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thekaijudude · 4 years

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Now this one has been on my mind for a long while now. Exactly what are the fighting styles of the Ultra Brothers?

Hi!

Answered this twice before so I’ll more or less just summarize it again

So essentially each Ultra Brother utilize their best stats and their own abilities and incorporate them into the usual kaiju fights

Ultraman: Leveraging on his tankiness and immunities, he usually goes straight for grappling, aka heavyweight tactics to overwhelm his opponents

Ultraseven: Has eye slugger for melee to inflict maximum damage with minimum movements. But because his forte is mostly ranged due to his superb control over Ultra Psychokinesis, combining that with the Eye Slugger, he usually resorts to Ultra Knock Tactics for the killer shot

Ultraman Jack: For his case he can go both melee and uses his strength to simply overwhelm his opponents, aka berserker tactics. But ranged works as well as he has the overpowered Ultra Bracelet to launch deadly finishers from mid ranged distance

Ultraman Ace: Courtesy of his overwhelming strength and vast energy reservoir, both melee and ranged tactics as he’s more than capable of overwhelming his opponents with usually heavy blows, but he can also conjure weapons and buff his own melee attacks for a full frontal melee assault. And as mentioned, his degree of control over his own energy also allows for a confident ranged assault with a variety of options

Ultraman Taro: Dude’s basically a wild card, leveraging on his sheer power alone, he literally obliterates kaiju. Coupled with his stamina and self-buff abilities, with some of it being arguably vampiric in nature depending on usage (Absorption of energy using the Ultra Horns). And we haven’t got to the King’s Bracelet yet, which grants him further special abilities and weaponry. And he has the option of also using the insta kill tactics of Ultra Dynamite.

Zoffy: Essentially a tougher Ace, he’s stronger than Ace in melee but his well renowned ‘Strongest Attack in the Universe’ M87 Ray. Although we usually only see his melee tactics, we know that he also has a variety of stun attacks design to wear down and weaken his opponents, all these leads me to believe that he resorts to insta kill tactics via M87 Ray when in a serious fight with his stun and melee designed for zoning in both the melee and ranged frontiers

Leo Brothers: Essentially heavy melee juggernauts, with Leo having the Ultra Mantle, it allows him to gain weaponry and grant some protective abilities to support his melee tactics

80: Tbh I can only say he tries his best. Opts for melee even though he has very ridiculously low durability. But he has a variety of special abilities to back him up in most cases, although he barely survives most of the time. In short, pretty standard balance of melee and ranged attacks but he really should learn to rely more on ranged assaults rather than melee cause the former stats are better than the latter’s. In fact, it wouldn’t harm him if he becomes a main ranged unit

Mebius: Standard mix of melee and ranged. Can engage in armed combat with Mebium Blade. Becomes more of a ranged and abilities unit in Burning Brave due to the greater jump in sheer firepower with Mebium Burst and Burning Mebium Dynamite

Hikari: Same with Mebius in base form. But becomes more of a melee unit once he equips his Tsurugi armor, but it just gives him added defense and thus giving him more confidence for a melee assault

Thanks for the question!

#ultraman #asks

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maxmiz · 6 years

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OMFG!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! mmm I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit more in Max story? I LOVE how he is Slytherin's heir

Hey there @dangpanterita. :D Apologies for answering this so terribly late but my job keeps me incredibly busy. Let me elaborate on the two stories:

1. Max’s story in my Potter/Beyblade Headcanon

Max’s story is pretty neatly woven into the Potterverse in my head and my headcanon about him being an heir of Slytherin makes perfect sense somehow when it comes to writing a story with an epic twist. We all picture him either as a Ravenclaw (for his obvious brains), as a Hufflepuff (for his nature) or as a Gryffindor because the kid’s got some courage (he sky-dived off a damned plane to save his friends). And don’t get me wrong, I don’t picture him in Slytherin house either. But as an heir of Slytherin? Hell, yes.

I was working on a fanfic on this for some time while I was still at uni a few years back and I developed a sort of story out of it in my head. We all know that Judy is a hell of a scientist and there’s plenty of evidence in canon to show that she’s extremely shrewd, proud and ambitious - all of which are qualities of a Slytherin through and through. I’m not saying she’s evil though - but she definitely is as much of a morally grey character in my headcanon as she is in actual canon (especially in season 1 where she is undeniably cold to her son for no good reason).

I primarily imagine Judy as the Minister for Magic in my headcanon. A cold but somewhat level headed witch who is pure-blooded,extremely gifted, headstrong and ambitious. She is for the most part motivated only by her instinct for self preservation (arguably a trait of someone who would be a pure Slytherin heir), but she has a soft corner for her half blood son, Max. That is the only thing in the world that made her break away from her family. She abandoned her Slytherin crazed family to protect her son, and severed all ties with her Slytherin roots to move up in the world and become Minister.

So how was Max born at all if she was a typical Muggle resenting Slytherin?

My headcanon is that Taro, Max’s dad, is a Muggle. That Judy, as a teenager, faced a lot of abuse in her household from her father for not channeling her gifts to terrorize Muggle-borns. She runs away one day, drinks a hell of a lot of firewhiskey,meets a teenaged Muggle Taro at a Muggle bar and ends up pregnant. Once she and Taro both sober up, she feels utterly disgusted that she slept with a Muggle. She tries to abort the child, but cannot. Since childhood she’s been wearing her dead mother’s pendant of Genbu (a gift from her father to her mother) and somehow Genbu casts a protective spell around her unborn foetus to ensure the continuity of Slytherin’s bloodline. She feels helpless because she neither wants the child nor does she have the choice to abort it. She feels cursed and knows that her father will kill her child if he knows he’s a half blood. She flees pregnant to the US and with whatever money she had run away with, she joins Ilvermony to complete her final year of education.

She realises, however, that she can’t continue into the next chapter of her life with Max. She wanted to be Minister for Magic and had no interest in being a mother. Also if her father finds Max, he’ll kill him. But she did love Max. She couldn’t exactly abandon him.

So she reluctantly leaves him with Taro to raise the boy and deletes any permanent records of her being Max’s mother. She gives Max the pendant of Genbu and moves on. Once in every few months she would visit her son, but all of that would happen in secret. Max and Taro knew that Judy was his mother, but the world has no idea.

Max often grew up wondering if his mom is so distant to protect him or if it’s only a facade for her not wanting to raise a child. He often feels conflicted by it (much like in canon).

What is the role of Genbu here?

Genbu, as I mentioned in the earlier headcanon (in the Japanese version of beyblade, Max’s bit beast is called Genbu), is traditionally represented as both a tortoise and a serpent. You can look it up. And that’s where the heir of Slytherin theory finds more support. This is Genbu (source: Wikipedia):

Max was always aware of the fact that the locket that he wore was the locket of Slytherin. He was aware of his heritage because he would often only accidentally be able to control ocean waves, but also speak to snakes before he went to Hogwarts. And of course, Judy told him why he could never reveal who he was.

And truly, because of everything he knew, he begged the sorting hat to not sort him into Slytherin. Eventually he gets sorted into Ravenclaw much to his relief.

Genbu is nothing more than the spirit of Salazar Slytherin trapped in a pendant which gives the heir of Slytherin wearing it the power to harness the same powers as him if ever the Slytherin bloodline is threatened. It can also mess with the head of the wearer.

In my headcanon, ultimately Max fights the spirit from messing with his head and tames it to become who he is. A powerful wizard who controls the element of water and controls serpents.

Max’s personality

In my headcanon, I’ve tried to bring out a darker side of Max. His personality is still the same of course, he’s funny, kind and has a heart of gold. But there’s an inherent darkness inside him. Let’s look at canon for a second. Max never loses his cool. But the few times that he did lose his cool in canon, he channeled his rage into his beyblading to epic proportions. With others, the rage is pretty standard. But when Max would snap, he’d snap big time. When his pride is hurt, he hits back big time.

The guy is smart as hell (calculating angles and saving a puppy with a beyblade requires some brains and skills) which is why he is in Ravenclaw in my story. But, he has all the makings of an heir of Slytherin whose dark side remains buried mostly because the Muggle born blood from Taro’s side keeps him grounded and kind.

Let’s not forget, in my headcanon he’s been raised mostly by Taro. So the kindness is natural. But deep down, he’s every bit his mother’s son too. So I have headcanons about Max having a dark side - a manifestation of his inner Slytherin.

2. Brooklyn’s story in Potter/Beyblade Headcanon

To answer your question, yes, I do picture Brooklyn as Credence to a certain extent. I never actually got to formulating his part of the story in my head but here’s how I imagine it going.

