Why does Striker not want to be like other strays?

He doesn’t want to be scrawny.

Striker, the stray dog Striker is a stray dog. He has no home and lives on the city streets. Striker doesn’t want to be scrawny like other strays. He looks for scraps every day. “Go away, stray dog! Don’t scratch yourself at my door”, a woman screams at Striker. Striker sleeps by a stream in a straw hut. He dreams of food scraps.

“On this night, we share a roof protecting us from fleets of inequity. Our unification promises a better tomorrow. Those larger than myself, sitting on their marble thrones, sipping blood from cups composed of human skin and singing songs of so-called virtue, grow weaker each moment. Their caravans are revolting. There is hope yet. There is progress! Though tonight may mark a countdown, it is still a celebration. Look at all we have done, not just for Trials but for Palatium Infra as a whole. In four years, when I’m no longer Sovereignty, the Spoiled Purity and his people will continue to strive. So drink! Smoke! Crush up those exotic plants and snort them! We will not falter, weaken, or wane. Our influence is expanding, and somebody new opens their eyes every day. Even the Silbys of Aculeus have reached alarming potentials despite their embittered minds. So long as you relish in tonight, dance, and pray to your “dead” Gods, our revolution shall rise beyond the bounds of class, and when I’m only a commoner, we shall rise again beyond our brainwashed adversaries! Cheers, my people. Cheers!” Followers raised their cups. Some clinked theirs together. Others stood still and screamed breathlessly in agreement. I smiled with courtesy, then stepped off my platform. My voice still rang across the cellar. Speeches before were grander. Those displays were supposed to be emptying, and yet this one left me bloated, swollen tight. I watched as they popped the corks of their bottles and chanted in the name of Purity. Maybe the quality of my words wasn’t what mattered to them anyway, so long as I screamed loud enough. There’s no merit in attacking your people, a voice corrected me. “That’s right,” I said aloud. “Knox, my-my Sovereign!” squealed a nearby devotee, jittering as he stuffed his face with catered pastries. He was one I’d never seen before or had failed to remember. “Look what I’ve found! It’s wine, and not the shoddy Infran kind, either. Earth-made with good fruit! I don’t know how anyone managed to get their hands on this. Maybe some space travel mischief.” He giggled and held up a small glass bottle. “How neat.” “I want you to have it, Sir.” I nodded my head. “Yes, of course. Thank you.” Backing off into the midst of rowdy disciples, I clutched the bottle. What a waste of grapes. It could have been jam instead. Earthly food had a superior taste, ripe with delicate intricacies and nostalgia, but Palatium Infra had mastered the art of alcohol. Why waste your time with a drunkenness so sad and sickening? The booze of trash. Not many more followers approached me. The barren peroration must have upset them. My hands itched to submerge into my suit pockets, and my legs stood suddenly numb, wobbling. Four more years until I’m nothing. But tonight, you are nothing. “Shut up,” I told myself. Tightly packed together in the corner of the dwelling sat the Sibyls. A mound of writhing fabric and tones of skin made up their unified silhouette. I snapped the strap of the nearest gown, balancing on my hands and knees, waving the bottle before them. In their almost rodent nature, narrow noses prodded my way. Their dresses wrinkled and fell to their ankles. Knees dropped, and eyes widened. Many grumbled at me like hungry she-beasts. Those newer ones with faded curtains for hair, sunken eyes, and dirtied nails looked, hid their face, then sobbed. I imagined them in a pack together, fighting wildly against the Spoiled Purity in their rat decorum–biting down with square teeth laced with rabies. “I’ve got you all something,” I said. “Go back off to your pedestal and yap some more. We don’t want it.” A woman rose from the pile and spat. “You don’t even know what it is yet. It's Earth hooch, or more likely a near-flawless replica. I figured you girls would also like a chance to enjoy yourselves tonight.” “Your playmates have been harassing us since the moment you hung the banners and opened the cellar door.” The youngest, with a striking cyan mop upon her head, uncoiled from the mass. What was she now? 20, 21? We celebrated a birthday recently, I thought as she spun around me. “I remember something about a promise. Multiple promises, actually. Are you trying to bribe us into just shutting up and taking it? Because if another sticky, 40-year-old, Earth-born virgin gropes my shoulder, I’m going to have an aneurysm!” the girl continued. “Why not an Infran follower? Do you like it when they touch you?” I returned her accusing tone. “I’m sorry, sweet prophets, that you feel I’ve neglected my duties. I’ll keep a better eye out. Remember, you can always just holler if somebody is bothering you. And Anwen, friend, if I’ve ever tried to bribe you with anything, it was certainly the hair dye. I mean, look at you! Such handsomeness!” I exclaimed. The other Siblys began to encircle her, uttering compliments or even announcements of their envy. Anwen disappeared in a wink with flushed cheeks back into the mound. “I’ll just leave this here.” Smiling, I