#for reasons that i dissected and wrote out but it was unnecessarily long and too mean when i don't dislike her that much

[jenyifer]

Justifying BostonNick’s Miscommunication Snafu

Everyone buckle up. So a question that bothered me from the end of the show is “How did Boston and Nick get on two separate pages in the bar?” Easy answer is Boston had to act out of character because everything pointed to him wanting to only be with Nick. I’m going to ignore that reasonable answer instead looking at the show.

Nick never says he’s Boston’s boyfriend. He keeps Boston at arms length. Nick…. I’m not 100% sure what his character has been going through. I wrote a while ago that I thought Nick wasn’t okay in an unhealthy way. We don’t get background on what was going on with him internally. But he acted like he didn’t want to fully commit. He never discussed how he felt about what was going on.

Now Boston did warn Nick to do things for himself not for Boston. Boston is still worried about unnecessarily hurting Nick Because he loves Nick and he knows he’s leaving. Nick shouldn’t follow him because Boston can’t trust himself. But he loves Nick so much he wants to fulfill Nick’s dreams before he leaves. Nick doesn’t agree to be his boyfriend but Boston is going to treat him that way. Nick has agreed to be at Bostons side. He’s made the decision to do this sweet shit. Nick does encourage him but never commits or objects. Boston really thought from this clock tower convo they were on the same page.

And yet at the bar both Boston and Nick say they are boyfriends to guys who are interested? Boston thought Nick was okay with who he was. Even though ep 11 at the bar Nick sassed Boston for looking after a guy who made eyes at him. Maybe… it’s because Nick suggested he make out with Atom?? So Boston thought their relationship was open as long as they went home together. Boston considered them boyfriends in the Atom scene too.

I don’t have a even bullshit reason as to why Boston would have lied to Nick about Boeing. It’s so out of character I can’t justify it. Seems like a way to make the audience hate Boston. But Boston is an honest guy if he believed Nick would be okay he would have told him. Okay I’m just going to ignore it. Let’s delete that from our minds.

Boston was honest with Nick here. He fucked up but he was trying to communicate what he had been thinking. Boston separates feelings from physical he always has. We have watched 12 episodes of Boston falling in love with Nick not for his body but for his cuteness sweetness when they aren’t fucking. Boston was being a good boyfriend letting Nick come to his own conclusion. He wasn’t going to pressure him. Boston I think was scared to hurt Nick again. He loves him dearly and nothing hurt him more than realizing on the rooftop how he had dissected the man he loves.

When Nick starts to cry Boston is broken and never wants that to happen again. He’s scared. That’s why he gets up and leaves Nick to make his own decision. He trusts Nick will choose to love him. He made clear what the miscommunication was. In Bostons mind he was never worthy of Nick he’s just been living on borrowed time and a dream he was trying to fulfill for Nick. Boston is true to his word he leaves Nick alone until Boston is being Tortured at the Hostel by his “friends” being happy and he begs Nick to come to see him. Maybe Boston thought Nick was going to be at the hostel with Sand and that’s why the photo was in the car? Idk I’ll talk about that later. But that’s the most coherent explanation for the Boeing Bullshit.

[vaguely-concerned]

I am reading the Rogue One visual guide and I’m going to ramble at you about it

Starting with Baze and Chirrut facts because nothing is more important than Baze and Chirrut

- The Guardians of the Whills believe very deeply in the Force but their cosmology doesn’t center any fight between light and dark and they believe mortal minds can ‘encompass the totality of the Force’ with the right training (seemingly even for non-Force sensitives). *thinks of a little green baby who’s going to need some help with his place in the universe one day and how reductive the light/dark side dichotomy can be* good to know good to know. yes everything eventually comes down to baby yoda and his poor stressed out dad. protect them

- “Opposites in balance. Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus share a homeworld and a history, although they strike a compelling contrast. Baze is a hardened pragmatist, while Chirrut’s faith flourishes even in trying times. They both claim to act as the protector of the other.” 

in every way they are #goals. bffs/partners to lovers is Everything. ‘They both claim to act as the protector of the other’ is very funny and very sweet and very true; my favourite thing

- this book describes chirrut as baze’s ‘best friend and moral compass’, which is a funny way of spelling ‘husband of 30 years’ but who am I to criticize 

- baze is just. he’s so good. they say here pragmatism is his biggest trait but you can tell how much love has been at the center of him (and probably continues to be under it all) from the totality of his rage. I don’t think you can be this deeply hurt without loving just as deeply first. (like chirrut says, he used to believe more than anyone and now he’s thrown aside literally everything about the guardians except chirrut) it’s like he’s suffered a moral wound just seeing what’s happened to his home and it won’t heal and it never does, he just loses chirrut too and then at least it’s over. jesus christ it’s so soul crushingly sad in a quiet undramatic way 

- “Though both are Guardians of the Whills, Baze and Chirrut could not be more different in their approach to combat. Traditionalist Chirrut still carries weapons associated with the ancient order, while Baze adopts an implement of modern warfare. Their methods suit them individually, and both are effective extensions of their distinctive personalities. Though Baze may chide Chirrut for his antiques, and Chirrut may decry Baze’s reliance on soulless tools, they trust each other’s defences to such weapons.”

