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niqhtlord01 · 12 days

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Humans are weird: Never War with Humans

( Please come see me on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord Every bit helps) Extract from “Fall of the Bezenite Empire, By Zimpara Tul”

“The collapse of the Bezenite Empire was a great source of confusion for the wider galaxy. Even more so when it was orchestrated by the Terran Alliance which had so recently sued for peace with them after a nearly three decades long war.

Ironically the downfall of the Bezenite’s was brought about by mere skirmishes between theirs and humanities respective settlers. They had each settled upon the world of Kimpara III but on opposite sides of the world. The terrain and weather patterns of the planet made extensive scouting impossible so for nearly four decades the two species went on developing their respective societies until by chance they ran into each other.

The meeting was far from cordial.

Both species claim that it was the other who initiated the war, either by a misunderstanding or openly hostile action. The resulting devastation to the planet ensured that the truth would remain forever shrouded in mystery as both sides brought increasing military might to the field.

Holding dominion of five star systems and three client races, the Bezenite’s were hardly a super power but in their small corner of the universe they had established themselves as the regional power. Humans on the other hand barely established themselves within their own system and had settlers in a nearby system establishing new colonies. It was expected that the Bezenite’s would use their superior technology to steam roll the humans and claim yet another client race. What had not been accounted for was the size of the human military industrial complex and the amount of war material they could produce.

Opening engagements saw Bezenite ships easily win against human ships even when facing 3:1 odds, but the humans were able to have the ships lost replaced by fresh ones within a matter of months. In terms of ground forces the Bezenites were vastly outnumbered by the humans who held a standing army of nearly 50 million compared to the roughly 8 million Bezenite forces. They had never needed a large army to police their territory so when the full force of the human war machine was brought against them they quickly found the entire length of their shared border under constant attack.

World’s that had never seen the scars of war were attacked overnight as human transports snuck through Bezenite patrols and deposited large invasion forces before retreating. This would have been a horrendous waste of manpower were it for the fact the Bezenite navy would not bombard a planet under their domain. This allowed the human’s a sudo-shield which protected them from orbital strikes and allowed them to conduct extensive ground wars.

As the war ground on Bezenite leadership became infuriated when the primitive humans occupied several border worlds and establishing forward operating bases. The empire’s military, likewise far technologically superior to humans, was not large enough to stabilize the entire front and increasing gaps began to open.

To remedy this situation the Bezenite’s began an increasingly total war footing for the first time in their people’s existence. Numerous recruitment offices were opened throughout the empire, even on client species worlds, to increase the total ground forces. Naval shipyards were constructed or expanded in the core regions drawing in hundreds if not thousands of new laborers to create even large fleets of ships. Even desolate moons were converted into self-contained factories as large scale industrialization projects were carried out on their surfaces to establish new manufacturing hubs.

By the thirty year mark of the war the Bezenite’s military now stood at nearly half of what the humans had at the beginning of the war and showed no signs of slowing down when the humans suddenly initiated peace talks.

The act alone blindsided the Bezenite’s leadership who had been planning out a protracted campaign for another five years to annex the human homeworld. This was derailed by the human’s sudden openness to discuss peace which was well received by the Bezenite civilian population who had grown tired of the more than quarter century of fighting. It was this desire to end the conflict that forced the Bezenite leadership to discuss terms of peace and eventually end the war; and in so doing hand the destruction of their empire.

While the industrial boon for war material had brought great wealth to the empire, it now faced a financial crisis as the war came to a sudden and abrupt end.

Millions of soldiers were now being decommissioned and sent back to civilian life to look for new jobs, which were scarce as the numerous military factories began closing down due to a lack of requested material. Orbital shipyards attempted to convert themselves into civilian manufacturers to stay open, but the demand for civilian crafts was not nearly enough to keep the majority of them open resulting in further layoffs.

What’s more, the Bezenite client races who had served alongside their overlords had been given a taste of the wider galaxy and now returned to their people. They spoke of the wonders from across a dozen worlds and of the ferocity of the humans who had checked the Bezenite’s advances. The once invulnerable image of the Bezenite Empire was shattered and now with returning soldiers with advanced combat experience many client races began revolting.

The Bezenite’s had never faced such a drastic shift in their economy before. Hundreds of thousands of their citizens were now out of work and protesting in the streets and with the sudden revolts of their client races the empire’s domain was further fractured. They attempted to rouse their military once more to quell the uprisings, but with the dishonorable manner in which many of their comrades had been dismissed after serving the empire so loyally the military was sluggish to react and the uprisings amongst the client races soon turned into open war.

Within the next five years the Bezenite Empire was a shadow of its former glory as civil war ran rampant. The client races had driven many of their former overlords from their territory and, having seen how well humans could oppose their former masters, reached out to the humans for alliances and defense pacts. The Terran government was all too happy to send aide and launched several new military missions into former Bezenite space; both to ensure the independence of their new allies, and to carve up their former enemies territories for themselves.

Unlike the Bezenite’s, the majority of the Terran military industrial complex was automated so the ending of the war did not have as severe an impact. When it came to the standing military forces only a fraction were let go due to old age or injuries sustained in the fighting. They had always kept their military at a high number so their budgets calculated the funds needed to sustain such a force at all times, meaning there was no mass dismissal of forces to flood the job market.

When the war had begun the humans knew that in a straight up fight they could not win against the Bezenite’s. Their technological superiority would ensure that the humans always took far more casualties. So a new plan was devised which would force the Bezenite’s to ramp up military spending, then at the peak of the war open peace negotiations and end the war entirely dealing a body blow the Bezenite economy could not recover from so abruptly. The following chaos caused by the economic collapse would leave them vulnerable and disillusioned with the empire as a whole presenting the humans with the perfect opportunity to resume the war.

At the end of the conflict the Bezenite’s had been driven back to their original home system while the Terran’s claimed much of their former territory, even going so far as to award some planets to the former client states which were now seen as galactic partners with the humans; sealing the foundation of a future Terran Empire."

#humans are insane #humans are weird #humans are space oddities #humans are space orcs #scifi #story #writing #original writing #niqhtlord01

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whencyclopedia · 2 months

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The Bombing of Berlin

The bombing of Berlin, aka the Berlin Air Offensive or Battle of Berlin (Air), was a sustained bombing campaign on the German capital by the British Royal Air Force and United States Air Force from November 1943 until March 1944. The objective, which failed, was to bomb Germany into surrender and win WWII without the necessity of land operations.

Area Bombing

The commander-in-chief of the RAF Bomber Command, Arthur Harris (1892-1984), had received backing at the highest level for the night-time area bombing (aka carpet bombing) of German industrial targets and industrial cities. The Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Force (USAAF) had already conducted a Combined Bomber Offensive and made repeated attacks on the Ruhr industrial area of Germany (Battle of the Ruhr, March-July 1943) and on Hamburg with the utterly devastating Operation Gomorrah (July-August 1943). Typically, the RAF bombed by night and the USAAF by day in these combined operations. As Winston Churchill (l. 1874-1965), the British prime minister put it:

We shall bomb Germany by day as well as by night in ever-increasing measure, casting upon them month by month a heavier discharge of bombs, and making the German people taste and gulp each month a sharper dose of the miseries they have showered upon mankind.

(Liddell Hart, 189)

By the summer of 1943, the Allied leaders began to shift their focus to a future invasion of Continental Europe. The Allies issued the Pointblank Directive in June 1943, which stated that bombing raids in Europe should prioritise Germany's capacity to produce fighter planes, which could be used against ground troops in the D-Day Normandy landings (Operation Overlord) planned for the following summer. Air supremacy had to be achieved before Overlord could get underway. However, Harris remained sceptical of the possibility of hitting small but strategically important targets like weapons factories. This was in some way born out by the USAAF's Schweinfurt-Regensburg raids. The first Schweinfurt raid in August 1943 had not been very successful in damaging the crucial ball-bearing factories, and many aircraft had been lost in the process. (The USAAF returned to Schweinfurt and was more successful in October). Berlin did have key armaments factories, and these could be knocked out with a wider and more indiscriminate bomb-dropping strategy, Harris thought. Berlin was also an obvious transport hub and, of course, a prestige target, too. Harris believed that the heavy bombing of Berlin could ultimately lead to Germany's surrender and so the Allies might even avoid the necessity of dangerous and time-consuming land operations.

