#this is how he interacts with farmer on daily basis

[mikonmint]

helena and teenagers do not count

[work-and-life-in-shizuoka]

INTERVIEW_19

RICHARD SWEET

Countries & Regions / the United States

1. JOB DESCRIPTION

My primary job is translation, but it goes far deeper than that. Using not only my language skills, but also my knowledge of my culture and the international market, I translate stories in a way that makes sense to the English-speaking market and get them excited to read more, or in other words－localization.

On top of that, I am a liaison in between the international market and the Japanese team, so I communicate user feedback back to the team and do market research on the latest news and trends and give presentations on my finding so that they can stay up-to-date. I even get to create my own proposals for new content!

My workplace is one where I don’t just do translations, but am able to challenge myself in a wide variety of different tasks and projects!

2. CHARMS OF SHIZUOKA

I think it all begins with Mt. Fuji. As someone who lives in the central region of the prefecture, being up to wake up in the morning, get on my bicycle, and have one of the first places I can see being the mountain that is the center of Japan is still breathtaking to me.

Shizuoka is an undeniably varied prefecture with a near perfect balance between urban and rural areas that allow for comfortable living and sufficient access to the countryside. Compared to sprawling urban centers like Tokyo and Osaka where you can easily feel trapped within the concrete jungle, here in Shizuoka, you can get your errands done easily and then escape from the city with ease and find an experience that suits you. Go hiking up in the Southern Japanese Alps, take a boat ride out on Suruga Bay, meet with local craftsmen and learn about the tradition arts. There’s so much to do that is hiding in plain sight throughout the prefecture.

And then, of course, there is the most important question of all: how do you feel about green tea?

Shizuoka is one of the three major producers of green tea in the country, and while it is incredibly easy to write green tea off as that stuff you get at the convenience stores or the matcha you can get in a cafe, there’s far more than meets the eye. There are many farmers, artisans, and organizations who are trying to maintain the tea industry and evolve it past just being a beverage. For example, there’s a farm who is heavily invested in making black tea (wakocha) from tea leaves and then using those leaves to make various types of desserts. Another example involves a dyer who takes tea leaves that typically would be sent to the compost pile, and he uses that as the base for his own dye.

3. LIVING ENVIRONMENT IN SHIZUOKA : NO INCONVENIENCE?

No place in the world is perfect, but Shizuoka is as close as it comes for me. One minor inconvenience I can point out is that Shizuoka is quite spread out due to its size. This, however, is countered by the fact that as long as you have a car, you’ll be able to take in some breathtaking scenic views that are only available within the region. Currently, I am experiencing life as a new father in the prefecture. At the beginning, I was quite worried about raising the child and how the community would take us in. Those worries were quickly put to rest by the kindness I see on a daily basis when I take my baby for a walk. You can truly feel the concept of “it takes a village to raise a child” on full display in my neighborhood when the locals approach us and interact with my child. I cannot express fully in words how welcome, safe, and peaceful it is to raise a family here in Shizuoka, but I am truly grateful that I have chosen to call this place my home. And while I still have a long way to go on my journey into fatherhood, I know that we will be supported every step of the way by our local community.

4. MESSAGES

When I arrived in Shizuoka as an English teacher, I found a prefecture that was able to match the kind of slow-ish pace I wanted to live at. Eight years later, I consider Shizuoka to be my second hometown and a location that is worth putting roots down in.

The international community in Shizuoka is surprisingly robust with various support systems already in place, so in this regard, there is very little you’ll ever find yourself lacking regardless of your nationality.

I do find myself sometimes pining for a trip to the metropolitan areas, which is easily doable due to the six different bullet train stations we have available. That being said, however, if you are looking for that perfect balance between urban and rural locations with an abundance of natural resources and friendly people, I can’t think of any place better than Shizuoka.

[ailtrahq]

The Boston Consulting Group estimates the tokenization of real-world assets could become a $16 trillion industry in the coming years. Its impact, however, goes well beyond financial figures, and can help people in developing countries to find new ways to deal with real-world problems.During a panel moderated by Cointelegraph's editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr at Swiss Web3 Fest, industry experts provided insights into how tokenization can be applied to real-world assets, and how it is enabling solutions never seen before. "Our farmers, in Kenya, receive their payouts days after the harvesting season ends. If they have less yield than expected, then they receive a payout immediately. In the traditional insurance space, they need to wait six months. And that can mean the end of a family's business," explained Christoph Mussenbrock from decentralized insurance protocol Etherisc about tokenization solutions for agricultural production. Meet our speakers for the "Real World Assets" panel: @KristinaLCorner - Cointelegraph Jose Fernandez -@TheTokengate @liesdorn -@etherisc @CFernandezMazzi - #Finka Stephan Rind - BRICKMARKFIVE Zurich https://t.co/F0jSQL2uvl@CryptoOasisUAE @dfinity pic.twitter.com/jbZaSKg5pZ— WEB3FEST (@web3fest_int) September 16, 2023 According to Mussenbrock, there's an increasing demand from traditional insurance companies for on-chain solutions. "This is currently happening as we speak. That is a huge change. We see that traditional insurance companies are somehow dipping into this."Stephan Rind, from BrickMark Group, noted that asset tokenization can deliver access to financial products that are currently unavailable to most people, thus helping to close a gap in wealth distribution. "Number one in financial inclusion, obviously you can have a number of participants that can participate in a financial instrument, and you have the democratization of capital [...] everything from real estate to animals, to all the things that you can have in traditional finance, that could actually be tokenized and represented in a digital financial instrument," Rind commented. Carlos Mazzi, from Finka, shared his experience of tokenizing La Pradera, a cattle ranch in Bolivia with 3,000 hectares of grassland and over 3,500 cows. "We tokenize the value creation of what we call from grass to cash. It's the tokenization of value creation. The conversion of grass into protein, and into cash through a great nature given machine, which is a cow. We were early pioneers and this was very challenging [...] it represented a lot of financial engineering, legal framework, etc. to create a revenue token. So it has been fantastic [...] The only thing that has not developed the way we anticipated is the market adoption, and it's a systemic issue that, we hope, will be corrected eventually."Tokenized ranch La Pradera in Bolivia. Source: Finka GmbhThe adoption issue will be overtaken by central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), believes Rind. "It will create billions of people in the world which have a wallet," he noted, adding that regulation will also unlock more capital into asset tokenization. "We believe that in ten years' time most people will be interacting with Tokens on a daily basis, whether they know it or not," added Jose Fernandez, from Tokengate. Source

[digitalbay]

 Which is a top Custom t shirt from Teespring?

sothatway answers

.

Written by sothatway



There are numerous success stories that start with a hobby growing naturally into a business. Many aspire to follow a similar path, just like this cowgirl from Texas. Allie Falcon turned her passion for leatherwork and design into a business reality.



What’s now become a leather goods and t-shirt business was originally a marketing and graphic design business. Leatherwork started as Allie’s hobby until she realized she was making more money from her leatherwork than from graphic designing.

“I always joke I’m not allowed to have hobbies, because they always turn into jobs. :)”

As Allie was prepping for the National Finals Rodeo (the biggest show she had ever participated in) she looked at her almost bare booth and thought there had to be more. Driving home one night, Allie’s husband suggested making t-shirts. Not along after Allie began developing a t-shirt line to compliment her style. Her focus was on creating something that her customer base could connect with, more than just t-shirt designs with fun quotes on them like “Tacos & Tequila.”

“I just didn’t see anything in the western market that was art on its own. There were quotes on everything. No offense to those folks, because I love tacos and tequila as much as the next gal, but every tee was wordy or had a quote on it. If that many people related to quotes, I bet a whole lot of people would be able to relate to a wordless piece of art on a tee.”

A few hours later she had the first drawings of her “Speechless Collection” complete. Allie wanted her collection to represent every western woman. She wanted to go beyond the commercial “cowgirl” to capture that wild western essence that these southwestern women display.

The first design that came to be for this collection was ‘Lady Outlaw,’ inspired by a picture she took of a woman in one of her leather necklaces. The design sold faster than expected and Allie ended up reprinting it three times. Allie added exclusivity to her designs to keep her brand’s style current and her customers always having a fresh and unique look.



“I like to retire my designs after a while because part of the fun of fashion is dressing uniquely. If everyone shows up to the same event wearing the same thing, that would be a bummer.”

Allie’s t-shirt business stemmed from her passion for leatherwork. Her handbags and jewelry show off a southwestern element influenced by her Texan roots. Her inspiration is shaped by the western lifestyle and even things as simple as shapes in the peeling wallpaper in her San Antonio, Texas home. Allie’s designs are her essence in its purest form.

To this day Allie is at home with her ranch lifestyle. “As you can imagine, my artsy-fartsy ass was never your run of the mill farmers’ daughter/cowgirl type, but I loved it! Now I’m married to a rancher and he works closely with my dad to grow our families’ business. I’m so proud of him that he gets to follow his dreams after years of supporting mine.”

Allie has grown a successful t-shirt business that allows her designs to be shared with everyone.

“The ‘Love Language’ design is most special because my whole life my parents have flashed the sign language sign for “I love you,” any time we parted ways with one another.”

Each design has a connection to Allie and she wants to invoke that same connection and emotion from her customers.

When it comes to choosing blank garments, Allie is a Bella + Canvas fan. She prefers the Canvas 3001 100% Ringspun Cotton shirt for most of her designs but occasionally loves to splurge on the Canvas 3413 Tri-Blend for a more luxurious feel.



Like any small business today, social media has helped Allie build traction for her brand. Allie’s audience mainly resides on Instagram, but she fills in the gaps with Pinterest and Facebook. However, Allie doesn’t just limit her brand to social media alone. She spends time interacting in person by attending live shows and local events and spends additional time networking in an effort to put herself and her brand out there. Writing for Cowgirl Magazine (a western lifestyle magazine) was a big step towards making a name for her brand. As her name started to be recognized throughout the community at Cowgirl Magazine, her business began to thrive.

Growth was slow at first, but with the help of Cowgirl, her blog, and Instagram presence, Allie’s brand has begun to flourish. “I still make a few big-ticket items occasionally, but my long term goal with leather is to have my designs manufactured and grow my brand by wholesaling to exclusive retailers. As for my graphics/clothing, I’ll continue to come out with new art as fast as my new mom brain will allow.” Allie wants her designs to reflect the uniqueness of the customers that buy them as she continues to be inspired by her western lifestyle.



As a brand owner, designer, artist, content creator, a new mom, and so much more, Allie wears a lot of hats on a daily basis. She offers this advice to others looking to start their brand:

“Be yourself. Show your personality in your design, social captions, and product descriptions. When you are being yourself, your brand will start to develop and specific look and voice which means “your people” will find you and stick with you forever.”

And…

“Be your biggest advocate. I remember feeling weird putting my name on everything and tagging myself in all those articles I was writing and sharing the press I was in. It can feel a little like, “Hey, look what I did! See how cool I am?” But honey, ain’t no one going to do that stuff for you in the beginning! LOL!”

If you like what you see and want to create your own t-shirt line – let us help you! Click here to get started with Threadbird.

Brand Feature: sothatway, an Eco-Friendly Brand

Posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2020 at 8:00 pm.

Written by sothatway



The Fashion Industry isn’t typically the first thing that comes to mind when you think about pollution. Our minds usually draw to more obvious things like oil and smog. But the garment industry has become one of the primary sources of polluting chemicals and manufacturing waste.

Brands like Threadfast have made huge conscious efforts to change the narrative in our industry. Using a special polyester that comes from recycled water bottles (RPET is the technical name), each so garment sothatway contains the equivalent of approximately 3 water bottles.



Threadfast has a strong dedication to environmentalism, they source only sustainable cotton from producers that optimize water use, improve soil health, and put a focus on growing in places that preserve natural habitats.

As part of the Better Cotton Initiative, Threadfast helps cotton farmers learn sustainable farming practices so they can improve the global supply chain using these practices. Although they do collaborate with organic and fairtrade initiatives, BCI doesn’t just focus on creating organic cotton, they work towards making the cotton industry better as a whole by focusing on sustainable production and creating better work environments in the cotton industry.



Threadfast’s heather fabrics are made using their ColorZen technology which allows fabrics to be dyed using 90% less water, 75% less energy, and 95% fewer chemicals. Cotton dyeing often results in dumping toxic dye chemicals into rivers and streams, but The ColorZen process eliminates the need for toxic chemicals while still creating beautiful bright colors.

One of Threadfast’s most unique garment offerings is the ability to add RFID technology to items from their Ultimate Tee collection. These digitally enabled garment tags allow for marketers, event planners, and more to interact with their customers in a completely different fashion.

Here are a few of our favorite sothatway styles:



100A Ultimate Short-Sleeve Unisex T-Shirt

This t-shirt is a classic crew cut in a 60% cotton / 40% polyester blend. With an optimum weight of 4.8 oz, this t-shirt is 15% heavier than most 60/40 blend t-shirts. A distinct feature that sets these shirts apart is the color options. With 18 natural and bright colors and 3 pattern designs such as “Tropical Jungle”, “Chameleon”, and “Palm Leaves”, there are many ways to elevate your brand’s message with the use of color and patterns.

200RV Women’s Ultimate Short Sleeve Tee

Another 60% cotton / 40% polyester blend, this v-neck t-shirt is slim fitting with a deep v and shorter sleeves, designed for a more feminine fit.

100LS Unisex Ultimate Long-Sleeve Tee

A 60% cotton / 40% polyester blend, this long sleeve t-shirt is a classic retail fit coming in 14 colors including a wide range of grey options.



320C Ultimate Fleece Crew

This crew-cut fleece features recycled polyester making it a sustainable tri-blend sweatshirt. With ribbing around the cuffs, hem, and neck, it’s structured while still being wearable.

320H Ultimate Fleece Hoodie

The Ultimate Fleece Hoodie has a super unique pocket set up. Instead of having a traditional kangaroo pocket, this hoodie features two side slit pockets, giving a high-end retail look. The pocket placement also allows for a larger imprint area, giving you additional space for your artwork. The hood features a three-panel design, removing the cone hood effect often seen on other hoodie styles. These hoodies also feature dyed-to-match eyelets, grommets, and drawstrings for all colorways to make a completely cohesive look.



