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kiame-sama · 4 years

Note

Could you do a Yandere Silva where the reader is getting hit on by a butler with a death wish and Silva freaks and it ends with rough sex where reader won’t be able to walk👀🍵

Warnings; lemon, rough behavior, yandere relationship, yandere behavior, mentioned non-con, reader gets threatened, reader has female parts, oral (female receiving), oral (male receiving), 69, peak into the yandere mind of an assassin,

~~~~~~~~

You sat quietly in your room, relaxing back on the large couch and idly listening to whatever was currently on the TV. It had been a fairly quiet day, but most days were quiet (other than when Silva decides he needs attention). You were rather bored, slightly considered taking a nap or even calling for Silva just for some kind of entertainment.

Just as you were in the middle of deciding what to do, the door slowly began to open. This immediately put you on guard since the only ones who would enter your room tended to fling it open despite how unbelievably heavy the door actually was. You were quick to retrieve your panic button, a distress alert Silva had given you just in precaution for someone getting to your room. It only happened once that some fool decided to kidnap you without anyone knowing until you were already gone, but he made certain it would never happen again.

You fiddled with the small device nervously, watching the door with great anticipation for whoever it was on the other side. You were surprised to see a man you had never met before. He wore a suit identical to that of the butlers that worked in the manor, but all of the butlers should know better than to even come within twenty feet of your room.

"So you're the famous Zoldyck treasure. I can certainly see why."

He looked you up and down, making you feel far more exposed than you actually were. The man was blond and had bright blue eyes that seemed to glimmer in the light of your cell. He was fairly tall, though not as tall as Silva, and he had sun-kissed tan skin. The way he looked at you like a piece of meat made your skin start to crawl, so you subtly pressed the button and hoped that this man wouldn't have the time to do anything to you.

"You're quite the big mystery. Most here don't know what's in this room, and It's even one of the most enforced rules; don't go near this room. I can see why you're considered a treasure, a lovely thing like you would attract a lot of attention. But, I don't see why you're kept away from everyone like this. Can you tell me?"

"..."

"It's okay, I don't bite, unless you want me to. You must be such a fragile little thing, being locked up like this for your safety."

"I'm not locked up for my own benefit."

"Oh?"

"I'm here because my husband doesn't like sharing."

This, instead of making the man back off like you thought it would, the man only seemed to become more interested in you due to your words. He began a slow approach towards you, making you retreat until your back was pressed against the wall and he was mere inches away from you. You tried to turn your head away from him, keeping as much distance as possible between the two of you, knowing just how Silva will react.

"He doesn't have to know... Isn't it exciting, though? Sneaking around like this."

"No."

"Oh come on, live a little, sweetheart."

"Leave me alone."

"Nah, I don't think I will. In fact, no one even knows I'm here, so no one will come check on you. I could do so many things to your tight little body with the time I have... And no one would even hear you cry for help."

"Stop- Stop it."

"So scared. Good. I like 'em scared. You're gonna be so much f-"

He was suddenly cut off by the door slamming open with enough force to make the walls shake, him turning on his heel to confront whoever just arrived. You were quick to slide past the stunned man as he turned away from you, hurriedly making it to Silva's side and hiding behind him. The man had a look of pure terror on his face, clearly not expecting the terrifying assassin to appear.

You gripped tightly to the back of Silva's shirt, pressing your forehead against his broad back as you hid from the intruder that had threatened you so gleefully. The small glimpse you got of Silva's expression was enough to tell you everything you needed to know. He wasn't just mad, he was furious. Luckily, none of that fury was directed towards you.

Not only were his burning blue eyes filled with pure hate, they seemed to glow in the light of the room with a predatorial glint. He never really seemed to smile anyway, but his expression wasn't his usual scowl, it was akin to the stone-cold expression of a wild animal ready to kill. There was a palpable hate in the air that made it quite clear Silva had no intention to let the man live.

"Did he do anything to you?"

"He threatened me."

A low hum that sounded more like a growl rumbled from his chest, clearly displeased. The man had yet to move from his original spot, frozen in terror at the intimidating visage of your furious husband. Had the situation been different, and had the man not threatened you, you would have felt pity for him, but you felt no pity now.

"Explain."

"Wha-What?"

"Explain just what you are doing in my wife's room."

The man had already been terror stricken, but now all of the color disappeared from his face as he realized just how stupid his decision had been. He had assumed you were just another family member, maybe a sister or daughter. He only began to now realize just how fucked he was. Even though he was a relatively new butler, he knew of Silva's infamous temper and he also knew to never talk about Silva's wife, lest he wish for the most painful death possible.

He had seen Kikyo around, and since Kalluto was always trailing behind, he had assumed that she was Silva's wife and did his damndest to stay away from her and stay out of her path. He had heard stories about what would happen to anyone who took any level of interest in Silva's wife, but he had just figured it was meant as a basic warning about the woman herself. Yet here he was, staring at the most terrifying man he had ever encountered after just having threatened and attempted to force himself onto the very woman he was warned to never speak of.

"Well?"

"I- I didn't- I hadn't- but-"

"You've already exceeded my patience, filth."

"I'm- I'm sorry! I didn't know who she was! I wouldn't have said those things to her if-"

"Said what 'things'?"

"..."

You pulled away to look up at your towering husband, seeing him glance over his shoulder at you, his eyes far more gentle and loving. The glance was a clear prompt to speak, and you'd rather not push Silva's buttons at that moment, given his unyielding rage about to overflow.

"He threatened to rape me and said no one would hear me scream."

There was a sudden change in the entire room the moment you finished your sentence. It was a crushingly heavy pressure that seeped into every corner like a rolling miasma, consuming everything. The pressure quickly lifted from you, allowing you to breathe though it was clear the intruder did not receive the same kindness as he choked and dropped to his knees.

If you thought Silva was mad before, he was as tame as a kitten in comparison to the rage that now consumed him. You were well aware of Silva's knowledge in ways to kill a man, but it seemed more like he was interested in a slow drawn out slaughter. He never once looked away from the terrified man, even as he spoke in a gentle tone to you.

"(Y/n), go wait in our room. Don't come out until I tell you to."

"Alright..."

Quickly scrambling to the room you two shared, you caught a glimpse at Silva's expression and felt your heart drop into your stomach. Even though you knew he was not angry with you at all, that look alone sent fear running down your spine and into your very being. You closed the door and sat on your bed, hearing a sudden shrill voice begin screaming.

It wasn't hard for you to guess the kind of mood Silva would be in once he was done dealing with the man. There was no doubt in your mind he was going to be rough as well, knowing how he got when jealous. You also knew he would be jealous as all hell due to the man being in your room. It may not have been your fault and the man may be dead, but with Silva, jealousy didn't fade away.

There were few things you could do at that point to soften Silva's mood, and honestly him being rough wasn't that bad (so long as he doesn't break your bones). Given how terrifying just a glance at him was, you figured you'd do something that should brighten his mood and help soothe his jealousy a bit. You dug through your clothes picking out your white and blue lingerie- Silva's favorite for obvious reasons- and waited on the bed.

The screams had yet to stop, though they certainly took on a more gurgling tone the longer it went. You shivered slightly, wondering just what Silva was doing to the man, since he was an expert at torturing people. Though he has hurt you in the past- most being accidental- you know just how strong he is and just how deeply his few emotions impact him. Looking from the outside, he feels nothing, but with you he is extremely expressive in everything he does.

You lay back on the bed, thinking about how much you truly impacted him and how much your wellness meant to him. Hell, the man would move heaven itself if you wanted him to. He was the dominant partner, but he was also a slave to your every emotion.

While you let yourself get lost in thought, you slowly slipped off to sleep with Silva's pillow cuddled in your arms.

Movement on the bed drew you out of your peaceful slumber, letting out an upset whine at being woken. You were slightly disoriented from your sudden awakening and blearily blinked the sleep out of your eyes. As your brain began to fully wake as well, you realized that Silva was right above you, his large hands on either side of your head.

There was a faint feeling of surprise as you noticed not a speck of blood on the giant man. You figured he would have been soaked in the blood of that idiot butler, but not a single fleck of red marred his flawless skin.

"Trying to cheer me up?"

There was the slightest of smiles pulling at his lips as his eyes slowly dragged over your barely covered figure, letting out a low hum of pleasure and licking his lips slowly. He seemed almost too calm at that moment, but you knew the beast that dwells within would easily come forth once he began.

"It certainly does help..."

"I thought it would be nice to surprise you... but I guess I fell asleep before you came back."

"You are a wonderful creature, (y/n), did you know that?"

"Well, there has to be some reason you keep me around."

"Sassy thing."

His tone was teasing, but you knew he wouldn't be teasing you for very long, not with the way his sharp blue eyes roamed your body. He sat up, now letting his hands roam your soft body and squeezing every few seconds. No matter what mark may be on you- be it a scar, a birthmark, a mole, didn't matter- he adored you and held such reverence for you. Even when you gain or lose weight, you are a Goddess in his eyes, and he made sure to treat his Goddess well.

"Mmm, you do know how to rile me up."

"Lots of practice."

You reached up to run your fingers through his hair, watching his eyes narrow in bliss from your gentle touch. When you suddenly tightened your grip and tugged on his long hair, that calm expression changed in an instant. He was now less of a man than he was a beast, moving you suddenly so your legs rest on his shoulders, your back against the pillows.

He didn't say a single word as he gripped the lacy panties you wore between his teeth, pulling back in one smooth motion and ripping the delicate fabric with ease. You were about to whine at the destruction of his favorite set but you didn't even manage to get a single word out before he buried his head between your thighs, tongue easily sliding through your soft folds. He didn't bother with being slow in working you up, he just slid his tongue as deeply into you as he could to slurp up your juices.

The noises coming from him were obscene as he sucked on your soft pussy, low moans vibrating against you as he gripped your legs tighter, pulling you closer to his mouth. You ran your fingers through his hair, gripping tightly and tilting your head back with breathy moans. He held your hips still, making it so you were unable to do anything other than writhe in the pleasure he gave you.

It was clear that him holding you still was more of a dominance thing to reassure himself and soothe his burning jealousy more than it was to show his dominance over you. He was using your presence and your sweet moans as his own validation of being your one and only. Reminding himself- and in some ways, you- that you were still his and he had no intention of sharing you in any way.

You truly have only had honest social interaction with three people on a consistent basis and your five children on the odd occasion for more than twenty years. If that didn't give you a good visualization of how deep his jealousy runs, then it would be the contempt he has for his own children. As far as he was concerned, you only truly needed him in your life and no one else would have the chance or ability to get between the two of you.

He was much like a religious zealot with how fiercely he coveted you and everything about you. His tongue was as deep in you as possible while his large thumb rubbed your clit, blue eyes closed in bliss as if he truly received deep pleasure from taking care of you and pleasuring you like a wild animal did its mate. You were his everything, and he wanted your everything desperately enough he had you kidnapped only days after meeting you, already in deep obsession and fanatical adoration for you.

Continuing with endless stamina, he brought you up to mindless pleasure and kept you there, every whining cry you made only served to fuel his desire and increase blood-flow to his achingly hard cock. In typical Silva fashion, he completely ignored his own needs to not only ensure your pleasure, but to test himself to see how long he could listen to you moan before snapping and giving in to the starving beast within him. He was quite the dominant masochist when it came down to it, always adoring every scratch and mark you make on his fair skin but also making sure he was the one on top and in control.

With a loud sucking sound, he pulled away from your soaked pussy, licking his lips with hazy bliss filled eyes never leaving your shaking form. He was completely lost in his desire to possess all of you, and he gently trailed his warm hands up your soft front until he lightly gripped your chin, holding your mouth open. You were faintly worried about what he planned on doing while in such a blissed out state, yelping when he moved you down the bed with both hands before moving so his muscular legs were on either side of your head.

He slid his large cock slowly into your mouth, your jaw stretching a bit further to accommodate the rock-hard length. A deep moan rose up from his chest as he thrusted his hips a few times before returning to digging his tongue into your slick heat. He did the majority of the work to pleasure you both, ensuring to keep himself from making you deep throat him just yet. You reached up to rest your hands on his hips for your own sake should he unintentionally begin to choke you, but to Silva the contact of your gentle hands on his pale skin was overwhelmingly intense.

He was extremely touch starved when it came to you due to his distant and cold upbringing despite how much physical contact he actually had with you on a regular basis. Just another reason for him to be obsessed with the touch of your skin and the feel of your body against his. Each small brush of your hand anywhere on his body sent intense sensations running through his very being. To feel not a hint of affection during the critical developmental beginning years of his life left him distant and made him believe all outside touch would bring only pain.

Of course, when he met you, his entire world changed drastically. Your touch was gentle and brought no pain with it, only the sweet sensation of honest care and empathy. He had to have you, and only you. Only your touch brought him such calming pleasure and consuming affection. Even as he bucked his hips into your warm mouth, he was past cloud 9 in absolute bliss, sinking his tongue into your extremely wet pussy and almost desperately trying to bring you the same level of pleasure that he felt even when simply in your presence.

That's what he always tried to do.

He felt so much from and for you that he couldn't help but attempt to reciprocate that pleasure any chance he got. His addiction to your touch was likely why you two were still so sexually active even after decades together, that and Silva used that intimate connection to soothe his own mind consuming anxiety. It was why he became so irritable whenever he is away from your side for more than 24 hours. His mind drowns him in anxiety with every outcome of you being attacked while he is away.

It would destroy him to know something hurt you or you were unwell in some way while he was gone. He would feel like he failed you as your husband and that he failed you as your protector. He refused to fail. The cost would be too great.

You, on the other hand, happened to be lost in the feelings of pleasure running through your veins, to the point you didn't honestly notice much other than the warm cock in your mouth and the hot tongue on your pussy. Every moan you made only made that large length twitch and throb, feeling the slide of your tongue against his flesh as you let your fingers slide over his hips. It was clear he enjoyed it as he let out deep moans and growls of pleasure, holding himself back as long as possible.

Just when you felt the pulse of his heartbeat flutter, he pulled away from you, leaving you confused and slightly dazed. He was watching you try to collect your thoughts, proud he made you so delirious with pleasure that you needed time to return to awareness. His movements were slow and methodical as he positioned himself between your legs, raising your hips up so he could slide through your soft folds.

"Look at me, (y/n)."

His deep voice drew your scattered attention, staring up into his intense blue eyes in an almost questioning way. There was a moment of silence as he stared at you in adoration, not looking away from you as he slowly slid his firm length into you, watching the way you gasped and writhed on the bed. He gave you only a moment to adjust to his size once more before he began to thrust into your welcoming body, drowning in the tight embrace of your warm insides.

You moved up and down on the bed with each rough thrust, clawing at the sheets beneath you. Silva pound into you with such intensity you could barely draw in a breath before it was being forced back out with another rough thrust. He leaned over your writhing and mewling form to start pressing open mouthed kissed against your neck, biting down a few times to hear you yelp and whine. You wrapped your arms around him and let your nails bite down on his fair skin, shivering from his rumbling moan directly against you ear.

As you felt your orgasm creeping up with alarming speed, you reached up to his hair and gripped on the long locks, tugging hard enough to remove his lips from your neck. You had to stop tugging on his hair and just cling to him as his thrusts became rougher, pressing one of his hands against your soft stomach and feeling the way he moved inside of you. The increased sensation of his large cock rubbing against your tight walls practically made you scream in delight, your pleasure overwhelming and consuming you as your orgasm flooded your body.

"So tight..! You are mine. You will always be mine. I'll never let you go. I'll never let you forget."

You barely registered his crooning words due to your overstimulated nerves sizzling in your brain. He adored the hazy look in your eyes as you were consumed by the pleasure he provided you. That sweet expression on your lovely face was enough to push him over the edge, his hot cum painting your soft insides with every intense pulse.

When he finally pulled out of you, you were still trying to catch your breath and clung to his body with all of the remaining energy you had. The low humming chuckle that came from him was a soft and soothing rumble that was quite like the purr of some feral beast. You curled close to his warm body, snuggling down into his grasp as he pulled the blanket over the both of you, kissing your forehead gently.

"Mine."

#Yandere silva #Yandere silva x reader #Yandere x reader #Silva Zoldyck #hxh silva #daddy silva

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inevitably-johnlocked · 4 years

Note

any new historical AUs? anything from the 1150s to the 1950s works for me lol

Hi Nonny!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sadly I haven’t read as many historical fics as I would have liked to, unless you count the TAB/Victorian AUs I’ve read, LOL. I’ll give you most that I have personally read (I omitted the majority of the Victorian AUs I’ve read, please check out the link in the See Also section), AS WELL AS stuff on my offline MFL list, and please do check out the “see also” lists for others that people have added, and hopefully some lovelies will add their own fics for us!

So if any of y’all are currently writing any or have some faves (especially regency AUs, I haven’t read any and am interested in trying one out) please let us know!!

HISTORICAL AUs

See also:

Time Travel, Altered Time, or Time Manipulation

Victorianlock

ACD Canon

Victorian Meets Modern Johnlock

WWII AU’s

Pirates

The First Night by TheForerunner (NR, 1,043 w., 1 Ch. || ACD Canon || First Time, Fluff, Non-Explicit, Prose) – When all was over, Sherlock reached to dress again and John reached to stop him. They sat at opposite ends of the bed and one set of eyes surveyed the other’s set of limbs, and they were quiet in the downbeat, melody suspended. Sherlock was sheepish, and this confused John, who now smelled of his companion and felt they were part of one another.