There were some flaws in the plan. Berlin was a much bigger city than those bombed previously and so would take many more raids to damage. Harris knew this, and so he called for a force of 6,000 bombers, but this was never possible; the RAF and USAAF combined only had some 3,000 bomber planes at any one time. Berlin was also well-defended with over 100 anti-aircraft batteries. The historian M. Hastings describes Berlin as "the largest and most heavily defended industrial urban area in Europe" (285). As the historian R. Neillands put it, Berlin "was always a difficult target. It lay a long way into Germany, close to the eastern frontier, and was a very big and very flat city, with few physical features…" (217).

Another problem was that in 1943, Allied fighter planes still did not have sufficient fuel range to escort bombers to targets deep in Germany. Finally, the other bombing campaigns, which included the thousand-bomber raid on Cologne in 1942, had not shattered civilian morale despite causing enormous casualties and damage. This had also been true of the German bombing of British cities and the London Blitz earlier in the war. Even if German civilian morale could be broken, in a totalitarian state built on violence, there was probably not much civilians could do to influence policy change anyway. Despite these pitfalls, the Combined Chiefs of Staff gave Harris the green light, and the bombers were sent to Berlin. Crucially, the USAAF, preferring to pursue its own targets like Germany's oil supplies, would not join the raids until near the end of the campaign. The RAF bomber crews would be on their own in their effort to bomb into submission the city they called "Big B".

#History #Berlin #BomberCommand #RAF

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rjzimmerman · 27 days

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Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

Swiss company Climeworks has opened the biggest operational direct air capture (DAC) plant in the world to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The Mammoth plant, located in Iceland, is nearly ten times bigger than Orca, its second-largest plant.

“Starting operations of our Mammoth plant is another proof point in Climeworks’ scale-up journey to megaton capacity by 2030 and gigaton by 2050,” said Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks co-founder and co-CEO, in a press release from Climeworks.

The DAC process sucks carbon from the air and stores it, most often underground, where it can no longer contribute to global heating.

With global efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions inadequate to prevent the worsening effects of climate change, United Nations scientists have estimated that carbon dioxide in the billions of tons will need to be removed to meet climate targets, reported Reuters.

Climeworks’ new DAC plant has an annual carbon capture capacity of 36,000 metric tons. The Mammoth plant, begun in 2022, will be completed by the end of this year.

The company’s first commercial DAC project was also in Iceland — the Orca plant — and has an annual capacity of 4,000 metric tons.

“Mammoth has successfully started to capture its first CO₂. Climeworks uses renewable energy to power its direct air capture process, which requires low-temperature heat like boiling water. The geothermal energy partner ON Power in Iceland provides the energy necessary for this process,” Climeworks said. “Once the CO₂ is released from the filters, storage partner Carbfix transports the CO₂ underground, where it reacts with basaltic rock through a natural process, which transforms into stone, and remains permanently stored.”

Critics of carbon capture technology argue that it uses an enormous amount of energy, is expensive and that focusing on the removal of carbon from the atmosphere could encourage companies to continue burning fossil fuels rather than lowering their emissions. Many critics also emphasize that its effectiveness has not been proven.

Speaking about carbon capture in general, Lili Fuhr, Center for International Environmental Law’s fossil economy program director, said the technology “is fraught with uncertainties and ecological risks,” as CNN reported.

The total carbon removal capacity on Earth can only remove roughly 0.01 million metric tons per year of the 70 million tons that would need to be removed by the end of the decade to meet worldwide climate goals, the International Energy Agency said.

Climeworks — which does not have ties to fossil fuel companies — said it is looking to lower the costs of DAC technology to $400 to $600 per ton by the end of the decade and $200 to $350 a ton by 2040, reported Reuters.

Development is currently in the works for megaton Climeworks hubs in the United States, the press release said.

#CO2 removal #Climeworks #Iceland

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newyorkthegoldenage · 7 months

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George Copeland Ault, Ninth Avenue, 1924. Oil on canvas.

Living in Greenwich Village in the 1920s, George Ault depicted the buildings of New York City with a distinct style of simplified forms, solid colors and extreme angles. Painted in 1924, Ninth Avenue is a dynamic example of Ault's unique form of Precisionism, incorporating elements of Surrealism to create a sense of disquiet amidst the vibrant streets of the city.

In the present work, Ault takes a perspective from under the Ninth Avenue El, which was the first elevated railway in New York and operated between 1868 and 1940. Highlighting the sleek lines and repetitive nature of the architecture around this modern transportation hub, Ault minimizes the cityscape to its most basic geometric forms and executes the composition in flat planes of primary colors. In the foreground, an elegant woman walks her adorable dog, and brilliantly colored cars are parked at regular intervals along either side. The vertical supports of the rail platform emphasize the intense one-point perspective of the scene; as a result, the road and trolley tracks seem to very rapidly recede into the distance as the block-like buildings squeeze closer and closer from both directions. The underlying tension within this outwardly bright, modern cityscape is further underscored by the vibrant signage, which tantalizes the viewer's curiosity but remains largely illegible behind various obstructions.

Ault once referred to New York as "the Inferno without the fire," and the nuances of the present work illustrate that duality that captivated and inspired his many views of the city.

—quoted in George Ault, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1988, p. 7

As Roberta Smith has written of the artist, "Ault's firm, unflamboyant way with a brush, his feeling for a building's austere, carefully dovetailed planes and, above all, his love of light as painting's form-giving, mood-setting force, sustained him at nearly every turn, in any direction he chose to move ... He brought to his various scenes an idiosyncratic poetry and a sadness that was neither hidden nor indulged, but kept at an arm's length with a sense of dignity that, strangely enough, could almost be celebratory. In Ault's paintings, one feels that he loved life, even if life did not particularly love him."

—George "Ault's Sad, Everyday Beauty in Stillness," The New York Times, April 29, 1988

Photo: Christie's

#vintage New York #1920s #George Ault #Ninth Avenue #precisionism #NY art #surrealism #painting #oil painting #NYC art #9th Ave.

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reijnders · 1 year

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TRAINS! TRAINS!

Train systems and public transport in general are not handled by the Coalition, even on their stations, and thus have different organization and ranking. while trains with faces are not actually In my canon, its fun to draw em >:) these two trains do exist in my world tho

bottom one is inspired by @charseraph 's use of nonhumanoid(if a train can even be humanoid) trains. i'll say more about that later below the cut :)

Ti Mañorrosn'sit

AKA The Tomorrw-Sunset. This train was named and drafted in the futureEarth nation of Texas, but constructed in the Venusian nation of Dallas, so the train as a whole is named in Earth Texan, while the faces are nicknamed in Venusian Texan and Vietnamese respectively. Tomorrow-Sunset is a passenger train, operating on a planetside waystation that acts as the main transport hub between the surface of Venus and the VOIS station in orbit around the planet itself. Trains of the Namgheen classification utilize a (very handwavey) magnetic pole to accelerate. Having the train use a tube to suspend itself allow it to "dodge" potential obstacles by tilting, or, in emergencies, doing a lil 180. To ensure as many eyes as possible are on the lookout for danger, these trains have two faces, along with a conductor, to give practically 360 degrees of vision. Right and Left get along pretty well, and they both have a dry sense of humor.

