^(HEADLINES)
^(EDITORIAL)
^(TRADE)
^(DRILLS)
^(DOMESTIC)
^(FINANCE)
^(ORDERS)
___
HEADLINES: PREMLETS. WHEN ARE THEY EVER GONNA LEARN? BINDING HELMETS GO BACK AND FORTH.
ASPERMONT, WESTERLANDS - The Binding Helmet was changed last week, and then changed back with minor changes within less than 24 hours - prompting the Company to retire and unretire it awkwardly. However there is still a need to look for a new combat uniform - one that is fit for the current meta.
As discussions went back and forth, it was eventually settled when Irishkaiser proposed a simple solution: do it US military industrial complex style.
Everyone comes up with their own unique designs and then try to get the gubmint to buy it.
GO GO GO, MAKE UP NEW INVENTORY. LET'S GO.
___
EDITORIAL - Pollution is a Necessary Step
Irishkaiser - The Green Wave and Ecological Awakening of the 19th and 20th centuries have blossomed well in the 21st. No longer do people tolerate reckless environmental degradation or callous business practices at the cost of nature. Everyone - from world leaders, business moguls and average joes - all agree that this earth is not just inherited from our grandparents, but borrowed from our children. This current attitude itself is cause for great celebration; less than a hundred years ago, we exploited on such an unsustainable scale and reaped a bounty of wealth that we didn’t just ruin the land and waters beneath us, we have also managed to punch a hole in our atmosphere itself! An impressive testament to our avarice as a species.
However, with great strides made from labor, management, capital and politics, within 30 years, we were not only able to stop widening that breach, we also discovered that it was healing. Why? Because one summit in Montreal in 1987 was able to ban the use of Chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs) in commercial products by 1996 and Hydrofluorocarbons(HFCs) in the same category by 2013. All the then 197 members of the United Nations signed and agreed that this disaster needed to be addressed and tackled. And, in a rare display of unity, they actually did. When political will, technology and money combine, human beings can do anything. Be it go to the moon or avert great ecological disasters. However, none of this could have been achieved or self-corrected without the presence of the problem in the first place. Yes. I am talking about pollution - that common enemy of man that is not necessarily the enemy itself, but rather, a by-product of societal progress and the advancement of our species. It is the necessary step in order for us to have the means to destroy it.
Pollution has always existed since the dawn of time. It was here long before homo sapiens first put their foot to the ground. Volcanic ash killed the land and the animals within its cloud of death, sometimes altering the diversity of the environment completely but it always brought with it, life-giving nutrients to the soil. A change in water salinity by geologic activity can prove deadly to native fish and or aquatic plant life as well, but eventually things settle down and a new ecosystem develops. Not many know but during the Paleoproterozoic era, most species actually died out because of a large production of oxygen by a population boom of Cyanobacteria, thus transforming most of life on the fledgling world into oxygen-dependent biology. These would have been seen as ecological disasters then, but in hindsight, I doubt anyone today with a time machine and the opportunity would have gone back to stop these events from happening.
Animals have been committing environmental genocide, unknowingly and unwittingly for ages by their actions and the by-products of their actions. Then, there came Man. Man was unlike any other animal though he started as an animal. He was always at the mercy of the elements, but with a little creativity, Man always triumphed against adversity, possibly with some divine help if you believe in that. Famine, disease, climate change and even competition from his fellow Man was rife at the early days of their species. But man, that singular creature, with a unique set of gifts, that shaper of the landscape, acquired dominion over the earth and became the apex animal. His greatest evolutionary strength was intelligence. Man had no claws, fangs or scales so he forged swords, spears and shields. Man had no great strength to move boulders, so he designed pulleys, wheels and levers. Man had no great speed, so he tamed the beasts around him and eventually harnessed combustion, setting aside animals completely.
This intelligence centered around finding ways to harness energy for their own benefit. But no physical conversion was perfect. Smelting iron for tools and weapons using basic forge methods left behind a plethora of waste products: scrap metals, soot, coal, slag, charcoal, grit, ash, clinkers. When civilization was young, we just simply threw these away, often at wherever we wanted, as our production methods did not make it economical or our needs for them weren’t in particular demand. Time went on and as our species grew and learned, we harnessed energy better. Using the work from the past, we built upon a generational foundation of knowledge whose descendants consistently improve on to this day, to build a standard of living beyond mere sustenance. And as people stopped worrying about when they would get their next meal, they began to live and start to enjoy life. This leisure however, showed them the consequences of their civilization - it was a problem they could not ignore now. The by-products of their industry were apparent to all. The rivers that grandpa and grandma once said could be drunk from with no ill effects, was now gunky, filled with garbage and oftentimes, smelled bad. The clean wonderful air that was often romanticized in the past almost became a myth in where many of them lived. Pollution was in their face and many protested these conditions, calling for change.
