2010 chevy malibu cabin filter location
2020 (goldilocks) ridgeline with modifications
2023.06.03 05:18 ndlacajunwiseguy 2020 (goldilocks) ridgeline with modifications
 | Wanted to post the 2020 ridgeline (goldilocks...I like the old style, but has the new transmission) version that I bought new before all the pandemic weirdness submitted by ndlacajunwiseguy to hondaridgeline [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/qixi4kqf1q3b1.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7cba60d921b75a67aebefa6198f2d7135dd6d5f https://preview.redd.it/rrlqrnqf1q3b1.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3cbff889786fd604a0f2bd2e5556053ec1bcb58d https://preview.redd.it/gd8y6dqf1q3b1.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8486f9efce244f1051933781e8351ad239a2e3b Modifications 1: 2 inch traxda lift. This is really the sweet spot, going over really runs up the price and 2 inches puts it on par with the taco/rangecolorado that run next to you 2: firestone destination at2 265/60-18 . No rub on full lock forward/reverse. Reason for getting was white lettering and the reviews were very positive on highway manners and wet performance. Wet performance is big for me since I am driving in the wet a good majority of the time. 2A: Tires plus lift is roughly 2 1/2 inches up. Wife: why did you make it so high? its hard to get into! me: muahahah 3: under body protection of mostly no low design front skid, front diff and catalytic protection (mostly to slow down/prevent someone going after my cat...its a thing in my area) 3a: front skid plate NEEDS replacement m6 bolts on the front that are automotive grade class 10.9. The stock bolts are meant to hold a tin shield and they will loosen and cause a bunch of creaking/groaning. If you attempt to tighten..they just break. 4: fog lights are diode dynamics SLF white, the 780 lumens is a great match and does not over power the main headlights. They are actually very useful in our dark and rainy nights here in Louisiana! 5: Brush guard, I think this was CarID...but not even sure you can buy anymore. It was roughly $350 at the time. Downside is the top tabs running under the hood...I had to take a stainless pad to them and really scour them and put on real black paint that could stand up to the rain. The stock coating rusted very quickly. 6: AEM drop in air filter. Clean/wash it every 3 months...works great. 7: CarID for the dash cover, I keep my vehicles for a long time and most end up with cracked dashes so wanted to prevent that on this ridgeline. Plus I could geek out and put my gamer handle embroided on it...kids/wife roll eyes... me dont care. 8: Steering wheel cover off amazon for $20, keeps the steering wheel in great shape and the aftermarket is really decent. 9: Full size spare on the back. This takes some amazon...you need a m8 140 to 160mm in length. I got the 160mm in length from England and its just a tad too long. I used rubber spacers on the stock insert. The stock tire holder requires a new hole, I screwed in my bolt...put some paint on the top and put the tire on with the stock holder. It showed me where the bolt hit the stock holder and voila...drilled my hole there. Its pretty much right on the edge..like 2mm off the edge if you need to guess. I put the bolt in and put a rubber spacer (again 160mm is a tad long, 150mm would be perfect) and just used a ratchet to screw it in. Is the view out of the back window great? No, but it beats the tire just lying in the back. I would love the tire to be side mounted on the bed behind the driver...but I don't know how to fabri-coble such a beast. 10: threw the engine cover away...I like to hear the engine. 11: Yes....I put a honda Trailsport badge on it. Its the version of the 2020 ridgeline that is really trail rated, but never made. haha...true unicorn 12: Put ceramic tint on the front windows. Its a bit less then the stock rear so nobody questions it and its a good look imho. I had it done professionally and it looks stock and has held up for 3 years with zero problems...and it really does block out the UV. They were also the same shop that installed the traxda lift, it was unique for them since they do a LOT of custom lifts...but never a ridgeline. What I like: 1:Payload is great, I've really pushed it a few times with 1700lbs...but it handled it like a champ every time. 2:Towing is fine, small trailer for my daughters band, a few boats, etc. I do need to install a brake controller on the off chance it hits 4k lbs or more. 3:Ride is great...way better than most every truck I've driven 4:Handling is vastly better in the corners, I can really whip this thing into a tight turn and not end up plowing or bouncing like mad....this is NOT something you want to do on a taco/rangecolorado. 5:More height on the sidewalls makes a real difference in handling pot holes...ride is not as jarring. We don't have great roads here in Louisiana. 6:I use the in bed speakers waaay more than I ever thought I would. 7:Love the transmission 8:making people regret not getting a ridgeline after they borrow my truck for the weekend 9: its pretty damn unique in town, I mean ridgeline is already pretty much "wheres waldo?" in a sea of ford/chevy/dodge/toyota...but this puts it into the unicorn status 10: oh yeah..cabin space is awesome! 11: trunk really keeps the cabin clean...just toss it in the trunk! What you need to accept: 1: acceleration takes a hit with more weight and bigger tires 2: gas mileage goes down. stock height/tires it was easy to get 25-29mpg, now its around 21. I drive like a monkey in town...17 3: Head unit is slooow. It doesn't crash/freeze...but it is slow. Basically android auto is your friend. 4: getting it aligned takes more than your usual shop. They have to work with lifted trucks...your normal shop has no clue on how to get this aligned. I took it to 2 shops, multiple times..fails. I then looked around for an alignment shop that knew wtf to do with modified trucks and it finally was done right. 5: eco mode in town is death...it takes so much off the acceleration that to turn into traffic is: ok..barely going..push more pedal...hmm still not moving...more pedal...damn they are right there! mash it to the floor! Sum up: I am totally that crescent wrench guy....I don't do anything that well, but can toss myself into most situations and make it work. This is my perfect truck in that it can do pretty much anything I ask it and my daughters are learning to drive on this as it has most of the modern safety features. |
2023.06.03 05:10 Bmmick 2017 Kia Optima Help
 | My kia the other day wouldn’t go in to drive but it did have reverse. I figured its more electrical now so i disconnected battery to reset the system. I ended up making it lose reverse. So i figured thats a good sign its not the actual transmission going out but rather something electrical. I got it going now after a over night reset and it finally threw this code. Just curious if anyone had experienced this and what the fix was? submitted by Bmmick to kia [link] [comments] |
2023.06.03 03:24 Imposter_89 Decent car repair shops?
Sorry for the detailed post; consider a part of it me wanting to vent. It could also serve as a warning to others.
I want to get my car serviced. Moved to Chicago a few months ago and the two experiences I've had so far were bad.
Recently took it to Berman Nissan on Kedzie Ave, and the prices were insane. I used to take it to a Nissan dealership in my previous state and the prices, although more expensive than the average shop, were reasonable.
Front rotors and pads, plus engine filter, plus cabin filter for $780 after tax?! They also recommended many, many more things I "need to do", like 5-7 other "issues". Each of them ranged from $180 to $700, EACH. Apparently their oil change costs $120 (not including taxes and fees)!
My previous Nissan dealership did not find issues in the car and I would always do regular maintenance with them and get it serviced every x miles, according to the maintenance guide.
Where can I find a shop that not only has reasonable prices, but also does a good job, and doesn't try to sell you something you don't need or use subpar parts while selling them as genuine parts?
If you suggest a chain, like Jiffy Lube, Midas, etc. Please mention their address as the quality of work will be different from one location to another.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
submitted by Imposter_89 to AskChicago [link] [comments]
I want to get my car serviced. Moved to Chicago a few months ago and the two experiences I've had so far were bad.
Recently took it to Berman Nissan on Kedzie Ave, and the prices were insane. I used to take it to a Nissan dealership in my previous state and the prices, although more expensive than the average shop, were reasonable.
Front rotors and pads, plus engine filter, plus cabin filter for $780 after tax?! They also recommended many, many more things I "need to do", like 5-7 other "issues". Each of them ranged from $180 to $700, EACH. Apparently their oil change costs $120 (not including taxes and fees)!
My previous Nissan dealership did not find issues in the car and I would always do regular maintenance with them and get it serviced every x miles, according to the maintenance guide.
Where can I find a shop that not only has reasonable prices, but also does a good job, and doesn't try to sell you something you don't need or use subpar parts while selling them as genuine parts?
If you suggest a chain, like Jiffy Lube, Midas, etc. Please mention their address as the quality of work will be different from one location to another.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
2023.06.03 03:22 Avcomp5 TSX maintenance
Hello I have a 2010 TSX with 243k miles that I’ve owned since 2013 when I bought it certified pre owned with 30k miles. The only maintenance I’ve had to do for it has been brakes and oil changes so far. After doing a little research on here I decided to change the cabin air and engine filters last year which were extremely dirty as you could imagine. That alone improved my mpg from 23 to 26.
Next I’m going to do the spark plugs since I seem to be way over due for those, my question for you guys is there anything else I should be doing? I feel pretty lucky I haven’t had any issues with the car yet and I want to try to be pro active to hopefully have it last another 100k miles. Thanks
submitted by Avcomp5 to AcuraTSX [link] [comments]
Next I’m going to do the spark plugs since I seem to be way over due for those, my question for you guys is there anything else I should be doing? I feel pretty lucky I haven’t had any issues with the car yet and I want to try to be pro active to hopefully have it last another 100k miles. Thanks
2023.06.03 03:10 Avcomp5 TSX maintenance
Hello I have a 2010 TSX with 243k miles that I’ve owned since 2013 when I bought it certified pre owned with 30k miles. The only maintenance I’ve had to do for it has been brakes and oil changes so far. After doing a little research on here I decided to change the cabin air and engine filters last year which were extremely dirty as you could imagine. That alone improved my mpg from 23 to 26.
Next I’m going to do the spark plugs since I seem to be way over due for those, my question for you guys is there anything else I should be doing? I feel pretty lucky I haven’t had any issues with the car yet and I want to try to be pro active to hopefully have it last another 100k miles. Thanks
submitted by Avcomp5 to Acura [link] [comments]
Next I’m going to do the spark plugs since I seem to be way over due for those, my question for you guys is there anything else I should be doing? I feel pretty lucky I haven’t had any issues with the car yet and I want to try to be pro active to hopefully have it last another 100k miles. Thanks
2023.06.02 00:45 PoorYorickaSkull Just bought a car then the check engine light came on. Here is there read from checker.
 | Any help or opinions on what I should start. submitted by PoorYorickaSkull to MechanicAdvice [link] [comments] |
2023.06.01 23:44 Antique-Pass-7849 2010 Chevy Malibu Troubleshoot
Yesterday gauges dropped and then come back and drop and so on so forth. Now it’s still doing that but also saying esc needs work and check engine is on all of a sudden. What causes gauges come and go?
submitted by Antique-Pass-7849 to AskAMechanic [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 05:48 austindlawrence 2010 Toyota Prius Oil Change
So I got an oil change since it was half off for the day. (Valvoline) And obviously when a company does some sort of promotion like this you are to expect them to try and sell you a bunch of extra stuff. But I had the guy try and sell me a $50 cabin air filter, but that wasn’t even the craziest part, another worker lied about on of my lights being out after getting home and inspecting it myself.
Then the guy that tried to sell me the over priced filter tried to sell me a “Power Steering Fluid Change” ($130). Now I’m no expert, but I am pretty sure the 2010 Toyota Prius is an EPS system, correct? I even asked the guy about it and he said that my vehicle had it “sealed”. I wasn’t doing it anyway, so I looked everywhere online and still can’t find anything about getting your power steering fluid changed on my Prius.
Does anyone know anything about this? Or was this place literally just trying to rob the blind on their oil change “sale”?!
submitted by austindlawrence to prius [link] [comments]
Then the guy that tried to sell me the over priced filter tried to sell me a “Power Steering Fluid Change” ($130). Now I’m no expert, but I am pretty sure the 2010 Toyota Prius is an EPS system, correct? I even asked the guy about it and he said that my vehicle had it “sealed”. I wasn’t doing it anyway, so I looked everywhere online and still can’t find anything about getting your power steering fluid changed on my Prius.
Does anyone know anything about this? Or was this place literally just trying to rob the blind on their oil change “sale”?!
2023.06.01 00:29 Head_Roll1812 2006 Chevy Malibu 3.5L V6!
Hi all!
I have a 2006 Chevy Malibu 3.5L V6, recently after a long drive to Cali and back my car threw two codes out, which turned off for several days before coming on again.
The codes were P0171 and P0174, my engine was detected to be running too lean for Bank 1 and Bank 2.
I ordered a replacement Mass Air Flow sensor as online this seemed like the likely culprit. I am wondering if anyone else has gotten these codes and if that was their fix as well?
(I've checked for vacuum leaks and haven't found any yet. Haven't had time to inspect the MAF sensor or the air filter due to being busy and some of my tools being stolen. I cleaned the air filter before I left so I don't believe debris is causing the code.)
submitted by Head_Roll1812 to Chevy [link] [comments]
I have a 2006 Chevy Malibu 3.5L V6, recently after a long drive to Cali and back my car threw two codes out, which turned off for several days before coming on again.
The codes were P0171 and P0174, my engine was detected to be running too lean for Bank 1 and Bank 2.
I ordered a replacement Mass Air Flow sensor as online this seemed like the likely culprit. I am wondering if anyone else has gotten these codes and if that was their fix as well?
(I've checked for vacuum leaks and haven't found any yet. Haven't had time to inspect the MAF sensor or the air filter due to being busy and some of my tools being stolen. I cleaned the air filter before I left so I don't believe debris is causing the code.)
2023.05.31 19:48 blueespadrille Reliable and Somewhat fun Sedan/SUV under $20k
Got into a no fault accident earlier this month and looks like my 2012 hyundai sonata hybrid is going to be a total loss. I’m honestly grateful because driving that car always gave me anxiety because I drive around the country and it’s not an easy car to fix if something goes wrong.
Which brings me to my next car. I’m looking for reliability and low cost/easy repair above all else. Toyota seems like the obvious option, something in the 2016-2018 range seems to be a sweet spot. However, the reliability comes at a cost it seems. Minimal features, loud ride, boring handling and not very fun to drive.
Is there another car out there that has a reputation for being reliable and somewhat fun and interesting to drive?
Do Hondas still have a reputation for being as reliable as they once were before the airbag lawsuits? I’d be interested to hear aboutany specific year models of a not typically super reliable brand stand out as being far more reliable than the rest of their typical fleet.
I currently have a 2023 Chevy Malibu as my rental and it drives like a dream. So responsive and cushy and such a quiet cabin, Apply CarPlay is so awesome and so is the sound system. I just know I would not get that experience in a Toyota, but I am not a fan of Chevy’s reputation.
Sorry if this post is all over the place I’m just overwhelmed with the car market right now and don’t have a ton of time to look around. Any guidance is helpful.
TLDR; Looking for a VERY reliable low maintenance, somewhat fun to drive SUV/Sedan for under $20k. Apple CarPlay/good sound system/quiet cabin is a plus.
Looking for any alternatives to Toyota, or any year models of a car brand that are uniquely reliable when compared to other years.
submitted by blueespadrille to whatcarshouldIbuy [link] [comments]
Which brings me to my next car. I’m looking for reliability and low cost/easy repair above all else. Toyota seems like the obvious option, something in the 2016-2018 range seems to be a sweet spot. However, the reliability comes at a cost it seems. Minimal features, loud ride, boring handling and not very fun to drive.
Is there another car out there that has a reputation for being reliable and somewhat fun and interesting to drive?
Do Hondas still have a reputation for being as reliable as they once were before the airbag lawsuits? I’d be interested to hear aboutany specific year models of a not typically super reliable brand stand out as being far more reliable than the rest of their typical fleet.
I currently have a 2023 Chevy Malibu as my rental and it drives like a dream. So responsive and cushy and such a quiet cabin, Apply CarPlay is so awesome and so is the sound system. I just know I would not get that experience in a Toyota, but I am not a fan of Chevy’s reputation.
Sorry if this post is all over the place I’m just overwhelmed with the car market right now and don’t have a ton of time to look around. Any guidance is helpful.
TLDR; Looking for a VERY reliable low maintenance, somewhat fun to drive SUV/Sedan for under $20k. Apple CarPlay/good sound system/quiet cabin is a plus.
Looking for any alternatives to Toyota, or any year models of a car brand that are uniquely reliable when compared to other years.
