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chemartsblog · 4 years

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For Love of Sassy Brunettes

Pairing: Steve/any sassy brunette, BrOTP Steve & Bucky

Summary: Bucky knows there’s one thing that get’s Steve’s engine going: Sassy Brunettes.

For the Love of Sassy Brunettes

If Bucky could pin it on a singular event, he’d say that Steve found his fondness for brunettes when a nine-year old Chloe Dayzula saved his pasty ass from the local bullies. The girl was fierce with brown curls, tanned skin, brown eyes and a mouth that’s not afraid to sass anyone out. Normally, Bucky could easily take out Donald Stump and his crew, but he wasn’t there that day and those bullies tried too advantage of it.

Fortunately, Chole was, and she did not like seeing those bullies beating down the sick kid with asthma. From the way Steve and the other kids tell it, that spitfire literally kicked Donald Stump’s ass to the ground. Then she got in-between the bully and Steve, put her hands on her hips and yelled, “My dog’s got bigger balls than you, Stump. Go play on the train tracks if you wanna show off your manliness.”

That right there…that image of a strong sassy brunette defending the weak was burned into Steve’s memories forever.

When Bucky got on the scene, Steve was a stuttering red mess as he tried to thank the girl. “I-I don’t know how I could thank you, Chloe.” Steve mumbled, shifting slightly on his feet.

Chloe had grinned and batted her eyelashes prettily. “You could get ice cream with me.”

Steve looked like he just found gold on a well-trodden road. He smiles eagerly, “Y-yeah of course—em sure yeah!”

Bucky has to bite his fist to stop himself from laughing, but at least Chloe found it endearing. She laughed and took his hand, taking him towards the ice cream shop. When Steve looked back, Bucky gave him two thumbs up and mouths a ‘good luck’.

Steve and Chloe ‘date’ for a month until she had to leave with her parents to go to another state. It’s the first time Bucky sees Steve cry over a girl.

_*_*_

Over the years, Bucky starts seeing a trend in Steve’s crushes. Almost all of them are brunettes and who usually show a hint of fire in them. As far as Bucky knew, they were all girls until Yin Pothong transferred to school. The fourteen-year-old boy was tall, lithe and very very handsome. Even Bucky couldn’t stop his double glances at the teen’s exotic features. The wavy tussle of dark brown hair rested neatly on his head, his eyes a deep dark black that makes all the girls (and boys) melt.

They said his parents were mixed, which is why he looks so damn good. Bucky can believe it, and Steve definitely believed it.

It was probably the third time Steve tripped over his legs when Yin passed by during gym, and Bucky’s had enough of his friend’s painful mooning. So he does the ‘good friend’ thing and calls Yin over to them during break. The tall amiable boy smiles brightly and waves at Bucky and Steve.

“Hi Bucky.” Then he turns his brown eyes to his red quivering friend. “Hi Steve.”

Steve is a statue. A very red gaping statue.

Bucky clears his throat, “Ahem, y’know Yin, Steve is also a big fan of the Brooklyn Robins. We got tickets to one of the games on Saturday, but I can’t make it…” he hints.

Yin grins. “I’d be happy to; if Steve’s okay with it?” He answers glancing to the still statuesque teen.

Bucky discretely grinds down on Steve’s foot, and somehow snaps him out of his stupor.

“Y-yeah yes—well—I mean—that is—!”

An exasperated Bucky delivers another quick jab to the stuttering teen’s side, and Steve manages to get himself together to string a coherent sentence.

“Yes. Yes. I definitely wouldn’t mind. Love to have you there, Yin.” Steve finishes lamely.

It doesn’t seem to discourage Yin, which is a good sign. The handsome brunette takes out a piece of paper and writes his address and home number on it.

“Here, call me if anything comes up. Otherwise we should meet up at my place before the game. Probably 12? My mom probably would want to make lunch for us.” He says.

Steve takes the piece of paper like it’s the most precious artifact in the world, and looks at Yin with wide eyes. “Y-yeah 12 is good.”

“Great! See you then, Steve.” And Yin takes off, heading towards another group of people.

Bucky grins, “Smooth dude.”

“Shut up, Buck. You were the same way with Mellissa.”

“That’s because I got lost in those massive tits.”

Steve slaps his friend’s arm playfully. “You’re an animal.”

“Never said I wasn’t.” Bucky grins.

They pause and Steve asks carefully, “So you’re okay if I’m…a little queer?”

Bucky grins and ruffles his friend’s hair. “Tits, pecs, dicks, vag’s. Doesn’t matter to me. You’re still the most awkward fucking dude I know.”

“Ha-ha.” Steve retorts, but there’s a relieved grin on his face.

_*_*_

One of the strangest things Bucky starts recalling during his imprisonment is all the faces of Steve’s crushes. For whatever reason, the drone of the names and faces going through his brain are enough to keep him relatively sane during the kooky doctor’s experiments.

If some of the guards give him weird looks every time he starts listing the names of Steve’s sassy brunette crushes, well…he’s too tired of Nazi shit to care.

In fact he’s just in the middle of talking about Yin when lo and behold Steve comes barging through the door. Well he thinks it’s Steve, but this Steve is waaay bigger than the Steve he remembers. Is this a hallucination?

“Who’s the sassy brunet who saved you on the playground when Donald came after you?” Bucky asks suspiciously. Big-Steve snorts and answers, “Chloe Dayzula. My first crush.”

Bucky looks him up and down. “Huh. What happened to you?”

“I joined the army.” Is the easy answer.

Whatever, Bucky’s too tired to complain or think too hard on it.

_*_*_

The moment Bucky recovered and laid eyes on Elizabeth ‘Peggy’ Carter, he knew. He didn’t even have to look at Steve standing beside him. Peggy is the whole package, and he’s going to gloat at their wedding.

Honestly, Bucky gets it. Peggy is hot, dangerous and has the look of someone who’s not afraid to kick your ass. He’d be jealous if it was anyone but Steve. As it was, he’s more than happy to play wingman to the dork. And Steve really needs it. The two idiots dance around each other like nobody’s business. It’s one of the worst cases of pining Bucky’s ever seen. The air around them tense and sizzling with unsaid promises. Every eye at the bar on the two, asking will they? Are they?

It’s kinda cute how Steve’s changed so much but still retained that awkward boyish attitude when it comes to women. Bucky would have laughed if he hadn’t seen this same dance for the past eighteen years. Still, it’s cute that Steve found a dangerously hot brunette in the army of all things.

Bucky puts down his drink and sits across from Steve, eyes gleaming and smirk sharp.

“So…Peggy.” He starts.

Steve sighs, “Bucky…”

“What?” he asks innocently. “I’m just stating the name of our very pretty, very brunette, and very spicy lady.”

“If she hears you say that she’ll fill you with lead and then turn you inside out before doing it again.” Steve retorts.

Bucky shivers. “Yup you’re right about that, but what if you said that?”

“She’d have to use the bigger guns.”

“Alright, fair enough.” Bucky acquiesces. “But seriously, it’s like I wasn’t even there. Did you forget that I was standing next to you?”

Steve chuckles. “I could never forget you, Bucky.”

“Better not. I snagged you that hot boyfriend, Yin.”

“No you didn’t.” Steve denies.

“Yes I did, Steve don’t even start. If I hadn’t dropped in with that whole, ‘oh no. I can’t go to the baseball game’ schtick, you’d have been mooning over him until he moved.”

The larger man sighs, “Yeah you’re probably right. He was something.”

“Like a Peggy something?” Bucky grins.

Steve pushes Bucky, and this time, it actually topples the man down.

“Oh shoot, I’m sorry Buck!” Steve cries as he helps his friend up. Bucky waves him away.

“Eh bound to happen someday.” He says. “But you owe me.”

“What do you want?”

“I call best man.” Bucky grins.

Steve laughs. “Win the war first; then we can talk about weddings.”

(Bucky’s last thought as he falls is: Damn I’ll miss my best friend’s wedding.)

_*_*_

Seventy years would change everything and nothing. Steve convinced him to stay after the whole Hydra debacle, and they were able to rescue his mind with Stark and Shuri’s help. The first thing he does after staggering out of the pod is hug Steve, holding onto his brother and best friend tightly.

“Sorry about Peggy.” He mutters.

Steve smiles sadly and pats his back, “It’s okay. She lived a good life.”

“I’m glad.”

Of course, Stark isn’t really one for sappy reunions and snaps at the two. “Uhhh…why don’t I see any loving for the two amazing geniuses that recovered your brain?” he sasses. “I’m just saying that we saved your brain. With our brains and a lot of cool science stuff.”

Bucky glares at the man and then turns to Steve. He leans close to his ear and whispers, “I swear to God Steve if you’ve got a boner for that guy…”

The silence and tension in his shoulders is all he needs to know. Bucky groans and drops his head against Steve’s shoulder.

“Uuuugggghhhh.” He intones dramatically.

Steve pats his head. “Sorry, buddy.”

“You owe me so much for this.”

_*_*_

At least Steve makes good on his promise and gives Bucky the honor of best man. Take that Sam!

Bucky raises his glass in a toast and grins. “Tony, of all the sassy brunettes that Steve has liked over the years, you would be the last one I thought Steve would marry.”

Tony sends him the middle finger, but Bucky just laughs it off and continues. “But you really stepped up and showed that you’re the best one for my brother. So best of luck to Steve and you. You’re probably the only two people who could marry each other without going insane.”

The dining hall is filled with laugher and applause as Bucky bows and takes a seat. After the wedding ceremony, Steve comes up and gives him a hug and a playful punch. Stark actually does the human thing and gives Bucky a proper hug too.

“Wow is the world ending?” Bucky jokes.

Tony rolls his eyes. “You weren’t funny seventy years ago and you aren’t funny now.”

“Rude. Steve are you going to let your husband talk to your brother-in-law like that?”

Said man rolls his eyes in response. “I’m not getting in-between your weird play-feuds. Just don’t have another Poptart incident.”

“Hey that was all Thor.” Tony complains.

Bucky nods vigorously, “Yeah we hardly had anything to do with it!”

“Clint, Bruce and Tasha think differently. Even Thor thinks differently.”

“Figures.” Bucky mutters. “They always blame the class clowns.”

“I’m more of a class genius.” Tony retorts.

Before the two can get into another bickering session, Steve hauls them towards the photographer. They get one good picture, and then Bucky somehow gets cake all over Tony and it’s just pandemonium from there. Steve is fine with it. It wouldn’t be a Stony wedding without an impromptu food fight.

_*_*_

Bucky should have known something like this would happen. Steve is the biggest sap he knew and Tony is no better. Especially when it comes in a cute seven-year-old package.

Steve saved this tiny child from a bombing in Queens. Unfortunately, poor Peter lost his aunt and uncle during the attack, leaving the child with no home to go to. Steve only had to give the authorities his best, Captain America look before they’re handing him the paperwork to take the child into his temporary custody once Peter’s been cleared by the doctor’s.

Bucky should have known it would be anything but temporary.

And it got worse when Tony found out the child’s potential genius. The two children were busy playing in the lab all day, and Steve just looked over them like a proud mother duck. Bucky would have torn his hair out if it wasn’t so damn cute.

Of course, Tony and Steve filed for adoption within a week of knowing Peter, and soon they’ll have a newly minted Peter Parker-Stark-Rogers.

Bucky sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, while Steve gives him the biggest puppy-dog eyes as he tucks Peter close.

“Steve.” Bucky says.

“Bucky.”

His friend looks at Steve then at the small child in Steve’s arms and honestly, Bucky’s a stupid sap too because he gets it.

“I call godfather.” Bucky replies.

“You’ll have to fight, Clint, Thor, and Bruce for that honor.” Steve answers.

“What about godmother?”

“You’ll have to fight Tasha and Pepper for it.”

“I’ll try my hand at godfather.”

“Good idea.”

Bucky shakes his head in amusement. “I always knew you had a weakness for sassy brunettes, but this wasn’t what I expected to come out of it.”

“Because I married Tony?” Steve asks.

Bucky shakes his head and looks meaningfully at the small child who’s building some kind of spider robot with Legos.

Steve looks offended and gasps. “Peter is not sassy.”

“Yeah Uncle Buck, I’m not sassy. I’m an angel.” Peter…well sasses.

His old friend only has to give Steve a look and the sheepish man just shoots Bucky a wry grin.

“What can I say? I have a type.”

