Welcome to the first Kate's Curiosities post of 2015! Woo!
I'm not sure if it was bad planning or good planning on my part to make the first post of the year a continuation of the last post of the old year. But either way, I hope you enjoy this further exploration into the dynamics of family in Harry Potter.
If you just found this post and have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the link to last week's post. Basically, the idea was to ruminate on what Harry Potter can teach us about the complications of family, something I think we all reflect on at this time of year as we see family that we maybe don't see much the rest of the year.
Lupin actually seized handfuls of his own hair; he looked quite deranged.
Yeah, I know, I quoted Frozen in the heading, but hear me out, it really does apply here!
One of the most difficult scenes for me to read in Deathly Hallows was the scene above with Harry accusing Lupin of being a coward. While the concept of fear causing people to make bad decisions had been visited before in characters like Fudge and Pettigrew, to see beloved Lupin almost abandon his wife and future child brought a whole new level to how fear can warp our perceptions. Lupin clearly loves Tonks, but the concept of passing his curse onto another terrifies him so much that he can't see how his actions will hurt people he cares about. I don't think this makes him a coward, but I'm glad Harry made it clear to Lupin that he was letting fear cloud his judgement. He eventually does go back to Tonks and is overjoyed when his child, Teddy, is born.
I think we can take two lessons from this.
The first is that when loved ones are involved in serious decisions, fear has a tendency to set in. And this can elicit a lot of bad things – harsh words said, terrible actions taken. It happens to the best of us. We try to do what's best for people we love, but actions motivated by fear, anger, and stress can hurt them even more. So it might be best to take a step back, talk, consult others, etc.
On the flip side, when you are on the receiving end of a bad decision or harsh action, it can be easy to see this as evidence that the person doesn't care about you, say some harsh words of your own. But we have to remember that fear, anger, and stress are temporary states of mind. Sometimes we have to give people time to sort themselves out, make it clear that we still care, and be willing to open communication.
I've been making a lot of arguments about how the Harry Potter novels teach patience and understanding with family. But I should be clear to point out that not all families are created equal, and just because you love someone doesn't mean you should have to live with them. Some home environments are toxic – emotionally and/or physically abusive, capable of eliciting depression and anxiety. Neither I nor J.K. Rowling would say you should stay in such an environment if you have a chance to get out.
The Dursleys pretend their nephew doesn't exist, give him no birthday presents or new clothes, and make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs, among other things. There is never any question that the Dursleys are bad for Harry, and that his time away from them is for the best. Even Dumbledore, the king of patience and understanding, makes it clear that the Dursleys behavior was unacceptable. If not for the blood protection afforded to Harry by staying with his mother's sister, he should never had had to live at Number 4 Privet Drive. While Harry comes to accept that they are who they are, he does not feel obligated to stay with them once he turns 17. Indeed, Rowling implies in interviews that Harry never contacts his aunt and uncle, and only occasionally contacts Dudley. And it is entirely in his rights to do so, blood or not.
Sirius Black is also never begrudged for running away from his pureblood supremacist family at the age of 16 and going to live with the Potters. Trapped in his parents' house (used as headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix) later in life, he is forced to deal with his mother's insulting portrait and a host of bad memories, which are probably what drove him to become more reckless near the end of his life. Just being in the house was toxic for him, after the family was long dead.
Sometimes we feel that people have hurt us or done us wrong. And we feel the need to distance ourselves from them. As detailed above, sometimes this is necessary. Getting hurt or angry is normal. But letting that fester into a grudge can be destructive, and not just for the person it's aimed towards. Grudges in families are particularly bad, and lead to a lot of grief years later.
Take the case of Mrs. Petunia Dursley. As a child, Petunia watched her sister Lily do impossible things, looking on with a mixture of curiosity and disapproval. When Lily was accepted to Hogwarts and appreciated by their parents, Petunia desperately tried to get into Hogwarts as well and was rejected. She held her sister's talents against her for the rest of their lives. Even though Lily always tried to reconnect with her sister, Petunia continued to shut Lily out. She often pretended she didn't even have a sister.
However, there are indications that Petunia still loved Lily in the end. According to Lily's letter in Deathly Hallows, Petunia thought enough about Lily to send her a vase for Christmas. It is also said (though I haven't been able to find an official source) that Petunia arranged Lily and James's funeral in Godric's Hollow since James had no family left. She also agreed, however grudgingly, to take in Lily's son. But her grudge against Lily affected her even then, as she tried to stamp the magic out of her nephew and refused to truly accept him as family.
It's hard to say how much she truly regretted that she never reconnected with her sister, but the quote above (in movie!verse) and her emotional reaction to Dudley's peace offering (in book!verse, detailed below) make me think that she did care for Lily, but couldn't find the strength come to terms with her pain and let go of her grudge. And that is such a sad, sad thing. Lily, Harry, and Petunia were all hurt by a childhood grudge, and none of these relationships will ever have the chance to heal because of it. It is understandably difficult to talk about things that hurt us, especially to the people who did it. But sometimes I think we have to ask ourselves, what if we never get another chance? What if we lose someone forever without making amends? Something to think about.
I don't agree with this. Like, at all.
People have a really hard time changing, and going into any relationship – romantic, familial, or platonic – with the hope that someone will change sets you up for a world of disappointment. Petunia never took steps to make amends with her sister. Lily, I think, had to come to terms with that, much as it saddened her. As I stated in Part 1, we have to accept people for who they are.
However… that doesn't mean that family can't change. Because although Petunia never made amends, her son kind of did. It wasn't a grand gesture, or even a true apology. But he did show Harry that he appreciated him, was concerned for his well-being, and hoped he would be okay. This opened the door to future contact that Harry never kept up with his aunt and uncle. However awkward or tense their meetings may be, Dudley and Harry were still able to hold up a relationship as adults after a lifetime of antagonism, and that only happened because Dudley was able to adjust his views on Harry, on his upbringing, and on magic — if only a little. But Harry had to be willing to accept that Dudley changed as well for this to work. It really goes both ways.
Visible forms of love are important in any family. I will never understate the value of hugging, kissing, and general affection. But these are acts that are easy to understand in the moment, easy to appreciate. There are other ways of showing love that are not as easily recognized, and just as or more important. There is a power in fantasy to give such invisible concepts a concrete shape, and in that vein Harry Potter takes time to highlight both forms of love.
A huge part of the novels' backbone is Lily Potter's sacrifice for her son, which manifests as an invisible, but very potent magical protection from Voldemort up until Goblet of Fire. And in some ways it still protects him, even after Voldemort gets around it, as staying at the Dursleys still works as protection for him up until he is 17. Perhaps love doesn't act as literal protection in our world, but Rowling is still able to symbolically show the power of love that remains despite separation, time, even death.
But as his trembling fingertips stretched toward the creature, it vanished.
Harry, without even knowing his father's Animagus form was a stag, produces him as a protector against the Dementors. In this way, his father's love and spirit still resides with him.
Snape's Patronus is also an interesting example. Snape's Patronus is a doe because Lily Potter's was a doe (loved ones often develop matching Patronuses since their loved one is their happiest memory). Though Snape doesn't care much for Harry, he secretly protects him during his time at Hogwarts due to his love for Lily. The doe is the manifestation of that, and appears to Harry when he most needs guidance. However you feel about Snape's relationship to Lily, we could say Lily's love for Harry acts through Snape, as symbolized by the doe. Snape does it with no expectation of being recognized or thanked, and in fact acts like Harry's enemy most of the time. It isn't until later that Harry understands how much Snape sacrificed out of love for his mother, which is why Harry tributed the man through his son's middle name. In an unconventional way, Snape reminds us that people often do things for us, seen and unseen, whose value we can't understand until we are older.
It's an interesting and inspiring thing, how we continue to learn the depths of love, familial and otherwise, throughout our lives. Likewise, Harry Potter is one of those series you can visit again and again and still find something new to appreciate about the depth of the narrative created.
Thanks so much for following this two-part exploration. I'd love to hear in the comments what lessons Harry Potter has taught you about family. Tune in next Tuesday morning for a new post (yes, I'm changing my posting date. New year, new day)!
Learn more about the blog here, about me here, and resources here. Check out the links in the sidebar for related works and Pinterest boards, and leave a comment to let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas.
Note: In this analysis, I am synthesizing Harry Potter book canon, Pottermore articles, and Word of God from J.K. Rowling. I know some readers prefer to disregard Rowling's interviews, and they should be taken with a grain of salt since spoken words are not as thought through as written work. But in this case I am taking it into consideration.
Children's fantasy writer. Recent graduate in creative writing and psychology. Ravenclaw. "Fantasy's hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it."


text:
package com.hug.takerest.shots.presenter;

import com.hug.takerest.base.BasePresenter;
import com.hug.takerest.base.BaseView;
import com.hug.takerest.shots.model.Shot;

/**
 * Created by HStan on 2017/4/18.
 */

public class ShotContract {

    public interface View extends BaseView {
        void onSuccess(Shot shot);
    }

    public interface Presenter extends BasePresenter {

    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


NATURE VS. NURTURE? THIS MAY BE THE ULTIMATE ADOPTION QUESTION.
ENTRAPMENT – You may be surprised at what it is, and especially, what it isn't!
Trusts have been around since Roman times … isn't it about time you started thinking about one?
HEALTHY + PARANOIA = YES!
BAIL – What will California do?


