MUTT

Everybody hates economics, but it seems to me that if a War in the 'verse had taken so long and been so devistating, it would have included some form of economic dimension. THis is what im going to say in my next section, part 5, of Blackout. Tell me what you think!! ---- Hillside’s history found its roots long before the war, of course; a little guava growing community set into the vast, lush and fertile jungle, pickers converging from across the world: students enjoying holiday backpacking adventures and even travellers from further afar picking up the easy work, taking a well deserved rest, meeting the locals and finally hitting the road once more when the season finally passed and the towns became quiet though the long sticky months. The war quickly changed that. New Melbourne was not on the border, and thus was not afflicted by its politics. Be it independence or unification, the layover worlds of Persephone, Beaumonde and New Melbourne itself would always serve as a point of arrival and departure; to refuel, trade and regroup, for both sides of the argument. No fighting ever took place here, no militia massed, no cyaden gas shells rained, no klaxons in the night, and while individual pockets heralded there causes of liberational and dissent, New Melbourne was not where this war was to be fought. In the end, it cost six years and millions of lives. Worlds and infastructure lay in ruin a system over, industry – the same industry for which the war was fought – completely crippled; land destroyed, workers either dead, refugee or bound-by-law, with no money left to buy crops. And so became the Wolfe plan. In the core, investment portfolios were established for vast tracts of land on the border, value severely depreciated after the fall of the browncoats; entire continents snatched up in the blink of an eye for next to nothing by the corporations. Of course, the core itself had suffered immensely; food and resource shortages, rationing; the only companies which still turned considerable profit those whom both resided within the core and produced such good via primary industry; and the arms manufacturers. Blue Sun, conveniently the latter, purchased more land on more worlds than it knew what to do with, until, in the end, it control the land that grew most of the core’s food, mined much of its minerals, and produced its raw goods. Overnight, the value, prestige and power of Blue Sun doubled, tripled, quadrupled. Of course, there was the flipside. The Wolfe Plans purpose was multifaceted, primarily aimed and injecting funds into the stymied primary industry sector, reinvigorating economic growth on the border. Having jobs and livelihoods once more, seeing there homes, towns and cities piece by piece reconstructed with money from the core, businesses reopen and entire societies – stalled in the face of six brutal years of war – reconnecting, had a stabilising effect on these worlds. Of course, less overtly, the Wolfe plan effectively ended mercantilism within the system, centralising power in the hands of the Alliance, ensuring that nothing like this could ever happen again; after all, the core now owned the border, and through collective pressure the core could force individual worlds into economic recession if they felt any particular planet was getting out of shape. With control centralised, resources assured and growth booming in the core, the next inevitable economic process begun: specialisation. Specialisation is an economic organization principle which holds that, at a system-level, economics will be far more collectively productive if each subsets of that system, in this case planets and moons, begin to specialise there production capacities. The border had little room to resist; the core owner the lands they pulled copper from, and planted seed. Regina became a mining capital, destroying its value-adding sector. Hera produced nothing but beef, wiping out the corn plantations known system wide. And New Melbourne became the fishing capital of the system, where one could come to gut stu

FRELLINGBLONDE

Finally, I managed to get a new chapter of "Out of the Frying Pan" written in less than a month. Six days short of a whole month still counts, okay? :wink: A good amount of the next chapter is already written, so it shouldn't take too long. But, as always, the best way to get a new chapter is to comment! Can't even tell you guys how apprciated, and motivating, your feedback really is.

STORMWIND

I said I'd put in ideas for different tings so here is my first one. Anyone is free to use this and I would love to hear back about this idea. ________________________________________________ Working titles -'Sticking Point'-'Bitter'-'Outcast's outcast.' Brief description- An encounter with the ship's former mechanic lead to dangerous conflict between Serenity and his ship. Plot/story- Kaylee, Mal and Jayne bump into the ships former mechanic (Fester, as seen getting replaced by Kaylee in 'Out of Gas') in a bar. He argues with them several times and his crew backs him up, mostly because he is sleeping with his female captain. the conflict looks to be resolved upon leaving the bar but then the two crews find themselves competing for the same job. Acts of sabotage are committed by both sides esculating to the point where Fester attempts to kidnap Kaylee. Mal shoots him, Simon has to patch him up and Fester is once again fired by his crew for such a stupid reckless act. ________________________________________________ Anyway thats what I've plotted out so far and I'd love to see this story out there. Of course we need a new pilot (watch this space)and I don't know how they would be involved. Also great scenes with Simon sewing up the man who tried to kidnap his lady love, Festers crew dumping him, sabotage mischeif plotted by Mal and Jayne, Zoe getting way too angry when Fester says some nasty stuff that pertains to Wash. Knock yourself out. CYA

