#every link I can find is some kind of school study guide or recorded reading

[otterknowbynow]

You have opinions/recommendations on French poetry

Kinda? I am not at ALL well-versed in French poetry (haven't read Baudelaire, don't even know what modern poets are out n about). I can give one (1) recommendation and it's probably cliché to the francophone public, but I'll always have a soft spot for Jacques Prévert's « Pour faire le portrait d'un oiseau »

[scripttorture]

I’m not sure if you’ll be comfortable answering those, but with recent police brutality in the U.S, I want to write about police torture of protestors and protestors’ feelings. I have a wheelchair user Latina girl and a blind Black trans man. They will be arrested together after the trans man tries to talk down a cop (inspired by a real video) and I wanted them both to be tear gassed. I have experience with police brutality, but was not arrested.

Part 2- How do they arrest blind people and wheelchair users? I understand mobility aids are usually taken away. Does this apply to canes for blind people? Also, I was going to have them in holding for 1 day with no treatment for their eyes after being tear gassed. Is this realistic or do you think police should pour water on them? I was going to involve the arrested characters all going on hunger strike, which might cause the police to transport them to booking faster. Does this sound okay?

-

‘Comfortable’ feels like the wrong word for all of this subject to be honest. I don’t think I could do this if I was comfortable, I am incandescent with rage. I am furious that the world we live in is still infested with this pointless, preventable brutality. Yes I am essentially a ball of rage and ferrets.

 And a portion of that is about the fact it only really makes the news when it affects wealthy countries. Seeing the response in Kenya and Nigeria to these movements/events in the West has been… interesting.

 Let’s start off with some definitions here because I think that will help as we discuss the story idea.

 Realism in the context of these discussions doesn’t necessarily mean ‘this would happen to 100% of people in this situation.’ If we’re talking about torture techniques used and treatment of particular groups in society then it’s less a case of ‘does this happen or not’ and more a case of ‘how often does this happen?’ ‘how likely is this?’

 Most modern torture is ‘clean’, which means that it doesn’t leave obvious external marks. But you do still get incidents (including in rich Western countries) where scarring torture occurs. They just a lot rarer.

 And, continuing this example, if a writer came to me asking about writing a scarring torture in a modern setting I’d warn them about the implications that can go with that. I’d talk about how survivors of clean tortures are dismissed and belittled. I’d talk about how the harm clean tortures do is downplayed. And I’d say that while there’s nothing wrong with wanting to use a scarring torture in a story, when we do it’s important to be aware of the context: that scarring tortures are rare and that they’re not ‘worse’.

 Everything you’ve described for your story is possible and it’s the sort of thing that’s more common in the country and time period you’ve chosen for your story.

 I’ve found it difficult to get hold of larger studies focused on the US. A lot of the statistical analysis I’m seeing focuses on mental illness or doesn’t draw a distinction between mental illness and physical disability. That can be pretty common when you’re looking up stuff about disability. It can be a helpful approach in some respects, showing how the disabled population broadly is discriminated against. But it also masks things that affect particular sub sections of the disabled population by lumping everyone in together.

 The Prison Policy Initiative has a page here you might find helpful, but most of these articles focus on mental illness and low IQ. Solitary Watch has a frankly horrifying list of cases in a prison where the disabled were routinely denied treatment and left in neglectful conditions that amount to torture. (The list includes a blind man denied a cane for 16 years.)

 Based on individual cases I’ve read I’d say that what you have planned is realistic, in the sense that it is possible. Similar things have occurred in America.

 In the absence of clear statistics on the number of disabled people in custody in the US, let alone how they’re treated, I’m finding it difficult to say how common this would be.

 Part of the problem is a lack of consistent standards or definitions across the country. This is from a Reuters investigative piece on deaths and abuse in US jails: ‘Seventeen states have no rules or oversight mechanisms for local jails, according to Reuters research and a pending study by Michele Deitch, a corrections specialist at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. In five other low-population states, all detention facilities are run by state corrections agencies. The other 28 have some form of standards, such as assessing inmates’ health on arrival or checking on suicidal inmates at prescribed intervals. Yet those standards often are minimal, and in at least six of the states, the agencies that write them lack enforcement power or the authority to refer substandard jails for investigation.’ (Emphasis mine, full article series can be found here. It contains video footage of torture (beating), some graphic descriptions of racist abuse and miscarriage.)

 What this means for you is that there’s massive variation between jails in the US. The variation affects everything from the structure of the jail itself, to staffing levels, to workplace culture, to oversight, to provision of medical care. Basically some jails are a lot more abusive and dangerous then others.

 It’s also difficult to identify problem facilities because, as the Reuters article points out, a lot of the relevant statistics aren’t released to the public. Reuters came up with their statistics by examining jail records and reporting of deaths or abuse in local newspapers over a period of several years.

 In some of the accounts from US prisoners I’ve read people were allowed to keep wheelchairs. In others they were taken away.

 The cases where wheelchairs were taken were generally reported as part of a wider pattern of torturous neglect. I do not have enough evidence or cases here to say that that’s always the case: I don’t think this proves that prisons or jails which take mobility aids always neglect disabled prisoners. Because I don’t know whether taking a mobility aid, in and of itself, would be reported if it wasn’t happening alongside prisoners being left lying in their cells for days, unable to eat or clean themselves.

 I’ve tried my best to read about disability generally over the years. Because I live in the UK most of what I know about disability is based here. I know about attitudes in Saudi, where I grew up and a little about Cyprus where my family is from.

 Based on what I know about disability generally I’d say that when mobility aids and canes are taken away neglect and abuse are more likely. And I think that would include being left in a cell, having been tear gassed, with no water.

 In terms of physically arresting people with disabilities, well there are problems with abuse of disabled people the world over. I’ve heard stories from a lot of different countries about people being ripped out of wheelchairs, being tackled, being dragged. Unfortunately a lot of people are taught to doubt disability and to treat obviously disabled people with contempt.

 But you should remember that I read about the worst case scenarios. My knowledge is focused on abuse and ideas about what encourages or discourages it. Which can skew the perception of how common these things are. (I really wish I could find some decent statistical data here, the absence is maddening.)

 I think part of the way to approach this is to break it down and figure out how many groups these characters are being passed between. I don’t actually know how the booking in process in the US works. (I’m sorry but the nature of the blog is that I’ve got a lot of broad knowledge, I’m not an expert on every police system in the world.)

 The standard of treatment could easily vary between the people making the arrest and the people actually holding the prisoners.

 And all of this means that I think you’ve got a lot of leeway here. There’s a big range of things that are possible here. So there’s scope to choose how bad it’s going to be.

 You’re already doing that to some extent with the way you’ve planned this out and thought it through. That’s good, it’s important to work within your limits and focus on the elements you’re interested in.

 There will be real cases similar to your story that went a lot worse and there’ll be cases where things went a lot better. No one story can capture everything and that’s OK.

 I think these characters will probably be acutely aware that things could go very badly for them. They’ll probably have heard stories about people of their race, disability and gender being abused or even murdered by police. Use that in the story. Try to bring some of that fear and rage and defiance into the story.

 I’m not sure what kind of cultural weight hunger strike carries in the US. I can link you to my masterpost on starvation which outlines the physical and psychological effects of hunger.

 I also want to leave you my masterpost on solitary confinement, because I’m aware that US jails and prisons often put vulnerable prisoners straight into solitary.

 It’s really clear just from your question that you’ve already put a lot of thought into this and done a fair bit of reading. Keep going.

 You’re probably going to need sensitivity readers. It’s also probably going to take a lot of time, editing and re-reading to get this story as good as you want it to be.

 And it’s going to be hard. Researching this stuff is incredibly exhausting. For the love of gods take breaks. I’ve got a guide to researching difficult topics here. It can be hard to follow the advice there, hell I struggle to sometimes, but you can’t let this stuff poison you.

 I hope that helps :)

Available on Wordpress.

Disclaimer

[bumbershots]

Mistletoe & Wine

A/N: Hello this is my collaboration for @goldenbluesuit very well put together Christmas song fic challenge. It’s my first time participating and my first time posting my writing here as well (I’m sort of new, I have no friends) so, I’m kind of nervous and English is not my first language (sorry for any mistakes) thanks to my boyfriend for being a Brit so he could help me with the “slang” and for reading this about fifteen times and listened to Mistletoe and Wine by Cliff Richard throughout the entire week with me lol. Thanks for  taking the time to read this :) If you want to befriend a twenty six year old Aries, or just send me an ask click here.

Word count: 2.8k

Summary: Harry meets a woman that is not here to stay, he will need to decide if that will keep him from making the most of the very few days they have together or dread the imminent separation.

It was raining when her flight landed in London. The kind of rain that doesn't pour heavily, instead it settles over the city for days. And although she can't afford to take a cab, she steps out of the airport just to stare at the endless grey of the sky and wrap herself in her coat because of how cold it was. After a few more minutes she goes back inside to find the way to get out of there on the tube, she knew it to be possible after all the research she's been doing since the age of twelve on the internet.

Soon enough, the man she approached to ask for help, confirms that a train is leaving in a few minutes and she can easily get off at Hammersmith, he even helps her buy the ticket and recommends to get an oyster card if she is going to use London's Underground often. But she doesn't know, she relishes in the element of surprise that is surrounding her life for the next 3 weeks. It excites her to an unfamiliar degree to see people come and go into the carriage, it almost makes her miss her stop, but she manages to get off just in time, her hands clutching the heavy suitcase that contains all her nicest and warmest clothes. She follows the crowd up the stairs and out of the station, the busy street revealed before her is straight out of those books she restlessly studied at school, people wearing trench coats and long scarfs hurry in hopes to avoid the rain and then a red double-decker bus passes by. The cherry on top.

The spontaneous decision to spend Christmas in England instead of her home country was made months ago, on the night of her birthday, although her closest friends would say that she's been dreaming of it since she read Harry Potter. No one gave her a hard time for it, in fact, almost all her friends and family members went to the airport to wish her a safe trip. Her grandmother was cheeky enough to slip a twenty pound note when hugging her goodbye.

Every day of the first week went by in a blur, visiting museums, galleries and walking around the city, getting soaked in its beauty and the endless rain. By the beginning of the second week, a bit tired of the scarce options from the hotel's breakfast, she ventured out, burying half of her face in the scarf she bought the day before at Primark, her feet guiding her almost out of instinct to the little cafe at the end of Hercules road. The place is warm and the menu seems to have it all for a very fair price. After a couple of minutes the Full English wins, she iterates the order to the woman behind the counter and adds a cup of tea handing over the money.

"Get a seat love, I'll bring it over." The elder lady says making the girl smile and thank her before scampering across the room to sit by the window at the four seat table tucked in the corner.

It doesn't take long for her food to arrive and for her to dig in, feeling kind of full almost at the end, she slows down then, a trick her father passed down on her. Let it settle in for a few minutes before going back at it. Works every time. She gets lost on the daily life happening before her eyes, the people walking by, some in a rush maybe to get to work, others in a rush to get to the shops early and buy presents. She could easily tell the difference between one and other. The elderly couple walking to the market, slower than anybody else, arms linked and without a care in the world. A girl around her age doing "the walk of shame" elicited a smirk on her lips. Good for her.

"Do you mind if I take a seat?" She almost missed the question by the stranger standing there. "There's no empty seats elsewhere I'm afraid, I won't bother you." He was right, in the span of thirty minutes the place was full to the brim with families, the three seats at her table the only ones free so, she nodded and even managed to smile in a friendly way. Unfortunately for her, the green eyed stranger did the same, a sweet dimple on his left cheek more prominent than on the right one and she had to eat a spoonful of beans in an attempt to hide her blush.

Two weeks in the country, almost two weeks, and the best looking man on it decides to show up on a greasy spoon cafe when she's eating what's left of her sausages and beans. His food is delivered by the same lady from earlier, of course it is something that looks healthy. The sudden need to fly away from the place pops in her head, it's not a bad one, he doesn't even know her name. She wants to know his. She remembers how he said he wouldn't bother her, it's almost disappointing, she wants to be bothered.

The situation seems to be straight out of a rom-com, she is cutting the banger in little pieces, as if the formula to spark conversation with the mystery guy keeping her company is hidden in them. But after five minutes she sighs quietly, knowing that her own shyness won't let her even glance at him again. She will have to do her best to remember him and observe from the corner of her eye until the last piece of minced pork is consumed by her. And maybe she will gush about how gorgeous he was with her friends once she is back home, describing his shiny emerald eyes for them, sharing a sigh when she recalls how dreamy his accent was and squeal upon the memory of his raspy voice.

Ten minutes later her last bite is chewed and swallowed, the cup is empty as well. She's about to grab her coat draped on the back of her chair. "I'm going to have to break my non-disturbing you promise but... um, that's a sick cardigan." His voice doesn't sound confident as before, he even clears his throat, but his eyes never leave hers.

"Thanks, my grandma knitted it for me." She forgets about her coat and straightens out a bit for him to appreciate the colourful patchwork and extends her left arm to show the over-sized sleeve. Her companion hums in approval. "She hates it."

"What?" His green eyes widening in disbelief and she just shrugs.

"As soon as I put it on she went on and on about how horrible it was, the wrong proportions and how it all seemed better off in her mind." They share a giggle and don't notice that their empty plates have been taken away and the place is no longer swamped by people. "But I like it, I like it a lot, does a good job keeping me warm." And makes her look lovely, he thinks but doesn't say.

Instead he licks his lips before speaking again. "I'm Harry." He offers his left hand and she quickly eyes the cross tattoo.

"I'm a tourist." She says before adding her real name, earning a deep chuckle from him before letting go of his hand.

The set of circumstances in which she met Harry is dreamy for sure, but something about him made the set of affairs so real. When he asked about the places where she'd been the scoff afterwards and the roll of his eyes made her ask what was wrong about them. But he didn't answer, with a shake of his head and a deep sigh he asked for her phone number. The promise to show her the real London lingered in the air as they parted ways outside of the corner cafe.

Her heart raced at the very sight of him outside Borough Market the following morning. "Morning love, alright?" he greeted her before hugging her tight and quick. It was so genuine it made her wonder if she really just met him the day before. "Do you like doughnuts?"

"Who doesn't?" she says with that grin he worries will wait for him in his dreams.

"Wisest words ever spoken." Harry's arm is wrapped around her shoulders, guiding her on their quest inside the huge market.

The early morning is spent too soon, Harry guides her to talk to the stall owners, they are so passionate about their produce, most of them willing when possible to give them a sample. The highlight is the stop at Bread Ahead, they buy more doughnuts than what she thinks they need. They eat them all while sharing a Monmouth coffee. Harry shares with her stories about almost every stall they passed by. "I'm not a fan of red meat, and oysters." She keeps record of it, basking in his lovely anecdotes that seemed to summon the sun from it's hiding place. "We're granted a sunny day in winter!" He celebrates and it's impossible not to join him. "Let's go to Richmond Park."

Of course she nods in agreement and follows him down the street where he parked his car before she gets in the passenger seat. The stranger danger alarm, should've gone off in her head. But there was something about him, like he was holding her in place. As she heard Harry speak about his job, it started to make more sense in her head. Harry was a lot like this country, foreign, new, exciting and hers for the next few days. He made that clear when they parted ways at the end of the day.

"Come home with me for Christmas." Harry asked her on what would be the beginning of her last week in London, while having a picnic on Primrose Hill.

"With your family?" Her eyebrows were shot up when he nodded, fighting back that deadly smirk of his. "All your relatives will be there?" He nods again and she scoffs completely agitated. "Don't be daft Harry!" She voices out her feelings borrowing an expression of his.

He laughs and it's impossible for her not to join him, her face growing hotter by the second. "I don't want to go without you, and mum will love to have you there," that's what she fears.

"I don't know Harry, might be weird." He disagrees right away.

"It's close to Liverpool, we could spend a day or two over there." The past week he's been trying to learn as many things from her as possible and if he chooses his words carefully he can convince her. "Pay a visit to Anfield, The Cavern." His fake nonchalant attitude makes her roll her eyes, "Strawberry Fields is there too, you know?" She agrees and he kisses the back of her hand to mask the proud grin on his face.

In the past, she was always careful not to let a partner know how deeply she cared about them. The thought of being vulnerable made her lose her mind, thinking it was a sign of weakness. But seeing Harry drive through the English countryside, singing at the top of his lungs to Mistletoe and Wine by Cliff Richard and smiling just for her. It made her want to tell him, but not even all the words in every single language ever spoken by humanity could be enough to give him an idea of how much she cares for him.

There hasn't been a proper kiss between them, it puzzled her at first. Because his gaze seemed to be constantly directed to her lips. But then there was all the touching, holding hands, tucking her to his side when walking, his tender touch before hugging her goodbye. And the way he was always running his hands through her hair.

"She's a friend," he introduces her to his mum Anne and sister Gemma, after saying her name, chewing on the word like it's that mint gum he carries in his purse everywhere he goes. "Was a bloody tourist when I first met her but now... she's a proper Londoner." She doubts it, but she agrees on them being friends and she likes it, a lot.

They help Anne and Gemma to set the table and the finishing touches for dinner. Only three more family members show up and she chastises Harry for making her believe that all of his offspring was going to attend. That's how they usually spend Christmas Eve back home, she explains.

It saddens him, the thought of her going back to her home country in five days time. All the way across the Atlantic, six hours behind him. It's almost unfair.

"Tell me more about it," Harry's curiosity is genuine, thinking that he would love to know more about her traditions. Perhaps even be lucky enough to share them someday.

"We don't have these," she regrets taking a tube of brightly coloured paper. "We have piñatas though." She adds proudly and Harry's jaw hangs open in surprise.

"No fucking way!" He is immediately told off by his mum as they all take a seat at the table. "I thought that was only allowed for birthdays."

"There's no rules for that!" She takes the Christmas cracker out again and Harry takes it from the other end. "So, I just pull it?" He nods and it makes a noise revealing the present.

"You get the crown." Harry unfolds it before helping her fix it atop her head. "And the little toy, what is it?oh... I get the joke!" His family groans, his sister hiding her face in hands, but all she sees is the glint in Harry's eye before he reads. "Who's Rudolph's favourite pop star?"

"I don't know," she's the only one that was going to ask him. And she really wanted to know.

"Beyon-sleigh!" Harry watches in delight how the girl before him snorts at the silly and not so funny joke.

"That was awful." She confessed.

"Agree, next year we'll make our own. Riddles only." His mum adds and Harry protests right away but is shushed by Gemma's voice reading out loud the riddle from her cracker.

Next year, she will probably be spending the day with her numerous family, she thinks. Harry will be here again, telling awful jokes, pulling away Christmas crackers. Perhaps he will bring another person with him. She tries to push the poisonous thoughts down with a big gulp of wine. Only succeeding when Harry's left hand rests on her knee, his thumb rubbing circles on her skin exposed by her ripped jeans while he listens to his sister talk about her podcast. It marvels her how he is there, for everybody.

After dinner they play family games and Harry makes a fake tantrum after his cousin Chloe claims his companion for her team.

"She's mine!" He argues, his long arms embracing her easily. She ends up joining the other team, but the quick kiss she bravely gave to his neck before he let her go, confirmed the words he spoke.

There is a three step process Harry follows to know he's fallen in love. If he finds himself talking about them with every living soul, if he does something they like just because it makes him miss them less and finally if he takes them home to meet his mum. He knows that for the past few days, there was no other topic to discuss with him than the girl sitting beside him in the sofa. He's been drinking tea every morning, just because it reminds him of her. He watches her talk to his mother about how much they like Rod Stewart and knows that he's in too deep.

It should bother him, because she will leave. And all these moments spent, will be just distant memories for him to torture himself over and over again. He wants to feel the angst of knowing that maybe she will forget him, maybe she has a partner back home. He gives up on trying to feel miserable, agreeing with that song from earlier. It is a time to rejoice in the good that we see, a time for living and believing.

Right now all he sees is her, he sighs before tucking her by his side, her brown doe eyes meeting his briefly before sneaking an arm around his waist. She continues to chat with Anne and Gemma even after the rest of the guests leave, still holding onto him. Harry can see the fondness radiating from his mother and sister for the girl in his arms. He sees trust, and he smiles thinking of a new beginning.

What a beautiful sight.

[sorceress-coffee]