#stony #marvel mcu #steve rogers #tony stark #bucky barnes #fanfiction #fic #art #peter parker #steve and tony adopt peter #platonic stukky

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impartofthesolution · 4 years

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Road to London

Alone. It’s not a good word. It’s not typically a fun or appealing word. But, it’s a safe word. Because if I’m alone, that means there’s nothing nearby to hurt me. That’s the closest thing to a promise I have anymore. Sure, I miss my crew, but they only slowed me down, or at least, that’s what I keep telling myself. What I have to tell myself. It’s been two weeks, but I’ve really only been alone ten days. Those first four were awful. I was always moving, got almost no sleep, killed more zombies than I could count, and had to leave the bodies of the people I grew to love, unburied. Then, I got in the clear, and there has been no zombie activity at all as I continue to make my way north. Alone. Safe. For now. As I simultaneously watch my step on the potholed road and scan the horizon for signs I’m no longer alone, I reflect on my state. I suppose I’ve always been the loner type, more alive in my head than I was around people. It served me well, when the outbreak came. It spread far too fast, too many people unwilling to believe their friends and family could be infected. It tore through households; friends went for a drive somewhere and never came back. I stockpiled what I needed in my small house. I could stretch any ration as long as I had to to see this through. The only problem is, I’m still not through. The outbreak created hordes of ravenous monsters, and it became unsafe to say. The radios talked about a party, thousands strong, making their way to the city, devouring everything. So I left. I took what I could, “borrowed” what I needed, and left. I didn’t even have a gun back then, but I’m not sure if that would have made my life easier or harder. I certainly hadn’t learned to use it yet. We learned early on that cars attract the zombies, and the zombies ate all the horses. That left walking. Rumor has it that there were some cities in Canada that had missed the earliest wave of outbreaks and had quickly contained the threat from within. It made it so much easier to keep the zombies and threats out. They’re fearless devils, but they lost their humanity and all that makes humans special, namely, our minds. They’re no threat to an organized defense. If only we had more of those. Buffalo is 60 miles away, I note the highway sign. It’s Buffalo, cross a bridge, and then I’m in Canada. Which, to be fair, is little different from the fields and roads and small towns I’m seeing. Until I get to London and an old fort there. Thankfully, I don’t have to go anywhere near Toronto; that place is a writhing nightmare of destruction. In addition to the zombies, violent street games have divvied the city. Nope, no place for a woman, or anyone in her sane mind. I’ll take my chances with asylum in London. They couldn’t possibly turn me down, a single woman out in the world who can prove she can’t be infected. Oh yes, my forearm aches as I remember the decaying jaws biting down on my arm in the early days of my escape from Harrisburg. I kicked and thrashed and did everything I could. That was my first kill. But then, I just locked myself up and waited for the madness to take me, unable to take my own life. A few days passed, my arm was swollen and slightly infected, but not with the zombie contagion. A group of survivors escaping to Canada had found me. Ryan assured me if I could have turned, I would have. He was the one who gave me my first gun and taught me how to use it. I had no idea handguns could hold 15 or more rounds in a magazine. I was just used to seeing revolvers on TV. I make it another six miles before finding a small town as dusk was settling. It is quiet, which is a good sign. Towns like these usually were safe. The zombies ransacked them for every ounce of meat and then disappeared when it was all gone. Lucky for me, they wouldn’t touch water or canned foods. I didn’t bother to carry much with me; it was too heavy. Finding somewhere with basic supplies like food, clothes, and bedding was pretty reliable. I tried to stay light with my guns, ammo, maps, and a rather large first aid kit. I find a store, grab a shopping cart, and look to see if there was anything the scavengers left behind. The virus came so quick, there weren’t many of us left with our humanity. The odds were good that there were few enough survivors to have come before me that there would still be supplies left. I take what I found and go to search for a defensible looking home that hopefully had clothes that fit me for after my bottled water shower. Buffalo is my only real threat. I managed to skirt around the edge of the city until I walked along northern tip of Lake Erie. Now, I could see the zombies milling around the US side of the border. From what I can see with my binoculars, the bridges look clear. I suppose there isn’t really anything interesting to a zombie on a long bridge. But the city of Buffalo, that could keep a large pack of zombies occupied for a while, longer than I had to wait them out. I have to make my move, and make it now, while it’s still light out. Sure, I could hide a little better in the dark, but it would also be far harder to see the zombies. I’m a better shot during the day, too. There are more ways to cross a bridge than to walk the dotted line. My target is the structure underneath, moving from beam to beam. Most zombies couldn’t follow me or even see me down there. All I had to do was get there. I screw the silencers into my Berettas and hoist my backpack up on my shoulders. I am ready for anything. Making my way carefully along the side of the street, my primarily goal is to not attract the zombie’s attention. I either need to strike first, or not engage at all. Otherwise, I’d be swarmed, and I have no backup this time. On the plus side, I don’t have Robin to accidentally kick a can and alert an entire nest to our presence, either. One small mistake, so many deaths. I turn a corner and a twisted form hunches in front of me, back to me. It must be eating a rat or a possum or… I don’t care. I look and check to make sure there are no others and I shoot. Perfect, effective, trained. A bullet through the head and the zombie collapses with barely a sound. Alone, again. It’s an illusion. I continue on, effectively staying undetected by the mindless fiends. The bridge is back in my view. It’s a couple of hundred yards out, and I’m in the last bit of cover I’ll have until I crawl under the bridge. I survey my surrounds, looking for the best path forward. Guns blazing is a dangerous option. I have roughly 30 bullets without reloading, and I see at least 10 zombies. That means another 10 zombies are out of sight. There’s no way I can try to engage them one at a time. I finish my plan: I need to make it as far unseen as possible, engage and kill the first attack wave, and then I just have to make it under the bridge. Hopefully, that’s only a 100 yard sprint by that point. Just then, I hear a noise above me. I look up, and on top of the building above me, a zombie looks down straight at me with its one eye and crooked jaw. I’m faster, whipping up my gun and shooting it in its only eye. My gun may be quiet, but it’s not silent. A quick look around me tells me I attracted some attention from the zombies on the road to the bridge, but there’s nothing coming up front behind me. Stealth gone, I start jogging towards the bridge and the two zombies eager for a fresh meal. Shhht, shhht goes the report of my Beretta. One zombie falls motionless, and I don’t even break a stride. The other zombie is 20 feet away. He must have been someone import, for he was wearing a suit, still distinguishable though it is in tatters. I stop, aim, and fire. Four, I keep track of how many bullets I’ve spent. By now, I’ve attracted the attention of all the remaining zombies. There were the 8 I had seen plus another 5 had appeared. Thirteen is too many to take on. All I have to do is take out the ones in front of me and outrun the ones closing in from the sides. I take a shot at the lead zombie and miss. I mutter an unladylike curse under my breath, still careful not take make unnecessary noise. I have to run if I want to not get mobbed by the zombies coming from my right. As I’m running, I fire off five rounds, dropping two zombies quickly. I’m breathing heavy. The bridge is still 150 yards off, and there are still 5 zombies in front of me. My chances are slim, but I have no hope. I keep charging. I try to steady by aim, but the running and adrenaline shake my hands. My final six shots in my right hand pistol only fell two more zombies. Without even looking, I extend my left arm to the left and fire, hearing a zombie drop a second later. I switch my loaded gun to my right hand. Three zombies, 50 feet away. I put three shots in the lead zombie, and it topples in a pile of gore. I jump it and take out the second zombie while in the air. Ten shots left, I remember. The final zombie is closing fast. It lunges at me with wicked claws and two obsidian marble eyes. I duck and slide on my leg, tearing the “borrowed” jeans. The zombie passes overhead, and I shoot up at it, flinging it over and behind me. As I try to stand up and continue running, the zombie’s foot connects with my head knocking me sideways. There are four zombies closing in from my right, but my concern is the last zombie my left. I was knocked dangerously close to her. She reaches out with her only arm, and all I could do is bash it away with my left arm. Her decaying limb goes flying. I sweep her legs as I spin back to full standing. The bridge is so close. I take off in a full sprint. I reach the edge of the bridge and jump, arms extending. Ooof, the breath is knocked out of me as I catch a horizontal bar under my arms. I barely stay on, dizzy and winded and gasping for air. I turn behind me. The two closes zombies had fallen off the edge. The others had run along the bridge above me, looking for a way to get to me, but they can’t. I’m safe. Not alone, but safe. For now. Back to Table of Contents (x)

#Horror Vignettes #October2020 #writings #kickbutt female #zombies #there's a London in Canada too #super proud of this one #dualwieldingberettas

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inthepines · 5 years

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How did you know you were gay and what was coming out like? ❤🏳️‍🌈

Honestly, Ididn’t really know I was gay until I was about 18. I spent so many years confused, believing that I was incapable of love or thatI was broken, etc. Trying to be interested in boys and ultimately hurting thembecause I couldn’t shake the feeling of nausea, guilt, and disgust in the pit ofmy stomach at the thought of any form intimacy with them (emotional, physical).Being raised in a hetero-normative world- I was always told that I ‘just wasn’tready’ or was praised for not being ‘boy-crazy’. I had some people approach me throughmy youth to ask me if I was gay- to which I replied; “Of course not- I wouldknow if I was! But I support and love them all the same.”.Growing up- I was told that gay people were just born ‘knowing’ that they weregay and that they are to be loved and treated as equal- and though thisteaching was positive and loving- it was also OTHERING and left me feeling likeI (as a straight person) was supposed to show gay people (as others) love andkindness. I developed an infatuation with knowing lesbians. My mom had a few gay friendsthat I just ADORED and wanted to impress all the time and I wasn’t really surewhy I wanted their approval so badly- I just kind of chalked it up to the whole-being extra kind to a minority group as an ally, thing.So- having never received my magical lesbian version of a letter-to-Hogwarts- Ispent the majority of my childhood and adolescence pretending to experienceattraction and butterflies to please my peers- and after a few bouts of puredisgust in the pit of my stomach, crying in the bathtub after dates andobsessing over ‘unobtainable’ men- I genuinely started to believe I was a legitimatesociopath, in such a serious way.One random night- I was watching videos on YouTube and fell down a hole oflesbian content. I remember seeing a video that was titled ‘How to Know You’reGay’ or something along those lines- in which, a kind young lesbian said: “Ifyou’re watching this video- you’re probably gay.”- and as dumb as it sounds, itgave me just the right amount of permission to question it- and I immediatelybroke down into tears. I absolutely bawled my eyes out until I got a piercing headacheand passed out- I felt so much RELIEF and normalcy. I finally maybe had ananswer to my ‘brokenness’ and I thought… maybe I WAS capable of love- that Iwasn’t a sociopath- as many boys had described me- giving me a shameful ‘heartbreaker’legacy this far in my life. After a few months of putting together the pieces, stitching the stories in theback of my mind from my childhood- being in pre-school and holding my bestfriend’s hand and kissing her on the forehead and proclaiming to my teachersthat I was “going to marry her when I grow up” (to which I was told that girlscan’t marry girls… blah, blah, blah- suck is Miss. Robin- look at me now)- Itall just kind of clicked into place and over the next few months- I came outfully. A couple people were ejected from my family because they had dusty oldbiblical views (RIP aunt Deb) but for the most part- everything changed in abeautiful way- and I’ve never felt more sane or more normal in my life. I was able to have my first REAL romantic relationship at the age of 20 and the amount of freedom, peace and self-assurance that brought me- was immeasurable. I’ve never felt more healthy, stable or human, as I do now after coming out to myself.

#coming out #lesbian #lqbtq+#lgbt #it gets better #honestly #live laugh love #Anonymous #asked

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nifaswriting · 6 years

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Hi!😘😘 You are amazing and so talented!! I have a request what if all of the strawhats have their own S/O on the thousend sunny and they live whit each other. (If it not a big problem a want that they S/O are their opposite gender) sorry the english is not my mother language. I hope that nőt a big request.😚😚😄😄

It was so fun to write! That’s such a cute request! Headcanons about the Strawhat living together with all their s/o: - Franky has to extend the Sunny lmao because they are now a lot of people on the poor ship- Plus, every couple needs their own bedroom because sleeping all together can be quite troublesome- But it’s also very cute because a lot of relationships are born and growing between the different members- Brook’s s/o and Robin’s s/o are probably the most chill of the group and the two couple are like the parents' couple of the ship- Robin and Brook’s girlfriend form a weird duo, saying bizarre things and making creepy comments all day- Brook and Robin’s boyfriend are quite concerned about their respective girls, wondering if they are sane- After, there is Usopp’s and Franky’s respective s/o who are like assistants for the two and who take care of the ship with them- Every time Sanji and Zoro are fighting for no reasons, their respective s/o are sitting in a corner, watching them while drinking tea- They both can’t help but sigh as they watch their two lovers fighting over nothing- Nami’s lover is always crying on Sanji’s shoulder because she hit him hard, the two are like bros- Zoro and Franky’s girlfriend are getting along pretty well and they are sort of best friends and training buddies- Luffy’s girlfriend is the cute one and everyone wants to protect her because she is too adorable- But she eats like a monster and Sanji has a hard time cooking for her because she eats so much!- There are always problems with the bathroom because every girl takes so much time preparing herself- Parties are the best things on this ship because everyone is eating outside, under the light that Franky and his s/o set on the deck- Brook is playing music and his girlfriend is singing with him and the others join in and everyone is happy- It’s not a crew anymore, it’s a real fleet lmao

#one piece #strawhat pirates #One Piece headcanons #one piece scenario #one piece imagines #imagines #scenario #headcanons #thousand sunny #Mugiwara Kaizoku

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hellish-summoner · 6 years

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To start us off, how about a fun way to learn about the local summoner?

“Well, this might be a bit long, but not like I have anything else to do here, and we are having a pause from the fighting....”

Just for one quick thing before the read more.....

Have a Heca I made in a character maker~

Introduce your summoner

“Ah, introduce myself? My name is Hecatia Lapislazuil, but most people here we refer to me as Heca; feel free to do the same. As dragon-like as I might appear, I’m a friend, I promise.”

How did they come to Askr?

“Well, I was summoned of course! I was never aware of this world before I came here, which is odd given my role back in He-....Well, that’s not important to you, is it?”

what are their favorite hobbies?

“My favorite hobbies? Well, I certainly like engaging in spell card battles or even just normal battles, but there is no one to fight! All my heroes don’t want to even do a friendly battle for the most part, besides one....”

