contact but Picard and his crew foiled them again. However, the Federation never completely defeated the Borg, who will return in Star Trek: Picard, although a faction of the Borg Collective has seemingly been conquered by the Romulans. Still, the Borg remain a hostile threat to the Federation any time they emerge from their home base in the Delta Quadrant.

Related: Star Trek: Picard Theory: The Borg Doomed Romulus

The Dominion War on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

The Dominion War in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the greatest war ever fought in Star Trek. At its peak, the conflict involved every major power in the Alpha Quadrant siding with two opposing factions: the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans vs. the Dominion, Cardassian, and Breen alliance. While the formal hostilities lasted from 2373-2375, the Dominion instigated a Federation-Klingon War, destroyed the Cardassian Obsidian Order and the Romulan Tal'Shiar, and successfully executed a coup on Cardassia prior to the Dominion War, which weakened the Alpha Quadrant before the Changelings and the Jem'Hadar mounted their full-scale invasion from the Gamma Quadrant.

The devastation caused by the Dominion War was staggering: thousands of starships and millions of lives were lost on both sides, with Cardassia suffering the most as the Dominion systematically eliminated the Cardassian population, killing 800 million civilians in the waning days of the war. The Dominion also conquered Betazed, homeworld of Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and the Breen attacked Starfleet Headquarters on Earth. Captain Sisko tricking the Romulans to fight on the Federation's side turned the tide of the war, while Section 31's use of a biogenic virus by secretly causing Odo to infect the Founders accelerated the Federation's ultimate victory. Sisko led the invasion of Cardassia that resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Bajor on Deep Space Nine, formally ending the war and forcing the Dominion to permanently retreat into the Gamma Quadrant.

The Dominion War altered the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant; the Klingons incurred such loses that it would take them a decade to recover and the Cardassian Union completely collapsed, which left the Federation and Romulans as the strongest powers in the Quadrant - until Shinzon's coup wiped out the Romulan Senate in Star Trek: Nemesis. Thanks to the serialized format of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which boasted 26 episodes per season, the series was able to depict the myriad complexities of the Dominion War from the military, political, and characters' perspectives. All in all, Star Trek fans may not see a war as epic and far-reaching as the Dominion War again.

Next: Everything Star Trek: Picard Is A Sequel To

source https://screenrant.com/star-trek-wars-greatest-borg-dominion-klingons/

[scifigeneration]

Five reasons to forget Mars for now and return to the moon

by Ian Whittaker and Gareth Dorrian

Shutterstock

Hopes of colonising Mars rest on the premise that we could terraform the red planet, making it habitable for humans with a breathable atmosphere and clement temperatures. However, a recent study cast doubt on the idea, concluding that terraforming is impossible with present technology.

With colonising Mars on hold, it’s a good time to reevaluate the relationship we have with our nearest cosmic neighbour, the moon. The first successful lander on the moon was the Russian spacecraft Luna 9 in 1966. This mission revealed the barren lunar landscape in fine detail for the first time.

The first close-up images of the moon’s surface, from 1966. NASA

Since the dawn of the space age, there have been over 60 successful missions to the moon, including eight that were manned. The most famous being Apollo 11 in July 1969 which resulted in the first human presence on the moon.

The Genesis Rock was formed at least four billion years ago, during the birth of our solar system. NASA/Wikimedia Commons

These space pioneers broadened our understanding of Earth and the universe. The Apollo 15 mission of 1971, for example, recovered the so-called “Genesis Rock”, one of the oldest rock samples ever found from a crater on the moon. Analysis of other surface samples supported the “giant impact hypothesis”, a now predominant view that the moon formed from a giant impact on the Earth some 4.5 billion years ago.

Since then, however, our gaze has shifted away from the moon and onto Mars. In the 1990s, after a string of failures, Mars Pathfinder delivered the first rover onto the surface of Mars. This was the first successful landing on Mars since the Viking probes of the late 1970s. The pictures that the probe returned set the public’s imagination aflame, stoking interest in new missions to the red planet.

Rather than mourning the immediate prospect of a manned Martian mission today, we present five reasons why the moon deserves another look – and more than just a flying visit.

We’ve only scratched the surface of our moon’s potential interest to humanity. NASA

1. A staging post in space

To overcome the pull of gravity and reach another body in space you need to achieve a certain speed. A journey to Mars from Earth’s surface requires a minimum total speed of nearly 30,000mph (approximately 13.1km/s). This requires large rockets, tonnes of fuel, and complex orbital manoeuvring. Due to the moon’s weaker gravitational field, the same journey from the lunar surface would “only” require a speed of 6,500mph (2.9km/s). This is roughly one third of that necessary to reach the International Space Station from Earth.

The moon also possesses a wealth of mineral resources, including valuable metals and the ingredients for rocket fuel, which is produced by breaking down water ice (recently confirmed on the moon’s surface) into hydrogen fuel and oxidiser.

The mineral troilite, an iron-sulphur compound rare on Earth, is also present in the lunar crust. The sulphur from troilite can be extracted and combined with lunar soil to produce a building material stronger than Portland Cement, meaning a settlement could be constructed on the moon using locally sourced material.

Establishing a lunar base from which to launch deep space missions would massively increase the payload to fuel ratio, allowing us to explore the solar system at a fraction of the current cost and effort.

2. Fuelling the future

Nuclear fusion, the process that fuels stars, could provide our future energy supply. Fusion reactors of the future will use Helium-3, a lighter version of the helium used in party balloons. This isotope is rare on Earth but abundant on the moon where it could be mined, something which has already attracted interest from a number of businesses and governments willing to ship it to Earth.

The core of a nuclear fusion reactor. Shutterstock

This initial burst of commercial interest could provide the incentive and finance needed for our first forays into establishing a permanent human presence on the moon.

3. Rock of ages

The moon is an inactive world – no major geological changes have occurred in the last three billion years. On Earth, surface features are weathered by rain, tides, wind or plant growth. The lunar landscape proudly displays a record of its violent past in the form of impact features, offering a preserved history of the solar system which is ready for us to explore.

4. Observing the universe

The atmospheric density of the moon is thin, a ten trillionth of that on Earth. This absence provides the perfect conditions for astronomical observatories across the full breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum. A radio observatory on the far side of the moon would be completely shielded from the radio chatter of Earth.

The low-density atmosphere also makes a ground-based X-ray or gamma ray telescope possible, unlike on Earth where short wavelength light from space is blocked. Such observatories could be maintained and upgraded by a human presence on the moon far more easily than an orbiting telescope.

The lunar observatory could search deeper into space than an Earth-bound equivalent. Les Bossinas/NASA

5. Humans in space

One of the major hurdles for a Mars mission is understanding how human health is affected by a long-term voyage into space. If anything unexpected occurs, resupply or rescue is over two years away. By testing human tolerances on the moon first and developing technology and experience, further exploration of Mars or beyond will be far more practical. If an emergency occurs on a lunar base, Earth is only three days away.

Another major concern about going to Mars is the inadvertent contamination of the pristine martian environment by earthly organisms. The Moon is almost certainly sterile, so such concerns are moot.

While the first scientific research conducted on the moon was performed in the late 1960s, in the subsequent half-century we have come no closer to a sustained human presence there. This is despite an ever-increasing technological capability which far surpasses what was available to the Apollo missions. Before we can take another giant leap into space, it might be worth taking some small steps closer to home.

