hi! ive been talking in the dc server and with the help of some ppl, i’ve created a role swap au—in which the love interests and heroes switch roles. i hope you enjoy :3
roleswap titans au
leader: kory anders. (lives in gotham after being abandoned in the streets by her sister when they crash landed on earth. raised by catwoman. wanted a team to not only help the world but to not feel alone. for all catwoman’s strengths, emotional connections aren’t always her strongest thing. especially to a kid.) replaces dick grayson
report writer: linda park (gained super speed after recreating the accident that happened to flash to investigate what happened at star labs. she joins titans by claiming she wants to learn how to be a better hero but really… she wants to know their hero identities & uncover who the flash Really Is. will she use her connection to the hero world to figure out their identities or will she learn to be the hero she claims to be?) replaces wally west
redeemed hero: chesire (“saved” by roy harper. she initially refuses to work together with the titans but the more they live with each other, the more she thinks twice about not corporating. can she move past the path she believed she was destined for? or will the titans efforts be in vain?) replaces roy harper
atlantan: dolphin (quiet kid from atlantis. she wandered into earth after being attacked by atlantis’ army for her mutation, stranded and alone. it’s only by being recruited by kory anders that she’s learning to find her footing (or fins) in the world. is she capable of working together with the cast? find out) replaces garth (aqualad)
the bow and arrow: speedy (the one that “saved” chesire. lots of people teased that he only joined bc he had a crush on kory but really… he wants to help chesire. and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to aid her. he thinks being with ppl their own age would help them adjust and fit in) replaces donna troy
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Would you recommend getting “Wings of Fire “ cuz I can’t really make my mind up whether or not to get it…
honestly? yeah! the first arc is pretty damn solid and a ton of fun, so even if the first five are the only ones you read, it'll be a good time. fun characters, cool concepts, Dragons As People... it's just neat. the first arc - Dragonet Prophecy through The Brightest Night - is the best of the three
the second one is fun too, with awesome new characters and concepts, but honestly? i'd recommend reading it just so that you understand the solo book Darkstalker, bc imo that is the BEST book in the series. it fucks so severely, im not even exaggerating. it. goes. Hard. but yeah arc two - Moon Rising through Darkness of Dragons - while not as good as the first one, is a fun read, and the characters are (with a few exceptions) bangers. shit gets crazy
arc three... eh. its mid compared to arc two, let alone the first. Sutherland's writing slowly starts to lose quality and the plot is... uh. interesting. some of the characters are fun, but it's just! it could be better! but there is another standalone that's a fun read, which would be Dragonslayer - if memory serves, you don't need to read the arc to understand it, since its new characters + takes place in the past (but i'd rec reading that after at least the first arc). it's not Darkstalker levels of good, but i could compare its quality to the second arc
that was a whole Guide lmao oops. hope this helps! i really do think its worth it!
tl;dr: yea <3
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Five Act Structure: Seasons vs. Acts
Reworking some thoughts and ideas here. If Stranger Things is set up in five act structure (which is so cool and I never want to stop talking about it also here’s this post where I explain what I’m talking about) then the parallels between season two and season four change a bit- but also viewing the story as a whole might change too (when looking at it in five acts).
Season one had a pretty cut and dry story: Will went missing, supernatural elements introduced, character introductions, banishing supernatural elements, Will comes back. If they didn’t get a second season the story would still hold up. This is also a really good set up for the rest of the story, it’s the ~prologue~. Also it’s ACT I. But just talking about the story within the season- it’s solid stuff. There’s stuff that’s unresolved yeah, but not to the point where you’d watch it and think, what’s next. We’re not done here- hey! Get back here- like you would think at the end of let’s say, season four. (Also season one has the first major death that effects the narrative later- barb)
Season two is more complicated than season one. We’re well aware by the end of it that this story is not done- the Mind Flayer is still a problem. The last scene where we flip over into the Upside Down tells us that this part of the story isn’t finished. Season two also starts developing Lucas and Max, and Mike and El’s (although really different from Lucas and Max) relationships. It also explores Mike and Will’s relationship.
The Snowball is a really interesting point in the season because it’s the last episode and the last scene. It’s also a weird sort of misdirection that’s telling us everything worked out okay. But it’s not okay. Bob is dead, El literally just ran away and was being confronted with her past, Will was just possessed, Barb is still dead, the Mind Flayers still alive- the Snowball is like a bandaid on you’re feelings for your best friend. Unhelpful and clearly hiding something. Season two is a good portion of ACT II, and it makes sense for things to be unresolved at the end of season two- because ACT II hasn’t run it’s course yet.
All characters usually are introduced by the end of ACT II, so Robin being introduced in season three would make sense if we’re actually still in ACT II at the start of season three. Season three also continues to follow the Mind Flayer. We’re still dealing with the same problem as season two. Character wise, we’re exploring Lucas and Max’s romantic relationships, El and Max’s relationship (continuing from Max’s interests in El in season two), Mike and El’s relationship, and Mike and Will. We’ve also continued on with Dustin’s focus on girls, and his friendship with Steve. We’re dealing with almost all the same problems for everyone, just continuing in a different season. Our main problem is the Mind Flayer, and that leads us straight to the climax- the Mind Flayer at Star-court and Hopper’s “death”.
