text:
For Money

Week 2 of the Daily Om writing course involves work.

For money, I am an insurance follow up representative in the billing department of a very large, world-renowned hospital system. That should make me proud. In actuality, it does not. To be perfectly frank, I have never worked in such a … well … toxic environment, and that really says something.

See, I started this job after the pandemic introduced itself to the world, so I’ve been working from home since day one. I’ve never experienced their “in office” environment, but if it’s anything like the “at home” environment… let’s just say I’m going to have to actively pursue other avenues.

Most of my adult life was spent in the medical billing field. I gained all of my experience from a good company that cared both about their patients and about the people who run their processes and make things happen… you know, the workers. Every day I worked there, I felt valued, appreciated, and like what I had to say mattered. Where I’m at now? I have none of these things. In fact, it’s not a matter of simply not having them. Personally, I’d call it less than zero. In my world, that is a possibility.

Life tends to sling shit around, so, for the sake of practicality and for the sake of my sanity, I had to leave the job. I walked away from a great paycheck, excellent benefits, people I loved being around, and feeling cared about. Sure, I was a cog in the machine, but I was well-oiled and tended to. Any accumulated grease and grime were of my own doing, and they had a lot more to do with me and my own personal issues than they had to do with what I did to make money.

When I left that job, I took some time off to see if I could figure out what I truly wanted to do. I ended up working technical support for a huge company. I spent exactly one year of my life walking retail workers through the process of restarting their cash registers. For a lot of reasons, it simply wasn’t my thing. See… in the medical field, sure I was billing outrageous sums to people who may or may not be able to pay, but in the daily battle with insurance companies and with the “powers that be,” I, more often than not, was left feeling like I was genuinely able to help others, so I decided to go back to that.

Currently, I’m left wondering if that was the grandest idea I’ve ever had. Not because the specifics of the job don’t resonate with me, but because of where I am.

People and their attitudes about other people and life, in general, matter. You’re never going to have a good and easy time in life when you encourage adversarial relationships with people and entities who can make your lives easier or more difficult depending on your approach.

There are a lot of avenues to this “work” topic I’d like to explore, so there will probably be several posts for it. For now, I’m tired of writing and am struggling for words. This is the last day of my long weekend, and I don’t want to spend it bemoaning what I’ve lost and dreading what I get to go back to tomorrow.

Have a great Sunday!

State of The Dissy

I’m finding it difficult to share these days. I seem to have fallen back into the headspace of, “no one gives a shit.” It’s not really in a “bad” way, though. It’s more like something I can’t quite describe.

I’m down to 1 twenty-five mg tablet of Effexor per day. I quit taking the Clonidine with it, as it was making me tired.

All in all, I’m feeling like a reasonably competent human being. Every day isn’t perfect, but I feel like I can successfully navigate through what comes my way.

At first, I thought I may want to stop drinking during my weaning off period. I felt, a couple weeks ago, like I was getting a little irrationally angry, but I’m thinking that may have been more PMS related than anything else. I had my once-a-week vodka drink last night, and I was just fine.

Without the Clonidine, the feelings of vertigo are a little more frequent, but they’re nothing that isn’t manageable.

I’m still seeing the shrink. I’m trying to decide if she feels too basic for me or if I’m just looking for an excuse to not engage. I’ve been known to do that from time to time (meaning, every other damn time I’ve spent any time with a mental health professional).

She is heavily encouraging me to look for a new job. The one I currently have is not contributing anything meaningful to my life, and, in fact, it makes me pretty irritated every time I’m here. It’s also made worse by the fact that I can’t exactly cover my bills and enjoy my life on my current salary. I guess we will see what we will see. She seems to have a lot of faith in my intelligence and my ability to do better for myself. Me? I’m fraught with impostor syndrome.

My sista and I have been hitting up a yoga class twice per week. We’ve been doing a yin yoga class and a vinyasa flow class. I’ve done yin before, and I suppose this class is ok. Personally, I think, in order to get the desired result, longer than an hour is needed. But, it’s something fun to do with Barb. Maybe, one day, we can do some work with the dvds I have. You know, after I have space in my house.

So, that’s about all that’s new in my world.

At Least the Stormtroopers Aren’t Coming to Get Me… yet.

Once, a long time ago, I told one of my “doctors” that Prozac was not helping me. For some reason, he decided to try me on some hard core crap. I can’t even remember the name of it, but that medication taught me all about side-effects. I guess some folks out there may have found them amusing. Me? not so much.

One evening, probably about 30 minutes after taking my medication, I left work. After stopping at the local shopping center (shit, are they even called that anymore?), I went about my drive home. I drove under a bridge and came to a stop at a traffic light. As I waited to turn left onto the expressway, I looked into my rear-view mirror.

I shit you not…

I saw a fucking Stormtrooper walking toward me, all business-like with his gun drawn. I mean, not that he’d have hit me or anything… But still… fuh-reeeeeeaky.

This is not The Dissy you are looking for.

I squeezed my eyes shut, shook my head, and looked again. As luck would have it, it was just a dude on a white crotch-rocket wearing a white jacket and a white helmet.

Fast forward to current times and current events…

When I advised my doctor (different from the doctor mentioned above) that I wanted to discontinue the Effexor, she told me she was going to prescribe something called Clonidine to help with side-effects.

Now, when I am prescribed a medication I’ve never heard of before, I go out of my way to dig up ALL the information I can find about it. You know… because I want to know if my arm hair is going to fall out, or if I’m going to grow some testicles from my belly button.

Luckily, the information only said they may cause some hallucinations.

I kind of thought that was bullshit until the other night.

I keep seeing movement around me. Shadowy figures and images. Usually, it’s just the screen door blowing in the breeze or the clock changing time, but for that minute, there is something in the room with me.

That aside, my mood has been excellent. I’m not going to lie and say I’ve been joyous one hundred percent of the time, but I’ve been able to cope successfully with things like anger, loneliness, sadness, and happiness.

I am, once again, experiencing pure, genuine laughter, and, thanks to a bit of flirtation, I am starting to notice other feelings returning. (“hello, lady parts, how you doin’?)

Everybody Loves Joey.

But… that’s where I am right now. Jumping at shadows and gladly interacting with myself again.

On a Partly Sunny Day

“I’ve always known that the mirror never lies…”

I haven’t checked in for a few days. Part of me feels like I really haven’t had anything new to add. Part of me feels like I’ve dropped the ball.

I had my third visit with the new therapist. I’m sort of feeling like she is throwing basic shit at me. Shit that may not occur to someone who hasn’t made it a life’s pursuit of understanding what’s going on in his or her noggin.

But, we will play the game her way for now.

This week, I’m supposed to observe my inner dialogue and see what kind of themes I come up with. Ummm… derr…

I’m very judgy about some things, mostly toward myself.
I’m surprisingly non-judgy about some things most people judge harshly.
A lot of time I’m singing to myself, mostly songs I made up for my dog.
And I’m not the most forgiving person anyone will ever meet. Particularly toward myself.

Weaning off the Effexor is still going okay. Nothing horrible has happened. I haven’t shanked anyone. I still feel mostly tired. I’ve had challenges to my decision. Things have come up that may push me back into a funk or make me unreasonably angry. I feel like I responded at an appropriate level, and the most fun thing happened.

I realized I didn’t even really give a whole lot of fucks about it.

I’m thinking a lot of good will come of this.

I went to dinner with Tama and Mary last night. They took me out for my birthday. I really miss seeing them both regularly and spending regular time with them. I need to figure out how to correct that.

I have a lot of ideas and plans brewing, and I’m feeling very optimistic about the ways life is shaping up.

Every night, before I go to bed, I do a guided meditation with Kim Eng. I have a series on Audibles called “Meditations for a New Earth.” I really enjoy all of the meditations, and I absolutely love her soothing voice. I love that they aren’t super-complicated meditations that ask you to visualize some complex journey/time/place/entities. It’s all very straight-forward. So allow me to recommend this to you. She does also have Yin Yoga and Chi Flow Yoga dvds. Those can be gotten through, though, I did find mine on Amazon for slightly less.

As this weaning off of Effexor project progresses, I’m finding a lot of differences in myself that are hard to put into words. Today, the worst thing is that I feel tired. I think it’s an effect from the Clonidine. As for my moods… they’ve been fairly stable. There’s a small part of me that is worried this won’t last, but I am able to successfully not allow that nagging little anxiety take control and ruin my day.

I keep trying to make it to a yoga class, but I haven’t yet. I’ve been putting in some overtime at work, and I also took Daisy-Lou toy shopping this morning before I came to work. She needs a new supply every couple of weeks or so. She flat-out destroys her toys. One day, I’m just going to shut up and get her a Bark Box subscription.

The bouts of mild vertigo haven’t happened today, which is a good thing. Not that they were so troublesome.

That’s really about it for now.

I’ll check in tomorrow when I’m more alert and awake. haha. Hallelujah… it’s almost time to go home and sleep.

Wait What??

Right now, I just really wish I had some chocolate pudding. Jello brand, sugar free, and with the layer of vanilla in the middle.

The other day, I saw an offer someone was extending. For a nominal fee, the person in question will re-blog your blog. What the actual FUCK? I am not down with this in any way, shape, or form. I think it’s one of the purest forms of bullshit I have ever heard of.

“here’s my money, now re-blog my bullshit writing and ideas…”
“I don’t have any money, so please skip over my well-written, thought-provoking blogs.”

Is this the state of blogging these days? The very thought kind of makes me want to barf.

Actually, it really makes me miss MySpace. I had a wonderful blog there. I had a huge following, and when I was shared, it was because people liked, admired, or respected what I had to say or because I had amused them, and the same applied when I shared someone else’s material.