THEY TRUST EACH OTHER’S DEFENCES TO SUCH WEAPONS. YOU HAD TO WORD IT LIKE THAT HUH. YOU HAD TO GO AND MAKE IT CLEAR THEY’RE EACH OTHER’S MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD. WHAT. THE FUCK

- it’s implied baze’s hair used to be shorter when he was a Guardian! he’s just let it grow past what’s customary for them (and an excellent choice too his hair is wonderful)

- his repeating blaster is described as ‘modified and highly illegal’ hahaha

it also weighs 30 kg and is meant to be mounted on a tank

baze is the best

- chirrut built his own lightbow! apparently used to be a thing the guardians did to symbolize the end of their training. I wonder if baze used to have one too? even more I wonder if they’ve always been part of the same uh ‘divisions’ or what have you within the guardians, because I think there are some implications that baze has been more of an assassin/focused on violent conflicts even before the empire came and chirrut hasn’t

- this book does not adequately capture chirrut’s trickster/funny side, making me wonder how much of that was an addition by the actor and how much was planned out

- honestly... more baze & chirrut (well baze/chirrut let’s not play here) prequel books WHEN. what does their living room look like (because we do know they live together) how did they meet, when exactly did baze lose his faith and chirrut his sight, what was their first kiss like 

inquiring minds want to know (it’s me I want to know) 

- unless the wording is deliberately misleading here chirrut was not born blind (though he won’t discuss how he ended up this way) and he’s learned his current fighting technique over a prolonged period of time 

- bodhi is a bit of a gambling addict! and specifically one who’s pretty good at it; even after the empire knows he’s a defector he gets past their restrictions because he’s saved up all the credits/favours/even id-vouchers he’s owed by other imperial grunts fsdhfksdjf precious I love him 

- saw gerrera’s medical droid a) has been modified so its programming won’t stop it from being able to dispense drugs at dangerous intervals, b) professes sheer bafflement that saw is still alive and c) is ‘frequently deactivated to prevent it from building an ethical case to discontinue treatment’. I find the whole thing darkly hilarious.  

- there are literally whole subplots going on in the crowd scenes on Jedha about a mad evil surgeon who ‘decraniates’ people (essentially turning them into mindless servile husks with all of their head above the nose cut off, somehow), a masked cop from the Milvayne Authority who’s gone rogue to do the right thing and hunt him down against orders, a death cult, a bunch of different religious sects, a translation droid who has befriended a group of local orphans and shares his credits with them so they can eat and he’s SAVING UP FOR A PROCESSOR UPGRADE SO HE CAN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF SPIRITUALITY ;_____; what the fuck I want a tv-series about this droid IMMEDIATELY 

- this book shows you just how crucial K-2 is as an asset and what a masterstroke cassian’s reprogramming of him is... and it says some very, very sweet things about cassian as a person under all the trauma and spy stuff that he essentially treats him as his best friend instead of a tool. cASSIAN he deserved to survive and have SO much therapy ;_____; ah well at least we’re getting a prequel series about him right? pls be good

- oh cassian was a proper separatist during the clone wars! he probably has some very interesting points of view about the republic pre- and post empire huh (this is what I love about the clone wars era; they have built SUCH a believable and interesting political world here, all shades of grey. there were separatists with very valid points even thought they were lead by a guy named COUNT DOOKU played by CHRISTOPHER LEE, the first sign that you should look inwards and ask yourself... wait are we the bad guys)

- it’s so much more understandable to me now who in the rebel leadership is for following jyn’s plan and who is not. (namely: the ministers of finance and industry are both Not Into challenging the empire directly, kind of understandably)

in depth description of weapons technology... I sleep. deep dives into the political structure of the alliance leadership and their backgrounds and motivations? I have never been happier

(this. sort of should have been in the actual movie tho things would have made more sense)

- BAIL ORGANA Leia’s actual dad out there lookin’ fiiine, being righteous and good, almost making me forget he’s going to die SO SOON oh fuck :( 