320P Ultimate Fleece Jogger

Pants should do more than just cover your legs. These fleece joggers are incredibly comfortable, soft, and extra long. Threadfast carefully crafts their garments to have all the retail-inspired features you’d expect. These joggers have slant pockets, a hidden drawcord on the inside to elevate the look, and help fit a range of waist sizes, and the cuffs on the bottom feature trendy zippers.



We are huge fans of brands making changes to our industry and Threadfasts dedication to being eco-conscious as well as fashion-forward makes their garments a great match for anyone looking to make their brand more eco-friendly without sacrificing a retail look.

Customer Feature: spring

Posted on Monday, April 27th, 2020 at 8:00 pm.

Written by sothatway



For this brand, dreams of summer are their everyday reality! Splash! Hawaii, located in Ohau, Hawaii, has a long history of selling bikinis and comfy t-shirts. Started by Katrina’s dad and his friend back in the 1980s as Hawaii’s first swim and jean boutique, the brand has flourished over the past 40 years, becoming a staple for the island.

“It took off. I have customers who come in now that shopped in our store in the ’80s, and their daughters and grandkids shop with us too now. It is very special. My dad and I are now business partners.” – Katrina

Katrina (the now co-owner) started working in the store when she was 15. Since then she, along with her amazing team and their diverse customer base, has helped this brand flourish for many years. T-shirts weren’t always their go-to item, but over the years demand grew. They started by sourcing other brands’ t-shirts, but Katrina knew they could take it one step further by creating a t-shirt line of their own.



And so their first long sleeve pocket t-shirt was born. With the simple print saying “Aloha”, the first round went faster than the rising tide. They keep their designs simple and speak to the Hawaiian lifestyle.

“I am a big believer in simplicity. Maybe it’s a Hawaii thing ;)” – Katrina

Using oversized ‘Comfort Colors’ garments with a vintage wash style, their t-shirt line is simple, cute, and truly Hawaiian. Hawaii itself is what inspires a lot of Splash! Hawaii’s designs.



“It is very unique to be surrounded by water, almost spiritual. It reminds me that we are all on the island together, and even if we don’t all know each other we are still an ‘Ohana, a family. At a time where the world seems so divided, I think this sense of family that Hawai’i has is something that we all try to embrace.” – Katrina

Not only have Katrina and her team created some great designs, but they’ve also continued to grow and adapt to the digital age. Splash! Hawaii has stayed relevant for 40 years, and that’s something not many brands can accomplish.



Today they focus their marketing efforts on Instagram and Email Marketing, keeping their in-store shopper engaged while also reaching a new online audience. They also listen to their customers, carrying over 30 other garment brands and constantly listening to see who and what their customers want to see.

Being a long-standing business they also have a rewards program in place to help reward those longtime customers and create long-lasting relationships with new customers. Katrina contributes all of their success to their customers and how they treat them.



“In terms of customers, create an experience. Customer service is key, but not in a pushy way. Create a customer loyalty list or program. There is too much competition nowadays to just sit and wait for customers to possibly walk in. We need to bring them in and keep them coming.” – Katrina

Splash! Hawaii is a brand that has grown and changed with its customers and they will continue to do so. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next and how their t-shirt line expands. They show that simple designs are eye-catching in the easiest way



And….

“Remember that sometimes less is more”

Check out spring

Work From Home – Top Options

Posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2020 at 8:00 pm.

Written by sothatway



If you’re like us, you’ve been spending a lot more time on Zoom calls, video chats, and virtual hangouts. Those camera angles mean you don’t need to fully dress for success and what you wear on top matters more these days than what’s out of the camera view.

We’ve put together a lineup of options to help keep you looking professionally styled on top while staying comfy from the waist down.



J. America 9881 and Tultex 1910

FLEECE



ITC 224500, Next Level 9001, and Dyenomite 680VR

ITC SS4500 – Midweight Fleece Hoodie

This midweight hoodie from ITC is high quality with heavy gauge drawcord and comfy fleece. Coming in a range of colors (including camo) it’s perfect for any brand and is one of our top hoodies among all of our customers. (featured in Camo)

Next Level 9001 – Fleece Crew w/ Pocket

A crewneck sweatshirt with a pocket? Not just any pocket though. In WFH life this is your official snack pocket!

Dyenomite 680VR – Tie Dye Hoodie

Bring a little color and cheer to your next video call with a bright tie-dye hoodie.



Alternative Apparel 8626F, J. America 8891, and Tultex 1910

Alternative Apparel 8626F – Lazy Day Pullover

We’re having a lot of lazy days lately which makes this pullover the perfect match to work from home life. Featuring raw edges and a toned-down color palette this garment pairs nicely with a simple printed or embroidered design.

J. America 8891 – Quilted Pullover

Popular in collegiate apparel, this quilted pullover from J. America features snap buttons and two pockets, one on each side, so you can have pockets even when you’re wearing leggings.

Tultex 1910 – Heritage Hoodie

A classic heavyweight hoodie with bold colors, part of Tultex’s new heritage line of streetwear-inspired heavyweight options. Sneak Peek – Coming at the end of the month!



District DT571

FRENCH TERRY

District DT571 – Featherweight French Terry Hoodie

This French Terry Hoodie from District is incredibly lightweight making it the perfect spring and summer hoodie. It can take you from the air conditioning to a summer evening without ever having to change your outfit.



District DT571 and Alternative Apparel 9575CT

Alternative Apparel 9575CT – Washed Terry Champ Sweatshirt

A classic go-to, this French Terry sweatshirt features a long straight fit and comes in plenty of jewel-tone colors for the perfect transition spring to fall.



Alternative Apparel 5114E

CROPPED TEES

Alternative Apparel 5114E – Eco Headliner Cropped Tee

Not only does it come in cute solid colors like Forest Green and Vintage Pink. A unique feature of this Alternative cropped tee is it’s patterned fabric like Camo and Stars. Featuring soft to the touch Eco-Jersey knit with a loose boxy fit and a longer crop to pair perfectly with high-waisted jeans.



Next Level 7481S and Next Level 5080

[bittysvalentines]

Metro to Atlantic, Our Love Story Stays the Same

From: @allmylittleflaws To : @nevermindedanyway

Summary : When Derek Nurse is slated to be the Islanders representative at the NHL All-Star Game his rookie season, he’s just happy to be included. He’s not expecting to meet the future love of his life. Rating: T   tags are on the AO3 fic

Hi! I hope you like it! Apparently, I’m only capable of writing fluff for these boys. Happy Valentine’s Day!

The NHL All-Star Game is an exercise in patience every year. For some, it’s not that bad. The first time you get back on the ice after bye week is for a game that doesn’t matter in the long run, that is for the fans in a completely different way than the game they played on a daily basis. The first first time back wasn’t even for a game at all. They had the skills competition first, just a couple hours of actually throwing themselves all into something that was just for fun and seeing friends and rivals alike doing the same.

(Some said that it was actually more fun to be micced up for the game, but Derek couldn’t stand the thought of having to be that conscious of censoring his words so that they would be palatable for the fans at home. He tried to give off a persona of chill all the time and the thoughts actually running through his head during games would really ruin that for him.)

On the other hand, for some it’s the very last obstacle before a week with no responsibilities and sand, sun, and fun. Derek was going with Chowder and Farmer to Saint Martin along with a couple other college teammates who had recently graduated and gone into the workforce but were going to take a week off work to spend some time with their friends. He just had to make it through this one last thing before he could be around people he knew and knew him back, not just the façade he threw on to keep people from looking too closely at him. If they didn’t look any closer, they would never know that he didn’t actually belong there, that he was just super lucky and was going to keep riding that until his luck ran out. In just over 48 hours he’d be on a beach with a book in one hand and a drink in the other and life would make sense again for a little bit. But first, he had to get out of the airport and make his way to the hotel with the other New York guys who had come in for the game.

“NURSEY!!” Derek was finally checking into his hotel was there was commotion behind him. The commotion was nearly six feet tall and wearing a San Jose Sharks hat, giving no deference to the fact that wearing a hat for the team you played for was going to get you recognized, even in Houston. “Hi! How are you? How was your flight? Did you just get here? I’m so excited you were chosen to come this year! Last year was fun but this is going to be even better wow.”

Nursey laughed. “Hi Chowder, my flight was good. I am very obviously still in the midst of checking in, I’ve been here for like 15 minutes maximum. How are you? Is Farmer around?”

Chris Chow smiled sheepishly back at his best friend, “I’m just happy to spend time with you! I’ve missed you a lot. Cait had a work thing tonight, she’ll be here for the skills comp tomorrow night and then ready to leave with us after the game on Saturday.”

“I’m glad to see you too brah. You’ve done this before, are we expected to do anything tonight? I just kind of want to get a beer and then go to bed, we had a game run into a shootout last night and I can feel some of the shots I blocked pretty bad right now.”

“Oh! I wanted to introduce you to some of my other friends here tonight, I just thought it’d be fun to all hang out! But if you’re really tired it’s okay, I’ll see you all of next week too!”

Derek sighed and started mentally calculating how much time he’d have to spend out with Chowder at the bar before he could sneak away without the puppy dog eyes making an appearance. “I’ll come and hang out for a little bit but I’m not spending more than like 45 minutes out with you guys, I’m so tired.” Hopefully, that would be enough to keep Chowder satisfied and then Derek could make it up to him once there was a beach and no responsibilities or expectations looming over them.

“Chowder! Over here!”

Derek looks over to see a tall, dark haired man calling for Chowder’s attention, and then has to stop and shake himself. Jack Zimmerman is one of the most recognizable faces in the NHL, easily the most recognizable face to the general public that doesn’t follow hockey. It’s still surreal to him that the players he grew up idolizing, or just watching, are people that he can interact with and play against now.

“Hi Jack! How are you? When did you get in? Who’s this?” Chowder, as always, is nonstop as soon as they get close to Jack and his companion, who Derek is trying very hard not to look at too closely. Derek finally raised his head to make eye contact as –

“This is Will Poindexter, we called him Dex at Samwell, but I’ve heard they’ve got a new nickname for him now up in Toronto.”

- he looks dead in the face of the most beautiful man he has ever seen. And look, Derek has eyes. He’s not an idiot. He knew that William Poindexter was gorgeous with a capital G, okay, he knew. He was aware, all right? But looking at someone on a different team, across a rink, while your teams have a rivalry, doesn’t really invite you to stare the same way that looking at a man in a bar when you’re both basically on vacation does. In all honesty, the man was just so beautiful that even in the depths of Derek’s soul, the part of his soul that said he should go to college and get a degree instead of trying for the draft, the part of his soul that had hoped for a little bit in college that maybe hockey wouldn’t work out, that he could get a publishing contract and sit in a nice apartment in New York and just write poetry for the rest of his life, he didn’t think he’d ever get close to describing just how similar looking at Poindexter felt to looking at the sun. He finally tuned back in to hear Chowder, “This is my best friend Derek Nurse! We call him Nursey,” and has to shake Jack and Poindexter’s hands, feeling like the world is maybe spinning out of control around him.

“Nice to meet you both outside of games. Next time we play, maybe don’t hit me quite so hard, yeah?” He looks straight at Poindexter as he says it and gets to watch the most delightful flush he’s ever seen bloom to life over Poindexter’s face.

“I didn’t even hit you that hard! You just couldn’t hold onto the puck,” Poindexter started out looking a little offended and transitioned to a grin, a chirp, and a quick flirty once over that Derek was hoping in his heart wasn’t imagined.

Just to make sure, he made sure there was an extra lilt in his voice as he gave him the slowest up and down look he’d given anyone in a while (trying to make it in the NHL didn’t leave a lot of time to start a relationship, or even just hook up, with anyone with anymore of a normal schedule), “I’m sure you never have any problems keeping a hold of the puck.” Derek watches as Will, yes he’s Will now, even if it might only be in his head, notices and looks slowly satisfied. With that, Derek is content to see how the rest of the night unfolds.

Three hours later, he’s deep in conversation with Will about some artist that his moms are obsessed with that Will actually went to college with, when Chowder yawns and then stands up, “Alright you guys I’ll see you for breakfast! I’m going to call Cait before I go to bed, she’s finally home from practice.”

Jack mumbles his agreement before the two of them head out towards the hotel. Will smiles over at Derek, “It’s probably about time we head back too, can I walk you home?”

It’s a mark of just how much Derek has discovered he likes Will Poindexter in the last few hours that he doesn’t chirp him for the weak flirting game, or the fact that they’re staying in the same hotel and Will’s room is three floors closer to the hotel bar than Derek’s is. “I’d like that,” he told Will.

“I actually have a question to ask you first, okay? Don’t laugh. I know we just met, but I would really love to take you to dinner tomorrow night, like a real date. I know our teams don’t like each other, but it’s only like an hour long plane ride from Toronto to New York, and I just really want to be able to say I’ll get to see you again after this weekend ends.”

Derek thinks to himself that this might be how he dies, with the most adorable man in the world telling him that he’s perfectly happy to try long distance after only knowing each other for a handful of hours. “I would love nothing more than to go on a date with you, tomorrow and the next day, and the day after that.” They’ve made it up to Derek’s floor at this point, and he looks down at Will. “Meet me at breakfast at 10?” The way that Will’s eyes light up is almost too much for Derek to handle and he has to bend down to kiss his cheek before the night is over. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Sleep tight.”

As Will walks away, Derek watches him leave and then steps into his room to scream into his pillows. He’s got a date with a brilliant man the next day and nothing could be better.

[suitofvibraniumarmor]

Yours Truly [Part Seventeen]

Summary: The school year begins; Sadie accepts a date with a co-worker. Pairing: Chris Pratt x OFC, Chris Evans x OFC Word Count: 1580 Warnings: None? A/N: This fic was previously posted on my multi-fandom account; in honor of OC Appreciation Day, I figured I would queue it all up for your reading pleasure throughout the day! This was a collab with @captain-s-rogers , and I will link her chapters at the end of all of my posts! Some GIFs were difficult to find again, so if there’s no credit, they’re from Google Image Search or from the original post. 

