What are you doing right now?

[EndOfTheEarth]

Besides posting on here and replying to this thread. Original credit for this goes back to Fate and Nathan on MX.

[Omega]

The worst part is - with 9/11 and 7/7 and Bali and Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel and Pakistan, hell even Russia.... all of them in the news, all the time. You don't go a week without someone strapping explosives to themselves and detonating them to try and kill/hurt as many as possible.

 

Fuck it all, man.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Ten years ago... I suppose that I'm one of three or four people on this site old enough to actually have any vivid memories of what happened, the others being Nathan, Omega, and DZ, when she's on.

 

Like I said I didn't have any idea what was going on. I came home from 5th grade that day on the school bus with the other kids, and everyone's parents where there.

Normally, I'd walk home by myself. On occasion, my mom would be there to pick me up. On an even more rare occasion, my dad would be there to pick me up. Seeing both of them there at once, I knew something was wrong. If I recall correctly, the first question I asked on walking over to them was, "Did someone die?"

I spent the rest of the day with my parents glued to the television. My younger brother was there too, but he was in first grade and knew that something bad had happened, but didn't know exactly what. I recall cycling though the channels--the pictures of the World Trade center collapsing was on ever channel except PBS; they had "Clifford The Big Red Dog."

I grew up in a Conservative/Reform Jewish household, so the idea of people blowing themselves up to ruin your day was not a new concept to me--I was aware of the idea of terrorism, but that was something that happened over in Israel. Not the United States. And not with airplanes--I'd already been to Japan three times by then, and airports were places where grave security officers checked your backpack and passport.

I wasn't happy. I'm still not happy about it. I am happy, though, that we came together, if even for a few weeks, as a nation. I'm also happy that we got (read as "permanently halted" I would have felt the same way if we'd captured the guy instead of killing him) the guy responsible. I still cry during 9/11 tributes, or at shows that cover how the US has managed to deal with 235 years of psychosis and still come out in one piece at the end of it all.

I think My brother gets it. My younger sister was only a few months old at the time of the attack, but she's had her own personal hell to contend with a few years ago, so she realizes the significance of what's going on

 

I'm happy we pulled through. Now, if we can get NASA up and running again, I'll fully be content.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Unrelated, I have Minecraft Premium now, so I should be able to connect with you people and see you on the servers at some point.

[Brandybuck]

Ten years ago...

I remember being at soccer practice after school.  My dad had seemed quiet (more so than usual) driving me there, but nothing else seemed wrong.  In fact, I didn't sense anything was wrong until the meeting after practice had ended.  Some of the parents were crying, the coaches didn't say anything to us at all.  I think they didn't cancel practice so that we could keep a sense of "normalcy" but hell, I was 5 and I had no idea what normal would even feel like, let alone abnormal.  All I really have are stories... stories of my mom, a seventh grade science teacher watching the footage while it happened, as all the teachers and students did, until the principal made an announcement, asking the teachers to please shut off their televisions.  Stories of my brother breaking down in the produce section, I think the first time I ever saw him cry, two days later.  It sucks to know that if I had been a few years older I would feel enough sadness now to walk around with that same, morose face on 9/11 every year, but instead all I have is apathy.  Apathy and stories.

[Mudkip]

My dad won't go to sleep. Ugh. DAD IT'S 1:30 IN THE MORNING, GO. TO. BED.

Or at the very least turn down the TV. >.<'

[o0_flying high_0o]

Thought I'd write something 9/11 related but ended up all convoluted. It's odd reading your reactions, or lack thereof. 

I was old enough to remember it, but it was mostly watching people's reactions. I was 8 yo, America was like.... Mars. I'd never even left the state then.

It's been a long, fucked up decade. On one end we had some extremist Muslims trying to blow up the Western way of life, and on the other we had Breivik embarking on his massacre to try and rile up more anti-Muslim sentiment.

It's a decade characterised by war, suspicion, paranoia, increased security and surveillance. Riots across the Middle East for freedom, in London for free stuff. Be alert not alarmed was the catch phrase of the decade. Financial crisis. Which, here, isn't that bad at all, but we're so used to the end of the world stuff that everyone stopped spending anyway, so now our market /is/ failing. 

I didn't know that the world was changing when I heard the news. The before isn't really that clear to me, I didn't pay attention to much of that was effected back then anyway. But a mood shifted. The world /did/ change. And I'm pretty sure 7 and 8 year olds today don't get to remain as ignorant about religious extremists and suicide bombers.

[Jessie~the~Singer]

Well, I was at a museum yesterday and didn't get the chance to come on. So.

 

Ten years and one day ago, I was in 1st grade. We were all in the cafeteria, and a sobbing teacher ran in and turned the little TV in the corner on. All the teachers and adults were crying and calling relatives, while the children sat in confusion, joking and playing around as we do. I knew something was wrong, which is probably why I remember that moment. But I'm told that when my parents asked me if I knew what had happened, I said that my teacher had told me some bad men blew up some buildings. I don't know when the Aha moment for me was. I've just... always known, I suppose. Just growing up with it, I knew in the back of my mind what had happened, though I suppose it didn't have any relevance to me until late elementary school. But that doesn't change how awful I feel every 9/11, and wanting to pray for the relatives of the victims. My friend is a military kid, and he looked absolutely terrible today. It's very real for him. And it doesn't help that his two of his teachers showed the footage of people jumping out of the buildings and the planes crashing.

