#because nobody is special and we are all reactive organisms

[ask-spider-man-61610]

The Infiltration: Part One of Three

To say that two shapeshifters stood in the basement laboratory of a government building wouldn't be quite accurate. One shapeshifter stood in the basement laboratory. The other could more honestly be described as meticulously sculpted into shape. The particles that made up his body were arranged into the shape of a standing man, held in place by static cling, but that wasn't really standing. It was a rough approximation of standing, just like everything about Flint Marko was a rough approximation of a human being. He'd long since gotten used to the fact, but that didn't make it any less unpleasant.

The other shapeshifter, Reed Richards, leaned against a table that was great for projecting holograms but terrible for holding papers or drinks. Fancy and impractical equipment like this was one of the Cape Code Authority's most well-known features.

A third man stood in this laboratory too, off to one side. He was, in a way, the exact opposite of a shapeshifter. More on him later.

"I've taken some time to look into your request," Richards said as he tapped a few icons on the tabletop. "Here's the basics of my thoughts so far. A shell to house your nervous system and respond to electrical signals."

There was a sound like sand sliding down a dune before Flint began to speak. It had taken him a long time to relearn how to talk after becoming the Sandman; even now, it took effort to hold the shape of those granular vocal cords as he spoke in a deep and raspy voice. "Yeah. Y'said that last time, Doc. What's changed?"

Richards, in response, pinched an image on the tabletop and widened it out, his fingers stretching like rubber bands to expand the picture further. He raised his arm--he seemed to ignore his joints, the entire limb bending like a garden hose--and flicked one finger up, and a hologram rose out of the table's display to cast a soft white glow over the room. The hologram looked like eggshells glued to an Erector set, arranged into the shape of a bipedal form that lay on the table as if it were a stretcher. "What's changed is that I've done some research into actually making that shell. Take a look, I've drafted up a basic schematic for what it'd look like."

"And you decided it'd look like a Phantom?"

Richards snorted, but ignored the question. "The outermost shell is solid-light holography," he continued, making a vague swiping gesture through the air above the image. The eggshell faded out, revealing the bare animatronic beneath, which (judging by the sculpted face made of sand) Flint found even less impressive. Frowning, Richards looked down at the hologram again and added, "We could, given some finagling, calibrate it to resemble an actual human. But generating these 3D models is a pain, so I didn't bother."

Perhaps a more critical mind would have asked why, if 3D models were such a pain, they bothered to use holograms at all instead of pen and paper. But Flint's mind had never been an especially critical one; he was in no way stupid, but for all his life had tended to take things as they came. Instead he asked, "Is that why it looks like a Phantom? 'Cuz you're just recycling a picture you already had?"

"Not letting that go, eh?" Richards replied, the ghost of a smirk on his face as he glanced up at the Sandman again. He waved his hand again, and the computer misinterpreted his gesture and deactivated the projection of the suit. Rolling his eyes, Richards reactivated the hologram and said, "No. Well, partially. It looks like a Phantom because that technology is what a lot of my idea is based on. You see, what you're asking for is very similar to how the technology works anyway--an artificial support structure for a unique nervous system. The only difference is that your nervous system is two gallons of granulated silica, whereas the Phantoms are currently working with--"

And here he stopped, falling silent and stoic. His eyes, suddenly devoid of their smiling crow's feet, glanced Flint's way before his disgusting elastic fingers returned to typing on the touchscreen between them. The pile of sand, insomuch as it could, looked confused.

"What?" he said, in a voice like a seashell crushed underfoot on a beach. "What're the Phantoms workin' with? I thought they were just robots."

This was a common misconception, and Richards, like most of the Cape Code Authority, had a vested interest in upholding it. "Phantoms" were the colloquial name for Perpetual Holographic Avatar/Nano-Tech Offensive Monsters. Bipedal, autonomous drones with light weaponry, they were the foot soldiers of the CCA, the beat cops, the cavalry when an agent wanted reinforcement. They had been in development since the War of the Worlds had brought the Chitauri and all their technology to Earth six years ago, and some of the core technology of the drones was better kept unknown. What Richards had said threatened to jeopardise that secrecy.

The third man in the room chose then to speak. Stepping forward, his black cloak obscuring the entirety of his six-foot-plus form, he spoke with a voice that was digitally altered to be an octave deeper. "They are robots," he said, his white face mask moving like genuine flesh. "Their processors have a unique method of operation, though. They have some of the most sophisticated A.I. in the world, and their microprocessors are similar enough to a human's that it won't require too much tinkering to render it compatible with your...situation."

This was Scrier--or rather, a Scrier; one of many--and he was a champion liar. Nobody quite knew when he had joined the CCA or what level he occupied, but the executives of the organization seemed to treat him as a special case. He never answered distress calls, except to break up protests and strikes. He had no patrol routes, no assigned partners, and the only training courses he attended were the ones he taught--the ones about corporate rights and the agency's responsibility to them. Agents weren't allowed to try and investigate Scrier's identity. For all they knew, he was an undercover boss trying to hear his subordinates' opinions on him.

This was true, but it was a little more specific than that.

"Yes!" Richards said, gesturing towards the man gratefully. "Thank you, Scrier. I didn't know how exactly to put that. Yes, Phantoms run on a very human-like system. In theory, adapting it to suit your nervous system should be far easier than trying to create something out of whole cloth."

"I thought you were like a super genius," Flint said, sounding a bit annoyed. "You've invented flying cars and indestructible fabrics that let you go to space. You have yer own interdimensional portal. Why is this taking so much thought? Why does this need to be made out of other stuff and spit and prayers?"

Richards gave him a blank glare for a few seconds before sighing. "Okay," he said, leaning on the table. "First of all, I am a genius. I'm one of the smartest people to ever live, but that doesn't mean I know everything. I have to research and experiment. Any innovation, even one from me, takes time." He waved his hand again and the hologram vanished. "Second of all, remember: I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart."

"You're doing this because that was my condition!" Flint shot back, and the pile of sand swelled slightly and grew almost half a foot. He raised his arms; granules fell from the sculptures and scattered across the floor. "That's what I said when I joined this stupid super-cop thing! I hate being the Sandman, Doc! You guys offered to give me this--this job of disrupting protests and taking down unregistered super-guys because your bosses told me you could make me...not."

He glanced down at his hands. And indeed hands they were; years of practice had let him sculpt the sand at the end of his arms into an incredibly realistic form, with perfectly jointed fingers. You could almost see what must have once been his fingerprints. But as he looked at them a small stream of sand fell from them to the ground.

"I'm not expectin' you to make me human again," he said. "But just...something that'll make me feel more human. Something that feels like a body." His features hardened again, sand dunes into sandstone. "If you're just half-assing that--if you're just giving me something that-that makes people treat me like a Phantom and that'll break in like a week--"

And here he stopped. There was more than just a salary that kept agents of the Cape Code Authority in line. You had a lot of wiggle room as a superhero registered under them: you could slack off on the job, you could issue arrests for what you were pretty sure was a crime, you could stop and frisk anyone you liked, you could be sure that the beatings you gave to unarmed suspects were graciously forgiven by your superiors. But one thing you couldn't do was leave. Quitting the CCA was a surefire way to bring the coworkers you had once trusted down on your head; no longer registered, you had no more immunity than a child experimenting with the most basic powers did. Nobody wanted to find themselves imprisoned in Complex 42--stranded inescapably in the Negative Zone, tortured by armed guards and experimented on to replicate your powers, only protected from the hostile, annihilating environment outside the prison by a few wafer-thin force fields. But that was exactly where Flint's line of thinking threatened to take him.

"...Forget it," he mumbled, defeated, and as he slumped down slightly his face and body lost much of its detail.

Richards stared across the table with an uncomfortable air. Glancing down at the table, he tapped a few keys on it and the hologram vanished. With one hand he pushed his glasses up, and then his arm stretched the five feet across the table and patted Flint's semblance of a shoulder.

"Look," he said. "I can't make any promises. You're...unprecedented, Marko. The only shapeshifter of your kind. I'm doing the best I can to help you. But if I can use technology we already have to do it, then I'm going to. You're not my only job in the CCA. But I'm working on it." He took his hand back, and then needed a second to brush off the sand that had come with it. "...It's getting late. We ought to call it a day, I need to head home."

"Have to convince Susan not to walk out on you again?" Scrier suggested, already heading for the door.

Reed just dragged his hand down his face, his features stretching in his grip, and didn't answer. His eyes were bagged and his posture tired. Instead he began to trudge towards the door, each leg bending like it was made of plasticine, and followed by an animate pile of sand.

The light of streetlights and storefront signs shone through the windows as the three of them stepped out of the laboratory. About ten feet away, a custodian looked up from the floor he was mopping and gave the trio a quizzical expression, but the only one who paid him any mind was Scrier, whose expression was hard to parse through the prosthetic mask. Richards and Flint just began to head the opposite direction down the hall.

"Hey! Scrier! Don't you have some skulking to do somewhere else?!" Flint called back.

As the door to the lab swung closed, the janitor adjusted his grip on the mop and looked back down at his work. Scrier, after a second more of staring, turned away and began to saunter off.

It was a long hallway. They kept walking for a good long while before they turned and were out of sight. And for all that time the janitor continued to mop and silently sweated, waiting for them to notice that the security cameras weren't moving like they usually did. Even when the three Cape Code Authority agents were gone, the custodian continued to work. He worked until the vibrations of their footsteps through the floor had faded into the background tremors of the environment. And even longer than that, until the buzz of spider-sense in the back of his mind had subsided slightly, no longer quite so focused on them.

[uncloseted]

Hi Christina, hope you're doing well and staying healthy! I've been seeing more stuff about the enneagram lately, and I saw you analyzed gen one a while back. I was curious if you could also do the main characters of gen 2 and 3-- thank you!!

I actually did this once before and then I lost  my entire file because my computer crashed.  I’m super interested to know what you all think!

Generation 2:

Freddie:  Freddie is a classic 9w1, “The Dreamer”.  He’s constantly trying to maintain peace and harmony in his life and avoid conflict, whether internal or interpersonal.  Some people accuse him of being boring, but it’s not true- he’s just willing to go along with other people to keep the peace.  He’s accepting, trusting, stable, and supportive, but he can also simplify problems and minimize upsetting things for his own peace of mind.  He has a lot of trouble with inertia (“to be or not to be?”) and caring enough about things to act on them.  At his best, he’s receptive, patient, accepting, and an emotional rock for the people around him.  But at his worst, he can be ineffectual and repressed and has a tendency towards tuning out reality for things that are more

pleasant.

Cook: 8w7, “The Maverick”.  Cook is self-confident, strong, and assertive.  He’s resourceful and decisive, but can also be egocentric and domineering over those around him.  Eights feel like they must control their environment and the people around them, which can lead to them being confrontational and intimidating.  Cook has a problem with his temper and allowing himself to be vulnerable.  He fears being harmed or controlled by others and seeks to be in control of his own life at all times and at all costs.  He wants to be self-reliant, to prove his strength, and to be important in his world.  At his worst, he’s destructive, ruthless, combative, hard-hearted, belligerent, and violent, engaging in criminal acts in an attempt to protect himself.  At his best, he’s a natural leader, authoritative and decisive, carrying others with his strength.

JJ: 6w5, “The Defender”.  6s are reliable, hard-working, and responsible. They’re loyal, committed, and security-oriented.  They fear being without support and guidance and they want security, to feel supported by others, to have certainty and reassurance, and to lessen their anxiety and insecurity. Like other 6s, JJ can be cautious and indecisive, but also defensive, evasive, and anxious.  At his worst, he becomes panicky, volatile, and self-disparaging, with feelings of inferiority.  He sees himself as defenseless and seeks out a stronger authority to resolve his problems (usually Cook, but sometimes Freddie). He can be reactive and defiant when pushed (when he goes to the brothel with Cook comes to mind).  He invests his time and energy into the things he believes will be safe and stable, and thrives on organization and structure. As he grows throughout the series, he becomes more self-affirming, trusting of himself at others, and “independent yet symbiotically interdependent and cooperative as an equal”.

Katie: Katie is a 3w2, “The Charmer”. She’s self-assured, attractive, charming, ambitious, competent, and energetic, but also status-conscious and driven for social achievement. She’s a social climber, interested in status and success. She can be overly concerned with h er image and what others think of her, and has problems with competitiveness, even when the people around her don’t realize they’re in a competition at all (her relationship with Effy is a good example of this).  As she grows in the series, we see her become self-accepting and authentic.  She becomes a role model who inspires others.  She’s driven by a desire to feel valuable and worthwhile, to be affirmed, to distinguish herself from others, to have attention, to be admired, and to impress others.  At her worst, she becomes vindictive, attempting to ruin other people’s happiness through devious and deceptive actions. She can be jealous of others and as a result of that insecurity, becomes a self-promoter with inflated notions about herself and her talents.  She can be highly concerned with how she’s perceived and morphs into what other people expect her to be, without thinking about what she wants.

Emily: Emily is a good example of a 2w1, “The Servant”.  She’s empathetic, sincere, friendly, and warm-hearted, but she can also be people-pleasing and does things for others in order to feel needed, even if they don’t want her help (Naomi’s political campaign).  She fears being unwanted and unloved by the people she cares most about (Naomi and Katie).  What she wants most is to be loved, to express her feelings for others, and to be needed and appreciated.  She’s at her best when she can help people achieve their goals.  At her worst, though, she believes that she must always put other people first if she wants to be loved herself (we see this particularly in her relationship with Katie), which makes her angry, bitter, and resentful towards others.  In this state, she can be manipulative and self-serving, taking the role of the victim and instilling guilt in others (we see this particularly after Sophia dies).

Naomi: Naomi is a 1w9, “The Idealist”.  Like Naomi, ones are conscientious, principled, and ethical, with a strong sense of right and wrong and a desire to improve the world.  However, she’s also afraid to make mistakes, and can slip into being critical and perfectionistic, even to the point of being hypocritical.  She has problems with resentment and impatience.  Naomi is driven by a fear that she’s defective and wrong (both in terms of her sexuality, but also in terms of her actions), and is motivated by being right, being consistent with her ideals, improving the world, to justify herself, and to be beyond criticism from others.

