#RD brief bios

[noahrmal]

hi everyone! i'm kat (she/her) and this is my messy son noah (but honestly, everyone in this rp is gonna be messy as hell lbr)

some brief stuff under the cut but tbh the most info is in his extremely casual bio and very basic barebones stats page. i do have some baaaaasic plot ideas below as well though i prefer messaging to plot especially when the muse is this messy 🤪

edit: i have a more specific plot ideas post here c:

as for messaging, i prefer disco/rd (thegongoozler over there) but i can be persuaded to use tumblr ims if needed!

brief tldr

noah was born in australia, and lived there until he was about 9. mostly raised by his mother, barely knew his father (running business in seoul)

his parents were technically married but basically separated

(tw: car accident, death) well, his mom dies in a car accident when he's 9 and that's when things begin to go wrong

he had to move to seoul to live with his father since he was a child... and this man is basically a stranger to him

thankfully he does speak korean so he isn't hopelessly lost but still

in early schooling (like i'm thinking ages 9-12) he was mostly quiet, lonely, sad.

something changes when he hits high school and he's suddenly a wild child (attention starved)

noah is muse f in subplot 3--so he's one of Those Boys......

tbh i just think he's so excited to have people who care about him in his life that he's willing to do anything for their approval

so he does some not so good things (bullies, cheats, lies)

he was also frequently known for hosting insane parties in his father's home when he was on business trips

and also taking his dads car for joyrides with his friends... etcetera etcetera

noah's big Plot Secret in his app is that his dad bribes/pays off an underage dui he gets on one of these Joy Rides. very few if any people know about this whole thing

anyway, at present, he's finishing a business degree at university (he hates it)

plot ideas

idk i think it'd be fun if one of his friends was in the car when he got the dui and they were sworn to secrecy

someone who was on the receiving end of noah's meanness in high school... he's not like that anymore but also he's too much of a coward to face the consequences of his past actions

someone who desperately wanted in on the subplot 3 trio? maybe they were treated nicely, maybe they weren't

i also just think that noah was probably a lot nicer when he was alone/separated from The Boys in high school--someone who didn't understand why he was suddenly an asshole when with his pals? peer pressure is a hell of a drug

obligatory section for ex friends. ex flings. ex partners, fwb, etc etc etc!!

idk please plot w/ me, this isn't my normal kind of muse so i'm sure a lot of it is going to happen in one on one discussion!!!

[tempefamilyd]

The Importance of Root Canal Treatments

1: Introduction to Root Canals

When one suffers from oral discomfort or tooth pain, it can be all-consuming and hamper their day-to-day life. One possible cause for this discomfort can be dental decay reaching the innermost part of the tooth known as the pulp. In such a scenario, root canal treatment becomes imperative. A root canal Tempe may save your teeth and give relief from severe pain.

2: What is a Root Canal?

A root canal is a dental procedure aimed at cleaning out the decayed or infected pulp within a tooth and sealing it to prevent further infection. This is an important treatment as once decay reaches the central pulp, it can lead to severe pain, abscess formation, or even loss of the affected tooth if not promptly addressed.

3: Indications for a Root Canal Treatment

The need for a root canal in Tempe often starts with intermittent occasional sharp pain while consuming hot or cold beverages - known as sensitivity. Gradually, this discomfort extends to some other indicators like lingering pain after eating, and serious pulsating throbbing pains that might extend to the ear and head, especially during nighttime sleep hours leading to restlessness and sleep disturbance. Swelling around your affected tooth with a foul taste emanating due to pus formation which is a sign of an abscess formation also indicates that you quite possibly require urgent need for a root canal procedure in Tempe.

4: The Procedure involved in Root Canal Treatment

Root canal treatments are often considered brief surgical procedures carried out under local anesthesia which renders them virtually painless when conducted by an astute dental professional. These treatments involve removing the diseased pulp tissue using specialized instruments after gaining access to your affected tooth. Once cleaned satisfactorily they then fill these erstwhile empty living chambers housing pulp tissues with suitable bio-compatible filling materials available today thus preventing re-infection.

5: Postoperative Care and Follow-up

Post root canal treatment, maintaining oral hygiene is critical for the success of the treatment as well as the prevention of further decay. It is imperative to avoid chewing hard objects or food specifically from the region where the treatment was performed until it is fully restored. Regular follow-ups with your dentist are also crucial to make sure that the tooth is healing correctly.

6: The Benefits of Root Canal Treatments

Root canals save teeth from extractions and prevent further spread of infection. It relieves severe pain making you healthy and comfortable again while preserving your smile intact itself being an indirect but important self-esteem booster at times. Moreover, with modern techniques and anesthetics, a root canal in Tempe can feel no different than having other ordinary dental work done; thus effectively erasing old notions about root canals being painful procedures in entirety.

In conclusion, if you are experiencing symptoms indicative of advanced dental decay like undue sensitivity, spontaneous pain, or associated swelling around your tooth due to nascent abscess formation – these might be cues for needing a root canal in Tempe. As a community here at Tempe, leaning on its skilled team for regular check-ups facilitates early detection and timely treatments which implies one does not need to dwell long on unnecessary pain or discomfort while upholding their dental health at optimum levels always!

Tempe Family Dentistry

Address: 2161 E Warner Rd, Tempe, Arizona, 85284

Phone: : 480-839-0330

[babyawacs]

#batshxitnuts #hideous ‎#logic_consistency #forcertain #no #commandchain #not #immunised #too #buzzwo rd #decoypingpong #itis #inverted #inferior #safe #were (((@judge))) .@judges @law @all @world @bbc_whys @france24 @haaretzcom @bild .@bild @pho enix_de @dw .@dwnews .@law @deutschland .@deutschland @hamburg @berlin .@berlin .@hamburg @muenche n @stuttgart #thegermans #dowhatyouwant #means #please #govt #obvious #medival_freeforall_vogelfrei_in_con trary_to_taboo #squeakybox #itis #sgermany #sgerman #ai #factually #mischievious_intent #howiexplainmykids #defaulttrick  #the #eclowniomagnifico #howitworks #logic #how #description _precision #decoys #nuclearhedge #default #allexplained #intel_explained_to_mykids # aeh  #‎ jesus #at #pentagon #jesus_at_pentagon #and #harvard_angels #harvard #angels .@harvard .@ harvard_law @harvard .@ussocom #moredaggerthancloak #people: #mercyalways #factuality  #caused #thrownobjets #whostheproblem #quicknow #hooooow #thequell #notsotrivial #witnesses #sympathy #wellsurvivethemfirst #effect #ai #asis #revolutions #participants  #possible_shxitball_twist _s #wisdom_is_precise #realmcontrol #itis #acceptance #interest #layEr #youknowit #it. #is. #how. #them. #rule. #_ #reframed #decoyed #abysmal #this #andnowyouknow #s #intel #map #vibe #criminalgovernance #criminalsecurity policy #mystery #meadows #optionsleft #andthe #proof #by #rubbertitttts #countless #tricks #criminal #inte l #bananarepublic #germany #furiouschina #cause #hooray #impliedparticipation #ambiguity #relay #witnessprotect #interests #blammogame #ordered #rule #palletten #fact #allknew #itis #thenorthkorea #some #bio #messes #listed #always #mercy #in it i s not batshitnuts tobe fooled by intel makesure mykids areok unthinkable had onetrickworked ////‎ each new figuredout thing is n o t the proof of someone surely briefed thecase b e f o r e theopposite it is instead a n d it does not mean thereis a cause for implied hideousness while them quell tooth and claw which charging and timeline and deedtype occasionally youare iddddiots if thisis not obvious toyou