Nenyu Nuyuyu

AKA The Long Story is a yotavuș-built train. It's very small, and fully automated, so has no conductor. It's used for short distance transportation on the Darheiszing space station, orbiting the yotavuș homeworld Taŧeșě. The doors use a pulley mechanism so that the bottom of the door is in sync with the top, and you pull at one of them to open the shuttle body. Unlike the face and head of a regular yotavuș, the train faces have no ears, and within the mouth there are no venom fangs. The matti is present visually, but functionally is very different in that it is used to regulate internal temperature of the shuttle, rather than detect external changes in temperature.

#that there art #the railway series #my canon #my gougars #YEAHYEAHYEAH #LOVE TRAINS FUCKIN. LOVE TRAINS #no schedule today boys we post at 8:35 pm like men #yotavus #human #starflight to the edge!#sftte!

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lightsaber-dorphin · 1 month

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Jedi Order Bureaucratic Structure

I’ve been working for a while on worldbuilding the inner workings of the Jedi Order. Below is a flowchart of the administrative bodies, their duties, and any other admin bodies they oversee. More details on each below the cut.

These are different groups involved in running the Jedi Order. For different roles within the Jedi, see my Jedi Order Corps and Subdivisions.

High Council: (Finance, bylaws, PR, major trials)

Determines the budget(s)

Relations with the Senate

Only body that can expel members

Librarian's Assembly: (Ensures knowledge is available to Jedi)

Fund academic researchers (many Jedi researchers work directly for the assembly)

Archives: (Run the Archives & research)

Host academic conferences

Protect important artifacts

Run basically directly by the Librarian's Assembly

Department of Classes: (Adult education)

Organize all classes that aren't geneds

Set criteria for certifications/ degrees

Help members get degrees from external organizations

Council of Reassignment: (Oversees transfers & is Jedi CPS)

New Initiate paperwork

Transfers between corps and/or branches

Helps members leave the Order

Checks the CoFK when necessary

Padawanship paperwork filed here (crèchemasters sign off, padawan signs off, check master for red flags/ not allowed to take apprentice, sometimes mind healer signs off)

Council of Justice: (Attourneys & internal justice system)

Try & punish cases committed by Jedi & internal to the Jedi Order

Mediate interpersonal disputes

Lawyers for the Order

Cannot expel members

Council of Outreach: (Manages outposts & patrols)

Assigns Jedi to satellite locations or watchfolk posts

Hires other outpost staff

Ships supplies to & from outposts

Tracks the locations of missions & sends Vanguards to areas that haven't been visited recently

Council of Temple Maintenance: (Oversees internal services and temple upkeep)

In charge of the cleaning droids

Coordinates trash & recycling with Coruscant government

Has the occasional member who can do specialized maintenance (ex. plumber, electrician)

Volunteers sign up to fix things

Hires outside contractors when there isn't a Jedi with the necessary skills

Assigns Jedi to living quarters

Interior decor

Delegates chores such as taking out the trash, mopping, dusting, etc.

Padawans and initiates are often assigned these chores as punishments

Kitchenmasters: (Mess halls)

Make & serve food in the mess halls

Label the food with which species can eat it

Order food supplies

Supervise initiate clans helping in the kitchens

Quartermasters: (Distribute supplies & manage finances)

Bulk-order supplies for the Order

Provide mission allotments

Desk operators help members pick up supplies

Accounting

Transport Office: (Run the hangar bay & speeder pool)

Responsible for the Order's vehicles

Mechanics

Vehicles are checked in & out like a library for cars & ships

Hire external staff when there aren't enough Jedi

Temple Guard: (Security & emergency response)

Guard against exterior threats to the temple

Security during criminal situations

Really good at sensing danger to temple inhabitants

First responders (fire & police-- MedCorp handles EMS)

Change lightbulbs and smoke detector batteries

Odd jobs on behalf of the CoTM

Uses the lore by Adsecula in "Nameless"

Council of Reconciliation: (Central hub of Jedi outreach & diplomacy)

All aid requests go through them

Sets mission objectives

Approve or deny aid/ mission requests

Reviews behavior of Jedi on missions when there are issues

Mission Consignment: (Assign Jedi to approved missions)

Desk jockeys

Not officially divided by type of mission/ Jedi role needed, but missions will be passed to people who are more familiar with the experts required

Organizes specifics for missions such as transportation and housing

Council of First Knowledge: (Runs Initiate & Padawan dorms, clans, & childhood education)

Initiate clans members live together with their crèchemasters rotating out night shifts

Padawans & Senior Initiates live in individual rooms in designated halls with some crèchemasters living in each hall

Department of Seekers: (Regulates conduct of Seekers)

Create regulates for what Seekers can & cannot do & how they should act

Investigate reported misconduct by Seekers

Crèche: (Organizes care for Initiates)

Sort Initiates into clans

Run events/ field trips/ etc.

Set educational standards

see my post about Living Quarters in the Jedi Temple

Department of Primary Classes: (Classroom education for younglings)

Standard elementary school operation stuff

Provides the general education classes all Jedi take as younglings

Circle of Healers: (Sets certification requirements)

Certified to train medical professionals for a variety of degrees

Determines when Jedi have fulfilled requirements for medical certifications

Sets the qualifications for Force-specific medical degrees

Halls of Healing: (Healthcare within the Order & internal outreach)

Like a local hospital but also has general practitioners

IRB: (Reviews research for ethical concerns)

Institutional Review Board

"Under FDA regulations, an Institutional Review Board is group that has been formally designated to review and monitor biomedical research involving human subjects. In accordance with FDA regulations, an IRB has the authority to approve, require modifications in (to secure approval), or disapprove research. This group review serves an important role in the protection of the rights and welfare of human research subjects."

IRB for the entire Order, not just the MedCorps

#dorphin's jedi lore #gffa worldbuilding #jedi worldbuilding #star wars worldbuilding #lore #mine #jedi #jedi order #pro jedi

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sepdet · 10 months

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(I don't usually break copyright for journalists, who deserve to make a living through their writing the same as other authors, but this paywalled article mentions a few native Hawaiian relief efforts that need funding)

Native Hawaiians organize aid for Maui fire victims as government lags

Reis Thebault, Washington Post [12Aug 2023]

LAHAINA, Hawaii — The boats kept coming. One by one, cruisers and catamarans eased toward the beach in Kahana, a small and tightknit neighborhood just north of Maui’s hardest-hit areas.

Each one was laden with supplies: generators, propane tanks, trash bags full of clothing and ready-to-eat meals. And each one was greeted by two dozen people, the first among them wading waist-deep into the ocean to retrieve provisions from the boat and pass them down the chain, which wound its way to shore.

[Hawaii utility faces scrutiny for not cutting power to reduce fire risks]

The entire operation buzzed with urgent efficiency. But this was not the National Guard, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, nor state or local government. This was scores of residents, led mostly by native Hawaiians, who had battled immense grief and unreliable communications to coordinate a large-scale disaster relief effort serving everyone in need after Tuesday’s ruinous Maui fire.

And this, a parade of boats that brought desperate locals thousands of pounds of supplies, was one of many.

“There’s no government agency helping us — this is it,” said Jareth Lumlung, a native Hawaiian who helped arrange the de facto donation hub. “This is our home, our community.”

[Live updates on Hawaiian wildfires]

In the days since a ferocious wildfire decimated whole swaths of Maui, including the historic west island town of Lahaina, those who live here have said they’ve received little help from the county and state, small entities which are struggling to respond to an unprecedented calamity.

For people whose cultural traditions have been threatened by American colonization and the state’s embrace of tourism and development, government help was never expected. Instead, the community has relied on itself.

Many, native Hawaiians in particular, see the absence of visible official support as a continuation of long-standing frustrations and pain, which began with the destructive arrival of Europeans and lives on in struggles over water rights.

The displacement of native Hawaiians is a particularly acute concern now, as much of the island has been targeted for gentrification, driving up the costs of living and forcing many native Hawaiians to move to mainland cities like Las Vegas.

[After five hours in ocean, Maui fire survivor is ‘blessed to be alive’]

Government officials have said they were focused on putting out the flames, housing and feeding survivors in evacuation centers outside the burn zone, protecting damaged areas, clearing roads in and around the town and helping to restore essential utilities. Some of the aid is out of reach of survivors, however, because they lack transportation or working phones to alert them about services. In Lahaina, the private efforts have been more visible, survivors said.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) estimated that nearly all of Lahaina had been destroyed. But in Kahana, the town’s spirit remained completely alive.

“If you take away all Hawaiians, there’ll be no more Hawaii,” Lumlung said. “It’ll be just a place. This is what it’s all about right here. We’re all raised the same way; this is something that’s just naturally instilled. You don’t have to be asked to do these things.”

Residents gather at Napili Plaza in Lahaina, Hawaii, to connect to Starlink satellites to contact their loved ones on Friday. (Mengshin Lin for The Washington Post)

The supply boats began arriving on Wednesday, as first responders were still battling the blaze and recovering bodies amid burned-out homes and businesses. Two days later, they hadn’t slowed. On Friday, they began arriving early, and volunteers had tents set up to sort the goods: a pile of men’s pants here, a pyramid of diapers there and vast mounds of bottled water.

“We lost everything. We lost our town,” said Jerica Naki, whose home in Lahaina was destroyed. “That’s why we’re here.”

On this day, the volunteer boats largely came from neighboring islands, Oahu and Molokai, northwest of Maui in the Hawaiian archipelago, traveling far on choppy seas. Naki was helping sort donations and she described an emotional whirlwind, from escaping with nothing to seeing a staggering amount of volunteer support for those who have been displaced like her.

[These maps show where wildfires are burning in Hawaii]

“A lot of us are born and raised here,” Naki said, looking around as the chain of volunteers hauled in boxes of tinned sausage. “There’s a l xd ot of pride in Lahaina, so it hurts, a lot. But this is all we have here now, each other, and we’re making do.”

As the response has worn on, the greatest needs have shifted. There is now plenty of nonperishable food and bottled water. Generators, fuel and Starlink satellite internet systems would be most useful, volunteers say.

Sheryl Nakanelua knew instinctively where she needed to go when she fled her Lahaina home as flames spread. She made her way to Kahana and set up a tent across from Lumlung’s house, where she’ll stay until her family is let back into her subdivision, one of the few that was spared.

“This is our family place, it’s home,” she said of the Kahana neighborhood. “This is the best part to be at. It’s what’s keeping us positive.”

Other such spots have popped up. Napili Plaza, once a destination for groceries, ribs and tattoos, is now a donation drop-off center. And some 100 cars lined up for free gas near the town’s former railroad station. Coordinating the boats and other donation sites is a massive task that involves maddening games of phone tag in a place largely without cell service and requires a relentless dedication and extensive Rolodex.

Residents like Zane Schweitzer have both. Schweitzer, whose family has lived around Lahaina for generations, has spent nearly every hour of the last 48 working his walkie-talkie and phone, frantically arranging aid from around Maui, Hawaii and the mainland. Working with the Oahu-based youth nonprofit Na Kama Kai, he helped coordinate one of Friday’s largest deliveries.

Officials said most of Lahaina, the historic town in West Maui, was destroyed when hurricane winds pushed fires to the coast.

On the south side of Lahaina, in Olowalu, Eddy and Sam Garcia are transforming their groundbreaking sustainable farm into a shelter for those who have lost their homes. The married couple, who themselves have lost farmland and fruit crops worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, are setting up temporary housing, a massive solar power system and a satellite internet connection that they’ll open to anyone who needs it.

“In the immediate moment, people need shelter, they need food, they need water, they need a place to get on the internet so they can look for their loved ones,” said Eddy Garcia, who grew up in Lahaina. “We’re shifting all of our attention to trying to feed and house our neighbors.”

The Olowalu farm is uniquely well-prepared to handle this sort of disaster. Run by the Garcias’ nonprofit, Regenerative Education Centers, it was already operating off the grid, with its own power, plumbing and food. The nonprofit has launched a fundraiser to help pay for the fire effort, which will continue as long as there’s a need.

The property, even after being raked by the fire’s severe winds, is verdant and shaded by tall mango trees. On Friday, volunteers and staff readied the farm to fill any needs. They butchered and smoked a wild pig, set up new solar panels and scoured the internet for portable toilets. Eddy Garcia whirred with adrenaline, his satellite-connected cellphone ringing every few minutes with someone offering help.

For locals like him, helping his neighbors is not only about their survival, but about preserving the island’s identity and keeping it livable for those whose families have been here for generations.

“It’s not about these giant hotels on the beach and all the big companies, but trying to take care of local people,” he said. “This is not a visitor’s destination spot, this is the kingdom of Hawaii. That hit the heart of it in Lahaina. It hurts to even talk about it.”

His phone rang again and he stood up to leave.

“I’m like a ball of rubber bands right now,” he said, “and the only thing keeping me going is I got to organize these things.”

——

[More photos and links to the latest news in and after article]

#maui fires #lahaina #relief efforts

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reasonsforhope · 1 year

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"California just cracked down on pollution from transportation in two major moves, part of an effort to improve air quality and cut carbon emissions at the same time.

On Friday, the California Air Resources Board unanimously approved a rule that would ban the sale of diesel big rigs in the state by 2036. The mandate, which will apply to about 1.8 million trucks — including those operated by Amazon, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service — is reportedly the first in the world to require trucks to ditch internal combustion engines. The news came one day after California became the first state to adopt standards to limit pollution from trains.

Trucks and Diesel

The regulations are intended to improve air quality and trim carbon emissions from transportation, the source of about half the state’s greenhouse gases. Trucks and trains spew diesel exhaust, full of soot that contains more than 40 cancer-causing substances, responsible for an estimated 70 percent of Californian’s cancer risk from air pollution.

The trucking rule requires school buses and garbage trucks to be emissions-free within four years. By 2042, all trucks will be required to be “zero-emission,” meaning there’s no pollution coming out of their tailpipes. The deadline comes sooner for drayage trucks, which transport cargo from ports and railyards to warehouses — typically short routes that require less battery range. New drayage trucks must be “zero-emission” beginning next year, with the rule applying to all drayage trucks on the road in 2035.

Currently, medium and heavy-duty vehicles account for a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions statewide. In August, California clamped down on pollution from passenger vehicles with a plan to end the sale of new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035.

People breathing pollution from freeways and warehouse hubs have long called for stricter air standards. In the port cities of Long Beach and Los Angeles, some 6,000 trucks pass through every day, exposing residents to high levels of ozone and particulate matter, pollutants linked with a range of problems including respiratory conditions and cardiovascular disease. Long Beach residents who live the closest to ports and freeways have a life expectancy about 14 years shorter compared to people who live further away...

Trains and Locomotives

According to the new rules, the state is banning locomotive engines that are more than 23 years old by 2030. It also bans trains from idling for more than 30 minutes, provided that they are equipped with an engine that can shut off automatically.

The stage for the rule was set by a single line buried in the Biden administration’s proposed auto emissions rules, in which the Environmental Protection Agency said it was considering allowing states to regulate locomotives. Still, California’s new rules may spark a legal battle with the rail industry, which argues that the state doesn’t have the authority to make such sweeping changes.

Though railroads only account for about 2 percent of the country’s carbon emissions from transportation, switching to trains powered by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells would provide some benefits in the effort to tackle climate change. The public health gains would be even bigger: The California Air Resources Board estimates its new rules for trains, passed on Thursday, would lower cancer risk in neighborhoods near rail yards by more than 90 percent.

“This is an absolutely transformative rule to clean our air and mitigate climate change,” Liane Randolph, the chair of the air quality board, said ahead of the vote on the trucking rules on Friday. “We all know there’s a lot of challenges, but those challenges aren’t going to be tackled unless we move forward … if not now, when?”"

-via The Grist, 4/28/23

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witchofthesouls · 7 months

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Wait, wait, wait. WHAT Did Tarn really fucked Megs with his common law nurse spouse!?

Oh, no, they got married by Kaon's meddling via witnessing the Acts. Well, he tilted his head and smudged a few of them, but it still counts because all of it did happen.

The entire Decepticon faction went from "Tarn fucks?" to "Tarn got a Conjunx!?" to "Oh Primus, did they fuck?"

You're coming to terms with getting married to an awkward guy with a T-cog addiction and a habit of dragging smooshed up corpses the medbay to extract his T-cogs. Is he an executioner of his war faction? Sure, but you're not a Decepticon, so you fall out of that category, especially since you don't hail directly from Cybertron. Oh, and that he has the biggest crush on his boss. And that said boss came to visit to drop that "You're Conjunxes" via foreign (to you) means bombshell, and there's only one damn bed.

Megatron wanted to know if he was losing his touch on Tarn (he wasn't) and is currently stuck with the most ridiculous coupling to happen outside of a romcom novel. And he's inwardly dying because he indirectly had a hand in this entire ordeal because he formed Tarn and approved the methods to allow this paperwork to happen. And that he can't leave because all of the planet's off world transportation hubs went on strike.

Tarn, as always, is ecstatic that his Lord has come to visit. Like bless his bureaucratic, killer spark, he's trying to find who the hell approved of it without the proper signatures.

Of course, Megatron has to drop another bombshell that it's completely legal and official because one of the traitors they hunted down was a legitimate officiant on that neutral planet. So that operation where Tarn dragged you to pose as an eloping couple to bypass all that security? Yeah, along with Kaon's witness statement, it's legally binding not only in the Decepticons but in several galaxies.

Going back it, there was no actual threesome. They had to share one room (all was available on short notice) with one bed (also all that available). It doesn't help the hotel had a special on newlyweds, so it was a REALLY nice room.

#ask #transformers #transformers idw #idw #mtmte #the donor clause au #megatron #tarn #reader insert #cybertronian!reader #maccadam #my writing #the entire thing will be a mess so it matches Tarn quite nicely #so much shit going on here

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fnaffancontentbutmostlyglamrocks · 6 months

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Predictions for the DLC in HW2

So it's pretty apparent a "certain" alligator is missing. He's not the only one to be absent.

Tangle and Gregory are also missing. Plus, we never got the answer to how Gregory became GGY in the first place, nor how he escaped. The DLC will answer that question. Now, how will it go about it? I'm still determining. It would be cool if the DLC had a new hub like Curse of Dreadbear.

One thing I noticed in playing HW2 is when the mask is on and you are playing the minigames. You are playing in these locations that shouldn't be operational. I don't mean post Security Breach. I mean during the time when the Pizzaplex was open.

We see a Bonnie Bowl game using what appears to be Bonnie Bowl's original layout for the lanes. Before it was remodeled. We ride the Foxy Log Flume ride even though the ride is defunct. There's the Merry-Go-Round that doesn't appear in SB or Ruin. We aren't transported to the past. The ceiling on Bonnie Bowl is the floor in Ruin. The player is being shown what the Pizzaplex was in the past, but the location still limits the mask.

The HUB with the mask on is the Pizzeria from FNAF6. The games we play related to that are things we did when that place was open. This game is a midquel between Security Breach and Ruin. It still shows us things from the past.

The DLC will have Monty, Bonnie, Molten Freddy/Tangle, and Gregory as the main focus, taking place AFTER Ruin. How would this work? Well, it is similar to HW2 in its base game. We will be playing minigames set in the past. Why is Monty not in HW2 right now? Unlike Chica and Roxy, whose bodies aren't all dissimilar to their original forms. Allowing them to have the same game. Monty is just a torso. Which would make it hard to give him a similar easy and "hard" mode.

That's why this DLC will take place after Ruin. Think about it, what other time would make sense to fix Monty? You might even have to fix Monty to unlock his minigame. His minigame's goal will be to improve his mind by returning to the past. See everything that happened. What really happened between him and Bonnie. Then, see who you think is the true culprit.

Surprisingly enough, the Gondola ride tells the truth. Monty really did look up to Bonnie, and they later left on amicable terms. There is actually evidence that the two co-existed WHILE Monty was a Glamrock. The first clue I found is where Bonnie is hidden. You can find Monty Bowling balls on shelves. This couldn't have happened if Monty wasn't a Glamrock before Bonnie was attacked.

Yes, I'm aware of the "evidence" that Monty killed Bonnie. Think about it. Has anything indeed been concrete? It's been stuff in the in-universe rides and attractions. Here's the thing. Going by the books and his games in the universe. Monty plays the villain. It's even stated he is meant to be destructive to a degree. This wouldn't be the first time Fazbear has used a rumor in its marketing to try as a way to dismiss it.

The ONLY thing that could directly connect Monty is that it isn't symbolism or anything else of that nature. It is the green substance on Bonnie's chest. Which I need help believing is paint. Part of that is if Monty was wet with paint. Why is it only there? Not on any other part of Bonnie. Despite the fact we see this, the rabbit took a beating everywhere else. My counter was Monty, who had used the water in Monty Golf to wash the paint off. Okay, so why not the chest, too? Let's say it is paint. It makes more sense to have paint off their fingers, and it is known to slash. The jumpscare in Ruin and HW2 shows this is their primary method to kill the player. I thought about it as a joke, but now I'm more sure.

Moon is our true culprit.

This is why he is a threat in Bonnie Bowl on the roof in the HW2 mini game. It was a hint at his involvement.

Sun is crafty and likely would have wet paint on his fingers when turning into Moon. Would still stay on there. Whether or not Moon used green paint to incriminate Monty is unknown.

Also, in the Daycare attendant's room. You will find Staff bots beat up and torn apart. This is similar to Monty's room and Roxy's Salon. That's not what's unusual. What's notable is that there are Glamrock Endos in this room. Torn apart.

That, and while Freddy is friendly to everyone. Even Monty is considered a friend. He refers to the Daycare attendant as "it." Then also, why would Cassie's dad not tell her what happened? Daycare attendant was one of her favorites. She enjoyed being around them. Even the Moon part. Besides being told to hide it from the company. Imagine how devastating it would be to hear that the kind Daycare attendant killed Glamrock Bonnie.

Also, Bonnie's statue in HW2 is looking up and scared. The Glamrocks are all roughly the same height. They even use that same base endo. So if Bonnie was frightened of something to be arched back and looking up. It would have to be something taller than him or forced him to look up.

Moon would be the candidate that could and would attack from above. It's how he can kill you in Ruin.

Part of this DLC will be that. Showing who really attacked Bonnie. Explains how Gregory became GGY and escaped. Finally, Giving Monty more characterization.

With that being said. I also would be OK with a redemption arc. It would be interesting if the Gondola ride was still true. Monty did look up to Bonnie. Then, he adored the fame. At first. He was just the understudy. Only there when Bonnie required repair. Than he had an idea. If Bonnie had an "accident" he could be on stage longer. Adored by fans. Now he goes to the catwalks and stares at the giant bucket. Bonnie trusted him enough to stand around and wait. Monty didn't mean for Bonnie to be gone, he just wanted the chance to be the big star. Well, look where that got him.

It would be immaculate to have a character arc with Monty. As we see him trying to fix what he did. Here's where I'm conflicted. On one hand. I do want to see Glamrock Bonnie in action. On the other. The idea is that Monty can't undo what he did and can only learn from it and improve. Make it a traggic lesson on actions having consequences. Would be leagues better as character development and complexity than if he would fix Bonnie and act like nothing happened.

#fnaf security breach #fnaf #monty #security breach #fnaf sb #five nights at freddy's #fnaf monty #alligator #montgomery gator #fnaf sb ruin #moon #sun #daycare attendant #hw2 #help wanted 2 #help wanted 2 spoilers

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beardedmrbean · 3 months

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In the beloved children’s story by Roald Dahl, the golden ticket holders who won a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory were promised – and experienced – “a world of pure imagination”.

But children hoping for a similar magical experience at a £35-a-head event in Glasgow instead found what their parents described as an “incredibly underwhelming” damp squib.

Some of the children who had travelled from across Scotland and the north of England to Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow ended up in tears. The all-weekend event was abruptly cancelled only halfway through its first day, and police were called as anger grew.

Organisers House of Illuminati promised visitors a “journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn” and a day “where dreams come to life”.

The advertised attractions included an “enchanted garden” with giant sweets and an “imagination lab” that promised to transport the viewer into “the realm of creativity”.

But parents expecting the experience to recreate the magic of Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were hugely disappointed.

Visitors said the event took place in a venue that was little more than “an abandoned empty warehouse” sparsely decorated with plastic props, a small bouncy castle and backdrops pinned to walls.

The furious reaction from parents prompted the organisers to close the event midway through Saturday, only hours after it had opened.

Police Scotland confirmed that officers were called to the event at the Box Hub Warehouse in Whiteinch, and said “advice was given” following complaints from unhappy visitors. House of Illuminati published an apology on its Facebook page and promised refunds over the coming days.

Visitor Shirley Bell wrote: “We had tickets for 1.15pm and didn’t even get in. They have shut it down as so many complaints. Apparently a few props and a couple of people dressed up and then wait for a packet a sweets and a wee lolly.

“Kids all dressed up and crying waiting for what they thought was going to be a magical experience. The organisers should be ashamed of themselves.”

Stuart Sinclair, 29, from Douglas, South Lanarkshire, took his two sons and four-year-old daughter to the attraction.

He told the Courier newspaper: “There was a guy wandering around apparently dressed as Willy Wonka but he didn’t seem interested. You then got inside and there were a couple of props and a plastic chocolate thing.

“In the next room, they had test tubes with jelly babies. I said to the kids at least they would get a bag of sweets but they gave them one single sweet each.”

Another parent posted on Facebook: “What an absolute farce, two upset kids. Cowboys.”

Eva Stewart, of East Kilbride, told BBC Scotland: “It was basically advertised as this big massive Willy Wonka experience with optical illusions and big chocolate fountains and sweets.

“But when we got there, it was practically an abandoned, empty warehouse, with hardly anything in it.”

A Facebook group was set up by those left angry and disappointed by the experience.

The Box Hub venue said it had only hired out the space and was not responsible for the exhibition.

Matthew Waterfield, the operations manager, told The Scottish Sun that House of Illuminati approached the venue a few weeks ago with a plan that “sounded great on paper” but “looked incredibly underwhelming”.

He said visitors “were very unhappy with the amount of money House of Illuminati had been charging for admittance”, adding: “Things started to get quite aggressive.”

In a post on Facebook, a House of Illuminati spokesman said: “Today has been a very stressful and frustrating day for many and for that we are truly sorry.

“Unfortunately, at the last minute we were let down in many areas of our event and tried our best to continue on and push through and now realise we probably should have cancelled first thing this morning instead.

“We fully apologise for what has happened and will be giving full refunds to each and every person that purchased tickets. We planned a fabulous event and it just did not take shape as planned and for that we are truly sorry.”

Glasgow City Council said its trading standards department had received one complaint and people should contact the organiser in the first instance to obtain a refund.

#nunyas news

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 2 months

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Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 26, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAR 27, 2024

At about 1:30 this morning, local time, the Dali, a 985-foot (300 m) container ship operating under a Singapore flag, struck the steel Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, that spans the lower Patapsco River and outer Baltimore Harbor. The bridge immediately collapsed.

Eight maintenance workers were on the bridge repairing potholes when the ship hit. Two were rescued from the water, but the other six remain missing. Search and rescue operations were complicated by twisted metal and debris from the collapsed bridge. This evening, the Coast Guard called off its search. Tomorrow morning, divers will begin recovery efforts.

It is possible there were motorists on the bridge, too, but fewer than there might otherwise have been. Crew members issued a “Mayday” call—an internationally recognized word meaning distress—that Maryland police heard. At 1:27, police radio recorded an officer saying a ship had lost control of its steering as it approached the bridge, and to stop traffic and evacuate the area. There were cars submerged in the water, but they may have belonged to the construction workers.

The loss of the bridge will tangle traffic and disrupt supply chains. Named for the Maryland lawyer who in 1814 wrote the poem that became the national anthem, the Francis Scott Key bridge carries I-695, the Baltimore Beltway, and is used by about 30,000 people a day.

The Port of Baltimore is one of the nation’s largest shipping hubs, especially for both imports and exports of cars and light trucks. About 850,000 vehicles go through that port every year. So does more than 20% of the nation’s coal exports. In 2023 the port moved a record-breaking $80 billion worth of foreign cargo. Now the shipping lane is closed and must be cleared of debris.

“There is no question this will be a major and protracted impact on supply chains,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said from Baltimore today.

Perhaps learning from the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, when the government response was fast but quiet and thus opened a window for right-wing complaints they weren’t doing enough, the administration was out front today. Buttigieg rushed to the scene from a trip out West, and Maryland governor Wes Moore told reporters Buttigieg had called him at 3:30 am, just two hours after the crash.

By around 6:00 am, the National Transportation Safety Board already had a team of 24 people on the scene to launch an investigation into the cause of the collision.

Speaking today, President Joe Biden said: “I’ve directed my team to move heaven and earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as…humanly possible. And we’re going to work hand in hand…to support Maryland, whatever they ask for. And we’re going to work with our partners in Congress to make sure the state gets the support it needs. It’s my intention that federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect…the Congress to support my effort.”

Former member of President Obama’s 2012 campaign Jason Karsh noted Biden’s speech and said on social media: “[B]ecause Biden got infrastructure spending done for the first time in over a generation, and because [Pennsylvania] was able to rebuild that bridge that collapsed in record time, Dem[ocrat]s have the credibility to say things like this. Competence in government matters.”

It remains far too soon for any solid understanding of what caused the deadly crash.

Despite the impossibility of solid information in the hours immediately after the collision—or perhaps because of it—verified accounts on X (formerly Twitter) began spreading conspiracy theories. They posted that the accident was linked to terrorism, Jewish people, or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. “Did anti-white business practices cause this disaster?” one posted. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones wrote that the collision was “deliberate” and that “WW3 has already started.”

Technology reporter Taylor Lorenz, who studies social media patterns, explained in the Washington Post that many of these accounts are “engagement farming.” This is the practice of posting extremist comments to generate attention, which can then be monetized by, for example, getting a cut of advertising that appears near those comments. Comments with heavy engagement can receive thousands of dollars.

For a long time now, America’s political right has riled people up with wild political rhetoric to get them to buy stuff. Just today, Trump began to hawk Bibles for $59.99, plus shipping and handling, with a video message saying “Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country, and I truly believe we need to bring them back…. That’s why our country’s going haywire—we’ve lost religion in our country.”

That system appeared to be in play as Trump supporters apparently flocked to today’s public offering of the Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind the Truth Social app, sending the stock upward 16%. That surge would value the company at more than $7 billion, although in the first nine months of last year it had only about $3 million in sales and lost nearly $50 million. Julian Klymochko, founder and CEO of Accelerate Financial Technologies, told NPR’s Rafael Nam that the $7 billion valuation “is completely detached from any sort of fundamentals.”

Buying stock in the company is “more of a political movement or just a speculative meme stock [a stock driven by social media] that’s completely detached or unrelated to the underlying business fundamentals of Truth Social,” Klymochko said.

As well as convincing supporters to buy products, extremist rhetoric can push them toward violence. Yesterday, John Keller, the head of a Department of Justice task force set up to protect election workers, told reporters Trump’s lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen has put the U.S. in a “new era” in which election workers are “scapegoated, targeted, and attacked.”

Today, on his social media network, Trump attacked individuals related to his upcoming election interference case. He lashed out at one of the prosecutors on Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s staff who previously worked for the Justice Department; Judge Juan Merchan, the judge in his upcoming criminal case for election interference; and the judge’s daughter. Of the judge and his daughter, Trump told his angry followers: “These COUNTRY DESTROYING SCOUNDRELS & THUGS HAVE NO CASE AGAINST ME. WITCH HUNT!”

Legal analyst Joyce White Vance of Civil Discourse called out Trump’s “rank effort at intimidating the judge by threatening his family,” which she said “merits a gag order but also serious pushback from [Republican] leadership—which we know won't come.”

Republican leadership indeed stayed quiet, but the judge noted Trump’s pattern of using “threatening, inflammatory, [and] denigrating” statements against individuals in his legal cases and placed a gag order on him. Merchan noted that in the past, Trump’s statements had intimidated the individual targeted and required them to hire protection.

Trump can still talk about Merchan or Bragg, but he cannot comment on any attorney, court staff member, or family member of prosecutors or lawyers. He can’t make statements about any potential or actual juror.

Other news today suggests that Americans outside the MAGA bubble are turning against the poisonous politics that appeals to fear and hatred so its perpetrators can gain money or power.

The outrage over NBC’s hiring of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel was so strong that today the chair of NBC News, Cesar Conde, emailed staff to tell them he had “decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor.” McDaniel had trafficked in lies to support Trump and had worked with him to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

When the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine today, observers thought the justices seemed inclined to back away from the decision of extremist antiabortion judge Matthew Kacsmaryk taking the abortion drug mifepristone off the market. Antiabortion activists have long sought to ban abortion nationwide, but a strong majority of Americans support reproductive rights and have made their wishes known at the ballot box.

Voters’ frustration with the extremists who have captured the Republican Party appeared to be behind the results in today’s special election for a seat in the Alabama legislature. There, voters in a swing district elected a Democrat, who ran on protecting abortion access, to replace a Republican. In 2022 that Democrat, Marilyn Lands, won about 45% of the vote. Today she won almost 65% of it.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#letters from an american #Heather Cox Richardson #infrastructure #the courts #corrupt SCOTUS #Ronna McDaniel #GOP extremism #Baltimore Bridge

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fatehbaz · 11 months

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[T]he advent of British imperialism in Myanmar. Elephants in their thousands were conscripted into the timber industry. [...] [An] episode in the history of the ecological impact of imperialism [...]. Accumulation in colonial Myanmar took several different forms, but there were two that had the greatest impact on the country's elephant populations. One was the extractive teak industry [...]. The other was the rice industry [...].

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During the late nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century, Myanmar became one of the world's biggest exporters of hardwoods. Teak was particularly desirable for its use in the production of ships, railway sleepers and luxury furniture. The rapid development of the timber industry was a vital motor in the expansion of capitalist and colonial relations in this often neglected corner of the Raj. Teak traders financed from Britain were vocal in lobbying Westminster and the Government of India to colonise the landlocked rump of territory [...]. Following the eventual annexation of upper Myanmar in 1885, they continued to inveigle the local government into interceding on their behalf in the borderlands with Siam [...]. Extractive logging operations [...] came into conflict with the shifting subsistence farming of some indigenous Karen communities. [...] Vital to the industry were elephants. [...] [T]he British regime asserted that elephants were the property of the state. [...] Moreover, elephants in the colony were not readily amenable to being controlled; officials were alarmed by herds of hundreds of elephants periodically wreaking destruction on freshly cleared agricultural lands, particularly as rice cultivation accelerated in the 1880s.

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The booming rice industry developed alongside the growth of the teak industry and had direct effects on elephant populations.

Like teak extraction, rice cultivation in Myanmar was of transnational importance. The rich alluvial soil provided fertile ground for the Ayeyarwady delta to undergo a dramatic transformation to become the largest rice-producing region in the world, having a ripple effect across the global cereal market.

The white rice exported from Myanmar fed colonised labouring peoples (and some non-human animals) engaged in commodity production across the Empire, most notably in neighbouring Bengal. The delta was crucial to an interdependent network of food security established through and underpinning British imperialism.

The changes on the delta itself were profound, both socially and ecologically. [...] [F]rom the 1850s what was still predominantly a mangrove-forested backwater at the margins of political power became a febrile hive of activity. Sparsely populated, isolated hamlets, hemmed in by the thick jungles and thickets of dense grass in the tidal delta, became enmeshed in an extensive tapestry of paddy fields, their populations growing fivefold to become thriving commercial hubs, connected by a busy riverine transport network to the bustling imperial port cities of Akyab (now Sittwe), Mawlamyine and Yangon. [...]

Thick forest needed to be felled, the undergrowth burnt, and the remaining dense network of roots dug out [...]. This work was underpinned by heavy borrowing, mostly from local Burmese and overseas Indian sources, and misfortune could lead to them defaulting on their loan and losing their land to their creditor. [...]

The ecological transformation was rapid, and from an elephant's perspective at least, profound. Focusing in on one of the fastest-growing deltaic areas between 1880 and 1920, around the townships of Thôngwa and Myaungmya, the impact is pronounced. Correspondence in 1886 identified 230 elephants living in the local forests. They would frequently raid freshly cultivated paddy fields, destroying crops [...]. However, just thirty years later, the local settlement report recorded that there were no longer any elephants left in the area. [...] [T]he rapid deforestation of the area to make way for paddy is likely to have been what displaced the local elephant populations. [...]

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[T]he government explored the prospect of organising official kheddahs [...] to solve two problems at once: to eliminate the problem of these rapacious elephants’ raids while meeting growing demands for elephant labour. [...]

At the same time, elephants became more important, indeed indispensable, for commercial teak extraction. In the analysis of former employees turned historians of the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, the largest teak firm operating in Myanmar, the acquisition of large herds of working elephants was pivotal in enabling imperial companies to dominate logging. [...]

The kheddah is a large stockade into which elephants are corralled after being chased down by humans [...]. [T]he Government of India was moved to sanction the establishment of kheddah operations in the colony in 1902, although the move was quickly exposed as an expensive, ill-fated folly. The scheme resulted in an appalling mortality rate, with roughly half the over 500 elephants captured in its first four years of operation dying of disease, neglect and trauma-induced breakdowns. To make matters worse, the superintendent, Ian Hew Warrender Dalrymple-Clark, was exposed in a dramatic court case as having adopted an alter ego, Mr Green, for the purposes of faking the deaths of elephants through forged paperwork, and selling them directly to timber firms, leaving the state out of pocket. The British regime, never entirely successful in realising its claim to Myanmar's elephants, left the capture of elephants mostly to colonised peoples through a licensing scheme.

These arrangements enabled the large timber firms, such as the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, to establish considerable herds of captive elephants [...]. By 1914 the Corporation had amassed a herd of 1,753 elephants. [...] Estimates for the overall number of timber elephants employed by the 1940s vary, but a figure of around 7,000, or 10,000 including calves, would seem plausible. [...]

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Elephants in Myanmar were caught between two modes of accumulation. The timber industry demanded their labour [...]. Meanwhile, the expansion of the rice industry was enabled [...] by cultivating more and more land. The resulting deforestation meant significant habitat loss and fragmentation for elephant populations. [...] Nevertheless, the history of elephants contains multitudes. Creatures, such as dung beetles and frogs, who rarely make it into archival collections in their own right, were intertwined and implicated in the lives of Myanmar's forest-dwelling giants. The transformations in elephant demographics and behaviour wrought by their mobilisation for teak production, the destruction of much of their habitats, [...] cascaded.

