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Team M.E.C.H.A.
Author: Chris Meadows
Email: robotech@eyrie.org
A series featuring Mike, Summer, Adam Douglas, Lincoln Douglas, Sarah Conner, Ariella Conner, Robert, Ray Sterling, and Dr. Odd Science, who make up Team M.E.C.H.A. Team M.E.C.H.A. uses Cyclones, hardsuits, Bahamodes, and other anime-type mecha. The story basically deals with their heroic deeds, and includes crossovers with Spectrum, Space Moose, Force Ten, and others, as well as a spin-off miniseries, "On the Care and Feeding of Unicorns." The style is more serious than some Superguy tales, less so than others, sometimes with subtle (or not-so-subtle) parody.
First Arc (#1-11): Team M.E.C.H.A. began in mid-1993, when Mike and his sister Summer stumbled upon a former top-secret government lab in the Ozark woods near a friend's house. Because Summer was a superguy fangirl, they figured that the best way to meet superguys would be to become a superteam themselves—and so Mike made up the name Team M.E.C.H.A. as something that looked neat in print and sounded cool to say—despite not actually standing for anything. He used the base's CAD/CAM facilities to manufacture mecha from his favorite anime to use as crime-fighting equipment.
Not having any real idea how to go about getting in touch with the other heroes, Team M.E.C.H.A. staged several robberies that they foiled themselves, for the purpose of gaining publicity. It didn't seem to do much good, though; eventually, they set out to fly up to Seattle for the Team Cynical/Awesome Force softball game, but were shot down en route by Dr. Sebastian Zwarghoff, a mad scientist who would become their nemesis. While freeing the small Nevada town of Garrett Falls from his dominion, Mike and Summer met Adam Douglas, Lincoln Douglas, and Sarah Conner, who would join their team after the battle was over.
Second Arc (#12-22)—the Odd Science Convention: After returning home to Missouri, the newly-augmented Team M.E.C.H.A. decided to take in the First Annual Odd Science convention, where a great deal of superscience and ubertech are on display—after all, they might learn something. At the convention, they met Dr. Anthony McLaren, who had a display of silvery fluid nanites in a tank; they also met the newly-arrived Spectrum, who was shilling for his friend Dr. Hans K. Cheef's not-quite-functional suit of armor.
The convention was subsequently attacked by mobsters, who wanted to get their hands on a hyperdrive engine being displayed there. Shots went wild, the hyperdrive engine was hit and splashed with nanites, and Summer rocketed up into the sky to get it to a safe distance before it can go critical. The resulting hyperspatial explosion fused Summer, the nanites, and her hardsuit, giving her shapeshifting powers.
It seemed that the mobster was not the only one who had designs on the convention, however; Anime Freak, Marie the Invid, and a squad of Zoomers also hit the place, and Robotech defender Ray Sterling thought it best to join forces with Team M.E.C.H.A. to fight them. Also joining forces was Space Moose.
In the chaos, Dr. McLaren was captured by the Invid, and Mike and the team had to go and rescue him. After they had retrieved him, McLaren revealed that he had told the Invid a false name so they would not know his real identity—and that his true name was Dr. Odd Science.
Third Arc (#23-30)—She Blinded Me With Science: After everyone had settled down from the events of the Convention, Dr. Science and Ray Sterling decided to join Team M.E.C.H.A. for a while—Dr. Science wanted to study Summer's new nanite symbiosis more closely, and Ray didn't really have anything better to do. Dr. Zwarghoff broke out of the Hard to Get Out Of Place, causing Team M.E.C.H.A. to have to help catch all the prisoners it released, and proceeded to invade and take over Team M.E.C.H.A.'s base (where he had formerly worked for the government on a Grunion-Buster-related research project) for the purpose of cranking out an army of robotic drones. Summer, while learning how to use (and angsting about) her new abilities, helped the rest of the team stop them—most notably by using a device Dr. Science created to blind their sensors. That is to say, she blinded them with Science.
Fourth Arc (#31-35, & associated episodes of Spectrum, Space Moose, Marie, Crapshoot, etc.)—Bob City Megacrossover: This plot involved Team M.E.C.H.A. and friends meeting in Bob City to fight the Mighty Muddy Power Grangers. There really wasn't much more plot to it than any typical episode of Dragonball Z, and at the moment I can't even remember why we decided to meet there in the first place. Along the way, mistakes were made, the fundamental nature of Bob City was misunderstood or ignored, and Rob Furr was annoyed in extremis at the authorial coalition, leading him to declare the entire thing apocryphal. As such, it's really not even worth worrying about synopsizing. Just take it as read that Team M.E.C.H.A. and various members of other series got to know each other better, and fought the Grangers together using a combining team of Bahamode motorcycles called Bahamode Sigma. Or didn't.
First Intermission Arc (OTCAFOU #1-12)—On the Care and Feeding of Unicorns: Not actually a Team M.E.C.H.A. numbered series, this miniseries followed Sarah Conner as she was subjected to a case of mistaken identity and kidnapped back to the small central-European nation of Terrania, where an evil Baron wanted to steal the throne, and had imprisoned the living symbol of the nation, a unicorn, in the hope of stealing its power to do this. Over the course of the miniseries, Sarah made many new friends—including her long-lost twin sister, Ariella Conner, and Robert the thief, Ariella's fiancee. And Scholarman, whom Ariella contacted to help them return from America to Terrania. In the end, Sarah called in Team M.E.C.H.A. for a plane ride home, with Scholarman as their honored guest.
Fifth Arc (#36-43; Force Ten #24-25)—It's the Swing: In order to create a new suit of Ginsu armor, Superuser visited Team M.E.C.H.A., and happened to be in their base when the call came in from Sarah Conner in Terrania, asking for a ride home for herself and Scholarman. Ariella and Robert decided to come along, also. Adam Douglas had been acting slightly peculiar lately; upon learning there were mages in the plane he became downright sullen, ranting against the evils of magic and its users. Subsequently, he and Sarah had a falling out, and then Adam browbeat Link into letting him out of detention so he could escape on board a Cyclone. As he rode away, Adam flashed back to his youth, when his mother had been killed by a magic-user.
Troubled by what had happened, Mike contacted Spectrum, then went to ask Adam's father, Fairbanks Douglas, for help. Sarah Conner continued learning magic from Ariella, then they went shopping with Summer, just in time to encounter Force Ten and help them fight That Other News Network and the Invid.
Mike searched more for Adam Douglas, and Sarah and Ariella did a bit of divination work of their own. Summer, while experimenting more with her powers, heard the Radio Free Hero transmission that signalled the dawn of the impending Industrial Revolution. Superuser finished getting what he came for, and headed home.
Sixth Arc (#44-50, Industrial Revolution Battle Royale, etc.)—The Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution was a major arc in the Superguy universe, touching and drawing together characters from almost every series. It built upon a prior series by Gary Olson, Songs of Darkness , in which his vampire mage character Radian nearly destroyed the world. In the Industrial Revolution, a group of people decided to eliminate the potential threat to the world by eliminating the mages. This group included Bulletproof, Spandex Babe, Unorthodox Lass, Ginsu World Class, Spectrum, and Adam Douglas, among others. It was very much Superguy's equivalent of the Civil War, pitting hero against hero.
Team M.E.C.H.A.'s involvement was especially thorny, as one of its members and one of its staunchest allies (Spectrum) were on the other side. The arc began with Summer consulting the other members of the computer intelligence community and tracking Adam Douglas to Austin, Texas, where the Teen Team mage Deckmaster had just gotten a great deal of bad publicity for attacking Rush Limbaugh. Team M.E.C.H.A. arrived in time to prevent Adam from shooting him, but were not able to prevent him from getting away.