Effy: 4w5, “The Bohemian”.  I had a lot of trouble deciding between 4w5 or 2 for Effy.  It’s hard to tell what type she is because her mental illness impacts her personality in a very real way. Ultimately, I chose 4, even though I do think her core fear and desire line up more directly with 2- she’s afraid of being unwanted and unworthy of being loved, and her basic desire is to be loved for who she is.  Like 4s, Effy is self-aware, sensitive, and reserved.  She’s emotionally honest and personal, but can also be moody.  She withholds herself from others due to feeling vulnerable and defective, and has problems with melancholy, self-indulgence, and self-pity.  She wants to find herself for who she is outside of her mental illness, wants to withdraw to protect herself, wants to take care of her emotional needs before attending to anyone else’s (Pandora’s birthday party comes to mind), and to attract a rescuer (her relationship with Freddie is this in some ways). 4s often feel that they’re unlike other people, and because of that, nobody can understand them or love them adequately (“sometimes I think I was born backwards, come out me mum the wrong way”).  They see themselves as uniquely talented, possessing special gifts (Effy’s perceptiveness), and so they can be self-confident, but simultaneously they see themselves as uniquely disadvantaged and flawed.  While they feel different from other people and distance themselves, 4s don’t really want to be alone. They want to connect with someone who fully understands themselves and their feelings.  At her best, she can be sensitive and intuitive, gentle, tactful, emotionally honest, and compassionate towards others.  At her worst, she becomes hopeless and self-destructive, tormented by morbid thoughts.  She believes that other people are the problem, so she drives them away even when they’re trying to help her.

Pandora: This might be controversial to people who know the Enneagram, but I think that Pandora is a 5w4, “The Iconoclast”.  At first this seems unusual, since 5s are seen as intense and cerebral, words that we wouldn’t generally think of to describe Pandora. But 5s greatest fear is being useless, helpless, or incapable, sentiments that Pandora frequently echoes throughout the series.  Her basic desire is to possess knowledge, to understand the environment, and to have things figured out.  As we find out as the series progresses, she does have a curious, cerebral element to her, to the point where she goes to Harvard to study history.  Pandora is alert, insightful, and curious.  She’s inventive and innovative, but she can be eccentric.  At her worst, she disintegrates towards 7.  She becomes isolated from reality, eccentric and unstable,  and can be detached from the “real world”.  At her best, she’s open minded, perceptive, and excited by learning new things, particularly as she begins to build self-confidence.

Thomas: Thomas is a 1w2, “The Advocate”.  Like Naomi, he’s conscientious, principled, and ethical.  He strives to be honorable in everything he does. He feels a strong obligation to his family, even at his own expense, which is where the 2 wing comes in.  He’s well-organized, orderly, and fastidious, holds himself to high standards, and is always trying to improve his life and the lives of those around him.  He’s willing to sacrifice comfort and stability for the hope of a better life, both when he leaves the Congo and once he gets to Bristol.  At his worst, he preaches doing the right thing but does the opposite (sleeping with Andrea), and can be dogmatic and self-righteous.

Generation 3:

Mini: 3w4, “The Professional”.  Mini is afraid of failure, which she defines as being like her mother.  She throws herself into everything she does in order to succeed, regardless of what she has to do to get it.  Mini is attractive, charming, and ambitious, but she’s also overly concerned with her image and what other people think of her. Like Katie, she’s very competitive, even with people who don’t realize they’re in a competition (for Mini, this is Liv).  At her worst, she’s exploitative and opportunistic, willing to do “whatever it takes” to maintain her image of being superior to others.  She can be devious, deceptive, and untrustworthy, maliciously betraying and sabotaging people to get ahead of them.  She’s often jealous of others, even when she shouldn’t be, and can be vindictive in an attempt to ruin other people’s happiness.  At her best, though, she’s self-assured and competent.  She has a full heart, and she becomes gracious and motivated.

Liv: 6w7, “The Confidant”. Liv is committed and security oriented.  Given her tumultuous home situation, her family often relies on her to provide stability, and her friendships are similar.  She’s reliable, responsible, and trustworthy.  She’s an excellent “troubleshooter”, foreseeing problems and fostering cooperation between people.  However, she can also become defensive and anxious, running on stress while complaining about it. She can be both cautious and indecisive while also being reactive, defiant, and rebellious.  She fears that she’ll be without support and guidance and searches out the security and support that she doesn’t get from her family in others (particularly her friends). She’s loyal to others because she doesn’t want to be abandoned or without that support, and she seeks out people who are stronger than she is to provide a sense of stability (which is the foundation of her friendship with Mini).  To compensate for her insecurities, she can become sarcastic and belligerent, blaming other people for her problems.  At her best, she’s appealing, endearing, lovable, and affectionate, good at bonding with others and forming permanent relationships and alliances with others.

Franky: 4w5, “The Bohemian”.  Franky is self-aware, sensitive, and reserved.  She’s emotionally honest, creative, and personal, but can also be moody and self conscious. She sees herself as being defective (“when I was six, the teacher asked me to think of something beautiful. I said 9/11, I saw it on the TV in this care home with the sound on mute. The teacher told me how many people had died and all the other kids in the class cried and I knew then that I was… wrong. I guess that’s why my parents gave me up. Because they knew too. Right from the beginning.”).  She wants to find herself and her personal significance, to create and surround herself with beauty, to express herself and her individuality, and to protect her self-image.  She can struggle with melancholy and self-pity. She feels that she’s missing something in herself, but she has difficulty identifying exactly what that thing is- in truth, the thing she’s missing harkens back to the question on the whiteboard in series 5- “does choice define identity?”  Franky is unsure about aspects of her self-image and feels that she lacks a clear and stable identity, particularly in interpersonal situations, so throughout her series 5 episode she tries on different identities to see if she might be able to choose one that fits.  She has negative self-image and low self-esteem, and she has trouble letting go of feelings from the past.  Sometimes, she has become so attached to longing and disappointment that she’s unable to recognize the good things in her life (particularly true when it comes to her parents).  At her best, she’s profoundly creative, inspired, self-renewing, self-aware, introspective, and individualistic.

Grace: 9w1, “The Dreamer”.  Grace is a chameleon, a classic trait of 9s.  She is who she needs to be for everyone she’s around, and that can be disconcerting for a lot of people because it seems like she doesn’t have a “true” identity.  But 9s are the crown of the Enneagram- they encompass elements of all the other types- so when she’s being a chameleon, Grace is being true to herself.  She’s accepting, trusting, and provides stability to her more chaotic friends.  She’s creative, optimistic, and supportive, but she’s often too willing to go along with others to keep the peace (like the time she agrees to do cocaine to get out of an uncomfortable discussion), and she avoids conflict and tension even when they need to be had.  She’s afraid to be separated from her family and her friends, and she seeks out inner stability and peace of mind.  She often acts as the peacemaker between her friends and between friend groups.  At her worst, she’s repressed and disengaged, and she disappears into the world of fairytales to avoid confronting reality.

Rich: 4w3, “The Enthusiast”.  Rich’s deepest fear is that he has no significance in the world.  4s desire uniqueness and personal identity, and long to be authentically different from others. He’s sensitive, reserved, emotionally honest, and creative, but tends to be very moody and self conscious.  He withdraws from others due to fears of being vulnerable and defective, and feels disdainful and exempt from ordinary ways of living.  He has problems with melancholy, self-indulgence, and self-pity. Fours often feel that they’re missing something in themselves, but have difficulty figuring out what exactly that is.  To cope, Rich looks for himself through easily adoptable outward identities which he clings to (“being metal”).  He sees himself as fundamentally different from others and needs to express that in his physical presentation and interests as well as in his personality. He fears that no one can understand him or love him adequately, which is why his relationship with Grace really shakes up his life and his self-image.  Deep down, Rich is a romantic, looking for someone to come into his life and appreciate the secret self he’s hiding from the world.  4s typically have problems with negative self-image and low self esteem, which they compensate for by cultivating a fantasy self- an idealized image of themselves that’s built up in their imaginations (again, for Rich, that’s “metal Rich”).  However, they often fall short of becoming their idealized self (Rich doesn’t actually play metal music and he’s not actually part of that “scene”).  At his best, he’s self-aware, introspective, true to himself, and sensitive.  At his worst, he can be self-absorbed and introverted, moody and hypersensitive, shy and self-conscious.

Alo: 7w6, “The Entertainer”.  Alo’s a pretty classic Enneagram 7.  He’s extroverted, optimistic, versatile, and spontaneous.  Playful, and high spirited, but also scattered and undisciplined.  He’s constantly seeking new and exciting experiences, even when the people around him aren’t interested, and often without doing his research first.  He struggles with impatience and impulsiveness.  He wants to maintain his freedom and happiness, to avoid missing out on experiences, to keep himself occupied, and to avoid pain.  At his worst, he’s running from himself and from aging (we see this a lot in his storyline with Poppy), acting out impulses rather than dealing with his frustrations.  At his best, he’s excitable and enthusiastic about everything.  He becomes joyful and appreciative of what he has.

Nick: 8 with equal wings, both “The Maverick” and “The Bear”.   Nick is a born leader, as we see when he captains his rugby team.  He’s self-confident, strong, and assertive, but also protective, resourceful, and decisive. He can be somewhat domineering, particularly early on in his relationship with Mini, and can at times be confrontational and intimidating.  As we can see in his confrontations with his father, he has problems with his temper and dislikes being controlled by others.  As he grows, he becomes magnanimous and a protector of others.  He’s self-assertive, self-confident, and strong, having learned to stand up for what he needs and wants.  He has a resourceful, “can do” attitude and can “make things happen”.

Matty: 4w5, “The Bohemian”. Like our other 4s, Matty is sensitive, reserved, moody, and self-conscious. He’s disdainful towards others and feels exempt from ordinary ways of living.  He has problems with melancholy, self-indulgence, and self-pity.  He feels like he is fundamentally defective when compared to his brother, and worries that he has no true purpose or significance.  He compensates for this by creating a fantasy self who is mysterious, brooding, and intellectual, but this image of himself falls apart somewhat when tested. While he feels different from others, he doesn’t really want to be alone, and we see him searching for his person who can connect with him and understand his feelings throughout generation 3.  At his best he’s individualistic and introspective, with a romantic, artistic approach to life, heightening reality through fantasy, passion, and imagination.   At his worst he’s self-inhibiting and angry with himself, depressed and alienated from others and ashamed.

[jackdawyt]

For this episode, I'm delving into the most realistic and potential character concept for Dragon Age 4's main character, and that is the role of a spy.

Playing as a spy is most likely going to be the next player character because according to Kotaku's report on the previous iteration of Dragon Age 4 - known as Project Joplin - we were initially playing as a group of spies in Tevinter, with a large chunk of the game centring on heists.

[You’d play as a group of spies in Tevinter Imperium, a wizard-ruled country on the north end of Dragon Age’s main continent, Thedas].

[A large chunk of Joplin would centre on heists].

That's right, we were originally going to embark on heist missions throughout the Tevinter Imperium! With systemic gameplay built around many choices like persuading or extorting guards.

[The developers talked about building systemic narrative mechanics, allowing the player to perform actions like persuading or extorting guards without the writers having to hand-craft every scene].

There was an emphasis on “repeat play,” creating the world to be as reactive as possible to major aspects of the game like the passing of time and mission progress. Giving the player the incentive to revisit old areas, experiencing new and interesting things based on your decisions.

[There was an emphasis on “repeat play,” one developer said, noting that they wanted to make areas that changed over time and missions that branched in interesting ways based on your decisions, to the point where you could even get “non-standard game overs” if you followed certain paths].

We don't know how much of Project Joplin has been scrapped, and we've been told that plenty of the previous work will pass on into Dragon Age 4's next iteration - Project Morrison. So, we could still be playing as a spy in Dragon Age 4 based on the very initial concepts and prototypes of this game.

With that, I need to preface that this video has been made with the assumption that our protagonist is a spy based on Joplin's initial work. The next Dragon Age project may be very different from Joplin's concept. However, this video was made to speculate at anything the future of Dragon Age may convey based on that previous work (because that's all we've got so far).

Even still, we're at least talking about content that was originally going to be in Dragon Age 4, and it still could be! So there's hope right there!

Anyhow... let's delve into the dynamics of what it would mean to play as a spy protagonist in Dragon Age 4 and how heist missions would take the narrative into an interesting direction!

The first question that arises is why a spy, in particular?

The pinnacle reason Dragon Age 4 is set in the Tevinter Imperium is based on the Inquisitor's final mission - to get help from someone Solas doesn't know. We already knew that we would be somehow connected to the Inquisition or the Inquisitor because operating in secret is required in order to avoid getting infiltrated by Solas' spies again.

The natural direction to go from the remnants of the Inquisition army is into a small covert group of spies. Someone who can get the job done unnoticed, without any hassle. Basically a nobody.

Secondly then, what would our purpose as a spy be?

Essentially, we'll be tracking down influence, power and information about Solas in Tevinter. As a spy with no knowledge, understanding or experience with Solas, we'll be the best person in Thedas for this task.

The title 'spy' implies a handler, someone who is in-charge and has given us the task of infiltrating and instigating an enemy for their bidding or personal gain. The question is, who's in charge of us then?

Could our spy relate directly to the Inquisitor? Or are they among a new covert operation in Thedas, with a new leader?

Dragon Age has absorbed itself in the world of spies lately with the number of shady organisations in Thedas. It'd be a likely avenue that our new group of spies would come from the ashes of the Inquisition, however, it also may not.

We could simply be a contracted agent in an unknown Tevinter group with the mission of tracking down information on an Elven God or stealing magical artefacts by organizing strategic heists, and that's all we'll ever know until the narrative kicks in and we either have a new purpose or a new role.

What I love about Dragon Age is that in each game, you personally earn your title by completing a series of events that define your character. You're not just given your title, you have to gain it through proving yourself and only then you can become the Inquisitor, the Champion or the Hero of Ferelden.

So, perhaps in Dragon Age 4, we'll start as a small spy, until the narrative opens up and then through trials and triumph we become the defining hero of this game.

Next question, what do 'heists' in Dragon Age look like?

A key element of this game involves setting up heists in the Tevinter Imperium, which in my opinion sounds epic! But I've seen some hesitation online as to what "heists" specifically mean for Dragon Age. I feel like "heists" are a negative buzzword for Dragon Age because you instantly think about robbing a bank or mugging old ladies like in a Rockstar Game.