Unfortunately, many of these appeals fell short or ignored as they could not sacrifice the good things industry had created in order to protect the environment. Our methods to harness energy and produce goods were simply too primitive to be better but also too productive to be abandoned. Still, the end products they provided were used by our civilization, spurring scientific advancement and bit by bit, humanity improved. Humans learned, as we always do, and over time, using the technology of the old, we are able to design, engineer and create new technology, one that is far more efficient and far less polluting than those that came before. We have yet to perfect this, we still have such a long way to go still and the development levels aren’t equal in parts of the world. In fact, many of the world’s “efficient” nations rely on the “inefficient” to help optimize their production. Something as innocent as Sweden importing trash from Denmark to burn as fuel, to something malicious such as Canada simply dumping their trash in the Philippines in the hopes no one will talk about it.
Recognition of this fact has created divides among the Environmentalists. For example, Greenpeace’s founder, Patrick Moore decried the organization he helped build calling them blindly fanatical and driven by emotions rather than logic. He cited their inability to accept nuclear energy while fully advocating inefficient and or context sensitive methods such as wind and solar farms that are high maintenance and do not produce as much energy as humanity needs. Their eco-terrorist activity has also drawn ire with Greenpeace members sabotaging what they deemed to be polluting centers, only making matters worse resulting in workers hurt or monkeywrenching infrastructure, thus releasing pollutants on a wider scale than it did before.
Arguments from people such as Greta Thunberg of Sweden were simply issuing a rallying cry to the youth about the destruction of the environment, but provided no solid plan other than some vague change or action, forgetting the economics of it all and the versatility of fossil fuels. Not every place is windy, not every place is sunny, nor are all nations blessed with rivers and geysers that can provide them with their energy needs. Build a coal or oil plant anywhere and it will function in any weather and condition for a good price. She was then promptly invited by the very people she condemned for political brownie points. Ironic, isn’t it? But perhaps, the best argument for accepting pollution comes from those who suffer under radical environmentalism.
They are not evil politicians nor are they the business tycoons with deep pockets. Sometimes, they are an exotic curiosity to people. At worst, they are simply forgotten. They are the agricultural poor.
Sometime around 2019, Brazil, specifically its dominion over the Amazon, experienced swathes of forest fires with the obvious signs of man-made tree clearing. The world was visibly outraged at this and began sending condemnations and threats to the Latin American nation for threatening the Earth’s lungs and oxygen supply. “How could people do this?” many asked, frustrated. Many blamed the politicians and corporations, until one interview by the Rolling Stones magazine found out the real culprit: poor farmers who simply wanted a better standard of living. The same standard of living you and I enjoy. The farmer in the interview justified his actions by saying, and I quote:
“The people in the big cities of Sao Paulo and Rio, they want us to live on picking Brazil nuts,” a farmer says. “That doesn’t put anyone’s kid in college”
Reading that puts it all into perspective. The nations who have undergone industrial revolution now enjoy its fruits and pooh pooh their noses at those who have the same ambitions. In the worst cases, they still commit pollution by proxy with the help of the industrializing countries. Such is the way of the world.
___
TRADE - US MineZ Trade Mission
The proudly Directory reports that an unofficial Trade Mission delivered
crappy iron set.
3 snowballs
1 grapple.
in exchange for
* 17 dyes for *
Allahu akbar.
___
TRADE - Common Market Trade
The Directory proudly announces that it has witnessed the following goods circulated.
Health Potions
Food
I met a nice guy actually. That was it. A shame we're civilized and just go on about our day. Part of me really wants to invite them to our community, but another part feels that is too awkward and forward and putting commitments on another. C'est la vie.
___
PvP Drill 189th Mass PvP Event - PvE Line Mentality
Any moment now... We'll break out of it... Any moment.
___
DOMESTIC - LITTLE MARJOLEIN BECOMES BIG MARJOLEIN
Irishkaiser's long lost daughter who went out on an Arya Stark like adventure came back the other day and said she got big due to a YouTube video. Before she capitalized, she weighed in on it and brought it back to Papa Irish to gauge the morality of it. Irish at first did not fully understand but when he got it, he expressed his full support and even imparted some tips on the industry, telling her he'll support her as well.
"ONE OF MY KIDS IS A CAPITALIST!" cried Irishkaiser with tears of joy after the heir, Shrauger came out as a communist "The Kaiser blood in her is strong... Especially since she came out as a dominant type who makes politically incorrect jokes 24/7... It scares me. In a good way."
___
DOMESTIC - TRADE MISSION WAS CANCELLED SUPPOSEDLY
No one complained because extra day of rest. Any leisure week is a good week.
___
DOMESTIC - RECON MISSION REPORTS SAY UTC SCHEDULING IS GOOD FOR NOW
Multiple recon missions were sent out last week and reported back to la Directoire. They all reported "Sa'll good. Other times are shit and premiums dominate for an hour at a time and then in the late hours US EST only."
The current time and schedule however for the best MineZ primetime is kind of inconsistent as people play one two or three hours later or earlier, making it practically a Russian roulette.
___
FINANCE - VIETNAM STRONK - DELIVERIES SENT. SOON.
___
FINANCE - CHINESE REPORTS BRING US BACK UP
**ORDERS:**
1) TRADE MISSION NEXT WEEK
___
^(THE [?] EMPIRE,THE COMPANY'S OFFICIAL NEWS SOURCE AND PROPAGANDA TOOL. AW YEAH)