Deckmaster and Ariella were subsequently kidnapped and taken to Bob City, but Summer managed to stow away aboard the getaway truck. Later, she slipped into the Revolutionaries' prison to free Ariella, Deckmaster, and Shadebeam, who had also been taken prisoner. At the same time, Mike confronted Adam on the streets of Bob City, and took several gatling gun bullets through the chest for his pains.
The rest of Team M.E.C.H.A. participated in the climactic battle of the Industrial Revolution, whose events are mostly outside the purview of this synopsis; Deckmaster ended up getting killed (though not by Adam). The Revolution was broken and ended.
Afterward, as Mike was recovering in a hospital bed, Spectrum came by to apologize. As they prepared to head home, they found Adam's Cyclone and all his weapons, left by their jet with a similar note of apology.
After they got home, Mike announced he was leaving the team. Without him to lead, the rest of the team also decided to depart—Ariella, Robert, and Sarah to Terrania to plan the royal wedding, Ray Sterling to go back to Detroit to see if his friends there had finally found him a way home, and Summer to join the Teen Team in Austin. Link and Dr. Science elected to stay in the base and work on research. Thus resolved, they parted, pledging to meet one more time to fly to Terrania for the wedding.
And so Team M.E.C.H.A. went on hiatus.
Second Intermission Arc (Teen Team Summer Special, Sarah #1-2, Adam #1-5, Mike #1-15)—Interludes: These arcs cover what happened to the various Team M.E.C.H.A. members during the time they were not together as Team M.E.C.H.A.
While staying with the Teen Team, Summer entered the computer program Phobos (Mason Kramer) had created and gave it life and sentience...and Jenny, the computer intelligence Teen Team and Team M.E.C.H.A. would thereafter share, was born. She had a brief crush on her "father," but soon got over it.
Sarah Conner noticed the two people who had kidnapped her in the Care and Feeding arc. They turned out to have been covert agents for hire to "the Terranian royal family," and so Sarah set them to the task of finding the Terranian Thieves' Guild. After they found it, she went down there to give Robert a pep talk and fetch him back to the castle. Two of the thieves, Clifton and Brody, grumbled about her coming into the Guild, and decided to rob the royal wedding...with the help of Superguy's first arch-villain, Flatphoot.
Adam Douglas wandered the countryside, getting guidance from a Catholic priest, then meeting a talking dog and wolf who turned out to be shamanic archetypes. They noted that he had an aptitude for shamanic magic, and offered him a choice between them. Although reluctant at first, Adam finally acquiesced, and began to learn. In the end, he returned to Terrania for the wedding, and a reunion with Sarah.
Mike, back at college, soon found that he wasn't meant to leave the heroing life behind after all. A young man named Larry Thomas, frustrated to the nth degree by college bureaucracy and restrictions, went over the edge and declared himself to be the College Anarchist. He struck the campus with computer hacks, smoke bombs, prank pipe bombs, and soda bottle dry ice bombs, giving Mike something to think about before he headed off to the Terranian Wedding. When he returned, he found that the Anarchist had planted a dynamite device this time, and that his roommate Chris Meadows had sussed out his superheroic secret identity. Chris—helped by the USENET Oracle—pep-talked Mike back into starting to hero again, and Mike set out to track down the Anarchist.
The College Anarchist's next scheme involved planting six explosive devices in SMSU's Craig Hall. Not having the time to disarm them physically, he used directed electromagnetic pulses generated by his Bahamode's sensory system to fry their detonators—but managed to fry his bike at the same time. As the Anarchist planned more mayhem, Link and Dr. Science brought Mike a new Bahamode mechabike, the Bahamode X.N., which featured improved sensory equipment and the first use of Dr. Science's new repair nanites in the field.
The next day, Mike received an anonymous tip about the Anarchist's next target. The tip led him quite coincidentally to arrange a meeting with Larry Thomas, who planned an ambush. However, the ambush was deflected when something large and furry tackled Mike out of the way of the blast, taking injuries itself. It turned out to be a large anthropomorphic squirrel, who subsequently turned into a human girl—named Lorrie—while he was bandaging her wounds. She had been a normal college student, until someone had kidnapped her and changed her. She subsequently fell in with the squirrels on the SMSU campus, who actually ran things there.
For the next few weeks, the Anarchist was quiet...planning his next move. After a bit of research, he found his way to the junkyard outside of town where the defunct Zoomers left over from the Odd Science Convention battle had been scrapped. He proceeded to use his technical expertise, and schematics photocopied from old magazines, to restore a few to functionality. Lincoln received a call from Pinto Sally of the Grangers, and they caught up on old times, and Mike called Summer to ask her to do some research for him.
The College Anarchist went to the mall to do some shopping, and came out to find his bike had been taken by security for being parked in the wrong spot. This so enraged him that he decided to use his Zoomers to level the mall before doing anything to SMSU with them. Meanwhile, Summer and Jenny were able to track down the identity of the Anarchist, Larry Thomas, and asked Defense Squad/DefCo's Jake to track him down physically for them. The satellite imagery showed him and his Zoomers in the junkyard. Summer immediately let Mike know who and where he was, and that he was heading for the Battlefield Mall; Mike asked Link to meet him there, and went looking for help back at the dorm. He found it not in the form of Chris Meadows—who was too worried about insurance to dream of assaying superheroism—but in Chris's more-eager-than-competent friend Joe Moore. As Larry's Zoomer army invaded the mall, Mike declared Team M.E.C.H.A. to be reformed, and he and Joe raced to the mall. Here, the miniseries ended, to be picked back up in Team M.E.C.H.A. #51.
Third Intermission Arc (TWA #1-4)—The Terranian Wedding Album: This took place in the early part of the Mike miniseries. Not too much of overall plot importance took place; the major events were that Robert and Ariella got married, Flatphoot tried to set into motion a fiendish plot to kill all the wedding guests and rob the Terranian treasury, and Adam and Sarah Conner finally reconciled. Other important events happened for other Authors' series. Beyond that, the plot is largely self-contained, without as much bearing on the rest of the Team M.E.C.H.A. storylines.
Seventh Arc (#51-59)—Reunion & Recruitment: Over episodes #51-53, Mike, Joe, and Link managed to defeat the College Anarchist. Lorrie pleaded with them not to turn him in, to let him try to turn over a new leaf—because it turned out her full name was Lorrie Thomas, and she was his brother. Mike reluctantly agreed. Also at this time, the new owner of the Battlefield Mall (who had been in the mall during the Zoomer battle) ceded Team M.E.C.H.A. shop space to use as a local base of operations.
The next few episodes after that involved Summer's return to the team—she got fed up and lonely at the Teen Team being out of the universe for months, and ended up serendipitously teleporting home. Phobos soon followed her, needing somewhere to go as the Teen Team followed Team M.E.C.H.A.'s example in breaking up for a while. After that, all the crazy paranorms in Springfield heard there was a hero team reforming and showed up seeking admission. Mike finally decided to create a new affiliated team, the Springfield Hero Irregular Team, so that he had a place to put them all that kept them out of his hair.
Finally, much to Team M.E.C.H.A.'s surprise, Pinto Sally became fed up with the rest of the Grangers' plans to destroy Team M.E.C.H.A. and kill her beau, Lincoln Douglas. In the end, she left her cousins entirely and joined Team M.E.C.H.A.