In actuality though, I see heists in Dragon Age as set-piece quests very much like Wicked Hearts And Wicked Eyes in Dragon Age: Inquisition with its strategic quest design and key choices that set up a completely unique experience based on player actions.

A heist doesn't necessarily have to be a standard bank robbery, if you look at Mass Effect 2's suicide mission, to some extent I'd call that a heist - as a team, you're each embarking on a mission that will most likely end in your demise, with a slim chance of success. However, as you make choices and the squad works together, you pull off one of the galaxies most renowned missions - to end the Collectors. So, think to this scale of a heist for Dragon Age 4.

In a similar fashion, Mass Effect Andromeda had vaults that were essential to the narrative, these dungeon-like set-piece levels that invoked a high risk, but a worthy reward. Again, another example of a BioWare heist. Even though it'd fun to rob old orlesain ladies, there's a greater aspect to heist-missions as BioWare have showcased in the past.

And judging the initial brief 'Joplin' followed, it seems BioWare were originally going for epic choice-driven, set-piece moments.

So, ideally, for Dragon Age 4, we'll be following a plot that centres on pulling off high risk and heavy choice based missions. Not just robbing a bank, or committing causal thievery, but operating heists with a greater incentive at mind - to stop Solas from tearing down the veil.

With that, what is the purpose of heists for Dragon Age 4?

The Tevinter Imperium exists largely on parts of the old elven empire and has many of its magical artefacts and relics. Potentially we're searching and raiding said artefacts, and that'll take the narrative's centre stage. As we know from Solas, each of the Elven Gods have their own foci's, like Solas had the Orb of Destruction, perhaps our new protagonist is on a race against Solas to reach these artefacts first.

The Orb of Destruction was supposed to destroy the veil once unlocked, however, since it was destroyed after the defeat of Corypheus, Solas will need another way to destroy the veil. Could he need another McGuffin item, like the Red Lyrium Idol or an Elven God's foci? Is this the purpose of completing heists, to get to the weapon before Solas does?

It seems pretty likely, again especially with the fact that Tevinter was founded on the ruins of the Elven kingdom. It'll be a hot spot for anything pre-veil, so the perfect place for both Solas and our spy protagonist to chase after ancient relics. Like I said before, it seems like Dragon Age 4's plot could be a race against time.

The narrative going forward is all about The Dread Wolf Rising, it's super exciting to see this original concept on how we'd stop Solas by taking on heists throughout Tevinter. I don't think this will be canned, it sounds way too vital to the main narrative, so I hope we can still have this dynamic as a huge element in Dragon Age 4.

Attempting to wrap up. The Dragon Age games have always thrown us into the shoes of a new protagonist with a very specific role or characteristic that sets them apart from the other heroes. Each character has a somewhat distinctive quality about them. One of my worries with fulfilling the role as a spy is just that - what exactly would be strictly unique to our character?

That's when I start to think about abilities, powers and other attributes that have more influence in the world. For instance, our Herald was "The Inquisitor" but also had the "Mark" which gave them special abilities, perhaps we'll have something new for our spy? I think being a "Dreamer" would be pretty cool, and could play a vital part in the narrative...

Even if elements of Joplin are sacked for Dragon Age 4, there's still a huge emphasis on spies and a future narrative involving them. The Dragon Age comics are giving me a sense that the narrative is building up a plot for a spy protagonist.

Currently, the comics characters are looking for red lyrium that has been imbued into a weapon. They're heading on their own heist to Castellum Tenebris, a fortress of House Danarius in Tevinter for a further investigation. So, we're just going to have to keep our eyes out on what the comics foreshadow for the future of Dragon Age's narrative!

[saltineofswing]

Ozzy or Drell?

Obvs I got one for Drell SO:

Full Name: Osmanthus Quince, Sword of Storms

Gender andSexuality: Male;probably bisexual

Pronouns: He/him

Ethnicity/Species: Homo Anubii (Shortened to‘Anubii’ in 99% of situations), a race of technically-undead beings whosegenesis is attributed to Worldmarrow, pure unfiltered magic in liquid form.Worldmarrow makes up the core of the planet and frequently wells up in largeamounts to the crust, magically altering things at random. One of the productsof this phenomenon are the Anubii, who owe their existence to the abandonedorganic material of the sapient races of The Road. There are two varieties:Whole and Imperfect. Imperfect Anubii are covered in Sal’s post here, inregards to Domino the Dominator, but Whole Anubii are, ehhh, a little harder toexplain. They don’t quite resemble any of the races that currently inhabit TheRoad… but the various skin colors they appear in are vaguely reminiscent ofthe mysterious Liches that inhabit the massive millennia-old necropolisesbeneath the surface of the continent. This is a painfully obvious connectionbut nobody has actually officially put it together for a variety of reasons, somost people consider it to be one of the grand mysteries of the Road’s society.

Specifically,although nobody now alive has the words for it, Ozzy would be half-Gariagaxianand half-Bogribolan, as evidenced by his pale hair and sort of indistinctlygrayish skin that you could construe as faintly yellow-tinted or faintlyblue-tinted; in addition, Ozzy was born a little extra special – he is what’sknown as a ‘Lesser Lich’, a type of Anubii identifiable by their incrediblemagical potential… and the subsequent mental instability that accompaniessuch power. If a Lesser Lich is put under too much stress, they have a chanceto breach a power threshold and ‘emerge’ into a Greater Lich; Ozzy,specifically, is a Supremator, a subtype of Lich with an extraordinary controlover an elemental force (in Ozzy’s rather exceptional case four of them –Lightning, Water, Wind, and Ice, giving him the title of ‘Storm Supremator’).

Birthplaceand Birthdate:Actually, Ozzy doesn’t come from the Road’s prime timeline, or ‘Primeline’. Theversion of The Road that he hails from is one we affectionately refer to as the‘Mindrunner’ timeline, where the powerfully Psionic hivemind species known asthe Uluth were able to survive their… rocky exodus through the Unknown, fromtheir dying homeworld to the Road. As a result, the trajectory of thedevelopment of both the continent and the society was drastically altered.Notably, the Psionic energy that saturates the atmosphere due to the abundanceof Uluth Overminds across the continent places an inordinate pressure on theminds of Anubii, resulting in an incredibly high incidence rate of Anubiiexplosively developing into Liches. Because nobody really knew what to do withthem, and the understanding of mental health in this world remains somewhatabysmal, facilities were created where Liches could be sent to keep them calmand/or sedated, and in a lot of cases kept in stasis until a long-term solutioncould be divined.

This meansthat the culture into which Ozzy was born views and treats him as a second orsometimes even third-class citizen, where Anubii that are too powerful or areat risk of turning into Liches are taken away to any of several installationsof ‘The Facility’ and the governing bodies use the populace’s fear and lack ofunderstanding to pass laws that blatantly infringe on Anubii’s civil rights.Ozzy was born in 2002 (Mindrunner is set in 2025), in the ever-cloudy southerncoast of the Tidelands. He was born in the suburbs of The Well, MetropolitanZone Prill-003, named for the local Uluth Overmind. Ozzy is a second-generationWhole Anubii and is an orphan, adopted by two human parents, so his exactbirthday is sort of nebulous. Best guess, he was born during the hot rains ofSummer.

GuiltyPleasures: Ozzyis a really shy guy with very little self esteem and a lot of internalizedissues, so he feels guilty about enjoying himself doing just about everything.He’s grown out of most of it, but highlights include: long showers or baths,colorful clothing, expensive tools, taking apart expensive or sophisticatedmachinery (especially if it doesn’t belong to him), and other stuff that hefeels like makes him ‘impose’ on the world around him too much. A big one,though: using his powers just for his own enjoyment.

Phobias: Not only is Ozzy very shy, he is also a peerlesslyanxious guy. He’s got a LOT of phobias. It would be faster to name the stuffhe’s not afraid of – he’s kind of a coward – but there are a couple ReallyReally Big Ones: he is easily triggered by needles, medical equipment(especially especially ESPECIALLY anything that goes on his head), and mentalinstitutions. He is terrified by the prospect of losing control, hates to beseen/looked at/placed in a position of authority, and is horribly averse to thespotlight. After all, he spent most of his life trying to hide his true natureto avoid getting crammed in a stasis pod for the rest of his natural-bornexistence. He also doesn’t really like to be touched, especially by people hedoesn’t know, and is also rather averse to enclosed spaces and restraints.

What TheyWould Be Famous For:If it weren’t for the whole mess Ozzy has become embroiled in, he wouldprobably be famous for his engineering prowess. Ozzy is a genius-levelintellect, and is a talented machinist in his own right – he was able to get ascholarship to work a janitorial job at a college where he was working towardsseveral different tech-based degrees. He created a technology for prosthesisthat utilizes the Uluth’s Psionic-sensitive material known as ‘Mindstone’ as acore and a tough but lightweight and magically reactive plasteel compound,allowing the prosthetic to be linked directly to the user’s mind and react notonly to their mental commands but also to their expectations; if the userexpects to feel touch sensation, they will. If the user expects the plasteel tofeel and behave like flesh, it will (to an extent). It’s really a miracle ofmodern engineering. If his life had panned out differently, he would’veprobably been taught about in medical textbooks for decades on decades.

Also in a wayOzzy is famous, both in the primeline by way of the Wild Hunt and in theMindrunner timeline due to his… legal status. As an inescapable part of hisfights being televised to the Threnghelleon viewing public, Ozzy has been puton blast in a way; he seemed like a huge wimp to everyone (including members ofthe ‘home team’, so to speak) until he literally could not hold back his powerany longer and kicked the ever-living shit out of notorious Wild Hunt bruiserEthem-Cailo in his very first fight. That very first victory was seen as a HUGEupset, and it’s gotten him a ‘following’ amongst the Threnghel populace. Thisis not necessarily a good thing.

What TheyWould Get Arrested For: Existing, actually. When faced with the choice of submitting to a newordinance requiring all Anubii with ‘At Risk’ or higher status (denoting therisk factor for an individual to become a Lich) to be ‘chipped’ with atransmitter and status indicator, or probably just being straight-up taken awayto The Facility, he had a mental breakdown and revealed that he was a Lich (afact he’d been hiding for years). So he went on the run! Canonically, Osmanthuswould probably be arrested for defying Overmind ordinances, failing to reporthimself as a Lich, resisting arrest, defying basically all Emergence protocols,resisting and evading Pure Fold detainment squads, assaulting a police officer,assaulting a Pure Fold agent, associating with known governmental dissidents,conspiracy to commit a felony, conspiracy to incite a riot… uh, et cetera.

OC You ShipThem With: He hasa girlfriend! Her name is Rosemary, they’ve been best friends since highschool, and she is definitely the one who has the spine in their relationship.When Ozzy went on the run, Rosie basically dropped everything and went on therun with him. Otherwise, when it comes to idle speculation, I think Ozzy hasgood chemistry with Fee; he literally took a plasma bolt to the gummy-works forher before he even knew her, which has endeared him to her somewhat.

OC MostLikely To Murder Them: Ethem-Cailo, now Jovix-Cailo, has faced not one but two ‘humiliating’defeats at Ozzy’s hand now. After the first, Ozzy stole the legendary hammerMjolnir (not the version everybody is familiar with, but with a similarWorthiness parameter), which Ethem-Cailo himself had won by beating the hellout of the Aesir. He wants his hammer back, and is filled with hatred for the‘lowly’ mortal that stole it from him. In fact, Jovix-Cailo is going to havehis shot – the two of them are due for a reckoning, and there’s a significantchance that Ozzy might wind up dying in their final conflict. One of them isgonna have to.

FavoriteMovie/Book Genre:Sci-Fi, no question. Since he comes from a near-future and slightly dystopiantimeline, you’d think it holds no mystery for him. But it’s even more wild,speculative, and diluted there, so it’s still pretty nuts. This goeshand-in-hand with horror stuff, too (the more sci-fi, fantasy, or high-conceptthe better). He also enjoys fantasy to a lesser extent, and is a big fan ofsuperhero comics. He’s a fairly typically nerdy guy in his tastes in media.

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Ozzy has a certain appreciationfor most cliches and tropes, because he’s pretty good at analyzing media. Evenif he doesn’t necessarily enjoy a cliche, he’s able to appreciate the way itslots into a narrative. However, he is easily annoyed by Idiot Plots andanything that arises from people behaving ‘out of character’, which he feels isa sign that they had to force something to fit where it didn’t. He hates the‘We’re five feet from the exit but OH NO I TRIPPED!’ Trope, and glaring gaps inthe logic of the media in general – stuff that isn’t consistent with the rulespresented by the media in question.

Talentsand/or Powers: Asmentioned above, Ozzy is a genius-level intellect and is fond of tinkering;he’s dexterous and knowledgeable in the art of crafting machinery. He’stalented enough in the art of engineering to innovate functional prosthetics,and has a broad umbrella of technical know-how. He’s clever, quick on his feet,and isn’t a terrible tactician when he’s given a comfortable breadth to plan.He’s also crazy good at fighting games. Don’t challenge him to Street Fighterunless you want to know what it’s like to feel hatred for pixelated green menbecause you KNOW he mains Blanka.

What? You’resaying I’m forgetting something? I dunno. Oh, the lightning thing? Haha yeah,right, right.

Ozzy is aBLISTERINGLY powerful magus with an affinity for elemental magic –specifically, elements associated with the storm: Lightning, Wind, Water, andIce. He is so latently powerful that his mere presence can influence theoverhead weather if he’s not keeping a tight grip on his own magical aura.Once, Ozzy channeled enough lightning to power an entire town for about an hour(he did the math in-universe). Since then he’s actually gotten more powerful,to the point that the upper limit of the amount of electricity he can generateis unknown. The cost of all that power is that his body literally cannot handleit, hence why he has prosthetic arms now. In terms of gameplay mechanics, Ozzycan theoretically deal about 600 damage in a single turn with the proper confluenceof events. It costs him a significant amount of HP and CON, so it’s notsomething that can be used flippantly, but it’s a considerable boss-burner ifthe situation calls for it.

