madad (extend by drawing or pulling, stretch out, expand) 

Material Properties: Sand and rocks consist of discrete particles and solid objects. They do not form a continuous, elastic material that can be elongated or expanded through pulling or similar actions. Stretching implies a change in shape or form through tension, which doesn't apply to a collection of loose, non-cohesive materials like rocks and sand. Nature of the Action: The action of spreading rocks and sand involves scattering or distributing these materials across a surface, not elongating them. "Stretch" does not accurately describe this process, as it fails to capture the act of evenly covering an area with particulate matter. 

Understanding the Power of Simplicity

Jesus’ Example of Simple Communication

The Importance of Clear Communication

• Simplifying a message helps others grasp your ideas more efficiently.
• Clear communication minimizes misunderstandings and fosters stronger relationships.
• Speaking simply allows us to reach a broader audience, much like Jesus did.

Reflection: Are You Accurately Conveying Your Message?

• When was the last time I explained something complex in simple terms?
• How did the other person respond?
• What steps can I take to ensure my messages are clear and understandable?

Practical Steps for Simplifying Your Message

1. Know Your Audience: Tailor your message to the level of understanding of your listeners. Avoid jargon and use familiar language.
2. Clear Structure: Organize your thoughts coherently. Use bullet points or numbered lists to break down complex ideas.
3. Use Analogies and Stories: Just as Jesus used parables, employ analogies and stories to illustrate your points vividly.
4. Ask for Feedback: Encourage questions and solicit feedback to ensure your message is being received as intended.
5. Practice: The more you practice explaining your ideas simply, the more naturally it will come.

A Call to Action: Share Your Experience

• This is the 3rd returnee season (after TAR11 All Stars, TAR18 Unfinished Business and now TAR24 All Stars). An All Star season is meant to be the “best of the best” and this season consisted of returnees from TAR18-TAR23 only as well as some 3-time players. Also no winners and some early boots, so it actually feels more like Unfinished Business 2 rather than All Stars 2. I love returnee seasons and seeing entertaining past players interact and you feel invested in them in episode 1 (most seasons take a few episodes to become invested in the cast). However it was the weakest Amazing Race returnee cast by far.
  
• Now to judge the returnee cast. Out of the 2-time players, you had 4 fantastic choices (Natalie/Nadiya, Leo/Jamal, BoppeMark, Brendan/Rachel) and 4 terrible choices (Dave/Connor, John/Jessica, Joey/Meghan, Caroline/Jennifer, all from TAR22 haha). Dave/Connor more suited an Unfinished Business season. I wouldn’t even mind if they just slotted Dave/Connor into a regular season with 10 other newbie teams like Bruce in Survivor 45 (rather than wasting a precious All Stars slot). They’re nothing special - they just raced 4 legs and got medevaced so they wouldn’t be too out of place on a regular season. I even said Eric/Danielle from TAR11 could have raced on a regular season too. Not using an Express Pass (John/Jessica) is NOT a reason to be on All Stars (also not that interesting), Joey/Meghan were only back because of their YouTube fame (also not that interesting), and Caroline/Jennifer are there for the hot girl team quota (and AGAIN not that interesting). The main criteria should be ENTERTAINMENT and these 4 were NOT.
  
• Out of the 3-time players, Jet/Cord were a good choice being such a fan favourite (despite being very overrated), Margie/Luke are always a fascinating team to watch so they were fine, but Flight Time/Big Easy weren’t needed for a 3rd time. They were fine in TAR15 but were just okay in TAR18 so I don’t see anything new they could bring really. So many better 3-time choices. And lastly you have the Mark/Mallory hybrid which I’m actually not too negative on (Mallory is also a 3-timer). Ideally they should have put on an alternate team when Bopper couldn’t race but I think Mark/Mallory had potential for entertainment and a fascinating storyline. Very different from Eric/Danielle’s situation because Mark AND Mallory were both popular characters.
  
• I personally don’t mind 3-timers if it will improve the cast but I know many fans would prefer to stick with just 2-time players for fairness. But I don’t believe any combination of 2-timers would have made this a good cast, with fans suggesting Andy/Tommy, Jaymes/James, Pam/Winnie, Max/Katie, Abbie/Ryan etc. Let’s be honest - these teams would not have dramatically improved the quality of the cast! They should have either waited a few seasons or just go all out and try to replicate Survivor Heroes vs Villains (regarded as one of the best All Star seasons of Reality TV) - it had winners, lots of 3-timers, classic players and no weak links in the cast. While I believe TAR24 was too soon for an All Stars, Survivor Heroes vs Villains was also “too soon” (only 4 seasons after Fans vs Favorites) but good casting made it a legendary season. 3-timers and winners are not necessarily a bad thing!
  