Enough of that…

Day three of weaning off Effexor:

I feel like I’m sleeping a little better, and, emotionally, I feel pretty steady. I’d say “good,” but I feel a little flat. I’m still not falling into any pockets of despair, and I can bring myself “up,” but I sort of feel kind of dull. Maybe it’s because I had to be to work at 10 for a few hours of overtime.

Physically, I feel okay. I do get a dizzy spell here and there, and I get the brain jolts on occasion. I thought the vertigo was going to be more of a factor, as I got a pretty good case of that yesterday. It’s very mild today.

The nurse practitioner I was seeing (who initially prescribed the Effexor) said I was having a hard time sleeping because Effexor is partially a norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitor, which means it will increase adrenaline in your system. It’s a sizeable difference I’m feeling with cutting the dose by so much. I’m sure it’ll continue to improve. I think that’s why I’m sleeping better, and I think it’s decreasing my anxiety.

I need to focus on finding natural ways to increase my energy. I need to get back into an exercise routine, and I need to make sure to eat well. Hopefully, the therapist and I can work out why I seem so neglectful of myself.

Today, I would continue to call this experience good. The telling times will be in about 5-10 days when PMS kicks in. muaaaahahahahahahaaaaa…

Season of the Witch

This morning, I attended my first crone circle gathering. It was the most positive, uplifting thing I’ve experienced in a very, very long time. I can’t wait to go back.

The Crone is a symbol of inherent wisdom that comes from experience. She has lived through love, sorrow, hope, and fear, coming out of it all a wise and confident spirit. Through these experiences she has learned the secrets of life and death and of the mysteries beyond this world.

I’ve been looking forward to cronehood for a very long time. As I understand it, a lot of people fear this stage of life because it’s that proverbial “one step closer to death” thing. For me, this stage of life is about wisdom. As indicated above, the wisdom that comes from experience or the act of living.

In the past, crones were highly respected for their wisdom and knowledge. They had a prominent place in their families and communities. These days, they are hidden away with their infirmities and their wrinkles. How sad is it that all of this wisdom and all of those stories are going unheard?

As for me? I am thankful that I have lived long enough to see this stage of life. I am thankful that I am the kind of person who does learn, grow, and evolve in a way that builds the wisdom that comes from experience and living. So many do not. They either learn nothing, remain stagnant in their negative feelings, or become hardened and bitter with life. To me, that’s just sad.

I’ve been in such a rut here lately, but I know, and I have always known that I will get out of this pit. This too, shall pass. There are valuable lessons here, and I will make them mine. I will transmute them into the wisdom of the ages, and I will share all that I have with the younger generations. This, in my humble opinion, is what keeps mankind moving forward.

Ancient Crone,
You are the source of eternal knowledge
That leads to the completion of the spirit.
Let my soul seek your lessons,
And strive to understand your mysteries.
I will not fear the darkness
For I know you wait for me within it.

Ancient Crone,
Cleansing waters of wisdom,
I embrace you within myself,
And dance with you ‘round the well.
Let me be a seeker of knowledge,
And courageous in the face of darkness.
My heart sings your melody
And my spirit is forever whole.

Verses from part of the book of tridea by ps. grian debandia of circle of the green

Here is to the knowing.
Here is to the growing.
Here is to the vision.
Here is to the calling.

Best wishes!

Boom Boom Boom

She said she thinks I’m a firecracker. If she only knew. I’m talking about my shrink, of course.

This was after she asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I communicated it quite clearly. Sure, lady, I have an idea and zero clues how to make it happen.

This clinic works on a 45 minute hour, and I suppose it would feel more helpful if I went more than once every two weeks. I do really like her, though.

This time, I was a little more down than I was last time. I guess I’m trying to decide if I’m doing that thing I always do… Usually, I act like I’m in better shape than I actually am so the therapist ends up wondering why I’m even there. It was my brilliant idea to go there, so why would I want to talk myself out of needing help?

I feel like this is going to be a slow process for a while. That’s okay, I suppose. I have time.

Later in the evening, I went to dinner with a friend. It’s amazing I even made it out of the house. This was supposed to happen last week, but my dog was sick, so I wanted to keep close to her in case I needed to take her to the emergency vet. I feel like I might have found another excuse to reschedule just because I’m so out of the loop and out of practice with the whole “going out” process that the thought of socializing gives me anxiety. Add to the mix that this isn’t a friend I see very often, and it’s the first time we’ve hung out without the rest of our mutual friends being there, and there’s a recipe for me to sit there looking like a deer in headlights.

Let’s just say I’m a teensy bit of an awkward person. Well… I guess that’s what pina coladas are for. It does make one wonder, though, when and why this shit started happening. I’ve never been a particularly awkward person before. I’m not the best with small talk, but, hey, I probably wouldn’t be hanging out with this friend if I felt like that was an expectation.

“Let’s talk about the weather.”
“Let me choke you with this bowl of tortilla chips.”

I have a few friends coming over on Tuesday for my birthday. That felt like the right thing to do. I think I might make a cake, too. I want a damn cake, and I don’t want anyone to go buy me one because, unless it’s NY style cheesecake from Giant Eagle, it will be wrong, and I rang in my birthday last year with cheesecake, and, while it was wonderful, I really just want some regular, normal cake.

So, I’m basically just rambling on now trying to take up time at work. It’s slow here. I’d better stop rambling, though. Along with small talk, that’s another thing I’m not especially fond of.

Til we meet again.

Truth or Consequences

You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own and you know what you know.
And you are the one who’ll decide where to go,
Dr. Seuss

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
Ernest Hemingway

Hmmm… I wonder if I’m ready to bleed.

People talk so much about finding or knowing their “truth.” I’m still trying to figure out what that means.

For me, everything is so subjective; everything changes from day to day and sometimes from minute to minute. How can there be a “truth”?

Truth, to me, indicates yes or no/black or white or some other absolute. I have made a practice of trying hard to not engage in absolutes.

Feeling this way makes me feel like part of me is lacking, somehow. Because I haven’t discovered my “truth,” there’s some part of fulfillment/discovery/enlightenment that I’m missing out on.

Yes. A lot of times, I don’t even know who in the hell I actually am. Wanna know the freaky thing? Nine out of ten times, I’m perfectly okay with that. That leaves a lot of doors open for me, and it has given me many opportunities and put me in contact with a lot of great people.

Truth, though? I’ll let you know if I ever find some deep, meaningful truth buried with my soul. It would surprise me, though. I love the shades of grey out there.

Hmmm… maybe my truth is that there is no truth.


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SOLOS Consultants | Nottingham to become Gigabit City – how will it affect the digital landscape?
SOLOS Social
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Update - October 2016

Nottingham to become Gigabit City – how will it affect the digital landscape?

Posted by  on
October 10, 2017
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The city of Nottingham is make the switch to hyper-fast broadband this autumn, after a massive 70 kilometres of digital infrastructure is upgraded underneath the city’s streets.

It is not only homeowners embracing the news, as reported in the Nottingham Post. Digital, tech and IT businesses are all set to benefit from the improvements, which could do a huge amount for improving the city’s digital skills and putting Nottingham on the map as a world leader for digital innovation. The move has led to Nottingham being dubbed ‘Gigabit City’.

Almost 3,000 businesses and organisations within the upgrade area – which stretches from Wollaton to Carlton – will be able to access the lightning-fast new service. If the connection is reliable and available quickly, it could offer huge advantages for businesses which make intensive use of high bandwidth applications, as well as those looking to expand. It could also lead to e-learning opportunities in schools along with a whole host of high-tech city improvements such as intelligent traffic management systems.

60 times faster than the average

How fast is hyper-fast broadband exactly? The new system in Nottingham is believed to offer download speeds that are around 60 times faster than the average UK speed, which currently offers speeds of 16.5 megabits per second.

Tech City predictions come true

In the latest Tech Nation 2017 report, published by Tech City, Nottingham was one of the UK cities singled out as a digital tech growth hotspot. With the investment in digital infrastructure and other exciting news – such as £8.7 million in funding awarded to Nottingham Trent University’s innovative new Science and Technology Centre – it looks very likely that the report’s predictions will come true in a shorter timeframe than anyone expected.

Rob Hamlin at CityFibre, which is tasked with rolling out the hyper-fast broadband upgrades across Nottingham, explains:

“Nottingham is a hugely ambitious city with a thriving business community, but, like many areas in the UK, its potential as a leading player in the UK’s digital economy is not yet being recognised.

“And while the Midlands Engine Strategy focuses on transport and manufacturing infrastructure, it’s vital that all plans for growth and development acknowledge the importance of reliable, future-proof connectivity as new industries emerge and traditional industries evolve to meet the demands of the digital age.

“Our investment in Nottingham will therefore stand to give city businesses and services a modern foundation for growth, investment and innovation and a proven toolkit for increased efficiency, productivity and competitiveness.”

Recruiting or job-hunting in the digital industry?

If you’re involved in the market for digital jobs in Nottingham, or you’re a tech business looking to recruit the brightest and best talent, SOLOS Consultants can help. We specialise in digital, IT and tech recruitment and handily, we’re based in Nottingham – so we have expert knowledge of the local digital jobs scene. Please get in touch to find out more about how we can help.

Tel: 0115 927 4400
Fax: 0115 880 0900


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• Rose Heart Bomb Set
  • Rose Heart Bomb Set
  • Rose Heart Bomb Set

Rose Heart Bomb Set

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The set contains 4 beautifully smelling bath bombs that will leave the skin smelling good. Our bath bombs are made with a blend of sea salts and essential oils our bath bombs are natural and they are enriched with avocado oils to nourish and pamper. Skin will be soft, silky and nourished while smelling gorgeous.