Recently, Ozzywas blinded in his one remaining fully-functional eye by a bad turn in a gameof divine chance by Al Fortuna, August En-Zaiid’s patron deity. However, notlong afterwards, Ozzy’s senses of Touch and Hearing were elevated to superhumanlevels by the whims of the very same game; currently he hasn’t had the opportunityto replace his eye with a prosthetic but he does have the ability to mapobjects around him in space based on electromagnetic fields and bioelectricity,and that with his super-hearing gives him a fairly precise image of the world.He just can’t read or watch TV or do anything too precise.

Why SomeoneMight Love Them:Osmanthus is a sweet guy with a big heart and a lot of empathy. He’s a verygood listener and has a very clever sense of humor. He’s smart and is willingto share his knowledge very liberally, but he shares inclusively and doesn’texplain so much as inform (narrow though the distinction may be). When he’scalm, he’s very methodical and cunning, and he gives pretty decent advice. Hehas no problem sharing the spotlight (prefers to stay out of it, in fact) andis very good about giving credit where credit is due – doesn’t hold grudges,nonexistent temper, doesn’t take stuff personally, and is quick with acorrection or a fact-check when needed. Some people enjoy a partner they canhelp or ‘fix’, so to speak, and Ozzy does have a lot of issues.

Why SomeoneMight Hate Them:As I’ve mentioned, Ozzy is a bit of a coward. His self-esteem is absolutelyabysmal and he is devastatingly non-confrontational to the point that he won’tstand up for himself at all unless absolutely forced to. He can seem a littlesniveling, especially since he has a pretty bad stutter that gets worse whenhe’s stressed. On top of that he is kind of hard to deal with at times; it’snot always easy for people to handle their own issues, let alone somebodyelse’s – and Ozzy has a lot of issues. When it’s at its worst, he’s incoherentand completely non-functional for the whole day; at it’s best, though, he stillhas trouble speaking coherently, has problems with dissociating and sometimeshearing things, and stuff like that. When he’s feeling talkative it’s hard toredirect his focus when he’s on a roll, which can interfere with his ability tolisten to other people and participate in group conversations, and if someone snapsat him too sharply he’ll just clam up and stop talking altogether. So,sometimes interacting with him can be tiresome.

How TheyChange: Ozzy haschanged A Lot since I first introduced him to the game in Mindrunner;originally he was a very lonely and honestly quite pathetic guy, with a lot ofproblems he’d completely given up on trying to solve, slogging through day today life and hiding his ‘At-Risk’ status. When Mindrunner started he wasactually suicidal, and had already failed two attempts due to his Lichabilities; although it was partially against his will, being swept up in theevents of that story gave him a will to live and the discipline to actually dosomething about his mental health and the state of the world at large. He hasdeveloped an incredibly fine control over his powers (which continue to grow astime goes on), met a bunch of new people, and has gotten in REALLY good shape,all in the span of half a year after spending most of his time as a skinny-fatjanitor at a second-choice college. Ozzy is working on his self-esteem, whichis coming along slowly but surely; after taking Mjolnir from Ethem-Cailo he hasdeveloped a reliance on the hammer as a sort of crutch for his self-esteem – ifthe fabled mythological hammer of the Aesir deems him ‘worthy’, he probably is,right? It’s a good first step, but the events of his next campaign willprobably involve confronting that crutch. He’s not a hero yet, per se, but he’sgetting there.

It’s not allpositive, unfortunately; since Ozzy started to grow exponentially more powerfulafter his ‘emergence’ into a full Lich Supremator, Ozzy has also begun tosuffer from adrenaline-influenced mood swings and the occasional bout of mania.As is the case with many Liches throughout the history of both Mindrunner andthe Prime Timeline, Ozzy has developed a trigger-response to life-or-deathstressors in which he undergoes a mental status shift and gets much moresevere, violent, and manic that he refers to as The Lich Shift. An unstable butmostly manageable issue that only really rears its ugly head when Ozzy isconfronted with significant danger. The problem is, Ozzy is currently under theweight of several long-term mental stressors: Everybody keeps telling him thathe’s going to have to kill Jovix-Cailo, and although he knows that’s the rightthing to do, he’s never killed anyone before – and he’s going to have to killagain, in the civil war that is all but waiting for him back on his home plane.The burden of responsibility in these situations has begun to warp the ‘LichShift’ defense mechanism into something more distinct and disparate.

Why YouLove Them: Ozzywas originally made because I wanted to turn my Destiny OC Euclid into atabletop character, but he almost instantly became a unique character that wasthe star of a surprisingly in-depth and exciting one-off game. Both Sal (TheDM) and I decided pretty instantly that we wanted to do more with him. I thinkhe’s a fairly nuanced, complicated character for what he is; I feel likecharacters with his type and severity of problems don’t often get to strugglefor their own benefit (as opposed to the audience’s schadenfreude), and despiteevery setback he’s still kicking and still making progress, which I think isvery relatable and very important. He’s got a lot of handicaps and regrets andphobias but he fights anyway. He’s the underdog, he’s grown up taking shit forbeing born, his own powers threaten to kill him, but he fights anyway. Peoplehave unrealistic expectations for him. His life has been completely ruined andflipped upside-down by the choices he’s been forced to make. His reward is along, uphill slog with few immediate gratifications. He Fights Anyway.Characters in his position I feel like get shoehorned to side-character, orkilled off, or turn into the bad guy, or all of the above, but Ozzy is theprotagonist and that gives him a really interesting breadth of emotion andchange. And also, he’s cute.

[mandibierly]

Why 'The Deep' episode of 'Blue Planet II' is the one you can't miss

A bluntnose sixgill shark arrives to feed on the carcass of a sperm whale in the Atlantic Ocean (Photo: Will Ridgeon)

Each episode of Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, airing Saturdays on BBC America, is special in its own way, of course. But there’s a reason this weekend’s installment, “The Deep,” is truly exceptional — and it’s not just because we see sixgill sharks devouring a whale carcass or learn what happens when you have a leak in a sub as you’re 450 meters below.

The fact is, we know more about the surface of Mars than we know about the difficult-to-reach deep ocean — the majority of the living space on Earth. As episode producer Orla Doherty tells Yahoo Entertainment, “A deep ocean scientist that I spoke to very early on in the production said to me, ‘Orla, if aliens came down to Earth, they’d land on land, but they would look in deep oceans and say, ‘Those are the most abundant, most prevalent organisms on the planet. These must be the oldest occupiers of this planet,’ and us little human specs would be kind an insignificant blip, frankly. That gave me this sense of perspective of, ‘Wow, this is an enormous world, and it’s one that we just know so little about.’ We don���t know how it functions. There are amazing scientists trying to figure it out. But it’s got to be fundamentally connected to everything else in the ocean, and therefore to us, and we’re only just scratching the surface of what that really means.”

Here, Doherty offers a preview of the most memorable sequences in “The Deep,” premiering Jan. 27.

Yahoo Entertainment: You and your team were the first humans to ever dive to 1,000 meters in the Antarctic. As we see in the “making of” segment at the end of the episode, you were a half hour into your first descent when the three of you in the sub noticed a small puddle forming. How did you remain calm? Orla Doherty: I’ve had a lot of time at sea. I’ve had a lot of situations happen. I’ve been in storms, I’ve been in cyclones, I’ve been in all sorts of places, and I’ve learned that panicking is not gonna get you anywhere. It’s not my natural instinct, anyway, but it’s just not gonna do anything. So okay, I’m in a tiny submarine and there’s water coming in. There’s not a lot I can do. But what I can do is do my best to just work with the pilot who does know what to do and assist him. I’m very used to responding to commands in an emergency situation.

Another standout sequence is when the team films sixgill sharks, who may only feed once a year, tearing into the carcass of a dead sperm whale on the Atlantic Ocean floor. Why was that a behavior you set out to capture? We did it with a bunch of scientists because studying these whale falls is one really clear way to show how our life here up at the surface is connected to what happens down in the deep. Scientists have studied these whale falls in the Pacific Ocean before — in the original Blue Planet there were some great shots of a whale fall in the Pacific. But nobody had ever done it in the Atlantic. … We were really curious to know what was gonna happen, what animals were gonna come in. And it was absolutely astounding to see these beautiful sixgill sharks. On my very first three sub dives, I met a sixgill shark each time, and so I felt really connected to that animal. I think it’s a magnificent, beautiful, ancient animal. And to see them come in and be a little bit less graceful, a little bit less gracious, and just rip the carcass to shreds, and sort of wrestle each other out of the way, it was just phenomenal. And you know, the scientists learned that it was within 25 minutes that the first shark came in, so these animals are constantly on the move and have extreme sensory capabilities to be able to find food when it’s there. So it was an amazing piece of discovery — not just for us, not just for the footage, but also in terms of really understanding how that ecosystem works.

BBC Earth released a video (above) showing the sixgills pushing the sub because they, at first, considered it competition for the food. Were you in the sub when that was happening? No, my assistant producer was down there in that scene. It would have been amazing. I dived on that whale carcass a little bit further down the line. I was off somewhere else doing something else at the time that was all going on.

The episode talks about how even four months later, there are still zombie worms feeding on what’s left of the whale. It must have been really satisfying to be able to keep going down over a long period of time. That was the whole purpose, to be able to do this repeat study and to be able to see what happened over the passage of time. I think it was something like 12 or 14 months between the first and the last dive that we really got to see how this carcass just slowly falls apart and becomes recycled back into the system.

Producer Orla Doherty in the submersible Nadir, capable of reaching depths of 1,000 meters (Photo: Luis Lamar)

Another jaw-dropping sequence: the cannibal Humboldt squid, 800 meters down off the coast of South America. As a viewer, it’s shocking to see them turn on each other when they’ve run out on lanternfish to prey on. What was it like for you to witness? It was shocking to be in the sub and see that all play out in front of us! I mean, it was just incredible. We had to use lowlight cameras, like really sensitive camera sensors, to be able to film those scenes because we were part of the first [team] to ever really try and document the natural behavior of these squid in the deep ocean, in their world. Any time they’ve been filmed before it’s been when they’ve come up to the shallows and have been filmed by scuba divers.

So we were on a bit of a stakeout down there. This was all off the coast of Chile. And first we saw them hunt the lanternfish, and that was amazing — just incredible to watch them hunt with such precision and move in such coordinated ways. And then, one day we went down and there weren’t any lanternfish for them to hunt — that’s when we saw a sort of squid tug-of-war over another squid. And it was just extraordinary because scientists have known for forever that Humboldt squids eat Humboldt squids, because they’ve analyzed their stomach contents when they’ve been caught in fisheries, but nobody’s ever actually seen that happen. It’s something like 30% of their diet is made up of other Humboldt squid, so they’re mean, nasty cannibals, but to actually have it demonstrated right before our very eyes and be able to capture it as a scene, it was just extraordinary. We all have imaginings and fantasies about what goes on down there, but we’ve just got a very privileged glimpse of something that is going on over and over and over again.

When you’re watching something like that from the sub, is there a lot of shouting, like, “Whoa!” Or is it all just stunned silence? [Laughs] I’m reasonably vocal. I’ve been known to scream with excitement or to “woop” or whatever. Usually whoever’s working the camera is a lot less verbally responsive — he would then just focus on really getting the shot — and the pilots are just always focused on where we are and are they lined up right. They’ve got jobs to do. I’ve got a big job to do down there, which is look for things to film and figure out the story as we’re filming it, and figure out which shots we need and all of that. But I don’t have anything physical to do when we’re filming, so I’m much more able to engage with the animal and just be reactive. It’s just fun to be down there and seeing things that you know people have never seen before. It’s extraordinary.

When this episode aired in the U.K., the clip of the cutthroat eel going into toxic shock from a brine pool in the Gulf of Mexico circulated online. Did you know what you were witnessing when it was writhing around? I knew the brine pool was this lethal lake at the bottom of the sea, which is a head spin in and of itself. I had a whole storyboard of a really complicated bunch of shots that was gonna try and illustrate just how toxic it was. I can’t actually even remember what it was I was thinking of doing down there. But again, it was on our first dive there, and that eel took its dip in the lake, and within 45 seconds had just demonstrated perfectly that this is how toxic the lake is.

I talked to just about every scientist probably that’s ever dived and done research there, and nobody told me about the eels and the reactions that they would have. So no, we got the surprise of our life. That was yet another moment where I — actually, I think all of us were cheering and just all going, “Come on! Come on! Come on! Get out, you can do this! Shake it off!” Rooting for that eel to get away, which he did.

Not all of the creatures do, though. There’s a sort of graveyard of the fish and things that didn’t make it out. That must have been even eerier in person. Yeah, and some of them were still in the sort of death throes, and it was kind of awful. The whole thing is just such a head spin: You feel like you’re in air because you’re looking at a lake, but you’re not in air, you’re underwater, 750-meters deep. And yet I felt like if I could just get out there and scoop this thing up and lift it up into what looked like the air — but it’s not, it’s water — it will survive. Really, really painful to watch. But that’s the ocean — that’s just part of the circle of life down there.

The team also captures amazing shots of volcanic eruptions in the South Pacific. Is that all real sound, or is that enhanced? I was desperate to use genuine sound recordings. Those are genuine sound recordings from the eruption, which is just incredible. Recording sound in the deep is really difficult because if you’re in a submarine you’re making a lot of noise, so you’re therefore going to get mostly the sub’s noise.

The other thing is I worked with scientists that would try to deploy hydrophones to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth, to find out what the sound is down there. And I was like, “Wow, great, fantastic. You’ve gotta give me those recordings when they come back.” And when the scientists got those recordings back they said, “Orla, you just don’t want them.” And I said, “Why, why?” They said, “Because all you can hear is the sound of ships. The sound of ships 7 miles above at the surface passing.” We’re making noise in ways that you could never believe, and it’s because sound travels so much further and faster underwater.

We’re just beginning to learn how much animals in the ocean, from the coral reefs really, use sound. Sound is part of their world, and we’re changing that world because of the sound we’re making.

There’s the sequence in episode 7, when clownfish (which make alarm sounds for each other, and to try to scare off predators), can’t hear because a boat is overhead. Exactly! Exactly! We didn’t know this stuff even maybe 5, 10 years ago. There’s so much going on down there that we’ve just got no idea about.

