#since its not strictly anxiety or depression or ptsd

[spectralfriend]

when i was younger the idea of a lobotomy through the nasal cavity terrified me but honestly right now it sounds kind of restful

[hitaka5ever]

I haven't been on social media much for months and I'll explain why here and how I plan on finishing the rest of the year and what my goals for next year are (I will probs forget to do it later, hence why I'm doing it now)

Anywho, my main reason for being away is for my mental health that has gotten much worse since the end of summer, mainly of course to do with the genocide of Palestinians and the amount of information that has been shared by millions. I've kept my eye on the atrocities on and off since it started, getting some info from family, who I visited recently, but for the most part I've avoided minute-by-minute coverage

I'm a very empathetic person. This means I have a strong sense of noticing others' emotions that become a part of me after enough exposure to them. So for example, if someone I know is extremely sad or cries, even though I'm not experiencing their sadness or pain, I get emotional along with them (since I spend 99% of my time with mum, we feed off each others' feelings and physical attributes the most)

So my depression and anxiety are the main reasons for my absence on everything but YouTube and email. I ultimately have to take care of myself before I can worry about anyone or anything else

I'm back to seeing a therapist every other week on Thursdays via Zoom. She's the first therapist I've ever had that's asked me what my main goals with therapy are and what I'm looking for. My last therapist asked the same thing, but we never actually went over anything practical. Right now, my severe anxiety is what's ruining my life the most, so I wanted to focus strictly on that for now. I want to know what I need to do to combat my anxiety in specific situations, like being out in public places

I've brought up before that I have severe hearing sensory overload. If too many physical noises (meaning stuff not on a screen or through speakers) surround me, I get very jittery and weird feeling in my head and body. I have to leave the room when it gets really bad. Normally I can calm down within 5 minutes of leaving the situation, but that's only if I'm in between 2 people talking with each other. It's a lot worse when they're talking over one another. My worst experience was having sound inside and outside my house that surrounded me on all sides. It took ~30 minutes to return to normal after I went into a secluded area to listen to music with headphones on. As you can imagine this is way too much stimulation for my broken brain to handle, so finding jobs out in the real world are very hard on me

That comes to my next bit of information: I'm still unemployed and looking into temporary disability through my therapist while I learn to take control of my anxiety. I have severe PTSD from being bullied in middle school, living with a mentally abusive parent, and having experienced a terrible car accident almost a year after I graduated high school (this was in 2009) So trusting people on and offline (less so online) has made my adult life very difficult. Riding in vehicles to reach a certain destination was the absolute worst symptom of my mental illness from 2009-2021, and even now I get very subtle anxiety knowing when I have places to get to. I'm obviously loads better than I was back then thanks to meds, but now I have employment to think about, which brings on its own problems

Finding jobs that don't include retail, fast food, or talking to people face-to-face or via phone, especially in my shitty small town, is a nightmare. I've tried finding work remotely at home, but there's always at least 1 requirement that makes me ineligible for the job. I want to make money making digital art, but I lack the skills and exposure in a world where even the most experienced freelancers are struggling to make ends meet (bc of artificial images (AI) taking over the community) As you can tell, this gives me very limited job opportunities and I don't know if I qualify for disability on a normal basis rather than a temporary one, so either way I have less than $150 left in my bank and unable to pay my parents rent bc of all of this

But things here aren't all bad. I enjoyed going to stay with my sisters for all of November where they live, getting to spend time with 4 cats and a foster baby (I did get a bad cold the last week of vacation, but that was the only bad thing about the trip) and coming home to have something I haven't had since 2020

We are fostering a purebred Pitbull girl named Stella for the rest of the year. She's 8 years old but still in her prime and we have become best buds (and napping pals) since day 1. This was a trial run to see if she would be the right fit for the family, and so far everything's been going great, minus her ear infections that we're taking care of. Stella has basically become my dog and we're likely keeping her for the remainder of her life. She's the sweetest and most chill dog I have ever met and I fell in love with her immediately. It took her 2 days of coaxing to be used to getting on my bed, with and without me, and she follows me everywhere I go, so we're bonded for life lol

So that's the most exciting news I have to share about what's been happening with me. I get to go into the new year owning my very own dog and learning how to cope with my anxiety before and after it starts, so I'm looking forward to the new year

Speaking of the new year (I'm almost done, promise!) I have a few goals for 2024 that I really want to stick to my guns about

Run a successful Kickstarter making and selling fire-breathing insect and bug stickers

Making extensive reference sheets of my OCs and fan fiction characters (eg my werewolf au and LoZ stories)

Learning (digital) art restoration. When I visited my sisters, my oldest was gathering foster kid stuff when she became a foster parent, and she got a set of Mega Building Blocks that had significant wear and tear. Some of the pieces with stickers on them were faded and peeling off, so I want to remake those stickers, get them printed, and give them to my sister so she can restore the broken pieces for her future foster kids. This gave me the idea of restoring art that has worn down or ruined over time. I like taking electronics apart and putting them back together again and I enjoy the assembly and design of things, so I think restoring physical items could become a potential art job

Learn basic idle animations of characters and objects. A Clip Studio Paint user makes tutorial videos on the official English CSP YouTube channel, and their latest is simplistic animations in CSP, so I want to try it out and offer it as a commission option if I'm comfortable with the process

Cartoonify famous or interesting places from real life, such as cool cities/towns, schools/colleges, or the Seven Wonders of the World, etc

Visit my friends at our homes or going out to restaurants and into town. My anxiety has made being around the friends I've grown up with really hard as well, not just with employment, so I want that to change a lot too

Legally change my name and gender after wanting to for the last few years (Rocky Dean (dad's middle name) Fuller (mum's maiden name))

Look into getting top surgery in the next 3+ years. I'm finally to the point where having breasts is ruining my life physically (back pain) and mentally (dysphoria) so I need to find a surgeon that doesn't require weight loss or hormone therapy to do the procedure

Just do art in general

That's all for now!

[babyjakes]

forever and a day | 13. every child.

〈 disclaimer: this blog posts content not suitable for individuals under the age of 18. minors are strictly prohibited from viewing, sharing, or interacting with this blog. for more information on this blog's commitment to protecting minors, read our full statement here. 〉

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summary | a story in which america’s favorite captain gives a new life and family to a five-year-old girl who has suffered well beyond her years at the hands of hydra.

characters | dad!steve rogers, girl/willa rogers (original character)

warnings | AU similar enough to OU to include spoilers to many Marvel movies (Age of Ultron and beyond). mature themes related to child abuse/neglect. mentions/descriptions of past CSA and CSM. medical abuse and experimentation.��ptsd/trauma symptoms in a child (developmental discrepancies, de-humanized behavior, detachment, extreme fears). medical treatment of CSM and other aftermath of abuse.somewhat evil!Tony Stark (eventually)

[Steve]

When I wake to the gentle rays of the morning sun pouring in through the window and onto my resting face, it takes me a moment to remember where I am. Feeling the warmth of something settled in my lap, I look down to find Girl still sleeping in my arms comfortably. Remembering the events of the night before, I realize we must’ve fallen asleep snuggled up together, just like this.

Birds chirp gently in the distance as I shift slightly, doing my best not to wake the sleeping child on my lap. Girl is still tucked away into my arms, her breaths steady. Not sensing any restlessness in her slumber, I smile softly to myself. I’m so glad. I know that she needs all the restful sleep she can get.

One of her little hands has found its way into mine, allowing me to hold it carefully, as if it’s the most precious thing in the world. Reaching a free hand up, I begin to smooth down the young girl’s hair that’s strewn about so messily beneath her. As I do, depressing thoughts begin to run through my mind of how she’s never been touched safely like this, how no one’s ever been there to take care of her.

As I continue to run my fingers over the child’s messy locks, she shifts positions slightly against me, her eyelids beginning to flutter. Continuing to stroke her hair, I decide not to say or do anything too drastic yet; the last thing I want to do is startle her awake. Turning a bit further towards me, Girl’s mouth opens as she lets out a silent yawn. It’s a simple action, but somehow, it brings me comfort. That she’s just peaceful, for now. Just existing. No tears or anxiety to occupy her in this sleepy state.

