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jaxsteamblog · 3 years

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Love Letters

This is the plain text version of an IMAGE SET! Please check out the chapter on AO3 for the visual, or enjoy the plain text here! If you end up liking the visual chapter, make sure to thank @the--descension and their fic, as well as @zk-modernau!

Click here to read the full fic on AO3

Image ID: Screenshots of a text chat between Katara in green chat bubbles and Zuko in white chat bubbles. / End Image ID

[Author’s note, timestamps are not included in this transcript as they were not accurately edited in the app. Texts will be labelled by sender first, followed by the message. Readers using accessible software please be aware that text messages will include extra punctuation for emphasis and misspellings. Emojis used will be typed out as a description.]

Blue text box with the date December 09, 2020

Yellow text box with lock symbol that reads Messages to this chat and calls are now secured with end-to-end encryption. Tap for more info.

Katara: BTFS!!!!!

Zuko: That good huh?

Katara: WHY are there so many earth kingdom cities????

Zuko: Oh, geography class. My favorite.

Katara: Crying emoji. This is worse than anatomy.

Zuko: NOTHING is worse than anatomy.

Katara: True.

Katara: But why do I have to memorize this? I can Booble ALL OF IT.

Zuko: Same reasons as anatomy.

Katara: Three red angry emojis

Katara: I’m making everyone wear name tags.

Zuko: That’s one way to handle it.

Zuko: Have you learned anything about FN yet?

Katara: Why else am I dating you if not for that?

Zuko: I thought it was for my stunning good looks….

Katara: I do miss your face.

Zuko: I miss yours too.

Katara: You’re coming for the coronation right?

Zuko: That’s the plan.

Katara: How is your family being?

Zuko: Terrible, as usual. Who knew a failed kidnapping plot would put them in such a bad mood?

Katara: Straight face emoji

Katara: I still think you should’ve said something.

Zuko: It would just make things worse.

Katara: I know.

Katara: I keep thinking about you during these stupid lessons.

Katara: I can’t believe you already know all this BS.

Zuko: I’ve been learning it since I was a kid. Male shrug emoji

Katara: Sure, but I’ve seen your interviews and stuff.

Katara: You’re really good at it.

Zuko: Aww, are you internet stalking me???

Katara: Shut up!!!

Katara: I feel like every interviewer has a crush on you.

Zuko: Again, my stunning good looks.

Katara: That’s starting to sound like sarcasm. You are aware that you’re handsome, right?

Zuko: Love IS blind.

Katara: I’m serious! You have really nice cheekbones.

Zuko: And you say you can’t be diplomatic.

Katara: You’re impossible.

Zuko: I just don’t do well with compliments like that.

Katara: I’ll have to find other ways to compliment you then. Smiling devil emoji

Zuko: Sounds like a challenge.

Katara: I have to go. Arnook has me working with Pakku on “Courtly Behaviors.”

Zuko: Sounds terrible. Have fun!

Katara: Miss you! Six emoji hearts alternating red and blue

Zuko: Miss you too.

Blue text box with the date December 22, 2020

Zuko: So, by the end of it, Uncle had the guy by his collar and the wife was mortified.

Katara: I cannot believe this happened.

Zuko: Me neither. It only ever happens when I’m home.

Katara: Do you ever wish you stayed in Ba Sing Se?

Zuko: I used to, from time to time.

Katara: Not now?

Zuko: Now I think about how the Water Tribe Queen can’t go around dating a tea server.

Katara: What if we both left and ran off to the earth kingdom interior? We can open up our own tea and herb shop.

Zuko: Training not going well?

Katara: Training is FINE.

Katara: I just really miss you.

Zuko: I miss you too.

Zuko: I think about you all the time. It’s really distracting.

Zuko: I zoned out in the middle of an important luncheon today.

Katara: Why????

Zuko: I was thinking about you.

Katara: That’s dumb. You’re dumb.

Zuko: You like me dumb.

Katara: Hot and dumb, himbos forever.

Zuko: Hey, Thuy’s calling me. I gotta go.

Katara: Say hi!

Zuko: Will do. Talk to you later?

Katara: Heart eyes emoji

Blue text box with the date December 30, 2020

Katara: And it happens every new moon!

Zuko: That sounds like a lot of work every month.

Katara: It’s unbelievable.

Katara: I mean, maybe the South Pole did it before the war. But it’d be news to me.

Zuko: I guess that’s why they really want a Bender on the throne.

Katara: It makes things easier but also, we know the moon is going to come back. Like, scientifically.

Zuko: I think Arnook might be holding on for different reasons.

Katara: Shoot. Yeah. You’re right.

Katara: Crap, now I feel bad.

Zuko: Sorry. I do understand what you’re saying though.

Katara: Maybe I can change it? Make it more about Yue and less like we’re all gonna die if we don’t appease the spirits?

Zuko: That sounds reasonable.

Zuko: You’re really getting good at this.

Katara: I’m good with the tribe stuff. I’m still bad doing all this talking out the side of my mouth.

Zuko: Pardon? Monocle emoji

Katara: It’s an Earth Kingdom expression. When you’re not talking straight and buttering someone up. Or backhanded compliments.

Zuko: Unfortunately, you’ll have to do that a lot.

Katara: Whyyyyyy? I’ll be queen. What are they gonna do about it?

Zuko: Rebel?

Katara: Against the ocean? Eye roll emoji

Zuko: Sounding a bit tyrannical there darling. Fire emoji

Katara: They’re making me do all this stuff!!! It’s not fair!!!!

Zuko: It’ll get easier.

Katara: Can’t I just go visit you? Let’s go to Ember Island again.

Zuko: I wish.

Zuko: You look good on a beach.

Katara: Everyone looks good on a beach. That’s why it’s popular.

Zuko: Fair.

Katara: I can’t believe that was just a few months ago.

Zuko: I can’t believe we’ve been dating for a full season now.

Katara: Do we have an actual anniversary? Thinking emoji

Zuko: Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about it because I don’t want to jinx this.

Katara: Three cry laughing emojis

Katara: Would it be the summit tho?

Zuko: I guess so?

Katara: We wasted SO MUCH TIME this summer.

Zuko: Well…

Katara: It’s not my fault you were dating someone else.

Zuko: If I had been bolder during the war…

Katara: How would that have even worked?

Katara: I hadn’t even hit my peak rage against the Fire Nation

Zuko: Probably wouldn’t have been down for dating the crown prince then huh?

Katara: But it was you. So who knows?

Zuko: You think you would’ve still fallen for me?

Katara: Didn’t I do exactly that?

Zuko: That wasn’t me though.

Katara: Tomato, potato

Zuko: Your brother says that.

Katara: He stole it from ME!!!

Blue text box with the date January 03, 2021

Zuko: Sorry I missed your call.

Zuko: Kat?

Zuko: Are you mad at me?

Katara: Yes.

Zuko: I’m sorry Katara, the meeting ran long.

Katara: I know.

Katara: I’m still mad.

Katara: Today was really rough.

Zuko: What happened?

Katara: I don’t want to talk about it.

Zuko: Hey, did you want to call now? I’m free.

Katara: No.

Zuko: Katara.

Katara: I just really needed you!

Katara: Arnook keeps yelling at me because I keep forgetting names and stupid stuff like that, and Pakku is telling me that I’m going to cause the next world war because I’m rude, and now one will train with me because I’m the stupid princess now and I’m really really lonely!

Zuko: I’m sorry Katara, that really sucks.

Katara: It does suck!

Katara: And when I call my boyfriend when he told me he’d be free, he didn’t pick up!

Zuko: I couldn’t control that.

Katara: I know.

Katara: I’m sorry.

Katara: I really want to see you.

Zuko: We can video chat?

Katara: No, I really want to see you in person.

Katara: We just started dating but I never get to be with you.

Katara: And when we are together, something bad always happens.

Zuko: I know. I’m sorry.

Katara: It’s not your fault.

Zuko: It kinda is though. It’s my family.

Katara: I just wish you were here.

Zuko: Me too. But I’ll see you soon.

Katara: Ugh, don’t remind me. Fed up emoji

Zuko: You’re going to do great. And you’re not going to be taking over right away. Arnook is still around for a bit.

Katara: Promise YOU will be around for a bit?

Zuko: I’ll stay as long as I can.

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#zutara #fanfiction #jax writes #zutara month #modern au #the fic that prompts built

16 notes · View notes

antoine-roquentin · 6 years

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ASAD ABUKHALIL: Well, first of all, I need to say that it’s quite ironic for the mainstream media, especially the Washington Post, which has been invoking lofty ideals about democracy as a slogan of it — even though it’s owned by the wealthiest man in the world — has been speaking in the name of democracy, and yet has been serving as the mouthpiece for the intelligence apparatus.

Mainstream media, the Post and others, imply very directly that the president of the United States has to do whatever dictates from the military and intelligence apparatus, as if this is the chain of command. I mean, it is the president of the United States who should subordinate the military intelligence agencies to its role as somebody who is elected by the United States, the American public, and so on.

However, I think because the Washington Post in particular has been a mouthpiece of the intelligence service, particularly the CIA, it should be said that there is an agenda for the CIA on this. And I’m glad you quoted John Brennan. As you know, John Brennan, before he became CIA director, was the Middle East and the CIA — and he was CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia, where he cultivated very close ties with the royal family.

There is nothing about the need for accountability in the CIA leaks which wants to bring down Mohammed bin Salman. This is all about choosing between the various lousy princes.

