Shadow Unit

[enismirdal]

I have discovered a new Thing. This Thing is bringing me enormous happiness. This Thing is Shadow Unit.

It combines three of my favourite other things into an overdose of awesome, namely:
1. Criminal Minds
2. Elizabeth Bear
3. Sarah Monette

It started off when some published authors started encouraging each other to write Criminal Minds fanfic to reinvigorate themselves and remind themselves of writing purely for fun.

And then they sat down together and said, "Wouldn't it be awesome if we could be screenwriters on Criminal Minds?"

And then they more or less figured, "Well, why don't we be?" Except they threw in a bit of a supernatural element, so instead of setting stories in the regular BAU, they created the Shadow Unit, a mirror unit who specialise in "anomalous" crimes with a supernatural element, but otherwise work the same way. Some of the characters are sort of alternate-versions of Criminal Minds characters, though not the same, and others are totally original, and all are brilliant. The plots are of the same genre but with the literary talents of the brilliant writing team involved and without the restrictions of 15-rated television constraining what can be done. Basically, they've produced a book version of a hypothetical spin-off TV series.

The books (mostly eBooks) are pretty cheap and are like the discs you get in a box set, with about 4 "episodes" per book, with "deleted scenes". The stories seem to be taking me just over an hour each to real, so better value for money than your typical 37-42 minute long Criminal Minds episode!

It seems they've got really into this and there are now 3 "seasons" of the "show". Awesome! It has its own fan wiki, the characters have livejournals (not all of them updated frequently, but still), Twitter feeds, and because it's a fun project for the writers, they contribute regularly to the fan forums.

Altogether, I think it's a really exciting project, a fantastic concept from the start and a really cool way for writers to keep themselves enthusiastic. I am on to book two less than a week after starting this (having, in the meantime, demolished one and a half paper books as well - hooray being on holiday), and thoroughly hooked.

Comments

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

Neonicotinoid insecticides...well, they're a relatively new (~30 years old) class of pesticides derived from nicotine. The trouble with nicotine is that it's got incredibly high vertebrate toxicity, so they modified the chemical formula to reduce that aspect and came up with stuff like imidacloprid and so on. These are relatively (though not totally) safe for mammals - better than most of the other types - but do tend to be more stable and long-lasting than other classes of pesticides (hence the buildup in waterways if over-applied). They act largely, I think, as neurotoxins, and it's the low-level neurotoxic effects that are upsetting the scientists working on them as you get disruption in navigation, learning, etc. There are a good dozen or so papers looking at their effects on bees now, some of them at realistic concentrations/exposure routes, and others in slightly more contrived scenarios.

The objections to neonics mostly seem to be with crop seed treatments, not totally sure why as the level of contamination you get in waterways and in nectar is lower than when they're used as drenches or sprays. Sure, it's bad IPM (integrated pest management) to use pesticides prophylactivally rather than reactively, but when a low level results in a much reduced need to spray later, I think the costs/benefits need a considered analysis. I guess one potential issue is that WAY more oilseed rape (one of the major seeds being treated) is being grown in the UK than ever before, and it's bee-pollinated, so the sheer area of monoculture means there's an exposure route for bees whatever pesticide you use. And oilseed rape really needs pest control as there's this beetle that can pretty much decimate the flowers otherwise...and when the seed is the bit with value...

The other main classes of pesticide in use are:
- pyrethroids, which are chemical modifications of pyrethrum, which is basically an extract from a type of daisy/chrysanthemum. These are far more toxic to mammals and insects than neonics, with neurotoxic effects. Not much is known about the sub-lethal effects, partly because most things you test tend to wind up dead so quickly it's moot. The older ones are unstable and break down in sunlight rapidly; the newer ones are more stable.
- organophosphates, probably the next most widely used class. They apparently work on acetylcholinesterase, so neurotoxic effects again. And they're even more nasty for mammals. And they've been around for donkeys' years, e.g. malathion.
- carbamates, which are mostly banned in developed countries now, but widely used in China and Africa in some systems, and a select few products are still used here in Europe - e.g. Pirimicarb is actually quite a safe treatment for aphids on soft fruit. These are probably even nastier than all the previous classes by and large!
There are other groups, like organochlorines (e.g. DDT), spinosad (derived from a bacterial toxin), and minor products like neem (plant-derived), insect endocrine disruptors that mess up moulting, Bt (a bacterial toxin that specifically targets moths/butterflies), etc.