#superintendent nocturne | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

stephensmithuk · 7 months ago

Text

The Sign of Four: The Episode of the Barrel

Victorian literature loves its fainting women. Was this down to overly tight corsets, ill health or someone just deciding to be dramatic for the sake of it? Possibly all of the three.

The woman Mary works for is not called Cecil Forrester. The conventions of this time were that women took their husband's legal identity. They certainly took their nationality, losing their own.

Forty-three is rather a large number of dogs to have. The RSPCA (which was a thing in 1888) would get involved if they knew about this facility today. Back then too.

The "wiper" or viper in this case is almost certainly Vipera berus aka the adder. Males are normally silvery-grey, females copper or brown. However, you can sometimes see black adders. If you want to see baldrics, go watch some Morris dancers.

The adder gives birth to live young (up to twenty at a time) and can live for over ten years. They are the only venomous snake of the three British native species, but for most humans, like Watson, a bite will just cause pain and inflammation. Ireland doesn't have any snake species at all, as the Irish Sea was too wide for them to get across.

The RSPCA would not approve of dropping an adder on someone as it would harm the adder. The police would not approve either.

It is legal to own a pet snake in the UK - indeed there are quite a lot of them - but you need a licence for the venomous ones today. This includes adders and all the viper family.

European badgers are different to the American ones. They are far more social, dig the most complex burrows and can also make a range of noises. They are also nocturnal, and they do bite if provoked. It is today illegal to have a pet badger, disturb their setts or injure them. Unless the government authorises a cull due to bovine TB, a controversial policy. Sadly, they frequently end up as roadkill.

It is legal to keep stoats, although controversial. They can kill animals much larger than themselves, like rabbits or birds. It is legal to kill them as a result.

Slow worms are legless lizards, not snakes despite their appearance. They do not have fangs. You could keep one as a pet, but not buy or sell one.

Sugar is not toxic to dogs but can cause problems in substantial amounts.

The penal colony on the Andaman Islands can really be compared to Devil's Island in French Guiana and should better known in the UK. The British sent many political prisoners, to wit independence activists, there from the 1857 Rebellion onwards. Crossing over the sea threatened devout Hindus with the loss of caste and the possibility of reincarnation, something known as "Kala pani". Arrivals would be put on chain gangs. Conditions would be harsh, with torture, medical experimentation, disease, and cruelty from the guards causing thousands of deaths. You could also be executed for trying to escape. Hunger strikes were common and responded to with force-feeding.

The worst prison at this time was on Viper Island, which contained solitary cells, whipping stands and stocks.

In 1872, a former police officer called Sher Ali Afridi sent there for murder after his death sentence, claiming he was acting on the instructions of Allah, assassinated the Viceroy of India, the 6th Earl of Mayo, who was inspecting the place. He had also wanted to kill the Superintendent but did not manage to do so. He was hanged a month later on Viper Island, where the gallows building still stands.

Viper Island lost its importance following the construction of the Cellular Jail at Port Blair, finished in 1906. That was also a very nasty prison, but it is beyond the scope of this post.

"Mohammedan" was a term used for Muslim in the West at the time, implying erroneously that Muslims worship their Prophet. They certainly hold him in great reverence, but they do not worship him.

Guess people started drinking early in Victorian times; licencing hours would not be introduced until the First World War.

The Oval is an international cricket ground in Kennington, the other famous ground in London along with Lord's. It traditionally hosts the final Test of the English cricket season and after getting gas lighting in 1889, it would get a Tube station nearby originally called Kennington Oval the following year, when the initial stretch of the City & South London Railway opened. Today, just being Oval and on the Northern line, it has cricket-related decorations on some of the tiling.

The land the Oval is on is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, the large property portfolio belonging to the Duke of Cornwall, the title given to the eldest son of the British monarch; this currently being Prince William, who is also Prince of Wales, that title trumping it.

Coal-tar creosote has traditionally been used as a preservative to stop wood rotting when outdoors, something necessary in the wet British climate. It was also used in dentistry!

However, it was discovered to cause cancer. While still allowed for general use by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the EU banned its sale to and use by the regular public in 2003. The UK carried over this law after Brexit. Coal-tar creosote products can only be sold to certified professionals for specific uses, like farm fencing and railway sleepers. The public have to buy substitutes like Ronseal, whose famous advertising slogan declares "it does exactly what it says on the tin".

#letters from watson #sherlock holmes #history #factoids #acd canon #the sign of four #sign

15 notes · View notes

shy-marker-pliers · 5 years ago

Text

High school AU thingamabob

Dark

17 year old senior

class president and is kinda high and mighty about it tbh

“yes i know student council can’t really make any changes without the input of the superintendent but IM THE PRESIDENT AND YOU’RE NOT SO SUCK MY DI-“

does sound/lights for all the shows the school puts on

dating wilford and no one knows how or why they’re together

had a deep as hell voice and a beard the second he hit puberty

takes every ethics/psychology class he can

wants to be a lawyer

that one kid that everyone fears but is actually kinda chill if not a little surly

wears a collared shirt and tie to school every day and would totally get made fun of for it if he wasn’t terrifying

listens to classical music unironically

“oh my god i’m so going to fail this test” *proceeds to get the highest grade in the class*

protector of the gays™️

person: *says something mean to a student because they’re lgbtq+*

Dark: *teleports in front of said student* omae wa mou shindeiru

Wilford

19 year old senior

Yes he still has the mustache

doesn’t give a fuck about what anyone thinks of him

deadass wore a dress to school after one of his friends got made fun of because she wore a suit to a school dance

b u f f a s h e l l

could bench press a teacher if he really tried

on the cheer team

“no i’m not wearing pants, this miniskirt makes my ass look great!”

everyone’s bodyguard

usually attracts a crowd of nervous underclassmen

has mild dyslexia

tol

gives his friends piggyback rides

president of the drama club

works hard enough in school to pass his classes but that’s pretty much it

sleeps in class

Bim

15 year old freshman

vice president of the drama club

wilfords shadow

first freshman to help run the drama club and shoves it in everyone’s face

shouts his gayness from the rooftops

secretly super insecure

loves plants and helps out in the schools greenhouse

named all of the plants but if you tell anyone he’ll stab you

gets mostly B’s and C’s

has mild ocd but not enough to affect him severely

talks like a game show host cause he thinks it makes him sound attractive

it doesn’t

Google(s)

16 year old juniors

identical quadruplets

they have to wear different colors every day or else no one knows which one is which

they’re called the googles because their backpacks match the colors of the chrome logo and they’re super smart

straight A 4.0 GPA students but Oliver has to try a little harder than his brothers

all of them are in the robotics team except for ollie

Blue works on programming and red and green are on the build team

Ollie is the sweetest day of sunshine to ever exist and everyone loves him

he’s basically adopted Eric as his lil bro

tutors people in the library every tuesday and thursday

the other googles disapprove of his relationship with bing but he makes ollie happy so they don’t do anything about it

they all work in a supermarket and they’re saving up for college

ollie wants to be a vet, red and green want to be engineers, and blue wants to be a web developer

Bing

17 year old junior

mostly A’s, a few B’s.

his full name is zachary bing but people call him bing because he’s always trying to one up the googles

dudebro

was pining after ollie for months before chase finally felt sorry for him and told ollie how he felt

they’re dating now and it’s adorable

so soft for his boyf

a really good skater and wins a lot of local competitions

doesn’t study but still gets p good grades

wears sunglasses all the time because he has light sensitivity

Has ADHD

s t r o n k

always challenges people to arm wrestle him

can sing really well and plays gitaur

shares a youtube channel with chase where they skate and to challenges and stuff

Dr. ipiler

18 year old senior

Everyone calls him doc because he helps the school nurse and takes every single biology and health class there is

all A’s

really wants to be a surgeon

best friends with Schneep

huge star trek/harry potter nerd (ravenclaw if you’re wondering)

almost always at schneep’s house studying or just chillin’

kind of a control freak

thinks he’s charismatic but he’s actually kinda annoying

but annoying in a funny way

has a pet ferret that he sneaks into school

feral

espresso and sugar flows through his veins

“i actually got a good sleep last night.” “oh really?” “yeah bro i got a whole half hour!”

