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Babylon 5 Is the Greatest, Most Terrible SF Series
Jennifer Giesbrecht
Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:00am 247 comments 76 Favorites [+]
Screenshot: Warner Bros.
Babylon 5 is one of the best science fiction shows ever made. It also kind of sucks, and that's okay.
"I hope the future will be like Star Trek, but I'm afraid it's going to be like Babylon 5."
This is how a friend convinced me to watch Babylon 5 close to a decade ago, and it's a statement that gets both more and less prescient by the day. Babylon 5 depicts a future rife with stratified poverty, union busting corporations, xenophobic hate crimes, colonial legacies blossoming into new conflicts, and the tide of fascism rising right in our own backyard. In J. Michael Straczynski's imagined future, the smug neoliberal western hegemony that arose from the ashes of the Cold War really was "the end of history", and the results are simultaneously anodyne and horrific. Psychic powers are real, but those born with them are enslaved by the state. There are ancient terrors lurking on the edges of the map—civilizations who long ago ascended but refuse to let the children of the galaxy play unattended in the sandbox. People who live on the titular station still have to pay for their freaking healthcare in the year 2258.
And, of course, let us not forget what happened to San Diego.
Pour one out. (Screenshot: Warner Bros.)
Here's what Babylon 5 also has: a complete, pre-planned, serialized story arc that is arguably one of the first successful examples of such on American television. A bisexual second-in-command and a nod to legalized gay marriage (in 1994!). An episode where "King Arthur" visits the station and knights an alien ambassador while drunk and actually this all has deep and ultimately painful relevance to the show's immediate backstory, I promise. There's a collective of time-travelling alien janitors all named Zathras who inexplicably become the most important hinge on which the stable time loop that ties together the first three seasons hangs. The heroes of Babylon 5 quite literally tell the universe's most powerful threat to "get the hell out of their galaxy" eight episodes into the penultimate season and then spend the rest of the series mopping up civil wars, succession debates and personal crises. Yeah, that's nearly two whole seasons the show keeps going without the Big Bad and most of it is very, very good (some of it is very, very not).
Babylon 5 is both exactly as wild as it sounds, and utterly underwhelming in terms of execution versus expectation. Because, honestly, a modern show with a Game of Thrones level budget would have a difficult time living up to the vision B5 presents in its five-year-arc, which attempts to suggest a history extending a million years in either direction; a great hand reaching out of the stars… and then doing absolutely nothing else. That Babylon 5 manages to grant us even a sliver of of that vision—like peeking through a crack in the door—is mind-blowing when you really examine all the things the show had going against it .
— which is kind of the critical equivalent of giving the show a gold star, or a participation trophy, isn't it? This show won two Hugos once upon a time, but the legacy it has today tends to buzz around in the form of its "firsts" and the "in spite ofs". Nothing else was doing serialization like this in the '90s! Oh, it got cancelled, then un-cancelled! They never had the budget to do what they wanted! But… but! But, but, but!
Hugo winning dialogue. (Screenshot: Warner Bros.)
So here's the question I want to ask—is the show actually worth it, beyond the novelty of it simply being what it is? Because so often Babylon 5 is recommended in terms of those novelties, a piece of art that only justifies its existence in a self referential, metatextual sense because of its place in history. But aside from all that, is it really… any good?
I mean, obviously I think it is. It's one of my favourite shows, and I've been known to be somewhat evangelical about it. I've marathoned it with friends and family members no less than five times in the nine years since I first watched it. I've witnessed more than one person cry during the series finale. My mother balefully admitted to me in a horrid whisper that she thought it was better than Star Trek. That it's worth it seems self evident to me.
However, B5 is not a straightforward recommendation. There are many things about the show that are bad. And not just "cringey" or "cheap", but legitimately, objectively awful or misjudged. The thing is, I don't think that these flaws particularly detract from Babylon 5's goodness. In fact I think they enhance it. They are thematically cogent and cohesive with what's good about it, and I think that it would lose something in translation if that Big Budget, technically "perfect" modern adaptation everyone is dreaming about actually happened.
Don't believe me? Well, consider Babylon 5's cast: an eclectic mix of outstanding character actors, career genre gutter dwellers, and true amateurs, many of whom grew into their roles in various ways. Can you really imagine any of these characters being recast? It's not controversial to sing the praises of the more colourful members of the dramatis personae, of course; Andreas Katsulas and Peter Jurasik's lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry as adversarial Ambassadors Londo and G'kar is legendary. Mira Furlan brings both her effortlessly luminous demeanour and sobering real-world experience with war, to the destiny-obsessed and destiny-defying Delenn in a performance that is as effervescent as it is complete. Claudia Christian might be the only one who loves Susan Ivanova more than we do, and everyone adores Captain Sheridan. Well, a lot of fans these days actually hate Sheridan, who commits the twin sins of being both terribly earnest and also being right most of the time, but you can't deny that Bruce Boxleitner bleeds sunshine out both his ears.
The blocking and body language here is so good I bet you could make some pretty accurate guesses about what's going on between these two characters even if you've never seen the show. (Screenshot: Warner Bros.)
It doesn't stop there: No one forgets the first time they meet the slimy, self-righteous Psi-Cop Alfred Bester. The Ambassadorial Aides are irreplaceable [even Na'toth (especially Na'toth [the joke here is that she was replaced; it wasn't the same])]. Richard Briggs brings an understated naturalism to the ship's head medical officer Doctor Franklin that makes him carefully invisible until his demons start to leak out. Jason Carter? Who even is that guy even? I have no idea, but he was so pitch perfect as the charmingly annoying and quixotic Ranger Marcus Cole that for the longest time I thought his British accent was fake. There's layers.
For example: Jerry Doyle—who played the station's wise-cracking and entertainingly damaged security chief, Michael Garibaldi—had a notably short career as an actor, cushioned on either side by stints as a Wall Street trader and a right wing radio host. This is the kind of extra-canonical knowledge that would usually ruin a character for me but, y'know, I don't like Garibaldi because I agree with him politically; I mean—he's a cop. I like him because he feels real, and he feels real because Doyle was on, some level, playing himself. You really can't say there's a single actor in the main cast who didn't truly and thoroughly make the role their own. In the same way your high school's production of Les Miserables might create a stronger visceral memory of the barricade scenes than Colm Wilkinson's flawless recitation of 'Bring Him Home' in the 10th Anniversary Concert, it's the imperfections that make this stagey, un-subtle, occasionally overwrought Space Opera seem authentic.
This episode is brave enough to show alien genitalia on screen. A landmark milestone that Star Trek has yet to match. (Screenshot: Warner Bros.)
That authenticity is underscored by the world these characters inhabit. Babylon 5's production design is inspired. Unique. Gorgeous—I will not budge on this point. I've seen the Season 1 Ambassador outfits in real life: they're incredible works of sartorial art that the current DVD transfers simply do not do justice. Instead of streamlined and sterile, B5 is rich and gaudy and grandiose. It's peak '90s pop art aesthetic, and it's bargain bin film noir: smokey and dark and grimy, shot through with bursts of neon and pastels. Lounge singers are backed by bands with Christmas lights glued to their guitars to make them look "space"-y. The drum-sets have glowing fluorescent rims. Every room on the station is crafted with a careful eye for detail that often gets lost in the sumptuous shadow-drenched lighting.
Colours mean things in Babylon 5, they have thematic and character associations. Hazy reds dominate G'kar's living quarters and illuminate his steps as he treads the path to prophethood. The dazzling, abstract shards of light in Minbari architecture express both their complex, sharp-edged fragility and the Platonic foundations of their religious beliefs. The peaks and valleys of Londo Mollari's fall-from-and-rise-to-grace are marked by him literally changing his coat. That last one's kind of gauche, I know, but so is the character, so it works.
In purple, he's stunning. In navy blue, he's a war criminal. (Screenshots: Warner Bros.)
The show does its best to break monotony in the endless parade of flat-lighting, shot-reverse-shot film-making popularly seen in network spec shows pre-dating the revolution brought about by later seasons of The X-Files and Buffy. Which isn't to say the directing is good—it's not. In fact, sometimes it's laughably amateur, the kind of dumb camera tricks I'd have thought to do if someone handed me a Super 35 in high school and told me to to go nuts; dutch angles, weird zooms, filming a tense exchange from the most obscure angle in the room possible… but there's a sort of artistic innocence and freedom that comes from that lack of expertise, from filming a show that doesn't need to be as safe as the TNGs of the world. Often the camera is doing something really stupid, but it's rarely resting on its laurels. The show is at its worst—visually and atmospherically I mean, but also in terms of writing, yeah—during its fifth season, when it had the financial security to "look good". Something is lost in the transition. It loses the fervent passion and becomes workmanship-like. The lights have come on and chased the shadows away.
Which only makes sense. The literal Shadows are gone from the galaxy too, and all the wars are over. The fifth season weaves so many narrative threads—some elegant, some nearly unwatchable—together that the plot hooks could set up a whole other five-season arc. Telepaths demanding the postponed freedoms they were promised, servants of the vanished Old Gods trying to fill the power vacuum left by their departed masters, beloved characters falling prey to destructive patterns and desires you would have hoped they'd overcome, while other members of the cast prosper in their roles as historical figures in the making. None of it is wrapped up.
Which is the point—that peace is difficult to maintain and there's no magic fix. That when you kill your Gods you have to find something to replace them. That the needs of the truly oppressed are often treated as an after-thought by the bigwigs fighting the war, and their freedom will be used as a bargaining chip. For all these reasons, toppling oppressive regimes can have unexpected consequences that persist for years. For decades. The heroes have brought down the pillars of corruption with in such a way that the structure is still standing, and so they are forced to rebuild with the tools they already had.
But what if they had new tools? This is a possibility the show never even considers, and while there is a strong degree of intentionality to that point, Babylon 5 makes a big deal from the word go about the fact that we are supposedly witnessing the beginning of a "New Age", so I think it's valid to ask if perhaps the show could muster a bit more vision in its soft revolution.
The literal text of the show suggests that the natural result of Capitalism's decay is a re-emergence of Fascism, and Earth is already locked in what we can now recognize as a familiar pattern of increasing technocratic censorship paired with a loss of political efficacy on the part of normal people when the series begins. There's an election going on in the first episode and the conservative party wins on the basis of what we are to assume is reactionary rhetoric. He's not the guy our protagonists were supporting, but the whole thing is treated with a shrug. It eventually leads to a civil war. We're immediately thrust into a cynical world wracked with bureaucratic inertia and callow appeasement. Our heroes emerge as heroic because they choose to reject apathy, normalization and compliance. Watching Earth inexorably slip further into violent authoritarianism is gripping stuff, brilliantly played as background noise for the first two and a half seasons and just as novel as it was in 1994 even when expressed in the silliest possible terms (Earth Gov is really out there literally quoting Nineteen Eighty-Four on its propaganda posters, huh?). But I'm not sure how cognizant the show is of its own political subtext, or, y'know, text in general.
Actually, the real problem is that I am sure.
What I'm saying is that Babylon 5 is… a little politically naive. It succumbs powerfully to the temptation to paint its central characters as the Great Men (and Women!) of History. The solutions it offers are not much different from the problems it wants to solve. This—in some regards—is fine, because we know what happens a million years after the end of the series: Earth falls to fascism again. Human civilization is boiled down to its bones in a nuclear war. Eventually, we rebuild. Eventually we ascend and go beyond the furthest ring to hang out with Kosh and Sheridan, and it's all very Lord of the Rings in a way that has you half-expecting Gandalf to pop out from behind a corner at points. Like I said: it's 'The End of History', the zeitgeist of the 1990s taken to its logical conclusion. It's a Liberal hellscape, and that's intentional at least 50% of the time. It might be asking a lot for a major network show from the Clinton-era to offer a more cogent critique of the system everyone was happily drowning in at the time than this.
This one's a Canticle for Leibowitz pastiche, but the monks are all drawing fanart of the show's main characters. (Screenshot: Warner Bros.)
The show can be crassly broad when broaching topics such as the AIDS epidemic, McCarthyism or Jehovah's Witness medical restrictions, but it is simultaneously also very good at presenting situations in which no one is exactly right, or subverting its own subversions. Babylon 5's parallel to the Cardassian/Bajoran conflict is initially problematized by presenting the formerly colonized Narn as a bloodthirsty, ambitious Regime in their own right, eager to make a mark on the galaxy and give back every inch of pain meted upon them by their former oppressors the Centauri. But it's still the Narn Ambassador G'kar who learns to look towards the future, and the Centauri Ambassador Londo who helps his Empire re-brutalize the Narn twice as bad as has been done before out of a petty desire to feel important again. The wheel does not turn: the Centauri's Imperial desire to see themselves as martyrs now under the boot of their victims is the poison tooth at the heart of the show's many conflicts.
However, this all looks very First Year PoliSci even when compared to that contemporary non-blood relative Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which stumbles all over the place in its own Star Trekky way, but was perhaps more astute in its attempts at social criticisms with episodes like 'Past Tense' and 'Far Beyond the Stars' as well as notably more mature in its engagement with colonial war crimes. But what Babylon 5 lacks in wisdom it gains back in boldness and specificity. The reason I can respect this narrative, as outdated and self-defeating it is at points, is because B5 is never afraid—or embarrassed, even when it should be—to state its positions and their proximity to the world outside its narrative confines.
This specificity of framing is in sharp contrast to Star Trek, which presents a vibrant playground in which to pose infinite number of philosophical moral quandaries but has shockingly little to say about the political architecture of that playground. We all know that the Federation is a glorious Fully Automated Luxury Space Communism paradise, right? I mean, it is—there's nothing else it could be, but no writer has ever told us this directly. Starfleet Officers are awfully self righteous about a way of life that the franchise seems averse to actual spelling out in explicit terms. And if you don't say something out loud, it turns out you don't actually have a whole lot to say about it in the end after all. I find specificity more valuable the older I get. I can have a conversation with Babylon 5, all the parts I find illuminating as well as the ones I find odious. I can interact with its ideas about capitalism and extremism and religion and western interventionism without getting lost in the weeds of polite innuendo post-Cold War Star Trek often malingered in. (NOTE: I also love Star Trek)
Babylon 5's willingness to engage heavily with the material conditions of the world it depicts is the reason I get nerd snobby about classifying the show as a Space Opera, not! a science fiction show, despite its many fascinating hard sci-fi elements. B5 has some very obvious fantasy trappings—ripped directly from Tolkien here, quoting Arthurian legends there—but what makes it capital-F Fantasy in my opinion is its preoccupation with communicating story and theme through the evocation of historical verisimilitude in its world-building. Babylon 5 uses its world to tell a mythic tale with contemporary tools rather than to posit questions about our future. With the philosophical and allegorical framework of the "primary world" removed, the story gets a whole lot easier to swallow.
