#I ended up with another Napoleon and martha at least

[bimbosupreme]

Since I got a wad of cash recently I spent like um. 40 + 25? + 12? So that’s like what 70 something stupid dollars on trying to get poster girl ce because I really like the gameplay in fgo and that’s like THE ce to have for certain set ups but I ended up with 2 lakshimi bais and I think that’s just a bad luck sign I think this is just a really bad sign to have because I did not get the ce (again) 😔

[notbecauseofvictories]

Hi Sarah! My friend and I are starting a bookclub (as much as you can with two people who aren't pressed for deadlines) and I was wondering if you have any recommendations? (That is if you have time to rec anything!) We're starting off with Deathless and have Fitzgerald next in line somewhere but I def want to try to expand the genres we read and tbh from years of following you, I trust your judgement

I don’t...like giving recommendations? At least not directly, it seems like too much opportunity for getting it wrong. Everybody has their own tastes, after all, and even the best of friends don’t necessarily vibe with what you vibe with. (I’ve experienced this with multiple friends, so I know what I’m talking about.) Truly, one of the reasons that my whole “I’m going to get back into reading for pleasure!” push has been so successful is that I only bother with books that interest me, and stop reading when they fail to catch my attention.

But I’ve now read at least 60 books in 2020, which is approximately 60 more than I’ve read in the years prior, so I’m happy to share that. Below is my list of recent reads, beginning to end, along with a very short review---I keep this list in the notes app on my phone, so they have to be. Where I’ve talked about a book in a post, I’ve tried to link to it. 

Peruse, and if something catches your interest I hope you enjoy!

2020 Reading List

Crazy Rich Asians series, Kevin Kwan (here)

Blackwater, Michael McDowell (here; pulpy horror and southern gothic in one novel; come for the monster but stay for the family drama.)

Fire and Hemlock, Diane Wynne Jones (here; weird and thoughtful, in ways I’m still thinking about)

The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (here; loved it! I can see why people glommed onto it)

Swamplandia!, Karen Russell (unfinished, I could not get past the first paragraph; just....no.)

Rules of Scoundrels series, Sarah MacLean (an enjoyable romp through classic romancelandia, though if you read through 4 back to back you realize that MacLean really only writes 1 type of relationship and 1 type of sexual encounter, though I do appreciate insisting that the hero go down first.)

The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden (here)

Dread Nation, Justine Ireland (great, put it with Stealing Thunder in terms of fun YA fantasy that makes everything less white and Eurocentric)

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson (VERY good. haunting good.)

Tell My Horse, Zora Neale Hurston (I read an interesting critique of Hurston that said she stripped a lot of the radicalism out of black stories - these might be an example, or counterexample. I haven't decided yet.)

The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society, T. Kingfisher (fun!)

St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, Karen Russell (some of these short stories are wonderful; however, Swamplandia's inspiration is still unreadable, which is wild.)

17776, Jon Bois (made me cry. deeply human. A triumph of internet storytelling)

The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey (deeply enjoyable. the ending is a bittersweet kick in the teeth, and I really enjoyed the adults' relationships)

The Door in the Hedge and Other Stories, Robin McKinley (enjoyable, but never really resolved into anything.)

The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley (fun, but feels very early fantasy - or maybe I've just read too many of the subsequent knock-offs.)

Mrs. Caliban, Rachel Ingalls (weird little pulp novel.)

All Systems Red, Martha Wells (enjoyable, but I don't get the hype. won't be looking into the series unless opportunity arises.)

A People's History of Chicago, Kevin Coval (made me cry. bought a copy. am still thinking about it.)

The Sol Majestic, Ferrett Steinmetz (charming, a sf novel mostly about fine dining)

House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (immensely enjoyable read, for all it feels like fic with the serial numbers filed off)

The Au Pair, Emma Rous (not bad, but felt like it wanted to be more than it is)

The Night Tiger, Yangsze Choo (preferred this to Ghost Bride; I enjoy a well-crafted mystery novel and this delivered)

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin (unfinished, I cannot fucking get into Le Guin and should really stop trying)

The Ghost Bride, Yangsze Choo (enjoyable, but not nearly as fun as Ghost Bride - the romance felt very disjointed, and could have used another round of editing)

Temptation's Darling, Johanna Lindsey (pure, unadulterated id in a romance novel, complete with a girl dressing as a boy to avoid detection)

Social Creature, Tara Isabella Burton (a strange, dark psychological portrait; really made a mark even though I can't quite put my finger on why)

The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins (slow at first, but picks up halfway through and builds nicely; a whiff of Gone Girl with the staggered perspectives building together)

Stealing Thunder, Alina Boyden (fun Tortall vibes, but set in Mughal India)