2023.05.31 09:33 xKatariness F10 air inlet
Hey all, I really can’t find any videos of where the air inlet is for the F10, I have a terrible smell from the AC system, and after taking suggestions from you guys, I went and got an AC cleaner foam. The seller instructed that it can easily just be sprayed through any of the car vents, while instructions on the can suggests it should be sprayed through the air inlet, now I can’t figure out the location. I’ve found videos where they locate it on the F32 cars beneath cabin filter, but don’t know if it’s the same for F10? Thanks in advance
submitted by xKatariness to BmwTech [link] [comments]
2023.05.31 06:32 faq4help My Mario and Sonic fan fiction about them building a log cabin, hope you enjoy <3
Once upon a time in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Sonic found themselves in need of a relaxing getaway. Tired from their endless adventures, they decided to embark on a joint project—to build a cozy log cabin deep within the heart of the forest.
With their renowned skills and boundless energy, Mario and Sonic set out on their new endeavor. Mario donned his trusty red cap, while Sonic laced up his sneakers. They gathered their tools and materials and began scouting for the perfect location to construct their rustic retreat.
As they explored the dense woods, Mario and Sonic stumbled upon a clearing beside a babbling brook. The serene ambiance and the filtered sunlight dancing through the leaves confirmed that this was the ideal spot for their cabin. They rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
Mario, with his robust strength, skillfully chopped down trees, while Sonic's lightning-fast speed allowed him to gather logs with astounding efficiency. Together, they created a harmonious rhythm, felling the trees and hauling the logs to the construction site.
The duo worked tirelessly, sweating and laughing as they shared stories and reminisced about their past adventures. Mario demonstrated his carpentry expertise, skillfully notching and stacking the logs, while Sonic used his supersonic speed to fetch nails and tools whenever needed.
Days turned into weeks, and the cabin gradually took shape. Mario and Sonic's collaboration yielded remarkable results. They crafted sturdy walls, built a welcoming fireplace, and fashioned a cozy loft area for relaxation. The sight of their joint efforts brought a sense of accomplishment and pride.
As the cabin's construction neared completion, Mario and Sonic added the finishing touches. They carved intricate designs on the wooden walls, paying homage to their iconic worlds. Mario painted a mural featuring colorful mushrooms, while Sonic added a depiction of rolling hills and blazing speeds.
Finally, the log cabin stood tall, blending seamlessly with its natural surroundings. Mario and Sonic stepped back, admiring their handiwork. They had created a tranquil haven where they could escape the chaos of their daily lives and enjoy some well-deserved downtime.
From that day forward, the log cabin became a cherished retreat for Mario and Sonic. They would often return, sharing stories, playing games, and enjoying the tranquility of nature. It stood as a testament to their friendship and their ability to overcome any challenge, even the ones outside the realm of saving princesses and stopping evil.
And so, in the heart of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Sonic's log cabin remained a symbol of their enduring friendship, reminding them that even heroes need a peaceful sanctuary amidst their thrilling quests.
submitted by faq4help to Mario [link] [comments]
With their renowned skills and boundless energy, Mario and Sonic set out on their new endeavor. Mario donned his trusty red cap, while Sonic laced up his sneakers. They gathered their tools and materials and began scouting for the perfect location to construct their rustic retreat.
As they explored the dense woods, Mario and Sonic stumbled upon a clearing beside a babbling brook. The serene ambiance and the filtered sunlight dancing through the leaves confirmed that this was the ideal spot for their cabin. They rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
Mario, with his robust strength, skillfully chopped down trees, while Sonic's lightning-fast speed allowed him to gather logs with astounding efficiency. Together, they created a harmonious rhythm, felling the trees and hauling the logs to the construction site.
The duo worked tirelessly, sweating and laughing as they shared stories and reminisced about their past adventures. Mario demonstrated his carpentry expertise, skillfully notching and stacking the logs, while Sonic used his supersonic speed to fetch nails and tools whenever needed.
Days turned into weeks, and the cabin gradually took shape. Mario and Sonic's collaboration yielded remarkable results. They crafted sturdy walls, built a welcoming fireplace, and fashioned a cozy loft area for relaxation. The sight of their joint efforts brought a sense of accomplishment and pride.
As the cabin's construction neared completion, Mario and Sonic added the finishing touches. They carved intricate designs on the wooden walls, paying homage to their iconic worlds. Mario painted a mural featuring colorful mushrooms, while Sonic added a depiction of rolling hills and blazing speeds.
Finally, the log cabin stood tall, blending seamlessly with its natural surroundings. Mario and Sonic stepped back, admiring their handiwork. They had created a tranquil haven where they could escape the chaos of their daily lives and enjoy some well-deserved downtime.
From that day forward, the log cabin became a cherished retreat for Mario and Sonic. They would often return, sharing stories, playing games, and enjoying the tranquility of nature. It stood as a testament to their friendship and their ability to overcome any challenge, even the ones outside the realm of saving princesses and stopping evil.
And so, in the heart of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Sonic's log cabin remained a symbol of their enduring friendship, reminding them that even heroes need a peaceful sanctuary amidst their thrilling quests.
2023.05.30 22:57 Some-News-8020 2010 Chevy Malibu air conditioner question
When I come to a red light or any stop for that matter it starts blowing warm air but when I start moving again it starts again. Sometimes it acts like the engine is about to shut off but never actually does it's been doing it for a year now. I charged the system already. Today when it did it the battery light came on
submitted by Some-News-8020 to AskMechanics [link] [comments]
2023.05.30 16:50 Nana_923 Best Tips For Construction Site Inspection Equipment Planet Equipment
 | What are the best tips for construction site inspection? Here are five inspection suggestions to bear in mind when purchasing old machinery. Equipment purchasers typically experience difficulty finding appropriately used machinery that is in good working condition. The procedure becomes more difficult if the buyer is unskilled or doesn’t know what to look for while inspecting old heavy machinery. submitted by Nana_923 to equipmentbuyandsell [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/eksxdmg4fz2b1.jpg?width=311&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=378906e9af252a1d48c7be6ff46b1831da5c4a91 The prior maintenance and usage history of used construction equipment determines its condition. Therefore, no client would take the chance of importing second-hand foreign machinery into Nigeria only to incur high maintenance or replacement expenses as a result of the machine’s unidentified defects. If you want to purchase any secondhand heavy machinery, take into account the five inspection recommendations in this article. Then, when evaluating a used equipment, make use of these insights to identify any warning signs and buy with confidence.
The foot pedals, joystick, and steering wheel are all in excellent working condition. The windows, lights, mirrors, seat belt, and other components all operate well. Cab accessibility or EROPS (extended rollover protective structure). Check out the heating and cooling system.
Finally, check to see whether the vendor has tampered with, fixed, or inaccurately read the hour meter. Particularly if the consumer lacks technical understanding, it could be challenging to identify any strange changes in the hour meter. You’ll want a machine expert’s assistance. When asked, workshop engineers from BAS Machinery send hourly meter reports on secondhand equipment to equipment buyers.
An issue with the mechanism may be indicated by the engine’s coughing noises. Squeaking noises during basic operations might be an indication of loose connections, worn-out components, or missing fasteners. Unusual noises might be a sign that the connections on the heavy machinery require lubrication. A Caterpillar D6T XL Bulldozer is examined in a video by BAS Machinery. When driving, listen for the normal engine noise devoid of any strange noises.
|
2023.05.30 14:25 AlienNationSSB Alien-Nation Chapter 169: Jailbreak
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Chapter summary: Vaughn liberates a bunch of people. Elias can't sleep and makes some decisions and receives a weird offer.
Chapter Art- Vaughn's Mask, a World War One Tanker Splatter Mask
A Leslie's Pool Supplies retail outlet made for a strange rally point for any group of people, even moreso now that the whole strip mall along what had been Concord Pike had long since closed. The stainless letters spelled the forgotten name of the shopping center, still proudly adorned the top of the diagram of blank signs ensured at least the brick obelisk was a conveniently obvious marker for the men to find and make preparations for assaulting the jail.
'Morningstar' squadron had swelled their cell's numbers to well over twenty by absorbing the miscellaneous fragments of other cells, whose skills were more generalized. The name carried over to the newly formed Strike Force by virtue of being both the largest and the lynchpin of the operation's success.
This was the largest force of the three organized groups they'd split into, each aiming to try and hit the larger jails along Route 202, the other two branches making a target list of their own. Vendetta had given them an extra half hour to at least get themselves close to in-position, but with only one shortwave had no way of knowing if they would coordinate their strike. He was a known element to everyone even if only by name. At least Elias's words stayed true; All seemed very familiar and well-practiced with their carried weaponry. More importantly, none contested his assigned leadership or questioned his orders.
Vaughn cradled the RPG he'd been given, eyeing the well-lit building just over the carefully landscaped hill. The last had been over a half hour ago. The box-mart across the old highway was the temporary headquarters of the repositioned Troop One, after the suburbs near Camp Death had been cleared, likely soon to be repositioned again. But the size of the old box-mart seemed to indicate several things, that it was largely indefensible, could contain a fair few prisoners, and by its proximity to Camp Death, could be useful to strike regardless.
The flow of traffic was unusually heavy for being well before the crack of dawn. Perhaps people were trying their luck getting up old 202 to try and reach the border that way, after having no luck along other closed border checkpoints. There was a feeling of self-consciousness in carrying heavy weapons out in the open along a suburban highway most had driven along during peacetime, the juxtaposition of old familiar environment and newly familiar activity showing just how much their lives had changed. Moreso as cars rolled along it like it was a Friday night of olde, the two lives- old and new, bumping shoulders for a moment.
"You ready?" He asked, snapping them back to the present.
Mutters of assent was good enough. Haltingly, everyone in the mishmashed strike team moved toward the precinct's bright lights, taking advantage of the long shadows and occasional noise of the passing cars.
It was an unassuming building, the repurposed garrison made out of some retail outlet built back in the turbulent seventies, all brick and little else but tiny glass doors, with not even windows for the occupants to know the impending violence had been approaching. What era will this be known as? Early Imperial? Resistance? Revolutionary? Wondered the teen, as he leveled it at the lobby. Good? Bad? Hell, I'm just the man with the gun.
Everyone levelled their weapons as once, and Vaughn held a hand high. "We're here to liberate the prison, not blow it sky high," he chuckled. It was hardly armored or reinforced- or at least, so it seemed to him. And if it was, then the Data Center had shown the virtue of striking the same spot with concentrated fire beat showering it with dispersed impacts.
At least the glass door looked normal enough. "Bump and grind, forward. Forward!" He hissed. "Aim at that- there- the front door." Easy enough for the homemade launcher to hit, and these were arguably of the lowest utility if things went sideways. Elias had taught him asset management well- it was a waste to throw your best equipment at a stationary target. While the design was tried-and-tested, Vaughn still took a few steps away.
The improvised launcher let out a metallic clunk, and with a surprisingly subdued noise and recoil the projectile was sent tumbling freely, end over end, the cap blown clean off the improvised launcher. A second later, the giant projectile more than made up for it as the round smashed through the glass door, taking the automatic door slightly off the rails and bowing slightly inward- before then blowing both them and a hail of glass fragments outward as the detonation went off inside the main lobby.
Someone in a security forces uniform staggered out.
"Infantrymen, Fire!" Vaughn roared to the infantrymen, most of Morningstar dutifully restraining themselves as a hail of bullets sprayed into the storefront and even stitched up the exterior brickwork. Clearly, some insurgents were better trained than others judging by the tracer rounds and slowly tapering off rounds.
"Advance and reload! Morningstar, spread out and cover!"
The smoke and dust was subdued, at least for now, and left them with a surprisingly clear view into the front entrance. Red streaks were painted up on the wall, black and grey of smoke-dusted debris mixed in like a spin-art collage.
The lobby's contents were an absolute shambles- everything set on a ledge had been knocked about, including the ledges and desks themselves. The security forces inside responded by charging out the main doors to follow just a second later.
A hail of gunfire met them, most of the armored troopers flinching reflexively, their armor plates overlapping and protecting their wearer. A few reflexively tried returning fire despite the harsh stings of rounds tugging on the mix of fabric, bulletproof weave, and shattering off the neosteel plate they wore. The gunfire never let up on those unfortunate few who had charged out from their cover, the complete lack of coordination, dissimilar reloading times from infantry with unequal amounts of time spent with their weapons. Effective equipment and enthusiasm was undercut by poor training, surprise, and total lack of a plan to counter being outnumbered. Morningstar, on the other hand, had the numbers, the angle, and the element of surprise.
One by one the Security Forces lay flat. Either they were dead, had the fight knocked out of them, or were trying to present as minimal target as they could while they lined up their own rifles to return fire. It was hard to say for certain what the intent was, but the outcome was little different. Round after round continued pouring into them from dozens of unevenly sized magazines, an RPG or two sending the bodies of any who tried opening fire tumbling, their limbs likely held on by the durable material underneath. When they landed, their bodies folded like misshapen laundry, pressed into unnatural shapes with the wearer still inside.
The whole front engagement was over in less than a minute. A pale, non-gauntleted hand waved frantically from behind a shattered brick front, red streaking down the fingers.
"Hold!" Vaughn shouted. "Identify!" The hand continued waving, and Vaughn shoved an unwitting volunteer forward to pull the man out from behind, to reveal a man in a stained tee shirt with a dazed expression and blood dripping from a series of scratches on his cheeks, cut in like a cat's claws had raked over them.
"Civilian!" Vaughn bellowed over his ringing ears. "Any others inside?"
The man shook his head and mouthed 'no,' his voice seemingly too hoarse- perhaps from having spent an untold amount of time screaming.
The man was wrong- there were, or at least 'had been' more security forces inside. A sudden blast and the tinkering of shrapnel caused Vaughn to duck, then charge forward, his improvised explosive launcher discarded, swinging his shotgun around from his back to rest in his hands. A Technical had tried to leave via a service bay exit, apparently not even managing to round the corner before an RPG wielded by a Morningstar veteran had upended the uparmored pickup as it pulled out.
A survivor crawled from the wreckage, and Vaughn sprinted forward, pressing the barrel against the shivering man's temple as he raised his empty hands. The wet splatter kicked high, and Vendetta checked for any other survivors, the smoking tip of his shotgun wafting grey in the fluorescent tubes of the old retail outlet.
The technicals were indeed tough, he noted, but the round seemed to have flown into a wheel well, bypassing the plating. No one else inside seemed to be moving- yet still, he made certain. There'd be no theatrics of announcing himself to an enemy who played dead by standing in the open and giving orders, letting them try and exact some measure of revenge, or gasping out some warning to the shil'vati. No, a strike was to be calculated, and that calculation was to be total.
Two minutes later and a clear picture of the aftermath had emerged. Over five hundred prisoners rescued from the cells, cramped together like sardines, hastily erected concrete laid in a grid backstopping a prefab prison. PVC pipes ran from room to room for toilets no less roughshod in their construction, set straight into the dirty linoleum. Quite a few of the prisoners were deafened somewhat. The skeleton crew of Security Forces personnel hadn't stood a chance- supposedly, most were out, working from some kind of list, or perhaps had finished their shift after a long day of throwing people into prison.
Vaughn gestured with the shotgun. "There's your exit, people. If you're still undecided about the Shil'vati, then this was your wake-up call. If you're still undecided about us, then I'm not sure what to tell you. We just risked our lives to save yours. You want to pay it back? You can either pay it forward by helping us with the next prison, or you can help the Emperor of Mankind. Blankets, food, water, soldiers, guns, ammo, whatever you've got that you think might help. He hasn't said it, but I reckon you all owe him, if you've got a decent bone in your body, you'll at least bring him something, offer to try and help. If you want, you can listen in on the radio for instructions, and if you haven't got a shortwave, I'll separate off a few from our strike squad who can fill you in and get you there, if you feel like chipping in on the war effort."
Vaughn lowered the shotgun, taking a shell off his bandoleer and loading it in to replace the one he'd fired.
"That went well," Parker remarked. "And not a bad speech. Short, to the point, and all that. Honestly, I wish I'd brought a whole crew. One for the close-up on that impact. But, uh, that execution..."
"Completely necessary," Vaughn snapped, irritatedly. "That guy was fatally wounded. Putting him out of his misery was an act of mercy. And you'll remember to narrate that, if you got that on film."
"Of course." Parker didn't deny where he'd been aiming the camera- saving Vaughn at least the headache of reviewing the footage, and then having to kill Parker, if it turned out he'd been lying.
