#space corps

[artis-dead]

Wreathed in embers and shadow beneath a blood-lit moon, the armored warrior from a forgotten star realm stands ready—blade drawn—for the final clash between cosmos and chaos.

[fantomcomics]

What’s Out This Week? 12/8

It’s the last month of 2021. We can do it, gang. Let’s finish strong!

Crimson Cage #1 (of 5) - John Lees & Alex Cormack

Double double toil and rumble...Brace yourself for a No-Holds-Bard reimagining of William Shakespeare's Macbeth from the critically-acclaimed creators of Sink. New Orleans, 1984. Chuck Frenzy is the main event star of the local Louisiana pro wrestling territory, but yearns for something greater. A fateful encounter with a trio of terrifying beings in the Bayou gives Chuck a glimpse of championship glory beyond his wildest dreams...if he is willing to do something terrible to achieve it.

Buffy The Last Vampire Slayer #1 (of 4) - Casey Gilly & Joe Jaro

Can a lone Slayer save what's left of humanity? Buffy Summers is the last Slayer. Now in her 50s, she wages a one woman fight against the forces of darkness, who prey on humanity in the daylight unimpeded thanks to a magical catastrophe that has nearly blotted out the sun. The same disaster robbed Buffy of her friends and ended the Slayer-line, forcing her into an endless guerilla war. That is, until she stumbles across something she hasn't seen in a long time - hope, in the form of a prophecy and the young girl who carries it.

Buckhead #1 (of 5) -  Shobo Coker & George Kambadais

What strange secrets lie in the mysterious town of Buckhead, USA? Toba and his mother, a renowned scientist, have just immigrated to the US. But instead of living in the Big City like Toba always dreamed, they've moved to a sleepy little town in the Pacific Northwest called BUCKHEAD. In the middle of the picturesque and pedestrian town, Toba discovers that things aren't as perfect as they seem. Toba and his newfound friends find a strange video game, a perfect replica of the town and its people. Soon Toba is on the run from men in black, with his friends brainwashed by microchips.

Lunar Room #1 - Danny Lore & Giorgia Sposito

Cynthia "Sin" Breaker used to be a lot of things. A werewolf. A mob enforcer for a powerful mage. A name feared on every street of Solar City. But now she's forcibly retired from all those things, trying to get over her past job and past loves. Zac Zero is a mage with their own agenda, and right now, item #1 is to hire some protection. Normally, Sin wouldn't look twice, but Zero may have the key to getting back the most important thing she ever lost: herself.

Lady Mechanika: Monster Of The Ministry Of Hell #1 (of 4) -  Joe Benitez & Beth Sotelo

In a Victorian asylum full of grotesque inmates, sadistic guards, and a fanatical doctor, a young lady wakes to find her arms and legs have been replaced with mechanical limbs. But who among this gruesome menagerie is the true monster of the Ministry of Hell? The origins of the notorious adventuress known as Lady Mechanika!

TMNT: Best Of Shredder One-Shot -  Misc & James Biggie

The Turtles have met their match in this collection featuring the best stories of Shredder! From the Turtles' Mirage Studios debut to the present day of IDW comics, the leader of the Foot Clan has been a consistent menace to the heroes in a half shell since their inception! Featuring stories from across multiple TMNT publishers, this collection is perfect for any fan of Shredder!

Space Corps #1 (of 3) - Gannon Beck & Bryan Richmond

When an alien species attacks Earth, high schooler Deven Taylor is swept up in the machinery of an intergalactic war and finds himself serving alongside strange recruits from across the galaxy! As the Space Corps' newest enlistee, Deven must come to terms with who he is and the price he's willing to pay for survival.

Tales Of Mother F. Ghost One-Shot - Frank Tieri & Joe Eisma

The Three Little Pigs are gluttonous casino owners. Little Miss Muffet is a hard-nosed cop with arachnophobia. The Three Blind Mice are ocularly impaired assassins. Puss in Boots is a feline-faced scumbag. Welcome to MOTHER F. GOOSE, where your favorite fairy tales are turned into twisted characters right out of a Tarantino movie. Picking up from "LITTLE RED HOOD" (SHOCK) and "ALONG CAME A SPIDER" (AFTERDARK), we will make you a promise: this is the book that will ruin your childhood. Sorry, kids!

Whatcha snagging this week, Fantomites?

[mysometimessciencediary]

Militarizing Space: Bad Idea?... But Money?

June 16th 2018

Did you know that the last time a new U.S. military branch was created was in 1947? Yeah me neither. Turns out the Air Force is the youngest sibling of the branches in its spry 70’s. But that might eventually not be the case. President Trump (who, for the record, I am not a big fan of) first mentioned the idea of a space corps in March and again expressed the idea in an address in May.

He claims we are “doing a tremendous amount of work” (roughly translating to “some amount of work I am uncertain of so I’m going to use the same vague adjective I always use”) and a new force may be needed (but not seriously unless it’s a great idea in which case he means it). Basically, this is not something he’s striving for or passionate about, but he could be persuaded if someone makes a good pitch. So is it a good idea?