We don’t know a lot about Credence as such. We do know that he is a pure blooded wizard who was raised by an abusive Muggle and developed into an obscurial who somehow survived into adulthood. We also know that he’s extremely powerful, had faced a lot of childhood abuse and had grown up feeling different and alone. And of course, that he was manipulated and used by Grindelwald.

Now let us look at Brooklyn in canon. Brooklyn is also an exceptional wizard. He’s brilliant, a loner and if we look at the very last episode of beyblade, he’s grown up extremely lonely and friendless. He was always different from everyone else, gifted. He has an immense amount of power, is not inherently evil by any stretch of imagination. But judging by canon, it is obvious that Brooklyn has some degree of PTSD and probably had faced tremendous bullying or some form of abuse as child. When Brooklyn is in a mad rage, he assumes this dark uncontrollable form. Also, when BEGA was formed, Beyblade’s key antagonist, Boris (I’m using the English dub name) used Brooklyn and his mad rage and pushed him over the edge.

THIS IS ALL VERY CREDENCE AND GRINDELWALD.

So here’s my headcanon for Brooklyn. Brooklyn was a gifted powerful wizard who never went to Hogwarts. He had a lot of hidden magical talent that he dared not express because the Muggles who raised him were abusive and tried to make him repress it. And he is also an obscurial. I headcanon that Brooklyn’s bit beast is like some physical manifestation of his obscurial form and Boris, for the sake of his personal gains pushes Brooklyn over the age to use his obscurial powers to wreak havoc.

Okay so that’s as much elaboration as I could manage on my headcanons.

Thanks for the question!

#beyblade #headcanons #harry potter #beyblade/hp #max mizuhara #max tate #brooklyn masefield #beyblade headcanon #ask #judy mizuhara #taro mizuhara #bega #crossover

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brokenxfragments · 3 years

Photo

Desire, the Sin Spawn

Icon Faceclaim: FFXIV Model

Theme Song(s)

Burn Me Down - KIRA, ft. GUMI

Parade’s Lust - Taro Kobayashi (Granblue Fantasy)

Basic Information

Age: N/A (ageless)

Gender: Genderfluid (often female)

Height: ???

Weight: ???

Species: Spawn of Sin (Lust)

Orientation/Sexuality: Aromantic/Pansexual

Relationship: Single (ship verse dependent; doesn’t do romance)

Occupation: Advisor, Freelancer

Brief Personality: Shameless— Flirty — Intelligent

Brief Bio: A fearless being of unusual morals, Desire is considered an queer individual who will have ‘favorite' people to pick on in a friendly manner - usually those who repress their needs or desires, often of the sexual kind. Behind the shameless flirt that she is, she’s very intelligent & could very well have conversations that has nothing to do with sex at all, something that seems to be so surprising for some people if they’ve only heard her name & the experience one individual might have with her. In the same hand, she rather enjoys giving genuine sex advice for those in a sexual relationship or bolstering those who lack confidence in what to do. Because of what she is, her appearance can shift to varying degrees to reflect a person’s image of what makes one perfect & desirable if she so chooses, which would include gender-identity.

Full Biography

(WARNING; includes implied de*th(s), implied m*tilation & implied r*pe)

Born in the realm of Infernam as a result of her mother coupling with one of the high-arc soldier angels of Seraphine with an accidental consequence, Desire had an very unusual childhood growing up. Rather than trust Lust, Desire’s mother, to actually teach the girl anything worthwhile, the realm’s own leader Balri, essentially Desire’s grandmother, would oftentimes keep her close & teach her whatever came to mind. The spawn was quite cheerful & inquisitive, a nature that Balri wouldn’t snuff out even though she herself was not at all a cheerful individual. However, some of the teachings would be borderline cruel & unusual to anyone that would ever hear of these lessons - one such as never to fear death. Because Desire was a spawn of Infernam, she wouldn’t truly die by conventional means that would kill mortals. Yet the only way that she wouldn’t fear death, Balri would reason, was to experience death in all the many ways it could happen as well as to not fear the methods used. And those lessons started early at about the age where a human child would be seven when they could comprehend what’s happening to them & understand what it meant, to continue on for years in a slow, steady manner. The first time (perhaps much of the “lessons” in the beginning) had truly traumatized the child & feared the one that she called grandmother, begging to not go through that again, though as she’d be reminded each time, she couldn’t die. Fear was an obstacle that should be stamped out so that she never needed to be afraid. In a strange though twisted way, being reassured after each different death helped Desire to recover as well as gradually become immune to the fear of death & pain, though whether it was healthy or not would always be up for debate.

The girl would pick up on subjects that challenged her intellect, which was praised for since she was certainly no fighter. Her status as a true ‘spawn’, one who was able to have a direct line to one of Balri’s creations, gave her a certain amount of security within the hellish realm, to which besides, none would be foolish enough to risk Balri’s possible raze to try anything. Yet with more souls coming to suffer their punishments & going to begin another life to try again in the mortal coil, Desire felt that she wanted to see what it was like outside of Infernam. It took some time to request permission & receive it, but it would eventually happen when she was at least fully mature. She could see what mortals were like.

Multiple times she’d go out & visit a world at random, observing & interacting as she saw fit. Because of her ability to change her shape, she could appear as a native regardless of her lack of knowledge, oftentimes in a form that was seen as highly appealing. She would sometimes go as a ‘he’ instead as well, giving her a sense of fluidity with her identity over time, though she would still think herself more feminine than masculine. During these visits, she would experience both good & bad - sometimes an attack from a jealous prospective mate of someone Desire was flirting with, or randomly mauled for a law she unwittingly broken in some less civilized worlds. She had even been occasionally killed by the more violent mortals, to which case the lessons she learned from Balri allowed her to not only be unafraid but to also laugh at them, which she found struck them with uncertainty or even fear. It embedded a sense of control over herself in that she didn’t have to fear anyone - save for one, the one that had taught her in the first place of this fact. Balri was perhaps one of the few that could truly snuff out her life if she did anything to truly displease the elder god.

These lessons had ceased when Balri had run out of ways to kill a person, though what she learned from them had carried over to other situations that she hadn’t experienced from her grandmother in the form of a particularly violent inhabitant of Infernam that overpowered the relatively young woman, forcing himself onto her. The violation was initially horrendous, yet she wanted to give him no satisfaction - and so she’d laugh at him, doing so even when he’d snarl & did what he could to maul her even while he kept at it. But it worked to make him pause in confusion & maybe horror so that she could overpower him & killed him with a blade that was lethal to other born inhabitants of Infernam. Just another lesson, but one she learned on her own.

At one point she was finally able to meet her father, the high-arc angel that had remained in Salri’s militia even after earning his right to return to the mortal coil as any desired race as well as what kind of circumstance (high born noble, for example). While initially surprised & somewhat mortified that the event that happened so long ago resulted in a child he never knew, the father known as Sablo took her right into his arms to hug her. Sablo was a much different experience to what she had with her grandmother as well as her mother who would overenthusiastically greet her & inquire if she had any good experiences as though they were best friends more than mother & daughter, yet it wasn’t a bad experience. It was probably the only time she truly experienced real familial affection, which only grew to a familiar feeling as often as she’d visit. He’d start to offer her a place in Seraphine, saying that she had a place there since she was technically a inhabitant because of him, to which was tempting though she’d decline it each time after that first initial day to think about it. She didn’t think she’d have a true place there.

During one of those visits to Seraphine to see her father, that was where she’d meet Rosalia & the other fragment gods, at a time long after Aridem had turned traitor. For some odd reason she sort of latched herself onto the overly-solemn woman, finding it fun to pick on her much to Rosalia’s discomfort. Much as Rosalia would often try to dissuade the other from wanting her company, there’s just a point where she seemed to accept it as well as come to realize that there was a little more to Desire than just constant sex jokes & advising when it wasn’t needed. For Desire, that pretty much qualified them as friends.

Her years blurred on to having as much fun as she can get, sex being on the high part of the list especially since she was good at it, learning what turned others on & how to use that against them to bring them to a high they wouldn’t forget. But it got boring at some point - all things eventually did for an immortal, after all. At first she solved that by moving on into the mortal coil, testing & learning with mortals that came in far more different forms, though that too was not as fun at a certain point. What she learned though was cataloged, an odd habit that grew into a hobby as she started looking at it from a academic point-of-view. It really didn’t help others unless they were Rift-drifters (those that had gotten lost inside the Rift on accident & ended up on a far different world), but all the same, it helped to respark her interest in learning beyond flesh needs. Delving back into such studies was a lot more satisfying, & at some point she found that teaching one about sex was quite more fun as well. Advice was freely given to those that had little idea what to do, yet she doesn’t usually teach in a physical sense much as some might have expected of her.