"I'm starting to think of these jail cells as something more like a pinata full of prizes. Namely, insurgents and good PR," he muttered. Truth be told, he'd wanted more of a fight. Vaughn pulled the radio from his pocket, and sent out the broadcast. "Done here. 202 North has been cleared. About four fifty good to go in some sense of the word, though where's anyone's guess. Tried sending them your way, don't know if they'll take it. Another fifty will need medical treatment. No casualties on our end. Surprise was total. We've got pictures. No enemies taken prisoner."
Vendetta stared around the lobby, an idea slowly dawning on him.
"Hey! Hey hey hey! Snag armor off any of the ones that you can. Grab any goods that are stocked up, and arm up anyone who says they're headed to Camp Death with the weapons the guys had here. Come on, we can't stay too long here. You-" he pointed at a man who had held down the trigger on his rifle, spraying the building at full auto. "-You're fucking useless at fighting. Gather up the ones who are able and willing to fight, get them packed into a civilian-style police cruiser, and drive them on over to Camp Death. Everyone, help him load up. Get everything you can out of the Evidence lockers into the trunks- they can fit a lot, trust me, I'd know. Camp Death's going to need goodies. Come on, move, people, move!"
Morningstar Squadron had re-mustered on Vendetta.
"Alright, now what?" They almost seemed eager for more.
A smile crept across Vendetta's face, invisible to all as he pointed at the row of vehicle keys.
"I think it's time we hit 141 and a couple more," he muttered, pulling it off the hook. "Now...wheelman, shotgun, or turret?"
I couldn't sleep well on the cot that night. Though I noticed hours ticked by, every moment seemed to be spent tossing and turning. I even tried resting with the mask off, held in my hands, but the risk to my identity being discovered if anyone barged in caused me enough stress to worsen the situation. Eventually, I gave up, kicked the covers off and donned the mask again, making my rounds around the camp, trying to calm myself down by taking a midnight stroll. Instead, I felt eyes countless following me, and I had to force myself to stand tall for them. For the thousandth time, I thought of this as my Valley Forge.
As I patrolled, I could hear whispered prayers, muttered plans of action, and mercifully, snores. At least some were getting some sleep. I could see orange lights reflecting off the clouds from where I knew Wilmington lay. It seemed Vaughn was keeping busy, if indeed it was his handiwork.
A few shipment inspections and a routine update from a sentry later, and I felt caught up to speed. I noticed Radio from the corner of my eye, seemingly also unable to sleep.
I almost jumped a foot in the air when I felt the tap on my shoulder, only to find G-Man's mask staring into mine. How strange that such a haunting visage was a comfort to me.
"Hey. Can't sleep?" He sounded surprisingly serene. Or maybe it was just tired resignation. His hands seemed stuck in a familiar claw-like shape after holding the soldering iron for so long, and my fingers ached in sympathy. My mask's filters took much of the scent of smoke I could smell from the distant fires, but I was sure that if I wasn't wearing my mask that G-Man would smell faintly of molten silver solder. I'd wondered how we'd repaired and updated so many railguns so quickly. Now I knew what he'd put himself through.
"I can't," I confessed. "G-Man, I'm sorry what happened with your father. Hell of a birthday." I hadn't even had a chance to give him the present I'd bought him- a couple new filters, and vintage craftsman toolkit, 'from before they sold out,' as Verns had phrased it. The memory of his voice already felt distant, somehow.
"Wasn't your fault. Even if Town Hall wasn't your big idea to get them to retaliate, you know? Then they'd still have done something. But, uh, thanks for saying that. And thanks for trying to get dad out. I'll remember that." George said quietly, then the conversation ended when he turned away and went to the edge of the embankment. Just like that.
I could never quite get a read on him, but I wanted to respect his distance. Whatever he was feeling, he seemed to want to feel it alone, and to keep his own counsel on the matter.
I continued course toward Radio.
"Any word from Miskatonic?" I asked hopefully.
Radio offered a noncommittal shrug, then dropped it in a hurry, raising one hand to massage his chest. "They say 'this is your war,' but did ship us a small container."
"I saw."
I hadn't exactly expected them to line up alongside us in the trenches in their white coats, but I'd hoped they'd have had some kind of wonder drug or noxious gas we might deploy. Something toxic to the Shil'vati but not us. The best they'd given us so far were experimental bullets and toxic-tipped arrows and knives, the former of which supposedly could potentially the armor, if fired with enough force and impacted with a good angle. If true, then I supposed they might be moderately useful in an ambush, and they had helpfully included a pair of compound bows. I had conducted a pretty decent survey of the defense, but I hadn't thought to ask if any were experienced archers. I also couldn't imagine taking someone off a railgun, large caliber rifle, or even an old cannon to hand them a bow and arrow without feeling like I was somehow offering them an insult without equipping it myself, and there was better I could think to do with the remaining minutes before the Shil'vati would inevitably come looking than to practice.
They'd fallen out of favor for a reason, and it wasn't that the earliest guns outperformed bows.
They had also supplied a small cache of rifles that were more likely to pulverize than penetrate unless the armor had been compromised already. These were still appreciated, but hardly the game changer I wanted in return for all we'd sent them.
Then Radio leaned in, voice kept conspiratorially low. "They did, however, mention an exfiltration for you."
Sam had been right, I wouldn't get back anything close to the value of what I'd sent out. At least, not unless I was willing to abandon everything and everyone, to cut and run for my life. Such a decision would be the inglorious end of the revolution, spelling doom for everyone in it, and all of humanity's culture. I'd forever be remembered as a coward, if I was so lucky to be remembered at all.
"Well, I'm not going."
"Okay, but here's a real head-scratcher. Did you show them where Camp Death is? I've been careful not to broadcast our coordinates, and my little helpers haven't been talking with Miskatonic. And the person on the shortwave mentioned that the border would free up tomorrow morning, then mentioned the interstate right up against the back of our base as a meeting point. They said Last Exit Before Pennsylvania. That's right there." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "And I didn't mention broadcasting without a cat's paw or relay. I mean there's a chance they triangulated, but throwing together a plan that fast? Nah, man, they knew."
I searched my memory. "I'm certain that I didn't mention it to them...did Hex? She did that internship. No, wait, she got picked up and dropped off at Warehouse Base. Unless she mentioned something on the drive past? She said they were somewhere North." Now that Radio had mentioned it, I was left with a bit of a puzzle. How did they know? How much did they know about us?
"They had to have known somehow. And if they didn't know before and just figured our location out, then I bet you it's not long before the Shil'vati figure it out themselves and come sniffing," Radio resignedly threw a hand up. "Should we update the signal? Start directing people straight here?"
We had numbers, yes, but we could still do to take more in, especially if the fighting dragged on or casualties mounted higher than I projected. "How long until they're sure we're here?"
Radio yawned under his mask, the animated glass-plated mask he wore misinterpreting it with an ASCII shocked ":O" face. "We've been broadcasting all night, so, who knows?"
"Well, if it was just a signal they picked up on any random given day, how long would it typically take for the Shil'vati to muster a response?"
"Depends on the day." At my silent stare, he objected further. "They sometimes respond pretty fast to that sort of thing, but these aren't normal times, E. They used to come to check out wherever I broadcast from within an hour or two or two, but remember, they've kind of got their hands full right now thanks to Vendetta's jailbreaks. Plus, there's so many more signals." He checked the screen of his shortwave and chuckled, then lightly massaged his chest again. "I'm sure we've already gone way past."
"Alright. If we see anyone snooping around us, add our location to the broadcast. That way, anyone in the resistance or is sympathetic but isn't sure where Camp Death is can find their way here. In the meantime, though, I still think we're best not leaking it. At least with the sentries having set in the final claymores and outer defenses, we should be well-situated to ward off anything they throw at us."
"Maybe. Maybe not," George said from behind me, and I froze.
"Why not?"
He'd helped build this place. He'd know any weaknesses as well as his father.
"They might have cloaking tech, or some other means of infiltration," his voice was a dry rasp.
I shuddered thinking about it. "That's a good point," I muttered. "Assassination and recovery might be up their alley...except, I think they're terrified of what losing me might mean for their hostages."
"I'll be honest. I don't think she cares at this point," G-Man countered. I couldn't fault his gloomy disposition. I could just hope that he didn't want something bad to happen to us, to balance out that something bad had happened to him, from some weird sense of fairness.
"Yeah?"
"Think about it for a second. What happens if you die? Then what does that let her do if that happens?"
It was with a startle I realized he had a good point. Azraea had committed to a shocking all-in, something that would shake the political landscape and memories of countless denizens of the state. Months of carefully planned schemes involving carefully planned defensive patrols meant to reinforce one another, frustrate, and hinder our operations had culminated in us adapting, learning. We thought we had her beaten, especially when we destroyed her monitoring, data collection, and reporting asset in Something Else Square. Then she'd pulled something like this out of a hat, catching us totally flat-footed, rounding up who-knew how many of us before we could muster. What other assumptions had I made that were incorrect? Would she hold fire, if she knew where I was if it meant sparing the hostages? Or were they now just an 'acceptable, if regrettable' loss? When your opponent becomes unpredictable, issues arise, especially when you're counting on them to do certain things.
If it was, then I'd just done her work for her, and all of us would be dead the moment she figured out where we were, and at least the end would come faster than I knew it had arrived.
I realized I was staring up into the orange-lit cloudy night sky. I could voice none of this, not without undermining morale and potentially sparking a panic.
"If she was going to start bombarding the state, she'd have started already by now," I chuckled. "The borders are sealed, right? Why wait? Why bother trying to build some sense of dread? She's not a vampire who feeds on fear. I choose to not be afraid of what she may do. I instead intend to plan around it, to the extent that we can. Besides, if I die, what would the twins do to the hostages?"
George made a disappointed growl, his sore hands turning from awkward claws into shaking fists. "That may be the point. If the Twins do anything to the hostages in retaliation for your death, then maybe as long as she didn't pull the trigger, she thinks she'll be absolved of whatever damage their deaths mean to them."
I wasn't sure she thought that way. Heck, after months, the woman was still an absolute enigma to me. Governess Bal'shir, I understood- the flurry of speeches and photo-ops and handshakes at civic meetings with 'literally-who's-that' of 'what-community' had been carte blanche for us to grow. Ministriva was a lying snake, and once we pieced that together, I ripped her apart. But Azraea? What drove the Fleet Admiral to come down here? Duty. There wasn't any sort of hard policy she followed that I could tell, not that I knew Shil'vati military doctrine well, being an outsider such as I was. Perhaps it was the greater liberty afforded her of being both Governess and General that made it seem like her plans shifted and changed in ways that made it hard for me to keep up. Or maybe she was just at such a rank and in such a position of power to where she could make her judgment calls. If so, that begged the question: What was 'the line' for her? I had a feeling I'd somehow crossed it already. Probably Radio's tape of me fucking the Empress, if I was to be honest. Most unfair to be judged for something that hadn't been my decision, though I doubted an apology from either of us would amount to much.
I looked over to my Lieutenants. They'd helped carry me this far. I'd be foolish to ignore them now. What could I do to at least mitigate the risk that he was right, and there was someone looking to kill me, right here and now?
"Alright, fine, you've convinced me. Instruct the sentries to get the next dozen people who we intake to help patrol the inner perimeter, and to keep a watch for...well, I mean, a stealthy seven foot tall purple alien with giant tits?"
"Something invisible," George supplied.
"Alright, for anything shifting in the tall grasses that they can't immediately see- I can't really ask them to keep an eye out for something they can't see, can I?" I was suddenly too tired to think properly.
"I'll explain it," G-Man offered.
"And I'll get the sentries ready to take over the radio, explaining how it works, then I'll try heading to bed, too," Radio offered, and I realized that a yawn sounded very strange through a voice modulator- his ASCII helmet seemed to fritz out again for a second.
"I should change my sleeping quarters, too," I muttered. "They'll almost certainly check the command cabin for me, if they manage to enter. I'll pick a tunnel- uh...somewhere."
"Might be smart. Could be they'll try and take out the explosives shed, too. Make it look like an accident on our part, get rid of any hostages, and then get a free pass to exact vengeance on the state. Got anywhere in mind?"
I thought to myself. Where might be a good resting area? There were many tunnels that led to bunkers, firing outposts, and even to stowage areas. Any one of them might do in theory, but I knew of one that overlooked one of the two streams that ran along the side of Camp Death. I didn't want to situate myself either too low to where I was on the very front of the lines- why make an assassin's job even easier by putting myself on the perimeter, after all? But the creek should make a pleasant bit of white noise- and also get me away from the center shed. "Probably facing North, along Perkins run. G-Man, you look absolutely dead on your feet. Get some rest if you can, you've certainly done enough and gone through enough for today."
"There's...still things to do."
"There always will be. If the others are finished doing their repairs, lock the shed," I muttered. "I know the hostages are in there, so post a sentry or two there, too, to watch over the entrance. You're right that she may try some kind of underhanded tactic." It wouldn't do much if they decided to set charges against the side or something, and the subsequent explosion would be, in a word, 'cataclysmic'. "This was supposed to be a relaxing walk to help me rest..." I scratched at my chin under the mask, feeling the beginnings of the few scratchy hairs that had grown since I'd last shaved, and feeling the cool fresh air without the filter as the wind kicked up.
"Sorry," G-Man offered sheepishly. "I'll go tell 'em."
While he ambled off, I followed Radio back to his pile of equipment.
"Before we split then, one last thing."
"Yeah?" Radio asked.
"Have we recovered Verns?" I asked Radio. "Any word?"
"No, not that I've heard," Radio confessed. "Vendetta's been mostly quiet, I think to hide his heading from anyone who might be listening, but I know that he's struck at least three jails and counting. Some of the ones he's freed are trickling up to us here on foot, and it seems he and Morningstar are acting like a human wrecking ball. The troops are calling it Operation Smash-and-Grab."
"Smash-and-grab," I laughed, thinking of the pun. "I like it. Do we have a more recent headcount?"
"Sam said we've got enough to last about three days of continuous, round-the-clock fighting with the hundreds of people we have here. If we get a resupply run- well, I suppose it would depend upon how big a hole gets blasted in the encirclement. Or, well, something to that effect. Look, man, I'm 'Radio', not 'Telephone,' and I don't have the head for this logistics shit that you two do. You want to talk to Sam, you get the man on the radio yourself, or ask one of the Sentries I'm sticking here to manage the comms. Point being, you try and get hold of him. I'm done for the night."
I could have said something witty back, but it felt counterproductive, and would only delay the sleep I was now well overdue for.
"I've got an idea for an update. The ones Vendetta's letting loose? They can gather supplies and wait for the signal to reinforce, or to agitate, or can organize people into a more focused group, one that can punch through whatever blockade they try and form up. It'll also force the Shil'vati to not concentrate forces on our back door-" I pointed back at the interstate. "Even if they clear them out, the opportunity for us to encircle and destroy and then break out is too high for them to really try to do a mass deployment along our back." Sam was, I knew, something of a career criminal. Able to rub elbows with the worst elements of humanity. He was a facilitator, I knew, not really a leader. "Can you tell him-"
Radio was already fiddling with the dial. "Already on it," he muttered. "Lotta profit in looting, should be easy for him to steer people with that, or something. Get some sleep, E."
I went up to a sentry, requisitioned a sleeping bag someone had helpfully brought, went into a trench and told him where I'd be if I was needed. I waved to Radio, and crawled into the gunnery tunnel, almost stepping on another four people already laying in it. I loosened my laces, clutched my sheathed knife, and fell into a fitful sleep.
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Alien-Nation Discord Buy A Coffee for the Author
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Alien-Nation Discord Buy A Coffee for the Author
Chapter summary: Vaughn liberates a bunch of people. Elias can't sleep and makes some decisions and receives a weird offer.
Chapter Art- Vaughn's Mask, a World War One Tanker Splatter Mask
Alien-Nation Chapter 169: Jailbreak
'Morningstar' squadron had swelled their cell's numbers to well over twenty by absorbing the miscellaneous fragments of other cells, whose skills were more generalized. The name carried over to the newly formed Strike Force by virtue of being both the largest and the lynchpin of the operation's success.