About The Author:

Ian Whittaker is a Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. Gareth Dorrian is a Post Doctoral Research Associate in Space Science at Nottingham Trent University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

[orbemnews]

NASA Awards SpaceX $2.9 Billion to Build Moon Lander Elon Musk’s private space company is developing a giant rocket called Starship to one day take people to Mars. But first, it will drop off NASA astronauts at the moon. NASA announced on Friday that it had awarded a contract to SpaceX for $2.9 billion to use Starship to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon. The contract extends NASA’s trend of relying on private companies to ferry people, cargo and robotic explorers to space. But it also represents something of a triumph for Mr. Musk in the battle of space billionaires. One of the competitors for the NASA lunar contract was Blue Origin, created by Jeffrey P. Bezos of Amazon. SpaceX now outshines Blue Origin and other rocket builders, emphasizing how it has become the highest-profile partner of NASA in its human spaceflight program. When NASA achieves the goal of landing the next astronauts on the moon ��� now promised by the Biden administration to be first woman and the first person of color on the moon — they are likely to be riding in a SpaceX vehicle. News of the award was reported earlier in The Washington Post. NASA last year awarded contracts to three companies for initial design work on landers that could carry humans to the lunar surface. In addition to SpaceX, NASA selected proposals from Dynetics, a defense contractor in Huntsville, Ala., and Mr. Bezos’ Blue Origin, which had joined in what it called the National Team with several traditional aerospace companies: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper. The award is only for the first crewed landing, and SpaceX must first perform an uncrewed landing. NASA officials said Blue Origin, Dynetics and other companies would be able to bid for future moon landing missions. President Biden is sustaining plans started under President Donald J. Trump to send astronauts back to the moon. But while Mr. Trump pledged a return by 2024, the schedule was not considered realistic after Congress did not provide requested financing, and NASA is now re-evaluating the schedule. The NASA moon program, known as Artemis, is expected to launch its first uncrewed trip either later this year or early next year, using a powerful rocket called the Space Launch System to propel the Orion capsule, where future astronauts will be sitting, on a trip to the moon and back. The booster stage of the rocket passed an important ground test last month. For the spacecraft that would land astronauts on the moon, NASA had been expected to choose two of the three companies to move forward and build their landers, mirroring the approach the space agency has used for hiring companies to take cargo and now astronauts to the International Space Station. Two options provide competition that helps keep costs down, and provides a backup in case one of the systems encounters a setback. In choosing just SpaceX, NASA officials seem to be saying they believe that Mr. Musk’s company can deliver on an ambitious spacecraft design, one that is far larger and more capable than what NASA actually needs. Indeed, once Starship starts operations, it would raise questions why NASA needs the Space Launch System rocket at all. Each launch of the Space Launch System is expected to cost more than $1 billion. Because Starship is designed to be fully reusable, its costs will be far cheaper. The Artemis plans currently call for the astronauts to launch into orbit on top of a Space Launch System rocket. The upper stage of the rocket is to then propel the Orion capsule, where the astronauts will be sitting, toward the moon. Unlike NASA’s Apollo moon missions in the 1960s and 1970s, the lander spacecraft is to be sent separately to lunar orbit. Orion is to dock with the lander, which will then head to the surface. But Starship will dwarf Orion in size, making the architecture similar to sailing a yacht across the Atlantic Ocean and then switching to a cruise ship for the short ride into port. Starship, in principle, can take astronauts all the way from Earth to the moon without any of the elaborate choreography of docking. A Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa, has bought an around-the-moon flight on Starship. That trip, which could occur as soon as 2023, would only pass by the moon and not land. SpaceX has been launching a series of high-altitude tests of Starship prototypes at its site at the southern tip of Texas, not far outside Brownsville, to perfect how the spacecraft would return to Earth. SpaceX has made great progress with the maneuver of belly-flopping to slow its fall, but the tests so far have all ended explosively. Mr. Musk recently pledged that the spacecraft would be ready to fly people to space by 2023, although he has a track record of overpromising and underdelivering on rocket development schedules. Nevertheless, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has become the workhorse of American and international spaceflight with its reusable booster stage. The company has twice carried astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA, and it is scheduled to loft a third crew there on Thursday. Numerous private satellite operators have relied on the company to carry their payloads to orbit. And another company, Astrobotic, announced this week that it had picked a larger SpaceX rocket, Falcon Heavy, to carry a NASA rover called VIPER to the moon’s south pole to prospect for ice in the coming years. Source link Orbem News #Awards #Billion #build #lander #Moon #NASA #SpaceX

[hopeforbrittana]

Godzilla vs Kong 2021 Film Online

Did the monkey just talk we need Kong the world needs him godzilla will come for him  that would be a death sentenceI know chia is only a child she's the only  one he'll communicate with and we need Konghere we go this won't end  until one of them submits  are you sure the monkey's gonna survive  this it's us I'd worry aboutoh my god this is so massiveand this child she's the only  one he'll communicate withwe need kong the world needs  him to stop what's comingit's godzilla

These are dangerous times godzilla's  out there and he's hurting people  and we don't know why there is something  provoking him that we're not seeing here  the myths are real there was a war  and they're the last ones standingWelcome back everyone this is going to be my new  godzilla versus kong trailer video they dropped a  bunch of new footage so we'll break it all down  

If you're brand new to the channel be sure to  subscribe to get all the videos i will be doing  more videos for the movie when it comes out at  the end of the month too just a couple more  weeks to go but the new footage starts with  that full scene of godzilla showing up to fight  kong on the carriers earlier in the movie the  air force pilots try to slow him down with their  standard missiles but he just soaks the damage  and then swats them away like they're a couple  of flies even though we all expected this it's  hilarious how quickly he just blows through all  their ordinance all the battleships open fire on  him i think these are the 50 caliber guns i'm not  totally sure about that but they just want you to  see that they're unloading everything they have  on him as he swims up while they're carrying kong  predictably he uses his tail to smash through  two of the ships like it's no big deal one of the  anchors catches on his body and he takes half of  the ship for a ride underwater then you have kong  grabbing the other side of the anchor chain  and reeling it in like it's some kind of crazy  fishing line like he's fishing for godzilla's  

Got a real big one this time gotta bring it in  then godzilla comes swimming up to kong's ship  then presumably this is right before a kong  peeps over the side of the ship screams into the  water then godzilla surprises him by launching out  of the water and on to the top of the ships then  they start duking it out and kong winds up going  into the water floundering for a second until  he gets his bearings and if it wasn't clear  kong can swim at least canonically he can swim  we just haven't seen him do it in any of the  new films so far in the monster verse it's just  the whole idea with this first carrier fight is 

 They're trying to show you is that godzilla has  the big advantage because he's just at home in  water as he is on land in fact just because of  the way his body is because the way he carries  his weight around when he's on land i would  say he's actually a better fighter when he's in  water because he can still give off all the same  attacks when he's underwater he can still do his  atomic breath he can still do his atomic burst  all of his physical attacks work the exact same  but when he's in water he's not forced to carry  all that weight around with him so it's not quite  as much of a disadvantage the only real titans  that would have a big advantage on him in deep  water would be like your true water-based titans  like a giant octopus the director of the movie did  actually say there would be a clear winner in the  godzilla vs kong fight but here's the thing  with that i think he was specifically talking  about this first fight on the carriers here  

I don't think he was talking about the entire  movie because there's clearly a bunch of different  fights during the film like first when they go  to pick up kong there's a couple fights in the  movie just to set up how badass he is then you  have the carrier fight with godzilla and kong  earlier in the film then you have all this footage  of the later fights when they're in the cities  and there's a couple different fights like  you have godzilla versus kong in the cities  then you have the whole idea of godzilla versus  mechagodzilla than the inevitable team-up where  godzilla vs kong 2021 tag team mechagodzilla early  prediction before they both go their separate  ways similar to the ending of the 1960s king kong  vs godzilla movie you guys can let me know in the  comments though if you actually legit think that  at the end of the film after the final fights are  done after they take care of mechagodzilla there  will be a clear winner godzilla or kong 

The way  they're hyping it up though they make it seem like  kong goes down hard during this carrier fight like  godzilla is the clear winner but then kong rallies  later in the film and has a much better showing  during the mechagodzilla fight so by the end  of the film when he has a special axe and helps  take down mechagodzilla he comes out seeming like  more of a winner than he did earlier in the film  post all your theories about what that  means for godzilla during the film though  but then you have a bunch more footage of the  battles and some more footage of the hollow earth  which actually looks pretty fantastic you have  a little girl communicating with kong who's kind  of adopted her in his own giant way this footage  here is a little too dark so i can't tell exactly  which city godzilla's swimming up to this might be  one of the scenes where godzilla goes looking for  mechagodzilla and starts attacking these cities  or makes it seem like he's attacking cities and  they try to play it that way but really he's just  looking for where they're keeping mechagodzilla  to try and take it out and because it does seem  like they're going to continue with the godzilla  franchise just because it seems like they're  going to renew their license with touhou i am  wondering if they're ever going to do easter eggs  for godzilla offspring as well like maybe in some  of these future films you'll have people trying  to steal godzilla's offspring and then that's what  really pisses them off but i think most of the  idea in this film godzilla versus kong is that  godzilla is trying to get rid of mecha godzilla  then there's a bunch more footage of a couple of  the other different battles the carrier battle  