• So this is who I would have picked (I believe just go all out and get the biggest stars and characters possible) = I would have only picked 4 teams from TAR19-TAR23 (Brendan/Rachel, Natalie/Nadiya, BoppeMark, Leo/Jamal). While Bopper would still have gotten sick, I would have picked another team to replace them rather than Mark/Mallory (maybe Bill/Cathi - arguably the best older team). I would then pick four 3-timers (Jet/Cord, Margie/Luke, Charla/Mirna, Rob/Amber). I would then fill the remaining slots with winners because it would be nice to have the equivalent of a Sandra or Tony from Survivor (2-time winner) - either Rob/Brennan, Chip/Kim, Nat/Kat, Rachel/Dave (if still together), Ernie/Cindy or Nick/Starr. Some other good choices (if the teams above decline) would be Colin/Christie, Eric/Jeremy, Oswald/Danny, Joe/Bill, Dustin/Kandice, Kynt/Vyxsin, Zev/Justin or any winners. Also Brook/Claire and Tim/Marie but they declined and could have considered Amani/Marcus who also declined.
  

• This season didn’t have many boring sections but felt like an unsatisfying mess. The choice of returnees was frustrating and then you had 2 of the “underwhelming choices” be the top 2, Natalie/Nadiya going 1st was a huge loss, Mark/Mallory damaging the reputations was disappointing (but good TV), the 3-timers didn’t do much this time and then mixed with the poor route and challenges. The Accidental Alliance vs The Brenchels was a big storyline at the end and while that drama was “better than nothing”, it also came across as annoying (similar to Brandy vs Caite in TAR16). I like returnee seasons, and I believe this would rank lower if they were all new teams. For example I enjoyed watching John/Jessica, Margie/Luke and Flight Time/Big Easy because I knew their history, but would be boring if I didn’t know their backstories.
  
• The editing and storylines also seemed off. You had multiple teams together at the Spanish steps challenge and then a foot race to the pit stop yet it didn’t feel as tense as it should have been. They also had Brendan/Rachel almost missing a flight in leg 5 as well as a train in leg 6 and they both lacked suspense (editing is the issue). Also while I liked Brendan/Rachel this season, their storyline was all over the place. Rachel started as wanting to redeem herself with a few positive moments (not stressing, helping Luke) but then later became hated by every team and had some meltdowns. The redemption storyline was just dropped. The same thing with Dave/Connor who were meant to be super sweet but the editing made them annoying and self righteous. Even the Accidental Alliance drama seemed to be dropped at the end where Brendan/Rachel were interacting with the other teams like nothing happened. This is also the first season to cut the intro for several episodes. So mostly entertaining but some unsatisfying storylines and editing choices.
  
• Dave/Connor are 2 of the more unique winners, as opposed to the “dull” Jason/Amy and Bates/Anthony type winners. The first parent/child winners, the oldest individual to win, and had a great story of being medevaced the first time and returning to win. Some find them likeable, some find them annoying, but I prefer them to a team we don’t care about at all. I probably would have preferred a Leo/Jamal win or the craziness of a Brendan/Rachel win…but it was an okay result but not great.
  

• This season had a terrible route! No new countries (besides 1 task in Wales), only 3 continents, lots of double legs in 1 country (first 8 legs were 2 legs in China, 2 legs in Malaysia, 2 legs in Sri Lanka, 2 legs in Italy) and lots of simple city legs that look like post-Covid routes (Leg 2 for example looked like it only took teams less than 2 hours to complete and the pit stop was like 20 mins away from the previous one). Apparently a lot of legs were designed last minute which I understand. Besides the Family Edition, I think TAR21’s route was worse though because TAR24 had slightly more iconic sites (Canton Tower, Petronus Towers, Coliseum and Spanish steps, Mount Titlus, first visit to Wales, Las Vegas strip) and a bit of a variety with snow, rainforests, cities etc. Terrible starting line at that college - a starting line isn’t a huge deal but it does get you hyped when it’s at an epic location (like next season’s Times Square).
  
• A lot of the challenges were also very cheap looking and simple for an All Stars. Challenges like operating a remote controlled chariot and shaving a balloon look very underwhelming. Not many challenges stood out besides pouring the drinks/DJ Detour (a fantastic Detour) and remembering the Welsh poem. They should have just resorted to Switchbacks of classic destinations and challenges as that would suit an All Star season. And some odd choices in regards to predetermined flights (lots of sign-ups for flights rather than flight searching) and Dave/Connor’s 5-8 Road Block distribution didn’t make sense.
  
• This season basically had the same format as the last few seasons which I don’t mind. It brought back the twist where the winner of the Express Pass gives a 2nd one to another team. It was unique this season because for the first time a team gave away the Express Pass at a challenge and basically “burnt it”. Besides that, this season also had 2 Double U-Turns and Speed Bumps. No Fast Forwards which is a shame because I think it adds something slightly interesting to those episodes. Only the 3rd season to not have a Fast Forward.
  