With the war, she was essentially told to stay out of the way since she was no fighter - capable of defending herself wasn’t the same as working with Balri’s army which would join with her sister’s own. It was one of those rare times that Balri meant it in a concern manner instead of her usual cold manner even if the tone said as much for one who didn’t know her as well as Desire would. Which to be fair, it was because of the Void - perhaps the only other thing that could destroy an immortal like herself & even a elder god like Balri. And so she did as she was told, leaving the universe entirely after wishing those in it well. Yet she had a feeling, deep down, that she wouldn’t ever see most of them again. Living in a new world, she made herself a comfortable lifestyle, though at some point her wanderlust would eventually kick in. Plus what few that had survived she could sense them when they would eventually come.

#._;muse;_.no.one.is.immune.to.temptation.(.desire.)#._;ooc;_.the.echoes.beyond.(.mod.)

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ecotone99 · 5 years

Text

[SF] Next to Godliness

“PEOPLE ARE FUCKING DEAD!” Taro bellowed.

“Yes, Taro, we’re aware. Please sit down,” his father, the Shogun, said in response.

It’d been quite the day.

The planet of Tsukuyomi was an oddity in the Amaterasu Commonwealth of human space. Some would go so far as to call it an eyesoar. Amaterasu was the largest single dominion in the Human Quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy, controlling three entire solar system under one banner. Well, almost three entire systems: one lone planet stood in obnoxious defiance, the needless contrarian to the agreeable Amaterasu residents, a zit on its otherwise pristine face. That zit was Tsukuyomi, originally the capital of the Commonwealth when it was merely one system (also called Tsukuyomi, naturally). Unfortunately, they’d become so aggressively introspective and isolationist that they hadn’t even noticed when their neighboring planet of Amaterasu declared themselves independent, moved the capital to their own planet, took control of the system from them, and began expanding outwards under a new flag (an act the Tsukuyomi considered akin to a teenager dying their hair and taking a pretentious nickname).

“WELL THEN WHY AREN’T YOU DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT!?” Taro Tanaka, age 34, said from across the boardroom. His father, the Shogun, sat at the other end of the long white table. Everything in the room was white like it’d been bleached: the table, the chairs, the clothes the council members wore. It was all so terribly clean.

Outside was their world: everywhere were pure green-leafed trees and sparkling blue rivers. Their sun, Taiyo, burned bright above them. The people of their capital city, New Tokyo (not to be confused with the similarly named capital city of Amaterasu, disparagingly referred to as ‘Newer Tokyo’ or ‘New New Tokyo’ or, in less than polite company, ‘Jailbait Tokyo’), was a buzzing hive of white marble and limestone and silicon buildings with happy citizens, many of them government employees, in clean white clothes. And they were all in perfect health.

On Tsukuyomi, everyone was in perfect health.

Nobody was injured.

Everyone lived a very long time.

And everyone was beautiful.

Except Taro. Taro had what those on Old Earth called ‘the Hapsburg Jaw.’ He wasn’t entirely sure what that was, and he decided at a relatively young age he could live without a definitive answer.

But everyone else was beautiful. The air on Tsukuyomi was the cleanest any human had ever breathed. It had been clean when humans first arrived there- they hadn’t needed to do much terraforming at all! And they’d only made it cleaner. The soil was so rich and the crops so nutritious on Tsukuyomi that everyone’s dietary needs were met by plants alone. The situation was so good that when Tsukuyomi was first discovered, a bidding war occured in regards to who would get to settle it. An intense court case and a massive amount of boardroom meetings occurred as a result, and the winner was Taro’s answer, Shiro Tanaka. The second highest bidder had been a sore loser and moved to Amaterasu.

What was eventually found was that the air was so clean, the inhabitants could no longer go to other human planets without the aid of air filtration system- this was discovered when a group of spies went to Susanoo, the fifth planet from the sun called Taiyo, and dropped dead and were found lying in the street by local authorities. It… It had been an ordeal. Lotta paperwork, lotta proverbial (and less than proverbial) dick-sucking had been needed to soothe that particular injury.

“Junior Vice Undersecretary Tanaka, we’re doing everything we can,” his father said. Of course he referred to him by his title- he always did when he was irritated with him. It reminded Taro of how far down the ladder he was, and how he’d only gotten where he was in the first place because his father was Shogun.

What was eventually found, by Taro himself, was that everything was a bit too clean, and that everyone was a bit too healthy. And then one night, his girlfriend, Karen Callahan, introduced him to her parents, and found that she looked exactly like them. Both of them. To an uncanny degree. And that all her siblings looked like that too. And her grandmother. And her nieces and nephews. And the photographic projection of what their child would look like. And all their eyes were far too close together- they practically just one large eye, quite frankly.

It was at that point Taro began to see these things everywhere: people with eyes too close together, or too far apart; people with ears almost as big as their heads, or ears on different spots on each side (up to an including on their necks); people with necks the size of torsos, or as small as their thumbs. And a whole lot of people, based on a skim Taro then made through the marriage certificates, who got married despite having the same last name, or almost the same last name but spelled slightly different, or the same spelling but an annotation claiming they were pronounced differently. Also, awfully high infant mortality rates for those considered to have incompatible genes.

It was… An alarming discovery, to say the least.

“Oh really, Dad?” Taro said to his father. “And what exactly are we doing about this?”

“I said ‘we’, son, not ‘we’.”

“That’s the same thing, Dad. You literally just said the same thing.”

Taro’s father, the Shogun, briefly put a ponderous hand to his chin and said, “Oh, why so I did. Well, I meant ‘we’ as in the Council and I, not ‘we’ as in the Council and I and you.”

Taro blinked.

Taro had brought all this to his father, who had done the exact same ponderous pose when confronted with the realization that they were in fact a eugenics-based state. And that they had a tendency to decide people’s careers for them before they were born- since Taro had the genetic markers of a politician (which made sense- both his parents were politicians), he was a politician, despite most people who’d met him (including his father, the Shogun) confessing he had the disposition of a street cleaner (and, statistically, over 73% of Tsukuyomi citizens had two politicians for parents, and the federal government used their society’s unemployment rate of 0% as a massive point of national pride).

This had been a revelation to the Council, who took immediate action: they opened up Tsukuyomi to international trade for the first time in over a hundred years. They reopened official channels with Amaterasu, said that their rich soil and produce could be of immense value to their massive commonwealth. The Prime Minister of Amaterasu, Jose MacDonald, agreed immediately. And perhaps even more significantly, Prime Minister MacDonald decided to visit Tsukuyomi, the first non-native to do so in over a hundred and ten years.

Parades were prepared. People gathered in the federal district of the capital. And landing pad was built specifically for the Prime Minister who had gone to Tsukuyomi (whose approval ratings had back home had gone through the roof).

His Ornithopter landed on the pad. There were no bad days on Tsukuyomi (save for perhaps, somewhat subjectively, when the Shogun (Taro’s father) felt like rain)), and thus the momentous day was marked by clear skies and warm winds.

The Prime Minister stepped out into the sun and immediately dropped dead.

He then fell off the landing pad and broke his neck for good measure.

And, befitting of a member of the recently deceased who had eaten a hearty breakfast that day, the corpse proceeded to shit itself.

There was a very long, very pregnant (it called to mind Taro’s mother’s own twelve-month pregnancy for him) pause of abject silence settled over the capital. Everything was so white and clean that the sun shined off it a little too well; it got in everyone’s eyes, made them squint, preventing them from looking directly at what had happened and processing it in earnest.

The autopsy revealed the cause of death as asphyxiation: as it turned out, the Tsukuyomi’s inability to breathe the air of other human planets cut both ways. The air on Tsukuyomi was so clean it barely counted as air anymore. It was missing several trace elements that the body required to register that what it was breathing was in fact breathable.

The same fate befell the rest of Jose MacDonald’s entourage, as the overly-sterile air had made it into the cockpit of the ornithopter as well.

Hence, people were fucking dead, rather than a person, in the singular, was fucking dead.

“I see,” Taro said to his father the day after the entire traumatic affair. “So am I not welcomed here?”