This convincing world-building is achieved not just through the beauty of the production design, but also through its storytelling format which, for all B5's pretensions of being a "novel for television", is actually a hybrid of arc-focused serialization and stand-alone episodes. This was a format that American television was experimenting with a lot at the time, but what makes Babylon 5 unique is that it does not separate the two narrative approaches into neat, tidy bins like, say, The X-Files did with its "mythology" and "monster-of-the-week" episodes, which can essentially be watched independently of each other to create two very different television shows starring the same characters. In Babylon 5, lore-heavy episodes often have frivolous B-plots and seemingly inane stand-alone adventures can affect the course of the series in unexpected ways.
Each episode shows you a new facet of the world. It doesn't hand you the puzzle pieces in order and it's not shoving them at you aggressively, begging you to guess its secrets. Season 1 is a world-building venture more than it is a storytelling one, sketching the extremes of the B5 universe's unique elements in surprising detail, from the depressingly mundane horrors of anti-alien hate crimes and union busting to the startling implication six episodes in that psychic powers can manifest in such a way that they will cause a human being to surpass their physical form and become something akin to a God. In this same episode, we learn that the galaxy is full of "bermuda triangles"—places where people have incomprehensible encounters and, sometimes, disappear.
"There are things in the Universe billions of years older than either of our races," explains Ambassador G'kar—until this point, presented as a villain, soon proved to be a Cassandra. "They are vast, timeless, and if they are aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants and we have as much chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us."
The most tense conflict we experience in the episode before this is watching the station's Commander try to save face coming up with a demonstration of Earth's religious traditions for a cultural exchange festival while melodramatically distracted by an old girlfriend. It's this patient see-saw between present-day material conflicts and universe-shattering metaphysical overtones that allow the show's various foreshadowing elements to pile up almost unnoticed, so that when the first major shake up happens at the end of Season 1 it feels like a genuine gut-punch.
The show has a lot of gut-punches. (Screenshot: Warner Bros.)
Amid a tangle of diverging plotlines involving almost every major character on the show, the B5 staff discover signs of an assassination plot within Earth's Government. They scramble to decode where this evidence leads in a race against the clock that they ultimately lose—by a shockingly wide margin. By the time anyone found indication of foul-play, it was already too late to stop the the gears from turning. "The avalanche has begun," warns the enigmatic Ambassador Kosh, representative of a species so ancient and advanced that he possesses no corporeal form, "it's too late for the pebbles to vote". He's talking about bigger, older things than the political machinations of Earth-bound xenophobes, but the characters aren't far enough away from the frame to see the entire picture yet. Earth welcomes the New Year with a sinister change in regime and the protagonists are left empty handed, disbelieved, and alone in the night.
At the time, this episode was shocking because it broke the rules set up by Star Trek: The Next Generation, a show that JMS was actively and obviously reacting against. In the 1990s, heroes didn't fail to the extreme degree that Babylon 5's protagonists do in that first season finale. The twist remains shocking even now because it still breaks the rules set up by its own premise; an episodic story where the world doesn't get reset at the end of each episode. And the show continues its mostly episodic pace afterwards, so that the next paradigm shift hits just as hard. And the next one, and the next one, until the entire galaxy is on the brink of collapse.
This structure is so effective that even the plot twists and status quo shifts which are poorly foreshadowed, or ill-explained, or over-explained feel natural and world-shaking because Babylon 5's pace always gives you time to breathe, and the world is so believably lived in, that any crisis that strikes it feels immeasurably more impactful than damage wrought onto a world that we're meant to understand changes from the get go. By the time the show starts hurtling along a set of truly serialized arcs in Season 4 there's a feeling that anything could happen. It still feels fresh today, maybe even fresher than it did in the 1990s simply because very few people are making shows like this anymore. Modern serialized television asks you to be a voyeur to the chaos, to consume it as fast as possible, or to consume it as a communal project. You and your friends waiting for the next big bombshell and treating everything between like treading water. A show paced like Babylon 5 asks you to come live in those in-between moments. It wants you to watch the chaos from inside the world and to stick with it during the long silences.
Maybe it's just because I grew up in the '90s, but this blurry screenshot of objectively hideous neon interior design feels like home to me. (Screenshot: Warner Bros.)
And it is very easy to inhabit those silences. Babylon 5 has a very particular kind of tonal variety that makes the world inviting—an appealing balance of drama and playfulness. A lot has been said about the show's occasionally regrettable sense of humour, and there are certainly some epic clunkers in almost every script (the less said about a certain Season 3 episode that effectuates a kooky, sitcom-esque tone while discussing ethnic cleansing the better), but I find myself laughing along with Babylon 5 more often than not. A lot of the humour is character derived, and I love the characters. I really do—I love the contrast between their realistic flaws and depressing personal lives and the cheesy, stage-play poeticism of the dialogue. I know more about the lives of Babylon 5's senior staff than I know about any Starfleet Officer. They're all a mess of workaholism, addictions, failed relationships, PTSD, broken paternal bonds—except for shining paragon of All-American Gee Whiz'ism, John Sheridan, who is broken down piece by piece during a war that reveals him to be a ruthless, "means justify the ends"-style General. He grows a beard while being tortured by his own government and never shaves it off. No one's arc is static. No character ends where they begin. Most characters shed their comfortable roles for new directions on a season by season basis. B5 is a show that flourishes upon rewatch, largely because it's very satisfying to start over again with all these characters knowing that most of them end up so, so far away from where they begin, in both edifying and tragic ways.
Babylon 5 is a station full of weirdos and failures. It attracts alien ambassadors with lists of sins ten miles long, disgraced nobles that no one else wants, military officers desperate to either escape their demons or build their careers on their own terms, rejecting the path laid out for them by mentors and patriarchs. It's the staging point of a successful rebellion, the nucleus of several catastrophically failed peace treaties. It bears witness to the extinction of an entire species and the destruction of the key to immortality. Some dark shit goes down in this show, yet the unflagging '90s-style optimism and local-theater-esque presentation keeps it from dipping into the kind of "gritty" grim-ness that defined TV spec fiction in the post 9/11 era. And oh, don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of grimdarkness. I don't inherently reject it the way a lot of people (understandably) have in the last few years, but I do reject the idea that it's embarrassing for fantasy to be, well… fanciful. Babylon 5 is shamelessly fanciful.
Here it is: King Arthur knighting a guy in a rubber alien mask. (Screenshot: Warner Bros.)
I've been very tongue in cheek about the quality of B5's writing up until this point, but there are lines in this show that have stuck with me for years. I can quote many of them off the top of my head, and I bet every fan of the show can sing along at home:
My shoes are too tight, and I've forgotten how to dance.
Understanding is a three edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.
The wheel turns, does it not?
All life is transitory, a dream… if I don't see you again here, I will see you, in a little while, in a place where no shadows fall.
It's all a game—a paper fantasy of names and borders.
I have seen what power does, and I have seen what power costs. The one is never equal to the other.
I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?
There comes a time when you look into the mirror and you realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. Then you accept it or you kill yourself or you stop looking into mirrors.
Do you have anything worth living for?
Will you lay down your life—not for millions, not for glory, not for fame—but for one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see?
Will you? (Screenshot: Warner Bros.)
I've talked a lot about politics in this essay, but no piece of art can truly endure solely on what it means in the substantive, theoretical sense. It's exhilarating to read or watch or play something that was truly prophetic, however those stories are far and few between. Storytellers can't predict the future, they can only survive it. The further away from the original context of a work we get, the more its ephemeral aspects begin to matter over its literal ones. And the aspect that leaves the deepest impression in the sands of time is always how something feels.
Babylon 5 remains emotionally evocative in all the places it has become perhaps thematically irrelevant: in the jagged edges of the sets, the stumbling waltz of its plot threads, the lush indulgence of its dialogue, the patchwork aspects held together by glue and determination, as imperfect and brimming with colourful quirks as its most beloved characters. My favourite scenes in the show are the little things: Ivanova's illegal coffee-plant, Londo and Vir singing Centauri opera together in the station's hallways, Marcus regailing a beleaguered Doctor Franklin with his nerdy headcanons about which characters in Le Morte d'Arthur he thinks the B5 crew are most like, Delenn and Sheridan telling each other quiet, ordinary anecdotes about their very different childhoods. Babylon 5 is a story that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Modern plot-driven shows tend to do one thing, and do it very well. Babylon 5 does a little bit of everything: mostly okay, sometimes horribly, and occasionally with an earnest beauty that is almost transcendent.
I think the value of Babylon 5, and indeed its entire thesis statement, is best summed by Ambassador Delenn's sage invocation of Carl Sagan. She says:
"I will tell you a great secret… the molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station , and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are starstuff. We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out."
Everything is interconnected, the ugly and the beautiful, our triumphs and our mistakes. Our best work and our worst. It's only when we embrace both that we can leave behind something worth remembering.
I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us and part of us remains […] when it is quiet, just listen […] you will hear the echoes of all our conversations, every thought and word we've exchanged. Long after we are gone our voices will linger in these walls…
Jennifer Giesbrecht is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia where she earned an undergraduate degree in History, spent her formative years as a professional street performer, and developed a deep and reverent respect for the ocean. She currently works as a game writer for What Pumpkin Studios. In 2013 she attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop. Her work has appeared in Nightmare Magazine, XIII: 'Stories of Resurrection', Apex, and Imaginarium: The Best of Canadian Speculative Fiction. She lives in a quaint, historic neighbourhood with two of her best friends and five cats. The Monster of Elendhaven is her first book.
Babylon 5Jennifer GiesbrechtScience FictionSpace OperaStar Trektelevision
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Aiyana Jones
Gallery: Aiyana Jones
By Dustin Block | dblock@mlive.com
DETROIT, MI -- Another jury failed to reach a verdict in the case against Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley, who was charged in the fatal shooting on 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway declared the mistrial after the jury reported they could not reach a unanimous verdict on a misdemeanor charge against Weekley for careless or reckless firing of a weapon causing death. The charge was punishable by up to two years in prison.
A second, more serious, charge of involuntary manslaughter had been thrown out against Weekley.
The mistrial means prosecutors can refile charges against Weekley and try him for a third time. Prosecutors could also decline to retry the case, or reach some sort of plea deal with Weekley to bring the case to an end.
A statement from the Wayne County prosecutor's office said it will place its decision on the record during a court hearing scheduled for Nov. 21, 2014.
Weekley, 38, led the SWAT team into a home on Lillibidge about 2 a.m. May 16, 2010 in search of murder suspect Chauncey Owens, who would later be arrested in the upstairs unit of the split home.
Adding to the already tense situation that night was the presence of a film crew for "The First 48," an A&E documentary-style TV show that follows homicide investigations.
A flash-bang grenade shattered the bay window and fell onto the couch where it scorched Aiyana's Disney "Hannah Montana" blanket and caused Aiyana's grandmother, Mertilla Jones, to roll onto the floor, according to the prosecution.
The film crew captured the aggressive entrance on film. After the shattering glass, a few seconds pass and there is a popping noise, what Moran said is Weekley's gun firing a bullet into Aiyana's head.
Weekley claimed Mertilla Jones tried to snatch his gun, causing his finger to move onto and pull the trigger. At his first trial, Weekley testified that he didn't initially know his gun fired or that Aiyana was shot.
Weekley entered to clear an adjacent bedroom and subdued a man seen in the doorway seconds earlier. When Weekley returned to the main room, he said he realized a girl had been shot and it was him who fired the fatal bullet.
Hathaway dismissed the manslaughter charge once the prosecution completed their case because she said there was no evidence of willful negligence, a requirement for guilt.
"How can you be an officer and fire your gun and not know what happened," Moran said to the jury during closing statements. "That's the height of negligence ... but you blame Mertilla Jones. The defendant lies when he's caught doing something wrong.
If Mertilla Jones gabbed the officer's gun, why did it take hours for her to be handcuffed and arrested, Moran asked; wouldn't they detain and arrest her immediately?
Moran, who called multiple Special Response Team members, each of whom said training taught police to keep their finger off of the trigger until they identify and intend to shoot their target, claimed the willful negligence came when Weekley disobeyed his training. He rejects that Mertilla Jones in those few seconds grabbed Weekley's pistol-grip MP5 sub-machine gun or the ballistics shield he also carried.
"His finger did go to the trigger and the gun went off," defense attorney Steven Fishman said in his closing statements. "You know he didn't have his finger on the trigger when he went in."
Fishman asked the jury to consider the credibility of Mertilla Jones, whose home had 14 spent shell casings in the backyard, two stolen vehicles and a man eventually convicted of murder, her son Charles Jones, Aiyana's father.
Charles Jones was found guilty of second-degree murder for providing Chauncey Owens the gun used to kill 17-year-old Je'Rean Blake outside a party store after an altercation two days before the raid.
Mertilla Jones maintained on the stand that Detroit police "came to kill" and she saw Weekley assassinate Aiyana, holding the gun to the girl's head and intentionally firing.
Fishman said the fact that Mertilla Jones would be willing to lie about something so important to the case should draw suspicion to other aspects of her testimony.
Weekley, who continues to work as a member of the Detroit Special Response Team, was among nearly 10 team members named in a 2009 civil lawsuit, since settled, that alleged the officers barged in a house with guns "blazing" and shot two family dogs in the presence of children.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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If you're in need of some R&R and tasty snacks after a shopping trip in Dubai Mall, be sure to pop into BeStro on the second floor of Galeries Lafayette, where you can also see two of our lovely prints on display by Capsule Arts artist Julia Ibbini.
BeStro is Dubai's first Living Raw Foods Restaurant, and is run by Be Super Natural, the UAE's only brand selling raw organic super foods. They are holding some extremely delicious and super healthy daily Freedom Iftars throughout Ramadan, book your place now!
The magic of Jordanian-British artist Julia Ibbini's work lies in the complexity and depth of her creative process, which involves layering imagery to create vibrant digital collages which she then overlays with varnishes, paints, crystals and pins. On show at BeStro are her vividly coloured digital water studies, Water Study Series 1and Water Study Series 2, available to purchase from our website.