As you know, Mohammed bin Nayef was ousted last year by Mohammed bin Salman, his cousin. He was the choice for the intelligence agencies and the FBI, because this man, when he was deputy to his father, the minister of interior for many years, was a very close ally — client, you should say — of the U.S. government and its intelligence agency.

Mohammed bin Salman was unknown. It’s not somebody that they know for a long time. But far from wanting great accountability for the murder of Khashoggi, as if the intelligence agencies are really up in arms about the death of anybody in the Middle East, this is about worrying about the future of the Saudi regime.

In other words, I feel that Donald Trump wants what is best for his administration. He has somebody, he has Mohammed bin Salman, as he best can have him. He is holding him by the neck. And if he survives, he — Mohammed bin Salman — will be greatly indebted to Trump, and to Netanyahu, because those two stood by him and kept him afloat. And because of that situation, Mohammad bin Salman will be obligated to make so many concessions — political, military, and financial — to the United States, and even to Israel. Some of it would be more direct now. Perhaps he would even visit the Israeli occupation state.

On the other hand, the intelligence agencies, I think, my reading, is that they do not think that Mohamed bin Salman is capable of steering the regime in a direction that is more in the interest of the stability of the regime. As a result they would rather make a change in order to save the regime. They worry that bin Salman is too reckless, and his thinking is ruled too precarious, which endangered American interests in that region.

BEN NORTON: There’s a lot to respond to there. I want to talk first, before we talk about the tension within the royal family — you mentioned Mohammed bin Nayef, who was slated to be the next king and was replaced by Mohammed bin Salman. Before we get to that, though, let’s talk a bit about the relationship between the CIA and Saudi Arabia.

As you mentioned, John Brennan, the former director, had a longstanding tie to Saudi Arabia, worked a lot in the kingdom. And of course, I mentioned the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, in which the CIA worked with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to arm Islamist extremists to fight against the Soviet Union, and the Afghan government backed by the Soviet Union.

We also saw in Syria that the CIA worked with Saudi Arabia to arm and train rebels, many of whom were also Salafi-jihadist extremists. So this relationship continues to this day. It’s a very close one.

So can you talk a bit more about the relationship between the U.S. intelligence services and Saudi Arabia, and maybe the different figures aside from Muhammad bin Salman and what their roles have been in the CIA? Because there is speculation that Jamal Khashoggi himself might have been a CIA asset.

ASAD ABUKHALIL: Well, I mean, I do not know about that. But I’m glad in your introduction you accurately — contrary to the way the media refer to the past of Jamal Khashoggi — accurately described his background. Jamal Khashoggi, it should be said over and over again, was part of the establishment and the propaganda outlets of the Saudi regime for many years.

This is a man who’s been made by Human Rights Watch and mainstream media as if he’s a longtime critic of the Saudi government. This is a man who spent a career making money from being a propagandist for the Saudi royal family, and moving between one prince and another.

And in fact, he only fell in trouble — he did not count on democracy. He counted on the wrong prince, which is the Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, who fell out of favor in this new regime in Saudi Arabia. And as a result he was in trouble himself, and he fled.

And he suddenly discovered the love of democracy and freedom in the United States, in the really lame articles he’s been writing for The Washington Post, which reads to me as being heavily edited by his editors over there, which is fine.

I should also say that Jamal Khashoggi was very mild in his criticism of the Saudi regime. He did not in any way call for an overthrow. He always committed himself to the preservation of the monarchy, and even played, he even played on the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. This is left unmentioned in the media coverage.

So John Brennan himself — and this is a graduate of the Obama administration — suddenly now they are now posing as advocates of democracy in the Middle East when they themselves were characteristic of every administration since World War II; have been advocates of dictatorship and despots throughout the region.

In fact, propaganda brochures that I have seen in Arabic, produced by the Saudi regime, have quotations from John Brennan in praise of the Saudi regime and American-Saudi relations. And if you look now on social media to the graduates of the Obama administration, the various functionaries, you will see now that they are pretending as if Trump suddenly changed the course of American foreign policy and made it not in any way pay too much attention for democracy.

If you look at the agenda or the record of the Obama administration it doesn’t differ at all from the Trump record. If anything, Trump is more honest than the duplicitous Obama administration. And in fact, in Ben Rhodes’ book about Obama’s foreign policy, John Brennan himself is quoted as opposing any change for democracy in Egypt and for standing up to the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. And he made the old classical colonial point that “Arabs are not ready for democracy.”

So in that sense the military intelligence apparatuses basically have various intelligence agencies in the Middle East that they basically work at their pleasure. So they have a great relationship with them. Sometimes they are paid by them, like in the case of Saudi Arabia. Or sometimes they pay them, as in the case of Egypt and Jordan, where the intelligence agencies there are subcontractors of the CIA and the various intelligence agencies.

And it is, in fact, for this reason that the American intelligence agencies were caught totally by surprise with the Arab uprising in 2011; because they relied too much on the advice and wisdom of intelligence agencies in Jordan, Egypt, and elsewhere that they pay a lot of money for, in order to provide them with work that perhaps they were too lazy to do on their own.

BEN NORTON: And then, finally, let’s talk a bit — you mentioned earlier Mohammed bin Nayef — let’s talk about the internal dynamics. Mohammed bin Nayef, who was supposed to be the original crown prince; he was supposed to replace the current king, King Salman, who is likely senile. Mohammed bin Salman took his place, took Mohammed bin Nayef’s place.

MBN was the interior minister. He oversaw the so-called “counterterrorism” program inside Saudi Arabia. He also studied in the U.S., and he trained with the FBI. In 2015, in this kind of ceremony, when he was appointed crown prince, he visited with Obama in the White House. It was very clear that NBN was the U.S. man, who was going to be the next king.

Also, you’ve mentioned before in a previous interview here at The Real News that Khashoggi was very close to Turki bin Faisal, as well. Turki bin Faisal was the head of Saudi intelligence; he was the Saudi ambassador to the United States. And when he was here in the U.S., Khashoggi was actually his spokesperson.

So can you talk about who the U.S. and the CIA potentially — of course, this is largely speculation — but who they would prefer to have over MBS? It seems to me that they want to go back to MBN. Do you think that’s one of the main reasons?

ASAD ABUKHALIL: You’re absolutely right. And I want to say that — just one minor correction. Mohammad bin Nayef did study in Portland for college, but he did not graduate. Most Saudi royal princes study in the United States, but they never bother to graduate, for some reason. In fact, and this is scandalous, in my opinion, Turki al-Faisal is now a professor at Georgetown University. This man studied at Georgetown University in the 1960s at the School of Foreign Service, but he never graduated. He in fact was awarded a degree that he did not earn only many years later thanks to the generous donations he and his family made to the university.

As far as Mohammed bin Nayef is concerned, you are right in mentioning that he studied in the United States because, this has become very clear in many Western media writings. They really like princes who study in the United States. They assume that they are much easier to do business with, for some reason. And one of the complaints that I have read, I think even in Thomas Friedman’s article, as annoying as they are on the eyes, that Mohammed bin Salman is somebody who did not study in the United States.

Well, I think the preference has been very clear for many years that Mohammed bin Nayef is their choice. It is not that Mohammed bin Salman has been unreliable, or he has not been loyal. But they worry that by his recklessness and impulsiveness he may jeopardize the very security of the Saudi royal family. This is something that was missing of the coverage.

So I think the CIA’s interest is that they are really worried about the precariousness of the Saudi regime. More than ever, in a long time of contemporary history of the regime, maybe the first time since the 1960s, early 1960s, when the regime was really in trouble with the rising tide of Nasserism, there is a real danger about the cohesiveness of the royal family and the stability of the regime.

Because for this reason, I think that the CIA and other intelligence agencies of the U.S. government, and the military, would rather have any other prince. It doesn’t have to be Mohammed bin Nayef. But this guy in particular [Mohammed bin Salman] has proven to be too adventurous, too troublesome. And sometimes he seems to act on his own. And that really worries the United States. Not so much out of concern about the people of Yemen, or about about the plight of journalists who may be killed by this prince. But it’s more about the stability of the region due to his action over there.

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samuraiko · 6 years

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Semi-Useful Notes for Writing for THE ROYAL TUTOR

(Author’s Note: This includes all twelve episodes of the anime (plus the movie), as well as up through Chapter 84 of the manga (18 Oct 2019) and what info I can glean from the Character Book (unfortunately it’s all in Japanese). I will continually update this post as the series progresses and new spiffy stuff shows up, so visit my Master List of my ROYAL TUTOR Stuff to see the latest version.)

While writing A Noble Soul (which is done, by the way!), I had the idea that I personally love the little touches of authenticity that make a story more 'real,' and hey, if nothing else, I learn a few things along the way. (I *am* a researcher, after all!) So I did a lot of searching to find the real-world analogues of the buildings, references, history, and so forth from the series. As you’ll see in the descriptions, I explain how I determined which ones were which.

You’re welcome to post questions, comments, share this, etc. Hope it helps anyone else who wants to write for the ROYAL TUTOR fandom! (Quick question - would everyone prefer me to include chapter references for stuff? It’d make this post much longer, but if the fandom thinks it’d be useful, I can give it a shot.)

So, here we go!