super dark bags under his eyes

Host

17 year old junior

all A’s except for in gym class

he has eyes in this

his real name is Simon Charles Teller (there are specific meanings to those names btw look them up) but he’s called The Host because he does morning announcements every day.

has gold eyes and a lot of people find it unnerving

“hey i have a podcast you should totally listen to it”

nocturnal

spends all of his free time in the library

always reading in class but the teachers don’t really care bc his grades are good and he does his homework

wants to be an english/poetry teacher

crushing on the cute shy kid from his english class

doesn’t talk much but he’ll still be nice to you

that one kid who’s always correcting the teachers

Runs the D&D club (he’s the dungeon master)

Eric Derekson

16 year old junior

Mostly high B’s, a couple of A’s.

lives with his uncle mark after he ran away from his abusive dad and is living a happy life

the guy that always volunteers to take care of the class pets over the weekend

animals love him

has anxiety, mild paranoia and autism.

animals, harry potter, and pokémon are his hyperfixations.

he also really likes gardening

crushing big time on hostioli

spends his entire english class staring at him and blushing

is seriously considering joining D&D club just to be able to talk to him

he’s in the art club

wants to be a vet and maybe do some freelance art stuff on the side

Ollie keeps yelling at him to just ask host out already but he’s too nervous

my poor bb boi

Wears sweaters all the time

wears headphones to block out noise if it ever gets too loud at he goes into sensory overload

disaster bi

Yan

18 year old senior

gets C’s

non-binary

has a makeup tutorial channel on youtube and has a pretty decent following

That one weeb

dyes their hair a new color every week

also has a new crush every week

everyone knows who their newest victim is because they never stop watching them

draws anime or cute animals for every art class

wants to be a a fashion designer

does MMA

everyone kinda stears clear of them

writes their first initial along with their crush’s on every notebook they own

has gotten suspended for beating kids up on multiple occasions

doesn’t really have that many friends but they don’t mind

spends their lunches watching their crush

in the drama club and the art club

Randall Voorhees

18 year old senior

C’s and D’s

Eric’s cousin/bodyguard

they have a lot of the same classes and walk everywhere together

loves animals and has like 10 pet rats

he doesn’t really care about his grades because he knows that he wants to be a woodworker/construction guy

makes little houses out of scrap wood for his rats and Eric thinks it’s adorable

always sneaks his rats to school and lets them have play dates with dr. iplier’s ferret

“nO IM NOT RELATED TO JASON VOORHEES HES NOT EVEN REAL SO SHUT THE HELL UP-“

used to live in nyc in queens and still has a pretty strong accent

completely incomprehensible when he’s excited or angry bc of the accent

everyone is jealous of his hair

spends like 100 dollars on shampoo and conditioner and stuff but it’s worth it

acts like the straightest guy in existence but could not be more gay

his boots are always muddy

Yancy

16 year old sophomore

his name is Yancy Bird

g...get it? like jailbird? ahaha...ok i’ll stop

permanent resident of the detention room

but he gets to just chill out and read for an hour so he doesn’t really mind

mostly gets detention for beating up kids that bully others

fuck the system

always wears a leather jacket and blue jeans

“hey, the 50’s called and they want their-“ SMACK. “shut up.”

takes a lot of criminal justice and psychology classes ironically

in the botany club but if you tell anyone they’ll never find your body

everyone is surprised when they find out he’s friends with Eric and ollie

pan but in denial

“i’m not gay guys, that ain’t me, i’m just comfortable with my sexuality. so i can admit when i see a guy with a handsome face and pretty eyes-“

that song is great btw you should listen to it

anyway

always makes really dark jokes and everyone is like “are you ok?”

except for his friends they just laugh

“lmao wouldn’t it be funny if everyone like...died”

#markiplier #markiplier egos #darkiplier #eric derekson #the host #wilford warfstache #yancy iplier #randall voorhees #bim trimmer #high school

148 notes · View notes

badchoicesposts · 5 years ago

Text

Don’t Dream It’s Over Chapter 6

Series Summary: Liam and Ali thought that their relationship was perfect, but their whole world came crashing down when Constantine called him back to Cordonia. Four years later they meet again at Liam’s bachelor party, determined to make things between them work even if it isn’t always easy.

In this AU, Liam and MC (Ali Moonessar) dated for a year in New York while Leo was still crown prince. They broke up when Constantine asked Liam to come back to Cordonia, but they meet again at Liam’s bachelor party before the social season. The story will contain flashbacks, which will be italicized, of their relationship and follow them as they try to navigate the season with Ali as a suitor. I’ve messed around with the timeline a bit so that it fits the story better. I’ve also added in a few OCs of my own.

Pairing: Liam x MC (Ali Moonessar)

Word Count: 3,665

Song Inspiration: Old Money- Lana Del Rey

DISCLAIMER: Some of Bertrand’s dialogue is taken from TRR Book 1 Chapter 4. I’ve also changed up the timeline of the social season a bit to fit my story better. I based it off of some research I did on the British Social Season.

Taglist:@flowerpowell, @kingliam2019, @ao719, @emceesynonymroll, @hopefulmoonobject, @dcbbw, @qammh-blog, @liamxs-world, @drakesensworld, @i-only-signed-up-for-fanfiction, @timmagickfrog, @lauradowning29

A/N: This is my first time ever posting a fic. Please let me know if you enjoyed it and would like to read more. I thrive on validation, lol. Thanks for reading!

Catch Up: Masterlist

Ali and Liam were two very different people. There was no doubt about it. They were crazy about each other regardless, but at first glance anyone would believe that they had absolutely nothing in common.

Liam rivaled Luca for the title of the most well-rounded person she had ever met. He was tall, well dressed, and well respected by everyone he met. His blond hair was always annoyingly perfect, even when it had been slept on for the full seven hours of sleep he got every night, and he was good at everything he tried to do. He worked out five days a week and had a natural charm that drew people towards him wherever he went. Liam slept on silk sheets, drank expensive liquor and, worst of all, was a morning person. He was always up early, eager to start his day and be productive. He was typically easy going, but he could take action and control a situation effortlessly when he needed to.

Ali, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. She barely reached five feet tall in the right pair of heels and spent most of her time in sweatpants or leggings because of the insecurities she had about her body. Her workout routine consisted mainly of walking everywhere she needed to go, and she had terrible social anxiety. She had no constant sleep schedule, and at this point, she was practically nocturnal, only being able to get in small amounts of sleep during the day due to her insomnia. She had found her current bed sheets from the discount bin of a department store, and the most she ever spent on alcohol was twenty dollars for a bottle of tequila. She had perfect grades, but she was still constantly stressed about them.

Liam was put together, and on most days she was a hot mess. When she says the words “trust me, I know what I’m doing” there’s about a seventy-five percent chance that she has no idea what she’s doing. However, when he said the same words, she never once doubted him. That is until he decided he could repair the clogged drain in his kitchen sink on his own. Her suspicions were confirmed as she watched the Prince of Cordonia, his nice dress shirt soaked in water, fiddle with a pipe, determined to be “normal”.

“Love, maybe you should just call someone,” she said, raising her voice slightly so he could hear her from where the upper half of his body was lying under the sink.

“I can do this,” he called back, irritation evident in his voice.

“Sure you can,” she mumbled under her breath, taking a seat on a stool in the kitchen. “Have ever even looked at a pipe like that before?”

The banging noises she heard from under the sink was her only response, and she rolled her eyes as she texted Drake to tell him to contact the building’s superintendent. A few minutes passed by in silence before there was a sudden popping sound and Liam’s angry voice filled the room. Ali looked up to see him emerging from under the sink soaking wet, while more water pooled onto the kitchen floor. She wanted to be mad that he had made the situation worse and not given up when he realized that he didn’t know what he was doing, but the sight of him before her made her burst out laughing.

