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freenewsreport · 2 months ago

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National Dog Survey 2024: Unleashing Canine Insights!

Dogs—man’s best friend—have always held a special place in our hearts and homes. But how much do we truly know about our four-legged companions across the country? That’s where the National Dog Survey 2024 comes into play! This survey is not just a simple questionnaire; it’s an in-depth look at dog ownership trends, popular breeds, behaviors, and how dogs have become more integrated into our everyday lives. If you're curious to know what the survey reveals about our beloved canines, you've come to the right place.

Introduction

What makes dogs so special? Why do they capture our hearts, fill our homes with joy, and become such loyal companions? Well, the National Dog Survey 2024 aims to answer those questions and more. Whether you're a proud dog owner or just love learning about animals, this survey is packed with surprising insights and trends about the role dogs play in modern society.

Ready to dive in? Let’s explore the key findings, touching on idiomatic expressions that reveal our love for dogs, the transition of dogs from pets to family members, and the behaviors that make us love them even more. Along the way, I’ll share some fun facts and interesting takeaways from this comprehensive survey.

What is the National Dog Survey 2024?

The National Dog Survey 2024 is an annual research effort designed to assess dog ownership trends in the U.S. It digs deep into topics like:

The most popular breeds of 2024

Changes in how we care for and interact with our dogs

Common behavioral issues and solutions

How dogs influence our mental and physical health

The survey is conducted across various demographics to ensure a well-rounded view of dog ownership. It asks questions like: Which breeds are the most popular? What are the most common health concerns? How have dog ownership patterns shifted over time?

Most Popular Breeds in the National Dog Survey 2024

Dogs come in all shapes and sizes, and every year, we see a mix of consistent favorites and surprising newcomers. Based on the National Dog Survey 2024, here are the top breeds making waves this year:

Labrador Retriever – America’s classic favorite.

French Bulldog – Small yet mighty, still a fan favorite!

Golden Retriever – Friendly, loyal, and forever in our hearts.

Dachshund – Those little legs are stealing the show!

Australian Shepherd – A working dog with brains and beauty.

It’s interesting to see how these breeds continually win the hearts of owners. But why do we love them so much? That’s where the survey gets even more interesting!

Why Idiomatic Expressions Reveal Our Love for Dogs

Ever heard someone say they’re "in the doghouse" or that something is a "dog-eat-dog world"? Our language is filled with idiomatic expressions involving dogs, and that says a lot about how intertwined they are in our culture.

The National Dog Survey 2024 doesn’t just focus on statistics—it also highlights the emotional connection we have with our pets. Dogs are more than animals; they’re part of our lives in a way that even influences the way we speak. Some of the most common idiomatic expressions featured in the survey include:

"Let sleeping dogs lie" – a reminder to avoid stirring up trouble.

"Top dog" – signifying someone at the top of their game.

"Every dog has its day" – meaning everyone gets a chance to shine.

These phrases reflect the deep bond humans share with dogs and how they’ve woven their way into everyday life.

Dogs: From Pets to Family Members

Over the years, our relationships with dogs have evolved significantly. According to the National Dog Survey 2024 uk, nearly 90% of dog owners now consider their pets to be family members, not just animals. Can you believe it?

Gone are the days when dogs were simply kept for work or security. Today, they sleep in our beds, eat special meals, and sometimes even wear cute outfits! The survey shows that more people are investing in:

Pet insurance – because our dogs deserve the best healthcare.

Doggy daycare – to keep them happy and socialized while we’re away.

Special diets – tailored to their unique needs, whether it’s grain-free, organic, or even vegan!

Dogs have truly transitioned from companions to full-fledged family members.

The Rise of Pet Pampering

One of the key trends highlighted in the National Dog Survey 2024 is the increase in "pet pampering." Dog spas, massages, and even acupuncture are on the rise, proving that people are willing to go the extra mile to ensure their fur babies live their best lives. I mean, who can resist a spoiled pup?

Health and Wellness: Dogs Keep Us Fit!

Another interesting finding from the National Dog Survey 2024 is that dogs aren’t just good for our emotional well-being—they’re great for our physical health, too! A whopping 72% of dog owners report that having a dog encourages them to get more exercise. From daily walks to playing fetch at the park, dogs motivate us to stay active.

But the benefits don’t stop there. The survey shows that owning a dog:

Reduces stress – petting a dog is a proven stress-buster.

Lowers blood pressure – just hanging out with a dog can calm your nerves.

Improves social connections – dog parks are the perfect place to meet fellow pet lovers.

Common Behavioral Issues and How to Address Them

While dogs bring endless joy, the National Dog Survey 2024 also shines a light on some common behavioral problems that owners face. Luckily, most issues are easy to manage with the right approach! Some of the most reported challenges include:

Separation anxiety – which affects about 35% of dogs.

Excessive barking – especially in smaller breeds.

Chewing – particularly in puppies and younger dogs.

Solutions for Happy Pups

The survey also offers solutions to these behavioral concerns, such as:

Training programs – teaching your dog commands to reduce anxiety and bad habits.

Interactive toys – to keep them mentally stimulated.

Regular exercise – a tired dog is a happy dog!

What the Future Holds for Dog Ownership

With dog ownership continuing to grow, the National Dog Survey 2024 predicts even more changes on the horizon. From the development of smart collars that monitor health to virtual dog trainers, the future looks bright for our furry friends.

One thing’s for sure—dogs will always have a special place in our hearts, and the National Dog Survey 2024 is proof of that!

Wrapping It Up: Dogs Are Here to Stay!

The National Dog Survey 2024 has given us a deeper understanding of our canine companions. From their top breeds to behavioral quirks, it’s clear that dogs are much more than pets—they’re family. They help us stay active, reduce our stress, and provide endless entertainment with their loving and sometimes goofy antics.

#National Dog #Dog Survey

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adamfinchley · 11 months ago

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HOW LONG CAN WE FEED THE WORLD

The population of the world has doubled in just seventy years from four billion to eight billion. It is believed there are more people alive today than have lived in all the previous generations added all together. There are a couple of major problems with this statistic. The first is the worrying possibility that if we continue multiplying at this rate, there won't be enough food to keep us all alive. It has already reached the point where much of the food we eat is not as wholesome as it should be. Farming is run on an industrial scale with the old tradition of rotation in farming where fields were left fallow every three years, to intensive farming and sometimes two crops a year instead of one. The result is a drastic reduction in soil nutrients and the adding of artificial chemicals that do nothing to enhance flavours. The fact that farming is referred to as an industry, would have made farmers of old cringe with fear or turn in their grave. Industrial food preparation has spawned giant supermarkets that have made people lazy and lose the art of fresh food cooking. Another problem with an ever increasing population, is that people live longer and modern medicine keeps them going on and on. Despite the staggering eight billion people and growing, it is astonishing to think that we are all unique. Since the discovery of DNA and the increased knowledge about our microbiome, these two areas can never be the same in two people. Our own internal collection of many trillions of bacteria and fungi, along with resident viruses, have evolved since the beginning of time. It seems likely that the microbiome that is the core to our immune system dictates our life span. When we eat we are not just feeding ourselves in order to get all necessary nutrients of minerals and vitamins, but we are also feeding our friendly gut bacteria. They are all waiting the next meal and when we taste something new, it often reacts with displeasure. Just think about how often a change of diet when we go on an overseas holiday can lead to some tummy upset.

It's not your tummy of course, it's the intestines unable or unhappy about a food or drink that it does not recognise. Take a supplement like Oxy Powder next time you travel overseas, and it might solve the problem.

Oxy Powder consists of magnesium oxide and citric acid. It will keep the good bacteria happy by flushing out any toxic waste that the microbiome is struggling with. An unhappy gut will frequently lead to some problems such as depression, irritability, mood swing or just a headache. This is because it has recently been discovered that the brain and the gut microbiome are more closely connected than ever believed before. The health of one is dependent on the other to a point where many medical experts consider the two areas may be thought of as one organ connected by powerful nerve system.

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jsms01 · 2 years ago

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'Protein hunger' from highly-processed food diet drives overeating

A year-long study of the dietary habits of 9,341 Australians has backed growing evidence that highly processed and refined foods are the leading contributor of rising obesity rates in the Western world. The new study, conducted by the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre (CPC), was based on a national nutrition and physical activity survey undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and further backs the 'Protein Leverage Hypothesis'.

What is the “Protein Leverage Hypothesis”?

First put forward in 2005 by professors Raubenheimer and Stephen Simpson, the Protein Leverage Hypothesis argues that people overeat fats and carbohydrates because of the body's strong appetite for protein, which the body actively favours over everything else. Because so much of modern diets consist of highly processed and refined foods -- which are low in protein -- people are driven to consume more energy-dense foods until they satisfy their protein demand.

Processed foods lack protein, drive craving

"As people consume more junk foods or highly processed and refined foods, they dilute their dietary protein and increase their risk of being overweight and obese, which we know increases the risk of chronic disease," said the study’s lead author. "It's increasingly clear that our bodies eat to satisfy a protein target," added Professor David Raubenheimer, the Leonard Ullmann Chair in Nutritional Ecology at the School of Life and Environmental Sciences. "But the problem is that the food in Western diets has increasingly less protein. So, you have to consume more of it to reach your protein target, which effectively elevates your daily energy intake. "Humans, like many other species, have a stronger appetite for protein than for the main energy-providing nutrients of fats and carbohydrates. That means that if the protein in our diet is diluted with fats and carbohydrates, we will eat more energy to get the protein that our bodies crave."

Protein essential to good health

Proteins are the building blocks of life: every cell in the body contains them, and they are used to repair cells or make new ones; and it's estimated that over a million forms of protein are needed to allow a human body to function. Protein sources include meats, dairy, fish, eggs, soy, nuts, beans and lentils, and some grains such as farro, freekeh and quinoa.

The study findings

The University of Sydney scientists analysed data from a cross-sectional survey of nutrition and physical activity in 9,341 adults, known as the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey. They found the population's average kilocalorie intake was 2,064, with the average percentage of calories from protein being just 18.4%, compared with 43.5% from carbohydrates and from 30.9% from fat, and just 2.2% from fibre and 4.3% from alcohol. They then plotted energy intake versus the time of consumption and found that the pattern matched that predicted by the Protein Leverage Hypothesis. Those who consumed lower amounts of protein in their first meal of the day went on to increase their overall food intake in subsequent meals, whereas those who received the recommended amount of protein did not -- and, in fact, declined their food intake throughout the day.

'Protein hunger' found to drive overeating

They also found a statistically significant difference between groups by the third meal of the day: those with a higher proportion of energy from protein at the start of the day had much lower total energy intake for the day. Meanwhile, those who consumed foods low in protein at the start of the day proceeded to increase consumption, indicating they were seeking to compensate with a higher consumption of overall energy. This is despite the fact the first meal was the smallest for both groups, with the least amount of energy and food consumed, whereas the last meal was the largest. Participants with a lower proportion of protein than recommended at the first meal consumed more discretionary foods (e.g., energy-dense foods high in saturated fats, sugars, salt, or alcohol) throughout the day, and less of the recommended five food groups (e.g., grains, vegetables, fruit, dairy, meats). Consequently, they had an overall poorer diet at each mealtime, with their percentage of protein energy decreasing even as their discretionary food intake rose, an effect the scientists call ‘protein dilution’.

Effect seen in other studies

Scientists have seen this effect before in other studies for more than a decade, including randomized control trials. While many factors contribute to excess weight gain – including eating patterns, physical activity levels and sleep routines – the University of Sydney scientists argue the body's powerful demand for protein, and its lack in highly processed and refined foods, is a key driver of calorie overconsumption and obesity in the Western world.

Explanation for obesity

"The results support an integrated ecological and mechanistic explanation for obesity, in which low-protein, highly-processed foods lead to higher energy intake in response to a nutrient imbalance driven by a dominant appetite for protein," said Professor Raubenheimer. "It supports a central role for protein in the obesity epidemic, with significant implications for global health." Source: Obesity, November 3, 2022. All research on this web site is the property of Leslie Beck Nutrition Consulting Inc. and is protected by copyright. Keep in mind that research on these matters continues daily and is subject to change. The information presented is not intended as a substitute for medical treatment. It is intended to provide ongoing support of your healthy lifestyle practices. Source link Read the full article

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scripttorture · 4 years ago

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I hope that helps :)

Available on Wordpress.

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#writing advice #tw torture #tw racism #tw police brutality #tw transphobia #tw ableism #disability #clean torture #tear gas #pepper #America #American National Style #jails #abuse of prisoners #prison systems #blind characters #paralysis

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smalltragedy · 4 years ago

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* herman tommeraas, cis man + he/him | you know donovan mercer, right? they’re twenty one, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, four months? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to ice boy by corbin like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole fear hidden behind a stoic stare, bleeding from your nose and from your gums, and the night sky with all its stars, with all its mystery and unknown thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is march 15th, so they’re a pisces, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( james, 21, est, they/them )

yes hi i did bring ducky back. i promised. please love him jst the same im sry he had 2 go fr a while.

