#John Hartmann

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"If a religion suggests that the followers have any rights over a dissenter, that is precisely why that religion must be denigrated and denied."

-- John Hartmann

Your religion and its rules apply to you, not us.

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Henry Seymour (i.e. Helmut Henry Hartmann) - Infernal Idol - John Gifford - 1967

[arlengrossman]

Are Billionaires Simply Money Addicts - Like Scrooge McDuck?

Why are the GOP and billionaires so committed to gutting worker protections while increasing the wealth of the top one percent? By Thom Hartmann/ HartmannReport.com/ May 7, 2024 Do elite Republicans and the CEOs who fund them hate working people? Or are they simply unable to control themselves, even when deep down inside they know they’re ruining America? In Ohio, there’s a growing statewide…

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have Heartbreak Ridge

[filosofablogger]

We Cannot Sit Back And "Hope For The Best"!!!

Thom Hartmann is among my favourite political writers, and he has a way of analyzing and explaining issues with a bit of dry humour thrown in to keep it interesting.  The following piece is from nearly two weeks ago, but it’s worth sharing even now …  (Note:  all links open in a separate tab) The Swiftboaters are Back with the Biden Impeachment Slander campaigns like this must instead be hit…

[deke-rivers-1957]

Scott's World of Tomorrow

It was February 1956, a young Scott Heyward had just turned 16 years old. His father, Duster Heyward of Heyward Oil is about to spoil him.

"Well son taday's yer birthday. What do ya wanna do?"

"Can we go to Disneyland Pa? They have a whole section called Tomorrowland and a race car track called Autopia."

Mr. Heyward smiles as he claps Scott's shoulder.

"Tha's mah boy. Disneyland's gonna be a great client ta have. Can't be runnin no rides without oil."

"Yeah and maybe if they have real cars there I can take some notes for the research department."

Mr. Heyward chuckles as he goes to the phone.

"Ah'll just let yer tutor know yer goin on a field trip. That oughta make 'em happy yer doin yer science project."

"Ok, Pa."

Time Skip

"Alright then son. Ah'm gonna be talk with some a Disney's people. They said some fella named Bob Gurr's gonna be walkin ya through Autopia."

"Wow. Thanks Pa!"

Scott sits down on a bench with his camera and notepad. A young man his 20s approaches him.

"Are you Scott Heyward?"

"Yes. Are you Mr. Gurr?"

"That I am. Just call me Bob today. It's really an honor to have you and father come to the park today."

The two shake hands and start to walk to Tomorrowland.

"Now as you can see, the Moonliner was designed by one of my colleagues, John Hench and of course sponsored by Howard Hughes of Trans World Airlines."

Scott takes some pictures as they walk through the attraction. They get to the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry.

"Are you familiar with Monsanto, Scott?"

"Oh yes. I was only 7 when they had that explosion down in Texas City. Pa sent a crew to bring oil down to the site. He managed to get a deal where we can have a couple ships down at the port."

Bob nods. Eventually they make it to Autopia.

"Now this is what I helped design. I used what I learned from working with Ford."

"You worked with Ford? What did you do?"

"Well I helped design the Lincoln Continental. I published a few books on automotive design and that's what brought Mr. Disney's attention over to me. He wanted me to analyze the chassis for these cars. Originally designed by Hartmann Engineering, they were having issues regarding the ability to be mass produced. Too noisy and smokey with a lot of vibration. Eventually the company dropped out so I was brought on permanently to come up with a different design."

Scott's writing all of this down the best he can. Mr. Gurr's slowly turning into an idol.

"So where did you get the design for the cars? They don't look like anything I've ever seen."

"Take a closer look. If you're familiar with Porsche, I took the idea of their 54 550 Spyder and combined it with the recent custom made Italian Ferraris. Of course the Chevrolet Corvette also served as inspiration."

"Wow."

Bob continues telling his story. Scott listens to every word including everything about engineering he has yet to learn.

"What make are these cars now?"

"Currently these are the Mark II's. I had to fix the chassis so they can accommodate a sturdier, smoother-running engine. We've been getting a lot of youngsters so it was necessary to add booster seats and extensions on the peddles. I just finished a prototype for the Mark III and already started work on the Mark IVs"

"Why? What's wrong with these models?"

"Longevity and ease of repair. With how popular this attraction is getting it's only a matter of time before these cars will need repairing. Every month we're learning something new about what people like and don't like about the car. Just goes to show that even when a product is a success, there's still a lot that needs to be done to perfect it."

Scott writes this down as Bob finishes talking.

"Would you like to ride in one of these, Scott?"

"Yes! I'd love to."

Bob chuckles as they wait in line to ride in one of the cars.

Time Skip

"How was yer trip son?"

"I loved it Pa. Mr. Gurr let me take so many pictures and showed me all of Tomorrowland."