“It’s not funny,” he said, sending a glare in her direction.

“Yes, it is,” she replied when she had finally managed to calm herself down.

He narrowed his bright blue eyes at her, trying his best to stay mad, but he knew that it was a losing battle. He knew that he looked ridiculous.

“I guess we can cross chef and plumber off of your list of potential jobs,” she said, starting to giggle again as she remembered their first date where he tried to cook for her.

“Now stop the water and clean up that mess. The super will be here in the morning.”

Liam watched as his girlfriend ran out of the room before he could get another word in.

~~~

Ali frantically walked back and forth between her bed and her closet, Lana Del Rey’s Old Money playing softly in the background. It was 12:57 AM and Liam’s plane would be leaving in less than ten hours. She had been packing and unpacking her suitcase for the past two hours. Every time she made up her mind to go, something told her to stay, and every time she made up her mind to stay, something told her to go. She looked down at the text on her phone from Maxwell giving her the flight information and started piling things into her suitcase again. She was just about to close it and try to get a few hours of sleep before the flight when she looked over at her nightstand and saw the framed picture of her and all of the Larson siblings that she always kept there. They all had their arms wrapped around each other and were smiling happily into the camera.

“Nope, not going,” she mumbled to herself, hastily pulling things out of the bag and dropping them on the floor.

The sound of a throat clearing behind her caused her to stop what she was doing and turn around.

“Oh, hey, Luc. I didn’t know that you were still up,” she said.

“Yeah, I was just about to turn in for the night when I saw your light on. I assume by this mess that you haven’t made a decision yet.”

“I’m not going,” she tried to say firmly.

Luca sighed and made his way further into her room.

“You should go,” he said softly.

“I should?” Ali asked, sitting down on the bed.

“If a part of you didn’t want to then you wouldn’t be having such a hard time making the decision. If it all works out you could have everything you’ve ever wanted. You owe it to yourself to go.”

Ali groaned and dropped to her back, her legs still dangling off the side of the bed.

“What if we’re too different? It’s been forever since we were together. What if it doesn’t work out? What about everything here?” she asked, staring up at the ceiling.

Luca walked over to her and grabbed both of her hands in his before pulling her back up into a sitting position.

“You worked so well together because you were different. You balanced each other out. You made each other happy. Besides, if things still don’t work out, you’ll always have a place to come home to,” he said softly.

He kissed her forehead lovingly before leaving the room, the door closing behind him quietly.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ali was clutching the handle of her bag tightly in her hand as she ran as fast as she could through the airport, cursing herself for being so out of shape. After speaking with Luca she still hadn’t been able to properly make up her mind until the last possible second and now there was only five minutes until the plane left. She caught sight of Charlie’s red hair and sighed in relief when he turned around and saw her.

“I knew you would come,” he said, a bright smile breaking out across his face. He was standing next to Bastien, both dressed in grey suits.

“Yeah,” she huffed out, trying desperately to catch her breath, “Back on duty, I see.” She motioned to his uniform with one hand, the other clutching her side as she gasped for air.

“Yes, but we can talk about that later. There’s someone waiting for you on that plane,” he said, motioning for her to board the plane.

“Right,” she said, taking a deep breath and beginning to walk slowly.

Bastien and Charlie were following closely behind her, and the reality that she couldn’t turn back was now hitting her. Upon entering the private plane she saw Drake, Ben, Maxwell, and Leo all lounging casually on large leather seats. Liam had been anxiously pacing up and down the aisle but had immediately stopped at the sound of their footsteps. A large smile broke out over his face at the sight of her.

“You came,” he said.

“Yeah, I did,” she said, fighting her own smile as she launched herself into his arms.

He held her tightly and for a moment all of the doubts she had about leaving New York disappeared. Leo and Maxwell shared a pleased look as the two took their seats next to each other. The plane began to take off, and Ali felt surprisingly calm as she looked out the small window.

“Are you excited?” Maxwell asked her happily, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“Um, yeah… that’s one word for it,” she said awkwardly.

“You’ll be amazing,” Liam said, bringing her hand up to his lips and gently kissing her knuckles.

“You two are disgusting,” Ben joked, prompting a laugh from the group.

They were well on their way to Cordonia now and Maxwell took the opportunity to begin explaining to her what would be happening when they arrived.

“For the next few weeks you’ll stay at the Beaumont estate in Ramsford with my brother Bertrand and I,” Maxwell said.

“Is your brother anything like you?” Ali asked him.

Drake scoffed slightly, causing Ali to raise her brows in question.

“What Drake means is that Bertrand can be kind of… strict. He’s not exactly happy that I’m bringing in a suitor that doesn’t know anything about court or nobility,” Maxwell said with a cringe, “But that just means that we’ll have to spend the next few weeks turning you into a proper lady of the court.”

“Sounds like fun.” Ali tried to force a smile on her face, but it came out as more of a grimace.

“That’s the spirit!’ Leo laughed, ending his sentence with a good-natured clap to her shoulder.

“Once the social season starts, we’ll be spending most of our time at the palace. Most of the nobility live there during the season, including the ladies vying for Liam’s hand,” Maxwell continued.

“Yeah, living under one roof makes it easier to attend the rose ceremony later,” Drake mumbled under his breath.

Ali snorted before stopping to pull herself together.

“Sorry, that probably wasn’t very ladylike,” she said sarcastically.

“You’re no lady of the court,” Drake said.

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” she said.

“Trust me, it is.”

The two locked eyes for a moment, having a silent conversation. Drake had played a part in convincing her to come, but she also knew how he felt about court and the people there. He always said that Liam was the only one of them that was worth a damn. She knew that Drake wanted to protect her, but there was also a certain edge to his voice as he said those words that she couldn’t quite place.

“Drake,” Liam said, a warning tone in his voice. Ali looked between the two for a moment before Maxwell broke through the tense silence.

“As I was saying, the social season typically lasts for about five months. There are usually a few large events like balls that the entire court attends and there are some smaller events like dinner parties that are invitation only.”

“Not gonna lie, that sounds like… a lot,” Ali said.

“Trust me it is,” Drake said, running his fingers through his hair.

Everyone began to break off into their own conversations and Ali turned to Liam to find him already looking down at her.

“Liam, I’m kind of scared,” she said, chuckling half-heartedly.

She looked down at her hands and began anxiously picking at the skin on the side of her nail.

Liam tilted her head so that she was looking up into his eyes before moving his hand to cup the side of her face, his thumb gently stroking her cheek.

“I know, but I meant it when I said that you’ll be amazing. This is a big adjustment, and I’m afraid I may not be able to be with you as much as I would like to, but you will always have my support. You are the strongest and most capable woman I know, Ali. I don’t doubt for a second that you’ll do great things,” he replied.

Ali smiled and leaned into him as their lips met in a gentle kiss. She rested her head onto his shoulder and felt her eyes closing before falling into a dreamless sleep.

She opened them a while later to the feeling of Liam shaking her awake. Her head was still on his shoulder and their fingers were entwined together. At some point during her nap he had removed her glasses and was now trying to hand them to her.

“We’ll be landing soon. If you look out the window you’ll see Cordonia,” he said with a smile.

She turned her head sleepily and gazed out the window at the land below them. In her still half asleep state, she could just make out twinkling lights against the landscape.

“Wow.”

“Home sweet home,” Drake sighed, looking out the window as well.

Ali groaned as she watched everyone begin to exit the plane one by one. The position she had been seated in had put a strain on her back, and as she tried to stretch it out, the pain only intensified.

“Maxwell, can you give us a minute alone please,” Liam asked politely, pulling her out of her thoughts as she continued to stretch. The other man, who had been waiting for his new friend, nodded and exited.

