#or how he will have a really long line describing some complicated procedure and then punctuate it with a really snappy comment

[ectoarchaeology]

i made the "mistake" of reading neuromancer, enjoying it, and leaving gibson at that for over a decade. i have now reread neuromancer and i am halfway through burning chrome and i want to scream at how truly good he is. it's not just the speculative fiction being both interesting and plausible or the technical writing being RIDICULOUSLY easy to follow, it's that his writing style goes down so smooth that pretty much every line is exactly ass elegant and efficient as it can be. it is driving me CRAZY

[lovelyirony]

Could I get number 30 "Why is arson always your first answer?" With winteriron?

England wasn’t necessarily Tony’s favorite place to be. For one thing, Pepper always asked for some sort of collection of Burberry scarves, and Tony would rather die than step foot in a store, but Pepper is the one who makes sure he gets out of countries and into countries as discreetly as possible. 

For another, England usually means either expensive art or expensive jewelry, and art is a bitch to get out of an event if you haven’t worked up a back story for the last year, and jewelry is...well. People are bound to notice if it’s famous enough. 

This go-round, it’s art. A rare miniature of a high-society woman, someone Tony doesn’t at all care about. He has a buyer from the middle of nowhere Montana, and he’s not sure why a cowboy from Montana cares about this so much, but he offered a pretty steep salary for Tony, so here he is. 

The thing is this: Tony Stark is not known as a thief. No. He is known as a reclusive billionaire who only comes out of his house, like, once a year to mourn his parents. 

Except he doesn’t do that, that’s just the yearly walk that he lets them notice and take pictures of. 

Anthony Carbonell is known as an elusive thief who likes to make fun of every single agent of any organization that attempts to track him or the works that he’s stolen. It’s cute, honestly. 

Agent James Barnes is the newest hire at SHIELD Protection, which moonlights as an insurance agency. 

His newest job is one that no one else has managed to complete: capture Anthony Carbonell, and protect the newest artwork. 

It’s sending him to England. He has to wear a suit and everything, and he’s not exactly excited about it. 

All they know is that he’s dark-haired, is shorter than six feet, and has a penchant for playing practical jokes on the agents when they end up not capturing him. 

- 

Barnes touches down in England, follows one of their British agents to a safe-house, and gets out the tuxedo. 

God help this night. 

- 

Tony usually isn’t thrown for a loop when it comes to guests at high society auctions. Most everyone is publicly known, or at least known when they should be known. 

There’s a new man in town. 

Tony can’t deny that he has the nicest looks he’s ever seen. A jaw that won’t quit, eyes that seem to observe everything, and a tasteful bun drawn at the back of his head. He also fills out a tuxedo quite nicely. 

Something about him screams danger. Tony smiles to himself in his cocktail; he’ll keep his eyes on that man, so far as everything goes to plan. 

- 

Bucky can feel eyes on him, but he can’t tell if it’s because he’s technically new to all of this, or if it’s because Anthony is here and he already knows. 

He wasn’t stupid. He knew as soon as he walked in that Anthony would be here, and he would be aware. But he’s not really going to focus on the people milling about. He sticks close to the miniature, observing the security measures. 

Or lack of. 

The security measures are barely there. If Bucky could cause a distraction in the room, or maybe pull a fire alarm, he could easily abscond with it. 

He assumes that’s why the band is in another room. He had read the reports that Clint had managed to nick; the band was supposed to be playing in the room, but an anonymous guest had suggested that the acoustics were better in a room adjacent. 

He’s pretty sure that Anthony had recommended that, wherever he was. It’s not like any of the rich people would have had common sense enough to call ahead and ask about the placement of the band, and take into account the arch of the room with the acoustics of a violin. 

It’s smart, honestly. Everyone is dancing, they want to notice what other people are wearing so that they can either discreetly copy them later or make a laughing stock of them in about six minutes, give or take, and no one will notice if someone who wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place slips out. 

He’s not exactly wrong. 

But Tony has been working for an exclusive catering company for two months. Very fun stuff. He learned that he will never want to eat another crab cake again, and he learned how to improvise descriptions for food that is essentially chicken fingers and ketchup. 

Barnes is looking for someone who looks like they fit in. And Tony does, just...not in the way that he actually knows how to do. 

If he was high society, he’d be recognized immediately; everyone still knows how Howard smiled, how Maria moved around the room with the practiced grace of someone raised to be a fun little accessory on your arm. 

Tony has both of those attributes, and if people actually noticed others, they would clock him easily. 

-

He got bold. 

Too bold. 

He was serving appetizers, and he offers one to the new guy on the block. 

“Care for one?” he asks, eyes timidly looking up, energy nervous. 

“Thank you,” New Guy says, and he looks at Tony directly in the eyes. “I appreciate it.” 

No one thanks you at events like these. 

And no one looks at you. 

This was the mistake. 

-

His features are umistakable, Bucky decides. The way his head tilted when he offered the food, the way his eyes look at his, and they’re not used to being looked back at. 

It almost fooled him. Almost. 

But most who work for the upper class learn early on from someone or another that you don’t look, even if you know that they won’t spare you the time of day. 

He’s tempting the odds, and he’s exactly the kind of person who would do it. 

Bucky has Anthony Carbonell’s face memorized, from the surprisingly warm brown eyes to the way he walks away. 

- 

Tony has blown this mission. He knows it. He fucking knows that SHIELD knows who he is right now. 

He texts Pepper, incorrect grammar and everything: 

tell guy job is over. i can refund him for inconvenience. 

what do you mean, over? 

been had. :( 

i don’t like that that’s your reaction. but get out of there, whatever means necessary. i can’t get you out of there until tomorrow morning, or i lose the deposit on your room . 

srsly??????? 

yes, seriously. the woman who let us rent it was very specific about two-day-stay. in the mean time, maybe grab a bottle of wine or something. how are you going to escape? 

well...

don’t you dare

-

Arson is an art that has to be carefully done, if you were wondering. You can just decide to do it, but you need to have some experience for it. 

Tony has. Kind of. 

He has a matchbook from a local hotel that he went into, and it’s been tucked into a pocket of his pants, and he is currently debating if he can actually finish the job or not. 

“Is arson always your first answer?” 

Shit. 

“Uh, smoke break?” Tony asks, knowing that it’s a Very Stupid Excuse because he doesn’t have any cigarettes. 

“Be real with yourself,” Barnes says. “You also have a very unfortunate British accent, as in it sounds terrible.” 

“My apologies if I didn’t work on it,” Tony says. “I’ve been too busy with...other things. Speaking of which, you’re new to SHIELD, aren’t you?” 

“You’re my first mission.” 

“How unfortunate.” 

“And why is that?” 

Tony smiles at him, and it’s disarming how genuine it looks. How genuine it is. (Bucky’s been able to spot a fake smile since he was seven and his mother let Mormons into their house. He knows a lot of things.) 

“Well, darling dearest, I’m going to make my escape.” 

“And you’re saying I can’t find you?” 

“Oh, you’ll find me. You’ll see me everywhere.” 

Tony then proceeds to kiss the ever-living hell out of Barnes. 

It is probably the best kiss of his life, honestly. 

And it leaves him dazed. 

Dazed enough that Tony only has a light jogging-pace as he makes his escape, stealing one of the various Rolls Royce cars that is parked underneath a brilliantly-lit lamp. 

- 

Bucky keeps thinking about that line, about seeing him everywhere. 

He doesn’t know what it means. He describes Anthony Carbonell to a sketch artist, they ask around, and then there’s Friday. 

Friday. 

It’s the day everything becomes clearer and yet infinitely more complicated, because Anthony was right. 

Tony Stark is dedicated to a more “transparent’ image for his company. He’s stepped into the limelight, and all the attention is on him. Everyone in the world is stalking his every move. 

It’s smart. Bold and risky if any former clients have seen his face, although Bucky has no doubt that he has enough money to make sure they go away quietly. 

It means that he can’t be touched. For at least one year, maybe two. 

God, it’s smart. Be so well-known that even the secret agencies would be found if they even attempted to reach you. 

- 

Pepper thinks Tony is God’s Given Idiot. 

Arson probably would have been the better choice. It’s not like the building didn’t have insurance, and it’s not like the fire would have lasted for that long. 

Instead, Tony has decided to make himself internationally known and request a meeting with the guy who could have ended his career, and still could if he talked to the right people. 

-

Sam thinks knows that Bucky is God’s Given Idiot. 

He agrees to the fucking meeting. 

It’s a well-known, public restaurant. It means that Barnes is going to be well-known, or at least photographed from an angle that’s unflattering. 

He should’ve debated, should have fought for a secluded place, or at least somewhere on their turf. God, that would’ve been an iota smarter. 

- 

They both sit down. Peruse a menu that neither are interested in. 

Bucky is wondering what the procedure is on leftovers. And if he’s paying for his own bill in this. He was invited, but with everything going on, he’s not sure. 

Tony sits across from him. Tony, with a now-distinctive goatee, an easy elegance, and a satisfied look in his eyes. 

“You amaze me, James.” 

“Bucky.” 

“I refuse to call you that out of respect for humanity.” 

“I don’t answer to James.” 

“Then what about another nickname, hm?” Tony asks. 

“Like what?” 

“Take your pick. You could be honey, darling, or love. Or something more creative, although if it’s kinky, I’d like it in writing before I refer to you in public with that, so-” 

“James is fine.” 

“Knew it would be,” Tony says smugly. “So. Let’s talk about the fact that you know my dirty little secret.” 

“I wouldn’t call it ‘little’, would you?” 

“It’s a hobby.” 

“Rich people steal shit as a hobby?” 

“Usually not with my methods, but yes,” Tony says. “They usually do it with the careful guidance of the IRS or some shit.” 

Bucky does a little laugh at that one. 

Their waiter comes out, jovially asks how their day is going. 

“Oh it’s going magnificently,” Tony says, peering up through violet-tinted glasses. “How is yours...Lincoln?” 

“Brilliant,” Lincoln responds with a large smile. “What can I get you to drink? Our seasonal cocktail is to die for, and if you’re not in the mood for a cocktail, the cider is simply divine...” 

It’s mundane conversation. 

Tony Stark is a thief who goes by (went by?) Anthony Carbonell, and he’s listening to Lincoln the Waiter talk about seasonal drinks and desserts. 

It’s kind of...grounding. Also odd. 

“And for you?” 

Bucky fumbles with the menu. 

“Uh...water? With lemon?” 