This gift set is provided in a white kraft box with satin ribbon allowing you to present it directly to a cherished Mother, beloved partner or your dearest sister on the next special occasion.

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Gift Box size - 210 x 50 x 70 mm.
Each bath bomb weight approx. 70g.


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Hydrophil® Kids' Bamboo Toothbrush

£2.99 £4

A high quality bamboo toothbrush for children. Most importantly, plant based castor oil is used to make the bristles. Typically, bamboo toothbrushes have Nylon bristles, hence plastic.

  • bamboo toothbrush
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Hydrophil bamboo toothbrushes have a neutral carbon footprint. Because Hydrophil aims to be the pioneer in producing carbon neutral household products, they offset the CO2 emission from the production process. As a result they support a drinking project in Odisha.


text:
She see herself in the mirror,
She sees her reflection and she is pretty sure she loathes it.
Why does she feel unworthy of being adored,
Why does she feel unworthy of self-love,
Is it the random comment that points out how her body has changed?
Or is it the specific judgmental voices in her head that seems to be ashamed of her?
Or is it the casual insults used by her loved ones in a “joking way”?
Should she tell them that it bothers her?
Should she tell them that it’s depression that is making her eat uncontrollably?
Should she tell them that she starves herself whole day out of loneliness ?
Should she tell them that she can’t change her genes?
Or should she shut them off as its none of their business?
But what does she tell her inner voices?
Who placed such dialogues in there..
Was it the parent who rejected the 12 year old’s changing body,
Was it the crush who rejected a genuine admirer,
Was it the school teacher that rejected the talent just because of a number on scale of weight or colour.
When did we start treating a child like show stopper,
When did we start berating a child for his or her individuality,
When did we start comparing it with the poster child when in reality the child is an unique perfect creation.
It is time to stop, it is time to think before we say or look at a child,
Because it is watching us, observing us and learning from us.
Strangely it adopts our impression of him and continue to treat himself the way we did.
We are the voices,
Think before you act in front of a child,
As a broken adult she will shut other’s mouth but won’t be easily be able to shut the voices in her head…

The unoriginals…

You take other’s land in the name of exploring and civilizing,
You abuse the originals both
by scarring their bodies
and brain washing their minds
to make them feel inferior,
But now you want boundary warriors to take the right of people;
The right to go to any part of this planet
irrespective of race, gender, language and education;
The right that you discovered for yourself but now keeping it in a museum unknown.
The past won’t forget, the present won’t forgive
but your future will be horrific because
your victories will be built on graves of humanity…

“She deface herself… “

She is harmful for herself because she let’s in toxic people,
She is dangerous for herself because she never says no,
She is unsuitable for herself because she let’s people walk all over her;
You must think it’s her fault to not take stand for herself,
But let me tell you that the little her couldn’t think for herself,
The little her searched love in pain,
The little her believed that being hurt was good and normal,
Because it came from ‘them’;
‘Them’were the people with whom she started her life.
How do you expect that she would have questioned her blood,
So, now that’s how it all hardwired in her brain.
She is not unfamiliar with the terrible mishap;
And she knows that she is in love with pain…

“A Life To Live”

Our average life span in this human body is around 69-71 years which I hope would increase with medical advancement, research and better living conditions.

‘To live’ is very different than to just exist in this universe. To live is completely different than mechanically pass the seconds, hours, days, months, even years. I don’t know about others but I feel disappointed every time I look back to an ending year and cannot recollect times when I felt significantly alive, when I felt lucky to be present on this beautiful planet earth.

I have to admit that I had misconception about the term ‘to live’ or ‘to feel alive’. I honestly thought and believed that living includes only the part of life where I am smiling, laughing, feeling passionate, spending time with loved ones, having the blissful moments of being loved and to love.

I guess it’s no one’s fault to feel that way as we all are influenced by our surrounding world. Sadly our world has stereotypical viewpoint towards the terms ‘to live’ or ‘to feel alive’, which impacts our thought process.

From my experience, the times when I am absolutely miserable are the times I feel most alive… But how is that? You may ask.

Those are the times when importance of breathing becomes more apparent as my heart feels heavier than a rock and the gravity has more value and power that works best to keep me down on my bed. It even makes it impossible to get up and have a glass of water myself.

Those unbearable moments seem to amplify and do not seem to follow universal laws of time. It sounds a horrible place to be at but if I see those times from an unbiased eye, as a third person, I realize that in those moments, I built my strength and courage. I fought hard to live even if it seemed pointless. It made me resilient and it made me who I am: A fighter and a survivor.

I am fan of all the easy, rewarding moments of my life but the times that broke me are the real heroes and inspiration that made me feel pain but made me realize that I exist. They shook me hard but to make me even sturdier.

Maybe we should all stop running from the painful, lonely, discomforting moments of life because these will only build our characters and make us more grateful of what we have: “A life to live”

“What is hope? “

What is hope, I always wonder,
What it is not, that I can tell but
What it is, is hard to pin down.
It is not a confirmation of future,
But it is faith in it,
Hope is not to know that things will happen how you want them now,
But having a belief that they will work out as they need to ,
For you to grow into a stronger person.
Hope can’t come by self doubt,
Because meaning of life starts from you.
Hope can come by becoming self reliant and by taking charge of the situation.
Hope doesn’t belongs to those who let themselves push around by other’s will and opinions.
Hope belongs to those who are brave enough to stand right when everyone is wrong.
The power of hope is not when everything goes perfectly as you imagined,
But the power of hope is when you rise above from a completely hostile situation.
Those who are enjoying are definitely bearer of hope but those who are struggling and enduring are creator of hope.

“The Mesmerizing Hell”

Keep going on,
Keep feeling it,
It will continue till you can’t take it anymore,
Because you are going through hell.
What you can do best is to keep going on,
Because staying at one point of it will increase your end time,
So keep going on through hell,
Feel the heartbreak,
Feel the unseen bruises,
Feel the loneliness,
Feel the helplessness;
You should keep going on through hell,
Not because you will cease in the end of it,
But because you will begin at the end of the hell…
Your struggles will Break you but they are the ones that will make you braver,
You will fall down but as you persevere you will reach unthinkable heights,
You will be lonely but it will make you self reliant ;
Before you know you will reach your content state;
So go on through the hell,
Because you will begin at the end of hell…

“Weary gut “

You won’t know the dark sadness of my lonely heart,
I would say, you won’t want to know how it feels to have such dreadful thoughts.
Searching for the rush people dive from the mountain cliff,
I get rush from the stress of my burning heart.
The loneliness of my gut is something I can never explain,
I miss you more because you make me more sane.
I have you in my heart and it smiles like the morning sky,
But my heart is afraid because it has never been this joyful before;
It always wait in terror to be all taken away…

Hours of darkness : Part 2

Night Speaks To Me,
The Words That Echoes In My Heart,
It Is Like A Scared Little Girl,
Who Is Afraid Of The Dark.
Night Opens Up The Door Of The Past,
It Is A Haunting Song
That Is Stuck In The Heart.
Night Talks To Me About
Our Fears And Secrets,
It Questions Me If
They Would Come True…
I Am Pretty Sure
It Is Not Intentional,
Night Is Just Like A Little Girl,
Afraid Of The Unknown.
I Comfort Myself And The Night
As We Both Are Anxious,
That I Am With You Forever
And You Won’t Leave My Side.
What Is The Fear And
Why To Be Afraid,
When We Always Find
A Way Back To Each Other
No Matter No One Stays,
We Come Back For This Time,
We Come Back To Despair,
We Come Back To Solitude,
We Come Back To Dark Thoughts
That No one Dares To Express…

” Apathetic Truth”

The Sun Still Rise Even
When My Soul Is Too Tired To Wake Up,
The Darkness Of The Night Still Arrives Even
When I Want To Keep Living
A Beautiful Day Of Bliss;
Never Have I Ever Seen A Justice So Unbiased,
That Is Sturdy Even If The World Is Ending…


text:
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On the llam: ‘Very chill’ llama found wandering off highway

Weird News

Posted: Jan 6, 2021 / 11:14 AM EST Updated: Jan 6, 2021 / 11:14 AM EST

This Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, photo released by Newburyport/West Newbury Animal Control shows a male llama that was found Monday alone in a field near Interstate 95 in Newburyport, Mass. The llama was temporarily kept at a local farm until its owner could be located. (Kayla Provencher/Newburyport/West Newbury Animal Control via AP)

NEWBURYPORT, Mass. (AP) — A passerby spotted a wandering llama in a field off an interstate in Massachusetts and with the help of an animal control officer, brought it to a farm for safekeeping.

Patrick Boddy was driving in Newburyport when he spotted the male gray-and-white llama, stopped his truck and approached it on Monday, the Boston Globe reported.

The llama acted “very chill,” as he walked up to him, Boddy told the newspaper.

“I had my arm around the thing, kind of calming him down. It was just really gentle and friendly. I knew it must’ve been some kind of pet or something,” said Boddy.

Eventually, Kayla Provencher, the animal control officer for Newburyport and West Newbury, was alerted and joined Boddy in the field with the llama. They called around to local farms to see if any were missing a llama, the newspaper reported.

“I’m not sure where he came from or how he got there,” Provencher told The Associated Press, but he was hungry and drank a lot of water, indicating he was in need of some care, she said. The state does have records of barn inspections, but she said none of the local farms are missing llamas.

Provencher does not have any leads on the wandering llama’s owner, even after posting photos of him on the animal control’s Facebook page.