#batshxitnuts #hideous ‎#logic_consistency #forcertain #no #commandchain #not #immunised #too #buzzword #decoypingpong #itis #inverted #inferior #safe #were (((@judge))) .@judges @law @all @world @bbc_whys @france24 @haaretzcom @bild .@bild @phoenix_de @dw .@dwnews .@law @deutschland .@deutschland @hamburg @berlin .@berlin .@hamburg @muenchen @stuttgart #thegermans #dowhatyouwant #means #please…

[fairelance]

(( Alright my roster here is at the self imposed limit and IDK if I’m gonna love 3H enough to swap anyone out or make 3H verses, but in the case of the latter a casual announcement that AUs involving putting any of my muses in a different FE title will likely result in [Name]; [Title] for the tag, and in the case of 3H I’ll use the tag “3H spoilers” as well as just plain “Spoilers” for a double seal of no spoiler freshness ))

[authorgraves]

John Polidori

(Sep. 7th 1795 - Aug. 24th 1821)

Brief Bio:

Polisario was born in London. He attended the University of Edinburgh, and at age 19 became the personal physician of Lord Byron and traveled with him throughout Europe. In 1816 Byron rented the Villa Diodati at Lake Geneva with Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin. They all challenged each other to write a ghost story, for which Polidori wrote The Vampyre, the first modern English vampire story. After leaving Byron’s service he traveled through Italy. His story was published against his wishes and attributed to Byron. Suffering from depression and gambling debts, Polidori died of cyanide poisoning at age 25. His death was attributed to natural causes.

Notable Works:

The Vampyre (1819)

The Fall of the Angels (1821, posthumous)

The Grave:

Polidori was buried in the churchyard of St. Pancras Old Church in London. In approximately 1865 his and many other graves were dug up to make way for a new railway, under the supervision of Thomas Hardy. It’s possible that his stone is one of the many surrounding the famous Hardy Tree behind the church.

Pancras Rd.

London NW1 1UL

Surrounding Area:

Just down Midland Road are St. Pancras International and King’s Cross Rail Stations, as well as the London Underground. Traveling in the other direction, one may visit the Camden Market, a labyrinthine hive of shopping and cuisine. One may also travel to Highgate Cemetery to visit Polidori’s niece, Christina Rossetti.

Further Reading:

Polidori Project Gutenberg

St. Pancras Old Church website

Keats-Shelley House website

“I now knew that I had died, and for my interment were intended the awful preparations about me. Was this then death?”

[missbrightsky]

I didn’t know where else to go

Fics Masterlist

Previous Chapter

Chapter 11: Feyre

Prick: Meeting at the compound tonight, 8pm

Darling: I’ll be there. Any particular way you want me to arrive?

Prick: Well I’d never say no to you wearing a coat and nothing else

My vision turned red for a second, ready to tell him to go fuck himself and defeat Amarantha alone. Only my desire to protect my city from her had me texting instead

Darling: No smartass, I mean how do you want me to get there? I can’t exactly walk right in the front door.

A verbal lashing can come later, hopefully somewhere semipublic where I can berate him but not be too tempted to also make out with him again.

Prick: Oh

Prick: I can come pick you up

Darling: Fine, but only because it’s too cold to walk

A cold front had swept in the past few days, causing more leaves to turn brown and fall. The crunched underneath my shoes, a small satisfaction on my daily commute to work.

I gave him my address, cringing slightly that he now knew where I lived. Granted, he could find out on his own by tailing me. Azriel probably already had and passed the information along to him and he was only asking out of politeness.

Prick:  See you then, darling

A string of curse words streamed from my mouth, taking a slight edge off my frustration with him. Lucien looked up from his report, a worried look on his face.

Shit, I held up my phone, “Landlord problems,” I lied. A believable lie at least. Lucien knew where I lived and the landlord I had to deal with on a regular basis. You’d think being a cop would deter the man and force him into action, but Gabe cut from a gelatinous cloth of indifference and alcohol.

Lucien gave me a sympathetic look and went back to his work. The past two days, he had been in and out of the precinct tracking down his CI’s to see if they knew anything about the shooting at the docks. Anytime he brought it up, I forced my face to be carefully blank or vaguely lost in thought, as though I was perplexed too by who could have been behind it. Thankfully, most of the time Lucien was looking at a report or his computer when he talked about it. Even though it was my case too, I hadn’t done any real investigating on it yet. I would need to soon so that people didn’t start asking questions.

Throwing my phone back into my bag, I turned to my screen again, pulling up a search bar. My fingers hovered over the keyboard, poised to type in Amarantha. It would hardly be the first time I had Googled her name, but the precinct was a too public place to risk it.

The first time had been on the subway home from Rhys’s after I slept with him. All it took was her first name.

Search results: 502,000 for Amarantha Bast

The first link was a Wiki page (thank you internet). Clicking on it, I held my breath as it loaded (service was slow underground). The first thing I saw was her picture. Red hair pinned back in an elegant twist. Sensuous red lips twisted up in a small smile. But her eyes, it was her eyes that sent a shudder down my spine. Blacker than night, they absorbed all light, all joy, everything. Scrolling down, I scanned over the basic information, my eyes catching on her age.

Born October 14th, 1982

I counted backwards from the information Rhys gave me. She had been twenty-one years old when she took over Rhys’s country, holy fucking Caldron. What little warmth was left in my body disappeared. If she was capable of staging a coup at that age, what could she do now?

I continued down.

Queen of Hybern

Assumed Office February 3rd, 2000

Over twenty years ago, she wasn’t even eighteen yet. How the hell did she manage that? I skipped the rest of the basic information, wanting to read her bio.

Amarantha Bast was born to King Malcolm Bast and Princess Mara Bast on October 14th, 1982. Her mother died soon after the birth of her only child. Bast assumed her father’s title on February 3rd, 2000 following his death the month before. She was born in Hybern’s capital city of Zensa and continues to reside there to this day.

From birth, she was given the title of Princess Regent, poised to inherit the country on her father’s death. As such, from childhood she was educated in the laws of her country and how to lead upon his death. After assuming the title of Queen, she shut down the borders of her country citing that the Green Death, a variation of the Black Death, had broken out must be contained. It was the same disease that took her father’s life and a third of her citizens.

In a press release at that time, she is quoted saying “The loss of my father and my people have been a devasting blow for me and my country. It is in our best interests to close the borders until the disease is contained. When we have it [the disease] under control, we will consider reopening our borders for travel and trade.”

A few months after Bast closed Hybern’s borders, she also assumed control of a neighboring country, Illyria. In another press release, she stated “Due to the carelessness of some Hybern citizens, the disease had spread beyond our borders into Illyria. In the unsuspecting country, the disease spread like wildfire and has taken out the majority of government officials and a quarter of Illyrians. The prevent the collapse of their economy, I have annexed Illyria into Hybern so that we may share resources in these hard times.” Bast was hailed a public hero in Hybern, Illyria and other nearby countries for her swift and compassionate actions.

From what Rhys had told me, I knew the majority of what she said was bullshit. I had clicked on the link for Illyria, but its page was barebones. Since it had gotten annexed into Hybern, it seemed that most of its history had been erased or forgotten about.

I made mental notes to ask Rhys about his country when I next got the chance. I could do it over text, but the pain in his voice from his lost country and family made me think it was an in-person conversation. Maybe tonight after the meeting.