ABUSE, VIOLENCE, DRUG ABUSE, EYE INJURY, GANG MENTIONS TW.

mini playlist.

father ;; the front bottoms / ice boy ;; corbin / lose yourself ;; eminem / my own worst enemy ;; lit / say it ain’t so ;; weezer / maps ;; yeah yeah yeahs / star stopping ;; lil peep / benz truck ;; lil peep / trauma ;; nf / northern downpour ;; panic! at the disco / your graduation ;; modern baseball.

statistics.

full name: donovan mercer.

nickname(s): ducky.

birthday: march 15th, 1999.

zodiac: pisces sun, aquarius moon, aquarius ascending.

label: the despondent.

hometown: hell’s kitchen, new york.

sexuality: bisexual (bt not out).

pinterest.

biography.

born in hell’s kitchen to vinny mercer and a mother who ran out of the hospital as fast as she could, as soon as she was able. she’d gone so quick that she’d never given ducky a middle name - just donovan. the younger brother of mercy (shoutout 2 bri)

his father’s the right-hand man of a well known mob boss named lars amaretto, and so, you can imagine the kind of environment ducky (& mercy) grew up in. weapon & drug dealings, interrogations, violence around every corner. a brutal way of living, no place to raise two children.

implied abuse tw // their father was not kind, or merciful - and ducky was a runt compared to mercy, small and sensitive and kinder than his brother. weak, and filled with softness, with big brown eyes and a smile that should’ve been able to melt ice - but it didn’t. and it never did.

he cried often, and was punished often for it until he learned to stop crying - at least in front of their father, and mercy too, at some point. only in the comfort of his room, with doors locked and blinds drawn closed. implied abuse end of tw

he dreamed, too, dreamt often. he’d been obsessed with outer space since childhood, as long as he could remember. school had once shown man landing on the moon, and ducky wanted that. wanted to be that, wanted to be there, up with the stars, discovering the unthinkable.

abuse mention // but it was discouraged, heavily so - projects destroyed by an angry fist only to be reconstructed to the best of ducky’s ability, with mercy’s help, all throughout the night. he’d saved up for a telescope when he was thirteen, but it’d been destroyed almost immediately when discovered. not a day went by that their father didn’t tell ducky that he was, first and foremost, stupid - and would always be. end of abuse mention

to the point where he stopped trying, simply. he never graduated high school.

abuse mention // anxiety mention // anyways … at the age of fifteen, he’d have enough. he was sick of the abuse, the pain - the crying behind closed doors, the sneaking around, the constant feeling of needing to escape, impending doom, anxiety attacks in the shower and in school bathrooms and at the back of the bus where nobody sat besides him because he was - that boy, the son of that man, the brother of that brute. he’d been a teenager and he’d already been an outcast by all means - an outcast in his family, no matter how hard he tried to appease vinny, and an outsider everywhere else.

the plan took months of preparation, paper ripped out from the back of his school notebook and stuffed beneath his mattress, details of his escape from a checklist of essential items to makeshift maps of bus routes to different cities.

all for nothing, the moment vinny discovered it, the edge of a map sticking out after a rushed morning.

heavy abuse tw // violence tw // it’d been the same day he’d gotten the nickname - ducky - the way the wound wrapped below his mouth, and the way it’d begun to heal - puckered, at first, like a duck’s bill. a better name than eyepatch, at the very least. the scar’d run from the arch of his left brow, across his eye, down his cheek, and below his lip. his eye sustained injury, and not allowed to see a doctor about it, it never healed properly.

eye injury // corneal scarring, impairing his left eye. astronaut dreams destroyed, but not in a matter of seconds. in the matter of an hour, maybe more - and that’d been much, much worse.

he stopped trying to run away after that. tried to be more like their father, more like mercy - more brutish, less feeling. spoke less, and less. spoke hardly at all, unless spoken to first.

still didn’t matter. still lived his days in fear, still knew it’d never change. nothing would ever change.

the mercer brothers have been floating around the north carolina scene for ~5ish years now, trailing after their father who is consistently chasing after their mother with no luck. they’re currently residing in palm motel. can we get a hell yeah?

personality & facts.

he’s actually very? intimidating? when you first meet him. mercy’s younger brother, with a criminal’s record almost as long as his - a scarred face and a mean resting face. it takes at least five minutes of conversation beyond small talk before it starts to weigh on your mind that maybe, he’s not as bad as he seems.

and - well, he isn’t. but he’s guarded - so guarded. more-so than mercy, because mercy’s quicker to anger, quicker to react, and ducky tries so hard to drown out the noise. but he’s not a robot, and his facial expressions can give him away in a second.

he’s seen what happened when mercy had a glimpse of something good in his life (though, it wasn’t actually good at all - mercy had someone, at least. at the very least) - and how quickly it’d all fallen, and so ducky puts a barrier between him and others. distant, as much as he can be.

it hurts, because ducky isn’t by any means antisocial. he doesn’t hate people - he wants to be normal, wants to have friends and a girlfriend - or maybe even a boyfriend, god - but he’s so afraid. ducky is, by nature, a very scared person. terrified to his very core. he knows there is always eyes on him, and mercy too, and he knows that nothing is worth getting someone else hurt.

you know him as mercy’s little brother, and he’s quiet you know that - but his name is ducky, and you think - he’s not too bad. and he knows this, knows the doubts. knows that it’ll get back to mercy, eventually, that his brother is nothing more but a pussy. so he fights more than he’d like to, against the guilt that buries itself deep within his chest with every thrown fist. he throws up, afterwards, in the garbage can outside. too much to drink, he says, rare grin - because grins are convincing, and grins with bleeding gums are intimidating. he learned that from his brother.

violence makes him sick to his very stomach. he can’t watch horror films, or even action films, without feeling queasy. there’s been more times than he can count where he’d thrown up after a fight, or after an interrogation, usually in private but in the occasional presence of mercy.

they fight, a lot, sometimes - ducky’s too soft, too weak, and it’s bad and it’s terrible and ducky knows that mercy’s afraid. for him, of their father, and his wraith. ducky knows that if mercy isn’t hard on him now, their father will be on him harder. still. there’s resentment, small but there, like the flame of a match. he doesn’t know what’ll happen when there’s nothing more to burn, but he doesn’t want to find out. he’s afraid to find out.

he’s still in love with the moon and the stars, and the planet’s - and their moons, too. its subdued, now, though. a silent passion - one that is often not watered, left for rot. he sneaks into engineering lectures at the community college, occasionally, or physics, or whatever peeks the small curiosity inside of him.

commits small acts of kindness when nobody looks. doors held open, the meals of elderly folk eating alone suddenly paid. picks up litter besides trash bins, and always cooks extra than what he needs and leaves the rest for mercy. it’s these small things that make him feel, just the slightest, better about himself.

because god - there are layers and layers of self-loathing. it’s a labyrinth, and he’d never speak of it - but he can’t stand his own reflection. doesn’t keep photos of his family, only a few sparingly of mercy.

a liar, sad to say. has little experience with. ehem. intimacy, and the bodies of others, but lies often and says that he does. mostly to his brother, but word travels quick - and he’s not nearly as much as a fuckboy as is rumored, having only been with a handful of girls, if even that. it’s better this way - if people know that he throws others away like they’re nothing.

he ghosts often, too, if he does get to talking with anybody. the moment ducky feels a spark, something pulling at his poor heart, he ghosts. he develops feelings too easily, too often than he’d like. has left many friendships without explanation, because of this. you know the priest in fleabag season 2? the scene where he comes to fleabag’s house? yeah. tht’s ducky!

has maybe half the amount of clients that mercy does, but he’s working on it.

pretends he doesn’t care as much as he does. pretends a lot, like there’s nothing soft to him. but a trained eye can see clearly through this. even so - even if you can see that there’s more to ducky than violence and drug deals - you’d still have to break through a dozen walls.

in the rare occasion you get him talking - i mean, talking a lot - he’ll talk about space. ramble off a dozen useless facts about dwarf stars and black holes and all of jupiter’s moons. about a video game he likes, about nothing and everything at all. but as soon as he begins, he stops - embarrassed. apologizes, shuts his mouth, disappears to wherever. anywhere but there.

drug abuse // has a. complicated relationship with benzos n xanax n a various assortment of painkillers. ironic bc he hates drugs due to. his chosen career n wldnt do most of what they sell, bt yknow. this ws inevitable. hates beer bt forces himself 2 drink it bc toxic masculinity probably man idk.

overall just … he’s a soft boy, with a big heart - bigger than anybody else in his family, that’s for sure, but his exterior is far different than that, and it’s hard to tell.

violence mention // purposely loses fights so that he doesn’t have to severely hurt someone. because sometimes he just - he was raised in a violent environment, and sometimes he snaps. sometimes ducky just fucking snaps. and his vision goes red, and he can’t control himself - because need to survive kicks in, and violence is all he knows. if someone pushes ducky - pushes him enough, he breaks. he fights back. it’s all he knows. it’s all he knows. it’s all he knows, and that’s not an excuse - and he knows this, and god, he’s so tired. he is so. tired.

wanted plots.

u look good tonight ... ;; wld love a connection in which he is feeling emotionally compromised n maybe kinda hs a thing w someone bt hes like. very unreliable n kinda ghosting bc he is very afraid n it wld b maybe bad fr them to b anything other than hook ups. cld apply to smth very intensive or smth very surface lvl i’ll take thousands.

palms sweaty ... moms spaghetti ... ;; ppl tht ducky just hs fkn brawled. cld b anybody fr any reason. ducky prob lost n he prob lost on purpose bt also ur muse cld maybe kick ducky’s ass? cld b a fake fight cld b a real fight. cld b a npc fight n then ur muse cn patch up ducky? possibilities endless. maybe they hv a nice spaghetti dinner n both of them r both bruised up frm their fight. sometimes fights end in spaghetti dinners. thanks eminnem or whatever.

own worse enemy... ;; ducky needs friends bt hes bad at making friends n sometimes he fks shit up by pushing ppl away n self sabotaging n being a major cunt n sometimes he just ghosts bt hes always very remorseful abt it? this cld b a very like. up n down friendship of any type its just. where do they stand. r they friends. r they enemies. r they lovers? probably not lovers. prob just platonic. but still its the thought tht counts.

and also ;; literally just like. anything. clients who buy off of him n like. casual friends n casual enemies n casual hookups. ppl hes ghosted. ppl hes embarrassed himself in front of. maybe ur muse tries to get ducky to socialize or maybe ducky is like. u are too much fr me. n ur muse runs off crying. endless possibilities all u hv to do is call this number now.

#irvingintro #abuse tw #violence tw #drug abuse tw #gangs mention #eye injury tw #chuckles evilly #im a madman #anyways this is like essentially a repost

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forresteverly-a · 4 years ago

Text

TASK 001. → statistics.

Forrest James Everly

BASIC INFORMATION.

Full Name: Forrest James Everly

Nickname(s): When Forrest Gump came out, there were quite a few people that referred to him as Gump. During football, it was also not uncommon for his teammates or coaches to call him by his last name Everly.

Age: 36

Date of Birth: May 18th, 1984

Hometown: Mystic, CT

Current Location: Mystic, CT

Nationality: American

Gender: Cisgender Male

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Orientation: Heterosexual/Heteroromantic

Religion: Christian → His uncle ( Hadley’s father ) was the pastor of House of Hosanna, and he was very involved in the church before the fire. After the fire, however, he lost a lot of connection to the communal side of his faith. Now, he keeps much of his practice very private at home.

Political Affiliation: Liberal

Occupation: Farmer on the Everly Family Farm

Living Arrangements: A small flat that he lives in by himself that he had help furnishing after being told he could not make his modern flat look like an old barn. It looks something like this. Forrest has a bed at the family farm, but he seldom sleeps there.

Language(s) Spoken: Fluent in English; Conversational ( poor ) Italian from his mother’s side.

Accent: General Northeastern American accent. . ( Can be heard here. )

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

Face Claim: Michiel Huisman

Hair Colour: Naturally brown, like this. He keeps his hair shorter during summer and longer during the winter.

Eye Colour: Light Blue

Height: 6′0′′

Weight: 180 lbs

Build: built, toned ( nsfw: x )

Tattoos: N/A

Piercings: N/A

Clothing Style: Very practical wear, especially when farming. His go-to style when not working is very much the stereotypical outdoorsy, granola east-coast style. ( x )

Usual Expression: Fairly neutral, bordering on a bit ‘gruff’ ( x )

Distinguishing Characteristics: bright blue eyes, laughter lines around his eyes, signature beard, large arms and shoulders from years of farming, thick head of hair.

HEALTH.

Physical Ailments: severe TBI, migraines

Neurological Conditions: PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, Insomnia

Allergies: N/A

Sleeping Habits: His sleep schedule is seldom consistent. Due to the nature of his job, he tries to go to bed around 9:00 PM to fall asleep by at least 10 and wake up at dawn to get to the farm, but he’ll spend hours tossing and turning, wake up randomly, etc.

Eating Habits: He is a vegetarian and attempts to eat as little animal byproducts as possible. Much of the food that he eats is directly from the farm, and if it is not, it’s usually locally sourced.

Exercise Habits: Because the nature of his job is so physical, he tends to not do much in terms of high intensity work-outs. However, he loves hiking and jogging with Rosie, and his therapist has gotten him into yoga.

Emotional Stability: After years of intense therapy, he is a fairly emotionally stable guy. He can look at things in a fairly rational way and react appropriately both externally and internally.

Sociability: Forrest has never been the most social person. He’s not socially awkward by any means, but he is much more reserved than his friends and values his alone time.

Body Temperature: He’s usually fairly warm.

Addictions: N/A.

Drug Use: N/A.

Alcohol Use: He drinks fairly regularly. Though he’ll always appreciate a beer at the peak of his hike or at Moonie’s, his favorite drink is a Pinot Noir.

PERSONALITY.

