#i develop a worry further WITH CITATIONS

[leletha-jann]

Actually, wait, whoa, I can substantiate this. On circumstantial evidence, of course, but supporting evidence nonetheless.

Watch the shuffle here:

Gil pulls Tarvek out of the timestop.

The Librarians kidnap Tarvek away from Gil.

One of Princess Terebithia's agents kidnaps Tarvek from the Librarians and takes him back to his grandmother in Paris.

Yes?

Gil wants Tarvek back because Gil wants Tarvek back.

OK, stick with me here.

The Librarians want Tarvek because - we can eventually deduce - the Librarians have a possibly homicidal Muse-equivalent they want to repair, understand, and possibly use, and if you have an unexpected Muse on your hands, Tarvek Sturmvoraus is the person you want to talk to.

My understanding is that this is the "Lord" she's talking about - the Lord High Conservator, who is specifically away on the "go fetch the best expert on the Muses we know of" errand, and who is not coming back alive:

OK, so far so good.

And at that point Terebithia's agent and assorted Smoke Knights killed everyone, grabbed Tarvek, and hauled him back to Paris by the scruff of his neck.

So...what did Terebithia want with Tarvek that she went to so much trouble to kidnap him from the Librarians? We never found out. It's not to play figurehead Storm King - she has Martellus doing that quite nicely. And I don't buy that she just wanted one of her grandchildren back, because A) Terebithia has tons of grandchildren and she seems pretty indifferent to which of them are going to survive, and B) Tarvek acts much the same way towards Terebithia as he did towards Lucrezia - cooperate, flatter, charm, agree with everything she says, and get the hell away from her the moment he has a solid way out.

...this is where I pulled out the thumbtacks and string today.

What if Terebithia wanted him for the same reason the Librarians did - because she also has a possibly homicidal Muse-equivalent on her hands and needed an expert? Namely, Anevka.

And who better to wrangle clank Anevka - who is essentially a Muse - than the man who designed and built her (and built in overrides and behavioral controls while he was at it)?

How pretty would that be if that parallel was there all along?

...

At this point this is the wildest speculation. I have no doubt I'm wildly off base and this conspiracy theory will age badly, at which point everyone can point at me and laugh. But I'm having fun building sandcastles now.

I have a new Wild Theory, just in case anyone thought it was safe to come out from behind the sofa (it's not):

If Klaus is indeed aboard Castle Wulfenbach, which I believe he is, and acting under wasp-enforced orders, the question becomes: "Who's giving those orders?"

We've been guided to think about Zola, which is a reasonable guess because we haven't seen her in a while, and she's not just going to conveniently vanish.

But...

I suspect the involvement of Princess Terebithia, because she was last seen with Zola, because we were recently told that she's conveniently missing, and because she scares me.

But that still leaves the question of "How are they giving Klaus orders?" Zola has a Lucrezia copy in her head, but she doesn't sound like Lucrezia as far as I know. She doesn't have the Command Voice.

...you know who did have the Command Voice? And who Terebithia in particular might have managed to get hold of?

And who would be a fantastically out-of-nowhere player to reenter the game at this point?

Anevka.

...

So here's my math:

Terebithia would have had access to Sturmhalten, where clank Anevka's head was stored. (It's controlled by the Empire, but it's her family's castle.)

Anevka has the Command Voice and can command revenants (thanks, Tarvek).

Anevka could give Klaus orders under her grandmother's instruction.

Anevka sounds like the Other - because the version of the Other that Wulfenbach troops have encountered most is Agatha. Anevka has Agatha's voice. So that could be affecting the reports coming off of Castle Wulfenbach from the evacuees right now.

...

This could be nothing more mysterious than a Valois power play...and I notice Martellus is oh-so-conveniently right here to take command if the opportunity presents itself. If his family has - without his knowledge, I think - set the stage for him to do so.

But. Yeah.

Who could be giving Klaus orders?

Zola to provide the information about useful pawns from her copy of Lucrezia. Terebithia to organize and plan. And Anevka to give the orders to all these wasped revenants who've been in motion lately...

...

Like I said, a Wild Theory, and I'm probably wrong. But I'm still not coming out from behind the sofa just yet.

[thistlecatfics]

I have been following your hp therapy asks, and I'm so fascinated! I've been managing to follow so far, but I've been curious about this line on Hermione: "Basically the girl is made of resistance and coping mechanisms and getting anywhere would be so challenging and so worth it." Would it be alright if you expound on this further? No worries if you'd rather not, but this was so fascinating!

(This is me committing publicly that I can't answer any more of these asks until I finish my draft of my women of house black fic) (it needs to get done!)

Thank you for asking!

People generally go to therapy when things are no longer working for them. Either their problems have exceeded their coping mechanisms (maybe you're having panic attacks and you go to strategy of distraction is no longer working) or their coping mechanisms have developed into big problems of their own (eating disorders, substance use, other addictions) or you're in a new relationship that you really want to make work but your attachment issues are getting super loud and causing problems or you've avoided dealing with your shit through overfunctioning and compulsively working and the body, having kept the score, just fails out on you and you burnout/collapse/shut down.

Hermione is built of Making It Work. (And she has yet to hit the point of shutting down. She's a teenager! Full of energy.)

Why would she want to go to therapy? She's fine! She's got it all under control! She doesn't need help!

If she's sad/angry/insecure/scared, she can just bury herself in homework. That's basically like not feeling bad at all, right?

Plus, she has a real dislike for "soft" subjects like Divination, and I could see (teenage) her considering therapy that type of soft, non-scientific nonsense.

Resistance in therapy is conceived of differently depending on what therapeutic orientation one has, but it's basically like anything that blocks progress in therapy. (I'm definitely of the school where you can think of resistance as a way for client to self-protect, and you should work with resistance not against it. It's just another piece of information you can use to guide treatment -- not an actual block for treatment.)

Resistance in therapy can look like: canceling sessions or no-showing or showing up late, arguing back to the therapist about why they can't do things, finding new small things to talk about every week rather than the original presenting concern etc.

She's absolutely going to argue back if she thinks something is nonsense or ask for citations lol. She's also going to talk about her homework rather than her feelings.

I think it would be important for the therapist to not get insecure and not take any of this personally and instead just recognize how effectively she self-soothes and handles herself AND plant those seeds about how she might have other options too.

Ok! No more until I finish this fic draft!

[avissapiens]

Avis' Subject Symposium: Dumbing Down Dread

Art by Acro @sodalite96/https://twitter.com/sodalite96 Used with their permission. Go check them out!)

Recently and for basically my whole time producing Jock/Jock Adjacent Hypno content I’ve gotten a variation on the same question. “Is it possible to listen to your files without losing my I.Q. Points?” I’ve gotten it on discord, Tumblr Asks and DMs, Patreon messages, the works. I've always said this, but I.Q. is perhaps one of the worst ways that we've developed to measure intellect. Highly rigid and dogmatic, Deeply contextual to certain societies, developed as tools of eugenicist movements, and overall being relatively limited and restrictive to the type of intelligence that gets valued. (Here are some links and citations for further reading because one doesn't just make claims 1, 2, 3).

But it's good as short-hand and it is kind of alluring to imagine something as complicated as intelligence being twisted and manipulated like a knob on a console; raising and lowering a number.

Lots of really good tf stories have that hook. I'm even guilty of using the term once or twice in my files or my captions(though always with a disclaimer attached)

But overall I get the question that’s really being asked. You're basically worried that by using my files you're suddenly going to be zonked into a drooling incapable Moron and that scares you for some reason.

Well, first to assuage the fears of both you and many others. If you don't want it to happen (either consciously or unconsciously) then you probably have nothing to worry about. Any tist or file-creator worth their spirals will always tell you that your brain is fully capable of refusing most suggestions, and at any point you can say "No" or revoke consent.

That's the simple answer to your question.

However I'd like to use this as an opportunity to ask those of you with this similar concern to consider some alternate perspectives.

I've worked with a fair few people who would be considered very intelligent by the standards of most intellectual purists. College educated, Diplomas. Some with doctorates. Lawyers, actors, presenters, writers, More than one Biomed student.

All of whom have enjoyed Dumbing in one form or another. I've even partook of some of my own work like the Painted Himbo file and Enjoyed that Pink haze of ditzy dumbness myself. It is incredibly enjoyable. Freeing. Reducing your thoughts and vocabulary. Allowing that Uninhibited Fratty-Ditzy-Drooly Dumbness to overwhelm you.

One will note that the people I am talking about, myself included are not drooling invalids at this point in time.

That is because most people who go for dumbing do it as a part of a singular experience. A passing high like the buzz of a drink or a Smoke. They enjoy it and then they return to their baseline of competence, occasionally bringing along some of the more fun aspects of reduced capacity with enough Listens. Because as anyone who has done any form of hypnotic programming will tell you, in order to see long-term effects you've gotta listen consistently and put in the work yourself . Otherwise you're not gonna see any changes.

The majority of people will probably experience Dumbing Hypnosis in this fleeting, fun, experiential way, so there is nothing to be worried about for the majority of you. Go listen. Enjoy. Zonk to your hearts desire. However there is another perspective. Another question to ask.

Is it really that bad to be dumb?

Societal expectations and typical modern value systems prize certain forms of intellect because they are associated with productivity. In short, Smart people make slightly less smart but more ruthless people more money.

If you want to live within this system that’s more than ok. It's not bad to be smart. It has its perks.

But in my experience many of the subjects with whom I've worked who have been tempted by and decided for themselves to plunge deep into the realms of permanent dumbing have almost invariably come back out of it happier, healthier, and without an ounce of regret.

Men who had achieved the societal expectation of intellect but were never fulfilled by it. In fact were ravaged by the anxiety and dissatisfaction which it so often brings. Who relished the chance to finally give up that life and reduce their cares along with their Vocabulary. Restrict their anxiety in addition to their interests. To indulge in blissful ignorance and uninhibited joy. But even these people didn’t completely ruin their lives.

Can it truly said to be ruination if at the end of the day you have a smile on your face and a newfound appreciation for life? Its just a pivot. A change. Being smart is right for some people in the same way university might be right for some people. But it's not right for everyone.

So perhaps one should question if its ever been right for you, or if you might instead prefer to be like one of those Happy few who gave up the chains of expectation and lived for themselves for once.

Perhaps one should question how much your “High I.Q.” has really contributed to your overall happiness.

Perhaps you should give a few of my dumbing files a listen, cause surely Smart guys like you will be able to appreciate some of the arguments now that you know you have nothing to worry about.

Thanks again to Acro for letting me use their Art, definitely go and support them on twitter. And If you want to support the creation of more hypnotic experiences that you know you can trust, then you can do so by subscribing to my Patreon, or to my Youtube channel. And if you want to interact more closely with me and my supportive community you can join my Discord server. And check out my file archive on my website!

[sweet-as-writing]

When it comes to outlining, I think what should be focused on the most is not plot, setting or theme (though those do serve a role in outlining), but characters. Characters are the foundation of your story, and they will drive the events throughout your plot, influence the setting, and form the theme.

You don’t need to map out whole character arcs—in fact, I encourage you not to do that because you can probably create a more natural, satisfying, and consistent arc while writing your first draft that by planning it out beforehand. You can create a point A and a point B, but I would leave the rest of the specifics up to plot planning and then write out how the character develops alongside the plot in the first draft.

Instead, I encourage writers, especially those who need to outline in order to create a successful story (like myself), to write character essays.

Essays?!?! Like.... English class? That might appeal some of you and disgust others. I know myself that writing a bunch of essays in 12pt Times New Roman, 5 paragraphs with MLA citations would not be fun and not get me anywhere.

What I mean by character essays is not the traditional English essay. I mean, if that’s how you want to do it, then power to you. But you should write these in the manner you feel will be most effective and comfortable down the line because you’ll hopefully be referencing these character essays while working on your first draft and maybe even while editing. That means they can be five paragraphs or they can be two sentences. They can include any relevant information: backstory, motivations, physical traits, relationships, etc. A character essay is not a biography. Don’t try to fit a character’s whole life into the essay. Only focus on what should be relevant to the story.

I recommend doing this for as many characters as you can. Obviously the main character, as well as prominent side characters, antagonists, love interests, mentors, etc. But try writing them for those random side characters too! Often, you’ll never directly use that information, but coming up with lives of those random people can add to world building and make your character live in a more 3D world. In real life, everybody sees themselves as the main character of their own story. Reflect that in your writing.

Writing character essays are beneficial for all the obvious reasons. You can get a better idea of what a character is like, leading to a more consistent first draft. You can develop a character while writing it, and fix character holes before they arise. But they also can lead to a bunch of good side effects. As aforementioned, they can help increase world building. For example, asking about a character’s hometown can flesh out the setting of the world as a whole. 

They can also get you hyped! A lot of times, both writing and reading over these character essays can remind you why you fell in love with them and why their story deserves to be told.

With that being said, character essays are a tool, not a chore. You shouldn’t have to worry about editing them because they will never see the light of publication, and they are for yourself only. If they feel like an inconvenience, they can be done for some characters and not for others, or be in list format, or maybe just consist of a bunch of words associated with that character.

You can also try doing this essay technique with the story’s setting, plot, and theme. You’re a writer—you should write it out and use both the process and result to further develop your story.

Hope this helps!

