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Ghost Town.

Posted by Barry K. Nelson on February 9, 2013 at 9:48pm
(If you've seen and wasted your money on the movie, Cherynobol Diaries, here's how I would have played it out.)Police officer Yuri Ivanovitch held a firm grip on the steering wheel as he drove his car down the dark road deep within the rural areas of the Ukraine. His car’s head lights cut through the darkness to reveal the yellow painted line in the middle of the road and the black police car driving in front of his own. There was also endless rows of tall weeds and trees along both sides of the road. For a quick moment he took his left hand off the steering wheel to lift the front of his black visor hat and scratch an itch on the top of his head. He felt his skin overheating under his black uniform. He then reached over and rolled down the driver’s side window a few inches to let some cool air into the hot stuffy car.He looked over at his partner, Alexi Stravinski. A thin bodied, spectacled man in his late thirties. Alexi was sound asleep with his arms folded against his chest and his head leaning against the passenger’s side window. Alexi went to sleep at the start of the three hour drive from their precinct at Kriosk Yuri and Alexi were summoned in the middle of their night shift, along with two other officers, to drive to a most unique location. The long abandoned city of Prypiat.Driving along this stretch of road Yuri and his escort encountered no other vehicles. The road to Prypiat was restricted to most traffic. Prypiat neighbored the also abandoned city of Chernobyl. The home of the infamous nuclear reactor disaster that took place on the 26th of April, 1986. When a series of explosions ruptured the nuclear vessel within the reactor and released a massive plume of radioactive gas that spread across most of Central Europe. After the accident Prypiat’s entire population of 48,000 were evacuated. Leaving the deserted city to decay as it stood frozen in time. Nature began to reclaim the land. Tall weeds grew up from the cracked pavement and sidewalks. The long neglected buildings are now weather worn and crumbling. And yet, after the huge disaster that took place twenty four years ago Yuri was amazed to learn that some idiots from a misguided American company was trying to organize guided tours into parts of Prypiat.The silliest thing that I’ve ever heard of, was Yuri’s opinion of the whole idea. It would be considered one of the biggest jokes in the Ukraine if it were not for the fact that all contact with the guards stationed at the south road checkpoint, and the two representatives of the American company went dead two days ago. That was the reason why Yuri and the other officers were dispatched to the area. Their mission was to find out why there was no reply from the guards.I know why there’s no reply from those idiots. They all got bored so they’re either asleep or boozing it up someplace, Yuri theorized. He was not thrilled about having to make a three hour drive just to roust some drunken fools from their sleep. But orders were orders.The lead car slowed down in front of an eight foot tall chain link fence that was erected across the road. At the left side of the road the fence stood tall. But on the right side it was reduced to twisted and torn segments laying across the ground. Also, at the right side of the road near a group of trees was the remains of the small white guard house where the officers ate and slept. It was now a pile of flattened lumber scattered across the ground.What the hell happened here? Yuri asked himself. He now began to think that the situation was more serious than checking up on a few drunken slackers.The two cars drove over the fallen fence and into the city. They now traveled across a road that had cracked, uneven pavement and was infested with tall sprouting weeds. And there seemed to be dozens of large, circular depressions scattered everywhere. The cars weaved left and right to try and avoid them. As they passed a group of decaying two story houses at both sides of the road Yuri noticed several tall trees standing among them. Some that he could see were at least twenty five feet tall. Many were taller. With massive trunks that had multiple branches sticking out like rigid arms and ending in sharp, jagged points. The ground near the trees was torn up as if explosions had taken place. But the most striking feature about these trees were their leaves. They were all larger than normal. Many appearing to be at least four feet wide.Yuri was so amazed at this sight that he had to share it with Alexi. He reached over and shook Alexi’s shoulder. “Wake up. Wake the hell up. We’re here. You have to see this.”Alexi groaned as he began to stir. “What the hell do you want?” he grumbled. His eyes still closed.“Look at the trees. The leaves.”Alexi opened his eyes. Gazing back at Yuri. “Leaves? You woke me up for that? You never saw leaves on a tree before?”“Not like this. These are as big as bed sheets.”“What do you expect? The trees were soaked in radiation,” Alexi explained as he sat up. “I’ve seen photos of trees with these giant leaves taken after the American Three Mile Island disaster.”Yuri pondered this detail. But was still amazed. “So if radiation can do that to trees then what else can it do.”Alexi laughed. “You’ve been watching too many of those American TV shows.”The police cars passed by several other cars that were parked at the side of the road. They were rusted hulks coated with dirt and surrounded by tall weeds. Then both cars stopped in the middle of an intersection. The lead car parked in front of a police car that bore heavy damage. All of it’s tires were flat. Every window was broken out. The bar lights on top of the car were shattered. Large holes were ripped into the driver’s side door.As Yuri stopped to park the shape of a large black animal charged out from the other side of the damaged police car and headed for the left, across the intersection. Yuri jumped in his seat at the sight of this creature. “Was that a bear?”“Sure as hell was,” replied Alexi.Yuri turned the key to shut off the engine. He was apprehensive about getting out of the car with the knowledge that there might be more bears lurking about. Coming prepared to search dark empty buildings he and Alexi took out the flashlights that they had brought from the glove compartment, then got out of their car. The two other officers in the lead car also got out. Both shining flashlights. From the passenger’s side was Boris Zovanoff. A six foot tall man in his late twenties. He had a thick, black moustache. Carrying his hat in his hand allowed him to display his shaved head. From the driver’s side emerged the officer in charge of this mission. As well as Boris’ close friend. Sergeant Ivan Brintznev. Another tall man in his twenties. He had uncombed, bushy black hair. The prominent white sergeant’s stripes stood out on the upper sleeves of his black uniform jacket. He and Boris put their hats on and walked over to the wrecked police car.Yuri knew Ivan quite well. And hated him. A young officer just two years on the job. Not even out of his twenties and he’s promoted to sergeant. Of course it was no secret that Ivan’s uncle, Captain Brintznev, helped him along. Yuri had worked at the precinct for six years and expected to be promoted to Sergeant. Only to loose the position to this young newcomer. That did not sit well with Yuri.Ivan and Boris walked along the side of the wrecked car. Then they looked about the surroundings. “Holy hell. Looks like this whole area went through a soccer riot,” said Ivan.Yuri and Alexi approached the car. Yuri looked about. “Looks like a battle took place here. The way the ground is torn up. The damage to this car. And the guard house back there.”“Something serious went down here,” said Ivan. “At first I was thinking that there might have been a problem with illegal squatters or looters. But this damage goes beyond that.”“So what now?” asked Yuri.“That’s obvious. We conduct our investigation and find out what happened to the missing guards.”“Good thing we came prepared with the heavier weapons,” said Boris.Ivan walked over to the back of his car. He took his keys out of his pocket and opened the trunk, then reached in and brought out one of the heavier weapons that Boris mentioned. A fully automatic AK-47 assault rifle. Ivan handed one to Boris as he approached. Yuri walked over and was next to take one. After surveying this battle damage he felt more secure wielding a weapon more powerful than the 9 MM pistol holstered at his side.Ivan stepped away from the car and issued his orders to Yuri and Alexi. “You two take a look around. Try not to get eaten by bears. Boris and I are going to take a look at the guard house. Or what’s left of it.”Lead by the beam of their flashlights, Boris and Ivan headed down the street. Yuri looked around at the rows of abandoned houses and buildings to his left, right, and forward. All shrouded in an ominous darkness.