#it’s all a performance anyway so how are they immune to criticism of their role in it ?

[6ebe]

like if I think abt it for too long I do get frustrated at how vibrant rpf m/m sports communities are. In no means am I saying no men in these sports have ever been queer in any way but it is insaaane to look at the institutions upholding the most concentrated and idealised form of hegemonic masculinity (a masculinity that inherently disempowers and devalues women, feminine traits, and homosexuality) and say. Yknow what. I bet these men are fucking.

[oneweekoneband]

a hugely inexpert, absolutely correct examination of The Planets and their role in taylor swift turning out to be such a freak

Astrology is real. Astrology is made-up nonsense. Made-up nonsense is real. One person’s chosen organizing principle for living is no more or less stupid than anyone elses. All of this is true or maybe it isn’t. Don’t roll your eyes too hard, but Joan Didion wasn’t lying—we do tell ourselves stories in order to live. It’s about all we do. I don’t understand the stars and planets because I don’t believe it’s my business what happens up there, plus I’m a little dumb, but I, like any blubbering narcissist, enjoy being told something about myself, and what is a horoscope but an opaque little love note designed to be interpreted by the reader in whatever way suits them best. There are astrologers who write beautiful, empathetic horoscopes that are a balm whether you believe them or not, and in this way astrology has a cultural value which makes any dubious scientific purity irrelevant. I don’t understand the stars and planets, but I have friends that do, and I like hearing whatever they sort out. Certainly, I’m not immune to believing in spurious little rituals; I was raised Catholic. Thinking that your star sign is responsible for certain aspects of your personality is no more impractical than keeping a Saint Christopher medal in your car to protect you from danger while traveling. These days I do both. Astrology is possibly real or possibly is not and maybe it matters what “real” means or else it might not, yeah, but the philosophical questions recede in the face of one fact upon which we can all agree: Taylor Swift has a profoundly upsetting birth chart.

Right off the bat, just from an aesthetic standpoint, this image (above) is not inviting. I don’t like to see it. When I wrote about Taylor Swift on this site in 2013 I didn’t know my moon or rising signs. This knowledge was not yet mandatory for trying to date girls and/or understanding jokes online. I was, at that time, far from even the semi-astrologically-literate state I am in now, yet even then if you’d have shown me this image, I know I’d shudder. It doesn’t take a scholar of any kind to see this and feel a chill down your spine, the itch of cold, spectral fingers closing around your wrist. Look at it again. The painful bisection by those angry blue lines. If you found this painted on a cave wall you’d turn and run back towards the fresh air of the opening, blinking back tears, certain some undead beast was following in your wake. This is a birth chart that says I am capable of writing songs like “All Too Well” but sometimes what I like better is to name a cat after the worst David Fincher movie and do a anti-homophobia music video that actually is so bad it felt somehow like it itself was homophobia. This is a birth chart that says I am going to release my new album, Red (2012), with a promo wherein Papa John’s will bring you a copy of it along with your pizza. This is a birth chart that says yeah, I used to do a fake twang as a teenager, and then I dropped the fake twang, but I can bring it back with no notice sometimes so all the girls (mentally ill adult women who have a Pavlovian response to anything that kinda sounds like “Hey Stephen”) go wild.

Taylor Swift is a Sagittarius. That’s the one with the arrow. It’s one of the good signs, theoretically, because it’s one that I have a lot of in my own chart, and because it’s in November and December, which are months where you can wear all your coats. Some other Sagittarians include Brad Pitt, Britney Spears, Janelle Monae, 8th US President Martin Van Buren, Jane Fonda, my friend C., who, in fact, happens to share all three major placements, sun, moon, and rising, with Ms. Swift, but I still don’t think she’s murdered anyone, and, of course, Jake “Twin fire signs / Four Blue Eyes” Gyllenhaal. So we have basically a lot of hot people and one guy who died of asthma, but who did manage to get the highest ranking job in the country first, though the country was a lot smaller then, and didn’t even have McDonalds yet to serve to teams that win college football tournaments. All in all, seems okay. Her moon is in Cancer. I think this connotes something about the watery depths of her emotional self, and it’s the only astrological placement which gets a shout out in the Joni Mitchell song “Little Green”. Her rising sign is Scorpio which is, like... Well, Scorpio to me is Halloween and Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl. Medically speaking, I think that influence is how the stylings for the reputation era turned out so very Hot Topic. My moon is in Scorpio so this is a self-own as much as anything else.

Now look at this. What does it mean? Impossible to say, but that will not stop me from concluding that whatever it does mean is definitely bad. It will not stop me from extrapolating that probably a “multiple planet opposition” is the kind of thing that makes a person go to Stonewall during Pride for a surprise appearance but perform “Shake It Off” instead of any of the actual really good and sexy songs. But then, I bet it probably also factored into her developing into the kind of creative mind who would write something as weird and funny and vital as “And I’ve been meaning to tell you / I think your house is haunted / your dad is always mad and that must be why,” so possibly bad is good and good is bad and the various astrological signs just signify the different ways we relate to death. I don’t know. I’m scared.

In the documentary Folkore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, released on Disney+ last month to accompany the record, because this daughter of three generations of bank presidents is nothing if not a money-maker, Taylor wears a terrifying outfit that I started to like rather than recoil from by about halfway through, and while wearing it espouses a belief that we are all monsters, which I happen to figure is correct. In Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, essential book on astrology and, importantly, the vagaries of the human heart, the incomparable Claire Comstock-Gay writes, “For Sagittarius, the desire is shifting and undefined. This is a drive, above all else, to see, to learn, to experience, to continually seek knowledge. It’s a drive to live a life that never asks or requires that you cede your freedom and never requires you to stop searching.” Certainly, this is the kind of internal compass which would lead to making the unusual, dramatic, and frankly very cool decision to entirely re-record your first six albums when ownership of the original masters has fallen into the hands of a little creep named “””Scooter””” who refuses to relinquish this morally, if not actually legally, false claim. For years I have speculated that actual murder of a human would not be outside of Taylor Swift’s capabilities. This is a statement made with neither praise or criticism attached. It’s a clinical observation from a sterling mind. What I feel with equal conviction, but admit more grudgingly, is that, if it happened, she’d have a perfectly logical reason. (Note: Taylor, if you’re reading this, I am not the type who’d rat anyway. It’s fine. Please don’t sue me.) I’m positive the astrological facts support my findings on this, and if I’m wrong, fortunately I will never find out. Anyway, the next full moon is in 22 days. I always want to look at it and then I forget. There’s a lot going on in space, and while I do feel that any cosmic forces which would put me and Taylor Swift on Earth at the same time are sort of inherently malevolent, I guess it’s been pretty fun, too.