Right before the battle at star court is where ACT II ends. Then we get to ACT III, the climax, where everything big happens all at once. Usually the climax is one scene so that’s why I’m saying it’s when they defeat the Mind Flayer, Billy dies, Hopper “dies”, and there are literal fire works going off making everything that much more intense. After the climax, the Byers move away, Mike and El (get back together?) have a relationship development and Mike seems all out of sorts about it, and everything starts going in a downwards spiral.
However, going back to ACT II for a second here, looking at where we are by the time of the climax (and during) everything has pretty much been resolved- Suzie’s revealed as a real person/Dustin’s girl problems stop, all party relationships are pretty okay again. Max and El are friends, Nancy and Jonathan are cool again, Hopper and Joyce were going to go on a date, Mike and El are cool again, pretty much every problem that’s had a clear cut story line from season two finds an end in season three. Of course there’s still things that aren’t resolved, but for the most part, when the season ends it’s okay. The cliff hanger comes separately from the end of the season (like Will in season one).
Season four is a lot like season two; it’s the start of and act but it also stops in the middle of that act. A new problem is introduced in season four: Vecna/Henry Creel/One. This is not the same guy as the Mind Flayer at all. Everything also starts going terribly in season four because now we’re in ACT IV- the bad one. After the climax everything falls to pieces- and where we’re sitting right now, in the middle of ACT IV, it’s still falling apart. Season four problems are going to carry over into season five, much like the Mind Flayer into season three, because it’s the same act.
So this all got me thinking about the act structure in relation to the story, and what if ACT II and ACT IV are paralleling each other, and not just season two and season four? That would mean that all of season two and most of season three could be seen as paralleling season four (and most of season 5). That really changes things for me because that expands the possibility of what’s actually happening quite a bit. It also messes with the idea that season two and season four could be related to each other in specific ways(like being inverted), because ACT II and ACT IV cover different things. However, it would make more sense for ACT II and ACT IV to be paralleled because of the Snow Ball scene in the middle of both of them.
Mike also makes a lot more sense as a narrator when looking at Stranger Things in acts. Season one was a single act, so we saw a lot of Mike. We focused in on him and Joyce because they’re guiding us in season one. In season two, there’s less of Joyce and more of Mike and other characters stories- but Joyce makes a return in season three where Mike falls a bit more off to the side. But looking at season two and three as a whole, it’s pretty well divided between all the characters in respect to their placement and roles within the story. In season four we got a lot more Joyce and a lot more of the other characters development. Mike fell a bit to the side again, but it makes sense for that to happen if ACT IV isn’t completed. We haven’t really gotten to Mike in ACT IV yet. Similar idea with how Will goes from being the focus of season two, to being sidelined in season three. They’re still there and present in the narrative but they’ve done their part of the act- and now are helping the others do theirs.
Season five looks like it’s going to finish the rest of ACT IV (the downwards spiral) and pick up the storylines that haven’t been covered in the act yet. Mike and Will, Jonathan and Nancy, Max and El, Vecna and the Upside Down, the consequences of Eddie’s death, what happened to Owens, mystery around the Upside Down- and everything else that season four started to get into but didn’t actually conclude.
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When I was in vet school I went to this one lecture that I will never forget. Various clubs would have different guest lecturers come in to talk about relevant topics and since I was in the Wildlife Disease Association club I naturally attended all the wildlife and conservation discussions. Well on this particular occasion, the speakers started off telling us they had been working on a project involving the conservation of lemurs in Madagascar. Lemurs exist only in Madagascar, and they are in real trouble; they’re considered the most endangered group of mammals on Earth. This team of veterinarians was initially assembled to address threats to lemur health and work on conservation solutions to try and save as many lemur species from extinction as possible. As they explored the most present dangers to lemurs they found that although habitat loss was the primary problem for these vulnerable animals, predation by humans was a significant cause of losses as well. The vets realized it was crucial for the hunting of lemurs by native people to stop, but of course this is not so simple a problem.
The local Malagasy people are dealing with extreme poverty and food insecurity, with nearly half of children under five years old suffering from chronic malnutrition. The local people have always subsisted on hunting wildlife for food, and as Madagascar’s wildlife population declines, the people who rely on so-called bushmeat to survive are struggling more and more. People are literally starving.
Our conservation team thought about this a lot. They had initially intended to focus efforts on education but came to understand that this is not an issue arising from a lack of knowledge. For these people it is a question of survival. It doesn’t matter how many times a foreigner tells you not to eat an animal you’ve hunted your entire life, if your child is starving you are going to do everything in your power to keep your family alive.