“So now we search. Which way?” asked Alexi.Yuri pointed his gun barrel straight ahead. “North.”Yuri and Alexi made their slow trek down the middle of the deserted road while shining their flashlights left and right. Yuri received an eerie feeling as he passed by the rusting, dust covered cars that were left at both sides of the street. And beyond the cars were the houses. All surrounded by waist high vegetation. A few of them had broken out windows and doors left wide open. All of them left empty for the past twenty four years.Yuri turned his flashlight to a tree that stood in a front yard. It was taller than the two story house behind it. He walked over to take a closer look, stepping over large chunks of dirt as the ground at the tree’s roots was torn apart. At the left and right of the tree were more of the large holes. What did this? he thought. Somebody fighting with grenades? Dynamite? He moved his flashlight’s beam up along the tree’s thick trunk. There were long streams of dried sap running down along it’s trunk. Yuri poked his finger onto the sap. It was sticky. He brought his finger to his nose and sniffed. The sap had a faint aroma resembling honey. Yuri looked up to the tree’s long, multiple branches. All decorated with the huge leaves that looked as though they were large enough to cover a table. These branches also ended in sharp jagged points.Alexi walked over to Yuri. “Are you on a nature study?”“I still can’t get over how big these leaves are,” Yuri told him.“So then grab a few and take them home with you,” replied Alexi. Tugging on Yuri’s arm. “Let’s go before Ivan comes back and starts bitching about us slacking off.”Yuri and Alexi continued walking down the road in their search for the unknown enemy that might be hiding and peering at them from behind the dirty windows of the many houses that they were passing.Alexi stopped. “Hold up. I have to go to the bathroom.”Yuri looked back at Alexi in disbelief. “Now? We’re in the middle of a search.”“I’ve been sitting in that damn car for three hours. What do you expect?” Alexi looked around at the row of houses at his right. He walked towards a house that had large sections of it’s white paint chipped away from it’s wooden frame. The front door, in between two broken windows was wide open.“Where the hell are you going?” Yuri asked. “You can’t go here?”“I’d rather have a little privacy,” Alexi’s testy reply. He headed for the door.“This is stupid. We should stay together,” Yuri pleaded to Alexi. Only to be ignored.Alexi entered the house.“This is stupid,” Yuri grumbled to himself. “This whole town might be crawling with armed terrorists and he wants to use some dusty bathroom because he’s touchy about a little privacy.”Yuri turned away from the house. His flashlight’s beam moved across the row of houses across the street. Then he heard a noise. The faint sound of clanking tin cans. Yuri trained his light on the houses as he took a step closer. He heard the noise again. It came from between two houses straight ahead.“Who’s there?” Yuri cried out. Holding his machine gun ready he moved in closer.Walking in between the two houses Yuri dismissed the source of the noise as a small animal foraging about in a trash bin. But he had to be sure. The weeds in between the houses were knee high. But in spite of this, Yuri was able to spot something strange laying on the ground. With caution, Yuri stepped closer. He let out a surprised gasp as he discovered that the object was a human skeleton. He could make out the skull laying next to it’s arm. Both had a brownish tint. The rest of the skeleton was covered by a sheet of brown material that reminded Yuri of a spider’s web.A spider’s web? Yuri thought as fear flooded his mind. He touched his foot against part of the web and found that it was indeed sticky. He conjured images of the American science fiction movies that he once saw. The ones that featured giant mutant insects created by radiation. He conjured the fresh images of the wrecked police car and the guard house. Then he conjured images of himself hanging upside down in a giant spider’s web as the hairy monster creeps closer. Ready to sink it’s sharp fangs into his flesh.Then Yuri’s flashlight went out. Being stuck in the dark he panicked. Dammit! Lousy cheap thing! He shook the flashlight hard to try to get it working again. Then up ahead he heard the clanking sound again. Yuri followed his next instinct, turn and run.Yuri put the flashlight in his back pocket, then ran back to the front of the house that Alexi went into. In the darkness the house was looking far more ominous. From the open front door he saw no beam from Alexi‘s flashlight. “Alexi!” Yuri shouted. “There’s something out here! I found something! Alexi!”Yuri watched and waited. There was no reply.“Alexi!”With no desire to venture into the dark house, Yuri’s options were few. His only course of action now was to return to the intersection and try to locate Ivan and Boris. Taking heavy breaths, Yuri ran through the darkness. As he neared the intersection he noticed a beam of light pointing towards the sky. As he drew closer he could see a person standing in front of Ivan and Boris’ car. It was Boris. Standing still while holding his hands up.“Boris!” Yuri cried out. He stopped a few feet away. Becoming suspicious. “Boris. What’s going on?”Boris said nothing. Then Yuri was startled by a man wearing a dark coat who sprang up from behind Boris while aiming an AK-47. “Don’t move!” he shouted.Yuri’s hands began to tremble as they held onto his weapon. Which was pointed at the ground. This gunman had the drop on him.“Drop the gun,” the man ordered in an angry tone.Yuri threw his gun to the ground.“Now step back.”Yuri took two steps back from the car. Standing to the left of Boris the man also stepped back until he was far enough to keep both men in his sights for two easy kills.“Give me your keys,” was the man’s next order.“What?” asked Yuri.“Your car keys!” the man shouted. “Give me your keys!”Boris broke his silence. “You’re not going to get away with this.”“Shut up!” the man snapped at Boris. “I’m taking your car. I’ll kill you both to take what I need to get out of this town. Now give me your keys.”“Ok,” said Yuri in compliance. He reached into his pocket.“Slowly!” the man warned him.Then several feet away a person in dark clothes charged up behind the man. It was Alexi. He trained his machine gun and flashlight beam at the man’s head. “Don’t move! Drop the gun!” Alexi shouted.Yuri now received a better look at the man in the beam of Alexi’s flashlight. He was a middle aged man with black, uncombed shoulder length hair and a long beard. The black coat that he wore was buttoned up to his neck. The right leg of his grey trousers was torn off, revealing a bloodstained white rag that was wrapped around his leg from his ankle to above his knee. He wore black shoes that were covered by clumps of dirt.Then another person came charging up at the man’s right. It was Ivan. He was holding the back of his head with his right hand. “Shoot the bastard!” he screamed at Alexi.Alexi repeated his command, while ignoring Ivan‘s. ”I said drop the gun! Right now!”The man dropped the machine gun onto the ground. Then raised his hands up over his head.Boris turned to his left and took a few steps. Then he reached to the ground and picked up his machine gun. He pointed the gun and his flashlight at the man.Ivan stepped closer to the man. “Shoot that son of a bitch! He tried to break my head open with a brick! Then he took my gun!”Ivan stepped into the beam of Boris’ flashlight. Yuri could see a stream of blood flowing down Ivan’s face. His fingers were bloodied as he held the back of his head.The man looked about at his captors. “Take it easy. I don’t mean any harm,” he said in a shaking voice.“Oh, now that’s a relief!” Ivan bellowed at the man. “You bust my head open, hold a gun to my men, and you don’t mean any harm! I’ll sleep better knowing that!”The man explained, “You don’t understand. I was desperate. I’ve been trapped here for two days. I saw your car and I needed to get out of here. We’re all in danger.”“We’re in danger?” asked Yuri. “From who?”“Monsters. This town is crawling with them.”“Monsters?” Yuri asked in disbelief. Then his memory went back to the skeleton that he found. Covered by a sheet of webbing.“Monsters?” Ivan snapped at the man.