The Shattered King

AO3 Link Phase 2 Chapter 23

Toby had decided the best way for him to get a date to Spring Fling was to ask every girl that attended school if they would go with him. So far, I’ve seen him get shot down by every senior I shared classes with, not to mention our blended classes with all four years. At the lockers, Toby was busy trying to ask Mary out, when she said she’d rather choke to death, he quickly moved to Darci. Jim and I watched from our lockers, astounded at how hard Toby was trying to get a date. Jim caught Claire’s attention as she and Mary met up, awkwardly trying to close his locker only to have it pop open again, causing Claire to laugh. Mary glance back, grinning when she saw Jim and me before Toby slammed his head against his locker next to us. “Well,” he sighed, keeping his head cemented to the locker. “I’ve asked out every single girl.” “They all said no?” Jim asked, shocked that Toby had already found every girl in school. “Of course not,” Toby laughed, turning to lean back on the lockers. “I got a few ‘as ifs.’ A couple ‘not in a million years.’ One actually gagged. I took that as she wasn’t interested.” “That could have gone better,” I thought back to the girl in my trig class who had the adverse reaction. Jim’s brow furrowed, staring at Toby in disbelief, “You actually asked out every girl in school?” “Nah,” Toby waved him off, grinning, “Saved Claire for you, also River,” he chuckled, elbowing my arm, “That would be like asking my sister to go with me. Plus, you never go to these kinds of things.” I shrugged, “Not really my thing Tobes,” I smirked, ruffling his hair as payback for elbowing me. “Besides,” He huffed out, whacking my hand from his hair, “Didn’t want to prom-block you, Jimbo.” Jim huffed, adjusting his bag, “thanks, Tobes.” “You haven’t asked her yet, have you?” Toby smirked, pulling Jim down to his eye level. “I,” Jim stuttered, making sure the girls were no longer around, “I’m working up to it, okay?” “If you don’t ask her, someone else will,” I shook my head, having “again.” “So, that what they’re calling ‘wussing out’?” Toby teased. “Jim’s still wussing out?” Eemeli’s voice joined in as he reached the lockers, smirking at the boys. “Toby asks every girl in school and you can’t even ask one?” Jim straightened up, glaring at Toby and Eemeli, “I’m just waiting for my moment.” Toby cackled, “That’s what they call wussing out these days, Wussy.” “He’s correct, Master Jim,” Blinky’s voice startled all of us. We turned quickly to find both Blinky and Draal, on campus. This wasn’t going to end well. “We spent the afternoon in the school library and you are, apparently, a popular topic of gossip.” Blinky finished, sending Jim out of his shock. “Blinky!” he yelled, looking around quickly for faculty. “What are you two doing hanging out at our school?” “Blinkous dragged me along to have ‘four eyes’ while he was reading, your ‘graphic novel’ section was interesting at least.” Draal huffed, scooting away from Blinky, not wanting to be dragged back for more research. “An interesting section indeed,” Blinky nodded. “Wait,” Toby cut him off, crossing his arm in thought, “Did you say people were gossiping about Jim?” “I didn’t hear much,” Blinky nodded, “but words ‘wussing’ and ‘out’ were frequently invoked.” “They kept bringing up a ‘Spring Fling,’ is that some sort of fight?” Draal asked. “It’s our annual school dance, like a party for the students.” I explained, “A fight would be more fun.” “How would you know?” Eemeli snickered, “All four years you’ve been here and not once have you shown up. It’s a popular topic among the seniors. Apparently, since you’ve become more approachable, some students are planning on asking you.” I groaned, leaning into Draal’s side, “If it turns out like ‘tight jeans’ Hank, Spring Fling will turn into a fight.” “Can we get back on topic?” Jim huffed, turning back to Blinky, “Why were you in the library of our school?” “I exhausted all of Trollmarket’s resources pertaining to the mysterious mark Angor Rot painted on your forehead.” Blink explained, over complimenting our school’s library as he did when we broke into Strickler’s office. “All we found out was that the fleshbags think Jim’s a wuss,” Draal shrugged, glaring at anyone who got too close to our group, eyeing the students Eemeli might have spoken about. “Oh,” Jim sighed, disheartened by this new information. “Really?” Toby gasped, watching behind our group, “Look at that hypnotic, bewitching allure of that swaying mole.” “I take offense to the bewitching part,” I snarked, rolling my eyes as Toby completely ignored us. “Excuse me, seems I was wrong about asking out every non-Clair and River girl in school.” He grinned, dusting off his sweater-vest as we turned to watch the mascot, heading after them. “Does he even know if a female is, in fact, beneath that costume?” Blinky asked, confused by Toby’s strange ways. “I really don’t think it matters.” Jim deadpanned, watching his friend follow the mole. “He’s been like this since the school spirit rally.” Eemeli chuckled, “Too bad he’s already asked them.” He confessed as the mole went into the female restroom, causing Toby to turn back with a thumbs up. “You know who it is?” I asked, shaking my head at Tobes. “Changeling, remember? I can tell by the scent.” He shrugged. “Hey, you!” Coach Lawrence interrupted, talking to Blinky, “You have a visitor’s pass?” “My dear sir, I dare say, my humanity is my pass.” Blinky smiled. “Yeah, that’s not gonna work. You might wanna run.” Jim spoke quickly as Coach grabbed Blinky. Before leaving, he paused eyeing Draal’s wrestling jacket, “Wait a minute, you’re not on the team.” “That’s mine sir,” Eemeli quickly stepped in, “It’s a bit chilly and it was messing with my friend’s injury so I loaned it to him.” He gestured to the bronze hand poking out of the jacket sleeve. Coach balked, nodding quickly, “Right, of course.” He began dragging Blinky off-campus. “We should probably head out before someone realizes you’re not a student.” I sighed, grabbing Draal’s hand to dragging him off with Eemeli and me. Strickler paused outside the school entrance as he watched Coach throwing Blinky off-campus. As we quickly walked past him, Strickler’s eyes widened at the sight of Draal, unsure of who Eemeli and I would be dragging around. Eemeli smirked over his shoulder at Strickler, turning us to head downtown to the shops. “Come on, before feathers gets any bright ideas.” “If only we could take him out,” Draal snarled, pulling me closer protectively as we continued. “Wish we could, but right now that’s not option with mom and all.” I sighed, reaching in to pet Eri in my hoodie pocket. Sliding up through my sleeve, Eri took her perch on my shoulder, “Magic, soul entwining totems, glowing sigils.” She pouted, nuzzling under my chin, “What doesn’t that troll do?” Eemeli lead us into Ms. Kamaria’s shop, “Not much is known about Angor Rot. I’ve tried using my contacts, but all I got was that he’s a powerful enchanter, with un-troll-like magic.” “Now why would Angor Rot be out?” Ms. Kamari’s voice came from behind us. I turned quickly, eyeing to old woman, “You know a lot more than you let on.” I quipped, referring to her knowing about me and my family. Ms. Kamaria smiled as she reached up, touching the gem encased in my collar, “Your mate’s?” She grinned, turning to Draal, “A face I haven’t seen since the Battle of Killahead.” “Not exactly the same face, is it?” Draal glared, already on edge with Ms. Kamaria. “What is a wild spirit doing running a fleshbag shop?” Ms. Kamaria chuckled, pulling her hand back. “River showed love for art at a very young age. I knew if I opened a craft store, she’d come in eventually, then I could keep an eye on her from a safe distance.” “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, trying to keep calm. “James asked me to keep silent once Garridan left.” She smiled, heading further into the store. “Uncle James?” I ran after her, more confused now. “He knows about this?” Ms. Kamaria hummed in thought. “If you’re speaking of magic, yes he knew. If you’re asking about Jim, I’m sure Garridan has informed him.” Draal and Eemeli followed behind Ms. Kamaria and me as she tidied up the shop. “How does he know?” I frowned, head reeling. How was I supposed to tell Jim? “They’re brothers,” She paused, turning to watch me, “siblings do speak with each other. Besides, they’re together, protecting the heart.” My eyes widened as I touched the collar, realizing what this meant, “Is Jim in danger of,” I trailed off, horrified that Jim might go through the same thing I had. “Doubtful, your magic comes from Ganieda, not Garridan. Even so, you possess Daylight in your veins, Jim doesn’t.” She took my hand, smiling softly as she reassured that Jim would be safe. “Will he start to change?” Eemeli piped up, even if Jim wasn’t at risk for the magical issues, Changeling features weren’t easy to hide. Ms. Kamaria paused, looking off for a moment. “One day, change is inevitable. But he won’t be alone.” Taking my hand, she guided us to the back of the store. “Eclipse will come, the sun and moon will become one. Neither and both.” She recited, taking us to a pedestal holding an ancient-looking book. “What’s this for?” I asked, seeing the same sigil on the cover as the locket my father sent. “Ganieda’s grimoire,” she handed the book over, “Left for you.” I took the book carefully with shaking hands, realizing this could be all I have left of my mother. “A grimoire, her magic studies?” Ms. Kamari nodded, “Ganieda was the healer of Camelot, many of her spells are recorded in there, but you will see there are empty pages. She said when the time is right, they will reveal what you need.” Nodding I held the book tight as the bell to the shop signaled more customers. Ms. Kamaria smiled softly before heading back up to help those who came in. Draal nudged my cheek with his nose, worried, “Are you okay?” “Things, are starting to make sense, I think.” I sighed, holding the book close. Eemeli grasped my shoulder, frowning in thought, “Do we tell him?” Draal flinched, realizing we just learned Jim was half Changeling, and he had no idea. “Something tells me that won’t go over well.” I nodded, agreeing with Draal. While contemplating whether or not we should tell Jim now, a page in the book began to glow a soft green. Startled, I opened the book to the page quickly, revealing a sketch of my mother and father along with another Changeling that looked similar to my father. My mother was laughing at something she had written in the book while my father and the other changeling were holding back laughter. “I should tell him,” I smiled softly at the picture, wondering what they were laughing at. At least they seemed happy. The drawing turned, Garridan and the other changeling shifted into humans, the other changeling looked like Uncle James dressed in matching knight armor with my father. “I really need to figure out my age,” I huffed, closing the book. Believer began to sound from my phone, Jim’s ringtone. I answered quickly, nudging the guys towards the door as we headed out. “Jim? What’s going on?” I asked, I definitely wasn’t telling him over the phone. “River! Great,” Jim sounded tired, “I can’t get a hold of Claire. I need you to find her and bring her to Trollmarket, we know where the next stone is. Blinky and Arrrgh are preparing to leave.” “Get Claire, Trollmarket, stones. Got it, we’ll be there soon.” I grinned, taking off running to Claire’s house as I hung up. “Hurry up!” Draal and Eemeli glanced at each other before taking off after me. “Stone, as in the second stone?” Draal asked from behind me. “Yup! Blinky and Arrrgh are getting ready to go, we gotta get Claire.” I explained, running for her house. Eemeli huffed, “We aren’t teleporting because?” “Three, well four, of us would take up a lot of mana right now, and there might be a fight to get the stone.” I nuzzled Eri, slowly getting used to our magic melding. We finally made it to Claire’s house, I paused seeing Darci’s car out front. “This might take a minute,” I sighed, knocking on the door. Mary ended up answering the door, he jaw dropped as she spotted Eemeli and Draal with me, “No way, is that your college boo?!” She screeched, running into the house to get Claire and Darci. “College boo?” Draal asked, startled by Mary’s abruptness. “Girl’s Night told them about you,” I grinned, taking his hand as I followed Mary in, Eemeli cackling behind us. Claire smiled seeing us, “So, finally introducing us?” She winked, finding the situation hilarious. Darci grinned as she and Mary began shooting off questions to Draal, “When are you getting married? Did River actually propose on accident? Did you get a ring yet? Are you doing rings? Are you staying for a while? Will you be at Spring Fling?” Draal’s eyes were wide as he looked back and forth between the girls, unsure how to answer most of the questions. Pausing to think of the terms I used when we discussed mating, he nodded. “Yes, River ‘proposed’ on accident first, then I asked her. Not sure when we are getting ‘married,’ after she graduates though.” Pausing at the ring questions he looked to me. “Remember how I said Draal’s family has different customs? They don’t exactly do engagement rings.” I covered quickly, “And like I said, can you imagine the teacher’s reactions if I showed up to school with one?” I laughed, knowing full well Strickler would combust at least. Mary pouted, “River! It’s traditional,” she defended. Darci smiled, patting her back, “Everyone’s different Mar,” she comforted, calming a possible tantrum. Claire giggles, siding up next to me, “So, what’s up? I doubt you came over just to show Draal off.” She snickered, watching Mary implode, explaining engagement customs and rings to Draal. I smiled, watching Draal consider what she was explaining. “Jim asked me to get you.” That cut Mary off quickly. “Is Lake finally going to ask her?” She huffed, turning on me now. “I think that’s the plan,” I shrugged, nudging Claire, “We need to borrow Claire, do you girls mind?” Darci grinned, quickly shoving us out the door, Mary following us all out, “If it gets him to ask her, take her!” Laughing, I linked my arm with Claire’s quickly guiding her away, “Thank girls! I owe you one!” “Then come to the dance for once!” Marry yelled after us. I winced, pouting as we made it out of earshot. “Why is everyone obsessed with me going?” “You’re a senior, it’s a right of passage in school,” Claire teased. “Alright, spill. What are we actually doing?” “You don’t think Jim sent us to get you?” Eemeli smirked. “Or that he didn’t send us to ask you to this Spring Fling?” Draal chuckled, thinking back to the teens gossiping about it in the library. “After the cliffs, I’m not sure he will,” Claire sighed, as we reached the canal. “So?” “They found the location of the second stone,” I explained as Eemeli opened the portal to Trollmarket. “So, we’re going after the stone,” She smiled, excitement returning, “That means we’re one step closer to finding my brother!” I grinned as we headed in, ignoring the confused trolls who haven’t seen Draal yet. “Yup! We’re meeting at the Gyre I think.” We quickly headed for the Gyre, hoping today’s ride was smoother than our last. Eemeli paused as we reached it, “I’m going to sit this one out, Strickler’s got me on edge. I think he’s planning something.” Eemeli’s brow furrowed. “You okay on your own?” I asked Eemeli, he could handle himself if was just him and Strickler, Angor Rot on the other hand was another story. “I’ll grab NotEnrique on my way, sure he could use a crib break.” He chuckled, turning to Claire before she could protest, “I’ll have him back before anyone notices.” Claire huffed, nodding to Eemeli, “Alright, as long as he comes back in one piece.” Eemeli nodded, heading back out quickly to the surface, intent on tailing Strickler. “Lady River!” Blinky greeted, ushering us into the Gyre station, “Right on time, we are heading to the Quagawump swamps!” He cheered as Arrrgh started up the Gyre. As we all boarded, Jim spoke up, confused about something Blinky mentioned before our arrival. “If Wumpas don’t let outsiders into their camp, how do we get the stone?” “Don’t worry, Master Jim!” Blinky waved off as he prepared the Gyre,” If Quagawumps are hostile to outsiders we’ll need an insider!” He grinned, “One of you is going to pretend to be the human reincarnation of the Shattered King! It’s genius!” “What?!” Jim cried out, “That’s insane, Blinky!” Blinky pulled a lever, causing the Gyre to take off at full speed, knocking us all back again. “If they find out, we’ll be on their menu!” Draal snarled, against the plan. Ignoring our dissent, Blinky continued his explanation. “You, Tobias, bear a most striking resemblance to their dead king.” “Me?!” Toby shrieked, realizing what that meant for him. “Yes. The Quagawumps are short and stout in stature. It’ll be the role of a lifetime. Mostly because if they see past our little charade, as Draal mentioned, the time of our lives will end.” Blinky concluded. “Why can’t we explain why we need the stone? Wouldn’t that be easier?” I asked, confused about why we couldn’t talk it out. “Kill on sight,” Arrrgh explained, holding on tight to the Gyre seat, at least the ride was smoother than our quest to Gatto’s Keep. Toby yelled as the Gyre docked, Arrrgh trying to keep all of us on the seat. Draal groaning as he sat up. “That feels much different as a fleshbag.” He complained, glaring at the back of Blinky's head. “Yes, well, we better get a move on.” Blinky grinned, ushering us off of the Gyre. We walked through the underground swamp; gems growing from trees allowing us to see the path to the Wumpa camp. Draal stuck close to my side, eyeing the foliage as we passed. “This is a bad idea.” I grabbed the prosthetic hand, holding tight as we walked, “We don’t have much of a choice right now.” I sighed. Curious, I paused to touch one of the green glowing gems lighting our path. As soon as my hand came in contact with it, blue magic bled into the green until the gem I touched and the surrounding cluster turned blue. “That’s new,” I pulled my hand back quickly unsure of what just happened. Eri looked over the gems, smiling, “Most Quagawumps have a little magic, the rocks absorb that magic and use it to cast light. All you did was recharge the rock with your magic.” She nosed another green gem, turning it an almost white lilac. “See?” “Now that’s cool,” I grinned, liking the swamps a little more. “This place is creepy.” Claire sighed, even with the light of the gems, the humans’ eyes weren’t adjusting well to the dark swamps. “Where are we?” “A place renowned for its vast swamps, theme parks, and retirement communities,” Blink explained, throwing his hands out to the swamp, “Florida!” “They’d lose their minds if they found out there was an underground swamp too. Wonder if there are crocs and gators down here too?” I snickered. Looking out at the swampy water. Eri grinned, sliding to the floor before shifting into a white crocodile. “Now there’s one!” I jumped back, yelping as the others turned to see what was wrong. “I didn’t know you could do that!” Eri shrugged as best she could, waddling after our group, Jim, Toby, and Claire a little uneasy with her new from. “Shapeshifting is pretty easy for familiars,” She shifted, turning into a copy of me with white hair instead of black and blue. “I always have trouble with colors though,” She explained, pulling on a strand of white hair. Jim’s jaw dropped, “That’s just creepy, one River is enough thank you very much.” “So cool!” Toby grinned, taking a picture of us on his phone, distracted for a moment from his upcoming role. “That’s a little unnerving,” I confessed, taking a step back, the only thing she didn’t include in her shapeshift was the collar. She shrugged, shifting to her snake form, climbing back up to my shoulders. “Just as well, I hate having legs.” “Is that why you’re a snake?” I asked as we continued. Eri tilted her head in thought, flicking her tongue out, “Probably? I’m mostly compact for traveling ease.” Shaking her head at us, Claire smirked back to Toby, getting us back on track. “Come on, Your Eminence. Your people await.” Toby sighed, catching up to us, “I’m just saying,” He groaned as we had to jump across stepping stones in the water. “I’m built to be a sidekick, you know? I’m not, gah!” He yelped slipping a bit on the stones. I grabbed him quickly, pulling him onto the next stone with me. “Better?” He nodded, sighing again, “I’m not leading man material. I’m a wingman.” He explained, nervous about his role. “Don’t be a wuss,” Jim teased, using Toby’s words from earlier against him. “Come on.” “Tobes, it’s alright. You got us here for back up,” I smiled as we made it to the next grassy patch of land, following the others. My ears twitched as something rustled behind us, I grabbed Midnight quickly, taking a defensive stance. Arrrgh growled, alert to it as well, he pounded his fists into the ground as a warning. Draal snarled, standing back to back with me. He held the haft of a compacted ax, waiting to see what would happen before activating it. Chanting sounded from the brush as short green trolls with grass-like hair emerged, most holding some type of spear. They surrounded us, spears at the ready. The Wumpa at the head of the group hummed seeing Blinky and Claire, “Humans and a mage! Tastes not common.” She grinned. “Toby?” Claire called, the Wumpas frightening her. Toby sighed knowing this was our ‘do or die’ moment. “Okay,” he pushed past Claire and Blinky causing the Wumpas to gasp in shock, pulling their spears away. “It is I. the Shower King!” Toby declared, raising his hands high. Blinky, having gone stone stiff, muttered “Shattered.” “The Shattered King!” Toby corrected quickly. “Reincarnated as a hooooooman,” he spoke, emulating a ghost voice, howling as he waved his arms. “You’re not a ghost,” Jim ground out, trying to get Toby to calm. I held my breath as we waited for the Wumpas’ reactions, I hope to Deya they believed us. They began to chant as the leader glared, circling Toby. “Gunmar kill you. You cannot be.” She declared, getting in his face. “Prove you are he! Show us great magics, god-king.” My jaw dropped, whacking Blinky with a deactivated Midnight, “Don’t you think you should’ve mentioned the magic and god-king parts?” I whispered, growling in frustration. The Wumpas began chanting louder as they drew closer with their spears at the ready. Toby whimpered, looking back to me, unsure what to do. I shrugged, not knowing how to help him since, when using my magic, it obviously came from me. Toby sighed, turning back to the Wumpas. “Okay. All right, now.” He waved them back, “stand back.” The chanting stopped immediately as the Wumpas watched him closely. “This one’s not for the faint of heart.” He waved his hands in the air before putting his hands together, “Abara-cadabara, nothing up my sleeve-ara!” He called out, moving his hands as he tricked the Wumpas into thinking he pulled his thumb off before reattaching it. Blinky, Arrrgh, and Draal gasped in horror at the sight. Jim and Claire groaned. Claire dropping her face into her hands. I stood there, dumbfounded that of all the tricks he knew, this is what he went for, I guess he didn’t have a levitating ball. The Wumpas all gasped in shock at the display, some dropping their spears in horror while others clung to them. “He dismembered his hand and then rejoined his flesh and bone!” A Wumpa near the leader pointed, unable to process what she just saw but excited at the tick. The lead Wumpa nodded eagerly, grinning at us. “His magic is so powerful!” They began chanting again as they swooped in picking up Toby quickly, taking us all back to their camp. “What just happened?” I asked, confused by the reaction. “Did he not just use blood magic?” Blinky screeched, still horrified. “No?” I tilted my head confused, “Have you never seen that before?” “How is that not blood magic? The only thing I’ve seen close to that is your healing abilities.” Draal asked, confused by how calm I was. “I’ll show you later,” I sighed, following the Wumpas, “When we aren’t at risk for death.” “Like floating ball?” Arrrgh asked, having seen some of Toby’s magic tricks before. I nodded quickly, glad one of the Trolls had an idea about what just happened. “Similar, not the same, but similar.” “Nice work, Tobes!” Jim called out, laughing at Toby getting carried away. “You are leading man material!” “Ha-ha-ha” Toby sarcastically let out, still highly uncomfortable with the situation. We followed after them quickly, snickering as the Wumpas swarmed Toby. The lead Wumpa ran through vines covering a rocky passage. “The lost king returned!” She announced as the others carried Toby into the camp, the rest of us close behind. More and more Wumpas began to chant as we were led further into the camp, Toby waving shyly to them. We came to a giant statue of a troll that looked exactly like Toby. “I don’t believe it,” Jim confessed, staring at the statue. “Neither do I,” Claire agreed, both in shock. “Ugh, I know right?” Toby asked, turning to look at us, “He doesn’t look anything like me.” “Does he really not see it?” I asked Jim, confused about how anyone could deny the resemblance. The Wumpas pulled Toby down, spinning him around their group as they chanted, asking him questions. One was even excited to see his mouth was filled with ‘precious metals.’ “So handsome the king is!” One grinned, pinching Toby’s cheek like a child. “That’s what I keep telling the girls at school, but they weren’t interested.” Toby pouted, complained about his failed attempts at getting a Spring Fling date. The chanting stopped immediately as the Wumpas dropped Toby, snarling in anger. “Who are these girls at school?” One cried out, snarling, “We shall hunt them down and make flutes out of their arms!” I snorted, trying to keep my laughter at bay, picturing the school being swarmed by Quagawumps defending Toby. “Th-That’s wrong but so funny.” I snickered, clasping a hand over my mouth when Claire glared back at me. Two of the girls that shot him down were Mary and Darci after all. “No, don’t do that!” Toby quickly got up, trying to calm the enraged Wumpas. “That’s very kind of you, but not necessary. Flames were lit, spreading through the camp as the Wumpas began to sing. “A song of a Quagawump.” Blinky gasped out as they began to dance around Toby. “No outsider has ever heard such a rare delight.” “Catchy,” Arrrgh agreed, nodding his head along to the song. “That’s too bad, this is amazing,” I sighed, finally relaxing enough to latch Midnight back onto my belt as Toby begins to dance with the Wumpas. A Wumpa quickly gathered us, guiding us to the tables, “Come. We feast.” She explained, happy to have us around now. “Oh! What’s on the menu?” Jim asked? “Outside tried to sneak into camp last night.” The Wumpa explained, “Tonight, we eat its heart.” She grinned pulling Jim and Claire to the tables. The Wumpas set out plenty of bread, rocks, and what looked like large chicken legs at our table. A bowl was brought over containing slithering creatures. “Ah! Fresh swamp maggots.” Blinky grinned, eating one quickly. Draal took a seat with me, taking a swamp maggot as Claire gagged, looking away from the Trolls turned humans. When she looked over at Jim, he panicked and ate one, almost passing out immediately. “Are those safe for humans?” I asked, concerned Jim just poisoned himself. Draal handed one to me, shrugging, “As safe as your sushi.” “Fair point,” I winced, taking the maggot. Sniffing at it, my eyes flashed as I realized it smelled appetizing. I took a tentative bite, sclera shifting as I wolfed the rest down. “Those are pretty good!” “Not as good as tacos, but they’ll do.” Draal teased, handing me more. Blinky left to talk to Toby, most likely asking about the stone we came for when a Wumpa restrained him. Toby patted his head with a drumstick, sending him off. As I bit through another swamp maggot, I groaned realizing the role had gotten to his head. “This going to be worse than pulling Mr. Meowmeow off his sweater-vest.” “Oh, great king!” A Wumpa announced, quieting the chanting around us. “Now is the time of telling. Why returned have you?” She asked, causing silence to spread over our tables. Arrrgh even paused eating the entire maggot bowl as Toby fumbled. “This could be bad,” Claire whispered between the tables. “Uh, yeah.” Toby sighed, standing upon the throne. “I have returned for one great purpose” he announced silencing the Wumpas in anticipation. “To tell you of my grand adventure in a far-off mystic land called Arcadia!” He cheered, beginning with a story about Coach Lawrence. Hours went by as Toby continued with his stories. Most of us had fallen asleep or were dozing off lightly. Draal and I crashed by a tree, trying to hide away a bit from the prying Wumpas wanting to see my ‘great magics.’ Drums began to play, prying Draal and I from sleep as the Wumpas began to dance. Toby was at the lead as they sang, ‘Boom. Boom, shake the room, say what?’ over and over. Arrrgh and Claire joining the dance already. Blinky dancing off to the side as Jim sat at the table. I grinned pulling Draal up, going to join the Wumpas. Laughing Draal followed happily as Arrrgh showed us the dance. We back to jump and turn to the beat of the song along with the others. “Why didn’t we come here first?” I laughed, enjoying this much more than Gatto’s Keep. “I guess we felt like getting eaten,” Draal teased, dancing along with me. As the music became more upbeat, Jim and his terrible dancing finally decided to join us. “What is the Trollhunter doing?” Draal asked as Jim ‘danced’ with Claire. I snickered, glad Jim finally faced his rhythm challenged dance moves, “Currently? His best.” Claire finally broke down, asking Jim to Spring Fling herself. Draal chuckled, watching the two. “This ‘Spring Fling’ really is a human right of passage isn’t it?” I shrugged, “For some, I guess if it was anything like this I’d consider going.” I smiled, always finding I had an easier time being myself around Trolls over my human peers. “Well, why don’t we make it like this?” Draal asked, a smug grin taking over his features. “Are you asking me out or challenging me?” I huffed, my stubbornness gearing up. “Both?” He grinned, knowing he didn’t have to goad me further “Fine, I’ll only go if you’re my date,” I ground out, slamming my weight into his side. He took it easily, still standing tall. “Good,” His grin widened, turning into the same predatory smirk he got when he was winning during a sparring session. “Does this mean I get to beat up anyone that tries to ask you?” “No, Draal, a human you could get into a lot of trouble doing that.” I sighed, hiding the small smile at his excitement. The music quieted as Claire and Jim almost kissed. Almost because a loud stomping interrupted the scene as a large green troll, at least twice my height and wearing a crown, entered the camp. “What manner of mischief this be?!” The troll called out, growling at the Wumpas. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Toby called, laughing at the troll, “Who’s this joker?” He asked the Wumpa that had stayed by his side for the entire party. “It is Blungo, the pretend king.” She explained, “You fight him, eh?” asked Toby, causing him to flinch back. “What humans here?” He snarled, gesturing to Toby. “He is our true king. Returned!” The Wumpa declared, standing up for Toby. I grabbed Midnight as Draal took out his ax. Looks like I was right, there was going to be a fight after all. “What?” Blungo snarled, looking from the statue to Toby. “Hi, Mr. Blungo,” Toby panicked as Blungo picked him up. “Shattered King cannot be. King was shatter-ed!” Blungo cried out as he began to shake Toby. “Please don’t kill me Blungo, I’m not the king!” Toby confessed as he hung upside-down. “Why you here?” Blungo asked, pausing in his shaking. “I only made it up to get the stone.” He explained before Blungo began to shake him again. The heartbroken Wumpa couldn’t believe Toby had lied to them, “But king you are not?” “I’m sorry I lied to you,” Toby yelled out. “We only came here for the,” he gasped pointing to Blungo’s crown. “The Killstone!” Blinky cried out, realizing what Toby was pointing at. Jim jumped in, glaring Blungo down. “Put my friend down!” “Or what?” Blungo smirked, eyeing Jim’s tiny form. Jim activated his armor pulling Daylight out. I activated Midnight along with my armor, the glowing Heartstone belt mesmerizing some of the Wumpas. Eri slithered down, increasing the size of her form to a giant snake, mist escaping her mouth as her breath cooled, charging up her ice. A shadow portal opened above Blungo as Angor Rot fell though on top of him. He held a glowing knight, declaring he was 'death' as he stabbed Blungo, his dagger immediately turning him to stone as Toby fell from his grasp. “Angor Rot!” Jim called out, trying to distract him from Toby. Angor sneered as his eyes landed on us. “Boora Nazulrah Char Sha!” He chanted, holding his hand out as Daylight disappeared from Jim grip, and reappearing in Angor’s. “How did you,” Jim panicked, knowing only a Trollhunter could wield Daylight. “Daylight is now mine to command!” Angor Rot cackled as he pulled the Killstone from Blungo’s crown. I snarled as my magic began to pour into the collar, Eri curling her body around mine to cycle the magic quickly. Jim’s armor began to glow as two glaives appeared. Jim through the glaive boomerang at Angor, smirking as it shattered Blungo on its way back, throwing Angor off the dead troll. Angor dropped the Killstone, going after Jim as the others began looking for the stone. Eri released my body as my magic slowed, having only reacted to Jim’s initial upgrade. “Be careful,” she called, quickly shrinking to her smaller size to help Draal and the other sift through the rubble. I teleported above Jim as Angor kneed him in the gut, knocking him back a bit. “Now, isn’t this fun?” Angor smirked, holding Daylight out. Arrrgh snarled, slamming into Angor as he tried to strike Jim. Jim ran after Angor as he kicked Arrrgh off of him. Angor snarled, teleporting higher into the trees. I snarled, as Jim ran up the trees I teleported behind Angor. “Two can play that game!” I lunged forward and Jim moved to strike with his glaives. Angor slipped off the side of the tree, catching us off guard as he jumped back up on the opposite side, knocking Jim from the tree. “Jim!” I yelled, Arrrgh grabbing him before he could fall any further. Still unable to attack me directly, Angor teleported to the tops of the swamp’s trees, pulling out the glowing dagger with a sick grin. “Be careful!” Blinky called to us from the ground. “His blade is poisoned with Creeper’s Sun! One cut and you will be turned to stone!” Arrrgh and Jim quickly began to descend from the trees as Angor leaped after them. As he went to strike Jim, I teleported in front of him, taking a chance. “River!” Jim yelled, trying to push me away. The gold magic that had stopped him before, swirled around Angor’s arms, holding him back from making contact with me. I sighed in relief, knowing that this ‘Eldritch Queen’ still wanted me alive. As long as that was true, I could shield them. Arrrgh snarled, swinging around the trunk of the tree and pulling Angor away from us by his ankle. The magic disappeared as I was removed from striking distance. Jim turned me quickly, angered at my decision, “Are you insane?! You could’ve been turned to stone!” “We don’t have time for this,” I growled seeing Angor swipe at Arrrgh before kicking him back. I teleported in front of Arrrgh, as Jim through the glaives, gaining Angor’s attention as they hit Daylight. As the tree turned to stone and began to fall over a Wumpa, Toby dived in, pushing her out of the way. Once I saw that they were safe, I teleported after Angor Rot and Jim. I flashed behind Jim as Arrrgh tried to tackle Angor causing him to teleport behind me. As I lunged for Angor, he quickly jumped over us, slicing at the tree we were standing on causing it to collapse. Arrrgh dove down, catching Jim as I teleported next to them on the ground. Quickly standing again, I tried to find Angor. “Hey, everyone! I’ve got the stone!” Toby yelled out, all eyes snapping to him. Angor opened a portal behind Toby before we could move. He swung his staff a Toby knocking him back a few feet as he took the stone. “Don’t let him get away!” Jim cried out, running after Angor. The Wumpa Toby save charged Angor, trying to stall him so we could get the stone. He easily threw her off, heading for the portal. Realizing Arrrgh as injured, I was caught between going after Angor and healing him. Snarling, I helped Arrrgh sit up, starting the healing chant as fast as I could. “That’s our stone!” Claire yelled as she took off after Angor. “We need that to save my brother.” She grabbed the staff, falling into the portal with Angor Rot. “Claire!” Jim yelled, trying to catch her. Blinky held him back from entering the portal. “No, Master Jim. If you were lost in the shadow world, you could never return.” He explained quickly. Jim was fighting him, still, trying to get the portal, “So could Claire!” Draal grabbed him, helping Blinky hold him back. “You be any use to her if you’re lost in there too.” Claire fell out of the portal, holding the staff Angor had used. The portal closing behind her. Draal and Blinky quickly let go of Jim, allowing him to reach her. “Claire, are you okay?” Kneeling beside her, he helped her sit up. My magic reached its limit trying to Arrrgh. “Rest,” he spoke, knowing I couldn’t continue. I nodded, helping him up, joining the others to check on Claire. “I lost the Killstone,” Claire dug at the ground desperately, looking for the stone. “But we have you.” Jim sighed, grasping her shoulder to keep her focused. “We’ll get it back.” “Indeed,” Blinky sighed, checking over all of us, “the victory here was survival.” As Claire and the boys stood, she tested the weight of the staff. “Shadowstaff!” Blinky gasped at the sight of Angor Rot’s staff. “Very dangerous. Let me take that.” “No way,” Claire decided, pulling the staff close. “I’m keeping this.” The staff collapsed, similar to Midnight. Claire quickly packed it into her bag as we all regrouped. Once injuries were assessed and bandaged if needed, Jim turned on me, still angry at me for shielding him earlier. “Are you insane?!” He blew up, causing me to wince. “I know he can’t exactly touch you but what if that weird magic hadn’t activated in time, you’d be a statue!” “What’s going on?” Draal asked, looking between us. Never seeing Jim this furious with anyone, let alone me. “Whoever the Eldritch Queen is, she wants me alive. You, on the other hand, she seemed to want dead.” I argued, defending my decision. Jim growled, throwing his hand out at me as he turned to Draal, “Your mate teleported herself in front of Angor’s blade as he went to strike!” He turned back to me, “You heard what he said, that could change at any moment. We don’t even know why she wants you.” Blinky pulled Jim back as my eyes began to glow. Draal stepped between us, frowning down at me. “Let’s go.” Was all he said before grabbing my hand and pulling me far ahead of the group as we headed back for the Gyre station. I flinched at the face Draal had made, staring down at the ground as Eri slipped from my shoulders, heading back to catch a ride with Claire instead. Keeping us out of earshot, Draal sighed, finally looking to me. Hurt was etched into his features. “Why? The Trollhunter,” he shook his head, “Jim, can defend himself, why did you feel the need to shield him?” I gripped his hand tight, trying to reel in my thoughts, “I knew he couldn’t hit me,” I trailed off. “But Jim had a point, the magic might not have held him back in time.” He ground out, sounding more distraught than angry. Pausing for a moment, I ended up pulling Draal further from the group, eyes burning as my thoughts collected. “We don’t know what it could do to humans or changelings. After Ms. Kamaria’s,” my throat clenched as I tried to explain. “The blade isn’t the only thing you’re trying to shield him from,” Draal sighed, realizing why I had tried so hard to keep Jim from being poisoned. “What about you? We don’t know how it’ll affect you either.” I shook my head, voice coming out soft as I tried to push past the tightness. “I didn’t consider it. I couldn’t see past protecting him.” Draal stopped up, holding firm to my hand, “I’ve said it, Jim has said it, Vendel yelled it, and even my father has acknowledged it. If you keep doing this, you’re not going to walk away from it one day.” The others quickly went ahead of us into the Gyre station, opting to give Draal and I space. Jim paused for a moment before quickly heading into the Gyre station after the others. Sighing, I nodded to Draal, knowing that they were right. “I’m sorry, I just,” I leaned my head against his chest, exhausted and overwhelmed at the same time. “It’s like the first night with Bular all over again. All I can see is that sword about to cut through my brother and I just, act.” “You’re a warrior, and a protector,” Draal sighed, hugging me tight as the Wumpa passed us, going to find Toby before we left. “But you have to realize that we need you to come home. I need you to come home.” I nodded against his chest, hugging him tightly. “How am I supposed to tell him? Everything he knew, his anger towards him? Will he be okay?” Draal smiled, kissing the top of my head. “I’m not sure, but he has you, and the rest of the Trollhunters to help him. We’re family after all.” Smiling softly, I pulled back, kissing his cheek as his words helped to calm the conflict in my mind. “We are,” I agreed, heading into the Gyre as Toby suggested the Wumpas might be better off with a queen. We all board the Gyre quickly, ready to head home after the events of tonight. “Jim,” I spoke sliding over to him on the ride back, “We need to talk.” “If this is about your stunt,” Jim began, understandably upset. Holding my hand up to stop him, I pulled my bag forward, taking out my mother’s Grimoire and handing it to him. “Ms. Kamaria gave this to me. She believed it was time I had it.” The page from before glowed. As Jim went to open it, I held it close. “I just want you to know, that I’ll explain as best as I can.” I sighed, pulling my hand away. “But you need to know.” Jim eyed me for a moment before carefully opening the book. The drawing of my parents and Changeling uncle Jim showed first. Jim traced over the sketch, “I don’t understand, what do I need to know,” he cut off as the sketch morphed under his touch, revealing our father’s in their human forms. I waited as Jim stared at the drawing in disbelief.  As he began to process what he was seeing his head snapped up to level with me. “This,” he stuttered out, trying to wrap his head around it. “But that would mean,” he trailed off, grabbing my wrist. I nodded, “Our dads are brothers, we’re both half Changeling.” I held the hand that had grabbed my wrist, trying to keep him grounded. “When?” He tried to ask, looking down at the book again. “After school, while you were in Trollmarket,” I answered, knowing he was asking about when I found out. Jim closed the book, handing it back to me quickly. Putting it away, I watched him carefully. The others staying silent as we docked at Trollmarket. “Is he working with Strickler?” He asked, a pained look covering his face. I shook my head quickly. “He’s with my dad, Ms. Kamaria said he was protecting some sort of 'heart.'” I explained. Jim sighed, the pain leaving as quickly as it came. He lunged forward hugging me tightly. “That’s a relief.” He sighed, the tension finally leaving him. Maybe it was time to look for our fathers.

[sharonitwd]

Georgia’s Last City, CHP: 24

Time Has Come Today

AO3 Link

I've had this ready to post but haven't had the time to update, with Covid-19 and being a cashier I have gone to a full time job instead of part time, so there's that. This chapter is very very long and I promise the rest won't be nearly 10k words (whoops)

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"This is it."