Even though she knew they were alone, the thought of everyone else just a few steps away gave Ali the feeling that she was being watched. She didn’t have much time to ponder on this fact, however. Liam grabbed her hips and pulled her so that her body was pressed flush against his, all thoughts of the rest of the group automatically leaving her mind. His lips crashed roughly into hers, and she found herself grabbing onto his arms to steady herself. She moaned softly against his mouth as she felt his tongue against her bottom lip.

“Um, guys?” Charlie said hesitantly.

They jumped away from each other immediately, Ali’s hand going up to cover her mouth as she looked anywhere but at the red-haired man in front of her and Liam loudly clearing his throat. Charlie stood there uncomfortably for a moment before speaking again.

“We need to head out.”

With one more gentle kiss and whispered ‘I love you’, Ali got into the large black car with Maxwell and stared at Liam’s retreating form.

“You’ll see him again,” he said, patting her shoulder in a comforting manner.

“Yeah,” she said, staring out the window at the passing trees, “I know you said your brother isn’t exactly excited that I’m going to be representing House Beaumont, but what exactly am I walking into with him?”

Maxwell seemed to ponder her words for a moment.

“Well, Bertrand’s been a little more stressed than normal lately, so it may take some time, but I’m sure he’ll warm up to you eventually.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t exactly make me feel any better.”

Conversation with Maxwell flowed easily. Even though she had only known his for a few days, Ali found herself completely comfortable with him, and she felt as if she could tell him anything. The car ride passed by in a series of laughs and before she knew it, they were pulling up to the large Beaumont Estate.

“Wow,” Ali found herself saying for the second time in an hour, “Maxwell, this place is gorgeous.”

The grounds of the large house definitely looked like it was fit for nobility, and Ali stepped out of the car trying to imagine what the inside looked like. Maxwell had already made it to the trunk of the SUV and was trying to somehow carry all of his bags and her own at the same time.

“Yup, that’s home,” he replied, his voice strained as he tried to support the weight of their things.

“Max, you know I can carry my own bags, right?” she said with a laugh, making her way over to help him.

“What kind of gentleman would I be if I let a lady carry her own bag?”

Ali playfully rolled her eyes and took her luggage from him.

“I promise I won’t tell anyone,” she said sarcastically.

The large front doors of the house were made of intricately carved wood and pushed open to reveal a large foyer. The ceiling rose high above her head, and an antique chandelier kept the area brightly lit.

“Follow me. I’ll show you to your room, and then we can find Bertrand,” Maxwell said and began leading her up the large staircase.

As he led her through various hallways, Ali had to mentally keep track of every turn that they took so that she wouldn’t get lost later. However, as large and spectacular as the home was, she couldn’t help but notice that there were no people in sight.

“This is my room,” Maxwell said, gesturing to an unopened door as they passed it, “And that’s yours.”

He pointed to a door that was right down the hall from his and allowed her to walk ahead so that she could open it.

“Oh my god,” Ali said, taking the large four poster bed and the bedding that probably cost more than she made in a year at the bar.

“Yes, I’m sure the room is probably quite spectacular for someone of your tastes,” came a voice from behind them.

Ali turned around, not sure whether or not to be offended. The man who had spoken looked like every boring history professor stereotype that she had ever heard combined into one. He was covered in tweed from head to toe and had large, leather elbow patches on his jacket. There was a scowl on his face as he looked her up and down.

“He doesn’t mean anything by that,” Maxwell said quickly, trying to cover for him. “Bertrand, this is the one I was telling you about… Ali!”

“This is the girl you’ve chosen to represent our house?” Bertrand asked.

A skeptical look crossed his features, and Ali suddenly became very aware of the fact that her curls were ruffled from sleeping on the plane and that she was wearing an old hoodie that she had taken from Cole and was probably three sizes too big. She tugged at the hem of it self-consciously and smiled awkwardly at the man in front of her.

“Yep! Nailed it right?” Maxwell said, smiling widely. “Ali, this is my older brother, Bertrand.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Bertrand,” Ali said politely.

“The proper way to address a duke is ‘Your Grace’,” Bertrand responded stiffly.

“Oh, right! I’m so sorry, Your Grace,” Ali said, her cheeks heating up. She hadn’t even been in Cordonia for an hour and she was already making mistakes.

“At least it looks like you can be trained.”

Ali clenched her jaw at his words.

“Trained? I’m not your pet!” she said, anger rising in her voice.

Bertrand met her gaze and the two stared at each other for a moment.

“Maxwell, a word in private,” he said, turning and walking out the door.

Maxwell shot her a strained smile and followed his brother, shutting the door behind them. She could just barely hear their voices through the door, and although their words were muffled, she knew that the conversation was about her. Ali sighed and looked up at the ceiling, wondering what she was getting herself into. The door reopened, and a flustered Maxwell and a red-faced Bertrand reentered.

“It seems that we’re stuck with you,” Bertrand says, once again looking her over.

“If me being here really is that much of an issue I can just go, and your family can choose some other girl to sponsor,” Ali said, crossing her arms.

She didn’t expect things to be easy. She knew that there would be people who didn’t support her in Cordonia, but Bertrand was supposed to be her sponsor, and she was getting tired of his attitude. They had only known each other for five seconds, and he was already saying that she wasn’t good enough.

“No! You can’t go. We’ve already chosen you, so if you leave we’ll have no one. Besides, you could be Liam’s only chance of finding actual happiness. I’ve seen the way you look at each other. You’re the only person that he’s ever loved,” Maxwell said, pleading with her.

Ali uncrossed her arms and sighed, her features softening at his words. These actions didn’t go unnoticed by the duke who was now looking at her curiously.

“Perhaps Maxwell didn’t fully explain this to you, but if our house puts forth the Prince’s choice, we’ll win fame and recognition,” he began.

“Something we could really use right now actually, ‘cause we’re kind of broke,” Maxwell finished.

“Maxwell! You overstep,” Bertrand said angrily.

Ali looked between the two brothers.

“There’s no shame in being broke,” she said softly, “Do you guys get money if I marry Liam?”

“Not… directly, but we can leverage the prestige to great effect. It would be a scandal if word got out of our financial ruin,” Bertrand said.

Ali could tell that they were in a difficult situation, and although Bertrand only seemed to be concerned with her marrying Liam so she could help with their finances, she could tell that Maxwell had pure intentions.

“I love Liam and want to be with him, and I want to help you guys as much as I can. So, if that means not talking back to Bertrand and learning how to be a lady of the court then fine. I’ll do it,” she said.

#the royal romance #trr #the royal heir #trh #liam x mc #the royal romance fic #trr fic #liam x mc fanfic #liam #king liam #my fics #choices fics #choices #playchoices #playchoices fic #king liam fanfic #the royal romance fanfic #liam fic #playchoices fanfic

27 notes · View notes

endeavour-love-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Nocturne Pt.6

“That was the man you were talking about?” exclaimed Mrs Gardiner, “We'd no idea! To us, he was just a name.A Mr Weiss of Select Genealogical Services Ltd, Oxford, England.” “We were due to meet him at the end of the week,” explained Mr Gardiner. “May I ask why you took so long to begin your search for a possible grandchild?” asked Thursday. “When we were notified our boy had died, we took it hard.” began Mr Gardiner. “Lowell didn't come till late. He was our only. But so far as we knew, the marriage he wrote of never took place.” “He said he had some other big news, but that would have to wait for his next letter,” said Mrs Gardiner, solemnly. “Only that letter never came,” confirmed Thursday. “No. I guess... the older we got...we just wanted to find out if there was a piece of our boy still walking and talking somewhere on God's good earth,” said Mrs Gardiner, taking her husband’s hand. “But you just had a name?” clarified Morse. “Caroline. I know he meant to do right by her, he just never got the chance.” “We'd no mind to go causing trouble, or bustling in on someone's life unwanted,” reassured Mrs Gardiner. “No, for all we know, that girl may have found a good man to take her and the child on both, to give them a name and a decent Christian raising.”We just wanted to find out. It's important to know these things when you get to our age.” Morse took a deep breath in. This was heartbreaking to hear.