Mr. Heyward smiles as they make their way back to Texas. Scott would recite his notes and Bob's story. His father could only nod along as he never really got into the science side of business.

"Well Ah bet yer science project'll turn out real good."

"Oh yeah Pa. Until science finds a better way, everything needs oil. Even the rockets."

"Thatta boy. Yer gonna be takin Heyward Oil inta space."

Scott smiles and sits back in his seat. He starts to fantasize about making his own world of tomorrow.

AN: Shoutout to @xanatenshi for requesting this story.

Tagging: @mercsandmonsters, @georgefairbrother, @imaginationlast, @hooked-on-elvis, @arrolyn1114,

@teamnefarious​, @blighted-star, @ab4eva, @thetaoofzoe, @vintagepresley,

@myradiaz, @jaqueline19997, @kiankiwi, @ahundredlifetime, @mydarlingelvis,

@tupelomiss, @elvispresleywife, @karel-in-wonderland, @tacozebra051, @sillybookmarks,

@dusintv, @velvetelvis, @livelaughelvis, @slayingjd, @anamiad00msday,

@mistyspresley, @i-r-i-n-a-a, @yoooooooh, @southcarolinawoman, @peaceloveelvis,

@squaggleson, and @idk583838.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Caller asks if Trump will reveal himself as the Antichrist — many believe he already has

Thom Hartmann

September 10, 2024 2:17PM ET

A supporter of former President Donald Trump wears a pro-Trump t-shirt at a Trump campaign rally at an outdoor fairgrounds, April 13, 2024 in Schnecksville, Pa. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

A listener called into my program recently and asked, “Is Donald Trump the Antichrist and, if so, will he reveal himself at the debate?”

I passed on drawing a conclusion, but then the lines lit up with a steady stream of people over the next few hours offering their “proofs” that Trump was, in fact, the Evil One come to ravage the Earth. That he’s a literal and iniquitous thaumaturge. My first caller clearly hit a nerve.

It’s a fascinating question, though, whether put literally or metaphorically.

Asking the question literally requires a belief in the actual reality of a Son-of-God Christ figure and of an Antichrist opponent of nearly equal but opposite power. This sort of thing fills the Bible, and I’ll get to that in a moment.

But first consider the question from the secular perspective, which argues these two terms represent, at their core, metaphors for the embodiment of good and evil.

In this context, then, a more accurate question is: “Is Donald Trump evil, and thus an antichrist?”

In The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke in the plural when he predicted “false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.”

After warning that grifters and con artists (in secular terms)would try to exploit His followers, He said, “by their fruits ye shall know them.”

Trump’s “fruits” are pretty obvious:

More than twenty women have accused him of rape and sexual assault.

Hundreds of contractors, customers and employees have accused him of stealing from them or refusing to pay them (or both), as have members of his own family

Throughout his presidency, he lied over 30,000 times and continues to lie daily

He pits Americans against each other by race, religion, and region in an effort to tear our country apart and thus weaken opposition to his authoritarian rule

He openly encouraged violence against unarmed people at multiple rallies and encouraged state violence at a speech to chiefs of police; most recently he encouraged an assault on members of the press

He tried to overthrow and end our democracy

He embraced depraved, ungodly murderers, kleptocrats, and “strongman” rulers while ridiculing western democracies and their elected leaders

He tried to damage or dismantle political and military systems designed to keep peace in the world, including the UN, NATO, and the Iran JCPOA

He reaches out to Jesus’s followers and then directs them toward bigotry, violence, and hatred

As an object of admiration and a role model, he’s replaced Jesus in many white evangelical congregations

He delighted in tearing children from their parents and putting them in cages

He tried to end Americans’ access to lifesaving medical care by killing Obamacare and privatizing Medicare

He watched on TV, like a delighted child, as his followers killed three police officers, sent 140 others to the hospital, and tried to murder the Vice President and Speaker of the House

He lied about Covid (after disclosing the truth to Bob Woodward), causing more disease and deaths in America than any other nation in the world except Peru

The main reason many Christians freak out about an antichrist is that following him will get you banned from heaven or even cast into hell.

But what did Jesus — the guy Trump’s white evangelical followers claim as their savior — say was necessary to get into heaven?

Back in 1998 I had a private audience with Pope John Paul II at his invitation; one of his personal secretaries had read one of my books. He gave Louise and me a private tour of many non-public parts of the Vatican and, the next day, we sat through an open-air concert with Pope John Paul II and about 30 VIPs, including the leader of Germany’s Bundestag, for more than an hour, surrounded by the splendor of Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer palace on the rim of an extinct volcano overlooking lake Albano.

When we spoke privately after the concert, His Holiness’s forceful comments about the work we all must do reminded me of Jesus’ words in Matthew 25. It’s an amazing 2,000 year-old story that tells us everything we need to know about today’s “Christian” politics:

Jesus’ disciples had gathered around him in a private and intimate setting.

