Paul Component Engineering
View allAll Photos Tagged components,
Winter evenings, squabbling over which sibling had which piece. The top hat was my favourite for some reason.
For Smile on Saturday "tabletop game components".
34/122 pictures in 2022: game pieces
The main designers of this terrific ice sculpture at the hydroelectric power plant Niezelgrund are water drops, coldness and time. One drop alone wouldn't have effected anything here, without the other components. But the combination of these three elements were capable to creat this fugacious masterpiece.
For me this is the perfect symbol for live and the wish to achieve ore to create something. Yes, often the right circumstances are needed, but they alone are effecting nothing yet. Only with the permanent effort for my task, the passion of sustaining and proceeding, even if I can see barely any results at the beginning, make it possible for me to create something really extraordinary. And if finaly I'm the only one who is able to see, what extraordinary means, it still was worth it.
Die Hauptdesigner dieser grandiosen Eisskulpur am Wasserkraftwerk Niezelgrund sind Wassertropfen, Kälte und Zeit. Ein Tropfen allein würde hier nichts bewirken ohne die anderen Komponenten. Doch der Kombination aus den drei Elementen gelingt es, dieses vergängliche Meisterwerk zu erschaffen.
Für mich ein perfektes Sinnbild für das Leben und den Wunsch etwas zu erreichen oder etwas zu erschaffen. Ja, sehr häufig benötige ich die richtigen Rahmenbedingungen doch die allein bewiriken noch garnichts. Erst mein permanenter Einsatz für meine Sache die Leidenschaft des Durchhaltens, des Weitermachens, auch wenn die Ergebnisse anfangs noch kaum sichtbar sind, ermöglichen es, wirklich außergewöhnliches zu erreichen. Auch wenn ich schlußendlich der einzige bin, der zu erkennen vermag was außergewöhnlich bedeutet, hat es sich gelohnt.
more of this on my website at: www.shoot-to-catch.de
"Little Island at Pier 55 (stylized as Little Island @Pier55) is an artificial island park in the Hudson River west of Manhattan in New York City, adjoining Hudson River Park. Designed by Heatherwick Studio, it is near the intersection of West Street and 13th Street in the Meatpacking District and Chelsea neighborhoods of Manhattan. It is located slightly west of the Manhattan shoreline atop Hudson River Pier 55, connected to Hudson River Park in Manhattan by footbridges at 13th and 14th Streets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Little Island, a new, free public park pier within the larger Hudson River Park, opened to the public on May 21, 2021, providing New Yorkers and visitors from around the world with a unique green space unlike any other in New York City. Planned in partnership with the Hudson River Park Trust, Little Island was funded primarily through Barry Diller and the Diller-Von Furstenberg Family Foundation through an extraordinary philanthropic gift to the Hudson River Park.
Components of the pier, nestled among more than 350 species of flowers, trees and shrubs, include a 687-seat amphitheater and an intimate stage and lawn space, along with dazzling views of other portions of Hudson River Park, New York City and the Hudson River.
Little Island was designed by Thomas Heatherwick of Heatherwick Studio, with landscape design by Signe Nielsen of MNLA.
Little Island’s distinct exterior is supported by concrete piles. On top of the piles, 132 concrete “tulips” make up the structure of the park. Each tulip’s shape is unique and has a different weight load capacity to hold the soil, lawns, overlooks and trees. The original Pier 54 piles remain to provide habitat for aquatic life."
--- hudsonriverpark.org
Note: I finally visited here yesterday. It's something to explore when visiting NYC. Here you can see the WTC (World Trade Center) and Witney Museum in distance. BOY! even it's only in mid-80'sF yesterday, but, the humidly was unbearable. Was planning to visit "Witney Museum" nearby, it was closed (on Tuesdays). Here is close to the "High Line" and "Hudson Yards", so that you can also visit.
The best time to visit here is at dusk, you'd see the sunset in wide open view. My daughter & I were there around 3pm, when it was too sunny and humid.
This is a close-up photograph of the intricate, rusted and weathered components of an old threshing machine. Primarily used for wheat and oats, this piece of agricultural machinery dates back to the late 1800s. The lighting here emphasizes the textures and depth of the machinery, showing the various metal rods, chains, sprockets, and curved metal paddles.