1. Dave/Connor - the rivals of the Brenchels and made the next biggest impact! They seemed very sweet and relatable like at the disco “We’re just 2 Mormon boys from Salt Lake City” haha and I liked their sweet bond with Caroline/Jennifer where they let them step on the mat in front of them. But they also feel annoying and entitled. Dave mentioned his achilles A LOT, Dave complained about his age A LOT ("Yeah outrunning an old man", “U-Turning a 60 year old man” and “This is a young person’s game”), complained about Brenchels A LOT and they seemed very self righteous over the U-Turn. Their involvement in the Accidental Alliance came across as childish rather than noble, “That snotty woman! She’s scary looking!” So I'm not sure if they were meant to be likeable or not - they sort of sucked a lot of the fun out of the season honestly. But a decent redemption for them and they made a decent impact and got us talking.
   
2. Leo/Jamal - still fun and likeable with some sneaky moments but more toned down than last time. A few cheeky moments like “We love you Connor, we love you Connor” when he finished the sewing (hoping for help), but then “I’m kidding, I don’t” after they left. Strategic again like when they wanted to lie to Jet/Cord at one stage but didn’t because they wanted to avoid the U-Turn this time. Made the smart decision rather than the emotional one when U-Turning the threats Jet/Cord. Unfortunately finished in 4th place again.
   
3. Jet/Cord - the cowboys are “back in the saddle”! Another likeable team but I found Leo/Jamal more interesting. They were “threats” again, “We’re like butter, we’re on a roll” when coming in 1st haha and also worked alone again “We’re used to being the lone rangers”. I sort of liked how they didn’t join in on the Brenchel drama. Still find them a bit overrated but I know a lot of viewers enjoyed seeing them again.
   
4. Caroline/Jennifer - were the sweethearts and underdogs who weren’t great racers but slid by each week (and saved by 2 non-eliminations). I thought they were likeable enough, “Who would u-turn Dave/Connor, they’re the sweetest guys…and have great hair” haha Were proud of their flirting again and used it to get an Express Pass off Jet/Cord…and were helped multiple times by Leo/Jamal and Dave/Connor. You don’t need to be a strong “girl power” team…the underdogs who get through by flirting are just as interesting haha But weren’t that great TV honestly….like last time.
   
5. Mark/Mallory - a fascinating dynamic even though most fans didn’t like this hybrid. In a way it did damage the reputation of 2 fan favorites (Mark/Bopper and Gary/Mallory) because they were very negative to one another (Mark refusing to race without the backpack despite having everything he needed, and Mallory seemed uncaring and not taking responsibility) but I enjoyed their drama. I liked how Mallory joked about losing their passport on leg 1…and the foreshadowing. I prefer their messy dynamic rather than them just being nice and boring for 2 legs.
   
6. Natalie/Nadiya - screamed at eachother through the whole 1st episode and I loved every minute they were on screen “It’s in Asian, I can’t read it!” haha They were such a hot mess in their 1 episode and possibly my favourite first boots! This season would have been so much better if we saw them involved in the Brenchel drama later, and I would have loved to see some more crazy moments and seeing them get to visit Sri Lanka.
   
7. Margie/Luke - the last 4 didn’t really contribute much this season. These 2 are ahead because I always enjoy watching their dynamic with their sweet bond and occasional bickering (nothing bad, just normal healthy struggles). Luke’s sexuality was finally brought up (a nice scene where Luke explains his coming out to Margie) and I liked Margie saying that when Luke pulls her this time, he has to be gentler because she’s older haha Felt very likeable this time, like when they were reflecting on the train ride in Sri Lanka.
   
8. Flight Time/Big Easy - they were fine but didn’t do much this season. They had a nice moment dancing with the locals in Borneo, joking about the Beekmans winning with roller bags, and talking to their wooden donkey when they couldn’t work out what they did wrong. So ultimately a few more fun moments than the 2 ranked below them. Didn’t feel like they wanted to be there as much as previous seasons.
   
9. John/Jessica - didn’t do much this time. They were at the centre of lots of storylines in TAR22 but I think that was just “lucky circumstances” rather than them being big characters. They were just a generic nice couple here. It was nice though seeing Joey/Meghan and John/Jessica helping each other again like last time (and Brendan/Rachel having a random final 3 alliance with them haha). Their only moment here was them working with other teams thinking Caroline/Jennifer were behind them, and losing a footrace.
   
10. Joey/Meghan - Also didn’t do much and the only difference is John/Jessica made it further. Joey just played up to the cameras like last time (screeching “White is not my color” at the wedding dresses) but they were still likeable enough. Their only storyline was Meaghan helping John despite the 2 of them being in last place. So not the smartest move but nice that they still have that friendship.
    