If there is a god, he would have killed the dude putting up Chuck Norris jokes by now.
When Chuck Norris bites a Zombie they turn back to a Human. It's true... it's true.
(not a joke) my goal is to make the Kardashians unfamous all over again with funny meme kinda like the Chuck Norris jokes but saying how useless, snooty etc.they really are.... p.s. they're witches with a capital B.
When god sneezes Chuck Norris blesses him!
Don't worry... Chuck Norris has about 7 bottle rockets and 10 Roman candles pointed at NK ready to go.
Whenever in doubt... Consult Chuck Norris. Just sayin'.


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DATA443's LEADING DATA TRANSPORT PRODUCT, DATAEXPRESS®, RELEASES 2FA INTEGRATION WITH GOOGLE AUTHENTICATOR
November 05, 2020 14:35 ET | Source: Data443 Risk Mitigation, Inc.
Addresses Market Need for Two Factor Authentication Services – Already Deployed and Active Within Commercial Customer Environments
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC, Nov. 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Data443 Risk Mitigation, Inc. ("Data443" or the "Company") (OTCPK: ATDS), a leading data security and privacy software company, is pleased to announce the official release of another substantial enhancement for its flagship data transfer, transformation and delivery product, DataExpress® - which powers numerous Fortune 50 clients and will be available shortly in a SaaS format.
DataExpress® Secure Managed File Transfer provides a broad capability of services to securely move data intra and inter company.
Enhancement satisfies the request from a leading credit card aggregator, and long-term user of DataExpress®, for a Two Factor Authentication solution for their web-based customers to conform to upgraded security mandates.
Product enhancement designed as add-on commercial option to existing product line – bolts onto existing platform to minimize risk to ongoing operations.
Leverages the leading Google Authenticator platform, a software-based authenticator by Google that implements two-step verification services using the Time-based One-time Password Algorithm and HMAC-based One-time Password algorithm.
Why it matters:
Data movement continues to grow exponentially, as does security risks associated with data on the move and denial of service hacks on HTTP/S services.
Ensuring that we satisfy our customers' requirements has always been paramount in our roadmap.
Demonstrates our continued agility in product development and enhancement to ensure DataExpress® remains relevant in an ever-evolving market.
Jason Remillard, CEO of Data443, commented, "We continue to develop leading solutions for our clients and leverage leading technologies to support their needs. Our global clients have high expectations of our products, people, and our overall solutions – and we continue to deliver them. Our DataExpress® solution coupled with the leading Google Authentication technology, together delivers a fulfilled security requirement to our clients. Our development, QA and support teams did a fantastic job delivering the solution and we appreciate the support of the client throughout the efforts to bring the solution to market."
"We will continue to enhance the DataExpress® product line, with more exciting announcements to follow shortly. This product is critical to our pillar strategy in our product roadmap and is a prime example of being able to provide state of the art solutions to our very large and growing customer base for All Things Data Security™." concluded Mr. Remillard.
About Data443 Risk Mitigation, Inc.
Data443 Risk Mitigation, Inc. (OTCPK: ATDS), is the de facto industry leader in Data Privacy Solutions for All Things Data Security™, providing software and services to enable secure data across local devices, network, cloud, and databases, at rest and in flight. Its suite of products and services is highlighted by: (i) ARALOC™, which is a market leading secure, cloud-based platform for the management, protection and distribution of digital content to the desktop and mobile devices, which protects an organization's confidential content and intellectual property assets from leakage — malicious or accidental — without impacting collaboration between all stakeholders; (ii) DATAEXPRESS®, the leading data transport, transformation and delivery product trusted by leading financial organizations worldwide; (iii) ArcMail™, which is a leading provider of simple, secure and cost-effective email and enterprise archiving and management solutions; (iv) ClassiDocs® the Company's award-winning data classification and governance technology, which supports CCPA, LGPD, and GDPR compliance; (v) ClassiDocs™ for Blockchain, which provides an active implementation for the Ripple XRP that protects blockchain transactions from inadvertent disclosure and data leaks; (vi) Data443® Global Privacy Manager, the privacy compliance and consumer loss mitigation platform which is integrated with ClassiDocs™ to do the delivery portions of GDPR and CCPA as well as process Data Privacy Access Requests – removal request – with inventory by ClassiDocs™; (vii) Resilient Access™, which enables fine-grained access controls across myriad platforms at scale for internal client systems and commercial public cloud platforms like Salesforce, Box.Net, Google G Suite, Microsoft OneDrive and others; viii) Data443™ Chat History Scanner, which scans chat messages for Compliance, Security, PII, PI, PCI & custom keywords; (ix) the CCPA Framework WordPress plugin, which enables organizations of all sizes to comply with the CCPA privacy framework; (x) FileFacets™, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that performs sophisticated data discovery and content search of structured and unstructured data within corporate networks, servers, content management systems, email, desktops and laptops; and (xi) the GDPR Framework WordPress plugin, with over 30,000 active users and over 400,000 downloads it enables organizations of all sizes to comply with the GDPR and other privacy frameworks. For more information, please visit http://www.data443.com.
The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "may," "will," "could," "should," "expect," "plan," "project," "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "pursuant," "target," "continue," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The statements in this press release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding Data443's plans, objectives, future opportunities for Data443's services, future financial performance and operating results and any other statements regarding Data443's future expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, financial conditions, assumptions or future events or performance that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, many of which are beyond Data443's control, and which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, and include, without limitation, results of litigation, settlements and investigations; actions by third parties, including governmental agencies; volatility in customer spending; global economic conditions; ability to hire and retain personnel; loss of, or reduction in business with, key customers; difficulty with growth and integration of acquisitions; product liability; cybersecurity risk; anti-takeover measures in our charter documents; and, the uncertainties created by the ongoing outbreak of a respiratory illness caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus that was recently named by the World Health Organization as COVID-19. These and other important risk factors are described more fully in our reports and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("the SEC"), including under (i) "Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors", in our Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the SEC on January 11, 2019 and amended on April 24, 2019; (ii) "Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors", in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on 17 April 2020; and, (iii) subsequent filings. Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in this press release, which are based on information available to us on the date hereof. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise.
The Data443™ logo, ClassiDocs™ logo, ARALOC™ logo and DATAEXPRESS® are registered trademarks of Data443 Risk Mitigation, Inc.
All product names, trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only. Use of these names, trademarks and brands does not imply endorsement.
All other trademarks cited herein are the property of their respective owners.
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/data443Risk
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/data443/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/data443-risk-mitigation-inc/
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Matthew Abenante
ir@data443.com
More articles issued by Data443 Risk Mitigation, Inc.
Data443 Risk Mitigation, Inc.
Morrisville, UNITED STATES
https://data443.com
Data443 Risk Mitigation Inc. ATDS DATAEXPRESS® TRANSPORT PRODUCT Data Privacy Solutions ClassiDocs™ software and services