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All text above by: Jonathan Saha. “Accumulations and Cascades: Burmese Elephants and the Ecological Impact of British Imperialism.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 32, pp. 177-197. 2022. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks added by me.]

#ecology #abolition #imperial #colonial #landscape

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mariacallous · 2 months

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The world has failed to halt a downward spiral in humanitarian conditions for civilians in the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas war began last October. The airdropping of humanitarian aid and the U.S. plan to construct a temporary port off the coast of northern Gaza to deliver assistance, both in coordination with Israel, will not adequately relieve the crisis or eliminate its root cause. In addition to being financially unfeasible, neither approach can be sustained amid continued armed conflict and Israel’s blocking of aid entering the strip via land borders.

The only feasible and sustainable way to relieve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is through an emergency mechanism that removes Israel’s total control over the security inspection and entry of aid via land borders into the besieged territory. This proposed plan, limited to the duration of the war and the resulting humanitarian crisis, should include an international security task force with the limited mandate of overseeing and implementing an independent inspection and transport process for aid through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

This emergency mechanism is not far-fetched and could be immediately applied if world powers were willing to utilize all means necessary to rescue Palestinians in Gaza from famine, a devastated health system, and harrowing levels of deprivation. Such an intervention would boost efforts to stop the mounting threat of a regional conflict as well as bring progress toward negotiations to reach a cease-fire. Now is the time to do so.

In the Sinai Peninsula, just across the border from Gaza, tens of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid are waiting for Israel’s permission to enter the strip. Images show hundreds of flatbed trucks loaded with aid and blocked by Israel’s security inspection system at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, including some parked for weeks. In wartime, it is imperative that aid shipments undergo strict security checks, but such a system must not be manipulated by any warring parties for military gain—in this case, either Israel or Hamas.

Instead, a joint task force, comprising security personnel from different governments and an international security body, could oversee the system. Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and France, in partnership with the United Nations, are the top parties—but not the only ones—capable of operating this limited-mandate force. All have consistently engaged both Hamas and Israel, along with local authorities and humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza, on hostages, aid and rescue, policies to protect civilians, and negotiations toward a cease-fire.

Egypt is a fitting and capable host: It not only maintains the sole land border and entry point into Gaza that is not under Israeli military control, the Rafah border crossing, but it also has become the destination of most humanitarian aid dispatched for Gaza. Since the beginning of the war, shipments have continuously landed in El-Arish Airport in North Sinai, some 31 miles from the Rafah crossing—which is just south of the town of Rafah in Gaza, where an estimated 1.5 million people are sheltered.

In the last decade, the Egyptian military and security forces have turned this part of North Sinai into the country’s most militarized zone. It is so secure that it has received heads of government, top U.N. officials, members of parliament, and other officials since the war in Gaza began. At El-Arish, French and Italian navy hospital ships have docked for weeks to provide medical aid to Palestinians, while other vessels have unloaded aid shipments.

Egypt could immediately designate a site to host a security inspection effort and the joint task force needed to implement it. In fact, Cairo has already said it is building a logistics hub to host aid efforts near the Rafah crossing terminal.

Since the war began, senior U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CIA Director Bill Burns have conducted multiple visits and engaged in talks with regional governments involved with efforts to contain the conflict. After the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden appointed David Satterfield as special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues. Satterfield is no stranger to the region’s volatile security; he served as director-general of the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai Peninsula from 2009 to 2017.

Qatar and France are as active as Egypt and the United States in all levels of engagement with the warring parties. Qatar’s capital, Doha, hosts the Hamas leadership outside of Gaza. Qatari efforts have led to the release of Israeli civilians held hostage by Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack. Qatar and France also secured a deal to allow delivery of lifesaving medicines to Gaza’s hospitals as well as to Hamas-held hostages. Qatar also constructed and operates a field hospital inside the strip and has dispatched aid to North Sinai since the start of the war.

Finally, the United Nations has powerful reach and ability, especially through on-the-ground humanitarian operations in Gaza. Its various bodies, including the Secretariat, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, are in constant communication and coordination with all parties involved. Despite the level of destruction in Gaza, they operate a broad network of employees and facilities dedicated to humanitarian aid.

With a force as small as 100 well-equipped security personnel and a site secured and serviced by Egypt’s military and local authorities at the Sinai-Gaza border, the joint security task force could theoretically inspect up to 50 trucks per hour, delivering the required minimum of 500 trucks per day within 10 hours. Cargo planes could not airdrop a fraction of that aid over Gaza every day for an extended period. And according to the United States, its port plan will take around two months, as many as 1,000 troops, and millions of dollars to provide just 2 million meals per day.

The emergency mechanism’s mandate would stop at the delivery of aid across Egypt’s Rafah terminal into Gaza. It would not encroach on the jurisdiction of local authorities and organizations or replace them. Within this strictly limited mandate, the aid mechanism and its task force wouldn’t pose a threat to any warring parties or provide political or military gain. It would operate impartially for the protection and rescue of civilians, most of whom are women and children.

An alternative mechanism to deliver humanitarian aid would not only save civilian lives, but it would also create a path toward a lasting solution that averts further crisis. Delivering the minimum required aid to Gaza could satisfy the basic needs of the 1.5 million people sheltering in Rafah within days. It would help reinforce Gaza’s devastated health care system and mitigate the risk of infectious diseases and chronic illnesses caused by malnutrition and medical shortages.

With an emergency mechanism in place that guarantees delivery without manipulation, donor countries and organizations would increase their efforts to send humanitarian aid to Gaza to satisfy the unprecedented level of need. Such guarantees could also contain panic across Gaza, creating a safer environment for organizations to transport and distribute aid throughout the strip. A continued flow of aid would gradually end the overwhelming of convoys by desperate civilians and undercut war profiteers and organized gangs seeking to commandeer shipments.

By hosting such an effort, Egypt would avoid its looming nightmare: a sudden influx of refugees crossing its borders in pursuit of safety and sustenance that would possibly deal a blow to the Camp David Accords, which maintains peace between Egypt and Israel. On a domestic level, the joint aid effort would address popular anger with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for failing to open the Rafah border crossing and unilaterally deliver aid to Gaza—with practical measures rather than ineffective statements and oppression of Egypt’s political opposition.

An alternative aid mechanism would also have far-reaching effects on growing regional conflict in the Middle East. While international powers and mediators are scrambling to contain hostilities between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel and the Houthi threat in the Red Sea, a practical approach to enforce a solution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza could advance potential negotiations. Both Hezbollah and the Houthis have repeatedly pointed to the siege on Gaza’s people in official statements; although both have other calculations behind their attacks against Israel and its interests, containing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza would serve as a step toward reaching a settlement on both fronts.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government will most certainly oppose any such efforts. But it is in the immediate power of the international community, and especially the Biden administration, to confront Israel and enforce solutions that will save lives. In this case, any Israeli opposition to the mechanism, whether by attempting to block its inception or by targeting aid after it enters Gaza, would be directed at a consortium of international and regional powers.

It would also contravene the provisional measures laid out by the International Court of Justice: that Israel “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

As Israel’s top provider of arms and aid, and in light of the potential threat that Biden’s policies toward the war in Gaza pose to his electoral prospects in November, it is in the administration’s interest to use its leverage to compel Israel not to block such an extraordinary measure. Failing to endorse and partner in such an effort would deepen the growing gap between the United States and the Middle East, leaving a vacuum that will inevitably be filled by other world powers.

Six months into the Israel-Hamas war, it would be naive to assume that any progress could be accomplished without an immediate and collaborative intervention by regional and international powers to remedy the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Only then will hindered talks toward a cease-fire agreement and a settlement of the war stand a chance.

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