“No,” Taro’s father, the Shogun, said. A member of the council, a woman named Zari Applebright, whispered into his ear. “Er, I’m sorry, I meant ‘no’ as in ‘no, you’re not not welcomed here,’ not ‘no’ as in ‘no, you’re not welcomed here.”

“So am I welcomed here?” Taro wrinkled his very, very large brow.

“No.”

“But you just said-”

“I said you’re not not welcomed here. Try to keep up, son.”

Taro blinked.

Taro exhaled through his nostrils.

Taro left the room and came back with an antique tommy gun, which he then used to mow down absolutely everyone present. People were fucking dead, indeed.

He screamed.

He kept screaming.

Literally would not stop screaming, even after everyone was dead and he was completely out of bullets;

Even after his co-conspirators came and grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back;

Even after someone tried to pry the gun from his hands, and he responded by crashing the gun into their face; still screaming;

Even after he was forced to fight off five other people with the empty gun as a blunt instrument; he won the fight, using the gun like an escrima stick and beating the piss out of everyone who got near him while moving throughout the room like a trained ballerina;

He would not stop screaming. He never even paused for a breath, it was all one continuous, pained scream.

Finally, however, he ran out of breath. As he groped for air, he was sucker-punched and lost consciousness.

As stated above, it was quite the day.

***

As it turned out, Taro’s co-conspirators were less on the ‘co’ and more on the ‘conspirators.’

As it turned out, while they had not instructed him to kill anyone, they knew full well that someone with his mental instability would absolutely do so. In fact, he’d exceeded their expectations quite magnificently.

As it turned out, they were fully prepared to lock him away in a padded cell when it was all over. They let him watch a broadcast of the new Shogun’s inaugural speech. It was the man who’d approached him about confronting the council in the first place, whom he’d first met with after realizing all the inbreeding and eugenics their society was indulging in. His name was Seth Galloway. Seth Galloways’s inaugural speech went a little something like this:

“My fellow citizens, we live in trying times. Our society is broken, clearly. We have been wallowing in our own stagnant decay for years. However, I do not blame you. I blame the former council. They were all killed today by disaffected youth Taro Tanaka.”

Youth? I’m thirty years old!

“Taro was the son of our former Shogun, and, in a state of outrage, killed his father and the council. Taro saw the truth of what our world had come to. While I don’t agree with his methods, his heart was in the right place. He is currently in an undisclosed facility receiving treatment for condition.”

I… I spent all day fingerpainting.

“While their end was rather inhumane, the former council did need replacement. Wholesale upheaval. And that is where we come in. The new council and myself will be treating not just the symptoms, but the disease itself. Starting today, we shall be a more open and less binding society!”

Bullshit!

Bullshit indeed.

Taro was allowed to watch the news once per week. Taro saw updates on the so called ‘cure’ Seth kept talking about:

To combat the lack of genetic diversity in their society, everyone under the age of fifty and above the age of eighteen was required to procreate with at least one complete stranger. It was known officially as ‘the strength of difference’ and unofficially ‘your societal obligation to BREED!’ And yet people went along with it;

The children produced by these strange affairs of sorts were given over to the government as state wards, raised in the long-neglected agricultural sector of the planet’s economy. When there were too many children for the available farm jobs, they started giving some of them over to the even more neglected factory sector;

Everyone was obligated to spend at least one full day a year picking up trash. If there was no trash, they had to make trash in order to then clean it up. They also had to have an officially licensed federal sponsor with them when doing so;

Drugs and alcohol were reintroduced to society. Children were required to have had their first cigarette by age six;

Everyone had to at some point in their lives come to visit Taro, who was kept in his padded cell and forbidden from bathing.

Eventually, Taro stopped watching the news.

Years passed. Taro recalled the mandatory five baths a day every member of their society had once been required to take, the requirement to report any person who might be blind or deaf or autistic or hyperactive or (God-forbid) bow-legged to the government for ‘processing’, the fact that biting your nails was an offense punishable by a fine of considerable heft. He was almost nostalgic, but couldn’t manage to delude himself that much.

Taro woke up one day and realized his gray hair was down to his waist. He did what he was required to by masturbating in front of his fans at the window in front of the padded cell. Then they all cleared away suddenly, before he’d finished masturbating (he’d managed to learn to hold off orgasm for as much as five hours at a time).

Someone had come to visit him: it was Karen. Or it was someone who looked a lot like Karen. Maybe it was her daughter. Or her granddaughter. Or her grandmother. It was hard to tell.

She pulled out a gun and fired a bullet into the glass. It shattered, and Karen extended him a hand. Taro, lacking any other source of stimulus even mildly more interesting, accepted it, and they walked out. He was bathed, trimmed, and clothed.

Karen, as they sat inside her ornithopter, said, “We need to stop the current administration. They’re doing-”

And then she told him a bunch of things he already knew.

“So basically we want your help overthrowing the government,” Karen concluded.

“Lemme guess,” Taro said, “You wanna put me in a room with Seth and the others and then I’ll lose my shit and kill them all, and then you’ll lock me up again and take over and pull a complete one-eighty?”

“Um…,” Karen stumbled.

“Well too bad,” Taro said, “Because I’ve already lost my shit. Just now, in fact.”

And then, before she could ask what in the fuck that meant, he threw her out of the ornithopter. She plummeted to her death. Taro’s only regret was not asking her how her mother/daughter was doing- he was genuinely curious. Taro took the ornithopter and flew to the nearest transit off-world. He purchased an air-filtration masked and hopped a flight- nobody recognized him with his beard shorn and hair cut and while wearing people-clothes.

Taro went to Mars, not sure what else to do. And on Tsukuyomi, everything changed, and absolutely nothing did, once again.

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kathleenseiber · 5 years

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Climate change could double toxic arsenic in rice

Climate change may cause a dramatic drop in rice production in major growing regions, a decline that could jeopardize critical food supplies, researchers report.

New experiments exploring rice production in future climate conditions show rice yields could drop about 40% by 2100—with potentially devastating consequences in parts of the world that rely on the crop as a basic food source.

What’s more, changes to soil processes due to increased temperatures will cause rice to contain twice as much toxic arsenic than the rice consumed today, according to the study, published in Nature Communications.

“By the time we get to 2100, we’re estimated to have approximately 10 billion people, so that would mean we have 5 billion people dependent on rice, and 2 billion who would not have access to the calories they would normally need,” says coauthor Scott Fendorf, professor of earth system science at Stanford University’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. “We have to be aware of these challenges that are coming so we can be ready to adapt.”

Rice as baby food

Researchers specifically looked at rice because it grows in flooded paddies that help loosen the arsenic from the soil and make it especially sensitive to arsenic uptake. While many food crops today contain small amounts of arsenic, some growing regions are more susceptible than others.

Future changes in soil due to higher temperatures combined with flooded conditions cause rice plants to take up arsenic at higher levels—and using irrigation water with naturally occurring high arsenic exacerbates the problem.

While these factors won’t affect all global commodities in the same way, they do extend to other flood-grown crops, like taro and lotus.

“I just didn’t expect the magnitude of impact on rice yield we observed,” says Fendorf, who is also a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. “What I missed was how much the soil biogeochemistry would respond to increased temperature, how that would amplify plant-available arsenic, and then—coupled with the temperature stress—how that would really impact the plant.”

A naturally occurring, semi-metallic chemical, arsenic exists in most soils and sediments, but generally in a form that plants don’t take up. Chronic exposure to arsenic leads to skin lesions, cancers, aggravation of lung disease, and, ultimately, death.

It is especially concerning in rice not only because of its global significance, but also because the low-allergen food is often introduced early to infants.

“I think this problem is also crucial for people that have young kids in our society,” says lead author E. Marie Muehe, a former postdoctoral scholar at Stanford who’s now at the University of Tübingen, Germany. “Because infants are a lot smaller than we are, if they eat rice, that means that they take up more arsenic relative to their body weight.”

‘Soil is alive’

The researchers created future climate conditions in greenhouses based on estimates of a possible 5 degree Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) temperature increase and twice as much atmospheric carbon dioxide by 2100, as projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

While previous research examined the effects of increasing temperature in the context of the global food crisis, this study was the first to account for soil conditions in combination with shifts in climate.

For the experiments, the group grew a medium-grain rice variety in soil from the rice-growing region of California. They controlled the greenhouses for temperature, carbon dioxide concentrations, and soil arsenic levels, which will be higher in the future due to its buildup in soils from irrigating crops with arsenic-contaminated water, a problem that by overpumping groundwater worsens.