Under new ownership and management, the former Hotel Sorella is now The Fontaine—A Kansas City Hotel, an updated 132-room boutique property located in the heart of Kansas City on the edge of Country Club Plaza.
In an interview with LODGING, its general manager Richard Graham described the inspiration for and features of the property, which was renamed to reflect the fountains around the neighboring Plaza and designed to offer a cool experience infused with Midwestern hospitality. Graham, a seasoned professional with deep roots in the Kansas City hospitality scene, took the helm in November, some six months after the property was purchased as a joint venture between Davidson Hotels & Resorts in Atlanta and Artemis Real Estate Partners in Chevy Chase, Md.
Although the hotel was relatively new—it had been built in 2013—it was vacant when purchased by current owners, who recognized a special opportunity in the building itself and its prime location. "It's a great building with a great build-out, so there was no need to alter the structure. It just needed a renovation to take it to even greater heights," Graham explains.
This renovation began in the lobby, starting with new furniture, including some technology-based pieces, such as a communal type table with what Graham calls "a homey feel," where guests can access and charge their computers and other digital media.
Graham is especially proud of The Fontaine's contribution to the community's food and beverage options and the chance to show out-of-towners their city at its best. "Our restaurants are stepping up to the next level—with popular farm-to-table menus and craft cocktails and beer—and becoming part of the community itself," Graham comments. The Parker restaurant—named after KC's own jazz legend Charlie Parker—he adds, is the only rooftop restaurant in the area.
The Fontaine's team did encounter some challenges during the renovation, including that the building, which was located atop a large, shared parking garage, was "made too well," meaning renovations—including modifications to the wattage—meant drilling through multiple feet of concrete. He says, too, moving from the great space to more traditional meeting rooms space wasn't entirely seamless. "It probably bothers us more than the guests to go from a unique great space for breakfast into a more traditional meeting room space," he admits.
Such challenges notwithstanding, Graham feels that the renovation's overall mission was accomplished. "Because our customers are our most important relationships, the goal of our renovation was to be as genuine as possible, to show what Kansas Citians who truly know this city wanted to embody," he says.


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← Stupid Surveys, Obsessed with Being Online?
It's remarkable to see how large our MacRumors Forums have grown. We're at over 138,000 members and 4.4 million posts, and represent the most active Apple forum on the internet.
I added the forums to the site in 2001. Before that, I had experimented with integrated comment systems for our stories, but these tools were very immature at the time. In the end I reluctantly decided to add a full forum with user registration and additional sub-forum discussion.
I say 'reluctantly' because I knew the baggage that comes with launching a forum. Spam and moderation become major issues. I also knew that with me having a more-than-full-time day job, I simply didn't have the time to police the forums. But I launched them anyway.
As I could have predicted, after a few months, the forums discussions had spiraled out of control into massive flame wars. There would be lengthy threads with people cussing each other out back-and-forth. It was ugly.
In trying to sort out the issues, I recruited a few moderators, banned a few users, and set up some rules to try to prevent this from happening again.
Now the rules I instituted may seem odd 6 years later, but I still feel the reasoning behind it holds true.
– Don't personally insult someone else.
– Keep discussion on topic.
– Don't waste my (our) time.
At one point, someone stops debating the topic, and starts attacking the individual.
Once that happens, things degenerate very quickly. So, how do you stop flame wars? Stop it at the cause. Personal insults are simply not tolerated. It worked in 2001, and we keep it in place today for the same reason. It's not that hard. And if you can't control yourself after multiple warnings, then there's nothing I can do for you.
At its heart MacRumors is about rumors and news about Apple. The purpose of the forums is to discuss those news and rumor items. In news story discussions, we are strict about it. We simply delete off-topic posts. I also find this "rule" self-evident. People might complain about being censored, but if your news-story post doesn't directly have to do with the news-story, then most people don't want to see it.
With news-story discussions exceeding 100's of replies now, I think this remains a very important rule.
In 2001, I added this as a simple "catch all" to keep my workload manageable. Then, as today, I had a very limited amount of time to devote to support issues surrounding "problem" users. In the end, once a problem user started monopolizing my time, banning them became the only option.
In 2007, our moderation staff has grown to be able to handle far more issues… but at the core, this concept remains. The moderator staff is an entirely volunteer one, with full time jobs outside of MacRumors. While they are diligent about following up on all issues, there's always a tipping point, where one problem user could consume too many resources.
The rules work really well. The attitude at the forums is usually very helpful and extremely nerdy.
Which I of course love.
Do you have an RSS feed for MacRumors? That'd be very handy.
Nice post. I was looking though your forums after seeming the post in vbulletin.com about the macrumur's specs. My forums i still in growing path and I'm glad to hear that two round-robined PHP + 1 MySQL server can handle a huge forum like your's.
Back to the topic i'm also struggling to keep up with the ever growing flaming and spams along with my "More than Full time" Job.
Cheers mate and Welldone !


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text:
Q: Rails recommended way to add sample data I have a Rake script similar to below,but I am wondering if there is a more efficient way to do this, without having to drop the database, run all the migrations, reseed the database and then add the sample data?
namespace :db do

  desc 'Fill database with sample data'
  task populate: :environment do
    purge_database
    create_researchers
    create_organisations
    add_survey_groups_to_organisations
    add_members_to_survey_groups
    create_survey_responses_for_members

  end
end

    def purge_database
      puts 'about to drop and recreate database'
      system('rake db:drop')
      puts 'database dropped'
      system('rake db:create')
      system('rake db:migrate')
      system('rake db:seed')
      puts 'Database recreated...'
    end

    def create_researchers
      10.times do
        researcher = User.new
        researcher.email = Faker::Internet.email
        researcher.save!
      end
    end

A: You should not fill your database with sample data via db:seed. That's not the purpose of the seeds file.
db:seed is for initial data that your app needs in order to function. It's not for testing and/or development purposes.
What I do is to have one task that populates sample data and another task that drops the database, creates it, migrates, seeds and populates. The cool thing is that it's composed of other tasks, so you don't have to duplicate code anywhere:
# lib/tasks/sample_data.rake
namespace :db do
  desc 'Drop, create, migrate, seed and populate sample data'
  task prepare: [:drop, :create, "schema:load", :seed, :populate_sample_data] do
    puts 'Ready to go!'
  end

  desc 'Populates the database with sample data'
  task populate_sample_data: :environment do
    10.times { User.create!(email: Faker::Internet.email) }
  end
end

A: I would suggest making rake db:seed self sufficient.  By which I mean, you should be able to run it multiple times without it doing any damage, while ensuring that whatever sample data you need loaded gets loaded.
So, for your researches, the db:seed task should do something like this:
User.destroy_all
10.times do
  researcher = User.new
  researcher.email = Faker::Internet.email
  researcher.save!
end

You can run this over and over and over and are ensured you will always end up with 10 random users.
I see this is for development.  In that case, I wouldn't put it in db:seed as that might get run in production.  But you can put it in a similar rake task that you can re-run as often as needed.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Galois group of $\overline{\mathbb{F}_{p}}$ gives arithmetical information for finite fields $K/\mathbb{F}_{p}$? Let $\mathbb{F}_{p}$ be the field with $p$ elements and $\overline{\mathbb{F}_{p}}$ be its algebraic closure.
For some reason, we want to understand the structure of the Galois group of such an extension.
We then find that we have an isomorphism of topological groups $G(\overline{\mathbb{F}_{p}}/\mathbb{F}_{p})\cong\hat{\mathbb{Z}}$.
My question is:
The description of the group $G(\overline{\mathbb{F}_{p}}/\mathbb{F}_{p})$ certainly gives the "subfield lattice" of $\overline{\mathbb{F}_{p}}$ and this is nice.
On the other hand, such a subfield lattice can be found very easily without using this isomorphism, and in fact most books even use this fact to establish the isomorphism.
In view of this comments, why does one want to describe such an absolute Galois group and why it is useful to know that, for instance, $\hat{\mathbb{Z}}\cong\prod_{p}\mathbb{Z}_{p}$, where $\mathbb{Z}_{p}$ denotes the $p$-adic integers?
Do we get any arithmetical information about finite fields $K/\mathbb{F}_{p}$? Thanks a lot.

A: I think you have things a bit backwards here. The prevalence of $G_{\mathbb F_p}:=\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb F}_p/\mathbb F_p)$ in number theory is not as a gadget to study the finite extensions of $\mathbb F_p$, since, as you've said, the extensions of $\mathbb F_p$ are well understood. Rather, it is to enable us to use what we know about the extensions of $\mathbb F_p$ to understand the extensions of $\mathbb Q_p$. In particular, there is a natural isomorphism
$$\mathrm{Gal}(\mathbb Q_p^{\text{nr}}/\mathbb Q_p)\cong \mathrm{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb F}_p/\mathbb F_p),$$
where $\mathbb Q_p^{\text{nr}}$ denotes the maximal unramified extension of $\mathbb Q_p$.
Let $G_{\mathbb Q_p} = \mathrm{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb Q}_p/\mathbb Q_p)$. If $\sigma \in G_{\mathbb Q_p}$, then, identifying $\overline{\mathbb F}_p$ with the residue field of $\overline{\mathbb Z}_p$, we obtain an action of $\sigma$ on $\overline{\mathbb F}_p$. In particular, there is a map
$$G_{\mathbb Q_p}\to G_{\mathbb F_p},$$
which can be shown to be surjective (using Hensel's lemma). Define the inertia group $I_p$ to be the kernel of this map. Then $\mathbb Q_p^{\text{nr}}$ can be identified with the fixed field $\overline{\mathbb Q}_p^{I_p}$.
We have a short exact sequence
$$1\to I_p\to G_{\mathbb Q_p}\to G_{\mathbb F_p}\to 1.$$
Hence, in order to understand $G_{\mathbb Q_p}$, we would do well to understand $I_p$ and $G_{\mathbb F_p}$. Here, $G_{\mathbb F_p}$ tells us about the unramified extensions of $\mathbb Q_p$, and $I_p$ tells us about the ramified ones.
Knowing that $G_{\mathbb F_p}\cong \widehat{\mathbb Z}\cong\prod_l\mathbb Z_l$ means that we completely understand $G_{\mathbb F_p}$.