“......I have found that testing out magic is a fun hobby, and so is doodling or trying my hand at writing. Or......playing video games. I have found that magic can work just as well for charging handhelds and mobile devices, so a lack of a tv isn’t too much of an issue....”

Does your summoner have any bad habits that the heroes try to help them through?

“If I do have any, I’m not looking for solving them; it’s a matter of opinion really.”

“Besides, I.....had a bad habit that I would of accepted help with if I didn’t already learn my lesson there.”

How close is your summoner to their heroes?

“It depends on the hero.....My special heroes required more attention when getting them adjusted to Askr than the normal ones. And I do feel like I’m friends with a lot of the younger ones, and the dragons.....”

“.........Though I feel I’m closest with the special heroes from my world; and two of my Corrins. And......a friend who will be called Hydra since I think he prefers it.”

Does your summoner struggle with being a tactician?

“I will say that I have never thought of acting as well, so it’s been a learning process, but some advice here and there from the polite tacticians and leaders from other worlds have helped. Well, helped with directing people; my own tactics if allowed to fight is basically ‘overwhelm them’ still.”

How did your summoner react during their first time summoning?

“I think I just went quiet and realized that ‘holy shit.....I CAN SHOOT PEOPLE OUT OF THIS GUN???’ because you know.....I know what a gun is, but never remember what this thing is named. It’s the summongun now.”

How does your summoner react to summoning now?

“Eh, I’m used to it at this point. Would love it if it could give me those I’m looking for more often; that hawk king and wolf queen look quite fine~”

How well do they adjust to life in Askr?

“I adjusted fairly well; I’m used to places being behind the modern world in terms of tech......Kinda why I know how to charge things with magic.”

How long have they been a summoner?

“Since.......the start of that conflict with Embla? I think? It’s been a while at least.”

“..........Oh fuck, I have probably worried my wife and husband so much by this point.”

Who’s your summoners main team?

“Right now it’s the two Grimas, Lady Corncob, and smol Tiki. But currently I’m working on training two more Corncobs to make a slightly better dragon team. But hmm, to have Lady Grimgram babysit them, or have Hydra get to go with them into battle instead of just with one Corn.....Hmm...”

Who’s your summoners S support?

“Technically, it’s Crescent, aka the one I just called Lady Corncob, but that’s platonic.....My spouses have not been summoned (yet), so thus I wouldn’t feel comfortable getting in another relationship; the feeling is mutual, since Crescent has her own lovers she is waiting for.”

How was your Summoner and ally support building to S support?

“She was one of my first units to get really strong actually; she had quite the drive to be strong so she could help protect Askr. Partly, the relationship formed out of her assisting me often on staying calm....I was not always a Manakete, so the fact I needed to keep myself in control was a foreign concept.”

“................Not helped by me lacking a dragonstone back then. It had to be made specific too....”

How many allies have s support with your summoner?

“......I might be close enough to Hydra for that to be considered another platonic one. Lady Vallite as well.”

What are your top 4 ally x ally supports?

“Oh my~ Personally, I love to see Mikoto and Hydra interact; lovers separated far too soon finally getting reunited is quite a touching thing to see. Same with Crescent and the only one of her loves that has shown up; I swear, that green ninja follows us into battle even when he isn’t actually among the group fighting; though she has told me that two are still missing, though I don’t know where to find an orange kitsune and a half-dragon that favors a bow over a dragonstone or sword...”

“Who else that wouldn’t require much explaining....Ah yes, the male Grima is a possessed Robin who isn’t the normal one you see summoned, and I summoned a Olivia who uses a pegasus; and got to see Grima actually happy for pure reasons. He was so happy to see his wife again, that even the fell influence could do nothing to stop him from running up and hugging her. Also learned his name is Lunar.....”

“And then.....Ah what the hell, the other Grima, the female one, is quite small and unintimidating in this Askr, but it was quite interesting to see her cling to Henry and refuse to let go of him when I summoned him in his halloween outfit....I think Henry just ended up holding her until she was finally ready to let go.....Kokoro or Miyu is her name I believe, depending on if you are extremely close to her or anyone else.”

“..........I think I saw Kokor-...Uh, Miyu start crying when I summoned male Morgan. Said something about not being able to believe that she is able to have children....”

What does your summoner miss from home?

“I miss the heat......And I miss Isamu and Junko.....I would say I miss my loyal lampad, but CP seems to have followed me here somehow, it just took her a while to find me. And Therai.....I have missed my old friend, but with his appearance comes me needing to earn his forgiveness. He’s......still rather mad at me....”

If they could bring one thing from home with them what would it be?

“Ok, I know I can’t bring a person......I would love to bring a TV......Maybe also some dvds and blu-rays.....”

Is your summoners robe unique?

“...........Wait, we can get unique ones?! Fuck, all I got was one that has holes for wings and horns!”

Who are your fellow summoner friends?

“Let’s see.....There’s Alex, who has long suffered trying to fully comprehend me and magic in general......Lemon, who is from a race adept with time, and banged a dragon, a choice I can 100% respect....Mari, who thirsts for many, and should maybe bed both Xander and Ryoma instead of trying to choose one at this point....Mina, who is quite the lovely lady and understands the pains of being very limited in terms of strength; I honestly hope she regains her lost power, she deserves it......And-...Well, this is long enough already, I guess....”

What does your summoner wear if during their down time?

“I still have my Welcome Hell shirt, and wear it a lot in my downtime; or other t-shirts.....I like wearing skirts, since those are nice to wear, though I have been advised to wear shorts if I plan to go flying or do anything that might lift it up....”

How do they handle merging heroes or sending them home?

“I have never seen dupes of the same exact person, and normally send dupes of the same person from different timelines back home right away....”

What abilities/ weapons do they have?

“I got tomes, dragonstones....I had a lance until I had to give it back to the angry lizard. As for abilities.....Well, it’s not like myself to reveal all my tricks, but I will admit that I’m quite adept with magic even without a tome.”

Would your summoner like to know magic?

“I know magic already, though I would like to learn any new forms I didn’t already know.”

Are they able to hold their own in a fight?

“Yes-.....Kinda. I’m a bit of a glass cannon without my full power it seems......”

How many heroes have you acquired?

“A lot......I have lost count my friend. We certainly have an army here....”

What book has been the hardest? Emotional or battlewise.

“Going with emotional for my allies.....The most recent one; the death curse is very concerning.....Mostly because someone other than that prince got one too; and that poor child’s timer is only five days......I pray for Vallite that she does not have to see her son die, as I’m unsure of how a death from that curse will affect him, or even if it might cause him to get dragged to Hel....”

If your summoner went into battle what would be there class?

“Um....I use Tomes and Dragonstones....which matches no current class. I guess a Nohr Noble but without the swords?”

Are there any heroes they clash with?

“Therai.......though I willingly fight him, since it gets his anger out.”

Which hero have you pumped more into?

“I guess.....Crescent? She has asked to train with a lot of heroes before they go home. She has learned many things from them as a result.”

Which hero do you get a lot of while summoning?

“I see......a lot of the more common heroes.”

Which hero’s have they adopted?

“Harm any of the dragon children, and I and the Grimas will give you absolute hell.”

Do they participate in voting gauntlets?

“When I feel like it.......Not often now, since I need to focus on other things.

How do they handle their orbs?

“I save....sometimes.......Vallite said she saved something called Wisdom Cubes one time and still didn’t find the one she was looking for until she searched some sea a lot....”

What hero do you wanna see in fire emblem heroes?

“Someone let my fellow summoners summon the Silent Dragon. He is very nice if you summon the sane one. Mikoto can help keep him nice and calm.”

Will your summoner stay in Askr? Nifl? Muspell? Hel? Emblian?

“...........Muspell was nice and warm.........I would love to find a way to travel between this world and my own, honestly.”

What is your Summoner life like years later if they stayed? Askr. Nifl. Muspell. Hel. Emblian.

“Honestly....If I seemingly stayed, I would have a way to go back and forth.....So normal really; I have multiple bodies in my world, so maybe I can form one that can stay here, or just travel back and forth as needed.”

“.....Hell doesn’t need me that often anyways; I have those under me that can deal with things there just fine.”

Summoners family reacting to your summoners significant other?

“..............I don’t have much of a family. Isamu and Junko’s families are dead. And.....I actually don’t know what Junko’s parents thought of Isamu. Guess it’s completely unknown then.”

In a twist of fate, if your summoner could change one thing what would it be?

“...............I would say to make it so at least one of my spouses got summoned with me, but one, that would just worry the one that was not summoned more, and two......I would use it to either give that poor child a longer timer or prevent him from having to jump in front of Vallite to protect and thus causing some form of anger for Hel.....”

#summoner Heca #oh geez this is long...

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ericdanielmedina · 6 years

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Selfish: Understanding Suicide

I remember when I first found out Robin Williams had died. I was in San Diego visiting my girlfriend at the time and we had just met up with my brother at Slaters 50/50. The first thing my brother says to me after saying hello was, “Hey, did you hear? Robin Williams died”. He said it in a more monotone voice, so there wasn’t much of grief in his delivery, but even though he told me in the most nonchalant way, it hit me hard. All I was thinking of was, how did he die? Was it an accident? Did he have a heart attack? In just a manner of a few seconds, my childhood memories of Robin Williams began to flash before my eyes. Mrs. Doubtfire. Jumanji. Hook. Flubber. Now all just sad memories. I remember going home afterwards to create a tribute video montage of all his classic works. But it wasn’t until later that I discovered Williams had committed suicide by hanging himself on a door with his belt. And all I could think of was, why? Why him? Why now?

As I was learning more about his death, I soon realized that he had left behind a family; a wife and daughter. I think to most people my age, it felt like we all lost a father, because we all grew up with Robin Williams. It was like he was always there from the beginning. Soon, all of the memorials and tributes started to come in from various news channels and online video sites. I remember waking up the next morning and getting into my car to find any newspaper that had his face on the front page. I must have drove to ten different locations: gas stations, grocery stores, coffee shops, outdoor vendors. All sold out. I really wanted to have something to remind me of Robin Williams as he once was. Happy.

However, with these types of situations, there are always two groups of people. While one side was grieving, another side began to ask, how can someone be so selfish?

And, that just didn’t make sense to me.

Even to this day, with the death of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, I’m again hearing that word: “SELFISH”.

The argument is this: how can anyone who has a family, especially little kids, commit suicide and allow their kids to grow up without a parent or a spouse to live without a partner?

And, the answer is this: It’s complicated.

As someone who has experienced suicide within my family and as someone who has contemplated suicide at one point, I can say for certain, it’s beyond our own logic and understanding. To a normal, sane human being, of course it appears to be selfish - because we’re thinking logically. But that’s the thing about depression. Depression doesn’t follow logic. It doesn’t follow the same rules as a sane person follows. Depression is its own entity. Depression is like it’s own country and it has its own set of rules and if you’ve never been to that country, you won’t ever understand those rules. You’ll always just be a foreigner looking in from a distance.

To be honest, when a person is depressed and contemplating suicide, they’re never thinking of themselves. It’s the opposite. They’re thinking of others around them. They’re thinking of all the people who are suffering because of them or the people who could suffer because of them, and they don’t want to put anyone through any stress because of their depression. They believe the world is better off without them. They don’t want their kids to see with their own eyes how messed up their father is. All they want are loved ones to be happy. By accomplishing that task, it means ending your own life to ensure that happiness.

To a sane person, that sounds selfish. But it’s not for a sane person who say if it is selfish or not. They don’t have the right to do so.

Depression is like this deep, deep, pit. It’s cold, lonely, dark, and the only way to get out is if you climb the walls without stairs, ladder, rope, or anything to assist you up. Most of the time, no one even knows you’re stuck in a pit, so you’re constantly climbing those walls trying to get out, but it’s just too much effort because you keep on falling and the wall always seem to be getting taller and slippery by the day.

Depression isn’t just waking up one morning and not feeling as happy as you were the day before. It’s a slow, gradual process that consumes your life for months and even years. It affects your mood, your behavior, your way of thinking, your daily tasks, and your relationships. Suicide isn’t a quick decision someone makes one morning. It can take many years for someone to actually kill themselves. They’re just holding on until they just cannot hold on any longer. It’s like working out so hard that your body just can’t take anymore pressure and its at that point where the person gives in. It’s like running a horse to exhaustion.

I was in 7th grade when 9/11 happened. I remember my mom calling me to come see something on TV. It was early and I didn’t want to get out of bed because I didn’t think it was anything important to see. My mom told me what had happened, but I didn’t quite see the significance of it. She told me a plane hit the World Trade Center as she was watching the news. Again, I didn’t connect the pieces together. So, I went to school to hear everyone else talk about it. All I really knew was something bad had happened, but I didn’t know how extreme it was until 17 years later. I’ve seen the images on TV, but I never really took the time to fully examine what had actually happened that day. More recently, I began to do more research on the event, so I started to watch a lot of 9/11 videos on YouTube. Most of the videos are either conspiracy videos or videos of the planes hitting the towers. However, there are a few select videos that are so hard to watch that they instantly bring me to a dark place and I want to leave it as soon as possible. I’m talking about the jumpers. People who chose to jump from the World Trade Center because they would rather die faster than to burn alive or suffocate from the smoke. Of course, at the time, they didn’t know the towers were going to collapse, so death was an inevitable factor. I was so curious that I watched video after video of people falling to their deaths. As one camera zooms out, a pile of dead, splattered bodies covered the ground below the towers. In one particular video, you can actually hear the sounds of bodies hitting the ground. I didn't know any of those people, but it felt like I did. I felt like I was their son, friend, colleague, acquaintance, watching them die before my eyes. The visuals, the sounds, all just stuck with me. My heart broke, but my mind just couldn't fathom the situation. I want to make the point that no one ever thought what they did was considered a selfish act. It was an act of desperation. It was a way for them to be free from what they were suffering. And these people weren’t even depressed. That’s what makes this even more sad. These people didn't wake up thinking they would have to jump to their deaths later that morning.