Girl’s eyelids flutter a few more times, and before I know it, they’ve fluttered right open. Big green eyes peer straight into mine, the nature of her gaze reminding me of a baby animal, something so pure and precious that I can’t help but instinctively feel the need to wrap her up in my arms and protect her from any harm that might come her way. Blinking her long sets of lashes once, the little girl just looks at me, completely unaware of how tightly she’s wrapping me around her finger as she does so with such innocence.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” I murmur softly, tucking a few stray strands of her hair behind her ear. With the sunlight pouring in from the window hitting the child’s face, I notice for the first time that there are tiny freckles dotting her cheeks. For the first time since meeting her, the thought occurs to me that she’s unmistakably adorable, even more so with her cheeks filling out a bit more and her injuries less noticeable now, thanks to the care she’s been receiving from Bruce.

“Steve,” is Girl’s response, a hint of relief hidden in her voice. “Still here.” As if maybe she thought I would abandon her.

“Of course I am,” I reassure her, “I’m not going anywhere.”

As I continue to run my fingers through her long brown hair, I feel her slightly leaning into my touch, causing my heart to swell in my chest. To think that such a short time ago, she was that trembling little body stuck in that poor excuse of a prison cell, blindfolded and chained up by her wrists, ducking away from anything and anyone who tried to help her, blows my mind. Sure, she still has trauma responses; that’s just how she’s hardwired. But now, here she is, laying in my lap. Leaning in as I physically comfort her. Glad that I stayed with her through the night. I couldn’t be happier for her, or prouder of how far she’s come.

“How do you feel?” I ask gently, hoping that the rest she gained through the night has maybe helped with the sickness she was feeling earlier.

“Little better,” the girl tells me. I smile at her.

“Good, I’m so glad.” As she continues to gaze into my eyes, nothing but softness and affection held within her expression, it occurs to me that this is maybe the first time she’s been able to look at me and hold eye contact. Previously, she would always drop my gaze as soon as it met hers, but now, she’s looking at me so… fearlessly. Like she can just face me openly, like she might even trust me.

When I move my hand from Girl’s hair to her forehead, she flinches slightly, but it’s just barely enough to notice. As soon as she realizes that I’m just checking her for a fever, she relaxes again. “You don’t feel warm, which is another good sign. Sometimes we just gotta sleep stuff off,” I tell her. “Believe me, I would know,” I add with a chuckle, “I’ve spent a lot of time sleeping.”

Tilting her head slightly, she offers me a look as if to ask what I mean. Continuing to smile at her gently, I laugh at myself a bit in my head for forgetting. Clearly, Girl has been sheltered her whole life, so naturally she doesn’t know my infamous story of being pulled out of the ice, or any of the other Avenger’s stories, for that matter. Which is kind of refreshing, in a way, to meet someone who doesn’t assume they already know everything about you.

“Oh, that’s right, I’ve never told you the story before. Well, I guess I better tell it to you now then, huh?” I ask enthusiastically, trying to catch her interest. Girl looks up at me curiously, seeming to be catching on. “It’s a great story, my favorite, actually. It’s the story of the time I became a superhero.” At that, the little girl’s eyes light up instantly, causing me to smile softly down at her once again.

“Let’s see,” I begin, not sure how to start it off. “Well, I wasn’t always this strong, or good at fighting bad guys. Actually, I used to be pretty small and weak. I got made fun of a lot, was always gettin’ picked on. But then I met some amazing people, some really smart doctors, and they gave me some super cool medicine that made me the way I am now, much stronger and faster and all the things I needed to become to help fight bad guys. And I fought a lot of them, believe me, all while helping to rescue innocent people along the way. But then, one time, the plane I was in got damaged really bad. And I was headed straight for the ocean. So… I ended up trapped way underwater. And I froze down there! For a really long time, until I was discovered and, well, thawed, I guess,” I explain, trying to use very simple and broad terms that she might understand better. Girl’s eyes widen at the story, seeming impressed.

“F-F'oze down there?” she asks in disbelief. I nod with a laugh.

“Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, and it really kinda was.” I admit with a chuckle. “So like I was saying, I was asleep for many years down there. But my body didn’t age, due to the whole- well, being frozen thing. And boy, was I in for a shock when I woke up and suddenly it was the future.

Girl looks at me for a few moments, the expression on her face almost completely unreadable. She opens her mouth to speak, but hesitates, causing me to soften my gaze at her as I try to show her it’s okay for her to say whatever it was she was going to before she grew nervous. "You-… so, you’re… a-are you really old?” she asks. Her question makes me laugh, and once she sees this, she relaxes substantially.

“Well, sort of. Yes? But not really,” I struggle to form an answer. “My ageing paused during my time in the ice. So, I was brought up in a very different time period from right now. That was a really long time ago. But me… I wouldn’t say I’m really old. Though, if you ask Tony that same question, he’ll call me an old man, so maybe don’t bring it up,” I joke.

At the mention of the scientist, Girl noticeably freezes up, and I can feel her tensing in my arms. “Hey, sweetheart,” I hum, my voice dropping to a soft murmur as if I’m suddenly talking to a toddler. Running my hand up and down her arm in attempts to soothe her, my heart breaks as the little girl slowly begins to tremble. “What’s up, sweetie pie?” I ask worriedly. “What’s so scary about Tony?”

Girl looks down at her lap, the eye contact she had held with me for so long now completely lost, as if it had never happened. I wish I knew what it was about him that makes her so particularly wary; I can’t tell if she’s just that way with all men, and I’m the exception, or if something’s happened that specifically makes her fearful of Tony. When she doesn’t answer my question at all, I sigh sadly, not knowing how to coax a response out of her.

“Tony’s a good man,” I tell her. And while in the past we’ve had our fair share of conflicts, I truly mean the words that I’m saying. “He’s a lot of fun to goof around with, and he cares about you just as much as I do, sweetheart. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” But I can tell my words do little to assure her.

Wanting to turn the focus off of something that obviously makes her uneasy, I shift her in my lap so that I’m sort of cradling her, her back supported by one arm while her legs are held securely by the other. Gently, I begin to rock her from side to side, and I can feel as her body begins to relax into me, the attempts to comfort her thankfully working.

“My mom used to hold me like this when I was small,” I say softly. I don’t remember much of my mom or my dad, but I do remember that I would be held just like this.“ I don’t know why I’m telling her this, but for some reason, the words just seem to be flowing out of my mouth before I can even stop them. "It always made me feel better, even though sometimes it felt silly as I was growing older. But that’s okay, right? Everyone needs to be taken care of. Every child deserves to have someone who’ll hold them.”

Girl’s big doe-eyes look up at me once more, yet another different expression embedded within them that I can’t quite decipher. The best word I can find to describe it is… longing.

“What’s up, doll?” I ask, wanting to know what I can say or do that will make her feel most safe and cared for. She opens her mouth, but no words come out. Then, she shakes her head, and her eyes fall back down to her lap.

“You can tell me,” I encourage her, but at this point, it seems like she’s more or less shut down. And all of a sudden, my heart sinks in my chest, as I’m finally able to read the words that were written all over her face just a few short seconds ago, as her soul was staring straight into my own. I don’t know what makes me so sure that I’m right, but I just know that I know; I know what she was going to say.

She was going to ask if I could be that for her. If I would be the one to hold her, even if she felt silly for it, or for wanting it. And it just ruins me inside, that she’s been so broken down, so alienated that she can’t even bring herself to ask to have someone like that for herself.

Leaning down to plant a kiss on her head, I repeat the words into Girl’s hair as I continue to rock her. “Every child,” I say again, and again. “Every child.” And I pray that she knows I mean her, as well.

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[veryfashionabledesigns]

Analyzing the Snicket Aesthetic, Part 1/5: Time Period, Technology, and Medicine

.-There are quite a few fan theories placing the main events of ASOUE in the 80’s or 90’s, which is plausible, if not quite probable, in terms of the technology present in the series and the timing of the real-life publication of the books. On the other hand, I’m a shameless hipster and I live for that retro aesthetic, so I like the ambiguity.