A: In afterthought, let me give a striking illustration of what I called the "functorial" approach in my previous comment. Let $K/ \mathbf Q_p$ be a given extension of degree $N$, not containing a primitive $p$-th root of 1. Suppose somebody comes up with a finite $p$-group $G$ and asks you to construct a Galois extension $L/K$ with group $G$. After some hard work, you succeed in doing it, and the guy comes back with a second $p$-group asking the same question. Toiling even harder, you begin to suspect that there could be no such extension. Then the guy comes back with a third $p$-group, and this time you draw your gun, I mean your "functorial" gun, which is a theorem of Safarevic : "The Galois group over $K$ of the maximal pro-$p$-extension of $K$ is pro-$p$-free with $N + 1$ generators". This means that any (resp. no) $p$-group on less (resp. strictly more) than $N + 1$ generators can be realized as the group of a Galois extension of $K$.
The point here is that of course the proof of Sh.'s theorem does not (cannot) rely on explicit constructions. As explained e.g. in H. Koch's "Galois theory of $p$-extensions", it builds on Galois cohomology. To give a quick survey : for a pro-$p$-group $\mathcal G$, the minimal number of generators (resp. of relations) of $\mathcal G$ equals the $\mathbf F_p$-dimension of $H^1(\mathcal G,\mathbf F_p)$ (resp. of $H^2$). If $\mathcal G$ is the maximal pro-$p$-group introduced above, the first dimension is easily computed from that of $K^*/K^{*p}$, which even gives a system of generators consisting of a lift of the Frobenius automorphism (see @Mathmo123's answer) and of $N$ automorphisms in the inertia subgroup.The second dimension is shown to be $0$ by adding $p$-th roots of 1 to $K$ in order to  use the Brauer group, then going back to $K$ applying cohomological restriction.
I hope this example will convince you of the utility, but also the necessity of the functorial approach.