The Trial of Sherlock Holmes by jenna221b (G, 3,015 w. across 3 works || TAB!lock, Metafic / TJLC, Victorian AU / 1895, Christmas, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Oscar Wilde) – Scripts based on speculation that Sherlock will be put on trial in The Abominable Bride to parallel the Oscar Wilde Trials of 1895.

we have never seen a greater day than this by Lediona (T, 36,420 w., 7 Ch. || A Royal Night Out AU || WWII / VE Day, Prince Sherlock, Soldier John, Alternating POV, First Kiss, Bittersweet Ending, Homophobia, Dancing) – Peace. At long last. It’s VE Day and Prince William desires to join the celebrations. It is a night of excitement, danger and the first flutters of romance.

five times sherlock holmes lied to john watson (and one time he finally told the truth) by miss_frankenstein (G, 5,948 w., 1 Ch. || TAB Compliant || Homophobia, Pining Sherlock, Oscar Wilde Trials, Happy Ending) – Set in "The Abominable Bride" universe, this piece adopts a familiar format to chronicle Sherlock's quiet suffering in the wake of the 1895 Oscar Wilde trials and the particular way they affect his relationship with (and feelings for) John.

In A Changing Age by allonsys_girl (E, 15,590 w. || Victorian AU, Virgin / Demi Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, Mild H/C, Bottomlock) – Sherlock wakes up in the 19th century, with no idea how he got there.

The Curious Adventure of the Drs. Watson by ShinySherlock (M, 40,883 w., 14 Ch. || BBC & ACD Fusion || Victorianlock, Time Travel / Magical Realism, Friends to Lovers, Love and Kissing, Romance, Body Swap) – What if ACD Watson and BBC Watson switched places... “Imposter!” Hands clenching the lapels of John’s coat, Holmes shoved him anew. “Yes!” John agreed, nodding, and then grimacing. “Sort of!”

A Further Sea by i_ship_an_armada & ShinySherlock (E, 125,492 w., 23 Ch. || Historical Pirates AU || Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Doctor John / Pirate Captain Sherlock, Sailing, UST / RST, Masturbation, Action / Adventure, Mild Angst & Peril, Romance, Shaving, Molly/Janine, Bottomlock, Hand / Blow Jobs, Past Drug Use, Slow Burn, Mild Violence, Facial Shaving, Happy Ending) – Here be a tale of adventure for both body and soul, but beware if ye be not of stout heart, for this be piratelock, ya savvy? Luckless ship's surgeon John Watson takes a chance, and finds himself eye to eye with The Ghost, the scourge of the seven seas and a definite thorn in the side of the blaggard, James Moriarty. But when John finds there's more to this most cunning pirate than be meetin' the eye, he has to choose... is it a pirate's life for him?

MARKED FOR LATER

The Right Side of the Wall by MarisFerasi (E, 5,468 w., 2 Ch. || Historical Slavery AU || Sex Slave, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Captain John, Slave Sherlock, Historical Inaccuracy) – Captain John buys slave Sherlock and the smex occurs.

Splat! by Vulgarweed (E, 6,618 w., 1 Ch. || Historical Appalachian 1970′s AU || Dom / Sub, Gunplay, Knifeplay, “Non-Con” Roleplay, Switchlock, Anal, Rimming, Bondage, Hunting Kink, Rough Sex, Object Insertion, Dirty Talk, Comeplay) – Sherlock decides he does want to go hunting with John after all. But not for deer. Part 2 of the The Bone Fiddle series

Silent Night by khorazir (M, 15,060 w., 1 Ch. || Codebreaker / WWII / Imitation Game-Inspired AU || Care Fic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Dev. Rel., Reunion, PTSD John, Christmas) – It’s Christmas Eve 1944, and Sherlock Holmes has received his most precious gift already: after a long, dangerous deployment, Surgeon Captain John Watson of the Royal Navy has unexpectedly returned from the front. As if this weren’t enough, there’s a case. Both events make for a night full of promise, excitement, and the difficult task of getting reacquainted with the man Sherlock hasn’t seen in three years and feared he’d lost forever. Part 2 of Enigma

A Marriage of Convenience by Phuchka (E, 43,116 w., 24 Ch. || Regency Omegaverse || Jealous John, Mpreg, Angst, Whump, Fluff, Smut, Arranged Marriage) – You are cordially invited to attend the wedding of ~The Honourable Sherlock Holmes, Alpha, younger brother of the Earl of Sherrinford with Mr. John Watson, Omega, son of Mr. Howard Watson, chairman of the City Bankers Guild.

Always 1895 by standbygo (E, 45,901 w., 19 Ch. || Oxford Time Travel AU || Time Travel, Friends to Lovers, Case Fic, Victorian, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pining, First Kiss/Time, First Meetings, Slow Burn, Angst With Happy Ending) – Time travelling historian John Watson goes to Victorian era England to study, and meets detective Sherlock Holmes. He finds himself torn between the work he was sent to do, the exciting life of solving crimes, and the extraordinary Holmes himself.

The Devil At Prayers by always_1895 (T, 50,846 w., 22 Ch. || ACD Canon / Victorian AU || Friendship, Case Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Murder, Politics, Intrigue, Mystery, Historical, Treasure Hunting) – Emily Watson and her twin sister were raised in a peaceful English manor house. But when a mysterious Professor arrives to visit her father, she is thrown headfirst into a murderous conspiracy. Forced to seek refuge with her only living relative, half brother Dr. John Watson, she discovers that he lodges with the infamous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Book 1 follows Emily and Holmes as they begin to unravel her own mystery, when they are introduced to the case of a missing Russian diplomat. The thread connecting the two cases runs deep, and they race against the clock to uncover the politician's whereabouts before political tensions reach a breaking point. Part 1 of the Queen and Country series

Human Nature by delightful_fear (M, 57,585 w., 17 Ch. || Regency London AU || 1819 / Gregorian England, Historical, Alternate First Meeting) – Rich and spoiled Sherlock makes a wager with his older brother that he can take a penniless man and make him presentable in high society.

Long Ago and Far Away Series by lotherington (T to E, 62,765 w. across 27 works || WWII AU || Victor Trevor, Historical, 1940s/50s, Graphic Depictions of Violence) – October, 1937. A chance encounter late one night leads to Sherlock following John home. I can’t really put it much better than Vera Lynn herself: That certain night, the night we met / there was magic abroad in the air.

Dawn Before the Rest of the World Series (M, 65,164 w.+ across 12 stories || WiP || 1920s Historical AU || Romance, Love Declarations, Period-Typical / Internalized Homophobia, First Times, Oral/Anal Sex, Sweetness, Hurt / Comfort, Crying, Frottage, Rimming, Idiots in Love) – In one of the grand houses of England in the 1920s, butler Sherlock Holmes is wooed to pieces by the world's most romantic gardener, John Watson.

The Sweetness Makes the Smoke and Stings Worthwhile by 221b_careful_what_you_wish_for (M, 70,032 w., 31 Ch. || Historical 1920′s AU || Unilock, Summer Romance, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, First Kiss/Time, Inexperienced Sherlock, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Drinking, Period-Typical Homophobia, Sexual Tension, Hand/Blow Jobs, Dancing, Secret Relationship, Skinny Dipping, Angst with a Happy Ending, Closet Sex, Hotel Sex, Emotions, Falling in Love, Mutual Pining, Letters/Epistolary, Heartache, Minor Violence, Separations, Reunion Sex, Love Confessions, Victor & Mary in this Fic) – After nearly being expelled from university, Sherlock is banished home to Musgrave Hall for the summer. A friend introduces him to John Watson, a handsome medical student visiting the area. Sherlock and John find themselves drawn to each other, falling into a summer romance that may be as painful as it is sweet. Although they follow different paths, their feelings for each other still haunt them, their love finally coming full circle years later. For those concerned about Mary and Victor, they appear only briefly and as very background characters. My version of Mary is not modeled on the BBC version. She is more of an original character, if anything.

Philia and Eros by distantstarlight (E, 84,660 w., 20 Ch. || Historical AU || Friends to Lovers, Time Travel, Kilts, Possessive Behaviour, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Implied Rape/Non-Con) – Love is timeless but time isn't necessarily linear. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes are about to embark on an unintended adventure that will take them far away from the comfortable confines of 221 B Baker Street. Part 1 of Strange Paths

Welcome Home by itsalwaysyou_jw (M, 81,358+ w., 25/32 Ch. || WiP || WWII / Post-WWII Historical AU || Fluff and Angst, Drinking, Hurt/Comfort, POV John, Mutual Pining, Dev. Rel., Past Viclock, Nice Victor, First Kiss, Romance, PTSD John, Grief/Mourning, Implied / Referenced Drug Use) – In 1938, John Watson was at the peak of his music career, performing original jazz tunes in the hottest clubs to adoring crowds. But now the year is 1945 and Captain John Watson has just returned home from the war. Attempting to cope with the horrors he saw in the Solomon Islands, he struggles to get even a weekday slot performing at the jazz clubs. When he hears a radio announcement for a song-writing competition, he knows this is the opportunity he has been waiting for. He only needs to put a band together that can help him win the grand prize. But first, he needs to face his survivor's guilt to honour his best friend's dying wish: he must find Victor Trevor's spouse- someone named Sherlock Holmes- and deliver a message.

A Matter of Chance by weneedtotalkaboutsherlock (E, 100,631 w., 18 Ch. || Regency AU || Forbidden Love, Slow Burn, Class Differences, No Period-Typical Homophobia, Gay Marriage is OK, Forced Marriage, Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Humour, Angst with Happy Ending, Drama Queen Sherlock, Sexually Naïve Sherlock, Aromantic Mycroft, First Kiss / Time, Declarations of Love, Minor Character Death) – "If it were only for me, I would never marry." "Why so?" "I do not believe in love, Dr Watson. It is a great disadvantage to lose one's head over such a volatile matter."

Enigma by khorazir (M, 289,667 w., 23 Ch. || Codebreaker / WWII / Imitation Game-Inspired AU || Case Fic, Espionage, Period-Typical Homophobia / Sexism, Pining Sherlock, Inexperienced / VirginSherlock, Implied / Referenced Drug Use, Non-Graphic Violence) – It’s the autumn of 1941, war is raging in Europe, German U-boats are raiding Allied convoys in the Atlantic, the Luftwaffe is bombing English cities, and the cryptographers at Bletchley Park are working feverishly to decode their enemies' encrypted communications. One should consider this challenge and distraction enough for capricious codebreaker Sherlock Holmes. But the true enigmas are yet waiting to be deciphered: an unbreakable code, a strange murder, and the arrival of Surgeon Captain John H. Watson of the Royal Navy.

Over Fathoms Deep by bittergreens (E, 397,575+ w., 51/? Ch. || WiP || Historical / Regency / Sailing AU || Sailor!John / Aristocrat!Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Virgin Sherlock, Sailing, Bottomlock, UST / RST, Hand/Blow Jobs, Frottage, Masturbation, Happy Ending, Anal) – When the youngest son of the aristocratic Holmes family is shipped off to sea in an attempt to cure him of his poor temper and bad manners, he fully expects to spend a long tedious voyage as miserable as ever. What he does not count on is having his heart stolen by the strapping young crewman, John Watson.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #my fic recs #historical au #Anonymous

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ohscorbus · 4 years

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Scorbus Anastasia au where Albus got amnesia after escaping death eaters and one day while working at the bookshop he was raised in he meets a boy called Scorpius who says he’s a Potter and can bring him back to where there’s still one Potter left in the family meanwhile Delphi’s looking to end the Potter bloodline for good starting with Albus

I know literally nothing about Anastasia but based on just that AU you’ve outlined? I’m so here for it. Does he get amnesia as a child so he grows up not knowing who he is or does it happen to him as an adult? Either way, it’s super interesting to think about who Albus would be without the Potter legacy and Scorpius. On one hand, a weight has been unknowingly lifted off his shoulders. He’s free to be just Albus without everything that comes with being a Potter. He’s safe to walk the streets without whispers and befriend strangers without fearing ulterior motives. But on the other, is he aware that he’s missing whole pieces of himself? Not just his identity, but the love of his family and the power of the friendship he’s left behind? I guess that’s why I love the idea of him finding a life in a bookshop so much. It’s a place full of stories which would suit someone who doesn’t know their own. I can just imagine him reading book after book and wondering if his old life was like the life in these pages. Did he have friends and adventures and his own library of books? Or maybe there were dragons and banquets and castles! That one always makes him laugh, but it doesn’t stop him from daydreaming. Which is exactly what he was doing when the beautiful blond walked into his shop and dislodged more than just the books on the counter. Suddenly he’s got his story and it’s overwhelming and full of complications and implications no amount of fiction could have ever prepared him for. I bet there are days in the following weeks where he longs for the quiet safety of his bookshop again. But at least here he has Scorpius now. He doesn’t know quite what that means but he knows what he’d like it to mean, and so he decides to write his own story from now on. Like I said, I have no idea what actually happens in Anastasia but I’m guessing they live happily ever after? Because Albus and Scorpius certainly do.

So! Funny story. I wrote that previous paragraph the day I got this message but I decided it wasn’t good enough so I bought a copy of Anastasia so I could watch it and properly engage with this AU. But honestly? I didn’t really enjoy the film. Sorry! I think as lost heirs go, I’m definitely more of a Tangled fan. So I’ll give you a mash-up of Anastasia and Tangled, swapping out the royalty aspect for magic and I’ll turn it into a ‘choose your own adventure’ because I couldn’t decide which route to take. Enjoy : )

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I don’t like the idea of Scorpius as a con man. Instead he’d be a dreamer with a connection who’s still looking for Albus after everyone else has given up. He loves stories and myths but to him, Albus is a real boy. He remembers him. Grew up and lived with him inside those castle walls. He’s not a legend, he’s a friend. So when he accidentally stumbles upon him in the muggle bookshop he just knows it’s him. Except Albus takes a lot of convincing but as he learns about the Potters and the existence of the wizarding world, he finally starts to remember odd things. The book he used to read to his sister. The jumper that used to belong to his brother. His mother’s perfume. His father’s eyes. An actual castle. The boy who would sneak him sweets during class...

Scorpius never hides who he is from Albus. The best friend. The suspect. The shunned. But as they keep meeting to discuss his past (which of course neither of them secretly think of as dates), Albus doesn’t just remember his kindness. His sugar supplies. His knowledge of the secret passageways in their school. He also learns how he takes too much sugar in his coffee now. How he still sings some of his words and doesn’t care who hears. How his book recommendations make him question if he has a bookshop too. (He doesn’t. He’s just an uber nerd.)

But Albus is still a cursed child. Delphi is still out there with her augury sidekick, following them across the country as they finally make their way back to….

[If the Potters are still alive then read ONE. If the Potters are all dead and the only family left is Molly Weasley, read TWO.]

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ONE

...Godric’s Hollow. Harry and Ginny never moved out of the cottage, even once James and Lily grew up and moved out, just in case Albus ever returned home. They never stopped looking for him. The stolen spare, the Daily Prophet calls him. But to them, he’s still their fourteen year old boy who went missing in the night. Although their clock says he’s lost, not dead, years of false leads have left them exhausted in every sense.

Albus still isn’t sure about magic and even more so when Scorpius explains it can be tracked, so the two of them travel like muggles across the UK. They survive runaway trains and dementor attacks but eventually make it. Yet Harry refuses Scorpius entry on sight. They can’t bear any more false hope and especially not from a Malfoy. The last person to see him alive before Albus disappeared from his dorm. He’d heard rumours about him trying to clear his name but showing up here with someone full of false memories? He’ll see him in Azkaban for this. It’s crueler than anything his father had ever done. But then suddenly Albus is right there. And as Harry steps back, his son steps forward. Over the property line and through the wards like only a blood relative could do. They take their reunion to the kitchen and process with tears and tea, but it’s the clock with his name on saying he’s home that finally makes it all sink in. He’s Albus Potter. He has a family. (He even finds out dragons are real and that one really blows his mind.)

The wizarding world is overjoyed with his return, but the fact it was Scorpius who found him only darkens his name with suspicion further. So Scorpius leaves so Albus can enjoy his family. Except everything doesn’t just fall into place for Albus. This life is as overwhelming as he feared it would be. He already loves his family but it doesn’t stop him from missing his bookshop and his cat, but most of all, Scorpius. Ginny finds him watching the crowd at his welcome home party and knows exactly what he needs. She tells him to go. That they are always going to be here but Scorpius won’t be. He hugs her in thanks and promises, then runs after the man who changed everything. He catches up with him just as Delphi finds them both. There’s a final showdown in which Albus helplessly watches as Scorpius sacrifices himself to save him. That’s when it happens. The anger over what had been done to him and what his family and friends had been through collides with the prospect of a future without Scorpius, and Albus explodes. He doesn’t understand it but he feels the power all the way down to his fingertips as it finds its purpose. She never stood a chance against the raw energy and emotion of a Potter fighting with his heart for justice.