August 12

Caroline,

It’s the first day of school, which means we can officially make phone calls to each other at will! I’m sure our letters will be more sporadic, but I’m still enjoying writing them.

Speaking of, forgive me that it’s been a while since my last letter. With inservices last week and nothing to do between but read and forget about Farmer Pratt on my downtime, there hasn’t been much to tell. I want to do like you say and go for it, but I look at Layla and I know how much it would mean to her to have her whole family back. Doesn’t mean I can’t sit for her every now and again, and I’m sure I’ll see her at the school. You’d be proud of me if you knew what I said to Chris on open house night, though. I’ll tell you about it when we actually talk on the phone, which I’m hoping will be soon.

I’m so excited for you – getting the President’s endorsement is HUGE! Chris deserves it though … about as much as you deserve him. I suppose I can’t really comment on that right now in my current situation, can I? I’m guessing that after the latest debacle (yeah, I did catch that much on the news) that you and Charlie have called it quits for good. So, hey, there’s the silver lining in all of this!

Well, I suppose I should touch up my lip gloss and head to the school. The kindergartners will come in small groups for just a couple of hours today, and then tomorrow it’s on to full days. Can’t wait to start teaching these little ones!

Yours truly,

Sadie

Having small groups of kids on the first day helped orient the kindergarteners to the new daily routine. Sadie could review the classroom procedures and rules with four or five of them at a time and it was far easier to manage than the whole class at once – especially for the ones who had not attended preschool and weren’t accustomed to being away from their parents in such a structured environment.

After her second group, Sadie had a lunch break and some plan time. She re-filled her water cup, ate a sandwich, and then set to work straightening a few things in the classroom. A knock on her door caught her attention just as she was getting ready to go meet the kids from her third group at the front of the school.

“Mr. Denning,” Sadie smiled. “How’s your first day going?”

The P.E. teacher smiled back. “Not too bad – always a little boring, going over rules and whatnot, you know. Especially for the older kids.”

“I would imagine,” Sadie nodded.

“You know, you can call me Cooper,” he told her. “That’s my first name. And maybe I could call you Sadie?”

“Of course. I don’t mind it at all, but I never know who prefers to stay on a last-name basis when I’m in a new building.”

“Fair enough,” Cooper nodded. “Listen, I don’t mean to be forward or come out of nowhere, but I enjoyed getting to know you a little better at inservices last week. Would you maybe like to have dinner with me tonight? No pressure or anything, just a friendly back-to-school meal at the diner. If that goes well, then maybe we can see where things goes next.”

Sadie considered him carefully. Cooper Denning was nice, a gentleman, and didn’t give her any creepy vibes. His offer was more than reasonable; not even necessarily a request for a date, just a simple invitation for dinner with the possibility of a date another time. Taking a deep breath and deciding it was time to move forward, Sadie gave him a polite smile and a confident nod. If nothing else, perhaps she could make a new friend.

“That would be nice.”

Cooper smiled, too. “Great. In the interest of keeping it friendly, how about if I meet you there at six o’ clock?”

“Sounds great,” Sadie agreed. “I need to go get my kiddos from out front, but I’ll see you tonight.”

Cooper waved and headed back for the gym. Sadie couldn’t say she was excited for her dinner with him, but she was looking forward to doing something besides spending the evening alone.

At the end of the day, Sadie was feeling better than she had in weeks. All of her small groups had done so well, and she was going to be able to get out of the house for supper. Chris and Layla were still on her mind, but she seemed able to push them to the back burner for now. They were figuring out their lives, and she had to figure out hers.

Of course, her peace couldn’t last. She didn’t mind in the least that it was interrupted by Layla excitedly running up to her in the hallway outside the main office, but she would have been happier had Emily not accompanied Layla.

“I have my own desk!” Layla said, jumping up and down excitedly. “And this is my backpack and ‘member this dress? You made it for me!”

“That I did,” Sadie said, unable to stop her smile. “Your first day must have been really good, you are full of energy!”

“Yep!” Layla said, galloping in circles around Sadie.

Emily spoke up then, telling Layla to calm down, and taking the girl by the hand. “Sadie, I’m glad we ran into you. Chris was going to call, but since we’re all here – are you available to babysit Friday night? Chris and I have a – a thing, and Layla’s been asking to spend time with you.”

Sadie nodded, although she felt somewhat hesitant. “Yes, of course. I’d love to.”

“Yay!” Layla cheered, beginning her galloping again.

Emily looked slightly irritated. “Layla, sweetheart, calm down, please. I already asked you once. Let’s get home.”

“Bye Adie! See you tomorrow at school and Friday at my house!” Layla called over her shoulder.

Sadie couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. It was nice to know that in the midst of everything changing, Layla was exactly the same.

The diner wasn’t terribly busy when Sadie pulled up, still dressed in the same clothes she had been for the school day. She had touched up her makeup once at home, fluffed her hair, and readied a few things for the next day before heading back to town.

Cooper was waiting for her on the sidewalk in front of the diner. He gave her a modest side hug when he saw her, then opened the door, letting Sadie pass by first before following her to a booth by the window.

They chatted casually about their respective first days, made their orders when the waitress came by the table, and then Cooper launched into telling her about some of the older kids in the school, starting with the ones who had younger siblings in kindergarten. Sadie appreciated having the background on her students, and Cooper made the stories especially entertaining.

In the middle of their meal, the bell over the door rang. The sound caught Sadie’s attention, and her eyes darted from Cooper to the door. The two people she had pushed to the back of her mind were once again at the forefront as she watched the Pratt family walk into the diner.

Chris and Emily were on either side of Layla, each of them holding her hand. Layla was grinning, Chris was smiling, and Emily was about as happy as Sadie had seen her in any of their few interactions. Once they got up to the counter to make their to-go order, Chris lifted Layla into his arms, balancing her on one arm while placing one hand at the small of Emily’s back to guide her closer to the counter.

Sadie’s attention was no longer on Cooper at all, and he noticed. He waved his hand in front of her face; she snapped back to attention.

“Sorry,” she said, blushing. “I, uh, got distracted.”

Cooper gave her a sympathetic smile. “Sadie. You can be honest with me. I know about you and Chris – thanks to Libby Anderson, I think the whole school probably does.”

“Fantastic,” Sadie sighed.

“Hey,” he said, reaching over to squeeze her hand. “Don’t be embarrassed. We all know that Libby is a gossip. I’m just sorry you had to be the subject of her gossip this time. I do want us to be friends, and if that’s all this becomes, then that’s just fine.”

Sadie couldn’t have been more grateful for how understanding Cooper was about the entire situation. She kept her eyes focused on him for the remainder of the time the Pratts were in the diner, and that helped to cope with the presence of the seemingly happy family.  

Once the table was cleared, the new friends didn’t linger. Cooper walked her to her car and thanked her for a good evening.

“Thank you, too,” Sadie replied. “I’m sorry if I made things weird, or disappointed you at all.”

Cooper waved her off. “We both have a new friend, that’s a good thing. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, yeah?”

Sadie nodded. “Yeah, for sure. Thanks again.”

“Anytime.”

She got in her car and left then, anxious to work through her new feelings over seeing the Pratt family in the diner, but not so anxious for loneliness to set in again once she was home.

Part Eighteen

[spell-cleaver]

2. Royal AU + 58. Accidental eavesdropping for whoever in the Skywalker family please? :)

I had to force myself not to continue this, I had so much fun writing it, but I might revisit it at some point in the future if I get the time :)

Prompts from this post.

The castle of Lord Vader was a terrifyingthing. It rose out of the volcanic rocks and ashes of Mustafar, guarded by atreacherous network of passes and continuous small eruptions from the volcanoit was situated on. The only way into the castle—the fortress, almost—was through one specific pass heavily guarded andwatched at all times.

It was one of the largest, most effectivemilitary strongholds in Palpatine’s Empire.

Luke had no idea how he’d managed to gethere.

He was a farmer.And sure, a wannabe knight, but that dream had always been so ridiculouslyunrealistic it was an insult to tell people when they asked. They’d only justlaugh at him anyway.

He was a farmer. That was all he’d thoughtthat he would ever be, until Palpatine went to war.

He’d heard the rumours before he got theconscription notice, of course. Alderaan, Naboo, Chandrila, some otherprosperous nations had joined together to object to Palpatine’s policies, andtheir objections had been violent. The unrest had only grown until half theEmpire was at war with itself, the Rebels derided as Separatists and theImperials derided as fanatics and slaves.

It hadn’t been unusual for both sorts to comethrough the bars of Anchorhead. Luke had worked there in his free time—it wasthe only way to make enough money to help keep the farm aloft and spend time with his friendssimultaneously—and he’d spoken to insurgent and loyalist alike, both scornfulof their enemy. Sometimes he’d had both at the same time, and they’d had toforce them to take the fight outside.

Blood would stain the dust and theirdoorstep, but so long as it didn’t stain the door itself Luke wasn’tresponsible for cleaning it off.

Then the war had escalated, and the Empirehad needed new troops.

And now Luke was here.

“Skywalker!” barked his commandingofficer, a gruff man with one glaring eye. “Stop dawdling and get back towork!”

Work. Cleaning the weapons and returning themto their owners. Painstakingly taking the inventory then checking then checkingit again. Hurrying back and forth to transport the water and food rations totheir corresponding places. There was no end to what the youngest, scrawniestmember of the Imperial Army would be ordered to do in lieu of actually training him.

He’llbe a liability in battle,the recruitment officers had scoffed. Lookat it, he’s got no muscle on him at all.

Actually, Luke did; you didn’t work on a farmyour whole life without it. But he was small, and that was a crime enough in anempire with ideas too big and grand for its reality.

“I’ve finished, sir,” he bit out, politely. He knew full well hiscommanding officer was going to strike or demote him or both any day now, buthe could no longer bring himself to care. “Is there anything else you’dlike me to do, or may I begin training?”

It was a stupid question, really. There wasalways more work to do. The Imperial Army didn’t need an extra soldier; itneeded a decent organiser.

It just needed someone who had their acttogether.

“Of course there’s more work to do,where do you think you are?” the officer snapped. He paused, narrowed hiseyes at Luke, then glanced down at his pack.

Luke followed his gaze. At the top of thepack, just peeking out, was a rolled up letter.

“Boy,” the man said, “deliverthis missive to Lord Vader.”

Luke’s eyes blew wide. The officer smirked atthe terror on his face.

The letter was bad news. It had to be bad news, if no one elsewanted to take it. And everyone inthe Imperial Army knew what Vader did to people who brought him bad news.

His commanding officer held the letter out tohim.

Luke, staring, made no move to grab it.

“Take it, boy,” the man said. “That’s an order.”

Luke took it.

The man gave a nasty smile. “Hurryalong, now.”

Luke swallowed, and looked up at the castleproper. He’d been camped in the courtyard this whole time; while soldiers weretechnically allowed into the castle, he hadn’t entered yet.

Well,here goes nothing.

He took a deep breath and started forwards.

It was nerve-wracking, and it wasintimidating, but he made it through the stringent security measures withouttoo much bother. An alert was sent up to Lord Vader to be expecting him, but toLuke’s dismay no one stepped in to say that they’d deliver the report in hisstead—not even the people who interacted with him on a daily basis. They justgave him slightly pitying looks, like they knew exactly what was going tohappen to him.

The stairs he had to climb up were numerous;for a moment, he wondered if exhausting any potential attackers was anotherpart of Vader’s defence. He supposed it also meant that people only wanted toclimb the stairs to talk to you if it was a genuine emergency, and he wasinterrupted less for stupid reasons.

From what he’d heard of Vader and histendency to… dismiss… any unwanted interruptions, the latter was probablymore likely.

The corridor he emerged onto was a  long one, just as barren of tapestries orother decoration as the rest of the castle. In fact, the impression Luke hadreceived so far from the place was that it was just… part of the mountain.

It was what it was: a military base. The factthat Vader lived here was irrelevant, and the man clearly expected everyone totreat it as such.

There were more windows up here, though, andLuke shivered. The wind whistled in through the slits, ruffling his hair andclothes and trying to tug the missive from his hand. He clutched it tighter.

Through the windows, all he could see was avivid orange and black. After a blink, it discerned itself into a continuouslava flow beneath what looked like the wreckage of a mining facility atop thevolcano. There was a particular ledge that stood out in the view, stark in thecontrast, and Luke had to wonder why the sight of that particular spot gave himsuch chills.

The wind picked up again, whistling. Thecorridor took on the note and thrummed, echoes reverberating all the way up anddown it. When Luke took a step that snapped like a thunderclap, and the roundof applause that chased it down the hall sent yet another coldness tinglingdown his back.

He kept walking anyway.

Now he could hear voices.

He instinctively slowed when he did, scoldedhimself, then sped up again. He would reach the door he’d been given directionsto, go in, hand over the letter, then get out of there. He didn’t need tolinger; he didn’t need to slow. Everything would be perfectly—

“—Skywalker?”

He nearly screamed. But whoever was speakingwasn’t addressing him.

He approached the door carefully. Voices camefrom behind it: one, an elderly rasp; the other, a coarse, gruff bark throughdamaged vocal cords. It was the rasp that had sounded earlier, and now itsounded again:

“Skywalker’s child is dead. As is his wife. I suggest youdon’t concern yourself with his memory,”there was a sneer in the word, “any longer.”

The coarse voice said, low and ragged,sounding thoroughly cowed, “Yes… my master.”

There was no warning save the hiss of clothagainst stone. Luke lifted his hand to rap on the door when it opened verysuddenly and an old man made to step out. Luke threw himself to the sideinstantly to let him pass.

Then he stared.

He knew that face. That was the face on theside of the coins he received whenever he was paid.

He belatedly threw himself to his knees, sohard the cold stone crashed into him and sent bruises all up his calf. Heignored it, keeping his head bowed. “Your Highness, I—”

Stoptalking, a voice inside himhissed. Don’t babble, and don’t speak inthe Emperor’s presence without first being spoken to!