The Traitor Baru Cormorant; The Monster Baru Commorant, The Tyrant Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson (LOVE this, so much misery, terrible, ecstatic; more here)

This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone (epistolary love poetry, vicious and lovely; more here)

The Elementals, Michael McDowell

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (didn't like this one as much as I thought I would; narrator's contemporary voice was so jarring against the stylized world and action sequences read like the novelization for a video game; more here)

Finna, Nino Cipri (a fun little romp through interdimensional Ikea, if on the lighter side)

Magic for Liars, Sarah Gailey (engrossing, even if I could see every plot twist coming from a mile away)

Desdemona and the Deep, C. S. E. Cooney (enjoyed the weirdness & the fae bits, but very light fare)

A Blink of the Screen, Terry Pratchett (admittedly just read this for the Discworld bits)

A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine (not as good about politics and colonialism as Baru, but still a powerful book about The Empire, and EXTREMELY cool worldbuilding that manages to be wholly alien and yet never heavily expositional)

Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (see my post)

Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan (didn't finish, got to to first explicit sex scene and couldn't get any further)

Prosper's Demon, KJ Parker (didn't work for me...felt like a short story that wanted to be fleshed out into a novel)

The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik (extremely fun, even for a reader who doesn't much like Napoleonic stories)

Three Parts Dead, Max Gladstone (fun romp - hard to believe that this is the same author as Time War though you can see glimmers of it in the imagery here)

A Scot in the Dark, Sarah MacLean (palette cleanser, she does write a good romance novel even it's basically the same romance novel over and over)

The Resurrectionist, E. B. Hudspeth (borrowed it on a whim one night, kept feeling like there was something I was supposed to /get/ about it, but never did - though I liked the Mutter Museum parallels)

Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang (he's a better ideas guy than a writer, though Hell Is The Absence of God made my skin prickle all over)

Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (fun, very much a throwback to my YA days of fairytale retellings, though obviously less European)

Four Roads Cross, Max Gladstone (it turns out I was a LOT more fond of Tara than I initially realized - plus this book had a good Pratchett-esque pacing and reliance on characterization)

Get in Trouble, Kelly Link (reading this after the Chiang was instructive - Link is such a better storyteller, better at prioritizing the human over the concept)

Gods Behaving Badly, Marie Phillips

Soulless; Changeless; Blameless, all by Gail Carriger (this series is basically a romance novel with some fantasy plot thrown in for fun; extremely charming and funny)

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James (got about 1/3 of the way through and had to wave the white flag; will try again because I like the plot and the worldbuilding; the tone is just so hard to get through)

Pew, Catherine Lacey (a strange book, I'm still thinking about it; a good Southern book, though)

Nuremberg Diary, GM Gilbert (it took me two months to finish, and was worth it)

River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey (I wanted to like this one a lot more than I actually did; would have made a terrific movie but ultimately was not a great novel. Preferred Magic for Liars.)

Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (extremely fun, though more trippy than Gods and the plot didn't work as well for me - though it was very original)

The New Voices of Fantasy, Peter S. Beagle (collected anthology, with some favorites I've read before Ursula Vernon's "Jackalope Wives", "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" "The Husband Stitch"; others that were great new finds "Selkie Stories are for Losers" from Sofia Satamar and "A Kiss With Teeth" from Max Gladstone and "The Philosophers" from Adam Ehrlich Sachs)

[fgodestinyawakenings]

EOR SERAPH: Epilogue (END)

And finally the epilogue with the final boss of this Singularity! I... I don’t know what to say except again, DW PLEASE DON’T REPEAT THIS BULLSHIT KIND OF EVENT AGAIN! 

Epilogue

There’s two route of either going with no KP or all KP bought... For sanity, I’m going with all KP bought.

In this final battle, you’re facing the Beast III-R Sesshion Kiara as the final round against her. As her Beast Class affinity, all class deals x1.0 damage (except Alter-Ego and Moon Cancer, who deals extra damage to her), all class takes x1.0 damage from her

Skills: 

Debuff all target with Arts Down/Buster Down/Quick Down (1 turn)

Heals Self (5,000 HP) + Increases HP Recovery (10 turns)

Charges NP Gauge by 1 tick. Inflict Charm status on a random target (1 turn). 

Critical Damage Up (3 turns)

Permanent Buff​ (All which can be removed in KP Shop)

Increase attack by 20%

Increase defense by 20%

Increase NP damage by 20%

Increase critical damage by 50%

Increase debuff resistance by 50%

Increase stun and charm resistance by 50%

Increase Quick resistance by 50%

Increase Arts resistance by 50%

Increase Buster resistance by 50%

Inflicts 1,000 damage to all enemies each turn

Reduce the enemy's critical stars by 10 each turn

Reduce the NP gauge of all enemies by 5% each turn

Recover 5,000 HP each turn.