“We don’t often think about this, but soil is alive—it’s teeming with bacteria and a lot of different microorganisms,” Fendorf says. “It turns out those microorganisms determine whether the arsenic stays partitioned onto the minerals and away from the plants or comes off the minerals into the water phase.”

The researchers found that with increased temperatures, microorganisms destabilized more of the soil’s inherent arsenic, leading to greater amounts of the toxin in the soil water available for the rice to take up. Once taken up, arsenic inhibits nutrient absorption and decreases plant growth and development, factors that contributed to the 40% decrease in yield the scientists observed.

Early warning, future planning

While the dramatic loss in production is a major cause for concern, the scientists remain hopeful that this research will help producers find potential solutions for feeding the world.

“The good news is that given past advances in terms of the global community’s ability to breed varieties that can adapt to new conditions, along with revisions to soil management, I’m optimistic we can get around the problems observed in our study,” Fendorf says.

“I’m also optimistic that as we continue to shine a light on the threats resulting from a 5 degree Celsius change, society will adopt practices to ensure we never reach that degree of warming.”

As next steps, Fendorf, coauthor Tianmei Wang, and Muehe hope to use remote sensing to pinpoint contaminated rice paddies in order to model future yields and arsenic contamination.

“This is most likely to be a problem where most rice is consumed, so we think about South and East Asia,” says Wang, a PhD candidate in earth system science. “Especially for people like my dad—he consumes rice three times a day and he just cannot live without it.”

Source: Stanford University

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billgsoto · 6 years

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The Farm Bill and U.S. Territories: Setting the Stage

On the farm of Wilfredo Rodriguez-Medina, Las Marías, Puerto Rico. Photo credit: Wilfredo Rodriguez-Medina.

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a three-part blog series on how the farm bill impacts farmers and rural communities in the U.S. Territories. This series was written and researched by NSAC policy intern Dariana Mattei-Ramos, a native of Puerto Rico and an advocate for food and agriculture justice. Dariana holds a master’s degree in Food and Agriculture Law and Policy from Vermont Law School. Upcoming posts will focus on usage of federal farm programs in the territories, barriers to participation, and strategies to improve access to federal resources for these underserved communities.

In the United States, federal policies shape every part of the food and farm system and impact farmers, consumers, and rural communities both within and beyond the fifty formally recognized states. While some federal laws and legislation (including the Farm Bill) include the U.S. Territories under the definition of a “State” for the purpose of program eligibility, others may expressly exempt or have different eligibility criteria for territories.

In this blog series, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) will discuss the relationship between the United States and its territories, analyze how select farm bill programs are implemented across the territories, and discuss some of the implementation challenges and recommendations for improvement. In line with NSAC’s commitment to racial equity – and with the next farm bill on the horizon – we believe it is important for marginalized communities across the U.S. and territories to have a voice in the federal policymaking process.

The Legal Relationship Between the U.S. and its Territories

The history of the U.S. Territories is an interesting, complex, and sensitive topic that warrants much discussion. In this blog series, we are only able to briefly address this history and will focus our discussions on food and agriculture policy.

Currently, there are five permanently inhabited U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands (see map below).

Location of U.S. Territories. Source: U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. citizenship at birth is granted in all five territories except American Samoa, where residents are considered U.S. Nationals. However, this legal status does not mean that citizens of the territories have the same privileges as those of the 50 states; residents of the territories lack full representation in Congress and have limited voting rights.

Puerto Rico, for example, has had limited sovereignty since it became a “free associated state” (“Estado Libre Asociado”, or a commonwealth) in 1952. This relationship status with the U.S. allowed Puerto Rico to have its own constitution, which was ratified by Congress and approved by President Truman. However, Puerto Rican sovereignty is still an issue, as evidenced by these three key cases: Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, Puerto Rico v. Sánchez Valle, PROMESA Act

In 2016, Congress passed the PROMESA (Spanish for “promise”) Act, which established an oversight board to manage Puerto Rico’s finances in light of the island’s $72 billion debt. While the Governor of Puerto Rico sits on this board, he has no voting rights – meaning fiscal control is in the hands of the other board members, who are appointed by Congress.

All territories have a non-voting member in the House of Representatives formally representing them in Congress, but this representation is severely limited without the right to cast a vote on legislation. With respect to individual voting rights, U.S. citizens living in the territories cannot vote in U.S. Presidential elections, although they can vote in primary elections. American Samoa, Guam and the Virgin Islands are still on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories (in other words, they are colonies).

Overview of the Territories

All current U.S. Territories are comprised of small islands. Puerto Rico, the largest of the territories, is comprised of three islands (Isla Grande, Vieques, and Culebra), as is the Virgin Islands (St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John). Across the globe in the Pacific Region, American Samoa consists of five main islands (Tutuila is the largest and most populated of the five), Northern Mariana Islands consists of fifteen small islands, and Guam consists of one island. The figure below shows the population of each territory.

The main economic driver throughout all of the territories is tourism, with the exception of Guam, which depends heavily on the military industry. Retail trade, manufacturing, and wholesale trade are also major economic activities in the territories. The islands are small in size and have limited agricultural land, which means they are highly dependent on food imports and offer few jobs in the agriculture sector. It is also important to note that following Hurricanes Irma and María, which hit Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017 and severely affected all industries, both territories are still undergoing recovery processes.

Agricultural Demographics

The U.S. Territories are split between the Caribbean and the Pacific, which makes them quite geographically and agriculturally distinct from each other. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, the main agricultural products are fruit, vegetables, sorghum and Senepol cattle. In Puerto Rico, the three main products are cattle, horticultural specialties, and coffee. On the other side of the globe, the main agricultural products in Guam are fruits, copra and vegetables. Finally, in American Samoa, major products include bananas, coconuts, vegetables, taro, breadfruit, yams, copra, pineapples, and papayas.

The most recent Agriculture Census data available for Puerto Rico is from 2012, whereas the most recent data for other territories is from 2007. This disparity creates some challenges in comparing the current agricultural realities on these islands. Basic agricultural data based on the most recent census surveys for each territory is listed below:

Puerto Rico:

13,159 farms and 584,988 cuerdas (traditional measure of land in Puerto Rico and roughly equal to one acre) of land in agriculture.

Average farm size: 44.5 cuerdas. Most of Puerto Rico’s farms are considered “small scale”: 5,129 farms were smaller than 10 cuerdas in 2012; down from 2007 when there were 7,502 farms smaller than 10 cuerdas. In 2007, there were 207 “large scale” farms (from 175 to 259 cuerdas), which spiked to 401 farms in this size range in 2012.

11,938 farms were owned by an individual or family.

S. Virgin Islands (U.S.V.I):

Interestingly, the number of farms in U.S.V.I. grew from 192 in 2002 to 219 in 2007, while the number of agricultural acres decreased from 9,168 to 5,881.

S V.I agriculture is primarily small scale farming: in 2007, 39 percent of farms were less than three acres in size.

Guam:

204 farms in 2007, up from 153 farms in 2002.

1,000 acres in agriculture, with the average farm size at 9.6 acres. 27 farms were from one to two acres in size, while 17 farms were larger than 20 acres (which is the highest measure on the Census for Guam).

Northern Mariana Islands

256 farms and 4,013 acres of land in farming in 2007. This was an increase from 2002, when there were 214 farms and 2,353 acres in production.

Average farm size: 16 acres. Roughly half of all farms in the Northern Mariana Islands are less than four acres in size.

American Samoa:

5,840 farms, with 19,003 acres in production. This is a decrease from 2003, when there were 7,094 farms in 19,642 acres in production.

Average farm size: 3.3 acres.

Census data for American Samoa distinguishes between commercial and noncommercial farms. There are more farms in the noncommercial (3,872 farms) than in commercial (1,968) sector in this territory.

Food Systems and Key Issues

All of the island territories depend heavily on food imports. For example, before hurricane María, Puerto Rico imported 85 percent of its food supply. That number jumped to 95 percent following the hurricane. This high dependence on food imports threatens the food security and sovereignty of the islands, which are already struggling with extreme weather events including: rising sea levels, extended droughts, hurricanes, extreme temperatures, and frequent rain events. Though weather has always been a challenge for the islands, climate change has caused the severity and frequency of these events and their impacts to increase. Transportation restrictions (like the Jones Act) further limit access to and increase the cost of food throughout the territories.

Of all the policies and programs of the farm bill, the area of most impact for the territories is likely the Nutrition Title. Families in the territories rely heavily on support from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as “food stamps”), which is administered differently in each territory. For example, in Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Mariana Islands, nutrition assistance is provided as a block grant program rather than an entitlement program. Under a block granted program, total benefits to each territory are capped as opposed to based on need.