First, we should consider the fact that the U.S. military is already in space. According to Terry Virts, a former ISS commander, space was militarized 50 years ago. I actually find that reassuring. Knowing how the United States operates, I fully expect its military to stick its nose wherever possible. What I’m more concerned with is the conflict it creates. I have yet to hear of any space battles or sociological struggles among space society. I mean there isn’t really much of anyone up there to start beef with in the first place. That and they only really deal with GPS, weather, and communication. But I’m going to give the military credit for meeting my incredibly low expectations of not completely f****** s*** up with their presence. More specifically I’ll give the Air Force credit since they’re the ones that handle the Space Command.

As for the second this to consider, well that’s all the bureaucratic bull that I know little to nothing about. I do know that it’s complicated and dependent on officials that are not elected to their positions. And that a space corps would further complicate its already complicated ways. There are still some good points to be made about why we shouldn’t shoot this idea down. Sure, more money would be put towards bureaucracy, but it’s still going towards space related projects, and I’m a sucker for that. Yes, we have NASA, and I’m all for NASA. Heck I would work for NASA if I could. My current life goal is actually to go into aeromedicine (possibly through the military—I acknowledge my bias). But from a competitive military standpoint, consider that other countries do not have NASA. While I haven’t researched the space capabilities of other countries, I’m willing to bet that there funding and projects are more militarily focused when it comes to space. It’s not unreasonable to think that we may be lagging behind and someone else might f*** s*** up in space before our military has the chance to do it first (not that I want either—again I have low standards). That’s also not considering current issues with funding and the NASA budget.

And that’s the third thing: money. I’ve never heard someone who works for a space related organization say they don’t want more funding, and many support space exploration and research. Then again, many people support less military funding in general. I do want to see more money go towards consistently reliable space transport development, new technologies like solar sails, stem cell growth research in zero gravity, etc. Some of that is marketable in a capitalist economy, but not all of it.

And maybe all this space development talk is overly romanticized and there will be a huge budget crisis and people will be stuck in space with no money and become space pirates. That’s only kind of a negative though. I mean who doesn’t want to be a space pirate?

Honestly the whole idea is complicated enough that I don’t have a solid opinion on the matter. I have too many gaps in my knowledge to feel comfortable arguing for either side on such an important topic. I’m not in the military or government or NASA or any related organization; I’m just a U.S. citizen with a computer and internet access. Most people aren’t experts on these things though. I expect that nothing is to come of this unless someone who does know what they are talking about speaks up and leads this a idea they believe in. That, or s*** will hit the fan hard enough in the future so that this becomes less of a discussion about options and instead of debate about necessity.

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/21/613017475/trump-hints-at-plan-to-create-space-force-as-sixth-military-branch

[becoming-one-with-the-bomb]

[your-raifu-is-shit]

Have you seen the news about the bill to create a Space Corps? How long until I can give up on engineering and fulfill my destiny of mowing down ayyys with an M60 on Uncle Sam's dime?

I saw and I don’t think it’ll happen, at least not for awhile. The Air Force ain’t gonna let it because that means less money and prestige for them.

Let’s all be honest about our real reasons for wanting a Space Corps though…

[newsotu]

"LAWMAKERS LAY GROUNDWORK FOR SPACE CORPS"

 Politicians within the House Armed Services Committee have introduced new legislation that would require the U.S. Air Force to establish a "Space Corps' as a separate branch of the military - similar to the way the Marine Corps function in the Navy - by January 1, 2019.  The Space Corp would be led by its own chief, which would sit on the Joint Chiefs of Staff with a six-year term. This position would be equal in power to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and would answer to the Secretary of the Air Force.  “There is bipartisan acknowledgement that the strategic advantages we derive from our national security space systems are eroding,” Republican, Rep. Mike Rogers and Democrat, Rep. Jim Cooper said in a prepared statement. “We are convinced that the Department of Defence is unable to take the measures necessary to address these challenges effectively and decisively, or even recognize the nature and scale of its problems.”  Although there is a bipartisan support for this expansion of the military, current Air Force leadership opposes setting up a Space Corps, citing that this move would only cause confusion within the organization.

Read more about this fascinating story at: http://spacenews.com/house-panel-takes-first-step-towards-military-space-corps/

Image Credit: U.S. Air Force's X-37B unmanned spaceplane via U.S. Air Force

[artis-dead]

Join the Space Corps. See the Galaxy.

[kramlabs]

Dickinson to lead war fighting side of US military in space

Space Command (Army) and Space Force (Air Force)

Pentagon’s new space organizations take shape as leadership comes onboard

The Space Force and Space Command have both been swearing in a number of senior officials that will shape the direction of the organizations

“Space Force and Space Command are seen as complementary organizations, with the former training and equipping forces that will make up the core of Space Command’s warfighting cadre tasked with manning and operating the service’s satellites and space assets.

Both are still in their infancy, with major decisions about culture — everything from the Space Force uniforms to Space Command’s headquarters location — still to be determined.

“You have to have two different people doing this, because the organize, train and equip side [that Space Force does] can’t distract from the warfighting piece that Space Command does,” said Brig. Gen. Shawn Bratton, deputy director for operations at United States Space Command.”

“Gen. Dickinson clearly has got the warfighting piece down. General Raymond continues with the standup of the Space Force. It lets those respective commanders have singular focus on the two different pieces without them clashing into each other.”