[iam93percentstardust]

Hi, happy Shared Birthday Month, cause it's my birthday month as well!! Can I please prompt you a WinterIron, where Bucky and/or winter soldier is a science nerd and a massive Tony Stark stan? Happy with setting in any era, any rating 😄 Thank you! You are amazing and I love your stuff!

Happy late birthday! Sorry it took me a bit to get to this prompt but here is a cute no-powers au, featuring some minor Natasha/Steve and some science from a paper my lab group read in group meeting yesterday (check the ao3 story for the paper citation). Sorry I didn't come up with something more original for the science but this was on my mind.

As always, everything I write is also on ao3.

~

“Okay, Steve, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me—for us,” Bucky quickly corrects when Steve shoots him an amused look. “So what are we going to do?”

“We’re going to sit quietly in the audience,” Steve says.

“And what are we not going to do?”

“Shout that our best friend would like to bang Tony Stark like a screen door in a hurricane,” Steve dutifully repeats what Bucky has been telling him for the whole drive to the studio. He gives Bucky a sly smile. “Even if it’s true.”

Bucky swats his skinny arm lightly, enough to sting but not so hard that it’ll bruise Steve’s arm, which bruises like a peach. He still can’t believe he managed to win the tickets to watch the live taping of the one hundredth episode of Tony Stark’s show, It’s Only Science If You Write It Down. He’s been following the show since its first episode five years ago. Growing up, Tony Stark was to him what Britney Spears was to other kids. Stark was always in the news for his innovative inventions for his father’s company. Everyone had thought he would take over SI after his parents’ deaths, but instead he’d handed the company over to Pepper Potts, a then-unknown young woman working in SI’s financial department. Stark still held the majority of shares in the company but he’d turned his focus to becoming the next Bill Nye, along with his best friend. Bucky had stumbled across one of the articles about him when he was young and immediately developed one heck of a crush on him that hadn’t at all disappeared with age.

And now he’s here, attending the first ever live taping of Stark’s show.

It’d be a dream come true if only Steve wasn’t the one attending with him. Don’t get him wrong, Stevie’s great, but he’s also convinced Bucky needs to date more often and he’s very… enthusiastic about making sure that everyone they meet that Bucky thinks is even the slightest bit cute knows that.

Stark is the crush to end all crushes. He knows that Steve knows it. He also knows what Steve is like, and he thinks he’ll die of shame if Steve feels the need to let Stark know it too.

“You have your inhaler, right?” he asks as the line creeps forward.

“Yes, mother,” Steve sighs, patting his pocket. “And an EpiPen in the other pocket and my meds in my wallet.”

They’re reminded to keep their phones firmly in their pockets by the surly security guard—incongruously named Happy, according to the badge he’s wearing—at the front door and then ushered inside the studio, only to be stopped by a young woman with a clipboard as they’re climbing the risers.

“Hi,” she says with a sphinxlike smile that makes Bucky want to check that his wallet is still in his pocket. “Which one of you is Bucky Barnes?”

“Uh, that would be me,” he says, raising his hand slightly.

Her eyes catch on the silver sheen of his prosthetic. They don’t register anything other than idle curiosity, but Bucky still awkwardly tucks the arm away. It’s been almost ten years since the accident, but he’s still not used to the looks he gets when people see it.

“I’m Natasha,” she says. “Mr. Stark’s personal assistant. JARVIS noticed you when you entered the studio. Mr. Stark wanted me to inform you both that there’s been a change to the contest winnings.”

Dread starts to pool in Bucky’s stomach but it doesn’t have long to settle before her smile gentles and she adds, “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. He just wanted to invite the two of you backstage after the show is over.”

Bucky’s mouth drops open. Steve reaches over to close it and asks, “Why?”

To Bucky’s surprise, Natasha gives Steve a clear onceover, seemingly pleased by what she sees. “Mr. Stark wouldn’t like me to give away his secrets, but I’d imagine it has something to do with the way he spilled his coffee all over his front when he saw your friend’s picture.”

“Really?” Steve asks skeptically. “A notorious playboy tripping all over himself for this yahoo here?”

Natasha laughs, hard enough that Bucky mutters, “It wasn’t that funny.”

Once she’s calmed down, Natasha says, “He’s not as bad as you think. A lot of it is just reputation. And yes, as soon as he got a look at him, he was demanding I figure out a way to get him backstage.”

“What am I, chopped liver?” Steve demands, taking an indignant stance.

Natasha hums, eyes going dark. “Oh no, you got invited backstage because I wanted to meet you,” she purrs. “I’ll come find you boys later. Enjoy the show.”

She saunters off, putting just enough of a sway to her step that Bucky suspects if he were attracted to women, he’d be mesmerized. As it is, he’s the one who has to reach over to close Steve’s jaw this time.

They take their seats and a few minutes later, Tony Stark and James Rhodes walk on set. They’re quietly talking to each other as the crew bustles around them, makeup artists darting up to make sure their faces look perfect. Stark is dressed in a t-shirt that says Engineers do it on the test bench—which is a terrible joke really and shouldn’t make Bucky want to laugh as much as he does—and well-worn jeans that perfectly mold to the shape of his bubble butt. Rhodes could be dressed in a paper sack for all that Bucky notices him.

Steve leans over and whispers, “You sure that I can’t yell that you want to bang Tony Stark like a screen door in a hurricane? Natasha made it sound like he’d be open to it.”

“You do,” Bucky hisses back, “and I’ll tell Natasha you were looking at her rear when she walked away.”

Steve makes an indignant noise and sits back in his chair, sulkily crossing his arms.

“Quiet on set!” the director yells. “And… action!”

“Hi!” Tony Stark says, smiling right at the camera. “I’m Tony and this is Rhodey and you’re watching Disney Channe!”

“He’s kidding,” Rhodes says long-sufferingly. “You’re watching It’s Only Science If You Write It Down.”

Later, Bucky wouldn’t be able to tell anyone what the show had been about. He’d spent the entire show too entranced by Tony’s voice and charisma to pay any attention to the actual science, which is a bit of a shame. He really does like science—he wouldn’t be getting his PhD in physical chemistry if he didn’t—but he can’t tear his eyes away from Tony long enough to actually watch the experiment. It’s fine; he can always watch the show later when it’s released (and maybe, if he’s lucky, he’ll have Tony to watch it with).

It seems like both an eternity and only a moment before the show wraps. Tony and Rhodes leave to thunderous applause, only coming back out for quick bows before disappearing backstage again. Bucky and Steve stay seated while the rest of the audience filters out slowly until Natasha comes to get them. She and Steve chat quietly as she leads them backstage but Bucky can only listen with half an ear; he’s too nervous about meeting his personal hero.

Rhodes is leaving the room Natasha leads them to. He breathes a sigh of relief when he spots the three of them. “Good, you’re here,” he says, specifically looking at Bucky. “Maybe you can calm him down. He’s been bouncing off the walls since he saw your picture.”

“Really?” Bucky squeaks. He clears his throat and tries again. “Really?”

“Really. He read all your papers last night—twice.”

“He has?”

Rhodes nods. “He really likes your piece on inelastic electron wave packet scattering.”

“Yeah? What did he—”

“You’ll have to ask him,” Rhodes interrupts. “I might be a rocket scientist but chemistry isn’t my preferred field of science. If you don’t mind, I’ve got a date to get to.”

He pushes the door open, letting them in, and leaves. Natasha slips through the door, followed immediately by Tony saying, “Where are—oh god, they left, didn’t they? I knew this was too much. Nat—”

“They’re right outside,” Natasha says smoothly. She opens the door further, revealing the two of them awkwardly standing there. Bucky’s gaze darts around a fairly nice dressing room before finally landing on Tony, who is blinking back at him with a wide-eyed, slightly stunned look.

“Hi,” he breathes out.

The corner of Tony’s mouth twitches up in the tiniest of smiles. “Hi.”

“Great, now that that’s out of the way, get out,” Natasha says, giving Tony a shove so that he stumbles out of the room, right into Bucky’s arms. She reaches out and grabs Steve, pulling him inside. “Don’t disturb me for the next hour.”

“Uh,” Steve begins, but he doesn’t actually look upset by this turn of events, so Bucky doesn’t worry—too much, anyway.

He does, however, turn to Tony and ask, “Is he going to be okay?”

“Oh yeah, he’s fine,” Tony says breezily. “Natasha’s just very direct.”

“Right.”

Now that it’s just the two of them alone in the hallway, it’s a little more awkward. Bucky opens his mouth twice to say something, only to shut it again as soon as he realizes his question is stupid. For his part, Tony shoves his hands deep into his pockets and rocks back and forth on his feet.

Then the sound of what is obviously Steve moaning floats through the door. Bucky cringes and jerks his thumb in the direction of the door. “We should—”

“Yep,” Tony agrees.

They get all the way back to the set before they stop. They look at each other for a beat before dissolving into giggles. “Oh my god,” Tony says, clutching his sides. “I knew she moved fast but—”

“Well, Steve doesn’t move fast at all,” Bucky says, “so you can see where I’m a bit lost.”

That sets Tony off into another round of laughter. Bucky is calming down a bit so he takes the moment to admire the way Tony laughs with his entire body. It takes Tony a moment to realizes he’s being stared at. When he does, his laugh tapers off as he gives Bucky a lingering look.

“I’m Tony,” he says eventually.

“Bucky.”

“Wow, that’s really unfortunate.”

“You’re not wrong,” Bucky agrees. “Blame Stevie for that one.”

“Childhood friends, huh?”

“Literally played naked together in the kiddie pool.”

Tony grins. “That sounds familiar.”

“You and Rhodes—”

“Oh no, but if you ever get the chance to meet Janet Van Dyne, remember to ask her about the time she thought she could make a living selling mud pies.”

Bucky takes a moment to marvel that this is his life now, that Tony thinks nothing of giving him dirt on the most prolific fashion designer of their generation. “So, uh, Rhodes told me you read my papers?”

Tony’s eyes light up, and, wow, he looks really pretty when he’s excited. “Yes!” he exclaims. “I want to hear your thoughts on the—uh—the time-dependent density functional theory model.”

“I’d love to,” Bucky says honestly. He bites his lip. “Maybe over coffee?”

A delighted smile spreads across Tony’s face. “I’d really like that.”

He holds out his hand for Bucky to take, which he does. Tony’s hand is small and warm, fitting perfectly against his. They stand there, smiling at each other like idiots, until the surly security guard pokes his head around the corner and asks, “Boss, do you need me to drive you?”

Tony jumps. He shoots Bucky a sheepish grin and then calls over his shoulder, “No, I think we can walk, Happy.”

“Are you sure? There’s—”

“It’s only two blocks.”

“Yeah, but—”

“You know what, Happy. You should go see if Natasha needs you to drive her somewhere. I think she’s got a date too.” While Happy is distracted, Tony tugs Bucky towards a side door he hadn’t noticed earlier. “Come on,” he mutters. “Before Natasha decides to kill me for sending Happy to interrupt her.”

“You could not antagonize her,” Bucky points out.

Tony shoots him a mischievous grin. “Where’s the fun in that?”

[nugnthopkns]

dance me to the end of love (i)

word count: 4.3k

warnings: fem!oc, cursing, potential spoilers for the west wing if you've never seen the show

series masterpost: here

a/n: hi!! i am so incredibly happy to finally be putting this fic out into the world. it means an awful lot to me and i can't wait to share the little world i've created :)) x

Magdalene is content with where she’s ended up.

Denver is wonderful. Her friends are there, her cat is there, and it’s the perfect place for a fresh start. She arrived in the city nearly six years ago – a wide-eyed University of Denver freshman and has stayed put ever since. Her hometown of Aspen holds a few too many bad memories, but is close enough that she can return if an emergency calls for it. So far she hasn’t left, too engrossed in finishing her degree and moving on. There’s a job offer lined up with the university’s library upon graduation that Magdalene is ecstatic about. It means she gets to stay right where she is – where she’s comfortable.

☼☼☼☼

The sun might be shining as she exits her apartment building, but it’s cold for March. Magdalene pulls the thick scarf her best friend Bette got her for Christmas higher up her face and walks as quickly as possible to campus. There’s a brief meeting to attend with her advisor before grabbing lunch with Bette, and then her plan is to spend the rest of the day holed up in the library working on her thesis. It’s due in two weeks, with the defence in just over a month, and Magdalene is incredibly nervous. Though she’d gone through submitting her undergraduate thesis two years ago, presenting her master’s research was going to be a lot harder. She’s heard through the grapevine that the committees are being tough this year and she doesn’t want to fail.

Dr. Williams is waiting for her in his office with a smile on his face. He’s a tall man, with thin facial features and wire glasses that box him perfectly into the intimidating professor stereotype. “Miss Stevenson, please sit,” he gestures to the chair across from him.

“Gerald,” she sighs, “You can call me Magdalene, I don’t mind. Besides, it makes you quite the hypocrite if you insist I call you by your first name but you won’t use mine.” There’s no malice in her voice, just a decent amount of teasing.

The older man scoffs but concedes. “I suppose you’re right. Well then Magdalene, tell me, how are your final edits coming along?”

Magdalene spends nearly twenty minutes detailing all the elements she has tweaked since their last meeting, from the title to the citation style. She’s out of breath by the time she’s done, rambling at an impressive speed, and takes a big gasp of air while the professor mulls over her words. Dr. Williams doesn’t say anything, causing Magdalene to shift anxiously in her seat. “Sir, is there something wrong?”