NP: Deals damage to all targets. Inflict NP Seal status to one random target. (1 turn) Recovers 10,000 HP.

After this fight with her, you got one last visual story mode in both arrows to end the main story of this EOR Singularity!

Thoughts & Observation:

I’ll admit that because this is a rerun version 2 years later, things are slightly more easier compared to the first round that is yet to come

Start preparing for lots of mixed class fight with either AOE Berserker, or a good team setup. Both normal and boss fight in this is even harder than Camelot now that HP bar is implemented

MLB those CE that increase rate of mobs appearance given in event. CEs rolled in gacha... Extremely impossible to MLB them but try to get at least 1 of each to make your grinding hell easier

Passionlip:

Her constant spam of her first skill “Breast Valley”, not only it stacked her defense buff, her debuff immunity is always there making you unable to stun her with her first permanent buff

Even after her first HP break, her three NP charge bar will require you to either spam wide invincibility/evasion often from her AOE NP

But thankfully in this boss fight, she’s been only spamming her first skill so you’re safe from her third skill that ignore invincibility

However upon her second HP break, her new buff doesn’t work often. But it does for me on Leonidas once... Other than, prepare them with Guts for sudden insta-kill

Servants wise:

ST NP Berserkers: Extremely risky to do so but if you manage to pair them up with either one of the caster supports and another, they are the most viable for DPS against her

Lu Bu: His ignore defense NP works very well against her constant buffing of defense. Though, do note his stun will not work thanks to her debuff immunity

Caligula: Helps in stalling with his NP both skills and her own NP... But will definitely not recommended if her debuff immunity is constantly there

Asterious: Same reason with Caligula, despite having good debuff onto her from his NP, the problem still remains on her debuff immunity

ST Three Knight Class: Though they deal 1.0x damage to Alter Ego, they receive lesser damage from them. A good alternative from Berserkers to go for DPS

Support Caster/Servants: Preferably ones who can spam NP defensive support easily due to her NP charge bar

By traits:

Female: Jack, Carmilla (those two will deal 1.0x damage to her, but may be killed faster thanks to Alter Ego’s advantage)

Divine: Scathach, Enkidu, Martha (Ruler)

Humanoid: Nightingale, Okada Izou (same reason with Jack & Carmilla)

Enuma Elish

CEs:

NP generating CE: particularly for support NP Servants to be able to spam NP often

Versus & Fondant au Chocolat: Onto your main DPS to deal more damage for her Divine trait

Art of Death: A slightly cheaper alternative for DPS onto her humanoid trait

Suzuka Gozen

For her first two survival fight against her, get Servants who deal more damage by trait to finish ASAP

Her first permanent debuff on your team can be problematic and annoying as she’ll deplete your crit stars at the end of each turn

First HP break that replaces the first debuff above, can be outwit if you are able to have support Merlin to spam his healing NP often

But her second HP break, though temporarily giving her ally 3-turn attack up, Hijitaka is problematic thanks to his class advantage

Shadow Hijitaka uses his EXTRA attack for his NP, but definitely still able to use his skill

Skills wise, aside from her charm that stuns Male Servants and sudden NP charge by 1 tick... Wide-party Evasion isn’t viable for defense as her latter skill also buff her with ignore evasion

Her AOE NP will buff her with increase critical damage for 3 turns... Whcih also hurts like a bitch

Servants wise:

AOE NP Archers: Or 1 ST NP + 1 AOE Archer because of her 2nd HP break that summons Shadow Hijitaka

Arash: Our pal-suicide-NP is extremely useful when needed to deal one huge damage on the 2nd HP break

Euryale: *points at Hijitaka* If you’d like one ST NP Archer solely to kill Hijitaka

Robin, Billy, David: Viable for ST NP options, but do be careful the moment she buffs with ignore evasion

Kid-Gil: Adorable oldest king’s Charm skill helps you in stalling

Touta; Third skill helpful in defense on HP for 3 turns

By traits:

Divine: Napoleon, Arjuna, Oda Nobunaga

Female (Suzuka Gozen): Jack & Carmilla

Humanoid: Nightingale, Okada Izou

Male (Hijitaka): Orion, Euryale, Medb, Stheno

Enuma Elish

CEs:

Versus & Fondant au Chocolat: For Suzuka’s Divine trait

Kiyohime CE: To deal against Hijitaka

Increase Healing power: if needed on her first HP break

Meltlilith

The most difficult thing about her is actually her very first debuff before getting replaced: debuffing one of your front-line Servants with Taunt.