text:
Home › Forums › Fallout & Wasteland › Fallout 4 ›
So I've played Fallout 4...
Discussion in 'Fallout 4' started by mef, Jan 5, 2019.
mef Where'd That 6th Toe Come From?
I'm not very active here but some of you may recall that I once called Fallout 3 the worst game I've ever played. So when Fallout 4 came out, I had no interest in ever playing it. Why spend time and money on something I know I will hate? Besides, the moment you pay - the bad guys win. But when I saw Fallout 4 on one of the recent Steam sales for a few dollars, I got curious. And I thought, eh, what the hell. So I've played it and...
Now, let's get a few things clear. This is definitely not what I wanted Fallout to become and if you're looking at Fallout 4 as a Fallout game, it fails miserably. No, actually, it doesn't fail because it didn't even try. This is not a Fallout game. I don't care who has the rights and what the title is, this is not a continuation of Fallout from 1997 and the name could as well be coincidental. It literally has so little in common with the originals that it can barely be called Fallout-themed shooter. More like Fallout-inspired. So I decided not to look at it as a Fallout game but as its own individual thing.
Now, I'm not saying that it's a great game. But it's decent. And I'm really confused. Everyone told me that it's worse than Fallout 3, not only people on NMA, but even Fallout 3 fans who never played the originals - and you know, if these two groups agreed on it, something must be up. But I've played Fallout 4 and I can't think of anything, literally anything that it would do worse than Fallout 3.
Obviously, combat is much, much improved and now the game is even more focused on it. I think we can safely say that Fallout 4 is a sandbox shooter game, not and RPG. And it's a decent sandbox shooter. I had fun with it. Fighting with enemies or sneaking by them just felt good. Not anything great, but it certainly wasn't bad. The overall game mechanics were also much improved and it didn't feel like the game was fighting me the whole time.
I also like the visuals, I like the new art style and most of the new designs. The ruins of the city look especially great. The plot, writing, dialogs, characters, worldbuilding - it's all terrible of course but still better than in Fallout 3. The most important thing for me is that there's much less stupid shit. Actually, there's not that much of it in Fallout 4 - the most prominent was the kid in the fridge ex aequo with the baseball guy in Diamond City, I think. Speaking of which, the cities are a HUGE improvement over Fallout 3. There are normal cities in the game! And Diamond City doesn't even feel that much dead and artificial, at least not as much as I expected. I also like how we got four factions now (three, actualy) and none of them is the right choice. Sure, the factions are really poorly written and The Institute doesn't make much sense when you think about it but there's no clear black and white. Don't get me wrong, I liked Fallout 4 for the action part, not the plot, but despite being bad, it's still an improvement. By the way, isn't it wonderful, how the best part of this game is the one that Beth didn't make?
I'm not saying it's a great game. It surely wasn't worth the full price and I'm the last person on Earth to defend Bethesda. My point is, you must be out of your mind to say that Fallout 4 is worse than Fallout 3. I can't find any potential reason to think so. Seriously, Fallout 3 was so bad it's surreal. I sometimes think it was all just a fever dream and that game didn't actually happen. Apart from writing etc. being insultingly bad, the combat and graphics were also a disaster thanks to the engine (which, sadly, was carried over to New Vegas) The only thing that comes to my mind is that Fallout 3 allowed for a bit more role-playing, but frankly, I'd rather have a more focused open-world action game than a half-assed RPG-masquerade. Many bad things can be said about Fallout 4, but if someone likes it, I can see why. If someone likes Fallout 3, I can't.
As for Fallout being butchered by Beth, I don't care. We got Resurrection, Nevada and Sonora is on its way, this is more goodness than I'd dare to wish for. Seriously, if someone told me ten years ago that so many new Fallout games are coming, I would have shit myself. These are actual new Fallout games, why aren't they having more attention?
E: New Vegas on Fallout 4 engine would be the shit. I know there's mod being made but let's be honest, it's never coming out
mef, Jan 5, 2019
TheOtherManInTheRoom Watchman
I played fallout 4 first, then 3 (Yeah, talk about diving into the franchise in the worst way!)
I do have to disagree though based purely off a difference in priorities. The issue with Fallout 4 is that despite it's nice art direction and attempt at having a faction choice, the actual gameplay just is the kill-loot-return loop, with no player choice almost at all, that is so uninspiring, compared with proper Fallout games (I realise you've said you don't regard it as a continuation, but as my first introduction to what was, to the uninitiated, a AAA rpg franchise it was very disappointing.) It reminded me so much of skyrim, which is as fallout 3 is to you, the worst game I've ever played bar none.
After this, Fallout 3 felt like a step up (bear in mind at this point I've not played any of the classics or NV,) it felt like they were trying (badly) to provide player choice in a world of desperation. There are some rpg elements there, poor as they are, and the side content especially does the job at making you feel like a God or devil depending on your actions. Compared to Fallout 4, where pretty much everyone does everything the same way and there's no way to communicate with anything properly, this is a step up. It's rubbish, but it's crafted rubbish by people who (somewhere) wanted to make a good game. Fallout 4 feels like cynically made trash by comparison.
Of course I then played NV which blew them out of the water....
Fallout 3 fans disliked 4 due to their God or Devil status being revoked, kooky characters being changed to bland stereotypes and the fact that FO3 BOS were not heroes anymore (see a lot of the latter which irritates me a lot)
Hope that goes some way to showing how I hold the opposite perception to you on the two games, coming at it from a different perspective as I do.
TheOtherManInTheRoom, Jan 5, 2019
NMLevesque Commie Ghost
mef said: ↑
you must be out of your mind to say that Fallout 4 is worse than Fallout 3. I can't find any potential reason to think so.
The ironic thing is that you haven't actually explained why you think any aspect of Fo4 is improved. You just kept saying 'this is better'.
NMLevesque, Jan 7, 2019
Fo4 looks smoother, but its level design is really samey. By contrast: there's barely even anything to communicate what locations are before the game tells you with text. The stories told by locations rarely have any arc to them. Iconic flair is mostly absent. Etc...
NMLevesque said: ↑
The ironic thing is that you haven't actually explained why you think any aspect of Fo4 is improved.
I did explain, it's not dependant on the individual aspects but the overall: it's an action game so its core is combat - and combat in F4 is pretty good. F3 was a hybrid of a shooter and an RPG - both parts were bad. So in F4 one part is much better and the other is absent. I assumed there's no arguments needed when it comes to combat being better.
Of course, like TheOtherManInTheRoom said: if someone is looking for a roleplaying game, F3 may appeal more to him - just like someone looking for a superhero movie will choose Superman 4 over Schindler's List, but to say that the movie itself is better in what it is - I disagree. (Of course, it's a matter of taste and there's no use trying to convince someone that what he likes is worse but we can discuss what aspects are better or worse and why)
Squadcar 28-6-42-12
I might have considered Fallout 4 better if I hadn't expected Bethesda to learn from New Vegas. I think Fallout 4 is far worse than 3 but I was also looking for an action-RPG not a shooter sandbox. It just felt even worse when doing quests. If I wanted to play a shooter sandbox I would have chosen better games for it anyway. I think it fails overall.
Squadcar, Jan 7, 2019
Well, as I said - my point is not that F4 is a good game, but that it's way better than F3. I probably wouldn't make this topic if it wasn't for almost everyone - no matter what their stand on the originals is - that F4 is worse or even far worse and I just couldn't find any arguments for it. I was curious why so many people think so.
(I think F1 is much better than F2, most people think otherwise but I can see why)
For me, it's just my expectations of the game and what it was. It didn't offer me choices, it gutted skills out, it made perks into a hybrid of what perks are and progression (if you don't buy the damage perks, you won't do enough in the game), and so on. It was just bad. Nothing about it made me think wow I can't wait to see how I can play that differently on a different character build! Because I couldn't. Sure Fallout 3 didn't have a lot of great stuff but at least Good/Bad/Neutral karma and skills and SPECIAL actually let you replay at some level if you really wanted to.
I see where you're coming from, but didn't you think that the choice between The Institute, BoS and Railroad/Minutemen, while badly written, was still far better than all choices in F3 combined? And you actually got a choice, while in F3 you were a Brotherhood's bitch. Also, I'm glad the karma system is gone, it's existence was one of the biggest flaws of the originals. I think it's taking away all the depth when the game strictly tells me what it considers to be good and bad. In F3 it was especially terrible, apart from retarded rules like stealing from raiders being bad, the moral dilemmas boils down to
While I liked it in Fable, I find it totally unfitting in such setting as Fallout's
While in F4 karma system wouldn't make much difference, anyway, I liked how the game doesn't tell me what's right and what's wrong. To be honest, I didn't expect F4 to make me actually think who should I side with in the end.
I hated the karma system in any of the games, don't get me wrong and yeah the main quest of Fallout 4 presents 4 major options but usually I found myself forced to say yes to a quest or just walk away in 4. 3 gave me more options in the sidequests I feel, despite having karma affect it.
I'd really have to replay them to really assess how I feel about them side by side but even when I did revisit playing 3, I enjoyed it more than 4. I don't plan on playing either again though, so I'll stay with my opinion that 3 was better than 4. Skills and SPECIAL (yeah it's in 4 but it's not the same) help a lot too.
tgawt ye ass
really expected some 'le fallout 4 sucks' post so some random sucker could get e-points for agreeing with nearly everybody else on the website, pleasantly surprised to see a post like this.
fallout 4 is a fun game, and if you're looking for a fun game then fallout 4 delivers. its the hard truth that the fallout series won't magically get any better from here, and complaining about it on an obscure fallout forum isn't gonna change that, even if it is fun to attack virtual strangers over the internet. if you don't like the path modern fallout is going, vote with your wallets.
this always confused me too, i think its some weird hybrid for nostalgia for a game you dislike? fallout 3 is shit, and fallout 4 improves upon it in every regard. the gameplay, story, characters, the only thing that might not be AS good as fallout 3 is the exploration, fallout 4 feels way to colorful and way to disorganized for exploration to be enjoyable, and downtown is one of the most poorly designed areas in an open world game.
tgawt, Jan 7, 2019
Norzan Vault Senior Citizen
They're both terrible, but Fallout 4 is the better of the two. Fallout 3 just horribly tries to be both a RPG and a shooter and just fails miserably at both. Fallout 4 at least drops the pretense of being a RPG and just focuses on the shooting and looting. The shooting is absolutely mediocre though, from bullet sponge enemies, terrible variety in weapons and stuff like different ammo types being removed from New Vegas. But at least the shooting isn't a colossal disaster like in 3.
They're both bad in story, characters, quests and everything involving RPG elements. And if i want to play something for just shooting and looting, i'll just play Stalker. Much better gameplay than Fallout 4.
Norzan, Jan 7, 2019
I assumed there's no arguments needed when it comes to combat being better.
If you don't argue your case, then we have no reason to accept it. The action side is improved as you can actually free aim properly, there's a sprint feature, etc (this is me, making your argument for you, because you're still to dense to figure out how to do it yourself), but at the cost of scrapping the RPG side of combat. So no, combat is not better; it's different, and the loss of RPG elements is bad because they added a lot of value.
I see where you're coming from, but didn't you think that the choice between The Institute, BoS and Railroad/Minutemen, while badly written, was still far better than all choices in F3 combined?
No. Why did you think it was?
Also, I'm glad the karma system is gone, it's existence was one of the biggest flaws of the originals. I think it's taking away all the depth when the game strictly tells me what it considers to be good and bad. In F3 it was especially terrible, apart from retarded rules like stealing from raiders being bad, the moral dilemmas boils down to
Without a functional reputation system to replace it, what little the karma system added is simply lost. As bad as it was, nothing is not better. Some character react differently based on karma. That's something.
tgawt said: ↑
...fallout 3 is shit, and fallout 4 improves upon it in every regard. the gameplay, story, characters, the only thing that might not be AS good as fallout 3 is the exploration...
How or why do you believe this to be the case?
Norzan said: ↑
You've got a bit of a double standard here. If the story is bad on both then there you treat them as identical. If the shooting is bad in both then one of them is superior.
I would add that the looting isn't good either. Yes it has some UI enhancements, but one has to take into consideration how it works in practice. You are basically required to play as an extreme hoarder. This ruins the experience beyond the repair of UI, because there's no way to enjoy doing it that excessively. The biggest issue is how it infiltrates every moment of your experience.
No real double standard there. They both fail in RPG elements, quests, characters, writing, but Fallout 4 is the better game because the shooting isn't a complete trainwreck like Fallout 3.
If you are implying that mediocre is the same as bad, then it's not. Mediocre isn't the same as bad, it's just below average. Fallout 3 gameplay is a colossal disaster and it's flat out terrible.
And if you mean me calling both terrible, two things can be terrible but one can be better than the other. Terrible isn't a static measure of quality, there are different levels of terrible. There's terrible but it could be fixed and then there's terrible but it's completely ireedemable.
you can actually free aim properly, there's a sprint feature, etc (this is me, making your argument for you, because you're still to dense to figure out how to do it yourself)
If you don't argue your case, then we have no reason to accept it.
As I have never seen anyone in any discussion about F4 stating otherwise (and I have read a lot of it), I didn't feel the need to explain something everyone can see and agrees. If someone disagreed or asked me why I think that, then I would elaborate. Do I also have to explain to you how to wipe your ass?
but at the cost of scrapping the RPG side of combat. So no, combat is not better; it's different, and the loss of RPG elements is bad because they added a lot of value.
And what exactly is missing? If anything, F4 made it even more complex. In F3, the only "RPG elements" in combat was pumping skill points into your combat skill of choice and voila, maybe with addition of medicine for better stimpacks (press-not-to-die button). In F4, there's division between melee, pistols, rifles/shotguns and automatic weapons damage, accuracy when not aiming, damage dealt with hitting enemies with range weapons (a new feature), return of the medicine skill for better stimpacks and perks regarding radiation, which now actually matters during combat. Your stats now determine for how long you can sprint. Stealth can give you a much greater tactical advantage than in F3 and NV.
There was actually a problem with no obvious answer, all factions had some valid points, you can actually see the problem in the gameworld (as opposed to your dad's stupid water that nobody needs except for the two karma vending machines outside of "towns" and you have a water-purifying robots in your house). You have to choose whether synths can be considered human and think how they will affect the world.
Some character react differently based on karma. That's something.
People are divided into good, bad and neutral. Good boy sheriff won't like you because you stole a bunch of ammo from someone on the other side of the worldmap while no one was looking at you. Killing random psycho raiders who attacked you makes you a good person. A game is bragging about having morally gray choices at the back of the box while it explicitly tells you what it considers good and bad. And for some reason people think it's a great thing.
If the story is bad on both then there you treat them as identical. If the shooting is bad in both then one of them is superior.
You are basically required to play as an extreme hoarder. This ruins the experience beyond the repair of UI, because there's no way to enjoy doing it that excessively. The biggest issue is how it infiltrates every moment of your experience.
That's a complaint I've heard many times, but it never happened to me when I was actually playing.
mef, Jan 10, 2019
As I have never seen anyone in any discussion about F4 stating otherwise
That's not how argumentation works. Grow up.
If someone disagreed or asked me why I think that, then I would elaborate
I asked. You did not clarify. Don't be childish.
And what exactly is missing?
-proceeds to mention things that are missing-
I suppose you're just returning the favor by making my argument for me, but this is just getting silly.
In F4, there's division between melee, pistols, rifles/shotguns and automatic weapons damage, accuracy when not aiming, damage dealt with hitting enemies with range weapons (a new feature)
Wat. If you're just going to write gibberish then there's even less for me to respond to.
Oh boy...are synths human? That's the big improvement? Yikes. Sorry, but simply asking a question and dropping the mic before walking off stage is not good storytelling either. One has to explore an idea, i.e attempt to meaningfully answer the central question.
Also, the 3rd gens literally have human DNA. Phylogenetically the answer is yes, they are human. Morphologically that is also the case as they appear to have entirely homologous anatomy. The real question would be 'are they people?' They can pass the Turing test, and any other applied to homo sapiens sapiens. In no way are they not shown to be our intellectual equal. This is not something that can be faked.
And for some reason people think it's a great thing.
Ikr, but you do realize that I wasn't suggesting it was great? I mean, I did belabor the point about it being, only at best, better than nothing. There's no way you could possibly misunderstand something so obvi--
"Norzan said" what I was responding to with that bit....
That could only occur by ignoring all of the crafting/settlement parts of the game. So either you play the game, and have to, or you only play part of the game to avoid it. Whether you're daft enough to think or pretend otherwise is anyone's guess, but your track record isn't exactly suggesting anything positive.
NMLevesque, Jan 13, 2019
You would have to suggest that Fo3 and Fo4 are equally terrible at every non-combat thing for it not to be, and that's just false equivalency so yeah...double standard.
Black Angel Grand Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus
Pardon, but I don't understand what you specifically mean with, "You would have to suggest that Fo3 and Fo4 are equally terrible at every non-combat thing for it not to be,". "Not to be" what? Because I don't get that kind of impression from Norzan's post. His posts are pretty clear to me, so I wouldn't call Norzan's comparison double standard since the compared objects being judged originate from an exact same source: Bethesda.
Double standard in this context would be to call New Vegas shit because it's a buggy mess made by Obsidian, while forgiving the buggy mess of Fallout 3 because it's made by Bethesda. The judgment falls upon the bugs, but the treatment is different because of the cause.
Meanwhile, Norzan correctly judge that Fallout 4 definitely improve upon Fallout 3's shooting mechanics. Yes, it's still mediocre, and the other aspects like story, writing, RPG elements, etc etc are just like Fallout 3's or even outright worse. But since there's improvement in one major aspect (shooting mechanics improved from bad to mediocre), then by that standards Fallout 4 is the 'better game' than Fallout 3.
It's not double standard because Norzan could simply create a table and list a lot of gameplay features and mechanics for Fallout 3 and 4, put a 'Bad' rating upon story, writings, quests, characters, RPG elements, etc etc for both games, but only put a 'Bad' rating upon Fallout 3's shooting mechanics while putting 'Mediocre' rating upon Fallout 4's.
Black Angel, Jan 13, 2019
Black Angel said: ↑
"Not to be" what?
Not to be a double standard.
Yes, it's still mediocre, and the other aspects like story, writing, RPG elements, etc etc are just like Fallout 3's or even outright worse.
That's patently false. It's dialogue system for example is much worse. Also, why bury the salient point in the middle of your comment? Why not just reply to what I was specifically arguing?
That's patently false. It's dialogue system for example is much worse.
That still doesn't make any sense. "Norzan would have to suggest that Fo3 and Fo4 are equally terrible at every non-combat thing for it not to be a double standard" is what you say, and I see that it's exactly what he did. TL;DR Norzan thought Fallout 3&4 were all equally terrible at many things except for the combat system where Fallout 4 is 'better' than Fallout 3's, even though by general standard it's mediocre through and through.
But yeah, I'd admit that Fallout 4's dialogue system is definitely much, much worse compared to even Fallout 3's, but I think you insisting that Norzan's been putting a facade of double standard when judging the games being discussed is kind of too much; you'd better off pointing out that Fallout 4 ALSO has worse dialogue system despite of combat improvement. No need to accuse Norzan of having double standard.
Also, why bury the salient point in the middle of your comment? Why not just reply to what I was specifically arguing?
But that's exactly what I did? The reason why I put more paragraphs is because I want to elaborate further on what I'm really saying.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Flight Log
A BIRTHDAY IN HEAVEN
On 18 Nov | '2022
Greetings Loyal Airmen, we have such a wonderful story to share with you today. It's truly amazing and beautiful…if you've are a believer.
In 2021 we lost one of Airship 27 Production's finest writers, Greg Hatcher at the young age of 60. In the past few years, Greg had given us three stories featuring his original character, Dr. Fixit; a fellow who made fantastic weapons for super-villains. Yeah, a wacky idea, but Greg made it work. When Greg died, he left behind one last Dr. Fixit tale which he never got to finish. His wife, Julie, made us aware of this fact and so Art Director Rob Davis and the Air Chief decided we'd find someone to finish that story and then collect it with the previous tales and publish a book in Greg's honor. The writer we recruited to complete the last story was one of the best in New Pulp, our good buddy Fred Adams Jr. Then one of Greg's own talented friends, artist Christ Kohler, volunteered to draw the cover with Rob coloring it. So we started working on it in earnest.
Last Sunday morning, Nov 13th, the book was posted to Amazon and is now available there in both paperback and on Kindle. Of course, as always, the Air Chief, began spreading the cover and press release all over the internet to let folks know the book was available. And while on Facebook, we note something that about knocked us out of our chair….Nov 13th was Greg's birthday!!! No lie!!! We got the out on what would have been his 61st birthday! And still was, only this time, our friend Greg was able to celebrate it in heaven with the angels. Please don't tell us it was a coincidence. There are no such things, only a loving God who smiles on all of us.
BROTHER BONES GRAPHIC NOVEL
As most of you Loyal Airmen are well aware, the Air Chief has been sitting on a 130 pg Brother Bones graphic novel manuscript for several years now. In that time a few brave artists have stepped up to take a shot at illustrating it, but alas they quickly bowed out. This script, for the first time ever, tells the entire origin of the Undead Avenger in comic form and obviously we've been disappointed at not being able to recruit an artist to bring it to life. So while at the Rocky Mountain Con two weeks ago, one of our many artists friend here in Fort Collins inquired as to if we had a new Brother Bones projects in the works. We grimaced and explained about the graphic novel script collecting dust in our files. Note, this fellow had already done a short Brother Bones comic and really likes a great character a great deal. Enough, it seems that after getting home, he wrote saying he might be interested in taking on the project, were it to be launched as Kickstarter campaign. We're not adverse to such, though in all honesty we've never been fans of such funding programs. Anyway, we sent him the script and quite a few character sketches previously done by Rob Davis. Two days later, this artist sent us the first four pages of the script in roughs. Apparently he's having fun reading the script, and is very much interested in taking it on. Don't want to jinx it just yet by revealing who. But we are excited at the possibility and we'll certainly keep you posted as things develop.
BEYOND THE STARS # 2
We already showed you page 15 in progress by Andrea Bormida. This week he's defining the last panel, defining the team members as they all buckle up aboard N'Atelle's speedy space ship.
THE BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2
Princess Kumana is on the run from Roman troops in this, Pg # 16 of THE BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2 – story by the Air Chief. Art by the amazing Rob Davis. Oh, yeah.
COMIC CRUSADER
In 1968 we left the army and returned to civilian life in our hometown of Somersworth, NH. We were 21 at the time. Little did we know then that in nearby Dedham, Massachusetts, a comic fan named Martin Greim was in the process of launching his very on fanzine (amateur magazines devoted to comics) to be called Comic Crusader. He would be aided by two fellow fans, Bob Cosgrove and Al Bradford. Within the next year, the Air Chief, through various sources, learned of the magazine and began purchasing copies as soon as new ones were finished. Fanzines were testing grounds for would be writers and artists looking to become professionals. During those years, we had become correspondent pals with then new comic pro artist Joe Staton who worked Charlton Comics. His first real series for them was called PRIMUS based on a TV show about a scuba diver. When Joe agreed to let us interview him for publication, we immediately contacted Greim and asked if he'd be receptive to publishing such an interview. He was only too eager to do so. Then Joe went and did an original sketch to accompany the interview which appeared in issue # 13 which featured a cover by Jim Steranko. Believe Loyal Airmen, in those days Comic Crusader had stuff from lots of folks just breaking into the business such Tony Isabella, Gary Kato and so many others. All names you'd easily recognized. Sadly Martin Greim passed away a few years ago and all his material became part of his estate managed by his two surviving daughters. Earlier this year, Cosgrove and Bradford got their permission to publish an omnibus edition and make it available on Amazon. This whopping book is well over 350 pgs and contains every issue of Comic Crusader except for the very first one, which Cosgrove reports in his intro to the collection is now lost forever.