Brie’s whispering stopped the group behind her.

"We're underneath the center of Crawford, the school isn't far from the opening."

"Okay people, remember the plan." Lee said, the group gathered around him staying as close as they could without shoving. "We stay quiet, we stay hidden, and we stay together. We find what we need and we get the hell out before anyone even knows we're there. Got it?"

"I'll be right behind you." Kenny weaved through the crowd to be face to face with Lee. "If anyone sees us, we take 'em out."

Lee didn't like Kenny's willingness to 'take someone out' though stayed silent as he grabbed on to the ladder. As everyone turned off their flashlights Sharon continued to watch the rear, waiting until she was last up the ladder to turn hers off- in case of a stray walker.

As she neared the side of the school where the group had found a dark hiding spot, Vernon mumbled. "Where is everybody? There should be guards patrolling."

"You disappointed?" Kenny whispered back.

Vernon shook his head. "It's just strange is all."

"I think I see one." Christa said, pointing toward the front of the school. "By the door."

One man wandered the street, his path aimless. The group stared though couldn’t get a good look with only moonlight to view him in.

“He’s blocking the way.” Sharon whispered.

"Okay." Lee gained the groups' attention. "Kenny and I will sneak up and try to take him out quiet, the rest of you wait for our signal, then follow us over."

Ben almost asked what the signal would be but Kenny and Lee already snuck away.

All watched as Lee lead the first attack, waiting in anticipation when he stood from his crouch to tower above the person in the street. Though when Lee raised his axe, the blunt end ready for a blow to the back of the head, he paused.

“What the fuck?”

Molly was the first to question the scene, standing straighter as the figure in the street slowly turned around then dashing to Lee’s side when he killed the patroller.

“What the hell?” Christa looked to Sharon, they met with the same shocked expression. “I thought we weren’t killing people we didn’t have to.”

“Something’s not right.” Vernon stood up. “That guard, he wasn’t alive.”

Lee turned to the group, then eyed the corpse on the ground. “What the fuck is a walker doing inside here?”

Then they heard it, the sound of distant walkers grumbling and growling having heard Lee’s panicked voice and the following chatter of the group in the once quiet streets.

The group hushed, listening to the sound nearing in a brief moment of panic.

Lee turned to the group again, abandoning the notion of being quiet. “Get inside, fast!”

No one hesitated to follow his lead, everyone scrambling inside before the walkers could see exactly where the next meal went.

Inside proved to be less favorable, once the flashlights were on the group had to fight back the walkers from inside. No one had a chance to think aside from Brie, who only held the largest flashlight in the group.

“Upstairs!” She shouted, pointing the light at the staircase, the only path clear of walkers led there.

The group followed her directions and blindly charged ahead. At the top of the staircase a glass wall with a set of double doors to match sealed the lower floor from the top floor, creating a perfect barrier to prevent walkers from overwhelming the group.

Kenny whispered curses as he surveyed the area quickly, making sure that they are safe for the meantime. He stared up at the ceiling where a tree had toppled and collapsed park of the roof, though it seemed to be clear of danger. “Do you think they saw us?”

Ben raised his hands to his head and began to pace.

Molly held out her hand to Sharon gesturing to the flashlight in her hand. Sharon didn’t hesitate, allowing the teen to do what she thought was necessary. Once taken Molly looked around nearby corners to check for walkers. Without her light Sharon squinted at the papers scattered on the ground, she gathered a few and tired reading in the moonlight from the hole in the ceiling.

“What the hell happened here?” Christa exclaimed. “I thought this place was supposed to be secure!”

“What always happens, I guess.” Molly said, her voice echoing from the other end of the hall. “In the end, the dead always win.”

With that said Ben only paced faster. “Oh man, we are so screwed.”

Vernon hummed, calm and collected. “No, this is good.”

As Ben stopped his pacing the group paused to ponder what he had said.

“Vernon’s right.” Lee said. “We can deal with walkers easier than armed guards.”

Kenny agreed. “So long as we don’t let ‘em box us in, we can still do this.”

Sharon let the old papers go to the ground, whatever was legible was mostly notes about supplies written on scrap paper.

“The plan hasn’t changed.” Kenny continued.

“The plan hasn’t changed?” Ben scoffed. “Every time walkers show up the plan changes!”

Sharon hushed him. “Ben, it’s going to be okay.”

“Do you even have any idea how many of them are out there?”

“No.” Christa crossed her arms. “You wanna do a headcount, or do you want to get what we need and get the hell out of here?”

“This means there’s no chance we can get caught, everyone in Crawford is dead-” Sharon felt her knees weaken. “E-everyone. . . in Crawford. . .”

Kenny looked to Sharon, hearing her tone change and voice drift to mumbles.

“Everyone in Savannah. . .”

“If they couldn’t survive, what chance do we have?” Ben failed to register the sudden look of panic on Sharon’s face, his words only sending her deeper in a spiral of panic and dismay.

“We’re here now, that’s all that matters.” Christa said, glaring at Ben.

“Come on.” Brie called out, ceasing the bickering. “I think I know which way to head.”

As the group followed Kenny placed a hand on Sharon’s shoulder, guiding her to follow the group.

Ben followed closely behind Sharon, shaking his head. “I got a bad feeling about this.”

"And you didn’t before?” Kenny rolled his eyes.

As Brie led the group down the hall she shone her light on all the doors they passed, all were boarded and spray painted with red ‘x’s. Behind each door was the faint sound of walkers.

Brie stopped at the only unmarked door, standing aside for someone else to open. “Here.”

Lee approached with his axe ready, pushing open the door and stepping aside. After a quick look he entered, the moonlight shone directly on the windows, he didn’t need Brie’s light to see the room is clear of walkers. “Looks okay, everybody in.”

The classroom is dirty, some childish decorations still hung on the walls though any papers had been replaced with documents. The desks had been removed and replaced with adult sized chairs from various locations, from foldout camping chairs to dining room chairs.

The chalkboard had a detailed map of the surrounding area. Sharon, momentarily out of her daze, walked up to it, studying the various squares and rectangles only for a moment. “That’s the cemetery.” She pointed to a large filled in square, the largest on the map. “That’s Crawford park, and the school would be here.” She almost wanted to mark where Lisa’s house was, though just looking at the square made her train of thought stop.

Lee continued further in the classroom, noticing a door with a sign labeled, ‘Armory.’ He readied himself for a fight, though when he tried pushing the door open it refused.

“Figures.” He sighed, lowering his axe.

Kenny stood directly by Sharon’s side, inspecting the markings and notes on each square on the chalkboard. “Looks like they were usin’ this room as some kind of command center.”

“Okay, so now what?” Molly asked the room. “Where do we start looking?”

The group looked to the map on the chalkboard, hoping for a clue as to where the supplies were kept.

“This is all outside of their land.” Sharon pointed out for them. “The school would be here, but they didn’t bother drawing it.”

Brie, who hadn’t yet wandered far in the room, looked around for a clue and finding one immediately. “Here.”

While the group gathered to see what she had found Sharon stayed put, her eyes lingering on the large map. The whole reason she wanted to go was to find one last clue, one last chance of finding where Lisa went. Part of her wished to see something, maybe they had pictures of everyone who stayed here, medical files, name tags, or personal records.

Staying in this room wouldn’t help her find a clue.

Sharon joined the conversation in time to hear the group designate small groups to gather certain supplies. Vernon and Christa volunteered to go to the clinic just down the hall, seeing as they’d know exactly what to grab. Kenny offered to get the fuel from a shed past the courtyard, when Ben and Brie asked to come with Kenny claimed three was too many people for one task, though Ben felt as if it was because he wasn’t useful.

“I can grab food.” Sharon offered, joining the crowd. “If we know where it is.”

“That would be directly below us.” Brie said. “I can lead you to it on our way to the shed.”

Kenny agreed. “Why don’t you take Ben with you, you won’t be going far but you need someone to watch your back.”

Ben stood straight. “I can do that.”

“I guess that leaves me and Molly to go find us a battery.” Lee said, pointing to the large square on the map that read ‘Motor Pool.’

"Yup." Brie nodded. "It's an auto-shop called Herman's, you can't miss it."

Kenny addressed the group. “Sound good to everyone?”

When no one disagreed or had more to say Lee spoke up. “We’ve got a plan. Everyone be careful, stay close to one another, and we’ll all meet back here.”

“Whoever gets back first should use some of those tools we brought to get that armory door open.” Kenny pointed to the armory behind him. “We might need to shoot our way out of here.”

Before anyone turned to leave Molly handed Sharon her flashlight back, not saying a word as she left the room.

“We ready?” Kenny asked, addressing Brie, Sharon, and Ben.

“The cafeteria is just on our way down." Brie said. "We’ll run into those walkers down the hall, I hope you know how to handle yourselves.”

“I spent the first few months on my own, I can handle them.” Sharon shrugged.

“Now, I’m not saying that I don’t trust you-” Kenny started.

“Then don’t.” Sharon finished. “Walkers aren’t a problem for me, you should know that.”

Kenny sighed. “Alright, let’s get this show on the road.”

The group of four walked out of the classroom, now that they aren’t panicked from the walkers they had a chance to observe their surroundings. Posters lined the walls each with their own purpose; a call to arms to unite the people of Crawford, a fear tactic to keep any rebellious persons to stay quiet, the best way to report suspicious behavior including a reward for every successful arrest, and a list of their rules.

Sharon paused to read their rules.

ALL illnesses and medical conditions must be disclosed to the council.  Children under 14 NOT admitted without authorization. Anyone asked to leave Crawford cannot return UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Theft or looting within the district will NOT be tolerated. WASTE NOT! Make the most of your rations.

Sharon thought about what could consider a medical condition, both herself and Lisa had their own disabilities. While Lisa's is mental, hers is physical. Would Crawford kick Lisa out for her Bipolar Disorder? Would they have kept Sharon over a watchful eye over a birth defect?

Moving to the next rule Sharon stared at the written number, their age limit being fourteen.

Fivel was thirteen.

Seeing the group slowly leave her behind Sharon caught up with them, keeping the rules in the back of her head.

“When we get down there we should be quiet.” Brie said as they reached the doors separating them from the staircase. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of the dead roaming up here, we won’t be so lucky down there.”

“So if things get too risky just back out.” Kenny said. “We have enough food to last a little while, we can survive without it.”

Each member of the small group took out their weapons and flashlights, preparing themselves to go downstairs again and face the few walkers that were roaming down there. Only two of the rotting corpses followed them up and three more remained downstairs. Once the threats were cleared Brie led the younger of the group to a set of double doors.

“This is it.” She gestured. “Good luck in there, we’ll be back here soon.”

“Remember, no dangerous stunts.” Kenny said, looking to Sharon. “We need you, not the food.”

Kenny didn’t stay long enough to see the look on Sharon’s face, the words made her heart ache.

Ben, however, glossed over the heartfelt words and sighed. “It’s weird to be in a school again.”

Sharon nodded, not agreeing with the statement but acknowledging his words. With Sharon’s flashlight the two first peeked through the vertical windows in the cafeteria doors, flinching at the amount of walkers trapped inside.

While Ben shivered at the amount of walkers Sharon could point out multiple openings that were clear of danger, the cafeteria wasn’t full to the brim, if she were to find a way to distract them she could easily slip by.

Directly across from them is the serving counters and behind that the kitchen, once inside there she’d be safe and separated from the walkers in the cafeteria. With one last glance she could see another enterance through the walkres, another set of double doors on the right hand side seemed to lead to another section of the hallway they were in.

“First thing’s first.” Sharon said, looking back to Ben. “I need a jacket.”

Ben groaned.

Sharon led the way down the hall to look for a new jacket and to make sure their surroundings were safe. The two checked every occasional locker though peering inside only reminded them they were inside an elementary school, these jackets are too small to fit either of them, unless one was a particularly big sixth grader.

Sharon tried to avoid looking at the names plastered inside, she knew she wouldn’t find Fivel’s name as he went to a private school, but the fear of seeing an ‘Adam’ or an ‘Elizabeth’ was far too likely to handle, trying to imagine where her siblings are would overwhelm her.

When she spotted the name ‘Brandon’ she stopped looking all together.

Ben quickened his pace when he saw a janitor's closet, opening the door with haste either uncaring or unaware of the danger that a walk could have been inside. “There’s a jacket in here.” He said, reaching inside and pulling out a long nylon jacket, the bright orange was easy to see in the darkness.

“Ben.” Sharon approached, finally turning on her flashlight now that they were too far from a window to properly see. “What if there was a walker in there?”

Ben’s eyes went wide as he realized what he had done, turning wildly to scan the closet for walkers. He dropped in jacket in a panic when he heard scuffed footsteps down the hall. Sharon followed the sound with her flashlight, illuminating a single walker with a broken leg shambling it’s way toward them.

“Hold my light.” Sharon spoke evenly, calm and collected as ever.

Ben grabbed the light and aimed it at the walker, now only a few feet from them. He watched as she nearly mechanically grabbed the screwdriver from her pocket, grabbing the walkers’ shoulder before it could react and bringing it down through it’s temple.

The act of killing the walker always came a little too naturally for her liking. There hadn’t been many times in her life that she’d shown aggression, she hardly even liked sports. When it came to putting out a walker she had no qualms with it, but they were human at one point, shouldn’t she feel bad?

As the walker collapsed to the ground she stared at it. The body was fresh compared to many she had seen around here, the skin had started the process of rotting, the cheeks hadn’t been bitten out yet, and the odor wasn’t as foul.

Her time to contemplate was cut short as Ben moved the light away, shuffling inside the closet for a moment.

“Here.” Ben walked back out, holding a box of disposable gloves. “Not as thick as the yellow ones we had before, but it should work, right?”

She sighed.

As Ben laid the jacket on the ground they discovered a slight flaw, it was made of a stiff polyester material, meaning every time Sharon will move once wearing this she will make a swishing sound.

“Do you think if we get it wet enough, it won’t make that noise?” Ben asked, propping the light on a few books and doubling his gloves.

“Hopefully.” Sharon triple gloved her hands, grasping on to the wooden handled knife that had belonged to Lisa, the only object she had that would help open a walker’s chest. “We’ll have to think of something.”

Ben frowned as Sharon started to unbutton the walker’s shirt, if this had been a female walker she would have simple pulled up the shirt to keep her covered, using blood from the chest was less likely to have old half-digested food but she would take blood from the guts to save herself from looking at someones exposed breasts. She didn’t like to think about it.

“Hey, so. . .” Ben hesitated, his hands hovering over the open corpse. “Ugh. . . this never gets easier.”

They counted down and plunged their hands at the same time, it was always strange how warm they felt inside, assuming they would be dead cold.

“So, um. . . something has been bothering me.”

Sharon looked up. “What’s wrong?”

“I mean, um. . .” Ben hesitated, unsure of how to bring this up. “It’s Kenny.”

She already knew where this was going.

“I’ve gotten to know him better now that I’m helping him work on the boat, you of all people know he’s a good guy.” Ben said. “It’s eating me up knowing what we know.”

“Ben.”

“He deserves to know. It’s my fault Katjaa got killed, if I hadn’t screwed up in the first place she’d still be alive. How am I supposed to just carry something like that around? We have to tell him.”

“And do you think knowing we caused it would make him feel better about it?”

“No, but he deserves to know, doesn’t he?”

Sharon paused.

“Wouldn’t you want to know what happened to Lisa?”

She whipped her head up to lock eyes with him.

“S-sorry!” Ben looked away from her stare, his eyes lingering on the corpse they still had their hands in. “He should know.”

Sharon sighed, regretting having to take a breath directly above the corpse. “You’re right, he does deserve to know but he’s stressed and still grieving. Now isn’t the best time.”

“What if we don’t get the chance? What am I supposed to say whenever he mentions Katjaa? Nod and pretend like we had nothing to do with it? I don't know how much longer I can keep looking him in the eye, I feel like I'm lying to him.” Ben squeezed his hands, unnerved by how the guts in his grip felt. “What if I do something stupid again and get us all killed before he knows the truth?”

“Ben-”

“I got Travis shot.”

Sharon stopped again.

“I tried to run away when the bandits attacked, if he didn’t pull me back down I would have been killed. He got shot because I panicked, because I didn’t say anything. If we told Lee, Save-Lot’s wouldn’t have attacked us, we could have left before they had the chance if I said something.” He took a deep breath. “How is this not bothering you?”

Sharon looked down to the blood coating her gloves. “There’s a lot on my mind, Ben. There’s so much already I don’t know what to panic about.” She shook her head. “My arm still burns from the train, so I worry about Travis. I can’t help Travis anymore, so I worry about Duck. I don’t know how to help Duck, so I worry about Clementine- so I worry about everyone in the group getting fed- so I think about Lisa. There’s so much going on, I don’t know what to think about first.”

“But this is all I’m thinking about! I’ve hurt so many people. Katjaa, Travis, Duck, Kenny, you. . .” Ben’s eyes widened at the last word, quickly focusing on the task at hand.

The reaction didn’t go unnoticed, Sharon remembered what Travis said. He still has a crush on her.

“I worry about how I’ve hurt other people, how I’m going to screw up again if I don’t learn from my mistakes.”

Part of her wanted to find something mean to say to break his heart, distance himself from her, force him to dislike her, that way she can leave easily. What reason would she have to leave, now? She can’t abandon Kenny and Duck, why would she distance herself? Why was her first instinct to abandon everyone?

She could let him down nicely, the age difference wasn’t bad but she still didn’t like that she could legally drink and he would have graduated high school in June, and if that wasn’t enough she doesn’t even like boys. Telling him there’s no chance between them could distance them enough to be friends but maybe make him think about that instead of the bandit deal.

“I can’t pretend anymore.” Ben shook his head. “I have to tell him, before anything bad happens again.”

She didn’t have a choice, her mouth blurting out something mean before thinking of the repercussions. “And what about Carley?”

Ben stopped in his tracks.

“Carley wasn’t bitten because of the bandits, she was bit protecting someone you abandoned.”

Ben didn’t even breathe.

“We both made a mistake by not telling the group, that wasn’t only your mistake. Carley was all you.” She squeezed the guts in her hands. “Kenny can’t know yet, so learn from your mistakes and don’t get me killed.”

Soaking the jacket in blood took longer than they had hoped, the fabric was still too noisy for Sharon’s liking but it would have to do, she needs out of this conversation.

“I need you to go to that door and knock on it.” Sharon pointed to the second cafeteria doors down the hall. “The walkers will go toward the noise so run back to this door and wait for me here, once they are distracted I’ll go inside and get the food.”

She didn’t wait to hear a response, knowing that he was too hurt by her words to say anything.

Why did she do that? She doesn’t need to push people away anymore, she’s going to stay in the group, right? She made a promise. What made her snap at him like that?

As she got to the original doors Sharon could see the walkers were still undistributed, walking whichever direction they were facing. A bright light shone through the windows of the other door, at that moment she realized her haste to go through this plan could have gotten them killed if she wasn’t paying attention. Luckily the doors Ben knocked on only opened one way, for walkers to escape they would need to pull on the handles, not push. For now the walkers will stay trapped inside, leaving them more time to grab supplies.

She didn’t want to see Ben up close so soon after what she had said, so she stepped inside a little earlier. The few walkers still close by saw her enter, the door nearly impossible to open quietly.

One walker saw through the rouse, she had made too much noise and moved too quickly to be one of them, the others were too preoccupied with the noise that had come from the other door. She had to back away from the walker until the crowd wasn’t so heavy, so none would hear the swishing of her jacket aside from the one she was about to kill.

It was dispatched, the screwdriver slipping out with ease. The walkers had mostly gathered to the other door, the sound of them pounding against it drew more of a crowd. A few walkers didn’t care for the noise, wandering aimlessly around the cafeteria, the stragglers were sparse enough for Sharon to walk through comfortably, hardly coming within two feet of the dead. When she reached the kitchen she shut the doors behind her, of course if she made noise the walkers could crawl through the counter and sneeze-guard, though would prefer if the stragglers didn’t wander inside. To make her job easier, she also took out the few inside the kitchen.

With the threats taken care of she allowed herself to look about the room, having to dig in her bag for the small key chain light to see. A few windows provided enough moonlight for her to notice the deep freezer was open, looking inside proved to be the right choice as every available space was filled with food. The flashlight was dim and small, though she could tell that a few people had been here and had taken armfuls of whatever was closest without paying no mind to what they were grabbing.

Sharon took her bloodstained gloves off and did the same, swiping an arm full of cans in to her backpack and testing the weight, once the bag had become stressful to carry she deemed it was enough.

As she left the kitchen she had found many of the walkers stopped caring about the noises around the door Ben had knocked on, and now were wandering aimlessly again. With a simple fling of a lunch tray the walkers were brought back to the door.

Once she exited the front doors Ben was there to meet her, avoiding eye contact as he helped take off the heavy backpack.

“They have a lot of food in there.” Sharon said. “Trade me backpacks, I’ll go in for another load and we can take the full bags upstairs together.”

Ben nodded, finally responding. “I never liked doing this.”

“Doing what?” Sharon asked, trying not to sound hostile or too objective-driven.

“Letting you do all the dangerous stuff and just. . . watching.” Ben shrugged. “I always wanted to help but. . . I’d just be in the way.”

“I needed you to watch the inn while I was away.”

“But what about when you took night shifts? I could have gone.”

“I didn’t take it too often and Lilly didn’t like me up there without a gun. It made more sense for me to go.”

“But if you were in danger there was nothing I could do to help. I couldn’t help Mr. Parker, I couldn’t stop that weird farm guy from hitting you, I couldn’t stop the bandits, I couldn’t stop Carley from getting bit, I couldn’t stop you from crashing the train.”

And again Ben found a way to feel guilty about not being able to be there enough for Sharon, of course she only made him feel worse. She guilt tripped him into thinking he’s useless when he’s just a teen who was thrown in bad situations he wasn’t prepared for. Sharon had been used to taking responsibilities, watching her parents behaviors and practically raising her younger siblings, both things she shouldn’t have had to do yet did it anyways. Ben is a normal kid, his biggest responsibility in his life was homework.

“I know I’m a coward and I do dumb things, the day Mr. Parker was caught in that bear trap was the first time my choices mattered. Before that I was with all of my classmates and teachers, and then when the bandits came we were stuck in cages.”

If things were different he’d never have to worry about what decision could get others killed, he’d never think that being threatened into silence would get him thrown out of safety, he’d never have to face certain death on a daily basis.

“I never had to kill a walker or save someone’s life. I could only. . . sit around and listen as they tortured my friends, watch as they killed my teachers.”

He doesn’t deserve the way he’s been treated, he’s just a scared boy.

“I’m sorry.” Ben mumbled, his ungloved hands long ago covered his eyes. “I wasn’t meant to be like you or everyone else, I was just a brass player, I never even had a real job.”

Sharon dropped that backpack to the ground.

“I’m just an idiot, I shouldn’t be here.”

She quickly took off her jacket.

“I’m. . . what are you-”

As Ben lowered his hands to see what Sharon was doing, she already had her arms wrapped around his torso, holding him tight.

“Ben, I am so sorry.”

Ben’s tears dripped from his chin.

“I always tried to ignore how you felt because I was used to the walkers already, from the start, it never felt wrong to kill them because they were all strangers.”

Ben returned the hug.

“The first time I killed one, he had attacked a little girl. Something came over me, I knew I had to protect her and every hit it would only try harder to bite her. Once it was dead Lisa took me away from the scene. But you?” Sharon pulled away. “Every walker you had seen up close. . . you knew them, didn’t you?”

Ben nodded, holding up his hand to cover his tear stained face.

“From the moment the walkers came you weren’t allowed to adjust, the rest of us were forced to. Now isn’t a good time, but once we’re out of here we can help you get used to the walkers.”

Ben sighed.

“Right now’s not a good time to continue this conversation. Kenny and Brie could be back any minute and you still have an empty backpack.”

Sharon bent over, pulling up the gore covered jacket and wincing as she put it on.

“I’ll only be a bit.”

She waited for his nod, then walked inside the cafeteria once again.

As they were talking some walkers lost interest and were now scattered around, meaning another walker closest to the door had spotted her quick movements and noisy jacket.

Now that there were walkers all around she couldn’t kill this one safely, not without causing a struggle and making more noise. She backed away, trying to weave through the crowd slow enough to not raise suspicion and yet quick enough to escape the riled up walker’s grasp.

Too many walkers were staring at her, slowly they turned their heads to watch as Sharon moved too fast to be a walker.

Before she could react another noise rang through the air, the sound of a car alarm somewhere in the distance. The sound loud enough to rile up the walkers surrounding Sharon.

Just as one more had taken a step forward did a loud banging come from the side doors. All walkers- even the one that had been following her through the crowd turned at the banging and stumbled their way to the doors. Their guttural noises and hissing had become louder than before, the attack on the door was harder and full of intent from the noise of the car alarm.

Without wasting another second Sharon entered the kitchen, she wanted to pay attention to what she was grabbing but found herself unable to, the noises of angry walkers was too loud. They are too dangerous to linger around.

Getting back to the doors didn’t feel quick enough, even after she closed the doors behind her she could still hear the angry walkers clear as day, though the car alarm had stopped.

On the other side of the doors is a different scene than she left, Ben was no where to be found and a group of walkers had taken his place.

“Sharon!” Kenny called out from atop the first platform of the stairs, kicking down a walker that had made its way toward him. “Sharon get your ass up here now!”

The hallway, once empty and silent was now packed with walkers spilling out from the doors Kenny and Brie had left to get gas, the walkers blocked her from every exit.

“Where’s Ben?” Sharon called back, killing a walker that blocked her path to the stairs. “And Brie?”

“They’re upstairs already! Get up here!”

Sharon pushed the next walker aside and killed one that looked at her. As she got to the stairs Kenny had grabbed her hand and yanked her up. He grabbed the two gas cans by his side and followed her upstairs, both of them only slightly faster than the walkers below with the weight they were carrying.

Brie and Ben had the doors held open, waiting for the two to pass the doors to slam it behind them.

Sharon and Kenny, after unloading their heavy baggage, they joined the two holding the door shut as the walkers threatened to break it down.

“We need something to hold it shut!” Kenny shouted over the walkers pounding on the doors.

Sharon couldn’t hear him, she only watched as the walkers in front of her face desperately tried to bust down the Plexiglas doors, their eyes white, their skin falling off in chunks, their blood smearing the glass.

It wasn’t until Lee had pulled her away did she realize he had shoved his hand-axe in the door handle and prevented it from opening.

“Think that’ll hold?” Lee asked, letting go of Sharon.

“It’s damn well better.” Kenny mumbled, taking a deep breath.

“There’s so many of them.” Brie said, both her and Ben still couldn’t look away.

“Did you get what we came for?” Lee asked, looking down to the gas canisters by their feet. “You got the fuel!”

“Ben and I got two full bags of food.” Sharon said, trying not to focus too hard on the faces of the walkers. “Should last a few weeks if we’re careful.”

“A few weeks is better than a few days.” Lee smiled.

“Let’s not start high-fiving each other just yet, let’s get back to the classroom.” Kenny said, finally catching his breath. “Give us a hand with these fuel cans, it weighs a god-damn ton.”

“Actually.” Sharon cleared her throat. “I have a few things I need to look for in the clinic, if that’s okay.”

“Like what?” Kenny asked, looking her up and down for wounds. “Are you hurt?”

“No, well, I’m fine but. . .” Sharon had kept her jacket sleeve rolled up as much as possible to keep the burn cool, though covered it when around others, so she felt thankful that the janitors jacket she still had on covered it up for her without adding too much heat. “I got burned a few days ago, at the train station.”

“Days?” Lee shook his head. “Feels like it, huh? I think that was just yesterday.”

“Feels like it was five months ago.” Ben said.

“It’s not too bad, I just wanted to see if I could find some ointment.” Sharon said.

“Alright, Lee can carry your bag to the classroom.” Kenny picked up a gas can, grunting as he did so. “And smart thinking with that jacket, just make sure you wash your hands before treating your arm.”

Sharon nodded, ignoring Brie’s questioning stare as she took off the heavy bag of food.

She waited until the group rounded the corner to the meeting room, waiting until she could hear the door shut. Once she heard the click from down the hall she whipped her head around, nearly pressing her face to the plexi-glass to scan every face, having to stand on her toes to look over some of the walkers.

None of the walkers resembled Lisa or her family, a few women with rotting faces made her heart leap, though after enough time she determined none of these walkers are her.

Although treating the burn on her arm was only an excuse to look for Lisa, she had a hunch that Crawford would keep medical records, maybe Lisa would be on those. She remembered the nurses station is only just down the hall, so she followed the hallway down, once she rounded the corner she quickly pulled herself back.

Her new screwdriver now clenched in her hand, Sharon stared at the five walkers that pounded on the clinic door.

At the sound of knocking on the door Christa yanked it open, ready to face anything that could be behind it. She lowered her weapon when she saw it was only Sharon, who was peeling off a filthy blood covered jacket.

“Finally.” Christa sighed. “I didn’t think it would take you all so long to find out we were locked in there.” At the mention of others, Christa stepped in to the hall. “Wait, where is everyone else?”

“Lee, Kenny, Ben, and the new woman are in the classroom.” Sharon said, wiping her hands off on her jeans.

“And what about Molly?”

“I didn't see her out there, I think she's in there already.”

“Wait, so you took out those walkers all by yourself?”

Sharon nodedd. “Yeah, I’m used to taking them out on my own.”

“What about the group? Haven’t you had them to watch your back?”

“When this all started, I was. . .” Sharon hesitated, trying to think of her cover story.

Vernons voice chimed in from inside the clinic. “Christa, you can interview her later, right now we still need that code.”

“Code?” Sharon latched on to the change of subject. “Code for what?”

Christa dropped her suspicion and allowed Sharon to enter.

The clinic had been covered in a fine layer of dust and decay, even when in use it looked as if no one had cleaned the floors or bothered to pick up the trash, thankfully the used needles box was in use and had been locked shut. The only thing to worry about in this clinic was dust mites.

Vernon sat on a rolling stool in front of a three drawer high filing cabinet, hunched over a manila folder and squinting to read the print inside. He looked up only to acknowledge Sharon’s presence.