Thursday and Morse were now visiting the author Amber had got them in touch with, to see if he could shed any more light on the situation at the girls school. “You knew Adrian Weiss, Mr Fitzowen?” started off Thursday. “I wouldn't say that. He wrote to me some months ago asking for any information I may have on the Blaise-Hamiltons. I referred him to my book, now sadly out of print.” “You never met him?” “No, I read of his murder in the Mail, of course. And naturally, I've been following news of this girl's disappearance.”Where were you on Saturday afternoon, just for the record?” In the Eagle, for the most part. And most certainly not in the museum, cutting anyone's throat.” “Can anyone vouch for you?” “The landlord, I should imagine. And my fellow reprobates” he said, putting his glass up to cheers. “Interesting all this should be happening now, this Wednesday marking the centenary of the murders.” he continued, “If you'd like to take a seat, I've taken the liberty…” He pulled up a chair for Thursday and gestured outwardly. “A magic lantern show,” said Thursday as he sat down. “I believe it may prove instructive,” said Fitzowen as he switched off the lights and got the projector rolling. “The talk at the time suggested Mrs Blaise-Hamilton may've been the perpetrator. But since she was long afflicted with a nervous malady and confined to her bed, that was quickly discounted.” “These are official police photographs. How'd you come by them?” “There's a lively trade in such material, Inspector. Amongst connoisseurs of the macabre.” he retorted. The slides showed the girls on the stairs, throats cut. Morse squinted as he watched each of them flick by. “The case was originally under the control of a County officer, Superintendent Edgeton - a good man but out of his depth. Public feeling was running high. There was a demand for quick justice.The Yard sent Detective Inspector Langley and Detective Constable Cuff to take over the investigations.Their enquiries soon led to Joseph O'Connell, originally of County Wicklow and a well-known local poacher. It was given under oath at the inquest by the family gamekeeper, Benjamin Pickstock and his son Robert, that O'Connell had been sworn to be revenged on Blaise-Hamilton for a just flogging received at his hand.” “We found no record of the trial.” piped up Morse. “Nor will you. Before the police could take him, he was found with his throat laid open from ear to ear by his own hand, thus avoiding the noose which surely awaited him.” “Was he guilty?” asked Thursday. “Bearing the surname Fitzowen, I can testify to this. When in doubt, blame the Irish. But Inspector Langley didn't believe so, and those doubts cost him his job. He was dismissed from the police and died a broken drunk, in a cheap rooming house in Dorking.” “He thought O'Connell had been framed?” suggested Morse. “Samuel Blaise-Hamilton was a rich and powerful man, who numbered the Commissioner of Police and the Home Secretary amongst his intimates.” “So it went unsolved” stated Thursday. “Officially,” confirmed Fitzowen. “My own theory is that it was the surviving daughter, Charlotte who slew her siblings armed with a croquet mallet. What photographic evidence I've managed to unearth bears out my theory. If those scratches aren't the sign of an overwhelming hatred, I don't know what is. It would appear, like her mother, Bloody Charlotte was of unsound mind. Records confirm that shortly after the murders, her father had her quietly and permanently committed to Holmwood Park Sanitorium, wherein 1908, she died alone and unmourned, the last of her blood.”

#endeavour #endeavour fanfiction #inspector morse #morse #shaun evans

2 notes · View notes

keywestlou · 4 years ago

Text

CORN FLAKES.....CURE MASTURBATION

Groups have existed throughout the ages condemning sex. Considered sex a vice. However in the 18th and 19th centuries, sex took a second seat to masturbation.

Masturbation as practiced by both men and women.

Religion was the motivator in decrying masturbation. From time immemorial, the Judaeo-Christian tradition has had a negative attitude about people touching themselves. Then came the Victorian Era and the Great Awakening. The extreme prudishness of these eras created the perfect storm for people to become obsessed with masturbation. Masturbation also known as onanism.

Soon masturbation was considered not merely a moral failing. It was also a physical and mental ailment requiring medical assistance, treatment and cures.

John Harvey Kellogg was a physician. In the late 1800s, he was Superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan.

He was popular and respected. He was considered America’s newest and most prominent health guru.

His upbringing was as a Seventh Day Adventist. The group anti-passion.

Dr. Kellogg believed sex was bad for the physical and mental well being of his patients. Of people in general. The sanitarium served a strict vegetarian diet. No alcohol, tobacco or caffeine. The Doctor believed that spicy and sweet foods increased the passions.

The intestines and bowels were also important in caring for Sanitarium patients and guests.

Dr. Kellogg described masturbation as a solitary vice and self pollution. Fitting words.

To understand Dr. Kellogg’s mental perspective, one has to recognize how the man lived. Though married, he was a celibate. His marriage never consummated. He and his wife had separate bedrooms. Their children were adopted.

Dr. Kellogg had an enema administered every morning of his adult life. He lived into his 90s.

He wrote several successful books on the dilatory effects of masturbation. Two interesting quotes from his novels follow.

“If illicit commerce of the sexes is a heinous sin, self pollution is a crime doubly abominable.”

“Neither plague, nor war, nor small pox have produced results so disastrous to humanity as the pernicious habit of onanism. Such a victim dies by his own hand.”

An observation…..”Such a victim dies by his own hand.” What a way to go!

Dr. Kellogg, as well as much of the medical profession at the time, believed masturbation caused the following: leprosy, tuberculosis, heart disease, epilepsy, dimness of vision, insanity, idiocy, death, cancer of the womb, urinary diseases, nocturnal emissions, impotence, defective development, fickleness, bashfulness, bad posture, acne, and palpitations.

Dr. Kellogg saw the need for a healthy ready to eat anti-masturbatory morning meal. He accidentally invented corn flakes in 1894. A patent was obtained in 1896. A company was started to mail order corn flakes to customers.

With the advent of corn flakes, Dr. Kellogg was feeding it to patients and guests. In addition to another procedure he developed to insure their clean intestines. An enema that ran water through the bowel followed by a pint of yogurt. Half the yogurt delivered through the mouth, the other half through the anus.

From the early 1900s through the 1920s, many famous people attended Dr. Kellogg’s Sanitarium for treatments. Some I cannot understand. The Sanitarium was anti-sex, anti-masturbation, and for clean intestines and bowels.

An attendee was President Warren G. Harding. I find his participation amusing. Historians are clear regarding the President’s sex escapades with his lady friend Nan Britton. They frequented a White House closet to do the dirty deed.

Other frequent guests at the Sanitarium included movie star Johnny Weissmuller (one of the first Tarzans), Henry Ford, and Amelia Earhart.

Recognize that Dr. Kellogg was the man, the authority as regards masturbation cures. His methods extreme in many cases.

As well as adults, boys and girls participated in masturbation. To control what he described as “nasty habits,” the Doctor advocated and employed the following procedures.

For boys, threading a silver wire through the foreskin to prevent erections and cause irritation.

For girls, an application of carbolic acid to the clitoris to burn it. Thereby discouraging touching.

Dr. Kellogg had a brother, W.K. Kellogg. Popularly known as Willy. The Doctor and Willy were in business together in the running of the Sanitarium and the discovery of corn flakes.

Willy was the business man. His interest was making money. Not the per se health of the patients and guests.

The relationship between the two thinned. They were on separate roads. Willy for example wanted to add sugar to the corn flakes to make them more tasty and hopefully more salable. His brother said absolutely not.

The two eventually split. Willy started Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Company. Dr. Kellogg sued. The litigation went on for years. Eventually Willy became the sole proprietor of the company.

Corn flakes never achieved its intended effect. People continued to masturbate. Today, Kellogg’s sells corn flakes and other breakfast products world wide. No one ingesting the corn flakes for any other reason than they taste good.

I think Dr. Kellogg was a nut. Simply stated. Not because of his discovery of corn flakes. For his anti-sexism and anti-masturbation. He took his treatments a step too far.

On the other hand, perhaps I am wrong. Many in his day believed based on religious fervor that sex and masturbation were wrong. The Doctor gave them what they wanted and I am sure what he thought correct at the time.

Right and wrong change with time. Medical treatments change with time.

It is fortunate things change. The unacceptable of yesterday is the acceptable of today. In addition to masturbation, marijuana, same sex marriage, interracial marriages, and alcohol consumption are a few examples.

