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[Ragitsu]

[Pattern Ghost]

[Pattern Ghost]

[Pattern Ghost]

[Clonus]

 

The factor here is that Merrill has lost sight of the forest for the trees (an elf-appropriate analogy, even!). I'm not saying she should be doing one thing or another, but she herself claims that what she is doing is "important" for the Elves, and throws away a decade of her life (granted, Dalish elves live longer than people, even in modern Thedas, IIRC, but still) for something that she doesn't even know what it is or does. Even if she's doing it to help "restore history"...she's not actually doing that. She's just repairing an antiquated device, which, for all anyone knows, might be a weapon (after all, it killed Tamlen, and possible Mahariel, as far as she knows). Even if it's not (and granted, it isn't, but that's beside the point), there's nothing really to be learned from that device.

Imagine it's the year 7931, our civilization has long since nuked itself into oblivion and in the society that comes after, a future-archaeologist comes upon the charred bits of a Super Nintendo...with a bomb strapped to it. Said future archaeologist figures out the bomb part and takes it aside, and dedicates 10 years of her life and estranges everyone who's ever cared about her so she can work on restoring a Super Nintendo, so as to demonstrate all that future-humanity can learn from our present civilization. And here's hoping she also found a broken-down TV and copy of A Link to the Past, or something. And that's more or less how Merrill looks.

 

That is exactly the kind of thing archaeologists do, and it strikes me as a perfectly useful application of their lives apart from the use of methods toward that goal that will turn her into a social outcast.  I mean I wouldn't approve of embezzling funds to fulfill such a project or something.  And I can see why reconstructing an eluvian and getting it to work would be a worthwhile thing for Dalish.  What could be better for a nomadic culture than gaining the ability to effectively teleport the whole clan across the continent?  Particularly since they were nearly stranded by their lack of halla which meant they'd have to abandon just about all their possessions in order to move again.  

[Pattern Ghost]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9js_5MjiGFo

[Ragitsu]

[Pattern Ghost]

[Ragitsu]

http://easydamus.com/neutralgood.html

[tkdguy]

Some of them are very polite, with good manures

[Certified]

[Certified]

[Ragitsu]

Zombies_Ate_My_Neighbors

[Ragitsu]

The Kirbys would simply claim that the guys posing as mercenaries, Udesky, Cooper and Nash, had told them they had gained permission from the Costa Rican government to overfly and try to locate Ben and Eric so a rescue team could be sent in later. Their word against a bunch of unsavory dead guys. They'd have sympathy because of the situation of their son having been lost on the island. The US doesn't have any jurisdiction here, so they'd be tried either in a Costa Rican court or an international one. They'd probably be able to raise enough reasonable doubt that they wouldn't be convicted. Also a lot bad press for Costa Rica, which would hurt their tourism industry.

Grant and Billy could claim they had been kidnapped by the Kirbys since they intended to land but didn't tell them. But the Kirbys could claim they had agreed to join an overflight, trying to locate Eric and Ben on the island and never intended to land. Difficult to prove otherwise. A lot of people would testify they'd seen the board the plane with them willingly. Enough reasonable doubt.

Grant and Billy probably could win a civil suit against the Kirbys. A lawyer would probably tell them the Kirbys didn't have enough assets to make it worthwhile.

[Clonus]

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/powerful-earthquake-hits-southern-japan-124528474.html

[Certified]

[tkdguy]

https://ospreypublishing.com/blog/wacky_warfare_quiz

[tkdguy]

http://mentalfloss.com/article/51364/time-napoleon-was-attacked-rabbits

[tkdguy]

http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/the-most-incredible-list-of-people-have-been-barred-from-this-pub-in-south-london--ZJQy6aPZbZb

[Ragitsu]

[Ragitsu]

[Ragitsu]

[Ragitsu]

[Pattern Ghost]

[Ragitsu]

Transhumanism + Japanese nationalism, specifically a deconstruction of individuality in Japanese society combined with strong anti-imperialist messaging. Mixed throughout are the normal anti-corporation and anti military industrial complex messages common in cyberpunk with shots taken specifically at Japanese right wing.

I said before the Major works in a Japanese version of Mossad, but the key difference stems from Japan's post war history. You can see the effects of article 9 as Section 9 is imagined as a force that primarily handles domestic issues and usually only counters foreign powers who interfere with Japan's autonomy. They differ heavily from the CIA or the cold war special forces groups of the west as on a more basic level the series rejects US military doctrine.

One of the key things that people miss is that Ghost in the Shell also takes place in the aftermath of another nuclear world war of which many of the characters are veterans. The economic boom, the attitudes, issues and themes have a lot of callbacks to that period after WW2. Saitou for example does not make sense as an American soldier, his backstory has him killing off American soldiers over the gall of bringing in nuclear weapons. Not just that, but he's doing it in a war to stop the American empire from occupying Mexico.

I can't stress enough just how much you can't Americanize this series without having to rewrite so much of it you might as well make something new.