Finally, they thought, they could ask him, straight up, the question that had been haunting them, particularly now that the Roman authorities were starting to talk about punishing or even executing them: How they could be sure to hang out with Him in the afterlife?

Jesus told them that at the end of days He’d be sitting on His throne separating the sheep from the goats “as a shepherd divideth.”

The nations of “sheep” would go with Him to heaven, the “goats” to hell.

“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me food,” he told his disciples he would say to the sheep. “I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

At this point, His disciples — who had never, ever seen Jesus hungry, thirsty, homeless, sick, or naked — freaked out. Whoa! they shouted. We’re screwed!

“When saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee?” they asked, panicked. “Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?” “Verily I say unto you,” Jesus replied, reassuring them, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

This is the only place in the Bible where Jesus explicitly tells His disciples what acts they must perform, in their entirety, to get into heaven.

Feed the hungry, care for refugees, house and clothe the homeless, heal the sick, have compassion on those in prison.

That’s it.

And it’s a list that is quite literally the opposite of everything that Donald Trump advocates, stands for, and has done in his careers, both business and political.

While biblical scholars are split about who the actual “Beast” was that John referenced in his Revelation, many consider it to have been a then-politically-necessary cloaking of the identity of Roman Emperor Nero.

It was clearly a political figure, who represented the antithesis of the values and works Jesus laid out in the Sermon on the Mount and in Matthew 25.

A leader whose actions unleashed “a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

Caller after caller to my program offered their own proofs of Trump being the Beast or the Antichrist:

“MAGA” means “magic” or “sorcerer” in Latin and multiple other languages

His grandfather’s name when he emigrated to America to start a whorehouse in the Pacific Northwest was “Drumpf,” which he changed to Trump. John in German is “Johann.” Therefore, his “actual” name is Donald Johann Drumpf — each name having six letters. (Weirdly, the same is true of Ronald Wilson Reagan, the guy who laid the foundation for MAGA.)

He illegally armed the Saudis for their merciless bombing war against Yemen which had five million peoplefacing famine as the Saudi military blocked food arrivals.

His family owns 666 Fifth Avenue.

He fooled millions of evangelical followers of Jesus, just as the Beast is supposed to do.

He put his own red-hat MAGA mark on their foreheads.

He consorts with “whores” and “criminals.”

It was an interesting exercise and conversation, and I was surprised by how many people are actually religiously freaked out about Trump.

But for me, all the proof I need that Trump, if not the biblical Antichrist, is at least a political one, is what he says and does. And I’ll bet that tonight he will reveal himself, both as a disciple of the “Father of Lies,” and through his anti-Christ-type policies.

As Pope Francis today tells us, a man’s “fruits” show us all we need to know about who he really is.

[300yearschallenge]

Part 1 I Part 2 I Part 3 I Part 4 I Part 5

"My God!" Charles Elias said. "That's awful! The poor girl..."

"Oh, yes, yes," the maid said, "Very tragic. But to see a troll! Could you imagine? There's whispers she might be cursed, troll-touched as she is."

"Are you done?" A voice rang out across the kitchen and a bolt of ice ran down Charles Elias' spine.

"Oh, Laura!" The maid said. "This young man here was waiting for you."

"I can see that," Laura said, glaring daggers at the maid, "You didn't think to come fetch me?"

"Oh, no," the maid said, "I was sure you would turn up soon enough. Besides, the poor man ought to know what he's getting himself into, don't you think?"

Laura and the maid both turned to look at Charles Elias at once, and he desperately wished for the floor to open up and swallow him whole.

"I see..." Laura said. "So he's a gossip too, then? That's good to know."

"A gossip, hah!" The maid laughed. "He seems perfectly fine to me. Don't you agree, young man?"

"Uh--"

"Oh, forget it!" Laura snapped. "Come on, Mr. Park. We're leaving."

Part 1 I Part 2 I Part 3 I Part 4 I Part 5

Summary of Part 3:

The maid told Charles Elias about an incident in Laura's childhood. Her and her mother and father had been traveling by wagon back home when their horse startled and the wagon fell off a cliff. In the aftermath only Laura survived, albeit wounded, and when she was rescued she told people that what had startled their horse had been a troll.

Historical Info

Let's talk about trolls and superstition!

Art by John Bauer (1882 - 1915)

So the troll in Scandinavian folklore/superstition is a creature of the wilderness. There's like a quintillion different troll stories and their appearances and behaviour can be quite varied from place to place, story to story. Sometimes they're hostile, sometimes they're friendly. Sometimes they're human-like, sometimes they're very not.