“Yes, monsters!” the man shouted back at Ivan. “They have us surrounded you fool! We have to get out of here while it’s still dark!”“Why?” Yuri asked.“Because they sleep at night!” the man cried out with a rising tone.“Yeah. That makes sense. They’re all in bed where I should be,” said Alexi with clear sarcasm.The man continued his story,” But when the sun comes up that’s when they wake up. Then all hell breaks loose. Please. We have to leave while it’s still dark.”“What’s your name?” Yuri asked.“Alyosha.”“Ok then, Alyosha. If this town is so dangerous then why are you still here?”“Because of my leg you jackass!” Alyosha spat out while pointing down. “They almost ripped my whole leg off. I can hardly move it. I tried to leave. Traveling at night on the road to reach the nearest town. But it’s too damn far with my leg the way it is. Then the sun comes up and you’re stuck out there with them. So I had no choice but to come back and hide in a manhole where they can’t find me. Did you ever sleep in a sewer for two days?”“Yeah! After a bachelor party,” Ivan replied. He charged over to Alyosha. Standing inches away from his face. “I’ve heard enough of this nonsense. I’ll tell you what really happened. A group looters like yourself came here, attacked the guard detail, and probably killed them all. Now we’re supposed to be your next targets.”Alyosha shook his head. “No. It’s not like that. You have to understand. We…”Ivan hurled a fist into Alyosha’s face to cut off his next word. Alyosha fell back to the ground. “This is for that brick to my head!” he shouted down to the helpless man as be began to kick him in the face and chest.Yuri rushed over and grabbed Ivan’s left arm to hold him back. “Stop. We need to listen to him. I found a skeleton back there.”Ivan shoved Yuri back. “Of course you found a skeleton, you idiot!” he yelled. “The reactor explosion. The radiation. You forgot about that? It’s probably some looter who was sleeping in the hot zone and died of radiation sickness. Who the hell cares?” Ivan ended his tirade by giving Alyosha a final stomp to his face. Alyosha’s nose was bleeding as he lay still on the ground.Boris lowered his gun. “Now what?”Ivan looked back at Boris. Then he looked around at the dark streets of the intersection. “Hell. I don’t know. We finish our search I guess.” He turned his eyes to Yuri. “Ivanovitch. Where’s your flashlight?”“It’s not working.”“And I lost mine back there when that son of a dog hit me from behind.” Ivan took his hand off the back of his head and inspected his bloodied palm. “Dammit! We’re down to two flashlights in this darkness. That puts us at a disadvantage with any more of these dogs that might be hiding out there. And my damn head is throbbing. We’ll finish our search in the morning.”“In the morning?” Yuri asked in disbelief. “But what about that skeleton I found? I think we should go take a look at it.”Ivan stormed towards Yuri. Stopping a foot away from his face. “Are you in charge here or me?” Ivan shouted. “I said we’re camping down here for the night!”Boris raised his flashlight beam to Yuri’s Face. Yuri squinted and turned his head away from the light. “And you get to serve watch,” Boris told Yuri.Yuri became angered at both Boris’ light shining in his face, and the pretense that he was in command. “I don’t take orders from you. Just because you’re friends with the Captain’s nephew doesn’t put you in charge.”Ivan approached Yuri. “What was that? he demanded, and gave Yuri a shove back. “Do you have a problem because I’m in charge here and not you? Maybe I’m in charge because I’ve got more brains than you and the rest of the grunts on the force.”Yuri looked back at Ivan and said nothing. But his anger was simmering.“Since you don’t seem to understand orders I’ll make it a little clearer for you. The Captain’s nephew is ordering you to stand watch. You have a problem with that?”Having to comply with Ivan’s order was a bitter lump of bile for Yuri to swallow. But he had no choice. “No sir. No problem here.”“Good,” Ivan’s crisp reply. He issued another order as he started to walk back to his car. “And put that stinking looter in handcuffs and lock him in the trunk.”“In the trunk? How’s he supposed to breathe?”Ivan turned back to Yuri, flailing his arms through the air. “He can breathe through the keyhole! Who gives a damn? Just do it!” he screamed.Boris turned and walked behind Ivan. “Don’t fall asleep, Ivanovitch,” was his parting shot to Yuri.Alexi walked over and stood next to Yuri as he looked down at the unconscious Alyosha. “I’ll help you with this idiot,” He said to Yuri.Yuri was reluctant to touch Alyosha as he reached for the man’s arms to restrain him with the handcuffs that he took from his equipment belt. Being this close Yuri’s nose picked up a fowl odor. Good God. This pig really was sleeping in a sewer. Yuri told himself.After Alexi helped Yuri stuff the limp Alyosha into the trunk of their car he sat in the driver’s seat to rest. As Yuri stood guard next to the cars, with both hands clutching his gun, his eyes scanned over the houses sitting in the dark background. His mind went back to the sight of the skeleton that was wrapped up in the sheet of spider’s webbing. And the noises that he heard in the dark. He wondered if Alyosha’s tale of monsters could be the ranting of a drug crazed vagrant, or a warning that they were all risking their lives to ignore.Yuri awoke to the sounds of loud, high pitched squawking and screeching filling the air. As he opened his groggy eyes he became alert as he was shocked by a painful impact striking his right arm. Yuri‘s body jerked. His eyes were now wide open. Holy crap. I’m still in the car, was his panicking thought. He grew tired standing guard in the chilly night and sat down in the car to rest for a moment and gain some warmth. He could not remember when he fell asleep, but the moment lasted until daybreak. Now he was being kicked awake by an angry Ivan while Boris was holding the car door open.“Ivanovitch! You were asleep!” Ivan shouted as he kicked at Yuri’s right leg. “Asleep on guard duty! You‘re useless!”Yuri jumped out of the car. Clutching his gun against his chest he stood with his head lowered as he was admonished by Ivan. He could not argue against Ivan’s harsh words. Yuri had make a mistake that could have cost all their lives. A humble, “Sorry,” was the only word that he was able to utter.Ivan moved a foot away from Yuri’s face. “You’re sorry? Is that it? Sorry is worth a hell of a lot after some looters slit all our throats while you were sleeping!” he spat out in a loud rage over the squawking sounds in the air. He turned and walked to the back of the car. “I’ll deal with you later. Right now I want to see if our guest is ready to talk. Bring him out.”Yuri walked to the back of the car. Alexi, who was awakened by Ivan’s yelling, got out of the car. With machine gun in hand he joined Yuri as he opened the trunk. While Alyosha struggled to climb out of the trunk Yuri’s attention was caught by the commotion that was taking place in the air above his head. It was the screeching and squawking of birds. Lots of birds. Yuri turned around and looked up at three large trees that were standing across the street in front of a house. As well as the large group of trees on the opposite side of the street. He could see flocks of black birds flying back and forth among the swaying branches. In the background, past the thick tree trunks he could see the orange glow of the sunrise.“What the hell’s going on up there?” Yuri asked Alexi.Alexi looked up to the trees. “Looks like crows. They’re worked up about something.”“They’re certainly noisy as hell,” replied Yuri. But he had no time to dwell on them now.Alyosha rose to his feet while his hands were restrained behind his back. He looked about in a confused state and blinked his eyes. “Where are we?”Ivan stepped towards Alyosha while keeping the gun aimed at him. “Where the hell do you think we are? We’re still in Prypiat.”Alyosha’s eyes were now wide. His mouth gaped open. He looked up to the sky. Then back at Ivan. “Prypiat? No. We can’t still be here. We have to leave. Please. we have to get out of here.”Ivan thrust his foot into Alyosha’s lower abdomen, forcing Alyosha to stagger back and fall. “Oh, we’ll leave, alright. Right after you tell me about your terrorist looter friends and what they did to the guard detail that was here.”Yuri’s attention was again distracted by the swarms of crows that were flying about the trees. Looking past the trees again he noticed that the sun was rising higher.Alyosha coughed. With difficulty he struggled to his knees. Ivan continued his interrogation. “Your friends. How many are they? Where are they? What did they do to the guards and two Americans that were here? It will a lot easier for you if you tell us.”Grunting in pain Alyosha rose back to his feet. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, you fool. The sun’s coming up. We have to get out of here.”“Are you still holding on to this nonsense about monsters in the woods?” Ivan shouted.Alyosha staggered towards Ivan. “You jackass. There are no monsters in the woods.”“Then you admit that you’re lying?” Ivan bellowed. he swung the but of his machine gun across Alyosha’s forehead. Alyosha fell onto his back once more.Yuri looked up higher at one of the huge trees. All the way up to it’s top. There he noticed an array of long sharp rods protruding out like a bouquet of spears. Standing out from these spears were two long, black appendages. They were like long antenna with large feather-like objects at their ends.Gritting his teeth in pain Alyosha struggled back to his feet. A stream of blood from a fresh cut ran down from his forehead and across his face. He shouted back at Ivan, “You idiot! You don’t understand! The woods aren’t full of monsters!”Yuri watched as a huge flock of crows rose into the air like a black cloud and flew from the area.“The woods are the monsters!”Yuri watched as the branches of the trees began to sway left and right with an increasing force. But there was no wind to produce these movements. The crow’s squawking was replaced by the loud crack of bending wood. Looking up to the tree tops he saw the long antenna on the trees begin to wave back and forth. Then they bent down towards Yuri and the other men.Yuri felt vibrations at his feet. The ground began to shake. Then he was shocked as he watched the trees lift themselves up from the ground by long, thick roots with joints bending as they moved in a slow spider-like fashion. Making a loud thud with each step as they advanced towards Yuri and the other men. This explains why the ground near the trees was torn up. And those depressions, Yuri thought. Long tendrils began to uncoil from around their branches as they swung back and forth.Yuri was frozen with fear, as were Alexi, Boris, and Ivan. As the three large trees were stomping forward several smaller trees moved from behind them. Their sizes ranging from six to twelve feet tall. All of them walking while their waving antenna pointed towards the men.A tree leading the group, towering twenty feet in height, approached a rusting car parked at the side of the road. The tree swung one of it’s long, lower branches at the car. The tendrils on the branch wrapped themselves around the car and lifted it off the ground in a single swipe. As the branch hoist the car into the air it’s tendrils tightened themselves around the vehicle’s rusted body and crushed it with a swift effort.As the tree’s branch raised into the air, Yuri and the others were treated to the disturbing sight of what was hidden beneath those bed sheet sized leaves. Dozens of skeletons and carcasses that were entwined by the tendrils and covered by the same sheets of brown webbing that shrouded the skeleton that Yuri found in between the two houses. This explains the crows, Yuri thought. They were picking at the carcasses. Many of the carcasses were of deer and bears. And Yuri saw two Human bodies up there as well. Both wearing black police uniforms. And now these strange trees were marching forward to add Yuri and the other men to their collections.Alyosha began to panic. “You fools! I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen! Now it’s too late! We’re all going to die!”Alyosha tried to run down the road leading out of town. The best that he could manage to do was to drag his bandaged right leg along as he moved. Two stomping trees on both sides of the road moved in to converge and block his path. One tree swung a branch down at the screaming Alyosha. Dozens of serpentine tendrils wrapped themselves around his body and scooped him off his feet. Tendrils tightened around his neck with a constriction that caused his head to twist around twice.Now panic began to spread among the four men. Boris and Ivan opened fire on the advancing trees. Yuri and Alexi turned to their left and right and saw trees approaching from both sides. They both opened fire with rapid bursts of bullets that caused a few of the smaller trees to stagger back, but failed to slow the stride of the larger ones.“Let’s get the hell out of here!” Alexi shouted. He bolted for Ivan’s car. Pulling the door open and jumping into the drivers seat. Yuri continued shooting over the car at the advancing trees while Alexi clawed his fingers at the steering column. “Keys! Keys! Where the hell are the keys?”Ivan and Boris moved back as the trees drew closer. Yuri watched the trees approach the car. He yelled a warning. “Alexi, get the hell out of there!”One large tree was close enough to the car where it was able to thrust a pointed branch down at the windshield. The branch penetrated the glass and Alexi in the process. The tree withdrew it’s branch, pulling Alexi’s impaled body through the broken windshield. It lifted Alexi into the air while a several of it’s tendrils wrapped themselves around his unmoving corpse.Yuri stopped firing at the tree for fear of hitting Alexi. But he soon realized that his friend was dead. And that the tree wanted him next. He turned left. Further down the road into the town he saw no trees. He turned and ran just as two trees lifted up both police cars with their tendril ridden branches and crushed them into useless hulks.Ivan and Boris were right behind Yuri as he ran down the road. Yuri listened to the constant heavy thud sounds of the pursuing trees. Yuri now saw that he was wrong about the road being safe. Several yards up ahead he saw more trees approaching from roads at the left and right. Alyosha was right. These monsters really do have us surrounded. he thought.Yuri ran for a house at his left. He was about to head for it’s open doorway when he saw three, ten foot tall trees marching in from the side of the house. Their pointed branches thrusting out towards him. Leading the way Yuri ran further down the road. At his right he passed a house that had two large trees plowing into it from behind. Swinging their long branches and ripping away large sections of it‘s roof. With Ivan and Boris still behind him Yuri passed a grey brick building with the darkened bronze sign above it’s door that read, Post Office. Yuri headed for the door and pulled on it’s metal handle. Locked! he spied the tall red brick building next to it. It looked like an apartment building. He saw an open door.The three men charged through the door. They headed up a flight of stairs that took them to a long, dark corridor. At the end of the corridor several feet away a beam of sunlight was shining through a window. A long row of constant dripping water from the ceiling rained down on the soggy, warped floorboards. At the left and right of the corridor were the dark doors to different apartments.Yuri ran up to the first door on the right. Locked! he told himself as he grabbed the doorknob and pushed on the door. He stormed down the corridor to the next door at the right. This one was also locked. He ran to the third door and was tempted to burst out in a fit of triumphant laughter as it opened.They entered a small living room that was inundated with a strong odor of mildew. Sunlight came in through a large, dirty window at the other side of the room. Their feet squished against a brown carpeting that was soaking wet from four separate steady drips that came from large holes in the ceiling where the plaster had fallen. The four walls were discolored by a covering of black mold. Sitting against the right wall was a small sofa that was also covered with mold. On the floor in front of the sofa was a small pile of discarded clothes that were soaking wet. Near the pile of clothes were two overturned wooden chairs. Fragments of fallen plaster from the ceiling were littering the floor. In the middle of the left wall was an open doorway to another room.The sounds of Yuri, Ivan, and Boris’ heavy breathing joined the noise of the dripping water in the room. From beyond the window the loud thuds of the mobile trees could be heard. As well as several booms and the crack of breaking lumber. Sounds like they’re tearing through the houses to find us, Yuri told himself.Ivan inhaled twice to catch his breath. “Trees,” he gasped. “We’re running from frigging trees.”“Trees don’t chase you down and try to strangle you,” said Boris.Yuri breathed deep and exhaled. “Looks like Alyosha was right. Too bad we didn’t listen to him. What do we do now?”