Fourth Intermission Arc (Irregulars #1-3)—The Irregulars: In this brief mini, the Irregulars have their first outing, to stop a would-be used car hijacker. To everyone's surprise, they manage somehow to get the job done.
Eighth Arc (#60-78, Dvandom Force #53-61)—The Grand Tour: At the height of my net fiction career, I was writing many stories in multiple universes. I had the bright idea...why not do a Grand Tour and cross Team M.E.C.H.A. over with all of them (plus a few other series by friends, such as Philip Moyer or Dave Van Domelen). That way, I figured, I could introduce Superguy to them, and them to Superguy, and maybe cross-pollinate the writing pool a little.
In theory, it seemed like a good idea at the time. In practice, it kept growing bigger and bigger (one episode stretched all the way to 9 parts, covering three entire archive files!) and ended up going on practically forever. (Just short of 11 months, comparing the dates on episodes #60 and #78.)
The series ties into the prior arc of Dvandom Force—involving DeFacto, a villain from the future who had travelled back in time to try to assure his own creation, failed, and now sought a way to regain the power that was formerly his. To this end, he provided the remaining Grangers with additional technology to build new giant robots, a scientist (Dr. Zwarghoff) to help build them, and Wayne the Invid, to help drive them. A dimensional teleportation system was secretly built into the Grangers' robot, to zap Team M.E.C.H.A. to the LNH Looniverse so that DeFacto could get his hands on them. However, Bahamode Sigma—whose neural upgrades had ended up linking everyone within it together into a new sentient mental gestalt—was able to turn the beam back on the Grangers, sending them to the Looniverse instead.
Team M.E.C.H.A.—plus Spectrum, Phobos, and Sally, who insisted on coming along—used Summer's own hyperspatial capabilities to follow them...but ended up getting blown a little off-course. They found themselves in the universe of alt.pub.dragons-inn, a fantasy shared-universe newsgroup, where they were helped by friendly natives to find their way to the next world. (These natives included Andrea and Sheryl, a pair of human/unicorns, one of whom who would subsequently appear in the Superguy universe.) Afterward, they found their way to alt.pub.havens-rest (which was in those days a science-fiction shared-universe newsgroup, not the chat group it is today), and onward to other worlds. After a bit of poking around, they found their way to Dave Van Domelen's RoboMACs: Exodus setting, then RoboMACs: 2163, which had crossed over with the Looniverse before—meeting counterparts of themselves in both places. In the process of foiling a MACE Empire (the villains of 2163) plot to deplete the world's air, they crossed over into the Looniverse at last, finally meeting up with Dvandom Force to fight DeFacto. They also ended up meeting a second Doctor Zwarghoff—apparently an LNH-universe counterpart to the Superguy version.
When the battle was over, the vanquished Grangers and Zwarghoff were sent back to the Superguy world, followed by Team M.E.C.H.A. and the Looniverse's Zwarghoff (who, unbeknownst to the others, had traded places with his Superguy counterpart), and Errand Boy, who would be retrieving the advanced technology files Zwarghoff had been given. The villains arrived on schedule...but Team M.E.C.H.A. did not, having been diverted one last time to Philip Moyer's Serendipity universe for an encounter there. By the time they got home, Zwarghoff had managed to snag a good portion of the files and vanish.
Ninth Arc (#79-84)—You Must Be an Angel: Dr. Odd Science took a trip to some old stomping grounds—the giant super-tech landfill in Fresh Kills, New York, to search through junk for useful gadgets and parts, and to unwind after the stress of the Grand Tour. What he found was a cybernetic head and torso that bore an odd resemblance to Summer. He repaired her, put her back together, and named her Lita—then tried to keep her from finding out what Team M.E.C.H.A. did so she wouldn't do it herself and get hurt, out of a perhaps misplaced sense of parental concern.
Shortly thereafter, a group of terrorists and Zoomers under the command of one "PenumbralPerson (TM)" held up an 18-wheeler transporting Fleer bubble gum. Team M.E.C.H.A. went out to engage, and Lita snuck onto the plane to join them. It turned out to be good that she did, for only she had the speed to deal with the upgraded Zoomers PenumbralPerson (TM) was fielding. Defeated, PP fled, and Lita decided to join Team M.E.C.H.A.
Subsequent examination of a captured crate of the gum revealed that it was giving off remarkable quantities of hyperspatial energy, and could thus be used as a power source. Dr. Science continued to try to talk Lita out of joining Team M.E.C.H.A., inadvertantly revealing that what had happened to Summer had been more his fault than was previously suspected. After realizing how powerful the gum could be in the wrong hands, Team M.E.C.H.A. raced to the Joplin warehouse where the gum was going—but arrived too late, as it turned out that PP had set up an ambush for them, complete with pink-hardsuited Bubble Gum Troopers.
In the battle that followed, Summer took several hits; it took the M.E.C.H.A. jet crashing through the ceiling to intervene to turn the tide in their favor. PenumbralPerson (TM) and his troops managed to escape. Following up what Dr. Science had said earlier, Lita asked Jenny and Phobos to find out what was on his nanotech research disc. Phobos snagged it, Jenny had the ALU's JOEL decrypt it, and they read through the files.
What the files revealed, Jenny told the team at a subsequent meeting, was that Dr. Science had not actually created his nanites at all. It came out via flashback that they actually tied back into Kopikat, a robotic member of Dvandom Force whom they had encountered in the LNH crossover. Dr. Science had found them when they flowed through a crack in the shattered space-time continuum into the Fresh Kills junkyard. He had only begun to suspect their true origins when they had passed through the Grand Tour and he'd had a chance to examine Kopikat's. He finally gave in and allowed Lita to join Team M.E.C.H.A. After the revelations of this last episode, Summer and Lita decided to de-stress by joining the Road Race from Hell (TM), a megacrossover that would end up never being finished.
(Note: PenumbralPerson (TM) was a parody of Superguy Author Jesse "ShadowyWriter" Taylor; Lita was a homage/steal from the Battle Angel Alita manga/Gunnm anime.)
Tenth Arc (#85-97)—A Summer to Remember: This somewhat convoluted arc actually combined a couple of storylines. There was one about the two scientists whose technomagic machine had been somewhat responsible for Lorrie's squirrelification. Dog showed up and asked Adam to investigate the magical disturbances; the scientists kidnapped one of Chris Meadows's brothers, Aaron, and subjected him to experimentation. Adam Douglas and Alex Meadows (the other brother) investigated, and found the trail crossed paths with PenumbralPerson (TM). In the end, Team M.E.C.H.A. went to the rescue.
Meanwhile, PenumbralPerson (TM) continued his attacks on Team M.E.C.H.A., and continued getting beaten. Finally, he wrote what would be the ultimate computer virus, to take care of Team M.E.C.H.A. once and for all. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Then a left-over from the LNH crossover, the Master of the Net, noticed PP's problems, and stepped in to offer his help. With that help, the virus was able to kill Summer, after she'd shoved Jenny into a physically separated backup computer. Just about everybody on Team M.E.C.H.A. and the Mob angsted for a while. Meanwhile, Jenny discovered that she could resurrect Summer, at the cost of her own life. She did so, and everybody (including JOEL, Jenny's significant other) angsted some more.
Summer found herself in a nightmarescape, fighting the last remnants of the virus that had been intermingled with her code when Jenny had revived her. She was helped by a mysterious individual named Chet, and at last woke up. The virus was expelled from her body in the form of a small trickle of nanites, which took with them Chet and what remained of Jenny. These nanites subsequently absorbed Lita, and everybody angsted still more. The new persona operating these nanites, calling itself Eris, subsequently entered the TMHQ computer and ripped PenumbralPerson (TM)'s mind out of his body, and nobody angsted at all; the Master of the Net subsequently took possession of PP's body.