This was the largest force of the three organized groups they'd split into, each aiming to try and hit the larger jails along Route 202, the other two branches making a target list of their own. Vendetta had given them an extra half hour to at least get themselves close to in-position, but with only one shortwave had no way of knowing if they would coordinate their strike. He was a known element to everyone even if only by name. At least Elias's words stayed true; All seemed very familiar and well-practiced with their carried weaponry. More importantly, none contested his assigned leadership or questioned his orders.
Vaughn cradled the RPG he'd been given, eyeing the well-lit building just over the carefully landscaped hill. The last had been over a half hour ago. The box-mart across the old highway was the temporary headquarters of the repositioned Troop One, after the suburbs near Camp Death had been cleared, likely soon to be repositioned again. But the size of the old box-mart seemed to indicate several things, that it was largely indefensible, could contain a fair few prisoners, and by its proximity to Camp Death, could be useful to strike regardless.
The flow of traffic was unusually heavy for being well before the crack of dawn. Perhaps people were trying their luck getting up old 202 to try and reach the border that way, after having no luck along other closed border checkpoints. There was a feeling of self-consciousness in carrying heavy weapons out in the open along a suburban highway most had driven along during peacetime, the juxtaposition of old familiar environment and newly familiar activity showing just how much their lives had changed. Moreso as cars rolled along it like it was a Friday night of olde, the two lives- old and new, bumping shoulders for a moment.
"You ready?" He asked, snapping them back to the present.
Mutters of assent was good enough. Haltingly, everyone in the mishmashed strike team moved toward the precinct's bright lights, taking advantage of the long shadows and occasional noise of the passing cars.
It was an unassuming building, the repurposed garrison made out of some retail outlet built back in the turbulent seventies, all brick and little else but tiny glass doors, with not even windows for the occupants to know the impending violence had been approaching. What era will this be known as? Early Imperial? Resistance? Revolutionary? Wondered the teen, as he leveled it at the lobby. Good? Bad? Hell, I'm just the man with the gun.
Everyone levelled their weapons as once, and Vaughn held a hand high. "We're here to liberate the prison, not blow it sky high," he chuckled. It was hardly armored or reinforced- or at least, so it seemed to him. And if it was, then the Data Center had shown the virtue of striking the same spot with concentrated fire beat showering it with dispersed impacts.
At least the glass door looked normal enough. "Bump and grind, forward. Forward!" He hissed. "Aim at that- there- the front door." Easy enough for the homemade launcher to hit, and these were arguably of the lowest utility if things went sideways. Elias had taught him asset management well- it was a waste to throw your best equipment at a stationary target. While the design was tried-and-tested, Vaughn still took a few steps away.
The improvised launcher let out a metallic clunk, and with a surprisingly subdued noise and recoil the projectile was sent tumbling freely, end over end, the cap blown clean off the improvised launcher. A second later, the giant projectile more than made up for it as the round smashed through the glass door, taking the automatic door slightly off the rails and bowing slightly inward- before then blowing both them and a hail of glass fragments outward as the detonation went off inside the main lobby.
Someone in a security forces uniform staggered out.
"Infantrymen, Fire!" Vaughn roared to the infantrymen, most of Morningstar dutifully restraining themselves as a hail of bullets sprayed into the storefront and even stitched up the exterior brickwork. Clearly, some insurgents were better trained than others judging by the tracer rounds and slowly tapering off rounds.
"Advance and reload! Morningstar, spread out and cover!"
The smoke and dust was subdued, at least for now, and left them with a surprisingly clear view into the front entrance. Red streaks were painted up on the wall, black and grey of smoke-dusted debris mixed in like a spin-art collage.
The lobby's contents were an absolute shambles- everything set on a ledge had been knocked about, including the ledges and desks themselves. The security forces inside responded by charging out the main doors to follow just a second later.
A hail of gunfire met them, most of the armored troopers flinching reflexively, their armor plates overlapping and protecting their wearer. A few reflexively tried returning fire despite the harsh stings of rounds tugging on the mix of fabric, bulletproof weave, and shattering off the neosteel plate they wore. The gunfire never let up on those unfortunate few who had charged out from their cover, the complete lack of coordination, dissimilar reloading times from infantry with unequal amounts of time spent with their weapons. Effective equipment and enthusiasm was undercut by poor training, surprise, and total lack of a plan to counter being outnumbered. Morningstar, on the other hand, had the numbers, the angle, and the element of surprise.
One by one the Security Forces lay flat. Either they were dead, had the fight knocked out of them, or were trying to present as minimal target as they could while they lined up their own rifles to return fire. It was hard to say for certain what the intent was, but the outcome was little different. Round after round continued pouring into them from dozens of unevenly sized magazines, an RPG or two sending the bodies of any who tried opening fire tumbling, their limbs likely held on by the durable material underneath. When they landed, their bodies folded like misshapen laundry, pressed into unnatural shapes with the wearer still inside.
The whole front engagement was over in less than a minute. A pale, non-gauntleted hand waved frantically from behind a shattered brick front, red streaking down the fingers.
"Hold!" Vaughn shouted. "Identify!" The hand continued waving, and Vaughn shoved an unwitting volunteer forward to pull the man out from behind, to reveal a man in a stained tee shirt with a dazed expression and blood dripping from a series of scratches on his cheeks, cut in like a cat's claws had raked over them.
"Civilian!" Vaughn bellowed over his ringing ears. "Any others inside?"
The man shook his head and mouthed 'no,' his voice seemingly too hoarse- perhaps from having spent an untold amount of time screaming.
The man was wrong- there were, or at least 'had been' more security forces inside. A sudden blast and the tinkering of shrapnel caused Vaughn to duck, then charge forward, his improvised explosive launcher discarded, swinging his shotgun around from his back to rest in his hands. A Technical had tried to leave via a service bay exit, apparently not even managing to round the corner before an RPG wielded by a Morningstar veteran had upended the uparmored pickup as it pulled out.
A survivor crawled from the wreckage, and Vaughn sprinted forward, pressing the barrel against the shivering man's temple as he raised his empty hands. The wet splatter kicked high, and Vendetta checked for any other survivors, the smoking tip of his shotgun wafting grey in the fluorescent tubes of the old retail outlet.
The technicals were indeed tough, he noted, but the round seemed to have flown into a wheel well, bypassing the plating. No one else inside seemed to be moving- yet still, he made certain. There'd be no theatrics of announcing himself to an enemy who played dead by standing in the open and giving orders, letting them try and exact some measure of revenge, or gasping out some warning to the shil'vati. No, a strike was to be calculated, and that calculation was to be total.
Two minutes later and a clear picture of the aftermath had emerged. Over five hundred prisoners rescued from the cells, cramped together like sardines, hastily erected concrete laid in a grid backstopping a prefab prison. PVC pipes ran from room to room for toilets no less roughshod in their construction, set straight into the dirty linoleum. Quite a few of the prisoners were deafened somewhat. The skeleton crew of Security Forces personnel hadn't stood a chance- supposedly, most were out, working from some kind of list, or perhaps had finished their shift after a long day of throwing people into prison.
Vaughn gestured with the shotgun. "There's your exit, people. If you're still undecided about the Shil'vati, then this was your wake-up call. If you're still undecided about us, then I'm not sure what to tell you. We just risked our lives to save yours. You want to pay it back? You can either pay it forward by helping us with the next prison, or you can help the Emperor of Mankind. Blankets, food, water, soldiers, guns, ammo, whatever you've got that you think might help. He hasn't said it, but I reckon you all owe him, if you've got a decent bone in your body, you'll at least bring him something, offer to try and help. If you want, you can listen in on the radio for instructions, and if you haven't got a shortwave, I'll separate off a few from our strike squad who can fill you in and get you there, if you feel like chipping in on the war effort."
Vaughn lowered the shotgun, taking a shell off his bandoleer and loading it in to replace the one he'd fired.
"That went well," Parker remarked. "And not a bad speech. Short, to the point, and all that. Honestly, I wish I'd brought a whole crew. One for the close-up on that impact. But, uh, that execution..."
"Completely necessary," Vaughn snapped, irritatedly. "That guy was fatally wounded. Putting him out of his misery was an act of mercy. And you'll remember to narrate that, if you got that on film."
"Of course." Parker didn't deny where he'd been aiming the camera- saving Vaughn at least the headache of reviewing the footage, and then having to kill Parker, if it turned out he'd been lying.
"I'm starting to think of these jail cells as something more like a pinata full of prizes. Namely, insurgents and good PR," he muttered. Truth be told, he'd wanted more of a fight. Vaughn pulled the radio from his pocket, and sent out the broadcast. "Done here. 202 North has been cleared. About four fifty good to go in some sense of the word, though where's anyone's guess. Tried sending them your way, don't know if they'll take it. Another fifty will need medical treatment. No casualties on our end. Surprise was total. We've got pictures. No enemies taken prisoner."
Vendetta stared around the lobby, an idea slowly dawning on him.
"Hey! Hey hey hey! Snag armor off any of the ones that you can. Grab any goods that are stocked up, and arm up anyone who says they're headed to Camp Death with the weapons the guys had here. Come on, we can't stay too long here. You-" he pointed at a man who had held down the trigger on his rifle, spraying the building at full auto. "-You're fucking useless at fighting. Gather up the ones who are able and willing to fight, get them packed into a civilian-style police cruiser, and drive them on over to Camp Death. Everyone, help him load up. Get everything you can out of the Evidence lockers into the trunks- they can fit a lot, trust me, I'd know. Camp Death's going to need goodies. Come on, move, people, move!"
Morningstar Squadron had re-mustered on Vendetta.
"Alright, now what?" They almost seemed eager for more.
A smile crept across Vendetta's face, invisible to all as he pointed at the row of vehicle keys.
"I think it's time we hit 141 and a couple more," he muttered, pulling it off the hook. "Now...wheelman, shotgun, or turret?"
"Accidentally Cut Content"
[Author's Note: Hey Everyone. I made a really dumb mistake and included part of the next chapter in the previous one's end in my rush to get it out the door. So the first couple paragraphs will be a repeat, but this IS a new chapter. I even updated those first four or five paragraphs slightly.]I couldn't sleep well on the cot that night. Though I noticed hours ticked by, every moment seemed to be spent tossing and turning. I even tried resting with the mask off, held in my hands, but the risk to my identity being discovered if anyone barged in caused me enough stress to worsen the situation. Eventually, I gave up, kicked the covers off and donned the mask again, making my rounds around the camp, trying to calm myself down by taking a midnight stroll. Instead, I felt eyes countless following me, and I had to force myself to stand tall for them. For the thousandth time, I thought of this as my Valley Forge.
As I patrolled, I could hear whispered prayers, muttered plans of action, and mercifully, snores. At least some were getting some sleep. I could see orange lights reflecting off the clouds from where I knew Wilmington lay. It seemed Vaughn was keeping busy, if indeed it was his handiwork.
A few shipment inspections and a routine update from a sentry later, and I felt caught up to speed. I noticed Radio from the corner of my eye, seemingly also unable to sleep.
I almost jumped a foot in the air when I felt the tap on my shoulder, only to find G-Man's mask staring into mine. How strange that such a haunting visage was a comfort to me.
"Hey. Can't sleep?" He sounded surprisingly serene. Or maybe it was just tired resignation. His hands seemed stuck in a familiar claw-like shape after holding the soldering iron for so long, and my fingers ached in sympathy. My mask's filters took much of the scent of smoke I could smell from the distant fires, but I was sure that if I wasn't wearing my mask that G-Man would smell faintly of molten silver solder. I'd wondered how we'd repaired and updated so many railguns so quickly. Now I knew what he'd put himself through.
"I can't," I confessed. "G-Man, I'm sorry what happened with your father. Hell of a birthday." I hadn't even had a chance to give him the present I'd bought him- a couple new filters, and vintage craftsman toolkit, 'from before they sold out,' as Verns had phrased it. The memory of his voice already felt distant, somehow.
"Wasn't your fault. Even if Town Hall wasn't your big idea to get them to retaliate, you know? Then they'd still have done something. But, uh, thanks for saying that. And thanks for trying to get dad out. I'll remember that." George said quietly, then the conversation ended when he turned away and went to the edge of the embankment. Just like that.
I could never quite get a read on him, but I wanted to respect his distance. Whatever he was feeling, he seemed to want to feel it alone, and to keep his own counsel on the matter.
I continued course toward Radio.
"Any word from Miskatonic?" I asked hopefully.
Radio offered a noncommittal shrug, then dropped it in a hurry, raising one hand to massage his chest. "They say 'this is your war,' but did ship us a small container."
"I saw."
I hadn't exactly expected them to line up alongside us in the trenches in their white coats, but I'd hoped they'd have had some kind of wonder drug or noxious gas we might deploy. Something toxic to the Shil'vati but not us. The best they'd given us so far were experimental bullets and toxic-tipped arrows and knives, the former of which supposedly could potentially the armor, if fired with enough force and impacted with a good angle. If true, then I supposed they might be moderately useful in an ambush, and they had helpfully included a pair of compound bows. I had conducted a pretty decent survey of the defense, but I hadn't thought to ask if any were experienced archers. I also couldn't imagine taking someone off a railgun, large caliber rifle, or even an old cannon to hand them a bow and arrow without feeling like I was somehow offering them an insult without equipping it myself, and there was better I could think to do with the remaining minutes before the Shil'vati would inevitably come looking than to practice.
They'd fallen out of favor for a reason, and it wasn't that the earliest guns outperformed bows.
They had also supplied a small cache of rifles that were more likely to pulverize than penetrate unless the armor had been compromised already. These were still appreciated, but hardly the game changer I wanted in return for all we'd sent them.
Then Radio leaned in, voice kept conspiratorially low. "They did, however, mention an exfiltration for you."
Sam had been right, I wouldn't get back anything close to the value of what I'd sent out. At least, not unless I was willing to abandon everything and everyone, to cut and run for my life. Such a decision would be the inglorious end of the revolution, spelling doom for everyone in it, and all of humanity's culture. I'd forever be remembered as a coward, if I was so lucky to be remembered at all.
"Well, I'm not going."
"Okay, but here's a real head-scratcher. Did you show them where Camp Death is? I've been careful not to broadcast our coordinates, and my little helpers haven't been talking with Miskatonic. And the person on the shortwave mentioned that the border would free up tomorrow morning, then mentioned the interstate right up against the back of our base as a meeting point. They said Last Exit Before Pennsylvania. That's right there." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "And I didn't mention broadcasting without a cat's paw or relay. I mean there's a chance they triangulated, but throwing together a plan that fast? Nah, man, they knew."
I searched my memory. "I'm certain that I didn't mention it to them...did Hex? She did that internship. No, wait, she got picked up and dropped off at Warehouse Base. Unless she mentioned something on the drive past? She said they were somewhere North." Now that Radio had mentioned it, I was left with a bit of a puzzle. How did they know? How much did they know about us?
"They had to have known somehow. And if they didn't know before and just figured our location out, then I bet you it's not long before the Shil'vati figure it out themselves and come sniffing," Radio resignedly threw a hand up. "Should we update the signal? Start directing people straight here?"
We had numbers, yes, but we could still do to take more in, especially if the fighting dragged on or casualties mounted higher than I projected. "How long until they're sure we're here?"
Radio yawned under his mask, the animated glass-plated mask he wore misinterpreting it with an ASCII shocked ":O" face. "We've been broadcasting all night, so, who knows?"
"Well, if it was just a signal they picked up on any random given day, how long would it typically take for the Shil'vati to muster a response?"
"Depends on the day." At my silent stare, he objected further. "They sometimes respond pretty fast to that sort of thing, but these aren't normal times, E. They used to come to check out wherever I broadcast from within an hour or two or two, but remember, they've kind of got their hands full right now thanks to Vendetta's jailbreaks. Plus, there's so many more signals." He checked the screen of his shortwave and chuckled, then lightly massaged his chest again. "I'm sure we've already gone way past."
"Alright. If we see anyone snooping around us, add our location to the broadcast. That way, anyone in the resistance or is sympathetic but isn't sure where Camp Death is can find their way here. In the meantime, though, I still think we're best not leaking it. At least with the sentries having set in the final claymores and outer defenses, we should be well-situated to ward off anything they throw at us."
"Maybe. Maybe not," George said from behind me, and I froze.
"Why not?"
He'd helped build this place. He'd know any weaknesses as well as his father.