set down the bottle. ** “141, 143. . .” I counted each step as I trekked the staircase. There was no doubt I lost track somewhere. The ledges kept spawning under my feet, infinitely multiplying until I wasn’t moving at all–swallowing me up in a whirlpool of stone. My tie still hung around my neck, and my blazer remained tied around my hips as a skirt. Streaks of red dribbled off from the cavity in my chest. It was a gorgeous marking, sensual to my fingertips as I traced its edges. Purity, oh, Purity. Purity and his wings of burnt skin. Purity and his many faces. Purity the spoiled. Purity the mutilated. The Silbys did not bother waiting for me. On bare feet, they stormed up the stairs to their room. A trail of red, though in paint unlike mine, streamed after them. None looked remotely near me as they squeaked and gossiped intangibly. I saved them, those Infran broads, enlightened them. As much as they liked to deny it, spit at me, and bask in the thought of their victimhood, in this home, they stood empowered. You’ve done well, my thoughts affirmed, though in the manner of an insincere commentator rather than a hype man. Teeth grace in tile violin goes laundry paper when. It dissolved into an intruding drivel. I rubbed my head and sniveled. “Do you need help, Knox?” called a Silby. Fattened by my coddling, her shadow fell upon me from the doorway steps ahead. I attempted counting again. There must’ve been at least another hundred between me and her. “I’m hallucinating some,” I said, breathing deeply to suppress a burp as I struggled to recall her name. Two syllables. Typically Latin, though sometimes English. Drops of slobber leaked from my mouth. “I’m hallucinating some, Tybal. Do you like your name, Tybal? I would have named you something better. Ty-Tyballinia. No, we’d have to eliminate the ‘ball’ aspect. It sounds too crude.” “One foot in front of the other,” she said. So I walked. Mess greeted me at the doorway. Dirtied culinary obscured the dark wooden countertops, and the sink lay running. I approached the kitchen table, sat, and set my face down upon its cool wooden surface. Assaulting my nose was the smell of neglected flowers, like soil mixed with the kind of sweet cough medicine that would have left me gagging as a child. Open windows whispered songs of the twilight hour through the vessels of busy trolleys and shooting guns. My mouth strained to vomit, but there was nothing in my stomach to regurgitate except the petals of Stulto’s bloom, which came out effortlessly in little sputters. Teetering, I stood up and brushed disgorged plant parts off the tabletop. “Love,” I said as I slogged up yet another staircase. “Are you awake?” She said she’d wait. Somebody’s gotten her. No, she always misses movie night. That sleepyhead, I assured myself. There was a stirring amidst the manor’s cloak of dusk. Portraits of myself, my wife, and my daughter turned to face me as the hallway lights flickered, escaping their quartz frames to penetrate my ears with nonsense. The taxidermied heads of Infran creatures bared their teeth. I stopped to stare at my favorite, an adabactor with daunting spiked tusks poking out from its forehead. Its nose remained black and sharp, and its eyes wide with malice. “Where is my Spes, Adaba-boy? Is she sleepy?” There’s someone in the house. The sounds of the stirring rose along with my blood pressure. Footsteps orbited around me, drawing near and far and then near again, little dancers in the dark. The carpet immersed me in its mass of purples and blues, leaving my skin stained indigo and my vision abstracted. I toiled to reach the master bedroom across the aisle as it stretched out to me with bright lights and celestial howling, like a dove struggling in a pool of oil. Never again with Stulto’s bloom. Never again on what was already a bad night. My hand brushed the doorknob, and the high abruptly faded into only a persistent hum-buzz twirling around my brain. The portraits returned to their typical depression–Spes posing with her ax, Ari’s school photo, and myself in the cap I wore when addressing the military with the Verbis emblem embroidered in its center. All lifeless shots. Who were they for when they captured not the subject’s essence but only some fragment of their identity? They used to feel personal, not advertisements of some supposed characters. Servants, babysitters, and likewise civilian guests, I reminded myself, mustn’t forget whose home they’re in. Yet my body moved independently, taking Ari’s from its hook and laying it backward against the wall to hide her distant grin and tamed posture. It was time for new pictures. Sweet ones, real ones; time was ticking. I approached my own when the stirring began again. Groans and squeals erupted from the vents as if someone had set a pen of pigs loose in my crawlspace. No, not the crawlspace, my bedroom door. I turned the ruby knob. Underneath a blanket wrestled my two squealing piglets, their skins melting together beneath the layer of duvet. Fishnet leggings and manicured nails outstretched and scraped at the sheet beneath them. One raised its head, a salmon-colored man with sweat running down his forehead. Through the crack in the door, we met eyes, his Infran Dr. Sesuss nose flaring its narrow nostrils. No mark of the Spoiled Purity existed carved onto his naked body. My chest felt tight. I stepped back. I was suffocating. Spes emerged