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) assessed the feasibility of implementing SNAP in the Northern Mariana Islands in the same way it is implemented in the states (according to need). Unfortunately, the report concluded that making this shift would be too time consuming, resource intensive and expensive.

SNAP is especially important in the islands because in addition to providing daily nutrition assistance to families in need, it can also be utilized to provide short-term food assistance after a natural disaster. USDA provides this support through their Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP). Following the destruction from Hurricanes Irma and María, USDA approved the U.S. Virgin Island’s request to operate a D-SNAP program, and also issued waivers to increase flexibility in the administration of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (aka “WIC”) and the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. Following hurricane María, D-SNAP benefits were also made available for people using SNAP in Puerto Rico who were relocated in the contiguous United States as a result of the hurricane.

Digging Deeper into Farm Bill Programs

In parts two and three of this series, we will examine how farm bill policies and programs are translated and implemented in the territories. The posts will analyze existing data on program usage, address questions of accessibility and outreach, and discuss the challenges that farmers within the territories face. Finally, we will look at distribution of USDA program funding in the territories, review what local initiatives are taking place, and identify opportunities to address the challenges faced by farmers and communities throughout the territories.

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enchantingsandwichnacho-blog · 6 years

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If You Can’t Lose Weight, Try These 34 Tricks Immediately to Reset Your Fat-Burning Hormones

Unexplained weight advantage has been linked to hormonal imbalances. As women get older, they’re more likely to revel in this hassle.

Why Hormones need to be Reset

every hormone in our our bodies is sort of a key which needs to show a lock on the way to do its paintings. The “locks” are truely receptor web sites. numerous inflammations can affect the receptors and this is why a few hormones can also grow to be useless.

a few hidden motives why receptor sites can be ineffective include:

“grain drain” from wheat, rye, barley, and corn-primarily based merchandise, typically genetically modified, compounding the hassle regular publicity to xenoestrogens, materials which mimic estrogen, in our food plan, environment, and our private care merchandise meat, dairy and eggs from animals handled with increase hormones sugar, alcohol and caffeine intake excessive fructose consumption, from high fructose corn syrup and even from natural foods like unsweetened applesauce and tomatoes pressure, EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies) and sleep deprivation provide your self a personal Hormone track-Up

Making some easy changes in your each day recurring can definitely help preserve hormonal balance, permitting you to take charge of your weight and health.

read on to find out about critical hormones in ladies’s our bodies that ought to be balanced to be wholesome and feel properly.

Estrogen a hundred and one

Estrogen is an particularly critical hormone. whilst it isn’t balanced with the related hormone progesterone, this imbalance can reason water retention, reminiscence loss, and migraine headaches. An hormonal imbalance may additionally cause fats accumulation across the hips and thighs. sooner or later, it can accelerate the getting older procedure.

music-Up hints For smooth Estrogen Receptors

follow a topical progesterone cream can act against estrogen dominance. keep away from copper-rich foods like nuts, seeds, avocados, chocolate and shellfish. Copper is established to be closely related with estrogen, so ladies who use copper IUDs or beginning control capsules are more likely to have troubles with estrogen dominance. constantly wash your fruits and veggies properly to easy them from herbicides, estrogen-mimicking insecticides and fungicides. prevent reheating meals in plastic containers. Drink water from glass or stainless-steel bottles, no longer from plastic ones. Don’t use personal care products that include endocrine disruptors like parabens and phthalates. Defeat excess estrogen by using using two tablespoons of lignin-wealthy toasted bloodless milled flax seeds every day. Sprinkle it for your meals or positioned it in your smoothies. Season soup, stew, chili or other bean dishes with 2-three cardamom seeds. Cardamom has an notable ability to cleanse and detoxify the liver, that’s important for hormone balancing. manipulate the estrogen metabolism via supplementing with DIM (diindolylmethane). Take 100 mg two times a day with meals. What about Insulin degrees?

whilst we devour excessive quantities of alcohol, sugar, and caffeine, our insulin levels may also upward thrust. dangerous meals and excessive stages of fat consumption also can increase blood sugar degrees, overloading receptor web sites and accelerating the accumulation of fat.

Insulin resistance occurs while the receptors are blocked, inflicting high blood sugar ranges and excessive triglycerides, too.

when you have problems with weight advantage, excessive and common starvation, lacking awareness or motivation, troubles with awareness, annoying feelings, or fatigue, then it is time to easy up your insulin receptor web sites.

music-Up tricks For easy Insulin Receptors

Drink a glass of water with one teaspoon of raw apple cider vinegar in the course of every meal. The acidity of ACV slows down the digestion of carbohydrates, doubtlessly reducing blood sugar levels up to 30%! First element inside the morning, drink hot lemon water as opposed to a cup of espresso. drinking espresso at the same time as fasting is related to improved insulin levels and decreased insulin sensitivity, consistent with the the american Diabetes association. Chromium is an essential mineral for blood sugar law, however is generally poor in our food plan. The UNI KEY weight reduction components carries four hundred mg of chromium, assisting insulin to work quickly and greater efficaciously. Use stevia in place of sugar in drinks, smoothies, and baking. Stevia is a evidently sweet-tasting herb that does not cause extended blood sugar degree. upload cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, and coriander for your meals, all of which could metabolize sugar. What Does Leptin Do?

The hormone of satiety is known as leptin. if you sense hungry soon after you have got ate up your meal, then you probable have clogged leptin receptors. The hassle is worsened in case you eat high amounts of fructose rather than wholesome fats.

song-Up tricks For easy Leptin Receptors

To solve the hassle, you need to avoid meals rich in fructose because it stimulates the appetite, including processed food and drink. much less risky options are agave syrup, tomatoes and unsweetened apple sauce. consume protein inside 30 minutes after waking up. Drink a plant-primarily based protein smoothie, as it’s far scientifically established to easy leptin receptors. Reactivate leptin receptor sensitivity by means of ingesting omega fatty acids 3, 6, and 9. Black currant seed oil is wealthy in all of these critical fats that improve the metabolism, combat infection, and make your hair, skin, and fingernails vibrant. Cortisol, the pressure Hormone

The hormone cortisol is activated with the aid of strain, sleep deprivation and EMF publicity. only a single night time of improper sleep can boost cortisol ranges with the aid of forty five%! A annoying scenario at paintings is sufficient to overload cortisol receptors in only a few minutes. frequently, use of wireless devices additionally triggers excessive cortisol production, with the introduction of over 20 warmth-shock proteins. excessive cortisol tiers are connected with fats accumulation across the midsection, low immunity, tissue destruction, salt and sugar cravings, and irritation.

track-Up hints For smooth Cortisol Receptors

eat coffee with one tablespoon of coconut oil and vanilla whey protein. Black espresso on an empty belly increases blood sugar stages, which also increases cortisol tiers. including a touch healthful fats and protein can save you the cortisol stage from growing. exercise yoga and meditation. those pressure-relieving activities are recognised to lower cortisol degrees. Don’t use digital gadgets one hour before mattress. EMFs have an effect on the frame on a organic stage, growing cortisol degrees as nicely. attempt studying a e-book in preference to watching tv. Hormones within the Thyroid Gland

The thyroid gland is very critical. Inactive or underactive thyroid glands can reason problems with depression, joint pain, constipation, fatigue, impaired reminiscence, dry skin, bloodless arms and toes, susceptible fingernails, and hair loss.

song-Up hints For smooth Thyroid Hormone Receptors

a variety of grains include gluten, a sort of protein that is very just like the thyroid hormone, so it could misinform our our bodies to produce lesser amounts of this essential hormone. avoid gluten-containing grains to naturally cause thyroid hormone production. Wheat, spelt, rye, kamut, oats, couscous, barley, and triticale have to not be ate up. Gluten-loose grains consist of taro, millet, teff, buckwheat, brown or wild rice, quinoa and amaranth. as opposed to flour, you may use arrowroot or tapioca for thickening. Use coconut oil for cooking and baking. This healthy fats contains medium chain fatty acids which can be recognised to enhance thyroid characteristic and improve metabolism by using fifty six%! Run some exams. consult your doctor to run a thyroid take a look at that evaluates TSH, loose T4, loose T3, reverse T3, and thyroid antibodies. but, you must be aware that ��everyday” values of these hormones aren’t always the precise level on your body. Human Grown Hormone

Human growth hormone (HGH) is not only responsible for growing. It additionally performs a first-rate position in strengthening bones and, as we grow older, it protects the coronary heart. regrettably, once you switch forty, HGH production may decrease by way of via 14% every ten years!