"They might have cloaking tech, or some other means of infiltration," his voice was a dry rasp.
I shuddered thinking about it. "That's a good point," I muttered. "Assassination and recovery might be up their alley...except, I think they're terrified of what losing me might mean for their hostages."
"I'll be honest. I don't think she cares at this point," G-Man countered. I couldn't fault his gloomy disposition. I could just hope that he didn't want something bad to happen to us, to balance out that something bad had happened to him, from some weird sense of fairness.
"Yeah?"
"Think about it for a second. What happens if you die? Then what does that let her do if that happens?"
It was with a startle I realized he had a good point. Azraea had committed to a shocking all-in, something that would shake the political landscape and memories of countless denizens of the state. Months of carefully planned schemes involving carefully planned defensive patrols meant to reinforce one another, frustrate, and hinder our operations had culminated in us adapting, learning. We thought we had her beaten, especially when we destroyed her monitoring, data collection, and reporting asset in Something Else Square. Then she'd pulled something like this out of a hat, catching us totally flat-footed, rounding up who-knew how many of us before we could muster. What other assumptions had I made that were incorrect? Would she hold fire, if she knew where I was if it meant sparing the hostages? Or were they now just an 'acceptable, if regrettable' loss? When your opponent becomes unpredictable, issues arise, especially when you're counting on them to do certain things.
If it was, then I'd just done her work for her, and all of us would be dead the moment she figured out where we were, and at least the end would come faster than I knew it had arrived.
I realized I was staring up into the orange-lit cloudy night sky. I could voice none of this, not without undermining morale and potentially sparking a panic.
"If she was going to start bombarding the state, she'd have started already by now," I chuckled. "The borders are sealed, right? Why wait? Why bother trying to build some sense of dread? She's not a vampire who feeds on fear. I choose to not be afraid of what she may do. I instead intend to plan around it, to the extent that we can. Besides, if I die, what would the twins do to the hostages?"
George made a disappointed growl, his sore hands turning from awkward claws into shaking fists. "That may be the point. If the Twins do anything to the hostages in retaliation for your death, then maybe as long as she didn't pull the trigger, she thinks she'll be absolved of whatever damage their deaths mean to them."
I wasn't sure she thought that way. Heck, after months, the woman was still an absolute enigma to me. Governess Bal'shir, I understood- the flurry of speeches and photo-ops and handshakes at civic meetings with 'literally-who's-that' of 'what-community' had been carte blanche for us to grow. Ministriva was a lying snake, and once we pieced that together, I ripped her apart. But Azraea? What drove the Fleet Admiral to come down here? Duty. There wasn't any sort of hard policy she followed that I could tell, not that I knew Shil'vati military doctrine well, being an outsider such as I was. Perhaps it was the greater liberty afforded her of being both Governess and General that made it seem like her plans shifted and changed in ways that made it hard for me to keep up. Or maybe she was just at such a rank and in such a position of power to where she could make her judgment calls. If so, that begged the question: What was 'the line' for her? I had a feeling I'd somehow crossed it already. Probably Radio's tape of me fucking the Empress, if I was to be honest. Most unfair to be judged for something that hadn't been my decision, though I doubted an apology from either of us would amount to much.
I looked over to my Lieutenants. They'd helped carry me this far. I'd be foolish to ignore them now. What could I do to at least mitigate the risk that he was right, and there was someone looking to kill me, right here and now?
"Alright, fine, you've convinced me. Instruct the sentries to get the next dozen people who we intake to help patrol the inner perimeter, and to keep a watch for...well, I mean, a stealthy seven foot tall purple alien with giant tits?"
"Something invisible," George supplied.
"Alright, for anything shifting in the tall grasses that they can't immediately see- I can't really ask them to keep an eye out for something they can't see, can I?" I was suddenly too tired to think properly.
"I'll explain it," G-Man offered.
"And I'll get the sentries ready to take over the radio, explaining how it works, then I'll try heading to bed, too," Radio offered, and I realized that a yawn sounded very strange through a voice modulator- his ASCII helmet seemed to fritz out again for a second.
"I should change my sleeping quarters, too," I muttered. "They'll almost certainly check the command cabin for me, if they manage to enter. I'll pick a tunnel- uh...somewhere."
"Might be smart. Could be they'll try and take out the explosives shed, too. Make it look like an accident on our part, get rid of any hostages, and then get a free pass to exact vengeance on the state. Got anywhere in mind?"
I thought to myself. Where might be a good resting area? There were many tunnels that led to bunkers, firing outposts, and even to stowage areas. Any one of them might do in theory, but I knew of one that overlooked one of the two streams that ran along the side of Camp Death. I didn't want to situate myself either too low to where I was on the very front of the lines- why make an assassin's job even easier by putting myself on the perimeter, after all? But the creek should make a pleasant bit of white noise- and also get me away from the center shed. "Probably facing North, along Perkins run. G-Man, you look absolutely dead on your feet. Get some rest if you can, you've certainly done enough and gone through enough for today."
"There's...still things to do."
"There always will be. If the others are finished doing their repairs, lock the shed," I muttered. "I know the hostages are in there, so post a sentry or two there, too, to watch over the entrance. You're right that she may try some kind of underhanded tactic." It wouldn't do much if they decided to set charges against the side or something, and the subsequent explosion would be, in a word, 'cataclysmic'. "This was supposed to be a relaxing walk to help me rest..." I scratched at my chin under the mask, feeling the beginnings of the few scratchy hairs that had grown since I'd last shaved, and feeling the cool fresh air without the filter as the wind kicked up.
"Sorry," G-Man offered sheepishly. "I'll go tell 'em."
While he ambled off, I followed Radio back to his pile of equipment.
"Before we split then, one last thing."
"Yeah?" Radio asked.
"Have we recovered Verns?" I asked Radio. "Any word?"
"No, not that I've heard," Radio confessed. "Vendetta's been mostly quiet, I think to hide his heading from anyone who might be listening, but I know that he's struck at least three jails and counting. Some of the ones he's freed are trickling up to us here on foot, and it seems he and Morningstar are acting like a human wrecking ball. The troops are calling it Operation Smash-and-Grab."
"Smash-and-grab," I laughed, thinking of the pun. "I like it. Do we have a more recent headcount?"
"Sam said we've got enough to last about three days of continuous, round-the-clock fighting with the hundreds of people we have here. If we get a resupply run- well, I suppose it would depend upon how big a hole gets blasted in the encirclement. Or, well, something to that effect. Look, man, I'm 'Radio', not 'Telephone,' and I don't have the head for this logistics shit that you two do. You want to talk to Sam, you get the man on the radio yourself, or ask one of the Sentries I'm sticking here to manage the comms. Point being, you try and get hold of him. I'm done for the night."
I could have said something witty back, but it felt counterproductive, and would only delay the sleep I was now well overdue for.
"I've got an idea for an update. The ones Vendetta's letting loose? They can gather supplies and wait for the signal to reinforce, or to agitate, or can organize people into a more focused group, one that can punch through whatever blockade they try and form up. It'll also force the Shil'vati to not concentrate forces on our back door-" I pointed back at the interstate. "Even if they clear them out, the opportunity for us to encircle and destroy and then break out is too high for them to really try to do a mass deployment along our back." Sam was, I knew, something of a career criminal. Able to rub elbows with the worst elements of humanity. He was a facilitator, I knew, not really a leader. "Can you tell him-"
Radio was already fiddling with the dial. "Already on it," he muttered. "Lotta profit in looting, should be easy for him to steer people with that, or something. Get some sleep, E."
I went up to a sentry, requisitioned a sleeping bag someone had helpfully brought, went into a trench and told him where I'd be if I was needed. I waved to Radio, and crawled into the gunnery tunnel, almost stepping on another four people already laying in it. I loosened my laces, clutched my sheathed knife, and fell into a fitful sleep.
Alien-Nation Discord Buy A Coffee for the Author
2023.05.30 14:17 rtsgrl • • Ravensburger's Christmas Edition Puzzles Thread • •
We're out of season, but it's never too early nor too late for a Christmas thread. Credit goes to u/CleverHarwood who started the Christmas saga and then followed it up based on tips from fellow puzzlers.
The aim of this post is to create an easy-to-maintain Ravensburger Christmas resource linked to our Wiki. I will carry on updating this post, so don't hesitate to comment and point out any missing bits (even if you stumble upon it weeks or months after its original publication date). Thank you.
The focus is on Limited/Special Christmas editions: 500-2000 pieces (but I plan to add smaller counts eventually). I have hyperlinked the completed puzzle if it was posted on the sub and avoided external links. Multiple external links have lead to my post removal by reddit spam filters.
A very special thanks to u/hyperkid137 for sharing the Ravensburger link and the redditor who first shared the Puzzles by Lisa website link. eBay (active and sold items) and Puzzlelink are the other two resources that were useful in the data collection.
Last updated: May 2023
Christmas/Limited Edition with the yellow star on the box Please note some of these puzzles were released by Ravensburger USA. I have provided this information if located/available
Limited Edition UK puzzles
Christmas Disney Puzzles
submitted by rtsgrl to Jigsawpuzzles [link] [comments]
The aim of this post is to create an easy-to-maintain Ravensburger Christmas resource linked to our Wiki. I will carry on updating this post, so don't hesitate to comment and point out any missing bits (even if you stumble upon it weeks or months after its original publication date). Thank you.
The focus is on Limited/Special Christmas editions: 500-2000 pieces (but I plan to add smaller counts eventually). I have hyperlinked the completed puzzle if it was posted on the sub and avoided external links. Multiple external links have lead to my post removal by reddit spam filters.
A very special thanks to u/hyperkid137 for sharing the Ravensburger link and the redditor who first shared the Puzzles by Lisa website link. eBay (active and sold items) and Puzzlelink are the other two resources that were useful in the data collection.
Last updated: May 2023
Christmas/Limited Edition with the yellow star on the box Please note some of these puzzles were released by Ravensburger USA. I have provided this information if located/available
| Title | Artist | Pieces | Year on the box | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Here Comes Christmas! | Ingrid Slyder | 500 | 2023 | |
| Rockefeller Center Joy | Pierpaolo Rovero | 1000 | 2022 | |
| Enchanted Christmas | Demelsa Haughton | 500 | 2021 | |
| Christmas Songbirds | Ingrid Slyder | 500 XL | 2021 | Sold in the Christmas Edition and 'standard' Ravensburger box |
| Christmas Eve | Zorina Baldescu | 1500 | 2020 | |
| The Christmas Shop | Janet Kruskamp | 500 | 2020 | |
| Christmas in The Square | Victor McLindon | 1000 | 2019 | |
| Cuddly Christmas | Dominic Davison | 500 | 2019 | |
| Packing the Sleigh | Liz Dillon | 1000 | 2019 | |
| Playful Christmas Day | 1000 | 2019 | ||
| White Christmas | Dominic Davison | 1000 | 2019 | |
| Christmas on Pet Street | Ingrid Slyder | 1000 | 2018 | |
| Christmas Village | Marcello Corti | 1000 | 2018 | |
| Christmas Wishes | Barbara Behr | 1000 | 2018 | |
| Countdown to Christmas | David Krustkamp | 1000 | 2018 | |
| Snowy Village | Barbara Behr | 1000 | 2018 | |
| The Christmas House | Steve Crisp | 500 | 2017 | |
| Festival of Festivals | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2017 | Released as Santa's Christmas Party in the UK |
| The Joy of Christmas | Connecticut Community Foundation | 1000 | 2017 | |
| Winter Wonderland | Ingrid Slyder | 1000 | 2017 | |
| Christmas Joy | Interlitho (Stock art) | 500 | 2016 | |
| Santa's Ready | Nutshell- Designs | 1000 | 2016 | |
| Christmas Cupboard | Colin Thompson | 1000 | 2015 | |
| NYC Christmas | Steve Klein | 1000 | 2015 | |
| Santa's Final Preparations | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2015 | Released under the same title in the Limited Edition in the UK |
| Americana Christmas | Medana Gabbard | 1000 | 2014 | |
| Santa in the Village | Bonnie White | 1000 | 2014 | |
| Santa's Express | Interlitho (Stock art | 1000 | 2014 | |
| Christmas Train | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2014 | Released as The Santa Express in the UK |
| Mapping the Course | Elaine Maier | 1000 | 2013 | |
| Idyllic Christmas | Debbie Cook | 1000 | 2013 | |
| The Christmas Shop | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2012 | Released under the same title in the Limited Edition in the UK |
| Santa Needs Directions | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2013 | Released as Which Way is Santa? in the UK |
| Joy of Christmas | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2012 | Red box edition |
| Santa's Sleigh Ride | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2012 | Released as Santa's Flying Visit in the UK |
| Santa's Caught | Simon Mendez | 1000 | 2011 | |
| Snowy Day | ddfa (Stock art) | 1000 | 2011 | |
| The Christmas Shop | Tricia Reilly Matthews | 1000 | 2010 | Ravensburger USA. Modular box |
| Holiday Baubles | Caroline Valeureuse | 1000 | 2010 | |
| Not a Creature was Stirring | Nicky Boehme | 1000 | 2010 | |
| Santa's Arrival | George Schriemer | 1000 | 2010 | |
| Santa's Story Time | Gilberto Marchi | 1000 | 2010 | |
| Santa's Flying Visit | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2010 | Ravensburger USA. Modular box; released under the same title in the UK - standard box |
| Two Angels | Alessandro Scanziani | 1000 | 2010 | Ravensburger USA. Modular box |
| The Christmas Market | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2008 | Released under the same title in the Limited Edition in the UK |
| Joy of Christmas | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2008 | Blue box edition |
| Santa's Christmas List | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2008 | Released under the same title in the Limited Edition in the UK |
| White Christmas | Rolf Bunse | 1000 | 2008 | |
| It's Christmas | Roy Trower | 2000 | 2005 | |
| It's Christmas | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2005 | Released as A Country Christmas in The UK |
| Santa Claus | Ute Thonissen | 1000 | 2005 | |
| The Christmas Village | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2004 | Released under the same title in the Limited Edition in the UK |
| Christmas | Ute Thonissen | 1000 | 2003 | Comes in a metal tin box |
Limited Edition UK puzzles
| Title | Artist | Pieces | Year on the box |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26: Santa's Workshop | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2022 |
| 25: The Christmas House | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2021 |
| 24: Christmas is Coming | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2020 |
| 23: Home for Christmas | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2019 |
| 22: Let's Visit Santa | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2018 |
| 21: Which One's Santa? | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2017 |
| 20: Santa's Christmas Party | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2016 |
| 19: Santa's Final Preparations | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2015 |
| 18: The Christmas Farm | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2014 |
| 17: The Santa Express | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2013 |
| 16: Christmas Shop | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2012 |
| 15: Which Way is Santa? | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2011 |
| 14: Santa's Flying Visit | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2010 |
| 13: Santa’s Christmas Supper | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2009 |
| 12: Santa's Christmas List | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2008 |
| 11: The Christmas Market (Santa's Secret Visit) | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2007 |
| 10: The Christmas Fair | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2006 |
| 9: A Country Christmas | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2005 |
| 8: The Christmas Village | Roy Trower | 1000 | 2004 |
| 7 | 1000 | 2003 | |
| 6 | 1000 | 2002 | |
| 5: Christmas Carols | Peter Bradshaw | 1000 | 2001 |
| 4: Christmas Traditions | Kevin Walsh | 1000 | 2000 |
| 3: The Ivy and the Holy | Carol Lawson | 1000 | 1999 |
| 2: The Twelve Days of Christmas | Carol Lawson | 1000 | 1998 |
| 1: Victorian Christmas | Gale Pitt | 1000 | 1997 |
Christmas Disney Puzzles
| Title | Pieces | Year on the box | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disney Snow Globes | 1000 | 2021 | |
| Disney Princess Christmas Celebrations | 500 | 2017 | |
| Disney Pixar Christmas | 1000 | 2016 | |
| Disney Christmas Train | 500 | 2016(?) | |
| Disney Christmas | 1000 | 2015 | |
| A Disney Christmas | 1000 | 2011 | |
| Winnie the Pooh. Christmas Fun | 1000 | Developed in the UK | |
2023.05.30 01:49 Htown_Flyer Tutorial: ITA Matrix search for “Where can I fly to on Frontier, tomorrow?”