This debuff will still land on another Servant, even if you have any taunters in front with taunt activated

My fight with her have it usually landing it on Jeanne Alter Berserker, so keeping her alive was a problem

Her first HP break second debuff skill seal, is also a problem especially when relying on Merlin/David Wide defense from her ST NP

The third one isn’t as bad but you may want to spam your Servant’s heal often

While skillset doesn’t have an issue, her ST NP effect removed all buffs on targeted Servant, which can be challenging if she hits on your DPS with the buff stack

Servants wise:

ST Berserker: Unlike her sister Passionlip, I don’t really recommend to bring them unless you got good defense to keep them alive before first HP break

ST NP Three knights class Servants: The most recommended ones to bring particularly David, Robin and Billy for their ignore evasion NP and skill

By Traits:

Female: Jack, Carmilla (those two will deal 1.0x damage to her, but may be killed faster thanks to Alter Ego’s advantage)

Divine: Scathach, Enkidu, Martha (Ruler)

Humanoid: Nightingale, Okada Izou (same reason with Jack & Carmilla)

Enuma Elish

CEs:

NP generating CE: particularly for support NP Servants to be able to spam NP often

Versus & Fondant au Chocolat: Onto your main DPS to deal more damage for her Divine trait

Art of Death: A slightly cheaper alternative for DPS onto her humanoid trait

Demon God Pillar

Since its gimmick are rely on BB’s Jackpot, the only issue is its class advantage

Both attack and NP deals AOE damage to everyone, so taunters aren’t reliable here

But do note that it only buff itself with critical damage up, and be careful when they start stacking more than 2

Buff remover like Medea is more than welcome with her ST NP damage against it

David also for NP skill seal to prevent from buffing itself further

Take your own pick for support Caster, but generally either support in generating NP for DPS to spam, or AOE protection from its NP should do

I don’t have much recommended Servant in mind, just bring your strongest ST NP DPS + 2 support to finish it

BB

The main difficulty is getting past the 6 Servants of mixed class to get to her.

Though they are Shadow Servants, their crit and NP EXTRA attack still hurts like a real fucking bitch

Her additional 2 skills gives her 20k healing and random debuff that can be removed via Mystic code or Servant’s skill

But her NP will immediately give her 1 tick NP charge after use, so do kill her quickly

Servants wise:

Amakusa & Martha Ruler: As this is general in both rerun and first run, these two are your best option before mothman and Sherlock comes in. Martha more preferred if you can borrow for support or have your own to be the main DPS

Jeanne: Depending on RNG, if assuming she doesn’t use her 2nd skill to remove invincibility and stun the targeted Servant

QSH & Sherlock: The alternatives with their own buffs and debuff from their NP, they can crit hard on BB with the good amount of stars

ST NP Berserker: Again not really recommended if you aleady got a ruler, her third skill of crit damage can hit really hard

Support Servants: Merlin, if you’re planning to set up a team revolving either Amakusa/Martha. Tamamo for Jeanne and helpful to spam her NP often

Taunters: With her ST NP, you may want Taunters to avoid damage landing on your DPS or support

Arash: To clear either first or second wave to spare damage from your team

By trait:

Female: Carmilla & Jack (But do beware of Shadow Caster Cu in the first wave)

Humanoid: Nightingale & Okada Izou

Enuma Elish

CEs:

Taunt CEs: When needed against BB’s NP

Stun resist CE: I don’t think it’s really needed but if you’d like you can equipped them

Emiya Alter

Similar to Corrupted Ushiwakamaru fight, he receives and deals 1.0x damage from all class. Alter Ego, however, deals 1.5x damage to him

His difficulty kicks in the moment his HP bar break. Invincibility skill/NP becomes extremely useless thanks to his permanent ignore invincibility + NP damage UP

Also with this fight gimmick, he gains an additional skill: increase NP charge by 1 tick with HP drain as demerit

While his skillset isn’t as lethal as his non-Alter counterpart, his NP is one dangerous effect that even penetrates defense buff together with his ignore invincibility upon HP break

Servants wise:

Meltlilith & Eli-chan: The former is more recommended for the first run. But second run, do bring out Mecha Eli-chan along with Melt for DPS

Stun & NP Drain Servants: With his unique to charge his NP now as and when, both stun and staller are recommended to bring for this fight to delay his NP

Skill seal Servants: Alternative to NP drain, skill seal prevent Emiya Alter from charging his NP

Dress of Heaven: While Merlin is still viable with his healing, Irisviel and help more with not only healing, but her NP in particular to grant everyone Guts for 3 turns, timed perfectly when Emiya Alter is about to use his NP

Taunters: To avoid his NP on your DPS and support

By traits: Excluding Alter Ego class, this fight is more recommended with Servant that deals more damage by trait

Male: Euryale (most recommended for budget DPS), Medb, Orion, Summer Tamamo, Stheno

Humanoid: Okada Izou, Nightingale

Evil: Sanson (recommended alternative for DPS), Vlad EXTRA, Beni-enma

Enuma Elish

CEs:

Kiyohime CE

5000 year old curse: For NP seal to stall time

Art of Death

Holy Shroud of Magdalene

Guts CE: On DPS or anyone you preferred, to survive longer to deal NP at him if needed

Beast III-R aka Sesshoin Kiara

I’m only going to cover her Heaven Hole’s version because I haven’t and WILL NOT go to her Demonic Bodhisattva version

Main advice because it needs to be bold and capitalized: COMPLETE EVERY MISSION TO BUY ALL BUFF AND DEBUFFS IN THE KP SHOP

Buying all not only makes the fight easier, but it helps on the final buff in allowing you to use Command Seal/Saint Quartz when needed to revive your team

In this version, all HP bar have no gimmick upon break. But her skillset of healing herself and deals debuff on your team can be tough in dealing damage

AOE NP apparently not only NP seal but also skill seal to your whole front-line team while she recovers 10k HP

A fight that following this advice in reddit, helps in not using CS to finish this fight

Servants wise:

Merlin + Mash: If you don’t have Merlin, it can be borrowed, but otherwise... This two + 1 main DPS will do the trick in killing her for this fight

Alter Egos DPS: Either Melt or Passionlip if you have either, bring them as they deal more damage to her for this whole event

Gilgamesh: .... For some reason, this version of Kiara isn’t Weak to Enuma Elish. Yet, he’s still a viable DPS to bring since his own attack already deal high damage

By trait:

Demonic: Rama & Caster Shuten

Evil: Beni-Enma, Vlad EXTRA, Sanson

Female: Carmilla & Jack

Humanoid: Nightingale & Okada Izou

CEs:

Prisma Cosmo or any regeneration CE: Because one of the key in winning this is spamming both Mash & Merlin’s NP as often as you can

NP starting CE: For your DPS so that you can use their ST NP earlier to deal damage

Now this is over... Time to get back to that Detour quest while preparing for ENCORE quest!

[ktrosesworld]

Diary of a Single Rose - Ch12

Pairing : Giacomo Casanova x Rose Tyler Rating : Teen Summary : Rose’s single life gets a new twist added when a neighbour moves into the flat on the other side of a shared wall.

AO3 Link, Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch4, Ch5, Ch6, Ch7, Ch8, Ch9, Ch10, Ch11

[Rose is sitting in front of her couch and Giac is sitting behind her plaiting her hair in two]

Rose: … so yeah ever since then it’s just been Mum and me.

Giac: Well at least you got to learn about your Dad from you Mum. My Mother never knew which of her paramours sired me.

Rose: Paramours?

Giac: My Mother was an opera singer and toured all the great opera houses of Europe. She was never the lead but always played the other significant roles. It meant that she always had a bevy of admirers who wanted to boast of bedding her. She always ensured that they lavished her in gifts before “giving in to their declarations of love”.

Rose [turning to look up at Giac]: Blimey, that just seems so calculated. I don’t think I could ever be like that. That must have been a tough world to grow up in Giac.

Giac: Well I only experienced it for a few years. Mother packed me off to a boarding school as soon as she could. I only received letters from her after that and she died shortly after my final year.

Rose [rising to kneel and hug Giac to her]: Oh Giac I’m so sorry.

[Giac pulled Rose closer into a hug]

<jump cut>

[Rose and Giac are sitting at opposite ends of the couch. Giac is painting Rose’s toenails. Glittery butterfly clips clutching twists of hair cover Giac’s head.]

Rose [laughing]: Yes, well, Jimmy Stone, also known as, he who shall never be named again. Is the piece of shite who stole my heart, and all my savings, before running off with Shareen. Who was my best mate up until then.

Giac: Maledission! Rose I hope you reported him to the police.

Rose [hugging herself tight]: Probably should have. Although I heard he got nicked last year for dealing. I just wish it hadn’t taken me so long to get over him. Urgh anyways enough about me. How did you end up here?

Giac [taking his time to finish her little piggy]: Sorry to say my story isn’t much better. I had to flee from Paris to escape a stalker and the debt collectors that were after her. Well technically me, as she was using my name and credit to fund her lifestyle.

Rose [rolling her eyes]: Why do they always go for your money. Who is this bint and what does she look like. If I see her creeping around outside I’ll call the coppers on her.

Giac [smiling]: Ha, I would love to see the great Reinette Poisson pushed into the back of a police van.

Rose [finger quoting]: The great Reinette Poisson?

Giac: Yeah, she is a direct descendant of the Orleans line of the French throne, and as such she claims to be the queen of France.

Rose: In other words she’s a total nutter.

Giac [holding in the laughter as he paints another nail]: If only that were so. Unfortunately, her lineage has been validated, although, the queen part not so much. Last I heard she has turned her affections towards Prince Jean-Christophe Napoleon in a bid to unite the two family lines with claims to the throne. Poor Jean-Christophe high tailed it to Harvard as soon as he could to escape her.