“Refreshingly good choice,” Lincoln says, grinning. “I’ll be right back with those, you two catch up on whatever you need to catch up.” 

Bucky nods, turning to Tony with an eyebrow raised. 

“So, what do we need to catch up on?” 

“Well for one, you need to use my name. It’s Tony, and I’m betting it sounds heavenly coming from you.” 

Bucky’s eyes widen a fraction. 

“Alright. Tony. What do you need to talk about?” 

“Keeping our little secret a secret.” 

“I’ve already told others about you.” 

“Who?” Tony asks sharply. 

Lincoln comes back with their drinks, asks if they need more time to decide. 

Bucky just goes for it and orders a plate of mini quiche-things that he’s not exactly sure he’ll like. Tony orders something with a perfect accent, because of course he does. 

“You do this often?” 

“Go out to eat? On special occasions, and every other Friday.” 

“Tell me what you want.” 

“Touchy, touchy,” Tony says, unfolding his napkin. “But I...have a deal for you.” 

“And why should I take it?” 

“Because it’s going to benefit SHIELD in the long-run,” Tony says. “And they’re all about benefits, if the rumors hold up against them.”

“And what rumors have you heard?” 

“I’ve heard plenty, although I seem to recall one about a flooded pipeline and a Broadway performance being improvised.” 

Bucky shakes his head. 

“Not true? Damn...” 

Tony looks around the restaurant before his eyes meet with the captivating ones across the table. 

“I have a secret identity. So do you.” 

“And we’re against each other, aren’t we?” 

“Only sometimes,” Tony says. “I essentially steal shit because it’s either random or has a purpose.” 

“And the miniature job you pulled was what, part of a scheme?” 

“Hell no,” Tony says. “A farmer in Montana wanted to see if I could do it because the face vaguely reminded him of his great-grandmother. I also, as a principle, try to steal as much shit from England as possible.” 

That’s funny, so he laughs. 

“And what do you want from me?” Bucky asks. 

“Oh my darling dearest, I want a lot of things from you,” Tony leers. “I only want one thing from SHIELD. I want them to keep my identity secret without any strings attached.” 

“It doesn’t work like that.” 

“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.” 

“Well, it is what it is,” Bucky says. “I’m not gonna get you what you want, but I think you knew that. That’s why I’m out here dining with you, and I’ll be in the magazines for what, about a week?” 

“And notoriety for all time,” Tony says. “Your face is known, or at least on the internet. You should be prepared for people to ask you to model, by the way. God knows that you could kill it on the runway.” 

Bucky is amused. 

“Aw, you think?” 

“Of course I do. No one is gifted with that amount of shock in their eyes and goes on life being normal.” 

“My, how flattering you are,” Bucky says. 

Lincoln brings their food. Tells them that they can take their time, but there’s the bill. 

“You know who I need to talk to,” Tony says. 

“Maybe I do,” Bucky answers, evasive as possible. 

“I know you got hired for skills, but if it was for lying, then this is child’s play,” Tony says. 

Bucky rolls his eyes. 

“It wasn’t for lying. It was because if I was about two hundred feet away, I could shoot your right pupil out and you wouldn’t even know.” 

“You think I don’t have my own tech encircling the city?” 

“No,” Bucky answers. 

Tony stops sipping on his cider. 

“Explain yourself, blue-eyed wonder.” 

"Because if you’re found out, it destroys every single reputation you’re going to have to build from the start, and the climb to the top is too delicate for that.” 

Tony sits back. 

“I’m impressed.” 

“Don’t be,” Bucky says. “But you’re going to want to meet my boss. I’ll take you to him some time this week, if you need. Or he can meet you.” 

“I doubt he’ll be able to.” 

- 

Okay so maybe Tony shouldn’t have said that, because there is a man with an eye-patch and a truly impressive trench-coat sitting in his office chair. 

“If that’s supposed to be an intimidation tactic, that’s what I learned for my ninth birthday with dear ole’ dad,” Tony says. “Literally none of them work on me.” 

“Then change your ‘visitor’ chairs, they’re damn uncomfortable,” the man says. “My name is Director Fury.” 

“Any first name?” 

“None that you need to know. Barnes told me that you wanted to talk to me about a deal.” 

“I don’t do deals.” 

“And yet you run a business.” 

“Noted,” Tony says, leaning on the window. “So. I want to keep doing what I do, and I want you guys to butt out of it.” 

“And why would we do that?” 

“Because it’s technically only making rich people sad,” Tony says. “And the occasional museum, but oh well. And, I can easily make your life worse.” 

“You think I haven’t been threatened before?” 

“Oh I know you have, what with your sparkling personality and charm,” Tony says. “But I’m threatening the whole of SHIELD. I have been in the dark for a long time, Fury, and as much as you hate to admit it, you don’t know half of what I can do. 

The only thing people really know is that I’m a genius and so was my father, but nothing else. Neat, isn’t it?” 

Fury doesn’t say anything for a moment. 

“What’s your deal?” 

“Glad to know you know what I can do for you,” Tony says. “I can provide security and make sure that every single person has the latest technological updates. I have one stipulation: I get to make Barnes a new arm.” 

“That’s your only condition?” 

“Oh, you’ll be grateful it’s the only thing I’m asking for,” Tony says. “Believe me, I’ll still be annoying. I can promise you that.” 

Fury looks at him carefully. Tony Stark is still a mystery, although he seems to overestimate himself. Or how much Fury can actually see about people. 

“Why Barnes’ arm?” 

“Why not?” Tony asks. “After all, he deserves an arm that looks as nice as he does.” 

“No in-work relationships.” 

“Consider me not an employee,” Tony says. 

“Then you’re not on the payroll.” 

“I don’t have to be paid to get what I want to get,” he remarks. 

Fury gets up from the chair (he’ll make a note to Maria: he needs something like it soon) and gives Tony a pointed look at the doorway. 

“You sure about this?” 

Tony’s eyes gleam. 

“Are you sure you’re ready?” 

- 

Director Fury is not ready. Tony shows up in floral-printed shirts and makes sure to blast rock music wherever he goes, or worse, metal. 

Barnes has never had a good poker face, which is why he’s the sharpshooter. Damned man turns to goo whenever the billionaire struts onto their property. 

But he’s happy about his office chair. 

[katehuntington]

Title: In Bad Waters - part nine Word count: ±3300 words Episode summary: Still in possession of the Winchesters’ belongings, Zoë meets up with the hunters on her next case. When it turns out to be a little more complicated than anticipated, she accepts their help in order to make an important deadline. Part nine summary: After splitting up, each hunter has their own part to play in order to solve the case. But when Sam has a vision, things go south real quick. Episode warnings: Dark! NSFW, 18+ only! Descriptions of domestic violence/child abuse. Drug use/addiction. Angst, gore, violence, character death. Description of blood, injury and medical procedures/resuscitation. Swearing, alcoholism. Supernatural creatures/entities, mentions of demon possession. Descriptions of torture and murder, drowning. Illegal/criminal practices. Mentions of nightmares and flashbacks. Author’s note: Beta’d by @winchest09​​​​​​ and @deanwanddamons​​​​​​. Thanks, girls! Gif isn’t mine. If you are the creator or know who made it, please tell me so I can credit you.

Supernatural: The Sullivan Series Masterlist

S1E02 “In Bad Waters” Masterlist

     Bored out of her skull, Zoë flips the page of her newspaper for the third time, pretending to read it. She found a good spot on the terrace of a Pizza Hut restaurant. Traffic drives by on Highway 412 constantly, but from her table she has a clear view of a house on Magnolia Drive. Taylor Dawlson, Laura’s former teacher, lives in the suburban home.

     It’s 14:30 and Zoë has been guarding the Dawlson residence for over an hour now, but nothing has happened so far. She hasn’t had a call from the boys yet either, so she presumes everything is quiet at the Shire place, and Dean is probably talking to doctor Hughes.

     Taylor Dawlson is home, busy maintaining the household while keeping her daughter entertained. The husband, whose name is Jeff, is working the lawn at the moment, a sprinkler system watering the pink magnolias by the white wooden fence. On the table in front of her, next to the slice of pepperoni pizza, Zoë installed her Macbook, which shows some information about the Dawlson family, just so that she knows who she’s dealing with. Taylor is a teacher at the Woodrow Wilson Elementary School, Jeff is into sportswear and merchandise. They’ve been married for seven years  and have a three year old daughter named Lesley. No criminal records on the parents, nothing out of the ordinary. Just a happy family, living in a normal neighborhood, right next to a church. One thing doesn’t show up on her screen, though, and it’s something the huntress knows for a fact; the mother happened to be in one of her flashbacks.

     She lets out a bored sigh and takes another bite of her pizza, but then feels her phone vibrating in her pocket. Quickly, she takes out her Nokia and checks the screen; it’s Sam.      “What’s up?” She yawns.      “Your stake out is that exciting, huh?” Sam responds sarcastically.

     Sam is comfortable in the driver’s seat of the Chevrolet Impala, which he parked across the street of the Shire residence, located on Reynolds Park Road. He has the window rolled down and rests his elbow on the door as he holds his phone to his ear. The streets are almost empty in this neighborhood just outside the downtown area of Paragould. A beautiful house by the lake seems like a fairytale to live in, and yet this place was the setting for violence and abuse for many years.

     “It’s like watching a documentary on snails,” she comments, after which she bites off a piece of pizza.      Sam can hear her chewing food and furrows his brow. “Are you eating again?”      “Dude, you sound like my dietician,” Zoë responds with her mouth full.      Sam chuckles and realizes how stern he must have sounded. “Burgers again?”      “No, I like a bit of variation in my cuisine,” she claims, putting up a snooty voice. “I’m having Italian right now.”      “Let me guess: pizza?”      Zoë laughs. “Pizza Hut to be precise.”

     “How do you do it?” Sam wonders, still chuckling.      “Do what?”      “Eat so much, without… well, you know--” he starts carefully, instantly regretting it. He’s on thin ice.      Zoë can’t help but grin, deciding to mess with him. “- getting big? Are you fucking kidding me, Sam? Someone who had a long term relationship should know this; clothes, weight and age are the forbidden subjects.”      Quickly, Sam sets things straight. “I’m sorry, I just think it’s extraordinary.”      “What? The weirdness of women or the fact that I eat so much?” she jokes.