-The post-post-apocalyptic theory is a fun one, but it can be a little limiting—not to mention difficult—to apply too many practical implications to this universe. Realism is all well and good, but it can easily be discarded for the sake of a good yarn or a pointed bit of commentary.  

Figure 1: The Illustrations of ASOUE are mostly influenced by the woodblock prints that frequently appeared in Victorian fiction--black and white, hatched shading, realistic perspective—while those of ATWQ vaguely resemble Modernist and/or Cubist art—subtle color, solid shadows, and slightly warped perspective.

(Continued under the cut)

        -Anachronisms everywhere, of course.  One of the books mentions a blacksmith and a computer repair shop in the same sentence. Events and media from before, during, or (infrequently) after the date range are regularly referenced.

        -Personally, I mix and match from a date range of about 1890-1980, for reasons we’ll get into over the course of this analysis, although this is really quite a large range, and even then it’s rather approximate, and can change depending on which version of the story one is referencing, and even from book to book or character to character.

-Time does not pass normally like in the real world. The atmosphere of ASOUE feels a bit older (gothic, vaguely turn of the century) than that of ATWQ (noir, 1930’s-40’s), but the latter is set before the former (see fig. 1). History has been run through a blender set to puree.

TECHNOLOGY

        -It’s sort of lowkey steampunk/dieselpunk. Relatively little sci fi tech is floating loose in the world, but given the materials and time, Violet would almost certainly come up with some fun retro-futuristic inventions.

        -Violet’s inventions involve mechanical and electrical technology, but seemingly nothing digital. She’s largely indifferent (and in the books, possibly even disdainful) in response to the “advanced computer” at Prufrock Prep, which always struck me as a bit odd. Maybe she distrusts Nero’s vague assertions that it will deter Count Olaf, maybe she prefers a more hands-on approach to inventing, or maybe she has the soul of cranky old lady.

Figure 2: Prufrock’s advanced computer in the Netflix series features cameras, a CRT monitor, and something resembling an oscilloscope.

        -Computers exist in this universe, but they don’t seem to do much, and there aren’t very many of them. Smart phones, laptops, and similar devices of the 21st century are almost certainly not around.

-In the books, Prufrock’s computer can display a recognizable image of Count Olaf and is compared to a toad in appearance, meaning it was likely modeled after PCs from the 80s and 90s.

-In the series, it’s even more anachronistic. The monitor looks more or less like what was described in the books, but it also comes fitted with a built in camera, much like a modern webcam, and can recognize faces about as well as most characters (although this really isn’t saying much), implying some kind of primitive deep learning capacity.  

Figure 3: A few computers that could fit in the Snicketverse. (The Apple 1, hilariously, is the real thing.)

-If the internet exists, it’s pretty useless. The first season of the Netflix series has a few references to the internet, none of which are relevant to the plot. The internet makes everything easier, and the Snicketverse is all about inconvenience and suffering.  

-Photographs appear in both black and white and color, although the color is quite grainy. The shift to color photography occurred gradually throughout the 20th century.

-Hector’s self-sustaining hot air mobile home is really quite impractical, if not impossible. A proper hot air balloon would require quite a bit of fuel to keep the air inside the balloons sufficiently hot. Historically, airships of comparative size would have filled their balloons with hydrogen and/or helium, which, barring leakage or other damage, could actually remain buoyant more or less indefinitely. Hydrogen, by the way, is very flammable.

-The submarines in The Grim Grotto are steampunk as heck—that is, realistically impractical but really friggin’ cool—likely inspired by early science fiction such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. In real life, submarines rarely have portholes; in warfare or high water pressure, they could potentially be a weak point, and they’re fairly pricy for something that isn’t strictly necessary. There are a few exceptions, though, such as in subs designed for tourism or marine biology.

Figure 4: The Quequeg has a number of features solely for the comfort of its crew, such as this lovely library with paintings and antique-looking lamps. The use of brass and copper tones, as well as the warm lighting reminiscent of gas, oil, or early incandescent lights, also add to the steampunk vibes.

-Mobile phones do not appear in the books. As with the internet, they’re just too convenient. Should they be necessary to your story, however, there are a few ways to work them in. The movie featured telephones built into cars, which is actually pretty cool. In real life, portable phones have existed since at least the 1960s, although they were too large and expensive to be popular with the public until recently.

Figure 5: The Radio Common Carrier, a sort of mobile phone introduced in the 1960s.

MEDICINE

        -If Heimlich Hospital is typical of the Snicketverse, then the medical technology of the time is… not good.

        -For all the bureaucracy and paperwork depicted, there seems to be very little control over what sorts of operations are actually performed. Count Olaf can waltz in and say he needs the operating theater for a “cranioectomy,” and nobody seems to question it. It’s entirely possible that the amount of paperwork required is so massive that nobody can really keep track of it all.

        -Patients at Heimlich Hospital often ask volunteers for simple things like a glass of water—implying that the hospital is severely understaffed.

        -It is unknown what happens if a Volunteer is seriously injured in the line of duty. V.F.D. may have its own medics/infirmaries. Alternately, they may try to recruit medical professionals who will treat patients without revealing any secrets. It is also possible that volunteers are expected to lie to their doctors, or that the healthcare system is such a mess that nobody really asks questions when someone turns up with a suspicious injury.

        -There is some good news: near the beginning of The Hostile Hospital, Klaus mentions antibiotics and shots (likely referring to vaccines). From this we can assume that many of history’s nastiest plagues (i.e. tuberculosis, cholera, scarlet fever, etc.) are more or less under control. (Although I personally headcannon that Mr. Poe’s cough is an early symptom of tuberculosis, as this would be a fun little shout-out to Edgar Allen Poe.)

        -The rusty knives used in Violet’s “surgery” imply that doctors could get away with some pretty lousy sanitation. In the Netflix series, the entire hospital is filthy.           

Figure 6: The operating theater in The Hostile Hospital is similar in structure, if not style, to the one at the Old Operating Theatre museum, built c.1822.

-Public operating theaters like the one seen in the Hostile Hospital were gradually replaced by sterile operating rooms as doctors developed proper understanding of germ theory between c. 1860-1900. (See fig. 6). Notably, the set design for the operating theater in the series uses a 19th century layout with mid-20th century materials and lighting.

        -Treatment for mental health conditions is given little attention, which is troubling; sooner or later those poor kids are going to need some therapy. If memory serves, one of the patients at Heimlich is described as looking sad but otherwise healthy, suggesting depression.

        -Given how dystopian the Snicketverse is, PTSD and anxiety are probably quite common—especially among V.F.D. members, who often wind up in very dangerous situations at very early ages. In fact, one could make a solid argument that childhood trauma might be behind the neuroses of characters such as Aunt Joesephine or Hector—both of whom, despite having severely debilitating anxiety disorders, never seem to receive any treatment.

FANTASY ELEMENTS

         -There are very few of these, but it’s far from realism. Some rough rules of thumb would be to avoid things typically considered supernatural (i.e. dragons, ghosts, vampires), but things that are not quite possible (i.e. babies can bite through concrete, reptiles can be trained to imitate human speech on command), or possible but very improbable (i.e. a harmless snake being officially named “the Incredibly Deadly Viper” solely for pranking purposes, a phony surgeon convincing a crowd that decapitation is a risky but necessary medical procedure) are all well and good.

         -It should be noted, however, that at least a few characters in-universe believe in the supernatural. In the Ersatz Elevator, the Baudelaires are briefly mistaken for ghosts, and in The End, Ishmael claims to predict the weather using magic.

[twentyonepilotsficlibrary]

Miscellaneous Fandoms Fic Rec Masterlist

This is something new we’re trying out. In our admin group chat we all started talking about our other fandoms/pairings we read and thought it might be fun to share some of our favorite fics. 