He shakes his head. “Absolutely nothing,” he beams, “Everything is perfect. It’s a shame you don’t want to continue researching. You’d make a fabulous academic.”

The compliment makes Magdalene’s heart soar. It means a lot, especially coming from the person who has seen her cry over the oxford comma. “Thank you sir, but I belong in the practical realm. Someone has to file all the documents you obsessively scan.”

She leaves the building soon after, promising to stop by after she drops off the final draft in a few weeks. It’s a bit later than she expected and hopes Bette won’t be mad. There’s nothing the blonde hates more than poor time management, but Magdalene prays she’ll understand. It wasn’t that long ago and Bette was scheduling her own appointments with advisors on how to graduate. Barn Owl Book Company is located halfway between the school and her apartment, making it the perfect spot to meet. In addition to being a used book store, Barn Owl sports one of the best cafés in downtown Denver. Bette is perched delicately at her friend’s favourite seat, a bay window converted into a small nook, and typing furiously on her phone.

“Sorry I’m late,” Magdalene apologizes, “Williams talked a lot more than I expected him to.”

Bette looks up and smiles, shoving a cup in the other girl’s direction. “As always. How is he?”

Sliding into the booth, Magdalene fills her friend in on what’s been going on in their former professor’s life. Bette graduated with a minor in Classics, and it was Magdalene's major, but the former decided not to further her education and is instead doing full time charity work for the Colorado Avalanche. Her boyfriend Tyson is one of their star players, and the two of them are so smitten it makes Magdalene sick. Conversation quickly turns from school to life, which she’s grateful for.

“So,” Bette says, “Are you in for the trip this summer? I’ve got to confirm the reservation in a week or something.”

“I don’t know Bee, I'm going to be the new girl. Asking for time off like two months into the job would be rude.”

“Linny,” the blonde whines, “Please? I want you to come.”

Magdalene scowls. Bette knows just how much the nickname sours her mood but she chose to use it anyway. “Don’t call me that,” she snaps with quite a bite. “Can someone else take my spot if I decide not to go a little closer to the date?”

“Of course! Gravy said he’d fill an extra spot if one comes up so we don’t lose the deposit,” Bette blabs before trying to switch gears entirely. Magdalene cuts her off.

“Who’s Gravy?”

If her friend is exasperated by Magdalene’s lack of knowledge surrounding hockey, she doesn’t show it. Bette calmly explains that Gravy, who’s real name is Ryan, is a defenceman with the Avalanche and a good friend of Tyson’s. She also makes a point of mentioning that he’s single, to which Magdalene rolls her eyes. Bette has a masterplan for her life – which includes her best friend becoming romantically involved with an Avalanche player so the two of them can live the better half life together. As the best friend, Magdalene is constantly barraged with potential players who are looking to date. Once she went on a few dates with Mikko, but that ended fairly quickly when the two realized they were better as friends. Every time since she’s turned Bette down as gently as possible, not wanting to get involved with anyone. Her life is just starting, and Magdalene wants to be secure before settling down.

The conversation eventually shifts to what Magdalene plans to wear for both her thesis defence and graduation. Bette is fashion savvy, while Magdalene is decidedly not. Her everyday wardrobe consists of collared button-downs and sweater vests, which is supposedly never going to back a comeback, according to Bette at least. The blonde eventually wears Magdalene down, and secures a position as stylist for the graduation ceremony. There was an attempt at the thesis defence, but the other girl insists she needs to be as comfortable as possible on such a stressful occasion.

A glance to the clock on the opposite wall has Magdalene stretching her arms and giving an apologetic glance to her friend on the other side of the table. “I should go,” she says. “I’ve got to put in some serious work on my citations today, and you know Caligula doesn’t like it when I’m gone all day.”

Bette rolls her eyes, but there isn’t any frustration behind the gesture. “I swear to god Mags, your cat has more separation anxiety than I do. Speaking of, I’m supposed to pick Tyson up at the airport and I’m running behind.”

“Tell him I say hi,” Magdalene says as she wraps her arms around Bette for a quick hug.

The two girls part ways on the sidewalk, with Magdalene heading back to campus and Bette sliding into the sleek Audi she shares with her boyfriend. Headphones find their way into her ears, and Magdalene listens to a random comedy podcast. Once tucked safely inside the library she’ll put on her favourite lo-fi playlist and concentrate, but for now she just enjoys the funny anecdotes of stories past.

It’s quiet in the library for a Tuesday, though Magdalene isn’t complaining. Her favourite table, the one she swears up and down is the only reason she ever gets anything done, is open, and she all but sprints to place her bag on the worn leather chair. While setting up her work station a few of the librarians come over to offer their congratulations for her upcoming job. News certainly travels fast around here, Magdalene thinks, but accepts their generosity with a smile on her face. They leave her alone soon enough and the tedious work of double checking the formatting of every single citation in the sixty-five page paper begins.

Hours pass, and Magdalene stays working in the library until as late as she possibly can. Caligula is going to start to worry about the length of her absence soon and his anxiety response of knocking over plants is not a mess she feels like cleaning up. She packs up her laptop and walks the short distance home as fast as possible.

“Little boots, I’m home,” Magdalene parrots in a sing-song voice as she slips her jacket off her shoulders and onto the hanger. At the sound of his nickname, the small cat bounds into the entryway. “Hi darling, did you miss me?” Magdalene gets an obnoxiously loud purr in response that she takes it as a yes. She reaches down to pick up the tiny animal before continuing further into the apartment, scratching behind his ears as she does so. The two of them settle into the respectably sized couch, where they stay for the rest of the night watching reruns of The West Wing before Magdalene falls asleep.

☼☼☼☼

“You fucking did it!” Bette shrieks as she bounds towards her best friend. Magdalene braces herself for the oncoming assault, and manages to keep them both upright after Bette jumps into her arms.

Her thesis defence had just finished, and the committee found Magdalene a worthy candidate for the Master of Information Science qualification. The presentation itself was open to the public, so Bette and Tyson sat in the front row to support Magdalene, but were escorted out for the conversation that followed. The two girls had developed a code so the news could be shared in a subtle way, though Bette threw the original plan out the window as soon as she saw her friend give a sneaky thumbs up when the conference room door opened.

“Congrats Mags,” Tyson says sincerely, doing his best not to add to the growing spectacle, but Magdalene can tell he wants to give her a bone crushing hug.

“Thank you,” she smiles softly, “And thank you guys for coming. It means a lot.” As two of her closest friends, both Bette and Tyson know that her family situation is rocky at best, and having them act as her support system means more than she’ll ever be able to articulate.

The couple shares a knowing look before engulfing their friend in a hug. “We’re always going to be here for you,” Bette whispers, “No matter what.”

Magdalene’s smile is so genuine it crinkles her eyes as she wraps her arms around Bette and Tyson’s shoulders and leads them out the door and into the sunshine. The group continues to the parking lot, where they climb into Tyson’s car and drive off campus in the direction of Magdalene’s favourite restaurant. Though she had tried to convince her friends they didn’t need to celebrate, she failed, and Magdalene soon finds herself laughing hysterically over a plate of carbonara as Tyson tells a story about the shenanigans the team got up to on their last road trip.

There’s a game tonight, and Bette has somehow convinced her into attending. Magdalene knows she should go, expand her social horizons a little, but all she wants to do is curl up in bed and sleep for three weeks. Her one condition is that she can go home straight after the game without being guilted into following the group to whatever nightclub they’ll celebrate the win or drink away the loss in. Tyson has to get ready so he drops the two girls off at Magdalene's apartment complex. She’s in charge of getting Bette to the rink, and she’ll leave with her boyfriend after the game.

Once inside the confines of her home, Magdalene promptly lies on the floor. “Holy shit,” she sighs, “I did it. I fucking did it.”

“You did!” Bette says as she lies down beside her best friend. “I’m so fucking proud of you, and Tyson is too. Even if he won’t tackle you in public to prove it.”

The comment garners a laugh from Magdalene, which alerts Caligula to the presence of others in the apartment. He pads over the rug currently being occupied by two adults, and snuggles into the small space between them. Bette and Magdalene continue to lay there, petting the cat and looking back fondly on all the times Magdalene called her friend in tears because she didn’t think she could push herself any farther. Bette was always there to pick up the slack, editing whatever section Magdalene was working on or to bring over a hot meal. Her support earned her the top spot in the acknowledgements section of the thesis.

Ball Arena is already crawling with people when Magdalene pulls into the small lot for player’s and their families. Normally she parks with the general public, but Bette insists they watch this game from the better halves box, and these spaces are closer to that entrance.

“Stop dragging your feet,” the blonde chastises as Magdalene takes her time cutting the engine. “I want to get a glass of rosé before they sell out.”

Sighing, Magdalene follows her orders. “Don’t you have a special bar in the box?” she asks while locking the car.

“Yeah, but the other girls are absolute fiends. They’ll drink it all before we get there with no remorse.”

The girls climb the stairs to the better halves box, Bette chatting excitedly about the game, but Magdalene stops just before the entrance. She’s met most of the others on multiple occasions and has nothing to worry about, but she can’t help but feel anxious. Her life is so different than everyone else’s in the space, and it feels like cheating when she’s there because she isn’t romantically involved with anyone on the roster. Bette likes to joke that she’s her better half, but Magdalene knows it’s said just to calm her nerves.

“It’ll be fine,” Bette whispers while squeezing her hand, “And if you get too uncomfortable we can find some seats in the nosebleeds.”

Once inside Magdalene’s nerves dissipate. Most of the other wives and girlfriends pay her no mind, but the ones that are especially close to Bette congratulate her on passing her defence. It warms her heart a little, and the small group Magdalene finds herself in settles down to watch the game unfold.

It’s a fairly intense one between Colorado’s division rival St. Louis. Both teams are fighting for first place in the conference, and a win for the Avalanche would put them three points ahead of the Blues instead of one. Players from both sides are amped up, and more than once a scrum at the net has turned into a dog-pile. Colorado is outplaying the other team, but have still managed to find themselves a goal short heading into the final period. At the buzzer Tyson takes the face-off and is immediately shoved by a member of the opposite team. He goes down hard, and Bette squeezes Magdalene’s hand so tightly she fears it will lose blood flow. Silence falls over the arena as Tyson doesn’t immediately get up. The inside of lip finds its way between her teeth and Magdalene bites down hard, worried about her friend. She’s so focussed on Tyson that she doesn’t notice a fight breaking out.

“Holy shit, Gravy is going to town!”

The remark is made by someone Magdalene recognizes as Gabe Landeskog’s wife, and it makes her peel her eyes off of Bette’s worried features and scan the ice for some action. Sure enough, a very tall man is laying right hooks to someone who looks significantly smaller than him on the Avalanche blue line. The referees let the fight continue until Tyson drags himself off the ice and onto the bench before separating the men and throwing them in the penalty box. Magdalene can tell words are still being exchanged from both sides of the glass, but she’s more focussed on the fact Tyson doesn’t make his way to the dressing room – a good sign that allows Bette to drop her hand and let out a shaky breath.

Nothing of great importance happens until MacKinnon ties the game with seven minutes left. It happens while the Avalanche are short handed, and the goal seems to light a fire beneath the team. Magdalene may not know much about hockey, but she’s smart enough to notice the insane amount of energy all the players suddenly have. Time ticks by slowly and before she realizes it, the final face-off is taking place. Luckily it’s in the St. Louis zone and won by Colorado. The puck is tipped back to the same player who got in the fight for Tyson, Gravy, and he one times it right into the back of the net. The buzzer goes off not a second later, and the entire team piles on top of the player who just won them the game.

Bette and Magdalene join in the shrieks of the other partners, jumping from their seats in excitement. Eventually they make their way down to the hallway outside the locker room and lean against the brick while they wait for Tyson.

“You don’t have to stay,” Bette insists, “I can wait by myself.”

Magdalene shakes her head. “No way. I want to make sure he’s okay too. What good is a friend with a black eye?”

The other girl laughs at her friend’s stubbornness but doesn’t shoo her away. Once Magdalene has made a decision it’s hard to get her to sway from it, and Bette knows better than to push. Besides, who is she to deny her friend a bit more social interaction? Magdalene has spent the past six years practically holed up in the library and deserves to stand in a crowded hallway.

The friends chat idly while they wait, with Magdalene sharing some of the most ridiculous questions she got asked in her defence interview that morning. She’s mid story when Tyson exits the dressing flanked by a man dressed sharply in all black.

“Hey guys,” Tyson greets, dipping his head to place a kiss to Bette’s cheek before doing an elaborately goofy handshake with Magdalene.

“Good game baby,” Bette compliments sweetly. She then turns her attention to the boy standing awkwardly on the fringes. “You too Graves.”

He smiles shyly, muttering out a small thanks. It’s then he seems to notice the final member of the group, and offers his hand in greeting. “Hi, I’m Ryan.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Magdalene.”

She puts two and two together on the walk to her car. The Ryan Magdalene just met is the same who will take her spot on the trip, fought someone in Tyson’s defence, and scored the game winning goal. Though they’ve only said a few words, she likes him. He seems genuine, and those people are the rarest to find.