Companies like the Wood Brothers in Des Moines, Iowa, manufactured this machine that helped revolutionize agriculture. However, farmers still needed the support of labor-intensive crews (8+ men). So, threshing rings were formed and acted as community cooperatives, with farmers sharing labor, machinery, and often moving from farm to farm during the harvest.
With endless fields of corn and soybeans today, I find it interesting that Iowa’s cash crop was initially wheat in the early 1800s. However, after facing crop failures, soil depletion, and pest issues with wheat, farmers pivoted to corn and hogs by the Civil War (1861-1865), primarily due to soil suitability and basic economics. Soybeans became popular in the 1920s and by 1969, Iowa had become the second-largest state in soybean production, harvesting 171 million bushels.
Developed with Darktable 4.8.0.
#smileonsaturday #tabletopgamecomponents
When i read the theme for the next Smile on Saturday Challenge then instantly Memories of my childhood came up. I don`t know how many Hours my friends an me have spent playing this great Game called RISK ! The Game is well known around the world and gets played since over 60 Years by Generations. Back in 1957 it got created by Albert Lamorisse, a french filmmaker. I still own the Game and we play it from time to time when we celebate game nights. So i took the chance to shoot an image of my DE LUXE Version of the Game for the theme quite a while ago.
Risk is a strategy board game of diplomacy, conflict and conquest for two to six players. The standard version is played on a board depicting a political map of the world, divided into forty-two territories, which are grouped into six continents. Turns rotate among players who control armies of playing pieces with which they attempt to capture territories from other players, with results determined by dice rolls. Players may form and dissolve alliances during the course of the game. The goal of the game is to occupy every territory on the board and, in doing so, eliminate the other players. The game can be lengthy, requiring several hours to multiple days to finish. European versions are structured so that each player has a limited "secret mission" objective that shortens the game.
Thank you for visits, comments and favs!
Vielen Dank für Eure Besuche, Kommentare und Sternchen!
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
Yahtzee has been played in our family over generations. We haven't played for years but I found the game in the back of a cupboard. Apart from the smell of moth balls, it still had some old scorecards from way back when.
For the Smile on Saturday group - theme Tabletop Game Components
'Moon Face' is a composite image created from components licensed from Shutterstock. This image was the basis for the previous image, Grid 2.
TIP: If you create an image from other components, the components should be useable in their own right. That will build up your library of images for future work.
Let me start by saying all Alvis cars were custom bodied. Alvis would only supply the rolling chassis complete with engine and drivetrain along with other chassis components. This lovely blue Alvis Three Litre Series III drophead coupé, also known as TE 21, is an automobile produced by English manufacturer Alvis between 1963 and 1966 with a body built by Mulliner Park Ward.
The 1963 Alvis TE21, powered by a 2993 cc overhead valve inline 6 cylinder engine, produced 130 bhp (97 kW) at 4000 rpm with 172 ft-lbs torque. This provided the car with a top speed of 107 mph (172 km/h). The TE21 also featured a 12.0-second 0-60 mph time.
Belgium Air Component F16AM departs for a sortie during Ex Cobra Warrior at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, March 2023.
Los componentes de una gran banda de música , aprovechando el momento de descanso de la procesión en el intyerior de la catedral, aaprocecharin para reponer fuerzas. Sus instrumentos, también.
The components of a large music band, taking advantage of the moment of rest of the procession inside the cathedral, took the opportunity to regain strength. His instruments, too.
Les composantes d'une grande fanfare, profitant du moment de repos du cortège à l'intérieur de la cathédrale, en ont profité pour reprendre des forces. Ses instruments aussi.
1958 VW pick up spent most of her life on a farm in Oklahoma. Over the last 4 years the truck has undergone a total nut and bolt restoration and has been re-engineered to introduce modern components. The Rolls Royce Viper 535 jet engine is from a fighter jet with an afterburner added to produce a maximum power output of 5000 lbs of thrust which can be roughly translated to 5000 BHP.
Belgium Air Component F16AM taxis to stand after a sortie during Ex Cobra Warrior at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, March 2023.