Summer went after Eris, and after a bit of physical and cyberspatial battle, was able to put her down, and reconstruct Jenny, Chet, and PenumbralPerson (TM) out of the leavings. Chet turned out to be a RoboMAC named Comlink from the RoboMACs: 2163 setting, whom Summer had absorbed, believing him to be defunct. PenumbralPerson (TM) turned out to be...a character from the Author's Altiverse area of Superguy, who was hastily retconned into being a girl named Penny from another universe. Finally, Summer discovered Lita's head and torso unit floating in her subspace and hastily pulled it back out so Dr. Science could bring her back to full function.
The Master of the Net, meanwhile, learned that the rest of the computer intelligences in the world didn't take kindly to what he'd done to Summer and Jenny...in a rather final way.
And then, four years passed...
Eleventh Arc (#98-119)—Of Uncertain Vintage: Four years after prior events, the mysterious, cursed, and incredibly puce Hopeless Diamond was exhibited as part of a Smithsonian tour in the Battlefield Mall...and it had attracted the attention of a gang of thieves led by the mysterious redhead Sherry Chaser, who bore an equally mysterious resemblance to Summer. After their first attempt to snag it was foiled by the Irregulars, Sherry and her gang (technician Geoffrey Carlisle, gambler Kevin Slater, and Kevin's younger sister Ellie) managed to steal the diamond and get away in an armored car. The Irregulars, Summer, and Comlink (now embodied in a transforming Dodge Neon) followed in hot pursuit...and were met by several transforming helicopter gunships, as well as a cargo chopper that picked up Sherry's gang's getaway armored car (but not before Unnoticeable Man had managed to drop his comlink in it). Ending a hiatus from the team, Mike raced to the rescue on his Bahamode battle-bike, but wasn't able to prevent Sherry's helicopter from escaping with the diamond.
When it turned out that the helicopter could be tracked by the comlink's carrier signal, Mike called in the other members of Team M.E.C.H.A.: Adam and Sarah (in Terrania), Link (in Oklahoma, with Pinto Sally), and Joe Moore (who was dragged from behind the counter of Domino's Pizza with reluctance) and they kitted up to head to South America in pursuit of the helicopter, leaving the Irregulars to hold the fort. Meanwhile, Sherry's gang arrived at a hidden base, where Colonel Felder (who had worked with Dr. Zwarghoff early in his career) met them and relieved them of the diamond. Despite Sherry's wishes to return to the USA, Felder assigned them to quarters in the base in case he had further need of them...and then it was revealed to the reader that Zwarghoff was, indeed, behind this operation.
Perhaps a trifle rusty from those years out of the harness, Team M.E.C.H.A. was captured almost as soon as they dropped on Zwarghoff's South American base. One of the transforming black helicopters turned out to have an intelligence of its own on-board, called K-flight, and it assisted in the capture. Except for Summer, the other members of the team vanished in mysterious flashes of puce light.
In a mysterious computerized control room somewhere, Zwarghoff activated puce controls to set some fiendish plan into motion. The Irregulars watched in surprise as a puce force dome suddenly came into being over the entire Ozark region.
Meanwhile, Sherry and company had decided to break out of their quarters and see what was going on elsewhere in the base. They came upon the soldiers taking Summer to a cell, and followed them, just in time to overhear Zwarghoff revealing to Summer that Sherry was her biological sister, and that an explanation could be found in the government's Grunion Buster files. Sherry tried to break Summer out, but Summer told her she couldn't leave if Zwarghoff had the rest of the team, and to get Unnoticeable Man's comlink from their armored car and get in touch with the Irregulars in Springfield.
Zwarghoff returned, and took Summer through a transmat to another place, where the other members of Team M.E.C.H.A. were stored in cryogenic suspension. He forced Summer to enter a glass sphere and interface with computer components within it so that he could use her processing power to automate control of his helicopter drones. A woman calling herself Keri appeared, revealed herself to be the mind inside the black helicopter called K-flight, and merged with Summer.
Sherry and friends got to the van, retrieved the comlink and such equipment as they could carry, and looked for an exit...pursued by Felder's men until Geoffrey accidentally managed to summon the Team M.E.C.H.A. jet with the Team M.E.C.H.A. comlink. Once aboard, they headed for Springfield, where they met up with Phobos, Mental, Roger, and Dreamweaver from the Mob.
Comlink discovered he was tumbling through outer space, an environment in which he was not designed for maneuverability. He managed to jury rig a thrust system out of propellants for missiles and grenades that got him to a Soviet spy satellite, whose thrusters he used to head for the object in a higher orbit that was projecting the force field.
Dr. Science revealed to the Irregulars that he had found the puce Hopeless Diamond could be used to project a puce force field, through which nothing could enter or leave save by puce transmat. Subsequently, he realized that only one person, Zwarghoff, had the technology to create that force field...and that Zwarghoff knew where TMHQ was and had long wanted to get his hands on its CAD/CAM mecha-assembly systems. He and Jenny hastily instituted scuttling procedures for the headquarters, and advised Lorrie to do the same at the Battlefield Mall outpost.
As Zwarghoff's forces teleported into and secured Springfield, the Irregulars made their way to a hidden location in the storm tunnels of Springfield, where they were met by a Dr. Science riding in a pink Dodge Neon that turned into a bank of computer consoles with Jenny in it. Dr. Science began working on a secret weapon that would turn the tide of battle against Zwarghoff.
Zwarghoff took possession of TMHQ and began upgrading the computers for the next step of his plan. Meanwhile, Keri revealed to Summer that Zwarghoff had torn her out of her human body...and was holding it hostage against her good behavior. Summer pointed out that the MAC copying process would have left her body either brain-damaged beyond salvation or still occupied. Enraged, Keri merged with Summer again.
Sherry's gang and the Mob members worked out a way of getting through the force field, and engaged countless helicopters in a battle that destroyed the M.E.C.H.A. jet but provided cover for them all (sans Mental and Roger, who stayed outside the dome to coordinate) to slip through undetected. Meanwhile, Comlink arrived at an odd-looking space station, used his comm laser to hack into its systems, and found a strange text-adventure-gaming-based interface, which he realized he could use to free Team M.E.C.H.A. from cryogenic stasis. He did this...but was then booted out of the system as Team M.E.C.H.A. awoke.
Dr. Science revealed his creation to the Irregulars et al: a neutrino sieve force-field belt, capable of about four minutes of performance. Sherry field-tested it against some soldiers and helicopter drones, and prounced it workable, and three more belts were created for Phobos, Geoffrey, and Kevin. Sherry's gang set out to cause distractions around town so that Phobos could slip into the Battlefield Mall outpost to get parts for more belts. While in the outpost, Phobos overheard discussion of plans to use Springfield's population as fodder for the destructive scanning process that created robot minds. Upon returning to the temporary HQ, they decided that the best course of action was to try to take out the Team M.E.C.H.A. assembly line before it could start cranking out helidrones. Dr. Science and Phobos created more force-armor units, including customized ones for the Irregulars, and they all left on their mission.