Label: The Boy Next Door

Positive Traits: hard-working, protective, grounded

Negative Traits: obsessive, sarcastic, stubborn

Goals/Desires: More than anything he wants stability and a family of his own.

Fears: Losing more loved ones, his mental and cognitive health declining to the point of no recognition

Hobbies: cooking, hiking, gardening

Habits: ruffling his hair, mumbling, has to drink coffee to wake up, rubs/scratches beard

FAVOURITES.

Weather: Brisk, but warm under the sun

Colour: Forest green

Music: Folk, Indie Folk, Rock, Jazz, & old RnB. See examples here.

Movies: anything associated with his childhood & movie nights with Dyl & Hads. He does love sci-fi flicks from his childhood like Star Wars and classic Dramadies like Forrest Gump ( his instagram handle is based off of his love for this movie ).

Sport: Football

Beverage: Black coffee, water with lemon, floral tea, pinot noir.

Food: Anything his mom made, Rosie’s full menu ( vegetarian of course )

Animal: Cows

FAMILY.

Father: Thomas Stevie Everly; farmer ( alive ).

Mother: Rosie James; owner of Rosie’s Diner ( deceased ).

Sibling(s): Dylan James Everly, 33 years old ( alive ).

Children: N/A

Pet(s): Rosie ( a mixed breed dog ), three cats ( Tommy, Gump, Skywalker ), farm animals

Family’s Financial Status: Comfortable. Their family owns the small farm, which they’ve run to sell various products. The Everly’s also own and run Rosie’s Diner.

EXTRA.

Zodiac Sign: Taurus Sun; Taureans can be gentle and they can be fierce, they don’t like to be pushed, they have strong opinions, and they love their home comforts. Aquarius Rising. Capricorn Moon.

MBTI: ISFJ-T “The Defender” // These people tend to be warm and unassuming in their own steady way. They’re efficient and responsible, giving careful attention to practical details in their daily lives. // “Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others.” // At their best, they are supportive, reliable and patient, imaginative and observant, enthusiastic, loyal and hard-working, and have good practical skills. At their worst, they are humble and shy, take things too personally, repress their feelings, overload themselves, reluctant to change, and too altruistic.

Enneagram: Type 6 is also known as The Skeptic. Sixes are preoccupied with security, seek safety, and like to be prepared for problems.

Temperament: Plegmatic

Moral Alignment: True Neutral

Primary Vice: Lust

Primary Virtue: Humility

Element: Earth

#mystic: task #✧┆tasks ( all ).#✧┆tasks ( 001 ).#// ooc: guess who finally did this

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beardycarrot · 4 years ago

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Alright! Now that I’ve finished Aliens Ate My Homework (kids’ books really are just a couple hour read for an adult, huh?), I have in mind some things that I think are important for the movie adaptation to stick to.

The look of the characters should be the easiest thing to nail... their outfits probably won’t match what’s described in the book (movies always feel the need to change that in some capacity), but I don’t really care about that. What I’m more interested in is how they portray the less humanoid characters. Pong, Grakker, and Snout can all be played by actors in costumes, but Tar Gibbons is described as having a lemon-shaped body with four legs, a long neck, and a turtle-like head with bulging bug eyes; that’s gonna be a fully CG character.

The other is Phil, a potted plant. Basically a big stalk covered in leaves and vines, with a flower where a head would be, who moves around with thrusters on his pot. He has a symbiotic relationship with creature called Plink, described as kind of a blue cat-monkey. I really like how this illustration portrays it; even if it looks more like some kind of cartoonie bug, I would be perfectly happy if this is the design the movie goes for. These two are also going to be fully CG, so unless they base it entirely on the description provided for Plink, base its design on an illustration from another artist, or just do their own thing with it, I can’t imagine them finding a way to mess these designs up... but who knows.

BKR, the evil alien, should be interesting. He’s described as having blue skin, pale orange spikes covering his head (I was picturing maybe a dozen four-inch-long spikes, but the spike density could also be interpreted as covering his head like hair), and... otherwise, looking like Shirley Temple? That’s gonna be interesting, but this is also the character I expect them to take the most liberties with. I can’t say why... maybe just from experience with this kind of adaptation.

There are a few major plot points that I think they have to adhere to. First, that the good aliens’ ship is malfunctioning (the illustrations portray the ship as a traditional flying saucer, but I don’t think the design matters much) and they’re stuck shrunken to two inches tall until the end. That’s... basically the only reason for Rod, the protagonist, to be involved. The aliens need to repair their ship, so Rod has to carry them around to investigate BKR.

Secondly, they need to eat his homework. It doesn’t have to be the papier mache volcano and math assignment portrayed in the book, but, I mean, it IS the title of the movie.

Grakker and Snout have an unspecified relationship... Snout is very, VERY clearly based on Spock from Star Trek (in fact, I think the third book in this series is called The Search for Snout, a play on the third Star Trek movie, The Search for Spock), so it might just be a close friendship, but they share a room on the ship while everyone else has their own, so who knows. At one point it’s mentioned that they’re “bonded”. Potentially Gayliens. I don’t remember what their relationship is like in later books.

Next, Rod is incapable of lying. There definitely won’t be a flashback to the traumatizing-to-a-toddler reason for it, but that’s Rod’s defining characteristic: he doesn’t, and can’t, tell lies. Who knows whether that will be included.

Finally, Rod’s dad having been missing for quite a while isn’t a huge part of the story, but it does play an important role. Him lying to Rod’s mom strengthened Rod’s inability to lie (you’re not told what the lie was, but it’s implied that this was the night he left), and towards the end of the story BKR claims to know where he went, and implies that he’s no longer on Earth. I don’t remember if this is a plot point in future books, but Bruce Coville did something pretty similar in My Teacher Flunked The Planet, so it could be. This is the kind of thing that adaptations will just arbitrarily change, though, so who knows.

So! With all that out of the way, it’s time to watch the movie!

...Okay, first thing’s first, the opening credits of the movie are set to shots of a model solar system, so I’m assuming that’s the replacement for the volcano. I’ll allow it. Also, William Shatner is in this movie? What? As who?? The only adult male character in the story is an android of a man in his thirties, and he’s only there for what would amount to two minutes of screen time at the end. Rod’s grandfather is mentioned, but only once, in the context of “this is my grandfather’s farmland”.

Alright, definitely a modern setting. I guess the model isn’t for a science fair, instead being something Rod’s filming on his smartphone with his mom, twin siblings, and... his dad. Now, this looked like is was going to be an adaptation fail, but it turns out this was a flashback to the night he went missing. Clever!

Less clever is this abysmal color grading meant to represent a dark and stormy night, and the fact that they live in a cul-de-sac instead of being out in the middle of some farmland... but that’s not that significant of a change.

For some reason the story now takes place in the winter instead of mid-May, making me wonder where BKR (in the guise of Billy Becker) is getting the bugs to smash against Rod’s head. More importantly, as revealed at the end of the book, most intelligent life in the universe is about three feet tall, which is why BKR is pretending to be a kid while hiding on Earth. Instead of being a foot shorter than Rod, however, he’s now taller. Weird. Rod also now has his cousin Elspeth staying with his family for winter break, for... literally no reason that I can think of. Elspeth is a character from the second book in the series, but she wasn’t even mentioned in the first.

Grakker isn’t quite book-accurate, but not entirely inaccurate either... except for the color of his skin. He’s supposed to be green. What the hell. They whitewashed an alien. On the upside, the dialog in this scene is all pretty book-accurate. Unfortunately, they lose a lot of points with Madame Pong, who is supposed to be a very calm, understanding, zen character... but comes across as a little condescending. Also, this:

What? What?? Why did they keep this book dialog, when the house is VERY CLEARLY part of some kind of housing development area? I legitimately have no idea what they were thinking.

I also have no idea what’s going on here. Elspeth is... I guess looking through family photos on a computer? Ignore the subtitles, that’s from a weather report on tv. What I’m curious about is what exactly is going on in the photo. That’s clearly Rod’s dad, from three years ago... but recent pictures of the twins? Did Rod’s mom, who apparently runs a pet photography business, Photoshop a family ski trip that never happened? Is that what’s being implied here??

We’re then introduced to the rest of the aliens, and... wow, I can’t describe my disappointment. Remember how I said Tar Gibbons and Phil would be fully CG characters? Yeah, that, uhh... that didn’t happen. I was hoping they would do as much of this movie with practical effects as possible, but I meant that in the “get good SFX people” way, not the “do everything as cheaply as possible” way. They’re literally both just guys in suits.

Yeah sure eye stalks and a thick neck are absolutely the same thing as bulging eyes and a long neck. More importantly, look at that clearly human body with extra legs just kinda hanging off the hips. Phil is just as bad. You can’t really tell from still frames, but yeah, he has two vines with leaves coming off of his human-body-proportioned stalk at shoulder level and moves like a guy in a suit... and for some reason, his flower is split into halves so that it can be puppeteered to move like a mouth. Despite the fact that in the book his flower doesn’t even play a part in communication. They could’ve easily just installed a light inside the flower and explained that he communicates through pod burps, and would’ve been perfectly book-accurate. Why make this specific change. Also, if you’ve read this far, you’re probably wondering where Snout is. Yeah, uh. Me too.

Anyway, they appear to have combined the characters of BKR and Arnie into one person to simplify things (but then why introduce Elspeth??), and for no readily apparent reason, changed BKR, which is pronounced how you would expect, into B’KR, pronounced... b’car. For no reason.

Good GOD is this movie cheap. I appreciate the set they created for the top of Rod’s desk, with the giant pencil and such, and obviously they’re going to use a green screen for scenes like this... but it looks SO bad in motion. Like, see how the shot ends at his knees? That’s because he’s very obviously running in place, in front of a green screen. Also, why are sixth graders learning about the Drake Equation, which concerns the statistics relevant to intelligent alien life in the universe, in math class? I guess it’s technically a math topic, but not the kind of thing you’d learn in pre-algebra...and for comparison, Rod’s math homework consisted of single-digit multiplication tables, the kind of thing you do in like, second grade.

I’m also not fond of the degree to which Grakker is a comic relief character. Like... throughout the book, he’s completely strict and serious, and most of the comedy comes from Phil, Gibbons, and Rod. The first time you see genuine emotion from him is when Rod accidentally injures Snout, causing Grakker to hold him tenderly and shed a tear (again, potential Gayliens).

This is supposed to be the inside of a thick black canvas backpack. Am I crazy? Did I not see the Universal Studios logo at the start of this movie? Why does it look like the cheapest of cheap made-for-tv movies? Anyway. They appear to have given Snout’s ability to slow time to Madame Pong, which is worrying. Did they just... remove Snout, one of most important characters in the entire book series? To what end? To fit in all the stupid pointless Elspeth stuff? If they were hoping to make sequels to this movie, well... bad news, because again, the third book in the series is called The Search for Snout. Okay, I gotta know, is he actually cut from the movie or just a surprise reveal for later?

Alright, I am now officially dragging this movie. Also, I guess we now know where William Shatner fits in... I hadn’t even noticed it was him. Also Also, is that furry pink lump with one eye supposed to be Plink? Why all the arbitrary changes? Did they just decide that since they couldn’t fit a person inside of it, they would give it no limbs at all? Why is it pink??

Eyyy. Roll credits! Yeah, I wish... I’m only halfway through this thing.

They made Rod’s best friend Mickey Asian, which is fine, he’s a very minor character and never really described in the book... but unfortunately, they also decided to make him Data from The Goonies. He’s an inventor. Because he’s Asian. Coooool character, movie. So far it’s lead to an unfunny Coke and Mentos gag and an unfunny Pop Rocks and soda gag (which resulted in projectile vomiting). They cut Snout out of the movie to make room for this stuff, mind you. I’m sure this is building up to some kind of payoff, but I’m pretty sure I’m not going to enjoy it.

Speaking of payoffs, there seems to be an implication that there’s some kind of paranormal activity at Seldom Seen, the hidden field on Rod’s grandfather’s property, and at Rod’s school. I can understand the field, in this version Rod’s dad definitely seems to be involved with aliens in some capacity, and that’s probably where he was keeping a ship or something... but the school is kinda inexplicable. Like, it’s covered in snow... and it’s the only place in town that’s seeing snow. I can only assume it’s BKR’s... sorry, B’KR’s doing, but I’m not sure why. Did they decide that being blue means he’s from a cold planet, and requires it to be cold wherever he is?

No idea what’s up with some of these changes. Instead of BKR’s house being like an unlived-in model home, it’s... a complete sty. The exact opposite of the book. Why. Also, that coffee table is completely covered in video game consoles... GameCube, Dreamcast, PS2, N64... but Rod says he’s got “all the latest video games”. Does he? Does he really? Was that line in the script, so the crew just bought whatever they could find? As for BKR himself...

I mean, I don’t see Shirley Temple, but it’s not bad! Rod wasn’t trapped inside a pocket dimension inside a CRT tv when he took his mask off, but they wouldn’t have been able to manage that scene with this budget anyway. So far, this is the only alien design I fully endorse. There WAS a point to him having a cherubic face in the book, but it’s never addressed, only implied, and I get why they would make him look more menacing.

In the book, BKR didn’t really have any goals. He just enjoyed being cruel for the sake of being cruel, and was hiding out on Earth because it was unlikely they’d find him there. In the movie, B’KR intends to destroy Earth by opening a wormhole (which is what’s causing the snow), and the good guys have about an hour to save the planet.