In The Genre of Trolls by Camilla Asplund Ingemark, she summaries the varied views of trolls based on location in the following way:

"The Central Swedish trolls dwell in mountains, those in Southern Sweden inhabit mounds, and Norwegian trolls live in the high mountains. The looks of the troll may be pictured in various ways, but its ugliness is a common feature. In Central Sweden the troll can be of human height, whereas the Northern and Western parts of the country favour huge trolls (Hartmann 1936: 60–65)"

Since there's a lot of research that has been done into folklore by smarter minds than me, I won't make any further proclamations on the workings of trolls as a whole. Other than to keep in mind that views and stories were varied and different, but the throughline seems to be that trolls are often to be feared and avoided.

In the story of what happened to Laura's family we have a horrific and traumatising accident attributed to a troll. Obviously trolls aren't actually real (although Laura and others believe them to be) and so whatever she truly saw was most likely twisted by trauma and injury into something she had heard of in stories.

In my pictures I chose to have the troll look like a mix between a goat and a man, inspired by the following quotes from the previously quoted text:

"The ambiguity between human and animal characteristics is an important one"

&

"One troll from the Åland Islands shows itself as a he-goat with terrible horns and a beard enveloping the entire hill where it lives (SLS 59: 48–49)"

It intentionally looks almost like very typical depictions of the Devil, since after Sweden became Christian "the troll was assimilated into the image of the Devil"

Now you may be wondering why Laura is being treated so poorly when she was simply the victim of a horrible accident (and supposed troll encounter).

Partially this is just basic human cruelty. Laura, for one reason or another, was seen as an acceptable person to mistreat.

It is also a matter of people fearing those who have had encounters with trolls. People surviving a troll encounter can be viewed in a few different ways. Sometimes they are simply victims of unfortunate circumstances, other times they are transgressors who get punished.

Often in the stories mentioned by The Genre of Trolls the people who have encounters with trolls where they survive (relatively) unscathed are in some ways tied to the trolls. Whether it be a troll expecting a future favour or gift, or wishing to re-capture a previous victim. Sometimes in stories where someone has a non-deadly encounter with a troll they may be gifted a "second sight" of sorts, allowing them to see through troll-made illusions or tricks. In these cases the people are "trapped between different versions of otherness, first a supranormal otherness, then a socially defined alienness".

In Laura's case she is not quite thought to possess any supernatural abilities, but the people in the village see her as someone who could be at risk of either a repeated troll encounter (which could put others at risk) or someone who could unknowingly owe the troll something since she lived when others didn't.

In essence her being mistreated by others is them seeing her connection to trolls as a sort of 'otherness', and as we all know many people in the past and now don't appreciate those who do not fit in.

[vitalphenomena]

PLAYLIST DIRECTORY

CHARACTERS

alessandra baresi — you gotta see the artistry in tearing the place apart with me

alex haven — and mostly i can't even tell what i'm running from.

beck boy — beck boy

burns harris — MY BROTHER'S BLOOD

cain glass — i need you to pencil in the rest.

cass hwang — i'm the fucking florist

cullen glass — sins of the father

davy nichols — forgiveness in the weeds

esther thomas — esther thomas

graham sinclair — i'm truly alone and i like it.

harris harris — WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR????; sorrow's native son @jupiter3

juniper harris — me & my dog & an impossible view; only with grace @jupiter3

kieran glass — he is a bad bad boy

mackenzie knight — if a god is a god and a man is a fraud then imma lost cause ;)

maryanne barkan — maryanne barkan

phoebe nichols — i'm ready to try

spirit harris — songs for crazy crazy little girls; i just keep losing

ROMANTIC SHIPS

amelia hartmann & theo haven @bluedprints — you're so perfect baby were you made for me? @bluedprints

alex haven and ridley bragin @withbeasts — i'll see you in everything, tomorrow and all the time

andrew bragin @withbeasts & spirit harris — the good that he saw; he loves her he can't love her love her

beck boy & francis funke @freekzout — bf @freekzout

beck boy & houston morin @jupiter3 — A Good Thing @jupiter3

boris pavlikovsky @jupiter3 & rifat hordiyenko @corsey & spirit harris — c'mere tough guy

cassius bairn @bluedprints & spirit harris — biting you biting you biting you

cassius bairn @bluedprints & cass hwang — c4c

cullen glass & jane monday @bluedprints — I WANNA BE UR DOG

daniel romano @despiterage & spirit harris — Daniel & Spirit (red is their color.) @despiterage; baby if it feels good then it can't be bad

deborah baresi @corsey & richard hayes — every man needs a companion

deco lakatos @corsey & spirit harris — i wanna feel the way that others do

elijah knight & henry sinclair @bluedprints — why, god of elijah?

ezra haven & spirit harris — i will mold myself just for you.; ezra is a vampire

feyd-rautha harkonnen & spirit harris — she's illiterate about him.