So the vets changed course. Rather than focus efforts on simply teaching people about lemurs, they decided to try and use veterinary medicine to reduce the underlying issue of food insecurity. They supposed that if a reliable protein source could be introduced for the people who needed it, the dependence on meat from wildlife would greatly decrease. So they got to work establishing new flocks of chickens in the most at-risk communities, and also initiated an aggressive vaccination program for Newcastle disease (an infectious illness of poultry that is of particular concern in this area). They worked with over 600 households to ensure appropriate husbandry and vaccination for every flock, and soon found these communities were being transformed by the introduction of a steady protein source. Families with a healthy flock of chickens were far less likely to hunt wild animals like lemurs, and fewer kids went hungry. Thats what we call a win-win situation.
This chicken vaccine program became just one small part of an amazing conservation outreach initiative in Madagascar that puts local people at the center of everything they do. Helping these vulnerable communities of people helps similarly vulnerable wildlife, always. If we go into a country guns-blazing with that fire for conservation in our hearts and a plan to save native animals, we simply cannot ignore the humans who live around them. Doing so is counterintuitive to creating an effective plan because whether we recognize it or not, humans and animals are inextricably linked in many ways. A true conservation success story is one that doesn’t leave needy humans in its wake, and that is why I think this particular story has stuck with me for so long.
(Source 1)
(Source 2- cool video exploring this initiative from some folks involved)
(Source 3)
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Opinion Here’s how to get free Paxlovid as many times as you need it
When the public health emergency around covid-19 ended, vaccines and treatments became commercial products, meaning companies could charge for them as they do other pharmaceuticals. Paxlovid, the highly effective antiviral pill that can prevent covid from becoming severe, now has a list price of nearly $1,400 for a five-day treatment course.
Thanks to an innovative agreement between the Biden administration and the drug’s manufacturer, Pfizer, Americans can still access the medication free or at very low cost through a program called Paxcess. The problem is that too few people — including pharmacists — are aware of it.
I learned of Paxcess only after readers wrote that pharmacies were charging them hundreds of dollars — or even the full list price — to fill their Paxlovid prescription. This shouldn’t be happening. A representative from Pfizer, which runs the program, explained to me that patients on Medicare and Medicaid or who are uninsured should get free Paxlovid. They need to sign up by going to paxlovid.iassist.com or by calling 877-219-7225. “We wanted to make enrollment as easy and as quick as possible,” the representative said.
Indeed, the process is straightforward. I clicked through the web form myself, and there are only three sets of information required. Patients first enter their name, date of birth and address. They then input their prescriber’s name and address and select their insurance type.
All this should take less than five minutes and can be done at home or at the pharmacy. A physician or pharmacist can fill it out on behalf of the patient, too. Importantly, this form does not ask for medical history, proof of a positive coronavirus test, income verification, citizenship status or other potentially sensitive and time-consuming information.
But there is one key requirement people need to be aware of: Patients must have a prescription for Paxlovid to start the enrollment process. It is not possible to pre-enroll. (Though, in a sense, people on Medicare or Medicaid are already pre-enrolled.)
Once the questionnaire is complete, the website generates a voucher within seconds. People can print it or email it themselves, and then they can exchange it for a free course of Paxlovid at most pharmacies.
Pfizer’s representative tells me that more than 57,000 pharmacies are contracted to participate in this program, including major chain drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens and large retail chains such as Walmart, Kroger and Costco. For those unable to go in person, a mail-order option is available, too.
The program works a little differently for patients with commercial insurance. Some insurance plans already cover Paxlovid without a co-pay. Anyone who is told there will be a charge should sign up for Paxcess, which would further bring down their co-pay and might even cover the entire cost.
Several readers have attested that Paxcess’s process was fast and seamless. I was also glad to learn that there is basically no limit to the number of times someone could use it. A person who contracts the coronavirus three times in a year could access Paxlovid free or at low cost each time.
Unfortunately, readers informed me of one major glitch: Though the Paxcess voucher is honored when presented, some pharmacies are not offering the program proactively. As a result, many patients are still being charged high co-pays even if they could have gotten the medication at no cost.
This is incredibly frustrating. However, after interviewing multiple people involved in the process, including representatives of major pharmacy chains and Biden administration officials, I believe everyone is sincere in trying to make things right. As we saw in the early days of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, it’s hard to get a new program off the ground. Policies that look good on paper run into multiple barriers during implementation.
Those involved are actively identifying and addressing these problems. For instance, a Walgreens representative explained to me that in addition to educating pharmacists and pharmacy techs about the program, the company learned it also had to make system changes to account for a different workflow. Normally, when pharmacists process a prescription, they inform patients of the co-pay and dispense the medication. But with Paxlovid, the system needs to stop them if there is a co-pay, so they can prompt patients to sign up for Paxcess.
Here is where patients and consumers must take a proactive role. That might not feel fair; after all, if someone is ill, people expect that the system will work to help them. But that’s not our reality. While pharmacies work to fix their system glitches, patients need to be their own best advocates. That means signing up for Paxcess as soon as they receive a Paxlovid prescription and helping spread the word so that others can get the antiviral at little or no cost, too.
{source}
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