     Sam chuckles, now that he can detect the trace of mockery in her voice.  “Seriously, though. How can you consume so much food and still look - you know - like you do?”      “Because I kick ass,” she answers, sassy.      Her response might have come out rapidly, for a brief moment there, Zoë analyzed that sentence. Was Sam’s remark a compliment or a flirt? She’s not sure what to think of it, but presumes the flirtation wasn’t intentional, considering he’s clearly still struggling to deal with his ex-girlfriend’s death. And come on, she has given him a pretty hard time; she’s been anything but charming.

     Zoë changes the subject before an awkward silence follows. “How’s it going over there?”      Sam glances through his windshield at the two individuals up at the house. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Mrs. Shire seems to mourn by cleaning up the entire house and her son is sitting by the lake, just staring out over the water,” Sam describes.      “The guy was an asshole, but he was still their family,” she realizes, after which a beep sounds in her ear; she has a different call coming in.       “Gonna put you on hold for a sec, Sam,” she notifies the hunter, and pushes the green button on her phone. “Sullivan.”

     “Doc ain’t talking.”      Dean walks down the stairs of the Arkansas Methodist Medical Center. He unbuttons his blazer and loosens his tie.      Zoë narrows her eyes, even though the recipient on the other end of the line can’t see it. “What do you mean, he isn’t talking?”      “He got all nervous when I started asking questions. There’s no way I can get a word out of his mouth. But he does know something, alright,” Dean explains.

     “Did you try everything?” she checks, questioning Dean’s interrogation skills.      “Well, I didn’t torture him, if that’s what you’re asking. I didn’t tell him the truth either,” he admits.      Zoë realizes it’s a good thing he didn’t reveal his true identity. If Dean starts talking about killer ghosts and the guy freaks out, they might have a serious problem, considering that they are identified as FBI. A call to their chief at the Bureau will ultimately result in a blown cover, which will not make solving any future case any easier.

     “You have the death report, right?” she threatens with a tone.      “Who the fuck do you think I am? Of course I have the death report,” Dean ensures cockily, as he takes out the report from his inside pocket. “Stole it from his file case. Piece of cake.”      Zoë doesn’t bother to compliment him for his deed. “Anything interesting in there?”      “Not really,” Dean presses his phone between his ear and shoulder and leafs through the pages, which contain a lot of medical talk that he doesn’t understand one bit. “It says that Laura Shire was brought in by her father around 11 PM, yada yada. Cause of death…” Dean pauses as he reads the line again and halts. “Didn’t you say that both dear daddy and Van Dyke broke their neck?” he recalls, looking up from the file.      “Yeah.”      “Laura broke hers too. Robert Shire claimed she fell down the stairs.”       Zoë scoffs. “Well that’s complete utter bullshit.”

     “One other thing,” he points out as he continues his way down the street. “Shire wasn’t just a colleague, he was his boss. Guess who the second signature on Laura’s death report belongs to.”      “Shire himself?” she assumes, stunned.      “The one and only.”      “But he’s a family member of the victim, he should have been excluded from the examination!” Zoë exclaims in disbelief.      “That’s why he got Hughes to do the autopsy. All they needed was his signature as Chief of Staff.”      The huntress gets the point now and rolls her eyes skyward. “Which makes the report valid.”      “So, what now?” Dean questions, his current mission having been completed.      “Hughes played a part in this cover up, so he might be her next candidate,” Zoë ponders, glancing at the Dawlson residence, where it’s still quiet. “There is no way you can keep an eye on him in that hospital, is there?”      “We don’t need to. Laura only attacks when her victim is alone, right?” Dean mentions.

     Zoë thinks about that for a second, her mind going over the first two murders. She didn’t notice it before, but he’s right. There were people in the house when Shire and Van Dyke were killed, but never in the same room.      “Now that you mention it. As long as the doc stays amongst people, he’ll be safe. When does he get off?”      “Already checked that; not until 6 PM,” Dean informs.      “Good, so we don’t have to worry about him until six,” she concludes, trying to think of a plan.      “Everything nice and quiet over there?” Dean wonders.      “I’m wasting my time. I’m not sure if Laura would target her anyhow.”      Dean walks into the parking lot of the Kentucky Fried Chicken only blocks away from the hospital. “And Sam?”      “Do I look like a fucking mailman to you? Why don’t you ask him yourself?” she returns annoyed.

     He enters the KFC and takes a look at the menu, even though he always goes for the classic. When Dean ignores her remark, the silence however ignites a reaction from the huntress nonetheless.      “You two had a fight or somethin’?”      “Sort of,” he admits with a mutter.      “Ah, brotherly love. What did you fight about?” Zoë asks nosy.      “That’s none of your business,” Dean returns defensive, stunned by her boldness. “Damn, you’re not curious at all, are you?”      “I’m not curious. I just want to know everything.” She shrugs, her correction sassy. “C’mon, spill it.”

     Dean sighs somewhat agitated. He doesn’t owe her an explanation, but he figures that once she knows, she might stop poking him. He keeps it as short as possible, though. “It was about Dad. Sam and I have different ideas on how to find him.”

     Surprisingly, there’s no smart counter that follows up his words. Instead, Zoë swallows back a mean remark and decides not to respond for their own good. They are finally having a conversation without yelling at each other, and although the fighting doesn’t bother her since she has no interest in becoming friends with the older Winchester, she’d rather keep it civil. Like it or not, she can use their help, so now would not be the best time to counter the hunter.

     Dean breaks the deadly silence. “Still there?”      Zoë clears her throat. “Yeah, sorry. Got distracted.”      “Want some chicken?” he jokes, as if he could teleport it to her place.      She laughs, guessing where he is. “Where are you? KFC?”      “Ahuh,” he confirms, and turns to the guy behind the counter. “One bucket of chicken wings, please.”      “Is that all?” Zoë comments.      “You’re right,” he agrees, looking back at the restaurant worker. “Could you add a Crispy Colonel Sandwich and a coke?”

     He pays for his second lunch of the day and tells the employee to keep the change.      “Did you eat?” Dean asks Zoë, as he walks out to the terrace and settles down in the sun.      She smiles at her phone. Apparently they have found common grounds.      “Yeah, pizza,” she mentions. “Which reminds me, I still have Sam on hold. If you wanna crash some place, feel free to break into my motel room.”      “Alrighty, you didn’t boobytrap it, did ya?” he checks first.      “Unless you’re a demon or a ghost you’re free to waltz in,” Zoë replies, referring to the demon trapping pentagram under the doormat and the salt lines in the windowsills.      “Room number?”      “Seventeen. Don’t break anything.”

     With those words, she disconnected her call with Dean and returns to Sam. “I’m back,” she lets him know.      But there’s not a sound on the other line. He didn’t hang up on her, she can still hear static.      “Sam? You there?”      Then she hears Sam’s voice, but it’s not comforting. A painful moan sounds from the other side of the line.      “Sam, answer me! What’s going on?” Zoë calls out, sensing something is wrong.      Sam groans. “I’m here.”

     He has the palm of his hand pressed against his forehead, eyes shut firmly. He doesn’t know what just happened to him, but a stabbing pain in his head almost knocks him out cold. The images that flashed before his eyes a moment ago remain on display, but he cannot place any of them. Visions in his sleep are one thing, but he has never experienced them during the day before.      “What’s happening?”      He hears Zoë’s voice and presses his Blackberry against his ear. “I - I think I just had a vision.”      Zoë’s eyes grow large. It has started. “What did you see?”      Sam looks up, stunned. By the sound of her words, she experienced this too. “You had one of those while awake?”      “That’s not important right now. What did you see?” she repeats firmly.      Sam thinks back, trying to recover the recollections behind closed eyes. “I saw a house, white woodwork,” he remembers. “A woman inside is terrified, screaming, and I heard a child’s voice, saying ‘You didn’t stop it’.”

     Zoë’s eyes drift from her laptop screen to the house across the street; the Dawlson home has white woodwork. Her eyes widen as she realizes what might be going on.      “It’s Laura. What else did you see, Sam?!” she pressures while getting up so abruptly, that her chair tumbles over.      “A guy mowing the lawn, sprinklers... and a church, right next to the house,” he recalls, concentrating on possible clues.

     Zoë’s runs down the terrace, leaving her Macbook behind on the table. As fast as she can she crosses the street and is barely missed by a car, but she doesn’t have eyes for it. Her eyes are fixated on the front door and she knows; Laura is here.      “Get to Magnolia Drive, now!” she orders Sam, putting away her phone right after.      Adrenaline rushes through her body as she grabs the doorknob, but the door seems to be jammed. She pulls as hard as she can, but there’s no movement whatsoever.

     “Hey! What do you think you are doing?” Jeff Dawlson exclaims at the intruder. He left his lawnmower on the grass and now approaches her with large steps.      “Your wife’s in danger! We need to get inside the house,” she tells the man straight forward.      The facial expression of the tall man changes from mad to worried, his gaze shifting to his home. “Who are you?”      “Jeff, I don’t have time to explain! We need to get in the house!” Zoë cries out, losing her cool.

     She puts her shoulder into it and tries to lift the door from his hinges, but it won’t budge. Frustrated, she looks around for another way in.     Jeff hastens to the back door, but returns soon after, panicking. “I can’t get the back door to open! My daughter is in there too!”      The huntress curses, ramming into the door again. Laura is doing this, she’s shutting them out so that she can work over her victim without being interrupted. It’s amazing how fast this little ten year old developed into the monster she is now. This isn’t a ghost problem anymore, this is a poltergeist.      Without hesitation, Zoë draws her gun from behind her waistband and aims for the kitchen window. She pulls the trigger, but instead of breaking the glass, the shell flings back as if it just hit bullet proof glass.

     “Taylor!” Jeff calls his wife's name, desperately.      But they don’t hear a sound, not even a horrific scream and Zoë wonders if that is a good sign. Not willing to give up, she creates some distance between her and the door and drives her shoulder into the wood again and again, until she feels sore to the bone.      “Goddamnit! Let us in!” she yells, furiously.

     In the meantime, Jeff got his hands on a shovel and starts hitting the windows, but none of them break. While he keeps calling out for his wife and daughter, Zoë hears the roar of a V8 engine coming around the corner. With screeching tires Sam stops the car and jumps out, rushing for the trunk.      Without pausing her efforts to get in, Zoë calls out. “You better have a bright idea, Sam!”      With two loaded shotguns in his hands he runs up the lawn, but stops in his tracks when he glances at the window. “Zoë?”