For now, the llama is being housed just across the state line in New Hampshire with farm owner Carly LeSage. She owns other livestock but has never had a llama, the newspaper reported.

“I did a night check with him last night and had a glass of wine with him,” LeSage told the newspaper. “I’m kind of a little attached to him at this point.”

If no owner comes forward, LeSage told the newspaper she’s considering keeping the llama herself.


text:
March 2017 Newsletter

Meeting Minutes for February 2017 were read and Accepted by those in attendance.

Officer Reports

President’s Report (Wayne Sluhan)

Wayne thanked everyone who volunteered their time working at the N.A.S.P event. It was such an amazing event to watch these kids shoot and to represent SCA at such an event. Also, thanks to those who participated in the work day at the range. We had great weather and as always a great turnout in help. Our range has never looked better. Wayne stated that the purpose of the March meeting is to ratify the new SCA Constitution. Wayne said questions will be addressed but, unless there are consequences to the club, no changes will be made. He also said the constitution will be reviewed every 3 years. Tony Taylor addressed the membership requirement which he thought was too strict. Tony wanted to amend the constitution prior to a vote but, it was suggested we proceed and accept the constitution as proposed and if there’s a need to make revisions at a later time they can be brought to the Constitution and Rules committee for consideration. A vote was taken to approve the constitution put before the membership and that vote passed 16-2. Therefore the constitution is now in full effect.

Vice-President’s Report (Mike Gapsch)

Unable to attend.

Secretary Report (Jon Adams)

Unable to attend.

Treasurer’s Report (Henry Drane)

SCA has a good cushion in the target fund. We were able to purchase some of our new targets at a 305 discount with minor blemishes. We’ve spent most of the MDC grant and the final $1,318-dollars left will be spent by the end of March. The club brought in $700 dollars from working the boat show event. We have bow raffle proceeds currently at $622 dollars from selling tickets to the donated Genesis kids bow. We had minor expenses from printing raffle tickets and parking reimbursements for the boat show. The porta-potty company has not billed us in two months so Henry will investigate. Checks were written to the following: Oakville Elks, & Others. The club remains fiscally sound.

Range Captain’s Report (Tom Munroe)

We have our SCA range work day scheduled for Saturday February 18, 2017. We need lots of volunteers as we will be rebuilding our stationary targets thru-out the range. Meet at the archery pavilion at 7:00am

(bring tools if you have them: adjustable wrench, ¾ deep sockets & ratchet or box wrench, hammers, etc..

Master Bowhunter Recorder (Ken Winkelman)

Ken reported that most members have already achieved their 8 hours of club service and encouraged those to keep up the good work.

Park Representative Report (Tom Rizzo)

Tom thinks we should put up signs around the range indicating that SCA maintains the range. He also thinks it would be a good idea to have a groups greet and welcome new shooters feel welcome.

Membership Secretary Report (Tony Taylor)

Tony thanked those members who have already renewed their 2017 SCA memberships. We currently have 67 current members with only about 14 of those paid for 2017. He reminded us that all SCA memberships are due by April 1, 2017. The annual membership dues of $25 for an individual or $30 for a family are good from April 1 to March 31 the following year. Please get your membership updated on time.

Tournament Secretary Report (Todd Mikel)

In regards to the March Madness shoot, he will be working this Saturday and we may have new bow hangers in place. The signs will be posted along Telegraph road advertising the shoot. We will begin setup for the shoot at 7:00am sharp. Anyone wanting breakfast before should meet at Waffle House at 6:00am. Zack King volunteered to grill food and Bob Urbanek will get the trophies needed.

New Business/Old Business

It was suggested that Jon Adams order new inventory of SCA apparel such as hats & shirts. Mike Manion indicated that the orange on our club hats is Blaze orange but questioned the orange that is on our shirts.

Henry has the club hunt scheduled for October 5,6,7,8 of 2017 which conflicts with our SCA monthly meeting. Wayne said this should be ok as we can see about moving our meeting to another day that Month.

Any member in good standing who has their 8 hours of club service in will receive a reduction in the club hunt fee for 2017. Thus far we have $100 dollar donation toward the club hunt. We have to guarantee the parks a minimum fee equal to 35 people so let’s get the word out to make this event cost effective for all attendees.

We are getting hit up for many new events such as the National Golden Age event which involves our members teaching no-disabled veterans how to shoot better for their upcoming tournament in Mississippi. Also, more kids night or shoot events. The question becomes how much can our club take on, as we only have so much man power. There are some other grant opportunities available for organizations who help support veterans. Could be a topic in the future but again a strain on man-power is the concern.

SCA Banquet is March 18th beginning at 6:00p at Fergies Bar on Lemay Ferry road 63125. We have 13 signed up with another 4 plus committed at this meeting.

Todd Mikel said Rhinehart targets has a deal for donations.

Henry read a letter from St. Bernadette’s St. Vincent De Paul Society thanking us for our generosity at Christmas time.

Wayne reported that the Pop & Young Annual Convention is in St. Louis this year. If you volunteer to work you will be admitted free of charge to the event. The event is held at Union Station April 5-8 2017.

Wayne asked if anyone knew who won the John Woods Memorial Tournament in 2016. We need to determine when and where this year’s event will be held.

No Crossbows allowed on our range. This is decision made by St. Louis County Parks that we must abide by.

Tom Rizzo discussed the CWD updated and that Missouri has already spent over 2 million dollars on research, etc..

Wayne also suggested that as an organization we as members get involved and contact our legislators to let them know that we want our hunting and fishing rights to stay at the helm of the Missouri Department on Conservation and not be transferred to the Agriculture department which would be bad for our hunting future.

Motion made to adjourn.

No Corrections at March Meeting.

2017 South County Archers Current officers:

President Wayne Sluhan

Vice President Mike Gapsch

Secretary Jon Adams

Range Captain Tom Munroe

Range Co-Captain TBD

Tournament Secretary Todd Mikel

Treasurer Henry Drane

Membership Secretary Tony Taylor

Parks Representative Tom Rizzo

Master Bowhunter Recorder Ken Winkelman

SCA Calendar of Events 2017

January 28-29, 2017 Boat & Sport show event @ Americas Center

February 18, 2017 Work Day on Range (meet 7:00am at the Pavilion)

March 11, 2017 March Madness 3D Archery Tournament

March 18, 2017 Awards Banquet-(Fergies Bar 1699 Lemay Ferry 63125)

April 5,-October 4, 2017 Fun Shoots at JB (every Wednesday starts around 4pm)

May 20, 2017 Annual Veterans Shoot at Archery Pavilion (setup begins 6:00am w/ registration starting at 8:00am)

June 3, 2017 Kids Shoot (9-10:30a beginner-11-12:30p intermediate)

July 8, 2017 Kids Shoot (9-10:30a beginner-11-12:30p intermediate)

August (TBD) Charlie Sharp Coon Shoot (Members Only Shoot)

August 5, 2017 Kids Shoot (9-10:30a beginner-11-12:30p intermediate)

August 19, 2017 Annual Deer Classic at JB (Registration begins 8:00am)

October 5,6,7,8 2017 SCA Club Hunting Trip (Mark Twain Lake) $$$/person

Wayne Sluhan, Tom Rizzo, Jim Keener, Tom Munroe, Tony Taylor, Marshall Sidwell, Frank Krecji, John Von Fange, Jack Klimczyk, Mitch Norris, Mary Armbruster, Jim Rueschhoff, Mike Manion, Ken Winkelman, Henry Drane, Albert Sanders, Zach King, Mary Taylor, Wayne Vetter, Gerald McGruder, Bob Urbanek, Jason Burton, Todd Mikel, Greg Winkelman, Brian Winkelman.

Meeting held the 1st Thursday of every month at Oakville Elks Lodge- 2726 Elks Lane-St. Louis, Mo 63129 7:30pm Start time.

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January 22, 2021, 9:28 pm

Tag: Mary Zimmerman

SPHS “Metamorphoses” Places Top 3 High School Shows in LA County

After a sold-out, critically acclaimed run, the California Educational Theatre Association (CETA) announced that South Pasadena High School Drama Department’s production of “Metamorphoses” placed...

METAMORPHOSES | Ancient Myths For A Modern World

Metamorphoses at South Pasadena High School is something so thoroughly unexpected and unabashedly theatrical as to defy categorization. Based on the Roman poet, Ovid’s,...

Broadway Actress Anjali Bhimani Visits Cast of Metamorphoses Ahead of Opening

The South Pasadena High School cast of the upcoming production of Metamorphoses had the rare privilege of meeting one of the actors who was...

METAMORPHOSES | Director Nick Hoffa and SPHS Drama Explore How Tragedy Transforms

There is something really exciting going on at South Pasadena High School that you are not going to want to miss. Drama Department Head,...
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Let's say you have a spaceship on its way to Mars; halfway there you decide you need to come back to Earth instead.

Is there any reason a spacecraft would be unable to do this? Let's assume it began in Earth orbit with enough fuel/engines to leave orbit and head for Mars, and that it was already planning to come back after orbiting Mars.