The hassle will become even worse when we consume immoderate quantities of HGH in meat, dairy, and eggs, which can be regularly handled with anther increase hormone referred to as rBST. This unnatural hormone can mislead our bodies into producing less of our own natural HGH. symptoms of low HGH degrees can consist of muscle loss, depression, anxiety, high body fat percent, anxiety, low libido, and high blood stress.

song-Up tricks For easy HGH Receptors

eat Montmorency tart cherries. they’re wealthy in melatonin. Italian researchers observed that after individuals took five mg of melatonin at night before bed, they extended their HGH degrees by using as much as 157%. So, drink ¼ cup of tart cherry juice diluted with 1 cup of water between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Do an c programming language education exercising program. strive combining short periods of high depth training with longer durations of low to fairly extreme schooling. it may increase HGH manufacturing with the aid of more than 500%! ground yourself. The modern Earthing “technology” obviously will increase melatonin ranges and on the equal time it lowers cortisol level and gets rid of irritation. eliminate dairy. even though most of the milk labels declare that cows were no longer dealt with with rBST, many different dairy products aren’t claiming the same – suppose butter, yogurt, sour cream, cheese, and espresso creamer. maintain the artificial boom hormones faraway from your plate! consume only organic meat and eggs. USDA natural standards do not allow using boom hormone in animals. The every day Detox

no longer best does excess fat contribute to weight advantage, but it additionally consists of toxins that may damage our body. chemical compounds, leftover drugs, heavy metals, and extra hormones may be deposited in our fat cells. when we strive to lose weight, many toxins can be launched into our blood stream.

those pollutants can be dangerous. you may detoxify your frame within the following approaches:

prepare a highly-priced detox tub a few times per week. First, upload 2 cups baking soda and a pair of cups sea salt right into a warm tub after which loosen up until the water cools. positioned a towel round you and do now not shower for 4 hours. the recent water will bring the pollutants to the skin’s surface. as the water cools, osmosis cleans the pollution from the nice and cozy frame and into the cooling water. this is specially beneficial to alleviate jet lag and radiation-related fatigue. Cleanse with Liver Lovin’ method, which includes taurine. Taurine is used by the liver to supply bile, that’s critical for reducing and removing heavy metals, aldehydes, chlorine, alcohol, petroleum solvents and ammonia. attempt ingesting ½ of your frame weight in oz of water each day, as well as cran-water! Cranberry water and natural water are without a doubt critical to hold your lymphatic fluid flowing, that is crucial for toxin elimination. Fiber up with flax and chia seeds. Their soluble and insoluble fiber bind fast to pollution which might be observed inside the digestive tract and do away with them from our bodies. Flax and chia seeds are wonderful, so attempt ingesting 2-four tablespoons each day! strive the use of activated charcoal, that’s able to absorb the toxins within the stomach.

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pcinvasion-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on PC Invasion

New Post has been published on https://www.pcinvasion.com/nier-automata-review

NieR: Automata Review

There’s a line in NieR: Automata that’s repeated a few times, in different contexts. To paraphrase it, it’s that something – be it an item or an emotion – “reflects what’s in your heart.” To my mind, that’s very, very true of NieR: Automata itself.

NieR: Automata is ostensibly a game about a war between androids and machines. An alien invasion forced humanity to evacuate to the moon, and the aliens’ machine army still roams the Earth. Humanity have built their own androids to fight back against the machines, in the hopes of someday retaking control of Earth so that the humans can return to their planet once again.

However, saying that NieR: Automata is about androids fighting machines is sort of like saying that Les Misérables is about a guy chasing a criminal. It’s technically true, but it’s drastically underestimating the nature of the thing, because NieR: Automata is about religion, war, evolution, preconceptions, humanity, morality, loss, despair, revenge, determinism, and about a dozen other concepts. It is considerably more than a hack-and-slash game about robots. Which parts of this you consider to be most overt and most important probably say more about you than they do the game; I found it to focus more on a couple of those concepts than others, but I in no way believe I’ve got the “right” interpretation. Or maybe this is just my past as an English Literature student trained to find meaning in everything coming into play.

If that’s turned you off, don’t worry. It’s also a game with a lot of large explosions and over-the-top action scenes. I mean, the prologue closes with a fight against an ambulatory oil rig, which ends when you beat it to death with its own giant arm.

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out has nothing on this.

And it’s hauntingly beautiful. Seriously, the presentation of this game borders on the impeccable, both visually and aurally. In visual terms, different areas are tinted different colours at different times, evoking particular feelings. In audio terms, all of the music in the game is “layered”; you might hear the vocals of particular track slowly fade in as you approach a huge building, or everything but string instruments might fade out as you walk out onto endless sandy dunes. And – thankfully – it’s mostly not ominous Latin chanting. The vocals to the music seem to be a mish-mash of languages; I swear I’ve heard Japanese and French, at least, though it’s hard to be certain.

There are also some wonderful juxtapositions of this stuff. There’s something to be said for having a high-octane battle against 20 machines, dashing and slashing and dodging strikes with perfect timing, while the background music is mostly a child’s humming and the entire screen is tinted grey. Eerie? A little, but mostly it just serves to pin moments like that in my forebrain. And NieR: Automata does this shit a lot. Even the occasional shifts into 2.5D, where you suddenly find yourself playing a side-on platformer, simultaneously feel like smooth transitions of the mechanics you’re used to, while jarring enough that they stick in your mind.

This also makes it a bit of a joy to explore. It’s not a particularly large open world – indeed, it’s mostly a bunch of open-ish areas stitched together through corridors – but some of the vistas are utterly spectacular. Traversal gets considerably more pleasant once you get access to the game’s fast travel system (although, annoyingly, this will probably be after you’ve done the first batch of side-quests), but spending a few minutes sliding across a desert or hopping across a very literal urban jungle still evokes a “wow” every now and then, even when you’re doing some irritating backtracking.

Or you can take a break to do a spot of fishing, if you’d rather.

As with most of Yoko Taro’s games, though, it’s got some fairly obvious flaws. Side-quests are mostly fetch quests that involve a lot of trudging backtracking. A couple of the antagonists are (initially at least) incredibly bland and dull. One of your companion characters, 9S, is so very annoying, and he has a very large role in the game. It maybe says something that I think that’s somewhat intentional, though, and bits of the plot wouldn’t really work without it.

Unlike some (Drakengard) it’s actually fun to play, probably in part because Platinum do third-person hack-and-slash stuff really well, but even that’s got its issues. The hack-and-slash combat, for instance, is a little on the light side; you won’t be unlocking dozens of new combos and memorising attack patterns, despite how flashy and frenetic the combat is, and how challenging it can sometimes be. The exploration is (predictably) a little limited by invisible walls, and things you can’t climb on even though it appears you can. The SHMUP sections are over-long and not particularly interesting. And the twin-stick shooter bits can, on mouse-and-keyboard at least, fuck right off.

I talked about that stuff a fair bit in the PC Technical Review but some of it bears repeating and elaborating on here, having now had significantly more play. This is entirely playable on mouse and keyboard – I’ve gone through to Ending A doing so. A controller is arguably a better option, but there are a few benefits to using default PC inputs.

Combat is mostly a case of mixing up light and heavy attacks depending on the situation, while dodging the instant before an enemy hits you. Being able to hurl a giant sword and have it spin in place several metres away from you may have something to do with how fun it is.

The main one is the camera controls. While the game often opts for a cinematic camera (like the aforementioned 2.5D bits, where it obviously has a very enforced camera) it’s pretty easy to control with a mouse outside of that. The camera does have some inertia, which makes precise aiming a pain, but you can get used to it. Even with these limitations I still prefer mouse camera to gamepad camera, and it meant that using the game’s lock-on functionality (disabled on the higher difficulties) felt far less essential.

The downsides are a bit more regular. Dodging – activated by a directional double-tap on the keyboard – feels less precise than having a dedicated key for it, and I’ve been hit a bunch of times when I know damn well I’d have evaded them on gamepad. Platforming is a bit more problematic with eight directions of movement rather than full 360 degree movement afforded by an analogue stick. Swapping Pods (your ranged weapons) requires you to hold down Alt and press an arrow key. And then there are the twin-stick shooter sections, which are totally unplayable on mouse, but can be played by using WASD to move and arrow keys to aim… but, again, this only gives you eight directions of movement and attack, and these segments are designed around you having more. While playing on mouse and keyboard is possible, then, a controller is mostly the better way to go, and I sort of feel like whoever designed the keyboard and mouse controls only had a cursory play of the game with them to check that they were largely functional. Unfortunately, “largely functional” is pretty different from “good.”