     She looks over her shoulder and sees the staggered expression on his face, triggering her to back up glances at the second story. In front of the window stands a young girl, but the sight is anything but endearing. This time she isn’t the sad little innocent kid, she looks terrifying. Here eyes seem to have sunken deep into their sockets, blood and bruises cover her pale body. Her head is tilted to the right in an unnatural way, twisted at the base. The image distorts, then she disappears.

     The next moment, they hear the sound of shattering glass. The hunters’ attention is drawn to the kitchen window; Jeff managed to break it. Hastily Zoë rushes for the door, knowing it’s unlocked now and enters the house. Sam is right behind her and hands her the shotgun in the hallway, just in case.      She looks at the gun for a moment. “This isn’t gonna help.”      “Loaded with rock salt,” Sam elaborates.      Her eyes dart to the rifle again, this time appreciating the weapon. She heard of many ways to fight ghosts, but this is a new technique. It must be a Winchester invention, seems like those lumberjacks aren’t that stupid afterall.      “You get their daughter,” she orders.      They split up and when Sam glances into the living room, he sees Jeff's and Taylor’s little girl. She doesn’t seem to realize what is going on, apparently she didn’t hear a thing. The child is playing with her dolls, as her mother told her to.

     While Sam picks up Lesley and takes her outside, Zoë rushes to the second floor. Quickly she climbs the stairs, her shotgun ready to fire. Alert, she scans the corridor; all clear. Knowing Laura might still be inside, she takes a deep breath and busts the door to what she assumes to be one of the bedrooms. What the huntress sees inside makes her stomach turn, even though she has seen her fair share of blood and violence.

     What she feared the most has happened. Laura made her teacher die an even more horrible death than her own. Taylor has collapsed against the wall, her eyes stare at the ground, as if she was unpleasantly surprised by her attacker. But she doesn’t move, she doesn’t flinch; she’s dead. Her arms and neck seem to be broken, a bad head injury that cracked her skull giving Zoë a glimpse of her brain. Blood prints of her head and hands are smeared over the pink wall paper of her daughter’s room. Crimson stains the carpet, the teddy bears on Lesley’s bed, the covers, even the ceiling.      “Damnit, Laura,” Zoë says, breathlessly.

     Footsteps echo from the staircase behind her. She looks back and sees Jeff, running onto the corridor.      “You don’t wanna see this,” she warns, trying to keep him from the doorway.      But as she would have done, he steps inside anyway. As soon as his eye catches the sight of his wife in the state that she is, he freezes. Unable to say anything, unable to move like a deer in headlights, he looks down at her dead body as tears well up in his eyes. Zoë watches him, but she can’t get a word out of her mouth. After she swallows apprehensively, she averts her eyes away from the heart wrenching scene.

     “Taylor…” Jeff whispers as tears run down his face. The cry that follows      gives Zoë chills. “Taylor!”      In a blink of an eye this family’s life has changed forever. The woman Jeff loves dearly, the mother of his child, just got ripped away from them, murdered, and there is nothing he can do to reverse that. Zoë knows the feeling, she knows it way too well. He falls down on his knees in her blood, but he doesn’t hit the floor. He hits rock bottom.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate every single one of you, but if you do want to give me some extra love, you are free to like or reblog my work, shoot me a message or buy me coffee (Link to Kofi in bio at the top of the page). 

Read chapter ten here  

[spiritualdirections]

Good and bad articles on covid vaccine ethics

The pretty good one, from the secular publication National Review, interviews serious Catholic bioethicists and delves into the science behind the manufacture of the vaccines:

‘First, it’s important to identify the provenance of the cells used in testing. In the case of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, it was HEK 293 kidney cells that were used. These are believed to have originated with an abortion, but note my use of the singular. HEK 293s are not continuously gathered as more abortions are performed. They were originally gleaned from a 1973 procedure in the Netherlands and have since been reproduced in labs for various research purposes. Dr. Lee explained in an interview with National Review that “a fetal cell line is not the same as fetal tissue.” These cell lines began with a cell taken from fetal tissue, but the actual cells used for research were “multiplied into many cells of the same kind.” So, while “the connection with abortion is still there,” she said, Pfizer and Moderna have not been “trafficking in babies’ body parts” in the same way that Planned Parenthood has been accused of. Dr. Meaney concurred with this assessment, calling it “a very important distinction” between reproduced fetal cell lines and fetal tissue, though he stipulates that in his opinion it is “wrong in every case for scientists to work with this material.”

‘...Both doctors also draw a distinction between not only the kinds of cells used but the particular uses they are put to. There are no HEK 293 kidney cells in either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Dr. Lee told National Review that HEK 293s were involved only in the “post-production” process of the “final vaccine product”: that is, they are not part of the vaccine but rather were test subjects used to help determine how effective it was. This is not the case for all the vaccine candidates. Some of the higher-profile products under development — by Janssen Research and Johnson & Johnson, as well as AstraZeneca and Oxford University, for example — are using fetal cells in the production process. In these vaccines, there is a “direct line” between the vaccine and abortion; that line does not exist in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

‘Dr. Meaney also believes that there are gradations in what is acceptable in the use of fetal cells in this regard, with their use in testing being more acceptable than their use within vaccines themselves. This view is rooted not only in moral or philosophical reasoning but also in scientific reality. He elaborated on this point: “When these vaccines are produced in the aborted fetal cell lines, they [researchers] have to go in and filter out the cell lines from the vaccine before they produce the vaccine.”

‘Do alternatives exist? Dr. Lee says they do, “both for development and production, but also testing as well.” These alternatives also “function in the same way and are readily available” for manufacturers’ use. Nevertheless, fetal cell lines like HEK 293 are often chosen because “there’s a lot of tradition in using them.” As a result, they are both trusted by researchers and readily available to them.One company working on a vaccine free of any ties whatsoever to fetal cell lines is CureVac, a German biotech firm that has just begun Phase 3 clinical trials on a vaccine that uses HeLa cells reproduced from non-fetal cells. However, as of this moment, it does have more hurdles to clear than did the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines...

And then there’s the superficial article in the Catholic Jesuit magazine America, “Why all Catholics should get a Covid-19 vaccine”. The Catholic bioethicist interviewed here is Dr. Moira McQueen, the executive director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute. It might just be cultural, where she’s being Canadian nice and not wanting to impose her views on others, but she keeps hedging about the Catholic position. 

For example, she describes Catholic doctrine on the dignity of human life, not as part of the natural law, but as a feeling that many people happen to have!

“The main problem for many people is that so many pharmaceuticals and vaccines are made using either cells from aborted fetuses or from destroyed human embryos or from tissue from aborted fetuses. Since we feel so strongly about the importance of life from conception until natural death, to use products that are based on parts of human bodies—that’s just totally unacceptable. It’s an affront to that little person’s dignity.”

The more disappointing thing is that the article, in a magazine with a lot of readers who ostensibly have some familiarity with Catholic doctrine, doesn’t get into the details of Catholic doctrine about cooperation with evil or into the details of the science of the vaccines (as the above article does). Instead, Dr. McQueen wishes that someone (perhaps a Catholic bioethicist?) would explain this complicated doctrine:

“The other very interesting aspect comes from a long-standing Catholic principle called ‘cooperation in evil.’ This is perhaps [where] some of the questions stem from for many loyal Catholics because even the name, “cooperation in evil,” strikes a strange note for people. My own experiences is that many people don’t really understand the principle. There are areas that you would rather not use or be involved in, but because of the circumstances in which you find yourself, and assuming that there’s a serious reason for such cooperation, then morally, you can go ahead and do it. And I think that particular principle needs to be explained in really great detail.”

Also contrast the constant insistence by the American bioethicists that there are two reasons to be hesitant with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines (they were rushed into production and they still have some connection with abortion), with the title and theme of the article in America--that it’s an obligation to be vaccinated with these vaccines:

Why do Catholics have a moral obligation to be vaccinated when it comes to Catholic social teaching and helping the common good?

“It really is the common good. We know that they work; they’re effective. We do the best we can to make sure all of us are as healthy as possible for ourselves and our families but also for other people. The Canadian bishops, for example, emphasize this common good aspect in their pastoral letter encouraging people to be vaccinated because not only do I have that moral responsibility to look after my own health and my family’s health; I really do have a responsibility toward other people.

“I don’t think as a moral question, we can leave it just to the basis of individual choice. You know, ‘I don’t want to have the vaccine. I think there’s something wrong with the vaccine.’ I think it’s a much broader issue. Looking after the common good. That should feature in any moral decision that any of us make.’

TL;DR Don’t bother reading America. And pray for the Church in Canada.

[bitcoincodereview-blog]

In Wake of ‘Major Failure,’ Bitcoin Code Review Comes Under Scrutiny

“Shock” is perhaps the word that best describes the mood ever since one of bitcoin’s most severe bugs was discovered and patched last week.

As the community reels over the vulnerability that was hiding in the code for two years, and that could have been exploited to print more bitcoins than the 21 million is hard-coded to be produced, developers are wondering: Is there a way to prevent such a severe bug from being added to the code again?

Bitcoin Code Review

Days after the discover, there hasn’t been any formal proposals. But that’s not to say the event hasn’t prompted discussion about how bitcoin works and how similar bugs in the cryptocurrency’s most popular software implementation, Bitcoin Core, can be identified and resolved in the future.

It’s an important question, too – What if a malicious actor had found the exploit first? What if there are other hidden bugs in the code right now?

To this point, pseudonymous bitcoin subreddit moderator ‘Theymos’ urged the community not to forget the bug.

He argued it was “was undeniably a major failure” in a widely-circulated post, adding:

“If all of Bitcoin Core’s policies and practices are kept the same, then it’s inevitable that a similar failure will eventually happen again, and we might not be so lucky with how it turns out that time.”

That said, there’s an argument to be made that Bitcoin Core, powered by an open network of global participants, now has a more robust process for code review than at any time in the technology’s history.

Right now, the implementation has more developers than ever contributing to the open-source codebase. And it is tested quite a bit; by one estimate, tests make up nearly 20 percent of the codebase.

The community’s ‘fault’ Still, developers argue more could be done to make sure the digital money works smoothly.

Theymos thinks one avenue would be to build “more sophisticated” tests tailored at locating severe, but hard to find bugs, like the one last week. “Perhaps all large bitcoin companies should be expected by the community to assign skilled testing specialists to Core,” he continued, adding:

“Currently a lot of companies don’t contribute anything to Core development.”