☼☼☼☼

Magdalene is walking across a graduation stage for the final time in two days. However, she can’t find anyone to take the third ticket. The University of Denver has a stupid rule where all graduates must have three guests attend the ceremony. Bette and Tyson are obviously occupying two of Magdalene’s seats, but she’s having trouble filling the third.

“I can ask Tys if one of the guys is free,” Bette shrugs. The two girls are sitting in the window of Barn Owl drinking iced lattes and discussing what Magdalene should wear to the ceremony.

“It’s okay,” Magdalene says, “I don’t want to bother anyone. Maybe I’ll just ask June.”

Her friend’s eye roll so far back into her head Magdalene isn’t sure they won’t stay there. “You can’t ask your boss to watch you graduate Mags! Besides, Gravy owes Tyson a favour and was already looking for something to do. I’m sure he won’t mind wasting a few hours as long as he gets drinks out of it.”

There isn’t a better option, so even though she barely knows the guy, Magdalene agrees. “Make sure he gets this?" she sighs, handing her friend an envelope with a single ticket in it. "I have to go. Caligula should be done at the vet soon.”

“Say hello to little boots for me,” Bette giggles as she waves goodbye.

Hours later, tucked into her couch with a glass of wine in one hand and Caligula playing with the fingers on the other, Magdalene realizes she invited a complete stranger to her graduation and how that could be a terrible idea. Sure, Ryan sounds like a great guy from the way Bette and Tyson talk about him, but he’s only ever spoken three words to her. Since that game she’s gone out with the team a few times, but the man with the piercing stare is yet to make an appearance. Magdalene considers that perhaps he’s more like her than his profession gives him credit for, and she feels a twinge of guilt about being worried he’d cause a scene at the ceremony.

There isn’t any more time for her to fret over the third and final guest on the list. At the last minute Bette decides there’s nothing in Magdalene’s closet that’s suitable for her to wear, so a trip to a local second-hand store ensues. While it’s nice that her friend has taken their carbon footprints into consideration, Magdalene wishes it didn’t have to happen an hour and a half before the ceremony is supposed to start.

“We have to be there in twenty minutes Bette,” she frets, tapping her foot nervously against the tile flooring.

If they can’t find whatever it is Bette’s looking for, Magdalene will have to walk across the stage in denim cutoffs and a faded t-shirt with Neil Young’s face on it, which is something she’s hoping to avoid at all costs.

“Have no fear, Mags,” she says with a knowing glint in her eye, “For I have found it.” Bette holds up a hanger that is holding a beautiful long sleeve dress adorned with a whimsical floral print.

Magdalene can’t help the gasp that escapes from her. “It’s beautiful,” she breathes, “But let’s hope it fits.”

The dress does in fact fit, and the workers are kind enough to let her wear it out of the store. Bette drives at a speed that might not be the safest to travel at in downtown Denver, but she gets to the school with minutes to spare. She shoos her friends out of the car so she can go pick up Tyson and Ryan, and Magdalene checks in with little hassle. The pool of graduates is fairly small, so she chats with a few classmates while they wait for the call to put their gowns on. Time passes quicker than expected, and soon Magdalene is being directed to her seat. She zones out while the dean gives a congratulatory speech and they go through the first few names. At one point she looks backwards into the crowd to find Bette, Tyson, and Ryan all giving her a thumbs up. The nerves she didn’t even know she had settle.

A faculty member signals for Magdalene’s row to stand up, and she smoothes her dress before dutifully following the person in front of her. Giddiness bubbles in her stomach at the thought of being done school forever. A hand from the stage crew give a cue, and Magdalene appears on the stage as her accomplishment is broadcast through the microphone.

“Magdalene Stevenson is being awarded a Masters in Information Science in Archival Studies and Records Management.” It feels so good to finally be finished that she lets a tear slip as she shakes the hand of the staff member handing her the package with her diploma in it.

The rest of the ceremony passes in a blur, and before Magdalene knows it her friends are approaching to congratulate her. Bette and Tyson wrap her in a tight hug, murmuring praise in her ears. Ryan stands awkwardly to the side before Bette drags him into the celebration. The four of them stand in the courtyard where the ceremony was for much longer than needed. Bette is crying enough to refill Sloan Lake if there is ever a drought and is yet to let go of Magdalene’s figure.

It’s only when the event staff ask them to leave so they can tear down the stage does Magdalene turn to leave campus for the last time as a student. She’ll be back in a few weeks as an employee, but deep down she knows this is the last time she’ll ever feel such a deep connection to the place.

“Victory is mine, victory is mine! Great day in the morning people, victory is mine!” Magdalene yells, quoting Josh Lyman as she skips down the path towards Bette’s car.

Both Bette and Tyson are confused at the sudden outburst, not knowing what she’s talking about, but Ryan responds without missing a beat. “Should I bring you all the muffins and bagels in the land?” His response doesn’t clear anything up, but it elicits a giant smile from Magdalene, who laughs and nods in confirmation.

Sitting in the back of Bette’s Audi, on the way to a graduation party she’s supposed to know nothing about, Magdalene decides that she wants to get to know Ryan Graves better. From what she’s garnered from Bette and Tyson he’s a class act, standing up for friends and giving good advice. He likes The West Wing and showed up to a stranger’s graduation, so how bad can he be?

☼☼☼☼

additional notes: see what magdalene's graduation dress looks like here // the quote from the west wing is from 1.02 if you were curious!

☼☼☼☼

taglist: @scrunchmakar @marcoscandellas @toplinetommy (add yourself to the taglist!)

[arcticdementor]

On the end of “New Atheism”

I’ve seen a few people, referencing Scott Alexander’s recent piece on online culture wars, make the point that online “New Atheism” debates died out because they won — the movement to put intelligent design and “teach the controversy” in classrooms was soundly defeated — and moved on to other things.

But, at least from what I recall of what I saw from the periphery, coming into things rather near the end, is that, with the defeat of the “common enemy,” various rifts split the groups, and they moved on to rather different things.

First, of course, was 9/11 and the GWOT, and the schism between, on the one hand, people like Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, etc., to whom religious fanaticism is dangerous no matter which religion, and on the other, the people who argued that worrying about Muslim extremists is Islamophobic, and Christianity alone is the threat. (I note that this characterization of the latter group is supported by their tendency, IME, to also “split” from the other group on the issue of TCM and other non-Western “woo” — only “Western” superstitions and pseudoscience are acceptable targets for debunking; criticizing non-Western practices would be culturally insensitive.) One group mostly moved on into other left-wing causes, as noted… while Dawkins has since been increasingly “cancelled” for his dissent.

But there was another big split, which is where I really got introduced to things.

I remember way back in the day, whenever another pro-“intelligent design” documentary or book came out, the result was usually eye-rolling dismissals and quick references to cached arguments and sources at Talk.Origins or such. But then Ben Stein did his, and it had one part that really looked to have hit a nerve, because it resulted instead in angry, sputtering denunciations lacking in the sort of reasoned argumentation and source citations usually given. And that was the bit arguing that evolution is racist.

Because I was around for people pointing out that Lewontin’s fallacy is indeed fallacious, for Cochran and Harpending, for Razib Khan, for the revelation that is was Gould who “mismeasured” the data for political ends, for PZ Myers finding whole new levels of assholery as his environs collapsed into an dissent-crushing dogmatic echo chamber.

And thus the second schism, the folks who have also split off, and been cast further into the Outer Darkness… the “HBD-sphere” and those adjacent to it. (Into which latter “adjacency” Scott, by virtue of his refusal to blanket censor the topic, may well fall.)

What brings this to mind, though, is this recent article from the Daily Mail: “Sheffield University tells staff Charles Darwin was 'racist' and used natural selection theory to justify white male superiority in 'decolonising curriculum' lecturing handbook”

Sheffield University has created a handbook for students and lecturers in its science department to help 'tackle racial injustice' by 'reflecting on the whiteness and Eurocentrism of our science'.

As part of the guide, the department created a list of 11 'problematic' scientific figures - including Darwin - whose views 'influenced the type of research they carried out and how they interpreted their data'.

An explanation next to the 19th century naturalist's name says that Darwin 'believed that his theory of natural selection justified the view that the white race was superior to others'.

But the guide provides no information about Darwin's strong support for the abolition of slavery, something he referred to as his 'sacred cause'.

…

The handbook however says that the likes of Darwin must be historically caveated when lecturers teach his seminal theory of evolution.

It says his voyage on HMS Beagle, when he collected plant and animal samples, was to map colonies.

It also suggests dropping the use of the terms 'founding father', 'idols' and 'geniuses' to avoid 'hero worshipping' scientific figures.'

UK science is inherently white, since the discipline developed from the European scientific enlightenment,' it adds. 'When viewed in this way, it is clear that science cannot be objective and apolitical.'

…

Other scientists named in the handbook include Julian Huxley, a supporter of the theory of natural selection who the Sheffield states 'believed that the lower classes were genetically inferior and should be prevented from reproducing and even sterilised'.

The handbook however admits Huxley was 'a strong critic of Nazi race-theory and published several anti-racist pieces'.

As Vox Day notes of the handbook’s list:

With the exception of James Watson, the list of problematic scientific figures reads like a who's who of atheist heroes. Atheists have falsely claimed that science and Christianity are incompatible for decades, but what they've learned in just three short years is that it is science and social justice which are totally incapable of coexisting.

So, I have to wonder, will all those who shrieked about ‘how dare you accuse evolutionary biology of being racist’ when it was Ben Stein making the accusation (and who call for the fainting couch and the censor at the slightest whiff of HBD) shriek nearly as loudly when it’s the Woke Left “decolonizers” making the accusation instead?

[sciencespies]

Brain cells protect muscles from wasting away

https://sciencespies.com/biology/brain-cells-protect-muscles-from-wasting-away/

Brain cells protect muscles from wasting away

The head of a roundworm, C. elegans. The glia that regulate the stress response in the worm’s peripheral cells are highlighted. A mere four of these cells, known as CEPsh glial cells, protect the organism from age-related decline. Credit: Ashley Frakes, UC Berkeley

While many of us worry about proteins aggregating in our brains as we age and potentially causing Alzheimer’s disease or other types of neurodegeneration, we may not realize that some of the same proteins are aggregating in our muscles, setting us up for muscle atrophy in old age.

University of California, Berkeley, scientists have now found brain cells that help clean up these tangles and prolong life—at least in worms (Caenorhabditis elegans) and possibly mice. This could lead to drugs that improve muscle health or extend a healthy human lifespan.

The research team’s most recent discovery, published Jan. 24 in the journal Science, is that a mere four glial cells in the worm’s brain control the stress response in cells throughout its body and increase the worm’s lifespan by 75%. That was a surprise, since glial cells are often dismissed as mere support cells for the neurons that do the brain’s real work, like learning and memory.

This finding follows a 2013 study in which the UC Berkeley group reported that neurons help regulate the stress response in peripheral cells, though in a different way than glial cells, and lengthen a worm’s life by about 25%. In mice, boosting neuronal regulation increases lifespan by about 10%.

Together, these results paint a picture of the brain’s two-pronged approach to keeping the body’s cells healthy. When the brain senses a stressful environment—invading bacteria or viruses, for example—a subset of neurons sends electrical signals to peripheral cells to get them mobilized to respond to the stress, such as through breaking up tangles, boosting protein production and mobilizing stored fat. But because electrical signals produce only a short-lived response, the glial cells kick in to send out a long-lasting hormone, so far unidentified, that maintains a long-term, anti-stress response.

“We have been discovering that if we turn on these responses in the brain, they communicate to the periphery to protect the whole organism from the age onset decline that naturally happens. It rewires their metabolism, it also protects against protein aggregation,” said Andrew Dillin, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator. As a result of the new study, “We think that glia are going to be more important than neurons.”

While the roundworm C. elegans is a long way evolutionarily from humans, the fact that glial cells seem to have a similar effect in mice suggests that the same may be true of humans. If so, it may lead to drugs that combat muscle wasting and obesity and perhaps increase a healthy lifespan.

“If you look at humans with sarcopenia or at older mice and humans, they have protein aggregates in their muscle,” Dillin said. “If we can find this hormone, perhaps it can keep muscle mass higher in older people. There is a huge opportunity here.”

In a commentary in the same Jan. 24 issue of Science, two Stanford University scientists, Jason Wayne Miklas and Anne Brunet, echoed that potential. “Understanding how glial cells respond to stress and what neuropeptides they secrete may help identify specific therapeutic interventions to maintain or rebalance these pathways during aging and age-related diseases,” they wrote.

How to extend lifespan

Dillin studies the seemingly simultaneous deterioration of cells throughout the body as it ages into death. He has shown in worms and mice that hormones and neurotransmitters released by the brain keep this breakdown in check by activating a stress response in the body’s cells and tuning up their metabolism. The response likely originated to fight infection, with the side effect of keeping tissues healthy and extending lifespan. Why our cells stop responding to these signals as we age is the big question.

Over the past decade, he and his colleagues have identified three techniques used by worms to keep their cells healthy and, consequently, longer-lived. Activating the body’s heat shock response, for example, protects the cytoplasm of the cell. Stimulating the unfolded protein response protects the cells’ energy producing structures, the mitochondria. The unfolded protein response is the cell’s way of making sure proteins assume their proper 3-D structure, which is crucial for proper functioning inside the cell.