Mike, Joe, Adam, Link, Sarah, and Lita awoke to find themselves inside live-action versions of computer games they'd played in the past. Sarah managed to crash the one she and Lita were in, then release the others from their games. After some exploring, they discovered that they were in the Gameworld satellite, a space station theme park for live-action gaming that had gone out of business only a few months after it had been founded. The command decks were locked down, but Link discovered a possible trapdoor in the computer code that could be used to gain access—by challenging the newer computer to a game of StarAtegy. However, they got more than they bargained for in the form of Keri, who used Summer's nanitic powers to override the game's rules. Fortunately, Summer's nanites were also rebelling against Keri, and they granted Summer the power to fight her. After Summer took a cannon blast that had been meant for Keri, Keri was convinced to work with Summer.
On earth, the Irregulars' distraction and Sherry's penetration mission was going well...until Sherry's gang were caught by a troop of Felder's soldiers. However, right when things looked their bleakest, Felder's soldiers and the helicopter drones started winking out in puce flashes of light. Summer and Keri had taken over the puce transmat system. At the same time, Dreamweaver and Unnoticeable Man captured Felder.
Mike and Link, released from the StarAtegy game, made their way to the upper level, where they confronted Zwarghoff. Zwarghoff revealed that he never had any Looniverse counterpart—the "counterpart" had actually been a ten-years-older version of himself who had arrived, traded with his older self, spent nine years in the Looniverse, and then jumped ten years back in time to shortly before Team M.E.C.H.A. arrived in the Looniverse. While he was distracted by his exposition, Summer snuck out of the nanite tank and knocked the gun out of his hand—but Zwarghoff used an emergency escape transponder and transmatted away. As the rest of Team M.E.C.H.A. arrived in the command center, a call came in from an approaching starship: Jeffrey Pournelle, the former administrator of Gameworld, was about to arrive in response to an automated message Team M.E.C.H.A.'s escape had generated earlier.
After that, it was all over but the cleanup: Pournelle and Team M.E.C.H.A. hosted a party aboard Gameworld, where it was revealed that Team M.E.C.H.A. had been granted permission to use it as a new headquarters; Sherry and Summer discussed sisterhood, then Sherry's gang headed off into the sunset; Dr. Zwarghoff found the Curse of the Hopeless Diamond had struck, and he was the new Generalissimo and President for Life of Panama; and Comlink discovered he was stuck in space without a way down.
Team M.E.C.H.A. Journal Summaries:
Team M.E.C.H.A. Journal was an anthology series set up to handle side-stories and adventures that didn't take place in the same chronological frame of reference as the main series. Some of them were silly, some were serious; all served a purpose of some kind.
TMJ #1: Phobos and Summer exposit about various things in the wake of Team M.E.C.H.A.'s decision to reform.
TMJ #2-3 (Driving Lessons): Chris Meadows, the analog of the Author, is having trouble learning to drive, and Joe Moore (who is watching the base while the rest of Team M.E.C.H.A. is gone on their Grand Tour) helpfully uses the base's machinery to turn his parents' Reliant into a transforming robot car...which Chris inadvertently activates later that day. It takes the intervention of the Irregulars to sort the whole thing out.
TMJ #4-7 (The Return of Spectrum): In the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, Spectrum comes to Team M.E.C.H.A. because he needs a new suit of armor and they're the only ones who had the designs on file. After Spectrum is lectured by essentially the entire team—even his former partner in revolution, Adam Douglas—the team finally decides to go ahead and make a new and improved model for him.
TMJ #8 (The Odd Phobos Summer Special): Summer tries some new shapeshifting tricks, and Phobos discovers a startling revelation about his powers.
TMJ #9-12 (Trouble in Terrania): Flatphoot returns to Terrania, to take revenge for his defeat in the Terranian Wedding Album by stealing its oil and polluting its river. Robert ropes Clifton and Brody into infiltrating his base so that they can bring him down.
TMJ #13 (The Baker's Dozen): Pedestrian Man and Lorrie Thomas are in the local branch of the St. Louis Bread Company when it is taken over by an odd group of machine-gun toting terrorists calling themselves the Baker's Dozen. Since Team M.E.C.H.A. is still out of the universe, and most of the Irregulars are nowhere to be found, she calls Chris Meadows's brothers, Aaron and Alex, who hasten to the scene to help out. Afterward, Lorrie and P-Man decide to enter the Road Race from Hell (TM).
TMJ #14-18 (All About Andrea): This arc goes into detail about the life of Andrea, a mysterious character who first appeared in the Terranian Wedding Album. It's a very strange coincidence, but the Andrea that Mike Escutia invented for that segment was a dead ringer for the character by the same name that I wrote about in alt.pub.dragons-inn. The coincidence was too great not to take advantage of...so I wrote this arc to explain how and why she had migrated from the a.p.d-i world of Generica to the world of Superguy. I intended to follow this up at some point with a tale of how Sheryl, her companion from that world, followed, but never got around to it.
TMJ #19 (Unnoticeable Man vs. the Undefeatable Army of Silence): This episode was actually posted as a joke, tying in with various other authors' joke posts of essentially blank "episodes" as a parody of the comic book publishers' silent month (in which all their comic books told stories entirely without dialogue). Like the other episodes, this one was made up primarily of lots and lots of blank lines.
TMJ #20-22 (Historic Superguy: A Carmen Affair): In 1967, a young MIB Special Agent named Dale Michael Somerset (partner of and contemporary with a similarly young Special Agent named Richard Less) had an encounter with a mysterious master thief called Carmen of the Angels, or "Carmen Los Angeles." His encounter grew into an obsession that eventually led to marriage and three children: Sherry, Dale Jr., and June. However, in 1980, a mobster for whom Carmen once worked finally found where she was, and threatened her family. Dale went down to the mobster's headquarters to insure he would no longer be a threat, but was shot fatally in the process. Subsequently, Dale Jr. and June were placed in the Witness Relocation Program under mysterious circumstances and all records of their new identities expunged. The file on Somerset was later reclassified by Less as part of the Project Grunion-Buster files.
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Let's make next year different. We have a collective and intelligent voice that needs to be heard. We are the profession that educates every other profession, without education there are no doctors, lawyers or architects, no engineers, inventors or builders. We shape the lives of millions of people who ensure the infrastructure of society runs smoothly. We are now a chartered profession, with the same status as many other professions. We must begin to shape the policy, determine the strategy and define what we mean by good or outstanding in terms of learning, teaching and school effectiveness. Sometimes it seems that our profession is reactive and not proactive. We appear to allow those who are not directly involved in the day to day running of our schools and colleges to set the agenda and tell us what we should be doing linked to their understanding and views and not to the collective and well-informed clarity that is deeply held within the profession.
I am one of those passionate educators who is watching from my stance outside of the day to day tightly structured school framework. However, my position as Director of Learning Cultures allows me to see just how much the current situation is grinding teachers and their colleagues at all levels of the hierarchy down to the point where many are leaving the profession altogether. I do also see those who are starting to say, enough is enough, who are questioning the work-load, the long hours, the lack of care for their well-being and re-assessing their priorities; those who do not want to leave but are determined to see change happen.
My theme for this newsletter is to look at the essentials of learning and teaching that is the mortar that holds school effectiveness together and how through clear and effective planning, sustainable CPD and a collective dialogue across schools and their partners as to what we as a profession mean by an outstanding school we can begin to win back our rightful status as the profession of professions.
What evidence is there that what you plan is communicated effectively, delivered consistently and is measured to ensure impact and positive change?