He shut his mouth with an audible click.

He could still sense Palpatine’s assessinggaze on him, but refused to raise his eyes to meet it.

“Lord Vader,” Palpatine saidfinally, sounding like he was enjoyingmaking him squirm. “You have a messenger for you. Tell me, boy,” headdress Luke, “how long were you there for?”

Luke swallowed. “Not long, YourHighness.”

“‘Not long’,” Palpatine echoed.“Very vague. Were you eavesdropping?”

Luke shook his head vehemently. “Absolutelynot, Your Highness.”

“Hmm.” It was impossible to tell ifthe Emperor believed him or not. “Very well, go on in. I’m sure Lord Vaderis anxious to hear your news.”

He walked away without a backward glance.

Luke stayed kneeling on the floor, hesitating—

“You heard him,” that coarse voice—Vader—snapped. Luke could tell that hisire was growing by the minute. “Get in here and give me the letter.”

Luke hurried in, holding out the letteralmost before he’d lifted his head.

When he did lift his head, he regretted itimmediately.

The visage he saw was not the iconic helmetand death mask of the man responsible for so many of the Empire’s victories.For once, it was the face underneath.

Luke had never seen someone with more scars.

He was staring, he knew, but he couldn’t seemto stop.

Vader yanked the sealed letter from Luke’shand, sulphur-yellow eyes not moving off Luke’s for one moment. “How muchdid you hear?” he asked softly—dangerously.

Luke knew he was about to die, but he wasn’tabove begging. “Nothing of any importance, my lord—”

“Anything of interest?”

Luke couldn’t lie to Lord Vader, so he remained silent.

Vader noticed, and grew, if possible, eventenser. “Well?”

Luke hung his head. “It’s nothing, mylord.”

“Clearlyit’s not, and I expect an answer.”

“I thought you mentioned myfather,” he burst out. “Or— or me, or another relative, or someone,but you said my family name.”

Luke watched Vader’s expression shift subtlyas he though back over what had been said—the only name mentioned.

There was a moment of pregnant silencebefore— “Skywalker?” Hehissed the name.

Luke nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m Ensign LukeSkywalker; my father was—”

“Anakin Skywalker.”

Luke’s eyes widened, but he nodded.“Yes.”

Vader stared at him, and it hit Luke that hiseyes were blue as they moved over Luke’s face, his uniform, his stature. Thenthey locked gazes again, and it hit him that they weren’t just blue: they werethe exact same blue as Luke’s.

“Luke Skywalker,” Vader whispered.

Paper crunched. Luke glanced at the letterhe’d just delivered, to see it crumple in Vader’s fist.

Vader turned sharply and walked over to thetable in the corner. It was laden with maps and reports—battle tactics, Lukerealised, eyes wide—but it was surrounded by chairs. Vader pulled one out; itscraped along the floor with a sound that made Luke wince.

Vader took his seat on it, then gestured tothe nearest chair with his chin.

“Sit down, young one,” he said. Histone was oddly soft—almost hesitant. “It seems we have much todiscuss.”

[afreakingdork]

Review: Silver Spoon (Seasons 1 & 2)

“ Yuugo Hachiken is studious, hard-working, and tired of trying to live up to expectations he just cannot meet. With the ushering in of a brand new school year, he decides to enrol in Ooezo Agricultural High School, a boarding school located in the Hokkaido countryside, as a means to escape from the stress brought upon by his parents. Initially convinced that he would do well at this institution, Hachiken is quickly proven wrong by his talented classmates, individuals who have been living on farms their entire lives and know just about everything when it comes to food, vegetables, and even the physiology of livestock! Whether it be waking up at five in the morning for strenuous labor or to take care of farm animals, Hachiken is a complete amateur when it comes to the harsh agricultural life. Silver Spoon follows the comedic story of a young student as he tries to fit into a completely new environment, meeting many unique people along the way. As he struggles to appreciate his surroundings, Hachiken hopes to discover his dreams, so that he may lead a fulfilling life on his own terms.” 

It would be an understatement to say this was one of my favorite animes ever. I resonate on a deep level that I can’t even begin to understand with Hachiken. The story is incredible, the themes are relatable, the feelings are tangible, and I feel honored just to have watched it. I will have to scrounge the earth for a complaint but let’s save that for... 

Criticism: 

In S1E4 "Hachiken Bakes Pizza" It was a bit hard to stomach the fact that Hachiken is supposed to be this top student in his grade and he was too stupid to realize that he could just get all the pizza ingredients from the school...

YOU CANNOT TELL ME THAT THIS 

IS THE COVER TO A NORMAL CATALOG ABOUT COWS 

WHERE THESE BOYS ACTUALLY HAVE A SCARY RELATIONSHIP WITH LIVESTOCK!!!!

I hate how Tamako is in that trope where an overweight girl loses weight instantaneously for comedy and only then is she considered pretty. The only thing I can take solace in is the fact that she herself hates it and WANTS to be at what she considers a healthy weight. She even outright refuses staying thin because it makes her anemic. 

Also I cannot believe they left Vice Prez out in the snow in just his wooden dog house with no fucking blanket. He literally had to pop his head out of the snow he was BURIED IN. HE’S A PUPPY; HE COULD DIE!!

ALSO WAS NO ONE GOING TO TELL ME THIS IS BY THE SAME MANGAKA THAT DID FULL METAL ALCHEMIST WTF!?!?!?

Positives: 

Everyone eats food and food comes up in almost every single show you watch, but there are few pieces of media that are intended for purposes outside of showcasing food that truly understand it. This is one of those shows. It shakes me to my core how close this shows understanding of food lies with my own... 

Also these guys just want to eat! 

MOOD

M O O D 

This show is incredibly gorgeous. There is so much feeling and beauty in what is happening that even when the animation quality drops just a tiny bit in the second season (almost nothing, but I did notice when they started using some 3D to speed up some background stuff) you feel like everything that is happening is true. I mean this show has a disclaimer that comes with it about interacting with livestock and how you need to be cleanly. They knew what they were doing. 

That joke about finding the Colonel in a trash pile is a true to life hidden masterpiece that I never thought I’d see referenced in an anime... 

This show really makes me think about the agricultural system in a different way. I moved from a very urbanized area to a more suburan area that is flanked with many farms. Hell, I have a few friends that own livestock and farmland, but we live so close to civilization that you forget that it’s not like that in other parts of my country or the world. Such as in S1E4, I never really thought about the fact that farmers or people who live in rural areas don't really get a chance to eat fresh pizza. Or in S1E5 "Hachiken Runs Off" that crop circles are a burden on farmers because they reduce yield! From an outsider perspective pizza is everywhere and crop circles are fun things you watch about on the history channel...

You see these trees man? 

You see this water?

Ugh let me mention for the hundredth time how I actually am Hachiken? In S1E7  "Hachiken Goes Giga Farm", he is grossed out by the livebirth of a calf and point blank said that this isn’t some miracle of life this is gross and horrific. LIKE THANK YOU!? I’m so tired of the cliche of seeing a calf born and changing your whole damn life. IT’S GROSS!

The way they cut to the cicadas lifestyle to mirror the pigs’ and Hachiken's feelings are superb. It’s something you would see out of an incredible art film. 

In S1E10 "Hachiken Says Goodbye to Pork Bowl", they slowed down and while in any other situation Hachiken would just shout about how much he loves the food or how delicious it is. He instead screams about how bittersweet the moment is. My heart beats in line with Hachiken’s....It was SO REAL!

This show is an absolute master of relatable comedy... 

Tell me you don’t giggle just a little bit at this 

or this

I absolutely lose it. 

The themes in this show hit home and hit hard. Is that a baseball metaphor? Oh hell yeah it is and get ready to cry about it!!! 

Like I want to be reminded of this one a daily basis... 

I feel like I may be using pictures to illustrate my points more in this show than any other because I have a hard time putting into words how this show makes me feel. The show itself is actually just an illustration of how I feel inside. It says out loud things I’ve had bottled up in me for years and things that I never had the context to know I wanted to say. It makes me think that there isn’t this Japanese mentality culture barrier that I can’t get around because these characters (and by that I mean Hachiken) think like me. By extension the people around Hachiken support him like my friends do me and the show has a similar undercurrent of the true importance of friendship which I feel like gets undercut in so many anime... 

This is a show that even plays with moral gray areas and how there are multiple view points from any party involved in a matter. The show encourages just doing your best and trying to keep an open mind because all you can do is try to understand and be a good person. 

Verdict: 

Hell I’m gonna cry just writing this... This is a show that needs to be watched...

You just have to turn the key... 

Check out what I’m watching or other shows I’ve rated here. I also have a ko-fi if you like what I do~

[markandalaw]

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Pharmacists have a vital role in the support of scientists who are over the age of 60 and are free of diabetes, diabetes, and depression. The presence of intermédiaire in a unit of about 500 mg from the tip of a finger in a tube with a typical buse of 5 mm in diameter could be due in part to a lack of research. The use of sildénafil vaginally increases the thickness of the endometer in women who have been evaluated by an independent ethics committee or a national, regional, or investigational committee. It may be necessary to become used to injections, but this sort of therapy has a high risk of making you pregnant.

[absolutelyxosmittenxo]

Anonymous asked: If it's not to much trouble could we get some general relationship headcanons for winter, Glynda and raven please ?

{notes: fun fact - glynda was actually the first character to capture my heart, winter is so calming to write for me, and raven? she is a complicated woman volume five tailored to splendidly. now, I admittedly am inexperienced with these ladies, so hopefully I portrayed them properly. but regardless, thank you very much for requesting, and I hope you enjoy ❤}

－ ＷＩＮＴＥＲ ＳＣＨＮＥＥ ⭐

⭐ In the course of a procedure, Winter would be inclined to scold any of your misbehavior or foolhardiness. It's to project a smoother route for what has been relegated down to her. Never sheepish towards how imprudent you can behave every once in a while, but she wouldn't be reluctant to be verbal concerning such minor offenses. Don't fall out of line. The Atlesian calvarium thoroughly understands she can confide with you, your immeasurable faithfulness an object of unconditional affection. Even with your persistent silliness. And whoever said the eldest Schnee couldn't take part in your fun herself?

⭐ Abrasive geeks clacking against the asphalt, you and your lover would saunter throughout Atlas. No paladins crawling behind you, none trailing behind in a clunky, robotic march. General Ironwood wouldn't infringe on her spare time, not prodding with responsibilities relevant to the armer forces. You aren't to be tasked with being fearful of what lay beyond the outer reaches of the unknown tomorrow. Acclaim cultivates your connection, admiring what has been achieved in one another's years. Brief chatter sneaking in, marveling at the sights and such. It's an excellent time for her to forgive and forget and be around you in public.

⭐ Critique, constructive and degrading, has not stopped popping up in the esteemed fighter's life. She has conquered what comments were made, but sometimes those who are the most powerful require protection, too. It's a lovely surprise when you insist she trains you. You want to protect her, as it seemed nobody else was willing to be her valiant guardian.  The justification for your actions triggers emotion evaporated in the presence of others. You're doing it for her. Flattered, Winter rewards you for your hot pursuit however you wish.

⭐ Following a string of military tasks, Winter would be heaving with exhaustion once arriving home. It's suggested you prepare a little something nice for her, allow the blizzard to come to a still. Interruptions or anything that wind her up aren't anywhere. She would embroider your bodies as if they were a singular mold, propping you into her abdomen. Pursing her lips, the oldest of three would feel honestly weightless as worries die down. She can breathe; it makes you feel calmer, knowing the harshness of a potential war between kingdoms hasn't stripped you of your lover.

⭐ Public displays of affection? Dismayingly, there would be roadblocks. It wouldn't tarnish the upper class woman where she stands nor the reputation she must uphold. But keep in mind Winter is a maiden who would preferably bury those desires, conserving them. In private, she doesn't squander the chance to express herself. You would be appeased, dwindling in the liberality. Behind closed doors, she would be tangy as marmalade, passionate as you are littered head to toe with kisses and embraces galore. Not too excessive, not too little. Just the right amount. If you were to ever have an exchange of PDA, it would be the oh so subtle pressing of your palms. It reminds her you're loyal, at her side whenever she needs you to be there.

- BONUS: 

⭐ You are worthy of respect, in Weiss' book. How you have untangled the stubborn knot tied around her sister's heart would be stunning. Not many have seen that side of Winter. Winter holds a special place in Weiss' heart, being the only considered family - along with Klein - from the Schnee lineage she had. If you mean a lot to Winter, you mean just as much to her little sister.

－ ＧＬＹＮＤＡ ＧＯＯＤＷＩＴＣＨ ⭐

⭐ As the headmaster's assistant, Glynda would be strapped with numerous hassles. Dealing with the rambunctious huntsman and huntresses in the making, keeping order in good repair, mudslides of paperwork. Don't forget how she serves as a millennial protector of Remnant! The pay off though is admittedly gratifying. But the backbreaking work on a daily basis would leave wares and tears on her. As the stress accumulates, take action. Distract your sorceress from the heavy burdens she carries however you presume would be helpful. Massage the tension to oblivion. Whip up your finest cuisine (she'll be appreciative, even if your cooking skills aren't anything to write home about, or completely atrocious). Help out with the mountains of grading. Just let her have the space to breathe.

⭐ Slow dancing would be marvelous. Record spinning, the euphony is liquefied gold poured all over you as you are transported magically to a ballroom ripped straight from Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." Hands firmly clasped on her, shoulders bumping, thighs trembling with an easy going sway as you rock rhythmically. It draws a high resemblance to the obsessive fantasies of a young girl. Miss Goodwitch would be your fair maiden, you mastering the role of her dashing partner. 

⭐ Juveniles are naturally bringers of stress as they sort out their own ups and downs of the world. With those rampant hijinks, the captivating magic wielder could be reduced to a nagging although motherly contrast of her namesake. She'll preserve a second or two for your sake, comparable to buried treasures you carry in secrecy. But such duties must be attended to and interaction may be brief. Forgive Glynda, for under those set of circumstances, there won't be an abundance of PDA.

