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transformersmr-hq · 4 years

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TFMR Worldbuilding WIPs that are sitting inside my note app

Can't post them all so I'm giving snippets instead.

Combiners

The most common type of cimbiners are duobot combiners: spark twins that can combine (e.g. Jetfire and Jetstorm)

5-bot combiners like Victorion or Bruticus are actually very very rare

There is a type of outlier who can combine with other bots. Particularly powerful one can form a combiner with 4 other non-combiner bots.

Velocitron

Velocitron is Mercury.

There are two types of cities: one is a mobile platform that runs away from deadly sunlight, and the other is a repair station kind of city which hides underground during daytime

Benefit 500 race is basically a race that decides who will be running the planet until the next season. The 1st place gets the president's seat.

As of lately, there had been a political turmoil that worsened the relationship with Cybertron. The space bridge is shut down, and the planet is most likely to be starving from lack of tourists by now.

Here is an image that I was going to use as a header for the post. It's just NASA's image of mercury with caption added on it:

How Cybertronians grow

Cybertronians go through four stages: egg, newspark, cadet, and adult.

Newsparks undergo some form of metamorphosis/instantaneous growth called "upgrade". The first upgrade is when a newspark becomes a cadet. The second upgrade is when a cadet becomes an adult.

The first upgrade is something like human puberty. Many cadets don't get to look pretty. Especially seeker cadets (fledges). They look so hideous that Cybertronians that aren't seekers are hard-wired to automatically put mosaic blurr on their visage when they are in visual.

But that's okay because second upgrade pays good. The uglier a cadet was the prettier they will be after this upgrade.

And here is a very old drawing of baby Blitzwing. Was going to use it in a comic buuuut idk

Cybertronian Hygene

Cybertron has little to no water. This means that the most of the "filth" they would deal with is either dry sand-like dust, residues from liquids that dried off quickly, or something oil-based.

The quickest method is to use compressed air. This is enough to blow dust away from the seams. When a bot thinks they look clean enough or has little time to clean thelselves properly, shoving an overpowered leafblower up their faces is a way to go.

The proper method is to use a solvent. Solvent removes oil stains and evaporates quickly. Rich bots have solvent showers installed to their habsuit. Poor bots buy cheap ones that comes in spray bottles.

Washing with water isn't entirely unheard of. After all, water is one of the more common stuff in the universe. Those who has been to extraterrestrial excursions are familiar with water shower.

Wingspeech and Vosian wingspeech

All bots with back-mounted wings speak "wingspeech", a type of body language that uses wing movements. Wingspeech is often used with verbal speech simultaneously.

Common wingspeech is what ordinary winged mechs use, which is mostly used to empathize the nuance conveyed in the verbal speech. The movements are simple, so a non-flier bot with keen observation skills can easily understand them.

Vosian wingspeech, or more precisely, Vosian courtyard speech, involves a series of delicate and strictly controlled wing movements. It delivers the rest of the message that the speaker didn't mention in verbal speech, or it can completely contradict the verbal speech, hinting what the speaker really meant. It is impossible to fully understand a Vosian noblemech's words without learning how to read their wings.

Praxian grounders, who are always born with doorwings, can also speak wingspeech. They can eve learn Vosian courtyard wingspeech, although there are limitations due to their relatively simple "wing" structure.

Turbofoxes

Turbofoxes are one of the most common animals that can be seen in urbanized areas. They are often seen regions where it's too cold for ferrofelinids live, but sometimes they live in the same zone and compete for food.

They have turbo boosters mounted on their back. When they hunt prey, they can jump high up in the air using these boosters, this earning the name "Turbo" fox.

Turbofoxes are smart creatures that, unlike ferrofelinids, often approaches Cybertronians when they think this person is a kind one. They are friendly and harmless unless aggravated, but it's best not to touch them in case they are carrying flea-like microcreatures or neuro-rust(something like rabies)

Some turbofox subspecies are bred as popular pets.

Turbofoxes are infamous for stealing food from people when they are eating. This happenes often to minibot children.

The Thirteens

Cybertron used to have many religions. The a guy called Nova Prime got sick of people fighting over them so he smashed those religions together to create one universal religion.

In this new religion, Primus is the ultimate God. The Gods that were worshiped in previously existed religions became 13 “children” of Primus.

Prima is the first child of Primus and the most important out of the 13s because he was Iacon’s patron God. He knew there was no way he could stop Unicron, the very incarnation of end itself, so he made a deal with him so that he would retreat. In turn, he became Unicron’s hostage forever.

Micronus is the patron deity of newbuilds and youngs. He used to be the God of Minikind’s religion.

Alchemist is a little different, as legend states that he was an actual person rather than some mythical godly being. He was Cybertron’s best doctor, who could save any sparks from falling into Unicron’s hands. He tragically died of some super rust plague while trying to save people, and then Primus took his spark and made him one of 13.

Liege Maximo is portrayed as the deity of deception and trickery, and often depicted to have silver tongue. Truth is, Liege Maximo was a figure thought to be the founding father of the city-state of Vos, and he is the patron deity of diplomacy and cleverness. the creator of the Primusinaity simply didn’t like Vos very much because it was the last city-state to accept the religion (albeit begrudgingly).

#tfmr asdf #writing #mod is a lazy asshat #combiners #velocitron #how cybertronian baby grows #cybertronian hygene #wingspeech #turbofoxes #the thirteens #transformers: mobius run

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ladymdc · 5 years

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The Seventh Circle

I don’t usually do a lot of fic promoting, however, since this is a joint endeavor with my amazing fren @dismalzelenka, I’m going to do it 🙃

Pairing: Nathaniel Howe x Reyna Cousland AND Anders x Adrestia Tabris Rating: Explicit (will have canon-typical violence & probably smut) Word Count (at the moment): ~2,900 Chapters: 1/? Summary: Run if you can. Madness has filled the silence. Do not return to this place.

[A modern w/magic AU where the Wardens & darkspawn are a myth, a bedtime story parents tell their children. However, an incident in the Western Approach sends Reyna Cousland and Adrestia Tabris on a search to uncover a truth lost to time and secrecy before it's too late to stop events from spiraling further out of control. Reyna belongs to MC & Adrestia belongs to Diz.]

We’ll be tossing updates up on Ao3 (here) whenever the muse strikes us. CH.1 is under the cut for funsies.

Solace 20:19

Reyna Cousland placed her sunglasses in the center console and got out of the vehicle. The estate was lovely in summer, lush and beautiful. She couldn’t deny it, but the beauty felt bitter and false as she took it in.

She opened the back door to let Acheron out then wordlessly led him up the flagstone path to the manor. At the dark walnut doors on the veranda, she paused. She just needed a moment to brace herself. To prepare for what she was about to face.

Inside, the foyer was well lit and immaculate. A circular table sat in the middle of the open area. On it, there was a large bouquet of dark blue flowers interspersed with olive branches—a play on the colors of their house.

Pride.

It was a double-edged weapon, just as able to drive one to succeed as to destroy them.

When she looked up, she found her father standing in the doorway to the breakfast nook. His eyes were a stormy grey. Calm, yet powerful; precisely contained—never show weakness or fear.

Conquered By None.

“Reyna,” he said, absently scratching Acheron’s ear. “Take a walk with me.”

Reyna nodded stiffly and followed after her father. He led her outside then along one of the lanes lined with trees heavy with plums ripe for picking. Her father didn’t make any effort to converse until they were well away from the manor.

“I don’t want you to transfer,” he abruptly declared.

She had already decided to walk pride’s razor edge and told her father as such. “It has already been approved. I leave in two weeks.”

Her father came to a halt as his expression grew bitterly resigned as if preparing himself to be stuck on some quarter.

“I had it on good authority that General Howe—” her lip curled up with disdain of its own volition, “—was going to send me there to add insult to injury. This way, I control the narrative.”

There was a long silence. Her father stared down the lane, his eyes far away.

“What happened should not affect your career,” he said eventually, turning to look down at her. “It had nothing to do with you.”

The betrayal had been so exacting and deeply personal that she could barely bring herself to think about it.

“It has everything to do with me,” Reyna told him. “I am a Cousland.”

“True.” A slow smile curved his lips. Then it vanished, and he glanced away.

But Reyna saw it, the sudden lines of tension around his eyes.

“So, the narrative; what do you need me to do to help offset—” he flicked his hand dismissively at his side, “—everything?”

Reyna blinked. “I don’t need you to do anything,” she said in a tight voice. “Did you really think I was going to distance myself from you? A Cousland always does their duty. You taught me that. You did your duty, and now, it’s my turn.”

Her father nodded thoughtfully. The sunlight catching his hair, silvered with age.

“You know, just when I think I couldn’t be more proud of you, you prove me wrong.”

Her throat tightened so much it was hard to swallow. She managed to tip her chin down in acknowledgment.

When she was a little girl, Reyna had thought he was cold. However, as she matured, she realized he wasn’t unfeeling. Her father felt things; he just did so privately.

In that regard, they were alike; driven by emotions, but never allowed them to dictate. The head always won out over the heart. At least, until General Bryce Cousland was court-martialed for insubordination and suspended without pay for five years.

Then everything changed.

While she composed herself, her father made a convincing job of admiring the blooming hydrangeas. Reyna knew he was proud of her. She never questioned that. But being reminded of it as she tried to be his steady rock in a sea of shifting alliances was overwhelming.

“Come,” he said, briefly placing his hand between her shoulder blades when she stepped up next to him a moment later. “Let’s finish our stroll through the gardens before your mother decides to hunt us down.”