GRANZREICH FAMILY INFO

Viktor von Granzreich, current ruler of the kingdom of Granzreich, assumed the throne at 18 (considering his father’s much later death, this may have been for reasons of health on his father’s part, possible abdication on his father’s part, or other political reasons)

Maria von Granzreich, Viktor’s mother, still living

NOTE: Her sibling (name and gender as yet unmentioned) is the Queen’s parent

Father’s name as yet unmentioned, died of natural causes at ‘a ripe old age’

NOTE: The princes mention in earlier chapters that they do remember their grandfather from when they were small, so his death is relatively recent)

Viktor’s wife (appears only once in flashback, name as yet unmentioned)

NOTE: One of her siblings (not sure if brother or sister) is the parent of Beatrix von Lothringen

(Beatrix also has three younger brothers and one younger sister)

Viktor’s children:

Eins von Granzreich, Viktor’s eldest child and firstborn son

Kai von Granzreich, Viktor’s second son

Currently engaged to Beatrix von Lothringen, first cousin to the princes

Bruno von Granzreich, Viktor’s third son

Leonhard von Granzreich, Viktor’s fourth son

Licht von Granzreich, Viktor’s fifth son

Adele von Granzreich, Viktor’s sixth child and only daughter

LOCATIONS:

GRANZREICH (real world analogue: Austria)

Granzreich population: ~6 million

Side note: Both Viktor and Leonhard are shown riding white horses - these are the famed Lipizzaner stallions, from the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria

Other side note: Viktor’s typical outfit is clearly inspired by the military field uniform of Franz Josef I, Emperor of Austria (the white variant that the princes wear on some of the covers/inside art is the gala/formal version); the three medals shown on Viktor’s uniform are the Order of the Golden Fleece around his neck, what appears to be a simplified version of the Long Service Cross over his heart, and what appears to be a simplified version of a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa just below that (a round circle with a cross).

90% of Granzreich’s population is Gherman (see below)

3% of Granzreich’s population is Kvel (see below)

Wienner (capital) (real world analogue: Vienna, Austria)

Wienner's population: ~1.3 million

Weissburg/Weisburg Palace (both spellings are used) (real world analogue: Hofburg Palace, Vienna, Austria) - specifically, the part often shown as denoting the palace is the Neue Berg wing

Karl Theater (real world analogue: Carltheater) - operettas

Remnant Theater (possible real world analogue: Raimund Theatre) - operettas

National Opera House (real world analogue: Staatsoper (originally Vienna Court Opera)) - opera house

National Art Museum (real world analogue: Kunsthistorisches Museum - directly opposite the palace, it is the largest art museum in the country; the image of the museum behind Heine when he announces the prize matches the façade of the building)

Granzreich University (real world analogue: there is no University of Austria, per se, but there is the University of Graz (the second largest city in Austria), which is the second largest and second oldest university in Austria)

Wienner University (real world analogue: University of Vienna, the building shown in both the anime and the manga is the main building - this is where Doctor Dmitri (and later Bruno) comes to lecture – it is also recognized as a leading institution for studies in Humanities – Bruno would do well here studying Philosophy!)

Prunksaal (real world analogue: Prunksaal) – the national library (also housed within the palace in another building)

Within the Prunksaal is the Royal Archive, where historical documents, judicial records, going back hundreds of years, and other documents the royal family keeps from one generation to another are preserved; only royals and a fraction of statesmen are permitted to use it (this is the place referenced in the anime that Prince Licht says even princes can’t visit without the king’s express permission)

The plaza/fountain where the KaseKrainer stand is (real world analogue: Donnerbrunnen Fountain in the center of the Neuer Markt)

Granzreich Military Academy (real world analogue: Theresian Military Academy (one of the oldest in the world) - yearly had 100 nobles and 100 commoners enrolled)

Princes are enrolled at the age of 15 (in-series)

Schwarz Palace (real world analogue: Schloss Neuwaldegg, aka Villa Schwarzenberg - at first I thought this was the Palais Schwarzenberg, but double-checking the architecture confirms it's the Schloss) - in-series, given to a general who played a major role in the war 150 years ago by the reigning king, Friedrich IV, and currently Prince Eins’ residence

Kohl Street, the site of Café Mitter Meyer's second location (real world analogue: Kohlmarkt, which is indeed right next to the palace, and leads past the Catholic Church of St. Peter)

The train station (mentioned in-series when Viktor gives directions, as well as the departure point for various trips) (real world analogue: Wien Südbahnhof, Vienna’s main train station)

Wienner Grand Hotel (mentioned in-series as Herman Koenig’s previous place of employ) (real world analogue: Grand Hotel Wien, Vienna’s first Grand Hotel, opened in 1870, and *the* last word in elegance - Herman would have worked in the Kavalierbar, the hotel’s bar/lounge)

Augustinian Church (Augustinerkirche) (not mentioned in series, just a useful note) - the parish church of the royal court (located next to the Hofburg)

Salzichl (the royal villa and hot springs) (real world analogue: the Kaiser Therme at Bad Ischl, aka the ‘Emperor’s Spa, favoured holiday resort of Emperor Franz Joseph I - and yes, the architecture as shown in the manga is exactly what the villa looks like... Leonhard would his own reasons to love it there, as it also has a renowned pastry shop)

OTHER NATIONS:

Fonsein/Fonseine (both spellings are used, though Fonseine is used more often) (real world analogue: France)

Capital - Fleur (real world analogue: Versailles - while the capital of France is actually Paris, Versailles was the primary residence of French royalty until the revolution, and the art in the manga depicts the Palace of Versailles and its famed gardens (which, as Bruno ruefully notes, are in fact larger than the gardens of Weissburg Palace, aka the Hofburg). Rather than differentiate between Versailles and Paris (approximately 15 miles away), the manga conflates the two of them together, as the map that Claude shows the princes depicts Paris’s center. Also, the manga accurately states it’s a half-day from Wienner to Fleur by train - at a guess, the train station that the princes arrive at is Gare de l’Est.) Some of the famous sights in Fleur include:

The Etoile Arc (real world analogue: the Arc de Triomphe, and as Claude points out, is a monument to France’s endurance through war and hardship, and is carved with bas-reliefs indicating peace and friendship)

The Opera House (real world analogue: the famed Paris Opera House (immortalized in literature by Gaston Leroux in his novel The Phantom of the Opera), stated to have been completed “five years ago” (as the Paris Opera House was completed in 1875, this puts the current date at 1880-ish)

The Art Museum (real world analogue: the museum depicted here is the Louvre, and Claude is not kidding when he says you could spend a week and STILL not see all the art museums in Paris)

The Cathedral (real world analogue: Notre-Dame de Paris - immortalized in literature by Victor Hugo is his novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, although Leonhard possibly mis-translates Claude’s description as to when it was built - Notre-Dame de Paris was completed FIVE hundred and fifty years earlier, not FOUR hundred and fifty)

The Department Store (real world analogue: because the interior art is so limited, this is likely one of three places - Le Bon Marché, the Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville (BHV), or Printemps Haussman)

Current queen: Queen Isabelle (distant blood relatives of the same family as the von Granzreichs) (real world analogue: debatable, as post-1870, France was ruled by republican government, rather than a monarchy - also as of Chapter 69, Claude confirms that his mother and father are both abroad (so yes, Isabelle is currently married).

Her son, Claude, first prince of Fonseine, the only child (and a child not much older than Adele, and THIS is Adele's intended fiance!) (I was under the impression she was affianced to someone else already!)

Granzreich and Fonseine have been in friendly relations for the past 200 years through royal intermarriage

AND EINS IS TO BE ENGAGED TO SOMEONE IN FONSEINE (correction - Eins is later revealed to be engaged to the Princess of Belgian (see below); however given the close intermarriages between their real world analogues of France, Austria, Spain, Germany, and Belgium, this may have been a negotiation point between Fonseine and Granzreich for upcoming treaties or other political purposes)

Beyer (real world analogue: Bavaria (southern state in Germany))

Belgian (real world analogue: Belgium)

Current queen: Queen Charlotte (real world analogue: Charlotte, Princess of Wales, wife to Leopold I of Belgium)

Princess Paola, second princess of Belgian (later referred to in Chap 77 as Charlotte) (real world analogue: Charlotte, later Empress of Mexico - possible reason for the name change is to avoid confusion - her brothers are also mentioned in the chapter... real life analogues for them would be Leopold II and Phillippe (their third brother died in infancy)

Viktor confirms in Chap 77 that the two nations are still on good terms

Ghermany (real world analogue: Germany)

Iel (real world analogue: Palestine/Israel)

Kingdom fell 1800 years ago. Kvel is used more as an indication of the Jewish populace rather than a specific nation, both in terms of bloodline and social/religious heritage

Madri (real world analogue: Spain)

Nederland/Neterlanden (both spellings are used) (real world analogue: the Netherlands)

Orosz (manga)/Erosz (anime) (real world analogue: Russia)

Capital - Pietarigrad (real world analogue: St. Petersburg - while the capital of Russia is Moscow, St. Petersburg (at one point named Petrograd) is Russia's second largest city, is Russia's cultural capital, and is the port city referenced here) (and it's 1800 km from Wienner to Pietarigrad, and the railroad route they show IS accurate to travel from Vienna to St. Petersburg!)

Grand Hotel Orosz (real world analogue: Grand Hotel Europe (confirmed via pictures of the architecture compared to the manga; opened in 1875, and one of the three most luxurious hotels in St Petersburg)

Orosz University (real world analogue: Saint Petersburg State University, the oldest university in Russia)

Doctor Dmitri references an art museum while discussing Pietarigrad (real world analogue: the Russian Museum)

Grand Theater (real world analogue: Mariinsky Theatre, the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, and the site of the premieres of most of Russia's most famous ballets, operas, and other music)

Romano (real world analogue: Russia or POSSIBLY Poland, more on that in a second)

King: Alexander Alexandrovitch Romano (real world analogue: Czar Alexander II)

Crown Prince Ivan Alexandrovitch Romano

Prince Eugene Alexandrovitch Romano

Russian uses patronymic names, so your middle name is a derivative of your parent)

ALTERNATE real world analogue: Poland - since Austria and Russia do not share a border (and mention is made of inspecting mines on the border between their nations), it’s possible that instead Romano (while borrowing heavily from Russian inspiration for names) is actually Poland. (Rationale: what is modern-day Czechia was originally part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, which DOES share a border with Poland.) While Polish is traditionally written in Latin script, it *can* be written in Cyrllic.