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2018 BBA Nominees: Social / Environmental Contribution
By the conclusion of the 2018 British Business Awards (BBA) nomination period, on Thursday 18 October at noon, we had received 33 eligible nominations across 5 categories.
The following 7 companies are now in the running to lift the 2018 BBA Social / Environmental Contribution trophy.
"Open to any eligible company that has driven exceptionally effective social / environmental programmes or initiatives in Japan over the past 18 months. Nominees should not be NPOs."
2018 BBA Social / Environmental Contribution nominees
(in alphabetical order):
Atlantic Pacific International Rescue Ltd (AP) has a simple purpose: to provide lifeboats where there are none. The first AP Lifeboat in a Box solution was launched in 2016, in Nebama Bay, Kamaishi, an area devastated by the 2011 tsunami. By empowering that local community through training, the first lifeboat service in Japan is now in operation. This year AP have set up an office in Tokyo to expand their private and civil sector operations and services to other coastal areas of Japan. They have also preparing to assist with ferrying tourists around Kamaishi during the Rugby World Cup 2019.
Custom Media
Custom Media is a bilingual communications agency in Tokyo. The company has utilised its core skills of digital marketing and PR services to support eight community causes this year on a pro-bono basis: Knights in White Lycra (kids in care & with cerebral palsy); Mirai no Mori (marginalised youth); Shine On! Kids (cancer); RIJ (refugees); Animal Refuge Kansai (abused pets); JMEC (young business leaders & entrepreneurs); Fujisawa Beach Cleaning Project (community); and TELL (counseling & support).
ESR is a leading provider of logistics funding and managing, and is well-known for establishing state-of-the-art distribution centres in Japan. The company's community initiatives include a commitment to enhancing the workplace environment, and bringing women back to work. The team is dedicated to changing the perception of what people think of as a warehouse, by anticipating and adapting to customers' and employees' changing needs. They provide new solutions through sustainability and green energy initiatives, driven by "Human Centric Design". This means building high-quality ammenities for the staff and local community, such as areas for recreation, rest, and free childcare, including Barnklubb daycare centres and KLUBBLOUNGE, established in the past year.
In Tokyo, Hogan Lovells represents Japanese clients with overseas interests and international companies with commercial interests in Japan. The team is passionate about sustainability in all its forms, working to reduce their environmental footprint to the highest degree possible through infrastructure, legislation, and policy. Their new, eco-friendly office in Tokyo includes a great many innovative, permaculture-inspired design features that lower the team's carbon footprint, reduce waste, and improve health and resiliency amongst employees.
IHG InterContinental Hotels Group
The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is committed to helping and caring for others - something that comes naturally to a business which provides genuine hospitality. As well as catering for guests, partners and colleagues, in hotels around the world, the team continues to lead though responsible business initatives. Targets in Japan from 2018-2020 include: providing more avenues for employment to women, responding to disaster relief efforts, and using technology to make our hotels more sustainable. In Japan, 'True Hospitality for Good' is our new programme for communities and charitable giving; this plays a big role in mobilising disaster and relief operations, as well as opening opportunities to the underpriviledged through hospitality training and educational programmes.
Nihon Cyber Defence
With headquarters in Tokyo, Nihon Cyber Security Defence Co., Ltd. provides cyber security software and services across Japan. Aside from its mission to protect governments, companies, and individuals from all forms of cyber warfare, the company would also like to be recognized for their community projects. Specifically in Japan, in association with Surfability UK, NCD recently launched the country's first surf board project for special needs children, and continues to support Down Syndrome children and their families by providing respite activities - through local NPO Sean's Club.
As pioneers in mining and metals, Rio Tinto produces materials essential to human progress at world-class operations across the globe and are a leader in partnerships with stakeholders and local communitites. Their social initiatives in Japan are rooted in health and educational activities that support the younger generation. They also promote safety first, even in a country where the firm has no mining operations. As a member of the Regional Cooperation Association for 'Kitaku Konnansha since 2012, they proactively share their "Take Five" risk assessment approach with Japanese stakeholders and the local community, and have recently been recognised as an exemplary model for such contributions.
The decision on a winning 2018 BBA entry is the result of the combined score of 6 separate judges, who independently score each submission using the same scoring matrix.
To ensure transparency, each judge independently returns his or her score sheet to the BCCJ office by 1 November 2018 and the results are tabulated confidentially. The scores from each judge are then totaled for each nominee, and the nomination with the highest accumulative score is declared the category winner.
In the event of two nominees receiving the same final score, all judges will be asked to review their scores for these companies / individuals, and the submission with the highest score from this second round of judging will be declared the winner.
The final results remain confidential until the BBA ceremony - held on the evening of November 2 2018 at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo.
Good luck to all 2018 BBA nominees, and stay tuned for updates on other award categories! www.bccjapan.com
2018 British Business Awards - gala event information HERE
2018 British Business Awards Judging process HERE
2018 British Business Awards - Meet the Judges HERE
2018 British Business Nominations CLOSED HERE