Wherein we re-united with Joe and his wife Hilary, two weeks ago at this year's Rocky Mountain Con, we realize then that we had to get a copy of this wonderful tome. Our own copies of the original issues are buried somewhere in the our tomb of stuff. Chuckle. Still at $25, this piece of comic book history was well worth picking up. Just flipping through it has brought back so many memories…and there's that interview we did with Joe (see above right). Our very first ever published comic related project. WOW.
NEW GREEN HORNET 8 PG STRIP
PRESS RELEASE – Ron Fortier, Mike Belcher & Aiden Belcher have produced a brand new original Green Hornet comic strip as fan fiction in a PDF. Anyone wishing a copy can have it for free merely by writing either Ron (airship27@comcast.net) or Mike at (amk_designguy@yahoo.com). Again this is fan fiction and there is no charge. Merry Christmas Green Hornet fans!
And there you have this week's Flight Log, Loyal Airmen. Thanks for stopping by and see you next week. God bless.
Ron – Over & Out!
ROCKY MOUNTAIN ROCKED!!
Hi Loyal Airmen, we've got one fun, long Flight Log for you this week. As many of you know last week the Air Chief and Valerie headed down to Denver for the Annual Rocky Mountain Con hosted by our dear friends Tim & Nicole Moret. At the same time, Sat, the first day of the show was the Air Chief's 76th birthday! Oh yeah, and quite honestly there is nothing like having a birthday at a comic con. Take my word for it. Above are several pictures of the Air Chief autographing comics while wearing his brand new Vietnam Veteran's cap which Valerie gave us that morning as a special birthday gift. To the Air Chief's left and our con neighbor for the weekend, artist Zane DeGaine. The same fellow we are doing the new western series with. But more on that later, right now we've a bunch of great pictures to share with all of you. So hang in there.
A more direct look at part of my two tables of comics and pulps and a nice shot of Zane and Olivia. They are both extremely talented creators. Don't ask us why, but it seems in the past decade or so Colorado has become a homebase for lots and lots of great comic artists and writers.
Above left are another two such artists. Guy Davis is at left, giving with the peace sign, with Joe Arnold on the right. Good buddies both. And Guy was debuting his new sci-fi series. To the right above is the Air Chief with his Official Protege, comics writer Todd Jones. Todd publishes the fantastic WICKED AWESOME TALES series which has featured lots of our stories in the past.
And then there's pal Mike Baron, another Colorado resident and the genius behind Nexus and The Badger. The shows big guest was artist Joe Staton, and at right is Joe and is wife Hilary, along with the Air Chief and Val. Joe and the Air Chief's friendship goes back nearly fifty years. It is always great to hook up with him and Hilary. They made this show extra special.
One of our dearest friends in Colorado, his Rio Herrera. Val and the Air Chief met Rio at the very first big Denver Comic Con. He's a truly great guy. So when the Air Chief was penning his Zorro story last year, he thought it would be fun to put his pal in the story as a Catholic Padre who gets kidnapped by outlaws and has to be rescued by Zorro. Well when Rio discovered we'd done that, he was thrilled. Being of Hispanic roots, Zorro was always a childhood hero of his. He went out an bought a copy from Amazon immediately. Then he shows up the Con Sat morning and buys a second copy from us just so we could autograph it for him. Sadly we didn't get a picture together, but the Air Chief later found the above pix on-line. That's our pal, Rio, with a lovely Zatanna cos-player. Leave it to Rio to find beautiful women wherever he goes. Ha.
Here's the Air Chief and Val with the show's creators, Tim & Nicole Moret. They are such a wonderful couple and on Sat night, hosted us for a special birthday dinner at the local Moonlight Diner. Zane & Olivia joined us along with two other of Tim's buddies, Steve and Matt. A really fun time was had by all.
Brett & Jeanni Smith have also become dear friends of ours. It is always great to get together with them (up at left) and lastly one more pix of us with Zane & Olivia. We really talked about the new western comics Zane and the Air Chief are doing and hope to have out by next April. Fingers crossed.
MY NEW TREASURES
Of course you should never attend a comic con and leave without picking up so new titles. And the Air Chief never does that. At this show, we left with these three wonderful titles. First up, Mike Baron's NEXUS – Triplets with art by Kelsea Shannon is simply wonderful. If you're a Nexus fan from way back, then you know how well crafted this sci-fi world is shaped and Horatio steps into this new story as if he never missed a step. We love it and can't wait for future issues. Whereas BELLATRIX RISING is artist-writer Guy Davis' long running sci-fi Star Trek inspired webstrip evolved into an original, all new comic adventure. Volume one above, with the hero on the cover is a compendium of this world, which Guy has build up over the years and then book one launches into a brand new adventure that is packed with great characters and tons of action. Guess this con was a sci-fi bonanza after all. Go find these comics now!
SOLD OUT!!
Oh, and should you Loyal Airmen wonder, the show was a huge success sales wise as by the end of the two days we sold out of two books and two comic titles (see above). Thanks to everyone who stopped by our tables and picked something up. You fans are the reason we do this stuff and go to these shows. And as ever our Rocky Mountain fans didn't let us down. Our next show will be the second Wicked West Expo in April of 2023 and looks like we'll be re-ordering these, and other titles to build up our inventory.
SHERLOCK HOLMES Vol 18
And while we were in Denver, Airship 27 Production Art Director was busy getting our Airship 27's latest new pulp title, Vol 18 of our best selling series, SHERLOCK HOLMES – Consulting Detective. This one features two short stories; by Michael Black and Ian Watson. And a novella length mystery by Ray Luis Lovato. With interior illustrations by Rob and a wonderful cover by Warren Montgomery. As always, you can pick this up at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. And as always, thanks for your support.
Artist Andrea Bormida turns in the roughs for Pg # 15 of BEYOND THE STARS # 2. We so love his composition layouts. He's a gifted visual story teller and working with him is a joy.
The action continues to heat up in the first new chapter of THE BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2 with Rob's art pretty much exploding off the page. We love this stuff.
BROTHER BONES THE UNDEAD AVENGER
As many of you Loyal Airmen know, in the past few years, two different film outfits attempted to get a Brother Bones movie and TV series launched. Both failed due to the lack of funds. Thing is, way back when dealing with the film project, the Air Chief took the finished shooting script and rewrote it as a graphic novel script. It was based on the first ever three Bones short stories and tells his origin in detail. So for the past five or six years we've been looking for an artist who would be willing to take on this 130 pg script. And it looks like that may have happened at Rocky Mountain. Yup, an old artist friend started talking to us about Bones and the state of things with the character. We in turn mentioned the script still collecting dust in the files and the end result of that conversation was this artist asked to read the manuscript. He is interested. And we'll things right there. Don't want to tease you Loyal Airmen, but all of you keep your fingers crossed. If this moves forward, for the Air Chief it will be a dream come true.
And there you have it, Loyal Airmen. This year's Rocky Mountain Con was super fantastic…and for the record our next show will be the second Wicked West Expo happening in April of 2023. Here's hoping we see many of there. Meanwhile, don't forget to stop by here every Friday morning for our latest entry. God bless you all.
THE WESTERN
On 4 Nov | '2022
Greetings Loyal Airmen, as you read this, we are only hours away from packing up our comics and pulps for our trip to Denver this year's Rocky Mountain Con. Happily we'll be tagging along with our good friends, Olivia and Zane Degaine. Both are talented writer/artists who first met at the Joe Kubert School of Graphic Illustration back in New Jersey. Ever since they moved here to Fort Collins, Val and the Air Chief have truly enjoyed their friendship. In fact the Air Chief and Olivia started the Raizee the Ram comic series, "The Wooden Blade" together of which issue # 2 was just released from their Pulp Fusion comic line.
Meanwhile in the intervening years, Zane had confessed his desire to do a western comic. Something that has always appealed to the Air Chief as well. Then last year, while a guest at Todd Jones' first ever Wicked West Comic Expo, we did a panel in which we, and the folks in attendance, whipped up an actual proposal for a western comic series to be called "Hamlet's End."
So hang on to your hats, western fans. HAMLET'S END by yours truly and artist Zane Degaine will be coming your way as a mini-series early in 2023. Wahoooo!!!
THE BOSTON BOMBERS Vol Two
The action heats up in Chapter One of THE BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2 – We can't say enough good things about artist Rob Davis' amazing work on this project. Out humble script jumps off the pages with his dynamic artwork. Just beautiful, page for page.
Artist Andrea Bormida delivers the final colors to Pg # 15 of BEYOND THE STARS # 2. As always, Andrea is knocking it out of the part. Our space saga rolls along. Can't wait to see all these pages after letterer Mike Belcher gets a hold of them. Oh, yeah.
Finally we know the holiday season is upon us, but you know what Loyal Airmen, there is such a thing as rushing your life away. Store retailers need to learn some restraint and let us shoppers relax a wee bit between these events. As the cartoon above makes fun. Still life is way too short. Let's take time to truly appreciate it.
Ron – Over & Out!!
COLD & FLU SEASON…YUK
On 28 Oct | '2022
Greetings Loyal Airmen, well as we being to write this entry, it is Tues 25th of Oct and we're sick with a chest cold. Came on about three or four days after we returned from our New England trip. The old symptoms of a sore throat, body aches etc. To be on the safe side, Val made sure we went to the clinic for Covid test which happily turned out to be negative. Then it was off to see the family doc, who now has me on several meds including some anti-biotics. After our lung surgery years ago, we are highly prone to bouts of pneumonia and at our age, that's something to be avoided at all cost. Meanwhile we're about a week and a half away from this years Rocky Mountain Con in Denver, where we will once again be guest. Truly am praying this little setback is all gone by then, as that is our favorite show of the year and we really don't want to miss it.
On a much happier note, a few weeks ago we showed you our new Suburu Forester which we'd purchased just before heading off to New England. Well now it sits in our driveway next to the old blue Suburu Outback which has been so good to us all these years. We gave it to our son and his wife to add to their fleet of vehicles in their landscaping business here in Fort Collins. Meanwhile Valerie and the Air Chief are having a blast getting to learn all the fancy new features on our new auto. It is truly amazing how far automobile technology has come since these days when the Air Chief first got his license to drive.
THEY STABBED MY BOOK!
File this episode under Weird. As most of you know, we've been writing our review blog, Pulp Fiction Reviews for over twenty years. In that time we've received books from both writers and publishers that have arrived in every shape possible. From pristine copies to those so ripped or bent one wonders what game the postal carriers were playing with the package before eventually delivering it into our hands. We thought we'd pretty much seen it all. Ha. Never say never.
A few weeks ago, much to our delight, Titan Books sent us package. Inside was the newest Mike Hammer thriller "Kill Me if You Can," written by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan. Folks who read the blog know we are big fans of both the late author and his super talented protégé. So, again, we are very happy and began flipping through to the pages. Which was when we realized several pages had a torn hole in the middle of them. Upon closer examination, we realized something had penetrated the book from the front as if stabbing through the hard cover and penetrating all way through to page 138! We have no idea what was used in the stabbing, but it would appear to have been some kind of very tough nail to have cut that deep into the volume.
Of course the damage is minimal in we are still able to read the book, which we are currently doing. Still, it is strange. And perhaps a case for a tough guy P.I. like Hammer to solve were he able. Our introduction would have been, "Mike, somebody stabbed our book!"
WHAT'S COMING NEXT
We're happy to announce that our next SHERLOCK HOLMES – CONSULTING DETECTIVE is almost ready to be released. This is volume # 18 in our best selling series and features three new Holmes tales by Michael Black, Ray Lovato and Ian Watson. Above are three random illustrations by Art Director from the stories. The cover is by Warren Montgomery and we gave you a sneak peek at it recently. With all fingers crossed, we'll showcase the release in next week's Flight Log. Stay tuned.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN CON
We are within a week of this year's Rocky Mountain Con, as hosted and promoted by Tim & Nicole Moret of Denver, our dear friends. This is what the Air Chief considers his "home con." Tim always does such a great job with. The show is not too big, or too small. And the vendors for the most part all local talent from either Colorado or surrounding states. This year, one of the most talented and comic pros will be the featured guest-star, Mr. Joe Staton. We've been fans of Joe's work from day one and are happy to call him and a personal friend. So Loyal Airmen, check out the ad above here and if you live anywhere within driving distance of Denver, why not make plans to come and join us. It's going to be a great show.
THANKS END OF WEEK
Want to thank all my friends and family who took time to send me prayers in helping me get over the cold that sapped me at the start of the week. Amazing what a few short days can make. We are feeling lots better, almost totally free of the nagging cough that plagued us. Getting both our voice and normal energy back as well. So it looks like we'll be seeing at the Rocky Mountain Con for sure. Thanks again, Loyal Airmen.
Greetings Loyal Airmen, well Valerie and the Air Chief are once again back home in Colorado after our ten day trip back to New England. We had a great time visiting with family and friends.
During our trip we stayed at Wells Beach, Maine. Our rental was one mile from the beach itself and four out of the ten days we were there, Valerie and the Air Chief would walk down to the beach to see the sun come up over the Atlantic. It was breath-taking. Also a bit chilly. Happy Val had packed some cold weather gear.
Upper left, the Air Chief took a hike along the beach at low tide. That's us waving to Val still on the viewing deck. Later that same day son Scott drove up to see us. It is always so great to see him.
A few days later our daughter Michelle and her husband Chris met up with us and drove us up along the Maine coast through places like Kennebuck Port (where the former President Bush and his family have their estate) and Sebago Lake. At one point we past a house selling pumpkins and stopped to take the pictures above.
We ended our trip with a drive up to Colchester, Vermont to visit our brother Paul. The Fall colors were fully on display. Valleys and mountains covered as if by a giant colorful quilt draped over the landscape by Mother Nature. We so love New England in October.
We grew up loving the old black and white Universal monster movies. Much more so than what passes for "horror" flicks these days. So you can easily image in just how much fun we had watching Marvel's WEREWOLF BY NIGHT on Disny Plus. A perfect Halloween gift to all of us fans.
Artist Andrea Bormida turns n pencil pages for Pg # 14 of "BEYOND THE STARS" # 2. We love his panel compositions.
We've often said we at Airship 27 Production have the best fans in the world. Well that's no understatement as we're about to show you. Several years back a new writer/editor/publisher entered the New Pulp community and almost immediately became a great addition to our ranks. His name is Mark Vander Zanden (above) left and once a part of our pulp gatherings, Mark set a goal for himself of collecting every single Airship 27 title currently in print. Art director Rob Davis and the Air Chief were so bowled over by this enthusiasm, we actually acquiesced to Mark's plea that we de "new" editions of those title that had long gone out of print. His sincerity won us over in the past few years we've done just that, allowing Mark to keep adding to his collection. Yesterday afternoon, Mark posted the above photo (to the right) stating with arrival of our last two releases, he now owns the entire Airship 27 library. WOW!! We honestly are at a loss of word. Talk about making the impossible happen. Meaning what you see on that book shelf is 267 Airship 27 titles. Again…WOW!! And way to go, Mark. Thanks so sincerely for your wonderful beyond the call support of our humble efforts. Oh yeah, we have the best fans ever!!
On 7 Oct | '2022
Greetings Loyal Airmen, this week's Flight Log is a wee bit small as by the time all of you are reading this, Valerie and the Air Chief will be wrapping up our two week trip back to New England to visit family and friends. Still, for those of you who actually check this out weekly (for which we are most appreciative) there are a few nifty little pieces.
BEYOND THE STARS Book # 2
In last week's log entry, we showed off the finished inks to Pg 13 of Book # 2 by artist Andrea Bormida. Since posting that, Andrea finished the colors to that page. We think, as always, he did a fantastic job.
AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION
A few weeks ago we announced we would soon be publishing a new Chinese fantasy adventure by writer Barbara Doran and give you a sneak-peek at one of the interior illustrations by artist Gary Kato (above left). Well Colorado based cover artist Guy Davis used that very illustration to inspire him to create the finished cover for the book (above right). It just went up for sale at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. Trust us Loyal Airmen, the realms of Chinese magic are different than what most of us are at all familiar with. This is an awesome book and we hope you'll check it out. As ever, thanks for your continued support.
And that's our short Flight Log for this skip week, Loyal Airmen. Val and the Air Chief will be back home by next Friday. Hope to see you back here then. God bless.
Ron (Over & Out!)
AVAILABLE AT INDY PLANET
On 30 Sep | '2022
Greetings Loyal Airmen. We've got some excellent news for you to kick off this flight Log. For those of you who were unable to support our Kickstarter Campaign for issue # 1 of our sci-fi series, BEYOND THE STARS, we are thrilled to announce it can now be bought on-line.
The book is now available from Indy Planet at this link. Including the alternate covers. So you that's where you go. (https://www.indyplanet.com/beyond-the-stars-1) Meanwhile artist Andrea Bormida is hard work on completing issue # 2. We'll keep you posed with it is finished and published.
SHERLOCK HOLMES – Consulting Detective.
As most of you Local Airmen are well aware, Airship 27 Production's best selling book series, is our Sherlock Holmes anthology series, "Sherlock Holmes – Consulting Detective." We are currently working on Vol 18 with Art Director Rob Davis doing the interior illustrations.
And this time we recruited artist Warren Montgomery to do our cover, as seen above in various stages. Warren had done a Bass Reeves – Frontier Marshal cover us last year that impressed both Rob and the Air Chief. He's a terrific artist and we own, thanks to his generosity and kindness, several of his amazing prints to include one of the movie Frankenstein and the other of the Green Hornet and Kato from the 60s TV show. Above left to right are 1) early pencils, 2) finished inks and 3) fully colored. The next time you Loyal Airmen will see this is when the book is finished and then it will sport the title logo etc. Something really great to look forward to.
ZEPPELINS OVER AFRIKA
After almost two and a half years, Airship 27 Production proudly announces the release of its newest title, "Zeppelins Over Afrika" by writer Gene Moyers. This is an alternate world adventure wherein World War One is chiefly fought in the air via might Zeppelins. Of course all you Loyal Airmen know the Air Chief loves airships and this book is a real treat. Artist Brian McCulloch provided the beautiful cover (above left) while Army Vet Mike Harris the nine stunning black and white interiors. (One such above right.) The book is now up at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. We hope you aviation buffs will pick up a copy and as ever, thanks for your continued support.
Artist Andrea Bormida wraps up the inks on Pg # 13 of book # 2 of our six issue sci-fi mini-series, BEYOND THE STARS. Next comes colors and on to the next page. Past the half-way mark now.
OUR NEW WHEELS
After a year of debating, Valerie and the Air Chief bit the bullet and we've bought a brand new car. It is a 2022 Suburu Forester. We ordered it several months ago and it just came in this past week. We've still paperwork to sign and won't be officially picking it up until we return from our forthcoming trip back to New England to visit family and friends. Still nothing was going to stop us from going to the dealership to see and the salesmen snapped the photo above for us. See how wide Valerie's smile is. Our old Suburu Outback has been super good to us. We bought it ages again while still living in New Hampshire and it was a great car. But it was time to change and get something newer. Hope this one brings us as much good fortune.
And that's it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As mentioned above, next Friday the Air Chief will be in New England. Be well, stay safe and God Bless. See you in two weeks.
THE GORILLA'S SWEETHEART
Greetings Loyal Airmen. We kick off this week's Flight Log with the gorgeous art above by Jamie Chase. As most of your Loyal Airmen know, the original King Kong is our favorite movie of all times. Chase's depiction of the beautiful Fay Wray as Ann Darrow in Kong's grasped appeared over on Facebook last week and it truly bowled us over. We had to share it with all of you.
SHERLOCK HOLMES – CONSULTING DETECTIVE Vol 18
Airship 27 Art Director Rob Davis continues to turn new illustrations for "Sherlock Holmes – Consulting Detective Vol 18″ now in the works. (Above left.) This continues to be our best selling series and all previous 17 volumes are available in both paperback and on Kindle at Amazon. Including # 1 (above right) with the gorgeous Mark Maddox cover. If you're a true Holmes & Watson fan, you really should check them out.
Artist Andrea Bormida turns in his roughs for page # 13 of the second issue of our sci-fi mini-series, BEYOND THE STARS. Meanwhile, we recently wrapped up the script for issue # 3 and Andrea loved it. Always good sign when you make your artists excited.
MR. JIGSAW – Man of a Thousand Parts.
A quick reminder that all Mr. Jigsaw comics (1 – 17) are available at (https://www.indyplanet.com/) as are other Redbud Studio Titles. With the release of # 17 a few weeks ago, lots of you Loyal Airmen have been inquiring where to go to buy the regular issues. We are currently scripting # 18. Gay Kato and the Air Chief created the break-apart hero over 40 years ago. Amazing.
And that's it for this week's Flight Log, Loyal Airmen. As always thanks for stopping by and stay safe.
BOMBERS Vol 2
Greeting Loyal Airmen, well after almost two months of blistering summer heat, Mother Nature has finally agree to turn the page and lower some of those temps to a more Fall like normal. Most welcome relief for many of us.
BOSTON BOMBERS #1 Vol 2
Artist Rob Davis continues his amazingly beautiful work on the new Boston Bombers series. He's working on issue # 1 of Vol 2 and we love his work. He just turned in Pg # 12 (above left). If you are at all intrigued by this pulpish alternate world adventure, we'd happily remind that volume one is very much available at Amazon (cover above right) and the perfect introduction to this world and its fantastic female leads.
JIN & TONIK
Matt Webb continues to add his brilliant coloring to issue # 1 of JIN & TONIK. Art by Cesar Felicano, story by the Air chief. Going to be truly beautiful comic when completed.
NEW OFFICE ART
Last week our good pal, artist Mike Belcher did up several pin-up sketches of the various incarnations of the Green Hornet & Kato based on our Now Comics Green Hornet series. Imagine the our surprise when the mailed showed up this week with truly beautiful prints of those pieces. We wasted no time affixing them to the bookshelf right behind our chair, where we now see them every morning upon entering the office. Thanks so much, Mike, you are truly awesome friend.
PULP SNEAK PEEK
Barbara Doran is one of our regular writers at Airship 27 and in the past has given us several great adventure fantasy novels centered around Chinese magic and mythology. She now working on a new series dealing with special magicians known as the Book Hunters and volume # 1 "Apprentice" is currently being assembled. Artist Gary Kato has done the nine black and white interior illustrations (see above right) and Colorado based artist Guy Davis will finish the color cover. Keep an eye on future Flight Logs Loyal Airmen as we'll announce when the book is up and available. This one is really different.
And that's our entry for this week. As ever, thanks for stopping by, be good and God bless,
On 9 Sep | '2022
Greetings Loyal Airmen, with September finally here and Labor Day now in the rear-view mirror, it's time we say so-long to summer (though by our continued 90s weather that's sounds silly) and hello to Fall and the opening of schools across the country.
We received so many wonderful comments on last week's Flight Log showcasing artist Mike Belcher's tribute to our old Now Comics run on the Green Hornet which we did with artist Jeff Butler. Well Mike turned in a final piece, after we'd posted that entry and of course we wanted all of you to see it. Above, it features (left to right on top – Britt Reid and Ikano Kato, Britt Reid II and Hiyahsi Kato, Alan Reid (the short lived GH) and finally the major stars of that particular series, Paul Reid & Mishi Kato. Seeing these pieces by Mike was certainly a trip down memory lane for the Air Chief.
Artist Andrea Bormida wraps up Pg # 11 of issue two of Beyond the Stars. We love this page. The composition and design of the ships stellar.
Every morning the Air Chief and Valerie, after having our first cup of Coffee, set off on a mile and a half walk around the neighborhood. If time permits, we'll do a second one later in the day to maintain our three miles a day goal. Well yesterday, we got out there just as the sun, in all its wonderful splendor was rising over the tree tops. We were delighted and Val whipped out cell-phone and snapped the pix above. We're reminded of how Saint Francis had names for all of God's majestic creations, calling this beautiful orb in the heavens his Brother Sun. And of course, by night we have the splendor of Sister Moon. He was truly a blessed and wise soul. Today Brother Sun was magnificent.
CONSULTING DETECTIVE Vol 18
Finally we end this week's Flight Log with a great illustration of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson from Rob Davis which is part of Airship 27 Production's newest volume of "Sherlock Holmes – Consulting Detective Vol 18." This one features two short stories and one novella. Now in production. We'll keep you posted as it comes along.
And that's it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever, thanks for stopping by and we'll see you here next Friday.
© 2023 Airship27