Enjoy your Sunday!

CORN FLAKES…..CURE MASTURBATION was originally published on Key West Lou

0 notes

felinas9 · 5 years ago

Photo

A veil of dust and grit settles as the city’s breath shifts nocturnal. Pigeons abandon streets to settle in roosts. Alert and observant, it is they who superintend the stirrings of the night shift world as it awakens. 12x24” #artistsofinstagram#abstract #artistsofinstagram #boldbrush #cascade #color #contemporaryart #creatingdepth #dramatic #experimentation #faso #fineart #instaartist #landscape #layeredart #markmaking #oilpainting #oilpainting #onlocation #painting https://www.instagram.com/p/CAY5KHHHppV/?igshid=1v9lwd6bplflq

#artistsofinstagram #abstract #boldbrush #cascade #color #contemporaryart #creatingdepth #dramatic #experimentation #faso #fineart #instaartist #landscape #layeredart #markmaking #oilpainting #onlocation #painting

0 notes

phgq · 5 years ago

Text

Protection measures tightened for tarsiers in Mt. Matutum

#PHnews: Protection measures tightened for tarsiers in Mt. Matutum

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Environment personnel have limited the entry of visitors to a declared tarsier sanctuary on Mt. Matutum in South Cotabato province in a bid to protect the critical primate and its habitat.

Forester Gabriel Baute, area superintendent of the Mt. Matutum Protected Landscape (MMPL), said Thursday they stopped accommodating walk-in visitors at the sanctuary in Barangay Linan, Tupi starting this holiday season as part of their enhanced conservation and protection program.

He said the influx of visitors might disturb the tarsiers, dubbed the world’s smallest primate, and threaten their natural habitat.

Baute cited that tarsiers are nocturnal animals, normally sleeping during the day and active only during the night, like owls.

“Hence, visitors are enjoined to avoid disturbing these animals in their natural habitat or when visiting the tarsier sanctuary,” he said in a statement.

Baute said like other wildlife species, tarsiers are best left in their natural habitat rather than being captured and caged as pets.

Tarsiers are known to commit suicide when in captivity and exposed to stressors like camera flash, human touch, and other forms of disturbance, he said.

It is listed under “near threatened species” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In response to the move, the municipal government of Tupi has adopted a program dubbed “voluntourism,” which mainly raises awareness on the need to protect the tarsiers and their sanctuary.

Visits to the site are currently allowed through pre-arranged schedules with the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (Menro).

Rolando Visaya, Tupi Menro chief, said the program promotes the principles of volunteerism and responsible tourism.

Through the program, he said they tap visitors to help plant trees at the site and its immediate environs.

Their primary targets are individuals with high regard and motivation for the protection and conservation of biodiversity, especially the tarsiers, he said.

“This gives our visitors the opportunity to see the tarsiers in their natural habitat and at the same time take part in protecting them,” he said.

Mt. Matutum is a known sanctuary of tarsiers, which are called “mal” by Blaan and Tboli tribal residents in the area.

The area is part of the 13,947-hectare MMPL, which covers the municipalities of Tupi, Tampakan, and Polomolok in South Cotabato and Malungon in Sarangani province.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources declared parts of Barangay Linan, Tupi as a tarsier sanctuary by virtue of Proclamation 1030 signed by former president Fidel Ramos on June 23, 1997.

It declared the Philippine Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) as specially-protected faunal species mandated the establishment of appropriate sanctuaries to preserve and protect them. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Protection measures tightened for tarsiers in Mt. Matutum." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1089608 (accessed December 27, 2019 at 11:05PM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Protection measures tightened for tarsiers in Mt. Matutum." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1089608 (archived).

#Philippines #News #Filipino #Pinoy #Tourism #Politics #Culture #Editorial #Environment #Society #History

0 notes

whittlebaggett8 · 6 years ago

Text

J&K police fails to file inquiry report in ‘custodial killing’ of Pulwama school teacher

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir police have unsuccessful to post the report prior to the magisterial officer in the alleged custodial killing of a faculty principal, Rizwan Assad Pandith, a media report mentioned.

Pandith, a resident of Awantipora city of Pulwama district, was picked up by law enforcement in a nocturnal raid from his dwelling on March 17. He was arrested and detained in Cargo, elite interrogation centre of Jammu and Kashmir Police, and died two times afterwards, News 18 noted.

The family members of Pandith, 29, alleged that he was killed in police custody as torture marks ended up noticeable all more than his body. “His backbone was damaged. There have been bruises on his facial area and head. His thighs ended up burnt down,” Pandith’s brother Mubasir instructed Information18.

Immediately after condemnations and protests about his loss of life, the state government ordered a magisterial probe, promising that a time-certain enquiry will be held.

On March 22, the more commissioner income who has been appointed as the enquiry officer, wrote a letter to the Senior Superintendent (SSP) of Law enforcement Awantipora, trying to find a report inside of 4 days.

The law enforcement was also questioned to post specifics of “army device/ personnel, paramilitary forces”, “police personnel that took component in the arrest” and “custody of the deceased.”

The report was supposed to be submitted in four times, but seven times following the letter was sent, the enquiry officer is still to obtain the police report. “I have not gained the response of the law enforcement still. I am likely to generate a different letter to the law enforcement and inquire them why they have not submitted the report nonetheless,” the enquiry officer, Qazi Masood, stated.

Linked

The post J&K police fails to file inquiry report in ‘custodial killing’ of Pulwama school teacher appeared first on Defence Online.

from WordPress https://defenceonline.com/2019/03/30/jk-police-fails-to-file-inquiry-report-in-custodial-killing-of-pulwama-school-teacher/

#Latest News

0 notes

yourarchiesmith01-blog · 6 years ago

Text

People Often Die In Their Sleep

People Often Die In Their Sleep. People with have a zizz apnea and hard-to-control tainted blood pressure may see their blood pressure drop if they treat the siesta disorder, Spanish researchers report. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the paradigm treatment for sleep apnea, a condition characterized by disrupted breathing during sleep. The catch forty winks disorder has been linked to high blood pressure how much does penile enlargement surgery cost ramla. Patients in this study were taking three or more drugs to quieten their blood pressure, in addition to having sleep apnea. Participants who used the CPAP device for 12 weeks reduced their diastolic blood prevail upon (the bottom number in a blood pressure reading) and improved their overall nighttime blood pressure, the researchers found. "The practice of sleep apnea in patients with unaffected high blood pressure is very high," said lead researcher Dr Miguel-Angel Martinez-Garcia, from the Polytechnic University Hospital in Valencia garcinia. "This catnap apnea healing increases the probability of recovering the normal nocturnal blood pressure pattern. Patients with resistant euphoric blood pressure should undergo a sleep study to rule out obstructive sleep apnea, Martinez-Garcia said. "If the resigned has sleep apnea, he should be treated with CPAP and undergo blood inducement monitoring" hoodia uk buy. The report, published in the Dec 11, 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, was partly funded by Philips-Respironics, maker of the CPAP plan used in the study. The CPAP group consists of a motor that pushes air through a tube connected to a mask that fits over the patient's rodomontade and nose. The device keeps the airway from closing, and thus allows persistent sleep. Sleep apnea is a common disorder. The pauses in breathing that patients undergo can last from a few seconds to minutes and they can occur 30 times or more an hour. As a result, sleep rank is poor, making sleep apnea a leading cause of excessive daytime sleepiness, according to the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Dr Gregg Fonarow, a spokesman for the American Heart Association and professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, agrees that most patients with hard-to-control altered consciousness blood bring pressure to bear also withstand from sleep apnea. "Close to three out of four patients with unruly high blood pressure have been found to have obstructive sleep apnea, and this sleep apnea may grant to the difficulty to control the blood pressure in these patients. Although this study showed a benefit from CPAP in controlling blood pressure, questions stay about the treatment's overall effectiveness. "Whether