  • 18
    $\begingroup$ I recommend trying the manoeuver in KSP to really see how hard it actually is. you can't just turn around, because you really are more or less orbiting around the sun during the manoeuver. $\endgroup$ – njzk2 Jan 5 '16 at 15:41
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    $\begingroup$ Note that when Apollo 13 encountered life-threatening trouble on their way to the Moon, their only option for returning home was to complete the journey to the Moon, circle it once without landing, and then burn for a return trajectory. One way to look at space travel is as a controlled fall through space. The skateboard ramp answer is good. Or imagine skydiving: It's easier to complete your skydive and get into another plane to get back into the air than it is to just stop falling and magically shoot back up to the airplane you jumped from. $\endgroup$ – Todd Wilcox Jan 5 '16 at 18:26
  • 10
    $\begingroup$ ... forgot the lemon-scented paper napkins? $\endgroup$ – Brian Drummond Jan 5 '16 at 18:33
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    $\begingroup$ @ToddWilcox actually the Apollo could make a direct abort back to Earth and avoid orbiting the moon completely, but for Apollo 13 it was risky because they would have had to jettison the LM to attain the required delta-v. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… $\endgroup$ – nexus_2006 Jan 5 '16 at 21:00
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    $\begingroup$ @BrianDrummond that's absurd, the ship wouldn't even be able to take off in that case. $\endgroup$ – Mike G Jan 5 '16 at 21:51

Let's say you start rolling down from the top of a half-pipe skateboard ramp, and you plan to get back to your starting point. If you stop in the middle of the pipe, it is much harder to climb back up to your starting point then if you ride up the other side of the ramp and let gravity accelerate you back.

Similarly, even if you planned to get into an orbit in Mars, most orbits are chosen so you only expend a small amount of energy decelerating to get into orbit and only expend a small amount of energy to leave the orbit and slingshot back. Compare this to stopping your spacecraft mid-space and accelerating back. After all, you conserve the momentum your spaceship has while orbiting around the planet.

  • 7
    $\begingroup$ I want to +1 this because the skateboard ramp is along the right lines and the overall answer is in the right direction, but there is a better way to explain it! The focus should be on the "compared to stopping your spacecraft midspace and accelerating back". Also, no mention of Apollo 13? $\endgroup$ – Brian Lynch Jan 5 '16 at 2:52
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    $\begingroup$ Ah sorry I usually avoid questions for which I have no technological knowledge as confirmation, but the physical principle seemed apparent enough that I tried my hand in giving a metaphor that could be understood without getting to technical $\endgroup$ – casualPhilosoph Jan 5 '16 at 3:07
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    $\begingroup$ @MaxWilliams: Because Apollo 13 is the one and only example of a real abort scenario during a mission between two celestial bodies! $\endgroup$ – Brian Lynch Jan 5 '16 at 12:52
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    $\begingroup$ @MaxWilliams Apollo 13 could have used a direct abort maneuver (the crew even had onboard abort burn data, presumably for use primarily in the event of a communications failure), but for a number of reasons the flight controllers decided on a free return trajectory (which took longer) instead. Not the least of which: direct abort required using the SPS engine and ditching the LM. The condition of the SM, and thus the SPS engine, was unknown at the time, and the LM was judged necessary as a lifeboat. Hence, direct abort went from being maybe-possibly an option to not an option. $\endgroup$ – user Jan 5 '16 at 14:28
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    $\begingroup$ @Adam I don't know the reason for the requirement for detaching the LM in the event of a SPS direct abort maneuver. It could also have been about center of gravity, which the crew did have fairly well-documented issues with and concern about. As I recall, the actual delta-v required for such a direct abort wasn't really all that large, but I don't have the exact data on hand. $\endgroup$ – user Jan 5 '16 at 15:59

All the other answers are great, but I think one explanation is still missing: how an interplanetary orbital transfer actually works in practice.

The thing is, space is rather big, and things keep moving. At the same time, you're being tugged on constantly by all the other bodies in a planetary system (we can ignore other stars for interplanetary transfers). So travelling between planets is not as easy as pointing your ship in the direction of planet B and pressing the speed pedal.

So, things keep moving. The historic Mars missions have taken anywhere from about 100 days to more than 300 days - the latter actually meaning that by the time you arrive, Mars is on the opposite side of the Solar system compared to when you started. You need to aim for where Mars will be, rather then where it is. Now, this isn't too big of a problem for the trip itself, but think about what happens when you abort at some point during the trip - the Earth has moved as well. It's not as easy as pointing your spaceship in the opposite direction and accelerating again - the Earth is no longer where it was when you started.

Why does it take so long to get to Mars? Well, space is big. Those probes were usually travelling at around 20 000 km/h - quite fast in terrestrial terms. But the closest distance between Earth and Mars is still over fifty million kilometers. The only way to get there faster is to get your speed up. Here lies the main problem - our spaceship engines are actually extremely inefficient. Jet engines are much less efficient than car engines, but they're still peanuts to rocket engines.

There's two main reasons - propellant and fuel. When you drive your car, the wheels are pushing of from the Earth - basically, you're either "stealing" or "giving" momentum to Earth, which means your car only needs to produce enough energy to supply your kinetic energy, give or take. With 100% efficiency in a vacuum, a 1 ton car would only need about 300 kJ of energy to accelerate to 100 km/h - that's about 10 grams of gasoline worth of energy. The first annoying thing is that kinetic energy grows quadratically with respect to speed - so accelerating to 200 km/h takes around 1400 kJ of energy, rather than 600 kJ. So getting even to that 20 000 km/h would take around 1400 MJ of energy (1.4E10 J) - the equivalent of about 280 kg of gasoline, which is more than a quarter of the mass of the car itself.

A quarter of the mass is quite a lot - a spaceship can't just stop every few kilometers to refill its fuel tank. It needs to carry all of its fuel from the very beginning - so our sample car wouldn't actually be 1 ton, it would be 1 ton + 280 kg of gasoline. And those 280 kg of gasoline would need even more gasoline to accelerate itself - this is known as the tyranny of the rocket equation - the more fuel you bring, the more fuel you need to bring the fuel, etc. Now, if we actually had a rocket that would be able to accelerate 1 ton to 20 000 km/h with just 280 kg of fuel, we'd be peachy. But we don't have anything close to that. Why? The two reasons mentioned above - fuel and propellant.

You might be saying, wait, we already accounted for fuel - that's the 280 kg of gasoline (plus the gasoline for the gasoline, ...), right? Nope. Gasoline doesn't just spontaneously break down, releasing energy - it's being burned, which is just a simple way of saying it chemically interacts with oxygen. Your car can easily use the ambient oxygen, getting its mass for free, but rockets tend to travel in a vacuum - they need to bring their oxygen along for the ride as well. That's extra mass, of course. How much mass? Well, using a very simplistic calculation (considering pure octane burning perfectly), you need about 3.5kg of oxygen to burn 1kg of gasoline. I think you can see the problem now - while we can barely ignore the 280kg compared to our 1 ton car, the problem becomes glaringly obvious when you actually need more fuel than your vehicle weighs (280kg of gasoline + 980kg of oxygen)!

But wait, this isn't over yet. This explains the fuel part of the issue, but there's still the propellant. Cars don't need propellant, since they're pushing off the ground. Even jets don't need to carry their own propellant, since they're again using ambient air as both fuel and propellant. But again, our rocket engine doesn't have the same luxury. It needs to carry its propellant along the trip. This is the place where rocket science gets really complicated (and we didn't even glance on orbits or interplanetary transit yet!).

Conservation of momentum basically says that to accelerate in one direction, you need to accelerate something else with the same mass in the opposite direction with the same acceleration. You can also trade mass for velocity - the faster you throw away your propellant, the less mass does it need to have to give you the same acceleration. This is the exhaust velocity of a rocket - the speed of the propellant relative to the rocket. To give you a bit of a scale, a typical liquid oxygen+liquid hydrogen rocket has an exhaust velocity around 18 000 km/h. This basically means that to accelerate a 1 ton spaceship to 18 000 km/h, you need 1 tons of propellant (ignoring the mass of the fuel and propellant itself and the mass of the engine). If we stop ignoring the mass of the fuel and propellant, we need to turn to the rocket equation - again, you need more fuel to accelerate the fuel.

The rocket equation has the following unknowns:

  • The amount of velocity change required (known as delta-V). In our case, that's 20 000 km/h - or around 5 500 m/s.
  • The exhaust velocity of our rocket. In our case, 18 000 km/h, or about 4 900 m/s.
  • The "dry" mass of the spaceship - that is, excluding the fuel and propellant. In our case, we'll stick with the 1 ton value.
  • The "initial" mass of the spaceship, including fuel and propellant. This is what we want to determine.

Putting the known values in our equation gives us an initial mass of about 3.2 tons - so you need about 2.2 tons of fuel to get your 1 ton spaceship to 20 000 km/h. That's already pretty bad - don't forget that we also need to get the spaceship into orbit in the first place, where the payload/fuel ratio is even worse. But wait, it gets even worse. To stop the ship, you again need to accelerate the same amount. Another 5 500 m/s brings us to a fuel mass of 9.3 tons - and that's just stopping at the target. To enable a mid-transit return trip, you need 5 500 m/s for the initial acceleration, 5 500 m/s to stop, 5 500 m/s to start back again and 5 500 m/s to stop at the end. This gives you a monstrous 22 000 m/s delta-V requirement, requiring 106 tons of fuel for your tiny 1 ton spaceship. And that ignores the mass required to actually store all that fuel, as well as all the fuel lines etc. needed to get it to the engine!

It should be obvious that with our current rocket engine technology, what you're proposing is pretty much outright impossible. There's two ways around this - one is staging (throwing away "spent" parts of your spaceship), one is keeping your delta-V requirements as low as possible.

Staging allows you to build rockets with higher fuel/ship mass ratios. For a single stage rocket, a ratio of about 15 is already pretty difficult, and anything above 20 is very unrealistic given our technology. This is mostly due to the fact that you need all kinds of supports etc. to make sure your rocket doesn't crumble (or explode - the common fuel mix is liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen). The cool thing about staging is that you basically multiply the mass ratios of the different stages - so to get at a 100+ mass ratio, you could use three stages, each with a mass ratio of 5, for example. The drawback is that you end up littering your spent stages all over the place (their price is pretty much thrown away, and spaceship stages aren't exactly cheap), and you still need to use huge amounts of fuel to deliver a bit of payload.