I closed down the web browser, instead, pulling up the report from the shooting. The file had barely grown in the last few days. Ballistics came back from the site. Your basic 9mm and handguns, fragments from a sniper bullet (that would be Az’s) and… blood. I had forgotten about that. Az had shot one of Amarantha’s men so that Rhys could getaway.

I pulled up the medical report. There had been no body, at least at the scene. DNA tests were still being run, if the guy was in the system, we would know by the end of today. Odds are that he was just some common criminal that got hired for the job. Another dead end.

I stood from my desk stretching and willing blood flow back to my legs. Lucien barely glanced up from whatever had him so entranced. I strode into the briefing room, scanning the board with the Veritas case on it. It was information I had gone over a thousand times in my head, with Lucien and the captain, with half the precinct but before, we were no closer to any answers. Now, I could look over everything with different eyes.

The kidnapping of doctors to find a way to stop the horrible disease that she could release on our country.

The raiding of warehouses to find where Amarantha was storing supplies and weapons.

Last night’s shooting wasn’t supposed to happen and then it was only in self-defense.

I heaved a massive sigh, feeling tired in my bones, in my soul. I was hiding things from my captain, from my partner. I was breaking the law every second of every day for an attack that might not even happen. Yes, Rhys and the others have found weapons they think might belong to Amarantha, but she could just be supplying local gangs. There has been no evidence, no sign of an imminent bioattack with that disease. I had also looked into the Green Death more, but little was known about it since Amarantha had shut down Hybern and Illyria borders so tightly, saying that it was too risky to release to the world’s doctors eager to study it.

More questions than I had mental capacity swirled around giving me a headache. I decided to let Lucien take point on this, staying in the background for as possible. I refused to destroy or alter any police documents but maybe I could give a heads up to the Veritas if anything pops up.

With one last look at the board, I walked out of the briefing room to mentally prepare myself for being in the same car as Rhys, even if it was for twenty minutes.

Next Chapter

[demonofthechili]

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT UR OC(S)!! THEY SEEM AWESOME I WANNA KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM!!

Random Shit! - ALWAYS ACCEPTING

---

OHMYFUCK ARE YOU SURE?? BECAUSE BITCH IT'S GONNA BE A SMALL RANT, SO IMMA TRY TO KEEP THEM BRIEF. HERE'S THREE OF THEM:

Samantha Callahan: FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR HER BIO. She's a OUATIH oc, a war vet, stunt double wannabe, and an actor who's struggling in sexist 60s Hollywood. That aside, she's very chill and relaxed, has a dog named Whiskey (WHAT A BABE), and is considered damn near a best friend to Rick and Cliff. She's got a mixed thing of being both well liked and hated for being 'difficult' on set, but as a whole she's still very much America's fleeting sweetheart as she was in the 40s and early to late 50s. PLEASE ASK MORE ABOUT HER IF YOU DESIRE SO, I LOVE TALKING ABOUT HER.

Mr. Green: FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR HER BIO. A RD oc! Good friends with Eddie and Larry, British, and overall sarcastic, lovable asshole. She has a reputation amongst the criminal underbelly, though, for being on the more... unhinged side. She's excelled in crowd control, and, honestly, she's just a Goddamn delight when she's not being a sadomasochistic cunt.

Lt. Jane Hütz: FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR HER BIO. An Inglourious Basterds oc! Jane's a German who's father followed Hitler all the way back from the Munich Putsch. She grew up on Nazi ideals, and, as such, became one herself. She ended up pushing for girls to be able to join the normal Hitler Youth as her passion lies in engineering (and, hey, alternate history bitch). Her father is a high ranking SS member who regularly visits the high ups, including Landa, and Jane, by about 1943, starts questioning the whole regime. She can either defect and work for the allies, or she can stay and remain with the Nazis. I love her, she's a mess, and we adore that.

FEEL FREE TO PRY INTO ANY OF THEM!! ALSO, I LOVE YOU, I SEE YOU, AND I WANT TO SAY I APPRECIATE YOU.

[tothewaterhq]

ACCEPTED // ELECTRA FORCE

district five → mentor →  rebecca ferguson fc

pronouns: she/her positive traits: genius, warm, understanding  negative traits: bitter, envious, calculating

tw: emotional abuse, neglect

describe their arena: 

The 53rd Hunger Games featured a bio-hazardous nuclear plant for its setting. Complete with a couple of cooling towers, containment buildings, electricity towers, generators, and the like. Having grown up in District 5, Electra was far more familiar with her surroundings. The power tools, technology, and weapons provided – most notably, electroshock and laser – were all things she had grown up understanding.

Nonetheless, the contaminated creatures, poisonous gasses, laser shields, and random fiery explosions were hard to maneuver. For the most part, given her age, Electra knew to let the rest of the tributes pick each other off – or let their surroundings do it. Her own district partner was by her side through most of it, but even he perished too soon for Electra’s liking. When she was pushed towards fighting, she was able to take down four tributes using skill and calculated planning. Her last kill was electrocuting her opponent with a fallen power line. It earned a hurrah from her supporters behind screens.

bio: 

Electra Force may have sounded like a promising name to outsiders, but to her family, dear Electra was their source of shame. Growing up in the shadow of her older sister Fierdra’s success, the youngest Force sibling did all she could to earn the validation of her parents. Her schooling was beyond anything her sister could have ever hoped to achieve, but her social etiquette certainly lacked. While Fierdra could move and act and pretend to be as powerful as The Capitol’s elite, Electra had a habit of blurting her thoughts, knocking into things, and daydreaming ‘silly fantasies’ – or so her father liked to remind her.

Because of the apparent favoritism in her home, Electra looked for love elsewhere. She found that real power existed within chosen family. And that came in the form of her closest friend, Lunare. The two girls constantly escaped to talk about science and stars and atoms and anything else of such nature. They were held captive by the idea of escaping the district, and perhaps the planet, for another. In these brief adventures away from work and school and disappointed faces, Electra began to fancy her best friend. After all, Lunare was the closest thing to happiness the brunette had ever experienced.

Which is why when Lunare, turning 12 the year before Electra, was reaped for the 52nd Hunger Games, the youngest Force daughter wept until her eyes ran dry. And by the time Lunare had perished on the screen, Electra couldn’t cry any more. She was alone in her misery; she hardened. When that last bit of light leaves, what more can you do? For once, her parents seemed pleased she was as robotic and out of sight as themselves.  

But never pleased enough. When Electra turned 12, she realized what was at stake. On the day of the Reaping, she prepared for her name to be called – perhaps wishing it to. Especially after her parents had sat her down the night before to explain to her that if Fierdra’s name was called, Electra was to volunteer in her place. It was the first time since Lunare’s death that the girl felt tears brim her eyes, but she pushed them back. There would be no crying over people who wouldn’t do the same for her.

Sure enough, her older sister’s name had been called. It would forever bother Electra to have watched that day as Fierdra turned towards her with an expectant glance, but her voice still rang high and clear: I volunteer as tribute. From there on out, it was a series of training and public appearances and restless nights. Luckily, the idea of a younger sister volunteering for her older one became quite the chatter, and Electra’s wits and wisdom beyond her years won over a few sponsors.

Being the victor should have felt relieving. She should have let out the breath she had been holding since the day she had volunteered in her sister’s name. But all she felt was shattered. Electra had won, had killed all these kids with families to return home to, and for what? No one would be welcoming her with open arms, with tears of joy. Bitter, Electra decided to officially turn away from her family and accept mentoring future tributes as such in their place.