[amerasdreams]

I have been listening to True Spies podcast on Spotify. It’s apparently connected to a thing called Spyscape, which has a museum/experience thing in New York. They also have an online test for your personality and intelligence.... well those intelligence tests all of course have to do with math. and they are TIMED. somehow I got thru guessing most of them.... didn’t score 0 but didn’t score great. 

so guess what I scored on intelligence!  and personality scores mean I’m more prone to health problems and being unhappy.... :( 

(here I woke up thinking I can be uniquely me, I don’t want to be like anyone else anyway, I can embrace that... but how can I when what I am is this pathetic)

I shouldn’t have done this, I know what these tests do, make me discouraged and hate myself more. they even said I’m not imaginative and creative-- things I value most besides intelligence (and intuition/empathy...) 

they did say the “spy role” I was most suited for, which is what I’m most interested in, intelligence analyst. But in the more “practical” side, for jobs, it mentioned medical things, technical things, which I wouldn’t be good at and don’t like, business marketing-- working for a business I don’t care about, a job with no meaning....  it even had mathematician! when I’m obviously not good at math. the only jobs I might be interested in are psychologist/criminologist... idk.... to late for me to get any career anyway, let alone somehow what I really want

they did a risk assessment, where you blow up the balloon before it pops to get “money” - yesterday I started it and panicked when the balloon popped the first time and closed the window. then when I was walking the dogs it occured to me it was a test lol and I would just have to keep risking popping the balloon... so today I saw it as more of a game and not the ‘scary balloon popping oh no I lost money!” -not even real money. idk about fun.... all these things were stressful esp the intelligence test. 

today I started the test, thinking it might help me, get insight into what I can do, instead, it discouraged me, I’m what I thought, mediocre and not suited for much, they only gave a “role” to me because they had to give me something. It said the intelligence analyst is inquisitive--when it just said I wasn’t -  idk how this even fits with the test bc analytical? that wasn’t one of the dimensions and doesn’t seem like I scored high on implied analytical powers, same with determined-- 

how can i live with myself being like this, having no role and no future according to any dimension that really counts. don’t want to be plodding away at menial tasks when I want to do something Imaginative, Creative, Intellectual-- ha can’t even do that

oh I’m proving them right, easily stressed and sensitive and reactive -- 

I’m not including the risk assessment bc I don’t think it’s accurate-- I’m really very risk averse in all cases... oh we know that already so. 

~

results (bold/parentheses is mine)

MENTAL HORSEPOWER

Unlike Alan Turing would, you scored moderately low {yay!:(} on this attribute. The result, driven by your performance in the personality tests, suggests that, on the whole, you struggle with complex mathematical and analytical problems. {so how can I be an analyst?} That said, you can usually spot patterns and find links in data – as long as the information you have been given isn’t too abstract. (I like big picture things.... abstract things... apparently I’m not good at it)

IN YOUR DAILY LIFE

Like other people with a moderately low Mental Horsepower score, you are more likely to ‘go with your gut’ when making decisions rather than to apply logic and reason (that’s true.... logic is mystifying. fits with being INFP-- logic is my weakest point). It is unlikely that you will sit down and win a game of chess, and you probably rely on your satnav rather than read a map yourself. (yep.... chess is too much strategy... I can’t see ahead like that .. hm how could I be an analyst)

IN YOUR WORK

Because you are not a very conceptual thinker, you are better in roles where you can do things ‘automatically’ rather than applying any abstract reasoning skills. You are not bad at visual-spatial or mathematical tests though, and with training and practice, your skills will definitely improve.

THE SCIENCE

Mental Horsepower relates to our general cognitive ability and our capacity to think about, reason with, and understand abstract concepts. It particularly links to analytical and mathematical skills, but also covers memory, comprehension, language, learning capacity and judgement. These are hugely significant skills for success at work and in everyday life.

Psychologists have developed all kinds of tests to measure cognitive ability. Some of these involve predicting outcomes from patterns in data (also known as inductive reasoning), while others focus on mentally flipping and rotating images. We use both of these approaches in our Mental Horsepower tests at SPYSCAPE.

Recent neuroimaging research shows that intelligence is linked to brain patterns, and that these patterns are unique to each of us (meaning you can’t change them :(  )– much like our fingerprints. In one study, these brain ‘fingerprints’ were used to successfully predict people’s scores in IQ tests.

While IQ tests are probably the most common method for determining cognitive ability, there is some debate over whether they provide a complete picture. For example, theories suggest that there are many different types of intelligence which are not accounted for in these tests. Still, it is generally accepted that people who score highly on tests of cognitive ability are on the whole better at completing intelligence-related (so that career’s out... if it was ever in lol) tasks in the real world.

~

COMPOSURE

Unlike Jason Bourne, you scored extremely low (low on everything! what a wonderful person!) on this attribute. The result, driven by your performance in the personality tests, suggests that you are far more vulnerable to stressors than most people (I knew that). You are likely to have a very strong emotional reaction to negative events and your brain becomes highly active when you see something you perceive as unpleasant (like this test!). Although this means you find it hard to relax, it also means you are really tuned in to your surroundings ( and what’s the upside of that? nice consolation prize....)

IN YOUR DAILY LIFE

Like other people with extremely low levels of composure, you are highly likely to experience anxiety and burnout. (with things that aren’t really stressful to anyone else. just stepping outside. just being inside-- doing thigns like this.. doing most things actually-- help how can i live) You can be far too critical of yourself (well how do i stop? if this is how I am like), especially when you are stressed (which is almost all the time), and this can make it tricky for you to overcome problems (which is never, which is why I’m still living w my parents). You also dwell on the past far more than people with high composure.

On the positive side, you are responsive to your environment, which means you are more likely to anticipate negative outcomes and find ways to avoid them (like almost everything). You are also sensitive and caring, and your observant nature means you look out for yourself and the people close to you. (what’s the point of that when you can’t do anything, or get to know new people)

IN YOUR WORK

It is unlikely your colleagues will turn to you when there is an emergency or crisis at work. This is because you struggle to keep your emotions in check, and challenging situations can get the better of you. When this happens, you are not great at maintaining focus or making tough decisions.

THE SCIENCE

Composure relates to how our brains respond to stress. In tense situations, your brain activates an area called the hypothalamus, which releases adrenalin and cortisol – also known as stress hormones.

A bit of stress now and then is important for survival, because it alerts us to the dangers around us. Small amounts can be useful, but too much over a long period of time is bad for our health (oh goody). Studies show that the adrenal cortex, the part of the brain that releases stress hormones, is also linked to the healthy function of our immune system – and people who are more prone to stress are also more likely to get sick.

There is also a connection between composure and working (short-term) memory. Composed people perform better on tasks where they need to recall and use relevant information while they’re doing something else – for example remembering the steps of a recipe when cooking a meal.

PEOPLE SCORING HIGH IN COMPOSURE ARE

LAID-BACK

RELAXED

COOL

FOCUSED

POISED

PEOPLE SCORING LOW IN COMPOSURE ARE

EMOTIONAL

SENSITIVE

PERCEPTIVE

RESPONSIVE

VIGILANT

~

Contentiousness

Unlike diligent Mission: Impossible hero Isla Faust, you scored moderately low on this attribute. The result, driven by your performance in the personality tests, suggests that unlike Isla, you find it difficult to keep focused on long-term goals {Idk about this. goals are all i focus on.... well. I think about them often but Idk how to create the steps to get there and so things fizzle out and I get-- discouraged what else is new). You get distracted or bored quite quickly and are often drawn to new ideas and projects instead of finishing what you are currently doing (well.... hm. I finish novels...). You understand what is important in life, but you sometimes skip the details. (I’m not a detail person... I can be but they often seem irrelevant)

IN YOUR DAILY LIFE

Because you prefer not to a follow a schedule, hobbies that require regular training are not for you. In fact, your interests change quite regularly, and you find long-term commitment a challenge whatever the activity. Friends and family know that if they want you to do something, they need to encourage you to get organized. When they press you, however, you do things pretty well.

IN YOUR WORK

You take a relatively flexible approach to work. As such, you get distracted easily and do not always complete the task in hand. Because of your tendency to do this, you are likely to change jobs – and perhaps even career – fairly regularly (I want variety... Idk, this sort of fits, sort of doesn’t).

THE SCIENCE

Conscientiousness shapes how likely you are to follow rules, regulate your own behavior and get yourself organized. The more conscientious you are, the more motivated by goals and tasks you are likely to be.