Then later in the movie in one of the cities  then a couple new scenes from that bigger fight  scene of godzilla vs kong 2021 inside what looks  like hong kong amongst all the neon signs with  him opening up in his atomic breath while kong is  using his new axe to absorb the energy it's hard  to tell when this hollow earth scene takes place  but i'm assuming it's earlier in the film when  they come to take kong they did see during this  movie we're going to learn more about the ancient  war of the titans like the ancient rivalry that  they keep referring to during all these trailers  that kong and godzilla had then you get that tag  scene of millie bobby brown and the others inside  the monarch facility and then that scene of them  just giving each other the classic challenge just  screaming in each other's faces like come on bro  bring it there were also some new images of  mega godzilla and some of the promo materials  as you would expect he's way more hardcore than  the classic versions of the character if this is  accurate 

It seems like it's pretty accurate to  what he looks like in the film just modernizing  him the same way that they modernized the designs  for kong godzilla and all the other titans in the  new films a lot of you were also commenting on my  earlier trailer videos too about how they tweaked  godzilla's design just a little bit because in the  earlier films at least in the newer monster verse  films like king of monsters his eyes don't light  up quite so much when he gives off his atomic  breath i'm assuming they're just doing that to  make him pop on screen just a little bit more  but a couple other details that we just learned  about the movie is that this first big godzilla  vs kong carrier fight lasts for 18 minutes but i  think that includes all the setup all the lead up  and then the aftermath as well it's not just 18  minutes of them punching and biting each other  that would be crazy like make all the jokes you  want about that epically long rowdy roddy piper  and keith david fight scene from they live it  just goes on and on forever but in all this  trailer footage when they keep talking about this  ancient history of the titans and the wars that  they had revealing more about the ancient cultures  that worshiped them as gods they're mostly talking  about godzilla and kong's ancestors like these  virgins that are fighting in this movie that we're  watching are just the latest generation of these  titans best example of that is during kong skull  island we saw the skeletons of kong's dead parents  the whole idea too the longer they live the bigger  they get so that's why kong is getting so much  bigger like he was a really young character  during the 1970s in that first kong skull island  movie godzilla would just keep getting bigger  and bigger the longer he lived so when they talk  about them being ancient rivals they're talking  about the rivalry between their two species for  the last several thousand years also if you guys  didn't see talking more about skull island stuff  future of the kong character netflix is actually  doing a skull island anime series they call  it anime but i think it's just anime inspired  it's being animated by powerhouse they're the same  company that does the netflix castlevania series  which is top tier animation it's also very anime  inspired but it's not actual anime 

No idea when  they're dropping episodes of that or which part  of the timeline it's going to take place in or  how it's going to fit into the canon i think it's  pretty safe to assume it'll take place sometime  before the events of godzilla vs kong and they'll  just use it to introduce a couple of new titans  and just a big reminder too because theaters are  starting to reopen if there are theaters near  you that are open they might actually be playing  the movie because they're releasing it on hbo max  and in theaters on the same day where theaters are  open but later this month we also have the justice  league snyder cut coming that's on march 18th and  then the day after that marvel's falcon and winter  soldier series drops on disney plus and i'll be  doing episode videos for that too so there is a  lot a lot of really big really cool stuff coming  this month 2021 looking so much better than 2020  so far if there are any other big easter eggs that  you spotted in this trailer footage that i didn't  talk about in the video just write them below in  the comments and i'll do more godzilla versus kong  trailer videos when they drop more footage while  you wait for everything click here for my brand  new Wandavision episode 9 trailer video and click  here for all my Wandavision finale predictions  thank you so much for writing everyone  stay safe and i'll see you guys tonight!

You can watch the enitre movie on:

https://myfilmyonline.pl/caly-film/godzilla-vs-kong-2021/

[stone-man-warrior]

December 19, 2020: 1:26 pm:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_I_of_Great_Britain

King George I of Great Britain

King George I Rock Star of Great Britain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Music

George liked music, so, he ordered Sunday Concerts performed from boats on the River Themes, it was 1717, July.

Joules on the Water.

Enormous Power, there were no iPhones in 1717, Water Music was a display of enormous power at the time. People came from all over the region to see the musician and hear the music played on an armada of floating orchestra stages. The people floated their own boats, and made picnic on the shore line along the Themes River.

It’s been said that musicians were scarce at the time, however, it’s also recorded history that many people learned to play a musical instrument in those days. A violin was the equivalent of a Game Boy back then, all the kids wanted one.

There have been a lot of musical instrument pieces parts dredged up from the bottom of the Themes River since 1717. Some of the History of Music Books report that when the musicians were not skilled enough to play the music while floating on a boat without making mistakes, they were tossed overboard into the water along with their instruments by King George’s Guards.

I suppose that could be another reason to go to the Water Music show in a boat or at a picnic, the entertainment was full service.

The composer of the selected works is Handel.

Thunderbird’s Episode 3: “Perils of Penelope”

Fast Forward to the end of Perils of Penelope to better understand the beginning.

They are still finding musical instrument parts in and around the Themes River to this day.

Gordon gets all upset that he has to listen to “cheap sea music”.

It’s a violin serenade at a Paris Bistro.

(Penelope had said something about a glass that exploded near her lips the last time she was there at the Paris Bistro. So. time warp over to the previous episode to see how Virgil used explosive charges to blow those other lips off of the Pit of Peril, so they could drag the LBJ Cockroach out of the Oxditch. It’s all symbolic, would take a lot of effort to spell out, so, you do that on your own, I’ll just point some things out that seem important to me, and I leave out the obvious, so, I usually show abstract connections to the current terror we are experiencing now. Besides, I still have glass dust in my eyes from physical attack here at my house the other day and have poor vision at the moment, it’s difficult to see what I am doing. Try to see that the Thunderbird’s Episodes are about global advance of highest level terror, while are actually disguised with sexual innuendo, presented in a children puppet show in the middle of the 1960′s, filmed in “Supermariovision”, or, “Marionette Vision from Above”. Did you get a load of that 1965 Sony Game Boy that have in this episode in Father’s Office? I often say that the tech we have available to us commercially has a delay on it’s presentation at the stores. These Thunderbird’s episodes support that, when you start to see 1965 Game Boy right there. How far does the commercial technology delay really go? I have implanted microphone transmitter inside my jaw that has been broadcasting every word I have said since it was put there in 2011 at a dentist visit without my knowledge or consent... secret spy implant inside my body. The battery is still working and it has a range of about 500 feet as far as I can tell. But no one will believe it even though there is Blue-Tooth devises everywhere, and all of the smoke detectors that were made in 2001 have batteries that last ten years, some of them are still working, twenty years later, with the same battery they came with from the store.)

Now go back to the begging of the Perils of Penelope. See that the whole thing started because some Special Rocket Fuel was used to launch a rocket, and there is talk that the Rocket Fuel could harm the Oceans of the world, and subsequent talk about harm to people because of what could happen to the water.

That was a Violin Serenade Gordon was upset about having to listen to, in Paris. Pair ass... there was talk of lips at the time... and of a chalice that exploded... the International Rescue Team looked cautiously at distant fireworks saying “ooohhh... aahhhhhh”. Is very subtle, disguised in sexual innuendo on a kids show, is really about staying distant from fireworks when holstering nitrous oxide gas.

The episode features a tunnel. A suspended Monorail style Disney Train. There are some Ventilation vents in the tunnel. There are some power controls in the tunnel where the Disney Train (Happiest Place on Earth) is rolling through.

There is a mysterious “Crest” that changes everything about the direction that the plot of Perils of Penelope started out with. The Crest serves as diversion, away from ideas that could make people continue being concerned with Special Rocket Fuel that could harm the Oceans and Humanity.

I did not see any wild geese. I looked for them.

The story started with a big rocket, it ended with small rockets exploding at a violin serenade. There was a modern train and a tunnel in between those two events, a chase for a crest, some foggy coughing gas happened at the crest chase at a library of old knowledge where no one has been reading about the knowledge contained there for a long, long time. There was a Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride with Parker through a lot of curvy roads.

I think there is still a good guy that wants to stop the train laying out in some wilderness near a gate by the roadside... I don’t recall seeing International Rescue go try to find the guy that was tossed from the train... maybe I missed that part.