Once she’s been stopped once and for all, Albus and Scorpius return to his bookshop and make a life for themselves. Albus never really uses magic again. What he’d felt with Delphi had scared him. He’d lived his life without magic and was happy to carry on doing so. Although he did immediately have a fireplace installed at his parent’s insistence. He grows used to his brother dropping in unannounced and disturbing the peace. He learns to expect his mother will always check in to see if he’s okay even though he’s an adult. He looks forward to visits from his nephews and nieces and even turns a corner of the shop into a child friendly reading area for them which is equally as loved by his customers. His dad kept his location out of the press but made sure everyone knew Delphi was to blame. Scorpius is free. But he never leaves Albus and the old cat and their bookshop. They live out their days surrounded by stories but loving their own the most.

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TWO

...The Burrow. Molly Weasley never gave up hope on her grandson. Her clock never lies. His hand still says he’s missing, not gone. The rumours say she’s driven herself mad staring at it. But they don’t know Molly. They mistake her insistence as delusions which only appear to increase in desperation with each new false lead. Another green eyed boy who’s read a few books about Harry and wants the glory. But they never know what song her daughter sang to her children at night. They never know what her son in law cooked for them every Sunday morning. They never know his favourite place to read or how he hates pumpkin juice or when he got that scar on his elbow. The last encounter broke her heart for the final time. She decides to pack the clock away and refuses to see any more young men claiming to be her grandson. She’ll live out her days knowing he's alive and that’ll have to be enough for her. But then suddenly Scorpius Malfoy finds her while she’s out shopping. He says he’s found him but she stops him before he can explain. She can’t go through this again. Unlike the rest of the wizarding world, she doesn’t believe Scorpius had anything to do with the attack, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t unfairly blame him for surviving. He was sleeping over at the Potter house the night it happened. He had managed to escape in the chaos but somehow Albus had slipped through his fingers as they ran and was never seen again. She can’t look at him now without painfully reliving the what ifs. So she turns and walks away. That’s when she sees him. Albus is stood outside the creature emporium, gently stroking a small tawny owl. Just like the one he got when he was eleven. He’s twenty seven now but he’s still got his dad’s hair and small stature. He’s even got his own pair of glasses over those green eyes she hasn’t seen in over a decade, and when they turn to look straight at her she knows for sure. She takes them both back to the Burrow and watches as Albus walks around the kitchen. He looks at the pans which are cleaning themselves and the overflowing shelves of trinkets and moving photos and stops in front of his own portrait surrounded by what he presumes is his family. Scorpius quietly explains he’s lived as a muggle all these years. He didn’t come back because he couldn’t remember. Any of it. Molly’s heart breaks all over again as she walks over to Albus and tells him about them. How Ginny was fierce and Harry a hero, how James was brash and Lily bold. But the one thing they all had in common was how much they loved him.

The wizarding world is shocked by his return but the fact it was Scorpius who brought him back only seemed to give the rumours of his involvement some credibility. So Scorpius leaves so Albus can enjoy life with his grandmother. Except everything doesn’t just fall into place for Albus. This life is as overwhelming as he feared it would be. He loves his grandmother dearly but he misses his bookshop and his cat, but most of all, he misses Scorpius. Molly finds him on the sidelines watching the crowd at his welcome home party and knows exactly what he needs. She tells him to go. That she’s always going to be here but Scorpius won’t be. She’s lived her life and she won’t stop him from living his. Not after he’s already lost so much. That’s all he needs to hear and after a hug, he’s running after Scorpius. He manages to catch up with him just as Delphi does. There’s one final showdown. Albus helplessly watches as Scorpius sacrifices himself to save him and that’s when it happens. The anger over what had been done to him and the loss of his family collides with the prospect of a future without Scorpius, and Albus explodes. He doesn’t understand it but he feels the power all the way down to his fingertips as it finally finds its purpose. She never stood a chance against the raw energy and emotion of a Potter.

Once she’s been destroyed once and for all, Albus and Scorpius return to his bookshop and make a life for themselves. Albus never uses magic again. What he’d felt finishing Delphi had scared him. He’d lived his life without magic before and was happy to carry on doing so. Although he did immediately have a fireplace installed at his grandmother’s insistence. She checks in with him every day and their chats over tea quickly become one of his favourite parts of the day. Some of the others? Waking up beside Scorpius every morning in their little apartment above their bookshop. Listening to Scorpius read to the younger customers in their newly painted kids corner. Watching his usually shy cat snuggle up beside Scorpius like he’s known him all his life. It wasn’t what he expected, but he’s definitely found his family and his home.

#albus potter #albus severus potter #scorpius malfoy #scorbus #text post #long post #mypost #Anonymous

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zktop10 · 4 years

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Top 10 Rated E Completed Fics!

Ok I skipped over the One Shots because there are a lot and I didn’t want to do them yet, but I did FORGET about the Rated M WIPs so those will be next.

AND LISTEN UP

THIS IS THE SERIOUS STUFF

NO MINORS

NONE

DO NOT CROSS GO

DO NOT COLLECT $200

DO NOT INTERACT WITH THIS POST IF YOU’RE UNDER 18!

Sx: 0.46

Out of TWENTY-SIX stories, here are the Top 10. List under the cut!

Title: didn't know my heart

Author: babyfairy

Summary: And yet, in a matter of days, she has managed to worm her way under his skin, has cracked open his rib cage and has begun to patch up the endless amount of wounds on his heart.

Score: 10 / 10

Tags: Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence, Smut, Fluff, Angst, Secret Relationship

Title: Walk of Shame (Restricted Access)

Author: orphan_account

Summary: Katara's goals for the semester are relatively modest; playing an inebriated round of Never Have I Ever with her coworkers and subsequently getting drunk-married to her boss's nephew is not something she had the foresight to take into account.

Her newest goal: secure an annulment before her brother and father get wind of this disaster. On the bright side, she's that much closer to ticking 'virginity loss' off her bucket list. Modern AU. Zutara.

Score: 9.7 / 10

Tags: Alternate Universe, Modern Setting, College Setting, Accidental Marriage

Title: My Heart Burns for You

Author: alwaysZutarian

Summary: Four years have passed since the end of the war, but as they meet again and encounter many obstacles, Zuko and Katara realize that whom their hearts truly burn for is one another. Can they love each other knowing they will hurt those that love them? What will become of them when a new enemy appears with a vengeful plot to destroy everything they had worked for to bring peace?

Score: 9.7 / 10

Tags: Angst, Fluff, Smut

Title: Duels of Honor

Author: audreyii_fic

Summary: Sozin's Comet is approaching, and people have the power to shape their own destinies. Sparrowkeet!verse.

Part 14 of The Sparrowkeet Series

Score: 9.3 / 10

Tags: Angst, Sparrowkeet Universe

Title: How Dragons Fall in Love

Author: Polywantsanother (Transparency Note: This is me, also I’m in the process of editing this book, which will remove the content that makes it E. So, get to it while you can I guess???)

Summary: Timeline placement: ~4/5 years after the end of the war. Re-examines relationships and "The Search" story line.

What comes next after you save the world?

The Gaang has scattered: Sokka and Suki are fractious over Sokka's insistence to marry, Toph just wants to get on with being able to do whatever she wants now that she's free of the Beifong compound, Zuko is finally running his country, Aang wants to bask in adulation while creating more Airbenders, and Katara is fed up with pressure of responsibility and obligation.

After yet another fight with Aang, Katara takes a vacation in the capital city of the Fire Nation and reconnects with Zuko after a few years apart. Fire, as is its nature, burns quickly and while passions are running high, Katara agrees to join Zuko on a search for his mother.

Katara, already caught between two conflicting paths for her future, is now faced with a third. But is being the secret lover of the Fire Lord really how she wants to end her story?

Part 1 of Steam

Score: 8.4 / 10

Tags: Post Series, Smut, Series

Title: Confused

Author: thispieceofwork

Summary: Zuko stood. "You told Aang you were confused. Are you confused because of me?" Katara was silent, arms crossed in front of her. "Don't make me answer that." Zutara, rated MA. Contains explicit, but plot important, sexual situations.

Originally published many moons ago on fanfiction.net under the penname "akiko-dono". THIS IS STILL ME. Just changing names for the new forum. I plan to do a sequel to this story on AO3, and would like for people who might want to read it to be able to read the first installment all on the same site.

Part 1 of Confused

Score: 8.2 / 10

Tags: N/A

Title: Journeys

Author: Smediterranea

Summary: Katara, in her final year of medical school, spends her time studying and working without having very much fun. That might change when she meets another workaholic named Zuko... Modern AU Katara/Zuko, with a sprinkling of the other members of the Gaang throughout.

“This tea is delicious,” she says politely.

“I didn’t make it,” Zuko says. “I’m not allowed to handle the tea.”

“Not allowed?”

Zuko flushes and rubs the back of his neck.

“I told Uncle Iroh that tea was just hot leaf juice when I was a teenager and he’s never let me handle it since.”

Score: 7.8 / 10

Tags: Alternate Universe, Modern Setting, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Angst, Fluff

Title: Zutara Kinktober 2018

Author: zutaralover94

Summary: Zutara Kinktober 2018! So many kinks! So much smut! One little month!

Tags will be added for each day I do.

Score: 7.5 / 10

Tags: Kinktober, Smut

Title: Lessons

Author: theadamantdaughter

Summary: Zuko and Katara follow the marriage rituals of the Southern Water Tribe. [ for smut week, porn WITH plot ]

"Our spirits, Tui and La, push and pull, give and take… It's said newlyweds become them; they become us. Tui and La bless every marriage with seven virtues, virtues that are significant to the couple, that require the couple to grow and learn in some way. In return, we honor them."

Score: 6.8 / 10

Tags: Zutara Smut Week, Porn with Plot, Smut

Title: The Fifth Column

Author: chromeknickers

Summary: Katara watched the masked figure silently twirl the blade in his hand. The Fifth Column’s greatest assassin had been sent there to kill her or break her, or maybe it was both. Either way, they wanted their answers; it was the reason she had been kidnapped in the first place . . . Or so she thought.

Score: 6.7 / 10

Tags: Alternate Universe, Post-War, Dark, Angst, Smut, Rape/Non-Con References

#zutara #zutara fanfiction #fanfic rec list #top 10 #rated e #completed fics

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thecreaturecodex · 5 years

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Pascagoullan

“Pascagoula Aliens” © Erik Kowalick, accessed at his deviantArt page here

[Commissioned by @wannabedemonlord. UFOlogy is full of weird creature designs, so much more variable and interesting than the handful of aliens pop culture has focused on. The Pascagoula Abduction is one of the best documented out there, and combines a wild appearance with a benevolent alien. If you want to have pleasant psychic aliens in your game, ignore the racist “Nordic” aliens and embrace these carrot-faced mummy men.]

Pascagoullan CR 5 CG Aberration This gray-skinned, wrinkled being is vaguely humanoid, except that its body tapers to a single leg. Its arms are long and end in pincers. It is eyeless, and has three carrot-like projections growing from its head—one from the front and one from each side.

A pascagoullan is an alien scientist and diplomat from a lost planet, seeking to find a suitable home for itself. Barring that, they seek to steer the behavior of individuals and societies towards ideals of peace and tolerance. They are the enemies of other, more warlike alien species, and will work behind the scenes to thwart their plans.

Pascagoullans prefer not to engage in combat if they can help it, using their paralysis beams to immobilize foes before fleeing. They are gifted telepaths and have telekinetic powers, and can use these abilities in combat. They tend to be mobile opponents, floating high above the battlefield and rarely standing still.

Pascagoullans are inherently cooperative creatures, and work in a loose meritocracy—hierarchies and laws are relatively unimportant to them. They have been known to abduct and examine humanoids, but these are brief encounters used to judge whether an individual would be a worthwhile mouthpiece for their ideals. A pascagoullan can implant a psychic gift in the minds of those it encounters, communicating with them at a distance for the rest of their lives or until the alien terminates the relationship. A pascagoullan rarely stays in one place long enough to have multiple run-ins with a chosen humanoid, but may visit them in their dreams.

A pascagoullan stands about five feet tall and weighs less than a human of their size. Their movements are somewhat stiff and awkward, and in antimagic zones they are reduced to shuffling on their one limb. They are often religious creatures, and those with class levels prefer classes with divine or psychic casting.

Pascagoullan CR 5 XP 1,600 CG Medium aberration Init +3; Senses blindsight 120 ft., blind, Perception +16 Defense AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+5 natural, +3 deflection) hp 60 (8d8+24) Fort +5, Ref +1, Will +9 DR 10/piercing; Immune gaze attacks, visual effects; SR 16 Defensive Abilities deflection shield Offense Speed 5 ft., fly 30 ft. (perfect) Melee 2 claws +10 (1d4+3) Ranged paralysis beam +9 touch (paralysis) Special Attacks calculated shot, rend (2 claws, 1d4+4) Psychic Magic CL 8th, concentration +11 (+15 casting defensively)15 PE—detect magic (0 PE), detect thoughts (2 PE, DC 15), dream (5 PE), ego whip I (3 PE, DC 16), levitate (1 PE), mental barrier I (2 PE), mind probe (3 PE, DC 16) telekinesis (5 PE, DC 18), telekinetic projectile (0 PE) Statistics Str 17, Dex 9, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 16 Base Atk +6; CMB +9; CMD 21 Feats Alertness, Combat Casting, Empath, Hover (B), Improved Initiative Skills Bluff +11, Diplomacy +11, Fly +15, Knowledge (religion) +9, Perception +16, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +9 Languages Pasca, telepathy 100 ft. SQ psychic uplift Ecology Environment any land and underground Organization solitary or crew (2-12) Treasure standard Special Abilities Calculated Shot (Ex) A pascagoullan may choose to use its Intelligence modifier to modify ranged attack rolls. Deflection Shield (Su) A pascagoullan gains a deflection bonus to its AC and CMD equal to its Charisma modifier. Flight (Su) The fly speed of a pascagoullan is a supernatural ability. Paralysis Beam (Su) As a standard action, a pascagoullan can fire a ray of light from its hand. Treat this as a ranged touch attack with a range of 60 feet and no range increment. A creature struck must succeed a DC 17 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds. The save DC is Charisma based. Psychic Uplift (Su) Once per day as a full round action, a pascagoullan can touch a willing creature and implant a psychic gift in it. A creature so uplifted gains Psychic Sensitivity as a bonus feat; if it already has this feat or a level in a psychic class, it gains Empath as a bonus feat. A pascagoullan can communicate telepathically with an uplifted creature at will, no matter the distance, as long as they are on the same plane. A pascagoullan can uplift a number of creatures equal to its Charisma modifier, and can revoke this ability as a free action if it wills it.

#pascagoullan #UFOlogy #alien #pascagoula abduction #pathfinder rpg

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kkintle · 5 years

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The Art of the Good Life by Rolf Dobelli; Quotes

Is it better to actively seek happiness or to avoid unhappiness?

Living a good life has a lot to do with interpreting facts in a constructive way.

That money can’t buy happiness is a truism, and I’d certainly advise you not to get worked into a lather over incremental differences in price. If a beer’s two dollars more expensive than usual or two dollars cheaper, it elicits no emotional response in me whatsoever. I save my energy rather than my money. After all, the value of my stock portfolio fluctuates every minute by significantly more than two dollars, and if the Dow Jones falls by a thousandth of a percent, that doesn’t faze me either. Try it for yourself. Come up with a similar number, a modest sum to which you’re completely indifferent—money you consider not so much money as white noise. You don’t lose anything by adopting that attitude, and certainly not your inner poise.

The most common misunderstanding I encounter is that the good life is a stable state or condition. Wrong. The good life is only achieved through constant readjustment.

As the American general—and later president—Dwight Eisenhower said, “Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.” It’s not about having a fixed plan, it’s about repeated re-planning—an ongoing process.

The truth is that you begin with one set-up and then constantly adjust it. The more complicated the world becomes, the less important your starting point is. So don’t invest all your resources into the perfect set-up—at work or in your personal life. Instead, practice the art of correction by revising the things that aren’t quite working—swiftly and without feeling guilty.

First: constantly having to make new decisions situation by situation saps your willpower. Decision fatigue is the technical term for this. A brain exhausted by decision-making will plump for the most convenient option, which more often than not is also the worst one. This is why pledges make so much sense. Once you’ve pledged something, you don’t then have to weigh up the pros and cons each and every time you’re faced with a decision. It’s already been made for you, saving you mental energy.

The second reason inflexibility is so valuable has to do with reputation. By being consistent on certain topics, you signal where you stand and establish the areas where there’s no room for negotiation. You communicate self-mastery, making yourself less vulnerable to attack.

So say good-bye to the cult of flexibility. Flexibility makes you unhappy and tired, and it distracts you from your goals. Chain yourself to your pledges. Uncompromisingly. It’s easier to stick to your pledges 100 percent of the time rather than 99 percent.

Very few people simply accept reality and analyze their own flight recorders. This requires precisely two things: a) radical acceptance and b) black box thinking. First one, then the other.

“Nothing is more fatiguing nor, in the long run, more exasperating than the daily effort to believe things which daily become more incredible. To be done with this effort is an indispensable condition of sure and lasting happiness,” wrote mathematician and Nobel Prize winner Bertrand Russell.

Accepting reality is easy when you like what you see, but you’ve got to accept it even when you don’t—especially when you don’t.