I consider hiking to be the purest form of traveling. After all, it's the oldest form of traveling, dating back millions of years to the time when our ancient ancestors first raised their backs and began walking on their legs. Hiking allows you to smell the air, feel the wind, enjoy the sunshine after a soaking rain shower,… to take in everything to its fullest extent.
Made up of series of sharp jagged mountain peaks, the Alps are arguably one of the most spectacular mountain ranges on Earth. About 1,200 kilometers long, they are spread across no less than eight European countries—France, Monaco, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein and Slovenia. A region of rugged snowcapped mountains and lush green valleys dotted with cows and lakes, the Alps are a spectacular place to explore on foot.


text:
Collected Works - Volume 1
Collected Works - Vol. 1
Incandescent Limbo, Letters from Gourgounel, Travels in the Drifting Dawn
Research Institute of Irish and Scottish studies
Aberdeen University Press
The three books contained in this first volume of Kenneth White's Collected Works present the beginnings of one of the most radical and exhilarating figures in modern literature.
Incandescent Limbo recounts White's years in Paris. Many a writer in the modern era had made Paris a focal point of his or her activity, but probably non one made more of it or got more out of it than Kenneth White. While exploring a labyrinthine underworld, the book is fundamentally an autoanalysis and traces the birth of the writer as an intellectual nomad.
Letters from Gourgoounel takes us from the city to a wild part of south-eastern France, the Ardèche, where White undertakes a resourcing in an elementary context. Hailed in England as a 'fascinating curiosity of literature', this book not only made White famous overight in France, it was seen there as a turning point in the contemporary situation.
In a third book, Travels in the Drifting Dawn, the intellectual nomad begins his move across territories and cultures. After passing through the London undersground of the sixties, then delving into the ground of his native Scotland and neighbouring Ireland, we shift back to the Continent, accumulating experience on different levels in France, Spain, Belgium, Holland, before concluding the cycle in North Africa.
The trilogy is not only a summary of White's ititnerary in its initial stages, it opens up a whole intellectual and cultural programme.


The Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) will purchase the Joyce Hotel—the last remaining weekly stay building providing immediate, safe, temporary housing for Portland's homeless—for $4.22 million.
The purchase agreement, executed Tuesday, is the City's second offer on the property since a 90-day eviction notice was issued to the building's residents on December 31. An initial offer was proffered in March when the building was fully occupied in an effort to keep the existing tenants in place.
"The Joyce has long provided transitional housing and a last resort for very vulnerable people with few other options. The loss of such units during a housing and homelessness emergency would create a real humanitarian crisis," said Kurt Creager, Director of the Portland Housing Bureau.
Located at SW 11th and Stark, the Joyce has 69 rooms, both individual and hostel-style, available for $19-$50 a night. For some residents, it had been their primary dwelling for several years. While only approximately 20 residents currently remain in the building, preserving one of the few remaining low-barrier, low-cost housing options in the Central City was critical to the social service providers operating in the city's core. The Central City No Net Loss Policy, under which the City of Portland committed to maintaining 8,286 affordable rental units in the Central City, was also a compelling factor in the bureau's decision, Creager says.
In the immediate term, Central City Concern (CCC) will operate the hotel, assessing individual tenants and offering additional services as necessary. Following the purchase, PHB will relocate any remaining residents when it rehabilitates the hotel and addresses exigent health and safety issues.