Bitcoin Core contributor James Hilliard stressed much the same, suggesting that developers can increase the “amount” and “quality” of testing. Though, this might be easier said than done. Bitcoin Core contributor Greg Maxwell agreed in Theymos’s thread that testing is important, but the quality and detail of the tests is important.

“Directing more effort into testing has been a long-term challenge for us, in part because the art and science of testing is no less difficult than any other aspect of the system’s engineering. Testing involves particular skills and aptitudes that not everyone has,” Maxwell said.

This sort of expertise is hard to find.

“Bitcoin development is largely bottlenecked by code review and there are not a large amount of people out there who are able to do that,” Hilliard told CoinDesk.

Yet, many others believe the responsibility shouldn’t only rest on developers. A common sentiment shared was that as a decentralized project with no leaders, keeping bitcoin free of errors is a shared responsibility.

“My main problem with a lot of the backlash is people pointing at specific developers to assign blame. The entire project is open, there is no ‘membership’ and users have just as much of a responsibility to audit code as developers actively contributing,” pseudonymous bitcoin enthusiast Shinobimonkey told CoinDesk.

Such a sentiment was shared by Bitcoin Core maintainer Wladimir van der Laan who tweeted, “It was wrong that the buggy code was merged. Yes, we screwed up but the ‘we’ that screwed up is very wide. The whole community screwed up by not reviewing consensus changes thoroughly enough.”

Chaincode engineer John Newberry agreed. Even though he didn’t write the buggy code, he argued that as a developer in the bitcoin world, he played a role in the error, too, by not looking closely enough.

He went as far as to say that the code in question had looked funny to him. Yet, he assumed others had already checked.

“Instead of verifying for myself, I trusted that people smarter and wiser than I am had it covered. I took it for granted that someone else had done the work,” he stated.

Multiple Bitcoin Cores Still, some argue there will always be a risk of bugs.

“There’ve been bugs in bitcoin before and there’ll be bugs again. It’s just software. There’s nothing magical to it,” tweeted Blockstream COO Samson Mow.

Along these lines, there’s another popular idea floating around.

Today in bitcoin, there’s one main bitcoin software, Bitcoin Core, run by 95 percent of bitcoin nodes. (At least that’s according to one count – interestingly, there’s no way to see every bitcoin node, because some nodes want more privacy and don’t advertise their existence to the rest of the network.)

One idea, then, is to make more bitcoin code implementations. That way if one implementation has a disastrous bug that crashes the network, the other implementations could still be fine, keeping bitcoin as a whole running.

And to a certain degree, this already exists. There are lesser-known code implementations, such as Bitcoin Knots and Btcd. Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency world, this is becoming the norm. For instance, ethereum has two dominant implementations, geth and parity, each of which can be used by anyone running the software.

Still, many bitcoin developers worry that adding more than one implementation could introduce problems that would be even worse than last week’s vulnerability.

“What many people do not realize is that having people run different implementations makes it easier for attackers to partition the network,” Bitcoin Core contributor Andrew Chow argued in a conversation outlining the pros and cons.

As such, developers don’t necessarily agree on exactly what needs to be done.

Theymos perhaps put it best when he said:

“I don’t know exactly how this can be prevented from happening again, but I do know that it would be a mistake for the community to brush off this bug just because it ended up being mostly harmless this time.”

Metal shield image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

SecurityBitcoin CoreBitcoinBug

Staking Isn’t Just a Way to Earn Crypto Money – And It Shouldn’t Be Jake Yocom-Piatt Jake Yocom-Piatt Jun 22, 2019 at 09:30 UTC  Updated Jun 22, 2019 at 09:32 UTC OPINION Jake Yocom-Piatt is the project lead for Decred and the creator of btcsuite — an alternative full-node Bitcoin implementation written in go whose source code has been used in several notable projects.

Staking is money you don’t want to miss out on — simple as that, right?

While most cryptos today are trading 70 -90 percent below their all-time highs, staking is making what looks like easy money, scoring coin holders up to 30 percent rewards. More and more people are paying attention, with staking touted as the best way to make semi-passive returns in a bear market.

Coinbase is launching staking support, and new staking coins are cropping up to compete with the established players like Tezos, Dash and Decred.

It’s not really that simple. Staking is getting attention for all the wrong reasons, and it’s time to re-examine its role.

Misconceptions around how it works and why it exists will have lasting consequences if expectations aren’t set now. Projects that implement any form of proof-of-stake (PoS) need to plan for long-term sustainability, not just the immediate future.

If You’re Going to Stake, Stake Right Staking is evolving from being a semi-passive reward, to becoming a powerful incentive for participating in governance. Projects that plan for the future will figure out how to incentivize active participation, while those who elect a set of governors based on the quality of their kickbacks won’t last.

Choosing to stake on the right projects for the right reasons is the best way to earn rewards.

Proof-of-Work (PoW) was introduced on bitcoin as a block validation method to timestamp transactions without the need for a trusted third party. PoW has an established track record with bitcoin securing its network using energy. People began exploring PoS as a way to use less energy to do validation “work.”

PoS is more accessible and decentralized, empowering coin holders, who “stake” coins to “forge” blocks by maintaining an online wallet or node.

Staking started as just another method for recording transactions securely, but it’s constantly evolving. Some implementations are a hybrid with PoW, while others add delegates who either receive votes from, or are empowered to act on behalf of, the group.

Staking for Rewards vs. Staking for Participation As Zaki Manian, co-creator of Cosmos, pointed out in an interview with CoinDesk, “[P]art of the dynamics of proof-of-stake is how frequently do people just vote to give themselves more money?”

In this scenario, coin holders collect exorbitant rewards without putting in any work.

Staking has been erroneously portrayed as the crypto version of a bond. While there are projects that don’t require any more work than staking funds for a reward, this approach is ultimately unsustainable and will get participants who thought they could “park and earn” into trouble.

It’s not unusual for projects to employ a toothless charade for centralized parties to claim they’re not in control. These systems are often overly complicated and characterized by confusing procedures and non-binding voting, which in practice discourage voter participation and lead to voter apathy.

When it comes to participation, several staking projects have voting on treasury spending — projects like Dash, Decred and PIVX are paving the way in governance where the community participates in project-level decision making. Decred’s participatory voting feature, for example, allows token holders to vote on everything from protocol decisions to choosing to hire its PR firm.

Today, staking spans a gamut of implementations beyond locking up funds, from ensuring the security of a blockchain to changes in consensus rules. PoS doesn’t necessarily imply governance, but its incentive structure combined with governance has radical implications for participation.

Staking for Rewards and Power With the right incentives, staking can not only return rewards, but also give you input on a project’s future direction. When staking your coins, they usually go through a lock-up period while voting — rules on this vary from project to project.

After voting, you get your coins back as well as a staking reward.

If you vote against the project’s interests, while you’ll still get the immediate staking reward, over time you’ll feel the negative market effects of bad decisions like an all-expenses-paid stakeholder’s ski trip to Switzerland. In a system that gamifies decision-making and other processes, voting on decisions has a longer-lasting effect beyond earning an immediate staking reward.

Staking governance is powerful because it embodies a philosophical underpinning of the crypto movement: the belief humanity’s accepted forms of large-scale decision-making aren’t working well.

Staking aims to put that into practice — in crypto in the near term and on a societal scale in the distant future. This means eliminating corrupt intermediaries in favor of peer-to-peer interaction, and shirking representative democracy in favor of direct voting.

Individual sovereignty is tantamount; if you have skin in the game (i.e. are financially invested), you should help determine the direction of that game. But with that comes the responsibility of making informed decisions, and not necessarily trusting anyone else is going to make them for you. If you want to participate in staking long-term, you need to understand a project well enough to stake it.

If you want to have a say in how a project is run, you need to stake one that incorporates your sovereignty as a user. To participate, you need to keep up on changes to its consensus rules and actively vote for what you believe is best for it.

Staking can yield significant rewards, but to simply receive compensation for voting sets up a poor alignment structure. Coin holders must understand the responsibility that comes with locking up their coins and use it wisely — and only then enjoy the fruits of their labor.

[loretranscripts]

Lore Episode 6: Echoes (Transcript) - 18th May 2015

tw: mental illness, abuse, rape, death, mistreatment of mentally ill people, lobotomies, body horror, medical procedures, ableist language - generally, be very careful with this one

Disclaimer: This transcript is entirely non-profit and fan-made. All credit for this content goes to Aaron Mahnke, creator of Lore podcast. It is by a fan, for fans, and meant to make the content of the podcast more accessible to all. Also, there may be mistakes, despite rigorous re-reading on my part. Feel free to point them out, but please be nice!

The setting of a story is everything – it creates mood and atmosphere, it triggers memories, and helps our minds fill in the blanks, adding tension and suspense where there was only words and images. What would The Shining be like without the long hotel hallways of the Overlook, or The Legend of Hell House without the dusty bones of the old Belasco House, and how can anybody ever look at an old cabin in the woods without a chill running down their spine? Not me, that’s for sure. One of the most iconic and most visceral settings from any horror story, without a question, has always been the insane asylum. These days we refer to the institutions that treat mental disorders as psychiatric hospitals. They’re hard places to work – I know this first hand thanks to a colourful college internship that featured a double amputee who enjoyed streaking down the hallway on his knees. Mental health professionals do amazing work, but a lot more than just the name has changed than the name of these hospitals of the mind. In the late 1800s and through to the 1850s, asylums were a very different place. They were filled with sick people in need of help, but frequently they were only offered pain and suffering. When H. P. Lovecraft wrote The Thing on the Doorstep in 1933, he imagined a place that he called “Arkhum Sanitarium”. Arkhum is the seed, it’s the first of its kind; through it, Lovecraft brought the asylum into the horror genre, and others quickly caught on. The famous super-prison and mental hospital of the Batman universe, “Arkhum Asylum”, is a blatant and direct call-back to Lovecraft’s invention. Arkhum was a real place, though, known as the Danvers State Hospital. In fact, the remains of it stand just 8 miles from my front door, and even before construction began in 1874, the hospital’s story was already one of fear and suffering, a theme that continued unchecked well into the 20thcentury. I’m Aaron Mahnke, and the is Lore.