I know not everyone will be into this idea but i think it’s easily ignored if it’s not your cup of tea. Otherwise we hope you enjoy this mess of fics, maybe you’ll find yourself a new pairing, or maybe you’ll get inspired to write Joshler. 

we hope you enjoy! 

**this will be a long post**

Madi’s recs

Teen Wolf - Sterek (Stiles Stilinski & Derek Hale)

Cornerstone by Vendelin (6/6 | 83738 | Explicit)

Suffering from PTSD, ex-Marine Derek Hale moves back to Beacon Hills to open a bookshop and find a calmer life. That’s where he meets Stiles, completely by accident. Stiles is talkative, charming and curious. Somehow, despite the fact that he’s blind, he’s able to read Derek like no one else.

//PTSD //anxiety attacks 

No Homo by orphan_account (12/12 | 84092 | Explicit)

Stiles' sophomore year starts something like this: 3 FourLokos + 1 peer-pressuring cat - 1 best bro to end all best bros = 1 Craigslist ad headline that reads "str8 dude - m4m - strictly platonic". Derek is the fool who replies.

//internalized homophobia 

We Got Claws by Onlymystory (15/15 | 34914 | Mature)

Peter, Isaac, and Scott get de-aged. Stiles and Derek take care of them.

Harry Potter - Drarry (Harry Potter & Draco Malfoy)

Open For Repairs by FeelsForBreakfast (1/1 | 34901 | Mature)

After the war, Draco works at a tv repair shop and Harry breaks things.

feat. sad boys in jumpers and more ABBA than is probably necessary

There's a Pure-Blood Custom For That byLomonaaeren (36/36 | 105549 | Mature) 

The day that Harry stops Draco Malfoy and his son from being bothered in the middle of Diagon Alley starts a strange series of interactions between him and Malfoy. Who knew there was a pure-blood custom for every situation?

Transfigurations by Resonant (1/1 | 71284 | Explicit)

Five years after Voldemort's defeat, Harry returns to England to help re-open Hogwarts.

//major character death 

IT - Reddie (Richie Tozier & Eddie Kaspbrak)

Yours Truly by Buttercup12 (14/14 | 51414 | Mature)

Eddie Kaspbrak has it bad. He’s bullied for being a tiny, delicate, hypochondriac boy. He’s also bullied for being very, very, very gay. Long story short, his life isn’t the easiest.

However, that’s all a piece of cake when compared to his gigantic, pathetic crush on Derry High’s most popular and oh so very straight Trashmouth, Richie Tozier.

Richie has no idea he even exists.

Right?

Wrong.

ugly moon by weepies (27/27 | 79482 | Teen and Up)

Richie Tozier hasn’t spoken a word to anybody since he came to Derry in the middle of the school year. Until he talks to Eddie Kaspbrak.

//abuse mention

----------------------

Christie’s recs

Harry Potter - Drarry (Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter)

Turn by Saras_Girl (14/14 | 306,708 | Explicit)

One good turn always deserves another. Apparently.

All Our Secrets Laid Bare by firethesound (16/16 | 149,549 | Explicit)

Over the six years Draco Malfoy has been an Auror, four of his partners have turned up dead. Harry Potter is assigned as his newest partner to investigate just what is going on.

South Park - Creek (Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak)

Do Not Try This At Home by Marasa (6/? | 32,100 | Mature)

A post is made that night detailing the rules of their arrangement:

• Video must be taken of the event.

• Video must be uploaded.

• Turns will be taken; after one group uploads, the other must upload as answer to the original post. This ensures equal stunts and higher expectations with each stunt.

• Don’t half-ass it; this is a fucking competition!

//depression //anxiety //past abuse //drug use

The Roommate by DoAsYouWill (27/? | 277,882 | Mature)

Craig is off to college, where he is introduced to the weirdest person he's ever met. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, (Craig can't decide), that weirdest person is his roommate.

Just your typical cliche 'meet as roommates' story, but with a lot of nostalgic undertones.

Deadpool - Cablepool (Wade Wilson/Nathan Summers)

Incognito by CQHD (Comet_Kohoutek) (2/2 | 5,810 | Explicit)

Deadpool introduces Cable to porn.

The video, Deadpool realises belatedly, is way too quiet. There's no cheesy bass line that gets stuck in his head and makes him feel each pulse in his dick. There's just the soft rustling of clothes against skin as the man strips. It's got an aesthetic to it, but it doesn't stop Deadpool from hearing the catch in Cable's breath once the man steps out of his underwear and crawls on to the desk. 

Toaster by edy (1/1 | 3,339 | Mature)

If someone were to strap you in and measure your heart rate, it wouldn't be a surprise to anyone to find it'd be beating in time with his own heart. The notion is meant to be romantic, as is customary in romances, and you think it might be romantic if an uneven heart rate wasn't a sign of a serious health condition.

//suicidal thoughts 

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Sydney’s Recs

South Park 

Do Not Try This At Home by Marasa (6/? || 32,100 || Mature)

A post is made that night detailing the rules of their arrangement:

• Video must be taken of the event.

• Video must be uploaded.

• Turns will be taken; after one group uploads, the other must upload as answer to the original post. This ensures equal stunts and higher expectations with each stunt.

• Don’t half-ass it; this is a fucking competition!

// depression, anxiety, past abuse, drug use

A Perfect Love Like Craig and Tweek by ugandadistrict9 (1/1 || 3,783 || Teen and Up Audiences)

Tweek and Craig have been close for a few years, and everyone says that they’re dating, but Craig has neither confirmed or denied it. Tweek has developed strong feelings for Craig over the time, but is worried that Craig doesn’t feel the same way he does.

Homicidal Maniac by Maroonedpunk (3/3 || 17,654 || Teen and Up Audiences)

They called him a homicidal maniac for years.

Then came the allegations against the coffee shop.

Tweek can’t do this by himself.

// depression, anxiety, drug use, mental illness

Spirit Animals by hollycomb (1/1 || 22,191 || Not Rated)

Cartman wants to film his amateur ghost hunting show at the site of the grisly McCormick massacre. Stan hates the idea but he can’t stay away, because Kyle will be there.

✓��� Read by Boyue (16/16 || 65,196 || Teem and Up Audiences)

WENDY Nice picture but you have the wrong number.

AKA how Stan Marsh met Kyle Broflovski through a dick pic mishap.

// depression, alcoholism, derogatory language

Detriot: Become Human (Gavid Reed/RK900)

Chrysopoeian Heart by feistymuffin (6/? || 22,826 || Explicit)

Chrysopoeia - the act of transmuting a substance into gold

Gavin doesn’t like androids… but then again, nothing’s written in stone.

// graphic depictions of violence

Still by Terminallydepraved (1/1 || 4,277 || Explicit)

Sometimes it takes someone else nearly dying to make you realize the important things.

Life sucks, but in a beautiful kind of way by ConsultingStag (5/6 || 7701 || Mature)

Gavin stares at RK900 and regrets it immediately as its gray gaze bores into him. LED spinning yellow. Dissecting what happened. Analyzing the clues in front of it. And then a perfectly fake eyebrow lifts and equally fake lips twitch into a tiny smirk and Gavin knows that he is fucked. 

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Cade’s Recs 

Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia - Macdennis (Mac/Dennis Reynolds)

a beachfront of bad blood by castielanderson (1/1 | 28,366 | Mature)

or alternatively “Dennis Tries to Kill Himself: MacDennis Remix” Originally for the 2017 MacDennis Big Bang, but alas

.

They don’t have a falling out so much as a slowly drifting apart.  Being a dad makes Dennis tired, so tired sometimes he feels like he might never have energy again, and that means that he stops checking in with Mac as often.  Eventually, they stop talking.  Mac gets a boyfriend.  Dennis stops taking his medication.

After Dennis attempts suicide, Mandy insists he return to Philadelphia with the gang, and she will follow with Brian Jr. when she can.  Faced with an unwanted recovery, a failed family, and feelings he would rather ignore, Dennis is forced to navigate uncharted waters within himself and within his relationship with Mac.