His latest discovery is that glia, as well as neurons, stimulate the unfolded protein response in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The ER is the cellular structure that hosts the ribosomes that make proteins—the ER is estimated to be responsible for the folding and maturation of as many as 13 million proteins per minute.

“A lot of the work we have done has uncovered that certain parts of the brain control the aging of the rest of the animal, in organisms from worms to mice and probably humans,” Dillin said.

Two other interventions also increase lifespan in worms: diet restriction, which may call into play other anti-aging mechanisms, and reducing the production of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1).

Dillin’s discoveries have already led to new treatments for diseases. He cofounded a company, Mitobridge Inc. (recently acquired by Astellas Pharma Inc.), based on the finding that certain proteins help tune up mitochondria. A drug the company developed is now in phase II clinical trials for treating the damage that occurs when kidneys restart after sudden failure, such as during an operation.

He cofounded another company, Proteostatis Therapeutics, to develop a treatment for cystic fibrosis that is based on activating the unfolded protein response to repair ion channels in people with the disease.

The new discovery about how neurotransmitter and hormones impact the ER could have implications for diseases that involve muscle wasting, such as Huntington’s disease and forms of myocytis.

Glial cells

In 2013, Dillin and his colleagues discovered that boosting expression of a protein called xbp-1s in sensory nerve cells in the worm brain boosts the misfolded protein response throughout the worm’s body. Shortly afterward, postdoctoral fellow Ashley Frakes decided to see if the glial cells enshrouding these neurons were also involved. When she overexpressed the same protein, xbp-1s, in a subset of these glia (cephalic astrocyte-like sheath glia, or CEPsh), she discovered an even larger effect on peripheral cells, as measured by how they deal with a high-fat diet.

Frakes was able to pinpoint the four CEPsh glia responsible for triggering the ER response, because the C. elegans body is so well studied. There are only 959 cells in the entire worm, 302 of which are nerve cells, and 56 are glial cells.

The CEP neurons and CEPsh glia work differently, but additively, to improve metabolism and clean up protein aggregates as the worms slim down and live twice as long as worms without this protection from a high-fat diet.

“The fact that just a few cells control the entire organism’s future is mind-boggling,” Dillin said. “Glia work 10 times better than neurons in promoting this response and about twice as good in extending lifespan.”

Frakes is currently trying to identify the signaling hormone produced by these glial cells, a first step toward finding a way to activate the response in cells that are declining in function and perhaps to create a drug to tune up human cells and stave off the effects of aging, obesity or other types of stress.

Frakes also found that the worms slimmed down because their fat stores, in the form of lipid droplets, were turned into ER. Another research group in Texas has shown that activating xbp-1s in the neurons of mice also has the effect of reducing fat stores and slimming the mice, protecting them from the effects of a high-fat diet and extending their lifespan.

“When they activate it in the neurons, they see the liver getting rid of fat, redistributing metabolic demands,” Dillin said. “I think we would see the same thing in humans, as well.”

Explore further

Stem cell technology offers new insight into motor neuron disease

More information: Ashley E. Frakes et al, Four glial cells regulate ER stress resistance and longevity via neuropeptide signaling in C. elegans, Science (2020). DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz6896

Provided by University of California – Berkeley

Citation: Brain cells protect muscles from wasting away (2020, February 21) retrieved 21 February 2020 from https://phys.org/news/2020-02-brain-cells-muscles.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

#Biology

[adviser101]

Best SEO Tools in 2021

Did you know that The Search Engine Optimization industry is worth $65 billion? Building your skills in SEO optimization is a tough task, especially if you are beginner in this field. 

So if you feeling whelmed while researching the best SEO tools? Then don’t worry because there are many SEO tools that can help you with your quest for free ongoing organic search traffic but it can take time and money to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Thankfully I have put together a list with 5 of the best SEO tools for 2021 in the form of an infographic so it is easy to the eye and mind. You can use these tools to improve your local SEO, ecommerce SEO and national SEO or can hire our SEO Consultant to do the same for you.

KW Finder -  Magnificent SEO tool for finding easy to rank key words.

KWFinder is a keyword research tool for search marketing. It meets the need for keyword expansion such as generating more keywords to position a site on. It provides a proprietary index value for SEO difficulty and insight into the competitive landscape in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

The KWFinder tool can be used for both SEO and paid search campaign creation.

The tool works well for high-volume keywords and in high-volume markets. However, it will be a tool of choice for SEOs with a recurring need for keyword research.

Features

1. Keyword look-up

When you submit one or more keywords to KWFinder, the tool immediately shows a number of indicators for the keyword:

2. Bulk upload and review

This tool will provide keyword analysis and its KD index for each keyword on that list.

3. Domain look-up

With the domain look-up feature, you can explore other sites' keyword positioning. This approach works well for competitive research, and it can help you quickly and efficiently build or complement your own keyword lists.

4. List creation

A good way to work with the tool is to create various lists and add keywords to each list as you run into them during your keyword research.

5. Integration with other tools

When you have an account with KW Finder there are other Mangools tools included in this subscription

KW finder - Find Long tail keywords with low SEO difficulty effortlessly.

SERP checker - Now get local SERPs for more than 50,000 locations.

Link Miner - Find well-built backlinks you can replicate easily.

Site Profiler - Powerful SEO analysis tool with all SEO metrics.

SERP Watcher - Track your rank within 30 seconds.

Pricing

KW Finder is a package of 4 Mangools SEO Tools. The first one is free and other three tools are SERPChecker, SERPWatcher, and LinkMiner.

If you are looking for annual package then here are the pricing plans:

1. Mangools Basic – $29.90/mo

2. Mangools Premium – $39.90/mo

3. Mangools Agency – $79.90/mo

You will save 40% on your bill if you opt for annual package.

If you are looking for monthly package then here are the pricing plans

1. Mangools Basic – $49/month

2. Mangools Premium – $69/month

3. Mangools Agency – $129/month

Long Tail Pro - SEO tool for experienced

Long Tail Pro is a keyword research SEO tool that helps you quickly find low competition keywords for your website.  In particular, this SEO tool is built for people doing SEO (search engine optimization) as opposed to people doing paid ads (Google Adwords PPC).

Features

1. Measuring keyword competitiveness

This SEO tool break down the keyword competitiveness into three levels: Low, Medium, and High to measure it.

2. Offers In-depth metrics 

You will get -depth metrics such as Trust Flow, Citation Flow, Site Age, and Referring Domains to gauge your chances of outranking them.

3. Find keywords 

You can find keywords where you feel you can make a better page than the ones ranking on the first page for them.

4. Create and handle multiple projects

��It helps you to stay by allowing you to create and handle multiple projects. If you have more than one site, you can set up campaigns for all of them using Long Tail Pro.

Pricing 

LongTailPro has three main plans.

Annual

Starter: $25/mo

Pro: $45/mo

Agency: $98/mo

Month

Starter: $37/mo

Pro: $67/mo

Agency: $147/mo

Pro Rank Tracker - Effective SEO tool for ranking

Pro Rank Tracker is a tool that provides you with the most recent easy to understand SEO ranking data on every website you manage to gain high-value, highly actionable insights. This tool will help you to fully maximize your profits and steer your business to success.

Pro Rank Tracker is used by more than 40,000 enterprises, agencies, organizations from all over the globe to help them create to improve effective SEO, SMM efforts. With this, you can increase your online visibility to improve their rankings in SERP results. This rank tracking and reporting solution parades the most Accurate Algorithm of any rank tracking software.

Features

1. Site Auditing

This rank tracking and reporting solution parades the most Accurate Algorithm of any rank tracking software.

2. Keyword Suggestions

Every term you enter within Pro Rank Tracker will be further evaluated by the keyword suggestion feature to give you variations of the keywords you can add to your list.

3. SERP Checker

Pro Rank Tracker allows users to view the top 100 SERPs for their target terms.

4. Daily Updates Even though you could be currently ranking amongst the top 10, it is never a guarantee that you’ll stay there as Google constantly does updates. These updates are normally detrimental to some and beneficial to others.

Plans

Annual 

Starter: $11/mo

Pro: $71/mo

Agency: $144/mo

Month

Starter: $13.5/mo

Pro: $89/mo

Agency: $180/mo

SEO Reseller - Professional SEO Tool for agencies 

 SEO reseller programs are SEO agencies that optimize websites at affordable rates for individuals that run SEO agencies. Think of it as a team of SEO experts with highly developed processes for delivering better search results across different verticals. 

 SEO resellers typically have extensive relationships with publishers, editors and writers to get high-quality backlinks at scale. More often than not, they also have a team of copywriters to help you craft content. 

Features

1. Advanced SEO Tools

They include Google Analytics Integration, daily keyword rank tracking, social signals and many more.

2. Great Content Writing

The team of SEO Reseller has great content writers that will produce high-quality content to encourage people and clients.

3. Proposal builder

You can create customized proposals for your SEO, Web Design, Social Media. You can also track all proposals in one place.

4. Company branded platform

You can get your own branded platform to display the results of your campaign and prove the value and services to our clients.

Pricing

There are no specific pricing plans given by SEO Reseller. The minimum rate of SEO consultants is $100 per hour to $150. Hourly SEO rates are suitable for Freelancers,

You can also choose project-based SEO Rates ranging from $500 to $1,000 which is suitable if you are planning to custom SEO services to your client or project-based SEO service.

Monthly SEO retainer fee ranging from $500 to $2,000 for agencies with more experience.

Ala Carte Pricing If you have different scope other than above you can select ala carte services and having individual pricing.

 For more details visit www.adviser101.com

[wikipediaredoengl199fa20]

Nicolazzo - Wikipedia Rewrite for Overpopulation Page

Edits are in bold. The original page can be accessed here. 

Current population dynamics, and cause for concern

Further information: Population dynamics

As of December 8, 2020, the world's human population is estimated to be 7.836 billion.[10] Or, 7,622,106,064 on 14 May 2018 and the United States Census Bureau calculates 7,472,985,269 for that same date[11] and over 7 billion by the United Nations.[12][13][14] Depending on which estimate is used, human overpopulation may have already occurred.[citation needed]

Nevertheless, the rapid recent increase in human population has worried some people. The population is expected to reach between 8 and 10.5 billion between the years 2040[15][16] and 2050.[17] In 2017, the United Nations increased the medium variant projections[18] to 9.8 billion for 2050 and 11.2 billion for 2100.[19]

As pointed out by Hans Rosling, the critical factor is that the population is not "just growing," but that the growth ratio reached its peak and the total population is now growing much slower.[20] The UN population forecast of 2017 was predicting "near end of high fertility" globally and anticipating that by 2030 over ⅔ of the world population will be living in countries with fertility below the replacement level[21] and for total world population to stabilize between 10 and 12 billion people by the year 2100.[22]

The rapid increase in world population over the past three centuries has raised concerns among some people that the planet may not be able to sustain the future or even present number of its inhabitants. The InterAcademy Panel Statement on Population Growth, circa 1994, stated that many environmental problems, such as rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, global warming, and pollution, are aggravated by the population expansion.[23]

Other problems associated with overpopulation include the It has been theorized that continued global population growth would lead to increased demand for resources (such as freshwater and food), starvation, malnutrition, consumption of natural resources (such as fossil fuels) faster than the rate of regeneration, and a deterioration in living conditions.[24] However, there is evidence to suggest that alleviating the effects of these crises (which already exist without Earth’s population passing any sort of “overpopulation” threshold) lie outside of population control, but rather, in an equal redistribution of resources from corporations and wealthy individuals (those in “the 1%”) to populations currently affected by these issues. Certain critiques of economic structures such as Capitalism suggest that the encouragement of endless growth for the economy is more damaging for the future of natural resources than individual impact, and therefore efforts do not need to be centralized around population. Moreover, there are certain ethical issues around the concept of overpopulation - mainly, which populations are being controlled, and who makes these decisions. While fears of overpopulation are not the outright cause of atrocities such as forced sterilization or eugenics (enacted against communities of color as opposed to white communities), the concept could easily be appropriated as a justification for the eradication of non-white populations, so an oppressor would not have to reveal their true intentions behind population control (or other policies such as immigration control). 

 Wealthy but densely populated territories like Britain rely on food imports from overseas.[25] This was severely felt during the World Wars when, despite food efficiency initiatives like "dig for victory" and food rationing, Britain needed to fight to secure import routes. However, many believe that waste and over-consumption, especially by wealthy nations, is putting more strain on the environment than overpopulation itself.[26] This relates back to the prior argument, suggesting that the idea of overpopulation incorrectly shifts the blame of climate change to individuals rather than the social systems in place globally. Focusing on the concept of carbon emissions alone, the sheer output of multiple corporations would far outweigh the impact of most human populations. Again, the impact the 1% has on carbon emissions is simply further argument for the redistribution of resources, rather than the focus on reducing one’s own “carbon footprint”. 

(261 words)

Essay and Sources:

For this Wikipedia editing assignment, I decided to edit the Wikipedia page for “Human Overpopulation”, or the concept that the world will eventually no longer be able to sustain human life due to extreme population growth. I approached the subject from the angle of recognizing that humans are depleting natural resources at an alarming rate, while also acknowledging the fact that a specific number of humans are contributing to the depletion of these resources, making the issue of population size less relevant. Therefore, while reading this article, I quickly realized the pervasive viewpoint suggested that individual humans are largely to blame for issues such as climate change as opposed to the output that corporations produce or the lifestyles of the 1%, and that a smaller population size is absolutely necessary for the survival of the human race. Arguments similar to the one I discussed were confined to one or two sentence afterthoughts, with no section for the various questions surrounding topics such as “Who exactly is controlling population growth, and why? Would it be possible or ethical to regulate this (outside of reproductive rights and family planning, which is both ethical and necessary)?” I do not believe this exclusion was a case of explicit bias and deliberately withholding information, but this lack of information instead displayed implicit bias and a lack of foresight. 