By themselves, radical acceptance and black box thinking are not enough. You’ve got to rectify your mistakes. Get future-proofing. As Warren Buffett’s business partner Charlie Munger has observed, “If you won’t attack a problem while it’s solvable and wait until it’s unfixable, you can argue that you’re so damn foolish that you deserve the problem.” Don’t wait for the consequences to unfold. “If you don’t deal with reality, then reality will deal with you,” warns author Alex Haley.

A basic rule of the good life is as follows: if it doesn’t genuinely contribute something, you can do without it. And that is doubly true for technology. Next time, try switching on your brain instead of reaching for the nearest gadget.

“There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no bold old pilots.”

Pros win points; amateurs lose points. This means that if you’re playing against an amateur, your best option is to focus on not making any mistakes. Play conservatively, and keep the ball in play as long as possible. Unless your opponent is deliberately playing equally conservatively, he or she will make more mistakes than you do. In amateur tennis, matches aren’t won—they’re lost.

disease, disabilities, divorce. However, countless studies have shown that the impact of these factors dissipates more quickly than we imagine.

It’s not what you add that enriches your life—it’s what you omit.

Because our emotions are so unreliable, a good rule of thumb is to take them less seriously—especially the negative ones. The Greek philosophers called this ability to block things out ataraxia, a term meaning serenity, peace of mind, equanimity, composure or imperturbability. A master of ataraxia will maintain his or her poise despite the buffets of fate. One level higher is apatheia, the total eradication of feeling (also attempted by the ancient Greeks). Both—ataraxia and apatheia—are ideals virtually impossible to attain, but don’t worry: I’m not asking you to try. I do, however, believe we need to cultivate a new relationship with our inner voices, one distanced, skeptical and playful.

So take other people’s feelings very seriously, but not your own. Let them flit through you—they’ll come and go anyway, just as they please.

People are respected because they deliver on their promises, not because they let us eavesdrop on their inner monologs.

Two thousand years ago, the Roman philosopher Seneca wrote: “All those who summon you to themselves, turn you away from your own self.” So give the five-second no a trial run. It’s one of the best rules of thumb for a good life.

It’s called the focusing illusion. “Nothing in life is as important as you think it is while you are thinking about it,” as Daniel Kahneman explains. The more narrowly we focus on a particular aspect of our lives, the greater its apparent influence.

Take the longest possible view of your life. Realize that the things that seemed so important in the moment have shrunk to the size of dots—dots that barely affect the overall picture. A good life is only attainable if you take the occasional peek through a wide-angle lens.

By focusing on trivialities, you’re wasting your good life.

As you can see, if it’s the good life you’re after then it’s advisable to show restraint about what you buy. That said, there is a class of “goods” whose enjoyment is not diminished by the focusing illusion: experiences.

Material progress was not reflected in increased life satisfaction. This revelation has been termed the Easterlin paradox: once basic needs have been met, incremental financial gain contributes nothing to happiness.

Money is relative. Not just in comparison to others, but in comparison to your past.

Buffett’s life motto: “Know your circle of competence, and stick within it. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.” Charlie Munger adds: “Each of you will have to figure out where your talent lies. And you’ll have to use your advantages. But if you try to succeed in what you’re worst at, you’re going to have a very lousy career. I can almost guarantee it.”

“Expect anything worthwhile to take a really long time”

What matters is that you’re far above average in at least one area—ideally, the best in the world. Once that’s sorted, you’ll have a solid basis for a good life. A single outstanding skill trumps a thousand mediocre ones. Every hour invested into your circle of competence is worth a thousand spent elsewhere.

“You don’t have to be brilliant,” as Charlie Munger says, “only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time.”

“One of the symptoms of approaching nervous break-down is the belief that one’s work is terribly important,” wrote Bertrand Russell. This is precisely the danger of a calling: that you take yourself and your work too seriously. If, like John Kennedy Toole, you pin everything on the fulfilment of your supposed vocation, you cannot live a good life. If Toole had viewed his writing not as his only possible calling but simply as a craft for which he happened to have a special knack, he would probably not have ended up as he did. You can pursue a craft with love, of course, and even with a touch of obsession, but your focus should always be on the activity, the work, the input—not on the success, the result, the output.

So, what to do? Don’t listen to your inner voice. A calling is nothing but a job you’d like to have. In the Romantic sense it doesn’t exist; there is only talent and preference. Build on the skills you actually have, not on some putative sense of vocation. Luckily, the skills we’ve mastered are often the things we enjoy doing. One important aside: other people have also got to value your talents. You’ve got to put food on the table somehow. As the English philosopher John Gray put it: “Few people are as unhappy as those with a talent no one cares about.”

So liberate yourself. Here’s three reasons why you should. First, you’ll be spared the emotional roller coaster. In the long run, you can’t manage your reputation perfectly anyway. Warren Buffett cites Gianni Agnelli, the former boss of Fiat: “When you get old, you have the reputation you deserve.” You can fool other people for a while, but not a lifetime. Second, concentrating on prestige and reputation distorts our perception of what makes us truly happy. And third, it stresses us out. It’s detrimental to the good life.

That’s why one of my golden rules for leading a good life is as follows: “Avoid situations in which you have to change other people.”

Without memory, the experience is perceived as entirely valueless. This is surprising, and it makes no sense. Surely it’s better to experience something wonderful than not—regardless of whether you remember it. After all, in the moment you’ll be having a fabulous time! And once we’re dead, you and I will forget everything anyway—because there’ll no longer be any “you” or any “I.” If death is going to erase your memories, how important is it to schlep them with you until your very final moment?

So don’t be surprised when somebody else judges you “incorrectly.” You do the same yourself. A realistic self-image can only be gleaned from someone who’s known you well for years and who’s not afraid to be honest—your partner or an old friend. Even better, keep a diary and dip back into it every now and again. You’ll be amazed at the things you used to write. Part of the good life is seeing yourself as realistically as possible—contradictions, shortcomings, dark sides and all. If you see yourself realistically, you’ve got a much better chance of becoming who you want to be.

I’m sure you recognize the sentiment: “When I’m on my deathbed, looking back on my life…” A magnificently lofty idea, but rather nonsensical in practice. For a start, almost no one is that lucid when they’re on their deathbed. The three main doors into the afterlife are heart attack, stroke and cancer. In the first two cases, you won’t have time for philosophical reflection. In most cases of cancer, you’ll be so stuffed to the gunnels with painkillers that you won’t be able to think straight. Nor do those afflicted with dementia or Alzheimer’s achieve any new insights on their deathbeds. And even if you do have the time and wherewithal in your final moments to reminisce, your memories won’t (as we saw in the previous three chapters) correspond fully to reality. Your remembering self produces systematic errors. It tells tall tales.

“If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”

Not getting bogged down in self-pity is a golden rule of mental health. Accept the fact that life isn’t perfect—yours or anyone else’s. As the Roman philosopher Seneca said, “Things will get thrown at you and things will hit you. Life’s no soft affair.” What point is there in “being unhappy, just because once you were unhappy”? If you can do something to mitigate the current problems in your life, then do it. If you can’t, then put up with the situation. Complaining is a waste of time, and self-pity is doubly counterproductive: first, you’re doing nothing to overcome your unhappiness; and two, you’re adding to your original unhappiness the further misery of being self-destructive. Or, to quote Charlie Munger’s “iron prescription”: “Whenever you think that some situation or some person is ruining your life, it is actually you who are ruining your life… Feeling like a victim is a perfectly disastrous way to go through life.”

Plato and Aristotle both believed that people should be as temperate, courageous, just and prudent as possible.

The circle of dignity draws together your individual pledges and protects them from three forms of attack: a) better arguments; b) mortal danger; and c) deals with the Devil.

Is it worth the price? That’s the wrong question. By definition, things that are invaluable have no price. “If an individual has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live,” said Martin Luther King. Certainly not to live the good life.

If you don’t make it clear on the outside what you believe deep down, you gradually turn into a puppet. Other people exploit you for their own purposes, and sooner or later, you give up. You don’t fight any more. You don’t hold up to stresses. Your willpower atrophies. If you break on the outside, at some point you’ll break on the inside too.

Your circle of dignity, the protective wall that surrounds your pledges, can only be tested under fire. You might lay claim to high ideals, noble principles and distinctive preferences, but it’s not until you come to defend them that you will “cry with happiness,” to paraphrase Stockdale.

Say you’re in a meeting and somebody starts going for you, really getting vitriolic. Ask them to repeat what they’ve said word for word. You’ll soon see that, most of the time, your attacker will fold.

For most people, the circle of dignity is not a matter of life and death but a battle to maintain the upper hand. Make it as hard as possible for your assailants. Keep the reins in your hand as long as possible when it comes to the things you hold sacred. If you have to give up, then do so in a way that makes your opponent pay the highest practicable price for your capitulation. There’s tremendous power in this commitment. It’s one of the keys to a good life.

One: fetch a notebook and title it My Big Book of Worries. Set aside a fixed time to dedicate to your anxieties. In practical terms, this means reserving ten minutes a day to jot down everything that’s worrying you—no matter how justified, idiotic or vague. Once you’ve done so, the rest of the day will be relatively worry-free. Your brain knows its concerns have been recorded and not simply ignored. Do this every day, turning to a fresh page each time. You’ll realize, incidentally, that it’s always the same dozen or so worries tormenting you. At the weekend, read through the week’s notes and follow the advice of Bertrand Russell: “When you find yourself inclined to brood on anything, no matter what, the best plan always is to think about it even more than you naturally would, until at last its morbid fascination is worn off.” In practical terms, this means imagining the worst possible consequences and forcing yourself to think beyond them. You’ll discover that most concerns are overblown. The rest are genuine dangers, and those must be confronted. Two: take out insurance. Insurance policies are a marvelous invention. They’re among the most elegant worry-killers. Their true value is not the monetary pay-out when there’s a problem but the reduced anxiety beforehand. Three: focused work is the best therapy against brooding. Focused, fulfilling work is better than meditation. It’s a better distraction than anything else. If you use these three strategies, you’ll have a real chance of living a carefree life—a good life. Then perhaps even in your younger years or, at least, in middle age, you’ll be able to chuckle over Mark Twain’s late-in-life insight: “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.”

The Greek and Roman philosophers known as the Stoics recommended the following trick to sweep away worry: determine what you can influence and what you can’t. Address the former. Don’t let the latter prey on your mind.

Not always feeling like you need to have an opinion calms the mind and makes you more relaxed—an ingredient vital to a good life.

First: accept the existence of fate. In Boethius’s day, people liked to personify fate as Fortuna, a goddess who turned the Wheel of Fortune, in which highs and lows were endlessly rotated. Those who played along, hoping to catch the wheel as it rose, had to accept that eventually they would come down once more. So don’t be too concerned about whether you’re ascending or descending. It could all be turned on its head.

Second: everything you own, value and love is ephemeral—your health, your partner, your children, your friends, your house, your money, your homeland, your reputation, your status. Don’t set your heart on those things. Relax, be glad if fate grants them to you, but always be aware that they are fleeting, fragile and temporary. The best attitude to have is that all of them are on loan to you, and may be taken away at any time. By death, if nothing else.

Third: if you, like Boethius, have lost many things or even everything, remember that the positive has outweighed the negative in your life (or you wouldn’t be complaining) and that all sweet things are tinged with bitterness. Whining is misplaced.

Four: what can’t be taken from you are your thoughts, your mental tools, the way you interpret bad luck, loss and setbacks. You can call this space your mental fortress—a piece of freedom that can never be assailed.

Stop comparing yourself to other people and you’ll enjoy an envy-free existence. Steer well clear of all comparisons. That’s the golden rule.

So wisdom isn’t identical with the accumulation of knowledge. Wisdom is a practical ability. It’s a measure of the skill with which we navigate life. Once you’ve come to realize that virtually all difficulties are easier to avoid than to solve, the following simple definition will be self-evident: “Wisdom is prevention.”

The fact is, life is hard. Problems rain down on all sides. Fate opens pitfalls beneath your feet and throws up barriers to block your path. You can’t change that. But if you know where danger lurks, you can ward it off. You can evade all sorts of obstacles. Einstein put it this way: “A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.”

Wisdom is prevention. It’s invisible, so you can’t show it off—but preening isn’t conducive to a good life anyway. You know that already.

if you want to help reduce suffering on the planet, donate money. Just money. Not time. Money. Don’t travel to conflict zones unless you’re an emergency doctor, bomb-disposal expert or diplomat. Many people fall for the volunteer’s folly—they believe there’s a point to voluntary work. In reality, it’s a waste. Your time is more meaningfully invested in your circle of competence, because it’s there that you’ll generate the most value per day. If you’re installing water pumps in the Sahara, you’re doing work that local well-diggers could carry out for a fraction of the cost. Plus, you’re taking work away from them. Let’s say you could dig one well per day as a volunteer. If you spent that day working at your office and used the money you earned to pay local well-diggers, by the end of the day you’d have a hundred new wells. Sure, volunteering makes you feel good, but it shouldn’t be about that. And that warm Good Samaritan glow is based on a fallacy. The first-rate specialists on site (Médecins Sans Frontières, the Red Cross, UNICEF, etc.) will put your donations to more effective use than you could yourself. So work hard and put your money in the hands of professionals.

you’re not responsible for the state of the world. It sounds harsh and unsympathetic, but it’s the truth. Nobel Prize winner in physics Richard Feynman was told much the same thing by John von Neumann, the brilliant mathematician and “father of computing”: “[John] von Neumann gave me an interesting idea: that you don’t have to be responsible for the world that you’re in. So I have developed a very powerful sense of social irresponsibility as a result of von Neumann’s advice. It’s made me a very happy man ever since.” What Feynman means by “social irresponsibility” is this: don’t feel bad for concentrating on your work instead of building hospitals in Africa. There’s no reason to feel guilty that you happen to be better off than a bombing victim in Aleppo—your situations could easily be reversed. Lead an upright, productive life, and don’t be a monster. Follow that advice and you’ll already be contributing to a better world. The upshot? Find a strategy to help you cope with global atrocities. It doesn’t have to be one I’ve suggested here, but it is important to have a plan. Otherwise getting through life will be tough. You’ll be constantly torn between the things that still have to be done, you’ll feel guilty—and ultimately you’ll accomplish nothing with that burden.

Four: be aware that focus cannot be divided. It’s not like time and money. The attention you’re giving your Facebook stream on your mobile phone is attention you’re taking away from the person sitting opposite. Five: act from a position of strength, not weakness. When people bring things to your attention unasked, you’re automatically in a position of weakness. Why should an advertiser, a journalist or a Facebook friend decide where you direct your focus? That Porsche advert, article about the latest Trump tweet or video clip of hilariously adorable puppies is probably not something that’s going to make you happy or move you forwards. Even without an Instagram account, the philosopher Epictetus came to a similar conclusion two thousand years ago: ‘If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?’

What does focus have to do with happiness? Everything. “Your happiness is determined by how you allocate your attention,” wrote Paul Dolan. The same life events (positive or negative) can influence your happiness strongly, weakly or not at all—depending on how much attention you give them. Essentially, you always live where your focus is directed, no matter where the atoms of your body are located. Each moment comes only once. If you deliberately focus your attention, you’ll get more out of life. Be critical, strict and careful when it comes to your intake of information—no less critical, strict and careful than you are with your food or medication.

Avoid ideologies and dogmas at all cost—especially if you’re sympathetic to them. Ideologies are guaranteed to be wrong. They narrow your worldview and prompt you to make appalling decisions.

When you meet someone showing signs of a dogmatic infection, ask them this question: “Tell me what specific facts you’d need in order to give up your worldview.” If they don’t have an answer, keep that person at arm’s length. You should ask yourself the same question, for that matter, if you suspect you’ve strayed too far into dogma territory.

imagine you’re on a TV talk show with five other guests, all of whom hold the opposite conviction from yours. Only when you can argue their views at least as eloquently as your own will you truly have earned your opinion.

think independently, don’t be too faithful to the party line, and above all give dogmas a wide berth. The quicker you understand that you don’t understand the world, the better you’ll understand the world.

In several studies, Dan Gilbert, Timothy Wilson and their research colleagues have shown that mental subtraction increases happiness significantly more markedly than simply focusing on the positives. The Stoics figured this out two thousand years ago: instead of thinking about all the things you don’t yet have, consider how much you’d miss the things you do have if you didn’t have them any longer.

Speculation is more agreeable than realization. As long as you’re still weighing up your options, the risk of failure is nil; once you take action, however, that risk is always greater than zero. This is why reflection and commentary are so popular. If you’re simply thinking something over, you’ll never bump up against reality, which means you can never fail. Act, however, and suddenly failure is back on the cards—but you’ll gain new experiences. “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted,” as the saying goes.

the next time you’re about to make an important decision, mull it over carefully—but only to the point of maximum deliberation. You’ll be surprised how quickly you reach it. Once you’re there, flick off your torch and switch on your floodlight. It’s as useful in the workplace as it is in the home, whether you’re investing in your career or in your love life.

No matter how extraordinary your accomplishments might be, the truth is that they would have happened without you. Your personal impact on the world is minute. It doesn’t matter how brilliant you are—as a businessperson, an academic, a CEO, a general or a president; in the great scheme of things you’re insignificant, unnecessary and interchangeable. The only place where you can really make a difference is in your own life. Focus on your own surroundings. You’ll soon see that getting to grips with that is ambitious enough. Why take it upon yourself to change the world? Spare yourself the disappointment.