1. Leg 4 - Malaysia (F8 - Non elimination) - fantastic, especially the Kuala Lumpur section at the end. The beginning in Kota Kinabalu had the trampoline challenge which had Jessica struggling and injuring her foot and Rachel having to take off her pantyhose because she was slipping haha But Kuala Lumpur had the Petronus Towers and Batu Caves, a night leg plus a fantastic Detour (if you ignore that it was impossible for Luke to do the DJ routine). Pouring the cocktails and the DJ routine had lots of teams struggling with placement shifts from the flights (one of my favorite Detours). Luke has a meltdown and smashes the glasses (Margie yelling like a mother to pick them up haha) and Rachel of all people calms him down. 3 hours later Brendan/Rachel pray and have a very positive edit and music (and don’t accept Margie/Luke’s offer for both to take a penalty) and a great ending between these 2. Loved the music and close up of Rachel’s cross haha Would be the best leg of the season if the whole leg was in Kuala Lumpur.
   
2. Leg 2 - China (F10 - Mark/Mallory eliminated) - it looked like a cheap Covid leg but pretty exciting overall. Some great drama with Mallory forgetting Mark’s bag and arguing about going back for it, “People from Kentucky don’t act this way” and Mark being like “I don’t have much and I mean nothing to her”. A trainwreck but can’t stop watching! Jet/Cord walk for a long time and lose their 1st place lead and some okay navigation drama at the start. Building the toy car at “Chuck e Cheese on steroids” was fun - a little girl annoying Flight Time, Meghan helping her ally John (despite being last), and especially Caroline struggling and Jen managing to get the Express Pass off Jet/Cord, “I knew I’d get it off him” hehe. The featherball was also fun with all teams so close together, and Mark/Mallory just not working well together at all. No team chose the massage, and I don’t mind watching teams in pain haha but I prefer skill based challenges so I don’t mind. 7 teams then check in together at the pit stop together. Very fun and fast paced!
   
3. Leg 11 - England/Wales (F4 - Leo/Jamal eliminated) - was decent and felt competitive enough but not as top tier as past final 4’s - mediocre tasks for a final 4 elimination and not many storylines but not too dull. Soccer task was ok but nothing special, shooting the clay pigeons/tossing wellingtons was terrible (still felt tense though at the end…and I guess it made Rachel crack), but I really enjoyed remembering the Welsh poem on the aqueduct (good scenery, cultural and challenging). The costumes and castle looked nice - “we’re in Downton Abbey” and Rachel finally has a TAR20 type meltdown when she picks the wrong size shoe and cries like a child (the foreshadowing at the start when Rachel says “I’m proud that I haven’t freaked out yet”). Placement shifts, self driving, Rachel meltdowns are always a positive for me, and actually had a strange positive edit where the final 4 were getting along. So still enjoyable overall and a sad ending for Leo/Jamal. Just needed a few better challenges, especially the Detour at the end.
   
4. Leg 7 - Italy (F7 - John/Jessica eliminated) - a good enough leg but would rank higher if it had bigger moments or storylines. It had the Coliseum, many teams together at the final puzzle (Roman Numerals) which is always a plus (Flight Time hilariously having no clue how to do it, Rachel not helping teams, and Leo/Jamal strategically helping last place teams)…and a foot race for last with teams thinking Caroline/Jennifer were behind. However the challenges were embarrassingly bad - remote controlled chariots seemed so silly and out of place (feels very inauthentic to the Ancient Roman theme), the gladiator routine was silly, and counting the Spanish steps wasn’t that hard as long as a local could tell you the Roman Numerals. Finding the site of the “unhappy Roman holiday” had some difficulties, Rachel thinking the “eternal city” is Ethiopia for some reason haha and while the detours were silly, they had some funny struggles with Leo “I watched all 4 seasons of Spartacus”. And of course a very close finish!
   
5. Leg 9 - Switzerland (F5 - Non elimination) - challenges were okay and nice Swiss scenery…but very big on the “We hate Brenchels” drama! I don’t mind it but can understand why some may find it annoying this episode. The “Accidental Alliance” is created on the train with teams mocking Rachel’s “I want to race around the world with my best friend” haha. And celebrate getting to clueboxes before Brendan/Rachel, helping one another “their family” and also complaining about them A LOT! Cleaning the room was okay as an attention to detail task and Jet was like “Now my wife knows I can clean”, and Helga “Figure it out!” was a great judge! Working out that the object is a drillbit for a tunnel plus the Mustang Puzzle were nice simple tasks - Rachel thinking it’s a wheel haha and Dave/Connor giving their allies answers. Delivering the milk through the snow at the end was a bit dull besides Brendan writing “TAR24 WINNERS BRENCHEL” on the gondola haha So just an okay leg but depends whether you like the “We hate the Brenchels” storyline.
   