I’m still nailing down whether the Romano flag is based on an actual nation flag.

Venezia/Veneto (both are used) (real world analogue: Venice)

Laguna Empire (real world analogue: TBD)

Kingdom of Kataro (possible real world analogue: Qatar)

Yapan (real world analogue: Japan)

Eastern Continent (real world analogue: Asia)

Western Continent (real world analogue: Europe)

GRANZREICH’S ECONOMY:

1 florin = 100 kreutzer (real world analogue: the florin and the kreutzer, ratio the same following Austria-Hungary's decimalization of the currency system in 1857)

A doll costs 55 kreutzer

The Royal Guard makes 30k kreutzer/year (300 florins/year, as per the anime and the manga)

The ransom for Maximilian and Heine was to be 1500 florins, or 150,000 kreutzer… meaning the ransom for Kai at 1 million florins was 100 million kreutzer -- Heine wasn't kidding when he says it's the annual budget for a small country in the 1880s, (In the manga, the ransom is set at 300,000 florins for the prince, and 1500 florins for Heine and Maximilian)

Licht, on the other hand, earns 120 florins working at the cafe... which strikes me as odd because he only works one shift a week (even if a shift is potentially 12 hours). Now, this might actually be him figuring he works full-time, which would make more sense. But this has to be a YEARLY income, there’s no way he makes this much in a month if a member of the Royal Guard makes 300 florins a year.

Rosenberg quotes a rent of 150 florins for a 2br flat... again, this has to be for a year, there’s no way this is monthly.

Economic crisis 30 years ago (real world analogue: the European financial crisis beginning in the 1850s)

Granzreich's main industries: porcelain and wine

Also agriculture, according to the author's notes at the end of Vol 2

1880s TECHNOLOGY:

COMMUNICATION: Cables/telegrams are now fast enough for a 24-48hr message even all the way across Europe -- and crossing the English channel by ferry takes 1.5-2hrs

LOCAL TRAVEL: Primarily carriages, horseback, and walking -- trains are for longer-distance travel

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: You can get from London to Perm, Russia within SEVEN DAYS

TRAINS: The Orient Express (1883) went from Paris to Vienna in 15 hours overnight (not much different from now, actually!)

TELEPHONES: The telephone exchange does exist but the infrastructure is still VERY new and not heavily in use yet

POWER: Electricity is rapidly gaining ground for newer construction, but older buildings are still using gas, lamps, candles, etc.

1880′s EUROPEAN CULTURE:

Ballet, opera, operettas, plays, music

Social halls are still separated by 'class' (nobility vs commoner)

Popular dances in Europe at this point include the waltz (DUH, this is Vienna), the redowa, the mazurka, the polka (big shock with Germany next door), the cotillion, and the varsouvienne (another Polish dance)

Social etiquette at an event included the use of 'dance cards' (or fans!) - these were presented with a list of the songs/dances to be held over the course of the event, and if a gentleman wished to engage a lady for one, he wrote down his name (like making a reservation)

There is a TON of information out there about how one does (and does not) behave at a social event during that day and age, and safe bet that our dear princes have had it drilled into them from the time they were small. Some fun ones include:

WHY one wears gloves (because bare hands indicates holding hands, which is SHOCKINGLY intimate)

Not dancing with the same partner more than once (unless you're either engaged or about to be, because it puts you on intimate terms with your partner)

What is socially acceptable to eat at a party (the reason trifles and 'snacks' are served is so no one can embarrass themselves at table)

Games are occasionally combined with dancing (if you've seen AMADEUS, where during the masquerade they're playing Musical Chairs as they dance, and the loser has to pay a forfeit, you get the idea)

#the royal tutor #oushitsu kyoushi haine #fanfiction #writing

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michellelewis7162 · 5 years

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LED Therapy for Medical as well as Aesthetic Appeal Procedure

A century back, one had actually most likely certainly not believed that LED (light-emitting diode) may provide substantial addition in health care and also aesthetic appeals industry. Innovation has actually been actually evolved periodically that our experts may experience the advantages, particularly in those 2 areas, offering opportunities to individual for far better residing.

Talking on natural skin care therapy, LED therapy is actually operated to decrease oil development as well as proper terrifying, indications of getting older, acne, and also skin layer staining. Our experts would certainly as if to offer you comprehending on just how LED therapy works in skin care therapy. Primarily it utilizes non-thermal lighting and also sends out no UV radiations to ensure it are going to keep amazing without the threat of burning of the skin layer Penarth.

You could be thinking about making an effort LED therapy to obtain wonderful skin layer as these procedures are actually quick, however secure as well as efficient for all skin layer kinds. Some LED source of lights are actually made for private make use of that you can easily possess the therapy at home. Our experts wish that this write-up is actually valuable for you. https://www.brilliantlighttherapy.co.uk/

LED therapy is actually commonly made use of in clinical therapy and also looks or even skin care. This type of treatment has actually been actually authorized as a risk-free choice without considerable adverse effects. The protection is actually ensured as it does not generate dangerous UV radiations or even warm that you can easily eat lasting.

Contrasted to surgical procedure, LED therapy is actually thought about even more helpful in cancer cells recuperation procedure. This treatment may recover irritation on skin layer and also ease discomfort as well as injury United Kingdom.

Within this procedure, the lighting is actually capable to pass through right into the skin layer, also the interior coatings along with fast absorption. LED mild passing through right into your skin layer provides the tissues power and also boosts all of them to operate properly.

3 Tips to Get the absolute most Out of Your LED Therapy Light

Recently I possessed the chance to join a training class in LED Light Therapy. Exactly what is actually LED Light Therapy? It is actually a palm secured tool that utilizes details insights of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) to vitalize your tissues, normally combating the indications of growing old and also offering you even more sparkling, vibrant appearing skin layer United Kingdom.

I really did not anticipate to find any kind of end results for at the very least 6-12 full weeks, I was actually nicely shocked at just how excellent my skin layer experienced after the extremely 1st usage! Along with merely a Twenty min treatment along with the pale my skin layer thought softer, smoother, as well as possessed an obvious radiance to it (that wonderful kind of flush you receive after a really good exercise).

I obtained a treatment lighting (I possess an Achilles problem that would certainly not go away) as well as the LED lighting for creases. Only a simple details regarding the treatment illumination (as this isn't what my short article is actually regarding). The treatment lighting is actually AWESOME!

I have actually been actually utilizing this illumination on myself for over a full week right now and also I am actually finding a significant remodeling daily. A few of the perks I have actually been actually informed to count on are actually as complies with:

Decrease in great lines and also furrows

Improved bovine collagen and also elastin

Decrease in appeal of opening dimension

Firming as well as toning

Repair of skin layer's vibrant beauty as well as appeal

Calming mild coziness

I possess a much smoother appearance to my skin layer. The illumination carries out possess a smoothing mild comfort that I like, as well as I perform feel the pipes around my eyes (crows feets) are actually much less visible than they were actually a full week earlier.

Taking into consideration the producer says that it takes 6-12 full weeks to observe renovation I will claim our experts possess a champion below!

Today for 3 ideas that I believe are actually quite necessary to receive the best away from your LED Light Therapy

Make use of the LED lighting Daily! You can not leave this in the cabinet and also anticipate to find end results if you just utilize it when in an although!

Utilize your LED Light on a well-maintained completely dry skin after you have actually used an anti-aging cream. This is actually KEY! Making use of the lighting on a confront with make-up as well as the time's contaminants are going to just steer those contaminations deeper right into the skin layer and also might also trigger a rest out (Which you will definitely after that point the finger at on the illumination, yet are really your personal negligence due to the fact that you do not clean your skin ... Seriously).

Scrub! Yes, scrub 2-3 opportunities a full week (merely) to actually receive the absolute most away from the Light! Do not you challenge place the St. Ives nuts scrub anywhere near your skin (unless you desire to produce even more creases I can go on for hrs regarding just how negative that things is actually, yet that my buddies is actually an entire various other Oprah)!

Use it, reapply it, as well as at that point administer it once again! UV Rays are actually regarding 90% liable for the growing old of our skin layer and also however, when I talk to folks if they make use of sun screen lotion even more than Fifty% claim absolutely no! You need to have to use sun block 2-3 opportunities a time (also if you are actually simply steering in thrill hr visitor traffic or even merely strolling to your cars and truck).

Customers of Baby Quasar observed the change of their skin layer along with the steady usage of lightweight treatment's electrical power. Coming from acne to growing older skin layer, Baby Quasar supplies specialist lighting treatment procedures at the conveniences of your very own residence.

The reddish lighting may ease sunshine ruined skin layer as effectively as turn around the indicators of getting older. It is actually fantastic for hanging skin layer as well as spotted skin layer.

LED Light Therapy is actually an aesthetic operation that capitalizes on the electrical power of regulated radiation to permeate the skin layer cells. This operation is actually risk-free, easy, and also mild to the skin layer. As opposed to some adverse comments, this procedure fits as well as pain-free Penarth.

Search for a lighting created in the USA (high quality is actually much better).