They kept another of Snout’s abilities, the Vulcan Mind Mel-- er, knowledge transferal, but gave it to Tar Gibbons. This is literally the only thing he’s done in the entire movie. For the record, this was originally the scene where Snout connects their minds, but Rod is startled by it and pulls back, causing Snout severe psychic harm and prompting the aforementioned emotional response from Grakker.

...They just had to get William Shatner to say Klingon, didn’t they. The climax of the movie is all him flying around spouting (sprouting?) plant puns, then Rod throws a banana cream pie (which was, apparently, part of someone’s science project) at BKR’s face... and finishes him off with foam shot from his papier mache volcano. I guess the shrunken spaceship expanding inside of a house, causing the roof to collapse and knock BKR unconscious, was too expensive violent for the movie... but why is getting him messy a solution to anything? Ah well.

Bruce Coville himself has a cameo as the judge for the science fair, which is nice. I think he might be the principal of the school... I didn’t really notice in the scene featuring the principal earlier, since that happened to be the projectile vomiting scene. I can only imagine he was honored to have his work recognized in this capacity... he’s a good dude, I’m sure he wouldn’t be as horrified as I am with the writing and quality of it.

Also the movie ends with the reveal of the actual size of the aliens... which is, uhh. About the size of adult humans. Hrm. Guess they just straight up decided not to get anything right, huh? Oh, and they reveal that Rod’s father actually is a member of the Galactic Patrol. So, that’s a thing.

Please don’t say that. God, was this movie bad. I would understand if they were passionate about bringing the story to more people and just didn’t have much of a budget, or if they made changes to better suit a visual medium, but that... is not what they did. I’m not the kind of person that demands an adaptation remains 100% faithful; if you want the experience of the book, you can just read the book. This, however, changes so many things. Like, in the book, BKR’s crime is cruelty. That’s the message of the book... that in truly civilized societies, kindness is the norm, and needless cruelty is a criminal act.

The characters in the book all either have depth to them or are interesting as sci-fi concepts, but the movie... Gakker is Mr. Slapstick, Madame Pong is Cool Collected Female, Tar Gibbons is... I dunno, wisdom obscured by things that just don’t translate into English and saying Warrior Science a lot (honestly the closest to his book counterpart, though HE was more interesting and actually did stuff), and Phil... yeah, just William Shatner saying plant puns. Bleagh.

Well, despite that end screen, it’s good to know that we won’t be getting any sequels. I mean, like I’ve already mentioned, Snout going missing is a major plot point in the second book, and the third is literally called The Search For Snout. What are they going to do, just skip to the fourth book?

...Oh hey, George Takei.

#aliens ate my homework #bruce coville #long post

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smalltragedy · 4 years ago

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looks away as i finally post his intro after being kinda awol fr however long. i love him a lot n hes also bri’s character mercy’s younger brother so u hv to be nice to him. think abt mercy’s life. then think abt ducky. im sry in advance tht his intro’s a little longer ive hd ducky fr like. a year or two n i’ve been playing him a While <3 as always like this if u’d like 2 plot n i’ll try 2 msg u bck bt otherwise im gna just hop right into threads bc obv i need to. change my methods.

ABUSE, VIOLENCE, DRUG ABUSE, EYE INJURY, GANG MENTIONS TW.

mini playlist.

statistics.

full name: donovan mercer.

nickname(s): ducky.

birthday: march 15th, 1999.

zodiac: pisces sun, aquarius moon, aquarius ascending.

mbti & temperament: intp & theorist / phlegmatic.

label: the despondent.

hometown: hell’s kitchen, new york.

sexuality: bisexual (bt not out).

pinterest.

biography.

to the point where he stopped trying, simply. he never graduated high school.

all for nothing, the moment vinny discovered it, the edge of a map sticking out after a rushed morning.

eye injury // corneal scarring, impairing his left eye. astronaut dreams destroyed, but not in a matter of seconds. in the matter of an hour, maybe more - and that’d been much, much worse.

he stopped trying to run away after that. tried to be more like their father, more like mercy - more brutish, less feeling. spoke less, and less. spoke hardly at all, unless spoken to first.

still didn’t matter. still lived his days in fear, still knew it’d never change. nothing would ever change.

personality & facts.

has maybe half the amount of clients that mercy does, but he’s working on it.

overall just … he’s a soft boy, with a big heart - bigger than anybody else in his family, that’s for sure, but his exterior is far different than that, and it’s hard to tell.

wanted plots.

#abuse tw #violence tw #drug abuse tw #gangs mention #eye injury tw #irvingintro #( ducky mercer. ) about. / ice boy.#sighs sm #also sry fr hw embarrasingly late this is #did i even spell tht rigth? no #did i spell tht one right? bno.#fuck.

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argyrocratie · 5 years ago

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The Tyranny of Words by Stuart Chase (1932)

CHAPTER XIV: TO THE RIGHT WITH THE ECONOMISTS

(...)

I employ a skilled mechanic to mow my meadow and cultivate my garden. He used to be employed in a Connecticut mill, but a new machine was installed and he and some others lost their work. So he is keeping himself and his family alive as best he can at a fraction of his former income. He was a victim of what is termed 'technological unemployment.’ A machine took his work from him, and for a considerable period he could find no other work to do. He might have left town, but he had bought a house, his children were in school, his wife liked the neighbourhood and to take to the road was a risky venture with machinists out of work on every hand. Now what do the classical economists do with my friend Roy Thompson?

They prove by irrefutable logic that technological unemployment is impossible. I know what I am saying, for I have debated the matter in public with classical economists and can tick off the arguments with my eyes shut. The logic proceeds like this: A new machine is put into a pin factory to take the place of men. The cost of making pins is lowered. Presently competition lowers the price of pins as the machine is generally adopted. Therefore housewives spend less money for pins and have more money to spend for silk stockings. Therefore the factories making stockings employ more help and no unemployment results. On the other hand, if the first factory has a monopoly of the new machine and does not choose to lower the price of pins, the owner of the factory takes in more money. This money he either spends, let us say for a private aeroplane, or invests in a new pin factory. Workers have to build the aeroplane or the factory, giving more employment. On purely logical grounds, you cannot get round it. Employment shifts, but does not decline and the same amount of money continues in circulation. Q.E.D.

How do you get round it? You look steadily at Roy Thompson, at scores of still less fortunate Roy Thompsons. You adopt the operational approach, disregard the logic in your head and observe what is happening outside. You are careful not to generalize from one or two cases. In the world of fact, you find that men and women frequently lose their jobs to machines, to stop-watch efficiency methods, photo-electric cells, to improvements in agricultural methods. You can count them if you have the heart, leaving their benches and their tools and going out upon the street.

You can examine the curves of output per man-hour for this commodity and that and note how they have been rising for fifty years. You can halt any working man and ask him to tell you how he or his friends have lost their work from time to time because of new inventions. It is not hard to check and recheck the facts of technological unemployment. Referents for the term are very plentiful. Very good – or rather, very bad. Millions of Roys have suffered for a greater or lesser period. Do they find other work? Many of them do. Often like Roy, they learn new trades at inferior pay. But the increasing obstinacy of unemployment in the modern world indicates that many do not. Whether they do or do not, certain relevant human factors must be brought into the concept. Can Roy1, after twenty years of working at a lathe shift his skill to qualify as a linesman if men are wanted in that field? Can Roy2, after living forty years in Middletown with his roots driven deep pick up his family and move to Seattle if men are wanted on the docks? Can Roy3 now unemployed hibernate like a woodchuck and live without eating because a year hence there is to be a demand for machinists in the television industry? Can Roy4 change from man’s work in a machine shop to women’s work in a rayon factory? What kind of employment awaits him? Where does it await him? When does it await him?

It is two very different things to talk about 'technological unemployment’ as a net statistical effect and to observe Roy in his perplexity and discouragement. If new inventions speeds up, it is obvious that more men and women per thousand are in transit from a job lost to a job hopefully to be found. And what happens if the owner of the factory does not care to buy a private aeroplane or to invest in a new pin plant? Suppose he just puts his money in the bank, and the bank just lets it stay there? For the last eight years new investments in private industry have been pitifully small compared with earlier periods. What if we have as many pin factories as prospects for profitable investment warrant?

These considerations by no means exhaust the question. But perhaps I have given enough to show that knowledge about technological unemployment, or indeed any kind of employment, is not advanced by the syllogisms of classical economists. The classicists treat the term as thing-in-itself without finding the referents which give it meaning. Most characteristics are left out. Observe the brutality of the result. If one can prove by logic that there can be no such thing as technological unemployment, then any apparent idleness must he due to human cussedness – Roy must have been a slack worker, improvident and wrong-headed – and one can lean comfortably back in one’s chair with no need to do anything about it. More, one can violently object to anybody’s doing anything about it, for this would interfere with the functioning of 'economic law.’

'Unemployment’ is not a thing. You cannot prove its existence or nonexistence except as a word. The validity of the concept rests on the shoulders of millions of your fellow citizens. Are they suffering because they have no work? Are their families suffering? Are the children without shoes with which to go to school? In March, 1937, I visited WPA kitchens in Savannah, Georgia, where 4,500 schoolchildren certified as underweight from malnutrition, were being fed. Savannah is neither a large city nor a city of slums. If you cannot see through the word 'unemployrnent’ to ragged children standing patiently in line with bowl and spoon, you have no business hanging out your shingle as an economist.

Let us inspect another favorite abstraction of the economic faculty: 'The function of business is to supply the consumer with what he wants.’ Translating this to lower levels: The function of the radio business is to supply Adam1 with a serviceable radio at a price consistent with the cost of producing it. In the fall of 1936, a leading radio trade journal made the following editorial comment:

The ear of the average consumer is notoriously cauliflower when it comes to distinguishing between good radio reception and bad. Since original boorn-boom dynamic speakers superseded early high-pitched magnetics, few improvements impinging upon the auditory organs have been sufficiently obvious to nudge obsolete receivers into oblivion without the aid of vocal mesmerisms by some retail salesman. The public eye, on the other hand, appears to be readily impressed, and we predict the best year since 1929. Design for selling.

In short, do not build radios for the ear, because there have been no recent improvements to warrant new models; build them to sell an elegant Circassian walnut cabinet. Here are some assorted vocal mesmerisms:

Band-Stand Baffles Tone-Tested Resonators Violin-Shaped Cabinets Vibracoustic Floating Sound Boards Automatic Flash Tuner Overtone Amplifiers Acoustical Labyrinths Magic Voice Mystic Hand Dial-a-matic

What the radio industry does in the economic textbooks is one thing; what it actually does is another. The observation holds for most industries which can make more goods in a year than people buy in a year, or in more learned language, where capacity exceeds demand.

What a remarkable term is 'business’, especially in America! How is business? – not your business, but business-in-general. Statisticians toil over composite graphs and charts to answer this mythological question. If there is no such entity as 'business’ – and by now we know there is not – it seems a little superfluous to be constantly taking its temperature. Business says. Business speaks. Business recovers its voice. Business views with alarm. Business is jubilant when the Supreme Court votes down the NRA. Business is sick. Business is terrible. Business runs through a cycle – charming image. Business has recovered: Look at the chart – there it is, as plain as the nose on your face. Back to 1929. The curve says we are all right, therefore we must be all right. What, eight million unemployed; farmers in the Dust Bowl down and out; share-croppers reach new depths of misery? Forget it. Keep your eye on the chart.

This is pure hocus-pocus. Not only are there no dependable referents to which we can hitch the chart, but those to which it has been hitched – 'carloadings’, 'bank loans’, 'lumber production’, 'cotton-mill consumption’ – cannot he combined into any composite curve which does not violate mathematical sanity. A great mathematician, Ivar Fredholm, calls such omnibus index numbers 'hermaphrodite arithmetic monsters devoid of all sense’. At this point we note a curious perversion of the scientific attitude. Opinions as to the health of 'business’ are based on figures, rather than on hearsay and hunches. We are looking, we believe, at cold facts. We are scientific as hell. But the 'facts and figures’ we look at have been mutilated beyond meaning. Some day we must give up prostrations before a phantom 'business’, though the charts reach from Wall Street to the moon. The term 'business’ and its faithful follower 'service’, often prevent us from observing what useful or useless things businessmen are actually doing.

Many economists and statisticians believe it legitimate to argue that industrial prosperity after a slump will inevitably return, because their charts show ups and downs in the past. They point to the scientific nature of the 'proof’. But the graphs a real scientist draws describe the conditions of an experiment arranged by him. They can be used safely for drawing conclusions only if similar conditions can he arranged. The humps and hollows on the economists’ charts refer to changing conditions. There is no similar arrangement and few valid conclusions are possible. The context has changed and the result must be guesswork. 'Introducing graphs of supply and demand,’ says Hogben, 'in a fictitious free-exchange economy does not make economics an exact science.’

A business executive with whom I am associated asked me the other day, 'What will be the reaction of the public to the new laws for retail price maintenance?’ This was an important question, for as manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of a commodity he had to decide a policy covering costs, prices, possible injunctions, court orders, notification to retailers and so on. Yet my colleague was trying to settle this critical matter with the aid of a ghost.

There is no 'public’ which is a useful concept in the premises. Calling it 'John Q. Public’ does not help. Between us, we had to break down 'public’ into a series of interested groups – New York retailers, retailers in the West, jobbing houses, customers of various kinds – before we could know what we were talking about and arrive at a valid decision. Observe that in this case no theory was involved. As businessmen, we had to determine, by the following Saturday morning, a specific course of action involving the stability and the jobs of a considerable business enterprise.