But, 9/11 is essentially what is going on in a depressed persons head every day. It’s dark, it’s hard to breathe, and you can feel at any second that the walls are going to collapse on top of you and the only way to be free is to end it all. Instead of suffering the slow death of anxiety and depression, you would rather be free from it all by making that jump.

There is nothing selfish about committing suicide. It’s not the option we hope people choose, but when it happens, it’s not our place to judge them and figure out their motives or intentions. Death, regardless of how it happens, is a heavy topic that needs to be talked about more often. Mental illness isn’t something people fully understand and if you’re not dealing with mental illness, then consider yourself fortunate, but don’t ever think you have the right to call someone selfish for making an illogical decision. Until you are in their shoes, no one will grasp the logic behind depression. To call someone selfish only makes you out to be selfish because you’re only thinking about your own understanding. You think a depressed person should be able to comprehend everything you know, but that’s not the case. People need to study mental illness as if it were part of their job at work. It’s important that we have these discussions and it needs to be taken very seriously. Mental illness is not a joke. You are not OCD if you are a perfectionist. You are not Schizo if you are a bit awkward. ADD is different from ADHD. Someone who is thinner than most isn’t always anorexic. And depression isn’t just waking up sad one day. I hope people begin to talk about mental illness as they do with gun control.

Of course, if you’re dealing with depression, feel free to message me and we can talk about it. No judgment, no fear, no analyzation. Just two people talking in a safe space. And if you are severely depressed, please call someone who can help you. Call a relative or a friend who you know will listen to you. Your life is more important than you know. It’s never game over.

#suicide #death #robin williams #9/11 #kate spade #anthony bourdain #mental illness #depression #anxiety #help

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enthusiasticsobrietyabuse · 3 years

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Survivor Testimony: Staying Sober After The Group. Originally posted on OnTheEmmis.com circa 2005

I want to start off by saying that I wish to remain anonymous on this website for the time being as there are a few potential real-life consequences to my being exposed in here and I ask that if you think that you might know me that you not expose my identity publicly in this online forum. If you wish to contact me, please shoot an e-mail to the address that I have provided and I will gladly respond. Now that I've got the self-centered paranoid disclaimer out of the way, I'll tell you why I'm here. First, I want to thank tremendously whoever launched this website, I think it is a great service. It really reaffirmed for me that I wasn't the only sane person who thought that all was not necessarily right in that place. I am posting my story here because I want anyone else who finds themselves in a similar position as mine was early on in sobriety to seriously consider the ramifications of joining the group, getting a different perspective on the matter, before making any such decision. I was offered sage advice early on, but I chose to ignore it. After a brief exposure to AA in 1998, without any real tangible practice of the program in my life, I quickly decided that I wasn't alcoholic and went back out - only to suffer more self-inflicted torture from the hell that is alcoholism. After several months and some tremendously painful life experiences, I sheepishly crawled back to the program of AA, determined that I needed to stay sober at any cost or that I would die. About the time I had 90 days, I felt the same disillusionment that I had felt in my first AA experience, but I was at the painful jumping off place - I knew that I couldn't live like this anymore, but I also knew that drinking wasn't a viable option either. In my return to AA, I had latched on quickly to some fresh graduates from an ICECAP program, and I was very attracted to their apparent enthusiasm and zest for life - I desperately wanted whatever they had. Seeing the emotional pain that I was in at three months sober and the struggle I was experiencing, one of the graduates suggested that I try out the ICECAP program for 30 days. Secretly, I had already had the inclination to check it out, but due to my own self-loathing, I was too scared to inquire about it. But as soon as the validation came from a graduate that I might be a suitable candidate, my eyes started to glow, and the future looked bright. After a few weeks of ICECAP meetings, functions, "wedging," one-on-ones, hugs from attractive girls, and a wild Round Robin, I was sold. Well, almost. I still hadn't broken off totally from AA yet, and there was one person in particular fighting to keep me out of the ICECAP group, a girl who had spent some time in there a few years before and had some tremendous resentments and hostility towards the group. She prophetically advised me that if I went in that we wouldn't be allowed to be friends anymore and that my Higher Power would become the group, that I would be resigning my will over to the group for the direction I would take in my life. I thought she was being hysterical and making up wild black-helicopter, Branch Davidian type claims about this seemingly very pleasant and loving group. They seemed far more rational than her (keep in mind, I was barely sober), and she was so angry with me that it was not hard for me to dismiss my friendship with her when I decided to be a part of the group exclusively. I don't have any dramatic horror stories to describe about my experience in the group over the next 2.5 years, but I remembered everything my AA friend had told me before I went in - that I wouldn't be allowed to go to concerts, that I would have no control over my own dating situation and when given permission to date, that the group would decide who I would be allowed to date, that I would be discouraged from contacting any old friends, even completely normal ones with good jobs and college educations, that I would have no sort of independent social life, that my status on the social totem pole would be dictated totally by the whims of SC and the staff, and the list goes on ad infinitum. I thought she was insane, that nobody could possibly exert that amount of control over me. But all of these things and more came to pass, because I let them. My entire sense of self was dictated by how the group and the staff perceived me, and even though I often questioned my desire to remain a part of the group (I never once questioned my alcoholism), any real dialogue with which I attempted to engage with a sponsor in the group or a counselor was always spun to make me feel as if I was spiritually bankrupt and that if I decided to leave that I would probably wind up getting drunk, even though my intention had always been simply to return to AA meetings and to find an AA sponsor. Leaving the group before getting the "official" pat on the butt to go from the director was not approved of under any circumstances, based on my experience. If you were in OG, any desire to detach from the group would invariably mean that you would be homeless if you lived in an apartment (with five or six other people, lying to your landlord about the number of tenants completely with the endorsement of the staff, even though this is illegal), that you would lose any romantic relationship if your boyfriend/girlfriend was still in the group, and that you would be ostracized by the group at the subtle suggestion of staff (they would never blatantly tell anyone to shun those who "bailed," but they had no problems letting you know that they thought that people who bailed were "pieces of sh*t"), that you may lose your job if it was obtained through someone in the group or someone in parent group, and that if the staff had gotten in deep enough with your parents, that you may face homelessness at the suggestion from the counselors that your parents should exert "tough love" and not let you live with them. Because I was too much of a chicken sh*t to break free, I stuck around until they let me graduate, because I was terrified of the social consequences of leaving sooner. Hell, they even threw me a bone and let me be on SC for a little while after I showed enough devotion to the cause. During that wonderful period of my ICECAP experience I had the joy of sitting through those meaningful purposes where someone invariably got called out as the "f*cked-up" one and it would quickly turn into a big sobbing mess. I was too timid to ever get myself into that hot seat, so I just shut up and did what I was told - but it wasn't because I was doing so much better than the others - I just hid my stuff well enough that no one could ever really call me out on it. But I witnessed it all the time. I was terrified of being "that guy," so I never challenged or questioned anything - but in my gut I did all the time. Because of my tremendously low self-worth, the staff always knew that I would be a loyal servant and fall in line with whatever the direction was and never question anything - in truth I questioned a lot, but I was way too insecure to ever voice my sentiments. Since having graduated a few years back, I've discovered 2 kinds of graduates - those who have serious resentments towards the group, and those who are in denial about their serious resentments towards the group. At first, still being the highly sheepish type, I clung to my fellow graduates and some prior graduates that were still "loyal to the cause." It wasn't really what I wanted, but I was so socially retarded by living in the pretend world of the group that I didn't know what else to do. During the graduation process, we were advised that there were many people in AA who, not having had the privilege of our "more sober than thou" experience, would be ill qualified to be anything more than casual acquaintances at meetings. We were told that most AAs lack real depth of "principles" - they go to concerts, hang out in the city, associate with people who may have an occasional drink, don't like G.W. Bush, don't need to go on four dates to hold hands, share romantic feelings, become involved in outside activities, pursue non-treatment related careers, talk to licensed psychologists, etc. - these people were shallow and lacked a "real" program, we were told. Their sobriety was "unattractive," and we should avoid them at all costs. We should stand in judgment of them from our moral high ground. We were "first-class citizens." What a load. With some time and experience in AA, I've slowly started to let go of a lot of the old ways of thinking that were burned in for two and a half years. Much of the resentment has subsided, though not entirely. I have learned a lot about myself through all of this, and haven't had to drink over any of it, though I was close at times. I've watched as most of the people that I graduated with have slipped out of the program - some because they realized that they weren't alcoholic, some because their alcoholic resentment toward the group pushed them to drink. I don't feel sorry for those who left out of resentment towards the group, because AA offers a wonderful program to help overcome resentments, if one chooses to follow it. And those who discovered that they weren't alcoholic and who choose to drink occasionally are no less moral than me. Most will just go on and live their lives - some very productively. As far as me, I hope to stick around the tables of AA for some time to come because I definitely think I belong here. I've got a great AA sponsor who has never had any affiliation with the ICECAP groups and is totally willing to let me fall flat on my face without passing judgment on me - he's a man who shares his experience, strength and hope with me and shows me how to work the steps of AA (not some twisted hybrid), but never expects anything from me whatsoever. And he is clear to let me know that anytime I want out, I am free to go, no love lost. So today, sobriety really gets to be my choice. I still have a lot of ties to a lot of people from the group, and even a degree of affection for some of the people still in the group and even (gasp) on the staff. Some of my fellow graduates are more detached from the group than me, some less, and our feelings about the group are pretty varied - the general consensus for most of us, however, is one of gratitude for the fact that we're here and not there anymore. I'm still learning a lot about people, AA, the Steps, life in the "real" world, and how to trudge the road everyday. I'm also still unlearning a lot of things like judgmental thinking, comparative sobriety, racism, arrogance, and closed-mindedness. I've got a new Higher Power that doesn't sit in judgment of me when I occasionally flirt (ICECAP translation - "game") with a girl or choose to occasionally indulge in less than pure thoughts. I've got new friends, both in and out of the program, who have no connection whatsoever with the ICECAP groups. I'm going to a fairly liberal school which is showing me perspectives and ideas that I never even knew existed. And I've finally gotten enough balls to go to a concert again - the laughable irony about that is that most of the people that I'm going with are also graduates of the program who have solid amounts of time sober, and whose principles, in my esteemed opinion, are entirely intact. Pretty soon, a fresh crop of graduates will get pumped out into AA, the ones not quite "gnarly" enough to go to training. Within a few years, more than half of them won't be in AA any longer for whatever reason. The truth is, in my humble estimation, for all the so-called "silver platter" sobriety one gets in the group, once they come into AA, they have about as much a shot at long-term sobriety as anyone else out here, which is not much at all. The disease of alcoholism is cunning, baffling, and powerful, and any sort of band-aid one tries to use to avert the pain will only be temporary - as my sponsor says, eventually we must stop trying to go around the pain and just simply go through the pain. There is a sober life after ICECAP if you want it - and it will be awkward, embarrassing, humbling, and sometimes painful - but it gets a lot better. And you get to live your life without wondering who's watching all the

#bob meehan #meehan #survivor #clint stonebraker #enthusiastic sobriety #enthusiastic sobriety program #alcoholics anonymous #AA #troubled teen industry #the group #troubled teen #breaking code silence #enthusiastic sobriety abuse #cult #sobriety #sober #graduate

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architectnews · 4 years

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Sustainable Architecture: Climate Change

Sustainable Architecture, Eco Buildings, Climate Change, Green Building Opinion, Architects, Links

Sustainable Architecture Design News

Green Building: Ecological Architectural Debate – CO2 Emissions Reduction News

11 Dec 2020

Climate Action Friday 11 December

Climate Action – #FridaysForFuture

#FridaysForFuture is a movement that began in August 2018, after 15-year-old Greta Thunberg and other young activists sat in front of the Swedish parliament every schoolday for three weeks, to protest against the lack of action on the climate crisis. She posted what she was doing on Instagram and Twitter and it soon went viral.

Construction is responsible for 23% of the world’s GHG emissions,

it is incumbent on the architecture profession to help lead the way to a better future,

not only lower carbon, but also less pollution,

get involved!

fridaysforfuture map

photo courtesy of #FridaysForFuture

24 Nov 2020

City Mayors Pledge Sustainable Construction

C40 Cities connects 97 of the world’s greatest cities

Commit to Clean Construction, Moving the Industry Towards a Sustainable Future

Four leading mayors are initial signatories to C40 Clean Construction Declaration, pledging to work with industry to halve emissions from construction projects in their cities by 2030

C40 Clean Construction Declaration

Sustainable Buildings News

Contemporary Green Architecture Design – selection of posts:

Net Zero Carbon Buildings News photo courtesy Anders Vestergaard Jensen, unsplash Net Zero Carbon Buildings

Zero-carbon Interiors

Zero Carbon Buildings 2050 Report

House of Lords Zero Carbon Homes Ruling

2020: The Year of Net Zero photo © Richard Glover / Matt Estherby Sustainable Building News : Zero-Energy updates

Climate and Biodiversity Emergency photo : Tim Griffith Climate and Biodiversity Emergency

Eco House Bolton

Zero Carbon House in Birmingham, UK Dec 17, 2019

Forcing Sustainable Buildings Via Legislation

Architects as Guardians of the Environment

It’s official:

Local, state, and federal laws will soon require all new and existing buildings to be sustainable.