This is the time when all of us are preparing for a brand new academic year, reviewing what has been achieved and defining the priorities for the next year and beyond. All too often planning is seen as an activity in itself; a job to do that can be developed and completed. It is the implementation of that plan that requires deep thought, highly effective delegation, clear and unambiguous communication and individuals working in teams who have the skills and resources to deliver. However, especially in schools, the day to day can get in the way and achieving the goals and the objectives linked to each priority can slip and other seemingly more important issues take over as priorities. The Education Endowment Foundation have undertaken some research into the whole issue of implementation in schools and earlier this year they produced a guidance report, Putting Evidence to Work: A schools guide to implementation.
Recommendation 1 (R1) Treat implementation as a process, not an event; plan and execute it in stages.
Recommendation 2 (R2) Create a leadership environment and school climate that is conducive to good implementation.
Recommendation 3 (R3) Define the problem you want to solve and identify appropriate programmes or practices to implement.
Recommendation 4 (R4) Create a clear implementation plan, judge the readiness of the school to deliver that plan, then prepare staff and resources.
Recommendation 5 (R5) Support staff, monitor progress, solve problems, and adapt strategies as the approach is used for the first time.
We have taken a long look at the detail behind each of the recommendations which are a narrative of what needs to be in place. We have used our own knowledge and expertise to develop a series of implementation strategies that lead to a clear focus on how to ensure the vision contained within the planning documentation is in fact realised and has a measurable impact on school improvement. The guide is a good starting-point; however, it does not focus on how leaders and managers in schools can effectively put these recommendations in place. This is not a criticism and is not what the report sets out to do. It is, however, exactly what we do.
There are several strands within the recommendations that echo with the coaching programmes and courses that we offer. Coaching is a culture that makes implementation and the acceptance of change manageable. (R1) The Leadership styles that create the environment for effective change management are those that are closely aligned to the skills a leader can adopt through the development of the influencing skills that come from learning how to coach. (R2) Developing a coaching culture focuses on how middle leaders drive change through their understanding of the vision and the part they play in achieving it. (R3) Clearly articulating the sense of urgency or area for improvement and working through a collective strategy for implementation is an integral part of an effective coaching culture. (R4) Where staff in teams and as individuals know their own strengths and areas for development linked to defined milestones for school, team and individual improvement there emerges a clear pathway for delivering the plan using available resources and assessing those that need to be developed or bought in. (R5) The opportunities for professional dialogue and open communication that are essential characteristics of a coaching culture provide the impetus for ensuring high quality risk assessment, the measurement of impact and clearly articulated success criteria. (R6) Every coaching framework or model focuses on the definition of a goal as a starting point, however, more importantly is defining what success will look like once that goal has been achieved and how that will manifest itself in qualitative and quantitative data analysis. in effect planning backwards.
We are in the process of developing a coaching toolkit for leaders who recognise the need to focus on how to successfully implement their plans in order to ensure successful outcomes that show evidence of positive impact and are sustainable over time. We would welcome schools who would like to pilot this approach which is closely linked to the coaching model that we have successfully embedded across schools here in the UK and internationally. To express an interest please complete the form on our Contact us page.
One highly effective way to manage workload, strengthen pupils' learning and ensure the content and knowledge is secure is to make sure that at each key stage and point of transfer pupils continue to learn, build on that learning and are able to make connections that knit their learning together seamlessly. OFSTED continue to criticise schools who do not communicate effectively with their partner schools at times of transition. The spotlight is on the move from year 6 to year 7 where the dip in performance is seen as the most pronounced. However, that dip is evident when pupils move from key stage 1 to 2 and is, of course, critical to allowing pupils to build on their basic skills and consolidate their learning in order that they can prepare for the challenges of curriculum content and skills development in key stage 2. Offsetting the well-researched dip in performance at times of transition will ultimately impact on how well pupils perform and will have an advantageous impact on their performance in tests and examinations.
We have been working with schools over several years, focusing on transition, building for them a staged process of effective communication, a shared dialogue about curriculum and pedagogy and creating innovative solutions for how best to create and implement a strategy that delivers seamless learning. It is not enough to simply focus on the pastoral process and an analysis of data. Join us at one of our transition training courses, the resources, materials and ideas that you will take away will improve how you plan and execute a dynamic and highly successful programme of transition.
In a recent speech to The Policy Exchange Think Tank where she was asked to talk about British Values 'The Ties that Bind'. She, once again, talked about her vision for how schools should deliver the curriculum. She also used the speech to draw out some of the very difficult conflicts that exist in the teaching of British Values in a country with a hugely varied and polarised society. She suggests that many see the British Values as they are set out by the Government as not British but universal in relation to fairness, balance and freedom of speech. She also points out that the curriculum as it is currently designed provides many opportunities to weave these values seamlessly into learning in subjects such as History, Geography, RE and Literature studies. There are many themes where democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance are an integral part of learning across subjects. British Values does not have to have a stand-alone place on the timetable. It does, however, need to be clearly defined as part of the intention linked to curriculum planning. Teachers also need to have the skills and knowledge themselves to teach the specific messages within the British Values framework. There is a document on the DfE website that suggests British Values should be taught as part of SMSC and OFSTED have created several pages within their handbook for schools related to the evidence that OFSTED look for when assessing the teaching of SMSC.
We have designed a new course that focuses on how to successfully embed British Values and SMSC within lessons, the wider curriculum and the community. We focus on what is meant by British Values, their core purpose and how schools across the spectrum from early years to post 16 can weave the principles into current curriculum themes and develop highly creative and interactive extra-curricular activities that will engage pupils and equip them with the skills they need to be tolerant, informed and law-abiding citizens or visitors to Britain.
Metacognition is "cognition about cognition", "thinking about thinking", "knowing about knowing", becoming "aware of one's awareness" and higher-order thinking skills".
Teaching is not just about the giving of our expertise, it is also about creating the right environment for pupils to know what it is that makes them learn and remember their learning. This is vital if they are to apply that learning in other contexts. We need to ensure that we give our pupils the opportunity to take charge of their learning and build a deeper awareness of how they learn. It is essential that the classroom is a place where pupils have the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of themselves and where they can reflect on what helped them to learn. There are many techniques that can support this but we need time and the skills ourselves as teachers to embed them. Pupils need opportunities to develop memory skills, learn how to draw concept maps and grow in confidence in their ability to read increasingly complex texts and understand them. Pupils should develop the skills of note taking, skimming, summary and precis. There should be time to rehearse and reinforce their learning and they should have opportunities for self-evaluation and self-testing. They need to learn how to be active listeners, ask deep questions, reflect with their peers and learn from their mistakes.
The content that is contained in the curriculum will never be retained unless many of these learning strategies are developed over time and where our pupils become unconsciously competent in their ability to "think about thinking" and "know about knowing". Developing these skills should be an integral part of a learning curriculum. The higher-level thinking skills that are essential for pupils to progress and achieve their full potential requires a clear and unambiguous focus on those metacognitive skills that knit our learning together. There is a lot of content within this curriculum; if we simply impart the content we are doing all the work. We need to use pedagogy that allows pupils to absorb the curriculum, make connections across their learning and develop the skills that are an inherent part of learning in every subject. Have all of this in mind when planning changes you make to how the curriculum is taught and make sure you visibly map a metacognitive journey for all your pupils across all phases and key stages.
If you want to focus on pedagogy and learning in the classroom to develop consistent approaches to learning and teaching join us at one of the following events. Or browse our fantastic training programme on our website.
I started this newsletter saying that we are the profession of professions. However, we cannot expect to gain high levels of respect and positive success in what we do if we do not have the professional development that is compulsory for many other chartered professionals. At the beginning of the acronym CPD is the word continuing or continuous. Change is constant in education and in order to learn about and manage that change we must have access to high quality training that enhances our own practice, allows us to reflect and to share our learning with others. We need and should expect training that refreshes our practice, deepens our knowledge and challenges us to strive for pedagogical, organisational and team excellence.
However, budgets are tight, capacity leaves little room for cover and our responsibility to our colleagues and the pupils often contrive to keep us in school. Our training programmes are designed to minimise the impact on budgets, provide a solution to ensuring CPD can be shared and disseminated and is therefore sustainable and is relevant to current policy, OFSTED and research priorities. What schools say they need and we provide is a mixture of the academic and the practical, a blend of challenge and deep learning and a focus on the how and not the what. We use a variety of highly praised resources and activities that delegates can take back to school to use as training aids for and with their colleagues, teams or the whole school. Following on from the training, everything we use is provided electronically so that it can be re-used again and again. We want our training to be the beginning of a journey, teachers are excited by the content, love the focus on pedagogy, metacognition and the power of professional dialogue to enhance their learning and that of their colleagues. Leaders and managers leave with new ideas, learn coaching skills that enhance their leadership style and are challenged to reflect on how their leadership of others affects behaviour, impact and successful outcomes.
Ensure CPD is at the heart of your planning, is integral to your vision and has an impact on learning and teaching long after the training has taken place. Choose the course or courses from the menu below and start your journey towards excellence, improvement and outstanding outcomes for all.
We wrote this new course for an all through school in London who have used many of our coaching courses to develop a successful coaching culture across their school. Designing a specific course about developing coaching skills for pupils is something we have been thinking about for some time. Taking this commission has helped us to bring it into our family of coaching courses. In effect, it is the ultimate piece of the jigsaw. Coaching is all about putting the onus on the individual to find their own solution, solve their own problems and ultimately think deeply about how to use higher level responses in the acquisition and use of knowledge and the development of skills for learning.
All teachers will benefit from attending and learning about the content of this course. The focus is not on the pedagogy that the teacher uses to manage learning in the classroom but on the impact that pedagogy has on how well pupils learn and progress. It is suitable for teachers from all stages and phases of learning specifically key stage 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. We are developing a stand-alone course for EYFS. We also focus on learning and the importance of ensuring pupils can articulate how they learn and the skills they need in order to process the knowledge and curriculum content that needs to be built upon year on year. It is this continuum of learning that pupils need in order that they can succeed in tests and examinations that currently only provide a snapshot of their ability to retain and use their learning effectively.
We have delivered this course to over 140 teachers at several schools in the past few weeks. The feedback has been amazing, it is thought provoking and challenging and for some teachers it is out of their comfort zone which is often a very good thing. I have loved working with teachers who have relished the opportunity to think differently and question the paradigm that is their current practice. This course complements our Coaching Towards Outstanding Teaching and Learning day. If you or one of your teachers has attended that course please say so when you book and you can take advantage of our second delegate rate and save £50.00 + VAT.
Have a look at the Workload Reduction Kit from the Department of Education. There is a lot in there, so managing your workload may be challenged just by reading it!
Have you joined the Chartered College of Teaching? If not, you should, once a member you have access to a wealth of research arranged in topics and themes.
I am reading Circe by Madeleine Miller, I read the Song of Achilles, her first book and enjoyed it very much. This is about gods and magic so I hope I can see it through. There is such a lot to read from government and OFSTED that I think it may take a while to turn to 'pure' fiction.
The results of a survey have recently been published into school staff's views on curriculum support resources and which ones are most valued in school.


Congratulations, you have a new puppy! What he learns between 8 weeks and 6 months of age will shape the adult dog he will become. We will help you cover all the basics, from the importance of early socialization, puppy potting training to bite inhibition, confidence building, foundation basic obedience and problem prevention.
On-leash basic obedience, critical for everyday life skills; covering the sit, down, stand, wait, loose leash walking, and the recall.
Off-leash. Incorporates and reinforces Pet Manners skills, while focusing on distraction training, increasing duration and proofing.
Some dogs need specialized training along with their owners to overcome more serious issues such as aggression, resource guarding, reactivity, separation anxiety and handling issues.
Dogs, like people, are not "perfect" and sometimes are in need of remedial training. Changes in the dog's environment, social structure, or lack of proofing can cause a dog to regress in certain training areas. Most of the time owners do not understand why this has happened, and need professional help.
Presented free of charge for schools, 4-H, civic groups, religious organizations, professional organizations, and for in-home private presentations.


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David Schaper Bio, Wiki, Age, Wife, NPR, Net Worth, Salary, Twitter
David Schaper Biography
David Schaper is an American journalist who serves as a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, based in Chicago, primarily covering transportation and infrastructure, as well as breaking news in Chicago and the Midwest.
David Schaper Age
Schaper likes to keep his personal life private hence he has not yet disclosed the date, month, or year he was born. However, he might be in his 50's.
David Schaper Height
Schaper stands at a height of approximately 1.6 meters.
David Schaper Family
Schaper has managed to keep his personal life away from the limelight hence he has not disclosed any information about his parents. It is also not known if David has any siblings.
David Schaper Wife
Schaper is a happily married man to his wife, a Chicago Public School teacher and together they have three adult children. The family of five lives in Chicago.
David Schaper Net Worth
Schaper has an estimated net worth of between $1 Million-$5 Million which he has earned through his successful career as a journalist.
David Schaper Photo
David Schaper Salary
Schaper earns an annual salary ranging from $ 45,000 – $ 110,500.
David Schaper Education
Schaper graduated with a bachelor's degree in mass communications and history from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois-Springfield.
David Schaper Career
In his role as a correspondent on NPR, Schaper covers aeronautics and aircraft, railways, the shipping and cargo ventures, expressways, travel, and new method for versatility, for example, ride-hailing applications, vehicle sharing, and shared bicycles and bikes. What's more, he gives an account of significant transportation security issues, as well as the legislative issues behind transportation and foundation strategy and financing.
Since joining NPR in 2002, Schaper takes care of a portion of the country's most significant reports, including the Sandy Hook school shooting and other mass shootings, Hurricane Katrina and its fallout, the 2010 quake in Haiti, California rapidly spreading fires, the BP oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, and various different fiascos. David has additionally provided details regarding official missions in Iowa and somewhere else, on key races for U.S. Senate and House, governorships, and different workplaces in the Midwest, and he gave an account of the ascent of Barack Obama from relative political lack of definition in Chicago to the White House. En route, he's brought audience members and online perusers numerous brilliant anecdotes about Chicago legislative issues, including the defilement preliminaries and convictions of two previous Illinois lead representatives.
Yet, no part of that looks at to the delight of covering his darling Chicago Cubs winning the World Series in 2016, and three Stanley Cup Championships for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, 2013, and 2015.
Before joining NPR, Schaper went through very nearly 10 years functioning as an honor-winning correspondent and proofreader for WBEZ/Chicago Public Media, NPR's Member station in Chicago. For quite a long time he covered training issues, detailing top to bottom the issues and progress — monetary, instructive, and in any case — in Chicago's state-funded schools.
Schaper additionally filled in as WBEZ's Assistant Managing Editor of News, dealing with the station's day-to-day news inclusion and altering the detailing staff while frequently as yet announcing himself. He later filled in as WBEZ's political supervisor and columnist; he was a continuous fill-in commentator and moderator. Furthermore, he has been an infrequent giver visitor specialist on Chicago public TV channel WTTW's news program, Chicago Tonight.
Schaper started his news-casting vocation in La Crosse, Wisconsin, as a columnist and anchor at Wisconsin Public Radio's WLSU-FM. He has since worked in both public and business radio news, remembering stretches at WBBM NewsRadio for Chicago, WXRT-FM in Chicago, WDCB-FM in rural Chicago, WUIS-FM in Springfield, Illinois, WMAY-AM in Springfield, Illinois, and WIZM-AM and FM in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Schaper works at NPR as a correspondent alongside other talented journalist, who include;
Arun Rath
Alina Selyukh
Rob Schmitz

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: controller return empty Json value i want to see the json value of my DB
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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34 people linked with Vyapam died in 8 years: Government
The government on Wednesday said 34 people connected to the Vyapam issue died between 2007 and 2015.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary told the Rajya Sabha that based on information provided by Madhya Pradesh, "a total number of 34 people connected to the Vyapam issue have died between 2007 and 2015".
"Out of these, 11 died due to accidents, 15 due to health problems, 5 committed suicide, 2 drowned and the cause of death of one could not be ascertained," he said.
The Supreme Court in July handed over the investigation of cases related to Vyapam -- short for Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal -- to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The CBI has registered 32 FIRs and launched 11 preliminary inquiries over the scam. - IANS


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NewsRun Culture
Boosting Women: How Adidas is Extending Its Commitment To Female Runners
March 22, 2022 April 26, 2022 no commentadidasBITR Interviewultraboost
adidasBITR Interviewultraboost
The Ultraboost is already a legend for running and lifestyle wear
Now it's becoming a flagship for supporting women
We sat down with two senior Adidas managers to learn more
Check out the women-specific colorway of the Ultraboost 22 at the shop links below
Eight years in, the Adidas Ultraboost is legendary in its design and standards as a running and lifestyle shoe. At its release in 2015, the Boost midsole was ground-breaking, and although other brands have caught up in terms of performance, the Ultraboost style remains unique. That "uniqueness in ubiquity" approach allows the shoe to remain a standard in the industry and helps it remain fluid within its own boundaries. This means more opportunities for coupling the history of the Ultraboost with new stories that resonate within the running community.
While the Ultraboost 22 received a quiet release back in December, it received a notable boost in early March 2022 with an initiative geared towards women, featuring a brand-new colorway of the Ultraboost 22 with a women-specific last. Call it a physical representation of Adidas's support within the female running community.
See also: The Best Adidas Running Shoes
Designed by an all-women team (talk about girl-power!), the shoe may revolutionize the way companies create footwear for women. Using women-specific insights and a database of 1.2 million footscans, the Ultraboost 22 has been constructed specifically for the female foot, making it the first version of the Ultraboost to do so. However, Adidas isn't stopping there. Thanks to a new partnership with the international charity White Ribbon, Adidas is spreading its women-centric mission to new fronts.
We had the opportunity to speak with Rebecca Gough, Senior Manager of Adidas Runners Communities, and Nora Wilimzig, Senior Manager of Product, about the new colorway launch and what this initiative looks like.
The Ultraboost 22 used extensive data about the female foot to achieve a fit truly specific to women. Do you see this trend continuing in future products?
NORA: So I can tell you already, yes we will! For the Ultraboost 22, this was the first time we've made a women-specific fit as our main model. We will have this carried forward to other models as well. The 1.2 million foot scale studies helped confirm the design work Adidas was already investigating in regards to specificity for the female foot. For all the future women's models of the Ultraboost, we intend to stick with the women-specific model we've created here for the Ultraboost 22. This will help us give our female running community the chance to get better, perform better, and make the impossible possible.
BITR: Significant fit improvements in the women's Ultraboost 22 are only part of the picture. In addition to its 360-degree fit improvement for the female foot, the latest version of this uber-bouncy favorite is designed to deliver 4% more forefoot energy return for women than its previous iteration.
Shop Ultraboost 22 – Women
The "Impossible is Nothing" campaign Adidas is running is really powerful in how it highlights women both inside and outside of sport as they "crush the status quo" and "conquer their own impossible." How does this latest project with White Ribbon and Amanda Sussman contribute to this message?
REBECCA: The educational playbook is something we're super proud of. We knew that to create lasting change in safety for female runners, we had to do it through education. That's why it was really important for us to partner with experts like White Ribbon and Amanda Sussman when we looked at creating this initiative. During this process, we've been able to learn, share, and exchange knowledge. We applied their expertise to the context of running, which has been really, really powerful because we can look at how gender inequality and harassment actually impact the culture of running around us. At Adidas running, we're really conscious of making sure that our community members feel safe, accepted, and feel that they belong so that they can bring their best and most inspired selves to each and every run that we provide.
BITR: As a female runner myself, there have been many instances where I've adjusted my running routine or behaviors out of concerns I've had for my safety. Not going for a run simply because it's dark outside is soul-crushing, but I just don't want to flirt with the risk of something happening. I have certainly felt and experienced many things Adidas is trying to change through this educational playbook, so I'm personally pretty pumped for this initiative.
For those of you unfamiliar, White Ribbon is a global charity that's leading the conversation on the issue of male violence against women. The organization is now in its 30th year, and you can learn more about its initiatives here. Advocate and author Amanda Sussman helped the brand create a playbook of in-depth allyship tools and action steps to help the running community. The aim is to encourage men and boys to take accountability in ensuring everyone is safe to run when, where, and how they want.
Sussman shared the following quote about her hopes for the partnership, saying, "Sadly, being verbally or physically harassed while running disproportionately affects women and other vulnerable groups, forcing them to be vigilant, change their running habits, and live in constant fear for their safety. This is not an issue that will solve itself."
We're excited to see where this project goes. Are there any sneak peeks you can provide to the BITR audience?
REBECCA: Right now, we're in phase one of the educational playbook, and what we've learned here is really dialing into different forms of harassment and how they take shape. We found that women are nearly three times more likely to be harassed on a run than men. We take that, identify the root cause, and look at men's role and how they can learn and self-reflect to become active allies and advocates for women's safety in running.
Once completed, the playbook will be given to our Adidas captains and coaches, so about 250 individuals worldwide. We're also releasing an allyship toolkit for members of our running community that can be found on the Adidas runners blog. Allyship content will be posted on our socials throughout the whole year, so keep an eye out!
BITR: To see a global brand like Adidas take a stand on such a global issue gives me hope. Their ability to leverage their platform in collaboration with White Ribbon and Amanda Sussman reiterates the importance of protecting women in our communities. Coupling that support with releasing a new colorway in the Ultraboost is great in bringing more attention to this issue. In their ongoing commitment to women and female runners, I think this is a great "boost" to the future inclusivity of the sport.
Adidas also shared a quote from the executive director of White Ribbon, Humberto Carolo. He said, "Our mission is to end all forms of gender-based violence and discrimination, once and for all. We want all men to fulfill the White Ribbon pledge to never commit, condone or remain silent about men's violence against women, but we can't do this alone."
It certainly sounds like all sides are ready to commit to the partnership full force, and we will be curious to see the new playbook for ourselves.
The newest colorway of the Ultraboost 22 launched globally on March 3 in-store and online for $190, so you can pick up your pair today. Keep an eye out for more Adidas and White Ribbon content as the partnership reaches full swing.
Portions of our interview were condensed and edited throughout this story.
Rachel Bernardo
Rachel is a graduate student at UCF and ran collegiately at Texas A&M University. She still enjoys catching miles in her spare time and is always on the hunt for the best coffee in the area.
Rachel Bernardo March 22, 2022
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