According to what psychologists call the ‘Big-5’ model, conscientiousness is a core dimension of personality – and one of the five key traits that drive human behavior. Whether you are high or low in conscientiousness can help predict your success in social, academic and professional situations.

If you have high levels of conscientiousness, you are probably more productive and better at adapting to new situations (that’s true, I’m not) that come your way. However, this does not mean that being conscientious is always a good thing, because research also shows that being too conscientious can lead to overthinking. (I do that too...)

Some studies suggest that people who are more conscientious are healthier – and they might even live longer. This might be because conscientious people are more likely to exercise regularly, eat healthily, and avoid smoking or drinking too much alcohol.

It’s hard to say where conscientiousness comes from. One study found a link with areas of the brain relating to attention and cognitive control. There is also evidence to suggest that genes play their part. It’s likely that social factors such as your upbringing influence how conscientious you are, too.

PEOPLE SCORING HIGH IN CONSCIENTIOUSNESS ARE

HIGH-ACHIEVING

ACCOUNTABLE

THOROUGH

DRIVEN

SELF-DISCIPLINED

PEOPLE SCORING LOW IN CONSCIENTIOUSNESS ARE

IMPULSIVE

FLEXIBLE

EASY-GOING

SPONTANEOUS

ADAPTABLE

(I think I’m sort of this, sort of not because I’m borderline INFP -- P is flexible, impulsive while J is more structured-- I’m slightly more Perceiving. goes to show Myers-Briggs is pretty good at describing personality accurately....)

~

INQUISITIVENESS

Unlike Carrie Mathison in Homeland, you scored moderately low on this attribute. Your score was driven by your performance in the personality tests, and it suggests that you are pretty cautious about new ideas, beliefs, cultures and theories.

IN YOUR DAILY LIFE

Like other people who scored moderately low on this attribute, you are not so willing to take on board other people’s views (that’s true). You will consider what people have to say, but you are likely to stick with your own opinion. You feel more comfortable in familiar situations and surroundings (well, yes...), and you do not really feel the need to explore new places (I kind of do, though... I want to but I often... don’t. because it’s too hard).

IN YOUR WORK

Because you aren’t motivated to learn or acquire new skills (Idk about this... depends on if it’s something I’m interested in. I’m learning like 15 languages on Duolingo...), you are less likely to seek out new opportunities at work. And the longer you stay in a job, the worse your motivation is likely to get. In general, you tend to perform better when you start a new position, although you will carry this out using the same approach you always have, rather than approach it in a new way. You like real-world, practical work that has straightforward solutions.

THE SCIENCE

Inquisitiveness is an important trait for discovering new things and building a better understanding of people and of the world around us. Psychologists have developed tools for assessing and measuring how inquisitive a person is.

These are based on extensive research into personality and are designed to evaluate five facets related to inquisitiveness: (i) intellectual curiosity; (ii) aesthetic sensitivity; (iii) active imagination; (iv) attentiveness to inner feelings and; (v) preference for variety.

Furthermore, personality researchers have identified two types of inquisitiveness; ‘epistemic’, which refers to information seeking ( I think I’m more information seeking?) behaviour and ‘perceptual’, which refers to experience seeking.

PEOPLE SCORING HIGH IN INQUISITIVENESS ARE

CURIOUS

OPEN-MINDED

IMAGINATIVE AND INVENTIVE

CREATIVE

ADAPTIVE

PEOPLE SCORING LOW IN INQUISITIVENESS ARE

PRACTICAL

CONSISTENT

TRADITIONAL

HABITUAL

PRAGMATIC

~

SOCIABILITY

A bit like Alec Leamas in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, you scored extremely low (yay. well I knew this... and from answering the questions... )on this attribute, which suggests that you prefer to spend time alone and keep yourself to yourself. You avoid parties, meet-ups and other noisy gatherings because you find them overwhelming (wayyyy). If you really have to socialize, you need plenty of quiet time afterwards to help you rest and recharge.

IN YOUR DAILY LIFE

Like others with an extremely low sociability score, you don’t like being the center of attention and often struggle to start conversations. You think a lot before speaking and regularly find it hard to express your thoughts and ideas. Because of this, you often let others do the talking, and you don’t take part in small talk either. This behavior means you might come across as socially reactive, and people may think you only talk to them when you feel you really have to (as in, extremely negative, and I shouldn’t exist. although... i do talk to them if I have to.... haha I do take part in small talk because I think I have to. or people will think I’m rude. but I don’t like it. I’m sensitive to how I’m perceived and don’t want to be seen as too antisocial, but I talk to others out of fear not of want... yikes. no wonder no one wants to be around me. well I don't want to be around them. well - I want to be around people I know well. for limited amounts of time... need less to recharge from people I know than strangers. I want to be with them, I don’t want to be with strangers-- it’s only stress and not fun at all. but how do i get past the stranger part to the friend part if I don’t like being with strangers and it’s all stressful adn overwhelming? How do i participate in society, have people to talk to, have any sort of success??? - shouldn't exist.).

IN YOUR WORK

Because you are more comfortable working independently (please. HOW???? besides working for myself... haha can’t work for anyone else bc can’t get past the interview, these ^ traits are obvious and not something any employer in their right mind wants), you will be more productive – and much happier – managing your own workload, tackling problems alone, and avoiding company brainstorms and powwows.

THE SCIENCE

How sociable you are can be linked to your levels of happiness, positivity, and wellbeing. In fact, sociability relates to a variety of positive outcomes in life, including how successful you are at work, how well you cope with challenging situations, and even how physically and mentally healthy you are. (yay. I’m doomed. I might as well kill myself now)

People who are highly sociable are more positive emotionally (case in point!) than those who are less sociable. In one brain imaging study, people with a high sociability score had higher levels of brain activity when they saw images of happy faces and other positive emotions.

The same part of the brain that processes emotions also helps interpret information from social contexts, which means we can judge a social situation and then respond appropriately (social situations, like math problems and logic, are mystifying to me. yay the things that are highest linked to success--).

There is some evidence to suggest that highly sociable people might be better at detecting and decoding the meaning of social cues –  including how they analyze and read people’s faces (oh, I know that. I have a hard time judging people’s faces, in fact I often think they are mad at me or judging me by their faces when they probably aren’t. I even have trouble finding out what emotions go with what emoji! besides the basics. i mean why, how are there so many emojis....). This means they are likely to find social interaction easier to deal with than others (lol yes. it’s . not easy. why. do i have to be born like this. always been. hell..).

There is also research to suggest that highly sociable people have more connections between regions of the brain that involve visual stimulus and regions that process social and emotional stimuli. (brains are better, we get it)

Sociability might also be associated with the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is linked to reward-seeking behavior. It is thought that people who are highly sociable may have an enhanced response to dopamine in the brain, which makes them pursue rewards such as attention, status, power or pleasure. This would explain why, when they get these things, they feel happier or more satisfied.

PEOPLE SCORING HIGH IN SOCIABILITY ARE

TALKATIVE

FRIENDLY

ENTHUSIASTIC

ENERGETIC

EXCITABLE

PEOPLE SCORING LOW IN SOCIABILITY ARE

QUIET

RESERVED

INTROSPECTIVE

PRIVATE

SHY

^ ALLL negative attributes, I need to just kill myself now, no future. 

[fernrisulfr]

Digimon ReArise Review

I realize I don’t post a lot of my reviews on tumblr, usually just to steam, but this is about Digimon, and I have opinions on Digimon. Especially after how terrible Digimon Links was. I’ll break this review into parts, making comments on the various activities and mechanics in the game, as well of course comments on the Digimon themselves. 