“It looks like they were keeping all the prescription meds in that safe behind me, all locked up tight. In order to grab the medicine we need a four digit code to get in that locker.” Vernon pointed his thumb to the locker behind him, a pin-pad placed directly in the center of the caged shelves.

With Sharon’s flashlight she could see the medicine inside, though the mesh cage wouldn’t allow even a pinky finger through. Judging by the welded joints she guessed this was constructed solely for this purpose, stopping people from getting the medicine they need.

“We don’t want to keep guessing in case it locks us out. The only lead we have is to hope whoever ran this place might have written the code down somewhere, and if it comes to it we bust it open.”

Christa dug inside of a cardboard box that sat beside the filing cabinet. “They cataloged files of every resident and the doctor recorded video of every visit I’ve been looking through hoping that we can see him enter the code but I haven’t had any luck.”

Sharon’s eyes glossed over the camcorder that Christa was watching the tapes through and stared at the filing cabinet. Files of every resident.

“Would you mind watching over the tapes while I help look through the files?” Christa asked, holding out the next tape for Sharon to take.

“Um. . .” Sharon looked between the tape and the files. “Actually if you don’t mind. . .”

Christa rested her arm, looking down at the tape briefly. “What’s wrong?”

“Could I look through the files?”

Vernon’s eyes narrowed at her. “If you’re thinking of peeping at people’s private records, the answer is no.” He pushed himself away from the cabinet and crossed his arms. “I know the world’s gone to hell, but I won’t accept any more HIPPA violations just because you’re a little curious.”

Christa sighed and turned to face him. “Wouldn’t we be achieving the same thing if we let her watch some tapes?”

Sharon nodded in agreement. “I promise I don’t want to snoop in on other people’s lives. I’m. . . I’m hoping somebody I know would be in there. I don’t want to look at private files, but I will help look for the code or a clue as to how to open the safe if I can just read a few names.”

Vernon uncrossed his arms, staring at the cabinet in thought.

“I’ll keep looking through the tapes.” Christa volunteered, returning to her spot by the counter with the tape recorder.

Vernon dug his hands and pulled out a folder, handing it to Sharon. “Just look through the notes, see if anything was prescribed and we’ll have Christa look through their tapes.”

Taking the file, Sharon read the name at the top of the folder.

Just for a moment she glanced over the files that Christa and Vernon had already looked through just to read the names, none looked familiar. She decided she would look for Lisa after searching, at least to appease Vernon and not risk herself being banned from looking.

Christa fumbled with the camcorder for a few moments, when the tape started to play and a male’s voice rang out Sharon paused to listen in. He started with a statement; who he was, the patients’ name, the time, and the date. She tried not to listen, curious to how these people lived. After the outbreak she hadn’t come into close contact with people aside from her current group.

As Sharon reached for a new file her jacket sleeve rubbed against her arm, the dull work of reading files wasn’t enough of a distraction to numb the pain from her burns. With the new file in hand she stared at the locker. “Is everything locked in there?”

“Not everything.” Vernon said, flipping a page without giving her a look. “High theft and high demand items mostly. Why, do you need anything?”

Sharon hummed, debating whether to show him or to look for burn cream later. She had no viable reason for hiding it yet a thought in the back of her head told her she shouldn’t appear to be vulnerable, she has to be the strong one.

“Are you hurt?” Christa asked as she paused the tape she was listening to.

With both of them now looking to her for an answer she caved in, setting the file down and taking off her jacket to reveal the large bumpy red mark across her forearm, a few blisters had formed in the center.

“Shit, I didn’t think it was that bad.” Christa stared. “Doesn’t that hurt?”

Sharon bit her lip, now that she focused on the pain it did in fact hurt. A whole day of finding distractions to ignore the pain only added to how terribly it felt, she tried to find something else to think about though Vernon had grabbed her arm and started to examine it.

“How long has this gone untreated?”

“About a day.”

“Once we get that cabinet open you’ll apply ointment on it and keep it bandaged. Do not try to pop those blisters, got it?”

Sharon nodded.

“Your group can’t handle more infections.” Vernon sighed, returning to the filing cabinet. “The sooner we find that code the sooner we get that treated, leave your jacket off for now until we do.”

Sharon nodded again, tying the arms of her jacket around her waist and quickly returning to the files.

“Sharon.” Christa said, clearing her throat and repeating herself in a different tone. “Sharon?”

Sharon closed her file and put it away before looking up. “Yeah?”

“You mentioned a while ago you wanted to leave your group.” Christa unloaded the tape she was watching and grabbed another. “What’s your plan now?”

Sharon took a new file in her hands, reading the unfamiliar name before speaking. “I’m going to stay with my family.”

Christa’s shoulders slumped, staring at the tapes labeled ‘Anna Corea.’

“What are your plans?”

“Once Omid is healed. . . we might be leaving. I was going to ask if you’d wanted to stay with us, but I won’t ask you to split up your family for us.”

“Then I’m glad we were able to find Omid some medicine before we. . . part ways.” Sharon smiled. “It was nice meeting good people and not. . . not the people we’ve met so far.”

“We’ve felt the same, big groups never seemed to work out for us and it’ll be nice to leave on good terms. Besides, the boat doesn’t look big enough to fit everyone.”

“Wait, what?” Sharon looked up from her file. “What do you mean?”

“The boat is pretty small, it looks like it would with all of us and all of the supplies.”

Sharon blinked, thinking about the boat again and how it fit only five people comfortably. A perfect size for Lisa, her parents, little brother, and Sharon to take a day out in the ocean.

"Oh my god." Christa covered her mouth, squinting at the small screen. She walked away from the screen, prompting Sharon and Vernon to pause in their work.

"What's wrong?" Sharon asked.

"Nothing, just. . ." She took a deep breath. "That was hard to watch, but I got the code."

Vernon turned and stood once the keypad beeped and unlocked, abandoning the filing cabinet quickly. As he did so Sharon quickly seized her chance, quickly she scanned the names on every file, then shutting the drawer to pull out the bottom one. Then she found two familiar last names, two files with the last name ‘Willems’ written on it. Pulling out the first one revealed to be Lisa’s father, she didn’t care enough to read any details on his file, her hand hovering over the last manila folder.

If this is Lisa, then she’s staying here until she can find her. Kenny will take the boat, Christa and Omid will leave, Vernon will return to his group, all she will have to do is find Lisa. Even if she has to find every walker and look them in the eyes she will turn over every table and chair to find her.

Folder in hand she read the name.

“Kim Choi Willems.”

Vernon and Christa turned at the sound of papers drop from Sharon’s hands and scatter to the floor. Christa put her backpack down and let Vernon continue filling it on his own.

“Sharon, are you okay?” She asked, crouching next to her to see her face. “Sharon?”

Christa and Vernon nervously turned at the sound of the door opening, both still nervous from the walkers that trapped them in the room and the strange feeling they are still trespassing. The two relaxed when Lee appeared behind it.

“Everything alright in here?” He asked, looking to Vernon then to Sharon.

Vernon spoke first. “The medicine was locked up, had to do some snooping around to get in, but there’s another problem.”

“Lee.” Christa stood up, walking closer and talking in a hushed voice. “You might want to speak to Sharon.”

“What’s wrong?” He leaned to see if he could deduce what's wrong with her, though couldn’t see with her back facing him. “Is she hurt?”

“Yes and no, she has some burns but that’s not the problem. She was looking through files, said she was looking for someone.”

Lee didn’t need her to continue to know who this was about. “What did she find out?”

“I don’t know, she won’t respond to us.”

Lee sighed, preparing himself to talk to her. Walking on eggshells seemed commonplace with her, he’s scared of what she might do if she cracks so he approached her calmly and knelt by her side. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Sharon mumbled, eyes glued to the floor.

“So. . .” Lee looked down at the scattered papers. “What did you find?”

“Lisa’s parents were here.” Sharon’s eyes glossed over. “While Fivel was alone in that attic starving- her parents were here. . . Lisa didn’t make it here, she would have never let Fivel be alone up there, she would have never left him behind to live here.”

“You mean. . .” Lee blinked, hoping that he’d simply misheard her whispers. “They left their kid behind to starve?”

Sharon nodded violently, forcing the tears to stream down her face. “I knew they were monsters but this? Letting him die all alone just to survive? Is that what we’ve come to?”

“No.” Christa spoke up. “Absolutely not.”

“What kind of world are Duck and Clementine going to grow up in? We’re supposed to take care of them not. . . leave them behind, let them die, do nothing to protect them.”

“That’s not how it’s going to be.” Christa said, her eyes welling up as well. “We’re not going to let them die, Sharon. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Lee continued off of Christa. “We couldn’t reach Lisa’s little brother in time, but we still have two we can take care of. We have to stay strong for them.”

Sharon nodded.

"Here.” Vernon approached, in his hand a tube of burn ointment and a roll of bandages. “Head to the classroom and wait for us there, now’s not a good time to fall apart.”

Sharon nodded again, taking the items in her hands.

Lee wanted to say more but he could only move to the side to let Sharon pass, then holding both of his hands to his head.

“Jesus. . .”

At the sound of the door opening Kenny stood straight, cracking a few bones in his back as he stepped away from the armory. He and Ben turned to see who entered, both frowned when they saw Sharon sit by one of the windows, not acknowledging them in the slightest.

“Ben.” Kenny muttered. “How about you check up on everyone else, get an ETA and help out if you can.”

Ben slumped, looking to Sharon then back. At the sight of Kenny’s face hardening he quickly obeyed, only able to hesitate as he passed Sharon, hoping that she would look up and talk to him.

As Kenny approached, Sharon had started applying ointment to her arm, Kenny watched in the moonlight wide eyed as she tenderly rubbed over the blisters on her arm.

“Is that the burn you mentioned?”

Sharon hesitated. “Um. . . yeah.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“We didn’t have anything to help.” Sharon held up the bottle. “We got the medicine, Vernon gave me this.”

Kenny sat down on the desk in front of her, not bothering to try to fit in the small seats. “Did. . . did something else happen?”

She nodded. “While we were in the clinic I looked through some of their files, they kept a file on every Crawford resident.”

Kenny hesitated. “Who did you find?”

“I was hoping to find Lisa, I needed to know if she made it. After this then I would stop trying, I’d. . . let her go.”

“And was she? Here, I mean.”

“No.” Sharon shook her head, her voice low. “But her parents were.”

Kenny tilted his head slightly, not understanding the sudden dark tone of voice.

“They. . . I knew they were horrible, they moved to Savannah to get Lisa away from me. Once they found out Lisa and I were more than friends they did everything they could to keep us apart.”

Kenny didn’t know which question to ask first, so he let her continue.

“I never really held it against them, it was the way they grew up. I hoped they would continue to grow and. . . learn to accept us. Now I know that was. . . so stupid. . .” Sharon held her clean hand up to her face to catch the tears. “They left Fivel to die, Kenny. he wasn’t allowed to live here, Crawford wouldn't left him. Her parents wanted to live knowing they left their son, their amazing and kind little boy. . .”

“Sharon.” Kenny stopped her from rambling further. “I-I hope you’re not saying. . . Her parents abandoned him?”

She nodded. “And I know it sounds selfish but. . . I miss Lisa. Fivel suffered at the hand of his parents and all I can think about is how I hoped Lisa’s name was in those files.”

Kenny shook his head, finally reaching out to hold Sharon. “Darlin’ you ain’t selfish. You- you planned on living the rest of your life with her. You’re grieving.”

“I should have accepted this a long time ago, I should have. . .” She almost admitted her secret with Ben. I should have never let the bandit deal go on, I should have never tried running away, I should have just stayed and the Inn.”

Kenny hushed her. “Loss has a funny way of effecting people.” He whispered. “When Kat. . . when she died it was so sudden that I-I would just turn my head and expect her to be right there. At some point I forgot, how could I forget that she died? I almost asked you to watch the controls while I go check up on her. I still forget she’s not here. It feels like she’s back at the mansion, just waiting with the kids for us to get back.”

Sharon nodded. “Sometimes I would see Lisa at the Inn.” Kenny pulled away to hear her better. “I would be working on something and I would see her sitting on one of the fold up chairs watching Clementine and Duck play games, or she would be leaning next to Carley on the deck.”

“Do you still see her?”

“No.” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “The last time I saw her. . . I was working on the fence when I heard Duck laugh. You, Duck, Katjaa, and Lisa were sitting on the couch talking, telling stories. It was nice to see everyone smiling for a change after what happened at the farm.”

Kenny slowly shook his head. “Duck is real good at that, making people smile even when things are bad.”

The conversation fell to a lull, both remembering different happy memories that are too far gone.

“When we get to the mansion- when things are quiet around here, we’ll have all the time we need to grieve. Until then, we need to focus on getting out of here and back to Duck.”

“I understand.” Sharon wiped away the tears from her face. “And I won’t break my promise, I’m here for you and Duck. Next time I’ll stay behind to watch the kids, I won’t leave them behind for Lisa.”

“I appreciate that, Sharon.” Kenny smiled, standing up to return to the armoury door.

They both turned at the sound of Christa and Vernon entering the room, Vernon- upon seeing Sharon’s arm still unbandaged, approached her.

“Where’d Ben go?” Kenny asked, trusting Vernon to tend to Sharon behind his back.

Christa turned. “They were just behind us.”

Brie stood and opened her mouth to speak, until they heard shouting from down the hall. As

Christa dropped her bag and ran out to assist Brie followed and stood watch at the door.

"Shit.” Kenny returned to the armory door. “Fuck it, we need in here and we need in here now!” At the sound of gunfire Kenny started kicking.

Sharon stood to help once Vernon finished her arm though he pulled her down. “You need to grab your bag and get ready to run, they can handle themselves out there.”

Sharon listened to his advice and found her bag by the chalkboard, heaving when she lifted it off the ground.

“Here.” Vernon opened his bag and shuffled some things aside. “We’ll split up the supplies when we’re back at your place, Christa and I can take some weight.”

As quick as she could with shaking hands Sharon distributed cans of food to both Vernon and Christa’s bag, being sure to take some weight from Ben’s backpack as well.

Brie quickly stood to the side with the door wide open then slamming it shut as everyone ran in.

“I told you to step away from the glass, moron!” Molly shouted, her hands on her knees as she caught her breath.

“I’m sorry I didn’t think it would break!” Ben brought his hands to his head as he started to pace. “This is my fault, I’m so sorry.”

Sharon zipped up all four bags and handed it to the owners, Ben however only continued to pace.

“This is my fault, I should never have come here, I’m so stupid.”

“Ben, calm down.” Sharon spoke, setting his bag down. “Everything will be okay, we can still make it out of here.”

“You don’t know that.” Ben continued.

As he paced, Sharon looked to see Brie still holding the door shut as walkers banged against it, fearing the worst she gave Brie one of the wooden chairs to jam under the door handle.

“This will stop them, but now how do we get out?” Brie asked.

“Through the armoury.” Kenny kicked the door again. “If we can just get this- god damn door open.”

“This is all my fault, everything is all my fault. . .”

“What the hell is he blabbing about?” Christa demanded.

“Ben we’ve talked about this.” Sharon said. “This isn’t your fault.”

"What isn’t his fault?” Christa continued, this time looking to Ben. “What do you mean, this is all your fault?”

“Kenny I’m so sorry.” Ben cried out. “I’m so sorry.”

“Kid, this ain’t the best time!” Kenny shouted in between kicks. “Whatever you did, save it for later!”

“He’s right Ben, shut up!” Lee shouted.

“Fuck you, Lee! I can’t do this anymore!” Ben shouted, no longer pacing. “It’s been me all along. Putting all of us in danger. Katjaa, the bandits. . . it was me, it was all me!”

[thecradlerocks]

Baby Sleep Miracle Review: Does This Truly Get Baby To Sleep?

"If you are a new sleepless mother, then you should read the Baby Sleep Miracle review. This will offer you a program that will literally save your mind" - Martha Devos (new mother). Tired of those sleepless nights because your child doesn't let you sleep? Do your child's sleepless nights frustrate or irritate you? I am sure this is the case and that is why you are reading this, searching to find an effective solution to your intolerable nights. Ask a mother the simple question: What is the hardest part of being a mother? The most common answer given by almost all mothers is the sleep of their babies. This is often the case because not all mothers have the proper expertise or techniques to put their babies to sleep at night without crying and fusing.

I need to sleep.... grrrr Most parents, especially the first time parents face many difficulties with young children because it is at this age (from one to three years) that babies bother parents the most. Tired of your little child who wakes you up over and over again overnight? Do you think it's time to end all this drama and get some rest? If your answer is YES, you will benefit from this Baby Sleep Miracle review. This program is the solution to your night problems. It will teach you many techniques you can use to put your baby to sleep perfectly. It also contains some helpful tips and advice on how to care for your child's health. I decided to write an in-depth review of this program, as I still use the information I learned from breastfeeding my 4-month-old baby. After reading my review, you can decide whether this product is right for you or not. One of the main reasons I decided to write this Baby Sleep Miracle Review is that when I decided to buy it, there were lots of biased reviews with endless product ads. On the other hand, my review is neutral and only provides a real truth about this product. Now that you've heard about me a little bit, it's time to learn more about the Baby Sleep Miracle. What is it and who is it for? At the end of this article, I can be sure that you can determine whether this product will work for you and your little one as one of the best sleep training methods.

Who is Mary-Ann Schuller? The Author Of Baby Sleep Miracle Book

Mary Anne helps your baby sleep. The writer is a lady named Mary Ann Schuller. Mother of two children and a psychologist by her profession.

With over 20 years of experience in child psychology, she definitely knows what she's saying. From her long experience in psychology, when it comes to dealing with the sleep of babies, she first developed these simple instructions that will turn mothers into experts. Mary-Ann fully understands the feelings of deficiency that most parents, especially mothers, experience when their children cannot stop crying and sleeping. Guilt overwhelms them as they begin to see themselves as bad moms. Therefore, she invented tested techniques to help parents cope with the sudden changes in their children's sleep. If you have finished reading your book, get ready to experience your child's miracle while you sleep at night and be less angry when you wake up. Of course, you cannot emphasize the amount of rest that can help increase the mood of most mothers. When stress is less and you rest very well, motherhood is fun for all mothers. The information shared by Mary Ann came from numerous studies and research at the Stanford Sleep Science and Medicine Center and Harvard Medical School. Having said that, it's time to figure out what this product really is. The funny thing is that before I bought this product, I thought it was an online course because all the references and reviews I watched were all in video format. What does this program look like?

Baby Sleep Miracle is an e-book that you can download or print after the purchase. To be honest, discovering that the software is an ebook disappointed me a bit as I expected a full price recorded video course. I found the price of this ebook is way too high compared to the three eBooks I bought before, none of them priced more than $ 40. The high price of this ebook surprised me, but I chose to ignore it as the content of the ebook is the most important thing. If this were my products, maybe I would give a respectable name like Baby Sleeping Miracle pdf so people know exactly what they get after the purchase. But still, the most important thing is the content of this book, which I will share with you shortly after discussing who this product is meant for. Who Is This For? The reason I searched for such a product is that when my baby reaches about two months, my sleep was destroyed. In the first weeks after my son was born, I woke up every night to feed him. But with the baby sleep miracle, your child can finally sleep overnight At a very thin age, children still haven't known the world, so my child wakes up most part of the night. Nothing changed until it got two months. Then he started waking up all night long. Things got so bad that I was always exhausted every day and night and had to find a good way to put a baby to sleep.

I almost gave up but I knew I couldn't because this innocent little person trusts and depend on me. This product is for every mother who suffers from night sleep literally due to her baby. However, if the book does not match its claims, all of this is meaningless. In short, the Baby Sleep Miracle review is an ideal review for parents that are Don't want to wake up all night and have enough rest. Attentive, loving, flat-headed and ready to complete education Being willing to take time to apply various techniques discussed in the e-book By applying the techniques discussed in this ebook, you will benefit greatly from the simple and direct guidance given to the baby's sleep. Later in this article, I will explain how this product works for my child and why these are some of the best baby sleep training programs out there. What does it contain? As mentioned earlier, this product is just an ebook and is structured like most ebooks available on the Internet. I do not underestimate the ebooks, because it depends on what the value of each ebook is, but I am somewhat surprised after reading this product as a program which I thought was a video format.

In addition to the real product, I also bought the upsell around $5 and it turned out to be an e-book with useful information about newborns. The ebook itself is $40 and is about 110 pages long. You will need a couple of days to finish reading the books. However, this product contains a variety of valuable information that you can start applying right away. The e-book consists of three additional products, a kind of calm miracle music and two other e-books. These three books give you a lot of information and advice to take care of your child. The 3 e-books provides tips and tricks about caring for your little one and you'll definitely enjoy your sleep, moving forward. This ebook provides a comprehensive overview of the following baby sleep topics: The importance of napping for babies. Why is it important for children to get enough sleep? The different stages of development and how it affects children's sleep. Negative effects associated with lack of sleep. How to prepare for sleep training. An important technique for your child to sleep. Positive effects of routine. Simple sleep rules for kids. Comprehensive sleep guide for children up to five years old. The benefits of feeding children consistently. The importance of a safe environment for babies.

The Baby Sleep Miracle Review

If you are in the market before, reviewing and researching various tips and tricks online to help you put your baby to sleep, then you're probably motivated purely by self-interest rather than acting for honorable or unselfish reasons. . You may not believe that something is working out there. This is pretty good because most articles, ebooks, and videos with baby sleep routines often contain tips that don't work. This is because they're not written by mothers or those with relevant academic / scientific backgrounds to provide useful advice. They're not based on real research. But the baby sleep miracle is not part of them. This is very different. It was written by a famous child psychologist and is based on extensive research. Just two or three weeks after reading, you will know why most Baby Sleep Miracle reviews on blogs and social media are so positive. Why Because the tips and tricks in it are very useful and effective. They are also very easy to follow and give you solid advice, for example, when your baby will sleep through the night. But this is not what I am going to show in this section of baby sleep miracle review. . This is the in-depth part where I everything in the e-book for you. Thus, the e-book is divided into sections. Just four sections, and the entire book is only one hundred pages, so that reading will not take much time. Just in case 100 pages sound too much, don't worry about it. There are sub-chapters for certain ages, where you can easily find advice and tips about sleep for a specific child's age.

More In-depth Look At The Product

When I decided it was a product I needed, I went out for it. I started researching on the internet and looking for blogs that share information about whether it's a good program / book or not. Because there are certain blogs with links to premium products, I decided to buy from a particular blog. But when I click the link, I was taken to a page that looks like this:

One page contains a video with a robot-like sound that explains how to get your baby to sleep through the night. To be honest, I think it looks like a scam, but I assure you that it's not, because I have bought the books and it's all real. But it looks like that to me then. Then I search the page to see if I could find links to text pages or anything, as watching videos is not my thing, especially if it's not a real person. And of course I found the link right below the video, as you can see in the image below:

Baby sleep miracle link to text page When I got to the text page, I was surprised that it really looked really good. And that is what drives me to ignore the tacky looking video, because the text pages are very inviting and decorated with beautiful colors. But the most important question is: does it really explain whether it can solve my problem or not?

Yes, that's for sure, and that's why I bought it. This page has several useful tips that are different from the usual feathers that seem to float around the Internet. There were also several testimonies from real mothers who also took the program and got desired results from the teachings that were included in the book. Sections included in the baby sleep miracle ebook: Chapter 1: Risk of sleep deprivation 2: Understanding Sleep 3: General sleeping rules for infants and children 4: Sleep at every age (there are many different methods of sleep training in this)

Snippet of Table of Contents page from Ebook Baby Sleep Miracle Review: Chapter 1 Section 1 of this book explains the dangers of sleep deprivation. If you are a new mother, you will be able to immediately understand the dangers of sleep deprivation in this chapter. Lack of sleep can lead to frustration, stress, depression, anger, marital problems, even divorce. Lack of sleep can also cause severe weight loss and depression. This is how you can hate yourself. In short, it can make you very sad. Mary Ann Schuler explains the lack of sleep, and relies on work experience in this chapter. She has shown how a lack of sleep can interfere with the mother's relationship with her newborn and partners. She also explained how a lack of sleep can lead to neurological diseases. After reading this section, you can say that it is necessary to take immediate steps to overcome the lack of sleep when you are a new mother. You can also say that having overcome sleep deprivation, you can return to your flow, you can be happy again, and return to a healthy conversation with your partner. Baby Sleep Miracle Review: Chapter 2 This section focuses on the interpretation of sleep. It is based on the science of sleep and explains how we sleep. This explains the importance of sleep for a healthy life and that is why we all become zombies if we do not get adequate sleep. I like the chapter in this book, because it is well researched and very simple to understand, despite being scientific. The most important thing in this section - is a foundation upon which Mary Ann bases her overall sleep rules, suggestions and recommendations. This is a fairly informative part of this book. Baby Sleep Miracle Review: Chapter 3 This part of the book explains the basics of good sleep. Also, if you do not understand the circumstances and conditions that could put you baby to sleep, then you will find this chapter most interesting. If you want to dispel the myths and misconceptions about children's sleep immediately, this chapter may be of interest too. This is because it contains full description of everything about baby sleep from the creation of the program to creating sleep soothing techniques to the application process and to favorable conditions for sleeping, The information that you will learn from this part of the book will help you learn about the little things that you can do so there will be no need to wake up at night and also make your child throughout the night. Baby Sleep Miracle Review: Chapter 4 Now, this for young mothers, especially, those that are very busy, they will find this chapter very interesting. Why? Because it involves age-related procedures, tips and tricks on how to makw your baby sleep well. This information is placed in series in the sub-section. There is information to get your baby to sleep as they are a month old, up until they are five years old. I really like this part, because it helps me with my baby. My child was four months old when I bought this book, and he gave me a lot, as in two weeks in a row without sleeping. Because I was so sleepy I didn't have time to read the rest of the e-book at first, and it was too much effort for me too. I was told by a friend to buy it, since it has age-specific tips and tricks of baby sleep. So I did, and when I received it, I immediately skipped to the desired page. And there I saw information and advice that helped me turn my baby from a mid-night screamer to a peaceful and loving all-night sleeper. In short, I think the most important information or part of this book is the 7-steps tips to put any baby to sleep immediately. If you won't read anything else after purchasing the book, make sure that you read this guide. This is the tips and tricks to die for (of course, you do not need to die for sure, but you get the gist)!

baby sleep miracle sound Additional Content In addition to the Baby Sleep Miracle e-book, I have free extras, including e-books in multimedia files that let you easily listen to the program, do other things and let the baby sleeps, noise/ miracle sound mp3 to soothe the baby to sleep.

Baby Sleep Miracle Pros And Cons

I have previously used and reviewed many sleep programs and children's books, although I haven't found the best one, but this one come as close to being perfect. To learn about the pros and cons of this baby sleep miracle book, see below. Pros It has lots of useful tips, tricks and practical information to help your baby sleep well. It is a well-structured program that combines the content of a child's model with the age-specific baby sleep information at which is easy to find from the table of content. It comes with a video review of the product recommended to mothers. (It's hard to tell if the mothers are honest or have paid critics) . This creates reasonable and realistic expectations. No program promises success anywhere. This research project was conducted in a study at the Harvard University and Stanford University. It was written by a child psychologist who is the mother herself. It provides effective solutions. It comes with three baby materials for babies and a 60-day money-back guarantee (to get your money back if you feel it is not worth it). Many positive baby sleep miracle reviews are available online. Comes with a fair price, this is a great value for money. This will probably save you from a lack of sleep and make your baby cry less and be happier. Cons This is mainly an e-book. I would have love to see a video demonstration with tips and techniques. You will need to read the book and practice the information provided in the book for it to work. This may take a while. The book is available only in specific languages, such as English, French, Spanish, and German. Learn More Here

Where To Buy Sleeping Baby Miracle

If you have been impressed by this Baby Sleep Miracle review, then I'll share a special link to help you get the e-book and some bonus materials, including the Miracle Sleep MP3 Sounds that soothes your baby to sleep.. But before I do that, I think I need to share my opinion on the program with you. in case you are still unclear with the way I presented this review, I like the baby sleep miracle. I like it because it is accurate, effective and age-specific. This is probably the best $ 37 dollar I've ever spent, and it really showed how to get the baby to sleep. Click here to purchase the program and receive the bonus contents, including a special sleep noise. Remember the mentioned $37 is a promotional offer. The program is usually $100.

Baby sleep bonus packs with deals

Is This Baby Sleep Miracle Legit Or Just A Scam?

I can confidently say the baby sleep miracle is 100% legit. If you have also read this fantastic overview of the baby sleep miracle, you know it's legit. This is an excellent program with actionable tips and tricks to follow step-by-step. This is because the information is very different from other similar products. The tips and strategies are also very effective. They helped me make my baby less fussy. They also help me achieve a healthy state by gaining back my sanity. I could tell that just three or four weeks ago I was probably in a bad situation with sleep deprivation. But I'm happier now than I ever was since my baby came into this world. Therefore, this program is legit. And if you don't believe it! On the Internet, there are many people whose reactions show that it is working, check the videos below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmyM_bWdbjk&feature=youtu.be Testimonial from a real mother And here is another testimonial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOiYB6TDrSE&feature=youtu.be testimonial from another new mom If you still don't know the tips and information you can get in this program, read the following excerpt from the e-book. “But you’ll always need a bedtime routine. Predictable routines not only help babies relax, but they also cue the brain to slow down and make the necessary sleep “arrangements” – just like a good book does that for you.” “Developing a bedtime routine early – by about six weeks – is absolutely essential." At first, it will be very simple. With the above information, you will probably know that if you buy this program you will gain a lot. Therefore, if you suffer from sleep deprivation, your child does not sleep well at night and your partner feels sleepy due to lack of sleep in the night, buy this program. It is legit and can help you change your current situation. This has helped me and I believe it will help you too on how to get your baby to sleep through the night.