PLAYED BY // VEE

[marketstudyreport]

Transformer Oil Market 2025: Brief Analysis of Top Countries Data, Growth and Drivers

23rd August 2021 – Global Transformer Oil Market is anticipated to reach USD 4.05 billion by 2025. Transformer oil is also known as “Insulating oil”. Transformer oil is a superlative insulator for electricity, and it is stable at high temperature. This transformer oil is mainly a derivative of mineral oils, but substitute composition with better chemical and physical properties. Transformer oil has several properties such as high resistivity, thermal conductivity, minimum power loss, excellent di-electricity, chemical stability, and among others.

The factors that propel the growth of the Transformer Oil industry include increasing electric demand in emerging countries such as Brazil, South Africa, and India; which are anticipated to develop their grid infrastructure to increase the availability of electricity to the population. On the other hand, there are factors that may hamper the growth of the market including strict environmental laws and shift towards organic oils, and the transition towards renewable sources of energy. Transformer Oil Market is anticipated to grow at a significant CAGR of 11.5% in the upcoming period as the scope, product types, and its applications are increasing across the globe.

Access Transformer Oil Market Report with TOC @ https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/transformer-oil-market

Transformer Oil may be explored by product type, application, end users, and geography. Transformer Oil may be explored by product type as Mineral-based Oils, (Paraffinic Base Oils, Naphthenic Base Oils), Bio-based oils, and Silicone-based oils. The “Mineral-based Transformer Oil” segment surpassed the Transformer Oil industry in 2016 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance by 2025 owing to superior operational advantages, and environmental benefits.

The key applications that could be explored in the Transformer Oil Market include Utility Transformer Oils, Large-scale Transformers, and Small-scale Transformers. The “Small- scale Transformer” segment surpassed the Transformer Oil industry in 2016 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance by 2025 owing to growing electrification and urbanization of rural areas, several government initiatives to expand the power infrastructure, particularly in emerging economies such as Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Transformer Oil may be explored by end users as chemicals and automotive.

Asia-Pacific accounted for the major share of the Transformer Oil Market Size in 2016 and will continue to lead in the forecast period. The factors that could be attributed to the growth include expansion of electric grids, increasing power requirements, and increasing requirement to transform & upgrade existing electricity supply organizations in emerging nations such as Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Some of the key players that fuel the growth of the Transformer Oil industry comprise ABB Ltd., General Electric Company, Siemens AG, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Crompton Greaves Limited, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., Toshiba Corporation, Hyosung Group, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Schneider Electric, and SPX Transformer Solutions, Inc. The leading companies are taking up partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures in order to boost the inorganic growth of the industry.

Request a Sample Copy of Transformer Oil Market Report @ https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/transformer-oil-market/request-sample

[acuppellarp]

Welcome to A Cup-pella, Mads! We’re excited to have you and Grace Fitzgerald in the game! Please go through the checklist to make sure you’re ready to go and send in your account within the next 24 hours.

OOC INFO

Name + pronouns: Mads & she/her Age: 24 Timezone: MST Ships: Chemistry Anti-Ships: Forced

IC INFO

Full Name: Grace Lynn Fitzgerald Face Claim: Kelsey Chow Age/Birthday: 25 / August 13th, 1992 Occupation: 3rd Grade Teacher / Newly Recruited to April’s Showers (Forward) Personality: intelligent, judgmental, perpetually insecure, curious, impulsive, well-traveled, resilient Hometown: Greensboro, Georgia Bio: Christianity isn’t something to mess around with. At least, that’s what Grace’s parents always told her. God would provide when no one else could and there was nothing more to say than that. Charles and Rebecca (nee Chen) Fitzgerald raised their three daughters – Grace, Faith, and Hope to be strong women of faith who never backed down no matter what was thrown at them. Church and religion were spoken about more than any struggles they may face as mixed, privileged women. In fact, their race was rarely spoken about (mostly only for college applications). When life was hard, you got on your knees and prayed. When you felt like everything against you, the response you got was ‘God isn’t’. Bible beating, Catholic guilt kind of feelings were all that were allowed in the Fitzgerald household.

So, imagine being fifteen and the only person who makes your heart skip a beat is your best friend. Your best friend who is a woman. Somewhere along the line, she wasn’t sure when, Grace was taught that men and women were meant to be together. God designed them specifically for that, but when Lucy’s lips touched hers and the entire world washed away? How could that be wrong? Of course, it wasn’t like ridding oneself of consistently patterned brainwashing was all that easy. The amount that Lucy made her feel was… well, beyond explanation, even to this day.

The kissing, cuddling, and all kinds of big feelings were everything to Grace, no matter how much she wanted to deny that fact. It was mere months that it lasted before she had to stop it. Before the Catholic guilt almost ate her alive and the little jokes her sisters made actually got to her. But no one knew. Not a soul had ever found out and maybe that was why Grace pushed Lucy to date men and they’d be best friends no matter what. The kissing wasn’t what made them friends. Their unending love was. But friends didn’t get jealous when other friends made out with boys or held their hands. High school was hard, but stuffing your gay in the closet was harder.

When Lucy left Greensboro, it was almost impossible for Grace to come back from. She threw everything she had into school and trying to distract herself from the broken heart that would never truly heal. Mathletes was her ultimate companion, clinging to numbers was the only thing she truly knew how to do. That, and her Quarterback boyfriend who was incredibly attractive. Or, so she was told. Men still didn’t have much of an effect on her and maybe that was for the best.

By the time she graduated high school there was already a ring on her finger and her parents couldn’t be more proud. Wedding bells rang with her hellish husband at the end of the aisle, Xanax in her system and her sisters by her side. Why she wasn’t able to stop herself from living a life for other people, she still doesn’t know, but it all happened so fast. The marriage. The failed attempt to bear children. The lack of ability to connect to her husband. The divorce. Grief rippled through her over and over again and it felt that with a snap of her fingers, 22 year old Grace Fitzgerald was back on her knees, this time cursing God instead of praising him.

After her world came crashing down right before her eyes, the world she had worked so hard to achieve, there was only one thing a woman could do. Run. So, Grace immediately left Greensboro, fled to California and found a home there. A home where those around her gave her the freedom to be herself. A home that allowed for exploration of half of her ancestry she’d never known. A home where weekends in San Francisco opened up the gates of the grief her heart held onto. A home where late night glasses of wine turned into tear filled confessions that did more than a Catholic one ever had. A home that showed her who she truly was - a fiercely strong, empowered, gay, half Chinese woman.

It was when she came to terms with herself a few years after moving to California that she decided to limit communication with her family. All of them had given her enough flack for not having children and then for getting divorced. Ties with family were somewhat shortened and the sunshine was just a little too much. Too much blaspheme, too much anger, too much uncertainty. In fact, all of the time she’d spent worrying so much about her family was now energy she put into running an LGBT+ sports(kickball, soccer, tennis) league just outside of San Francisco. She learned a lot about herself, the community, and gained an intense love for the sport she’d never imagined: Soccer. All of her time after being divorced and moving away, Grace spent any breaks she had traveling – it was what had sparked her love for New York in the first place. For all that California was to her, New York City was calling her name.

So, Grace moved to New York City a few months ago, filling a position at the school just after a faculty member decided to leave mid-year. Becoming involved with school things and trying to find a community she can call her own like she had back in California are proving to be difficult (hence her trying out for April’s Showers). But if Grace is anything, it’s resilient.