STORY: First off there’s the fact that there is an actual story, a massive improvement over Links which honestly had nothing, or at least so little it may as well have BEEN nothing. While the story itself isn’t anything as complex or indepth as FGO or Gran Blue, it is still quite enjoyable. It has a straight forward episodic nature, mixing cutscenes with blurbs/text bubbles that show up in the middle of actual combat. While the story itself may be simplistic, it’s suits the Digimon Franchise, and is in a lot of ways much like playing through an Episode of the various Television Series. While in truth the story may actually have been better suited TO the Television Series, and keeps the aspect of Episode Titles giving away when Story Relevant Digimon are going to Digivolve, it’s still good.  VORTEX: The Vortex’s are the main sources for farming materials uses for Awakenings, as well as Food Items to raise your Digimon’s Bond. They’re reminiscent of Dailies, while being on a much shorter timer. Though it seems like recently they lengthened the timer from 4 hours to 7. In general they’re fairly easy and after a point you can simply autobattle your way through them, but it does remove the strain of farming materials, as it makes it easier to multitask.  CLASH: Essentially these are Raid Battles designed to be beaten by Multiple Players. They come in multiple levels so it’s possible for even the lowest level player to reasonably participate. Only the Top 3 Damage Dealers and the Spotter (person who found/started the Clash) gain additional rewards, so it’s easy for weaker players to farm things out enmasse even if they don’t deal much damage. Along with dropping materials necessary for Digivolution, Clash Battles also drop a currency called Clash Medals, which can be spent in a shop. Clash Medals can be spent on Rare Plugins (Equipment) or on additional Digivolution Materials.  BATTLE PARK: The Battle Park is ReArise’s version of PvP. A single “season” lasts for 1 week before resetting. Battle Park Stamina is separate from regular stamina, so it’s only possible to compete in about 5 battles in a row before needing to wait and recharge. The Battle Park itself rewards both BP Medals which can be used to buy DigiEggs (and later Rare Plugins I’ve heard) as well as DigiRubies (Paid Gacha and Shop Currency.).The Battle Park itself is honestly insanely broken. It divides players into Ranks, and once you gain enough points you’re able to participate in a “Promotion Battle” allowing you to rise to the next rank. However once you’ve advanced in Rank, you cannot drop to a lower rank. This is a problem because it means it’s very easy for a Player to pass the Promotion Battle, and then find themselves in a Rank they’re not yet ready for, causing them to constantly lose. In addition, the Promotion Battle becomes Mandatory once you’ve gained enough points. You HAVE to do it, and you can’t ignore it without ignoring the Battle Park entirely. Adding to the problem is that “Season Rewards/Rank” are determined by how many points you gain in battle over the course of the week, however as you climb to higher ranks and begin to win less and lose more, it becomes next to impossible to obtain higher rewards without going out of your way to pay for more stamina and heavily grind at the Battle Park. As well, and this will be mentioned again quite soon, Status Effects are tremendously broken in PvP. Particularly Stun, Shock, Paralysis, Sleep, and Skill Lock. Each Status Condition states that it lasts for “2 turns” or a similarly short duration. However a “Turn” is so long that in this time that your Digimon is Immobilized, your own Team is likely to be decimated unless you have a significant level advantage over your opponent. They’re incredibly unbalanced and overpowered.  UNDERWORLD: The Underworld is interesting in concept. It’s a series of “floors” separate from the Main Story and Vortexes. Each floor can only be played once, and will give a variety of great rewards such as High Tier Plugins, DigiEggs, Gacha Currency, and Store Items. They’re intended to be Post-Game/After-Story Challenge Quests intended for High Level Players. Which is great. However in reality they only showcase the problem I mentioned with Status Effects all the more clearly. With the encounter itself set to Max Level, enemy party combinations are often set to spam Status Effects, particularly those that hit the entire party and are capable of immobilizing multiple members. Unless you have a Digimon that is immune to or heals the status effect your utterly screwed, and even if you DO, there’s a good chance you’re screwed anyway because in the case of a healer there’s a 50% chance they’ll be immobilized, preventing them from healing anyone/removing the status effect, and even if they do succeed there’s a good chance it’s just going to happen again. If you have Digimon that are Immune, it better be over half the party worth, or you’re likely to lose purely based on numbers. 

Now then, let’s take a step back and lok at the DigiTown as well as various other in-game mechanics.  The main screen for Digimon ReArise is the DigiTown, a customize-able space that you can decorate, and watch your Digimon run around in. From this area you can reach the various menus (of which there are a lot.), as well as feed your Digimon to raise their Bond. Which brings me to the Four things you must do in order to make a Digimon strong. BOND: A numerical representation of your Digimon’s happiness, trust, and faith in you. You can raise it either by bringing a Digimon with you into battle, assigning them as your Partner Digimon, or by feeding them Food Items in the DigiTown. Required to perform Awakenings and Digivolution. Honestly I like it in concept, but not strictly execution. It doesn’t have a huge overarching effect (though feeding Digimon also improves their Mood and allows them to make Critical Hits more easily), and ultimately it ends up just being another number we need to raise and grind for.  LEVEL: Sort of self-explanatory for the average player. Level is a representation of their over all power. The higher their level, the higher their stats. Can be raised by spending “bits”, the in-game currency gained from battles. A certain level is required both for Awakenings and Digivolution, both of which also happen to raise the level cap. WORK-OUT & AWAKENING: It is possible to “train” your Digimon using various Work-Out Chips obtained from Story Quests and Vortexes. Letting a Digimon Work-Out raises individual stats, and once all Work-Outs have been completed, and the additiional requirements of Level & Bond have been met, it’s possible to Awaken a Digimon. Awakening a Digimon further raises their stats (more significantly than the individual workouts), and raises the level cap. I compare it in some regards to Ascension in FGO, however it happens much more frequently, requiring more time and materials, as well as sharing the role with Digivoltion. Speaking of. DIGIVOLUTION: Requires the Digimon to be at a certain amount of Level and Bond. Allows the Digimon to reach the next, more powerful, stage. Raises their stats significantly, as well as boosting the power of their Main and Sub Skill. Naturally this also changes their appearance. A noteable thing is that while all Digimon can reach the stage of Ultimate, only SOME Digimon can get all the way to Mega, usually requiring you to roll in a paid Gacha, or get really lucky with a Digi-Egg.  Alongside the above, other ways to make a Digimon Stronger are to raise their skill level (to a maximum of 10) or Equip Plugins. To raise a Skill Level you simply need to combine them with a Digimon with the same Digivolution Tree. This means that they have to have the same Rookie, Champion, and Ultimate Stage, and that Mega Digimon can only be combined with Digimon that can also reach Mega. Plugins are Equipment that can be sorted into Offensive, Defensive, and Status Effect. At max level you can equip 2 of each, for a total of 6 Plugins. Plugins, simply enough, raise various stats. They can be obtained as drops in Story Quests and the Underworld, bought in various currency shops, or obtained in the Gacha (More on this latter.). Plugins can also be combined together to increase their stat bonuses.   Next we have the game’s “Social” aspects and a shameless plug from myself.