from the linens, her hair flowing down her back and her dark skin glistening in front of the bedroom window. She giggled and held the man, the blanket falling and revealing inches of her body I had not seen in months. “Darling,” whispered the rosy-faced man, “look.” He was unfathomably ugly and grotesquely young, with beady, lifeless pupils that dilated when he faced me. The excess flesh on his face sagged while he bit down on his thin lips. My wife faced me, gasped, and strained to cover herself. Suddenly, I was a stranger. A small child who had walked into his parents having sex. I unfurled the door completely. “Get out of my house,” I said. The man stayed in place. “Get out of my house,” I repeated. “Knox,” Spes began. Tears ran down her round cheeks. “Shut up!” I turned to the man, picking up a marble trophy from on top of my dresser. “Get out of my house! I’ll kill you!” “Knox!” Spes sobbed. “God damn it! I hate you! You barely look at me. Every day, there’s less passion. God, God, God, I don’t want to fuck a dead man!” she screamed, “You get out! Get! Get!” My hands wrapped tighter around the statue. That pig of a man was attached to her at the side, his face equipped with a scowl that challenged mine. He thought I was weak; frail like a decaying dementia-ridden senior. I imagined his skull bashed in, his scowl gone, and the feist and confidence in his face beaten into numbness. A new portrait was in order of such brutality, him as a splintered slab of wood, rashed and beaten, a carcass licking my boot. The churning in my brain had come back. Every wall shook. Clock faces came to life and rang in alarm. Indescribable noises caressed my eardrum before breaking into sorrowful weeps. Was it my own? I stared at Spes in motionless frenzy, clenched my teeth, and screamed like a siren. Passionless. What a lie! An excuse, more like. One that erased all my ventures, reducing me to a nobody. But I was not a nobody. I thought of my sect, my campaigns, my endurance through the political brutality of my empty hive-mind world–even my collection of literature, maps, and artifacts. I thought of daring nights alone with Spes when we were young, ravaging each other, two sardonic eggheads suddenly overcome with desire. The veins in my neck throbbed as I gasped for air. It was all I had. I threw the figurine at the man’s head. Eye shut, I heard the thud. A million singing voices of victory flooded out of the cracks in the floorboard. Proving myself a man to the woman I loved in a display of fervent violence was passion. I strained my ears for his cries, though I did not look yet. There had to be a pause, a moment of relief, where I stood tall as a skyscraper and seemingly fought to stay contained in front of my wife and her wounded, quivering paramour. Frantic footsteps rushed off the bed and past my side. I turned and grappled against myself to seize my wife’s shoulder. “Spes!” My eyelids lifted. Escaping was the man with that same numb expression in which I had imagined him. “You’re insane,” he said. I swiveled back towards the bed. With her curly locks flowing over her breasts and her limbs bent at her sides, Spes sat limp pressed against the headboard, her forehead bludgeoned and the statue resting on her stomach. Lips pursed and sweet, my Renaissance beauty reclined there in the guise of a squashed bug. But she was not dead. The desk ornament I flung was only the size of my shoe. Spes, that dramatist, may have been slightly hurt but was far from dead. She only wanted me to think she was to observe me at my most distraught, like a leech feeding on misery. “Get up.” Staggering toward the bed, I said. “You wanted passion? I showed you passion. ‘Shoved it right into your head. Of course, we both know who that gesture was meant for. . .” I fumbled to find my wit. Cold skin met my hands as I stroked her face, unable to resist checking her pulse, even though she was not dead. “I love you, Spes,” I said. Rain pelted against a nearby window. “Spes, please. Please.” No vibration answered my plea. I lifted my hand, sitting next to her now. Tears did not come. There was not any blood on the trophy, but when I picked it up, it felt to be now only a cruel instrument. It depicted a younger me in white marble, with my glasses and collared shirt being the only things painted. Both were in pink. It was a favorable color. I scrambled from the bed to vomit pure digestive bile on the rug. My stomach heaved. I ran my nails along every piece of myself I saw, a dog chasing my tail. As I slammed myself against walls and convulsed, my own heart grew ever louder in my chest. “Dad? I heard–” Ari’s slippered feet hammered across the floor. “Mom? Mom?” I kept my eyes on the storm. Silence fell. “She-She isn’t—your—.” Gasps interrupted every syllable she spoke. “You’re a murderer. Bad. Like they said,” she breathed, “ You beat her!” The words became mush, alphabet soup. Ari ran back down the hall. “My-My mom is dead. . . .Yes. . . Manor of the Trials Sovereignty. . .Ari Sorkin. . . I’m afraid he’s going to hurt me,” she said, presumably over the phone. It was all too fast. I crawled onto the windowsill, opened the glass, and let myself plummet into the alley below. Gusts of wind howled. The lack of motion or sensation informed me I had passed and again lived. Another Palatium Infra, another strange planet in which the celestial endowed rotting men with the