In California and other states, all new housing must be green in 2020. All other building types will follow in short order.

Why? Because buildings are primary sources of pollution, carbon emissions, electricity consumption, toxic air, and wasted natural resources.

This is the greatest opportunity ever offered to architects, engineers, and contractors.

The laws have been written; they’re about to be implemented throughout the U.S. and major cities around the world.

The key links in implementation are architects and green consultants who will be leading the way in their roles as guardians of the environment.

The San Francisco Institute of Architecture (SFIA) is still the leader in green architecture degree programs, technical short courses, and continuing education.

SFIA’s students, graduates, and faculty build, teach, publish books, and design the most sustainable buildings on the planet.

Although their courses are all online now, SFIA draws on the resources of the world-renowned faculty. (All posted at www.sfia.net.)

To help prepare for the most extraordinary opportunities in architectural history, SFIA is now offering extra- low scholarship-level tuitions for degrees in architecture, green building design and construction, project management—and the very popular Master of Science in Green Building and Sustainability (MSGB).

We invite you to see what’s new at www.sfia.net, and if you haven’t already done so, please join with our world class students, graduates, and educators in truly helping to change the world for the better.

Fred A. Stitt, Architect San Francisco Institute of Architecture (SFIA) [email protected] www.sfia.net

SFIA Box 2590 Alameda, CA 94501 1-800-634-7779

Dec 5, 2019

Climate Justice Groups Denounce Carbon Markets

Climate Justice Groups Denounce Carbon Markets with a Day of Protest at COP25 in Madrid

MADRID — On Thursday, December 5, 2019, climate justice organizations will lead a day of protest against carbon markets at COP25, calling to keep this false solution out of the Paris rulebook.

WHAT: Climate justice groups denounce carbon markets with day of protest at COP25 WHEN: Thursday 5 December, 10:00 – 10.30 am WHERE: Entrance of Hall 4, IFEMA Blue Zone, Madrid WHO: Climate justice organizations including Friends of the Earth International, Indigenous Environmental Network, La Via Campesina, Asia People’s Movement on Debt and Development, It Takes Roots, SustainUS, Corporate Accountability International, and many more.

Article 6.2 and 6.4, about rules for carbon markets, will be key items on the negotiating table at COP25 in Madrid. A resolution is likely to be sold by polluting countries and corporations as a “solution” to global warming. In reality, carbon markets are a false solution—they have never, and will never, deliver on emissions reductions. Instead, they enable ‘business-as-usual’ and pose a grave threat to Indigenous Peoples and frontline communities globally.

From 10.00 – 10.30 am in the entrance of hall 4, at the IFEMA blue zone, the organizations will stage a theatre sketch about the destruction brought by carbon markets and carbon offsets. Representatives from frontline communities around the world will speak out about their opposition to these false solutions.

In a press conference at 9.00 am in the Mocha Room the same day, 5 Dec 2019, the organizations will launch a briefing to demystify Carbon Markets, and a petition signed by over 150 civil society organisations and social movements so far, and still rising. Printed copies of the carbon markets briefing will be available in English and Spanish.

Carbon Markets Petition

• Carbon Markets briefing (English): https://ift.tt/3a13gqp • Carbon Markets briefing (Spanish): https://ift.tt/37VZYSK • Carbon Markets briefing (French): https://ift.tt/3n4E1au

Nov 5, 2019

USA Withdraws from Paris Climate Agreement

Donald Trump files to leave Paris Climate Agreement

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump administration today filed paperwork to begin the formal process of withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement.

In response to today’s actions, Karen Orenstein, Friends of the Earth’s Deputy Director of Economic Policy, issued the following statement:

Donald Trump is more concerned about protecting his golf courses than he is about climate change-fueled flooding that could threaten 300 million people living in coastal areas by 2050. World leaders must not wait for Trump, and must not use his moral bankruptcy as an excuse for inaction. The rest of the world must implement the Paris Agreement without the United States.

However, rich countries must take the threat caused by climate change far more seriously and make their mitigation and climate finance commitments commensurate with what climate science and justice demand. When the U.S. has more sane leadership and rejoins the international community, the Paris Agreement needs to be substantially more equitable and ambitious.

While Trump’s White House works to destroy the environment, Congress must move the international climate agenda forward by supporting the Green Climate Fund Authorization Act of 2019, introduced by Representative Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.). This bill would facilitate the provision of funds needed for developing countries to deal with a climate crisis that is not of their making.

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Friends of the Earth fights to protect our environment and create a healthy and just world. We speak truth to power and expose those who endanger people and the planet. Our campaigns work to hold politicians and corporations accountable, transform our economic systems, protect our forests and oceans, and revolutionize our food & agriculture systems.

Friends of the Earth contact Friends of the Earth, 1101 15th Street NW, 11th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, United States.

7 Oct 2019

Sustainable Building News 2019

Population Matters statement on State of Nature 2019

Population Matters director Robin Maynard says:

“The State of Nature report leaves us in no doubt that nature and the conservation community are fighting a losing battle against the UK’s ongoing assault on our wildlife. Good things are being done, but not enough. One reason this battle is being lost is only fleetingly referenced in the report – the most rapidly expanding population of any large nation in Europe (1).

Those references are telling: water abstraction, urbanisation and infrastructure development. These developments are the inevitable consequences of population growth. We all need land, we all need water, we all need infrastructure.

The report states that urbanisation accounted for a greater impact on species than any other habitat conversion and made clear one of the critical trade-offs: we can use less land if we choose to live in a Hong Kong style concrete forest of high rises and then see urban green spaces which offer vital refuges of biodiversity eradicated – or we can sprawl outwards, grubbing up land and habitat from our countryside. Either way, nature suffers.

While population growth is not the only factor driving increased housing demand, ending our population growth is essential if we are to ease that pressure. Meanwhile, our expanding population is clearly one driver of the agricultural intensification that the report identifies as another critical factor.

The 2016 State of Nature report described the UK as one of the most “nature depleted countries in the world”. Overall, things are now worse. The causes are multiple and complex and they demand solutions which are far-reaching and substantial across a multitude of areas.

If, however, we ignore the fact that the ONS projects our population will grow by more than 6 million people over the next 25 years, it’s hard to see how we can possibly expect the battle to protect our biodiversity to be won. If we’re to do so, the UK needs a progressive, evidence-based and strategic Sustainable Population Policy as a matter of urgency.”

State of Nature 2019 report https://nbn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/State-of-Nature-2019-UK-full-report.pdf

UK population growth. The UK population grew from to 52.1m to 66.6m between 1950 and 2018, and is projected to grow to 72.9 million by 2041. Source: Office for National Statistics https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/overviewoftheukpopulation/august2019.

The UK is currently expected to become the most populous nation in Europe in the second half of the century. Source: European Environment Bureau https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/total-population-outlook-from-unstat-3/assessment-1

Population Matters is campaigning for population issues to be addressed in the forthcoming review of the targets and action plan for the Convention on Biodiversity https://populationmatters.org/campaigns/population-and-convention-biodiversity

3 Jul 2018

Sustainable Building News 2018

UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development Report

Built environment organisations call for urgent action on issues such as consumption, innovation and infrastructure to prevent UK slipping behind other nations on poverty, equality and the environment.

A new report released today (3 July 2018) has highlighted the UK’s inadequate performance against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those for the built environment.

The report, Measuring up, from the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD), is the first comprehensive assessment of the UK’s performance against all 17 SDGs and highlights a significant danger that quality of life in the UK will worsen if action is not taken:

Sustainable Development Report News

5 Feb 2018

Population and Climate Change

Population and climate change conference

Population Matters will hold its annual conference in London on 3 March 2018.

Entitled Climate change and us: more feet, more heat? Its theme will be population growth and its impact on climate change. A panel of experts and campaigners will discuss the evidence, the problem and the solutions from a range of perspectives.

For too long, population has been ignored from discussions and plans to tackle climate change, to devastating effect. However, last year, analysis undertaken for a plan to reverse global warming – Drawdown – identified family planning and the education of girls as among the top 10 workable solutions available today. We are pleased to contribute to an initiative like Drawdown with a conference focusing specifically on the link between population growth and climate change. It is urgent.

image courtesy of Population Matters

Population needs to be at the core of discussions on how we are going to combat climate change, and part of the solutions.

In 2017, more than a third of 50 Nobel prize-winning scientists surveyed by the Times Higher Education at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings said that human overpopulation and environmental degradation are the two greatest threats facing humankind.

Waste and over-consumption, especially by wealthy nations, is also putting a huge strain on the environment.

Those in the architectural/construction/property sectors must keep re-evaluating what tangible steps we can make to use less energy and materials.

The event takes place on Saturday 3 March 2018, 2pm, at Conway Hall in central London.

Population and climate change conference

24 Apr 2017

Construction Carbon Reduction

Reduced carbon in infrastructure projects can also reduce costs

When you reduce carbon you can also reduce costs, but you need to consider it at an early stage. Mike Putnam, President & CEO of Skanska UK, is clear about what has to be done to reduce carbon in infrastructure projects.

“You can’t just tackle carbon when you’re part way through a project – because the die is already cast. What you need to do is start up-front when you’re almost got a blank sheet of paper, and say ‘What can we do to take carbon out?’”, he says in the latest episode of Construction Climate Talks.

Mike Putnam, President & CEO of Skanska UK:

Mike Putnam is also Chair of the Green Construction Board which developed the Infrastructure Carbon Review, which sets out a series of actions to achieve carbon reductions of 24 million metric tons per annum from the construction and operation of the UK’s infrastructure assets by 2050, yielding a potential net benefit of up to £1.46 billion per year.

“What we have been able to demonstrate is that by going at the low carbon, trying to take carbon out of construction – whether it’s in the capital phase or the operational phase – it has the added benefit of reducing cost as well.”

Mike Putnam says that it is also important to build a culture where everybody involved in the business and across the industry really understand what the green agenda is all about. “It’s only collaborating across the industry that will bring the whole industry up to a much higher level,” Mike Putnam says.

See Mike Putnam talking about taking carbon out, rewarding success and collaboration, in the 10th episode of Construction Climate Talks. The episode is also released on CCC YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The Construction Climate Talks series, produced by the Construction Climate Challenge initiative hosted by Volvo Construction Equipment, highlights some of the most important issues in climate sustainability today. See all previous episodes here: https://ift.tt/2s1LFKe

For further information please visit Construction Climate Challenge or contact [email protected]

The Construction Climate Challenge (CCC) is an initiative hosted by Volvo Construction Equipment to promote sustainability throughout the entire construction industry value chain and provide funding for environmental research. The Construction Climate Challenge is a part of the Volvo CE commitment to WWF’s Climate Savers Programme.

11 Jan 2017

Construction Climate Challenge

Construction Climate Challenge – Emission Reduction

Open source tool will help drive emission reduction

A new research project seeks to develop a tool to identify and reduce carbon in the construction supply chain. The project is a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh Business School and Costain Group and is funded by the Construction Climate Challenge (CCC) initiative hosted by Volvo Construction Equipment.

The Carbon Infrastructure Transformation Tool project (CITT) started from the need to solve two key problems facing the construction industry – the pressing need to reduce GHG emissions, and the highly fragmented nature of supply chains.

“In large infrastructure projects there are large amounts of emissions at stake. The supply chain is also very fragmented, with many different stakeholders. It’s important to ensure we have a consensus across the whole chain to reduce emissions,” says Dr Matthew Brander, Lecturer at University of Edinburgh Business School and Project Manager for CITT.

The research project seeks to develop and implement a tool that will help construction companies identify and reduce carbon. It will pinpoint opportunities to reduce carbon through innovation and supply chain engagement. It will also enhance the amount of communication and dialogue across the supply chain.

“The tool will be integrated into current pricing processes and will allow us to have carbon and cost together. It will put the data in the hands of the right people at the right time in contractors’ processes which will allow them to make decisions to significantly reduce carbon. It will also push carbon further back towards the start of the design processes,” says Damien Canning, Head of Technical Sustainability at Costain Group and Industry Specialist for Carbon Management for CITT.

The project is running for three years and the research will focus on carbon accounting methodologies, stakeholder engagement and social barriers to tool adoption, collaborative frameworks for efficient supply chain management, and decision analytics for project design under uncertainty. As the research is undertaken it will feed back into the development of the tool.

There will be close collaboration between the researchers and the construction industry and live tests have been set up with real infrastructure projects. These will take place throughout the project.

“The way to really drive this is to develop something with as much input from the industry as possible. This will help to raise standards significantly, and ensure consistency across the industry,” says Damien Canning.

After the project is finished the open source tool will be publicly available and free to use, to enhance the possibility for it to be used by as many as possible.

“The key is to get the industry to use this tool. Therefore it has to be accessible and easy to understand. You can develop the best tool in the world but if the stakeholders don’t want to use it, it’s not going to have much impact,” says Dr Matthew Brander.

CCC and research The Construction Climate Challenge (CCC) is an initiative hosted by Volvo Construction Equipment to promote sustainability throughout the entire construction industry and provide funding for environmental research. Through supporting and initiating research projects in relevant areas of construction, CCC acts as a bridge between the industry and sustainability research. During spring 2016 CCC launched a new call for major research projects.