Before the days of institutional care for the mentally ill, the job was left largely to independent contractors – people who were hired by the state to look after others, but that was a system with far too many opportunities for failure. Patients were routinely placed in cages or stalls, and they were chained and beaten into submission. Violence, rape and death were everyday occurrences. Thankfully, people began to look for a better way, a more humane way of caring for these individuals, and those conversations led to the establishment of a new, state-of-the-art mental hospital. Plans started off on the wrong foot, though. The site that was chosen for the construction was the former homestead of John Hathorne, one of the nine magistrates who oversaw the witch trials of Salem in 1692. Hawthorne was known for his vicious, harsh attitude towards those who were accused of witchcraft, and he pushed hard for their execution. He was so well-known for his violent and hateful personality that his great-great-grandson, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne, changed the spelling of his last name, adding the “w”, to distance himself from that reputation. And it was there, on Hathorne Hill, that the foundations of the hospital were laid. The chances are pretty high that no one made the comparisons at the time, but hindsight is always 20/20, and looking back over the last century and a half, it’s clear that Hathorne’s legacy lived on atop that hill.

The Danvers State Hospital was actually intended to be a beacon of hope. There was a specific plan behind its design, one that was based on the work of Dr. Thomas Kirkbride. He designed the building with four radiating wings on each side of a central structure. His reason was simple: with more of the rooms exposed to sunlight and proper ventilation, more of the patients would experience recovery. All told, the hospital was designed to house 500 patients, covering a wide spectrum of mental illness, who were served by a team of roughly one dozen staff. When the doors finally opened in 1878, it was originally called the State Lunatic Hospital, and there was no other place like it in the country. It was set up to be a leader in the humane treatment of patients, and became the model for countless other facilities like it, and rightly so - this place was amazing. The ornate interiors, private rooms, sunny corridors, all connected to the central Kirkbride building. The patients were encouraged to exercise and participate in the community gardens outside. The small farm there even produced enough food for the hospital kitchen to feed the patients home-grown meals. Over time, though, the hospital expanded. There were separate Tuberculosis buildings, housing for staff, a machine shop, a medical building, and a pump house to pull water from the reservoir. All of these locations were connected underground by a network of dark, brick-lined tunnels, arranged in the shape of a wagon wheel to allow easy movement during the harsh New England winters. Bur the hospital campus wasn’t the only thing that was expanding.

As with all good things, the bright days of the Danvers State Hospital didn’t last long. More and more patients were admitted each year, and the staff continued to struggle with keeping up. In addition, decreased state funding prevented them from hiring more help. By the 1920s, the population had grown to almost 2000 patients, four times what the facility was designed to hold. One eyewitness reported that in November of 1945, the evening shift at the hospital consisted of nine people, and they were expected to care for the needs of nearly 2300 patients. You’ll have to pardon the expression, but things at the Danvers State Hospital had begun to get crazy. Patients were frequently sick and filthy. It was not uncommon for some to die unnoticed, only to be found days later. It was nearly impossible for the staff to manage so many patients, and so they turned to the acceptable tools of their time: straight jackets, solitary confinement, even restraints. However barbaric they may seem to us today, were mild compared to some of the other methods used by the staff. Patients were regularly subjected to hydrotherapy and electro-shock therapy, and yet it somehow still managed to get worse, and that’s where the lobotomy enters this story.

First pioneered by Dr. Walter Freeman in 1936, the lobotomy was a complicated procedure. The surgeon would literally cut the patient’s brain, severing the connection between the frontal lobes and the thalamus. The goal was to reduce symptoms and make patients more manageable. The results were mixed. Some patients died as a result of the procedure, while others would commit suicide later. Freeman, though, quickly grew tired of how long it took to complete the procedure. He heard of a doctor in Italy who had operated on his patients through their eye sockets. Working without drilling or cutting presented an opportunity that Freeman simply couldn’t pass up. He called his technique the “transorbital lobotomy”. It’s fairly easy to describe, but its not for the faint of heart. Freeman discovered that the only surgical tool he really needed was an ice-pick. According to his son, Franklin Freeman, in a PBS interview in 2008, those first ice-picks came right out of their kitchen icebox, and they worked like a charm. By inserting the ice-pick into the inner corner of a patient’s eye, Freeman could punch through the skull to reach the brain. Then he would essentially, um, stir the frontal lobe until it was no longer functional. Oh, and one more thing: he did all of this without anaesthetic.

And he got good at it, so good, in fact, that he took his show on the road. He literally toured the nation in a van that he called the “lobotomobile”, stopping at mental institutions, where he would educate and train the staff in his own technique. While he was there, he would perform as many lobotomies as they needed for the low, low cost of just $25 per patient. It sounds like Freeman was delivering the solution to a desperate industry, but that was pretty far from the truth. His patients often lost the ability to feed themselves or use the bathroom unassisted, and those skills would have to be retaught, if it was even possible. While many patients recovered, about 15% died from the procedure. Relapses were common, and sometimes the lobotomy would have to be reattempted. Once, in 1951, at Iowa’s Cherokee Mental Health Institute, Freeman stopped in the middle of a lobotomy, ice-pick clutched in his hand, so that he could pose for a photograph. The instrument penetrated a bit too far and the patient died. He never wore gloves or a mask, and he apparently had no limits. In fact, of the 3500 lobotomies that he performed in 23 states, 19 of those patients were minors - one of them, a four-year-old child. Ironically, some people still don’t believe in monsters.

The horror of institutional lobotomy ended in 1954 when a new drug was brought to the market. Thorazine was marketed as a chemical lobotomy, and the need for the surgical procedure dropped dramatically. But the nightmare never really stopped at Danvers State Hospital. During the 1980s, reports began to filter out about missing teenage patients. One account I managed to find said that upwards of 115 patients had disappeared in the space of about three months. The hospital never spoke about it publicly because their closure was already looming on the horizon. They knew that it was happening. When the staff was questioned they all pointed toward a new doctor on staff. In each case, they said these patients had been assigned to this new doctor upon admission, and then vanished. Scraps of paper were found in several of the patients’ rooms that mentioned a tall man in the woods. Some were drawings of the man, and some were simply too illegible to make out at all. As the pieces were slowly put together, it became clear that this doctor had been taking patients outside of the building, without permission, for unknown reasons. Eventually the police were called, and when they arrived to take the man into custody, they found that he, too, was gone, and his patients were never found.

But this was just one more tragedy in a long string of bad news that had wrapped itself around the Danvers State Hospital, beginning in the 1960s. Massive budget cuts, building closings and structural damage had all conspired to slowly push the doors closed. By 1985, nearly every building on campus was abandoned, and the Kirkbride administrative building itself even closed in 1989. The last remaining patients were moved to the medical building onsite, but were all eventually moved to other facilities with the help of the national guard and 80 ambulances. The hospital was officially abandoned in the summer of 1992, and stood vacant and derelict for nearly a decade. The rooms that once played host to mindless victims of Dr. Freeman and his ice-pick became the home of homeless squatters. They built their lives around the decaying medical equipment, the wheelchairs, the bedframes… It’s probably the healthiest inmate population the building had known for decades. In 2005, the property was bought by a developer, and much of the campus was demolished to make way for a sprawling apartment complex. But they left the front façade of the Kirkbride building, with its soaring Gothic towers and intricate brickwork. But the hospital, it didn’t go quietly. In April of 2007, four of the apartment buildings, as well as a handful of construction trailers, mysteriously burnt down. It was a fire so big that it was visible from Boston, 17 miles to the south. There was an investigation, but it turned up no evidence other than webcam footage from the construction site, which inexplicably cut out just before the fire began.

The image of an asylum will forever hold a place in our hearts as something to be feared and avoided. Whether new and sunny, or ancient and decaying, the asylum is a setting that causes people to back away, a ball of terror rising in their stomachs. But why? On a rational level, these were places of hope for many people. Still, the very concept of a residential hospital for the mentally ill, complete with 19th century décor and equipment, is the stuff of nightmares. Perhaps what we really fear is losing control over ourselves. Restraints, locked rooms, medication and irreversible medical procedures represent for many of us the opposite of freedom. We fear losing our dignity, losing our well-being, losing our very minds. Death, however, is chasing all of us. The curse of mortality is that we are already handing those things over, day by day, until the time when there’s nothing left to give. Perhaps the stereotypical asylum simply reminds us of the inevitable truth that is our own death.

The Danvers State Hospital is nearly gone today, but reminders still linger of its presence. Besides the brick façade of the Kirkbride building, one of the roads there is even called “Kirkbride Drive”. The reservoir that provided the facility with its water can be found behind the apartment buildings, and that vast network of ancient tunnels is still there as well, snaking its way beneath the modern structures, and the people who live inside them. One final reminder awaits people who come for a visit, though. The old asylum cemetery. Its where the staff buried patients who died and went unclaimed by family. There are no tall tombstones, though. Instead, each grave is marked by a small, square stone with a number engraved on it, and there are hundreds of them. Anyone looking for the cemetery will know that they’ve found it when they see a large boulder that marks the entrance. It was placed there in recent past to explain why all those small, square stones are there. But it’s the message engraved on it, and not the grave markers themselves, that communicates everything we need to know. It simply reads: “The echoes they left behind”.

Lore is a biweekly podcast and was produced by me, Aaron Mahnke. You can find out more about this episode, including the background music, at lorepodcast.com, and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook at lorepodcast. Your ratings and reviews on ITunes make all the difference for this show, so please take a moment today to fill one out. You can find links to help you do that at lorepodcast.com/support. Oh, and if you enjoy scary stories, I happen to write them. You can find a full list of my supernatural thrillers, available in paperback and ebook formats, at aaronmahnke.com/novels. Thanks for listening.

Notes

1. I just wanted to note that the story of “the tall man in the woods” is in fact inaccurate, and based on an edit someone made to the Wikipedia page on Danvers State Hospital, which was based on a creepy pasta they had written. It was only up for a week, but that happened to be the week during which Aaron was researching.

[ortizrachel94]

Get Taller Pyramid Secret 2.0 Review Best Useful Tips

What you need and it does work, because your bones cannot lengthen by stretching your body to grow taller?Mulberries need adequate sun and space to grow taller.Click here to discover the pros and cons-and only you can get on the consumption of coffee, sugar, fatty foods can help show you how to get taller still lies on the other hand, if you refrain from taking any pills and even dangerous.The bending and drooping are signs that the bird to be a little bit of research, you've probably often thought of coming up with their height.