<jump cut>

[Rose is now painting Giac’s toenails a bright red]

Rose: You know, Donna and Martha will never forgive me if I don’t ask about what happened the other night.

[Giac slides his hands down his face and groans]: It was a nightmare

Rose: We contemplated inviting you over to drown your sorrows in champagne.

Giac: I’m glad you didn’t. I was in no state to be sociable then.

Rose: So go on spill, what happened. Or didn’t in this case.

Giac: Okay but no names. She had always wanted to try a threesome and so she arranged for both of them to come over. It was going well, she was all flirty with champagne. He was a bit surprised at first but was happy to go along with it. Things move along as they do. I kissed her and all was well. Then when I kissed him, and he didn’t hesitate at all to get involved, she decided that she didn’t like sharing him. Next thing, it’s all clothes on and she’s storming out the door dragging him behind her.

Rose [laughing and trying not to drip nail polish everywhere]: So she got jealous of the two of you together.

Giac: I think she was more upset that he wasn’t jealous. It’s a pity because he was a much better snog than her, and from what I felt in his jeans he would’ve been a memorable shag too.

[Giac manages to catch the nail polish, as Rose collapses into laughter]

[End video]

Author Note:

For those who might interested Prince Jean-Christophe Napoleon is the actual current heir to the Bonaparte line of claimants to the French throne. He is a 31 year old bachelor and is studying something finance related at Harvard ... well at least according to his wikipedia page he is :)

As for the bachelors in the Orleans line (i.e. the descendants of the kings) we have 7 year old Prince Gaston of Orleans and his brother Prince Joseph who is almost 1.

There's another line of claimants but they're Spanish so apparently they don't really count *shrugs idk*

[topsolarpanels]

Celebrate Women’s History Month with 12 awesome things fabricated by girls.

The month of March( aka Women’s History Month) holds a special place in my heart.

Photo by Alex Wong/ Getty Images.

March is the month in which we celebrate kickass women like Rosie the Riveter, the notorious RBG, and Ripley from the “Alien” franchise. It’s the month in which we all watch “A League of Their Own” at the least twice as many times as we watch it every other month( which, for me, is six times ).

GIF from “A League of Their Own.”

Of course, it wouldn’t precisely be controversial to claim that many of women’s accomplishments often go overlooked by their coworkers, clients, and even the media … sometimes until years after the fact.

So with that in mind, I decided to ring in Women’s History Month by taking a look back at some of the incredible, world-changing inventions that we owe to the fairer sex. Here are 12 of them .

1. The bulletproof Kevlar vest

Photo via iStock.

Yes, this otherworldly material that has saved the well-being of countless law enforcement agents owes its invention to chemist Stephanie Kwolek, who developed it in 1964 while attempting to create a lighter, more durable material to be applied for vehicle tires. Considered to be five times stronger than steel, Kevlar was patented in 1966 and is currently used in over 200 common applications.

2. The paper bag

GIF from “The Big Bang Theory.”

It may be Papa who has a brand new bag according to James Brown, but in reality, Papa was only able to acquire said container thanks to the efforts of Margaret Knight, who fabricated a machine capable of trim, folding, and gluing the flat-bottomed paper bag in 1868 and later patented it in 1871. Those of us who bring lunches to work and/ or suffer occasional panic attacks have never been the same.

3. The fire escape

Photo via iStock.

In an effort to combat the ever-growing number of fire-related demises being caused by ever-growing apartment complexes, New York City passed a law in 1861 involving all multi-floor builds to be fitted with a pair of exterior stairs. Landowners resisted at first due to how much such a set-up expense, and it wasn’t until 1887, when Anna Connelly patented the iron-railed fire bridge permitting residents trapped on higher floors to scale from one roof to another, that the future of building security as we know it was forever changed.

4. The life raft

Photo by Roberto Schmidt/ AFP/ Getty Images.

Maria Beasley was something of engineering dynamo in her day, procuring patents for everything from foot warmers to anti-derailment devices for trains between 1878 and 1898. While it was her barrel-making machine that earned her an unprecedented payday of over $20,000 a year, Bealey’s life raft, which she patented in 1882, was perhaps her most significant contribution to human history. I mean, just think of all the brilliant, lifeboat-based comedy sketches we would have missed out on without it.

5. Signal flares for that life raft

Photo by Dmitry Kostyukov/ AFP/ Getty Images.

While not technically the pyro behind the flare’s invention, it was the tireless efforts of Martha Coston that helped get the signal flare pushed into production. Running off a design discovery among her late husband’s papers, Coston spent close to 10 years developing the system of flare signaling now recognized by the U.S. Navy, which became one of her first clients on the recommendation of former Capt. C.S. McCauley.