Final Thought

Can I recommend this product to a close friends or relatives? Yes, I can. Why? Because I have tested it and it worked for me and my baby. This is surely the best tip and information on how to get your baby to sleep through the night. The book is also quite cheap, compared to its value and you will see when you start using it. Child psychologist, Mary-Ann Schuler, uses her professional education and experience as a mother to create this well-researched yet an easy-to-read book and an easy-to-implement program. Great and useful information from the first page to the last page. It also comes with additional materials such as electronic books and MP3 sleep noise to calm your baby to sleep. In short, it is an excellent program that is good for whoever that is searching these topics on the internet: How to get your baby to sleep through nightHow to get your baby to sleep without being heldHow to get your baby to sleep at nighthow to get your baby to sleep on their own and so on. A few nights after applying the baby's principles, tips and tricks, you will begin to notice that your baby sleeps more, cries less and is happier than before. It is a program worth every dollar spent. I highly recommend this baby sleep miracle program to mothers that are trying to get their baby to sleep through the night. Get it with all the bonuses here for just $37

Disclaimer: If you buy through my link, I will get a small affiliate commission. This doesn't make the product more expensive for you in any way, but it helps me support my blog. The review is honest and my personal experience with this product and I would never recommend a product that I have never used and 100% satisfied with. Please enjoy the review with this route and let me know in the comments if you have any questions. Read the full article

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3 Beautiful Facts About Academic Listening

Reading is fundamental to college success, no matter your significant or discipline. According to the University of Michigan-Flint, the average university student registered in standard courses need to study between 4 and 6 hours daily. Reading comprehension and retention of realities and data are 2 abilities you need to master in order to get the most out of your college experience. Here we'll check out various strategies for IELTS practice test reading: what to do and what not to do as you try to maximize your reading comprehension. We likewise consider a sample essay about radiation chemistry (thanks to WyzAnt) to show the strategies we check out. How to Improve Your Academic Reading The following strategies will help you get one of the most understanding from each reading resource you speak with. Read with function Before you begin reading, try to identify the purpose of the reading as it associates with the rest of the course curriculum. You should initially identify the type of information that can be obtained from the text: does the resource include data and figures you require to remember, or does it explain abstract ideas you need to be familiar with in order to progress in the course? Master the art of 'skimming'. Rather than reading a designated text in its totality, skimming the pages for essential material conserves you a lot of time and reading energy. As noted by an academic reading guide from Swarthmore College:" [Skimming] is not simply reading in a hurry, or reading sloppily, or reading the last line and the very first line. It's actually a disciplined activity in its own right. A good skimmer has a methodical technique for discovering the most info in the least amount of time.". You ought to pay attention to the text to differentiate crucial passages from tangents, extraneous remarks, and other info that is somewhat unimportant to the task. Keep an eye out for "signposts," or terms/phrases that denote sidebar conversations. "I would argue" and "As a side note" are 2 examples. Usually speaking, you can avoid reading these paragraphs in detail. While skimming implies selective reading, it's likewise crucial to examine the entire text to make sure there aren't any crucial facts or data concealed in seemingly unimportant paragraphs. There are, obviously, specific assignments you should not skim: works of fiction for a literature class or long readings meant to be essay triggers, for example. When it pertains to books and other standard academic readings, skimming can be quite reliable. Evaluate the credibility and significance of the text. In addition to course tasks, a considerable quantity of academic reading is required in order to write premium research papers. For these structures, trainees are typically asked to curate reference materials and resources on their own. Initially, as noted by the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, you need to make sure all resources for your research paper are scholarly, or "written by specialists in a specific field and serve to keep others interested in that field as much as date on the most current research, findings, and news." While not all of these resources are always pertinent to any given term paper, scholarly publications are regarded as more reputable and authoritative than non-scholarly works. Many university libraries enable trainees to carry out tailored searches in order to identify books and other publications with particular information. As soon as you outline your research paper, perform a comprehensive search of your school's library system to find the resources you need. This detailed example from the University at Buffalo's library system discusses how to look for various works by keyword, subject, author, and title. Keep in mind to scan the racks around books you find, considering that recommendation products are normally classified by topic.

When you get a few potential research paper sources, take a while to skim the material and flag particularly helpful areas or quotes. If you are needed to return the books in relatively little time or are unable to check them out, make copies and arrange the documents to match the basic summary of your paper. Technique posts and books differently. The bulk of your IELTS practice test reading takes one of two kinds: published books or journal short articles. Although these two sources include a different layout and composition style, they normally cover the very same subjects, and you can use the very same method to examine books and journals prior to a comprehensive reading.

What is academic reading?

Reading in an academic context is different from everyday reading. Academic reading requires a more active, penetrating and recursive method than does leisure reading. It is an important ability for finishing a written assignment. ... Academic reading includes layers of: asking questions. If you are appointed a book reading, it might be handy to begin with initial passages prior to delving into the core text. According to the University of Southern Queensland, trainees need to "never start reading at page 1 of the text." Rather, you must initially seek advice from the intro, tabulation, index, author's notes, even the conclusion. These resources help you establish the main focus of the reading, which, in turn, enables you to read with function and skim the text better. Additionally, taking a glance at book reviews on websites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble is a helpful way to record the theme of a publication before you start reading. Just as many scholarly books have an intro or brief passage of some kind, the majority of journal short articles feature a quick abstract, or summary, of the whole piece. The majority of abstracts are two to three paragraphs in length. Although many academic journals are only offered for purchase, a lot of corresponding abstracts are readily available free-of-charge. Prioritize and arrange your reading tasks. If you have a large amount of reading to do, it's easier to remain on task if you. choose the most important assignments and group readings by subject in advance. Consider putting the books and hard copies into stacks by subject or theme, with the most important readings on top. Then, work through your assignments methodically. Chunks of reading can make a massive stack of reading appear workable, and it'll be simpler to determine and track overarching themes and connections between tasks. Develop effective methods to keep in mind essential content. As you participate in academic reading, it is important to maintain all of the essential truths and information present in the text; for many people, this means multiple read-throughs. The University of Southern Queensland notes that a person's capability to keep info from a book or journal post is linked to their reading experience. "The quality of memory is associated with the quality of your interaction with what you are trying to remember. Clearly, if you have actually arranged, dissected, questioned, evaluated and assessed the material you read, it will sit more firmly in your memory, and be more accessible." For this reason, many students have a much easier time remembering short articles about leisure subjects than academic texts; individual stake or interest in a subject creates greater levels of retention.

You can increase "memorability" of a specific reading by utilizing visualization, oral recitation, and other cognitive techniques that enable you to totally comprehend the text. Some trainees develop mnemonic gadgets to help remember bought lists, solutions, and other comprehensive information sets. One example is the phrase "Dear King Phillip Came By For Good Spaghetti," which is a mnemonic gadget for keeping in mind the 8 basic rankings of biological category (Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Household, Genus, Species). In the next section, we go over some note-taking methods that even more increase your retention of academic readings. Impose time limits Despite the common practice of all-night cram sessions, most academic experts agree that trainees should set time limits for their academic readings-- and adhere to them. A thoroughly allocated reading schedule allots ample time to complete the work, re-read the material one or two times to increase memorability, and make up some helpful notes about the text.

According to a report from Utah State University titled, "The number of Hours Do I Need To Study?", the relative trouble of all your courses during a given semester/quarter should dictate just how much time you invest studying each week. "High trouble" courses need three hours of research study, "Medium trouble" courses require two hours, and "Low trouble" courses require one hour. Once you figure out the levels of difficulty, increase the hours of each course by the number of hours you go to the class each week. This yields the number of hours you must devote to each course on a weekly basis. For example, a high problem course you go to three hours per week typically needs 9 hours of weekly study. The USU report suggests no more than 20-25 research study hours weekly. Trainees should register in a mix of high, medium, and low problem courses each term to guarantee they are not overwhelmed with the weekly requirements. Bearing in mind as You Read Every trainee has his or her own preferred method of academic note-taking. Whichever approach you choose, the exact same rule uses: clear, informative notes are fundamental to successful memorization. According to a tutorial from California Polytechnic Institute (Cal Poly), there are 5 unique schools of thought when it comes to academic note-taking; these systems can be used to remember during a live lecture or when you are engaged in academic reading. The Cornell MethodLecture/reading notes are transcribed (utilizing shorthand language) on a sheet of paper with clear margins. As soon as the lecture/reading is ended up, write one- or two-word cues in the margins next to each essential information point. To review the product, cover the main body of your notes and leave the hints exposed; with appropriate studying, you need to eventually be able to recite all of the info by simply seeing the cue. The Outlining MethodMost trainees discover this approach during their primary/secondary school education. General ideas are written on the far left-hand side of the page and, as the material becomes more specific, the notes are caved in even more to the right. The Mapping MethodRather than merely writing the notes, mapping typically entails a visual part: numbers, marks, color coding, or some other sort of illustration of the academic text. The Charting MethodLike the mapping approach, charting includes a component of graphic representation to supplement the composed notes. In this case, it normally takes the type of a graph or data table. The Sentence MethodThis system involves developing a different sentence for each unique idea, reality, or data point, and after that numbering them on the page in an order that corresponds to the lecture/reading. You can build on sentence-based notes by including page numbers or other markers for your own referral.

In addition to different note-taking techniques, here are a couple of extra ideas to assist you produce much better notes for your academic readings: Make flashcardsThese can be especially helpful for memorizing vocabulary terms, essential concepts, and crucial dates. Develop a set of flashcards for each unique section of the course; this permits you to find out each area individually, and after that integrate all of the flashcards to adequately study for midterms and last examinations. Rewrite til it hurtsFor formulas, sequential timelines, and other topics that need understanding of a specific order, it can be handy to just transcribe the notes by hand till you have actually memorized the proper series. Mark quotesIf you are writing an academic term paper, quotes from authoritative sources are a valuable commodity. Usage color-coded Post-It notes to mark useful passages in your book sources, and produce a digital document with copy-pasted blurbs from online journals and publications. Do not forget to keep in mind the page number in addition to the individual who has coined the quote, and his/her official title if it isn't the author of the work. Refer to more than one source for difficult topicsHaving difficulty comprehending the basics of a particular idea or concept? Locate a source that covers the exact same ground and compare/contrast the various definitions. Sometimes it is easier to grasp details with more than one context. Create a list of staying questionsSometimes, an academic source does not cover all of the info you need. When you end up reading and assembling notes from a given work, put in the time to consider and write out other subjects you still need to research in order to completely comprehend the product. Sample Essay To demonstrate what an extensive task of academic reading looks like, we have actually examined an excerpt from an undergraduate chemistry class. In the margins of the essay, we describe the mentality and techniques an attentive student ought to employ when reading the sample. This recommendations can be applied to any assigned reading given to you throughout your undergraduate studies. Finishing reading projects is one of the biggest obstacles in academic community. Nevertheless, are you handling your reading effectively? Consider this cooking analogy, keeping in mind the distinctions in process: Shannon has to make supper. He goes to the shop and walks through every aisle. He chooses to make spaghetti, so he reviews aisles and reads lots of plans completely before deciding which groceries to buy. Once he arrives home, he discovers a dish for spaghetti, but needs to go back to the store for ingredients he forgot.

Why is academic reading crucial?

The goal of the research study is to examine trainees approach to reading by examining the quality of their learning results. ... These include-- reading, writing, vital thinking, oral presentation, and media literacy. Despite the value of these abilities for academic success, teachers hardly ever teach them Taylor likewise has to make dinner. He desires great deals of carbs since he's running a marathon soon so he decides to make spaghetti. After inspecting some dishes, he makes a list of ingredients. At the grocery store, he skims aisles to discover his components and picks items that fulfill his diet.

Taylor's process was more efficient due to the fact that his purpose was clear. Establishing why you are reading something will assist you choose how to read it, which conserves time and improves understanding. This guide notes some purposes for reading along with different strategies to try at different stages of the reading process. Purposes for reading People read different sort of text (e.g., academic articles, textbooks, reviews) for different reasons. Some purposes for reading might be to scan for specific details to skim to get an overview of the text to relate new material to existing knowledge to write something (often depends on a timely). to critique an argument. to discover something. for general comprehension. Techniques. Strategies vary from reader to reader. The same reader might utilize different techniques for different contexts due to the fact that their purpose for IELTS practice test reading modifications. Ask yourself "why am I reading?" and "what am I reading?" when choosing which techniques to try. Prior to reading.

Establish your function for reading. Speculate about the author's function for writing. Review what you currently understand and wish to learn about the topic (see the guides listed below). Preview the text to get a summary of its structure, looking at headings, figures, tables, glossary, etc . Anticipate the contents of the text and pose concerns about it. If the authors have actually provided discussion concerns, read them and write them on a note-taking sheet. Keep in mind any conversation questions that have actually been offered (in some cases at the end of the text). Test pre-reading guides-- K-W-L guide. Crucial reading questionnaire. Throughout reading. Annotate and mark (moderately) areas of the text to quickly remember crucial or interesting ideas. Inspect your predictions and find answers to posed concerns. Usage headings and transition words to determine relationships in the text. Develop a vocabulary list of other unknown words to specify later on. Try to presume unfamiliar words' significances by determining their relationship to the main point. Connect the text to what you already learn about the topic. Take breaks (split the text into sectors if essential). Test annotated texts-- Journal short article · Book chapter excerpt. After reading. Summarize the text in your own words (note what you discovered, impressions, and responses) in an outline, principle map, or matrix (for numerous texts). Talk to somebody about the author's concepts to examine your understanding. Recognize and reread difficult parts of the text. Define words on your vocabulary list (attempt a learner's dictionary) and practice utilizing them. Test graphic organizers-- Concept map · Literature evaluation matrix.

What is academic listening?

Search results page Featured bit from the web Academic Listening. Academic Listening involves the reception and understanding of spoken product with an educational function. This location has many kinds, consisting of academic lectures, debates and seminar discussions, and frequently uses a high level of language structure and vocabulary. When you get to university, you'll find you require to get through a lot of readings either from your reading list, or for larger reading in preparation for a project. These might be journal short articles, chapters in edited books or chapters in books. A number of these academic texts will appear rather difficult, particularly to begin with. Don't anguish! You might not need to read every post on your reading list. If you learn how to preview your readings initially, you can pick those readings or areas of a reading that are most relevant to your requirements. There are a variety of strategies that you can use to make the job less overwhelming. Your System Handbook or Research study Guide will have a academic reading list. This list will normally be divided into required readings and advised readings. Constantly start with the required readings. Ideally, these will be basic texts that can offer you an overview of the topic. When you have a basic idea of the course content, more specific or detailed texts will be much easier to comprehend. To maximize your reading, you require to be able to determine your purpose. In most cases, this function will be determined in questions consisted of in the System Handbook or Research Study Guide. These questions will make it much easier to understand what you read. If there are no questions, you require to recognize more particular functions for reading since why you are reading will determine how you read. The method you read an unique, a paper, a telephone directory and an academic short article will be various since your function for reading will be different each time. There are three main kinds of reading that individuals do:. Reading for fast reference-- when you need to find specific info. Reading for enjoyment-- to unwind, for enjoyable, since you like the writer's style. Vital reading-- to understand/analyse concepts or concepts.

[samiltonbattmann]

Green Goo

A follow-up fic from this post. Inspired by this goddamn gorgeous art by @delborovic and that fanfic that I can’t seem to find but describes Seb dealing with his newfound superhuman abilities post-STEM (if you find it, please link it!)

STEM is not inherently cruel.

Under one mind, it twisted with wire, and scattered reality like gouts of blood and shards of glass.

Under another mind, it melted, soft and oozing, and what rose from each pool of consciousness dribbled back into the well.

It moulded and re-moulded and flexed with each intention, every unheard thought finding its own shape according to the Core.

It took his partner, his trust in his subordinate, his respect in the workplace, and it gave him prudence, uncanny reflexes, a purpose.

It took his guilt, his distrust in his ex-subordinate, his unrest, and it gave him grief, unanswered questions, an addiction.

The latter, thinks Sebastian, was unintentional – by anyone’s standards.

The first jar had sat on his desk – the unreal one, dusty with flakes of plaster as the world around it struggled not to collapse – and he’d sniffed it, dipped a finger in it, watched it slide along the glass as he turned his wrist.

The nurse had taken it, and she had given him strength.

Given stamina: untiring muscles, clear lungs, supple joints.

Given clarity: steady hands, better spatial awareness.

He must have slowed time more than once, he thinks.

One led to another, which led to more, and then a must. He began to anticipate the shots into his forearms, syringes creaking into place around his crown. No jolt was gentle. Each euphoria was fresh.

Sebastian came out of STEM with vigour in his veins and his daughter in his arms.

He sits on the sofa, fighting the urge to move – the energetic kind, the fight-or-flight instinct that has yet to leave. It’s a youthful blessing that he doesn’t deserve and can’t explain, since he’s sure that it’s all up in his head.

He doesn’t check, though. He’s seen enough gore to ignore spilling his own, but it’s morbid if he takes to pricking himself to see if green seeps out instead of blood.

Sebastian sits and drinks whilst Lily chatters next to him. She doesn’t sit on the rug any more; her drawings are beginning to find some semblance of style, which – Sebastian had lamented to her – was not a patch on her old pancake faces.

She draws whenever he asks her to come inside, because otherwise he’d lose her to the freedom of wandering the neighbourhood streets. She studies when he shoves books under her nose, because otherwise she won’t be ready for school – or so he fears, despite the look Lily shot him when she told him crossly that she’d had her own tutors in between ‘lab time’, but he can’t quantify whatever knowledge they’ve imparted to her, so he’s just making sure.

She gets her own tablet and her own phone, even though Sebastian never had anything like that at her age, and she gets three square meals a day, her five-a-day, everyday. He keeps his smile whilst she’s awake, but they’ve both had miserable nights now that they’ve moved away from Krimson City, so as long as the tears are gone by breakfast, they can control their heartache.

Lily tells him about the art museum in town, and his hands start to tremble. He drinks his coffee.

Sebastian keeps drinking but he knows that gnawing at the back of his head, and coffee, squash, and beer won’t do.

He tries liquor. After the first round of STEM, it hadn’t done much, but years and habit persisted and his sudden tolerance waned into need. He’d needed it before STEM; he’d wanted it after STEM.

Maybe this is just another cycle, he thinks ruefully as he uncaps the whisky and adds it to his coffee.

He takes a sip before he realises: he can’t do this. His body freezes whilst the coffee warms his throat, trickling down just as horror sets over him. It’s a new life that he’s making here with Lily, in a new town and with new principles. He’s going to do this right. He drank to forget. He’s not going back.

His body seems to agree, because it doesn’t react to either the coffee or the whisky.

He drops a tin of tomatoes and bites off a swear when it paints the kitchen tiles and cupboards.

It wasn’t even a fumble. He’d just opened the lid and been going to put it into the saucepan, when his fingers had spasmed and he’d created his own crime scene.

Lily peers into the kitchen with a curious “Dad?” and he’s quick to shoo her away, nudge the door in an effort to keep her away. “It’s fine,” he says, “just dropped something, I’m gonna clear it up.”

She lingers but doesn’t offer to help, and he sighs with relief when she goes off humming Moana. Then he fills a glass with water and drinks long and ceaselessly with one hand, his throat burning even though the water is winter cold. When he refills his glass, he thinks better of it and holds it in both hands, guiding it to his lips like communion.

It’s familiar, but not intimately. He’s tried to drag himself away from alcohol before – hell, he’d even had counselling after the IA report (thanks, Joseph, he thinks, and sags again with grief) – but alcohol was habit, its claws having sunk deep into his body.

This ache is newer, but he’s felt it before. He leans against the counter, catching his breath, and rubs a cool hand down his face as he internally groans at the mess he has to clear.

It’s been six months since STEM. The ache winds and pulls at him, firing off his nerves in little tics. He can still carry heavy boxes and suitcases without trouble; he can loop the neighbourhood block twice and delve into town and back without any bodily complaints. The optician is impressed when he can rattle off those tiny letters from the wall. His record says that he needs reading glasses, but he sees her tuck away the leaflet for the bifocals.

There’s a shooting range an hour out from the town. He goes twice, whilst Lily is making friends with her new schoolmates. The hunger, the strange impatience inside him doesn’t improve on either occasion. People shake hands and offer to buy him drinks afterwards. They want to discuss their military days, which they seem to assume Sebastian must share. He doesn’t tell them that he’s just a washed-up ex-cop from Krimson PD.

In the end, he only goes twice, so whatever curiosity they must harbour is theirs to figure out.

Besides, he knows now that the shock he wants doesn’t come from a rifle’s recoil, and beer won’t slake his thirst. He knows that STEM has given him new limits, which he hopes he’ll never have to test, and that it must have taken something in return, because he can’t look at empty jars without a pang of loss and disappointment, and when he sees the right kind of armchair, he half-expects the cushions to grow cold and metallic whilst syringes slide into place.

It’s more of an irritation at the moment, but he must be growing as a person, because he thinks about the future – incredible – and wonders how long he can go without this addiction before he starts to crumble.

[gethealthy18-blog]

323: How to Have a Genius Life Using Four Key Pillars of Health With Max Lugavere

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/news/323-how-to-have-a-genius-life-using-four-key-pillars-of-health-with-max-lugavere/

323: How to Have a Genius Life Using Four Key Pillars of Health With Max Lugavere

Child: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.

This podcast is sponsored by The Ready State. If you’re at all like me, you might have perpetual stiffness and pain in your neck and shoulders from years of working, carrying kids and all of the demands of parenting. Or sore hips from too much sitting or multiple pregnancies. I found a great way to relieve my aches and pains and improve my fitness and flexibility. It’s from someone I highly respect… Dr. Kelly Starrett at The Ready State. If you don’t know Kelly, he’s a Mobility and movement coach for Olympic gold medalists, world champions, and pro athletes. He’s the Author of two New York Times bestselling books, including “Becoming a Supple Leopard”, which has sold over half a million copies. He has over 150,000 hours of hands-on experience training athletes at the highest levels. A Doctor of Physical Therapy who helps top companies, military organizations, and universities improve the wellness and resilience of their team members. He created a program called Virtual Mobility Coach. This program is easy to do from home each day, making it ideal for me, and for most moms. And I can do with my kids. Every day, Virtual Mobility Coach gives you fresh, guided video exercises. They show you proven techniques to take care of your body, relieve pain, and improve flexibility. And you can customize your videos in three ways. If you’re in pain, you can pull up a picture of the human body and click on what hurts. And from there, Virtual Mobility Coach will give you a customized pain prescription to help you find relief. Second, you can find a library of soothing recovery routines in the daily maintenance section. They’re a great way to wind-down and practice self-care from the comfort of your home. And third, for athletes, Virtual Mobility Coach also has an entire section of pre- and post-exercise routines for more than four dozen sports and activities. They help you warm-up before your workout so you can perform your best with a lower risk of injury. Right now, you can try Virtual Mobility Coach totally risk-free for two weeks without paying a penny. And after that, you can get 50% off your first three months. Just go to thereadystate.com/wellnessmama and use code WELLNESSMAMA50 at checkout. That’s half-off your first three months when you sign up for a monthly plan. And you’ll get personalized techniques to relieve nagging pain and improve your fitness and flexibility.

This podcast is sponsored by Beekeepers Naturals. They make all kinds of delicious and functional bee products from propolis to honey to brain boosting elixirs. But today, I want to talk about one in particular… B.chill. This is a hemp infused honey made with USA-grown hemp and formulated with a special MCT emulsion to naturally maximize bio availability and absorption. ½ a teaspoon works wonders when you’re feeling stressed or overrun during a busy day. For sleep- a full teaspoon makes a big difference. Add it to a nighttime tea or take on its own for noticeably better sleep. I also give this to my kids as an all-purpose remedy that helps them sleep more quickly and easily, and also comforts them when they have growing pains, muscle soreness or other minor issues. You can save 15% on B.chill and all Beekeepers Naturals products at beekeepersnaturals.com.wellnessmama with the code wellnessmama

Katie: Hello, and welcome to “The Wellness Mama Podcast.” I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com, and today’s guest is Max Lugavere, who you’ve probably heard of. He is a filmmaker, a health and science journalist with a background in journalism, like mine, and the author of The New York Times bestselling book, “Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life.” He’s also the author of a new book, just coming out, called “The Genius Life: Heal Your Mind, Strengthen Your Body, and Become Extraordinary.” His book has been published in eight languages. He’s the host of the iTunes podcast, “The Genius Life,” and he’s appeared on everything from “Dr. Oz” to “Rachael Ray”, “The Doctors,” and many more.

And in this episode, we talk about his story of losing his mom and what he learned from the research around that, as well as the very simple, actionable, research-backed, practical tips in four key areas that can improve your life. So, like me, he’s focused on finding the most effective and efficient changes that you can make that have a big payoff, and we go into the weeds on a lot of these today. The resulting conversation is an extremely practical and actionable one. Make sure to check out the show notes at wellnessmama.fm for all the links to the things that we talk about. I know that you will enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it.

Max, welcome. Thanks for being here.

Max: Thanks so much for having me. What an honor it is to be joining you on your show.

Katie: I am so excited to have you here. I’m a big fan of your work and especially your new book, which I just got to read. I know we’re gonna have so much to chat about today. But to start, I would be really grateful if you could kind of introduce yourself to the audience by telling a little bit about your story and how you came into this world to begin with.

Max: Yeah, absolutely. So, my background is as a journalist. I started college on a pre-medical track, but I ended up halfway through realizing a love of storytelling and creativity. And so that kind of derailed my plans to go through medical school. And thankfully, my parents were okay with that. But I actually ended up getting a job as a journalist, which allowed me to be a storyteller while also covering stories that were of relevance to younger people. And, you know, the stories that I got to cover as a journalist ranged from the more, you know, topical to some pretty serious topics ranging from geopolitics to the environment to health. And I did that for six years out of college. And for those, you know, who might remember the network that I worked for, it was called “Current TV.” And it was actually co-founded by Al Gore. So I worked for him, but it was not his political platform. In fact, I, you know, only saw him at the company parties. And it was really…I had free reign to cover topics that I was passionate about. And I did that for six years, sort of, you know, getting to hone my skills, cut my teeth with some of the best of the best in the field.

And when I left that job to try to figure out where I was gonna go with my career, it was at that point in my personal life, I started spending more and more time in New York City, which is where I’m from, around my mother. And it was then around the year 2010, 2011, that me and my brothers, we started to notice the earliest symptoms of what would ultimately be diagnosed as a form of dementia in my mom. Just to paint the picture for you, my mom was not old. She was 58. You know, she was in the prime of her life. She had all the pigment in her hair. She was a vibrant, spirited New Yorker. And suddenly, it had seemed as though her brain, she had had a brain transplant with somebody 30 years her senior. And it was confusing, to say the least, for me and my brothers to witness. And in tandem with the changes to her cognition, she also had an alteration in her gait, which is how she walked. So, there were symptoms that were indicative of a neurocognitive disorder, but then also a movement disorder, like a more Parkinsonian sort of complex. And I didn’t have this vernacular back then. Back then, I was just a son who was concerned for his mother.

So, what I ended up doing was accompanying her to doctor’s appointments. And because, you know, as I mentioned, we were in New York, we started at NYU, then we ended up at Columbia. But ultimately, when we couldn’t find a diagnosis for her because her symptoms were so strange, they didn’t fit neatly into the Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, they didn’t fit neatly into the Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, it was really hard to figure out what she actually had. And so we ended up going to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. And then ultimately, it was at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio where she was diagnosed for the first time with a neurodegenerative disease. And that was the first time in my life that I’d ever had a panic attack. I was so scared and I felt so desperate and hopeless. Because what I experienced in those doctor’s offices with my mom, I’ve come to actually call diagnose and adios.

And that’s because usually what a doctor will do is he’ll run a battery of esoteric tests. You really don’t know what they’re doing most of the time. They don’t take the time to explain. They never once bring up environmental factors that might have led to the condition. They never talk about diet. They never talk about lifestyle. And that’s not to say that these doctors weren’t great in their fields, but I was left, to put it lightly, disenchanted by the whole process. And what I did was I ended up looking on my own into what’s called the primary literature, which is our peer-reviewed, most respected medical journals where, you know, trials and, you know, observational evidence, and all kinds of, you know, studies, the research that we all draw on when we talk about health and nutrition and write books about it, this is accessible to anybody. And back then, I was just looking for help from my mom.

So what I did was I used those skills that I had honed as an investigative journalist to try to figure out why this was happening to my mom, what could be done to help her, and what I could potentially do to prevent it from ever happening to myself. And there was this huge gap in between what I was reading about in the research and what I had experienced in those doctors’ offices. So I basically thought to myself, “This isn’t right.” I mean, people need to know that we don’t need to sit idly on our hands as we await whatever is in our genetic hand of cards. I mean, we can take steps today that are going to boost our cognitive health and minimize our risk for conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, which one of the most shocking findings I uncovered is that oftentimes, these conditions begin in the brain decades before the first symptom.

So from that point on, it was a…you know, there’s this term that they use in astrophysics, singularity. It was like a singularity in my life where, you know, from one day to the next, I couldn’t think about anything else other than researching this topic and reaching out to researchers around the globe who could provide further insight. And that really began my journey and that, you know, continues obviously to this day, you know, nine years later. And my new book, “The Genius Life,” is really a reflection of all of the latest insights that I’ve been able to glean from the literature and from my interviews with experts and my personal experience going through this with my mother that people can really use to make the small changes in their day-to-day life that are gonna have big wins both in terms of their health and how they feel day-to-day.

Katie: Wow, that’s awesome. And like you, I got into it for my own health with Hashimoto’s. And my background is ironically also in journalism, that’s what I went to school for. And when I couldn’t find answers in the conventional medical system, I started researching for my own answers as well and was amazed at just how much there was that is not talked about in the mainstream. And I think something really important that you said, I wanna expound on a little bit before we move on, is the idea of not being controlled just by our genes, that our genes not being our destiny. I think that’s something that a lot of people maybe don’t fully understand is that just because we may have a genetic predisposition to something, that doesn’t at all mean that we’re going to necessarily have to have that condition or whatever it is expressed in our lives. So let’s talk a little bit more about what you’ve learned in your research, specifically related to that and how we have probably a much more control than many of us realize over our genetic expression in what happens.