Pets: Grace has a 2 year old British short hair munchkin cat named Raya that she was gifted by a friend in California when they could no longer keep her. The cat’s name was originally Ray, but it soon became obvious that she was most definitely a female cat. (fc: @littlemunchiepooky)

RELATIONSHIPS

Lucy Quinn Fabray

Never quite lovers, but practically so in every way. Big feelings were had and the relationship that Grace chose to sever in the first place has haunted her ever since. There was so much that she experienced with the blonde and so much that she desired that she has never been able to fully shut down. With a relationship where everything prohibited was all that they wanted, Grace’s past with Quinn is likely to influence a lot of her time in New York.

Rowan Flanagan, Samantha Evans, and Fiona Hudson

All four of the girls work at the same Elementary school and are bound to run into each other from time to time. It’s been such a short amount of time that Grace has been working there that she feels she can’t actually say if they get along or not.

April’s Showers

As the newest recruit, it’s unlikely that she’s gotten close to most (if any) of the girls on the team. In order to foster a new community for herself and a large, unknown city, Grace has dedicated herself to the team even if she’s only been part of it for a brief time. Of course, the fact that her first lady love is on the team too is bound to cause some sort of internal conflict.

EXTRA INFO

Twitter name/twitter URL/description: g. fitzgerald / @savegrace / we could never learn to be brave or patient if there were only joy in the world. ((teaching kids that life is hard one day at a time.))

Five latest tweets:

@savegrace: hi @olivegarden – love you, miss you, just thought you should know xo @savegrace: Yet another day where my eyes won’t open fully. Do you think parents notice or just think I’m extra Asian?? @savegrace: sorry for last night’s live tweeting of are you smarter than a fifth grader?… I felt some type of way. @savegrace: if I wear black to school one more day this week, do you think my boss will comment on it again? @savegrace: flight attendant: “we’ve landed 36 minutes ahead of schedule. So, next time you fly with us and we’re late, let’s call it even.” #myhero #usingthisforwork

[authorgraves]

J.R.R. Tolkien

(Jan. 3rd 1892 - Sep. 3nd 1973)

Brief Bio:

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa and moved to England when he was three. Orphaned at twelve, he and his brother were taken in by a family friend. He was raised Catholic and showed an early keenness for languages at school. His courtship and marriage to Edith Bratt, a Protestant three years his senior, scandalized both their families. In 1915 he was reluctantly commissioned to serve in WWI. He contracted trench fever at the Somme and spent the remainder of the war in hospital. He took up an academic career, teaching and tutoring at various colleges. It was at Pembroke College in Oxford that he befriended C.S. Lewis, a co-founder of The Inklings, and wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. His knowledge of language enabled him to serve as a codebreaker in WWII. It was after his retirement that he saw increased fame and funds from his books, gradually becoming a literary cult figure. He died 21 months after his wife of a bleeding ulcer and chest infection.

Notable Works:

The Hobbit (1937)

The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)

The Two Towers (1954)

The Return of the King (1955)

The Silmarillion (1977 posthumous)

Beowulf (posthumous 2014)

The Grave:

Tolkien is buried with his wife in Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford. Maps are available at the office, and signs point the way to the grave, which bears the names of Beren and Luthien.

447 Banbury Rd Oxford, OX2 8EE United Kingdom

Surrounding Area:

The cemetery is reached by bus from Oxford City Centre. One may walk around Oxford and explore many of Tolkien’s local haunts, such as The Eagle and Child pub.

Further Reading:

Tolkien Project Gutenberg

Tolkien Estate website

The Tolkien Society website

“End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take.”

[rattrapskateboarding]

We need a grant like this for Richfield, MN. .. #Repost @cityofskate ・・・ ⠀ 🚨CALL TO ACTION - Full Info w/ Links in BIO⠀ ⠀ This Wednesday 10/2 the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will consider projects to request for the 2020 Hennepin County Youth Sports Grants. Lucky for us, skateparks are eligible for this grant for up to $300,000. Unlucky for us, the Mpls. Parks and Recreation are not placing a priority on Elliot Skate Plaza with these grants.⠀ ⠀ Please take a moment to contact Mpls Parks Commissioners to voice your support for seeking this Henn. Co. Youth Sports Grant funding for Elliot Skate Plaza. Let our Commissioners know that Elliot and skateboarding is important to you, plus you would like to see the quality skateparks that we have been talking about and requesting for years and years…completed.⠀ ⠀ Key Commissioners to contact via email - Committee Chair Chris Meyer - Vice Chair Latrisha Vetaw - Elliot Park Commissioner Jono Cowgill - AND all Commissioners should hear from skateboard supporters.⠀ ⠀ Also, to make a BIG impact, show up and make a brief statement during the Weds. 10/2 meeting Open Time at 5:30pm sharp. Here is the details on “Open Time” from the MPRB site - Persons wishing to speak can call in before 3:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting by calling 612-230-6400 to be placed on the agenda or can sign up at the Board meeting prior to the start of "Open Time" at 5:30pm. MPRB Meetings take place at MPRB HQ at 2117 West River Rd N, Minneapolis, MN 55411 ⠀ ⠀ Commissioners seeing and hearing from our large and diverse skateboard community makes an impression. Elliot Skatepark has been a epicenter to Hennepin County skaters and we can not think of a more appropriate current project that would benefit from these grants. ⠀ 🙏🏽for your advocacy and support!⠀ ⠀ #cityofskate #minneapolis #elliotskatepark 📷 @slamdunkapher #richfieldmn #rattrapskateboarding #skate #skater #skateboading https://www.instagram.com/p/B29oUr9F0Ha/?igshid=ve1e6tluwblt

[maritzaerwin]

A Model Resume Example That Will Get Results

Your work is much dependent on your unique look and personal brand. And that should extend to your resume. Whether you are looking for more gigs, want to change agencies, or seek that first big break, you need a compelling resume to present to the world, along with your portfolio.

How do you craft one? Just follow the tips below and take a peek at the sample model resume we’ve included for reference!

Key Items to Include To Your Model Resume

If you are creating your first resume, here’s a quick recap of the key sections you should include.

Prominent header featuring your name and contact information (phone and email only please).

A “zinger” of a biography that is no more than two sentences, but that also points to the value you can bring to the agency. If you have modeled for a well-known client (large retailer, for example), “brag” it here.

Headshot: Place a high-quality portrait shot either by your name or right underneath your bio. Keep the rest of your pics for your portfolio, or print them out separately if the job posting instructs you to do so.

Portfolio: Link to your portfolio in bold before you move on to other sections.

Experience is the next section. Here you can use either a chronological or a functional format, whichever suits you best.

If you are a freelancer or part-time model, opt for a functional resume that lists your clients and a brief description of your work for them.

If you have worked for agencies, then list them in chronological order.

On the other hand, if you are a newbie without clients or an agency, then use a functional resume with what experience you have had (have you modeled for local charity events, for example; did you participate in fashion shows in high school or college at local events?).

For more details, check our complete guide to writing a resume.

Education – Is it important?

You don’t need a degree to be an amazing model. So, merely adding your alma mater and/or degree and date is not crucial. If you are short on space, it’s best to include what you did in high school or college that relates to modeling. For example:

Did you take photography courses? Mention that.

Modeled for art classes? Include that tidbit too.

Were you in modern dance?  Did you perform in plays and/or musicals?

Did you participate in beauty pageants?

All of these things are related to modeling and “stage presence.” So it’s best to give them a shout out.

Focus on Your Soft Skills and Attributes

A modeling career does not assume many “hard skills” in the strict sense of the word. Being an expert in specific software won’t make a difference in most cases. Thus, it’s best to focus on the relevant soft skills that you have:

Collaboration

Ability to take detailed and specific instructions (particularly during photoshoots)

Fast learner

Listening

Also highlight your unique attributes (physical characteristics) such as:

Measurements

Height and Weight

Eye and hair color

Skin tone

Anything that might be considered a “unique” look – freckles, visible tattoos, etc.