Which is where the delta-V tricks come in. One great trick is using the target's atmosphere for the final braking - this is used all the time by craft returning to Earth, for example. Instead of having to nullify your whole orbital speed, you only need to shave off about 100 m/s or so to get you low enough into the atmosphere to get enough drag to "steal" the remaining orbital velocity. Doing the same with interplanetary velocities is a fair bit trickier, though - you only have a limited time to get rid of enough velocity to get you in a reasonable orbit. And the faster you need to brake, the stronger your spaceship structure must be - and stronger structure means more mass. Yet another reason to keep the ship/probe as tiny as possible.

Another great trick is using the gravity of other planets to modify your velocity - this needs a lot of planning, but allows you to both speed up and slow down without expending any fuel (other than the bit required for path corrections). This was used to great effect with the Voyager missions of the 70s - Voyager 1 has achieved a velocity of over 17 km/s thanks to its numerous gravity assists. Even then, this is only about half of Earth's orbital velocity - so you really want to make sure to steal as much velocity from Earth as possible on launch. The tricky part about this? For one, it's kind of slow. The path you take is likely going to be much longer than a direct path, especially if you need multiple gravity assists from multiple planets. The Voyager missions were possible mainly because in the 70s, the outer planets were aligned in a way that allowed the Voyagers to use Jupiter and Saturn (+ Uranus for Voyager 2) in a sequence of assists that increased their velocity "for free". The trick there? Those alignments don't happen all that often. Another alignment that would allow the same kind of mission happens about once in 170 years.

Now, the planet position issue isn't that much of a problem when travelling from Earth to Mars - for one, you don't need nearly as much delta-V as the Voyagers, and second, both Earth and Mars have much shorter orbits. But still, if we keep to modern-style rockets (as opposed to the so-called "Torchships", which would be capable of accelerating the whole trip, avoiding a lot of the issues mentioned here thanks to their massive exhaust velocities), position matters a lot. This gives rise to the familiar concept of launch windows (which are also used to great effect in drama - "if we don't go now, our next option is in 3 years, by which time we'd starve").

If you want to get somewhere on the lowest delta-V budget possible, Hohmann transfer orbits are your friend. However, they are also the slowest, and the most dependent on the alignment of the planets. Launch windows are quite periodic - again, the Voyager missions have launch windows every 175 years or so, and Mars missions around 780 days. The more delta-V you're willing to spend, the wider your launch window and the shorter your trip.

As an example, getting from Earth to Mars and back requires a minimum of about 30 km/s of delta-V. For comparison, the massive Saturn V rocket is only capable of about 18 km/s. It shouldn't be very surprising that we make the interplanetary probes as light as possible, and we don't bring them back again :) This trip would take about 17 months. That's quite long - it doesn't matter much for an unmanned probe, but any human crew would need to bring a lot of supplies, be pretty good at recycling and not get mad. Adding more delta-V to the budget allows us to trim this considerably - 53 km/s will allow you to do the trip in just two months. Of course, getting a delta-V of 53 km/s is well beyond our current capabilities. Ignoring the mass of the rather massive fuel tanks, you'd need a mass ratio of about 80 000. Yikes. Interestingly, increasing the budget to 94 km/s will only save you about half a month - adding more delta-V gives diminishing returns, since you're still relying heavily on using tricks - the more delta-V, the less effective these tricks are in comparison.

So, what about absolutely absurd, outrageous delta-Vs? The next obvious step is something that can accelerate the whole trip. We're already experimenting with ion drives for exactly this, but with the kind of acceleration we're getting, it's not really useful for humans. But let's imagine we have some fusion torch drive that gives us enough reachable delta-V. Pushing the delta-V to 370 km/s (remember how I said absurd delta-V?) makes the roundtrip about one month long. This corresponds to a constant acceleration of about 0.01 g. By this point, orbital mechanics are no longer much of a limitation, so adding more delta-V tends to give you close to a linear speedup - 0.1g acceleration requires about 1 100 km/s for a 12 day roundtrip, and 1g requires "only" 3 500 km/s for a 4 day roundtrip.

Obviously, once you get to a torchship, your original problem disappeared. Even for the 0.01g constant acceleration scenario, your velocity is huge compared to orbital velocities, so the cost of turning your ship around is relatively tiny (compared to going the whole way and back again), and the impact of all those manenuvering tricks are quite tiny as well (so you can shave off 1 km/s of my delta-V budget? Big deal...).

But as long as you're flying in a modern rocket, that takes 9 months to get to Mars... once you're on the interplanetary trajectory, there's no going back. Even if you expend all your remaining fuel, you're not even going to stop your ship, much less turn it around. You'll just have to sit out the rest of the trip :)

  • 8
    $\begingroup$ +1 for... so many things... but especially for "any human crew would need to bring a lot of supplies, be pretty good at recycling and not get mad." $\endgroup$ – Dan Henderson Jan 5 '16 at 14:38
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This does a pretty good explaining "why can't spaceships just go wherever they want to like in science fiction?" Essentially, it is a problem of energy: once you hand-wave away limitations and have a warp drive with essentially free unlimited energy, you can get "absurd delta-V" as you say. $\endgroup$ – user5932 Jan 5 '16 at 23:19
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Great article (calling it merely an answer would be a disservice). Makes you wonder about why The Martian (at least the film) makes such a huge deal out of a slingshot maneuver as if there were any other way to travel between planets. $\endgroup$ – user45623 Jan 6 '16 at 5:33
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ The sequence of "let's try more delta-v" stages somewhat reminded me of "What if we tried more power?" :) $\endgroup$ – Hagen von Eitzen Jan 6 '16 at 22:53
  • $\begingroup$ @user45623 In The Martian, the slingshot maneuver wasn't normally used. It provided a way to fly by Earth (picking up the supplies crate that was boosted with a large amount of delta-V to match velocity with the ship) and end up back at Mars very quickly. $\endgroup$ – ikrase Feb 17 '20 at 11:08

I assume that "halfway there" refers to being halfway along the transfer orbit from Earth to Mars, and that by "turn around" you mean reverse direction immediately. There is no reason a spacecraft "cannot" do this, but the reason it is entirely impractical is because of the propellant required to change the spacecraft trajectory.

Aborting an Earth-to-Mars transfer to return to Earth requires the spacecraft continue along its current interplanetary transfer orbit until it swings back to Earth -- but most importantly it requires that the transfer orbit be selected with a period so that the spacecraft encounters Earth. Without the appropriate timing, the spacecraft will return to where Earth was at launch, not where Earth will be when it reaches the same point. This type of abort scenario uses what is called a free-return trajectory, which was used during Apollo 13 (along with a subsequent propulsive manoeuvre to hasten the return and shift the splashdown location).

You can find a discussion of Earth-to-Mars abort scenarios in this paper -- see page 20. Both a free-return trajectory as well as a propulsive or gravity-assist return trajectory are discussed.

Here is a comparison of a 2-year free-return trajectory on the left and a propulsive abort trajectory on the right (from the above linked paper). Note the dotted green line on the right indicates the trajectory without any propulsive manoeuvre (which would not reach Earth at the correct timing).

enter image description here

  • $\begingroup$ Wow! Well thanks everyone, I really appreciate all of the helpful and clear answers. That pretty effectively explained things. Thanks again! $\endgroup$ – Rick Austinson Jan 5 '16 at 4:25
  • $\begingroup$ Great, don't forget to accept an answer after leaving it open for another couple of days! $\endgroup$ – Brian Lynch Jan 5 '16 at 4:27

There's no singular reason why a spacecraft would be unable to change its trajectory to return to Earth, it just requires the appropriate delta-v budget and time.

Depending on what the craft was initially designed for, it may not have the delta-v to execute such a course change.

  • For example, the delta-v remaining on a one-way Mars ship, even one that used a rocket-powered soft landing on Mars, would certainly not have the delta-v to return to Earth much sooner, if at all, compared to a slingshot.

  • By contrast, the delta-v remaining on a two-way Mars ship without a separate lander (from Earth, go to Mars, land, get back to orbit, return to Earth) could likely pull of the maneuver, though not necessarily in the most expedient way (dipping in closer to the sun than Earth's orbit to 'catch up' to it).

  • As a balancing point, a ship that was designed to go to Mars, stay in orbit while a lander dropped to the surface and returned, then take the next convenient transfer back to Earth is a toss up on whether or not it has the delta-v required to 'turn back'.

With all this in mind, the most time expedient return would be very expensive, delta-v wise, and the crew or supplies may run out of time waiting for a more fuel efficient transfer; especially if any refueling or resupplying was to be done at Mars.

This would be quite easy to try out yourself, just download the KSP trial and use a pre-built ship. The solar system isn't entirely the same, but you can see the relative merits of each maneuver with Duna, or download a mod to do it in a decent approximation of ours.

If you ask nicely enough in the forums, someone might record the answer for you in video form.

A short note on what delta-v is, in case you are not familiar: delta-v is a measure of the amount of change in velocity your craft can perform. If you are riding a bicycle, and going 4 miles per hour, and want to go 10 MPH, you need 6 MPH delta-v. You can provide this to your 'craft' on Earth's surface from energy expended against the friction of the surface due to gravity.

Because there is so little matter in the near-vacuum of space, there is hardly any friction with which to push off. The only (current) method of changing your velocity in space is by tossing mass in the opposite direction. It helps if you 'toss' the mass fast, which is why we use rocket fuel which burns and gets subsequently 'tossed' rather fast.