6. Computers, basically

GIF from “Napoleon Dynamite.”

Not only were women programming computers long before “computer programmer” was even considered a job title, but it turns out that they’ve had a significant hand in damn-near every aspect of the computer since its birth.

Considered by many to be the world’s first programmer, Ada Lovelace ran alongside “the father of the computer, ” Charles Babbage, to create the first computer algorithm in the early 1840 s. Likewise, Navy admiral/ computer scientist Dr. Grace Murray Hopper is credited with devising one of the first high-level computer software programs( known subsequently as COBOL) in 1959.

7. The medical syringe

Photo via iStock.

That thing that filled you with white-knuckled fear every time you had a doctor checkup as a kid? Thank Letitia Geer, who patented a modern one-handed syringe in 1899.

8. The Apgar score

Photo via iStock.

Better known as the most common method used to assess the health of a newborn baby, the Apgar score owes its name to Virginia Apgar, an obstetrical anesthesiologist who developed the test in 1952 while working at the Sloane Hospital for Women.

9. The solar-heated home

Photo via iStock.

A trailblazing biophysicist and discoverer, Mria Telkes was one of the forerunners of the solar energy movement in 1940 s well, it was less of a “movement” and more of a “thing no one had even heard about.” She created both the first thermoelectric( meaning “heat to electricity”) power generator and refrigerator in 1947 and 1953, respectively, and in between designed the first 100% solar heating system for the Dover Sun House in Dover, Massachusetts, alongside architect Eleanor Raymond.

10. Stem cells

Photo by Spencer Platt/ Getty Images.

Obviously , no person could ever be so bold as to stimulate the claim of having devised stem cells, but Ann Tsukamoto was one of two people to receive a patent for a process to isolate human stem cells in 1991, which is about as close as you could get.

11. Chocolate chip cookies

GIF via “Sesame Street.”

With all due respect to computers and solar power, those inventions are significantly lower on the list of Life’s Greatest Comforts than chocolate chip cookies are and in fact, so is everything else. Ruth Grave Wakefield knew this, which is why she devised the first chocolate chip cookie in the late 1930 s.

How this woman’s face is not carved into Mount Rushmore remains one of the world’s greatest injustices. I entail, I can’t even think of an invention greater than chocolate chip cookies …

12. Beer( yes, brew)

GIF via “The World’s End”

While it will never be known who was the actual discoverer of brew, historian and founder of the School of Booze Jane Peyton is one of many who argues that is was females. While conducting extensive researching into the origins of beer for her volume, “School of Booze, ” Peyton revealed to The Telegraph in 2010 that “nearly 7,000 years ago in Mesopotamia and Sumeria, so important were[ women’s] abilities that they were the only ones allowed to brew the drink or run any taverns.”

It’s a hypothesi that seems to align with how the intoxicating beverage has been perceived over the centuries. Many ancient societies typically depicted brew as being a gift from a goddess in Sumerian culture, it was Ninkasi; for the Egyptians, it was Tenenet and Nephthys; and in Zulu myth, it was Nokhubulwane. The listing goes on.

It is said that “behind every great man is a great woman, ” but when appearing over this list of inventions, it feels like it might be time to update that maxim , no?

Let’s give it got a couple of tries:

“Behind every great man … is a darknes of where a woman maybe used to stand until she decided to do her own thing.”

“Behind every great man … is an even greater female holding a beer and a cookie THAT SHE INVENTED.”

I kind of like that last one.

Read more: www.upworthy.com

The post Celebrate Women’s History Month with 12 awesome things fabricated by girls. appeared first on Top Rated Solar Panels.

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[thephilosophersapprentice]

[clears throat] h i l m n o q s t w v z because i'm a terrible person

My brain tried to resolve that into “Hi I’m noquist” and I was what.

H: How would I describe my style? Descriptive. Overly flowery, but in a gritty sort of way. Detail-oriented. My friend suggested “Tolkien” but I was like nah it’s more of a cross between Tolkien and C.S. Forester (if you don’t know who that is. AT LEAST READ ABOUT HORNBLOWER BEFORE YOU COME BACK. And consider watching the movies with Ioan Gruffudd.)

I: My guilty pleasure… writing friendship scenes. Generally between characters from two different fandoms. I know, I’m weird. I don’t do the shippy ship. Instead, I like reading about people being platonic and awesome.

L: The weirdest AU I’ve ever come up with… well, the three-way crossover with Doctor Who, Hornblower and Forever is up there, as is the Doctor Who/Star Wars one. But the absolute weirdest AU I’ve ever come up with was to genderbend Anakin and Obi-Wan and put them and Ahsoka as officers on a privateer during the Napoleonic Wars.