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Chindit has Champagne sparkle for Hannon
Chindit remained unbeaten as he posted a decisive victory for Richard Hannon in the bet365 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster.
Successful on his only two previous racecourse starts, including a Listed race at Ascot, the son of Wootton Bassett was following up Hannon and jockey Pat Dobbs' victory in this Group Two event with Threat last year.
Chindit was sent off the marginal second-favourite at 15-8 – with another unbeaten colt, Owen Burrows' Albasheer, just shading that battle.
The way Chindit travels into the race…
Group 1 company and the Dewhurst is next 🚀 pic.twitter.com/mgtISNh5kg
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) September 12, 2020
But on the track it was Hannon's rising star who emerged with a length verdict from his main market rival, after they had both travelled powerfully into it, having been towards the rear of runners in the early stages.
Joseph O'Brien's State Of Rest was just a short-head back in third, with the front three well clear.
Betfair gave the winner an 8-1 from 12-1 quote for next year's 2000 Guineas, and he is set to further test his Classic claims in the Dewhurst at Newmarket next month.
Hannon said: "He got there quite easily and I thought the first two travelled well and the first three were a long way clear of the fourth.
"That's probably the best two-year-old race of the season so far. The second is a very good horse and the third obviously is.
Trainer Richard Hannon receives his trophy from Pat Cooney of the sponsors following Chindit's success in the bet365 Champagne Stakes @DoncasterRaces pic.twitter.com/Co7SmAZUFX
— Keith Hamer (@kennses) September 12, 2020
"We always thought he was top drawer, but you don't know until you come here.
"To find a very good horse like him with a good temperament is something you don't get every year. This is another step up and it's on to the Dewhurst, hopefully.
"That's the plan at the moment. That's the big race of the year and that is where we're heading, along with Etonian.
"His attitude and the way he behaves gives him every chance of being a horse for the 2000 Guineas – he does look a miler."
https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2.55457669-scaled.jpg 1280 2560 Geegeez News https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/geegeez_banner_new_300x100.png Geegeez News2020-09-12 13:20:162020-09-30 10:46:49Chindit has Champagne sparkle for Hannon