 | Summary submitted by Htown_Flyer to gowildfrontier [link] [comments] With the upcoming day-before booking requirements for Go Wild flights, it will become increasingly important to have an efficient way to search for all available non-stop and connecting flights on Frontier leaving from a home airport (or wherever you happen to be). Something like this sure would be handy… Flights leaving Houston on Frontier 5/30/23, minus overnight flights This post explains how to navigate the powerful ITA Matrix flight search tool for the result above. This table will be very useful to me because I now have a tailored list of city pairs I can then use on the Frontier site to look for bookable Go Wild fares, at a much-reduced search time of about one minute times X city pairs. Give a try and let me know what you think. I would especially love to hear any ideas for further refining an ITA Matrix search for various purposes related to using the Go Wild Pass. …And if anyone can figure out a ticket / fare code filter that displays only flights bookable with the Go Wild Pass, I just might fly to your city and buy you dinner. 😊 My Path to ITA Matrix For many of us, Google Flights is our preferred flight screening tool versus tedious airport-by-airport searches on the Frontier booking tool. For example, using Google Flights: Flight type: one-way Origin: XXX Destination: “North America” for flights to the US (and PR, USVI? ) or “Caribbean” or “Mexico” Date: [tomorrow’s date] The query result is a map that is very useful if one is looking for a cheap cash flight to anywhere, but it takes several more steps to get to a display showing only Frontier flights. Once you go through those steps, clicking on individual cities will show available Frontier flights with their duration and number of stops, but seeing the flight arrival / departure times requires clicking through on each flight. Although this method is somewhat better than searching airport by airport with the Frontier booking tool, it takes a LOT more clicks to work through all the Frontier destination options to see departure, arrival and layover times displayed. It would be so much better if there was a single query to see all bookable Frontier flights for a particular day, to all destinations… I gave it a try using Google Flights. I know Flights can perform a multi-city search, so my first step was to create a list of the airport codes for all of the Frontier destination airports. It took some time and some Excel tricks, but here are the results: List of all current Frontier destination airport codes ATL, AUS, BDL, BMI, BNA, BOS, BQN, BUF, BWI, CHS, CID, CLE, CLT, CMH, CVG, DCA, DEN, DFW, DSM, DTW, ELP, FAR, FLL, FSD, GRB, GRR, HOU, IAH, IND, ISP, JAX, LAS, LGA, LIT, MCI, MCO, MDT, MDW, MEM, MIA, MKE, MSN, MSO, MSP, MSY, MYR, OAK, OKC, OMA, ONT, ORD, ORF, PBI, PDX, PHL, PHX, PIT, PNS, PSE, PWM, RDU, RSW, SAN, SAT, SAV, SEA, SFO, SJU, SLC, SMF, SNA, SRQ, STL, STT, SWF, SYR, TPA, TTN, TYS, XNA (as of 5/29/23, source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\of_Frontier_Airlines_destinations) ) I tried to use that list pasted as my destination in a Flights query. It didn’t work: “No matching locations found”. Unfortunately, the Flights’ destination field interface for multiple cities forces the user to enter in cities individually. However… In responding to a post here yesterday, I was reminded of the somewhat obscure search tool that is the father of Google Flights: ITA Matrix. (In July 2010, Google announced the acquisition of ITA for $700 million in cash, subject to DOJ review and approval. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITA\Software) ) So my project for today was to see if I could create a useful Frontier query on ITA Matrix. I really like the results. How I Did It There are two ITA Matrix user interfaces available: The latest one – V5: https://matrix.itasoftware.com/ The original – V3.0: https://oldmatrix.itasoftware.com/ Newbies might do better with the current version. The original is less refined and it relies on codes to a greater degree. It is therefore tougher to learn, but it is more powerful. (It has some really cool tricks like entering a code to filter a query for a particular connecting airport, useful for hidden city ticket searches.) Although I am rusty, I have some experience using the codes required to navigate the older version. So I went old school with the following test query: Tab: one-way Departing from: DEN Destination: cut-and-paste the Frontier destination code list above, in its entirety Departure date: tomorrow’s date [or any other date you are interested in] The test worked! The search results showed hundreds of presumably bookable flight combinations leaving Denver tomorrow. They are displayed in a bar chart format that allows at-a-glance comparison of the flights, including arrival / dep times, layover city, and other valuable information. However, the results included flights on all airlines (except Southwest?). Next, I did a more personalized search for flights departing from the two Frontier airports that are less than an hour’s drive from my house. To limit the results to only Frontier, I added one of the available filter codes: Tab: one-way Departing from: IAH, HOU Destination: the list above in its entirety Departure date: tomorrow Advanced controls / Extension Codes: AIRLINES F9 Result: about 100 Frontier flights were displayed. Very promising... The results are sorted by price, which isn’t relevant to a GWP search. I re-sorted the list using the To-From / Sort by Destination button. Result: I could more easily see my destination options: a total of perhaps 150 flights and 30 cities bookable from at least one of the two origin airports. Fantastic! …but… My city is mostly an “evening departures” city for Frontier. As I expected, a large majority of the 100+ flights involved the dreaded overnight layover. I then used the Advisory / Overnight Flights filter button to weed out those flights. The results screen is posted above, after I used the Departure button to sort by departure time instead of price. I think this is a very fast, easy and useful method. After entering in five pieces of data and using one filter and one sort on the results, in a couple of minutes I now have a visual schedule of multiple Frontier flights I can review, with reasonable confidence that they are bookable for a cash fare. And there is more data not seen in seen in my screenshot: segment-specific departure time, arrival time and duration data for each flight segment can be displayed in a pop-up, using your cursor. Not only that, but without changing screens I can analyze the display and see the following at a glance: · There are four non-stop flights departing Houston tomorrow, to three cities: ATL from IAH at 5:40p, HOU-DEN at 7:10, IAH-LAS at 7:48 and IAH-DEN at 9:34. · Only one flight – the non-stop to Atlanta - would allow me to be in bed at the destination before 11pm. No surprise…Houston is an afternoon / evening city for Frontier. · The last flight on the list, a late evening IAH-DEN non-stop flight arriving at 11:18 pm, has no available connections because I filtered out overnight connections. · The slightly earlier IAH-LAS flight at 7:18 pm shows a horrendous but bookable connection to DEN. Obviously, I would much prefer the above non-stop leaving two hours later and arriving in DEN 5 hours earlier. · The earliest non-stop flight, to ATL at 5:40 pm, has several available connecting flights, all arriving before midnight local time: MCO, TTN, FLL, BWI and MDW. Of those, I would eliminate TTN from consideration. Even if it is bookable, I am not willing to risk a 45 minute connection time with Frontier. The others look good. · The next-earliest non-stop flight, HOU-DEN at 7:10 pm, offers connections to the following west coast destinations, arriving between 11:13p and 12:14a local time: SLC, LAS, ONT, PDX, SAN and SFO. Cool choices. I might consider any of those, particularly if I can locate a cheap hotel with an airport shuttle or a viable, safe walking path late-night transit connection from the airport to a hotel. · The HOU-DEN-MCO flight in that same group is not very attractive because there is a much shorter duration IAH-ATL-MCO flight leaving an hour and a half earlier. But I might consider it because a redeye flight would avoid a paid hotel night at my final destination. I am very pleased with my rediscovery of ITA Matrix. Building a Frontier-specific, “take me anywhere” query is piece of cake, and the results allow for very quick analysis to narrow down destination options before going to the Frontier web site to find Go Wild ticket availability. With my first one-minute query, I have identified that I can find a dozen or more reasonably attractive Frontier flights leaving my home city tomorrow and arriving at a final destination the same evening. The next step would be entering the most interesting airport-to-airport pairs as queries in the Frontier booking engine to see which flights have Go Wild ticket availability. |
2023.05.29 02:22 dragonagitator Bellingham-Area Mechanics Master Post
Since it seems that no one can be bothered to search the sub for the word "mechanic" before making a new post, I searched it for you and summarized two years' worth of posts below.
TL;DR the recommendation is almost always "Rising Sun Motors" unless you've got an unusual vehicle or situation. Also, apparently XSrcing has spent the past couple years quietly helping poor people fix their cars for free/cheap, so everyone be sure to buy that guy a beer next time you see him.
2023-05-29 Mobile mechanic for Ford F250 diesel truck
submitted by dragonagitator to Bellingham [link] [comments]
TL;DR the recommendation is almost always "Rising Sun Motors" unless you've got an unusual vehicle or situation. Also, apparently XSrcing has spent the past couple years quietly helping poor people fix their cars for free/cheap, so everyone be sure to buy that guy a beer next time you see him.
2023-05-29 Mobile mechanic for Ford F250 diesel truck
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2008 Ford F250 diesel truck, mobile mechanic
- Commenters suggested: New post so no suggestions yet. Check back later for updates --DA 5/29/23 17:11
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1995 Honda Del Sol body work
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Joe’s Automotive Repair
- Vehicle and/or issue: Subaru 2013 Forester
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Northwest Rally Sports, Bruce Cox Imports, Dewey Griffin Subaru, TK Automotive Repair, Hi-Tech Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1989 Isuzu Trooper
- Commenters suggested: Unlimited Service Downtown, Axton Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: Volvo
- Commenters suggested: Rainbow Auto Service, Bruce Cox Imports, Manieri Motorworks
- Vehicle and/or issue: Subaru
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Harmony Motorworks, Northwest Rally Sports
- Vehicle and/or issue: Prius, asking about specific mechanic
- Commenters suggested: Chuck’s Midtown Motors Automotive Repair
- Vehicle and/or issue: general inquiry
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Autotech Car and Truck Repair, Bruce Cox Imports, SK Motorsport, Birchwood Auto Repair
- Vehicle and/or issue: walnut blasting valves
- Commenters suggested: SK Motorsport
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1972 Chevrolet truck body work
- Commenters suggested: Bailey’s Classic Collision, No.1 Automotive Body Repair, Heavy Metal Custom Shop, Nitro Autolab
- Vehicle and/or issue: unhappy customer
- Commenters suggested: OP deleting their post, Bellingham Automotive, Trottners Auto Repair Service, Sterling Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1997 Ford E350 bus
- Commenters suggested: SMG Equipment and Marine, Unlimited Service Bakerview
- Vehicle and/or issue: air-cooled Volkswagen
- Commenters suggested: SK Motorsport, HMC Garage, Northwest European Autoworks, Peace Vans (in Seattle)
- Vehicle and/or issue: free/cheap mobile mechanic for person living in a van
- Commenters suggested: XSrcing
- Vehicle and/or issue: general inquiry
- Commenters suggested: Cornerstone Auto Care, Axton Automotive, Rising Sun Motors, Hi-Tech Automotive, Birchwood Auto Repair, Harmony Motorworks
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1958 Chevrolet pickup truck inspection and fluids
- Commenters suggested: Heavy Metal Custom Shop
- Vehicle and/or issue: Nissan Altima CVT transmission
- Commenters suggested: TK Automotive Repair, Midas, Barrett Transmission Specialties, Hi-Tech Automotive, Flat Black Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: free/cheap diagnostic
- Commenters suggested: Complete Auto Repair Service, Rising Sun Motors, Hi-Tech Automotive, Les Schwab
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1998 Volkswagen Beetle manual transmission
- Commenters suggested: TK Automotive Repair, Dr. John’s Auto Clinic, Euro Sport (???), Cunningham Tuning
- Vehicle and/or issue: windshield wiper motor replacement completion help
- Commenters suggested: XSrcing, Trottners Auto Repair Service
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1994 Toyota pickup truck
- Commenters suggested: Hi-Tech Automotive, Rising Sun Motors, Flat Black Automotive, Axton Automotive, Sterling Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: Ford truck computer transplant
- Commenters suggested: Birchwood Auto Repair
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2015 Honda Civic transmission
- Commenters suggested: Barrett Transmission Specialties
- Vehicle and/or issue: general inquiry
- Commenters suggested: Flat Black Automotive, Rising Sun Motors
- Vehicle and/or issue: unhappy customer / general inquiry
- Commenters suggested: Panacea Automotive Repair, Alignment & Brakes Plus, Rising Sun Motors, OP learning to fix their own vehicle if they want to be cheap about it
- Vehicle and/or issue: general inquiry
- Commenters suggested: Joe’s Automotive Repair, Flat Black Automotive, Nitro Autolab
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2006 Suzuki XL-7 timing chain
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors
- Vehicle and/or issue: general inquiry
- Commenters suggested: Sterling Automotive, XSrcing, Rising Sun Motors, Joe’s Automotive Repair, Davis Automotive, Hi-Tech Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1989 Chevrolet G20 camper van, garage with a lift that can handle tall vehicles
- Commenters suggested: Camping World (in Burlington), Unlimited Service Bakerview, Northwest Chevrolet
- Vehicle and/or issue: oil change and inspection
- Commenters suggested: Master Lube, Sterling Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2005 Subaru Outback, payment plans
- Commenters suggested: XSrcing, Firestone Complete Auto Care
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2000 Ford Ranger transmission, free/cheap diagnostic
- Commenters suggested: Midas, XSrcing, Firestone Complete Auto Care
- Vehicle and/or issue: truck tune up
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Sterling Automotive, Flat Black Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: general inquiry
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Joe’s Automotive Repair, Sterling Automotive, Whatcom Radiator & Battery (closed?), Bernard Tech Services, Naztek Automotive, Sound Truck & Auto Repair
- Vehicle and/or issue: Prius oil change
- Commenters suggested: Master Lube, Sehome Express Lube, Rising Sun Motors, Lucky’s Auto Shop, Rod’s Japanese Auto Care, literally anywhere because it's just an oil change
- Vehicle and/or issue: Honda replace stolen catalytic converter
- Commenters suggested: Flat Black Automotive, Rising Sun Motors, Bellingham Automotive, Panacea Automotive Repair, Marlin’s Auto Service, Service Pro, Faction Automotive, Davis Automotive, Harmony Motorworks
- Vehicle and/or issue: Honda CR-V AC, respectful to women
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Flat Black Automotive, Bellingham Auto Air, Reference Automotive, Sterling Automotive, TK Automotive Repair, Toyota of Bellingham, Juracich Auto Repair (closed?), Steves Auto Repair, Faction Automotive, Integrity Auto Care (in Arlington), NAPA Auto Parts Blaine, Pete’s Auto Repair, Import Autosport (in Anacortes), Whatcom Radiator & Battery (closed?)