- orson krennic is, presumably straight faced, described as ‘a cruel but brilliant man’ which is PATENTLY LUDICROUS because krennic is by literally every indication a fucking idiot, he needs galen to do all the real work for him, he mouths off to DARTH VADER and then tarkin just effortlessly swoops in and fucks him over in the end, easily outmaneuvering him... orson krennic is a fucking loser I don’t care if he’s the one who introduced brutalist architecture to coruscant

lol lol lol *arrow pointing towards krennic’s head* ‘Keen mind dissects architectural puzzles and conspiratorial plots’ okay I see what happened here orson krennic wrote this book 

- oh galen erso is kind of one of the most interesting and heartbreaking characters in all of star wars. (and I do not say this just because of mads mikkelsen’s cheek bones) he’s incredibly intelligent but from a really poor family and wanted to eliminate the difference between rich and poor and invent a new form of infinitely renewable energy... and technically he did achieve that, except his old college buddy orson krennic immediately found a way to use his technology for genocide and he didn’t realize until it was too late :’) there is something so comforting in the fact that in the end galen still got the last laugh in the most epic but unsung way. he’s the sort of quiet Magnificent Bastard who doesn’t even care he’ll never get the credit as long as it worked. u did good on that one jyn

also several of the scientists galen is leading on eadu are in the same category as him -- captured and forced to work for the empire. so that’s great and not at all upsetting 

- galen and lyra’s falling in love story is kind of sweet (though naturally it pales against baze and chirrut’s whole deal but then who could compare) and the sheer effort and detail that’s gone into building the farmstead in the beginning we end up seeing for 5 minutes... dude (it feels very convincingly like somewhere a family would live though) 

- *sees that ‘databook’ is a concept that exists apparently; groans in fic research I thought ‘holodisc’ might do the job but maybe this is a better fit*

- I will say that my largest gripe with this movie is how glaringly unnecessarily male it is. there’s literally no reason for most of the rebels and ESPECIALLY all of the scientists to be male but here we are. 

well the stormtroopers could all canonically be any gender behind the armor so uh that’s. something lol

- despite being all desert-y jedha is apparently quite cool! temperature-wise I mean though the huge ancient statues lying everywhere are pretty awesome too

- wow stormtrooper armor really does just suck huh. it’s like ‘well it might protect you from a blaster bolt if you stand upwind and angle yourself just right, who knows’. I guess this is why everyone and their grandmothers are drooling over mando’s beskar lol

- star wars’ insistence on sticking to single-biome planets is so silly and I love it. stick to that incomprehensible world building decision lucasfilm I respect you

- mon mothma! basically the most important character in the star wars universe who most people won’t know about lol she’s like the anti-palps. for the most part she is one of the most Big Goods in all of star wars (along with bail) but also she’s played by the actress who voices moira in overwatch so I do instinctively distrust her whenever I hear her talk haha. called palpatine a ‘lying executioner’ to his face which is both admirably bold and remarkably restrained, considering all the things palpatine is.

- oof the two people mentioned the most on anakin/vader’s pages are palpatine and obi wan. that’s. hurtful and bad and awful. the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making me watch ‘clone wars’ because watching ‘clone wars’ actually made me care about anakin skywalker :(

-ah shit this is a lot of pages about pasty empire dudes i’ll uh come back to these lol

[sherristockman]