opportunity to inhabit. Was this it? Was it all just an impossible limbo of galactic traveling? My surroundings were overwhelmingly gray, an abyss of clouds. Perhaps I had now met the real coming world, and my family and old friends lived here, ready to rush to my sides, lift me up, and jump for joy. Spes would be there. She would be enraged, but at least she’d be there. You are a bad man. You are a bad man. My eyelashes fluttered. There was a tugging sensation in my leg. The fog was wavering along with my ascendance. “No,” I yearned, trying to grip the clouds and stick them in place. “Stay with me.” But the peace was fleeting. I felt the cement under me and the moist garments clinging to my figure. My leg burned. Carefully, I craned my neck, only to observe the promenade as my surroundings. The most underwhelming of filth and danger, individually Infran. Forever my coming world. What a fool I was, having forgotten my blessing. Those idiot Gods could not tell the difference between assassination and self-infliction; a faulty insurance plan. The urge to cry at last set over me, and so I sat and wailed hot salvia into my palm, shielding my mouth to muffle the noise. Thunder echoed my hushed howling. Raindrops turned to pebbles. Under the ambiance of the stormy night, I could have sworn I heard troops stomping, guns cocking, and the chanting of my name. They had all been waiting for this. Billboards came to life, and I could only sit and spectate as the scenery flashed red. I inhaled fear and sobriety through runny nostrils. “Trials Sovereign Vsevolod “Knox” Sorkin is currently at large for the suspected homicide of Spes Sorkin, breaking the first term of the Sovereignty Charter. We now instruct you to report any sightings of the Earth-born, caucasian, roughly 195 centimeters tall, brown-haired, and brown-eyed man to your local Guard post. One can identify the suspected convict specifically by an occult tattoo of Purity’s Coronet on his lower back. No attempted execution or elongated punishment will take place until our Guards conduct an autopsy proving his guilt, per Life’s 1238 commandment. We cannot be sure when or if the Gods will revoke his blessing. Remember, when Gods frown upon strife, opt for a peaceful life. We permit all grieving festivities until Cagidus 4th. Good year!” towering buildings sang out in broadcast, repeating that same convoluted message quicker the instant it ended. Sometimes, the announcer spoke in Latin for the Infran children, other times in Chinese, Hindi, or Spanish to cater to those of irrelevant tongues. You aren’t a bad man. You are a stupid boy. Puddles sloshed. Somebody was approaching. I didn’t dare waste any remaining energy avoiding the Guards and their prodding blades. How did that phrase go? You dug your grave. Now lie in it. And so I embraced the cement. “Knox?” said the Guard. No, her tone was too sincere, and no authority would proceed in such a manner. There wasn’t confirmation on whether or not I was armed, and it wasn’t as if she could shoot me first. She was a partygoer, having just left from the cellar’s backdoor. I shooed her away with my hand. She hovered, and I discerned her shadow hesitating over my body. A man could not rot in peace. “Come on, get up! They’re after you!” Hands reached around my torso, struggling to handle my weight as they urged me onto my feet. That leg, the burning one, my right, trembled and bent unnaturally upon impact with the ground. The partygoer slung my arm over her shoulder, balancing me. My eyes caught a glimpse of a cyan mop. “Anwen?” I rasped, “hu-who let you out?” Keys jangled in her hands–my keys. “I escaped,” she said casually, coercing me to walk beside her. “Quicken your pace. I just heard somebody on your front porch. ‘You see that compost bin down the alley? We’re gonna burrow right down into the depth of that. If they open it and uncover us, I’ll be on top, and I can hide you and act like I’m just a homeless amica trying to take a nap.” With a tightening grip, she led me like livestock to the stinking crate. “I don’t understand, Anwen,” I said. “They’re going to torture and kill you, stupid. You know they’ve been wanting to, and you just handed the opportunity to them!” “I understand that.” It was becoming increasingly challenging to hide the fragility emerging in my voice. “You said you were escaping. Why stop and help your captor?” “What else could I do? Leave you there?” Attempts to shove my wounded body inside its mass of discarded fruits and vegetables began. She yanked down upon my head and submerged me in the fertilizer sea. The evidence grows indisputable, I thought as I stared at the abruptly humane Infran girl, diving in after me, that I belong here. “Damn me to hell! I’ve killed her! My love is dead!” an uncontrollable cry leaped from my mouth. “Shut up! Soon you’ll be, too, if you don’t quiet down.” The actual noise of the Guards darted past us: disorientated marching, guns clanking against each other, cluttered belts rattling, the Latin squawking. One paused to open the bin’s lid, though only rummaged through the surface layer of peat before carrying on. “What are they talking about? I struggle with my Latin,” I whispered. “The search, mainly.” Aggression remained firey in Anwen’s clenched jaw. Though she sat on top of me, there was a monumental distance between our rain-soaked forms. I curled up into a ball, ducked my head