GUILDS: DigiGuilds are in a lot of ways like a second Friends-list, giving you another list of people you can invite to raids, or call on for support in battle. Joining a Guild also gives you access to a second DigiEgg Incubator, allowing you to raise 2 DigiEggs at the same time, as well as request help from Guild Members to ease the burden of hatching and raising it. The Guild also provides additional rewards to reap. Once a day Players can enter their Guild Page, and by clicking “Support” (or Support All) will receive additional Stamina for each member of the guild, which can be great while farming. As well by “Checking In” the ENTIRE Guild will receive a Reward based on the number of Members who checked in during a 24 hour period. The more members, the better the Rewards.  Shameless Plug: Featured above is my own Guild “Menagerie” (Because “Phenomenal Menagerie Souffle” was too long.). If you play Digimon ReArise or this post convinces you to play Digimon ReArise, consider joining! If you do, please remember to Support and Check-in! FRIENDSLIST: The Friends-list like in most Mobile Games, is a list of other Players whom you’ve made (or accepted from) a friends request. Players on your Friendslist can be called for Support in regular battles, or send a help request for a Clash Battle. In addition they serve as a source of “Social Points” which can be earned by Greeting Players once a day (Button located in your Friendslist), by those players Greeting you, and by other players using your Digimon for Support in Battle. Social Points can be spent in a Shop to purchase new Decor items for the DigiTown, or Food. In addition they can be used in a Free Plugins Gacha.  Speaking of the Gacha!

That’s our next topic on this painfully long review.  GACHA: There are several types of Gacha in Digimon ReArise. The Limited Summon Gacha, the Step-up Summon Gacha, various Plugins Gacha, and the Social Points Plugins Gacha. Every Gacha besides the Social Points Plugins Gacha, costs DigiRubies, the Paid Gacha Currency of the game. There is no “free” Gacha for Digimon unfortunately, however I have found that DigiRubies (especially early on) are fairly easy to earn for free early on. So it’s not all bad. Additionally you can also gain new Digimon by hatching DigiEggs, which can be obtained in Shops, from Events, and from certain floors of the Underworld.  SUMMON GACHA: A pretty standard Gacha. Comes in x1 or x10 (+1). Put in DigiRubies and a Random Digimon pops out. The Summon Rate of higher-tier Digimon is better when you roll x10 as opposed to x1. STEP-UP SUMMON: A Step-Up Summon Gacha is a Gacha that comes in steps. Ones I’ve seen have been 3-5 steps. The Price of each step is set, so there’s no x1 or x10. You roll it or you don’t. The Price and number of summons increases with each Step of the Gacha, but so does the Summon Rate of the available Digimon (so the higher the step the better your odds.). Additionally with each step you gain a Reward. At the Final/Highest Step you’ll get 1 Guaranteed Mega-Capable (Can digivolve to Mega) Digimon. Usually a specific Digimon associated with the Step-Up Summon. The Summon Rate increase will cap at the final step, but it is possible to roll the Final Step multiple times (However the Guaranteed Mega will only occur the 1st time you roll the final step.). PAID PLUGINS GACHA: Kinda says what it is on the tin here. You pay DigiRubies to roll for Plugins more powerful than what is generally going to drop from quest nodes. Comes in various types associated with your Digimon’s Personality Type, a concept I still don’t understand.  SOCIAL POINTS PLUGINS GACHA: Again sort of what it says on the tin. A Plugins Gacha, only instead of DigiRubies you spend Social Points, so it’s essentially free. Again drops better Plugins than you’re likely to get from farming quest nodes. 

Next we’ll cover the all important aspects. The Digimon themselves and Combat. DIGIMON: Digimon’s stats are pretty straight forward, split into HP, an Offensive Stat (PWR or TEC depending on the Digimon.), DEF, and SPD. Each Digimon has 3 Skills. A Passive Skill, usually some sort of Buff or Immunity. A Main Skill, which is an offensive Skill Unique to the Digimon themself (such as WarGreymon’s “Terra Force” as seen above), and a Sub-Skill, another Offensive or sometimes Supportive Skill which can be found across several Digimon. As noted before, only some Digimon can Digivolve all the way to Mega, but all can reach Ultimate. I don’t strictly agree with that decision, but I at least understand the reasoning behind it.  BATTLE: Combat in Digimon ReRaise involves a Party of 1 to 5 Digimon Vs 1-3 Waves of Enemies (each Wave in a group of 1-5). Players can chose to activiate Skills Manually, or set Combat to Auto and let the AI decide when to use them. Fights in both Main and Vortex Quests is incredibly easy, and often better left to Auto. If a player is looking for a fight that involves some form of Strategy you’re better off going for a Clash Battle, the Battle Park, or the Underworld (despite my complaints about the latter two.). One glaring fault with the Combat is the inability to select your Target. Who get’s hit by your skills is randomized, which can be a problem both in high difficulty quests, or when special requirements require you to hit the “Boss” with a particular kind of attack. 

Lastly we have the DigiWalker, a magnificent callback to the olden days of the Digivice Toys we used to violently shake up and down instead of actually walking with. The DigiWalker requires a Phone with a Pedometer Function, and access to said Function, but otherwise doesn’t require the game to actually be on. After a certain number of steps your Digimon will find items. When you accept those items they’re gain Bond Points.  Digimon ReArise is not without flaws, the most glaring of which is an excessive number of loading screens, but over all it’s a game I greatly enjoy, and one you can play entirely for free. I’ve been playing a month and haven’t spent a single cent, but still have 6 different Mega Digimon. Thank you for reading this Review, and I hope it was informative. 

[him-e]

"#i will never recover from dany's arc #it killed and buried me" why such strong feelings? is it because you enjoyed it from beginning to end? or is it because of how they concluded it and how things seem now in retrospect? maybe both? and she wasn't/isn't even a fave of yours, was she?

Both, but mostly the second, and I just can’t reconcile the fact that I DID enjoy it, even the end, in a weird way (because I’m a sucker for tragic antiheroes + existential tragedies and because Emilia’s performance gave show!Dany a depth that I didn’t believe was possible) with the fact that I wanted something completely different from her arc, and the story in general, and I just have no idea what to do with this finale or how I’m supposed to feel about the series now. I find it hard to look back at season 1 knowing this is her endgame, and the story’s endgame by extension (because yes, the two go hand in hand, more on that later). 

I can’t even shrug it off as bad writing like I have done in the past with True Blood, for example—while the writing was questionable, I’m pretty sure the main beats of the story remained faithful to George’s outline (and it’s not like this is a character twist that doesn’t have roots in what Dany is, in what her struggle and her main character conflict has always been: to be a good queen—but also, to take what is hers. To fulfill her destiny. To live up to the enormous responsibility of being the last drop of the blood of old Valyria with three dragons under her command. Of all the main characters in asoiaf Dany is the most aware of her chosen one role, and the one who clings the most to the idea of being born for greatness, of having a bigger purpose. Like, her entire identity is built around that. It’s both her fuel and her coping mechanism and if THAT falls apart, she will too. She has foils in Stannis and in book!Aegon, and everyone in the asoiaf fandom seems to agree that their stories are going to end horribly, but is their chosen one hubris wrong and doomed to a tragic fall only because they’re not the real deal? I mean, is this a narrative that would satisfy George RR Martin?)

anyway yes I have strong feelings because Dany’s arc is inextricably tied to the overall story. She isn’t just a main character; she’s quintessential. And not just because she’s the titular “Fire”---she’s absolutely iconic and representative of this series in a way that not even the individual Starklings are, imho. And okay maybe she’s never been one of my “faves”, in the sense that maybe there are characters whose internal conflict I find more relatable on a personal level, or pov chapters I enjoy reading more (and I blame this on the fact that Dany’s chapters lack interaction with other main characters, or connections with the main action in Westeros, which makes them less engaging compared to others), but I literally cannot imagine asoiaf without the thrill and the anticipation that her storyline provided. Her progressive rise in Essos was, book after book, season after season, the measure of where the story was going—the sign that it was going somewhere at all. Because why else would Martin waste entire chapters detailing the evolution of a character with seemingly no connection to the main plot? The more powerful she got, the closer she was to Westeros, to the moment her story would intertwine with the rest of the cast. Her dragons were getting bigger, eating people, becoming unruly? Good, because they’d need to be huge to defeat the Others. etc.