Formal economics wanders in a veritable jungle of abstract terms. Here is a sample of the flora:

land labour capital; capitalism rent wages; the iron law of wages purchasing power production; distribution interest; the long-term interest rate profit the profit system money: the gold standard credit; debt; savings; securities inflation; deflation; reflation value; wealth the law of diminishing returns the entrepreneur the economic man free competition; the free market the law of supply and demand cost; income price levels marginal utility monopoly; the trusts property individualism; business socialism; public ownership the consumer; the producer the standard of living planning

Some of these terms are useful short cuts provided one does not objectify them. But if one employs them without being conscious of abstracting, they acquire a fictitious existence. Some have no discoverable referents. 'Value’, for instance, is as elusive as 'the Omnipotent’. Some have referents very difficult to1ocate: 'capitalism’, 'individualism’, 'inflation’, 'credit’, 'money’, 'business’. Some have referents easier to locate, provided one makes the rare effort to find them.

Following Bridgman, we might prepare a list of meaningless questions in economics:

1. Does capital produce wealth? 2. Is the consumer more important than the producer? 3. What is a reasonable profit? 4. Is man by nature co-operative or competitive? 5. Is fascism a kind of capitalism? 6. What is a classless society? 7. What is the American standard of living? 8. Are capital and labour partners? 9. Are we headed for inflation? 10. Is decentralization better than centralization?

These questions are either completely meaningless, or meaningless as they stand. Given a position in time and space with further description of the terms employed, qualified answers might be found for some. For instance, Margaret Mead studied a tribe in New Guinea where habits of co-operation were very strong. A hundred miles over the mountains she studied another tribe where competition was so ferocious that it threatened survival. On the basis of these observations we might venture a qualified answer to question 4. For question 8, one can say that capital and labour are partners in the same sense that Castor and Pollux are brothers – mythological matters both.

Korzybski observes that any study to become a science must begin with the lowest abstractions available, which means descriptions of happenings on the level of sense impressions. Economic literature usually reverses this procedure, starting with high-order terms and working down. Thus you will find in Chapter I of Dr. Blank’s Principles of Economics elaborate definitions of 'land’, 'labour’, 'capital’, 'wealth’, 'profit’, 'money’, 'credit’, 'property’, 'marginal utility’. As any two economists have great difficulty in agreeing upon the precise meaning of these terms, the treatise begins with shaky assumptions. Worse follows when the shaky assumptions are woven into elaborate systems by deductive logic. The best fun which a professor of economics apparently gets out of his academic life is to demolish the theories of his confrères. The single time to my knowledge that American economists were in general agreement was when they objected to the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill in 1930, by a joint memorandum of more than a thousand signers. That was a red-letter day in the history of economic thought.

To extend agreement and make the study of economics conform to the scientific method, it is necessary to lay aside abstract definitions and apply the operational approach, What is Rufus1 doing on his farm? What is Roy1 doing at his factory bench? What is Junius1 doing in his bank? (A bank studied on the basis of what is going on inside without recourse to abstractions like 'credit’, 'liquidity’, 'soundness’, is a pretty whimsical thing.) What is Sylvia1 doing at her desk? Observe and record what a great number of men and women are actually doing in furnishing themselves and the community with food, clothing, and shelter. Then proceed to inferences. Then proceed to general rules governing economic behaviour – if any can be found. Then check the rules with more first-hand observation. Never forget Adam1 acting, the date at which he acts, the place where he acts. Fortunately some economists and sociologists are beginning to follow this programme. We find it in the studies of Middletown by the Lynds, in Ogburn’s Social Change, in Economic Behaviour and Recent Social Trends, in the studies of the National Resources Committee.

Inferences drawn by Adam Smith about the England of 1770, or by Karl Marx about the England, France and Germany of the 1850’s, are obviously worthless for the America of today. Some deductions may still he sound, but all are suspect pending operational check in modern America. To criticize American economic behaviour today, or to prescribe for its improvement because Adam Smith said thus and Marx said so, is as foolish as believing that a fly has eight legs because Aristotle said so. Both Smith and Marx used their eyes and ears more than their fellow theorists. Ricardo, for instance, might have been born blind, so pure a theorist was he.

Economic laws became in the hands of the classical school just laws in themselves. Often they were merely logical exercises. So it was that classical theory stood triumphantly symmetrical, an absolute! And so it is still too much taught. By a series of assumptions and with the use of certain chosen illustrations it can be worked up to climactically. And when the thing is complete – there you are! But the student goes away from the demonstration unsatisfied, frustrated, angry, feeling as though a logical trick had been played upon him. And why? Well, because for one thing, in the twentieth century the truth must be useful and this is not.

So says R. G. Tugwell. Meanwhile Dr. Wesley C. Mitchell observes that it is impossible to prove or disprove the classical laws.

The laws and principles were developed with the industrial revolution. The Wealth of Nations was published in the same year that Watt made a steam engine which would really work – the same year, incidentally, that the American Declaration of Independence was drafted and signed. The classicists were much influenced by notions about science, but they did not adopt the scientific method. They tried to erect economic laws like Newton’s laws of gravitation, but they did not copy Newton’s operational technique. It was like a little boy making himself a choo-choo after seeing a locomotive.

Editorial writers today are still infatuated with these 'laws’ of a make-believe science. They pull them out of their heads with pontifical finality whenever reformers or Congressmen propose a measure which editors do not like. 'Economic law cannot so cavalierly be set aside,’ they say. 'We cannot circumvent the law of supply and demand any more than we can circumvent the law of gravitation.’ 'Only crackpots would seek to outwit the immutable principles of economics.’

Classical economics not only was largely innocent of the scientific method; it also became a kind of theology selling indulgences to businessmen. As factories expanded after Watt’s steam engine, a philosophy was needed to give respectability and prestige to the rising class of manufacturers. The philosophy was first identified with the 'natural laws’ of Newton. Then it twined itself like a boa constrictor (yes, I am conscious of abstracting) around Darwin’s hypothesis of the 'survival of the fittest’. What a handout! The greatest good for the greatest number, so ran the dogma, arises from the unimpeded competitive activities of enlightened self-interest. The faster the stragglers are bankrupted and undone, the stronger the economic frame. What appears as competitive anarchy is not really anarchy at all, but a beneficent system of control by natural forces. The big fish eats the little fish, the strong businessman eats the weak. It is all very gratifying and lovely, and as remote from reality as the labours of Hercules.

In 1798, Malthus published his famous essay on population, one of the grandest examples of extrapolation on record. The essay was in part designed to answer William Godwin’s argument to the effect that mankind could achieve happiness through the use of reason. Malthus wanted to scotch the dangerous idea that happiness was in prospect for the mass of the people. (The principle of 'original sin’ again). So by study of the exceedingly unreliable statistics of the time, he laid down two postulates: first, that population tends to grow at a geometrical rate; second that the food supply tends to grow at an arithmetical rate. The population of England was then 7,000,000; in a hundred years if the curve was followed it would be, he said, 112,000,000. If food was sufficient for the 7,000,000 in 1800, by 1900 the supply would expand to feed only 35,000,000 – 'which would leave a population of 77,000,000 totally unprovided for.’

This fantastic hypothesis was then solemnly applied to the problem of poverty. As population was destined to leap ahead of food supply, restrained only by pestilence, war, and famine, it followed that measures to improve the living-standards of the mass of the people were futile. 'It is, undoubtedly, a most disheartening reflection, that the great obstacle in the way of any extraordinary improvement in society, is of a nature that we can never hope to overcome.’ That stopped the fellow Godwin in his tracks. The essay was also used for decades as conclusive proof that reform laws were pernicious. In the second edition of his essay, in 1803, Malthus relented to the point where a new element was introduced into his equations. It the poor would employ 'moral restraint’ in their procreational activities, they might possibly gain a notch or two on the food supply. It was very cheering news to the well-to-do. The poor had themselves to blame for their poverty and even if moral restraint was widely practised, poverty was largely inevitable anyhow.

Malthus’s iron law of population was paralleled by Ricardo’s iron law of wages. This great principle put poor people in another vice. Since labour is a commodity, said Ricardo, its price goes up and down with demand. When demand for labour is slack, wages will remain at the bare-subsistence level. If demand becomes brisk, wages will rise, workers will have more money. They will then produce more children and presently the addition to the population will bring the price of labour back to bare-subsistence level again. So what is the use of trying to improve the condition of the workers?

Nassau Senior 'proved’ that hours of labour could not be reduced, because the employer’s profit came out of the last hour of operation. A 68-hour week was common at the time. Eliminate that last hour, he said, and industrial profits would be eliminated and the business of the nation ruined. Thus if children in factories worked 67 hours rather than 68, panic would replace prosperity. Senior’s analysis was derived from theoretical examples where the arithmetic was correct but the assumptions untenable.

Senior’s contribution to economic theory proved that hours could not be reduced. John Stuart Mill and other classicists proved that wages could not be raised, by the famous 'wage-fund doctrine’. Workers joined unions and struck for a raise. Pure madness, said the economists. Why? Because there was a certain fund set aside out of capital for the payment of wages. There was a certain number of wage-earners. Divide the first by the second. It was all arranged by Heaven and arithmetic and trade unions could do nothing about it. The wage-fund theory was the stock answer of the manufacturer and editor to the claims of organized workmen. It had been blessed by economists and must be true.

Observe how these 'laws’ were put to tangible use, holding back improvements in working-conditions for scores of years. The philosophers produced nonsense which was at least disinterested. Many of these classical economists had an axe to grind and cruelly sharp they ground it. Not until 1876 was the wage-fund theory exploded by an American economist, Francis Walker. He argued that wages were paid not out of a fund of stored capital, but out of current earnings – a theory which came closer to the facts. It is a pleasure to note that John Stuart Mill who first popularized the wage-fund hypothesis in his Principles of Political Economy in 1848, published the following statement years later: 'The doctrine hitherto taught by most economists (including myself) which denied it to be possible that trade combinations can raise wages… is deprived of its scientific foundation, and must be thrown aside.’ A brave, fine statement. But working people in England and elsewhere for fifty years had paid a bitter price for a 'law’ that had no scientific foundation.

Orthodox economists have had a particularly bad time of it since 1929. Governments all over the world have been indulging in financial operations of a shockingly unorthodox character. As Chester T. Crowell points out in the New Republic, the learned faculty stands on the sidelines shouting: 'No! You can’t do that!’ And while they shout, it is done. The economically impossible is performed again and again. For instance:

1. Mussolini simply could not carry on his vast operations in Ethiopia with a gold reserve of only $3,000,000,000. It was unthinkable. The reserve was a mere drop in the bucket; it would be gone in a month. But Mussolini did it. Ethiopia was brought to heel, and Italy is still afloat financially.

2. If a nation has a gold coverage of less than 2 per cent, obviously it has no currency worthy of the name. Panic and chaos are inevitable. It cannot hope to carry on foreign trade; its citizens will fly from their native money standard. In terms of respectable economic theory, the German financial system today is a corpse. But the corpse does not fall down. It goes right on acting as if it were alive.

3. We were all brought up on the fundamental idea that if the British Treasury ever repudiated a government debt, it would be the end of the pound sterling and of world trade. The financial backbone of the planet would be broken. Well, the British Treasury owes the American Treasury some billions of dollars, and the latter can whistle for its money. The pound remains firm, and ships still sail the seas. Because of the repudiation, Congress passed the Johnson Act, forbidding loans to warring nations, and so giving the American people one of the sturdiest defences against being dragged into war that it was ever our good fortune to secure. England’s perfidy has been our blessing.

4. A nation, we were taught, could not go off the gold standard in fact, no matter how many proclamations its statesmen made. If it devalued, prices would shoot up, and gold would still be master. The United States went off the gold standard by proclamation and most domestic prices hardly fluttered. France, which clung nobly to gold, suffered a much more severe depression than the reprobates who abandoned it.

Yes, the orthodox economists are having difficulties on the sidelines. Is the trouble with the wicked world which pays little attention to their 'laws’, or is the trouble with the laws themselves? How valid are 'natural laws’ which can be violated right and left?