between my knees, and dreamt of Spes, ignoring the stench of spoiled food rising from every crevice of my dwelling. The next coming world was due to adopt me again as I forced sleep. I prayed for a canyon of fluffy haze, where I waltzed with pale memories but found nothing but the petrifying stillness of my mind. Killed and ran. Violent as a Guard just to prove a point and watch it backfire. Why would any heaven want to welcome me? I clung to the picture of Spes in my head like it was the last ember of an extinguished flame. “Did you mean to kill her?” Anwen interrogated. “Someone like you would immutably believe yes.” “And who is someone like me? You can’t even treat me like a person for a moment, can you?” grating drama decorated her words. “You know my opinions. I have not seen much of your or your breed’s faces besides that of cruelty and ignorance.” I retorted. “I just saved you! Does that make me cruel and ignorant?” “It makes you an idiot, which is another word for somebody ignorant.” “And why am I an idiot?” She asked. “Because you helping me does no good. Thank you anyhow. Now, do yourself a favor and scram.” As she bent her leg in anticipation, preparing to strike me on the forehead, I sensed an invisible withdrawal widening the gap between us. “You never answered my question,” Anwen took me by the end of my tattered tie suddenly and started her game of shepherd and sheep over again, pulling me back up to the crate’s exit. It appeared as a shining light at the end of a maze of rubbish and mold. “No. Of course not. Spes was my everything,” I sniffled. “I knew it. You couldn’t even bring yourself to hit us, let alone murder your wife. The girls and I always figured you were sensitive.” My heart rate quickened. Today was one of humbling and misery–one to pray a hail spike would fall from the sky as sharp as a needle, pierce into my eyelid, and lobotomize me. I wished I could have merely died or hit my head hard enough not to have to deal with it all. No, I wished I was Anwen with her snarky, careless glow and lack of depth in her eyes. As we emerged from the compost bin together, I fantasized about strangling her until her face turned purple, her weakening spirit no longer categorizing me as “sensitive”, but the thought could only remind me of wielding that trophy and the microscopic traces of my wife’s tender skin tainting it, which turned my guts inside out. “That’s why I think you could use a little help,” Anwen said, “It seems like you can’t walk, either. Your leg is all twisted up.” She undid one of her trim pigtails and handed me the band. “Take off your tie and put up your hair. ‘Will make you less recognizable. Then swallow your pride and stick with me.”

Important Preparations Before an Earthquake Strikes • Follow the structural design and engineering practices when constructing a house or building. • Evaluate the structural soundness of the buildings and houses: strengthen if necessary. • Be aware of the earthquake evacuation plans for all of the buildings you occupy regularly. • Strap or bolt heavy furniture and cabinets to the wall to keep them in place. • Breakable items, harmful chemical, and flammable materials should be stored properly in the lowermost secure shelves • Prepare and know where fire extinguishers, first aid kits, alarms, and communication facilities are located and learn how to use them beforehand. • Pick safe places in each room of your home, workplace, and school and practice doing drop, cover, and hold.Essential Things to Do While an Earthquake is Happening • Stay calm. • Duck under a sturdy desk or table and hold onto it. Protect your head with your arms. • If there is no sturdy furniture, sit on the floor in a corner next to an interior wall and cover your head and neck with your arms. • Move away from glass windows, sliding doors, shelves, cabinets, and other heavy objects. • Grab anything handy to shield your head and face from falling debris and splinting glass. • Stay indoors until the shaking stops. If you must leave the building. use the stairs rather than elevators. • Stay away from trees, power lines, posts, and concrete structures and proceed cautiously to an open area. • Move away from steep. slopes, which may be affected by landslides. • Move quickly to higher grounds since tsunamis might follow • Pull over to a clear location and stop. Avoid bridges, overpasses, and power lines, if possible. • Be updated about disaster. prevention instructions from battery operated radios.Essential Safety Measures After an Earthquake • Check yourself and others for injuries. • Do not panic. • Expect and prepare for aftershocks. These aftershocks may be weaker but they may sometimes cause more damage than the major earthquake. • Look for emergency supply kits. They should include food, water, medication, clothing, and other things you may need. • If you need to evacuate, leave a message stating where you are going • Do not enter damaged buildings since they might have weakened foundations, increasing their susceptibility for collapse. There can also be a lot of falling debris. • Do not use elevators • Check water and electrical lines for damages. Turn the main switch off to avoid any incidences of electric shock • Look for and extinguish fires to reduce their chances of spreading. • Avoid fallen power lines. • Tune in to radio broadcasts and be updated on disaster prevention instructions.