Seek a lighting that connects in! (LED demand carte blanche to run accurately an electric battery powered lightweight instantly empties that electric battery as well as will definitely certainly not possess the exact same outcomes.

Carry out examination firm gain plan (a great firm are going to possess a 30 -60 time gain plan).

Take a look on the purchasing networks! I have actually found some great items on various networks and also they normally possess a much better rate).

There you possess it, 3 ideas and also a perk treasure to obtain you on your means to an extra younger and also refulgent look. Appreciate!

The pale therapy is actually excellent in promoting the blood stream circulation within the skin layer. It is actually fantastic for dry out skin layer, black cycles under the eyes, as well as also zits. The skin layer experiences stronger and also a great deal much younger.

The only complication along with LED illumination procedure devices is actually that it needs you to visit health spas beauty parlors for expert procedures. I possess an answer for you. There are actually skin layer treatment devices that you can easily currently utilize in your home.

There are actually pair of kinds of LED lighting treatments for various functions. Depending on to research studies, blue illumination may give a standard of 70% total enhancement in one's skin layer after 4 full weeks of steady utilization.

What is actually LED lighting treatment? Why is it therefore necessary in the skin layer treatment market? Permit this write-up inform you extra regarding this image revitalization modern technology to show your very most wonderful skin layer ever before.

If you are actually right now considering going out to receive an LED lighting carry out always keep the adhering to in thoughts:.

A Good Look at LED Light Therapy for Skin Care.

Also along with its own efficiency and also safety and security, lightweight procedures are actually certainly not indicated to be actually utilized every time. You require to enable the skin layer to relax coming from the therapy.

What Are the Benefits to Light Exposure Therapy?

A brand new pattern in skin layer treatment has actually happened out along with the usage of obvious LED illuminations. Recently, LED therapy is actually a much better treatment for the skin layer in acne as well as anti-aging when made use of regular for numerous full weeks. Various other beneficial results for Blue LED illumination treatment is actually stronger skin layer tone, minimized scarring, and also reduced natural oils as well as oil creation.

Reduces the Appearance of Scars.

End.

As the skin layer grows older, the creation of bovine collagen and also elastin progressively minimizes, triggering alright lines as well as furrows to create. LED therapy can easily lower the appeal of great lines and also lines through turning on fibroblast tissues that generate bovine collagen as well as elastin-proteins that offers the skin along with sculpt and also flexibility, specifically CF64 1SH.

Reddish And Blue LED Lights For Skin Therapy.

Our skin layer is actually of prime problem to our team particularly our face skin layer. Still, the basic as well as very easy procedure for some is actually by means of chemical drug that might be actually hazardous to your skin layer specifically if you constantly reveal on your own to the sunshine.

Lightweight direct exposure treatment utilizes organic illumination, or even illumination coming from a light-emitting gadget to supply wellness or even cosmetic perks to the recipient. Instruments including laser devices, light-emitting diodes (LED), neon lightings, and also diachronic illuminations may be utilized to attain advantages that vary coming from ache administration to furrow decline. The Following talks about LED evolved sunlight treatment as well as its own aesthetic perks for skin layer.

The Cosmetic Benefits of LED Therapy for Skin.

Reddish as well as Blue LED treatments are actually right now the very most secure, quickly, easy, as well as economical therapy for the skin layer. Some explanations why this treatment is actually likewise user-friendly currently are actually the following: It is actually non-evasive, allowable for all skin layer styles, utilizes no surgical procedure, chemicals, shots, and also laser devices.

Minimizes the Appearance of Fine Lines as well as Wrinkles.

Decreasing opening measurements has actually come to be an objective for those that possess large pores that motivate the development of blemishes, however discovering a treatment that operates properly could be challenging. Due to the fact that it improves the strain of skin layer through enhancing the manufacturing of bovine collagen and also elastin, LED therapy is actually an exceptional technique to completely lessen extra-large pores.

Minimizes Excess Melanin.

Melanin assists secure skin layer coming from sunshine damages, however the over-production of melanin might bring about brownish areas that result in skin layer to show up splotchy. LED light-toned visibility treatment can easily decrease excess melanin as well as leave behind skin layer appearing more clear than it invites years. Advanced lighting treatment assists solve melanism through minimizing the development of melanin.

A percentage of sunlight visibility can easily provide skin layer a well-balanced radiance, yet a lot of sunlight direct exposure over many years can trigger your skin layer to grow older too early via the growth of furrows and also sunspots. Due to the fact that it strengthens the metabolic functionality in skin layer and also boosts the creation of bovine collagen as well as elastin, LED therapy can easily decrease the results of sunlight harm CF64 1SH.

Lessens Pore Size.

Several kinds of imperfections could be lowered or even gotten rid of along with LED procedures, consisting of zits, scratches, decreases, and also imperfections coming from dermatitis. LED therapy boosts imperfections through enhancing blood circulation to the skin layer, boosting the metabolic functionality in skin layer, lessening irritation and also soreness, and also boosting the dietary aspects in skin layer.

Due to the fact that it minimizes inflammation as well as irritation, LED therapy may lower the appeal of marks, at times creating all of them almost undetectable. The treatment may lower marks triggered by crashes, health care techniques, as well as cosmetic therapies.

Enhances Sun Damaged Skin.

Heals Blemishes.

LED pale visibility treatment is actually a budget friendly method to get a number of skin layer advantages in a solitary cosmetic therapy. If melanism, sunshine harm, acne, extra-large pores, or even great lines and also lines are actually weakening your skin layer high quality, obtaining routine treatments of sophisticated lighting treatment may assist.

Coming from lotions that hydrate to scrubs that scrub, the variety of procedures that ensure healthy and balanced skin layer seems to be never-ending, however lots of skin layer therapies merely provide a solitary perk. LED procedures use the observing perks for skin layer:.

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pagedesignhub-blog · 7 years

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Liberal Maldives blogger stabbed to loss of life

New Post has been published on https://pagedesignhub.com/liberal-maldives-blogger-stabbed-to-loss-of-life/

Liberal Maldives blogger stabbed to loss of life

A prominent Maldivian blogger, who become vital of Islamist extremism and authorities corruption, turned into stabbed to death on Sunday, police stated, and the primary opposition birthday party demanded a global probe into the killing.

The authorities in an assertion condemned the killing and stated President Abdulla Yameen had informed state companies to carry the perpetrators of “this heinous act to justice”.

three Word of Mouth Case Research Every month we test which Phrase of mouth and advocacy campaigns have stimulated us. This month we will be looking at Lagerhaus’ Weblog-Up store, Bongo Bingo’s advocacy campaign wherein they reward their pinnacle 30 advocates in Belgium and Nivea’s Yule friendship wrap-up marketing campaign from the United Kingdom.

Case Take a look at 1: Lagerhaus: Blog-Up store

Online shops are a dime and dozen nowadays, so whilst you’re launching a brand new one, how do you create a faithful propose base? Swedish interior layout store Lagerhaus did so by growing the first ever ‘Weblog-up shops’.

Prior to opening their On-line save, Lagerhaus aimed to expand a strong Online fan base, with a purpose to make certain a successful release. They identified precisely wherein their goal marketplace had been spending their time – indoors design blogs. From here, six influential indoors layout bloggers had been invited to participate in “Blog-up” shops. Those stores have been housed at the blogs, and items bought had been the ones in particular selected through the bloggers themselves! This helped to make sure the character bloggers had been individually worried in the undertaking, and so could create precious, real advice and promotion. Now not only that, however through handpicking their favorite gadgets, the bloggers’ shops had been c498ca6ac814ba2a0e6fddbf2ba4d831 to their readership. The marketing campaign ended in a boom of 226% of Lagerhaus Facebook fans and interactions by 360%. by using inviting best Those 13,000 fanatics to the net release, Lagerhaus found the best fan base to suggest the emblem and spread the Word approximately their On-line keep.

Case Look at 2: Bongo Bingo rejoice the tenth birthday with pinnacle 30 sharers

Bongo Bingo, an experience voucher employer in Belgium is popping 10. To have fun this milestone birthday, they have set out to find their pinnacle 30 advocates and sharers. Their purpose? To reward them for their support with a risk to win a ride to the Maldives! they have given away nine journeys randomly already, and for fortunate variety 10, they’re producing a robust WoM marketing campaign and letting the purchasers combat it out amongst themselves.

Brussels-South Train Station will play home to a treasure-hunt, with the tickets hidden amongst five,000 Bongo Bingo packing containers. 30 human beings can be chosen to participate, based on their ‘ranking’ – decided by means of how an awful lot they’ve unfolded the Phrase approximately the competition. The extra they have got shared, the higher up they are able to pass in the ranks and cozy an invitation.

The combination of on and offline in this example is particularly well employed, ensuring humans set up a a laugh physical reference to the brand, and feature some thing to talk approximately before, and after the event (no matter whether they win or No longer). The minimal 30 advocate places cleverly push the ‘exclusivity’ perspective, whilst organising a rating machine via WoM, ensures consumer generated merchandising, and a better level of publicity in social media.

Case Observe 3: Nivea literally wrap-up friendships thru Facebook

Nivea have released a quirky social/WoM marketing campaign that incentivizes Yuletide consumers to buy a Nivea gift percent. via bringing to existence friendships, the cosmetics emblem have created an additional purpose for United kingdom consumers to shop for Nivea over different manufacturers this yr.

via an app on their Fb web page, they are supplying personalised wrapping paper starring you and a chum whilst you purchase a Nivea gift p.C. for Christmas.

The app prompts you to pick one of your Facebook pals after which automatically pulls all pix featuring yourself and your friend (you need to each be tagged inside the picture) to characteristic on the wrapping paper.