“Did she also assume I was going to cast you aside like some black stain on my career that I couldn’t wait to expunge?” she asked dryly as they began walking down the return lane.

The corner of his mouth twitched faintly. “She didn’t. I believe she just wanted the satisfaction of being present when I was proved wrong. Thank you for allowing myself to be spared further embarrassment.”

Reyna smiled then. Truly smiled for what felt like the first time in months.

Her father chuckled. “In my defense, neither of us have handled this exceptionally well, and I’m unaccustomed to you being—angry.”

Through it all, her father had appeared unaffected. If Reyna had been less angry herself, she might have believed it, but their personalities were basically the same. Which, oddly enough, left her uncertain how to address the strain that had asserted itself between them. But there was an instant comfort she found in learning that it was all misplaced, that he had simply felt as lost as her.

“Likewise,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how this conversation was going to go when you asked me to come home to discuss it.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t mean to alarm you. It’s just easier to discern what is going on in your head when we speak face to face. And we’ve avoided the general topic long enough.”

“I agree. I shouldn’t have tried to talk about it over the phone. I just didn’t want you to hear about my transfer from anyone else and misunderstand. Obviously, that backfired.”

“That is on me, not you,” he said as they began to ascend the large stone steps up to the patio.

Reyna’s mother was setting the small table in the breakfast nook when they stepped inside. Her parents stared at one another for a moment, then her mother arched a single blonde eyebrow.

“It is as you said, Eleanor,” he allowed drolly.

A slow cat-like smile graced her mother’s lips. “Welcome home, Reyna,” she said, stepping forward to give her daughter a quick hug. “Lunch is almost ready, I’m just finishing up the chicken.”

“Do you need any help?”

“Not at all. It’ll take me ten minutes, tops.”

Her father nodded. “Alright, then I’ll be right back,” he said. Then he turned and walked out of the room. Her mother’s blue eyes glittered knowingly before exiting through the adjacent door leading to the kitchen.

Reyna shrugged inwardly before taking a seat. At her elbow, she found today’s newspaper. Something twisted inside her as she read the headline on the front page.

CONTROVERSIAL DRILLING RIG IN ABYSSAL RIFT TO BEGIN OPERATIONS IN EARLY AUGUST

‘Rift Platform 52’, or ‘P-52’, is expected to launch operations on Saturday, August 6th, according to a press release by Antonius Faber, CEO of OFT Enterprises.

This venture is made possible thanks to Orzammar based Paragon Branka Kondrat’s revolutionary structural engineering research. This state of the art drilling facility, the most advanced of its kind to date, is affixed to the cliff-side of the Abyssal Rift using massive caissons and a carefully threaded steel cable suspension system. It is roughly the size of a 15-story building and will deploy three separate drilling units to depths of up to 5,000 meters. P-52 is expected to reach oil reserves that have remained untapped for centuries due to the unstable landscape of the Western Approach and widespread environmental toxicity located within the Rift itself.

While few would question the wealth of resources finally available, Ferelden concerns on the matter initially went largely unheard until King Cailan Theirin and Empress Celene Valmont established the Great Orlais-Ferelden Oil Alliance earlier this year.

In exchange—

Reyna heard footsteps and looked up as her father reentered the room.

His eyes flicked from hers down to the newspaper. He stared at it for several seconds, then sighed.

“For once, I’m not mentioned.”

Reyna nodded, keeping her expression carefully closed as she quietly seethed.

On the surface, increasing oil imports from Orlais at a lesser cost in exchange for military support in the hazardous environment seemed to make good sense. However, production sharing agreements were horrendously advantageous to the host country. The host country did not need to make a significant amount of investment for exploration or production activities because the oil company carried all operational and financial costs and risks. Then, if that weren’t enough, the host country gleaned knowledge, technological advances, and expertise through the agreement.

In summation, the host country— Orlais —would reap endless benefits and profits from this groundbreaking endeavor.

Ferelden would be guaranteed access to cheap oil, and nothing more. This was a fact her father had bluntly relayed to some reporters at the persuasion of his lifelong friend, Rendon Howe, who then used the souring tide of public opinion in the matter to motivate King Cailan to call for his court-martial. It succeeded.

Predictably, Rendon was promoted to take his place.

Reyna rolled her jaw and forced herself to set aside her sudden rage.

“It’s fine, Reyna; I shall live on,” he said, crossing the room.

“We shall live on,” she corrected.

“Precisely.”

There was a pregnant pause.

“I have something for you,” he said, then reached into his pocket and withdrew two metal, half-inch bands inlaid with runes.

She looked up at her father in astonishment.

He smirked, then held out his empty hand to her. “As you said, it’s your turn.”

“I can’t accept that.”

“It was always going to be yours someday,” he said, then beckoned with his fingers to encourage her along.

At that, Reyna swallowed down the rest of her objections and let him help her to stand; Acheron perked up from where he was doing a rather good job at blending in with the wood flooring.

“Part of why I asked you here today was to tell you that I’m resigning from the service,” he told her, slipping the bands onto her left arm.

“When did you make that decision?”

“When the verdict was handed down. I was just waiting for the news cycle to die down. None of this was supposed to be about me.” He began to precisely situate one on her forearm just a couple inches from her elbow; the other was dangling from her wrist like an oversized bracelet.

“It was about Ferelden, and I did right by her,” he said. “That is all that matters.”

Reyna slowly nodded. She understood the implications behind the decision. Going along with it all would be as good as admitting wrongdoing.

Once in position, the bands resized themselves to her perfectly where they would remain unless she went in to have them reset and removed. Reyna could tell there were enchantments woven into the silverite to prevent her arm from chafing and to keep it the ideal temperature.

“Can you feel it?”

Now that he mentioned it, Reyna could recognize a presence pressing against the outside of her forearm. “I can tell I’m connected to it, but I can’t tell how to make it do anything.”

“It takes some getting used to. You’ll just have to practice.” He took two steps back. “Curl your fingers in one at a time, starting with your pinky, and you’ll be able to separate it out better.”

Reyna took a deep, even breath and did as instructed. As her thumb curled inward, she felt it.

The semi-translucent, iridescent blue field flickered to life for a half-second, then vanished.

Her father smiled proudly, and Reyna could feel the pressure in her cheeks and eyes as she struggled not to cry over it.

She knew what it looked like in its full corporeal form. A modernized replica of the shields their ancestors used to carry back in the Dragon Age. It had been a gift from the late King Maric Theirin when her father was knighted for exceptional services to the Crown. In that alone, it was priceless, and yet astronomical amounts of time and effort and magic went into making the one of a kind device.

She parted her lips to speak—

“Don’t thank me, and I won’t…” he trailed off and waved a hand.

Reyna exhaled; part relief, part amusement. “Deal.”

“Good,” he said, shoulders dropping as if he had also found the entire conversation emotionally draining. But then her father put his arm around her and pulled her in for a quick, slightly awkward half-embrace.

As if awaiting this cue, her mother breezed back into the room to begin serving lunch: garlic bread and caprese chicken avocado salad with a balsamic reduction. Reyna’s mouth quirked at the corner when Acheron dug in. It always did. Without fail, he happily ate anything her mother put in front of him.

Later, Reyna would sit in her West Hill apartment and think back on the meal. In that moment, they had all but forgotten what had happened. The only deviation from the thousands of other meals they’ve shared in that room was the bands were affixed to her arm instead of her father’s. Where they should be.

Reyna idly traced the runes wrapped around her wrist.

All this time, she had been supportive but distant, trying to separate out her own personal turmoil over the matter so her father wouldn’t carry that too. He had done so anyway. Penance perhaps for negatively affecting her career, one he knew she didn’t even want even though Reyna had never admitted it.

At least, they managed to set things right. It was far past time, but neither of them were much good at talking about how they felt.

“I think we should stay at the manor until we leave,” she said suddenly.

Acheron barked, stump waggling, and Reyna reached for her phone.

It was a strange feeling, to move back into her childhood home. A home she loved and would someday inherit to become Lady of the Manor. A fact that made her painfully aware while she was an heir, she was not a true heir. No matter what she did, the Cousland name would die with her.

Reyna tried not to think about it.

Instead, she read, ran with Acheron, and cooked with her mother. She practiced activating the shield, which was like strengthening a part of her she hadn’t known existed and had muscle atrophy as a result. Reyna and her father even discussed potential ways she could excel in her new post, to climb rank despite the looming expectation that she stall out or quit.

When Reyna left, it was as if she’d be back the next day. Goodbyes were another thing they weren’t very good at.

The flight was uneventful, as was settling into her new place in Valemont. A two-bedroom, 1.5 bath duplex with exactly one parking space designated as hers behind the home, which was all she needed.

There were some incredulous looks when 2ndLt. Cousland provided her identification at the gates of Griffon Wing Army Base the following Monday, but Reyna ignored it. Then she parked her new jeep and slung her bag onto her shoulder before dropping Acheron off for training on the local wildlife. And now, she made her way deeper into the facility in search of her office.

As she rounded a corner on the third floor, she allowed herself a quick glance around, taking in the layout. Reyna stiffened when she saw him. Seeing her certainly hadn’t seemed to surprise or upset him.

He’d been waiting for it.

Howe simply leaned back on his heels and studied her, his eyes bright as they swept over her in a rapid catalog, lingering a moment on the band visible around her left wrist. Nothing about him had changed since she’d last seen him, and yet she could feel the weight of everything that had in the air between them.

He hadn’t tried to contact her.

Not once.

Whatever they’d been had never been defined. Not friends, but something that had mattered enough for Reyna to feel a growing well of hurt as she blankly met his stare. Not that it mattered.

None of it had ever mattered.