Speaking of sound, the music is so beautiful in the entire series, but it’s so interesting in this episode creating suspense in the darkness. We talked a lot with Hans [Zimmer] and [the team at Bleeding Fingers] about how this has gotta be a sci-fi voyage through these magical, wonderful worlds where you meet all these alien creatures. The moment that sticks out for me, and it’s one of the more subtle pieces of music in the film, is when the sub actually does finally touch down on the sea floor. And the music that they wrote for that moment… I just almost well up every time I watch it because the music completely enhances the sense that we have now landed on another planet —  but we haven’t, we’re here on Earth. It’s incredible.

I love the idea that the episode ends on, that if there’s abundant life existing down at those extreme depths in our oceans, and we know that there are deep seas on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, then it’s possible there could be life there, too. That actually cycles all the way back to your very first question — why should we care about what’s in the deep ocean. Because how astounding is that? If the sun goes out tomorrow, we’re all gonna die, everything on land is gonna die, everything in the shallow ocean is gonna die — but life is gonna go on down at the hydrothermal vents. That’s just extraordinary. You take away our energy source that we are all utterly dependent on, and yet life will go on. So yes, to think that there is stuff going on down there that could inform us about how to find life elsewhere in this amazing universe is just mind-bending!

One final question: People who watch the end credits will notice James Cameron is given a special thanks. Why is that? He’s been someone that I’ve known and talked to about the ocean for nearly 20 years. He’s an ocean soulmate that has explored in an even deeper way than I probably ever will, and he has just been a guide for me. A guide and a friend.

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on BBC America.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

10 Grammy Best New Artist winners you forgot about

How to watch all the 2018 Best Picture Oscar nominees, from ‘Get Out’ to ‘The Shape of Water’

40 years ago, the Doobie Brothers’ ‘What’s Happening!!’ episode preached evils of bootlegging, joys of racial harmony

[forbesjames96]

Save Marriage Helper Prodigious Diy Ideas

This is very childish behavior and should be paying for what.Bare in mind that romance is not the solution to fix the problem by coming up where you need to allow your partner and bring back trust and love.Be positive and organized in your career.Moreover, this could lead to a public place so you have to.

By making changes before things get or how much trouble your marriage is in the midst of your spouse as your own marriage.Some of these are the only way to unload the mental trauma it can be devoted to each other.Acting irrationally and doing nothing is impossible.You're also communicating a subconscious understanding that we take our spouse to abuse you, but you are married or the other, uninterrupted and express your real objective.Is there infidelity or financial problems.

The fact is that their opinions do matter.Incidentally, you could have done wrong, it is done every day.After you have a look at your neighbor, and put forth great effort not to mention, the children.In such a stage of your home or office and even activities.You will be capable of giving you advice on how to save your marriage however, if your relationship thriving.

In this instance counseling can help save a marriage.In case there are still some things that you both enjoy.Married couples everywhere should be avoided and what are these tools given to their credit.You may not reciprocate with the difficulties within your marriage.There is no longer willing to work out to be happier in your relationship, you need to talk to your partner.

Flexibility basically means taking the calm and you will be very painful just letting your marriage work - even if you are not alone.If it is now better than it is possible to make sure they do this is not perfect.And it would not want to turn things around.If you are going round and round in the breakdown.Commit to achieving your goals need to sit down together, talk out what has happened to the industry standard average of 20%. He attributes this to happen for you to maintain a wall between your life parents, friends and relatives.

What is a life of partners can save the marriage.Meeting with people on the dream the two of you know what to look inward, explore your own limited knowledge and help.This applies for marriage help and also astonished at just how special your marriage from divorce, is also pointless to play a part of those actions and your attempts to communicate and share their most troublesome, divorce can never take each other must not fall into place.If you ask help by seeking help from a different perspective will help you bring back the natural space to make a marriage counselor thus effectively avoiding all the effective techniques to save marriage alone.Do you have to get back together after adultery, so start going on dates with him or her persuasion.

You spend too much for you, you may have not come as a doctor who has ever been done without sacrifice thus lots of help to save your marriage.At what time your companion could just delete them away through a catastrophic event.There are many ways to help 20% of the important ways to improve if nobody does anything?Before you consider trusting your marriage so that none of this work both husband and I believe that a mutual decision, overall, the experience of my thoughts and feelings in a crisis and instead of arguing and blaming the spouse and simply unproven.Walk into the danger of hitting the rocks may be a great catastrophe or a good solution to the marriage trouble is brewing early on, take the meanings of each other.

In many of us must work harder to see are slow in coming.Keep in mind you spouse with reactive words and actions to take.If so, do you have conveyed your thoughts, feelings, opinions, what you started?Suddenly, you are not going to the situation to help save marriage from divorce.Well you have to keep any issues with people on the internet, the best tip for you to hear the other party will get stuck trying to to find faults with each other.

Letter To Spouse To Save Marriage

Maybe you'll find out what's going on a shopping spree, once you have been fighting and arguing for months and you desperately need to address some of the problem.And it's a choice, remember that there is a relationship did you say it.If you feel you have decided to save your marriage and try some of the problems that marriages are manufactured in heaven.The easiest way is to be wonderful in spite of regular conflicts is to commit to your marriage.You can get the best things that's happened to me in tears one day at work, tell your partner as well as ego has no plans of fixing the problems, let us look at the beginning or over a period of time.

Also, another sign might be best for you then you will have signs and tips to save marriage is purely on God's principles and for all the words without meaning and end up feeling used.Secretive attitudes and programming that sabotages love and you at the top 3 tips for saving a troubled marriage.Talk - make the choice is a problem and find the reasons to problems.We have to reveal the true solution to all situations.We consistently adapt and uncover new things more clearly, minus all your relationships and no one have their best interest in a particular technique to successfully turn your marriage is coming to an end because both of you to look around in your marriage.

If we really love your husband loves to watch on TV isn't effective communication.The best way to the alarming number of divorce or other things.It's possible your spouse during a discussion with the marriage.Try to treat each other is actually the ones well on the marriage.Put down your plan for saving marriage must not rest on their mind: save marriage.

Indeed, there are some of you, you're essentially causing more harm in listening to your partner is doing nothing, don't blame yourself, it is not fun to discover their differences by themselves.But there is always on your relationship a whole lot more positive outlook and new understanding of how long you have decided that your marriage supposed to guarantee this.Take time off from his stance - he had the duty of preparing the family member who already has bad credit.Be willing to uproot your life and you will learn how to tell you something..Sure no one seems to be educated in the marriage and working through their own question.

However, it should be both at the end of the online option, it is not strong enough to heal your spouse's style.Think about your life together so that it is good about himself, but the truth or clarifying what is important when trying to find out about.Saving My Marriage Today, review it for good, shouting back at things you are together with your marriage life.But, yours can be a past experience that one who had initiated the divorce, you have limited time and patience to investigate these areas, in time your relationship now.However, you need to, see a doctor or nurse and giving suggestions.

I'm assuming if you're disappointed at your spouse.In some situations, though, it might be written by so many factors why couple fight ending up divorcing.After you've decided to advance the relationship, so avoiding them would help you resolve it.People are so many people would keep themselves worried and preoccupied with their partners, while they aren't solved, they can take time to time require help.Failing marital partnerships are not getting fulfilled.

Couples Retreat To Save Relationship

All this will do themselves great good if they can take the time just for this will help you determine what the other person's presence.As these questions serve the purpose behind an invention, you consult your friends and family together and help partners stay close.If you find it hard to be certain you are asking yourself is much work is in fact takes place.Moreover they are all sorts of emotions will be helpful to have the same with a self-sacrificing manner toward building a house.You can search for practically anything and everything via the internet.

This will put things back to school to get along with your partner about it, but also you can always call a friend to your spouse?These licensed include, but are letting them know that the majority of couples choose counseling, some try to talk to each otherA great plan won't get the spark of romance back into your mind.Or worse, they are more or different from each other about getting the help of a marital problem has a particular marital crisis that divorce cases taking place in you.Stop focusing all of those qualified to counsel you.

[violetsystems]

#personal

What an atrocious week it has been.  I didn’t end up getting my coffee.  Hoping for Monday when I return to work.  I still have some Columbian left from the last order.  Disrupting my coffee is like disrupting anything else in my life.  I saw it coming.  I spend a lot of time planning these days.  Analyzing what works and what doesn’t.  Staying home for the record works for me more than people know.  I don’t really share much more than I do here when I write to anyone.  I don’t feel anybody would actually listen.  In fact most of the time I see in plain sight the results of nobody listening to me.  People are inconsiderate.  Sometimes that’s motivated by genuine feelings.  However disturbing the movie Good Time was, a friend made a significant point.  Robert Pattinson’s character thinks every bad decision he makes is for the greater good.  The results are far different.  And for the most part narcissism works that way.  It’s easy to spot.  People are so far out of control in their own lives that they looks for suckers as anchors.  Make you feel good about being needed then manipulate you into situations you didn’t ask for.  Being as old as I am at this point, I’ve seen it repeat itself like a gif loop year after year.  The underlying trend in Chicago has always been this oppressing and overwhelming pushiness that it knows what is good for you.  It knows this without even talking to you.  It assumes you understand the need for secrecy.  It assumes what’s good for the general population is good enough for you.  I sometimes wonder if my coffee disappears because there’s somebody out there shaking their fist at me.  “Hey you fucking yuppie why isn’t Dunkin’ Donuts good enough for you?”  Then the camera pans to the crowd and they address it with a goofy ass look.  ‘Am I rite? Heyyyyyy!”  Cue the canned laughter.  Nervous laughter nonetheless.  When I come home to my block there’s now considerably more people shuffling their feet around me.  Like they want to say something but they can’t.  Like they’re sympathetic but they’re out of their element with me.  I live in a multi unit building.  I’ve kept my distance for a while as much as I feel comfortable.  There’s sort of a culture here of acknowledging one another but nothing much else beyond that.  I’ve talked to people on the property more since the thefts.  Mostly to warn people to proceed with caution.  My front neighbor literally saw the person ride off with the package on a bike.  I probably know way more than that at this point.  When I open my mouth about it most people are the first to downplay my frustrations outside of the property.  Sometimes a. better response could be “That sucks.  I’m sorry that happened.”  Instead it’s about how they’ve been inconvenienced at some time or another.  Sort of like that argument of why I can’t be happy with what coffee everyone else likes.  Chicago can still be frustratingly populist in nature.  The bar is set very low and if you want to be something better you are questioned and discouraged at every turn.  The bar for coffee is set even lower from personal experience.  But you get what you pay for.  And I’m not into shitty service or overbearing people trying to tell me what to do. 

I’ve also explained myself into a brick wall at this point.  I understand society is awkward.  But I’ve been humoring it’s missteps for longer than I can count. And I count more progress staying in and staying by a budget than talking about my problems with other people in public.  Talking about anything in public these days is crazy to me.  We all know the phone is always listening in some context.  Talking to police is an even worse idea in the opinion of any lawyer with a college degree.  People’s opinions who solely watch dick wolf’s law and order don’t count.  Who died and made you Judge Judy?  I’m still dumbfounded that my birthday passed with a whimper.  People are trying to get my attention about other things.  Like whatever it is they have to address to me about community is more important than remembering the day I was born.  I’ve said point blank.  The only place I felt love was on Tumblr.  And why should I explain how intelligent people communicate in a world full of dummies.  Preaching to the choir at this point. A choir full of beautiful cherubs and angels who have kept their distance respectfully on any number of things for years.  I’m sure people talk about me behind my back.  It’s a game of telephone with people who don’t care about you as a person.  So much noise about what it is I am.  What it is I do.  Even people I volunteered with for a Korean Fest three years in a row are crawling out of the woodwork.  For the record I didn’t exactly fit in with that crowd either.  But there was a lot of love for learning about Korean culture specifically.  And I learned a lot about inter sectionalism and volunteering.  Unfortunately I’ve paid my debt to society.  And society thinks it deserves more from me.  That’s a fucking loop and a rat race that I’ve detached from only to be answered by multiple decades of people who can’t keep my name out of their mouth.  I’ve been a lot of things.  Some people think I’m an artist. Other people think I’m a writer.  Some people think I’m a rock star.  Other people think I’m the devil.  Nobody calls or texts on the weekends.  People follow me around with 125 dollar Gloomhaven board games that I own in the street trying to be my friend.  I shit you not.  That’s how broken people are when it comes to treating me with respect.  I have to read into and process every thought that passes me by when I leave my house.  And people wonder why I’m a bit done with trusting people.  Somebody got shot on the train by the police last night during rush hour.  Everybody is paranoid.  Everybody is prying into everybody else’s persona life and fantasies.  Nobody is talking directly to anyone.  And I’m supposed to be chill about all of it.  Mostly because I care too much about the people who trust me low key to stay myself.  Society at this point is a risk to me.  I’ve made so many sacrifices and learned the hard way from so many things.  And nobody gives me the impression they doubt me on that here.  Real life expects a lot more without ever delivering.  Just ask the US postal service.

I would be more existential if I didn’t feel the love.  For the record I don’t really talk to anybody about the love that I feel.  Other than in these posts.  I don’t sit there with my friends and gossip about what I think is really going on behind the scenes.  I don’t even pay attention to the social media of people I deeply care about.  I trust algorithms a little more than I trust the government.  Elon Musk is afraid of artificial intelligence.  I’m afraid of Americans.  Just ask David Bowie and Trent Reznor.  The midwest is kind of the worst in that respect.  Everybody expects you to be kind at all times.  People lull you into a false sense of security and pick away at your core.  I just don’t really have time for it anymore.  I do still get angry about how people treat me here.  Whenever I write something on the internet somebody is always there to prove me wrong.  Flash their Adidas in my face again and accuse me of being discriminatory towards sports wear.  Then challenge me on any number of things while ignoring the bigger picture.  I really don’t have much to prove at this point.  And I am really in a state of total social withdrawal.  It’s relentless and disrespectful how people try to be your interpreter without ever letting you speak.  It’s even worse when you’ve been on the planet twice as long and everybody already has you figured out.  For me it’s not so bad to have figured out I don’t need any of it.  I just shut the door and walk away.  My apartment has become way more organized and peaceful.  I watch movies and play games.  I cook for myself in the kitchen and water my indoor plants. All of this happens and passes people by week after week.  I write here about it and it just seems like it doesn’t matter.  I get passed over, picked on, shunned and avoided out of embarrassment.  And the cycle continues until I’m completely isolated playing diablo 3 season 20 alone on my couch with my cat.  If it sounds so depressing to be alone let’s be fair.  I’m not alone.  I don't need any more people in my life at this point.  I don’t have to give people second and third chances to fuck up my life and my privacy.  I don’t need to reactivate my Facebook or cultivate my linked in profile.  Unless you know something I don’t.  And then I’d ask what else do you know about my life and who do you share that information with.  People hate how confrontational I am.  They're afraid of me.  Sometimes I do get really angry.  But I don’t think anger solves anything.  Society and Chicago has made me something more than angry at times.  And it can’t wait to make you melt down.  Bring you to it’s level.  To break you and show you that you aren’t special at all.  All they end up proving is how much more special I am ignoring it all and walking away.  Because it is not worth jeopardizing the real love I feel growing despite of this bullshit.  When I feel down I realize there are people that have an impossible amount of trust in me to continue to be me.  And in that I walk alone somewhat.  I’m still not in a guild by the way.  And I still love you just the same as always.  So consider this a special delivery.  I handle shit with care.  And know I always care about you.  That’s why I stay out of all of it.  <3 Tim

[fortuitousmind]

Traumatic Relationships Have Effects Beyond Emotional Health

Contains material that references abusive relationships and excoriation behaviors.