Not believing too much in your own self-importance is one of the most valuable strategies for a good life.

The upshot? There is no just plan for the world. Part of the good life is to radically accept that. Focus on your garden—on your own everyday life—and you’ll find enough weeds to keep you busy. The things that happen to you across the course of your life, especially the more serious blows of fate, have little to do with whether you’re a good or a bad person. So accept unhappiness and misfortune with stoicism and calm. Treat incredible success and strokes of luck exactly the same.

“There’s an infinite number of winners,” Kevin Kelly has said, “as long as you’re not trying to win somebody else’s race.”

The upshot? Try to escape the arms race dynamic. It’s difficult to recognize, because each individual step seems reasonable when considered on its own. So retreat every so often from the field of battle and observe it from above. Don’t fall victim to the madness. An arms race is a succession of Pyrrhic victories, and your best bet is to steer clear. You’ll only find the good life where people aren’t fighting over it.

As Warren Buffett says, “It’s better to be approximately right than precisely wrong.”

Constantly distinguish between “I have to have it,” “I want to have it” and “I expect it.” The first phrase represents a necessity, the second a desire (a preference, a goal) and the third an expectation.

Seeing desires as musts will only make you a grumpy, unpleasant person to be around. And no matter how intelligent you are, it will make you act like an idiot. The sooner you can erase supposed necessities from your repertoire, the better.

A life without goals is a wasted life. Yet we mustn’t be shackled to them. Be aware that not all your desires will be satisfied, because so much lies beyond your control.

The Greek philosophers had a wonderful expression for the things we want: preferred indifferents (indifferent here in the sense of insignificant). So I might have a preference (e.g., I’d prefer a Porsche to a VW Golf), but ultimately it’s insignificant to my happiness.

Bearing Sturgeon’s law in mind will improve your life. It’s an excellent mental tool because it “allows” you to pass over most of what you see, hear or read without feeling guilty. The world is full of empty words, but you don’t need to listen. That said, don’t try to cleanse the world of nonsense. You won’t succeed. The world can stay irrational longer than you can stay sane. So concentrate on being selective, on the few valuable things, and leave everything else aside.

Recognize bullshit for what it is. Oh, and one other rule, which in my experience has proved well founded: if you’re not sure whether something is bullshit, it’s bullshit.

One: self-importance requires energy. If you think overly highly of yourself, you have to operate a transmitter and a radar simultaneously. On the one hand, you’re broadcasting your self-image out into the world; on the other, you’re permanently registering how your environment responds. Save yourself the effort. Switch off your transmitter and your radar, and focus on your work. In concrete terms, this means don’t be vain, don’t name-drop, and don’t brag about your amazing successes.

the more self-important you are, the more speedily you’ll fall for the self-serving bias. You’ll start doing things not to achieve a specific goal but to make yourself look good. You often see the self-serving bias among investors. They buy stocks in glamorous hotels or sexy tech companies—not because they’re solid investments but because they want to enhance their own image. On top of this, people who think highly of themselves tend to systematically overestimate their knowledge and abilities (this is termed overconfidence), leading to grave errors in decision-making.

If you stress your own importance, you do so at the expense of other people’s, because otherwise it would devalue your relative position. Once you’re successful, if not before, other people who are equally full of themselves will shit on you. Not a good life.

As you can see, your ego is more antagonist than friend.

Stay modest. You’ll improve your life by several orders of magnitude. Self-esteem is so easy that anyone can do it; modesty, on the other hand, may be tough, but at least it’s more compatible with reality. And it calms your emotional wave pool. Self-importance has developed into a malady of civilization. We’ve got our teeth into our egos like a dog into an old shoe. Let the shoe go. It has no nutritional value, and it’ll soon taste rotten.

definitions of success are products of their time.

Once you’ve attained ataraxia—tranquility of the soul—you’ll be able to maintain your equanimity despite the slings and arrows of fate. To put it another way, to be successful is to be imperturbable, regardless of whether you’re flying high or crash landing. How can we achieve inner success? By focusing exclusively on the things we can influence and resolutely blocking out everything else. Input, not output. Our input we can control; our output we can’t, because chance keeps sticking its oar in.

“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

Whichever way you look at it, the truth is that people desire external gain because it nets them internal gain. The question that suggests itself is obvious: why take the long way round? Just take the direct route.

“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.” (Munger, Charlie: Wesco Annual Report 1989.)

authors Minkyung Koo, Sara B. Algoe, Timothy D. Wilson and Daniel T. Gilbert write: “Having a wonderful spouse, watching one’s team win the World Series, or getting an article accepted in a top journal are all positive events, and reflecting on them may well bring a smile; but that smile is likely to be slighter and more fleeting with each passing day, because as wonderful as these events may be, they quickly become familiar—and they become more familiar each time one reflects on them. Indeed, research shows that thinking about an event increases the extent to which it seems familiar and explainable.”

“Charlie realizes that it is difficult to find something that is really good. So, if you say ‘No’ ninety percent of the time, you’re not missing much in the world.” (Otis Booth on Charlie Munger, In: Munger, Charlie: Poor Charlie’s Almanack, Donning, 2008, p. 99).

“You’ll do better if you have passion for something in which you have aptitude. If Warren had gone into ballet, no one would have heard of him.”

They were all things that were simply a matter of deciding whether you were going to be that kind of person or not… Always hang around people better than you and you’ll float up a little bit. Hang around with the other kind and you start sliding down the pole.” (Warren Buffett quoted in: Lowe, Janet: Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World’s Greatest Investor, John Wiley & Sons, 2007, p. 36).

“If you want to guarantee yourself a life of misery, marry somebody with the idea of changing them.”

Buffett: “We don’t try to change people. It doesn’t work well… We accept people the way they are.”

If social change is your mission, you’ll end up tangling with thousands of people and institutions who are doing everything they can to uphold the status quo. Ideally, you want to keep your mission narrowly focused. You can’t rebel against all aspects of the dominant order. Society is stronger than you are. You can only achieve personal victories in clearly defined moral niches.

“‘Don’t worry, be happy’ bromides are of no use; notice that people who are told to ‘relax’ rarely do.”

Mark Twain: “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.”

Howard Marks: “I tell my father’s story of the gambler who lost regularly. One day he heard about a race with only one horse in it, so he bet the rent money. Halfway around the track, the horse jumped over the fence and ran away. Invariably things can get worse than people expect. Maybe ‘worst-case’ means ‘the worst we’ve seen in the past.’ But that doesn’t mean things can’t be worse in the future.”

“Then at dinner, Bill Gates Sr. posed the question to the table: What factor did people feel was the most important in getting to where they’d gotten in life? And I said, ‘Focus.’ And Bill said the same thing. It is unclear how many people at the table understood ‘focus’ as Buffett lived that word. This kind of innate focus couldn’t be emulated. It meant the intensity that is the price of excellence. It meant the discipline and passionate perfectionism that made Thomas Edison the quintessential American inventor, Walt Disney the king of family entertainment, and James Brown the Godfather of Soul. It meant single-minded obsession with an ideal.”

“Our happiness is sometimes not very salient, and we need to do what we can to make it more so. Imagine playing a piano and not being able to hear what it sounds like. Many activities in life are like playing a piano that you do not hear…” (Dolan, Paul: Happiness by Design, Penguin, 2015, E-Book Location 1781.)

Should you find yourself in a chronically-leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” (Greenwald, Bruce C. N.; Kahn, Judd; Sonkin, Paul D.; van Biema,

As you age, change your modus operandi: become highly selective. There’s a lovely anecdote from Marshall Weinberg about going to lunch with Warren Buffett that’s worth repeating here. “He had an exceptional ham-and-cheese sandwich. A few days later, we were going out again. He said, ‘Let’s go back to that restaurant.’ I said, ‘But we were just there.’ He said, ‘Precisely. Why take a risk with another place? We know exactly what we’re going to get.’ That is what Warren looks for in stocks, too. He only invests in companies where the odds are great that they will not disappoint.”

Even the notorious U curve of life satisfaction is connected to false expectations. Young people are happy because they believe things can only ever improve—higher income, more power, greater opportunity. In middle age, between forty and fifty-five, they reach a low point. They’re forced to accept that the high-flying aspirations of their youth cannot be realized. On top of that they have children, a career, income pressures—all unexpected dampers on happiness. In old age, people are reasonably happy once more, because they’ve exceeded those unrealistically low expectations.

John Wooden: “Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

from Epictetus, the Stoic: “A life that flows gently and easily.”

“Why, my dear friend, do you do it all? If I had all your millions, I’d spend my time doing nothing but reading, thinking and writing.” It wasn’t until I was on the way home that I realized, oddly startled, that that’s exactly what I do. So that would be a definition of the good life: somebody hands you a few million, and you don’t change anything at all.

#the art of the good life #Rolf dobelli #non-fiction #quotes #books

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Doctor Who - ‘An Unearthly Child’ Review

(aka 100,000 B.C., The Tribe of Gum, The Stone Age, or The Paleolithic Age)

Two teachers follow a mysterious student into a junkyard, spawning multiple generations of sci-fi geeks.

Season 1, Serial A Starring William Hartnell as the Doctor With William Russell (Ian), Jacqueline Hill (Barbara) and Carole Ann Ford (Susan) Written by Anthony Coburn and C.E. Webber Directed by Waris Hussein Produced by Verity Lambert

Episodes and Broadcast Dates:

An Unearthly Child – 23 Nov 1963

The Cave Of Skulls – 30 Nov 1963

The Forest Of Fear – 7 Dec 1963

The Firemakers – 14 Dec 1963

Plot Summary

At the end of another day at London’s Coal Hill School, history teacher Barbara Wright and science teacher Ian Chesterton compare notes about an enigmatic student, Susan Foreman. Her knowledge of history and science surpasses their own, but is also awkwardly unaware of the ins-and-outs of contemporary life. They trail her to her given address, 76 Totters Lane, only to find a scrapyard wherein sits a rather incongruous Police Box emitting an eerie hum. They encounter Susan’s grandfather, who brusquely shoos them away. But when Susan’s voice is heard from inside, they push past him into the Police Box and find themselves in a vast futuristic chamber, much larger on the inside. The old man is furious at their intrusion. Susan explains that they are exiles from another world and another time, and the Police Box is their ship, the TARDIS. The old man is paranoid and irascible, certain that the teachers will expose their secret, and despite Susan’s panicked pleas he activates the TARDIS, leaving 60’s London behind.

The quartet find themselves in the Stone Age, and are soon abducted by a tribe of primitive humans. There is a power struggle for control of the tribe between Za, son of the late elder, and the outsider Kal, focused on the secret of making fire. When the old man announces he can make fire, they become pawns in the struggle. Along the way, Ian and Barbara introduce the tribe to concepts of mercy and helpfulness, that in ‘their tribe,’ the firemaker is the least powerful person, and that one tyrant is not as strong as a unified collective. This lesson is lost on the old man; when Za pursues them through the forest and is attacked by a wild beast, he is perfectly willing to kill the wounded man to help them escape. Ultimately they make fire for the tribe, Za kills Kal, and the travelers escape to the TARDIS.

It is made clear that Susan’s grandfather, who is known as the Doctor, cannot control the navigational systems of the TARDIS, and may never be able to return Ian and Barbara home. They arrive at their next destination and go out to explore. They do not notice the TARDIS’s radiation meter inching into the danger zone...

Analysis and Notes

-- Episode One’s viewership was quite low – possibly due to news coverage of President Kennedy’s assassination the day before, possibly due to a number of regional power cuts – so the BBC granted a virtually unprecedented re-broadcast immediately prior to Episode Two. More people saw the repeat broadcast than the initial one.

-- Episode One was a re-write and re-shoot of the un-broadcast pilot episode, which was beset by technical difficulties and featured an even harsher characterization of the Doctor.

--Most of the principle guest cast would appear in future serials: Derek Newark (Za) in Inferno, Althea Charleton (Hur) in The Time Meddler, Jeremy Young (Kal) in Mission to the Unknown, and Eileen Way (Old Woman) in The Creature from the Pit.

Okay, all you Smith-heads, Tennant worshipers and Capaldians (all three of you, myself included), listen up. The sci-fi institution you know and love originated over a half century ago, right here. Before the action figures, the magazines, the thousands of fansites, the DVD’s, the convention circuit, the minisodes, and all the flood of BBC Enterprises swag, there was An Unearthly Child. And in some cases, it looks and feels very much like the show you’re watching now; there’s a big blue (well, dark gray) box called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, and it makes the same wheezy noise as it takes off and lands. There’s a mysterious central character called the Doctor and a handful of travelling companions. But there are also enormous differences.

In the current series, the TARDIS can land anywhere it wants to. But initially the central concept of the Classic Era was the TARDIS’s unreliability. This meant that when the Doctor takes off with Barbara and Ian on board at the end of episode one, there’s virtually no chance of getting them home again. In future serials where the Doctor and crew need to get to a specific place, they have to hitch a ride.

The early days of the show were a sharp contrast from the ethos displayed in the upcoming Series Nine catchphrase, “I’m the Doctor. I save people.” In most cases, they landed in a certain place or time, got separated from the TARDIS, and spent the rest of the series more focused on Not Dying and/or Not Changing History than they were about liberating oppressed humanoids or saving Earth from alien invasion. And especially in this opening serial, the only person the Doctor feels obliged to save is himself.

Having never been companions by choice, Barbara and Ian’s primary goal throughout their time on the TARDIS was to get home again. Even when they weren’t so much traveling companions as kidnapping victims, this meant getting back to the TARDIS whenever they were separated from it, and keeping the Doctor – their kidnapper – safe at all times since he was the only person who could operate it. Ultimately they do get home again, but end up using a slightly more reliable Dalek time capsule to do it, and we never quite learn how they explain their two-year absence to the Coal Hill headmaster.

And we have to assume they left no significant others behind. Because if there’s one consistent theme amongst the TARDIS’s early classic era companions, it’s that they have no backstories or families or home life that’s disrupted when they meet the Doctor. They’re orphans, bachelors, and free agents. No room for outside domestic drama on the TARDIS.

As for the actual story:

I can’t help but fall in step with the Received Wisdom that the first episode is classic and the remaining three are comparatively mediocre. That said, the Stone Age episodes are very noteworthy. The initial concept for the series was that science fiction and historical stories would balance each other – thus the need for a history teacher and a science teacher. The historical stories would follow the format established here; the TARDIS crew gets separated from the ship, and after a few cycles of capture-escape-recapture where they encounter historical figures or crucial historical events, manage to escape to the TARDIS without getting killed or dramatically changing history.

And the Doctor couldn’t be further removed from how we come to know him now. Selfish, paranoid, and bad-tempered, over-protective of Susan, a kidnapper, a would-be murderer, a refugee rather than a traveler, he’s a quintessential anti-hero, and if it weren’t for the fact that he was the only one who could pilot the TARDIS, odds are they’d boot him out. It’s his dealing with Barbara and Ian that over time gives him a moral compass, either making him a heroic figure, or re-making him one after whatever as-yet-undetermined incident caused him to flee.

The Stone Age tribe is surprisingly multi-dimensional. They’re not ignorant, just uneducated. The oldest among them are fearful of new technology (i.e. fire). The savage conditions in which they live, where death lurks around every corner, render concepts like tenderness, kindness, and democracy as luxuries. You may just have to grit your teeth as the social liberalism is delivered with a side of colonialism; the well-dressed white bourgeois travelers drop into the jungle like the Galactic Peace Corps to teach the dirty savages how to live better. Also a dash of sexism as the girl – named, appropriately enough, Hur – exists as the prize to be awarded to either Kal or Za.

It’s evident that the BBC wanted this program to succeed. Even though they put the show in the young and relatively inexperienced hands of producer Verity Lambert and director Waris Hussein, possibly so they could be scapegoats for the program’s potential failure, they allowed the pilot episode to be re-tooled and re-filmed, and they re-broadcast Episode One immediately prior to Episode Two.

As this is the very first serial, it’s worthy to note which concepts have stayed etched in granite over a half-century and which have been more malleable (if not rejected entirely):

The Doctor’s Name – Susan only refers to him as “Grandfather.” Ian recalls, before they meet, that Susan’s grandfather is “a Doctor or something.” Since the junkyard’s front door reads I.M. FOREMAN, SCRAP MERCHANT, and Susan’s given surname is Foreman, he calls him “Dr. Foreman” in episode two, to which the old man replies, “Huh? Doctor Who? What is he talking about?” strongly suggesting that “Foreman” was never their name. Does one require a PhD to run a junkyard? Or are they squatters, with Susan adopting the name on the door? If so, whatever happened to I.M. Foreman? He never explicitly instructs Ian or Barbara as to how he wishes to be addressed, and basically adopts the title “The Doctor” by default.

The TARDIS – Susan claims to have made up the name of the TARDIS as an acronym for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space, as if this TARDIS was the only one in existence. For most of the first season, they refer to the TARDIS simply as “The Ship.” In episode two, the Doctor notes that the external appearance of the ship is supposed to blend in with its surroundings (though the term “Chameleon Circuit” would not be coined for over a decade), suggesting this is the first time it has failed; with rare exceptions, it would never function again. And the most pivotal concept about the TARDIS is that the Doctor cannot navigate it properly. Either he never learned, or he forgot, or the mechanism is faulty; it’s never explicitly stated, but once they leave London 1963, there’s no guarantee they’ll ever get back.