I sneaked one thing in there: “Ending A.” I’ve been doing my damnedest to avoid going into much specific detail in this review, but NieR: Automata does something quite unusual in that it has multiple endings. I don’t mean that in the sense of “make a decision at the end to get a different closing cutscene”, either.

It also does something quite unusual in that I think it looks nicer with motion blur turned on. Madness, I know.

After finishing the game once and getting Ending A, you’re then casually advised to play through again, and that is not the last time you’ll need to play through it. If you feel a little unfulfilled by the time you reach Ending A, that’s not a surprise, because you really haven’t finished. That ending message doesn’t quite hammer home that your second playthrough is most definitely not “the same game again”, and you’ll need to play through the game more than just twice to actually experience the whole story. I’ve played through all of the story endings (as well as a bunch of the “joke�� endings) on the PlayStation 4, and gone through to Ending A on PC, which I think gives me a good balance of “experiencing all of the content” and “playing it through on PC”. This also has the upside of me not having screenshots from any further in.

There are lots of other little mechanics that are unusual, too, especially if you haven’t played a Yoko Taro game before. Every weapon has a hilariously bleak story tied to it – usually focusing on murder or arson or the death of an entire family or horrible child genocide or something – which you gradually unlock as you level it up. Death functions in a Dark Souls-esque way, in that dying leaves a corpse and a little message behind, and you respawn at your last save point (manual saves only!) shorn of your equipment and any experience you gained since your last save. This actually makes sense in-universe, since you’re an android: “saving” is uploading your consciousness, so when you die, you’re just dumped into a new body. Go pick up your corpse if you want your stuff back.

I have a whole plethora of really lovely screenshots, if anyone’s interested. Loads.

The skill system, too, is rather neat. You have a certain amount of memory that you can slot skill chips into, which mostly fit into the boring standards of Bonus Weapon Damage or Regenerate Health After Not Taking Damage. These chips can be fused together to upgrade them, but as they all take up a certain amount of memory, you can only have so many equipped at once. Excellently, your HUD is actually part of these skill chips too: you can free up some room for another upgrade by, say, removing your health bar, or taking out the chip that controls how parts of your interface disappear when they’re not needed. It’s a minor touch, but one that neatly plays with the basic concepts of games while making sense for your character, and it’s one of many such touches.

Oh, and you can remove your OS chip if you want to. Don’t be surprised when it instantly kills you and gives you one of the game’s numerous joke endings, though. You kinda need that one in your head.

I’m coming awfully close to divulging minor spoilers here, but one other thing that bears mention is just how much emotion is poured into this game. You’re told that machines are mindless murderbots, constructed solely to kill humans, but this is very quickly shown to be blatantly untrue. Despite many of them being waddling tin cans, they’ve got a wealth of personality, both in terms of individual character and in terms of actually having personalities. Most of the characters you meet might be robotic, but a couple of scenes are nearly guaranteed to bring you to tears. I want to give examples, but my urge to let you experience this for yourself is keeping that in check.

One other thing I’ll note, briefly: I’ve lied by omission in this review. There are new mechanics and adjustments to the existing mechanics that I simply can’t talk about because spoilers. I’m being as cagey about the actual content of the game as possible, because it routinely changes things up, and saying “This bit only happens for this period” or “Also, later on, this happens” would give far too much away.

Although I will say that this early scene, with machines rocking empty cradles and imitating sex, is incredibly creepy. That should give you some idea.

So, how the bloody hell do I score this? As a game, NieR: Automata is pretty damn okay. It’s quite good. It’s entertaining. It’s worth a play. As an experience, though, it’s something really rather sublime. It’s never overbearingly intellectual; you can follow along with most of the plot without having to look for deeper meanings, so don’t worry about that. Still, it’s a game that’s less about its fighty/explore-y mechanics, and more about the events surrounding the fighty/explore-y bits. If you’re seeking a new Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, this isn’t in-depth enough for that, despite the ludicrous acrobatics of the combat.

And then there’s the PC stuff. This isn’t anywhere near a Dishonored 2 level of “problematic port”, but I can’t ignore that its PC controls have some issues they really shouldn’t have (camera acceleration, those fucking twin-stick controls). Likewise, I can’t complain about the crashes and black screens that some have experienced because I simply didn’t hit them, but while they’re still known to be a problem, you may want to wait for a patch. Or at least keep in mind Steam’s refund window.

Still… I really can’t do much but heartily recommend NieR: Automata. It is a very special, unique game; I don’t think it ever really hits some of the soul-wrenching highs of NieR, but equally, it’s a lot more fun to actually play and it hits its own notes. It’s so weird and singular that I honestly can’t say for sure if you’ll even like it, but it struck such a chord with me that if it sounds at all like a thing that you’d be into, you should give it a try. Despite everything, I’d be surprised if this doesn’t wind up as one of my favourite games of the year, and with a perfect PC port, this’d be awfully close to a perfect score. The flaws, obvious and common though they are, aren’t nearly enough to take away from everything else this superlative action-RPG accomplishes.

In the end, NieR: Automata reflects what’s in your heart, and it’s possibly the most playable introduction to the glorious madness of Yoko Taro there is. Whether that’s worth something to you I couldn’t possibly say, but it’s left quite a mark on me.

#Nier: Automata

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thekaijudude · 5 years

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If the new generation Ultras became a full on team like the Ultra Brothers, which one of them do you think would be a good choice to be their leader if it was ever to be decided for such a thing?

Hi!

Ginga is definitely the first choice due to his wisdom and strength

To clarify, im specifically referring to True Ginga, aka without Hikaru in control cause he makes pretty questionable decisions at times

(But I guess even with Hikaru its still ok cause True Ginga always communicate with Hikaru somehow when the going gets really tough)

Cause whenever we see True Ginga speaks, its pretty obvious that he sprinkles wisdom in whatever he says, even tho he’s an Ultra of a few words. And I suppose his wisdom comes from the fact that he was possibly once part of a Legendary Tiered being (an age old theory)

Not to mention he literally has the strongest base stats of the New Gen

But just to explain from another angle, let’s examine why the other New Gen Members may not be well suited for this role:

Victory: Always takes a back seat whenever Ginga’s involved, but then there’s another theory that suggests Victory was also part of the legendary fusion with Ginga and Dark Lugiel. But also we never get to hear from True Victory even tho we know he does exists cause Taro acknowledged his existence during the Five King arc.

But I can still see him being capable to take charge whenever he needs to, so might be better for him to be the Vice Leader

X: He’s relatively passive compared to the rest of the New Gen, and coupled with his pacifist nature, I don’t think he has the quality to lead the others, especially when it comes to reining in the more rash and rowdy members.

But I can see him being more of a control unit of the sorts when not in battle, heck, hes probably the best support unit of the group in BSA but then nothing more I guess

Orb: Basically the typical lone wolf unit with definitely a lone wolf mentality, more appropriate to reserve him as the ‘wild card’ of the group with his truly impressive versatility and vast experience in combat

Not to mention that he probably fanbois over his senpais too much respects his predecessors too much to effectively lead all of them

But I guess when push comes to shove, he might take charge if say Ginga and Victory is out of commission somehow

Geed: Too young and inexperienced as seen throughout his saga

Rosso, Blu and Grigio: Kind of the same reason as Geed but also better for them to work as a same unit as their abilities complement each other.

Not to mention that Grigio is a solid support unit that’ll be more beneficial to the whole team in general

Taiga: Same reason as Geed, but to a greater degree

Titus: A pretty swell tank unit with plenty of experience as we’ve seen from the Voice Drama, but I don’t see how he has the qualities to lead better than Ginga, but I could see him taking the lead if say both Ginga and Victory are out

But heck, he might even share the Vice Leader position with Victory

Fuma: Will literally always be the first one to charge into battle and suggest that he fights it out to settle problems lmao

So Ginga is definitely the best choice (If not already is) to lead the New Gen

But just a rundown on how the roles would look like for the New Gen:

Leader: Ginga

Vice Leader: Victory

Back up Leader(s): Orb/Titus

Support Unit(s): X/ Grigio

Tank Unit: Titus

Wild Card: Orb

Mobile Strike Team Unit: Rosso, Blu and Grigio

The ‘interns’: Geed/Taiga

The likeliest guy to die first: Fuma

Thanks for the question!

#ultraman #ultraman taiga #asks

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