“You’re asking me?” said Ivan. Taking a quick breath. “You brought us here. Don’t you have a plan?”“No. I just ran to escape. This brick building might hold up against them better than those rotting houses out there.”“Then we’re trapped,” Ivan snapped at Yuri. Punching the door in anger. “How long do you think it will take for them to have this place surrounded?”“We wouldn’t be trapped here if you had have listened to Alyosha like I said.”“Like you said?” Ivan shrieked out. “Are you forgetting who’s in charge here, you stupid Cossack.”“What did you say? Boy.” asked Yuri. Holding up a fist.“Who the hell are you calling boy? I’m your Sergeant,” said Ivan. Stepping forward to shove Yuri back.“Knock it off you two!” shouted Boris.Yuri ignored Boris and retaliated by giving Ivan a strong shove that slammed him back against the door. Ivan let out an enraged scream and lunged at Yuri. Thrown off balance, with Ivan on top of him, Yuri fell back on one of the chairs and shattered it. Grunting and hurling curses, the two men wrestled across the soggy carpet. Both men dropping their weapons among the wet clothes.“Stop it, you idiots!” Boris yelled at them. “The fight’s outside! Stop it!”Then a long tree branch burst through the window. Glass fragments showering Yuri and Ivan. The sharp point of the branch stabbing forward to reach any victim while several of it’s tendrils were lashing out across the room. Yuri screamed at the appendage reaching over him. He released Ivan and rolled over to the left. Seeing his gun on the floor he reached over to grab it. Ivan grabbed his gun and crawled over to the right near the sofa. They both opened fire, as did Boris. The rapid fire of bullets chipped multiple fragments of wood away from the branch. A bright green liquid shot out and spattered against the walls. Then a six foot section of the branch broke off and dropped to the floor. The remaining part withdrew from the window. The three men stopped shooting at the plant thing on the floor. Faint clicks came from their weapons.“I’m out!” Yuri cried. He began to breathe heavy again. His body shaking.“Me too,” said Ivan.Boris stood before the section of branch on the floor. It twitched, but it’s tendrils were still. At the left and right of the branch were several long, thin stakes ending in sharp points. The three men watched as these stakes grew even longer and began to sprout leaves. Still pointing his gun, Boris stepped closer.“Is it dead?” Yuri cried out.“Dead? It’s just a branch,” said Boris.The branch raised up. One of it’s long, pointed stakes reached out and stabbed into Boris foot. Penetrating his right shoe. Boris reared his head back and spat out a scream in pain. The stake pulled out from Boris’ shoe and began to stab deep into his lower right leg. Then stabbing up to his thigh with rapid thrusts. The tendrils now came to life and wrapped themselves around Boris body. Using it’s lower stakes like legs the branch reared up. Three of it’s upper stakes stabbed into Boris’ mouth and eyes. Tendrils wrapped themselves in a tight embrace around his head.Getting the hell out of here! was the thought that exploded from Yuri’s mind. He dropped his empty machine gun and bolted for the door, with Ivan right behind him. Yuri’s only thought now was to escape the building, so he ran back to the stairs. But then he stopped as he heard a thumping noise coming from up ahead. Yuri and Ivan both looked on in horror as the waving antenna of a tree ascending the stairs. Then the tree itself reached the top. It stood six feet tall. Propelling itself forward on a clumsy tripod of long roots. At it’s left side was a Human skeleton wrapped in a cocoon of webbing and tendrils. On it’s right side were three long, pointed branches bearing clusters of large leaves. With it’s antenna waving forward the tree quickened it pace towards Yuri and Ivan. Both men turned and ran back down the corridor. They passed the room that they were in and went to a door on the left. Yuri was grateful that this door opened. After he and Ivan barged into the small living room he slammed the door shut. This room also had the same brown carpeting. It was also soaking wet. In the middle of the room was a large pile of fallen plaster from the gaping hole in the ceiling where a steady stream of water was running. All the furnishings were gone. The smeary window at the other side of the room was still intact. There was a doorway to another room on the right. There were also the sounds of glass shattering. The thump and crack sounds of lumber breaking.“I don’t want to know what’s going on back there,” said Yuri as he leaned against the door next to Ivan.“These things are like mad dogs,” Ivan gasped. “I’ve got to get out of here.”“You have to get out?”Ivan corrected himself. “Ok. Bad choice of words. We have to get out.”There was a loud thump at the door. Then two more thumps. The tree outside was trying to get in.Ivan continued. “Look. I don’t like you. You don’t like me. But the only way we’re both going to get out of here is to work together.”“Can’t argue with that,” Yuri’s reply as more thumps came against the door.Ivan held out his hand. “Then shake on it. We work together.”The point of the tree’s branch penetrated the flimsy wood of the door.“This isn’t the best time for male bonding right now,” Yuri warned.“We need a way out,” said Ivan.Yuri looked around the rooms moldy walls. He charged to the left wall and gave it a strong kick with his foot. He put a large hole in the plaster. Soviet era construction and age would provide them with a makeshift escape route.Still braced against the door Ivan ducked down as the branch stabbed through it again. Making the hole bigger. “We need a way out of here.”“Working on it,” Yuri said. His foot made repeated thrusts onto the wall, kicking through the aged plaster and thin wooden planks with ease. With each kick the hole grew larger until it was wide enough for he and Ivan to pass through. “Let’s go,” he cried.Ivan bolted away from the door while the tree kept stabbing through the hole. He joined Yuri as they ducked down and passed through the hole and into an empty room in the next apartment. Yuri headed for the apartment door and out into the corridor. The tree was still attacking the door to the other apartment. looking past this monster Yuri saw three other trees heading down the corridor to join it.Yuri and Ivan both ran down the corridor towards the window. At the left there was an open doorway and stairs. Charging up the stairs Yuri and Ivan went through a door and found themselves on the roof of the building.“This isn’t getting any better,” was Yuri’s comment as he looked around. Several large trees were closing in to surround the building. Then he looked straight ahead. It appeared that this building and the one next to it were close. Close enough for them to leap from rooftop to rooftop. Yuri pointed forward. “The next roof. Let’s jump for it.”A sudden powerful impact shook the entire building. Yuri and Ivan were thrown off their feet. Then the huge form of a tree burst through the roof while a swarm of tendrils whipped out from the doorway and grabbed Ivan by his legs. Ivan screamed as the tendrils tightened their grip and began to drag him back down the stairs.“Yuri! Help me! Help me!”Yuri rose to his feet. He reached out to Ivan, then looked back at the next building. He pulled his hand back. And stepped back as well.“Yuri! Help me, you son of a bitch!”Yuri turned and began to run. The screaming Ivan was pulled back down the stairs.“Yuri! Come back! Yuri!”Sorry, kid, was Yuri’s thought. He ran for the edge of the building. Gaining momentum to jump. Yuri reached the edge of the roof and took a strong leap. As he was in mid air a large tree sprang up. Swinging up one of it’s branches and catching Yuri in it’s tendrils. Yuri cried out in pain as he felt the strength of the tendrils constricting around his legs and waist with a grip of steel. The tendrils squeezed tighter. Pulling him close to the branch. He felt his legs breaking.Now pressed against the tree and flanked by it’s huge leaves Yuri looked at his companions here. To his left was the body of Alyosha. His head leaning to one side while his lifeless eyes stared forward. To his right was the desiccated body of a black uniformed policeman. Both corpses were wrapped in the strange web material. Thin streams of the honey smelling sap now oozed out from the tree branch and began to cover Yuri. Now he began to understand what the web-like material was. It was dried sap from the tree. And at this point Yuri began to theorize that the sap was in fact digestive fluid. Yuri would soon find out as he would become the latest victim of the dark secret of the ghost city of Prypiat.
Read more…