Resume Sample for a Model (Word version)

Download resume example (.docx)

Model Resume Example (Text version)

Carleen Liason Phone: 419-123-4567 Email: liason@email.com Portfolio: [portfolio URL]

A new fashion model who has walked runways for charitable events and placed in local, regional, and state beauty/talent pageants. A frequent art school model at the University of Missouri.

Work Experience

Humane Society of Missouri Fund-Raising Event/Auction – Aug. 2019

Walked runway, modeling clothing from local retailers

Performed as singer/dancer

Clothing auctions raised $32,000

Miss College Pageant Beauty/Talent Pageant – Jan. 2019

Modeled evening gown and swimsuit

Performed song and dance routine

Placed 3rd

Art School Model University of Missouri School of Art – 2015-2019

Live model for art classes

Held poses for long periods of time

Most-requested model by professors

Miss Teen USA Pageant – January 2015

Runway modeling of evening gown and swimsuit

Performed song/dance routine

Answered ad hoc question with poise and ease

Placed 2nd at the state level

Education

University of Missouri – 2015-2019

Coursework included photography, fashion design, communications, theatre.

Played lead roles in plays and musicals

Skills/Attributes

Stage Presence

Communication

Collaborative Team Player

Follow Complex Instructions

(Measurements, hgt./wgt)

Hair/eye color

Skin Tone

Unique Features

Hobbies/Outside Interests

Photography

Volunteer choreographer for children’s theatre group

Member – a local theatre group

Some Final Tips for Your Model Resume

Prepare a stunning portfolio to go along with your resume. If you are new to modeling, find a professional photographer to do the shoot. Don’t compromise on the price if you want to get the best shots.  After all, these visuals will be a huge part of your job searches for a long time to come.

Focus on achievements as much as possible, but don’t exaggerate. Keep things real and highlight the events and brands you worked with.

Write a strong cover letter and include your portfolio website front and center. A reader may not read that entire letter but will certainly check out your portfolio.

The post A Model Resume Example That Will Get Results appeared first on Freesumes.com.

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[johnmuffus]

Dropout Academy Review

Dropout Academy Review (Adam Groves Course)

This $10,000 blueprint by Adam Groves might sound really tempting if you’re running a dropshipping business but your marketing is failing to get you real profits. Today, we’ll take a look at the course and see if it’s worth the $67 it’s asking for.

The course sells as a guide detailing the steps (or a blueprint) you can follow to earn $10,000. It’s focused solely on marketing your business, so you won’t learn about how to create, optimize, or manage your store. It offers a look into how you can use influencers on Instagram, to get traffic into your business and turn them into customers.

That means this course is solely for people already owning a store or people who don’t mind learning how to build their stores on their own. Shopify is a fairly intuitive platform, and there are several videos explaining the process, so it might not be difficult for you.

However, if you want to know how to build a store focused on conversions and your own brand, then you might want to look at other courses.

With that in mind, let’s go through what you’ll learn from this blueprint. At the end, you’ll be able to decide whether or not you want this course.

Who’s the author?

Adam is a young entrepreneur on the internet, and he claims he found success through dropshipping. According to him, he already reached his first goal: making $500,000 every month, which he mentions on his course’s Instagram ad.

That’s also where you probably saw him. It’s where he’s active, yet he’s barely reaching the 17,000 subscribers mark. It might look like a lot, but it’s little compared to other gurus on the market.

Since his Instagram handle is @tradebully, I guess he also has some experience (or at least had an interest) in trading. He doesn’t mention it, though, so I guess we will never know for real.

You can see him regularly posting images of himself and the lifestyle he has, and he also uses this account for promoting the content offered in his course. You can also find an invitation to his sales page on his bio.

Other than Instagram, there’s pretty much nothing else about him. I tried finding out his real experience or his achievements, but neither Google, Bing, nor YouTube succeeded at giving me results.

Reviewing Dropout Academy

The course uses Teachables as its hosting platform, which is a great platform for getting courses: it’s responsive on all devices and the videos are high quality. However, clicking his ad on Instagram takes you to a squeeze page from ClickFunnels where you sign up. It’s just for the payment, though; Teachables is still where the content lies.

The course only has 5 modules: a welcome, how to start out, an explanation of Instagram influencers, and a strategy and a template for Facebook Ads,

The course focuses on finding, reaching, and verifying influencers. By “verifying” I mean it teaches you how to spot which influencers are legitimately running accounts with real subscribers and engagement and which ones are using fake followers like bots. The latter ones are what you want to avoid. All of this is explained on the 3rd module, which makes up the core of the course and your reason for signing up.

The Facebook Ads modules cover a single strategy recommended by Adam as well as the template to replicate it. There’s also some content on product testing, recommended settings, and an explanation of how to scale your ads both horizontally and vertically after you have a successful ad.

If you take a look at the sales page’s bottom, you can see a message from Adam saying that the full course will be released soon. He wants to release this course as a case study, which would include how to research products, setting up your store, and further strategies for influencers you can employ to increase your sales.

Seeing how the influencer marketing is the main focus of the course as is, I can’t see why Adam wouldn’t just include them in this blueprint if he already knows (and is charging you) for the matter.

Final Verdict

Is It Worth It? Final Verdict

This course is basically a brief look into the different ways you can use influencers on Instagram for driving visitors into your business. Besides that, it gives you a fairly basic intro to the strategy, including an explanation of Instagram influencers and how you can both find and reach out to them.

That’s mostly what you get from this course.

I also fail to see how he’s marketing this course towards beginners, yet one of the requirements is to have a running store, which you’re already managing and have optimized. It’s definitely not a requirement met by a beginner.

Besides, there’s the statement of the full release “coming soon”. I don’t really understand why he would sell a “course” that actually feels like a mini course you get as free value in a sales funnel in exchange of your email.

Finally, while Instagram influencers are definitely a good marketing strategy, they’re far from the only one you want to use.

If you can save up $130 more, I’d definitely recommend you get eCom Elites. You’ll get a lot more content with over 200 videos, and you won’t just learn about IG influencers (with much more depth), but it also goes into Facebook and Google Ads, chat bots, email marketing, and even Snapchat and LinkedIn, and that’s just a look into what’s included.

I hope you found this review useful and if you have any questions, please comment down below. I’ll be more than happy to assist you.

Once again, thanks for reading my Dropout Academy Review and I wish you the best of luck.

The post Dropout Academy Review appeared first on Only Genuine Reviews.

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[harrison-abbott]

ODE FOR THOMAS PYNCHON

  There is an episode in Season 6 of The Simpsons called Hommie the Clown. The story begins when Homer is driving down a motorway, and, seeing lines of billboards in front of him, exclaims, “It must be the first day of the month! New billboard day!” He drives closer and stops in front of the first billboard, an advert for English muffins, which perks his interest, and then onto the next, an advert for BBQ sauce, which makes him chuckle. He then spots a billboard with the bold letters ‘KRUSTY’S CLOWN COLLEGE’ with four dancing Krustys under it. Homer scoffs and remarks, “Clown College … You can’t eat that!” and drives off. Despite declaring himself uninterested in the Krusty billboard, it keeps popping into Homer’s mind. He begins to hallucinate at work, his colleagues turning into clowns, accompanied by jangly circus music. At the family dinner table that evening, he makes a circus tent with his pile of mashed potatoes. Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie turn into dancing clowns, prompting Homer to explode, “That’s it! You people have stood in my way long enough! I’m going to clown college!”