Max: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, what I like to say is that genes are not your destiny, but they do help determine what the standard American diet and lifestyle will do to you. You know, for some people, eating the standard American obesogenic diet, they’ll develop obesity. Some might develop type 2 diabetes, some might develop certain forms of cancer, which, you know, research suggests certain cancers are sensitive to diet. And our risk for cancer, in general, increases the more overweight we are. Alzheimer’s disease is related to being a type 2 diabetic. So everything is interrelated in very intricate ways. And I don’t pretend to have all the answers but, you know. And of course, there are genes…there are certain conditions where, you know, genes are destiny. So, I don’t like to make blanket statements.

But when it comes to dementia, which today if you make it to the age of 85, you have a 50% chance of being diagnosed with dementia so that is a coin toss. The vast majority of Alzheimer’s cases, which is the most common form of dementia, are not genetic. They’re influenced by our genes. We have risk genes, but they’re not due to deterministic genes, except for a small percentage of cases, which we call early-onset or familial Alzheimer’s disease. But sporadic Alzheimer’s disease, which again, is the most common form of dementia, but it’s not the only form of dementia, make up 95% of Alzheimer’s cases. And we do have some control when it comes to our brain health. Now, again, you could do everything “right” and still, you know, and I use air quotes when I say right because this is a constantly evolving science and 90% of what we know about the condition has been discovered only in the past 15 years.

But we know that the health of the body influences the health of the brain. And today, unfortunately, we live in a time where our bodies are unwell. If you look, statistically, two-thirds of adults are either overweight or obese. And we live in a nation where, by the year 2030, one in two adults are actually gonna be obese. So this is a startling statistic. Fifty percent of adults are either type 2 diabetic or prediabetic and the vast majority of people with prediabetes, which means that their blood sugar is starting to inch up to a point where it becomes chronically elevated, most people with prediabetes don’t even actually know that they have prediabetes. And by being a type 2 diabetic, your risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease increases anywhere between two and fourfold.

And we know, by and large, that type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle condition. It’s driven by primarily an overly sedentary lifestyle, chronic stress, and eating foods that are associated with the standard American diet. So, ultra-processed foods that are just loaded with refined flours and fats. So, essentially, what I try to offer people is a way of improving their metabolic health, which we know influences the metabolic health…the metabolic health of the body influences the metabolic health of the brain. And the guiding sort of thesis that I advance in my books is that Alzheimer’s disease really stems from a kind of metabolic dysfunction in the brain. And what that essentially means in English is that the brain in Alzheimer’s disease, one of the earliest measurable features that we can see in the brains of people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease is an inability to properly generate energy. So that’s essentially metabolic dysfunction.

And this is, as I mentioned, an evolving science but there’s even evidence that suggests that transient hyperglycemia actually blocks the ability of glucose to enter the brain, which is the brain’s primary energy source, sugar. So, I mean, it’s kind of ironic that high blood sugar, you know, we would think, “Wouldn’t high blood sugar be good because it’s more sugar for the brain to use?” Having chronically high blood sugar…having transiently high blood sugar might actually affect sugar’s ability to cross into the brain. So imagine what happens if you have chronically high blood sugar. So now, researchers have started to actually refer to Alzheimer’s disease as a form of diabetes of the brain. Type 3 diabetes is what they have started to refer to it.

And this is a hypothesis that’s gaining a lot of traction, especially in light of the fact that the prevailing hypothesis as to why Alzheimer’s disease develops over the past few decades, the so-called amyloid hypothesis really has been met with abject failure in the way of interventional studies that try to use pharmacological interventions to reduce amyloid in the brain. So it’s led researchers to sort of question, what is the earliest feature that we might be able to intervene and change in patients at risk for Alzheimer’s disease that might improve their risk, or lower their risk and improve their chances against developing the condition? And it seems that this sort of impaired ability for the brain to generate energy is one of the earliest features that we might be able to have agency and, you know, change our course.

So these are all the sorts of things that I explore in the book and make it really actionable and achievable for people to tend to. And, you know, we live in a time, as I mentioned, where people are just, unwell. We don’t feel great. Most people are walking around, you know, and they’ve just sort of accepted their reality as par for the course. You know, feeling tired and bloated and mentally fatigued with brain fog. And I think that that has a lot to do with the fact that only 12% of adults today have what researchers would call good metabolic health.

Yeah, so in the book, I go into all these different facets. And the four tent poles of the recommendations, they fall under four different categories. One is nutrition. One is exercise, which can be subdivided into two categories. So we have thermal exercise and we have physical exercise. And we can go into those two arenas. But then we have light, the body’s relationship with light and how important getting good quality light is in the earlier half of the day, and then how important it is also to have a break from light in the latter half of the day. And then our exposure to environmental toxicity. You know, we live in a world where on a constant basis, we’re exposed to industrial chemicals that if it were one or two here and there, it might not be such a big deal, but the overall burden of toxicity is just overwhelming our defense forces. And so, I go into the more common of these chemicals that people should watch out for that could be affecting their health in invisible ways.

Katie: I love it. And so much we can delve into from there. I actually wanna start with light. I know that’s not the first pillar you mentioned, but I think it’s one that is not as well understood and one that can be almost universally beneficial. And something I’ve realized in the last couple of years, especially, is that so much of health and wellness is very much personalized. And at the end of the day, each of us is responsible for figuring out the things that are gonna work the best for us. But there are some universally applicable principles. And I think that the idea of circadian biology in light and how it influences the body is not as well understood as perhaps some of the others. So I’d love to start there. And I know that you have written about this extensively and talked it before, but for people who aren’t familiar with this concept, we know that food affects our body. We know that exercise affects our body. I am a big believer that light might actually be more important, but let’s start with this one. Explain how light affects the body.

Max: Yeah. So, our bodies are rhythmically influenced and the chief clock that our brains use to know what time of day it is and then to accordingly adjust how our hormones work and how our neurotransmitters work to cater to the activities that are associated with that, with whatever time of day it is, is light. So light being the primary time center that the brain uses to gauge what time of day it is, obviously, enters through our eyes. And it basically acts like a switch to either flip on or to not flip on proteins in the eyes called melanopsin proteins. And these proteins are actually not involved in sight and they’re not super sensitive. They’re only sensitive to about 1,000 lux of light. So lux is a measure of light intensity. And people can actually download an app on their phones called Lux, which can give them a sense of the relative light intensity in their surroundings.

And what happens when our eyes perceive a brightness of about 1,000 lux, it then flips a switch in a small region of the brain, it’s about half the size of a chocolate chip, called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. And you don’t really need to remember these terms. But when melanopsin interfaces with the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is housed in another region of the brain called the hypothalamus, that basically tells your brain that it’s daytime. Like, you know, up and at ’em, let’s orient hormones and neurotransmitters in a way that is gonna give you the most focus, the most energy, the most coordination, the greatest sort of metabolic machinery that you can have over the course of the day that’s gonna support your ability to forage, and to find new hunting opportunities, and to find new ground to settle on if you were, say, a hunter-gatherer or to find a potential mate.

So you’re gonna be most energetic and most active, obviously, during the day. Now, the hypothalamus, which is where this structure, the suprachiasmatic nucleus is housed, is one of those primordial regions of the brain. It controls very basic survival-oriented functions like metabolic rate, our drives for food, our drives to procreate. So needless to say, this is crucially important to our survival. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be in that part of the brain. It would be maybe in a higher, you know, order area involved with, you know, human consciousness or something like that, you know. But it’s really in the reptile part of the brain that is just so crucial to our being as organisms. And when that occurs, when we experience light at that intensity, it sets off this 24-hour timer that influences, as I mentioned, daylight-associated activity as well as when we begin to get tired in the evening.

So people who expose their eyes to bright light in the morning have an earlier expression of a hormone called melatonin, which is involved in winding us down and getting us ready for bed in the latter half of the day. So, getting that bright light for about half an hour every morning is crucially important. And to be clear, I mean, the light that you’ll get from an overcast day is sufficient. It doesn’t have to be direct sunlight, necessarily, but just being outside, or being near an open window, or even commuting to work for half an hour without sunglasses on would be sufficient to essentially anchor your body’s circadian rhythm. So that’s where light, really, I think plays a role in helping us feel good. It boosts levels of serotonin in the brain. It can help reduce levels of cortisol.

And this is something that’s super important. You’ll see a lot of people today not getting adequate light exposure in the morning. And this is partially owed to the fact that we spend 93% of our time indoors, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. So, very important stuff and, you know, this circadian clock, it influences antioxidant status. It influences, as I mentioned, metabolism in the body. It influences levels of inflammation. And so light really kind of interfaces with all of these different systems in the body. You know, it’s not just a visual phenomenon. It really influences our biology in a profound way. And at the later end of the day, experiencing a reprieve from bright light is equally as important.

Today, we live in a time where we’re exposed to ever-growing, you know, TV screens that emit powerful light into our eyes. We’re faced with unprecedented artificial light in our homes from our devices. And unfortunately, the light intensity that some of these devices give off, and even overhead lighting in our homes and other establishments that we may visit in the latter end of the day, can easily reach that light intensity of 1,000 lux. So if you were to walk into a supermarket or a drug store at 8 p.m., which is when your brain is supposed to be winding down and getting you ready for sleep and catering to all of those restorative and rejuvenating processes that we associate with, you know, getting good sleep, you’re actually shutting off those processes if you walk into, say, a drug store and the overhead light reaches 1,000 lux. So, making sure that we’re honoring our bodies’ circadian inclinations in the latter half of the day has become one of the central challenges of modern life. And so that’s where I think being mindful of the light intensity that you allow to enter your eyes is crucially important.

Now melatonin, which I mentioned earlier, it’s a sleep hormone. It’s not just involved in sleep, it’s an antioxidant. It is involved in DNA repair. It is a gatekeeper to a process called autophagy, which I like to refer to autophagy as the KonMari method for biology. So, people who might be familiar with Marie Kondo and her love of tidying up, that’s essentially what biology does. And the term for that is autophagy. It’s when cells clean house. They break apart worn-out proteins and organelles that maybe have become old and dysfunctional. And melatonin is a sort of gatekeeper on that process.

Now, when we experience bright light in the latter half of the day, you’re basically suppressing the release of melatonin to a profound degree. And so that’s not only gonna affect your sleep, but it’s gonna affect your body’s ability to repair DNA damage. And DNA damage is at the root cause of cancer and even aging itself. So, in the sense that light can actually affect the way that your body repairs DNA that has become damaged, light at the latter end of the day can actually serve as a potential carcinogen, which is a very powerful concept and one that needs further testing. But it’s perhaps no surprise when you look at all of the data coming from animal labs, you know, and you see the observation that people who work night shifts are at increased risk for certain types of cancer. So, it’s definitely something I think that is worthy of having our attention, being really cautious of the level of light intensity that we allow to enter our eyes in the latter half of the day. And then also, of course, getting good quality light in the first half of the day.

Katie: Got it. Yeah. I love that. And I’m also a big believer in that 30 minutes of light early in the morning, I’ll often sit on the front porch with my husband and sip a cup of tea or coffee, and just be outside, and that’s such an underestimated, easy thing we can do. It’s free and it’s amazing. I’ve seen results in my labs. I’ve seen results in my energy level, all the things that you’ve mentioned. And I think really, like, light seems to be a key because, as you mentioned, we’re seeing a rise in obesity and all of these diseases at a rate that mathematically and statistically does not make sense. We haven’t seen this ever before in history at this rate. And I think if you look at the data, like, what you’ve done, light is the one really logical potential answer because that has changed so much over the last 50 to 70 years.

And so, looking at that in the same way that you would diet or exercise, I think is really important going forward because this is obviously not a problem that’s going away. We’re not moving away from technology and artificial light. So it’s important to learn, based on all these tips that you’ve talked about, how to navigate that and to use it to our advantage versus our disadvantage. And I think based on your pillars, the other one that people…my listeners are probably above the curve on, but a lot of people don’t fully understand is the environmental toxin component here as well. And this is another area that’s changed so drastically over just the course of one generation and that can have really dramatic results in our life. But I feel like people often find it easier to ignore because it’s not as immediately noticeable as nutrition or exercise. So let’s go deep on the environmental side now and what you found when you started looking into the research on this.

Max: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, as I mentioned, the overall burden of toxicity today that your average human is exposed to is unprecedented. And many of the kinds of harmful chemicals that I think we need to be concerned with, we’ve been exposed to for the entirety of our lives. There was a study that found that, you know, in utero, fetuses are exposed to about 287 industrial chemicals. And I’m not, like, trying to be chemophobic. I’m certainly not trying to fearmonger. But, you know, we live in a world that has just, you know, become mutated in so many ways. And many of these chemicals we’re exposed to on a daily basis and are foisted into the marketplace so that humans are exposed to them prior to really, I would say, you know, the kinds of robust research, that we really need to feel safe about these chemicals has been done. Oftentimes, certain compounds are just assumed to be safe because we don’t eat them the way we do food. We don’t take them the way we do supplements and medicines. And so, they’re not subject to the same regulatory scrutiny.

But in the book, I go into two different kinds of pollution, I guess you could categorize it. So first is, you know, the external environment, the environment outside of your house and pollution like, air pollution, which, you know, a growing body of research is now suggesting is very harmful to the health of our brains and even just our overall cognitive function. There is a type of air pollution that many people are exposed to in the United States called fine particulate matter. And fine particulate matter is basically, airborne particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller. And, you know, 166 million people in the U.S., 52% of all Americans are exposed to unhealthy levels of outdoor air pollution. I grew up in New York City, I live in Los Angeles now, you know, there’s certainly things to be gleaned by living in the world’s great cities, but air pollution is definitely a growing concern.

And what we see is that people that are exposed to high levels of air pollution seem to have dramatically increased risk for cognitive decline. There’s a study that occurred across 48 states and found that high exposure to air pollutants increases the risk of cognitive decline in women by 81% and Alzheimer’s disease by 92%. Now, there are probably confounding variables in this, people who are exposed to higher levels of air pollution are probably in more industrial areas. Maybe it’s harder to find healthy food in those areas. We don’t yet know. But what we do know is that fine particulate matter is after we inhale air that has these particles in it like magnetite, which is made of iron, it’s actually able to enter our circulation and pierce the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in the brain where it creates pathologies that look a lot like what you’ll see in a brain with Alzheimer’s disease way earlier than Alzheimer’s disease would typically present its ugly head.

So, what you’ll see, and a lot of these studies have been done in very polluted parts of the world, like Mexico City or in China, they’ll find that once these particles accumulate in the brains of people, even younger people, they will start to show increased levels of amyloid-beta, which is the protein that serves as the backbone of the plaques that we associate with Alzheimer’s disease. And people who are at risk genetically for Alzheimer’s disease, carriers of the ApoE4 allele, might actually have a higher vulnerability to outside air pollution. In fact, one-fifth of Alzheimer’s cases might be owed to air pollution alone.

So you definitely wanna be cognizant of the air that you’re breathing in on a regular basis. And if you do happen to live in a polluted part of the world, there are things that you can do. So overall nutritional status is gonna go a long way towards helping protect you. So making sure that you’re eating a diet that is rich in antioxidants, fruits, and vegetables, and also properly raised meat products, which most people don’t think about grass-fed beef when it comes to detoxing. But animal proteins provide sulfur-containing amino acids, which are really important in the synthesis of glutathione, which is your body’s master antioxidant or detoxifier. So making sure that you’re eating a diet that is providing you ample nutrition, that’s super important.

Taking a fish oil supplement can be useful. They found in both humans and animal trials that fish oil, which we know can be anti-inflammatory, especially for people who are not regular consumers of fish, can actually reduce the harm that comes from being exposed chronically to air pollution. A B vitamin, a B complex can help support your body’s detox pathways as well. And just, generally speaking, knowing your ApoE4 status. So knowing your genetic risk for conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, you know, might actually affect how frequently or how regularly you allow yourself to spend in time in, you know, areas of higher pollution.

The other type of pollution that I talk about in the book “The Genius Life” is indoor air pollution. It’s a major problem and it’s not just in the indoor air environment. It’s compounds that we’re exposed to in our food, the BPA, which is able to leach out of the plastics we use to store our food or phthalates, which are plasticizing chemicals as well. We’re inundated with compounds that serve as endocrine disruptors. They disrupt the way our delicate and finely tuned system of hormones functions. And this can be associated with certain cancers. It can be associated with alterations in the way that our bodies handle glucose. It can be associated with weight gain.

And there’s really no limit to the negative effects that we can experience when regularly exposed to endocrine disruptors. I’ve become kind of friendly with an organization that I think people should support or at least know about, called the Endocrine Disruption Exchange, which is dedicated to raising awareness for and tracking ultimately about 1,400 potential endocrine disruptors that people are potentially exposed to every single day. And so while it’s impossible to talk about all of them, you know, the most common of them would be these plastic-related compounds. Most people are unaware of the fact that, you know, compounds that are used to make plastic can easily leach into food and beverages when stored in them.

So if you take a plastic water bottle, for example, and you pick that water bottle up from, you know, say, the airport, which, you know, I’m not perfect. If I’m thirsty and I’m traveling, I’ll buy a water bottle. I’ll try to buy my water in glass, but I’m not always so lucky. You have no idea where that water bottle was stored before being in the store. You know, it could have sat in the hot cargo bed of a truck for days, weeks, months, and heat catalyzes the leaching of compounds like BPA or phthalates into the liquid. It’s one of the reasons why in my home, I’ve gotten rid of all of the plastic Tupperware containers and I will generally only store, you know, foods and beverages in glass.

A lot of people will keep water bottles, plastic water bottles in their cars, you know, which can be a very warm environment, especially in the summer. That’s a big no, no. You definitely wanna get rid of any of these plastic water bottles, you don’t wanna reuse them. And even when we’re avoiding compounds like BPA, unfortunately, manufacturers have now started to replace BPA with BPS. And there’s no reason to suspect that any of these alternative plasticizing compounds are any safer than BPA. In fact, they could be even more treacherous because there’s just less research on them. And it’s been known for almost a century, at this point, that BPA has profound estrogenic properties in the body. Meaning it can act like a hormone estrogen once we consume it.

Other sources of BPA, most people are unaware, store receipts. So if you are touching a store receipt that happens to be printed on thermal paper and you can always tell that these receipts are coated with BPA because you’re able to sort of write on them with your fingernails, that provides a powerful source of exposure for BPA. Oftentimes, we’ll touch these receipts and then we’ll hold the hands of our little ones and hormonal disruption earlier in life when we’re children can have potentially lifelong implications. So we really wanna be cautious of our exposure to these compounds. And one shocking thing that I discovered the other day that I wasn’t even privy to, you know, I had known about BPA on these receipts, when we use hand sanitizer on our hands before touching these receipts, it dramatically increases the absorption into our bodies of these chemicals. So, you know, that’s kind of counterintuitive. Most people might touch a store receipt and then use a hand sanitizer or use a hand sanitizer before touching the store receipt. Certainly, you see this all the time with people who work at the registers, you know, which is unfortunate. You definitely don’t wanna use a hand sanitizer prior to touching these receipts.

And another surprising source of these compounds, not BPA or phthalates, but actually compounds more similar to Teflon, which we know, you know, can serve as a potent endocrine disruptor is glide dental tape. So, I’m a big advocate for oral health, dental health, and flossing is certainly very important. But if you’re using one of these dental tapes, like the kinds that are marketed for being able to slide more easily between teeth, those tapes are actually made with Teflon. And what we see is that people who use those kinds of tapes have higher levels of these endocrine-disrupting compounds in their bodies. So you wanna use dental floss but you wanna make sure that it’s more of like a string as opposed to this dental tape. Usually, they’re called glide. You wanna make sure that you’re avoiding those.

So there’s a lot of different potential tips that people can use to better detox. As I mentioned, the three Ps, pee, poop, and perspire. You wanna make sure that you’re going to the bathroom regularly. You wanna make sure that you’re drinking ample fluids throughout the day, making sure that your urine is either clear or light yellow because, of course, a solution to pollution is dilution. So making sure that you’re staying hydrated. And then also perspiring on a regular basis. Now, exercise is one great way of making sure that you’re sweating on a regular basis but, you know, some people just don’t sweat that much when they work out. I’m one of those people. I don’t, you know, sweat all that profusely when I’m working out. But that has made me become a huge fan of saunas and doing things that are gonna increase, you know, how much I sweat.

So sometimes I’ll work it out and I’ll work out with, like, a sweater on or, like, a hoodie just to make sure that my body temperature is increasing and I’m able to purge some of these compounds. But I’m a big fan of sitting in a sauna and really sweating it out. People who more regularly engage in sauna bathing, we’re seeing out of the University of Eastern Finland, have reduced risk for early mortality, which is essentially dying early. We see that they have reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. So saunas really are a powerful healing modality. I’m a huge fan of saunas. And, you know, just one of the many mechanisms by which the saunas boost our health is that they help us excrete certain of these environmental toxins.

Katie: I love it. I’m also a huge fan of saunas. We actually have a couple of different types at our house. And based on what I’ve seen in the research, it seems to be the gold standard of getting four to seven sauna sessions per week. And most data is at least 20 minutes. I usually am for 30 to 45 minutes. And temperature ranges vary, but I try to aim for about 170 degrees. And you’re right, the statistics are really incredible for reduction of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events and all kinds of things. I think that’s an easy one. It can be difficult to sit there if you don’t enjoy the heat, but so many benefits. And I love everything you said about endocrine disruptors as well. This was actually the impetus for our new company called Wellnesse, which is personal care products, but most people don’t realize even your personal care products and beauty products can have plastic chemicals actually added to them and in them because it improves the texture or the performance, but then you’re absorbing those things into your body.

And like you said, babies are now born with hundreds of those already in their body because we’re just so bombarded from so many angles. And I agree with you. I don’t wanna be alarmist, but I think when we have this many negative inputs, we do just at least have to be aware and a little bit proactive about avoiding what we can and doing things to give our body a fighting chance in other areas. I wanna make sure we get to all the pillars. So let’s talk about nutrition a little bit. Like, again, I feel like there is a definite personalized aspect when it comes to nutrition, but there’s also some universal things that are beneficial to all of us. So what did you find in your research when it came to nutrition?

Max: Yeah. So, you know, when I first began my journey into health, you know, I encountered a lot of people who feel very dogmatically about certain macronutrients. So you’ll see a lot of people who are anti-carbs. You’ll find a lot of people who are, you know, anti-fat. I feel like the anti-fat sentiment that still remains comes predominantly from the plant-based community. But then you’ll see a lot of people that are zealots on both sides. You’ll see, you know, low-carb people. Ultimately, what I tried to do in the book is to…I tried to look at what the research really says and to paint a picture for people and to make it really actionable and achievable so that people can reach their best health with food and nutrition in a way that is not dogmatic, but it’s gonna give them the most bang for their buck.

And so the two big takeaways that I offer in “The Genius Life” really, number one, is to avoid ultra-processed foods. I mean, we could argue about the benefits of low-carb versus low-fat, you know, until the cows come home. And, you know, what you see online is that argument is something that is, ever-occurring. But ultimately, if you do, you know, just one thing in your life, it’s to avoid these packaged, processed convenience foods. I mean, for one, oftentimes these foods are loaded with these endocrine-disrupting chemicals that we were talking about earlier. So actually parabens, which sometimes you’ll find in your cosmetics, are actually also used in packaged processed foods because what they do is they serve as an antimicrobial, so they prevent the growth of microorganisms that might make you sick. So I mean, it’s one of the reasons why food today is so safe. You’ll see a lot less foodborne illnesses than, you know, we’ve seen in prior centuries.

But these foods, you know, they’re loaded with industrial chemicals that, again, it’s not any one to be concerned with, the dose makes the poison oftentimes. But that’s just one aspect of it. People who consume processed foods, they have higher amounts of these, you know, compounds in their bodies, phthalates, parabens, and things like that. But the real reason why I think these foods are worth avoiding is that they drive their own overconsumption. And this was actually shown very eloquently in a study that was funded by the National Institutes of Health over the past year that found that people who consume predominantly ultra-processed foods, when eating to satiety, consume a caloric surplus of about 500 calories. Now, if you’re basing the entirety of your diets around these ultra-processed foods and you’re eating 500 additional calories every single day, that’s a pound of fat stored every single week.

The other problem with these ultra-processed foods is that they’re basically pre-digestible. And when I say ultra-processed foods, I think it’s good to offer a quick definition. These are foods that, you know, they’re convenience foods. They’ve got long ingredients lists. They range from, you know, the chips and commercial breads and rolls to pizzas, and burritos, and ice creams, and granola bars, and things like that. These are the foods that you’ll generally find in the aisles of your supermarkets, not on the perimeter. They’re shelf-stable. And the thing about these foods is that they are 100% digestible and so you’re getting 100% of the calories that you consume when you eat ultra-processed foods.

This is actually in contrast to when we eat whole foods where a small but significant portion of the calories that you eat in the form of whole foods might not actually be fully digested. And so you get a bit of a caloric free ride with whole foods that you don’t get with ultra-processed foods. And this was actually shown in this study funded by the USDA, which came out just a few weeks ago actually, that found that when people ate whole nuts, they actually passed about 30% of the calories that they had consumed through their stool that they didn’t even fully absorb. And that actually warranted a reassessment of the amount of calories that we assume to be in whole nuts. Now, this wasn’t true for nut butters, which are processed, right? One hundred percent of the calories that we consume in the form of nut butters, in the form of wheat snacks, in the form of potato chips, in the form of ice creams, we mainline, essentially.

So, this is one of the contributing factors to the fact that, you know, the modern health milieu is defined in part by energy toxicity. We’re just consuming too many calories, and ultra-processed foods are at the sort of helm of driving that overconsumption. There is also a sort of metabolic advantage to consuming primarily whole foods. We actually burn about twice the calories just in the digestion of whole foods alone that we don’t burn when we’re consuming ultra-processed foods. It’s a far smaller thermic effect that we experience when we consume processed foods.

And so, that’s really one of the primary recommendations that I make is, you know, whether it’s carbs or fat, if you can, you know, maybe live by the 80/20 rule and 80% of the time eat primarily whole foods, the foods that you’re gonna find around the perimeter of your supermarket, dark, leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, grass-fed beef, eggs, fish, meat, you know, poultry, you’re gonna get the most bang for your buck. And then, you know, maybe, you know, if it’s gonna help your adherence to those foods to have on a weekly basis the planned indulgence of, you know, the processed food of your choice just to make it a little bit easier for you, then that’s great. Then essentially, I mean, you’re winning if that’s your strategy. And when it comes to when to have a planned indulgence, I always recommend the post-workout setting because your body’s just primed to partition energy in a way that’s very efficient in the post-workout setting.

The other point that I make in “The Genius Life” is really to prioritize protein. So, this isn’t about demonizing any one macronutrient, but to prioritize the macronutrient, which is protein, that is gonna be the most satiating macronutrient available to us. I mean, I think in the fitness community, this has been known for some time, the value of protein. But I think for most people, the benefits of eating higher protein diets, it’s just gonna lead to much greater satiety, much greater bang for your buck in terms of the maintenance and promotion of the growth of the lean mass, which becomes increasingly important as we age. And people who eat less protein tend to eat more carbs and fat.

Carbs and fat tend to be energy, whereas protein is the substrate that we use to promote muscle protein synthesis, which is the growth and maintenance of lean mass in the body. So, prioritize protein at every meal. It can help reduce what I call snacksidents. If you’re feeling, you know, a hunger pang, reach for higher protein food. Again, it’s very satiating. You’ll rarely see people that overeat high protein foods like chicken or fish. You know, like, if you think about when the last time was that you binged on chicken or grass-fed beef, you know, it’s probably gonna be hard to think of the last time that occurred. But if you had to think of the last time you overindulged on foods that were composed primarily of carbs and fat, I mean, this occurs on a regular basis for most people.

So prioritizing protein to really satiate your hunger, that’s something that I think is a powerful tool that is underappreciated. And, you know, I go into the nuances of protein and, you know, why protein is so important and why some of the fears surrounding high-protein diets really have not been born out in the literature and why they’re unwarranted for most people. But those are the two nutritional sort of, you know, keystones that I offer in the book that I think are gonna give people the highest bang for their buck in terms of helping them easily shed weight without having to count calories, gain muscle, which I think is crucially important no matter what your age or gender is, and ultimately, achieve better metabolic health.

Katie: I agree. And I’m a big fan of using the 80/20 principle in a lot of aspects of life. And I think that this is an area where it definitely can simplify things. There’s so much dietary information out there that it can get overwhelming. And I think, like you do, sticking to a few simple rules that have a big payoff is an easy way for a lot of people to really see the benefits over time.

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And I love that you use the term “planned indulgences” versus “cheating”. I’ve never liked thinking of food in terms of cheating because, to me, there is room for that within a nutritious overall lifestyle plan. I’d love that you reframe that for people as well. And I saved exercise for last because this is actually where I’m most personally interested right now. I feel like all the other areas I have very much dialed in and I’ve been experimenting more and more with exercise these last six months in different types of weight lifting and high-intensity training, and looking at the research, and then also trying it on my own. And I know that this is something you also systematize and make easy in the book. But walk us through what you learned when it came to exercise.

Max: Yeah. So I break it down into thermal exercise, which is exposing your body to variation in ambient temperature, which I think is really important for metabolic health, body composition, mental acuity, and even mood. And I think that’s a really important part of the equation. So just making sure to regularly step out of your comfort zone where it comes to, you know, climate control. A lot of us live, you know, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, in a state of chronic climate control. And, you know, this is certainly comfortable and I wouldn’t give up my air conditioning living in Southern California during the summer months. But I think, you know, whether it’s sauna, which we talked about, or even exposing yourself to mildly cooler temperatures, which research shows can actually boost metabolic health and improve insulin sensitivity, I think that’s a crucial part of the equation.

And I give very actionable and specific, you know, tips in the book, but physical exercise is something that I also talk about. I mean, there’s just no getting around the fact that physical exercise is a form of medicine for the brain. And I break it down into different categories in the book. So, we have resistance training, which I think is crucially important to anybody’s exercise regimen. You gotta be lifting weights or at least doing some form of resistance training, even if it’s bodyweight exercises. You know, growing stronger muscles, you know, having greater strength and larger muscles is just important. It’s directly related to better metabolic health, lower levels of inflammation.