Their Origins – No Time Lords, no Gallifrey, these terms don’t appear for years to come. The details they give in the first episode are sketchy. They’re exiles, wanderers in time, cut off from their own planet. No mention is ever given of Susan’s parents (i.e. the Doctor’s offspring, presumably). They’re hiding on Earth, and have lived incognito for several months; from what and why are never stated.

Been Here Before – Barbara lends Susan a very thick book about the French Revolution, which Susan reads in a split second and remarks, “That’s not how it happened!” Though no mention of a prior visit was ever made later in Season One when they land in Robespierre’s post-revolutionary Paris. The gift of superhuman speed-reading appears again in the New Series’ reboot, Rose.

In Summation

You could be forgiven if you only watch the first episode, but what an episode it is! It’s as noteworthy and epoch-shifting a debut as the Beatles’ Please Please Me eight months earlier (or their follow-up, With The Beatles, issued the day before). Yet despite creator Sydney Newman’s directive of “No Bug Eyed Monsters!”, the program’s watershed moment was yet to come, and British popular culture would never be the same.

Rating: 3 out of 4 epoch-shifting moments in British pop culture.

John Geoffrion balances a career in hospital fundraising with semi-pro theatre gigs, and watches way too much Doctor Who and Britcoms in between. He'll create an author page after he puts up a few more reviews.

#Doctor Who #Classic Who #The Doctor #First Doctor #Susan Foreman #Barbara Wright #Ian Chesterton #Doctor Who Reviews #Doux Reviews #TV Reviews #something from the archive

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xtruss · 4 years

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Engineering a Race War: Will This Be the American Police State’s Reichstag Fire?

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”— George Santayana

— Davidicke.Com | June 11, 2020 | By John Whitehead

Watch and see: this debate over police brutality and accountability is about to get politicized into an election-year referendum on who should occupy the White House.

Don’t fall for it.

The Deep State, the powers-that-be, want us to turn this into a race war, but this is about so much more than systemic racism. This is the oldest con game in the books, the magician’s sleight of hand that keeps you focused on the shell game in front of you while your wallet is being picked clean by ruffians in your midst.

It’s the Reichstag Fire all over again.

It was February 1933, a month before national elections in Germany, and the Nazis weren’t expected to win. So they engineered a way to win: they began by infiltrating the police and granting police powers to their allies; then Hitler brought in stormtroopers to act as auxiliary police; by the time an arsonist (who claimed to be working for the Communists in the hopes of starting an armed revolt) set fire to the Reichstag, the German parliamentary building, the people were eager for a return to law and order.

That was all it took: Hitler used the attempted “coup” as an excuse to declare martial law and seize absolute power in Germany, establishing himself as a dictator with the support of the German people.

Fast forward to the present day, and what do we have? The nation in turmoil after months of pandemic fear-mongering and regional lockdowns, a national election looming, a president with falling poll numbers, and a police state that wants to stay in power at all costs.

Note the similarities?

It’s entirely possible that Americans have finally reached a tipping point over police brutality after decades of abuse. After all, until recently, the legislatures and the courts have marched in lockstep with the police state, repeatedly rebuffing efforts to hold police accountable for official misconduct.

Then again, it’s also equally possible that the architects of the police state have every intention of manipulating this outrage for their own purposes.

It works the same in every age.

As author Jim Keith explains, “Create violence through economic pressures, the media, mind control, agent provocateurs: thesis. Counter it with totalitarian measures, more mind control, police crackdowns, surveillance, drugging of the population: antithesis. What ensues is Orwell’s vision of 1984, a society of total control: synthesis.”

Here’s what is going to happen: the police state is going to stand down and allow these protests, riots and looting to devolve into a situation where enough of the voting populace is so desperate for a return to law and order that they will gladly relinquish some of their freedoms to achieve it. And that’s how the police state will win, no matter which candidate gets elected to the White House.

You know who will lose? Every last one of us.

Listen, people should be outraged over what happened to George Floyd, but let’s get one thing straight: Floyd didn’t die merely because he was black and the cop who killed him is white. Floyd died because America is being overrun with warrior cops—vigilantes with a badge—who are part of a government-run standing army that is waging war on the American people in the so-called name of law and order.

Not all cops are warrior cops, trained to act as judge, jury and executioner in their interactions with the populace. Unfortunately, the good cops—the ones who take seriously their oath of office to serve and protect their fellow citizens, uphold the Constitution, and maintain the peace—are increasingly being outnumbered by those who believe the lives—and rights—of police should be valued more than citizens.

These warrior cops may get paid by the citizenry, but they don’t work for us and they certainly aren’t operating within the limits of the U.S. Constitution.

This isn’t about racism in America.

This is about profit-driven militarism packaged in the guise of law and order, waged by greedy profiteers who have transformed the American homeland into a battlefield with militarized police, military weapons and tactics better suited to a war zone. This is systemic corruption predicated on the police state’s insatiable appetite for money, power and control.

This is a military coup waiting to happen.

Why do we have more than a million cops on the taxpayer-funded payroll in this country whose jobs do not entail protecting our safety, maintaining the peace in our communities, and upholding our liberties?

I’ll tell you why.

These warrior cops—fitted out in the trappings of war, drilled in the deadly art of combat, and trained to look upon “every individual they interact with as an armed threat and every situation as a deadly force encounter in the making—are the police state’s standing army.

This is the new face of war, and America has become the new battlefield.

Militarized police officers, the end product of the government—federal, local and state—and law enforcement agencies having merged, have become a “standing” or permanent army, composed of full-time professional soldiers who do not disband.

Yet these permanent armies are exactly what those who drafted the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights feared as tools used by despotic governments to wage war against its citizens.

American police forces were never supposed to be a branch of the military, nor were they meant to be private security forces for the reigning political faction. Instead, they were intended to be an aggregation of countless local police units, composed of citizens like you and me that exist for a sole purpose: to serve and protect the citizens of each and every American community.

As a result of the increasing militarization of the police in recent years, however, the police now not only look like the military—with their foreboding uniforms and phalanx of lethal weapons—but they function like them, as well.

Thus, no more do we have a civilian force of peace officers entrusted with serving and protecting the American people. Instead, today’s militarized law enforcement officials have shifted their allegiance from the citizenry to the state, acting preemptively to ward off any possible challenges to the government’s power, unrestrained by the boundaries of the Fourth Amendment.

They don’t work for us. As retired Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis warned, “Corporate America is using police forces as their mercenaries.”

We were sold a bill of goods.

For years now, we’ve been told that cops need military weapons to wage the government’s wars on drugs, crime and terror. We’ve been told that cops need to be able to crash through doors, search vehicles, carry out roadside strip searches, shoot anyone they perceive to be a threat, and generally disregard the law whenever it suits them because they’re doing it to protect their fellow Americans from danger. We’ve been told that cops need extra legal protections because of the risks they take.

None of that is true.

In fact, a study by a political scientist at Princeton University concludes that militarizing police and SWAT teams “provide no detectable benefits in terms of officer safety or violent crime reduction.” According to researcher Jonathan Mummolo, if police in America are feeling less safe, it’s because the process of transforming them into extensions of the military makes them less safe, less popular and less trust-worthy.

The study, the first systematic analysis on the use and consequences of militarized force, reveals that “police militarization neither reduces rates of violent crime nor changes the number of officers assaulted or killed.”

In other words, warrior cops aren’t making us or themselves any safer.

Militarized police armed with weapons of war who are allowed to operate above the law and break the laws with impunity are definitely not making America any safer or freer.

The problem, as one reporter rightly concluded, is “not that life has gotten that much more dangerous, it’s that authorities have chosen to respond to even innocent situations as if they were in a warzone.” Consequently, Americans are now eight times more likely to die in a police confrontation than they are to be killed by a terrorist.

Militarism within the nation’s police forces is proving to be deadlier than any pandemic.

This battlefield mindset has gone hand in hand with the rise of militarized SWAT (“special weapons and tactics”) teams.

Frequently justified as vital tools necessary to combat terrorism and deal with rare but extremely dangerous criminal situations, such as those involving hostages, SWAT teams have become intrinsic parts of local law enforcement operations, thanks in large part to substantial federal assistance and the Pentagon’s military surplus recycling program, which allows the transfer of military equipment, weapons and training to local police for free or at sharp discounts while increasing the profits of its corporate allies.

Where this becomes a problem of life and death for Americans is when these SWAT teams— outfitted, armed and trained in military tactics—are assigned to carry out relatively routine police tasks, such as serving a search warrant. Nationwide, SWAT teams have been employed to address an astonishingly trivial array of criminal activity or mere community nuisances: angry dogs, domestic disputes, improper paperwork filed by an orchid farmer, and misdemeanor marijuana possession, to give a brief sampling.

Remember, SWAT teams originated as specialized units dedicated to defusing extremely sensitive, dangerous situations. They were never meant to be used for routine police work such as serving a warrant. Unfortunately, the mere presence of SWAT units has actually injected a level of danger and violence into police-citizen interactions that was not present as long as these interactions were handled by traditional civilian officers.

There are few communities without a SWAT team today, and there are more than 80,000 SWAT team raids per year.

Yet the tension inherent in most civilian-police encounter these days can’t be blamed exclusively on law enforcement’s growing reliance on SWAT teams and donated military equipment.

It goes far deeper, to a transformation in the way police view themselves and their line of duty.

Specifically, what we’re dealing with today is a skewed shoot-to-kill mindset in which police, trained to view themselves as warriors or soldiers in a war, whether against drugs, or terror, or crime, must “get” the bad guys—i.e., anyone who is a potential target—before the bad guys get them. The result is a spike in the number of incidents in which police shoot first, and ask questions later.

Making matters worse, when these officers, who have long since ceased to be peace officers, violate their oaths by bullying, beating, tasering, shooting and killing their employers—the taxpayers to whom they owe their allegiance—they are rarely given more than a slap on the hands before resuming their patrols.

This lawlessness on the part of law enforcement, an unmistakable characteristic of a police state, is made possible in large part by police unions which routinely oppose civilian review boards and resist the placement of names and badge numbers on officer uniforms; police agencies that abide by the Blue Code of Silence, the quiet understanding among police that they should not implicate their colleagues for their crimes and misconduct; prosecutors who treat police offenses with greater leniency than civilian offenses; courts that sanction police wrongdoing in the name of security; and legislatures that enhance the power, reach and arsenal of the police, and a citizenry that fails to hold its government accountable to the rule of law.

Indeed, not only are cops protected from most charges of wrongdoing—whether it’s shooting unarmed citizens (including children and old people), raping and abusing young women, falsifying police reports, trafficking drugs, or soliciting sex with minors—but even on the rare occasions when they are fired for misconduct, it’s only a matter of time before they get re-hired again.

Much of the “credit” for shielding these rogue cops goes to influential police unions and laws providing for qualified immunity, police contracts that “provide a shield of protection to officers accused of misdeeds and erect barriers to residents complaining of abuse,” state and federal laws that allow police to walk away without paying a dime for their wrongdoing, and rampant cronyism among government bureaucrats.

It’s happening all across the country.

This is how perverse justice in America has become.

Incredibly, while our own Bill of Rights are torn to shreds, leaving us with few protections against government abuses, a growing number of states are adopting Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights(LEOBoR), which provide cops accused of a crime with special due process rights and privileges not afforded to the average citizen.

This, right here, epitomizes everything that is wrong with America today.

Even when the system appears to work on the side of justice, it’s the American taxpayer who ends up paying the price.

Literally.

Because police officers are more likely to be struck by lightning than be held financially accountable for their actions. As Human Rights Watch explains, taxpayers actually pay three times for officers who repeatedly commit abuses: “once to cover their salaries while they commit abuses; next to pay settlements or civil jury awards against officers; and a third time through payments into police ‘defense’ funds provided by the cities.”

Deep-seated corruption of this kind doesn’t just go away because politicians and corporations suddenly become conscience-stricken in the face of mass protests and start making promises they don’t intend to keep.

As I explain in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, we need civic engagement and citizen activism, especially at the local level. However, if it ends at the ballot box without achieving any real reform that holds government officials at all levels accountable to playing by the rules of the Constitution, then shame on us.

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randomidiocyncrazies · 4 years

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Future Foundation: Danganronpa -IF-

lmao i’m wading back into the Danganronpa fandom after literal years, and i just crave fic of the DR1 kids interacting with Future Foundation after the events of Danganronpa IF? I kinda assume they get picked up by the FF shortly after getting out? iirc Kizakura was in a squad on the front lines trying to rescue them. idk if ppl would know to mount a rescue at HPA w/o the killing game actually happening, but since Jin Kirigiri still gets executed I think a rescue attempt makes sense.

(this follows Mukuro’s characterization from Danganronpa IF, in which she’s a lot more sympathetic than her portrayal in DR3. spoilers for Danganronpa, Danganronpa IF, and Danganronpa 3)

So since FF was camped out near Hope's Peak, Mukuro would have to run before she gets apprehended by the FF—like sure, she’s prepared to accept her punishment for causing The Tragedy, but she also wants to take Junko down with her own hands... and the FF radical faction will definitely execute her w/o a trial on the spot if they get a hold of her, especially since she’s dressed up as Junko.

Even if FF agents believe she’s not actually Junko, since Yukizome’s still brainwashed, the manipulation of Munakata (and by extension Sakakura, not that he needs much encouragement) to take extreme violent action will be a major obstacle here. As much as I want drama between the class 74 trio and class 78 regarding Mukuro’s possible fate, I think reasons for Mukuro’s capture instead of immediate death are pretty weak? I’d wager that even the moderate faction in FF thinks she should be killed immediately, being the former right-hand woman to the mastermind thus too dangerous to keep alive. (Again: SHE’S DRESSED UP AS JUNKO WHEN THEY LEAVE THE SCHOOL.) In order to take Junko down in what was implied to be a mutually assured destruction maneuver, Mukuro probably separates from class 78 immediately after leaving the school grounds and stalks keeps an eye on them from a distance, Naegi especially, between working out a plan to confront Junko.

(like, i guess class 78/the moderates could argue that as Junko’s right-hand woman, Mukuro has insight into the mastermind’s plans that nobody else has? but I’m not sure if the radical faction is willing to listen, esp since there’s no way to ensure she’s not feeding them false info... maybe a combination of Kimura’s truth serum and the reassurance from the moderates that she’ll be executed as soon as they got the necessary info out of her would stay the radical faction’s hand for now??? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I can see Yukizome letting Mukuro go if FF has custody of her, assuming she thinks Mukuro is still loyal to Ultimate Despair and foiling the class 78 killing game is part of a long con, with the added benefit of pushing Munakata further along an extremist stance and further destabilizing FF leadership. if she thinks Mukuro had truly defected to the side of hope, i think she’d 1) try to kill Mukuro, or more likely 2) commit suicide/grievous self-harm and frame Mukuro for it, thus ensuring Munakata & Sakakura would devote their resources to wipe out Mukuro and anyone associated with her. Also, independent of what Yukizome planned, Sakakura would want the job of personally ending Mukuro, but he’d be fine with waiting until her interrogation is complete as long as that’s what Munakata wants.)

OKAY YOU KNOW WHAT, the potential interaction between Mukuro & Yukizome was too good to pass up, considering Mukuro was the one who helped brainwashed Yukizome into Despair in the first place... if there’s a way for Yukizometo be saved and cured of brainwashing, it’d probably have to come from Mukuro, since there’s no reason to suspect Yukizome otherwise (which means she wouldn’t get found out/cured). does Munakata change his tune re: rehabilitation once Yukizome was proven to be a Remnant? or does he break from the knowledge that he never once suspected the woman he loves is an agent of Despair (the real Yukizome essentially ‘died’ ~a year ago, the thing wearing her body is, for all purposes, a stranger)? For Sakakura, he has to contend with the fact that he didn’t notice anything wrong with one of his (very few) best friends, and he’d see it as his fault that the real Chisa is ‘gone’, b/c he let Junko go (nevermind that Junko would’ve killed/brainwashed him and/or Munakata instead if he refused to comply)

like, Yukizome had only been brainwashed for a little more than a year (2 years at most) by this point, so she had less time to manipulate Munakata and Tengen, and Munakata seemed fairly reasonable in Despair Arc... so maybe it won’t be that hard to convince him to give the Neo World Program a try, as an attempt to cure her. (on the other hand, think of all the drama if Munakata snapped and decides that Yukizome must die since she’s an agent of Despair, regardless of how she got that way, and Sakakura is visibly conflicted about this order because there’s hope for rehabilitation, but ultimately moves in for the kill as per Munakata’s orders... the class 74 trio makes me sad haha)

(either way Mukuro does not make it out of this version of events alive, if she’s apprehended by FF—best scenario she takes out Junko and goes down with her, but she’s more likely executed by FF for crimes against humanity after her interrogation, or killed by individuals bearing a grudge. i guess there’s a version of this where FF believes she had atoned sufficiently to warrant life-long imprisonment instead of execution, so she has a chance of survival, but it’s a very very very long shot imo. Best way to make sure Mukuro remains in play is to have her leave class 78 before they encounter FF.)

Now for the other DR1 kids...