When it comes to auto repair services in Antioch, nobody beats Firestone Complete Auto Care. Schedule an appointment for quality car or truck repair today!
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Stop by your nearest auto and truck repair shop in Antioch and we'll first conduct a courtesy check. Experienced technicians will examine your tires, fluid levels, belts, lights, wipers, battery hoses, and more, all to get to the bottom of your car trouble. The right auto repair begins with the right diagnosis! After our techs are done, we'll give you a complete rundown of your vehicle's condition and explain any repair services that may need to be done. With almost 100 years of experience, we know what it takes to get your vehicle performing its best. From brake service to wheel alignment, flat tire plugs to transmission tune ups, our professional technicians do it all. We're your one-stop auto repair shop in Antioch!
We believe in customer satisfaction and safety above all else. That means two things. One, we'll only recommend repairs that are absolutely necessary. Two, the services we perform will be fixed right the first time. And that's a guarantee, backed by our Triple Promise – a promise that every job will be Fixed Right, Priced Right and Done Right on Time. That is just how we do business! So whether you're dealing with clunking under the hood, worrisome leaks, or your car just feels like it's losing its power, reserve an appointment online at your neighborhood Firestone Complete Auto Care for quality advice and sound auto repair in Antioch. It's time to unleash the car you've got!
From oil changes to engine tune-ups to tire repair, head to a Firestone Complete Auto Care near you for your car repair and maintenance services. We're your all-in-one tire store, car care center, and automotive shop. Our automotive technicians care about keeping your vehicle running newer, longer. Bring your truck or car to us for maintenance and we'll strive to offer unparalleled auto services. Experience the difference! Make an appointment for auto service in Antioch, Tennessee today.