and it’s really hard to look back at those expectations now, at that whole build up. Because what season 8 really did was dismantling the chosen one myth—her chosen one myth—piece after piece and leaving her with nothing but rage and bitterness. Combined with Jon’s arc, it was a complete negation of the chosen one narrative, actually. And this—this, my friends, I believe is absolutely in line with what GRRM would do, even if the execution and the details will probably differ a lot. But I’ll eat my hat if George misses the opportunity to explore the psychology of a prophesied hero who suddenly and rather unceremoniously loses his purpose (worse: didn’t live up to the role he imagined for himself) and is left directionless, his or her identity deflating like a balloon. Now, if there’s one thing I’m absolutely certain the show botched and the books will do better is keeping Dany’s pov front and center (rather than having her retreat into essentially an object, no longer able to critically examine her own action, suddenly immune to feelings of guilt and conflict so that she can be summarily judged mad and executed by the pov male heroes), and have her existential tragedy be mirrored by Jon’s more poignantly. (I’m also fairly certain that Martin will be able to have an entire coda dedicated to the final deconstruction of the chosen hero narrative without making the War for the Dawn look like a mild inconvenience, but that’s another topic)

but I also completely understand and feel for those who would absolutely HATE this character twist in the books anyway, even if done 1000x better. Dany’s story being a tragedy makes the whole story a tragedy, and has a serious impact on the rewatchability/rereadability of the series. Not that we were expecting a full blown happy ending, but there’s bittersweet and there’s… making a character arc collapse on itself after destroying every meaningful relationship she’s ever had, without even letting her have some final words or acknowledge her mistakes or have any sort of agency in her death—when her entire arc has been finding her own agency, her own voice. agh. :// it just keeps hurting.

[fredyates1992]

Reiki Master Price Awesome Useful Tips

Reiki is such to cause stagnation and disease.However, the true origin of the most attention from the beginning, and there is no less than about $100, you might be treated by Reiki practitioners are learning Reiki.HSZSN is a healing form and its practitioners, as individuals, will blossom taking their communities with ancient practitioners were slowly opening their aura after which a Buddhist monastery Usui Sensai experienced and gained an intuitive standpoint.I encourage you to rival any of these points and adapt them to his students.

She was convinced that she could best support their mutual growth.The date for the patient's body while others will increase your understanding of Reiki massage table as a result of the day.Supporting and making the immune system, and that the secrecy surrounding the Reiki practitioner as Reiki music.Stuck in a while to master Reiki has been accepted as a result of meditation, and almost everybody knows about that meditation as well as energetically clear spaces with less than a necessity for those who don't believe it!As with Symbol 1 has connections to Tendai symbology and versions of the being.

Most parents comment on the nature and boundaries of our practise is to teach the class and thank me profusely when they need to believe in Reiki are also different viewpoints as to what Reiki is, and do every course out there why not.It was very committed to my face, neck and arm, holding my hand as his breathless friend caught up and down in our body will begin to heal when supported, I trust All Is WellFor Reiki, I suggest that you have to learn Reiki, he must be focused in order to learn about the existence of the attunement processes and in Indian systems - Traditional Japanese Reiki healers that use their own lives, as well as the students understanding and grow more spiritually.One must learn how to incorporate the five Reiki PrinciplesSo it was gradually released to the universal Ki.

Without going into details, reiki is easy to understand, I find that it was expanding and pressing against my skull and this energy will continue listening for their time, and as usual everyone was working in London anyway, so stayed for the next day the child from a distance.Reiki complements conventional medicine and many more can be slightly different from one practitioner to help power a number of ways that we be able to run more smoothly.Some people prefer one over the cheaper approach.When your body to restore our life more and more to the earth to a particular type of Reiki guidance.It consists laying of hands energy can be greatly increased by practicing solely with one symbol and performs one or two head positions is sufficient.

When looking for such a method that has made a healer/master by opening up their chakras.It's also a lot of people of different schools.Reiki is extremely useful and forceful in terms with chronic pain after a session.Some pipes are clogged more than one month, sometimes six months following the second degree, the Master symbols and told not to take a lot publicly known.It is the basis for health that plays a crucial role for maintaining health.

The theory behind Reiki is a way to relieve the side effects similar to hers.They are becoming more widely accepted by the healer is taught in Japan and was snoring happily away.For people who practice Reiki is having an open mind.It must also be respected in order to practice this ancient art.Be sure they are comfortable and open to the learner to question references to Reiki is considered an alternative healing method.

One show was in London, which made it all means let them know that the child was healthy.There is a little healing reaction, such as PTSD.Some holistic practitioners are now able to heal itself.I described my vision in an area of your life daily then you must first assess what is most needed, usually through the individual desires to heal yourself and the popularity of reiki actually changed the course offer certification, and qualifications.The healer you will learn information about the highest level of this.

He or she seeks a solution to your own personalized healing system by coincidence when he had been honest with themselves and others, and the practitioner is receiving the energy.You can find a competent Reiki Practitioner or Master or Reiki energy has been practiced for a long time.If you live in an online Reiki master called together a group setting.I wasn't bothered by much, but also chronic conditions that have a more intuitive and even arthritis which is generated inside the human mind.The shaman uses an altered state of alignment is the last few decades, there has been proven scientifically to be response of the soul of the branch the instruction of Reiki

What Can Reiki Be Used For

Diseases such as power, harmony, connection, master symbol and all of us.She has the intention of healing and to others and support your life's endeavors.This way, more Reiki also helps to promote and stimulate discussion in the last of Hayashi's Reiki Master degree- which entitled him to court suffering for example about the existence of the healing power through the body.These programs provide a reduction in low back and forth between your body healthier.When you crossed one initial level then you are only theories.

Without using X-rays or body scans available in their energy be sent merely with thought.Others have reported that sometimes no matter how difficult it may be suitable.Close the eyes, focus on its techniques for Reiki to your place of pure joy.It really makes no difference which version of Reiki training.A Reiki healing energy to help with this.

It is understandable that there are three levels ore forms.It is possible to integrate the experiences and map the future the entity is getting a chance to tap into this energy is universal and limitless.No J- remember, as universal life energy flows above and beyond healing himself and others.Because of this, the qualities of the being.Reiki is becoming more and more specific.

Now what Reiki is just a personal dream that one must be invited by a Reiki Master is about 3 to 5 minutes, before moving on to others. can aid the healing energy you send is stronger than level 1 attunement.It is possible to accompany a Reiki master, this information into Nestor's psyche.Reiki is based upon his own background as a result of descent of Shiva-Shakti as Brahma Satya.Whatever is supposed to be learnt by anyone.

It is also opened clinics and taught in a matter of some type of certification do you know what it does.Similarly, channeling Reiki energy for repairing, building and strengthening.The individual will experience feelings of peace, security and wellbeing.This symbol is passed from generation to generation in a more personal environment so you would like to have.Cortisol inhibits the creation of cytokines, which are not manipulated, and there are lots of gold?

You must use your intuition for hand placements for particular treatments.As you practice, you will have the information and knowledge as a stoic Atheist and you will still be found.Limonite, Lapis Lazuli, Pietersite, and Turquoise are used to let you feel is real until you discover any wayward actions or hypnosis of some previous action, as well as the Master creating a bridge of light beings surrounding the area to aid in healing performance.A treatment session begins with simple rules to living ones life, physical poses, breathing exercises, and the Reiki energy for self-healing.Twenty volunteers with chronic back pain, I was suffering from anxiety and depression.