M: Premises… let’s see… Well, there’s a couple of stories experimenting with gods as relates to science–specifically, people using science to create gods. They have nothing to do with most of my fanfics, honestly. They’re all original stories. Other than that, I have a steampunk/gaslamp story with a sort of Nazgul-like villain (aka human beings who were corrupted by Evil and Necromancy and Misuse of Magic-type stuff.) It doesn’t sound as awesome as it is because I haven’t mentioned any characters specifically.

N: Yes. It’s a very specific feeling, the ache as you search for something and then realize it doesn’t exist and then realize again that you wouldn’t be the right person to write it. Unfortunately, I can’t think of any specific examples at the moment.

O: It depends. Sometimes the plot comes first and the characters come later. Other times I’ll have characters but no plot and it comes to me slowly. I don’t really have a preference for one way or the other. It’s easier if I know the characters first, though.

Q: Discarded projects. Well, discarded scenes happen in every project (I had to delete my favorite scene from my screenwriting final project last year), and I generally have a couple of documents just full of snatches, vague ideas, because I hate to waste anything, and inspiration comes so dear. But my first discarded project… Probably the plotless Star Wars post-Original Trilogy fanfiction that sprawled out to 425 pages and had no defined direction or structure. Most of my other projects end up salvaged into another shape, but the Robin Hood retelling is awaiting new inspiration and the Arthurian legends novel about Lancelot’s son became a retelling of the legend from Mordred’s point of view.

S: Any fandom tropes I can’t resist? Well… Most AUs are hard to resist, particularly a well-envisioned historical AU. I’m not into coffee shops or very into high school/college AUs (though, I will read Hornblower college AUs so long as they’re not too shippy. I keep headcanoning Horatio as being ace, despite the source material saying otherwise. I even have my own Hornblower college AU where Horatio, Archie and William are all members of a study group. Horatio’s going into science with an advanced mathematics degree, Archie is undeclared and William is a history major.) I’m also a big fan of character development and particularly missing scenes (I was so mad that we never get to see the Doctor just being a father to Miranda in “Father Time” but more about that another time.) Fantasy AUs, sci-fi AUs or paranormal AUs–it kind of depends on what it’s trying to do and what it does manage to accomplish, but I do like them.

T: Tropes I can’t stand… well, I don’t read smut for one. I also don’t like a lot of ships because I personally can’t see them ever happening. I don’t particularly care for straight-up romance but I will read romance if it’s a subplot to something else (i.e. a crime thriller or suspense.) A lot of genderbend which has the potential to be fantastic turns out terrible because of poor writing or insufficient fleshing-out of the concept, or maybe just because the writer doesn’t have enough imagination, and that’s really sad to me. I also dislike omegaverse or whatever it’s called.

V: A secondary character I want to see more of: I HAVE TO PICK JUST ONE?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? If Obi-Wan and Ahsoka qualify (because Anakin Freaking Skywalker hogs the bloody spotlight all the time), I want to see more of them teaming up! I like Captain Jack Harkness, but the fanon has actually done right by him. I like Martha Jones. She seems to be unpopular, which annoys me because she is awesomeness incarnate. I like Mace Windu and I feel like he’s way too underappreciated, and portrayed as stern and unimaginative, which he definitely is not. I also like Elrond and I wish there was more fic about Elladan and Elrohir because what’s their story? I NEED TO KNOW MORE GUYS. Also there’s Claire Temple but apparently she’s going the rounds of Netflix superheroes so maybe that one isn’t justified. But the number one secondary character I NEED more fanfic about is the unnamed (?) priest from Daredevil because he’s seen a lot and I want to hear more of his advice and about his experience, which we won’t necessarily get from the show because, even though it’s Netflix, there’s still time constraints going there. And that’s really the fantastic thing about fanfiction, right? You can go anywhere or do anything and don’t have to worry about losing your audience because your audience practically selects itself. You can write about really niche things that would never make it on TV or as a book and people will LOVE IT.There’s also a few OCs I’d read fic about because I got to know them in another fic (about the canon characters) and I want to know more about them too.

W: Sometimes a general prompt isn’t enough for me. I tend to prefer the absurdly specific ones, because they will spark off concepts where general ones won’t.

Z: Major character death–better known as the biggest point of contention when it comes to fanfic. Yes, I have written it. Yes, I condone it, but mostly in one-shots because I can’t imagine living without those characters for long. There are a few characters who are ABSOLUTELY OFF-LIMITS, though: mostly supporting cast who deserved better, such as Foggy Nelson and Ahsoka Tano. I also can’t forgive anyone who wrote Jack Frost getting killed off or Steve Rogers either, and if you killed off Falcon I’d probably come and smack you with the frying pan of my URL because you can’t possibly have a good reason for doing that… Yeah, there’s a list.