The other thing to note is that trajectories between objects in space are typically some variant of transfer orbits, not simply 'heading toward' something. Once an orbit is established, a maneuver is plotted that changes that orbit into one that will intercept another orbit at the time very close to when the target object will be there. "Turning around" then becomes not simply reversing course or 'pulling a 180', but again altering the orbit for a return transfer orbit that intersects the original body.

A very common one is the Hohmann Transfer Orbit, and the wiki article is a good place to start.

  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You might want to explain what delta-V means - I assume that due to the nature of the question, Rick probably isn't familiar with the concept of things like delta-V and transfer orbits (a short paragraph on HTO probably wouldn't hurt either). $\endgroup$ – Luaan Jan 5 '16 at 11:06

I'll try a less technical answer, because most people are unfamiliar with the orders of magnitudes involved in space travel, and sci-fi action movies taught us that flying in space is just like a ship cruising on the sea.

To escape the gravity of Earth, you need a lot of speed. You will need over 40000 km/h, this is more than 40 times faster than a jet airliner, and more than 10 times faster than the fastest fighter jet has ever flown. To reach this speed, you need a huge rocket engine and an insane amount of fuel.

In space, if you don't use gravity assist but want to rely on your own engines to turn back, you have to expend (almost) the same amount of energy to stop what you used to speed up at the beginning, and then spend that energy again to achieve the same speed in the other direction. So why not just carry three times as much fuel? Because unlike a car where you can just put a small barrel of extra fuel in your trunk, most of the weight of a spacecraft is made up by the fuel.

When you look at a picture of a spacecraft before launch, you'll see that most of it is fuel:

Saturn V

See that tiny little trapezoid near the top? That is the actual spaceship, all the rest is mostly fuel. So we'll just build our rocket 3 times larger, for the eventuality we want to turn back, right? Wrong! The humongous rocket on the picture was used to speed up that tiny little spacecraft at the top of it! To lift up all the extra fuel (which is heavier than the original entire rocket), you will need an even bigger rocket. And to lift off that even bigger rocket, you will need a much bigger rocket, and so on ...

There is an interesting article on xkcd, describing what you will need to return one of our small probes which is on the way to leave the solar system: it would require a rocket at least 60 times bigger than the one we used to send it up!

Orbital mechanics is weird. When on Earth, turning around and heading home is usually a good solution when something goes wrong. This isn't the case in space because of some strange quirks.

  • Stopping (in space) is REALLY REALLY hard.
  • The shortest distance is CURVED.
  • Home is constantly moving (really really fast)

Stopping is hard

So with the first item, stopping is hard. This is because you can't build brakes in space. Which means to stop, you need a rocket just as big as the one that you used to get you going in the first place.

However, if you need to send a really big rocket, then you need an even bigger rocket to get that going in the first place.

We call this problem the "tyranny of the rocket equation".

This is why we almost always stop on planets where we can use brakes (or parachutes as you call them).

The shortest distance is curved

In general, earth is pretty flat. But if need to walk from a-b and there is a hill in the way, you would generally walk around the hill.

Space is the same. With orbital mechanics, there is a MASSIVE hill in the middle we call the sun.

Home is constantly moving

On the time scale of a trip to Mars, Earth will move. If you turned around and headed back again, it won't be there. It is possible that it is now "on the other side" of Mars, depending on the alignment of the stars.

  • $\begingroup$ It's interesting how often people say Earth is pretty flat. On a very local scale there is some truth in that (just not very much, as the Earth is a sphere); but there is a nice analogy with space, since on a very local scale space, too, appears 'flat', and its curvature gradually emerges as the distance scale is increased. The shortest distance isn't really curved, but the lowest energy transfer orbit always is, because resistance to movement (i.e. gravity) has a spherical pattern, since it radiates outward (spherically) from a central point, the Sun: what is curving is the field strength. $\endgroup$ – Ed999 Apr 17 '19 at 18:25
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry @Ed999 ironically I was talking about lines of geodesic lines in 3,1 Minkowski spacetime. $\endgroup$ – Aron Apr 17 '19 at 19:03

Spacecraft cannot take a less efficient path than originally intended

As a rule, spacecraft will have enough fuel to accomplish it's intended mission path and some safety margin, but not more than that. Furthermore, since fuel is so huge part of the total weight, you will optimize the mission to take the most efficient suitable path, often relying various factors like choosing transit moment to fit a particular position of planets, using gravity assist and the like.

Furthermore, due to the way orbital mechanics work, if you're en route to Mars then the cheapest way (fuel-wise, not time-wise) to turn around is to go to Mars orbit and burn your engines there.

Even simply "stopping"(e.g. relative to sun) on the spot in middle of nowhere already requires more fuel than it took you to get up to speed, since the mission definitely was planned to use earth orbital speed and earth rotation speed to the advantage of the initial mission plan; and reversing also takes more fuel than expected since the earth is moving away from you in its orbit.

This means that if you have enough fuel for a particular trip to Mars and back, after you burn nearly half of it to start the initial trip, any significant changes will require more fuel - which you simply won't have.

  • $\begingroup$ You might even be burning more than half the fuel to get started. This would be the case if the mission plan is, for example, for in situ refueling at the target location. It might also be possible to get back from Mars to Earth using less fuel than it took to go from Earth to Mars in the first place, because of Mars' much shallower gravity well (meaning you need less fuel to break free of Mars' gravity than the same maneuver going away from Earth). $\endgroup$ – user Jan 6 '16 at 18:25

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Saturday , January 23 2021

Aviadeboshir from Niz Novgorod was removed from the flight to Antalya – Rossiyskaya Gazeta

At Domodedovo airport, 31-year-old Nizhny Novgorod was flown to Antalya, Russian Interior Ministry spokesman Irina Volk said.

With a complaint about the violent traveler in the transport police turned to the flight officer. According to him, the plane was a drunk young man who expressed a crude language towards passengers and flight attendants.

As a result, he did not fly to Turkey on this flight: the wild was taken to the airport in the role, the young man was brought to administrative responsibility under Art. 20.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation ("Unruly behavior") – it is punishable by a fine of up to 2.5 thousand rubles or administrative detention for up to 15 days.

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Library of Congress Makes Rare Children's Books Available Online

Beloved classics and little-known treasures more than a century old have now been digitized.

The Library of Congress is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Children's Book Week by digitizing 100 ultra-rare books and making them available online.

The Library says the 100 children's books selected from its General and Rare Book Collections, and include classic works that are still read by children today, and lesser-known treasures drawn from the Library's extensive collection of historically significant children's books.

You can click here to browse the selections .

The Library says the collection includes books designed to help young children learn to read, as well as books for more advanced young readers, covering everything from mathematics, history, natural science and more. And of course, there are also beloved fairy tales, mythology and other works of fiction to show that reading is fun. Titles range from "Humpty Dumpty" to "The Life of George Washington" to "The Arabian Nights" --and everything in between!

All of the books selected were published in the United States and England before 1924, and are no longer under copyright. This means you read, share, and reuse the treasured titles however you'd like.

For more information on the Library of Congress, or to "Ask a Librarian" about the resources available, you can click here.

How can you start something good?
The Conversation
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How Saving A Church Is Saving Lives Too

A couple bought an abandoned church and turned it into a community center. What they've created is so much bigger.

They're Saluting Our Veterans Every Day of the Year

Meet the Pittsburghers who are making sure our returning vets have jobs, homes and food, and find out how you can help.

How Goats And The Volunteers Who Love Them Are Saving A Popular Park

They're keeping invasive plants from taking over Pittsburgh's Frick Park by doing what comes naturally. For the goats at least!

Our Mission
Have you ever felt like there's just too much bad news? Ever felt like the world is hopeless, and you're helpless to do anything about it? We did too. That's why we created Sparkt™.
At Sparkt™, we tell powerful stories about great people making a difference in their communities, and we show you how you can make a difference too. Join us, and together, let's #StartSomethingGood!
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Community Issues

Statewide Marijuana Listening Tour Stop Set for Allegheny County

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman will make two tour stops on Saturday, May 11

The date is set for the Pennsylvania Legalization Listening Tour stop in Allegheny County, and for the first time, there will be two stops, both on Saturday May 11.

The statewide tour is being conducted by Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman as a way of gauging public opinion on legalizing recreational marijuana in the state. Fetterman has promised to visit all 67 of the state's counties during his tour. He's visited 51 so far.

Here's the information for the Allegheny County stops, one of which will be in the City of Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood, and the other in the suburb of McKeesport:

Allegheny County/Central

1:00 - 2:30 p.m.

Community Empowerment Association

7120 Kelly Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15208 (Homewood)

Allegheny County/South

4:00 - 5:30 p.m.

Penn State Greater Allegheny

Wunderly Gymnasium

4000 University Drive

McKeesport, PA 15132

So far the Lt. Governor says feedback has been overwhelmingly in support of legalizing recreational marijuana. If you won't be able to make a listening tour stop, you can still give your feedback by clicking here . Click here to find out dates and locations for the remaining tour stops.

Here are our previous stories on the issue and the tour if you need to get caught up:

How can you start something good?
The Conversation
More stories you may love

How Saving A Church Is Saving Lives Too

A couple bought an abandoned church and turned it into a community center. What they've created is so much bigger.

They're Saluting Our Veterans Every Day of the Year

Meet the Pittsburghers who are making sure our returning vets have jobs, homes and food, and find out how you can help.

How Goats And The Volunteers Who Love Them Are Saving A Popular Park

They're keeping invasive plants from taking over Pittsburgh's Frick Park by doing what comes naturally. For the goats at least!