And, you know, for people who are listening, like, you know, I see this a lot with women. You know, people will say like, “I don’t wanna get too big or too bulky.” I’ve been lifting weights for 20 years and, you know, like, it’s very hard to get jacked. You know, there’s so many pieces at play, you know, hormones and things like that, that you really shouldn’t worry about getting too big from lifting weights. I mean, you’re gonna get as big as your biology allows, but it’s not, like, you know, somebody goes to the gym and then overnight wakes up looking like, you know, G.I. Jane. Like, you know, when Demi Moore famously transformed her body to get ready for that role. I think a lot of women sort of began to fear weightlifting for that reason. But it’s super, super, super important and there’s been this bias in the literature, I think, towards aerobic exercise, but there is a bounty of evidence now coming out showing us that having stronger legs, a stronger upper body directly related to better brain health.

So I talk about resistance training and how important that is. I also talk about high-intensity interval training and how for people who don’t like steady-state cardio, and I would put myself in that category, I’ve never been a fan of long bouts of cardio, high-intensity interval training can be a much more efficient way of boosting what’s called cardio-respiratory fitness. And I give tips on that in the book and how to really maximize that. Essentially, what it comes down to is doing something at the peak of your ability, for 10 to 20 to 30 seconds and then recuperating, and then doing it again. So really pushing yourself so that your cells really have no choice but to keep up. And in so doing, they learn to adapt and become more efficient. So this is really crucial for overall metabolic health, for brain health as well.

And then I talk about aerobic exercise, which aerobic exercise is super important. What we see is that people who, you know, do aerobic exercise, they have greater endurance, which is important. It’s a way to boost endurance. You can also boost levels of BDNF in the brain with aerobic exercise. Although the research is now validating other forms of exercise and means of doing the same thing. But BDNF has been referred to as the brains miracle grow protein and it’s been shown for some time now that a regular aerobic exercise can lead to not only an increased expression of BDNF but actually growth in the brains of vulnerable memory center, which is important to note because the size of the hippocampus actually will typically decline with age.

And then there’s another form of physical activity that I talk about in the book called non-exercise physical activity. And this can be anything from dancing to walking the dog, to folding laundry, to carrying groceries. So this is not deliberate exercise, but it’s, you know, any form of movement other than just sitting on a couch and watching reruns of your favorite show. So just moving more throughout the day. You know, yard work, for example, cleaning or maintaining your house can expend 10 to 50 times more energy than sitting in front of your television. So just by doing these simple movements, you’re burning a tremendous amount of calories.

And one thing that I really kind of drive home in the book is that a lot of people will do long bouts of cardio, you know, for weight maintenance or even weight loss because, you know, we get on a treadmill and we look at the calorie counter. But actually, non-exercise physical activity can account for anywhere between 300 and 1,000 calories daily. It’s an attribute called non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which is a way larger calorie burn than, you know, anything that you can expect, any number of calories that you can expect to burn on a treadmill.

And there was actually a study that found…it was performed at the Mayo Clinic, where they found that they wanted to see whether or not NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis, alone could prevent a person from becoming overweight. And what they found was that after giving normal weight subjects an additional 1,000 calories worth of food every day, the equivalent of a triple Whopper sandwich, they found that people with higher levels of NEAT were able to preserve their leanness and prevent weight gain to a remarkable degree. In fact, the increase in activity was able to explain a tenfold variation in fat gain between the subjects.

So, just staying active, anything that you can do to not be sitting on your butt throughout the day is crucially important. And for people who are desk jockeys that are stuck at, you know, working desk jobs throughout the day, you know, anything that you can do, whether it’s getting one of these desks that’s able to transform into standing desks and going from a seated to a standing position and just kind of stretching in place as you work or every 30 minutes, you know, doing a lap around the office, taking the stairs whenever you can, parking, you know, at a further parking spot than where you normally try to park, you know, when you’re getting your groceries. Just trying to build more of these simple, spontaneous movements into your day are really gonna go a long way towards boosting your metabolic health, lowering things like triglycerides, blood sugar, and also boosting blood to the brain.

So these simple, spontaneous, daily movements, you know, actually create micro-alterations in your blood pressure that pushes fresh blood and nutrients up to the brain, which is crucially important when you consider the fact that being sedentary for an extended period of time actually drains blood from your brain. So, anything that we can do to just be more active. You know, this does not have to be something that you need to buy a gym membership for. Just, you know, spending more time walking or, I don’t know, doing chores around the house, or trips that are gonna just get you off of your butt. I can’t underscore enough how important just staying active is and not being sedentary for an extended period of time.

Katie: Wow. I love it. That was so much clear and precise and actionable information in such a short amount of time. I’ve been making tons of notes that I’ll make sure they get into the show notes at wellnessmama.fm. And of course, I will also link to your book so people can find them, but they’re also anywhere books are sold I know available as well. You’ve mentioned so many great resources. For those of you who are listening, while hopefully getting some of that non-exercise activity thermogenesis by walking or cleaning or whatever it may be, check out the show notes at wellnessmama.fm to find all of those links. Another question I love to ask toward the end of the episode is, other than your own, is there a book or a number of books that have had a really dramatic impact on your life? And if so, what, what book and why?

Max: Yeah, absolutely. So two books actually. One is, “We Are Our Brains” by a neuroscientist named D. F. Swaab. I just love the way that he talks about neuroplasticity and the hope and optimism that’s coming out of neuroscience these days, which was a stark contrast when I read it to what I was experiencing in the clinicians’ offices with my mother. So it was just very enlivening to me to be able to read something like that written by a neuroscientist. And then another book in a similar vein, “The Brain that Changes Itself” by a neuroscientist, Norman Doidge. both of those books were very inspiring to me and really kind of got me to investigate the topic further and to really learn as much as I possibly could about how to encourage brain health. You know, our brains really are who we are, as is the title of that book, “We Are Our Brains.”

And, you know, the brain is the only…you know, we have so much agency when it comes to bolstering its health. And yet when we look in a mirror, you can’t really see your brain. It’s not something that you can flex like your biceps, you know. But by strengthening our brains, it’s gonna improve our quality of life. It’s gonna improve our health and our lifespan. And it’s gonna avert these kinds of diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, for which there really is no meaningful treatment available to sufferers of the condition. And I truly wish that there was. But taking the steps, you know, do whatever it is that you can today to bolster your brain health and to just make, you know, whether it’s incremental changes or, you know, sort of a one-and-done approach, they’re really gonna pay off in a big way.

And it’s not just our long-term brain health that’s on the table here. It’s our mental health. I mean, one of the most shocking findings, and really the revelation that caused me to write my book, is that the same steps that you can take to sort of buy stock in a better, healthier future, are actually they pay dividends in the here and now. They bolster your mental health in a time where so many people are struggling with things, anxiety, fatigue, depression. This is just something that I think is crucially important, you know, at least to try before reaching for medications, which, you know, so many people are on. And I place no stigma on medicine.

If I had a blockbuster drug available to me when my mom was sick and I could give it to her, I would in a heartbeat, you know, run to the local pharmacy to get that prescription filled. But unfortunately, there were no, you know, viable medical interventions for my mom. And, you know, lo and behold, when you look at statistics, 99.6% of Alzheimer’s drug trials fail. And it’s really not looking good for the future of suffers, you know, with the condition. Although, you know, I continue to support measures for research and to promote awareness. But I think, you know, you owe it to yourself to do what you can, starting today.

To quote John F. Kennedy, “The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining.” And how that applies to your health is, you know, if you’re younger, if you’re healthy, that’s when the sun is shining. And that’s really when you wanna work on that roof. And even for people who are in older age and, you know, might be suffering from brain fog, it’s not too late either. I mean, you know, I cite research in the book that shows that even when you’re in advanced age and with at least one risk factor for developing dementia, people can have a marked effect on the way that their brains work, on their cognitive function, on their performance, on their processing speed, on their executive function. So, yeah, you’re never too young or too old. And those two books, you know, definitely ignited my journey. And it’s a path that I’ll be on for the rest of my life.

You know, over the course of writing “The Genius Life,” I lost my mother and obviously that was incredibly traumatic and, you know, she was the person who I loved most in the world. And so, understanding why she, you know, just had such bad fortune from the standpoint of health is a question that I’ll be asking for the rest of my life. And so, I hope my work resonates with people. And yeah, again, just, you know, spread the message, spread the word, and take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Katie: Well, I’m really sorry for your loss, but I think that your work is helping so many people and I think that’s a perfect place of encouragement to end. I know that you are incredibly busy and doing amazing work. I’m so grateful that you took the time to be here today. Thank you for sharing with us. And again, you guys check him out. His books are linked in the show notes. I highly recommend them. Thank you so much, Max.

Max: Thank you so much. It’s been a real pleasure and I can’t wait to welcome you on my podcast sometime soon.

Katie: I look forward to it. And thanks, as always, to all of you for listening and sharing one of your most valuable assets, your time, with both of us today. We’re so grateful that you did and I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of “The Wellness Mama Podcast.”

If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.

Source: https://wellnessmama.com/podcast/max-lugavere/

[grifdail]

Hello Gaaaaamedev!

Since last January, I’ve been compiling list of interesting gamedev resources and sharing them on my old school Facebook groups. I got a lot of positive feedback and they encouraged me to share them publicly. I chose to save the old one on a Google drive (below) and to translate the new one and put them here. Please be aware they may be biased by my personal and professional experience, and by the person I follow. Also, they don’t reflect novelty but rather what I read or watched in the previous week. [french] https://goo.gl/VygY1r

Content I consider “Must watch” is introduced with a ⭐️. 📝 is for an article, 🛠️ is about any kind of tool or asset and 🎞️ for a video.

Let’s go!

📅 EVENT 📅

⭐️ Indiecade Europe was announced officially! It will take place on October 30 and 31 at the CNAM! A few speakers and guests were already introduced. You will also get the opportunity to show your creation at the event’s “Show & Tell”! There’s also an evening event on Monday and discount for students! It’s really a great event and I hope to see a lot of you there! http://indiecade-europe.eu/

⭐️ L’indecadence, the unofficial party will also take place on the 30! The team is currently looking for a game to display! (And if you were already here last years, I’m pretty sure this year will be even better!) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe3P7Jrv7gdDDrz_3vQF1VXUgHwEYV965HDP6PbGLMkGJOqvQ/viewform

Submission for ALT-CTRL-GDC is open so submit all of your alternative controller game there! http://www.gdconf.com/news/alt-ctrl-gdc-needs-your-unique-alternative-controller-games-2/

🎮 GAME DESIGN 🎮

The simplicity of Heat Signature character generators and how it allows for great stories. (The video makes it sound simple but the game is really great!) 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-3xJ86zNaQ

⭐️ [French] Climbing (in game), as seen by Geraud! 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlZOOIIdKNw

Our tendency to kill the creator of the world we’re exploring in games. 📝 https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/09/19/death-of-creators-dishonored-portal-bioshock/

[French] A small analysis of Idle Games. 📝 https://www.chroniquesvideoludiques.com/asmr-capitalisme-cas-idle-game/

A detailed comparison of Metroid 2, AM2R and Samus Returns by GameMakerToolkit 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WkEoYvlUF0

A long overview of Turn based battle system in JRPG 📝 https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/FelipePepe/20170922/305783/The_Art_of_TurnBased_RPGs_I_Menubased_battles.php

The RunJumpDev collective uploaded Vector 2017 talk to YouTube, including this one, by Aleissia Laidacker, about creating and using gameplay system. 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpvOM64sfj0 Or this one where C418 (Minecraft’s Sound and music designer) give us some tips on how to use music in games (Even through the quality of the recording is not that great). 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfdoiI95VEw

⭐️ A long postmortem of he Binding of Isaac 📝 https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/182380/postmortem_mcmillen_and_himsls_.php And another, of Crash Bandicoot 📝 http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/02/02/making-crash-bandicoot-part-1/

⭐️ Kate Gray talk about local multiplayer game and a few ideas to make them even more special! 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaAlDvToGB8

Some classic idea to improve a plateformer’s game feel. 📝 https://www.patreon.com/posts/gamemaker-tips-14531948

🎨 TECH ART 🎨

How to write a triplane mapping shader. 📝 https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/use-tri-planar-texture-mapping-for-better-terrain--gamedev-13821

A short overview of a rendering pipeline for artists. It also talks a bit about optimizations. 📝 https://jesshiderue4.wordpress.com/real-time-rendering-an-overview-for-artists/

Matt Nava explain some of the technique used by Giant Squid Studio to make Abzu look amazing. (The portal Card thing is genius!) 🎞️ https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024409/Creating-the-Art-of-ABZU ⭐️ And the same thing for Firewatch by Jane Ng of Campo Santo 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTqmk1Zs_1I&feature=youtu.be

⭐️ A Talk by Simon Trümpler where he shares four clever solutions that use textures map. For instance, to animate smoke, rain or liquids. 🎞️ https://simonschreibt.de/gat/cool-stuff-with-textures/

In Tomb Raider, tree shadows are actually textures. 📝 https://kosmonautblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/tomb-raider-static-shadows-trick/

A recreation of some of the rendering technique used on Link in WindWaker 📝 https://medium.com/@gordonnl/links-expressions-eb7beae2c62c

A lot of optimization tips used by ActiveTheory in their 3D rendering of hogwarts for Pottermore. 📝 https://medium.com/@activetheory/hogwarts-a66678d66283

⭐️ This article explains exactly what happens when Doom render a frame. 📝 http://www.adriancourreges.com/blog/2016/09/09/doom-2016-graphics-study/

Short explanation of multiple ToneMapping formula. 📝 http://filmicworlds.com/blog/filmic-tonemapping-operators/

🎨 ART 🎨

Jonathan Van Immerzeel’s tips on how to create Stylized environments with unity. 📝 https://80.lv/articles/unity-shaders-for-stylized-scenes/

How Ikenfell find its art style 📝 https://medium.com/@ChevyRay/the-art-visual-language-of-ikenfell-16739c8459d4

⭐️ Inktober already started but it’s the perfect opportunity to get better by creating a drawing every day for one month! 📝 http://mrjakeparker.com/inktober

Some people recommended me these two YouTube channel that explores video game landscapes! Maybe it can inspire some of us? Example with Toussain in The witcher 3 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrgtfkJNFvo&t=1s and Volskaya Industries in Overwatch 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8gUkbXxczQ

Studio MDHR animation process on Cuphead! 🎞️ http://gdcvault.com/play/1024315/Animation-Bootcamp-Cuphead-Process-and

⭐️ A short guide to typography 📝 http://pierrickcalvez.com/journal/a-five-minutes-guide-to-better-typography

⭐️ How Firewatch art style came to be and how the team at Campo Santo managed to go from concept art to a full game! 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYnS3kKTcGg&feature=youtu.be

⌨️ PROGRAMMING ⌨️

The story of a Guitar Hero bug solved ten years later! 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9U5wK_boYM&feature=youtu.be

A great overview by Kate Compton of some procedural generation techniques. (If you’re interested also check out her GDC2017 talk ) 📝 http://galaxykate0.tumblr.com/post/139774965871/so-you-want-to-build-a-generator

Why did RockMilkGame chose to use Godot Engine! 📝 https://medium.com/@rockmilkgames/why-godot-engine-e0d4736d6eb0

⭐️ How does lighting work in the 2D Plateformer Celeste 📝 https://medium.com/@NoelFB/remaking-celestes-lighting-3478d6f10bf

A few experimentation with animated Procedural mesh. 📝 http://yankooliveira.com/index.php/2016/04/03/poor-mans-sky-experiments-with-procedural/

A small script that allows you to start coroutines inside the unity editor. 🛠️ https://gist.github.com/LotteMakesStuff/16b5f2fc108f9a0201950c797d53cfbf

Two very simple skybox shader examples. 🛠️ https://github.com/keijiro/UnitySkyboxShaders

💰 MARKETING 💰

How to announce a game in 2017 📝 http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-09-12-how-to-announce-a-video-game-in-2017

Dannette Betty’s advice on how to do self-promotion. 📝 http://www.danettebeatty.com/my-process/2017/9/13/self-promotion-3-

⭐️ And some tips on how to improve your content for twitter! 📝 https://www.polygon-treehouse.com/blog/2017/9/25/indiedev-eyecandy

🤔 MISC 🤔

Why is constraints good for creativity? 📝 http://pierrickcalvez.com/journal/how-restraint-will-fuel-your-creativity

Eeve Somepx is creating some amazing pixel font! 🛠️ ️https://somepx.itch.io/pixel-fonts 🛠️ https://somepx.itch.io/more-fonts 🛠️ https://somepx.itch.io/from-patreon-vol-1 🛠️ https://www.patreon.com/somepx

The first part of Noclip's documentary about CD Projekt and the Witcher. 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNZkTk5gLuo

Why are gamer not always happy about knowing how video games works! 📝 http://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/features/game-creation-magic-w503332

An archive of thousand video game maps, sorted by Console 🛠️ http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/

Keep being awesome! ❤️ 💛 💚 💙 💜 🖤

https://twitter.com/grifdail

[airoasis]

Learn Blockchain Programming (curriculum)

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/learn-blockchain-programming-curriculum/

Learn Blockchain Programming (curriculum)

Hello world it’s Suraj and who’s ready to learn some blockchain for me to be able to write the decentralized applications book two years ago I needed to study blockchain technology hard AF and fast AF and efficiently AF since I was simultaneously traveling through different parts of Asia so if I were to start learning blockchain from scratch today this is the two-month study plan I’d make for myself but I’m gonna open-source it for you wizards since I love you this is a two month curriculum dedicated to in order one week of cryptography two weeks of Bitcoin two weeks of aetherium one week of other crypto currencies and lastly two weeks of decentralized applications but before you do anything else remember to hit the subscribe button if you haven’t yet to stay updated on my content this channel is my life’s work as you learn this technology make sure to follow several blockchain authorities on Twitter to keep up with the pulse in this space and yes in Soviet Russia blockchain authorities follow you oh and for more things to remember before we get started with this curriculum first watch videos at 2x speed and eventually 3x speed as your brain learns to adapt to faster pacing take notes by hand as you watch for memory retention dedicate at least 2 hours every single day to uninterrupted learning and yes that includes weekends and find a study buddy in our slack channel or someone in real life it will help keep you motivated remember this is not a game the links for everything will be in the video description before you get into the weeds with crypto currencies you have to understand why the word crypto is used in cryptocurrency crypto short for cryptography is the art of securing information given some sensitive data it asks the question how do we prevent a third party a an adversary from reading that data most people don’t realize just how crucial cryptography is for Humanity pretty much any kind of money transfer authentication flow and mission-critical system relies very heavily on cryptographic techniques to help maintain secrecy and cryptography itself sits at the intersection of math computer science and even physics but luckily for us its prerequisites aren’t worthy of dedicating weeks of study to we can pick them up in a single well structured cryptography course after reading some reviews it seems that the intro to cryptography course on Coursera is the best option here to get started it’s a seven week course that we’re going to complete in a single week don’t do any of the graded projects until you finish all of the videos knock them out one by one at the end of this week do the final exam for week seven really put in an effort then double check your answers to learn from your mistakes now on to weeks two and three we’re gonna focus on the blockchain that started it all Bitcoin so normally I almost never recommend reading books to learn this kind of thing since videos are so efficient but sometimes there are exceptional books out there like the deep learning book and Where’s Waldo in this case I’m gonna recommend my friend Andreas Antonopoulos book mastering Bitcoin it’s open source and available to read on github Andreas does such a great job of breaking down all the moving parts of the Bitcoin protocol his technical writing skills are next-level there are 12 chapters in this book we’re gonna read two to three chapters every single day until we finish them all pacing ourselves included in the book are technical instructions for configuring and using the Bitcoin protocol go ahead and do those via your terminal if you get an error at some point try to fix it but if no luck don’t get too caught up on it for too long just move on after you’ve completed the book go ahead and the official Bitcoin white paper specifically an annotated version to make it easier to understand those concepts then download a Bitcoin wallet and buy some Bitcoin it can be a really small amount but it’s mostly just to feel like you’re a part of the network and experience the cryptocurrency world firsthand for the second week of Bitcoin learning take the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies course on Coursera when you’re done with that spend the rest of the week building a blockchain that uses the proof-of-work consensus algorithm from scratch in your favorite programming language of choice I’d recommend either Python or JavaScript there’s a great article that explains how to do this that I’ll add to in the links add as many features to it as you can to get some hands-on experience in blockchain technology now that you’ve got a handle on Bitcoin it’s time to go down the second rabbit hole theory on Bitcoin removed the need for an intermediary when sending someone money over the Internet recording all transactions on a public database the etherium developers realized that they could use the same underlying blockchain technology to remove the need for an intermediary for running code think of it like a world computer a decentralized virtual machine to build unsensible applications on top of there’s a free really short aetherium course on udemy that you should first check out to help you understand the etherium architecture then you should read the annotated aetherium white paper for a better understanding it’s much more complex than the Bitcoin one so really take the time to go through all the details it will help you as soon as you start building aetherium apps using the solidity programming language oh and speaking of solidity once you’ve finished the course you can learn solidity using this crypto zombies game where you learn how smart contracts work by building them and applying them to this game world is actually pretty fun lastly black geeks.com has a collection of really in-depth articles on aetherium that I’d recommend checking out just hit them up one by one once you search for the etherium keyword until you understand all the parts of the architecture so Bitcoin and aetherium are out of the way but what about the other billion crypto currencies out there with all of their unique features and ideas are they worthless Yes No some of these projects have synthesized some really great ideas so we should dedicate this week to learning about some of those best ideas I’ve got a great playlist that goes over the crypto currencies I find the most interesting right here on YouTube that you should definitely check out remember to go through the Associated code and helpful learning links in the video description for each of them to get a better understanding you can spread this bit out to an entire week there are rabbit holes you could go down for any of the crypto currencies I talked about from Minh arrows ring signatures to cardano’s settlement slayer let your curiosity guide you this week and for the last part of this curriculum you’re going to wrap it all up by learning about the longer-term vision for all of these technologies decentralized applications start off by reading my book on the topic you can find a free version if you google the name with the word free afterwards also if someone posts a link to the free version in the comments I’ll pin it so you can check it out that’ll take you a full week and a lot of the code is deprecated now because of all the dependencies being updated over time but the pseudo code the ideas and the theories remain for the very last week build a decentralized application yourself pick an idea ride sharing or social networking for example and use the fastest method to prototype approach to build something in a single week and that’s it I just launched my decentralized applications course at the school of AI but we currently got a full class so sign up there if you want to be notified when the next course opens up I hope you found these tips useful please subscribe for more programming videos and for now I’ve got to upgrade the web so thanks for watching

[thecradlerocks]

Baby Sleep Miracle Review: Does This Truly Get Baby To Sleep?

"If you are a new sleepless mother, then you should read the Baby Sleep Miracle review. This will offer you a program that will literally save your mind" - Martha Devos (new mother).

Tired of those sleepless nights because your child doesn't let you sleep? Do your child's sleepless nights frustrate or irritate you? I am sure this is the case and that is why you are reading this, searching to find an effective solution to your intolerable nights. Ask a mother the simple question: What is the hardest part of being a mother? The most common answer given by almost all mothers is the sleep of their babies. This is often the case because not all mothers have the proper expertise or techniques to put their babies to sleep at night without crying and fusing.

I need to sleep.... grrrr Most parents, especially the first time parents face many difficulties with young children because it is at this age (from one to three years) that babies bother parents the most. Tired of your little child who wakes you up over and over again overnight? Do you think it's time to end all this drama and get some rest? If your answer is YES, you will benefit from this Baby Sleep Miracle review. This program is the solution to your night problems. It will teach you many techniques you can use to put your baby to sleep perfectly. It also contains some helpful tips and advice on how to care for your child's health. I decided to write an in-depth review of this program, as I still use the information I learned from breastfeeding my 4-month-old baby. After reading my review, you can decide whether this product is right for you or not. One of the main reasons I decided to write this Baby Sleep Miracle Review is that when I decided to buy it, there were lots of biased reviews with endless product ads. On the other hand, my review is neutral and only provides a real truth about this product. Now that you've heard about me a little bit, it's time to learn more about the Baby Sleep Miracle. What is it and who is it for? At the end of this article, I can be sure that you can determine whether this product will work for you and your little one as one of the best sleep training methods.

Who is Mary-Ann Schuller? The Author Of Baby Sleep Miracle Book

Mary Anne helps your baby sleep. The writer is a lady named Mary Ann Schuller. Mother of two children and a psychologist by her profession.

With over 20 years of experience in child psychology, she definitely knows what she's saying. From her long experience in psychology, when it comes to dealing with the sleep of babies, she first developed these simple instructions that will turn mothers into experts. Mary-Ann fully understands the feelings of deficiency that most parents, especially mothers, experience when their children cannot stop crying and sleeping. Guilt overwhelms them as they begin to see themselves as bad moms. Therefore, she invented tested techniques to help parents cope with the sudden changes in their children's sleep. If you have finished reading your book, get ready to experience your child's miracle while you sleep at night and be less angry when you wake up. Of course, you cannot emphasize the amount of rest that can help increase the mood of most mothers. When stress is less and you rest very well, motherhood is fun for all mothers. The information shared by Mary Ann came from numerous studies and research at the Stanford Sleep Science and Medicine Center and Harvard Medical School. Having said that, it's time to figure out what this product really is. The funny thing is that before I bought this product, I thought it was an online course because all the references and reviews I watched were all in video format. What does this program look like?

Baby Sleep Miracle is an e-book that you can download or print after the purchase. To be honest, discovering that the software is an ebook disappointed me a bit as I expected a full price recorded video course. I found the price of this ebook is way too high compared to the three eBooks I bought before, none of them priced more than $ 40. The high price of this ebook surprised me, but I chose to ignore it as the content of the ebook is the most important thing. If this were my products, maybe I would give a respectable name like Baby Sleeping Miracle pdf so people know exactly what they get after the purchase. But still, the most important thing is the content of this book, which I will share with you shortly after discussing who this product is meant for. Who Is This For? The reason I searched for such a product is that when my baby reaches about two months, my sleep was destroyed. In the first weeks after my son was born, I woke up every night to feed him. But with the baby sleep miracle, your child can finally sleep overnight At a very thin age, children still haven't known the world, so my child wakes up most part of the night. Nothing changed until it got two months. Then he started waking up all night long. Things got so bad that I was always exhausted every day and night and had to find a good way to put a baby to sleep.

I almost gave up but I knew I couldn't because this innocent little person trusts and depend on me. This product is for every mother who suffers from night sleep literally due to her baby. However, if the book does not match its claims, all of this is meaningless. In short, the Baby Sleep Miracle review is an ideal review for parents that are Don't want to wake up all night and have enough rest. Attentive, loving, flat-headed and ready to complete education Being willing to take time to apply various techniques discussed in the e-book By applying the techniques discussed in this ebook, you will benefit greatly from the simple and direct guidance given to the baby's sleep. Later in this article, I will explain how this product works for my child and why these are some of the best baby sleep training programs out there. What does it contain? As mentioned earlier, this product is just an ebook and is structured like most ebooks available on the Internet. I do not underestimate the ebooks, because it depends on what the value of each ebook is, but I am somewhat surprised after reading this product as a program which I thought was a video format.

In addition to the real product, I also bought the upsell around $5 and it turned out to be an e-book with useful information about newborns. The ebook itself is $40 and is about 110 pages long. You will need a couple of days to finish reading the books. However, this product contains a variety of valuable information that you can start applying right away. The e-book consists of three additional products, a kind of calm miracle music and two other e-books. These three books give you a lot of information and advice to take care of your child. The 3 e-books provides tips and tricks about caring for your little one and you'll definitely enjoy your sleep, moving forward. This ebook provides a comprehensive overview of the following baby sleep topics: The importance of napping for babies. Why is it important for children to get enough sleep? The different stages of development and how it affects children's sleep. Negative effects associated with lack of sleep. How to prepare for sleep training. An important technique for your child to sleep. Positive effects of routine. Simple sleep rules for kids. Comprehensive sleep guide for children up to five years old. The benefits of feeding children consistently. The importance of a safe environment for babies.

The Baby Sleep Miracle Review

If you are in the market before, reviewing and researching various tips and tricks online to help you put your baby to sleep, then you're probably motivated purely by self-interest rather than acting for honorable or unselfish reasons. . You may not believe that something is working out there. This is pretty good because most articles, ebooks, and videos with baby sleep routines often contain tips that don't work. This is because they're not written by mothers or those with relevant academic / scientific backgrounds to provide useful advice. They're not based on real research. But the baby sleep miracle is not part of them. This is very different. It was written by a famous child psychologist and is based on extensive research. Just two or three weeks after reading, you will know why most Baby Sleep Miracle reviews on blogs and social media are so positive. Why Because the tips and tricks in it are very useful and effective. They are also very easy to follow and give you solid advice, for example, when your baby will sleep through the night. But this is not what I am going to show in this section of baby sleep miracle review. . This is the in-depth part where I everything in the e-book for you. Thus, the e-book is divided into sections. Just four sections, and the entire book is only one hundred pages, so that reading will not take much time. Just in case 100 pages sound too much, don't worry about it. There are sub-chapters for certain ages, where you can easily find advice and tips about sleep for a specific child's age.

More In-depth Look At The Product

When I decided it was a product I needed, I went out for it. I started researching on the internet and looking for blogs that share information about whether it's a good program / book or not. Because there are certain blogs with links to premium products, I decided to buy from a particular blog. But when I click the link, I was taken to a page that looks like this:

One page contains a video with a robot-like sound that explains how to get your baby to sleep through the night. To be honest, I think it looks like a scam, but I assure you that it's not, because I have bought the books and it's all real. But it looks like that to me then. Then I search the page to see if I could find links to text pages or anything, as watching videos is not my thing, especially if it's not a real person. And of course I found the link right below the video, as you can see in the image below:

Baby sleep miracle link to text page When I got to the text page, I was surprised that it really looked really good. And that is what drives me to ignore the tacky looking video, because the text pages are very inviting and decorated with beautiful colors. But the most important question is: does it really explain whether it can solve my problem or not?