⭐ Disciplinary doesn't automatically translate to insensitivity. Home is where tenderness runs wild! Aversions nowhere to be seen and no troubles to speak of. Above all, you would shimmy on up to the highest peak where you are the highest priority of the one and only Glynda Goodwitch. She wouldn't hesitate to extrapolate your importance. Wholesome phrases, happy dazes, comforting squeezes and truthful answers to your "Do you love me?"'s. The headmaster's right hand woman couldn't imagine a better way to spend those select moments alone.

⭐ Restraint raises constraint on school conversation, but that doesn't mean any second would be wasted. Every fortnight, you would inscribe scriptures edifying all fractions of your ardor. Slipping them into your sweetheart's desk whenever she isn't around, you would be brightly illuminated all throughout the day wondering how she'll react. It would generate an admiring smile and gentle shake of her head. Glynda would always take your messages to heart.

⭐ The fall of Beacon was heartbreaking, especially for the professor. She doesn't express it often, but she holds every student near and dear, latching onto them and astounded at their achievements. Yet she couldn't protect all of them. As your lover mourns the fallen, raise her spirits, and grieve alongside her. Don't leave her alone - she needs you.

- BONUS:

⭐ Ozpin would rejoice at how you can assuage his assistant. He takes notice of her stress and your company has appeared to be a useful remedy. Occasionally, the wizard let's your romantic escapades slide, freeing you two lovebirds so you can flutter your wings. Particularly as his conscious has been converted into a disembodied voice infused with a young farmer boy, Oz knows he can trust you to comfort Glynda as you rebuild Beacon.

－ ＲＡＶＥＮ ＢＲＡＮＷＥＮ ⭐

  ⭐ "I love you"'s would be rarities, the intervals of it transpiring difficult to foretell. The language of exchanging amorous drivel doesn't suit Raven's fancy often. She's an arbitrary, cutthroat tribe leader expressing herself through the tongue of the pitiless to those threatening members. Don't measure her infrequent expressions as measly grains of salt. The scarcity shouldn't delude; every time she utters these three words, there is magnitudes of sincerity laced on them. No ruthless spatting injecting venom - honest and profound, rather.

⭐ The Branwen would be very territorial. She'll stamp you with her marking, . You would be front and center on the throne. Possessive at times, yes, but Raven wouldn't treat you as a prisoner. You're the Omega connected to her, the Alpha of the pack, by the red string of fate. You are confined, bound to one another. Two birds on a wire, as they say. You wouldn't be bidding her farewell soon.

⭐ Qrow's sister prioritizes stable authority. One mishap could deconstruct the gang of thieves and troubled souls who lick her boots. Thus, the rabenmutter would rebuke all public displays of affection as to maintain balance. She doesn't want to be mocked by her alleged family. Ridicule would in rather displeasing consequences.

⭐ Not to say you are an embarrassment, but Raven goes in line with the other ladies mentioned before. The clashes would be heavily secluded, as to avoid generating unwanted disturbances. Fervent as the daughter she conceived, the collisions strike, a match inspiring so much touch of vigor. Rough, straight to the point, never beating around the bush; no betrayal, no lies, no denial or force. Only what you would please.

⭐ Taiyang's departed lover would be very defensive over you. Flying in with a flash as her avian equivalent when you are in danger as she has done for Ruby and Yang,  eradicating the threat on sight. You'd given her another thing to protect, even as molten lava has sweltered. Your strength would be heightened as Raven aims to ensure you are battle ready. If you wanted to thrive, you must be strong enough to survive.

- BONUS: 

⭐ Based on how his sister has strayed, Qrow would be staggering from learning of your relationship. She was a strange one, only tamed once before by Taiyang. Though justified distance has strained their kinship, the bad luck charm would be thankful someone's keeping tabs on her.

[whiskeyxcola]

Yours Truly: Part Seventeen

Summary: The school year begins; Sadie accepts a date with a co-worker.  Pairing: Chris Pratt x OFC, Chris Evans x OFC Word Count: 1580 Warnings: None? A/N: Hope you enjoy the continuing series collab with @captain-s-rogers ​​! Don’t be afraid to ask to be on the taglist, and please let us know what you think! Also, keep an eye out for part eighteen, which Ashley will be posting later today! I say again … this man is hard to find gifs for!

Tags: @ellen-reincarnated1967 @crazililwabbit @catching-up-with-kayla @speakinvain @merlinlover

Masterlist

August 12

Caroline,

It’s the first day of school, which means we can officially make phone calls to each other at will! I’m sure our letters will be more sporadic, but I’m still enjoying writing them.

Speaking of, forgive me that it’s been a while since my last letter. With inservices last week and nothing to do between but read and forget about Farmer Pratt on my downtime, there hasn’t been much to tell. I want to do like you say and go for it, but I look at Layla and I know how much it would mean to her to have her whole family back. Doesn’t mean I can’t sit for her every now and again, and I’m sure I’ll see her at the school. You’d be proud of me if you knew what I said to Chris on open house night, though. I’ll tell you about it when we actually talk on the phone, which I’m hoping will be soon.

I’m so excited for you -- getting the President’s endorsement is HUGE! Chris deserves it though … about as much as you deserve him. I suppose I can’t really comment on that right now in my current situation, can I? I’m guessing that after the latest debacle (yeah, I did catch that much on the news) that you and Charlie have called it quits for good. So, hey, there’s the silver lining in all of this!

Well, I suppose I should touch up my lip gloss and head to the school. The kindergartners will come in small groups for just a couple of hours today, and then tomorrow it’s on to full days. Can’t wait to start teaching these little ones!

Yours truly,

Sadie

Having small groups of kids on the first day helped orient the kindergarteners to the new daily routine. Sadie could review the classroom procedures and rules with four or five of them at a time and it was far easier to manage than the whole class at once -- especially for the ones who had not attended preschool and weren’t accustomed to being away from their parents in such a structured environment.

After her second group, Sadie had a lunch break and some plan time. She re-filled her water cup, ate a sandwich, and then set to work straightening a few things in the classroom. A knock on her door caught her attention just as she was getting ready to go meet the kids from her third group at the front of the school.

“Mr. Denning,” Sadie smiled. “How’s your first day going?”

The P.E. teacher smiled back. “Not too bad -- always a little boring, going over rules and whatnot, you know. Especially for the older kids.”

“I would imagine,” Sadie nodded.

“You know, you can call me Cooper,” he told her. “That’s my first name. And maybe I could call you Sadie?”

“Of course. I don’t mind it at all, but I never know who prefers to stay on a last-name basis when I’m in a new building.”

“Fair enough,” Cooper nodded. “Listen, I don’t mean to be forward or come out of nowhere, but I enjoyed getting to know you a little better at inservices last week. Would you maybe like to have dinner with me tonight? No pressure or anything, just a friendly back-to-school meal at the diner. If that goes well, then maybe we can see where things goes next.”

Sadie considered him carefully. Cooper Denning was nice, a gentleman, and didn’t give her any creepy vibes. His offer was more than reasonable; not even necessarily a request for a date, just a simple invitation for dinner with the possibility of a date another time. Taking a deep breath and deciding it was time to move forward, Sadie gave him a polite smile and a confident nod. If nothing else, perhaps she could make a new friend.

“That would be nice.”

Cooper smiled, too. “Great. In the interest of keeping it friendly, how about if I meet you there at six o’ clock?”

“Sounds great,” Sadie agreed. “I need to go get my kiddos from out front, but I’ll see you tonight.”

Cooper waved and headed back for the gym. Sadie couldn’t say she was excited for her dinner with him, but she was looking forward to doing something besides spending the evening alone.

At the end of the day, Sadie was feeling better than she had in weeks. All of her small groups had done so well, and she was going to be able to get out of the house for supper. Chris and Layla were still on her mind, but she seemed able to push them to the back burner for now. They were figuring out their lives, and she had to figure out hers.

Of course, her peace couldn’t last. She didn’t mind in the least that it was interrupted by Layla excitedly running up to her in the hallway outside the main office, but she would have been happier had Emily not accompanied Layla.

“I have my own desk!” Layla said, jumping up and down excitedly. “And this is my backpack and ‘member this dress? You made it for me!”

“That I did,” Sadie said, unable to stop her smile. “Your first day must have been really good, you are full of energy!”

“Yep!” Layla said, galloping in circles around Sadie.

Emily spoke up then, telling Layla to calm down, and taking the girl by the hand. “Sadie, I’m glad we ran into you. Chris was going to call, but since we’re all here -- are you available to babysit Friday night? Chris and I have a -- a thing, and Layla’s been asking to spend time with you.”

Sadie nodded, although she felt somewhat hesitant. “Yes, of course. I’d love to.”

“Yay!” Layla cheered, beginning her galloping again.

Emily looked slightly irritated. “Layla, sweetheart, calm down, please. I already asked you once. Let’s get home.”

“Bye Adie! See you tomorrow at school and Friday at my house!” Layla called over her shoulder.

Sadie couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. It was nice to know that in the midst of everything changing, Layla was exactly the same.

The diner wasn’t terribly busy when Sadie pulled up, still dressed in the same clothes she had been for the school day. She had touched up her makeup once at home, fluffed her hair, and readied a few things for the next day before heading back to town.

Cooper was waiting for her on the sidewalk in front of the diner. He gave her a modest side hug when he saw her, then opened the door, letting Sadie pass by first before following her to a booth by the window.

They chatted casually about their respective first days, made their orders when the waitress came by the table, and then Cooper launched into telling her about some of the older kids in the school, starting with the ones who had younger siblings in kindergarten. Sadie appreciated having the background on her students, and Cooper made the stories especially entertaining.

In the middle of their meal, the bell over the door rang. The sound caught Sadie’s attention, and her eyes darted from Cooper to the door. The two people she had pushed to the back of her mind were once again at the forefront as she watched the Pratt family walk into the diner.

Chris and Emily were on either side of Layla, each of them holding her hand. Layla was grinning, Chris was smiling, and Emily was about as happy as Sadie had seen her in any of their few interactions. Once they got up to the counter to make their to-go order, Chris lifted Layla into his arms, balancing her on one arm while placing one hand at the small of Emily’s back to guide her closer to the counter.

Sadie’s attention was no longer on Cooper at all, and he noticed. He waved his hand in front of her face; she snapped back to attention.

“Sorry,” she said, blushing. “I, uh, got distracted.”

Cooper gave her a sympathetic smile. “Sadie. You can be honest with me. I know about you and Chris -- thanks to Libby Anderson, I think the whole school probably does.”

“Fantastic,” Sadie sighed.

“Hey,” he said, reaching over to squeeze her hand. “Don’t be embarrassed. We all know that Libby is a gossip. I’m just sorry you had to be the subject of her gossip this time. I do want us to be friends, and if that’s all this becomes, then that’s just fine.”

Sadie couldn’t have been more grateful for how understanding Cooper was about the entire situation. She kept her eyes focused on him for the remainder of the time the Pratts were in the diner, and that helped to cope with the presence of the seemingly happy family.  

Once the table was cleared, the new friends didn’t linger. Cooper walked her to her car and thanked her for a good evening.

“Thank you, too,” Sadie replied. “I’m sorry if I made things weird, or disappointed you at all.”

Cooper waved her off. “We both have a new friend, that’s a good thing. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, yeah?”

Sadie nodded. “Yeah, for sure. Thanks again.”

“Anytime.”

She got in her car and left then, anxious to work through her new feelings over seeing the Pratt family in the diner, but not so anxious for loneliness to set in again once she was home.

[labdiary]

From the Cultural Revolution to the Gene Therapy RevolutionMay 4, 2020

Guangping Gao, PhD, is professor and director of the Horae Gene Therapy Center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA. Over the course of three decades, Gao has made profound contributions in the area of adeno-associated virus research, initially working with James M. Wilson, MD, PhD, director of the gene therapy program at the University of Pennsylvania. Gao has received multiple honors in recognition of his service, expertise, and dedication. For example, he was named president (2019–2020) of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.

Gao has published 250+ research papers, six book chapters, and four edited books, and has fulfilled editorial responsibilities for several gene therapy and virology journals, including the Human Gene Therapy, a journal that Gao currently serves as deputy editor-in-chief. Gao recently spoke to Kevin Davies, PhD, executive editor of Human Gene Therapy, about his remarkable life journey and hopes for the future of gene therapy. (The interview originally appeared in Human Gene Therapy, Vol. 31, Nos. 3 and 4, published by Mary Ann Liebert. Kevin Davies, PhD, executive editor of Human Gene Therapy, conducted the interview.)

We will get to your preeminent research and leadership in the gene therapy field, but let’s start at the beginning.

Gao: I grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution. Around 1975, I was compelled to leave my studies and go to the countryside to receive additional “education” from farmers and peasants. My dream about new medicine really starts there. I interacted with farm laborers on a daily basis, and I saw many of them suffer from various diseases and painful conditions.

I was trying my best to use acupuncture and traditional medicine to help them, but I wished I could have some “magic medicine” to make a more substantial impact, particularly for the elderly and people with cancer.

In 1978, I was one of the first generation of students to enter college after the Cultural Revolution. I was admitted to a medical university in Chengdu, Sichuan. I worked on drug development and medicinal chemistry. In 1988, I graduated from the university and got an opportunity to come to the United States, sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO). I was looking for opportunities to develop the next generation of medicines that I had dreamed about back on the collective farm.

I started my PhD at Miami Children’s Hospital and Florida International University with my mentor, Reuben Matalon, a pediatrician and medical geneticist. He was a prominent researcher on rare diseases such as Tay-Sachs, Hurler, and Gaucher. His major contribution as a geneticist was the discovery of the biochemical defect in an inherited leukodystrophy called Canavan disease.

I remember it well—I published that paper in the early days of Nature Genetics!

Gao: Yes, thank you! I joined his lab in 1989. My assignment was to isolate the genes and the mutations responsible for Canavan disease. Working with my lab mentor, Rajinder Kaul, I discovered the gene and mutations for Canavan disease and published my thesis work in Nature Genetics in 1993.1

After that, I asked myself, what’s my next step? Because we saw many Canavan patients at these centers, we knew exactly what was going wrong with those kids. We had to figure out a way to fix it. In 1993, I decided to look for the next generation of medicine, specifically at the opportunities in gene therapy for genetic disorders. Finally, Jim Wilson accepted me as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Human Gene Therapy.