Our Mission
Have you ever felt like there's just too much bad news? Ever felt like the world is hopeless, and you're helpless to do anything about it? We did too. That's why we created Sparkt™.
At Sparkt™, we tell powerful stories about great people making a difference in their communities, and we show you how you can make a difference too. Join us, and together, let's #StartSomethingGood!
Sparkt Newsletter
Get positive, uplifting stories in your inbox
Follow Us on Social Media
Download the Mobile App
Sparkt™ is a Rabble Holdings, Inc. Media Brand. © 2020 Rabble Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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Monthly archives: February 2015

Miranda's Bridals | fort smith wedding photographer

Hey Friends, I hope this is your 3rd visit to the blog today!  We met Miranda and her mom downtown Fort Smith for Miranda’s Bridal Session.  It was a blast hanging out with these 2 beautiful women.  Miranda was a beautiful bride and be looking for her Wedding on the blog today or tomorrow!

Baby Ransom | fort smith arkansas newborn photographer

Good Morning Friends, We have a 2 fer on the blog this morning.  We had the easiest newborn shoot over the weekend.  We were honored when Robin and Brandon chose us to capture their maternity and newborn portraits.  We brought our wood floor and props to their home and rocked out the easiest newborn shoot ever and we got done just before the snow and sleet moved in.  Take a […]

Kennedy's One Yearold Portraits | fort smith arkansas children photography

Good Morning Friends, We met up last week with Shevonne, Colby and Sweet Kennedy for Kennedy’s one year old portraits.  It was bittersweet for us because this was our last shoot with Kennedy as part of her watch me grow package.  We photographed maternity, newborn, 6 months, 9 months and her 1 year portraits! Most of you know this angel by now.  Stunningly beautiful with a serious look that melts […]

Rachel & Bryan | fayetteville arkansas engagement photographer

Good Evening Friends, I’m sharing with you another of our fabulous engagement sessions from last fall.  Rachel and Bryan drove down from Fayetteville, Ar for their engagement portraits.  We had a blast getting to know this couple.  It was almost embarrassing when we got our truck a little stuck when we pulled off the road.  Thankfully my man Bryan was there to help me push the truck out while Janie […]

Lacey Tyler and Coming Soon Tanner | fort smith arkansas maternity photographer

Hey Guys, Hope your having a great Monday!  How could you not when it’s mid 60’s and Sunny in February? Yesterday we met up with our friends Lacey and Tyler to photograph their maternity portraits.  You might remember this stunning couple from their after the knot session here on the blog or from our best Wedding Portrait Contest!  They were in the top 5! This awesome couple is expecting baby […]

Terra & Blake | fort smith arkansas engagement photography

Hey Guys, This weekend has been beautiful right?  We had a nice relaxing Saturday and hope you did the same.  I remember when Janie met Terra and she was excited!  She said she found the most amazing hair stylist and a great friend.  Janie was super pumped when Terra got engaged and we were honored when she asked us to be her photographers!  Terra and Blake are the perfect Southern […]

Erica & Andre | fort smith arkansas engagement photographer

Hey Friends, Hope your having a great Friday night.  As promised this morning on our instagram account we are sharing with you one of our favorite engagement shoots of 2014!  We met Erica and Andre in Rudy, Arkansas at Pecan Grove at Honey Hill for their amazing fall engagement shoot! Check it out!


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In rare cases, immune system fails despite HIV suppression

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is usually very effective at suppressing HIV in the body, allowing a person’s immune system to recover by preventing the virus from destroying CD4+ T cells(link is external).

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of a T lymphocyte.NIAID

Scientists have now identified a rare, paradoxical response to ART known as extreme immune decline, or EXID. Five individuals evaluated at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, experienced a significant decline in CD4+ T cell levels despite suppression of HIV below detectable levels for more than three years, according to a report published online today in JCI Insight.

The research team was led by Irini Sereti, M.D., chief of the HIV Pathogenesis Section in NIAID’s Laboratory of Immunoregulation, and Andrea Lisco, M.D., Ph.D.

The NIAID researchers found that the immune systems of people with EXID fared even worse than those of another subset of individuals defined as immunological-non-responders, or INRs, who respond inadequately to ART.  INR participants consistently taking ART for four years had CD4+ T cell counts that increased on average by 193 cells per microliter (µL) of blood.  Participants who responded normally to ART increased their CD4+ T cell count by more than twice that amount. In contrast, the five participants with EXID experienced an average decline of 157 CD4+ T cells/µL while consistently maintaining viral suppression on ART.

According to the NIAID team, there seems to be no single cause of EXID among the five individuals studied. Their analyses revealed that genes influencing immune cell activity and autoimmunity—the immune system attacking a body’s own healthy tissue—may play a role. Specifically, two of the individuals with EXID produced antibodies that attacked their own T cells, while two others had overactive cellular immune responses that lead to increased inflammation. All five participants with EXID had HIV strains other than clade B HIV (the most common strain circulating in North America and Europe), indicating that certain combinations of an individual’s genes and the HIV strain may be associated with EXID. While EXID is likely an extremely rare response to ART, the researchers indicate that studying this phenomenon may further illuminate CD4+ T cell reconstitution and inflammation in HIV disease and suggest possible treatment strategies for INRs and individuals with EXID.

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Magmars are enemies commonly found in Volcana in Spelunky 2. They are blobs of magma supposedly possessed by the spirits of previous adventurers, very close mechanically to the Magma Men of Spelunky HD and Spelunky Classic.

Magmars will emerge from lava pools and leap out after rising just above the surface for a second.

They can quickly kill unsuspecting players by sweeping them straight into lava, killing them instantly. They will roam and randomly jump occasionally when surfaced, dealing fire damage on contact. They will dissipate some time after they emerge from lava, however they are nearly impervious to attack.

The only two ways to kill a Magmar are either to crush them using a Spikeball trap or push block, or to freeze them and destroy them using either a Freeze Ray or the help of a dead player Ghist. They will occasionally leave behind a rock if killed this way.

  • Magmars will sometimes wander into shops and hurt the shopkeeper (or Tun) and sometimes even kill them, but without angering either the attacked figure or other shopkeepers.
  • If the player has given turkeys to Yang, it is not uncommon for magmars to wander into his shop, cooking the turkeys. Even though the player did not kill the turkeys, this will immediately anger Yang, although he is also vulnerable to the magmar.
  • Magmars will never spawn in Lava outside of Volcana
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


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The Mines is the first area of the caves in Spelunky, and is accessed from the main gateway in the lobby.
Upon entering the Start door for the first time, the Spelunker will enter the tutorial area and after successfully completing this level will enter a newly generated mines level.

The Mines normally consists of narrow passageways through rocky terrain. Treasure  will be found in the walls if the walls are destroyed, with either bombs or a mattock. The Mines contain many ladders and man-made structures with treasure chests inside. There are some pushable blocks and many spider webs.

All Monsters and Traps (besides The Ghost) that can be harmful/hostile in The Mines.

02 Bat.png

Spelunkyclassic web.png

  • The Shopkeeper will attack you if you hurt him or try to steal something from him.
  • You can avoid getting hit by Monsters that come out of Monster Pots by attacking them with the Whip or other melee weapons instead of throwing Pots away from you.

Special Features

Kali Altars

Altars  appear on certain levels of every area. You can sacrifice dead or knocked out creatures by dropping them onto the Altar. Depending on your sacrifice, she may or may not give you a gift, which consist of random items, the Kapala, and lives. If you destroy the Altar, she will be displeased with you and spawn a group of spiders on you, even if the destruction was by another creature. If you destroy two, she will attach a heavy ball on a chain to you, and three or more will make the entire level dark and the ghost will appear immediately.

Golden Idols

Golden Idol may appear randomly on any of the levels in the game, except for the last. Trying to pick up the idol will cause the boulder trap to trigger, which can easily be avoided by climbing a pre-placed rope or by jumping to two or more squares above the place where the idol was.

Level Feelings

"I can't see a thing!"

The level will be engulfed in darkness with only a few light sources scattered throughout the mine, including scarab and torches. You will be give a box of flares containing three individual flares .

"I hear snakes, I hate snakes!"

There will be a large snake pit generated in the level, and the pit will be full of snakes and treasure. You should bring rope before hopping in. Sometimes a damsel may generate in one of the cubbyholes lining the pit.

  • The quote "I hear snakes, I hate snakes!" is a reference to a quote in Indiana Jones.
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


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Level up your InnerSource through Patterns

December 2, 2020

I did it again. ;) After speaking at the previous InnerSource Commons Summit already, this time around I joined forces with fellow InnerSourcerer Fei Wan from Comcast to present at the ISC APAC 2020 Summit.

Together where shared how our InnerSource adoption benefitted from Patterns and how we started contributing to the InnerSource Patterns working group.

Our talk coincided with the release of the InnerSource Patterns book, which we hope will make it easier for the community to consume the InnerSource Patterns and learn from them.

You find both video and slides of the presentation below.


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Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines

This  airplane tour is perfect for those wanting to see the vastness of the Canyon without breaking their budget. Hourly departures from Grand Canyon Airport.

  • Aerial views of the Grand Canyon’s East Rim, Painted Desert, Zuni Corridor, and Imperial Point
  • Additional flight time over the North Rim, Kaibab National Forest, and Kaibab Plateau
  • Keep an eye out for wildlife including the California condor, elk, and even bears!
  • Flight time is approximately 40 – 50 minutes


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Stay up to date with the latest youth sports technology and trends

Tag tennis history

Sports history

Sports have been a part of human culture for a long time in almost all societies around the world. Paintings found in the Lascaux caves in France depict sprinting and wrestling. These paintings date back to around 15,300 years ago,… Continue Reading →

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