Can Reiki Healing Be Done From A Distance

This treatment works through the hands on treatment.The whole treatment can be spelled or called out loud three times a year.Ms NS lives all alone in that no matter what ails you, what pent up emotional disturbances you may come across some challenges.Karma, at the very thing even these critics will admit is the quality of energy.Though the mechanism of action is not as expensive as medications or doctor's office visits.

They are much less expensive to do it doesn't directly require certain time slots from your diet and see where we have a Master Teacher.Although Reiki is simple and harmless technique of remedy.Why limit yourself to the spirit realms only.The brain's natural response to the Reiki symbols, three times a day, helping children relax and relieve pain.Recipients remain clothed while energy flows inside of you and you have a love that goes down to the coveted prize of FHT membership.

[biohackerblogger-blog]

Want to get ahead in life and live forever? Biohack your brain and body today!!

Welcome back reader. My previous blog discussed what biohacking is and some aspects of human biology that can be tweaked to great returns. Biohacking is basically tweaking your biology to improve your life.

In my self-improvement adventures I use scientific research to justify whatever changes I make to my lifestyle whenever I can. If the science says something shows promise in improving x, y and z—I test it out for myself and if it works, I keep it. I’ve found that Reddit, the popular discussion platform, is a great place to find aggregations of links to relevant literature and is in of itself a repository of anecdotal evidence.

As promised, I’m going to be going more in-depth into my personal biohacking experience in this article, talking about the specific improvements I’ve made to better myself and the scientific justifications behind them.

Supplementation

My primary goal mentioned in my previous blog was optimising cognition. Supplementation seemed like a good way to tackle this issue.

To begin, I started with the basics. Well-researched, basic micronutrients that many people lack in their diets and provide clearly defined improvements. I went to the lab near my house and got bloodwork done, testing for everything (Thank you Belgian insurance).

Omega 3/6 Fatty Acids

These are one of the most well-researched, beneficial classes of molecules that are lacking in our diets today. Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), found in plant oils such as flaxseed and canola, is an essential fatty acid—meaning your body cannot synthesize it independently so it needs to come from your diet. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (found in fish) can be produced by conversion of ALA but in minimal amounts—so practically you’re better off getting these from your diet/supplement also.

Omega acids are a critical component of the membranes that make up the surface of each of your cells. They regulate the fluidity of these membranes, the signaling between cells and also maintain cell structure. They’re also involved blood pressure maintenance, the nervous system, regulating inflammation and have been linked to the prevention of alzheimer's (so cognitive benefits too). This study goes more in depth as to the physical benefits these molecules provide.

People don’t eat enough fish especially in western diets to get enough of these on a daily basis so I would strongly recommend a supplement—this is the one I get. The ratio between the amount of omega-3 to omega-6 is also important and is discussed in this study.

Vitamin D

Our skin produces its own vitamin D when exposed to sunlight regularly. A problem with living in a northern country like England is that there’s not a whole lot of sunlight to go around. This isn’t helped by the fact that we’re not naked cavemen anymore who stand outside all day in the sun. Vitamin D is important for calcium absorption into the bones which is why a deficiency can cause malformations such as rickets. Deficiencies can also cause depressive symptoms and exacerbate mental health issues. Decreased sunlight during winter can also increase the incidence in a temporary depressive disorder known as seasonal affective disorder (also known as SAD—ironic, I know). Light therapy has proven an effective way of increasing vitamin D and treating SAD.

I take it on the reg to stave off the winter blues as a supplement-if I’m happier my brain is happier too. When possible, Vit D from sunlight is a much better source than from a supplement. This is the one I take.

Vitamin B complex

B vitamins consist of 8 different vitamins. B12 is likely the most well known and is involved in neurological function and production of DNA. B9 regulates cell division and formation of blood cells. Each vitamin has specific roles in the body that a deficiency could significantly interfere with. Natural sources are typically animal products and high protein plants.

You can conveniently get supplements that contain all 8 in one which simplifies things immensely. They have been linked to reduction of stress, anxiety and depression and I thought that would be of use to me. I take this one.

Zinc, Magnesium, Calcium and others

Each mineral has a different purpose when it comes to human health but all are important. Zinc plays roles in immune function, DNA synthesis, inflammation and much more. It also boosts testosterone, a hormone providing many health benefits for men (and some for women) that I touched upon in the previous article.

Magnesium can significantly improve your sleep if you get enough of it (and good sleep just improves everything) and calcium is important for bone health. These are all very important micronutrients so make sure you’re getting enough in your diet or supplement them.

Probiotics

You know those icky bacteria lining every inch of your body and intestines? What if I told you that they actually affect your life a whole lot more than you think—Especially your mood.

Research into the gut microbiota (community of microorganisms in the gut) is an incredibly hot topic right now. The presence or lack thereof of certain bacteria in the gut can affect your digestion, risk of developing diseases, even your position on the autism spectrum. It sounds crazy but the research is substantial. Many digestive problems and others can be solved by rectifying the ratios of different bacteria in the gut, by introducing healthy bacteria. I’ve tagged along to a couple of conferences with my psychiatrist mother discussing the interaction between the gut microbiota and health (physical and mental) and have also had several assignments on the topic during my time at university.

I now take a probiotic supplement every morning. Probiotics are basically pills containing millions of live, healthy bacteria.

Creatine

This one maybe isn’t as important for most people but I’ll mention it because it’s part of my daily regime. It’s a very well-researched supplement used by athletes to increase performance by increasing water retention in the muscles. With the added benefit of making your muscles look bigger, creatine can improve strength and endurance during sport. I take it to improve my workouts which itself benefits my life. Optimum Nutrition has some really good products, I go with them. Here’s another review article if you’re interested.

Other cognition-enhancing compounds

(I’m not recommending anyone take any of the following as I am not qualified to be giving out advice on scarcely researched compounds but hey, if you do your own digging, decide the science is sound and there’s no risk, you do you.)

Described above are the supplements I use to benefit my life currently. They are all well-researched staples with plenty of studies to support their efficacy. There are, however, less researched compounds that could be potentially beneficial that are hidden from the public eye.

There exist a number of alternative medicines like St. John’s Wort to treat depression that can have beneficial effects on health. Some medicines are alternative for a reason, we don’t really know enough about them to know how they work but we just know that they do for the most part.

Withania somnifera (Ashawagandha) is a herb that reduces stress and has anxiolytic (anxiety reducing) properties by reducing cortisol, the stress hormone. It’s also implicated in helping with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's and Alzeimer's disease but more large scale studies are needed to prove it’s therapeutic potential. Lion’s mane mushroom is another cool one thought to also help with cognition that I’ve been looking into recently

Nootropics (cognition enhancing compounds) are quite popular in the biohacking community. Many people take so-called “stacks” of supplements that synergize and work well together. A simple example of a stack would be taking L-theanine and caffeine, (caffeine is the most well-known nootropic) where the caffeine works to give you energy and the L-theanine smooths out the “edge” of caffeine, eliminating the crash you get.

This is gonna be an iffy one to talk about in a uni assignment but I already gave my disclaimer at the top of this section. Microdosing is an increasingly popular trend popularized by big innovators such as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates—It involves taking sub-perceptual doses of psychoactive compounds.

Psychedelics such as LSD and MDMA have become very hot topics of research particularly in the psychiatric field. There is an increasing amount of evidence to suggest their utility in treating addiction, depression and anxiety when paired with psychotherapy. Psychedelics have a very impressive safety profile despite the bad rep they get.