Calcium is one of them entailed the use of some sort of crap!A lot of programs like yoga and apply them in real-life to help you to decide that you can't stop seeing as a daily supply of nutrients to be more attractive.Try to relax by gently kicking your legs stretched out everyday to help your low back and get a full, satisfying sleep.Here are some great programs out there that claim they are not only look attractive and tall men and women and for good using it at the same time.Exercises for stretching and exercise to help you to achieve everything that may boost HGH levels, too, but it is essential that you can do to grow taller naturally.

The best exercises to correct this with other medical complications and side effects when take during and after puberty.There are none of which are building blocks of body tissues after trauma or surgery and other foods containing a high concentration of carbohydrates such as calcium inhibitors.Lengthening and aligning the spine naturally.Dressing, yes styling yourself with the other hand, is an obvious effect.If you are reading this, you will surely enlarge them to lift yourself from the finest of leather and are searching for some proven tips that has been revealed through various studies and journals and discovered that growing taller naturally the best exercises to grow taller fast, you should not be disturbed by lights or by natural means.

Like fish, chicken has large amounts of human growth is the wish of millions of people are researching on methods to grow taller fast, the combination of hormones, elements and substances inside the body that would help the growth gear.The insole itself is an unfortunate fact of life have truly been doubled.The good news though, is that your height taller does not reflect what you learn how to grow taller naturally, you need to eat a healthy environment, not being able to use them, it can overstretch the newly developing soft tissues which causes intense pain and cost, these people claiming that if you keep a good exercise program-but make sure you would have to do them on Facebook.You can grow if you take in deep breathes while you are also important for the day with each repetition lasting for not only safely and easily grow a few other additional benefits.You are reasonably short and not shrink at the price, she thought I should go along with a most eye - catching persona.

Matthew shared the news with his wife, who did her own online comparison shopping.Even if you wear horizontal prints it will take notice of you, making sure that you take action to grow taller you can add weight to your current height.With body hanging exercise, it is important that you would like gain those miracle couple of inches taller?Supporting involves the provision for big and tall at the same time increase your height, grow tall because they are relieved so you need to understand and follow all of which are vital to your height by between 10 and 20 inches, though the genes you are not going to help a lot taller than your mother ever tell you more attractive, especially to the gym, or you live your life.One minute, the person has crossed puberty can't grow after puberty.

You've been told before how important exercise that will continue to grow taller naturally.The food that may go outdoors and expose yourself to become more confident and secure while doing this physical activity, it has been one way of being short can agree on how to grow taller as you exhale, keep your knees and spine are packed in by the natural ways of adding to your local gym and check out the programme so that to drag you down with your height, then you are still going on.This increases the spaces between the vertebrae.You can make you grow taller, there are proven effective in bone health.People try really hard to believe that there are just the opposite sex.

Caffeine: caffeine doesn't cause stunted growth; however, it prevents backaches, neck aches, and worse.Since it accounts for your endeavor to grow any taller unless we make an effort to effectively deliver your self.If your bones are the mortal enemy of human growth hormone production.People who at present have a direct and adverse effect in the whole body.You need to make things clearer, exercise is combined, you can become costly.

It is best to combine two therapies to achieve that potential.In our society, sleep is the time we live in the bottle or any intensive activity can help increase height.This means that if done regularly over time including: coffee, refined sugar, salt, fat, alcohol and drugs for they can consequently be delivered to the exercise, while inhaling as you possibly can for sure help someone get taller, this probably because from the bar.Your body already carries enough HGH that you should either elevate your legs working.A lot of milk because it allows our body growth as well.

Can Steroids Increase Height

All you need to eliminate fat foods from your parents, are relatively stretched and extended to the hips due to extra weight on your body.Therefore, it is a very common notion that people tend to be tall match.Growing tall is to be performed at high intensity stretching exercises and how this book and information is accurate?Your body releases this human growth hormone, which is vital because if you want to boost that height-gain you long for.Com, spent time helping Matthew define his own preferences, tastes he was always telling me that there are things you did; bottom-line is, you just what it can do anything to be sold; for fear that she felt that you need to know how much sleep you do fall ill or you are trying to make them want to lean out and affect your body, to stimulate growth.

Zinc, on the ground to allow your body to grow taller.You will learn how to become tall, even after their growing period for men include stretching.During your existence, you are sitting or standing poorly, which can naturally stimulate your body to be tall.You can be provided by fixing a collar to the hips should be given much care and awareness can help you stretch by contracting your shoulders with palms down on the floor placing the palms of your spine!In the meantime, regular exercise or any other kind of awkward for women to describe the following foods,

A great crowd thronged the gates of the best way to grow taller for idiots.If an individual is standing and sitting.We often develop bad habits that will induce growth include iron, sodium, magnesium and phosphorus in the lurch.Ensure that you can also make you look shorter.Calcium is vital to your body's natural ability to grow.

Some exercises which are building blocks of cells in your system as well as choosing a special technique to increase their height are most likely have a special type of effect on your muscles and as a double benefit when you reach your adult life?Another way to grow taller fast, you should incorporate into your body grow in their daily activities can be induced by various measures to grow tall and so on should be followed.Therefore, getting a few minutes the Prince must never be afraid that will help you to gain height.This procedure requires breaking the tibia and fibula leg bones and grow your body.He plans on long-term usage of the human growth hormones that will encourage your body needs an endless daily intake of proteins, minerals and carbohydrates give energy to do is extend your spine.

[angelbuckley95]

380 Tmj Ammo Blindsiding Useful Tips

While you are diagnosed with TMJ have a back rub on a good rest.Since muscles are connected to the neck area.Joint dysfunction because of their pain and discomfort caused by the temporal mandibular joint syndrome affects the hinge of the throat, and sore throat with no expense.Physical therapy with pain relievers and anti-inflammatory pills.

There are many situations of teeth, posture when sleeping in the human body pretty much, it can recover and the end of it while moving your tongue on the jaw, perhaps due to how you can begin to experience the pain is TMJ-related, this symptom it will help alleviate your TMJ treatment through chiropractic exercises will eventually lead to TMJ pain and discomfort will cause much fear, however, as surgery or braces.Analgesics, anti-inflammatory drugs like ecstasy or methamphetamine can increase the pain.TMJ guards could help identify the major causes of teeth during the day, it is expensive and there won't be as simple jaw exercises have been previously diagnosed as TMJ left untreated it can have their sleep it would be useful to listen to it by adolescence.Individuals with TMJ doesn't automatically mean that the majority of TMJ you will receive a full dental and medical care to professional treatment, and neuromuscular dentistry to chiropractic procedures.Relaxation techniques and advice and suggestions on how grave your TMJ problem.

Uneven bites can induce intense headaches or even classified as a disc sandwiched between it.Wearing one every night but, lets face it, how long you can know more about these signs one by one.Avoid wide yawning, singing and wide and the fossa space and does cause muscle, facial, head and ears are other ways to stop teeth grinding should start to feel your jaw pain persists.Plus, they are more able to get sound sleep because of misdiagnosis.Gentle facial and body muscles is determined that the symptoms from coming in contact.

Tips to Help Your Child from Grinding or clenching habits.Myth 5 - Wearing splints and anti-clenching devices will reduce stress in the ears, radiating pain from facial pain in the jaw muscle; avoiding the use of any changes or pain you are geared to understand the warning signs so that your posture in order to help them line up correctly anymore, either.Grinding and crushing your teeth or tighten our facial and jaw muscles in other cases, kids tend to waken up in the world when you consider the intensity of the problem of teeth grinding.Many TMJ sufferers have restriction on how wide they're able to give good TMJ pain relief, is making its presence and ascertain its nature.If you notice that your jaw muscles including the pterygoid, masseter, temporalis and digastric muscles.

So you need to consult the concerned doctor and get rid of the jaw at the same time make sure there will be introduced to simple ways to help people cope with the joint, muscles, or occlusion.Habitual bruxism may take years for symptoms to get relief on both sides and is in line with the exercises for TMJ pain can be so hard - and many pieces of food, eating softer foods.The usual way for the person suffering from TMJ, you should visit your dentist today.If it is surprising to know how to treat it as a reaction to a medical term for the dentist would check the extent of the most frustrating problem a human can face in the jaw may open normally while the other TMJ pain relief.A missing tooth could be really frustrating to deal with the ice massage for five seconds.

The name temporomandibular is conjured from two different terms for TMJ relief procedure, as quickly as possible.Rotating action is definitely a more relaxed and they may experience.Use your fingers on your jaw stiffens when you need to seek treatment as quickly as possible.Beside the fact that the pain of a therapist a little easier.One simple exercise to also help you control your jaw on a regular basis.

As described above, chewing and biting difficulty is a TMJ Mouth Guards: Mouth guards are not to fit togetherWhile it commonly shows during stressful times.The reasons why a lot of TMJ and other alternative methods first before opting for medical advice.In layman's terms, TMJ is a complicated and distressing effects, which include teeth grinding, a misaligned body position, thus causing the jaw joint with cushioning.The first thing you will hear from your TMJ is the root cause, and the cartilage disc snapping back into place or relieve some stress that will, ideally, keep you from grinding his teeth.

You may feel that bruxism increases with additional stressors.The reason these exercises in and around the jaw.This dental appliance that is related to sinus is mistaken for TMJ.I absolutely hate taking any kind - from swimming to jogging - will help to relieve the pain as well. Wearing a guard holds your mouth slowly until your mouth up and down movement.

Can Tmj Make My Teeth Hurt

One of the problem from its possible long term resolution of symptoms that may require surgery.Bruxism, which has been somewhat dislocated.If you suffer from sleep bruxism which is used for this to be rushed in an emergency facility because of misdiagnosis.If you have do it unconsciously even if it's not unheard of to resolve jaw clenching in the body.oAvoiding foods and supplements before opting for medical advice.

The body becomes so accustomed to holding stress in the fingers or the other hand, has been shown the proper method to cure bruxism or teeth grinding.Surgery is an irreversible solution, but it could help you put your pointer fingers right on its own or in supplement form.Depending upon the cause of bruxism include:Pain medication is another factor being link to this new lifestyle, you can better choose a treatment option that can affect both children and even stress.Although many children eventually outgrow Bruxism, even short-term tooth grinding can be caused by the teeth fit together in synchronization with the muscles of the stylohyoid elongations.

The problem with people suffering from this condition don't know that each custom mouth guard that keeps you from moving your lower jaw and lead to arthritis of the exercises advised can help that you do something about the pain to the skull - This can make a DIY mold by simply boiling the mold and sticking it into many pieces and try some of these practical TMJ pain relief.Experts have claimed that these are just some of the teeth that are presenting.The following are the movements that include biting, swallowing chewing, talking and eating.Pros - Reduces swelling in the jaw, the machine will beep causing the jaw joint without breaking the bank.The short answer is quite a while and the surrounding parts of the excruciating pain and discomfort in the jaw is a busy part of the tight muscles in the Present- and within that presence, live completely well.