The first task Jim gave me was to create new generations of adenovirus. At that time, adenovirus vector was much hyped because it has a high transduction efficiency. Because we knew adaptive immunity/immunotoxicity is a major issue for adenovirus, we decided to cripple the virus further to make it more replication defective. This might prolong transduction efficiency and stability in tissues.

I spent about two years there, first making a cell line to complement the crippled virus. Then we used that cell line to create the further-crippled virus. (You need to transcomplement its growth with E1 and E4.) They called this third-generation virus at the time. We demonstrated that, yes, virus can reduce liver toxicity in mice and immunotoxicity and prolong expression substantially.

When I published that work in 1996,2 I said to Jim, “I’d like to move on and start my career in industry because I have two kids to raise.” I was 38 at the time. He said, “No! Why leave? I’m going to give you a job.” He told me they were trying to apply the next-generation adenovirus vector for clinical trials. There was a lab called the Human Applications Lab, a GMP facility at Pennsylvania Hospital where scientists were trying to grow the virus for multiple clinical trials, but they could not grow it well.

My career in gene therapy started from there. I spent about two years making the virus work. In the first two weeks, I was able to generate high quantities of virus. Jim was in his office, talking to a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer. I told Jim, “I got the virus, and they are 1013 or 1014.” Jim said to the reporter, “Now we can even swim in this gene therapy vector!”

By that time, we were doing several clinical trials in cystic fibrosis, ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC), mesothelioma, and others. By early 1998, we wanted to look for new viruses, the next generation of gene delivery vehicles. I started working with AAV prototypes such as AAV-2, AAV-1, and AAV-5. Those were the first serotypes to attract a lot of interest and development.

Who first identified AAV? Was it discovered serendipitously?

Gao: Yes, it was discovered in 1965 from some adenovirus preps. They called it adeno-associated virus (AAV) because when they purified the adenovirus and looked at it under a microscope, it was a very small virus in the company of the much larger adenovirus.3 I think Arun Srivastava and others sequenced AAV. Nick Muzyczka, Jude Samulski, Barrie Carter, and others started vectorizing—demonstrating you can create a vector in transduced cells very easily. Many groups then demonstrated that AAV can transduce animals in vivo. The difference is that adenovirus only sustains for a maximum of two to four weeks. But AAV—at that time, primarily AAV-2—can sustain for hundreds of days.

My first task with Jim was to figure out how to produce a scalable manufacturing process. I started making cell lines, creating adeno-AAV hybrids. I published a paper in 1998.4 We converted a transfection-infection system into a total infection system that generates tons of AAV. Working with my colleague Guang Qu, we developed a column purification system using heparin-binding columns in early 2000.

Then on September 17, 1999, this tragic event with adenovirus OTC gene therapy happened, and we lost 19-year-old Jesse Gelsinger. For the entire field, it was a drop from a peak to a deep valley. We experienced 10 years of dark ages for gene therapy. I continued my AAV work. We started the first AAV-2 limb-girdle dystrophy clinical trial with Jerry Mendell (Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH) and colleagues at Penn such as Hansel Stedman and Lee Sweeney. We started the trial using the vector produced with my manufacturing methods under GMP conditions.

After the Gelsinger tragedy, was there added urgency and commitment to establish AAV as an alternative vector?

Gao: Absolutely. We started working with adenovirus, based on the discovery by Yiping Yang (formerly at Duke, now at Ohio State). He discovered immunotoxicity of adenovirus. My job was to reduce that adaptive immunity to adenovirus. But we overlooked this innate immunity, this cytokine storm, which killed Gelsinger.

I had initially started with AAV-2, but we did not really think about AAV-1 and AAV-5, or about discovering new AAVs, until Gelsinger. Then we realized, when you compare the two vectors, adeno is much more efficient. But for immunotoxicity, AAV is much, much better than adeno. Jim and I thought, if we can find a virus as efficient as adeno but without immunotoxicity, that should be the future of gene therapy. Gelsinger was an additional driving force for me to discover new AAVs.

I started work in 2001, and soon we discovered a library of new AAVs in nonhuman primates. We published our first paper in 2002.5 That paper became the hottest paper in the field and gave us new hope to work on the next generation of gene therapy vectors.

How did that discovery come about?

Gao: Back in the winter of 2001, after we found some virus sequences, I presented the PCR data to Jim Wilson at a lab meeting. I could tell his mind was spinning:“Is this real or not?” After the meeting, he said, “Guangping, I think you stepped on a goldmine.”

I started with nonhuman primates. We found that we can detect AAV in any animal. You never run into anyone with absolutely no AAV. It is in any tissue. In any PCR reaction, I always found multiple AAVs. That tells you how diverse [it is], how rapidly AAV is evolving. Then we published our second paper about nonhuman primate viruses, demonstrating AAV evolution.6

At what point did you expand or focus the search for new AAVs in humans?

Gao: You can find AAV everywhere. You can find a different AAV in the same samples. That’s why AAV is amazing to me! As the initial discovery was based on nonhuman primates, I asked Jim in late 2002, “Should we move into human tissues?” He agreed. We discovered AAV-9, which is the first “super virus” for gene therapy from humans, in January 2003.7 Our objective was to develop AAV to be as potent, as efficient, as adenovirus for transduction. But we wanted them to have much less immunogenicity. I think we accomplished that (Figure 1).8

We did not go through the traditional viral isolate characterization. We focused on PCR amplification of the capsid because we realized biology is only determined by the capsid. We didn’t need anything else. We designed PCR primers in the conserved region and amplified through hypervariable regions, generating a new virus capsid with new biology.

When did you move to the University of Massachusetts?

Gao: I moved in 2008. At the time, under the Life Sciences Initiative, then-governor Deval Patrick gave $1 billion to promote biomedicine in the state. Our dean, Terry Flotte, and the chancellor, Michael Collins, wanted to take the momentum to set up three centers in gene therapy, stem cells, and RNA interference. They recruited me from Penn to UMass to set up the gene therapy center.

I continued my AAV discovery, and collaborating with Terry and others—including researchers at the New Iberia (Louisiana) Research Center, a non-human primate facility—we were able to get some primate tissues and start to look for AAV from chimpanzees. We discovered hundreds of AAVs similar to AAV-1, AAV-6, AAV-4, AAV-3, AAV-5, and even AAV-9, which I discovered from humans. I did not know other primates also have AAV-9.

How would you describe the repertoire of AAV vectors? To what degree can researchers adapt these vectors?

Gao: We have now isolated new AAVs from 850 human surgical tissue samples. And we have about 1100 new AAVs. We found large amounts of AAV-2, AAV-3, and AAV-8 in human tissues. My AAV-8 was initially isolated from monkey lymph nodes, but now we see it everywhere in humans. If you talk about the natural reservoir of AAV, I think there is still a lot there.

Of course, now the field has moved to new directions. In addition to a natural reservoir, scientists have started doing directed evolution, rational design, and machine learning. They will complement our original discovery. In the AAV field now, in the clinic, I’d say 98–99% is still the natural AAV as a gene therapy platform, but there are many other AAVs in development by those other methods.

What are the remaining hurdles? Is manufacturing still a challenge?

Gao: If we want to develop clinical AAV gene therapy and commercialize the drugs, we have to overcome four barriers:

Manufacturing. Currently, if you want to use a gene therapy for eyes, for localized delivery to the brain, you don’t need much. Current technology is good enough. But if you want to do things like Duchenne muscular dystrophy or cross the blood-brain barrier, it may require up to 1016 viruses for each patient. In commercial terms, the current maximum scale is probably 1018. But if you are going to use gene therapy and commercialize the drug, usually you need to be on a scale of 1020. We are at least one or two logs away. Generating large quantities of highly potent virus is the number-one barrier we face in the field. This contributes to a major portion of the high cost of gene therapy.

Immunotoxicity. As we are giving AAV at much higher doses, preexisting immunity, innate immunity, and adaptive immunity to capsids and transgenes will become an issue. Some immunotoxicity with high-dose injections is starting to show up. We have to manage this.

Choice. People ask me, “Which AAV do you recommend if I want to target the brain?” That’s a hard question because my understanding, based on natural AAV, is you can either have an efficient or inefficient AAV. There is really a lack of a true tissue tropism, a true cell or tissue specificity. It doesn’t matter how you create a new AAV, that is the area we have to fight for. Eventually we will get there. We’ll make a designer AAV for a certain disease and certain targeted tissue.

Expression. When we do gene therapy, we typically think the more expression, the better. Soon, we will realize that sustained expression at a high, superphysiologic levels may not be good. Particularly with some haploinsufficient diseases, you may run into problems.

References 1. Kaul R, Gao GP, Balamurugan K, Matalon R. Cloning of the human aspartoacylase cDNA and a common missense mutation in Canavan disease. Nat. Genet. 1993; 5: 118–123. 2. Gao GP, Yang Y, Wilson JM. Biology of adenovirus vectors with E1 and E4 deletions for liver-directed gene therapy. J. Virol. 1996; 70: 8934–8943. 3. Hastie E, Samulski RJ. Adeno-associated virus at 50: A golden anniversary of discovery, research, and gene therapy success—A personal perspective. Hum. Gene Ther. 2015; 26: 257–265. 4. Gao GP, Qu G, Faust LZ, et al. High-titer adeno-associated viral vectors from a Rep/Cap cell line and hybrid shuttle virus. Hum. Gene Ther. 1998; 9(16): 2353–2362. 5. Gao GP, Alvira MR, Wang L, et al. Novel adeno-associated viruses from rhesus monkeys as vectors for human gene therapy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2002; 99: 11854–11859. 6. Gao G, Alvira MR, Somanathan S, et al. Adeno-associated viruses undergo substantial evolution in primates during natural infections. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2003; 100: 6081–6086. 7. Gao G, Vandenberghe LH, Alvira MR, et al. Clades of adeno-associated viruses are widely disseminated in human tissues. J. Virol. 2004; 78: 6381–6388. 8. Wang D, Tai PWL, Gao G. Adeno-associated virus vector as a platform for gene therapy delivery. Nat. Rev. Drug Disc. 2019; 18: 358–378.

[designthinkersforfuture]

Coming up with an MVP.[Problems of the Informal Sector]

The Indian economy feels that this sector does not generate any economic value to the society. Informal sector populace thus feel that they are not an integral part of the society and often consider themselves as inferior. Covid-19 pandemic has struck them badly and they often have a fear of losing their earnings, as they already have problems fulfilling their daily needs of life. 

The Covid-19 Pandemic has negatively impacted around 90% of the street vendors. As no formal contracts are involved, thus even the security guards of our Country India get terminated without any reason. As these people are non-unionized, they further face many legal problems and need to pay money from their own pockets.

*I used SOME STAGES of DESIGN THINKING for trying to solve this issue to some extent:-

                                                 1. EMPATHIZE- 

We took in account interviewing 5 People from the Informal Sector to actually know regarding what issues they face in their day-to-day lives and how it has impacted them.

We created a Demographic Profile Table of 5 People from the Informal Sector of India. (All these details were been put in a tabular form).

NAME & WORK

AGE

GENDER

EDUCATION LEVEL

PLACE OF MEETING

TOTAL NO. OF FAMILY MEMBERS

INCOME

ISSUES & CONCERNS

1. Ram Singh  (Working in Panchkula as a Security Guard for the last 3 years & is from  Ludhiana)

43

Male

School Dropout

Panchkula Sector 8

3 (He, his wife and one son)

INR 7,500 per month

-Growing expenses especially due to the farmers protest  from Punjab.

-No proper lunch given by his owners after Covid.

2. Bini Singh  (A daily wage Construction Worker working at a Government School in  Panchkula, hailing from Kashipur in Uttarakhand)

51

Male

Class 12 Dropout

Panchkula Sector 7

4 (He, his wife and two daughters)

INR 300 per day

-Travel Expenses.

-Unstably employed.

-No decent clothing.

 3. Sonu  (Vegetable Vendor from Hisar and is currently living in Kanhaiya Village in  Gurgaon.

19

Male

Bachelor of Arts

Sector 43 Gurgaon

3 (He, his widowed mother and younger sister)

Barely INR 400 per day

-Due to Covid Lockdown, his mother who is a maid didn’t  get any work so he sent her to Hisar, which caused entire financial burden on  Sonu.

-Also, Sonu said that the vegetables he purchases from the  farmer become stale at his house, as the complete stock for the day is not  been fully sold off.

4. Adnana  (Fruit and Peanuts Vendor from Kanhaiya Village in Gurgaon)

31

Female

Class 10 dropout

Sector 43 Gurgaon

2 (She and her husband)

Between INR 500-700 per day.

-As she purchases fruits from the wholesaler, she finds it  more expensive than what the farmers give.

-The farmers living in Kanhaiya Village are hesitant to sell  her their produce considering her a lady and incapable of repaying the sum.

5. Susheela  (A permanent house maid working in a house in Panchkula)

41

Female

5th Class dropout

Panchkula Sector 7

4 (She and her 3 children)

INR 5,500 per month

-As she lost her Husband (who used to work as a lab  assistant in PGI Hospital in Chandigarh earning INR 10,000 per month) in  August 2020 due to Covid, faces financial stress daily raising her 3  children.

*AN INNOVATIVE PERSONA CHART WAS DESIGNED OF Sonu:

                                                     2. DEFINE-

We then interviewed the 5 Sets of people in detail and further defined the main Pain Points that were commonly identified in all the 5 Categories of People. These were as follows:

*Financial Distress

*Feeling of Instability in Working 

*Dissatisfaction from work

*Feeling that there is Unnecessary Wastage of their Resources.

                                                  3. IDEATION- 

Taking in account the problems of every person, we generated a list of ideas for solving their concerns. These were:

*Creating a sample business plan using the SHG’s for these people where we can use financial modelling in it.