MARINA

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HOBBLEIT

1. watch ross noble dvds 2. watch either have i got news for you or QI. Both also very, very funny and so you can't concentrate. 3. Eat. especially things that run. It gets everywhere and makes the notes look messy. Anyway, I had a fun day yesterday. I was supposed to go to this Irish conference at Sunderland University yesterday with my brother and Andrew, but we got there late after having a three course lunch at a restaurant called Elizabeth's. So instead we spent the afternoon hanging around with Bobby. Then Andrew and Alan came over mine. Isn't it great when you have a moment of clarity. Until about 5am this morning i had absolutely no idea how to answer any of the essay questions for my Reading History module. This morning I woke up and realised that I had an idea of how I could answer one of the questions so now I don't feel like a complete failure. This sort of thing has happened twice, once for Varieties of history and once for Anglo-Saxon England and I got decent marks for those modules, so who know, maybe it'll happen again (touch wood).

SLICEANDDICE

My dad was hospitalized yesterday. He went to this shop and was wondering around confused. He didnt know why he was there, how he got there (but his jeep was there so he must have driven), where there was, what day it was or even what time it was. The propitiers where concerned, called the police who in turn got him to the hospital. That morning (at 4:45 am) he had called me in a panic because he thought i had called him because i had an accident and needed his help, and he was trying to find me, I calmed him down and he went back to bed. He then called me an hour later really out of it, and again 20 minutes later thinking it was the day before and i was off to school. So needless to say he was demented. He either has a head injury (most likely from falling in his panic), had a pyschotic break from the stress of thrusday, dreams, and deliousions; had a nervouse break down, same reasons above, or something went really bad with his meds. So now here i am... waiting to see whats going to happen...

SIRI

It's getting colder in my part of the world. Cold, dark and wet as it's been raining a lot - warm one day, cold the next. Not too cold yet. Down in the 30's maybe tonight. I like this time of year. I always wish I could slow my life down more in the winter. It seems the proper thing to do but ususally isn't possible. I like holing up, dressing warm, having a hot tea, or chai or something, wrapping up in a blanket and reading - also watching an episode of Firefly a few times a week. That's what I'll do this winter. I'm so enjoying this site. It's stimulating, enjoyable and comforting - even the heated discussions on the political (real world) site. I don't have time for much of that in my everyday world - there's so much polarity that it's difficult to engage in a really intelligent exchange of ideas. People get so entrenched in their belief system - it's as if they are in a bubble. Nothing gets in. More monologue than dialogue. Here I can just leave that section if I think the discussion is getting too rigid. But I can also browse and try to get my mind around viewpoints that are dissimilar to mine. Try to understand and make sense of other realities. So this winter season as I move into the darkness I am looking forward to seeing how my newfound love of Firefly speaks to my personal growth path in life. It's my belief that everything we do, see, hear, etc. speaks to us if we listen. So I'll explore this venture, going deeper into the darkness and soar the universe with the crew of Serenity. My own love of martial arts and particularly small women who are powerful, smart and strong - even if slightly crazy - is part of the pull for me. Although I'm past young, I'm still strong and engage in my daily practice, yoga, meditation and marital arts. It's a good match for me. It's also a release and helps me shift out of my job - working with the long term chronically seriouslly mentally ill in a poverty stricken rural area. It helps me stay balanced and not get burned out. People burn out quickly in my line of work. I find myself continually looking for creative ways to make it more useful and interesting for myself and those with whom I work. "Into the Darkness we go, Into the Darkness and Night The Old One stands before us Her voice we hear, She holds our hopes and our fears."