Since the article was extensive, I focused on revising a subsection titled “Current Population Dynamics, and Cause for Concern”. I altered the first sentence of a paragraph to reflect the fact that the term “overpopulation” itself has a vague definition, and added more information to this paragraph to express the opposing viewpoint more clearly. I summarized the various sources I read and included the relevant articles in links throughout the paragraph. The second paragraph is mostly a continuation of the arguments presented in the first, using one of the only examples of a differing viewpoint in the article as a starting point. This paragraph also had more of a focus on environmental issues in general, while the first paragraph addressed a variety of other topics. 

Most of the articles I researched addressed similar topics and expressed discontent with the popular narrative surrounding overpopulation. The articles written by Lyman Stone, Heather Alberro, and Peter Wells and Anne Touboulic focus on the economic argument, tackling the issues of natural resources and supply and demand. As previously mentioned, those who are concerned about overpopulation will cite the impact humans are having on the environment as an example that the human race is living beyond its means. In fact, a small population of humans are living beyond these means, and manufacturing products that simultaneously use up and pollute the earth’s resources. Alberro, in the article “Debunking ‘Overpopulation’”, cites the statistic “The consumption of the world’s wealthiest 10 percent produces up to 50 percent of the planet’s consumption-based CO₂ emissions, while the poorest half of humanity contributes only 10 percent” (Alberro). This shifts the blame back from the individual consumer to the capitalist system which produces more than it needs, then hordes the surplus and says the population needs to decrease for everyone to get their share. The article by Erle C. Ellis takes a more personalized approach to the subject, citing first hand conversations with colleagues about overpopulation and the misconceptions around the subject. 

There is one article, written by Robert Fletcher, which not only addresses the economic arguments surrounding overpopulation, but also has a detailed explanation of the link between eugenics, race, and the idea of overpopulation. The article “Barbarian Hordes: the Overpopulation Scapegoat in International Development Discourse” discusses how the idea of overpopulation can be used as a justification for atrocities such as eugenics or forced sterilization:  ...the state’s concern with nurturing life applied primarily to its own population, conceived as an organism in competition with other national populations for limited resources and living space…” (Alberro). The fear of overpopulation is not an excuse for these actions that oppressors use against an oppressed group (generally white against communities of color). It is important to challenge the narratives surrounding overpopulation to ensure oppressors are not able to hide behind this idea. 

In short, I did not think the wording of the Wikipedia article outwardly displayed a bias. However, the glaring lack of a counterargument was an example of implicit bias. The fact that overpopulation is being used to blame issues such as food scarcity on individuals instead of corporations needs to be addressed. Also, the usage of the concept of overpopulation could encourage oppressors to attempt to disguise eugenics as an attempt to solve the aforementioned issues of climate change, food scarcity, and others. If these changes were to be implemented, I would hope that this perspective allows readers to think critically about the concept of overpopulation. 

Works Cited

Alberro, Heather. “Debunking ‘Overpopulation.’” Ecologist, 16 April 2020. Web. 

https://theecologist.org/2020/apr/16/debunking-overpopulation

Ellis, Erle C. “Overpopulation is Not the Problem.” The New York Times, 13 September 2013. 

Web. https://my.vanderbilt.edu/greencities/files/2014/08/overpopulation-is-not.pdf

Fletcher, Robert. “Barbarian Hordes: The Overpopulation Scapegoat in International Development Discourse.” Taylor & Francis Online, 2 October 2014. Web.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2014.926110?casa_token=DHJuHTs76sUAAAAA%3AsHy3C0NkWG8qnMvxIiGJgMQbOrk1ONGSBuZbe3HW7Pk_hzcxKsaZ-ifpXNKj_8i-q1KjDNtaklBO

Stone, Lyman. “Why You Shouldn’t Obsess About ‘Overpopulation.’” Vox, 11 July 2018. Web. 

https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/12/12/16766872/overpopulation-exaggerated-concern-climate-change-world-population

Touboulic, Anne and Wells, Peter. “Rich and Famous Lifestyles are Damaging the Environment in Untold Ways.” The Conversation, 23 January, 2017. Web. https://theconversation.com/rich-and-famous-lifestyles-are-damaging-the-environment-in-untold-ways-71641

Wikipedia Contributors. “Human Overpopulation.” Wikipedia, 8 Dec. 2020. Web.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_overpopulation

[samsonet]

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

Sonia was somebody, once. Maybe she'll be somebody now, too.

Title from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43, "How Do I Love Thee?"

~

Galar has one hero. Everyone knows this.

One hero, wielding the legendary sword and shield, saved the region from the Darkest Day.

One hero, rising above all others, gaining glory with every victory.

Everyone knows this.

*

When Sonia was fifteen, she wandered into the Slumbering Weald.

She was lost. She was tired and cold and hungry. Leon was Champion, Nessa and Raihan were training to be gym leaders, and Sonia was —

Sonia was —

nothing and nobody.

She was lost, that’s all.

*

Gloria twirls her hair the same way Sonia does.

She holds herself the way Sonia does, like she’s not sure if she’s really allowed to be here, to be doing this.

She leans on Hop the way Sonia leaned on Leon, always walking two steps behind.

Sonia worries for them.

She watches the kids’ journey, in person when she can and on the league channels when she can’t.

Of course, the media picks up on how Hop and Gloria reflect Leon and his childhood rival — what was her name again? Professor Magnolia’s granddaughter — oh, yeah, Sonia. They broadcast every parallel, from how long it takes them to reach the gyms to which moves they use in different situations.

One cruel Chattr account sets up a poll about how long it will take Gloria to drop out.

Sonia blocks them.

*

She and Leon used to be close.

They pretty much grow up together, sipping hot cocoa in Gran’s lab and talking about their futures. Leon has high hopes — he’s always had high hopes, especially for a nobody from a town the rest of the region forgot.

She calls him Leo because she wants to give him a nickname and Hop’s the only one allowed to call him Lee. Leon calls her Sunny in return.

They’re kids. They’re happy.

Then one day, Chairman Rose arrives.

Who knows what he saw in Leon? The story goes that Leon had something about his eyes, but if he did, wouldn’t Sonia have noticed it first?

Whatever the case, Leon holds onto the sponsorship letter with both hands. He rushes home to say goodbye to his family, and an hour later he’s at the station, leaving her behind.

Gran hands her a letter, too, because apparently the regional professor can do that. “He’s your friend, isn’t he? Then become the best rival you can be, to help him get stronger.”

Sonia runs after her friend.

It’s the first time she has to catch up to him. It won’t be the last.

They grow stronger together, for a while. But every time they fight, Leon wins.

They battle.

He wins.

They battle.

He wins.

They battle.

Sonia loses.

She loses to him.

She loses him.

Leon becomes the Champion. Sonia goes home. Suddenly they never have enough time to just hang out. They try battling for cups and exhibition matches, but the skill difference is so big that it’s no longer fun for either of them.

Leon remains in Wyndon. Sonia goes home.

She leaves voicemail messages, mostly things like how tall Hop has grown or how the weather is. He leaves his own messages in return.

Everything changes, but at the same time, it feels like nothing did.

*

Gran sends her to research the Darkest Day.

It’s an excuse to get her out of the house, probably. Sonia knows she’s been moping. She did the work to get her master’s degree, but even that doesn’t give her a sense of direction. It’s just something she does, because that’s the path her story takes.

Galar has one story. Galar has one hero.

When the people cheer, they’re yelling Leon’s name.

*

Opal says, “You had more correct answers than Leon did.”

It’s the first time since the beginning of the challenge that Sonia has actually done something better than Leon. She looks up at the gym leader, eyes wide.

“You obviously have talent,” Opal observes, “but you give up too easily. I suppose it must be hard being Professor Magnolia’s granddaughter, yes?”

“Haha… I guess…”

Opal laughs. “I wish you luck, child. Though with your skill, you might not need it.”

*

It’s pure luck that she’s there when the mural falls and reveals two statues.

Two statues.

The theory forms in her head like an arrow reaching a target. One hero — two youths — history is written by the survivors — a sword and a shield — one hero — the Darkest Day — history can be covered up — one hero — who knew about this? — who changed it? — why?

Galar has one hero.

Everyone knows this.

Right?

Maybe not.

*

She meets Nessa at the opening ceremony, but it’s at Hulbury when they actually become friends.

“I know water-types like the back of my hand!” she boasts, spreading her arms wide. “This is my city, and I’m gonna shine in the gym battle!”

“Oh yeah? Well, I’m gonna win, too! My team is strong!” From Sonia’s arms, Yamper barks. He knows what he’s here for.

But Nessa laughs, trying to hide it behind her hand.

“What’s so funny?”

“If I can give you a word of advice? The gym leader’s got a Palpitoad. You need to figure out a way to beat ‘im without Yamper.”

Sonia bites her lip, considering.

She spends the rest of the day on the route back to Turffield, catching an Eldegoss.

When Sonia leaves the Stadium victorious, she finds Nessa and thanks her. “It was nice of you to tell me that. You could’ve just let me walk in there and lose.”

“I like you,” Nessa says, sticking out her hand. “If you wanna repay me, think about this: be my rival all the way to Wyndon!”

Leon is already my rival.

But Sonia has two hands.

She reaches out and shakes Nessa’s.

“I accept, rival!”

*

It doesn’t have to be like this, Sonia muses, back at the lab. She pictures the region as the outline of a hand, holding onto its story, holding onto its champion. When it can be like this. Galar has two heroes.

She snorts.

Her grandmother asks, “What’s so funny?”

Sonia finds she doesn’t quite have the words.

*

Sonia writes.

She writes everything. She writes like it’s all she knows how to do. She pours her heart on the page and backs it up with sixty pages of citations.

Her gran’s publisher picks up the book. Part of it is her name, probably, but Gran reminds her that academic presses are strict. If the research wasn’t credible, they wouldn’t have accepted it no matter whose name was on the cover.

Sonia takes some pride in that.

*

When Sonia was fifteen, she wandered into the Slumbering Weald.

She was lost, but somehow she felt called farther up and further in. Farther up and further in. Farther up — and then she finds it.

It’s a crumbling ruin. That in itself isn’t strange; Galar is full of ruins, after all.

But this spot…

There’s power here. She can feel it.

The fog surrounds her.

She reaches out.

The fog whispers, you are not the hero of this story.

*

“Hop and Gloria know what they’re doing with their lives,” Gran says. “You should be more like them.”

Gran, Sonia wants to say, They’re twelve. When I was twelve, I knew what I was doing with my life, too.

What she says is, “I’ve got time, don’t I? I’ll figure something out.”

*

Once, during a very sad off-season, Sonia and Raihan go on a date.

They spend the entire time talking about Leon.

She’s not sure what she expected.

*

When Sonia is seventeen, Nessa visits. She’s come out all the way to Wedgehurst, so it must be big news.

Sure enough, she doesn’t disappoint. Nessa grins, bright and beaming, and says, “It’s official! I’m a gym leader, Sunny!”

Oh. “That’s -- that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you!”

Nessa’s quiet for a moment. Sonia guesses what she’s thinking: You don’t have to pretend to be happy for me. It’s okay if you’re mad or sad or something that I’m moving forward and you aren’t.

But Nessa grins and says, “Why don’t I take you out for dinner? Come on, my treat!”

Maybe Sonia doesn’t know what her friends think, after all.

(They have a good time, regardless.)

*

When Sonia is twenty-one, she wanders into the Slumbering Weald again.

Ah, but she’s not wandering now, is she? She’s guiding a hero.

At the stone monument, Hop is waiting for his rival. One hero of Galar runs to meet the other. He welcomes her with open arms.

They have one final battle, not as gym challengers, not as Sonia and Leon part two. This time, they’re friends and rivals. This time, they’re legends.

Gloria and Zacian strike.

Hop and Zamazenta defend.

And in the end…

“I want to become a Pokémon Professor,” Hop declares. Gloria nods enthusiastically, then hugs him. There’s no gap between them, now; they’re complementing parts, each with their own purpose.

When Leon appears, it’s all Sonia can do to keep from hugging him, too.

*

When Sonia is eleven, she enters Hulbury and is ambushed by a group of reporters.

“Sonia! As Leon’s rival, do you have any tips on how to defeat him?”

“Sonia! Are the rumors true that your grandmother is developing a new form of Dynamaxing?”

“Can you give a comment about why you retired from battling professionally?”

She hates this. She wants to scream.

Then the boy king himself appears. “What’re you all doing?”

Sonia gives him a helpless shrug. Go away, Leo! Let me die of embarrassment in peace!

But Leon doesn’t go away. Instead, he pushes into the crowd and stands between her and the others.

“You wanna bother her? Why don’t you battle me first!”

The reporters pause.

Leon doesn’t show any signs of joking.

The reporters back off.