these improvements in blood pressure can be unchanging in the long term and will translate to improved health outcomes will require additional studies. According to the superintendent medical liaison for Philips Respironics, Dr Teofilo Lee-Chiong, the CPAP ruse allows the patient to sleep, and thus lets the blood pressure drop normally as it would at night. And "Patients have to get utilized to it, and most patients do," said Lee-Chiong, who is also a professor of medicine at National Jewish Health at the University of Colorado Denver. The whole of the device is akin to a fan and can be lessened by placing the contraption under the bed or using earplugs. The cost of CPAP machines vary but can cook-stove from a few hundred dollars to $1000, Lee-Chiong said. CPAP is covered by most insurance, including Medicare. For the study, Martinez-Garcia and colleagues randomly assigned 194 patients with nod off apnea and excited blood pressure to CPAP or no CPAP. During the study the patients continued to take their blood sway medications. The researchers found that those receiving CPAP lowered their 24-hour average blood pressurize 3,1 mm Hg more than those not receiving CPAP. In addition, those treated with CPAP had a 3,2 mm Hg greater reduction in 24-hour unexceptional diastolic blood pressure.The leftovers in systolic pressure wasn't statistically significant between the two treatment groups, the researchers noted.Over the 12 weeks of the study, about 36 percent of those receiving CPAP had at least a 10 percent sack in nighttime blood pressure, compared with 22 percent of patients not receiving CPAP. The systolic pressure, the lid number, measures the persuade in the arteries when the heart beats growth. The diastolic pressure, the bottom number, measures the urge in the arteries between beats.

#blood #pressure #sleep #apnea #patients #study #researchers

0 notes

djsamaha-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Winston Churchill’s Secret Productivity Weapon

One of the more unlikely museums in London is located in the basement of the Treasury, between 10 Downing Street and the Palace of Westminster: the Churchill War Rooms, the underground complex from which Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his ministers and generals fought World War II.

The War Rooms is a large warren of small offices, dormitories, and dining rooms for the prime minister and his staff, top cabinet officers, and general staff, hidden under a bomb-resistant five-foot-thick, steel-reinforced concrete ceiling. During World War II, hundreds of people worked in them, from clerks and secretaries to generals and ministers. Today, though, the space is dominated by the memory of Churchill.

The exhibits describe the ups and downs of his political career; his indefatigable energy defending Britain and the empire; his eloquence and skill as a writer; his daily life during the war; and his mix of political opportunism, realpolitik, and idealism. But one aspect of his working life gets only a brief mention, at the end of the tour: his habit of taking daily naps.

Churchill himself regarded his midday naps as essential for maintaining his mental balance, renewing his energy, and reviving his spirits. He had gotten into the habit of napping during World War I, when he was First Lord of the Admiralty, and even during the Blitz, Churchill would retire to his private room in the War Rooms after lunch, undress, and sleep for an hour or two. Unless German bombs were falling, he would then head to 10 Downing Street for a bath, change into fresh clothes, and return to work. Churchill’s valet, Frank Sawyers, later recalled, “It was one of the inflexible rules of Mr. Churchill’s daily routine that he should not miss this rest.”

Churchill regarded his midday naps as essential for maintaining his mental balance and renewing his energy.Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Not only did a nap help Churchill keep up his energy, his sangfroid also inspired his cabinet and officers. Napping during boring parliamentary debates was one thing. Going to sleep literally while bombs were falling signaled Churchill’s confidence in his staff and his belief that the dark days would pass.

Churchill wasn’t the only Allied leader to nap regularly. George Marshall advised Dwight Eisenhower to take a daily nap; on the other side of the world, Pacific Command adjusted its schedule around Douglas MacArthur’s afternoon nap, which was part of a daily schedule that “had scarcely changed since his days as superintendent of West Point,” according to his biographer William Manchester. (Adolf Hitler, in contrast, kept more erratic hours at the best of times, and as the Allies closed in on Germany in 1944 and 1945, he tried to stay up for days at a time, powered by a mix of amphetamines, cocaine, and other drugs.)

Winston Churchill has been a model for many leaders, and at least two American presidents were inspired by his example to take up napping. John F. Kennedy was so “impressed by Churchill’s eloquence in praise of the afternoon nap,” said Arthur Schlesinger Jr., that when he entered the Senate he imitated Churchill’s practice of keeping a cot in Parliament. Later at the White House, Kennedy would normally take a 45-minute nap after lunch; like Churchill, he wouldn’t sleep in the office but would head for the residence and change into pajamas. Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Johnson, likewise broke up his long day with a nap and shower in the afternoon.

The power of power naps

Why do naps do you good? The most obvious benefit of napping is that it increases alertness and decreases fatigue. A short nap of around twenty minutes boosts your ability to concentrate by giving your body a chance to restore depleted energy. But regular naps—the habit, not just a single nap—have other benefits.

Regular napping can improve memory. Just as the brain uses a good night’s sleep to fix memories, so too does it use naps to consolidate things you’ve just learned. Neuroscientist Sara Mednick found that napping for an hour or more during the day—a nap long enough to allow one to dream—improves performance on memory and perceptual tasks. In a study published in 2003, she had people learn a texture discrimination task in the morning. If you’ve ever been to the eye doctor, you’ve probably had a peripheral vision test: you focus your attention on a light into the center of a large screen and push a button when you see a light on the periphery. Mednick’s test was a bit similar. Subjects were shown a field of little horizontal lines with an L or T in the center. After an irregular interval, some of the lines in the lower left morphed into diagonals. Subjects had to indicate when they saw the change, whether the lines formed a horizontal or vertical row, and what the central fixation target was (partly to keep people from just focusing on the lower left-hand quadrant). It’s a simple test, but this sort of visual discrimination is the kind of thing our brains are designed for, you can quickly get pretty good at it.

After the test, subjects were divided into three groups. One group didn’t nap at all and went about their normal days. The other two took either an hour-long or ninety-minute nap in the afternoon. Everyone was then retested that evening. The subjects who didn’t have a nap did worse on the test. Among the subjects who napped, though, Mednick found that a third had essentially the same scores, while two-thirds did dramatically better in the evening.

A short nap boosts your ability to concentrate by giving your body a chance to restore depleted energy.Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

So a nap was helping the brain fix this new pattern-recognizing skill. But what accounted for the two sets of results among the nappers? It wasn’t just the length of the nap: while the ninety-minute nappers were almost all in the high-performance group, people who slept an hour were split between both groups. Medick found the answer when she looked at EEG tracings of their sleeping brains.

When you sleep, you go through a 90-to-110-minute-long cycle that proceeds from light sleep to deep slow-wave sleep and finally to REM sleep. In REM sleep, your eyes twitch (REM stands for “rapid eye movement”), your brain waves pick up again, and you’re more likely to dream. The balance of slow-wave and REM sleep varies depending on when you fall asleep and how tired you are. Some people had fallen into slow-wave sleep during their naps, while others had both slow-wave and REM sleep. The slow-wave sleep group performed the same on the morning and evening tests. The slow-wave and REM sleep group, though, were the high performers. Finally, Mednick had the subjects take the same test again the next morning, and then two days later. Everyone’s scores went up after a night’s sleep, but the nap group’s scores rose more sharply than the non-nap group.

Other researchers have found that even a short nap can improve memory. At the University of Dusseldorf, Olaf Lahl showed two groups of students a list of thirty words for two minutes and told them to memorize as many as possible. One group was then allowed to nap for up to an hour, while the other stayed awake. When they were tested to see how many words they could recall, the students who napped did significantly better than those who didn’t. In a second experiment, one group was kept awake, a second napped as long as they wanted (about twenty-five minutes on average), and a third was woken up after five minutes. Lahl found that even a five-minute nap yielded measurable improvements in retention: not as great as a longer nap, but still statistically significant.