//rape/non-con //suicide attempt //self-harm //eating disorders //depression

Fullmetal Alchemist - Royed (Edward Elric/Roy Mustang)

Reverti Ad Praeteritum by Batsutousai (30/30 | 288,908 | Mature)

Unwillingly forced to serve as a human trial for a crazy alchemist experimenting with time travel, Edward Elric finds himself standing across from Truth in the moment it takes his leg from him. Armed with the knowledge of what's to come and burdened with guilt for the choices he'd made as an adult, Ed sets out to fix every mistake he ever made and save every life they ever lost, no matter what it takes.

//underage //implied/referenced dubious consent //violence 

Know the Difference by ShanaStoryteller (1/1 | 9,083 | Teen)

“You’ve heard the rumors,” Mustang says, looking at Ed over the top of his latest report, “about the angels.”

Ed scoffs and rolls his eyes, “Angels don’t exist, don’t be ridiculous.”

“Of course, of course,” he murmurs, gaze sliding back down, “There have been multiple eye witness accounts, however.”

Ed slouches into the chair and doesn’t bother to keep the contempt to from his voice when he says, “Don’t depend on anything with wings to save you. Things that were made to leave always end up doing so, in the end.”

“Yes, well,” he says, “sometimes they come back.”

a terrifying clamour of trumpets by ShanaStoryteller (1/1 | 12,194 | Teen)

Edward grabs Marcoh’s arm and says, “That stone – what can it heal, exactly?”

The old man’s eyebrows rise to his forehead, and he looks like he already knows the answer when he goes, “Why do you ask, Edward?”

There's no metallic footsteps so there’s no way Al’s close enough to hear them. “I’m sick,” he admits after another moment of deliberation.

The Codeine Scene by Xyriath (31/31 | 111,257 | Explicit)

After finding himself entangled with King Bradley's gang of criminals and no way out, Roy Mustang must struggle between balancing his morals and the need to keep himself alive. He walks a thin rope, and a chance meeting of a young man, addicted to drugs and forced into prostitution, complicates matters further. By all rights, he should consider Edward to be collateral damage, an unfortunate bystander in his already difficult situation, but this is one person Roy soon finds he can't leave behind.

//rape/non-con //forced prostitution //drug addiction //mentions of suicide //mentions of depression 

Fullmetal Alchemist - Edling (Edward Elric/Ling Yao)

Nothing Gold by Rydia (ungarmax) (1/1 | 22,219 | Teen)

Ling has gained immortality. Ed has not.

//major character death

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Bard’s Recs

Bastille - Dyle (Dan Smith/Kyle Simmons)

and in the morning you'll be stranded in love (it goes around and around)by brujay (1/1 | 15,717 | Teen)

“Have you seen Groundhog Day?”

Kyle took a moment before replying. “I have… what exactly are you trying to say, here?”

Dan sighed again. “I think I’m living it.” Dan gets trapped in a time loop, and he is not having a good time.

//panic attacks

argonautica orpheus by trailsofpaper (Sanwall) (note: it is private, you can only read if you have an account but it’s too good to not share) (6/6 | 17,478 | M)

Kyle, like Jason on the Argos, sets out on a journey to retrieve something important but, more importantly, he finds love along the way. Dan, unlike Orpheus, doesn’t look back.

(Dan and Kyle are flatmates in Leeds, but when Kyle wrecks his keyboard a week before he and Dan are about to enter a competition, they need to go to London to get another keyboard. Complications and even shenanigans ensue.)

Harry Potter - Drarry (Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter)

He Who Must Not Be Normal by lettered (1/1 | 40,913 | Explicit)

Potter has fame and fortune and posh clothes and all he wants is a simple life. Draco has a flat and a cat and a steady job and all he wants is a complicated life. Which makes you think this story has something exciting like body-swapping, but it doesn’t. Instead it has Indian takeaway and a blue jumper and people wanting a whole lot of what they can’t have, discovering themselves as they discover each other.

All Life is Yours to Miss by Saras_Girl (4/4 | 114,741 | M)

Professor Malfoy's world is contained, controlled, and as solitary as he can make it, but when an act of petty revenge goes horribly awry, he and his trusty six-legged friend are thrown into Hogwarts life at the deep end and must learn to live, love and let go.

Buzzfeed Unsolved - Shyan (Shane Madej/Ryan Bergara)

i think i'm still turning out by the_tenerife_sea (1/1 | 6,325 | General)

Shane is starting to think Ryan is using him for his baby, considering how much he’s already talked her up to all of their coworkers and friends. ____

Or the one where Shane is a new parent, and Ryan is always there for him (and his daughter, of course).

[vapourzloungee]

What Is CBD Oil & Where Can I Buy CBD Oil?

What Is CBD Oil & Where Can I Buy CBD Oil?

CBD oil has widely gained quite an attraction as a food supplement, as well as an oil to apply topically to the skin. Owning many health benefits both physically and mentally, naturally sourced CBD oil is considered a sort of superfood at this point. If you’ve found yourself wondering about CBD oil, how it’s used and its benefits, this blog is for you. As one of the leading vape stores in the UK, we also happened to know a lot about CBD as well. If you’re curious, thinking, “where can I buy CBD oil?”, we’ll answer that for you as well! Read on to learn more.

First Thing’s First, What Is CBD Oil?

CBD (Cannabidiol) is a cannabinoid, a chemical compound that operates throughout the body, including regions of the brain, and is gaining popularity in the health community. While it is derived from hemp, CBD is not intoxicating like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), as it does not cause the ‘high’ associated with marijuana. Some people believe CBD may have health and wellness benefits. Once extracted from its plant, CBD is mixed with carrier oil like olive or coconut oil to boost bioavailability.

Is CBD Oil Safe & Legal In The UK?

CBD oil is not a controlled substance in the UK, contrary to popular belief. Its THC concentration, on the other hand, is strictly regulated. THC content in CBD oil that isn’t medically prescribed is limited to 0.2 percent. CBD oil with a higher THC level may be available for purchase online, but it is not legal.

A tiny number of people in the UK may be prescribed a cannabis-based drug to treat epilepsy or nausea during chemotherapy. For further information on medical cannabis, you can visit the NHS website for more information.

It’s worth mentioning that no CBD products are licensed for usage in animals in the United Kingdom. Only a veterinarian can prescribe a legitimate human CBD product if you’re considering CBD oil for your pet.

Do People Use CBD Oil For?

CBD oil supporters believe that it can help with a variety of medical issues, including depression, refractory epilepsy, chronic pain, anxiety and acne. Nevertheless, more robust evidence is needed since much of the research is conducted on animals.

Despite a systematic review looking at CBD’s potential efficacy and safety as a treatment for epilepsy, the review concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support its efficacy and long-term safety. In a small group of adults for a short period of time, however, small daily doses proved to be safe, albeit in very low numbers.

Although animal studies have suggested that CBD may be effective for osteoarthritis when applied topically for inflammation or joint pain, it has been difficult to link the therapeutic advantages to CBT alone.

People with multiple sclerosis reported reduced pain and muscle spasms in a study conducted.

Early research on CBD’s usage in the treatment of anxiety and depression has yielded some promising results – though on tiny samples. In the first study, researchers looked at the relationship between anxiety and public speaking and found that a very specific amount of CBD (300mg) could prevent anxiety. In the second study, a youngster was described with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). CBD oil was discovered by the youngster to be helpful for reducing her anxiety and enhancing her sleep.

CBD may potentially have the chance to aid with acne treatment; however, this research is still in its early stages.

More human research is needed for all of the following purposes before solid conclusions can be formed.

Can I Use CBD Oil?

If you’re thinking about taking CBD oil, check with your doctor or another healthcare practitioner to make sure it’s safe and appropriate for you. This is especially crucial if you’re having any troubling symptoms, have any pre-existing diseases, or are taking any medications, such as statins, blood thinners, or calcium channel blockers.

Despite its contentious nature, CBD appears to be tolerated by the majority of people. The treatment has caused hypotension and light-headedness in a very small number of patients. Since the oil does not contain the psychoactive component (THC) in cannabis, it does not cause a high.