#stuart chase #economy

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goldtips · 5 years ago

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like... idk if i like babylon or not honestly. i was really into it the first two eps when it was straight up mystery / investigation but....... magase’s entire characterization confuses me. she’s literally satan incarnate and we learn nothing about her except apparently shes a fucking sex devil ever since she popped out of the womb or some shit??? like. i literally cannot sense any type of complexity or motivation from her, i’m more confused than intrigued by all the cryptic dialogue / imagery that the shows trying to force

also the whole suicide law debate was really dumb - you’d think that people wouldn’t be so easily swayed. like...im sorry just bc something was morally justified back in bce doesn’t mean you can just incorporate it into modern law/life and think that things will be 100% fine. the homosexuality argument is also not convincing bc homosexuality was condoned by the romans, so arguably we are returning to what was originally the norm??? also, slavery and pederasty were also condoned by the romans... and those two things are.... wrong on so many levels and have no chance of being accepted through our modern standards, must less be legalized, so...your point is what??? :))

second, how are you going to compare marijuana to suicide, marijuana has barely any fatal / long-lasting ill effects whilst suicide is literally DEATH OK. and where are the fucking statistics my man, you just pulled everything out your asshole huh? there are academic journals literally one (1) google search away that report of the increased problematic usage of marijuana after the legalization of it??? and thats still not counting the product thats still being circulated on the black market, like bro you really winged this one huh

third, the ??? economic implications would be fucking huge ok. think about it, if suicide was legalized and the drug was sold over the fucking counter how would it be controlled? what safeguards will there be? we dont know right? how will the system be refined then, trial and error? and in that span of time of that refinement, how many casualties will occur, or loopholes will be exploited, how many children or uninformed/mentally incapable persons will fall victim to weak/inadequate ass laws and/or that fucking pill due to misinformation or a poorly made decision? u know how much international backlash the govt will have if that happens? like? excuse me? no economic implications?????? UM your entire fucking system would collapse because of a lack of international or even local trust/support

ALSO how the fuck did the canadian govt get the senate / house of commons approval for the fucking bill, and why is the cia involved? they literally have no jurisdiction to investigate issues that aren’t directly related to matters of terrorism / american people,,,why are they here investigating magase :)))

also when the gamer presidents son asked him whether or not suicide is bad he literally said: oh well. i’m still deciding on it - heck, man, you dont fucking say that to a child??/ that is messed up? keep your fkd up thoughts to yourself gdi :)) and the whole rant about how the bible doesn’t disapprove of suicide? do you also want to consider how adulterers were stoned to death in the bible? how its sinful to wear mixed fabrics, ripped clothing or....eat ...small animals..? LIKE ARE YOU GOING TO SAY JUST BECAUSE the bible said that its sinful that you’re not going to ..buy clothes with nylon and cotton? or not eat escargot? i’m sorry but if you’re going to read the bible without any consideration for historical norms then go big or go home...bich.

this show just. makes people seem like fucking sheep - and makes the govt and literally every political candidate apart from the mayor look fucking inept and it irritates the shit out of me holy hell. you’d think there would be more public outcry but people are so passive and utterly miserable in the babylon verse that i guess suicide is fine to them?? lmao

ALSO the main characters keep fucking dying and the whole idea of a show turning into a tragedy really turns me off, like we’re just supposed to accept that ai magase is some indomitable force that can never be overpowered or resisted like. ok. that is so un-fucking-satifying ??? also the fact that she chopped up the assistant for no reason apart from shock value. what was her motive, even. i guess shes just fucking evil ha.

like. this show started good, and its not that i dislike the horror/psychological aspect to it but unless some drastic plot twist occurs to tie up the loose ends and provide some consistency/realism to save this burning wreck of an animu, i dont think its going anywhere but the bottom of the proverbial ocean of mediocre seasonal animes

#anime #WHY DID I WRITE S O MUCH EP 8 REALLY INSPRIED THE ANGER IN ME #like this show started off good #i had high hopes it seemed so interesting #but it flopped so bad o h my god #i cant believe this #i am angry at 5 am in the morning #grr #babylon #babylon anime #ai magase #zen seizaki #hiasa sekuro #babylon spoilers #i just needed to get this off my chest

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kawaiifestivalkid-blog · 5 years ago

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paleorecipecookbook · 6 years ago

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Here’s the Research on Sugar and Health

The United States is the top sugar-consuming nation in the world, with the average American taking in an astounding 57 pounds of added sugars per year. (1) What is our out-of-control sugar consumption doing to our health? Read on to learn about the latest research on sugar and health, including the concept of sugar addiction, the health implications of excessive consumption of added sugars, and the evidence for the safety (or lack thereof) of artificial and other non-nutritive sweeteners.

Don’t have time to read it all? Use these links to navigate to each section of the article.

The truth about sugar addiction

How sugar addiction works

High-fructose corn syrup and sweetened beverages

The latest research on sugar

My take on artificial sweeteners

Healthy sweetener options

Is Sugar Addiction Real?

For decades, the scientific community was hesitant to describe the human fixation on sugar as an “addiction”; it seemed like an exaggeration to equate the desire for sugar with the desire for a controlled substance such as cocaine or heroin. But now, more and more research on the biochemical and neurobehavioral consequences of sugar consumption has changed the opinions of scientists and health professionals alike. In fact, sugar addiction appears to be a genuine phenomenon that afflicts a significant proportion of our population.

Excess refined sugar can be harmful—and even addictive. Check out this article to find out what the latest research says, and get information on four healthy sweeteners you can use as alternatives. #nutrition #wellness #chriskresser

In a survey of 986 Americans recruited to be nationally representative of the U.S. population, 15 percent of the participants met the criteria for food addiction, as reported by the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0. (2) The Yale Food Addiction Scale is a measure for identifying those who are most likely to exhibit compulsive overeating and symptoms of substance dependence (i.e., cravings, bingeing) when exposed to high-fat or high-sugar foods. Importantly, those people who met the criteria for food addiction were of all shapes and sizes, ranging from underweight to obese.

This revealing research suggests that sugar addiction, a subcategory of food addiction, is a real problem affecting a diverse population (including children, as it turns out)—not just those who need to lose weight.

How Sugar Addiction Works

Substance use disorder is defined as “a behavior pattern in which people continue to use a substance despite having problems caused by its use.” (3) The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) has outlined 11 criteria that characterize substance use disorder, including the following:

Taking in a substance in larger amounts or for longer than you’re meant to

Wanting to cut down or stop using a substance, but being unable to do so

Cravings and urges to use a substance

Using substances again and again, even when the substances are harming your body

Development of withdrawal symptoms upon ceasing use of the substance

While these behaviors are generally used to diagnose alcohol or drug addiction, they are also consistent with animal and human models of sugar intake! In fact, the scientific literature indicates that there is a striking overlap in neurobiological mechanisms and brain activation patterns between those addicted to controlled or illicit substances and those “addicted” to sugar. (4)

Sugar Activates Brain Reward Pathways

Sugar is a potent activator of the dopamine reward circuit, a biochemical pathway in the brain that mediates the response to rewarding stimuli such as food, sex, social interactions, and drugs. The brain’s reward circuitry is designed to increase an organism’s likelihood of engaging in behaviors that increase its chances of survival; this trait persists in creatures ranging from fruit flies to humans.

When the dopamine reward circuit is stimulated, dopamine is released, producing feelings of pleasure and euphoria that drive an individual to seek out rewarding experiences or substances repeatedly. Activation of the dopamine reward circuit by sugar also initiates anticipation and food seeking behaviors; in other words, the body becomes conditioned to desire and seek out sugary foods. Interestingly, glucose consumption may also stimulate a parallel dopamine reward circuit in the gastrointestinal tract, further stacking the cards against us in our fight against sugar cravings. (5)

Sugar Stimulates Opioid Production

Like many illicit drugs, sugar also exerts addictive properties by stimulating the release of your body’s innate pain-relieving opioids through the endogenous opioid system. (6, 7) Over time, continuously stimulating this system may rewire your neurocircuitry—that is, it will essentially rewire your brain—leading to an addiction.

Evidence of Sugar Addiction in Humans

For many years, our understanding of sugar addiction was limited to animal models. But now we have scientific evidence that supports the existence of sugar addiction in humans. Scientists have found that bariatric surgery patients frequently “transfer” their addiction from high-sugar foods to addictive drugs post-surgery since they are no longer able to eat sugar in large amounts without experiencing gastrointestinal consequences. Transfer of addiction from one substance to another is a hallmark of substance use disorders. (8) Also, obese individuals demonstrate marked dopamine reward circuit dysfunction, including a reduced sensitivity of brain regions to dopamine. (9) These people need to consume a higher level of sugar to achieve “feel-good” levels of dopamine in their brains; this phenomenon is a classic example of tolerance, another key feature of addiction.

Interestingly, sugar addiction has evolutionary, ancestral underpinnings. The human experience of natural reward from sugar is an adaptation intended to help us identify foods with a high caloric density. (For example, our ancestors would have had seasonal access to high-sugar fruits.) The consumption of such foods promoted the storage of body fat, which in turn enabled us to survive periods of famine.

However, in the modern world, very few of us experience hunger. Instead, we have constant access to sugary, processed foods. This mismatch between our evolutionary biology and our modern environment has facilitated our sugar problem and played a fundamental role in the current chronic disease epidemic. (10)

High-Fructose Corn Syrup: Don’t Drink Your Sugar!

In recent years, “soda taxes” and other public health efforts have been made to curtail our consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in response to growing evidence of the harmful effects of such drinks. SSB consumption has been linked to childhood obesity and increased risks of adult obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. (11, 12) Research indicates that people fail to reduce their caloric intake to compensate for the extra calories consumed in SSBs, leading to caloric excess and ensuing weight gain and inflammation. (13) The high-fructose corn syrup used in SSBs and countless other processed foods also poses particular metabolic risks:

Excess high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) consumption promotes insulin resistance, high triglycerides, and visceral fat accumulation, critical features of metabolic syndrome. (Visceral fat, unlike easier-to-lose subcutaneous fat that you can “pinch,” is deposited deep in the abdominal cavity and surrounds internal organs.) It also alters hepatic lipid metabolism, increasing the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. (14)

Epidemiological research suggests that consuming too much HFCS may promote asthma by dumping large amounts of fructose into the gut lumen, where the sugar is biochemically transformed into inflammatory byproducts that can ultimately induce asthma. (15)

Animal studies indicate that excess HFCS alters female reproductive system function. For women, this means it’s possible that HFCS may aggravate polycystic ovary syndrome. (16)

The science is clear: if you want to prevent chronic disease, avoid sugar-sweetened beverages and high-fructose corn syrup.

But what about plain old table sugar? Are added sugars (sucrose) in foods safer to consume than sugar-sweetened beverages or HFCS? Not necessarily. Research indicates that high intake of added sugars poses numerous problems, including an increased risk of gut dysbiosis, decreased immune function, cancer, and neurodegeneration.

My Roundup of the Research on Sugar and Health

Sugar Promotes Gut Dysbiosis

The bacteria that inhabit our intestines thrive on carbohydrates—both the “good” and the “bad” variety. Complex carbohydrates, such as soluble fiber found in starchy plants like squash or sweet potatoes, feed beneficial gut bacteria, boost anti-inflammatory gut microbiota, and discourage the growth of opportunistic and pathogenic bacteria. (17) The consumption of processed carbohydrates and refined sugar found in less nutritious foods, on the other hand, triggers the growth of harmful gut bacteria and promotes an inflammatory gut microbiota. (18, 19)

Sugar Impairs Immune Function

Refined sugar consumption was first linked to impaired immune function decades ago. (20, 21) While that research is old, more recent studies suggest that the earlier investigators were on to something; the alterations in the gut microbiota induced by refined sugar intake may set off an aberrant immune response, which in turn contributes to impaired immune function and chronic inflammation. (22)

Sugar Can Be Detrimental to Heart Health

The red flags about an unhealthy relationship between sugar intake and cardiovascular disease were first raised by scientists in the 1950s—but because key research was funded by the sugar industry, those warning signs were never publicized. Rather, they were conveniently concealed to protect industry interests. Now we know the truth. A few years ago researchers examined sugar industry internal documents from the 1960s and 1970s which documented research linking sugar consumption with cardiovascular disease. But that story was buried deep in the corporate vaults. Instead, fat and cholesterol were singled out as the dietary causes of cardiovascular disease, a momentous (but erroneous) decision that has had a lasting impact on U.S. dietary policy and public health. (23)

Although the sugar industry tried to conceal the link between sugar and heart disease, the latest research increasingly demonstrates a relationship between the two. Diets high in sugar increase cardiovascular disease risk factors, including insulin resistance, leptin resistance, blood glucose, and triglycerides, while also altering platelet function. Accordingly, diets high in added sugars are associated with a threefold increased risk of cardiovascular disease in adults. (24) Added sugars also contribute to cardiovascular disease in children at intake levels far below current consumption levels. (25)

Sugar Can Harm Your Brain Function

The excessive consumption of refined sugar and carbohydrates also has harmful effects on the brain. Added sugars negatively impact the function of the hippocampus, a brain region responsible for memory, and promote neuroinflammation. (26) The sugary Standard American Diet and diabetes are established risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia. (27) However, you don’t need to have full-blown type 2 diabetes to compromise your brain health; high-normal blood glucose and frequent blood glucose fluctuations also increase the risk of cognitive impairment, decreased brain volume, and reduced cognitive performance. (28, 29)

One mechanism by which a chronically high intake of sugar may harm the brain is through the promotion of brain insulin resistance. Brain insulin resistance is a condition in which cells of the brain become insensitive to insulin and is an established risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

More Research Points to a Link between Sugar and Cancer

Knowledge of a connection between sugar and cancer is not new; in fact, evidence pointing to this relationship was inadvertently discovered during sugar industry-funded research nearly 50 years ago! We know about the cover-up of the findings linking sugar and cardiovascular disease, discussed above. In this case, however, the study was simply—and quickly—terminated due to the unfavorable results. When internal documents from the ill-fated research were recently resurrected, they spurred vigorous debate in the scientific community about the role of refined sugar in cancer development. (30)

Despite sugar industry attempts to dismiss any link, a growing body of research indicates that there is an important connection between sugar and cancer. In animal research, table sugar (sucrose) intake at levels comparable to those found in the Standard American Diet has been found to increase tumor growth and metastasis. (31) In humans, high-glycemic index and high-glycemic load diets are associated with an increased risk of colorectal, breast, and endometrial cancers. (32) Furthermore, a large prospective study of over 2,000 individuals found that just a 10 percent increase in ultra-processed food intake (ultra-processed foods are frequently high in added sugars) increased overall cancer risk by 10 percent. (33) These alarming findings suggest that limiting refined sugar and carbohydrate intake and optimizing blood sugar regulation may be important strategies for reducing the risk of cancer.