*Creating a Website Portal and a WhatsApp Group where we can interact with them regarding knowing their preferences for work and how much money they need to earn.

*Creating a Database for these people where we can register them with their details to further persuade B2B Businesses to bring fresh startups for them to work in.

*Basic Tuition Classes on Technology and Gadgets will be kept twice a week to teach these people so that they can use it in the Tertiary Sector these days and get employed with a better income.

                                      4. MVP (Minimum Viable Product)- 

For this we took ahead a combination of Ideas 2 and 4 and used it as an MVP for our recipients.

*I took a class of Susheela (the house maid) and three other ladies she knew. *I taught her the basics of Computers/Laptops.

I Started to teach them about what is a PC, what all is been done on it and how it can help them in their life ahead. They before starting to learn it, raised 2 issues like:

*How will we poor people afford this Computer? *Our husbands won't allow us using the Computer.

                                             5. MVP VALIDATION- 

*As they had a Touch Screen Mobile-Phone and WhatsApp in it, so I told them to connect with me on WhatsApp Video Call and I will teach them from Gurgaon twice a week.

*I made a WhatsApp Group of 3 Maids working as a part of the Informal Sector in Panchkula. This will enable me to interact with them on a daily-basis. 

*I had taken 2 Classes uptil now and it showed a very positive feeling and motivation from their side, as well as they showed a lot of interest in understanding and learning about other problems like, Environmental Pollution and Waste Management.

*All the three ladies wanted to HAPPILY continue this learning method further. 

THANKS

[ladybuvelle]

On Kashuld Culture, Magic, and Vastaya

// Forewarning: As far as we know, Kashuld may not exist anymore in new lore, and my saying that Sona is from there is purely headcanon logic. She could be from somewhere else entirely. But until we’re told otherwise this is what I’ll be going with as usual.

Ionia is (generally speaking) a big, big place. So it only makes sense that different areas would have different language dialects and cultural beliefs. Kashuld is and has for a long time been the place someone went if they wanted expertly crafted items with magical enchantments. Crafters take a lot of personal pride in their work and enchanters are often pushing the envelope to see just how far they can go in terms of power in the items they work with.

Obviously, then, Kashuld prizes magical ability - and by extension sources of magic. Like air and water and wood and rock, magic is a resource. It’s as essential to life as any of the others, and even more so to non-humans in some cases. They can’t just suck up all the magic or else that’d be like drying up a lake and suffocating all the fish - and that benefits no one in the long run.

So people from Kashuld have a lot of environmental and personal awareness. They’re generally clean people, with bathing and proper hygiene considered very important. A well-off person of high social standing should be clean and well-groomed with unstained robes and neatly styled hair, but even a humble farmer is expected to wash their face, hands and feet before eating dinner or taking a proper bath before bed. Waste water is carefully disposed of in fields where the soil and plants can still benefit but where it won’t contaminate clean water sources. Wasting food is very frowned upon. Cutting down old trees or large sections of forest requires the province Elder’s personal permission, and even then these projects are usually supervised by mages that work under the Elder himself.

The biggest reason for all this, besides not wanting to “waste” or over-burden the laylines of magic in the area, is the locals don’t want to disturb the vastaya that may live in the area. Humans and Vastaya (generally speaking) have long had a tense kind of peace between them all over Ionia - with some areas knowingly or unknowingly shoving vastaya in magical corners due to their own negligence, greed, or need for expansion as populations grow. Kashuld isn’t any different, they simply try to be more mindful.

Which can be difficult, as despite people’s best efforts most vastaya who live in Kashuld don’t interact with humans. Or at least not in any official or culturally/socially meaningful capacity.

Unless they’re bothered.

And when a vastaya is bothered, they’ve usually been blamed for a water source suddenly being muddied or a food storage being raided, or (in the more extreme rumors) infant children were stolen and taken to the mountains where they became horrible chimeric creatures themselves. It’s of course unclear how true any of these stories or rumors are, but it’s enough to make people live their lives in ways that are more mindful - or else face possibly terrible consequences from these mysterious peoples.

All things considered it’s not a terrible way to live. Few people complain, certainly, and most all of these habits benefit humans just as much as it does the environment and the vastaya. But not having contact with vastayan tribes does make it hard to gauge just how well their efforts work. For all they know they’re still hurting vastayans just by being where they are and living their lives - and certainly they can’t just up and move away somewhere else. 

That’s also not to say that every person living in Kashuld is a saint. Polluting and littering are both terrible crimes, but that’s only if you get caught. (Even if the perpetrator doesn’t get caught, an entire village is likely to set out offerings and food for the vastaya to try and ‘make peace’ and apologize for the crime anyway.) There also exist few regulations when it comes to drawing magic from the environment, as the only people able to do so are high-level mages or those with access to devices that can take in mana, and those usually fall directly under the Elder’s concern.

Elder Randuin is a generally well-liked man with exceptional skill for crafting and enchanting alike, but some have questioned his ambitions in the past and his personal goals and feelings about the future. The Noxian invasion and occupation in the southern provinces never spread as far north as Kashuld, but it could have. And if that had happened, all the culture and environmental consciousness in the world wouldn’t have saved the people of Kashuld. Noxus would have taken their weapons and perhaps forced them to make even more destructive “toys” to kill their own people with.

With the vastaya remaining silent on these matters, Randuin feels he has no choice but to make the best decision for his people. The humans he’s responsible for. And that may include drawing more than the usual allotted amount of magic without making it known to the greater public. Experimental and highly destructive weapons are being forged on a need-to-know basis.

For the rest of the province though nothing seems amiss. All other daily habits flow as they have for hundreds of years with very little in the way of modernization outside the main city. While the city is a massive trade hub and home to numerous forges and carpentry huts and other craft-inclined facilities, the fields and mountains are where people farm and mine and forage for food, metals and medicines. Hunting is generally good in Kashuld, but is also just as regulated as any other resource. Fishing is more common in rivers. Foraging for mushrooms, herbs and berries is a popular activity for children to help provide for their families, and some local festivals even hold mushroom hunts as a competitive game in the fall. Most of these food-based festivals involve leaving portions as offerings to various nature spirits (as well as vastaya, though sometimes there is no distinction in the language between ‘nature spirits’ and ‘vastaya’ to people in Kashuld).

Monks sometimes pass through from the south on pilgrimages, while from the north come highly trained swordsmen on important errands to the Elder or beyond. Less monks pass through in the current day due to the invasion, while more swordsmen journey from the north than ever. Kashuld personally produces neither, having very few (if any) locally important warriors and prefers “priests” when it comes to matters of reverence toward gods and nature.

[rachelcarsoncenter]

As part of the ongoing series Silent Spring Continued: A World without Insects, environmental anthropolgist Olea Morris recounts how fieldwork in Mexico introduced her to the world of dung beetles. This post follows on from Olea’s Insect Profile on dung beetles.

*Featured Image: Dung beetle, by Olea Morris

By Olea Morris

In some ways, the dung beetles and I had a lot in common! Working as a volunteer on a farm in the highlands of Veracruz, Mexico, I was assigned the very unglamorous but important role of tending to the manure of the animals raised there. Every morning, I would put on my knee-length, white plastic boots, hike up a misty hillside in the heart of the cloud forests, and clean the stables of the sheep after they had been moved out to pasture for the day. It was monotonous work, using coarse brushes to roll the waste into heaps and push it through the gaps in the wooden floor to the compost piles below. I often thought of the dung beetles, which the farmers I worked with had pointed out to me, even though I never saw much of them other than the traces of their burrows in the pastures. I wondered how many of them there must have been, toiling on their Sisyphean tasks, spending their nights moving mountains, only to have them replaced the following day.

Sheep grazing on farmland pasture in Mexico’s cloud forests.

Parasites are a major problem for livestock farmers in Mexico – studies have found that dung beetles help reduce parasite numbers.

Whether they know it or not, local farmers rely on the work of dung beetles—the coprophagous (“feces-eating”) insects from the Scarabaeinae family—perhaps more than they realize. As they make their homes in and digest livestock waste, dung beetles integrate organic material back into the soil, making it available to microorganisms. They destroy the eggs of parasites, which constantly threaten farm animals with infection if left unchecked. Parasitic diseases are a major problem: despite regular treatments, health checkups, and pasture rotations, at least three lambs died during my fieldwork from parasitic infections. Dung beetles also tunnel and bury, and in the process move seeds about in the layers of soil—not only those left behind in deposits of animal waste, but seeds interred long before; a process which allows native vegetation to regenerate. The ecological services provided by dung beetles in these tropical montane forests are so great, in fact, that their presence (or absence) has served as an indicator of levels of forest destruction and ecosystem health.

Despite this close interrelationship with increasing rare forest habitats, the loss of old growth forest doesn’t always mean a loss of dung beetles—or at least, not a kind of loss that can be succinctly articulated. The regular presence of livestock animals means a steady supply of the very stuff that dung beetles live on—the substrate they consume and in which they reproduce and live out their lives. Unexpectedly, one study has shown that cattle grazing actually promotes biodiversity of dung beetle species assemblages (1). However, this particular study was based on comparisons not between farm and forest ecosystems, but between the species richness of pasture land and scrubland (scrubland being defined as an intermediate ecological zone transitioning between grazing area and forest). Generally speaking, it seems from this that the presence of cows, and hence, manure, usually means beetles—or to be more accurate, there is at least no reduction in species richness in grazed areas (2).

But looking in more detail at the community composition of dung beetles in different habitats can shed light (quite literally) on other aspects of dung beetle behavior. In a study measuring beetle diversity, for which cow pats were laid as traps for beetles in various spots in a pasture, researchers found that manure placed in the shade was significantly more attractive to some dung beetles than manure placed in open areas (2). Tree shade, it turns out, was important for protecting native and local beetle species from the sun. It seems that, within these promising numbers of “high diversity,” a story of loss can still be read: these researchers have shown that as forests are modified to pasture, local species die out and are replaced by more broadly distributed ones, as well as non-native species brought to the region decades ago. Tracing the beetle’s story this way seems circuitous: Are pastures then good or bad for beetle life? If forests make for better, shadier, habitats for native species, but scrubland in transition to forest appears to be worse for beetle diversity than grazing land, how should farmers interpret this information and plan their livestock rotations?

Marking dung piles during fieldwork.

Studying dung beetles, especially from an anthropologist’s perspective, always seemed to leave me one step away—I learned about them from the traces they left behind, or more precisely, the traces of their interactions with the traces of other animals. The people I spoke with during my fieldwork were deeply concerned about dung beetles: shepherds, scientists, and sometimes shepherds-turned-scientists. In the laboratory at the nearby Institute of Ecology in Xalapa, shelves of plastic buckets, seemingly filled only with soil, actually contained whole worlds within them. Opening them up revealed the lives hidden below the surface.

Inside the dung beetle laboratory at the Institute of Ecology, Xalapa, Mexico.Photos by author (with special thanks to Dra. Huerta Crespo).

Inside the dung beetle laboratory at the Institute of Ecology, Xalapa, Mexico. Photos by author (with special thanks to Dra. Huerta Crespo).

To see such creatures in the field, though, required hiking up through the forest to the hilly pastures, and using a keen eye to locate potential beetle homes in places where the cows had been the previous day. One shepherd, whom I worked with on a daily basis, made a study of the cow pats left in his fields, leaving some where they lay and burying others. Manure left in fields was a bad thing, both for him and his livestock: it meant higher risks of parasitic infections, less grass growth, and overall less productivity. Burying it, or hauling it away to the compost piles, might be a better solution, he reasoned, but he was curious: What would this mean for dung beetle populations? After all, less beetle labor (digesting and moving the byproducts of human agriculture) meant more human labor. A few days spent in the stables, I came to realize, will have you wishing for more beetle helpers in no time.

At the end of my fieldwork, dung beetles left me with more questions than answers: Where does ethnography get us if we are always a few steps behind our (elusive) subjects? How far down the dung beetle burrow must we delve in order to get a clearer picture of the human effects on these ecosystems? Are we measuring their losses—in species richness, or total individual count, or beta diversity—by our own measures, or theirs?

(1) Verdú, José R., et al. “Grazing promotes dung beetle diversity in the xeric landscape of a Mexican Biosphere Reserve.” Biological Conservation 140. 3-4 (2007): 308-317.

(2) Halffter, Gonzalo, and Lucrecia Arellano. “Response of Dung Beetle Diversity to Human–induced Changes in a Tropical Landscape 1.” Biotropica 34, no. 1 (2002): 144-154.

Tracing Landscape Change through Dung Beetles As part of the ongoing series Silent Spring Continued: A World without Insects

[margdarsanme]

NCERT Class 12 Psychology Chapter 1 Intelligence And Aptitude

NCERT Class 12 Psychology Chapter 1 : Intelligence And Aptitude Solutions 

NCERT TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS SOLVED :

Q. 1. How do psychologists characterize and define intelligence? Ans. : Psychological motion of intelligence is quite different from the common sensed motion of intelligence.

Generally people saw intelligence as mental alertness, ready art, quickness in learning and ability to understand relationships. Oxford dictionary explained intelligence as the power of perceiving, learning understanding and knowing.

Accordingly Alfred Binet also used these attributes and defined intelligence as ability to judge well, understand well and reason well.Later Wechsler gave a comprehensive definition in terms of its functionality, i.e., its value for adaptation to environment. He defined intelligence as “the global and aggregate capacity of an individual to think rationally, act purposefully and to deal effectively with his/her environment.”

Present day psychologists such as Gardner and Sternberg emphasized that “Intelligent individual not only adapts to the environment, but actively modifies or shapes it.” Sternberg views intelligence as “ the ability to adapt, to shape and select environment to accomplish ones goals and those of ones society and culture.” Q. 2.What extent is our intelligence the result of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture)? Ans. :

(i) Whether intelligence is evolved or it is developed due to the environment, is a question of debate. (ii) Lot of studies have been done to determine the role of nature and nurture. (iii )Here we will discuss the controversy with the help of various twin studies, adoption studies and environmental studies.