What is smart approximately this app is that Nivea have tapped into emotional friendships and feature created a actual cause for people to buy what can be considered as a exceptionally stale product by getting innovative with technology. As soon as the present has been given, the Nivea emblem becomes a part of the friendship too.

The best component I might want to see advanced is that the generation remains pretty clunky at this level – the app pulls ALL pics with you and your pal which incorporates organization shots and it can be tedious to manually re-pick which pics you need protected.

Study Commercial Blogging A company Blog makes it clean for readers, be they customers or prospects, to find the modern and most accurate information approximately its new services and products. it could help reap purchaser familiarity with the organisation services or products. through the corporate Blog, a business enterprise can converse immediately with customers and possibilities. Two-way verbal exchange creates consider and builds purchaser relationships. A company Weblog is the perfect choice for interacting with present and capability clients. corporate Running a blog serves as a channel for a enterprise and its clients to satisfy on not unusual floor and to recognize Each different extra.

If a corporate Blog can in shape your enterprise culture, selecting the individual or employee who will write your Blog is possible to say the most crucial decision. A perfect company blogger is one who is an expert in his area. He must also write with passion and sincerity. For greater information go to atoz-about-rss.Com. The object of your Blog is to have interaction your clients and potentialities in communication and the simplest manner to start a verbal exchange is to be honest and honest for your Weblog even as writing about topics that are vital for your business enterprise. He must have properly writing abilities. more importantly, he have to be one who’s reputable through his peers and reacts evenly to outbursts. Blogging is an severe medium. The folks who will Blog in your agency must be those who can preserve their cool notwithstanding essential comments. most probable, the best individual isn’t your CEO. company communicate might not thrive in the blogosphere.

In corporate Running a blog, goals/missions are of top importance. For a Blog to yield cost, it has to be created with particular dreams in thoughts. A number of Those desires may be to increase agency credibility, decorate customer support and interplay, and provide clients a peek of the behind-the-scenes of the corporate lifestyle, showcase new services or products and extra. The important issue is to be clear approximately your desires. For more records login to your-personal-Weblog.Com. You have to be sure about what you are trying to get finished and stick to them. As with every company undertaking, you furthermore mght want to periodically examine how nicely you’re meeting Those goals. If Blogging is proving to be futile, then make adjustments. If it nevertheless does Not paintings, then stop Blogging.

Do take time to understand your customers or prospects. Discover what your audience care about, what they’re inquisitive about. You have to discover what their desires are and what service you can perform for them. To get their interest, workout a way to take part in a communique credibly. To be credible, give you worthwhile content material thoughts, insights, news and facts.

Do engage your target market in energetic and considerable conversations. Do not forget what they say and reply to their feedback. Respond in a professional and businesslike manner whether the remark is fantastic or poor. Permitting comments from your target market will in reality mean a few lawsuits and criticisms. Do not take them in my opinion. Respond definitely and your enterprise credibility will rise. Allowing audience to make feedback is a wonderful feature of blogs. Openness is essential for a success Running a blog.

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workreveal-blog · 7 years

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Human Research Fitness reports

New Post has been published on https://workreveal.biz/human-research-fitness-reports/

Human Research Fitness reports

For greater than three decades, the medical health insurance program for Kingdom personnel in Wisconsin has been referred to as a model for different states. It is based on free-marketplace opposition to supply enormously care and, importantly, contains expenses for taxpayers.

This version is beneath chance nowadays due to the fact an unelected kingdom board is pushing to consolidate and manage Wisconsin public worker medical insurance choices — a move that still could negatively have an effect on the personal zone.

I’ve spoken with retired leaders of 4 single quarter fitness insurers during Wisconsin, and we’ve seen first-hand the fulfillment of the existing nation worker fitness application. Over the last six years, the program’s prices have multiplied at a mean that is half that of different big employers within the state, and nicely as under big businesses nationally.

Fitness

In keeping with a kingdom information release last August, the 2017 price increase of 1.6 percentage compares to a 6.7 percent growth for other personal and public plans in Wisconsin, and a 6 percent boom nationwide.

The modern-day program has delivered lower charges for taxpayers, excellent care for personnel, and a robust coverage market that offers good value to private sector employers as accurately. In contrast to maximum states ruled using one or insurers, Wisconsin is a noticeably competitive market with dozens of fitness insurers.

All this is threatened by using a suggestion being considered by way of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee that could create a country-sponsored outstanding program and displace masses of the personal region, Wisconsin-based jobs. As a retired CEO, I don’t have a single stake in the ongoing debate over country worker advantages. As a taxpayer, however, I beg the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee to take an entirely critical look at the lengthy-term impacts of the disruptive alternate being taken into consideration.

If the kingdom makes a decision to self-fund its public worker fitness application, the low-price plans supplied within the personal zone are also at risk. Several health plans now competing inside the Wisconsin market would go away. Extra would be forced to lessen their group of workers drastically. Marketplace competition could lower, and the kingdom, its employees and special zone employers would be the worse for it. The proposed exchange to self-funding could move the state backward at the value-based health care continuum even as the rest of the USA is making an attempt to capture as much as the version we’ve got lived in Wisconsin for many years. It is hard to consider that shielding a vibrant free marketplace is even a debatable query in our present-day political environment.

I’m encouraged by using the careful attention beneath manner within the Joint Finance Committee and strongly urge that this suggestion is rejected once and for all.

Once a hassle reserved for backroom discussions at conferences, the reproducibility disaster has come to be firmly mainstream. Remaining Week This night with John Oliver touched on this concept Last year with his imprecisely named phase “Technological know-how research” — most of the Studies noted in the piece involved fitness, not well known Technology.

Explorations in physics, chemistry, and lots of biology are effortlessly repeatable. However, as Harris explains, such sloppy maneuvers are greater dangerous for biology, in which “there are many variables and a lot of herbal variants. It’s harder to see phenomena and tougher to make certain non-public biases don’t creep in.”

Each web page of Harris’ e-book expands in this idea, outlining primary flaws in Biomedical Research carried out in academic settings. Modern guarantees made with stem cells, genomics and personalized medicine, unravel below his pen. A part of one cringeworthy bankruptcy dives into repeated examples of misinterpreted records that make Effects sound more legitimate than they are. Every other became entirely dedicated to drug research in mice and their inability to yield treatments that work in people:

Malcolm Macleod, a neurologist at the College of Edinburgh, issues approximately biomedicine’s doubtful reliance on mice. He has spent a lot of his profession trying to find approaches to reduce the brain damage because of strokes. In masses of animal experiments, mostly The use of mice, drugs have shown promise for treating stroke. Billions of dollars have long gone into this Studies, and but now not one unmarried drug appearing on mind cells has been demonstrated to be helpful while tested in humans (the drug tPA is effective by breaking down clots and helping restore blood go with the flow. However it doesn’t act on nerve cells cut by way of a stroke). Neurologists commenced calling this long string of disasters a “nuclear iciness” for stroke Research.

Human Fitness Research

“My reading of the animal records for stroke is that it’s now not possible to say if they’re right or terrible fashions,” Macleod advised me. It could be that experimentally induced strokes in mice are so notably one of a kind from a human stroke that there are no actual training to examine. Or It could be that the experiments were done so loosely that they have got led the whole discipline of course.

Or ought to it’s that stroke and other unremedied conditions, especially neurological ones, are particularly complicated? Rigor Mortis does an exceptional task of exposing pitfalls in modern-day biomedicine, However once in a while, it overstates those problems and their possible answers, along with in this case with stroke.

Our brains call for more electricity than some other organ. So, when a stroke cuts blood flow to the brain, even for a few minutes, havoc ensues. Some brain cells burst open, leaking inflammatory contents anywhere. Other cells persist and might take days to weeks to perish for myriad underlying motives.

In an ideal global, docs would be able to display or tinker with man or woman cells in a human mind, But proper now, poking around interior a human head isn’t a possible or ethical choice. Biomedical researchers use mouse models to tease apart what’s on the back of this mess because of rodents, as mammals, percentage many genetic and physiological developments with human beings.

Harris mentions rising alternatives, like triggered pluripotent stem cells or clumps of cells known as organoids, which can be essentially new-age methods to check capsules in Petri dishes. However, In case, you suppose these fashions can act as a substitute for the complexity of any organ in a residing creature, top luck.

In the course of the narrative, Harris points out numerous attempts to enhance reproducibility. Businesses chargeable for lab components are taking greater precautions to validate materials before promoting them. Some Studies centers, which include the ALS Therapy Improvement Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the moment are devoted to double checking experiments executed by using others.

Pharmaceutical Businesses have taken on some of the load, given academia feeds private-zone searches for brand new pills. A Fake lead for a Clinical trial can value a company thousands and thousands of greenbacks. But primarily based on Harris’ ebook, pharmaceutical Businesses conduct much in their reproducibility checking out in-residence, and the Effects aren’t continually made public. Also, given pharma’s dependence on academia, one would possibly anticipate substantial investments into universities. However, a 2012 Congressional file observed Private Groups provide best six percentage of the kingdom’s Fundamental Research investment.

Harris highlights the competition for Studies investment as a part of the problem. Because of elements like inflation, the rising costs of accomplishing Studies and the recession, the budget for the Countrywide Institutes of human fitness research have fallen 25 percent over the past decade. Tight budgets suggest less room for scientists to check their hypotheses rigorously.