Yes, that's for sure, and that's why I bought it. This page has several useful tips that are different from the usual feathers that seem to float around the Internet. There were also several testimonies from real mothers who also took the program and got desired results from the teachings that were included in the book. Sections included in the baby sleep miracle ebook: Chapter 1: Risk of sleep deprivation 2: Understanding Sleep 3: General sleeping rules for infants and children 4: Sleep at every age (there are many different methods of sleep training in this)

Snippet of Table of Contents page from Ebook Baby Sleep Miracle Review: Chapter 1 Section 1 of this book explains the dangers of sleep deprivation. If you are a new mother, you will be able to immediately understand the dangers of sleep deprivation in this chapter. Lack of sleep can lead to frustration, stress, depression, anger, marital problems, even divorce. Lack of sleep can also cause severe weight loss and depression. This is how you can hate yourself. In short, it can make you very sad. Mary Ann Schuler explains the lack of sleep, and relies on work experience in this chapter. She has shown how a lack of sleep can interfere with the mother's relationship with her newborn and partners. She also explained how a lack of sleep can lead to neurological diseases. After reading this section, you can say that it is necessary to take immediate steps to overcome the lack of sleep when you are a new mother. You can also say that having overcome sleep deprivation, you can return to your flow, you can be happy again, and return to a healthy conversation with your partner. Baby Sleep Miracle Review: Chapter 2 This section focuses on the interpretation of sleep. It is based on the science of sleep and explains how we sleep. This explains the importance of sleep for a healthy life and that is why we all become zombies if we do not get adequate sleep. I like the chapter in this book, because it is well researched and very simple to understand, despite being scientific. The most important thing in this section - is a foundation upon which Mary Ann bases her overall sleep rules, suggestions and recommendations. This is a fairly informative part of this book. Baby Sleep Miracle Review: Chapter 3 This part of the book explains the basics of good sleep. Also, if you do not understand the circumstances and conditions that could put you baby to sleep, then you will find this chapter most interesting. If you want to dispel the myths and misconceptions about children's sleep immediately, this chapter may be of interest too. This is because it contains full description of everything about baby sleep from the creation of the program to creating sleep soothing techniques to the application process and to favorable conditions for sleeping, The information that you will learn from this part of the book will help you learn about the little things that you can do so there will be no need to wake up at night and also make your child throughout the night. Baby Sleep Miracle Review: Chapter 4 Now, this for young mothers, especially, those that are very busy, they will find this chapter very interesting. Why? Because it involves age-related procedures, tips and tricks on how to makw your baby sleep well. This information is placed in series in the sub-section. There is information to get your baby to sleep as they are a month old, up until they are five years old. I really like this part, because it helps me with my baby. My child was four months old when I bought this book, and he gave me a lot, as in two weeks in a row without sleeping. Because I was so sleepy I didn't have time to read the rest of the e-book at first, and it was too much effort for me too. I was told by a friend to buy it, since it has age-specific tips and tricks of baby sleep. So I did, and when I received it, I immediately skipped to the desired page. And there I saw information and advice that helped me turn my baby from a mid-night screamer to a peaceful and loving all-night sleeper. In short, I think the most important information or part of this book is the 7-steps tips to put any baby to sleep immediately. If you won't read anything else after purchasing the book, make sure that you read this guide. This is the tips and tricks to die for (of course, you do not need to die for sure, but you get the gist)!

baby sleep miracle sound Additional Content In addition to the Baby Sleep Miracle e-book, I have free extras, including e-books in multimedia files that let you easily listen to the program, do other things and let the baby sleeps, noise/ miracle sound mp3 to soothe the baby to sleep.

Baby Sleep Miracle Pros And Cons

I have previously used and reviewed many sleep programs and children's books, although I haven't found the best one, but this one come as close to being perfect. To learn about the pros and cons of this baby sleep miracle book, see below. Pros It has lots of useful tips, tricks and practical information to help your baby sleep well. It is a well-structured program that combines the content of a child's model with the age-specific baby sleep information at which is easy to find from the table of content. It comes with a video review of the product recommended to mothers. (It's hard to tell if the mothers are honest or have paid critics) . This creates reasonable and realistic expectations. No program promises success anywhere. This research project was conducted in a study at the Harvard University and Stanford University. It was written by a child psychologist who is the mother herself. It provides effective solutions. It comes with three baby materials for babies and a 60-day money-back guarantee (to get your money back if you feel it is not worth it). Many positive baby sleep miracle reviews are available online. Comes with a fair price, this is a great value for money. This will probably save you from a lack of sleep and make your baby cry less and be happier. Cons This is mainly an e-book. I would have love to see a video demonstration with tips and techniques. You will need to read the book and practice the information provided in the book for it to work. This may take a while. The book is available only in specific languages, such as English, French, Spanish, and German. Learn More Here

Where To Buy Sleeping Baby Miracle

If you have been impressed by this Baby Sleep Miracle review, then I'll share a special link to help you get the e-book and some bonus materials, including the Miracle Sleep MP3 Sounds that soothes your baby to sleep.. But before I do that, I think I need to share my opinion on the program with you. in case you are still unclear with the way I presented this review, I like the baby sleep miracle. I like it because it is accurate, effective and age-specific. This is probably the best $ 37 dollar I've ever spent, and it really showed how to get the baby to sleep. Click here to purchase the program and receive the bonus contents, including a special sleep noise. Remember the mentioned $37 is a promotional offer. The program is usually $100.

Baby sleep bonus packs with deals

Is This Baby Sleep Miracle Legit Or Just A Scam?

I can confidently say the baby sleep miracle is 100% legit. If you have also read this fantastic overview of the baby sleep miracle, you know it's legit. This is an excellent program with actionable tips and tricks to follow step-by-step. This is because the information is very different from other similar products. The tips and strategies are also very effective. They helped me make my baby less fussy. They also help me achieve a healthy state by gaining back my sanity. I could tell that just three or four weeks ago I was probably in a bad situation with sleep deprivation. But I'm happier now than I ever was since my baby came into this world. Therefore, this program is legit. And if you don't believe it! On the Internet, there are many people whose reactions show that it is working, check the videos below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmyM_bWdbjk&feature=youtu.be Testimonial from a real mother And here is another testimonial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOiYB6TDrSE&feature=youtu.be testimonial from another new mom If you still don't know the tips and information you can get in this program, read the following excerpt from the e-book. “But you’ll always need a bedtime routine. Predictable routines not only help babies relax, but they also cue the brain to slow down and make the necessary sleep “arrangements” – just like a good book does that for you.” “Developing a bedtime routine early – by about six weeks – is absolutely essential." At first, it will be very simple. With the above information, you will probably know that if you buy this program you will gain a lot. Therefore, if you suffer from sleep deprivation, your child does not sleep well at night and your partner feels sleepy due to lack of sleep in the night, buy this program. It is legit and can help you change your current situation. This has helped me and I believe it will help you too on how to get your baby to sleep through the night.

Final Thought

Can I recommend this product to a close friends or relatives? Yes, I can. Why? Because I have tested it and it worked for me and my baby. This is surely the best tip and information on how to get your baby to sleep through the night. The book is also quite cheap, compared to its value and you will see when you start using it. Child psychologist, Mary-Ann Schuler, uses her professional education and experience as a mother to create this well-researched yet an easy-to-read book and an easy-to-implement program. Great and useful information from the first page to the last page. It also comes with additional materials such as electronic books and MP3 sleep noise to calm your baby to sleep. In short, it is an excellent program that is good for whoever that is searching these topics on the internet: How to get your baby to sleep through nightHow to get your baby to sleep without being heldHow to get your baby to sleep at nighthow to get your baby to sleep on their own and so on. A few nights after applying the baby's principles, tips and tricks, you will begin to notice that your baby sleeps more, cries less and is happier than before. It is a program worth every dollar spent. I highly recommend this baby sleep miracle program to mothers that are trying to get their baby to sleep through the night. Get it with all the bonuses here for just $37

Disclaimer: If you buy through my link, I will get a small affiliate commission. This doesn't make the product more expensive for you in any way, but it helps me support my blog. The review is honest and my personal experience with this product and I would never recommend a product that I have never used and 100% satisfied with. Please enjoy the review with this route and let me know in the comments if you have any questions. Read the full article

[batterymonster2021]

Learn Blockchain Programming (curriculum)

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/learn-blockchain-programming-curriculum/

Learn Blockchain Programming (curriculum)

Hello world it’s Suraj and who’s ready to learn some blockchain for me to be able to write the decentralized applications book two years ago I needed to study blockchain technology hard AF and fast AF and efficiently AF since I was simultaneously traveling through different parts of Asia so if I were to start learning blockchain from scratch today this is the two-month study plan I’d make for myself but I’m gonna open-source it for you wizards since I love you this is a two month curriculum dedicated to in order one week of cryptography two weeks of Bitcoin two weeks of aetherium one week of other crypto currencies and lastly two weeks of decentralized applications but before you do anything else remember to hit the subscribe button if you haven’t yet to stay updated on my content this channel is my life’s work as you learn this technology make sure to follow several blockchain authorities on Twitter to keep up with the pulse in this space and yes in Soviet Russia blockchain authorities follow you oh and for more things to remember before we get started with this curriculum first watch videos at 2x speed and eventually 3x speed as your brain learns to adapt to faster pacing take notes by hand as you watch for memory retention dedicate at least 2 hours every single day to uninterrupted learning and yes that includes weekends and find a study buddy in our slack channel or someone in real life it will help keep you motivated remember this is not a game the links for everything will be in the video description before you get into the weeds with crypto currencies you have to understand why the word crypto is used in cryptocurrency crypto short for cryptography is the art of securing information given some sensitive data it asks the question how do we prevent a third party a an adversary from reading that data most people don’t realize just how crucial cryptography is for Humanity pretty much any kind of money transfer authentication flow and mission-critical system relies very heavily on cryptographic techniques to help maintain secrecy and cryptography itself sits at the intersection of math computer science and even physics but luckily for us its prerequisites aren’t worthy of dedicating weeks of study to we can pick them up in a single well structured cryptography course after reading some reviews it seems that the intro to cryptography course on Coursera is the best option here to get started it’s a seven week course that we’re going to complete in a single week don’t do any of the graded projects until you finish all of the videos knock them out one by one at the end of this week do the final exam for week seven really put in an effort then double check your answers to learn from your mistakes now on to weeks two and three we’re gonna focus on the blockchain that started it all Bitcoin so normally I almost never recommend reading books to learn this kind of thing since videos are so efficient but sometimes there are exceptional books out there like the deep learning book and Where’s Waldo in this case I’m gonna recommend my friend Andreas Antonopoulos book mastering Bitcoin it’s open source and available to read on github Andreas does such a great job of breaking down all the moving parts of the Bitcoin protocol his technical writing skills are next-level there are 12 chapters in this book we’re gonna read two to three chapters every single day until we finish them all pacing ourselves included in the book are technical instructions for configuring and using the Bitcoin protocol go ahead and do those via your terminal if you get an error at some point try to fix it but if no luck don’t get too caught up on it for too long just move on after you’ve completed the book go ahead and the official Bitcoin white paper specifically an annotated version to make it easier to understand those concepts then download a Bitcoin wallet and buy some Bitcoin it can be a really small amount but it’s mostly just to feel like you’re a part of the network and experience the cryptocurrency world firsthand for the second week of Bitcoin learning take the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies course on Coursera when you’re done with that spend the rest of the week building a blockchain that uses the proof-of-work consensus algorithm from scratch in your favorite programming language of choice I’d recommend either Python or JavaScript there’s a great article that explains how to do this that I’ll add to in the links add as many features to it as you can to get some hands-on experience in blockchain technology now that you’ve got a handle on Bitcoin it’s time to go down the second rabbit hole theory on Bitcoin removed the need for an intermediary when sending someone money over the Internet recording all transactions on a public database the etherium developers realized that they could use the same underlying blockchain technology to remove the need for an intermediary for running code think of it like a world computer a decentralized virtual machine to build unsensible applications on top of there’s a free really short aetherium course on udemy that you should first check out to help you understand the etherium architecture then you should read the annotated aetherium white paper for a better understanding it’s much more complex than the Bitcoin one so really take the time to go through all the details it will help you as soon as you start building aetherium apps using the solidity programming language oh and speaking of solidity once you’ve finished the course you can learn solidity using this crypto zombies game where you learn how smart contracts work by building them and applying them to this game world is actually pretty fun lastly black geeks.com has a collection of really in-depth articles on aetherium that I’d recommend checking out just hit them up one by one once you search for the etherium keyword until you understand all the parts of the architecture so Bitcoin and aetherium are out of the way but what about the other billion crypto currencies out there with all of their unique features and ideas are they worthless Yes No some of these projects have synthesized some really great ideas so we should dedicate this week to learning about some of those best ideas I’ve got a great playlist that goes over the crypto currencies I find the most interesting right here on YouTube that you should definitely check out remember to go through the Associated code and helpful learning links in the video description for each of them to get a better understanding you can spread this bit out to an entire week there are rabbit holes you could go down for any of the crypto currencies I talked about from Minh arrows ring signatures to cardano’s settlement slayer let your curiosity guide you this week and for the last part of this curriculum you’re going to wrap it all up by learning about the longer-term vision for all of these technologies decentralized applications start off by reading my book on the topic you can find a free version if you google the name with the word free afterwards also if someone posts a link to the free version in the comments I’ll pin it so you can check it out that’ll take you a full week and a lot of the code is deprecated now because of all the dependencies being updated over time but the pseudo code the ideas and the theories remain for the very last week build a decentralized application yourself pick an idea ride sharing or social networking for example and use the fastest method to prototype approach to build something in a single week and that’s it I just launched my decentralized applications course at the school of AI but we currently got a full class so sign up there if you want to be notified when the next course opens up I hope you found these tips useful please subscribe for more programming videos and for now I’ve got to upgrade the web so thanks for watching

[studyvari]

Masterpost how to start learning Chinese

Hi!

Since i'm just starting to learn Chinese, and I'm looking for ways of how to actually start and generate some material, like vocab lists, grammar rules and stuff hat's gonna be useful for progress, I just thought that I'd share whatever i'll find. So here's my TOP 10 sites, apps and ways of learning Mandarin by yourself. Mostly, this is just to motivate myself, but i hope, some of you guys can add their own things to this list and also find interesting stuff on the sites mentioned! 

As for the system on how to actually start learning the language, I decided to go with the very basics first. So, for the vocabulary part, I decided that i'd learn the first 200 so called 'radicals', which actually are essential to find any Chinese word in the dictionary. Also, I am going to learn the basic conversations, meaning how to say your name, how are you and to say good bye and stuff like that. With GrammarWiki, I'll be catching up on grammar rules that convent with the A1 level. Since I'm only just starting, this is the one that i'm going for first. I'm going to get you an update about my improvements quite regularly, hopefully.

Chinese Social Web

WeChat (basically like chinese facebook, also used to talk to strangers, update your bank account, order food, taxis, or literally anything)

Weibo

Youku (chinese youtube)

QQ (Chinese instant messaging program)

Taobao (chinese ebay/site for online shopping)

Sina (Chinese yahoo)

chinese culture

I decided to watch docus and read websites about chinese culture in order to understand Chinese people, their way of thinking and the culture in general. Since I found myself to be pretty interested in this kind of stuff (which is weird, because i've never really been interested in China before I got to know some Chinese people), I think it's going to help me stay motivated to keep learning the language.

apps to learn the basics of mandarin

I'm pretty sure there's a lot more, and if you have any recommendation, please feel free to add it to the list – these are just a few that I found whilst scrolling through the app store when I first decided to learn Chinese!

memrise

sadly, it is only a very few words available on the free version, however I guess that the method they use is pretty good to memorise the words and characters

pleco (dictionnaire mandarin – english)

yi er san

Essentials

I really like this one because it has flashcards and learning sets, such as the weather, numbers, months and weekdays, colours, food, …

nemo

this app also only has the very basics to start a conversation in Chinese, but also contains listening and recording options, which is, as already mentioned, really important to get into chinese.

songs/playlists on Spotify

I absolutely love the fact that you can actually learn Chinese on Spotify thanks to some awesome playlists with basic grammar and vocabulary lessons. Maybe it's not the best way for the writing system, but it sure makes you talk and listen to the language, which is an important part of being able to understand and read Mandarin. I'm finding it easier to learn languages when listenening a lot to it, that's why I also want to learn Chinese by listening to songs and these themed spotify playlists mentioned above. Also, it's great when being on the bus, this way I can use the time and listen to some Chinese. Also, listening the words first makes it easier for me to remember the specific character later because I have an idea of what the character sounds like and what it means. So yep, guess you could say I was pretty excited when I found the free spotify playlists.

BBC Languages – mandarin mini guide

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/mini_guides/characters/characters_meaning.shtml

FluentU:

http://www.fluentu.com/blog/chinese/2014/12/22/how-to-study-mandarin-chinese/

the site is just linking you towards different systems on how to study chinese, specific vocabulary sets and basically tells you systems on how to get fluent in Mandarin, which can be pretty helpful. I hope it will be useless for my journey!

ArchChinese

This site has pretty much everything that you need to practice Chinese. It includes a list containing all of the 214 Chinese radicals – both in pinyin and English, which is pretty much perfect. Also, it has worksheets, vocabulary lists, a tool to create your own flashcards, tools to practice your handwriting, and contains listening examples. All for free! Yey!

http://www.archchinese.com/arch_chinese_radicals.html

ChineseGrammarWiki

This one is probably going to save my life. It literally has everything in it, basically, you could just learn from the Wikipedia site and you're all good. It has grammar rules for the different levels, links you to forums, has vocabulary lists, keywords, printables, etc. etc. etc. It's basically just heaven for generating your study material!

Use quizlet!

Honestly, just do it! It is just so easy to either way create your own set of flashcards or just look for one that suits your needs, then start learning! This way, I realise that i'm having the most fun whilst actually learning something because of endless repetition. It doesn't even feel like learning when i'm on quizlet. Also, flashcards are in general a very good method to memorise the characters and the pinyin. A friend of mine who lived in Peking for 4 years and learned Chinese during that time told me that you basically have to memorise the characters with flashcards to pinyin and then to your mother tongue. Which would be german for me, but I guess it also works with English since Chinese is closer and i'm fluent in both languages.

General tips:

learn vocabulary. Honestly Vocabulary is pretty much the most important thing if you wanna be fluent in a language, especially when this language is Chinese. I always loved languages but I am so bad at remembering vocabulary, that's why I almost forgot everything I learn in school for French (and I'd say in Luxembourg, we learn lots of French because you need it everyday.), I only just remember the basic conversations, which is quite sad. I don't want to make that mistake again whilst learning Chinese. So one of my main goals is to just remember loads and loads of characters and words, so that I'll be good in speaking Chinese with my friends one day.

Have a reason to start learning the language. For me, that was meeting people who are Chinese and spending a lot of time with these guys (Since I helped at a festival, where Chinese school orchestras and choirs came to Vienna, most of the organisation team was Chinese, I was surrounded by the language every day, and it confused me a lot at the beginning, but it made me understand that actually, Chinese is a pretty important language, because basically there are so many Chinese people who can't speak English – and if you can speak Chinese and English, you can literally speak to most people on this planet. Isn't that fascinating? Also, I kind of want to meet the people I've worked with in Vienna again, maybe even work there later on, which is why I decided to learn Chinese. Plus, it's just additional soft skills for my VC – languages are never a bad thing to know.

Watch youtube videos, listen to Chinese music and Podcasts, get into the Culture. This is probably the most important thing to fully understand the language and the people – and also to just have fun studying the language. Whilst listening to songs and translating the lyrics, you're learning new vocabulary, new sentences, ways of how Chinese think, etc.

buy textbooks. I haven't bought a proper textbook yet because i'm in Berlin right now which means I don't wanna take it home with me, when I can also just start with material that I find online, however I'm pretty much either way gonna buy Chinese books in the library or at first just rent it from the University library.

Look up for courses/tandem partners. If you're a student, check your university's courses. Most of the time, they do offer additional lessons where you can just learn something, without paying as much as people from the outside, sometimes even for free. If you wanna learn the language, just try to get in touch with it as much as you can. Courses with actual teacher can help you improve your pronunciation which I guess is pretty hard in Chinese. I will be struggling with that a lot, but I can always send text messages to my friends on WeChat and ask them if it's correct. However, courses are also good to get more material, maybe get a system into your whole learning thing.

Organise yourself. I find it pretty much overwhelming right now to get thrown into this new language. I'm looking for material all over the internet and I'm finding so many different sites. Find one that suits you, then just stick to the system. As I said before, I'm going to start with learning the radicals, basic A1 vocabulary and Grammar by themed learning sets. It's the easiest way to learn I guess.

Also, it is important to accept that learning Chinese is a very hard process and is probably gonna take a lot of nerves. I'm actually kind of debating with myself wether i'm gonna stick to learning Chinese or not, whether it's gonna be useful or not – but right now, I'm still content in what I'm doing, because I have this goal. I know that Chinese is hard and that I'll forget words a lot of times before I actually am gonna be able to chat with someone in Chinese, but I wanna impress some people – and this keeps me going.

Last but not least: Have fun! Learning a new language is an amazing process, it changes your ways of thinking, it changes your perception on human nature, on culture, you get to have other insides on people's history, which is all just really interesting. Learning is a fun process, learning makes you happy, makes you great, learning makes you you! So please, just enjoy yourself with the language – it really is a game, you know! Failure is human, failure is part of it, but if you still have fun learning new things, then you're good! Keep it up!

[wildlyhardphilosopher-blog]

Dog Training North East | Tips and Advice Available Here

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Dog Training North East | Tips and Advice Available Here

Back to Top Student Area 2016 Instructors Course 2018 We are looking for club members who have trained a dog to Class 3 or Class 4 standard and who are interested… If you have a comment on a story then please submit your comment via the story page. If you need to ask something else though, please Please find safe ways to exercise your puppy too! As your puppy’s pack leader, you must help to expend their energy in a productive way. For all dogs, this means a daily walk. Start your puppy on the right paw with Puppy School Help! My Dog Is… Bowls Basic dog psychology The structure of the course will allow access anywhere in Australia where an internet connection is available, making regional and local services of a detection dog to become more viable. Twitter Support Groups Home | Sitemap | Shop – Dog Accessories | Dog DVD or Video | Contact Us Jump up ^ Lindsay 2000, p. 247–248 The Guard Dog Training Centre specialise in dog obedience & agility training, personal protection training, attack dog training and man stopper training. Welcome to the wonderful world of puppy ownership! ONE basic Puppy course is ONLY enough to cover ONE developmental stage of your puppy’s life. To maximise your puppy’s learning potential and to ensure you create good life habits, it is important to note that it takes a minimum 18 months of consistent training to end up with a well-developed skill set and create harmony at both ends of the lead. This class is not appropriate for dogs who only exhibit aggression towards other dogs while off leash, or who exhibit aggression toward people. Jump up ^ Millan 2010, p. 32. Agility – combining pieces of equipment How you can help We can teach your dog to Seed Send your dog’s vaccination record to: Email: info@deltainstitute.edu.au Ok, he’s finally home. Training needs to begin immediately, considering the new pattern on the rug, not to mention the dog’s breakfast he’s made of your new Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals. But where should you start? My dog barks, gets over excited, lunges and/or growls when they see another dog.  Is the Levels Training Program appropriate for my dog? For level 1 and 2: Minimum C5 Vaccination.

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fbq('track', 'ViewContent', content_ids: 'dogtraining.dknol', ); Once he’s in sitting position, say “Sit,” give him the treat, and share affection. Miley improved, amazing results in recognising BAH and developing her ability to walk on a lead with distractions. I am so impressed at how it worked and am happy with Miley’s progress so far. I’m very happy and can’t wait to see further improvements! Rescue Partners Puppy Training Foundations Feedback form Donate to Wikipedia Working at Vetwest Pet Sitting There are multiple levels: Dr Chris Brown They are conducted in safe vet approved areas in a variety of locations around Brisbane for your convenience. Make a difference in an animals life today! House training your puppy wagging tails newsletter The puppies were sooo cute. I really want one! 🙂 …to train. Professional Puppy Training Classes In-Home Puppy Training Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Our in-home consultations Bearings & Angles Sunday 6th May In this class, pencils have been replaced with coloured balls and books with wooden obstacles. Plus, the students are a bit furrier than usual. Okay, so teaching puppies might not look that serious but what they’re learning is actually really important! Pets in rentals 1. What information are you looking for today? Cupcake Day Total Care Jump up ^ Burch, Mary R; Duane Pickel (1990). “A toast to Most: Konrad Most, a 1910 pioneer in animal training”. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 23 (2): 263–4. doi:10.1901/jaba.1990.23-263. PMC 1286234 . PMID 16795731. Search this site Read your dog’s body language Interesting Dog Links Earn 15% Brand Cash on any participating brands of premium food or flea, tick and worming treatment to use when you next shop the same brand for dog or cat. good job Glen Miles Factors[edit] Careers with Dogs Breed of the Month Dry Dog Foods Cats, roosters and other animals Puppy Class Instructors’ Course 07 Sep 2017 9:49:30am What we do 22 Aug 2017 2:54:20pm Dog Walking Guidelines Component 3: Introduction to Training Class Management Skin care For example, if you don’t want your puppy on the furniture, say ‘No’ loudly and guide him off every time he climbs up. Then praise him every time he gets on the floor. Click to view our recent Guard Dog Training  TV Commercial! Behaving calmly around people The rule of thumb for dog training is “set the dog up for success”. Supervise the puppy at all times until he/she has learned what they are allowed to chew, and where they are supposed to eliminate. Keeping the puppy on a 3 metre remote leash is an excellent way to keep him/her in sight, and to train them not to wander off. This is particularly helpful with a highly investigative puppy or for a very busy household. Force-free trainers Membership Pricing Adopt How long does it take to to train a dog. Ask our dog training experts a question about a dog behavioural issue, dog training problems or dogs in general. We’ll give you dog training tips and dog training advice in your quest for a well-behaved dog! Peters help was incredible, duke has endless energy so walking him was always a mission but now he always walks next to me and never pulls. Never even looks at the stairs to run up and let’s us open the front door without going near it, couldn’t have asked for better help The White Card course was excellent, extremely easy to complete and a lot of helpful videos to guide along the course. Ready for some extra help? Email or call today! RSPCA Sydney Veterinary Hospital Dog desexing Biting dogs Cat and Kittens Click to view Virtual Tours of our Sydney based Dog Training Grounds, Dog Boarding Kennels, Dog Exercise Area, Office, Showroom and Dog Grooming facilities. How dogs learn[edit] Adrienne & Andrew Email: * DELTA Society DELTA Institute Tools Headspace Collaboration and Tools Search in posts • Thunderstorms and/or hail prevalent or expected 96.9% of our clients rate their experience with Bark Busters as 4 or 5 out of 5 stars. Pet information videos Motivational training[edit] Dog Psychology For: Puppies and their people who could use a little personalised puppy assistance Related articles Tea Tree Events 10. What did you like about this story? Dogs must be at least 16 weeks of age We now have our own coming to handler on command (known as a recall test) Alexandria Petbarn Please contact us if you have any questions. Pryor, Karen (1999). Clicker Training for Dogs, London: Ringpress Books. ISBN 1-86054-282-4 Tuggerah Care Centre Puppy Promenade Cairns Monthly Newsletter You Work We Train To find out if dog obedience training has been cancelled due to inclement weather, call Ray – dog obedience volunteer, on 0413 136 644. Who we are Obedience training Advertisement Frozen George – we are so thankful for the time you spent with us and our border collie Annie. You are patient, kind and so in touch with dogs behaviour. I learnt more in our 2 hours than we have in endless …hours of other trainings. I never in a million years thought that within that time Annie would have learnt to loose lead walk, stay and not jump on visitors. I cannot recommend you highly enough. Thanks again. Find us on Facebook Contact Council Step 1. I like this BTN clip because it is interesting and seeing puppies learn how to do guide training. Adoption partners Search in excerpt I wish that happened at my school!! Approved obedience training organisations The concepts of “pack” and “dominance” in relation to dog training originated in the 1940s and were popularized by the Monks of New Skete in the 1970s. The model is based on a theory that “dogs are wolves” and since wolves live in hierarchical packs where an alpha male rules over everyone else, then humans must dominate dogs in order to modify their behavior.[68] However, recent studies have shown that wolves in the wild actually live in nuclear families where the father and mother are considered the pack leaders, and their offspring’s status depends on their birth order which does not involve fighting to attain a higher rank, because the young wolves naturally follow their parents’ lead.[69] Dogs have become closely associated with humans through domestication and have also become sensitive to human communicative signals. Generally, they have a lot of exposure to human speech, especially during play, and are believed to have a good ability to recognize human speech. Two studies investigated the ability of a single dog that was believed to be exceptional in its understanding of language. Both studies revealed the potential for at least some dogs to develop an understanding of a large number of simple commands on the basis of just the sounds emitted by their owners. However the studies suggested that visual cues from the owner may be important for the understanding of more complex spoken commands.[77] Get ready for some cute puppies! Students in New South Wales are taking part in what could be one of the best school activities ever. Their job is to teach Labrador puppies some important skills before they go off for Guide Dog training. Not recently active Great Family Pet Down Hot weather Cat Scratch Posts understanding your dog’s body language The rule of thumb for dog training is “set the dog up for success”. Supervise the puppy at all times until he/she has learned what they are allowed to chew, and where they are supposed to eliminate. Keeping the puppy on a 3 metre remote leash is an excellent way to keep him/her in sight, and to train them not to wander off. This is particularly helpful with a highly investigative puppy or for a very busy household. What Your Body Language Tells Your Dog Why should your dog train with us? Our behaviour specialists are available on weekdays and weekends. Skin care Zoonoses: from dogs to humans In 2004 a study was published that was based on the observation of a variety of breeds trained for protection work using shock collars, which showed that although electronically trained dogs can excel as guard dogs, their behavior toward humans and work circumstances changed, often indicating heightened uncertainty and reactivity.[63] Dog Training 6 Months | Best Methods Dog Training 6 Months | Best Methods Here Dog Training 6 Months | Best Methods Available Here Legal | Sitemap

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