Early days in slowly going through Kathleen Ayers's The Beautiful Barringtons series and damn, Amanda, what the hell were you thinking naming your youngest child Phaedra? Did you run out of Greek myth heroines that you resolved to stick the baby with 'horny stepmom who would do a frame-up on her underage stepkid when he wouldn't fuck her.' It's like naming your daughter Klameddia or Rapestia now. It just doesn't work, especially when Hecate, Atalanta and Selene were like right there? No wonder the kid needs more adventurous hobbies growing up.
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maid marian by thomas love peacock is always going to be my favorite portrayal of marian, even if it isn’t my favorite adaptation of the larger robin hood story, if only because:
marian is said to skip prayers in the morning to go riding in the forest or hunting
she is also said to have shot a volley of arrows at a friar who displeased her / insulted her
when her father bans her from seeing robin, she basically says “you can ban me from it but i will be escaping and ranging the wood every time i can get out, peace and love ❤️”
her dad cheers her on to fucking kill the prince of england
she escapes into the forest permanently by the end, even if there’s a brief respite
“if you mean to say you love me, it is more than i ever shall you” - said to the knight that has been pursuing her doggedly and professing his love to her constantly
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there is definitely something to paul choosing *that* name. it's not a portmanteau of palamedes and camilla, though it does look and sound very similar to pal. what i think that name is meant to bring to mind is the story of saul on the road to damascus.
if you're not familiar, saul was on his way to go fuck with the christians, and jesus came down and told him to stop doing that. and then saul was stricken blind for three days, and when he could see again he was rechristened paul because he's a fresh christian man. this experience gave him the power of evangelization to save earth from hell.
so, paul (tlt, nee palamedes & camilla) was also baptized in fire and renamed to fit a new agenda and given a great power to do that. their combined experience was enough to make them a better person than before to do what had to be done to save earth (from hell!). saul was also granted new understanding, much like the combination of palamedes' and camilla's life conceptions must have combined to something greater. they were imbued with glorious purpose with an enormously bright light and that purpose gave them a new identity.
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"We suspected East was not our brightest star to follow"
I'm currently doing a rewatch of The Terror with my merry band of IRLs known as the Gay Pirates. However, for the duration of our Terror watch, we have rechristened ourselves the Gay Boat Cannibals.
Every time I watch this show—this will be my third watch overall—I realize what a horrible go of it the lieutenants specifically are having. Having just rewatched episode 2, I’m very struck by how haunted Lieutenant Hodgson looks after returning from the leads party—the only other character with that much of a thousand-yard stare that early on is Collins.
And on returning, Sir John tells him, “We suspected East was not our brightest star to follow”
If I were Lt. Hodgson, I’d be wondering, “Did Sir John really just send me out into unknown horrors just to own Captain Crozier?"
I think he did—or at least, that he assigned the Terror lieutenant to the eastern party for not-unrelated reasons.
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AU Space Shuttle Enterprise
Circa 1985 to 1987
From my Alternative History Post (link) this is how the Space Shuttle Enterprise evolved from the 4th operational orbiter in 1985 to the prototype unmanned shuttle.
More History on the Shuttle:
• April 1983: Enterprise is returned to Palmdale for her disassembled and rebuild.
• As a weight saving measure her mid-fuselage is returned to Convair for a complete rebuild to bring it inline with OV-103 and OV-104.
• to further lighten her frame, her aft-fuselage is rebuilt with similar materials as her sisters.
• Engineers at Rockwell suggests rebuilding or replacing her wings as well but NASA doesn't have room in the budget.
• May 1985: at long last, Enterprise is rolled out and joins the fleet. She weighs slightly less than Columbia. Her main issue is her wings are heavier and weaker than the other Orbiters.