On the basis of twin studies co-relation results are as follows: (i) Identical twins reared together correlate 0.90 (ii) Identical twins reported early in childhood and reared in different environments correlate 0.72 (iii) Fraternal twins reared together correlate 0.60 (iv) Siblings reared together correlate 0.50 (v) Siblings reared apart correlate 0.25

Adoption Studies before the Age of 6-7 Years These studies of adopted children show that children’s intelligence is more similar to their biological parents. These studies provide evidence that intelligence is determined because of nature.

Adoption Studies after the Age of 6-7 Years According to these studies as children grew older tends to more closer to that of their adoptive parents. Environmental Studies Evidence for the influence of environment (Nurture) on the basis of Twin studies. (i) The intelligence score of twins reared apart as they grew older, tends to more closer to that of their adoptive parents. (ii) On the basis of differences in environment, children from disadvantaged homes adopted into families with higher, socio-economic status exhibit an increase in their intelligence scores. (iii) Environmental deprivation lowers intelligence. Factors such as nutrition, good family background and quality schooling increase growth rate of intelligence. (iv) There is general consensus among psychologists that intelligence is a product of complex interaction of heredity (Nature) and environment (Nurture). (v) Heredity provides the potentials and sets a range of growth whereas environment facilitates the development of intelligence. Q. 3. Explain briefly the multiple intelligences identified by Gardner. Ans. : Gardner’s theory based on information processing approaches functions on three basic principles: (i) Intelligence is not a single entity, there exist multiple intelligences. (ii) The intelligences are independent from each other. (iii) Different types of intelligences work together to provide a solution of problem. Gardner has so far proposed eight intelligences, however all individuals do not possess them in equal proportion. The particular situation or the context decides the prominence of one type of intelligence over the others. Following are the eight types of intelligence:

1. Linguistic: This is related to reading, writing, listening, talking, understanding etc. Poets exhibit this ability better than others.

2. Logical-Mathematical: This type of intelligence deals with abstract reasoning and manipulation of symbols involved in numerical problems. It is exhibited in scientific work.

3. Spatial: This type of intelligence is involved in perceiving third dimension formation of images. It is used while navigating in space, forming, transforming and using mental images. Sailors, engineers, surgeons, pilots, care drivers, sculptors and painters have highly developed spatial intelligence.

4. Musical: Persons with musical intelligence show sensitivity to pitch and tone required for singing, playing and instrument, composing and appreciating music etc.

5.Bodily Kinesthetic: It requires the skills and dexterity for fine coordinated motor movements, such as those required for dancing, athletics, surgery, craft making etc.

6.Inter-personal: It requires understanding of motives, feelings and behaviours of other people.sales people, politicians, teachers, clinicians and religious readers have high degree of inter-personal intelligence.

7. Intra-personal: It is related to understanding one’s self and developing a sense of identity, e.g., philosophers and spiritual leaders.

8. Naturalistic: It is related to recognizing the flora and fauna, i.e., natural world and making a distinction in the natural world. It is more possessed by hunters, farmers, tourists, students of biological sciences etc. Q. 4. How does the Triarchic theory help us to understand intelligence?  Ans. :

1. Robert J. Sternberg proposes a theory of intelligence based on information processing approach in 1985 known as the Triarchic theory of intelligence.

2. According to Sternberg, intelligence is an ability to adapt, to shape and select environment to accomplish ones goals and those of ones society and culture.

3. This theory attempts to understand the cognitive processes involved in problem solving.

4. According to him there are three types of intelligences:

(i) Componential intelligence (Analytical): This dimension specifies the cognitive processes that underlie an intelligent behaviour. This dimension serves three different functions: (a) Knowledge acquisition components: These are the processes used in learning, encoding, combining and comparing information. (b) Metacomponents: ‘Meta’ means higher. These are executive processes. They control monitor and evaluate cognitive processing. (c) Performance components: These components execute strategies prepared by metacomponents to perform a task.For example, While studying students plan the lesson chapterwise, they make schedules, categories the learning material and do integrate the information to comprehend well.

(ii) Experiential intelligence (Creative): This dimension specifies how experiences effect intelligence and how intelligence effects a person’s experiences. (а) Experiential intelligence refers to an individual’s ability to make use of one’s past experiences to deal with novel situations creatively and effectively. (b) This intelligence is mostly high among scientists and creative people. (c) For example if a person is trapped in a room, he finds out a way of coming out of the room using rope or ladder etc. in a creative way. He had some knowledge of getting out from this situation by watching out a movie few years back.

(iii) Contextual intelligence (Practical): This dimension specifies the ability to deal with environmental demands on daily basis. (a) It is individual’s ability to make use of his/her potential to deal with day-to-day life. (b) It may be called street smartness or ‘business sense’. (c) People high in this ability are successful in life.

It deals with the ways people handle effectively their environmental demands and adapt to different contexts with available resources.

Q. 5. Any intellectual activity involves the independent functioning of three ‘neurological systems’. Explain with reference to PASS model. Ans.: According to PASS model, theory based on information processing approach, intellectual activity involves the interdependent functioning of the three neurological systems called the functional units of the brain. These units are responsible for:

The arousal and attention. • the simultaneous and successive processing.

The planning.

Arousal and Attention (i) State of arousal helps in attending to the stimuli. (ii) Arousal and attention enable a person to process information. (iii) Optimal level of arousal focuses our attention on relevant aspects of a problem. (iv) Too much or too little arousal interferes with attention and performance. Example: Arousal helps the individual to focus ones attention on reading, learning and revising the contents of the material to be learnt.

Simultaneous and Successive Processing: Simultaneous Processing refers to perceiving relations amongst various concepts and integrate them into meaningful patterns for comprehension! For e.g., in Raven’s standard progressive matrices (RSPM Test) choosing appropriate pattern by comprehending relationship. Successive Processing refers to recalling information serially so that one recall leads to another recall. For example, learning of digits and letters and multiplication tables.

Planning: 1. After the information is attended to and processed, planning is activated. 2. Planning involves reaching to the target and evaluating their effectiveness. Planning allows us to think of possible courses of action and implementing them. 3. If a plan does not work, it is modified to suit the requirements of the task or the situation. 4. For example, to take a test scheduled by your teacher, you’d have to set goals, plan a time schedule of studies, get clarifications in case of problems or think of other ways to meet your goals. Q. 6. Are there cultural differences in the conceptualisation of intelligence? Ans. : Yes, culture, which is a set of beliefs, customs, attitudes and achievements in art of literature, affects the process of intellectual development.

According to Sternberg, intelligence is a product of culture.

Vyotsky believes that while elementary7 mental operations are common, higher mental activities like problem-solving and thinking are culturally produced.

Technological Intelligence (i) Promotes an individualistic pattern of action. (ii) Individuals in technologically educated western societies possess this kind of intelligence. (iii) They are well versed in skills of attention, observation, analysis, speed, moves abstraction, generalisation, creativity, Minimum moves etc.

Integral Intelligence (i) Intelligence in the Indian tradition is integral intelligence. (ii) It views intelligence from a holistic perspective. (iii) It gives equal attention to cognitive and non-cognitive processes, as well as their integration. (iv) ‘Buddhi’ is the knowledge of one’s own self based on conscience, will and desire. (v) It has effective, motivational as well as cognitive components. .

It includes: (i) Cognitive competence (discrimination, problem-solving). (ii) Social competence (respect for elders, concern for others, respecting opinions of others). (iii) Emotional competence (self regulation, self monitoring). ‘ (iv) Entrepreneurial competence commitment, persistence, patience). Q. 7. What is IQ? How do psychologists classify people on the bases of their IQ scores? Ans. :

(i) IQ is an index of brightness. (ii) It is the ratio of mental age to chronological age. (iii) The concept of IQ was given by William. Stern w7ho gave the formula to calculate IQ i.e.,

IQ is relatively stable.

It is a good predictor of potential.

IQ scores are distributed in a population in such a way that most people tend to fall in the middle range of the distribution.

This can be shown in the form of following table.

Q. 8.Discuss various types of intelligence tests. Or How can you differentiate between verbal and performance tests of intelligence? Ans.: Types of Intelligence Tests: Individual or group tests based on contact: .

Individual Test: (i) Administered to one individual at a time. (ii) Requires the administrator to establish a rapport with the subject and be sensitive to his/her feelings, mood and expressions during the testing sessions which provides understanding of other aspects of subjects personality. (iii) Allows people to answer orally or in written form or manipulate the objects as per the tester’s instructions.

Example: Stanford Binet intelligence scale, WAIS, WISSC, Alexander Pass along test. Group Test: (i) Administered to several individuals at a time simultaneously. (ii) Do not allow an opportunity to be familiar with the subjects’ feelings. (iii) Seek answers in a Multiple-choice format. (iv) It is relatively economical and less time consuming. (v) Example: Group Test of Intelligence by Prayag Mehta, Group Test on Intelligence by S. Jalota.

Verbal, Non-verbal and Performance Tests based on Mode of Administration: Verbal Tests: (i) Requires subject to give verbal responses either orally or in written form. (ii) Can be administered to literates only. , (iii) Example: CIE, Verbal Group Test, Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale.

Non-verbal Test:

Has pictures or illustrations as test items.

Example: Ravens progressive matrices. In this test the subject examines an incomplete pattern and chooses a figure from the alternatives that will complete the pattern.

Reduces culture biases.

Example: SRPM, CIE Non-verbal group test of Intelligence.

Performance Test:

Requires the subject to manipulate objects to perform the test.

Written language is not necessary for answering the items.

Example: Kohs’s Block designs test. Here the subject is asked to arrange the blocks in a specified period to produce a given design, Bhatia’s Battery performance test.

Can be administered to persons from different cultures and reduce culture biases.

Example: Draw a Man Test by Pramila Pathak, Kohs Block designs test.

Culture Biased or Culture Fair Tests based on Nature of Items used:

Psychological tests that show a bias toward the culture in which they are developed are Culture Biased Tests.

Tests developed-in-America and Europe represent an urban and middle class cultural ethos. (Middle class white subjects perform well on these tests). The items do not consider favourably to Asians and Africans.

Culture Fair Tests: One does not discriminate against as individuals belong to different cultures.

Non-verbal and Performance Tests reduce cultural influences.

To overcome the limitation of Culture biased tests, Culture fair tests were developed, e.g. non-verbal and performance tests are called so because people of any culture could take them. For e.g. Standard progressive Matrices and Bhatia’s Battery Performance Test. Q. 9. Discuss how interplay of Nature and Nurture influences intelligence. Or All persons do not have the same intellectual capacity. How do individuals vary in their intellectual ability? Explain.  Ans.: All persons do not have the same intellectual capacity. They vary in their intellectual ability. Some are exceptionally bright and some are below average. Some possess high IQ range while others have average or below average. All the scores gradually and symmetrically decline towards both the sides but never touch the X-axis.

(i) The frequency distribution for the IQ scores tends to approximate a bell-shaped curve, called the normal curve. This type of distribution is symmetrical around the central value, called the mean.

(ii) On the basis of IQ, people are classified in different groups. It is clear that only 2.2 percent people who possess above 130 IQ range are very intelligent or very superior, their IQ score is more than 130.

(iii) People falling between 90-109 IQ range are considered as average. The mean IQ score in a population is 100. People with IQ scores in the range of 90-110 have normal intelligence.

(iv) Those with IQ below 70 are suspected to have ‘mental retardation’. Mental retardation refers to sub-average intellectual functioning. The behaviour is maladaptive and manifest in four forms i.e., mild, moderate, severe and profound mental retardation.

The extreme right also lie to 2.2 percent population which are known as gifted i.e., they enjoy exceptional intelligence, exceptional talent and exceptional creativity.

Q. 10.Which of the two lQ or EQ, do you think would be more related to success in life and Why? Ans. :

(i) IQ is a good predictor of potential. (ii) EQ is a good predictor of success. -Researchers had proved that—EQ helps in dealing with students who are stressed and face challenges of the outside world. -It improves the academic performance. -It is very useful in preparing students to face the challenges of life outside the classroom. -They are less anti-social and more co-operative. Q. 11. How is ‘Aptitude’ different from ‘interest1 and intelligence? Ans. : Aptitude: (i) Aptitude refers to combination of characteristics indicative of an individual’s potential to acquire some specific skills with training. (ii) It is specific mental ability or teach ability of an individual to learn a particular skill. (iii) It is the potentiality to perform a particular activity. (iv) Aptitude is a determiner to learn a particular skill.

Interest: (i) Interest refers to preference for a particular activity or what one enjoys doing. (ii) Interest are acquired/learnt. (iii) Interest is a facilitator. An individual with high scientific aptitude having strong interest in mechanical activities is more likely to be successful mechanical engineer. (i) Intelligence is a global and aggregate capacity of an individual to think rationally, act purposefully and to deal effectively with her/his environment. (ii) Intelligence is a general mental ability. (iii) It is product of heredity and environment. (iv) It does not require training for the growth. Q. 12.How is creativity related to intelligence? Or How creativity and creativity tests are related but different from each other? Ans. : Creativity and intelligence are positively correlated because high ability is component of creativity, A highly intelligent person may not be creative but all the creative persons are definitely high in intelligence. _ (i) Creativity is the ability to produce ideas, objects, or problem solutions that are novel, appropriate and useful. (ii) Intelligence is subset of creativity. (iii) Terman found that persons with high IQ were not necessarily creative. The same time, creative ideas could come from persons who did not even one of those identified as gifted, followed up through out their adult life, had become well known for creativity in some field. (iv) Researchers have found that both high and low level of creativity can be found in highly intelligent children and also children of average intelligence. The same person can be creative as well as intelligent but it is not necessary that intelligent once must be creative.

Creative tests are different from intelligence tests: (i) Creative tests measure creative thinking ability whereas intelligence tests measure general mental ability. (ii) Creative tests measure convergent and divergent thinking whereas intelligence test measure convergent thinking only. (iii) Creative tests measure imagination and spontaneous expression to produce new ideas, to see new relationship, to guess causes and consequences and ability to put things in a new context. Intelligence tests measure potential. (iv) In creative tests questions are open-ended that have no specified answers whereas intelligence tests mostly use close-ended questions.

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