frenchie @gingerspiice & spirit — like a pornographic puzzle

flynn nichols @jupiter3 & spirit harris — flynnspirit but it's just mitski songs @jupiter3; feeding you my cake (eating it too) @jupiter3; pressfspirit; what would you do if i made a flynnspirit playlist in 2022

gabriela glass & tuesday nolan @jupiter3 — she's so hard to erase!!

gary baker @corsey & spirit harris — I KNOW YOUR EYES CAN SEE RIGHT THROUGH ME :(

george nichols @jupiter3 & spirit harris — i'm not yours to lose., all our friends are laughing at us

houston morin @jupiter3 & spirit harris — i go back to that house sometimes (hoping i'll run into you.); even pretending to ourselves @jupiter3

isla maddix & theo haven @bluedprints — theo and isla's extraordinary cali adventure

[EXTRA SPECIAL PLAYLIST MOST IMPORTANT BEST ONE] juniper harris & phi.l couls.on @tahitiwoke — THIS IS MY SHOW

[mixtape by] juniper harris & [for] tao song @despiterage — j mix for t

juniper harris & rudy boy — don't you hear me howling babe

[redacted] @jupiter3 & spirit harris — why do you do this if it's so goddamn demeaning?

mackenzie knight & elfgar mason @corsey — the gentler side of mankind's death wish

mackenzie knight & mr. johnson @alulars — all night you're talking to god

marcus dunham @despiterage & spirit harris — you were playing for keeps; Marcus & Spirit @despiterage

[redacted] @flmed & spirit harris — sex money feelings die

norah levy @bluedprints & rachel knight — my cannibal queen <3

[space] pneuma johns @plebcourt and spirit harris — space squire 4 space squire @plebcourt

reaper @dxsole & spirit harris — she sought death in a queen-sized bed

rifat hordiyenko @corsey & spirit harris — the misanthropes next door are probably conceiving a daemon!; they should NOT be at the club @corsey

sasha chasnik @midcenturies & spirit harris — you crazy girl

spirit harris & trevor quinn @bluedprints — for nothing but to deserve you

spirit harris & u. swift @diicktective — do u want to fuck like u know that i do?

spirit harris & victo.r zsa.sz @dogtccth — TEAR YOU TO PIECES AND RIP YOU APART.

spirit harris & whitmer breslin @jupiter3 — in our bedroom

OTHER DYNAMICS

george nichols @jupiter3 & harris harris — [redacted]? [redacted]

haven family — i'll get it right sometime @bluedprints

flynn nichols @jupiter3 & juniper harris & spirit harris — they're gonna have a baby!!!!

juniper harris & harris harris — this isn't love

harris harris & spirit harris — get over it, kiddo.

burns, harris, juniper, lila, & spirit harris — how much worse can it get?; my hatred turned to pity; my resentment blossomed flowers

stevie danvers @wristful & spirit harris — I STARTED USING AGAIN

beck boy, fern @withbeasts, lake @holyrots, rudy boy @bluedprints, saya @corsey, valen — it's us against the world collab

burger kink (isla maddix & hazel kumari @jupiter3 & connor takeda @bluedprints) — BURGER KINK collab

members of kieran glass's cult — it is horrible and it is beautiful.

josephine lewis @ruinaa & kieran glass — i just want to go home

ARCS

second generation @bluedprints @holyrots @jupiter3 @rekant — i'll never have friends like these again!

post-glass @bluedprints — glass is dead. @bluedprints

We Are Killing Ezra Haven @bluedprints — cullen glass is not a violent man

vampire au — MID-CENTURY VAMPIRES, 21ST CENTURY VAMPIRES

royal/fantasy au — CROWNS AND SHIT

[mmagpye]

John Coltrane & Johnny Hartmann (1963)

we're all making a playlist together

I'll post a link for it later

[gogmstuff]

It’s the 1870s The dress from the 1871 portrait of Princess Marie of Baden shows an early Victorian bodice with a full skirt with bustle. The photo from 1879 shows a close skirt. (from top to bottom) -

1871 Princess Marie of Baden, later Princess Ernest of Leiningen by Joseph Hartmann (Royal Collection). From Wikimedia 1327X1635.

1872 Sydney Isabella Milner-Gibson by James Tissot (location ?). From pinterest.com/paulario9fc/james-tissot/ 1152X1683.

1875 Summer by John Atkinson Grimshaw (location ?). From tumblr.com/jeannepompadour; fixed scratches & some spots w Pshop 1475X1266.

Hush! by James Tissot (location ?). From Amber Tree's photostream on flickr 2000X1422..

1878 Confidences by Joseph Scheurenberg (location ?). From tumblr.com/artthatgivesmefeelings 1570X1920.

1879 Chez le père Lathuille by Édouard Manet (location ?). From tumblr.com/beautifulcentury 939X768.

ca. 1877-1890 Helena Modrzejewska (photo by Jose Maria Mora). From tumblr.com/fashionsfromthepast; fixed cracks w Pshop 1028X1756.