CBD oil should not be used by pregnant or nursing women.

Is It Safe To Buy CBD Oil?

CBD oil is readily available in most large health foods stores, however, as it is classed as a ‘food supplement’ rather than a ‘medicinal product’, it isn’t regulated in the UK. Thus, you can’t be certain that the product you buy contains the ‘active’ ingredients in the amounts specified on the label. Additionally, the product may contain contaminants, including pesticides, heavy metals, and other elements. This is why the NHS emphasizes that there is no guarantee that these products will be of high quality or beneficial for health.

That’s why you must always only buy CBD oil and other CBD products from well-reputed stores that specialize in such. That way, you’re guaranteed a great product without any additives.

Okay, Then Where Can I Buy CBD Oil?

Don’t let the previous section scare you off of CBD before you can even try it. If you’re wondering, “where can I buy CBD oil safely?”, your answer is right here. Here at Vapourz Lounge, we have a wide stock of CBD oil and other CBD products that are completely naturally sourced. Our CBD products are of utmost quality and go through a strict testing regimen before we release them. So, if you want to buy good CBD oil and other CBD products, visit our online shop. You won’t be disappointed!

[maritzaerwin]

10 Incredible Ways Virtual Reality Can Boost Workplace Productivity

Virtual reality is one of the most evolving technologies nowadays. Its application goes beyond gameplay and now involves many fields in which companies strive to achieve efficiency through digital transformation. For example, virtual reality in healthcare is used to provide a favorable therapeutic setting where hospitalized patients can get distracted from the pain. Besides healthcare, VR is actively employed in business environments where workers need the means to relieve stress.

Technological development makes any business technology-dependent, with VR being in great demand worldwide. The application of VR technology is extremely vast. The 2019 Market Research Report says that the global VR market will stand at $120.5 billion by 2026. The key areas of VR usage include gaming, automotive industry, healthcare, and retail. But each industry still sees the value of VR in a better work environment that it creates.

Here are 10 ways of how Virtual Reality technology benefits people at work and allows for better workplace productivity.

1) Techy Training

Giant corporations adopt VR technology to provide on-the-job training for a thousand employees at a time. Since not every workplace can house so many trainees, the use of VR sets is an amazing alternative that allows transferring knowledge and skills without the need to be physically present on site. A VR classroom setting is a lot similar to a real-life workplace with the only difference that tactile experiences in VR situations are poorly defined.

For example, Walmart implemented a VR traineeship in 2017 and currently teaches 140,000 of its personnel using VR training annually. The complexity of VR learning lies in the cost of this technology. It may be pricey for many businesses, but in the long run, the advantages of VR training outweigh the expenses it imposes.

2) Smart Recruitment

The concept of VR is also popular with recruiting agencies that have to interview a large number of candidates in a short time. It is physically impossible to meet and test a hundred individuals, especially when the competition is taking place on a national level. By contrast, a VR interview is less cost- and time-consuming but still effective and precise when it comes to assessing a candidate’s skills. The VR workplace environment lets both an interviewee and interviewers interact freely as if they were sitting next to each other.

The VR interview provides all the necessary conditions where the candidate can show their communicative skills and highlight their strengths, whereas the interviewers can assess the candidate’s aptitude and job expertise. This three-dimensional environment basically imitates a real one and therefore allows recruiters to find the right staff a lot faster.

3) Remote Collaboration

VR looks most appealing to large-scale companies for a reason. Their in-house staff works with telecommuters more effectively using VR sets. Real-life scrum meetings and video conferencing are not as convenient as VR collaboration. It does not require relocating to participate in discussions and enables employees from different departments to communicate anytime. This opportunity is extremely important for distributed companies with employees working in different time zones.

There is another explanation of why VR should be applied instead of other communication modes. Unlike Skype calling and messaging, VR interaction gives more space to watch the body language. In particular, this advantage is of great value during negotiations when the seller strives to learn their prospects in the most careful manner. In that case, VR gives an opportunity to talk face-to-face and cooperate as productively as it would be in reality.

4) Ideal Customer Service

The appeal of VR technology is also connected to an ability to improve customer service.  Some internationally renowned fashion brands like Adidas and Zara use VR to create virtual showrooms where customers can see whether one or another outfit suits them well. This innovation has one more positive effect. Virtual fitting spares companies to hire more staff to work with customers because immersive showrooms function independently and do not need human intervention to demonstrate a potential customer the major benefits of a target product.

On a business-to-business level, VR can be successfully used in product demonstrations, especially when it is not possible to carry the product itself from company to company. VR creates a real-life experience where a potential buyer can see a product size, colors, functionality, and construction. This realistic and immersive product presentation has a positive effect on prospects as they get the right image of the product.

5) Error-free Design Solutions

Alongside product demonstration, VR is also important for product design and testing. Using VR technology, engineers can preview the end product and make changes to the design so as to achieve optimal performance and at the same time retain good specifications. Quality assistants, in turn, see to it that the product has no flaws or imperfections in operation before it goes into production. VR is often used along with other software tools, such as CAD. It allows for significant cost savings as engineers do not have to waste resources on producing mock-ups.

Similarly, VR is useful in terms of accessibility. When a complex project involves numerous teams, it is easier to work through the cloud. Every team member is able to access the cloud-based project and improve the part they are responsible for. This type of collaboration is faster and less risky as the entire team supervises each other throughout the product development.

6) VR as a Leisure Activity

VR is also changing the way employees can handle stress at work. Now, they can play games or travel online to feel relaxed and distracted. This method of stress reduction proves effective as such a drastic change of activity helps workers take their minds off work issues for a while. Using VR technology, individuals can create amazing and personalized immersive experiences which, as opposed to real-life situations, let them enjoy pleasure and satisfaction. What is more important is that people involved in gameplay or virtual traveling feel in control over their 3D journeys. This feeling contributes to their recovery from work stress and lets them get back to their duties clear-headed.

However, the biggest application of VR is linked to clinical settings where healthcare providers rely on VR as an addition to treatment. The following four ways of VR usage refer to situations in which patients improve their health state with the help of VR opportunities.

7) Treatment of PTSD Using VR

VR is a part of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) that is considered effective in battling PTSD. Here, VR tools are used to recreate situations that PTSD patients try to avoid as a result of emotional trauma or phobia. A patient is put into a specific VR environment programmed to help this individual cope with PTSD symptoms in a smooth manner.

For example, ex-soldiers may go through war-related journeys, while patients suffering from various phobias are most likely to face scenarios proving that their fear is ungrounded and exaggerated. Surely, such immersive experiences are strictly supervised by medical professionals because the risk of getting treatment out of control remains high.

With regard to all the advantages that VR technology brings to medical treatment, this opportunity is still unavailable for many people because not many clinical facilities have enough financial resources to invest in the purchase of relevant VR equipment.

8) VR Against Autism

As seen in the previous paragraph, VR is effective in coping with mental-oriented diseases. Another condition that VR can alleviate is autism. VR headsets are actively employed to help people afflicted with autism learn new things and get experiences that can be unavailable for them.

For instance, children travel to different places in the world using VR sets and thereby can enjoy beautiful landscapes or know what it feels like diving, snorkeling and so on.

Another benefit of VR for individuals with autism is that they can gradually get used to the things that they cannot handle at this point. Overall, VR lets both young and adult patients struggling with autism become more mature and skillful in various activities.  

9) VR Meditations

The adoption of VR technology by numerous clinical facilities is also explained by the fact that the number of people suffering from anxiety is growing. The digital world gives plenty of opportunities but at the same time triggers various mental disorders resulting from loneliness, lack of communication, and constant pressure from social media. One such disorder is anxiety that can be treated with VR meditation. In that case, a patient is put into a calm and peaceful 3D environment that allows them to essentially reduce anxiety and even depression.