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Bellevue police make big heroin bust
Police believe the $10K worth of heroin would have been sold in Sandusky County area
Bellevue police make big heroin bust Police believe the $10K worth of heroin would have been sold in Sandusky County area Check out this story on thenews-messenger.com: http://ohne.ws/1ygnd5I
Kristina Smith, mksmith@gannett.com Published 11:04 a.m. ET April 9, 2015 | Updated 11:06 a.m. ET April 9, 2015
File photo(Photo: Journal & Courier)
BELLEVUE – In one of their biggest heroin busts ever, Bellevue police seized about $10,000 worth of heroin from a driver during a traffic stop Wednesday, authorities reported.
Police believe the estimated 80 grams of heroin would have been sold in the Sandusky County area, said Detective Marc Linder of Bellevue police.
"This is a lot of heroin," Linder said. "I think it came from a large dealer.
"Most likely, you're lucky to get a gram or a couple grams off somebody, let alone 80."
Driver Megan Padal, 36, of Cleveland, was charged with one felony count of aggravated trafficking in a controlled substance. Her 7-year-old son was in the car with her, and he was released to his grandmother, according to Bellevue police.
Passenger Samuel Titchenell, 30, of Lakewood, was charged one felony count of possession of a controlled substance. Police allege he had a small amount of meth, which was enough for personal use, Linder said.
Authorities plan to seek more charges when the case is presented to a grand jury, Linder said.
Padal and Titchenell were taken to the Huron County Jail.
Bellevue police stopped Padal's car around 11:15 a.m. Wednesday on Ohio 113 on the east side of Bellevue in Huron County, according to Bellevue police and the Sandusky County Sheriff's Office.
Sgt. Tyi McCarley of Bellevue police had Bellevue police K-9 Lasso sniff around the outside of the vehicle, and the dog indicated there were drugs in the car, according to a statement from Bellevue police.
Authorities then searched the car. Padal pulled the heroin from her pants and gave it to police, Linder said.
Bellevue police plan to send the substance to the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for analysis, Linder said.
Padal gave conflicting statements to authorities about what she was planning to do with the heroin, Linder said. At one point, she said she was meeting someone in the area to drop off the heroin, he said.
mksmith@gannett.com
Twitter: @kristinasmithNM
Read or Share this story: http://ohne.ws/1ygnd5I