Why exactly does sugar promote cancer growth? It turns out that cancerous cells rewire their metabolism so that they become very efficient at taking up glucose from the bloodstream for use as fuel. The metabolic adaptation by which malignant cells use glucose to promote growth, survival, and proliferation is known as the Warburg effect. (34) Diets high in refined sugar and other processed carbohydrates supply the body with large amounts of glucose, creating an environment conducive to cancer growth.

Conversely, limiting the amount of glucose in circulation may inhibit cancer growth; studies on the ketogenic diet actively support this notion. The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, moderate protein, very-low-carbohydrate diet that significantly reduces blood sugar and causes the body to rely on ketones, rather than glucose, for energy. The ketogenic diet has proven useful as an adjunct treatment for cancer in a handful of studies. (35) However, for cancer prevention, a real-food diet (such as an ancestral one) that limits refined sugar and processed carbohydrates may be sufficient.

What the Latest Research Says about Artificial Sweeteners

Concerns about the health effects of added sugars have caused many people to turn to artificial sweeteners to satisfy their sweet tooth. But are artificial sweeteners really a safe alternative? The science, increasingly, suggests otherwise.

In the United States, there are currently six artificial sweeteners approved for consumption:

Acesulfame-K (Sweet One)

Aspartame and neotame (NutraSweet)

Saccharin (Sweet’N Low)

Sucralose (Splenda)

Advantame

Artificial sweeteners are generally several hundred to several thousand times sweeter than sucrose. (36) The artificial sweetener cyclamate was officially removed from the U.S. and Canadian markets years ago due to its carcinogenic activity; however, the others have remained on the market because there isn’t sufficient evidence of carcinogenic effects.

While current evidence may not support a strong association between artificial sweeteners and cancer, abundant research indicates that artificial sweeteners harm the body in other ways.

Artificial Sweeteners Alter the Gut Microbiota

Artificial sweetener consumption is associated with increased Firmicutes and decreased Bacteroidetes, a bacterial pattern associated with obesity in humans. Artificial sweeteners also can inhibit bacteria from reproducing—both the good, such as commensal gut microbes, as well as the bad, including E. coli and periodontal pathogens that can cause conditions like gum disease. Clearly artificial sweeteners can have a major impact on the gut microbiota, and importantly, even after artificial sweetener use has been discontinued, gut microbial differences persist. These findings suggest that the long-term consumption of artificial sweeteners may have significant implications for gut health. (37)

Artificial Sweeteners Impair Glucose Tolerance

Ironically, artificial sweeteners may cause glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota. In one study, rats exposed to eight weeks of aspartame had an altered gut microbiota composition and elevated fasting blood glucose. In another study, the ingestion of saccharin for 11 weeks produced compositional changes in the gut microbiota that preceded glucose intolerance. (38)

Glucose intolerance, in turn, increases the risk of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Interestingly, artificial sweetener consumption is associated with an increased risk of each of these conditions. It’s very possible that people who habitually consume artificial sweeteners are more likely to have chronic health conditions in the first place, but the evidence is still cause for concern and warrants further investigation. (39)

Artificial Sweeteners Alter Hormones

Sucralose and acesulfame-K increase insulin release by activating sweet taste receptors and calcium-sensing receptors. (40) This hormonal response may explain why artificial sweeteners impair glucose tolerance. Artificial sweeteners also fail to reduce ghrelin, an appetite-stimulating hormone that rises during fasting and decreases upon meal ingestion. Lack of ghrelin release promotes increased appetite and food intake, meaning artificial sweetener consumption may initiate a higher, rather than reduced, caloric intake.

Artificial Sweeteners Are Connected with Impaired Neurological Function

The ingestion of artificially sweetened drinks is associated with an increased risk of stroke and dementia. Aspartame is also known to cause neurological symptoms such as headaches, seizures, and migraines. (41, 42) Aspartame induces these effects by causing the production of excess free radicals in the brain and by elevating levels of phenylalanine and aspartic acid, which inhibit the synthesis and release of neurotransmitters. If your goal is to preserve your brain health, you may want to avoid artificial sweeteners.

Despite Claims, Artificial Sweeteners May Not Help with Weight Loss

The research on artificial sweeteners and weight loss is mixed. Studies have found a positive association between the consumption of artificial sweeteners and higher weight, but reverse causality is likely because overweight people are more likely to consume non-caloric artificial sweeteners in an attempt to lose weight. However, in a 2017 meta-analysis, the authors concluded that artificial sweeteners do not necessarily lead to weight loss and, in some cases, appear to cause weight gain. (43)

Pregnant and Nursing Women: Avoid Artificial Sweeteners

Pregnant and nursing women should be wary of artificial sweeteners. Eating artificial sweeteners during pregnancy significantly increases the risk of having a large-for-gestational-age baby, even when maternal BMI and other risk factors are controlled for. Seven years down the road, the children of women who consumed artificial sweeteners during pregnancy are also at an increased risk of being overweight or obese. Maternal consumption of artificial sweetener may promote weight issues in children by causing metabolic changes during a critical developmental window of gestation. (44)

Based on this evidence, I recommend that pregnant and lactating women, children, insulin-resistant individuals and diabetics, and migraine and epilepsy patients avoid artificial sweeteners. (45) If you fit into one of these categories but are trying to moderate your sugar intake, you may want to consider trying a natural non-nutritive sweetener instead, such as those discussed below.

Four Healthy Options for Sweeteners

If you’re craving something sweet, you do have healthier options. Stevia and monk fruit are two natural, non-nutritive sweeteners that have exploded in popularity in recent years. They are seen as healthier alternatives to artificial sweeteners and may have some unique health benefits. Sugar alcohols are another good option, if you don’t have gastrointestinal issues. And, of course, you can always turn to natural sweeteners found in whole foods to satisfy your craving.

1. Stevia

Stevia comes from the Stevia rebaudiana plant, a perennial herb native to South America. Ounce for ounce, it is 200 to 400 times sweeter than sucrose. Stevia rebaudiana produces compounds called steviol glycosides in its leaves; it is these compounds that have been isolated for use as a non-caloric sweetener.

Stevia may have some health benefits. In animal studies and lab research, it has been found to increase insulin sensitivity and exert antioxidant properties. (46, 47) However, conflicting research suggests there is no difference in glycemic and insulin responses between stevia and glucose. (48) Importantly, stevia has demonstrated antibacterial and endocrine-disrupting effects; it may, therefore, have detrimental effects on the gut microbiota and hormonal balance. (49, 50)

2. Monk Fruit

Monk fruit, also known as luo han guo, comes from the Siraitia grosvenorii plant native to Southeast Asia. Monk fruit contains compounds called mogrosides that are 250 times sweeter than sucrose and have been traditionally used as a natural, non-caloric sweetener.

Compared to stevia, monk fruit has a far more robust body of evidence supporting its beneficial health effects. (51) It is rich in vitamin C and flavonoids. The mogrosides it contains have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and anti-cancer effects; decrease blood sugar, total cholesterol, and triglycerides; and improve glucose and fat metabolism. (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57) If you are interested in trying monk fruit sweetener, I recommend Lakanto Pure Monkfruit Extract. It’s free of fillers, additives, and artificial flavorings and has a glycemic index of zero.

3. Sugar Alcohols

Sugar alcohols such as xylitol, sorbitol, and erythritol are another popular alternative for those looking to reduce their sugar intake. Compared to artificial sweeteners, there is very little evidence to suggest that sugar alcohols are harmful. In fact, some sugar alcohols may even have health benefits.

Sugar alcohols cause no detectable changes in blood glucose or insulin. This makes them a safe alternative for those with insulin resistance and diabetes. (58) Xylitol has been found to reduce blood sugar levels and improves dental health by inhibiting the growth of oral inflammatory bacteria and by promoting tooth remineralization. (59, 60) Erythritol and xylitol also disrupt undesirable biofilms, which are microorganisms that have banded together and adhered to a surface, such as the oral or gut mucosa. Finally, sugar alcohols also have prebiotic potential, meaning they may feed and support the growth of beneficial gut bacteria.

While sugar alcohols have some unique benefits, I recommend steering clear of them if you have digestive issues. Sugar alcohols are also known as polyols, and polyols are part of the FODMAP group of fermentable carbohydrates that frequently cause gas, bloating, diarrhea, and other digestive issues in people with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and IBS. Xylitol and sorbitol are more likely to trigger GI issues than erythritol, so if you have some GI issues but are still interested in experimenting with sugar alcohols, erythritol may be your best bet. (61) If you experience mild GI discomfort in response to sugar alcohols, know that the reaction may be temporary; research indicates that the gut microbiota adapts to sugar alcohols over time, resulting in less of a response.

4. Your Best Option: Natural Sugars in Whole, Real Foods

A substantial body of scientific evidence indicates that we should minimize our consumption of refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners as much as possible. However, this doesn't mean we should be afraid of natural sugars in whole, real foods!

The sugars contained in whole fruit or a sweet potato do not have the same effect on your health as a soda or candy bar. The fiber and water in real-food carbohydrates slow the absorption of sugars and promote satiety, preventing the blood-sugar roller coaster associated with the consumption of refined carbohydrates. Real-food carbohydrates also contain an abundance of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that support optimal health. In fact, the phytonutrients in blueberries, strawberries, and cranberries support a healthy glycemic response by improving insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. (62, 63)

If you want a concentrated sweetener other than stevia or monk fruit, I recommend using raw honey. In addition to tasting incredible, raw honey has many health benefits. It has antibacterial effects against enteric pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Shigella, as well as the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis. It is a source of prebiotics that promotes the growth of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria. (64, 65) It also offers some cardiovascular benefits because it has antioxidant effects and improves the function of the endothelium, a thin membrane lining the heart and blood vessels.

Finally, while the sugars found in real, whole foods can absolutely have a place in an overall healthy diet, you may want to limit your honey intake and stick to lower-sugar fruits, such as berries, if you have metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, or significant gut dysbiosis. Over time, you may be able to tolerate more natural sugars once you address the underlying causes of gut dysbiosis and metabolic dysfunction.

Now I’d like to hear from you. What are your thoughts on the research about refined sugar, HFCS, or artificial sweeteners? Are you a fan of stevia, monk fruit, or sugar alcohols? Let me know in the comments below.

The post Here’s the Research on Sugar and Health appeared first on Chris Kresser.

Source: http://chriskresser.com February 08, 2019 at 12:08AM

#paleo #recipe #food #delicious #healthy #yum #diet

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braindamageforbeginners · 6 years ago

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more FAQ

Cycle 10, Day 13

So, I spent this morning hanging out writer-y people and I was asked such a good question, I thought I’d use it as another FAQ. As always, I can only answer for myself on these things, ask a physician or real grown-up if you have any doubts. And to all my friends and family who think I’d use a blog to update my health status if things go bad - that’s what Instagram is for, people.

Q: What will my cancer treatment be like?

A; Exceptionally and amazingly unpleasant, I should imagine. Even though I don’t really like the whole “warfare/warrior” metaphor, there is one useful thing about it. I’ve heard from enough combat veterans - in various ways and media that, no matter how well it’s described, surviving modern warfare is indescribable to anyone who doesn’t have prior experience. Same goes here - until you survive a terminal illness, or get that fatal phone call, you really don’t know what it’ll be like, no matter how good I am at describing it. All I can tell you with any certainty is that you will have to develop a completely unassailable faith that you will outlast this thing. From that, you can get start developing the sort of pig-headed stubbornness you’re going to need to win this thing and carve out some sort of normal life. Having said that, I’d also say that you might have to modify your life and life goals, like Data in the game Strategema, in the immortal Trek episode “Peak Performance,” when he (Data) successfully challenges the annoying bureaucrat/ambassador caricature to a rematch: “ I was playing for a standoff, a draw. While Kolrami was dedicated to winning, I was able to pass up obvious avenues of advancement, then settle for a balance. Theoretically, I should be able to challenge him indefinitely. ” It sucks that you might have to put your life on hold in a potentially-never-ending stand-off with a disease, And I’m not going to argue that life is worth living - that’s your decision, and there are potential long-term constraints to my survival that I wouldn’t consider acceptable, but you might. Also, keep in mind, that same episode has the line, “ It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life. “ These are dangerous diseases - deadly if mistreated or mishandled, and frequently deadly even with the bestest care. You’re going to have to see those sort of statistics like “90% fatality rate” and say, “Fuck that, I’ll take those odds, someone hold my seat while I get a drink.” Of course, it’s easy to say that now. However, more to the point of the question, I’ve had a multicourse treatment starting with neurosurgery, then radiation and chemo, and maintenance chemo. After each step, you’re likely to get a week or two off to recover before your doctors review the results, and clear you for the next step. Treasure those weeks off, they might be your only progression-free moments where it looks like you’re on the upswing. And remember, the phrase, “I would recommend more treatment” is a good thing. Cancer patients only get sent three places: home, the hospital, or the hospice. More treatment and hospitals are bad, expensive, and dangerous, but they beat the hell out of 33% of the options.In my case - in the case of most chronic cancer patients - I’m not wild about five years of chemo, but it does beat the alternatives. When our post-Mastodon species talks about “killer instinct,” it’s usually in some unhelpful motivational seminar. No one talks about it for what it really is - coldly, and grimly doing whatever is necessary to outlast your enemy, which, in this case, is a rogue bit of you. Nietzsche talked about “will to power,” and it’s been used in conjunction with some horrific rhetoric and movements, but I’d advise you to embrace it if it’s the only way to get home again. However, my treatment has been: 1. Neurosurgery 2. 4 weeks off 3. Initial chemoradiation for 6 weeks (that’s brutal) 4, a few weeks off 5. maintenance chemo consisting of 5 days of Temodar and three marizomib infusions 6, ?