What is Electric Force? Electric force is just one of many types of forces in the world of physics. Forces are how and why things move, and can be explained by Newton's Laws of Motion. On the smallest scale, electric force is the resulting interaction between two charged particles. These charges can be either positive or negative. Larger objects can be charged by having an abundance of either of these particles, and therefore can create an electric force on a larger scale. Electric force is the reason why hair will sometimes stand up on its own and is also why we have electricity, allowing us to live in the modern world with lights and technology. Even out in nature electric force is present, as electric force causes lightning to strike. Electric force is fundamental to our everyday way of living. Reviewing Newton's Laws of Motion Newton's Laws of motion are the basic principles or ground rules that are applied all across physics. They describe how objects move and can be used to describe the interaction of charges. They are the following: An object in motion will stay in motion unless an external force is applied The force exerted on an object is equal to the mass times the acceleration of the object. ( ) Every force has an equal and opposite force Newton's laws explain how and why charged particles move. Since there is a force involved (e.g. electric force), particles will move around, which is explained by the first law. The second law describes how acceleration of charges can be calculated once the electric force is known. The third law explains how attractive and repulsive forces between charged objects are equal and opposite. Electric Force Examples and Types of Charge As previously mentioned, there are only two types of charges; positive and negative. Two like charges will repel (or move away from) each other, and two opposite charges will attract (or move towards) each other. In other words, two positive or two negative charges will repel, while a positive and a negative charge will attract. Opposite charges will attract while like charges will repel. Attraction versus Repelling Forces Notice how the forces acting upon each other are equal and opposite, as Newton's third law states. Both charges are exerting forces onto each other. Charges in Atoms An atom is made up of three types of particles; protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons have a positive charge, neutrons have no charge, and electrons have a negative charge. There are no positive or negative charges smaller than protons and electrons. Objects on a larger scale result in an overall positive or negative charged due to an uneven distribution of protons to electrons. An atom consisting of more protons than electrons would be considered positive, and an atom with more electrons than protons would be considered negative. Protons are held close to the nucleus and are tightly bound to an atom, so it's difficult for protons to escape an atom. Electrons, on the other hand, are much further away from the nucleus of an atom. This makes it much easier for them to be removed from an atom. Electrons can leave or join atoms, making them positive or negative depending on the amount of protons. Similarly, for the bigger picture, overall materials and objects with more electrons than protons would be considered negative, and vice versa. Electric Force Examples Hair standing up: When hair is brushed, the hairbrush can strip electrons from hair strands, resulting in the hair being positively charged. This addition of electrons to the hairbrush in turn makes the hairbrush negatively charged. Since the hair is now positively charged, and like forces repel, hair strands will move away from each other, resulting in the hair standing up. Current electricity: All of our everyday technology is powered through current electricity, which is the consistent flow of electrons through conductive materials. This flow is caused by the electric force, as the electrons flow from a negative source to a positive source. Lightning: During a storm, it is common for an abundance of electrons to build up on the bottom of a cloud, making that part of the cloud negatively charged. Positive charges in the ground start to gather on the surface or even on tall objects such as trees as they are attracted towards the negatively charged undersides of clouds. Lightning strikes as a result of these charges becoming extremely built up. Lightning is caused by electric force Lightning Electric Force Equation: Coulomb's Law The magnitude of the electric force, or the amount of force in which objects repel or attract, depends on the distance between the two charged objects and the amount of charge each object carries. The electric force is stronger the closer together the two charges are, and weaker as the two charges move apart. Electric force is also stronger with more charge, and weaker with less charge. This effect on electric force is predictable, and is known as Coulomb's Law. It can be calculated using a mathematical equation, and the resulting magnitude of electric force is measured in Newtons. Coulomb's Law Electric force can be calculated using the following equation known as Coulomb's Law: In this equation, F is the electric force measured in newtons, K is a constant known as the electrostatic constant, and are charges one and two measured in coulombs, and is the radial distance in meters between the two charges. Since the distance is squared and on the denominator, the electric force drops off exponentially as charges move away from each other. This means that the Electric force is inversely proportional to distance. As charges move away from each other, the electric force between them gets smaller and smaller, until the force is negligible. The amount of charges are in the numerator