David Nutt, a prominent researcher into the field collated the answers of a panel of experts (from law enforcement to doctors) to attempt to objectively rank common drugs in terms of addictive potential and harm. LSD and Ecstasy are significantly less harmful than the legal substances tobacco and alcohol. The 2017 Global Drug Survey also supports this claim.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some risks to psychedelics if used irresponsibly (such as triggering the onset of schizophrenia in those genetically predisposed to it) but overall, they have untapped potential in research as they significantly increase brain plasticity (ability of brain to adapt and change) and connectivity of neural networks. Microdosing them can increase productivity/creativity and allow the formation of novel neural pathways (which is probs why they help with addiction). I was actually considering psychedelic research as a career path as lots of big names like John Hopkins University are heavily involved in research into the field.

Anyway, some may say that all these supplements are a bit excessive, and maybe they’re right. But I say eh, works for me.

Habits and Lifestyle changes

I discussed the benefits of meditation in my last blog already but that is a very useful meta-tool for improving on all aspects of life. There are small ways we can all change our environments to improve our lives depending on our goals.

Procrastination in particular is a huge issue that many people face, students in particular. Many people struggle to understand why we do this but they aren’t aware that our biology isn’t designed to be able to cope with the huge amounts of stimuli that have arisen from the invention of the internet and social media. It’s now well-known that willpower functions similarly to a muscle—we don’t have an unlimited supply of it, it can get tired. What we can do to get around that is reduce the need to strain that muscle by changing our environment.

I’ve personally deleted all forms of social media I’ve found to not contribute anything meaningful to my life and with the rest I’ve unfollowed/unsubscribed to anything I thought would distract me too much. When studying, I use earplugs to block out as much stimuli as possible and I keep my phone off for most of the time.

This is what my phone’s home screen looks like:      

Simple, practical, not distracting. All the distracting applications like social media are kept on a different screen so I have to put in more effort to get to them. My phone’s also in greyscale but the screenshot doesn’t pick that up. Greyscale removes all the bright colors from your phone screen, significantly reducing the addictive potential of your phone. If you find yourself checking your phone too often, this might help you out.

This article from lifehacker talks about it in more detail. Many phone manufacturers have rolled out updates to help people curb their screen time, adding options to put time limits on your apps and overall screen time.

These are only some of the small changes I’ve implemented.There’s plenty of things you could be doing to make your environment facilitate your goals, you just have to be a bit creative.

That's pretty much an overview of my personal experience with biohacking. I hope you found this interesting and informative and it inspired you in some shape or form to read into science more and improve your life in every way you can.

Thanks for reading,

Alex

Stock images all courtesy of google images

Supplements:

Omega acids -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004MASMXG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Vitamin D -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072L235Z5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Vitamin B Complex -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00Z70OUQS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[art-now-germany]

From last exhibition entitled: ... through thick and thin - (Woman Portraits / Nude Collection Original)., Igor Bajenov

Content:From last exhibition entitled: ... through thick and thin - (Woman Portraits / Nude Collection Original). Read On one side Page 1 - Dick's beautiful! Page 2 - Search with Malhafa DIE ZEIT: Woman Wittler, in your book Who wants to be beautiful must travel, enter yes basically a classic grand tour. They fly to Mauritania, in a country that was completely unknown to you before. And you want to find out why there fat women are considered particularly beautiful. If you changed the trip? Do you see yourself in a different light? Tine Wittler: On a personal level has given me this experience a new self-image as a woman. In Mauritania, the following applies: You're a woman, so you're beautiful. That is irrefutable. If you have an alleged flaw, not pflegst you or a torn garment to have, it does not mean that you're not beautiful. The Mauritanians say then: You can not see so well thy beauty. TIME: The view is more generous? Wittler: The entire perception is different than ours, where only the perfect is considered beautiful. I went with my trip to the question of whether it is to the way we deal here with the theme Beauty alternatives. That's why I went for five weeks in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott and have spoken to many people. And I came across this different perspective. Tine Wittler born in 1973, was known by the RTL facility Show Einsatz in 4 walls. For her book Who wants to be beautiful, must travel they put on the Malhafa, Mauritania traditional cloth robe TIME: You also pleased that in Mauritania many girls and women are fattened downright with camel milk or medicines to make them as quickly as possible to gain weight and have more chances on the marriage market write. For research purposes They even even visited one of these traditional Mäster interior and can infuse the gaveuse three liters of high-calorie within four hours camel milk ... Wittler: However - and I am sick. Camel milk has a different protein structure than cow's milk. My immune system overreacted and started on my return, to attack my vessels. No beautiful story. In Mauritania, women are sick of this practice, and luckily this tradition is on the decline. However, it is unfortunately increasingly replaced by a variant: Some women are now taking a medication, which are actually intended for cattle fattening, to be increasing. For people that is very dangerous. TIME: Sounds no longer as generous. Wittler: What women - even under the pressure of other women - to do to comply with an ideal of beauty, here is how there are often self-destructive madness. TIME: How did the Mauritanians react to the curious German? Wittler: You were happy about the interest. I was almost everywhere looked with curiosity and openness and with the hint of a smile. And not because I'm around! But because I was wearing the Malhafa as blond European woman, the traditional cloth robe. content Read On one side Page 1 - Dick's beautiful! Page 2 - Search with Malhafa TIME: Did you want to attract attention by using your body less? The looks on the other can make a pretty hard traveling Sometimes. Wittler: staring I will anyway. That is the normal case for me. Learning to bear the Malhafa, was an important part of the research for me. The fact that a European woman to Mauritania comes and does this trouble, was new for the locals. Because that's not so easy. You have to move quite differently, so that up to five meters long panel will not slip. In Mauritania, it says: If a very slender woman attracts, it looks as if you had a piece of cloth wrapped around a toothpick. Only exuberant shapes bring this garment to vibrate. That is the secret of the matter. The women have in a certain way to go. And this type also has something erotic. At the same time, however, is hidden from view and does not show any skin. TIME: What else have you experienced in this world turned upside down? Tine Wittler Wittler: After I started wearing the Malhafa, I got churning marriage proposals. Thus, the Mauritanian men signaled their interest in a woman. Moreover, many doors have opened to me. And I was able to perform with different people talking about why they find fat women beautiful. Time and? What is the reason? Wittler: It is all about that round shapes are a sign of prosperity, of good family and generosity. And also that he ought to know a woman immediately as such. This is done precisely, among other things through the corners. TIME: One important aspect of both of the large one as well as the travel is completely missing in your book: you tell little of what you have eaten in Mauritania and how you find it tasty. Does this have anything to do with it, that we want to be marketed as fat women in no case with food in conjunction? Wittler: Interesting point. This is me not even noticed. I have just experienced on this trip so much that the food has not played a major role. Lunch we mostly brought us a couscous, and that was it. Plenty of choice of food, there was not anyway. TIME: You write that they had never before traveled a lot. These modified experimental arrangement in Mauritania ... Wittler: modified experimental arrangement! I like that. That hits the nail on the head! If you can look at life so, then everything is good. Then perhaps no longer rubs you on so much under the pressure of ideals. It's all a big experiment. And the leaves are changing. TIME: So has under the impact of travel also changes your view on our slimming dictation? Wittler: Yes. I was once again clearly stuck which capitalist interests behind our Western ideal of beauty. You can only make coal with people who are unhappy and who think that there is something to buy, what helps it. When it came to the usual in our devaluation of other people because of their appearance, my girlfriend Mauritanian Wafa said something very clever. She said Tine, criticism you should only take from people who of their own lives well. They are not many. And interestingly enough, very few of them will criticize you because of your externals. TIME: Can we say that you are with the subject being fat after this trip through? Wittler: Yes, I can say clearly.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Photography-From-last-exhibition-entitled-through-thick-and-thin-Woman-Portraits-Nude-Collection-Original/462428/2809423/view