Nature’s Call Doberman Pinscher
1930 from sau motorcycles
“Neo-Classic Split Level” original design made from Jammin components
Heart - Wild Flowers, Exotics, Largo Coconut Palms, Tropical Grond Cover
Studio Skye - Red Acer
Falun Dafa, también conocido como Falun Gong, es una práctica espiritual que forma parte de la vida de millones de personas en todo el mundo. Arraigada en la tradición budista, consiste en dos componentes principales: mejorarse a través del estudio de las enseñanzas y practicar unos suaves ejercicios y meditación.
Tigercat 875 Logger on display at WAJAX Industrial Components on Riverside Drive in Mountjoy Township in the City of Timmins Northeastern Ontario Canada
"Right now, my focus is on British complicity in Israel's genocide. Britain continues to sell crucial components for Israel's F35 jets, which are slaughtering the people of Gaza.
Israeli soldiers are trained on British soil, and British nationals freely serve in the IDF while it commits heinous war crimes. Britain shares intelligence with Israel, flies RAF surveillance jets over Gaza. Annual trade between the two countries is worth £6bn a year - with Britain refusing to impose sweeping sanctions." - Owen Jones - www.owenjones.news/p/labour-just-banned-me?utm_campaign=p... ▪️ "When I tried to challenge [Emily] Thornberry, she tried the classic politician’s tactic of filibustering rather than answering the question. She then claimed she had only been supporting a temporary siege, admitting her position was a “mistake” - the first regret I’ve heard her expressed about what she said - and claiming that she had been told in confidence that Israel would only mount a limited Entebbe-style raid to rescue the hostages.
This was despite Israeli leaders and officials making clear their genocidal intent from day one, as I wrote at the time. She refused to say who told her this - and the claim that someone of influence was lying to British shadow ministers about Israel’s intentions is clearly newsworthy. She refused to divulge who, but a functioning media would try and investigate what she was talking about." Owen Jones▪️▪️▪️▪️HOLY GHOST ZONE, Blackpool
A perfect evening in Lisbon, as seen from Jardim do Castelo de Saint Jorge, where Lisbon is in its full glory.
Auswahlfoto
Für "Smile on Saturday"
Thema "Tabletop Game Components" am 17.09.2022.
A "Happy Smile on Saturday" 😊
and a good weekend.
Stay safe / Bleibt gesund.
Thank you for all your views, faves and comments.
I am the proud owner of a Watford FC monopoly set!
For the Smile on Saturday group theme TABLETOP GAME COMPONENTS
These components are essential for recognizing an object as a teapot. However, some teapots are so abstract or expressive that they only evoke the idea of a teapot.
Deze onderdelen zijn essentieel om een object als theepot te herkennen. Sommige theepotten zijn echter zo abstract of expressief voorgegeven dat ze alleen nog maar refereren aan het idee van een theepot.
Diese Bestandteile sind wesentlich, um ein Objekt als Teekanne zu erkennen. Manche Teekannen sind jedoch so abstrakt oder ausdrucksstark, dass sie die Vorstellung einer Teekanne nur erahnen lassen.
Ces éléments sont essentiels pour identifier une théière. Cependant, certaines théières sont si abstraites ou expressives qu’elles n’évoquent plus que l’idée même de théière.
P1160346
A Sea King of the Belgian Air Component taking part in the RIAT 2017 flying display. The Sea King entered service with the Belgian Air Force in 1976 and is due to be retired in 2018
long stories shortened... (discarded and abandoned and intertwined short stories) well..actually they are chunks and fragmets and notes of stories that never made it
____________________________________________
a young PhD math candidate writing his dissertation on an obscure arab mathematician from the middle ages who specialized in cycles and periods in infinite series and develops a process to determine prime number density in a large number space. (which is all and good) except this makes it an excellent tool to decrypting military grade encryption, which is based on the computational difficulty of factoring large numbers into their prime components
the arab mathematician was ultimately censured by the religious mullahs for developing tools to rationalize the infinite, which is of course the nature of Allah and for man to attempt to place Allah into a human scale is blasphemy
so the arab mathematician disappears and the young phd candidate finds that his dissertation has been suspended pending review but cant get any information on who is reviewing it
finally another young mathematician approaches him and starts a long discussion on math and the nature of numbers and the mathematicians love of the underlying structure of reality that math represents. the phd candidate is leary of this mathematician cause he wont answer what he does or where he went to school or how he knows so many cutting edge fields in math
eventually, the young mathematician offers the phd candidate a position with the NSA, National Security Agency, (where all the big crypto and high math goes on) but explains that if he accepts that he will essentially disappear from his current world. his work will be classified, he will not be able to publish in academic journals or speak in public, or talk about his work to his friends on the outside, but the compensation is that he
would be able to work unfettered with the greatest math minds in the country, totally funded, free to explore any field or fancy he thought. after a few moments of thought, the phd accepts.