Two proposals were selected to receive funding. The Construction Climate Challenge is part of the Volvo CE commitment to WWF’s Climate Savers Program. Volvo Construction Equipment is a Corporate Advisory Board member of the World Green Building Council.

For further information please visit https://ift.tt/2f0YZa1 or contact [email protected]

9 Jan 2017 Population Growth Drives Housing Crisis

The UK’s dramatic population growth projection by the Office for National Statistics – 11 million more people by 2035, equivalent to 22 more Manchesters, mostly in England, already Europe’s most overcrowded country, will have damaging consequences for everyone (except the construction industry), a new Population Matters report on housing reveals:

Sustainable Architecture – Population Growth Drives Housing Crisis

5 Jan 2017

Climate Change Global Warming Research

Climate change: Fresh doubt over global warming ‘pause’

A controversial study that found there has been no slowdown in global warming has been supported by new research.

Many researchers had accepted that the rate of global warming had slowed in the first 15 years of this century, reports the BBC today.

But new analysis in the journal Science Advances replicates findings that scientists have underestimated ocean temperatures over the past two decades.

With the revised data the apparent pause in temperature rises between 1998 and 2014 disappears.

The idea of a pause had gained support in recent years with even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reporting in 2013 that the global surface temperature “has shown a much smaller increasing linear trend over the past 15 years than over the past 30 to 60 years”.

But that consensus was brought into question by a number of studies, of which a report by the the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) published in Science last year was the most significant.

Researchers from Noaa suggested that the temperatures of the oceans were being consistently underestimated by the main global climate models. The authors showed that the ocean buoys used to measure sea temperatures tend to report slightly cooler temperatures than the older ship-based systems.

Climate Change Global Warming Research Report – BBC news link

Population Growth

Population growth increases damages to the environment and depletes natural resources. Therefore, human numbers should be reduced voluntarily to a sustainable level that enables an acceptable quality of life for all.

Population growth increases the number of wealthy carbon emitters and poorer climate change victims and hampers mitigation and adaptation efforts. In 2016, humanity used the sustainable resource output of 1.6 Earths.

Given that human activity already exceeds Earth’s capacity to support it, Population Matters argues that population stabilisation should be strived for without delay.

What can professionals in the AEC field do about this? Anyone involved in construction can help combat climate change by reducing energy and material usage but wihtout controlling population growth any impact will be limited. An overnight energy revolution might mean current population growth isn’t disastrous, but despite expanding alternative energ sources it doesn’t look likely at present.

Comments welcome at info(at)e-architect.com

20 Jun 2015

Climate Change

Earth ‘entering new extinction phase’

The new report – led by the universities of Stanford, Princeton and Berkeley – states that it is still possible to avoid a “dramatic decay of biodiversity” through intensive conservation, but that rapid action is needed.

Depressing news, but as architects we have a chance to make major impacts on preventing climate change. Can we better the insulation requirements asked for by new tougher Building Regulations? Did we check the plywood certificates to ensure the contractor sourced the material from sustainable forests? On refurbishments have we tried to re-use as much as possible rather than simply replace or build anew? Sometimes our little projects seem like drops in the ocean but what else can we do.

When I was at secondary school in the 1980s I read the Gaia book (by James Lovelock, published 1979) from cover to cover twice and realised as a teenager the number one problem was overpopulation (so much comes from it, deforestation to over consumption of materials and increased pollution) and architects can do little about that, or can we?

Home on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica – light touch in nature, using timber, looks sustainable, is it truly? photo courtesy of architects

This is an architecture site so I won’t expand on this too much but improved education and health systems appear to improve country stability and typically a levelled off birth rate. Over the years we have actively promoted groups such as Article 25 and see it as our responsibility to not only remind readers of the positive work by built environment charities (and architects of say a clinic in Sudan) in improving people’s lives through ecologically-aware building but in the resulting iterations of community cohesion, population stabilisation and reducing negative impact on our planet.

Handmade bricks in Uganda, locally sourced materials saves on transport, thus pollution: photo © Article 25

More positively it was relieving to hear the Pope recently linking humans to climate change, hopefully this can help activate and energise some global communities to work to save the planet. The encyclical, named “Laudato Si (Be Praised), On the Care of Our Common Home”, aims to inspire everyone – not just Roman Catholics – to protect the Earth, reports the BBC.

The 192-page letter, which is the highest level teaching document a pope can issue, lays much of the blame for global warming on human activities. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the document, saying climate change was a “moral issue requiring respectful dialogue with all parts of society”.

“The Earth has entered a new period of extinction, a study by three US universities has concluded, and humans could be among the first casualties.

The report said vertebrates were disappearing at a rate 114 times faster than normal.

The findings echo those in a report published by Duke University last year. One of the new study’s authors said: “We are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event”.”

Climate Change Report – BBC news link

2 Dec 2012

Global Warming – Sustainable Architecture

Carbon Emissions Too High to Stop Climate Change

With global climate talks underway in Doha a new report shows emissions continue to grow.

It is increasingly unlikely that global warming will be kept below an increase of 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels, a study suggests, reports the BBC.

Data shows that global CO2 emissions in 2012 hit 35.6bn tonnes, a 2.6% increase from 2011 and 58% above 1990 levels.

The researchers say that emissions are the largest contributor to future climate change and a strong indicator of potential future warming.

“We need a radical plan.”

The researchers’ paper says the average annual increases in global CO2 levels were 1.0% in the 1990s but 3.1% since 2000.

Recently, the World Meteorological Organization reported that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new record high in 2011.

Other potent greenhouse gases such as methane also recorded new highs, according to the WMO report.

Carbon Emissions News – external link to BBC report

photograph : Enrique Browne

So what can architects do to assist?

The RIBA Sustainability Hub includes sustainability information such as design strategies and case studies.

Sustainable design aims to reduce the adverse effect of human activities on our world, particularly climate change.

Our buildings and building operations are responsible for 45% of the carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) emissions in the UK. Architects are a large part of the problem of tackling climate change, and consequently the solution – sustainable architecture.

Long Life, Loose Fit, Low Energy

30 Oct 2012

Sustainable Architecture Videos

Films about the Built Environment and the Climate

e-architect featured a series of eight videos from Green.TV about creating sustainable cities,

sadly they deleted the links since we posted this!

Interview with Daniel Libeskind, Architect How do you involve the local community when developing your architecture projects?

Interview with Richard Rosan, President of Urban Land Institute Why is capturing land value not more widely used as a way to finance infrastructure investments?

Interview with Pablo Vaggione, Lead author of the UN-Habitat Guide for city leaders What is the ideal density for a city to be sustainable?

Interview with David Cadman, President ICLEI How are climate issues linked to urban planning and sustainability?

Four Seasons Seychelles: image from architects

Sustainable Architecture – external link

Sustainable Design : article by Trevor Tucker. 15 Sep 2009

Sustainable Architecture : News

Example of sustainable architecture:

Sustainable architects : Bill Dunster Architects / ZED Factory

Sustainable Building Design : article by Trevor Tucker. 18 Aug 2009

Sustainable Architecture : Brief informal discussion re some of the issues

Sustainable Architecture Archive

Sustainable Architecture : Lighthouse ‘Sust’ Programme

Sustainable Architecture Exhibition

Sustainable architects : Bennetts Associates

Sustainable Homes

Sustainable Housing : Slateford Green, Edinburgh – ‘car-free homes’

Sustainable house : Skye, Western Isles, Sctoland by rural design

Sustainable Architecture : Lotte Glob House

Sustainable Architecture : David Douglas Centre

Sustainable Architecture – Links

DTI Low Carbon Buildings Programme: www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk

Population Matters: https://ift.tt/37XNfPo – Population Growth Drives Housing Crisis

Greener Homes & Buildings: www.ghb.org.uk

Guidance on procuring higher recycled content in construction: www.wrap.org.uk

Forest Stewardship Council – FSC: www.fsc.org

BREEAM: www.breeam.org

Healthy Building Network: www.healthybuilding.net

Sustainable Build: www.sustainablebuild.co.uk

Comments / photos for the Sustainable Architecture page welcome

The post Sustainable Architecture: Climate Change appeared first on e-architect.

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runningwitches · 7 years

Text

Blood is Thicker Than Water (Young Justice x Reader)

Prompt: Can u pls do 21 where the reader is the joker's daughter or smth and hes super abusive to her and she finally escs and Batman has her join the young justice bc he knows she needs the support of other people at that hard time in her life but bc her past the team is super wary bc its around the time that kaldur thinks theres a traitor and so they want her to stay behind when they fight the injustice league but she has to go to finally let go of the fact that her father didnt love her or smth

21: “No way in hell am I going with you”

Word Count: 3281

A/N: This was a lot longer than I thought it would be, but I really like the way it turned out.

Warnings: Violence, Abuse, Mental Illness

You stared at the ground, not daring to look at the people standing in front of you. Batman had his hand on your shoulder, and you prayed that he was only telling them good things. You tried tuning out the conversation, the idea of living somewhere new giving you more anxiety than you thought.

Just last year, you were living with your father at his base of operations, you hadn’t heard from your mother in six months at the time. When people looked at you they figured you were normal, or as normal as you can get in Gotham at least, but what they didn’t know is that your father was the Joker, and you mother was Harley Quinn. Your mother was able to run away from the abuse of your father, but she wasn’t able to take you along. Or she didn’t even try. You still don’t know.

Either way, one year after your mother had left, you were able to find your escape, right before one of your father’s terror attempts. He kept most of his plans from you, but he allowed you the knowledge of the date and the location, hoping that you would join him on his journey. This was the first time that you were left by yourself, without any of his goons watching you, without your mother insisting you stay. And, this time you had more resources. You had some money and a backpack that you filled with necessities. Things like a change of clothes and the only stuffed animal you ever owned.

The stuffed animal that you held close to your chest as you cried yourself to sleep after your father’s worst nights. If he was successful it meant he killed people, and if he was unsuccessful it meant he came back to take his anger out on you or your mother. Sometimes both.

Standing here with that very backpack in front of these people that Batman told you would be your friends, you thought back to your first night of freedom, six months ago. That was the first time you met Batman too. Or at least truly met him. That was the night that the Joker attempted to bomb a diner. Your favorite diner. You didn’t know if he knew it was your favorite, but after you escaped the base, you ran there. You couldn’t let your father see you, but you knew you had to stop it. You knew you had to get Batman’s attention, so you did it the only way you knew how.

Putting yourself in the line of danger wasn’t something a normal person would do in an attempt to stop even more danger. Most people would call the police, but you couldn’t interact with the Gotham police force. They had a target on your head to match your father’s. So you threw yourself into the middle of a bar fight. More like an escalated bar fight. It started in the bar, but once the patrons were thrown out, it continued in the alley next to it. So you stood there, a 14 year old girl, next to this bar fight and you waited. Eventually Batman came. He arrested the people who took part in the fight, and then he turned to you.

“Are you oka- I know you from somewhere,” Batman had said, beginning to ask of your well being before recognizing your face. “Tonight at 11:00 my father plans to bomb the diner on the corner of 10th and B. I don’t know the details, but he’s expecting me to show up to help him. Obviously, I’m not willing to help, but if you could stop him that would be preferable. At least make sure no civilians get hurt,” you told him flat out. There was no use lying to Batman anyways, because the chances that he was going to arrest you as well were almost 100%.

“Ah, that’s why you seemed so familiar. You’re the Joker’s daughter. Why are you telling me this anyways, is it a trap?”

“I hate my father, please do not associate me with him. I’m telling you because I don’t want innocent people hurt. I’m telling you because if you stop his plans, I won’t be there for him to take his anger out on anymore. If you don’t believe me, that’s fine, but the blood of innocent people won’t be on my hands anymore, it’ll be on yours.” You knew you had a way with words, that you could convince him to go. And in convincing him, you were saving lives, but you were also escaping. Escaping from the life that you hated so much. Escaping after 14 years of hell.

“What’s your name?”

“I don’t like going by my real name, but when mother allowed me to go to school, they enrolled me as (Y/N),” you told him truthfully. “(Y/N) (Y/L/N). That is my preferred name.”

“Well, (Y/N) (Y/L/N), thank you for the tip,” he said, before heading off in the direction of the diner. The bomb never went off.

After that encounter, you knew that Batman was looking for you. He claimed he wanted to help you, but you could only believe that he was planning to imprison you alongside your father. Once you finally met him though, you found out that you were wrong. He did want to help you. He wanted to be able to put your training from your parents to good use, and you did too. So one week after your second meeting with Batman, you found yourself standing in front of a group of young heroes. Batman told you that they were going to be there for you, and that they would help you. And you were to help them. He wasn’t hiding your past from anyone, and if you were honest, you didn’t want him to. These people had the right to know that you were raised by a crazy clown and if they didn’t trust you because of it, well, that would be fine, it’s not like you wanted to work with the team anyways. You finally brought yourself back to the conversation Batman was having with the team.

“(Y/N) is as much a part of the team as the rest of you, and I expect her to be treated as such,” he told them, with a pointed look to each of them.

The one with the “S” on his shirt stepped forward angrily. “So you just expect us to trust the daughter of a super villain? You’re insane.”