• September 1985: STS-21 is Enterprise's first mission
• 1987: During the Shuttle hiatus following the Challenger Disaster, she went through a mini refit that saw her exterior markings change. (NASA in this timeline returned to the Meatball logo sooner than in the OTL)
Circa 1988 to 1993
• April 1988: STS-30 is Enterprise's first launch following the hiatus.
• December 1993: following STS-61, Enterprise is retired due to being the oldest in the fleet. Endeavour takes her place in the fleet.
• June 1994: Enterprise is flown to Dulles Airport, Washington DC, and is given to the Smithsonian for eventual display when the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is built. NASA retains the option recalled her if needed.
• 1998: NASA studies modifying the Shuttle-C software to work on the Space Shuttle and potentially using Enterprise as a reusable Shuttle-C. The reasoning behind this option this configuration would be a cheaper alternative to the X-33 program. However, while the shuttle could be retrofitted with the software, the shuttle would have less cargo capacity than the X-33 and still required use of expensive legacy launch facilities (ie VAB and LC-39). The study ends with only the software in a beta state.
• December 2003: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is opened with Enterprise being one of its major exhibits.
• November 2003: the Shuttle-C software is used to return STS-118 Columbia to Earth and with critical damage to her structure (mainly her port wing and some internal damage from a collapsed landing gear).
• May 2004: NASA recalls Enterprise to replace Columbia.
• August 2004: initial plans are to return her flight, unmodified. However, NASA develops the Shuttle-C software further and changes it's name to A.S.Tr.O.S (Autonomous Space Transport Operating System).
• New wings! Enterprise is fitted with new wings which are of a modified design and lighter and stronger than the wings of her sisters. With other upgrades and modifications, she is slightly lighter than her younger sisters.
• Some within NASA joking refer to her as Enterprise-A, as a reference to Star Trek.
• September 2006: to commemorate the 30th anniversary of her unveiling to the media, Lockheed-Rockwell rolls her out of their Palmdale facility to rechristen the Shuttle. In attendance, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Nichelle Nicholas, Walter Koenig, Christopher Doohan and Rod Roddenberry.
- when asked by the media, Leonard remarked she is still a sight to behold and is glad she will continue her mission of exploration.
Enterprise A (unmanned)
• July 2006: to test the A.S.Tr.O.S. during a return to earth and landing, a new series of Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) were conducted with NASA's 747 SCA (N905NA) at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base. 15 flights are flown to put the software in the real world, with two astronauts on board to step in when needed. Barring some higher than normal landing speeds, the software passes all of its objectives.
• It should be noted, while the rebuilt Enterprise is mainly used as an unmanned orbiter, this is a misnomer. It is more accurate to call her a hybrid shuttle. NASA has the option to convert her back into a manned shuttle if desired or needed.
- This nearly was used in 2015 during STS-154. Space Shuttle Atlantis was after conducting maintenance/upgrades on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the crew was unable to disconnect the shuttle from the telescope. CTS-48 Enterprise was already on LC-39B for a cargo mission to the International Space Station. All that was needed was to remove supplies from the payload bay and reinstall the seats in her crew space. Fortunately, this rescue wasn't needed as the Astronauts conducted an unscheduled EVA and manually disconnected the Shuttle from the HST.
• November 2008: first flight of Enterprise-A (CTS-11)
• When Columbia was given a cosmic restoration for her display, the first set of wings from Enterprise was used to replace her damaged one.
• 2019: Enterprise is retired for the final time following CTS-74.
• 2020: Enterprise is on display at Space Center Houston with the restored Star Trek Galileo Shuttlecraft prop.
Original artwork by bagera3005: link, link, link
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Absolutely phenomenal large scale cutaways I found on Art Station of a Constitution-class refit vessel, the U.S.S. Yorktown, NCC-1717.
The Yorktown was rechristened U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A, and assigned to Captain Kirk and crew at the end of Star Trek lV: The One With The Whales The Voyage Home.
I'm not sure who the artist is (I think Lewis Niven?). Lemme know if you do so that I can properly credit them.
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