6. Leg 6 - Sri Lanka (F7 - Non elimination) - another “okay” leg. Started strong with the tuk tuk Road Block - Rachel was fantastic screaming “GREEN GREEN GREEN” but her colours being wrong (her ally John eventually helps her). Lots of fun chaos with everyone manhandling tuk tuks “I was booty bumping rickshaws out of the way” haha But then there’s a train equaliser and delivering logs with an elephant/make paper from elephant dung was boring (and arguably animal cruelty making the elephant do that). “You’re only as fast as your big fat elephant”. They’re okay cultural tasks but not that difficult or interesting besides a few bubbles when making the paper. Nothing much happens besides some foot races - Jet/Cord vs Leo/Jamal “It’s Indians vs. Cowboys! And the Indians are WINNING!” haha and also Dave whining that John/Jessica outrun him “Yeah beat the old man”. The tuk tuk segment was a highlight of this season and it’s unfortunate that there was an equaliser and that the 2nd half dragged.
   
7. Leg 10 - Spain (F5 - Jet/Cord eliminated) - felt like a bit of a cheap and underwhelming final 5 elimination leg with some really silly challenges - shaving a balloon and running with bull costumes. A bit of the Brenchel drama (Dave saying the U-Turn was “kind of inappropriate” when it really wasn’t haha and “Dave/Connor are the sweetest guys on the planet”). Leo/Jamal decide to U-Turn Jet/Cord instead of Brendan/Rachel…but not that interesting “There’s only room for two cowboys on this race and it’s Leo and Jamal! Yeehaw!” Haha Shaving the balloon was terrible, nothing much from the flamenco dance, delivering the hams was a boring and generic Speed Bump, and the bull costumes were silly but at least had some fun moments - Rachel was hilarious as always getting knocked around like crazy saying the bulls were ”bullies”, Dave complaining “I’m an old matador”, Jet/Cord missing parts of the phrase, plus Jamal’s knee injury. It wasn’t necessarily too boring which is why it isn’t ranked lower.
   
8. Leg 1 - China (F11 - Natalie/Nadiya eliminated) - was terribly designed! The challenges were finding the Chinese symbols on the band members (very quick and forgettable starting line task), finding wedding dresses (had an okay navigational element and the only decent task), the Canton Tower bubbles (luck based and terrible) and summersaults (terrible, impossible to fail, too tame of a height challenge for All Stars, Caroline “Flight Time looks like a sexy piece of spinning meat”). Natalie/Nadiya were fantastic entertainment and saved this episode from being terrible by yelling “YOU IDIOT” and “I TOLD YOU” over and over (and even argue over who is doing the Road Block). “Those are Chinese flags, not race flags you lunatic!” It also had Bopper’s medevac which was a dramatic start and it’s nice seeing all the returnees bantering with one another (Brenchel army at the airport and Natalie/Nadiya joking about Rachel’s crying). But not much content besides Twinnie craziness, Jet/Cord dominating, and teams struggling to find the wedding dresses.
   
9. Leg 12 - USA (F3 - Finale) - for a finale, let alone the All Stars finale, the challenges were too easy - digging for a chest (boring), David Copperfield routine (impossible to fail and only designed to show off David Copperfield), putting lightbulbs in the Mirage sign (not challenging and only designed to show off Las Vegas) and looking for the neon sign in the helicopteskydive (didn’t look that hard to find). Very unsatisfying. But it wasn’t too boring with some minor drama with Brendan/Rachel and Caroline/Jennifer having a fight at customs (not caught on camera so just explained through talking) and there’s some arguing while digging for the chest (throwing sand in each other’s holes). Plus Brendan screaming at a taxi “We’re in a race so we can have a baby” haha plus Brendan/Rachel lost in a hotel that Rachel once worked at. And to be fair, it was very close between Dave/Connor and Caroline/Jennifer - sprinting to the final clue and waiting to see who skydived first. And a night leg in Las Vegas was a great idea…just terribly designed!
   
10. Leg 5 - Sri Lanka (F8 - Margie/Luke eliminated) - unfortunately a dull leg because Margie/Luke were an obvious elimination. It did have some great airport scrambles which is always welcome in the modern era (Brendan/Rachel taking a risk on a short connection and Margie/Luke failing to get on standby). Sewing the t-shirt had potential to be a tough interesting challenge…but needed to have all teams together. Several teams struggled, teams worked together (Jessica and Brendan, as well as Connor helping a struggling Jennifer) and Big Easy really struggled “If I have to sew something I’ll just ask my fiancé or my mother…or just buy something new” haha and Flight Time just shows off his basketball skills. The fishing had to be one of the dullest challenges ever and balancing the plates wasn’t much better (although Rachel is the one telling Brendan to calm down here). Printing the t-shirts was also a boring Speed Bump. Margie/Luke are way behind and have a nice scene enjoying the Sri Lankan train ride, but not much excitement.
    