Though most of the eyes in the room were trained on Superboy, you noticed two pairs travel to the girl called Artemis, who looked down, almost ashamed. She was clearly hiding something from the team. You looked to the boy, your eyes sad. You knew you would never be trusted here, but you wished that you could. You looked back to Batman and simply said, “I told you they wouldn’t want me here,” your voice unwavering.

He rested his hand on your shoulder again before speaking, “And I told you they wouldn’t have a choice. Superboy, you are not to speak of (Y/N) like that again. She is part of your team now. I understand that you may not trust her, but I do. In the time that I have been in contact with her, she has been a wonderful help to me and to my work, and now she is going to be of help to your team. I apologize if you don’t like it, but you don’t have a say.” The entirety of the team aside from Robin looked at him in shock. He had never spoken so fondly of anyone, not even Robin, but then again, the team wasn’t questioning Robin’s credibility or trustworthiness.

After staring Superboy down, he left through the zeta tube behind him. Robin, the only one that you had met prior to this encounter stepped forward to offer you a tour around the mountain, and to show you your room, but was interrupted.

“When was the last time you saw him?” one of the boys asked. Aqualad. You tilted your head in confusion, unsure as to who they were referring to. “Your father.”

“I haven’t seen the Joker in over 6 months,” you answered honestly, making sure to emphasize the fact that you did not perceive him as your father.

“And when was the last time you spoke to him?” Superboy asked accusingly.

“It’s been over 6 months,” you simply responded.

“What about your mother?” Artemis asked. Though she didn’t sound accusing, she sounded concerned.

“I believe it’s been about a year and a half.”

“Your mom left you with your crazy father? Why would she do that?” was the next question, which came from Kid Flash.

“My mother wasn’t exactly sane either,” you responded, getting a simple ‘oh’ of realization from the redhead. Robin sent him a glare before finally offering the tour.

Now, you stood in the main room of the cave, watching Kaldur and Robin spar. It had been a month since you joined the team, and yet the only two on the team that seemed to trust you were Artemis and Robin. Perhaps it was because you helped them when the cave was taken over, or maybe it was because the three of you were the only ones on the team who were aware of Artemis’s true family. Whatever it was, the rest of the team wasn’t having it. They wouldn’t practice with you, they wouldn’t speak to you. It was as if you didn’t exist in their eyes, their mistrust often clouding their better judgment.

As you stood there listening to Wally complain about Captain Marvel’s food consumption the computer spoke up, “Recognized, Batman 02.”

“Computer, national news,” Batman commanded.

As the screen pulled up the news and you saw the giant plants attacking the city, you couldn’t help but mutter under your breath, “Pamela.” Robin recognized the name and placed his hand on the small of your back in an attempt to comfort you, confirming your suspicions with a small nod.

“Should we get out there?” he asked.

“No,” Batman responded, “The League will soon have the situation under control, that’s not why I’m here. According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus Blockbuster Formula to Kobra.”

“Who combined it with Bane’s venom to create Kobra Venom,” Wally continued.

“Which The Brain used to create his animal army.”

“And upgrade Wolf.”

“The Brain also used inhibitor collars, like the ones at Belle Reve Penitentiary.”

“Batman, is it possible that plant thing is on Kobra Venom too?”

“I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis, the vine cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant,” Batman confirmed.

“These cannot be coincidences,” Kaldur stated.

You continued, “Unrelated criminals are cooperating with one another worldwide.” As you spoke, Robin removed his hand from your back and began to type.

“Exactly,” Batman confirmed, yet again. “It’s now clear our enemies have formed some kind of, secret society of super villains. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning.”

“You got that right,” Robin said, pulling up more images on the computer. “Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, Taipei-” and then the computers cut off.

Wally got upset before Robin told him that whoever it was was taking over all of the satellites, and the team waited to see what was to happen on the screen.

The Joker’s face appeared on the screen and you began to feel nauseous. You felt the team’s eyes on the back of your head, and Robin returned his hand to your back, in another attempt to comfort you. You watched the screen with wide eyes, knowing that the majority of your team was questioning your allegiances. You shuddered when you heard your father’s high pitched laugh. Robin once again let go of you and began typing again, this time to obtain the identities of the villains that appeared on-screen. “Count Vertigo, The Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra Humanite, Atomic Skull, Black Adam, Wotan, seven heavy hitters. Probably behind everything and everyone we’ve faced.”

As they began to discuss the secret society, you began to think of way that the ‘Injustice League’ could be stopped. When Batman said he had a different job for your team you were unsure of whether you should be excited that he trusted you or wary due to the people you’d be facing. As Robin pulled up a holomap and Zatara placed the location of the villains, your mind began to reel.

“Coordinates locked in,” Robin confirmed, “The Louisiana Bayou.”

“And what will she do?” Kaldur asked. You knew the question was coming the second you saw the Joker’s face on the screen, yet you cringed at the sound of it anyways.

“Come with us, obviously,” Robin informed the leader, “She’s just as much a part of this team as you are.” You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding and looked at Robin.

“She’s too close to this case!” Superboy shouted, causing you to flinch. The first fourteen years of your life trained you that when yelling started, violence followed, so the feeling of Robin’s hand returning to the small of your back became a comfort, reminding you where you were and that you were safe, especially in this situation.

“Hardly!” Artemis yelled right back, “Just because you don’t trust her doesn’t make her any less a part of this team. Her knowledge of the Joker is precisely what we need to slip past his defenses unnoticed.”

Wally looked at Artemis and then at you and Robin before sighing, “They’re right. We need her.” You gave him a small smile to show your thanks before Kaldur and Superboy conceded, heading to change and to the bioship.

M’gann began to talk about feeling sick, and then the bioship lost control and landed in the murky waters of the bayou. As water flooded the ship, you began to panic. You never were the strongest swimmer. When Robin looked at you, he noticed your panic as well, and made sure you got out safely, pulling you with him as he swam to the surface. When you all reached the top, you were caught by Count Vertigo. He used his powers to subdue the team, and Superboy had a run-in with Black Adam. Kaldur commanded Robin and Miss Martian to disappear, in order to fulfil the mission.

I’m going with them, you thought to the rest of the team, before disappearing into the shadows with Robin, They don’t even know I’m part of the team yet.

You ran alongside Robin towards the building. M’gann told us that she lost contact with the rest of the team, but Robin made sure she knew we had to finish the job first.

A voice from behind you spoke up, “Well, hello,” and then the three of you were wrapped with giant plants as well. The other two began to struggle, but you knew Pamela too well. You simply held still and stared her down. “Hey Aunt Pam!” you exclaimed, causing shock to appear in not only her’s but also Ultra Humanite’s eyes. In her shocked state, she dropped the three of you and you commanded them to run over your brain link. Humanite followed Miss Martian while Poison Ivy turned away from you to watch Robin run away.

“Sorry Boy Wonder, I’m putting an end to your little reconnaissance mission.”

You quickly climbed a tree, and followed in Robin’s direction, hoping the three of you would meet up eventually. He stopped, and you landed on the ground directly beside him when you heard M’gann’s voice in your head again. Robin, she’s made contact. Of course she still decided to ignore your existence, but at least she kept you on the link this time.

Artemis? Robin asked.

No, you thought, and Miss M confirmed soon after, the bioship flying overhead and stopping the villains that held the rest of your team.

As the battle raged on below, you, Robin, and Miss M made your way to the top of the building, and you helped him place explosives around the entirety of the plant sticking out of the roof. After the plants exploded, the Joker and Atomic Skull came out of the building.

You followed Robin down the building, and fought by his side the whole time. When the Joker came out of the forest to see not only the Boy Wonder, but also his daughter, he acted unfazed though the surprise was clear in his eyes. You knew he thought you planned to help him, so when he began to charge at Robin with his knives and you jumped between them his eyes went wide and he stopped.

“My little Jester, how wonderful it is to see you again,” he said before letting out a crazed laugh. “What’s the matter? Didn’t you miss your daddy?”

“You. Are. Not. My. Father,” you told him through grit teeth.

“Oh, c’mon my child. Come fight alongside me, and then we can head home. I know how much you probably miss home.”

“No way in hell am I going with you.”

“But my little Jester…” He continued to ramble which kept him distracted. Rob, I’ve got this covered. Go help the rest of the team.

(Y/N), I’m not going to leave you with him in that state. The argument got cut off before you could really discuss because the Justice League began to descend from the sky.

As the majority of the Injustice League began to surrender, the Joker started to ramble again. Before you knew it he was waggling his fingers and spores on the plants began to burst.

“Joker Venom spores! Don’t breathe,” you commanded, flipping over your father’s head, landing, and swiftly kicking him in the side of the head, causing him to fall unconscious. “And yeah, I learned that from mom,” you mentioned to his unconscious body.

Before the venom could spread, Dr. Fate began to pull it out of the air. The Justice League began to arrest the villains as the team waited and hoped that Dr. Fate would free Kaldur. Finally, Kaldur was free, and the team began to celebrate, but you stayed seated on the ground beneath you. The team still did not trust you, and that was fine, in the end, you did as Batman said you would. You helped them.

Robin came and sat down next to you, placing an arm around your shoulder this time. You leaned into him as he spoke. “Thank you, (Y/N). We wouldn’t have been able to do it today without you.”

Next Artemis came over and thanked you, along with Wally and M’gann. Finally, Kaldur and Conner came up.

“I believe I owe you an apology,” Kaldur stated.

“We both do,” Conner continued. “We’re sorry we let your family make us think you were going to betray us. I mean, the whole blood is thicker than water thing kinda freaked us out a bit I guess.”

You looked at him quizzically for a moment. “But, blood is thicker than water…” you stated. The whole team turned to you wide eyed. “No, no, I mean the full quote. ‘The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb’? The blood shed in battle bonds soldiers as friends more than genetics ever will?”

“Huh,” Rob began, “I guess I’ve had the saying wrong my whole life.”

“It appears we all did,” Kaldur added as the team laughed, and for once you felt welcome. For once you felt at home.

A/N: Okay I just wanted to put another author’s note because I like to think that in season 2 when Kaldur says ‘blood is thicker than seawater’ he means it the proper way, and Nightwing knows this but everyone else is just thinking of it the backwards way. In reality Kaldur is telling them of his true allegiance but nobody realizes. Idk just a little hc I had and I thought I’d share.

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happygoluckynerd · 8 years

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Sitcoms ruined me for friendship

Have you seen this and it’s many variations?

Well, basically, 90s and 2000s sitcoms about groups of 20 somethings living in the city have ruined me for friendships. Where’s my group 4 to 6 buddies who live close enough and share enough in common with me to meet up at a booth in a bar or a corner in a coffee shop every week to talk about our lives? Where are the friends who live close enough to come over whenever and just shoot the shit?

Don’t get me wrong, I have great friends. The best have come college and from activities I've participated in and organized. And I've had periods of my life where my friend group resembled the friend group in sitcoms: relaxed, close knit, with lots of unstructured time filled with meaningful conversations as well as goofing off. Some of these friendships have lived on. But people move away to differing cities and even countries after college, they get busy and move on from the basket weaving group to the mountain climbing group. I get busy too. My last upheaval in social life was after I decided to get more serious about my career and had to quit my most all-consuming hobby and right along with it went my social life.

Using Meetup.com has given me hope that I could meet such a circle of friends like the ones I grew up seeing on TV and thus acquire my ideal adult social life. No more loneliness, I thought. Once I find the right group. But the thing is that these groups are made for a specific activity, which can be great for meeting new people, but there is often not enough unstructured time to get to KNOW people. And even when I do get to know some of the people and start getting closer to them, as soon as I lose interest in the particular activity that the group was made for, I often found that I no longer had anything in common with the people I had made friends with. Or even if I did and maintained the friendships individually, it would be almost impossible to get everyone I liked to agree to the same activity, let alone to get in one room at the same time.

One thing we tend to overlook is that...now don't kill me for saying this...but..I am realizing that

SITCOM FRIENDS SUCK

They really do.

I want to write a more elaborately researched article about this. But it is true. I can make an argument for basically most of the friends in shows like How I Met Your Mother, Friends, and even the L Word. Sure we all had our favorite characters but really, if you really think about it...just ask yourself the next time you're watching one of those episodes where Lilly interferes with Ted's life by BREAKING HIM UP FROM HIS GIRLFRIENDS THAT SHE DOESN'T LIKE in HIMYM...ask yourself, “would I like a friend like that?” And with the L Word, it's so easy to rip on Jenny...yeeah she does suck. But honestly she's pretty sane compared to mostly everyone there. Example: Dana spends much of her time on the show being upset that she is closeted and can't get a girlfriend. But when she finds a woman that is crazy about her and gets engaged to her, she just cheats on her and lies about it UNTIL AFTER THEY PLAN THEIRE WHOLE WEDDING. Really, what kinda shitty human being does that? And don’t get me started on Girls...but I guess with that one everyone knows they’re all supposed to be insufferable, right? Now I know that this is the part where many people would say

“Hey, that’s the point in ALL of the shows: That everyone’s flawed and FRIENDSHIP prevails!” Okay that’s all well and heartwarming until you realize that as a group they are kinda horrible too. They are freaking mean to each other in almost every one of those shows. They are petty, unforgiving, and competitive to the max. The friends tend to be the harshest critics of each other when something embarrassing happens to them. See: Episode of HIMYM where Robin’s boyfriend, a therapist, talks about how messed up they are. I know it was played for laughs but...much of what the character said has a point. The truth is that the friends in sitcoms are the kinds of friends that our parents would tell us “They’re not your real friends if they treat you like that, honey.” I will write more about this with more cited examples but I wanted to get the idea out there for now. Criticisms/counters/yelling at me about how I could possibly lump in [your favorite character/show] are welcome.