Eventually, Howe looked down, and his lips thinned. Then his posture shifted slightly. There was something he was trying to communicate to her, and her grey eyes flicked over to the plaque on the door he stood nearest to.

316 2ndLt. Nathaniel Howe

Her mouth twisted derisively. Of course, their offices would be across the hall from one another. She should have expected it.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Howe twitch, and his expression harden.

Reyna turned on her heel and entered her office.

She set her bag down and went to the window. The Western Approach was a sea of unstable, shifting sands, rocky ridges, and strong, howling winds. On the horizon, P-52 sat in the middle of a steel web. Without a doubt, this office was also chosen to remind her how she got here.

She should be enraged, but she couldn’t summon it. She hadn’t realized how powerless she was to fight her circumstances until that moment.

People did not believe in facts. Order and truth could be tarnished.

She didn’t know how to rise above it, but she would still try.

She sank into the chair at her desk and went to work.

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rainesclan · 6 years

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[Part One]: Think About Me

A/N: So here it is! The multi-part Nathan fic no one asked for! Special thanks to @l8r-sk8rz for being a bad influence and encouraging me to write a Nathan fic and to @nathan-starling and @choices-opinions for always being ready for some Nathan content! *Also there should be a ‘read more’. If it isn’t working for some reason let me know and I’ll try to fix it!

Note: This is an A/U in which MC meets Nathan during her freshman year

Description: The excitement of starting her freshman year at Hartfeld has worn off for Cariedee after a tumultuous first week of financial scares and being worked to exhaustion by Professor Vasquez. In order to take her mind off of her troubles for a night, Kaitlyn invites her to a party hosted by Alpha Theta Mu.

Rating: PG-13 (underage drinking, some strong language)

Words: 2,236

A short lock of curled blonde hair fell into Cariedee’s face as her fingers flew almost furiously against her keyboard. She paused just long enough to tuck it back behind her ear, and her eyes followed the words as the scrolled along with the rapid motion of her fingers. While she worked without even taking a moment to gather her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed the door to her bedroom creak open until she could smell the familiar scent of Kaitlyn’s perfume lingering behind her.

“Just give me ten minutes,” she requested in a barely audible mumble. “I’m almost finished with this page.”

Her eyes were separated from her work when the screen of her laptop abruptly disappeared. She pulled her hands away for the keyboard just in time for the screen to close down on it, and she looked down to see the little light behind the apple symbol flicker out.

“Kaitlyn!”

“Come on, Car, no stressing tonight!” Kaitlyn insisted. She placed her hands firmly on her hips when her suitemate turned around in her desk chair to look at her. “You promised you’d take a night off.”

Cariedee opened her mouth to refute the statement, but had to stop herself when she realized there was nothing she could say. She had promised Kaitlyn that she’d take a night off from stressing about Professor Vasquez’s deadlines and how long she would be able to survive his outrageous demands before having to quit and losing her scholarship. If Vasquez was going to push her to her breaking point, and she was no longer going to be able to stay at Hartfeld, she figured she might as well make the most out of it while she still could.

And if that meant letting loose for at least one night and enjoying a night out with her friends, that was what she was going to do.

“Vasquez is gonna kill me if I don’t finish this by Monday morning,” She reminded Kaitlyn as she stood up and made her way over to where she had a few of her favorite outfits hanging in her closet.

“A small price to pay for the full college experience,” Kaitlyn retorted with a nonchalant shrug. “And you know what just screams full college experience?”

“Not having to worry about losing your only available scholarship for not living up to someone’s ridiculously high standards?”

Kaitlyn’s smile faltered and twisted into a sympathetic frown.

“I was gonna say ‘having fun at a frat party with all of your suitemates,’ but I guess yours is pretty valid too.”

With a defeated sigh, Cariedee pulled a plain black crop top off of one of her hangers and held it up to her chest to measure if it was still going to fit after a week’s worth of going out to dinner for pizza to avoid dining hall food. While she knew she was being a somewhat of a downer on a night that was supposed to be fun, she almost couldn’t help it. She wished she could go back to being carefree and living the college dream like she was during her first day on campus, but ever since her mom called to break the news about her father losing his job, all of that felt impossible.

“Hey,” Kaitlyn’s tone was more gentle than it had been all night when she reached out to touch her friend’s arm. “You know I’m just trying to cheer you up, right? I know this hasn’t exactly been the first week of college you were hoping for.”

When they locked eyes, Cariedee couldn’t help but smile. For all of the hardships that college had been presenting her with so far, she was grateful that at least one thing had gone right. She had gotten matched with the best suitemates she could have hoped for, and even when she wasn’t expressing it as well as she would have liked, she was grateful for all of them.

“You’re doing great,” she assured her, and patted Kaitlyn affectionately on the arm. “Now let me get dressed and we’ll go.”

“I’m gonna go get some drinks! I’ll be right back!” Zack leaned close to Cariedee as he shouted over the thundering bass of the music that was playing so loudly it was shaking the walls of the Alpha Theta Mu clubhouse.

Instead of giving a verbal answer that she knew would go unheard through all of the noise, she simply nodded and watched him begin to make his way through the crowd. While she appreciated the sentiment of her friends wanting to bring her to this party to take her mind off of things, she wasn’t sure standing shoulder to shoulder with what felt like practically every student at Hartfeld was as effective as a stress reliever as they were hoping it would be. Maybe it would have benefitted her to have gone to a few small house parties during her high school years to prepare her for frat parties like this one, but she knew there was no use in pondering that now.

She could practically feel the heat radiating off of everyone’s bodies as she wove her way through groups of rowdy drunk students with no destination in mind. The closer she found herself getting to the source of the music, the more disorienting it became, and she hadn’t noticed someone step out in front of her with a solo cup in each hand until it was too late.

Her hand darted out to steady the full solo cup in the stranger’s hand, but she realized she hadn’t been quick enough when the red punch that seemingly everyone at the party had been drinking splashed up above the rim and coated his hand in the pungent liquid.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” she apologized quickly. Her hand instinctively reached out to help, although she wasn’t entirely sure what she could do. “It’s just so packed in here and-”

A warm chuckle drew her eyes up to really look at the stranger standing in front of her’s for the first time. She felt the blood rush up to her cheeks subconsciously when the tall blonde flashed a charming smile in response, and his calm demeanor was a stark contrast to her franticness when he spoke.

“It’s not a problem. Really,” he assured her. “Nothing a few napkins can’t fix.”

“Here. Let me get some for you and we’ll call it even,” she insisted, but stopped herself before she could turn away from him. “Would you happen to know where they are?”

He chuckled again before responding.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t considering I am one of the hosts,” her mouth opened to respond, but she didn’t have the opportunity before he gestured towards a hallway where the crowd seemed to thin out a bit. “This way.”

Sticking close to the only person who had become even vaguely familiar to her, Cariedee made her way through the crowd with him, the music fading just slightly the further away they got from the speakers. Once the volume around them was low enough that they no longer had to yell in order to be heard, he glanced back to make sure that she hadn’t gotten lost in the shuffle and flashed another smile when they made brief eye contact.

“I’m Nathan, by the way.”

"Cariedee.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Cariedee,” her soft laugh caused him to cast another glance over his shoulder and share his own. “Although I suppose it’d be more so if I wasn’t covered in jungle juice.”

“Yeah...again...sorry about that.”

The crowd had practically disappeared by the time they reached the end of the hall that branched out into a more open kitchen area, and Cariedee subconsciously drew in a deeper breath once she no longer felt boxed in. Someone clapped Nathan on the shoulder and said a quick hello before he pulled a paper towel off of the roll and turned his attention back to her.

“If you’d like to make it up to me you could let me get you a drink and come take a walk with me outside,” he suggested. “I could use a break from all of this.”

“That sounds great, actually,” she told him, and he grabbed two unopened cans of beer from a cooler next to the kitchen before leading her to the back door.

The air was still sticky with the late summer humidity that hadn’t quite gone away yet once they stepped outside of the clubhouse, and the loud music and combination of voices faded into quiet muffles as they got further from the source. Cariedee checked her phone to make sure that none of her friends were looking for her, tucking it away in her pocket when she saw no new messages. One of the lessons that her parents had reiterated to her over and over was to not get separated from her friends at a party. She knew as long as no one was actively looking for her, she wasn’t being completely irresponsible...even if she had implied to Zack that she’d wait for him to come back with drinks.

The muffled music slowly became replaced by the buzzing of insects, and the two near-strangers walked in a silence that was more comfortable than either of them had previously expected. Cariedee sighed subconsciously when a gentle breeze cooled her overheated skin and cracked the can of beer in her hand open to take a sip.

“I have to apologize for the cheap beer,” Nathan’s voice drew her attention back to him, and he offered her a small half smile. “I would have offered you something a little more refined...but we know better than to bring out the best stuff at parties like this.”

“Why? You don’t think rowdy college students can appreciate the finer things in life?” She teased.

“At a Welcome Week party? Hardly,” his eyes nearly twinkled when he laughed. “I’m fairly sure everyone’s goal here is to drink as much as possible in as little time as possible. Not exactly the setting for the smoothest whiskeys money can buy.”

“Yeah. I guess you’re right. Maybe next time.”

The statement seemed to catch his attention, and he cocked an eyebrow with a smile in response.

“Are you considering rushing?”

“No. Definitely not,” she said, before backtracking just a bit. “I mean...don’t take it personally. It’s not Alpha Theta Mu. I just kind of have enough to worry about right now without the added stress of everything that comes with rush week.”

Nathan nodded politely.

“Well if you change your mind I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing you around more often.”