Later, when they’ve lost the press and hidden on some rocks by the lighthouse, she asks, “Why’d you bother stepping in, Leo?”

Why waste your time with me? Don’t you have a new, stronger rival now?

“I dunno.” He kicks the air. “I guess… Since you don’t battle anymore… I feel like I gotta keep an eye out for you. I wanna help you.”

She gives a smile that she doesn’t feel. “You can’t always help people by winning battles, you know.”

Leon looks away.

*

One day, over a cup of tea, Hop says, “Y’know, I’ve been thinking.”

It’s his serious tone. Sonia sets aside her paperwork and gives him her full attention. “What is it?”

“If I’d been the one to become the champion,” Hop says, “I think I would’ve been miserable.”

“...oh?”

“I know it sounds weird, ‘cause that was my dream and all, but… if I became champion, everyone would still be thinking of me as Leon’s little brother. I’d still be trying to be like him… cool, strong, unbeatable… and I’d never figure out what I wanted for myself.”

That’s true: the media had enough of a field day with Hop as a challenger; as a champion, he would get it worse.

(In contrast, Gloria was cast as everygirl rival and not Leon 2.0. Sonia wonders if that allowed her to keep a clear mind during everything.)

Sonia smiles. “Right. Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it. And the reverse: be thankful that you don’t always get what you want.”

Hop brightens. “Yeah. Now I’m doing what I want to do, and it’s really nice.”

*

When Sonia is fifteen, she wanders into the Slumbering Weald.

She’s lost, but she walks forward by intuition if not sight.

She can feel the power here. This is a place where legends begin. This is a place where heroes are made.

She wants it. She wants, she wants, she wants.

The fog surrounds her.

She stands as tall as she can, the nobody from nowhere, the forgotten rival. Is she worthy?

The fog whispers, You are not the hero of this story.

“I can be! Let me, let me, please —!”

The fog whispers, You are destined to wait here while others pass on before you.

She screams. She cries. She strikes with her bare fists — but of course, whatever she’s aiming for is out of reach.

The fog whispers, Be strong, child. Your time has not yet come.

[darkouter]

tom’s cult tactics with death eaters + his views on muggle knowledge

i promised this post the other day, and now i deliver.  gonna talk about the roots of death eaters belonging more to a cult origin than that of typical political terrorists / supremacists, the variety of reasons people join, and the Bullshit that tom pulls.  quick rundown on cults, first:

there are a variety of definitions, and people in the criminology / sociology fields kind of fight about it because it’s pretty damn easy to get offensive with what you consider a “cult.”  but death eaters fulfill some of the most common criteria people bring up when defining a cult:

i.  they are centered around an authoritarian, charismatic leader for whom members hold a particular admiration for (tom) ii.  they are associated with an extremist, often false philosophy (blood supremacy) iii.  this philosophy is curated by the leader, which members unquestionably follow iv.  dissent is highly discouraged and punished within the group v.  the group is elitist, often claiming special status for their membership or that they are “enlightened”

tom is, of course, also a highly skilled abuser.  he developed how to create a cult for years.  it is by no accident that the death eaters formed.  he saw the advantages that came with creating an insular group as a kid, having his crowd at hogwarts.  the slug club also made him realize how useful it is to artificially create bonds between people, falsifying higher status and kinship among each other.  

during his days abroad, he primarily focused on magic, but he met some.  interesting people.  not all of whom were magical, either.  an example of the type of people he met would be those involved in groups such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, A∴A∴, Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), and those notable followers of Thelema.  while many real wizards were involved in these groups, muggles were just as pervasive, but Tom found himself with them nonetheless.  while he sought out these groups for their knowledge in magic, he learned a lot about aleister crowley, and became interested in the abbey of thelema — specifically about how crowley managed to always create a cult following during his life.  he sought out previous members, such as jack parsons, which led to him becoming familiar with l. ron hubbard, so tom...........  effectively learned how to form a cult.

this isn’t a crowley post, so i’ll try to cut his nonsense short with regards to tom, but he is one of the few people who created a horcrux himself.  haven’t created a proper hp verse for him that goes into detail about it.  tom found him.  they both essentially sponged any knowledge they could from each other until they both couldn’t stand each other anymore, as they’re both incredible narcissists who were destined to hate each other once the circle-jerk was over.

this brings me to the subtopic on what tom thinks of muggle knowledge.  he doesn’t think it’s entirely without merit, but he paints it as such to others because it suits his narrative.  he grew up with it, so he knows where it’s useful.  as someone who is on the heavy end of the narcissistic and antisocial personality spectrums, studying psychology and sociology is actually a subject he has high interest in.  manipulation proved to be one of his most useful skills during his life, serving as a foundation for how he built any amount of power.  so, while it was somewhat accidental that he stumbled into learning about group-dynamics through the previously mentioned organizations, he didn’t stop there.  he added it to his list of things to further research, and he developed a variety of ways to amass a following.  #JustCultThings 

some strategies he would employ:

i.  deception about what death eaters stand for, typically presented in a way that fits whoever is being coerced into joining.  specifically appealing to vulnerable people who can be manipulated.  barty, for example, was not at all interested in the supremacy or political side, so tom advertised it much like a fraternity.  he targeted barty’s abusive relationship with his father as a weak point, offering himself as a replacement.  he further minimized the mayhem other death eaters would cause, comparing them to rowdy kids, among other things.

ii.  this was followed by gaslighting, isolation, and thought reform.  outsiders were painted as ignorant, the media as liars, and he would barrage them with propaganda.  if family and friends could be converted, it was encouraged.  if not, members would be advised to distrust them and even cut them off.

iii.  hierarchy upon hierarchy.  once you’re in, you could always be more in.  appease tom in order to get closer.  there are rewards to those who do more.  get into the inner circle.  your placement is not guaranteed to be permanent, so you must constantly be certain to do more for the death eaters than your fellow members, and tripping up is worse because punishment is severe.

iv.  when he senses discomfort from anyone, the immediate reaction is to quickly make them do something in order to solidify their membership.  if someone needs to be punished and you’re looking nervous in the corner, he’s calling on you to use the cruciatus curse.  big, impulsive, pressured decisions make people feel trapped and like they can’t go back.  once someone puts their own personal effort into something, they are less likely to abandon it.

v.  outside of this and direct punishment, people who express doubt or uncertainty also get worked the hardest.  sleep deprivation and debilitating work help people fall into group-think.  compliance is rewarding because then the workload is lighter.

vi.  the masks!  not only do they help with people who are worried about being caught associated with the group, but people are less inhibited when they wear masks (this is due to what is called deindividuation, which was studied during the zimbardo stanford prison experiment; it is “a breakdown of the distinctions between individuals, or the process of losing the belief that one is perceived as a separate entity,” as defined in human motivation by bernard weiner).

vii.  leaving is simply not permitted.  we all know how sirius thought regulus died because he tried to leave.  this was not uncommon.  ex-members are looked down on even more than outsiders.  outsiders are, at least, always a prospective new member.  muggles and muggleborns are the exception.

there’s so much more, but damn this is already so long lmao.

now let’s look at various reasons why people join:

i.  tom himself.  he is the center of it, after all.  people like barty are blindly loyal to him because they simply admire him.

ii.  the philosophy of blood supremacy.  this is usually what people focus on when they talk about death eaters, of course.  some of them really are just bigots and nothing else.

iii.  the politics.  outside of blood supremacy, a key feature that a lot of people found appealing was the idea of abolishing the international statute of wizarding secrecy.  while this goes hand in hand with blood supremacy for some, not all people want the statute abolished for that reason.  some people just.......  don’t like that hiding from muggles is mandatory.

iv.  as mentioned earlier with barty’s recruitment as my example, there is a sense of belonging with the death eaters, like it’s a fraternity.  if you already know and are close to a death eater or multiple, you may join for that reason alone.

v.  members who don’t join of their own volition may also join due to threats, blackmail, other tricks, and even via jinxes.  

vi.  others that join “voluntarily” may also simply do it because they are scared and believe that it will offer them protection.

vii.  tom also makes a lot of promises.  about wealth, knowledge, and power.  lots of death eaters simply joined because they were greedy and wanted power.  it has perks.

a lot of these reasons are closely associated with each other, and often people would have more than one of these pushing them to join.

anyways i’ve been staring at this post for too long and my eyes hurt, so i’m going to end it here.  if there are any typos or anything, sorry lmfao.  there’s a ton more to write on this topic, but this is already an essay.  i meant to leave more citations for information like a proper psych major, but i don’t feel like providing it, so snglksdf.  i know too much about cults.  i am my own authority for information on this post.

[script-a-world]

Skin Colour

Hi again! I am so sorry for giving you guys a horribly written question.

First, aliens did not interfere with genetics anything more advanced than today. They interfered only with advancement of civilisation and knowledge.

Secondly, the generations part. To summarise:

Alien planet year 0 = technology and human’s knowledge equal to Earth 150000 BC 

Alien planet year 3500 (after 50 generations) = technology and inhabitant’s knowledge equal to Earth 2000 AD (after 3000 generations)

On Earth, dark skinned humans slowly moved north/south for thousands of generations and skin turned lighter. It was impossible to see a light skin at the equator and dark skin way up north/south until people learned technology to travel fast enough to spread.

On my alien world, x skin inhabitants had learned the technology to travel fast and went far north/south way way earlier than Earth. They’d keep their x skin right? Not enough generations to slowly adapt to another colour.

Is my thinking correct? That in my alien world that’s how skin colour would work? Maybe I’m thinking only about melanin, and it only works this way. But say they had grey skin, or blue skin.

Thus, perhaps I need to completely drop melanin and think something way different? I have no real idea how animal skin colour works.. but on Earth we do not get dark skinned animals at the equator and light skinned animals far north/south. Who says my I can’t create my species that way too, just because I’m making humanoid species.

--

This is a follow up to: https://script-a-world.tumblr.com/post/185522126817/hi-so-human-skin-colour-evolved-over-hundreds-of

Tex: Ah, that makes much more sense, thank you for the clarification, and don’t worry about coming back to do that!

Today, humans can meddle quite a bit with genetics - while CRISPR-Cas9 is rife with errors (ResearchGate), the newly-discovered CRISPR-associated transposase (CAST) technique is much more stable and can insert entirely custom genes into DNA (Phys.org), so the genes behind melanogenesis - among probably every other gene in existence - is perfectly able to be edited by your humanoid species with very little fuss.

The 50 generations thing is still a sticking point, unfortunately. Why are these generations so comparatively condensed compared to a human 3,000 generations? What makes these generations so compressed - is it strictly technological development (tools, textiles, etc), is it strictly genetic (epigenetic factors), or a mix of both?

How fast is fast travel? @writersblockbuster made an excellent post on calculating travel times, and she has estimated that a human “could manage almost 25 miles (40 km) in 8 hours” at walking speed depending upon a variety of factors. Provided that only eight hours is taken per 24-hour period to walk at this pace, uninterrupted by other factors, then it would take a human about 40 days to traverse 1,000mi/1,600km. Where does your method of transportation fall in comparison to that?

Melanin is the product of what is, quite typically for genetics, a convoluted process. It’s produced by melanosomes, which are produced by melanocytes, which are produced by neural crest melanoblasts - so all of this begins in the brain! There’s a lot of players in the body that make sure melanocytes are delivered to places like the epidermis, and melanin in epidermal cells seems to primarily exist as protection against both UVA and UVB radiation. (Citations 1-5)

Now, there are two main types of melanin, of which humans have both (PDF): eumelanin and pheomelanin. The range for these would be the typical range of human natural hair colors. Plants may produce biological pigments which refract all but which they reflect (i.e. a blue flower absorbs all wavelengths except for that particular blue, which is what is refracted back; WebExhibits), but animals are unable to produce the more “exotic” colors in their epidermis and must rely on either their diet or structural coloration (such as the iridescence in some feathers), instead (WebExhibits). A notable exception to this would be the Ayam Cemani chicken from Indonesia (Wikipedia).

Exposure to UV radiation does not come strictly from the sun - freshly-fallen snow can reflect up to 80% of UV radiation and can cause photokeratitis (Wikipedia). Polar bears have black skin, and only look white because their hair strands are hollow and refract light back that looks white (World Wildlife Fund). Zebras, too, have black skin (Wikipedia), and currently I’m presuming that it’s for much the same reason as polar bears.

Eumelanin, at least in hair, can produce a grey color, though I’m uncertain how a grey skin color would come about without the inherent design of structural coloration within the epidermis to diffuse… probably eumelanin, I think, into what could be perceived as grey.

Blue is rare in nature (YouTube), but if structural color doesn’t appeal to you, then the idea of cyanomelanin for skin and hair has been discussed in such places as Reddit and Zompist’s Almeopedia - there’s also a slim possibility of copper oxyanions or other copper compounds (disclaimer that biochemistry isn’t my strong suit, and that an actual biochemist would be a better reference on this). If a biological blue pigment is the case, then the visible light spectrum for your planet might also need to be shifted in order to accommodate this (PDF).

Melanin is a good foundation for your idea, but you’ll need to rip out the specifics of melanogenesis and determine what the pigment synthesis pathways would be that would create grey or blue skin.