then the story will go back to the arab mathematician who is also approached my a young beared mullah, who offers him a position within his group of thinkers who do ponder and explore the nature of nature reality and Allah through mathematics, but that by joining them he would need to disappear from the world, after a few minutes of thought, he too accepts...
--
Daniel sipped his 6th coffee (colloidal suspension for caffeine transport) while his batch jobs on ramanet, the Indian supergrid, finished their checksum verification. His chin, a bit stubbly, itched. His eyes, a bit red, were sore. The goa trance shoutcast feed had mushed into a fast cadence drone. The flat screen monitor warped and bulged with the oscillating fan blowing on Daniel's face
'O' glamorous larval life of a PhD student...' he jotted and doodle-circled on his notepad.
Daniel cracked his neck and jutted his jaw, stretching out the accumulation of kinks, as RamaNet finished the final integrity check on his dataset. this two hour round of processing on the Indian supergrid would cost about $130 out of his precious grant fund, but you couldnt beat the bargain. 120 minutes times 150,000 PCs in the RamaNet processing collective = 1,080,000,000 seconds or 18,000,000 minutes or 300,000 hours or 12500 days or 34.25 years of processing time for the price of a video game. Calculation was commoditized now. You uploaded your pre-fromatted dataset to RamaNet. the data was packeted and sent to out to 150,000 Indians who lent a few percents of never-to-be missed CPU cycles off their systems for background processing. when their alotted package was completed it was sent back to RamaNet for re-assembly into something coherent for the buyer. in return the Indians got a rebate on their net access charges or access to premier bollywood galleries or credit towards their own processing charges. a good deal all the way around. Daniel's dataset, an anthology of complex proofs from a long-dead arab mathematician, was queued with amateur weather forecast modeling, home-brewed digital CGI for indie movies, chaos theory-based currency trading algorithms, etc. the really high end, confidential jobs, like protein folding analysis or big pharm drug trials were more likely handled by the huge western collectives of several million collaborative systems, usually high-performance machines in dedicated corporate server farms. the cost there was out of Daniel's range, but you got a faster return and better promises of encryption for your buck.
Daniel scratched his scalp and flexed his fingers. 'two months from today i will be a doctor of mathematics...and no job. damnit. i need to find something fast.' Daniel calculated in his mind how quickly the student loans repayments would kick in and completely wipe him out. RamaNet would have done it in nanoseconds, ha! he laughed to himself. Daniel had avoided the rounds of job interviews and recommendations that passed his way. he was too absorbed in his research to look ahead, and perhaps a bit intimidated by the idea of the job hunt flea market. flexing his CV, getting a monkey suit, trying to explain his research to recruiters, who were often the same finger-counting business majors in college that made his skin crawl. Daniel always felt a bit embarrassed when he announced he was math PhD candidate. folks would immediately glaze over,
tsk tsk out a 'that's interesting', and swiftly change the subject. something will come up, he mantra'd to himself over and over, something will come up. stick with ali, there is something real in there, just a bit deeper. the real problem was his thesis advisor. dr. fuentes was not returning his calls, his secretary was not taking appointments from Daniel. he had submitted his finished draft of his thesis two weeks ago, but hadnt heard back since, except for a cryptic email saying that the review committee was having some issues with his paper and that Daniel would be hearing from him shortly. Daniel was rerunning his calculations on RamaNet to assuage the gnawing doubt that he completely botched some component of his argument and that the review committee was debating some manner of telling him to redo the entire effort. no PhD and no job. that would ice the cake. Daniel started calculating his body mass and general aerodynamic resistance relative to the height of the school cathedral to figure out if he had time to reach a terminal velocity before impact...only a failed math PhD would attempt to determine at what speed his body would smack concrete, he morbidly thought to himself.
ali ja'far muhammed ibn abdullah al-farisi slipped meditatively on his cup of water, thinking about his proof. he dipped a finger in the cup and held up a droplet of water under his fingertip, watching the sunlight prisimatically splay out on the mouth of the cup. 'praise be Allah and his wonderous bounty' he mumured to himself.
the elders had been in conference all day over his proof. though the heavy doors to their chamber were closed, he would occasionally hear muffled but distinctly angry shouts. ali sat on a divan in the anteroom, served numerous cups of tea by an obviously nervous secretary. ali knew there was deep resistance to his research, but for the life of him he couldnt figure out why. he was a simple mathematician. he came up with some unique observations. he wanted to share them with his peers...
_____________________________________________________
Overview: biotech researcher discovers a new life-extension technology and is murdered. He is cryogenically frozen for 150 years. When he is
revived he must stop a dark corporate conspiracy – and find his murderer.
Summer 2015 - Hot genius free-lance biotech researcher unravels the key component of a radical life-extension gene therapy that will ensure 300 years of robust life to its recipients. The researcher is murdered shortly after he hides the critical component. His distraught friend has him cryogenically frozen. 150 years later, the researcher is revived by the same major bio-med corporation for which he had originally been working.
Quickly he realizes that their motives are less than altruistic: his modification of the gene therapy is needed to resolve an unforeseen debilitation now creeping up in the recipients of the life-extension process. The recipients, now nearing 125 years off added life, are decompensating into psychotics. The researcher at first tries to remember and reconstruct what he did with the hidden critical component, but stops in disgust when he learns that in the past 150 years the life-extension therapy has been reserved solely for the ultra-affluent and has created an extreme and cruel global gerontocratic elite. He voices his disgust to his corporate minders, who cease being beneficent and show their true colors as trying to gain control of this critical technology in order to control the elites.
In the process of dealing with the corporation, he learns about his murder and begins investigating.As he comes closer to the identity of his murderer, he uncovers a wider conspiracy and is the target of more murder attempts.
He was killed by a friend in 2015. The friend was the CEO of a small bio-gen firm that the researcher was doing the LET work for. The CEO, a biz-head with a genetics academic background, took the researcher’s work and exploited it as his own, in the process growing his small firm into a bio-med powerhouse and him into one of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
The CEO also was the first recipient of the LET and is now 190 years old, but doesn’t look a day over 45. Smart, urbane, ruthless, the CEO used his wealth and position to start the cabal of Ultras. It is a faction of the top 50 smartest and wealthiest people in the world who have ‘ascended from the world’ (faked their demise) and control the global economy with their vast coordinated wealth. Perhaps they will call themselves ‘The Ascended’. We need to decide how the cabal lives. Are they sequestered on a luxurious island compound, or do they live in the open, surgically re-sculpted after each faked death, or do they live in the open.
Also we need to figure out what the world will look and feel like in 150 years.
As the ultras decompensate into psychosis, the CEO orders the researcher to be revived in order to find a cure. The CEO had the researcher’s lab notes decrypted and figured that the he was close if not successful in finding the missing component to stabilize the LET.
Tiberius Syndrome: the decline into cruel psychosis experienced by the ultras, named after the roman emperor Tiberius’ degenerate behavior after he sequestered himself on Capri.
The ironic twist might be that there is no cure, no stabilization. The psychosis is not the result of the LET alone, but also due in part to the unfettered ego/wills of the ultras. Absolute power corrupts…
________________________________________________________
a brazilian hacking syndicate was subcontracted by a st petersberg crew to run interference on a hit on SWIFT, the global currency clearinghouse notification network. The UniFavela clan was going to run a multi-flank raid. They specialized in fast propagating virii and had created a custom mail-in virus that exploited a few microsoft vulnerabilities that they had discovered and kept mum. Their target was a Latin American PR spokesman listed on the corporate web site for press queries. The PR flak would be just the sleepy guard on the wall for their virus to slip past. 30 minutes after opening an inocuous spoofed email from a French e-trade publication requesting clarification on the SWIFT-Indentrus partnership. the virus would port scan and map its entire site LAN, salmoning its way up the router paths till it found the deep waters of the main corporate campus network in Brussels. Shortly, the internal LAN at Brussels would be suffering switch and router buffer overflows and traffic would gasp, ack, and sputter. UniFavela would then towel whip out a vanilla DDOS on the main company web site, any INTERNIC-registered addresses, and any other system in the IP block reserved for SWIFT that had previously port scanned as interesting, or ,even, as nothing. Mongols charging the village gates and tossing flaming torches on thatched roofs. IT Operations would be running to and fro, trying to figure out the internal bandwidth crunch and if there was a bleedout causing the external net problems.
____________________________________________________________
The Post-Human Story of Minos:
the CEO of a powerful commercial combine is bore an illegitimate son by his indiscreet wife in retaliation for his own dalliances. the son has a hideous deformity but is fantastically brilliant - brilliant enough for the father overcome his own repulsion of the child - as a bastard and a freak. the father sequesters the child in an elaborate virtual domain. the child, a hacker savant, is used to breach competitor nets. but as his power in the digital realm expands, the child transforms into the tyrant-monster. using the nets, he lashes out at people who have caused him pain, then evolves into enjoying the taste of terror and fear. He becomes the Minotaur.
____________________________________________________________
'there was a mad scramble amongst all the big spook governments, dark side corporations, and the privacy maccabees once it was determined that quantum computation had left the tidal pool of academia, grown legs and air-breathing lungs, and was headed for the nat sec intel highlands. all previous encryption models were rendered obsolete, and worse, exposed. QC became an undefiable xray spotlight, laying bare any encrypted secret with a ease of opening a mathematical candy wrapper. And for a while it swung the advantage back to the state in the digital Boer War against the freecon partisans.'
____________________________________________________________
The Oort, to the Intras, looked as one people. Extra-stellar hillbillies, ekeing out a subsistance existence on extracted organics from the frozen crud comets and other planetesimals of the Oort Cloud that slung around the solar system in a 1K AU circuit. To the Oort there was no Oort. Each station, each kampong was distinct and seperate. Seperate dialects, traditions, norms, goals. Some were scientific collectives, some were tired mining operations, some were intense sectarian cults - they shared little between themselves beyond necessary trade links for scarce commodities.
---
A young prince is disgraced in an internal court scandal and sent into a quasi-exile on a worthless mission. On his travels he builds the wisdom and learns the skills necessary to be a just and effective leader.
His exile was a gambit by his patriarch to remove Genji from the arena of pointless court intrigues and develop him as a real leader. The patriarch dispatched a team of loyal praetorians to discreetly follow and protect Genji on his odyssey.
Genji was sent as an emissary to the Oort system. He must pass through the Martian-Saturnine corridor, populated with industrial trading guilds and their private militias.
----
Genealogy becomes paramount in a closed culture; hierarchy by heredity. Reference the roman patrician class’ death-grip obsession with lineage, or the medieval Japanese imperial court’s strict intra-elite caste system.
But in an era of extreme genetic engineering, how can bloodlines retain their importance? Perhaps this is the wrong question. Perhaps in an era of extreme genetic engineering, authentic bloodlines can only retain their importance. The longevity of an unchanged gene line demonstrates success in evolutionary competition. Over time however, the fitness of a rigidly enforced and ‘sequestered’ gene line will degrade. Consider the hemophilia of the European royal strata.
I would not want the imperial court of the inner system to be pure blue bloods, eschewing genetic manipulation. Rather I would have them take the opposite tack – and embrace genetic engineering in the pursuit of perfecting particular socially valued or distinctive attributes; a roman nose, elongated refined fingers, even the possession of certain ‘noble’ afflictions (for ex., the aforementioned hemophilia as a sign of noble lineage).
The elites should pursue genealogy with the same passion and gusto as horse breeders; studs and mares and percentages of bloodlines, enforced and suppressed gene expressions, surrogates, and gene modes des saisons.
__________________________________________________________
a bum finds a the wallet and keys of a man who jumped from a bridge
he goes to his townhouse to find something to eat or steal
is impressed and overwhelmed with the man's townhouse
showers, eats, gets cleaned up, finds some clothes
is ready to leave when he helps a woman wrestling with groceries at her door
she thanks him, but looks stunned.
‘are you the man in #560? umm..i have lived here for 3 years and have never actually seen you. you seem to leave so early in the morning and get
home so late and keep to yourself.’
they spend 30 minutes talking, having a generally warm friendly encounter.
‘well, I am so glad to have finally met you. Hope to see you soon.’ As she closes her door, the bum turns to leave but pauses and thinks for a moment, then goes back into the man's townhouse
he pours through the man's papers and keepsakes and learns that the man has no family that he speaks with, no friends, lives off a well-endowed trust fund
and
the bum moves in and takes over the mans identity
he brings warmth and sincerity to the man's identity
what makes a hermit tick? what lengths do they go to to remove themselves from society? does it become a game to avoid contact, trying to become a shadow, a phantom? does society dissolve away as a mental force in their thoughts, atrophy away or does it become an amputated impression?
what divsion line stands between a hermit and convict in solitary? the hermit, by and large, chooses their isolation, the convict has it enforced upon them. at what point does the human need for society or socialization collapse? is there anything left that we can inspect and evaluate? a hermit, however, is able to maintain walls against the Great Other, which would imply that they are seeking refuge from the world. a schizo or an autistic will be physically surrounded by others but unable or incapable of making contact.
when does the will to contact die? what is left over? do humans require contact to retain our humanity? can you love and sacrifice in a vacuum?
what defines humanity? oooh, a big question...
___________________________________________________________________
genetic engineering will continue to deconstruct the human species
there will be catastrophic disasters: gene sequence specific viruses engineered to attack 'types' of people. Der Genkampf
petroleum will be replaced- hydrogen-powered locomotion and green power (in the wealthy states). the poor states will continue to be held hostage to oil politics
(cultures and civilizations do not move forward uneringly. they spasticly jerk forward and fro, in clumps andgrains, never ever as a lemming death drive.)
developed economies will be netized. a new state structure will be needed to manage and dsitribute resources. the corporate structure, the commercial backbone of the capitalist democracy, will replace the republic. it is flexible to markets and political forces, insistent on accountability, it provides a sufficient compromise between individual representation and republican government. they will begin their political evolution as projects in community development. assurances of an educated workforce by charter education. assurances of uninterrupted utilities by running their own power/water etc. net-based marketplaces create corporate agoras. employees are in fact de facto citizens of the corporation. citizenship, or regular employment, will be a reward for merit, stock shares will count towards suffrage.
great corporate collectives will arise. housing, education, security...all the needs of the middle class will be absorbed in the corporate state. the tradtional state will cede roles and responsibilities to the corporate state as their resources dwindle. a few isolated violent reactions (military or legal)by the republics against the corporate states, but they will fail over time. against, or more so, in conjunction with the homogenized corporatsists wil be the diasporae, non-corporates will glom to other modes of networked alignment, ethnic allegiance will become stronger over time - as the chinese, indian, and jewish disporaestrengthen as a formula for a successful competition against/with the corporates.
the american state, succored by its overwhelming techo-military supremancy, loses its mission, its vision - substitutes will to dominate for will to excel - and falls into the deep narcotic, insulated slumber of the unassailable. GE, nano, and the banknote net weaken the mythic cohesion of the american spirit. we are no longer united by common experience (mass-mediated or otherwise) the promise of science to make us stronger, smarter, near immortal is held like a manifest destiny or a divine IOU for services rendered to humanity.
Edited by Knobby Plastic. Sorry for the re-post, but it looks a lot better now. =)
Blade design inspired by TheBrick's Ceremonial Dagger.
Built for the Build Your Own Weapons Contest over at the LCN
Image Copyright © 2021 by Craig Paup. All rights reserved.
Any use, printed or digital, in whole or edited, requires my written permission.
For anyone interested, a breakdown of the main components. I would love to see further iterations, so please feel free to build your own version!
Feel free to ask questions or comment.
1985 Opel Manta GT/E 3-door.
Last MoT test expired in June 2023 (SORN).
It failed a test in November 2023 -
Nearside front direction indicator not working (4.4.1 (a) (ii)) - Major
Nearside front suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major
Nearside front windscreen wiper does not clear the windscreen effectively (3.4 (b) (ii)) - Major
Offside front seat belt anchorage prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced inner / outer sill (7.1.1 (a) (i)) - Major
Offside front suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major
Offside front suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength inner wheel arch (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major
Offside front windscreen wiper does not clear the windscreen effectively (3.4 (b) (ii)) - Major