What a Hunter-Gatherer Diet Does to the Body in Just 3 Days Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola If you’re not convinced that eating a healthy diet is crucial to your health, and perhaps for reasons that might be a surprise, you may remember the story of an undergraduate student who spent a solid month eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDonald’s. The rule was that every time someone took his order and asked if he wanted something “super-sized” he had to go for it. Over those few days and weeks, he not only gained weight, his liver was damaged and several other changes took place that prompted his doctor to advise him to go off the diet for the sake of his long-term health. At the time, the high levels of the worst kinds of fat, high carbs and a blend of toxic preservatives and other chemicals were blamed for his quickly failing condition, but as The Conversation astutely notes, tongue in cheek, there are “others” who don’t appreciate being fed a fast-food diet: the microbes teeming in your intestines: “These are the hundred trillion microbes that outnumber our total human cells ten to one and digest our food, provide many vitamins and nutrients and keep us healthy. Until recently we have viewed them as harmful — but those (like salmonella) are a tiny minority and most are essential for us.”1 The premise has been backed up by other studies2 showing this to be the case — that atherosclerosis can even be induced by combining a “low colonic bacterial diversity” gut with a high, “bad” fat diet. Bacteria and fungi in your digestive tract, principally your large intestine, and the type of food you’re eating — while simultaneously “feeding” the critters that make up your microbiome — can make or break your health. Your gut health sets the tone for your mood, metabolism, immune system and so much more.3 How Do You Measure Someone’s Gut Microbiome? A couple of scientists conjectured that while someone’s low microbiome population makes a positive shift when they begin eating a healthier diet, it wasn’t clear whether someone with a “healthy stable” gut bacteria could be improved in a matter of days. When Tim Spector, researcher and professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London, joined colleague Jeff Leach (founder of the American Gut, the world’s largest open-source/crowd-funded microbiome project in the world) in Tanzania where the latter had been living and working among one of the last hunter-gatherer groups in Africa, the Hadza, they had an opportunity to find out. As previously noted, a “low-diversity” gut is one that doesn’t have a wide representation of bacteria, which makes the individual more susceptible to disease. An organization called Map My Gut can assess the diversity of peoples’ gut ecosystems using state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technology to identify microbes. This is done by “matching” pieces of bacterial DNA, the website explains: “We literally create a map of the microbial contents of your gut, hence the name. Our microbiome specialists then add an individualized analysis of your results. Finally, we create a thorough report that describes the key microbes we’ve found living inside you and what they mean for you and your health.”4 Analysts representing Map My Gut suggest that people who have trouble controlling their weight, have been on antibiotics long term, have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), colitis or other gut issues, want to change their diet or are interested in learning the status of their gut health may benefit from such an assessment. The ‘Most Diverse Microbiome on the Planet’ Spector had his intestinal flora tested along with 100 other people and discovered that his own microbiome was the healthiest of all of them — or more correctly, had the best gut diversity, which is linked to a low risk of many diseases as well as obesity. As it happens, the Hadza people have the richest and most diverse gut health on the planet. Leach suggested that Spector adopt a three-day nutritional plan of adopting the Hadza hunter-gatherer diet, which wastes nothing and kills nothing unnecessarily. One has to wonder if he at that point wondered what he might be agreeing to; Spector wrote for CNN: “I would measure my gut microbes before heading to Tanzania, during my stay with the Hadza, and after my return to the UK. I was also not allowed to wash or use alcohol swabs and I was expected to hunt and forage with the Hadza as much as possible — including coming in contact with the odd Hadza baby and baboon poo lying about.”5 After only three days with the remote tribe and eating everything they ate, the team, including Leach and his “poo” samples, would return to London for sample testing. The Hadza’s Million-Year-Old Diet Visiting such a remote area started with the Mount Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania, northward for an overnight stop in Arusha (where Spector’s first “poo” sample was taken) before another eight hours to Lake Eyasi and the Serengeti region. Hadza hunter-gatherers still sleep in grass huts or by the fire and forage for the same plants and animals as they’ve done for centuries. Spector’s first breakfast consisted of pods from the seemingly limitless baobab trees, the seeds of which contain high amounts of fat, fiber and vitamins. Its chalky flesh, mixed with water with a stick, was placed in a mug to make a thick, milky, “surprisingly pleasant and refreshing” porridge with a citrusy tang. His two mugs proved to be quite filling. As a snack: “The wild berries on many of the trees surrounding the camp — the commonest were small Kongorobi berries. These refreshing and slightly sweet berries have 20 times the fibre and polyphenols compared with cultivated berries — powerful fuel for my gut microbiome.”6 Harder to eat, their late lunch was a few high-fiber tubers, “like tough, earthy celery,” which women dug up with a sharp stick and tossed onto the fire. Spector didn’t ask for seconds but didn’t feel hungry, which he attributed to the high-fiber breakfast. Later, nobody seemed interested in dinner. Then came a hunting party to locate two porcupines, about 45 pounds each, eventually tracked to their tunnel system in a termite mound. Considered a rare delicacy, the tribesmen dug and tunneled to find them, careful of the razor-sharp quills, until they were speared. “A fire was lit. The spines, skin and valuable organs were expertly