[warningsine]

Whether it is a hug from a friend or the caress of a weighted blanket, the sensation of touch appears to bring benefits for the body and mind, researchers say.

The sense of touch is the first to develop in babies and is crucial in allowing us to experience the environment around us as well as communicate. Indeed, the loss of touch from others during the Covid pandemic hit many hard.

However, while myriad studies have suggested touch is beneficial for our health, few have attempted to draw the vast field of research together.

Now experts have done just that, revealing a simple message: touch helps.

Dr Helena Hartmann, a co-author of the research from University Hospital Essen, said: “More consensual touch events throughout our day can help alleviate or potentially buffer against mental and physical complaints.”

Published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, the research encompassed 212 previously published studies and included a statistical analysis of 85 studies involving adults and 52 involving newborns.

Among the results, the team found touch was just as beneficial for mental health as physical health – a finding that held for adults and newborns – although touch had a bigger impact on some areas than others.

“Our work illustrates that touch interventions are best suited for reducing pain, depression and anxiety in adults and children as well as for increasing weight gain in newborns,” the researchers write.

The analysis revealed humans gained similar benefits in terms of their physical health when touched by other humans as by objects – such as social robots or weighted blankets.

Hartmann said that was a surprise. “This means we need to undertake more research on the potential of weighted blankets or social robots to improve people’s wellbeing, especially during contact-limiting situations like the recent Covid-19 pandemic,” she said.

The positive impact on mental health was larger for human touch than touch from objects – possibly, the team said, because it involved skin-to-skin contact.

Among other results, the team found touch was beneficial for both healthy and unwell people, although the impact was larger among the latter for mental health benefits.

The type of touch and its duration was not important, although greater frequency was associated with greater benefits in adults.

Further, touching the head was associated with greater health benefits than touching other parts of the body.

The team cautioned that some of the findings could be false positives, while it was not clear if they would hold across different cultures.

Dr Mariana von Mohr, from Royal Holloway, University of London, who was not involved in the work, said if future robots could more accurately replicate the texture and warmth of human skin, they may be able to provide comparable mental health benefits to human touch.

“[These properties are] important because our skin contains specialised sensors, known as C-tactile afferents, which are particularly receptive to gentle, caressing touch and temperature similar to that of human skin, factors that are also thought to facilitate emotional regulation,” she said.

Prof Katerina Fotopoulou, at University College London, said the research gave a bird’s-eye view of the benefits of touch interventions on health.

She cautioned that the work could not offer more specific conclusions, such as the particular types of touch that may be associated with specific health benefits.

Dr Susannah Walker, at Liverpool John Moores University, agreed, noting that many of the studies considered were small and included varied types of touch and different measures of their outcomes. “This means it is hard to draw firm conclusions about why they work,” she said.

Fotopoulou added that the research could fuel new work in the field, including how touch could be used alongside other treatments.

“It is a historical misfortune that we have prioritised talking over touch or other somatic therapies in the past couple of centuries. This review gives us the necessary emphasis and confidence to redress this balance with further, careful study on touch interventions,” she said.

[thatonepeasant]

My Roman Empire Ships list:

Here's a list of ships I personally go feral over along with their fandom/where they're from:

Haikyuu!!

Kuroo Tetsurou/Sawamura Daichi

Miya Osamu/Suna Rintarou

Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru

Hanamaki Takahiro/Matuskawa Issei

Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru/Hanamaki Takahiro/Matuskawa Issei

Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou

Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru

Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou/Sawamura Daichi

Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi

Harry Potter

Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter

Regulus Black/James Potter

Sirius Black/Remus Lupin

Kuroko No Basket

Aomine Daiki/Kagami Taiga

Takao Kazunari/Midorima Shintarou

Hyuuga Junpei/Teppei

Hyuuga Junpei/Teppei/Riko

Tian Gi Ci Fu (TGCF)/Heaven Official's Blessing

Feng Xin/Mu Qing

Word of Honour (TV) or Faraway Wanderers (novel by Priest)

Zhou Zishu/Wen Kexing

Cao Weining/Gu Xiang

Global University Entrance Exam

You Huo/Qin Jiu

The Sandman

Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling

Six of Crows

Jesper Fahey/Wylan van Eck

Nina Zenik/Matthias Helvar

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (ORV)

Yoo Junghyuk/Kim Dokja

Yoo Junghyuk/Kim Dokja/Han Sooyoung

Found family for all of them

Beyond Evil (TV Show)

Han Joowon/Lee Dongsik

Captive Prince (C.S.Pacat)

Damen/Laurent

Voltron

Keith/Lance

Inception (2010)

Arthur/Eames

The Witcher

Geralt/Jaskier

Geralt/Jaskier/Eskel

Aiden/Lambert

All For The Game (trilogy by Nora Sakavic)

Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard/Kevin Day

Renee Walker/ Allison Reynolds

Merlin

Merlin/Arthur Pendragon

Munich: The Edge of War

Paul von Hartmann/Hugh Legat

The Man from U.N.C.L.E

Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo

Sherlock (manga & tv)

Sherlock Holmes/William James Moriarty <- Yuukoku no Moriarty or Moriarty the Patriot

Sherlock Holmes/John Watson <- Sherlock (BBC)

Mycroft Holmes/Albert James Moriarty <- Yuukoku no Moriarty or Moriarty the Patriot

Fic recs are always welcome and wanted, just general preferences:

Happy Ending

Give warning if mature/explicit

Written in 3rd person

seems like I have a thing for enemies or rivals to lovers

Bon appetit!!!

[briankeene]

2023 Splatterpunk Awards Final Ballot

For Immediate Release Wrath James White and Brian Keene are pleased to announce the final ballot for the 2023 Splatterpunk Awards, honoring superior achievement in the literary subgenres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror fiction published in 2022, as well as the sixth recipient of the J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award, and the recommendation process for the coming year.

The nominees are as follows:

BEST NOVEL*

-- Playground by Aron Beauregard (Independently Published)

 -- The Television by Edward Lee (Madness Heart Press)

 -- Faces of Beth by Carver Pike (Independently Published)

 -- Last of the Ravagers by Bryan Smith (Thunderstorm Books / Death’s Head Press)

 -- Mastodon by Steve Stred (Black Void Publishing)

 -- Ex-Boogeyman (Slasher vs The Remake) by Kristopher Triana (Bad Dream Books / Thunderstorm Books)

 BEST NOVELLA

 -- Charcoal by Garrett Cook (Clash Books) 

 -- Grandpappy by Patrick C. Harrison III (Independently Published)

 -- Mr. Tilling’s Basement by Edward Lee (Deadite Press)

 -- #thighgap by Chandler Morrison (Cemetery Gates Media)

 -- Plastic Monsters by Daniel J. Volpe (Independently Published)

 BEST SHORT STORY

-- “Just Another Bloodbath at Camp Woe-Be-Gone” by R.J. Benetti (Independently Published)

 -- “Of The Worm” by Ryan Harding (from Splatterpunk Zine issue 13)

 -- “My Chopping List” by Stephen Kozeniewski (from Counting Bodies Like Sheep, The Evil Cookie Publishing)

 -- “Gutted” by Bracken MacLeod (from Splatterpunk Zine issue 13)

 -- “Jinx” by Bridgett Nelson (from A Bouquet of Viscera)

BEST COLLECTION

 -- Always Listen To Her Hurt: Collected Works by Kenzie Jennings (Blistered Siren Press)

 -- Mr. Tilling’s Basement and Other Stories by Edward Lee (Deadite Press)

 -- Horrorsmut by Christine Morgan (The Evil Cookie Publishing)

 -- A Bouquet of Viscera by Bridgett Nelson (Independently Published)

 -- Pornography For the End of the World by Brendan Vidito (Weirdpunk Books)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

 -- Human Monsters edited by Sadie Hartmann and Ashley Sawyers (Dark Matter Ink)

 -- Camp Slasher Lake, Volume 1 edited by D.W. Hitz and Candace Nola (Fedowar Press)

 -- Counting Bodies Like Sheep edited by K. Trap Jones (The Evil Cookie Publishing)

 -- Call Me Hoop edited by SC Mendes & Lucy Leitner, created by Drew Stepek (Blood Bound Books)

 -- Czech Extreme edited by Lisa Lee Tone (Madness Heart Press)

J. F. GONZALEZ LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD**

 -- Monica J. O’Rourke

The final ballot is composed of top recommendations from readers, critics, and the general public and then voted on by our panel of six judges. The sixth annual Splatterpunk Awards will take place at KillerCon in Austin, Texas August 12th. For more details, visit here. 

The recommendation process for next year’s ballot is now open to readers, critics, and the general public. Eligible works must be first published in 2023, and must meet the definitions of either Splatterpunk or Extreme Horror. Email recommendations to splatterpunkawards@gmail.com. The recommendation window will close at 11:59pm (EST) on December 31, 2023. THERE WILL BE NO EXTENSIONS. Thank you for your attention in this matter.

With love and respect,

Wrath James White and Brian Keene, Splatterpunk Award cofounders.

* Tie category

** The previous J. F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award recipients are David J. Schow, David G. Barnett, Edward Lee, John Skipp, and Clive Barker.

[minayuri]

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, Gertrude Welcker! ❤️

(July 16, 1896 – August 1, 1988)

Gertrude Welcker was a stage and silent film actress; her film career was short lived, lasting from 1917 to 1925. The role she’s best known as, the alluring and enigmatic Countess Dusy Told of Fritz Lang’s 1922 epic crime thriller masterpiece, Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler.