 This is an analogy for a discovery I made as a younger man in my University days. But, before going on, allow a brief introduction to the personal context within which that discovery was made.

 I was 22 and had just completed the 3rd Year of my Psychology undergraduate degree. It was summer, and I’d just moved in to a new flat. I’d also just been dumped by a girl – ha – which made me rather blue. The said girl had been inviting me out on dates for around two months. The first month went pretty well, or so I thought back then. The second month the girl began to repeatedly talk about her ex-boyfriend, who had been a half-friend of mine before and who I hadn’t known was her ex. Her talking of the ex grew more repetitive on our dates, until it became one of the main things she talked about. On the last date I had with the girl, she invited me out on a picnic, and talked about how impressed she was with the ex for getting a 1st in his Degree. He was graduating that same day, and she was sending him a surprise bottle of wine for his afterparty. We finished the picnic, which she had prepared, and she made to leave. I motioned to kiss her bye on the lips; she snatched her head away to the side and allowed me to kiss her on the cheek. I made some jokey remark, like, “Oh I was actually aiming for the lips …?” She laughed, turned, and walked away. A few hours later she called me up to break it off, insinuating that there was another man in her life. And kept asking me to guess who this other man was.

 But, blah blah, this story is so absurd I now just find it funny. The relevant thing was that it led me onto a horrific alcoholic binge after it ended. I got fucked out my brain on whisky, wine, beer for weeks on end – drank as much as I could, just to hurt myself. I became obsessed with Kurt Cobain, like some 14-year-old, and kept self-harming with Bic razor blades, determined to convince myself that I had Bi-Polar Disorder. Haha, it was pathetic. I drank a half bottle of cheap whisky before every shift at work: I don’t know how I didn’t get fired.

 My flatmate whom I’d just moved in with went off on a long summer holiday to Europe, meaning I had the space to myself for three months. My binge came to a moment of clarity, one lucky day, and I decided to halt the boozing for a night. I cleared all the bottles/cans out to the bins, and I went down to the University Library that evening.

 The Sir Duncan Rice Library at Aberdeen was terrific – probably the place which has most nurtured me intellectually. Whilst I studied a scientific degree, which was dependent on reading electronic science journals, I was far more interested in the physical literature section in the Library, which was huge. So I would raid the novels and poetry collections alongside doing Psychology, a healthy mix of art and science. The Library also had this little music room in an isolated corner of the building, with a keyboard and recording equipment. I’d go in there and make weird recordings, many of which became part of the Violent Birth of the Moon repertoire. The Library was thus an enchanting place where I could learn and be creative.

 It also stayed open into the a.m. hours each night, so that a handful of us insomniac-Travis-Bickle types could go there whenever we pleased. But that day when I sobered up was the most important day of my University era.

 I first saw it – the book – whilst roaming the American literature section. ‘Gravity’s Rainbow …’ I thought, ‘That’s a ballsy title …’ I picked it up – a huge, blue, hardbacked, clumpy thing, without any jacket or front cover image. Just those words and an author I’d never encountered before. I skimmed through it and the text was smaller and denser than any of the other books I had in my current haul. I’d come on it by chance, and why hadn’t I heard of it? And why was there no blurb, or author bio – nothing to explain it? Annoyed with curiosity, I hesitated, but then put it back on the shelve. And I went back home with the other books, and sat in my silent flat, trying to read them. I managed to avoid buying booze from the shop before 10 p.m., and I dosed off to sleep, unsatisfied with the books I’d tried. I had a dream about the enormous blue book I’d left behind in the Library. I woke up whilst it was still dark, got dressed, and cycled back to the campus and took Gravity’s Rainbow out.  

 I stopped drinking, ended the absurd binge, forgot about the silly girl-incident, and became completely obsessed with this new book.

 These are the two sentences which complete the first paragraph of Thomas Pynchon’s 760 page novel Gravity’s Rainbow:

“A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.”

After and during my obsession for the book, I kept telling other people about it. I kept trying to explain the answer when they asked “what’s it about?” I couldn’t do it, at least not very well. Wikipedia cites the basic setting and plot of the novel as thus:

“Lengthy, complex, and featuring a large cast of characters, the narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II, and centres on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military. In particular, it features the quest undertaken by several characters to uncover the secret of a mysterious device named the "Schwarzgerät" ("black device"), slated to be installed in a rocket with the serial number "00000".”

Except, the above is not a revealing explanation. Not that I could do any better, but I’ll try.

 The main plot-premise involves the central character Slothrop and his adventures during the closing chapters of WWII. Slothrop travels across Europe a great deal and has sex with a great deal of women. Every time Slothrop has sex, a V-2 rocket strikes the exact same spot in which the sexual incident occurred, a few days later. All kinds of military craftsmen and rocket scientists begin to believe that Slothrop has some mystic ability to thus predict the powers of the V-2 rockets, which is in someway connected to this coveted secret called the Schwarzgerät with the special number 00000. These military craftsmen and scientists seek to capture Slothrop in order to understand a mystical element of warfare for self-benefit. Slothrop’s sexual exploits take him from London, to the French Riviera, Northern Germany … yet nowhere is specific, and Europe becomes a roaming magical place of setting. Alongside his women he meets MI5 agents, SS officers, sex slaves, Pavlovian psychologists, a militarily-engineered octopus with which he has a physical fight, Schwarzkommando cadres, a witch, a porn star … Slothrop slowly begins to lose his mind, and channels a variety of alter-egos, as a war reporter, a German actress, a Russian troop … It is too hard to explain, really.

 Because it is unlike any thing I have ever encountered artistically. Not even solely in a literary sense. There is no book like Gravity’s Rainbow, but no film, or symphony or spectacular work of art either. I love GR for its ability to blend the obscure, the offbeat and the irregular into something that can be read with a type of astonished relish. The book is narrated almost entirely in present-tense, which gives it a rollicking pace. Words and sentences constantly explode in chaotic directions, yet all seem to be linked together in perfect imperfection. Pynchon bends his syntax, elongates language, punches and drags the reader through wacky scenarios. There are rape scenes, murder scenes, which should be too horrific to read – and they are horrific, but are described so exquisitely that one’s eyes lap them up. A lot of the book is very funny, often crass, crude. And yet most importantly Pynchon clearly has morality behind his multivariate approach. For instance, here’s an example, taken from a single paragraph (from my edition pages 549-551):

“The nationalities are on the move. It is a great frontierless streaming out here … Poles fleeing the Lublin regime, others going back home, the eyes of both parties, when they do meet, hooded behind cheekbones, eyes much older than what’s forced them into moving … Estonians, Letts, and Lithuanians trekking north again, all in their wintry wool in dark bundles, shoes in tatters, songs too hard to sing, talk pointless … white wrists and ankles incredibly wasted poking from their striped prison camp pajamas, footsteps light as waterfowl’s in this inland dust … bobbing, drifting, at a certain hour of the dusk, like candleflames in religious procession – supposed to be heading today for Hannover, supposed to pick potatoes along the way … non-existent potato fields plundered by the SS, ja, every fucking potato field, and what for? Alcohol. No, not to drink, alcohol for the rockets. … Women in army trousers split at the knees … looted chickens alive and dead … harmoniums, grandfather clocks … paintings of pink daughters in white frocks, of saints bleeding, of salmon and purple sunsets over the sea, dolls smiling out of violently red lips … So the populations move, across the open meadow, limping, marching, shuffling, carried, hauling along the detritus of an order, a European and bourgeois order they don’t know yet is destroyed forever.”