dissected and the heart, lung and liver cooked and eaten straight away. The rest of the fatty carcass was taken back to camp for communal eating. It tasted much like suckling pig.” 7 Subsequent meals were similar, other than a changeup of meat from a 9-pound hyrax, “a strange furry guinea-pig-like hoofed animal” related to the elephant. Dessert was honey retrieved high from a baobab tree, the bonus being the honeycomb complete with larvae, full of “good” fat, sugars and protein, a combination being “the most energy-dense found in nature,” which Spector said “may have competed with fire in terms of its evolutionary importance.” What Do Three Days on a Native Tanzanian Diet Do for Your Gut? Returning to London and subsequent testing, Spector learned that between his first and last sample submittals, his gut diversity had made a “stunning” 20 percent increase, which included some new African microbes, such as those of the phylum Synergistetes. But in a matter of days, the diversity and bacteria number returned to where they had been before the experiment. He called it “bad news.” “But we had learnt something important. However good your diet and gut health, it is not nearly as good as our ancestors.' Everyone should make the effort to improve their gut health by re-wilding their diet and lifestyle. Being more adventurous in your normal cuisine plus reconnecting with nature and its associated microbial life, may be what we all need.”8 Two years later, Leach observed how impressed he was by the variety of plant and animal species (around 600, mostly birds) the Hadza consumed compared to the few consumed in the West, as well as their availability above and below the ground and that in comparison, the current human microbiome could be called an ecological disaster zone — a proverbial canary in a coal mine, with every evidence of having breathed its last. In addition, he wrote, the reduction in the number and assortment of bacteria in the human microbiome seems to be simultaneous with the rate of disease, but: “What we don’t know is which way cause and effect runs. Does disease cause a drop in microbial diversity or does a drop in diversity cause — or precede — disease?”9 Further, in relation to the Hadza diet: “With each animal killed, microbes are given the opportunity to move from one species to the next. With each berry that is plucked from a bush or tuber dug from beneath the microbial-rich ground, each and every act of foraging keeps the Hadza connected to an extensive regional (microbial) species pool.”10 He surmises that the relatively lower number of gut bacterial diversity could be a combination of a degraded regional species pool or an increase of environmental filters, such as too much time indoors, which reduces your exposure to microbial diversity,11 the increase of caesarean birth and decrease in breast-feeding, as well as the wide use of antibiotics, from antibiotics in the meat you eat12 to antibacterial hand soaps. How Can You Diversify Your Gut Health in Today’s Culture? A number of factors in today’s culture can adversely influence your gut health, from getting inadequate fiber, which causes, among other things, constipation, to consuming massive amounts of sugar, which feeds the bacteria you don’t want and ravages your intestines, opening the door to multiple diseases. Your gut microbiome can even hamper gene expression. Prevalent lifestyle and environmental challenges certainly don’t help, with the lack of exercise, pesticides, herbicides and genetically engineered (GE) foods tainting the collective gut, pollution, vaccinations and drugs — including those in your food — as virtual gauntlets your system is forced to run through unless you take precautions to curb their effect. Multiple clinical studies show that your diet is the key to developing a more diverse gut “culture,” if you will, and optimizing your health. One of the easiest ways to do this is by simply adding to the diversity of foods you eat, especially plant-based foods. How alarming is it that recent studies show about 75 percent of the Western diet consists of as few as 12 plants and products from five animal species?13 Gut bacteria can ferment soluble fiber in vegetables, legumes and fruits, the byproducts of which help to feed the cells lining your colon to prevent problems associated with leaky gut syndrome. The most important fermentation byproducts are short-chain fatty acids,14 which help balance your immune system to the point of preventing Crohn’s disease and asthma. Besides branching out and bringing more food diversity into your life, introducing more of these high-fiber foods is easy and delicious. According to Greatist,15 the highest fiber foods include split peas, lentils, black and lima beans, artichokes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, raw berries and avocadoes. To help get your gut health under control and minimize, prevent and even eliminate your risk of many chronic diseases, try: Eating fermented food, such as kimchi and other fermented vegetables, kefir, kombucha and raw, grass-fed yogurt, which you can make yourself. Eating more prebiotic foods, like unripe bananas, papayas, mango, white beans, lentils and seeds, which are resistant starches, which optimize your gut health. Taking a fiber supplement such as psyllium seed husk if you can’t seem to get enough through your diet. Eating foods containing lots of polyphenols, such as raw cacao (found in some dark chocolate), onions, Matcha green tea, blueberries and broccoli. Taking a high-quality probiotic supplement that can make it to your intestines intact to optimize the number of bacteria, which incidentally must have health-promoting features that remain through their production process. Simple measures such as opening your windows to get outside air, growing your own organic garden (or buying organic), avoiding antibiotics and eating as much of the vegetable and fruit as you can, such as the outermost skins of onions and the stems, not just the floret, of broccoli, and washing your hands with plain old soap and water rather than relying on germicidal soaps to keep germs at bay (which in fact do the opposite) are also important. Finally, keep yourself informed of things like which foods contain the highest levels of pesticides and what meats contain the most antibiotics. Pass your knowledge along, because the planet your grandparents enjoyed is not the same one your children and grandchildren will grow up on.