the IF timeline had Makoto regain his memories and tell the others, but Kirigiri’s memories were tampered with even more extensively than the rest, though at least Mukuro had told her what her talent is—Kizakura has to deal with the realization that Kyouko 1) is still angry at her father because their reconciliation had been wiped from her memory and 2) she has no idea who Kizakura is. I think Kirigiri would join the FF and work in Kizakura’s branch at his insistence so he can keep and eye on her for Jin, eventually winding up in the special investigations unit under Sakakura (lmao).

(on a happier note, at least the DR1 kids and FF know it’s possible to regain their memories—maybe a variation of the Neo World Program could help with that too? kinda slow going since they don’t have Matsuda’s knowledge tho)

Assuming all the DR1 kids join up with the Future Foundation (FF would actively try to recruit them, both because they’re symbols of hope but also because they want to keep an eye on them to find out more about the mastermind):

Naegi: since he’s the one who regained his memory and convinced Mukuro to switch sides, he’d be a person of interest for sure. the conflict between him and the radical faction is on some level still about their methods and ideologies about hope, but there’s also the fact that they find him incredibly suspicious (esp with Yukizome’s subtle encouragement). Why is he the only one who regained his memories? How did he convince Mukuro, the second-in-command, to betray Junko? How do they know he’s not Junko’s spy, etc etc. most likely in FF custody as an intern, assigned to 14th division (public relations) after he’s been thoroughly vetted

Ishimaru: enthusiastic to join, because helping to restore peace and order is 100% his thing! likely to be assigned to 2nd division (day-to-day operations of FF, peacekeeping, facilities etc) imo. the one to deal with Mondo for facility plans. his goal is to get into the 1st division (overall direction and leadership of FF)

Fukawa: extremely reluctant, and it didn’t take long for FF to discover Syo, which complicates matters. she’s technically in FF custody as an intern because of Syo’s unpredictability and the danger she presents. as Fukawa she would’ve been placed in the 10th division (education and culture revival), but as Syo she’s most likely involved as a field agent for 14th or tester for the 9th (weapons R&D)

Sayaka: initially only joins up because FF promised to help her look for her idol friends and keep them safe, tho she later sees her position as an important one to bring hope and happiness to people (which was part of her goal to be an idol). assigned to the 14th division and involved in certain projects from the 10th as well

Leon: i think he’s a little reluctant in the beginning. probably requests to be assigned to the 14th with Sayaka—because the division more or less serves as the public face of FF for the general populace (path to achieving stardom/popularity), and he wants to protect Sayaka (tho i can see it being awkward when she confesses to plotting his murder in the killing game), plus his athleticism could come in handy for field missions imo. if his relationship with Sayaka is too strained following her confession, I can also see him in a division that interacts with the general populace like the 13th (front-line aid and relief)

Yamada: the relative security and prestige of being in FF appeals to him. assigned to the 10th division due to his extensive knowledge in different entertainment media. clashes with Mitarai on individual opinions, but they have similar worldviews and are in sync with each other when push comes to shove

Asahina: given her personality i think she’d be eager to help rebuilding the world. probably joins the 13th division like in canon, and worries about Sakura (who’s in the 6th and encounters supporters of Despair often).

Chihiro: would be willing to join, especially once they know how much their expertise could help the world, and especially if approached by Gekkougahara to help class 78 regain their memories via another take on the Neo World Program. there’s also the mystery of why Monokuma’s system looks like their work... 7th division (tech & software security and development) is perfect for them

Kirigiri: as mentioned above, i think began her career under Kizakura in 3rd division (HR and recruitment) but joins 6th division (policing, investigative force) in the special investigations unit afterwards. she’d be interested to join FF and conduct her own investigations pretty much right off the bat imo.

Mondo: reluctant, but willing to join if FF can locate the Crazy Diamonds/keep them safe. assigned to the 6th for his brawling skills and willingness to engage in violence, but later requests to be placed in 12th division (infrastructure restoration) because he’s tired of destroying shit, and it’s a huge problem for him when he had to go up against female Remnants/despair junkies during his time with the 6th. the one who primarily deals with Ishimaru when 12th and 2nd division interact for plans to expand FF facilities

Sakura: assuming Monokuma already approached her to be the mole before the DR1 kids escaped in IF, she’d want to tell the FF what she knows about the mastermind and make up for accepting the offer back then. probably joins 6th division (specifically, the policing unit) under Sakakura (y’know how Sakakura loathes Naegi for being the one to defeat Junko in canon? he’s probably envious of Sakura for ultimately being able to defy her while he couldn’t. but because Junko is still alive as a target to be taken down here, i think don’t he's quite as resentful of Sakura, tho still incredibly petty. also i just think the Sakakura-Sakura connection of being physical powerhouses who were blackmailed by the big bad really neat! both also had/have difficulty with romantic love—Sakura thought it was embarrassing for her as a fighter to have tender feelings before her LI convinced her otherwise, while Sakakura is dealing with homophobia and the fact that the guy he’s in love with is already involved with his other best friend, who he cares a lot about as well)

Togami: I can see him joining in order to use FF resources to rebuild the Togami conglomerate after he finds out it had been taken over + destroyed by the impostor, so from Togami’s PoV it’s a business arrangement. most likely joins 14th (like Sayaka he knows how to work a crowd) but i can see him in 3rd as well, though probably not when they need to make nice with potential recruits

Hagakure: he’d stay as long as it looks like FF is the safest place to be... assigned to 14th, same as canon?

Celes: being a member of FF comes with its own prestige, but even then it takes a lot of negotiation to convince her to stay. I think she’d be intrigued by the 5th division (intelligence and espionage), which puts her in contact with brainwashed!Branch leader Yukizome...

#danganronpa #danganronpa 3 #dangan ronpa #dangan ronpa 3 #DR spoilers #DR3 spoilers #DR3 #DR1 #Future Foundation: Daganronpa -IF- AU #pls... i want all the DR1 kids to interact with the Future Foundation...#(i want the DR1 kids to survive)#(i want Yukizome be not be brainwashed anymore........)#ric writes #FFDRIF #long post

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origami-goblin · 7 years

Photo

Episode 27 – Ghoul’s in Session --- Wednesday, December 6th, 2017 We open to find our heroes patiently awaiting Sheriff Hemlock’s return to the holding cell while the investigation into their actions runs its course. Just after midday, Hemlock enters the room with Ilsoari Gandethus and explains that a verdict has been reached regarding their innocence. Sandpoint often communicates with the justice system of Magnimar through Ilsoari’s magical means, specifically regarding high-profile cases or extravagant felonies. The recent killing sprees are a prime example of a situation where Hemlock would keep Justice Ironbriar informed of any developments. This particular case has peaked the interest of the Magnimarian justice because of Sandpoints relatively close proximity to the bustling city of Magnimar, and if the ghoul activity isn’t contained quickly there could be deadly repercussions for the port city. Because of the party’s impressive track record with quelling the goblin threat, defending Sandpoint, and assisting in the current investigation (and since their story matched up with the evidence at the Sanatorium), Justice Ironbriar agreed that the party was justified in their actions and should be let go. As the ex-cons are being let out of the holding cell, a boisterous farmer named Maester Grump enters the garrison demanding to see Sheriff Hemlock. According to the old man, living scarecrows have been attacking the countryfolk to the south. Hemlock, once again using his typical excuse of needing to keep the peace in Sandpoint, humbly asks the party to assist in investigating this outlandish claim. The party agrees, and Hemlock graciously assembles a rag-tag group of common, unnamed guards to accompany them in case these ‘living scarecrows’ are too much for the party to handle. The journey to the Hambley Farm takes the better part of the day, and the party arrives in the evening. Tall, sprawling fields of wheat and corn line the pathways leading towards the farmhouse, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere smothering in dread. Eventually, the path separates in multiple directions, marked by a lone scarecrow. Cautiously, they poke and prod at it until Barnaby cuts open its midsection with a slash of his scimitar revealing naught but straw. They press onwards, towards, the west, systematically planning their journey to cover the entirety of the property without backtracking. Eventually, there is another scarecrow propped up on its wooden post. Krask gets close to examine it and is caught unawares as the figures breaks free of its bonds and bites him on the neck. Although the party dispatches it quickly, the wound seems to fester on Krask’s body. Theo identifies the scarecrow as a ghoul in disguise, meaning that Krask has likely contracted a case of ghoul fever – the same ailment that caused Grayst to slowly lose his grasp on humanity. Exercising more caution, understanding that every scarecrow could either be a simple straw puppet or a lethal ghoul, the party continues along the corn-lined paths. They encounter a few more hostiles but handle them with relative ease now that they know the evils that wander the property. One of the scarecrows makes some muffled noise and tries to break out of its bonds, but Krask quickly fires an arrow to silence it. Bright red blood pours from the wound instead of the blackish ghoul-blood that was expected. Without investigating further, the party decides to continue clearing the farm of the undead presence, and as they turn a blind corner they are suddenly face-to-face with a small pack of ghouls heading right towards them! Are these ghouls more intelligent than usual? Did Krask accidentally viciously murder an innocent person? What if this party actually had a brain?

#pathfinder #PathfinderRPG #DnD #RotRL #Paizo #Recap #Episode #Tabletop #RPG #ActualPlay #AP

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susanjmiller89 · 5 years

Text

Nobi Women’s Fat Burner Review

Dear friend, Nobi women’s fat burner is becoming popular in 2020 so lets discover if there is any truth behind the promises. If you are a busy bee and want a quick takeaway of information I have put the 3 most common questions at the top.

Is It True Nobi Is The Best Fat Burner For Women?

NO. I like to be succinct

Nobi contains common ingredients found in other fat burners. Infact Nobi is basically a keto fat burner which contains BHB. Most keto lovers are now flocking to another keto supplement which contains the more potent variation of goBHB. For the latest top 10 rankings go to the health-info.org top 10 supplements.

How Quickly Can I Lose Weight Using Nobi Fat Burner?

Reported weight loss is 0 pounds to 3 pounds per month with Nobi women’s fat burner . Customers report losing 10 to 14 lbs per month with the no 1 fat burner in our top 10 list. Weight loss for the most popular keto supplement in the top 10 was 5 to 9 lbs per month but bear in mind keto is often used for energy and going to the gym as well. Find out about the latest rankings now.

Do Diet Pills Guarantee Weight Loss

It’s not legal to make a guarantee that you will lose weight. That said 2 premium diet pills in the top 10 list do offer a 60 day money back guarantee if you are not totally satisfied. It is a way of giving you total peace of mind so you have nothing to lose. We think it is a good step forward and look forward to all weight loss supplements being brave enough to follow this example.

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What Is This Supplement

Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women is a fat burner made by Nobi Nutrition, marketed specifically towards women.

If you look more closely at the supplement you will realise that this gender-specific marketing is just to make a little extra money. There is nothing in its formula specifically for women, both sexes would experience similar effects when using this supplement.

Find the exact diet pills best suited for your lifestyle and body shape.

How Does It Work?

Hand with marker writing: How Does It Work?

It is believed that this fat burner will offer similar benefits to those experienced when undergoing the keto diet.

When you undergo the keto diet you will be eating a diet low in carbs, but is high in fat. This leaves your body in a state of ketosis, where your liver will start to manufacture ketone from stored fat. These ketones are then used for energy instead of the glucose you would usually get when eating carbohydrates.

What Are The Benefits?

25755376 – benefits

According to the Amazon listing, using the Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women will provide you with the following benefits:

An increase in metabolism

Energy boost

Weight loss support

Increased fat loss

What Diet Pills Do Celebrities Use?

Ingredients

Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women contains a proprietary blend of Calcium Beta Hydroxybutyrate, Sodium Beta Hydroxybutyrate and Magnesium Beta Hydroxybutyrate.

This is more commonly known as goBHB, which is a patented ketone body manufactured by Compound Solutions.

It is claimed that consuming this formula can help give you an energy boost, and is an alternative energy source to calorie-rich carbs.

✅The Most Powerful Diet Tablets In The World Go Head to Head In The Battle Royal – After 51,231 Votes We Reveal The Winner

Can It Help You Lose Weight?

I have my doubts that Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women offers any real weight loss benefit.

While the claims sound impressive, when you look at the ingredients used in more detail there is very little proof to back these claims up.

The keto diet itself has been shown to promote fat loss along with various other health benefits including an increase in HDL (good) cholesterol and decrease in LDL (bad) cholesterol, but research into BHB supplements is in its infancy. Not even the Compound Solutions (the manufacturer of goBHB) website have stated fat burning as one of its benefits.

Fat burning as a benefit is something that Nobi Nutrition has added to their Amazon listing without any proof. No doubt to entice people desperate to lose fat into purchasing it.

If you want to use this supplement then you should only use it as a way to boost your energy levels, perhaps while undergoing the keto diet. However, if you are following the diet correctly then this won’t really be of any benefit.

Goli Gummy Review 2020 – Do Goli Gummies Work For Weight Loss?

What Is The Science?

The only current scientific research available to prove any weight loss or fat loss claims was performed on rats.

In this study, it was shown that exogenous ketone supplementation could result in ketosis being experienced. Similar to the effects experienced while undergoing the keto diet.

Only time will tell if any human studies will be performed, and whether similar effects will be experienced.

A post you may be interested in how hops is used in dieting supplements

Side Effects

64531780 – woman hand writing side effects on blank transparent board with a marker isolated over black background. business concept. stock photo

Although the main ingredient (goBHB) is considered relatively safe. There are those who have encountered side effects from its use.

Potential side effects that you may encounter include stomach upset, diarrhoea, constipation and stomach pain. It should be noted that you are more likely to experience these side effects if a high dose has been used.

If you do encounter any ill effect then I would always recommend that you discontinue use of the supplement.

How Do You Take The Supplement

Teenage girl taking a pill at her home

For best results, it is recommended that you take 2 capsules daily. These should be consumed 1-2 hours before a meal.

You should never take more than the recommended dosage.

Cost And Where To Buy?

Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women is available to buy online via Amazon. It is currently listed for $24.95 for a 30 serving bottle.

To save 10% on your order you could subscribe to get a bottle delivered to you every month. This will set you back $22.46.

Phen24

Return, Refund And Guarantees

According to the listing on Amazon they state:

“If you are unhappy with your Womens Fat Burner, contact Nobi Nutrition directly. We will make things right!”

This does not actually mean a lot. How are they going to make things right? I would prefer to see a money-back guarantee so that if any issue occurs you can get your money back in full.

There are a few supplements that offer these types of guarantee and it shows me that they are confident in their own product.

The Pros And Cons

The pros and cons of Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women are as follows:

Pros

Energy-boosting benefits

Affordable

Mostly positive reviews

Cons

Very little proof that it works

Doubts over the legitimacy of the user reviews

Dubious guarantee

Customer Reviews And Complaints Amazon and Reddit

Customer reviews from Amazon are mostly positive with people submitting rather impressive sounding reviews:

“This product worked great for me. Please note that all bodies differ. Firstly, I have never had a surgical procedure unless giving birth to two boys is considered one. Secondly, I run three days a week ( 20 minutes, 2.5 miles). However, I’m a horrible dieter; I don’t eat much vegetables and I don’t drink the recommended amount of water. I take the recommended dosage of the Nobi fat burner every morning at the same time (8:00am). I’m a SAHM ( for now) so on the days that I don’t run, I’m super lazy. I hope my honest review help answers all questions. And also, I do not plan to take this product forever. Purchasing 2 or 3 times a year should help get you towards your goal because you never want to depend on it ( because sooner or later it won’t work the same) probably because the manufacturer exchanged primary ingredients for something cheaper or because the manufacturers really don’t care about your end goals so they exchanged primary ingredient with something worse and probably addictive. Good luck to you all!”

“This product is great! I’ve been using it for 2 weeks and have lost a total of 6 pounds. I workout/run 5 times a week and I’m definitely sweating up a storm while working out. It doesn’t upset my stomach and doesn’t give me the jitters like other weight loss pills. I take it first thing in the morning in an empty stomach, wait an hour to eat and go on with my day. I most definitely recommend.”

There are also the occasional 1-star reviews too, which are to be expected:

“This did absolutely nothing. I wouldn’t waste your money. I took this exactly how it was recommended plus exercise and eating well balanced and still nothing. I am skeptical of these types of pills but was desperate to try anything that would actually work. Disappointed again!”

“This may work for some, but not me. I did not change my diet as I already follow a low carb plan. I thought it would boost my metabolism and give me more energy. It didn’t. I also lost 0 lbs while taking this supplement.”

What is worrying is that when checking the legitimacy of these reviews using a website called Fakespot , only 62.3% of reviews were shown to be reliable.

That is quite a high percentage, and if almost 40% of these unreliable reviews were positive ones how can you trust that this fat burner even offers any benefit?

The post Nobi Women’s Fat Burner Review appeared first on Health-Info.org.

from Health-Info.org https://health-Info.org/nutrition/nobi-womens-fat-burner-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nobi-womens-fat-burner-review from Health Info Org https://healthinfoorg.tumblr.com/post/612357757775101952

0 notes

courtneylrodriquez · 5 years

Text

Nobi Women’s Fat Burner Review

Is It True Nobi Is The Best Fat Burner For Women?