What can we see here? Aside from wonderful wordplay and beautiful language we see how clever Pynchon is. He has a wide knowledge of the war, and a compassion for the masses of people it affected. The sense of setting is profound; the enormity of the war is emphasised. This is only a fragment of the quoted paragraph …

 Pynchon is thus a historian as well as a writer of fiction. As well as a mathematician, scientist, music fanatic, film buff; all seen in a glorious collection of references, stats, diagrams, quotes, you name it. I’m clearly a nerd of this book. And perhaps not everybody would feel the same about it. Indeed, the book received much negative backlash by the critics upon initial reception in 1973. Although nominated for the Pulitzer Fiction Award in 1974, it was described as ‘unreadable’ and ‘overwritten’ by the jury board. And directly rejected because of a sex scene involving coprophagia – the consumption of faeces, in this case for sexual gratification. This particular scene is only one of many erratic moments in the book, and definitely not the most ‘immoral’, if that is the correct word. This is a common example of how stupid the critics can be. And another example of how great works of art do not receive the attention they deserve by the critics of their time.

 Anyway. Thomas Pynchon is a writer who has influenced me vastly, in a way differently from other influences. I’m not saying he is the ‘best’ or ‘most important’ to me, his work simply has a unique power over me. That particular summer, when I cleared up and read GR was among the most exhilarating periods in my life. It set me new ambitions, not necessarily to emulate Pynchon’s work (because this is impossible) but to be confident that there are always new things to be expressed in literature, and art. How an artist can be playful, universal with his craft, not afraid to seep up all his influences and hurl them wherever he wishes. I’ve read Pynchon’s other works too, and love them as well. I’ll admit I have a personal attachment in Gravity’s Rainbow because it singlehandedly pulled me out of that deranged period of alcohol, yet more importantly extended my love for literature to even greater levels, which I would never have thought possible. It’s an obsession which I still have, lingering.

 I found a rare copy of Gravity’s Rainbow which I’d been looking for for ages. In a second hand bookstore – a neat, antique copy, for only £3. Thrilled, I took it into the woods by my home neighbourhood to read again. And I still can’t quite believe it, but I went and lost it somewhere in the woods. I was playing football with my dog at the same time, and somehow I must have left it on one of the park benches perhaps. Somebody found it, picked it up – and took it home? Or they threw it into the bushes? Either way, it feels like there’s a copy of it, waiting, hidden somewhere in the woods for me to find one day in the future. And hidden in my childhood play-arena, as it were, gives it a further sense of mysticism. When works of art can obsess a person so, they must have something special. As a developing writer myself, I hope I can make something that will affect people in such a way, one day. But I’ll need to put a lot of effort in before I can get anywhere near Gravity’s Rainbow.

  15/05/19

[danielclavery]

Review of Jim Richardson’s Middle Blue for VVAW by Daniel C. Lavery

I am the lucky Vietnam Vet who reviewed Jim Richardson’s marvelous fictional book on the Vietnam genocidal conflict where he served from 1970-71. Although Jim only ordered 200 copies and some may still be available from the author, he seems satisfied with the project which he admits has gone viral.

No wonder, Jim brings to the page the skills of a college graduate, artist, writer, photographer, expert sailing enthusiast, and athlete, whose metaphors jump off the page and place the reader in every intense or resplendent scene enhanced by his exquisite artistry. Suprisingly, Jim says in one of his brief articles about the book he didn’t believe he could write a memoir so he made up fictional characters based on the people he came to interact with intimately on his riveting journey in the army. His first draft was so long he whittled it down to half the original giving us 280 pages that capture the struggles of soldiers in the jungle, in sand dunes, on liberty reveling with buddies, or even in Cambodia when Nixon caused a major uproar invading a neutral country that caused widespread protests back home.

His first assignment is in Chu Lai with the Americal Division reporting to the Information Office, 23rd Infantry Division, filling the seat of the information officer who photographed the victims of the infamous My Lai massacre that resulted in more than 500 unarmed Vietnamese villagers killed at close range by machine guns cutting down men, women, children and babies. Not surprisingly then, one of his leaders immediately informed them their main job was to “kill gooks!”

His main three characters among a host of others, form extremely close bonds as college grads who determined early on to spend the least amount of time in Vietnam with engineering, history, and artistic or writing backgrounds. Fortunately each kept as close contact with each other as possible even though often separated by assignments.

Lost in his first battle experience due to boils on his feet preventing him starting with the group on an early mission, he panicked when he noticed two trails not knowing which one his unit had taken. When he recovered control in the steamy jungle, he was soon attacked by mosquitos, and jungle critters, always afraid of hitting a land mine. We feel the extreme frustration and fear Holt (the fictitious character closest to resembling the writer) and his comrades (McGregor, and Petrini) felt as the reader is carefully led into each scene. Soon numerous body bags contain many dead combatants after a large Viet Cong attack killed them the day after he played volleyball with them. Eventually a fragging of an obnoxious officer reveals the hatred some men felt for a supposed leader who exposed them to unnecessary lethal harm.

Learning Petrini was dealing in a lucrative black market, drugs, whores, or enjoying rock and roll bands drunk and stoned was a daunting surprise. Soon we find numerous Black soldiers who refused to fight against what they called their yellow brothers and avoided combat playing cards while waiting to be court-martialed, got drunk, and stoned on grass or heavier drugs.

Ford, a soldier in the new office Holt worked with, offered him a marijuana cigar laced with heroin that caused extreme incapacity in a war zone that could easily have injured him seriously, or killed him. Luckily he escaped from the horrendous scene. All these and many others, bring a harsh reality to many deadly threats and even extreme racial tensions that were exacerbated by this unpopular war.

He even noticed helicopter operators shoot Vietnamese fishermen or other civilians in free fire zones, unknown to the victims, while others in his group torched entire villages forcing the poor inhabitants to seek shelter elsewhere or be hurried into holding cells.

Soon he purchased a Nikon 35mm camera, rolls of color film he strapped over his shoulder, and placed his sketchbook, and pens in the outsides of his pant legs, as he recorded his surroundings with film or his sketchbook. Later he would use these sketches noting the required color; meridian blue for ocean, cyan for the sky, and red ochre for the earth in watercolors.

Like my father in WWII and many others in battles, although not religious, Holt recited the Twenty-Third Psalm there after considering his plight and felt connected to something larger than himself as he lit a stick of incense and remembered a fallen friend. He and his buddies made a plan to take a two week vacation to Australia but that required agreeing to an extension Holt was against.

On one journey he wandered to an abandoned little shrine on a cliff for a place of solace that contained a brass urn.  There he met an eleven year-old Vietnamese boy, Quang, who loved drawing and wanted to become an artist. Not far away Holt saw a beautiful sailboat, Middle Blue, whose owner is a soldier soon to leave Vietnam but not until Holt showed him what a sailing lover Holt was and how well they maneuvered that craft though the water as a team!

This extraordinary story has many more adventures I promise will astound the reader and remember that make it by far the best book this reviewer has read on Vietnam since becoming a member of VVAW in 1969 thanks to you Jim Richardson.

BIO: Dan graduated Annapolis, navigated a Navy jet, was carrier qualified, and earned NAO wings in Florida, and then a ship to Vietnam. He resigned, turned peace activist, joined VVAW, and became a civil rights lawyer for Cesar Chavez's UFW, the ACLU, and private civil rights practice. His memoir, All the Difference, describes his change from a pawn in the military to a crusader for justice. http://www.danielclavery.com (Author website)