Repost And Add...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 9, 2013 at 8:19pm

I was actually looking for a video of him playing the saxophone in orbit and happened upon this history by ABCNEWS.com. Related to the previous post: his PhD was in Laser Physics from MIT.

"Education was the secular god of the black community" (a quote I remember, but have no sources for it).

"Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history. 





"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions." Carter G. Woodson


NASA: Dr. Ronald E. McNair

ADDED: When I lived in Austin, Texas, I recalled meeting Dr. McNair when I was an undergraduate at North Carolina A&T State University. I was in AFROTC, marched in the parade in his honor after his first mission, and introduced him at the Army/Air Force ROTC joint banquet. It was a busy weekend.

"Whenever you're in Texas, you should give me a call."

So I did. Back then, I called information; asked for Ronald Ervin McNair in Houston, Texas. That was as close as "Googling it" as we got back then.

I got to speak to him for a good three hours. I found out some things:
  • 5 weeks before his dissertation defense, someone purged his data (also known as sabotage). Without data, he'd essentially have failed to get his PhD. He said he stayed up for 3 weeks and re-accomplished 5 years of research. He slept for a week after that.
  • He was planning to leave NASA and go into academia. Challenger would be "his last mission." That was sadly true. It devastated me, and inspired some creative writing in his honor.
  • A lot of his determination he learned as a participant on the school karate team, which a the time (according to my Calculus instructor and his teammate Dr. Casterlow), you could get a disqualification for "unnecessary redness of the skin."

Recalling this makes me determined to stay in science, contribute, help when and if I can, and stand on the shoulder of this and other giants (he was actually only 5'6", but you get the idea).

“When getting an education is a revolutionary act & dreams are the province of men,” Stanley Tucci.
Read more…

JSNN...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 9, 2013 at 8:13pm

The Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering is a collaborative project of North Carolina A&T State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.


JSNN’s mission is to train students to conduct basic and applied research in nanoscience and nanoengineering, and to work closely with the Piedmont Triad community to help enhance opportunities for economic and academic growth through its outreach and engagement activities.

Although Nanoscience and Nanoengineering deal with structures that are invisible to the human eye, their potential to improve daily life is quite substantial. For example as you are reading this, nanoscience and nanoengineering are providing new means of drug delivery, new dental adhesives, new cosmetics, new heat resistant coatings, and a range of other products that can make our lives safer and more productive. The advances in nanoscience and nanoengineering mean that more corporations are forming to design and produce nanoproducts. The financial implications of these new industries will be significant. According to Lux Research, the projected economic impact of nanotechnology on the global economy is $3.1 trillion by 2015. JSNN seeks to develop collaborations with the local and regional businesses that will raise the Triad’s Nanotechnology profile with the goal of attracting new industry and investment to the area and by doing so helping to stimulate the economic growth.1

Federal funding of a prestigious research institute at N.C. A&T State University that is developing new kinds of biomaterials for use in regenerative medicine has been extended beyond its five-year term.



The extension will bring millions of additional dollars to A&T and give the school more time to develop technologies with commercial potential. It will also increase the possibility of lucrative partnerships with Triad nanotechnology and medical companies.



Officials with the Engineering Research Center for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials said they have received the results of a critical review by the National Science Foundation. The NSF awarded N.C. A&T a research grant worth about $18.5 million over five years to establish the ERC in 2008.2

1. Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
2. The Business Journal - N.C. A&T State gets key funding increase for research center

Read more…

LEAP...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 8, 2013 at 8:45pm

The LEAP (Leadership, Education, and Partnership) Academy University Charter School is a kindergarten through 12th-grade (K-12) public charter school that serves Camden City with one core principle: all children and families deserve access to a quality public education.

Since 1997, LEAP has become a national model for urban education. It provides a high quality, holistic education for 1,000 urban learners and families, while guaranteeing every LEAP graduate an opportunity to earn a college degree.



LEAP Academy's three academic units—LEAP Lower School (K-6), LEAP Upper School (7-12) and a specialized STEM High School (9-12)—promote high expectations for students, personal development and successful college and career goals.




For more than 15 years this innovative approach has translated into tremendous success for students and families. Each year LEAP Academy graduates 100 percent of its senior class with all alumni admitted to college, where they are shaping their futures and the future of Camden City.

 

The Fabrication Lab (Fab Lab) at the STEM campus is a workshop where students can take their ideas through a complete process from conception to reality. One side of the Fab Lab holds computers with Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software where students draft their ideas. CAD software, Google SketchUp and Autodesk Inventor, allow students to create 3D digital prototypes. The other side of the lab houses machinery that brings students' 3D designs to life.

 

The CAD Software on the computers and the machinery in the Fab Lab work together enabling students to be creative, imaginative, and highly practical. The Fab Lab at LEAP Academy STEM is a place where students can identify needs and create real, working solutions for social problems in the community. For example, students can use the Fab Lab to design and create a home water filtration system to address the issue of clean water in Camden. Simultaneously, the Fab Lab encourages innovation and community engagement while teaching STEM skills and real world application.

 

More Information Contact
Dr. Alex Nieves, Director, Fabrication Lab
alex.nieves@camden.rutgers.edu | 856. 614.3292 | Extension 7320

 

Site: LEAP Academy - STEM Campus

Read more…

Storing Photons...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 8, 2013 at 8:40pm
Physics World

Physicists in the UK have come up with a new way of storing a handful of photons in an ultracold atomic gas, in which strong interactions between neighbouring photons can be switched on and off using microwaves. The team believes that the technique could be used to create optical logic gates in which single photons could be processed one at a time. The method could also prove useful for connecting quantum-computing devices based on different technologies.


Optical photons make very good "flying" quantum bits (qubits) because they can travel hundreds of kilometres through fibres without losing their quantum information. However, it is very difficult to get such photons to interact either with each other or with "stationary" qubits such as those based on trapped ions or tiny pieces of superconductor. Exchanging quantum information between such devices can therefore be tricky.

What Charles Adams and colleagues at Durham University have now done is come up with a way of storing individual optical photons in highly excited states of an atomic gas. Once stored, the photons can be made to interact strongly, before being released again. An important feature of the technique is that it uses microwaves, which are also used to control some types of stationary qubit.

The Durham experiment involves holding up to 100 rubidium atoms in an optical trap created at the focus of a laser beam, before two pulses of light are fired at the trapped atoms. One pulse is "signal" light that is to be stored and the other is "control" light. The control light allows 10 or so neighbouring rubidium atoms to absorb a signal photon, creating a collective state called a "Rydberg polariton". Such a state is similar to that of a Rydberg atom, which has an electron in a highly excited state – in this case, with a principal quantum number of 60.

 

Physics World: Stored photons interact with atom cloud

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L.I.A. #7 – Die-Hard Award Winners!!!

Posted by AL Bey on February 7, 2013 at 10:23pm

taintedsaint-drocksj

L.I.A. #7 – Die-Hard Award Winners!!!
http://www.myspace.com/drocksouljah/blog/546696891

Contents for L.I.A. #7

I. Past Super Bowl Winners

II. Films Previewing Intense Change Concerning Baltimore & S.F.

III. Award Rituals for the Super Bowl & the Oscars

IV. TMSP Products & Services Wrap-up

MAY THE REWARDS WE REAP DAILY PROVE TO MAKE THE MOST BENEFICIALLY LONG-TERM LIVING EFFECTS!!!

AL Bey

Author of Tainted Saint: The Autobiography of D-Rock SOUL-Jah

Owner, Tribal Metal Spear-it Publishing, LLC (TMSP)

http://www.taintedsaint-drocksj.com

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Let The Children Lead...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 7, 2013 at 7:19am

January 29, 2013

Published: January 29, 2013

By Jodie Sovereign

Hi, my name is Jodie. I am eight years old. I am studying space. I like studying space because we will never know everything about it. When I watched Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking on Blu Ray, it answered a lot of my questions, like How did the universe start and may time travel be possible? Stephen Hawking says he is a physicist and a dreamer. In episode one, "Aliens," he asked the question, "Do aliens exist?" Stephen Hawking had some very creative ideas of what aliens might look like. He also said that they may just take what they need from us—or never think about us.



Regional Multicultural Magnet School




Jodie Sovereign is a 2nd grader at the Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London, Connecticut. Besides science, she enjoys reading, playing with her stuffed animals, and soccer. She hopes to be a teacher when she grows up.

 

Physics Today: Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking: A review | Singularities

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Table-Top Neutrons...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 7, 2013 at 7:15am

...almost like Moore's Law and particle physics.



A new compact high-flux source of energetic neutrons has been built by physicists in Germany and the US. The new laser-based device has the potential to be cheaper and more convenient than the large neutron facilities currently used by physicists and other scientists. The inventors say the source could be housed in university laboratories and might also be used to identify illicit nuclear material.