Below is a summary of her life and career, with the people she had collaborated with as an actress.

She was born in Dresden, Saxony, Germany on July 16, 1896. Her younger brother Herbert was born in 1898. Gertrude’s father worked as editor-in-chief and general manager of the Posener Tageblatt, he died in 1909.

During the First World War, she visited Max Reinhardt’s acting school in Berlin. In 1915-16, she had starred in productions at the Albert Theatre in her hometown. During the years of 1916-19, Welcker performed at Deutsches, Kammerspiele, and Volksbühne theatres. Her stage roles include portraying a prostitute in August Strindberg’s Meister Olaf, Lesbia in Friedrich Hebbel's Gyges and His Ring, Recha in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Nathan the Wise, Sister Martha in Gerhart Hauptmann's The Ascension of Little Hannele, and Desdemona and Jessica in William Shakespeare’s Othello and Merchant of Venice respectively.

Her film debut in 1917 was in Felix Basch’s Eine Nacht in der Stahlkammer as Jane Kendall, starring Harry Liedtke as her husband. Her next film was as an angel in Hans Trutz in the Land of Plenty, starring and directed by her stage collaborator Paul Wegener. The film also featured film director Ernst Lubitsch who portrayed Satan.

In 1918, she was in Lupu Pick’s Der Weltspielgel with Bernd Aldor and Reinhold Schünzel. She also starred in Viggo Larsen's The Adventure of a Ball Night with Paul Bildt and Paul Biensfeldt.

Welcker was also in Carl Froelich’s Der Tänzer with Walter Janssen.

She was the lead in the low-budget films, Die Geisha und der Samurai in 1919 and Eine Frau mit Vergangenheit in 1920.

Gertrude Welcker acted in films alongside Conrad Veidt, but those films are sadly considered lost. They portrayed siblings in F.W. Murnau’s Evening – Night – Morning and in Carl Boese’s Nocturne of Love, with Veidt as Frederic Chopin. (I, for one, would’ve loved for her to have been in a film as one of his leading ladies!)

In Hans Werckmeister’s 1920 sci-fi film, Algol: Tragedy of Power, she portrayed Leonore Nissen opposite Emil Jannings. It also starred Hanna Ralph, Hans Adalbert Schlettow (whom Welcker would appear with in Part II of Dr. Mabuse), and John Gottowt. The sets of the film were designed by The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’s Walter Reimann.

She also appeared in Richard Oswald’s Lady Hamilton in 1921 as Arabella Kelly, in her first scene she is seen with Theodor Loos.

In 1922, Welcker portrayed her most infamous role as Countess Told in Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler starring Rudolf Klein-Rogge, with Aud Egede-Nissen, Alfred Abel, and Bernhard Goetzke. Also, in that same year - Welcker was in Carl Froelich’s Luise Millerin, an adaptation of Friedrich Schiller's Intrigue and Love as Lady Emilie Milford, another of her noteworthy roles. Previously, she was in a stage production portraying the role of Lady Milford's maid, Sophie. The film's all-star cast featured Lil Dagover as the title character, Paul Hartmann, Walter Janssen, Friedrich Kühne, Fritz Kortner, Werner Krauss, and Reinhold Schünzel.

She portrayed the villainess Gesine von Orlamünde of Arthur von Gerlach’s 1925 period drama film, Chronicles of the Grey House. It stars Lil Dagover, Paul Hartmann, Rudolf Forster, and Rudolf Rittner. Thea von Harbou was the film’s screenwriter with music composed by Gottfried Huppertz.

Her final film role was in Goetz von Berlichingen of the Iron Hand as Adelheid von Walldorf. She continued to act on stage until 1930. She has a total of 64 film credits to her name.

Around July 1930, Welcker married the Swedish painter Otto Gustaf Carlsund. She met him while on a trip to Paris. Their marriage lasted until August of 1937 and had no children. Before WWII broke out, she worked as an editor for UFA and by 1941, was active for the Red Cross. Some time before the war's end, she managed to leave for Sweden, and lived the rest of her life there.

It’s a great loss that so many of the films Gertrude Welcker did are considered lost and that her career as a film actress was as short as it was. Certainly, that many of those lost films showcased her great versatility. Gertude Welcker carried a remarkable set of talent, grace, beauty, charisma, and wit and is one of my most favorite actresses of the silent era I love.

Her filmography can be viewed here and here.

[chicinsilk]

US Vogue November 15, 1958 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Mary Hilem wears a pepper green wool coat by Ben Zuckerman in Anglo fabrics.Hartmann Luggage. Photographed on the liner "Santa Rosa"

Mary Hilem porte un manteau laine vert poivre par Ben Zuckerman en tissus anglo.Bagages Hartmann. Photographié sur le paquebot "Santa Rosa"

Photo John Rawlings vogue archive