This bracelet features 8mm white jade stones strung together on ultra soft white cotton string with a silver lobster clasp on one end and silver angel charm + silver swarovski crystal drop pendant.
The Light Collection is a collection of bracelets with a single row of semi-precious stones, a Guardian Angel Charm on one end and a clasp on the other. It is fully adjustable to wear at any length. Simply attach the lobster clasp along any portion of the bracelet, between each stone. The Light Collection will make you feel protected, comforted and peaceful as if the light from the sun was wrapping it's arms around you in a big hug!
- Measure approximately 8" in length. Attach the lobster clasp anywhere along the bracelet length for a customized fit!
- The Guardian Angel Charm on the end of the bracelet is that of Archangel Michael who is a non-denominational angel who provides protection, courage and strength, provides clear answers to your questions as well as offering guidance through life changes. When you are wearing this bracelet you are able to adjust the sizing, allowing the charm to dangle. This is meant to be able to grab onto while you are wearing it whenever you need a hug, encouragement, protection or as a reminder to ask Archangel Michael for guidance or comfort.


After Disney announced their plans for official Star Wars canon, I knew I had to start reading again. The first one I read, Star Wars: A New Dawn, left a bit to be desired. While not entirely poor, it didn't quite grip me either. When Tarkin was the next book announced, I felt that this was going to be the book that was going to make me invested in the universe that Disney and Lucasfilm really wanted to make. Fortunately I can say that I was correct in my assumption, as James Luceno proved that he can duplicate the success from his last Star Wars novel: Darth Plageous.
Grand Moff Tarkin was first shown in the original Star Wars film back in '77. Introduced as a man that could talk back to Vader, he was an effective, but ultimately one-note villain. We didn't get any context into his inner mind or character by the time the film was over. He gets blown up in the Death Star, and that's the end of it.
Tarkin explores the inner psyche of the man, and brings out the reason why his character thinks and acts as he does. The governance of law and fear in order to keep people in line are introduced and explained spectacularly through flashbacks to his youth and upbringing. This is an amazing aspect of the book due to the fact that it shows Tarkin as a much more charismatic and compelling character.
The other thing that this book accomplished exceedingly well is that it provides a viewpoint into the inner workings of the early empire and the agenda of Vader and the Emperor. The emperor, while still periodically checking into day to day dealings, secluded himself in mastering the dark side of the force in his personal cheers built on the remnants of the old Jedi temple. This leaves most of the governance and enforcement of the empire to Vader, and the collection of Moffs to run the day to day affairs. After a mysterious attack on an 'installation' under Tarkin's control, Vader and Tarkin team up to unearth a dissident cell operating under the guidance of someone with great influence. Trusting none other than themselves, they partake in a journey together in which they begin to respect each other, furthering the connection they finally establish in the first Star Wars movie.
The success of this book is that it really deepens the existing lore, as well as providing a glimpse into the direction Lucasfilm and Disney want to move the franchise towards. It's the idea that no matter which side of opposing factions a character is on, good and evil is only in context of what actions individuals take to achieve a particular end, the idea that villains can be just as charismatic as the good ones. The idea that power is not just in those that have the ability to manipulate the force, but also in those that have intelligence and charisma as well. Tarkin is an excellent glimpse into the Star Wars universe, and sets an inspiring tone for (hopefully) the future of the franchise.
A must read at a used or new price.


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Q: What happens with a domain name when the "Whois registration-expiration" date is reached? I'm interested in a domain-name (.com) that is about to expire. What happens when the registration-expiration date is reached?

A: After the expiration date is reached, usually the registrar (the entity that takes care of registering that domain and who associates it with you) keeps the domain on hold for 1~2 months (can be more or less), having you (the current owner) as the priority-subscriber/renewer during that time.
In other terms, the domain is not yours anymore (for instance the top-level-domains DNS delegations are not directed to your DNS entries) but only you may register/renew it.
After that grace period is over, registrars follow one of the following scenarios

*

*the domain is back to Nature, does not belong to anybody and anyone can register it from any registrar (the domain may simply be deleted)

*while the domain can be registered by anyone, the domain is kept on hold by the registrar who knows that domain is likely to be registered by someone else soon

*some registrars do that: if the domain is considered 'hot', after the grace period they may open a kind of auction, leaving the domain to the highest bid. For instance if you own nature.com and you don't renew it, it is likely that such an interesting domain will find plenty of buyers, and the registrar may want to make the highest amount of money from it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Question: What is the pin code of Howly, Howly, Barpeta, ASSAM?
Answer: The pin code (a.k.a zip code) of Howly, Howly, Barpeta, ASSAM is 781316.
Question: Is the postal code, zip code and pin code same for Howly?
Answer: Yes, the postal code, zip code and pin code are the same thing and it is same for Howly i.e. 781316.
Question: What is the full address for this pin 781316?
Answer: The full address for pin 781316 is Howly, Howly, Barpeta, ASSAM.
Question: What is the head office of Howly?
Answer: The head office of Howly is Barpeta H.O.
Question: What is the sub-office of Howly?
Answer: The sub-office of Howly is NA.
Question: What is the contact number of Howly?
Answer: The contact number of Howly is 03666-289420.
Question: What is the latitude of Howly?
Answer: Currently no latitude information available for Howly post office.
Question: What is the longitude of Howly?
Answer: Currently no longitude information available for Howly post office.
Question: 781316 pin code is of which area?
Answer: The 781316 pin code belongs to Howly area.
Question: What language people speak in Howly, Howly, Barpeta, ASSAM?
Answer: People use Hindi And Others language to communicate with each other in Howly, Howly, Barpeta, ASSAM.
Question: How to contact Howly post office?
Answer: Either you can visit their office at Howly, Howly, Barpeta, ASSAM address or you can contact them at the following contact number.
Question: How and where you can use 781316 pin code?
Answer: you can send and receive emails at the given address using 781316 pin code. It makes it easy for the post offices to deliver the things at exact address quickly.


Stripped of everything, the 48 survivors scavenge what they can from the plane for their survival. Some panic. Some pin their hopes on rescue. A few find inner strength they never knew they had-like Kate who, with no medical training, suddenly finds herself suturing the doctor's wounds. The band of friends, family, enemies and strangers must work together against the cruel weather and harsh terrain. But the intense howls of mysterious creatures stalking the jungle fill them all with fear. Fortunately, thanks to the calm leadership of quick-thinking Jack and level-headed Kate, they have hope. But even heroes have secrets, as the survivors will come to learn.