#himym #friends #thelword #girls

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0xslash-blog · 7 years

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The Elephant in the Brain (review)

The book was a very interesting read.

The art scene, for example, isn’t just about “appreciating beauty”; it also functions as an excuse to affiliate with impressive people and as a sexual display (a way to hobnob and get laid). Education isn’t just about learning; it’s largely about getting graded, ranked, and credentialed, stamped for the approval of employers. Religion isn’t just about private belief in God or the afterlife, but about conspicuous public professions of belief that help bind groups together. In each of these areas, our hidden agendas explain a surprising amount of our behavior—often a majority. When push comes to shove, we often make choices that prioritize our hidden agendas over the official ones.

The thesis of the book is the underlying motives behind everything a person does is to increase prestige and social status ― and our conscious brains invent false pro-social explanations that we tell others. More strongly, we consciously believe these false explanations and don't understand the motives behind our actions as well as we think. The hidden motives trying to maximize prestige in our respective social circles is "the elephant in the brain".

Here are some intriguing extracts with some commentary:

On why self-deception is sane from a game theory standpoint:

Civilization is a Mixed-Motive Game

A classic example is the game of chicken, typically played by two teenagers in their cars. The players race toward each other on a collision course, and the player who swerves first loses the game.18 Traditionally it’s a game of bravado. But if you really want to win, here’s what Schelling advises. When you’re lined up facing your opponent, revving your engine, remove the steering wheel from your car and wave it at your opponent. This way, he’ll know that you’re locked in, dead set, hell-bent—irrevocably committed to driving straight through, no matter what. And at this point, unless he wants to die, your opponent will have to swerve first, and you’ll be the winner.

The reason this is counterintuitive is because it’s not typically a good idea to limit our own options. But Schelling documented how the perverse incentives of mixed-motive games lead to option-limiting and other actions that seem irrational, but are actually strategic.

Your Conscious Brain is a Press Secretary that explains the actions of the President, i.e., the hidden motives:

When we capitalize “Press Secretary,” we’re referring to the brain module responsible for explaining our actions, typically to third parties.

In one classic study, researchers sent subjects home with boxes of three “different” laundry detergents, and asked them to evaluate which worked best on delicate clothes.16 All three detergents were identical, though the subjects had no idea. Crucially, however, the three boxes were different. One was a plain yellow, another blue, and the third was blue with “splashes of yellow.”

In their evaluations, subjects expressed concerns about the first two detergents and showed a distinct preference for the third. They said that the detergent in the yellow box was “too strong” and that it ruined their clothes. The detergent in the blue box, meanwhile, left their clothes looking dirty. The detergent in the third box (blue with yellow splashes), however, had a “fine” and “wonderful” effect on their delicate clothes.Here again, as in the split-brain experiments, we (third parties with privileged information) know what’s really going on. The subjects simply preferred the blue-and-yellow box.

But because they were asked to evaluate the detergents, and because they thought the detergents were actually different, their Press Secretaries were tricked into making up counterfeit explanations.

And a whole series of examples in Part II of hidden reasons for everyday behavior.

Laughter is a Play Signal:

Gregory Bateson, a British anthropologist, figured it out during a trip to the zoo. He saw two monkeys engaged with each other in what looked like combat, but clearly wasn’t real. They were, in other words, merely play fighting. And what Bateson realized was that, in order to play fight, the monkeys needed some way to communicate their playful intentions—some way to convey the message, “We’re just playing.” Without one or more of these “play signals,” one monkey might misconstrue the other’s intentions, and their playful sparring could easily escalate into a real fight.

Here, for example, is a joke that flirts with, but doesn’t actually consummate, a norm violation:

MARY: What do you call a black man flying a plane? JOHN: Uh … I don’t know… . MARY: A pilot. What did you think, you racist?!

The humor here plays off the norm against racism. After Mary’s setup, John starts to squirm uncomfortably, afraid his friend is about to tell an offensive joke. But when Mary delivers the punchline, it’s sweet, safe relief. She wasn’t telling a racist joke after all. She was just playing! And a hearty chuckle ensues.

This joke uses the norm against racism only to provide the sense of danger, and achieves safety (and laughter) by not violating it. In this way, the joke ultimately reinforces the norm. But other jokes don’t pull back from the norm violation, and must achieve safety by other means, which often subverts the norms that they’re playing with.

We speak to gain prestige:

In case it’s not clear by now, this chapter helps explain Kevin and Robin’s “hidden” motives for writing and publishing this book. To put it baldly, we want to impress you; we’re seeking prestige. We hope the many things we’ve said so far testify to the size and quality of our “backpacks.”

We consume to signal social status:

When you think about people two or three rungs above you on the social ladder, especially the nouveau riche, it’s easy to question the utility of their ostentatious purchases. Does anyone really need a 10,000-square-foot house, a $30,000 Patek Philippe watch, or a $500,000 Porsche Carrera GT? Of course not, but the same logic applies to much of your own “luxurious” lifestyle—it’s just harder for you to see.

Consider taking the perspective of a mother of six from the slums of Kolkata. To her, your spending habits are just as flashy and grotesque as those of a Saudi prince are to you. Do you really need to spend $20(!!) at Olive Garden to have a team of chefs, servers, bussers, and dishwashers cater to your every whim? Twenty dollars may be more than the family in Kolkata spends on food in an entire week. Of course, it doesn’t feel, to you, like conspicuous consumption. But when a friend invites you out to dinner, it’s nice being able to say yes. (If you had to decline because you couldn’t afford to eat out, you might feel a twinge of shame.) And at the end of the meal, when you leave two uneaten breadsticks on the table, it doesn’t feel at all like conspicuous waste. You’re just thinking, “Why bother?” In fact, you might feel silly asking the waiter to pack them up for you, those two measly pieces of bread.

Advertising to Non-Buyers to create Common Knowledge:

One reason to target non-buyers is to create envy. As Miller argues, this is the case for many luxury products. “Most BMW ads,” he says, “are not really aimed so much at potential BMW buyers as they are at potential BMW coveters.”33 When BMW advertises during popular TV shows or in mass-circulation magazines, only a small fraction of the audience can actually afford a BMW. But the goal is to reinforce for non-buyers the idea that BMW is a luxury brand. To accomplish all this, BMW needs to advertise in media whose audience includes both rich and poor alike, so that the rich can see that the poor are being trained to appreciate BMW as a status symbol.

Naturally this feels manipulative, and it is. But the same tactics can be used for more honorable purposes as well. The U.S. Marine Corps, for example, advertises itself as a place to build strength and character. In doing so, it’s not advertising only to potential recruits; it’s also reminding civilians that the people who serve in the Marines have strength and character. This helps to ensure that when soldiers come home, they’ll be respected by their communities, offered jobs by employers, and so forth.

Art as a display of Fitness:

The argument we’re making in this chapter is simply that “showing off” is one of the important motives we have for making art, and that many details of our artistic instincts have been shaped substantially by this motive. Not only do artists want to show off, but consumers simultaneously use art as a means to judge the artist. That’s one of the big reasons people appreciate art, and we can’t understand the full range of phenomena unless we’re willing to look at art as a fitness display.

This way of approaching art—of looking beyond the object’s intrinsic properties in order to evaluate the effort and skill of the artist—is endemic to our experience of art. In everything that we treat as a work of “art,” we care about more than the perceptual experience it affords. In particular, we care about how it was constructed and what its construction says about the virtuosity of the artist.

Education as Domestication:

In light of this, consider how an industrial-era school system prepares us for the modern workplace. Children are expected to sit still for hours upon hours; to control their impulses; to focus on boring, repetitive tasks; to move from place to place when a bell rings; and even to ask permission before going to the bathroom (think about that for a second). Teachers systematically reward children for being docile and punish them for “acting out,” that is, for acting as their own masters. In fact, teachers reward discipline independent of its influence on learning, and in ways that tamp down on student creativity.29 Children are also trained to accept being measured, graded, and ranked, often in front of others. This enterprise, which typically lasts well over a decade, serves as a systematic exercise in human domestication.

In this particular instance, I think modern educational institutions are a sub-optimal equilibrium the world has slipped into, rather than domestication. But the above gives reasons why employers prefer college graduates.

Medicine as Conspicuous Caring:

We asked readers to consider the case of a toddler who stumbles and scrapes his knee, then runs over to his mother for a kiss. The kiss has no therapeutic value, and yet both parties appreciate the ritual. The toddler finds comfort in knowing his mom is there to help him, especially if something more serious were to happen, and the mother is happy to deepen her relationship with her son by showing that she’s worthy of his trust.

The thesis we will now explore in this chapter is that a similar ritual lurks within our modern medical behaviors, even if it’s obscured by all the genuine healing that takes place. In this ritual, the patient takes the role of the toddler, grateful for the demonstration of support. Meanwhile, the role of the mother is played not just by doctors, but everyone who helps along the way: the spouse or parent who drives the patient to the hospital, the friend who helps look after the kids, the coworkers who cover for the patient at work, and—crucially—the people and institutions who sponsor the patient’s health insurance in the first place. These sponsors include spouses, parents, employers, and national governments. Each party is hoping to earn a bit of loyalty from the patient in exchange for helping to provide care. In other words, medicine is, in part, an elaborate adult version of “kiss the boo-boo.”

Like the conspicuous behaviors we’ve seen in other chapters, we’re going to call this the conspicuous caring hypothesis.

This chapter was especially hard to digest. While this explains the heroic end-of-life care that families subject their loved ones to, I felt the chapter overstates the conspicuous caring hypothesis.

Status Climbing Gone Astray (explaining celibacy vows):

Individual brains are built to go “up” in pursuit of higher and higher social status (or any other measure of reward). So we scramble our way toward the top of whatever hill or mountain we happen to find in our local vicinity. Sometimes, we consider going down to find a better route up, or wandering randomly in hope of finding an even higher peak off in the distance. But mostly we just climb skyward as if on autopilot. And in most landscapes, these instincts serve us very well. But if we happen to find ourselves in a nonstandard landscape, one that our brains weren’t designed for, the same instincts can lead us to bad outcomes.

To continue the analogy, we might model the landscape of a religious community as a volcano—a cone-shaped mountain with a perilous crater at the top. Every day, as a worshipper, you seek to climb higher, which often (counterintuitively) requires you to make sacrifices. Each sacrifice earns you more trust and respect from your peers, taking you further up the slope. It may get steeper and the air more rarefied. With each step, you run the risk of slipping back down or getting clawed down by rivals. But you steel yourself to press onward. You make ever larger sacrifices, which continue to work out in your favor—until one day, without realizing it, you push yourself too far. Your brain, expecting a simple mountain, took a step that felt like “up.” But in reality, the mountain was a volcano, and your final step sent you tumbling over the edge and into the crater.

It’s important to note that these hill-climbing accidents aren’t at all unique to religious landscapes. In dietary landscapes, we seek tasty fats and sugars, which were almost always “up” (in health terms) for our ancestors—until one day we’re stricken with diabetes or a heart attack. In military landscapes, we learn to show bravery, earning ever more respect from our comrades—right up until we take a bullet. Drug addicts seek ever-more-pleasurable highs until they overdose. And in literal mountaineering, risk-taking explorers might search for higher and higher peaks to climb, each summit bringing more glory—until one day their reach exceeds their grasp and they plummet to an untimely death.

In all of these cases, instincts that are adaptive in one context can lead us fatefully astray in another. But we shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that the instincts are necessarily maladaptive, or that the people acting on them are hopelessly foolish or deluded. They’re just chasing their highs, same as the rest of us.

This kind of explains why young males decide to pursue math PhDs despite the atrocious sex ratio. Ultimately all creative work is like a sexual display ― done to gain prestige and status among fellow humans. Hill climbing errors happen when they don't directly result in reproductive success.

Politics as a display of Loyalty:

At the conclusion of the conference, a tribute to Comrade Stalin was called for. Of course, everyone stood up, and the small hall echoed with stormy applause. For three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, the applause continued. It was becoming insufferably silly even to those who really adored Stalin. However, who would dare be the first to stop? So the applause went on—six, seven, eight minutes! They couldn’t stop now till they collapsed with heart attacks! Finally, after eleven minutes, the director of the paper factory assumed a businesslike expression and sat down in his seat. And, oh, a miracle took place! To a man, everyone else stopped dead and sat down. They had been saved!

That, however, was how the [secret police] discovered who the independent people were. And that was how they went about eliminating them. That same night the factory director was arrested. They easily pasted ten years [in a labor camp] on him.

― The Gulag Archipelago

Nevertheless, our hypothesis is that the political behavior of ordinary, individual citizens is often better explained as an attempt to signal loyalty to “our side” (whatever side that happens to be in a particular situation), rather than as a good-faith attempt to improve outcomes. In addition to the Do-Right’s motives, then, we also harbor the motives of the apparatchik: wanting to appear loyal to the groups around us. This is the key to making sense of our political behavior. It’s not just an attempt to influence outcomes; it’s also, in many ways, a performance.

As long as we adopt the “right” beliefs—those of our main coalitions—we get full credit for loyalty. We don’t need to be well informed because the truth isn’t particularly relevant to our expressive agendas. The main actions we take based on our political beliefs are preaching and voting, neither of which has practical consequences for our lives (only social consequences).

#elephant in the brain robin hanson kevin simler

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