Often, this VR climate is followed by a soothing and gentle melody, such as piano music, which boosts the effect of 3D meditations and speeds up the process of recovery. Unlike regular meditations, 3D ones work faster as your brain is less disposed to get distracted by external stimuli. The use of VR against anxiety can be also practiced at home on condition that you are aware of what type of meditations has a healing effect on your mental state.

10) VR as a Therapy for Paraplegia

Finally, the strongest effect of VR is seen in VR-based physical therapy for patients afflicted with paraplegia. A VR system is utilized to control the patient’s brain activity. The patient is required to imitate walking in an immersive environment. By repeating movements, they make the brain work as if they moved in reality and sends signals to the spinal cord. While learning how to walk in 3D space, patients may experience similar feelings that healthy people have. As a result, their brain remembers what to do, and sometime after the therapy, some patients begin regaining partial sensation in their limbs. Thus, Virtual Reality gives many people a chance for recovery as it proves effective in treating paraplegia.

What is the Future Potential of Virtual Reality in the Workplace?

Remote work is objectively more advantageous in comparison with office routine. However, there are some substantial downsides to being a telecommuter. Such difficulties as the lack of teamwork and face-to-face contact with fellow workers may result in untimely emotional burnout or the development of mental disorders. However, the adoption of VR technology by companies will let each member of their staff interact with other workers closely and irrespective of their time and location. This change will make remote work less burdensome and allow telecommuters to feel their belonging to the community.

Moreover, VR will further affect the way businesses trade and cooperate. Since any product can be visually represented, it will trigger an increase in the number of sales and deals made between businesses. VR technology will also change the nature of advertising. Instead of YouTube or Instagram commercials, people will enjoy 3D catching videos with tactile sensations encouraging them to try new buying experiences. 

The rise of VR will promote the transformation of the digital economy too. More e-commerce stores will soon adopt the benefits of VR allowing customers to select and buy any stuff remotely. The virtual reality will substitute even more real-life practices making people freer and more limited at a time.

Future Projections for VR Technology and VR Headsets

As more and more businesses shift to the virtual, VR is expected to become even more popular. Now, its benefit mainly boils down to conveniences it gives to people working remotely because there are some limitations preventing VR from getting popularized. The major obstacles are technical glitches, cost, and lack of quality content.

For example, Oculus Rift has considerably evolved from the moment Facebook purchased Oculus VR for $2 billion. Though the price is becoming more and more affordable (now it is priced at $149), Oculus Rift’s performance is still undermined by connectivity problems and corrupted software. But its power is yet to come.

As soon as technical issues will be solved and the price for VR headsets will become more democratized, we will see a major change in how people interact and entertain. 

The post 10 Incredible Ways Virtual Reality Can Boost Workplace Productivity appeared first on CareerMetis.com.

10 Incredible Ways Virtual Reality Can Boost Workplace Productivity published first on https://skillsireweb.tumblr.com/

[ruthsulivan]

Are There Still Legal Issues You Need To Concern Yourself With When It Comes To CBD?

You might be familiar with the new cannabis compound everybody’s talking about, or you might be wondering just what it is, what it does, and whether it’s completely legal in your area or not. If you fall into the latter category, don’t worry—even the authorities haven’t completely made up their minds yet! There’s ongoing scientific research that seems promising for the health benefits of CBD, and when it comes to legality, the federal government of the USA and some states seem to disagree on a few principles. So let’s start by understanding the nature of CBD and why it’s so popular, then take a look at its battle for legal recognition across different regions.

What is CBD?

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a compound derived from the cannabis plant, providing its users with the well-known anti-inflammatory, calming and pain-relieving effects of cannabis, without the psychoactive response—in simpler words, it’s used for its health benefits and does not get you high or trigger addiction. CBD oil can be derived from a wide range of plants in the Cannabaceae family, but the most common sources are hemp and marijuana. This is where things get a bit tricky, so read on if you want to be on the safe side before choosing your favorite CBD product.

What’s the Difference?

Hemp and marijuana are variations of the same plant (cannabis), but marijuana contains much higher amounts of THC (the notorious cannabinoid that gets you high when inhaled or ingested) compared to hemp. So while marijuana is still considered a drug by the DEA, hemp has been legalized nationwide as an agricultural product with the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill. Even in most countries where marijuana is strictly forbidden, hemp is commonly used in agricultural, textile and cosmetic industries.

Legal or Illegal?

In short, if your CBD oil is made from hemp and not marijuana, you don’t have to be concerned about legal issues, since 100% THC-free, hemp-extract CBD is legal in all 50 states and many countries in the world. Even if your CBD oil contains trace amounts of THC, you can safely own it and use it in 46 states, excluding Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.

If the CBD oil you’re buying is derived from marijuana though, or if it contains more than 0.3% THC, you might still face some legal problems in 25 states, and other countries where recreational use of marijuana is not legalized. In that case, the best course of action to prevent any potential problems is to choose a trustworthy brand that allows for 3rd party lab tests, and maybe even contact the company to make sure you know the THC percentage of the specific product you’re going for.

Stay Safe and Healthy

With the amount of controversy surrounding this subject, it’s only natural to expect more progress in the near future. Even though CBD products are currently widely unregulated, one pharmaceutical drug containing CBD has recently been approved by the FDA, which means more positive regulations might be on the way. In the meantime, you can stay on the safe side by purchasing products containing hemp grown at the legal limit of THC, in order to help treat and alleviate various health issues and ailments, including colitis, arthritis, diabetes, PTSD, substance addiction, anxiety, depression, epilepsy and insomnia.

The post Are There Still Legal Issues You Need To Concern Yourself With When It Comes To CBD? appeared first on ChurnMag.

[topmixtrends]

THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN a lot of hand-wringing around erotica, especially erotica that centers on female submission. Feminists worry that it perpetuates harmful gender dynamics, while conservatives shudder at the frank depictions of female sexuality. Intellectuals usually dismiss it as smut. In the meantime, millions of people — mostly women — gobble it up. The box office success of Fifty Shades Freed, the third installment in the Hollywood trilogy based on E. L. James’s best-selling BDSM romance series, is only the latest example. How is it, wondered pundits, that this particular movie is a hit at the height of the #MeToo movement? Why are women flocking to see a film about a rich, white man dominating a much younger, much less powerful woman?

There’s no obvious reason that a movement against misogyny, sexual assault, and non-consensual advances should be incompatible with fantasies of consensual, sexual submission. For one thing, fantasies of submission are not strictly a female feminine phenomenon. A study conducted by University of Kansas psychologist Patricia Hawley in 2009 found that both men and women preferred to imagine being dominated by, rather than dominating, another person. In fact, men preferred this even more than women. In conflating #MeToo and the light BDSM of Fifty Shades, common sexual fantasy and desire immediately became pathology and neuroticism — how could women want both at once? How do we square sexual fulfillment and freedom from unwanted sexual advances?

Actually, the film’s success should not have been a surprise — and not because Jamie Dornan’s six-pack has its own fan page (it doesn’t actually, but it should). Historically, erotica that focused on female submission emerged at precisely the moment when women were beginning to challenge the status quo. The Story of O, the seminal novel by Anne Desclos (published under the pen name Pauline Réage) and largely considered the literary height of BDSM erotica, was published in France in 1954, on the cusp of the women’s liberation movement, five years after Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. Emmanuelle, an erotic odyssey of sexual liberation and submission penned by Emmanuelle Arsan, became a best seller in 1967 France, one year before the May 1968 protests, which eventually gave rise to the Mouvement de libération des femmes (MLF, Women’s Liberation Movement). Anaïs Nin’s Delta of Venus, a short story collection that features, among other tales, fantasies of sexual submission and dominance, was published in 1977 in the United States, at the height of female sexual liberation, the same year that the first National Women’s Conference was held. Meanwhile, Fifty Shades of Grey hit bookstores in 2011, just as so-called fourth-wave feminism was beginning to take off.