As much as she tried, Cariedee couldn’t contain her sheepish smile, and she glanced away from him in hopes that he couldn’t see the pink tint in her cheeks in the darkness of the night. If nothing else...he was certainly charming.

“So do you flirt with every person who spills a drink on you?” She asked.

“Only the ones I’m intrigued by,” he smiled again when she looked back at him. Before she could think of a response, he chuckled almost awkwardly and continued. “In all honesty, I’m usually not this forward. That jungle juice must have been stronger than Beau let on to.”

She let out a short laugh and rolled her eyes playfully. While she may not have known him well – or at all for that matter – she prided herself on having a good read on people. Charm and flirtation seemed to come so naturally from him that she had a difficult time believing it wasn’t his default way of communication.

“Sure,” she laughed. “Blame the jungle juice.”

The sound of the back door of the clubhouse opening with a loud creak abruptly cut off their conversation, and the light from the kitchen made the person who left the house out to be simply a shadow. As whoever it was approached, his features became more defined, and the unfamiliar student smiled broadly at her and Nathan once he was close.

“Speaking of Beau,” Nathan started, only to be cut off before he could finish.

“Nate-Dog!” The way that Beau’s words slurred let her know that he had consumed entirely too much alcohol that night. He stumbled forward a bit before catching himself on Nathan’s shoulder. “Someone set up a pong table. We’ve gotta go rekindle our beer pong champion days.”

By the way he was dressed and the way he presented himself, Cariedee hadn’t really imagined Nathan being the “beer pong champion” type, and she had a feeling it wasn’t his proudest accomplishment either by the way he chuckled awkwardly and smoothed his already well-kept hair away from his eyes.

“I guess that’s my cue,” he told her with a sheepish smile.

“Go reclaim your throne,” she teased with a gentle laugh. “It was nice meeting you, Nathan.”

“The pleasure was all mine, Cariedee.”

Beau grabbed his arm to lead him back towards the clubhouse, but before they could get too far, Nathan stopped in their path and turned back to look at where Cariedee still stood out in the blue glow of the night.

“Cariedee,” he called back to her, and she looked back up from where her gaze had shifted down to the grass. “I know you’re not interested in rushing Alpha Theta Mu this year...but I hope you’ll consider what I said before. About not wanting this to be the last that we see of one another.”

After taking a moment to think, she opened her mouth to respond. By the time she sorted through her thoughts and found the words that she wanted to say, however, Nathan and Beau were both gone...back into the clubhouse and into the massive crowd where she was sure she wouldn’t be able to find them again for the rest of the night.

#aaand off to bed i go #i hope this wasn't disappointing i always feel like my writing is trash dnknfjnf #fic #multi-part #nathan x mc #nathan sterling #something like this fic #something like this part 1

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united-we-stand-politics · 5 years

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The Partisan Crisis

There are two major political parties in American Politics: Republican and Democrat. There are other, or third, parties in American Politics as well, however, these candidates seldom win elections.

I am Unaffiliated, better known as an "Independent". I don't believe in Partisan Politics as I believe it creates friction between people in the two major political parties. I have some ideas that may some day make the political process better here in the United States and re-unite us citizens. Even with our major differences we ALL have more in common than we realize. If we had a completely Independent political process, this country would be a better place for everyone. When a Democrat is elected, half of the country's needs aren't met. When a Republican is elected, the other half of the country's needs aren't met. This pattern continues like a never-ending, vicious cycle. At what point do we stand up as citizens and say enough is enough! At what point do we create a United Front and put a stop to this?

Let us first look at one major crisis here in The United States: Partisanship. Partisanship is dividing America. There are only two major political factions in our Nation, who's opinions and views drastically differ. These differences are so vast that they can't even come to an agreement at the dinner table. People are losing friendships. Even families are being torn apart because the Partisan Crisis has gotten so bad in recent years. This is completely unnecessary and it's been going on for three centuries! Luckily, there is a much better way to do things. Unfortunately, it won't be easy trying to incorporate these simple changes into our current political system.

With the election of President Donald Trump, these opposing factions have become much more distant. The farther the distance, the more dangerous the Partisan Crisis becomes. Partisanship is literally KILLING America and it will cause more serious damage and issues for our future if we don't do something about it right now. In my opinion, we are on the brink of a possible Civil War. This is a TERRIFYING prospect.

Life shouldn't be about black & white anymore. We have come way too far for all of that! It is 2019. We ALL should be able to get along by now and for the most part we have, but the age of the Trump Presidency has brought with it a DISGUSTING and alarming amount of racism, systemic racism, and hatred and both factions are participating. This is NOT good. The Trump Presidency is not entirely to blame, either. First of all, he didn't elect himself!! The Donald, (who I wonder may be the Nostradamus and Bible predicted "Third Anti-Christ" simply called "the trumpet"), has scared many people regardless of color, race, creed, religion or sexual orientation. Many are intimidated by his greedy, racist, sexist, philandering, lying and disrespectful nature and what it is doing and could do to our country and it's image. For a small percentage, it has given them the courage to come out of their racist closet. He spouts racism at his rallies in a way I have never witnessed in my life, other than seeing racist rallies from history in school or on TV. We are backsliding as a country. Make America Great Again? America IS great!

The GOP definitely has to do something. They either need to disconnect themselves from the Trumpets and say, we are Republican, but we do not believe in the Trump White Nationalist agenda OR rebuild itself an entirely new party. They no longer hold the "moral high ground". We have people voting Republican against their own benefit because they don't exactly understand what a Republican government means. (Money for the rich pretty much narrows it down.) They only understand that Trump has promised to, "get rid of illegal immigrants" and "put a stop to the refugee crisis coming to America". They literally voted against their OWN individual benefit on behalf of racism. (Not ALL of them, but 89% of them, based on the most recent Republican approval rating of Trump.) Many of them are on welfare, uneducated and the ones that work have lower than average paying jobs. With 89% of Republicans approving of his racist, White Nationalist agenda, the rest of us are looking at that. This is what Trump has done to the GOP. People who are good people, the other 11% of Republicans, are lumped into this category as well due to their remarkably high approval rating. Trump isn't to blame for being a jackass. They KNEW who they were voting for and they KNOW what they're supporting regardless of the plethora of evidence before them. Best thing that could happen for the GOP would be to vote him out in the 2020 Presidential Primary. It's not unheard of, it has happened before. Trump has lost between 8-10% of his base. His current Independent approval rating is down to 38% and his current Democratic approval rating is down to just 9%. (These numbers are as of May 20, 2018, just a few days before posting this.)

It's a year and a half later and the only thing Trump has "accomplished" was undo many things Obama did, piss off Kim Jong Un and fall for a summit meeting that everyone BUT him & his politically uneducated base KNEW was not going to happen, write a "break-up letter" to Kim Jong Un "cancelling" a meeting Kim had pretty much already cancelled because he finally figured out what everyone else knew. (That there would be no meeting and didn't want Kim to cancel it first. He's like a child). He has also managed to play more golf in his first year than Obama did in his entire Presidency, even after criticizing the man for playing golf. Let's also not forget the fact that he's spent much more money. He has snowed the American people into believing that he works for no salary. Check out his website!!! He's got all kinds of things for sale! "President Trump" memorabilia. One Christmas tree ornament for FORTY DOLLARS.... MADE IN CHINA. Why would anyone think he would bring jobs back to the States when his own workers are overseas? He has outsourced THOUSANDS of American jobs to Mexico and China. (Just ask the coal miners he lied to in order to secure their vote. They won't be voting for him again.) His designer imposter daughter's clothes are also made in China. The "Ivanka Trump" brand that sells cheap knock offs of very expensive French & Italian designers are made in sweat shops. She's had a series of lawsuits from said designers. There's no telling how many times The Trumpet, himself, has been sued. I know it's been several times. He's declared bankruptcy on several properties in Atlantic City and other areas so that he wouldn't have to pay back his investors. (One of them had ties to the Hard Rock Cafe who also sued him.) He's a crook who rips people off! We have a CROOK in the White House!!! This whole country is going down the toilet.....FAST! It doesn't get any worse than this. This is the worst Presidential behavior in American History. It's like a horror movie!

So, what do we do about this horror story called Partisanship?! Well, I have an idea! END Partisanship! Unite ALL Americans. The average politician doesn't care about what the average American NEEDS. So what exactly ARE the NEEDS of the average American?! According to those I have interviewed, we ALL have many similar needs, irregardless of political identity. Everyone I have interviewed is concerned about healthcare in some way, education, homelessness, veterans' needs, smaller government, unneeded child services being put in place regardless of there being any exigent circumstances, children needing services not getting any due to the backlog of unwarranted cases based on "revenge calls". Then we have local, state & federal income taxes, the cost of living in certain states, the heroin & crack epidemic, and overcrowded jails and prisons. The United States is a "free country", yet we have more people in jail than any other country on the planet and we're the only democratic country without free healthcare. Racial profiling was mentioned in my interviews and that's a huge problem in this country today. Police brutality is a concern for all races I have interviewed. Addiction and alcoholism, disability, social security, the rights of felons after a longer period of good behavior, felons not being able to get a job, illegal immigration, and concerns for the DACA citizens because children can't help that they were forced to cross the border by irresponsible parents. Everything down to ridiculous fees on hotel prices in NJ beyond the 12% sales tax is a concern for some. We have homeless citizens all over the place. No one should be homeless here. Some feel that business grants are being distributed unfairly. We need to feel that ALL of our needs are being met no matter WHO is in office and no matter our identity. We have so many similar basic needs that it's an embarrassment of riches! We don't need parties... we need TRUE freedom!

How do we ensure these needs get met? We either create a NO party system OR open up more factions. So, instead of having two major factions like we have now, we have more like eight because many Americans aren't having these needs met by either Political Party and identify in different areas of the scale. When I take a political identity quiz I come up Market Skeptic Republican even though I'm an Independent. This is all a result of having two political parties even though MOST Americans ALL have the same basic needs.

The other change would be to stop political campaign Super PACs. There should be a cap on how much money a person, business, corporation, etc., should be allowed to donate or gift to any politicians regardless of whether or not it is during a political campaign. It's safe to say that VP Pence, as an example, is pretty much owned by the Koch Bros. who have donated in excess of one million dollars to his political campaigns and interests. Politicians should no longer be capable of being bought. This would ensure that the extremely small upper .1% of the population won't be controlling the other 99.9% of us via paying off politicians.

I believe it best if we also got rid of ALL parties. No one has to feel like they need to be "loyal to their party" anymore. With an Independent, literally FREE, "No Party System", (not to be confused with a one party system), all candidates can bring their own ideas to the table without any outside influence. Everything would still work exactly the same. The only difference would be that every candidate is an Independent along with every voter and billionaires can't buy them off with their big bags of money. Without a "base", politicians can start listening to everyone's needs as opposed to one TYPE of person.

So, regarding those American needs I mentioned earlier? What would this new generation of politicians do for these needs of ours? They would get a general sense of everyone's needs and combine them to create something where everyone is happy. A political compromise, if you will. Will there be some sacrifices down the line? Of course their would, but political compromises will ensure that everyone gets their basic needs met and that one "side" isn't being ignored. There would be more than two candidates in every election for all levels from assemblyperson all the way up to the Presidential election. We would have all kinds of candidates running in one general election.

We will never agree with each other on every issue, but we can sure do a much better job of making compromises. With a couple new changes to the political process we can make a better future for ourselves and our children, our grandchildren and many generations to come. Let's work TOGETHER! We can start small by voting for Independent candidates and becoming Unaffiliated or Independent on our voter registration cards. After a period of time, others will follow suit and will do the same. The change starts with me writing this article. It starts with you sharing it with your friends. It starts with one person doing the right thing and passing the message along to the next person. Before we know it, we will have created that positive change that we so desperately need. Thank you for taking the time to read this article regarding this very important issue and may the best candidates win!!! 💘💘💘

*This article is a product of my personal long term investigative journalism, several interviews, reading & research. I'm just starting out as an investigative journalist and I hope you all enjoy my writings, even if you don't always agree with it.

**Sources:

Gallup Polls; The Pew Research Center; CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CBS, ABC; The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer; Public Interviews of Anonymous Citizens; https://www.snopes.com; Axios; http://www.shop.donaldjtrump.com

**Addendum

I wrote this article over a year ago. Concerning my statement regarding the GOP doing something to help us is currently out of the question considering what's been going on with the Impeachment Inquiry.

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healthspiritbody · 5 years

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Cancer Cure In Sight, Israeli Scientists Say - But Critics Aren't Sure

Israeli scientists claim they will develop a cure for cancer within the next year – an unlikely prospect, according to world leaders in cancer care and treatment innovation.

In December, Nobel Prize winner James Allison, who helped develop immunotherapy, said: ‘Soon we’ll get close with some cancers,’ citing progress against some forms including melanoma. But, ‘the world will never be cancer-free.’

Today, Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies Ltd in Israel claims to have proved him wrong, using a web of small protein fragments called peptides which can wrap around cancer cells like an octopus, attacking tumors from multiple angles and reaching areas that other treatment molecules are too big to get to.

They say the peptides are so delicate that they should fly under the immune system’s radar, preventing counter attacks from the tumor and side effects like nausea and ‘chemo brain’.

Critics say the method is promising and not unheard-of but claims of a ‘cure’ are wildly overstated since the only study was performed in mice, nobody has seen the results of that study, and even the inventors admit human trials will take years to start and complete.

What’s more, it’s improbable that we will ever develop one singular cure for all cancers, which vary widely.

Peptides have long been considered for cancer care, and many scientists are working on similar approaches, But claims of a ‘cure’ are overstretched because they have only conducted a ‘first exploratory trial in mice’ and some tests in petri dishes

‘It goes without saying, we all share the aspirational hope that they are correct,’ Len Lichtenfeld, MD, chief medical officer of the ACS, told DailyMail.com in an email, and since published on his blog.

‘Unfortunately, we must be aware that this is far from proven as an effective treatment for people with cancer, let alone a cure.’

The researchers have not published data to back up their claim that this is the most promising treatment to date. The only words published on their ‘exploratory experiment in mice’ is an interview they gave to local paper The Jerusalem Post, claiming success.

That is not enough to warrant excitement or even intrigue, says Dr. Vince Luca, assistant professor of Cancer Biology at Moffitt Cancer Center.

‘Peptides are a rapidly growing class of therapeutics, yet very few peptide-based drugs have received FDA approval for oncology indications,’ Dr. Luca told DailyMail.com.

‘The Israeli scientists’ reports of a “universal cancer cure” have not been substantiated through publications in peer-reviewed articles, nor have they been demonstrated in human clinical trials, and their claims should be met with extreme skepticism.’

That’s not to say it couldn’t work as a treatment in some capacity.

But Dr. Lichtenfeld warns there is a big difference between finding a treatment with potential and making it work.

‘Our hopes are always on the side of new breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer,’ Dr. Lichtenfeld said.

‘We are living in an era where many exciting advances are impacting the care of patients with cancer. We hope that this approach also bears fruit and is successful.

‘At the same time, we must always offer a note of caution that the process to get this treatment from mouse to man is not always a simple and uncomplicated journey.

‘As experience has taught us so many times, the gap from a successful mouse experiment to an effective, beneficial application of exciting laboratory concepts to helping cancer patients at the bedside is, in fact, a long and treacherous journey, filled with unforeseen and unanticipated obstacles.’

PEPTIDES ARE PROMISING FOR CANCER CARE – BUT SCIENTISTS ARE STILL STRUGGLING TO MAKE THEM WORK THIS WAY

Even despite the huge gains made in cancer treatment innovation, we are still far off eliminating the disease, with more than 18 million new cases a year and 8.2 million deaths.

Immunotherapy is the new wonder treatment, winning the Nobel Prize last year, as it trains the patient’s immune system to fight cancer itself, getting around the issues of the patient’s immune system reacting to drugs.

But that is expensive, still being rolled out into mainstream care, and even the inventors, James Allison of the US and Tasuku Honjo of Japan, would not market it as a cure.

Aside from that, there have been steps to more directly deliver drugs like chemotherapy to the tumor to prevent arduous and sometimes excruciating side effects.

Currently, the top FDA-approved method to do that is with antibodies, which have been perfect vehicles for delivering targeted drugs.

However, the antibody molecules are often too big to reach the brain for brain tumors. And antibodies have a tendency to bind to parts of the immune system that can have toxic effects on the liver and bone marrow.

Peptides, amino acids connected in a chain, have been held up as a perfect alternative. They are cheap to make and regulate, are less likely to cause side effects, and they can effectively home in on specific sites without affecting surrounding areas.

Three peptides are already used to treat elements of cancer – mainly targeting hormones that feed tumors, while other drugs do the tumor-killing.

However, many see the potential in peptides to one day do everything in a multi-pronged attack – and that is what the Israeli team claim to have achieved.

The big problem with peptides, according to a study published last year, is that they are often too delicate to be a match for tumors, and they have short half-lives, meaning they don’t have the stamina to deliver a sustained attack on tumors.

Attempts have been made to extend their half-life and strengthen them, but thus far to no avail.

‘My colleagues here at ACS tell me phage or peptide display techniques, while very powerful research tools for selecting high-affinity binders have had a difficult road as potential drugs,’ Dr. Lichtenfeld said.

‘If [the Israeli group] is just beginning clinical trials, they have some tough experiments ahead.’

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE ISRAELI TEAM’S ATTEMPTS – AND WHAT ARE THE CAVEATS?

Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies Ltd (AEBi) has not conducted any human clinical trials and has only completed one study on mice, according to their profile in the Jerusalem Post.

That is far from what is needed to establish a worthy treatment, let alone a cure.

As a result, most cancer experts will dismiss the study as, at best, a work in progress.

Claims of a cure are, at best, an overstretch.

However, the methods to build on research into peptides for cancer care and deliver some fresh ideas on how they could be made stronger.

CEO Dr. Ilan Morad compared the method, which he calls MuTaTo (multi-target toxin), to the drug cocktails used to target the AIDS virus from multiple angles at the same time.

He says the delicate chain of just 12 amino acids at a time would consist of ‘several cancer-targeting peptides for each cancer cell at the same time’ and would contain ‘a strong peptide toxin that would kill cancer cells specifically.’

‘The probability of having multiple mutations that would modify all targeted receptors simultaneously decreases dramatically with the number of targets used,’ Morad said.

‘Instead of attacking receptors one at a time, we attack receptors three at a time – not even cancer can mutate three receptors at the same time.’

COULD THIS TREATMENT EVEN REACH CLINICS WITHIN A YEAR?

There are many elements to complete, that is a tall order for a 12-month schedule.

First, Aebi says it is trying to patent specific peptide structures.

Second, they are aiming to conduct human trials which, they say, will take a few years. Thus far, they have conducted petri dish tests and their ‘first exploratory mice experiment’.

Third, the aim is for the treatment to be personalized, taking biopsies from the patients to work out which receptors need targeting. That will take time to craft.

Dan Aridor, chairman of the board of AEBi, insisted their results are ‘consistent and repeatable’, adding: ‘We believe we will offer in a year’s time a complete cure for cancer.

‘Our cancer cure will be effective from day one, will last a duration of a few weeks and will have no or minimal side-effects at a much lower cost than most other treatments on the market.’

But Dr. Lichtenfield warned readers should take the claims with a sizeable pinch of salt.

It is hardly the first time a team has said the same.

He recommends a ‘well-established program of experiments’ to ‘better define how this works – and may not work – as it moves from the laboratory bench to the clinic.’

‘It will likely take some time to prove the benefit of this new approach to the treatment of cancer,’ he explains. ‘And unfortunately – based on other similar claims of breakthrough technologies for the treatment of cancer – the odds are that it won’t be successful.’

WE PROBABLY WON’T EVER DEVELOP ONE SINGLE CANCER CURE

More importantly, it’s unlikely cancer will ever be cured with one silver bullet given the myriad of different types of tumors, locations, and diseases.

‘There’s a lot of things we can’t control,’ Dr. Shelley S Tworoger, associate director of the Population Science division at Moffitt Cancer Center, explained to DailyMail.com in an interview last month.

Many types of cancer could be prevented with lifestyle changes, Dr. Tworoger said, such as ‘stopping smoking, improving diet, more physical activity, better weight control, and HPV vaccines.’

That could allow us to push the preventable types ‘off the table’ and focus resources on other types.

One day we may be able to better control cancer, and perhaps reach a point where they become similar to a chronic disease, like HIV.

But one pill to nip them all in the bud like antibiotics – as this Israeli team envisions – is improbable.

If you know someone who might like this, please click “Share”!

Cancer Cure In Sight, Israeli Scientists Say – But Critics Aren’t Sure was originally published on Health Spirit Body

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sleeplessnightwithphan · 7 years

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All The Smiles You Never Knew You Gave Me

Summary: Soulmate!AU where Dan is surrounded by people who have found their soulmate, and he can’t help but feel like he will never meet his. (But let’s be honest, we all know he will)

Genre: Fluff, bit angsty, AU

Word Count: 2.3K

TW: Panic attack

A/N: This was written for DPSS, but I would like to post it on my own blog as well, because I like things organised.

I would like to thank my dog, Foo Fighters and Bastille for keeping me company while writing this. Also, I’m not a native speaker, so yeah.

Read on AO3: X

Warmth. That was the first thing Dan felt when he woke up. But not the good kind of warmth that makes you feel satisfied and happy, like you’re safe and protected from everything. No, this was a suffocating warmth, like he was being wrapped in a blanket that was too thick, making you feel like you can’t escape.

Funnily enough, the reason to him feeling too hot was the same reason other people felt the good kind of warmth: the presence of another person next to him in the bed.

He couldn’t remember her name (the fact that he felt like taking home a girl with him instead of a guy might be an indicator of how much alcohol he had consumed the previous night), only that she wasn’t too hard to convince to go with him, and that she fell asleep right afterwards. She was currently lying with her head on Dan’s chest, breathing slow and humming barely audible. It was a happy, up-tempo melody that was repeated over and over again. Presumably her Soulmate Tune.

Only it sounded nothing like Dan’s Tune.

Dan lived in a world where everybody had a simple melody in their head, one they’ve been singing ever since they were old enough to be able to sing. These short pieces of music were called Soulmate Tunes. Some people had a very up-tempo song (like the girl lying next to him), others had a calm, relaxing one (Dan was one of those people). Nobody could quite remember when they first heard their melody, it had just always been there.

These melodies served only one purpose; to find your soulmate, the one person who you would be compatible with in every way, the one person who was meant for you.

You see, the melodies in people’s head were never a standalone piece. There was somebody out there whose melody would be a perfect match for yours, either following or preceding it. Together, they formed a melody that (like his mom explained it to Dan once when he was 9) “just feels right. You get this deep-rooted feeling to start singing along, the combination of the two melodies sounds like coming home, like happiness. You just know when you hear it.”

The fact that Dan woke up next to somebody who’s melody didn’t match his, wasn’t new to him at all. He was a 25-year-old man, he had needs. And as long as he hadn’t find his soulmate, he would just go out sometimes and pick up somebody willing to come home with him and help him with those needs. Simple as that.

Or at least, that’s what Dan liked to tell himself.

In reality, Dan hated the fact that he still hadn’t find his soulmate.

He hated how empty and alone he felt when his parents began singing their tune together. He hated how happy his best friend, PJ, would seem when he heard his girlfriend singing their tune. He hated how even his 16-year old cousin had already find his soulmate.

Sometimes, he wouldn’t even believe there was somebody out there for him. It rarely happened, but it wasn’t unheard of that somebody just never found their soulmate. Or maybe his soulmate had died.

(It was usually when his mind started to contemplate those ideas that he would go out and take someone home with him. He just needed to feel loved for a while).

The girl he took home yesterday - was it Lisa? or Luna? he couldn’t remember- had apparently disappeared while Dan was lost in thoughts, hadn’t left her number (they never do), so he decided to just get out of bed and go take a shower.

Dan’s apartment was –if we’re being honest- pretty crap, barely worth the name ‘apartment’. It had one bedroom, a bathroom and an area that served both as a kitchen and a lounge, and all of those rooms combined were the size of what some people considered just one room. The walls were dirty, the floors creaked everywhere, the heating was broken more often than not, and there was a weird smell that Dan tried (but not quite managed) to cover up using scented candles.

But hey, it was home to Dan. And with his job as a store clerk, he was barely able to afford this place, let alone anything better.

*****

After he had dinner (cheap microwave dinner, he wasn’t in the mood to do any proper cooking) he left to go down to the shop he worked at. It was one of those 24 hours a day shops, and having no life whatsoever, Dan usually requested to be put on the night shift, since it paid better. It also had the extra benefit of being quieter with very few customers, so he could just read a book all night long.

That was exactly what Dan was doing when he heard the bell that hang above the door chime at about half past 11. He watched as a man walked in, smiling shyly at Dan before grabbing a basket and disappearing behind one of the shelfs.

Dan had to admit, he was used to people who were less attractive entering the store. The guy seemed a few years older that Dan, presumably in his late twenties. He had black hair that was swept in a fringe across his forehead. His skin was pale (he most likely didn’t see the sun all too often) and his bright blue eyes were framed by black glasses. Add black skinny jeans and a blue button-up shirt and you could say that Dan would have already walked up to him and started chatting him up, were he not at work.

Instead, Dan settled on watching him going down the aisles until he made his way to the check-out.

“Good evening sir, were you able to find everything?” Dan asked him while ringing up his purchases (a deepfreeze pizza and a bottle of Ribena).

“Y-yes, no problems finding anything, thank you.” The guy spoke softly and shyly.

“Ok, that will be £4,48 please” The guy didn’t really seem up for conversation, so Dan decided to just leave him be, not wanting to make him uncomfortable.

He watched as the man reached into his pocket, only to start looking a bit panicked as he reached into his other pockets. Dan heard him swearing under his breath before noticeably starting to get a bit upset.

“Uhm… it seems as though I’ve left my wallet at home. I’m so so sorry.” He said, seemingly starting to have trouble breathing.

“That’s not a problem at all, how about you just go get your wallet and come back? I’ll keep your purchases here while you’re gone. OK?” Dan proposed, trying to calm the man down a bit.

“Yeah… I’ll go do that…” The man noticeably had trouble breathing now, and when he tried to walk out of the store, he had to hold on to the counter, seemingly not able to stand on his feet anymore. He had also started to tremble.

“Sir, is everything alright?” Dan asked, already knowing that it wasn’t. He walked around the counter towards the man, and helped him stay upright.

“I won’t let you walk around like this, how about you go sit in the back for a bit until you’re feeling alright again? My name is Dan by the way.”

“Yeah… Ok… Thanks... I’m Phil.” the guy managed to say between heavy breaths, seemingly not able to argue in any way.

*****

Dan had no idea what to do, but he knew that the man was in no condition to walk around like that. While guiding him towards the small kitchen in the back, he managed to tell his co-worker to take over the check-out for him while he stayed with Phil until he felt better.

By the time they made it into the back, Phil’s breathing difficulties seemed to have gotten a bit less bad, even though the trembling hadn’t gotten any better. Dan let him sit on a chair and pulled up another one to sit next to him. He had read somewhere that you could help people with a panic attack (which he assumed Phil was having) by letting them breath in and out with you, so that’s exactly what Dan did.

“Just focus on my breathing, you’re doing great. Breathe in. Breathe out. In. And out. That’s good, keep going.”

After a while, Phil had calmed down enough so that his breathing was almost normal again and he had stopped shaking. He looked up at Dan and smiled gratefully.

“Thank you very much, and I’m sorry for freaking out like that. I was feeling a bit on edge the entire day already, and me forgetting my wallet was just too much for me to handle today.” Phil’s voice sounded a bit raspy and rough, but still quite pleasant to Dan’s ears.

“No problem at all, you don’t need to apologise. Would you like something to drink? I can get you a glass of water?” Phil nodded at his request, and Dan went to grab him something.

That’s when he heard it. A soft, calm string of notes that was repeated over and over again. A beautiful humming that stirred something deep inside Dan’s chest.

It made him think of the apple cake that he and his mom used to make when he was still a boy, the smell filling up the entire house. It reminded him of when he used to take the family dog for a walk in the woods nearby their house when the trees were emptying their branches, colouring the ground different shades of red and yellow and brown. It reminded him of late-night conversations with his friends in high school on the patio of whoever was hosting the party they were currently at, a faint smell of cigarettes making it a tad more difficult for him to breathe.

It filled him with warmth, the good kind of warmth. It made his chest feel like it wasn’t big enough anymore to contain his fluttering heart, it made him feel like he was about to ascend into the air, being weightless and without any worries.

It made him feel like he was at home.

It took him a minute to fully realise why he was feeling like this, but when he did, it all made perfect sense to him.

Phil was humming his Soulmate Tune. And it matched Dan’s Tune.

He was pulled away from his train of thoughts when he felt cold water streaming onto his hand. He was still filling up the glass, which was starting to overflow. Quickly, he turned off the water and emptied the glass a bit so he could carry it to Phil without making it spill everywhere.

Was Phil really his soulmate? Could he possibly be lucky enough to have this beautiful man be his perfect match? Dan was a bit skeptical, so he decided to not tell Phil just yet. Maybe he was just getting desperate enough to be imagining everything.

“Is that your Soulmate Tune you’re singing?” Dan asked innocently while handing Phil the glass.

“Yes, it is. I usually sing it to myself when I’m feeling distressed. It always manages co calm me down.” Phil spoke with a soft smile on his face.

Dan felt a bit defeated. The only reason it would be able to calm him down is that he had already found his soulmate and it made him think of them. Of course, it was too good to be true.

“Does your soulmate usually help you through these attacks?” Dan decided to not show his disappointment, and just keep talking to Phil for a bit. It wasn’t like he wanted to go back to work anyway.

Phil giggled a bit. “I haven’t exactly found my soulmate yet, to be honest. But just the thought of there being somebody out there who is perfect for me in every way is usually enough to comfort me. They have helped me through so much already, even without me having ever met them. The fact that they exist is enough for now. And you know, good things come to those who wait.”

This made Dan feel a lot more confident about how he was feeling. Phil seemed to be a perfect balance for Dan, who tended to overthink everything. The idea of Phil being his soulmate didn’t seem that impossible to him anymore.

And when Phil continued to hum his Tune, Dan, in a sudden burst of confidence, decided to sing his own Tune right after it. Very softly at first, afraid it might not be Phil after all, but when he saw the way Phil’s face lit up, he started singing with more and more confidence.

It wasn’t until he felt Phil embrace him in a warm hug, that he realised he was crying. He just felt so happy that the universe had blessed him with the man currently holding him in his arms.

They both just held on to each other until Dan had stopped crying. Phil brushed Dan’s fringe away from his eyes and wiped away a stray tear that was still making its way down his cheek, before starting to caress his cheek.

“I knew that patience would be rewarded” Phil said with a smile on his face, and that’s when Dan knew for sure.

It was him. Dan had finally found his Soulmate.

And what an amazing soulmate it was.

The link to the original post is over here.

Thank you for stopping by ^^

#phanfic #phanfiction #fluff #angst #AU #soulmates #tw: panic attack #dpss

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jasminaparade · 6 years

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IT'S A BLESSING AND A CURSE BEING A(N) (ASIAN) SECOND-GENERATION IMMIGRANT

Scrolling through Instagram this morning, I came across a beautiful photo of a European town. I double-tapped on the image and then scanned over the caption. “XYZ location is such a beautiful town to visit although it was swarming with (Asian) tourists.” It made me undo my double tap.

All of a sudden, I was full of rage. Just the one word – Asian. In brackets. I wanted to angrily type a response to the Instagrammer – why do you feel the need to distinctively highlight the tourists as “Asian”? Would you have said the exact same thing if the location was swarming with British or American tourists or white people in general? I have no idea of the Instagrammer’s thought process when they were typing this caption and I know it was no direct insult to me personally. Yet, I still felt angry and hurt; similar feelings I’ve felt in the past. And it made me reflect on several of my past experiences, how these encounters have made me feel over time and how I’ve come to deal with it as I get older.

Do we still live in a world where we continue to define or emphasise stereotypes in the media? Unfortunately, yes. History has shaped social conceptions and misconceptions of race. The rituals and traditions of cultures and sub-cultures are more globally exposed thus positive and negative stereotypes have become more prominent and pervasive. Society exacerbates these stereotypes in the media, in films and in the news. I don’t believe that all representations are intentional, whether accurate or inaccurate, complimentary or belittling. H&M recently received public backlash for an advert showing a black child in a green hoodie bearing the slogan “Coolest monkey in the jungle”. The retailer publicly apologized and withdrew the images. The beauty and the ugliness of language and imagery allows opportunity for semantics and insinuations where one can tread a fine line between a careless insult and deliberate racial abuse.

I am Asian. There’s no doubt about it. I have a Chinese name, my family hand out red packets during celebratory occasions, we burn paper money at our ancestors’ graves and boy, do we know how to eat! But I’m also Australian. An identity and culture which I more strongly identify with than with my Asian heritage. I live for days spent at the beach in my ‘cozzie’, playing beer pong with my mates and eating Vegemite on toast. I’ll devour smashed avo at brunch and I’m a down right snob about my flat white.

I’m a second-generation immigrant. My parents are Chinese, as are my grandparents who fled Mao’s reign in the 1950s for the warm shores of Fiji. My parents were born and raised in Fiji but immigrated to Australia in the mid-1980s. My parents’ families speak different dialects. English is their third language and they speak, read and write it fluently. When my parents met, they communicated in English as this was their common language. My brothers and I were born and raised in Australia. English is our first language.

I’m often asked whether I speak any Chinese. Unfortunately it’s only a handful of Cantonese words that hardly appease my maternal grandmother. A while ago, I asked my mother why she didn’t send my brothers and I to Chinese school when we were kids. She simply replied, “They wouldn’t take you. Unless you had a basic speaking level, they wouldn’t accept you at the school”. My parents’ reasoning was that if we were to live in Australia, assimilation would be easier if we could speak the official language of their adopted country.

At primary school and high school, I didn’t have any Asian friends. We lived in an area predominantly occupied by Anglo-Saxons. My childhood included piano lessons, playing netball and participating in Little Athletics under the Aussie sun. I’ve never dated Asian boys. Not because I was actively avoiding them but because I genuinely didn’t know any. My Oriental social circle was certainly lacking until my corporate career when Asian colleagues would comment “Jasmine, you can hardly call yourself Asian!”

I’ve referred to myself as a banana; yellow on the outside, white on the inside. Perhaps a mild form of self-deprecation, this analogy speaks truth for myself and perhaps my second-generation Asian immigrant peers. I oscillate between exhaustion and bemusement at strangers’ fascination of my distinct lack of Chinese language skills despite my appearance. I’ve learned to choose my battles and to pointedly ignore snide remarks.

Negative stereotypes are the ones that always seem to stick in our minds and once there, it’s difficult to remove or alter. Asians make cheap products. Asians are dirty polluters. Asians take photos of their food. Asians travel in large groups and flood large tourist cities. Asians are bad drivers. Asians make peace signs in all their photos. Asian parents are strict and make their kids study all the time. Asians slurp their food.

Admittedly, there are times when I cringe at the sight of a fellow Asian fuelling a negative stereotype. Is this hypocritical? Of course it is. Can one be racist of their own race? I would argue yes, particularly if one actively fights the stereotypes attached to their race because they themselves don’t want to be associated with such characteristics. Dealing with ignorant people who attach stereotypes to you and who have the temerity to mock you based on how you look is demoralising and tiresome.

Boys pulled their eyes sideways and wagged their heads at me in the playground. Friends have defended me from racial slurs at band camp. I’ve had my Australian citizenship and visa eligibility questioned at a scroungy pub in Bristol. I get tired of hagglers in foreign cities crying “Ni Hao!”. I’ve been handed a Japanese landing card on board a Jetstar flight and a Korean tourist information brochure was stuffed into my hand upon arrival in Zagreb. Recently, I was yelled at in the streets of Amsterdam, “Fuck off China bitch! Leave here and die!”. I do think the man was drunk (let’s give him the benefit of the doubt) but drunkenness is never an acceptable reason nor an excuse for racism. If anything, when a person is sozzled, their true feelings and opinions are voiced.

I’d be one of the first to raise my hand and admit to a lack of general knowledge of my Asian peers, the health of its economy or of our history spanning thousands of years and countless traditions and customs. What you may or may not know is that the invention of gunpowder is attributed to the Chinese. Asians gave us dumplings, fried rice and sushi. Chinese tourists currently contribute approximately AUD $9 billion to Australia’s national economy, with this figure set to increase to around AUD $13 billion by 2020. There are now 637 Asian billionaires, outnumbering fellow billionaires in the United States and Europe. Asia produced Jack Ma and Alibaba and China’s potential as the world’s next major superpower has been long debated.

Yes, it now sounds that I’m leaping to the defence of my Eastern counterparts but how can one not take a stand after years of bearing the brunt of stereotypes irrevocably tied to me based on how I look? Just because I have slanty eyes and take pictures of my food doesn’t mean that I automatically like eating chicken feet and drinking bubble tea (I don’t like chicken feet or bubble tea).

There have been times where I have tried to downplay my “Asian-ness” and other moments when I have staunchly defended it. Accepting my background and figuring out who I am, my identity and how I fit in has been and continues to be a steep learning curve. Despite there being arguable gaps in my Chinese-icity and my past encounters with racist behaviour, I consider myself blessed to feel an affinity to two cultures. I celebrate Chinese New Year and Australia Day. I’ll happily feast on char siu bao, siu mei and wonton one day and carve up a steak with a schooner the next. I’ll always be exasperated when assumptions are made about me based on certain Asian stereotypes but I also roll my eyes when native English speakers in adulthood (still) don’t know the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’ as well as ‘their’ and ‘they’re’. And don’t even get me started on the use of the apostrophe.

Nowadays, almost everything is on social media. Every move, every photo, every word is scrutinised. If you’re going to share your opinion, that’s fine. You’re well within your rights. I just ask that you take a pinch of compassion, a few spoons of empathy, a cup of respect and a dose of common sense (this ingredient may be a bit harder to source) before stirring with some objectivity and clicking ‘Share’. If you choose not to follow this method, no doubt people will tell you anyhow whether they like your recipe or not.

The one thing I am most grateful for in life is my education. I can never thank my parents enough for granting me the privilege of an education in a first-world economy. But it wasn’t just the opportunity to learn how to read and to write. They also gifted me with the courage to embrace my Chinese ethnicity and the strength to fly the nest and take on the world. They never tried to deny or squash out the Asian-ness and have led by example. There will always be haters in the world but you need to pick yourself up and forge ahead. Don’t feel malevolent towards those who consciously or unconsciously speak or act in a prejudiced manner. Don’t wish them ill-fortune but wish for them to learn empathy and compassion.

This world is not perfect and neither am I. I am grateful to have been born in an era whereby societal norms, attitudes, views and expectations have rapidly progressed in the realms of gender equality, feminism and the legalization of gay marriage. I’m thankful to live in a time in which multiculturalism, diversity and globalization is on the rise. There are more cross-cultural relationships, flexible working arrangements are not unheard of, and fathers can be stay-at-home dads. Racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice will always exist. The exposure to biased news, propaganda or the influence of another’s views and beliefs can incite fear and ignorance. But if modern day society has proven anything, it has demonstrated that governments and institutions can affect change. People can affect change. Views and attitudes can shift but there also needs to be a willingness to be open-minded and accepting of difference.

When I eventually visit my homeland, I endeavour to take an open mind with me. I hope to fully embrace my origins and immerse myself in Chinese culture, without forsaking my ties to Australian culture. I feel sad knowing that many Chinese traditions and customs will die with my generation. It’s likely that my children will be half-Chinese and they will know even less than me. But should they be subject to even half the intolerance and ill-will that I have endured, I hope that they will be imbued with the strength, courage and tenacity to deal with the stereotypes and labels attached to being a (half-Asian) third-generation immigrant.

#Asian #Immigrant #second-generation #personal story

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djgblogger-blog · 7 years

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Life after death: Americans are embracing new ways to leave their remains

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'Green burials' that use biodegradable coffins or lessen the environmental impact in other ways are on the rise. AP Photo/Michael Hill

What do you want to happen to your remains after you die?

For the past century, most Americans have accepted a limited set of options without question. And discussions of death and funeral plans have been taboo.

That is changing. As a scholar of funeral and cemetery law, I’ve discovered that Americans are becoming more willing to have a conversation about their own mortality and what comes next and embrace new funeral and burial practices.

Baby boomers are insisting upon more control over their funeral and disposition so that their choices after death match their values in life. And businesses are following suit, offering new ways to memorialize and dispose of the dead.

While some options such as Tibetan sky burial – leaving human remains to be picked clean by vultures – and “Viking” burial via flaming boat – familiar to “Game of Thrones” fans – remain off limits in the U.S., laws are changing to allow a growing variety of practices.

The funeral pyre hasn’t yet received approval for use in the U.S.

‘The American Way of Death’

Author, journalist and civil rights activist Jessica Mitford is shown during an interview at the Boston Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1979. (AP Photo/Liss

In 1963, English journalist and activist Jessica Mitford published “The American Way of Death,” in which she described the leading method of disposing of human remains in the United States, still in use today.

She wrote that human remains are temporarily preserved by replacing blood with a formaldehyde-based embalming fluid shortly after death, placed in a decorative wood or metal casket, displayed to family and friends at the funeral home and buried within a concrete or steel vault in a grave, perpetually dedicated and marked with a tombstone.

Mitford called this “absolutely weird” and argued that it had been invented by the American funeral industry, which emerged at the turn of the 20th century. As she wrote in The Atlantic:

“Foreigners are astonished to learn that almost all Americans are embalmed and publicly displayed after death. The practice is unheard of outside the United States and Canada.”

Nearly all Americans who died from the 1930s, when embalming became well-established, through the 1990s were disposed of in this manner.

And it’s neither cheap or good for the environment. The median cost of a funeral and burial, including a vault to enclose the casket, was US$8,508 in 2014. Including the cost of the burial plot, the fee for opening and closing the grave and the tombstone easily brings the total cost to $11,000 or more.

This method also consumes a great deal of natural resources. Each year, we bury 800,000 gallons of formaldehyde-based embalming fluid, 115 million tons of steel, 2.3 billion tons of concrete and enough wood to build 4.6 million single-family homes.

Mitford’s book influenced generations of Americans, beginning with the baby boomers, to question this type of funeral and burial. As a result, demand for alternatives such as home funerals and green burials have increased significantly. The most common reasons cited are a desire to connect with and honor their loved ones in a more meaningful way, and interest in lower-cost, less environmentally damaging choices.

Traditional funerals are becoming less common as more Americans look for cheaper, greener options. Alzbeta/Shutterstock.com

The rise of cremation

The most radical change to how Americans handle their remains has been the rising popularity of cremation by fire. Cremation is less expensive than burial and, although it consumes fossil fuels, is widely perceived to be better for the environment than burial in a casket and vault.

Although cremation became legal in a handful of states in the 1870s and 1880s, its usage in the U.S. remained in single digits for another century. After steadily rising since the 1980s, cremation was the disposition method of choice for nearly half of all deaths in the U.S. in 2015. Cremation is most popular in urban areas, where the cost of burial can be quite high, in states with a lot of people born in other ones and among those who do not identify with a particular religious faith.

Residents of western states like Nevada, Washington and Oregon opt for cremation the most, with rates as high as 76 percent. Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky have the lowest rates, at less than a quarter of all burials. The National Funeral Directors Association projects that by 2030 the nationwide cremation rate will reach 71 percent.

Cremation’s dramatic rise is part of a huge shift in American funerary practices away from burial and the ritual of embalming the dead, which is not required by law in any state but which most funeral homes require in order to have a visitation. In 2017, a survey of the personal preferences of Americans aged 40 and over found that more than half preferred cremation. Only 14 percent of those respondents said they would like to have a full funeral service with viewing and visitation prior to cremation, down from 27 percent as recently as 2015.

Part of the reason for that shift is cost. In 2014, the median cost of a funeral with viewing and cremation was $6,078. In contrast, a “direct cremation,” which does not include embalming or a viewing, can typically be purchased for $700 to $1,200.

Cremated remains can be buried in a cemetery or stored in an urn on the mantle, but businesses also offer a bewildering range of options for incorporating ashes into objects like glass paperweights, jewelry and even vinyl records.

And while 40 percent of respondents to the 2017 survey associate a cremation with a memorial service, Americans are increasingly holding those services at religious institutions and nontraditional locations like parks, museums and even at home.

As the number of cremations has soared, so too has the variety of urns. This one sold at a mall in Glendale, California, features a Dodgers baseball theme. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Going green

Another trend is finding greener alternatives to both the traditional burial and cremation.

The 2017 survey found that 54 percent of respondents were interested in green options. Compare this with a 2007 survey of those aged 50 or higher by AARP which found that only 21 percent were interested in a more environmentally friendly burial.

One example of this is a new method of disposing of human remains called alkaline hydrolysis, which involves using water and a salt-based solution to dissolve human remains. Often referred as “water cremation,” it’s preferred by many as a greener alternative to cremation by fire, which consumes fossil fuels. Most funeral homes that offer both methods of cremation charge the same price.

The alkaline hydrolysis process results in a sterile liquid and bone fragments that are reduced to “ash” and returned to the family. Although most Americans are unfamiliar with the process, funeral directors that have adopted it generally report that families prefer it to cremation by fire. California recently became the 15th state to legalize it.

Going home

A rising number of families are also interested in so-called “home funerals,” in which the remains are cleaned and prepared for disposition at home by the family, religious community or friends. Home funerals are followed by cremation, or burial in a family cemetery, a traditional cemetery or a green cemetery.

More Americans are being buried in natural burial grounds, such as this one in Rhinebeck, New York. AP Photo/Michael Hill

Assisted by funeral directors or educated by home funeral guides, families that choose home funerals are returning to a set of practices that predate the modern funeral industry.

Proponents say that caring for remains at home is a better way of honoring the relationship between the living and the dead. Home funerals are also seen as more environmentally friendly since remains are temporarily preserved through the use of dry ice rather than formaldehyde-based embalming fluid.

The Green Burial Council says rejecting embalming is one way to go green. Another is to choose to have remains interred or cremated in a fabric shroud or biodegradable casket rather than a casket made from nonsustainable hardwoods or metal. The council promotes standards for green funeral products and certifies green funeral homes and burial grounds. More than 300 providers are currently certified in 41 states and six Canadian provinces.

For example, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, the historic New York cemetery made famous by Washington Irving, is a certified “hybrid” cemetery because it has reserved a portion of its grounds for green burials: no embalming, no vaults and no caskets unless they are biodegradable – the body often goes straight into the ground with just a simple wrapping.

Clearly Americans are pushing the “traditional” boundaries of how to memorialize their loved ones and dispose of their remains. While I wouldn’t hold out hope that Americans will be able to choose Viking- or Tibetan-style burials anytime soon, you never know.

Tanya D. Marsh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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bargainjordan-blog · 7 years

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Really amazing when I got the shoes they sent me

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