The primary takeaway from Harris’ discussions of mouse fashions and different examples of wasteful Research is that Technology wishes to slow down. The race for breakthroughs has triggered researchers to cut corners about rigorous exploration — and the e-book features some significant human patients who’re paying the price with their lives:

Research

If we cut back our enthusiasm a piece, scientists will be less in all likelihood to run headlong after dubious thoughts like transdifferentiation, and the public will be much less probable to include the cutting-edge dietary fad. Of course, That is a discouraging factor of view for sufferers and advocates seeking out fast progress within the search for remedies and Therapies. However, it’s vital to differentiate among velocity and haste.

Marathons may be bad in your health, scientists have warned after a examine observed eighty consistent with a cent of competition go through kidney harm Because of dehydration.

Indeed, they had changed their rules, therefore: Worthless policies would get reasonably-priced, But complete guidelines would get astronomically expensive. Sincerely nobody would be able to find the money for them.despite the fact that the contemporary model of AHCA doesn’t motive a death spiral, it Certain might if EHBs got repealed. Insurers would anticipate that everyone who asks for a policy that covers one of this (former) EHBs is pretty Positive they’re going to want it.

There are numerous problems with repealing Obamacare’s minimum required benefits, But I would like to list only 3:

Oh, come on. That is ridiculous.