That these seminal works — all authored by women — emerged during or immediately preceding a wave of feminism isn’t a coincidence. In fact, the pattern seems to point to the ways in which these feminist movements might work alongside these erotic texts. In examining the bonds of patriarchal oppression, including those internalized by women, and playing out fantasies of male domination, these forms of erotica offer a fuller, more nuanced understanding of female identity and sexuality. This is an important step toward empowerment, as well as a way to mediate the anxiety inherent in dismantling traditional gender roles. If we think about erotica in this way, it’s really no wonder that millions of women want to read about, or watch, a woman consensually subjugated by a man for pleasure. All too often, in the real world, male domination just has to be endured.

In fact, it is likely that male domination, as it rightfully becomes less acceptable in the social and political spheres, should become more appealing as a fetish. As Georges Bataille argued in Erotism: Death and Sensuality, eroticism is an essential way for man and woman to confront their own limitations, including their own mortality. Because humans, unlike animals, came to grasp with their own mortality through reason, it is only when we flout reason — when we lose touch with it entirely — that we can come close “to touching the infinite”; that we can ever achieve transcendence. In climax, many of us don’t know our own names — let alone the truth of our own mortality. Any sexual satisfaction has the possibility of offering such euphoria — but, for Bataille, fetishes, or acts that defy sexual taboos, are particularly potent conduits for transcendance since, by definition, they make even less sense than so-called mainstream predilections. In Bataille’s world, we should all give up meditation and pick up a fetish instead. Indeed he asserts, “Eroticism, unlike simple sexual activity, is a psychological quest […] eroticism is assenting to life even in death.”

As women become more dominant within the spheres of reason — the economic, social, and political spheres — the desire to transgress their own taboos takes on a new urgency. In other words, the acquisition of power might lead to a desire for obliteration. This idea is actually supported by scientific research: a study published in 2009 by the Journal of Sex Research, found that socially dominant women are more likely to enjoy fantasies of submission, perceiving these fantasies as an expression of their own irresistible desirability, rather than as an exercise in force.

This may explain why more than half of the 25 books on Amazon’s best-selling erotica list feature male domination, from the relatively banal (like a forbidden love between student and professor) to the dark (like fantasies of kidnapping). The broader cultural context can also explain certain subgenres that have recently emerged as major trends within contemporary erotica. One of these erotic subgenres is “breeding,” wherein a man sexually dominates a woman with the primary intent of impregnating her and forcing her to bring his children into the world. When it comes to reproductive rights, despite the many troubling restrictions that persist today — with perhaps more on the horizon — women do have more choices than ever before (at least, in the long span of repressive reproductive history), and choice can breed anxiety. Of course, a text that might work through this anxiety does not indicate that women would like to be stripped of these rights — any more than the thrill of a horror movie suggests a latent desire to die. On the contrary, both the slasher film and the breeder fantasy are vehicles through which we can explore our deepest fears and concerns — whether we will have children, whether we can ever really be safe — thereby transgressing and hopefully, overcoming them, if only briefly. Dressed up in clichés, corny writing, and studmuffin-laden covers, these popular books can be considered tools for social empowerment and sexual liberation.

Let’s take the Story of O as an example. In the book, O — whose very name evokes a hole and its implied vacuity, a crude representation of the female sex — begins a quest to understand and prove her consuming devotion to her lover, René, through complete submission to his every whim and, later, to those of Sir Stephen, to whom René has “given” her “so that he may use her in any manner he desires.” Ultimately, O’s impulse for submission leads her down a path of total annihilation that culminates, almost inevitably, in her suicide. The last line of the novel reads: “O, seeing that Sir Stephen was about to leave her, said she would prefer to die. Sir Stephen gave his consent.”

The impulse to conflate a protagonist’s actions with the moral perspective of the author can be extremely strong, particularly when discussing works by women. It is not entirely surprising then, that even feminist critics have argued that O’s suicide promotes gender inequality and glorifies male dominance. And yet there are a number of other ways to interpret this story, as well as its ending. It is hard to believe that Desclos meant O’s demise to be viewed positively — or even literally. In fact, it seems more likely that the tragic conclusion might serve as a warning about the dangers of all-consuming subservience. If willful submission is ultimately a quest for transcendence and self-effacement — as it is in a divine or religious context — then wouldn’t death naturally be its ultimate, and most liberating, expression? Despite its sexually explicit content, O’s search is, in many ways, a philosophical journey not unlike those undertaken by religious mystics. Indeed, the conditions of O’s “training,” which takes place in a secluded castle, can be considered analogous to that of a monk’s initiation: she is induced to give up her worldly possessions, stripped of her identity, isolated, and submitted to various physical trials designed to test the will’s triumph over the body. Throughout her debasement, O finds “the chains and the silence, which should have bound her deep within herself, which should have smothered her, strangled her, on the contrary freed her from herself.”

Science might actually provide further proof for this reading. A 2009 study conducted by psychologist Pamela H. Connolly revealed that BDSM practitioners had lower levels of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychological sadism, psychological masochism, borderline pathology, and paranoia compared to normative samples. What’s more, a later study, published in Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice in 2016, found that both dominants and submissives entered altered states of consciousness that, while distinct experiences, were both pleasurable. Dominants entered a state of “flow,” associated with focused attention, a loss of self-consciousness and optimal performance of a task. Submissives, on the other hand, entered what is known as transient hypofrontality, a term coined by Dr. Arne Dietrich to describe the buzz that comes with intense physical exertion, or “runner’s high.” Transient hypofrontality reduces pain, and can produce feelings of floating, feelings of peacefulness and feelings of living in the here and now. The Story of O could be read as a kind of precedent to these findings, a form of finding liberation from the mental ties that might otherwise bind us.

The mainstream and literary culture’s dismissal of works like the Story of O and Fifty Shades of Grey is of course, predictable. In 1978, Audre Lorde wrote an essay titled “Uses of the Erotic: Erotic as Power,” in which she described the paradoxical way that female sexuality is often pathologized: “On the one hand, the superficially erotic has been encouraged as a sign of female inferiority; on the other hand, women have been made to suffer and to feel both contemptible and suspect by virtue of its existence.” According to Lorde, the “suppression of the erotic as a considered source of power and information” in women’s lives is one of the primary results, and functions, of gender inequality. When we ignore or demean consensual BDSM erotica, or stories about female sexual submission, we inadvertently contribute to a cultural legacy that routinely pathologizes, demeans, or erases women’s sexual desires.

Moreover, in ignoring these works, we effectively silence women authors. In Hélène Cixous’s 1975 essay, “The Laugh of the Medusa,” the act of writing is closely linked to women’s sexual pleasure and personal power — to write as a woman is always an act of transgression. Nin, in the foreword to Delta of Venus, characterizes the process of working on the project as opening a “Pandora’s Box [which] contained the mysteries of woman’s sensuality, so different from man’s and for which man’s language is inadequate.” She recognized that in opening Pandora’s Box, she would release demons as well as angels. Female sexuality, like male sexuality, has nothing to do with morality or politics. Indeed, it is, in its many varied and unfiltered forms, a source of pleasure that often defies such ethical distinctions. Until we are brave enough to investigate it unflinchingly — without turning it into a pathology, without pitting it against feminist movements — women will not be able to achieve sexual liberation. As Lorde writes:

The fear of our desires keeps them suspect and indiscriminately powerful, for to suppress any truth is to give it strength beyond endurance. The fear that we cannot grow beyond whatever distortions we may find within ourselves keeps us docile and loyal and obedient, externally defined, and leads us to accept many facets of our oppression as women.

Erotica is not at odds with today’s feminism. If erotica is written by women, if it explores the depths of unmentionable fantasies, if it helps us think through the pleasures, fears, and anxieties inherent in sex and power, it is doing feminist work. Raunchy female-penned books don’t just offer thrills — they are important vehicles through which women can explore an otherwise prohibited eroticism. If we can find a way to appreciate this kind of work, instead of undermining it, we might also find another interesting — and rather fun — route to sexual and social empowerment.

¤

Hayley Phelan writes about culture, style, travel, food, and the internet for The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Elle, Conde Nast Traveler, Business of Fashion, and The Cut. She also has a column in the New York Times Thursday Styles Section.

The post Why We Need Erotica appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

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