Neutrons are a valuable tool for scientists in many fields, allowing them to probe the structure and dynamics of a range of materials. Today, the main drawback of neutron science is that intense beams of neutrons must be produced in either nuclear reactors or dedicated accelerator facilities – making a laser-based table-top source very attractive.

 

Physics World: Neutrons on a lab bench

Read more…

At Renderosity FREE Trial of Carbon Scatter 2 for users of Autodesk 3ds Max and Maya, and Maxon Cinema4D.

Posted by Penelope on February 6, 2013 at 4:23pm

TEST DRIVE THE MOST POWERFUL POPULATION PLUGIN FOR 3DS MAX, MAYA AND CINEMA4D

January 30, 2013. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, the leader in Digital Nature technologies, today announced the immediate availability of the Carbon Scatter 2 trial version for Autodesk 3ds Max and Maya, and Maxon Cinema4D.

Derived from e-on software's acclaimed EcoSystem™ technology, Carbon Scatter 2 is the easiest and most straightforward solution for creating complex and detailed populations using the native instancing technologies of the host application.

"Carbon Scatter 2 is perfect, it has all the tools to build a complete scene quickly. I considered several other products prior to choosing Carbon Scatter, but Carbon Scatter gave me the best library of quickly renderable plants. I love this product!", said Roger Barnes.

New features in Carbon Scatter 2 include:

  • Over 100 3D plant species (with variations!) and 130+ billboard trees included
  • Populate millions of instances per second!
  • Interactive population - change a setting and Carbon Scatter repopulates in a blink
  • Populate at 360° around objects
  • Use the powerful EcoPainter brush to paint-in instances directly with your mouse
  • Edit or create your own plant species with the optional Carbon Botanica module
  • Compatible with native previewing options (Nitrous, point-cloud, etc)
  • Scattering inside/along curves
  • Stacked instances (e.g. to create piles of rubble)
  • Use animated populations with full phasing control

Industry Recognition

In less than a month, Carbon Scatter 2 has already received a tremendous amount of positive feedback from the industry:

"Carbon Scatter 2 does what it says and it does it very well!" Darren Capner

"I am very happy with Carbon Scatter 2. Absolutely amazing software!", M.J. van Soldt

"Carbon Scatter 2 takes what seems to be a complex task, and makes it simple. The Carbon Botanica extension is a no-brainer, worth every cent!", Paul Crumrine

"I really love Carbon Scatter and often use it for my productions. The new features like 360° population, the lean out feature on low density or the edge of population, or Eco-stacking are really nice additions, and the result looks natural." Christoph Schindelar

"It's great to find the Vue EcoSystem™ technology inside the host application. I really feel "at-home".", Laurent Rodriguez

Carbon Scatter 2 Trial Version

The Carbon Scatter Trial Version will install in all supported applications on the end user’s system and will allow the rendering of EcoSystem™ populations in all supported renderers.

The Trial Version is a fully functional version of Carbon Scatter 2, aside from the following limitations:

  • The Trial Version ships with a limited collection of plants and polygonal meshes.
  • The Trial Version is limited to rendering up to a total of 10000 instances (the display of instances in the viewport is not limited).
  • Saving scenes, network rendering and access to Carbon Botanica is disabled.

The Carbon Scatter 2 Trial Version cannot be used for commercial work. Once installed, the Trial Version will work for 30 days.

Supported Renderers

Rendering of the Carbon Scatter 2 scene elements is entirely done by the host application's renderer.

  • Carbon Scatter for 3ds Max works with MentalRay and V-Ray renderers.
  • Carbon Scatter for Maya works with MentalRay, and V-Ray renderers.
  • Carbon Scatter for Cinema4D works with the native renderer, and all other renderers that are compatible with Cinema4D instances*. Such renderers include VrayC4D, m4d (mental ray for Cinema4D) or Maxwell Render for instance.

The Carbon Scatter 2 Trial version is available as a free download from www.carbonscatter.com/download.

More information about Carbon Scatter can be found at www.carbonscatter.com.

*Disclaimer: e-on software cannot guarantee the smooth operation of Carbon Scatter 2 with the plethora of commercial renderers compatible with Cinema4D. E-on software recommends that users download the Carbon Scatter 2 Trial Version to test with their preferred renderer before placing their order.

About e-on software

E-on software is the leading developer of solutions for the creation, animation, rendering and integration of natural 3D environments (Vue, Ozone and Carbon Scatter), as well as real-time immersive visualization tools for Architecture (LumenRT). Offering a wide array of Digital Nature products and applications, e-on software provides solutions adapted to every project and budget. E-on software products are used worldwide by the film, television, architecture, game, science, educational and entertainment industries.

E-on software products were used in feature films such as as as "Hunger Games", "Hugo", "Tintin", "Super 8", "Thor", "Avatar", "Clash of the Titans", "Sucker Punch", "Despicable Me", "The Wolf Man", "2012", "Lovely Bones", "GI Joe – The Rise of the Cobra", "Land of the Lost", "Terminator 4, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "Indiana Jones 4", "Monster Vs Aliens", "Australia", "The Spiderwick Chronicles", "KungFu Panda", "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" and TV series such as "Smallville", "Battlestar Gallactica", "Caprica", "Stargate Atlantis", "Stargate Continuum", and more. Read more on these stories in e-on software's Spotlights section: www.e-onsoftware.com/spotlight.

E-on software was founded on the premise that powerful graphics tools should never get in the way of the designer's creativity. By investing significant resources into research and development, e-on software is able to deliver cutting-edge, user friendly technologies that produce stunning Digital Nature scenery.

E-on software is based in Beaverton, Oregon with an European office in Paris, France.

Visit their website at http://www.e-onsoftware.com.

Follow us:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Lumenrt and www.facebook.com/eonsoftware

Twitter: www.twitter.com/e_onsoftware

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/e-on-software

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The Challenge...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 6, 2013 at 2:15pm

"Over 54% of black men who express an initial interest in majoring in the natural sciences, engineering or economics switch to the humanities or social sciences compared to less than 8% of white men," the study authors write. As for women, "33% of white women switch out of the natural sciences, engineering and economics with 51% of black women switching." Students with "relatively weaker academic backgrounds [are] much less likely to persist in natural sciences, engineering and economics majors." This means that "the convergence of black/white grades is then a symptom of the lack of representation among blacks in the natural sciences, engineering and economics," the authors argue. The grade point averages of black students rise over their college careers, in other words, because a higher percentage of them move to less difficult and higher-graded majors.
News one

Science Career Blogs:

The Grio:

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close s/he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown

Read more…

Nanotubes On A Chip...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 6, 2013 at 2:00pm

The circular patch of carbon nanotubes on a pink silicon backing is one component of NIST’s new cryogenic radiometer, shown with a quarter for scale. Gold coating and metal wiring has yet to be added to the chip. The radiometer will simplify and lower the cost of disseminating measurements of laser power.

Credit: Tomlin/NIST

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has demonstrated a novel chip-scale instrument made of carbon nanotubes that may simplify absolute measurements of laser power, especially the light signals transmitted by optical fibers in telecommunications networks.

 

The prototype device, a miniature version of an instrument called a cryogenic radiometer, is a silicon chip topped with circular mats of carbon nanotubes standing on end.* The mini-radiometer builds on NIST's previous work using nanotubes, the world's darkest known substance, to make an ultraefficient, highly accurate optical power detector,** and advances NIST's ability to measure laser power delivered through fiber for calibration customers.***

 

"This is our play for leadership in laser power measurements," project leader John Lehman says. "This is arguably the coolest thing we've done with carbon nanotubes. They're not just black, but they also have the temperature properties needed to make components like electrical heaters truly multifunctional."