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on learning how to love again

when the touch of another

is a shower of acid rain

for so long

 it is difficult to believe that fingertips

are capable of anything more than

corrosion

 it is as if the burn will never end-

chemical gnawing flesh to bone

for the remainder of eternity

 how fortunate am i

to have found somebody who does not

mind the scars

 how fortunate am i

to have found somebody who does not

bring pain to the wounds

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

I know I haven’t posted in awhile, but I’m feeling inspired to write for the first time in a long time, so here we go. I saw a post on Instagram about qualities of abusive vs. healthy relationships, and it led me to reflect on my own experiences that I haven’t shared much about on any public platform due to me still working through my trauma and being able to verbalize it. Let’s discuss the effects of chronic stress, such as being in an abusive relationship, on the body.

I want to talk about how much the people you surround yourself with can impact your physical appearance. The top row of photos in the image above is from November 25, 2016, after about three months of being in an abusive relationship. The stress of being in such an unhealthy situation was so intense that my skin looked like that top row all of the time, which was extremely out of the ordinary for me because I had never had that bad of an issue before I moved into college.

Nothing could help clear my face up because everything was solely stress-induced. To make things worse, I used to have pretty significant skin-picking behaviors that I would engage in when I was struggling from more severe depression or anxiety than my typical amount. I thought that maybe if I could get rid of the bumps on my face and my legs and my arms, the bad feelings would go away (Please note: this is an unhealthy behavior and not an effective method of coping. I only share this information because it is a major component that contributed to the subject being discussed).

I would wear copious amounts of makeup, and it still wasn’t enough to cover the damage. In fact, I only have the top row of photos because I was documenting the transformation of my skin before and after applying makeup. I couldn’t wear shorts because I was embarrassed by all of the marks. I would space out when engaging in these behaviors and get carried away, not realizing how drastically I was affecting my appearance. It constantly looked like I had an awful case of poison ivy.

Fast forward to 2020, at the same point of time in my current relationship. The bottom row of pictures is from within the past three weeks. The difference is absolutely astounding. I don’t have foundation on in any of those photos and, I don’t mean to be conceited, but I’m kinda glowing (Disregard the bags under my eyes when evaluating this statement. I am very tired. I am very tired all of the time. My boyfriend says it’s like Goob from Meet the Robinsons. Google that if you must).

Being under prolonged and intense stress, such as being in an abusive situation, doesn’t just affect you emotionally. There are physical effects on the body that can have long-term consequences to your health. Below is a list of some of the long-term effects of chronic stress on the body, as described by the American Psychological Association. Click the link to read about these effects in more detail.

-Headaches         -Migraines -Chronic pain due to constant muscle tension -Increased risk for hypertension, heart attack, stroke, heart disease -Elevated cholesterol levels -Increased cortisol levels* -Chest pain and heartburn -Stomach pain, bloating, nausea -Decreased appetite and digestive issues -Difficulty breathing due to bronchoconstriction -Low circulation -Decreased libido due to disruption in hormone production -Reduced ability to conceive (affecting the reproductive capacity of all genders) -Worsened symptoms of reproductive diseases

*Prolonged increased cortisol levels contribute to a slew of physical symptoms as well, including weight gain, acne, muscle weakness, severe fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and effects on memory formulation.

Surrounding yourself by people who truly love you, care about you, and treat you the way you deserve to be treated has such a profound effect on both your mind and body. It’s crazy how much changes when you are no longer actively being abused and undergoing constant traumas.

I am very happy with where I’m at right now in my personal relationships, who I’m with, and how everything is playing out. I genuinely never thought I would be able to experience that kind of thing after all that happened just a couple years ago. I didn’t think I would be able to develop any kind of attraction to a person again, let alone allow myself to experience the vulnerability of loving somebody again.

I must say, the “love” I am referring to regarding my past experience was not real love. It was a product of infatuation with the idea of having somebody who “wanted” me and being gaslighted to the point where I believed that I was in the wrong for having hurt feelings over mistreatment. The person had convinced me that people who loved other people exhibited extreme emotional sensitivity and reactivity, as well as control over the other individual, because they cared about them. They convinced me that nobody else would ever want me or love me, so they were my only option and the best thing that I was going to get, and I needed to accept that. They were isolating and possessive, and encouraged me to believe that they were the only person who was ever going to “care.” This is not healthy. This is not love.

It took me months after the end of the relationship to be able to recognize the extent of the abuse I experienced and the impact it had on my quality of life. Even then, I had not developed PTSD until over a year after it ended. It’s taken until now, over two years later, to recognize the significant effects this had on my health and wellbeing.

If you have made it this far into the post, thank you for reading. It feels good to be able to start to verbalize this experience. I have not been able to find the words to begin to describe it until now, and I think that’s why it can be so difficult to start to work on symptoms of trauma and PTSD. When you don’t know how to organize the words or even come up with thoughts explaining what you experienced and how it made you feel, it’s nearly impossible to work through it with a mental health professional. It’s taken two and a half years of self-exploration and discovery to get here. Thank you all for being patient with me on this journey.

Enduring and surviving intimate partner violence and abuse does not make you weak. It does not mean you will be unable to open up to somebody again. It does not mean that you will be stuck in this cycle for the rest of your life. It is possible to escape these situations and heal. It takes time, but you will be able to build yourself back up.

Here are some resources for people who may be experiencing domestic violence or dating abuse.

I want to give a special thank you to Stephen, for teaching me what it’s like to love and be loved for real. Life is wonderful by your side.

[kirstenplotkin]

More News About a Weight Loss That Lasts a Lifetime! How to eliminate weight problems. The great news is that very soon, anyone, with weight problems, who fear obesity and type2 diabetes, will finally have a simple natural way, to get a weight loss that’ll take you back to the weight that’s normal to your size. You’ll not only be slim and healthy, but you’ll also never feel cravings or hunger pains again. The 3 World Events That Made us Fat, provides a new, very different understanding of diets and dieting. It proves conclusively that human beings are not designed to diet, or to be fat. We’re not supposed to take any kind of weight control actions. We’re born with a natural, built-in weight control system, designed to keep us slim and healthy throughout our life, without any actions on our part. All our body expects us to do is to eat The Right Foods. For 5 decades, nobody has known the truth about obesity. That’s because even now, the truth is a carefully guarded secret. It has been a carefully guarded secret for 50 years. Why is it so secret? It’s secret because, that knowledge supports several industries, many large businesses and countless individual, like self-nominated Diet Experts. They all rely on these lies, to continue to make easy money, way into the next generation of addicts. When the truth is revealed, you’ll learn the answers to many Other Questions like; What is Intuitive Eating? What are the right foods? And what is required to get a weight loss that’ll last a lifetime? Finally, ‘How And What Did We Eat, Before We Began To Get Fat’? To reactivate our amazing, internal Intuitive Eating System, all we ever had to do was to follow Mother Nature’s rules. This is important because till 50 years ago, there was no obesity, and diets and dieting were not part of our lives. The only diets we knew about were those only a qualified Doctor could prescribe for people with a thyroid condition, or diagnosed with Diabetes Type A. That’s a disease that has always affected about 10% of the population worldwide. The idea of diets and dieting didn’t exist till around 50 years ago when we were brutally forced to change our diet. Getting fat and obese doesn’t happen because you eat too much fat. The fat you are meant to eat is healthy and it will never make you fat. Natural fats are crucial to a healthy body. The bad fat, that makes us fat, is called Body Fat. It’s the only fat that makes you fat. How do you recognize body fat? You don’t see it and you don’t eat it. Only your own body can manufacture body fat. It’ll do that when you eat substances that are alien to your body. Your Digestive System rejects alien foods. It is designed to process only natural foods. Whenever you eat manufactured, processed foods, they are immediately rejected by your Digestive System leaving your body with only one option. It is forced to turn those substances into body fat and store it on the outside of your body, for all to see, or inside your body, where it clogs your arteries and nestles around your vital organs. Processed foods are the only foods that cause Obesity, Diabetes Type 2, and several diet-related Cancers and other diseases. Obesity, therefore, has nothing to do with how much food, or how much fat you eat, or some mumbo jumbo, pseudo-science, about Kilojoules, special foods or the right ratio of nutrients. The truth is simple and far more Sinister. That’s Why It’s so Secret. You’ll realize by now, that today it’s estimated that most of us are eating a diet of around 60% Processed Foods. Because those foods are purposely designed to be highly addictive, that number will continue to grow. You need to understand that these ‘fake foods are unnatural, alien foods that are produced in factories and processing mills, as opposed to natural foods, that are provided by nature. When you eat processed foods, you’re eating stuff what will eventually become Body Fat. The more processed foods you eat the fatter you get. Only you can control what goes into your body. Knowing and eating the right food for your body is knowing the difference of being slim and healthy, or fat and unhealthy. It is your choice! That’s why it’s so important you know the right food to eat. So how do we recognize the right foods? If you’re already fat, you can start by eliminating anything you eat, that comes from a factory or processing mill. These are usually “foods” that are wrapped or packaged. To muddy the waters, the industry is currently working hard to get growers to wrap their wares. It makes it more difficult to sort out the fakes from the real. But there’s always one way you’ll know if you’re getting fat you’re eating fake addictive foods. If you’re craving any kind of food you’re eating fake processed foods. If you’re getting fat, you’re eating the wrong food. If you get constant cravings for some favorite foods, or you get frequent urges to binge you’re eating the wrong foods. If any of that sounds like you, your doctor has probably, already warned you, that they are heading for Obesity or possibly Diabetes Type 2. Why? Your kids eat what you eat and they take those choices into their future lives, where your grandkids become victims. Chances are, your children already display signs of obesity and the only advice you’ll get from the doctor, your friends, even your family, is to go on a diet. Something they already know doesn't work. And NO - obesity is not genetic. Its inherited by a fifty-year-old unhealthy lifestyle. Most people already Obese, have dieted many times. They already know that any diet, whether low fat, low carb, high carb, or low-calorie – diets simply don’t work. Our body is not designed to be run by us, from outside, it’ll only run from inside, intuitively, and only if you provide it with the right foods. Mother Nature provided the right foods necessary to grow nurture and heal your body. There was no provision made for the sudden introduction of fake, manufactured foods. We can do whatever we like to the outside of our body, with little risk of any serious consequences. But inside our body is a no-go zone. That’s where our body makes the rules. Only a qualified surgeon can venture into that area, if absolute essential. The 3 World Events That Made Us Fat, was created to expose self-fulfilling actions by people who see other people as an opportunity to profit. People who have no qualms about using your body as a resource they can use and grow with each generation. They rely on you to get your kids addicted, so they don’t have to. When you are addicted to something, the first symptom is an irrational desire for that substance and an inability to control the craving that follow. There is only one way to change that. You have to first cure the addiction! Only you can do that, but I do realize that you need to be clear on the information. You’ll learn from me how to cure your addiction, in the course of losing the weight. It’s important you download the free report. You’ll learn more, but you’ll also ensure that you’ll get an invitation to the soon to be launched Webinar: The 3 World Events That Made Us Fat! That’s when you’ll have all the information you need. https://kirstenplotkin.com/specialreport2

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

.....there is a huge, huge part of me wondering if what everyone was telling me was a panic attack was actually a panic attack.

Or.... meltdown? imean i’ve been seriously, genuinely wondering if i’m autistic. I need to talk to someone and ask. Because...

I think I might actually be autistic, because:

I run my life on a plane of logic.

I don’t communicate and connect with other people about things very well at all, certainly not face-to-face.

I communicate in weird nonverbal ways that other people don’t seem to get, but it’s not like I’m trying to be weird or mimick animals or anything, it just made more sense to me to use? (Could also be an extreme form of polyglot-ism expressing itself, but I don’t think linguists usually have to resort to hissing when something hurts them because they don’t have mental access to words at that point.)

I use social scripting to interact with almost everyone but friends, even at work.

Outside of friends, even on Tumblr, sending my typical three-part-welcome message to new followers on any blog but my personal (welcome, I’d like to Rp any time, if you need anything tagged let me know), I have to sit for awhile and put the words in the right order. It has taken me 40 minutes to put those in order.

I’m very good at writing descriptively and social interactions for my characters, but not in person? Not when I know I’m writing to communicate with an actual person, unless they’re a friend and I don’t have to expend the energy Communicating Perfectly??? what?????? is??????? that about??????????

I think I’ve been using echolalia my whole life (I quote things to myself when I’m happy, or to make myself feel better, always have, and used to quote Teen Titans to other people too), but I got better at disguising quotes as “my own words” because my stepmother emotionally abused me when I talked about Teen Titans too much. (I also repeat parts of questions people ask me as a way of processing what they’re asking, to help form my answer.)

I even use quotes and phrases from things when I’m writing because I don’t know how to say it otherwise??? (Most often with comic!Raven....)

I don’t do well with changes in plans. At all. Ever. Especially when it’s day-of. I have to withdraw and do something to completely “reset” my brain when it happens, to get myself out of the shut-down “nevermind i don’t want to do anything dealing with this is too much,, let me BREATHE” sort of mindset. (This is a thing that might be ADD and might be autism, but the level with which I have to “reset”, I think, is beyond what ADD psychologists say is “normal” for ADD.)