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1988 Chevrolet truck
- Commenters suggested: Marine Drive Auto Services, Unlimited Service Downtown, Chuck’s Midtown Motors Automotive Repair, Bellingham Automotive, Davis Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: general inquiry
- Commenters suggested: Joe’s Automotive Repair, Steves Auto Repair, Dr. John’s Auto Clinic, Rising Sun Motors, Superior Auto, Hi-Tech Automotive, Toyota of Bellingham, Sterling Automotive, Harmony Motorworks
- Vehicle and/or issue: Subaru brakes
- Commenters suggested: Alignment & Brakes Plus, Rising Sun Motors, Harmony Motorworks, Joe’s Automotive Repair, Northwest Rally Sports, Chuck’s Midtown Motors Automotive Repair, Birchwood Auto Repair, TK Automotive Repair
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1990 Ford E-250 Econoline van engine replacement
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Sterling Automotive, Lucky’s Auto Shop, Joe’s Automotive Repair, Rude’s Auto Repair
- Vehicle and/or issue: assorted motorcycles
- Commenters suggested: Cycle Therapy, BBRP, OP just has bad gas
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2010 Prius
- Commenters suggested: Unlimited Service Bakerview, Unlimited Service Downtown, Bellingham Automotive, Rising Sun Motors, Toyota of Bellingham, Midas, Lifestyle Motor Co
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2004 Toyota RAV4
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Joe’s Automotive Repair, Sterling Automotive, Davis Automotive, SK Motorsport, Hi-Tech Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: Honda PIlot seatbelt & airbags, mobile mechanic
- Commenters suggested: Unlimited Service Downtown, Rising Sun Motors, Whatcom Radiator & Battery (closed?), Davis Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: mobile mechanic for pre-purchase inspection of used car
- Commenters suggested: AR MECHANIC, Trottners Auto Repair Service
- Vehicle and/or issue: Ford pickup truck
- Commenters suggested: Davis Automotive, Dan's Automotive (closed?), Sterling Automotive, Rod’s Japanese Auto Care
- Vehicle and/or issue: pre-purchase inspection of used car
- Commenters suggested: Joe’s Automotive Repair, Rising Sun Motors
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1990 Ford E350 van exhaust
- Commenters suggested: Ben Richards Fabrication (in Burlington)
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2001 Toyota Camry fuel pump
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Sterling Automotive, Rod’s Japanese Auto Care, Dr. John’s Auto Clinic, Birchwood Auto Repair, Trottners Auto Repair Service
- Vehicle and/or issue: mobile mechanic
- Commenters suggested: O’Reilly Auto Parts (to test battery), some dude named Will
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2008 Suburu Outback
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Steves Auto Repair, Sterling Automotive, Birchwood Auto Repair, Bruce Cox Imports, Joe’s Automotive Repair
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2008 Ford Fusion rough idling
- Commenters suggested: Premier Auto Repair (in Mount Vernon), Faction Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: windshield wipers, open Sunday
- Commenters suggested: AutoZone Auto Parts, Firestone Complete Auto Care
- Vehicle and/or issue: 1983 Ford Ranger
- Commenters suggested: Foreign Auto Clinic, Panacea Automotive Repair, Van Loo’s Auto Service, Hi-Tech Automotive, some dude named Zach
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2004 Subaru Forester
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Northwest Rally Sports, Harmony Motorworks, Lucky’s Auto Shop, AR MECHANIC, Chuck’s Midtown Motors Automotive Repair, Bruce Cox Imports
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2000 Volvo V40 electrical issues
- Commenters suggested: Rainbow Auto Service, Harmony Motorworks, Keith Cox Autobahn
- Vehicle and/or issue: Honda Element
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Sterling Automotive, TK Automotive Repair, Trottners Auto Repair Service
- Vehicle and/or issue: Fiat
- Commenters suggested: SK Motorsport, Keith Cox Autobahn, Rising Sun Motors, Northwest European Autoworks
- Vehicle and/or issue: Toyota
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Marlin’s Auto Service, Davis Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: Subaru
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Northwest Rally Sports, Bruce Cox Imports, Unlimited Service Bakerview, Flat Black Automotive, Dewey Griffin Subaru
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2002 Ford leaking oil
- Commenters suggested: Sterling Automotive, Rising Sun Motors, Unlimited Service Bakerview, Birchwood Auto Repair, Bruce Cox Imports
- Vehicle and/or issue: 2010 Mercedes AMG, asking about specific mechanic
- Commenters suggested: Keith Cox Autobahn, Bruce Cox Imports, Harmony Motorworks, Meridian Auto And Tire
- Vehicle and/or issue: Lexus SUV (GX470)
- Commenters suggested: Harmony Motorworks, Rising Sun Motors, Toyota of Bellingham, TK Automotive Repair
- Vehicle and/or issue: Subaru brakes
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Northwest Rally Sports, Sterling Automotive, Axton Automotive
- Vehicle and/or issue: general inquiry
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, Firestone Complete Auto Care, Sterling Automotive, Barnett Automotive, Joe’s Automotive Repair, Whatcom Radiator & Battery (closed?), Panacea Automotive Repair, TK Automotive Repair
- Vehicle and/or issue: pre-purchase inspection of used car
- Commenters suggested: Rising Sun Motors, AR MECHANIC, Birchwood Auto Repair, Hardman Auto Care (closed?), Keith Cox Autobahn, Trottners Auto Repair Service, Meridian Auto And Tire, Harmony Motorworks
2023.05.26 16:05 rusticgorilla Supreme Court rewrites another environmental law it doesn’t like: Millions of acres of wetlands are now unprotected
Housekeeping:
Five conservative Supreme Court Justices released an opinion yesterday rewriting environmental law passed by Congress in order to further hamstring the EPA’s regulatory power.
The case, Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, originated when Michael and Chantell Sackett decided to fill an Idaho wetland site with gravel and sand in order to build a home. The EPA informed the couple that their actions violated the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) prohibition on polluting “waters of the United States,” which is defined to include “wetlands adjacent to” traditional navigable waters or their tributaries. Because the Sackett’s property contained wetlands adjacent to Priest Lake, it was protected under the CWA.
The Sackett’s sued the EPA and lost at both the district court and appellate court level. Wetlands, the 9th Circuit ruled, are still protected bodies of water even if separated from “navigable waters” by an artificial barrier like a road or a man-made dike—an accurate reading of the regulation, 33 CFR § 328.3.
None of this mattered to five Supreme Court justices who, led by Samuel Alito, limited the ability of the EPA to protect what remains of our wetland ecosystems. The final ruling of the court can be confusing: All nine justices determined that the Sackett’s land is not protected under the CWA, but five went farther and rolled back EPA protections of more wetlands.
First, a reasonable person could disagree with the unanimous opinion that the Sackett’s land is not protected wetland. Take a look at this photograph included in court briefs. Under the CWA, the property is clearly adjacent to both a large protected wetland (Kalispell Bay Fen) and a large navigable water (Priest Lake). A road is, under the CWA, a man made barrier that does not negate the “adjacent” definition. Furthermore, the property is located 30 feet from an unnamed tributary that feeds into Priest Lake, about 300 feet away. These facts would seem to prove “adjacency” and, thus, prohibit building on the site.
Nevertheless, the court ruled in favor of the Sacketts. But Justices Alito, Roberts, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Barrett didn’t stop there; they essentially rewrote the CWA to exclude wetlands that are adjacent to larger bodies of water.
submitted by rusticgorilla to Keep_Track [link] [comments]
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The case, Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, originated when Michael and Chantell Sackett decided to fill an Idaho wetland site with gravel and sand in order to build a home. The EPA informed the couple that their actions violated the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) prohibition on polluting “waters of the United States,” which is defined to include “wetlands adjacent to” traditional navigable waters or their tributaries. Because the Sackett’s property contained wetlands adjacent to Priest Lake, it was protected under the CWA.
The Sackett’s sued the EPA and lost at both the district court and appellate court level. Wetlands, the 9th Circuit ruled, are still protected bodies of water even if separated from “navigable waters” by an artificial barrier like a road or a man-made dike—an accurate reading of the regulation, 33 CFR § 328.3.
The court of appeals emphasized that the wetlands on petitioners’ property are only 30 feet from the unnamed tributary to Kalispell Creek, which feeds into Priest Lake, and that they are separated from the tributary only by an “artificial barrier[]” (a road), which does “not defeat adjacency.” Pet. App. A33 (citing 33 C.F.R. 328.3(c) (2008) (“Wetlands separated from other waters of the United States by man-made dikes or barriers * * * and the like are ‘adjacent wetlands.’”))Wetlands are extremely important to the ecosystem and to human life. Wetlands store water to prevent and mitigate floods, store carbon within plant biomass, filter pollutants before they reach other bodies of water (including the water we drink), provide critical habitat for wildlife, and generate tourism and recreation dollars for the economy. It is also an increasingly rare ecosystem, in both the U.S. and the world. According to a 2009 estimate by the EPA, the U.S. has lost over half of its original wetlands since the 1600s, including over 62,000 acres destroyed from 2004-2009 alone.
The court noted that the evidence before the EPA showed that the wetlands “provide important ecological and water quality benefits” to Priest Lake and are “especially important in maintaining the high quality of Priest Lake’s water, fish, and wildlife.”
None of this mattered to five Supreme Court justices who, led by Samuel Alito, limited the ability of the EPA to protect what remains of our wetland ecosystems. The final ruling of the court can be confusing: All nine justices determined that the Sackett’s land is not protected under the CWA, but five went farther and rolled back EPA protections of more wetlands.
First, a reasonable person could disagree with the unanimous opinion that the Sackett’s land is not protected wetland. Take a look at this photograph included in court briefs. Under the CWA, the property is clearly adjacent to both a large protected wetland (Kalispell Bay Fen) and a large navigable water (Priest Lake). A road is, under the CWA, a man made barrier that does not negate the “adjacent” definition. Furthermore, the property is located 30 feet from an unnamed tributary that feeds into Priest Lake, about 300 feet away. These facts would seem to prove “adjacency” and, thus, prohibit building on the site.
Nevertheless, the court ruled in favor of the Sacketts. But Justices Alito, Roberts, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Barrett didn’t stop there; they essentially rewrote the CWA to exclude wetlands that are adjacent to larger bodies of water.
In sum, we hold that the CWA extends to only those wetlands that are “as a practical matter indistinguishable from waters of the United States.” This requires the party asserting jurisdiction over adjacent wetlands to establish…that the wetland has a continuous surface connection with that water, making it difficult to determine where the ‘water’ ends and the ‘wetland’ begins.”In other words, Alito and the four other justices ignore the plain meaning of the word “adjacent” because they would rather invent their own statutory language that allows property owners and corporations to destroy wetlands. As summarized by Mark Joseph Stern of Slate:
Alito wrote: We don’t like the definition that Congress used. It could lead to “crushing” fines for landowners and interfere with “mundane” activities like “moving dirt.” It interferes with “traditional state authority.” And it could give the EPA “truly staggering” regulatory authority. Five justices on the Supreme Court think all of that is very bad. So they declared that, instead of applying the statute’s words, the court would impose a different standard: Only wetlands with “a continuous surface connection” to larger bodies of water merit protection under the Clean Water Act.Alito’s opinion was so extreme, even Justice Kavanaugh penned an argument against it, joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson.
I write separately because I respectfully disagree with the Court’s new test for assessing when wetlands are covered by the Clean Water Act. The Court concludes that wetlands are covered by the Act only when the wetlands have a “continuous surface connection” to waters of the United States—that is, when the wetlands are “adjoining” covered waters. Ante, at 20, 22 (internal quotation marks omitted). In my view, the Court’s “continuous surface connection” test departs from the statutory text, from 45 years of consistent agency practice, and from this Court’s precedents. The Court’s test narrows the Clean Water Act’s coverage of “adjacent” wetlands to mean only “adjoining” wetlands. But “adjacent” and “adjoining” have distinct meanings: Adjoining wetlands are contiguous to or bordering a covered water, whereas adjacent wetlands include both (i) those wetlands contiguous to or bordering a covered water, and (ii) wetlands separated from a covered water only by a man-made dike or barrier, natural river berm, beach dune, or the like. By narrowing the Act’s coverage of wetlands to only adjoining wetlands, the Court’s new test will leave some long-regulated adjacent wetlands no longer covered by the Clean Water Act, with significant repercussions for water quality and flood control throughout the United States. Therefore, I respectfully concur only in the Court’s judgment…Justice Kagan, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, wrote her own opinion castigating the majority for usurping Congress:
The difference between “adjacent” and “adjoining” in this context is not merely semantic or academic. The Court’s rewriting of “adjacent” to mean “adjoining” will matter a great deal in the real world. In particular, the Court’s new and overly narrow test may leave long-regulated and long accepted-to-be-regulable wetlands suddenly beyond the scope of the agencies’ regulatory authority, with negative consequences for waters of the United States. For example, the Mississippi River features an extensive levee system to prevent flooding. Under the Court’s “continuous surface connection” test, the presence of those levees (the equivalent of a dike) would seemingly preclude Clean Water Act coverage of adjacent wetlands on the other side of the levees, even though the adjacent wetlands are often an important part of the flood-control project. See Brief for Respondents 30. Likewise, federal protection of the Chesapeake Bay might be less effective if fill can be dumped into wetlands that are adjacent to (but not adjoining) the bay and its covered tributaries. See id., at 35. Those are just two of many examples of how the Court’s overly narrow view of the Clean Water Act will have concrete impact…
The scientific evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that wetlands separated from covered waters by those kinds of berms or barriers, for example, still play an important role in protecting neighboring and downstream waters, including by filtering pollutants, storing water, and providing flood control. In short, those adjacent wetlands may affect downstream water quality and flood control in many of the same ways that adjoining wetlands can.
And still more fundamentally, why ever have a thumb on the scale against the Clean Water Act’s protections? The majority first invokes federalism. See ante, at 23–24. But as JUSTICE KAVANAUGH observes, “the Federal Government has long regulated the waters of the United States, including adjacent wetlands.” Post, at 11. The majority next raises the specter of criminal penalties for “indeterminate” conduct. See ante, at 24–25. But there is no peculiar indeterminacy in saying—as regulators have said for nearly a half century—that a wetland is covered both when it touches a covered water and when it is separated by only a dike, berm, dune, or similar barrier. (That standard is in fact more definite than a host of criminal laws I could name.) Today’s pop-up clear-statement rule is explicable only as a reflexive response to Congress’s enactment of an ambitious scheme of environmental regulation. It is an effort to cabin the anti-pollution actions Congress thought appropriate. See ante, at 23 (complaining about Congress’s protection of “vast” and “staggering” “additional area”). And that, too, recalls last Term, when I remarked on special canons “magically appearing as get-out-of-text-free cards” to stop the EPA from taking the measures Congress told it to. See West Virginia, 597 U. S., at – (dissenting opinion) (slip op., at 28–29). There, the majority’s non-textualism barred the EPA from addressing climate change by curbing power plant emissions in the most effective way. Here, that method prevents the EPA from keeping our country’s waters clean by regulating adjacent wetlands. The vice in both instances is the same: the Court’s appointment of itself as the national decision-maker on environmental policy.
So I’ll conclude, sadly, by repeating what I wrote last year, with the replacement of only a single word. “[T]he Court substitutes its own ideas about policymaking for Congress’s. The Court will not allow the Clean [Water] Act to work as Congress instructed. The Court, rather than Congress, will decide how much regulation is too much.” Id., at ___ (slip op., at 32). Because that is not how I think our Government should work—more, because it is not how the Constitution thinks our Government should work—I respectfully concur in the judgment only.
2023.05.25 20:10 iFunny-Refugee 1956 Chevy 210 (265 SBC) Build
Hello, so honestly, I'm not sure where to even start with this but I'll explain it like this. I am very much a novice at understanding the mechanics of an engine, so a lot of what I'll be saying might be coming from a lot of ignorance and lack of experience. (I'm 20 years old) I have a 1956 Chevy 210 with a 265 SBC that has been bored over .030, has a mild cam, and has hydraulic lifters. That is the extent of what I know, it was rebuilt like that from my grandfather near about a decade or two ago. He's since passed, so I am not able to ask him anything about it, my dad remembers a few things here and there. I've been driving it occasionally this past year and just a couple weeks ago my friends and I have taken on the challenge of taking out the engine for work to be done on it. I plan on undertaking a minor restoration of the engine bay. Originally, I wanted to convert it to its stock form but after several months of consideration I realized I wanted it to be something I enjoy driving. To be more adequate to modern standards with the flavor of 50s aesthetic. Now I want to improve upon it and make an interesting powerplant out of it. If I can get from 0-60 in at least 8-9 seconds, I would be super happy with that result. So my target would maybe be 300 HP and 300 ft/lbs (If that is even possible) to get that desired acceleration. I know I can somewhat get to that target because a 283 from a corvette in 1961 could get about 315 HP. Which is pretty impressive for the time. Money-wise I understand a 350 or 327 would be a much easier route for torque and power but I really like this engine because it's the first generation of chevy small block, no one runs them usually (Unless it's a restoration) because they were honestly a piece of crap compared to its children. Having one for the sake nostalgia and being period correct is fascinating to me but also having it be on par with a low-end 350 is kinda cool and unique. I would like to hear y'alls thoughts and opinions on what is possible and what could be done. What I have in mind so far with my limited knowledge is this, I'll label it in alphabetical order to make it easy on the eyes.A: Holley EFI to make it more reliable and efficient. Has that vintage gold/bronze color, which is similar to the stock carb.
B: Potential new heads or just have the current power-pack heads ported (If new heads I'd use some Chevelle valve covers to keep it looking like the old staggered ones.)
C: New intake manifold with the oil fill tube. Probably a Edelbrock
D: 4.11 Rear end
E: New transmission (I just picked up a '57 manual overdrive transmission from a fella, its in great shape), I plan to convert it to a 3-on-the-tree instead of the powerglide it has currently.
F: Ram Horn manifolds, most likely just the 2" variants, unless 2.5" is needed to make a good amount of torque. I need manifolds that have the provisions to bolt on the stock power steering/alternator to them.