NO. I like to be succinct

Nobi contains common ingredients found in other fat burners. Infact Nobi is basically a keto fat burner which contains BHB. Most keto lovers are now flocking to another keto supplement which contains the more potent variation of goBHB. For current rankings for weight loss pills check our health-info.org top 10 supplements.

How Quickly Can I Lose Weight Using Nobi Fat Burner?

Do Diet Pills Guarantee Weight Loss

<![CDATA[ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is It True Nobi Is The Best Fat Burner For Women?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "NO. I like to be succinct :) Nobi contains common ingredients found in other fat burners. Infact Nobi is basically a keto fat burner which contains BHB. Most keto lovers are now flocking to another keto supplement which contains the more potent variation of goBHB. For current rankings for weight loss pills check our health-info.org top 10 supplements." , "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "contentUrl" : "https://health-Info.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/nobi-womens-fat-burner-2020-review.jpg" } } } , { "@type": "Question", "name": "How Quickly Can I Lose Weight Using Nobi Fat Burner?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Reported weight loss is 0 pounds to 3 pounds per month with Nobi women's fat burner . Customers report losing 10 to 14 lbs per month with the no 1 fat burner in our top 10 list. Weight loss for the most popular keto supplement in the top 10 was 5 to 9 lbs per month but bear in mind keto is often used for energy and going to the gym as well. Find out about latest rankings now." , "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "contentUrl" : "https://health-Info.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/nobi-fat-burner-review-2020.jpg" } } } , { "@type": "Question", "name": "Do Diet Pills Guarantee Weight Loss", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "It's not legal to make a guarantee that you will lose weight. That said 2 premium diet pills in the top 10 list do offer a 60 day money back guarantee if you are not totally satisfied. It is a way of giving you total peace of mind so you have nothing to lose. We think it is a good step forward and look forward to all weight loss supplements being brave enough to follow this example." , "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "contentUrl" : "https://health-Info.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/guarantee-for-nobi-fat-burner.jpg" } } } ] } ]]>

What Is This Supplement

Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women is a fat burner made by Nobi Nutrition, marketed specifically towards women.

Find the exact diet pills best suited for your lifestyle and body shape.

How Does It Work?

Hand with marker writing: How Does It Work?

It is believed that this fat burner will offer similar benefits to those experienced when undergoing the keto diet.

What Are The Benefits?

25755376 – benefits

According to the Amazon listing, using the Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women will provide you with the following benefits:

An increase in metabolism

Energy boost

Weight loss support

Increased fat loss

What Diet Pills Do Celebrities Use?

Ingredients

Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women contains a proprietary blend of Calcium Beta Hydroxybutyrate, Sodium Beta Hydroxybutyrate and Magnesium Beta Hydroxybutyrate.

This is more commonly known as goBHB, which is a patented ketone body manufactured by Compound Solutions.

It is claimed that consuming this formula can help give you an energy boost, and is an alternative energy source to calorie-rich carbs.

✅The Most Powerful Diet Tablets In The World Go Head to Head In The Battle Royal – After 51,231 Votes We Reveal The Winner

Can It Help You Lose Weight?

I have my doubts that Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women offers any real weight loss benefit.

While the claims sound impressive, when you look at the ingredients used in more detail there is very little proof to back these claims up.

Fat burning as a benefit is something that Nobi Nutrition has added to their Amazon listing without any proof. No doubt to entice people desperate to lose fat into purchasing it.

Goli Gummy Review 2020 – Do Goli Gummies Work For Weight Loss?

What Is The Science?

The only current scientific research available to prove any weight loss or fat loss claims was performed on rats.

In this study, it was shown that exogenous ketone supplementation could result in ketosis being experienced. Similar to the effects experienced while undergoing the keto diet.

Only time will tell if any human studies will be performed, and whether similar effects will be experienced.

A post you may be interested in how hops is used in dieting supplements

Side Effects

64531780 – woman hand writing side effects on blank transparent board with a marker isolated over black background. business concept. stock photo

Although the main ingredient (goBHB) is considered relatively safe. There are those who have encountered side effects from its use.

If you do encounter any ill effect then I would always recommend that you discontinue use of the supplement.

How Do You Take The Supplement

Teenage girl taking a pill at her home

For best results, it is recommended that you take 2 capsules daily. These should be consumed 1-2 hours before a meal.

You should never take more than the recommended dosage.

Cost And Where To Buy?

Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women is available to buy online via Amazon. It is currently listed for $24.95 for a 30 serving bottle.

To save 10% on your order you could subscribe to get a bottle delivered to you every month. This will set you back $22.46.

Phen24

Return, Refund And Guarantees

According to the listing on Amazon they state:

“If you are unhappy with your Womens Fat Burner, contact Nobi Nutrition directly. We will make things right!”

This does not actually mean a lot. How are they going to make things right? I would prefer to see a money-back guarantee so that if any issue occurs you can get your money back in full.

There are a few supplements that offer these types of guarantee and it shows me that they are confident in their own product.

The Pros And Cons

The pros and cons of Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women are as follows:

Pros

Energy-boosting benefits

Affordable

Mostly positive reviews

Cons

Very little proof that it works

Doubts over the legitimacy of the user reviews

Dubious guarantee

Customer Reviews And Complaints Amazon and Reddit

Customer reviews from Amazon are mostly positive with people submitting rather impressive sounding reviews:

There are also the occasional 1-star reviews too, which are to be expected:

What is worrying is that when checking the legitimacy of these reviews using a website called Fakespot , only 62.3% of reviews were shown to be reliable.

That is quite a high percentage, and if almost 40% of these unreliable reviews were positive ones how can you trust that this fat burner even offers any benefit?

The post Nobi Women’s Fat Burner Review appeared first on Health-Info.org.

source https://health-Info.org/nutrition/nobi-womens-fat-burner-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nobi-womens-fat-burner-review from Health Info Org https://healthinfoorg.blogspot.com/2020/03/nobi-womens-fat-burner-review.html

0 notes

healthinfoorg · 5 years

Text

Nobi Women’s Fat Burner Review

Is It True Nobi Is The Best Fat Burner For Women?

NO. I like to be succinct

How Quickly Can I Lose Weight Using Nobi Fat Burner?

Do Diet Pills Guarantee Weight Loss

What Is This Supplement

Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women is a fat burner made by Nobi Nutrition, marketed specifically towards women.

Find the exact diet pills best suited for your lifestyle and body shape.

How Does It Work?

Hand with marker writing: How Does It Work?

It is believed that this fat burner will offer similar benefits to those experienced when undergoing the keto diet.

What Are The Benefits?

25755376 – benefits

According to the Amazon listing, using the Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women will provide you with the following benefits:

An increase in metabolism

Energy boost

Weight loss support

Increased fat loss

What Diet Pills Do Celebrities Use?

Ingredients

Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women contains a proprietary blend of Calcium Beta Hydroxybutyrate, Sodium Beta Hydroxybutyrate and Magnesium Beta Hydroxybutyrate.

This is more commonly known as goBHB, which is a patented ketone body manufactured by Compound Solutions.

It is claimed that consuming this formula can help give you an energy boost, and is an alternative energy source to calorie-rich carbs.

✅The Most Powerful Diet Tablets In The World Go Head to Head In The Battle Royal – After 51,231 Votes We Reveal The Winner

Can It Help You Lose Weight?

I have my doubts that Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women offers any real weight loss benefit.

While the claims sound impressive, when you look at the ingredients used in more detail there is very little proof to back these claims up.

Fat burning as a benefit is something that Nobi Nutrition has added to their Amazon listing without any proof. No doubt to entice people desperate to lose fat into purchasing it.

Goli Gummy Review 2020 – Do Goli Gummies Work For Weight Loss?

What Is The Science?

The only current scientific research available to prove any weight loss or fat loss claims was performed on rats.

In this study, it was shown that exogenous ketone supplementation could result in ketosis being experienced. Similar to the effects experienced while undergoing the keto diet.

Only time will tell if any human studies will be performed, and whether similar effects will be experienced.

A post you may be interested in how hops is used in dieting supplements

Side Effects

64531780 – woman hand writing side effects on blank transparent board with a marker isolated over black background. business concept. stock photo

Although the main ingredient (goBHB) is considered relatively safe. There are those who have encountered side effects from its use.

If you do encounter any ill effect then I would always recommend that you discontinue use of the supplement.

How Do You Take The Supplement

Teenage girl taking a pill at her home

For best results, it is recommended that you take 2 capsules daily. These should be consumed 1-2 hours before a meal.

You should never take more than the recommended dosage.

Cost And Where To Buy?

Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women is available to buy online via Amazon. It is currently listed for $24.95 for a 30 serving bottle.

To save 10% on your order you could subscribe to get a bottle delivered to you every month. This will set you back $22.46.

Phen24

Return, Refund And Guarantees

According to the listing on Amazon they state:

“If you are unhappy with your Womens Fat Burner, contact Nobi Nutrition directly. We will make things right!”

This does not actually mean a lot. How are they going to make things right? I would prefer to see a money-back guarantee so that if any issue occurs you can get your money back in full.

There are a few supplements that offer these types of guarantee and it shows me that they are confident in their own product.

The Pros And Cons

The pros and cons of Nobi Nutrition Premium Fat Burner for Women are as follows:

Pros

Energy-boosting benefits

Affordable

Mostly positive reviews

Cons

Very little proof that it works

Doubts over the legitimacy of the user reviews

Dubious guarantee

Customer Reviews And Complaints Amazon and Reddit

Customer reviews from Amazon are mostly positive with people submitting rather impressive sounding reviews:

There are also the occasional 1-star reviews too, which are to be expected:

What is worrying is that when checking the legitimacy of these reviews using a website called Fakespot , only 62.3% of reviews were shown to be reliable.

That is quite a high percentage, and if almost 40% of these unreliable reviews were positive ones how can you trust that this fat burner even offers any benefit?

The post Nobi Women’s Fat Burner Review appeared first on Health-Info.org.

from Health-Info.org https://health-Info.org/nutrition/nobi-womens-fat-burner-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nobi-womens-fat-burner-review

0 notes

acealistair · 7 years

Text

My D&D Characters

Here are relatively short summaries of all my characters from the campaigns I’m in! It’s worth noting that all these take place in different worlds with different lore.

This got long, of course, so it’s under the cut! :’D If anyone wants to come to my inbox and ask me questions about any of these guys, I’d be totally thrilled!!

Nimue (half-elf thief rogue) Nim, for short. She has a last name but she (and the other members of the party) doesn’t know it yet. She’s quiet and contemplative, as well as a bit fragile (it’s a joke that Nim has to almost die every single battle now, like. PLS), but she can do terrifying amounts of damage with her enchanted shortswords.

In the world of this campaign, humanity consists of nomadic tribes wandering the plains/tundra, and they are almost completely isolated from all other races. Being a half-elf... Nim is an anomaly.

Her human mother left her clan for about a year, returning with the infant that was Nim. She was only able to raise her daughter until she was about five years old before she died of illness, leaving Nim to a clan that wanted nothing to do with her. While no one actively tried to harm her, no one offered to help take care of the child either. After years of living off the scraps of the other clan members, Nim ran away and turned to a life of thievery, traveling from tribe to tribe and stealing what she needed to survive. She became an adventurer on accident after a chance encounter with a human ranger named Baxter. The rest of the adventuring party consists of Reave, a warforged fighter; Vasanti, a naga barbarian; Borin, a dwarf drunken master; Feebris, a star elf bard; and Pastor Dave, a human cleric of Kord. (This is essentially our murder hobo campaign lmao)

Cosette DuPont (human archfey warlock) The sixth and youngest child of the fabulously wealthy DuPont family. Although Cosette is considered the most beautiful of all her siblings, her interests are not centered around finding a suitable spouse; she has a passion for scholarly pursuits and adventure. Having the finest tutors and the support of her older brother Remy, Cosette was able to study anything she liked to her heart’s content. She is the personification of “bubbly” -- she’s extremely cheerful, for the most part, and while she’s highly intelligent when it comes to book-smarts, she’s quite naive and a bit too trusting for her own good.

When she was about 16, Cosette received an ancient book as a present from her parents. Upon studying it, she discovered the instructions for a fey ritual within it that granted her verbal (not visual) contact with a mysterious faery. After talking to the faery for a few months, it offered her great power and, more importantly, knowledge, upon signing a contract. Cosette, believing she was friends with the faery and that it chose her because it liked her, excitedly agreed. She gained the powers of a warlock with the Pact of the Tome, though she does not know that “warlock” is the term.

Remy was the first one she told about her powers. He advised her to not tell their parents, concerned they would not approve, but also helped to convince their parents to send Cosette on an adventure to travel the land with a special (magical) tutor. With this tutor, she learned to use her powers more effectively. Towards the end of their journey, Cosette was separated from her tutor in a foreign town and some con men took advantage of her sweet nature, framing her for a crime she didn’t commit. She was thrown in jail, and breaking out started her true adventuring. Her party consists of Artemis, a tiefling (possibly succubus) bard; Delphine, a human paladin of Trithereon; Osmin, a gnome wizard; Orilo, a goliath barbarian (and companion to Osmin); and Solari, a druid that we don’t actually know the race of yet. Solari pretended to be Remy’s cat for 5 years. Cosette is still dealing with that. Another member who recently dipped out was Quinn, a human gunslinger.

Lirena (Lyrie) Aldavir (half-elf swashbuckler rogue) In this particular world, there are five female goddesses that compose the main pantheon. Two of these goddesses are Fiela and Lirena, who are twins, and are two sides of a coin: Fiela is the goddess of justice and righteousness, while Lirena is the goddess of evil and the underworld. Because of this, twins in this land are seen as omens, the nature of which depends on the appearances of the children. Lyrie (pronounced “leary”) and her sister Fie were unfortunate to not only be born as twins, but with Lyrie having dark, nearly black hair and Fie having light, nearly white hair. Their mother, Lady Dylena Aldavir, was horrified, and was determined to not let such a scandal escape the walls of her estate. Blaming her husband for the existence of the darker-haired twin, he was cast out completely. Lyrie was practically tossed into the stables -- not to die, though, as she could be useful once she was grown. The stablemaster, a man named Patrick who was loyal to the former lord, vowed to take care of the baby. The other twin was accepted by Dylena because of her resemblance to Fiela. Obviously, the twins were named after which goddess they resembled.

Patrick’s wife, Ofell, became Fie’s handmaiden. It quickly became apparent that Dylena was... not the best mother (she’s essentially Mother Gothel from Tangled, not allowing Fie to leave the mansion except on escorted trips and just as manipulative). While Ofell couldn’t do anything directly, she coordinated with Patrick so that Fie and Lyrie were able to see each other regularly and knew they were sisters. Fie was trained to become a cleric of Fiela, the goddess.

Once she was old enough, Lyrie began sneaking out into town, around the docks specifically. Although it was within her power to run away for good, she didn’t, because she wouldn’t leave Fie behind. In town she met a semi-famous pirate named Giselle, who took a liking to Lyrie and began teaching her how to use a rapier and utilize her natural charm to its full potential. Lyrie’s goal is to take Fie away from their abusive mother and live out their lives in peace somewhere far, far away.

Lyrie is usually seen as level-headed and practical, but she is actually highly motivated by her emotions beneath the cool exterior. She’s a bit cynical about the world and most people, and usually sticks to a policy of minding her own business. Once she makes friends, though, she trusts them implicitly.

Around when the twins turned 21, Fie received a vision from her goddess, telling her to venture out on a quest and to take Lyrie with her. Dylena allowed this because Fie’s contact with a goddess gave house Aldavir a good reputation. Lyrie found it unsettling that a goddess would single her out, but she agreed to go because 1) Fie is very sheltered and would certainly need protecting out in the real world and 2) it was a chance to enact her plan to escape.

Soon it became clear that Lyrie wasn’t going to be able to get away with running away: the apocalypse is on the horizon, and if that’s not taken care of first, Lyrie won’t be alive to live out her dream. The other members of the party are Cassian, an eldritch knight who is also the queen’s right-hand guard; Odahviig, a dragonborn monk (who really loves cheese); and Finnan, a halfling bard who also happens to have been recently turned into a revenant.

Cyril (high elf life cleric)

Cyril has a last name, but he’s purposefully keeping it a secret. He’s extremely compassionate and his mission is to help anyone and everyone who isn’t evil, mainly by way of his healing powers. He has a bit of a murky past -- he comes from a background of wealth, but that’s all people can really gather about him; he has made a point of abandoning whatever that life was in favor of traveling the world and spreading kindness, promoting peace, and providing aid. Cyril is atoning for something, but outside of his homeland, only he knows exactly what for. (I gotta keep it a secret from the other party members, some of who are here on Tumblr, so I can’t elaborate too much!)

We haven’t done too many sessions for this campaign, but so far we’ve been trapped in a super duper creepy labyrinth and are trying to find our way out. The other members of Cyril’s party are Borgak, a half-orc barbarian mercenary; Priscilla, a doll-like warforged bard; and Stannis, a human artificer (who helped create Priscilla and therefore claims she’s his daughter and is extremely protective of her).

#I FINALLY FINISHED THIS AHHH SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG #cosette dupont #lyrie aldavir #/#//#cyril #nimue

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