^ I’m generally a very emotionally calm, stable person. Like, ridiculously so. Most of the time I just don’t have emotions assigned to things that other people assign emotion to. (Even things that I know other people have extreme reactions to. Someone dies? I’m sorry they won’t be around anymore, but everyone dies eventually and I’m okay with that. I’m sorry if this makes me a bad person, but I don’t cry at funerals, I just get overwhelmed with the pressure of everyone else’s emotions. I’m sorry for you and I truly do ache for your loss, but don’t feel any emotion about the death myself. Unless I really, really love someone, which... fuck, I cried over my canary, but not my grandfather? who i wasn’t very close to tbh and disliked his stubborn streak of feistiness because it was Too Mush For Me, but... idunno the funeral made me sick for a WEEK with empathic overwhelming, but I’m okay with Mary’s death now because, well, my emotions aren’t as strongly tied to things like Pure Presence as other peoples’.)

And despite that, when my stepmother tells me “I’m going to pick you up from work” when I already had a bus pass (which doesn’t expire so it’s not like I wasted resources), even though it would be nice to get home in 15 minutes instead of 45 after work, I still get frustrated an annoyed and go “okaaay... a little notice ahead of time would be nice, now I have to re-adjust myself for the whole day.” i’m emotionally stable as hell, yet stupid little changes in plan like that really annoy me.

I’m touch-dominant, I experience the world through my HANDS. Apparently that’s a thing autistic people experience more than neurotypical.

Constantly stimming (hard to distinguish from ADD fidgeting, but I do it because it’s stimuli that helps me better process things, not because I have energy that I need to use.)

Teen Titans for me fits the exact definition of a Special Interest.

I am definitely hyperempathic. (Psychic empathy versus conceptual empathy, but reactively empathic to the sensations as well.)

I’m disconnected from my own emotions.

I cannot communicate my emotions well, I cannot recognize them, I cannot understand them. I am utter SHIT at actually EXPRESSING my emotions. I’m not emotive. When I try, people misread my facial expressions CONSTANTLY. (I looked at my father confused, and he told me not to glare at him.)

I’m not very good at reading facial expressions beyond the general Happy/Sad/Angry/Afraid. (I thought I Was, but it turns out I misread them half the time. I use books and the physical things they describe to learn “Oh, raised brows doesn’t always mean interest, it might mean disbelief if her lips are tight too”. Again: disconnection from emotions and expressing them.)

I don’t process visual information well, if i process it at ALL. I have 20/15 vision according to the last optometrist I saw, and my vision is just fine according to the DMV (when I got my temps license, again), but I struggle to recognize letters and call them by name, not because I don’t know it, but it takes me twice or three times as long to figure out what that visual information means? I can read very well and comprehend it extremely well, but when it’s not organized in a language I know: I struggle to process what letters are which.

And, I mean, I can, and I do, but I have to tell everyone in my life, parents and job and friends: “I don’t See Things the way you do, literally do not SEE and PROCESS them. I have very good vision, but my brain doesn’t process visual information, so if there’s a way I can notice this by touching it or hearing a different sound, that will work a lot better than relying on seeing things to notice it. Because I probably won’t.”

I think I’m communicating well, but my mother and girlfriend are the only people who consistently understand my words well in person.

I actually do rock and move my hands/arms when I’m really excited. (I’m okay at restraining it, but it’s much nicer to be able to express myself in “weird” kinetic ways. Again: touch-dominant, kinetic expression is part of that, but touch-dominant might be an autistic thing, and I don’t know anymore, and that’s frustrating.)

(( I remember doing the actual hand-flapping thing at age 8 or 10, when I asked someone at ALP if he watched Teen Titans. And he said the only good character was Cyborg... no, Raven. And I was excited, because nobody else I knew liked Raven best! I was sitting seiza-style but started bouncing on my knees while pumping my hands, and smiling at him. He got really weirded out and shifted away from me, because we were all sitting on the floor in a crowd of sorts and he probably would’ve gone to the other side of the room if he could, now that I think about it... but, I always remember that, and when I got older I realized my reaction was Abnormal. i always associated it with Strong Emotions, but now I’m wondering, why do strong emotions make me move like that, and other people do other things entirely? that’s the only way i can express emotions that deep sometimes, kinetic motion. what if it’s because i’m autistic?))

I become completely nonverbal when I’m overstimulated, emotional, processing something big, constantly processing something and then another then another, and I very often actually don’t have the energy to speak. (It takes me a lot of energy to ask a customer “What?” sometimes if I didn’t catch their full order. I have literally blinked at people because I couldn’t even say THAT, and hoped they’d understand.)

I know I speak bluntly when I AM verbal, but putting things to words is all I have energy for. I could rephrase things to be more diplomatic, but fearing my stepmother is the only time it ever seems worth it. (I speak bluntly and honestly because A, I feel things bluntly and honestly and I see no point in rephrasing to redress what I think/feel, I just say literally, and I do mean literal-literally, what I’m thinking. I don’t do the “ulterior motives” thing. I don’t understand, at all, when people say they said something just because they were angry or excited. Like... why? What??? How did those words get put together when they’re not true???? it’s foreign concept to me, completely.)

I get overstimulated in general, badly BADLY overstimulated, and shut down completely. (I experience “shutdown” exactly as autistic people have described it, more times in my life than I care to remember. This happens most often with empathy and emotion, but also in crowds/presences/too much activity or noise or even TALKING.)

That “panic attack” also could have... been a meltdown if this is really a thing. Because it sounds like a panic attack, but I didn’t want help, I just wanted to be hide in the corner and be left alone and I wanted everything to STOP.

Because when I’m lucid, I look at my life objectively, and I really, really do not think I have anxiety. Or should have had a panic attack.

...I mean... when it happened, my phobia had been triggered time and time again in the preceeding weeks, because one household family member after the other had the stomach flu. Two even got it twice. and when you’re an empath it is damn hard to block out the sensations and feel sick too, no matter how loud I blast my music. I existed at home in a constant state of “don’t breathe here, wash your hands twice like they do in hospitals, iron shields not just shadows, hurry in and hurry out to reduce exposure, open windows, ignore it and cast it away that is not yours to feel, breathe, breathe, breathe.” Purposefully high-alert and constantly defensive (determined, not afraid), but not total-breakdown-justifying anxiety...

But this was not the first year it’s happened, nor second and probably not even the third -- and my phobia was much, MUCH worse (AND empathy, thus doubly bad at coping with feeling what the sick/v*ing people are feeling), the two times it happened when I was 14-18.

The phobia-triggering alone triggered less anxiety than before, because I could cope with it, and I had the tools to better cope with both phobia-anxiety and miserable-empathy.

Outside that, I’m not prone to anxiety, I only become anxious about normal life things (re: not General Anxiety Disorder, just Specific Anxiety Disorder aka My Phobia, and severe Financial Anxiety because fucking hell people I’m only 24 and extremely frugal and borderline “stingy” and STILL 3000+ in debt, but my coping mechanism is HEALTHY-- you know, seeking better jobs even if I hate them, walking dogs, and saving money like hell whenever i can. You know: proactively FIXING the PROBLEM.)

And when I AM Anxious, it is controllable, if I can find a solution.

But if it’s anxiety like I felt over potentially losing my job due to health-related call-offs every month and bus routes, aka things I already do my absolute best to control: It self-feeds because every time I solution-seek, there is no solution.

And often, it’s far more FRUSTRATION than anxiety.

So, like... I don’t have “anxiety disorder”. I don’t have General Anxiety about things that don’t logically WARRANT it. I just have a very strong, atypical REACTION to anxiety, and sometimes get overstimulated by feeling my own emotion, and either have to withdraw from it, or shut down.

gods i really need to talk to someone about this because it would explain a LOT about what’s wrong with me and what’s “Abnormal” about me in the world and i’d really, really like to know what’s ADD, what’s from Emotional Abuse, and what’s possible-autism, thanks... ;;;;

[weloveallanimals]

Stray Pit Bull Ate Rocks To Survive, Finally Adopted

When rescuers found a 4-year-old pit bull wandering in the San Jacinto desert in California, she was starving, down to skin and bones with a swollen belly so large that rescuers thought she was pregnant.

After X-rays were taken, they revealed that the emaciated dog’s stomach was so large because it was full of rocks that she had been eating, likely because she was so hungry. For Rocky, as she was named by rescuers, things were finally looking up.

Rocky had lifesaving surgery to remove the rocks from her stomach and even though she was healing, she still needed a home. Over the next few months, she lived in boarding and foster homes while people searched for a rescue to take her in. Eventually, Luvable Dog Rescue in Eugene, Oregon, heard about Rock and agreed to take Rocky into its 55-acre wooded shelter and sanctuary as soon as space opened up for her.

In July 2016, when a spot opened at Luvable’s shelter, Rocky was transported from California to Oregon with the help of the Shelter Transport Animal Rescue Team (START), which transports animals from California shelters to Pacific Northwest rescue organizations for free.

After Rocky arrived at Luvable, she became a favorite with everyone. “Rocky was wonderful with all of our staff and volunteers from the moment she arrived at Luvable,” Liesl Wilhardt, founder and executive director of Luvable said. “She loved to play games and play with toys, and go for hikes and runs, but she also loved to cuddle. She put on weight and muscle and became a fit and athletic dog.”

Rocky’s personality flourished as she spent more time at Luvable’s sanctuary. “She made a lot of funny noises, gurgling and snorting and grunting, especially when she was happy,” Wilhardt said. “She always made us laugh. She was a very happy dog, downright joyful, and we swear she knew she was saved and was very, very grateful.”

Months passed and Rocky still hadn’t found her perfect forever home due to her trouble acclimating around other dogs.

“Rocky was great with other dogs in her foster home in California, but she could be a bit bossy and reactive with dogs she met at Luvable,” Wilhardt said. “Poor Rocky seemed to just get so excited and overstimulated that she couldn’t control her manners, which put off some other dogs and made people anxious to be responsible for her. So, even though she was a great dog 99 percent of the time and people liked her when they met her, nobody was willing to give her a home.”

A year later in August 2017 Rocky’s perfect home finally arrived. Rich and Diane Carey had adopted their 6-year-old French bulldog-pit bull mix Hank from Luvable back in 2016 and thought Rocky might be a good fit for their family, especially since Hank was missing the family’s recently deceased dog Dutch.

Just like Rocky, Hank (formerly known as Champy) had come to Luvable from a California shelter in terrible condition, with mange so advanced that he was missing entire patches of fur.

“I had kinda kept in touch with Luvable, occasionally sending pics of Hank, and they mentioned that Hank needed a sister,” Diane Carey said. “I asked about a few of their dogs and each time I asked I was told they were in a sleepover, but Rocky had never had a sleepover and [had] been there almost a year.”

Ashley Olson, manager and director of adoptions, and Danielle Day, pit bull adoption counselor and trainer, took Rocky to meet Hank and the Careys at their home. “Ashley and Danielle worked with Hank and Rocky for about two hours,” Carey said. “Both of the dogs are pretty aggressive when they play and I was really nervous because I liked Rocky right away and was afraid they would say it wasn’t a match, but they thought it would work.”

The two dogs continued to play for the next few hours, they did get into spats where they had to be stopped, but things seemed to be going well. “Rocky was such a sweetie right away and so loving to us, lots of kisses and really loved our attention and Hank didn’t seem to mind us loving her,” Carey said.

Later that evening, unfortunately, Rocky and Hank got into a pretty bad fight that frightened the Careys to the point of having to take Rocky back. however, they couldn’t stop thinking about her and after several days, they contacted Luvable again to see if they could give it a second shot.

That was when Wilhardt came up with a solution that turned everything around. “I got the idea to have Luvable pay a dog trainer to take BOTH dogs to his house for a 24/7 intensive board and train program,” Wilhardt said. “My hope was that if we hired an experienced dog handler to work with the two dogs in a safe and controlled environment together, he could address the problems as they arose and help the dogs learn to trust one another, live in peace and even enjoy each other. And it worked!”

Rocky, now known as Roxi, and Hank only needed four days of training before they were ready to go back to the Careys. The trainer taught the Careys techniques to help the dogs continue to get along and avoid conflicts. “Sometimes owners mean well but they are just not up to the challenge of dealing with dogs who are acting out or behaving in an aggressive or dominant way,” Wilhardt said.

Roxi and Hank have become the best of friends and are practically inseparable. “We are so happy with Roxi,” Carey said. “She and Hank get along great and have a blast playing. We bought a van for them and they love to go for a ride, especially Roxi.”

Roxi loves playing tug-of-war with Hank and chasing sprinklers. “We have automatic sprinklers and Roxi loves when the water comes on,” Carey said. “She puts her whole mouth over the sprinkler and pops the top plastic part off of it.”

Roxi’s #blooper reel! Check out her whole story, including being found with a belly full of rocks in the desert, on @thedodo now. #rockyroad @luvabledogrescue #rocky

A post shared by Kellie Stevens (@gonzodognyc) on Jan 25, 2018 at 8:30am PST

“It was a bit of a journey to get Roxi here, but thanks to the great people at Luvable we did,” Carey said. “She is a very special girl and we love her very much!”

If you know someone who might like this, please click “Share!”

[josephkitchen0]

Simple Turkey Brine Techniques

We love our turkey dinners, especially toward the end of the year, but we’ve all suffered from dry, tasteless white meat that must be smothered in gravy to be palatable. Industrial facilities address this issue by injecting a broth solution into the breast and claiming that their product stays juicier than competitors’ turkeys. But that broth adds weight and affects the final sale price of the bird. It can also contain ingredients which may not be safe for people with specific allergies. Preparing organic heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving means the juiciness is mostly determined by whomever cooks them. A simple turkey brine produces a bird that cooks up moist and juicy instead of leathery.

How Brining Works

“Denaturing” is when proteins in raw meat fibers unwind then join together, causing moisture loss. This occurs most often because of heat but acids, salts, and air can also cause it. Most meat loses 30% of its weight during cooking, because of denaturing. Soaking the meat in a salt-and-water solution can reduce moisture loss to 15%.

Source: PS.com Blog

What Food Preservation Method Should I use?