11. Leg 3 - Malaysia (F9 - Joey/Meghan eliminated) - was terribly designed - boring challenges (repelling down a waterfall, delivering goods, blowdart) and separating the flights by 3 hours just didn’t make sense as there was little drama for the top 6…and then 3 teams far behind. And flight scrambles are always better than sign-ups. The top 6 just went through three tasks robotically, and even the bottom 3 had little drama or stress. I guess there was a bit of a storyline about the Brenchel army being the bottom 3 and facing the fact one of the friends will go. But Joey/Meghan are obvious boots after struggling to find a taxi. The only interesting parts were the rafts falling apart in the rapids and Rachel repelling in her underwear so her sequins don’t get wet “God forbid she lose some sequins along the way” haha The promos really hyped up the dangerous rapids and they were fine for that short segment but no drama came from them in the episode.
    

1. TAR3 - 10/10
   
2. TAR12 - 9/10
   
3. TAR17 - 9/10
   
4. TAR18 - 9/10
   
5. TAR2 - 8/10
   
6. TAR7 - 8/10
   
7. TAR20 - 8/10
   
8. TAR11 - 8/10
   
9. TAR13 - 8/10
   
10. TAR6 - 8/10
    
11. TAR10 - 7/10
    
12. TAR22 - 7/10
    
13. TAR14 - 7/10
    
14. TAR1 - 7/10
    
15. TAR9 - 7/10
    
16. TAR21 - 6/10
    
17. TAR15 - 6/10
    
18. TAR23 - 6/10
    
19. TAR4 - 6/10
    
20. TAR24 - 6/10
    
21. TAR8 - 6/10
    
22. TAR19 - 5/10
    
23. TAR16 - 5/10
    

The Ancient Weapons:

PLUTON

• Arresting GeaLaunch Systems: basically help planes land on and launch from the hangar on the deck of the ship;
• Huge crews are needed to use it, like thousands of people, even with the help of modern automation (like 2017 stuff), the Ford still needs 2600 sailors to operate;
• Missiles: they can launch missiles from it, they're generally there to intercept aircraft and other missiles, generally integrated into the Ship Self-Defense System, which is pretty much what you think it is;
• Advanced radar systems to detect whatever's nearby underwater and above water;
• The cool ones are nuclear powered. Most of the energy goes to Electromagnetic warfare (it isn't railguns, it's taking over the EM waves aka destroying the enemy's communication network and stuff, essential for this type of combat);
• They have stealth technologies in them. In real life it's to make the ship look smaller than it is through detection systems, because there is no making such a huge thing completely invisible;
• The ability to carry a lot of aircraft. Gerry Ford can carry up to 90 airships, and they're not puny aircraft, it's the stuff that can do stuff;
• Versatility: having what is ostensibly a moving island allows for a lot more than just war. Diplomacy (mostly intimidation diplomacy), transport, humanitarian aid are all on the table;
• These ships were built to be fast, as fast as they can be of course. Gerry reaches 30 knots (56km/h or 35 mph) and you really don't want to know how much force that is, considering a carrier displaces 100000 tons of water to be afloat (that's a lot);

• Electric Armor: it's a new type of reactive armor, before we used explosives to dissipate kinetic impacts but now we could make the hull a huge isolated capacitor that will deflect and vaporize whatever tries to penetrate the ship into doing less damage. Basically, you shoot it and the bullet is shot back and evaporate mid flight instead of completing its trajectory;
• Free-electron laser: Real life laser beams made through fancy science. No they don't do a tenth of what you think it does, it's thought to be used to scramble missile and aircraft systems by sending waves of radiation at them (not X-ray radiation necessarily, the broader definition), basically breaking frying the hardware in them.

POSEIDON

URANUS

• MARAUDER: The Magnetically Accelerated Ring to Achieve Ultra-high Directed Energy and Radiation was a project for a plasma railgun. Launching a few miligrams of plasma at super high speeds and heat. it is said that these projectiles could reach 3% of the speed of light, and that these small projectiles could hold 5 pounds of TNT worth of energy. It obviously released a lot of kinetic and thermal energy on impact. It had an added bonus of scrambling electronics on contact. This project was a 90s thing, and doesn't exist anymore (the launcher was probably too bulky and costly for what could be substituted by 5 pounds of TNT in a mortar)
  
• Howitzer: A mix between a cannon and a mortar. It launches mostly explosive projectiles super high up, and they hit their targets on their fall, allowing them to be sent super far too. A bit of math makes it a staple of modern bombardment technology with precision;
  