Q: Do you ready things about your disease differently than you do other biomedical studies and/or literature?

A. Oh, fuck, yes. I once read that the tell-tale sign of privilege is ignorance (about their privilege and those in a harder circumstances)(which, as someone who’s had a few of those permanently revoked - there was a time when the words “third floor” didn’t have me looking for an elevator)(still, a limp and/or ankle braces definitely beats that horrifying walker). In the same way, an ability to classify knowledge as “academic” is a sign of intellectual privilege (or complacence, which is the next step of privilege). I am absurdly invested in anything I read about GBM. Or cancer. Like, I understand - and kind of agree with - the old rule about not allowing physicians to treat their family members. You’re not going to exhibit the same degree of clarity and judgment. Same thing for me - I’m nigh-immortal on my good days (or with a morale boost), and, potentially dead on the bad ones. It’s exhausing, but, at the same time, i don’t know why we exhibit such disinterest in other areas (Ladies, I’m still single). You are either 1000% focused and committed, or not a all. You know what doctors call cancer patients who successfully complete half of their required treatment before giving up? “Dead.” There’s a good chance you’ll die, anyway, not committing to a treatment course once you’ve started is just a very expensive form of lengthy suicide. Additionally, even though I still use clinicaltrials.org and PubMed as my primary-source services on such things, I’m not as interested as I used to be. Don’t get me wrong, I am still absolutely interested in any new developments in my disease or treatment plan - I literally spent a few hours every week on those sites, but, in August, after John McCain died - from the same disease - and GBM treatment studies went from a few dozen on the FDA page to hundreds - I really started to believe - still do - that If I can just live long enough, healthily enough, science will catch up with me.

Additionally, there aren’t many cases of brain cancer of any sort, so you have to take a less methodical, statistical approach, and start looking at the outliers. I call this the Jack Lallane vs biochemistry approach. Stick with me. So, many years ago, a biochem professor in grad school pointed out that, according to the studies, there was no benefit to the sort of excessive protein consumption promoted by body builders, athletes, and other healthy-looking people. I probably should have realized this was coming from a 5′ middle-aged British man who looked the part, and taken it with a grain of salt. At a friend’s encouragement, I did start taking the supplements and what-not, and, as it turns out, further investigation and research showed that protein doesn’t promote muscle growth, unless it’s consumed within an hour of the workout. This is one of those cases where having incomplete information - as my professor did, as eventual research showed - is actually worse than ignorance. To that end, even though I try to keep current on research and development on GBM, I’m less interested in conventional wisdom and studies, and more on what the statistical outliers suggest. This is not to suggest for a minute that you will be better-informed than researchers - again, when the Warlocks or Mad Scientist say “No,” I usually take them at their word. But GBM research is a very weird and strange area of cancer research (again, it was nigh-impossible to find physicians who would agree to treat the disease as aggressively as they could; so we’re talking about a cancer that’s only been formally studied by epidiomology and science for 20-odd years), so I’ve gone with trying to track down data on those few outliers who outlived the 14-24 month life expectancy (also, good news, a recent study showed that almost 30% of us live for at least two years post-diagnosis), and figuring out how they did it. So far - and this is useful - the major commonalities are that they did successfully get a medical team to take them seriously, treat them aggressively, and they survived the treatment, which is still almost as-likely to kill you as the disease. They all also stressed the importance of “complementary medicine” in addition to the real stuff. So, again, full disclosure, I am not a fan of “alternative medicine,” which is when you get the unproven or unstudied stuff instead of traditional Western Medicine, but I am a massive fan of “complementary medicine” which is when you use the freaky stuff in addition to the established, standard stuff (and a crazy hallucinogenic, experimental chemo trial would qualify, I think). “Eating healthy” and “staying psychotically active” are also included in that category. We can talk about fad diets and nutrition, but, again, just going old-school Jack Lallane, I try to get 7-10 servings of raw fruits and vegetables (I really don’t think the “raw” part is very important, but it would take time and energy to cook them, and I’d rather that go into writing or research)(which reminds me, I have to look into photo enhancement/editing techniques this week). “Coffee” is also not on anyone’s nutritionally-recommended list, which makes me ponder how those researchers survived their patients. And such things aren’t studied by most researchers; I don’t think that’s because there’s any insidious pharmacy conspiracy, I just think it’s hard to find qualified patients (again, the rules governing these things are usually established by human rights laws and treaties, add the various dos and don’ts of a clinical trial selection into you reach anothe order of magnitude for cost and lack of returns), and, in many cases, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. With one notable exception. In addition to being a massive fan of fitness and nutrition as a way to keep healthy and vital enough to convince your physicians to douse you in Agent Orange, I’ve also become a major proponent of medical marijuana. Again, not because it’ll cure cancer, but because it’s better at treating some of the nastier side-effects than established pharmaceuticals (and it’s telling that the shift comes just as a lot of lawmakers and pharmaceutical giants start divesting themselves of standard stuff and invest in medical marijuana development and research). And what I didn’t know at the beginning, that I wished I did now, is that the side-effects and problem stack up in standard chemoradiation. It was harder to drag myself to the infusion center on Cycle 9 than Cycle 5. But I was there.

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extremeexplore · 3 years ago

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Email Marketing Strategy-2021

Email Marketing is the cornerstone of digital commerce. Not only is it one of the oldest forms of digital commerce, but it has also proven to be a very effective way to transform the financial system. As a successful salesperson and/or business owner, you may know this.

But do you know the value of the letter? Can Email Be Your Email Business? Appreciation goes hand in hand with the commitment and commitment to providing the time, money, and success needed to develop a plan that not only produces results but fits well with your marketing plan. I encourage you to create your own email address. Email Marketing Policy. I tell you how free e-mail news has been twenty-seven million. This is the story of that Hustle.

$ 27 million news

If you’re not a subscriber to The Hustle now (and if not), it’s fun, entertaining, informative, and addictive (probably like morning coffee). This email teaches me every day. The letter contains up-to-date information on various industries and topics. Each email plan can be described as “eye-catching”; View easily and accurately the latest exciting and embarrassing events, statistics, trends, and trade events.

Fortunately, it is topped with a beautiful modern GIF that includes designs and themes for the theme of the day. It combines Hustle design, integrated production, integrated content, and solid structure, and has a messaging system that can attract up to 1.5 million people.

2021 Mara. Hubspot, an advertising software company, acquired The Hustle for $ 27 million (according to Axios). Hustle has shown that email can be physically organized. The shipping list costs over a million. Authors, but also 22.6 billion.

If you think about how long it took to start and sell a successful shipping business like The Hustle, it took less than six years. The publication was first published in 2016, using the interior design business you see today. If you have been in this situation for a long time, you are sending an e-mail. In email trading, this should indicate that your text is working / not working.

But do you know the value of the letter? Can Email Be Your Email Business?

Do you have an email? Email Marketing Strategy?

I think you have no idea, and if you have, it’s unclear and likely to be fixed in the past. Worse, this may not be in line with your marketing strategy. If you are not sure if you have a sales letter. With a well-defined email solution tailored to specific advertising events, answer these questions.

My message for this month/quarter/year is the email I am currently sending is linked to my PPC / social media / SEO / advertising campaign as follows:

My most effective 30/60/90 day RI campaign as I know (by heart) my current opening, clickthrough rate, transition rate, flow rate, flow rate, growth rate, report of engagement, email rate. Mail and money for each person who writes.

What did you do If you can answer many of these questions logically, you have more opportunities than many business owners. Even in these cases, there is still room for improvement, and we are still working to find out here.

The real reason you don’t have email. Email Marketing Strategies You do not have a valid email. Strategies for email trading because you think you don’t like it.

For many companies, email marketing is an important part of the “first” marketing strategy. This is a small part of a funnel, an imperfect trace, or a rapid explosion that triggers 24-hour lightning to work.

Email marketing is as simple as advertising (for example, something you only use to sell to old customers or publications), but the goal can be too great. In an emergency, it should be used for parking, traffic, storage, direct sales, shipping, reset, storage, and retrieval.

Advertising emails There should only be three emails to send. In the case of letters, everything is commercial and related. Also, in the realm of e-commerce, customer movement must take place in eight stages: knowledge, order, action, conversion, enthusiasm, marketing, empowerment, and promotion.

These are all good things, and you really know how to advertise a letter online. Send an e-mail using amazing certificates to host the site (embarrassing/shameless and embarrassed), but this is not a text on this issue. Here we would like to discuss this in your email. It is a marketing ploy and as an example of speed, you can completely change your email. Email marketing.

Email Marketing Strategies to develop a five-stage trading strategy for 2021

Email Hustle. Represents email trading. Not only did they send a well-used email. Email marketing, however, has also proven to be the first way to send an email. Email is another effective form of traditional advertising.

This five-step process is in line with The Hustle’s timeless model. A practical guide to doing tips and instructions and advice on all things can be found here.

STEP 1: Decide how online advertising fits into your marketing strategy.

Before you can do anything, you have to decide when and how to use email regularly. Email marketing to find out where He thinks He Hustle, visit his website:

The answer, of course, came out. The Hustle website is simple and encourages you to enter your mailing list. The openness is enhanced with a large number of sites, the design of the mobile newspaper, the subscriber statement (“Trust from 1.5 million readers …”), and satisfactory response from the reader. They don’t have a head or leg to walk on because they cry a lot!

If you measure Hustle’s marketing skills on a scale of 1 to 10, email trading will be 10. Where do you go with your entire trading strategy? To determine if an ad matches your ad criteria, answer only the following questions:

What trading strategies do you use? Do you rate all your trading strategies from 1 to 10 (the 1 most important and the 10 most important)? How much time and money does each method spend each month? Do you create your own cookies and tax sources for email trading? Does the text indicate your willingness to use this method?

STEP 2: Create a long-term email. The purpose of email trading

Many business owners and marketers focus on short-term email marketing events. You need the new “x”. You need that part of the “x” keys. You need an “x” conversion rate. All of these short-term and business goals are necessary, but they may not help you create an email. Email trading strategies; You only know if it works or not.

Your long-term business plan should be comprehensive, engaging, and influencing your entire business and your audience. You can find Hustle targets in the first line of the “About” page:

In the Hustle, we tell people (like you) what they want to know. Although the sentence is broad and clear, she chooses your letter. Tons of email marketing. We examine the judgment from the information.

Here is the violence: the universal meaning of the show tell people: a clear pattern of actions that only tell them what they are doing (like you) – explanation and encouragement to the reader

What you want to know. – Exciting presentation from the construction service

What if all your e-mail could summarize your email marketing tips in one of your favorites? Here are some examples to start with:

True Education Technology Page: Inform families about the importance of academic progress.

He. Retail Clothing Company Newsletter: We have your daily sauce in your favorite box.

Letters to local restaurants, we will let you know before you eat.

Create a long-term email. The purpose of email marketing

STEP 3: Choose an introduction for a great email. Web page

While some Model Pictures emails may vary, it is important to create a good database for a large database. For many companies, this is your standard letter. Once you have established, you can find or add items to your email section. Scripture maintains stability. Looking at The Hustle, there are five main types of chapters:

GREAT VISION

Pieces

FREE LANGUAGE (1 OR OTHER)

“FROM DAY” (same day, daily jacket, daily numbers, etc.)

Sharing going on

A consistent plan allows readers to predict what information to expect and what to expect from it. Your goal should be to create a Mcdonald’s email. Email marketing … no matter how much the speaker uses the information, knows what to expect.

First, try to balance your chapters into five. You want to make enough chapters to cover thousands of topics and focus well on making them fun and interesting. Write each e-mail. Insert a campaign letter and divide it into five parts. This should give you the basics of the features used.

STEP 4: Explain the overall design process

Most people usually put a dime and plan in one group, but this is the way it goes wrong. Placement, which can be called a word, plan, language, hearing, and so on. It should reflect your marketing strategy, not just email. Email campaign.

If your name is weird, flattering, and disrespectful, send us an email. The plan should not be small, dark, or religious. If your email lasts too long The purpose of email marketing is to “Give business owners secret information that the media won’t tell you.” how to smile.

The Hustle design, as shown in a recent campaign image above, includes simple, bold, moderate, and “shocking” images (with punches) that capture bright colors, pleasing designs, and eye shadows.

The reader should explain your full plan title in a few seconds of the letter. Open the letter. If there’s confusion in this, it’s because you haven’t defined your plan clearly. Some of the questions you need to answer.

What three words summarize your understanding of the letter? Email Marketing? If you could summarize all your tips in another image or graph, what could it be? If your Mother’s Day letter campaign could be a movie star, who would it be or who would it be?

STEP 5: Set a time to work

As with any program, it takes time to create, test, and edit your email. Email Marketing Policy. That all takes longer. Future schedules will make you take this job seriously while giving you a real sense of accomplishment.

Hustle adds: Sam Parr 2015 published a list of 300 authors and in 2016. The April updated issue has $ 1.5 million. Passport of subscribers in mid-2021 (period of 5 years). This is an average annual growth rate of about three hundred authors. Although it was a remarkable step forward, it did not happen overnight and the current list of writers, though interesting, is not very large.

If your company is fully committed to an email letter. Any advice on email marketing, 10,000, 100,000 or a million writers can do that for you? Even a small part of it can seriously affect your business.

With this in mind, we recommend spending 90 days developing a new strategy. Your email details describe this installation, and we encourage you to get started.

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nationskills · 3 years ago

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EMAIL MARKETING STRATEGY