 

NIST: 'Nanotubes on a Chip' May Simplify Optical Power Measurements

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Zora Ball, First Grader, Becomes Youngest Person To Develop Mobile Game App

Posted by Nelo Maxwell on February 5, 2013 at 8:00pm

At 7 years old, Zora Ball has become the youngest person to create a mobile video game.

The app was unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania's Bootstrap Expo last month, the Philadelphia Tribune reports.

Ball developed the game using programming language Bootstrap, which is usually taught to students between the ages of 12 and 16, to help them learn concepts of algebra via video game development.

According to Mashable, Ball also successfully reconfigured the app when asked to do so at the Expo, silencing anyone who may have thought that her older brother -- a STEM scholar of the year -- helped her program the game.

Staff at Harambee Institute of Science and Technology, where Ball attends first grade and an after-school program, anticipate she'll do great things.

"I am proud of all my students," Tariq Al-Nasir, who heads the STEMnasium Learning Academy, told the Courier. "Their dedication to this program is phenomenal, and they come to class every Saturday, including holiday breaks."

Last year, the Huffington Post wrote about Kelvin Doe, a 13-year-old from Sierra Leone who created batteries and generators using materials he picked up around the house. Three years later, he became the youngest person to be invited to MIT's

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Eyes On The Stars...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 5, 2013 at 7:43am

Courtesy: Essence

Ronald E. McNair was born October 21, 1950, in Lake City, South Carolina. Died January 28, 1986. Survived by wife Cheryl, & two children. Was 5th degree black belt Karate instructor & performing jazz saxophonist. Enjoyed running, boxing, football, playing cards, & cooking.



Ronald E. McNair graduated from Carver High School, Lake City, South Carolina, in 1967; received BS in Physics from North Carolina A&T State University in 1971 and Ph.D. in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976; received honorary doctorate of Laws from NC A&T State University in 1978, an honorary doctorate of Science from Morris College in 1980, & an honorary doctorate of science from the University of South Carolina in 1984.



SPECIAL HONORS:

Graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina A&T (‘71) - named Presidential Scholar (‘67-’71), Ford Foundation Fellow (‘71-’74), National Fellowship Fund Fellow (‘74-’75), NATO Fellow (‘75) - winner of Omega Psi Phi Scholar of Year Award (‘75), Los Angeles Public School System’s Service Commendation (‘79), Distinguished Alumni Award (‘79), National Society of Black Professional Engineers Distinguished National Scientist Award (‘79), Friend of Freedom Award (‘81), Who’s Who Among Black Americans (‘80), an AAU Karate Gold Medal (‘76), 5 Regional Blackbelt Karate Championships.

About: Ronald E. McNair, PhD

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AIP, America, STEM...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 5, 2013 at 7:39am
National Robotics Challenge

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education is a subject of much discussion in Washington. The National Research Council report, Research Universities and the Future of America, was the topic of two hearings in the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology in the last Congress and continues to generate discussion among policy makers. Scientific professional societies, including the American Physical Society, American Association of Physics Teachers both AIP Member Societies, and the American Chemical Society, have issued reports including those on the status of graduate education in their disciplines. These and other recent reports have generated momentum and an increased desire among decision makers to take action to improve US STEM education.



The National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education (CoSTEM), established by the America COMPETES Act of 2010, created an inventory in February 2012 of Federal STEM education activities and developed a 5-year strategic Federal STEM education plan. The purpose of CoSTEM is to coordinate Federal programs and activities relating to STEM education. This strategic plan will likely continue to be a resource to the Obama Administration as it continues to focus on STEM education issues.



The President issued a call to action in his 2011 State of the Union address to train 100,000 new STEM teachers over the next 10 years to improve access to and the quality of STEM education. This initiative began as a recommendation in a report, Prepare and Inspire, produced by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and has now become a collaborative movement, known as 100kin10, composed of over 100 partner organizations that have and will continue to commit to increasing the number of STEM teachers. Increasing the number of new teachers is a primary focus, however these organizations recognize the need to continue to support existing STEM teachers while increasing the number of new teachers.

American Institute of Physics: STEM Education: An Update and Overview of Policy Discussions

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Dark Edge Fantasy

Posted by Winston Blakely on February 4, 2013 at 8:52pm

    

      

 Growing up on characters that represented high adventure
was a constant thing that inspired me as an artist and
gave me extreme satisfaction in a cool entertaining way.
 Now, with the prominence of Sword and Soul literature, I just
had to come up with a logo to connect my brand or
imprint of the genre, which I deeply love. Of course,
 I think of this as the official but unofficial logo for Sword 
and Soul, and definitely for all my titles that deal with sorcery
like my flagship heroine - Little Miss Strange or Kotas, the
Dragon who is featured in Immortal Fantasy, a pet project
that became my own version of Heavy Metal magazine.
 Upcoming heroes will carry this logo on the back of their books 
to let people know that Blakelyworks Studio is doing its
best to promote the growing genre of Sword and Soul.
After completing the assignment of Leopard's Moon-
Illustrated Tales of Sword and Soul, its only fitting
that this movement should be the next step for my
self-publishing ventures in all graphic forms that 
would fall under this premiere logo.  I hope that all will 
enjoy this upward endeavor and remember that a 
new shade of adventure awaits.    
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What Might Have Been...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 4, 2013 at 8:13am

Hadiya: Arabic, “guide to righteousness; gift.”



The Hadiya Kingdom (r. 13th century-15th century) was an ancient kingdom once located in southwestern Ethiopia, south of the Abbay River and west of Shewa. It was ruled by the Hadiya people, who spoke the Cushitic Hadiyya language. The historical Hadiya area was situated between Kambaat, Gamo, and Waj, southwest of Shewa. By 1850, Hadiya is placed north-west of lakes Zway and Langano but still between these areas. (Wikipedia)

Smiley

Site: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. College Prep High School

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Minkowski Multiuniverse...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 4, 2013 at 8:10am
Lecture from University of Oregon - "The Beginning of Time"

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Metamaterials are synthetic substances with nanoscale structures that manipulate light. This ability to steer photons makes them the enabling technology behind invisibility cloaks and has generated intense interest from researchers.

 

The ability to guide light has more profound consequences, however. Various theoreticians have pointed out that there is a formal mathematical analogy between the way certain metamaterials bend light and the way spacetime does the same thing in general relativity. In fact, it ought to be possible to make metamaterials that mimic the behaviour of not only our own spacetime but also many others that cosmologist merely dream about.

 

Indeed, a couple of years ago we looked at a suggestion by Igor Smolyaninov at the University of Maryland in College Park that it ought to be possible to use metamaterials to create a multiverse in which different regions of the material corresponded to universes with different properties.

 

Today, Smolyaninov and a couple of buddies announce the extraordinary news that they have done exactly this. They’ve created a metamaterial containing many “universes” that are mathematically analogous to our own, albeit in the three dimensions rather than four.

 

The experiment is relatively straightforward. Metamaterials are usually hard to engineer because they are based on nanoscale structures. However, Smolyaninov and pals have instead exploited the self-assembling nature of cobalt nanoparticles suspended in kerosene.

 

Cobalt is ferromagnetic so the nanoparticles tend to become aligned in a magnetic field. In fact, if the density of nanoparticles is high enough, the field causes them to line up in columns. When this happens, the nanocolumns form a metamaterial which is mathematically equivalent to a 2+1 Minkowski spacetime.

 

So light passing through behaves as if this region has one dimension of time, aligned with the nanocolumns, and two dimensions of space, perpendicular to the nanocolumns.

 

That creates a single Minkowski universe. The trick that Smolyaninov and pals have pulled off is to create a multiverse containing many Minkowski spacetimes.


Wolfram Mathworld: Minkowski Space
Physics arXiv:
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