Naps can also help workers avoid mistakes and bad behavior. Jennifer Goldschmied, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, found that naps improve emotional regulation and self-control. She measured her subjects’ levels of tolerance for frustration by giving them paper, a pencil, and a set of diagrams. They had to copy the diagrams without lifting their pencil from the paper or tracing over a line.

What they didn’t know was that half the diagrams couldn’t be copied without violating one of those rules. The participants thought they were being tested on their visual acuity or problem-solving skills, but Goldschmied really wanted to see how much time they would spend trying to come up with a solution before they quit. She found that people who had taken a nap before trying to complete the Frustration Tolerance Task were less likely to give up than those who hadn’t napped, were less impulsive, and were better able to handle frustration.

In separate studies, Dan Ariely and Christopher Barnes found that chronic fatigue or mental exhaustion decreases a person’s self-control and decision-making ability, making them more likely to impulsively cheat than their better-rested colleagues.

How long and when?

Short twenty-minute power naps are good for boosting alertness and mental clarity. But sleep research Sara Mednick argues that by paying attention to what time of day you nap and scheduling longer naps with an eye to your sleep cycle and the highs and lows in your energy and attention levels (which follow an ultradian rhythm, rising and falling repeatedly through the day), you can tailor naps to be more physically restorative, to feed your creative activities, or to improve your memory.

Mednick did some of the first work that scientifically measured the benefits of naps. By the time she started graduate school at Harvard in the late 1990’s, sleep scientists had developed a whole toolkit to study the effects of nocturnal sleep and sleep deprivation on things like memory, alertness, and perception. Mednick applied some of those tools to study naps. Previously, researchers had mainly been interested in naps in the context of shift work and sleep deficits, no one had paid much attention to how naps could affect the cognitive performance or alertness of people with stressful or challenging lives but more regular schedules.

To her surprise, she found that a sixty- or ninety-minute nap provided the same kinds of cognitive improvements seen in people who had slept for eight hours. (That’s not to say you can trade a night’s sleep for an afternoon nap. It doesn’t work that way.) Further, she found that timing your nap can affect the balance of light sleep, REM sleep, and slow-wave sleep, and shape the kinds of benefits you get from it.

Sleep scientists have long observed that our need for sleep is governed by two things: sleep pressure and our body’s twenty-four-hour circadian rhythm. Sleep pressure is the body’s need for sleep, and, under normal circumstances, it’s what’s responsible for our feeling sleepy at night. When you wake up refreshed in the morning, your sleep pressure is at a minimum, and it builds up over the course of the day, until it reaches a peak the next night. Circadian rhythm regulates your alertness level. Under normal circumstances, you reach peak alertness around 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.; your alertness dips a little in the early afternoon, then rises through the rest of the day until late evening.

Circadian rhythm and the sleep pressure cycle operate independently of each other. Under normal circumstances the two are in sync: when we go to bed, our circadian cycle is at its lowest ebb and sleep pressure is high; when we wake up, our circadian cycle is revving up and our sleep pressure is low. But they can be thrown out of sync by jet lag, night shifts, or irregular work schedules.

The interaction of the two cycles helps determine what kind of sleep you get. When sleep pressure is high, your body demands more short-wave sleep. This is one reason why, when you go to bed at night, the first phase of your sleep tends to be dominated by deep, restorative short-wave sleep. As the night progresses, sleep pressure is eased and the need for short-wave sleep declines. In the middle of the night, your circadian cycle hits bottom and then starts to climb upward; as it does, you shift into REM sleep. By the time you wake up, your brain has been getting more active for a couple hours.

Mednick discovered that you can use knowledge of the relationship between sleep pressure, circadian rhythm, and sleep type to tailor a nap to your needs. About six hours after you wake up, your body’s circadian rhythm starts to dip and you’re likely to feel drowsy, especially if you’ve had a busy morning and lunch. A twenty-minute power nap at this point (say at 1:00 p.m.) is enough to give you a mental re-charge without leaving you groggy: if you keep it short, you’ll wake up fairly alert and can quickly get back to work. If you stretch it out to an hour, the balance between your circadian rhythm and sleep pressure will produce a nap that balances REM and short-wave sleep.

If on the other hand, you take a nap an hour earlier, five hours after waking, the balance will be different: more REM sleep, less slow-wave sleep. This kind of nap will deliver a little creative nudge: you’re likely to dream and more likely to enroll your subconscious in whatever you were recently working on. If you wait until an hour later, seven hours after waking, your body needs more rest, and an hour-long nap will be richer in slow-wave sleep and more physically restorative than creatively stimulating.

These aren’t dramatic differences: no nap will consist exclusively of one phase of sleep, and no single nap will magically turn you into Albert Einstein (who did nap regularly, it should be noted). And it’s also important to remember that there’s always a gap between laboratory studies of memory, cognition, and creativity, and real-world creativity and work. Few of us have jobs that require us only to memorize strings of numbers or remember pictures or think up unusual uses for tape. But Sara Mednick’s work on naps helps explain why, throughout history, so many dedicated, obsessed, competitive people have, in the middle of the day, stopped what they were doing and gone to sleep, and why they benefit from it.

A powerful but unused tool

In much of the world today, naps have fallen out of favor. They’re now something that young children do on kindergarten mats, not something for adults, least of all leaders and serious minds. As we move into a world and economy that seems to defy the constraints of geography and time, that operates globally and twenty-four/seven, we feel the need (or pressure) to work continuously, to ignore our body’s clocks and push on even when your bodies are pleading to rest. But this is a mistake.

Naps are powerful tools for recovering our energy and focus. We can even learn to tailor them to give us more of a creative boost, or provide more physical benefit, or explore the ideas that emerge at the boundary between consciousness and sleep. Even during his country’s most desperate hours, when he felt the fate of the nation and civilization hanging in the balance, Churchill found time for a nap. We would be wise to ask if our days and our work are really more urgent.

Adapted excerpt from Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less. by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. Copyright © 2016. Available from Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, a division of PBG Publishing, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

http://www.successwize.com/winston-churchills-secret-productivity-weapon/

#news #information #general #other

0 notes

seanmalatesta · 7 years ago

Text

Winston Churchill’s Secret Productivity Weapon

How a Midday Nap Can Boost Your Performance all Day Long

“ Churchill regarded his midday naps as essential for maintaining his mental balance and renewing his energy.

—ALEX SOOJUNG-KIM PANG

The power of power naps

“ A short nap boosts your ability to concentrate by giving your body a chance to restore depleted energy.

—ALEX SOOJUNG-KIM PANG

How long and when?

A powerful but unused tool

from Michael Hyatt, Your Virtual Mentor http://ift.tt/2iBPP43 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Michael Hyatt #Your Virtual Mentor

0 notes

audiobookblog · 8 years ago

Text

The Unmourned: The Monsarrat Series, 2

Not all murder victims are mourned, but the perpetrator must always be punished…. For Robert Church, superintendent of the Parramatta Female Factory, the most enjoyable part of his job is access to young convict women. Inmate Grace O’Leary has made it her mission to protect the women from his nocturnal visits, and when Church is murdered with an awl thrust through his right eye, she becomes the…

View On WordPress

0 notes

badchoicesposts · 4 years ago

Text

Don’t Dream It’s Over Flashbacks Part Two

DDIO Masterlist

AN: This is a compilation of all of the flashbacks of Liam and Ali’s story from my Don’t Dream It’s Over universe. You can find the full story on my masterlist.

CHAPTER 6