of this equation, making the magnitude of the force larger with more charge. This means that the force is directly proportional to the amount of charge. When the charges are smaller, the amount of force will be smaller. When there is a lot of charge, the force will be much greater. When calculating the electric force using Coulomb's law, the resulting answer only gives the magnitude of the force and not the direction. In order to know the direction, you must know the types of charges. Once again, like forces repel, and unlike forces attract. It helps to draw a visual representation, or a free-body diagram, of the charges and forces acting upon them in order to understand the resulting force direction. Electric Field versus Electric Force An electric field is a direct result of an electric force. Its pure definition is electric force per unit charge, and can be thought of as a mapping of the force vectors. An electric field is present anytime there is an electric force. Therefore, when there are two or more charged particles, there is a surrounding electric field. The direction of the electric field is the direction a positive charge would flow if it were placed within the field. The electric field moves out from a positive charge and goes into a negative charge. Particles with unlike charges move towards each other, and their corresponding electric field lines move out from the positive charge and into the negative charge. The strength of the force at any given point can be seen through the spacing of the electric field lines. The electric force is strongest where the electric field lines are closest together, and weaker as these lines move apart. Like Coulomb's law expresses, electric field lines show how the electric force is strongest with a minimum distance between the two charges. Unlike charges will result in a repelling force, and the resulting electric field is a visual representation of this effect. Electric fields of two positive charges have the electric field moving out away from both of them. As with two negative charges, the field lines move in towards each negative. Lesson Summary An electric force is created when there are two or more charged particles or objects. These charges can be either positive or negative. Like charges will attract (move towards each other) while unlike charges will repel (move away from each other). As Newton's third law suggests, the forces acting upon each other are both equal and opposite. Electrons and protons within an atom are the two smallest types of charges there are. Electrons carry a negative charge while protons carry a positive charge. Electrons can be easily removed or added to atoms, making the overall charge positive or negative. Objects with more electrons than protons are negatively charged. Electric force is strengthened with increased charge and a shorter distance between the charges. This effect is known as Coulomb's law and can be calculated with the Coulomb's law equation. The magnitude of the force is measured in Newtons, and the direction can be determined by knowing whether the charges are attracting or repelling each other. An electric field is present wherever there is an electric force. The direction of this electric field is the direction a positive charge would flow if it where to be dropped in the field, which is from the positive to the negative.

Tornadoes Introduction. What can lift roofs from buildings and sweep houses into the air? Tornadoes can! Tornadoes come in many sizes. Some tornadoes are only a few feet (1 meter) across. Others are more than a mile (1.6 km) wide. Some tornadoes touch down for a short time. Others travel for hundreds of miles. How Tornadoes Form. Why do tornadoes happen? Scientists are not sure. Tornadoes come from giant thunderstorms called supercells. A supercell happens when warm, moist air rises to mix with cold, dry air. The mixing of cold and warm air causes the air to spin. The spinning wind turns into a cloud in a funnel shape. As the cloud turns, the wind becomes stronger. When the funnel cloud touches the ground, it is a tornado. Measuring Tornadoes. Scientists have a way to measure the strength of tornadoes. They look at the harm caused by a tornado. They use the amount of harm to estimate the wind speed. They use a special scale called the EF Scale. The EF Scale measures the strength of the tornado. Where Tornadoes Form. Tornadoes may be hard to measure, but scientists have a good idea where they'll strike. It's true that a tornado can hit anywhere in the world at any time. Most tornadoes happen in the central part of the United States. This area is called Tornado Alley. More than one thousand tornadoes strike Tornado Alley each year. Tornado Safety. There is no way to be sure that a tornado will strike. The National Weather Service (NWS) tries to help people stay safe during tornadoes. If they put out a tornado watch, a tornado might strike. If they put out a tornado warning, a tornado has been spotted. If there is a tornado warning. it's important to get to a safe place. Go indoors. The safest place is a basement. If you can't get to a basement, go into а closet or bathroom. The spinning air in a tornado makes things fly around. This can be dangerous. It's always important to protect your head. You should get close to the ground. Go under a desk or table. You can even lie down in a bathtub. It is not safe to stay in a mobile home in a tornado. If you are in a tall building, go to the stairs. If you are in a car, wear your seatbelt and lean forward. If you are outside, lie down on the ground. Conclusion. Tornadoes are amazing and scary examples of the power of nature. People still have many questions about tornadoes. What causes a tornado? What is it really like inside a tornado? Maybe we will find out one day.