• Bombers: a type of plane that instead of shooting a bomb in a huge arc trajectory from the ground, simply decided to drop it right above the enemy's head in a smaller arc trajectory, even a straight trajectory in the right perspective;
• Kinetic Orbital Strikes: it has various names, "Thor", "The Rods from God", "Hypervelocity Rod Bundles"... It all is the same thing pretty much, just go up to space with some very heavy rods, make the rocket/satellite/whatever go to the target, and drop those extremely heavy rods on them from space, bonus if you attach a turbine to the back. It's actually quite effective, as simple as it is. You can also do it by launching it like a missile. A few tungsten rods at high speeds are basically a meteor strike. People don't really do this because precision is bad with all the interference of the atmosphere and the elements and bringing a bunch of very heavy metal rods up to space is costly, more costly than just launching the equivalent amount of TNT through a howitzer. There are advantages though, it's very hard to defend against a metal rod falling down at Mach 10, its 11 tons of TNT on impact (which is cheaper to launch than doing all this);

• Sun Gun: it's theoretical, but I thought to put it here. If you've ever heard of Archimedes' heat ray, this is a turbo version of that. Put a very good and specialized mirror on a satellite, and burn whatever you aim at like those children that found out a focusing lens can burn stuff from space. Can also be made with a ton of not as awesome reflectors scattered around focusing on the same place. It can boil oceans and burn cities theoretically. I believe that the development of this one was stopped by one of the treaties, looks like more environmental damage than necessary;
• FOBS: Fractional Orbital Bombardment System: Imagine what the Kinetic Orbital Strike does, but instead of heavy metal it's conventional or nukes. That's it. They can't do it directly from space like a KOS because of treaties but they have a system to accurately launch a nuke from their sites to pretty much anywhere relevant in the world. It's a huge political thing, gives a lot of intimidation power and these FOBS are like a loophole in the treaties that lets nations have a nuke at standby;

BONUS:

• SMILEY(H2S and SHINOKUNI): A living chemical weapon. H2S is Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S, a real chemical that well, acts as the regular chemical weapon, has the smell of rotten egg and does pretty much everything it is shown in the anime. Shinokuni has a resemblance to a volcanic eruption, without the heat and intensity, covering everything in a layer of solid stuff. Difference is, it leads to a slow death to poison instead of what the people at Pompeii went through;

• NHC10: A highly addictive drug, used to control the children in Punk Hazard. It is how addiction is in real life, and how weaponizing it would work if it wasn't out of the picture and impractical;
• RAIN POWDER: Classic Weather Manipulation. Such practices have long been banned for malicious purposes, but it is possible to seed clouds for example. Silver Iodide is a known chemical that when powdered onto clouds will cause them to gather and eventually rain down. It is Rain Powder in real life;
• MH5: Another Chemical Weapon, used by illustrious pirate Don Krieg;
• DEATHPIEA/RAIGO: Curiously, Enel razing an island is very possible the way he did it. That's because the islands he razed were made of clouds and those are indeed susceptible to the huge electromagnetic blast he concocted. Of course, real earth wouldn't dissipate from it but his powers are indeed dangerous in a cloud layer like that of Skypiea;
• BUSTER CALL: Classical bombardment, used a long time ago, still used now. Just blow up a place until it is gone;
• JACK OF THE DROUGHT: Jack is known to cause destruction wherever the goes. That destruction has earned him the nickname of The Drought, as he not only wrecks the place he also leaves it infertile. Doing such things is not a thing you do normally in war, as you generally use the resources conquered to conquer more resources. Russia won against Napoleon and the German by doing that, depriving the land of food and water, breaking homes as they ran further into their territory and letting the cold environment and basic necessities suck the opponent dry, making the opponent too feeble to win. If only regular people were taken into consideration when poisoning the water supply and razing wheat fields;
• KAIDO OF THE BEASTS/MARS: They can shoot extremely destructive lasers. That's more than a lot of weapons;
• SATURN: His stun power resembles a concussive grenade or a stun grenade, as he can immobilize people in an area around him.

1. This version of the story takes place in the 1990s.
2. The protagonist (Francis Wayland Thurston) is a detective before the story begins and uses his great Uncle's findings to help with his investigation of the cult. As for Wayland's personality, I see him as a strange combination of Matthew McConaughey's character in True Detective season one, John Constantine, Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds, and (hear me out) Dipper Pines from Gravity Falls because I want at least a little levity. If you think about it, Gravity Falls is essentially "The Call of Cthulhu" for kids with creatures from folk tales and mythology and the whole "great Uncle studying the dark secrets of the world and leaving behind journals full of his research when he disappears" thing.
3. This version of the cult will not be a stereotypical pagan cult as they were in the original story. Instead, the cult is going to be a fusion of the Jonestown and Heaven’s Gate cults with a Lovecraftian twist. Using these two real-world cults as inspiration is part of the reason why the story will take place in the 90s.
4. With the changes made to the cult, as well as my own experiences and views on Catholicism, I definitely want to highlight the gradual shift in the cult from "God-fearing good ole boys" to worshipping the Great Old Ones either through interrogations or through journals and newspaper clippings throughout Wayland's investigation.
5. And finally, much like the novel Annihilation and it's film adaptation, the cult's activities with other worldly entities will leave behind a strange biological trace of flowers and fungus of an unknown species.