I’ll draw a conclusion here, a brief one: The Makers of the Thunderbird’s episodes in 1965 were reaching many, potentially millions of terror soldiers with a puppet show. In the stories are messages that are directed to top leading government officials, there are messages directed to Church leaders in communities. There are messages that are directed to children who attend church, possibly their parents also. There are messages that are designed to make set-up to trap victims who are not church members with false-front built into the episodes.

The Church leaders train the church members based on what the high government plans are, such as to get Lyndon B. Johnson elected a second time. The episodes tell of development of a plan to attack regional areas, the church members are the terror army. They have commanders at Church, who have commanders at government, who have commanders at the place where the puppet show came from.

In 1965 the plans were still a sketch on a drawing board for the regional attacking, and the advance of key operatives in the government positions were fully underway, while the church’s had been manned and ready to take orders far ahead of these Thunderbird’s episodes were presented, all staffed, training facilities in place, covertly, able to expand as necessary through normal and customary Crusade work as has been done for hundreds of years.

This episode seems to further support and advise of a plan to use nitrous gas, while advising of danger around flame and spark, and has emphasis on diversion tactics to draw attention away from the subject with use of planted clues left laying around for investigators to trip over near the curves, all of which lead them astray.

Why did Father pull young Gordon out of the Submarine to do spy work in Paris?

3:20 pm?

===============

Consider the following:

The puppets and the machinery, sets, details... all of the visual characteristics of the Thunderbird’s presentations are absolutely amazing to look at. Once you get past the creepy sort of vibe they have, it all is very entertaining and is also like brain food... makes me think. There is nothing stupid about these episodes.

So, with that, see that the engineering is such that it makes you think, sparks creativity, is something that is like the Big Fog Horn in the Sky that could direct young people into hobby and career choices later on.

See that all of the pilots are Tracy’s.

Trey C

“Trinity of the Holy See”

See that Tin-Tin is different, Brains is different, and even Parker is somehow different than the Tracy’s are.

The Tracy’s cannot do Jack.... without Brains.

Brains, is depicted as a geek, he stutters, is not cool. He is super smart, but kids watching the show probably don’t want to be like Brains, they want to be more like Virgil. But Virgil cannot do Jack... without Brains to tell him what POD to put onto the Mother Ship, Thunderbird 2, after the scout, Thunderbird 1 goes to make assessments in all of the episodes.

I suggest that Brains is a kidnapped engineer, and Tin-Tin is also a prisoner, special service slave, and all of that is built in to the episodes for the messaging to the various leaders in real life, who are shown what the future plans are. to have other people spend half of their lives in schools learning about engineering, kidnap them, and use them to advance the terror from captivity of The Tracy’s (Trinity See’s).

Parker is there in the episodes to show that terror operatives have a place when they grow older, are not able to do the physical attack duties, are given light duty work, is nice, cushy, easy to do spy work. I already know that to be true, now I see that Parker was put there to show Terror Operative Social Security Retirement System is present in the master plan. I can see that in practice clearly any day of the week while grocery shopping. Parker’s are all over the place doing light duty scouting work at the stores, and driving around looking for outsiders on the roads and at the stores.

The Tracy’s cannot do Jack... without Brains. Look at Boeing Seattle to find real life examples of engineers held in captivity as slaves who design aircraft and military equipment. The Brains of the terror is a slave engineer, all kinds of engineers.

I am such a slave engineer, sort of, I escaped. I did graphic design work, all kinds of drawings, some of my work is on the Boeing airplanes that the aerospace engineers were forced to work on. Now I am captive with different kind of captivity. So much pressure when I go outside, or to get some food, that is the captivity, someone shoots or swings a sword when I go outside. There are no other reasons why I cannot go outdoors, only because of the terror soldiers surrounding my home. no one will help, it’s all fucked up... been more than ten years since I had meaningful conversation with another human being.

In reality here in Oregon, they need the scouts to keep from being detected, and to search for potential victims. The scouts make contact to others who are equipped for learning about who the outsiders are.

3:41 pm

======

I am starting to see that Mike Pomeo is a lot like Thunderbird’s HQ at Volcano Island, in mysterious ways.

I am thinking that the Thunderbird’s episodes serve as fuel for communication far after their initial presentation.

One small way to possibly make a connection in association to the LBJ Cockroach (is part elephant after careful consideration, LBJ Elephroach or Cockaphant) is that good guy who wants to stop the train, is still there by the gate on the curvy road side. That gate, could possibly be the source of the origin of the use of Watergate Hotel, when Richard Nixon was getting in the way and communication began about what the Tracy’s plan to get back on track might be.

Just refer back to Perils of Penelope from about ten years before Watergate happened. The gate is where the good guy tripped over a rock, at a gate, near some curves.

The plan: Use some curvy women, at a hotel, to foul up Richard.

18 minutes of silence is why he resigned.

There are no real other reasons, just some silence. The silence is also most likely fake silence.

It’s small, but could be a volcano of information to consider the gate, the rock, the guy on the ground near the curves is about taking Nixon out of office ten years later, and in retrospect to how he fouled the Tracy’s up when he was elected instead of their Oxroach, or whatever, LBJ, as they looked at the old episodes that all of the Tracy Trinity Warriors are very familiar with. I further suggest looking at that with a French Decoder Attachment to the Decoder Ring, w/prophylactics because if I am correct, it has French Fingerprint on it... the French way, is the smallest way... they don‘t use a missal to shoot down an airplane, they use a bee in the cockpit of the airplane, and that little piece of pork that comes in the Van De Camps Pork & Beans, that goes on the pilots uniform.... the bee is just turned loose in there. Works the same as the missal, makes less noise. So, some tiny little detail is what did the trick to take down Tricky Dick, who is more like Dick Tracy, private eye.

4:25 pm.

==================

Who were the players at the Hotel?

I remember Earlman (Earl of Canterbury, or some shit like that)

Haldeman (A Halter Top... why do you think they call those “Halter Tops”? Because they be used to stop a freight train)

Spirro Agnew was nearby... that can‘t be good. It huts just to say his name.

Little known Factoid: There is a big hotel called “The Watergate” in California, somewhere between Santa Monica and Huntington Beach. I forget where, but it’s very big.

The gate scene in Penelope’s Pit Stop of Peril:

A rock

a gate

curves

a car

the gate is closed, there is a road there.

Parker passed by

there was an injured man

Those will possibly be the ingredients to what happened at the Tricky Dick framing. Arrange them in various orders, see where it goes compared to what the actual record shows.

Seriously. The French Way. Small details, big results.

Let’s say there is a guy who has some military gear he can sell to you out the side door, he says:

“Look at this baby, big motherfucker, has six wheels, bends in the middle and goes Whhooosh!” ~quote from Hollywood movie

Penelope Pit Stop. (Google it)

===============

This is a mind blower here, but:

Let’s say that these guys at Tracy HQ are the hard core global terrorists that they appear to be when viewed with Cracker Jack Secret Decoder Ring, and, they really did think of everything many years in advance, the way it looks like they did, British Chess Player style.

The episode has a “Backfire” vibe to it.

So, the plan is to LBJ elected for a second time, for a two and a half terms in office duration, post JFK assassination, and is the reason Jacqueline shot John that day, so LBJ could take the Oval Office driver seat.

So, the back up plan in event of backfire is in the episode ahead of time contained in the gate scene where the French Conductor looks like a good guy, says he wants to stop the train. Ingredients all in place for a Watergate to happen no matter who was elected that year, if LBJ was not successful. That means the ingredients for the backup/backfire plan would have a lot generic characteristics, and limited personally tailored ones, and are in that episode somewhere, everywhere in there, I think. But of course the Russian Mother Hoax is all adjustable, so, once the election happened, LBJ not elected, then the Custom Tailoring could be done, depending on the particular candidate elected other than LBJ Cockephant in Cambodia, or where ever.

===

Small detail is that there is Corning-wear on the train. It’s out of place in a Thunderbird’s episode, but at the time, in 1965, everyone has Corning-Wear that looks exactly like the coffee maker and that other thing. It’s a Peculator, (for the younger field agents) not a drip kind.

Peculator ideas were presented on Twitter recently from major news networks. Twitter Verified Accounts read this Tumblr account closer than I do, they need to make sure they all come up with appropriate bullshit story in response to what I am exposing here.

Ronald Reagan Trickle Down Economics and it’s failure recent news are about the Corning-Wear on that Thunderbird’s train.