What is the power of the judiciary to strike down laws or government actions that are found to be unconstitutional?

Make these 12 words into a shorashim match the shorashim to the translation for me: quiz: 1. ___ ג,ו,ר 2. ___ ה,ל,ל 3. ___ ה,ר,ג 4. ___ ה,י,ה 5. ___ ח,י,ה / ח,י,י 6. ___ י,ד,ע 7. ___ י,ר,ד 8. ___ נ,ג,ד 9. ___ נ,ג,ע 10. ___ צ,ו,ה 11. ___ ק,ר,ב 12. ___ ש,ל,ח A. Kill B. Dwell/Live C. Be D. Know E. Strike/Touch/Plague F. Tell/Oppose G. Send/Send Away H. Command I. Live J. Come Close K. Go Down L. Praise

Reading Passage: The Anatomy of a Kill Chain In the lexicon of modern warfare, the term "kill chain" describes the end-to-end process of a military attack, from the initial identification of a target to its eventual destruction and the subsequent evaluation of the strike's effectiveness. Conceptually, the kill chain is a structural model used to understand and optimize the speed and precision of military operations. The fundamental principle of this model is that an attack functions as a sequence of interdependent stages; if any single link in the chain is broken, the entire operation fails. For strategic planners, this creates a dual objective: to accelerate one's own kill chain while simultaneously finding ways to disrupt the adversary's. Strategic Concept: The Kinetic Model (F2T2EA) The traditional military kill chain is often summarized by the acronym F2T2EA, representing a continuous cycle of find, fix, track, target, engage, and assess. The kinetic kill chain begins with Find, the reconnaissance phase where intelligence assets identify a potential target within a theater of operations. Once found, the process moves to Fix, which involves pinning down the target's specific location and ensuring it can be distinguished from friendly forces or non-combatants. Track follows, maintaining a persistent watch on the target's movements to prevent its escape. In the Target phase, commanders select the appropriate weapon system and verify the legality and strategic value of the strike. Engage is the kinetic moment—the actual deployment of ordnance against the objective. Finally, Assess involves battle damage assessment (BDA) to determine if the desired effects were achieved or if further engagement is required. This model emphasizes "compressing the sensor-to-shooter timeline," meaning the faster a military can move through these steps, the more lethal it becomes. The Evolution: The Cyber Kill Chain® As warfare expanded into the digital domain, Lockheed Martin adapted the kinetic model into the Cyber Kill Chain. This framework assists defenders in identifying and stopping Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). Unlike a physical missile, a cyberattack often unfolds over weeks or months, but the sequential logic remains the same. The model consists of seven distinct stages: Stage Description of Attacker Activity 1. Reconnaissance The harvesting of information. Attackers research targets via social media, public records, and technical scanning to find vulnerabilities. 2. Weaponization Coupling a remote access trojan with an exploit into a deliverable payload (e.g., a malicious PDF or Microsoft Office document). 3. Delivery Transmission of the weapon to the target environment. Common vectors include email attachments, malicious websites, or USB drives. 4. Exploitation The weapon triggers. The code executes on the victim's system, typically by taking advantage of a software or operating system vulnerability. 5. Installation The attacker installs a persistent backdoor or malware on the victim's system, allowing them to maintain access even after a reboot. 6. Command & Control (C2) The compromised system opens a communication channel back to the attacker's server, allowing the intruder to give manual instructions. 7. Actions on Objective The final stage where the attacker achieves their goal, such as data exfiltration, encryption for ransom, or destruction of critical infrastructure. Strategic Implications for Defense The strategic value of the Cyber Kill Chain lies in its ability to provide a roadmap for "proactive defense." By understanding the sequence, security professionals can implement controls at every stage. For instance, robust email filtering can break the chain at the Delivery stage, while endpoint detection can stop the Installation phase. Crucially, the earlier a defender breaks the chain, the lower the cost of mitigation and the lower the risk of damage. If an attacker is stopped during Reconnaissance, they have gained nothing. If they are stopped during Actions on Objective, the damage may already be catastrophic. In both kinetic and cyber environments, the goal is the same: to create a "defensive depth" that makes the cost of a successful attack prohibitively high for the adversary.

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