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2021 Purdue Football Season
2021 Purdue Football Statisticals
What a season!
By Travis Miller@JustTMill Dec 31, 2021, 12:24pm EST
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Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images
It is safe to say that Jeff Brohm is no longer on the hot seat (if he ever really was). He entered this season six games underwater with two straight losing seasons. All momentum was gone from the 2018 Ohio State win and there were many who doubted if there would even be a bowl game. A lot of people, even at this site, felt that even Christmas in Detroit was going to be too much.
Well, four months later things look so much better. Brohm poured liquid nitrogen on his hot seat with a 9-4 season, the first nine-win season for the program since 2003. He is still a game under .500 in his tenure, but in looking at next year's schedule that probably won't last long. Yesterday's win over Tennessee was significant. We saw all year what Purdue could do with transcendent talent in David Bell and George Karlaftis, but what happened against the Volunteers is more of a testament to what coach Brohm has done in West Lafayette to actually build a program. Just three years ago Purdue was shorthanded in a Nashville bowl game against a middling SEC team and got vaporized. Yesterday it was missing even more front line talent, but the depth that he has built came through. Just look at Deion Burks. The freshman had not caught a pass all season and had one single touch, a six yard run, against UConn. He delivered one of the game's largest plays with a 20+ yard catch to set up Purdue's TD after a Hendon Hooker fumble.
Purdue not only had backups playing, it had backups of backups playing. For a decent portion of the fourth quarter the receiving corps consisted of a beat up Broc Thompson (who stepped up HUUUUUUUUGGGGGEEEEEEE), Jackson Anthrop playing his usual role, and a cast of little used freshmen and walk-ons. Somehow, it worked. As I was listening to the broadcast driving home at one point they mentioned that Preston Terrell was out getting snaps. He is a true freshman that played very little all season in order to hold on to a redshirt. The last time I heard his name was when he had a 4 TD game I covered against Brownsburg last year. Needless to say, Tennessee is a step up from Brownsburg.
Later on I will try to do a game-by-game breakdown, but this was an incredible year. Purdue didn't win the Big Ten, but it reminded be a lot of the 2018-19 basketball season in that much of it came out of nowhere too, making everything extremely enjoyable. I thought we could be good with an absolute ceiling regular season of 9-3, but I expected more of a 7-5 year and lower bowl. Going 9-4 with a bowl win like this is simply delightful, and one of the most enjoyable Purdue seasons ever in any sport, really, because of its unexpected joy.
With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the statistical superlatives:
The Team Itself
First off, the nine wins. That just does not happen often in West Lafayette. Joe Tiller won nine games in 1997, 1998, and 2003. Two of those required bowl wins. Purdue also won at least nine from 1978-80, with 1979 being the program high water mark of 10 wins. Before that you have to go all the way back to the 1966 Rose Bowl season, then 1943 when Purdue should have been named national champions at 9-0 (they beat the team that beat alleged champion Notre Dame). This is only the ninth time ever Purdue has won at least nine games in a season, and the program has been around since the 1880s. Granted, in many of those early years the team didn't even play nine games, but around 1941 is when teams started playing at least nine games each year, so to do it for only the ninth time in 80 years is impressive.
(Ed Note: There were a couple more 9-win seasons in the mists of history. In 1904 Purdue was 9-3 a year after the infamous Purdue Wreck, but didn't have another nine-game scheduled season until it went 9-1 in 1931 and was named the Parke-Davis National Champion.)
Then there is how Purdue got to nine wins. Again, you have to go all the way back to 1943 for this next impressive statistic. The Boilers won five games away from Ross-Ade Stadium for the first time since then. In that weird year (for a lot of reasons) Purdue played just three home games, so it won six away from West Lafayette. In 1979 Purdue won three road games and its bowl game, but winning five away from home is impressive.
In those road wins Purdue got its first road shutout (at UConn) since 1981 at Northwestern and first road win over a top five team (Iowa) since 1974 at Notre Dame. The win over Northwestern at Wrigley Field was also the first win in a baseball stadium since beating Boston University in 1947 at Fenway Park (though the 1979 win over Tennessee in the Astrodome counts too, despite it being a multi-use football/baseball stadium).
I don't know what all these mean in the long run, but I found them all cool. Also, Purdue has an excellent chance of finishing in the final AP Poll top 25 for the first time since 2003.
In terms of team statistics, Purdue threw for 4,620 yards between Aidan O'Connell (3,712), Jack Plummer (864) and Austin Burton (44). That destroyed the team mark of 4,208 yards set in 1998 when Purdue also went 9-4. The 407 completions were 30 more than the previous team record, also set in 1998. We didn't break the team record for attempts of 594 (this year there were 576 attempts), but basically this was a passing season on par with Drew Brees' first year when basketball on grass really got going.
Now on to some individual honors.
Aidan O'Connell
Imagine if AOC had been the starter all season. That is to take nothing away from Jack Plummer, who was pretty good in the first couple of games and did not throw an interception. O'Connell still only started nine games and did not play a single snap against Oregon State. He still threw for 3,712 yards, putting him fifth on the all-time season list. The season record is 3,985 yards in (14 games) by Curtis Painter in 2006, so if he had been the starter all year AOC would have shattered that mark. It is officially in danger next year now.
AOC did set some single-season records too. His completion percentage of 71.6% beat the old mark of 66% by David Blough in 2018. He is at 68.4% for his career now, which is the career mark and better than Robert Marve's 63.8% which was the previous record. Plummer also deserves credit, as he leaves Purdue with the second best career completion percentage (minimum 300 attempts) at 64.8%.
In terms of Individual games, AOC had two of the four best passing yardage days in school history in the last five games alone. He had 538 yards against Michigan State and 534 yesterday. Both of those games are better than any single game some guy named Drew Brees had, and trail on Curtis Painter (546 vs. Central Michigan in the 2007 Motor City Bowl) and David Blough vs. Missouri in 2018.
Since O'Connell is the unquestioned starter entering next season he is in line for some career marks too. He sits at 5,729 yards for his career. If he doesn't complete another pass in his career that is eighth best in school history. A 4,000+ yard season is absolutely on the table, and getting to 10,000 yards moves him into third behind only Brees (11,792) and Blough (11,163). Another 28 TDs (his mark this year) moves him into second in that category with 71, behind only the 90 Brees threw. I suppose he could go for a single season TD record of 47 to tie Brees too. I wouldn't stop him.
Not bad for a guy who was once 8th on the depth chart.
David Bell played in just 11 games this year, but still caught 93 passes for 1,286 yards. That's 21 yards short of the single season mark, so it is safe to say that had he not missed the Illinois game or opted out yesterday he would have easily gotten the record. With 232 career receptions he finished 4th all-time, and with 2,946 yards he is fifth. When you consider he did it in roughly 2.5 seasons because of last year's six game "season" that is incredible, and with three full seasons he would have owned every major receiving record at Purdue. His 21 TDs is also fifth.
Bell had 17 career games over 100 yards, a new record, and he topped 200 twice this year. Only Brian Alford also did this twice. It is safe to say Iowa will be happy to drive him to the draft after he absolutely obliterated the Hawkeyes all three times he played them.
Oh, and about receivers going nuts for 200 yard days. Before this year it had happened only seven times for Purdue, and just once since 2006 (Rondale Moore vs. Vanderbilt in 2019). Purdue did it FOUR times this year alone, with Bell doing it against Iowa (240) and Michigan State (217), Milton Wright (213) against Northwestern, and Broc Thompson (217) yesterday.
Mitchell Fineran
The one year (maybe, as he can elect to return for one more season under the COVID rules) transfer had one of the greatest kicking seasons in school history. His game-winner last night was the 24th made field goal of the season for him, which is second only to the 25 Ben Jones hit in 2003. He hit half of those attempts in just three games, as he connected four times each against Michigan State, Northwestern, and Tennessee. He joined Chris Summers in hitting a game-winner as time expired in a bowl game too. In just one season his 24 made field goals is 10th all-time in school history. If he returns and duplicates it next year he would finish third in school history with 48 field goals behind Carson Wiggs (56) and Travis Dorsch (68).
Jackson Anthrop
This is more of a career achievement award, but the fan favorite from West Lafayette goes out with quite the career. He finishes in the top 20 in career receptions with 148 (ahead of big brother Danny, no less) and he had close to 1,600 all-purpose yards. He also was the personification of the entire Brohm era. This guy gave EVERYTHING he had to the program and was a leader both on and off the field, all while sacrificing his ego for two seasons because we had some guy named Rondale Moore at his position. I don't think Jackson will ever play in the NFL, but seeing him on the turf yesterday, beat up and a muddy mess, but still going, is such an example of what it means to be a Purdue guy.
May his example live on.