My particular vote is to utilize both structural color and biological pigmentation; a blue base that may or may not be diffused by multiple layers in the epidermis, so you can get a grey skin color if that’s more preferred than blue, would be the most feasible method that would be genuinely alien to human physiology. Something closer would be a base layer of eumelanin-rich epidermis that has some upper layer of structural blue (possibly the foam-based one mentioned in the YouTube video) that could be diffused out with an extra layer to get you a type of grey.

But to bring back to one of your original questions - no, 50 generations is most likely not enough time for your species to naturally adapt to a different skin color, however many ways there are to make grey or blue aliens.

Citations

PDF - Brenner, Michaela, and Vincent J. Hearing. "The protective role of melanin against UV damage in human skin." Photochemistry and photobiology 84.3 (2008): 539-549.

PDF - Roméro-Graillet, Christine, et al. "Nitric oxide produced by ultraviolet-irradiated keratinocytes stimulates melanogenesis." The Journal of clinical investigation 99.4 (1997): 635-642.

Abstract - Salim, Saima, Ayesha S. Ali, and Sharique A. Ali. "Insights into the physiomodulatory role of histaminergic receptors in vertebrate skin pigmentation." Journal of Receptors and Signal Transduction 31.2 (2011): 121-131.

PDF - F. Solano, “Melanins: Skin Pigments and Much More—Types, Structural Models, Biological Functions, and Formation Routes,” New Journal of Science, vol. 2014, Article ID 498276, 28 pages, 2014.

PDF - Videira, Inês Ferreira dos Santos et al. “Mechanisms regulating melanogenesis.” Anais brasileiros de dermatologia vol. 88,1 (2013): 76-83. doi:10.1590/s0365-05962013000100009

Further Reading

Melanin - Wikipedia

Topic: Eumelanin - ScienceDirect

Topic: Pheomelanin - ScienceDirect

Melanin biosynthesis - WikiPathways

PDF - Braasch, Ingo et al. “Evolution of pigment synthesis pathways by gene and genome duplication in fish.” BMC evolutionary biology vol. 7 74. 11 May. 2007, doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-74

PDF - Sturm, Richard A, and David L Duffy. “Human pigmentation genes under environmental selection.” Genome biology vol. 13,9 248. 27 Sep. 2012, doi:10.1186/gb-2012-13-9-248

PDF - Quillen, Ellen E., et al. "Shades of complexity: New perspectives on the evolution and genetic architecture of human skin." American journal of physical anthropology 168 (2019): 4-26.

List of examples of convergent evolution - Wikipedia

PDF - Esposito R, D'Aniello S, Squarzoni P, Pezzotti MR, Ristoratore F, et al. (2012) “New Insights into the Evolution of Metazoan Tyrosinase Gene Family.” PLOS ONE 7(4): e35731.

PDF - Vladimir N. Babenko, Dmitri M. Krylov, “Comparative analysis of complete genomes reveals gene loss, acquisition and acceleration of evolutionary rates in Metazoa, suggests a prevalence of evolution via gene acquisition and indicates that the evolutionary rates in animals tend to be conserved,” Nucleic Acids Research, Volume 32, Issue 17, 1 September 2004, Pages 5029–5035

Abstract - Horemans, Nele, et al. "Current evidence for a role of epigenetic mechanisms in response to ionizing radiation in an ecotoxicological context." Environmental Pollution (2019).

PDF - Aguilera, Felipe, Carmel McDougall, and Bernard M. Degnan. "Origin, evolution and classification of type-3 copper proteins: lineage-specific gene expansions and losses across the Metazoa." BMC evolutionary biology 13.1 (2013): 96.

[janenguyenstudies]

What I think Biotech freshmen should learn during your first year at IU

So my first year has finally ended. The curriculum for freshman year is pre-determined by the Office of Academics so I did not have a chance to change the schedule. I took about 7 subjects each semester, with a total of 2 semesters. If you do not have to take IE1 and IE2 classes, you can “jump” directly into the main curriculum. So in my first year I took: Calculus 1&2, Physics 1&2, General Biology and Chemistry plus 2 Bio and Chem labs, Organic Chemistry, Academic English 1&2 (Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening), Critical Thinking, Introduction to Biotechnology, P.E. It’s a relief that I could work through the courses although I was not excelling at STEM subjects in highschool. But college taught me all the amazing skills to study on my own and discover knowledge for my self-growth. Apart from schoolwork, I think any Biotech freshmen should also keep an eye on learning other extra skills of a scientist/professional, which I will list below. Do not worry because a year ago I entered this school while being a completely blank state, having seen so many of my friends succeeded in getting scholarships, leading extracurricular activities,... I felt hopeless sometimes but I believe in grinding one step at a time until I could accomplish the job. So my general experience boils down to being humble and let others teach you the skills, then practice slowly but firmly. You will be able to grow so much faster. And do not compare yourself with others’ success stories because everyone has their strengths and their own clock.

These are the lists of skills I have learnt and will continue to improve in the future. I will be expanding and giving more details about each point. This is in no chronological order:

 - Learn to make a positive affirmations/ orienting articles book: 

            During your whole college career, you will have a lot of moments of self-doubt, for example when your grades are not good, you've failed some classes, your part-time job application got turned down too many times (trust me I am so familiar with such rejections), some experiments got messy and returned no results, you wonder what your future in the field would look like. These are all scenarios that have happened to me in freshman year. 

Therefore, I have found a way to cope with self-doubt and boost my confidence, which is to make a collection of positive affirmations and orienting articles. I would form an imagined overview of my own career path reading all these writings and finally came to recording my own path . I use all forms of note-jotting tools to record them. I tend to record 1) Experience snippets from influencing scientists in my field, whom I happen to follow on Facebook 2) Lists of “What college kids need to practice before they graduate” (Dr.Le Tham Duong 's Facebook) 3) Ybox 's Shared tips for career orientation column (Link) 4) Short paragraphs from the books that I have read. The paragraphs often contain insights into what successful people (in Biotech or in Finance) have thought, have planned, and have acted on. For digital copy of the books, I save the snippets into a file called "Clippings" and later export them through the website called clippings.io

- Have an online note-taking tools for jotting down important thinking (recommend Keep or Evernote for quick jot, while Onenote is more suitable for recording lectures thanks to its structure that resembles a binder)

A snippet of my Evernote, where I store career advice:

- Learn to do research properly (what is a journal, what is a citation management software, what is the structure of a paper[abstract, introduction, methods, data analysis, discussion, conclusion], poster, conferences). You can begin to search for academic papers using Google Scholar scholar.google.com. However, there are countless of other websites for published journals that serve different sience fields. You need to dig into Google further to find them.

- Learn to write essays (basic tasks are covered in Writing AE courses including brainstorming, reading, citings, argumentative essay, process essay, preparing thesis statement)

- Join a lab: learn the safety guidelines, learn who is in control of the lab, what researches/projects are being carried there). As for this, you need to make contact with professors from our department. Most professors here are friendly and willing to help if you just come up and ask a question after class. To be eligible to join their labs,  - Learn to write a proper email to a professor: to ask for what will be on the next test, whether you can be a volunteer in their lab (usually by cold-email, and the professor will likely ask for your background: your highschool grades, your motivation,...); write email to an employer asking for a temporary position. - Learn to write a meeting minute: a sum-up of your meeting with other team members - Learn to answer basic questions for a volunteer opportunity: what is your strength, what is your past experience, what do you know about us, what is your free-time - Learn to write a CV: using topcv,... or downloading free templates on the Internet and write a motivation letter: What you are currently doing, what problems have you solved for your employers, and what can you do to help your new employers solve their problems.

- Learn to create an attractive presentation by using Canvas and learn to deliver ideas effectively (recommended book Think on your feet [Lib 1]).

I have discovered Canvas only for a year, but its graphics are so attractive and appealing to my taste, so here is my presentation for Finals using Canvas:

- Learn a programming language or a second language: recommend Python or R, and any foreign language that you feel interested in, but your ultimate goal would be to comfortably use that language in academic reading and exchanging ideas through writing and speaking (which is a long journey of 4+ years learning), so choose wisely. - Learn to create an online presence through a blog (Tumblr, Wordpress, Github, StackExchange,...), stalk your favorite experts on Quora and Reddit, make a habit to have a journal article delivered to your inbox every morning (me being Medium, Pocket, Nature); then Instagram or YouTube - Recommended books for incomming freshmen: How to be a straight-A student, Do not eat alone (socializing skills) - Recommended Medium sites: - Recommended Newspapers: The Economist, The Guardian, The New York Times Opinions Columns, Nature’s columns, The Scientific American. - Recommended Youtube Channels:  - Recommended Podcasts: listen passively on the bus, but try to paraphrase in your own words what you have understood about their conversation: - Recommended study spots: Den Da Coffeeshop, The Coffeehouse, Library of [...] in District 1, Central Library (Thu Duc District), IU Library.

- Learn the Pomodoro technique and Forest app: - Important websites for study resources: libgen, khanacademy, Coursehero (post only a short paragraph to get 1 free upload), scripd organic chemistry tutor, for jobs: ybox.vn - If your laptop is capable (with decent hardware), learn Adobe Tools (Video editing, Photoshop,...). My laptop can only run Linux Mint, so I chose to learn the skill of citation management and research (using less resource). Basically do not become computer-illiterate. - To reduce eye-strain, buy an e-reader to read scientific papers, do not print out all of them. - One exception to IU: you can bring one two-sided A4 paper into certain exams: this is my note for Calculus class:

- Learn to write a grand summary of formulas for Physics 2, meta-sum of all exercise questions - Prepare for IELTS (if you haven't taken IELTS already): you'll need it to pass IE classes, or apply for an exchange program. Ultimately, you need at least 6.0 in IELTS to graduate. I stumbled upon this careful list of tips from a senior student in our BT department who got an 8.0 => Link

Basically, follow Ngoc Bach’s page on Facebook to receive fully-solved exam materials, add ielts-simon.com into the mix, learn 560 academic word list, listen to Ted Talk and podcasts, do tests on ieltsonlinetests.com, do Cambridge IELTS book 9-14 and you’re good to go. - Have your eyes on competitions that spark your interest (innovative competition, writing contests, speaking and debating contests,...)

- Develop your fitness routine to protect your sanity when academic coursework overwhelm you and make you gain 15 pounds.

I do home HIIT exercises on Fitness Blender’s Youtube channel, Emi Wong, Chloe Ting home workouts in the beginning. 

Later I went to the gym and do split routines with weights, then threw in squats, deadlifts, lunges and HIIT on treadmill. This is how my current routine look like: (I work out only 4 times/week)

- Learn to use flashcards. (Quizlet has premade flashcards for biology class)

- Learn to manage personal finance: what is budget, expenses, income,... - Learn some google tweaks to pirate stuff. (especially textbook files and solutions files) - Learn to make handwritten A4 notes. I will post my own handwritten notes for Critical Thinking Mid (final is taken), Calculus II Mid and Final. - Learn to create meta sets for formulas and problems. I will post my formula set for Physics II and Problem/Skill set for Organic Chemistry. For Physics II, I learned my hard lesson is that it is better to do past exams than to solve advance textbook problems, so I stuck with past exams posted by TA and learnt by heart all the formulas, SI units. For Organic Chemistry you need a skillset checklist (like in the Wade textbook). Also there are questions from the slides such as the connection of amylopectin,... But they won't challenge you to think much. Only the amount of information to be memorized is deemed challenging here. - Intro to Biotech was quite easy and you could prepare in advance. 3 faculty members (from 3 fields: plant, animal, pharma) will take turn giving you an overview lecture. The exam will ask “Write what you know about those fields and their applications”, openbook-style. So hear me out and search for Overview powerpoints of that field, then write your own essay, print it out and bring it with you into the exam. Your power should be spent on Calculus and Physics, not on memorizing the essay.

[makbuleatcarolineoi04insura-blog]

Help with car insurance........................

Help with car insurance........................

i am 16 but when i turn 17 i want to pass my driving tests. my worry is car insurance. i want to buy a little car like Peugeot 206 1.4 or something similar but i have checked insurance companies and their quotes are ridiculous so my dad said that if i give him the money to buy the car he can then insure it on his insurance and add me as an additional driver so i can sometimes drive it to my mates or whatever. i have heard of something called fronting and i was just wondering if then we would be doing that or would everything be legal. thanks in advance Matt ,I suggest one to visit this web site where one can compare rates from the best companies:

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare free quotes :INSURECOMPAREQUOTES.US

SOURCES:

i am 16 but when i turn 17 i want to pass my driving tests. my worry is car insurance. i want to buy a little car like Peugeot 206 1.4 or something similar but i have checked insurance companies and their quotes are ridiculous so my dad said that if i give him the money to buy the car he can then insure it on his insurance and add me as an additional driver so i can sometimes drive it to my mates or whatever. i have heard of something called fronting and i was just wondering if then we would be doing that or would everything be legal. thanks in advance Matt ,I suggest one to visit this web site where one can compare rates from the best companies:

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i am 16 but when i turn 17 i want to pass my driving tests. my worry is car insurance. i want to buy a little car like Peugeot 206 1.4 or something similar but i have checked insurance companies and their quotes are ridiculous so my dad said that if i give him the money to buy the car he can then insure it on his insurance and add me as an additional driver so i can sometimes drive it to my mates or whatever. i have heard of something called fronting and i was just wondering if then we would be doing that or would everything be legal. thanks in advance Matt ,I suggest one to visit this web site where one can compare rates from the best companies: