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primordialpaper · 4 years

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The Composition of a One Wendy Marvell

Irene Belserion was no stranger to less than ideal living conditions.

She had languished for three years in the dungeons of her own castle.

She had roamed the country aimlessly as a dragon for hundreds more.

She had spent years further still, enduring the unique agony that was the tasteless, sleepless, skin-crawling existence of a dragon masquerading as a human.

Thus, it was with no small amount of contentment that she regarded her current residence within the subconscious of a one Miss Wendy Marvell.

Now existing as a force of personality; less than a spirit, more than a thought-projection, Irene was blissfully free from the prison of scales and Enchanted flesh that was her old body. She savored every decadent moment of consciousness without the sensation of being crammed and bound into a facsimile of her original human form.

It might not have been the same as when she was the sole, commanding occupant of the young Dragon Slayer’s body, but Irene was more than willing to remain a passive presence in the back of the girl’s mind.

However, that didn’t mean she was above offering her host a few pointers every now and then. Her fellow Enchantress was a prodigy, truly, and it pained Irene to see such tremendous talent be hampered by the lack of a proper mentor. Fortunately, Irene had, quite literally, written the book on Enchantment magic.

“I know of a spell,” she declared in the midst of a scuffle between Wendy and a horde of cultists. Her teammates were sufficiently scattered across the decrepit shrine they’d been enlisted to bring down, and thus out of earshot. “that inflicts terribly painful boils upon the target of your choosing. These men would be more easily dealt with if they were scored with debilitating blisters, no?”

“That’d just be cruel.” Wendy admonished, nimbly evading a mage’s wild sword swipe. In the same motion, she swung her foot up and around to strike her assailant’s head, the following gale bodily hurling him and a few others away. “Our job is to subdue the dark wizards and hold them until the Rune Knights come to arrest them. I can do that without being needlessly vicious.”

If Irene had retained physical eyes, she would have rolled them. Did this girl not possess even an ounce of spite or fury within her? What was the point of doing battle against such sufficiently distasteful foes- fanatics of Ankhseram- if you didn’t take the opportunity to make them suffer a bit? It’d certainly been more entertaining than her current ‘bash them into unconsciousness’ approach.

In the midst of her apathy, Irene cast her gaze over her surroundings. This could only be the coven’s ritual chamber. It contained all the necessary accoutrement: chisels for carving runes into stone, a skylight to incorporate any lunar or celestial elements, no shortage of candles and braziers, and an intricately drawn latticework of chalk on the floor. It was an aesthetic Irene could certainly appreciate. In the vernacular employed by Wendy and her companions, Irene... stanned? The configuration of the room? Was that the proper term?

Before her mind could descend down the rabbit hole that was this era’s incomprehensible slang terminology, Irene’s attention was caught anew by the chalk lines on the floor. To someone with centuries of experience in all manner of dark magic, like herself, it was clear these patterns were from a particular branch of tributary rites, specifically, one that involved the tithing of proffered souls to a higher, infernal power.

Unease settled in her non-existent stomach at the thought of just what Wendy’s team had interrupted...

Irene was about to suggest as much to the girl, when she felt the cold steel wires of horror twine themselves around her host’s chest and limbs, catching her breath in her throat and binding her legs in place. The Sky Sorceress was struck speechless, paralyzed by the scene her conquest had led her to.

Gods... Oh gods...

Through both Wendy’s eyes and a wall of wrought-iron bars, Irene observed two figures huddled together within what looked to be a holding cell of sorts.

One was a bedraggled woman, and the other, clutched desperately in her arms, was a child who couldn’t have been older than six. Their bodies were slack and unmoving, and were it not for Wendy’s advanced hearing picking up their faint breathing, Irene would’ve thought them dead. The gags over their mouths, their humble civilian clothing, and the assortment of scrapes and bruises that littered their bodies were as stark identifiers to their roles as the tags that were affixed to slaughter-approved livestock.

In the eyes of these cultists, both groups were indistinguishable from each other, it seemed.

With no foes around at the moment, Wendy dashed over to the cell door. With a few muttered words of power, the padlock was summarily torn away by her dainty, glowing hands. Those same hands quickly settled against the two prisoners’ foreheads, thrumming with spectral blue light as she assessed their condition.

“They’re unconscious- under a sleeping spell, most likely. Based on the level of malnourishment, they’ve been here for a couple of days at most. The boy is in the early stages of a fever. They both have minor injuries, likely from when they were captured, and... lacerations on the feet, so they couldn’t r-”

Wendy went quiet at the sound of numerous approaching footfalls. The hateful presence they carried in the air revealed them to be more cultists.

Slowly, Wendy stood. Her hands had become fists, and shook faintly. The air around her picked up.

Irene could feel the stirrings of something vast and terrible, like the calm just before the onset of a hurricane. If Wendy’s horror was cold wires, then her fury was the hot winds that spun into a storm.

Murmuring under her breath, Wendy summoned a translucent, multi-hued dome over the mother and child, shielding them from any further harm. The candles and torches within the chamber all sputtered out, felled by the tempest now whipping throughout the room.

More cultists poured into the chamber, guided only by a solitary torch one of them held aloft. They saw that their prisoners- sacrifices- had been discovered. One dark wizard at the mob’s head hurled a roaring ball of flame at Wendy’s back. The attack was dismissed, diffused into little more than a wave of smoke, with a careless handwave from the Enchantress. The smoke was further dispersed when the girl blinked out of sight in a blur of dark blue.

With a high pitched shriek of rending air, Wendy appeared behind the cluster of dark mages, her presence alone more than enough to snuff out the final torch. As the room was plunged into darkness, Irene was able to admit her error in judgement.

Wendy Marvell, at her core, was not a spiteful or vicious girl. It wasn’t in her nature to cause undue harm or misfortune to others. She was a healer at heart. But through that same heart pumped the blood of a dragon. Those healer’s hands were also the instruments of an Enchantress. The powers to mend and maim were both within her purview, and would be employed with the cool ruthlessness of someone who’d decided exactly how much she was willing to take from the world, and exactly what she’d do when that line was crossed.

Wickedness might not be this young witch’s forte, but wrath? Her’s could be as frightful and destructive as the skies she ruled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Team Natsu, sans one errant bluenette, had posted up alongside the Rune Knights that had been dispatched to collect the dark mages they’d helpfully rounded up. Under the Fairy Tail mages’ watchful eyes, the slightly singed, starstruck, frostbitten, battered, or otherwise incapacitated cultists were loaded into detainment carriages to be carted off to their awaiting prison cells.

Natsu and Gray were boastfully comparing the amount of mages they’d taken down (“Open your eyes! My pile’s clearly bigger than yours, Ice Pop!” “Because you went for the biggest guys you could find! In terms of numbers, my pile has the most, Flame Brain!”). Erza looked about ready to intervene, either to break up their dispute, or to claim that her own pile was clearly superior. Lucy was committing to memory the layout and atmosphere of the decrepit temple- it was practically begging to be featured as a setting in her new novel.

Regardless, all four wizards looked up at the call of, “A little help, please?”

Out of the mouth of the shrine stepped Wendy, who, while looking none the worse for wear, was supporting a bedraggled woman with an arm over her shoulders. With her free arm, the woman clutched a small boy to her chest. In her other hand, Wendy held what looked like a sack of dark cloth.

At once, there was a flurry of activity, with Erza summoning a cushioned chair for the unsteady woman, while Lucy helped ease her into it. Gray was alerting the Rune Knight’s Captain of the presence of civilians, while Natsu tore back into the temple to check for any other remaining scents.

“Ma’am, are you alright? Are you injured?” Erza urged the woman, who had begun crying silently as she held her son close.

“N-no, no. I was, b-but she-” still freely crying, the woman’s gaze sought out Wendy’s, and she reached out to clasp her hand. “You saved us. Thank you, oh thank you!”

Wendy’s smile was a soft, warm thing, and she gave the woman’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Of course.”

Before more could be said, the Knight’s Captain stepped in, offering the names of two missing residents from a nearby town, to the enthusiastic confirmation of the woman; Rose Perkins, and her son; Adam.

From the side, the Fairy Tail mages listened as Wendy explained in low tones how she’d discovered the two townspeople imprisoned, mended their injuries, before leading them out of the shrine.

“You conducted yourself very well, Wendy.” Erza commended, laying a hand on the girl’s shoulder, only for a frown to pull at her face. “I must ask, though, where are the cultists you subdued? We’ve yet to reach the number of dark mages specified in the job request form.”

Wendy’s expression was blank for a moment. Then her eyes went wide. “Oh!” she held up the cloth sack- closer inspection revealed it to be one of the black robes worn by the cultists- she’d carried with her out of the temple. “They’re here.”

Her teammates’ faces paled, expressions’ ones of almost comical horror as they gazed, frozen, at the small bluenette. Not that Wendy noticed. Her attention was focused on undoing the knot she’d tied in the makeshift sack now resting at her feet.

“I would’ve smelled severed heads, I would’ve smelled severed heads-”

“We should’ve never let her hang out with Gajeel!”

“It’s even worse than I envisioned! Wendy you’re too young to go to prison!”

The group’s panicked muttering was cut off when the sack fell open, it’s contents revealed.

Lucy shrieked.

Natsu and Gray both grimaced in disgust.

Even Erza took a step backwards.

Upon the rumbled black fabric was a pile of gleaming, squirming slugs. Small, dark, slimy slugs.

Expression uncharacteristically dark, Wendy snapped her fingers. “Deus Zero.” There was a great puff of smoke, which then dispersed to reveal a pile of dark mages in place of the glistening gastropods. Some were unconscious, and all bore marks indicating that, before being transfigured into slugs, they’d received quite a thrashing.

“Now, you have an idea of how things felt for the two innocent people you held captive. Helpless and at someone else’s mercy.” Wendy’s voice, normally soft and gentle, carried with it an undercurrent of both crackling magic and simmering wrath. “Now to see if you’ve learned anything.” a hand brimming with pulsing green light was held aloft. “Are you going to surrender quietly to the Rune Knights, or do you want to be taken into custody as slugs?”

The single menacing step forward that followed her question was all it took before those cultists that were conscious nearly trampled their companions in their haste to put distance between themselves and the enraged Enchantress. Luckily, after recovering from their own moments of horror and disgust, the surrounding Rune Knights moved in to take them into custody.

Letting out a sigh, Wendy turned back to her companions, looking sheepish and scratching the back of her head. “When I saw they’d kidnapped Ms. Perkins and her son, what they were going to do to them, I sort of... lost my temper a bit. I thought that they ought to look as vile on the outside as they are inside, and see how they like being trapped and helpless. Slugs were the first thing that came to mi-”

“Miss Marvell!” the Captain called out from beside Rose Perkins and her son. “If you don’t mind, Adam here says he wants to say ‘thank you’.”

“Oh, of course!”

As the rest of Team Natsu observed Wendy crouch down to meet eyes with the young boy, smiling kindly as he stuttered out an expression of gratitude, they felt themselves relax. Their little Sky Sorceress certainly wasn't one to be trifled with, but in terms of the composition of Wendy Marvell: witchcraft and whirlwinds took up much less space within her than that which was allotted to healing charms and gentle breezes.

#primordial post #fairy tail #irene belserion #wendy marvell #lucy heartfilia #erza scarlet #natsu dragneel #gray fullbuster #my writing

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verytamenow · 7 years

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I don't get it. She's been all "no explanation just reputation" and she pulls this bs? Like I've been DYING over her "idgaf about the media" attitude ever since reputation was announced because we're not getting /anything/ from her, but I respected it because i thought "damn, she got so much hate by the media over the years, no wonder she's done with them" but then she just...?? So much for the "new era". It's not only team klossy who can't seem to get their shit together after all lmao

Funnily enough @princessandsunshine and I were just discussing this while I was bored at work.Note: the following is a truly reaching theory and you probably shouldn’t put much stock in it.reputation has meant we’ve all been focusing on the media and Taylor’s relationship with them as she addresses the narrative assigned to the name Taylor Swift. Even as we watch Taylor address the headlines of the last decade through lyrics and video, we tend to overlook another critical relationship Taylor has and might be clapping back at: her relationship with her label.

It’s been long known that Taylor isn’t the only one with access to her social media accounts. An infamous response of “but y'all cast Lena Dunham” to TaylorNation when the cast list for the Bad Blood music video was leaked pulled back the veil fully, and should have allowed the fandom to acknowledge not every like is Taylor herself. And yet in an era where Taylor has implied there will not be any interviews, more weight has been placed on them than ever as it remains Taylor’s only method of reaching out to us in a social and traditional media blackout.This leads to a few questions. Why the blackout in the first place? Who has the ultimate control? And is everyone on the same team?So far this era has seemed to have a clear path. Taylor reasserting her control of her story, acknowledging all that has been said through clever lyrics and film, and giving hints to the truth for those who care enough to look while saying nothing. “There will be no explanation, only reputation.” Earlier in a truly uncharacteristic move, likes were made from Taylor’s account not only acknowledging her supposed boyfriend, but blatantly confirming someone as the inspiration behind a song for the first time since a snarky 18 year old did an interview with Ellen, telling the story of the last track of her soon to be AOTY winning sophmore LP. The catch? Hours later gossip cop, the well known mouth piece of Tree, shot down any claims that Taylor and Joe Alwyn were in love. This lead to instant questions about what was the truth of the narrative.Cue Kristen and I coming up with a plausible but impossible to prove theory while I sat at my work desk, bored out of my mind. What if what we’re seeing is a battle for control of Taylor Swift™ between Taylor herself and her label.Taylor’s always had unique control for an artist. A benefit of joining a fledgling label her parents could afford to invest in even slightly, and shortly thereafter exploding to superstardom, becoming the crown jewel in their lineup. We’ve all heard the stories: Taylor fought for her first ever single against the advice of experienced label personnel. Taylor doesn’t work with cowriters who try and control her, instead preferring editors to help guide and hone her natural abilities as multiple writing partners have professed in interviews. Taylor is in control of her own touring and merchandise and has access to her social media in a time when many artists do not for reasons of maintaining an image and narrative. Taylor fired her prior PR consultant who had been with her and the label from the beginning and hired her own red haired not-monster outside of the label. Taylor is able to add tracks last minute after the album has been signed off as complete, even from the time of her second album. Her label gives her the time she needs and wants to produce an album, being kept in the dark until she feels it’s time. There are clearly benefits to being the biggest pop star in the world and biggest name on the label roster.But she is still signed to a label and not in complete control. Her fiddle payer was allegedly fired when she proved a threat to Taylor’s heterosexual all-American sweetheart image. She was advised Enchanted sent the wrong image, not signalling a change from adolescent fairytales to a young woman making her voice heard, and so it became Speak Now. She had to fight hard for 1989 to exist as a pop album. A team is known to have access to all her social media. Clearly Taylor isn’t the only one pulling the strings or having a say.So what happens when Taylor presents a plan her label doesn’t like?It’s been long claimed this is Taylor’s last album under her current contract with BMG, with rumored rights to a greatest hits album if they choose. So far there have been no headlines that Taylor has signed another album contract with them. Could this be the last album under the Big Machine label? Surely record companies would be willing to fight for the chance to sign Taylor Swift, an artist projected to sell over three million copies of her sixth album with zero traditional promotion, and offer lucrative terms. Add in a seeming shortage off two fucks to rub together, financial freedom on a scale few can imagine, and you seem to have an ideal situation if the long-rumored closeted pop star wanted to reveal the truth of her sexuality and partners.Big Machine, despite having Taylor Swift in their roster, is firmly rooted in country music and its conservative world. For all the freedom they give Taylor, that doesn’t mean a coming out is something they would support. So we’re left with a dilemma: a pop star wanting to come out with her contract about to expire and a label still pulling the strings for the album release and tour who may not approve. Could we be witnessing a battle between Taylor and her label for control?This era opened with an ending. Taylor wiped out her social media entirely. Twitter? Facebook? Instagram? Her website? Even MySpace? All blacked out and wiped clean of any past narrative. This was followed by a statement implying there would be no promotional interviews for this album. As it currently stands, it appears the only new information will be coming from two magazines available for preorder. This has two effects: Firstly it means the music can speak for itself. So far it has had a lot to say about the media and her so called relationships, along with Taylor herself and just maybe her label too. In only two tracks Taylor has addressed many parts of the public facets of her life. From the various criticisms of her mannerisms to veiled acknowledgements of so called feuds, there is little that even the first releases have not touched on.Second, it cuts off two possible avenues of image manipulation and narrative management. No media interviews cuts off any attempt to allow for questions and topics Taylor is done with and keeps her words from being misinterpreted. The lack of social media provides similar protection for whatever Taylor intends this era to be. After all if she isn’t using her social media then no one else with access can either to promote any other image than what she intends.There is one catch however. Taylor’s tumblr, while also wiped clean, is still in use. What seems to be a generous attempt to keep her fans feeling connected as we adjust to seeing and hearing less from Taylor than we are used to at the beginning of an era might have also become a battleground.More than one tumblr user has noticed the erratic behaviour of the last few days concerning Taylor’s likes. As mentioned previously, we have likes confirming her and Joe as an item and very much in love, reaching nearly a year as a couple and with the actor even confirmed as the inspiration behind the second track. Shortly thereafter we have Tree via Gossip Cop stating that Joe and Taylor are not “crazy in love” and stating no legitimate source is speaking on their relationship, possibly leaving the door open for a full denial of any such romance. It’s possible this is a case of dueling narratives, with parts of Taylor’s team under her label pushing the Jaylor (or jailer, if you will) relationship to keep a heterosexual image and delay or prevent a coming out while Tree, who works directly for Taylor, tries to do damage control.Additionally there was also the matter of there being a number of likes from Taylor’s account during Abigail’s wedding. If anyone expects Swifties to believe that during the wedding of her best friend of over ten years, Taylor decided to pull out her phone and start scrolling through Tumblr……well, we’re mostly not that dim. If this is a case of battle for control, it’s possible this was intentional. A reminder by Taylor that she’s not the only one with access. Perhaps there was a little more truth to the bird in a gilded cage suggested by her first music video of the era.It also draws into question another dueling narrative: PGB. Despite her frankly appalling judgement and tracking of Taylor’s every move she has been the recipient of remarkable attention from Taylor in last era and even now at the beginning of this one. This is quite the contrast to the “END PGB” hidden within the website code while blacked out and Taylor cutting the wing off her own plane in the video. This one user, the mouthpiece of the ultra conservative portion of Taylor’s fan base, seems to have hit the Swiftie lottery. Presents, a personal invite and backstage tour for the 1989 concert at MetLife, and an introduction to fellow scumbag Perez. Perhaps they too were tools used by the label to keep the bird in her cage?After all they seem to be supportive when Taylor stays on brand. However, the moment she removes herself from a certain path, they turn on her to tear her down and bring her back into line. I doubt it’s a coincidence two of the biggest voices of the “Taylor is the ultimate heterosexual” squad happened to get invited to the concert Karlie was attending. Especially when it was the first one after a fan speculated fight in London and featured the gayest speech given during the entire tour, featuring a public and heartfelt “I love you”. In the greatest irony, it was PGB herself who revealed Karlie was going to be there and Taylor was anxiously awaiting her arrival in the “I came straight from Rome” video. I can’t be the only one who remembers the whispers that she’d gotten in trouble for sharing it. But from who? Taylor has always encourage her fans to adore Karlie as much as she does and promote their close bond. Perhaps other parties weren’t as happy to see a reminder of how special Karlie is and to invite speculation as to why her little sister, who Tree should have had no interaction, with was comfortable enough to share a hug with her. More recently, PGB was very quick to reblog the post linking Joe to …Ready For It?, preventing Taylor from unliking it or burying it deeply enough to go unnoticed.While there may be some who would like to keep a certain bird caged and singing, the music video clearly shows she’s out now and judging by her place in the press lineup at the end of the video, she’s got her story to tell.According to one popular and seemingly plausible fan theory, each of the Taylors at the end of the music video represents a track on the album. The first track is represented by birdcage Taylor, who looks done at the end of the video in the face in the face of the pressline. …Ready For It?, the first track on the album, seems to again address her bearding and shade it (but the analysis of it is another post). It clearly defines the roles each of them are forced into and the intention of the bearding, keeping her jailed and tamed.Whether or not there’s any truth to this will depend on what’s to come in the future. Will Taylor speak about her label once the contract is up? I suspect we won’t know the truth of the matter until the album is out and the tour is booked to minimize the possibility of interference. If this is the case though, Big Machine is playing with fire. After all, if Taylor does not sign with them again, there’s nothing to stop Taylor from exposing them along with her sexuality. Firstly, it would it help build sympathy and understanding amongst the general public and her more conservative fans, dodging claims of her lying by giving them another target to blame. After all how could they blame Taylor when she wanted to be honest so badly but wasn’t allowed? Second, it would paint a target on them that might be hard to recover from. Like it or not, when Taylor speaks the world listens. Few who have gone up against her have come out without scars, where as Taylor is well practiced in rising up from the dead. After all, she does it all the time.

#kaylor #gaylor swift #reputation #taylor swift #Anonymous #can you believe i got paid double time to write the first draft of this?

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techcrunchappcom · 4 years

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/how-wing-is-plowing-the-field-for-drone-delivery-tech-buzz/

How Wing Is Plowing the Field for Drone Delivery | Tech Buzz

One of the enormous changes coming to us that has accelerated significantly of late is drone delivery, which promises to provide more speedy fulfillment of online orders. First for small items like meals or medicines, both of which are critical during the pandemic, and eventually for larger items — and even people.

Still, drone delivery has a few challenges to overcome which include range, air traffic control, safety, and consumer trust. All of these must be developed to the point where the related services are trusted to do what they promise, without drama.

One of the leading companies developing a drone solution is a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, named Wing. It has the drones, the air traffic control system, and the most extensive test fleet in the air currently. Still, Wing will face competition from other firms and internal groups at shipping companies in this race for instant gratification.

Let’s talk about each of the elements and why Wing is so far ahead, and we’ll end, as always, with my product of the week: the first transparent TV at commercial scale from Xiaomi.

The Elements of Drone Delivery

Drone delivery isn’t easy primarily because we want the things to run on batteries, and battery energy efficiency is still inferior in terms of both energy density and weight when compared to fossil fuels. So part of a delivery solution is to have depots within the 6- to 9-mile effective delivery range of the more advanced delivery drones.

A drone design is needed that is reasonably safe and relatively energy-efficient; otherwise, the depot density and liability become unreasonable. Relying only on the heavy-lift capability of the drone won’t do it. The wings or lifting bodies need to be utilized to extend the range and the speed of the drone to minimize airtime, to conserve energy. Delivery drones need to be lightweight to reduce damage if they fail (lower terminal velocity), and to reduce the base energy the drone body needs to stay aloft.

Now with all of the drones in the air, some sort of traffic control system is needed. However, humans won’t cut it because the traffic will be significant when delivery service hits critical mass. So this traffic control system must be automated, work between drone service providers, and integrate with the traffic control systems in use by commercial, law enforcement, and military aviation. This platform should be integrated with the tracking systems that consumers have access to, so they can receive their drone-delivery package.

Finally, you need a process to assure the package and drone are both protected in transit and that the package ends up in the hands of the designated recipient. If significant numbers of drones or packages end up stolen or damaged, the proposition of widespread of drone delivery would be destined to fail.

Wing’s Answers

Wing has developed solutions for each of these elements, which is why currently, as far as independent drone solutions (Amazon has developed similar capabilities), it is ahead. Wing’s plan includes depots within the reliable range limits of their planned drone services. I think we’ll eventually find that shopping centers will make very viable drone depots in the future.

Wing’s drone design is inspired. Using industrial-grade Styrofoam for the drone body and a lifting-wing design, Wing has created a light drone that can use the wings to extend the drone’s range and lower its terminal velocity, and in turn the potential for damage in the event of a catastrophic failure.

Wing adopted OpenSky, an app-based offering in place for both commercial and consumer markets. OpenSky services are currently only available in Australia, but provide a vision of what’s to come in other regions. The app lets drone flyers place a pin on any location in Australia in order to gather information about flight rules.

Future planned enhancements are consistent with an automated air traffic control system, and those improvements are expected to arrive long before drone delivery reaches critical mass. They must; otherwise full deployments will likely be delayed until those enhancements are in place and thoroughly tested.

Finally, the Wing drone uses a built-in winch that keeps the drone elevated and safe, and the application the recipient will use assures they are on site to receive the package when it arrives. This helps protect the drone from damage, and better assures the package goes where intended. User tracking could be an option to assure the person at the delivery location is the same for whom the package is intended.

Wrapping Up

Wing currently has the leading solution, which is concerning to independent providers coming to market. Amazon, however, may be ahead particularly with heavy lifting and their investigation of alternative depot designs like dirigibles or blimps, which are mobile, although those have additional safety, weather, and air-traffic concerns.

In any race, being ahead doesn’t count for much now if you don’t get to the finish line first; and Wing’s parent company doesn’t have the best reputation for finishing big projects like this. Like many tech companies, Alphabet tends to fund based not on need, but on what some executive believes in their gut is good enough — and often, it isn’t.

Besides, Amazon is closing fast and appears to be more aggressively looking at things like heavy-lift drones. Wing’s drones don’t have the carrying capacity for medium-sized appliances or a grocery cart — and there are other companies already experimenting with people-carrying drones which, like Uber cars, could also be used for delivery.

Wing has started strong, but we still have years to go before this race is decided, and they’ll have to run hard to beat the increasing number of competitors entering this segment.

I don’t get excited about TVs that much anymore, but there was time I spent US$7,500 for one of the first wall-mounted flat-screen Plasma TVs in the market — and it was only a 42-inch. It replaced a large CRT that sat on the floor and looked a ton better. Since then, flat TVs have become common, and as we raised resolution, the content didn’t keep up well, and excitement dwindled.

Well, Xiaomi may have just changed this with its Mi TV LUX. This TV looks like a plate of clear glass when it’s off, and then it performs just like a flat-screen TV when turned on. The base houses the electronics, and it uses OLED technology, so it doesn’t need a light source. It should result in deeper blacks, but the bright display may offset that.

The Mi TV is as awe-inspiring to look at as was the first flat screen, with one big exception; it doesn’t obscure what’s behind it when it’s turned off. Now, if you are like me, when you look at what’s behind your TV, it isn’t that attractive — so you’d need to rethink TV placement. The Mi would do best as a TV in the middle of a room, or in place of a TV that obscures a window. Its transparent characteristic might stimulate some new ideas about where to situate a TV.

Mi TV LUX

I think this unit would work better as a monitor than it would a TV, because monitors are often placed on desks in open floor plan offices — at least before the pandemic. The ideal setting would be one where this TV/monitor is turned off, and clear. That would open the office up, or the user could blank the monitor and see who was on the other side of their desk, as needed. Think how cool this would look as a monitor on the desk of a receptionist, secretary or executive.

Ironically, given what I paid for my first flat-screen TV, this thing is $7K at 55-inches, so rather expensive for its size. But if you have a yacht with a view, want to impress your clients, or want something that will have your guests catch their breath, well the Xiaomi Mi TV Lux is my product of the week. (Don’t tell my wife, she’ll take away my credit card again.) Oh, and it could be perfect for watching virtual events in your office — though, if you turned this into a window, it could be even more interesting!

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.

Rob Enderle has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2003. His areas of interest include AI, autonomous driving, drones, personal technology, emerging technology, regulation, litigation, M&E, and technology in politics. He has an MBA in human resources, marketing and computer science. He is also a certified management accountant. Enderle currently is president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group, a consultancy that serves the technology industry. He formerly served as a senior research fellow at Giga Information Group and Forrester. Email Rob.

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#delivery #drone #field #plowing #Technology

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armeniaitn · 4 years

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A Doctor of the Diaspora, With Artsakh in His Heart

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/society/a-doctor-of-the-diaspora-with-artsakh-in-his-heart-49367-14-08-2020/

A Doctor of the Diaspora, With Artsakh in His Heart

Dr. Raffy Hovanessian

A Remembrance of Dr. Raffy Hovanessian (1938-2020)

BY LEVON LACHIKYAN English rendering by CHRISTOPHER H. ZAKIAN

A physician, in the truest sense, is not defined solely by his choice of profession. What defines him is a lifelong impulse to help others: a commitment to treat fellow human beings with compassion.

That’s how I have always understood the medical calling, in its highest expression. The doctors endowed with these qualities are rare, and very precious. So when we lose such a noble figure, we should do more than simply mourn that doctor’s death. We should acknowledge, and celebrate, the life and accomplishment that preceded his passing.

Our community—our world—lost such a shining example this spring, in the person of Dr. Raffy Hovanessian. An Armenian-American physician of the highest caliber, Dr. Hovanessian was a well-known—and beloved—public figure throughout the Armenian world. His death at age 81 on May 27, 2020, following a long, brave battle against cancer, brought to a close an astonishing lifetime of accomplishment, compassion, and benevolent work.

He was born in Jerusalem, on August 16, 1938—the eldest child of two survivors of the Armenian Genocide. They instilled in their son the qualities that would be the foundation of his consequential life: a life inspired at the deepest level by his Christian faith and Armenian heritage, and nourished by the spiritual strength Raffy drew from his family, his church, and his homeland.

Family One iconic image guided Raffy throughout his life: the memory of his father, Arakel. Raffy would often lovingly refer to his father in conversation as “a simple shoemaker”; but it was clear that to this grateful son, Arakel Hovanessian was so much more: a patriot, a man of moral vision. To illustrate that feeling, Raffy would quote his father’s explanation for having six children: “Son,” the Genocide survivor would say, “we lost so many souls in my generation. So this too is a way to serve our nation: by having many children.”

Raffy’s mother Diruhi was a nurse—and the likely inspiration for his youthful decision to become a doctor. But the medical vocation also held a logical attraction for a boy with an instinct to help others. His parents encouraged him in every way they could. His father surprised Raffy one day by giving him a violin. When the boy asked how the instrument would help him achieve his goal in medicine, his father replied that a good doctor needs precise, agile fingers, and the violin would be excellent training for that.

The family resided in Aleppo throughout Raffy’s primary education, but for his medical training he applied to the American University in Beirut. It was while living in that city that Raffy met the beautiful Armenian woman who would become his future wife, Shoghag Varjabedian.

“I glorify God’s blessing for giving me a wife like Shoghag,” he repeated with joy throughout his life. “She has always been a support for my spirit, an inspiration to lead me forward. At the same time, she is an ideal mother and grandmother to our three children and seven grandchildren.”

“Together, these two were a most exemplary couple,” said longtime friend Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, currently the Armenian Church’s Pontifical Legate of Western Europe. “They complemented each other in every way. And through their partnership, numerous vital projects were brought to life.” One of the most important of these projects was the rescue of America’s St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, which was in danger of shutting its doors. During that crisis in the 1990s, the Hovanessians’ leadership largely ensured the seminary’s ongoing vitality as an educational institution, which persists to this day.

Some three decades earlier, when Raffy and Shoghag settled in Chicago in the mid-1960s, they had brought a similar energy to the local Armenian community, helping to establish an AGBU center in the city and its Sissag H. Varjabedian Armenian Saturday School.

The family took a special interest in the advancement of Armenian artists. Arriving in Armenia in the wake of the 1988 earthquake, Shoghag recognized the quality and talent of a number of Armenian painters. As an art connoisseur and curator of numerous prestigious contemporary art exhibits, she was enthusiastic about introducing these artists to a wider, international audience. But she was also moved by the poor conditions in which they lived. Together with her husband, Shoghag worked intensely to create secure lives for the painters, so they could continue to reside in Armenia while exhibiting their work abroad. “Our goal was to allow talented Armenian artists to stay in their homeland, so that we would not lose them abroad,” she said.

This is the attitude they brought to all the arts in Armenia: a sense of duty to preserve the country’s native creativity. I vividly remember the visit Dr. and Mrs. Hovanessian paid to the Octet Music School in Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri, which had been devastated by the 1988 earthquake. After listening to the impressive performances of the gifted students, they decided on the spot to support the higher education of several young talents, and later made active efforts to improve the school building and its resources.

Throughout their many visits to Armenia, the Hovanessians would frequently be in the company of their children—and later their grandchildren—in order to expose the new generations to the unique sights, sounds, tastes and aromas of their ancestral land.

Church Raffy Hovanessian grew up in an atmosphere of religious faith, observance, and piety—and those habits of the spirit remained with him throughout his life. As a boy attending Aleppo’s Emmanuel College, he become engrossed in the Bible, conversant in its stories and message. He put these lessons to active use in the way he conducted himself.

“The church has always been in me,” the doctor would later confess. He was convinced that if Armenians had not embraced Christianity, their nation would have ceased to exist as an entity in history. At a more personal level, the Armenian Church, with its deep and rich spiritual power, was where he would seek guidance, consolation, and encouragement at every crossroad in his life.

He would build many friendships based on such shared character. A notable one was forged in Beirut, where he befriended a young clergyman named Karekin Sarkissian. Their relationship was a great source of joy in Raffy’s life, and a source of pride as well, as he watched his friend scale the church hierarchy to become a bishop, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, and finally the Catholicos of All Armenians: His Holiness Karekin I.

In more formal roles, Dr. Hovanessian was a longtime member of the Diocesan Council of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, serving as its vice chair. Twice, in 1995 and 1999, he was elected to represent the Diocese at the National Ecclesiastical Assembly convened at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Fellow church delegates from across the globe chose Raffy to chair those historic gatherings.

In 2014, the Eastern Diocese honored Dr. Raffy Hovanessian as its “Armenian Church Member of the Year” during ceremonies at St. Vartan Cathedral in New York City, surrounding that year’s Diocesan Assembly.

But above and beyond such public distinctions, Raffy’s first and deepest motivation was always to live up to his father’s counsel “to love the church and serve the church.” Wherever life took him, he followed it with the intense conviction that the Lord was guiding his steps.

Homeland From his earliest years, patriotic Armenian songs were always in Raffy’s ear—often sung by his father. Armenian recordings and radio were part of the ambient sound of the Hovanessian home throughout his life; Raffy would quiet a crowd when an Armenian broadcast came on with the phrase, “Yerevan is speaking.”

But it took until 1986 for him to arrive for the first time in Armenia. He did so in the company of his son Armen, and together they scaled the heights of Dzidzernagapert to burn incense at the Genocide Memorial in memory of their ancestors.

He became a much more frequent visitor in the years following Armenia’s independence—difficult as that time was with its dearth of electricity and heating. He would travel there every three to six months, usually in his professional capacity as a physician. His natural compassionate spirit was energized as never before when he witnessed the hardships being endured by his countrymen, and Raffy vowed to do whatever he could to stand by his people, and encourage their progress.

In his heart, Raffy paid little heed to the constricted political boundaries of his homeland. For him, Armenia included Javakhk and Artsakh, and the Armenians resident in those regions were equally the focus of Raffy’s attention and concern.

His motivation in all things was a commitment to national ideas, the preservation of Armenian identity and, more personally, a desire that his life would not be lived in vain. To these ends, he made his influential mark on the diaspora’s numerous educational and charitable organizations, among them the Armenian Assembly of America (where he was a board member from 1986 to 1989) and the Armenian General Benevolent Union (where he sat on the Central Council from 1989 to 2000).

Standing out among these efforts was his fruitful leadership role in the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR), the humanitarian aid, relief, and development organization of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. Dr. Hovanessian became an initiator and promoter of countless FAR projects, often focusing on the reform and advancement of medicine, medical education, and healthcare in the young Armenian Republic.

He was instrumental in launching FAR’s “Regional Doctor Training Program” in 2005, which trained physicians in Armenia’s far flung provinces, as well as programs that gave special attention given to medical personnel from Javakhk and Artsakh. I can envision Raffy during the press conference announcing one such effort in 2011, where he stood among officials of the Ministries of Health of Armenia and Artsakh, the State Medical University, and FAR. Dr. Hovanessian’s beaming face expressed the deep satisfaction he found in these undertakings.

The truth is that following the Soviet Union’s collapse, healthcare systems among the former Soviet republics were on a hazardous path to failure. The programs and fundraising shouldered by Dr. Raffy Hovanessian, through FAR and the Armenian-American Health Professionals Organization (AAHPO), gave Armenia and its medical professionals a fighting chance to improve their skills and upgrade the country’s health system, with benefits felt in the treatment of countless Armenian citizens. Today, most of the physicians and medical personnel working in Armenia and Artsakh have taken advantage of one or more of the innovative training programs resulting from these efforts.

Realizing that competent nursing played a crucial role in the healthcare systems of rural Armenia and Artsakh, Raffy prevailed upon his close friend, the great American-Armenian benefactor Nazar Nazarian, to fund a top-notch training and continuing education program for nurses. The practical model of first-aid training that emerged from the program has proved vitally important in a region that is under constant threat of war from Azerbaijan. It has also been effective in managing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region.

Dr. Hovanessian also contributed to the progress of Yerevan State Medical University—becoming its “unofficial ambassador to America,” in the words of Dr. Gevorg Yaghjyan, a former vice-rector of the university and a board member of the FAR Medical Alumni Association.

A Doctor’s Prescription In the final seven years of his life, Dr. Raffy Hovanessian fought a battle against cancer. He fought courageously, but also quietly: refusing to surrender a single moment to regret or self-pity; never losing any of his characteristic optimism. To the very end he met with leaders in the business and medical circles of the Armenian-American community, always promoting the importance of the programs he was involved with—always stressing the utmost imperative of their continuation.

As an immediate legacy of his passing, he left a bequest to the Fund for Armenian Relief to establish the “Raffy Hovanessian Educational Foundation.” Once again, the target of his concern was Artsakh and the development of its healthcare system.

Certainly, the name of Dr. Raffy Hovanessian will be remembered with honor, in death as it was in life. During his lifetime he was the recipient of numerous awards, from entities around the world. He was grateful for such recognitions—he was especially charmed that both he and Shoghag had been awarded America’s Ellis Island Medal of Honor—while accepting them in a spirit of genuine humility and detachment. The glory of name-recognition was never Raffy’s motivation. What drove him, filling his life with consequence and joy, was the work itself, and the chance it presented to do a good turn to others—especially to his own people.

It’s not surprising that as a physician, Dr. Hovanessian was concerned with the health and well-being of his countrymen. He gave voice to that sentiment in an interview he once gave: “Let us never forget that we are Armenians,” he said. “Our great connection to each other is that we belong to the same nation. The blood flowing in our veins is distinctive, unique; to infect it with mutual jealousy, animosity, and opposition would be a costly mistake.”

Though uttered years ago, those words speak with poignant urgency and meaning to our own day. They provide the perfect note on which to conclude this remembrance of a patriotic Armenian—and a physician in the truest sense.

Read original article here.

#Armenia #Armenians #Artsakh #Covid-19 #Gyumri #Yerevan #Society

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nemolian · 4 years

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Real Genius turns 35—celebrating this cult classic is a moral imperative

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Mitch (Gabriel Jarret) and Chris (Val Kilmer) play young science whizzes trying to build a 5-kilowatt laser in the 1985 film

Real Genius

TriStar Pictures

Back to the Future justly dominated the summer box office in 1985, but it's too bad its massive success overshadowed another nerd-friendly gem, Real Genius, which debuted one month later, on August 9. Now celebrating its 35th anniversary, the film remains one of the most charming, winsome depictions of super-smart science whizzes idealistically hoping to change the world for the better with their work. It also boasts a lot of reasonably accurate science—a rare occurrence at the time.

Real Genius came out the same year as the similarly-themed films Weird Science—which spawned a 1990s TV sitcom—and My Science Project, because 1980s Hollywood tended to do things in threes. But I'd argue that Real Genius has better stood the test of time, despite being so quintessentially an '80s film—right down to the many montages set to electronic/synth-pop chart-toppers. The film only grossed $12.9 million domestically against its $8 million budget, compared to $23.8 million domestically for its fellow cult classic, Weird Science. (My Science Project bombed with a paltry $4.1 million.) Reviews were mostly positive, however, and over time it became a sleeper hit via VHS, and later, DVD and streaming platforms.

(Spoilers for the 35-year-old film below.)

Fifteen-year-old Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret) is a science genius and social outcast at his high school. So he is over the moon when Professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton), a star researcher at the fictional Pacific Technical University, stops by the science fair to inform Mitch he's been admitted to the university. Even better, Hathaway has hand-picked Mitch to work in his own lab on a laser project. But unbeknownst to Mitch, Hathaway is in league with a covert CIA program to develop a space-based laser weapon called "Crossbow," designed for precisely targeted political assassinations. The only remaining obstacle is the weapon's power source: they need a 5-megawatt laser, and are relying on Hathaway to deliver.

The first act is a nerdier version of the classic fish-out-of-water tale, as Mitch arrives at Pacific Tech and tries to fit in. His roommate Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), is a senior who was once a bright young star like Mitch, but has since rebelled against the high-pressure academic grind and embraced a goofy YOLO approach to life, urging his fellow students to allow themselves to blow off a little steam now and then. Mitch butts heads with Kent (Robert Prescott), a less gifted older protege of Hathaway's who is jealous of the attention Mitch receives. He finds friends and allies not just in Chris, but also fellow science nerds "Ick" Ikagami (Mark Kamiyama) and Jordan Cochran (Michelle Meyrink), a hyperactive young woman who rarely stops talking or inventing gadgets, and by her own admission almost never sleeps.

Then there is Lazlo Hollyfeld (Jon Gries), a former star student who cracked under the pressure and is now an eccentric hermit living in the dormitory steam tunnels. Fun fact: Lazlo's steam tunnel hideout, accessible through Mitch's closet, is an elaborate homage to Leonardo da Vinci. As depicted when Mitch finally figures out how to gain access, it features a multidirectional elevator built out of a small car controlled by a rotating screw. The car descends to a horizontal track and propelled forward by a hidden drive chain. The automated scribbler Lazlo uses to submit over a million entries to the Frito-Lay Sweepstakes was inspired by a sketch in one of Leonardo's notebooks.

Eventually, Mitch and Chris succeed in solving the power problem for their laser, only to realize (thanks to Lazlo) that it will be used to build a powerful directed-energy laser weapon. The five of them team up to foil Hathaway's big military test of the system, in their usual eccentrically ingenious way.

15-year-old Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret) is admitted to the fictional "Pacific Tech" to work on lasers.

TriStar Pictures

Mitch's rival, Kent (Robert Prescott) and his rather shady mentor, Dr. Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton)

TriStar Pictures

Mitch's roommate is the equally brilliant but idiosyncratic Chris Knight (Val Kilmer)

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Jordan (Michelle Meyrink) surprises Mitch in the men's room with the sweater she knitted

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Lazlo Hollyfeld (Jon Gries) is a former genius who cracked and keeps mysteriously going into Mitch's closet—and vanishing.

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Mitch discovers the passage to Lazlo's secret lair.

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Conked out

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Of course Chris sleeps like a pretzel.

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Chris engineers a "pool party" so everyone can let off some steam.

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Jordan and "Ick" Ikagami (Mark Kamiyama) help Chris and Mitch take revenge on Kent.

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"Is that you, Jesus?"

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Yes that is a giant pile of unpopped popcorn in Jerry's foyer. All it needs is a bit of heat.

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Hacking a defense department laser weapon provides that heat.

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Hathaway realizes his system has been hacked.

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The team celebrates a job well done.

TriStar Pictures

It fell to film consultant Martin A. Gunderson of the University of Southern California (who has a bit part as a math professor) to help ensure that the science and campus culture depicted in the film were plausible, even if certain liberties were taken. Certain details were deliberately left out, according to Director Martha Coolidge, such as those for Mitch's flash-pumped ultraviolet laser at the science fair, and technical details pertaining to a directed-energy laser weapon. ("We didn't want to inspire any lethal tinkering.")

I've always appreciated how closely the laboratory laser setups hewed to reality: Gunderson himself provided the blue-green argon laser and tunable dye laser used in those scenes. Chris uses a cube beam splitter to create the laser light show announcing the Tanning Invitational pool party that incurs Hathaway's wrath. That said, a 5-megawatt laser had certainly not been achieved in 1985. While Chris's construction of a xenon-halogen laser to solve the power problem was purely theoretical at the time, the underlying scientific details were later outlined in a scientific paper—a fitting example of how science and Hollywood can both benefit from such collaborations.

For the "Smart People on Ice" scene, the crew used a frozen volatile gas, pumped through thousands of feet of tubing beneath the corridor flooring that was connected to a refrigeration unit to keep the gas cold. And as Ick explains when Kent asks him what will happen when the ice melts, the frozen gas shifts directly from a solid to a gaseous state, rather than melting into a liquid.

Then there is the famous popcorn scene that marks the group's triumph over Hathaway. Mitch, Chris, Ick, Jordan, and Lazlo fill his newly renovated house (accomplished with funds embezzled from his CIA grant) with unpopped popcorn covered in tinfoil. They place a prismatic-like piece of glass on the window sill, and hijack the computer during Hathaway's big military test to redirect the laser energy through that window. The kernels start popping, expanding to fill the entire house until it quite literally bursts at the seams.

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Real Genius movie clip: Jerry's House of Popcorn.

In a 2010 interview with the AV Club, Atherton revealed that the studio had six ten-foot-high air poppers devoted to popping popcorn all day for three months, filling a massive storage tank. Since the popcorn had been treated with fire retardant to keep it from combusting, additional measures had to be taken to ensure the birds didn't eat it. All that popcorn was then carted out to a new subdivision being built in Canyon Country just northwest of Los Angeles, and then stuffed inside a Victorian frame house specifically built for the film. That way the crew could pull the whole thing down in the climactic scene, with the help of an elaborate network of conveyor belts, hydraulic lifts, airblowers, and vacuum hoses. "Now they'd do it digitally, I guess, but in those days, you had to pop the dang popcorn and put it in a truck and schlep it out to the valley," Atherton said.

As evidence of the film's enduring popularity with the nerdy set, the Mythbusters decided to test the feasibility of popping that much popcorn with a laser and destroying a house in 2009. The initial test went well: the team successfully popped a single kernel wrapped in aluminum foil with a ten-watt laser. Unfortunately, they weren't able to get a sufficiently powerful laser for their scaled-up experiment, relying instead on a large pan used to cook the popcorn via induction heating. They also built a scaled-down model of the house in the film with a piston on the floor, pushing popped popcorn upward, to see if it could generate sufficient force to break apart the house. Alas, the Mythbusters determined it would require several tons of force. So myth: busted. But it's still an entertaining movie comeuppance.

Real Genius is admittedly a bit cheesy. The plot is predictable, the characters are pretty basic, and the dialogue can be clunky. And it goes without saying that the sexually frustrated virgin nerds ogling hot cosmetology students in bikinis during the pool party reflects hopelessly outdated stereotypes on several fronts. But the film still offers smartly silly escapist fare, with a side of solid science for those who care about such things. And its yearning idealism is a good antidote to the current prevailing cynicism.

via:Ars Technica, August 9, 2020 at 11:25AM

#IFTTT #Feedly #Ars Technica

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forkanna · 5 years

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[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

PART THREE

NOTE: This is where we advance several months. It's also the final story arc for this fic, so I hope you're ready for the final wild ride! (Also my apologies for taking so long to get this up)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Truer words had never been spoken in the history of Oz. And Elphaba didn't even need a drop of Pond water.

Over the next week, the lost Princess Ozma was hastily given just enough training in how to act like a "lady" so that she could participate in her own coronation ceremony. Etiquette, table manners, proper terms of address for nobility. Hair was fussed over, dresses were cut and hemmed, shoes were fashioned. She seemed to take to most lessons and changes very naturally once the initial shock had worn off.

And she positively clung to Glinda. The three witches had assumed their services would no longer be needed now that the rightful heir had turned up from the least likely place imaginable. Instead, Ozma desperately pleaded with them to stay on and help her figure out how to rule an entire kingdom.

"Oh, I thought you wanted to challenge us to a duel?" Elphaba had needled her as she was fitted for a high collar.

"Yeah, yeah," she replied in a grumble, spitting into the corner. Instantly, Glinda swatted her with her wand. "Ow!"

"And how will it look if the new queen of not one, but four countries, is seen spitting during her coronation?"

Pouting as she looked down at her stocking feet, Ozma tried to hide a blush. It was always present when she was in especially feminine garb. Though she had accepted such far more readily than someone who had spent their entire life as a boy ought to, that didn't mean her discomfort vanished. "No idea. I just keep forgetting these things. There's so much! A farm boy never had to balance books on his head, so why do you witches think I'm bad when I drop them?"

"We're conveniently 'you witches' whenever you have to do something you don't like," Elphaba cackled. "Instead of Auntie Glinda and Auntie Elphie…"

Tutting at her fellow Councilwoman, Glinda told the princess, "We're not saying you're a bad girl for forgetting! Just trying to motivate your memory. Now, stand up straight…"

Little by little, the young Ozma began to grasp things, and her learning gained momentum. Within her first month as queen, she was acting as if she had been bred for it all her life — in public, at least. In private, her behavior could only be described as "tomboyish". Not quite as masculine as an average boy raised in the country, but neither as ladylike as Glinda and Jellia would have liked.

Elphaba didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, the two of them would often laugh about how silly some of the customs expected of women in so-called "polite society" were. Though of the three witches, Ozma felt most secure around Glinda, trusting her completely, she definitely felt freest to be herself with the green-tinged Thropp. Their shared disregard of pomp and social niceties ensured that.

Two more months along and she even made a few changes. They were minor, but only endeared herself to the populace more. The Lurlinic Pike Guild was given right to refurbish their bunkers and procure shiny new pikes to replace the rusted ones. Mombi was hunted down and forbidden to practice magic any further, her spellbooks seized and her potions impounded. The library, which had been closed, was reopened and staffed with Animals, as part of hers and Elphaba's initiative to help return them to the respectable workforce. A statue of the Wizard was removed from the square and replaced with the statue of Ozma the Billious, then replaced again with a statue of the current Ozma by popular demand. It seemed the Emerald City had a new darling in its young Ruler.

When asked what she wanted done with the Wizard's statue, Elphaba asked it to be put in a corner of the Palace gardens. Despite his motives and methods, he was her father, and hadn't been so terrible that he deserved to have his name stricken from the record and his statue demolished.

Truth be told, it was Nessarose who did the largest share of actual governing in the government. It wound up being quite the ideal situation: Ozma could learn at her own pace and be pretty, Glinda was fantastic at smoothing over rough patches in diplomatic relations and getting people to drop their guard, Elphaba had freedom to work on her passion projects, and Nessa got back to precisely what she had been doing in Munchkinland on a larger scale. Now that she'd been fed a dose of humility, and didn't have an unattainable man lurking around to distract her, she was fantastic at the job. Eventually, they were able to replicate the spell they used on her shoes on a pair of anklets, so that she might wear different shoes from day to day. She did remark that the level of control was not quite as high, but it only took a small period of adjustment.

But she still wore the original silvery shoes from time to time. They remained her most prized possession.

Boq was rusted completely by the time they fetched him from Kiamo Ko. Without any sharper idea of what to do with him, they decided it was best he met the same fate as Morrible: tossed into the Forbidden Fountain. Once he had climbed free, as with Morrible, he had no memory of anything at all. Despite Nessa's temptation to tell him he was her long lost husband, they agreed that the truth was the best policy. While the mindless Morrible was employed at Shiz, and only as a teacher's aide, now Boq knew that he had transgressed, and his punishment was to have to start over as the guard of the Prince of the Vinkus.

As for the fate of Fiyero, he sadly could not be changed into a flesh-and-blood Vinkan again. So he decided to make do. Upon returning to his homeland, bringing along a freshly-oiled Boq and a few more royal guards on loan from Ozma to ensure he would be welcomed, despite his new form, he took his rightful place as Prince.

Conversely, Jack Pumpkinhead - whose name turned out to be highly accurate - was given the job of Palace gardener so that he could be close to his old friend. Ozma took many luncheons in the gardens for that reason.

The Lion always watched over her. Given her similar age and ineptitude, he seemed to be using her as a surrogate Dorothy, which made Glinda laugh. What a sweet old beast he was! Though on very rare occasion, she did witness him being ferocious when someone would try to sneak onto the grounds to get a look at either the witches or the queen. It was usually innocent enough, someone hoping to get an interview for the papers or to simply meet such a stunning ginger in the flesh, and Lion could usually roar and swipe at them with his claws once or twice to drive them away. Only once was it someone who claimed to believe Ozma was an impostor, and needed to be subdued until the guards could haul him away. Lion got an extra large portion of meat for his supper that evening, and ate it with great relish.

Polychrome went home to her father. There was a tearful goodbye, even if her tears instantly evaporated, but it was for the best; Oz was not her home any more than it was for Dorothy. She promised to visit again someday, though for an ageless sky fairy — who turned out to be many hundreds of years old! — that "return visit" could be when they were all elderly.

That was something Elphaba had turned her attentions to, once the Animals had been mostly restored to their previous standing in Ozian society, the minor revolts against the Council petered out, and there was no change in the Wizard's condition. First, she tried to examine how a girl that ought to be her own age could be a few years younger. The only answer she could grasp at was that the spell to disguise Ozma's gender had probably also returned her to a state of infancy, dialing back those first few years. However, the magical tests that she and Nessa had devised together seemed to hint that the young queen was also of the fairy folk, as Polychrome was. She couldn't be entirely certain of anything more. It drove Elphaba batty trying to figure out how this could be so, given that she had a father, she had a mother, as so many do. One parent had to have been a fairy in disguise, and yet neither were; the history books clearly showed Ozma's parentage to be noble, but mortal. It was quite the mystery.

Many a night, Glinda had to urge her roommate to abandon the books and come to bed. Although the term 'roommate' began to feel less and less accurate as time went on. Every night, they became more comfortable with this new level of intimacy. Glinda wanted to kiss her during the daytime, as well, but they could only find so many stolen moments.

One thing befuddled her: why did they continue to hide it? It wasn't as if relationships between two women were illegal, even if uncommon. Besides, they were now in positions of great power, and Ozma only seemed faintly flustered when she caught them sitting a little closer than was strictly professional. At some point when she walked in on them kissing at last, it became necessary for them to sit her down and explain their relationship, and the queen's reaction was pure joy, and an inquiry as to when they might marry. That was more heartening than she cared to admit, and the two of them embracing her made Ozma giggle and hug back, even while fussing about them being "too mushy".

This was one of many matters on Glinda's mind as they entered the fourth month of Ozma Tippetarius's reign. Running a kingdom, even with the responsibilities divided amongst four women, was no easy task, but they shouldn't ignore personal matters, despite Elphaba seeming to be alright doing just that.

~ o ~

"Married?!"

Rolling her blue eyes, Glinda continued digging through her corner of the attic space. Many of the former Ozma line had taken to stashing useless things there, and the Wizard and Morrible dubbed everything "useless" since it was from a bygone era. It seemed only right that they help clear it out and see if anything might be salvageable. She couldn't help remember doing a nearly-identical chore with Fiyero once upon a time. That felt like years ago now.

"Not tomorrow, Elphie. Just… y'know, a woman likes to think she's worth keeping around."

"I don't see what difference it makes," Elphaba groused, tugging an old sword free. When she unsheathed it, the blade was rusted through and snapped off, so she sighed in disgust and relinquished it to the discard pile. "I have you with me, and you know I'm not leaving. Do we need to make a ridiculous to-do?"

"Yes! Because I want to celebrate!" Tutting, she paused to put her hands on her hips. "Right now, we are actually standing pretty close to the spot where we began our journey together, if you didn't notice."

"I noticed," Elphaba told her. In a voice so rich with affection it nearly derailed her roommate.

"R-right. So you should understand! We spent so long flapping around the countryside like jackdaws that I don't want to hide it anymore!"

"So stop hiding it. You're the one who always acts flustered if I hold your hand at public dinners."

Giggling, Ozma brought over a jewellery box and placed it in the "take downstairs" collection. She was back to wearing trousers, but at least she was wearing a tasteful green blouse with sleeves that billowed around her arms, which gave a regal, elegant effect despite the somewhat genderless ensemble. Her excuse had been that puffy dresses weren't suited to jobs like cleaning and sorting, and despite Jellia trying to insist that Ozma need only supervise the job, she insisted on working herself.

"You two sound already married. Might as well make it official."

"See?!" Glinda burst out, gesturing to Ozma and making her dip her auburn head in slight alarm. "The queen agrees with me, and you can't go against a royal decree!"

"I didn't 'decree' anything!"

Elphaba laughed harshly as she tried to shift a large dresser aside. "That was a pretty feeble attempt, Glinny. Still… oh, I suppose it can't hurt anything."

"It can't. Unless you plan on leaving me," Glinda added petulantly.

"Not ever." She paused to pace over and loop an arm around Glinda's waist, pulling her body in close. Making a show of tittering and fanning her face, she leaned up to kiss her love's strong jawline, and Elphaba hummed her appreciation.

The wistful sigh from Ozma brought them around, and they all cleared their throats and got back to work. Glinda started sorting through a chest of old clothes that definitely wouldn't fit the current queen and asked, "What time of year would you like? Autumn is so lovely…"

"Thought you would go for more of a Springtime wedding. But… well, Autumn suits me just fine. The trees turn a lot of striking colours, if you wanted to have a more traditional ceremony."

Traditional Ozian weddings were held in the forest. All parties wore a thin, gauzy dress dappled like the leaves, and were always patterned after however the trees looked during that ceremony. If it were in Autumn, they should be red and gold and brown instead of green. Of course, more modern weddings typically took place in chapels, but as witches, belonging to a religion even older than Lurlinism, they would be expected to go back to a more natural setting.

"Well… we could do something about halfway," Nessa contributed as she dropped a chamber pot on top of the other trash. Her muscles were quite a lot stronger, and even though she would always need magic to walk, she could now run and jump as any other Ozian did, so long as she wore the shoes or anklets. The healthy colour it had given her made both Elphaba and Glinda smile, as they could well remember how sickly the younger sister could look due to inactivity.

"Halfway how?"

"Have the ceremony in the gardens. The bride and groom- or, sorry, the brides would wear modern wedding gowns, but the wedding party and attendees will be in the Robes Of Leaves. Perform the Dance Of Seasons, the tying of the legs, but still have a minister make the proclamation. Some combination like that. What do you think?"

Glinda had stopped working and was pressing her hands together in front of her wide smile. Then she burst out, "OOH! That sounds so wonderful!"

"Sounds like a chore," Elphaba snorted, but the way she was smiling gave away that she wasn't opposed.

"And then, once the ceremony is over…" She fluttered her eyelashes suggestively. Ozma was already stifling a giggle, but Elphaba merely paused to lean against a wardrobe door.

"What? Then we have cake and spiced meats, and put up with your mother's dreary speeches for an hour?"

Throwing up her hands, she turned back to pull at a curtain along the wall. "Hopeless. You are well and truly hopele- AAAH!"

The curtain came free from its rungs, and not having expected the sudden release of opposing force, Glinda fell back onto her behind. Instantly, Elphaba was there, gently raising her up from the floor by her shoulders. A moment later, Ozma and Nessa were bending over them, worry in their eyes.

"Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine," she reassured them with a wave of her hand. Her grunt as she made it back to her feet didn't seem to corroborate that claim, but she still smiled. "Just my backside. Plenty of padding there!"

"I like that padding," Elphie muttered into her ear, and her cheeks turned pink enough that Nessa rolled her eyes and turned to leave… but then she froze. Green eyes distracted by that, she looked up and asked, "What?"

"That painting… it was of a large body of water the last time I looked, but desert just now. And look, it's turned into a waterfall!"

Even as the other pairs of eyes turned to the painting that had been hanging behind the large curtain, it changed again — to a lovely forest full of tall, pointed trees. The way the images almost seemed to melt into each other was highly fascinating. The longer they waited, it turned into several more scenes. Once it showed some small village in the Quadling Country, they turned away to look at each other.

"I wonder if this thing would ever show Colwen Grounds?" Nessa breathed, running her hand along the frame — and immediately, there was Colwen Grounds, looking as proud and formidable as it had the last time Glinda had flown away from it at top speed. Nessa jerked her hand back in alarm. "What- I… how?!"

Approaching at a half-step, Ozma licked her lips. She shrugged at the other two, then turned back to the painting and stated, "I'd like to see the statue of the Wizard in the gardens!" Nothing happened. "Huh… did I do it wrong?"

"Nessa, ask it something else," Glinda urged.

"How about… show us Fiyero." Nothing happened. "Well, I wasn't doing anything that different. Does it have to be in the form of a question?"

"Could we see Fiyero?" Elphaba tried. The scene did change, but to that of a river. "Blast. Maybe it was a coincidence."

It was Ozma who figured it out. In hindsight, Glinda felt a little stupid that she hadn't noticed and the youngest of them had, but then again, Ozma had proven herself to be fairly bright, despite having been essentially mentally starved all her young life. As she had explained when they marvelled at her quick progress in a variety of subjects, the witch Mombi did at least allow her to read during her spare time between many chores, and she kept her mind sharp that way, even if she sometimes preferred running around and pulling minor pranks as forms of entertainment.

"Wait…" Her hand moved forward to touch the frame, as Nessa had done. "Show me Lion! What's he doing right now?"

The picture immediately shifted to show their furry guard. He was lounging at the bottom of the stairs to the attic, sleeping peacefully on his paws. A fly buzzed around his ear, and it flicked to drive the insect away. The four women were fascinated but still confused.

"It's magic, isn't it?" Ozma asked them excitedly. She was still fascinated by all things relating to magic, now that she had access to such things from a source that didn't despise her and treat her like a slave.

"Definitely. And powerful magic, if I'm not mistaken." Only hesitating a moment, Elphaba reached for the frame, and Ozma removed her hand. "Show me… Shiz." A map of Shiz appeared. Except that there was some slight stirring in this map. After a moment, she breathed, "Oh… it's a bird's-eye view. This is what it would look like if we were on my broomstick."

Sliding her hand around Elphaba's waist, Glinda whispered, "I can't believe we never thought to go check in on Shiz while we were fugitives. Not that there was much for us there, other than a few books and dresses. Oh, my dresses! Do you think they still have them?"

"It's likely," Nessa told them. "Everything you owned wound up in a storage closet when you ran- well, when it became clear you wouldn't be coming back to reclaim anything. Just depends on if they decided to clear it out or not."

"Awww. Well, that's legitimately disappointing."

"Oh," Elphaba breathed all of a sudden. When Glinda fixed her with a curious glance, she instead looked at the painting and asked pleasantly, "Show me Dorothy. It has been awhile since the eyepatch stopped working."

What they saw next chilled them to the bone.

They were looking into a dark room with wooden floors and brick walls, painted white and covered in what looked like some sort of thin mattresses. Even the floor had these mattresses along it. There was a very plain bed, also with a thicker mattress, and a few books piled next to it though no table upon which for them to rest. And there, seated on the bed with one of the books open in her lap, was…

Maybe it wasn't Dorothy. As opposed to the apple-cheeked girl they had met, full of life and just pleasantly plump enough to tell a person she never lacked for anything, here was a gaunt young waif. Hollow cheeks and dark bags under her eyes spoke of sleeplessness and malnutrition. Though she did look vaguely contented, one could guess that was a rare moment in her day-to-day life. But the facial features and hair colouring, height, and a certain indefinable quality she possessed told them that there could be no mistake. This was Dorothy Gale, whatever had become of her.

"It's so ghastly," Glinda whispered, as if speaking too loud would break the spell. "There isn't… any colour at all! No Gillikan violet, no Munchkinland blue!"

Nessa whispered, "What do you suppose this room is for? That can't be how bedrooms simply look in Kansas, can it?"

"So there's Dorothy," Ozma observed, voice quite hushed and eyes wide as she gazed at the painting. "I thought I remembered her being… taller. And healthier. No, this doesn't seem right; she doesn't seem right."

"I concur fully," Elphaba was muttering as she pulled her hand away. The picture remained on the scene, despite this, though nothing else happened; the girl's slippered feet kicked back and forth weakly as she read on. "It's… what if we made a mistake? She wanted to return to Kansas, but this doesn't look like anywhere I would wish my worst enemy. Well… maybe an enemy, after all, but not a friend."

Patting Elphaba's arm, Glinda craned her neck this way and that, hoping to spot some heretofore unknown benefit to this location of theirs. "Well… it looks fine to me, but you're right that it isn't very interesting. Maybe that's her new home. The other one was equally drab, even if not so… cushioned. So we shouldn't pass judgment."

"Might we wish her here?" asked Nessarose. "That would be simple enough with the belt."

"Yes, but I don't know if its power reaches that far, sister. Or if we would be able to send her back if we did succeed — and now that Morrible's mind has been erased, she won't be able to conjure another tornado to send her home. That's a great risk to take if it's a one-way trip and she doesn't want to return to Oz."

They all lapsed into silence. From what they could see in the painting, Dorothy didn't look quite as joyful as she had when she left Oz, but neither was she hurt or sobbing. Just drawn. Maybe she had simply taken ill and was in recovery; the room could be a hospital ward. There was no way to know for certain without asking her, but that was no more possible than conjuring a new tornado.

"What if…"

They all turned to Nessa as one. "Hmm?" asked Glinda. "If you have a better idea, let's hear it."

"What if one of us were sent there with the belt? Then we could ask Dorothy ourselves how she's doing. After… oh, let's say a full day has passed, we'll use this Magic Picture to look in on you again, and bring you home if you look like you're ready. Then you can tell us whether or not Dorothy is happy with her current… uhm, accommodations."

"Shouldn't we take the magic belt with us?" Glinda asked. "Especially since I have a feeling I've been volunteered for this mission for some reason."

"It's too risky," Elphaba said, and Nessa nodded, already thinking along those lines. "If we lose the belt, we're stuck wherever we are. And Morrible never elaborated how far away Kansas is; we might not be able to cross the desert any other way."

"But what if we try this plan, and the belt can't get us back?"

No one had an answer for that.

They might not have tried any plan at all if not for the little sniffle that came from the picture frame. By the time they looked up, Dorothy was wiping her cheeks and returning to her reading. There was no further crying, no evidence that she had cried. But nobody was capable of feigning that they hadn't heard the sound.

"I'll go," Ozma volunteered bravely, though she was trembling slightly in her determination. "If she really is important to you, then it seems like it's my duty as the queen to try and, um… what's that word? For speaking to another kingdom."

"Establish diplomatic relations?"

"That's the one! Diplomatic!"

"We can risk you even less than we can risk the belt!" Glinda admonished her, and Ozma looked sufficiently chagrined. "You're a good queen for wanting to help, but the citizenry would never forgive us for letting anything happen to you. And we wouldn't forgive ourselves, besides."

Her boot kicked at the wall by the painting. "Makes me feel so… claustrophobic sometimes, like I can't help anyone or go anywhere. But I know it's important for the people to have a leader they trust, too…" When Glinda's hand found her shoulder, she smiled glumly. "I'm fine. Sorry for complaining all the time."

"You're complaining just enough, dear."

"I'll go," Elphaba surprised them by saying. When they only stared at her, she asked, "What?"

"Well, I didn't think you cared enough for Dorothy to risk yourself in that way," Nessa said in a matter-of-fact voice. "Ever since she gave you a bath."

While Ozma giggled, Elphaba straightened and shouted, "That was an assassination attempt! And I have forgiven her, if you didn't care to pay attention! I'm allowed to be upset about something like that and work through it in my own time, aren't I?"

Shrugging, she turned back to the painting. Now it had finally changed to show a breezy meadow; seemed that once no one's attention was on it, the painting decided they had finished looking at Dorothy. "Fine, fine. But I agree that it's important we send someone. I had a special kinship with her; we were the only ones who knew what it's like to have to wear a pair of shoes all the time, without ever taking them off."

"For different reasons," Glinda muttered.

"True. I mean, I took mine off at bedtime and needed help reaching them in the morning sometimes, but she couldn't even do that much. It was nice having someone around who understood that part." Turning back to her sister, she sighed and said, "If you do this, let yourself be wished to the Land of Kansas without being sure you'll return, I'll definitely believe you've forgiven her."

Letting out a long sigh, Elphaba placed her hands on her hips. "Then it's settled. Tomorrow morning, I will steal away to Kansas and find out what I will. I only hope it isn't the last choice I ever make."

To Be Continued…

#The Coven Of Oz #forkanna writes #wicked fanfiction #wizard of oz

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milenasanchezmk · 6 years

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Ask the Coach: Primal Health Coaches Answer Your Questions

A couple weeks ago I asked for ideas for our Primal Health Coaches—what questions have you ever wanted to ask a Primal Health Coach? Many of you wrote in, and I loved reading your ideas. There were so many excellent thoughts I couldn’t begin to include them all here. (Luckily, our coaches might join us for a future post.)

So, sit back and take a look at what our Primal Health Coaches have to say about meal plans, cardio classes, behavior change, physician recommendations, their Primal Health Coach Institute experience, and more!

Question #1, from Jeannie: “Do you make customized, individual plans for every client? What does that encompass? Also, what resources do you use as a Primal Health Coach that allows you to provide support for your many clients?”

“The framework for the Primal lifestyle is the same for everyone, and most people will get really far with the basic template. Initially my goal is to help my client get the baseline set, see what changes, and then make adjustments from there. My suggestions are tailored to each client and the goals they wish to reach. While I do supply handouts for the first month I don’t for the additional months because any changes that are made are usually small. I know many people like meal plans but I don’t think they promote long term success. Meal plans can help give a client ideas, but that rarely translates into generating meal ideas on one’s own. In my opinion it can often lead back to old habits, because nothing was really learned.” – Jen Essary

“I approach all clients from an individual perspective in order to meet them where they are. We work together to come up with their top three health goals, and then narrow this down to one that they can most easily be successful with in order to motivate them to move on to the next. I rely on many of the resources I’ve gained from the Primal Health Coach course, as well as my years of experience working as a personal trainer.” – Regina Barak

“I do not customize. My service offers the opportunity to achieve optimal health. Healthy people tend to reach their ideal weight, and experience less disease and sickness; and healthy people tend to avoid chronic disease. I have to ensure all aspects of a healthy lifestyle are put into effect for a total life transformation. Most people will say they already eat right, exercise correctly or live a stress-free lifestyle. But missing any one of these factors will sabotage the overall goal of optimum health.” – Ron Drillen

“I will usually ask for food preferences and offer a selection of about 21 meals to try to add to their repertoire. I share all of my favorite food bloggers whose recipes I trust, so they can explore and make their own choices.” – Roxann Morello

“Hi Jeanine. The quick answer is, no, I do not make customized meal plans for each client. I work alongside the client to develop a weekly meal strategy. When a client goes into the week with a strategy (what to eat, and why), they tend to be more likely to stick with it. For me the best approach is to talk through the personal and work challenges in the week ahead. Are there going to be a few long nights at work? Is there a kids’ practice or game that will keep them out later, or unable to make a full meal? We work together to identify the strategy that will work best for those specific scenarios. I believe weekly meal plans certainly have a place, but they should not be given without a real strategy in place for the week.” – Steven Konsdorf

“I make a customized plan with every client. I have clients fill out an intake form a few days before our first session. When we meet, we can discuss their specific answers, goals, and visions of health, and begin forming a plan to get there. We move forward each week with their individual plan. During our coaching sessions, clients often bring something they want to discuss; a favorite book or article, or a recipe. We dissect it together and find ways it can fit into their Primal lifestyle. I use all kinds of resources! I love the Tendencies quiz by Gretchen Ruebin to help client learn about how they deal with internal and external expectations. I have blogs, podcasts and books I use and recommend, and also a lending library of books and cookbooks for my clients. One of my favorite resources is the supportive network of Primal Health Coaches. I can ask anything of these great people and I get brilliant ideas back! I love resources, learning and sharing new ideas. It’s my favorite aspect of coaching!” – Sara Baird

“In many cases, developing customized meal plans is actually out of scope of practice for health coaches. Health coaches are advocates for behaviour change… and I can tell you from experience that very few people ever established a new behaviour (and had it stick!) from following a prescribed meal plan. As a Primal Health Coach, I take my clients on a journey of education: so they can learn and understand WHAT foods support them and – this is the important part – WHY. The entire goal is to eventually graduate ciients from my care, and I need to feel confident that they know how to feed themselves in the absence of a meal plan. I supply my clients with a comprehensive Foods To Use and Foods To Lose list, and let them make meals they love, in whatever configuration they like.” – Erin Power

Question #2, from Julia: “I like taking 45-60 mins long spin classes. But, my heart rate gets VERY high. It’s definitely not slow and steady cardio and the class drills are a bit long to qualify as sprints. When or how do I work these workouts in to a primal lifestyle?”

“I have so many questions about this scenario. How often are you taking these classes? How do you feel afterwards? How are your sugar cravings? Are you starving after class? Do you have weight loss goals? What are your goals? From what you have written it sounds like you’re training in the “black hole.” The heart rate might not be high enough to qualify as high intensity, especially with the length of the class. It also isn’t low enough to be aerobic. My advice would be to limit the frequency of these classes. Mark has several articles about heart arrhythmias and chronic cardio which you can reference. For endurance training and fat burning purposes you’d come out ahead by keeping your heart rate below 180-age (Maffetone equation). I’d recommend working with one of the coaches who has taken the Primal Endurance Mastery Course if racing is one of your goals.” – Jen Essary

“If you love the spin class, keep it up! It’s great to have fun! Just perhaps allow yourself more sweet potatoes, fruit, sleep, and more rest days! You could try phase training: do 80% spin and 20% cross training for 3 weeks; then switch to 80% cross training and 20% spin class for 3 weeks weeks; and so on. Using the methods outlined in Primal Endurance, you could also emphasize more slow workouts until your aerobic base can support your current speed in spin class.” – Matt Zastrow

“Hi Julie, I would ask you to think about the goal of the class. Why are you doing this specific class? Is it for fat loss? If so, then there are potentially better ways to accomplish that with less stress on the body. Are you taking the class because it fits your schedule? Again, there are certainly other options with less stress that can be done for those 45-60 minutes. Are you taking the class because you enjoy it? If this is the answer then good for you and don’t stop. If you truly enjoy the spin class and it matches the goals you have then keep doing, but be strategic about it. Keep the spin class to once or twice a week. Leave several days in between classes to adequately recover. You can certainly have a spin class, but stay smart about it so that it fits your Primal lifestyle.” – Steven Konsdorf

“Fellow group fitness junkie here; and I’m a spin instructor too! First of all, that moderate-to-high intensity effort, sustained for an entire hour, is typically what we’d refer to as being in the “black hole” of intensity: not easy enough to be easy, but not hard enough to be hard. If you love it, then continue to do it, but consider scaling back to two a week. And add in some low-and-slow stuff (like walking), and some short-and-sharp stuff (like lifting weights and sprinting) to ensure you’re getting the optimal fitness and gene expression benefits from your time spent in the gym. And don’t forget recovery!” – Erin Power

Question #3, from Rosie: “What strategies would you recommend for breaking/replacing bad habits like eating at certain times not out of hunger but out of habit?”

“First I would ask how long you’ve been primal and what your current eating habits look like? If you’re relatively new to primal you may not be fully fat adapted. If you’ve been primal for awhile then I’d want to know more about your level of insulin sensitivity, any previous health challenges, and what a typical food day looks like for you right now. I would want to explore with you the origins of eating out of habit. Where does that belief come from? When did it begin? Are you misinterpreting a signal for something like thirst as a prompt to eat? My job as a coach is to help you explore these kinds of questions about your habits and challenges. When you understand the origins and the whys it makes it easier to re-frame that habit and make a new choice.” – Jen Essary

“I would suggest you create a food diary for one week so we could take a look at what kind of food you are eating. For instance, a diet consisting of processed foods and starchy carbs does not satisfy hunger, and leaves the brain wanting more. In that case we would discuss how carb dependency creates a cycle of needing more carbs from both a psychological point of view and a physical dependency as well. It’s a process, but we would establish small goals so you’re not feeling deprived along the way.” – Regina Barak

“More often than not, regimented eating schedules are a project of societal and/or workplace guidelines as to when you are “supposed” to take your lunch break. Most of us get indoctrinated into this behaviour from a very young age, and becomes a very strong habit that is hard to retrain. One effective tool to use to tell if you are truly hungry or just experiencing cravings out of boredom or habit, is to ask yourself: “Would I like to eat an hard-boiled egg right now?” If the answer is yes, you are hungry and should go eat some real food (like a hard boiled egg!). If the answer is no, you may be falling victim to (sugar) cravings and old habits that play tricks on you.By making yourself aware of what current state you are actually in, it can help provide you with the willpower to stay clear of the cravings, and making an informed decision of a more healthy choice.” – Jonas Drott

“Great question, Rosie! Eating out of habit instead of out of hunger is something I’ve struggled with as well. First, I would figure out the real reason for eating while not actually hungry. What started that habit in the first place? Are you bored, tired, anxious, stressed, etc? Second, I’d encourage you to replace the “bad” habit with a healthier one, like drinking water or unsweetened tea, or going for a quick 5-10 minute walk when the urge to snack hits. Third, I’m a firm believer in using affirmations to retrain your subconscious mind to help you make better choices automatically. Create an affirmation and say it out loud throughout the day multiple times. You could say “I only eat when hunger ensues naturally.” Use positive language and make sure your affirmation is stating what you do want and not what you don’t want.” – Melissa Emmons

“Time for my client and I to become detectives and scientists! Detectives and scientists ask a lot of questions. Then they ask more questions. They ask them without judgement, simply gathering data. What am I doing? Why am I doing it? What am I feeling at that moment? What would I rather do instead? What is a better way to take care of myself I love the shared excitement when a client has a lightbulb moment and zeroes in on what is actually happening. Especially when it’s a moment of personal reflection and understanding of their own behavior, followed by the support and empowerment to change that behavior. Getting to the next level feels so good.” – Sara Baird

“We need to be motivated to make the right choices. One way to do this is to write down your goals, and your reasons for those goals. Read these goals frequently; perhaps every morning. Be sure to include the Why of your goal(s). For instance, you might have a goal to lose weight, and the Why might be to prepare for an upcoming wedding or vacation; or to not hate clothes shopping; or to manage Diabetes symptoms. Brainstorm what is important to you and then go for it! Think of developing new habits being like you are standing on the sand at the beach and your goal is to go body surfing in the ocean. You get there by taking one step at a time until your feet are wet, then you keep going until you are deeper in the waves. It is the forward action, one step at a time, one decision at a time to keep putting one foot in front of the other, heading towards the waves where you want to be. This analogy may not work for you, but it works for me because I love the beach. You may need to find something more inspiring for you. As Erasmus said long ago, ‘A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.’” – Vanessa Marsden

Question #4, from Jack: “How would you balance the advice from a Primal Health Coach with doctor recommendations? The two view points often seem like they are at odds. Doctors seem to have outdated views on nutrition, but ignoring their advice seems like it could be dangerous.”

“Hi Jack. It’s definitely unwise to ignore doctors’ advice, and equally not recommended to follow a PHC’s advice blindly. A good health coach will back up his/her advice with actual scientifically-validated evidence, which you can study and run past your doctor yourself. Similarly, a good doctor would be open to discussing the evidence you’ve provided. With this exercise, you get to evaluate both your doctor and PHC; if you are still in doubt, you can always seek out a second opinion. Remember: you are 100% responsible for your health, and you really want to be confident and comfortable with the decisions you ultimately make. Good luck.” – Victor Chew

“This can be a tough situation if there are differing opinions between the coach and the doctor. Some doctors are less open minded about non-drug therapies, but this is why it’s really important to look for medical practitioners that offer a more holistic approach that includes a nutrition and lifestyle component —such as an integrative or functional doctor.” – Rachel Peterson

“Never ignore the advice from your doctor. Any and all information is invaluable when you have to make the best decision on your health. Doctors, like all professionals should be seen as advisers. Each offering a little piece of the information puzzle you need to complete the health puzzle. Ultimately you have to decide what direction you need to go in order to reach your goal. It is never advisable to hand over the responsibility of your health to another person without question.” – Ron Drillen

“Hi Jack. When working with a client I highlight the fact that my role as a Primal Health Coach is not to diagnose or prescribe a diet or contradict a doctors prescribed approach. If a client wants to go Primal, I encourage them to talk with their doctor about it. Simply meet with your doctor and lay out the Primal approach you want to take with your health coach, and seek to understand the concerns or objections your doctor may have, and why. You can even show examples of how the Primal Blueprint has helped others with the same diagnoses; just search Mark’s Daily Apple for plenty of Success Stories. Getting your doctor’s buy in is a great first step and shows you also have vested interest in taking control of your health.” – Steven Konsdorf

“Despite our opinions (right or wrong) about conventional medicine, your doctor’s orders are important and truthfully not to be ignored. In a perfect scenario, the relationship between client, health coach and doctor would be absolutely collaborative and synergistic. Take the bull by the horns and ensure that your doctor and your health coach are working together to move the needle on your health goals. Introduce your doctor to your PHC; introduce your PHC to your doctor. In a perfect scenario, the relationship between client, health coach and doctor would be absolutely collaborative and synergistic. It’s your health, and you are within your rights to build your own dream team of allied health care practitioners to help you achieve your optimal human badassery!” – Erin Power

Question #5, from Will: “Hey coaches! I am ready to sign up for the health coach certification program. However, it’s important that I have my wife’s buy-in and support before investing in the program — seeing as it will effect her and our two young sons. She’s on the fence. What is the value of this program (particularly for a young family) based on your experience as a health coach that I can relay to my wife as an outside perspective? How has the mastery of primal nutrition and lifestyle impacted your family?”

“Hi Will. I’ve been in just those shoes myself, not too long ago! I’d like to suggest that you ask yourself why you want to enroll: Do you have a passion in helping others? Do you want to start a health coaching business, or use the knowledge and skills from this program to grow your existing business? Do you just love to geek out on the primal lifestyle and hang out with your tribe? Obviously, these are just a few of the questions you’d want to ask yourself to understand your true motivation, and you are the only one that can answer them. For me, the answers were all yes! I do have a full time job that I also love, so it’s not imperative for me to start generating income with this certification right away. However, the knowledge, skills, support, and just being part of the this awesome tribe have made my family’s lives richer, in the sense that we’re healthier, stronger, and more adventurous, because we feel better and can move better. What more can be more prosperous than that?” – Victor Chew

“The value of this program for me has been a more foundational understanding of what it means to live holistically, and to age in such a way that keeps me young, energetic, and virtually medication-free. This has a ripple effect for everyone you are living with! At age 65, I feel like I’m 40. My own experience with the program has been awesome; I’m walking the walk instead of simply talking the talk.” – Regina Barak

“We are a family of four, and it feels like we are team. We have found our groove of food we all agree is delicious and meets our standards for health. My husband and I are also much more likely to jump in and gof around outside with the kids, now that we understand the importance of play in a long healthy life. That brings us closer as a family. Since I’ve taken the course, my family has been inspired to learn too. Now I take what I’ve seen work in my own family and use those tools as a starting point for my clients. It’s a pretty fantastic career in that I thrive off learning and coaching, while also reaping priceless benefits to my family and our health.” – Sara Baird

“The benefits to the overall health of the family are enormous. The course takes all the information in the books, the website and podcasts and goes deeper. It organizes it all in one place and is continually kept up to date. Understanding the “why” and the “how” behind all of this brings so much more confidence in actually helping other humans. The content on how to take this information, translate it and actually apply to different situations and to different people allows you to help more than just your family. You can now take this passion and turn it into another income stream for your family. Many of us started here because we found we were the “go-to” person for nutrition and health advice for friends and family. We were sort of already doing it, for free and with no real direction or organization. I can personally attest to how great it felt to have my son’s first year of college paid for and to be able to say yes to better vacations working VERY part time doing something I loved. Finally, the transition to doing this full time and leaving a career that was causing me entirely too much stress became a reality. I now see my kids more. I am a better mom. The family is happier and healthier. It takes time for all of this stuff to come to fruition (it took me a few years) but you’ve got to start somewhere and you’ll never get there unless you are willing to take the first step.” – Laura Rupsis

Thanks again to all of you who submitted questions for the coaches. And thank you also to our Primal Health Coaches for their time and perspectives today. Feel free to visit the sites and social media accounts of the coaches who joined us today, or check out the full directory of Primal Health Coaches who lives in your area or who offers coaching in a..

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cristinajourdanqp · 6 years

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Ask the Coach: Primal Health Coaches Answer Your Questions

Question #3, from Rosie: “What strategies would you recommend for breaking/replacing bad habits like eating at certain times not out of hunger but out of habit?”

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watsonrodriquezie · 6 years

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Ask the Coach: Primal Health Coaches Answer Your Questions

Question #3, from Rosie: “What strategies would you recommend for breaking/replacing bad habits like eating at certain times not out of hunger but out of habit?”

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davidpires578 · 6 years

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Parsing the Parthenon (I)

Happy 2018! This marks the 1000th post for The Carpentry Way. I know some blogs do 1000 posts in just a year, but I am pleased to have been able to keep at least a semi-consistent stream of posts coming your way since 2009, and an added bonus is I have to date received no death threats as a result. You never know what might set people off these days. I intend to continue with this blog for as long as it is useful and as long as I have something to contribute. ------------ Today I wanted to talk about a famous work of stone architecture, namely the Parthenon in Athens. I had planned mainly to focus on the intriguing aspects of it's design, however the history of the structure is equally of comment so this topic will span two posts, the first looking at the history. Before that though I had a few random comments in general about stone architecture. While stone architecture may seem outside the realm of carpentry strictly speaking, stone architecture in many (but not all) cases is an outcome of building traditions which had previously developed wooden architecture to a high standard, and wanted to emulate their wooden building forms in stone for the advantage conferred by stone, namely vastly increased durability. Possibly the decision to build in stone at different junctures in time was also influenced by what materials may or may not have been available. After all, 50 years ago one could find homes with clear VG 2x12 floor joists, while nowadays that sort of material would be unexpected. It's curious now how our economic systems have made building architecture in stone an utter rarity. In the US, the place where things are built to last in stone would be one's neighborhood graveyard and that is about it. All that care and concern about marking in physical terms the people once they have passed out of this world, and yet we cannot, no any longer, justify anything remotely similar in terms of celebrating people and society while living. It is a curious thing. While stone architecture can emulate wooden architecture through the use of columns and beams, and may imitate wooden architecture's features, such as gutters and the ends of 'beams', one cannot ignore the fact stone has quite different characteristics than timber, and thus it is generally inadvisable to perfectly duplicate in stone what was otherwise done in wood. Stone has little tensile strength, for example, so cantilevered and trussed elements are not practical -instead you need to reduce spans, increase the number of columns, and enlarge beam sizes. Deep eave overhangs are not possible for similar reasons, so a stone building will have vestigial eaves at best. A point worth mentioning is that in ancient Greece, temples were built of marble painted in primary colors. But by the time they were discovered by Europeans in the eighteenth century, the paint was long gone, leaving the white marble. And to this day, people associate the Greek Revival with the color white – the white columned look. It's a bit perverse to later copy such aspects of stone buildings by imitating them with timber as happened in the West starting in the 1800's with the Greek Revival period. Buildings of timber were intelligently copied by builders of stone in ancient times - by that I mean, they used stone in respect to its strengths and not weaknesses, as I'm sure they would have found pretty quickly what the limits of stone were if they tried to copy timber structures too closely. The Greek Revival buildings are however are arguably less intelligently copied, as one can imitate stone in timber quite faithfully without having an immediate result of structural failure. the fact that a building of wood with little or no eaves weathers vastly more poorly than a stone building seems to have been overlooked, or was simply not considered somehow. In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont were sent by the French government to study the American prison system. In his later letters Tocqueville indicates that he and Beaumont used their official business as a pretext to study American society instead. Following his return to France in 1832, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote De La Démocratie en Amérique, or (On) Democracy in America, published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840. In Volume II we find Chapter XI, "Of The Spirit In Which The Americans Cultivate The Arts", where some very salient points are made about the production of the arts in democracies generally. I'll quote a couple of paragraphs, as it bears upon Greek Revival architecture:

"This leads me to speak of those arts which are called the fine arts, by way of distinction. I do not believe that it is a necessary effect of a democratic social condition and of democratic institutions to diminish the number of men who cultivate the fine arts; but these causes exert a very powerful influence on the manner in which these arts are cultivated. Many of those who had already contracted a taste for the fine arts are impoverished: on the other hand, many of those who are not yet rich begin to conceive that taste, at least by imitation; and the number of consumers increases, but opulent and fastidious consumers become more scarce.

Something analogous to what I have already pointed out in the useful arts then takes place in the fine arts; the productions of artists are more numerous, but the merit of each production is diminished. No longer able to soar to what is great, they cultivate what is pretty and elegant; and appearance is more attended to than reality. In aristocracies a few great pictures are produced; in democratic countries, a vast number of insignificant ones. In the former, statues are raised of bronze; in the latter, they are modeled in plaster.

When I arrived for the first time at New York, by that part of the Atlantic Ocean which is called the Narrows, I was surprised to perceive along the shore, at some distance from the city, a considerable number of little palaces of white marble, several of which were built after the models of ancient architecture. When I went the next day to inspect more closely the building which had particularly attracted my notice, I found that its walls were of whitewashed brick, and its columns of painted wood. All the edifices which I had admired the night before were of the same kind."

Anyhow, some minor observations aside, let's get to the topic at hand. If you look at the stone buildings of classic antiquity, the most famous is undoubtedly the Parthenon in Athens, now in a state of some disrepair (though it is being restored currently):

The Parthenon is widely regarded as the finest example of ancient Greek architecture, the zenith of the Doric order. It has been widely copied. The Parthenon is a symbol of democracy, the classical desire for ideal perfection and has a very rich cultural significance to Athenians. In the US, the building which started the Greek Revival craze was the Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, constructed 1819~1824:

The building's exterior uses Pennsylvania blue marble, which, due to the manner in which it was cut, has begun to deteriorate from the exposure to the elements of the weak parts of the stone. The building now serves as an art gallery. Then we have the Federal Hall National Memorial on Wall Street, built 1833~1842:

It has a little dome on top, not visible from street level. Opened in 1835, the third Indiana Statehouse, designed by the firm of Town and Davis, was Antebellum America’s closest replication of the Parthenon:

The above structure is long gone. To quote directly from the ICAA's page on Parthenon derivatives in the US,

"The limestone constructed statehouse gave the appearance of solidity and permanence, but by the 1860s it had become shabby and its foundations began to fail. The building was finally condemned and demolished in 1877, having served Indiana for only forty-two years, a surprisingly poor record when compared to its ancient Greek precedents."

In Nashville there is a full-scale Parthenon replica, built in 1897:

In Germany there is Leo von Klenze’s Walhalla, completed in 1842:

In England there is the Birmingham Town Hall Chamberlain Square:

In Oslo there is the University of Oslo's Faculty of Law building, the middle section of which, borrowing from the Parthenon's facade, is termed the Domus Media:

There are Parthenon-inspired structures all over Europe, and Russia, however an exhaustive cataloging of those structures is not the point here - only to list a few notable examples to show the influence of the Parthenon upon some of the most important Western Edifices of the past 200 years. The Parthenon, as such, is not the original building on the site of the Acropolis. There was a 'pre-Parthenon', which was destroyed in 480 BC. The structure we see today was a project initiated by the Athenian Statesman and General Pericles - here's a stone bust of the fellow:

Pericles initiated what might be loosely called a "Make Athens Great Again" campaign in 447 BC, with an ambitious building project atop the Acropolis. The architects Ictinos and Callicrates began their work in 447 BC, and the building was substantially completed by 432, but work on the decorations continued until at least 431. The period 460~430 BC is termed the "Golden Age of Athens". Athens got into a kerfuffle with Sparta, leading to the Peloponnesian War, which interrupted construction. The temple was finished during the Peace of Nicias, between 421 BC and 409 BC. The term 'Peloponnesian War' is all but universally used today is a reflection of the Athens-centric sympathies of modern historians. As prominent historian J. B. Bury remarked, the Peloponnesians would have considered it the "Attic War". This is akin to the conflict termed the 'Vietnam War' by most of the Western world, is however termed the 'American War' by the Vietnamese themselves. According to Wikipedia, the Peloponnesian War reshaped the ancient Greek world. On the level of international relations, Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece prior to the war's beginning, was reduced to a state of near-complete subjection, while Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece. The economic costs of the war were felt all across Greece; poverty became widespread in the Peloponnese, while Athens found itself completely devastated, and never regained its pre-war prosperity. The war also wrought subtler changes to Greek society; the conflict between democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta, each of which supported friendly political factions within other states, made civil war a common occurrence in the Greek world. Greek warfare, meanwhile, originally a limited and formalized form of conflict, was transformed into an all-out struggle between city-states, complete with atrocities on a large scale. Shattering religious and cultural taboos, devastating vast swathes of countryside, and destroying whole cities, the Peloponnesian War marked the dramatic end to the fifth century BC and the golden age of Greece. Though the conflict shattered Athenian society, the Parthenon survived intact. In the third century Greece was attacked by sea by the Herules, an east Germanic tribe originating in southern Sweden. They were marauding barbarians like the Goths and Huns. The Herules apparently practiced a warrior-based male homosexuality, along with the practice of senicide, where the sick and elderly were killed and burned (by a non-relative, conveniently). Following the death of their husbands, Herul women were expected to commit suicide by hanging. And easy-going group, all in all, wouldn't you say? The Parthenon survived the Herules. Then it survived the Byzantine Period, (330~1453) the last hurrah of the Roman Empire. Following a decree by Roman emperor Theodosius II in 435, that all pagan temples be closed, the Parthenon came to be used as a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. That's not so far off I suppose, as the term 'Parthenon' connects to the epithet parthénos meaning "maiden, girl", but also "virgin, unmarried woman" and was especially used for Artemis, the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and vegetation, and for Athena, the goddess of strategy and tactics, handicraft, and practical reason. The Byzantine ended with the Byzantine-Ottoman Wars and the fall of Constantinople. In 1456 Ottoman Turks invaded Athens and after a year-long siege, gained control. The Parthenon was then appropriated for use as a Mosque, the Christian altar being removed, minaret's added, and Christian imagery whitewashed over. The Parthenon was still largely intact however, as a drawing published in 1688 shows:

The interesting thing about this picture is the roof depicted. It was an accurate drawing, however the roof pitch we can see in the drawing was not original to the structure. The ancient roof had been severely damaged by a fire in the 3rd century, and had been rebuilt with the steeper pitch. It would be most interesting to learn how they adapted the steeper pitch roof onto the older one, however the evidence is long since gone as far as I know. The Ottoman Turks got into a war with the Venetians in 1683, a conflict now termed the Great Turkish War. It was the 6th war between the two parties. The year 1687 was not a good one for the Parthenon. The Ottoman Turks had fortified the Parthenon and were using it for the storage of gunpowder. The Venetians sent a charmer named Francesco Morosini to attack Athens and capture the Acropolis. Most of his soldiers were German mercenaries. Here's a portrait of Francesco, who apparently always dressed in red from shoes to hat, and went into battle accompanied by his cat:

#woodworking #wood #working #miter #saws #Woodworking

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holcombeworkshop-blog · 7 years

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Hello and welcome to my blog! In this series I will detail the process of building a table and chair for use in an outdoor tea house. The seating arrangement will be partially exposed to the elements and so I’ve chosen to use Honduran mahogany, a wood that can survive the outdoors. The tea table will be similar to one I made previously for my sister’s family, of black cherry, while the chair is a new design with Shaker roots.

Being somewhat of a tinkerer, I can’t help but tweak designs as I build new iterations. Upon revisiting the tea table design, I’ve decided to make a few changes based on new experience along with advice having been given to me during the previous build.

The proportions of the table have changed to fit its new location and purpose, it needed to be scaled down in overall dimensions and yet I’ve made the table top a hair thicker. I’ve also decided to make changes to the stretcher to post connection, including changing the size of the stretcher to better mimic a timber frame connection. In addition to changing the size of the stretcher, I’ve moved from utilizing a wedged half dovetail to utilizing a wedged cog joint on the advice of Chris Hall.

On the existing table the top is battened using sliding dovetails, I will retain that form of battening. Currently the housings are cut into the table top and plugged at the exposed ends. While it remains a fun feature, I’ve decided that I would like to hide the housing under the tabletop and to do so I’ll rabbet a ledge, this additional step requires thicker material than previously used.

The winged supports are also attached using sliding dovetails, which were tapered originally. I will remove the taper and retain them in their positions with a locking mechanism; either a square peg or similar device to retain their positions centered along the edge.

Finally the joints at top and bottom of the legs are secured by a round tapered peg at the top and glue at the bottom. I will change that to secure both top and bottom with square pegs. If ever the table should need refinishing I want it to be able to be completely disassembled with ease.

To begin the process of building the chair, I’ve decided to prototype the design in basswood and white ash in order to work out specifics in full scale. I feel a chair is only good if it can provide a comfortable sit, so I thought it best to experiment before working in the mahogany that the final product will be produced in. The chair will need to be prototyped before the table is finished to ensure that the pair work nicely at their respective heights.

The work began by first locating Honduran mahogany, luckily I have a local supplier with very old stock that he’s been hanging onto for some years. I lucked out and found a board wide enough for the table top to be made without a lamination. I had hoped to minimize the laminations in this project, being that it is a scale in which that can be achieved. Certain aspects of the build will require laminations to work around ideal grain for those scenarios but a table top can be flat sawn without issue.

There is another three foot section to the board, already removed and set aside for the table top. I like to make some large cuts right away to let the material move if it will do so, and so I cut that even before loading it up to bring it to the studio.

One of the goals I’ve set forth in this project is to leave a plane finish on the chair seat, as with anything intended to be left outside I feel that giving that wood the advantage of a planed finish will assist in its long term survival. I will likely apply a film finish to the seat, but this will still further improve its ability to resist taking on water. That eliminates two important tools to chair making, scraping and sanding. Both of which are typically used to refine a seat profile. Instead I’ll be using tools specifically intended for a planed finish and leave a subtle texture in the scalloped, flat, and bowl cut areas of the seat.

The prototype started with 12/4 basswood, which I sawed into 2″ sections in preparation for creating a lamination. I used 12/4 material to begin with so that the chair seat would be rift sawn across its entire face. I’d like to minimize unexpected movements in the chair seat. The laminations were fairly critical, in that they need to be very tight fitting. As I cut the seat pan out any voids in the lamination would show up as large dark lines in the finished seat.

After the glue up, I jointed the seat surface flat.

The flattening work was done with the grain, utilizing a jack plane.

Then finishing up with a smoother. The chair seat was then laid out and cutout. On the basswood seat I’ve left a textured finish, applied with the spoon bottom plane. I enjoy the finish but I’m not sure just yet if I will also leave the same finish on the mahogany seat.

When cutting out the prototype I ignored documentation knowing that I would detail and document the process of cutting out the chair seat on the mahogany version.

The mahogany seat began similarly, starting with a lamination, joining up two rift sections to form the chair seat, then flattening it with a series of planes. After which I cut the seat blank to thickness with the same series of planes.

It was a fairly long process due to a scar in the material that needed to be worked out.

Once that was completed I was able to draw out my layout lines. Making some exceptions specific to this chair seat, which will have arms (the prototype will not have arms).

With the chair seat now laid out, it was time to begin the work.

The work begins with a tool called the chouna, or Japanese adze. A western adze is made to accommodate a mildly curved handle, where a Japanese adze is made to work with a extremely curved handle. The handle material is bent into a curve while still growing on the tree and left for some years to ensure that it retains its shape, after which it is cut and dried.

Normally one would lay out the posts and spindles, then drill them prior to cutting out the seat. I am not doing that here, the posts and spindles do not have a splay angle and so I can utilize my workbench surface to reference the rake angle of those holes. And I wanted to get right into the seat carving.

I purchased the adze from Yann Giguere of Mokuchi and spoke with Yann about the specifics of setting up a new adze, of which he provided me details on how to go about setting up. I setup the adze initially as a compression fit between handle and head, but in use I determined that I wanted a bit more ‘scoop’ in my cuts. Yann described to me that the reason for many to use a wedge was to manipulate the angle of the head.

So after using the adze for a while I decided that it was time to remove the head and cut a wedge. The wedge acts to tighten the head in addition to changing the angle of the head. You may notice that the wedge is applied in the direction opposite the force in which the adze is used in. It seems a delicate balance must be achieved to retain the wedge and use the tool. The adze is not used aggressively as one might think, not like one would take down a tree, but instead with precision like one might carve a chair seat.

In addition Yann provided some drawings on how to setup the adze. I was given an inside measurement of 210mm, but decided to start with a bit more than that to ensure I could cut my handle down to that number should I feel the need to change how it cuts.

The walnut sacrifice accounts for about 6mm.

Next I sharpened up the adze and was ready to go. The inside facet of the adze is flat, and so it’s fairly easy to sharpen.

The outside is curved, creating a ‘hamaguri’ or clam shell bevel. This is fairly well worked out from the maker, and so I only needed to continue working it with my Hakka and Uchigumori stones. Eventually the wrought will polish up a bit more evenly, but I’ll let that happen over time.

Finally a quick and easy cover was made for storage purposes.

The chair seat could then be cutout in a basic way with the adze. This step I did on the floor using my feet (wearing tabi) to position the work. It’s important to understand that I’m chopping down into the material and now back toward myself.

I worked as closely to my layout lines as possible. The adze, making its scooping cut, does not chop down aggressively into the material. This effect is perfect for a chair seat which will be cleaned up with a plane. There are no deep outside marks to work out.

Some of the obvious high spots will trimmed down with a fukamaru gouge (out-cannel gouge).

Leaving still a fairly rough surface.

A chair seat is basically six individual shapes converging into one another. The leg areas are two large radius half rounds and so they can be planed out to their finished dimension even before considering the other areas.

The plane used for this process is called the sori-ganna, or Japanese compass plane. I was able to get a wonderful sori on short notice from a fellow woodworker. This plane is an absolute wonder of a tool, beautiful kamaji pattern in the jigane, forge black on the ura, and a very hard hagane making for a plane that cuts for a long while.

I need to tune up the dai specifically for this task. being that when it arrived it wasn’t far from flat and obviously made for very long curves. The tuning began by making a kuchi-ire, or dovetailed key, for the mouth. This would close up the mouth and at the same time leave a very hard wear strip. The reason for doing this is that the wear strip right at the mouth opening was about to get very thin as I tuned the dai into the shape I wanted.

Next I worked a curve into the dai approximating the curve I had intended to cut, making certain that the plane would ultimately contact at three points; the mouth and the two extremes.

The plane was then used to hollow out the leg areas, creating two skate-board ramps.

The sori-ganna was then used cross grain to cutout the intersecting flat which would form the Y-shape in the center of the seat.

This flat will be further refined at a later point once another plane arrives, one which I will make a short dai for. The plane, while it is a ko-ganna, it is only so small. Rather than cutup the existing dai, I will instead chop a new dai using smaller material to make a mame hira-kanna.

The next step in the carving process utilizes a shi-ho-zori ganna, or Japanese spoon bottom plane. Joshua Villagas helped me out quite a bit with the terminology and when to use certain spellings of these words. ‘Ganna’ replaces ‘Kanna’ in situations where it is easier to speak through the combined words and zori replaces sori when it is after a describing term.

The dai on this plane must be where the majority of the preparation is spent, as it was very close to where it needed to be. I tuned the sold only very slightly to reveal the blade in a way where it protrudes the highest at the center then fades away to hide the corners as it go to the edges.

The blade, however, required substantial efforts on my part to maintain an even ura. Setting up the ura is critical to the life of the blade and so I put my effort in upfront when setting up a new blade.

The shi-ho-zori ganna is first used to rough out the bowl area, then I back out the blade and take 3/4 strokes going from one side all the way to the start of the opposing corner. A chip breaker exists for this plane, but its hardly needed here.

The bowl area forms the remainder of the seat, and if strokes are made full length and overlapping without starts showing in the middle of the cut, the appearance and texture is quite nice. Once the final plane arrives and I’m able to plane out the center, triangular shaped portion I will determine if the finish will remain this way or if a shi-ho-zori finish will applied over the entire surface.

Thank for following along, I hope that you have enjoyed this long introduction to my new project. I very much look forward to your comments.

Tea House Chair and Table Hello and welcome to my blog! In this series I will detail the process of building a table and chair for use in an outdoor tea house.

#chair making #Japanese Tools

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