Perc. There is a test that is done for consideration of ground conditions when water or waste water needs to be measured for rate of Peculation back into the aquifer. That may be a clue as to why did Father bring Gordon out of the Submarine to do spy work in Paris?.

Corning-Wear on a 1965 Thunderbird’s Puppet Train is the same as Ronald Reagan Trickle Down Economics on network news Twitter Tweets, some 55 years after the fact. (see Enormous Power Shift Chart Reading from yesterday here at this account for coincidental 55 year cross-referencing considerations)

=========

Twitter is Volcano Island Tracy High Command HQ.

Same Function, just is backwards. like Lady Penelope’s car, is backwards, that is what she is for, is like 1965 Taylor Swift, fast ass for terror advance. Is not International Rescue HQ, is Global Domination Under the Cross HQ... just like I have been trying to say for many years.

Twitter resources are a lot like Tracy Volcano Island ones. They have master listening capability through Google, is like Thunderbird 5 satellite. They can use scouts from State Police or Community Churches, like Thunderbird 1. They have mother ship at the major movie studios that can deploy anything, anywhere, like Thunderbird 2 does. They have all kinds of below the surface characters to call on, Gordon‘s Fisherman are everywhere, Thunderbird 4.

I don’t know what Thunderbird 3 is for, have to watch more episodes to find out... but that one is number 3... can‘t be good. I don‘t think we can afford to wait to see what that one is for. Pompeo might be driving that one, from US State Department at Iranian Terror Party Pirate Rental Service HQ.

=====================

6:57 pm: Bonus:

If you grew up in 1960′s, 1970′s, then you were subject to the idea that if you are a small child, and are more than say 5 years old, but are not quite 6 years old, then, you must be 5 and one-half years old.

Same is true if you are 3, and not quite 4, then, you are 3 and one-half years old, even if your birthday is next month, still, 3 and one-half is how old you say you are.

So, now we go back to the Thunderbird’s episode 2, Pit of Peril, where the LBJ Cockroach machine fell into the fiery Oxditch.

They were said to have fallen 300 feet down the hole.

360 = one term in office

180 = one half term in office

360 + 360 = 720 = Two full four year terms.

720 + 180 = 900 the desired depth or length of official term time in office. Two and one half terms.

900 ÷ 3 = 300 = The depth of the place where LBJ fell, was spotted driving a cockroach in the Asian Jungles. Damage control deployed, with goal of Land Slide victory in 1968 election for Lyndon Johnson, but he did not run for office of president that year as far as I can see.

Richard Nixon won the 1968 election. He shut down the whole Vietnam War that had been going on since 11-1-1955, however, there is not much mention of that in online information, which says the war kept going until after he left office, stopped in 1975 according to Wikipedia, a 20 year war, without any apparent goals.

I see some LBJ finger prints on the math from the depth of the Pit of Peril in that Thunderbird’s episode. Some of the information available online does not support the same things I remember from the time period. It was a long time ago, I have a good memory, but it’s not very long.

There is something about the emphasis on the depth of that pit at 300 feet. If it’s not indicator of desired result of meddling in US elections by the British, then, I don‘t know what it is right now.

===

I remember that Nelson Mandela was in a prison somewhere, refused food for a long time. I remember that he died in the prison in the 1970′s, but that is not what the available online information says what happened to Nelson Mandela and the album called “Meet the Beatles” has changed in some places to “With the Beatles” and there are copies available to see with each title.

Printing is cheap. Digital information is cheaper.

Medical record keeping was Mandated to all go digital about 20 years ago, but that is a different story for a different day. Sometimes the only thing that stays the same is that things will change.

French North American Republic Territory is coming down the road like a Cockroach in Cambodia, no one is concerned about it. That is some big change, maybe no one will notice.

So far, nitrous oxide mixed with medazolam has been the preferred weapon, but I have a feeling Corona Virus could possibly end with a Violence Sarin-Aid Cocktail at the French Bistro, right here in US of A served with a Union instead of a olive in a Holy Grail on top of a Big Tip.

========================================

9:32 pm:

Local update on a walk to the mailbox revealed 376 Chartrand has installed a new mail box at the local mailboxes. There is a replacement big white mailbox there in place of a smaller one. 376 is only supposed to have one mailbox, but there have two there for a long time along with all of the other boxes.

One envelope in my mailbox had been opened and resealed, just some advertising mail in an official looking envelope. Judging by the envelope, it could be that someone is using my mail to reach Oregon State Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer Tanya Henderson, or, could be Tanya Henderson reaching out to Oregon State Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer Jeffrey Prouix, but I am pretty sure Officer Prouix was already killed in defense years ago. The envelope has a Tanya Henderson vibe to it, she is that Hot Chick works as cop at State, has a tattoo on her ankle, says “Jesse” in invisible white ink.

There was the sound of a emergency siren vehicle that lasted for about three minutes, is very unusual to here sirens around here, the emergencies are not handled with conventional means, the sirens are just for show, so, there must be some fools nearby who needed to hear the sound of a siren, for posterity sake.

There was the scent of perfume on my driveway, smelled like a French Brothel.

The odor of a skunk was near the creek along the path I walk, is unusual, there are no forest animals, some skunks must have been imported to please the senses of the fools who were entertained by the siren.

Distant boom sounds came from the south west, near Merlin is my best guest, about 10 booming noises that sounded as if they were loud if nearby, but from here were just a faint whisper of a boom in the distance.

The sound of one hot rod sort of car was heard near the church.

There are no signs of helpful people. no help has come.

There was a very loud explosion or shotgun blast sort of noise nearby my house this afternoon, I did not go look, was bait, a set-up.

Also remarkable is that I heard something that sounded like a distant television... as if someone was watching a movie, and could here that from coming through the woods from Russell Road. That could be the fools. I have not heard the sound of a television being watched in about fifteen years even in the summer time, they are only for show, left on so that they are visible in the windows, but are forbidden to watch around  here, so, be advised, watching a TV if the terror army finds out, will get you marked as an outsider, tracked down, captured, tortured. farmed of assets, and your family will be hunted as a result, so, the fools should turn the TV off, or at least turn the volume down before they get killed.

=====================

11:07 pm:

Back up the page here I mentioned some things about 1717, classical music, iPhone’s and violins, so, I need to do a fair warning that the Twitter Warriors are all over these entries and are going to cause Russian Mother Hoax Fractal problems as a result of what I mentioned about that. This is not my first rodeo, learned this before when I explained other things about Water Music.

“How do you know that all of the kids wanted a musical instrument if were not there?” is the approach the bastards will take, as they head over to other musical history, a place where nsa simply is not interested in, and that area of the Russian Fractal is going to produce “Chamber Music”, which is why I know all of the kids wanted a violin or other instrument when there were no iPhones yet, though, I am convinced that technically, the iPhone was on the drawing board in 1717 in Great Britain.

There will be all kinds of chambers, if things work out as they have before, and tonight I can see that the terror bastards are already gearing up for a big music day tomorrow.

Chamber Music was a informal gathering of a four piece ensemble played in a living space of some neighbors in the shire, back then, because people used to be interested in making some music, in absence of PlayStation. Beware of the double barrel chamber, or especially the Judges Chamber, that one is actually called a “Judge” is a revolver that fired miniature shot gun shells, by a county judge, magistrate, court jester, etc.

There are many chambers, such as the Chamber of Commerce, otherwise known as Club Northwest, just around the corner from the official office of the Chamber. I suspect Chamber Fractal Generations will be iterating in full range Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound by tomorrow afternoon, so, those fools on Russell would be well advised to seek High Ground before they become back-upsingers themselves.

I can see the orders for the Dolby 5.1 Surround Chamber Music Event are ordered to happen tomorrow, and tonight, in this Vintage King Audio Promotional Terror Commands from Vatican Choir HQ that came today just at about the time I started posting information about Handel, Rock Star George I of Great Britain, and the musicians that got tossed over board when the boat started rocking.

That is the entire ad. The bottom part is signed in triplicate. Those three parts that have the colorful block of text explaining about Lucas (ahem) and Dolby is expressed right there openly. I don’t think I have seen such orders signed in Triplicate before like that. It looks like real bad news to me.

That Triplicate, is based on a story on Twitter yesterday, when it was REPORTED that a sheriff at a bar event tripped. fell, was shot by his own people when he stood BACH-UP to leave.

I suspect a cannon is in order, three part Harmony Central (Hillary Clinton is one of the endorsers) could happen, Row, Row, Roe Motors Your Boat... for the abortion card to play into the Fractal Chamber Music event, in Dolby 5.1 Surround (could have a Colorado Raytheon Component, if so, 50.000 watts of Dolby 5.1, private theater, with proper licensing, all approved and official) and the signature is Orange.

What could go wrong?

There are three stamps of Best of 2020 approval on there.

Looks like they have a Mac 10, and Melania is also on in the band.

Please send help to Oregon.

Please send US Military.

Please send some medical services.

Bring your own hospital.

12:04 am, 12-20-2020. Sunday Morning.

There are two airplanes showing in the orders from VKA, sort of fogged out, but are there, hidden in stuff you can’t see or explain on Tumblr.

[macabretranquility]

The topic of the USSR’s Lost Cosmonauts is a puzzling one at the least, to research it is even more of a task. It’s due to this that the theory is widely considered a conspiracy and in all honesty, its up to the readers whether they want to believe it or not. But nonetheless, it does make for an interesting read and is definitely one of the most strangest topics I have ever researched. On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union announced that Yuri Gagarin was the first person to successfully travel into outer space and back. Something the Soviets had long been trying to achieve, in which gained them the lead in the “space race” between them and USA. But due to the USSR’s history of secrecy and covering up it’s mistakes, and multiple stories told by supposed insiders, not everyone was convinced. It was around this time that two Italian brothers named Achille and Giovanni Judica-Cordiglia, who had previously set up their own listening post named Torre Bert, came forward with some serious claims.

The brothers had an interest in listening in on spacecrafts that had been launched by the USA and USSR. The two reportedly created their own tracking dish to better listen in on fast traveling spacecrafts, and it was this piece of equipment in which they claimed picked up some chilling recordings. The brothers claimed around May,1960, they had listened in on an unidentified USSR craft sending out and SOS message in Morse code, the signal eventually faded out , as if the craft was drifting further and further out of orbit. Two days later, the USSR announced that they had sent an unmanned craft into orbit which had disintegrated. A coincidence too strange to ignore. As time went by the brothers released more and more recordings of supposed Soviet crafts, one of which they heard choking and heavy breathing, as if there was a person aboard who was suffocating. Another recording consisted of a woman repeatedly saying “it’s hot” and “I see flames” also asking whether the ship is going to destroy itself before the signal eventually cut out. These events were again all followed by the USSR announcing yet more failed attempts at sending “unmanned crafts” into orbit. 

Another part of this theory that no one has successfully been able to confirm is that of Vladimir Ilyushin, the supposed first cosmonaut in outer space. The alleged decent into orbit was not publicized by the Soviets, but just days before Yuri Gagarin’s successful trip, Ilyushin was supposedly sent into orbit. It is said that something went wrong with the capsule he was in, forcing it to descend back to earth earlier than what was planned, resulting in it crash landing in China. It is here where Ilyushin was held as a “guest” for over a year. Multiple questions arose about the subject as to why he would be kept there, were the Chinese keeping him as a prisoner due to their rocky relationship with the USSR at the time? Or was he forced to stay there by the USSR long enough so that the success of Yuri Gagarin’s trip would significantly overshadow the fact that they had sent a man into orbit without publicizing it? Ilyushin passed away in 2010, and he did not deny nor confirm any theory surrounding the case of the lost cosmonauts.  These claims are only the tip of the iceberg in the theory of the USSR’s Lost Cosmonauts. Over the years it has been a back and forth argument by people making claims and then having them shut down. Only the people involved with any of these events would really know the truth about any of it. I encourage people to research this topic though, and try to figure out for yourself whether it is believable or not because I definitely believe that there is some truth in this theory.

Top image: Yuri Gagarin. Bottom image: The Judica-Cordiglia brothers.

[preciousmetals0]

Invest in the Space Race With 3D Printing for Triple-Digit Gains

Invest in the Space Race With 3D Printing for Triple-Digit Gains:

Story Highlights:

3D printing is boldly going where no printer has gone before: space.

NASA is tapping this revolutionary technology, helping boost the market’s projected rise of more than 300% — to $44.4 billion — by 2025.

Here’s the best 3D-printing play to make now — a great investment that leverages our America 2.0 mega trend.

I grew up watching Star Trek. It was like getting a glimpse of a future I couldn’t even imagine.

The cutting-edge technologies seemed truly out of this world.

Like 3D printing.

Star Trek introduced the idea with an imaginary machine called a “replicator,” which creates food, drugs and spare parts, virtually out of thin air in space.

Now, the world of Star Trek is here in 2020.

NASA is using 3D-printing technology to boldly go where no printer has gone before: space — the final frontier.

As you know, 3D printing is one of our Bold Profits mega trends. It’s at the heart of America 2.0.

It’s taking shape as we speak — on Earth and now in the stars.

And this exciting new world presents amazing opportunities for investors who recognize the sky’s the limit for profiting from the right America 2.0 stocks.

3D Printing Pushing Us Forward in the New Race to Space

Four new public-private NASA partnerships are taking 3D printing to a higher level. Here are just a few examples:

NASA engineers are creating 3D-printed rocket parts and engine components, as part of the agency’s goal of returning to the Moon in 2024.

The first 3D printer has been sent to the International Space Station to create parts and equipment in zero gravity. Astronauts recently used it to create a 3D-printed wrench.

NASA now plans to use 3D printers to create supplies to be shipped to the station — such as replacement components, equipment for scientific experiments and even food.

NASA has launched a project to build 3D-printed habitats for future space missions, including planned journeys to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

This technology is vital when it comes to missions in space. Astronauts could have everything they need right there at their fingertips.

No need to wait for NASA to launch more supplies — just create them with a 3D printer and they can make all the supplies they’d need.

NASA project manager Niki Werkheiser put it this way:

Right now if something breaks, we’re completely dependent on launching a replacement from the ground. Imagine launching everything you might ever need for missions to Mars or an asteroid, it would be challenging or impossible.

And NASA isn’t alone: The European Space Agency is working with two 3D-printing companies to build a new base on the Moon, using raw materials found on the spot.

These projects are only the latest, exciting new examples of how 3D printing is being used today — in ways even Star Trek creators could not have imagined in the 1960s.

No. 1 Investment to Profit From the 3D-Printing Mega Trend

The use of 3D printing has been gaining steam in recent years.

That’s because the costs for 3D printing have plummeted since 2017, as new applications and tech investments are soaring.

In 2013, for instance, 3D printing was a mere $4.4 billion industry. But by 2018, it had grown to $10.87 billion.

And the latest market research projections show it will rocket up more than 300% over the next five years, becoming a $44.4 billion industry by 2025.

That’s a rise of more than 900% since 2013!

So, what’s the best way to buy into the incredible, phenomenal, unbelievable potential of 3D printing?

One way is to add The 3D Printing ETF (BATS: PRNT) to your portfolio. The exchange-traded fund (ETF) gives you exposure to 56 companies involved in this mega trend.

It’s been a steady performer — rising an astonishing near 30% during the last month alone. With the market’s booming growth, you could be looking at triple-digit gains in the next five years.

But that’s just the beginning of its potential in the futuristic new world of America 2.0.

We’re going to see 3D printing soar — literally and figuratively — to the stars!

So, I have a question for you. With 3D printing becoming more than just an idea from a futuristic TV show — how would you use a 3D printer in your everyday life? What would you print?

The possibilities are endless. And I don’t know about you, but I am excited for the future of America 2.0.

To your health and wealth,

Nick Tate

Senior Editorial Manager, Banyan Hill Publishing

[goldira01]

Story Highlights:

3D printing is boldly going where no printer has gone before: space.

NASA is tapping this revolutionary technology, helping boost the market’s projected rise of more than 300% — to $44.4 billion — by 2025.

Here’s the best 3D-printing play to make now — a great investment that leverages our America 2.0 mega trend.

I grew up watching Star Trek. It was like getting a glimpse of a future I couldn’t even imagine.

The cutting-edge technologies seemed truly out of this world.

Like 3D printing.

Star Trek introduced the idea with an imaginary machine called a “replicator,” which creates food, drugs and spare parts, virtually out of thin air in space.

Now, the world of Star Trek is here in 2020.

NASA is using 3D-printing technology to boldly go where no printer has gone before: space — the final frontier.

As you know, 3D printing is one of our Bold Profits mega trends. It’s at the heart of America 2.0.

It’s taking shape as we speak — on Earth and now in the stars.

And this exciting new world presents amazing opportunities for investors who recognize the sky’s the limit for profiting from the right America 2.0 stocks.

3D Printing Pushing Us Forward in the New Race to Space

Four new public-private NASA partnerships are taking 3D printing to a higher level. Here are just a few examples:

NASA engineers are creating 3D-printed rocket parts and engine components, as part of the agency’s goal of returning to the Moon in 2024.

The first 3D printer has been sent to the International Space Station to create parts and equipment in zero gravity. Astronauts recently used it to create a 3D-printed wrench.

NASA now plans to use 3D printers to create supplies to be shipped to the station — such as replacement components, equipment for scientific experiments and even food.

NASA has launched a project to build 3D-printed habitats for future space missions, including planned journeys to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

This technology is vital when it comes to missions in space. Astronauts could have everything they need right there at their fingertips.

No need to wait for NASA to launch more supplies — just create them with a 3D printer and they can make all the supplies they’d need.

NASA project manager Niki Werkheiser put it this way:

Right now if something breaks, we’re completely dependent on launching a replacement from the ground. Imagine launching everything you might ever need for missions to Mars or an asteroid, it would be challenging or impossible.

And NASA isn’t alone: The European Space Agency is working with two 3D-printing companies to build a new base on the Moon, using raw materials found on the spot.

These projects are only the latest, exciting new examples of how 3D printing is being used today — in ways even Star Trek creators could not have imagined in the 1960s.

No. 1 Investment to Profit From the 3D-Printing Mega Trend

The use of 3D printing has been gaining steam in recent years.

That’s because the costs for 3D printing have plummeted since 2017, as new applications and tech investments are soaring.

In 2013, for instance, 3D printing was a mere $4.4 billion industry. But by 2018, it had grown to $10.87 billion.

And the latest market research projections show it will rocket up more than 300% over the next five years, becoming a $44.4 billion industry by 2025.

That’s a rise of more than 900% since 2013!

So, what’s the best way to buy into the incredible, phenomenal, unbelievable potential of 3D printing?

One way is to add The 3D Printing ETF (BATS: PRNT) to your portfolio. The exchange-traded fund (ETF) gives you exposure to 56 companies involved in this mega trend.

It’s been a steady performer — rising an astonishing near 30% during the last month alone. With the market’s booming growth, you could be looking at triple-digit gains in the next five years.

But that’s just the beginning of its potential in the futuristic new world of America 2.0.

We’re going to see 3D printing soar — literally and figuratively — to the stars!

So, I have a question for you. With 3D printing becoming more than just an idea from a futuristic TV show — how would you use a 3D printer in your everyday life? What would you print?

The possibilities are endless. And I don’t know about you, but I am excited for the future of America 2.0.

To your health and wealth,

Nick Tate

Senior Editorial Manager, Banyan Hill Publishing

[allyouhavetodo]

Let’s Watch The Twilight Zone: Episode Fifteen

I Shot an Arrow into the Air

The netflix description of this episode is: “Three astronauts crash-land on what appears to be a barren asteroid. Gradually they turn on one another, until one man makes a shocking discovery.” Which begs the question: gee, I wonder what the twist will be? I bet even with the benefit of 57 additional years of media production and analysis since this episode aired, we’ll never be able to figure it out.

So let’s begin at the beginning, with the countdown to the launch of the Arrow I, the first manned aircraft to be shot into space, a feat four and a half years in the making. The countdown, Rod Serling helpfully informs us, to when “man shot an arrow into the air.” 

Queue lots of footage cutting back and forth between the rocket launching and the control room. This is a great triumph! We did it!

Cut to, an unknown amount of time later, a man somberly writing “unreported” on the rocket tracking chart and the conclusion that the ship is lost. No one knows what happened; there was some interference, possibly solar, and then it was just gone. 

The course was preset and the commander wouldn’t have deviated from it. So what the hell do we do now? Stare moodily up into the night sky and (mis)quote, “I shot an arrow into the air, it landed I know not where,” I guess.

If anyone knows the actual Longfellow quote: “I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to Earth I knew not where,” the elusive twist just gets all the harder to parse, don’t you think?

Anyway, we never see any of these scientist jerks ever again. Let’s get to catching up with our lost flight crew.

It consists of Colonel Donlin, regular guy Pierson, space creep Corey, almost dead Hudak, and 4 or 5 more deados. (Big crew.) They don’t know why they crashed; the last thing any of them remember is an explosion and the electrical system going out. Now they’re here, on what they believe to be an uncharted asteroid (all rocks and sand and nothing good at all obviously), with five gallons of water, minimal other supplies, and at least four and half years of spacecraft construction time between them and anyone coming to their rescue (assuming anyone knows where they are). It’s bleak, boys.

Corey is immediately furious about everything. He’s mad at Donlin for writing down what's happening (don’t waste your energy on writing and protocols old man, we need to live!) and at Pierson for wasting water on the dying Hudak. It’s so bad that at one point Donlin pulls Pierson to the side to basically ask him, wtf is Corey’s deal? Like, you were with him when the explosion happened, right? Did anything like specifically bad and/or evil happen to him? and Pierson just shrugs like, idk, man, I think he’s just a dick. (So I think we can rule out space possession as the twist.)

Donlin orders that they will keep giving Hudak water if he needs it (bc basic human decency) and that they will work in shifts digging graves for the deados (which, not to contradict Donlin who is obviously in right on most things as opposed to Corey, doesn’t actually seem like the best use of energy and resources in the middle of the day on this devilishly hot “asteroid” with no shade and barely any water but, whatever, take your power back Donlin–good thing you guys brought a fold-out space shovel with you), and then go explore.

They do find it curious that the sun is basically the same size on this asteroid as it is on earth (which means wherever they are in space they must be pretty close by) and that the air is fine to breath and that there’s no radiation to speak of. Pretty lucky to land somewhere that affords you the luxury of dying slowly, amiright?

(Hudak dies, by the way, while Corey and Donlin are engaged in a scuffle over space canteens.)

So, cut to space night, Donlin is lounging by a triangle-shaped gas-powered space fire, clutching a space gun, waiting for Corey and Pierson to get back from their investigatory trek. 

Corey gets back alone and when Donlin questions him claims that he and Pierson split up to cover more ground even though Donlin ordered them to stick together. Corey went 12 or 15 miles one way and he’s not sure how far Pierson went towards the mountains, but gosh he’s exhausted, time to just plunks down, pull out my space canteen and begins drinking thirstily, letting half the water run down my neck because men are disgusting and Corey is the worst. This immediately raises Donlin’s suspicions, however, because how would Corey (who’s never been shy about taking as much water as he can for himself) have gone all that way and back and be so exhausted and hot and still have a mostly full canteen. He must have killed Pierson and taken his water!

Hahahaha, noooooo, I didn’t, Corey insists, on my way back I just FOUND him. Already dead. He must have hit his head on a rock or something? Anyway, I knew you’d never believe me, so that’s why I made up this ridiculous lie…

Donlin’s not having any of it, though. He uses his big space gun to take away Corey’s small space gun and frog marches Corey out into the desert to show him where he left Pierson’s body.

Of course, when they get there, Pierson’s body is no where to be found. He must have crawled off, he must not have been quite dead, Corey defends. Which only enrages Donlin more, Jesus Christ, Corey! Didn’t you do anything for him! Didn’t you even try! (Lol no, of course he didn’t–he either found his nearly dead body or [more likely] hit him over the head with a rock, took his water, and went on his merry way.)

Anyway, Pierson didn’t crawl off too far, and they find him a little ways away at the base of peak. Donlin tries to talk to him, help him, ask him what happened, but Pierson is incoherent with oncoming death. He merely wobbles his floppy head in the direction of the mountain peak, draws a couple of mysterious lines in the sand, and perishes. 

Donlin immediately marches off towards the peak to find out what the fuck’s up and that’s when Corey realizes that in his rush of human compassion to get to Pierson before he died Donlin has thrown down his big space gun. So Corey, obviously, picks it up and shoots him dead. Right through the space canteen. You idiot. (He also monologues about how long one man versus two men could live out here and how Donlin would just have to forgive him because it was Donlin’s mistake to try to bring rules, and protocols, and morality out here into the far reaches of space!)