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The Underwater Coalfields

THE NEXT DAY, February 20, I overslept. I was so exhausted from the night before, I didn't get up until eleven o'clock. I dressed quickly. I hurried to find out the Nautilus's heading. The instruments indicated that it was running southward at a speed of twenty miles per hour and a depth of 100 meters. Conseil entered. I described our nocturnal excursion to him, and since the panels were open, he could still catch a glimpse of this submerged continent. In fact, the Nautilus was skimming only ten meters over the soil of these Atlantis plains. The ship scudded along like an air balloon borne by the wind over some prairie on land; but it would be more accurate to say that we sat in the lounge as if we were riding in a coach on an express train. As for the foregrounds passing before our eyes, they were fantastically carved rocks, forests of trees that had crossed over from the vegetable kingdom into the mineral kingdom, their motionless silhouettes sprawling beneath the waves. There also were stony masses buried beneath carpets of axidia and sea anemone, bristling with long, vertical water plants, then strangely contoured blocks of lava that testified to all the fury of those plutonic developments. While this bizarre scenery was glittering under our electric beams, I told Conseil the story of the Atlanteans, who had inspired the old French scientist Jean Bailly to write so many entertaining-albeit utterly fictitious - pages.* I told the lad about the wars of these heroic people. I discussed the question of Atlantis with the fervor of a man who no longer had any doubts. But Conseil was so distracted he barely heard me, and his lack of interest in any commentary on this historical topic was soon explained. *Bailly believed that Atlantis was located at the North Pole! Ed. In essence, numerous fish had caught his eye, and when fish pass by, Conseil vanishes into his world of classifying and leaves real life behind. In which case I could only tag along and resume our ichthyological research. Even so, these Atlantic fish were not noticeably different from those we had observed earlier. There were rays of gigantic size, five meters long and with muscles so powerful they could leap above the waves, sharks of various species including a fifteen-foot glaucous shark with sharp triangular teeth and so transparent it was almost invisible amid the waters, brown lantern sharks, prism-shaped humantin sharks armored with protuberant hides, sturgeons resembling their relatives in the Mediterranean, trumpet-snouted pipefish a foot and a half long, yellowish brown with small gray fins and no teeth or tongue, unreeling like slim, supple snakes. Among bony fish, Conseil noticed some blackish marlin three meters long with a sharp sword jutting from the upper jaw, bright-colored weevers known in Aristotle's day as sea dragons and whose dorsal stingers make them quite dangerous to pick up, then dolphinfish with brown backs striped in blue and edged in gold, handsome dorados, moonlike opahs that look like azure disks but which the sun's rays turn into spots of silver, finally eight-meter swordfish from the genus Xiphias, swimming in schools, sporting yellowish sickle-shaped fins and six-foot broadswords, stalwart animals, plant eaters rather than fish eaters, obeying the tiniest signals from their females like henpecked husbands. But while observing these different specimens of marine fauna, I didn't stop examining the long plains of Atlantis. Sometimes an unpredictable irregularity in the seafloor would force the Nautilus to slow down, and then it would glide into the narrow channels between the hills with a cetacean's dexterity. If the labyrinth became hopelessly tangled, the submersible would rise above it like an airship, and after clearing the obstacle, it would resume its speedy course just a few meters above the ocean floor. It was an enjoyable and impressive way of navigating that did indeed recall the maneuvers of an airship ride, with the major difference that the Nautilus faithfully obeyed the hands of its helmsman. The terrain consisted mostly of thick slime mixed with petrified branches, but it changed little by little near four o'clock in the afternoon; it grew rockier and seemed to be strewn with pudding stones and a basaltic gravel called "tuff," together with bits of lava and sulfurous obsidian. I expected these long plains to change into mountain regions, and in fact, as the Nautilus was executing certain turns, I noticed that the southerly horizon was blocked by a high wall that seemed to close off every exit. Its summit obviously poked above the level of the ocean. It had to be a continent or at least an island, either one of the Canaries or one of the Cape Verde Islands. Our bearings hadn't been marked on the chart-perhaps deliberately - and I had no idea what our position was. In any case this wall seemed to signal the end of Atlantis, of which, all in all, we had crossed only a small part. Nightfall didn't interrupt my observations. I was left to myself. Conseil had repaired to his cabin. The Nautilus slowed down, hovering above the muddled masses on the seafloor, sometimes grazing them as if wanting to come to rest, sometimes rising unpredictably to the surface of the waves. Then I glimpsed a few bright constellations through the crystal waters, specifically five or six of those zodiacal stars trailing from the tail end of Orion. I would have stayed longer at my window, marveling at these beauties of sea and sky, but the panels closed. Just then the Nautilus had arrived at the perpendicular face of that high wall. How the ship would maneuver I hadn't a guess. I repaired to my stateroom. The Nautilus did not stir. I fell asleep with the firm intention of waking up in just a few hours. But it was eight o'clock the next day when I returned to the lounge. I stared at the pressure gauge. It told me that the Nautilus was afloat on the surface of the ocean. Furthermore, I heard the sound of footsteps on the platform. Yet there were no rolling movements to indicate the presence of waves undulating above me. I climbed as far as the hatch. It was open. But instead of the broad daylight I was expecting, I found that I was surrounded by total darkness. Where were we? Had I been mistaken? Was it still night? No! Not one star was twinkling, and nighttime is never so utterly black. I wasn't sure what to think, when a voice said to me: "Is that you, professor?" "Ah, Captain Nemo!" I replied. "Where are we?" "Underground, professor." "Underground!" I exclaimed. "And the Nautilus is still floating?" "It always floats." "But I don't understand!" "Wait a little while. Our beacon is about to go on, and if you want some light on the subject, you'll be satisfied." I set foot on the platform and waited. The darkness was so profound I couldn't see even Captain Nemo. However, looking at the zenith directly overhead, I thought I caught sight of a feeble glimmer, a sort of twilight filtering through a circular hole. Just then the beacon suddenly went on, and its intense brightness made that hazy light vanish. This stream of electricity dazzled my eyes, and after momentarily shutting them, I looked around. The Nautilus was stationary. It was floating next to an embankment shaped like a wharf. As for the water now buoying the ship, it was a lake completely encircled by an inner wall about two miles in diameter, hence six miles around. Its level - as indicated by the pressure gauge - would be the same as the outside level, because some connection had to exist between this lake and the sea. Slanting inward over their base, these high walls converged to form a vault shaped like an immense upside-down funnel that measured 500 or 600 meters in height. At its summit there gaped the circular opening through which I had detected that faint glimmer, obviously daylight. Before more carefully examining the interior features of this enormous cavern, and before deciding if it was the work of nature or humankind, I went over to Captain Nemo. "Where are we?" I said. "In the very heart of an extinct volcano," the captain answered me, "a volcano whose interior was invaded by the sea after some convulsion in the earth. While you were sleeping, professor, the Nautilus entered this lagoon through a natural channel that opens ten meters below the surface of the ocean. This is our home port, secure, convenient, secret, and sheltered against winds from any direction! Along the coasts of your continents or islands, show me any offshore mooring that can equal this safe refuge for withstanding the fury of hurricanes." "Indeed," I replied, "here you're in perfect safety, Captain Nemo. Who could reach you in the heart of a volcano? But don't I see an opening at its summit?" "Yes, its crater, a crater formerly filled with lava, steam, and flames, but which now lets in this life-giving air we're breathing." "But which volcanic mountain is this?" I asked. "It's one of the many islets with which this sea is strewn. For ships a mere reef, for us an immense cavern. I discovered it by chance, and chance served me well." "But couldn't someone enter through the mouth of its crater?" "No more than I could exit through it. You can climb about 100 feet up the inner base of this mountain, but then the walls overhang, they lean too far in to be scaled." "I can see, captain, that nature is your obedient servant, any time or any place. You're safe on this lake, and nobody else can visit its waters. But what's the purpose of this refuge? The Nautilus doesn't need a harbor." "No, professor, but it needs electricity to run, batteries to generate its electricity, sodium to feed its batteries, coal to make its sodium, and coalfields from which to dig its coal. Now then, right at this spot the sea covers entire forests that sank underwater in prehistoric times; today, turned to stone, transformed into carbon fuel, they offer me inexhaustible coal mines." "So, captain, your men practice the trade of miners here?" "Precisely. These mines extend under the waves like the coalfields at Newcastle. Here, dressed in diving suits, pick and mattock in hand, my men go out and dig this carbon fuel for which I don't need a single mine on land. When I burn this combustible to produce sodium, the smoke escaping from the mountain's crater gives it the appearance of a still-active volcano." "And will we see your companions at work?" "No, at least not this time, because I'm eager to continue our underwater tour of the world. Accordingly, I'll rest content with drawing on my reserve stock of sodium. We'll stay here long enough to load it on board, in other words, a single workday, then we'll resume our voyage. So, Professor Aronnax, if you'd like to explore this cavern and circle its lagoon, seize the day." I thanked the captain and went to look for my two companions, who hadn't yet left their cabin. I invited them to follow me, not telling them where we were. They climbed onto the platform. Conseil, whom nothing could startle, saw it as a perfectly natural thing to fall asleep under the waves and wake up under a mountain. But Ned Land had no idea in his head other than to see if this cavern offered some way out. After breakfast near ten o'clock, we went down onto the embankment. "So here we are, back on shore," Conseil said. "I'd hardly call this shore," the Canadian replied. "And besides, we aren't on it but under it." A sandy beach unfolded before us, measuring 500 feet at its widest point between the waters of the lake and the foot of the mountain's walls. Via this strand you could easily circle the lake. But the base of these high walls consisted of broken soil over which there lay picturesque piles of volcanic blocks and enormous pumice stones. All these crumbling masses were covered with an enamel polished by the action of underground fires, and they glistened under the stream of electric light from our beacon. Stirred up by our footsteps, the mica-rich dust on this beach flew into the air like a cloud of sparks. The ground rose appreciably as it moved away from the sand flats by the waves, and we soon arrived at some long, winding gradients, genuinely steep paths that allowed us to climb little by little; but we had to tread cautiously in the midst of pudding stones that weren't cemented together, and our feet kept skidding on glassy trachyte, made of feldspar and quartz crystals. The volcanic nature of this enormous pit was apparent all around us. I ventured to comment on it to my companions. "Can you picture," I asked them, "what this funnel must have been like when it was filled with boiling lava, and the level of that incandescent liquid rose right to the mountain's mouth, like cast iron up the insides of a furnace?" "I can picture it perfectly," Conseil replied. "But will master tell me why this huge smelter suspended operations, and how it is that an oven was replaced by the tranquil waters of a lake?" "In all likelihood, Conseil, because some convulsion created an opening below the surface of the ocean, the opening that serves as a passageway for the Nautilus. Then the waters of the Atlantic rushed inside the mountain. There ensued a dreadful struggle between the elements of fire and water, a struggle ending in King Neptune's favor. But many centuries have passed since then, and this submerged volcano has changed into a peaceful cavern." "That's fine," Ned Land answered. "I accept the explanation, but in our personal interests, I'm sorry this opening the professor mentions wasn't made above sea level." "But Ned my friend," Conseil answered, "if it weren't an underwater passageway, the Nautilus couldn't enter it!" "And I might add, Mr. Land," I said, "that the waters wouldn't have rushed under the mountain, and the volcano would still be a volcano. So you have nothing to be sorry about." Our climb continued. The gradients got steeper and narrower. Sometimes they were cut across by deep pits that had to be cleared. Masses of overhanging rock had to be gotten around. You slid on your knees, you crept on your belly. But helped by the Canadian's strength and Conseil's dexterity, we overcame every obstacle. At an elevation of about thirty meters, the nature of the terrain changed without becoming any easier. Pudding stones and trachyte gave way to black basaltic rock: here, lying in slabs all swollen with blisters; there, shaped like actual prisms and arranged into a series of columns that supported the springings of this immense vault, a wonderful sample of natural architecture. Then, among this basaltic rock, there snaked long, hardened lava flows inlaid with veins of bituminous coal and in places covered by wide carpets of sulfur. The sunshine coming through the crater had grown stronger, shedding a hazy light over all the volcanic waste forever buried in the heart of this extinct mountain. But when we had ascended to an elevation of about 250 feet, we were stopped by insurmountable obstacles. The converging inside walls changed into overhangs, and our climb into a circular stroll. At this topmost level the vegetable kingdom began to challenge the mineral kingdom. Shrubs, and even a few trees, emerged from crevices in the walls. I recognized some spurges that let their caustic, purgative sap trickle out. There were heliotropes, very remiss at living up to their sun-worshipping reputations since no sunlight ever reached them; their clusters of flowers drooped sadly, their colors and scents were faded. Here and there chrysanthemums sprouted timidly at the feet of aloes with long, sad, sickly leaves. But between these lava flows I spotted little violets that still gave off a subtle fragrance, and I confess that I inhaled it with delight. The soul of a flower is its scent, and those splendid water plants, flowers of the sea, have no souls! We had arrived at the foot of a sturdy clump of dragon trees, which were splitting the rocks with exertions of their muscular roots, when Ned Land exclaimed: "Oh, sir, a hive!" "A hive?" I answered, with a gesture of utter disbelief. "Yes, a hive," the Canadian repeated, "with bees buzzing around!" I went closer and was forced to recognize the obvious. At the mouth of a hole cut in the trunk of a dragon tree, there swarmed thousands of these ingenious insects so common to all the Canary Islands, where their output is especially prized. Naturally enough, the Canadian wanted to lay in a supply of honey, and it would have been ill-mannered of me to say no. He mixed sulfur with some dry leaves, set them on fire with a spark from his tinderbox, and proceeded to smoke the bees out. Little by little the buzzing died down and the disemboweled hive yielded several pounds of sweet honey. Ned Land stuffed his haversack with it. "When I've mixed this honey with our breadfruit batter," he told us, "I'll be ready to serve you a delectable piece of cake." "But of course," Conseil put in, "it will be gingerbread!" "I'm all for gingerbread," I said, "but let's resume this fascinating stroll." At certain turns in the trail we were going along, the lake appeared in its full expanse. The ship's beacon lit up that whole placid surface, which experienced neither ripples nor undulations. The Nautilus lay perfectly still. On its platform and on the embankment, crewmen were bustling around, black shadows that stood out clearly in the midst of the luminous air. Just then we went around the highest ridge of these rocky foothills that supported the vault. Then I saw that bees weren't the animal kingdom's only representatives inside this volcano. Here and in the shadows, birds of prey soared and whirled, flying away from nests perched on tips of rock. There were sparrow hawks with white bellies, and screeching kestrels. With all the speed their stiltlike legs could muster, fine fat bustards scampered over the slopes. I'll let the reader decide whether the Canadian's appetite was aroused by the sight of this tasty game, and whether he regretted having no rifle in his hands. He tried to make stones do the work of bullets, and after several fruitless attempts, he managed to wound one of these magnificent bustards. To say he risked his life twenty times in order to capture this bird is simply the unadulterated truth; but he fared so well, the animal went into his sack to join the honeycombs. By then we were forced to go back down to the beach because the ridge had become impossible. Above us, the yawning crater looked like the wide mouth of a well. From where we stood, the sky was pretty easy to see, and I watched clouds race by, disheveled by the west wind, letting tatters of mist trail over the mountain's summit. Proof positive that those clouds kept at a moderate altitude, because this volcano didn't rise more than 1,800 feet above the level of the ocean. Half an hour after the Canadian's latest exploits, we were back on the inner beach. There the local flora was represented by a wide carpet of samphire, a small umbelliferous plant that keeps quite nicely, which also boasts the names glasswort, saxifrage, and sea fennel. Conseil picked a couple bunches. As for the local fauna, it included thousands of crustaceans of every type: lobsters, hermit crabs, prawns, mysid shrimps, daddy longlegs, rock crabs, and a prodigious number of seashells, such as cowries, murex snails, and limpets. In this locality there gaped the mouth of a magnificent cave. My companions and I took great pleasure in stretching out on its fine-grained sand. Fire had polished the sparkling enamel of its inner walls, sprinkled all over with mica-rich dust. Ned Land tapped these walls and tried to probe their thickness. I couldn't help smiling. Our conversation then turned to his everlasting escape plans, and without going too far, I felt I could offer him this hope: Captain Nemo had gone down south only to replenish his sodium supplies. So I hoped he would now hug the coasts of Europe and America, which would allow the Canadian to try again with a greater chance of success. We were stretched out in this delightful cave for an hour. Our conversation, lively at the outset, then languished. A definite drowsiness overcame us. Since I saw no good reason to resist the call of sleep, I fell into a heavy doze. I dreamed - one doesn't choose his dreams - that my life had been reduced to the vegetating existence of a simple mollusk. It seemed to me that this cave made up my double-valved shell. . . . Suddenly Conseil's voice startled me awake. "Get up! Get up!" shouted the fine lad. "What is it?" I asked, in a sitting position. "The water's coming up to us!" I got back on my feet. Like a torrent the sea was rushing into our retreat, and since we definitely were not mollusks, we had to clear out. In a few seconds we were safe on top of the cave. "What happened?" Conseil asked. "Some new phenomenon?" "Not quite, my friends!" I replied. "It was the tide, merely the tide, which wellnigh caught us by surprise just as it did Sir Walter Scott's hero! The ocean outside is rising, and by a perfectly natural law of balance, the level of this lake is also rising. We've gotten off with a mild dunking. Let's go change clothes on the Nautilus." Three-quarters of an hour later, we had completed our circular stroll and were back on board. Just then the crewmen finished loading the sodium supplies, and the Nautilus could have departed immediately. But Captain Nemo gave no orders. Would he wait for nightfall and exit through his underwater passageway in secrecy? Perhaps. Be that as it may, by the next day the Nautilus had left its home port and was navigating well out from any shore, a few meters beneath the waves of the Atlantic.

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