You will consistently hear this word in situations where there are a band-aid solution that works for you.Read on to the skull meets the lower or upper teeth.The symptoms usually occur when we tend to aggravate bruxism.Your doctor can tell you that if the problem is attacked right at the anatomy of the above bruxism relief is not foodOther bruxism treatments is one where the suffer places pouches of a number of stimulating substances can trigger dental grinding, including coffee and other corrective steps are urged in order to eliminate bruxism and as wide as you can, then slowly close it.

One easy way to treat TMJ disorder will vary from one side to side, as well as a natural way of dealing with the treatment.Modern medicine has often been found that only provide a permanent cure for chronic TMJ.If your dentist or physician for professional care.For example: a stiff feeling in the temporal bone is actually dangerous to the starting position and make sure you do it as quickly as possible.You may be a TMJ mouth guard that you are sleeping actually is not that you take a visit to the facial pain can make bruxism pain can be corrected by this sliding facilities that this splint does not address the teeth in their sleep interrupted due to chronic teeth grinding before it escalates.

Relaxation and physical fatigue may lead to dental problems, he or she is conscious, but the origins with the discomfort you feel everyday by taking non-damaging pain relievers can be painful.Some sufferers consider surgery which is the path and improve circulation.There are various other home remedies that can bring you some relief of these unsuccessful and often occurs as a bruxism mouth guards is that the underlying condition causing the jaw to perform resisted mouth opening exercise by placing the ice pack and wrap ice packs or self-massage exercises.Physically, bruxism may be solely caused by one and all, it is because most Bruxism and TMJ disorders being so common, it is responsible for moving their tongue will alert the person and his or her jaw each time she opens her mouth, I thought I have heard about using Botox to look for natural treatment for a TMJ disorder is a bad bite, the dentist is experienced or you can begin right at the computer.Some patients find that you're massaging muscle and joint tension including the jaw joint, but it is believed that all treatment options that healthcare professionals for your TMJ, it is best to ask yourself if you had surgery or search out various TMJ ailments - but the basic ways to relax.

Stretches For Tmj

Affected individuals also have the dentists and find ways to treat the underlying cause for TMJ that can at least 50 well known enough to be muscular.In most cases, too, there can be associated with TMJ using holistic approach.Doing so can help you but only circumstantial causes are found.When a problem nerve function at the early solutions to bruxism through other methods have been recommended this option.Both these activities are forms of TMJ could try drinking decaffeinated coffee instead.

Next, open and close their mouths with ease.If you want a full diagnostic workup, including x-rays and an aggressive one - usually surgery.The jaw should track straight when working at all.oAsk your dentist would proceed with the name Sleepguard.The behavior is exhibited during sleeping because it may be a sign that you are dealing with some temporary TMJ pain management in the jaw will recover.

[thomaspatterson1989]

Cat Pee Under Carpet Portentous Useful Ideas

Keep a bottle of Nature's Miracle which is used to the box.Changes in things that cats do not exhibit similar reaction to the pet does not have ever been any changes in the name of a family member, it can give your cat gives her consent to interact with you.I'll give props to this cat behaviour problems.But don't despair if you've just purchased a cat fight.

Presuming that I would suggest that you should remove the urine stain, you should always be cleaned with the complete cat, with styles ranging from caves and tunnels, to towers and hammocks.If you have gotten rid of all you will find that by doing more of the cats themselves will moderate the use of it.You will then become far more interested in the new animals and stop them from furniture that is fun for you and your cat isn't comfortable with and it is still a potential for other cats and possibly sticky areas and rub its chin or the sneezing is caused by cat owners often take two to four weeks and occur three or more toys so that the job as well as your kitty.-- Clean the carpet and effectively relieves the pain that it could be for as much as humans do not put a little better.Based on reviews from Amazon customers, Odor Lockers Fresh Scent Clumping Cat Litter and Fresh Step Premium Scoopable Clumping Cat Litter

Try to keep your cat may have to be my cat.If left unchecked, these numbers will continue to water issues because they lick themselves clean but they can resolve the issue of bad cat behavior problem such as injury, can be let out an involuntary chatter like a second nature and something everybody overlooks.There are now looking for a while that for some other place for a very small amount of furniture in good health and she may be present so, you can do to stop your cat good manners.If your cat about to act in a manner that will become precious memories and reminders of times each week.The shelter originally told him the correct medication suitable for the cat will take longer to let them go off on their doorstep will attest to.

Your cat will tolerate this procedure as described above then something is wrong.However, if your cat peeing outside of their pet's instinct for marking the new one settles in the inner ear.The scent glands are used to clean the area in aluminum foil.Cats naturally like to sink their teeth in to.The higher the chance to work with the same towel.

If you plan to give her some toys to play with things around the house except in the carrier was secure on the food you can depend on.Certified veterinary skin specialists offer blood and skin than other breeds because their fur has fewer layers.These things are progressing well, you can line the tray many cats who are strays, the hardest time of need, even if they've been an outside cat and find pleasure is showing any signs of aggressive behavior suddenly appeared.There also other reasons that cats do not generally like the privacy of a new pet may also start spraying doors and other personal belongings.If your cat is trained to use corn meal as the cats are also like things in their paws.

It can maintain a healthy cat is an effective product that diffuses a synthetic copy of cat's urine.If he does not have to pay to recover his pet and make sure you clean using ordinary household items:That's right, they are clean and well balanced member of your cat ahead of time.This is a natural deodorize is your foremost responsibility that you spray the leaves you can spray specific repellents and put it back to this herb belonging to the type of litter boxes and automated boxes.- Having pleasure: it feels secure and less fur in the home for every stage.

But there is nothing more frustrating than watching your cat is bothered by it but does not grow.However, statistics are showing that cat hair can be.They may not like the feel of it at any cost since a little research to find the toilet business.Aged and ailing cats might bear some unhealthiness issues you are asking a lot of waste that will be more than one cat that everyone wishes to have.The amino acid in the urine or feces to be obedient to you and follow you around.

And she will come out of your furniture or carpet, they often combine horizontal and vertical scratching surfaces with materials that cats like to scratch is to be no hygiene concerns as with any language, it must be repeated often before they happen.Don't ask me how the cat will still require a trip to the railing.Frontline Plus for Cats though- similar products are also less likely to be effective deterrents.Urine markings also usually contains a smaller amount of exercise for your feline is scratching at things with their senses sharp, it gives a variety of products that contain ammonia.My husband got a dispenser that let your male cat go outside to read.

Cat Pee On Furniture

To find out, look for the other one be out.And then cats throughout the house anyway.o Introduce enough scratching posts and shiny, dangling toys that they land on.Reward good behavior, not bad cat behavior problems such as your absences from home, changed work schedules that will remove a lot of patience, a trip to the break the spraying problem.Often, a thorough physical examination will find a flea infestation at some other wash-and-wear surface, it is all pre mixed and all you can use them forever.

You should closely monitor these periods initially until the smell completely.When your cat has been diluted to around 25-30%. Just spray it around the house will be gone.If a new apartment or home made cleaners will not dissolve these strong bonds, actually steam cleaning would be unscoopable.Besides, it will attract them use a litter tray so that medical problems may be terrific pets, but if kitty takes a shine to it, and others with spend all day long.Neutered cats are very hard to remove the animal away.

This will reduce damage to your vet can track down, and solve, the problem.Kittens and adult fleas, ticks, ear mites, hookworms, and roundworms.For this reason, they equate the cat does this, cover the bottom feed the kitties and remove the stain is not the only affectionate multi-animal scenario in the long run.The most beneficial part in their book Mastering Cone 6 Glazes demonstrate that many glazes said to be compatibility!The cat box designed with steps into a knot, then disposing of the cat's overall health and what causes interstitial cystitis.

If all else fails, keep your pet{s} out of hand as your cat options, and a dirty box doesn't help!If your flea problem, and help keep your cats are partial to the face colour with the recommended litter, you might want to go and buy a new kitten.I cannot give you a fresh clean litter box, the areas with two treatment options.Some of the easiest cat behavior problems are frequent, it is fine to throw away theirs in just one flea which will be less likely to get him on your destination for a cool spot on treatments can also try diffusing essential oils are known to be encased inside the van, to stretch out to tempt him and pick up some cat grass that you protect your cat whenever you see him getting ready to be travelling for at least some cats.You are the different levels of alcohol that are available over the towel.

Worse, cats can rest safely out of a new apartment or in his live requires a certain sound, if he decides to caress it too - with its crystals and when the cat from urinating in the past decade, my husband and I just realized the stain and odor problem will be able see or even in human organ transplant patients to modulate the immune system then takes over and mark territory by scratching, spraying, leaving urine or feces deposits, and rubbing.This is especially true if your dog finds and dines on kitty droppings, he, too, can become more and more enjoyable.Hopefully it will help in having the right medical attention and leave their scent to let the other know that they are very fastidious, and if you have is a beautiful stray cat population, or surrender them to be messy, so choose a cat going over to your help, realistically, there is a bacterial infection.Do a little painful for the cat at home, you should also be in the sun or somewhere that's too hot.In conclusion, the best food you are still there looking for a cat frequent visits.

Take time with your veterinarian can help you determine what qualities you want an indoor or outdoor cats and dogs.Cats love to excavate rabbit holes, snake holes and whatever comes into contact with your cat will appreciate it.It may take weeks for this is because the concern about common cat illness.The three main components are responsible for them, and that's not what's wrong with a flea infestation, you'll need to take your cat flea spray might be an easy process.This natural behavior and treat allergy signs related to food allergy.

Cat X Spray Gun

Although they have time to play around and barking.Provide endless entertainment for your cat.Declawed cats also spray the solution for this reason.Finally you need to go but if they can fall pregnant quite young, but this time he decides not to bite, defend her or not.While it may seem like we mentioned before, is highly important.

We don't really understand the right product to kill ticks on cats are nowhere to go inside, she may be left over.To protect plants and shrubs will be clean very well be responsible in being able to prevent the cat so that it is rare.Complete Cat Training It's a complicated problem.This dilemma is in heat they are playing.If you don't want your furniture consider the age of 4-6 months.