But now, with everyone else dead it’s Corey’s turn to make for mystery peak, egged on/taunted by the return of Rod Serling’s voice over: make tracks Mr. Corey, go, go, keep moving, push up, don’t give sanity the chance to catch up with you, nor the horror of what you’ve done, go on, you fucking jerk. I think this is the first time Rod Serling’s v/o has actually taken a part in the story sort of, not just as narration. It’s like inner monologue mixed with derision. It’s great.

So Corey gets to the top of the peak and starts yelling for Pierson (he’s dead, you fuck), and then talking out loud to himself. Because now he knows what Pierson was trying to tell them. What couldn’t wait two seconds before killing him. From the top of the peak you can see telephone lines (the squiggles drawn in the sand) and more importantly a road with cars, and a sign that says they’re only 97 miles from Reno.

These jerks never left Earth at all! (Can you imagine!?) It was all what Rod Serling breaks in again to inform us was a terrible practical joke, playing out as small human drama, here, outside Reno, Nevada, U.S.A, North America, Earth, The Twilight Zone.

—

I’ve gotta say, even knowing from jump that these guys were almost certainly on Earth, it’s still an enjoyable episode.The 1960 conception of space gear is precious to behold and there was always the possibility that, even though they were definitely on Earth, they might have gone through a portal or something and been on past Earth (seen dinos over the ridge) or future Earth (a buried statue of liberty, Planet of the Apes style).

I don’t even necessarily think it’s the 57 years of intervening time that makes this a predictable outcome. The very last episode before this also featured an Earth/not Earth switcheroozee. But, here, the fact that they were just on regular old Earth with no real science fiction element at all, a few miles from salvation, is perhaps the cruelest outcome there could have been. Not bad, The Twilight Zone. Not bad at all.

[cover2covermom]

Happy #BlackHistoryMonth bookworms!

Today I am going to share with you a list of books I recommend to read in the month of February in honor of Black History Month.   Actually, these books are recommended throughout the entire year, BUT especially in February…

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the best books to read during Black History Month.  All the books included in this list are books that I have personally read, and I will be updating this post as I read more books that deserve a spot on this list.

I would also like to mention that I am featuring books that highlight historical events, contributions, and experiences of black people throughout U.S. history.

» March: Book One, March: Book Two, & March: Book Tree by John Lewis

Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper’s farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president.

Now, to share his remarkable story with new generations, Lewis presents March, a graphic novel trilogy, in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and New York Times best-selling artist Nate Powell (winner of the Eisner Award and LA Times Book Prize finalist for Swallow Me Whole).

March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis’ personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.

Book One spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.

Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1950s comic book “Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.” Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.

» March Forward, Girl: From Young Warrior to Little Rock Nine by Melba Pattillo Beals

From the legendary civil rights activist and author of the million-copy selling Warriors Don’t Cry comes an ardent and profound childhood memoir of growing up while facing adversity in the Jim Crow South.

Long before she was one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals was a warrior. Frustrated by the laws that kept African-Americans separate but very much unequal to whites, she had questions. Why couldn’t she drink from a “whites only” fountain? Why couldn’t she feel safe beyond home—or even within the walls of church?  Adults all told her: Hold your tongue. Be patient. Know your place. But Beals had the heart of a fighter—and the knowledge that her true place was a free one.

Combined with emotive drawings and photos, this memoir paints a vivid picture of Beals’ powerful early journey on the road to becoming a champion for equal rights, an acclaimed journalist, a best-selling author, and the recipient of this country’s highest recognition, the Congressional Gold Medal.

» Loving Vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell (Illustrated by Shadra Strickland)

From acclaimed author Patricia Hruby Powell comes the story of a landmark civil rights case, told in spare and gorgeous verse. In 1955, in Caroline County, Virginia, amidst segregation and prejudice, injustice and cruelty, two teenagers fell in love. Their life together broke the law, but their determination would change it. Richard and Mildred Loving were at the heart of a Supreme Court case that legalized marriage between races, and a story of the devoted couple who faced discrimination, fought it, and won. 

» Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson, one of today’s finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse.

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

» Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

The uplifting, amazing true story—a New York Times bestseller

This edition of Margot Lee Shetterly’s acclaimed book is perfect for young readers. It is the powerful story of four African-American female mathematicians at NASA who helped achieve some of the greatest moments in our space program. Now a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.

Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

This book brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, who lived through the Civil Rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the movement for gender equality, and whose work forever changed the face of NASA and the country.

» Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison

Featuring forty trailblazing black women in American history, Little Leaders educates and inspires as it relates true stories of breaking boundaries and achieving beyond expectations. Illuminating text paired with irresistible illustrations bring to life both iconic and lesser-known female figures of Black history such as abolitionist Sojourner Truth, pilot Bessie Coleman, chemist Alice Ball, politician Shirley Chisholm, mathematician Katherine Johnson, poet Maya Angelou, and filmmaker Julie Dash. Among these biographies, readers will find heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things – bold women whose actions and beliefs contributed to making the world better for generations of girls and women to come. Whether they were putting pen to paper, soaring through the air or speaking up for the rights of others, the women profiled in these pages were all taking a stand against a world that didn’t always accept them. The leaders in this book may be little, but they all did something big and amazing, inspiring generations to come.

» Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

A novel of breathtaking sweep and emotional power that traces three hundred years in Ghana and along the way also becomes a truly great American novel. Extraordinary for its exquisite language, its implacable sorrow, its soaring beauty, and for its monumental portrait of the forces that shape families and nations, Homegoing heralds the arrival of a major new voice in contemporary fiction.

Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.

Generation after generation, Yaa Gyasi’s magisterial first novel sets the fate of the individual against the obliterating movements of time, delivering unforgettable characters whose lives were shaped by historical forces beyond their control. Homegoing is a tremendous reading experience, not to be missed, by an astonishingly gifted young writer.

» The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.

» The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hellish for all the slaves but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned and, though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.

In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven—but the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. Even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.

» The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Color Purple is a classic. With over a million copies sold in the UK alone, it is hailed as one of the all-time ‘greats’ of literature, inspiring generations of readers.

Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is the tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation. Raped repeatedly by the man she calls ‘father’, she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker – a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually, Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.

» Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

1 hour, 43 minutes

An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestseller Jason Reynolds’s fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.

A cannon. A strap. A piece. A biscuit. A burner. A heater. A chopper. A gat. A hammer A tool for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator.

Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.

» Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz

A powerful middle-grade novel about the childhood activism of Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s wife, written by their daughter.

In Detroit, 1945, eleven-year-old Betty’s house doesn’t quite feel like home. She believes her mother loves her, but she can’t shake the feeling that her mother doesn’t want her. Church helps those worries fade, if only for a little while. The singing, the preaching, the speeches from guest activists like Paul Robeson and Thurgood Marshall stir African Americans in her community to stand up for their rights. Betty quickly finds confidence and purpose in volunteering for the Housewives League, an organization that supports black-owned businesses. Soon, the American civil rights icon we now know as Dr. Betty Shabazz is born.

Collaborating with novelist Renée Watson, Ilyasah Shabazz illuminates four poignant years in her mother’s childhood, painting a beautiful and inspiring portrait of a girl overcoming the challenges of self-acceptance and belonging that will resonate with young readers today.

» Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

When the Ku Klux Klan’s unwelcome reappearance rattles Stella’s segregated southern town, bravery battles prejudice in this Depression-era tour de force from Sharon Draper, the New York Times bestselling author of Out of My Mind.

Stella lives in the segregated South; in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be exact about it. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can’t. Some folks are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. To Stella, it sort of evens out, and heck, the Klan hasn’t bothered them for years. But one late night, later than she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her little brother see something they’re never supposed to see, something that is the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the imagination. As Stella’s community – her world – is upended, she decides to fight fire with fire. And she learns that ashes don’t necessarily signify an end.

Do you have any book recommendations to read during #BlackHistoryMonth?

Have you read any of the books on this list?  If so, what did you think?

Comment below & let me know 🙂

  Book Recs: #Books to Read for #BlackHistoryMonth #BookBlog #BookBlogger #Reading #Bookworm #AmReading Happy #BlackHistoryMonth bookworms! Today I am going to share with you a list of books I recommend to read in the month of February in honor of…