• Video starts with an introduction from someone else saying they found a disturbing video from 2014/2015.
• They play the video, and it looks like it was made in Kinemaster by some amateur.
• The video shows a title card for the couple and it plays out as normal, going through with some images of fan art.
• Suddenly, a picture of what looks to be someone standing in a hallway with a shotgun, barely illuminated by light, is shown.
• The fanart then continues on like nothing happened. A few more slides, a new couple is introduced, and more slides are shown.
• Then, another title card comes up, but it has a cryptic taunt on it (something like "how do you like MY art?") Before it shows a bunch of real pictures of crudely-drawn fanart, with some stuff off to the side (ransom notes, a shotgun, etc.) to tell the viewer that something is not right.
• Another title card and a few more slides of another couple.
• Another title card, which says "MY BIGGEST MASTERPIECES" before showing some (fake) censored photos of corpses, a picture of a child apparently taken hostage, and another picture of the killer, this time clearer.
• Another normal title card with more normal fanart.
• An ending card with a cryptic taunt.
• Video ends, with the other person who uploaded it saying that no trace of the channel this was posted from or the crimes connected have ever been found, and that they'll turn this in to the police.

Researchers studying the vocabulary of spoken Arabic in Palestine and who are familiar with Aramaic dialects find substrata of Aramaic: nouns, verbs, grammatical forms that are alien to classical Arabic, and are typical of the Arabic spoken in the region of Aramaic influence – especially in the vernacular Arabic of Syria and Palestine. [3]

1. Palestinian Arabic speakers use Arabic words with Syriac or Aramaic diminutive suffixes not found in Classical Arabic dictionaries
2. “La” as an object marker in Palestinian Arabic, In Aramaic, the use of la is limited to definite objects.
3. There are words that are absent in Classical Arabic dictionaries that are found in Palestinian Arabic that have roots in Aramaic, primarily concerning agriculture and the household, like

• Dark matteenergy: Yes, incorporating the concept of dark matter and energy makes everything fit better in our current understanding of the universe, but the concept itself is so unintuitive. Would it not be wiser to use it for our calculations but at least admit that it is a placeholder, and the truth is that we really don't know what's happening.
  
• Singularity: I was fascinated with this concept and would explain to my family and friends how a singularity forms and what an event horizon is. Now I learn that a singularity isn't a point but a disc. How do we know this new conclusion we arrived to is not just an equally flawed understanding which will be changed again in 5/10/100 years?
  
• We all learned in high school about the standard model of an atom: of electrons, neutrons, protons, and how they are indivisible. Shortly after, I learn that we now have quarks and 6 of them. What if in 20 years we learn that they are further divisible/there are 33 quarks instead/etc?
  
• Similarly I could go on about the dual nature of light, there being a max speed limit C, big bang happening at all points.
  

1. Classical: "The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri.
   
2. Modern: "Acquainted with the Night" by Robert Frost.
   
3. Modern: "Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
   

• Embrace Unity: The interconnected rhyme scheme adds coherence to the poem.
  
• Explore Themes: Terza rima lends itself well to exploring complex themes or narratives.
  
• Rhyme Creatively: Experiment with word choices to create a harmonious and rhythmic flow.
  

1. How does the interlocking rhyme scheme contribute to the poem's overall structure?
   
2. Can you identify any modern poems or songs that use terza rima?
   

• Read more of Dante Alighieri's work, particularly "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso."
  
• Explore T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" to see a modernist take on terza rima.
  

1. "A Triolet" by Christina Rossetti.
   
2. "Triolet on a Line Apocryphally Attributed to Martin Luther" by A. E. Stallings.
   
3. "Triolet" by Robert Bridges.
   

• Choose a Captivating Refrain: Craft a refrain that can be interpreted in multiple ways.
  
• Explore Emotional Layers: Use repetition to emphasize different emotions with each iteration.
  
• Mind the Syllabic Count: Maintain a consistent syllabic count for each line.
  

1. How does the repetition of lines contribute to the triolet's impact?
   
2. Can you think of everyday situations or emotions that could be beautifully expressed through a triolet?
   

• Explore triolets by French poets from the 17th century for historical context.
  
• Read contemporary poets like Mary Jo Bang for innovative approaches to the triolet form.