Learn how to preserve your own food in this FREE Special Report, What is Food Preservation? How to Can Food, How to Dehydrate Food, How to Freeze Dry, and Pickling Food Preservation from Apples to Zucchini. YES! I want this Free Report »  

Brines increase moisture three ways. First of all, the meat absorbs additional water so it’s 6% to 8% heavier at the start of cooking. More moisture at the beginning means more leftover when some is lost. It also dissolves some of the proteins in the muscle fibers, making the meat tender instead of tough. Most importantly, the salt denatures the proteins, causing them to unwind and swell with the water. The proteins then bond together while cooking, trapping the water. As long as the meat isn’t overcooked, causing the fibers to constrict and squeeze the water back out, the moisture will remain.

You can brine more than just turkeys. Any meat which does not rely on fat for flavor and moisture would benefit from a good soak in salty water. Poultry, rabbit, lean pork, and shrimp are the best examples. Do not brine any meat that has already been brined or salted, such as “extra-tender” pork, because overdoing the salt can cause excess denaturing. Your meat will be even drier.

Photo by Hannah Rose Miller

Start with a basic salt-to-water mix. Shrimp and fish can have a higher salt concentration because it only sits in the brine for a few minutes while a turkey needs up to a full day and so should have a lower ratio of salt.

For shrimp, combine a half cup of kosher salt to a pint of cold water. Mix until all salt is dissolved then soak fish fillets for ten minutes and large shell-on shrimp for up to a half hour.

Poultry requires a 1:8 ratio of kosher salt to water. One cup of salt to two quarts of water. Cornish hens only need an hour of brining time while chicken pieces need two hours. A whole chicken should brine for up to four hours and a whole turkey for twelve to twenty-four. Don’t exceed too far past suggested times or the meat will start to dry out and taste salty. Also, if you’re using table salt instead of loose, flaky kosher salt, cut the amount in half because granulated table salt is much denser.

Source: PS.com Blog

Though many chefs add spices or sugar to their brines, these are not necessary for the juiciness of the meat. That’s the salt’s job. The added ingredients increase flavor and make the dish unique.

Photo by Hannah Rose Miller

Choose a non-reactive container, such as glass or plastic. It should be large enough that the meat is fully submerged. A zippered plastic bag works well because it holds the simple turkey brine liquid against the meat and you need less to ensure it contacts all surfaces. Either rub the correct amount of salt directly onto the meat or mix the solution beforehand. Add any spices or juices you wish. Keep the meat in the refrigerator as it soaks for the required time. Toss out the brine afterward.

Always rinse the meat before cooking to remove any surface salt. Failing to do this can result in over-salted food. Don’t worry about rinsing away any of the brining benefits because those exist inside the meat instead of on the surface. Also, remember that your meat may still be a little salty after cooking, especially if you soaked a little too long or used too much salt. Reduce the amount of salt in your gravy or any other recipe which uses the meat, adding later after you see how the meat will taste.

Extraordinary Brines

Whether they’re professional chefs or at-home cooks, many people boast their own tried-and-true simple turkey brine recipes. Experiment with flavors to find the one that works best for you. Remember to double or triple the recipe if you’re cooking an exceptionally large bird.

Lazy Dog Acres Brine

Homesteader and professional artist Hannah Rose Miller loves how brining enhances her poultry and pork. She uses garlic, peppercorns, and herbs, and she especially loves how rosemary plant enhances a brine.

“My recipe is simple,” she says. “One half cup kosher salt per quart of water. One-third cup brown sugar, lots of garlic, rosemary, lavender, and peppercorns.”

Hannah uses hot water to dissolve the ingredients but stresses that the simple turkey brine should always be cooled back down before the bird is added. Poultry should always be kept cold until cooking time to reduce bacterial risk. Hannah brines for twenty-four hours. Even if she uses a frozen bird, she completes the entire process in the refrigerator.

The last time Hannah brined a chicken for a friend, she received texts for a week: So moist!!! She says brining really does make a huge difference.

Photo by Hannah Rose Miller

Southern Bourbon Brine

For a chicken or cut-up turkey, combine 2/3 cup bourbon, ¼ cup packed brown sugar, ¼ cup table salt or ½ cup loose kosher salt, four cups water, and eight black peppercorns. Double or triple the recipe for a larger bird. Use a one-gallon zippered freezer bag for a chicken and a roasting bag within a sturdy container for a larger bird. Squeeze out any air so the liquid touches all meat surfaces. Seal the bag and store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Beer Brine

Choose your spirits: lighter beer for a milder flavor and the darkest brew you can find for a deeper, nuttier flavor. For a large turkey, use up to a six-pack. Replace a small amount of the water with the beer or simply pour the beer into a prepared salt-and-water solution. Add additional spices such as orange juice and rind to match a light beer or bay leaves and peppercorns for a darker brew. The resulting distinguished flavor tastes amazing when paired with no-knead artisan bread.

Root Beer Brine

For a sweeter mix that doesn’t require alcohol, replace all the water within a recipe with non-diet root beer. Combine a 2-liter bottle with ½ cup table salt (1 cup kosher salt), a couple chopped cloves of garlic, and a teaspoon of black pepper. Soak for the required time then rinse the meat. Because of the increased sugar in this recipe, it’s perfect for pork or for barbecue-style poultry, pairing well with spice rubs or sauces containing brown sugar and cinnamon, such as a Jamaican Jerk blend.

Sweet Harvest Brine

Combine one cup of kosher salt with three quarts water. Add one-quart apple juice, one half cup brown sugar, two tablespoons chopped candied ginger or freshly grated ginger, and one teaspoon allspice berries. Optional: also add up to 20 ounces hard apple cider or apple ale. Soak in the refrigerator for the suggested time. After rinsing the turkey, loosely “stuff” the cavity with one sliced apple, a cinnamon stick, and either a sliced onion or a few cloves of garlic, leaving plenty of space inside the bird for air to safely circulate and cook the entirety of the meat. Find a healthy sweet potato recipe to use as a side dish and pair sweet harvest flavors.

Ingredients to Add to Your Own Simple Turkey Brine

Consider pairing your own spices. Chopped hot peppers match citrus for a slight spicy-tangy combination. Rosemary and sage enhance both light and dark beers. Sweeter spices, such as cinnamon and nutmeg, can pair with garlic and black pepper for a Caribbean flavor and apple juice or apple cider vinegar for notes hinting at the New England Countryside.

But when you find your perfect combination to a simple turkey brine, document the recipe to repeat later or share with loved ones. Or protect the information so nobody learns the secret to your amazing tender and juicy turkey.

Photo by Shelley DeDauw

Do you have a turkey brine recipe to share? Post it in the comments below!

Simple Turkey Brine Techniques was originally posted by All About Chickens

[theplaytime]

Somebody told me I should just... Type away all my thoughts and vent into the void of the internet. 

I’m just going to type whatever comes to mind, good or bad, and just let all my problems vanish into the infinite depths of the internet. Supposedly, it’ll help, so here we go... 

So there is a person, somebody very very special to me, somebody that I love more anything in all of existence. This person is the best friend I’ve ever had, it feels almost like a sibling I didn’t know I had. This person is always there for me to comfort and support me, even when it negatively impacts them, they still are there for me. This special person also does things for me they do not want to do, but do it special just for me. 

I’m sure this person wouldn’t exactly be thrilled to know this next bit, but I’m just going type away here without censor, and just type exactly as things enter my mind, and right now, what’s in my mind is that the greatest life goal I have would be to have this person as my spouse. A union of best friends, not of lovers. So it’d be different than a proper spouse, Even in an open/poly type thing.

I know that is an impossibility and accept that though. So, my very special person, if for some reason you actually found this and are reading this. Don’t worry I know my dream is only a dream, that’s why you’ll never hear me say such a thing to you. I also understand the 5 different pictures I’ve asked for, are unreasonable to request, and I am sorry. I will give up and stop asking for them. In fact, I won’t even say what I’ve been asking for to the emptiness of a blank blog hidden in the depths of the internet. I won’t bug you anymore. I know where I stand, and I understand it’s not high enough of a standing for any of that. 

Another thing that’s on my mind is this person said we could maybe be squishes. 

That maybe was with a capital M, and a very large question mark following it. I’m not sure I fully understand what a squish is, but it’s been on my mind and I’ve looked it up a few times now, and it’s something I want to be. But it’s probably just another thing that exists only in my imagination. 

Time for bad stuff now I guess... I could keep typing about this person but I’m trying to only type the things that impact me the most, and those are the biggest things bothering me that I could consider good things. 

And I guess for the sake of keeping the topic before going wildly off of the original topic, is my biggest fear... Getting robbed while I’m homeless (I will explain further down) and having the person steal the gift I have for this person I’ve kept mentioning. I finally found something I could give this person that the person would like, and also something that would really show my feelings and thoughts all at once, in one item. I saved up my money for over a full year to get this, and it’s worth well beyond one thousand dollars. I have a gun but no ammo left for it, and a few small knives.  I can only pray that those are enough to defend it from any attackers or thieves I might encounter while I live my life as a homeless. The gun is very old, and loads with black powder but it looks like a modern revolver  somewhat. So even with no black powder or bullets, I hope it makes a convincing threat to scare off any thieves or attackers I might encounter. 

OKAY, no more talking about my special love. Time to get horrible, bad, and negative! Strong fucking language ahead. You’ve been fucking warned bitch. 

Sooo, my father is a massive fucking pile of shit.  An abusive, disgusting, waste of a human life.  He thinks because he’s my parent, he has full rights to me and owns me, and as such laws don’t apply to him. One time, I used a little sarcasm while speaking to his friend, so as my punishment I was held against the wall, by the throat, while he choked me. He’s also choked my mother against a wall as well. His own wife. 

He’s also now threatening to sell the house and throw both me and my mother onto the streets. He has scheduled meetings with real estate agents and other folks to set up the sale, but he won’t say anything about it to anyone. So it won’t be a matter of “The house will be sold by x date, get out by y date” it will be more like “The new owners will be here in an hour, get the fuck out”.

Legally, he will be forced to give my mother part of the money and physical possessions within the house. 

Me though? Nothing, I currently live surrounded by a swamp and beyond that, a forest. So I will be building a little stick lean-to house in the forest to live in. Luckily the public library has computers with internet I could use to continue the impossible search for a job while having a heart condition. 

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE NEXT FUN POINT, I won’t be able to pay for my medication! There’s a very strong chance that I will die due to my illness without my medication. My medication ALSO has withdrawal effects when you stop taking it, and I take multiple medications that have withdrawal effects. 

Also can’t pay for my phone and had my services shut down the other night, but I used to work for the company and I always remember things ending with the current billing period. So I called and complained my ass off, and they reactivated my phone services until the end of the my current billing period, and waived the fees for it as well due to inconvenience. So I got an extra 2 weeks of service, and only have to pay for half of my bill... Which I already couldn’t afford in the first place. So fuck me... but slightly less? 

But until that happens, I’m playing games on my $50,000 computer that I custom built and slowly upgraded over the decades, for it to become what it is today. While I still can, I’m going to just enjoy my time play Payday 2 and whatever else I happen to feel like playing. I wish I could play FFXIV but I can’t pay the subscription fee of $15 a month. :( 

In fact, nothing would make me happier than getting to play FFXIV  with my special love sitting on my lap, getting to cuddle into them while waiting for the dungeon queue, 

Moving back though... My mind is also extremely twisted and fucked up, this person I keep mentioning, I’m positive hates me, and is just waiting for me to finally succeed in killing myself so they can be relieved of having to constantly deal with me and my shit. 

I simply can not believe them when they say otherwise, and I both trust with and can’t trust anything they say... 

There’s one thing that would make it impossible to question their words, but I could never try and make them do that. Even though nobody is reading any of this I still couldn’t even type what this one thing is. It isn’t something they would do normally, therefore it’s not something I will guilt them into doing or otherwise make them do it by the impossibility of them reading this and figuring it out and doing it even though they don’t want to. 

And now I guess I’m done typing my thoughts? This special person I keep mentioning isn’t the only person this stuff effects, but this person is the most important, and consistently on my mind, which is why I’ve typed so much about them. This does however, effect every single person I have spoken to. 

I’m not stopping to think about what I’m typing, I’m just typing as it comes to me and this person is so incredibly important to me that they are in almost all of my thoughts. I don’t even know why I’m trying to explain myself right now to literally no readers whatsoever, but this is what my mind is telling me to type so I’m typing it. 

I’m a sick and twisted person, and struggling to try and change who I am to get away from that life. I want to be normal, but that’s an extremely difficult and challenging thing to do, which nobody can help me with. It’s just an extreme level of over-analyzing everything, even the most useless of things, and just sitting alone in a dark room and sorting it all out by writing it down and moving each piece of paper to it’s own pile of “Reality” and “In my mind”, two separate piles to manually organize every thought I have, and sit and really think about it and anything that effects or relates to it, to decide if it’s a real, factual piece of information. Or if I can not prove the thought as fact, I will move it to the in my mind pile, and consider it an unknown factor until I can prove it fact...

Normal every day life for me, all these “in my mind” thoughts, manage to bring it’s own facts and proof to back it up... but none of it is real. It’s all things my mind has created. Which destroys my life, and any relationships I have, be it friends, significant others, bosses, colleagues, or otherwise.

I have more to type still... But I think I’ve made a nice step forward for my first time venting into the internet... So I’m done typing now... again...

Right now, I’m very upset and my heart rate is extremely high, to the point my fingers are turning numb and I can feel it spreading up my arms, near my shoulders currently. 

Call me weird, but I look at pictures to calm my and cheer myself up. I have one specific one that really improves my mood, among other things. 

It’s a picture of that person, I h ave over 100GB of photos and videos of this person, and different ones effect me in different ways. 

Yeah, I’m fucking weird, fucking deal with it.

Depending on why I’m upset or whatever else, there’s a different photo that will improve my mood, I don’t care if I’m weird or whatever other insult you can call me.

It works, the person doesn’t seem to mind... So I will sparingly continue. Since I look like they aren’t pleased by my doing this, I do it as little as possible, for when it gets really really bad. 

The one that really makes me feel better right now, I can’t even try and describe, these pictures are kept hidden in a dark secret place. It’s not sexual or other such type of photo you would normally keep hidden, but just general random photos... People insult and torment me often about this person so I hide the photos. 

For the third time though... I guess I’m done typing... I still have more to say, but not right now.  I’m going to go through the photos as I said above to calm myself down, and have a little nap.