G: H-pipe installed before the mufflers to get a small improvement of torque.
H: Any sort of internal improvements a machine shop recommends or whatever you folks recommend. Like a camshaft for example.
I: I do not want it to be bored anymore over, but if I had to I'd be okay with boring it over to the size of a 283. I don't think the block can be bored much more than that. I don't think it can even have a longer stroke because of just how they were built. But I'd be okay with more stroke too if that's even possible.
J: PCV system with the valves being located behind the valve covers to mask the modification. The current road draft tube makes quite a mess on the underside.
That is just the basic rundown of what I'd like to do.
If it needs boost to get that much horsepower and torque in a reliable fashion, I wouldn't mind installing a centrifugal supercharger on the passenger side. Along with a proper "hat" on the EFI to make it look kind of like an old-fashioned oil bath air filter. I don't think it needs to be super big considering it's only like a 4.3L engine. But that'd probably be the most nonstock looking thing in the engine bay.Non engine related question: Can a transmission have a synchromesh gear added to its 1st gear to make it fully synchronized? I'm pretty sure it's not possible but I just thought to ask. Also, can a transmission's gears be strengthened through some sort of metallurgy process? I am a tad worried about the transmission breaking on me because of age, I wouldn't run it hard because that's not how I drive but if I had to accelerate from a dead stop I wouldn't want the thing exploding on me because of high torque. I think the transmissions at this time were pretty durable and could handle a decent amount of torque, I'm just not familiar with them and their capabilities.
A lot of this is new to me so an explanation of why something can or cannot work would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance everyone (:
2023.05.25 19:02 stjobe Patch notes
Source: Focus forums
submitted by stjobe to snowrunner [link] [comments]
Hello Runners!
A new update is now available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series XS, Nintendo Switch and PC! Please make sure to let us know if you encounter any trouble with this patch. Thank you!New content:
- [DLC] New trucks: ZikZ 612H "Mastodon"
- Warhammer exterior stickers
Ontario region fixes:
- Fixed a bug where fire smoke effect returned after completing “Putting out the Underground Fire” contract and reloading to ”Burning forest” map on Nintendo Switch
- Fixed a bug where the camera was centered on the “Warehouse” active zone, even if the necessary cargo was missing on the “Ontario” region
- Fixed a bug where title freezed and then closed with “an error has occurred in the system software” message while driving on Burned Forest map, Ontario region on PlayStation 4
- Fixed a bug where the “Resupply Zone” reward remained locked upon completing the “Help the Villagers 2” task in the Burned Forest map, Ontario region
- Fixed a bug where both water trailers didn't have cargo type icon and capacity in the 'Trailer Store' menu
- Fixed a bug where the user could be soft locked if removed the “Oversized cargo” during the contract “Delivery from The Quarry” in “Burned forest” from Ontario region
- Fixed a bug where accepting the “Awkward Situation” task, activated the “Abandoned Trailer” task in Burned Forest map, Ontario region
- Fixed a bug where all nearby water tanks were highlighted if player's water tank had less than 50% water in it on PC
- Fixed a bug where the amount of water was not converting properly for the imperial system in the HUD and contract’s description
- Fixed a bug where the water towers didn’t transfuse water if the measurement system was set to imperial
- Fixed a bug where the “Hummer H2” truck was spawned in the terrain on the Albany River map, Ontario region
- Fixed a bug where incorrect orientation of the cabin cargo occurred, when using the manual loading function at the Plant location on The Albany River map, Ontario region
- Fixed a bug where the cargo was displayed in the game before using the “Metal Detector Module” addon while completing the “Something, somewhere…” task on the “Burned Forest” level, Ontario on PC
- Fixed a bug where after pressing the “A” button in the water loading zone during coop session, the UI started to fill up and flickered endlessly
- Fixed a bug where desynchronization the amount of water for the “Water Carrier Trailer” and “Heavy Water Carrier Trailer” in the coop session occurred
- Fixed a bug where the “Water Management” active zones were not displayed on the minimap of the “Ontario” region
Nintendo Switch fixes:
- Fixed a bug where huge gray zone(stripes) displayed in the roadside in Ontario region
- Fixed a bug where navigation elements was lost or didn’t work on many submenu of the game
Vehicles improvements:
- Fixed a bug where “Derry Special 15C-177” right side mirror was clipping through the cabin on Xbox Series
- Fixed a bug where the displaying amount of fuel went beyond the fuel tanks boundaries of the “Truck Repair Supplies” upgrade for the “Derry Special 15C-177” truck
New Game Plus (NGP):
- Fixed a bug where the 5000 money was not given to the Player when starting a new game in usual mode on PC
- Fixed a bug where fuel trailers/add-ons were sold prefilled with garage refueling disabled on PC
- Fixed a bug where the “Unavailable after scoring less than Gold” remained as the active option for other NGP sessions created after on PC
- Fixed a bug where weather conditions were missing if the “Day Only” parameter of the “Time Settings” rule was selected on Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch
- Fixed a bug where different trucks became available for purchase when changing filters of the “Truck Store” menu with the selected “5 to 15 trucks sold in each garage” rule on Xbox One, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC
- Fixed a bug where there was no reward in money for the completing of the contract/task/contest when the “Random between 50% and 300%” parameter was enabled on PC
Other Changes:
- Fixed a bug where purchased DLC sometimes disappeared after loading back to the game on Xbox Series
- Fixed a bug where HUD element about cargo capacity remained after moving through the minimap to and from the garage
- Fixed a bug where the icon of the “MSH II” upgrade was missing in the “Upgrade Obtained” pop-up window on the “Heartlands” level, Belozersk
- Fixed a bug where the user was able to sell fuel at the fuel station
- Fixed a bug where game didn't exit and became partially locked when player exits the game on PC
- Fixed a bug where “Big Salmon Peak” couldn't be loaded and the game freezed on the loading screen after “Factory reservoirs” contracts on PlayStation 4
- Fixed a bug where there was no “cost of recovery as in the Hard Mode” parameter in the “Truck recovery rules”
- Fixed a bug where the “Hood Ornaments” upgrades were shifted forward beyond the hood after taking damage to the front of the truck
- Fixed a bug where the hooks of the “Light Cage” front bumper for the “ZikZ 566A” truck stuck in the wall after the collision with it
- Fixed a bug where truck name was shown when transfusing water instead of water tank name
- Fixed a bug where pricing rules were not applied to addons with custom prices (on mod maps)
- Fixed a bug where crash encountered when loading the Main Menu after pressing the 'Enter' button on PC
- Fixed a bug where the “Blocked Players” list was not updated after an Xbox One user blocked another user from the Xbox overlay menu on Xbox One
- Fixed a bug where incorrect orientation of the oversized cargo occurred, when using manual loading at the Quarry Warehouse
- Fixed crash when exiting a co-op game session
- Improved shadows from plants
- Performance optimizations
- Improved emissive quality
- Memory optimization for for consoles
- Various collision fixes
- Various render fixes
- Localization fixes
Mod editor:
- Fixed a bug where black screen was displayed in the upgradeable garage instead of the garage interior textures
- Fixed a bug where crash encountered when entering the upgradable garage on created map
- Fixed a bug where the “isListeningTruckOnly” option was available in Editor
- Fixed a bug where a lot of errors appeared when adding some PBR materials to the map
- Fixed a bug where some errors appeared while loading the list of addons for adding addon to the truck
- Fixed a bug where the error appeared after closing Editor
- Fixed a bug where error appeared while packing the map
- Fixed a bug where the assets list didn't load after opening the “Select Asset” window
“SnowRunner📷 Editor Guide” was updated:
- “5.7.2. Custom Brushes” section was added. Now you can add your own custom brushes for Distributions (Particularly, the guide contains instructions for adding custom brushes based on existing plant models. Brushes based on custom plant models are not described yet, since adding custom plants is а work in progress and has known issues)
- “5.15.1.3.1. Setting up a Repairable (Upgradeable) Garage” section was modified: we added Step 3 -- required option for Terrain that should be enabled in case of the Upgradeable Garage setup
- “5.15.7.3. Custom Prices for Trucks and Upgrades” section was modified: we added 1 Warning and 2 Tips on custom prices of trucks
- “5.16.3.1. Adding Smoke” section was added: we added info on adding smoke to the map using the Model Building Settings pipeline
- “Quick Mod Creation Guide: Adding Trucks” guide was also updated and refactored, particularly its part about uploading of the mod. You can find its fresh version (v1.5) in the “Quick Guide - Adding Trucks” subfolder of the google drive with all official guides (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1m1smAee_OXWBIySJFPf0J0CteDHJrzg2)
- Several broken links within the PDF of the Guide were fixed
2023.05.25 12:51 suzzface Where Did They Crash: A Definitive Deep Dive
 | In celebration of the finale of S2, I thought I'd post the theory I've been working on about where they might have crashed (or my best guess). This will be picture heavy, measured in miles, and tries to account for the movie magic. Anyone with better knowledge of the area/Canada/planes, please feel free to weigh in! submitted by suzzface to Yellowjackets [link] [comments] So let's start with a list of things we know: Promo Material: All the promo stuff states they're in the Northern Ontario Wilderness. The Flight (1x01): They're making a detour, and will have a great view of the Northen Rockies. The Rescue (2x01): A news anchor says during the rescue scene from 1998, that the girls were found 600 miles north of the designated flight path. The Area: We see a large snowy mountain range from the 2nd Winter flash forward at the end of the pilot (no timestamp bc mine have been incorrect before due to being outside the US and using a different platform). Lots of pine trees, a lake, and a fuck ton of snow. (The lake/cabin scenes are all filmed just outside of Vancouver, for reference). Here is a typical flightpath from Teterboro airport in NJ, to Seatac in Seattle WA: NJ to Seattle However, we know there's a detour north that ensures the girls a good view of the N. Rockies, and the above flight path takes them ~100 miles south of the southern most area of the N. Rockies (rough guesstimation based on google maps terrain). The YJs could probably still see them, but I'm not sure if that counts as a 'great view'. For the purpose of my theory, I've shifted the flight path ~100 miles* north, which takes the flight path into Canadian airspace. (*this is a rough number, it could be a more or less than this! The captain said the diversion was due to a storm system, which are only usually about 15-20 miles wide, but by adding 100 miles, the new flight path would have flown directly over the very bottom of the N. Rockies, ensuring the promised great view.) Part One: Picking A SideThe original statement, which was released when the pilot was first ordered, before it was filmed and the rest of season 1 was written, places the show in Northern Ontario, the Eastern side of Canada. However, the Rockies are a thousand miles away on the West side. My theory is the writers chose N. Ontario to begin with, but by the time it came to film, they'd changed the location of the crash to B.C. Here's why we can rule out Ontario, and place them in the Rockies definitively.
600 Miles North Measure for Ontario That area on maps looks like this: Mostly flat with lots of little lakes - no match (imo). Circumstantial evidence in my ❌No Ontario❌ defense. Posted to the official Showtime youtube account shortly before the s2 premiere, It features 90s Kurt Loder discussing the Missing Yellowjackets, 3 months after their disappearance. It also features this map: For those who cbf going to youtube This might indicate that they have no idea what the flight path was and that the plane stopped communication early on in the flight, but I took it to mean that this was where the plane was last confirmed to be, until the ? appears while the plane is nearing the Saskatchewan/Alberta border and the plane starts fading out. This puts the flight way past Ontario, ruling it out entirely (to ME!). Rule out Ontario, add in the N. Rocky Mountains, you've got yourself a British Columbia based Crash site. Winner: It's a West Side Story. Part Two: Picking a LatitudeIf we take the flight path (original or modified), and we take the 2x01 reveal that they're around 600 miles north of that, and we add in how close they are to the N. Rockies as shown in the pilot, we end up with a rough area of a few hundred miles of where the plane might have crashed.Here's the end of the AQ ritual scene at the end of the pilot: That's a lot of mountains, plus the sun rising in the east. In order to be that close to/in the mountains like that, they need to be squarely in British Columbia (BC/Albertans can confirm or deny this for me, I have only been to Vancouver and S. Ontario). This is the north east corner of BC, showing a sliver of NWT at the top, and Alberta to the right. I have the terrain overlay on, to show the difference between the flat land on the right and the northern rocky mountains N.E. B.C. There are provincial parks in the area, and highway 97 wends it's way through. To have the sun rise on the east behind the Rockies, the crash either took place on the very edge, or they're somewhere in the middle (I don't really have a preference). Notice the 97 shield on the vertical road - it's right above a place called Trutch. This is relevant because: 600 miles north of altered flight path. If we take the flight path, and the 100 miles north I tacked on to represent the altered flight-path, and we measure 600 miles north of that that point with the other end being near the rockies, it comes out right here: Good ol trutch. It has a latitude of 57.8°, which I'm going to round up to 58° for fun (bear in mind that 100mi and 600mi are rough/rounded numbers, so it could be anywhere from 57° to 59° latitude, or higher. I'm doing so much guesstimating you wouldn't even believe). If you compare this to the screenshot of Trout Lake in N. Ontario from Part 1: Both have the terrain filter turned on! Ontario is not mountainous in the same way the B.C. is mountainous. North East of the 600mi point is Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial Park, which has pictures if you click on it. Here are a couple: In Winter (those mountains are similarly dark and snowy!) In Summer (snowless, but shows off them ranges). In my extremely humble and potentially wrong opinion, this general area fits with what we know of the crash site pretty perfectly. Winner: It's Part Three: Finding A LakeThe biggest landmark we have besides mountains is the lake. The real lake they filmed at is Stave Lake, just northwest of Vancouver.Here it is in the show: Omg Stave Lake you look amazing And here it is on Google maps: She's long, skinny, and surrounded by steep terrain. This gives us a rough idea of what kind of lake we're looking for. Lakes around the 58th parallel are all long and skinny, like our mate Stave, so there are lots we can choose from. Here is my best Pick: 58.2, I'll allow it These are the Tuchodi lakes. They're around 40 miles North West of the Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial Park, and only 0.2° to 0.4° north of the latitude decided on in Part 2. She's ~11 miles long, and skinny, just like Stave. Here are some pictures I yoinked from google maps: someone went boating there in 2017 thank you to that man The shore is not the same rocky pebbles as stave, unfortunately. Wow ! It's not a perfect match because it's not the exact same lake, but it's a workable option! Sure, the mountains are steeper and the water is bluecleaner, but these are the movie magic suspensions of disbelief we must make. Fun note: in 1x03 when Tai says she's seen a lake, she said "it looked just left of due north", and "about 5 miles from here". What does left of due north mean? North West, baby! Now, 40 miles is a lot more than 5, but it's the same direction, so I'm counting it as a win. Another option: haha Sure, it's 210 miles further west than Trutch, but it's called Cry lake, next to Dark Mountain. If that's not fitting as hell for the YJs, I don't know what is! Cry Lake has a lattitude of 58.6, which also makes it closer to 700 miles north than 600, but again: Cry Lake by Dark Mountain. She's 15 miles long. Assorted smaller lakes: No terrain filter, so we can see the blue bits These are all just east of Trutch. The Tuchodi lakes are the two lines in the middle on the right side, and they're about 20 miles (As the crow flies) from the "Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial..." writing, to give you a frame of measurement. There are lots of smaller lakes along the bottom of the image that wouldn't be as big/long as Stave, but they're firmly ensconced in the N. Rockies, as well as being around the right latitude (57-59). You could pick any! Magnum mine near the top is an actual Mine/"populated locality", so there are people in the area (ish) and it holds up all the mine theories—although I think it's a copper mine, if my googling is accurate. Winner: I like the Tuchodi lakes option, but it could realistically be any long skinny lake in the N. Rockies within 50 miles of the 58th parallel—so like, ~40 different lakes. I think that's the best we can narrow it down to, considering all the visual clues we get from the show are an amalgamation of filming locations around Vancouver. Part Four: Conclusion/TL;DRIn conclusion, They're in Northern B.C. and definitely not Ontario, around 58° Latitude, with at least some of the N. Rockies to their East, by a long skinny lake.You Are Here: :( Thanks for reading! Please feel free to add to anything I've said, point out any glaringly obvious flaws or things I've missed, or just straight up disagree! This took me three hours so I hope it makes sense and is somewhat easy to follow. Buzz Buzz Buzz!! 🐝🐝 |