[Omega]

It's raining.

 

Yesterday a southerly came racing up the plains. It's not as bad as last month's snows, for sure, but still miserable outside. It got bad about lunchtime - temperature halved in about half an hour - nothing quite like it.

 

I like being curled up in bed with a heater, electric blanket and hot chocolate.

[Contradiction]

Why is my Jukebox the Ghost radio playing Taylor Swift? DX

 

In other news, POTTERMORE, HURRY UP AND SEND ME MY EMAIL.

[EndOfTheEarth]

X)

I don't think they get it.

 

So, anyway, I sent an e-mail to MDW's admin about a week ago. It looks like some aspect of it made its way through the fog, as ModChey posted this today:

http://www.max-dan-wiz.com/forum/topics/all-rps-must-be-in-young-wr...

 

We can help regulation by being extraordinarily nit-picky. If you see anyone who didn't post in the Young Writers section post an RP, go report them, as it's now 'legal' to do so.

Maybe, in time, the admin will figure out the rest of my message and remove them from the forum entirely. I don't know, it remains to be seen.

[nathan_p]

They might be phasing in the other things you suggested -- they might be starting off a "no RPs" bit by grouping them all into one place, then asking them all to move to groups. 

 

I'm feeling an urge to talk MR science. Been bored lately.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Like I said, I've developed a project with goals and such. I'd like to get as many science-oriented people on it as possible, and would rather it didn't turn into a three-and-a-half person project like the ARG did, so I'm strongly considering posting it on MDW.

 

However, to get you thinking, here's the OP content. Do not reply just yet, unless you feel the need to revise an aspect of the project order of business:

 

Detailed Birdkid Construction

 

ABSTRACT:

In case you haven’t noticed, bird kids are presently fictional.

But what’s to say they need to stay that way?

 

In this thread, we’re going to discuss how to make a birdkid. A real one, using real science, real biomechanics, real math, and imagination grounded in rationality.

 

We are also going to discuss Patterson’s competing model, as detailed in When the Wind Blows, and use this science, math, and biomechanics to look over what does work and could be moved into a real-life birdkid, and what’s just silly, or even inefficient.

 

Again, this is designed to be an intelligent conversation based on reality. Anatomical drawings are encouraged (though, make sure they’re G-rated) and any facts you present, including manufactured and natural airframe details or equations, should come with citation—only use Wikipedia if the line there is also cited.

If you have unrelated content about your fanfiction, your Roleplays, or the book romances, please don’t interrupt.

 

GOAL:

To create a functioning birdkid. This Entails:

 

1) Wings of a structure needed to sustain the flight of a human-sized body. For the sake of our subject, we’re going to apply a total weight ceiling at 170 lbs. An enlargement of a preexisting wing design would be preferable.

 

2) A musculature and joint arrangement to support these wings. This must include where these muscles and joints insert, and expected energy consumption during takeoff.

 

3) A heart and respiratory system needed to support both those muscles and a generally functioning human. Should include estimated weight and capacity in relation to a normal human system.

 

4) A system of stabilizers/rudders to allow the subject to maneuver in flight. Pitch and roll are required, yaw is optional.

 

5) Modifications necessary to reduce atmospheric drag. This includes keeping the human legs out straight.

 

6) Any other systems to assist the subject in takeoff, flight, and landing, or other internal structural anatomy needed to support the above items.

 

Decided solutions will be added in bold below each goal.

 

OPTIONAL:

 

7) Reproduction and digestive system alterations. KEEP THIS G-RATED.

 

8) Gender-specific attributes and how these may/may not apply to above items. KEEP THIS G-RATED.

 

9) Cost/Benefit of additional gizmos and doohickeys, such as increased vision magnification, night vision, and so on.

 

Detailed solutions will be added in bold below each goal.

 

DO NOT INCLUDE:

A) Impressions on what the subject should look like outside of the anatomical items discussed above. Hair color, eye color, or unrelated physical attributes fall into this category.

 

B) Anything about history or personality—we’re keeping a human brain, so we have no control over this anyway. If you want this stuff, go on a RP.

 

C) Potential names. For the sake of this discussion, we will refer to the subject as “the subject”. Use “he” “she” or “it” at your own preference, unless discussing topics covered under Gender-specific attributes. This is up for revision at a later time, pending decision of those in the discussion.

 

D) Ethical reflections. We don’t care if this is ethically good or bad, we’re just trying to determine if it’s possible.

 

E) Process of making a preexisting human into one. Not, at least, until we have achieved an end result that we’re shooting for. Besides, it’s easier--in theory--to make a birdkid from scratch.